Chapter 9

Kerran watched the pulsing light on the monitor screen. Flash on… flash off… on… off…. on… off. Every flash posed another question, another doubt. She knew she wasn't the only one to be worried about this trip. Possibly Calan was the only one not showing great anxiety but that was because he already suspected that his 'mother', Cally, had not been with the others when they came here.

She watched the flash again. Guada Prime, a planet of problems right from the start. A planet of death and destruction to all those that had come to it, if the databank was to be believed. Farmers, foresters, miners; all had come, tried to make a living, and then been destroyed, like fallen empires rising from the ashes of the ones before. The bounty hunters had had a field day during those turbulent times, they were in demand no matter which side was in power and they didn't care who was paying as long as they got paid. There had been a lot of suffering on Guada Prime - a lot of suffering.

She got up and walked down to the monitor screen, reaching out a hand to lightly touch the pulsing point. Such a small point of light in the vastness of the universe, such a small point to house so much death. She dropped her hand to her side. Morbid thoughts she knew, but could she think anything but? This could be the last resting place of her father, of Veril's and Zev's fathers. This could be where they died, and if not here then it would be somewhere else. She acknowledged that a small part in the back of her mind still hoped that her father was alive, that she would be able to see him, speak to him, touch him, know he was a real, living person. A part of her wanted to know he was proud of her. A part of her wished to believe that he loved her. The practical part of her mind knew that he hadn't even known that she existed. That part of her mind told her that he had killed her mother, the woman he was said to have loved, albeit in self-defence. That part of her mind wondered if he would have killed her just for being who she was. That part wondered if he even knew how to love. Then the largest part of her mind would remind her that she will never know.

She turned her back on the monitor screen and sat down. She cast one last glance at the pulsing light on the screen. Guada Prime. They would be there in 3 days. Time to ensure that all shipboard systems were working effectively. She then forgot the screen and turned her mind to the data scrolling before her as she began the diagnostics checks. They would only be half way through by the time Calan and Veril awoke and her shift was over.

Regin glanced at the screen, the planet below filling it. It seemed innocuous enough, though looks could be deceiving as Regin knew too well. He had closely monitored all air activity around the planet for the past day but had seen nothing untoward. He had kept one sensor trained on the planet housing the Federation outpost, but nothing had arisen. He was still taking no chances. He scrolled through the information his informant, Tagin, had sent to him. Nothing of particular interest there, nothing that could really help him. He pondered now what to do - should he wait longer or just go in? He mentally shrugged. What was the point in waiting longer? Nothing had happened so far, and if it was going to when he arrived, well, then it would happen if he arrived today, tomorrow or whenever.

He strode back to the flight chair and sat down, setting in the course to take a landing pattern to Guada Prime's space port. He watched as they got closer and closer. Still, there was nothing to indicate that there was anything untoward and he began to relax. From the information he had on Guada Prime he didn't think he would be finding much. Why something so important to the Federation as this ORAC contraption would be found on a backwater planet like this was seeming more and more absurd. Surely if the Federation had known it was here they could have easily found and removed it. He wondered if some enterprising Federation trooper had done just that and kept the knowledge from his superiors. Although, to then hide the existence of it for the next 20 or so years would be something of a feat. What's the point of having it if they couldn't, or wouldn't, do anything with it? There was certainly no profit in that.

A voice crackled over the intercom, startling him out of his reverie. He cursed himself for his lack of attention. He was still tired and it was beginning to show. If this town had a good hotel, a soft large bed and proper bath would go a long way to helping him to recuperate. The voice crackled again and he answered with his ship's ID and requested landing instructions. There was barely a pause before they were passed to him. As he drew nearer he could see there were only two landing pads, and both were currently empty. What he saw of the space port and surrounding town showed it to be nothing more than a provincial planet. Well, that would hopefully make the locals more keen to talk, just so they could get some outside news in return. The ship shuddered as it landed and he rolled his shoulders to loosen tense muscles. Gods, it would be good to walk in fresh air again and stretch the muscles properly. He sent a quick query to the port control to ascertain any planetary customs that he needed to abide by, and receiving word that there were none, he prepared to leave the ship.

He wandered away from the port towards the nearest buildings, unconsciously keeping on hand in the pocket of his jacket against the gun placed there. He had been correct in assuming it would be a hotel of sorts. The downstairs was devoted to a small bar and upon enquiry he found the upstairs to be rooms for let. He bade to view them and although small and simple they were clean and certainly were, by far, better than his sleeping quarters on board. So after a little haggling he agreed upon a price with the proprietor and moved in. His first move was to lay down on the bed, luxuriating in the softness and promptly fell asleep.

"So that's Guada Prime." Calan made it more a statement than a question, but Kerran still nodded.

"That's it." she said, standing, staring at the view screen, arms folded across her chest.

"Not much to look at, is it?" Zev put in.

"What did you expect? A pleasure planet?" Calan answered.

"No, but maybe something a little more advanced. You'd hardly know if anyone was living there."

"Well, the population is fairly small now, after all that's happened. At least that should make it easier for us to look around a bit."

"Yes, there is that." Kerran said, turning. "We don't really want questions and we probably wouldn't get a great deal of information from these people, not with all the upheavals this planet has had over the years."

"So where do we start?" Veril asked, glancing across the landscape showing on the screen.

Kerran grimaced, "Who knows? Have we got any more information on where this so-called rebellion was put down?"

"Not really. There was reference to a couple of townships but that's all. I can try calling up an old map and find the grid references. That may narrow things down."

"It's a start anyway. Can you do that before we land?"

"I'm on it now." Veril sat at the console and quickly brought up the information for analysis. They overlaid a survey map over the top and studied it.

"Here or here, I think." she finally said.

Zev peered over her shoulder to do a double check and nodded his head in agreement. "I think you're right."

Kerran turned away from the screen. "Have we found anywhere to land?" she queried Zev.

"Think so." He tapped a couple of switches and another screen lit up, this time of a map of the planet below. "There's the town," and a bright yellow dot appeared on the map. "Here's a plantation off to the side, past the most heavily agricultural areas," a green square appeared. "I think a good spot would be here." and a red cross appeared just next to the green shading.

"Why there?" Calan asked from where he sat.

Zev looked over to him. "There's a barren outcropping, could be left-overs from the mining days. It will provide a pretty good landing pad for the ship, but be close enough to the forest that we should be able to camouflage it if need be. Also it will still put us close enough to the town so we can come and go as we like."

"Sure it's stable if it's old mine workings?" Kerran asked, coming closer.

"Pretty certain. I've run some seismic checks and that area seems to be solid bedrock. Most of this spot seems to have been surface stripped, not undercut. The deeper workings are further to the north and stretch to the east. That's pretty bad up that way."

"Okay. Let's go down." Kerran took her seat. "Calan, keep an eye on the screen for any activity. We don't want any surprises. Veril, listen out for anything coming through the communication net. If you pick up any transmissions that could have something do with us, let us know." Veril nodded in reply as Calan also strapped himself in.

Kerran began their descent and the planet loomed larger and larger in the screen until she switched it off. It didn't help them in their landing and so was more of a distraction than assistance. They ignored the buffeting they received passing through the atmosphere, it was no worse than other times, and finally the whine of the engines intensified as the speed of descent decreased and levelled out, before slowing to almost a standstill as the ship hovered for a moment before the landing struts connected with the ground with a reverberating thump. The noise of the engines and ship gradually ceased as Zev and Kerran checked and shut down each aspect until all was quiet.

"Let's see what's out there now." Kerran said, turning the view screen back on. It showed them barren rock before them, with scraggly looking shrubs and clumps of tussocky grass. Kerran panned the view around as the rocks disappeared into healthier looking trees that thickened the further back they went. The trees pretty much covered one side of them, the rocks in front. "Good landing." she complimented Zev, for his assistance. He flashed a grin.

Calan turned around in his chair. "Do we go out?" he asked.

"Guess so." Kerran replied as Veril also turned her chair. "Grab some weapons we don't know what's out there so let's not take chances. Veril, set the computer to monitoring transmissions and store them. See if you can set it up to flag us if some key words come up. You know the sort of thing."

Veril nodded and turned back to her board. Calan and Zev were already moving towards the weapons locker as Kerran finished locking the flight controls down. Now, even in the unlikely chance that someone got onto the flight deck, they wouldn't be able to take off, not without smashing the boards first and then having to fix them. That's usually enough to put off most self-respecting thieves. Zev came back and handed her a gun, Calan doing the same for Veril

"We ready?" Kerran asked, standing and strapping on the weapon.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Zev said for all of them.

They moved outside and looked around. "Seems quiet enough at least," Calan commented.

"So what next?" Zev asked.

"Zev," Kerran said," Get the cart down. Calan and I will head into town and see what we can find out. We'll report in every half hour, that way if anything goes wrong you've got a chance to get out quick. Don't try and wait longer. I'd rather you wasted the fuel and got airborne again if we're late calling than you being caught on the ground for an air attack." Zev nodded, he knew she was right although he looked none too happy about it.

"You and Veril can check things out here. Get us a bit of camouflage cover. Don't worry about too much at this point in time until we find out how much we need it, but a little bit won't hurt. Keep us appraised of anything that you pick up over the subspace channels."

"We will." Veril assured her.

Soon Calan and Kerran were winding their way through the trees using the compass heading Zev had plotted into the cart towards the town.

"Do we have a cover story to tell the locals?" Calan asked as they bounced along. Kerran manoeuvred around another tree before replying.

"Let's keep it simple and don't volunteer it unless we're asked. Why not just say we're traders and we're looking at new areas to break into? Tell them the routes we usually do and just say we wanted to see if we could set up one of our own so we don't have the competition."

Calan nodded. "That's feasible. We know they do some trading so that gives us a way to have at least heard of them."

"We'll have to see how they deal with strangers first. They may not be the friendly type at all."

"We're going to have our chance soon." Calan said, indicating with his chin in the direction where a figure could be seen walking towards them.

Kerran slowed the cart whilst Calan unobtrusively readied his gun. As they drew closer to the figure Kerran brought the cart to a standstill just a little distance from the stranger though she did not turn the vehicle off.

"Howdy, neighbours!" the man called out with a smile and a wave.

Kerran put on a wide smile in reply. "Hello."

The man walked closer to them and Calan shifted position, draping one arm over the back of the seat behind Kerran, looking relaxed and at ease, whilst using her body to shield the gun from view as he brought it to bear on the approaching figure. The man reached up and removed his hat, wiping a hand across his brow.

"Been out prospecting?" he asked conversationally.

" No." Kerran replied easily. "We didn't think there was anything worth while left in that area."

"There's not." the man agreed, placing his hat back on. "The minerals were sucked from this place long ago, so you're smart not to be fooled into thinking something was missed. You're not local, are you?"

"Traders," Kerran said, "Hoping to get on a route with a commodity that we don't have to be in competition with the big trade companies. They're making it harder and harder for the smaller people to run a business."

The man nodded his head in agreement, the fight of the common man against the establishment being a common one. "Well, you may have some luck with the timber trade hereabouts. We don't produce enough good quality stuff to make it worthwhile for the big trading corporations to come out here. One small trader does, but he heads to the Gamma sector which is off most of the main trading routes. You could maybe do alright if you picked up a couple of small trade routes and worked back to the bigger ones."

"That's exactly what we're hoping to do, if we can. You talk like you know what it's all about?"

The man chuckled. "In my younger days I worked on a freighter for a while. Paid good money and got to see more of space than I would have if I had stayed at home. I remember some of the way it is. Are you heading for town?"

"Was going to. What's to see there?"

"Not much," the man admitted. "There're a couple of bars but they're really for the locals when we go in to trade. We don't get too many visitors. The Federation don't bother coming out here any more, except once every so often."

"What do they come for?" Kerran asked warily.

"Oh, boredom I imagine. This whole sector is pretty quiet from what we hear, so I imagine the troopers are just plain dying of boredom and feel like a change of scenery. They usually hole up in the hotels and drink themselves stupid before heading back. Oh, if they do turn up it might be a good idea to stay out of town."

"Why?"

"Well, a good looking young lady like your self would find herself in trouble. All our women folk make themselves scarce when the troopers hit town."

"Ah," Kerran said, as understanding dawned. "Fair enough and thanks for the warning. Look, whilst we're here is there anywhere we can go to find out some more about this planet, the history of it, what's been going on? Might be something in it all that will lead us to something else we can trade. Who knows, we may find that they didn't mine it all out."

The man laughed. "You're optimistic, aren't you?" Kerran grinned at him and he chuckled. "Well, you're a trader for sure. They always reckon they're bound to find something of use, somewhere, even if it's not the thing they were originally looing for." He scratched his chin, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Well, there's the town databanks you could try there, though I don't know how much good they'd do you. A lot of years went by where they weren't keeping records due to the troubles hereabouts, so there's bound to be gaps. Or you could ask around to speak to old Abe Neckle. He's been here forever and that's no exaggeration. No-ones been able to disprove that he wasn't, so he must have been. He knows pretty much everything that's gone on hereabouts so if anyone can help he could. Only problem is that he's a bit of a slosh, know what I mean?"

"He's a bit fond of the liquor, is he?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, that he is. Can't blame him really. One way or another he's seen his whole family killed, not to mention all his friends, and lost his livelihood a number of times over. That's enough to drive anyone to drink. So you'll have to buy him a couple to get him talking and keep them coming whilst he is talking. But you've got to watch when to stop, otherwise he starts going off into the realms of fantasy. He's getting on in years and his mind slips after too much drink."

"What should we watch out for?"

The man laughed, though without much humour and a touch of sadness. "When he starts talking about knowing some big shots that were Federation outlaws. Never says names or anything but that's when you know you need to stop."

As the man had spoken, Kerran had felt Calan stiffen next to her and it took all her control to let nothing show on her face or in her mannerisms of how deeply that statement affected her. "Where can we find this Abe Neckle?" she asked calmly.

"Oh, there're only two bars in town, he'll be at either one or the other. Or just ask and someone will be able to tell you."

"Well, we had best be going if we're to get into town and get some work down. Thanks for all your help. You live hereabouts?"

"Just over yonder." he said, pointing, thankfully away from where their ship was. "Might see you around again."

"Maybe. Thanks again." and she started the cart moving.

"Anytime, neighbour, anything to help out old trading partners!" he called after them as they moved off.

"Do you think it's likely?" Calan asked when they were out of ear shot, as he flicked the safety on the gun and stowed it again. He didn't need to clarify his statement, he knew Kerran would know exactly what he was talking about.

She glanced over at him. "What do you think?" she asked back. "Are we reading too much into that statement? Or is it just too much a coincidence to not be the truth?"

Calan shrugged, lounging back again with an arm thrown across the back of the seat. "I admit it sounds so implausible as to be plausible, only because of what we already know. Guada Prime was the best guess we had so that is why we are here. If this old man has been around for as long as claimed then it could be quite likely he does know something, or heard of something. After all, 20 years seems a long time to us but for a man who has been living here all his life it is but a segment of time. I say we definitely need to meet this man and speak to him."

"And get him well and truly drunk so he brings it up." Kerran put in with a grin.

"Yes, but preferably out of earshot of others." Calan clarified. Kerran raised an eyebrow at this caution. Calan continued to explain. "If everyone else stops buying him drinks when he begins this topic, they are hardly likely to have heard more than a smattering. Now, a smattering may be all he does know, but if he knows more and in greater detail I don't think we really want too many other people hearing it. It's not such old news that the names might not still ring a bell, and we don't want attention drawn to our own presence."

"Very true," Kerran agreed as they broke out of the trees into more agricultural lands of ploughed fields and rows of produce. They waved back to the occasional figure in the fields that first waved to them, as they followed what appeared to be the only road, which was little more than a track, but as it still followed the set compass heading they assumed this went to town.

They passed no other people on the road itself and soon reached the town, meandering through the small set buildings before reaching one that was obviously a bar. They pulled up and climbed out, glancing around as they did. No-one appeared to be taking a special interest in them, nor were any Federation troopers to be seen.

"Let's see if we can find Abe Neckel?" Kerran said, gesturing towards the darkened interior.

"Then let's see if we can get him drunk." added Calan as they entered the establishment.