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Belly of the Beast 2004 short story by Louis Turfrey
and Mark Newbold Thirty-Eight
years after Episode IV – A New Hope “So let’s assume he survived. Where do you think he is?” The
Twi’lek looked furtively about and crept a little
closer over the table, his Lekku twitching. “They say he is
on a prison planet, a planet once rich in ore but that now acts as a supply
base for the Ki-Ki scum.” The man in black nodded and placed a credit chip on the
table, but didn’t release it. “In Setnin space?” The
Twi'lek nodded again, looking even more nervous. His head tails moved
involuntarily. The man in black seemed unaffected by the informant’s mood; he
simply leaned forward, dropping his voice and the credit chip. “Tell your friends that I will release
the thermal detonator in my right palm unless they back off and move out of
the bar.” He brought his hand up, opening his palm slowly in front of the
Twi’lek. “I’ll survive the explosion.
You will not.” The
Twi’lek slipped back in his chair, revealing the device to all in the bar.
There was the noise of several intakes of breath. The Twi’lek nodded and made
a signal with his hands. Several seats moved back under tables and the sound
of footsteps echoed into the distance. “Good call. It would be a waste to lose
your life over a piece of information.” The man in black flicked a switch on
the thermal detonator and it started to whine. He raised his voice, standing
as he did so, and addressed the room. “You have two minutes to leave this
establishment before the detonator blows.” He dropped it on the table in
front of the startled Twi’lek. The Twi’lek stretched for the credit chit, but
the bounty hunter shot something at the outstretched hand from a unit
attached to his wrist. A thick slime pinned the Twi’lek to the table. The
bounty hunter picked up the chit and placed it on the bar directly opposite
the exit. “The glue takes one minute to
disperse. Enough time to get to
safety. Who knows, you may even have time to get the money as well.” He
turned his back on the Twi’lek and moved towards the door, past the now empty
bar seats and tables. “If you try to switch off the detonator it will
explode.” As he
moved out of the cantina, people shifted away from him rapidly. He noted the
smell of fear as it pervaded the filters in his helmet and smiled grimly to himself. Good, he’d made sure that people would remember
him today. As he reached the end of the street he heard the door to the
cantina slam open and then the rapid breathing of a man running for his life
followed by a muffled explosion as the mini-thermal detonator exploded. Its
five metre range might just have reached the edge of the bar area. Ranth
smiled to himself as he entered the nearby docking area. The
docking bay appeared empty as he entered, but he knew he was being watched. A
quick thought and the small, localised target scanner built into his helmet
started to scan for electronic devices. Nothing. He switched to infrared, and
then went through all the light and radiation settings that his equipment
could use. As he started to climb towards the microwave bands he saw a thin
line appear on his view plate. It was scanning across the docking bay and
seemed to be searching for something. He smiled and ran quickly up the now
open ramp of his ship. Once inside he checked his communications board and
opened up a coded channel. “You could have just called.” There
was a brief delay before the screen came to life. Daemon Garr, these days
better known as Lord Raven of the shadowy Raven Corporation smiled on the
monitor. “True, but that would not have been nearly
so enjoyable. Any news on our lost captain yet?” Ranth
removed his helmet and shook his head at his colleague and current employer. “Some. I have a good idea of what planet
he is on. Now all I need do is track him down.” Garr smiled, his sharp teeth fully visible in a wide fanged
grin. “Good. I know you prefer to work alone,
but will you require backup?” Ranth
thought for a moment, and then he had an idea. “Bearing in mind what you told me before
this mission started why not send Lomona and Centaur?” Daemon
smiled even more broadly. “You have a wicked mind Ranth. I will ask
them. I see no reason why they’d refuse; after all, they did agreed to help me find the missing VSD.” “What did he want?” Ryath
looked nonchalantly across at Jan as he entered the empty and darkened
conference room deep in bowels of the hidden S.D.F gunship Colossus as it
trawled through an uncontested region of the “He asked if we’d help Ranth provide a
distraction while he releases Mendip Khan.” Ryath’s
hand stopped half way to his mouth. He placed the glass of water he’d brought
in with him carefully on a desk and sat down beside Jan. “Then we’ve got a problem. There’s too
much going on here at the moment for us to just leave and go on a search and
rescue mission.” Lomona
nodded slowly. “True.
Things are moving fast with the Ki-Ki. Terrie has told me about some
top secret, undercover ops that have infiltrated the Ki-Ki underworld and
we’ve started to take back some ground.
We’re needed right here.” Ryath
nodded in response to that and raised an internal eyebrow, knowing that one
of those undercover operatives was Frans Latka, Jan’s former fiancé. Indeed, it was a busy time, and as Jan had
said they were needed as much as ever. “Alright, bearing that all in mind if we
help rescue Mendip Khan we’ll be feeding ourselves and the S.D.F to the
Saranac wolves.” Lomona
smiled and finished the sentence. “And if we don’t, there’s the chance that
both Ranth and Khan will be killed. Which will tick off our
buddy Lord Raven. And maybe
make him choose which side of the fence he’s finally going to come down on.” Centaur
nodded, using that moment to down his drink in one go. Jan filled in the
silence. “So what do you say? It might be fun?” “Where is he?” Ryath
sat at the sensor board of the Berone Sunrise and scanned the
immediate area, shaking his head in consternation. “I haven’t a clue. If he’s here then he’s
shielding himself. And if he isn’t, then he’s late.” This
time it was Jan’s turn to shake his head. “Ranth is never late,
he’s way too starchy for that. He must be scanning the area to see if we‘ve
been followed.” Centaur
turned his head to Jan, raising a quizzical eyebrow. “Fair point. So where is he? Your new sensor suite
should detect a stealth carrier, let alone a heavily armed bounty hunters
ship.” Jan
smiled at Centaurs impatience. He knew the current situation was less than
ideal, but Centaur was rarely jumpy. It wasn’t in his character. Jan was
about to what was wrong, when there was a clunking noise and the freighter
reverberated slightly. He turned to his readout. “No way,” He turned to Ryath. “He’s here.” Ranth
dropped the cloaking field as he dropped into the sensor shadow of Jan’s
ship. The Berone Sunrise was easily twice the size of his modified
stealth fighter, and upgraded with some of the best sensor suites in the
galaxy; which made it all the more enjoyable for Ranth to take his old
friends by surprise. He opened a direct communications link to the other
ship. “Permission to dock Captain Lomona?” There
was a muffled exclamation at the other end of the com, and Ranth could hear
some off-colour profanities in the background. Ryath answered the com. “Granted, but don’t you think the point is
moot. You’ll have to tell me where you learned that little trick.” Ranth
smiled to himself as he heard more muffled yelling in the background. “Is Lomona alright? It sounds like he’s
choking?” Ryath’s
voice was edged with a touch of humour as he answered. “Let’s just say he’s a little short on
subtlety at the moment.” The
two craft exited hyperspace on the edge of the system. The smaller fighter
detached from the larger transport and seemed to disappear from view. The
transport came to a halt, its sleek lines barely reflecting the light from
the distant sun. Onboard the freighter, two men sat patiently. “Twenty hours at full burn and he will be
on the edge of the Leogard Dust Cloud. Four hours after that and we make our
move.” Jan shook his head slowly. “Why
do I get the feeling that there’s a lot here that we don’t know about?” Ryath
looked across at Jan and they both smiled at each other, remembering old
times. “Reminds me of those jobs you did for
Cipple. He always gave you just enough
information to temper your curiosity, but never enough to get you into too
much trouble.” Jan
nodded at Ryaths comment, as his memory slipped backwards to those more
carefree times – times when the fate of Setnin didn’t constantly rest in the
balance of his actions. “I suppose I should be grateful he gave me
the sensor parameters that I need to track him. Think he’ll make it through?”
Ryath
nodded, his attention focussed on the sensor readouts. “He’ll make it through. Making it out, that will be the miracle.”
He switched his display across to Jan’s screen and the pilot saw what Centaur
was implying. Sitting at the edge of the system, its power levels at minimum,
was an Imperial Star Destroyer. “Is that a Ki-Ki ship?” Centaur
looked across at Jan. “This is your ship Captain. You telling me
you can’t read a sensor shadow now?” Jan
frowned, but bit back his reply. They were both tense and not without cause,
so much rested upon this mission. If it was a success there was a chance that
the shaky alliance between the Raven Corporation and the S.D.F would dissolve
rapidly. If it wasn’t, then Raven might see that as a reason to end their
alliance anyway. And then there was Ranth, the resurrected bounty hunter. It
was spooky enough having a dead man walking around, but what about the
formerly homicidal son of a dead man who was just lucky enough to have his
memories as well? Jan wasn’t convinced that the combination of the two was a
good idea. “Let's see if we can creep quietly closer
to that ISD. We need to know which side they’re working for.” Belly of the Beast 2004 short story by Louis Turfrey
and Mark Newbold Thirty-Eight
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – Following on indirectly
from Always a
Price, this sees Lord
Raven finally ask Ryath Centaur and Jan Lomona to honour their agreement and
rescue the captured captain Mendip Kahn. Despite being up to their necks in S.D.F business, they agree, knowing that their actions could swing the
Raven decision on which side to ultimately assist during the tail end of the
conflict. Cast
of Characters Tar
Ranth Daemon
Garr Ryath
Centaur Jan
Lomona |