Better Alive Than Dead Ch. 005

He did.

"I thought we were friends." complained Jack through gritted teeth, as his shoulder felt like it was about to pop from its socket.

The great Kormak looked at him with soft eyes as a heavy fist slammed into Jack's abdomen with so much force, that his puny Terran body was thrown several feet before crashing against the wall.

"We are friends." said Bolog, in a genuinely hurt tone as he slowly walked forward "You are my best friend and comrade."

"To be frank... this kindda' makes me doubt your commitment... to our friendship Bolog." Jack said wheezily in between breaths, as he lied collapsed on the floor.

"I believe you owe me an apology Jack; such an accusation was uncalled for." Bolog looked sad and visibly distressed by Jack's words.

Jack would have burst out laughing from the absurdity of it all, if every pocket of air had not been punched out of him. He rolled to the side and pushed himself up in a sitting position against the wall.

"Do I even need enemies with friends like you?" He mumbled while shaking his head. "I am sorry Bolog, it was not my intention to insinuate that by beating me up, with the sole purpose of handing me over to your murderous boss, that you do not appreciate our friendship."

Bolog stood for a while digesting it, unable to ascertain when Terrans were being sincere or using sarcasm. Lying and varieties of irony and sarcasm were not inherent in their species. Deciding on the former, the great Kormak's mouth broadened into a great toothless smile

"Thank you, Jack, I accept your apology and appreciate your friendship". Then the big brute lifted Jack off the ground and slung him across his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Come my friend, T is expecting you."

With that, he stepped through the door, absolutely beaming with joy. Jack sighed in complete resignation, as he was carried towards the exit, while Bolog whistled Tchaikovsky's 'The Nut Cracker' as he went. It seemed fitting somehow...

----------------------

Jack and Bolog flew through the mid-levels in Bolog's hovercraft. A massive armored vehicle, filled to the brim with memorabilia gathered by the Kormak on his many jobs for Threxia. Among the abundant relics was a Vextrian pillow, a slim Nekarin dagger, a Drav glomeatron and a small poster of the Soviet hammer and sickle from his trip to Earth.

As they made their way through the heavy air traffic of Omicron, the great Kormak talked extensively and rapidly of recent events in his life, once in a while pointing to one of the collectibles and initiating a long origin story. Jack was hardly listening. He would nod and smile sometimes in response to the Kormak's throaty chuckle and dramatic gesticulation. His mind was elsewhere and filled with trepidation. He had not paid Threxia for months, and the money he had intended to use to soften a potential meeting, had just been handed to Kazuya.

Although the limit for how far Jack could stretch things with Threxia might be wider than for others, even his luck would run out with her eventually.

Less than an hour later, Jack stood in the decagonal office of Threxia, which was in the tip of a stalactite-like building that housed the majority of her criminal enterprise.

The office was sparsely decorated, and for a woman with eight legs, there was a significant lack of chairs. The room's most attractive feature was a section of great panoramic windows giving an overview of the sprawling lower levels and its dizzying number of spires and air traffic.

In front of the great windows stood X'hass, Threxia's lieutenant and right-hand man.

X'hass was a Zhemir. A species of androgynous humanoids with an obsession for cleanliness and order. Looking very similar to Terrans, albeit taller and thinner. Most non-humanoid species would find it difficult to differentiate between the two, if not for the Zhemirs long prehensile tails. To Terrans, they looked effeminate and frail, like those one-in-a-million skinny supermodels back on Earth. But to a Kormak they looked like just another squishy bipedal sapiens.

X'hass was very effeminate, even for his kind. His straight well-kept blonde hair parted from his symmetric face and fell past his shoulders almost to the small of his back. His lips were pink and glistening and always set in a way that looked like he was pouting. Jack had heard his niece Kheira refer to it as 'resting bitch face' on several occasions. If somebody were to slap some lipstick and eyeshadow on the bastard, he would look more woman than man. And probably not half bad.

Despite their obsession with order, the Zhemir was also known for their geometric and revealing attire as well as their hedonistic tendencies. X'hass was dressed in a black and silver full bodysuit, with triangular shoulder pads and a very low V-cut that almost reached his crotch, revealing his pale and smooth body underneath.

The vexing Zhemir had urged Threxia repeatably to kill Jack and cut the losses through the years, and Jack knew that the smirking bastard would relish the sight of his cold corpse.

Jack was on his knees, with his hands bound behind his back, something that was hardly surprising considering X'hass disposition towards him. Also, he seemed like a guy who would prefer men on their knees

Looking out the windows and with his back turned and his hands interlocked, the Zhemir spoke without looking at him.

"I heard you were back Jack; I wonder however, why it took you so long to visit us." he said in a voice that somehow sounded both scornful and flirtatious at the same time.

"Yeah? I heard you like to get peed on by Akarian hookers, and as always I wonder why Threxia has not gotten rid of your inept ass yet."

X'hass turned around with a flourish, his slim face distorted in annoyance. Then he rolled his eyes, and kicked Jack in the stomach with a force that belied his slender stature. Jack could feel his ribs groan, and if not for the drugs in his system the pain would have been sharper and more intense. He cursed himself for being a smartass, but he just couldn't stand the arrogant Zhemir, who Jack surmised would sell out his entire family if the offer was good enough.

"Hey, I'm not judging. I love myself some freaky stuff from time to time, and I'm very much a 'to each their own' kind of guy." Jack laughed, spitting out a little blood on the well-polish floors that made X'hass nostrils flare in irritation.

"I'm just speculating on how you find time to do your job, between all your sucking up to Threxia, getting blasted in the face by Akarian hookers, and gulping down Kormak dick all the time."

Bolog chuckled.

The kick came again harder this time, which Jack expected and as the half-hearted kick landed, Jack grabbed the foot between his thighs and wrenched it to the side dragging the unsuspecting Zhemir with him to the floor.

Jack mounted him quickly, and he let some blood fall from his mouth over the Zhemir's face, that made X'hass wail in frustration. X'hass hand and sharp nails dug into Jack's throat.

"I should end you, you insufferable Terran!" he snarled.

"You can try it you dandy..."

"SILENCE YOU BICKERING PRIMATES!"

The alien voice cut through the chamber like metal smashing frosty glass. The sound was so high pitched that Jack's ears throbbed painfully from the strain.

The tall geometric door leading into the grand office slid open with a hiss of air, and a shadow fell over the room as Threxia entered.

"Bolog." her frosty voice sounded.

The heavy Kormak strode forward obediently, and with strong hands separated the two smaller beings with obvious ease.

"We were just getting to the peeing part." Jack complained half-hearted, his ribcage throbbing.

"Enough Jack."

He averted his gaze quickly as Threxia walked through the chamber, the clack of her shoes resonating loudly against the floor and walls. Threxia was a Chaneidae, and this was a hunting tactic of her kind. The Chaneidae species were vilified and rightfully feared in the galaxy for their ability to release powerful pheromones and micro-toxins allowing them to project the subconscious desire of their prey. It was a powerful tool to lull their prey into a dreamlike state and lure intelligent mammalians into their lairs for consumption. One of the reasons why their home planet of Ninshika was almost exclusively populated by their own kind. Jack had once heard that the better the Chaneidae know their prey, the easier they can manifest the object of their prey's desire.

He did not know if it were true, but Threxia knew Jack better than most. Somewhere up in the higher reaches of the chamber, shrouded in shadows of impenetrable darkness, dwelled her true arachnid-like form.

As Threxia's manifestation came to stand right next to his kneeling position, her voice changed from the frosty high-pitched screech she initially used, to the warm and strong voice that Jack both loved and despised with a passion. A scent, sparking memories both precious and foul, reached his nostrils, and Jack had to concentrate to keep his heart from beating faster.

"You did not attempt to skip out on me did you, Mr. DeWitt?"

Jack did not have to open his eyes and look up at her to feel her impervious glare.

"I was so lucky you turned up. After having ducked me for months, I almost lost hope that you would return, and then suddenly you turn up when I am in most need of your services." she patted his cheek almost affectionately "I'm such a lucky gal aren't I?"

She began circling him. Her high heels clacking gently against the floor as she went, her movements slow and seductive.

"You owe me a significant debt, and it has come to my attention that you likewise owe Rayden and his gang a substantial amount as well."

That voice and the scent. The semblance uncanny. As if she was actually in the room.

"All I owe Rayden is a bullet to the brain" Jack answered, licking blood off his teeth.

"Nevertheless, it is not easy keeping him and his goons from killing you."

"Keeping his goons from killing me? Yeah, well done by the way."

"Those goons were there to give you a beating not to kill you." She answered dismissively, referring to Khogoshh and his crew.

"Then they shouldn't send a Kinto with an unpaid blood-debt next time. And either way, they did achieve that part. Quite successfully I might add."

It should come as no surprise that Threxia was informed entirely of Jack's situation. One of the reasons she had risen so high on Omicron was her wide and intricate web of informers and spies across most levels and sections. On Omicron, information was both currency and power.

"Do you have my money then?"

"I'm working on it"

"Well, you are in luck Terran, it just so happens that I have a new job for you. I need you to transport some high-value cargo for me to an extremely particular client."

Such luck.

"What is the cargo?"

"That is none of your concern." hissed X'hass venomously from his seat.

"If it goes on my ship I guaran-fucking-tee you it's of my concern," Jack snarled opening his eyes to look at the Zhemir "Either way I can't do it, I promised Anchara I would job for her next. Making money to pay you, but I gave her my word. Hunter honor and all that."

A piss poor excuse.

A warm palm was placed on his chin and Jack had to swiftly shut his eyes closed as Threxia turned his face towards her. She put her face so close that Jack could feel her breath and smell her hair. He wanted to open his eyes and look at her defiantly, but he knew from experience how powerful the pheromones were, and how quickly you could be lulled into a dreamlike state.

"Let me worry about Anchara. The cargo needs to be picked up in two weeks."

"I don't fly cargo I don't know what is."

"This time you will." she answered, her voice turning cold.

"Is it skin?" asked Jack, referring to sentient beings sold as slaves.

"And what if it is?" asked Threxia apathetically.

Jack shook his head. "You know there are things I don't do. I don't fly cargo I don't know what is, and I don't participate in the skin trade."

Threxia laughed mirthlessly "Oh Jack, we both know how flexible those principals of yours have been through the years."

"Where is the cargo going?"

"Sasspor, in the Haedron-Servus cluster, a few clicks from the Thiarii nebula."

It took him only a few milliseconds to place the location in his head, as he had flown there a great deal after the war.

"Mulmasa? So your clients are Tharxians? Who else would use that system for transport? Who's the client?"

"Who knows?" countered Threxia "And more importantly who cares with the credits they are paying ."

"You realize what you are asking me to? You are asking me to put an innocent being into the hands of those fucking degenerates"

"Nobody's innocent Mr. DeWitt, you know this well by now."

"It's fucking wrong is what it is."

"It's business."

"Business of what? sex slavery?"

Threxia laughed again, a ridiculing tone devoid of warmth "You think someone would pay such a substantial amount for a sex toy? The Tharxians might be prolific slavers and beings of excess, but they are not fools."

Jack shook his head. This whole job offer stank to high heaven. It was unlike Threxia to work for an unknown entity. If she was telling the truth and she truly didn't know. And Tharxians were risky. They paid well but were extremely dangerous.

"If you do this, I will clear your debt and give you an additional 75.000 on top, for.. let's call it... a discretionary bonus for services rendered" she said nonchalantly.

The size of the offer gave him pause. The job would clear him close to one million. An incredible amount. She must be desperate.

When he started working for Threxia he had expected to pay his debt with her within a couple of years. However, a couple of jobs gone sour, and a debauched crew spending credits like every day was their last, had seen him in her employ for seven years now, with no immediate end in sight. It would take him at least a few more years with Drex, pulling dangerous jobs to pay off the rest of his debts and the interests. Now she was offering to wipe that all away, and give him a good chunk of change on top of that. Thousands of living beings of all species were trafficked daily, why should he fight this? What made him so fucking special?

"It might not be sex slavery, but for that for that kind of money, it's nothing innocent." Jack pushed, hoping for just a sliver of information.

"Oh spare me the theatrics, Jack. Some of the things you have done through the years, are no better than the skin trade."

"This is different."

Her voice turned annoyed "I believed you to be more pragmatic than this Jack, no matter if you accept the job or not, the cargo is going to be transported, so all you have to decide is whether you want a small fortune for it or lose everything, different input, same outcome."

"I don't like dealing with Tharxians and I am no skin trader." Jack spat.

"You are the best smuggler for the job and when I say that either you deliver this cargo, or I shuttle you to Korigor and take your ship as late interest, you can rest assure that these are the only outcomes, and that I have considered all options carefully."

"You won't touch her." Jack replied coldly.

"You are in no position to threaten me!" she snarled venomously, her voice flaring from his impunity.

Korigor was the small moon that Omicron was built around, that the Triumvirate used as the station's prison. A moon with an artificially created atmosphere and environments, spanning from scorching deserts to deep jungles and frigid glaciers.

An intergalactic bloodsport was transmitted from the planet, which was a widely popular reality show across the galaxy, although in Federation space you needed some kind of unlocked sequence to watch it. Life on Korigor was cruel, brutish, and short.

"It's sweet how you give me the illusion of choice."

"Oh the choice is there Jack, one is just indefinably more lucrative than the other."

Jack hesitated. Different scenarios running through his head, that somehow all ended with him dead, and his beautiful Amagi being apathetically appraised by X'hass. The very thought made his stomach convulse.

"Fine, I'll do it. But when this is over, we are over. No more exclusive jobs for your syndicate. No more being your dog on a leash. Drex and I are off to pursue our own goals, and no more X'hass."

Threxia was silent for but a moment and then spoke.

"Deal. Upon the completion of this run your ties to my organization will be nil," She stepped close to him, her hips brushing against him gently, and a slender hand ran through his hair, that sent a shiver through his spine. Her voice turned flirtatious with a tone of danger "But Jack, if you fail me this time, I will destroy you. But not just you. That pretty niece of yours as well, and Drex. And his wives. And the children. All that you have been in contact with and consider friends I will consume. And then your ties to my organization will truly be over."

----------------------

One of Threxia's goons escorted Jack back to the hangar bay in section 66E in a sleek black hovercraft with luxurious purple seats. Threxia's personal vehicle. It was incredible how fast you could be in favor again if you just surrendered all principles.

X'hass had given Jack the coordinates of the drop, which was now stored safely in his gauntlet, ready to be transferred to Amagi's navigation system. The drop was on some barren rock on the edge of Federation space named Fabkos. A decommissioned mining colony according to Federation archives.

When Jack arrived at the hangar, Drex was moving some cargo onto Amagi with what appeared like extraneous help from Aiden. VIC had taken care of restocking necessities, such as fuel, munitions, food, and water as well as presenting the kid and the Skamiir to one another.

Jack went over the ship manifest and supply list quickly, wanting to get underway as soon as possible. They had two weeks, and although it was unlikely to take more than a week to reach Fabkos from here, the added time gave him the flexibility to change routes if needed and to scout the drop-point before the actual drop. With the money Threxia was putting into this job, there was guaranteed trouble brewing, and considering the limited amount of information Jack had received he would need any advantage he could get.

Signing off on the supply list VIC flew back into Amagi to prepare for take-off.

Then he saw her. Partly visible behind some large empty cargo crates. Irina.

"Get inside." Jack ordered sharply, and Drex led Aiden inside the ship before the kid could formulate a question.

Jack jumped from the landing bridge and onto the hangar floor, which he crossed in long strides. Anger swelled in his chest as he went. When he closed in on her, she held out her hands to show she was not holding a weapon. She opened her mouth to say something, but in the very same instance, Jack's fist crashed into her jaw.

Irina was tossed to the ground, blood spurting from her mouth. She tried to push herself to a stand, but Jack kicked her forcefully in the abdomen, sending her crashing into the metal frame of the cargo crates.

She winced in pain, and Jack felt the urge to unholster his weapon and end her right then and there.

He hoisted her up roughly from the ground, holding her against the crates with his strong hands on her throat. A small stream of blood leaked from the left side of her mouth, where her lip had torn a little.

"I should kill you right here!" He barked savagely, his anger dissipating slightly as he saw Irina's wounded state.

"Then do it you fucking prick," She spat coldly, her voice barely more than a croaking whisper as Jack squeezed her windpipe "You don't have to fucking announce it before you kill somebody."