Throughout the second day, Karmlyn and Jinx, now with Lexxon, continued to head toward the abandoned base. Unlike the first, there were no attacks by the mobsters. Where they thought the trail curved away from the direction from the base, they found a smaller trail not on the map, and went down that for a while. There were a couple times they had to slow down due to some herd going through the trail, and once again Jinx had to use her powers to keep the animals calm. While the situation was a little tense both times, they got through with little trouble. Eventually, they had to leave the trails behind, and go through the forest. Fortunately, Karmlyn's map helped them take a route with plenty of clearings, so they didn't have to go through the thicker parts of the forest so much.
Encampment for the night was a little different than previously:
"So what do we do?" Jinx asked, her flight suit helmet returned to her, "The makeshift shelter Karmlyn and I made last night was a bit close for two, let alone three with one being of a different gender."
Karmlyn grinned, "If Lexxon can tell me how to keep the animals off, I could leave the two of you alone."
"Now Karmlyn!"
"Let's just take turns standing watch." Lexxon suggested to the two women, "I'll go ahead and take the first shift."
This far away from the mobster base, they decided the animals were a bigger risk, so a small fire was lit. Nothing happened during Lexxon's shift. Jinx's shift was uneventful. Karmlyn was last, and nothing happened at first.
Not long before dawn, however, she heard something in the bushes. Like the night before, with her blaster rifle in one hand, she got a rock, and hurled it to the sound.
She was not surprised to see jumping from the bushes a canine-like creature like the night before. What surprised her was that there were two of them.
She then heard Jinx cry out "Karmlyn, (behind you!)," and thought she heard something behind her. She instantly spun around.
The canine was already off the ground in it's leap at her, teeth bared, when Karmlyn saw it. Without thought, she pulled the trigger on her rifle, and sent a series of stunbolts into it's body. The animal fell down unconscious. Turning to face the others, she could see them turning tail and running away.
Jinx ran over, "(You allright?)"
"(Yeah,)" Karmlyn answered, "(Thanks for the warning.)" she glanced down at the canine, "(Looks like those bad boys wanted a couple pieces of mymar meat with human as a side dish.)"
Lexxon began running over, and noticed the stunned canine, "Good work Karmlyn."
"Thanks, but it's just stunned. I set my blaster to the softer stuff in case I accidentally fired at you. We better finish it off."
"No need." Jinx bent down, and put her index and forefingers on the canine's temple, and concentrated.
"What are you doing?" Karmlyn asked.
"This animal will no longer be a threat to us. When it awakens, it will leave."
"Huh? Jinx, it just tried to kill us."
"Out of instinct, not of malice. There is no reason to destroy it," she paused, "unless you're hungry and out of rations."
Karmlyn gave her a look, "I think I can stretch my rations before having to eat dog meat."
The following day, they resumed their trip to the abandoned military base. After a few hours, with only about twenty minutes left on their journey, they came to another trail, one that according to their map would take them directly to the base. Karmlyn, however, didn't seem eager to take it. Jinx was outright against it.
"What is it?" Karmlyn asked.
"I'm getting a bad feeling about the base." Jinx told her and Lexxon, "There's something up in there."
"I had been wondering about skipping the trail, stopping the bikes not too far away from the place, and getting a look-see from a distance." Karmlyn paused, "It would be just our luck for Nastrum's boys to set up an ambush."
"I wouldn't put it past him." Lexxon commented, "If they found out about the base, they would try to send men here."
"I guess that means we walk the rest of the way." Karmlyn got her blaster rifle and got off the bike. She then opened the seat to the storage compartment, and began getting some objects, including a pair of high-power binoculars.
"When are those cats going to show up?" Nastrum grumbled.
The military base was little more than a tiny outpost. It was built to hold only six in it's quarters, spartan as they were, let alone thirteen. About half the mobsters were in an ambush position near the road. The rest were at the base itself. On one end of the small crew quarters there was a small office, on the other a communications room with the antenna just next to the building outside. The only door to and from outside was at the office. It was built simply with few furnishings. It did have a few windows. Like most other places in this part of the planet, this area was forest, but there were a few clearings, and some of the undergrowth was fairly thick and bushy. The base was in the middle of a small clearing, at least thirty feet of open space around it in any direction with no brush.
Since they had gotten here the previous night, all that could be done was wait. Waiting that made Nastrum irritable. Here he was, poised to take back everything that he had lost, and the required element just wasn't showing up!
"You'll have to come here sometime, cats, and when you do."
While one of his subordinates had given him a drink to try and calm him down, he mostly let it sit on the office desk. Nastrum could only soothe his frustration by imagining what he would do with the felinoids if they had the misfortune to fall in his hands alive.
Through the image of the binoculars, the mobsters could clearly be seen. Some were standing around the base, a few were clearly inside judging by that a couple on the outside seemed to be talking to someone through the door, "Yes, there they are." Lexxon whispered.
Karmlyn, Jinx, and Lexxon were partially hidden from view in a bushier part of the undergrowth some distance from he main road. They had been gradually sneaking closer to the base using the ground cover to hide, taking peeks ahead with the high-powered binoculars.
"How many?" Jinx asked him.
"Four on the outside. Probably a few in. Combined with the seven over there," Lexxon gestured at a group waiting in some bushes at a spot next to the road not far away, "That makes eleven plus those on the inside." He paused, "That rules out a direct assault as an option. Before we could take all of them out, the second group would be on us, and we would be pinned down and squeezed like a vice."
"Sounds like we need a little strategy." Karmlyn commented.
"That we do." Lexxon took another look with the binoculars, "Hmm, this is interesting."
"What?"
"Nastrum. He just stepped outside to bark some orders to an underling."
"Let me see." Karmlyn took the binoculars, and took a peek for herself. After a couple moments, "That's him. I'd recognize that redheaded lard-gut anywhere."
Lexxon cracked a smile, "He does have a way of standing out, even if he wore something besides those gaudy clothes." His smile then faded, "Usually he doesn't come with his men on an assignment. Obviously, he's taken this to a personal level."
"If it were some dashing mafia don from the holovids, I'd be flattered. With this pig, I couldn't care less."
"Just don't take any more shots at him without thinking first." Jinx cautioned.
"From what you told me," Lexxon remarked with a smile, "that scene would have been hilarious to see. That would make him even more furious about the two of you." his smile then faded, "I'm sorry, I should never have gotten the two of you involved."
"Don't worry about it." Jinx told him.
"I just hope there's a big reward for this." Karmlyn muttered.
Lexxon thought for a moment, "Nastrum doesn't like me much either. Perhaps I can arrange for some kind of distraction. That way, he'll send the bulk of his men after me, and you two can sneak in and send the message." He pointed to Karmlyn's datapad, "I gave you the coordinates and frequency for the place earlier, to get help the quickest."
"One man against the bulk of Nastrum's squad won't last long." Jinx told him, "Maybe I better go with you."
"I didn't mean standing up to them in a direct firefight, but perhaps if we were able to set up a few traps, a retreat could draw them into them, and take a few out of action. I should be able to make some using natural materials." He drew a multi-purpose knife from a pocket.
Karmlyn was thinking to herself. She came to a decision part of herself thought was completely nuts. Netherless, it made cold logical sense against this very illogical enemy.
"No Jinx, you won't go with him. It's not you he wants the most."
"Karmlyn, are you certain?" Jinx asked.
"Yeah, I am. I'll help distract him. You sneak into the base. With those mind tricks of yours, you shouldn't have much trouble." She handed Jinx the datapad.
"Actually, Lexxon would be the most sensible choice." She handed him the pad.
"How do you figure that?"
"Nastrum thinks he's dead, and is expecting just the two of us. He'll send everyone he has from the base once we make ourselves known, allowing him to go in unnoticed."
"No offense ladies," Lexxon spoke up, "But I doubt either of you has as much practice with a blaster rifle as I have. My getting the message out won't be much help to you if Nastrum's men get you."
"Nastrum may be so peeved to see you alive," Karmlyn suggested, "he may not even notice Jinx."
Lexxon thought for a few moments, "On the other hand, there is a way to make him think I'm one of you," he paused, "I should point out ahead of time I'm not trying to embarrass either of you."
"Uh-oh." Karmlyn grinned, "What did you have in mind?"
The seven men just sat where they were, in the forest undergrowth beside the dirt trail, waiting for the two alien women they had been told were certain to come here.
Nothing to do in the meantime, but wait.
And wait some more ...
And wait again ...
It seemed they were waiting for a target that would never come.
By now, the men were clearly bored, and chatting among themselves. And why not? From what they were told, the sound of their hoverbikes would alert them, and they'd have enough time to line up their blasters on the trail. Once they appeared, the rain of blaster bolts would surely bring them down.
One of the gunmen was telling the others a surly tale about a romantic encounter, when without warning, one of the listeners was hit by a blaster stunbolt, and when the one next to him turned, he was hit as well. The other five dove to the ground, and searched for the source. Further fire showed it was coming from a thicket of bushes, and they began returning fire. One took a comm, and contacted the others at the base.
"Jedd, I thought the boss said they were coming on hoverbikes. Someone snuck up on us, and took two of us down."
Then from another direction, more stunbolts came on them, knocking down a third.
The mobster with the comm swore, then yelled into the comm, "They're both here! We're pinned down. Send backup, fast!"
Almost at once, Nastrum's voice was heard bellowing, from both the base and the comm, "Get over there! All of you! I want those cats blasted now!" A not as loud voice was heard by the men only through the comm, "Barlet, you stay. Those two have pulled trick after trick. In case they slip by, I"ll need someone here."
Four mobsters charged from the base to help the others. The fire from their opposition seemed to go silent as they did. They weren't certain what to think at first, then when the reinforcements began to try to sneak over to one side, the stunbolts from one rifle resumed, bringing down one before they took cover. Thus the reinforcements had been reduced to three. Seven mobsters were still able to fight.
Then the fire stopped again. They were slower to react at first, then one shouted, "Look, I see one running away." They got a glimpse of one of their opponents in her flight suit, helmet visor down and shut, as she zipped from behind one mass of undergrowth to another. They fired at the target, but there was no response.
The gunmen then began to slowly move forward, trying to stay behind as much cover as they could. Whenever one thought the saw one of the pair, he fired away, only to miss. After about half a minute, one of the pair, then both fired again. None of the mobsters was hit this time. After several seconds, the fire stopped, and the pair retreated again.
One of the mobster's comms beeped, and he answered, and heard a familiar bellowing voice, "What are you waiting for?! Get them!"
The mobsters moved a little faster this time. It was about this point one noticed a patch of ground covered by branches and leaves. Despite the cover, one could see through it some sticks placed in the ground, with some sharp ends pointing up.
"Did those morons think we'd fall for that?" One tried to step around it ....
WHAP! The mobster stepped on a trigger, releasing a pulled back branch that whipped out and knocked him over, onto the mass of sharp sticks.
" AAIIIEEEE!! Get me outta here! Ahhh!!" While none of the sticks hit vital organs, they certainly felt like they did.
Then the blaster stunbolts flew again, striking one distracted mobster. When the one who had fallen on the sticks got up, he was also hit. Fortunetly for him, he landed on the side of his body that wasn't stuck with the sticks.
Two more had been been brought out of the fight, leaving five.
Carefully, the figure crept toward the once-abandoned military base. Instead of the flight suits of those facing the force of mobsters, this one wore what one whom had seen Lexxon Kessler earlier as his clothes.
But this was not Lexxon.
Why is it mymar and human male underarms have to smell? Karmlyn's going to make some snide remarks at my expense about this for certain.
Lexxon's plan had been to wear one of the flight suits so the mobsters would think he was one of the two mymar. Since Jinx would be able to sneak in the base easier, it was her uniform he took. And since there was no way the modest Jinx was going around naked, she put on his set of torn and dirty clothes. The tail was no problem as it could be either wrapped around the waist under the shirt or dropped down a pants leg due to the flexible base. She chose to curl it around her midsection underneath the shirt. The biggest problem was the shoes. He had gone ahead and cut a couple holes in them for her longer feet. This kept everything but the toes and the area just behind that protected.
She had snuck over in the undergrowth as close as she could to the base without being spotted. She still had thirty feet of space to cross, with a window in her direction. Jinx then used her senses to get a feeling who was still in the base. She sensed two men in the building. She concentrated, trying to keep their attention away from the window in her direction as she got up from the brush, and quickly made her way over. Once there, she kept under the windowsill levels, and made her way to the entrance.
Nastrum was grumbling and cursing, "Why are those clowns floundering like that?"
Jinx then brought her forefinger and index finger to her forehead and concentrated a little harder, willing the two not to notice her presence. After several moments, she carefully looked in. The two were going about their business, the gunman looking her way but did not react.
She then carefully crept in, and made her through the office, careful not to let up on her concentration. Once through and in the crew quarters, she allowed her concentration to relax a little, but kept it up to a smaller level. She made her way through the crew quarters, and entered the communications room. It was little more than a desk, a single chair, and the base's radio, powerful enough to reach the satellite orbiting above and send a message to another system, and to help.
After quietly closing the door behind her, she turned on the radio, and it powered on with a slight whining noise. It went through a few internal diagnostics, then the screen flashed an "OK" message. Jinx then got Karmlyn's datapad and dialed the coordinates and frequency Lexxon had given them. She then took hold of the microphone, and began speaking loud enough to be heard, but not so loud as to call attention from the two mobsters nearby:
"Attention please, attention please, we need help. I am calling from Planet Serrin at coordinates ..."
"What are they doing?"
"I don't know, but their luck can't hold out forever."
The five mobsters had been continuing to press after their two targets, but were clearly having trouble. After they fired from positions in the undergrowth, the pair would stop and hide, and despite one apparently briefly showing herself while retreating, they could never get her. And while changing position, the gunmen would get fired at and have to go to ground again.
"What's the matter?" A female voice taunted them, "You couldn't hit the broad side of a -" the rest of the words were lost as one of the mobsters angrily fired a volley of shots at some underbrush the voice had come from. After about fifteen seconds, he had emptied the power in his clip, and there was only the sound of a clicking trigger.
There was no further response from the heckler.
Ready to drop to the ground in an instant, they slowly crept forward, wary of the other one that was still around, with her blaster. Carefully, they made their way forward.
Then the blaster stunbolts came in from not one, but both opponents. Their taunter had been paying dead. One mobster, taken by surprise, stepped onto a patch of leaves close to a branch that looked like it had been yanked down. Dragging his foot across it as he moved, his boot hit a cord.
TWANG! The tripwire knocked loose by the boot, the branch sprung back into the air, and the lasso of cord contracted around the mobster's boot and yanked it up, toppling the mobster, and yanking him up, screaming, until only his hands were touching the ground.
The mobster was clearly in a panic, "Get me down from here! Get me down fr-" his yelling was cut short by a stunbolt knocking him out.
And the ranks of the mobster gunmen were reduced to four.
From her position, Karmlyn couldn't help but smile from underneath her helmet, I have to hand it to Lexxon. He really knows how to fight.
Jinx finished her transmission. Only the most expensive interstellar radio allowed for instant communications, so there was no way to be certain if the message would be heard a few hours from now. Her feelings, however, told her they would be.
She placed the microphone back where it was, and turned off the radio. She then gently opened the door, and quietly made her way out of the room. She began concentrating again, trying to distract the mobsters like before so they would not notice her.
Nastrum's outburst of "Drat!" momentarily surprised Jinx. While this very subtle trick was not easy for a non-psionic to detect, she still wondered if the mobster suspected something. But nothing else was spoken, so she continued concentrating some more, then began moving forward again.
Jinx quietly crept into the office, and as before, the mobsters did not notice her. She paid scant attention to the cup of drink on the desk, some of the liquid spilled over the cup's side but none on the desk itself. Concentrating on keeping the men distracted, she silently made her way to the door.
Then to her utter surprise, she found herself slipping, and landed on the floor hard on her hip, "Uhhh."
She had failed to notice the puddle on the floor where the drink had been spilled.
The noise alerted both Nastrum and the gunman, and they turned to her. Jinx then scrambled to her feet, and tried to make a run for it, but the gunman was on her in an instant, grabbing her from behind. Jinx struggled, and tried concentrating on mentally influencing her assailant.
Maybe it was her fear and pain, her constant use of power for the last several minutes, or both. Whatever the reason, she had little effect on him, if any.
Still holding her from behind, the mobster gunman stood her up so she faced Nastrum, "Want me to dispose of her, Sir?"
Mother of Mixin help me! Jinx could only look ahead at Nastrum in fear.
Nastrum looked at her, still surprised, "You? Then whom -" he stopped himself in mid-sentence. He then walked over, then took hold of the shirt collar, "Lexxon Kessler." Nastrum paused, "So, that miserable pest somehow survived, donned your flight suit to make me think you cats were both out there."
Nastrum let go of the collar, and stroked Jinx's jawline, going up to her chin. Jinx reacted by shuddering and gasping a bit, her blue eyes trying to look away.
Nastrum gave a particularly evil grin, "No kitty, I'm not going to kill you, yet. I have a better immediate use for you."
Fearful, Jinx tried to think of what to do. Then out of the corner of her eye, through the window, she saw one of the canine-like creatures she and Karmlyn had encountered twice before, looking her way through the woods.
Her eyes fixed on it's eyes, and she concentrated.
The canine looked straight at Jinx, fixated, for a few moments. Then it ran off into the woods.
Karmlyn ducked behind a hardwood stump hidden in the underbrush, and taunted the remaining mobster gunmen by laughing at them, "Did your fat pig of a boss train you himself? He couldn't hit a Delbury ham if he had a grease gun filled with sauce!" The response was another hail of blaster fire, none of it hitting Karmlyn who was safely behind a solid piece of wood.
Then the fire suddenly stopped.
The next thing they heard was a megaphone, "Okay, cat, Lexxon, the game is up! Give it up now, or your little friend gets it!"
Through the phone, there was then the sound of a woman's gasp of pain.
"Jinx?!" Karmlyn was alarmed.
"Yes, we caught her. She's still alive, but only for the moment." Nastrum's voice paused, "Actually, more than a moment. After all the pain you all have cause me, I'll gladly have her go through some of her own. Barlet, on my mark, start breaking her fingers."
There was another gasp of pain.
"Nastrum you bastard!" Karmlyn yelled, "You hurt her, and I swear, I'll have every bounty hunter on this side of Absolin after your fat ... !"
"It's all over, Nastrum!" Lexxon yelled, "If it took you this long, she's already sent the message. In just a few hours, the Sector Police will be on their way. You want to add murder and torture to the charges you'll be facing?"
"That'll be a little late for her. Barlet - "
"Wait." Karmlyn paused, then resumed, "You want that disk, I have it. Let her go, we give you the disk, and we go our separate ways."
"Karmlyn, you can't - Ahhhh!"
" Nastrum! I'll kill you if you -"
She was interrupted by Nastrum's chuckling, "Your offer looks, promising. Drop your weapons, and my men will escort you over." he paused, "Give me the disk, and the three of you can walk away."
"Do we have your word?" Lexxon demanded.
"You have my word."
Karmlyn hesitated. She would be placing her fate at Nastrum's dubious word of honor. But what else could she do?
She then remembered the items she had gotten from the bike compartment, including one certain peice of gear.
"I'm waiting for your answer," Nastrum's voice bellowed, "Five seconds, four, three, t-"
"All right, I'm coming out!" Karmlyn stood up.
Lexxon, without comment, also revealed himself.
The mobster gunmen promptly went over to them, two apiece, guns pointed at them all the while, and roughly disarmed and subdued them.