Roweyna was standing in the quarter deck waiting for the drop ship to dock and the connections to be put into place to allow access between her drop ship and the ComStar warship. Henry waited anxiously by the hatch. She felt the drop ship land or be magnetically pulled onto the warship's hard point. There was a moment where she felt weightless and was afraid that they'd have to operate in zero-gravity. The weightlessness passed and the warship started to move and gravity resumed.
Roweyna held a grenade in one hand and a remote explosive detonator in the other. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest. She was concerned her hands were shaking so much that she might drop either device.
The last connection clicked into place, and Roweyna nodded to Henry. He groaned as he pushed the metal lever across the door and released the locks. Henry had to step out of the way as the door was forced open. In a moment they were surrounded by six heavily armed men dressed in black and wearing body armor, helmets, goggles and face masks.
The first man through the door shoved a short-barreled laser rifle into Henry's chest and yelled, "Get on the deck, now!"
More men rushed onto the drop ship. One of them man swiftly approached Roweyna, "Get down, now!"
She smiled demurely as she slowly raised her hands showing the grenade that was missing its safety pin, but she was still holding the "spoon" lever that would initiate the grenade fuse.
"Grenade" several of the men yelled as their weapons came up and they all seemed to aim at Roweyna and the grenade in her hand. Instinctively several of the men stepped away from her and back toward the main hatch.
"Alright lads, settle down and get Mr. Tempes down here. He and I have business to discuss."
"Negative. You're in no position to negotiate." The soldier seemed uncertain what to say next.
Roweyna angled her body away from the man speaking to her, but ensured everyone could see the grenade. She made a show of loosening her grip on the grenade and letting the spoon play out a little. She then held up the detonator clutched in her other hand.
"Aside from the grenade that will surely kill everyone in this room I also have this remote detonator rigged to a massive quantity of explosives around the prize that Mr. Tempes wants. It's set up in a deadman's switch configuration, so if I let go of this device it will explode. I've placed my entire ammunition magazine around it as well. I daresay it will likely blow a hole in this beautiful antique of spacefarin' warfare. So ye tell Mr. Tempes I am someone he desperately wants to negotiate with."
"Ye should negotiate with her." Henry said as he pushed the laser barrel out of his chest and crossed his arms. "Negotiate like yer damn life depended on it, seein' as it does."
"Best hurry gents, my hands are gettin' tired and once I lose my grip…and that'll be all she wrote."
The leader of the group put his hand to an earpiece. He adjusted the mic built into his helmet and spoke quickly. "Alright, Mr. Tempes has agreed to meet with you. Just follow-"
"I think not. Mr. Tempes will come to me. I've prepared a lovely tea and we can sit and discuss business."
The leader looked hesitant but he again spoke into his mic and had to answer several questions. After a prolonged back and forth he finally nodded. "Mr. Tempes is coming down, but he has requested you render the grenade safe and surrender it."
"In the spirit of negotiating I agree." Roweyna said, "But first I'll need to get the safety pin. Mr. Henry please retrieve it."
Henry nodded and walked over to the door that led into the Drop Ship and opened it. As soon as he did Hap, Mags, and Smythe entered. They were also heavily armed and wearing armored vests. They quickly formed a ring around Roweyna as she handed the grenade to Mags.
Mags took the grenade, and pulled a long metal pin out of her pocket. The pin was shaped like a lower case letter "b" with a long pin and a ring. Mags threaded the safety pin into the hole that kept the "spoon" from flying off. She bent down the long pin down and then placed it in a pouch on her utility belt.
"We agreed to 'surrender' the grenade." Roweyna told Mags.
Mags shrugged and pulled the device back out, "Who gets it?"
"I'll take that" said a tall man with silvery hair as he ducked under the main hatch and stepped onto the quarter deck. He was dressed in a black jump suit and carried no weapons, but he had a walking cane. He was flanked by two more heavily armed soldiers dressed all in black. Followed behind them was a middle-aged woman in a green jumpsuit. Her graying brown hair was cut in a pageboy style, and she had the "fragile" look of someone who had lost bone density from long periods of time in zero gravity.
Mags held out the grenade and Mr. Tempes snatched it from her and handed it to the ComStar soldier on his right. Roweyna watched the soldier clip the grenade's safety pin to a snap link on his body armor. She immediately marked the man as a novice because most experienced soldiers and sailors knew how pouches and weapons on body armor could get snagged or tangled, especially on the confined passages of a ship. A grenade attached to armor by its safety pin was a recipe for trouble.
Roweyna turned her attention back to Mr. Kristoff Tempes and the woman following him. "Pardon me, I met Mr. Tempes a year ago, but I do not believe we've had the pleasure. My name is Roweyna McFinnigan, I'm the daughter of the proprietor of this mercenary company."
The woman in green jump suit smiled warmly, "Thank you, may Blake's blessings be upon you and your vessel, I'm Demi-Precentor Dana Myers. I serve, by Blake's good will, as the captain of the Veil of Light."
"Is that the name of your warship, the Veil of Light?" Roweyna was surprised by the woman's cordial attitude. She wanted to learn as much as she could about her as quickly as she could.
"Yes, it was recently re-commissioned though-"
"I'd like to get down to business." Tempes interrupted.
"Right this way, please." Roweyna said as she motioned to the door and started to lead them to the aerobay. "I've prepared tea, so we can sit and discuss this situation like civilized people. If ye believe that's within the will of yer order's beloved founder."
Tempes looked incensed as Myers smiled, "Yes, of course, this is a business transaction, and I believe he would want us to conduct ourselves decently and in ways that encourage culture and the appreciation of beauty."
Roweyna and Henry exchanged looks. Was it possible Myers wasn't completely privy to the situation. Perhaps this wasn't Tempes operation, or maybe she just outranked him. This made Roweyna wonder about the relationship between Myers and Tempes. If she was the ship's captain, what was he, and what was his rank? She could sense Tempes annoyance though and wondered if she could exploit the tension between them.
"Your ship is quite clean and orderly, this isn't what I expected for a mercenary vessel." Myers said.
"Thank you, Demi-Precentor." Roweyna decided to start using the ComStar ranks to see if she could goad Tempes into revealing more of himself, "I can't speak for every company, but in this company we're like a family and everyone has chores and an obligation to clean up after themselves."
"In the explorer corps we simply use military discipline to enforce the standards, but the results are the same I suppose. It also helps we all have our common beliefs in the teaching of Blake." Myers replied.
Roweyna stopped herself before asking if Blake wrote of the proper way to store one's soiled undergarments, but she did add, "We have our desire for money in common, I suppose."
"We really don't have time for this." Tempes said under his breath.
"Is that so? Does yer warship's K-F drive not need time to recharge?" Roweyna asked.
"It actually does. And it will take several days once we get into position to began the recharge process."
"Thank you Demi-precentor, I note we still have nominal gravity, where exactly are we moving."
"For obvious reasons I'm moving the Veil of Light away from the jump point and the common shipping lanes. I've instructed my crew to move us above the orbital plane and then to position us into an optimal recharge distance from the star. By Blake's good will, and the star of St. Ives it should take roughly a week to recharge though."
"Well, then we have a bit of time, although I'm hoping our business will be concluded afore a week."
"I assure you it will." Tempes said darkly.
Roweyna walked into the aerobay. She had explained her plan to most of the crew, and even though no one was comfortable with it, they had all generally agreed to play their roles. The flight crew, engineers and doctor were at their stations. The Coyotes, Henry, Lucas, and Smythe had agreed to be the "muscle" in the aerobay. They were all fully armed. Everyone else standing by damage control stations. Roweyna tried not to shudder as she considered what would happen if the explosives were detonated.
The aerobay had the shipping container brig in one corner, and the shipping container primed with explosives and surrounded by ammunition in the other. Between them was a small table set for tea. The table had a floral tablecloth, and a tiered plate set in the center with small sandwiches, pre-packaged cookies and chocolates. There was a complete ceramic tea service. This was a new one that Roweyna had purchased on St. Ives. There was only two chairs, but Henry saw the problem and motioned to Smythe to grab a folding chair and place it near the table.
Roweyna walked to the table and turned and faced the Demi-Precentors. She smiled warmly as she gestured to the table. "Please sit." As Roweyna sat down Tempes and Myers joined her. Tempes two soldiers flanked them and Roweyna noted the man with the grenade on his snap link stood across from her.
Tempes eyed the cargo container across the bay, "So you expect us to sit here next to primed explosives, sipping tea, while you believe you can convince me to let you all go?"
As he spoke Myers gave Tempes and Roweyna a questioning look.
"I believe our relationship is built on mutual mistrust, but it doesn't have to be based on lethal intentions." Roweyna held up the detonator. "You want what is in the cargo container, and I'm willing to cut my losses. What I'm proposing is you take the cargo container and we fly out of range of this detonator. There should be no need to destroy us, and ye and yer warship can go on your way."
Tempes gave Roweyna a look of cold indifference. "How do I even know this container has what I want."
"Do ye have some sort of expert that can verify the cargo?"
"I'll call up my engineer team, they are the ones that will be installing the ECM suite." Myers said. She motioned to the man next to her and he spoke into his mic as she eyed the tier of food.
"Please help yerself." Roweyna said, She started to reach for the tea, but realized it would be difficult to pour with the detonator in her hand. She looked over her shoulder and motioned to Smythe who was standing next to Henry and Lucas near the cargo container.
Roweyna carefully handed Smythe the detonator and made sure he kept his hand tightly grasped around the lever. "Stay here next to me, and don't let go of that detonator. If ye release that lever everyone dies." Smythe nodded as Roweyna repeated, "Hold onto this with your life."
Roweyna turned back to the Demi-Precentors and started to pour tea, "Now I picked up this tea from St. Ives. It's a blend of green tea and jasmine berries. Do you take cream?"
"Yes, and honey if you have it." Myers answered.
Tempes glowered as Roweyna offered to pour tea for him, "No thank you."
"Mr. Tempes, I feel yer not enjoying my hospitality. Here as a sign of my good will I'll release Ms. Shafer to your custody." Roweyna motioned to Mags who was already opening the cell door.
Shafer walked tentatively toward Tempes who looked at her with almost as much rage and annoyance as he was showing Roweyna. As she neared he hoarsely whispered, "Go stand in the corner and when our business here is complete we'll discuss your failings."
Demi-Precentor sipped her tea "oh that's quite good" she said as she added another generous spoon full of honey. "I know we agreed that I would not interfere with how ROM conducts its business, but perhaps it was the will of Blake-"
"Her and I will discuss Blake's will in private." Tempes responded quietly.
Roweyna noted everything Myers was saying, "So Demi-Precentor, ye mentioned this was an ECM suite, and ye were going to connect this to yer warship."
"The Demi-Precentor has already said too much." Mr. Tempes said, "and given the company you keep," Tempes glanced over at Anastasia, "I'm little surprised you hadn't already figured out what you had. Please don't try to leverage us for additional information or think anything you say can improve your position. Your options are virtually nil and you situation is hopeless."
Myers again looked puzzled, "I'm sorry. We paid this company to bring us this ECM suite, but both of you are behaving like we are going to kill this company. What am I missing? They've done a great service to Blake's work and taken dangerous technology from an inferior state."
"Oh he hasn't told you?" Roweyna said as she smiled warmly and stirred her tea. "I'm certain Mr. Tempes would love to explain why everyone here is fearing for their lives."
"It's not because we have a warship, is it? I assure you we didn't come here to destroy you, my orders stated there was a mission imperative-"
"You need to stop speaking to them like they are trusted agents." Tempes glowered.
Two men in yellow jump suits entered the bay. They looked around confused. Roweyna pointed to the shipping container surrounded by missile crates and land mines. "That container has the ECM suite. Henry will open it up so you can inspect the goods."
Henry pushed a missile crate away from the door, as Lucas moved a vibro-mine and rerouted some of the detcord. They opened the doors so the engineers could inspect the ECM device. They looked skeptical as they had to step over and around the explosives to enter the container.
"I assure ye, we've not tampered with the ECM suite."
"Other than placing enough explosives on it to destroy your vessel and possibly mine." Tempes replied
"Well other than that." Roweyna said as she sipped her tea, "I understand your desire to keep this warship secret, and yer mission imperatives, so I'll assure you that no one from our company will report it, if ye promise not to use the MRB to either starve our company or set us up to be destroyed."
"Kristoff." Myers said as she sat down her tea cup, and picked up her third tuna salad sandwich. "Someone needs to explain to me right now why these mercenaries think you intend to kill them."
Tempes watched the ECM container waiting for the techs to re-emerge, "I'll fully debrief you once our business here is conducted and we are safely aboard our vessel.
"Allow me to explain then." Roweyna smiled, "After we completed the raid the man that hired us and his hand selected hit squad turned on us. He had claimed to be an AFFS officer and when we took the evidence of the betrayal to them, House Davion's representatives told us he was actually ROM. They even offered to pay us to bring this thing to New Avalon. Claiming those men were ROM seemed like a stretch, but here you are, with a Starleague warship and some dozen heavily armed men. Forgive me for our less than cordial reception, but even in the days of the great Star League, rarely did one jump a warship into a system and than make a convincing claim of coming in peace."
"That's fair." Myers said, then put her hand on Tempes wrist. "Is this true? You need to speak to these allegations." Myers looked at Tempes critically, "I thought it strange that I'd be ordered to take this vessel out of mothballs, but the orders appeared to come from a senior explorer corps precentor.." She looked critically at Tempes., "We're my orders a fabrication?"
Tempes brushed her hand off his wrist as the engineers came out of the shipping container. The older man of the group looked at the Demi-Precentors, "Everything appears to be all here, at least as near as I can tell. I'd prefer the explosives were removed."
"So there ye are Demi-Precentor Tempes, yer prize is there for the taking. All I'm asking is safe passage and an assurance that we don't interfere with each other's work. I think we can be reasonable."
"I have a counter-offer." Tempes said as he leapt to his feet, and grabbed Smythe's hand with the detonator, "Kill them all."