The Cemiess Crisis Part II
08 Sep 2016Jellicoe
Pelliot Town in Cemiess was like most small ports in the heart of civilised space, it was clean and well maintained but largely ignored. A place of work rather than a place to live, its population mainly made up of workers spending four month rotations on the barren rock the settlement clung to. Out of sight and out of the minds of the rest of the system it had become home to Cemiess' criminal gangs and had a reputation as something of a smugglers paradise with lax security and a thriving black market. In a largely empty store room cut into the planets rock a short walk from the ports equally basic hangar two men stood talking, one a pilot cad in his flight suit with a leather jacket thrown over the top while his companion was a little shorter but much more powerfully built with a thick bull neck merging with a huge pair of shoulders set off by a shaven head. He was dressed in the already flamboyant Imperial style further augmented by the ostentatiously gaudy jewellery popular with middle ranking gangsters the galaxy over.
"So what does a Fed reaper want with the Purple Council?" The shorter man asked gruffly.
"Ex reaper." the taller man answered with a half smile. "These days I only hunt people I have a grudge against."
"Cut the crap, and take the piss out of me again and I'll cut your balls off. Show some fucking respect." The mans accent was as course as his vocabulary. The taller man raised a sarcastic eyebrow and glanced at the two enforcers his companion had brought as they lounged by the vehicular access ramp.
"Information. I'm guessing there isn't much that happens in this system without you gentlemen knowing about it."
"Information costs, and there's a reaper premium for you because I don't like dealing with bastards."
"I know but we all have to sometimes. How much do you want?"
"Depends what you want to know." the bull necked man replied, the insult flying over his head.
"Someone I know went missing in this system a few days ago, I want to know what happened to her."
"Another bastard reaper?"
"It's not a reaper no, the Name's Commander Salomé." The tall man said and to his surprise a momentary look of fear crossed the shorter mans face.
"You've got heavily armed hostiles incoming sir. Take cover immediately." a voice came through the tall mans implant, he looked round and saw some empty cargo pods nearby.
"Get down!" the tall man shouted diving for cover and drawing his pistol as the thin metal grill that had been blocking vehicular access was blown in. The shorter man was too slow however and his chest appeared to explode in a crimson supernova as a burst of high velocity rounds found their mark. The two heavies by the door had suffered a similar fate; cut down before they could react and the tall man saw four figures advancing through the smoke carrying military grade rifles. The tall man was still a few yards short of the cargo pods but the men had either missed him or mistaken his dive for cover as going down hit. He raised his burst pistol and pulled the trigger, one man went down hit in the face but the others were hit in their bodies and concealed armour meant the low power laser pulses had no effect. It did though buy the tall man just enough time to throw himself behind the cargo pods before another hail of bullets was unleashed. "Where are you Harry? I could do with a hand here." he said into his throat mic.
"Cover you eyes and ears sir, flash-bangs on the way in 5-4-3-2-1 now." the tall man curled up in the foetal position covering his ears and shielding his eyes but the brilliant light and piercing screech of the stun grenades still had an effect, it was followed by several sharp bursts of gunfire and a man roughly pulling him upright.
"We've got to get out of here sir, there's more of them on the way and god knows where the cops are. Can you walk?" Lieutenant Harry Soames calm voice asked.
"Yes I'm fine, let's go."
"Leader to all birds, return to the nest, repeat all birds return to nest." The burly marine officer spoke into his throat mic and half carry the tall man back to the hangar. They had just reached their ship when the first police sirens were heard.
"Claude get us out of here." the tall man shouted into his own mic as soon as they were aboard and seconds later the ships engines thundered into life.
A short time later four men sat in the briefing room of the corvette 'Resolution' watching a news feed from Pelliot Town.
"Police are investigating a multiple murder that took place today in one of the ports storage areas. Cain Travis a suspected local criminal was one of several people killed in a gun battle following what is believed to have been a gangland hit. The polices prime suspect is the notorious Federal assassin and bounty hunter Stannis Jellicoe who was observed fleeing the scene as police arrived, any citizen with information leading to Commander Jellicoe's detention will receive a fifty thousand credit reward."
"So who were those men?" Jellicoe, the tall man asked.
"I don't know but they were pros." Harry Soames answered. "Either military or a very good mercenary unit, certainly not criminals or pirates.
"Not a gangland hit then?"
"No."
"To do with Salome?"
"That's the 64,000 credit question. It's just about possible that it could just have been a hit but I doubt it just as it's just about possible Jenna was murdered by street thugs in the highest security part of the station, but it's more likely someone important is shutting people up and warning you off, and that news feed suggests they've grown tired of trying to warn you off."