Home > The Rush's Edge

The Rush's Edge
Author: Ginger Smith

 

ONE

The young blonde had been drinking heavily all night. Halvor Cullen had been watching her for a while, noticing that the same two guys kept coming back to her table, but getting turned down each time. Hal was about to get up and suggest they get lost when she sent them away once again, and they looked visibly pissed. Hal grinned, glad she was able to handle herself, despite looking like she’d just gotten off a luxury starliner from the Inner Spiral. He was working himself up to talking to her when Ty’s contact arrived.

Hal’s captain, Tyce, was hoping to get a tip on a prime salvage location. After they’d both left the Armed Services of the Coalition of Allied Systems – the ACAS – Ty had bought a freighter, the Loshad, and they’d been salvaging technology past the Edge’s border as an independent contractor for LanTech ever since. Most of their haul was usually legit but they sold some of the forbidden-to-salvage items on the black markets of Seljin and Vesbra when they thought they could get away with it. With the profits from both, they were always able to keep their old J-class ship in food and fuel for the next run.

Sometimes ships that crossed the border line without permission would bring back tips about salvage areas, information that could be bought for the right amount of scrill. Their contact tonight claimed to have the location of a crashed Mudar ship, the ultimate score for a salvage team. AI tech paid handsomely when it could be recovered. There was one problem with the guy, however: he was a null addict. Hal knew right away from the fine trembling in his hands and the twitching of his left eye. He wasn’t sure Tyce had picked up on it, though. Sometimes natural-borns didn’t see all the details a vat could. Hal caught Ty’s eye during a lull in the conversation and gave him the “no-go” signal. Tyce nodded and began to pull back from the deal they were making.

Then the blonde woman swayed and fell off her chair. Hal jumped to attention.

“Hal?” Ty asked, watching as his friend focused his eyes across the room.

The contact, obviously irritated, slammed his hand on the bar. “Hey, I was talkin’ here!”

“Shut the hell up,” Tyce said, trying to peer through the crowd to see what Hal was watching so intently. “Hal?”

“Those guys grabbed that girl, Tyce,” he said, and he was off, pushing through the crowd.

“Shit.”

When Ty hit the alleyway, he saw that Hal was in the middle of a full-blown rush. His friend had taken on the biggest man first, of course, while the other one had pulled a small blaspistol and was trying to angle for a good shot on Hal. The girl was dumped on the space station decking, and Ty could see that she wasn’t going anywhere on her own.

“Drop the blaster,” Ty said.

The smaller man was focused on Hal so intently that he hadn’t seen Ty get the draw on him. He turned slowly, looking down the barrel of Ty’s weapon.

“Drop it,” Ty said.

It appeared that the would-be kidnapper wasn’t as committed as his partner, because his short-barreled PLP-20 clattered immediately to the ground. “Look, I got no problems with you,” said the thug. “All we came for was the girl.”

“What do you want with her?” Ty asked.

The man glared, unwilling to answer.

Tyce checked in briefly with Hal, who was holding his own. Naturally. Hal just finished punching his opponent in the ribs, before the larger man countered with a fist to Hal’s jaw. Ty’s eyes flicked back dangerously to the red-and-blue haired punk-ass in front of him.

“You’re not taking anyone with you tonight,” Ty said. “Go. And maybe I won’t shoot you. You can come back for what’s left of your friend later.” The thug glared at him a moment, then took off.

Ty turned back to Hal again. The fist fight had turned into a knife fight; the large man had pulled a viblade to even the odds. Hal was bleeding from a cut on his forearm and trying to avoid being stabbed again. Ty raised his blaspistol, but there was no need as Hal executed a swift movement with one hand on each side of his opponent’s knife hand that sent the weapon flying. Then he quickly closed distance. They struggled, then Hal got the giant in a headlock. Despite his opponent desperately trying to wriggle himself free, after only a few seconds the man’s eyes were rolling back in his head and his feet were kicking at the space station’s decking. Ty holstered his weapon as Hal finally let the unconscious man sink to the ground.

Ty edged toward the victor. “You OK?”

“Yeah! Best thing I’ve done all week.” Hal was buoyant – coasting on the rush. Vats craved the rush like natural-borns craved air. Ty knew that Hal needed outlets for his excess energy, and their salvage trip the past two weeks had clearly not offered enough excitement. He’d been expecting Hal to get into a fight all night long, just for something to do. He was proud that his best friend hadn’t given in to the temptation until there was a reason, though. And a very good reason, clearly. “What about the second guy?” Hal asked, looking around for another crack at the whip.

“I talked him into leaving. He decided it was better than a blaster bolt to the chest. Hey, uh, I see your arm, but how much of that blood on your shirt – and pants – is yours?” Ty asked as they walked back over to the blonde woman.

“I dunno. Twenty percent?” Hal said, blotting his scraped knuckles on his pants. Ty could see his arm wore the worst of the damage. Hal yanked the hem of his shirt to wipe the blood away. It wasn’t too deep and was already starting to coagulate. He’d be fine.

“OK, then.” They both knelt by the young woman. Ty checked her pulse. It was slow – too slow – but it was steady.

“Shit, she’s bruised up.” Hal said softly, turning the girl’s face towards them. Her eye and cheek were black and purple – injuries that clearly hadn’t just been inflicted but were at least a day old.

“Let’s get her over toward the entrance so we can see better,” Ty said.

They left the unconscious thug on the ground, and Hal picked up the girl, cradling her against his chest.

When they reached the entrance, Hal settled her upright on the nearest bench and she began to wake up a little. “Ma’am. Are you alright?” Tyce asked as she blinked at him.

“You can’t route the signal that way,” she said sleepily, resting her head back against the wall. “Use the Bken protocol.”

Tyce and Hal shared a glance. “She’s not making much sense,” Ty said.

“Those guys probably put something in her drink,” Hal replied.

“Or dosed her with a medjet.”

“Can’t use creds,” she opened her eyes and looked at Hal as if she were explaining something very important. “It’s Echo. They see. They see everything. Scrill only.” Then she passed out.

“We can’t leave her here, Cap,” Hal said. “Those two might come back for her.”

“Everything OK?” The bouncer that had been at the door when they’d arrived took up his place again, eyeing the two of them suspiciously.

“We’re fine,” Ty said. “Our friend here had a little too much to drink.” He gestured to the girl. “We’re just trying to figure out the best way to get her home.”

“Let’s see some ID.” Another bouncer, less athletic, but still imposing, joined the thickly muscled man. He had a handheld ID validation scanner.

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