Nelkaris Prime, Nelkaria Abyssal
April, 2553 C.E.
Since the run-in with his brother on Pherros two months before, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Braedan to find any allies or contacts who hadn’t been contacted, in some way, shape, or form, by the Alliance. In a few encounters, he’d had to kill friends who’d fallen prey to the Alliance’s promise of a lucrative reward, hoping to catch Braedan and his crew off-guard, but found themselves on the vengeful end of his pistol. Over that same span, he inwardly began to have doubts of his crew’s loyalty, for how else could the Alliance have knowledge of Braedan’s network of contacts across the galaxy, no one could have intelligence of that sort besides those whom he trusted, no one who didn’t have something to gain from it. Someone, somehow, somewhere, had an intimate understanding of that list and in turn, was influencing reliable friends to betray him for the promise of wealth and power, however minor it might be.
Pessimism wracked his thoughts as the Centurion touched down on Nelkaris Prime, a modestly populated world dotted with agro-colonies and processing centers to service them. Where Braedan and Talia would be going was to a meetup with an old contact, Fhenlin, who’d claimed in his message that he held intelligence that Braedan would want to know. Given the recent high turnover rate of acquaintances turning traitor, he couldn’t take what Fhenlin said without being wearisome of his motivations for wanting to divulge whatever it was he knew.
Striding out of the small spaceport where the Centurion was docked, Braedan and Talia, whom after three months of conducting missions could be called his protégé, he engaged the visor on his headgear when the sun was about hit his eyes just as they reached the town outside. On a world of this type, there was often about as many droids as there were sentient beings, giving Titan Company only one task – make contact with Fhenlin.
Gradually, the skies overhead became overcast as the pair walked the streets, grazing past droids and people alike, scouting for locales to kick up their feet as Braedan waited Fhenlin to signal him. They settled on a hole-in-the-wall cantina, looking like it’d seen better days, but it’d be suitable enough to burn some daylight while they waited. Walking in, the lighting was one step above dim, with maybe a half dozen other people partaking in the ambiance while they downed the local swill. As they found a vacant table, of which there were more than a few, Talia checked the ammo holders near her sidearm and those strapped around her thigh, but to the onlookers of the hornier sort and she being the only woman of reasonable desirability for some distance; to them, Talia was checking out her rack.
Filled with some gusto, or perhaps a bit too much alcohol, a spry younger-looking gentleman walked up to their table as the droid waiter had taken their order. He did this in the belief that he could get the woman’s Holo address, walking up to her like he was someone important, he instead only made himself look like an ass.
“Damn honey…you musta firgot your wings when you fell from heaven.”
He looked over his shoulder to his friend, shooting him a wink and thumbs up, like that line was the ultimate panty-dropper. In truth, Talia paid no mind to it. The lout, determined to make an impression, in an effort to look smooth, he was more like a d---.
“Hey girly, how ’bout you and me go someplace quiet?”
Talia stood up, voice cool and eyes seductive, saying to him, “I’ll go if you can do one thing…”
Before the drunkard could cock an eyebrow, he felt a painful jolt in his groin as Talia had taken a hold of his junk. Just in case anyone wanted to jump in and act in the man’s defense, Braedan unlatched the strap from his holster and held the pistol at his side, in case someone wanted to play hero. As predicted, no one’s sobriety level was quite high enough to save the guy from embarrassment.
The man, wincing and visibly in pain, Talia, amused by his predicament, clearly stated, “…when you can pick your balls up from the floor by being humiliated by a girl.”
In the short time after she said that, Talia couldn’t decide whether to kick him in his already-tender jewels or knee him in the face. It’s safe to say she chose the latter. Taking a firm grasp on either side of his head, she lowered it within striking distance and in a clean, fluid motion, Talia sent her knee flying directly into the kid’s face, a telltale ‘snap’ indicating a broken nose as he fell backwards.
Lying unconscious on the floor, blood dripped from the young man’s nose. Everyone, having paid no-never mind to the incident, continued paying it as they left him there to sleep off his mistake.
As she sat down in her chair, Braedan remarked, “Keep this up and you’ll be giving ‘pretty princess’ a bad name.”
Taking his words as a compliment, Talia cutely smirked when she replied, “A girl’s got to defend herself somehow…it’s only right to protect my honor.”
“Well…next time you gotta do it, don’t rough up these bumpkins too much, pretty sure they’ve got work in the morning,” Braedan responded.
Shortly after, the droid waiter delivered their drinks. The two sat back and took it easy, sipping their drinks and talking between themselves until about ten minutes later, when Braedan heard a subtle beep from the comm device on his wrist. Taking one last sip of their drinks, they got up and walked toward the exit, Braedan was mindful to flip the owner a 10-credit piece for the trouble and the mess.
When they got outside, a light drizzle was falling as Braedan pulled up the holographic map from his comm device, Talia watching his rear to make sure no one was eavesdropping. According to map, Fhenlin was located somewhere near Chasm Bridge, a ten-meter wide, two-hundred-meter long structure spanning a gap between Onipale, their present location, and the processing plants that process the town’s harvest to be sent off-world. It was strange how Fhenlin would choose a dangerously exposed position, where anyone would be easy pickings for a sniper with good aim, instead of another location where they were easily concealed.
Shutting off the holo map, Braedan turned and stood next to Talia, “Something doesn’t feel right with this, the location just reeks of ‘ambush’ if you ask me.”
She asked him, “Where’s the meetup supposed to be?”
Braedan gave her the simplest answer he could, “On a bridge.”
While he maintained a composed demeanor, one could tell Talia was ruffled from the tactical assessment she was conducting in her head, when everything her training had taught her was to avoid getting caught on a bridge at all costs.
Soon thereafter, she voiced her concern, “If we get caught out there, there’s nowhere we can go.”
“Rookie, I’ve been analyzing situations a lot longer than you, though I can’t say I disagree,” Braedan openly confessed, “given our recent run-ins, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Alliance tried something. If anything, this’d be their best shot.”
From where they were at, it was a good two kilometers to the meeting point, meaning if they wanted to make it there in a respectable time, they needed to walk at a brisk pace the entire way. Their route took them along streets that weren’t crowded, with few mechs or people to speak of, making their trek through the town less likely to run into complications. As they reached the wider streets, they were no more congested than the alleyways they’d taken to get there, and their meeting point was a mere two blocks away, as Chasm Bridge was a landmark that was hard to miss. And as they walked out onto the bridge, Braedan spotted Fhenlin standing near the railing about one-quarter of the way across.
Approaching him from behind, on his left flank, Braedan said to Fhenlin, “Long time, no see Fhenlin.”
“I could say the same to you Braedan. What’d you do to piss off the Alliance enough to put out a bounty on you?”
He grinned at Fhenlin, “Oh you know…one night stand, they woke up alone, can’t go into too much detail.”
Fhenlin shook his head before responding, “With that type of attitude, it’s a wonder they haven’t caught you yet,” his eyes peered over at Talia, who was standing behind Braedan to watch the rear, “who’s the girl?”
“No one you need to be acquainted with,” Braedan replied, hocking his gum over the railing, over Fhenlin’s shoulder, “tell me the truth, why’d you drag me to this nowhere, outta-the-way agro-colony to give me this supposed intel of yours?”
Braedan carefully unlatched his holster, in case he needed to draw his weapon if Fhenlin’s response turned violent. Without turning, he tapped Talia on the hip to get her attention, taking notice of how Braedan’s hand was poised to draw his pistol as she turned to face Fhenlin. The setting felt unnerving, like they were being dangled on a ledge, like they were bait, and what made it worse was that Fhenlin hadn’t been speaking to Braedan face-to-face, but standing at an angle, as though he was hiding something.
Backing up a few feet, Braedan drew his sidearm, demanding to know what was going on.
Fhenlin turned around, a bomb wired to his stomach, saying to Braedan, “Newton is alive!”
The next few seconds were a blur as Braedan grabbed Talia, desperately trying to dive outside the blast radius before the bomb went off. Fhenlin went up in a ball of fire and shrapnel, all that he was had been vaporized into a red mist. Dust kicked up from the explosion hung over Braedan and Talia, who were struggling to get to their hands and feet, heads pounding...bodies aching…ears ringing. While trying to catch his breath, Braedan made the attempt to get to his feet, however, still too disoriented from the explosion, he quickly stumbled back on his hands and knees.
Holding his head between his arms, Braedan grunted, “Son of a b----…son of a b----…knew it was coming and walked right into it,” grunting again, only this time, wanting the ringing in his ears to stop.
Looking up through the dust, which by now was settling back to earth, in between the constant blinking to regain his senses, Braedan spied an obscured figure standing at the foot of the bridge. Watching, waiting to confirm the targets had been eliminated. Patiently, they stood there, looking for any movement, any indicator the targets had survived. Motionless, the figure was dismayed when they saw silhouettes moving about, however unfortunate it was for them. Nonetheless, a clear warning had been sent.
Lingering with relative impunity, the figure waited a few seconds more before starting off in the opposite direction.
Braedan wanted nothing else but to chase after the bastard who’d killed his friend, and almost killed them as well, but he had to look over Talia to make sure she was alright. |
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Re: Titanium Core - Chapter 2 - Updated 21 Feb 2014
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Originally Posted by Scottish King
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