A New Home

Chapter 2 – A New Home

Goveni was waiting for Iro at the door. He gestured to a small lobby, complete with two old Earth style lawn chairs and a kevplast table; the old friends entered and sat. When Goveni produced two opalescent hardlight glasses and a silver flask, Iro’s gut sank past his boots. The only time Goveni ever offered free booze, Iro had discovered (the painful way), was right before he forced you to part with at least an arm and a leg.

“Your Federation friends fried your FoldGen, Iro. Damn near took out all the ship’s onboard automation, and they tanked your life support too! I can’t remember the last time you brought her in so torn up, you ass!”

The old greasemonkey poured a clear spirit into each of the lowballs; the men tapped hardlight together, a few stray rays popping from the collision. Iro knocked his glass back – moonshine, pungent and loud all the way down, warmed his gut.

“I like to keep you on your toes, old-timer. What can I say, Emiskara has us expanding patrols further into Fed space. I don’t like it either.”

“Well this shitshow is gonna cost you big time. And I don’t want your credits, oh no. You gotta get me another decade booster. I’m startin to feel the slow down, the deterioration. Bad ’nough I never got no kids of my own to pass this place on to, and whose fault is that, Doc?”

“Goveni, you know as well as I do that I won’t find a ten-year anywhere outside of core Fed systems. Tell you what, I gotta fiver stashed in the VanRoss. Trade you straight up, and you know those repairs didn’t cost a cry near what that same fiver would catch if I took it to market in GT.”

“Tch. Yeah fine, whatever cheapskate. Pony up before you go or I’ll shoot your damn pile o’ trash outta space myself!”

“That I don’t doubt.”

Iroshine laughed, stood up and pat the old man’s shoulder.

“Crew in the back? Got business to discuss.”

“Yup, they’re all yours. Except Daemos, I sent that rat-faced twit to Gren Tallis for a few parts.”

Iro nodded. Daemos’s absence wasn’t much of a loss for the coming discussion.

“So, whaddya think?” Goveni shook his lowball at Iro before pouring himself another.

“Better than the gin, but you still haven’t beat that one banana whiskey.” Iro set the hardlight on the table, where it dissolved. “Catch you on the way out.”

Iro stopped at the garage’s threshold, “Oh, and one more thing – there’s a kid in the VanRoss. Make sure he doesn’t run off, alright?”

***

The crew listened as Iroshine relayed the day’s events to them. As usual, the table quickly devolved into several simultaneous conversations, at least one argument and about a dozen complaints of “too many strays”. Xi, the bright-eyed drone wiz and resident sweet tooth, was first to break through the racket. A shorter, slight-statured human hailing from Enceladus, Xi was one of their more recent recruits, a stowaway fleeing their past life as a drone fight gambling addict; they were anxious to review the combat data. Ullenon, as expected, was dying to scan Cheno’s BL drives, and with the treatment course Iroshine laid out for the young man’s arm, there was little point in the crew resisting the addition of one more passenger. Besides, of the Ghosthopper’s six newcomers only Toma had stuck around after the scuffle with the Fed ship, and he’d been adopted in as the ship’s cook.

The crew agreed that Emiskara could post bounty by the evening if Ullenon was able to recover proof that Oka had murdered the boy’s sister. They were just about to break when Hana, the ex-Fed Fold runner extraordinaire, loosed an exaggerated “ohhh!”

“I remember the name now! Roya as in Ettae-Roya, one of the first corporations to mass produce life extenders… didn’t they flop after The Discovery?”

No wonder the name had rung a bell. If Hana was right, Cheno had a cursed name and few friends, though he couldn’t possibly understand why. Oka must’ve been gambling that the kid still had ties to some deep pockets, but a ransom attempt would’ve doomed the Triad to discovery. There was no way Emiskara would let this go unpunished. Ullenon jumped to their feet, eyes sparkling with a mischievous grin.

“I’ve gotta go talk to the kid. I’m sure he’d be just delighted to help bring about Oka’s demise.”

Iroshine nodded, and with that the remaining crew descended back into chatter. Plans for their cut once they nailed Oka, thoughts on what good a kid could be on their ship. After a few minutes, Iro excused himself, muttering about debts to be paid.

***

Goveni was waiting for Iroshine in the lobby still. The hardlight lowball had doubled in height, as had the latest pour of moonshine. The mechanic had activated the table’s security feeds and watched (through the lens of a microdrone, no doubt) as Ullenon walked to the VanRoss. Iro knocked on the door frame as he walked in.

“Am I interrupting something, old man?”

Goveni glowered back. “Only doing as you asked, chum.” He took a lengthy draft of the ‘shine before walking to a mechanic’s stool, huffing as he sat. “I hate this shit, so let’s get it over with, eh?”

Iroshine prepped the fiver for injection. “You know they say it gets easier with age…”

A grunt from the old-timer, who was now baring his back towards the doctor.

“Alright, countdown from five for me, Goveni.”

“You know that trick ain’t necessary, Iro. Just jab me already.”

Iro plunged the needle into Goveni’s spine, a thick serum of life extending nanotech slowly flowed from Iro’s final capsule. Only a few of the Ghosthopper’s crew relied on LEs, Iro included, but they’d all reupped in the last year; Goveni’s price almost felt like a freebie, since the old-timer knew he could’ve called on any number of owed favors to get his hands on a few more years. Normally Iro would have fought tooth and nail to keep his last extender, but Iro’s gut told him that Emiskara would set the crew on another raid soon enough. The next haul of extenders could wait though; Oka had to be dealt with first, and knowing Emiskara, it wouldn’t be pretty.

Goveni cleared his throat. “Still with me Shine? That needle hurts like a mother–“

“Careful old man, wouldn’t want my hand to slip.”

“Agreed. Tell me we’re almost done?”

“I haven’t even started yet!”

Iro laughed as he slowly removed the injector. Goveni spun around in his stool, glowering at Iro.

“You’ve got shit bedside manners, doc.”

“If I had ten creds for every time I’ve heard that one…” Iro clasped his hand on the mechanic’s shoulder. “Say, you got any working speeders in this junkyard?”

“If you weren’t my best customer, I’d kick your ass Iroshine. What’cha looking for?”

“Well the way the boy tells it, Oka’s gone and lost his damn mind. Killed the kid’s sister. I’ll cut you into the bounty if you can lend me a few landspeeders, shielded.”

“There ain’t no such thing as borrowing with you Iro. But I gotta couple I can sell ya, say a 60-40 split?”

“Lemme see what you’ve got and then we can talk percentages.”

At this, the old fox grinned, springing to his feet with a notable pep in his step.

“Let’s go look out back.”

***

To call Goveni’s lot a junkyard might have been a bit unfair, Iro realized as they walked into a hangar with no less than twenty speeders, most in surprisingly good condition.

Seeing Iro’s eyes widen, the mechanic gave a hearty laugh. “Updated the stock quite a bit since the last time the cat dragged you in.”

Iroshine approached a trio of Fyra-J speeders. Their retro frames sported some fairly high-end tech: personal shielding, dual micro-missile pods, and most importantly, triple V antigravity pad thruster combos. Iro loved the sleek profile, and with the Ghosthopper’s limited space, their minimal footprint meant they could afford to store them, assuming there was anything left to store. Speeders tend to have a much shorter lifespan than the VanRoss with this crew.

“I’ll take all three, if you can part ways with ‘em.”

“You let me know how big that bounty is and then we’ll talk.”

******

Cheno waited for his rescuer to enter the shop, desperately holding back tears while the waves of sorrow and pain crashed into him. Alone now, Cheno’s levees could no longer contain the raging sea within; the teen wailed into the seat of the speeder. All he could see was Viatella. He couldn’t believe that he could still be alive without his sister, that he was the last living Roya and he didn’t even try to argue with her before she sacrificed everything for him, again. How could he be so selfish? They should’ve died together! Cheno could’ve fought too, but the terror he felt then still ate away at his soul now and he knew in that moment he’d be weak forever, too weak to save Viatella, too weak to save himself. What would’ve happened if this Shine person hadn’t found Cheno when he did? Then Via’s last gift to Cheno would’ve been an even bigger waste. Cheno pounded his fists into the seat, forgetting his wound in the fit of agony and rage. He screamed as the still forming flesh that covered his arm ripped again from the force of the blow. The world went dark.

When Cheno came to, he thought he was back in the field. The sound of Viatella firing a slag cannon reverberated through him. Someone new was hovering over him. Pirates? Scrambling backwards and away from the stranger, Cheno opened his mouth to scream. The pirate, maybe realizing that he’d terrified the kid, backed away and raised his hands with a non-threatening wave and a smile. Cheno, realizing that he was still in the groundskimmer and the workshop loomed behind the newcomer, took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. As his heart dropped back down from his throat, Cheno gave the probably-not-a-pirate another once over. Maybe he wasn’t even a he? Cheno’s face must’ve projected his confusion as the stranger broke the silent stand-off.

“Hey… Cheno right? Cap told us what happened to you and your sister. I’m sorry to frighten you, can we try that again? My names Ullenon, but my friends call me Noni. I work with Iroshine, the man who was piloting the VanRoss.”

Cheno nodded, about a thousand questions flooding his brain simultaneously.

“I noticed you’re sporting some high end broadlight tech, now don’t worry I’m not here to steal it, but there is a chance that we can dig into your records and find some information about the people who attacked you. Cap asked me to see what I can pull so we can take it to Emiskara, possibly get a bounty out and then go after these guys, find out why they did this. If that’s alright with you, I’d only need to take one of your BL receivers for a short while.” Ullenon looked at Cheno expectantly.

Cheno knew he had backup receivers, and if there was a chance it could bring the pirates that killed Viatella down, it was worth risking his privacy. He slid his hand over his optical implants and verified the request to eject one of the receivers. Ullenon held out a small capture pad for Cheno to place the receiver. Cheno hesitated.

“How do I know you won’t snoop past today? I don’t know any of you or why you’re helping me…” Cheno faltered. Tears were welling up again. “I’m… I’m alone now and I don’t know what to do.” He dropped the chip into Ullenon’s waiting hand.

“Listen Cheno, you’re not alone. You’ve got some lucky stars to thank that of all the people to find you, it was Iroshine. I don’t think there’s a person on the Ghosthopper that doesn’t owe the man their lives. If he’s got your back, we’ve all got your back. We can’t replace what you’ve lost but we’re not gonna send a kid to die out there alone, ok?”

Cheno choked back a sob. He hopped out of the groundskimmer, nearly falling face first as his foot caught the edge of the VanRoss. Without thinking, he rushed Ullenon and squeezed them in a hug. Noni clasped the BL drive receiver shut and wrapped their arms around Cheno. A squeak escaped from the boy, and the floodgates burst open; Cheno cried into his newfound companion’s chest. The pair stood there for a few minutes until Cheno got his breathing back under control. Ullenon knew how the boy felt; they’d lost their twin brother to Federation officers about a decade back. Audible growls emanated from the kid’s stomach, it didn’t take long for Ullenon to notice the uneaten nutrient bar still sitting in the back. As Cheno released his death grip on Ullenon, they looked at each other and laughed at the absurdity of the moment. With a light-hearted scowl towards to uneaten bar (no doubt whatever Iro had had in his pocket), Ullenon sighed and started for the shop.

“Oh ‘Shine and his damn bars… he’d have poor Toma in a real rage if word got back that’s what he left you with out here. Let’s get you inside Goveni’s and whip up something proper for you to eat.”