Episode 401: Hot Cargo, Cold Cash - Part Four
Nika: Go over our whole ship. Make sure it’s the only one.
Rina: All right. Will do.
Nika: How long is it going to take to make the repairs to get us off the ground?
Rina: Couple’a weeks if I’m doing it by myself.
Rina goes over the Gift stem to stern and doesn’t find anymore. The ship appears clean. Not that she believes it for a gorram second. Nika surmises that we had it planted during our escape from the Sheik over Angel. It wouldn’t be too hard to have a missile plant it on us—missiles are faster than ships and the impact would have disguised the pinger’s planting. The impacts themselves would have gone unnoticed amidst all the turbulence of our turbo burn. Nika raises Joshua on the comms and he joins her on the bridge.
Nika: Joshua. Find out what we can get the repairs done for if we have to pay for them and how long it’ll take us to get off the ground.
Joshua: Okay. Um, in a related story, if we want the girls to…I don’t know, survive?...we’re going to want to escort them on the train. (gestures to the bridge windows) Because it’s … Crazy Land. I… got five tickets for us. Right here.
As an end run around the Captain, it was a big one. As a personal milestone, bigger. He pulls the tickets from his pocket and Nika sighs.
Okay. Done deal. Onward.
Nika: Rina found a pinger.
Joshua: That’s good. That means if we’re on the train, we won’t be here.
Nika: But they’ll take over the ship.
Meaning whoever’s chasing us.
Joshua: (handwaving it) Oh, there was nothing we could have done about that anyway. (sobering) But I will find out.
Nika: Yes, find out for me and let’s have a convo with our passenger.
Thus dismissed, Joshua gets to finding out. He goes to Rina first. She tells him what’s wrong with the Gift. It takes a few minutes. Joshua looks into the prices of a repair crew to speed things along, plus port fees, and they jack our total repair bill to 400 credits. Double the amount Kiera slapped into Joshua’s hand. On the plus side, the time to affect repairs will be cut in half—to a week—if we hire a crew over having Rina do it all by herself. Joshua tells Rina and Nika the news on the bridge.
Rina: Double price. Half the time. Makes sense.
Joshua: Too much sense.
Nika: Don’t feed her paranoia, will you? (a beat) Run it past our good passenger and see what she wants to do. And find out if she’s staying aboard, cuz…
Cuz she’s apparently made of money and that’s something we desperately need right now.
Joshua: And the girls?
Nika: (growls a sigh) Yes, we’ll escort the girls.
Joshua: That’s why you’re the Captain.
Joshua’s expression goes bright and sunny.
Off-ship, Kiera’s found the right people and is negotiating what she wants and the price it’s going to cost her. Which comes to …oh, 800?
Okay. She pays it.
Once the container’s been commissioned, Kiera has to replace the clothing she’s lost from the container. The marketplace has lots to choose from ad Kiera buys what she wants.
Back on the Gift, we’re waiting for Kiera to return so we can ask her about her plans.
Joshua: Normally, morally, I would never suggest this, but she’s totally loaded. Anything you can do to get on her good side, I won’t balk on it.
Arden: I’m working on it.
Joshua: (errm….) Yeah. Well. Two consenting adults, I have no issues.
Arden: What do you mean about ‘adults’?
Rina: Who said anything about consenting? Just cosh her on the head, dump her in the hold and use her cards.
Joshua: It has to be consenting.
Rina: I dunno. She might enjoy it.
Joshua: Even then—
Rina: I’m yanking your chain, Joshua.
Joshua: I know you are. Consenting. And of age.
Kiera returns from shopping kitted out in a nice Indian outfit, complementing her curves and complexion and red hair. Joshua greets her.
Joshua: You look good.
Kiera: (pleased) Thank you.
Joshua: Have you had something to eat?
Kiera: No not at all. I’m quite famished.
Joshua: I’ll fix you something.
And thus the courtship of our passenger’s wallet begins. He sits her down with something and joins her at the table. Actually, the entire crew does.
Joshua: We have a couple of things to discuss.
Kiera: Did you get the train tickets?
Joshua: Yes, I got the train tickets and I got a few extra because the girls are going to need an escort. Because there’s no way they’re going to survive the train trip.
Kiera: Oh, so you all are going to take them?
Arden: You mean you got five extra?
Joshua: Well we were thinking… yeah. I got five extra tickets.
Kiera: That’s very gentlemanly of you to take them for me. I appreciate it.
Joshua: We figured you might want to come along too.
Arden: That’s why there’s five tickets.
Kiera: Well, no…
Joshua: (to Kiera) It’s an adventure. Think about it that way.
The Holy City is reputed to be quite beautiful.
Kiera: Yeah, but there’s no money in me going to the Holy City. Why would I go to the Holy City for?
Nika: There might be lack-of-death in you going to the Holy City with us.
Joshua: Which is, like, an infinite money level. Because you can’t spend it when you’re dead, I’m sorry.
Kiera: Why would I die here?
Joshua: I’m told that there is—there was—a tracking device on our ship. Like a—
Arden: Oh, really? Another one? Was it like the previous one?
Joshua: (Shut up, Arden) Sure. Why not? (to Kiera) We’re pretty sure that this one was put on by the Sheik person who—.
Kiera: (getting it now) Aww, hell. For somebody who didn’t want any’a these women, he’s sure spendin’ a lot of time wantin’em back.
Nika: (wryly) Somehow I’m thinkin’ it wasn’t him who didn’t want the women.
Arden: The wives didn’t want them.
Sighs all around the table.
Nika: You know how catty women can be.
Kiera: I know. Well, fine. So, we’ll take a train ride.
Joshua: And we have two repair options. We’d quoted you two hundred and two weeks.
Kiera: Not only quoted but paid.
Joshua: Right. That’s absolutely true. You have another option.
Kiera: No, I don’t. I paid.
Joshua: Four hundred gets you a week with a full repair crew. Before that, we didn’t know if you wanted to take passage on the ship going somewhere else or if you had another option.
Nika: And whether you had a time frame.
Joshua: If you’re taking passage, you have a time frame. You might want the four hundred for the one week. If you don’t have a time frame…
Kiera: I actually have no sense of urgency right now.
Joshua: That’s fine. That is not a problem at all. I just wanted to let you know.
Kiera: Also if you don’t mind sticking around, they’ll need time to get my new container built.
Joshua: Sure. We’re going to be here for at least a week regardless.
Nika: (to Kiera) How long will that take?
Kiera: They gave me a few days to a week or so. They gotta get the equipment in it. Gonna hav’ta look it over.
Rina: I’ll be happy to give you a second opinion.
Kiera: Thank you, that’s lovely.
Nika: What are your plans from here?
Kiera: (turning to Nika) Now what, again?
Nika: What are your plans from here?
Kiera: Go where the money goes. Find me the next job. Really, right now more than anything I need to buy stuff and kinda remake my supplies. My shampoos and other such kinda…died.
Rina: And boy, did it.
There’s product to buy, to say nothing of replacing the computer hardware and software, the medical tools and supplies with which she plies her surgical trade. Some of it quite specialized.
Nika: Vacuum will do that to you.
Kiera: Um hm. (a beat) So. We’re going to go on a train ride that’s supposed to be an adventure.
Arden: Well… an adventure that is a train ride.
Nika: I think the girls would feel more comfortable if you were along anyway.
Kiera: I don’t know if I would be comfortable with me along, but sure.
Nika: You’re the only familiar face they’ve got.
Kiera: That’s true. All right. Fine. I can have a kinder gentler moment with the rest of them. Let’s go shepherd them in.
Okay, if we’re leaving the ship, Rina’s leaving the ship wearing her usual suspects. Well, minus one usual suspect, since we hadn’t time and funds to replace our ballistic mesh. However, if Joshua’s surveillance of the train station is correct, there’s really no security whatsoever. No metal detectors or checkpoints. Even so, common sense dictates we leave the assault rifles behind. Sidearms, on the other hand, are quite doable. And to Rina’s way of thinking, other weapons of opportunity might be had.
Rina: Did your hairspray die, too?
Kiera: It all died.
Damn. Scratch the quick and dirty flamethrowers, then.
Kiera: Deep space is hard on beauty products.
Rina: I noticed. It was literally on the walls. Horrible. It was a shame, too.
Kiera: It was tragic. The amount of money I just had explode in deep space…
Rina: Do you want to salvage the chair, though?
Kiera: No. What I’d like to do is suck some more money off that old woman, but okay fine.
Rina: What old woman?
Kiera: The one who paid me to get the girls out.
Joshua leans over and murmurs to Nika.
Joshua: We should’ve asked for more, too.
Rina: (to Kiera) Hm. Do you think this might be a regular gig?
Kiera: If it turns out to be money in it, sure.
Joshua: (breathes a laugh) I’m beginning to think we should ask for more to start with, to begin with.
Rina: Hm. Sorta like an Underground Railroad for ex-harem girls.
Joshua: We are not going to be—
Kiera: You’re gonna need a better ship, though.
Nika watches the two women bouncing the ideas off each other with horror. Because she knows who she’s dealing with here.
Nika: Oh. My. God. Christian’s going to cream his jeans.
Kiera: (seriously) You have got to get a better ship, though.
Joshua: Okay, let’s get moving before someone kills someone else.
Because Joshua knows who he’s dealing with, too, and Kiera’s just insulted the Gift twice to Rina’s face. Kiera picks up on it and backpedals.
Kiera: Now I didn’t say it was garbage. I just hinted there’s better ships out there.
Arden: No, I’m pretty sure you that you said it.
Kiera: Now, if you’re gonna push me against the wall and go ‘Lookit you’, I’ll go ‘Now I know why they call it the Gift, cuz ain’t nobody would definitely buy it’...
Arden: Ow!
Rina: (to Kiera) I’ll let you live.
Surprisingly, Rina’s amused by Kiera’s sass. Bloodshed thus averted, we leave for the station. It’s crowded when we arrive, no surprise, and we ice-breaker our way through the throng onto the train. Urvasians are mostly non-combatant but they are paradoxically aggressive getting aboard. Shoving and pushing is common and no leeway seems to be given for frailty or age. Neither does it seem that seat assignments are honored or even applied. You grab whatever space you can for you and yours, and you defend it by refusing to budge. And ‘space’ in this case is wherever you can make it. People are standing on the running boards, clambering on top of the rail cars, hanging on to the window frames outside… the cars are literally crammed and draped with humanity. Inside the cars, there’s barely room to move, much less avoid being pressed up against another person or their belongings. Mixed in with the jabber of people and the noise of dogs and chickens and pigs, the aromas of sweat and perfume, manure and spices is smothering. The fact that the train is chugging along at a snail’s pace through a steamy tropical jungle only makes it worse. The sun beats down and the cars heat up quickly. Only the fact that the windows are almost all completely devoid of glass does anyone avoid asphyxiating.
Such conditions do not a happy Rina make, and her normally twitchy self gets even twitchier. Even though the quarters are tight enough to prevent her from doing much of anything, Joshua has his hands full keeping her from lashing out at the people she’s convinced are trying to pick her pocket, steal her gun, cop a feel…. Rina keeps arms crossed and her right hand inside her coveralls on her gun. God knows there’s barely room to draw her weapon but it makes her feel better knowing she’s packing. It doesn’t escape her notice that Nika’s likewise got her hand on her weapon and is watching everything like a hawk.
Joshua’s swamped by the emotions emitted by the passengers and like the air we’re struggling to breathe, he’s keeping the mental press of people at bay by dint of sheer will. It doesn’t help that the woman he loves is practically vibrating due to nerves and he does what he can to calm her down for both their sake. Stroking the back of her neck takes some of the edge off, but not all, and Joshua keeps a running monologue in her ear that everything’s going to be okay. Relax. Breathe.
Because, really. Hair-triggered twitch armed with a gun in a crowded train car? Not the best combination, no.
And then the girls we’re escorting jacks everyone’s anxiety up a notch or three. Though they’ve brought next to nothing aboard with them in the way of luggage, they are wearing jewelry. Nothing too elaborate, but nice enough pieces to tempt a snatch and grab by petty thieves. Or maybe an outright mugging by thugs. Nika’s already told them to shove anything flashy down their bodices or under their wraps and Kiera’s convinced them to let her carry their most valuable pieces separately. Even so, some glimmer shows and they may still be targets. To say nothing of being wanted by a powerful Sheik. Even so, the girls are Urvasi and they are more comfortable with the conditions here than we are. In case the conditions take a turn for the worse, both Kiera and Arden are packing medical supplies in their packs and those packs are held tight to them.
Rina starts to seriously lose it. She’s scanning the car and she sees people that she’s convinced mean her no good. She mutters intensely to Joshua who’s standing right there:
Rina: They’re all in it. They’re all after me. They’re all after me, the entire ruttin’ train car—
Joshua: (quietly) Whoa, whoa, whoa. Breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Rina: No. There’s no air in here-there’s-no-air-in-herethey’reallbreathingit!
Joshua: No, you’re going to be fine. Relax. You can do this.
It doesn’t help that Kiera spots several people in Arab dress in the sea of Hindu. She leans into Nika and while everyone’s either watching Rina or the girls, she nods her head toward the Arabs and says:
Kiera: Miss Captain, some of these things ain’t like the others.
Nika looks and can’t see what Kiera means. There are several different languages and dialects yammering throughout the car, a cosmopolitan mix of regions and styles of dress. Everyone looks different from the others and therefore everyone’s rendered unremarkable by their diversity.
Nika: Uhnn…you wanna be more specific?
Rina: (catching on) Shto? Come again?
Kiera looks back and realizes the people she saw have been swallowed up by the crowd. Look as she might, she can’t spot them again. She sighs and turns around to Nika.
Kiera: I thought I saw people from Angel.
Nika: (getting it) Aww, shii.
Rina: (getting it too) What did they look like?
Kiera: They looked like people from Angel.
Rina: So…turban-ated. Right?
Kiera: Yes.
Rina: (twitch!) …Okay…
Kiera: They were there and now they’re not. It’s kinda strange.
Rina: Wait, how-were-they—
Arden: Focus, focus.
Joshua: (to Rina) Stay with me. Stay with me. We’ll keep our eyes open but let’s not go inventing things that aren’t there yet. I’ll keep an eye on things. Okay? You know I’m good at it.
Kiera: (to Nika) How would you like to face one way and have me face the other one?
Nika: Sure.
Kiera: Do you want the front of the train or the back of the train?
Nika: I’ll take the front.
Kiera: I’ll herd the girls into a corner. Force them to swim back.
Nika: ‘Kay.
Rina may be extremely on edge, but she sees what’s happening and moves to cover the middle ground between Nika’s forward position and Kiera’s rearward one with the girls. People from the crowd ooze into the space we vacate and our party is now in knots—Kiera and the girls in one, Nika in the other, with Rina, Joshua and Arden between both. Joshua sticks to Rina, keeping her together and watching the crowd. We hear a popping sound…
FLASH! BANG!
Ears ringing, eyes dazzled, we come to our senses one by one. Nika’s the first to recover and from the far end of the car she sees four tall robed and turbaned men with honkin’ big swords pushing their way toward us. Most of the passengers are still stunned and blinking but of the few who were shielded from the flash-bangs by the bulk of the others, they too see the swordsmen and start to back away as best as they can. The rest of the crew are still dazed and Nika grabs the closest girl and starts backing away from the swordsmen, pushing the girl backward behind her. Kiera was facing the opposite direction and doesn’t see Nika’s protective move—she’s still blinking the spots from her vision and getting her bearings.
Rina comes to next and she immediately checks herself—what did they take!? what did they take?!—before finding and drawing her gun. Okay, she’s good! She looks around for the threat and sees the swordsmen coming for them. She pushes off Joshua and starts worming through the crowd to back Nika up.
Kiera recovers next and sees what’s going on and it’s a struggle to turn around and get the girls organized. There are too many passengers and some of the crew are in the way of a clear shot at the swordsmen, so Kiera can’t use her gun. Kiera starts pushing the girls behind her, sending them to the farther end of the car and working her way forward toward Nika, Rina and the swordsmen.
Joshua pulls together and realizes with a sinking gut that we’re stuck in the middle of the go-se again….with gunfire about to ensue. Can’t we do just one job without shooting anybody or anything? This was supposed to be a simple train ride to a temple, for God’s sake.
Rina sees what Kiera’s doing with the girls and it occurs to her twitchy little self that if she were going to kill people perhaps sending all her targets alone in one direction isn’t such a great idea. In sending the girls away from our party, we may be inadvertently pushing them to their doom.
Rina: Kiera. Keep them together and keep them close.
Kiera: They’re not going far where I’m elbowin’ them, trust me.
Rina: (to herself) Damn, damn, damn. I should’a brought an extra gun.
Rina changes her course through the car to move closer to the girls to cover them. It’s slow going, there are too many people in the car to move quickly. But though it hampers our crew from grouping together defensively, it also hampers the swordsmen from moving offensively, too. Kiera pulls Channa to her and gives her some advice.
Kiera: Stay clear and don’t move. Tell the others.
Rina: (joining them) Stay down, girls. Stay down.
Nika is not willing to fire in the crowded car—it would be too easy to hit an innocent bystander. Kiera’s thinking along the same lines. Both keep their guns lowered. The other passengers, now recovering, see the weapons and start yelping and getting out of the way. Which on the one hand is good—it clears the field for a clean shot. And bad—it gives the swordsmen a clear field to grab the girls.
It’s an imperfect universe but somebody’s got to live in it.
The swordsmen fall into single file, to present a narrower target. Nika has a passenger in front of her and she grabs him and tries shoving him out of the way. She fails to move him completely and the swordsmen are advancing. She raises her gun and shoots anyway. She hits the lead swordsman and the bullet doesn’t even slow him down. He must be wearing some sort of armor under those robes of his. Nika holds her pistol steady on the lead swordsman’s head.
Nika: (menacing) This is going to turn into a bloodbath if you don’t back off.
The swordsman doesn’t bat a eyelash but keeps advancing. Rina sees there’s nowhere to run and starts grabbing the girls nearest her, getting them down, getting them behind her. Rina stands over them with her gun, ready to shoot anyone coming for them.
Rina: Down. Down. Down. Get down. Heads down. Get together, girls. Get down.
Arden is between Nika and Kiera and he swaps places with Kiera, getting out of the way of Kiera’s gun. It takes a precious minute in the tight press of the car. Once he’s done, Arden joins Rina in guarding the girls. Kiera moves forward to take up position behind Nika and Joshua’s in her way. Kiera tells Joshua to get down.
Joshua: No. I’m not letting you fire into a crowd of people.
Case in point: there’s a bystander who’s stumbled right in front of Joshua. Joshua grabs the man and hauls him out of his way and also away from our crew’s guns. The swordsman in the lead has no such qualms and swings his sword. Nika dodges and avoids it, despite the press of people. Passengers scream and duck but some get nicked by the man’s blade. Blood starts flowing.
Rina: It’s going to get slippery in here real quick.
Nika fires at the swordsman. She hits and again her bullets have no effect on the man. Damn, his armor’s good.
Rina and Arden keep the girls down and try to shelter them from further bullets. Kiera tries to get around Joshua, aiming for the head swordsman’s face. Her bullet goes wide of its mark and flies right through the window behind him. Miraculously, the bullet doesn’t hit any of the passengers inside or outside the train.
Joshua maneuvers to capture the lead swordsman to use him as a human shield against the other swordsmen. He succeeds in a brilliant Aikido move. Holding the man in a submission hold, he barks at the other swordsmen.
Joshua: Back off.
The second swordsman in line pauses, considering whether to run his fellow brother through with his sword and skewer Joshua in the process, or…? Behind our steward, Kiera is calmly considering shooting Joshua in the leg to get him out of her way. It’s a shame, the man was very nice and got her all manner of pleasing drinks but dammit, he’s blocking her shot.
The two remaining swordsmen start backing away. It’s hard to tell from their expressions if they’re afraid of us or the man Joshua’s holding. Joshua calls out to them.
Joshua: I’m glad to let my friends shoot you one by one. Or have your friends stab you. And then I’ll get the next one and we’ll just keep on going. Or you can do this some other time, some other place. I’m just not in the mood. Not in the fuckin’ mood.
Uh oh. Joshua’s pulled out his harsh language. He’s clearly on his last nerve. The swordsmen pause in their retreat.
Joshua: I can say it in Arabic.
He does, repeating in Arabic a long and detailed tirade of Jihadic fervor just what we as a crew will do to them all if they don’t stand down. If they want to be martyrs, we have no problem making them martyrs. If they want to talk to Allah and complain, we’ll be happy to send them to He Who Is All Powerful right the hell now. And when you stand before Allah, He who is all merciful, praise be to His infinite mercy, how will you explain to Him how you sacrificed your brother in a hateful act against women and children? Joshua goes on in this vein for a few more long-winded declarations.
It’s really quite impressive. One of the rearward swordsmen yells to the others, pointing to the man Joshua’s got in his grip.
Rear guard: (in Arabic) That’s right! He’s a martyr!
Joshua’s Prisoner: (in Arabic) No, you idiot! Not for these people!
The prisoner squirms to face Joshua and addresses him in English.
Prisoner: Let me go and we will leave.
Joshua: (evenly) Really?
Joshua gauges the man’s sincerity, takes in the fact that he’s bleeding and he’s had to call off his own men from killing him. Joshua points the swordsmen back the way they came.
Joshua: Out. That way.
The prisoner barks some orders in Arabic and they all move back to the door between cars. We follow them out and they jump off. The train is moving maybe ten miles an hour and it’s a fairly easy task to roll free of the wheels. They pick themselves up and dust off and it’s not long before the jungle we’re chugging through cuts them off from view. Not trusting them to stay gone or that more men waiting ahead of us would refrain from jumping on, Nika takes up a post at the door. She sees someone further down the train jump off—apparently they had someone waiting as backup. The rest of us gather ourselves up and Kiera mans the other door at the far end of the car.
Joshua: Is anyone hurt?
Arden: Other than bruises and bumps? I don’t think so.
Kiera: Merely my pride. I should’a been able to shoot that bastard….
Arden turns to the passengers next and pulls out his medical bag to treat the wounded. He spends the remainder of the five hour trip treating people for shock, the after effects of the flash-bangs, bumps and bruises and scrapes from the panic, and of course, the unlucky few who’d been nicked by the sword.
The rest of the ride to the Holy City is blessedly uneventful and we hope the rest of our mission remains that way. As we arrive at the station, we can see the Temple rising through the mist of a vast and beautiful lake. It’s picture postcard perfect but looks can be deceiving. Will the Temple take the girls in? Will the Sheik’s men leave the girls alone once they step foot on the Temple grounds?
There’s only one way to find out: Take the girls there and see.
Go back to: Colchester Endgame, Part Two | Go forward to: Shepherd's Hope
Back to Season Four: Trials and Errors
Back to EPISODES or TIMELINE
