High Moon

Chapter One: Extortion

Our scene opens in the holding cell of a police station on the planet of Archimedes, a young man, in his late twentys maybe early thirties, around 5’10”, maybe taller, wearing a short scruffy beard on his slightly tanned face, still in the handcuffs he was brought in with. “GRAVES MARSH, APPROACH BOOKING AND PROCESSING” a deep robotic voice echoed through the station before the door of the holding cell opened and Graves stood from the bench within the cell, as he walked to where he was instructed some of the guards spread around the station rested a hand on their service weapon, a modified colt python held securely to the hip with genetic lock and magnets.

“What do you think? I'll make a run for it? I dont know of another way to get out of these cuffs then through you fucks.” Graves joked to the guard at the door of the processing room.

“I- uh- its protocol” the guard quickly answered, obviously new to the job. He opened the door and let Graves pass into the room.

Once the door closes another name was immediately called “HOGARTH CALLAHAN, APPROACH BOOKING AND PROCESSING” the robotic voice repeated, as the door opened a slightly younger man of a similar height to Graves, perhaps a little taller, stood from the bench of his cell and exited. The smile on his softer face put the guards at a slight bit of ease, their hands weren't already on the grips of their handguns as they were for Graves. The guard opened the door for hogarth as he approached, a slight look of confusion on his face, likely trying to figure why they were calling more than one person into the processing room.

Again, as soon as the door closed another name was called “HOKKA SYLVESTER, APPROACH BOOKING AND PROCESSING”, a third cell opened and a woman that is maybe 5’10” stepped out, her brown hair with streaks of cyan and an obviously fake smile on her face to hide her nervousness that made the guards uneasy and they rested their hands on their weapons again. One guard even whispered about the color of her hair to another guard “why did she have to dye it that color?”, upon reaching the processing room the door was opened and she was allowed to walk through.

And once more, another name was called “FYNLY GALVIN, APPROACH BOOKING AND PROCESSING”, a fourth cell opened for another person to step out of, a person much shorter than the rest but almost as dangerous looking as Graves is, as well as much paler than the three before her. The woman's dark hair shielding most of her emerald green eyes from view, but the officers that saw Fynly’s piercing stare immediately reached for their service weapons. Once again as she approached the door the officer guarding it opened the door, allowing fynly to step through before locking it again.

“Seriously Graves? Again, already?” the processor asks after the four of the suspects standing against the wall

“Whatever the fuck you’re gonna proccess me for i didnt fucking do it, i’ve stopped smuggling, so get this shit over with officer Larouch.” Graves replied with only a small bit of irritation in his voice

“You stopped smuggling? Too bad, back to it. Callahan, Sylvester, Galvin, you three will be assisting Mr. Marsh there unless you’d rather be charged for crimes you didn't commit. Callahan; interstellar tax evasion, Sylvester; murder, Galvin; three counts of space arson.” officer Larouch finished his extortion speech.

“With all these taxes i’ve been evading you'd think I'd just evade this as well.'' Hogarth responded in a joking yet slightly sarcastic tone. “But I see my hands are quite bound to this scenario, so yes, I'll assist Graves.”

"murder...?" That was all she could utter for the moment, everything felt slowed. her face paled as she desperately tried to keep a stoic face. "why? Why am I being threatened for a job?" a cowardice response left her as she was shaking slightly. "...i will do it.”

“That's not fair! I did that arson like 10 years ago! You can't charge me for that, you stupid pig!” Fynly shouted at larouch, thinking that her past was being held against her finally.

“Not that arson, Galvin, but thanks for confirming that you burned down the orphanage. These are different counts, specifically two fighter ships and a space station.” larouch cleared some of her confusion.

“But…” fynly tried to find a rebuttal but decided to give up before letting out a sigh. “Fine, I'll do this dumb job you've got for us. But not because you are threatening me.”

“Well ain't that some BULLSHIT?” Graves shouted at Larouch, letting his irritation get the better of him. “I never knew you to be such a BITCH, charging people with crimes they didn't commit is for the damned UW, fuck you and whatever you want us to smuggle. Once I'm out of these cuffs you better be off world or i'll shov-” Graves’ rant was interrupted by being shocked by the cuffs he was speaking of, “fuck… you…” Graves added after catching his breath. “I better get my shit back, everything on my ship better be exactly where i left it.”

“Graves. Shut The Fuck Up, agree to the job or you’ll all be executed.” larouch threatened, “you know i'm not bluffing, lieutenant Marsh.”

Graves scowled for a moment before sighing in defeat, “fine. But dont ever fucking call me that again.”

“Great! You’ll be released in the morning, the package will be in your ship when you arrive to it Graves. Your stuff should be there. Now, back to your cells.”

Larouch confidently walked in front of the four detainees, when he passed all of them; Graves put the man into a chokehold and held it until larouch went limp. He let the man fall and grabbed the cuff keys from his belt and uncuffed himself before throwing the keys to hogarth, “unlock yourselves. follow me if you want, i really don't care.” Graves grabbed larouch’s hand and used it to take the revolver from the man's hip.

“You didn't have to do that. He said we would be free to go in the morning.” Hogarth argued while unlocking his cuffs and passing off the keys to the next person.

“Yeah, you don't know him or this precinct like i do. Oh yeah, theyd let us leave.. With a tracking device attached to our spines and an camera in our right eye.” Graves opened the cylinder of the revolver, “good, its got all 6 rounds in it already.” he said to himself before taking extra ammunition and speed loaders from larouch

Fynly unlocked her cuffs before speaking “that shit is way too specific to just be intuition.. Im with Graves, is there another way out of this room other than that door?” she asked with a nod towards the door they all came into the room through.

“Yep.” Graves grabbed larouch’s ID card and badge, pointing towards a small terminal on the wall farthest from them “thats our way.” Graves walked across the room and scanned the ID card, the large metal wall slid open, revealing a room of cubicles and computers.

Hokka stared at Graves and then at larouch, and back at Graves “but.. He sounded convincing to me…” she tried to reason “i guess i dont have another choice.” the four detainees, now undetained of their own volition, snuck through this new room and out of a back door.

“Are we staying together or are we going our separate ways?” Graves asked while looking around of the corner and out of the alley way the four were standing in.

“Im staying, you seem competent.. For now” hogarth replied.

“I dont have anywhere better to go, i might as well stick around.” fynly answered

“I dont like being alone, i guess thats another choice that is being made for me.” Hokka said in a defeated tone

“..fuck.” Graves peeked around the corner “i got detained at landing pad 3 in the farm district. Find your own way there, we cannot be seen together in this area until we are at the landing pad.”

“But how do we get there? None of us have our stuff.” Fynly asked.

“Damnit.” Graves said under his breath, “ive got an idea, but its stupid.”

“Gonna tell us?” Hokka snapped at Graves.

He peaked around the corner again, seeing two officers down the street he said, “not here. Theres a coffee shop two blocks away, ill lead the way.” Graves began walking down the alley in the direction opposite that he was peaking around. The quartet walked through the alley with Graves at the helm, keeping quiet and ducking into shadows or behind large objects when officers on foot patrol walked by. Graves turned towards Fynly and asked “het Galvin, you know how to work one of these?” referring to the revolver in his hand.

“As well as a orphan on the run could, i suppose.” she answered

“Good enough.” Graves held the pistol by the barrel while offering it to Fynly, as she took the gun he began explaining the first step of his plan, even if the explanation was poor, “stay put you three, only use that if absolutely necessary, if something goes wrong Ill be in that building.” he made sure they were all looking when he pointed at a quaint coffee shop “give the door three loud knocks and shout GreenTwinge” and crossed the street.

“A fucking coffee shop? The fuck is that gonna do to help us?” Fynly asked herself in a very annoyed tone.

“I say we trust him, he hasnt done anything to break our trust.” hogarth stated

“He hasnt done much to gain it either.” Hokka mumbled

The trio watched as Graves entered the coffee shop, no more than 15 seconds later 10 people left through the same door with a very disgruntled look on their faces. a few minutes later Graves came out of the shop and pointed at the three, not an individual point for each of them, no, he poked out three fingers; spaced far enough apart to be lined up with Hokka, hogarth, and fynly he followed his point with waiving them over to the shop. “What did you say to those people to make them that mad?” Hokka asked.

“I didnt say anything, i had him say something” Graves said while gesturing towards a tall and slender man behind the counter, while not a scarily imposing figure he does have a slight aura of danger to him.

“And he is?” Hokka asked hostily.

“Jakob.” he replied, with only a little hostility.

“Cut the hostility. Both of you.” Graves cut their possible argument short, “now, fully close the shop for the day. The metal screens, flip the sign, and shut off the lights.”

“Graves, the FUCK did you do this time?” jakob replied.

“Ill tell you whats going on after you shut the shop down, so do it fuckin’ now.” Graves demanded.

“Fine. no need to be an asshole about it.” jakob replied before pressing a few keys on a terminal and scanning his hand, “there, its done,” he said while the screens came down and the lights shut off, “now, the fuck did you do?”

“Me and these three were wrongly arrested, larouch tried to threaten us with crimes we didnt commit. And you know damn well i stopped smuggling. Long story short i knocked that fucker out and stole his gun and ID card. speaking of which, fynly, Gun. Now.” Graves finished speaking and held his hand out to receive the gun.

“... fine. But only ‘cause i dont want you to try taking it from me.” she reluctantly handed Graves the revolver, which he immediatly inspected.

“Good, you didnt take the ammo out.” Graves said while putting the gun on his hip. “So, you guys ready to hear my plan?” he continued with a grin.

“Sure.. whats with that dumbass grin, Graves?” Fynly replied with a confused look on her face.

“‘Cause its gonna be a dumbass plan.” jakob answered.

“Well, i guess you could say that.” Graves answered, “You still got those uniforms and ID maker?” he asked jakob, his grin turning into a dumb smile.

“Ugh.. yeah, i thought you said you were done with that shit.”

“Oh, its not for me. Its for my good buddy hogarth.” Graves grabbed hogarth and pushed him towards jakob. “Get his picture and transfer it to this ID, its larouch’s.” Graves tossed the ID to jakob

“But.. I- fine..” hogarth surrendered, “i guess ill go along with this stupid suicide plan, but if anything goes wrong i need you to immediately be in there to get me out. Cause i dont feel like dying.”

“Dont worry Graves doesnt let his friends die, most of the time.” jakob patted hogarths shoulders, “so what is he supposed to do once hes inside?”

“Grab one of those office boxes beside the front door, go to the evidence locker and grab our phones and other personal belongings. Then hit a desk, grab some random stuff off of it as if you just got fired or quit.” Graves explained.

“Damn, you really are trying to get him killed.” jakob added underneath his breath before speaking up, “i guess its better than no plan.. Alright kid, follow me.” he said to hogarth before leading him into a back room

“The hell did he mean by ‘most of the time’?” Hokka questioned Graves in an accusatory tone.

“It means that im not fucking omnipresent.” Graves shot back at Hokka, “hogarth will be wired up, we’ll hear everything he hears, jakob should have a couple extra handguns for us just in case. Now, you done questioning me?”

“I guess I am.” She sneered at him, hoping to provoke a further reaction.

Graves ignored her and went into the same room as Jakob and Hogarth “how’s it going?” He asked Jakob.

“Your friend talks a lot.” Jakob answered while putting the finishing touches on a fake ID badge.

“You sound upset about that, before you were mad that my people didn’t talk enough.” Graves joked to Jakob, “you have a uniform that fit him?”

“Sure did, he’s putting it on right now. He should be done in a few.” Jakob said, and exactly three second later Hogarth exited a janitor's closet in an archimedes police force uniform.

“This plan is so dumb..” Hogarth said while adjusting his tie.

“You've only gotta get into the building, go to the evidence room when it’s empty, and grab our phones as well as whatever other things are with them. And then the hard part-“ Graves explained before getting cut off by Hogarth.

“The HARD PART?! The entire plan is the hard part!” Hogarth interrupted while poking his fingers into Graves’ chest.

“I highly suggest you shut the fuck up.” Graves said calmly after grabbing hogarths hand.

Jakob put his arm between Graves and Hogarth “how about you both stop and let’s just get on with getting yalls stuff.”

“You still got those extra semi autos?” Graves asked jakob

“They ain’t been cleaned in a while. if you’ve got the spare hour; do so. And if you don’t, then make that spare hour.” Jakob replied.

“I doubt it would take an hour, unless you didn’t clean them after the last time we used them..” Graves assumed.

“Oops.” Jakob said plainly.

¨damn." Graves sighed, ¨now back to what i was saying is the hard part, lets go back to the other two before i explain this." he gestured towards the door, the three went back into the main area of the coffee shop. ¨now, here's the hard part. Once hogarth gets out of the building he has to follow that exact same path that we took from there to here, we have to pray that they didn't bug our phones if that's your thing, and then we´ll have to get to landing pad three individually; all of us taking different routes there. Understand the plan?¨ he explained and asked, awaiting another violent response his hand rested on his hip above the revolver.

“And if the cops give us any issues from here to there? or at the landing pad specifically?” Fynly asked, her eyes darting from Graves’ hand to his face.

“Why do you think we’re getting extra guns? They give us any issues we’re sending them straight to funky town. Simple as.” He replied

“What exactly is this ‘funky town’ you speak of?” Hogarth asked, narrowing his eyes at Graves.

“Hell. The deepest, darkest circle of hell.” Graves replied blankly, removing his hand from his hip, “are we all in agreement on the plan?” He finished.

“We don’t have anything better.” Fynly said with hostility in her voice.

“There’s a lot that can go wrong with it, but, as Fynly said, we don't have another choice.” Hogarth

“What the other two said.” Hokka agreed.

“I did say it was gonna be a dumbass plan.” Jakob sniped at Graves.

“I’d like to see you do better bud.” Graves fired back. “Now, care to show me where you keep those extra guns so I can clean them? I assume it’s the usual selection of Glock, HK, Colt, Smith and Wesson, and SIG?”

“Yep, same as usual, follow me.” Jakob answered before going into the back room for a second time and waiving Graves in, the other man followed as he was told. Jakob opened the drawer of a filing cabinet and moved several thick folders, unveiling several dozen handguns.

“And they’ve just been sitting, collecting dust and allowing the soot to settle and harden? How many times do I have to tell you to clean them after they’re used?!” Graves complained after grabbing five handguns and setting them on the desk within the room, “bring me some solvent, I don’t care the type, hell the shit you use to clean your coffee pots will do, and a small brush.” He said, his tone dripping with annoyance.

“No need to be a dick about it, they’re just tools, all tools get dirty.” Jakob said before replacing the folders and closing the filing cabinet.

“Yeah, except for your hands.” Graves mumbled as Jakob left the room, taking apart the handguns one by one while waiting for Jakob to return with the requested cleaning supplies. And that he did, bringing in a bottle of B&Q Super Duper cleaning fluid, advertised to clean any grime or stain. It, in fact, does not clean any grime or stain as Graves would soon learn; “DAMNIT JAKOB! This shit is garbage!” He shouted from the back room.

“The hell do you mean it’s garbage?! I use that on everything and it cleans it right up, it even melted through a coffee pot once!” The other man replied in an exasperated tone, unsure of how his beloved cleaning supply brand could be garbage.

“Go buy me something to clean these damn things with! And none of that B&Q shit!” Graves shouted at Jakob.

Jakob snatched his beloved bottle of B&Q from Graves and left the room once again, returning twenty minutes later with a bottle of generic automotive cleaning fluid, again advertised to clean any grime or stain, “here, and don’t you ever talk bad about my B&Q again!” He said to Graves after tossing the bottle to him. As Jakob had told him earlier, it took an entire hour of cleaning to get the handguns into working order, he gave each member of the group a semi automatic handgun, except for Hogarth.

“Sorry man, you’ve gotta go in unarmed. If anyone sees you with a non standard issue weapon they’ll get suspicious, same as if you carried a standard issue revolver on your way out.” Graves explained while patting the man’s shoulder, “you ready to go? We’ll be down here, hearing everything you hear. If people start catching on just ask the person at the front desk for the bathroom key, if it’s going real cattywampus we’ll be there immediately” He asked Hogarth.

“Do I have a choice?” He asked.

“No.” Graves replied

“I guess I have to be ready.” Hogarth sighed in defeat, “I assume I go now?” He finished.

“Yep, get going. Take the main road there but the alleyway back here.” Graves removed his hand from Hogarths shoulder, “I’ve got faith.” He told the other man before letting him go. Hogarth poked his head out of the door to look for any police before exiting the coffee shop and beginning his walk to the station, on the receiving end of the wire, the only things they heard so far was an occasional greeting. Soon, Hogarth reached the front door of the station and entered through the door, showing the scanner the fake badge before being allowed admission. Hogarth did as instructed and grabbed a box from beside the door and walked towards what he thinks an evidence room looks like, luckily, the man was right, and in a plastic tub on a table in the middle of the room was four phones and other personal items. Hogarth put everything into his box and walked out, going to the first empty desk he saw and putting random items over the phones before walking out. Once in the alley he stopped and set down the box, removing the outer shirt of the police uniform and putting the phones and personal items in the pockets of his pants. He walked back to the coffee shop and knocked on the door three times and said the password Graves gave him earlier.

“Never make me do anything like that again.” Hogarth complained after pulling three phones from his pockets. Two from the left and one from the right. The group gathered their individual things from the man.

“Thank you.” Hokka told Hogarth, the only one to do so. Hogarth got dressed in his original clothes and joined the group in the main area of the shop. The group then split at the door of the coffee shop, leaving behind Jakob and each taking a unique route to the specified district.

After reconnecting in the farm district Graves led the other three to the landing pad, the cargo hold of Graves’ ship opened and a young girl ran out towards Graves and hugged him tightly, “w-when I saw them put you in cuffs I thought you weren’t coming back. I-I just got back from the market getting the food you had on the list when it happened, I was so scared.” She told him, tears threatening to leave her eyes.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to worry, kid? I promised I’d never leave you, did those fuckers take shit out of the ship?” He replied to her, kneeling in front of her to return the hug, his tone softer than the other three had heard from Graves to this point.

“No, they left as soon as you were taken away.” She answered.

“Hold the hell on a minute,” Fynly interrupted, “you never said anything about a kid? Who the fuck is that?!” She asked Graves in an annoyed tone.

“My daughter.” He answered blankly. “Do you think I’d stop smuggling for anything less?” He asked.

“Where’s her mother?” Hokka asked.

“Oh, lyne isn’t biologically mine. I adopted her after her parents died, I didn’t really have a choice but to do so, and then I promised her I’d never leave and I’ve stuck to it.” Graves replied to Hokka after picking Lyne up and turning around. “Shit…” he said to himself before looking at Fynly, “take Lyne into the ship, don’t let her anywhere with a window.” He ordered before setting the girl down, “sweetie I need you to go with Fynly for a while, it’s just gonna be inside the ship.” He told Lyne before Fynly had a chance to object. Instead of objecting Fynly turned to see what made Graves have such a sudden change in demeanor.

“Dad, no; I don’t want to go into the ship, I want to be out here with you.” She complained and begged.

“Lyne. Now. I’ll be there in a minute or two, I promise.” He said firmly, leaving no room for discussion.

“Fuckin larouch…” Fynly said to herself before grabbing Lyne’s hand and taking her to the ship.

“I was hoping to make a grand entrance, why’d you send the orphans away? Hell, i figured you had already left her behind, the same way you left me behind on Theta-Two” Larouch asked Graves, trying to antagonize him into an early reaction.

“I sent her away cause I don’t want her to see me kill another person.” Graves responded while resting his hand on his gun, “how are we doing this Arthur, doing that duel like you promised me back on Narrosis? or are you gonna be even more of a coward?” Graves asked the man, who is now about fifteen feet away.

Arthur larouch laughed at Graves, “aw, what, as if your name ain’t enough to know she’ll see death? And you think you’ll kill me? I got a feeling that’s bullshit.” He tapped his magnetic holster, “you’ve still got my gun, kinda need that for a draw, don’t I?”

Graves set the revolver on the ground and moved his handgun to where he had the revolver before kicking larouch the gun, “that shit was obsolete four hundred and fifty seven years ago, hell this german cutie I’ve got on my hip is as well.” He said while larouch inspected the gun, checking if it still has all six rounds in it.

“Damn boy; you are lucky I have a tiny amount of honor left or you and your friends would be dead, your ‘daughter’ included.” Larouch antagonized further.

Graves quickly drew his gun and shot larouch in the chest twice. “Good thing I don’t have any left.”

The man fell to the ground and grabbed his chest, “GHAAAG- fucking cheap ass vests!” Although the bullets didn’t pierce, they still punched him good.

“I hope you are happy with hell.” Graves said after approaching and placing his foot on the center of larouch’s chest and letting off a final round into the man’s head.

“Why didn’t you warn me that you would do that!” Hogarth shouted at Graves, “I didn’t want to see that!” He continued.

“Oops.” Graves replied before taking the revolver back from larouch’s dead hands, “get on the ship unless you’d rather be arrested again.” Graves said bluntly to Hokka and Hogarth after walking past them towards the ship. The two followed Graves quickly and quietly, not wanting to be left behind. “Althea, launch the ship.” Graves ordered before an AI voice sounded through the intercom.

“Launching, UMC NightShade, find proper seating for launch procedures.” The voice said through the entire ship.

“You heard it, find a seat.” Graves told Hokka and Hogarth before walking to the cockpit of the ship and sitting down. Once everyone had found somewhere to sit, althea did as instructed and launched the ship. Once out of orbit a call rang within the cockpit, Graves answered it to hear Jakob on the other end.

“You shot him? You fucking dumbass!” Jakob shouted.

“He threatened Lyne.” Graves replied blankly.

“Oh…” he said quietly, “just check your ship for a tracker as soon as possible.” The man warned calmly.

“Already a step ahead of you, had the scan going while you were talking.” Graves replied, “we’re in the clear, I’ll see you whenever I do. But we’ve gotta go.” Graves abruptly ended the call before setting the auto pilot course for a desert planet by the name of Orestes. He stood from the piloting chair and went around the ship looking for anything that could be missing, when he found nothing out of place he went to the living spaces of the ship and found that Hokka, Fynly, and Hogarth had already claimed empty rooms. “Fynly, where’s Lyne?” He asked.

“She went to her room once I got her on the ship, she seemed pretty upset with you.” She answered while making her bed.

“Thanks for taking her to the ship like I asked. I don’t have a reason yet, but I trust you.” He replied.

“Probably because I didn’t shoot you when you handed me the gun.” She joked.

“Nah, that’s not it. I knew you wouldn’t.” He finished their conversation before waking away, he went down the hall to the farthest room on the left and knocked on the door, “Lyne, may I come in?” He asked through the door. Lyne opened the door for him before turning around and going back to her bed, “you know why I sent you back to the ship right?” He asked her another question.

“I know.. but it doesn’t make me any less upset. It’s not even that you sent me back to the ship, you didn’t even try to end things with talking! You promised me you’d stop resorting to extreme reactions immediately!” She shouted at him, “you promised that you wouldn’t lie to me.” She reminded quietly.

He sat beside her pulled her into a gentle hug “Ly, if you knew the things that man has done, you wouldn’t be saying that. And I didn’t lie to you, I said I’d stop putting you in danger by resorting to extremes. I did what I did to keep you out of danger, the Archimedean government will cover up his death as a stop gone wrong and leave it at that.” He explained to her, already admitting to her previously about being a part of that corrupt system.

“Activating cytoflux drive.” Althea chimed through the ship, after a countdown the ship was in the Alkrean system orbiting Orestes, “arrived at planet ORESTES, have a safe trip!” The AI announced.

“I’ve gotta go land the ship, behave for me, okay?” Graves told Lyne.

“Fine.. since you asked nicely.” She replied hesitantly.

“Thank you.” He said while giving her another hug before leaving the room, he walked down the hall and told everyone to find a seat for landing. Finally in the cockpit again he sent his landing information to a place called ‘Bone Town.’

“UMC NightShade, landing code Two-Two-One-Seven-Three-Eight, owned by Graves F. Marsh, cleared for landing.” A gruff voice said through an open radio channel once the ship was within atmosphere, “welcome home, Graves. Still got Lyne with you?” He continued.

“Yes, father, she’s still with me. A little mad at me though.” Graves replied.

“What’d you do to make my granddaughter mad this time boy?” He questioned jokingly.

“Killed Larouch.” Graves answered.

“Oh… I know you said the next time you had the chance you would but I didn’t think you’d actually do it. Go ahead and land so we can talk in person.” Graves’ father said and instructed in a softer tone.

“Yes sir.” Graves said while he began orienting the ship for landing