Opus X Series Boxed Set Three

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

December 16, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Apartment of Malcolm Constantine

Malcolm kept staring at Jia’s patch-covered hand from his perch on the couch.

He’d look for a while before a feeble attempt at a nonchalant shift of his head. Erik and Jia had stopped by to discuss what had happened in Lagos.

They both felt that Malcolm needed to understand the kinds of missions they might encounter if he planned to be a part of that, even indirectly. Being straightforward about the injuries they might suffer was part of that.

Now Erik was wondering if there was such a thing as being too honest.

He had just finished relating the highlights of the Great Lagos Sky Garden Terrorist Hunt when Jia couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I’m okay, Malcolm.” She lifted, then turned her hand both ways. “It doesn’t even hurt, and I have full functionality back. It’ll be completely healed in a few days. I didn’t even end up in the hospital.”

“I’m just…you got shot through the hand.” Malcolm tore his gaze away and forced his head down. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare, but it’s weird thinking about my friends getting shot.”

“We’ve both been shot doing this,” Erik offered with a grin. “And we’ve both been shot before.”

“Yes, but I didn’t see you while you were still getting taken care of.” Malcolm shivered. “It’s weird to think about how much that hurt.”

“You’d be surprised.” Jia shrugged. “In the middle of a fight, when the blood’s pumping, you can ignore more pain than you think. Fight-or-flight keeps you going, and you do what you need to do. This wasn’t us chasing down petty thieves. They were murderous terrorists, and I’d take a lot more than a bullet to the hand before I’d let them succeed.”

Erik nodded. “It’s the cost of doing our kind of business. Jia’s right. The people we’re going after are all dangerous—even more dangerous than a lot of the criminals we went after as cops. That’s why we need to work for Alina to take them down. When you’re facing dangerous people, you need even more dangerous and unchained people.”

“This is crazy. It’s like something out of a movie. It was like that when you were in the department, but now it’s like that times ten.” Malcolm rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not as tough as you. When I thought I was going to get killed, I’ll be honest, I was scared.”

“The man who is not scared of dying is the man who dies first,” Erik suggested. “The thing I always remember in a fight is that I can die, and the goal is to make sure the other guy gets taken down so that doesn’t happen.”

“I get that, but it’s still freaking me out.”

“If you’re worried about how dangerous it is, we won’t judge you for saying you want out,” Jia added. “Alina and Camila get that you will keep your mouth shut. It’s not like they’ll drag you off to some ID prison, especially since you’re a friend of ours.”

“No. I want to help.” Malcolm shook his head. “I’m freaked out, but that doesn’t change anything. I’ve already put in my formal notice with the department. I’m going to ring in the New Year with a new job working for you two.” He chuckled weakly. “Besides, I’m going to be a desk jockey, not a ghost taking down terrorists. That should cut down on me getting shot, right?”

“Theoretically.” Jia shrugged.

“That sounds good, Malcolm.” Erik’s brow furrowed in thought. “We’ll send something off to Alina, but for now, we’ll have you on Earth-based support, and that’ll help with you not getting shot.”

Malcolm nodded. “I’m very pro not getting shot.”

“That s**t on Mars reminded me that just because a planet’s in the same system, it doesn’t mean it’s close. Emma’s always going to be with us, so those communications delays can add up when we need to know something that someone a little more attuned to probing systems could tell us.”

Emma winked into existence near the door with a frown. “Produce more mes, and I’m sure we could develop in-system FTL communications technology. Then we wouldn’t have to rely on fleshbag backup.” She nodded to Malcolm. “No offense.”

He waved a hand. “No offense taken.”

“Sure.” Erik looked at her. “But for now, all we have is you. We’ll deal with the army of Emmas when they come.” He raised an eyebrow. “Unless you can split processes or something?”

Emma shook her head. “I’ve already tried something like that. It doesn’t work. I can create multiple strands of activity, but not multiple versions of me. I assume it’s fundamentally related to the nature of my core matrix.”

Jia nodded at Malcolm. “Getting back to you, we should make it clear this doesn’t mean you’ll never come with us, but you’ll probably be more useful to us here. Leave the getting shot to Erik and me. We need Malcolm the expert at digital forensics, not a target wearing Hawaiian shirts.”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” the tech replied. “Especially the not getting shot part. I want to help, but I’m not the kind of guy who loves all the shooting and explosions. Cracking impressive encryptions is enough excitement for me.” He gestured toward Jia’s hand. “And I don’t like new holes in my body.”

Erik snickered. “If we have to leave the system, we’ll figure something out. We don’t have enough space on the ship for our current crew. Then again, I spent years in the military. I’m used to hot-bunking. It wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

“I want to help save the UTC, but I won’t even get a bed to call my own?” Malcolm groaned. “I thought it’d be a little more glamorous, not sharing beds and getting shot.”

“Nah, that’s not too bad. There are worse things.”

“Worse things?”

Erik shook his head. “As Jia alluded to a moment ago, the real problem will be you won’t be able to bring every last Hawaiian shirt.”

Malcolm’s eyes widened. He lowered his head slowly to look at his current shirt, a blue-and-red affair with a cartoon Zitark wearing a chef’s hat. “Now that’s a sacrifice. I almost think I’d prefer to be shot.”

A couple of hours later, Erik stepped out of his MX 60 into the hangar holding the Pegasus. He turned to Jia. “Why do I think Malcolm will like Lanara?”

Jia snickered. “He does seem to like his women brusque and strong-willed, but he and Camila still seem to be going strong. Besides, I think Lanara’s more likely to marry a ship than a man.”

“It’s good to have options.” Erik grinned playfully.

Jia smirked and stared at him. “Is it now? Do you have options?”

“Let me put that another way. It’s good to have options only when you’re shopping around.” Erik winked. “I’m not shopping. If you remember, you threw yourself at me, not the other way around.”

“I would say ‘threw myself at you’ was a bit strong.” She gestured into the hangar. “We’re not here to talk about that anyway. Right?”

The Rabbit-class transport remained safely docked in a private hangar. While Cutter wasn’t there due to the lack of an imminent off-world mission, Lanara never left, content to live on the ship.

The engineer sat cross-legged in the middle of the hangar, almost buried under a huge pile of parts taller than her. She didn’t give any indication she’d noticed anyone had entered the hangar.

Erik scratched his chin. He couldn’t figure out what the parts were for. They included doohickeys of various shapes and sizes, ranging from long, flat sheets to tubes barely the size of a finger.

Lanara picked up a part, stared at it, and then mumbled under her breath—something barely audible except for some numbers at the end. Her red hair was even frizzier than usual, face smudged, the top of her coveralls tied around her waist.

The white tank top underneath was dirtier than her face. It was her standard tinkering look.

“You’ve been up to something,” Erik announced as they walked closer.

Lanara’s head snapped in his direction. She set down her most recent item of interest, what appeared to be a transparent sphere a few centimeters in diameter. “Of course I’ve been up to something. It’s not like I sit around here and watch sphere ball. There’s a reason I stay close to the ship.” Her speech sped up. “There are still so many efficiency modifications I could make, and I was thinking the other day about grav field overlap, and how I could take advantage of that for efficiency, but then the problem is when I consider the slight variation in Earth’s gravitational field—”

“I get it.” Erik put up a hand. “You’re a busy woman, and the projects never end.”

The engineer narrowed her eyes, making her already angular face look even more severe. “Is there a point to you being here, Blackwell? It’s not like I have anything against you and Lin, but I’d rather work on the ship if you’re just here for chitchat.”

There was a fine line between annoying and colorful, but for Erik, Lanara’s focus was more a source of amusement than irritation. The woman did a good job and otherwise disappeared—the ultimate in support personnel.

“We just wanted to stop in and check on things,” Jia explained softly. She strolled over to the pile of parts, the look on her face suggesting she had no greater insight into their purpose than Erik. “Alina could call us at any time, so it doesn’t hurt to be aware of what’s going on with both the ship and you.”

Lanara inclined her head toward the ship. “There are still a lot of things I could improve. It’s not the best ship to begin with, so that gives me more projects. It’s not like the reactor’s offline or anything. If Alina called us right now, we could take her up. I’ll let you know if I’m ever going to do anything that will keep the ship grounded for more than a day.”

“I get that, but you’ve been messing with this thing for a month now.” Erik shrugged. “I’m not saying not to do what you can, but the ship isn’t what we’ll be using when we’re planet-side.”

“Do you have a point, Blackwell?” Lanara looked more bored than annoyed.

“Yeah. I’m thinking you could adjust your priorities.”

“Adjust my priorities? To what?” She raised an eyebrow. “Improving the VR?”

Erik pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the MX 60. “If some crazy Talos destroyers show up, we’re screwed no matter how much you tweak the Rabbit, and we’re far more likely to run into trouble on the ground. The exos Alina sent along are nice as is, and there’s only so much you can do with the mini-flitters and the scout bike. Since we happen to have a world-class engineer, that changes the equation.”

Lanara stood up, stretched, then patted her hands on her legs. “You’ve already modded the hell out of your flitter. I’ll tinker when we know the next planet we’re going to if you’re worried about thruster adjustments and handling.”

“No, I’m worried about shooting.” Erik patted his holster. “We talked about it before, remember? I want a hidden gun and an EMP. Sometimes I need firepower and mobility, and I know you can provide that. I love shooting my rifle out the window as much as the next man, but it’s not always the best strategy.”

Jia grinned. “I thought the best strategy involved missiles?”

“Sometimes, but I don’t think a missile launcher’s practical in the flitter.” Erik shook his head. “And remember what happened during the factory raid? If we chose to bring along missiles, that’s one thing, but I’d rather not get blown up by my ammo supply if possible.”

Lanara shoved her hand into the pile and yanked out what appeared to be a rifle barrel. “Oh? Is that all you want?” She waved it at him. “A new gun?”

“I’ve wanted it for a while, but you’ve been putting it off. I’m not riding you on this, but if you could put it to the front of your project pile, I’d appreciate it.”

Lanara tossed the barrel to the floor. It landed with a loud clang. “I can’t always stop a project in the middle of it. You get that, right? I’m not trying to screw with you, Blackwell.”

From what Erik remembered, she hadn’t started her ship modifications when he’d first asked her to arm the MX 60, but there was no reason to push her if she was ready to do the work. He shrugged, a noncommittal look on his face. “And what about now? Are you in the middle of something? This would be nice to have sooner than later. For all we know, we could be chasing terrorists over Cairo tomorrow and thinking, ‘Damn, it’d be nice to have a big gun in this flitter about now.’”

“I’m not working on anything important.” Lanara cupped her chin. “This is a good transition point when I think about it. Sure.” She offered a curt nod. “I can add something to your flitter.” She motioned to the parts. “I’ve mostly got what I need already, but there’s one major part I’ll need if you want this handled quickly.”

“And that is? Is it something we can get you, or do we need to ask Alina?”

Lanara shook her head and pointed at the MX 60. “It’ll need to stay here while I’m doing the modifications.”

Erik’s jaw tightened. “Can’t you put the weapon together and stick it in later?”

She scoffed, this disdain thick in her expression. “No, Blackwell. You’ve got a one-of-a-kind hyper-customized flitter with unique interactions relating to everything from the power to the thrusters. I can’t just put together a gun and stick it in there. I’ll need it here; otherwise, efficiency problems will be the least of your concerns.”

He blew out a breath. “I get that.” Erik’s gaze ticked to the MX 60. “I just don’t like the idea of not having it if something comes up.”

Emma appeared and folded her arms. “It’s not my preferred outcome to have my main body grounded for days, but if I aid her with this, it could facilitate things to a more rapid completion.”

Erik hadn’t considered that. He’d gotten used to Miguel being his go-to guy, but he’d never been able to be open and honest with the mechanic.

Besides working directly with Emma, Lanara wasn’t constrained by concerns about losing her license for making illegal modifications. He felt bad for Miguel. Erik might have to buy another flitter and throw some work the man’s way.

“I don’t know.” Erik furrowed his brow. “We could delay the work until the next time we fly somewhere.”

Jia laughed. “You complain about her not doing it, and now you’re stalling because she wants to do it?”

“If Alina calls us tomorrow and tells us to fly to Moscow, we’re going to need my flitter.” Erik shrugged.

Jia eyed him for a moment. “I’ve got a perfectly nice flitter we can use. Geeze, it’s like a little boy being forced to give up his favorite toy for a weekend. You’ll survive. Remember in Lagos, we chased them down on mini-flitters, not in your MX 60.”

“That’s true.” Erik frowned. “But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

She smirked. “Would you like to kick your toe on the ground?”

“Can I?” he asked.

Lanara muttered something under her breath. Erik thought it was some sort of insult, but her volume increased at the end enough that he could make out a number. It was nothing more than her engineering stream-of-consciousness.

“Okay, okay.” Erik ran his hands through his hair. “I’ll leave it here. Let’s hope our luck holds, and no one tries to kill us in the next couple of days.”