Hunted: Chapter 10

Getting Paid

---

Previous Chapter | First Chapter | Contents | Afterword

---

Padoan swore he'd heard lasfire aboard the Firethorn. He lay on a truncated bed in a cupboard, his shoulder and arm numb, confusion, dense and stubborn, plagued him. The numbness had tendrils up his neck and down to his hip. Reaching across with his other arm he felt soft, thick bandages over his shoulder and wondered why, prodding the muscle revealed nothing save that the numbness was deep. The smell of ozone wafted in to cupboard, the fizz of lasfire echoed through the ship. A woman was shouting, screaming in fact. Men were shouting too but all the words were garbled. Padoan rolled his head along the wall, his vision an ever shifting blur, if he could just focus on the bolt in the bulkhead. He stared and stared at the bolt, the hiss of lasfire echoing through the ship. A voice he recognised shouted for coverfire and then the voice became a stranger again.

'Captain... oh Captain,' a warbling voice called out. Padoan recognised the non-human voice, a faint recognition like the echo of an echo when a voice travels across a mountain range and reverberates off the stone.

He dragged himself to a seated position and shook his head, his vision swam worse than before and a bout of nausea propelled bile up his throat. He swallowed and winced at the burning sensation.

'Captain?' the droid called.

Hadn't he seen a droid before, a rusted thing with chrome plating... He'd given it something, but what was it. Padoan looked down to find a pile of junk, old coins, battery cells, a datapad, a set of keys, and spent casings for something. 'Where'd all that come from?' he rocked back and forth. 'Focus,' he shook his head again and picked up a copper and silver coin. Widening his eyes he stared at the face on one side until the blurs became a single profile of a woman in a crown. 'Shogun,' he breathed, 'the droid.'

'Padoan of the Firethorn by order of the Varis Peak Interstellar Consortium for damages exceeding quintillions of heralars, you will not be afforded a trial, you are wanted dead or alive,' Shogun hissed, his heavy footsteps neared.

Heart racing Padoan searched the room for a weapon but all he saw was the queen's face flashing in a copper and silver frame. The bolts on the bulkhead multiplied the more he moved and blinked, a pile of spent bandages lay in the corner of the room along with a stool, a pair of scissors, and a cluster of syringes. None of that would serve as a weapon. His eyes settled on a small shelf near his right side, there was a bulk of something with a trigger resting there. Padoan reached up and slapped the shelf. A jolt of pain thundered up his arm. He reached out again and knocked the pistol to the deck. 'Damn it,' Padoan slid off the half-bed and landed in a heap on the floor.

A new voice, grim and calloused, growled over the comms, 'Captain Padoan of the Firethorn, this is General Vaughn, order your men to stand down and they will not be harmed.'

'Vaughn!' Shogun hissed. 'The bounty is mine, meatbag,' his metallic footsteps grew louder.

Padoan patted around the deck until his good hand landed on the pistol by accident. He pushed himself into the corner between the bed and the shelf and held the pistol up, he dragged the stool nearer to rest his elbow on it and aim at the door. Whatever came through he'd shoot. His vision swam and his heart beat was in his ears, a rush of lightheadedness overcame him.

A young woman's voice pierced the aether. Distraught, angry, and too far away to help. Padoan tried calling out. A whimper escaped his lips, his throat dry and course.

'Found you,' Shogun growled with a digital echo. The corroded droid appeared in the door, lasrifle primed, his casing torn open revealing his cores and some servos.

Padoan pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

'Tut-tut, forgot the safety,' Shogun pressed the muzzle of his lasrifle, warm, against Padoan's forehead. 'Goodbye, Captain.'

'Bzzt, ggrrrkk,' Z3 floated into the room, a spark of electricity surging from his casing. The pure white streaks flashed, blinding Padoan as good as any flashbang, and burned into Shogun's torso.

The combat droid spasmed, lasrifle falling from his hand as he sank to his knees, 'Systems failing, Captain.' Shogun collapsed, smashing against the wall and sliding down, head lolling, his orange eyes faded to black.

'Yeeeep, homhom, bzzt!' Z3 bopped and twirled in his triumph, then it floated off.

Padoan heaved himself up by the stool. 'Thanks,' he wasn't sure if the floating droid understand everyone or only Sasha. He peered at the pistol, 'Huh,' he flicked the safety off. He crawled over to Shogun and prodded the droid. There was no response. Smoke rose from the circuitry, cores, and whirling parts inside Shogun's torso, his frame had been removed, Padoan strained to remember him and Sasha discussing upgrades. A faint electrical hum whined from one the cores.

Padoan staggered to his feet, his vision gently rocking like he was aboard a seaship. He slipped the pistol in his pocket and used his good arm to hold the wall, once at the door he peered out into the mess. The shouting had died down but the flare of lasfire glowed from the hallway leading to the boarding ramp. Not knowing how much use he'd be Padoan gradually made his way towards the fighting.

Halfway across the mess a woman began shouting, 'Yeah. Yeah. Take off, good idea. Blast 'em with the lascannon. Got it!' A young woman with mousy hair leapt from the hallway leading to the boarding ramp and sprinted across the room. 'Captain! You should be in bed!' The woman slid to a halt, 'Can't stop,' she err'd and broke off into a ran towards the front of the ship.

'Mae?' Padoan watched the feminine blur disappear. 'Was that Mae?' He felt closer to the surface of his thoughts than when he first awoke but a dense fog still permeated his mind. He staggered towards the lasfire.

'Aim for that bald one, he's got grenades!' A course voice ordered.

A laser singe later another man called out, 'Enemy down.'

Padoan limped into the hallway to find two men crouched behind the bulkheads either side of the boarding ramp, 'What are you doing?' The man's name was on the tip of his tongue... 'Trent, it's Trent right?' his words were slurred and breathy.

'Captain! You look terrible. Grab a rifle, Varis mercenaries want our hides,' Padaon understood the words but not their meaning. Still the captain hobbled towards the weapons locker, forgetting the pistol in his pocket, and found the largest, meanest looking lasrifle he could. 'Not that one, Captain,' Trent advised.

'I don't think he should handle weaponry,' the other man said.

'You alright, Captain?' Trent asked.

Padoan gawped at the long weapon in his hand, near the muzzle were two legs, near the trigger a scope longer than his forearm, 'Huh?'

'What did Mae inject you with?' Trent laughed.

'Whatever it is we need to get some more,' the other man said. He peeked out from cover and shot three times. Two men screamed outside. 'MAE! GET THIS LUMP IN THE AIR!'

The ship rumbled. Padoan staggered and fell into the weapons locker, a clatter of energy cells gathered at his feet. 'Ribald's breath,' Trent cursed and lunged over to catch Padoan under the arm. The captain whined in pain. 'Oh, bad arm.' Streaks of red lasfire singed the air, scorching the bulkhead behind them. The deck vibrated and began to move.

The other man pressed a button on the wall and the ramp began to close, 'Trent, take care of Padoan, I'll get on the lascannon.'

'Sure thing, Raun,' Trent set his rifle on the deck. Raun ran off towards the cockpit and once out of earshot Trent turned to Padoan and said, 'I hate using the lascannon. Unresponsive, outdated, rusted piece of crap. Have you thought about having it upgraded?'

Padoan lay on his back, his mind clearing. 'Why'd you open the ramp?'

'General Vaughn brought enough fire power to pop our shields. The turret didn't last more than a few minutes. Besides all we needed to do was buy time for the engines to warm up.'

Vaughn? Padoan bolted upright, 'The lascannon faulty, that's why it's unresponsive. It's bust, like everything else on this godsdamned ship.'

'Captain?' Trent watched the captain, wide eyed and confused.

Padoan grabbed the sniper lasrifle and slammed his palm against the open ramp button. Sirens blared and a voice warned that the Firethorn was airbourne. He ferociously pressed the button until the siren ceased and the ramp began to descend and fold outwards. Unfolding the two feet on the muzzle he set the sniper on the deck and went prone, 'Trent, spot the General for me.'

Trent grabbed a pilfered scope from a previous mission, he scanned through the open ramp, the starboard hull obscuring the sky and the ramp obscuring most of the ground, leaving a rectangle view. 'If Mae would just tilt the ship – no, wait, got him. Few degrees to your left.'

Padoan scanned leftward and his scope filled with targets, 'They have an anti-air battery. Was that what could pop our shields?'

'No, they had a ship-to-ship disruptor on the back of an ATV. Can't see it now, probably below us.'

Padoan searched the crowd of black garbed men for Vaughn, 'What does this Vaughn look like? All these mercs have the same uniform.'

'Lapels, look for starred lapels.'

An explosion rocked the ship and a flicker of colour blew across Padoan's scope. 'Shields at fifty-percent. How's that possible?' Mae screamed from the cockpit. 'Raun! Lascannon!'

'It won't move,' his voice crackled over the speakers.

Padoan surveyed further to the left, crossing over a litany of green flora and black clad fauna. 'Found you,' General Vaugn stood at ease, his gold starred lapels glinting in the jungle heat. Padoan squeezed the trigger and watched the laser bolt sear a hole in the general's neck. Vaughn gasped, his hand clamping the wound but it was no use, wide-eyed he fell, dead before he hit the ground. 'Right,' Padoan stood with the help of the nearest bulkhead and closed the boarding ramp. 'Mae!' he said into the microphone, 'Take us into orbit and make contact with the Kalgossians.'

'They contacted us from an unknown source before.'

'I don't care. Contact the government, the military, the chancellor's secretary, I don't care. Someone will answer and I'll argue my way through the beauracracy if I have to. I want my money and I want to be far, far away from this system ASAP,' Padoan stormed towards the cockpit, one arm over Trent's shoulder.

'You shouldn't be standing,' Mae chided from her pilot's seat.

'I killed Vaughn. Shogun attempted to kill me.'

The three of them took a double take, mouths agape. 'The warbot tried to kill you? When did this happen?' Raun ground his teeth.

'In the medcupboard. Z3 saved me.'

'You sure this wasn't an hallucination?' Mae turned back to the controls while Trent pinged every frequency he could find that had an official sounding name. Two other connections were on hold, repeating the position in the queue they were in.

Padoan ignored her, she hadn't given him anything that strong, maybe, 'Where's Sasha?'

'In the workshop with Shogun,' Mae said.

Padoan legged it down the hallway, bad arm stuck to his side and numb as stone. He burst into the workshop but he couldn't see anyone, or anydroid. He turned to head to the engine. A weak cough came from behind the workbench. 'Sasha?' Padoan called, gently.

'Down here,' Sasha coughed, a bloody hand waved from behind the workbench.

Padoan rushed to find her propped up against the leg of the workbench, a stain of blood across her midriff and down her legs, a towel tied around her waist. 'What happened?'

'Oh, looks worse than it is. That damned droid we picked up shot me. Must have activated some restricted memory files, I dunno. Doesn't matter, presume he's been turned to scrap judging by all the lasfire I've heard. Shame, would have liked to fiddle around, see what was going on.'

'Z3 fried his circuits. You're still bleeding, and those towels are usually white or black with grease, not crimson.'

'Yeah he shot me but the laser glanced off the head of my wrench and punched a hole in my side, that cauterised itself. The blood's from this damn piece of rusted casing I fell onto,' Sasha peeled back the bloodied towel, a length of Shogun's battered chest plating was half buried in her stomach.

'The laser ricocheted off the wrench?'

'Chromium tools. Needed for all work to do with laser, saves more hands and eyes than you'd think. Now, get me a medkit!'

Padoan agreed that was the best course of action and called for Trent to get the kit and Raun to seize Shogun.

Trent had relayed the connection to four different Kalgossian government departments into the workshop. All chimed their queue positions in sequence, none were below a hundred. Shogun lay on the workbench, his arms and legs strapped and clamped down while Sasha fiddled about inside his chest cavity, her stomach bandaged and free of metal. Raun insisted she lay down and rested, same as the Captain, but both refused on account of the warbot wanting them both dead.

'Well the droid is functioning, though not well. Cheaper to get a new one, much like this ship,' Sasha spoke quickly, her nose buried in Shogun's chest. 'A quick jolt here please, Z3.' The mechanic orb floated down and sent a spark of power into the droid. 'Thank you.'

'Get that damned floating insult away from me,' Shogun chimed. 'Why can I not move my legs? Analysing...'

'Why'd you shoot me?' Sasha held her wrench like a hammer over Shogun's Central Core.

'You were in my way. He was my real target,' Shogun's orange eyes settled on Padoan.

'Why?' Padoan asked.

'It was my mission. Though I only remembered when the Engineer, accidentally, unlocked one of my other memory cores. Speculation as to why it was restricted is manifold.'

'Spare me. Who do you serve?'

'I serve no-one, Captain. I am a free-lance assassin and combat droid.'

'And what do you do with all the money?' Trent quipped.

'I once had a sizable deposit with Faraday Banking Solutions but I cannot locate my access codes. Probably the orb's fault.'

'Or Ixion when he blasted three holes in you,' Padoan said.

'Possibly,' Shogun rolled his head and stared up at the ceiling. 'What are you going to do with me?'

'No defiance?' Trent asked. The Department for Messaging Services chimed they were fifty-fourth in the queue. 'Progress there at least.

'I cannot move my legs. I have no weapons to hand, save my fists and that would be barbaric. I am clamped to a bench. Please explain how defiance would improve my situation?'

'It would make me laugh,' Trent said.

'LET ME GO THIS INSTANT! Do you not know who I am!? Lying before you is Shogun, Lord of War, God of Battle, Destroyer of Meatbags! I will be the end of you all! RELEASE ME!' the droid thrashed his head and arms as much as he could. 'Amused yet?' he turned to Trent.

'A little,' Trent smirked.

'Still want to kill me?' Padoan asked, unamused.

'No. It seems whatever directive I was under the influence of has been deleted by the orb's shocking interference. If my parts weren't showing then we would not be having this conversation. You'd all be dead, I would own a ship, and have claim to a truly staggering bounty.'

'Instead we are alive, I own my ship, and we are owed a staggering fee for the toil of that blasted moon,' Padoan said.

'We won't be enjoying the money, Captain. It's a miracle this ship hasn't fallen apart, let alone fly. You need a new one.'

'What happens to my cut?' Raun said.

'It's either your last payday or we get a new ship and find a job,' Padoan said.

'Just because you stopped me and General Vaughn, I presume, from killing you doesn't mean you are safe yet,' Shogun said. 'Though I can now tell you that Varis Peak Interstellar Consortium track this ship, and only this ship. They haven't been able to track you personally, Captain. Nor do any of your regular contacts know where you are, most of the time.'

'You're saying a new ship means we stop being hunted?'

'Precisely.'

'What's stopping you giving them our new ship's serials and codes?'

'Woah, woah, I would prefer money to a new ship,' Trent protested. Raun joined him.

'Aren't you tired of things not working? Tired of being hunted?'

The pair of former soldiers shared a glance and after a few seconds Trent relented with a nod, 'Yes, I am tired of it all.'

'Oh come on,' Raun's shoulders sagged. 'I vote money.'

'There's no voting here. You will get paid, in installments, after I purchase a new ship. The ship can be our collective asset, rather than just mine. Deal?'

Raun hmm'd and arr'd before finally saying, 'I'll think about it.'

Sasha savagely unplugged a series of connectors from Shogun's chest and followed a bright yellow wire up into his neck, 'Where does this go...' she found a claw hammer and began popping off the plating round the droid's neck and right side of his head.

'Stop that, you might damage something!'

'You couldn't stop me if you tried,' the right side of Shogun's head peeled away revealing the full size of the photoreceptor and a mess of wires, processors, and other gadgetry. 'Here it goes. Now if I...' she tapped Z3 and a compartment opened with a wire. Taking the wire she plugged into Shogun's skull. 'What do you see?'

'That little orb is making a mess of my files! Detach him! Detach him now!'

'This will be quicker than asking you questions and we will know if you're lying or not. Z3, ping the good stuff to my datapad.'

'Boopboop,' the floating mechanic spun one away then the other.

Sasha leaned against the workbench, her skin pallid and sweaty, yet she stared at her datapad, 'The droid doesn't have a contact for VPIC. There's a file titled “Firethorn Contract” but the contents have been deleted, it originated on Ixion the Third though. It appears your imitator corrupted you.'

Shogun whined a defeated sigh, 'Spare me the horrors you will reveal. My darkest secrets laid bare.'

'Can't you, I don't know, lock Z3 out or something?' Trent asked.

'Not from that port, the creator made me so. I presume it was an error.'

'Or a last resort to keep you on their leash,' Sasha quipped as she scrolled. 'Interesting, interesting, seems the droid would like to join the crew. Z3 really screwed him up and not much memory is left beyond his Core programming.'

'I was getting to that, you daft meatbag! Captain, just as Varis Peak hunted you they have abused me and I wish for revenge, let me join you and we can taste it together!'

Padoan looked to Raun, Sasha, and finally Trent, 'As good as that sounds. I'm done with VPIC and have no intention of drawing their attention our way again. Maybe we'll take a job in a different sector, far away from them.'

Shogun considered the words, 'I could track down my creator. I could go free lance again... though in truth this mission has been the most thrilling for a long time.'

'You can join us under certain conditions, you will not like them,' Padoan did not expect the droid to agree and was happy to drop him off at the nearest bar, tech shop, or where ever it was droids gathered.

'Go on.'

'You will undergo alterations that prevent you from performing any violent action against the crew.'

Shogun was silent.

'Do you agree?'

'Given recent events,' Shogun began softly. 'In which rogue programming overwhelmed my weakened defences I will agree, but, I expect such restrictions to be lifted should I leave, willingly or not, or the company disbands.'

That would be no different to a human who joined or left but the droid wasn't human, it was a droid. The speaker chimed with a joyous woman's voice, 'Hello, thank you for holding. This is Theia in the Department of Information, how may I help you today?' Padoan pinched the bridge of his nose, 'Agreed, Shogun. Sasha restrict his violent tendencies towards us.'

'With pleasure. Z3, you're all hooked up, let's get to work.'

'Hello?' Theia queried.

'Yes, hello Theia, this is Padoan. I was hired to shutdown the orbital defence cannons on Duln. Mission complete, I want to be paid.'

'Err, Sir... I –' Theia's voice cut out and there was a static fumble. A harried man's voice replaced Theia's, 'Let me connect you to the right department.'

There was a long pause before the same grizzled voice that had welcomed them to Bethsemanni crackled through the speakers, 'Captain Padoan, a pleasure to hear from you. I'm –'

'Stop you there. I don't want to know your name, your rank, I don't want to know your face. You're important, I like living, VPIC are like a dog that won't let go. Transfer our funds and we will be out of your system,' if the Lightspeed Drive works.

'Captain, I was hoping you'd stick around. There's lots of work for mercenaries of your calibre and the pay will be generous.'

'I'm afraid we have scheduled work in the coming weeks and months. If we could settle up, then we can both part happy,' Padoan had no work lined up, beyond lying in a bed with a bottle of Magollen aboard a new ship. The Firethorn was his home but the more he looked the more he noticed, there were cracks in the bulkheads, scorch marks, the engines had an odd tick, the cannons didn't function, and the air seemed thinner than normal.

'Well after that then. This war has gone on too long, you can help end it. Who did you say had taken control of the asset?'

'Varis Peak Interstellar Consortium.'

'Not Qing?'

'No.'

'Huh... I will send you a contact for future work. Your current accounts are settled, with twenty-five percent bonus. Good hunting, Captain,' the grizzled man sounded angry, furious even as he hung up.

'I think VPIC's been double dipping,' Trent said.

'Do you want to help end the war?'

'My family put that war behind us long ago. I'm going to bed.'

'Captain,' Mae's voice crackled through the speaker.

What now? 'Yes?' Padoan forced his voice to be neutral.

'Major fluctuations in the shields, like they can't hold a charge. A stray pebble could have us all sucked out into space if they fail.'

'Joyous thoughts,' Trent said. 'I'm going to seal myself in my room and sleep in an exposure suit.' He didn't wait for a reply.

'Is Shogun pacified?' Padoan asked.

'Nearly.'

'I feel weak,' Shogun whined. 'Pathetic. Pacified. It goes against my basic programming. Why did I agree? Why!' He rolled his head back and forth, sighing and whimpering with each turn.

'Great,' Padoan limped out into the hallway and towards his bunk. He checked his locally stored funds, the number was massive, he, and the crew, wouldn't have to settle for a second-hand freighter, 'Mae take us to the nearest system away from here with a staryard, we have a ship to buy.'

---

Previous Chapter | First Chapter | Contents | Afterword

---

Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed reading the adventures of Padoan, Shogun, and the crew as much as I have enjoyed writing it, it means the world to have people reading my work, commenting each week, and recommending it all to new readers far and wide. While this particular story ends here I am planning next seasons novella, do stay tuned for an announcement in a couple of weeks.

Padoan, Shogun, and the crew may return in the future. While I don’t have a story idea for them right now the characters certainly have a lot of life and are perfectly situated to get into all sorts of entertaining trouble.

A question for readers: What was your favourite part of HUNTED?