Chapter 07: Webs and Spiders
The former race crew stood around the lounge table onboard the
newly impounded Gal's Army, each looking just as sullen as the others
as the discussion continued. To top it off they wouldn't be able to
get it back into open space before the official legal position was
dealt with.
"I don't want you coming," Yae said sternly, but her heart ached
that little bit more as Tataku's head fell even lower. "You don't
understand what we're going to do."
Tataku shook her head almost imperceptibly. "I do," her meek voice
came, "and I'm scared, but I w-want to help."
"You've already said you're good with mechanics and electrics.
You're in." Jei's voice was all business. The others thought that if
there was any feeling there at all she was hiding it incredibly well.
"So you're just gonna drag a civilian into this?" Angelica said
incredulously.
"We're both civilians," was Jei's blunt reply. She turned to the
two soldiers, knowing that their opinions counted for a great deal
right now. "Do you have any strategies or suggestions on how we try
this?"
"Well, yeah," said Yae moodily, "Syl's the better shot, but I do
the fire fight stuff."
At her prompting Sylvie nodded, taking over from her partner, "I'm
not very good under fire I'm afraid. It's probably best if Angelica
and Yae take the front positions and I cover them. Umm, if Tataku is
coming she'll be left to deal with any delicate work we come across so
I can stay sharp. I'm not really sure what you will do though."
Jei nodded. "I'll carry equipment and provide any backup you need.
If need be I can carry October out."
"Great," Angelica quipped snidely, "just what we need, a pack
horse."
Jei looked at her blankly, but inside she was rapidly losing a
battle with herself. "Either do your bit or leave."
Angelica huffed and tapped the hilt of her sword where it rested
on her back. "I ain't leavin' him out to dry. Don't expect me to stick
around though."
"Alright."
Angelica curse herself again. Jei just didn't care, one way or the
other. "Fine, I'll be on the damn Starlight then. You'd better hurry
up."
Tataku watched at the enraged woman stormed off. "What happened to
you two?" she asked herself under her breath.
Jei didn't seem to take any notice though. "I'll get what we need
to break in. Be onboard in five minutes."
Yae shook her head as Jei turned and left them to get their
equipment. "I don't know." She sighed, knowing there was nothing she
could really say now. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"
Tataku shook her head. "I'm sorry. I don't want to hide while you
do this. I... might never see you again."
Sylvie put a comforting arm around the both of them. She had known
the outcome of this one before it had started. "It's okay. We'll all
come back fine, and we can get this put behind us. Come on, time to
show you something."
Tataku followed curiously as Sylvie and Yae led her to one of the
empty storage rooms. One switch and a key code later and it wasn't so
empty. "Oh my God!" the green haired girl exclaimed. "W-why have you
g-got all these?"
Yae slowly walked down the rack and picked up her favourite gun. A
genuine Glock 29 10mm automatic pistol. As far as she was concerned
there wasn't another that could stand against it. "Heh, when Syl and
me were at the academy we found out we both had a kind of strange
passion in common. Antique guns. We figured we'd share our collection
since we decided to work together."
Sylvie nodded and picked up her own personal preference. The
Beretta Cx4 Storm semiautomatic was fantastic for Sylvie's preferred
long range shooting. As long as she kept her cool she always got top
marks at the academy. "Modern guns feel so, well, crude."
Tataku looked on in astonishment as the pair chose their backup
side arms (both of which used the same ammo as their preferred one)
before Yae took another, slightly different one of the small, metal
contraptions and held it out to her.
"Here."
Tataku's eyes widened in fright as she stared at the thing and
shook her head vigorously.
"It's okay, it's a good gun, and I'll show you how to use it."
Tataku backed up until she was against the rack behind her. "N-no!
I d-don't want it!" she cried, her voice starting to rise as she felt
the other weapons against her back.
Yae's eyes softened in concern as she lowered the butt of the gun
and took the frightened young woman into her arms. "It's okay, it
okay." Once the taller girl had stopped shaking she stepped back and
looked seriously into her eyes. "Tataku-chan, if you want to come you
have to take one of these. I'm not going to let you go in without
being able to defend yourself. Because... because I can't guarantee
I'll be able to keep you safe like that."
Tataku's eyes darted between the woman she loved and the hateful
thing in that woman's hand. The mere idea of holding, let alone using
a gun repulsed her to her core, but it was Yae who was asking. There
was only one answer she could give and still be true to herself.
"O-okay. But I d-don't want t-to use it."
Sylvie smiled understandingly but with heartfelt apologies in her
light brown eyes, now looking almost green in the weapon gallery's
lighting. "You may have to."
Tataku tried to force herself not to cry, but she couldn't stop
the water gathering in her eyes. "I w-wont k-kill anyone!"
"That's okay," said Sylvie, trying to soothe her gently as Yae
watched helplessly, "you don't have to. Yae-chan will show you how it
works okay?"
After a second Tataku nodded slowly, letting a tear roll down her
cheek.
Yae smiled and Sylvie nodded before leaving them to it.
"Okay, are you ready?" Yae asked gently.
Tataku nodded and Yae brought gun up to show her.
"Right, now this is a really old but reliable type called a
'revolver'..."
***
Sylvie sat in the hallway of the Starlight as it headed towards
Pandora's behemoth ship, Yae sitting uncomfortably next to her,
waiting for permission to take the controls again.
"Yae," Sylvie asked quietly, "I know it's not my place to ask, but
why did you give her a revolver. I know you don't like them."
Yae dropped the pencil she'd been running through her fingers.
"This is more than about what guns I like. I want to make sure she
doesn't have any problems."
Sylvie raised an eyebrow for her to continue.
"Come on Syl, you know I'm not good at explaining stuff." When she
didn't let up on the enquiring expression Yae gave a sigh. "Well, it's
not like she'll need a lot of ammo, right? And, well, it's hard to
screw up with one of them." She gave her knee an angry thump. "Y'see,
I'm making her sound like an idiot."
Sylvie smiled warmly, "No, I know what you mean. There's so little
to go wrong on them."
"Exactly. I mean, what if I gave her a semi and it jammed? You saw
the way she looked at it. She was really scared. Oh, thanks for the
help with that, too. I owe you."
"That's okay, but you don't owe me anything. We're friends."
Sylvie smiled evilly for a second before giving a very fake pout. "Not
that you'd know it any more. You're always with Tataku these days."
Yae however was far to wrapped up in her own worries to realise
she was faking. "Oh God, Syl, I didn't mean... You'll always be my
best friend, you know that right?"
Sylvie rolled her eyes, feeling a little guilty for that. "I'm
joking, I'm joking. Sorry, I was just trying to take your mind off all
this." She leaned over and gave her a hug, tugging her friend's cap a
bit at the back.
Yae returned the hug, taking as much reassurance as she could.
"... I hate these cramped hallways."
"You should see the engineer's access routs on this thing. It's
like the academy pipe maze."
Yae didn't say anything to that, but she did turn a little green.
***
Crow smiled as he felt the metal beneath his bare skin reverberate
slightly and the warning lights started again. "Now that's, *cough*,
what I like to see."
Gladiatrix 'looked' over from her cage in surprise. "You know
about this."
This time it was Crow who was smirking. "A good employer never
leaves her bounty hunter behind."
"Pandora will never let you get away. If you do you'll be behind
bars before you can blink."
The thought amused him a little. "You think a bounty hunter
doesn't know his own laws? The worst she can get me is a fine, and I
can make sure my rescue party gets off scot free."
Gladiatrix's face turned very serious as she sat there. She wasn't
fool enough not to see her chance, and her pride could survive if it
meant escape. "I want to make a deal."
***
Angelica and Yae leaped through the smoking remains of the
coupling dock door and flattened themselves against the far wall
before beckoning the others in. Security obviously hadn't seen them
approach in time, but with almost forty staff neither was keen to run
into them.
Sylvie took her position at the door as a very frightened Tataku
and unusually nervous Jei ran in. Tataku had her computer pad out and
began working on the blast door that had automatically shut at the far
end of the left corridor, Yae ready beside her for when it opened.
Jei was, true to her word, loaded down with the heavy and somewhat
dangerous supplies they had decided to bring along, but she also had
one of the pistols Yae had handed out, while Angelica simply wielded
her massive broadsword.
Tataku was a mechanic first, thanks to her father's workshop, but
she eventually managed to disable the control circuits for the blast
doors, only to be met by the first of the security patrols.
She screamed as Yae tackled her to the floor and a slug pummelled
into the wall above them.
"CLEAR!" Sylvie cried and the other two scattered as the short
soldier let rip with her carbine, taking down two of the men in a
spray of red. The remaining guard forced Sylvie to scamper back into
the coupling gantry like a rabbit as he opened fire on her: she was
obviously the more immediate threat, rather than the pair cowering at
his feet.
He was wrong.
"Close your eyes," Yae whispered as she pressed her gun into the
man's ankle and pulled the trigger.
Tataku cringed as she heard him collapse to the floor, screaming
bloody murder. The next second his gun was in Yae's hand and Angelica
had her sword at his throat.
"Now," she drawled, actually sounding rather bored, "be a good boy
and don't make a sound. Jei, they're all yours."
Jei dropped one of her bags and brought out a long length of rope.
Angelica dashed ahead as she began tying the guards up and Sylvie
tried to help calm the terrified student down.
"Tataku-chan, it's okay, see? They'll live." She pointed over to
the still whimpering men Jei was trussing up. "They had their guns out
too. That means they were willing to shoot us."
"H-he shot at m-me!" Tataku stuttered as she latched onto Yae's
arm. "I-I might b-be d-dead now if..."
"You're not. I won't let you die," Yae assured her. "It'll be
okay. Remember the gun I gave you? If you point that at someone and
they're not ready then you can tell them to drop theirs."
"B-but what if they d-don't?" she whimpered.
"Then you'll have to shoot them. Just shoot at their legs or
shoulders, like Syl did."
Tataku looked over to the short blonde in surprise. "Y-you...
did?"
Sylvie nodded. "Yes, I don't want to kill them either." Time
however was of the essence. "Come on, we have to go."
Up ahead of them Angelica had already met the reason why. "Do I
get to play now?" she asked in a ridiculously cute voice. She hefted
her sword as another trio of guns was levelled at her. "I guess so."
Angelica had gotten very attached to using her sword no matter
what she was up against. Many people though such a large weapon would
be more of a burden than a blessing, but it had one virtue that many
other melee weapons did not. It made great mobile cover.
The outlaw surprised them all, charging directly at them, the wide
blade in front of her deflecting the first volley of shots the guards
sent her way. Then with all her strength she thrust the tip down,
sending it biting into the metal floor and using it to vault right
over the second rain of metal. The sword was pulled free as she landed
and she swung it overhead, slamming the flat of the blade into one
man's head, sending him crumpling bonelessly to the floor. The second
was floored as she lashed out with a powerful foot and sent him
reeling into the wall. The third however had time to make another shot
before the blade bit into his shoulder and she was blown off her feet
at the slug slammed into her right shoulder-guard. The two of them
howled in pain as they were pushed away from each other and Yae sent
the guard down with the butt of her Glock.
"Are you okay?" Sylvie asked as Angelica dragged herself to her
feet.
The outlaw nodded giving the shoulder a wriggle once she'd removed
the shoulder-guard. "Yeah. Nothing broken, he didn't reach the bone."
"You're wearing body armour? How can you even move in it?" Yae
asked, covering their backs with Tataku beside her.
"Only bits and pieces," Angelica replied, "but I've got the muscle
for it. I wouldn't bother either if it slowed me down."
Their post fight banter was cut off by Tataku's shout.
"LOOK OUT!"
They all whirled round to see another squad tearing round the
corner in front of them and they all dived down as the men opened
fire. Jei, Sylvie and Yaedite all had their guns out by the time they
hit the floor and they responded in kind. However, the two soldiers'
training kicked in reflexively and by the time they had recovered and
reached the corner there wasn't any doubt. People very rarely live
through a bullet to the brain.
"Tataku-chan, just don't look at it okay?" Yae said quietly as
Tataku began to shake in her arms, whispering denials to herself she
knew she could never believe.
Once the pair had moved ahead Jei spoke up. "We can get off on a
self defence plea. They fired first."
Angelica nodded. She knew enough about the legal system to know it
was true, and she'd killed people before. It didn't mean she liked it
though.
"I think I did this one," Sylvie said as Jei stated to bind the
other two fallen guards. "I didn't get a chance to think. They
startled me."
"You gonna be okay?" Angelica asked.
Sylvie nodded. "He's not my first kill. This was supposed to be
clean though, nothing we can't get out of. I can't get out of this one
without being called up."
"At least you hit one of them," Jei said stoically. "I don't think
I did."
For some reason Angelica found that quite funny.
***
Pandora listened with exasperated contempt at the speaker in her
desk. "And just why wasn't there anyone there when they blew open the
hatch on my ship?"
"Someone cut a bunch of relay cords in the crawlspace ma'am," came
the voice. "We're still hunting for which ones they were."
"It also seems this new swarm of mice has yet to be captured. Are
they that difficult to put your hands on, or are your people simply
incompetent?"
The voice over the speaker trembled slightly. "T-they're not just
thieves or troublemakers ma'am, they're professional fighters. I've
got my people blocking off all their routes, but they've taken out
three squads already. One of them is obviously incapable, but she's
never a step away from one of the pros."
"Why not just seal them up and gas them?" Pandora was amazed at
the apparent idiocy of her security, or the ingenuity of the invaders,
whichever it happened to be.
"The first thing they did was disable the blast doors. We'd have
to gas the whole ship. They're not pulling their punches either. The
squad at their rear says nearly everyone they took out had been shot
with ridiculously small calibre ammunition." The man at the other end
decided not to spell out that his people were being taken out with
antique weapons. It wouldn't do him any favours, and Pandora was smart
enough to make the connection herself.
Pandora sighed. "Are they after the bounty hunter?"
"That's very possible ma'am, and if they're as good as he was
they'll get to him. I've got enough people at the passageways, but
we'll have to rely on the intruder detection system if they use
anything else. We're banking on getting them as they leave. That we
know we can do."
"I do hope I won't have to put in an appearance, that really
shouldn't be necessary. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am, we've got it covered."
The planetary ruler didn't bother to sign off before ending the
call. She was uncomfortable enough as it was with the scratches the
bounty hunter had given her, and this was simply trying her patience.
The security staff was hired to take on the idiots who thought they
could try their luck, but she decided some additional 'help' might be
in order in the future.
***
Gladiatrix, though many people who watched her work would have
sworn otherwise, did in fact open her eyes on occasions. It had simply
become habit to wear her blindfold to make her fights farer on the
opposition. She didn't need to see to know where her opposition was,
and visual first impressions meant as little to her as Pandora's
threats to 'deal with her'. That is to say, not much at all.
However, when the door to their room was opened and some
distinctly new footsteps approached she was curious to see exactly
what the seemingly rag-tag group of rescuers looked like. Once she
had, she decided that finding her blindfold would be high on the list
of priorities. Needless to say they looked fairly inadequate to the
task, but they were here, and right now that was what mattered.
From outside the scattered cages Jei gave the pair a deadpan look.
"Crow, why exactly are you naked?" Tataku, Sylvie and Angelica were
all blushing.
Crow tried to cover himself up as he got weakly to his feet, the
toxin having not quite left his system. "Just get me out of here! They
took all my stuff!"
Jei nodded and dropped her bags, secretly glad to have the weight
off her shoulders, while Sylvie and Angelica took up position by the
door.
"Okay Tataku-chan," Yae said, gently prying the green haired girl
off her arm, "time to do your thing, okay?"
Tataku nodded and gave a sniffle before running over to Crow's
cage and hooking up the computer pad to the lock. "Are you okay?" Crow
asked, noticing the drying tears across her face.
Tataku nodded. "Yes, it's nothing." Actually everything was wrong,
but she wouldn't leave. Not until she'd done her job.
Crow nodded back, seeing right through the lie, but he couldn't
blame her. He knew his lifestyle was hardly what society would
consider normal. Bounty hunters were just thugs to them, mercenaries
who care about nothing but money. Of course, the money helped, but
there was so much more to it than that.
When the door was open he grabbed a large cleaning towel from one
of the small benches to the side and wrapped it around his waist
before guiding Tataku over to Gladiatrix's cell. "Her too, Tataku.
She's a pain in the ass, but she can help."
"Just open the damn door," Gladiatrix growled at him, and Tataku
shrank back a little before hesitantly starting on the lock. Perhaps
it was the entire mission, but the amazon of a woman scared her a
great deal.
For a one of the longest minutes in the young woman's life there
was absolutely no sound outside the beating of her heart and the slow
harmony of their breathing.
Then a cacophonic crash sent them scattering for cover as the
ventilation covers were blasted from their housing and sent smashing
to the floor, along with the four men that had been waiting there.
Without a second thought Angelica began to run, swinging her sword
across at the nearest one and slicing deep into his arm as he levelled
his gun at her. His partner however took his shot, and the gun was
blasted from Jei's hand as she fired at the other pair who had dropped
behind the muscular fighter's cage. He didn't get any further though
as Crow dashed from behind the bench he had taken as cover and placed
a well aimed kick into the back of his leg. The bounty hunter grabbed
the man's chin and pulled, toppling the already off-balanced guard
backwards and knocking him cold on the metal floor. His partner soon
followed as Angelica's blood stained foe finally collapsed, clutching
at his mangled arm and with her sword pointed at his neck.
Yae had already picked off one of the others, putting a bullet in
both his shoulders as Sylvie shook her head to clear her scrambled
nerves. The second the last man came out from behind his cover she
took her shot, taking his trigger knuckle clean off. He screamed in
agonised fury as he dropped his gun, and ran for the weapon Jei had
lost, lying next to one of the cages. In his haze of pain and anger he
never bothered to check that the cage was empty.
Gladiatrix lashed out from between the bars and grabbed the man's
head, slamming it into the metal pole of the cage as she yanked him
closer. Less than a second later both his wrists were in her hand and
he began blacking out, the powerful woman's arm slowly tightening
around his throat.
But only Jei heard Tataku's gasp as Angelica let out her victory
cheer.
"Four."
"Huh?" Jei looked over to see her look around frantically.
"Tataku?"
Tataku's head swung round and fixed her with fear filled eyes.
"They came in threes! The other two..."
Her words were killed as a loud bang filled the air and a blossom
of red erupted from Sylvie's chest.
"NO!" Yae and Tataku screamed in unison and Yae swung round, her
gun drawn, only to see Tataku pull the revolver's trigger. The Kai
Reithan's mind was filled with nothing but fear and anger and pain as
she felt the gun wrench against her hand again and again. Eventually
she realised there was nothing but a dull click as she continued to
pull the trigger, and the guard fell pitifully to the floor, holes in
his arm, side and hip.
The others didn't have time to boggle as another dull thump was
heard and the other guard fell forward to reveal Jei, the bloodied axe
in her hands matching the ugly gash in the man's skull.
<Strange,> she thought as she stared at the body, transfixed as
the blood flowed, <I didn't think I'd need this.>
The others, however, had something else on their minds. "Syl-
chan!"
"OhmyGod, Syl-chan, I'm s-sorry," Tataku cried as she knelt by her
friend.
"You'll be okay Syl-chan," said Yae. She wanted to believe that.
She wanted to believe that so very badly. "We'll get you patched up."
Sylvie gave a pained chuckle, a trickle of blood seeping from her
mouth. "I'm okay, really." She tried to sit up, but the searing in her
lungs decided otherwise. "We'll, I'm not going to die. That's good
enough right?" At least they wouldn't have to dig the slug out of her.
It hadn't penetrated.
Tataku blinked through her tears in amazement. "H-how?"
Sylvie smiled. "You saved me," she said evasively. One day she
would tell her best friends the secret.
Tataku smiled as she let the tears fall, and Yae grinned at her
fallen partner. "Damn, you always were lucky," she sniffed.
"Maybe," said Crow, "but you won't be fighting any more. I need to
get my stuff, but you go straight back. I can tell you the crawlspace
pathway to the coupling gantry. They won't have touched the ship,
otherwise they'll blow what they have against us." They have quite a
lot, he didn't say. The man Jei had taken down was very obviously
dead.
"I-I d-don't want to be h-here any m-more," Tataku shivered. "I
can't do this."
"It's okay Tataku-chan, you did really well," Yae said soothingly,
but the girl flinched when she reached out to her. Yae's head fell
just a little. "I'll take them back."
"Okay," Jei nodded, "The rest of us will finish up."
Angelica walked over to her as the trio left, Yae carrying Sylvie.
"Happy now? I told you she couldn't deal with this kinda stuff," he
said, motioning to Tataku's retreating form.
Jei didn't move. "This is not the time for this."
"Hey, I..."
"Perhaps I should have let him shoot you."
Angelica stared at her in shock, and her retort was ready when
Gladiatrix broke in.
"We had a deal October, and I'm still not out of here."
A cutting torch and a round of introductions later and the naked
Gladiatrix was free. The four of them headed off to the storage room
where Crow had seen some of what had apparently been her belongings.
With any luck, his would be there too.
"Hey, Gladi-whatsit, what's with the scars on your butt?" the
outlaw asked, her eyes noting faded lines of flesh across the woman's
back and rump.
Crow cringed. "Jeez, Angelica."
Gladiatrix seemed unconcerned. "My victories. I suggest you don't
try and add yourself to the list. It wouldn't be pleasant."
***
Yaedite looked down with both fondness and deep concern as Tataku
slept. "I'm sorry Tataku-chan. I'm sorry."
Thankfully there had only been three guards outside the coupling
gantry, and coming from the crawlspace they had never seen her coming.
Two were out cold before they hit the floor, and the last wouldn't be
walking again any time soon. It seemed they were more concerned about
stopping the others.
<Stopping,> she thought darkly to herself. <The sooner Pandora is
locked up the better.> There was really too much going on inside her
for her to dwell on it though: Tataku and Sylvie's wellbeing, whether
the others were okay, nearly dying herself, what was going to become
of them. Two of them would need to appear before a court to justify
killing someone. Sylvie wouldn't want to do that. It was a miracle
Sylvie was even alive.
Yae would have prided herself on her emotional control, at least
outwardly, but she knew nothing was going to stop the tears this time.
She couldn't bottle it all up.
Sylvie, it seemed, was going to be fine eventually, but Tataku she
was not so sure about. The shy girl had broken into tears as soon as
she had got back, and she hadn't stopped until she had exhausted
herself ten minutes later. And then she had been asleep, but even that
seemed fitful to Yae's eyes.
"Yae," Sylvie called quietly from her bed, "you aren't getting
emotional again, are you?"
Yae turned to where the short young woman lay.
"The 'I'm to blame' routine?"
Yae nodded and slowly moved to sit on her friend's bed. Though
stuck on her back, Sylvie could lay a hand on Yae's knee. "She wanted
to come. You warned her, but she had to decide for herself, and she
did."
"I could have forced her to stay!" Yae all but shouted. "... But
that wouldn't have made a difference, would it?" She knew the answer
to that, and Sylvie shook her head in confirmation.
"You're thinking too much again Yae. She'll need you now. That's
all that matters."
Yae just looked into her hands, wondering why there was no way she
could have won.
The pair stayed there in silence for what seemed like an eternity
before the commotion was heard outside by the gantry. Yae gave Sylvie
a quick confirmatory glance.
Sylvie nodded. "Go. They'll need you."
Without another word Yae took off for the other ship, arriving
just in time to see Gladiatrix's fist smash into the side of a guard's
face, throwing him unmoving to the ground. She was now wearing what
looked like animal skins and had a blindfold over her eyes.
"Get in!" Jei barked harshly to them and the all piled back
onboard the Starlight, Yae providing covering fire as they ran.
The second the coupling gantry was disconnected Jei was in the
pilot's seat. "We're leaving."
"Hey, wait!" yelled Crow as he followed her. "We need to stick
around and get our side told. Pandora won't be waiting around to call
the police in!"
Jei gave him a cold glare "I said we're *leaving*. Anyone who
wants to stay can get on that Echohawk of Tataku's."
"Are you *crazy*?" Crow exclaimed, astonished by her sudden
determination. "You'll be a wanted fugitive! You know what that
means."
Jei turned back to the controls. "Make up your mind fast, and tell
the others. I'll set the autopilot to couple with the Echohawk as soon
as we get to it."
Crow gave her an incredulous look before turning and stalking off,
right past Gladiatrix. "You heard that?"
The fighter nodded. "I'll take that 'Echohawk' ship over this one.
But you aren't so bad after all October. I know you're going to stay,
but you ever get out of this and I might find a bounty hunter contact
useful."
Crow nodded. "Well, you're pretty good yourself, but I don't blame
you." He gave a depressed sigh. "Time to go tell the others. This
isn't going to be pleasant."
***
That evening Pandora sat opposite the two police officers who had
had the unfortunate job of taking down her statement. It wasn't a
secret that Pandora was, to put it bluntly, something of a crime lord
and the uncomfortable faces on the two men made her smile inwardly.
Fear was always a useful tool.
"So," said the first, somewhat mousy detective, "you assert that
the people involved in this matter were professional combatants? Army,
Navy, Bounty Hunters or some such."
"Yes," Pandora smiled. "They had no qualms about murdering two of
my men to achieve their goals."
"Retrieving a Bounty Hunter under their employ, whom you were
keeping captive," added his larger partner.
Pandora nodded with a hint of boredom. "You are well aware a
Bounty Hunter can be detained until he can be released by the relevant
authorities should he exceed his duty. This one most definitely did."
They all knew that was debateable, but the hunter in question
wasn't around to refute the statement. He and his group were in very
deep trouble. They had offered themselves on a plate, and Pandora knew
it.
"It is clear that the perpetrators, who did also release another
of our dangerous captives, were well practiced, and possibly multiple
offenders in such unpleasant acts. A full profile and background check
on each of them would be standard practice I believe?"
"We are well aware of our duties ma'am. I suppose you are going to
offer visual confirmation of the people in question?"
Pandora smiled and pulled a video cartridge from her pocket. "Of
course."
***
Dealing with one of the most wanted suspected criminals in the
galactic sector had taken far longer than either of the two detectives
had wanted, and now they were loaded down with a six person background
check and some perpetrators who had actually fled the scene, not even
stopping to pick up their winnings from the race. The entire case was
going to become a media extravaganza.
"What do you think?" The larger man asked his partner as he sat at
his desk.
The mousy detective sagged a little. "Give the checks to that damn
doll if you can get him. We'll do the follow up, but I'm not going
info trawling for all this!"
His partner nodded, glad he wouldn't be doing the tedious legwork
for this one. He pressed the button on his desk's comms channel. "Sir,
this is Gamra... Yes sir, we're on it, but we'd like to request the
assistance of special investigative unit C-581-A. ... Yes sir,
otherwise this one will take forever. ... Exactly, the sooner the
better. Thank you sir."
Both the detectives looked at each other and smiled. This way even
Pandora would be happy. If there was anything on that group, right
down to whether they filched a credit out of their parents' credit
pads as kids, that android could find it.
***
To Be Continued...
***
Authors Notes: C-581-A is used with thanks to Cima Gaharu.
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