Sword of Minerva (The Guild Wars Book 10) by Mark Wandrey (great books for teens TXT) 📕

tableau. She was smiling at something he’d just said. The image was gone as quickly as it arrived. “I just know. Besides, Humans don’t trust aliens that much, in general. No, this is some guild’s involvement.”

He’d experimented with the items taken from the opSha assassins, as well as the Enigma cube. He hadn’t learned anything more.

“If we’re going into space, why not book passage?”

“The coordinates we got from…from the opSha were for a planet in the Core region. Damned few transports are going through Earth right now, and none of them are scheduled to go anywhere near the Core. It would cost a significant percentage of the cost for a starship to pay one to go wherever we want, so I just bought one. Besides, plans can change, just like a ship captain’s loyalty. If we have killer monkeys chasing us, I don’t know who to trust.”

“And a psychotic squid along for the ride, don’t forget about that,” Rick said mulishly.

Sato stopped and turned to face him. “You’ve gotten me this far. It’s going to be nigh impossible to trace me after I get into space. You don’t have to go any further.”

“You don’t believe that,” Rick said.

“I do. You can go.”

“First, I’m not someone you can just dismiss like Frodo sending Samwise home.”

“Huh?”

“Second, I said I’d get you to the end, and I will. After that, we’ll see.”

<Do I get a vote?> Dakkar asked from the module.

“No!” they both answered simultaneously.

Sato nodded. “Okay, but I wanted to make the offer.”

“Fine, you’ve made it. Let’s go.”

They walked through the entrance to the starport, which was nothing more than a narrowing of the road so security could keep a general eye on who was going where. Next came the access to starships, which required a voucher for picking up cargo, a ticket for a passenger, or a coded key for vessel masters. Sato showed the code key to the security guard, who checked and approved it.

“This is Rick Culper, my crew, and cargo.”

<Cargo?>

Rick handed the guard his Yack, and it was logged. The security guard looked at his screen, hidden from their view. “I see you are armed.” Rick had given Sato his gun back a short time after entering the startown, for obvious reasons. “Were you involved in any incidents while on Earth outside Union territory?”

“No,” Sato said.

“Fine, you may proceed,” the man said, and the heavy security door slid aside.

“Who would admit they had?” Rick asked as they resumed walking.

“The point is, if you’re caught after having lied, they have another charge to hang on you. Silly, I know. But you’d be surprised how many people stumble and get caught in extra scrutiny.”

“They don’t do that in Houston.”

“Different cultures.”

After a bit of walking, Rick asked, “What kind of ship did you get?”

“Good timing,” Sato said. They’d been walking down a covered road toward one of the dozen nexuses of landing cradles. Many had ships in them of all kinds, from bulk cargo transfer shuttles to a MinSha frigate. His new ship had just come into view. He pointed.

“All I see are a couple stabilizers.”

“Hold on, we’re almost there.” They turned down the road leading to the landing cradle and again used the chip the broker had provided to gain access. Once past the heavy blast door, the ship was in full view. “Behold, Vestoon, a heavily-modified, 11,000-year-old, Efook-class corvette.”

“What a piece of junk,” Rick said.

Sato examined the ship in person, since it was his first time, too. There were at least a dozen hull patches he could see. One of the airlocks had been crudely removed and a hull plate laser welded over the hole. The port retractable wing looked like it didn’t fully retract anymore. And to top it off, the port lateral CID laser emitter looked like the array had been stolen. Yeah, it was a piece of junk. Still, all the hyperspace nodes and etchings appeared to be in place, the landing gear was lubed, and he didn’t smell smoke.

“It’ll do,” he said. “We’ll have a few weeks to work on it.”

“Sure, in deep space.”

“Won’t bother you a bit,” Sato said and gave Rick an affectionate pat on the back.

“Great. Maybe I should reconsider my earlier answer.”

The bot carrier wouldn’t go any further, for risk of some starship captain stealing it, so Rick picked up the module and the duffel bags. Relieved of its load, the bot turned and promptly left. Together the two walked up to their new ship. It didn’t get any better the closer they got to it. Yeah, they had a lot of work to do.

* * * * *

Chapter Two

Even though time was their enemy, Sato did his best to be thorough. Nothing could kill you faster in space than your own ship. Well, a bunch of Pushtal when nobody was looking could probably kill you faster.

There was a ton of space on the ship. It had last been fitted out for Maki, which meant most of the quarters were about half the size of normal Human spaces. However, the Izlian built most of their ships with a one-size-fits-all mentality. Everything from a little Maki to a hulking Oogar would at least be able to move about and operate one of their ships. Everything was adjustable, too, though it would take a shipyard crew weeks to reconfigure the living spaces. As the Maki were about half the size of Humans, they would find a lot of the ship roomy, while an Oogar would have spent its time crawling around.

Sato settled himself and Rick in what would have been the captain and XO’s quarters. There was space for a crew of 19, or more like 10 Humans. Using some tools, Sato quickly removed a section of compartment dividers, combining