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Tangled Webs 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Under a year after Episode IV – A New Hope Carlonian Feese examined the crowd. The assassin had only been hunting Nias
Derril for a day, yet he had already tracked down his target. He zoomed in,
trying to see who it was that Derril had been talking to seconds ago. His
position wouldn't allow him that luxury. He checked his weapon again for the
umpteenth time that morning, a habit of professionalism and comfort, and
thought of the kudos he would gain with the hit. He checked back towards the
small cafe where Derril had been seated and wondered why the starship thief
had chosen Chancai as his hiding place. Not the most private location in the
sector – if he’d wanted to advertise his whereabouts a neon sign would have
sufficed. He noticed two other bounty hunters, across from the cafe. They
were surreptitiously examining their data pads and glancing towards Derril.
Feese stepped out into plain view. They noticed him and backed off, hands
away from their holsters. Feese would have smiled if he were able. Nias noticed Feese step out of a side passage
and realised that the time had come to put his plan into action. He knew that
as soon as Cipple or someone placed a price upon his head, he would be living
on borrowed time. He also knew that handing the job to Feese was a quick way
for Glann Cipple to eradicate his best starship thief without any questions
being asked. Nias didn't mind - it was just part of the great game of life as
far as he was concerned, and he was already thinking three moves ahead. He
grunted, causing a hidden throat mike to activate. He covered his mouth with
his hand and spoke behind the serving cloth.
"Do you see him?" There was a second delay until he heard Tarr
Ranths voice in his earpiece.
"Yes. He likes that gun a
lot doesn't he?" Nias sniggered behind his hand.
"Be careful. Feese is a dead shot. He doesn’t lose fights." Tarr Ranth sighed into Nias's ear.
"Well even I'm not perfect. Let’s hope that what you're paying me
is worth this. I'd hate to have Feese
after me." Nias was surprised at this last remark. He'd
always thought of Ranth as a cold-hearted killer with an iron hard nerve. It
made him nervous to know that Ranth had allowed him to see that much of his
psych. It either meant he trusted Nias. Or that he couldn't care less. Carlonian Feese saw Nias wipe his mouth after
the meal and decided to make his move.
He darted forward towards the entrance to the cafe and unholstered his
secured weapon. The crowds parted as he moved through them, no one wishing to
go near the ominous man with the mask. He stopped just outside the entrance and
moved to one side, silently beckoning Nias out with his patient body
language. Nias saw him as Feese moved further away from the doorway, allowing
himself a clearer view of the surroundings. Nias didn't run. He stood and
walked towards the entrance.
"So you've come to take me away from all this then?" Feese
noticed that Derril seemed cocky, too sure of himself. Feese didn't like this
one bit. He'd spent too long in the game and developed too good an instinct
for trouble not to recognise it when it sneered at him. And Nias Derril
glowed with trouble. He took a swift look around to make certain no one was
targeting him. All clear. He motioned for Nias to walk ahead of him. Nias
smiled and did as he was asked.
"Where are you taking me?" Nervousness edged into Nias’s
voice. Feese's only answer was to push Nias
forward, using the nozzle of his blaster to direct him into a low ceilinged service corridor.
"I don't like this. He's thought too far ahead." Nias heard Tar Ranths voice in his ear. They walked forward for two hundred metres
until they came across a grating in the floor. Feese pushed Nias to one side,
keeping him under the fire arc of his blaster rifle, and lifted the grate
with his other hand.
"Inside." He motioned Nias down a short staircase into a
badly lit service conduit. They travelled down the winding passage, turning
seemingly randomly, for what Nias judged to be about half an hour. Nias
guessed that this was Feeses way of dropping off any pursuit. Suddenly he was
pulled up short by a hand.
"Wait here." Feese moved beyond him to a hatch set in the
wall and entered an access code into the grimy access pad. There was a hiss
of changing pressure and the door opened, sliding back into the wall. The air
suddenly cooled. Nias had a bad feeling about this. There was the noise of
starship engines and the sound of rushing wind. Feese motioned Nias towards
the hatch, halting him near the entrance. Nias was definitely worried.
"Raise your hands and place them behind your head." Feese's voice commanded him.
"I thought you were taking me back to Cipple?" Nias couldn't
control his nervousness now. "You overestimate your worth
Derril." He placed his blaster into the small or Nias's back.
"Glann doesn't want any unfortunate mistakes, or loose ends. I have to
say thief, I'm not sorry it
has to be this way." Nias was trying to think through the fog of
fear as he turned around slowly to face Feese, his hands still raised.
"What’s the plan - push me or blast me and let the momentum carry
me through?" Feese raised his rifle to face Nias's chest.
"Goodbye Derril." Feese started to squeeze the firing stud. Nias didn't wait. He'd spent the last few seconds edging
towards the opening hatch and decided he'd stand a better chance if he just
jumped of his own volition. So he did. As he leapt backwards, the blaster
shot caught him on his shoulder, singing flesh and causing him to spin as he
fell. He caught site of the distant sky above as he was falling and suddenly
wished that he'd kept Feese talking instead of letting him shoot him. Tarr Ranth stood on the observation platform,
half way up the giant landing shaft that ran through the inner walls of the
Chancai Trade Centre. He looked down towards the landing pad that jutted out
twenty metres below him and checked for a signal from the tracer that he’d
placed on Nias at the beginning of their agreement. A faint response, but
nothing definite. Ranth was annoyed. He'd had to stop following Feese. After all, he couldn't afford to play his
hand too soon, but if he couldn’t find Nias then he'd be four thousand
credits out of pocket. He guessed that Feese had been heading for his ship
and the direction of travel had confirmed this, until the tracer had been
masked by the electromagnetic background noise and shielding of Chancai. That
had been twenty minutes ago. Ranth had begun to get worried, a sensation he
loathed. The tracer signal got stronger. There was a pinging noise in his earpiece, he
activated his comm and heard Nias's voice.
"... push me or blast me and let the momentum carry
me through?" Ranth took a reading from the tracer and
noted that it was on the same level as himself, but six hundred metres to his
left. He activated his macros and zeroed in on the location across the shaft
and had just enough time to register a blaster shot and a falling body before
it dropped out of his field of view. He looked down - the tracer signal
followed it.
"Dammit!" He launched himself over the side and activated
his rocket pack as he fell. Sticking his boost on full he soon exceeded the
natural velocity of a falling object. He only had a minute before Derril hit the
ground, maybe less time if he hit one of the myriad number of transports that
were loading or unloading. He spied him about thirty metres below, spinning
as he fell. He readied his grapple
line. Nias was struggling to combat the spin on his
fall and knew he had less that a minute until he hit either the power
turbines below or the safety nets that covered the vents. Either would kill
him at this speed. His useless arm wasn't allowing him to fully correct the
spin and the pain was getting intolerable as it whipped around his body. In
the haze of pain that surrounded his brain he thought he heard the sound of
Tarr Ranths voice, but he knew that was impossible. The building roar of what
sounded like a starship engine filled his brain and his pain-wracked body
gave up. He passed out. Tarr Ranth altered the angle of his descent
so he was dropping above and slightly behind Nias. He tried to hail him but
there was no response. Ignoring the nearing permacrete surface and the giant
ventilation fans, he shut off the rocket pack and activated his repulsor
belt, using it to stabilise his flight. Turning himself feet first he fired
his stun net at Nias. The net wrapped around its target, entangling itself
around Nias as he spun. Ranth made sure that the line was tight and brought
the repulsors online gradually until the line was taut. Hitting the boosters on his jet pack,
everything became hazy as the vibration took over. At the last second Ranth
released the line between himself and Nias. He was just a second out. They hit the safety nets at fifty klicks per
hour. Nias bounced high several times and came to
rest near the centre of the nets. Tarr Ranth was luckier, the first bounce
being counteracted by his repulsor belt. However, he shot up a further twenty
metres until he managed to shut off his pack. His ankles ached from the
impact and he thanked fortune for the protection his armour gave him. He
dropped down next to Nias and checked his vital signs. Not good - he had to
get him to a medical facility and quick. There was no question about it, he had to call in some local help. First things first
though. He activated his comm
as he started dragging Nias to the edge of the nets and ordered in a med
team. Halfway across the netting he heard the whine of repulsors and looked
up to see an automated team arrive. The droid at the edge of the repulsor
skiff helped him lift Nias onboard. Derril groaned as they secured him on the
safety couch. Tarr Ranth jumped up behind him as the skiff pulled up and
away, towards the medical complex. Ranth took the time to check his jet pack
and weapons. As they got to the appropriate level they headed inwards, the
electrostatic force field bending around them as they did so. Carlonian Feese looked on with a pair of
macro binoculars and frowned behind the lenses. As far as he knew, the bounty
hunter Tarr Ranth was not a friend of Nias Derril. He must have somehow heard
about Cipple sending Feese to apprehend Derril and want to impress Cipple by
collecting Derril himself. That made things complicated. Tarr Ranth was well
known for bringing his targets in alive with regularity. And it was known
within certain circles that he did this so he could catch them again if they
escaped. Although no bounty was posted, Glann Cipples intention in sending
Feese was that he be brought in dead. Feese had watched Nias's descent with
the full intention of collecting the body off the nets and taking the corpse
back to Cipple himself. He hadn't counted on anybody being good enough to
track them through the tunnels. He stepped back into the access corridor and
closed the hatch. He'd have to make his way to the Medical levels and
confront Ranth himself. Nias floated within the Bacta Tank as
miniature medical droids continued to replace his smashed bones with alloy
and his severed nerves with bioelectric fibre. Tarr Ranth looked on, not
willing to leave his target unattended and winced when he saw them remove the
damaged areas of the arm and shoulder. It wasn't a full cybernetic
replacement, only partial, but it would still cost Nias in excess of four
thousand credits. And he would be sore
for days. Tarr Ranth stepped out of the theatre into
the corridor and took up his post alongside the doorway. He’d decided to wait
with Nias until such time as he was able to defend himself. Nias had assured
him that wouldn’t be necessary and that if Ranth left him then his reputation
would not suffer. If he were wrong then Nias himself would certainly suffer.
The 2-1-B unit exited the theatre and approached Ranth.
"Sir, I have an update on the condition of your charge." Tarr Ranth nodded and motioned for the droid
to continue.
"He has multiple fractures to his right arm, which are being
treated as we speak. His shoulder bone was completely fractured and would
have been too weak to support the arm without extensive recovery. As you
pointed out, the man is a wanted criminal and so Doctor Mello took the
liberty of replacing the damaged area with cybernetic webbing, duralloy, bioelectric grafts and synthetic skin. This
worked out considerably cheaper than three weeks in a Bacta Tank. Mister
Derril also had hairline fractures to his skull, his left leg, three ribs and
his left wrist. Most of which were caused by the impact with the webbing.
These are being treated as well." The droid handed a printout to Ranth.
"The amount of five thousand six hundred credits has been charged
to Nias Derril’s account as per your instructions. The prisoner will be ready
for transport within two hours." The droid turned and moved back in to the
theatre. Tarr Ranth checked the bill and chuckled to
himself. Carlonian Feese paused outside the service
hatch to Medical Theatre 231A4. His webbed fingers twirled the lock pick into
position and began picking the lock. After fifteen seconds of work he tried
the lock on the door. Punching in the override he heard the satisfying click
of a magnetic seal opening. The door slid back slowly, revealing the back of
a medical computer mainframe. It was satisfying to know that the service
entrance to the theatre was deserted. Checking left and right he moved
towards the door leading to the operating theatre and worked his lock-pick
magic again. Tarr Ranth was standing with his back to the
door as the robotic trolley bed moved Nias out of the theatre and into the
nearby ward complex. The opening door and heavy stun bolt that grazed his hip
catapulted him forward into the trolley, the same bolt knocking the droids in
the theatre to the floor in a clattering of metal. Ranth ordered the trolley
to continue and turned around to face the challenge that he knew would be
coming next. Carlonian Feese stepped out of the doorway into full view in
front of Tarr Ranth. The metal plate that covered half of the Calamarians
face reflected sparks from the damaged droids. He looked straight at Ranth.
"Where is he?" Ranth returned Feese's
stare, his helmet hiding the cold glint that formed in his eyes when he heard
Feese's tone of voice.
"That’s none of your business. He's my concern now. Drop your
weapon." Ranths tone of voice was cold and commanding, but Feese did not
move to comply. Instead he moved to go past Ranth into the corridor beyond.
Ranth placed a blaster bolt a fraction away from Feeses feet.
"No further. You’re in a medical complex now. Chancai Security
will be here soon to take you into custody." Feese laughed at this.
"You’re not known for your sense of humour. Move out of my way or
I’ll move you myself." He moved forward again. Ranth heard footsteps
behind him and stood back into the corridor as Feese waited. The medical
droid that had administered to Nias approached the entranceway with fourteen
Chancai Security officers. The droid pointed towards Carlonian Feese.
"That is the man. Arrest
him." Tarr Ranth moved out the way as the officers
surrounded Feese and disarmed him. Feese looked on as Tarr Ranth moved
towards one of the Security Officers. He pointed at a portable holo-cam hovering in the corner of the theatre.
"There are two more cameras inside that the hospital
use for security measures. They should be undamaged by the stun
blast." The Security Captain nodded and looked Tarr
Ranth up and down, checking his licenses and permits. Ranth moved towards
Feese who was silently being bound.
"Breaking and entering a medical facility is a crime on Zelon. I
hope you can pay the fine." Feese growled as Ranth walked away, motioning
towards the unconscious Derril on the trolley.
“You’d better patch him up and get him moving. I’ll be back on the
street in an hour.”
“Don’t you worry about us.” Seconds after turning the corner out of
Feeses sight Tarr Ranth staggered in pain. A medical droid hovered over.
"Can I be of help Sir?" Ranth looked up towards the droid.
"Yes. Get this damn
shrapnel out of my back." Tangled Webs 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Under a year after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories –
The second part in the Spider and Fly stories
shows Nias Derril as he attempts to escape the attentions of Glann Cipple and
Carlonian Feese. Hiring Tarr Ranth to protect him, this Louis Turfrey story shows all three main characters in evasive manoeuvres on Chancai. Cast of Characters Nias Derril Tarr Ranth Carlonian Feese Doctor Mello |