Veril pushed her hair from her eyes and shaded them with a hand as she stared up into the sky. Nothing to be seen yet. Still she was early, so she turned to sit down. She had been on Baram for the past year and hadn't disliked it. She had come here to seek out her mother's friend. Fortunately he had still been here and remembered Kerril, and been happy to see her. So they had quickly sold off her ship, and for a good price, she had been assured.
She didn't mind the loss of the ship at all. It was of no use to her. She didn't know how to fly it, and it might have been recognised as once belonging to Bayban the Butcher, which could have complicated her life tremendously. So it had been sold, and those credits, as well as the gems she had bought with her, made her rather wealthy. A fact she was determined to keep hidden.
The other major problem was that she had no papers, wasn't registered within the Federation at all and so would find it difficult to move around. So next was to obtain a full set of false papers. Once that was done, she began working. She gained employment at one of the restaurants close to the Federation headquarters. There she watched and listened, taking note of every little thing.
The pay had been very poor, but she had made a lot in tips. The Federation troopers seemed to appreciate a pretty, sympathetic listener. Veril had gained a great deal of information, although unfortunately not much to help her search; she needed more information from the past. So, it was time to move on.
A request for passage went out and a reply had been received. Her mother's friend had double-checked the verification and said it was safe, and so now Veril was awaiting her lift off-planet. She gnawed a ragged nail. The only information she had was a planet's name – Betafarl. Apparently the last time her father's friends had been seen. She had painstakingly sifted through the titbits of news she had learnt and tried to work out a time line of her father's movements from the time he had last been seen by her mother.
When she had first arrived and began making enquires, she had learnt of a report of their deaths. She had almost given up then and decided to go home, but an inner need to be certain, and to find out how he had died and what he had done in between had made her stay. So, like a jigsaw, she had slowly put things together, piece by piece. It hadn't been easy. All she had was obsolete news, here-say, legend, myth and rumour. She disregarded nothing, and Betafarl was where she had finally arrived at, so Betafarl was where she would go. Her time on Baram had by no means been wasted.
A roar above startled her out of her reverie. A ship was coming down for landing. Veril remained where she was ready to flee if danger threatened. The ship settled in a cloud of dust and the engines roar faded to silence. There was no movement for a moment. Veril could imagine the pilot was doing exactly what she was - checking to see if there was any danger, and ready to leave at the slightest sign that there was.
Slowly a hatch below opened and a ladder extended. Another pause. Then a figure slowly descended, one hand hovering close to the open jacket. Hidden gun, Veril thought. This was one very careful person.
Upon reaching the ground, the figure looked around slowly and carefully, stopping when they spotted Veril sitting quietly. For a moment they looked at each other. My move, thought Veril, standing slowly and picking up her bag before walking towards the ship. As she drew closer she realised the pilot was female. Veril stopped only a couple of feet away and waited.
"You're my passenger?" the girl opposite her asked.
Veril nodded. "Yes."
"Ready to go?"
"All set."
"Where to?"
"Tell you on board."
The girl didn't seem surprised at this insistence. "Okay. This way." and waved Veril towards the ladder. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, Veril climbed into the belly of the ship feeling her companion following. The ladder was detracted and the hatch sealed.
"Follow me." She was told and was lead to the flight deck. "I'm not rigged up for passenger comfort." The girl said seating herself. "My cargo's usually inanimate."
"I don't mind." Veril assured her, sitting also.
"So, where to?" the girl raised a querying eyebrow.
"These are the co-ordinates." She handed over a bit of paper. The girl punched them in and the ship shuddered into life and they were soon space bound.
The pilot continued to scan things from the computer as Veril read an old viewer. "Why do you want to go to Betafarl?" the voice startled Veril, bringing her back to the present. She grew wary as she turned to the other.
"I want to check something out. And that's where I was told to go."
"You do know that's a Federation controlled planet?"
"Yes."
The pilot shrugged. "Just letting you know. Thought you might have been trying to avoid the Federation. Going to a planet occupied by them doesn't seem like the best thing to do."
"I don't have a lot of choice. I hope not to have to stay long. I just want to find what I'm after and leave."
There was silence for a moment. "How long do you think you'll be?"
Veril shook her head. "I don't know, but I want to leave as soon as I can."
There was silence again and Veril didn't think her companion was going to speak further when she did, "Look, if you want, I'll hang around until you're ready to leave - if you're not too long."
"Why?" Veril asked suspiciously. When she had first left her home she wouldn't have questioned this offer. A year in the outside world had taught her better.
The pilot shrugged, almost in anger. "Let's just say I think you could do with the help, and you're not likely to find it that easy to get off planet unless I'm there to take you." She said this all quite sharply, as though embarrassed to admit to caring for a stranger's welfare.
"Are you a rebel?" Veril asked curiously. Sharp eyes bore into her, the intensity and palpable threat hidden there startling her enough to make her physically recoil
As though Veril's unconscious reaction reassured her, the intensity dampened and she half smiled. "Used to be - for a time."
"What do you do now?"
"I smuggle – goods, people, whatever."
"For the rebels?"
She shook her head. "For almost anyone. Not the Federation." she said emphatically.
"Don't you believe in what the rebels are doing? Is that why you left?"
"Oh, I believe in it all right. But I had something…personal to do, and it needs money to move around, run a ship and so on. So I had to find a way of paying for it. Smuggling is one of the more palatable methods of gaining money. And you?"
"I'm looking for someone."
"And you think you'll find them on Betafarl?" an ironic eyebrow rose.
"No, I don't think so, but that was the last place they were seen. Or at least some of their friends were seen. I want to see if I can find anyone who could tell me where to next look."
"So who is this important person you're trying to find?"
"My father." Veril's simple answer hit Kerran hard. Thoughts raced around in her head, jumbled together and making no sense. She fought for calm and collected her scrambled thoughts.
"Who was your father?"
Her passenger turned wary. "It's not important."
So she wouldn't mention his name. The only reason she wouldn't would be if she was afraid it would be recognised. It would only be recognised if it was well-known. It would only be well known if it was one of the Federation's top people, or a wanted criminal - and top Federation people would hardly be found on Betafarl, in the back of beyond. So he could only have been…
"Was your father named Avon?" Kerran asked, then holding her breath waiting for the answer.
Veril turned startled eyes to her. "How do you know of him?" the question blurted out before Veril remembered her newly learnt caution and snapped closed her mouth.
Kerran closed her eyes a moment and slowly expelled her pent in breath. "He's my father also."
"Your father!" Veril stared and then realised she had to clarify something. "Avon isn't my father."
Kerran's eyes snapped open and she wondered if she had trapped herself. "But you said…"
Veril shook her head. "Avon's not my father. Vila is."
"Vila?" It was now Kerran's turn to stare dumbfounded. Vila, her father's long time companion. Del had spoken of him.
The two girls stared at each other across the flight deck, not knowing what to say. Surely this couldn't be happening, it was just too much of a coincidence. Kerran said as much, almost stuttering in her disbelief, but Veril interrupted calmly, though her heart was beating no less violently.
"Why should it be so impossible?" she said. "We both found out who our fathers were and it's very natural to want to find out more, to find out the truth. So since they were always together eventually we would have both come here. Didn't you know your father had gone to Betafarl?"
"I had heard a rumour about it but I also knew he had left a long time ago."
"But didn't you think you would be able to learn something by going there?' Veril insisted.
Kerran shrugged. "I knew it was under the Federation's control. It's a habit to avoid places like that."
"Well, I still think we may be able to find out something. There's bound to be some people still there who might remember something. Besides, it's the last place I have to go. After there I had no other clues. I had hoped to learn the next step from coming here."
"Well, I guess we're about to find out, aren't we?"
"We?"
Kerran nodded. "Guess we're in this together now. As they say, two heads are better than one."
Veril smiled shyly. "I would like the company. It's been hard not having anyone you could talk about it."
"Likewise." Kerran agreed, with an answering smile of relief. "Look, I'll show you where the galley is and a room you can stow your gear. It's not much, but it's comfortable enough."