The air was frigid. His head was still hazy from whatever it was that had knocked him out. The stuff clung to his sinuses. All he could taste and smell was that sickly sweet aroma. It made him want to vomit. His mouth was as dry as Ellis II. He inhaled again. It was cold but not quite freezing. He cracked an eye open and instantly regretted it. He didn’t feel the pull of gravity. The light overhead was blinding and made his head hurt more. He wanted to shake it to clear some of the fog away but knew that was a bad idea as well. What the hell had happened anyway? He was going to meet one of the pilots and then….Greer. It was Greer. The man wasn’t even supposed to be alive and there he was, right in the middle of his compound and ballsy enough to walk right through the place like he built it and evaporate like a ghost.
He tried his eyes again. Better. He squinted and looked toward the light. There was a Sabre parked there. He looked towards his feet, he was secured to one of the cargo containers that littered the place, this one was anchored to a chain that ran into the rock walls of the room. From the lack of gravity, it had to be an asteroid of some kind, they were common enough in the galaxy. How long had be been out? No telling. He didn’t feel overly dehydrated and didn’t seem to have been hooked up to anything that would dispense water anyway. Maybe only a couple hours, though it could have been considerably more before his body would show signs.
He brought his thumb and forefinger into the webbing of his left hand and squeezed. There was a slight pain. Damn. “I’ve removed the beacon Chase, I scanned you when we got here, if you had hit it before, things would be playing out a lot differently.” came a voice from somewhere above and to his rear. “No one is going to be coming here to help you.” The slight thud of mag boots on the surface of the landing pad thumped as Greer walked towards the front of the Sabre. Chase leaned back a bit and then vaulted his torso forward, it was enough to pivot his body a bit, though he had no way to make it stop but it was a slow motion and would give him a better view of his surroundings. There was mostly rock, the air was clean but stale, as if it never got refreshed. Not likely, a setup like this would work just like a large airlock and siphon the air out of the large cavity and into storage tanks before the opening the landing hatch above the Sabre.
“I thought you were dead.” He rasped. “Well, considering I wanted an early retirement that I could enjoy instead of the early retirement so many people wanted to give me at the end of a rifle, dying seemed appropriate.” He watched as Greer kicked off of the floor, did a elegant front flip, like he was swimming and put his feet in front of him to catch himself on the rock not far from where chase was tethered as he grabbed the chain for stability and turned chase to face him. “You should have killed me instead of just destroying my shop.” Chase sat there stared before erupting. “What the in hell are you talking about!? I didn’t even know you were alive until I saw you in the hangar and I knew you were going to be nothing but trouble since you worked so hard to get so close to me, who paid you? Is it Azokriss? You can tell him he can kill me but if he touches Corral then he’ll have nothing to bargain with and my men will go to war with him the second anything happens to either of us!”
Greer stared at him. Watching the man in front of him. “Why did you even call me out here? What do you want from me?” “Want from you? I don’t even know what you’re talking about man! All I know is first my daughter is taken and then you show up like some specter from the Hades system and all hell breaks loose!” Greer’s eyes narrowed at the man. He stood there a moment longer and then unhooked the chain to the crate, grabbed it and kicked towards the landing pad. Once again, even though the mass was larger, he spun around and his mag boots clamped onto the floor with a thump. Then, with his captive in tow, headed for a second storage room off of the main hangar area.
This room held cargo, most strapped down in large bundles, held in place with giant cargo nets to keep the items from moving. He walked over to a smaller area with a magnetic cargo lock, hovered the crate over it and hit the on button. Instantly the crate hit the floor with a thud at an odd angle and tipped backwards before locking on the floor, the magnetic field pulling it toward it, along with the chain and anything else metal in the process. The field wasn’t that strong, it was just a way to keep small amounts of containers stationary temporarily while the area was staged and packed. Chase could feel his restraints being pulled towards the floor, he fell back as the crate finished it’s movement and his hands, like the crate, were secured on the device, he wasn’t going anywhere. Greer, spun around and walked into an adjacent room, likely a bunking area of some sort. A minute later he came back through the doorway, walked over, pressed the button, snatched him up off the platform and held him as his finger pressed the button on the holopad. It flared to life in the low light and there was Chase’s face, his message clearly heard in the quiet of the asteroid. “Come find me.”
Chase looked at it, then back at Greer, then back at the holopad again. “It’s hers.” he whispered as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. “What’s hers? I found this in my safe Chase, you sent me a message loud and clear and I got it. Well here I am.” Chase looked up and shook his head. “That’s Corrals holopad. I gave it to her shortly before she left. She wanted to see a bit more of the galaxy and we’d fought about it before I finally relented. The message has been altered, I don’t know how you got it but I gave it to her and told her that if she ran into any trouble, she should come find me.”
“Keep talking.” Greer ordered as he thumbed the button off. “I got a message right before she dropped off comms that she was being chased by some of Azokriss’ thugs and she couldn’t get back in system, so she was heading further out.” Greer pulled out his hand repeater and aimed it at Chase. “You’re lying to me Chase and I’m going to kill you. How did she know where I was? Why the hell are my things charred and scattered all over the landscape? You’re not making much sense in the area’s where I’m concerned and I want answers or you’re out of time. Why did you blow up my shop?” Chase sighed and looked away a second before staring him in the eyes. “I didn’t blow up your shop. I knew you were too damn stubborn to die in a piloting accident. I kept searching the net for signs of an offlander in the surrounding systems. Not the normal tourist spots but somewhere a little more off the hot lanes. I spent quite a few credits keeping tabs on a few possibilities and every once in a while I’d send a guy out to buy something for Corral. One of them brought her back a book and a holo of you standing in front of an old shop. Then I stopped looking. I kept the holo stored on my private network in an encrypted segment. I don’t know why Corral got the file or how but she’s the only one that would have access to the message you’re holding in your hand. Beyond that I can’t even guess. She’d have little reason to go to you unless she thought you were able to help keep the men chasing her at bay. They must have caught up to her there, thought you were a possible ally and torched the place to keep you from getting too involved.”
“We’ve had unrest in the system for a long time. I’ve been trying to run a business, a fairly lucrative business and we’ve kept security really well in the system, it’s been hurting the raiders who are just used to having the run of the place, so all of a sudden, we’re having skirmishes and ambushes in system, usually we have enough men but sometimes things go south and we lose crew, cargo and credits. I’ve been threatened for years but neither of us have the man power to do anything decisive and we’re always sparring for dominance. Then all of a sudden things started escalating and we started having more trouble on established lanes. We haven’t abandoned many routes but some of them are harder to maintain with the raiders getting bolder and bolder. I just didn’t want her running off at a time when the place was in such an unstable point. I don’t even know how they found out who she was, I never advertised it in public, they all think she’s part of my administration team. She’s smart with the numbers and she’s one hell of an info runner. She can slice through security as good or better than anyone else around. Now you’re here and she’s gone. The only thing keeping me from going after her is you and here I am. I don’t care what you believe so you do what you think you should. It’s not like I’m in a position to bargain but if you do want to get involved, I can afford to pay quite handsomely.”
Greer stared at him a minute longer and shook his head. “How do I know you’re not setting me up or lying? All I have is a holo with three words on it and your word. I have all the cards and you’re balls are in the singularity.” Chase thought a moment then spoke. “Gilsy.” Greer frowned. “What?” “Gilsy.” Chase repeated. “That was a salamander I got her from noble when she was younger. That’s been a special code word of ours since she was little. Only two of us know about it and we use it to let each other decrypt files for one another. Use it on the holopad and it’ll unlock it, see if the original message is still in the buffer.” he said. “And how do I know this thing isn’t encoded to send a distress call the second the buffer is activated?” Chase looked at him deadpan and replied. “Because you already looked at it and know it’s just a holopad.”
Greer spun the device over and accessed the small display. He unceremoniously accessed the administration menu and typed in the access code. The message was there in storage and the shadow copy of the original was still intact. He pushed the backup over the current message and hit play. Chase loomed in the air again, this time he could see more of the surroundings, it looked like a desk, probably back at the compound. He was seated in a high backed chair and took a moment before he spoke. “Corral. I’m sorry about how this turned out between us, I love you and I know you want to make your mark on the galaxy. You’re old enough to be out on your own now but the galaxy isn’t as safe as it is here. I know you’ve been in scuffs here and you’re a capable pilot but the galaxy is a large place and the types of situations your used to here don’t apply everywhere else, what if you choose to explore the wrong system and a Vanduul fleet shows up? I know you’re angry and frustrated and think I’m treating you like a child. I was running around sailing my own course when I was younger than you and I’ve no right to tell you that you can’t go. I just want you to be safe and thought now wasn’t the best time. You do me one favor, keep in touch and if you get into any trouble, you come find me.” The message faded out and the two men were left in the dull glow of the lights in the storage area of an asteroid slowly spinning in the middle of space next to nowhere.
