***
After setting down his ship on the industrial and commerce planet Keldra Four, Saleek made his way from bar to bar in the biggest red light district of the northernmost continent. However, oiled-up flesh and gyrating body parts were not his reason for coming here, although he would admit that they were a bonus. He was looking for some people and he knew that they often hung around this region of this planet. Not that they were there for the beautiful, young bodies on display, but the drinks and entertainment were dirt cheap so that was their number one motivation for going there frequently on their downtime. Plus it was only a short journey from where they lived – a place on the outskirts of a nearby major city. The spiky lyan walked into yet another “entertainment outfit” that would be better described as “yet another dive bar”. The smell of body odour from more than a dozen different species combined with the smell of dried alcohol stuck to the floor and all topped off with thumping, incessant music was an unpleasant assault on the senses. Saleek wrinkled his nose with disgust as he tried to hold his breath and avoid breathing in too much of the air. He quickly made his way from the entrance to the back of the bar and then, after not finding who he was looking for, he returned to the entrance again, pausing only briefly to admire a very drunk (and very topless) female lyan dancing on top of a table and calling out for him to join her. As much as he loved a good party, this one would have to wait – he had bigger things to sort out, including getting rid of an artefact that constantly attracted the wrong sort of company and rescuing a new friend from a criminal hideout.
‘Same old, same old. One of these days these days I really am gonna have to get away from all this and take a proper vacation,’ said Saleek to nobody in particular as he exited the bar and walked onwards down the street.
He tried another ten bars and clubs but it was to no avail. Just as he was beginning to think that he would never find them, Saleek walked into a large bar and as his keen eyes scanned the room, he found the pair he was looking for – they were sat at a table towards the rear of the bar and drinking bottles of sandakk. A confident smirk fixed on his face, Saleek straightened his clothes and bounded over to them with a large helping of enthusiasm.
‘Hey, I don’t believe who it is! Kracht, Ellu, how are things guys?’ said the lyan as he approached.
The two people who were sat at the table turned around slowly to see who was talking to them. One of them was a very large individual who had to be at least six feet four inches in height and probably a good few feet in width as well. If this suggested he was overweight, that was not the case at all – he was a mountain constructed almost entirely of muscles and rock-hard reddish skin. His large head was bald and rather plain expect for a few strips of tattoos on the top of his skull and a couple of beady eyes that observed all around him with dark intensity. His arm rested on the table and he had a big, meaty hand clasped around a bottle of sandakk and there was a small mountain of empty bottles just by his elbow. Saleek couldn’t tell if it was his entrance or not, but the rather massive alien looked considerably pissed off as he looked at the lyan.
The second alien who was sitting at the table was quite different from the first. She was female for starters, and the first thing you noticed when you looked at her was her gorgeous mane of thick, luxurious hair that was blue in colour and worn in a very long plaited ponytail which reached the small of her back. She was around five feet ten inches tall and her body was lean, toned muscle which somehow retained an air of femininity about it. Her skin was lightly tanned orange and she had large, attractive eyes and lips on a slightly thin face with very high cheekbones. She was clad in tight-fitting pants and wore a halter-neck top which exposed her supple shoulders and lightly muscular arms. On her upper left arm there was a tattoo of what looked to be a lightning bolt. The female alien did not look pissed off like her friend did, but she didn’t exactly appear pleased either, as a look of surprise formed on her attractive features.
‘Well, well, well. Look who it is, Ellu. I ain’t seen ya in months, Saleek. Kinda surprised to see ya here actually. Shouldn’t ya be runnin’ away from someone?’ said the large alien as he turned back to his drink, giving the lyan the cold shoulder.
Saleek tried to brush off the hostility with a light-hearted chuckle as he looked at Ellu.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Ellu, her brow furrowed in confusion.
‘Well, it’s kinda a long story really, but the upshot of it is-’
‘Here it comes,’ interrupted the large alien, still nursing his drink.
‘I sorta need your help,’ finished Saleek, looking a little embarrassed.
‘Bingo!’ said the large alien before taking a swig from his bottle and plonking it back down on the table.
He turned away slightly from Saleek, as if to emphasise his current feelings towards the lyan.
Saleek sighed.
‘Listen Kracht, I’m sorry about how things went down last time and you have every right to be pissed at me. I know I shoulda stayed with you but at the time I assumed you were already back at the ship. How was I to know you were still fightin’ those guyzorks?’
‘Hmph,’ snorted Kracht before downing his current drink.
He shoved it to the side with the rest of the mountain of empty bottles and reached forwards to grab a fresh one. Whereas most people would have had to use a bottle opener of some description, Kracht simply removed the cap with a deft flick of his strong thumb which sent it flying across the room, narrowly missing hitting a customer sat at the bar. Saleek looked pleadingly at Ellu. She was not as hostile as Kracht, but she did not look impressed with Saleek asking for something as soon as he had arrived and greeted them.
‘What is it this time, Saleek?’ she said, large eyes regarding him carefully.
‘Am I really that bad?’ said the spiky alien, genuinely a little surprised at the reception he was getting.
Ellu crossed her legs and fiddled with her drink, her eyes still burning into Saleek’s.
‘Well, you do have a habit of only turning up when you want something.’
‘That’s cold, Ellu,’ said Saleek with an expression of mock-hurt on his face. ‘And here I thought we were friends.’
Kracht snorted loudly in derision at that statement but said nothing.
‘Friendship requires a bit of give and take, Saleek,’ explained Ellu as she took a sip of her drink. ‘You mostly just take.’
Saleek sucked in a large breath and let it out in a deep sigh. He didn’t have time for this, he had been away from the Barren Lands for nearly a full day now. There was no telling what Patrick’s kidnappers might be doing to the poor human, especially now that they had surely worked out that Saleek was no longer on the planet. The spiky lyan looked at his shoes for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. This served to intrigue Ellu, as she was used to him blurting things out with nary a second thought. The look of concentration on his features was not one she was used to seeing and this made her consider the possibility that he was either in deeper trouble than usual or, just maybe, he had actually changed since they last saw one another. She patiently waited for Saleek to break the silence, which he did a few seconds later.
Staring deeply into Ellu’s eyes, the lyan said, ‘Look, for the first time in, well, ever I suppose, I’m gonna be completely honest with you. A little while ago, I met a human at a spaceport on Nexus One.’
‘A hoo-mann? What’s that? Sounds like somethin’ you find at the bottom of a dirty engine on a deep-space freighter...’ commented Kracht without looking up from his drink.
‘I think I’ve heard of that word before,’ said Ellu. ‘Isn’t it the name of a species that almost exclusively live on the outskirts of the galaxy?’
‘The outer colonies, yeah that’s right,’ confirmed Saleek before continuing. ‘Well, I kinda got involved in a bit of trouble and right now this poor human has been kidnapped by a bunch of guys who are only doin’ it to try and get to me. If I just leave him where he is, I’m afra
id they’ll torture him then kill him and he’s innocent in all this. It wouldn’t be right, this ain’t his fault. It’s mine.’
‘So you got him into trouble and left him all by himself. Gee, where have I heard that one before?’ said Kracht before taking yet another swig of alcohol.
‘Look, I already said I was sorry ‘bout that,’ said Saleek, sensing that the big alien would rather do anything other than help him at that moment.
Desperately, he turned to look back into Ellu’s large eyes. If he was going to convince them to help him, he would have to do it by convincing her first.
‘You were pretty vague on the details of how you got in trouble. Before we even consider helping you out on this one, I want to know more about what you’ve done,’ said Ellu as she leaned back in her chair.
‘Could you say that without soundin’ like I get into trouble all the time?’ asked Saleek, getting a little tired of being treated like the lowest criminal in the galaxy.
‘Let’s see....nope, I don’t think I can,’ replied Ellu, her face deadpan.
Saleek let out a small chuckle and said, ‘OK, fair enough. Well, times have been hard lately and I didn’t have much money or fuel left, so I got a little...desperate. I double-crossed a fairly powerful guy with contacts all over the galaxy. One of his groups of thugs found us in the Barren Lands and they captured the human, and nearly captured me as well.’
Ellu’s forehead creased in confusion.
‘What in the galaxy were you doing in the Barren Lands? And how did you double-cross this guy?’ she inquired.
‘It’s kinda a long story,’ answered Saleek. ‘The short version is: I stole an ancient artefact from the guy. He’d been diggin’ ‘em up from the centre of Nexus One. Dunno how he knew they were there or who he got permission from to do that, but he did. Anyway, these things he dug up are really rare so they’re worth a ton of credits. Then, after we got the artefact and made our escape, things got gnarly. I wound up in the Barren Lands, got jumped by some thugs, escaped and came straight away to find you two and ask for your help. So...I’m goin’ back to rescue the human and I need some backup...what do you say?’
Before Ellu could reply, Kracht got annoyed and slammed his half-full bottle down on the table. He stood up, turned around and started to storm out.
‘You want my help? You got some nerve askin’ me after what happened last time!’ Kracht said as he stomped away.
He was stopped in his tracks when Saleek ran around to cut him off, holding up his hands.
‘Look, I did wrong last time and I made a mistake. I know that, OK? And I promise I’ll make it up to you, I really mean that this time. Once I’ve rescued this human I’ll be able to sell the artefact and I’ll give you forty percent of what I get for it.’
As soon as the spiky lyan mentioned money, Kracht’s expression changed. He started to consider his options.
‘Forty percent of how much?’ he asked bluntly.
‘Who knows? I should get at least twenty five thousand credits for it. Maybe as much as fifty thousand credits! Think of all that money, Kracht,’ said Saleek, deliberately trying to persuade the big alien to change his mind. ‘Think about what you could buy with all that.’
After the large alien hesitated, the lyan decided to press him on it.
‘Please Kracht, you’re my only hope! This poor human is innocent and he’s only involved because of me. He doesn’t know anything about the artefact but they’ll torture him to find out any information he has,’ Saleek pleaded, making his eyes wide in an attempt to convince the big alien to assist.
‘Don’t you think it’s more like “the human doesn’t know much about the artefact but he is more than capable of identifying Saleek and his transport ship and revealing everywhere the little thief has been over the last few days. This could land him in a whole lot of trouble with the authorities or a local crime boss, whichever find him first”?’ accused Ellu as she stood up and put her hands on her hips.
‘Well...perhaps there’s an element of that as well...’ Saleek admitted sheepishly. ‘But seriously, guys. I need help – I can’t do this without you. Ellu, remember all those jobs I did for your uncle last season? And remember when I got him that exceedingly rare cargo, and he only gave me a few credits for all my troubles?’
‘”A few credits” was somewhere in the region of eight thousand, if I remember correctly. And it was the amount that was agreed upon in advance,’ replied Ellu flatly.
‘I was attacked by pirates trying to loot my cargo and kill me in the process! Plus I burned out half the fuel injectors in order to get away and trust me, replacement parts for my ship don’t come cheap!’ Saleek protested.
‘Maybe if you got a new ship it’d be easier, instead of tryin’ to always fix that hunk o’ junk you fly round in,’ offered Kracht.
‘The only reason I had to push the engines so hard to escape was ‘cause that “trade dealer” your uncle spoke so highly of was definitely working for one criminal gang or another, and he never intended to let me leave with the cargo he just sold me! Your uncle knew it was risky, that’s why he never sent you guys, only me!’
Ellu seemed to soften slightly as Saleek said this.
‘Look...I admit that my uncle can sometimes be a little...flexible with his morals in certain situations, but I’m sure he didn’t know the risk was that great. If he did, he never would have sent anyone to try and make that deal in the first place,’ she said.
Saleek was no fool, however. He caught the slight change in her demeanour and his razor-sharp instincts told him he had found the right button to press.
‘Come on, Ellu. You know how I barely made it outta that one in one piece, with all my limbs attached and everything. I really trusted your uncle and look where it got me...’ he turned away from the two aliens and added, ‘I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. No one looks out for Saleek anymore, right? I guess I’ll have to try and make the rescue attempt myself, although I doubt the results will be pretty. This poor, innocent little human may not mean anything to you, but he does to me.’
Since he was facing away, Saleek couldn’t see, but Ellu visibly reacted when he said that and looked extremely uncomfortable.
‘And I guess it was foolish’ – Saleek continued as he turned back to face them – ‘to think that you could help me accomplish this. I mean, you’re only two people, right? What difference could you possibly make if we even attempted a rescue?’
‘Hey, hey, hey!’ exclaimed Kracht. ‘You tryin’ to say I couldn’t handle it?’
Saleek kept a straight face but grinned inwardly. He knew how aggressive the big guy got when he’d had a few drinks and it looked like he’d pressed the right buttons after all.
‘Well, I know you’re good in combat and everything-’ Saleek began.
‘”Good”? What the hell?! I’m great in combat and you know it! You’ve seen me in action and you know what I can do. Hell, it beats hanging round here in some dive bar waiting for the com to ring anyway!’ Kracht marched back to his table, grabbed his drink, downed it and plonked it back on the table with so much force that the bottle shattered upon impact, spraying the local patrons with shards of glass and droplets of sandakk in the process.
The bartender looked up for a moment upon hearing the glass shatter, before shrugging and continuing with his work. It was obviously the sort of place where trouble happened on an almost nightly basis, so no one looked twice at the commotion Kracht was creating.
‘I say let’s do it! I’ve been itchin’ for some action for weeks. All we gotta do is get in, crack some skulls, grab the hoo-mann and get outta there, right? Should be an easy way to make a few thousand credits! Let’s go!’
He seemed very pumped up and excited at the prospect of being able to kill some people and earn some money at the same time.
‘Hang on, Kracht. I’d like to help but I’m not sure we should be doing this...it sounds pretty dangerous. We don’t know exactly what we’re getting into,?
?? cautioned Ellu as she tried to calm him down.
‘Ah, c’mon, loosen up a little. The market’s been dead for ages. Hardly any work goin’ round or anything. Plus, we can always change our mind if your uncle contacts us on the com with a job. What else we gonna do round here anyway? Keep drinking all night till we run outta credits and they throw us out?’
She seemed to consider this for a moment, before replying,’ All right, we’ll see how we can help. After all, I’m sure this human is innocent and it’s not his fault he had the misfortune of running into Saleek and getting involved in one of his cons. Plus, it sure beats acting as your babysitter and making sure you don’t do any more damage in the local bars, Kracht. I take it you have a plan, Saleek?’
‘Well, now that you mention it...’ he said.
‘I knew you were scheming something all along. You’ll never change, will you?’ Ellu said, smiling as they all sat back down at their table.
‘Yeah, but that’s why you love me, right?’ answered Saleek with a wide grin plastered on his face.
‘You think that’s love? Oh, you poor thing. I tolerate you. Just barely,’ she said, teasing.
With his allies now prepared to help, Saleek laid out his plan for them. After he had explained his idea in full, Ellu looked at him in disbelief.
‘That’s your plan?’ she asked incredulously.
‘Yup,’ replied Saleek honestly.
‘It’s not even a proper plan! So, you’re basically just planning a frontal assault and expect us to get away with it?’
‘There’s a little more to it than that but....basically yeah. And trust me, we will get away with it!’
‘It sounds like my kinda plan!’ enthused Kracht. ‘I especially like the bit where I get to lead the assault!’
‘Rescue mission, Kracht. Not “assault”!’ corrected Ellu.
‘Heh, my mistake,’ chuckled Kracht with a grin on his face that indicated he didn’t really care what sort of mission it was as long as he got to fight someone.
Ellu look into Saleek’s eyes.
‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’
‘No, but that’s never stopped me before!’ quipped Saleek with a cocky smirk.
Ellu laughed before shaking her head in defeat as she was clearly outnumbered on this one.
‘I’ll say one thing about you, Saleek,’ she said as she stood up and got ready to leave.
‘What’s that?’ asked the lyan as he stood too.
‘Things are never boring when you’re around! Come on, let’s get going.’
Ellu finished her drink, set it back down on the table and started to make her way to the exit.
‘Just one more thing I gotta do first,’ said Saleek as he reached into his pocket and produced a small communications device which fitted neatly in the palm of his hand.
‘What is it?’ asked Ellu with one hand on her hip.
‘Just gotta make a quick call on the comlink before we leave. Won’t be long. You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch you up.’
Chapter 23