Episode 117. Part 3
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Rick tries his animal handling skills to send the dogs off. The dogs are in full attack mode and Rick realizes that there’s nothing we can do except trigger the ‘stand-down’ response in the dogs by going prone, mimicking a subdued target.
Rick: Hit the deck!
He goes belly down on the ground and the others do the same, save Arden, who drops to his knee. The dogs ignore the prone for the upright and immediately go for Arden. A dog gets his jaws on Arden’s arm and the doctor finds himself on his back and extremely busy. He’s got a dog chewing his arm and another with a purchase on a piece of him, and Arden is engaged in keeping both dogs’ teeth away from his throat.
Nika is on the ground twenty feet away and she pulls her rifle to the fore and aims.
Nika: (to Rina) Right!
Rina: On it!
Rina aims for the dog on the right of Arden, Nika aims for the dog on the left. Both women hit their targets. The dog on the right yelps keenly and limps away. The dog on the left drops dead. Arden cautiously squirms clear. He’s been chewed up and he’s bleeding, but he’s alive and able to function.
We have to work quickly. Our gunfire will have attracted the attention of any guards that might be on the grounds. Christian gets Arden off to the side so he can bandage his wounds. Rina goes to the first container and uses her cordless power drill to drill through the lock. Nika keeps an eye on the dog that’s still alive, ready to shoot it if it makes a move toward us. It’s no threat to anyone, cowering off by the fence and Nika changes her focus to keeping an eye out for the guard that will inevitably show up.
Rina opens the container, and there are no people inside but boxes of computers. Rick loads regular tranq rounds in his rifle. Nika takes to the roof of one of the containers, the better to shoot any approaching guards from above.
Rina opens another container to see what’s inside. It’s full of burlap sacks containing what seems like grain.
Sure enough, we’ve drawn attention by our gunfire. Two guards are coming our way to investigate. Nika draws a bead on one of the guards and shoots. She hits. He goes down. She calls into her mike to the others.
Nika: Company.
We’ve run out of time. We check one more container: it’s unlocked and empty. Nika climbs down from the container, shoulders her rifle and draws her pistol to cover our retreat. Arden is at the corner of the row, to cover the approach of any hostiles. The guard sees the both of them and aims at Nika, squeezing off a shot and hitting her. Her vest takes the hit, subverting the damage to a hard blow. She staggers, but stays on her feet. That’s it. It’s time to go. Nika and the rest of us haul ass for the car.
The guard shoots at our backs and Nika is hit twice more. She’s stunned, but she’s still on her feet and her second wind kicks in. She falters than picks up speed and hauls out of there with the rest of us.
We gain the car, pile in and peel out. Bullets ping on our paint job but we’re armored and we’re safe. We zoom down the street and debate what to do next. We could try Potemkin’s place next, but we don’t know were he lives. We could return to the ship, but chances are likely he’s there—or his goons are—and returning would be walking into our deaths. Rina suggests we go to a hotel, hole up and lick our wounds.
We drive to a hotel.
It’s a seedy place, run by a Russian, and it suits our purposes. We register under an assumed name and pay in cash. The Russian doesn’t bat a lash but makes the money disappear and slides over the keycards. Once we’re in the room with the door locked and the curtains drawn, we rethink our priorities.
Nika’s ready to cut our losses and leave. Potemkin’s already nearly killed all of us once. Hell, in her case, he’s succeeded. She’s already died and come back. No more bullshit—it’s time we cut our losses and leave. We agree. Meeting adjourned.
Rina: Who’s taking first watch?
Nika: I am.
Rina: I’ll take second.
Christian borrows Rina’s databook to jump on the Cortex, searching for any holdings belonging to the Camdens. Christian pulls up the phone number to their offices in Jamestown Station and leaves a long detailed message: He’s happy he killed one of their family, saying how degenerate their entire family is, and he’s going to be on the Gift. They are welcome to come over and get him. If they have the guts.
Christian puts all his acting skill into this message and it’s very provocative, a fabulous “Fuck you!”. After all, why not lure the Camdens right into Potemkin’s reach, and have the Russian take the Camdens out? Killing two birds with one stone, as it were?
Arden redresses his wounds more securely and takes to bed. The rest of the night is uneventful and so we pass the hours until dawn, watching and sleeping in turns.
Wednesday, 11 Jan 2519
Baxley’s Snooze 'n' Cruise
Jamestown Station, Bernadette
06:30 hrs, local time
The sun rises. We’re still alive. Banged up, with no ship, no prospects and nowhere to go. But alive.
Hallelujah, y’all.
We check out our ship, riding past her berth to give it the eyeball. We see there is a wheeled trailer mounted with a crane, loading cargo. Looks like Potemkin’s not waiting a single second. Nika wants to continue on to Potemkin’s office.
We do a drive-by surveillance first. We spot there’s a care parked off to the side. Potemkin’s car. Looks like the man might be in the office. We drive on and debate our next move. Maybe we can corner Potemkin and inject him with the Chempliance and get him to confess to the crime of slave trafficking. Or maybe we’ll just shoot the bastard. Whichever suits us best.
Rina isn’t too sure about that last bit—do we want the Federal Marshals on our asses because we shot their case against Potemkin right out from under them? Without Potemkin, they’ve got nothing. Arden calls in to Di Lan to check on the status of his case.
The man in question answers: yes?
Arden tells him we’ve left the ship and are driving around without a place to go. How’s the case coming against Mr. P? Di Lan answers back that he’s got nothing to report and that he hopes we’re keeping our noses clean and our butts out of trouble. Arden asks if he knows when the ship is leaving, because Potemkin’s already loading cargo onto it. Yes, Di Lan is aware of what’s going on with the ship, thanks. That’s good to know, Arden growls back, because that’s our ship, thank you very much. Call us if anything happens. Arden rings off after leaving the man our contact information.
We have these options:
- Go to port and watch them load up our ship, watching for anything remotely illegal or incriminating, or…
- We can bribe a port worker to tell us what’s in the cargo.
- Get the local LEOs involved.
Rick cuts through all the chatter and says we should just go for Potemkin. We’ve run away. He thinks he’s won. He won’t see us coming.
Not a bad idea, that.
We drive for Potemkin’s office. In the car, we check our weapons—locked and loaded with pistols and rifles. And knives. Rina slips hers up her left sleeve, to keep it at hand. Once we arrive, we just walk right the hell in. Christian takes point, Arden brings up the rear.
We see a buxom and tightly dressed blonde receptionist at the front desk, who demands to know what we’re doing here when we stride in. Christian ignores her for the corridor leading to the rear of the building. The receptionist rounds her desk, demanding in a heavy Russian accent that we stop and identify ourselves.
Rina: (grimly) Sit down and shut up, shliuska.
Arden: Hey, babe.
Faced with a hard-nosed woman on the one hand and a handsome amorous man on the other, the receptionist runs back to her desk to grab the phone, to call the cops… Or reinforcements. Arden beats her to it, hangs up the active line she’d punched and cradles the handset. He turns to her and turns on his considerable charm and grins.
Arden: So, where’s Potemkin?
She refuses to say.
Christian and Nika go down the corridor, testing the doors in it as they go. They find the door to the stairs on the right, to the records room on the left. At the end of the corridor is a closed door and Christian eases it open into the room ahead of him, and takes cover in the corridor behind the doorjamb. A man’s voice calls out from the room beyond.
Man: Who’s there?
Christian looks back down the corridor and motions Rina to say something in response.
Rina: (in Russian) It’s me, who else?
Beyond the corridor is a sitting room and in it are four strapping men. Christian rounds the doorjamb, chambers a round into his rifle and levels it at the four, catching the men in the act of drawing their pistols.
Christian: I wouldn’t. I really wouldn’t.
The men subside. Their hands remain on their weapons, but they keep them holstered.
Since Christian is keeping the four men at gunpoint, Nika, Rina and Rick take the stairs up to continue the search. Arden stays below to keep the receptionist company. In the rear sitting room one of the men addresses Christian, reminding him that there are five of them to his one.
Man: There are five of us. And one of you.
Christian: True. The question is, one of you will die…at least one of you, possibly more. Which one of you wants to do it? First?
The man sits back down on the couch. The others follow suit. Christian holds them there with the threat of his gun.
Man: I ain’t paid enough to die.
Christian: You really need to ask yourself, “Is that jerkwad Potemkin really worth it?”
Apparently not, because no one moves.
Upstairs the rest of us find a landing with a couple of doors. The door on the right opens up to an office and in it we find Potemkin.
Jackpot.
He’s at his desk at the far end of the room. He freezes when we go in. Nika levels her rifle at him. Arden is fast behind and Rina remains on the landing, covering their rear.
Nika: Don’t think about moving your hands. Come on. Out. Out from behind the desk. (A beat) I’ve got nothing left to lose.
Potemkin rises easily from his chair.
Potemkin: Well. I know that you’re a cold-blooded killer. I’ve seen it in your eyes.
Nika: Out.
Potemkin: You think this is really going to work? What is your plan? You shoot me, and then what?
Nika: What exactly do you think I’m tryin’ to do?
Potemkin: I’m not sure what your plan is. You shoot me and then you…what?
Rick walks towards him and stabs Potemkin with the trank dart filled with the Chempliance. It’s a solid hit and the dart dispenses the full dose into the Russian. Potemkin grunts, fingers the dart and looks up at all of us.
Potemkin: What have you done to me? (Incredulous look) Drug me? That’s your plan? Why am I constantly surrounded by amateurs?
Nika: Because you constantly hire them.
Potemkin: Let us talk about this plan, now. Now you going to steal ship from me? Kill me? What are you doing?
Nika: Nope.
Potemkin: (Yeah, right) You’re just visiting.
Nika admits to nothing. She’s waiting for the drugs to take effect. He starts to look woozy and mutters something in Russian. She pulls out a slim digital recorder and turns it on. Time to capture his confession, to help Di Lan build his case.
Nika: You know, if you didn’t surround yourself with amateurs, you wouldn’t get stuck like this all the time. (A beat) So what is it exactly that you think you’re going to do with our ship? Now that you’ve extorted it out of us.
Potemkin: (woozy now) …Business.
Nika: (getting angry) Why don’t you tell me what kind of business that you’re in, because you hired me to look after your brother.
Potemkin: Shipping….
Nika: What do you ship?
Potemkin: …cargo…?
Maybe that Chempliance is working too fast and too well. Potemkin’s looking really rocky now.
Nika: That’s the lamest answer, ever. (A thought…) Was your brother stealing stuff from you?
Potemkin: …Dead…
Nika: Yeah. He’s definitely dead. What exactly was he shipping for you? What was he running in the cargo containers?
Potemkin just sits, blinking.
Nika: Does he run people?
Potemkin doesn’t answer, visibly confused. Looks like the Chempliance has got him completely incapacitated.
At this point, Arden breaks in over our comm channels, asking if we’ve found Potemkin yet. Nika tells Arden to get up here and have a conversation with him. He dithers, thinking to keep the receptionist out of our hair and Rina interjects she’ll swap places with him. Arden replies he’s taking the receptionist with him. Okay, that’s taken care of and Nika tells Arden to bring his medical bag with him.
Christian: Ask him where he keeps his money.
Nika: (to Potemkin) Where do you keep your money? Where’s your safe?
Potemkin rises from his chair and walks over to a picture on the wall, swinging it aside to reveal his safe. Rina notices it’s a nice picture of Novaya Rodina and twitchily files it away for future reference.
Nika: Open it.
Potemkin attempts to do as ordered, but he gets the combination mixed up. He tries again. It’s apparent that he’s having trouble remembering the combination and is further hampered by having decreased motor control, thanks to the drug. Great.
Nika: Do you have the code written down?
Potemkin: What code?
Nika: The safe.
Potemkin: The safe?
She points. He looks. He points. She’s pissed.
Nika: Did you write the combination down? (frustrated)...Rina!
Rina: Da!
Nika: Need Russian person.
Rina: All right!
Nika turns off the recorder and says, supremely pissed:
Nika: The lame-ass is drugged and we can’t get anything out of him.
Dierma!
Downstairs, Arden rethinks his plan and gives the receptionist over to Christian. Christian pushes her into the room with the men and she settles on the couch next to one of them. Then Arden goes upstairs and Rick takes Arden’s place downstairs to supply Christian with back-up.
Christian tells the four men to put their weapons on the floor and kick them over to him, slowly. They hesitate. The people they’re used to dealing with would shoot them the second the guns slid out of reach. Christian groks it and tries again.
Christian: The only person we want to deal with today is Potemkin. I don’t suppose any of you know the combination to the safe?
Man: No. He doesn’t share that kinda stuff with us.
Christian: That’s too bad, because we were going to give you the contents.
Man: Well, that’s … great. But he’s up there. (Points at the ceiling) You should be able to get him.
Christian: Do you know what’s in the crates?
Just beyond the sitting room windows we can see the yard we’d broken into last night. Already cranes were at work, loading flat-beds with containers for shipping.
Man: (looks around) No. We just move the stuff.
Christian: None of you….peeked inside?
The men look as if they know something, but are unwilling to spill the beans. Time to sweeten the deal.
Christian: The person who tells me what I want to know, can leave.
This surprises the men. They blink and look at each other and you can just see what they’re thinking: Dude, are you shittin’ me? There’s a pause, then three of them start talking excitedly.
The men: They gotta buncha people in the containers!
Christian: Are they loaded yet?
One of the men: They’re in the containers still, here in the yard.
Christian: Excellent. (Over the comms) Guys, they have people in the containers.
And just like that, Potemkin’s ass is ours.
We get on the Cortex and call Di Lan and Christian asks the men for more detail.
Christian: Do you know what number the container is?
Meaning the one with all the people.
One of the men: Closest here, third row in.
Christian: Okay, here’s the deal. There are going to be Federal Marshals here soon. You probably want to be not-here. It was nice talking to you. Bye.
Christian steps aside and lets the men go, keeping an eye on them til they’re out of the building. They do nothing hinky, thinking only to get the hell away from Potemkin before the cops come. No worries there.
Rina gets nowhere asking Potemkin in Russian how to get the safe open, and Arden has little better luck. Meanwhile, Nika calls the Marshals. It goes straight to voice mail—voice mail!?—and she has to leave a message.
Nika: This is Captain Nika Earhart of Summer’s Gift. I wanted to let you know that in the effort to get all of our gear off our vessel, we went past the Port Authority this morning and noticed that they were loading cargo that was not supposed to be there. So we went to Potemkin’s office to speak to him about what was happening and there are people in cargo containers here. It might be prudent to have someone come out here and look around.
She hangs up and in the silence immediately following, everyone hears Arden mutter:
Arden: Oh, now she’s the Captain.
Christian sticks his head in the door and comments mildly that her message could have been simpler. There being nothing else for it, we pray Di Lan gets the message in time.
We search Potemkin’s desk. Nothing of value lies with the papers inside. Arden suggests we search Potemkin to make sure he’s not carrying any weapons. Rina frisks the man and Potemkin turns up clean. We holster our weapons. We ask Potemkin to call his people and halt the loading operations. He picks up the phone, but is too scrambled by the Chempliance to communicate properly. We hang up the phone and ask him how many people are in the containers.
Potemkin: Yes. People….containers….
Christian: How many people?
Potemkin: ….many containers….
Nika: Give it up, Christian.
Rina leans in and says in Russian:
Rina: It is I, Daria, your secretary. How many containers again have the people? You told me this before, but I forgot. I didn’t write it down.
And that attempt goes nowhere. Rina steps back and holds her hands palms up: she tried.
Nika: Rina, go down as the secretary and tell the people outside to stop loading. Then call the local LEOs and tell them there are people in containers in Potemkin’s yard.
Rina goes downstairs and failing to find the line to the yard crew to halt loading, she calls the local law enforcement and tells them of the illegal cargo. Christian goes with her, thinking to go through the records room adjacent to the lobby and find Potemkin’s records of his slaving transactions. Rick still has the receptionist, having taken over guard duty from Arden. Christian asks her where the records are, the records that show his slaving activity. Answer quick, because in very short order the Federal Marshals will be here and everyone still in this building will be implicated. If she tells us what we want to know, we’ll let her go before the law arrives.
Secretary: All of the special cargo is on Mr. Potemkin’s personal Cortex machine.
Christian: Does it require an access code?
Secretary: Yes.
Christian: Do you know the access code?
Secretary: (quietly) …No. I don’t.
Christian: Okay. (a beat) Go.
She runs out the door. Christian and Rina run up the stairs to tell everyone else what they’ve found out. We debate briefly whether to hack the computer ourselves or let the experts do it once the Marshals arrive. We choose caution over curiosity, and leave the computer alone.
We still have the people in the cargo containers to worry about in the meantime. Christian decides the direct approach is best. He simply walks out the back door of Potemkin’s office, crosses the yard where the loaders are working and goes up to the foreman.
Foreman: Hey, who are you?
Christian: I’m the guy who’s going to tell you you’ve got Federal Marshals on the way. You don’t want to be here.
Foreman: We’re not doing anything wrong. What’s going on?
Christian walks right over to the container they’ve just loaded onto the flatbed for transport. It’s locked. Of course.
Christian: Do you have a key to this?
Foreman: No, they don’t give us the keys.
Christian: Do you have bolt cutters?
Foreman: Yeah…but this is private property.
Christian: I realize that but there are people inside here.
Foreman: (Geddoutta here!) What? Why d’ya think that?
Christian: Because Potemkin told me.
Foreman: Um. Where is Potemkin?
Christian: (grand wave of the arm) He’s inside.
Foreman: You bring him, then we’ll talk.
Christian: (over the comm) Bring out Potemkin. Better yet, bring out his keys.
Upstairs, we affirm. We toss the desk, looking for the keys. Potemkin has them on his person and a quick pat down turns them up. Potemkin’s personal comm squawks at us. It’s the foreman.
Foreman: Mr. Potemkin. We got someone here that say that you got a buncha people in the containers. What should I do about it?
Rina: (in secretary’s accent) Why are you calling him right now? He’s busy.
Foreman: There’s people in the yard. Whaddya want me to do? There’s some guy out here. (claps the comm to his chest and looks at Christian) Whadja say your name was?
Christian: I didn’t.
Foreman: What’s your name? Who are you? What are you doin’ here.
Christian: I’m the guy who owns the ship you’re moving the cargo to.
Foreman: (turning back to his comms) Yeah…it’s the ship owner. I thought you owned the ship—never mind.
Rina rolls her eyes at this exchange and runs the keys out to Christian: there!
Christian: It’s simple. Here are the keys. Open a container. If there’s not people in it, we’ll close it and lock it up and I’ll leave.
Christian starts trying the keys in the container the men in the sitting room told him about. Closest to the building, third row in. He tries one key—wrong one. He tries another. No go. And another….same result. Some of the yard workers wander over to see what’s going on. Christian finds the right key and unlocks the container, pulls the chains free and hauls the door aside.
Exposing not cargo, but people. Twenty shivering unhappy-looking people, blinking painfully at the light of day. God knows how long they’ve been in there.
Foreman: What the---holy shit! Shut’er down!
The foreman is a union guy—there’s no way he’s touchin’ that, he ain’t. Time for a coffee break, everybody. The foreman calls everything to a halt and the cranes stop.
The LEOs arrive and lock the place down. The Marshals and Di Lan arrive and take stock of the situation. Arden is sitting down with Potemkin, keeping an eye on him. Di Lan is please—this is exactly what he’d been looking for.
A search is conducted and only one other container has inhabitants . Twenty more people, a total of forty in all, are rescued.
Our work here is pretty much done.
Di Lan: So what do you know? Somehow we got the evidence we were looking for.
Nika: Sometimes things just work out.
Di Lan: You can go back to your ship if you like.
So he’s not going to arrest us. Good. We broke laws pulling this caper off.
Christian: There is one thing that we’re worried about. This man [points to Potemkin] owns a lien on our ship. I suppose considering how much we helped you, there’s something you could do to help us with that.
Di Lan: Well, there is a reward for helping capture Potemkin.
Christian: It wouldn’t be two-thousand, eight hundred dollars would it?
Di Lan: No. It’s three thousand credits.
Even better.
Di Lan: It’ll take us a day or two to process it.
Christian: Sure! We’re not going anywhere. I’m sure you have questions for us.
Di Lan: Yes. Stay. We do have questions.
Di Lan pulls Christian aside from the others.
Di Lan: Let me try to expedite the reward.
Christian: I appreciate that.
Di Lan: I would recommend that you leave quickly. I got a call from a friend of mine in the lab. That drug that you gave me? All I know is that my friend has been taken off the assignment since he reported his findings. If you have the wherewithal to leave, you should try to leave before you get the reward, but I’ll do what I can to see the reward’s in your account as soon as possible.
Christian: Yes, please, because we really need that money.
Di Lan: You helped me, I’ll help you. But I can’t protect you once…things happen.
Christian: I understand. Thank you.
Christian arranges for the reward to be deposited in his parents’ accounts and, business concluded, they part company. While Di Lan goes off to interview the people in the yard, we go back inside and raid Potemkin’s desk of his petty cash box—we’re that strapped for cash. We find 50 credits and get out of there before the LEOs get wind of what we’re doing.
Done here, we pile into our car and drive for the Gift, and home.
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Back to Season One: Foundations
