A New Era, part 2
Copyright 2000/2001
One arn and thirty minutes later, John was looking around in a small shop, filled with spare parts. It was the third shop of its kind they had encountered, and so far, they hadn't found what they were looking for. He briefly glanced over at Aeryn, who was trying very hard to check for the needed parts, keeping an eye on Chiana and looking out for any danger. Chiana, on the other hand, sauntered through the shop, picking up an item here and there, and letting it fall back to its place. He grinned and returned to inspecting the next piece of equipment. Although it did seem familiar; if he remembered correctly, he had seen it in Aeryns Prowler once; it wasn't on their list. He made a note to himself to inform Aeryn after they were done searching this establishment.
Aeryn briefly looked up to locate Chiana's whereabouts and, content to see that she hadn't broken anything yet, as if any of these parts could be broken further, resumed inspecting a few parts that might be useful for her Prowler. They only needed to find the spare parts and they could return to Moya. She sighed, she still had a bad feeling about this planet and for about three quarter of an arn, she'd had the feeling they were being watched.
"Have you found anything yet?" A voice asked from behind her.
Aeryn turned around quickly, her hand moving to the pulse gun she wore on her hip. She relaxed her stance, when she noticed that it was only the shopkeeper standing behind her.
The shopkeeper, noticing Aeryns reaction, immediately held up his hands in defense. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, Officer." He said, apologizing. "I was merely wondering whether or not my shop held what you were looking for." He added, taking a step back.
"No, I'm afraid we can't find what we're looking for here." John spoke up, approaching them. "Do you know of any other shops that sell used parts?" He asked, now coming to stand next to Aeryn.
The shopkeeper nodded. "There's one on the other end of the city. It's hard to find, but that shop mostly has rare parts, if that is what you were looking for." He explained. "I will give you directions, if you have a few microts." He finished and disappeared in the back of the shop, only to return a few microts later with some sort of map. "I've circled the location of a few other shops as well, should you not be able to find the parts there." He said, handing the map over to John.
"Thank you, I'm sure we'll be able to find the parts we need." John said, and turned around to find Chiana. "Chiana, we're leaving." He said, as he saw her form in the far corner of the shop. Hearing him call her, she looked up and followed the others outside.
Outside, John halted Aeryn, before she could walk further. "One question. How did he know we were looking for rare parts?" He asked, glancing back at the shop, where the shopkeeper was watching through one of the small windows.
"I was only looking at the used Prowler-parts. We never asked if he had anything rare." Aeryn replied, looking around in the quiet alley. "I suggest we go somewhere more crowded." She said, looking back at John. "I think we're being followed. For about three quarter of an arn, I've had the feeling that someone is watching us."
"Uhuh, so do I. As soon as we finished buying the foodsupplies and returned to the transport pod the first time, someone started following us." He said. "Chiana, go back to the pod and contact Moya. If we're not there in a quarter arn, leave without us." He said, watching her nod and leave the alley. He turned back to Aeryn. "Let's find that shop as soon as we can, shall we?" He asked, glancing one more time at the building they'd just left. The shopkeeper was no longer watching them.
********
As Chiana reached the city gate, something was very wrong. As she looked around, she saw more and more soldiers walking around, less civilians on the streets, and the gate was closed.
Slowly, she walked towards the gate, until she was stopped by two Peacekeepers.
"What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" One of them asked, looking her over.
"Well," she purred, "a girl like me is going back to her transport pod, to wait for my captain." She answered, shoving the soldier aside. "I would appreciate it if you could open the gate for me."
"Captain, huh?" the other soldier said, grinning at her last action. "He's one lucky guy. We're not supposed to open the gate, but I think we can make an exception for a girl like you." He said, walking next to her towards the gate. "Better wait outside the city though, it's a dangerous place if you're unarmed."
"Why is that?" Chiana asked, watching the soldier punching in a code to open the gate.
"You haven't heard about the rebels yet? They've killed ten civilians in the last weeken." The soldier asked, as he waited for the gate to open. "They're ruthless... in fact we're looking for two of them right now. Rumored to have entered the city about two arns ago, less even." He explained, not noticing Chiana's eyes widen.
"Two of them?" she asked further, fearing the worst. "What do they look like?"
"Well, they say it's a man and a woman. The woman is an ex-Peacekeeper, but I haven't heard anything about the man with her." The soldier continued, oblivious to Chiana's distress. "Well, you can go, hope your captain returns soon, so you can get off of this rock." He said, watching her hurry to her ship.
"She sure was eager to get away from you, Pallas." His companion said, walking up to him. "She might've shoved me aside, at least she didn't run away from me." He continued, grinning.
********
"Zhaan! Zhaan! Are you there?" Chiana spoke frantically through the comm. "D'Argo? Anyone!"
"Chiana, what is it?" D'Argo answered. "Is everything in order?"
"No, no, nothing is in order. They're sealing of the city. I think they're after John and Aeryn, and me, if they find out that I was with them." Chiana said, quickly explaining the situation. "They said to leave them here if they didn't reach the pod within a quarter arn." She continued.
"Calm down, Chiana. We need to think of something. Try to contact them, if you can't reach them, wait for them and then, after fifteen minutes, return to Moya. We'll find a way, trust me." D'Argo replied. When there was no reply from Chiana, he spoke again, "Chiana? Is that okay?"
"O-okay. I'll contact them and wait for them to come to the pod." Chiana spoke, disconnecting.
"Okay, Chiana, contact them and everything will be fine. There is nothing to worry about." She said to herself, hitting her combadge. "Aeryn? John? Are you there?"
*******
"John!" Aeryn called, walking over to him. "I've found one of the parts we need." She said, showing it to him.
"Good, the quarter arn is almost passed. We need to get back to the pod, before Chiana leaves us stranded here." John replied, grabbing the part and turning to the shopkeeper, who took the part from him. John quickly handed him the money to pay for the part, before turning back to Aeryn. "Have you contacted Chiana yet?" He asked, pocketing the rest of the currency.
"No, I couldn't reach her. Something is interfering with the com-system." Aeryn replied.
"Great, just what we need." He said as he walked towards the exit.
As soon as he was standing in the alley again, he knew something was wrong. Looking in two directions, he saw Peacekeepers approaching. Seeing no one else in the alley, he signaled to Aeryn, who was already readying her pulse rifle.
"No, wait." John spoke, before she could shoot at the advancing Peacekeepers. "We don't know they're coming for us. Just act normal, I'll talk to them." He said, taking a step forward.
When the soldiers were standing in front of Aeryn and John, one of them signaled to halt.
"What is your business here?" John asked, standing firm, his hands on his hips.
"We have orders for your arrest, captain." The soldier, who was obviously their ranking officer, replied.
"That is absurd, let us through." John spoke, glancing sideways. He noticed Aeryns hand reaching for her gun.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, captain. The orders come directly from Peacekeeper High Command. You are accused of conspiracy with rebel forces. You are to come with us to the city's dungeons, where you will be held until further notice." He finished, nodding to the others, who stepped forward.
Aeryn quickly glanced at John, before aiming her pulse rifle at one of the advancing soldiers. John saw her action, but before he could stop her, she fired a shot at the unlucky Peacekeeper. As he saw a few soldiers raise their pulse rifles, he dove towards Aeryn, knocking her to the ground, but not before it was to late...
TBC
I really like to know what the readers think about the story so far. I try to write the other parts as soon as I can, but I'll be working until Sunday, so that's plenty of time to fill the little box below with your thoughts. Thank you for your time reading, and I hope you're liking where the story is headed. (Of course you don't like the ending, but I couldn't help it.)
