Luke looked across the mahogany desk at their newest patron, Recleg. Luke watched as the blue smoke from the humanoid's cigar curled around his pale face, which was flecked with green spots -- he wasn't human.
Luke Wyllam and Henri Newton had an interstellar transport business and worked part-time as mercenaries. Henri had been in the trade with his friend ever since they had left the Calduran Military four years ago. Wyllam was two years younger but he had served in the military at the same time as Henri, during the Calduran-Spadar War. Both were from Caldur, one of the many habitable planets in the Mandisian Empire.
Now their escapades had led them to Recleg's office in downtown Rakok, Mandis. "The job's simple," Recleg was saying in is disgustingly slick voice, "Part of a little industrial war you might say. I need you to withdraw some information on a new product my competitors have developed."
"Yeah sure..." said Henri. From Recleg's office he could hear the soft hum of the city.
"I'll supply the transport and bang for the job," his disgusting voice slid on, "You'll be provided with maps and a number of security codes to get into the data storage area."
"What do you mean by 'bang'?" asked Luke rubbing his blond hair.
"Oh it's just an expression I picked up a few years ago. By the way, how much pay are we thinking of here?"
"The regular price for this kinda job," said Henri in his business voice, "5000 credits in advance, 5000 if we get back, and 2000 if we did a good job."
"Sounds like a lot but they say you guys are good at this stuff."
Norana Burton had just finished putting the baby to bed when she heard the knock at the door.
"I'll answer it," she called to her husband. On opening the door she exclaimed, "Luke! What a surprise. Come on in."
"Mark is in the kitchen washing dishes for me," she said over her shoulder and Luke followed the small brown haired woman into the kitchen.
Mark was an old friend Luke had known in the service. He had been able to retire early after earning the highest medal in the Caldurian-Spasar war. He had decided to settle down and had a small business.
"So what brings you out our way," asked Mark when they had sat down in the den. He was brown haired, stocky, and good looking, one of the popular guys back in the days when he, Luke, and Henri had gone to school together.
"Henri and I have another job -- might take us a while. Thought I'd drop in tonight and say bye, 'cause we're leaving tomorrow."
"What kind of job. Not an assassination I hope." said 'Nor.
"Naw. Just have to download some info for some guy named Recleg.
"Well, where is Henri?" asked 'Nor.
"He'll be coming by a little later. Had to arrange the storage for our ship at the spacedock."
Fifteen minutes later Henri showed up.
"Got the ship all taken care of!" he said after the greetings, "Mark, I was wondering if you had any programs that could help us on our job. Maybe something like a good decrypting program or something."
"I might have something in my back room," grinned Mark, "I'll check before you leave tonight."
"Thanks."
Henri and Luke looked around the spacedock lounge, searching for the speckled pale face of Recleg. At their feet were two small packs containing the stuff they required for a job like this. They also carried needle guns that were made entirely of special plastics, undetectable by standard sensors.
Suddenly Luke spotted the face he so disliked, "Mr. Green Spots has arrived."
Recleg showed them to a small, lightspeed-capable spacecraft out on a landing platform. "My man here, Kile Skorg, will pilot the ship to your destination and pick you up when you need to leave."
"Oh boy! Just what we need." thought Luke looking at Mr. Skorg who had a similar face to Recleg.
Lunar Five. A heavily urbanized moon on the outer edges of the Mandisian Empire. It was a major business hub. Most corporations had an office or branch there. A trip there could get you anything and everything.
It took a little over twenty-six hours to reach Lunar Five's moon-port in Skorg's ship. They touched down with a bump on one of the many landing pads that were meant for small spacecraft.
"You know where to meet me, right?" asked Skorg as Henri and Luke exited the ship. Henri nodded.
A couple of forged passes and a fat wad of credit bills slipped to the guard got them through the customs checkpoint.
As they walked down the hall away from the guards they kept their eyes open for a service door to a room that would have a ladder leading to the roof. They found one not far from where Recleg's maps said one should be.
Making sure no one was close by, Henri went to work picking the lock while Luke kept his eye open for trouble.
"Easy, huh?" Henri muttered to himself as the door opened seconds later. He nodded to his companion and they went into the room, being careful to shut the door behind them.
Up on the roof they looked around. Stretched around them was the moon-ports skyline. Here and there a power converter's coolant tower towered over the surrounding buildings. A chill wind was blowing through the moon-port's artificial atmosphere.
Henri pulled out a data-chip from his bag and inserted it into the reader also gotten from the bag.
He and Luke stared at the small screen, which showed a map of the area around their target.
"I think it's there..." Luke pointed at the screen.
"Nope, see that red mark..." contradicted Henri.
"Oh..."
After studying the screen for a few more seconds they decided on the correct path to take. Henri put they stuff back in his pack and turned to lead the way.
Everything sounds easy to start with but things are bound to go wrong. Sometimes things go very wrong.
Luke looked at the smoking palm-computer with concern. He had run the intrusion program and everything was going well. But after he had finished copying the captured information to a data chip and stowed it in his pack, the screen started showing codes charistic of a line trace. Seconds later a electrical pulse fried his computer. Such a reaction could only mean his intrusion had been detected and someone was very unhappy.
"It must be somebody big," he told Henri with a worried frown, "Nobody has software that can detect that fast unless it's a big-time operation."
"Well we got it, let's go," said Henri.
"What have you done!" Skrig yelled out the door of the shuttle, "You've hit the wrong computer system!" He shut the shuttle door and the engines started powering up as Luke and Henri ran down the walkway toward him.
Henri and Luke watched in disgust as the shuttle they were supposed to be on flew away.
"We better find another ride, and QUICK!" said Henri. They turned and ran back down the hall leading to and from the pad.
Copyright (c) 2000 by Jakim Friant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be produced in full or in part without written permission.