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.
