Ardon had been pleasantly surprised when he opened the door. Fadhe had been outside with two girls clad in mini skirts and even smaller tops.
"I suspect you have called me here for celebrations," Fadhe slurred, his thick accent making the sentence barely legible. "So I have ordered a private show at the Pear, and these two delicacies insisted that I pick you up right away." He squeezed the giggling girls and motioned for Ardon to come with him. Not one to pass up an opportunity like this, Ardon closed the door after him immediately and grabbed one girl around the waist.
"Lead the way, and lets get plastered." The bad news would have to wait, they wouldn't get worse anyway.
The entrance to The Priggly Pear was a set of double doors in midnight blue with fluorescent tubes in yellow snaking around small pictures of semi-nude men and women. The door was blocked by two large very obviously heavily implant-enhanced men that looked like bad news for anybody that wanted to make trouble. Normally they were bored stiff, the very presence of having them put a cap on most trouble, and only in very rare cases was it necessary for them to activate their war implants.
Today was not going to be one they were going to tell their grandchildren about. John walked over to the men, slowly but purposefully, and stopped about five meters from them. He flicked a stun baton out and showed it to them, triggering their reflexes. They moved towards him, and he lowered the baton, signalling to Waldoze and Buzz to fire. The glue guns sprayed the two guards with the epoxy, instantly freezing them in their position. John walked over to them and pressed his stun baton to their neck implant node, whispered "sorry" and pressed the activation button. First one man went unconscious, and after John had repeated the procedure, the other went too.
They put the two guards into the Priggly Pear's entrance, and Pasquel and Buzz took up their place instead. The others went inside the club, and were assaulted by the high music and the dark room with flashing lights behind. Only spots on the stage where a girl, Rose Waldoze recognised, was dancing around while a man was lying on his back, illuminated the room. A low haze of inhalant narcotics was separating the room in height, with somewhat cleaner air towards the floor.
"Dooooooozzzer," the keening voice belonged to one of the girls from the bar. She ran to him on very high plateau shoes and threw herself around his neck. "Where have you been? We have missed you very much Dozzer, you want a drink? A private show?" More girls were moving over to him now. John eyed him and ground his teeth.
"Listen Lily, I am really here to find a person, he may be with someone. Maybe you know him, Paeko Leta?"
"Oh yes, he is getting a private dance over there by Azalea, spending quite well. Maybe you are next?" She indicated a booth with a white piece of cloth barely concealing what was going on inside.
"Can't honey, work stuff to do. Get the flower girls and move to the that side of the room." He indicated the opposite side from the booth. She started to protest, but he stopped her. "I mean it Lily. I'll make it up to you."
She pouted her lips in a fake display of displeasure, but did what he asked her. Waldoze motioned to the snatch team, and they got ready. John walked over and tore the sheet to the side, expecting a fight. Not likely in that position John realised. He pressed the stun baton to the back of the busy mans head and activated. The head of the person snapped forward, and then lolled to the side. Waldoze stepped in and motioned to the girl that she should get lost. He pressed a scanner against the neck of the man, and starred at the readout. The DNA profile was clear, Ardon Rala. He nodded to Lambin and Pasquel, who started to load the unconscious person into the small wagon they had brought.
They were interrupted by a crack of a gun firing. The many hours spent in combat training took over, and the team spread out and took cover within miliseconds. The shot had come from the man on stage, and he was now rolling over the side of the stage towards the back of the room.
"Status," John shouted.
"Leg hit, just grazed it" Lambin called out.
"Lethal force authorised" John shouted, as another round went tearing through the room close to his location.
"Boom-swoosh-Crack, Boom-swoosh-Crack, Boom-swoosh-Crack, Boom-swoosh-Crack" the bolts fired in rapid fire mode stitched a pattern on the wall above the stage, towards the man. The bolts were not having tertiary explosions as they had not connected with soft material.
"Cover us, we are exfiltrating," John shouted to Lambin. He grabbed the cart and together with Waldoze, he pushed it fast out towards the exit. They met the worried Pasquel and Buzz outside, and told them what was happening. Waldoze grabbed his glue gun and slithered inside again with John at his side. The room was quiet, with Lambin standing to the side of the room, actively covering Mike, that was searching behind the stage.
"He got away the bastard," Mike called back.
"Ok, exfil now. Plan charlie." John called out.
"Two secs J., I gotta fix something first." Waldoze went over to the scared girls and squatted before Lily. He handed her the newly liberated credstick he had swiped from the unconscious Ardon and smiled at her. "If this doesn't cover it, tell me next time I come, ok? I strongly suspect that it does however." He winked at her and kissed her forehead before getting out with the others.
Plan charlie meant direct exfiltration to the Centaur. Since they were not exiting through the air lock, Creyn and Rowan packed the extra gear into the carry-alls, interfaced with the lock, and exited as quietly as they had come. They kept in hiding and moved to the girders that held the armour plates in place. They would be picked up, if all things went well, either by the Centaur as it launched, of by a specially modified TPG Raptor they had waiting in L-1 for that specific purpose, piloted by Ato Bashenk.
The rest of the snatch team moved as casually as possible down the corridors towards the launch bay. It was more difficult with the leg wound on Lambin, and the constant need for making sure that they were not jumped by the unknown man. They managed somehow to get all the way to the launch bay and safely inside the Centaur. Mercy took care of Lambin immediately, and the rest of the team either stored their gear, or helped putting Ardon into the confinement suit. Once inside, there was no escape, and that was how it should be. The suit was basically a plasteel exo skeleton with its motors locked. Ifor scanned Ardon's head for suicide implants, found the small explosive device covered with synth flesh in the small his neck, and disabled it. Finding no reason to remove it, Ifor left it in it's place. Besides, they wanted to tube Ardon up before he came to. Once intubated, he had no way of committing suicide. His every bodily need was taken care of by the suit now, he didn't even have to breathe.
Ecka undocked, roll-boosted to skim the armourplates, and opened the load bay for no more than ten seconds, which was more than enough for Creyn and Rowan to enter. Ecka signalled Ato as he boosted for jump distance, and Ato jumped into B-8 slightly ahead of the Centaur, ready to provide escort. The mission was so far successful. Chi breathed a little easier in the OPS room, and she left relieved that this ordeal was now over for her.
