Galactic Bandits 2 Read online

  Regan groaned. Sadly, this made more sense. If the governments back home had taught him anything, it was that corruption ran deep, and that the richest sycophants had the strongest connections.

  Dammit, Calico.

  He faced Reverie. “They’re frozen, so we’ve got plenty of time to figure out a better solution. For now, I need you to identify which species we should release to build our crew. When Arkei returns and opens up her ship’s loading bay, we’ll start moving the pods in, and worry about integrating them into our group later.”

  Just then, Arkei entered, overhearing the end of what Regan had said.

  “About that… I’m a little concerned regarding the size of my loading bay.” She idly scratched her head as she looked at the growing pile of loot just outside the entrance. “We’re bringing too much stuff, and my ship’s just not big enough.”

  Straya and Bob arrived right behind her, walking alongside floating trailer beds full of weapons, electronics, and other treasures.

  Straya stood before her trailer, as if defending it.

  “This is good stuff,” she stated. “If we need to pick only one platform, mine will give us the best value. I chose items that we can sell off for good money while not taking up too much of our inventory space.”

  Arkei pleaded her case, “But we need to hold on to a few weapons too. Some of these we couldn’t even buy on the black market.”

  “Guys, that’s why we should use the other ship!” Bob shouted in return. “I’ve been telling you there’s a bigger ship, yet you all keep ignoring me!”

  Regan considered this for a moment. Here he thought Bob was having another episode. Could he really have stumbled across the greatest loot of all?

  “Bob, let me get this straight. You’re saying you found another ship—not just Arkei’s ship?”

  Bob gaped at Regan, looking rather offended.

  “What have I been saying this whole time?” he exclaimed. He then pointed at Arkei. “You think because she messed up my brain that I can’t remember anything? I get that I’m having some difficulties here and there, but come on, cut me some slack!”

  “Okay, okay,” Regan began. “Show us this ship.”

  “Finally!” Bob waved at them to follow him.

  Straya removed Calico from the post, mumbling, “Just in case she comes in handy again,” then the whole group followed Bob. He led them to a hatch that opened up to a long hallway.

  Regan inspected the hallway they walked down, peering through the many open doors on both sides of them. Those that were open revealed luxurious and sporty small ships and vehicles.

  Regan looked at Arkei.

  “How come you didn’t check out this hallway?” he asked. “You must have known about it.”

  Arkei nodded. “Sure, I knew about it, but Mephistopheles wasn’t one to have large ships. He liked to travel in style, but still wanted to stay under the radar regarding size, so he stuck to small crafts. Nothing that could hold us all.”

  Like a collection of sports cars. But then what the hell is Bob talking about?

  Then they saw it. At the very end of the hallway was a huge hangar housing a massive space yacht. It was ten times the size of Arkei’s ship, and gorgeous to boot.

  The sides were sleek and detailed with designs. It had sweeping windows and even a large deck up top with a significant balcony.

  Even with all the alien settings he’d explored, this yacht was the most beautiful thing he’d come across. Regan couldn’t guess what something like this would cost, but he grew excited realizing that it would soon be his.

  This is mine. Holy. Shit.

  In fact, the ship was so big that Regan assumed Mephistopheles had constructed this entire hangar just to house it. The hanger was a huge circular room with a glass ceiling.

  Arkei confirmed this assumption, saying, “Well, that’s new.”

  Bob looked from the bottom of the ship all the way up to the sky, his eyes wide.

  “Holy crap, guys!” he shouted. “It’s another ship!”

  Regan laughed. The poor guy had managed to remember the yacht just long enough to get them there, only to completely forget about it the moment it was in front of his eyes.

  “It’s all good, Bob,” he said. “Once again, I owe you an apology.”

  “Well, I think there’s no question that we’re changing ships!” Straya announced inside the large echoing room.

  The ship clearly impressed Arkei, but Regan could sense something was off about her. She didn’t light up the way she had when they found the weapons.

  “What’s up?” Regan asked her.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “Come on, what is it?”

  “It’s just… my ship…” she started. “She and I have been through so much together. I know she isn’t the best ship in the galaxy, but she has always been reliable. Now we’re just gonna ditch her for this gaudy thing?”

  Regan supposed trading in one ship for another wasn’t as easy as it was in War Games 2. It was more than just a ship to her; it had been her home.

  Even Regan had nostalgic memories aboard her ship, but the yacht was too good to pass up.

  “Maybe we could dock it into the yacht?” Regan tried. “Or we could program it to follow us?”

  Straya then showed up and put her arms around both of them.

  “Or we could let the past stay in the past and accept the upgrade we have at our fingertips,” she suggested. “This ship is bigger, faster, more comfortable, more reliable, and all around better in every way. Time to say goodbye to the junker, Arkei. Time to say hello to style and power!”

  Regan, even though he agreed, thought her words were a bit harsh. But it was just Straya’s style. He appreciated her directness, and Arkei seemed to know that she was right, as she nodded in agreement.

  “Okay,” Arkei said, though her voice lacked any enthusiasm.

  And once again, as they discussed their plans, Calico interrupted the group with a message of her own.

  “You all look rather infatuated with the new ship. But tell me, who’ll fly it?”

  “I can fly it,” Straya said at the same time that Arkei said, “Me, no problem.”

  The ladies looked at each other.

  “Certainly it’s just standard fare,” Arkei continued.

  “Right, it can’t be that hard,” Straya chimed in.

  Calico laughed. “You have no idea. And you might never know, since none of you can get in.”

  They all collectively realized she might be right. Mephistopheles no doubt had tons of security protocols in place.

  “So what are you suggesting?” Straya asked Calico.

  Calico returned to her familiar coy pose, twirling her long tail.

  “I’m suggesting you need me,” Calico said. “Maybe more than you realize.”

  “Bullshit,” Arkei said. “We can figure out how to get in and how to fly it. I’ll pry it open if I have to.”

  “Maybe,” Calico said. “But you don’t have much time to figure it out.”

  The group all stood still and looked at her in silence. And in that moment, Calico looked a bit too comfortable. She knew something the rest didn’t, and Regan was done with her shit.

  “What are you saying?” he asked firmly, looking her straight in the eyes.

  “I’m saying that there’s a ship on its way here now,” Calico said. “Bob saw it just a few minutes ago, in fact. But you all disregarded him.”

  They all looked at Bob, who pointed up at the glass ceiling.

  “I said I saw a ship,” he said. “And I’m not talking about this yacht.”

  Calico laughed. “And you also disregarded the alarm earlier, silencing it in your glee to keep stealing.”

  Arkei went to a control panel and reengaged the security alerts. She saw now that it was more than just a false alarm. “Yeah, maybe I should have read the alert more carefully. There’s another ship in the atmosphere.”

  Straya glared at Calico. “You g
onna tell us who it is?”

  “It’s a client who’s on his way to pick something up,” Calico said. “Mephistopheles had an appointment with him today.”

  “What type of client?” Regan asked.

  “The mobster Salvato.” Calico smirked. “Well, it’s either him, or a bunch of his henchmen. Regardless, you won’t be greeted too kindly for what you’ve done to the place, or to Mephistopheles. He owed the mob a significant debt, and now that he’s dead… Well, someone will have to answer for it.”

  Regan couldn’t tell if Calico was bullshitting them or not. She had lied to him so many times before, making him inclined not to trust anything she said again. But this was serious. The alarm had gone off, and Bob had claimed he saw a ship.

  Calico, even though her hands were bound, stretched out on the ground and made herself look comfortable. She smiled and began licking her arms, as if giving herself a cat bath.

  “But don’t believe me if you don’t want to,” she said. “I don’t care. I’m sure they’ll pity me and my situation. But I can’t say the same for you.”

  Chapter Three

  So Calico was being a bit of a snarky bitch. But she had also expressed a willingness to help them escape.

  Regan squatted down and addressed Calico face to face. “Let’s assume you’re telling the truth. How much time do we have?”

  “I’m not sure,” Calico said, shrugging innocently. “I never timed how long it took them to land. But I would say not much.”

  “Okay. So what do you want?”

  Calico smiled, and her pouty innocent expression instantly disappeared. She stared straight into his eyes and said, “I want to get off this damn rock as much as you do. Now that Mephistopheles is dead, I’ve no reason to stay. So take off my cuffs, then I’ll cooperate.”

  Calico lifted her wrists toward Regan. He had no time to negotiate with her. Liar or not, she knew how to enter the ship.

  “Okay, team,” Regan said, standing up. “Here’s the deal. Bob, you and Arkei get that loot on board this ship pronto. Reverie, you and I will grab a few cryopods.”

  Regan turned toward Calico and Straya. Though he hesitated, he knew what he had to do. “Calico, you get this ship up and running and show Straya where the controls are. Straya, if she does anything funny, blast her.”

  Bob and Arkei dashed from the room. Regan watched as Straya stepped over Calico and lifted her wrists. The two ladies glared into each other’s eyes for a moment.

  Straya leaned down closer to Calico, her lips near the feline’s ears.

  “Try anything and I’ll make you eat your own tail. You claim to be a princess, so you might not be used to certain torture methods. But trust me, you don’t want to fuck with this pirate.”

  Calico continued to glare at her with wide eyes, but kept her lips tight and her posture straight. She didn’t back down or reply. She just kept glaring.

  Straya unlocked the cuffs.

  She then turned back toward Regan. “All right, we’ll get this beauty up and running while you take care of the cargo.”

  Damn, she’s sexy when she’s in control.

  Regan nodded at Reverie and the two of them dashed out of the hangar.

  Reverie and Regan returned to the specific pods they had been looking at before. Regan had a rough idea of which ones were crew material, but since they had no time, he couldn’t go over the traits of each one again.

  “Just grab the closest ones,” he told Reverie. “However many you can wheel back.”

  She acted right away and began pressing a series of buttons on one pod, then on three more. The sequence resulted in the pods lifting up off the ground, revealing the hover technology built into their base.

  “I can probably handle four of these since they float,” Reverie said.

  Regan nodded. “Good. You take care of them. I need to grab a few things.”

  Reverie nodded and hurried the pods away without question.

  Regan quickly looked around at all the other species and creatures he was leaving behind. He regretted leaving them, but he was out of time. The mobsters were on their way, and he couldn’t be here when they arrived.

  Regan stopped, and even though he was sure the frozen aliens couldn’t hear him, he said, “I’m sorry I have to leave you. I’ll save you as soon as I get the chance.”

  He turned around to check on the status of Arkei and Bob.

  The loot was piled onto the hovering platforms, but Bob was knocking stuff off by either bumping into Arkei’s trailer beds or into walls. He even bumped his platform into an occasional cryopod.

  “Bob!” Regan shouted. “Slow down and get this right! You’re dropping our hard earned shit everywhere.”

  Bob wiped his sweaty forehead. Even though the work wasn’t that difficult, it was becoming clear to Regan that Bob wasn’t accustomed to physical labor. He was in no shape to be moving large equipment around, even if it was controlled via hover technology. The stress was getting to him.

  But before Bob could complain, which Regan knew was about to happen, Arkei stepped in.

  “Regan, don’t worry about us. Do what you need to do. I’ll take care of our skinny friend here.”

  Regan nodded and headed for Mephistopheles’s office, where he soon found his box of belongings.

  It still contained his baseball bat and game controller. He wasn’t sure why he wanted them, but he did. There was something nostalgic about these items from his last night on Earth that he didn’t want to let go.

  He picked them up. And right as he did, another alarm sounded.

  Regan turned and dashed down the hallway toward the ship. He ran right by Bob, Arkei, and the various hovering platforms they were moving toward the cargo bay.

  When he got to the ship, the cargo bay ramp was being lowered. Reverie was standing at the base of it with the four crypods hovering next to her.

  She bounced up and down anxiously while she waited for the large cargo door to reach the ground. And then the alarm stopped.

  Regan figured the mobster’s ship would arrive shortly.

  Straya’s voice came in through the speakers inside the hangar.

  “Let’s get a move on!” she shouted. “They’re close! I shut off the alarm, but that doesn’t mean we have time to waste!”

  As soon as the cargo door reached the ground, Reverie thrust the pods forward—and with a bit too much effort as it turned out. The first one to enter smashed into a large post. The other pods blocked their view of it.

  Reverie looked at Regan. “That can’t be good,” she said.

  But right behind Regan and Reverie came the hovering platforms of loot in front of Bob and Arkei. They had to move, sparing no time to check on their specimen at that point.

  “It’ll be fine,” Regan said to Reverie. “We have to go.”

  “Get to the bridge, we’ll secure the items in the cargo bay!” Arkei shouted at Regan and Reverie. Bob tried to slide by, but Arkei grabbed him with her swift bionic arm and pulled him back. “You’re still helping me,” she said to Bob. “We need to get some muscles on these arms of yours.”

  Regan and Reverie headed for the door that entered the ship. And as soon as Regan stepped inside, he realized he had no idea where he was going. This ship was huge, and it wouldn’t be difficult to get lost.

  He assumed the bridge was toward the front and on a higher level, so that was the direction he led Reverie.

  As he hurried through the ship, he had to ignore just how impressive it was. The hallways were massive. The floors were soft—not carpeted, but not metal planks like Arkei’s ship. Intricate art decorated the place and much of it seemed to move or respond to Regan and Reverie when they passed. Regan wanted to stop and look, but would have to admire the art later.

  The warm lighting filled the entire interior, making everything feel cozy. Regan assumed the lights could dim or brighten upon command.

  Damn, Mephistopheles. Too bad you were a scoundrel and an asshole, because these are some
nice digs you had going for yourself.

  Regan and Reverie climbed several sets of stairs before finally reaching the bridge.

  Just as Regan expected, the bridge was beautiful. It was high tech with screens and controls everywhere, but it was still comfortable. It felt more like a lounge than a command room. The walls on all sides were a reinforced glass, offering a panoramic view. The word ‘modern’ now had a new meaning to Regan.

  I can only imagine what space will look like from this place!

  Straya was seated in the pilot’s chair with Calico standing next to her. The two ladies were having a slightly heated argument over who should be sitting in the pilot’s chair when Regan and Reverie walked in.

  Regan imagined that Straya’s gun was the deciding factor.

  As soon as Straya realized that Regan had entered, she spun her chair around and looked at him.

  “Captain!” she shouted. “We need to move now!”

  Did she just call me Captain?

  But he knew she did. It felt odd, but also pretty badass. He reminded himself about appearances and kept his expression cool. He glanced around the room and saw what was clearly the captain’s chair. After all, he’d seen Star Trek.

  He walked over and took a seat.

  “Make sure those bay doors are closed and then let’s get the hell out of here,” he said.

  The command felt good. And the chair felt even better. It was large and comfortable. It wasn’t leather, but it had a similar texture to it, and Regan felt powerful as he sat in it.

  He then noticed that he still had the bat and controller in his hands. He chuckled.

  How far we have come.

  There was a large basket next to him that he put the items in. He felt right at home.

  Another alarm sounded.

  “They’re here.” Calico gave Straya a stern look.

  “I’m working on it,” Straya hissed.

  “Well, work on it faster!”

  A series of lights flashed as the ship powered up, colors filling the room. It was beautiful. And the engine, whatever type of engine it was, felt nothing like the rattle and hum of Arkei’s ship. It was subtle. And after kicking on, it became impressively silent.