Welcome to Port Royal, Mr Smith (Part 4)

Posted on Sun May 3rd, 2015 @ 9:21am by Khiy Tal'ehrihn & N'alae t’K’manatran
Edited on on Wed May 13th, 2015 @ 9:30pm

2,270 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Trader Games
Location: Port Royal Station, border of the Kassae and Donatu sectors
Timeline: Current (back-post)

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

“I recovered, but I have never been the same since.” She held up a hand. “I don’t mean from injury. I mean in here.” She tapped her head. “When I woke there was something different. It took me a while to sort it out; everything was so confusing and a not a little frightening. Though it was more so when I finally figured out what was happening.” She sat back down on the bed. “I can sense people Khiy. Sense their presence before I even see them.” She pause for a moment to let her confession sink in.

[NEW]

N’alae continued. “Whatever happened left me with a psionic ability. It’s pretty weak, but it’s there...you know what the Tal Shiar would do to me to figure out how it happened.’ It was not a question.

Khiy considered her words carefully. It certainly explained that ‘sense’ he had suspected her of having. He knew N’alae was right that the Tal’ Shiar would be very interested in acquiring her for their studies. He was also sure that once they had her they would never let her leave.

“I see." He said after a moment of collecting his thoughts. "I can't pretend to know what it feels like to constantly be looking over my shoulder and wondering if today's the day they will come for me." He took a step back and leaned against the wall opposite N'alae. His eyes dropped to the floor as he considered what he might have done if he was in her position.

"You've done a good job hiding your ability up until now and, whether you take the job or not, there is a good chance that they may never find out." His eyes left the floor after a long moment and met his old friend's gaze. "N'alae, you have to ask yourself; if they do find out someday and come for you, would you rather be alone on some backwater station like Port Royal, or on a ship surrounded by people you trust and who would fight for you?"

He was right. N’alae knew he was. If anything, the last few years had proven it. Running and hiding would eventually leave her alone to face her enemies, and that was something which had disturbed her sleep for too many nights. N’alae looked back into his eyes. They were sincere and showed no malice. He did not seem shocked by her revelation, which confirmed a suspicion she’d had for some time. She did not think that he had actually known, but surely he had suspected something. It’s hard to keep something that big from someone who knows you so well.

The prospect of returning to her lonely ship still loomed in her mind. Khiy offered a chance to take back her life. It might be the biggest mistake she would ever make, or it might be the thing that saved her. She stepped away from the wall and took up a position only a couple feet from her old friend. “Damn you Khiy.” She muttered. “Time will be the judge of this. But come good or ill...I’ll come with you.” She held out her hand for the flask.

Khiy’s hand disappeared inside his cloak for a moment as he retrieved the flask. He reverently held it in his palm for a moment, as if to confer in importance of this symbolic gesture, before unscrewing the cap and taking a swig of the potent spirit. “Come good or ill.” He parroted as he passed the flask to N’alae.

N’alae took the flask and echoed his words. “Come good or ill.” She raised it in a small salute and also took a swig.

Khiy took back the flask smiled broadly. “Just wait until you see the new ship.” He added.

“First things first.” She grabbed her bag off the bed. “My current ship is docked at the platforms. I’ll have to go and get it.”

Khiy nodded and pushed himself off the wall. “Hopefully my bodyguards won’t have gotten into too much trouble.”

He walked over to the entrance and absently toggled the door controls with his hand.

While they had been in the room N’alae had been trying to keep watch on the corridor. There was more activity, but most of the presences outside simply entered and passed through her range. During their discussion, she had lost track of them as her own emotions clouded her senses. Calmer now, N’alae turned her attention to the corridor.

Most of the time her psionic ability was imprecise. When N’alae had first woken up in that dingy hospital she thought that she was going to lose her mind. It had taken months of focus training to be able to distinguish (and eventually recognize) individual signatures. In large groups it could be incredibly distracting. When she was focused on other things however, those signatures became ill-defined, even blurring together. When that happened, all she knew was that there was someone nearby - not necessarily how many or even where they were, within roughly 20 meters of course.

As the presences of those nearby came back into focus, N’alae noticed that there were several just outside the door, and they weren't moving. Alarm welled up inside her. “Khiy, no!” She yelled in warning, but it was too late. The door slid open.


Khiy started to turn at N’alae’s warning when he spotted a blur of motion thrust at his torso. He twisted his body as an immediate reaction and was grateful for it as whatever was in the assailants hand was sharp. It only lightly bit into his skin as it grazed past it’s intended mark.

Khiy now had the advantage as the attacker had over extended and his arm was completely across Khiy’s midsection. Khiy didn’t waste time. He clamped his right arm over the assailants, pinning it to his chest and with his left hand leveled a left hook to the man’s head. The punch landed squarely on the man’s cheek bone and it had the desired effect of snapping his head around as if it was on a swivel. Now dazed, Khiy further pressed by pushing forward with all his weight, almost picking the man off the floor, and slammed him into the hallway bulkhead opposite the room. Khiy released his grip and the man crumpled under his own weight.

In that brief moment Khiy noticed that there were more people in the hallway then just the two of them. He had a suspicion that they were not passerby’s caught up in the moment. “N’ALAE!” He yelled.

N’alae was right behind him, using her bag to block another assailant as he tried to stab at Khiy’s exposed back. With the knife caught in the fabric, she wrenched his arm sideways so that he had to lean forward a little, and she kneed him viciously in the chest. He doubled over as the air whooshed from his lungs. Quickly, N’alae swung her elbow hard into the side of his head and he slumped to the floor.

Khiy had no sooner called for assistance when another attacker was upon him. Khiy quickly ducked under the first punch which was high and returned with his own strike to the man’s midsection. The man reeled, but to his credit, remained standing and with his fists up. Taking the offensive, Khiy quickly closed the gap between them and threw a number of quick light jabs at the mans head. Blocking many of them, the pirate returned with his own strike which was neatly pushed away by Khiy’s free hand. Having exposed an opening, Khiy launched a barrage of punches which found their marks. Bloodied, the pirate wavered in place for a moment before Khiy flattened him with a punch to the side of his head.

Pulling the knife from her bag, N’alae spun and hurled it at a fourth man as he came rushing around a corner several yards away. Completely focused now, she didn’t need to see him to know where he was. She aimed low, and the blade buried itself to the hilt just above his pelvis. The force of the impact threw him off, and he tripped, crashing to the floor where he lay moaning.

Where there had been six assailants, there were now only two.

N’alae turned to face the two men standing in the hallway. They looked much less sure of themselves in the wake of the swift dispatch of their companions. Without looking back at him, she said the Khiy in an almost casual manner, “Would you like the one on the left or the right?”

Khiy shrugged in the same nonchalant fashion “Flip you for it?” He started patting down his sides as if to look for a spare token.

The man on the right looked at them with wide eyes, then bolted back down the corridor. His companion stood his ground for a only a few moments longer before following him. Almost as suddenly as it had begun, the fight was over.

N’alae picked up her bag and turned it over to examine the damage. “That’s just great.” she grumbled. The hole was a good 6cm long, and clearly had cut into her cloths as well. Looking up from the bag at Khiy, she was only able to keep a straight face for all of ten seconds before she began to laugh.

Khiy shared a broad smile. “Welcome to Grey Star Securities.” He looked at the slumped bodies littering the floor. “Apparently.” He added. He walked closer to N’alae and examined the damage done to her clothing. “Nothing deeper than fabric?”

“Not a scratch.” N’alae replied, collecting herself. She looked around. No one had come to see about the commotion, but that would not last long. “We’d better get out of here. security’s a little lax here, but even they don’t like brawls in the corridors. It’s bad for business to have the clientele bleeding on what’s left of the carpet.”

The pair walked cautiously down the hallway to where Khiy’s shuttle was docked. Khiy knew they were close when he spotted the first body on the floor. The man’s face was bloody and his arm was twisted at a very wrong angle, clearly broken.

Khiy stopped only for a moment to check the man’s pulse before moving on, satisfied that the man would wake up.

It went on like this, unconscious bodies on the ground in similar broken states, before they reached the epicenter of the violence. The Gorn and Nausicaan stood proudly surrounded by a number of what Khiy hoped were incapacitated pirates. While bloodied themselves, they shared a look of pure contentment for having been ‘let loose’.

Khiy approached his bodyguards and appraised the damage on both of them before giving a cursory glance to their downed attackers. “I suppose it would be foolish of me to ask who started it?”

The Gorn offered a toothy ‘grin’ while the Nausicaan simply looked at the broken bodies with something akin to boredom.

N’alae just shook her head, a slight smile playing on her face. “You two certainly know how to make an exit.” She stepped over a groaning pirate and walked into the airlock.

Khiy followed her, motioning the goons to close ranks behind him. Once all were aboard, they made ready to leave. A request from the Nausicaan to disembark was immediately granted.

“My ship is berthed in bay 47.” N’alae said as they cleared the pylon. The ship maneuvered to the docks and lined up with the closet hatch to her ship. She stood beside the airlock and waited for the seal. “I’ll only be a couple minutes.”

“I’ll send you coordinates to meet at.” Khiy said while looking over the sensor readouts. He wanted to be sure that there were no other vessels waiting in ambush for them. “Make sure you aren’t followed.” Then he stopped and turned to her. “Make very sure.”

N’alae rolled her eyes a little at him. “This is not my first time.” She smirked and hit the controls to open the hatch. She was at her ship and keying in the access code a minute later. A guard challenged her, but went back to his duties when she tossed him her bay chit. Once inside, start-up went smoothly and she released the docking clamps. Getting clear of the docks, she entered the coordinates Khiy had given her, then purposely pointed her ship in a different direction. A quick side-trip through the nearby asteroid field would shake any possible pursuit.

Khiy was cloaked aboard his Talon and only a few hundred meters behind N’alae’s ship. Although he implied that he would be meeting her at the prearranged coordinates, he really had no intention of letting her out of his sight. If she lost him on the way, which he knew she would, then he would have the final assurance he needed that she was the right choice.

~She was the right choice.~ Khiy thought to himself as he narrowly dodged an asteroid twice the size of his Talon. ~She has to be.~

END

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Khiy Tal'ehrihn
Trans Galactic Trading, Owner and C.E.O.

N'alae t’K’manatran

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