Three Square Meals Ch. 071

One of the Bloodnovas approached her, and said in a surly voice, "Hand over your weapons. You can get them back when you're done."

"You can try and take them," she countered, her hands drifting to her hips, and her fingers caressing the handles.

An amused chuckle met her pointed ears, and she recognised Hades' voice over the intercom as he said, "It's alright, let her though."

The pirate scowled, but backed away, letting Malifica stride past him and proceed deeper into the King of the Underworld's lair. This complex was made up of two levels; the lower level housed all the equipment that would have monitored the operation of the refinery, while the upper level formed the command centre of the facility. This lower level was well-lit, albeit dirty and littered with scattered trash on the floor. Sweeping banks of consoles and long-dead displays lay silent and unused, a forlorn reminder of the real purpose of this station.

Hades had heavily reinforced the Bloodnovas' lair, with several layers of defences consisting of barricades to provide cover for all his guards, supported by armoured turrets. She swept past dozens of Bloodnova pirates, their expressions ranging from sullen to lascivious as they stared at this unlikely intruder in their inner sanctum. Some of the rooms she passed had been closed off, with their metal doors firmly shut, and her sensitive ears picked up the sound of weeping coming from more than one of them.

In the final huge room on that level, there were three separate ramps that sloped upwards - one in the wall opposite, and another in both the left, and right walls. This had been some central control section, and there were dozens of unusually shaped consoles in this room, but they all lay dormant. Picking the left ramp at random, she followed it as it looped around to the upper level, where she found a similar control room.

This place was alive with light and sound though, and the dozen brass-coloured consoles in here were all brightly-illuminated. Odd curving displays showed the defensive grid of turrets outside Underworld, while another large semi-circular panel displayed what looked like a strange form of Tactical Map. There were a lot more pirates in here, and unlike the ill-disciplined bunch outside, Hades' bodyguard were focused and alert.

She looked around the clean and tidy room, but saw no sign of the man himself. However, there was another reinforced door at the back of the room, where two sentries with rifles stood guard.

"Keep going, you're nearly there," Hades' voice said, echoing around the room from some hidden speakers.

Malifica glanced about, and caught the glint of some kind of security camera built into the corner of the room.

"That's right, I see you," he said, with dry amusement.

Walking purposefully towards the inner vault door, the guards made no effort to stop her as she entered. A few sealed doors led off from the next room, but she ignored them, her eyes drawn to the massive imposing desk that dominated the chamber. Seated behind the desk was the ruler of Underworld himself. She recognised him immediately, having seen him attend some of the duelling pit battles in the heydays of her pit-fighting career.

They'd been bleak years, filled with blood and a very different kind of pain to what she'd previously endured. When the catalogue of abuse by her Enshunu master's depraved clients had finally taken too much of a toll, he'd thrown her to the wolves in the duelling pits, expecting her to be exotic fodder for the brutal combatants. She'd refused to lay down and die though, the flickering embers of hate finally blazing bright as she found an outlet for her rage.

Hades was a well-built man in his forties, clean-shaven with neatly trimmed hair, and a cruel intelligence glinting behind hard eyes. He studied her for a long moment, before he gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

When she sat down, he wasted no time in getting straight down to business as he said, "As we discussed over the comm last week, I've got a job for you that should prove profitable for everyone involved."

She watched him carefully as she tried to get a read on the man, but he kept his face an impassive mask, not giving anything away. "Alright, I'm listening. What do you need me to do?" she asked him in a carefully neutral tone.

He stayed quiet for a moment while he stared at her, until he finally replied, "I'm sure you already know that another pirate crew owned Underworld before me and my Bloodnovas took over?"

Malifica nodded, and replied, "The Obsidian Scorpions, wasn't it?"

He grunted his acknowledgement, his face twisting into a scowl. It was the first real emotion she'd seen from the man.

His expression didn't change as he replied, "When we routed the Scorpions, those bastards looted this place for anything that wasn't nailed down. They took something useful, and I want it back."

Her curiosity was piqued now, and she leaned forward to ask, "What did they take, and why do you want it?"

Hades' face returned to an impassive mask, and he replied, "I want a three-foot-long brass rod that their leader, Madclaw, keeps as a trophy."

"Alright, and why do you need it?" she pressed him again.

Deliberately ignoring her question, he replied, "Bring me back that rod, and I'll give you four-hundred-thousand credits. Madclaw won't give it up without a fight, so you'll have to kill him to get it."

"That's a lot of money," she muttered studying him intently. "Why hire me to do it? You've got the Ruiners and the Corpselords working for you now, so it's not like you're short of men, ships, or firepower."

He frowned as he replied, "They'd sail in and just start shooting up the place, and I don't want the rod getting damaged. Besides, I'd end up paying them a fucking fortune in compensation if it got bloody."

Malifica stared at him for a moment, before she said, "I'm not an assassin, I'm a smuggler. What makes you think I'm cut out for this?"

"You know how to sneak into a system without it turning into a shitstorm, and besides, I've seen you fight in the pits. I know you can get the job done," Hades replied confidently. Steepling his fingers, he waited for a while to give her time to mull it over, then added, "So what's your answer?"

That amount of credits would keep her crew paid, and her ship running for years. Even though she didn't trust Hades as far as she could throw him, it was simply too good a job to turn down. Still, that didn't mean she planned to stroll back into the lion's den with this brass rod and expect Hades to just cough up the loot.

"I'll do it, but I want half-a-million, and a neutral drop site to make the exchange," Malifica replied firmly. "When we retrieve this rod, I'll contact you and give you the coordinates for the meet. You send a ship to bring me the cash, and then I give you what you want."

Hades eyes narrowed, expecting some hard bargaining from the smuggler, but he nodded curtly, and said, "Fine, we'll play it your way. Get me the rod, and I'll bring you the cash." He pushed a data stick over the desk towards her, and added, "There's a ground map of their base, you should be able to sneak in the back."

Sensing the meeting was over, Malifica retrieved the data-stick, and stuck it in the inner pocket of her jacket. Rising gracefully to her feet, she said, "I know where the Obsidian Scorpions are based. We'll head out to the Lesath system immediately."

He nodded, but didn't reply, at least not until she'd turned and nearly walked back out of the room. Not raising his voice, he said in a cold tone, "Whatever happens, don't damage the rod. If you do, I'll be offering your fee as a bounty on your head."

She paused and nodded, but didn't bother to turn around to do so. Instead, her sharp violet eyes were darting around the adjoining command centre, looking for something very specific. As she strode away, she glanced one last time at the three-foot groove in the middle of the biggest console in the room.

***

Hades watched her leave via the camera feeds built into his desk, and only rose from his chair when Malifica was back on the ramps heading down to the market. He walked over to the door on his right, then hit the button, and it slid open with a faint grinding noise. A cowled and masked figure was seated at the long table in the room, and the Enshunu stared at him as he entered.

"Do we have a deal, Hades?" the Enshunu, Yil'magur, asked in its grating voice, staring at him with dark-red eyes behind the golden mask.

The King of the Underworld stood behind the nearest chair, and gave a slight nod as he replied, "I'll give your boss the girl, when you've activated the rest of this station's defences."

"All we need is the control rod, and it shall be done," Yil'magur agreed, an eager note to its swift reply.

***

Bull blew out a sigh of relief when he saw Malifica striding down the ramp to join them. He nudged Groluk, making the Drakkar drop half of the charred carcass he was devouring, and then walked over to meet her. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Cap'n!" he greeted her gruffly. "Everythin' on the up and up?"

Malifica gave him a curt nod in reply, and muttered, "Not here, Bull, we'll talk back on the ship."

Groluk scooped up the meat he'd spilled on the grubby floor, and began shoving it into his slavering maw. He strolled over to flank her, and between greasy mouthfuls he grunted, "Good eatin's here, Boss."

Bull fell into step beside her, and said, "I restocked on food for the big fella, and the ship's all gassed up and ready to go, Cap'n."

"Well done. We'll be departing immediately as soon as we return to the ship," she said quietly, her eyes darting around the crowd.

He nodded but remained quiet, understanding that then wasn't the time nor place for discussing the details of Hades' job. They rejoined the exodus from the market area, and stayed to the left amongst the raucous crowd. Malifica wanted to leave the Underworld as soon as possible, so they wove through the crowd this time, moving faster than the plodding pace set by most of the merchants. While she nimbly avoided the various creatures in her path, Bull and Groluk simply barged their way through, knocking the smaller aliens out the way to the sound of many an indignant cry.

Malifica kept her eyes fixed firmly on their path this time, studiously ignoring the flesh peddlers and the heart-wrenching sight of their wretched merchandise. As much as she'd dearly love to cleanse this rat-infested sinkhole, trying anything like that would earn herself and her men a very quick end. Or a very slow one, which would be far worse.

It took them just over twenty minutes to dodge and shove their way through the crowd, all the way back to the docking bay where they'd left their ship. The Infernal Retribution appeared before them, standing out like a sleek, chrome-coloured predator amongst the blocky merchant shipping in their hues of greys and browns. Plex and George were leaning against the ship, chatting idly as they whiled away the time. The pilot spotted the returning group first, and he gave them a cheerful wave, prompting Plex to uncoil himself and slither over to join them.

"Plex has replated your ship, Captain," he said, twisting back to look at the lower-right section of their Enshunu destroyer. "The work was exemplary, no?"

Malifica walked over to the rear of her vessel, which had taken a nasty hit from a cannon in a pirate ambush two days ago. She reached up to run her gloved hand over the surface of the hull, but try as she might, she couldn't find the exact spot where the armour had been breached. "Outstanding work, Plex," she agreed, nodding her head.

"We got the delivery of Maktarian bison," George announced, as they started walking back to the Cargo Bay. He wrinkled his nose as he added, "It smelled pretty ripe, so I had the baggage handlers dump it into cold storage on Deck Three."

Bull grinned, and clapping Groluk on one of his many shoulders, he said, "I dunno how ya can eat that bilge, big fella."

"Very tasty!" Groluk croaked with a toothy grin, two of his hands rubbing his belly in anticipation.

They walked up the ramp and into the Cargo Bay, with George striding over to the door controls and sealing up the hull behind them.

As soon as the doors had sealed with a weighty "clunk", Malifica turned to her men, and said, "The job for Hades is on. We'll be sneaking into the Lesath system and retrieving an item he wants really badly."

Bull frowned, giving her a worried glance, but kept his opinion to himself for the moment, not wanting to undermine her authority in front of the crew.

"What's the score, Captain?" George asked, a flash of excitement in his blue eyes.

"Half-a-million credits," she announced without preamble.

George whistled appreciatively, while Plex began to weave his beaked head in a figure-of-eight pattern, his unsettling yellow eyes staring at her intently. Groluk roared with delight, raising his minigun in the air, but he managed to curb his enthusiasm enough to stop himself firing off a victory salvo. Bull had been forced to have words with him about that before. As for her first mate, Bull looked impressed despite his concerns, but once the initial surprise had worn off, his brow furrowed even deeper with worry.

"Let's get out of this cesspit," Malifica continued, her distaste for Underworld quite apparent. "I want us underway immediately, and I'll explain the details on the flight there."

Her men slithered, stomped, and strolled out of the Cargo Bay, chatting amiably amongst themselves as they returned to the Armoury. Malifica glanced at Bull, who waited patiently beside her, and they watched in silence as the rest of her crew departed, until it was just the two of them left alone in the Cargo Bay.

"Beggin' your pardon, Cap'n," Bull began tentatively. "I was hopin' I could have a word."

"I thought you might," she replied wryly. Turning to look at him, she said, "Alright, out with it."

"This job smells fishier than a hold full of Cagfish!" he blurted out, finally speaking his mind. "Hades is tighter than a gnat's chuff! What makes ya think he'll cough up the cash when we get whatever it is he's after?"

"He wants some kind of control rod for the rest of Underworld's defensive systems. The Scorpions took it with them when they were kicked out of the base," she replied quietly. "Believe me, he wants it alright, and I'm pretty sure half-a-million credits is a bargain for the extra firepower it'll give him. I've got no intention of taking it back to Underworld though; he'd just shoot us down when we tried to leave the station. As soon as we have the rod, we'll contact Hades and tell him to meet us in the Tarin Shoals to make the exchange."

Bull nodded thoughtfully while rubbing his bristled chin, and said, "Yeah, that just might work, Cap'n. If things don't look right at the exchange, we'll be able to slip away, no problem."

"That's the plan," she agreed, glad to see he was on board with her precautions.

The Tarin Shoals was a thick belt of asteroids shrouded in a dense nebula. With all the electromagnetic interference from the nebula they'd be practically invisible to sensors, and the asteroids would give them plenty of cover to escape, if it looked like Hades was attempting to betray them. As long as they got there first and planted a few covert probes, they'd be able to pick up the Bloodnova ships on their boosted sensors without being seen themselves.

Bull gave her a confident grin, and said, "I might just settle down and retire after this one. Buy off me debts in the Terran Federation, and get that farm on Maccaran IV I'm always goin' on about."

"You'd be bored in a week," she replied, smiling at him from behind her mask, as she started walking towards the door that led deeper into the ship.

"Aye, true enough, Cap'n," he agreed, with a sigh of lament. "I guess some of us weren't cut out for the quiet life."

"Or they had it torn away from them," she murmured bitterly, under her breath.

Once Bull had deposited his shotgun back in the Armoury, they stayed quiet for the rest of their journey up to the Command Deck, both of them lost in thought. When they stepped out onto the Bridge, Malifica was pleased to see that they'd left Underworld behind them, feeling cleaner as the distance increased. George was flying the Infernal Retribution towards the outskirts of the Alamak system, making sure they were well clear of any gravity wells before attempting the jump into hyper-warp. In these anarchic systems there were no helpful navigation beacons to clearly mark the point where it was safe to jump, so navigators had to rely on their expertise and judgement.

George flew their destroyer well clear of Alamak to avoid taking any chances, and after painstakingly plotting out their course to the Lesath system, he engaged their FTL drive. It took twenty seconds to power up before it could be engaged, and Malifica felt that same flash of irritation at having to rely on such primitive technology. The Maliri drives activated in less than a quarter of the time, and travelled in hyper-warp at over twice the speed. It was just one more of the constant nagging reminders of what she'd been forced to leave behind.

The Lesath system was over six hours away, so she rose from her Command Chair, and said, "Bull, fill them in on the details. I'm going to try and get some rest."

"Right you are, Cap'n," he agreed, and began to tell his three crewmates the plan.

His gruff voice was cut off by the lift door as it closed behind her with a quiet hum. The elevator dropped down to the deck below and chimed shortly afterwards, the doors swishing open again. She stepped out into the corridor, and turned right, heading towards the Captain's Cabin that she had claimed as her own.

Malifica paused for a moment to admire the collage of blackened outlines that adorned the floors and walls on this Deck. They were just like those in the Cargo Bay, and despite three years of Groluk's frenzied scrubbing, these proved just as stubborn to shift. She could still remember the stench of charred flesh, the terrified screams, and the pitiful pleas for mercy. The Unclaimed Wastes was no place for mercy though; it had been a gruelling lesson to learn, but one she'd been forced to take to heart. In the end, she'd been more than happy to share what she'd learned with her former owner, his men, his loathsome guests, and their equally disgusting retinues.

Trailing her fingers over the last scorched shadow on the wall, she hit the button by the door to her room. When the scenes of debauchery that were etched on the doors slid open to let her enter, she strolled into her bedroom with an added bounce in her step. Stopping to relive good times with the Enshunu Captain and his men helped keep the nightmares at bay, at least for a little while, and she looked forward to getting some rest.

She quickly stripped off, then tucked her pistols under the pillow before slipping under the black sheets. It wasn't that she particularly distrusted Bull and the rest of her crew, -as smugglers went, they were a reliable bunch- she'd simply learned not to trust anyone. That was a lesson she'd been taught by the one person she thought she could count on the most, and that betrayal had cut deepest of all.

Sleep came quickly to her then, practically as soon as her head hit the pillow, her mind drifting and following her subconscious thoughts. She began to dream, but it was about something she hadn't thought about in years.

***

"Irillith, I have something for you!" Tashana gasped in excitement as she bounced into the room. "You aren't going to believe what I've discovered!"

Her twin scowled at her as she looked up from her console, her beautiful azure face twisting with irritation as she snapped, "What are you bothering me with now?! Can't you see I'm sweeping the network for spies?"