Alien Skin Market by Lizzy Bequin
CHAPTER 27: DAGGOTH
Afew thousand cycles earlier, Betnt Koarth 116 had been nothing but a massive planetoid, its surface pocked with craters, its sky devoid of any atmosphere. It was a barren, lifeless rock slowly orbiting a dying sun in an obscure sector of the galaxy. But over time, as the Galactic Covenant expanded, Betnt Koarth found itself at the confluence of several new trade routes, making it the perfect location for a deep-space refueling station. The planetoid’s core was hollowed out for fuel storage, and thousands of massive shuttle hangars were built into the surface, ringing the equator like a belt.
It was within one of these hangars that Daggoth now stood, all but invisible within the deep shadows created by a busted overhead lighting unit. He was clad in a skin-tight black bodysuit and hooded cloak, and he wore a small black satchel of supplies over his shoulder. His eyes were directed outward, staring into the dark void of space where a small, Rakese smuggler ship was making its final approach.
Daggoth had arrived well ahead of them. Nearly four full spans. Any other mercenary might have grown bored with all the waiting, but not Daggoth. He was a hunter by nature. He understood the value of patience.
And soon his patience would pay off.
Soon he would have his prize, and his employer, Mistress Nekrona would be pleased.
Daggoth watched silently as a small lighted orb divorced itself from the surface of Betnt Koarth and ran out ahead of the oncoming vessel winking patterns of colored lights. A pilot drone to lead the vessel in. The smuggler ship followed the drone and entered through the yawning mouth of the hangar. There was a flicker of distortion as the craft passed through the invisible forcefield that protected Betnt Koarth’s interior from the vacuum of space. The landing area was already crowded with an assortment of other ships, but the drone quickly located an open space not too far from the wall where Daggoth was hiding.
Three mechanical landing legs extended from the underside of the craft, and it gently set down like a giant rusted bug. After a moment, a boarding ramp extended from the side of the craft, and a Raksha emerged.
It was the big one.
Hewas going to be a problem.
Daggoth felt confident he could take the other two Raksha in hand-to-hand combat. But a good warrior understood his own limitations, and Daggoth knew that no amount of skill would give him the upper hand against that big bastard. Ranged weapons were not an option. Not with all these other aliens around. Betnt Koarth was not the most lawful place in the Covenant, but outright murder would not go unpunished.
If everything went according to plan, however, it would not come to that.
When it came time to dispose of the three three meddling Raksha, Daggoth would do it in a secluded place far from civilization where there would be no witnesses and no chance of retribution.
Daggoth’s plan was complicated and dangerous, but he was certain it would succeed. For now, he had to move quickly. He would only have one chance to make this work.
The big Raksha had his back turned as he unspooled the fuel-hose from the pump next to the parked ship. It was Daggoth’s chance to make his move. He raced forward, gliding like a silent shadow between the landing legs of the other ships parked in the hangar until he reached his target. In a single, smooth motion, he leapt high into the air and landed noiselessly on the roof of the smuggler ship.
A quick glance around confirmed that no one had noticed his behavior. That was good. But he couldn’t tarry for long without arousing suspicion.
Daggoth moved swiftly toward middle of the ship’s roof and located the small dome of the field generator. When activated, the device provided a protective energy barrier that surrounded the vessel like a bubble, allowing it to survive the faster-than-light journey through the interstices between time and space. Without that shielding, the ship would simply blink out of existence, never to arrive at its destination. Or anywhere else in the material realm, for that matter.
Daggoth dipped his hand into his satchel and retrieved a small explosive device. It was no bigger than a coin, but it held a powerful electromagnetic charge on one side. Daggoth carefully affixed the explosive to the surface of the field generator.
With that step taken care of, all that remained was to infiltrate the ship and find a suitable hiding place inside. Daggoth crawled to the side of the craft and peered over the edge. Down below, the big Raksha had inserted the fuel nozzle into the ship’s hull, and he was just beginning to fill the tanks. The hose twitched like a living thing as the fuel started to flow.
Daggoth waited until a nearby spaceship took off before he jumped down. The sound of his landing was lost beneath the roar of the propulsion engines.
The lowered boarding ramp concealed him from the big Raksha’s view.
Daggoth glanced at the ship’s entrance. The coast seemed to be clear, but he knew there were two more Raksha inside, and there was no telling when one of them may decide to come strolling out. This was the riskiest moment of his plan. The part where everything could go wrong. But Daggoth’s pulse remained slow and calm.
He went for it.
A quick sprint up the ramp, and Daggoth was inside, standing in the main central corridor. The ship’s interior was in a sorry state of disrepair. The wall and ceiling panels were dented and even missing in places, and masses of cables and wires sagged through.
The ship was a pile a junk, yet somehow these Raksha had managed to raise twenty million galax to buy the alien female. Something didn’t add up.
But there was no doubt it was the right ship. It was the same one Daggoth had tracked leaving Gilaamar Secundus, and if any further confirmation was required, one whiff of the ship’s air was all the proof Daggoth needed.
He could smell her
The alien female.
The air inside the ship was saturated with her ripe scent.
Daggoth had smelled it once before on Gilaamar Secundus, in the Gilaa Spaceport. That time had been different, however. They had been outside where the scent had room to spread and dissipate. Here in the enclosed confines of the ship, the female’s sweet bodily odor was concentrated. There was no escaping it. That scent ignited within Daggoth an incendiary lust of such scale and intensity it verged on madness.
For a moment, he was blinded by visions of the alien female. Images of her naked figure swam before his eyes like apparitions. He felt a nearly overwhelming urge to follow her scent, to chase her down and claim her here and now.
But a sound jolted Daggoth out of his reveries.
Two sounds, actually. A pair of Raksha voices conversing in the cockpit at the far end of the corridor. Those voices were growing louder. Any moment now those Raksha would be in the corridor with him, and he would be caught. He was not concerned about fighting the two Raksha, but the ensuing fracas would most certainly bring down the wrath of the local security forces.
He needed to hide, and quick.
Daggoth raced toward the rear of the craft where the engine room was located. As expected, there was a floor hatch leading down into the cargo hold in the belly of the ship. Daggoth ducked inside and pulled the hatch closed above him just as the two Raksha appeared at the far end of the corridor.
He had evaded them. He was not concerned about the leaving a scent trail in his wake. His chemical scent eliminator would take care of that. The Raksha would be totally unaware of his presence aboard their ship.
But Daggoth could not rest. Not yet.
There was still much work to be done.
Using his natural Raksha nightvision, supplemented by hearing and touch, Daggoth explored the cargo hold. It was mostly empty except for some random pieces of cargo secured with magnetic straps. He located a gap between two stacks of metal crates that was just the right fit for his body. He wedged himself inside and prepared for takeoff.
It wasn’t long before he heard the clank of the boarding ramp retracting. The fueling was complete. A moment later, the ship lurched as it lifted off and exited the hangar. A few minutes after that came the old familiar gut-punch as the ship jumped into the interstices again.
They were now on the final leg of their journey. Next stop, Rak. Or so they thought. But the ship would never arrive at its intended destination. Daggoth would see to that.
He had planned it down to the last detail.
Somewhere far behind them, Mistress Nekrona was following Daggoth’s trail in her massive cruiser. Soon she would arrive at Betnt Koarth and receive the messages he had left behind, detailing the next stages of his plan.
It was a lot of trouble for one little alien.
But Goddess, what a magnificent creature she was. Even down here in the cool darkness of the cargo hold, Daggoth could still smell her. Her scent clung in the back of his throat like the aftertaste of a fine t’lon.
He thought about how that scent had nearly spoiled his mission a few minutes ago, and he smiled coldly. The three Raksha were not the biggest threat to his success. The alien female herself, she was more dangerous by far.
He would have to be more careful in the future.
But for now, he needed to survey the ship and prepare for the next stage of his plan.
Daggoth unshouldered his satchel and opened it. In total darkness, he reached inside and searched with his fingers. There were several more charges, different from the one he had placed on the field generator, but those were for later. Right now, he was looking for the pouch that contained several metallic spheres, each one the approximate size of an eyeball.
He removed one of these spheres from the satchel and set it on the floor in front of him. After a moment, the device activated itself. A glowing red sensor appeared on the sphere, followed by four little mechanical legs that sprouted from its underbelly. The little bug-like drone stood up and turned its single red eye toward Daggoth, awaiting its master’s instructions.