Chiana found the Shrike in the empty Center Chamber gazing out the view-port. She almost didn't recognize the man dressed again in his full assassin's armor. It had been a little while since he'd had to wear the garb and she had become use to seeing him dressed in the surplus Peacekeeper clothes he'd taken to wearing aboard ship. The ebon plates gave him an almost metallic reptilian look.
"Are you ready to go?" she asked.
Berret didn't start at the sound of her voice like she thought he might, he had known she was there. He slowly turned to regard her over one shoulder. "Yes," he replied with little emotion in his tone. Chiana was becoming use to her new friend sometimes slipping back into his Shrike persona, especially when he donned the armor. She wasn't sure if Zhaan helping him regain the memories of his past was such a good idea anymore. The innocence Berret first had when they met on the commerce planet was quickly being replaced by this darker version of the man when he learned of all the killing he'd done as a Syndicate Enforcer. The incident on the ice moon had done little to improve matters even though she finally got him to admit to the nightmares he was having.
"Are you sure this is a wise idea?" he asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"We ain't got much of a choice," Chiana replied. "The new guy needs the inoculations or he's gonna keep getting sick. That means we have to stop at a Sebacean outpost to get them."
"It also means we might encounter Peacekeepers," Berret pointed out.
Chiana shrugged. "We can handle them," she said cockily. "Look... Aeryn says it'll be simple; we go in, get the drugs and get out. Easy as snurching candy from a blind Hynerian."
Berret didn't look convinced as he reached over and picked his black silk cloak up off the back of the chair he had draped it over. "We are also close to the boarders of the Scarren Imperium," he added.
"Ah-ha," Chiana thought with a tiny tilt of her head. "That's what's bothering him." She moved around the table closer to the armored ex-Enforcer.
"You're worried we might get caught by the Syndicate?" she asked. Berret didn't answer her and instead threw his cloak over his shoulders and then fastened the clasp together. "Don't worry," she continued, "I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Berret glanced down at the girl at first thinking she was being patronizing, but the look in her dark eyes told him that she honestly meant that she would do her best to protect him. Again, he found himself being amazed by the small Nebari's tough spirit.
"It is difficult not to think about the possibility," he admitted while unconsciously raising a hand to the scars left on his throat from the cycles of wearing a control collar. Even now, with the pathways still present within his nervous system he wasn't truly free of the Syndicate's cruel touch. "The thought is making me..." he struggled to find the correct word to fit the feeling he was having.
"Scared?" offered Chiana.
"Yes," Berret responded after a few microts. "I'm ashamed after all your help to admit... I'm having trouble forcing myself to go and help Andar."
Chiana reached over and placed a hand reassuringly on his forearm, feeling the metal gauntlet brace there that had first terrified her so. "It's natural. We're all scared," she told him. "Its nothing to be ashamed of."
"The Luxan is never afraid," Berret said with a frown.
"Yeah... well, that's just D'argo," she replied. "I'm sure he's got a case of the nerves just as bad as us. He's just has more experience at hiding it then we do."
The comment didn't seem to go very far with reassuring the ex-assassin. Chiana smiled up at him and made a point of adjusting his cloak over his armor. "Listen," she continued, "for someone just freed from a control collar, you're one of the bravest men I know. You took care of me and Rygel on the ice moon. Everything will go easy, just trust me on this."
Berret searched her eyes again to see if she was only attempting to pacify him. Once again her dark eyes appeared sincere and he wondered how she could possibly see him in that light.
"It was all of us working together that enabled us to survive," he countered. "I do not feel especially brave."
The Nebari shrugged her slim shoulder as if to say his comment didn't really matter.
"You still did what you had to do to save us all," she retorted.
"Its still not courage," Berret said with a small shake of his head. "I react mostly in rage to things." He glanced back out the view-port. "I seem to have an over abundance of that emotion," he finished in a mutter.
Chiana reached over and take hold of his chin to force him to look back at her.
"No dren?" she asked in light sarcasm and with a slightly lifted eyebrow. She gave him a small smile to show that she was only teasing. Before he could say anything else to continue the debate with her, she stood up on her tiptoes while drawing his face closer to hers. Her lips pressed gently against his. She held the pressure in what she considered the perfect kiss, neither too light nor too hard. She kept her eyes open for the first few microts of the embrace, seeing the surprise in his. Berret didn't try to pull away from her so she closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling, a quick peek a few more microts later showed her that Berret had finally taken the hint and followed her example by closing his own eyes. She considered it might be an underhanded trick to use on the man, but it got the results she wanted and ended the discussion before Berret could talk himself into having any more doubts. Besides, it wasn't actually as if she were leading him around by the mivonks for a devious reason. She was just trying to shore up his self-confidence. And nothing made a male feel better than the attention's of an interested female.
At least, that's always seemed to work for her so far.
The sudden kiss from Chiana effectively derailed his train of thought. This was the second time that his friend had surprised him with the intimate contact. At least, the second time that he could remember. There was that night they managed to get into trouble with the wine but he couldn't be sure if what Chiana told him had occurred actually did happen. The girl loved to pull pranks on him and he couldn't be certain if the story she told him was simply another hoax or the real truth. He knew what she was doing, trying to distract him from his fears and reservations. He felt a little embarrassed by his lack of experience by something that seemed so simple as kissing. As her lips met his, he was literally eye-to-eye with the small woman. She watched him for a moment and then closed her eyes, looking as if she were enjoying the contact. For whatever reason, Berret copied her and strangely found it enhanced the experience somehow.
Berret's hands somehow found their way to Chiana's hips and he pulled her closer to him. The Nebari girl responded by draping both arms around Berret's neck and countered by pulling him in closer to her.
The Shrike had just concluded that they had an interesting type of "skirmish" going on when their comms clicked on.
"Chiana, Berret," called Aeryn's voice; "We're waiting for you in the hanger bay."
Chiana reluctantly pulled away and spoke in the direction of her comm badge. "We're on our way, Aeryn."
She turned almost shyly back up to Berret, she hadn't meant for things to get that carried away.
"What are you thinking," she casually asked, her arms still locked around his neck.
"I forgot," he replied.
The couple entered the hanger bay to find Aeryn waiting for them. The ex-Peacekeeper had forgone her usual PK leathers and had donned more conventional clothing worn by the planet's inhabitants.
"Its about time," said the Sebacean woman. "Did you remember to bring weapons?"
Berret opened his cloak to show her his armor and the pair of PK pulse pistols belted around his waist. Chiana pulled back her gray overcoat to show her a third pistol on her hip.
"All right, then. Lets finish loading the Cargo Transport," finished Aeryn.
Aeryn led the way to the Pod they would be taking. By the craft, John, Andar, and Malika waited. The young Delvian was dressed much the same way as Aeryn. She had taken one of the dark brown surplus overcoats and after removing all the military trimming, had cut it to just passed hip length. Chiana paused a moment to admire the other woman's tailoring.
"Hey, drad coat," the Nebari commented.
Malika looked at the gray girl, trying to decide if she was being sarcastic. She really didn't know the Nebari very well but she concluded Chiana was giving her a genuine compliment so she nodded her thanks. The tall man that followed behind Chiana was another matter. The Delvian did her best to keep her feelings from showing on her face, but she felt her mouth turn downward into a grim frown. Berret looked every henta the efficient killing machine in the bluish-black armor and dark flowing cloak. She'd seen the way and how fast a Shrike could move despite the metal covering most of their bodies. It was as unnatural as the military designed microbes inhabiting the man's body. She didn't like being this close to any Shrike again... and she didn't trust Chiana's "tamed" assassin in the least.
"I still think I should come with you," Andar said around a series of coughs.
"You're not in any condition," Malika said, trying to be patient. "Until you get the Universal Vaccine you're going to keep catching every bug and virus there is." She'd been over and over this with the man for the last solar day. Going down to the planet unprotected would leave him in worse condition then he was now. She hadn't realized how many illnesses and diseases the UV protected from. To date, her and Zhaan had treated and nursed Andar through no less then twelve maladies. Unless the man got inoculated soon his immune system would burn out. "I just wish Rygel wouldn't have traded away all the ship's stock of standard meds."
"He didn't think we'd ever need them," said Andar. "After Crichton arrived, nobody thought there ever be a need to standard vaccinate anyone else. I guess my arrival was somewhat inconvenient."
Andar tried to smile but a round of coughing ruined the effect.
"You should be back in bed," admonished the Delvian.
Andar finally gave in to her orders after she threatened to call Zhaan and have her come down from Command and carry the ill Sebacean man back to his room.
Malika felt sorry for the ex-teacher as he left the hanger bay. The two of them had been somewhat thrown together in the crew's chaotic social order. She put the feeling aside for the moment and focused on the task at hand. She picked up the last equipment bag and tossed it up the Pod's gangway to the waiting Nebari girl.
John turned Aeryn to face him. A look of concern graced his handsome features.
"I think I should be going with you guys," he said, unknowingly copying Andar's discussion with Malika.
"Crichton," Aeryn responded with a slight hint of exasperation. "We told you. Scorpius has wanted beacons all over this quadrant. It wouldn't be safe for you to be seen walking around a Sebacean colony."
"I could wear a disguise."
"No, no, and no!" Aeryn said stubbornly. "This is a hit and run mission. We get in, get our supplies, and get out. We can't have you stumbling around drawing unwanted attention to us."
"So you're taking Pip, Miss Junior Congeniality, and Mister 'I forgot how to tie my shoes' Hitman? Aeryn, you might as well be carrying a flag that says, 'Hey! Wanted by the Peacekeepers,' on it. That would be less subtle then those three."
Aeryn sighed, wishing she could just slug Crichton and knock him out so she could just get this trip over with. "John, just trust me... this will work," the ex-Peacekeeper explained again. "Many prosperous Sebacean traders travel with a servant, a secretary, and a bodyguard. Nobody will pay any attention to us."
Unnoticed by the couple, Chiana had come close enough to hear part of the discussion.
"Ha! Did you hear that, 'Ret?" she called, "I'm a bodyguard!" She turned to the Shrike and shook her head sadly. "It's too bad you have to be the servant," she told the tall ex-Enforcer.
John looked at the deck to hide his grin at the Nebari's antics while Aeryn rolled her eyes.
"See what I mean?" the human asked.
"Wrong, Chiana," corrected the Sebacean woman. "Berret is the bodyguard, Malika is the secretary, and YOU... are the servant."
"Why does she get to be the secretary and I have to be the servant?" Chiana asked with a straight face.
"Maybe because I can read and write," muttered Malika half under her breath.
"Chiana," Aeryn replied in a warning tone.
The gray girl held up both hands as if surrendering. "Okay, okay. I'll be the servant," she relented. She then slapped both hands together and began to rub them deviously. "Which is okay cuz no one pays attention to servants... and that means more chances to snurch stuff."
"CHIANA!" both John and Aeryn cried this time.
"All right! All right!" Chiana said with a pretend look of being put out. "Jevanna! Don't get your tart-tills in a cluster-bunch. I promise I'll behave."
"Be sure that you do," warned Aeryn.
Berret watched the discussion with mild interest. The Nebari turned away from the couple and gave the Shrike a mischievous grin and a wink.
"Always the handmaid... never the maiden," Chiana said with a cock-eyed half-sneer.
The ex-assassin had to wonder about his friend. How she could go from kissing him passionately one micron to raising hezmana with her other crewmates the next just for the pure pleasure of it was a mystery to him. He dismissed the thought with a tiny shrug. One just never knew what Chiana was going to do next.
The Tradesman rushed forward to greet the group as they disembarked from their ship.
"Greetings, Lady IaNana Tan!" the called out, using the alias that Aeryn had given him.
Surprisingly, Aeryn had a smile that looked almost legitimate on her face.
"Greetings, TradeMaster Hann. I trust everything we discussed has been arranged?" she inquired.
"It is, Lady," Hann replied with a quick nod. "I see you brought your entourage." The man did his best to acknowledge each person behind Aeryn with another speedy nod of his head.
"Yes," answered the ex-Peacekeeper. "This is my secretary, Jaslynna. She will be handling the inspection of the pharmaceuticals and the transfer of the credits and trade goods when our concession is complete." Aeryn indicated Malika with a hand gesture and the young Delvian remembered to respond with one of the annoying bows the people used. "The others are my servant, Dresska," a wave at the Nebari girl. "And my man, whom you may address as Sinn if you have to."
Berret grimaced slightly. As a matter of etiquette, bodyguards were never called bodyguards outright here on this world while conducting trade negotiations. To do so would be the same as openly insulting the party you were trading with by calling them untrustworthy. Essentially, Berret and Hann's bodyguards would be considered as non-persons by the other members of the trading party, virtually ignored unless there was trouble, thus the indistinct name Aeryn had assigned to him.
Berret had to take into account that he got off fairly well in the arrangement. Malika would have to do most of the work arranging for the trade while Aeryn had the tedium of pretending to be a prosperous trader and let Hann entertain her while their subordinates conclude their business. Chiana also had little to do beside fetch items at Aeryn's beck. By the tiny smirk on the Nebari's lips, Berret judged she must have caught Aeryn's pun with her alias. The name Dresska being a twist of the Sebacean word "dresca" which literally meant - shameless flirt. "Maybe Officer Sun did have a sense of humor despite what Crichton said?" Berret thought. All in all, he probably had the easiest job. The only thing he had to do was stand next to one wall and pretend he wasn't there.
Malika rifled through a stack of paperwork, double-checking the amounts and the processing dates of the med supplies they were trading for. Most of the papers were for other trade goods that she really couldn't give a Trazzit's lame ass over. The vaccine and the few other medical items that they could use were what she came here for to double check, agreeing to play Aeryn's secretary as a cover. She scanned the film with the drug data and found that it matched the amount agreed upon and the manufacturing dates were recent. She pretended to scan the rest of the inventory films for appearance sake and then nodded to Aeryn that all was in order with the important items.
She leaned back in her seat and idly listened in while Aeryn went ahead and let Hann attempt to entertain her with meaningless small talk. How Aeryn could just sit there and make-believe to be interested was beyond her... the man was utterly boring! Hann's secretary finished going over their trade list and nodded to Malika that he found everything as agreed upon and in order. Malika returned the nod... as if she could care less. What these people wanted with emergency artic shelters was beyond her. But Moya had half a storage hold full of surplus PK portable cold-weather housing units, so why not get rid of some of them for some things they needed.
Chiana lounged sitting on the floor off to one side of Aeryn's knee and ran a nailfile across her black fingernails, playing the feather-headed serving girl waiting for her mistress' next order. "How can anybody live with black fingernails?" Malika thought. They were nowhere near as attractive as her natural blue ones, though technically she didn't have fingernails like mammals did. Hers were made out of the same substances that made up the thorn parts of certain plants, not calcium growths like humanoids. Plus hers were more useful. Should her body ever go into its survival mode due to lack of certain proteins, her nails would lengthen and harden within an arn or so into fearsome weapons for defense or hunting. Most Delvians didn't let their nails get too long as it was considered a sign of un-civility in polite society on Delvia. When she was a little girl, her mother use to tell her she had the most beautiful nails...
Malika almost slapped herself in the forehead. Goddess! How bored she must have been to let the sight of Chiana caring for her fingernails send her off on a tangent like that. She mentally rolled her eyes at herself for getting sidetracked. "Well, at least black is better than that silly pink Sebaceans have," she thought to herself before pushing the subject aside for good.
Her eyes traveled around the area and found Berret against the wall on the opposite side of the room. The black cloak blended so well with the room's shadows there that she had momentary forgotten the man was present. His hood was pulled down far enough where she could barely just make out his jaw line and slightly frowning mouth. She wondered for a microt if the Shrike had detected something wrong in the room and then concluded that it was just the way the man normally looked. He probably wasn't even aware that he almost constantly seemed to be frowning anymore then he was aware that he hadn't moved a drannit since taking up his post. Waiting long arns as still as a statue was most likely seconded nature to the assassin. Still if Berret thought anything was off beam and she couldn't pick up on it, she was sure Chiana would somehow know. The Nebari seemed to know what the man was feeling when nobody else could figure it out. And seeing that right then Chiana was holding up one hand and crucially inspecting her pinkie's fingernail, she had to assume everything was still going according to plan as far as any of them could tell. She idly wondered what their host would say if he knew the seemly obtuse Nebari girl was in a position to blow a rather large pulse hole through him should he decided to do anything funny. She had no idea where Aeryn was hiding her weaponry, but Malika felt better with the fighting knife tucked into her boot top and the pulse pistol hanging under her arm in the shoulder holster she made from the scrapes of the coat she was wearing.
"Waste not... want not," she thought to herself with an inward smile.
Berret had caught Malika watching him out of the corner of her eye. The young Delvian then made a casual scan of the room before settling her gaze back on him with a small frown. Berret wondered if she'd pick up on something amiss but then realized she was attempting to take her lead off him. Obviously he was doing something that caused the girl to think he himself had found something wrong with the scene. He did his best to appear relaxed. So far he had discovered nothing out of sorts with the meeting and this being the first time out on a mission with the Delvian, it was turning out to be rather difficult reading what the other was thinking... unlike Chiana or Aeryn, both of which he had better idea of how to read.
Across from him, Hann's bodyguard fidgeted for the forth time that arn. The well-muscled Sebacean man seemed to be regarding Berret with more unease as time passed. The ex-assassin saw Aeryn gaze at him and the other bodyguard several times during the meeting until finally she leaned down and whispered something into Chiana's ear. The Nebari smirked slightly and then leisurely unwound herself from the floor, stretching out like a Flex-cat before getting to her feet. She casually strolled over to the Shrike grinning. When she was close enough, she reached up and pulled his hood a little ways back so she could easier find his ear. The gray girl pressed herself obscenely tight to his body and murmured into his ear.
"Her majesty thinks you're playing too much the statue," Chiana cooed. "Aeryn thinks it's best if you move occasionally... you're making the natives nervous." She playfully nipped at his earlobe making him jump. "Yeah, like that," Chiana purred quietly to him.
Berret cut off a frown at Chiana's antics and instead leaned down to her.
"As you wish," he replied in a whisper and then loudly snapped his teeth together next to her ear.
Chiana jumped herself at the unexpected retaliatory tease, but then grinned up at him.
"Stop being so naughty," she admonished playfully out loud so that everyone could hear.
Berret stopped himself from chuckling as the girl walked back over toward Aeryn and Malika. The other bodyguard seemed to relax some after the apparent flirting between Chiana and Berret. It seems the man decided that Berret wasn't so odd after all.
Hann looked inquisitively at Aeryn over the Nebari girl and the bodyguard's interplay.
"They have a... relationship," Aeryn explained briefly. "I just sent her over to make sure he wasn't sleeping on his feet again. Good help is so hard to find."
"Yes, yes, I know," replied Hann. "It's the bane of being a prosperous trader. Don't you agree?"
Malika gave Aeryn a small frown that said she had better not been including her in the comment about not being able to find good help. Aeryn ignored the Delvian and was pleased to see that Berret remembered to move about occasionally. It was getting on her nerves the way the man stood so motionless for the past arn, and he was on her side. She could hardly imagine what Hann and his people thought about it if they noticed. At any rate, it seemed the MasterTrader bought her story about the Shrike falling asleep occasionally, which was plausible seeing she had no doubt that his own employees probably sometimes were less then reliable. Few beings had the discipline of a Peacekeeper.
Thankfully the group concluded their business and left Hann's hospitality, heading for the open market place for some last microt items while the Transport Pod was unloaded and reloaded with their goods.
Once away from the MasterTrader and his employees, the crewmates allowed themselves to relax a little.
"Don't get too comfortable," Aeryn warned, "There are still wanted beacons out there for the rest of us and should someone recognize one of us..." she left the sentence hang.
"I'll be glad to lift-off out of this dingy place," put in Malika.
"Oh, I dunno," said Chiana, "I kinda like this place. She draped an arm through one of Berret's as she strolled along side of him. Aeryn turned to look at her.
"Which reminds me... no snurching, Chiana," she added. "I don't want to attract any more attention then necessary."
The Nebari frowned. "You have to take the fun out of everything?" she asked.
"I mean it, Chiana!" Aeryn warned with a sour glare. "Any trouble... and I will leave you here if I have too."
"All right, all right," she responded. "I'll... try... and behave. Why don't you ever pick on Malika? I'm sure she's snurched a time or two in the past."
"I have not!" exclaimed the Delvian in outrage. "And if I did... I wouldn't be shelling blupped enough to get caught like someone I could name."
"Hey, the bigger the prize the more chance of gettin' caught," cooed Chiana sweetly, "At least I have the narbs to play for the big stakes."
Aeryn rolled her eyes and turned on the squabbling pair. "Will the two of you just SHUT UP! Stop the frelling bickering and just lets get our supplies and get the hezmana off this outpost."
Chiana threw Malika one last smug look and turned away from the fuming Delvian girl. Chiana was use to being in trouble but it was clear Malika didn't like being chewed out... by anyone. She started to chant a prayer for self-control as she did her best to ignore the others. Chiana turned to Berret.
"Hey? How come you didn't try and defend me?" she asked teasingly.
The ex-assassin frowned down at her. "I'm still having trouble with the mental picture of you with narbs," he answered with a straight face.
Chiana burst into a fit of laughter.
The small group traveled through several traders' booths. Chiana purchased three items of clothing, making a big production out of presenting the salesclerk with the correct amount of credits... mostly to annoy the ex-Peacekeeper. The Nebari immediately pushed the packages off on Berret so she could continue looking over merchandise unimpeded. Malika found herself inspecting a flowing dress at one stop. She frowned to herself as she considered that she'd been on the run for so long now that she no longer owned any of the dresses she left the Command Carrier with. Right then, the baggy maroon pants and teal wrap-around shirt she wore under the coat she made were her finest set of clothing. She idly found herself wondering what her patient, Andar, would think if she bought the dress and he happen to see her wearing it. She shook the thought from her mind a microt later. She barely knew the man and it was morally wrong for a healer to think about her patient in those terms. Yes, she found Andar attractive in a roguish sort of way... and the man was intelligent. Certainly more intelligent than Berret she considered, as she watched the man blindly follow Chiana around carrying her packages like some dumb beast of burden. "So much for the fierce assassin theory," she thought with a silent snicker. "Ah, the hezmana with it!" she thought next, "I'll buy the frelling dress because I like it... not because how I think some male would like it on me."
Chiana had wandered over, noticing the Delvian considering the clothing. Malika did her best to ignore the Nebari and paid the clerk the asking price without even trying to haggle.
"Nice dress," commented Chiana, "but you could have gotten it cheaper if you bartered a little."
Malika bit her lip. She hadn't wanted the dress to become a topic of discussion.
"Here, let me," Chiana said as the clerk handed Malika her new bundle. Taking the wrapped dress out of her hands before the Delvian could stop her, the gray girl turned and thrust it atop the packages Berret already carried. "Hey, Berret... take care of this for us."
Both Malika and Berret had the same stunned look on their faces.
"What?" asked Chiana at the pair. "You can't expect us to shop with an armload of bags, do ya?"
Malika was just about to announce that she was perfectly capable of carrying her own purchases when Chiana grabbed her by the arm and hustled her over to the next table... followed by a very defeated looking Berret.
Aeryn spied an armorer shop and stopped the group just outside the place.
"We need some spare parts for our pulse weapons," she explained. "I think it would be better if only I go in and discreetly get what we need. The three of you wait for me out here and try and stay out of trouble."
"Who? Us?" piped Chiana innocently.
"Yes, you," responded Aeryn. "I should only be gone a few microns at most. By now the Transport is probably loaded so we should be able to leave here and head back to Moya when I'm done."
Reluctantly, the ex-Peacekeeper walked into the shop, leaving her companions alone on the street.
"Whose for eating?" asked Chiana brightly and then something caught her eye. "Whew... look at that!" she said as she walked over to a nearby booth. Berret followed and Malika only waited a moment before trailing after them. She'd only taken one step after her new crewmates when somebody collided with her from the side.
"Oh! I'm sorry..." she started to say automatically until she realized that the person she 'ran into' was grabbing at her credit pouch. "Hey! You frelling bastard... let go of my money!" she exclaimed as she began to wrestle with the man over the leather purse-like wallet.
Before she realized it the man drew back his arm and punched her hard in the face. The blatant crude attack having thrown her momentary off balance... she wasn't ready for the blow and she fell to the ground.
Something felt loose in her jaw and her probing tongue kicked a back tooth out of her mouth.
"Oh frell it!" Malika cursed as she looked at the single tooth in the palm of her hand. "Jezz'czara, damn it!" Now her mouth would feel funny for the next couple of solar days until the replacement tooth grew in.
Her attacker spun on his heel to make his getaway with her purse... only to find himself clotheslined a microt later by the Shrike's armored forearm. Berret reached down to the stunned man and grabbing a handful of shirt, lifted the man up clear off his feet. The purse-snatcher cried out as the Shrike half-snarled at seeing the blue skinned girl down and bleeding.
Seeing the teal colored blood flowing from the corner of Malika's mouth, Chiana moved toward the Delvian girl, asking, "Are you all right?"
Infuriated, Malika ignored the Nebari's inquiry and scrambled to her feet.
"I don't need your help, Shrike!" she raged, glaring at the man he held and spitting a clot of blue-green blood from her missing tooth on to the ground at her feet.
Berret shrugged and regarded the purse-snatcher while Malika retrieved her fallen pouch.
"I believe you are in real trouble now," he told the man in a dead tone of voice. "Should I eradicate him?" he asked the Nebari girl.
"Put him down!" order the Delvian.
"He will remember us," countered the Shrike, "It is better that we leave no witnesses."
"I'll deal with him!" replied the angry Delvian. Berret looked again to Chiana, who indicated with her eyes that he should let the thief go.
Berret frowned deeply but complied and dropped the man. The would-be thief scrambled away from the ex-Enforcer who'd held him up with one arm and turned just in time to find himself rushing head long at the Delvian girl. The last thing he saw was Malika's arm pistoning forward in a blur just before her knuckles impacted him between the eyes.
Aeryn exited the armorer's shop with a box of spare pulse gun parts under her arm to find a horde standing around a nearby booth cheering someone on. Her companions were nowhere to be seen.
"What the frell?" she muttered as she push her way through the mob. "Oh just great!" she cried next as the crowd parted to reveal a disheveled Malika kicking a male humanoid until he disappeared under a sales table. Off to one side Berret watched dispassionately as always while Chiana jumped up and down cheering the Delvian girl on. Aeryn rushed forward and grabbed Malika by one arm.
"That is enough!" Aeryn said.
"Wait a microt," answered the girl and then she hauled off one last time and gave one last vicious kick to the now unseen man under the table. The man grunted painfully from the blow. "Now its enough," she said.
"What the hezmana happened? I was only gone a few microns and you're brawling," the Sebacean demanded.
"That mega-farb tried to steal my money," Malika answered savagely.
"It really was an amateurish move," added Chiana, "No finesse at all, so he deserved what he got."
"And he hit me and knocked out a tooth," Malika threw in.
Aeryn moaned out loud. "We have to get out of here before someone in authority comes along," she said. The woman looked up at the Shrike, who had been silent up until then. "Why didn't you do something?" she hissed at him. Berret shrugged.
"I was just going to snap his neck but they wouldn't let me," he said with a gesture toward Chiana and Malika.
Aeryn rubbed at her temple. "That's not what I meant!" she told him. "A killing would have been just as bad as a full scale brawl."
"I considered it only after I saw Malika's blood. I had no idea how badly she might have been injured," Berret answered defensively. "I would have been much more discreet then the beating she gave him."
Aeryn threw up her hands. "Never mind! Just pick up your things and lets get the frell out of here, now!"
The group gathered their fallen packages and the ex-Peacekeeper herded them back to the spaceport and their waiting Pod.
"Just let us get off this planet without anything else happening," Aeryn thought to herself. She could almost hear the "I told you so," Crichton would have been saying.
The crewmembers made it back to the Transport without further incident or being stopped by the local law. As Aeryn buckled herself into the pilot's seat she thanked the Goddess and swore she'd never let herself be talked into babysitting these three again... now if she could only keep John from finding out what happened... the rest of the solar day might turn out to be peaceful. The pilot's seat slammed into her back hard as she lifted the Transport Pod faster then she had too. She'd never been so glad to shake a planet's dust off her boots as just then.
Behind her, Chiana and Malika started bickering over who bought a certain item.
"Goddess give me strength," she moaned to herself.
"Are you ready to go?" she asked.
Berret didn't start at the sound of her voice like she thought he might, he had known she was there. He slowly turned to regard her over one shoulder. "Yes," he replied with little emotion in his tone. Chiana was becoming use to her new friend sometimes slipping back into his Shrike persona, especially when he donned the armor. She wasn't sure if Zhaan helping him regain the memories of his past was such a good idea anymore. The innocence Berret first had when they met on the commerce planet was quickly being replaced by this darker version of the man when he learned of all the killing he'd done as a Syndicate Enforcer. The incident on the ice moon had done little to improve matters even though she finally got him to admit to the nightmares he was having.
"Are you sure this is a wise idea?" he asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"We ain't got much of a choice," Chiana replied. "The new guy needs the inoculations or he's gonna keep getting sick. That means we have to stop at a Sebacean outpost to get them."
"It also means we might encounter Peacekeepers," Berret pointed out.
Chiana shrugged. "We can handle them," she said cockily. "Look... Aeryn says it'll be simple; we go in, get the drugs and get out. Easy as snurching candy from a blind Hynerian."
Berret didn't look convinced as he reached over and picked his black silk cloak up off the back of the chair he had draped it over. "We are also close to the boarders of the Scarren Imperium," he added.
"Ah-ha," Chiana thought with a tiny tilt of her head. "That's what's bothering him." She moved around the table closer to the armored ex-Enforcer.
"You're worried we might get caught by the Syndicate?" she asked. Berret didn't answer her and instead threw his cloak over his shoulders and then fastened the clasp together. "Don't worry," she continued, "I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Berret glanced down at the girl at first thinking she was being patronizing, but the look in her dark eyes told him that she honestly meant that she would do her best to protect him. Again, he found himself being amazed by the small Nebari's tough spirit.
"It is difficult not to think about the possibility," he admitted while unconsciously raising a hand to the scars left on his throat from the cycles of wearing a control collar. Even now, with the pathways still present within his nervous system he wasn't truly free of the Syndicate's cruel touch. "The thought is making me..." he struggled to find the correct word to fit the feeling he was having.
"Scared?" offered Chiana.
"Yes," Berret responded after a few microts. "I'm ashamed after all your help to admit... I'm having trouble forcing myself to go and help Andar."
Chiana reached over and placed a hand reassuringly on his forearm, feeling the metal gauntlet brace there that had first terrified her so. "It's natural. We're all scared," she told him. "Its nothing to be ashamed of."
"The Luxan is never afraid," Berret said with a frown.
"Yeah... well, that's just D'argo," she replied. "I'm sure he's got a case of the nerves just as bad as us. He's just has more experience at hiding it then we do."
The comment didn't seem to go very far with reassuring the ex-assassin. Chiana smiled up at him and made a point of adjusting his cloak over his armor. "Listen," she continued, "for someone just freed from a control collar, you're one of the bravest men I know. You took care of me and Rygel on the ice moon. Everything will go easy, just trust me on this."
Berret searched her eyes again to see if she was only attempting to pacify him. Once again her dark eyes appeared sincere and he wondered how she could possibly see him in that light.
"It was all of us working together that enabled us to survive," he countered. "I do not feel especially brave."
The Nebari shrugged her slim shoulder as if to say his comment didn't really matter.
"You still did what you had to do to save us all," she retorted.
"Its still not courage," Berret said with a small shake of his head. "I react mostly in rage to things." He glanced back out the view-port. "I seem to have an over abundance of that emotion," he finished in a mutter.
Chiana reached over and take hold of his chin to force him to look back at her.
"No dren?" she asked in light sarcasm and with a slightly lifted eyebrow. She gave him a small smile to show that she was only teasing. Before he could say anything else to continue the debate with her, she stood up on her tiptoes while drawing his face closer to hers. Her lips pressed gently against his. She held the pressure in what she considered the perfect kiss, neither too light nor too hard. She kept her eyes open for the first few microts of the embrace, seeing the surprise in his. Berret didn't try to pull away from her so she closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling, a quick peek a few more microts later showed her that Berret had finally taken the hint and followed her example by closing his own eyes. She considered it might be an underhanded trick to use on the man, but it got the results she wanted and ended the discussion before Berret could talk himself into having any more doubts. Besides, it wasn't actually as if she were leading him around by the mivonks for a devious reason. She was just trying to shore up his self-confidence. And nothing made a male feel better than the attention's of an interested female.
At least, that's always seemed to work for her so far.
The sudden kiss from Chiana effectively derailed his train of thought. This was the second time that his friend had surprised him with the intimate contact. At least, the second time that he could remember. There was that night they managed to get into trouble with the wine but he couldn't be sure if what Chiana told him had occurred actually did happen. The girl loved to pull pranks on him and he couldn't be certain if the story she told him was simply another hoax or the real truth. He knew what she was doing, trying to distract him from his fears and reservations. He felt a little embarrassed by his lack of experience by something that seemed so simple as kissing. As her lips met his, he was literally eye-to-eye with the small woman. She watched him for a moment and then closed her eyes, looking as if she were enjoying the contact. For whatever reason, Berret copied her and strangely found it enhanced the experience somehow.
Berret's hands somehow found their way to Chiana's hips and he pulled her closer to him. The Nebari girl responded by draping both arms around Berret's neck and countered by pulling him in closer to her.
The Shrike had just concluded that they had an interesting type of "skirmish" going on when their comms clicked on.
"Chiana, Berret," called Aeryn's voice; "We're waiting for you in the hanger bay."
Chiana reluctantly pulled away and spoke in the direction of her comm badge. "We're on our way, Aeryn."
She turned almost shyly back up to Berret, she hadn't meant for things to get that carried away.
"What are you thinking," she casually asked, her arms still locked around his neck.
"I forgot," he replied.
The couple entered the hanger bay to find Aeryn waiting for them. The ex-Peacekeeper had forgone her usual PK leathers and had donned more conventional clothing worn by the planet's inhabitants.
"Its about time," said the Sebacean woman. "Did you remember to bring weapons?"
Berret opened his cloak to show her his armor and the pair of PK pulse pistols belted around his waist. Chiana pulled back her gray overcoat to show her a third pistol on her hip.
"All right, then. Lets finish loading the Cargo Transport," finished Aeryn.
Aeryn led the way to the Pod they would be taking. By the craft, John, Andar, and Malika waited. The young Delvian was dressed much the same way as Aeryn. She had taken one of the dark brown surplus overcoats and after removing all the military trimming, had cut it to just passed hip length. Chiana paused a moment to admire the other woman's tailoring.
"Hey, drad coat," the Nebari commented.
Malika looked at the gray girl, trying to decide if she was being sarcastic. She really didn't know the Nebari very well but she concluded Chiana was giving her a genuine compliment so she nodded her thanks. The tall man that followed behind Chiana was another matter. The Delvian did her best to keep her feelings from showing on her face, but she felt her mouth turn downward into a grim frown. Berret looked every henta the efficient killing machine in the bluish-black armor and dark flowing cloak. She'd seen the way and how fast a Shrike could move despite the metal covering most of their bodies. It was as unnatural as the military designed microbes inhabiting the man's body. She didn't like being this close to any Shrike again... and she didn't trust Chiana's "tamed" assassin in the least.
"I still think I should come with you," Andar said around a series of coughs.
"You're not in any condition," Malika said, trying to be patient. "Until you get the Universal Vaccine you're going to keep catching every bug and virus there is." She'd been over and over this with the man for the last solar day. Going down to the planet unprotected would leave him in worse condition then he was now. She hadn't realized how many illnesses and diseases the UV protected from. To date, her and Zhaan had treated and nursed Andar through no less then twelve maladies. Unless the man got inoculated soon his immune system would burn out. "I just wish Rygel wouldn't have traded away all the ship's stock of standard meds."
"He didn't think we'd ever need them," said Andar. "After Crichton arrived, nobody thought there ever be a need to standard vaccinate anyone else. I guess my arrival was somewhat inconvenient."
Andar tried to smile but a round of coughing ruined the effect.
"You should be back in bed," admonished the Delvian.
Andar finally gave in to her orders after she threatened to call Zhaan and have her come down from Command and carry the ill Sebacean man back to his room.
Malika felt sorry for the ex-teacher as he left the hanger bay. The two of them had been somewhat thrown together in the crew's chaotic social order. She put the feeling aside for the moment and focused on the task at hand. She picked up the last equipment bag and tossed it up the Pod's gangway to the waiting Nebari girl.
John turned Aeryn to face him. A look of concern graced his handsome features.
"I think I should be going with you guys," he said, unknowingly copying Andar's discussion with Malika.
"Crichton," Aeryn responded with a slight hint of exasperation. "We told you. Scorpius has wanted beacons all over this quadrant. It wouldn't be safe for you to be seen walking around a Sebacean colony."
"I could wear a disguise."
"No, no, and no!" Aeryn said stubbornly. "This is a hit and run mission. We get in, get our supplies, and get out. We can't have you stumbling around drawing unwanted attention to us."
"So you're taking Pip, Miss Junior Congeniality, and Mister 'I forgot how to tie my shoes' Hitman? Aeryn, you might as well be carrying a flag that says, 'Hey! Wanted by the Peacekeepers,' on it. That would be less subtle then those three."
Aeryn sighed, wishing she could just slug Crichton and knock him out so she could just get this trip over with. "John, just trust me... this will work," the ex-Peacekeeper explained again. "Many prosperous Sebacean traders travel with a servant, a secretary, and a bodyguard. Nobody will pay any attention to us."
Unnoticed by the couple, Chiana had come close enough to hear part of the discussion.
"Ha! Did you hear that, 'Ret?" she called, "I'm a bodyguard!" She turned to the Shrike and shook her head sadly. "It's too bad you have to be the servant," she told the tall ex-Enforcer.
John looked at the deck to hide his grin at the Nebari's antics while Aeryn rolled her eyes.
"See what I mean?" the human asked.
"Wrong, Chiana," corrected the Sebacean woman. "Berret is the bodyguard, Malika is the secretary, and YOU... are the servant."
"Why does she get to be the secretary and I have to be the servant?" Chiana asked with a straight face.
"Maybe because I can read and write," muttered Malika half under her breath.
"Chiana," Aeryn replied in a warning tone.
The gray girl held up both hands as if surrendering. "Okay, okay. I'll be the servant," she relented. She then slapped both hands together and began to rub them deviously. "Which is okay cuz no one pays attention to servants... and that means more chances to snurch stuff."
"CHIANA!" both John and Aeryn cried this time.
"All right! All right!" Chiana said with a pretend look of being put out. "Jevanna! Don't get your tart-tills in a cluster-bunch. I promise I'll behave."
"Be sure that you do," warned Aeryn.
Berret watched the discussion with mild interest. The Nebari turned away from the couple and gave the Shrike a mischievous grin and a wink.
"Always the handmaid... never the maiden," Chiana said with a cock-eyed half-sneer.
The ex-assassin had to wonder about his friend. How she could go from kissing him passionately one micron to raising hezmana with her other crewmates the next just for the pure pleasure of it was a mystery to him. He dismissed the thought with a tiny shrug. One just never knew what Chiana was going to do next.
The Tradesman rushed forward to greet the group as they disembarked from their ship.
"Greetings, Lady IaNana Tan!" the called out, using the alias that Aeryn had given him.
Surprisingly, Aeryn had a smile that looked almost legitimate on her face.
"Greetings, TradeMaster Hann. I trust everything we discussed has been arranged?" she inquired.
"It is, Lady," Hann replied with a quick nod. "I see you brought your entourage." The man did his best to acknowledge each person behind Aeryn with another speedy nod of his head.
"Yes," answered the ex-Peacekeeper. "This is my secretary, Jaslynna. She will be handling the inspection of the pharmaceuticals and the transfer of the credits and trade goods when our concession is complete." Aeryn indicated Malika with a hand gesture and the young Delvian remembered to respond with one of the annoying bows the people used. "The others are my servant, Dresska," a wave at the Nebari girl. "And my man, whom you may address as Sinn if you have to."
Berret grimaced slightly. As a matter of etiquette, bodyguards were never called bodyguards outright here on this world while conducting trade negotiations. To do so would be the same as openly insulting the party you were trading with by calling them untrustworthy. Essentially, Berret and Hann's bodyguards would be considered as non-persons by the other members of the trading party, virtually ignored unless there was trouble, thus the indistinct name Aeryn had assigned to him.
Berret had to take into account that he got off fairly well in the arrangement. Malika would have to do most of the work arranging for the trade while Aeryn had the tedium of pretending to be a prosperous trader and let Hann entertain her while their subordinates conclude their business. Chiana also had little to do beside fetch items at Aeryn's beck. By the tiny smirk on the Nebari's lips, Berret judged she must have caught Aeryn's pun with her alias. The name Dresska being a twist of the Sebacean word "dresca" which literally meant - shameless flirt. "Maybe Officer Sun did have a sense of humor despite what Crichton said?" Berret thought. All in all, he probably had the easiest job. The only thing he had to do was stand next to one wall and pretend he wasn't there.
Malika rifled through a stack of paperwork, double-checking the amounts and the processing dates of the med supplies they were trading for. Most of the papers were for other trade goods that she really couldn't give a Trazzit's lame ass over. The vaccine and the few other medical items that they could use were what she came here for to double check, agreeing to play Aeryn's secretary as a cover. She scanned the film with the drug data and found that it matched the amount agreed upon and the manufacturing dates were recent. She pretended to scan the rest of the inventory films for appearance sake and then nodded to Aeryn that all was in order with the important items.
She leaned back in her seat and idly listened in while Aeryn went ahead and let Hann attempt to entertain her with meaningless small talk. How Aeryn could just sit there and make-believe to be interested was beyond her... the man was utterly boring! Hann's secretary finished going over their trade list and nodded to Malika that he found everything as agreed upon and in order. Malika returned the nod... as if she could care less. What these people wanted with emergency artic shelters was beyond her. But Moya had half a storage hold full of surplus PK portable cold-weather housing units, so why not get rid of some of them for some things they needed.
Chiana lounged sitting on the floor off to one side of Aeryn's knee and ran a nailfile across her black fingernails, playing the feather-headed serving girl waiting for her mistress' next order. "How can anybody live with black fingernails?" Malika thought. They were nowhere near as attractive as her natural blue ones, though technically she didn't have fingernails like mammals did. Hers were made out of the same substances that made up the thorn parts of certain plants, not calcium growths like humanoids. Plus hers were more useful. Should her body ever go into its survival mode due to lack of certain proteins, her nails would lengthen and harden within an arn or so into fearsome weapons for defense or hunting. Most Delvians didn't let their nails get too long as it was considered a sign of un-civility in polite society on Delvia. When she was a little girl, her mother use to tell her she had the most beautiful nails...
Malika almost slapped herself in the forehead. Goddess! How bored she must have been to let the sight of Chiana caring for her fingernails send her off on a tangent like that. She mentally rolled her eyes at herself for getting sidetracked. "Well, at least black is better than that silly pink Sebaceans have," she thought to herself before pushing the subject aside for good.
Her eyes traveled around the area and found Berret against the wall on the opposite side of the room. The black cloak blended so well with the room's shadows there that she had momentary forgotten the man was present. His hood was pulled down far enough where she could barely just make out his jaw line and slightly frowning mouth. She wondered for a microt if the Shrike had detected something wrong in the room and then concluded that it was just the way the man normally looked. He probably wasn't even aware that he almost constantly seemed to be frowning anymore then he was aware that he hadn't moved a drannit since taking up his post. Waiting long arns as still as a statue was most likely seconded nature to the assassin. Still if Berret thought anything was off beam and she couldn't pick up on it, she was sure Chiana would somehow know. The Nebari seemed to know what the man was feeling when nobody else could figure it out. And seeing that right then Chiana was holding up one hand and crucially inspecting her pinkie's fingernail, she had to assume everything was still going according to plan as far as any of them could tell. She idly wondered what their host would say if he knew the seemly obtuse Nebari girl was in a position to blow a rather large pulse hole through him should he decided to do anything funny. She had no idea where Aeryn was hiding her weaponry, but Malika felt better with the fighting knife tucked into her boot top and the pulse pistol hanging under her arm in the shoulder holster she made from the scrapes of the coat she was wearing.
"Waste not... want not," she thought to herself with an inward smile.
Berret had caught Malika watching him out of the corner of her eye. The young Delvian then made a casual scan of the room before settling her gaze back on him with a small frown. Berret wondered if she'd pick up on something amiss but then realized she was attempting to take her lead off him. Obviously he was doing something that caused the girl to think he himself had found something wrong with the scene. He did his best to appear relaxed. So far he had discovered nothing out of sorts with the meeting and this being the first time out on a mission with the Delvian, it was turning out to be rather difficult reading what the other was thinking... unlike Chiana or Aeryn, both of which he had better idea of how to read.
Across from him, Hann's bodyguard fidgeted for the forth time that arn. The well-muscled Sebacean man seemed to be regarding Berret with more unease as time passed. The ex-assassin saw Aeryn gaze at him and the other bodyguard several times during the meeting until finally she leaned down and whispered something into Chiana's ear. The Nebari smirked slightly and then leisurely unwound herself from the floor, stretching out like a Flex-cat before getting to her feet. She casually strolled over to the Shrike grinning. When she was close enough, she reached up and pulled his hood a little ways back so she could easier find his ear. The gray girl pressed herself obscenely tight to his body and murmured into his ear.
"Her majesty thinks you're playing too much the statue," Chiana cooed. "Aeryn thinks it's best if you move occasionally... you're making the natives nervous." She playfully nipped at his earlobe making him jump. "Yeah, like that," Chiana purred quietly to him.
Berret cut off a frown at Chiana's antics and instead leaned down to her.
"As you wish," he replied in a whisper and then loudly snapped his teeth together next to her ear.
Chiana jumped herself at the unexpected retaliatory tease, but then grinned up at him.
"Stop being so naughty," she admonished playfully out loud so that everyone could hear.
Berret stopped himself from chuckling as the girl walked back over toward Aeryn and Malika. The other bodyguard seemed to relax some after the apparent flirting between Chiana and Berret. It seems the man decided that Berret wasn't so odd after all.
Hann looked inquisitively at Aeryn over the Nebari girl and the bodyguard's interplay.
"They have a... relationship," Aeryn explained briefly. "I just sent her over to make sure he wasn't sleeping on his feet again. Good help is so hard to find."
"Yes, yes, I know," replied Hann. "It's the bane of being a prosperous trader. Don't you agree?"
Malika gave Aeryn a small frown that said she had better not been including her in the comment about not being able to find good help. Aeryn ignored the Delvian and was pleased to see that Berret remembered to move about occasionally. It was getting on her nerves the way the man stood so motionless for the past arn, and he was on her side. She could hardly imagine what Hann and his people thought about it if they noticed. At any rate, it seemed the MasterTrader bought her story about the Shrike falling asleep occasionally, which was plausible seeing she had no doubt that his own employees probably sometimes were less then reliable. Few beings had the discipline of a Peacekeeper.
Thankfully the group concluded their business and left Hann's hospitality, heading for the open market place for some last microt items while the Transport Pod was unloaded and reloaded with their goods.
Once away from the MasterTrader and his employees, the crewmates allowed themselves to relax a little.
"Don't get too comfortable," Aeryn warned, "There are still wanted beacons out there for the rest of us and should someone recognize one of us..." she left the sentence hang.
"I'll be glad to lift-off out of this dingy place," put in Malika.
"Oh, I dunno," said Chiana, "I kinda like this place. She draped an arm through one of Berret's as she strolled along side of him. Aeryn turned to look at her.
"Which reminds me... no snurching, Chiana," she added. "I don't want to attract any more attention then necessary."
The Nebari frowned. "You have to take the fun out of everything?" she asked.
"I mean it, Chiana!" Aeryn warned with a sour glare. "Any trouble... and I will leave you here if I have too."
"All right, all right," she responded. "I'll... try... and behave. Why don't you ever pick on Malika? I'm sure she's snurched a time or two in the past."
"I have not!" exclaimed the Delvian in outrage. "And if I did... I wouldn't be shelling blupped enough to get caught like someone I could name."
"Hey, the bigger the prize the more chance of gettin' caught," cooed Chiana sweetly, "At least I have the narbs to play for the big stakes."
Aeryn rolled her eyes and turned on the squabbling pair. "Will the two of you just SHUT UP! Stop the frelling bickering and just lets get our supplies and get the hezmana off this outpost."
Chiana threw Malika one last smug look and turned away from the fuming Delvian girl. Chiana was use to being in trouble but it was clear Malika didn't like being chewed out... by anyone. She started to chant a prayer for self-control as she did her best to ignore the others. Chiana turned to Berret.
"Hey? How come you didn't try and defend me?" she asked teasingly.
The ex-assassin frowned down at her. "I'm still having trouble with the mental picture of you with narbs," he answered with a straight face.
Chiana burst into a fit of laughter.
The small group traveled through several traders' booths. Chiana purchased three items of clothing, making a big production out of presenting the salesclerk with the correct amount of credits... mostly to annoy the ex-Peacekeeper. The Nebari immediately pushed the packages off on Berret so she could continue looking over merchandise unimpeded. Malika found herself inspecting a flowing dress at one stop. She frowned to herself as she considered that she'd been on the run for so long now that she no longer owned any of the dresses she left the Command Carrier with. Right then, the baggy maroon pants and teal wrap-around shirt she wore under the coat she made were her finest set of clothing. She idly found herself wondering what her patient, Andar, would think if she bought the dress and he happen to see her wearing it. She shook the thought from her mind a microt later. She barely knew the man and it was morally wrong for a healer to think about her patient in those terms. Yes, she found Andar attractive in a roguish sort of way... and the man was intelligent. Certainly more intelligent than Berret she considered, as she watched the man blindly follow Chiana around carrying her packages like some dumb beast of burden. "So much for the fierce assassin theory," she thought with a silent snicker. "Ah, the hezmana with it!" she thought next, "I'll buy the frelling dress because I like it... not because how I think some male would like it on me."
Chiana had wandered over, noticing the Delvian considering the clothing. Malika did her best to ignore the Nebari and paid the clerk the asking price without even trying to haggle.
"Nice dress," commented Chiana, "but you could have gotten it cheaper if you bartered a little."
Malika bit her lip. She hadn't wanted the dress to become a topic of discussion.
"Here, let me," Chiana said as the clerk handed Malika her new bundle. Taking the wrapped dress out of her hands before the Delvian could stop her, the gray girl turned and thrust it atop the packages Berret already carried. "Hey, Berret... take care of this for us."
Both Malika and Berret had the same stunned look on their faces.
"What?" asked Chiana at the pair. "You can't expect us to shop with an armload of bags, do ya?"
Malika was just about to announce that she was perfectly capable of carrying her own purchases when Chiana grabbed her by the arm and hustled her over to the next table... followed by a very defeated looking Berret.
Aeryn spied an armorer shop and stopped the group just outside the place.
"We need some spare parts for our pulse weapons," she explained. "I think it would be better if only I go in and discreetly get what we need. The three of you wait for me out here and try and stay out of trouble."
"Who? Us?" piped Chiana innocently.
"Yes, you," responded Aeryn. "I should only be gone a few microns at most. By now the Transport is probably loaded so we should be able to leave here and head back to Moya when I'm done."
Reluctantly, the ex-Peacekeeper walked into the shop, leaving her companions alone on the street.
"Whose for eating?" asked Chiana brightly and then something caught her eye. "Whew... look at that!" she said as she walked over to a nearby booth. Berret followed and Malika only waited a moment before trailing after them. She'd only taken one step after her new crewmates when somebody collided with her from the side.
"Oh! I'm sorry..." she started to say automatically until she realized that the person she 'ran into' was grabbing at her credit pouch. "Hey! You frelling bastard... let go of my money!" she exclaimed as she began to wrestle with the man over the leather purse-like wallet.
Before she realized it the man drew back his arm and punched her hard in the face. The blatant crude attack having thrown her momentary off balance... she wasn't ready for the blow and she fell to the ground.
Something felt loose in her jaw and her probing tongue kicked a back tooth out of her mouth.
"Oh frell it!" Malika cursed as she looked at the single tooth in the palm of her hand. "Jezz'czara, damn it!" Now her mouth would feel funny for the next couple of solar days until the replacement tooth grew in.
Her attacker spun on his heel to make his getaway with her purse... only to find himself clotheslined a microt later by the Shrike's armored forearm. Berret reached down to the stunned man and grabbing a handful of shirt, lifted the man up clear off his feet. The purse-snatcher cried out as the Shrike half-snarled at seeing the blue skinned girl down and bleeding.
Seeing the teal colored blood flowing from the corner of Malika's mouth, Chiana moved toward the Delvian girl, asking, "Are you all right?"
Infuriated, Malika ignored the Nebari's inquiry and scrambled to her feet.
"I don't need your help, Shrike!" she raged, glaring at the man he held and spitting a clot of blue-green blood from her missing tooth on to the ground at her feet.
Berret shrugged and regarded the purse-snatcher while Malika retrieved her fallen pouch.
"I believe you are in real trouble now," he told the man in a dead tone of voice. "Should I eradicate him?" he asked the Nebari girl.
"Put him down!" order the Delvian.
"He will remember us," countered the Shrike, "It is better that we leave no witnesses."
"I'll deal with him!" replied the angry Delvian. Berret looked again to Chiana, who indicated with her eyes that he should let the thief go.
Berret frowned deeply but complied and dropped the man. The would-be thief scrambled away from the ex-Enforcer who'd held him up with one arm and turned just in time to find himself rushing head long at the Delvian girl. The last thing he saw was Malika's arm pistoning forward in a blur just before her knuckles impacted him between the eyes.
Aeryn exited the armorer's shop with a box of spare pulse gun parts under her arm to find a horde standing around a nearby booth cheering someone on. Her companions were nowhere to be seen.
"What the frell?" she muttered as she push her way through the mob. "Oh just great!" she cried next as the crowd parted to reveal a disheveled Malika kicking a male humanoid until he disappeared under a sales table. Off to one side Berret watched dispassionately as always while Chiana jumped up and down cheering the Delvian girl on. Aeryn rushed forward and grabbed Malika by one arm.
"That is enough!" Aeryn said.
"Wait a microt," answered the girl and then she hauled off one last time and gave one last vicious kick to the now unseen man under the table. The man grunted painfully from the blow. "Now its enough," she said.
"What the hezmana happened? I was only gone a few microns and you're brawling," the Sebacean demanded.
"That mega-farb tried to steal my money," Malika answered savagely.
"It really was an amateurish move," added Chiana, "No finesse at all, so he deserved what he got."
"And he hit me and knocked out a tooth," Malika threw in.
Aeryn moaned out loud. "We have to get out of here before someone in authority comes along," she said. The woman looked up at the Shrike, who had been silent up until then. "Why didn't you do something?" she hissed at him. Berret shrugged.
"I was just going to snap his neck but they wouldn't let me," he said with a gesture toward Chiana and Malika.
Aeryn rubbed at her temple. "That's not what I meant!" she told him. "A killing would have been just as bad as a full scale brawl."
"I considered it only after I saw Malika's blood. I had no idea how badly she might have been injured," Berret answered defensively. "I would have been much more discreet then the beating she gave him."
Aeryn threw up her hands. "Never mind! Just pick up your things and lets get the frell out of here, now!"
The group gathered their fallen packages and the ex-Peacekeeper herded them back to the spaceport and their waiting Pod.
"Just let us get off this planet without anything else happening," Aeryn thought to herself. She could almost hear the "I told you so," Crichton would have been saying.
The crewmembers made it back to the Transport without further incident or being stopped by the local law. As Aeryn buckled herself into the pilot's seat she thanked the Goddess and swore she'd never let herself be talked into babysitting these three again... now if she could only keep John from finding out what happened... the rest of the solar day might turn out to be peaceful. The pilot's seat slammed into her back hard as she lifted the Transport Pod faster then she had too. She'd never been so glad to shake a planet's dust off her boots as just then.
Behind her, Chiana and Malika started bickering over who bought a certain item.
"Goddess give me strength," she moaned to herself.