An Alien Entanglement

An Alien Entanglement Pt. 01

Exiting jump space, Ashe immediately received a hail from the planetary system's local space station. As soon as she pressed the receiver button, a message transmitted through her comms:

"This is Hyperion Station, state your purpose in the Antares system and prepare to transmit your spacecraft's registration for inspection."

"

Huh, I just got here and they're already breathing down my neck. Ugh, typical Coalition,

" Ashe thought to herself. Adjusting her headset, she replied, "Er, just returning from a job I took out of system."

"Job? What sort of job were you partaking in? What's the 10-6?"

the operator replied.

"10-6?" Ashe said, scanning her brain for the operation codes. "It was just a contract from a local mining guild," Ashe replied, trying to sound as formal as possible. She didn't like dabbling with the Coalition bureaucracy for too long.

"What kind of contract?"

"Ugh, will this guy get off my back already?!"

Ashe thought in frustration. "I'm a bounty hunter, alright," she revealed. "It was a security contract for The Zantari Mining Guild... erh. Code 20. 20-17? Fuck. I'm just trying to get in-system to collect my payment and I'll be out of your hair, I promise."

The comms remained silent for a few minutes. Ashe begrudgingly waited patiently, fearing that saying anything else would draw this inspection out even longer than it was already taking.

"Understood,"

the operator finally responded.

"Transmit your registration for CSR rundown."

Ashe was very familiar with the acronym the operator was using for the Coalition Spacecraft Registry.

"We got a BH-10-6 doing a 20-17 returning for an 8040, awaiting clearance to let her through,"

the operator said to someone else.

Ashe immediately transmitted her registration and waited another few more minutes for the green "Go" light. Crossing and uncrossing her legs, she tapped her heel on the floor restlessly.

"What the hell is taking so long?!"

she wondered. She was half tempted to just go full throttle and book it into planetary orbit. But she knew that was a stupid idea: the Coalition's fighters would be able to catch up to her spacecraft with relative ease.

After a few more minutes of impatient waiting, her body jolted slightly as her comms finally received the message she felt should have come immediately.

"You're clear to enter orbit. Welcome to Antares IV."

"Fucking finall-," Ashe said into her headset but quickly caught herself. "I mean, thank you! Thank you very much, I'll be on my way."

Engaging her ship's throttle, she zoomed past Hyperion Station, flashing her middle finger at it through her cockpit window. As she dropped down into orbit, she received another call on her personal comms channel. Checking the source of the transmission, her eyes widened on seeing that it was from her fixer, Gemini.

"This is Ashe," she said as she accepted the call.

"Ashe, where the hell are you? I've been expecting you for over an hour," Gemini exclaimed. Ashe shook her head in disbelief that she had been held up by Coalition customs for that long.

"I'm sorry, Gemi. I got caught up with Coalition customs, you know how they are," Ashe explained.

"Yeah, I hear you. Ugh, just get here already. You're lucky that I'm so lenient with you. What would you do without me?" Gemini replied. Ashe just rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"I'll be there in ten." Ashe ended the call.

As her ship descended from the clouds under Ashe's nonchalantly proficient guidance, her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the bustling city below her. As many times as she had been here, she was still impressed by how pretty the city looked from above.

Finding a landing pad, she set her ship down. She got up gratefully from her pilot seat and gathered her gear from her locker. She examined herself in the locker's mirror: she was 5'8". She had piercing green eyes and medium length maroon hair. Her black bodysuit neatly hugged her slim yet curvy body and her shapely eye catching chest. Ashe was well aware of her desirable features. A part of her was proud of her attractiveness; another part saw it as a curse. Her pleasing face and form constantly drew the ogling eyes of sentient beings of a variety of species.

Ashe donned her black body armor with the painted blue accents, grabbed the remainder of her gear, then toggled open the ship's back entry hatch. Picking up her helmet, she excited her ship. Her eyes instantly watered in reaction to the pungent smell of the city. As pretty as it looked from above, the city's stench was horrendous. She quickly clamped her helmet to the neck ring of her armor and let out a sigh of relief as her suit automatically filtered out the city's overwhelmingly toxic scent.

As she walked down the landing pad to the adjoining deck of the station, a roving droid approached her at speed. "Excuse me, ma'am, but a fee is necessitated to land at this station," it said in its monotone robotic voice.

"Oh, yeah, what's the current rate?" Ashe inquired.

"300 credits," the droid answered.

"What?!" Ashe exclaimed. "It's always been 100 credits, that's triple! When did it change?"

"Due to the latest Coalition regulations, all fees for all local landing stations have been increased. Sorry for the inconvenience, ma'am, but if you can't pay the fee, you will have to take your ship elsewhere."

"Ugh, screw the Coalition," Ashe murmured. "I can pay the fee." The droid's chest opened up obligingly and a tray emerged.

Reaching into her satchel, she reluctantly grabbed the credits and tossed them into the tray. "Thank you, would you like a receipt?" the droid asked. Ashe rolled her eyes behind the visual visor of her helmet and walked away, ignoring the droid.

"I need a drink," Ashe said to herself as she threaded her way along the bustling walkway. She maneuvered through the usual crowd composed of every sort of alien species and human ethnicity known to spacefaring civilization.

Reaching a dark alleyway, she entered and made her way down it until she saw a bright flickering neon sign titled The Afterlife. But unbeknownst to the lone adventurer, as she knocked on The Afterlife's metal door, stalking eyes took close note of her from a hidden place deeper in the alley...

In response to her knock, a small hatch in the door slid open to reveal a single alien eye. "Password," rumbled a deep stern voice from the other side of the metal door.

"C'mon, Zeb, it's me. Open up," Ashe said, bracing her hands on her hips.

The eye took another glance up and down Ashe's body. "Oh, sorry about that, Ashe," Zeb replied, making loud clanking sounds as he unlocked several hinges to finally swing open the door.

As the door fully opened, Ashe saw the big burly one-eyed bodyguard that the notorious bar had long employed. "Welcome back, Ashe," Zeb greeted. Ashe simply nodded as she walked into the bar's main room, hazy with the thick mist of people smoking spice. The sounds of electronic music and the chatter of her fellow bounty hunters rang in her ears. She felt the eyes of many humans and aliens performing a swift appraisal before they promptly returned to their business.

Normally any person would be unnerved at such close scrutiny by such a motley collection of cut-throats, gang members, and dangerous bounty hunters. But not Ashe. She had made a name for herself around this arm of the galaxy. They knew who she was, and none of them felt any desire to tangle with her unnecessarily. She had earned her nickname, "The Black Sparrow."

Claiming an open seat at the bar, Ashe sat and removed her helmet. An octopus looking alien bartender approached her. "How was your mission, Ashe?" the bartender asked, using multiple tentacles to multitask between serving customers, cleaning glasses, and receiving payments for tabs.

"Oh, the usual. These security jobs are really getting stale, Elros," Ashe sighed, propping her elbow on the gleaming bar, trying to avoid the wet rings of possibly noxious substances left by previous drinkers, and resting her cheek in her hand. She found a place for her helmet on the next barstool over.

"What?! Those jobs are the highest paying in this sector! Only a few bounty hunters are allowed to take up such jobs, and you've rightfully earned the precedence," Elros replied.

"It's just that lately all the jobs out there seem to involve stuff like babysitting some mining rig or body-guarding some wealthy businessman. Ever since the Coalition came around things have been relatively safe for everyone! What do they need me for?!" Ashe ranted.

"Because it's cheaper for a company to hire a bounty hunter than to contract a whole regiment of Coalition soldiers, Ashe," Elros pointed out. "What are you complaining about, you're getting paid good money."

"Yeah, I know. But I've worked so hard to get where I am. I want some kind of real action! Hunting down dangerous criminals, going on adventures, or even dabbling in the spice trade," Ashe explained with excitement. "But here I am, stuck with mission after mission that involves no more than just standing around, looking intimidating for my employers. I hate it."

Elros tilted his round rubber head in concern. Cautiously surveying his surroundings, he leaned well into Ashe's personal space and whispered, "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Gemini has been prepping for this special job. If you want, I can put in a good word for you."

Ashe's head shot up from the palm of her hand and she jolted upright on her stool. "What?! Really? What's the job?!"

"Woah now, slow your horses," Elros replied, waving the three tentacles that weren't otherwise occupied. "Just ask Gemini about it. I'm sure she'll fill you in with all the deets." Ashe rolled her green eyes and slumped back down.

Then, a pinging noise rang from a tablet in front of Elros. The octo-being looked down to check the call. "Huh, speaking of Gemini, she's waiting to see you right now."

Ashe nodded, plucked up her helmet, dismounted from her stool, and made her way towards the back of the barroom. Entering a dark hallway, she walked past the various people and beings loitering around. As she approached the end of the poorly-lit hall, she reached an inconspicuous door bearing a small plaque that boasted the one word,

Gemini

. The door immediately slid open as she pressed the buzzer on the jamb. Walking inside, Ashe saw the wrinkly, green skinned little lady who bore the moniker of Gemini. She was perched on a chair that was much too big for her behind a desk that was littered with various narcotics, credits, and weapons.

"Took you long enough," she said in her distinctively scratchy voice. "I was just about to trake your payment to myself," she snickered.

Ashe took a few more steps into the cluttered space that barely deserved the term of "office," and took a stance directly in front of Gemini's desk. "Yeah, sorry about that. I just want to collect my payment, then I'll get going."

"Darling, you just got here and you already want to leave? I've treated you so well! Almost like my own daughter!" Gemini had certainly assisted Ashe in establishing herself early in her bounty hunting career. But Gemini had treated Ashe more like a menial employee than any kind of close acquaintance, much less a family member. Ashe had every reason to suspect that Gemini was just using her for her skill and prowess, not out of any collegial feeling or genuine affection.

"My payment," Ashe said sternly. The overbearing influence of the Coalition, the boredom of her last several routine jobs, the manipulative vibe that Gemini gave off: Ashe was in a funky mood. The last thing she wanted in her current state of mind was to waste time in fake "friendly" chatter with the little green fixer.

Gemini rolled her beady eyes enmeshed in their network of wrinkles and produced a suitcase from under her desk. Placing it on one of the desktop's few unoccupied surfaces, she input a code to the lock and opened it. Ashe spun the case around, her eyes widening as she saw the credits her last job had earned. The job might have been less than exciting, but the pile of credits still gave off a satisfying glint.

"I don't understand why you can't just wire me the credits," Ashe said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"With these sorts of jobs, companies and guilds prefer to pay under the table. They don't want to go through the hassle of filing the paperwork for private security with the Coalition," Gemini explained. Ashe raised her eyebrow and shrugged off the inconvenience.

"The credits are all there. Of course I have already taken my cut," Gemini snickered. "Now be on your way, darling. Shoo shoo," she tittered, waving Ashe away.

Closing the suitcase, Ashe grabbed the handle and hefted her loot. Just as Ashe turned to exit the room, she stopped herself. Turning to face Gemini again, she said, "I heard that you've got a big job in the works."

Gemini raised her little brow. "Oh? And who said that?"

Not wanting to reveal her source, Ashe replied, "Oh, just some talk around The Afterlife."

"It was Elros, wasn't it?" Gemini concluded. Ashe didn't want to confirm or deny Gemini's suspicion, but her eyes may have widened involuntarily. "That stupid mollusc doesn't know how to keep his floppy hole shut," Gemini muttered.

"This job, what is it?" Ashe asked, tilting her head a bit. She was eager to get in on this new opportunity, in the hopes it might offer more of a challenge than her current run of jobs.

"Oh, it's above your paygrade, darling, you don't have to worry about it," Gemini said, trying to deflect Ashe's inquisitiveness. Ashe's eye twitched in anger. She hated the way Gemini was underestimating her. After everything she'd done, Ashe deserved this. She was eminently qualified.

"Whatever it is, I want in. I deserve it. After everything I've done for you! I've proven how capable I am countless times. I know what I'm doing, I'm not a little girl anymore," Ashe spouted out. Her green eyes glared intensely at Gemini's green wrinkles. Ashe refused to be written off.

"I don't know, darling," Gemini replied, contemplatively. "This job, I don't think you want to get tangled up in this sort of thing, I've already called in a few big shots."

"Big shots? Am I not considered a big shot?" Ashe queried, sounding a bit shocked.

"Oh, darling, you are a great bounty hunter, don't get me wrong. But this job requires some in-depth knowledge of certain

delicate matters

." Gemini said, suggestively.

"Come on, Gemini," Ashe resorted to pleading. "I'm tired of doing these stupid ass security jobs. I need in on this. I'm trying to make a name for myself."

Gemini raised her brow. "Oh? What makes you think you can do this job? How can you prove that you won't be dead weight?" Ashe's mind raced, sensing that Gemini was willing to give her a chance.

"I can be a great look out!" Ashe blurted. She didn't even know what the job was. But she was determined to seize the opportunity Gemini was dangling in front of her.

Gemini shook her head. "That position is already filled."

"Need an extra gunman?" Ashe added.

"Darling, we have plenty of firepower already. Now are you going to keep going on, or are we done here?" Ashe gritted her teeth as she sensed the opportunity slipping away from her fingers.

Thinking quickly, though, Ashe said, "Can I at least know what kind of job this is? I know what I do best. The more I know about this

job

, the better I can apply my skills to it. It's only fair." Gemini tilted her head. Ashe still couldn't decide if Gemini was actually dubious about the bounty hunter's abilities, or if Gemini was just playing at reluctance out of some as yet undisclosed purpose.

"Very well," Gemini sighed. "We're grabbing something valuable from a secure facility here on Antares IV. All I can tell you is that there is heavy security, and we definitely do

not

want to get caught red handed." It wasn't much information, but it was enough for Ashe to work with.

"So it's some sort of heist,"

Ashe thought. She had some past experience at stealing things with high value. Rapidly reflecting on her own skillset, Ashe was excellent with a gun and effectively brutal when it came to hand to hand combat. But perhaps her most important traits in light of this kind of job were how nimble she was and her knack for planning and improvising on the fly if anything went wrong.

"I suppose you don't have any safe way to exit this 'secure facility,' do you?" Ashe questioned.

Gemini squinted her eyes at Ashe, "Of course I have an exit plan, we've been planning this for months! Who do you think I am, an amateur?"

"Of course not. I'm just making sure that your 'plan' is full proof," Ashe smirked. "Do I need to remind you of the mission on Vectus. I had to bail your boys out of a tough spot because of your

masterful

plan," Ashe said in a suggestive manner. Gemini looked visibly ticked off at this point.

"You should just show me more of your plan. In or not, I don't want you risking the lives of my fellow bounty hunters. Or whoever you hired for this job with your antics," Ashe added.

Gemini looked uneasy. As confident as she was in all her plans, Ashe had now planted a seed of doubt in her mind. "Fine," Gemini conceded. Taking a hologram projection unit out of a drawer, she placed it on the center of the desk and lightly tapped it to turn it on.

An image of the location of the heist was projected into the empty air of the room. Some of the image was overlapping onto Ashe's body, so she took a few steps back. Her green eyes scanned the hologram suspended in the air in front of her. Looking visibly shocked, she leaned forward to examine the image more closely. This wasn't just some secure corporate or guild facility, it was -

"A Coalition data farm?!" Ashe vocalized her discovery. "What do you want to steal from them?!" Now it was clear why Gemini was being so close mouthed about the details of this heist of hers. Ashe knew what the Coalition had in store for them if they were caught.

"Darling, you don't need to know what we are taking from them, you aren't a part of the job," Gemini insisted.

Ashe shook her head in frustration, ignoring the fixer's statement. "How do you plan on getting in and out of this place? You know the Coalition will have top end security here. Spectre Drones, high-end security sensors, round the clock patrols, and you can count on them having a QRF on stand-by if anything happens." Despite Ashe's disdain for the Coalition, she was very familiar with how competent their security forces could be. Hell, she had served in their military herself at an earlier phase of her life. She knew what they were capable of: their operations were dangerously efficient. The Coalition's competence wasn't any kind of secret. Most of the galaxy understood not to mess with the best. Indeed, not only was the Coalition's scary-good reputation based in frightening fact, but it was self-reinforcing. So few ever dared to test their security. The Coalition's efficiency allowed them to concentrate their best forces on their most vulnerable and valuable facilities and assets, never spreading themselves too thin. The few who challenged the Coalition either failed to survive to tell the tale or were transported to prison camps far out on the galaxy's outer rim. Only the completely ignorant or the hopelessly stupid would even try swiping anything of value from them. And Gemini might be both. But the opportunity to strike at the Coalition was also appealing to Ashe for all the annoyance they had caused her. Ashe had always had issues with the Coalition's bureaucracy, and as minor as those issues might be, they still affected her attitude toward this job.