Grinde Galaxy Chapter 4

 

Chapter 4

“Dereck runs the speakeasy, right?”

Draw rubbed her chin. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“Then all we have to do is win it off him.”

“Wait what?” Draw’s eyebrows went up. “You mean …”

“Exactly. There are three parts to an economy. Land, labor, and capital. We have the capital, we won it off him. If we get the land and the labor, we’ll be in control.”

“But Dereck’s goons will snuff us before we get the chance to do anything.”

“That’s why we make it public. Make sure everyone knows what’s happening and what the stakes are. Then no one can argue with the legitimacy of our win.”

Ranger crossed his arms. “You really do have a metal head.”

Draw elbowed Ranger. “That’s not how you use the term, dumbass.”

Ranger chuffed. “Okay. I get it. I’ll make sure you don’t get shanked before we pull this off.” He tilted his head. “Do you think you can reliably win the big game? A lot is at stake.”

“Oh yeah.” I looked at Draw. “We have to have our side of the bet.”

“Oh no you ain’t saying what I think you are.” Draw grimaced.

“Oh yeah. We’re going to bet this.” I pulled a single piece of gold our of my pocket.

Draw seemed surprisingly relieved, and then her eyes widened. “Whoa.”

I grinned.

“Is that …”

“Yeah. A portable wallet.” I flicked the small golden object into the air and caught it.

“Where the hell …” Draw leaned in closer.

“I pilfered it off of Captain Christon.”

“No way.”

Ranger frowned. “I was watching you the whole time. I never saw you even get close to his wallet.”

I chuckled. “And get this. We’re going big here. If we win the speakeasy from Dereck, he’s never going to stop trying to get it back. So I have a plan.”

“Go on.” Draw crossed her arms.

“We lose. We give Dereck the portable wallet. Then we sit back and watch as every space marine and inquisitor in the ship looks to take it back. If Dereck isn’t quick on his feet he’ll never be able to get out of it.”

“What if he tries to convince them that we were the ones who stole it?”

“Who’s going to believe that a scrawny sixteen-year-old cabin boy stole a portable wallet off of a space marine? Captain Christon will never live down the shame if they decide to believe it. He’ll think Dereck got the wallet through some sort of trickery.”

“You’re brutal. How about the witnesses of the game?”

“Bribes. We insist on allowing only the official witnesses to watch the game and then bribe them to stay quiet.” I crossed my arms. “And besides, if he admits to gambling he’ll get vented anyways.”

“Damn, boy.” Ranger chuckles. “There are so many things wrong with this plot. I can’t even begin to start counting them.” He smiled. “But I trust you, and at the very least I think you’re smart enough to make this work.”

I grinned. “All right. Let’s start putting this together.”

The first thing we did was spread the word of the upcoming game. We never specifically told them what we were betting. That was the privilege of the challenging party under the rules of katar. However, we also invoked the “witness only” rule, as I had planned. Thus, I would bring two witnesses and Dereck would bring two. The witnesses’ only job was to make sure the game was played fairly and to hold the parties accountable. This kind of arrangement was very common among the mafia families of my hive world. I had expected Dereck to bring up something, maybe an obscure rule I hadn’t heard of before. But he ended up going with the flow. I suppose he just wanted revenge against me for humiliating him the day before.

About a day after we made our plans the game was scheduled to take place. It took place in the speakeasy, and both I and Dereck brought two witnesses. I brought Draw and Ranger, and Dereck brought two buff looking dudes who were probably just there to intimidate us. But I wasn’t about to get spooked by a couple of muscle heads.

We opened with an east hand. I won this match in order to keep up the illusion. When we went into the grave hand I started making deliberate mistakes. It took a while for Dereck to catch one of the ones I’d made, and while I found that interesting, it didn’t slow the plan down. Dereck made prompt usage of the opening and won the game outright in the durian hand. I tossed my cards onto the table.

“You got it.” I took the portable wallet out of my pocket and slapped it onto the pile of cards.

Dereck took the wallet and admired it under the light from the lamp. “You sure this came from a junkie?”

The term “junkie” referred to a space marine squire. Every space marine had one. While I hadn’t directly interacted with one yet I had seen them wandering around the ship. They were a level higher than cabin boy, though, so I was still at the bottom of the pile.

This was the ruse we had set up in order to trap Dereck. Dereck slipped the device into his pocket without opening it. “Yeah. Some rich idiot junkie’s out a portable wallet, I guess. And so are you.” He winked at me and got up. “Jake. Jack. Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes boss.” I wasn’t sure if it was Jake or Jack who said that. I wasn’t worried about the distinction anyways.

I kept my grin down until after Dereck had left the speakeasy.

Ranger crossed his arms. “I suppose it worked as planned.”

“Now all we have to do is drop the hint to Captain Christon’s squire. Or maybe an inquisitor. Not sure about that one.”

Draw gave me a fist bump. “Nice.”

I pulled a set of keys from out of my pocket. “And you’ll think this is even nicer.” I twirled them around my finger. “Snagged them off of Dereck when he passed me.”

“Oh my god.” Draw laughed. “You’re amazing. Are those the keys to the speakeasy?”

“You betcha. Come on, let’s get Dereck spaced before he notices they’re gone.”

I passed Jones a note the next time he met with me, which was half an hour later. Jones looked at it and rolled his eyes.

“Mythe, I leave you alone for a day and you get up to these shenanigans.” He swept his mop around the engine room we were cleaning.

“Do you think you can get that message to the higher-ups?”

“Yeah, I mean sure. The whole platoon of space marines underneath Captain Christon is knocking heads and smashing doors in to find his lost portable wallet.”

“Well there you have your solution.” I sucked an oil puddle into our shop vac. “If you go and tell them now I’ll finish the job for you.”

Jones stretched. “Ah, I need a break anyways.” He shrugged. “See ya.” He left the engine room.

I spent the next hour cleaning the room. When it was sparkling, I left the room and returned to my bunk. When I was in the corridor I noticed junkies running everywhere, as well as normal sailors.

I put my hands in my pockets and tried to remain inconspicuous. When I returned to the bunk I leaned into the tiny room.

“Any news?”

“Dereck was just put on an emergency military trial.” Draw flicked a booger at the wall. “Your plan seems to have worked.” She twirled the speakeasy keys around her finger—I had handed them to her before passing the note to Jones.

“Yeah. Are we the ones in charge now?”

“You betcha.” Draw gave me a fist bump. “Pushaaa.”

“Nice.” I sat down in the only available space. “So what now?”

“We run the speakeasy.” Draw shrugged. “I thought that was your goal?”

“Not really. I just really didn’t like Dereck.”

“That’s it? You got a man spaced because you didn’t like him?”

I sighed. “Yeah. You know, where I come from you have to be cutthroat. I’m not a good guy. Dereck was eyeing me in the same way that the Arborian slavers eyed me back when …” I paused. “Never mind. But I took immediate action because I thought I was in danger. That’s all.”

“No need for a soap box. We all understand how this world works.” Draw crossed her arms. “I just hope you stay on our side. That was a wicked plan. You sure you’re from a hive world?”

“Where else would I be from?”

Draw looked at Ranger. “Ranger here is a fallen noble. His family got on the bad side of an inquisitor and, well, the rest is history.” Draw pointed to herself. “Me? I’m a tracer. I’ve carried packages for all kinds of shady organizations. Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Draw waved her arms. “We both have reasons to be skilled. But you? You’re a hive kid who suddenly shows up on this ship and plays killer katar while simultaneously being able to pickpocket a space marine. Like, really?”

I shook my head. “I can’t say.”

Draw narrowed her eyes. Then she smiled, sitting back and laughing. “Okay. I gotcha. We’ve known each other a couple of days now. We all have secrets. I guess that, since you’ve helped me, I can help you by not prying into your past.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“But when you—”

Ranger knocked Draw on the head, gently. “You promised not to ask.”

Draw huffed. “Well then.” She threw up her arms. “Let’s get to organizing this ship’s Z quadrant’s new underground masters! Yay!”

“I’m sorry.” I bowed my head. “I don’t want to be a part of it.”

“You what?” Draw furrowed her brow. “But there’s a killing to be made. We’ll be rich.”

“No.” I grimaced. “I don’t exploit people. I have enough food to eat and a roof over my head, as well as a stable job. That’s all I’ll want. It’s not that I don’t want to be associated with you. It’s just a matter of principle.” I smiled. “But if you ever need someone to win a game of katar, you know who to call.”

“You’re just letting us have it.” Draw tilted her head. “The whole speakeasy. The leadership role.”

“About right.”

Draw sighed. “Well, there’s no convincing you. You’re one hell of a guy. I hope to get up to more shenanigans with you.”

“It’s not like we aren’t going to be bunking together anymore.” I looked up at the air vent I had noticed the moment I had entered the bunk room for the first time. “All I ask is that you shut up about what I’m going to be doing with that vent.” I pointed up.

“Dang. I didn’t even know that was there.” Draw looked up at the vent. “It looks just big enough for you to slip through. Are you seriously going to do what I think you are?”

“Yes. I have to find something out.”

At that moment we got another call to clean. It was just an oil spill, but cleaning it up took the majority of a solar day. When we were done I returned to the bunk for a good sleep, the first one I had obtained in a long while. It felt like forever since I was able to close my eyes.

My eyes snapped open in the early portion of the off shift. I rose out of bed, eying the vent. Now was the time to strike.

I took off my clothes, down to my underwear, and used my upper arm strength to crawl into the vent. It was wide enough for me to fit, just like I had noted.

With that, I started off on my mission.