So with Merri piloting and Lyris in the
co-pilot seat she used the Tornado’s four vertical take-off jumper engines,
which were engaged, and the Tempest class freighter landed softly in the space
dock.
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.
But this time there was no dodgy cargo so they
lowered the three pods ready for unloading.
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, or even fugitives when necessary.
It was
eight months after Bagg and landlady of the Visitors Rest, Wisma Berita, had
been an item, and was more than a month since the Tornado had last touched down
on Eikon Minor, so Bagg was eager to see her.
It was the
rainy season and it was falling in torrents, so because of the weather it was a
quiet night in the “Rest” even for a Tuesday, week nights were normally quieter
as the Legionnaire’s from the nearby Garrison were only allowed off base on the
weekends, but that night it was quieter than usual and the time hung heavy for
Wisma as she knew the Tornado was due, well overdue to be precise, and as they
approached closing time there was only Wisma and barmaid Zydia plus a handful
of regulars.
Due to the
bad weather it took longer than usual to get clearance to land and get unloaded
so Bagg was late leaving the landing field, very late in fact, everyone was
ready to turn in but he persuaded Parse to drive him to the bar so he could see
Wisma.
As they
drove slowly through the filthy weather and were about three hundred yards from
the “Rest” when something in the road caught their attention, a man was running
blindly in their direction, which given the rain was not particularly
noteworthy, but this individual didn’t look like he was running to get out of
the rain, and as he got nearer they realized that they knew the rain soaked
man, it was one of the regular customers from the “Rest”, Rowyn.
Parse
brought the Stroller to a halt and jumped down and Bagg followed.
It was more
of a step down for Parse as the Gouveian was huge in stature, stand 6 foot
8 high and he was broad and powerfully built, his hair was short, curly and the
colour of burnished steel, ivory skin and mercury coloured eyes, and the
altogether striking figure soon had the wet man’s complete attention.
“Hey Rowyn,
what’s wrong?” Parse asked
“There’s trouble at the bar, bad trouble, they’re
smashing the place up” he spurted out.
“Alright, leave it to us” the big Gouveian said
They got back in the Stroller and Parse started the
engine while Bagg contacted the Tornado and the Skeet brothers said they would
be right behind them.
The Stroller pulled up sharp outside the bar and
the two men decamped and ran in and the scene that confronted them was one of
devastation, tables and chairs had been turned over and there was broken glass
everywhere.
Bagg had eyes only for Wisma and found her in the
back-consoling Zydia.
Parse mean while perused the damage and a few
minutes later the Skeets came through the door weapons in hand and after
surveying the scene Lyris said
“Holy war”
“Nothing holy about this mess” Parse said just as
Bagg reappeared
“Everyone ok?” he asked, and Bagg gave a reassuring
nod and said
“Zydia’s a bit shaken up but Wisma’s fine”
Bagg looked around
“I’ll call the Prefects” Parse said,
“Wisma doesn’t want to report it” Bagg replied
“Why?”
“Firstly there isn’t much point, they’ve long gone
anyway and the girls said they didn’t go anywhere a customer couldn’t go, so
there’s no evidence to be had” Bagg said “but mainly she doesn’t want any record
of an incident that could cause the Legion to make the bar “off limits””
Parse nodded his understanding, and knew they would
have to take matters into their own hands, then he said
“Have you got a recorder on you Lyris?”
“Yes” he replied
“Ok get images of everything and you and Zerrad can
speak to everyone that was in the bar, and old Rowyn, he’s the one that alerted
us” Parse said and they both nodded
When they had finished Zerrad took Zydia home and
when he returned he found Wisma, Bagg and his brother Lyris had made
significant inroads in clearing the mess, so Zerrad slipped off his coat and
joined them, and when everything was shipshape they all sat down and had
coffee.
“So, what happened?” Parse asked, “What set them
off?”
“Four men against two women and a handful of old
soaks, not very brave were they?” Bagg mused
“They wanted protection money” Wisma said “and I
said no”
The four of them were visibly shocked, and the
Parse asked
“They demanded money? Out of the blue?”
“Not
really, two of them came in last week, but I thought they were just chancing
their arms because I was a woman” she said.
“So, I
thought no more about it”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Bagg asked
“I really didn’t think they were going to do
anything, if I had I would have told you, I’m not a fool” she replied and
Bagg held her hand
“Attempting
to get protection money from a bar frequented by Legionnaires is very bold”
Lyris said
“Or very
stupid” Zerrad pointed out
“Unlikely
to be locals” Bagg said
“They must
be “off worlder’s” trying their luck”
“That seems
most likely” Parse agreed
“They smashed up the place, so I would know they
were serious, they’ve given me two days” Wisma said
“They’ll be in for the money after closing on
Thursday night”
“Well we’d better make them welcome then” Parse
said
“Indeed, we will” the Skeets added
“What are you going to do?” Wisma asked
“Well first of all we need to get to the Tornado
and speak to Merionwen, because if anyone can come up with a fool proof plan
she can” Bagg said
“I don’t want anyone getting hurt on my account”
Wisma said
“No one will get hurt” he reassured her “Merri is
good at this stuff”
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