Daltas Hold. Located in the asterooid field of L-2, and originally built to provide easy access to the Lanthanic ore that was found in copious amounts, the station was now the nexus for production of weapons grade Xithricite for export to the Serco military, as evidenced by the hourly convoy of bots. The communal area was rather small, especially since most of the manufacturing space was taken up by the Xithricite refinery, with most of the residential area isolated in small clusters around the core where the main utilities were placed. Xang Xi had invested quite a large amount in the station, especially the trading areas, that boasted some of the the best supplied weapons and ships merchants apart from Corvus. And like the Corvus managed stations, not a lot of questions were asked.
It was perfect for Ardon, away from the direct influence of the Council, but still in deep grey space. Especially now, where they were looking for him. He had to make it up to them somehow, he had to bury all evidence leading to him and to the Council, and then present a solution to the Remley situation. He had a plan, and he was going to meet Fadhe in around an six hours and discuss it with him. Until then, he was going to watch some blood sports, and maybe one of those new flesh movies. He needed to appear confident and relaxed when he met Fadhe, otherwise the freelance pirate would bolt, and take the money with him.
The TPG convoy glided through Sedina space, turbos flaring now and again from the Behemoths to let them keep up with the rest of the ships. The convoy was destined for Daltas Hold as so many other TPG convoys, and as such it was not only on time, but also contained several non TPG members. One of the ships, a TGFT Centaur Mk III was slightly damaged, a result of an errant hive bot that the convoy encountered during an Ion storm the convoy passed. The damage had resulted in a damaged thruster section on its left side, and the pilot had a tendency to overcompensate. Well, that was the story anyway. Ecka was fighting a lot to make the ship appear damaged while in fact it was only cosmetic. He drifted to the right side of the docking bay, and as he missed the bay, he hit the reinforced xithricite armour that surrounded the docking by for this exact purpose. The Centaur recoiled slightly and drifted back from the station, and as it did so, the bay disgorged eight EVA marine suits. Covered by the bulk of the ship, they moved towards one of the many auxiliary personnel docks. The lead suit unhanded a piece of equipment and interfaced with the door lock. The door opened after about thirty seconds, and the suited person drifted inside. The same person interfaced with the door lock on the inside, and the airlock cycled and opened to the station. Six of the persons unsuited and revealed Waldoze, John, Pasquel, Lambin, Buzz and Mike. Creyn and Rowan were staying suited inside the air lock to keep the emergency exit clear.
Waldoze grabbed a large glue gun and motioned for Buzz to get the second glue gun. While the funnel shaped weapon didn't actually shot glue, it mixed a two component epoxy-based almost instant hardening foam under high pressure, that was enough to incapacitate anyone with a touch of the button. The large guns were very heavy, thus the two largest members carried them. Pasquel and Mike grabbed a pair of tasers that looked like "Buzz Lightyear" toy guns, and John grabbed the pair of stun batons. Together they unfolded and assembled the cloth wagon between them. Lambin carried the only lethal weapon for the snatch team, a lethal looking heavy calibre gyro jet rocket gun. Firing small homing missiles nicknamed bolts, it was mostly known as a bolter. Only in the direst of circumstances would Lambin let the characteristic "Boom-swoosh-Crack-fwump-Gung" sound be unleashed. Waldoze nodded to John, and the group started moving down the corridor of the station.
Ecka docked the Centaur in the docking bay, and slowly went through his post docking checks. He didn't bother go outside, but merely sent a message for reload of weapons in preparation for launch with the next convoy. The deck hands were familiar with the old miners habits, and had already made the ammunition ready. Ecka turned and gave the thumbs up to the three persons in the back of the cargo hold. The specially created holding facility was able to hold the eight EVA suited persons and still left room for medical facilities should they be needed. Mercy and Ifor were ready in full surgical kits, with Vardonx in an armoured combat suit with three millimetre GAUSS guns under slung each arm. Ecka hoped Vardonx would not have to be used, but he was not going to take any chances at all.
John walked confidently around the corner and directly into a trio of red clad workers with SDF marks on their tunics. He nodded at them and moved aside to let them pass. The looked down the corridor and saw what they thought of a cleaning crew, why else would they be carrying vacuum hoses? They ignored the five green clad persons and chattered amongst themselves in the Serco dialect. Lambin gripped his bolter even tighter. He had overcome his intense animosity towards the Serco when he joined TGFT, but it was still ingrained in him to be more alert when members of that particular military was present. Pasquel clapped Lambin on the shoulder for support, and the moment passed. They continued down the corridor to the left. They had been given the room number 681, the one right in front of John. They readied, and John knocked on the door, ready with the stun batons.
Ardon had just about drifted off to light sleep when somebody knocked on his door. Strange, nobody were supposed to know that he was living here apart from Fadhe, and he was not supposed to be here for at least an hour. Still, he got his pants on and walked over to the door and unlocked the door. He grabbed the handle and opened.
The door opened, and John tensed, ready for action. A young man opened the door, and John smiled at him. "Ardon Rala? Paeko Leta?"
"Uhm, no. Who are you, and what do you want?" he asked John.
"Hanseman Luchter, Corvus gambling and winnings committee," John lied. "We are looking for a person named Ardon Rala, or his partner Paeko Leta in relations with a somewhat large amount of money he has won on the last Deneb Run. We were told he lived here?"
"Who, Corvus gambling, Deneb run you say? Ehm, I am not supposed to say, but if you are bringing a lot of cash to him I guess it is ok. Paeko asked me to swap rooms, he is in my old room 536. How much did he win?"
"About six million credits. Thank you for your help. We'll go find him. And please don't call him, it is supposed to be a surprise," John smiled and winked to the young man.
John motioned to the others to go the one level up to 536 instead. They moved with as much haste as they could without drawing too much attention to themselves. It still took about ten minutes for them to arrive at the door, only to find it locked. Nobody responded to the knocking, and John motioned to Pasquel to bring the lock breaker gear out. Fifteen seconds later, and the lock clicked open. John and Waldoze peeked in. The room was small with a single large chair in the middle, the vid screen on one wall was showing two young women clad in what they had been wearing when they had been born, in some very anatomically challenging positions. They went inside to make sure that the room was empty, and quickly went out again. Well, John did. Waldoze had walked in to the chair in the middle of the room and seated himself to better see the show. John sighed and went in again to force Waldoze out of the room.
John keyed his mike. "PRIME is not in his room, and we have now lost his location. Aborting unless ordered otherwise."
Ecka swore under his breath, the effect was almost enough to blister the paint on his ship. "Your call J, but this may be the one shot we have."
John looked down to the floor and tried to focus on what was possible. "Roger. I have one shot left, and after that, the risks are too high."
"I agree," Ecka said, "but the moment you don't feel secure about it, you abort. You have control."
John looked up at his team.
"Thing just got interesting. Lets assume he went out with somebody, where would he go?"
Waldoze chuckled. "I know exactly where he is, The Priggly Pear, the best strip joint in Daltas." Buzz and Mick nodded and smiled at Waldoze. "Remember that one time with the girls that were....."
"That is quite graphic enough Waldoze. You know where it is, you led the way," John interrupted.
