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Tanin

“T he only true beauty is power.”

Tanin blinked, turning his eyes from the massive, marble statue set high overhead in the center of a fountain in pride of place of this magnificent garden. He looked instead over to the master of the palace that sat in the middle of said garden. Though he’d never seen the male himself before, he recognized the king of this pod from pics he’d looked up on the subnet. While Tanin had never been to the planet Holivair until now, this male was famous even offworld. This particular pod was a very wealthy and powerful one; therefore, so was its king.

The king in question, Gissrn Rudimint of Pod Qarall, had a lot of influence and businesses spread over multiple planets. His pod produced some of the most beautiful and rare dyes and gemstones in the universe, and he reaped the benefits. He adorned his shiny black skin with bright jewels and precious furs. The fabrics were woven with beautiful, complex, geometric patterns. He wore a snow-white cape that trailed dramatically behind him over one shoulder while two servants in plain gray followed after, their heads lowered. The cape itself was worth a great deal of credz. Almost nothing on Holivair was white naturally. The planet was black from its people to its plants to its soil. That cape had to have been imported from far away and keeping it that white would be an undertaking all on its own.

The shinook were a species that had all black, leathery skin with an undertone of color that wasn’t particularly obvious unless someone looked closely. Gissern’s was green, matching well with his five, bright white eyes. He stalked forward with the confidence of a male that knew well his place and the authority he wielded.

Tanin was rather short compared to him, but that wasn’t unusual. His own species, the s’skree, were among the shorter species in the universe. They made up for their stature in other ways though. The sharp quills on his head, the claws on his knuckles, the sharp spine at the end of his long, whip-like tail. He might be shorter compared to most, but that didn’t make him disadvantaged. His skin, usually a drab gray in coloration, seemed positively blinding next to the shiny black skin of the king. Though, with how the royal male shined, Tanin somehow appeared even more plain than usual.

Tanin watched him approach, hands in his pockets, his own garb boring, outright sad, in comparison to King Gissrn’s splendor.

“What do you think?” King Gissrn motioned with a hand covered in multiple shiny gold and sparkling silver rings. His many bracelets clinked loudly as he gestured to the statue. “Isn’t it beautiful? The artist spent ten years on it. This was the culmination of his entire life’s work and, after he finished, he died. There will never be another like it again.”

“It’s nice,” Tanin agreed neutrally. It wasn’t a lie either. The statue, depicting a stunningly beautiful female of domini origin, showed the female mid-dance. The hard, dark blue stone somehow managed to look like fabric, twirling softly in the wind. Her expression was one of peace and tranquility, aloof and untouched. It was so expertly carved, Tanin could appreciate every muscle in her perfectly depicted form.

However, Gissrn made a face. “Nice? That is all you can say about it? This statue is gorgeous . Beautiful. There is none it’s equal. Look there! Do you see the pin on her dress? Diamond. Harvested from the debris of a collapsed star. And there! Her eyes. Pure platinum. She is more than ‘nice’. She is the peak of art itself.”

“I agree,” Tanin said simply.

His apathy earned another annoyed glare, but Gissrn quickly fixed his grin back in place. “My father taught me that, you know. Beauty is power. Do you know why?”

“I would never presume to understand the mind of a king.”

This time, Tanin’s sass went unnoticed, and the king continued, “It’s because only the powerful can own beautiful things.”

“My mom had a beautiful flower on her balcony in our slum apartment.”

The king scoffed. “A flower? Cheap. That’s not beautiful. That’s something nice to look at that poor people convince themselves is beautiful because they can’t own true beauty. Your mother couldn’t have put this in her slum apartment. ”

“That’s true,” Tanin agreed, still unmoved, but the king had found his stride and was speaking again.

“You see, it is in the nature of all people to desire beautiful things. We want them, even if we won’t admit it. That is where the value comes from. Crops in the field, water to quench your thirst, homes to protect you from the elements – necessities like that get their value for what they can provide. But beauty? These things get their value purely from the desire of others. They have value because we want them to have value. And since it is in the nature of all things to crave beauty, it is in their nature to snatch that beauty wherever they might get the chance.”

Tanin made an uninterested sound of agreement. “I believe that’s called stealing.”

Gissrn chuckled. “Indeed. But that is why beauty is power. You see, the only people who can keep beautiful things are those with the power to protect beautiful things. This statue, you see, is protected by automatic plasma fire. Any unwanted guests would very quickly find themselves targeted and neutralized if they got too close. You see, I have the power to protect these beautiful things, therefore I am the one who deserves these beautiful things.”

Tanin made another sound, not quite of agreement this time. “That’s certainly an interesting lesson, your majesty. But I don’t think you summoned me here to admire a statue.”

“No, indeed,” the king agreed with a sly grin, turning with a dramatic sweep of his cape. “Walk with me, Tanin. We have business to discuss.”

Finally, he thought to himself, falling in line behind him as they began strolling through the perfectly manicured garden. There were only a few different flowers here, and while Tanin didn’t recognize them, he knew that none were native to Holivair. The bright colors of these plants told him that they were all imported, and he didn’t imagine this king had gone for any common flowers like his mother had.

“You are in the business of beauty as well,” Gissrn started as they strolled down the jewel lined path – even the loose stones under their feet were marble. It all spoke of not only wealth, but excess to the point of worthlessness. If everything was beautiful, then nothing was.

“Not much glamor in a humble delivery service,” Tanin replied evenly.

The king chuckled. “A humble delivery service? Your services alone are a type of beauty in and of themselves. I heard about that delivery you managed through mined territory in order to return some pond water or something to a needy queen.”

Tanin said nothing. Just kept pace with the king. It was a gross oversimplification to call the lifesaving elixir ‘pond water’ that his team brought to a hexdess hive queen to cure her of the parasites that had taken over her abdomen, but he wasn’t going to refute him.

That just made King Gissrn grin wider. “And that’s the other part of your services I desire. Discretion. Most would have at least corrected me. Many would have bragged outright. You say nothing. Your skills don’t appear to be exaggerated.”

“Your majesty.” Tanin stopped in the path, turning to face him. “We can dance around this all we want, but I came here because you said you had something valuable for my team to transport. Either give it to me now or schedule your pickup elsewhere. Stop wasting our time.”

The king laughed. “And you’re brave. Most wouldn’t dare talk to me that way. I could have you executed for that.”

Tanin cocked his head to the side. “You could try.”

“That confident in your skills?”

“I don’t waste my resources protecting statues.”

The king laughed again, from deep in his belly. “Yes. You’ll do fine. Very well. But the chest I want you to transport isn’t here. I want you to get it and bring it here.”

Tanin inclined his head in understanding. “Send the coordinates; I’ll send you my fare. When the first half of the payment goes through, we’ll go get it. Second half to be given on delivery.”

“Wait.” The king stopped him when he turned. “There’s just one thing. I want total discretion.”

“I assure you, your majesty, no one on my crew will tell anyone what’s in your chest. And you wouldn’t be the first to ask me to transport some weird sex thing, so don’t worry if you’re embarrassed.”

Gissrn’s grin turned into a scowl. “Don’t be crude. My treasures are priceless beauties, not some weird… Ugh. Never mind. And that’s my point. I said, total discretion.”

“Ah. I see what you mean.” Tanin smirked. “Sorry. Personal policy. I don’t let anything on my ship if I don’t know what it is. I can do the inventory myself and keep the contents secret from my crew, but I will investigate anything that comes aboard. That is non-negotiable.”

A deep, rattling hiss came from the king’s chest. Tanin turned, facing him head on. Waiting for his attack. Or, more likely, for him to order an attack. Tanin’s fingers caught on the loop of the weapon he kept around his wrist. The one that always managed to avoid detection by scanners and pass physical searches as being ‘harmless’. But if growing up in the slums taught him anything, it was that anything could be a weapon. Tanin used that knowledge to make sure he was never unarmed.

However, it didn’t come to that. The king blew out a breath, ceasing his rattle, and gathered himself, forcing a smile back in place.

“Very well. You may investigate the chest. But only you. And don’t touch anything. The treasures within that chest are worth more than your life. I won’t be pleased if I find them with your disgusting oils all over them. Get me?”

Tanin inclined his head again. “Deal.”

“Good.” The king set his shoulders back. “Another thing you should be aware of. I don’t have the exact coordinates of my chest. Only a general area.”

Tanin hummed. “Well, that is a problem. I deliver things. I don’t go hunting for them.”

“Relax.” From inside his shirt, he pulled out a simple control device and passed it to him. “The chest was originally obtained by a male who works for me. However, after a refueling break at a station in a rather… seedy area, they were beset by brigands. And like fools, they jettisoned my chest, and some other valuables, in an effort to protect themselves.”

Tanin looked from the controller up to him. “Your chest is floating out in space?”

“Exactly. Their plan worked. At least against their pursuers. They stopped to recover some of the objects. But luckily, not my chest. It’s still out there somewhere. My people were able to provide me with coordinates to where they were when they made that foolish choice, but not to exactly where my chest is. Luckily for them, the chest contents are sealed and protected, so they won’t be harmed by being abandoned in space. Furthermore, there is a tracking beacon within the chest. However, given its location, if it were to be activated now, anyone in the general area would be able to detect it as there’s nothing else around to disguise the signal. Any sort of uncouth individuals would be attracted to a sudden beacon in the middle of nowhere.”

“Pirates, you mean.”

“Precisely,” the king smirked, but there was only derision in the expression. “So, you can see my dilemma. The only person I would usually trust to do this has proven themselves incompetent. Anyone I would send has to be capable of transporting my chest reliably, but also tough enough to brave a pirate infested area of space, and strong enough to actually fight back. Because when you activate that beacon, they will come for you and my chest. You are also the only one I’ve spoken to who hasn’t corrected me to brag about their accomplishments in hopes of obtaining my business. Therefore, you are the only one who can assist me.”

Tanin closed his hand around the remote, slipping it into his pocket. “Send the coordinates. I’ll send you my bill. Upon completion of the first payment, we’ll take off. If I don’t hear from you within one Standard day after sending the bill, I’ll assume you’ve decided to not use my services, and I will go on to the next client on my list.”

The king smirked, victorious. “I look forward to receiving my beautiful treasures.”

Tanin turned, walking out of the garden the same way he went in – bypassing the massive, modular style palace in the center of the rich, black lawn. He was very conscious of all the eyes – real and video – on him as he went around the castle towards the small, one-person hover waiting for him out front. The monohov was his preferred method of transport when he was planetside.

Throwing his leg over one side, he slipped his legs into the stirrup compartments before activating the hover tech. He bent low over the console, grabbing the controls. The wind shield slid up over his head as he jerked on the throttle, sending himself rocketing off into the air.

He’d come down in a landing shuttle, but he hadn’t landed it near Gissrn’s castle. He didn’t trust most of his clients, but especially not wealthy ones like this. A surplus of funds always did something to people’s minds. Made them think they could do anything. The objects he’d transported for some of the wealthiest people were disgraceful – and the things he’d outright refused to transport were absolutely sickening. He’d never land his shuttle right there within a potential enemy’s grasp, no matter how convenient. The public landing spots came with a fee and could be crowded, but the fact that they were so tightly regulated and watched made them safer than private ones – at least, in Tanin’s experience. He could admit, his experience wasn’t precisely normal.

Sometimes, the wealthiest clients didn’t want to pay for their deliveries and would rather kill the delivery person instead. Or they were willing to do anything to keep their delivery a secret. It had just become habit to not land the shuttle in a client’s yard.

The city of Pod Qarall was a large, wealthy one. And old. Holivair was notorious for having very unsteady ground. Due the unstable tectonics, the topography was constantly shifting and changing. It was why their buildings were all modular. It allowed for easy disassembly and reassembly in the event of a quake. But Pod Qarall was well established and very stable. They rarely had quakes here, and even when they did, they weren’t devastating. That made it one of the few places on the planet where a spaceport could be placed. Another reason Pod Qarall enjoyed the wealth and influence it did.

Tanin weaved in and out through the air traffic, heading to the spaceport on the far side of the city. His shuttle was there, in line with multiple other landing shuttles. His starship wasn’t huge, but it was just big enough that it was disqualified from being able to perform planetary landings. Which worked just fine for him. He’d rather only a small shuttle land anyway – again, less likely to be attacked that way.

As Tanin approached, the back of the shuttle immediately opened, allowing him to fly inside and come to a halt on the monohov docking pad. He powered it down and moved to the pilot seat instead. As he was putting in for takeoff clearance and preparing the shuttle, the console blinked and a faceless, yellow figure, about the size of his palm, began walking around his holodisplay.

“ That was quick ,” an amused, male voice said. Alred, his ship’s AI. His tiny, yellow projection was a very simple body – a head, two arms, two legs, all attached to a male torso. Not much detail in it at all. It didn’t even have a face, yet it somehow still managed to look sassy as he continued. “ Did he change his mind? ”

“No. We have to go get the thing. He’s sending coordinates. Once you get the message, have Sway start charting the course. I’ll be back up soon.”

“ Sway is on standby, waiting for coordinates. How was he? Royal? ”

“Pretentious.”

Alred laughed. “ As bad as the one who paid us that outrageous price just to bring him some warm food from home? ”

“You mean the one who wanted his mother’s cooking? No. Much worse. I got this whole lecture on power and beauty or something or other. It was all very self-aggrandizing and ridiculous.”

Alred threw back his virtual head, laughing loudly. Tanin got his takeoff permission from ground control and was instructed on where to go to wait until it was his turn to fly out. He piloted the ship up and over towards the takeoff pad.

“We’re heading to an area that’s apparently notorious for pirates. He’s got us going after this chest or something that his people jettisoned when the pirates got them.”

“ The pirates probably picked it up already. ”

“Unless it was so small that they didn’t notice. He says it’s still out there anyway, and that’s enough to check for the first half of the payment.”

“ Are we going after it if pirates did grab it? ”

“I’m a delivery guy, not a mercenary guy. He can hire someone to get it back if he wants to go chasing down pirates. That’s not my business.”

“ I’m sure Trove will be disappointed. ”

“He’ll get over it. How much time does our generator need until we can swing again?”

“ Another couple of days. ”

Tanin hummed. They really needed to replace their subspace generator. The time it needed to rest and recharge between subspace swings was getting longer, and it was already stupid to begin with. He’d bought it used and cheap when he started this business, and they’d tried their best to repair it since then. But the crystals inside that powered it were simply no longer outputting what they needed fast enough for the frequency of jumps they had to make.

However, replacing the machine was proving difficult. Subspace generators were not cheap. The only reason he got the deal he did on this one was because it was already at the end of its life and no one else was willing to buy it. He still considered himself lucky.

To replace it with something that would work – in a perfect world, one that was new – would require a great deal of credz. Their business was doing well, but not so well that they could just make that purchase without needing to save up. But every time they did, something more important broke first, and they had to start all over again. Tanin could only hope that he would be able to save what he needed before the thing stopped working entirely.

Takeoff permission came through. Tanin lifted his shuttle off the ground and shot towards the sky, racing for escape velocity as he planned out their next delivery. If he charged King Gissrn a pretentious fool tax, he might be able to get a decent subspace generator secondhand.

Seemed like a fair deal for being forced to listen to his nonsense.

Unless, of course, his chest was picked up by pirates already.

Though, if it had, maybe he could go chasing them down. For an extra fee. A very large extra fee since they still weren’t mercenaries.

At least, not all of them.

Not anymore.

***

“ My question is: What was a king’s servant doing all the way out here? We’re nowhere near Holivair. We’re nowhere near anything, really. Why here? Where was he coming from? ”

Tanin lifted his eyes, looking over at Alred.

Back on his ship, the Humility, Alred was able to project his full form. He was the same featureless, nude, male presenting being from the landing shuttle, but he was full sized now, walking around the deck like he had a real body. It was, of course, just a projection. Alred was the ship, not the light person standing beside Tanin, but it gave the rest of the crew someone to look at and speak to when he was talking.

The two of them were on the captain’s deck. It was a control center above the bridge that Tanin had claimed as his workspace. From up here, he was able to coordinate with everyone on the ship, no matter where they were. Which was necessary, since they were very rarely in the same place together. They were crewmates, they were allies, but it wouldn’t really be accurate to call each other friends. At least, not in the way that the rest of the universe would define it. For them though, as much trust as they had between each other, they were practically family. From up here, Tanin was able to communicate and keep track of all of them wherever they might roam.

The consoles here gave a specialized readout of the entire ship as well as Tanin and his six crewmates – not counting Alred. It included their vital signs in the event that there was some kind of trouble and, with the right command, even showed the hidden stowage compartments used for cargo they didn’t necessarily want anyone finding.

Or inspecting.

“Not my business,” Tanin waved away Alred’s question. He opened the comms on the ship. “Is everyone in position?”

Five people responded to him – the last one didn’t need to add his voice as his position was with his brother. A benefit of working with avanava twins was that they spoke with one voice.

They were definitely in pirate territory. There really was nothing around here. The closest space station was a small, rundown thing meant only for refueling and resupply. And, honestly, that station was probably owned by pirates too.

Why was Gissrn’s servant out here? It was a mystery. Whatever was in that chest, it was clearly something Gissrn wanted no one to even know existed. He was definitely a prime candidate for someone who would try to kill Tanin rather than let him live to witness whatever this was. Tanin didn’t trust him to begin with, which was why he went himself for the pickup instead of sending one of his crew. However, he’d have to remember to bring the twins with him when he delivered the thing instead of sending Rok by himself as he usually did. Just in case.

Tanin spoke into the comms. “Be ready when I activate the beacon. Sway, you focus on getting us out of here. I’ll track the chest. Rok, be ready to bring it in. Everyone else, you’re on defenses.”

Another chorus of responses rang out. Tanin lifted the remote and looked at Alred.

“ Ready, captain, ” he assured him calmly.

“Activating beacon,” Tanin announced, pressing the button.

“ Got it, ” Alred announced almost immediately. “ It’s pretty small. We won’t need to open the main stowage doors. ”

Tanin worked quickly, his fingers moving over the ship controls. Sway was normally the one who did their navigating – he was the only one who could do the subspace math necessary to work the generator. But they weren’t moving faster than light, and everyone on the Humility could pilot at below light speed, just in case.

“ Two ships detected en route to beacon’s location, ” Alred informed him calmly, his arms folded behind his back as Tanin worked.

“We’ll get there first,” he said, rushing towards the location. And Sway would get them away before the pirates could descend.

And if he couldn’t, the twins and Trove would deal with it.

His ship and crew worked together like a well-oiled and maintained machine. They weren’t afraid of pirates, Tanin just didn’t want to deal with the hassle of fighting them, nor the cost of any repairs that might need to be made afterward. Just being practical, it was easier to grab the chest and get away before it started cutting into his profits.

“Lining up with beacon,” Tanin announced. “Rok.”

“ On it, captain! ” Returned the deep, grunting sound. “ Just one moment… and… It’s in! ”

“Sway, get us out of here.”

“ Already gone, captain, ” returned his navigator in his soft, melodious voice.

“Rok, which stowage is it in?”

“ Put it in one, captain. ”

“Good. Nothing immediately dangerous?”

“ No. Just looks like a regular chest. ”

“Alright. Good work. I’ll inspect it now. Everyone else, stay ready just in case. Alred, I’ll meet you down there.”

“ Yes, captain, ” Alred inclined his head before his projection winked away.

Tanin turned from the console and grabbed the ladder leading to the bridge. He slid down and left without talking to Sway, not wanting to disrupt his navigator/helmsmale while he was working. Tanin would come back to help him when he was done, but he didn’t allow anything on his ship unless he knew exactly what was in it. It was a matter of safety, and good sense. He had no idea what he just picked up, or what danger it might possess. The inspection was, therefore, vital.

And since Tanin had promised total discretion, and charged for it, he had to do it himself. With Alred’s help, of course. Alred didn’t really count though. Especially since no one knew he was on board, and he wasn’t registered as a member of the crew – and Tanin had only promised to keep it secret from his crew.

Down in the storage area, Rok had already gone to help with defenses, leaving Tanin alone as he walked into the first of the smaller storage areas. There were three in total, just to the side of the main storage space. Four doors all in a row, with the last leading into the landing shuttle. The smaller storage rooms were able to be opened to the vacuum of space with ease. The main storage area could only do that if they had enough time to release all the air first. Which they did not now. If the chest had been too big to fit into one of the three mini-storage bays, they really might have been caught up in a pirate fight.

As he walked into the room, Alred blinked into existence at his side. The two of them moved around the chest together, inspecting it from the outside first.

It was metal, waves of cold radiating off of it after being out in space for so long. It was wider at the top than the bottom and had no identifying markings. There was an obvious line where the lid would raise, as well as another line at the bottom marking off the base where the electronics were likely housed. A console on the side was dim but for a single, purple blinking light, likely indicating that everything inside was still secure.

“ Initial scan complete, ” Alred said. “ I don’t detect anything dangerous or harmful. It’s not a bomb, at least. What did he say was in it? ”

“Treasure,” Tanin responded, touching the console.

It came to life with a soft beep, immediately asking for a passcode. Tanin pulled out the remote and hit the button to open it, bypassing the request. The console beeped again before the entire chest hissed. A rush of warm air hit his chest as the lid was lifted.

“ Ooh, shiny, ” Alred remarked in an unimpressed tone.

The chest was full of gemstones. Each the size of his fist, all of them perfectly cut and shined to perfection and all in a rainbow of colors. Tanin wasn’t a gemologist, but he didn’t think there was anything so common as a diamond in this chest. The multitude of gems – there had to be at least thirty – sparkled on a bed of golden velvet. There was a lot of credz sitting there.

“ Think he’d miss one? ” Alred asked, chuckling. “ Be a lot easier to buy a new subspace generator if we sell one of those. ”

“I don’t think he’d miss any of these,” Tanin said, frowning.

“ I wouldn’t be so sure. Scans indicate that some of them are really rare. ”

“I’m sure they are.” Tanin reached in, grabbing a deep, dark red one. He held it up, turning it in the light, watching the way light played off the facets. “But there’s no need for total discretion for this. There’s no need for our services. Any halfway decent delivery service could haul these for him. And Holivair is a planet filled with gemstones. He has no need to import them. Besides, look how deep this is.”

Tanin put the gem back in its place. He didn’t have to reach far. Despite the fact that the chest was up to his elbows, the bed was barely deeper than the length of his hand. That left a lot of empty space between the golden velvet and the ground.

“ You think there’s a hidden compartment? ” Alred asked, clearly excited.

“I think you don’t need an environmentally sealed chest for gemstones. Go in there yourself, Alred. Tell me what’s inside.”

Alred laughed before winking out of existence. A wire came down from the ceiling and Tanin grabbed it. He placed the flat end on the base of the chest. It stuck in place as he stood straight. The chest began beeping frantically, but there was nothing it could do.

Alred wasn’t a scanner. He wasn’t a program just trying to read another program. He was a sapient, sentient being made of code. Pushing his way into a computer program was as easy for him as it would be for Tanin to walk through a dense jungle – very possible with a little effort.

“ Oh, captain, ” Alred laughed, his voice now coming from the console speaker on the chest. “ You’re right. Those gems were just a distraction. There’s life support in here. Something is alive in this chest. ”

“I don’t traffic people,” Tanin grumbled, annoyed. “That’s not my business. Open it.”

“ One moment… This is a very stubborn little- Got it. ”

The chest hissed again. The gemstones, all laid out on their bed of golden velvet, winked and flashed in the light as the second lid opened, raising to meet with the first.

“ Vekt, ” Tanin cursed.

In the soft, pale blue light of the life support, Tanin looked down into the belly of the chest. Laid out side by side, curled into each other, sleeping peacefully, were two absolutely beautiful, identical females.

Human females.

Treasures indeed.