Prologue
Nyah Khan looked around at the thickening fog and decided that if she did not increase her pace, she would never reach her destination. In the pea soup that surrounded her, every building looked like every other. Floating street illuminators were few and far between, and the mercenary Captain was not at all familiar with this damn city, the capital on planet Marridon IV.
She scoffed at the mere thought of this ridiculous planet. Less than a century ago, like-minded entrepreneurs from various races had come together to try and turn Marridon into the hospitality centre of the universe. What a joke! The place was always damp, through rain or fog. It was rarely cold but that was because a thick layer of pollution in the atmosphere trapped the heat of the sun. Despite those setbacks, however, people continued to come to the numerous hotels, bars and brothels on the planet surface.
Nyah herself, in fact, was on her way to Brigg's Palace, the most expensive hotel on Marridon. Not that she wanted to stay there, of course, but she had a 'business' meeting, and Brigg's Palace was to be the venue.
Nyah tugged uncomfortably at her collar. Being the most expensive hotel, where only the richest of peoples went, she was dressed accordingly. A smart grey trouser suit had replaced her standard attire of rough, durable clothes and long leather jacket. Her hair was not tied back in its normal ponytail, but had instead been let down and was flowing about her shoulders.
She looked around again, making out only vague shapes. Cursing under her breath, she hurried on down the street. The fog was getting denser by the moment, and she could swear someone was following her.
Suddenly, Nyah's face lit up. Finally. Through the concealing, befuddling fog, she could make out the bright lights of Brigg's Palace. The mercenary quickened her step until she was stood in the foyer of the impressive hotel. She noticed her second in command, B'tel, was stood waiting for her. B'tel was also dressed in smart attire, and she carried a case.
"Has he arrived yet?" demanded Nyah.
"Yeah," B'tel responded. "He's been in there for about twenty-minutes now."
"Come on then," Nyah strode towards a set of large double doors in the right wall of the lobby. The two mercenaries descended a short staircase into the main bar area of the hotel. An enormous room decorated in shades of white and pearl. Hanging drapes were dotted about the area and a live band was performing on a small stage. Numerous tables filled the centre of the room and the bar itself ran along almost the entire length of a wall. Huge windows at the rear showed the damp fog outside. Lots of customers, of varying races, were present in the establishment, most of them seated at the tables. Bar staff mingled among them, carrying trays of drinks. One of the waiters saw Nyah and B'tel enter. The young Trill male winked at the mercenary Captain as he passed her. Smiling, Nyah looked around the room, finally spotting who she was looking for. Seated at a table near the stage was the man she was here to see. Two other people were at the table with him.
"Lao Chay," Nyah greeted, making her way over to the table.
"Nyah Khan," Lao grinned back. "Please, have a seat." Nyah and B'tel pulled up chairs on the opposite side of the table. The three males were all of the same race, with a pronounced ridge running from the bottom of their noses to the top of their foreheads. Another two ridges flanked this one in a 'V' shape on the forehead. Lao was the most imposing of them. Tall and well built, with an oriental look about him, though Nyah actually had no idea what race he or the others belonged to. She really didn't care. Lao was sat rubbing his thin moustache, scrutinising Nyah. "So," he said, "did you get what I am after?"
"You know I did," responded Nyah. "Last night one of your boys tried to steal it off me, then paid for his mistake!" The young male to Lao's left looked sheepish and began cuddling his arm, which was in a sling, evidently broken.
"You have insulted my son," Lao informed her.
"No," Nyah corrected, "you've insulted me. You're lucky I spared his life!" The man to Lao's right, evidently a bodyguard of some sort, said something in a language neither Nyah nor B'tel recognised. Though it was clearly some violent gesture towards the mercenaries. Lao calmed him with a raise of his hand when he saw a waiter approaching. It was the same waiter who had winked at Nyah. The waiter began placing drinks on the table.
"Do not worry," Lao told his henchman, "Ms Khan is going to give it to me now!" Nyah saw Lao's son pull out a disrupter pistol and point it at her.
"Put the gun away," the waiter said. Lao turned to see that under his tray, the man was also brandishing a pistol.
"Good staff here," smiled B'tel. Realising that the waiter was a friend of Nyah's, Lao ordered his son to put his weapon away.
"I suggest you give me what you owe me," Nyah suggested. Noticing the waiter still had the disrupter trained on him, Lao reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag. He slid it across the table. B'tel opened it and tipped its contents onto the tabletop. Small bars of Gold Pressed Latinum. "That wasn't the deal, Lao," Nyah reminded him. "Now where is it?" Very reluctantly, Lao pulled out another bag and passed it to the mercenaries. Again, B'tel opened it, this time pulling out a beautiful purple gemstone, evidently of great value.
"Now it is your turn, Ms Khan," said Lao through gritted teeth. "Give me what I want."
"My pleasure," Nyah complied. She motioned to B'tel, who passed the case she was carrying, across the table.
"Where did you find them?" Lao asked, opening the case.
"Graccus VI," Nyah told him. "Purely by chance in fact. I had some other business to take care of on that planet." Lao pulled out of the case, what looked like pieces of old clay pots. Something an archaeologist would be interested in, not a dangerous gangster. "So what are they," Nyah casually asked.
"That is none of your concern!" Lao snapped at her.
Nyah gave him a wave of her hand, "Yeah, whatever! We'll be going now." She and B'tel got up to leave.
"One moment," Lao beckoned. "We have not finished our dealings."
"What's left?" Nyah contemptuously asked.
"You have to give me the gemstone," Lao stated. Nyah looked at the precious stone she was holding, then back at Lao.
"Are you trying to develop a sense of humour?" she smirked. "Or am I going deaf?" The gemstone was her payment for delivering the artefacts. She was also the one who had an operative pointing a gun at Lao and his men. Nyah reached inside her jacket and pulled out a small disrupter pistol and pointed it at Lao. "You are in no position to make demands like that!"
"Oh no?" grinned the gangster.
"Nyah!" B'tel shouted suddenly. Spinning round, Nyah saw that another of Lao's men had entered the bar, brandishing a disrupter rifle. He had it trained on the mercenaries.
"Get down!" shouted Nyah, jumping to the floor. B'tel did the same, just as the henchman opened fire. The disrupter blasts flew across the room and slammed into the Trill waiter, sending his charred body to the floor. Patrons stopped what they were doing and began to watch what was going on. Some of them screamed and ran out, but many of them were used to scenes like this. Nyah and B'tel, meanwhile, had wriggled across the floor and were now in the process of jumping behind the bar for protection.
"Kill them!" Lao shouted. The henchman turned his rifle at the bar and the two seated with Lao also drew guns.
"There's gratitude for you!" B'tel stated, crouching under the bar along with Nyah and all the bar staff. They could all feel the disrupter blasts slamming into the other side of the bar, and the glasses and shelves on the wall above them were being blown to smithereens.
"Remind me not to do business with him again," smiled Nyah. She removed the jacket of her suit, revealing that the smart white top underneath had had the sleeves ripped off. Much more Nyah's style!
"We need to draw their fire," said B'tel. Nyah noticed that one of the cowering waiters was holding a round metal tray, so she crawled along behind the bar to snatch it off him.
"Ready?" she asked B'tel.
"Ready," the second in command replied. Nyah jumped out from under the bar and stood up. She threw the tray like a Frisbee and it soared across the room, hitting the rifle brandishing henchman. The impact caused him to drop his weapon and fall backward, smashing a table on his way to the floor. Lao's son and the bodyguard opened fire with their pistols, but missed the mercenaries. Nyah and B'tel fired their own weapons in response, hitting the gangsters and blasting holes into their chests. As the two bodies fell to the floor, Lao decided it was time to leave. Nyah laughed as he waddled out of the room.
"Well, our work here is done," stated Nyah. She and B'tel then came out from behind the bar and made for the exit.
"Not so fast, Ms Khan!" Lao re-entered the room, flanked by two more rifle brandishing henchmen.
"Jeez, this guy doesn't know when to quit does he," B'tel smirked.
"Obliterate those two!" cried Lao. The two henchmen opened fire on the mercenaries.
"See ya, Lao," shouted Nyah, as she and B'tel ran across the room, disrupter fire at their heels the whole way. Upon reaching the far wall, the two of them leapt into the air and jumped straight through the full-length windows, sending shards of glass flying. Lao chased after them and climbed through the shattered windows into the foggy alleyway beyond. Nyah and her second in command were gone.
The customers in the bar watched with shocked expressions as Lao climbed back inside, cursing the two mercenaries under his breath. Upon reaching his two henchmen, the gangster grabbed one of the disrupter rifles off them and proceeded to gun them both down.
"I do not accept failure," he told their corpses.
As all this was going on, a lone figure in a dark corner watched. He was a well-built individual with brown hair and a goatee. Although he was Human, numerous cybernetic implants in his body revealed that he had once been a member of the Borg Collective. Nicholas Ryan nodded in satisfaction, and then disappeared back into the shadows.