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Lost and Found 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey Fourteen
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Seven down three to go. Daemon Garr smiled fiercely to
himself as he set his ship in orbit around the world of Dagoah, the seventh
of ten worlds he had planned to visit. He had a good feeling about this one.
He transmitted his New Republic ident code and the
computer was given a traffic route. He dropped in behind a small freighter
and set the controls to follow the automatic beacon. Stretching his massive frame in the cramped cockpit area,
Daemon settled down for a quick nap. His communicator chirped sharply. “Yes, can I help
you?” The gentle giants deep voice echoed around the
small ship. “Yes, good day
fine sir, I am Deit Nedcha of the Dagoah port authority. We received the
message you forwarded from Fetna Primus. I noticed
your New Republic identification on approach and I have re-read the request
you made. We very rarely have visits from such personages as yourself, could
you confirm the nature of your visit.” The mans tone
was sincere, but Daemon could not help feeling that today he would loose some
money. “Yes, I am
looking for a man, a free-trader by the name of Jan Lomona. He’s very tall,
doesn’t get drunk, and has a bad taste in clothes.” The man on the other end of the communicator laughed
lightly. “Is it business
or pleasure?” Daemon Garr growled deeply in his throat. “Neither. It’s
obligation.” He left it at that. The man called Nedcha grunted his ascent. “I understand.
I’ll meet you at the landing pad you have been designated,” he paused, “in
one standard time part. If you wish to, I can put you in touch with the
appropriate contacts. For a fee.” Daemon Garr smiled. “How much of a
fee would that be?” Nedcha chuckled. “Fifteen percent
of any bounty you collect.” Garr smiled to himself. “Agreed.” Dagoah from orbit was an extremely beautiful site.
Particles suspended in the upper atmosphere reflected sunlight, in varying
degrees, back out into space. The unfortunate side effect of this was that
the surface of the planet only received just about enough light to support
life. Consequently, there was a lot of rain and a lot of mud. The Pacifier Scout touched down onto
its three landing skids. The landing pad sank slightly, settling in to the
mud below. Garr pressed a button on the arm of his chair and it slid
backwards, out of the cockpit and into the small anteroom behind. Garr span
it round, got up, and started to bolt on his body armour. He took only his
blaster pistol and vibro shiv
out of the weapons locker. If he needed anything more than this then he would
likely not survive any attack. Anybody who attacked a massive, furry
Daemonite would have to be a complete fool anyway. If the ten centimetre
retractable fangs didn’t get them, the ten centimetre claws would. Daemon was not a great fan of water. About seventy
percent of his genetic make-up was of feline descent, and he had fought long
and hard to temper his natural fear. It still caught him off guard on the odd
occasion, usually resulting in somebody else getting hurt in his panic.
Instead of jumping into a Wookie-like rage he was now able to reduce that
fear driven anger into simple bad temper, but he still didn’t like it,
especially when the ground was wet, the weather was wet and the atmosphere
was damp. Daemon took a deep breath to calm himself
and opened the airlock door. The official looking speeder stopped just short of the
landing pad as the craft settled onto its mountings. Its occupant was
nervous. He’d never met a Daemonite before, especially one who was a
high-ranking scout-bounty hunter with the New Republic. It made him nervous.
He wondered how he would react when he found out what had befallen his
quarry. Oh well, only one-way to
find out. As Daemon exited the lower hatch of his ship, so Deit
Nedcha exited his speeder. They walked towards each other across the landing
pad. Daemon nodded to the Dagoan as he came within hailing distance. The
Dagoan smiled back, his frog like features turning it into a near parody. “Good day to you
honoured scout. I think we may have some information about your friend.” This surprised Daemon, he’d not expected any progress in
finding Lomona at all. “What sort of
information?” The Dagoan looked slightly fearful for a moment. “It would appear
your quarry is a guest of one of our local crime lords, a lady by the name of
Netha Dubra. She is a rather persistent woman who has insisted that Mister
Lomona remains her guest for a rather long time.” He paused.
“It appears they are about to get married.” Daemon smiled at this, his grin showing his retracted
fangs. “Trust Lomona to
get himself caught up in a romantic mess. When’s the wedding taking place?” The Dagoan looked perplexed at this, his answer even more
urgent. “I’m afraid you
don’t understand sir, when female Dagoan’s get married they seduce the male,
then eat him.” He looked stricken. Daemon felt like he looked. “Then there is
no time to waste. Take me to this woman.” The Dagoan looked even more fearful at this request. “I can’t sir. She’ll kill me if we interrupt the wedding.
It’s a sacred right. We wouldn’t even get past the gate of the mansion. She’ll have me killed if I help you.” Daemon leant towards the frog-like creature, grasped hold
of his tunic and extended his primary claw so that it pressed upon the skin
of the port masters jowl. “What make’s you
think I won’t kill you if you
don’t?” Jan Lomona sat quietly considering his options. She
wasn’t bad looking by human standards, but he couldn’t believe that he’d ever
been drunk enough to have proposed to her. A-desandians didn’t get drunk,
they metabolised alcohol into sugar. He must have been drugged. He sat back and tried to remember how
he had gotten involved with this woman. His mind pulled up a blank. He
shrugged inwardly. Oh well, I can always skip town after the wedding. Jan heard footsteps approaching in the corridor, and
heard the now familiar sound of his bride-to-be as she scolded the guards for
slouching. There was the sound of the door unlocking and then she entered. At a meter and a half she was tall for her species. Her
lithe figure was humanoid in appearance, apart from a light green tinge, lack
of body hair, webbed toes and fingers. Her large eyes, blue tinted, looked
slightly exotic below her pencil thin raven eyebrows and long dark raven
coloured hair. She was not a pure breed Dagoan, being half human, and it
showed. Her full, slightly wider than normal mouth sat delicately below her
small perfectly formed nose. Jan realised how easy it would be to fall for
this woman. “You didn’t have
to lock the door. Where would I run
to?” She looked Jan up and down, eyeing him closely. “I’m still
trying to figure out if you’re stupid or smart. Don’t you know Dagoan females
eat our mates after copulation? It’s why we like off-worlders so much.” Jan laughed and looked at her face closely, suddenly
feeling very alone. She moved towards him. Extending her hand, she ran a
finger down his shirt and then looked up towards him. “Oh, don’t worry. I have no intentions of eating you. After
all, I’m only half-Dagoan.” She smiled
her wide grin. “I’ll just nibble a
bit.” Jan felt light headed and suddenly aroused. In a small
part of his mind an alarm bell sounded and the word pheromones leapt to his forebrain. He reacted quicker than he
would have liked and snatched her hand away from his chest, twisting her
round and grabbing her in a headlock. She was barely able to breathe as he
lifted her off the ground, so that her toes just touched the surface of the
ornate carpet. “Now sweetheart,
lets discuss the terms of the dowry, huh?” Daemon Garr prepared himself for what he considered was
going to be one hell of a fight. The speeder pulled up to the gate, where to
surly looking Neetcha Guards stood stiffly to attention. Daemon made the
Portmaster exit the speeder first and followed him out. Daemon grabbed the
Portmaster by the shoulder and pushed him towards the gate. The Portmaster
whimpered. “My name is Deit
Nedcha, I am the Portmaster General. I wish to speak to your employer about
some extreme irregularities with her trading permits.” The guards ignored him. Daemon stepped around the
now cowering bureaucrat and came face to face with a rather large force pike.
Just in time, a communicator buzzed on one of the guards’ belts. He placed it
to his ear and muttered a curt response. He listened for a few moments and
then handed the communicator over to Daemon. “It’s for you.” Daemon took the small com unit. “Garr here.” There was a brief pause, then a
familiar voice filled Daemons ears. “Daemon, long time no talk. Have you got a ship on planet?” Jan’s voice
sounded stressed. “Yes, but how, I
mean who, I mean...” His voice trailed off as Jan butted in. “No time for
chit-chat. I’m coming out with a hostage. Get ready to lay down some covering
fire.” Then the line went dead. Daemon made a decision, rapidly dispatching the two
guards into dreamland, and placing them in the guard box on the left hand
side of the gate entrance. The gates started to open upon their own. He
grabbed his blaster and pushed the Dagoan port officer into the back of his
speeder. Reaching in he deactivated the droid on the
front seat and hauled it out the craft, throwing it as far as his arms would
allow. There was a commotion behind him and he realised that someone was
getting nearer. He turned around to find Jan striding towards the gate, an
unconscious female on his shoulders. When he was through the gate, Daemon
closed them using the manual controls within the gatehouse and blasted them
into oblivion. He grinned as he raced back towards the speeder and helped Jan
haul the female into the car. “Just like old
times.” He heard Jan mutter. Daemon turned to Jan. “Any idea how
we’re going to get off planet?” Jan looked across at him as they climbed into the front
seats. He grinned wildly. “Who cares? Let’s wing it. I haven’t had this much fun
in a long time.” Lost and Found 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey Fourteen
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – Just a few short months before Daemon Garr’s exit from the Setnin Sector and Jan Lomona’s decade long disappearance this short Louis Turfrey tale shows
Lomona in his customary spot of bother being helped out by Garr, the furred Daemonite who has worked with Lomona on many
previous occasions. It also introduces
Netha Dubra, the woman who will later become Garr’s bride and become known as
the Lady
Raven.
Cast of Characters
Daemon
Garr Jan
Lomona Deit
Nedcha Netha
Dubra |