The Pegasai Saga Part I
17 Jul 2016Jellicoe
The Pegsai region truly is the shit hole they tell you it is, a slurry of the sewage of humanity left to marinate in its own filth with no law beyond fear, where status comes from a readiness to kill without hesitation over nothing more than a perceived slight, a place where vile men, and occasionally women rule through the terror that comes from a single a single minded willingness to visit extreme violence on anyone who crosses them, it represents everything I despise. I was in a bar at Clair Dock in the Tjakiri system, a place that made Serabrov Terminal look the height of civilization, where leather cad, tattooed men gyrated with barely dressed women to an endless cacophony of what passed for music through a fug of Onionhead smoke and the stench of the narcotic blended with stale sweat and vomit. What was I doing there? I was the Federation's big stick, albeit a deniable and expendable one, and unpleasant though this job was I sensed that I would take a great deal of pleasure in its successful completion. Just over a month ago the Black Omega pirate cartel had overrun a Federal mining outpost in the nearby Aonibozo system, a very minor reverse that barely registered with either the government or navy but an embarrassment all the same and one that had to be made good. A full scale naval taskforce was out of the question given the political sensitivity of the region at a time of heightened tension with the Empire (and of course the risk of further embarrassment should it fail) so a senior officer in the auxiliary was required, a good combat pilot with a powerful ship who could be disavowed if he made a mess of things. My orders were simple, the Black Omega had embarrassed us, so I was to hurt them as a warning never again to mess with the Federation. I had docked briefly to see what I could learn on the ground and get the measure of the locals but sat in that ghastly bar I was thinking I would rather be anywhere else in the galaxy at that moment, while I stuck out like a sore thumb I was confident enough in my skills with a pistol and if all else failed Lieutenant Soames and four marines were sat at tables close by. The noise in the bar meant we could barely hear a word that was spoken, but my electronic microdrones were gathering useful data that was being fed back to Claude aboard the Warspite. I was coming to the end of my drink when a woman wearing nothing but a few leather straps sat down opposite me.
"You're not from round here are you?"
"And there was me thinking I'd blended in perfectly."
"People don't like strangers here." she ignored my sarcasm. "don't trust them."
"I'm not here for trouble." I replied. "lets just say I'm looking for somewhere quiet for a bit."
"That's the trick though isn't it? Disappearing can cost."
"I can pay. Names Drake, Ker Drake and I'd like to avoid and Federal attention." I gave my cover story, I had no doubt it would be checked and courtesy of Federal Intelligence Ker Drake would come back as a smuggler on the run for murdering two police officers, of course if they did much digging they'd expose me eventually, but by then I'd be gone, and hopefully a lot of their ships would be space junk.
She waited, clearly listening to an ear implant, then turned back to me. "Cop killer?" she sounded almost impressed "That costs extra."
I smiled and slid a credit chip for 100k across the table. "Will this do as a down payment?"
"It buys you two days while we check you out, then we'll see." she stood and left then and I smiled, in two days time I would have done a lot more damage than a hundred thousand credits worth.