"But, Sir," Nastrum stammered, "I can explain."
"There is nothing to explain." spoke a harsh male voice from the viewscreen in front of the redhead, "You have lost both Bayle Riveryn, and the evidence he had against us."
"I'll get them. Just give me another chance."
The voice let a rasping sigh, "I may regret this, but you may pursue them if you think you know where they are."
"You won't regret it. Thank you, Sir."
The viewscreen then winked off.
Nastrum's expression then turned to a scowl, and clenched his fist, "Damn those cats! Now the Overlord is giving me grief because of them! When I get my hands on them, ohhhhh, I'll roast them alive!!"
Karmlyn entered the Red Star's small galley/dinning room, laughing a bit and her tail barely missing brushing against one of the several plants in the room, "So much for the Vyrian Mob. Good riddance to bad rubbish."
She was followed by Jinx and Beepo. Jinx replied, in Aglir, "(I too am pleased to have left them behind.)" This was followed by the droid looking at her and giving a questioning beep.
Karmlyn then turned to Jinx, "Oh, forgot to tell you. Beepo can't understand much Aglir."
"He can't? But, is he not your droid?"
"He is, but there's something in the circuits and programing that keeps him from learning it. When I looked into having that fixed, I was told a memory wipe would be needed." Karmlyn paused, "Call me sentimental, but I couldn't do that to him." She gave the droid a couple pats. It responded with a few cheerful-sounding beeps.
"I see your point. Neither would I."
"Well, when he's around, I just talk in Galactic Standard. Not much difference to me."
"Not much? Is it not our language?"
Karmlyn thought for a moment, "Okay, it does make some. But I've been in space a while, going weeks at a time without talking to anyone in Aglir. One gets used to it."
"I suppose."
"Oh well. Right now, let's eat." Karmlyn then walked to the dinning table. While it was extendible for a larger party, it was set for just one or two now. It was made from a kind of clear plastic that made it look like crystal. The seats were also plastic, but made to look like fine onyx with cushions, "What would you like?"
Jinx thought for a moment, "A salad will be fine."
The droid then looked at Karmlyn, giving a questioning beep.
"I'll have a Zuni-style steak," Karmlyn told it, "well done, with a little sauce on it, same cuisine. If you can, get it from the cooler, not the food processor." She then turned to Jinx, "Did you also want the real stuff?"
"Either one."
"Get her the real stuff."
The droid beeped an affirmative, and it went off to the kitchen area. Karmlyn then sat down, "(Have a seat, Jinx.)"
Jinx sat down, "(I didn't mean to sound snappish about our language. I was simply,)" she paused, "(a little surprised.)"
"(You didn't.)" Karmlyn grinned, "(I do have a way of surprising people, even when I don't mean to.)"
"(You seem to have.)" Jinx glanced around, "(Your ship is certainly well kept.)"
"(Thanks. I try my best to have it looking that way. Beepo too, when something needs cleaning up.)"
"(With all these plants, I'm surprised one of them did not tip over.)"
"(After the first couple times they did, I got some mesh for the pots to keep the dirt in. Saves Beepo a lot of trouble after anytime I have to pull hard maneuvers.)"
"(Sounds like you have a few stories to tell.)"
Karmlyn's grin got a little wider, "(Well, let's see. There was that one time on Bremahaven ... )"
Jinx listened to Karmlyn talk for a while. When they were mostly through with their meals, Karmlyn was still describing her adventures, "( ... The guy was so sure I was cheating, he hired a private investigator to go after me. After a while, I found out I was being followed, but not why.)" Karmlyn then snickered a bit, "(I took a side trip to a garbage dumpster area and tricked him into standing in front of a chute at just the right time.)" She then began laughing, "(One might call it fighting dirty, but at the time I had no idea what he was really after.)"
"(One might.)" Jinx repeated, taking another forkful from her salad.
"(Still, it was pretty funny.)" Karmlyn cut a small bite from her steak and ate it, "(So, what about your adventures? I didn't mean to leave you out of the conversation.)"
"(You didn't. I don't usually talk about them that much.)"
"(There must be something that stands out. What about when you helped fend off some pirates from that passenger liner?)"
"(I suppose it does. Not much to say about it. I did what most anyone would have done.)"
"(Most anyone doesn't have psychic powers.)"
"(That is one reason I do not discuss my experiences much. Some find my,)" she paused for a second, "(abilities, disturbing.)"
"(I don't. If anyone has a problem with it, their loss.)"
"(Unfortunately, it is also mine.)" Jinx sighed.
"(And how could it possibly be your loss?)"
Jinx was silent for a moment, expressionless, then "(Thank you for your hospitality, Karmlyn.)" She ate the last bit of salad, then got up, took the plate and placed it in the dish sanitizer, and left the room.
For a few moments, Karmlyn looked at the entryway Jinx left from. Then Beepo rolled up to her, and gave a questioning whistle.
"Yeah," Karmlyn told the droid, "I don't know what's with her either."
Later on, Jinx had gone to the cockpit area, looking over things like the astrogation map screen and the computer diagnostics of the ship's systems, Most everything seems to check out, though there was a little damage from that fight. Karmlyn, it seemed, had kept her red ship in good shape, going as far as to add boosters to certain systems such as the engines and shields. Such boosters, while technically legal, were usually owned by smugglers, bounty hunters, or agents from either the government or police. Then again, Karmlyn tended to find herself in trouble.
But she's not the only one , came a voice from the inside.
Jinx put the thought aside. She found Karmlyn Sen-Tiago quite perplexing. She was so concerned with her looks, yet could swear a blue streak. Also, they both handled their reputations for getting in trouble quite differently. She disliked it, wishing it would somehow go away. Karmlyn, however, not only accepted it but seemed to take delight in it. The gambler actually seemed to thrive in times of danger.
Her thinking was interrupted when her peer came up to her, "Hey Jinx?"
Jinx turned to her, "(What is it Karmlyn?)"
"(We'll be in the Rytal system in a couple hours. I thought you might want to relax in the lounge listening to music, or watching a holo.)"
"(Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine.)"
"(Oh come on. When was the last time you had a chance to see a good flick?)"
"(I don't see that many holovids. I never really developed a habit of watching them.)"
(Well, thought I might ask.)" Karmlyn then started to turn around to leave.
Jinx then thought to herself. She wasn't sure what to make of Karmlyn, but at least she was trying to make an effort to be pleasant, Maybe I should give her a chance , "(Wait.)"
Karmlyn turned back, "Jinx?"
"(Maybe, just this once, I will take a look at one.)" Jinx got up.
"(Swell. I have a selection that you're bound to find something in.)" They both left the cockpit area, "(There's this romantic comedy I got a few days ago that was the most hilarious thing ...)"
Some time later, the Red Star arrived in the Rytal system and dehyped at the planet of the same name. After getting clearance, they landed at a starport in one of the major cities, though not the capital. Once the ship was settled in, Karmlyn left Beepo to watch over it, and the two women left.
"(So where do we drop this disk off?)" Karmlyn asked Jinx.
"(At the Venswurt Detective Agency.)" Jinx told her, "(Lexxon told me he had a reliable contact there in case we, er, I had to leave the planet.)"
"(Well, the sooner we get rid of this, the better.)" Karmlyn paused, "(A detective is it?)"
"(Yes.)"
"(There's a private detective my Uncle and I know, Ferrin Wittler. We've done business with him in the past.)"
"(Oh?)"
"(Occasionally, either Uncle Scullinar or I would have trouble with some rouge, and got him for help. There's also been a few times when he's asked us for leads on a few cases.)"
"(And you think he may be able to help.)"
"(Yep. He's over a day's travel from here by hyperspace, but he knows the police systems in this sector pretty good, knows which ones have a history of taking some of their paychecks in from under the table. In case something goes wrong, I better contact him.)"
Jinx was quiet for a moment, "(I sense there's a little more going on between you and this man than just business.)"
Karmlyn smiled, "(Yeah, the guy kinda likes me. I think he'd like to ask me out, but doesn't have the nerve to do it.)"
"Wittler," Jinx thought out loud, "(I don't call any mymar using that name.)"
"(Ferrin Wittler's a human.)"
Jinx rolled her eyes upward slightly, "(What is it with some humans?)"
Karmlyn's smile seemed to get a little wider, "(I guess there's just something about our irresistible charm.)"
Jinx's eyes rolled upward more obviously, "(You're impossible.)"
Kamlyn's grin stayed wide, "(Believe me, I am possible.)"
The Venswurt Detective Agency was located in an office building in town. Jinx and Karmlyn took a hovercab there, and went in. They found the floor the place was on, and went up. Outside the door was a 'com speaker, and a voice sounding like that of a protocol droid asked, "Please state your names."
"Karmlyn Sen-Tiago," the green-eyed mymar introduced herself, "My uncle runs the Sen-Tiago Shipping Corporation, and - "
"We were sent by Lexxon Kessler." Jinx told the voice.
There was a pause, then, "I will inform master Venswurt."
Karmlyn glanced at Jinx, "You didn't have to butt in. I was about to say that."
"Perhaps," Jinx responded, "After a few more lines of exploits."
"Hey, never hurts."
The door then slid open, the voice saying, "Please enter. Master Venswurt would like to speak to you."
Venswurt's office had a certain look one would expect from an old P.I. holovid. The place had been stocked with second-hand furnishings, and there were papers and data disks everywhere. The thin layer of dust in places housekeeping was not the highest of priorities. The man himself, brown hair and clean-shaven, wore a business suit with the jacket on his desk chair.
"... and then we took off into hyperspace." Karmlyn explained to Venswurt, "We headed straight over here with the disk."
"Lexxon told us to come to you." Jinx added.
Venswurt had listened patiently to the two women talking to him, "So the operation was discovered." He paused briefly, "We were hoping to get more, but from what I heard from earlier reports, I believe what Kessler, Riveryn, and the others discovered is sufficient. Do you have the disk with you?"
"Right here." Karmlyn got her datapad, got the disk from it, and gave it to the man.
"Thank you. You both have done a great service. This information will be a crippling blow to the Vyrian mob."
"Good. Those guys were getting to be real pests. The sooner they're shut down, the better."
"How careful should we be until they're arrested?" Jinx asked.
"I would advise trying to keep a low profile, especially considering the mobster in charge of Krennel. His name is Lars Nastrum. He can be a particularly violent man." He brought up an image on a small holo display.
Karmlyn recognized him, "That's the pig I met at the gambling table!"
Venswurt's expression grew a little more serious, "What was his mood when you both parted?"
"In a puddle on the floor after I cleaned him out."
"That's not good. Nastrum has a dislike of non-humans. While he does hire some humanoids, they're usually stuck in lower positions. Those races with more than a slight difference from humanity, such as your own, his prejudice runs deeper. Granted the importance of the disk was enough for him to go all out after you, but being humiliated by what he sees as an 'alien' could have only made him try harder."
Jinx reacted to the news with an expression that showed dread. Karmlyn was surprised, "Hey! How was I supposed to know that fat scumbag was a mobster? What was he doing there anyway?"
Venswurt looked into a datapad, "Nastrum fancies himself as a gambler. Big ego too. One guy won a lot of credits from him once, and wound up paying it to his goons as 'protection money.'"
"Figures. Sore loser can't take a little hint."
"Should we head to a mymar world until the arrests?" Jinx asked.
"It might be a good idea to make plans to." Venswurt got a few papers, "I'd appreciate it though if you stayed a few days to answer any more questions."
"This place is safe from the Vyrian mob, isn't it?"
"We have the occasional two-bit robber, but no organized crime. Just keep a low profile, and you should be as safe as if you were in this very office."
"In that case," Karmlyn asked, "Could you tell us where to find a quality hotel?"
"Certainly." Venswurt got another datapad and started going through it. As he did , Karmlyn glanced around at the room's second-hand furnishings.
"On second thought, better let me look."
Some time later, Karmlyn with her suitcase, and Jinx with her duffel bag, went to one of the hotel rooms. Karmlyn opened the door, and both went in. The hallway itself had been pretty fancy to Jinx with it's spotless white walls and occasional chandelier and antique vase. Inside, the room looked more like an upper-class condominium to the blue-eyed mymar, with distinct sections for dining, bathing, bed, and a relaxation area. Each place was finely furnished. For instance, the relaxation area had plush chairs and a couch, a high quality music player, a holo-display unit, and a window with a view of the city from several stories up. The room was well lit with pristine lights.
Jinx looked this part of the apartment over, "(You certainly spare no expense.)"
Karmlyn grinned, "(Nope.)"
"(Really, Karmlyn, we could have easily spent the night at your ship. It's accommodations were better than my childhood home.)"
"(Come on, when one goes traveling about, you don't sleep within the same four walls.)" She paused momentarily, "(Okay, I usually get something slightly smaller, but after what we just went through I thought I might splurge a little.)"
"(I see.)" Jinx also paused for a little, "(There's only one bed in here. I take it my room is downstairs?)"
"(This is your room.)"
"(Mine?! Karmlyn, you didn't have to -)"
"(No, but I did.)"
"(Karmlyn, this is too much. I can't -)" Jinx's ears were starting to turn a little red, and her cheeks were showing a small amount of blush underneath her white fur.
"(Hey girl, one has to live it up once in a while. Loosen up a little.)"
"(But Karmlyn,)"
"(Hey, we went through this together, so we might as well both reap some reward from it. Besides, if you want to look at it that way, this is coming out of my gambling winnings.)"
"(I suppose.)" Jinx's blush started to fade, "(All from tonight's winnings?)"
"(Yep.)" Karmlyn then grinned wider and spoke in a sarcastic tone, "(Wasn't it generous of Nastrum to pay for our rooms.)" She then burst out laughing.
Jinx wasn't laughing, "(You act like he's already under arrest.)"
"(Oh, don't worry. You heard what the detective told us: there's no organized crime here, Vyrian mob or otherwise. We're safe and sound.)"
"(I'd like to be certain. I don't know, but I have a bad feeling not all is as it seems.)"
"(What do you mean?)"
Jinx shrugged, "(Perhaps it's simply nervous feelings.)"
"(In any event, we did send a message to Ferrin Wittler. It won't get to him until tomorrow, but that's soon enough.)"
"(We may be needing him. We may be okay for now, but these criminals are not going to just sit around.)"
"(Maybe not, but we have plenty of time. Right now, let's relax.)" Karmlyn went over to the music player, "(Let's see what tunes this has.)"
For a couple hours, the pair listened to music, and talked. Or rather, Karmlyn talked and Jinx mostly listened. Then Jinx suggested they better get to bed, and Karmlyn agreed. She left Jinx's hotel room, and went to her own. She unpacked, and then turned on the music player to a soft, relaxing tune. She laid back onto the couch.
"Mar , (What a day.)" she sighed, then smiled, But what a thrill. Before, Karmlyn wouldn't have gone through the chase against the mob. Now it was over, she could look back, and laugh. She, and Jinx, had faced an organized crime mob by themselves, and won.
All that was left was the anti-climactic ending of this detective Venswurt informing them this Nastrum and the rest of the pack were arrested and thrown behind bars.
Then what would she do?
Somehow, after all this, a night at a casino was going to seem a little tame for a while. And she still had some time before her uncle would need her again. Let's see, maybe a wilderness trip. Wait a minute, Jinx may stick around. Maybe she'd like to see something historical.
At this point, the doorbell rang. Karmlyn got up, Who could that be? She went over to the door, "Yes?"
"Room service." she heard from the outside.
She turned on the small viewscreen on the wall next to the door. It showed a man in a hotel bellhop's uniform with a push-tray with drapes on the sides. On top was a silver bowl with ice and a bottle of wine.
"I didn't order anything. You sure you have the right room?"
"Compliments of Mister Venswurt."
"Venswurt?" Why would the detective send me a bottle of wine? Part of some reward or something? "Okay." Karmlyn then unlocked the door, and the bellhop pushed the tray inside. Karmlyn then went for her purse, "Thanks for bringing it up. Let's see, how much would be a good tip?"
"I dunno. Why don't I just take it all?" The bellhop then drew a blaster from inside his jacket.
Karmlyn, with her hand still in the purse, faced the man with an expression of disbelief, "What the hell is this, a robbery?"
"You might say that. Now just gimme the purse and turn around, hands behind your back." Karmlyn then saw another man starting to crawl out from underneath the drapes, armed with another blaster.
"Okay," Karmlyn spoke in an unusually meek tone, "just don't hurt me." She stepped closer to the bellhop, her hand still in her purse,
Then she fired her stingbeam blaster from inside her purse, twice, striking the bellhop square in the chest with stunbolts. He fell backward onto the push-tray and the second gunman who was still getting up. The second man struggled, and Karmlyn shot him as well. He collapsed.
Karmlyn then grinned a wicked smile, "Just for that, no tip for you, buster."
She was then distracted by movement at the door. She looked, and saw a small round object had been tossed into the room. It took a split-second to realize the intent behind it, and dived to the floor.
The grenade went off with a flash-bang, and the room was instantly filled with thick smoke, reducing visibility to practically zero. Karmlyn then immediately got up, and tried to make a run for it. But before she had gone more than a few steps, someone grabbed her arm. She swung around with her other arm, which held the blaster, but her attacker slapped her hand, knocking the gun down, then grabbed.
"Help! (cough) Somebody HEEELLLL - " Karmlyn then found another hand clasped over her mouth. She bitterly struggled, kicking, and kneeing whoever had a hold of her. But she simply found herself in a tighter grip. Still, she continued to struggle, hoping there might be a break.
But there was none.
The smoke quickly cleared, and she found herself in the hands of two rough-looking men. One human, the other the same kind of humanoid she faced at Nastrum's casino. Two other men with drawn blasters were nearby.
Then two other men walked in, one with a suitcase. He then opened it, took a portable stand from it, unfolded it, then set the open suitcase on top, facing Karmlyn. It was a portable holo-communicator, a model that allowed instantaneous communication between systems less than a day apart at hyperspace speed. Those this size built like this were expensive and typically owned by either government officials, or high-ranking businessmen.
The man turned it on, and pressed a button. After a minute, there was a "Yes?" There was no image yet.
The man replied, "Sir, we have the first woman."
"Good." An image then appeared, one of the face and shoulders of a familiar, portly, redhead.
The image of Nastrum grinned, "So, we meet again. But this time, the circumstances are a little different." He then glanced at the men holding her, and the one holding her mouth let go.
Karmlyn glared at the image, "Don't you have anything better to do then harass winners in distant systems? How did you get here anyway?"
"Now don't you think that I don't know. Bayle gave you that disk."
"I don't have it." Karmlyn tried making up a story, "I threw it away once I was out of sight of your errand boys."
Nastrum grinned again, "I don't think so." He glanced at the man who brought in the projector. The man then reached in his shirt pocket, and took out a disk.
Karmlyn starred at it wide-eyed, "It can't be the same."
Nastrum's grin grew wider, "Now who do you think told us about Lexxon Kessler in the first place?"
It took a second for the answer to come to Karmlyn, "Venswurt." Her face then turned to a furious scowl, " THE BASTARD! "
"When you talked to him, he thought we were going to forget about you as long as we had the disk." He paused, "Not that it would have mattered much to him if he did." Nastrum glanced at the two men lying unconscious on the floor, "You shot two of my men down. It's amazing they allow beasts like you to roam loose."
"Spare your idiotic crap you fat pig!" Karmlyn yelled, "They're just stunned! You have the damn disk! What else do you want? You want the money back? Fine! I'll give it back."
"Do you really think I sent my men here just for those credits, cat?"
Karmlyn then began struggling hard with all her strength, screaming for help at the top of her lungs. But the men held hard, and a hand fell over her mouth again.
The image of Nastrum grinned again, "Get her friend, and bring them both to me. When I see them, I want them stripped of their clothes, collared, and in a cage."