Chpt. 9) Going To Fight Club
My ship dropped out of hyperspace in an asteroid belt far from any civilized planet. “GC-7369, Paladins asteroid belt,” I mumbled as I opened a secure communication line.
“Password?” an encoded voice said over the comms.
“Grim Reaper,” I responded immediately.
After a minute of silence, the voice spoke again, “FFFFFuck … You’re clear to land in Docking Bay 1.”
Drift charts arrived in my navigation computer a moment later, and I put my ship into autopilot, letting it follow the charts. While my ship flew itself, I went to the main cabin and began stashing all my weapons into a foot locker until a laser pointer pen became my only weapon. Although, I am pretty sexy. I guess that would also count as a weapon. But I’m not about to ruin that for anything.
A beeping from the cockpit drew my attention, and I returned to my pilot’s seat. Through the window of my ship, I could see my destination. A moon-sized asteroid with several dozen large docking hangers floated before me, and I took the Mauler out of auto-pilot to bring it in for a landing. As I landed, I could see a welcoming party waiting for me.
I chuckled nervously, remembering something I should have thought of, “Oh, yeah. I owe a lot of money to these people … with interest.” I quickly pulled up my routing and account information from the blank check The Order gave me. Clearing my throat and putting on my best smile, I opened my ship’s door with arms spread wide, welcoming the five heavily armed burly men pointing guns at me, “HEY! HEY! HEY! I’m back!!”
One more man walked up to join the rest. He had no weapon and was a third the size of all the other men around him, barely five feet tall. He wore a three-piece business suit with a red-silk-lined black coat, black waistcoat, black dress pants and shirt, and a red tie. He had no hair, and his genetically modified red snake-like eyes contrasted with his pale white skin.
The man smiled, “Why did you come back, Violet?” his voice was smooth and eerily calm.
“I’ve come to find a couple of people,” I answered, putting my hands in my jacket pockets.
“Is that so?” the man stated, unbelieving, “And for no other reason?”
I chuckled nervously, “Look, Booky. We’ve known—”
“My name is Francis! Use it,” Francis interrupted me, a bit of edge creeping into his voice.”
“Francis,” I corrected myself, “I know you want your money, and I’d be happy to give it to you in a little bit. I just—”
“I will have my money now. Or you’re not stepping foot off your ship,” Francis interrupted me again.
I bit my lower lip as I thought before I conceded, “Fine. I’ll transfer the money now. How much money did I owe you again?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Hmmm,” Francis said as he snapped his fingers and waited for one of his men to hand him a datapad, “Eight-hundred seven million three-hundred twenty thousand five-hundred forty-six (807,320,546) credits. Please fill out this information, and I will collect the money soon.” Stepping out of my ship and down the ramp I took the pad and started filling it out.
Name: Violet V. Vermillion
Account Number: XXXXXX8040
Routing Number: XXXXXX468
Transfer: 1,000,000,000 CR
“I just sent an even billion to keep things simple,” I said as I finished filling out the information and gave the pad back.
Francis took the pad, read it over, and smiled, “Welcome to Pandora’s Box, Ms.Vermillion. Have a wonderful stay. And remember, no killing.”
The men surrounding us lowered their guns, and I smiled, “Thanks for having me.” I then quickly walked past everyone as I went to the docking bay elevators. I pressed the button for the bottom floor and felt the elevator lower quickly.
Within a minute, the doors opened up to a blast of music and a throng of people dancing beyond a security station with a sign above that read, ‘The Vortex Club.’ A burly man held up a hand for me to stop and looked at his partner behind a monitor as they nodded to each other. He then waved me through without saying a single word.
I skipped my way through the security checkpoint and into the throng of dancing people. The club was massive, with five floors where people could party and drink excessively, with male and female strippers scattered around the floors in cages or on poles, and a full liquor bar with stairs next to it. In the center of the club was a raised platform and a gap in the ceiling for everyone to see the five floors and for everyone on the five floors to see the fights on the platform.
Working my way through the dancing people, I went to the fighting ring, where the people went from dancing to yelling bets on the current fight. A massive, bare-chested man who stood nine feet tall and appeared to be nothing but muscles and steroids was fighting a robot that looked like an exact copy of him. I ignored the fight and looked up to the other floors, searching.
After a few seconds, I saw who I wanted. He sat on the third floor with a beer in hand as he cheered, his eyes glowing red. The only thing bright enough to see of his in the dark club, compared to his ebony skin and black clothes. I pulled out the laser pointer and aimed it at the man, flashing the laser into his right eye a few times.
The man recoiled and covered his eye as it adjusted to the light. Once it did, he glared down into the crowd until his eyes met mine, and I waved. He rolled his eyes and waved me up. I worked my way through the throng of people to the stairs. Once I got to the stairs, it was easy to move up to the third floor, especially since there were only a few people having sex on the stairs. I guess it’s a slow day today.
Once on the third floor, I went over to the bar and ordered two dark beers. The bartender poured without question and soon gave me two glasses with black beer. I then maneuvered my way through everyone on the floor until I found my man. “Adjani, my brotha! What brings yuh to dis fine establishment?!” I exclaim in a mock Jamaican accent.
Adjani turned to me, his red eyes glowing in the dark, “Shut it bitch! Why are yuh here?” he asked in a very Jamaican accent.
I handed him one of the beers, and he took it hesitantly before taking a sip and relaxing. I sat across from him and sipped my beer as I said, “I have a job and need help to pull it off.”
“So, yuh came to me. De only marksmen who can best yuh. Is dat right?” Adjani asked smugly.
I rolled my eyes and said, “You only won by a tenth of a centimeter, but yes, I am here for you. And one other.”
“Who?” Adjani asked as the crowd cheered. We looked down at the fighting ring to see the massive man rip the head off the robot and wave it around proudly before small worker bots dragged the pile of scrap metal out of the ring.
“I’m here for a strong fighter. One next to nobody knows about,” I answered after a moment.
Adjani chuckled and pointed to the ring, “Well, if yuh are lookin’ for a fighter. Dere’s no one better at fightin’ dan dat man dere.”
At that moment, a person fell from the top floor of the club and slammed into the massive man in the ring with a loud slap before hitting the floor. I chuckled and said, “Fifty creds, the big man loses his next fight.”
***