Episode 2.5
From Heroes of the Great Tree
Episode 2.5 Loose Ends
The Mao's Claw streams through space on one of her longer journeys. Thirteen days in the Black. Thirteen long days. Despite the relative success of their last mission, the crew of the Mao's Claw seems restive and on edge. Del and Vincent seems to be always together and often speaking in hushed, almost conspiratorial voices. The other crew begins to wonder if they are hiding a romance, or the end of a romance since their moods seem anything but glowing.
The crew spends much of the trip in the tedious job of unpacking, classifying, removing any identifying traces, and sorting into neatly folded piles the tonnes of baggage they brought with them from the Nu Du Shen. They could open a small leisure travel wear store on any decent sized border planet with what they found, but finding a buyer for swimsuits, bath robes, activewear, and formal attire might be more difficult. Nadie wonders if agreeing to limit herself to salvaging the cargohold was her best bet. Her salvage of late has taken an ironic tone: pleasure goods for the leisure class on ship with little leisure, and even less pleasure. Still, they might bring something. The wine and cigars might be worth even more.
Del spent most of her time working on the salvaged shuttle from the Speedwell which brought them their new doctor. Grinding away any sign it belonged to anyone, in particular, but at the same time engraving its theft into its frame. She seemed, not herself for much of the journey. Always the one to count on to see the bright side, Del seemed depressed and queer simply b being polite and passive. Nadie worried about her engineer, but feared approaching her about it, might only make it worse.
Eventually the tension was broken when the ship finally approached Paquin. The flew to Nova Lumina, and collectively holding their breaths, identified themselves for landing. After an unusually long wait, they were given clearance to land on a distant spot in the overflow landing pads over a mile from the spaceport proper. As they landed they noticed that they had been placed far from the nearest ship. Not knowing why they prepared themselves for anything. James in particular suited up, in armor, with two guns, and extra ammo. Del and Vincent seemed wary but distant. They initial concerns were for naught, as no guards, police or others greeting them when they landed. The spaceport was happy to service the ship and schedule a fuel delivery for the next morning. So, somewhat relieved they set out to sell their wares, find a new job, repair the ship, and relax for a few days.
Nadie: "It's been a long spell in the Black, or elsewheres we ain't felt too welcome. So I want you all to take a few days, recharge and have a good time. Here's €25 each to make it so.
James: "€25! Why the bonanza Captain?"
Nadie: "To be fair, I ain't paid you in weeks. So I reckon you deserve some fun."
Bob: "If I come back early, who do I see about getting back into the ship."
Nadie: "It just so happens we have an extra key. There's also the remote in the mule's glove box."
Nadie gives him the key, and for Bob it sinks in that he has, for the moment thrown in his lot with this crew.
After sending a Wave to Nadie's uncle announcing her arrival, the crew rides out to the spaceport. Nadie pays the docking fees and arranges for fuel and services for the ship as well.
Nadie: "Del you want me to drop you off at the yard to scrounge for parts to repair the ship?"
Del: "You know what. I think we might be best arranging for the pros to do this one. I ain't too certain my last welds held up, that's probably what went wrong this time. It'll cost more, but hold up better."
Nadie looked at Del with concern. It wasn't like her to suggest professional repairs, or paying full price. Whatever was wrong with her wasn't going to pass overnight.
Nadie: "Alright, see if you can either sell that shuttle, or trade it for parts. I'll see about selling out cargo and arranging another job. James what are you up for?"
James looked ready to bolt.
James: "You said something about having a good time. Drop me off in town, and I'll check in from time to time."
Nadie: "Well I'd like to check in with my uncle. James, Bob, care to come with me? We can drop James off afterward, and Bob, I can show you what Nova Lumina has to offer."
Del and Vincent head off to the port, presumably to negotiate the trade of shuttle for parts and repairs.
(Del and Vincent's story continued here) Episode_2.5.1
The other three head into town. They stop at the theatre and after a brief wait in the smoke filled lobby are escorted into the chambers of a glum looking Bi Rui. After a bit of small talk, he passes on a strange bit of news.
Bi Bui: "I was told a woman came to the theatre last week looking for your brother. She looked worn out, perhaps an addict, and, I am told, was babbling to herself. My people sent her on her way. Perhaps she was a jilted lover come back to beg for pity."
Nadie: "If she returns while we are still here, please let me know."
Bi Rui: "I didn't approve of your brother's lifestyle, and I don't approve of your either. You are family. I can arrange for a more suitable position in my company, or a good marriage. There is no need for you to flit around the 'verse with unsavory characters...no offense" (he gestures to Nadie's crewmates.)
Nadie: "I will seriously consider your offer great uncle."
Bi Rui offered to look into finding a buyer for the cargo, and maybe finding them a job. He did thank them for getting the last cargo to Persephone undamaged.
James took leave of Bob and Nadie to go exploring. Nadie took Bob to one of her favorite eateries in the city.
James thought his luck had finally changed. A trio of attractive girls, and a couple tagalong men were hangin on his arms and words respectively, and a few hours into his carousing, he was ready to leave with them for more scenic environs. His amorous adventures were cut short shortly after leaving the club.
His velocab was pulled over by a local policeman who asked them all to step out of the vehicle. This didn't overly concern James, but when he spied what appeared to be a military shuttle maneuvering to land in the street he started to get nervous. His hands brushed reflexively on the handle of his heavy pistol.
Out of nowhere a figure shambled from the shadows. She, if appeared, stumbled into the Policeman who turned his attention or her.
Policeman: "What's all this..."
Before he could finish his statement, she'd yanked his stun-stick out of his hands, and twisted it up into his sternum. The baton sparked and spat bolt of electricity for what seemed like an eternity. The policeman slumped into a heap. The woman turned to James. Her face and hair were wild and unkempt. Her eyes sullen and dull, traces of scars and worry lines laced her skin. But, beneath all that, he saw a woman that could be Delphina Del's twin. She extended her hand to him and bade towards the shadows.
Del(B): "Come with me, if you want to live."
She darted down the shadowy alleyway. His companions bolted in all directions. James stooped to feel for a pulse on the policeman, then feeling that he was alive, he followed the mysterious woman into the darkness. She led him quickly through a maze of twisty passages and dark alleys, past shadowy doorways with even shadowier figures inside, past makeshift kiosks selling exotics, and vertible villages of cardboard before leading through the lobby of a run down hotel for prostitutes and pensioners. They found themselves in the bowels of the dilapidated building when she finally slowed down. Panting, James caught up with her and bade he stop.
Del(B): "I was listening to them hone in on you. They were after me, now they were after you, so you might be someone I should know."
James: "How did you know they were after me?"
Del(B): "I have one of their phones, but they don't know. No. They don't know. Or maybe they do. Maybe they send you. Then this is the end, and I will know too."
James: (Trying to make sense of this strange woman). "Pardon my asking but are you a Duke? I know a Delphina Duke"
The woman seems shocked by these words.
Del(B): "How do you know this...unless, you were there too, they got in your head like they tried to get into mine. Did you escape, or are you one of them?"
James: "What do you mean, one of them, who?"
Del(B): "Two be two hands of blue.. hee hee. Them, the killers, the ones that did all of this."
She points around the dank, rusty and moldy boiler room as if somehow this could explain it.
James: "Let me explain, you look very much like a companion of mine, her name is Delphinia Duke."
Del(B): "That is me, but I don't remember you. But there are many things I don't remember. They took out so much, and put things in as well, but I can't be sure the things they put in are the same that they took out. But you can tell me can't you? You can read it inside me, can't you?"
James: "What do you mean, I can't read your mind. I know Del, she is the engineer of the ship I work on."
Del(B): " I am? A ship, I was an engineer, maybe I am."
James: "yes..well.. great. Listen. You said something about them tracking me, who, how, why?"
Del(B): "How, they said.... they know you landed, because they had a tracker on your ship... in the armor they said. Who, THEM, Blue Sun, the ones who did this to me. Why? Why why why why why.." She drifts off getting distracted by something.
Realization set in for James. Blue Sun, the armor, the man with the mission for Camp Gamma White.
James: "Did you come from Camp Gamma White?"
Again, the woman looks astonished, then waves a finger at him chastising him playfully.
Del(B): " You CAN read it, can't you. Alpha, Beta Gamma, Delta...Yes yes yes. But escape I did. Come here, look for help, and then I find you."
James: "Were you the one who when to Bi Rui's Theatre looking for Kenneth Ling?"
Del: "Why do you ask me what you already know? Ying Jun Ling sent me to find his son. To get some help."
James: "Umm I don't know how to say this, but Kenneth Ling is dead, I know his sister Nadie, she owns the Mao's Claw now."
The woman sighs with some acceptance.
Del(B): " I thought he might be. So many dead and gone. They tell me the wars been over for seven years, one two three four five six seven, all good children go to heaven." She dances a little number.
James: "You were in one of the camps this whole time?"
Del(B) : "I escaped, with Ying Jun's help. He sent me to find his son."
James: "Like I said I know his sister, she is the captain of my ship."
Del(B):"He didn't mention a daughter." Her eyes drift away again to a rat sneaking around a pump housing.
James: "Let me take you to her, it will be safe... safer."
Del(B): "Nowhere is safe. Two by two hands of blue." She sings her little tune.
James contacts Nadie and arranges a meeting at the warehouse they got their last load (of robot parts). The four of them meet. Bob looks a little worse for wear, apparently the flavors of Paquin do not agree with him.
They learn a little more about Del(B), a cursory examination reveals that she had not had extensive reconstructive surgery, this is what she naturally looks like, though she has had several serious wounds, and lots of other small cuts and scrapes. Most notable is a thumb-sized stretch of scar tissue behind her right ear where it appears that she carved out a chunk of flesh in search of something attached to her skull, and a number of small laser incision marks precisely laid out around her skull (evidence of laser brain surgery). She is a bit shy about a full exam but demonstrates her ability to 'tune out' the doctors probes which lend creedence to the notion she has suffered a lot of torture.
Attempts to contact their Del and Vincent are unsuccessful, they can only hope that they've merely lost themselves somewhere on Paquin. The woman calling herself Del seems more and more convinced this 'other Del' is a spy sent by her captors to do untold harm. No one is really able to believe that, Del is, or was, too pure to be a mole. They decided they needed to focus on the present situation and worry about sorting out the details later. James called in a favor to help figure out who if anyone was watching them, and what their present status was, vis a vis the law. Word came back that they were not suspects or subject to arrest. In fact, the Mao's Claw had been marked for inspection on suspicion of an illegal salvage, but that was cleared before landing, it is not clear by whom. They also found out that when Del(B) arrived on Paquin there was a wave waiting for her. She didn't read it, but instead used it to trace her way to the people tracking her, which is how she got the phone. Realizing she left the phone, their only means of tracking the progress of these people, James agreed to retrieve. Upon arriving at the hotel, he discovered a dozen dead bodies, it looked as though the people simple collapsed there, dead from brain hemorrhages or something. He quickly returned to the group.
Del(B): "You kept them spinning, what How Shi Sung Chung they must have thought. First, their nifty armor comes back to them, then the one their looking you, you're Heru right, something about a dead colonel? All in the same town as poor old Del. They have a guard on your ship, waiting watching. That's how they know about you, that's how I know about them."
James: "They didn't mention a woman by the name of Angela Jones did they?"
Del(B): "That's the name. Colonel Jones, will carve your bones. Colonel Jones will hear your moans, enjoy your groans, know your fears and taste your tears."
James: "I barely knew her, but Fin, and damn, they probably did see me with her."
Del(B): "They don't much like loose ends. Two by two, hands of blue."
Bob: "I thought the ones after me were bad, who is after you folk?"
Nadie: "Bob, they don't know about you. You can walk away from this now, no problem. Big city, easy to find work here."
Del(B): "Loose ends, they don't like loose ends."
Bob: "She's right, if they are chasing James across the 'verse for who knows what reason, the won't stop with you, they'll find me too. Besides, I've got questions too."
The foursome hatched something of a plan. Step one, return to the Mao's Claw and move it someplace they can find it. Step two, find Del and Vincent.
They bought some clothes to make them look a bit more like dock workers, cleaned up both themselves and Del(B) and headed out to the Mao's Claw. There they found two guards in tactical armor (much like the armored men they encountered on Athens). They concocted a quick plan. James would arrange for a distraction by blowing up the fuel pump house near the ship, hopefully that would attract their attention, and he could drive them right up to the ship. The plan almost worked. One guard was distracted by the jet of flames, and the other they were able to scare away with a well executed fake-grenade. Still, both Bob and Del(B) were injured in the attempt. They boarded the Mao's Claw and quickly launched as the guards futilely shot at the ship. Halfway up James kicked the armor out of the hold. They flew to a desolate area outside the city to wait out the night and formulate part two of their plan.
