Carcer was still congratulating himself on his latest niode raid on the Shogunate outer worlds when his primary fire control relay blew out. Sparks shot from beneath the console, filling his cockpit with acrid black smoke. He popped the cockpit on his Ammonite, allowing the air to clear for a moment.
This was a good a time as any to check his loot. He was at least 200 clicks from the nearest settlement, and the Shogunate forces would take at least a few hours to realize that he wasn't amongst the chump Merc's he had hired to help him.
It was a dying shame that their cannons had jammed, especially as it had coincided with the main bulk of the mines defense force. But those were the breaks. It wasn't as though it was anything to do with Carcer. Yes, he had supplied them with the ammo, and maybe he had a cooked a few of the rounds before helping them load them. But it was hardly his fault they had fired off so many, now was it.
And besides, the Shogunate forces were likely to be far more forgiving than Carcer would have been. Why share the loot with 5 Mercs, when it would have been much cheaper just to kill them whilst their mechs were still battle damaged. Yup, definitely better for them to get captured, and keep the defense force busy whilst he made good his escape than die a fools death.
Carcer checked the crate. 15000 niodes, all packed and ready for processing. Even given his fixers standard rate for transferring them, Carcer would still have a fortune which would keep him in Whisky and women for the next 6 months or so. Mebbe even look to get himself one of those new Anubis Mechs he had heard rumor about, now that would be make for an awesome raid mech.
However, with out his primary fire control Carcer was a sitting duck if any of those fools had been able to get away from the Shogunate, or even worse, spotted his retreat strategy and pointed the defense forces in his general direction. Carcer needed a mechanic, and quickly. Fortunately, he had scouted out this back water planet before planning the raid and had noted a mechanic within the next 30 clicks. It always paid to plan ahead, otherwise things could get ugly real quick, especially for a man responsible for raids on half a dozen planets. 30 Clicks should be easy. An hours travel, then 2 hours to get a new relay fitted, another hour to his waiting and well hidden ship and he would be gone. Carcer stowed the precious niodes and then made for the mechanic shop.
An hour later, Carcer found himself at what could only be described as a burial ground for mechs. Rusting carcasses and sheets of poly carbide littered a huge fenced area. Pieces of huge weapons, piles of gearing systems and electronic gizmo's stacked in rough piles about the place. At the front a small shed with the legend “Mo's salvage” painted in faded letters above a rolling shutter.
Carcer shut down his Ammonite, double checking that the security protocols on his cargo bay were active. He climbed down and standing in front of him was a scruffy man in his early sixties.
“What can I be doing for you stranger?” he asked.
“I was hunting Snavrum and my primary fire control blew out on me. I need a replacement fitted, quick as you can, if you would be so kind?” Replied Carcer
“Sure, I should have something that'll do the job around here some place. My names Mo, as you might have guessed, and yours is...?” The question hung in the air for a moment, an uncomfortable silence which neither man wanted to break.
“I don't think the who is quite as important as the how much?” Said Carcer finally.
“No I don't suppose it does.” Quipped Mo, realizing that this might not be the best person to press regarding a name. “ If it's running a series 5, then I should be able to patch it. Fifty crystal should cover it. It'll take me about three hours to do the job, you can grab yourself a coffee from the front desk whilst your waiting, if you'd like.”
Three hours! This was definitely too long to be waiting for a repair. In three hours Carcer hoped to have been off of this dust bowl of a planet and far beyond the reach of the defense forces. An idea occurred to Carcer, and a small thin smile stretched across his face, and it wasn't like he intended to pay regardless.
“I really wanted to get back to hunting quicker than that, I spotted a prize Snavrum before that relay blew. I tell you what, I had a little luck recently and I don't mind sharing it to get back it to it quicker than that.” Carcer paused for a moment, trying to read if the old feller was buying the story.
“ Tell you what, how about I pay you say twenty five niodes and you get it done in an hour?”
Mo nodded slowly.. “Twenty five niodes you say? Heck that must have been a monster Snavrum you saw.” said Mo.
“It was.” Replied Carcer reaching into his back pack and drawing out a sizable box. The small niodes twinkled from behind the glass panels. “Now do we have a deal or not?”
“Sure, I can do the job. No problem, just as long as them Niodes are legit” Mo said.
Of course they weren't. Truth be told there was only 15 niodes in there. The remains of Carcers last heist. But the old man was never going to get to open the box, let alone count them or check their authenticity. Carcer started towards the shack without even giving Mo a second glance.
“You said there was coffee in the office, right?” shouted Carcer back to Mo and headed on in.
The coffee was truly awful, but Mo was truly a man of his word which almost made up for it. Fifty minutes had passed when Mo came back into the office, wiping his hands on an oily rag.
"That's a sweet set of Hyper amps you got on that mech of yours, 'course I would have run the power lines a little different, and their a little heavy for Snavrum hunting, but sweet none the less.” Exclaimed Mo.
“Now I believe that we agreed on twenty five niodes, did we not.?” Mo's hand stretched for the box.
“Yes, about that.” Replied Carcer, laser pistol already in hand and pointing at Mo. “ You see, I really hoped you wouldn't notice the Amps, and when it comes down to it, I really am a little too greedy to part with these niodes after all.” Carcers pistol waved Mo away from the door.
“Now you don't wanna be going and doing something both of us would regret.” Stammered Mo. “If you're not gonna pay me, well I guess that's the way it goes, but there ain't no need to be shooting people just trying to make a living.”
“You know, I really quite like you Mo.” replied Carcer. “And I hate to kill a good mechanic, but you have seen my face, and you did pay a little too much attention to my ordnance.” the laser fired twice, into the chest of Mo. “But needs must when the devil farts in your kettle, so I guess I'll be leaving without any witnesses.” Carcer fired a third time as he walked to the door.
It wasn't Carcer's fault. If the old guy hadn't spotted his cannons he might have let him live. But there was no point in taking chances on things like that. The Shogunate could be very persuasive when they wanted to be.
The rest of Carcers journey was uneventful. He even tested his new firing relay on a couple of Snavrum on the way. Big ones too, so he hadn't even lied about that. All in all he was feeling pretty good about this heist. He had got away, mech intact, no injuries, a huge pay off, and best of all no splitting the loot. He had made it to the ship and was just readying to board when the missile hit the Ammonites right shoulder. He spun the Mech round to see where the impact had come from, targeting systems lighting up on the five battered and damaged Mechs behind him.
“Bet you weren't expecting to see us, huh Carter?” Damn, it was the Mercs he had hired as cannon fodder to cover his escape.
Carcer drew a slow breath, his brain racing as his mind searched for a slick way out of this predicament.
“Well I had wondered how long you were going to take to catch up, but I knew you guys would be able to make short work of those defense forces, that's why I hired you in the first placed.” It sounded good, thought Carcer.
"You set us up Carcer, you didn't tell us it was the Shogunate we were going up against to get your damn Niodes” Said the second Mech pilot.
“And you cooked our rounds so as they would jam, and we'd take the rap for your little caper” interjected the third pilot.
“No, no, you got it all wrong.” Carcer tried to explain.
“No, you got it wrong.” Interrupted the fourth pilot. “See the Shogunate want those Niodes you took off with more than they want us. So they cut us a deal. You and the niodes and instead of executing us, we work off our crime with the defense force.”
“Of course, now that you have managed to sell that you'll go along with their deal the six of us and get the hell off this planet and split the loot. Twelve thousand Niodes, split six ways is a hefty profit margin.” Offered Carcer.
“And have the Shogunate hunt us down. No Deal” Replied the fifth pilot. “You, and the loot are coming with us. Dead or alive is no never mind, either way.”
Carcer weighed up his opponents. Even if they weren't damaged, Carcer would be confident of his Ammonite against their Ogguns, and their mechs were pretty banged up. This should be a breeze to take them down. Moderate damage to his own Mech and he would still be off this rock, before anyone else could stop him.
“Dead it is then.” Called out Carcer, fingers pressing down on his triggers.
Carcer squeezed again, but his guns wouldn't fire. That low down, two faced mechanic hadn't repaired his fire control at all. Well now he was glad he had killed the weasel. It was at this point that the holographic face of Mo appeared in front of him.
“Howdy. If your seeing this hologram then either you didn't pay me, or you killed me, or both.” Said the dismembered head.
“Now if you had just paid as agreed and not killed me, then this here Hologram wouldn't be chatting to you. It's kinda obvious that you don't do bad things to people who can reprogram your firing systems, but I guess it's kinda late for that lesson now,” Dead Mo continued.
“But it gets even worse, ya see, I always rig my work so that it comes back on you. I always deactivate the program once I'm paid, but I guess you were just too greedy and back stabbing to stick to whatever deal we made.” Carcer was really starting to regret not paying Mo at this point.
“I'm guessing that you probably run into the wrong people, or crossed someone you shouldn't have or some such and so now your needing them guns pretty bad. However, whoever they is, they ain't your biggest problem right now.” Carcer became aware of a small bleeping on his fire support console.
“Yup your biggest problem is that whilst you been listening to this recording, your firing cells have been charging to over load and are just about to blow.” Carcer reached for the emergency eject button, but there was no response from the control.
“So sonny, or young miss, or whoever you were, just remember, NEVER STIFF A MECHANIC.”
It was at this point that the five very surprised Mercs watched a very expensive Ammonite blow itself apart. It left nothing but a reinforced secured Safe with fifteen thousand Niodes contained in it which dropped neatly to the ground.
“I wonder if he went to Mo's for repairs?” Mused one of the Mercs as he loaded the container aboard his Mech and headed back to the Niode mine to try to redeem themselves to the Shogunate. Five years in the defense force would be tough going, but at least they would walk away alive.
Submitted by James Blewitt#865153