A Lead Captured
01 May 2021Vodan
Continued from Off Station RPNow it was cool enough to touch, Dyson picked up the slate. Creamys’ cred-stick and pilots ID were also smoking lightly on the dashboard thanks to the security burn he had triggered on Creamys’ computer. He pulled the keypad closer to himself and checked his isolation of ships covas had at least worked. The ‘Ninette Program’ integrated with the standard covas was still there so he had hopes of getting what Vengerfield was after. While he was tapping away on Creamys’ luxurious cockpit computer, a light wisp of smoke rising from the access panel by his knees hinted that he wouldn’t be retrieving the ship's travel data.
“Arr shit! If that’s the entire storage bank, I’m bolloxed” complained Dyson.
Belladonna put the expensive-looking guitar back into the weapons locker and turned to see what Dyson was breaking now.
“Can you stop fucking my new ship dickweed? I’ll slice your fingers off before Lord Vengerfield gets his hands on you if I smell anything else burning” demanded Bell looking over Dysons' shoulder.
“Wow, that’s helping you vicus sow” Turning his head to face Bell, Dyson smiled sweetly “How about you go find out if Vodan is gonna live after Lord Vengerfield has finished searching Creamys’ personal quarters. If he’s going down, he’ll do everything he can to blame us for his fuck ups. You, somehow, are the only reason we’re not all in it neck deep”
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Following Lord Vengerfield around Creamys’ Dolphin was frightening. As well as the man being a titanic specimen of humanity, Vodan knew he was on his last chance. If Vengerfield decided Creamys’ capture was entirely Belladonnas’ win, Vodan wouldn’t be leaving this ship alive. Vondan watched the giant delicately open a chest of draws and inspect the clothes inside.
“Take heed Vodan, I will be asking your opinion” said Vengerfield as he folded a shirt and put it back in the draw.
Vodan swallowed and tried to remember everything Vengerfield had paid attention to onboard Creamys’ ship. The man’s voice was deep but soft and silky smooth, yet somehow managed to carry as much menace as a life ending threat hissed through gritted teeth.
Vengerfield opened another weapons locker containing a couple of instruments. This time they were brass horn-looking things Vodan couldn’t name, but they definitely weren’t weapons. What Vodan thought was another cloths locker was in fact a small room dedicated to footwear. The room for Creamys' shoes’ was bigger than Vodans’ quarters on the Anansi and Vengerfield was making more notes. Vodan risked a peek at his masters’ slate; he had made a few notes about the tailors and cobblers that had made Creamys’ clothes.
“He is an imbecile, but he has impeccable taste and an eye for quality” said Vengerfield seeming to sense Vodans’ curiosity.
Staying back and keeping his nose out of the masters’ slate, Vodan fell into step as Vengerfield continued his tour of Creamys’ well-appointed personal quarters.
In the gym around the sparing ring, a number of trophies belts, and certificates were placed to be unmissable by people walking in. The name on the awards wasn’t Creamy Goodness; Ty Monroe had earned them all, but the pictures were definitely a younger, fighting level of fitness Lord Goodness with a more serious haircut.
“Not many wins but enough high placements in interstellar competitions to be taken seriously. This ship is unarmed. He keeps instruments in his weapons lockers and obviously lacks the killer instincts to win against a determined fighter in freestyle competitions. The boy fights for fun or defense” stated Vengerfield after reading Creamys’ competition achievements.
Nodding, Vodan agreed, but remembering the kick to the side of the head Creamy had given him back in Robigo made him silently disagree with what Vengerfield described as a lack of conviction on Creamys’ part.
“Vodan, tell Dyson to activate this trading droid. I want it on the most common setting used by Goodness”
Vodan hadn’t noticed the clear hatch above the ring, housing a huddled combat training droid.
As Vengerfield took off his heavy jacket, Vodan called Dyson and got the droid activated keeping Dysons’ protestations after confessing the loss of data the ship's computer intrusion defense had destroyed to himself. Vodan strongly suspected Dyson had picked a stetting at random and turned on the droid just to buy himself a little more time.
A long L-shaped arm extended towards the ring and the droid on the end of the arm unfolded taking up a fighting pose. Vengerfild took up the same pose and the droid attacked. To Vodan, the fight looked fast with full contact blows. The droid was padded, but the thumps of contact with Vengerfields flawless defense sounded hard and painful. The fight lasted about half a minute before Vengerfield pulled the droids' arms off. The thing simply started kicking, so Vengerfield with very little effort twisted the faux-man from the supporting arm and dropped it on the floor of the ring before wordlessly putting his jacket back on.
In the lounge, a grand piano took pride of place surrounded by more displays of achievements and awards this time in the area of music, singing, and dance. Once more Creamys’ name was replaced with another alias, Jonny Bright. Vengerfield opened a leather wallet that was inside the padded stool in front of the white and silver-gilded piano. He leafed through a wad of plastic sheets and after pausing to read one, handed it to Vodan.
“Keep hold of this”
Sheet music was entirely new to Vodan and he suspected it may be some sort of code that needed cracking, but he could read the title. “Journey of the Hippocrates’ Apprentice” He had no idea what a Hippocrate was, but he strongly felt they could be found in a zoo. Why a Hippocrate would take or, even need an apprentice just caused him more confusion. Vangerfields search of Creamys’ high-class home from home eventually lead to the mans’ bedroom. Everything about the spacious yet intermit room was inviting and cozy. Even Vodan wanted to snuggle up on Creamys’ four-posted bed and sink into the voluptuous soft furnishing; to his surprise, Vengerfield did so after searching every draw cupboard and container in the room and removing his boots.
The side of the bed Vengerfield had selected didn’t satisfy him and he shuffled over to the other side and seemed to nod to himself before feeling around the wall, bed frame, headboard, and post with questing hands. He found nothing and looked as if he was about to get up when he paused and laid down on his side as if he was going to take a nap. His large hand slipped under the pillows probing the head of the mattress.
“Ar ha” preceded a muffled click, and Vangerfields’ hand returned holding a slate for displaying images.
He sat up again in Creamys’ bed and scrolled through the images stored within. They were all pictures of young ladies or women, sometimes with Creamy but each one, Vengerfield suspected, was special to Goodness. There weren’t as many women as Vengerfield imagined after what he had learned about wondering lordling. He’d only scrolled past image collections of two old flames before he found what he was looking for.
Offering the slate to Vodan “Robiog?” questioned Vengerfield.
Vodan looked at the picture; there was Creamy wearing an excellent suit looking very pleased with himself standing next to a slightly embarrassed Nerys in an elegant green dress. Vodan remembered the club photographer taking that picture back at the Inner Ring on Hauser's Reach.
“Yes sir, that’s the Doctor, and that’s the first time we ever saw her” answered Vodan.
“First and only time” Corrected Vengerfield taking the slate back from Vodan “and that was prior to me ordering you to find her” He was about to stand up when he expanded the image and stared at it for a long moment. Vodan saw something he’d never seen from his master before; Vengerfields’ lips twitched in a way that could have been a brief smile. That was the very moment Belladonna happened to wander into the bedroom.
“Belladonna” said Vengerfield taking sheet music back “I have you to thank for a positive lead on the task I gave to Vodan” The slate and music sheet were carefully placed on the bed freeing up his mighty hands “I value positive leadership so perhaps I should give you Vodans’ command. What do you think?”
She froze up instantly. Being directly addressed by Vengerfield was always frightening and not agreeing with him could be fatal. She glanced at Vodan; he too was rooted to the spot and seemed to be trembling. It was clear he was also aware of the unspoken consequence of Bells’ promotion and what could happen to her if she rejected Vengerfields’ offer.
On one hand, Bell would have the carrier Anansi and its formidable fleet at her disposal. She would get the biggest share of every profit the fleet made, and get to pick and choose what operations the Anansi took part in. She could very well not have to leave the carrier ever again and still make herself plenty of credits. On the other hand, she would answer to the Bosun and Vengerfield directly. If they were not pleased with the Anansis’ profits, there wouldn’t be a disciplinary hearing. That was the reason Vodan was trembling; if Belladonna accepted the offer, Vengerfield would kill Vodan on the spot getting blood all over her new bedroom. She made a decision and bowed low before the fearsome raider lord.
“Thank you, my master, but I must say I was only in the right place because Vodan and his command team did all the leg work. Without careful use of the Anansi crew as directed by Vodan, Thade wouldn’t have even been on Citi Gateway to spot Goodness and follow him to Irrational Exuberance. I may have been the one to capture Goodness, but it was a direct rehash of Thades’ snatch plan, and all thanks to Vodans’ command, my exulted lordship”
The scant handful of seconds Vengerfield took contemplating Bells’ carefully worded and noncommittal praising lasted a lifetime for Vodan and Belladonna.
“Very well Belladonna, take these directly to Mr. Fibuli” Vangerfield handed the image-slate and sheet music to her “The ship is yours but you must divvy up Creamys’ belongings with Vodan for shares to be distributed as usual”
She gratefully bowed and curtsied her way out of her new luxury private quarters to get away from the raider lord. Once she was off her Dolphin, Belladonna paused to look at the image on the slate. Vengerfield had zoomed in on Nerys’ neck and the string of pearls hanging around its delicate and shapely contours.
Not long after, Venferfield and a glad-to-be-alive-Vodan also disembarked the Knickerdropper Glory, a ship name Bell would doubtlessly be changing.
“You have seen everything I have Vodan. How would you persuade Goodness to give up Nerys?” asked Vengerfield without looking back at the man.
“He’s vain and prideful sir; I would slowly ruin his looks, I don’t think it would take much of that treatment to convince him to talk”
“So torture is your answer? No, not directly Vodan. Once again you are in the right area but you lack finesse and the ability to view the path ahead” Linking his hands behind his back as they walked, Vengerfield continued. “Goodness is indeed vain, but pride does not quite explain the man modus operandi. Goodness is infected with a deep character flaw call chivalry”
The pair had reached the maglev car and Vengerfield opened the pods' door gesturing for Vodan to enter ahead of him. He felt very much like an insect being commanded into a web by the spider.
“Chivalry has been bred into his family lineage for generations and Creamy lacks the intelligence not to believe in its code with a fever equal to the most devout religious zealot. He would never knowingly betray anyone to us, let alone a woman he is smitten with. We would follow false trail after misleading lie even if we peeled his face from his skull and slowly crushed his balls in a press”
Thinking quickly, Vodan grasped for another angel to approach the problem. His master liked solutions and tended to smite problems without hesitation.
“His family then. Once we’ve got his brother or something under pressure, he’ll have no balance with this code of his” offered Vodan hoping he didn’t sound desperate.
“Very good, but once again it’s clear you haven’t looked into your quarry's background; Creamys’ only living relatives are his mother and father. Dear old dad is a Brigadier in the Imperial Army and a man of his social standing should be a Lieutenant General at the very least. It appears Goodness senior, by choice, prefers to be on the ground with the troops. His mother has an office on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Cemiess. Pressuring them would call the weight of the Imperial Navy onto us, and even if I consolidated all my forces, that would be a hard fight to win. Also, that would not be a quiet investigation now would it?”
Vengerfield settled back in his seat as the pod left the station giving Vodan a moment to think about the problem of Creamys’ interrogation before voicing his solution.
“Goodness sees himself as the hero of his story. He likes to shine bright; he’s decisive in all his choices and above all aims to be a beacon of hope and happiness. That is what I will attack. Possessions mean nothing to him, after all, everything on his ship was an official synthesiser reconstruction of the original, or brand new. If we break his body, he’ll no longer have his vanity to cling onto, and he’ll stonewall us until his death out of spite. No, deconstructing his ego may be slow but it will yield the result I want. Every day I’ll question him and let him fight back. Every day I’ll beat him unconscious and drop him in his cell myself.”
Leaning forward a little to make eye contact with Vodan, Vengerfield continued.
“Once he realises his best efforts are not good enough his inner light will dim and doubt will creep in. When he knows in his soul he is too weak to beat me and his will lacks to potency to outlast mine, I’ll play my ace”
Satisfaction seemed to wash over Vengerfield as he spoke to the pod at large and Vodan relaxed a little, his master was in a good mood. He wasn’t really speaking to Vodan anymore, he was just voicing his way through his thought process, but Vodan listened diligently all the same.
“Vodan, search our slave reserves; I want a native French speaker with medical knowledge equal to a paramedic. Make sure she is pretty and dye her hair and skin to be similar to the Doctor. If we don’t have one like that, get one. She’ll be bringing Goodness his rations and emptying his slops. That should be humiliating enough for him yet still offer Goodness a reason to play the part he loves to play. After a week or so of her fixing his beatings, he’ll form a bond with her. Once I see that connection, transferring Creamys’ daily punishment to the only light left in his life will get me the truth I want.