CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The amount they could accomplish when they had a set goal was surprising.
It told Xaber that they’d been operating without one for far too long.
They talked as they walked, working through ideas until they had a solid plan for convincing Tix to stay on board as part of the crew as well as part of their lives.
They had one more stop left, and then they’d head back to the ship to start putting the pieces in place. They couldn’t simply tell Tix what she meant to them. They had to show her.
They walked into Flek’s Diner during a period that was usually quiet. The place had a few customers scattered around the tables, but everyone was busy talking with their friends, eating their meal, or both.
Good. That meant Flek would be free to talk for a few minutes.
The alien saw them immediately and waved them over. “You are here! Good. Good. No need to message now.”
“Is it my imagination, or are his thorns twitching?” Mace sent through their link.
“He is definitely agitated about something. Stay frosty.”
Xaber smiled and raised a hand in greeting. “Hey, Flek. You were going to call us? Everything okay?”
“All is fine for me. You here, so no need to call.” Flek pointed to an empty table near the back of the restaurant. “Sit with me. I have a job to discuss with you.”
“You do? That’s great. We came by to tell you that we’re ready to start taking on work in a day or so.”
“Good timing then,” Flek said. Then he picked up a datapad and made his way to the empty table.
They followed him and took their seats on one side of the table. To his surprise, Flek sat down too.
That was new.
The proprietor activated the sound-dampening field and waited for the system to activate. Then he spoke. “I have job for you. It pays well… but there will be complications.”
“What’s the job?” Xaber asked.
“And what makes it complicated?” Mace asked.
Flek didn’t answer their questions. Without a word, he tapped at the data tab and then set it down on the table between them.
The screen was large enough that he had a clear view of the photo displayed. He leaned over anyway because he didn’t believe what he saw.
Mace sat beside him, his entire body completely still.
The photo was of a human female with dark skin and long, black hair styled into braids that started close to her scalp and fell down her back and out of view. The female’s face was fuller than it was now, but there was no mistaking who it was. Tix.
Only that wasn’t the name displayed beneath the picture.
“Tishna Vay?” Mace read the name out loud. “Her name isn’t Tix?”
“She lied to us.” Xaber waited for the anger to hit. He’d welcome a wave of white-hot rage because it would burn away the tangled knot of feelings that sat in the center of his chest.
Mace thumped his fist on the table and glared at him. “I’m not stupid. It’s obvious that she lied. I meant that it’s not much of a name change. She should have picked something different from her real name.”
Despite the frustrated look Mace gave him, his batch-brother sounded calm, even thoughtful.
Xaber glared back, not sure what was going on. Why wasn’t Mace angry? Why wasn’t he?
“You’re not mad?”
Mace shrugged. “I’m pissed that she lied to us. She should have told us the truth. We didn’t know she needed protecting. Now we do.”
Xaber looked down at the datapad again. There she was, the female he trusted enough to invite into his bed and into his life. The mechanic who had done so much more than repair their ship. She’d fixed their lives.
He didn’t need to be angry right now. He needed answers.
He picked up the tablet and read everything in the file. It didn’t take long.
The fury he had craved came once he was finished. But Tix, or Tishna, or whatever she wanted to call herself, wasn’t the target anymore. Someone had a lot to answer for.
He set the datapad down with care, despite wanting to throw it across the room. “This entire thing is bullshit. There’s no way she’d do any of this. Assault? Theft? That’s not who she is.”
“Show me.”
Mace held out his hand, and Xaber passed the device over. Then he scrubbed his hands over his face as if that might help him sort through this mess faster.
Tishna Vay was a runaway slave. Someone owned her. She was property, just like he and Mace had been. Re’veth. That’s why she understood them so well. She’d lived it. Was still living it. And she hadn’t trusted them enough to tell them, because of what they did for a living.
Mace snarled. “That explains why she didn’t react well when she found out we were bounty hunters. She was afraid we’d turn her in.” He handed the device back to Flek. “How long has this been on the job boards?”
Flek lifted both hands and wiggled them side to side in a gesture Xaber didn’t understand.
“Before I answer questions, I have one for you. Will you take the job?”
“No!” Mace barked the word.
“We won’t,” Xaber agreed.
Flek leaned back from the table, looking pleased. “Good. Good. Now I tell you the answers you need. This is not on the bounty board yet. Not here. Other places, yes. Here?” He grinned, revealing a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth. “Not yet. I tell you first.”
“No one else on the station knows about this?” Xaber asked.
Flek pointed at his thorny chest. “I am good at my job. I am what you call an information broker. Yes? Pizza does not pay for this place. Did not pay for last place, either. Not many know. Some guess. Some I tell.”
Xaber nodded. That made sense. So much so that he felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. It explained a lot about this place and its owner. “So, you deal in information. What else can you tell us about this situation?”
“That is a good question. The one who brought her to Defiance works for a friend. A good friend. When she learned of the delivery, she sent me a message. Asked me to watch over a runaway female named Tix. That message came later. By then, I knew she was safe because she was with you. I thought it would be easy job.” Flek flicked the data tab. “Then that arrived. Less easy.”
“You knew about her.”
“I did. But I didn’t tell anyone. It was no one’s business but hers. I assumed she’d tell you, eventually. For the record, that is not the kind of information I sell.”
For a moment, the Jeskyran’s syntax smoothed into perfect Galactic Common. Xaber decided not to comment. Apparently, Flek had secrets, too.
“Thank you for protecting her,” he said.
Flek nodded. “Is your job now. Yes? You will keep her safe?”
“We will.” He and Mace said it at the same time, and it came out more like a vow than a confirmation.
“Good. Then you need two things. The first is information. The male she stole from is not the one who put out the bounty. An insurance agency did that. I believe they must want to speak to your female about what happened. It explains why the bounty can only be claimed if she’s alive and unharmed. That’s not a common stipulation.”
“There wasn’t anything in the file about an insurance company,” Mace said.
Flek pointed at his chest again. “I already say that I do business in information. If you want to protect her, find out what they want to know. Maybe give it to them. My suggestion only. You do what you want.”
“That’s a good suggestion,” Mace said.
“What’s the other thing we need?” Xaber asked.
The Jeskyran glanced around. When he saw no one was looking at them, he moved the control on the table, and the sound-dampening field darkened and then went opaque.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Xaber said.
“You cannot. I can.” Flek flashed them a smile. Then he reached down and pulled something out of a pouch tied to his loincloth. “If you want to keep her safe, you will need this.” He set a small vial full of a silvery liquid on the table.
“What?” Mace didn’t say anything more. He simply stared at the item in wonder.
“Is that what I think it is?” Xaber asked. Like Mace, he already suspected what it was, but he needed to be sure.
“Medi-bots. Newest version.”
“How?” Xaber demanded.
“I know beings here. They know me.” The Jeskyran’s syntax shifted again, and this time his posture did, too.
He sat squarely at the table, his bearing almost military as he met Xaber’s gaze.
“This station needs good beings to protect it. I believe the two of you can be part of that plan.” He pointed to the vial.
“This is a gift, no strings attached. But it is also an invitation. I’ve sent the information you need to your comms already. Do what you need. We’ll talk later.”
Xaber picked up the vial and put it in his pocket. “Thank you, my friend.”
Flek nodded and turned off the sound-dampening tech. Then he rose from the table. His speech and body language were already back to normal. “Yes. Friends. Good. Now. I make more pizza. Lunch rush will come soon. No one goes hungry at Flek’s.”
“Today has been full of surprises,” Mace sent to him over their link.
“Too many. Let’s go find our mechanic before any more surprises happen.”
Mace held up his comm. “I’m calling her right now.”
Five seconds later, Xaber was on his feet.
“She’s not answering,” Mace said.
“I see that.” It was probably nothing. There was a long list of rational reasons she hadn’t responded.
Mace pushed back from the table and stood. “We should get back to the ship.”
He was going to suggest they ping her location, but they’d never added her device to their network because one or both of them were usually with her.
The promenade seemed impossibly busy as they dodged and weaved their way through the crowd.
“Why isn’t she answering her comm?” Mace said aloud.
“It could be anything. The most likely reason is that she’s doing that interface thing with Livy.
You know she doesn’t sense anything going on in the real world when she’s in cyberspace.
Or she could be working on something and couldn’t answer right away.
The odds are we’ll get there and she’ll be going about her day with no idea there is even a problem. ”
Mace shook his head, unconvinced. “What if she does know? Flek can’t be the only information broker on the station. Hell. What if he had warned her already? He only told us the rest after we confirmed we wouldn’t turn her in. If he was worried about her safety…”
Fraxx. That made sense. Which meant she might know about the bounty. If that was the case, she might already be gone.
Xaber sped up, moving from a fast walk to a run. Mace fell in beside him. If she had any doubts about them, she’d run. That’s what he’d do because life had taught him not to rely too much on other beings. They’d talked about it that morning at breakfast.
“If she’s not there…” Mace sent through their link. As if he didn’t want to jinx them by saying it out loud.
“She’ll be there.” And if she wasn’t? They wouldn’t stop until she was back where she belonged.
With them.