Chapter 16   The Goose Chase Continued--Merisee, Torina and the Pet Deal

It was a good three hours before the Moon Shadow came out of hyperspace.  Merisee was below them, and Andromeda had no problem in being able to land at Merisee Prime, the largest known spaceport on the planet.  Mikos had cleaned himself up, but insisted on keeping that funny looking hat, and was ready to pick a fight with anyone who would try to relieve him of it.  Upon disembarking, Kosh paid the customs officer the landing fee and they were on their way.

            “Great!  We’re here!” Mikos sang joyously as they entered the spaceport.  “Let’s see if we can find Andrick’s ship!”  They really didn’t have much of a clue as to where they were going and followed him a bit warily.  The spaceport was an entire mish-mosh of species and races, but there were predominantly Meri and Teltor, the two native races of Merisee.  Mikos seemed to be suddenly in charge as he accessed the nearest starport terminal.

            “Ah, good!  According to this, my friend is indeed here!  I’ll just take a moment to give him a buzz,” he went to place the call and in a couple minutes he came back absolutely beaming.  There was something about that Andromeda didn’t like at all.

            “Good news, my friends!  Your friend you were looking for, Shondra, he told me her name was, decided to head out to Caronath.  That’s the capital city,” he was all pleased with himself again.

            “There wouldn’t happen to be gardens?” Andromeda asked.

            “But of course!  The infamous Thinking Gardens !  Want I should reserve one for us?” he tried to lean in close to her, but stopped short at the look on her face.  “Alright, no then!  But you have to meet Shondra there?  The gardens are excellent for meeting places, since their privacy and secrecy is respected by everyone.  I’ll hire us a taxi to get us there!  Nice place, that is!  Not too many clubs around the place, but lots of Utoz Houses—Utoz is a delicacy drink in these parts, but undrinkable, if you ask me!  But getting back to the gardens, it’s in the best, most quietest place in town!” Mikos rambled on.

Not with him there, Andromeda moaned inwardly.

            “Maybe you can make yourself more useful and contact your wonderful network of friends to help us locate Shondra,” Luse suggested, trying to get him to be quiet.  For the first time, Mikos seemed hesitant.

            “What, no connections on Merisee?” Maharet asked innocently.

            “Well, no.  That’s not it, I…” he stuttered.

            “Did you not say that you had informants high and low?” Andromeda stepped in, almost tauntingly.

            “Alright!  If it’s so important to you, I’ll place some calls,” he threw his hands up resignedly and turned to the communications grid.  To his embarrassment, and to confirm the group’s suspicions, most of his calls ended rather abruptly.  Some would remind him that he owed money or a favor, or a debt of some kind, or the call would end with a nasty chewing out and swearing vengeance upon him and all his blood relatives, or he had the more mild endings of just being simply hung up on.  He did finally get through to one, though, and this informant was practically unwilling, but did say that yes, a thinking garden had been reserved for a woman matching Shondra’s description for later that evening.

            “There, you see?  I came through again.  No problem!  Pretty impressive, huh?” he turned to face them, all pleased with himself as if the earlier calls hadn’t even taken place.  “The nice thing about those gardens is that the gardens are quite safe.  No one would even dare to disturb us there—the level of respect is very high!  We’ll just make it there in time if we take the taxi.  Please, get in!  Ladies first!”  He held his hand out to Andromeda to help her into the waiting cab that he had flagged down while giving his running commentary.  Andromeda humored him just this once and he even held his hand out for Maharet before climbing into the cab himself.  He slipped the driver some credits and very smoothly gave the driver his destination.  He sat back quite satisfied with himself again, and as soon as the cab was moving, he began with the running commentary again.

            “Yes, I’ve done quite a bit of business and pleasure at these gardens over the years.  I consider these gardens to be quite lucky in winning over a woman or two,” he laughed conspiratorially and winked at Andromeda, who shot him a look that seemed to say, “I’ll bet!”

            When the cab stopped at the gardens, Mikos was leading the way again.  He spoke with the attendant at the gate and then led the way into the gardens.  It really was a very attractive place.  It was circular and about 15 meters in diameter.  High walls of thick shrubbery surrounded three sides, so you couldn’t see into other gardens.  From a high rock face fell a little waterfall that playfully cascaded and splashed down into a pond below it.  The sound of the rushing water naturally dampened any of the outside noises, so the place was sound proof.  Mikos was right about the privacy.  It almost felt like they were the only ones there.

            In the center of the garden there were stone benches placed around a meditation fire that was lit in a stone urn.  Small birds flitted about, and their melody was soothing.  Andromeda was momentarily overcome with emotion as the smells and the sounds reminded her of her mother’s gardens on Alderaan.  Beautiful Alderaan that the Empire had destroyed…  She took a moment to compose herself.

            Seated beside the gurgling pond was a woman that Andromeda had not noticed before.  She had her back turned toward them, and her head was bent as if she were reading or speaking into a tricorder.  Mikos boldly walked forward, loudly cleared this throat (mostly for show) and said in a loud voice for all to hear:

            “ Shondra Del , I assume?”

            Andromeda shook her head and rolled her eyes skyward as the woman suddenly straightened up and turned around.  It was more than obvious that this wasn’t Shondra.  A man who had been kneeling in front of her and was obscured from view before, suddenly jumped up, trying to hide a bouquet of flowers behind his back.  The couple looked completely embarrassed.

            “Oh, I just knew it!” the man began to wail.  “I just knew she would send someone after me!  Just, please!  Whatever she’s paying you, I’ll double it!  Just please don’t hurt me!”  His companion sighed heavily and rolled her eyes in sheer disgust.

            “Get a grip!  We aren’t here to hurt you, little man!” Luse snapped at him.  “Your wife didn’t send us.  We’re here looking for our friend Shondra.  This garden was supposed to be reserved for her!”

            “Wait!  Yes!  Yes!  I’m sorry.  We were looking for a garden of our own.  For a little privacy, you know?” the man spoke up and the woman rolled her eyes again.  “But it’s so hard to get a reservation these days.  Anyway, a woman was here and she was about to leave this garden.  She said she was hoping to meet someone here, but she had to leave in a hurry.  She said that if anyone came looking for her by name, she said to tell you to check with a pet dealer on Torina, who goes by the name of Eeksa.  Two gentleman came in here looking for her earlier, but they didn’t know her name…and they looked like thugs, too, so I told them she was headed to Elrood…ow…”  The man suddenly stopped short and fell face-first to the ground—with a curved dagger sticking out of his back!  The woman screamed and ran as four dark-looking aliens clad in grey camouflage spilled out of the shrubbery.

            “Loag assassins!” Gorr gasped.

            “I thought they were extinct!” Luse said.

            “Guess not,” Maharet muttered as they opened fire with their blasters.  Four against seven was too easy—the assassins fell where they stood.  Mikos only took one look at the assassins, squealed in terror and ran for his life.

            “I’m willing to bet this has something to do with him,” Andromeda jerked her head in Mikos’ direction.  No sooner had she said it than Mikos suddenly stopped short as a curved dagger hit the ground just in front of him and he took off in the other direction.

            “Just let him run!” Tolian snapped as they were suddenly surrounded by nine more assassins, who were armed to the teeth.  Andromeda fired off a shot wounding the one closest to her.  Well of course that did it.

            Mikos was squealing with fright and was trying to get his little pudgy self to move while Kosh whipped out his lightsaber and charged.  Two assassins tried to defend themselves, but they were actually backing away, seemingly afraid of the Jedi.  Kosh’s blade effortlessly passed through them both.  Gorr rushed in with him and engaged one in hand to hand, but managed to get injured by the assassin's poisoned blade.  It was just a scratch, but he was stunned silly enough to the point where his sight was blurred and he couldn’t see what he was swinging at.  He did know not to swing at the short, fat little blur running by, screaming at the top of his lungs.  Luse went hand to hand with another and got himself seriously wounded by the poisoned knife, but not before he managed to beat the assassin senseless and stab him with his own knife.

            Unfortunately, the gunfire was spilling into the neighboring gardens, interrupting other people and causing serious mayhem—the running and the screaming!  Maharet used that infamous sneaking technique of hers hunt down two other assassins and use her claws before they even knew what was going on.  Tolian dropped another with his blaster, while Kosh put that lightsaber to use and took out the remaining two.

            When the smoke cleared, nine Loag assassins lay dead and the gardens were vacated.  Mikos was found cowering in a corner, whimpering like a lost child.  Maharet was tending to Luse and Gorr.  Thankfully, the Loag carried antidote to their poison daggers on them in case of being accidentally stabbed, so they were going to live and be just fine.  Zaron and Tolian picked the dead assassins clean of all their gear—poison, daggers, climbing spikes and blasters—while Kosh kept an eye out for the authorities who were bound to happen upon the scene at any moment.  Andromeda yanked Mikos from his corner and they ran out the way the Loag assassins had come in through a hole made in the back.  They grabbed the first taxi and high-tailed it back to Merisee Prime Spaceport.

            “That was pointless,” Maharet huffed as she sat down.

            “Oh, I think someone has some explaining to do,” Andromeda was giving Mikos the stare.  “I don’t really care what you did or why, but I do want to know who’s after you?”

            “Okay,” Mikos said with a sigh.  “My last boss was a crime boss.  Goes by the name of Lud Chud.  He’s a Rakaan—eight legged, skinny, temperamental guy who would love nothing more than to have me for dinner—as the main course—raw!  I use to broker information for him, since he was looking to extend his criminal enterprises in the sector.  Look. All I did was give him the location of an Imperial weapons shipment.  Silly Rakaans!  They get so damn testy when they’re close to Transition!  Really, how was I to know that an Imperial Star Destroyer would pop up and turn Chud’s fleet into slag?  I mean, come on; talk about holding a grudge!  Er, you don’t really need me along on Torina, do you?  It’s such a boring place.  They restrict gambling.  They even obey Imperial laws!”

            “Want we should leave your tubby butt behind and let you deal with the Loag assassins?” Gorr growled.

            “Now Gorr,” Kosh said softly.

            “I’m sorry.  You are right as usual, Master,” Gorr stammered and stayed quiet during the ride to the spaceport.

            “And now that we’ve saved that tubby butt a second time, you can tell us what you know of Eeksa,” Maharet bared her teeth slightly and Mikos seemed to sink lower into his seat.

            “Me and Eeksa go way way back.  She’s an Ithorian who not only deals with exotic pets, but she also works as a data tapper on the side.  She knows how to analyze data and then sells it for a price.  I can guarantee she can help us,” Mikos’ confidence and cavalier attitude was slowly returning.  “As a matter of fact, her shop is not far from the Brindibarr starport.  I can show you.”

            Two hours later, Andromeda was setting the Moon Shadow down in the Brindibarr starport on Torina.  Without incident, Mikos led them all to a little shop named Eeksa’s Rare and Exotic Pets.  As they entered, they could see that the shop was filled with dark tanks, humming containment fields and mesh cages.  Animal noises were coming from all of them—furry ones, feathered ones, scaly ones.  There was one little adorable white fur ball eyeing the customers.  It had the biggest, darkest eyes, making quite a contrast with its pure-white fur.

            “Isn’t that cute,” Andromeda observed as it began to purr in three-tone harmony.

            “Oo, but that price isn’t!  Besides that, what would you do with a Dawjhin?  I hear these little guys can really eat,” Zaron inspected it closer.   As he got face to face with it, its purr became more melodious.

            “Good Day!” an Itorian appeared from the back holding a fierce-looking animal.  “I’m Eeksa.  How can I help you?  Could I interest you in this Tosij?  He looks mean, but docile, I can assure—what the heck are you doing here?”  She snapped at Mikos and the Tosij in her arms began to growl.

            “Excuse me, I left my lunch simmering on my heat coil, if you’ll excuse me,” she turned to go and retreated toward the back again.  Andromeda followed her to discover that she shad put down the Tosij and was calling starport security.  Andromeda put a stop to that.

            “I don’t know how you found him, or why you decided to drag him along, but if Lud Chud finds out he was here, my business will be going south very quickly.  I can’t have that!” the Ithorian hissed, but Mikos had found his way to the back, also.

            “Please, Eeksa!  Lud Chud doesn’t have to know I was even here!  All we want to know is where Shondra Del is.  That’s all, I pro—” Mikos began.

            “No!  Do not let the word ‘promise’ escape your lips!  It’s obvious to me that you don’t know the meaning of the word!” Eeksa turned on him and Mikos shrank back.  “But I can tell you that Shondra never made it.  I suppose I could find out what happened to her, but of course, I don’t do this kind of thing for free.”

            “And what is your price?” Tolian asked.

            “I shall require your services.  Let me show you,” she said and led them to a storage room.  She walked up to a darkened cage which looked empty at first glance, but as Eeksa got closer, a white blur of scales attacked the bars.  It seemed to startle everyone but Eeksa as she pushed a button and a feeding arm released a huge, buzzing insect.  Almost as soon as it was released, a long tongue zipped out and plucked it from the air.  It all seemed instantaneous as it began to munch noisily.

            “This is an albino Farlek.  Very rare.  As long as it’s kept fed, it’s surprisingly docile,” she explained.

            The Farlek looked as mean as it did before, baring it’s teeth at them through the bars.  Without warning, it charged again, trying to tear the bars apart with its muscular arms.

            “It’s also quite stupid,” Eeksa added.  “If you can deliver him to a customer for me, I can get that information of Shondra.  The delivery is legitimate, and the Farlek has already been paid for.  I cannot tell you how glad I am to see this thing finally leave!  I’ve been having difficulty in finding a cargo hauler who specializes in this sort of thing.  They keep saying something about replacing eaten crew members.”

            Andromeda and Tolian were holding their hands up, ready to protest that last comment, but before either of them got a word out, Mikos was already shaking her hand, closing the deal with his obnoxious “No Problem!”

            Three hours later, with rented speeder truck, necessary permits and 250 credits later, the Farlek was loaded and ready to go.  Eeksa gave them each a Bantha prod to keep it subdued.  She handed Tolian a tranquilizer pistol with six darts and told him to keep that one out of sight—permits and all—but that it would come in handy if the Farlek decided to wake up and get ornery.  She gave them the address and sent them on their way.

            As they approached the address, it was clear that this customer had money.  The man was Master Palleo Thog, and his estate was extensive.  A white stone wall with an iron entry gate and a security post surrounded the grounds.  The guards were no-nonsense, but courteous and Tolian handled the details of confirming the delivery.  No one seemed to say anything as if in fear to wake the sedated Farlek, but when they heard the directions to get to the zoo, the looks on their faces were enough to say what they were thinking.  This customer was eccentric and rich!

            On the way there, they passed what looked like a small parking lot.  Tolian instinctively stepped on the gas as Andromeda let out a small, stifled gasp and gave a small tug on his arm.  Standing in the parking lot guarding the speeders was some Imperial Naval troopers.  As they reached the entrance to the zoo, the zookeeper barely gave them a second glance and instructed them to unload the Farlek into the pen he’s pointing at.  He was very preoccupied, and mentioned that Master Thog was giving a party to a few of his important business colleagues and friends, including two Imperial Star Destroyer captains.  Andromeda could feel the tenseness within the group suddenly escalate, but still no one said anything and they unloaded the Farlek’s crate.  Luse remained outside, just in case.

            “Finally, it has arrived!”  a voice sounded behind them.  They turned to find a very richly dressed man standing there within the cage with them, almost anxiously trying to get a glance at the Farlek.

            “Thank you for delivering it.  I’m Master Palleo Thog,” he bowed low.  His Imperial guests could be seen hanging back behind him.

            “Were there any problems in transport?” he asked.

            “No, not at all,” Mikos spoke up.

            “Does it snore?”

            “Quite loudly!” Mikos said almost proudly.

            “Did it put up a fight before it was tranquilized?”

            “Oh, did it ever!” Mikos smiled broadly.

            “Did Eeksa say anything about finding it a mate?”

            “No, she didn’t mention anything, but I’m sure my colleagues and I will be able to find you one!” Mikos stepped forward expectantly, eager to make a deal.

            “Very good,” Palleo stepped off to the side with him and began to banter.  The guests in the meantime had come up to the cage to get a better look at the new and rare acquisition.

            “Captain Dadefra!  Come closer and take a new look at my new acquisition!  Very rare!” Palleo boasted.

            “But did I get to tell you about my latest acquisition?  I was just given command of the Brazen,” Dadefra said smugly as he gave his impeccable uniform a little tug.

            “But why the need for a third Star Destroyer in the Elrood sector?” Palleo asked.

            “The increased pirate activity.  It’s been getting out of control lately, but now it soon will be under strict control!” Dadefra said proudly.  Another Imperial Captain who was standing behind him, didn’t say anything, but she was looking annoyed at him and moved a wisp of her dark hair out of her face.  Mikos suddenly retreated to the back of the cage.  Maharet noticed that the woman was eyeing Mikos with interest.

            “How curious that Naval Command would send another Star Destroyer to handle a bunch of disorganized pirates,” she said, coming up to talk to Dadefra.

            “Well, I don’t like to brag, Captain Pryl, but I’ve handled pirates before,” he replied, the smug look still there.

            “Yes.  The Khuiumin pirates, wasn’t it?  And now that you and the Brazen are here, what do you think General Hul will do with the surplus of captives we shall bring before him?” she asked.

            “He has planned for that.  General Hul has built an arena on Derilyn, similar to the ones found on Coyn.  He will put it to good use…and the Empire will have far fewer enemies here.  Captain Pryl, I heard you dealt with a raiding party not too long ago.  They were attacking one of our supply cruisers not far from here.  I must congratulate you and your crew for putting a stop to those raiders.  What were they after?” he had crossed his arms now and seemed very interested in what her answer would be.

            “The cruiser was delivering a shipment of weapons to the orbiting defense platform at Derilyn.  Apparantly someone discovered what the cruiser’s cargo was and tried to help themselves to it,” Pryl replied.

            “How lucky that the Thunderflare was close enough to put a stop to those raiders,” Dadefra smiled.

            “Indeed, how lucky,” Captain Pryl was staring right at Mikos.  “We were fortunate enough to receive a warning about the raid.  The message was garbled, but the point was obvious.  We arrived in plenty of time to destroy the raiders, nearly to their last ship.”

            “Did you ever find out who sent the warning?” Dadefra asked.

            “I’m afraid not.  Whoever it was did an excellent job of scrambling their image,” she replied.

            “How unfortunate.”

            “Unfortunate about the image…but voice patterns were another story.  Whoever it was, the informant had a very…distinctive…voice,” she said and gestured at Dadefra’s glass.  “Can I have one of the guards refresh your drink?”

            “Why, thank you Captain Pryl.”

She took the glasses and handed them one of the accompanying soldiers.  “It would be no problem at all,” she glanced sideways at Mikos.  “No problem at all.”

            Maharet tuned to look at Mikos, who was now at the back of the cage, wishing he was elsewhere.  She was going to turn to Zaron, who was standing closest to her and say something, but Palleo was now calling them over to be prepared for when he gave the Farlek the stimulant.  Mikos was heading for the exit, but turned around again and came right back.

            “Excuse me, Master Thog, but you have some uninvited guests,” Mikos pointed at the door where six Loag assassins were making their way in, brandishing their poisoned daggers.  Storm Troopers on the outside tried to shoot at the assassins, thinking they were there to kill Palleo and the Imperial captains, but their shots bounced harmlessly off the surrounding force field.  It was too late to warn Palleo not to wake the Farlek.  It was already beginning to come around.

            Unfortunately, Gorr was closest to the Farlek, who bowled him over like a mini missile.  Gorr is a good wrestler—one of the best, but he couldn’t come away without being bitten.  Palleo joined in shooting at the assassins with the dart gun he had in his hand, while Mikos was cowering behind Andromeda, Tolian and the crate, clutching to his hat.  Luse was the only one outside the cage, and was doing his version of a diversion.

            In the confusion, the assassins were shot, the Farlek was shot and with the help of Luse, managed to jump back on the truck for a getaway, dragging Mikos with them.

            Once they were on their was back to Eeksa’s Maharet turned on Mikos first.  “Just what’s the big idea, you little—”

            “I’m innocent I swear!”

            “Then explain Captain Pryl’s interest in you!  She knows who you are!” Maharet growled.

            “She must have me mixed up with someone else!  I swear!  True, I did tell Lud Chud about that shipment, but how was I to know that Pryl would show up with the Thunderflare and destroy all but one of Chud’s ships?”

            “Then explain that no matter where we go with you, the Loag assassins show up?” Gorr growled as he cradled his injured arm.  It was a nasty bite the Farlek gave.

            “Y’know, you seem to be awfully over protective of this—” Andromeda snatched his hat from him.

            “No!  Gimme!” Mikos tried, but Luse stopped him by shoving him back down in his seat.

            “Ah.  Here’s what they’re after!  Data disks!” she pulled them out from the lining of the hat and held them up for all to see.

            “That’s rightfully mine!  Chud shorted me for that info on the supply ship.  I needed something to pay the bills, that’s all!  So I might have sent a scrambled message to the Thunderflare to keep Chud busy.  Then I snuck into his hideout and took a few datafiles from his computer network.  But I never thought the Empire would slag his fleet down to the last ship—honest!  Why is everyone looking at me like that?  It’s no problem!”

            No sooner did “No problem” fall out of his mouth did Luse smack him in it.

            “But how have the Loag been able to follow us?” Zaron asked.

            “With these,” Andromeda said.  “There’s a little homing device in these things!”  Luse hit Mikos again.

            “Luse!  Stop hitting him!” Tolian snapped.

            “If Pryl knows who he is, then she’ll want him for questioning.  If she wants him, you can bet that we’re wanted too!” Luse struck Mikos again.  Tolian was enraged.  He took Andromeda’s hand, put it on the wheel, stood up and hit Luse himself and returned to driving.  Andromeda could see the anger etched into Tolian’s face.  It takes a heck of a lot to push Tolian that far and it angered her.

            “Stop this!” Kosh tried to intercede.  Luse didn’t retaliate to Tolian, but gave Mikos one more smack for good measure and this time, Andromeda jumped up and slugged him in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

            "When Tolian says stop, he means stop!" she growled and then returned to what she was doing.

            “Are you going to turn me over to the Empire?  Please don’t do that!  Please!” Mikos begged.  “I haven’t decoded all of it yet, but there’s really important stuff on there, and it has to do with Derilyn!”

            With Luse knocked out cold, the ride back to Eeksa’s was uneventful until they got there.  Eeksa was there to meet them and she was very upset.

            “Bunglers!  Palleo called and told me what happened over there and he’s holding me completely responsible!  As part of an investigation, the Empire is sending agents over to check my business and my records.  How could you?” she raged.

            Andromeda, Maharet, Zaron and Tolian all pointed at Mikos at the same time and didn’t say a word, which made Eeksa seem to get more upset.

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* Chapter 11 and subsequent chapters are based upon the module "Operation: Elrood", a game concept owned by West End Games, written by John Beyer, Chris Doyle and Anthony Russo.  I wish to make it known that the game and/or story concept is not mine.  This is simply written into readable story form of our adventures as we went through it, and that passages are taken directly from the module itself.  Concepts of people and places are not mine except for PC's listed on previous page.  I'm doing so because I thoroughly enjoyed the story and wanted to do this for entertainment purposes only--I'm not making any profits of any kind off of this.  I'm just wanting to make clear that I'm giving credit where credit is due.  Thank you.