Yes, I do know that I haven't posted in a very long time, on both this and Men Are From Mars. Sorry. DRL. Book 2 is nearly complete, but I'm having trouble closing the gaps in it. So on to Book 3--for now.
Born Under a Bad Star--Book Three
Chapter 1-The Alley
Excerpt from an interview given to Imperial Security
You know Damnation Alley, right? It's between the Outer Rim and the Unknown Regions, and it's a hang-out for the worse bunch of reprobates, thieves, murderers, liars, smugglers, con-men, and criminals in general. My kind of place, brother.
Oh, sorry. Captain brother, then.
Anyway--nobody uses their real names on the Alley. They use nicknames, or aliases, or fake identities. Providing fake ID was one of the growth industries there.
This guy you're asking about had a nickname-the Driver. It was short for 'designated driver' because he didn't indulge in hard liquor or spice, and so always ended up in that role. The Driver, to put it very mildly, wasn't your usual Alley type. He was a stolid, youngish feller, with the air of respectable mechanic or lesser bureaucrat. Hard-working type, you know--kinda reserved. We all rather liked him, which is not to say that we wouldn't have sold his vital organs on the open market for spice money, had we been given the chance. Just so you understand the local mores.
The Driver was unique on the Alley, for another reason, too. He was actually married, by the gods. Family values on the Alley meant you didn't kill your cousin unless you absolutely, positively needed his boots--it didn't extend to having little wifey at home complete with little babykins. But the Driver had both, and he had actually brought them with him to the Alley. Crazy, that was.
There were women on the Alley, of course. But they weren't the type you'd take home to mother, or take home at all, for that matter. Professionals, or demi-professionals. The Driver's Wife (or the Farmer's Daughter, which was her alternate nickname) looked as though she didn't know what 'professional' meant. Not beautiful, exactly, but what's the word?--wholesome. Yeah, wholesome. Healthy. Sane. A girl you would introduce to your mother. If you'd ever had one.
This made her one-of-a-kind in our little world. There were lots of more beautiful women around, but they were 'at-your-own-risk' proposition. Which means, of course, they were poxed to the eyebrows. Not the Driver's Wife. At least, we thought not.
Small children were very rare on the Alley, too, so to see this rosy-cheeked farm girl toting around a tow-headed toddler was kinda--well, you know, kinda surprising. We debated endlessly about what would be serious enough to bring the Driver and his family to the Alley. Now, I ask you, if you were on the run, wouldn't you leave the family behind? Damn right you would, especially if you were the type of man the Driver appeared to be. Safer, right? But the Driver didn't, which gave rise to all sorts of speculation on the Alley.
Maybe they were space grifters? But they didn't look, or more importantly, act like grifters. And we couldn't believe that either the woman or the child had a price on their heads. Officially, that is. Of course, after awhile there were people on the Alley who wanted to put a price on their heads, if you know what I mean.
Like Kelde Makran. Know him? I'm sure you do; he's got a record longer than the Spice Road to Kessel. All sorts of interesting things on it, too. Well, the Driver and his nice little family looked like a business opportunity to Kelde. The sort of opportunity that begins just about anywhere and ends in the Slave Markets on Chaldea. Gorgeous women generally bring the best prices there, but the Driver's family could have shaped up nicely, if you knew how to market them. And Kelde was a keen businessman, shall we say. The Driver himself was pretty young and a damn good pilot--maybe a thousand credits there. And there was always a market for unpoxed women. There's planets with a shortage, you know. And lots of men looking for company. No, no bordellos; get your mind out of the gutter. She wasn't the type. Farmers or miners looking for wives. Believe me, if they come from a planet with an exportable commodity, they have cash. Lots of it. Maybe another thousand there. And even the baby could have turned a credit or two. He was blond and blue-eyed, and kids like that are a premium on the adoption market in the Core Worlds.
So Kelde decided to exploit the available economical opportunities. The Driver's family looked like it had an extra large target painted on it, as far as he was concerned. Easy pickings, he thought.. As it turned out, he got a great big surprise. And then some.