Author: Johannes "Jergen[K]" Cruz			Viewing: Chapter 24

Johannes and Ban sat in silence. They had been directed to meet Preacher at the bar the same night they had approached him about the abduction. They reached the place about noon, both of them out of uniform and wearing more standard civilian garb. Ban wore a badly fitting tan shirt with laces up the front and loose pants over his combat boots. Johannes, on the other hand, looked pretty casual in his black shirt, workpants and trench coat. It was obvious to Ban that he had either worked under cover before, or that he was simply a little more at ease with civilian life. Boot Camp didn’t lend a touch of softness to anyone, and as a result it left most marines terribly out of place in civilian settings. If you put several years of hard combat experience in on top of that equation, most of the men in CMC and other martial professions were hardly human any longer. Johannes blew out a cloud of smoke and leaned back in his chair, whispering: “There he is.” Ban tried not to look directly at Aegis as he approached their table. Upon nearing the small booth he stumbled, spilled a drink, then cursed as he knelt down to pick up the empty cup. Without missing a beat he stood and walked back towards the bar, cursing the entire way. Anyone nearby was too busy looking at the angry marine to notice Ban as he leaned down and picked up the small vial that was lying next to his boot. After removing the cap Ban carefully unrolled the message inside. Mekhazzio and his friends have the girl in a safe house in the east quadrant of level three. There are a few guards and at least three patrols around that part of the structure at any one time. The cargo you spoke of is not on any records, and no mention of violence has been reported to the authorities. It seems that someone else wanted that chamber, and now they have it. ++P++ Ban handed the message to Johannes, who read it, folded it into a small square, and burned it into ashes. “This doesn’t make things any better.” “At least we may be able to find that bastard Mekhazzio.” Johannes smiled, “I guess there is a silver lining after all.” Absently he touched the handle of his large fighting knife. “I just hope he doesn’t want to talk very much. I really enjoy the art of persuasion.” “Someone ought to lock you up,” Ban said. “You know that?” Jergen smiled. “Let’s head back to our place and get our gear ready. It really looks like it’s going to be a long night.” Ban stood up, scanning the bar for anything he would consider suspicious as he did so. Johannes paused, “we are going to need some weapons you know.” Ban nodded. “We’ll have to get them from the ship if we can.” Johannes stood and made his way to the door. Ban followed him, towering over his friend by more than six inches, he continued to scan the bar. *** “This isn’t going as smoothly as you had promised me Mekhazzio,” Arthur Prove said as he dipped his fingers in a small bowl of water to wash away the grease from his early dinner. Arthur was a large man. Since his retirement he had taken to food like a fish to water. He ate all manner of exotic and expensive dishes from Italian stuffed manicotti to southern style fried chicken. He ate the way some men drink, and when he wasn’t eating he was plying flesh. He had been particularly interested in securing the Doctor once he had seen her. She would be worth the small fortune it would take to have her mind completely erased with heavy narcotics so that he could have his way with her. Yet, the deal had gone sour. Somewhere between the ship and one of his secure docks his cargo had been hijacked, and there was still no word as to where it had gone. Even his secure connections in the security department couldn’t track what had happened because the cameras showed nothing from midnight until six that morning, precisely the time the cargo had passed through. Someone was putting a lot of effort into getting his goods, and he couldn’t deal with that level of competition. For more than six years he had been the soul voice of pirating in this area, and he wasn’t about to give up his position easily. “I don’t know what’s going on. I went to the ship and saw that the cargo was secured.” Mekhazzio was getting nervous, this deal was starting to go bad, and if it fell through he had no intentions of being anywhere remotely near Solstice by the time Arthur Prove decided to pursue him and collect on it. “The two marines weren’t there, they couldn’t have gotten the cargo back, much less piloted the loaders well enough to move it anywhere.” Arthur opened a desk drawer, causing Mekhazzio to flinch, and removed a small phone. He punched in a number and waited. Moments later a voice sounded over the line, “Raven.” “Is the package safe?” Arthur asked in a grunt. “Yes.” Raven laid down on the small mattress next to the unconscious doctor and played with her hair. “Awaiting instructions.” “Move it here.” “Raven out,” he snapped the small phone closed and took the Doctor’s pulse. It was still very slow, but strong. The sedative had at least an hour left before she would be able to shake it off. Placing her inside the bag he had used to move her earlier that morning, he slung the burden over his back and moved out of the small room and into the service tunnels. In the middle of the night one might be able to move a concealed body around like this, but in the middle of the day it might be noticed, and he had no intentions of being arrested on such a simple errand. *** Johannes eased out of the ventilation access leading to their quarters. Dropping soundlessly to the floor he moved to the footlocker near his rack and opened it. To his relief all of his gear was inside. His body armor, service pistol and rifle were all neatly stowed as they had been when they had disembarked. Although Solstice was lax on the weapons laws, it was still illegal to bring firearms onto a civilian station without proper paperwork and authorization from the station security division. Thus, although he and Ban could have beaten the rap, they had decided to leave their weapons onboard. Ban slid awkwardly out of the shaft and landed hard next to Jergen. Johannes smiled over his shoulder at him and continued to don his equipment. Once he was done he replaced the trench coat to cover up the armor and rifle. Although it was still evident he was armed, it was not as blazingly obvious as it had been. Once Ban was done with his gear Johannes helped him back into the ventilation area and sealed the screen behind him. For more than a day the two men had been travelling through the airways of Solstice and Shadow Dragon. Ban was getting more irritated by the moment, but managed silence any complaints he might have. The ducts were generally very large, but with Ban’s height they were not even near comfortable. Johannes, on the other hand, was very short, and could nearly stand in some of the vents. Even when he had to stoop down it was only slightly, and it didn’t leave his back sore after a few hours of movement. “The Warehouse,” Ban whispered right next to Jergen’s ear when a gust of wind moved through the vents. Johannes nodded, and they were on their way. Luckily, both men knew the ventilation systems used on all standard space station types, and Solstice was no exception to this rule. They could use this hidden highway without any chance of being detected, and at a time like this it was a good advantage to have. *** “The subjects are in ventilation group A and are approaching the safe house,” the emotionless voice said. The second man nodded and stood. There was work to do. *** The warehouse Preacher had pointed them to was immense. It was a two story affair with ten separate docks and over three dozen employees. People swarmed like ants, delivering and loading separate cargoes that would in turn be brought to waiting vessels for shipment. None of the workers appeared to be armed, but that didn’t mean there weren’t armed guards about in disguise. Ban had no illusions that this particular operation was legitimate, and as such it would be idiotic to operate without firepower around if you needed it. Johannes pointed to ventilation shafts just above the second story of the building. Ban nodded, and both men entered the maze again to locate that particular point of exit. *** “She is something special indeed Mekhazzio, I might just forget our arrangement and my losses and forgive you,” Arthur said to him as he looked at the unconscious form of Evelyn Stewart sprawled across one of the safe houses’ filthy mattresses. Mekhazzio was nearly squirming with discomfort. He didn’t mind the idea that the marines and some of the crew might have to disappear, that was just tough luck and part of dangerous work, but the idea that a civilian woman would suffer because of his mistake didn’t sit well with him. He considered speaking out, but to do so would be suicide at this point, and if he stayed alive long enough maybe he could arrange to help her out somehow. Arthur turned to a man behind him, “your fee has been deposited Raven, you are free to go.” Without a word the man at the back of the room turned to go. That’s when the shooting started.