In The Name Of Lord, With Lasers And Missiles. (Short Story)

[GhothaAyala]

“Dayayra, entra pa'dentro.” A gust of wind peppered the little girl with red sand, she covered her face but peeked over her forearm to watch the visible red trails, slowly forming a tornado. “Que entre pa'dentro muchachita 'el carajo!” She could hear her mother's footsteps approaching. “Tu que pesa' meno que una hoja.” A claw caught her shoulder spinning her around like a top, she barely caught glimpse of a small mud brick hut. “Esa brisa a dociento' te agarra y...”

The alarm clock went off in the cockpit interrupting her dream, from under the heavy covers the freelancer protested, but the sound was too loud to ignore. As she got on her feet CitlaTzin whispered tender words of appreciation for the interruption. The cargo bay was small but it matched her size, her bare feet did not even register on the reinforced hull as she squeezed herself through the opening to the cockpit, still wrapped in her blanket. Once that had been taken care of she turned on her heels hoping to get an hour or two of rest when a green light lit up in her console. “Channel Request.” The on board computer chimed in. “No...” She released the grip on the blanket letting it fall in a pool at her feet exposing the lithe frame hidden underneath.

Her parts had arrived and it would take a quarter of a day to install them, it also made her pockets lose weight fast. She came to the Barrier Gate Garage to patch her ship up, but before heading to the Barrier Gate Resort, she took a trip through the Barrier Gate Mall and found an offer she could not refuse. Her light fighter was now more dangerous and not so pliable as before.

Still, she needed a job. The Edge Worlder tried the bar and foun it wasn't her type of crowd, the type that are on the far side of the wrong side of the law. She had never been afraid of crossing the line herself, but always cautious about rolling in the mud along with the bunch. She had worked with them, but also worked against them quite often, she made herself scarce until her ship was ready and only left a smokey silhouette of herself before someone with a grudge could notice.

The GMG had an operation not far and she heard some spanish going on back on the Barrier Gate Station. Unless her friendly neighborhood pirates had somehow expanded this far, they must have been Malteses.

On arrival there was indeed a job for her, the Outcasts where out in force, and not content with having a picnic they where setting up a camp in the ring of planet Salina.

“Sounds kinda dangerous for one man... Er... Woman.” She replied to the GMG security officer. “Don' ya' have a few guns to spare?”

“If I could I would throw everything I had at them.” The officer shook his head. “Our fighters where... One second.” He browsed his PDA for a second, his eyebrows climbing on his forehead as he read something, but he smiled, so good news. “I got one wingman for you.”

As she orbited the ring of Salina she reviewed the file of the bounty hunter that would assist her. He was only known by his ship name. “The Inquisitor.” The freelancer laughed softly. “Very spiritual and motivated.”

Her search for the base was long and tedious and it left her mind to wander, two storms on the gas giant caught her attention and the human brain has a knack for seeing faces where there were none. Two eyes, is what they looked like and she vaguely remembers seeing two eyes somewhere else... Blue eyes... With a blue mouth? “Anomaly detected.” She found the base, still under construction.

She received a hail on a tight beam channel and accepted it. “Hail, Miss Burgos, I am here to assist you in exterminating these sinners.” It took a lot of will power not to laugh, she had never been called miss before and this guy was taking his nickname too seriously. He also looked the part, a very serious fellow, his gaze unflinching and not a hint of amusement on his face, strictly business.

“Yeah, sure. Sending you the coords.” She tried to keep her pokerface, unable to hide her excitement for the upcoming fight and her amusement at this character.

It took them a while to get back to the build site and she decided to humor herself with her wingman. “So you're an Inquisitor eh? You like punish the heretics and such?” She tried to not sound mocking buy failed horribly.

“I am only an instrument, the Gods Of Sirius will deal their punishment.” His words carried the gravity of a black hole.

“What god would that be?”

“Don't you believe in a god?”

“Uhu...” She brought a piece of plastic into view. “Sirius Credits.” She said with a big smile.

Her somber partner almost smiled, almost. “My brother prays to the same god.”

“Great, we will be like family, call me sister.” She beamed him an even wider smile.

“He only cares about his god, even dealing with sinners.”

“Ow...” The freelancer would have blushed if her skin had not already been a brown tint of red. “Sounds like you guys aren't too close.”

“We each walk our won paths, I just hope our paths don't cross.” There was more ice in his voice than in the nebula around her home planet. “I believe I have spoken too much.” He said and silence fell between them for a short while until he started talking again. “Peculiar choice of horse you have there sister, a light fighter.”

Burgos snickered. “My horse is faster than your cow.” She glanced at the Bottlenose gunship, she had to adjust her speed to his to keep unit cohesion.

“But my cow is much more powerful than your horse, the word is not my only sword, my faith is not my only shield.”

“Big sword and big shield is nice too have but leg work is kinda important too ain't it?”

“Let us hope we don't find anything bigger there.” He concluded with a smile.

But since women always have the last word she interjected. “That's where my shiny new thruster comes into play.”

The moment of truth came, the Outcasts had set up a perimeter with weapons platforms and had patrols around the site. Dayayra opened hostilities with a volley of missiles and a laser show downing two out of five, the barrage that came from the Inquisitor obliterated the other two crafts. The outcasts where no match for her new firepower and improved speed, they never got through her shields and the new chainguns decimated them one at a time.

Before she could notice though the inquisitor had destroyed all the weapon platforms, the half built base and double the number of fighters as she had. There was nothing left when two patrols converged on them to retaliate and they too would remain in orbit around Salinas, forever.

“Damn brother, that is quite some firepower you got there.” She praised his performance, honestly impressed. “They are gonna burn in whatever hell you sent them to.”

“I only doing my duty here amongst the stars.” His melody did not change from its serious and formal tune despite the victory.

“Heh.” The freelancer relayed the evidence of her work to Camp Lister seeing that her enthusiasm was not returned she tried a different approach. “Well we know who the bad guys are but what does a proper god fearing man actually do?”

He saw the pilot of the gunship lean forward in his seat, she now had his attention. “They do not tempt evil, they do not walk in the paths of the wicked, they do not murder and steal for their perverse pleasures, they do not forni...”

“Alright I get it, that is what they don't do.” She interrupted and rephrased her question. “What CAN a true believer actually do? What are their duties.”

She saw her wingman smile for the first time, a genuine one. “They are law abiding citizens, those who believe in virtuous ideas, and go as far as to uphold them. You will find them in the military of the houses, amongst the ranks of many enterprises, they are the good of mankind.”

CitlaTzin smiled at the response at the same time that the number four appeared on her screen followed by five zeroes, a second message on her screen made her frown though. She looked at the channel display and back at the message shaking her head.

“Well...” She input a few commands in the computer. “Here is your part of the money.” She sent half of the proceeds to the bounty hunter.

“I do not require monetary compensation for doing my duty.” He said sternly, his hands already moving to transfer the credits back.

“Well, after seeing what you can do I don't wanna' become a sinner.” She beamed him a toothy smile. “Thou shall not steal and all.” The freelancer laughed softly.

Her charms seemed to have worked on him, his hands went idle and he smiled again. “I appreciate your donation to the cause sister.”

“Most welcome brother.” Another smile crept up her face. “Maybe we arrange for more sinners to meet their maker in the future, I could use the donations.”

“Surely.” The Inquisitor replied. "I will try and convert the five sinners I have captured." He added quite seriously.

"What?" Burgos scanned the fields, finding a few lifepods but none with life signs inside.

"I will give them the option of choosing a true faith or death." The inquisitor was already powering up his drive. "Until we meet again Miss Burgos, may the gods bless you."

The gunship accelerated into the void of space leaving the freelancer shaking her head at her former wingman. "Damn... I better start behaving..." Highly motivated was an understatement.