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DZ flies back to the bar and shoots Frodo in the head before flying away again.
------------------ Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy... and then he dies.
Without hesitation, Cresent grins at Shek. "You can have the bounty DZ offered for that piece of junk over there with Cat's Pajamas written on the side. I don't want it."
------------------ To err is human. To err and blame it on someone else, is even more human.
"That's kind of you," says Shek to Cresent over the comm band, "but I'd like to hear from Rima as well before I go and take all the cash. I mean, who knows? She might want some too!" Shek cuts the comm, but not before laughing.
------------------ All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king. J. R. R. Tolkien (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=26")The Search Feature(/url)
Rima shook her head, speaking to Shek. "No, I don't care about the money. I simply want to have a 'chat' with the Captain. You can have the money if you want. The money's not important. I can always find some kittens without home and see if any Zidagar don't have one. They don't eat them. Actually, the Zidagar seem better cat owners than some of the humans I've seen. Still, not everyone is a cat person I suppose. Anyway, I'm going to dock with the ship now, if anyone wants to join me, feel free. Perhaps you will find out about that smuggling ring you were talking about Shek."
The Zidara docks with the disabled ships. Rima picked up the phase pistols. Despite what DZ had said about him telling them whatever they asked, it was better to be careful. As the hatch opened, she felt claws dig into her shoulder. She paused, looking at the cat that had appeared there.
"I suppose you want to come too. Well then, stay on my shoulder Cyma. You really shouldn't though, considering this guys deals in selling your species for meat."
The cat gave her a stare as only a cat could, and dug in deeper. Rima sighed, and walked onto the ship, heading towards the bridge.
------------------ There were once two planets. Then humans destroyed the second. Then there was one.
Meanwhile...
The Longbow is engaged in a dogfight with several Turncoats. As the last Turncoat is disabled by the combination of Neutron and Phase fire, the Longbow is already preparing to land, ignoring the swarm of fighters armed with puny blaze cannons.
The sleek black ship lands on the backwater planet, and DZ steps out. Gone are the archaic clothes, replaced by a black jumpsuit. Two Neutron pistols are strapped to his thighs, and his face is hidden behind dark glasses.
He glides through the dingy city, soundless. Behind the glasses, his light blue eyes take in every detail. After about four hundred yards, he finds the establishment he wants. The sign on the door proclaims it as "White Kitten Rest Stop". DZ knows it is a brothel.
As he enters the low, dark doorway, he pulls the glasses from his face, revealing his icy blue eyes. Kittens scurry for cover as the short, fat proprieter hurries over to what he assumes is a wealthy prospective customer.
"Can I help you, sir?" He asks, nodding wiseley.
"I'd like to discuss something with you." The man nods again, signaling DZ to go on. "In private."
The man nods a third time, knowingly. He leads the way into a gaudily decorated back room, the use of which is fairly obvious to DZ. "So, sir, what or shall I say who? can I get you?"
"I've heard of a certain girl you have, I believe she is called Wraith."
"Ah, yes, sir. She is one of the best, the most fight. She will cost a little extra, though." The interstellar pimp smiles.
DZ's jaw tenses, barely hinting at what lies underneath his calm demeanor. "Name your price. Pig, " He doesnt' say.
"Four thousand," the pimp says, fully expecting to haggle.
DZ hands him a cred chip. "This should cover it. I'll be waiting."
Delighted at his good fortune, the pimp hurries out of the room to fetch the Wraith.
From one of the many pockets in his suit, DZ pulls out a small device. He switches it on, and sets it on the small table next to the oversized bed. As he turns back to the door, a tall, slim figure steps through the door.
Her skin is pale, and her body is marked by bruises. She would seem weak and helpless, were it not for her eyes. They are the same icy blue as DZ's, which are now back behind the glasses.
"Do your worst, pig!" She snarls.
DZ does not speak. He stands, silent, as she glares hatefully.
"You think I'm acting?" She is now screaming. "Come on, you little rich bastard, get it over with!"
"At long last, I've found you." DZ murmurs. "Would you like to leave, sister?" He takes the glasses off.
Shek nodded, and tapped the comm twice in the universal signal of acknowledgment. Deftly handling the controls of his Voinian heavy fighter, the Teiresias , he piloted it in towards the disabled arada. Maneuvering cleanly around the zidara, he docked on the other side of the Cat's Pajamas and set the ship on standby.
Walking back to the armory, he pondered what he'd say to the captain, if the man truly was who Shek suspected. I might finally be able to clear that bad rep the Voinians have on me. He pulled down his electrorifle and set it to the proper stunning frequency, checking it to make sure the dose it would deliver wouldn't be lethal; it wouldn't do if the man died. Just in case the gun didn't work, however, he also secured his Dur'achi glaive so that the handle poked up over his shoulder, easily accessible from the scabbard that rested on his back.
He walked over to the side hatch. Dialing the outside communicator to the proper channel of the arada, Shek spoke to the captain.
"Open the starboard side hatch, captain. I've been assured by my employer that you'll cooperate, but if you fail to do so, and do so peacefully, your ship might suffer further damage."
Two clicks sounded over the comm on his side, and Shek smiled. Soon he'd be talking to the kitten-slayer. Soon he'd know if the man was the same who had killed his brother.
Rima walked carefully through the ship. She had been on an arada before, and knew in general terms where everything was but she didn't trust this man. Finally she reached the bridge, touching a panel near a door and speaking into a space near the panel.
"One of those who wants to talk to you is outside the dorr. I ask you to kindly please open it since I do not know the code for the bridge."
The bridge opened, the man who fit the description sitting in the captains chair. He seemed fearful, but that could be all an act.
"Are you the one we were told is called Billy-Joe, wanted in almost all of known space?"
The man nodded, speaking carefully, as if fearful one wrong word would kill him. Rima briefly wondered what DZ had said to him. "Yes. I am Billy-Joe. From what little of the ships sensors are still intact, they tell me there are two of you. What do you want?"
"What the other looking for you wants, I'm not quite sure, but we both want to ask you questions. The reason I am looking for you has to do with this particular species." Cyma hissed from her shoulder.
"I want to know everyone you were working with, apparently your supplier is being taken care of, but I still want to know everyone else involved in this. Then, you are definetly going to stop selling cats to the Miranu. For that matter, you will probably be in some sort of prison after this is done. Begin talking please."
The man nodded, and Rima listened to him speaking, using a recording device to take down the names and places that she needed to know. Despite the seemingly fearful exterior, she couldn't shake off that there was something strange about this man.
DZ and Wraith sit and talk for about two hours, the brother getting to know his long lost sister. Separated at birth, they had taken different paths. She had been adopted by a planetside merchant on Centauri, where she had been left. At the age of 16, she'd set off to make her own way in space, in a shuttle purchased by her adoptive father. She had been kidnapped by Renegades two jumps from home, and taken south to this forgotten planet to be the plaything of Renegades and good-for-nothing's.
DZ had been searching for her almost his entire life, but had only recently come up with the resources to find her. Inheriting the entire estate of his adopted Strandless father, he suddenly found himself in control of several billion credit's worth of businesses and lands. He sold them all and began wandering the spacelanes, searching. After 5 years, all his interrogation had paid off.
"Let's go." DZ says, standing.
"But Beelzeeb. How will we escape?"
"Just follow me." DZ takes her hand and leads her out into the main room, where Beelzeeb the pimp is busy selling kittens to a Miranu Freighter captain. DZ holds Wraith back, and walks over to the pimp.
"400?" Offers the Miranu.
"What? You wish to put me out of business!" He notices DZ. "Did you enjoy her?" He asks.
Suddenly one of DZ's neutron pistols is in his hand and aimed at Beelzeeb's head. "Immensely," He replies sarcastically, "In fact, I wish to purchase her. How does your life sound?"
"Deal," Says the pimp, shaking, as he wets himself.
"And you," the pistol moves to the Miranu, "Your name, and your ship's name."
"Lonas, The MTC 503."
"Thank you. IWe'll be leaving now. Goodbye."
DZ and Wraith board the Longbow , and take off. He dashes off a short message:
"The supplier is named Beelzeeb. His home is markedon your maps. I had the good fortune to stumble across a client of his, one I have now discovered is his best. The stats have been entered into your databanks. Voltaire says have a nice day."
(This message has been edited by double_zero (edited 06-24-2003).)
Shek, who had been standing behind Billy-Joe's chair, listened intently to the conversation, his own microfilm recorderhidden from viewrunning as well. He'd check the names later. Currently he was just waiting for Rima to finish up. It wasn't that long to waitonly about ten minutes. Even though he had perhaps finally found this man, he could wait a bit more; it was said of Shek back on his native Dur'ach that he could outwait a glacier.
Now it was his turn to question the man. Gliding around the outside of the chair, Shek came to stand directly in front of the fearful-looking captain. He pulled a dagger out from his robe sleeve and calmly began trimming his nails with it, occasionally looking up at the captain. He'd learned from his swordmaster back in Ellif that it was occasionally an effective psychological weapon, and, so far, it seemed to be working. The man was sweating like the pig Shek was convinced the man was. Finally, he spoke to him, and the sudden change of sound in the room prompted the man to jump in surprise.
"I have waiting a long time to find out if you are the man I seek," he said slowly. "Perhaps you could confirm for me, now, whether or not my current assumption is the correct one." Suddenly the tip of the dagger was at the man's neck. "You will answer my questions, yes?" When he nodded, a small drop of blood emerged.
"Good. Do you know of the Blue Hand?"
The man's eyes shifted to the sides of the room. He would no longer meet Shek's gaze. Swiftly, Shek flipped the dagger so that its blade rested in his gloved hands and the pommel was pushing into the man's windpipe.
"Answer me truthfully, or lose your ear." He pulled the blade back so that the tip was once again pointing at the man's neck.
"I know of the Blue Hand."
"Good. Did you work for them?"
The man nodded.
"What was your assignment?"
"I was to run narcotics to the chapters in Azdgari space." The man was holding something back.
"And?"
"And to kill anyone who interfered." The man was getting shifty again. His eyes never stayed in one place for long. Shek moved the point of the blade over the man's eye.
"Calm down, captain. So long as you are truthful, I shall not kill you." With visible effort, Billy-Joe relaxed, somewhat.
"There. Do you know the name of Jal Sunrunner?"
The man didn't answer. He was staring at the large symbol emblazoned on the front of Shek's robes, a glyph he'd apparently only now noticed. By now he'd recognized the sigil of Clan Sunrunner. Shek thought it likely that was answer enough, but he wanted it on the record.
"Answer me!" Shek carved off the eyelashes of the threatened eye.
"Yes! Yes, I know the name! He caught me while I running dust on Xarnes! The Blue Hand would have found out, do you understand? Do you know what they do to failures? It's far worse than being in an Azdgari prison camp. But he knew who I was, and I couldn't risk him talking. The Blue Hand has ears everywhere! You understand? I had to! I had to kill him!"
"No you didn't." Shek's voice was cold, but the emotion was there. The sorrow, the despair, the rage, the anger, the hate of finally, after ten years, searching for his brother's killer and now finding him, was boiling out of him. "You did not have to kill him. He was of the Sha'achi Truth Order! He would have brought you back to a good life! A safe life! But you threw it all away and plunged this very dagger that I hold now into his heart!"
The man was quaking in fear now, weeping, muttering between sobs, "I...had to...had to...no...other way..."
Shek snarled and turned to Rima, who was gaping in horror. "Unless you've got anything more to discuss with this scum, I suggest we lock him up in the brig of my ship and take him back to the Albatross. I want to know how our employer knew of this man. Perhaps its merely from his drug record, which is bad enough, but maybe it's something more."
(This message has been edited by Solel (edited 06-24-2003).)
Rima glanced between Shek and Billy-Joe. That was a story she had not expected to hear. She recovered from her shock quickly and nodded. "No, I don't have anything else to discuss. Let's get back to the Albatross. This is turning into more of a mystery than I expected."
She walked back to the ship, the message blinking on here screen. She listened to it and nodded. Back to Albatross first, refuel, get more ammo, and get some food for Cyma. Her ship cut itself off from the Arada, the course for Albatross left. Rima put it on automatic, going over the recording. Once name stood out that she recognised, though she wished she didn't.
The name explained how the man had gotten past all of those who enforced the treaty, but first things first, back to the station. Besides, hers was a minor problem compared to Shek's, and she could investigate the truth of the matter later.
DZ deposits Wraith comfortably at his palatial home on Earth, then sets course for the Albatross.
He grabs a Dew and heads to his usual corner to await the return of Shek and co.
Cresent watched the disabled arada as well as the two ships docked to it. There had not been room for her to dock as well. When Rima's Zidara pulled away and returned to the Albatross, Cresent followed. She was curious about what happened, but her questions could wait.
DZ gets bored sitting around the bar, so he shoots Frodo in the head.
------------------ (url="http://"http://home.earthlink.net/~double_zero/falcon.html")The Falcon Project(/url) "Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it." --Henry David Thoreau
Albatross Bar, (OOC: I forget what the system it's in is. Does anyone know? Whatever. I'll edit it in later if someone knows.../OOC)
Shek's modified Voinian heavy fighter, the Teiresias , entered the system towing the disabled arada. Sunrunner himself had been silent the entire journey, brooding on his thoughts regarding the felon locked up in the cargo hold of the ship. Thanks to the dospect hull plating the ship was made from, Shek hadn't been able to hear a sound from Billy-Joe, but he knew the man had probably tried to talk through the walls.
Probably trying to beg for mercy, or some other cowardly act, thought the Dur'achi swordsmaster bitterly. Behavior like that would earn a good thrashing back in Ellif at the Sarpi War Academy. The elder swordmasters always said that you could never expect your enemies to suddenly deal out mercy to you when you were ready to kill them a few seconds before. It probably ranks up there as just as foolish as saying en garde! and thus warning your opponent that you intend to kill him.
Now that he'd finally caught his brother's murderer, he wasn't sure what to do. Most of his life since that dark day had been centered around finding the man and bringing him to justice for his many crimes. "The gods forgive no man", he quoted silently. But now that his search was over, his life lacked focus. What would he do now? Bounty hunting had served his purposes here, because there had been the chance that he'd find the man, but it didn't really appeal to him. Too much of his talent and training was wasted in it. He had been trained as a soldier, and he normally was only good as a soldier.
He shoved his introspection aside as he came closer to the Albatross. Handling the controls as adeptly as he did any weapon, Shek smoothly guided his craft down onto an empty landing pad and extended the three landing claws. It was a tricky job, getting the disabled arada to come down slowly as well, but he managed to drop it lightly onto a meadow, and the only damage it sustained was a slight scratching of the paint. Drawing his glaive, he walked back to the cargo hold and displayed it to the criminal as soon as he opened the doors of the makeshift cell.
"Follow me," was all that Shek said as he led the man out of the ship. Shek didn't worry about whether the man might try and jump him; his training was so excellent that the man wouldn't stand a chance, and besides, Shek had weapons. He entered the Albatross with the man, and spotted DZ. He purposefully led Billy-Joe over to DZ's table, shoving the man down into a seat. Shek remained standing, his glaive laying limber in its scabbard.
"Alright, here's the man. Now, I've got some questions for you. How did you know about this guy? Were you even aware that he's guilty of murder?"
"I have been tracking this man for quite some time, actually. I guess you could say I like to keep my eye on things. Waiting for proof. When you guys started talking about cats, something clicked, and I remembered that he also smuggles cats. On a wild guess, I asked you to bring him back here. As I jumped to Sol, I realized that if this man was the lead I was looking for, he was too valuable to let anyone else capture. No offense, but I have a slight problem trusting people." DZ recounts his life story to Shek. (OOC: See earlier post)
"So, know that I am grateful to you. I most now ask why you wanted this man."
When he has heard Shek's story, DZ is amazed. "Clan Sunrunner..." He mutters quietly, a strange expresssion on his face. "I have something to investigate," He says suddenly, and walks out to his ship. It begins to warm up.
EDIT: Hmm, I wonder why I know needed to know...
(This message has been edited by double_zero (edited 06-25-2003).)
Shek ran after DZ. He caught the man while he was about to head up the boarding ramp.
"Yes?"
"I'm glad that you're grateful," said Sunrunner, "but I'd appreciate it if I got the promised two million now. A bargain is a bargain." Shek thought for a moment. "Where are you going now? Can I help at all?"
edit: I keep getting hung up on tense. Bah!
(This message has been edited by Solel (edited 06-25-2003).)
OOC: I'll go with past tense since that seems to be what everyone else is using...
"You'll remember that I let a 2 mil chip on the arada for you all to divide amongst yourselves," replies DZ, "but, considering that the ship was the one I was looking for, I think a little extra might be in order." He handed Shek a credit chip. "That should about cover it. If you really want to help, meet me here in 6 hours."
DZ closed the boarding hatch and pulled the ship straight up off the tarmac, accelerating out of the atmosphere in a matter of minutes, incredibly fast for a Crescent Warship.
After reaching a safe distance from the station, DZ activated the Longbow's advanced computer systems and charted his course to an uninhabited southern system.
Upon jumping in, the Longbow was set upon by three turncoats. DZ hailed them all, even as their blaze cannons attempted to chew through his shields. "Desist from attacking this vessel or suffer the consequences. You have been warned."
None of the renegade captains paid any attention. DZ sighed, muttering something about "idiotic renegades", and pushed a red button on his instrument panel. The Longbow began to change shape. The wings in the back stretched outwards and forward, thickening, as the nose cone opened outwards, like a very dangerous flower. The cockpit lights dimmed and the plasteel windows darkened, while DZ put his sunglasses on and reclined in his seat.
The nose cone fully open, folded back against the sides of the fuselage, a pulsating sphere emerged slowly, coming to a stop between the elongated wingtips. It began to glow, pulsating through all three colors of light, then going black, blacker than the space surrounding it. Cracks of intensely bright light spidered their way around it, then it exploded, vaporising all three turncoats. The debris cloud boiled for a moment, then shrunk down into the sphere again, all traces of the turncoats gone. The fuel meter on the Longbow's panel increased to 100%.
As the ship morphed back to its original shape, DZ sat to wait for his contact to arrive.
Frodo and some of Yoshi's clones play basketball. Frodo saves dz the bother and shoots himself in the head.
------------------ One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
A small crescent fighter jumped into the system. Its Miranu pilot quickly spotted the Longbow and flew over to dock.
The pilot was met by DZ in the airlock. "I need to discuss something with you," DZ said, leading the miranu to the galley. "Does the name Sunrunner ring a bell?"
The miranu nods reverently. "A man named Sunrunner saved my life once. Why?"
DZ pulled out his pistol, aiming it at the miranu's head. Almost instantaneously, the gun was across the room, and the miranu had a strange blade at DZ's throat. DZ smiled.
"What, if you don't mind me asking, the hell was that?"
"A test. You passed, Blade. Or shall I say, Dieran?"
"Not many who say my name live to tell the tale. You'd better tell me where you learned it, and I'd better like what I hear." The blade withdrew half an inch.
"From a man named Beelzeeb," DZ swatted the blade away with his gloved hand, "As I turned him over to an enemy. He is either dead or incarcerated, it doesn't really matter. But suffice to say, you may want to go check out his establishment. I believe you know someone he owned."
"Then... she's alive? How can I trust you?" The blade started to come back up, but DZ grabbed it. The razor sharp blade did not penetrate his glove.
"You can't, not yet. But right now, you had better go and check, before some other pimp takes over Beelzeeb's brothel. Hadn't you?"
Silently, the miranu put his blade away, and turned to leave.
"If you want to help me bring people like Beelzeeb to justice, meet me at the Albatross on Atlantic Station. (OOC: I think...) A Sunrunner may be there."
As the fighter disengaged, the Longbow positioned to jump. DZ set course for the Albatross.
Shek muttered to himself as he went back into the dilapidated hull of the Cat's Pajamas to find the credit chip. He'd brought his data reader with him this time, on the off chance that something in the ship's log would be useful.
Ah, there it is. He spotted the telling metallic green gleam of the credit chip and picked it up, stowing it safely in his pocket. Now for the log. He pulled out the data reader and hooked it into the terminal at the controls. He'd learned how to operate Strand technology from his brother long ago, and thus it was no trouble breaking through the feeble security protocols that were standard issue on a civilian grade arada. The data itself was encrypted, following the precepts of the Gadzair Convention, but the reader handled that easily, and soon Shek was able to discern what the log had to say.
Quote
Sensor Log of Vessel "Cat's Pajamas"
01.15.65, 0:35:06; entered Hatuli system. Five contacts registered. 01.15.65, 0:52:17; docked on Thehir for refuelling. 01.18.65, 13:41:02; left dock on Thehir and entered orbit. 01.18.65; 2:01:01; three new contacts registered in Hatuli system.
From there it just gave basic status reports of the ship's hull and shield integrity through the fire fight between it and Rima's zidara, so Shek stopped scrolling and returned to the part where it reported docking on Thehir. There's three days between the last log update. That meant that either the captain had gone and done other stuff and cleared it out, or that he hadn't been near the ship in three days. The second seemed more likely. Billy-Joe would have told him about the erasures if he had actually done that. It must have been that he went to his supplier. But DZ had already talked to that man, so where did that leave Shek?
Well, for starters, it left him two and half million credits richer, which was certainly nice, but he didn't have much to use that on yet. His current ship worked fine, and now that Billy-Joe was serving a life sentence in a prison camp on Gualon, his record with the Voinians had been restored to one of neutrality. Thank the gods for that. I might need to go back there for structural repairs some day. He knew that was unlikely. The only reason he'd ever have to do that was if his ship were damaged so much that it would split in half, for example. He'd figured out ways to fix it up back on Xarnes, when he'd installed those nice shielding and maneuvering upgrades.
But there wasn't anything meaningful he could really do in just under six hours. DZ said he'd be coming back, so Shek decided he'd wait for him. He stowed the money and the data reader, now loaded with all the data the arada had been carrying in its computers, in a secure locker in the armory of the Teiresias , and then went to wait where DZ said he'd meet him. While he waited, he went through the various forms of the Ell'achi battle trance, keeping his skills with the blades he carried as sharp as they'd been when he graduated from Sarpi as a full swordmaster. The time passed swiftly for him while he practiced.