Free Opening Moves by James Traynor Page B

former unit. He didn't mind soldiers using his bar one damn bit because he remembered being there himself back in the days. He started pouring them generous portions and stacked them on the bar.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Elsewhere in the bar a pair of men looked over their shoulders at the sudden cheering of the new arrivals but dismissed it as harmless enthusiasm.
    “ Jarheads,” one of them quipped, then returned to the table. “Whatcha drinkin'?”
    His companion was a huge man, standing at over six feet seven and gifted with a physique to match. He wore his hair in artfully bound braids. A thick but well-trimmed beard adorned his face. His arms were covered with a liberal helping of tattoos. “Pina Colada,” he answered in a gravelly voice.
    The other man sighed. Much shorter and more slender with scruffy black hair, he shook his head.
    “ Alexej, I told you twenty times they don't serve those kind of drinks in places like this. Pina Coladas, honestly, are a wee bit too girly.”
    Normally Alexej Romanov, known as 'Duchess' to the tramp freighter community due to some of his more odd quirks, would not tolerate anyone at all even indirectly saying something he liked was 'girly'. However, his current companion had known him for long enough to recognize Alexej would take it as a joke. Sure enough the big man gave a roaring laugh which temporarily eclipsed even the neighboring soldiers.
    A new pair of people entered the bar, both of them rather scruffy looking and nervous to be in this particular part of town. It wasn't exactly a dive but the regulars in this district didn't tend to demand classical music and haute cuisine . They were mainly dock workers, private freighter crews and infantry from the local base, their officers preferring to dine up town. The two new arrivals were fairly young looking, a fair haired man and a girl with something of a Japanese ancestry judging by her dark hair and features. They spotted the huge Russian across the room and headed for their table, the girl drawing some appreciative glances from the party of soldiers.
    “ Hi, Tarek. Alexej, you cool?”
    “ Just thirsty,” the big man rumbled.
    “ Rául, Annie.” Tarek Winters nodded in greeting, his straggly hair falling across his brow as he did so. “So, did you speak to the guy?”
    The four people at the table represented eighty percent of the crew of the freighter IRON MAIDEN. It was a rather small and unimpressive ship but was well noted for its speed and ability to evade raiders on even the most dangerous foldspace route. As its master Tarek Winters had become quite famous in the freighter community for having a knack for finding the best jobs in the sector and turning a tidy profit.
    His crew was a mix of truly diverse people. Alexej was the pilot and despite his lighthouse-like stature size was amazingly good at the ship's deft controls. Rául was their navigator, and his nervous nature was seen as a consequence of all the near misses Winters had escaped from. Annie Saito was a fairly new addition to the crew, having joined six months earlier to replace 'Big' Jim Piper who had first bought the IRON MAIDEN with Tarek's father thirty years earlier. He had retired to a nice house in Goddard City with his decent fortune, and now Tarek was the sole owner of the ship and business. There was only one person missing.
    “ What happened to Llyr?” Rául asked.
    “ He's in jail,” Tarek answered with a shrug. “Again.”
    Llyr was the MAIDEN's translator. He could speak a dozen languages including most of the Pact planets dialects. Even better, as a Tuathaan he had plenty of contacts throughout the Pact, allowing the freighter to cut some corners off their journeys. Unfortunately, he also had a tendency to drink too much and get into trouble.
    “The authorities will hand him over when we leave,” Alexej said. “They just want to get rid of him.”
    “ Nothing worse than a drunken Tuathaan in an enclosed space,” Tarek snorted.