The plan for the Legion to capture Kurla Babic
was a simple one.
As the Tornado was a regular visitor to Odekka
no one would raise an eyebrow when they landed with a Legionnaire strike force
on board, nor would they be alarmed when the Stroller drove down the ramp and
crossed the field to drive up to the Blue Horizon with a small group of
Legionnaires concealed in the back.
Once inside the bar Lyris and Zerrad would
establish that Kurla was present and then the two brothers would leave the bar,
which would be the Commanders signal to send his men in.
However, these plans were changed slightly, as
it was deemed necessary for the Legion to have more eyes in the bar than just
the Skeets.
Also, the signal for the go would be given by
Zerrad a few moments before Lyris left the bar, and the latter’s action in
opening the door to exit would instead ease the strike force entry.
Zerrad’s job was then to stay in the bar and
block one of the exits while outside Lyris was tasked, accompanied by two
Legionnaires, to secure Kurla’s Spider Hawk Fighter to prevent him from beating
a hasty retreat in the unlikely event that he slipped through the Legions net.
On the big night Lyris parked the Stroller in
the wooded corner of the carpark where the Legionnaire’s could slip out the
back doors unnoticed and take up their appointed positions, either to guard the
exits, deal with the look outs or cut off any means of escape.
And by the time Lyris and Zerrad reached the
front doors of the Blue Horizon the guards had all been subdued and all the
Legionnaires were in position.
While their main force was crossing the field
on foot under the cover of darkness, securing the landing field on their way to
support the primary strike team outside the bar.
Lyris paused to look at his brother and then
he took a deep breath and they both walked inside.
Lyris and Zerrad walked through the double
doors into the large open bar area.
Directly ahead of them was a large horseshoe
shaped bar, and surrounding it was the main seating area.
As they walked further into the bar they could
see a raised area, to the left, which was surrounded by a chest high ornate
panelled wall and the area within was divided into cubicle like booths, which
was the eating area.
The first time they visited the Blue Horizon
they met one of the locals, a huge monster of a man who the Skeets referred to
as “Outhouse” because he was built like one, and he told them, not to stick around there too late because of the
rough crowd, and they never had on the visits that had followed as they were
normally long gone by then but on that occasion, they were there at the optimum
time and they realised that he wasn’t kidding.
Although neither of them recognised anyone
amongst the crowd they recognised the type, small fry and petty criminals
mainly.
They made their way to the bar and saw the
same barman they’d seen last time, he was of medium height and muscular build
and he was of rough and un-welcoming appearance, he was heavily tattooed and
shaven headed with multiple piercings and the kind of face you would never tire
of slapping, and judging by the scars he wore it looked like it had been.
Because of his tattoos the brothers referred
to him as “Lydia” in remembrance of their grandfather who used to sing a song
about “Lydia the Tattooed Lady”.
However, before he could stir himself to serve
them a slutty looking barmaid served them instead.
She was almost wearing a tight low cut cropped
top which exposed almost as much of her breasts as it did her stomach.
As Lyris watched her pour their drinks he
realized why she was there and it had more to do with selling drinks than
serving them.
As it was late into the evening there was a
full house and they both thought to themselves that there would be a lot of
money changing hands that night.
Commander Salmin was very keen to gather up as
many miscreants as possible as long as he got his quarry.
So, although Lyris and Zerrad would give the
“go” there were two undercover Legionnaire’s, Chuto and Plimmy, already in the
bar when the Skeets arrived.
Outside the bar there were three squads, one
unit would secure the exit into the beer garden and a second unit would enter
the pub through the main entrance. The third was held in reserve to cover the
escape routes.
Each squad comprised of twelve Legionnaire’s,
including two Lieutenants, Commander Salmin attached himself to the breaching
squad.
The remainder of his force held a picket line
encircling the whole area, which would advance inwards closing the envelope
once the operation commenced.
Commander Salmin could, and perhaps should,
have put one of his Lieutenants in overall charge of the strike, but he felt
that as it was Lyris Skeets plan he would let him run with it and it would be
his decision when and if the strike was a go.
“Oy, Lydia!” Lyris shouted. “When you’re
ready.”
He looked around and walked slowly to where
the Skeets were standing.
“What do you want?”
“Refills, Ale” Lyris said and held up two
fingers “two” and Lydia begrudgingly obliged.
“Twelve Dinaris” The barman said banging the
Ales down on the counter so hard it slopped over the sides just as he did on
their first visit.
“It was only nine last time” Lyris said
“Well today it’s twelve” Lydia grunted
Lyris glared at him and dropped a handful of
coins above the counter but the muscular barman reached out both hands quickly
and caught the coins before they rolled in every direction.
“Well done?” Lyris said “You can keep the
change for that.”
He and Zerrad picked up their glasses and both
took a mouthful.
They were just about to go and seat themselves
at one of the few vacant table’s when Lyris felt a hand on his shoulder, so he
put down his drink and when he turned around he expected to find “Lydia the
Tattooed Lady” wanting a fight.
What he found instead was the friendly face of
“Outhouse” the man-mountain labourer.
“Bloody hell! you frightened the crap out of
me” Lyris said and the big man laughed.
The Skeets weren’t small men but they both had
to look up at the man who was built like a brick out house.
“I thought you didn’t get in here this late,
because of the rough crowd” Zerrad gestured with a sweeping movement of his
arm.
“I’m just leaving” Outhouse replied. “I’m
running late”
“Do you want another
drink before you go” Zerrad asked “I can get you one”
“No thanks” he said
draining his glass “I’m off to work, night shift remember?”
“Oh well maybe next
time” Lyris said
Zerrad and Lyris had almost finished their
second drink and were looking around the bar and as there was no sign of their
target they were contemplating whether to have another or not.
And then they spotted the Lakmean trader,
AaHannaa, stood by the steps up to the restaurant area, and then a few moments
later a man with the familiar Ivory complexion of a Gouveian appeared, it was
Kurla Babic.
Having spotted their target Lyris and Zerrad
ordered another drink, while the latter sent an electronic signal to the
Commander, and then they waited while Kurla got comfortable and during the next
half hour the Skeets witnesses an array of wrong doing among the clientele,
where a variety of contraband changed hands.
The undercover Legionnaire’s Chuto and Plimmy
were both in sight, the former was sitting at the Bar and the latter was
playing a gambling machine.
As it appeared that the entire criminal
fraternity were present in the bar and the card games were well under way, with
a lot of cash on the tables, so Lyris felt there was no reason to wait any
longer so he nudged Zerrad and nodded to Chuto and Plimmy in turn and they made
their way into the pre-arranged positions as Zerrad sent the go signal.
