NOVEL NEXT An Inside Woman
I felt his fingers close in around my throat as I was pushed to the ground, the wind being knocked out of my lungs from the fall.
On instinct, I grabbed his arm and pulled, lessening the pressure he was putting on my neck.
My other fist then came up and smashed him across the face, causing him to fully release his grip on my neck which gave me leverage on his wrist.
I pulled his arm to the side and his head snapped back, allowing me to smash my elbow into his chin and sending him rolling to the side.
I then rolled back to my feet, only realising that I did some crazy stunt when I calmed down a little.
Ok… There were indeed hand to hand combat scenarios in the game but I never pulled off something like that before in my entire life.
Jerry pushed himself up on an arm and glared at me, blood spilling out slightly from the corner of his mouth.
"Bitch," He spat.
"Am I going to get an explanation or what?" I asked.
"You killed my fucking crew asshole."
"Ah… So you're one of them? No wait, your crew? You're the leader?"
"Yeah, and you killed them all so I'm gonna kill you now."
"But I heard it's supposedly a woman though? As much as your attitude is like a crazy bitch, you don't look like a woman."
"There's no need to explain to you when you're about to--"
I pulled out my blaster and shot him in the leg.
Jerry screamed and clutched at his wound while I levelled my blaster at him.
"I see you didn't think this through, did you?" I asked, slowly backing up towards the door to get some distance between us just in case he tries to lunge at me again.
He scowled at me, "What else do you want? I've already lost everything!"
"I mean… You tried to kill me and you're asking me what I want? If I say I want you to not kill me, would you do that?"
He tried to get up and I shot another round at the ground close to him.
"No, no. Don't get up, stay down," I warned.
He growled at me but obeyed, "You should have just minded your own business, bitch. Why the fuck did you even come here in the first place?!"
"I didn't choose to come here in case you didn't realise. This was the only place I could go."
"Couldn't you have just went to another system?! You ruined everything for us!"
"You're a fucking pirate so I don't think you get to argue about this right now. The only reason why I've not blown your brains out is my curiosity winning out on how you managed to sneak your way in here."
As though on cue, the door opened again and a familiar voice came from behind me.
"What the heck is going on here?" Marten asked.
I turned back to see the station master standing there alongside several miners who were looking at the scene in front of them with stupefied expressions. No doubt they were wondering why I had a gun pointed at Jerry who was bleeding from the leg on the floor.
Jerry was quick to change his attitude, "Boss!! She attacked me! I found out she lied about destroying the pirate base! She's working for them!! She sold us out!"
Oh wow… Really?
I kept my eyes and gun trained on him while I told them my side of the story.
"This is going to sound stupid but the opposite is true. He told me he wanted to apologise for his shitty attitude from earlier but attacked me the moment he led me here. Apparently he was quite angry that I killed his crew and yes, he's the leader of the pirate crew that I wiped out."
Jerry pointed his finger at me, "Don't listen to her boss! I'm telling the truth!!"
Marten raised an eyebrow at him, "How did you even find out that she was lying about the pirate base?"
"She told me that herself! She even mocked me saying that no one will believe me even if I told you!"
The station master grimaced, "Right… And for a good reason don't you think?"
I used my other hand to tap on my Codex to display a holographic screen in the air, "Well, you're out of luck, Jerry. Because I already sent a picture of the base I destroyed to Marten earlier and here is the proof."
On the screen, a picture of a broken asteroid could be seen.
He scowled, "You're lying! That's not the pirate base!"
I raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And how did you know that Jerry? You speak like you've been there before. But that can't be right? We only found out that there was a pirate base here recently and I doubt you had the time to fly all the way out there and back?"
Yeah, I took a few more pictures after I realised I could take pictures. Hey, I'm in space damnit! And everything looks awesome!
Realising he got caught in my trap he tried to lunge at me again but I pulled the trigger and shot him in the other leg, causing him to crash face first on the ground.
A very interesting thing that happened when his head hit the floor was that his face shifted for a moment, almost like a glitch.
I frowned and knelt down to give the side of his face a solid whack.
It seemed like I wasn't imagining things because his face distorted and Jerry's face disappeared to be replaced with a woman with a shaved head that I didn't recognise.
My attack also had the unintended effect of knocking her out as she slumped onto my arms, unconscious.
"By the gods… That's Holoface Yirfa!" Someone cried out from behind.
Everyone else turned to the miner who cried out, obviously looking for an explanation.
He pointed at the woman in my arms, "She's a known pirate from the Theeve Orbital Habitat area! She's known for using that holoprojector mod of hers to make herself look like other people! I didn't know she was here!"
First of all, holoprojector mod? That sounds cool, where can I get one? Second of all…
"Oh yeah… I heard they had to move out of there from one of the pirates," I recounted, remembering the conversation I overheard between the pirates.
Marten frowned, "Wait… Then Jerry was this Yirfa all along?"
The same miner who recognised the pirate scratched his head, "Err… No, boss… Sorry but I think they got Jerry… The holoprojector needs to scan something to project it in the first place…"
Ah… Poor guy… I'm going to guess that the real Jerry got intercepted by the pirates some time ago and this Yirfa pirate killed him to take his place as the inside woman to infiltrate this station.
Marten sighed, "Damn… Poor bastard. As much of an idiot he was, he didn't deserve such a fate… Guess I'll have to write some emails soon…"
"So what now?" I asked.
Marten recovered, "Hey, you not only got rid of our pirate problem, you also rooted out a rat in our midst, I'd say this is as good a reason as any to throw a second party when the transport ship reaches here. What do you all say?"
Everyone cheered at the back.
"Damn boss! You the man!!"
"We get another day off don't we?!"
The station master growled, "Fat hope! We're already behind on our quota!! We're throwing the party after working hours, you got it?!"
That made everyone else groan.
"And what about her?" I pointed to the unconscious pirate.
Marten shrugged, "You subdued her so she's your prize and what not. Do whatever you want with her. I'd bet that she has a bounty on her too so you could secure her on your ship and bring her to Theeve Habitat to cash in on it if you want. Oh, just so you know, you can bring her in alive or dead, it doesn't matter."
The underlying suggestion to just off her right now was not lost on me.
"I'll put that decision on hold for now," I told him, "There's still some things I want to know from her."
She's basically another source of information that fell into my lap, why wouldn't I take advantage of that?
What's more, this one in particular would have information from the other side of the law. Plus I don't need to worry about getting a little rough with her too.
Marten didn't object to my decision and simply nodded, "Fair. But just make sure you lock her up somewhere, I don't want her breaking out and then sneaking amongst my crew again. That would be a mess to clean up."
"Don't worry, I know just where to keep her," I assured him.
"Great, the transport ship's coming in tomorrow and I have some calls to make. And the rest of you guys better be ready tomorrow for work! I'll skin you guys alive if I have to do the unloading process myself when the ship reaches here!"
Everyone dispersed, leaving me to carry the unconscious pirate back to my ship where I'll lock her up until I'm ready to turn her in.
It's been less than a week since I've come to this place and I already felt a lot of things have happened…