Chapter 14: Woodland Beach

Woodland beach did not live up to its name. It was little more than water covered rock with snow-capped mountains and a year-round storm that was snow in the winter and frozen rain in the summer. The only reason there were people here was that it was rich with all kinds of mineral ore and the oceans were full of such a variety of oceanic plant and animal life many made a good living catching and exporting from them. A vacation spot, it was not. The outside temperature was just above freezing, and we were dressed in our pleasure cruise uniforms that were actually lighter than they looked as they were meant to be worn in climate controlled environments. The shuttle didn’t have any winter wear in its storage holds, but it did have environmental suits meant for surviving in the cold vacuum of space. It might have looked odd to the locals as we walked into town in EV suits, but we would look more foolish freezing our extremities off. Mitchell did come up with some interesting items when she inventoried the contents of the shuttle’s cargo space. Several crates full of contraband, including black-market narcotics, over a dozen bars of palladium at a kilo a piece, two crates of guns and acid grenades, and some seeds for growing a particular flower that when processed into a powder and diluted in any alcohol would cause hallucinations in small doses. Mitchell concluded that they must have acquired the military shuttle to get past checkpoints on various worlds. Of course, a missing piece of military transportation would be something that the Alliance would be looking for, so the criminal organization would only use it for very brief runs, which meant there was probably a larger ship that housed the shuttle and was probably already looking for it. I agreed with her conclusion so we landed the shuttle three kilometers south of the main trading town on Woodland Beach in a shallow canyon that would make it nearly impossible to spot from orbit. We put on the EV suits, dumped out the survival cases that were full of first aid and nutrition supplements and filled them with as much of the contraband as we could. As we walked away from the shuttle, Mitchell threw a couple of the grenades into the hull to not just destroy the remains of the contents, but to also destroy whatever tracking device might have been hidden on the ship that we couldn’t find.

Normally I could make a four-click walk in less than an hour, even with my bum knee, but EV suits aren’t the easiest things to walk in. The hike took just over four hours, and by the time we walked into what we hoped was a trading post, all we wanted to do was stop and drop. The inside of the nondescript building that had five small ships of various designs parked around it was, for the most part, one large room with small structures on either side, each with signs on the front indicating different products and services; ranging from ship parts to interspecies pornography. There were some people and some creatures from other alien races milling around, but most were in the buildings conducting whatever business they were there to do. After a few inquiries to some of the locals that didn’t give us too wide of a berth, we found our way into Kony's Place, whom we were told would trade anything for practically anything.

We walked into the black metal structure the was an open space in the first half, a wall with a window space in the middle and the rest of the structure was out of view. Mr. Kony, a man who was as wide as he was tall, poorly trimmed beard, mostly bald and a few missing teeth, stood on the inside of the protective window and watched us as we walked in, still in our bulky EV suits. He waited for us to get all the way up to the window before he spoke through the intercom.

“You’re human. Why the hell are you in environmental suits? You not like the way we smell here?”

“Not at all,” I said lifting the face mask on my helmet. “We had engine trouble and had to set down just outside your city. We weren’t planning on the cold weather and didn’t have the appropriate attire. That’s why we came to see you. We were told you could get us what we needed.”

“I definitely can, but I have no need for EV suits. You have to come up with something better.”

Mitchell pulled off her helmet, and her hair fell out of its pins, draping the back of her suit, the softness contrasting the hard polymer. She then opened her pack and pulled out a platinum bar and held it up. Kony’s eyes got wide, and he said, “A beautiful woman with great riches, the Lord does answer prayers. Come, come.” A door that was concealed in the design of the wall opened, and the three of us went through. On the other side was a forty-foot deep warehouse of all kinds of items, from clothes to weapons, food to drugs, he had it all. I popped off my helmet followed by Kayla. When Kony saw her, his smile grew even bigger. “Two beautiful women, I have never known such fortune. Tell me, Sir, are they in your service or do you own them?”

“They are my associates, and either could kill you without giving it a second thought so please keep the conversation respectful.”

“Yes, of course,” he said, but the hunger in his eyes was still very evident. “I believe I have some wonderful choices for the ladies,” he said and then disappeared down through the stacks of crates.

Kayla started to unfasten her EV suit when Mitchell turned to her and refastened the latch on her suit,then said, “We don’t want this guy to see our uniforms in case someone comes around asking about us. We’ll find a private place to change when we get some local clothes.”

Kayla looked at me, and I nodded in agreement. She still didn’t like taking orders from Mitchell, but she decided it wasn’t the time to argue out of spite.

Kony came out with a couple of dresses that were small, low cut and practically see through. Mitchell looked at him with a glare like she was about to drop him right there and then. He took the hint and went back into the stacks of crates to find something more appropriate. I put my helmet down and started to look through some of the containers that were near us, looking to see if there was anything we could make use out of. What I didn’t notice was the little hand coming out from behind a pile of blankets and tarps, reaching for my pack that I had put down on the floor, but Kayla did. Before I knew what was happening, I heard the click and whine of a laser pistol charging its chamber. I looked over to see Kayla pointing one of the guns we had claimed from the shuttle contraband right at my feet. The hand disappeared, but she knew right where it was. “Come out now, or I’ll burn you out,” she said.

A young child, no more than eight came out with his hands in the air. “Please don’t hurt me, miss,” he said in the most pathetic sounding voice he could make.

Kayla walked up to him, grabbed him by the arm, spun him around and with the hand that was not holding the gun, dug through his pockets and emptied them out, most were power clips and coins, but some were items from Mitchell’s pack. “Nice try, but you can drop the helpless act and don’t bother calling me ‘Miss,’ ‘That Bitch’ will do since that’s what you’re going to call me as soon as I let you go.”

He looked back up at her with confusion, not sure what she meant at first. She then winked at him and cocked her head towards the exit. He gave a smile and bolted for the door as fast as he could run. Kayla looked at me and said, “You have to keep a better eye on your stuff in a place like this.”

I just nodded and put my pack of stuff back over my shoulder. After Kony returned with a hand full of dresses that were still not climate appropriate, Mitchell and Kayla convinced him to take us back to where the clothes were and let us pick out what we wanted. I found some simple wool shirts and pants along with heavy socks and a decent pair of boots that would suffice for my needs in the short term and then made small talk with Kony while the girls found a secluded area to try on their selections. They each picked out simple shirts and pants, but Kayla took a little more time than Mitchell as she was more concerned with finding the right variety in the limited selection of colors and styles. Once we were properly outfitted, we negotiated a deal for two bars of palladium and some of the narcotics for the clothes and 5000 credits. That would enable us to lease a room for the night at the local Inn, buy a few meals and hopefully book passage on an outbound freighter.

The building we were in was one of five that made up the small city on this part of the moon. Two were owned by mining companies that didn’t allow outsiders, one housed living spaces for the locals and the last one on the far end was a public hotel converted from the original military outpost from over 100 years ago. It was the smallest of the buildings, and the accommodations were little more than surplus ration packs in the gally and bunks in what were the enlisted barracks. What were once the officer's quarters had been considered luxury suites that we didn’t have the cash to spend on. So we paid for three cots and footlockers, opted for the five-minute shower upgrade each, and took advantage of the prepackage military style meal bag that came with our accommodations.

The Innkeeper was a little old lady who looked like a sweet old granny but talked like a rough neck and moved around faster than I could. We chatted while she collected clean towels and sheets for us to use. I learned that her little business might not seem like much since most people who visited their little moon came in their own ships and didn’t need accommodations, but they occasionally had gotten a government inspector or a local who needed a room for a night for various reasons. Yet most of her business came every six months when the mining company brought in fresh crews, and they needed the extra beds for a couple of weeks while they trained before the older crews left.

On this night we were the only guests and had the barracks that could sleep 24 to ourselves. We took turns showering, and with only our new heavy clothing and our soiled uniforms to wear, we decided to sleep in the underwear that we had on us. I was exhausted, and all I wanted to do was quiet my mind and close my eyes for a few hours. Placing myself under the sheets of one of the lower bunks, Mitchell followed my lead and took the lower bunk on the neighboring row. I had never seen her in a state of undress before, and she was very fit, like a professional gymnast. She clearly spent a great deal of her free time keeping herself in shape. Kayla was taking a little more time in the showers as she found a way to get a few more minutes of hot water from them.

Mitchell rolled over, and I looked over at her. She was looking at me like she was going to say something, but instead, she closed her eyes, and within a few moments, she appeared to be asleep. Kayla came out of the showers wrapped in a towel and brushing her long hair. When she got to the bunk I was in she pulled off the towel, dropped if off the top bunk and crawled under the sheets with me. Cuddling her naked body up to me she put her head on my chest, mumbled something and then was fast asleep.

How the hell did I get here? I asked myself. A lady’s man I was not. Not by a long shot. I can count on one hand the number of women I’ve had relationships that lasted more than a few dates. This is the first time in my life that I’ve had two women interested in me at the same time and I was not enjoying it in the least. Kayla was feeling so insecure and threatened by Mitchell that I felt like I had to keep an eye on the two of them as much as watching over my shoulder for the people who were trying to kill us. I did care for Kayla, but what we had was new and complicated. Our relationship was based more on a need to survive together than on mutual interest and common goals like a normal couple. I did worry that once the danger was gone, we might find that we didn’t have enough in common to have a real relationship. Mitchell was close to my age, had served in the military like me and seemed to know what I thought before I verbalized my plans. She was also beautiful and sweet under her all-business demeanor. But even if I had met her first, there was no guarantee that we would be happier than I could be with Kayla. I was never very good at figuring this stuff out and usually found a way to screw these things up. So, I closed my eyes and tried to only worry about finding a way off the surface and to a friendly port before the syndicate could catch up with us.