The two officers grabbed William under the arms and started dragging him towards the launch bay where the heavily modified Centaur they used for prisoner transport was ready. The manhandling woke William from the drug induced sleep and he started squirming underneath the strangleweb, tightening the net and impaling him with dozens of small syringes that sent him to sleepy land again but not before he had succeeded in smearing his captors with blood, vomit and offal. The large officer on the right, already disgusted by the filthy and blood caked person they were carrying and now soiled by him as well, dropped William abruptly so he smashed his head against the bulkhead before sliding down to the deck plates. The other officer looked up at his colleague before letting William go completely. William's nose had taken the brunt of the impact and blood started seeping onto the deck plates mixing with his victims.
"The hell you doing Urion? We's supposed to bring him to the Taur in one piece."
"I am not going to carry this filthy piece of shit. Why can't they bring a stretcher? I'm calling for one."
His facial expression went slack while he connected to the central via his brain Aug. An Aug was an expensive piece of equipment and naturally a thriving second hand market had emerged for those too poor to pay for the factory line models. Harvested among deceased traders, captured pirates and inmates in the Xang Xi prisons at Daltas Hold, the so called second Augs were an option for the commoners of grey. The less sophisticated aug versions primarily used by non-military security personnel were standard grey lumps of silicon wafers, unlike the sophisticated tailored brainpals of the Serco military that were grown to fit inside the skull of the user, and had the drawback that the interface was projected directly onto the retina and blocked the owners vision while auging. With some of the grizzly extraction methods it was inevitable, however, that the Augs would be damaged, have memory leaks or even worse. The commonest fault was, however, a complete loss of facial muscle control making the user relax his muscles and drool uncontrollably. Hence giving rise to the slang word for the second augs as Drool Boxes. Obviously the officer had a drool box. His face came alight again and he slurped the string of drool before it could make a wet splash on his uniform and looked over at the other officer.
"There, they are sending a stretcher team immediately. We just have to make sure he doesn't croak before they arrive."
His colleague nodded and spat at William's back before kneeling down against one side of the corridor. He whipped a hip flask with a nipple opening out and sipped at the fiery liquid, grimacing at the foul taste but didn't refrain from taking another drink. He handed it over to Urion who was looking expectantly at it and accepted with a grin and a nod.
"Thanks Sull, sorely needed there buddy."
Sull nodded while Urion drank deep from the flask. Urion handed the flask back and leaned against the wall as well.
"So, who is going to win the Death Fights?"
Sull grinned, Urion knew bloody well who Sull thought was going to win. And he knew that Urion was merely egging him on.
"Odia Wendigos, just like last year."
Urion laughed out loud.
"Yeah right, as if they can win the remaining matches by now. I keep telling you that this season belongs to the Nyrius Hippos."
"Well, as long as they don't lose to Daltas Cowboys."
They both guffawed at that. Not likely, not likely at all.
###
"Whoa whoa, wait up there Az. What was that all about?"
"What was about what?"
"Why did you slap John Eldritch? Did he do something to you?"
Azumi laughed out loud before she put one hand in her pocket and produced two small plastic cards, one green and one orange.
"I wish hun. But he was not drunk enough. I tried my best to lift his card but it was like he anticipated I would do something like that. The slap was merely a slight distraction. Besides baby, he was not my real target in there."
She flicked the two ID cards over to Retractile who caught them in a fluid motion and read the front of both.
"Ha, did you know John Eldritch has a middle name? And who is this NP?"
"What do I know? He seemed like the easiest target in there. What is the middle name?"
"He he, its XX--DELETED--XX, who would have known?"
Azumi shook her head in wonder.
"Amazing what parents will do to their children. Lets see what ship he has, or rather had."
Retractile chuckled and looked at Azumi expectantly while she accessed the card's data with her aug. Recent rentals, bay number 23b-D, rented by a J. Eldricth and containing one Axia Wraith. She did the same with NP's card and found a Corvus Vulturius in a bay on the same deck.
"Docking bay D Ret, looks like your lucky day baby."
They grinned at each other and turned off the main corridor towards bay D. About fifty metres along the corridor Azumi stopped and sniffed.
"Something bad happened here Ret."
Retractile grinned and extended his arms for protection while flexing his considerable bulk.
"Don't worry babe, I won't let anyone hurt you. Your pappy is in the house."
Azumi looked at him like a lioness would look at a pot of carrot stew. Slowly she shook her head while lifting one eyebrow.
"Sometimes you say the dumbest things Ret."
She turned and walked demonstratively down the corridor with a confused Retractile in tow. Another fifty metres revealed two uniformed persons along each side of the corridor and one shape lying between them on the floor. Azumi slowed down a bit and considered going back for a second before remembering Ret behind her. Whatever was down the corridor was not going to be enough to stop them. She walked down to the men seemingly without a care in the world.
"Sorry miss, you can't go this way. Police business."
None of the officers looked like they were going to get up anytime soon but the voice left no doubt as to their seriousness. Naturally Azumi ignored them completely and kept walking thus forcing the officers to stand. The bulk between them stirred slightly and one of the officers kicked him in the side.
"Miss, you have to turn back. Police business."
The two officers blocked her way and Azumi stopped immediately in front of them and looked up. She was just about to come with a cheeky reply when a sound came from the bulk on the floor.
"Janice?"
Azumi looked down and her eyes found the two pools of pain that were William's eyes.
"Janice!"
Azumi looked up at the officers who had looked down as well before looking back at Azumi. One of them reached for his sidearm while the other lost facial expression to an aug call. The bulk on the floor started thrashing around while screaming as loud as he could.
"Jaaaaniice!"
