Night Traveller (Gay Romantic Sci-Fi)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight 

Oliver was still tight lipped by the time they arrived back at Asra. Ryan Callan decided he'd be wise to keep out of his way for a bit, until he had time to settle down and get his teeth into something new. Now was definitely not a good time to ask the Lieutenant out for a friendly drink. He'd spent the entire voyage questioning the crew of the Argos, but had learned little apart from the fact that the unidentified ship had attacked without warning and that the Argos had returned fire. 

Oliver had called ahead and Medics from the Clinic were waiting to take care of the bodies when they docked at Asra. They would put them in cold storage until his return, allowing him time to examine the bodies for evidence before Chief Medic Mia Baraky conducted an autopsy. A larger planet would have had a police force to handle this part of the procedure, but smaller colonies had to rely on the Patrol alone more often than not. Although most Patrol Officers had a smattering of police skills, they were scarcely forensic experts, still, they did what they could. If the case was important enough, the colony, or the officer in question, could call for assistance from Capella. 

The Lieutenant considered his first priority was to accompany the Hummer on its return journey to bring in the derelict ship. One Patrol Officer was not enough to do everything that was needed, he thought, thinking of all the work ahead, the sooner Headquarters replied to his request for two extra officers the better. At least he'd be able to start his search of the ship as soon as they got it aboard the Hummer. Surely there would be something to tell him who had organised the attack and hopefully, why. 

XXX 

Dane Trenwith and the Rover escorted the Sprite to Burra without any further dramas, although he was on high alert the whole voyage. Thankfully his job ended when the other ship landed safely at Kapunda, Burra's principal city. He set the Rover down several landing bays distant with a sigh of relief, careful to catch no glimpse of the Sprite's occupants. The job had been arranged via wristcom and anonymous credit transfers, he had never met the occupants and in fact saw distinct advantages in never having to. Discretion was paramount in the security business. As far as he was concerned, he had fulfilled his part of the contract by getting them there, and the client had fulfilled his part by transferring the balance of credits owing into the AISS account immediately the ship landed. Presumably the client had made other security arrangements for his transport from the space port. 

After an hour's wait, Dane picked up his return cargo, a couple of traders and their spouses returning to Asra after a combined business and shopping trip. Some goods were hard to come by on Asra, especially if there was only a limited demand. There was no wood at all on the tiny planet and the six hand carved chairs one of the couples had bought, were carried on board as carefully as if they were made of gold, and stored securely in the hold.  

Dane hadn't minded the delay, he had used the time to run a few personal errands. Absentmindedly he patted the small packet tucked into his utility belt. He liked the new colour Ryan had chosen for his hair, maybe it was time to give his own dark brown locks a new look. He remembered how interested Ryan had been in that young man with the white blond hair a week ago. Not that he was seriously chasing Ryan of course, but everyone said blondes had more fun. And to be honest, the longer before he had to return to Asra and face Lieutenant Oliver and his myriad of questions, the better. He was pretty sure the Lieutenant wasn't going to be at all happy with his professions of ignorance, truthful as they were. He wasn't going to believe that he had no idea about the client's identity, that he had never even seen him, at least not without a lot of arguing. 

He would just have to stick to his story, after all, he was just the pilot, Callan handled the business side of things, it was his job to explain their client to the Lieutenant. 

He wondered idly what Mike Oliver thought of blonds. 

XXX 

The Hummer retrieved the derelict craft without any trouble, manoeuvring it gently into the vast holding bay. Oliver spent the entire return journey examining the contents of the ship, which he discovered was presently listed as the T-113 Comet. A careful inspection of the ship's log gave him the time the sonic torp had been fired and the time the ship had been hit in turn, confirming the Argos' version of events, which was a relief. Apart from the rather unusual presence of the sonic torp, a weapon not normally carried by small traders, and the laser guns on the dead assailants, Oliver found no other evidence of criminal activity. 

There were about a dozen boxes and crates in the cargo hold all containing various ore samples, either the ship had been doubling as a miner as well as a fighter or else it had been hijacked already loaded. A search for the owner of T-113 Comet revealed that the ship was currently registered to Ardrossan Enterprises, a small company whose chairperson was listed as T. Smith, business address in Kapunda. To Oliver's complete lack of surprise, there was no residential address listed for the company or its chair. A quick scan revealed a long list of T. Smiths in the nearby quadrant, there were over fifty on Burra alone, not that Oliver would have wagered more than a shrug of his shoulders that T. Smith was the owner's real name. It would be interesting to see if, after he declared his intention to confiscate the ship for salvage, anyone came forward to claim it.  

It cost a lot of money to operate an armed ship. It cost a lot of money to hire three assassins. Come to think of it, hiring an armed escort could hardly be cheap either. There was no way this was a casual crime or even a random hit, unless he missed his guess, he had stumbled into something big. Somebody with serious resources behind him, or her, was out to get Jian Chang.  

As far as Oliver was concerned, the whole setup smelled to high heaven. Who exactly was Chang? Why was he travelling under an assumed name? It was hardly the action of a legitimate business man. What had he been doing on Asra and who had he been meeting? And perhaps even more importantly as far as he was concerned, how deeply was Ryan Callan involved in the whole mess?