AK-763 Chapter 2
The two riders brought there mounts to a halt away from the camp, and waited. The gangly beasts were local creatures and their riders wore clothing to protect against the sun and sand. Approaching when signalled and seemingly nonchalant about being under guard, it was obvious up close that the man in front and the woman behind were not desert people. The man's clear galangic confirmed it, as did his height and muscular frame. Whatever sand people ate did not grow a body like this.
Taking off his goggles and head wrap, he nods to whomever is the senior person present. "John. My name is John, this is my woman Mary." Carrying a tone both confident and courteous, he continued. "We were here to do some work for a customer; Mary runs an engineering firm specializing in long wear tooling. Our work is done here and between the desert storm coming as well as the dune raiders outside your camp thinking they are well hidden, we were wondering if you might have room for some folks who would not mind leaving the area."
When questioned about the Dune Raiders, John presented a detailed military style report. "Three camps, ranging from forty-five to sixty foot each. The usual complement of incompetent leaders whipping everyone into a ferver for tonight's raid. One camp half a click at two-seven-eight, another the same range at two-niner-two, and the last and largest half a click behind and between them at two-eight-five. Tactics are reported to be the first two teams storm and get the crap shot out of them, the last one comes in for the kill." If anyone asks questions he will answer them as best he can in the same matter of fact tone.
When the woman finally takes off her goggles and head dress, she reveals a wise smile and perhaps once beautiful face worn by the years, Both John and Mary appear to be in their mid-thirties but carry themselves with an age born of hard, unpleasant work.
"Your call." John says. "We can saddle up and head out or stick around a bit and join you going some place else."
John smiled. "Seems like there is a lot going on." While his smile wasn't the beaming facial adjustment of a blinded optimist it was an attempt. "Since there are two places for use to be and there are two of us, that seems easy to resolve." He looked down at Mary, now by his side. "Hon?"
"Sure." she replied, with a much more natural, if still not beaming, smile. She nodded to Jaq. "I'll go with you and we can see what can be arranged. John can stay here and do grunt talk with the guys while you tell me about your name. It's really interesting." Before parting, she stretched up as John leaned down and they kissed. "Good luck." She whispered, looking him in the eyes.
"I promise." He replied, smiling naturally as his hands rested gently on her back.
While Mary left with Jaq, she added. "Mary Jankowski, former machinist mate, Naval engineering. A little active space time but most of my career was spent in space refurbs." As they walked Mary glanced back warmly at John. "Don't let the big lummox fool you, he's as gentle as a woman can want. Of course..." she shrugged "He's got his manly side too. When John and I first met some of the locals were trying to run me out of business. They thought six or ten to one was good odds." Mary flashed a wicked smile at Jaq. "Bad math on their part."
John smiled as he watched Mary and Jaq leave. Turning to Walt, however, his face became impassive. Business like. "I'll join you, Colonel. What do I need to know?" While John's tone is deferential, and standard for a ranker, his syntax speaks more of the "Give me the objective and I'll take care of it" mentality. As they walk John will listen attentively and ask for clarifications as needed.
