Camaro was landing on Whitefall, somewhere among the rocks and sagebrush in a valley. Hills were everywhere you looked around.
After Camaro finally landed, the airlock door opened, and Derek and Boyd stepped out.
"Nice place for an ambush," Boyd provided his observation.
"Why yes it is," Derek agreed.
Erica arrived in a couple of seconds, saying: "I've buried 'em well," while tossing a bar to Derek. "Equipment's back on the ship, by the way."
The only thing she could do now was to check if her earpiece com-device was working.
"Testing, test – Captain, can you hear me?" she spoke out loud.
"Standing right here," Derek replied.
"Coming through good and loud," Erica concluded.
"You know he's standing next to you, right?" Boyd pointed out.
"Yeah, but the transmitter …"
"Patience is going to figure we buried the cargo," Derek cut in, "which means we should be at ease before there's any action. She'll come at us from East," pointing towards it, "and try to talk the location of the cargo out of us. She'll show us her money first. Once we give her the location, her snipers will hit us from there," pointing towards the respective position, "and there," pointing at some other position.
"You think they're in place yet?" Erica asked.
"Should be," Derek answered. "Feel like taking a walk in the park?"
She was obviously excited about that, her happy/mischievous grin present on her face. Derek knows that's never good, so he added: "Walk soft. I want for Patience to think they're in place. And don't kill them if you don't have to. We're here to make a deal."
With her smirk gone in an instant, she turned and walked off to one of the possible sniper locations.
"I don't think it's a good spot," Boyd provided with his observation. "She'll still have the advantage over us."
"Everyone always does," Derek replied. Turning towards him and putting on a smile, he added: "That's what makes us special."
Meanwhile, Passengers' dorm, Camaro
Deaton stopped at the door to Dobson's room, thinking whether he should warn him or not. Deciding on the former, he knocked.
"Lawman, it's me, Deaton the Druid."
The door opened.
"I believe you're in more danger tha-"
His speech was stopped abruptly by a chair slamming into the Druid, knocking him out effectively. Dobson stepped out of his room/cell and checked if anyone heard. Satisfied with the fact that no-one seemed to have heard it, he punched Deaton in the face. Twice. For a good measure. Then, he dragged the unconscious man into his room/cell and left him there in a search for his suitcase.
Whitefall
Derek and Boyd were walking slowly across the valley when they both heard hoofs. It turns out that those hoofs belonged to Patience and her crew as soon as they could see each other. What the boys also noticed was a man riding a four-wheeler, almost like the one back on Camaro. Together, there were six men in Patience's group.
"Erica, you better come through …" Derek whispered for her to hear over the earpiece.
"Derek!" Patience exclaimed. "How's it goin'?"
"Walking and talking," Derek replied.
"Hello to you too, Boyd," Patience added. "You're still sailing with this man?"
"That's an awful lot of men to haul three crates," Boyd provided his observation.
"Well," Patience tried to explain, "I couldn't be sure that Derek here wasn't looking for some kind of payback. You understand, right?"
"We're just here for the job," Derek stated. "I'm not interested in any surprises."
Meanwhile, a bit to the side, Whitefall
A sniper was set to take a shot, but was disturbed by a sudden hit from the back. Once he was knocked out, Erica grabbed his riffle and aimed towards Derek. She gets a wicked-like smile on his face.
Camaro
Dobson busted in some other room, in which he immediately spotted his suitcase. Opening it, he dug in, grabbed a tiny computer and turned it on. The screen flickered to life, so he pressed the CONNECT TO CENTRAL CORTEX button. A couple of seconds later, the screen came up with INTERFERENCE: UNABLE TO CONNECT. Furious about it, he hurled it against the wall, smashing it in the process.
Now he reached in the bottom of his suitcase, from which he pulled out two guns.
Whitefall
"I don't see my cargo anywhere …" Patience said.
"And you're not gonna," Derek explained, "not until I'm holding two hundred in platinum."
"Oh, come on, Hale!" Patience exclaimed with disapproval. "Am I supposed to take it on your good faith that you've got the goods?"
Seeing her point, Derek tossed her the golden brick.
"It's pure," he assured her.
She ripped off the foil to reveal some sort of an energy bar, which she has just sniffed suspiciously.
"Genuine A-grade foodstuffs," Derek continued. "Protein, vitamins, immunization supplements … One of those 'll feed a family for a month. Longer, if they don't like the kids much." Obviously, the last one was added as a joke.
Patience took a bite.
"Yeah, that's the stuff," she confirmed, reaching for a small bag and tossing it to Derek. He reached into it and pulled out a silvery coin – platinum.
"So, where's the rest?" she asked out of the sudden.
Camaro
In the infirmary, Lydia appeared to be awake for some time already. She was looking around the room, and even inspected Isaac for a while, but all this time, she was quiet.
At least until she said "Jackson" and looked worriedly at the door.
"What's wrong?" Isaac asked, but she didn't answer. Instead, she went for the door when Dobson grabbed her and stuck a gun to her head.
"Look at you," he said, "all awake."
When he saw Isaac trying to move, Dobson pulled out a second gun, pointed it at him and spoke: "I'm sorry about what happened before, but make as much as a sound, and the next one goes through your throat."
Isaac was looking at him with genuine horror, as Lydia was pulled towards the dorm.
Whitefall
"Then half a mile east, foot of the first hill," Derek provided with the instructions. "You'll see where has it been dug."
"Reckon I will," Patience agreed.
"Well then."
"Yep."
Awkward silence.
"I'd appreciate it if you all would turn around and ride out first." Derek stated.
"Yeah, well …" Patience started, "See, there's this kind of a hitch."
"We both made out on this deal," Derek warned. "Don't' complicate things."
"I have a rule," she replied coldly. "I never let go of money I don't have to. Which is maybe why I'm running this little world and you're still in that scrap you call a ship, sniffing for scraps."
Derek tossed the money back to her.
"You've got the money back," he explained. "There's no need for killin'."
"Are we just going to walk away?" Boyd asked.
"I guess that's up to Patience here." Looking at her, he added: "Could be messy."
"Not terribly," she replied. "Oh, Derek … You're not very bright, are you?"
Looking at the men, Derek noticed one of them, wearing a shiny hat and carrying a fine rifle.
"That's quite a rifle you've got there," Derek pointed at it. "He must be your best shot if he's carrying that," he added, turning a Patience.
"He's called Two-Fry," she explained. "Always makes it quick and clean."
"Two-Fry," Derek repeated. "Nice hat."
And Two-Fry is blown away by a gunshot out of nowhere (at least according to Patience's crew - but it's really Erica).
Many thing happen at once.
Derek draws out his gun and nails a second man, while Boyd shot down the one on the four-wheeler. After that, Boyd got shot by one of the crew, and he was sent flying backwards. Derek shot that very same guy, but only once he got some sufficient cover provided by some nearby bushes.
Camaro
"Should think about asking Derek to drop you somewhere else," Scott provided his suggestion while sitting in the pilot's eat and checking the measurements. "Whitefall is not exactly a civilization in its strictest sense …" he continued, but had no idea how to continue from there.
"You don't have to worry about me," Jackson assured him.
"Derek, Boyd, and Erica are out on a deal," Scott tried to explain. "I always worry. So it's not out of my wa-"
"He took her," Isaac's voice came from the com, a weak whisper. But that didn't stop Jackson from bolting out of the cockpit. Scott was about to do it too, but then he heard a beeping – a proximity warning.
Looking at the screen, he just couldn't believe it.
"Oh, don't …" he whispered to himself. "Don't you dare …"
Jackson, meanwhile, ran all the way to cargo bay, only to see Dobson with Lydia, gripping her and looking around himself, before heading towards the airlock.
At that moment, Jackson jumped and landed on Dobson, sending them both to the ground, unable to get up from the pain. The gun skittered far enough that Dobson couldn't reach it.
A bit to the side, Whitefall
Erica tried her best to shoot, but everyone was moving too much. "Hun dan! (Damn it!)"
Whitefall
Patience dismounted her horse and shot around from behind it. Derek was still exchanging bullets with some other guy. The last man cowered and rode away on his horse in panic.
Boyd, who was still on the ground, lifted his gun and shot the running man in the back, who fell off his horse. That only left Patience and one other man from her crew.
Derek was shot in the shoulder, which in turn made him madder, his red eyes flashing out. He aimed and he finally managed to shoot the other guy in his hip. The guy fell on the ground and started screaming in pain.
That only left Derek with checking on Boyd.
"Boyd?"
"I'm okay," he replied, "just a dented armor."
"Well, you were right about this being a bad idea," Derek admitted.
"Thanks," Boyd replied sarcastically.
Now, Derek started walking towards Patience who only said: "Derek, don't you dare make another ste-" in warning until Derek aimed and shot the horse. The horse collapsed on top of her and effectively pinned her down. But the only thing she had to worry about now was the gun that Derek pointed at her face.
"I did a job," he started. "I got nothing but trouble since I did it. Not to mention more than a few unkind words as regards to my character, so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job," he now reached for the money pouch and jingled it in front of her face, "and then I get paid."
Now he moved the gun from her face and ended their conversation with: "Go run your little world."
Erica just ran at him at that moment before she blurted out: "Derek! It's Scott! A ship coming in. We were followed. Rouges."
