The party stood in a circle surrounding their prisoner. They had managed to evade their pursuers and return to the ship without further incident. They were in one of the ships lockers, it was almost empty and they were using it as a makeshift brig.
"My name is Cyrus. I'm from a small settlement on a planetoid called Cuartre. I don't know anything about those men except that they kidnapped me almost as soon as I arrived here."
"Grrrrr," snarled Hetzer, in anticipation of pointless violence.
"Grrrrr," snarled Hetzer, in anticipation of pointless violence.
Forrester jumped in to forestall whatever travesty Hetzer was gearing up to perpetrate. "Why are you here, what caused you to leave your home to come to Catalan of all places?"
The man named Cyrus regarded the party for a moment; "I came here for answers. You see, Cuartre is a religious community and I recently discovered some information that caused me to doubt the things I had been raised to believe."
"Like what?" asked Doc' Merrill.
"Well, our religion grew out of the end of the Federation, we saw the corruption and disunity that caused the fall and we evolved as a community to reject that. We realized that the critical factor in our downfall was the misapplication of technology. We had discovered the ruins of ancient peoples and, like the primitives we are, we tried to apply vast technology that we barely understood to make better consumer goods. It's no wonder it blew up in our faces."
"So we have dedicated our entire lives for generations on the understanding on human potential and the reconciliation between man and the technology of the precursors. The problem is that I found evidence that our commune was initially founded as some kind of research station and, worst of all, it seems that the elders were still making periodic reports to a corporate board."
"Corporate board, of which corporation?" asked Forrester.
"I think it's called Bio-Pharm, I'm not sure though, we didn't have much contact with that sort of thing."
At the mention of Bio-Pharm, the party all exchange nervous glances, it seemed that there was an element of fate at work here that was not immediately apparent.
"Agreed, but we shouldn't speculate on that too much, we don't know how Bio-Pharm is involved right now. What else can you tell us, why do you think the Hecatan's grabbed you?"
"Well, I'm not positive, but I'm afraid it was because of the Baculum."
"The what-ulum? Now your jus' makin' words up," declared Hetzer gamely.
"No, the Baculum is a precursor artifact, I took it from the elders before I left because I thought it might help me find what I was looking for. When I noticed them following me, I was afraid they knew about it. I panicked and hid it."
"Where did you hide it, we might still be able to get it back?"
They were dumbfounded. "A toilet, you hid a priceless alien artifact in a toilet?" Tobey asked.
"AHAHAHAA, yer stupid little toy is prolly' in some alien's...wait, how priceless?" wondered Hetzer.
Their reverie was interrupted by the soft chime of an incoming comm call.
"Forrester here."
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| The Vaskri do not use facial expressions as a channel for communication. |
"Yes, do you have information for me."
"I do, meet me in Saphery district, there is a gambling hall I frequent there called Myriad's."
"I'll be there in an hour."
"Well, it seems like we might have a lead. I'm going downtown to meet someone. Fang, I might need some back-up, why don't you come along."
"Very well, I will accompany you."
"Good, in the meantime, I think the rest of us are going to head down and see if we can't find something in the bathroom."
"Ew."
A short time later, the party minus Forrester and Fang left the ship and followed Cyrus' directions down into one of the central habitation rings. Cyrus stopped and pointed across the bustling market square he had led them to, "That's it, that's where I hid the Baculum."
He indicated a small structure near the left side of the main walkway. It was approximately four meters square and stood almost as tall. It was covered with plastered on advertising holos and colorful environmental markers.
"It looks like it's designed for alternate-atmosphere consumption. That symbol means it's for methane-breathers," said Tobey matter-of-factly.
"Methane-breathers? How many of those can there be?"
"Who cares, let's just go fish out this corrin' turdstick and go get rich and drunk."
The party didn't even bother to glare at Hetzer. Col. Strong pointed to Cyrus, "Alright, you go in and see if you can find it, we'll keep a look out here."
Cyrus nodded and headed into the structure. Strong, Tobey, and Doc' Merrill took up positions around the market to cover all avenues of approach. The market appeared to be relatively calm until they all noticed an open space as people moved to get away from something.
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| Whenever blood and pain is involved, Hetzer is completely unable to keep a straight face. |
"I don't care who you corrin' think you are, I ain't givin you nuffin' 'cept a swift kick in the arse if you don't leave me alone."
He considered his last statement briefly; "In fact, I'm gonna smash yer skull in even if you do leave me alone!" With that Hetzer flicked his wrist and brought his cosh up over his head and back down again in a stinging arc. The weighted plastic baton crashed into the aliens skull and knocked the unprepared ganger senseless.
"Wheeeee!" cried Hetzer in delight as his victim collapsed to the ground. His companions were less amused and began to beat the smaller man mercilessly.
"Shit, help him!" Col. Strong and Merrill waded into the fight, but even with all of them they were badly outnumbered, and more cartel members could be seen rushing towards the fray.
"We need to vacate, grab Hetzer and we'll make a break for it," ordered Col. Strong, even though he knew they would be lucky to break contact, let alone escape entirely.
The brawl was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a gyrojet being fired. One of the Svesh pummeling Hetzer flew backwards as his chest exploded.
"Haha! Had enough eh," bellowed Hetzer nonsensically.
All eyes turned to the source of the shot, Tobey stood calmly in the center of the street, tracking to a new target.
He considered his last statement briefly; "In fact, I'm gonna smash yer skull in even if you do leave me alone!" With that Hetzer flicked his wrist and brought his cosh up over his head and back down again in a stinging arc. The weighted plastic baton crashed into the aliens skull and knocked the unprepared ganger senseless.
"Wheeeee!" cried Hetzer in delight as his victim collapsed to the ground. His companions were less amused and began to beat the smaller man mercilessly.
"Shit, help him!" Col. Strong and Merrill waded into the fight, but even with all of them they were badly outnumbered, and more cartel members could be seen rushing towards the fray.
"We need to vacate, grab Hetzer and we'll make a break for it," ordered Col. Strong, even though he knew they would be lucky to break contact, let alone escape entirely.
The brawl was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a gyrojet being fired. One of the Svesh pummeling Hetzer flew backwards as his chest exploded.
"Haha! Had enough eh," bellowed Hetzer nonsensically.
All eyes turned to the source of the shot, Tobey stood calmly in the center of the street, tracking to a new target.
Then all was confusion as the crowd, who until then had been maintaining a safe distance but watching intently suddenly scattered in every direction, and each of the dozen or more gangsters drew their own weapons and began to fire indiscriminately into the throng of people.
Over the commlink Col. Strong ordered everyone to break and run for it with the crowd. Miraculously, all of them managed to get away and regroup at a tram station a few hundred meters away.
"We need to get back to the ship now, and we'll have to be careful. They were after us before, but now we're going to be their top priority," said Doc' Merrill. "You can't just shoot a cartel member in the middle of the street and walk away."
Tobey returned the stares of his companions, "There were too many of them, if I hadn't fired we'd have been beaten to death."
"You're probably right, but it does complicate things," agreed the Colonel. "Cyrus, did you find your artifact?"
All eyes turned to the slender young man, whom they noticed now wore an expression bordering on panic.
Over the commlink Col. Strong ordered everyone to break and run for it with the crowd. Miraculously, all of them managed to get away and regroup at a tram station a few hundred meters away.
"We need to get back to the ship now, and we'll have to be careful. They were after us before, but now we're going to be their top priority," said Doc' Merrill. "You can't just shoot a cartel member in the middle of the street and walk away."
Tobey returned the stares of his companions, "There were too many of them, if I hadn't fired we'd have been beaten to death."
"You're probably right, but it does complicate things," agreed the Colonel. "Cyrus, did you find your artifact?"
All eyes turned to the slender young man, whom they noticed now wore an expression bordering on panic.
"No, it wasn't were I left it! Someone must have found it and taken it."
"Wot, who'd want your nasty lit'l turdstick?"
"Everyone does! Do you know how valuable working precursor technology is? Of course you don't, you don't understand anything but violence and barely adequate metaphors for poop!"
"Aww, there's no need for that, you'll hurt a guys feelins' talkin' like that."
"Enough people, let's get moving. Keep alert and stay together."
With that, the small group formed up and moved off into the crowd back towards the surface.
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