Crimson, CH43 (Patreon)

Alex’s stomach did a cartwheel, and he stopped. He held onto the wall while he waited for the nausea to pass. He should have waited a while longer before getting out of bed. Actually, he should have undressed before going under cryo—he knew how bad he felt otherwise—but they were in Samalian space now, and he had a lot of work to do before they reached the station there. He’d wanted to be able to get started quickly.

His stomach settled and he got going again. He managed to make it to the computer lab before nausea hit again, and his stomach stopped threatening to empty itself once he sat down. Reminding himself he hadn’t eaten anything before going under hadn’t helped.

The first thing he did was check on Harold Stingsky. Eight objective months had passed while Alex was in cryo, enough time for the fakeness of Harold’s existence to be discovered, only it hadn’t. The only thing that might draw attention was that Harold’s message buffer was bursting with ads for him to buy products or services. A small program added to Harold and those would automatically be deleted.

Alex was pleased, and a little mystified. Harold had survived with barely the minimum of life signs. Didn’t anyone care that there was now a fake identity in the system? Clearly, they didn’t. Asyr had said this was standard for everyone on the crew, as well as mercs.

Well, Alex wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass him by. He figured he’d need at least twenty new identities to distribute all the money he had. He would create them on distant worlds with small governments.

But first, he had something more important to do: he had to find Tristan. He contacted the station, and through it the planetary system. No coercion was needed for that; this was a simple query, one that returned no result. No surprise there; Tristan was wanted. He wouldn’t want the Law to know he was there.

Now, coercion came into play. He slipped under the code and found a more advanced system than he’d expected. He remembered Jack saying his planet was on the primitive side, but that had to have been another of Tristan’s lies. The system here was more advanced than some of the governments he’d chosen to create his new identities in.

Although, maybe Jack hadn’t lied. How long had it been since the last time Tristan had been here? A quick search showed that the last mention of a Tristan—no last name—in the system dated back to over sixty years ago. And by the quality of the code, Alex could tell the system hadn’t been very advanced then. Maybe the planet had been as primitive as Jack had said the last time Tristan had seen it.

He looked for a widespread body recognition system, but didn’t find one. He’d hoped that unlike more advanced planets, they used such a system to maintain order. Without that he needed a different way of tracking his quarry down.

He went back to his file on Tristan, and had a program extract the names of everyone he’d had contact with. It didn’t matter if they had worked with him, been imprisoned with him, been a witness, or a victim. If the name was in the file, Alex wanted a search to be done on them. He had to write the search program; the one in the system couldn’t handle such a massive request.

While it worked, Alex set about creating his new identities. He limited it to two per government, in case the appearance of too many identities would trigger an alarm. He made sure each had a basic, but solid history, and then transferred his money among them, backdating entries over twenty years.

An hour before docking he checked his search. It was still going, now working on the names from Tristan’s first ten years of activities. He’d set the search to work from the most recent names to the oldest.

He had three names, and he figured those would be the only ones he’d get. And if something came up from that far back, how useful would the information be after fifty years?

He took any information the planetary system had on those three names and transferred it to a data chip. Then he cleaned his presence out of the ship’s system. He did do one thing to it before finally removing his own authorization. The moment that was done, he was kicked out.

He’d packed before going under. It had been quick—other than the case with the Defender, he only had one bag, although now it was filled with shirts and pants that could double as body armor instead of his previous civilian clothes.

He showered and shaved, made himself presentable for when he found Jack. He chuckled at that thought. He’d be finding Tristan first, so he should be borrowing a full set of armor from the ship and wearing that.

He had considered dressing in the slacks and shirt he’d first worn when getting on the ship, leaving as he’d arrived, but he’d lost so much weight they no longer fit him, and they weren’t him anymore. To put them on would be to lie to Jack about who he was now.

Would Jack even know him, once he’d drawn him out of Tristan?

He shook his head. He was wasting his time. He needed to focus on the more important things: finding Tristan, getting the best of him. Like he’d told Will, his old self couldn’t do that, only Crimson could. It wasn’t charm that would win against the Samalian, it would be strength and cunning.

He put on gray pants with light red stripes at the waist and ankles, with a mostly red shirt, with gray patches, under it, and a jacket over that. He didn’t know what the weapon policy was for the station, but he slipped a knife in his boot, the small of his back, and his left forearm.

He smiled. Only a few months since Zephyr had been training him, and he felt naked without them. Something else Jack would have to get used to. His gun went in the bag, in an outside pocket, for easy reach.

Alex had planned on waiting for the ship to dock by the airlock so he could start his search immediately, but Will was on the other side of the door as it opened. His friend grabbed the case out of his hand and ran off. Alex didn’t have a choice. No matter what this was about, he couldn’t leave without the Defender. He ran after Will.

He ended up in a large room a few corridors down from his quarters, where a dozen men and women were waiting for him.

“You didn’t think you’d leave without saying goodbye, did you?” Doc asked.

Alex looked them over. “Sorry, that hadn’t been my intention.”

“Lost in there,” Will said, tapping the side of Alex’s head.

Alex nodded. He’d been so focused on everything he had to do before leaving the ship, he’d forgotten about the people who’d helped make him who he was.

“I notice Anders isn’t here.”

Terrence snorted. “This is the ‘those of us who actually like you’ group.”

Zephyr nodded. “And he’s going to be with the captain to see you off. He’s got your money.”

Alex frowned. “I thought that was in the system. I already took care of that.”

“We never let anyone go without money in their pockets.”

“And Anders is going to be the one to give that to me? I’ll have to check and make sure he hasn’t hidden a bomb in there. Do you know how much I should expect?”

“Ten sticks with a thousand in each,” Jennifer said. “That’d see any of us until we’d made arrangements for the rest. Course we’re not quite as smart with that stuff as you are.”

Alex blushed. “I guess I can set something up for the rest of you if you want.”

There was laughter. “Jen’s kidding. None of us are planning on leaving, so we don’t need anything like that.”

Alex nodded. “I should have grabbed a cred scanner. Knowing Anders, he’s bound to have skimmed as much out of them as he can.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Perry said. “Not with the captain there. He can get away with a lot, but pissing off the captain in such an obvious way can be deadly.”

Ana nodded. “Just be discreet if you do scan them. Any terminal on the station will let you do that.” She handed him a mug.

Alex looked at it. “Thanks, but I shouldn’t be drinking right now.”

“It’s Altonian juice—no alcohol, I promise.”

He took a sip, and found it to be slightly bitter and sweet without any of the heat alcohol would cause. He looked at each of them. “I want to thank you. Without each of you, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“Are you joking?” Asyr asked. “It’s us who’d be dead without you. It’s going to be rough doing every job the old-fashioned way.”

“You’re not taking over for me?”

“No way. I’m nowhere near ready to take on a system actively trying to stop me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re quite good.” He sipped his juice and used the mug to hid a grin. “And I plan on putting you to the test every so often, so you’d better study.”

A worried expression crossed her face, and before Alex could say anything, the ship shuddered.

“Docking,” Will said.

“I guess this is time for the real goodbyes,” Doc said. “If we’re not in the hold to help unload by the time they open it, the captain’s going to have our hide.” She hugged Alex and left.

Everyone followed her example, Will last, and the two of them followed the group to the cargo hold.

*   *   *   *   *

“Mister Crimson,” the captain greeted as Alex stepped on the ramp leading down to the station. Anders was standing next to him, his face a mask of forced neutrality.

“Captain, Anders.” Alex stopped next to them and watched crates being moved to a truck.

“Don’t worry,” the captain said as Alex opened his mouth. “I’ve warned the buyer about the possibility of infection on the datapads. I had to offer a break in the price, but better that than bad blood between us.”

Alex’s lips tightened. “I hate that this is because of a trap meant for me.”

Anders rolled his eyes. “Such a high opinion of yourself. The trap was for all of us. They just used you to track us. Which means I was ri—”

“Anders,” the captain warned.

Whatever else Anders wanted to say, he kept to himself.

The captain fixed his gaze on Alex. “Is there anything I can say to convince you to stay, Mister Crimson?”

Alex shook his head. “This is too important to me.” He looked back to the interior of the ship. “It was an experience, I have to admit that, and I don’t regret any of it. I’m pretty sure the man I was before I boarded your ship couldn’t manage to do what I’m going to have to now.”

“Your skills will be missed. Anders, give him the sticks.”

Alex watched the man’s face as he handed him the box. Alex put it in a pocket without bothering to check, his eyes not leaving Anders’s neutral expression. He’d scan them later. It wasn’t like being short on ten-thousand was going to affect him all that much. Not with all the money he had spread through his accounts.

Alex extended his hand to the captain. “Thank you for taking me here, and trusting me to work for you.”

The man shook it. “Spend your money like the Law is watching, pilot your ship like the engine is unstable, and treat your crew like each one of them hides a knife.”

Alex had a baffled expression as he tried to figure out what that meant.

The captain smiled and clapped his other hand on top of Alex’s. “Be careful, Mister Crimson. It’s a dangerous universe out there.”

“I will be. You be careful too. Whoever they were, they were ready for my tricks, so they might have ways to restore their ship’s memory.”

“You don’t need to worry on my account. I’ve been handling the Law and bounty hunters for longer than you’ve been alive. I will handle this too.”

Alex had no doubt of that. “I guess that’s it then. I’m no longer part of your crew.”

“Technically, that only happens once you’ve stepped off the ramp.”

Alex looked at the end of it, five or six steps away, then beyond that, at the station and the planet he couldn’t see. At his future. He smiled to himself and couldn’t wait to get going.

“What?” Anders asked. “Having second thoughts? Not so sure your guy’s going to want you anymore?”

Alex closed his eyes. He could ignore him a little longer. He wasn’t a factor anymore, he was just an annoying piece of—

Who was he kidding?

Alex reached inside his left sleeve as he spun and used the pommel to hit Anders in the stomach. Fingers wrapped around it, he punched him in the face, making him teeter back—and then, just for good measure, Alex kicked him in the nuts.

Anders crumpled to the ground in a ball.

Alex forced him to his back and then knelt, a knee on the man’s chest. He flipped his knife so the point was on Anders’s nose. 

“Listen to me, Anders. I hope you enjoyed all those times you got to order me around, because I don’t have to take it anymore. I’m not killing you right now out of respect for Captain Meron, but you better hope our paths never cross again, because the next time they do, I’m not going to leave anything of you for others to pick up.”

Alex stood, turned, then turned back again to Anders. “Oh, and I removed your access to the computer. That’s something else you don’t get to order around anymore.”

Anders glared at him. “You’re dead,” he croaked.

“Give it your best shot, Anders.” He looked at the captain. “If you value his life, I’d suggest you keep him on the ship.”

The man nodded. “I’d suggest you step off the ramp now. This is getting close to being one of those crew issues I’ll feel forced to intervene in.”

Alex nodded and walked away. He couldn’t believe how good that had felt.