Asteroth looked in the mirror again and didn't like what he saw. Now around 40 pounds overweight, slightly slack jawed and with a short black goatee he couldn't recognise himself at all. He had even changed eye colour and was now officially Tufan Oreminer, specialist in Carbonic type ores. He had a set of official fake documents in hand proclaiming him to have the required licenses that he would need to apply to The Guild of Free Traders, his target. The easiest way to gain access would be to have a protégé and he knew just who he would get. He waited in the docking port area for one particular Behemoth, bright yellow with letters on the side. The ship arrived, docked and powered down. The pilot jumped out of the ship, green uniform shining like a newly minted coin and TGFT propeller cap on top of his head as per TGFT regulations. Asteroth smiled and started his move. He waited until his designated target was almost up to his own ship before letting the hydrospanner slip and hammer down on his fingers making him cry out in pain even though he had known it was coming. His target came running over, concern evident in his face.
"Sir, are you all right?"
Asteroth fired as many swearwords as he had learned during his military career, which was quite a lot, as a reply while holding his fingers. He may just have overdone it this once, he could see bone on his ring finger. He looked over at the pilot and grinned while licking the blood off his finger.
"Can't seem to unlodge the density de-combobulator from the non-aligned tweak-rods. And now it looks as if I broke the hydrospanner."
"Having problems with the high density beams?"
Asteroth grinned sheepishly.
"Yeah, they fire out of key and seem to heat point one degree more than per the guaranteed settings."
His target nodded and smiled broadly.
"You know, I had the same problem some time ago and it can actually be fixed without a hydrospanner. Mind if i try?"
Asteroth indicated with his head that his target should go ahead with the repairs. Asteroth knew very well what the problem was; after all he had made the problem himself by gently tapping the actuator rods with a twenty-pound sledgehammer. His target rummaged around a bit, used a tool from his own belt and eventually exclaimed a loud HA! before once more turning to Asteroth.
"There, should be fixed now. Most of the times a de-alignment come from bumping too fast into the docking cradle."
"Ah, yeah now you say it I had a hard landing yesterday. Pirate on my tail and all. Thanks for the help buddy."
Asteroth extended his hand.
"Tufan by the way, ore merchant by trade."
"Hortan, miner and proud member of TGFT."
"Nice to meet you. Say, can't I offer you a drink or something for the help? I really appreciate it."
Hortan was about to decline when Asteroth moved in for the kill.
"And maybe you can tell me about that guild of yours? I have only heard great things about it. Thought it might be something for me but I am not really sure, you know?"
With a smile and a nod, Hortan accepted. He had finished his daily schedule of heliocene mining anyway and was ready for a drink.
###
The line of empty shot glasses was getting very long very fast with the TGFT and PA members getting very drunk equally fast ,which nobody seemed to mind. Azumi was dancing all over the place with John Eldritch while somehow keeping away from the drinks even as she fed him with more shots. Retractile grinned while he sipped his strawberry daiquiri, how she was going to pay the last part of the bet was going to be interesting especially with the target she had chosen. It might even be profitable. They pair danced really close when suddenly Azumi took a step back and slapped John across the face. She turned and stomped over to the group of TGFT and PA members where her jacket was slung over a stool. She grabbed it and turned to one of the PA members, her designated target.
"You look like a decent fellow unlike old Wandering Hands over there. Can I ask you to walk me home?"
Flustered and not knowing what to say, the man nodded and put his glass down. Azumi leaned on his arm and put her head on his shoulder while looking coyly at John Eldritch who was standing with a small grin on his face, watching while trying to understand what just happened. As Azumi and her target walked slowly out of the bar John joined the others at the bar and immediately the other started teasing him. Retractile drank the last of his daiquiri and got up to follow Azumi outside, just as confused as John Eldritch. However he had promised to get Azumi out of it when she said so and leaving the club was the signal they had agreed upon. Once outside Azumi and her target turned towards the docking bay of the station and walked slowly down the corridor. Retractile had no problem in catching up to them. He stopped a couple of metres away and shouted.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing with my girlfriend?"
They turned, the trader with fear in his eyes, Azumi with immense mischief highlighted by a kittenish smile.
"I am terribly sorry Sir, I was not aware that the young Ms here is your girlfriend. I was merely following her home from the Pirate's Nest. No harm done."
"Says you. Get the hell away from her now."
Azumi merely held onto the trader's arm even more fiercely and looked up at the by now slightly sweating face, her eyes wide open in mock fear. The trader looked at Azumi, then over at Retractile then back at Azumi while considering the predicament he was in. On one hand he would like nothing better than to defend this young beautiful maiden against the apparently unwelcome boyfriend but said boyfriend consisted of a 1.93 metre tall muscular and bald person with twin tattoos of striking mongooses on his scalp, a flight suit covered with an old style leather jacket adorned with a prominent CLM badge and what looked like a stun gun in his hand. The decision was not really all that hard to take.
"I am sorry Ms, but you really should go with your boyfriend. I am sure he will take good care of you."
Azumi pushed herself away from the trader before snorting violently in his direction while looking at him from head to toe and back.
"You wouldn't be able to handle it anyway hun."
Looking at Retractile she tossed her head in the direction of the docks.
"C'mon baby, lets go."
Retractile followed her while fixing the trader with his glare, making a mock attack when he passed and walking backwards while continuing to stare. He pointed a finger at the trader and pulled an imaginary trigger before turning and walking after Azumi, following her around a bend in the corridor.
###
A flash of shining metal reflecting the barely functioning wall lights that so inefficiently lit the corridor, a spray of warm sticky liquid pulsing with the heartbeat of the victims filling the corridor with a fine red mist, a spreading smell of voided bowels, a soft sobbing mixed with sounds of tearing, slicing, slashing.
The two young men had been late for their appointment with the other employees of the second deck launch bay and had decided to take a short cut through the maintenance corridor sparing them the longer trip along the circumference of the outer docks. They shared a bottle of inexpensive wodka along the way and never really noticed the prone form that was waiting for them from a small hole where the bulkhead wall plates had rusted away. When they had walked past, the closest felt a sharp pain across his Achilles tendon that immediately resulted in him falling as he lost control of his foot. His friend, believing that he had fallen because of the alcohol, bent down to help him up when an arm appeared carrying a thin sliver of silver that cut several centimetres into his neck and severed the artery without slowing down at all. The prone figure got up as the two young men trashed around on the deck-plates and grabbed the hair of the first man, slicing cleanly from ear to ear and finishing what he set out to do. He had cut them, cut them good.
Twin argon projectors switched on and the corridor became bathed in high-intensity white light that illuminated the grizzly scene and especially the stained and hulking figure standing over his victims. He looked up at the source with incomprehension painted in his face, madness showing in his eyes.
"Get him."
The two strangle net guns fired at the same time and impacted directly on the chest of William, covering him in the synth-silk mesh and at the same time perforating his skin in several places with tiny needles that delivered small doses of muscle blockers. William started to fight the mesh but as he did more and more needles penetrated his skin and delivered a larger dose of the muscle blockers effectively turning his muscles off. He collapsed in an undignified heap on top of his last victims, not that he had much dignity left anyway.
The officer in charge stepped out into the light and walked over to the three persons on the ground. He looked down at the still struggling William and kicked him viciously in the chest before keying his perscom.
"Lex, we have him pacified in corridor 34-b-3-east. He is blocked and alive, as you want him. Oh, and send a medic team as well, we have a couple of skin jobs as well."
The officer smiled and waved at the rest of his crew. This catch was going to net him a nice bonus and let him pay the debts that would allow him to get out of this outfit. Maybe even join UPK as he had wanted to do for quite a while now. He kicked William again and smiled at his crew.
"Good job all, now let us ensure this particular piece of vermin gets to Lex in one piece, right?"
