Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Nine, Part Two

 Notes: We meet our bugbear, and Kieron decides to do something really, really dangerous. Because PLANS!

Title: Cloverleaf Station, Chapter Nine, Part Two

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Chapter Nine, Part Two

 

“Are you listening?”

It wasn’t like Kieron had much of a choice, given that the alternative was being blown up. He sat very still, seething inside but knowing he needed to stay calm. He couldn’t do anything before he learned what Moritz wanted.

“I know that Desfontaines found his way to Cloverleaf Station just after I got here myself,” Moritz said. “I figured he wouldn’t give up Catalina without a bit of a battle. However, if I don’t get out of here in the next three days, I’m going to miss the rendezvous I’ve got to sell this sweet little hunk of junk at. The ship is fighting me every step of the way already, and if Elanus is keeping as close a watch on this asteroid field as I think he is, then there’s no chance I’m going to be able to fly her out of here unseen.

“That’s where you come in, my friend.” His voice deepened, becoming smooth and persuasive. “I’ve looked you up, Kieron Carr. You’ve been in charge of Cloverleaf Station for years now, you know how it works better than anyone. You could blind him to Catalina’s energy signature, I could slip through, and he’d never know otherwise. I assure you, I can make it worth your while.”

Kieron’s hand found the transmit button before his mind could quite catch up. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t think you have anything I need,” Kieron said honestly. “And I also think there’s no way you’d trust me to obey your orders once I’m out of immediate danger. Since there’s nothing you can hold over my head to make me obey you, that makes the scenario you’re spinning even less likely. So move on to your next suggestion, because this one doesn’t fly.”

Moritz chuckled. “Boy, do you really think I’d make a threat I can’t back up? I did my due diligence on you when I chose to hide out here. I happen to know that I do have something to hold over your head…you’ve got friends on Trakta, don’t you? A lovely lady named Xilinn, two small children, their extended family.”

Kieron stopped breathing. Every hair follicle on his body flared like it was trying to leap out of his skin, making him hypersensitive to the faint noise of the engine, the fainter sound of his own heart trying to jump through his ribcage.

“I’ve got colleagues on Trakta who are more than willing to do my bidding for the right price, and that price is going to be half of what I’m planning to get for Catalina as a bounty for killing that pretty little family, set up in your name.”

No, no, no no no… He found the transmit button again. “Elanus has more money than you do,” Kieron said through numb lips. “He could pay even more to have them protected.”

“And you think he will? For you?” Moritz laughed. “He doesn’t trust people so quickly, boy. There’s no way you’ve gotten that close to him yet…or, huh. Maybe I’m mistaken.” His voice turned thoughtful, and as sharp as a knife. “Has he already tumbled you into bed then? Fucked his brand of ownership into you? You’re not to my taste, way too short for starters, but I could see him liking someone as pretty as you. Is that it? You think because he’s fucking you, he’ll protect the people you love? Think again.”

Moritz’s next words came out as a snarl. “I gave that little brat everything, raised him from just another starving student into the titan he is today, and what did I get out of it in the end? Nothing but his scorn. The second you aren’t useful to him, Elanus throws you away. That’s what you’ve got coming to you from him, boy. That’s all you’re ever going to be to him—a means to an end, a tool for him to use until you’re all used up.

“This is your chance to be smart. Get ahead of him, be the user instead of the one being used. He never has to know we spoke,” Moritz assured him. “I can send you the frequencies that the station needs to block, and then I’ll be gone within the next two hours. That’s all it’ll take. Oh, he’ll bother you for a few more weeks looking for me, but he’ll give things up as lost eventually, and by then I’ll be onto a new phase in my life and you’ll be left alone to do what it is you always do, with Elanus and your friends on Trakta none the wiser about our little deal. What do you say, Carr?”

It was jarring to hear his name after being called “boy” for almost the entirety of the conversation. Before Kieron could reply, Moritz came back on.

“The fact that you’re taking the time to think about this tells me that you’re not sold on the idea. You don’t think I can do what I’ve threatened to, do you? But look at it this way, boy.”

Oh, there it was again. Great.

“There’s no way out of this for you other than working with me. I can blow you up right here and right now, and Elanus will write it off as you not being careful enough in the asteroid field. I can blow you up at any time between your being here and your journey back to the station. I can blow the Lizzie up once you’re inside the station, and maybe take Elanus out at the same time, but then his estate will definitely hound me for the rest of my life.

“Or you can promise to help me, and we can trust each other. And just to let you know that I really do have the people in place to make good on my threats, how about you check the data I’m sending your way right now?” The beep of an incoming data packet rang loud in Kieron’s ears. “Trust me when I say I didn’t choose this location to hide from Elanus on accident, boy. I’ve had plenty of time to learn about you and put my plans into place.”

Kieron reluctantly opened the data file. He didn’t think he could feel any more unsettled than he already did, but seeing Xilinn and her children in the picture—a candid shot of them at a playground—was enough to do it.

“I’ll give you ten minutes to think about it,” Moritz said. “After that, if you don’t give me good news I’ll blow you up, get these people out of the way just because I can, and take my chances on the run. Elanus won’t have his pretty little Lizzie to chase me down in—that’ll count for something.” The line went silent for a moment, then Catalina’s scream suddenly poured in over the radio.

“Goddamn fucking—knock it off, you shitty little—”

Whatever Moritz did next was enough to silence the ship, and enough to let Kieron know there was only one way forward. He couldn’t trust Moritz not to kill Xilinn and the kids, no matter what he said. He couldn’t trust him to leave the station intact once Kieron got the Lizzie back to it—it would be far easier for him to make good on his threat to blow everything and go on the run. And Catalina knew it, otherwise she wouldn’t be putting up such a fight. She wanted to be back with Elanus—if the affection they shared was at all mutual, then she was desperate to be with him. And if she was smart enough to clue in to what Kieron planned to do…

He was going to have to get to Catalina now, within the next ten minutes, and he was going to have to do it without using the Lizzie.

All right, then. Time for the world’s worst space walk.