"Just a moment," Davis says, and sets up his laptop so the camera is pointing at Ngawai. "Now, when I say 'go', I want you to tell me and my friend here all about how you were ordered to destroy this station with explosive charges by your mistress to cover up her...extra-curricular activities. Ready? And...go."

"Heh heh heh," she laughs derisively, shaking her head. "Fuck. All right." Ngawai takes a deep breath. "My mistress, Talia het Malenko, plots to destroy Jang-xur to cover up her little-known penchant for pedophilia and cannibalism."

"You gonna kill me now Davis, or are you actually going to let me go?"

Davis closes his laptop, shutting off the camera. "Well, that's rather up to you, isn't it?" he asks, and stands up from his chair, grabs the blanket from off the floor, and drapes it over her shoulders, covering her naked body. "I'm going to be level with you here...ma'am."

He starts pulling the dead bodies off of the chairs and laying them on the floor next to Harlon, where he covers them up with the other blanket. "Obviously you've figured out what's going on here, that we need your help framing your boss in order to save our own asses. Now, normally that would inspire one to fuck with our plans out of a sense of loyalty, and that's why killing you would seem like the best option, and if that's what you choose, I promise to make it as painless as possible. But having you around, at least for the next few hours while we finish our plan, would also be a good option. Just a simple nod to back up what you said on the recording would be enough for our purposes. There's no need to answer right now, but it is an option."

He gets a cup of water and holds it up for her to drink while he talks. "From there, who knows? First, as an offer of peace between the two of us, I apologize for treating you the way I have so far. I have to tell you, for my own sake, that I hate having to resort to such barbaric measures to gain your cooperation. Normally, I prefer sessions to go over a few weeks, where I slowly gain your trust without having to cause you any physical pain at all, but as you know, time is not on our side, and what must be done must be done. As a soldier, I'm sure you can appreciate that. Now, I want you to know that I'm guaranteeing nothing here. You cross me and I will be forced to come down on you, and harshly. But if you cooperate just this little bit longer, I promise that no further harm will come upon you unless warranted by your own actions."

If she's finished the water, he fills it again and offers it to her. "Tell you what, as a further peace offering, we'll fix that knee up for you and get you some proper clothes. You won't even have to play along with our plan to get those things, this is just a gift for helping us."

After she's finished the second water if she drinks from it, Davis stands up again and checks the zip-ties on her hands and feet to make sure they're tight and secure, but carefully this time so he doesn't hurt her. "I'm going to get you some clothes and a medic to help with your knee. As a first request of cooperation between us, if you could just stay there and not break anything or cause a commotion bouncing around the room, that would be greatly appreciated. Also, think about my offer. It's better than just being turned over to the Jang-xur authorities to be beaten, brutalized then executed for trying to kill them all." He walks towards the door, then stops and turns around. "And one more thing. Have you ever wanted to see the Homeworld? We have seen it. We're from there, and have proof of it, and that's why the Imperials are after us. If you stay with us, you might be able to see it someday."

"How much does the Homeworld pay?" Ngawai asks.

Davis smiles. "Well, we're not exactly made of money, but I'm sure an arrangement can be reached. I'd have to talk to Hugh, he has the money. Got a number in mind?"

"My name is Ngawai," the woman offers. "One thousand lats a day breaks my contract with Talia and keeps me by your side. Don't insult me with counteroffers, and don't think this is about my cooperation with your little scheme. We've already bartered that for my life."

"I'll see what I can do Ngawai," Davis says. "I'm sure an arrangement can be reached."

Davis walks back outside and over to Hugh. "I have a proposal for you, Captain Verrill. Our prisoner is willing to sell out her mistress for a thousand lats a day. I think we should pay her for two days, enough to get her cooperation in finishing up this little game, maybe even help in the assault, and get to Aikoro. After that, we let her go. She doesn't know anything that could hurt us, and I think she knows how to keep her mouth shut if properly motivated. I think she could help us, Captain."

Angel chuckles slightly. "Look... surprised. Right. That's not gonna work so well."

He shakes his head, wandering down to where the shell casing from his rather frantic bursts at the advancing Turai fell, and slumps down by a nearby crate, doing his best to look injured and exhausted as he ponders whether he can claim he was ordered to take a nap.

Angel and Semo's eyes snap to the hangar door, which finally crumples inward with a thundering slam, rudely interrupting Hugh's response to Davis. At least a dozen rough men in dark vacuum suits burst through the still-steaming portal. They're armed with a menagerie of weapons; beam rifles, stingers, lancers, swords and spears, and in one case a simple length of pipe.

These ragtag "authorities" spread out into a semicircle around the ruined airlock, stopping short at the utter destruction arrayed before them. One guy actually slips in the remains of the Claymore victim. Angel notes that he could probably get four of them with the remaining antipersonnel mine.

A dozen variations on "Nobody move!" echo through the hangar. A few moments later, a similarly-attired man matching Semo's build strides through the airlock, helmet under one arm, handgun holstered on his hip. He surveys the aftermath with wide eyes, a look of "I have definitely never seen THIS before" etched plainly on his jet-black jowly face.

"Somebody tell me what happened right now," he barks, coughing at the smell. "You said you had a Turai problem?"

"We're working on the cleanup now," Hugh says. Without making an aggressive move, he gives a thumbs-up gesture to Davis. "One of my men accidentally entered their hangar, and that's when we found ourselves at the business end of an attack. Fortunately, we had a minute's warning...otherwise, they would've slaughtered us."

Davis speaks up. "We've got proof of something big going down here. The Turai are plotting to blow up this station to cover up Talia het Malenko's penchant for buying, killing and eating children. I have a Turai prisoner who's willing to testify to this, but I need to give her medical attention, as she was injured in the fight. Can I go inside with him," he gestures towards Luis, "and get her ready to come out?"

"Man, you should'a seen it! A bunch came pouring in through that airlock, and several invisible ones tried to sneak in from the shuntway. Helluva battle. I tell ya, if these guys had been as good as real Turai, we wouldn't'a stood a chance!

"Course, then again, I doubt real Turai would work for that child molesting freak, ya know?"

A few of the thugs look at each other askance at the mention of the depravity. Davis and Semo suspect they've already dealt irrecoverable damage to Malenko's reputation.

"Those are serious claims," the bossman replies. "Go get your 'witness'", he tells Luis. "You have anything other than the testimony of one of your own men and a coerced prisoner?"

"Well, there's one thing...you might want to space it right now, though. Doesn't seem like a good souvenir."

Hugh points to the faux explosive cylinder.

Davis motions for Luis to follow him and walks inside the ship. "Okay, I'll work on finding her some clothes to wear while you fix her knee with the frisbee, alright?"

Bossman looks at the faux explosive charge warily. "I'm thinking more of a 'return to sender'," he says, gingerly rotating the cylinder in his hands and peering at the hastily-welded seals. "But I'll see what your prisoner has to say. Did your man note in what hangar the Lady Malenko was berthed?"

Luis follows the agent up the catwalk and into the ship, past the shower of sparks falling from Max's work. If they need to leave, it's not going to be his fault they're not ready. At least none of the mall cops seem to be taking offense to the ongoing work.

Once inside, Luis finds a naked Ngawai still zip-tied to one of the mess hall chairs. Her dead companions are covered with several thermal blankets.

Luis notes that for an alleged soldier, she doesn't bear the telltale mottling of one who's been regenerated by the frisbees. She bears plenty of mundane scars, however.

"You the man with the kauka?" she asks Luis. Assuming he readies the artifact, she continues, grumbling almost to herself. "Ten years. Ten years at this with nothin' that didn't grow back on its own."

She finally addresses Luis again. "You know your Davis guy sent you in here alone on purpose, right? See if I'd slipped these cuffs, see if I could overpower you, take your weapon."

Meanwhile, Davis ransacks the storage containers from Yaris' bunk, finally ending up with a baggy knee-length undertunic, a piped-sleeve thermal doublet, and some light pants that look fairly size-tolerant.

"It was B91, sir," Semo replies. At least he remembers that much. Hard not to, really, considering how far he had to walk to get back.

Quote:

Luis follows the agent up the catwalk and into the ship, past the shower of sparks falling from Max's work. If they need to leave, it's not going to be his fault they're not ready. At least none of the mall cops seem to be taking offense to the ongoing work.

Once inside, Luis finds a naked Ngawai still zip-tied to one of the mess hall chairs. Her dead companions are covered with several thermal blankets.

Luis notes that for an alleged soldier, she doesn't bear the telltale mottling of one who's been regenerated by the frisbees. She bears plenty of mundane scars, however.

"You the man with the kauka?" she asks Luis. Assuming he readies the artifact, she continues, grumbling almost to herself. "Ten years. Ten years at this with nothin' that didn't grow back on its own."

She finally addresses Luis again. "You know your Davis guy sent you in here alone on purpose, right? See if I'd slipped these cuffs, see if I could overpower you, take your weapon."

Luis shakes his heads as he works the kakuna. He's still a bit upset from loosing Taylor, and he doesn't really want to deal with any mind games at the moment. He exagerates his response a little for the benefit of the one-man audience, but mostly he just wants to leave this whole affair up to Davis. "You wanna tell yourself that, that's fine. Hell, I wouldn't put it past the man, but right now, I've got another engagement, so how 'bout you tell this nice man what you bastards were up to when you came in here and started blowing holes in everything, up to and including a very nice guy I have worked with for two years, and frankly, I'd like to just get this whole thing over with, so how 'bout you just talk, sound good?"

After his experience with Arketta in the Mesas Negras Gateroom, Luis instinctively ascertains Ngawai's bonds before lighting up the alien device.

"Yeah, well fuck your friendnnnnnng" - she's interrupted as the frisbee begins its work - "and fuck you. These corpses used to be nice guys too, so think about that the next time you blow somebody's legs off."

Luis wonders if the frisbee would do something... inappropriate if he told it that she had shrapnel in her brain when she didn't.

Either way, the woman's leg wound seems to be healing slowly but surely. She can be moved, but Luis figures she'll have a hell of a limp for a good 30 minutes still, if the more grevious wounds suffered by the team in the past are any indication.

---

At Semo's testimony, the port boss produces an old-school handvox, like the one Davis swiped back on Botane.

"This is Leno. Yeah, down at M3. I need B91 locked down; put another killteam on standby too. Wait for my authorization."

He puts his widget away and tells Hugh and Semo, "Let's hear what your Turai has to say."

Davis walks in with the clothes from Yaris' bunk and puts them on the table. "Luis, mind watching my back while I undo her restraints?" Davis pulls out a knife and cuts Ngawai's bonds. "Take your time getting dressed if you need to. We've decided to hire you for the next few days, at least until we get to our next destination, so get ready to tell your story to the station authorities. Also, how do you feel about joining in on on the assault on Malenko's ship?"