Thursday, March 19, 2015

Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter IX: Blood Relations

“So” Fennec asked as she grabbed a towel out of the hamper. It was already damp but with a shrug she went about drying her wet hair with it anyway.

“He got away.” Ti said cooly.

“Of course he did” Fennec offered matter-of-factly.

“What does that mean?” He asked a bit defensively.

“It means he almost lost us when he switched cars and we lost the first tracker on him and we almost lost him again when he ditched it for the boat.”

“Yeah but you kept on him with your drone”

“But he had a great escape route all planned out where he met his contact.  I’m saying that every time I’ve come up against Bhakir in the last cycle he’s always slipped away. Don’t take it personally, he’s good.”

“I should be better” Ti articulated slowly, disappointment dripping from every word like the water off Fennec after her swim back to the houseboat. He sighed. “How did you do?”

“Well I managed to follow Bhakir’s contact back to the TDI, but I couldn’t get past their security perimeter.” She said, tossing the towel back into the hamper in a wet clump.

“Dammit! I know in excruciating detail the financial intricacies of The Bear’s operation north of the equator but unless I can connect it to his illegal activities down south I can’t prove anything. Who know’s how long it’ll be before Bhakir resurfaces or we find another lead?” Ti stood, paced the 5 steps of the galley and threw himself back down into the couch angrily.

Fennec poured some whiskey into a cup of hot tea and sweetened it with a generous dollop of honey. “Oh, we have a lead.”

“What”

“I have a contact inside the TDI, I just had it track his arrival and read the name on his office.”

“Contact, It?” Ti inquired, his head shaking in confusion.

“I’ve still got control of a low security cleaning bot in the TDI from our last job there. Gorash, the POP, even Nightingale all missed it.” Fennec beamed. “Bhakir’s man inside the Thebes Design Institute is called Milos Travane.”

---

Ti enjoyed the crossing in spite of his frustration. He’d dreamed of seeing a Humanist lake most of his life, it was his favourite imagery. Even though the object of his mind’s eye had always been Lake Waymar, the view from the ground-boat onto Lake Hawkins’ enormous expanses was a welcome distraction and relief after the days of observation in Thebes.

He arrived in Perth Harbour early in the morning and found his way to the Doc’s hotel. It was an hour before his old friend came to join him for breakfast in the dining room, by which time Ti’s preoccupations had once again settle over him like a dark cloud.

The Doc, on the other hand, was beaming.

“I take it you pulled it off?” Ti asked, putting his datapad down and waiving the patiently waiting waiter over.

“We should know very soon, but I believe so.” The Doc answered. “So why so gloomy dear Ti?”

“Sorry, I’m just frustrated, I let this slippery emiraty get away from me. But your news is amazing. I think they’ll have to accept, if only out of respect for the audacity of your maneuvering.”

“Indeed! Alas I can’t operate on such grandiose scale all the time, I have more mundane problems as well. In fact, I have emiraty problems of my own. I’m going after Matoux.”

“Good luck with that.”

“You can wish Lyta good luck, she’s going to finalize his operation for me.”

The Doc served himself some coffee and a warm sweet bun. He was about to ask Ti for the butter when he noticed the expression on his face.

“Not that way.” He soothed. Ti’s shocked expression morphed into a suspicious one so the Doc continued. “I’ve already crippled him as much as possible though backroom deals and directing others to attack him. Now I need his black book, his operational data. I know he keeps it with his main caravan. In it he has all his personal secrets, contacts, accounts, smuggling routes. Everything I need to finish him. She doesn’t even have to kill him, just sneak in and get the data.”

“I’m not a big fan of you using her like that.” Ti warned his friend.

“I am not using her, she volunteered. If you are concerned you could always go and give her hand. I should have his location in a week of two.”

Ti had to accept that Tom’s affairs, and Lyta’s for that matter, were not his to control. Besides, he had his own problems.. “I’ve got my own emiraty to track down thanks. I hope Matoux isn’t as hard to find as Bhakir.

“Krak Bhakir?” The Doc asked nonchalantly between bites.

“Yeah, you know him?” Ti asked, surprised.

The Doc noded and swallowed. “Lukas asked Bill to do some research into him a cycle back. He runs a serious smuggling triangle between the ESE, the Alliance and the Badlands. It turns out he’s one of Matoux’s cousins, that why the name stuck.”

“Bhakir and Matoux are related?” Ti once again inquired in disbelief.

The Doc looked at him strangely and washed down his bun with a sip of coffee. “Emiraty always use blood relations if they can, I thought you knew that?”


Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game

1 comments :

LeRoi Singe said...

I was going to remind you about that TDI drone, but I wasn't sure when it was going to come in handy!

Good ol' plot-drones! They always come through when you need them.

Unless you need to follow a boat, I guess. :(


 
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