Traipse Ch. 02

I ran back to Starway and nodded to her, "I seriously doubt my uncle wouldn't have a backup plan, we need to..."

I went silent as I heard some chatter on the earpiece:Henely, you okay in there. You're taking your damn time.

My mind raced as I told Star what I'd heard. She shrugged her shoulders, "If we could get them into the shuttle somehow, maybe we could lock them inside."

I thought about it, then raised my eyebrows, "Your detective book obsession is paying off already: that's an incredible idea."

I told her my plan quickly, since I knew that my lack of response would surely draw in whatever backup Henely had brought with him. She agreed and did what I told her to do, which was to run and hide among the only stack of crates in the room. When I was sure she could stay out of sight, I dragged Henely into the shuttle and left his body in the living area a few feet from the entrance. When I finished, I ran back to Starway amidst the crates and took my PDI from my jacket. It wasn't a minute too soon either, because as soon as I crouched down, one of the access doors opened several yards away and three of Henely's men rushed into the room with their displacer pieces drawn. They looked around for signs of their boss, and finally decided that he must be in the shuttle. Two of the men signaled the other to stay at the door while they went to check it out. I worked my fingers skillfully over the PDI interface while this happened; thankfully I was still in user control of the shuttle's systems, so I accessed the sliding door controls and waited for what seemed like an eternity for the two men to step into the shuttle. My finger wavered expectantly over the icon that would seal them inside and give me a better chance of defeating the guy at the door. Finally, they stepped cautiously through the threshold of the door with their weapons raised and I pressed the button. The door closed in its usual way, quietly, and they didn't notice until it was already shut. A second later, I heard a loud crack behind me, and my eyes shot to the guy at the door. He screamed and clutched at his leg, and in less than a second I realized what had happened: Star had shot him with my makeshift pistol. I ran toward him much like I had done with Henely and reached for the stun baton. The injured man saw me and raised him weapon toward me, and that was when I realized why Star had probably shot him. His weapon wasn't a displacer, it was a proton slug gun, dangerous and illegal as hell, if I had been shot with that, I would be out of commission regardless of where I was hit. I threw the baton at his face while I span out of his line of sight, and he was forced to bring his arms up to defend himself. I tackled him, wrapping my hands around his wrists in a death grip in order to prevent him from firing his weapon while we tumbled to the ground. He was already hurt, so he didn't put up much of a fight. I was on top of him, still holding on to his wrists, so I headbutted him hard in the face. I felt his nose break as my forehead made contact, but he still struggled. I was starting to lose my grip, so I brought his left hand around to his throat and tried to force it down. I pressed down roughly as we both grunted, and just as I was about to lose my grip, I saw movement in the corner of my eye. Starway had run up to help me, and she pried the gun out of the guy's hands while I struggled to keep him down. She threw the gun across the room, then brought her fist down to his head as hard as she could. His arms went limp, and I remember wondering where she kept so much strength. I let him go and stood with a gasp. I was out of breath, not so much out of exertion but out of stress.

I span to Star and put my hands on her arms, "You okay?"

She nodded and looked a upset, "I'm sorry Trask, I had to shoot him, his gun..."

I put my arms around her, "I know, its okay babe, I know you had to do it. He's not gonna die, you hit his bone. We need to get out of here."

She nodded and looked back at the shuttle door, "Will it hold them?"

I chuckled, "By the time they figure out how to open it we'll be long gone."

I picked up the stun baton and put it back in my jacket, then grabbed Star's hand. I made my way to the access door then stopped. I realized that this little incident wouldn't end here, that my uncle would hunt me down. He was not the kind of man to let fifteen million credits slip away from him. I faced Star and grimaced, "Star, I need to call my uncle before we leave, I have to."

She looked confused, "I don't know why you would want to talk to that bastard, but do what you need to do."

I nodded and dialed his number on my PDI. It was his personal number that I dialed, and he picked up after a few rings, "Trask, are you alright my boy? Where are you?"

Just hearing his voice made me tremble in rage. I controlled my shaking and spoke clearly and flatly, "Listen you son of a bitch, I don't want to talk to you longer than I have to so I'll keep this short. Henely and his men are taking a nap and I'm leaving to Vale with my new wife. I don't plan on ever coming back to high Fare, but if you hunt me down I WILL take the fight to you. I know how much money you spent breeding me, so I don't suppose you'll listen to reason, just know that people, your people, are going to get hurt if you don't back off. This is your one warning."

My uncle was silent on the line for a long time before he answered, "My boy, you have no idea what you're doing here. There's a lot more to it than you might think. We need to talk about this, and not over the phone, be reasonable and don't do anything that I can't reverse."

I lost my temper, "Reasonable? You want me to be reasonable?! Like how reasonable you were when you tried to force Patricia and I to marry?! How you controlled every aspect of my life and tried using synthetic pheromones to get us to sleep together?! I'm not talking to you anymore, I gave you your warning, go to hell bastard."

I hung up before he could respond and clenched my fists. Star put her arms around me and nuzzled my chest, "Let's go rich boy."

I nodded, and we walked out the access door into a frenzy of traveling Valian patrons in the transit station.