From Darkness

[Manticore]

ROB

Rob Shaw’s armored boots tramped loose snow up the ramp as he boarded Wayfarer. The dull metallic glow of the ship’s lighted cargo bay reflected off his suit of combat armor as he stopped and turned back to look at the hulking shape of the Gull, parked just across the snowy field in the rapidly gathering darkness. The job was done, and it hadn’t been particularly difficult, either. Rob would never complain when his employer insisted on doing most of the work himself, but after seeing James Arland’s handiwork evidenced aboard that transport, he couldn’t help but to hold a grudging respect for the man. All Rob, Tanya, and Kouta had needed to do was mop up.

He turned back, resuming his walk up into Wayfarer’s belly. The corridors were quieter than usual, as Tanya, Kouta, and Lex were off prepping the Gull for launch. Gage and Sparrow were likely doing the same here, but Rob opted to head for the medical bay instead of the bridge. His crew was more than capable of handling things without him for the next few minutes.

Rob stepped into the medical bay, and immediately something primitive in the back of his mind recoiled at the sudden overpowering stench of antiseptic and bleach. It smelled clean; it reeked of death.

Mentally shaking himself, Rob stepped up to the single bed centered in the relatively small room, and gazed down at James Arland’s unconscious form. The man's black hair was matted to his forehead, and Rob noticed pieces of the armor the man had been wearing laying discarded on the metal floor. Despite the blood-soaked bandages on several parts of his body, Rob’s employer looked peaceful.

Rob glanced over to his right, at the doctor who was busy filling a syringe with a clear fluid. Floretta hummed softly to herself as she worked – a sure sign that her patient was alive and not doing too poorly. Unlike most doctors Rob had encountered, Floretta made no effort to mask her emotions.

She smiled to Rob in greeting as she stepped over and injected the fluid into James’s arm. He was about to ask how his employer was coming along, purely out of politeness, when another voice beat him to it.

“How is he now?”

Rob spun, momentarily surprised that he’d managed to miss James’s partner, who had been quietly sitting on the cold steel floor at the other side of the room. The young woman’s frazzled appearance was a stark contrast to Floretta’s composure. James’s partner’s short blonde hair was messily strewn across her forehead, and her blue eyes gleamed with obvious desperation as she awaited the doctor’s response.

“He’s still doing just fine, Miss Jaeger. Should be waking up soon, in fact.” Floretta’s smile was remarkably genuine, and combined with her musically posh accent it produced an extraordinary bedside manner.

Jaeger frowned slightly, shifting uncomfortably on the floor. Rob was suddenly very aware of the loaded sidearm still strapped to his hip. If he were a bad man, he could throw both of his employers off the ship at gunpoint and take the Gull’s entire haul for himself and his crew. If he were an evil man, he could put a bullet in both of their heads first.

It was a somewhat tempting thought, for the entire haul would be worth at least ten million credits. That was a lot of cash, even though he and his crew had earned more on individual jobs in the past. The problem was that freelancers with a reputation for betraying their employers often had a much more difficult time finding more work later. And when they did… well, things had a certain way of coming back around, Rob had discovered.

Rob Shaw was many things, but he was not a man who’d betray his employer for that kind of money.

Instead, he turned back to James’s partner. “We are ready to make the deal with the Rheinlanders whenever you give the word.”

Her eyes focused on him, momentarily confused before visibly coming to the realization that with James unconscious, she was the one in charge now. “So it’s done, then.”

Rob nodded. “My people are prepping the transport for launch now. Wayfarer is ready to go, but your own vessel…”

“My AI has that handled,” she said, tersely. She began to seem to pull herself back together, and Rob could practically see the gears churning in her mind. “The Rheinlanders had a very specific meeting time established with these traders, and we may miss it unless we depart now. Give the word – my ship will take the lead.”

Rob nodded, glad that she was still willing to go ahead with the deal. Perhaps her partner would wake up before they arrived at the rendezvous. Either way, Rob and his crew would have to assume the guise of paranoid but harmless traders by that point. He stepped out of the medical bay without another word, relishing the taste of the clean, processed air once the hatch hissed shut behind him. First, it was time to get out of this armor – then it would be time to get paid.

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