The Package: Part 1

    A flashing blue light woke Calsin from his quick nap hunched over the tarnished command console. The dingo yawned and lazily reached for the intercom button, “Yes?”
  “It’s  Kaela, time to wake up and get your ass in gear,” a female’s voice came over the intercom, “Bryvin called.”
    Calsin rubbed his eyes and yawned again, “What’s that fag want?”
    “He wants to have sex with you,” Kaela said to Calsin very sarcastically. Still holding down the intercom button, Calsin gave a low growl, “He wants us to meet him at Krath station.”
    Calsin rolled his eyes and rubbed the side of his muzzle, “Krath? Why that shit hole?” Calsin didn’t like Krath station,  it was filthy and crime ridden. He had actually seen a peacekeeper stop a cutpurse only to take the purse for himself instead of returning it to the stranded owner, who was of royalty.
    “Because Bryvin lives there,” Kaela told Calsin what he already knew, but in a tone like he was hearing it for the first time.
    “Damn,” Calsin sighed as he punched in the coordinates, “At least I can sleep on the way there.”

    Built nearly two hundred years ago, in an attempt to bring more living space to the inner planets Krath was in the process of falling apart in its geostationary orbit above Trām, the planet nearest Dredia. Through the cockpit view port, Calsin saw the dirty hanger  which gave an accurate summation of what to expect at Krath, The hanger was filled with ships that seemed to match their rough surroundings. That list of rough ships also included Calsin’s ship, which was affectionately named Betty.
    Many big time criminals called Krath their home due to the low amount of law enforcement. On that list was Bryvin, a monkey, who was notorious nearly everywhere and was a leading figure in the criminal underworld. Almost at all times, in the thirteen explored systems, he had a gun for hire committing some sort of illicit activities on his behalf.
  “Calsin, you’re here,” the monkey cried out in an exasperated tone and through his arms up as he saw the familiar rough, golden fur come through the door to his library, “and you brought Kaela with you,” Bryvin saw that Calsin was followed in by the beautiful skunk, who was also Calsin’s lover, “It’s been a while, lets chat,” Bryvin literally leapt into an expensive chair.
    “I’ll stand, thank you. What do you want?” Calsin wanted to get right to the point.
Bryvin’s expression went to one of disappointment, “Fine,” he stood up and skipped over to the skunk and dingo. The skipping didn’t surprise either of them as it was well known that Bryvin was an extremely flamboyant and energetic homosexual, which was rare for one to rise to such power in the criminal world, “There is a package out on Narpa station above Fallakine in the Amafreel system.”
    Calsin expected Bryvin to say more about anything regarding his request, “Oh, that’s it?”
    “What about this package?” Kaela asked hostilely, even stepping forward towards the monkey who stood his ground knowing very well that Kaela wouldn‘t do anything to him. He truly enjoyed the influence that he had and exploited it to the fullest. Mostly for heinous activities that benefited him or his current ally. As alliances went he also knew that there was always some other petty, aspiring crime lord willing to do anything for such an alliance with such an influential entity.
    “You have to bring it back here, to me,” Bryvin paused, his eyes darting back and forth between his guests, who’s glances had slightly shifted towards each other at the seemingly simple request  “Why are you still here? Go, now!”

    “What’s going on?” Hannock, a tall serval and a greenhorn to the gun for hire business, asked as Kaela and Calsin returned to the ship. Hannock had spent most of his life on the surface of Dredia amongst wealth and power. His family had forsaken him after his decent into the world of  criminals and scoundrels, so he turned to the stars for ‘employment’.
    “That queer, Bryvin, wants us to get a package and deliver it to him,” Calsin walked by pressing a button to close the landing ramp, “I don’t see why he needs us to do it.”
Hannock returned to some light engineering work, a trade he picked up during his days on Liris station, “Seems like a waste of money to hire us jus to get a package.”
    “Hey it’s an easy job for some easy pay, so don’t bitch about it,” Calsin continued on to the cockpit, “I like to think of it as a job where we’re not gonna get shot at, for once.”
Hannock silently agreed with his captain and proceeded to finish up his work that he had been doing while they where talking with Bryvin. As Betty lifted off, the serval found Kaela on the lower deck working on her prized pulse pistols, like she often did, “Hey,” Hannock stood next to her and played with the fur on her tail.
    “What did I tell you about your playing with my tail?” Kaela asked sternly without taking her eyes away from her work.
    “Sorry,” Hannock removed his hand instantly not wanting to start anything with Kaela. He was just attracted to her meaning he had no problems with interspecies relationships, “So, what are you expecting on this mission?” Hannock looked at the various gun parts that laid scattered about the workbench.
    Kaela turned from the table to face Hannock, “Something  tough.”
    Hannock looked confused at her statement. He was new to the mercenary business and was with two experts that had opinions of the upcoming mission on two different ends of the spectrum, “But it’s just a simple delivery job, right?”
    “You don’t know Bryvin. We worked with him multiple times before and every job was a difficult ones with lots of opposition. He has a way of framing things so that they appear to be easier than they really are,” Kaela explained her position helping to clear some of Hannock’s confusion
    “Calsin expects an in out operation here,” Hannock gestured in the direction of the cockpit with his thumb. Hannock put more trust in Calsin, seeing as how the dingo was captain. Kaela just sighed and returned to work, “It’s just a package though. Who’s willing to kill for that?”
    “Nothing is just quite a package,” Kaela shook her head, then paused, “You have to think about what’s inside of that simple package.”

    Betty emerged from hyperspace with the green mountainous surface of Fallakine filling the cockpit viewport. Narpa was just a speck in the distance against the backdrop of the green planet. Narpa was an advanced station and higher up in the social rankings by many percentiles. A central sphere with rings around it both vertically and horizontally in concentric patterns. Betty seemed out of place amongst the myriad of new, clean ships. Calsin stepped out of his ship and drew a hyperspace communicator (HSC) from his pocket. HSC’s were top of the line devices able to contact anyone any where with only a thirty to forty second delay from the two most distant systems. Calsin had to speak with Bryvin. He waited, “Hello?” Bryvin answered back safely at Krath.
    “We’re at Narpa, where’s your package?” Calsin asked forcefully.
    He soon regretted asking with that choice of words as Bryvin responded, “In my pants!” The monkey had a laugh and the dingo rolled his eyes in annoyance, “but seriously, it’s in a place called Thoron’s. That’s a middle class restaurant with less than par food. Plenty of other places-”
    “Get on with it!” Calsin yelled loudly into his HSC. Doing so drew a lot of attention to him along with the stares from those who were considered proper citizens of the Dredian systems.
    “Alright, ask for the manager and to him say that you need the playing piece,” Bryvin supplied additional instructions.
    “Good,” Calsin broke the connection, only to get a call back nearly a minute later, “Hello?”
    It was Bryvin, “Aren’t you gonna say good-bye?”
    “Fuck you! I’m not saying good-bye,” Calsin shouted loudly then hung up again. Both Kaela and Hannock, along with those ‘proper’ citizens, looked at him strangely, “What?”

    Thoron’s was just as Bryvin said it was, a mid-grade restaurant. It stayed in business under a business plan of a lot of food for a small amount of money. A short female human greeted the group at the entrance, “Hello, would you like a table?”
    “I’m sure the food is good, but we would just like to see the manager,” Calsin’s response surprised her and a worried expression crossed her face. Kaela took note of it and got a little nervous herself. The greeter led them through the dining room and kitchen to a small office in the back of the restaurant. Calsin opened the door to see the manager handing a digital lockbox to a human female. In a quick but irrational thought Calsin shouted, “I need the playing piece!”
    “Here’s your playing piece!” A muskrat, who’s left arm was cybernetic, jumped from a corner and brought Calsin to the cold floor. In a rapid reaction Hannock leapt through the doorway, claws extended, and tore into the muskrat’s back. The muskrat was torn off the dingo, doing minimal damage.
    “Hold it!” Kaela screamed, holding her pulse pistols pointed at the woman and the muskrat, poised to fire. Everyone in the office stopped and stood back up, “Who sent you!”
    “None of your-”
    “I said who the fuck sent you!” Kaela screamed once again, placing more pressure on the triggers. The sound that the micro cores of the pulse pistols gave off grew slightly louder.
    “Kyle Knorsin,” the woman replied in fear for her life.
    “What does Kyle Knor-” Kaela stop speaking and screamed as she was ripped from the doorway by a large muscular badger. She now sat up against the opposite wall with a human holding a ten gauge Dredian marine combat shotgun to her head.
    “Hello, Calsin,” the badger looked to the dingo.
    “Brutalis!” Calsin growled in surprise at the arrival of his rival and took a step back as the large badger stepped into the small office that was already crowded. Calsin and Brutalis had a history that went back several years, spanned all the systems, and left many partners and allies on both sides dead or mutilated. In about six out of ten of their meetings Brutalis came out the seeming victor leaving Calsin defeated and often on the edge of death. Through his rivalry with the badger he met Kaela who was a savior when the dingo needed the most help the most in especially bloody conflicts.
    Brutalis’ attention turned to the digital lockbox when he spotted it in the woman’s hands, “How about you give me that box.”
    She looked down at the box, then back up at Brutalis with great animosity, “We got here first making this box ours, so fuck off!”
    Without further words the back of Brutalis’ hand slammed into the side of the woman’s face. Her grip on the box loosened and Brutalis greedily grabbed the box and slowly backed out of the room.
    Calsin looked around the room at the somewhat disappointed people. Except for the manager, who seemed relieved that the box was out of his life,  “What the hell?” the dingo ran out into the hallway and helped Kaela to her feet, “Let’s go!”
    “I thought you might of needed this,” Kaela grinned and pulled out a SMG from a bag she had at her side. Calsin smiled as she handed it to him, “You left it back on the ship.”
    “Thanks,” Calsin pulled Kaela in and gave her a long, loving kiss, “Are you comin?”
Kaela smirked at the question, “Do you have to ask?”

    Brutalis held his HSC to his ear, “Yeah, we’ve got the box…Calsin was sent to get it…That dingo…Probably by Bryvin. He often works for him…We’re leaving Thoron’s right now,” a gunshot rang out through the kitchen and caught Brutalis in the arm causing him to drop his HSC. Calsin stood there holding his gun, “Shoot that fucker!” Brutalis shouted as he took cover at the end of a row of stainless steel ovens. The human with the shotgun fired in Calsin’s general direction. A few pellets tore through the fur on Calsin’s arm, but not his flesh. Both the human and dingo took cover. The human next to Brutalis and Calsin at the end of the preparation counter. In the brief moment of silence the kitchen staff took their chance to escape safely from the blood that would ensue.
    Breathing heavily Calsin looked to his left as the door to the backrooms opened once again, “Kaela, get down!” she began to slide into a position with cover as the shotgun armed human popped up and fired once again. A death dealing spray of BB’s merely took a bite of Kaela’s tail and right ear.
    She smashed against the side of the ovens, “Dammit!”
    Calsin peered around the corner and ran from his cover jumping on top of the stove. The shotgun toting human came up for another shot, but didn’t expect Calsin to be there.
Blood from the human left a scarlet blemish, dotted with specks of pink brain matter, on Brutalis’ fur. He set the lockbox down on the floor and kicked it through the light kitchen doors into the dining room. The badger grabbed his fallen partner’s shotty and fired blindly over the stove tops. Most of the blast caught Calsin in the right leg, “Fuck!”
    The dingo collapsed onto the tops of the stove and rolled off onto the floor, his leg bleeding profusely, “Calsin!” Kaela called out before another shotgun blast aimed at no one sounded off.
    Brutalis ran out of the kitchen, scooping up his prize lockbox as he ran through the dining room. A smile stretched  across his face as he thought he had gotten away with the box, but it faded away with an announcement on the station PA, “Attention Narpa Station, the hangers are locked down and Rocher Plaza is closed due to some reported violent criminal activity involving several people.”
    The woman who had originally gotten the lockbox ran past Kaela. As she ran past the hemorrhaging dingo, he reached out grabbing her leg. Such a surprise grasp caused her to trip, “What the hell?”
    “Help me you bitch!” Calsin demanded desperately. Pain coursed through Calsin’s body as he spoke.
    “Why?” she asked the wounded animal.
    “I said so,” Kaela stood at Calsin’s feet, her pulse pistols giving off the high pitched humming sound as Kaela reactivated the small power cores within that powered them.
Her muskrat companion burst through the door with Hannock right behind him. Once again the muskrat was brought to the floor, “Rafen!” the human shouted. The muskrat wrestled his way out from under Hannock, “Stop!”
    “Fine,” the muskrat wiped blood from his nose with his cybernetic arm, “Where’s the box?”
    “Brutalis has it now. He headed out to the plaza with it,” Kaela rolled Calsin over and set his back against a stove.
    “Is anyone going to get him?” Hannock wiped blood from his mouth thinking he had sustained some damage until he saw Calsin’s bloody leg and the puddle of gore it left. The newbie couldn’t help but stare at the exposed muscle and bloody fur.
    “The Narpa police force, that’s for sure. They‘re mean as hell,” the woman gave her opinion that had basis in her previous encounters with the Narpa police. Kaela pulled Calsin’s shirt off exposing the rough gold fur on his torso and used the shirt to wrap his frayed leg.
    The dingo cringed in pain as she wrapped his leg tightly; the blood turning it crimson in color, “Damn, that hurts like a bitch. How’s your tail and ear?” Calsin asked with his eyes closed and a sharp exhalation through his teeth.
    “In pain, but I’ll be fine, what are we gonna do?” Kaela knew they couldn’t just leave Calsin there. Either the Narpa police, who where authorized to do what ever it takes, or Brutalis, a violent, sadistic psycho, would destroy him.
    “Hey, we have a Cybernetics M.D. on board our ship along with decent operation facilities. He’s a good doctor. Did up Rafen’s arm here,” the human woman made a suggestion.
    Kaela looked from her hurt companion to the woman, “How can we trust you? We don’t even know your name.”
    “They call me Andy,” she paused, “How’s this for trust? You and Rafen go and hunt down Brutalis. The serval and I will bring the dingo to my ship,” she truly wanted to help get the box back.
    “Fine,” Calsin agreed, but not fully. Deep down he sensed a catch, “Hannock, help me to her ship.”

    Bryvin answered an audio call on his local station system, “Hello?”
    “So, you’ve sent Calsin for the package?” a menacing voice came over the system.
    “Verak,” Bryvin greeted the voice hospitably, “How’d you know?”
    “My guy told me,” Verak, a despicable alligator, smiled darkly, “Don’t expect to get the package.”
    Bryvin frowned, “Looks like this whole thing is no longer on friendly terms.”
    “Who said this was a friendly contest?”