DOUBLE CROSS (PAPERBACK)

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DOUBLE CROSS
Chapter 1

Margarita King, ace pilot, ex Major, ex Red Baron, guided her ship, the Junkyard Dog, into its assigned docking slip on ZetiTau.

Originally named the Pacifica, the Dog technically still belonged to the Mars-based OGSP—Office of Galactic Safety and Police, known across the galaxy as the Red Barons. But since someone she worked with had purposely sent her out to die in the Pacifica, Rita had felt it only fair to keep the ship when she survived.

She had promptly renamed it to reflect her disgust and anger toward her former employers. Junkyard dogs were tough. Survivors.

Just like herself.

A loud clunk jarred Rita’s feet as the docking slip grabbed onto the ship. She shut everything down and sat for a moment, listening to the pings and pops of cooling, shifting metal as the Dog settled into its temporary berth.

An older prototype ship, it had been tested and rejected for the Viking-class fleet of OGSP enforcer ships. The Dog possessed a streamlined hull which limited the number of crew to eight, but its best feature as far as Rita was concerned was that it could be operated by a single pilot.

Rita had fallen in love with the ship’s interior her first test flight. Designed after the ancient sailing ships on old Earth in a material that mimicked both the look and the smooth, natural feel of teakwood, the bunks, storage and equipment compartments, food prep, and bath fit together like the pieces of the antique jigsaw puzzles her mother once collected.

The interior possessed a unique, artistic flair missing in any other ship Rita had flown. Over the last year she had become attuned to every nuance of the ship in a way that made her feel that they were partners.

The ship stopped its pinging. Satisfied that all was as it should be, Rita slipped from the molded gel helm seat and stretched her six-two frame. It was time to make preparations to disembark.

The trip to ZetiTau had been filled with risk. Pirates trolled the most well-used approaches to the planet, looking for ships to attack and rob. The routes were rich hunting grounds. Anyone headed to ZetiTau carried something valuable.

The Junkyard Dog was no exception. Rita and her shipmates had a small fortune in uncut precious gemstones to deposit in the Central Bank.

For that reason Rita had flown a convoluted course to the planet which had involved several extra, stressful days. She had one unfortunate encounter with a determined pirate that forced her to play cat and mouse until she lost him in an out-of-the-way debris field.

Unable to leave the helm during those days, Rita’s skin now prickled from dried layers of stress sweat. Her short dark hair clung to her head. The sour odor rising from her body offended her. She was in desperate need of a cleanse and a fresh skinsuit.
The ZetiTaus were a fastidious tribe and would refuse to conduct business with her if she approached them in this state.

She used the cleanser and dryer tube and dressed in a clean skinsuit woven from spidersilk—a substance impervious to anything short of a nova blast.

She had paid an outrageous sum for her skinsuits, and had also purchased matching boots constructed from a combination of Moondor sharkskin and kevlar—but the protection they afforded made any price a bargain. The skinsuits alone had saved her life more than once. That made them priceless to her.

It was time to wake up her companions. Rita pressed a hidden button in the wall and a bunk door slid inside the bulkhead, revealing three sleeping bodies. She had tried to assign them three separate bunks but they had insisted they would feel more comfortable sleeping together so she’d allowed it.

First to awaken was Darwin, Rita’s shadow-creature, an alien being so rare they were considered mythological. With the body of a dog, a lionlike head, and two tails, Darwin looked like a genetic mess, thus her name for him.

Shadow-creatures chose one lifelong companion and communicated telepathically. At the time Rita hadn’t realized what an honor it was when Darwin’s pack had chosen her to rescue their hurt pup.
Darwin had repaid her kindness several times over. One of his talents was an acute nose for impending danger, a talent she had come to depend on. Now he helped watch over Rita’s companions with the same awareness.

The shadow-creature’s amber eyes opened and looked at her. She swore she saw a smile on his lion-shaped face.

“It’s good to see you, Darwin. I’m about to wake the others.”

Hello Ree. Is all well?

“Yes. I had a little trouble with a persistent pirate but I managed to lose him. We are now docked on Zeti-Tau.”

Lexa, a young, blue-skinned Weegan, opened her eyes at the sound of Rita’s voice. After Rita had saved Lexa’s village from a band of mercenaries Lexa had asked to join Rita on the Dog.

Weegans were excellent diagnosticians and could fix almost anything with their long, slender fingers and toes. Rita had welcomed Lexa’s lively company as well as her skills.

“Hi, Rita! Are we there yet? I’m hungry. Yani, wake up!” Lexa sat up and reached for the still sleeping translator and crystal worker.

Darwin licked Yani’s smooth cheek. The translator’s emerald-green eyes popped opened, bright against her ebony skin. She stretched and yawned, then sat up and smiled at Rita and the others.

“We must be on Zeti-Tau or I wouldn’t have this imp bouncing on the bunk.” Yani grinned affectionately at Lexa and ran her hand over Darwin’s wiry fur. Despite their difference in ages and cultures Lexa and Yani had become close friends.

Rita was relieved to see that Yani suffered no residual ill effects from her ordeal in the Ruby City. She got everyone fed and cleaned up and laid out her plan for safely transporting the gemstones to the bank.

Two hours later they departed the Dog dressed in clean clothes with colorful turbans wrapped around their heads. Darwin trotted at Rita’s side, ever watchful for danger.

Rita slipped into the stream of beings traveling to and from their ships. Her companions stuck close to her. The docks were busy with ships being repaired, restocked, and refueled, and she was careful to keep her small group out of the way of workers, robots, and other moving machinery.

They headed toward the center of the city. ZetiTau, the largest city on the planet ZetiTau (no one had ever accused the ZetiTaus of creativity), was the banking center of the galaxy.

In fact, ZetiTau was the only banking center in the galaxy. Because of that it bustled with ships constantly coming and going day and night without ceasing.

The ZetiTaus were financial whizzes. When they realized that a common monetary unit would be needed to facilitate intra-galactic commerce they were on it before anyone could even spell c-u-r-r-e-n-c-y, and the ZetiTauCredit was born.

More commonly known as credits, the ZetiTauCredit became the legal tender for all transactions galaxy-wide. A trader brought their precious stones or ore (the only valuables accepted) to ZetiTau in exchange for a determined number of credits based on the fair value of the offered goods. The credits were then placed into the trader’s personal account.
Small credit dispensers were located in every corner of the galaxy, transferring credits when needed. The system was convenient until an account ran dry.

The only way to replenish an account was to physically pay a visit to ZetiTau, which was what everyone did and the reason why pirates hung out on the travel routes.

It was also the reason why Rita and the others were here now.