Aboard the
Tempest Class Freighter Tornado, Shiyne was the calm and passive member of the
crew, but even she was very relieved when Pulsat Rad announced in the mess hall
“Engines fixed”
She had
been a part of the Tornados crew for several years and felt perfectly at home
there.
She knew
that Merionwen and Malena were very worried, in fact the latter was terrified
she would have to leave the comfortable cocoon she had inhabited for so long,
she knew also that Merri had been worried about losing her ship for weeks,
though neither of them had verbalized it, they didn’t have to with Shiyne as
she was a telepath.
All of the
Vann were telepaths, by varying degrees, and many of them left their home world
at some point to use their gifts to earn a wage.
Those at
the zenith of their talents work as corporate negotiators or in the justice
systems of the Legion.
Shiyne was
a Vann with mid-range capabilities and she could read most species to some
extent, her skills were limited with the more sophisticated or complex brains,
lesser minds were easier for her to explore.
In addition
to reading minds, she could also implant thoughts and the suggestions would
stay in place longer with someone who was more intellectually challenged.
She left
her home world of Vann in the Yucel Seran System after her father died and as
he was her last remaining relative and as she had no other ties Shiyne left
Vann looking for adventure and she found that in the form of Ben Strong and his
crew aboard the Tornado.
Once aboard
she never wanted to leave as there was no shortage of adventure with Ben and
his daughter Merionwen and she was treated like family because Shiyne was that
rare commodity in any crew, someone who could and would perform any task
required of them, although obviously her real strength was in the role of
negotiator and she was an eternal optimist.
Shiyne was
small girl and like the rest of the Vann women she was completely bald, and she
had cerise coloured skin and purple eyes.
The only
thing lacking in her life was a significant other which was a problem that she
didn’t think would be easily resolved.
Being a
telepath, she found it difficult when she did meet someone, she liked not to
have a little peak to see what was on their mind.
Sadly,
their thoughts were all too revealing about their true characters, so she put
such aspirations behind her and focused her attentions to life on the Tornado.
But that
life was in jeopardy when the Tornado was grounded with engine trouble
following a Scav attack so the day after Pulsat and Vanzyl repaired the
engines, her relief was palpable and there was a distinct air of optimism on
the Tornado again with two new engineers aboard and even better than that
Visitor Parham had joined the crew, and he could cook.
The latter
was a particular plus because Shiyne liked to eat and had a disproportionately
sized appetite for such a diminutive figure.
With the
engines repaired departure from Alwi was expected in the following few days so
Merri was keen to take the Tornado off world to test drive the engines and find
out if their engineers had done as good a job as they thought they had.
So, with
Merri piloting and Malena in the co-pilot seat and Pulsat and Vanzyl monitoring
the engines, the Tornado’s four vertical take-off jumper engines were engaged,
and the Tempest class freighter lifted off.
It wasn’t a
huge ship as freighters go but pound for pound the Tempests had the highest
freight to fuel ratio yield of their class.
The front
section comprised of a sizable pressurized hold for large freight accessed via
a front loading ramp, above which was the flight deck, living and sleeping
quarters, mess facilities and bath rooms, at the rear was the main propulsion
and amidships were the universal pod bays, which allowed for a mixed cargo
option, which allowed for quick inspection and loading, although sometimes pods
were sealed which meant it was either very valuable or very illegal, either way
Merri didn’t mind and transporting sealed cargo paid much much better.
The Tornado
always flew with at least one pod but then that was because it was where they
stowed their gear and where the hidden compartments could be found, or not,
which was where they hid the contraband, when necessary.
After
watching the ship take off, Clergyman come cook, Bagg went into town in search
of provisions, which were seriously depleted on board, while Shiyne went to see
if she could secure them a cargo.
Bagg went
south on foot to the marketplace while Shiyne hopped on to the Tornado’s APMTV,
(All Purpose Multi Terrain Vehicle) and headed north to the cargo port.
The vehicle
was nicknamed the “Stroller” which was an ironic name because when Shiyne or
Merri were behind the wheel it did anything but stroll, and when Shiyne accelerated
away she left a cloud of dust in her wake.
Even on a
relatively small moon the mining operation on Alwi meant the cargo port was
always busy and that business attracted a lot of interest from those seeking
work, cargo, or passage off the moon.
One such
person was 36-year-old Sciberran Healer Terrell Vorton who had spent the
previous five years working his way from moon to moon, planet to planet and
system to system, on ships of every shape and size, in search of something,
though he didn’t know what that something was, he just knew that it was not on
his home planet of Sciberras in the Hennis system.
He was a
small stout man standing 5 foot 5 and was quite striking in appearance with
chalk white skin, short hair of midnight blue and hypnotic violet eyes.
He was a
quiet studious man who apart from medicine, loved science, and had a
fascination for off world travel, although it would have remained just that had
it not been for the untimely deaths of his wife and child.
Their loss
had been particularly acute because he was helpless to cure them despite his
high regard as a Healer.
On his
world, Healers started their training at the age of 5, but it wasn’t for
everyone, but those like Terrell who reached adulthood and remained in training
were destined for a lifetime in medicine, but for him he was destined to be the
cream of the crop.
But with
the premature deaths of his wife and child he came to doubt his ability and
that prompted him to leave his home world and try and regain belief in himself
and since leaving Sciberras he had learned a lot about the anatomy of other
species, who he hadn’t come in contact with before, because Sciberras was quite
an insular world but travelling off world had opened his eyes and he was left
hungry for more.
He had been
on Alwi for about three weeks and was staying at the
Ambassadors
Lodge, while he waited for a suitable berth.
The were no
shortage of offers for a Healer but in the weeks, he had been there all the
vessels were either going back the way he had come or were leaving Legion space
for Mehreen systems.
He had
managed to pick up work as a medic at one of the mines, but it wasn’t well paid
and so he was eager to move on.
Overall,
though after his five-year sojourn he was a fairly contented person and having
come to terms with his loss he was generally happy with his lot.
But as a
result of his nomadic lifestyle, he was no longer a wealthy person, but he had
learned that life was quantified by a different measurement and he had
everything he wanted, more or less.
Although he
had been unsuccessful every day of the previous three weeks, he went to the
port again after work in the hope he might have a change of luck, and that hope
was realized although not in the way he had expected because fortune came in
the form of Shiyne.
It was a
glorious sunny morning on Alwi, which was in itself unremarkable, as it was
almost always sunny on Alwi, so that day was no exception as he made his way to
the port office.
As he
walked to the office, he was preoccupied by thoughts of worlds as yet unseen
that might change his life forever.
Having
caught sight of a fellow journeyman, Zelen, who was also staying at the
Ambassadors, who was standing on the office steps, he quickly crossed the road
and was brought rudely to his senses by the blast of a claxon.
So, he
jumped out of the way and reached the safety of the footpath and turned to look
at the driver and he was greeted by a beautiful smiling being with cerise
coloured skin and purple eyes who mouthed the word “sorry” which made him
smile.
Zelen was
watching from the office steps and thought it was highly amusing that he had
nearly been turned into roadkill but when he returned his attention back to the
startlingly beautiful vehicular assassin she had gone and that was that, or so
he thought.
It was at
the end of an exhausting and seemingly endless round of meeting clerks,
pursers, mine managers, and freighter captains that he headed back to the
Ambassadors Lodge for a well-earned lunch and he smiled when he recognized
another acquaintance standing on the terrace.
Even from a
distance the tall pale figure of Visitor Parham was unmistakable with his long
white hair blowing in the breeze.
He was
engaged in conversation with someone, but he couldn’t see who it was as they
were obscured by the Visitors robe but when he got closer, he saw that his
companion was the beautiful, if dangerous cerise skinned vehicular assassin.
“Greetings
my dear Visitor” he said
“Greetings
brother Terrell” Bagg responded and the two men embraced “This is most opportune”
“How so?”
Terrell asked
“I’m
leaving Alwi today” Bagg replied
“Then this
moon will be a sadder place by days end” The healer said, “Where might we meet
again?”
“I am
leaving on the freighter Tornado with this young woman and her companions” Bagg
replied
“This is
Shiyne” he added, and Terrell’s eyes were immediately drawn to the beautiful
girl seated at the table and he found she was even more attractive at close
quarters when she wasn’t trying to run him down.
While Bagg
made the introductions Terrell rather tuned out to what he was saying as he was
besotted with the diminutive young Vann with the cerise coloured skin and
mesmerizing purple eyes.
Visitor
Parham, Bagg, had had a very successful morning provisioning for the Tornado
and after rendezvousing with Shiyne as arranged they loaded the stores onto the
Stroller and stopped at the Ambassadors Lodge to collect Bagg’s personal
effects, where they waited on the terrace for a call from the Tornado, which
happened shortly after the introductions were complete.
“Hey
Captain, we have a cargo to the Delta 500 space dock leaving tomorrow” Shiyne
said jovially as she answered her comms but then her expression grew grave
“What?”
There was
then a prolonged silence as Shiyne listened intently to what Merionwen was
telling her.
“No problem
I’m looking at one right now” she said in reply “We’ll meet you there, yes, yes
we’ll be ready”
After
switching her comms off she turned her attention to Bagg and Terrell
“We have to
go, you too Doc, they have two wounded men on board, and they’ll be landing in
twenty minutes”
“What
happened?” Bagg asked making the sign of the cross
“Scav
Raiders” she replied
“What are
the injuries?” Terrell asked
“One has a
head wound and the other has a Pulsar blast to the abdomen” she replied
“And what
species?” he added
“Does it
matter?” she asked sharply
“Well yes”
he retorted “I need to know what supplies I need”
“Sorry” she
said “Humans”
“Ok I’ll
get my bag”
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