How I Got Here: "Vendetta: A Religious Affair"
14 Jul 2022Columbuss
Commander Justin Estok. Stardate 15-JUL-3308."We need to get you out of here" Izel said, frantically packing a bag and handing it to me. "They're coming."
"Why are you helping me?" I asked.
"I'm not," she said. "If one pilot gets murdered in my office today, then tomorrow I have a hundred pilots who wont come within a hundred light years of this facility. It's not personal. It's business."
Apparently, the bandit I dusted was the bastard son of some planetary Imperial Senator somewhere where that means something. I'd come to find out that with the Imperials, it's all about appearances and it would APPEAR weak for someone to kill your bastard son and not do anything about it. Even if he was a degenerate bandit.
For the Imperials, a vendetta is a religious affair. According to them, it's a divine right to seek retribution when someone takes a member of your family away, regardless of the circumstances. That's where the Armati Sacerdotes come in. According to Izel, they're a group of "warrior priests" who see these types of vendetta's through. It's never quiet and always brutal. I guess to send a message to anyone who might consider crossing an Imperial who can afford their services in the future. With my past, this wasn't the first time I'd been on the receiving end of a hit but it wouldn't be my last if I had anything to say about it.
Izel walked me through her office and down a long hallway to a maintenance door. Inside was a hatch. She told me to climb down and gave me directions to a landing pad where someone named Adama would be waiting for me.
"You can't go to your ship. They'll be watching it which is why I've bought it from you. You'll find the balance transferred with your last contract. Adama will get you out. It's been arranged. I'm sorry it ended this way."
She slammed the lid of the hatch closed and I found myself in a dark tunnel. Following her directions, with only the light from my datapad to guide me, wasn't easy. The bowels of a space station can be labyrinthian if you don't know where you're going. Fortunately, I made m way to landing pad 20 as instructed. It's not simple task to try to look inconspicuous climbing out of a maintenance hatch in the middle of a hanger but doing anything with enough confidence is usually enough to convince people what you're doing is normal. Unless of course, on the rare occasion, someone is expecting you to climb out of a maintenance hatch. In this case, Adama was, and he wasn't far away when I'd closed the lid behind me. He introduced himself briefly and we made our way to his ship as he explained the details of the situation.
"We need to hurry," he said. "If they've reached Izel, they could be on their way he...". but before he could finish his sentence, a shot rang out. I could here a *SNAP* as the bullet whizzed right past my head. Several other shots rang out and Adama pushed me toward the on ramp of his vessel. I could hear Adama firing back while the ricochet's of stray rounds clattered all around me. I collapsed on the deck once inside as Adama frantically closed the on ramp. Even with the ramp sealed shut, I could hear the ensuing firefight outside as station security had no doubt gotten involved.
Leaving my pack by the ramp, I followed Adama to the cockpit while he spoke aloud to the onboard computer to contact Federal Flight Control and take the ship to the surface for dust off. Unaware of the mayhem in the landing bay, flight control sent the ship to the surface. We strapped in, Adama hit the throttle, we lifted off and blasted out of the mail slot. Once clear of the station, Adama spun up his FTL drive and with a flash of light, we were gone.