Heist Read online

  Contents

  Dedication

  Legal

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Author Notes

  Jelly Communicates

  Social Links Ell

  Series List

  DEDICATION

  To everyone who ever dreamed of making a dent in the universe.

  — Ellie

  HEIST

  The Sword-Mage Chronicles 03

  JIT Beta Readers

  Brian Roberts

  Darlene Heisserer

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Robert Gould

  Mary Morris

  If I missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  Amy Teegan

  Heist (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  This book Copyright © 2018 Ell Leigh Clarke

  Cover Design by Jeff Brown

  Cover copyright © ProsperityQM LLC

  ProsperityQM LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  ProsperityQM LLC

  1500 South Lamar Blvd, 1050

  Austin, TX 78704

  First US edition, 2018

  Version 1.01.03

  The Sword-Mage Chronicles (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2018 by Ell Leigh Clarke

  CHAPTER ONE

  Bridge, Aboard the Chesed, Janus System, Edge of Klaunox-Orion Sector

  The edge of Klaunox was normally a quiet place, a steep cosmic cliff overlooking a wide expanse that separated two disparate systems of the galaxy.

  There was little to be seen or done here that wasn’t better served by passing through it in FTL, either deeper within the Klaunox sector or en route to Orion. When a ship came to specific coordinates out here on basic impulse engines, as the Chesed had, the odds of a chance encounter with another ship were somewhere in the range of three million to one, or so Bentley had been told earlier that week.

  So perhaps it was of little wonder why they sounded just as surprised as she was when two large, battle-ready ships had come out of FTL so suddenly and aggressively, weapons armed and at the ready. The voice from the hailing first ship called out to them again, repeating its harsh warning.

  “Identify yourselves or we’re going to blow you up!”

  All of the Chesed’s crew stood at the ready, staring at Shango and awaiting his orders. He hesitated, likely perplexed by this sudden encounter. This lasted a few seconds before he spoke. “I suppose we ought to identify ourselves.”

  Loco sighed dramatically at his commander. “Gee, you think?” he called over from his station. “Olo, set up a fucking hail already!”

  “Yes, Captain,” Olofi said sarcastically. He was trying to keep things light, but Bentley could see even from her place at the back of the bridge that he was concerned by the sudden turn of events. He was the one who had gotten them this job, after all, and promised it would be something simple and non-violent.

  And now someone was threatening to blow them up.

  “Opening hailing channels now,” Olofi reported. “This is—”

  There was a flash that came from one of the weapons of the first ship on-screen. Olofi was cut off by a sudden, powerful explosion that rocked the Chesed hard enough that Bentley and Jade fell off balance. They both remained standing, but the pair of cocktails they’d been drinking didn’t fare so well. Bentley’s slopped onto the floor while Jade’s glass slipped from her fingers and smashed into pieces. Jade looked like she was shrieking in surprise, but Bentley heard only an ear-splitting, high pitched ringing emanating from the Chesed’s bridge comm.

  Loco slammed both hands over his ears, his face contorted. Bentley could see just from reading his lips that he was shouting. “Motherfucking fuck fuck fuck!”

  Jelly Bean was the only person on the bridge who didn’t react to the sound, her eyes simply flicking back and forth the way they did when she interfaced with the Chesed’s main computer under a heavy load of processing. Seconds later the cacophonous feedback from the intercom came to a halt. The residual ringing remained in Bentley’s ears, and from the look on everyone’s faces, she clearly wasn’t the only one.

  Jelly Bean’s voice came in on the crew’s shared corteX channel, speaking directly into their implants rather than via intercom. “We’ve been hit by a subspace mass amplifier cannon,” she informed them. “The Chesed’s shields are now at thirty-eight percent. Ship’s audio will be down while I compensate for hypersonic feedback.”

  Loco scowled at the ship onscreen as he uncovered his ears. “A fucking SMAC? Who the hell smackdowns on a hailing ship? No goddamn decency.”

  Olofi rubbed his head. “I’m pretty sure they passed caring about decency when they fired on us.”

  Shango raised a hand to motion to the ship on-screen. “It isn’t just firing on us.”

  All eyes turned to the screen.

  The ship’s aft had turned, making that dagger-point cannon face the other ship that had arrived with it. With that main cannon powering itself up, its auxiliary guns were opening fire on it while the second ship’s shields flashed on impact.

  Jelly Bean spoke through the restored intercom. “The two unidentified ships appear to be engaging one another. However, my sensors indicate that both continue to have us locked on with at least three of their weapons. They all appear to be powered up and ready to fire at any moment.”

  “What the hell did we just walk into?” Bentley wondered out loud. “Is this part of the job?”

  “I hope not,” Olofi replied. “If it is, I’ve got some really good clients I’m going to have to blacklist.”

  Jade braced herself against the wall, looking worried she’d lose balance in her heels if the Chesed sustained another impact. “Maybe it was a trap all along?”

  “Well, they sure aren’t telling me,” Olofi answered her. “Maybe you want to take a crack at it? They could respond better to your dulcet tones than my old pipes.”

  “Um…” Jade looked at Olofi, unsure if he were serious.

  Loco powered up his gunnery console. “I’ll tell you what this is: Cardboard finally went and put a fucking teravolt bounty on our heads. We really did royally piss him off, and for the money they can throw around even I’d be tempted to give one of you up.”

  Olofi shook his head. “Wouldn’t make any sense,” he said. “If anyone working for Amroth knew where we were going, they could just collect the volts upfront and let the Geburah take care of it. Why risk coming in with their own—” He stopped when he saw Loco’s console screen turn red. “Wait, what are you doing?”

  Loco replied blithely. “The fuck you think I’m doing? Returni
ng fire.”

  “You will stand down,” Shango ordered him. “We have no quarrel with these ships in my best estimation. Our priority ought to be making that clear to all parties, rather than needlessly inflaming the conflict.”

  Loco stayed his hand, a look of exasperation flicked over his face. “Like it or not, we’re in a firefight!” he argued. “We shouldn’t take that lying down. Maybe they’ll back off once they get a load of Big Bertha.”

  “Or maybe it’ll just convince them to both target us,” Olofi rebutted.

  Jelly Bean brought up several schematics and data charts next to the main screen while the two ships exchanged live fire next to them. “Considering the damage that SMAC fire did to our shields, it is unlikely we can successfully engage both ships without a significant risk of the Chesed suffering total destruction,” she said. “Furthermore, the second ship appears to harbor advanced weaponry I am unable to fully identify. If they see us as a threat, they could feel compelled to use their full armaments against us, the destructive potential of which I cannot predict.”

  “I will prepare a message,” Shango said. “Bean, focus on sending it out to both ships with whatever means you can. Commandeer systems if necessary.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Jelly Bean replied. Her facial display flickered again, indicating a deeper interface with the Chesed’s systems.

  Shango opened up a new screen with audio detection and began to speak: “This is Shango, Captain of the unaffiliated vessel Chesed. We do not know your intent, but we can assure you ours is peaceful. Please cease targeting us with weapons systems immediately.” He sent it off with a wave of his hand.

  Olofi looked skeptical. “Think that’ll work?”

  “It may. Focus on sending it through conventional hails while Bean continues using back-channels,” Shango directed him.

  “What if they fucking SMAC us again?” Loco said.

  Shango’s lip tweaked upwards on one side. “Then we cover our ears.”

  A hail of auxiliary gunfire peppered the Chesed’s shields from both sides, both ships blasting at it with rear guns while they engaged one another with main cannons.

  “Well, looks like they’ve teamed up on us,” Loco observed dryly, his hand moving back to his gunnery console. “Are we gonna fight back now or what?”

  “They are only focusing small armaments on us,” Shango pointed out. “They’re likely both firing warning shots to keep us at bay and prevent us from assisting the other. Olofi, take manual control of the helm for evasive maneuvers while Bean is occupied with communications.”

  “Roger,” Olofi acknowledged. He took the helm controls and immediately the Chesed swerved so suddenly that the bridge tilted slightly. Bentley again struggled to stay upright and gripped onto the metal railing that separated the bridge’s observation area from the command consoles.

  Loco put a hand against the wall and shouted to Olofi. “Hey! Take it easy with the fancy flying!”

  Olofi didn’t take his eyes from his console. “Next time you’re running from a pack of armed thugs and dodging blaster fire, how about I tell you to take it easy?”

  Jelly Bean came back to normal consciousness. “I believe I’ve gotten my signals through to them. One ship is entirely unresponsive and is blocking out our hails. The other one seems to be listening, but beyond that…”

  Loco scowled impatiently. “Great! We’re a bunch of fucking paragons of interstellar diplomacy! Medals all around!” he yelled. “Now can we get some return fire on their asses already?”

  Shango gave no reply. The screen flashed with explosions while the two ships sent salvos of bright-flashing torpedoes at each other, intercepted with each other’s defense batteries to paint the emptiness of the expanse like brilliant fireworks in a cloudy night sky. It was hard to tell if any were aimed at the Chesed while Olofi made it swerve and nose-dive to avoid the inevitable blowback and crossfire from the primary exchange. The bridge remained more stable this time, but everyone held on to something secure all the same.

  Bentley gritted her teeth as Olofi made another sharp turn. “This thing should really have seatbelts,” she grimaced.

  Loco glanced over at her briefly. “Not a good time for interior decorating tips!” he barked back.

  The ship rocked again from Olofi’s maneuvering combined with several impacts occurring off-screen, narrowly missing them.

  Jelly Bean called up a 3D model of the Chesed and highlighted damaged areas on the starboard side. “We’ve sustained minor damage to external weaponry. Shields are holding at twenty percent,” she reported.

  “Maybe we should think about fighting back,” Bentley suggested. “Nobody seems to be listening.”

  “Hm,” Shango replied, only nodding in consideration.

  “I think I’ve taken us out of their line of fire at least,” Olofi said. “We aren’t sustaining any more attacks.”

  The ship stopped moving, bringing quiet as they looked to the two ships on the screen. It only took a glance for them to see that it wasn’t just Olofi’s positioning that had brought them out of harm’s way.

  “They’ve stopped firing,” Bentley noted. “At each other, too.”

  Jelly Bean’s shifted her weight as if adapting to the latest swerve. “Scans show both ships have disabled weapons systems. However, one of them continues to have its lock-on protocols active. My analysis suggests they have had their weapons forcibly deactivated.”

  Olofi looked up at the screen in surprise. “I thought you weren’t able to hack them, Jelly.”

  “I was not, nor am I able to,” she answered.

  Shango furrowed his brow in muted consternation. “Ships with cyber-assault capabilities beyond Bean’s are very uncommon,” he said. “This could be problematic.”

  “Oh, now it’s problematic?” Loco ridiculed. “Like it wasn’t when we were getting fucking blasted to pieces?”

  Any response Loco might have received was cut off with a voice that boomed out of the intercom. It wasn’t Jelly Bean’s voice, nor the grating one that had threatened to blow them up initially. It sounded like an elderly man, commanding but somewhat refined, speaking every word with precision. “This is Captain Blackfriar of the Odysseus. You are cordially invited to parlay with us. Please come aboard our ship to discuss our current predicament.”

  The ship the captain had identified as the Odysseus opened two airlocks, with tunnels unfurling from within them, one towards the Chesed to construct a bridge between the two vessels.

  Olofi looked up to Jelly Bean’s avatar on screen. “So that message went to the other ship, too?” he asked.

  “That does appear to be the case,” Jelly Bean replied.

  Bentley smiled, the tension in her face evaporating. “Well, at least he said please.”

  Loco’s expression was still contorted. “Easy to be polite when the other ship’s been disabled,” he grumbled. “Probably wants to get us all in a room so he can have us gunned down and send our ships to the chop-shop.”

  “I have misgivings about boarding their vessel, certainly,” Shango agreed. “However, if this is what is required to resolve the matter peacefully, it is a risk we will need to take.”

  “Fuck,” Loco sighed. “Knew you were gonna say that.”

  “I don’t know why you’re complaining,” Olofi countered. “We’ve probably got better odds fighting whatever’s on that ship than we would in a space battle, anyway.”

  Loco stopped, the cogs of his mind whirring. Then he shrugged. “Yeah, fair enough. They didn’t say we couldn’t come armed. I’ll load up Betsy.”

  “No,” Shango ordered him. “Heavy weaponry would send a poor first impression. Small arms only.”

  Loco’s face dropped. But he didn’t argue. “Huh. Alright then. I’ll get my good blades.” He jumped from his chair and rushed off the bridge towards the armory.

  Bentley shook her head as she watched him leave. “We’re called to parlay, and the only thing on his mind is what weapons to take alon
g?”

  Olofi stood up and adjusted his clothing as though he were in a hurry to look presentable. “I’m just glad he isn’t still asking us to return fire,” he said.

  Shango looked pensive for a moment. He stroked his beard a few times before he spoke again. “It will just be Bentley and I at this parlay,” he said. “A larger force may give the wrong impression while also putting us at disadvantage.”

  Bentley did a double take. “What, really? Why just me?”

  “A variety of reasons,” Shango said. “This could be a valuable learning experience for you. Battles won without fighting are the most decisive.”

  “Loco’s gonna be pissed when he gets back,” Olofi said, almost amused at the prospect. “I bet he’s sharpening his kukri right now.”

  “Good. If combat becomes necessary, he will be prepared.” Shango took several of his ball-bearing shaped nanomachine devices from his console, taking a few moments to make some adjustments on his screen. Bentley recognized that what he was doing as setting up the multiple functions of his weapons before he tucked them beneath his cloak. He stood and made strides towards the door.