“This can be a good place for you. It has been for many before.”
“And all I have to do is give you my oath that I serve you?
“Correct.”
“And you’ll give me weapons and the location of Stanton Borealis.”
“See for yourself,” Lexton said. She stood up and went to a crate in a far corner. Stacia had noticed it in passing before, but only now did it occur to her that she was looking at an official Galactic Marines-issue heavy weapons crate. Lexton opened a latch to show Stacia the contents: two 808 heavy assault rifles, four Arliss-Mercer plasma pistols, multiple magazines for all six weapons, and two sonic blades that made the knife she’d come here with look like a butter knife. In other words, a standard armament package for Galactic Marines readying for an assault.
Jackpot, she thought. Probably courtesy of Mr. Faust.
She whistled, pretending to be surprised at the crate’s contents. “How did you get this?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Lexton went back to her desk and rummaged around for a particular piece of leather. “Here are the coordinates of where my people believe Borealis to be.”
“If you know where he is, why wait for me to come along? Why haven’t you already sent someone to take him out?”
“It needs to look like I wasn’t involved. I don’t want him to come off as a martyr for his beliefs. If you do it, considering you already have a compelling reason, it won’t necessarily be connected immediately to me.”
“Even though everyone downstairs already say me come up to swear my oath?”
“It’s not the people here you need to convince. It’s the people Borealis has surrounded himself with. Again, it is not your place to ask questions. You either accept or you don’t.” Lexton picked up one of the plasma pistols and aimed it at Stacia’s head.
“And I assume that’s what happens if I don’t?”
“Of course.”
“All that sounds like something I can live with. But there’s one other thing I want before I say yes.”
“That’s ballsy of you, Miss X-79. You aren’t exactly in a position to bargain.”
“Given what I’ve seen so far, and considering that you want me to go further than any of your other recruits, I don’t personally think what I want is too much to ask for.”
“And that would be?”
“The woman I was with before I came in here. I want her.”
“Didn’t you already have her?”
“I want her permanently. I want to take her with me.”
“Really? Do you honestly think I’ll just give you another human being?”
“From what I’ve seen so far? Yes.”
“Ha! Very well. I think maybe I can let this happen just this once.”
“I would like her here now, to ensure she’s part of the deal. I don’t want anyone else doing something with her in the meantime.”
“Fair enough.” Lexton went to open the door, where she found Faust waiting patiently on the other side. “Faust, go get whatever Skin Stacia was playing with earlier.”
Faust looked surprised. “Already? Should I have Quince prepare his saws and scalpels?”
Stacia had to fight not to turn green at that comment.
“No, no, not yet. She just wanted a little something extra to play with while she does her job.”
Faust shrugged. “I’ll be right back with her.”
Stacia stayed sitting in her seat as Lexton went back to her own. “So what do I have to do for this oath?” Stacia asked.
“Simple. Just raise your right hand and say, ‘I swear my allegiance to the Lord Commander Lexton.”
“Wait, that’s it? No blood ceremony, no bomb in my neck in case I betray you?”
“If you betray me, I kill you, that simple. And I don’t send any of my people to do the job. I do it myself, in as public a fashion as possible. Someone tries something every so often, and once I’m finished with them, everyone else gets the hint. Effective and uncomplicated at the same time. So do you swear?”
Stacia heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the hall from behind her, one the heavy step of someone in armor, and the other the barely perceptible patter of someone barefoot and trying not to give anyone around her a reason to be angry. Stacia dropped her left hand out of Lexton’s sight while raising her right. “I swear my allegiance to Lord Commander Lexton.”
“Good.” Lexton set her plasma pistol on the desk, making sure to still keep it within easy reach. “It would probably be best if as few people see you go as possible.”
Stacia stood up and inspected the remaining contents of the crate. Although she had her back to the rest of the room, she kept very close track of the sounds. Lexton didn’t immediately reach for her gun, but neither did she relax her posture. In Stacia’s opinion, the woman had gotten extremely rusty, given the century plus she’d been away from the Galactic Marines and what looked like the complacency of unchallenged power. But she wasn’t a complete idiot, either. She knew that if Stacia was going to do something stupid, it would be now.
Stacia picked up and pretended to inspect a pistol, as though she didn’t already know exactly what it was and what it was capable of.
Surreptitiously, Stacia clicked off the safety.
My mamas always did tell me I could stand to use a few more brain cells, she thought.
The twin footsteps ceased just inside the door. It sounded like the Skin was just inside the threshold while Faust was outside. Kind of a dumb tactical choice for him. The Shellheads on this planet really had forgotten where they came from.
“It’s going to be kind of hard to get out unseen with all the people downstairs. Do you have another way out?”
“No. Not unless you count the chute I use for the dead bodies.” There was a clicking noise from behind Stacia as Lexton grabbed her gun. “By the way, I know you think you were being cute, but it really was a dumb move.”
“What?” Stacia asked, not daring to move. “I don’t…”
“You hid your other hand. While you were swearing.”
“So? That’s not…”
“You had your fingers crossed.”
All four people stood in absolute silence for half a second.
Then there was chaos.
Chapter 7
Barroom Blitz
Stacia realized almost too late that there was no way Lexton would leave the other plasma pistols primed with a full charge when she had any doubt at all as to someone’s loyalty. Had this not occurred to her, Stacia might have wasted time trying to shoot Lexton and getting nothing but a face full of burning hot plasma for her efforts. Instead, as she spun around to face Lexton, she used the pistol in her hand as a hammer, smashing it into the blank side of Lexton’s face. Lexton’s intended killshot went to the side, burning through a stack of leather sheets. Stacia’s neural implants went hot, instantly assessing the situation, and telling her that she had been wrong about her assumptions regarding Faust. He hadn’t put himself in a bad place at all. Instead, with the doorframe around him and the Skin in front of him as a human shield, Faust had her at a distinct disadvantage. Fortunately for Stacia, he was also armed with the wrong kind of weapon for close quarters combat. He tried to aim his heavy 808 at Stacia, but it was too bulky for him to get a good shot around the Skin.
Stacia took advantage of that awkward moment to make another swing at Lexton, this time trying to batter the pistol out of her hand. It worked, and the gun hit the floor and skidded beneath the desk. Stacia had hoped it would be where she could easily grab it, but at least for the moment, it wasn’t where Lexton could quickly get it either. Realizing the guns in the crate were practically useless to her at the moment, Stacia grabbed one of the sonic blades, activated the trigger in its hilt, and took a swipe at Lexton. Whatever implants Lexton was running in her head would be horribly out of date, but they still allowed her to duck and roll backward to avoid Stacia’s attack.