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Trance's Gift - Chapter 2
Time: CY 10088 May 5166 – Day 2Location: Bathsheba spaceport Highport district
"I never thought there'd be a day," said Harper as he turned up the collar of his jacket to give some protection against the cold early morning wind, "when I voluntarily visited a police station."
"Yeah this is probably a first for you, Shorty," agreed Beka giving her crew member a friendly punch on the shoulder. "This is a first for me in a way too. This is the first time since I've known you when I'm visiting a police station for some reason other than bailing you out."
"I still wish you had let me take a gun along with me, Boss," said Harper
"One gun is enough, Harper. We're here to talk not to start a war. And speaking of talking let me do all the talking. Otherwise we might find ourselves spending more time in here than either one of us wants to."
As they stepped into the headquarters there were greeted by a door with no obvious way of opening it and a viewscreen displaying the visage of a bored looking man. Beka decided that the individual on the other side of the screen must be a human as an AI wold never allow him or herself to look so unprofessional.
"How may I help you?" the man asked.
"Captain Beka Valentine and Seamus Harper off the merchant vessel Eureka Maru. We'd like to speak to officer Asagawo if he's still stationed here. Tell him that it's in connection to a mutual acquaintance, a piece of fruit. He'll understand who I'm talking about."
The man in the viewscreen gave Beka an odd look but said nothing other than "Please wait. I'll let him know that you are here." With that the screen went blank and Beka and Harper were left staring at a closed door.
After about 15 minutes the screen reactivated and a drawer slid out from the wall beside Beka. "Please place your weapon the the drawer, Captain Valentine. It will be returned to you when you exit the building. When the security door opens there will be someone to take you to Inspector Asagawo."
Beka placed her Gauss pistol in the drawer which silently slid back into the wall. A moment later there was an audible click and the door leading into the police station opened. Waiting for them on the other side of the door was an earnest looking young man who looked barely old enough to be shaving regularly. He led them through a warren of cubicle filled rooms finally stopping at one and tentatively knocking on the cubicle's frame.
"Your visitors are here, sir," he said as he indicated that Beka and Harper should enter the cubicle.
There were two desks and chairs in the cubicle. Sprawled on in one of the chairs with his feet propped up on the other one was a heavy set bald man, with a luxurious mustache and a nose that would have looked more at home on the face of the Earth eagle Harper had once shown Beka a picture of. On one of the desks was a picture of the man with his arm around a plump smiling woman. They were surrounded by six children, all of them with noses similar to his. His uniform was so rumpled he might have been sleeping in it. To Beka he looked more like someones genial uncle than a police officer.
"I'm Inspector John Asagawo," said the man removing his feet from the chair they were propped up in but not bothering to get up out of his chair. He indicated that Beka should take the empty seat. "I understand you wanted to talk to me about a mutual purple acquaintance. I'm glad you came by to see me It saves me a trip to see you. How's Grape? I hear she's had a child. Yours?" he asked looking at Harper.
"You knew she was in port?" asked Beka as she sat down in the proffered seat.
"She's pretty hard to miss," replied Asagawo with a wry smile. "Purple girls with tails aren't exactly common around here."
"So what do you plan to do about her?" asked Harper wishing he had talked Beka into letting him come armed to the meeting. He would have figured some way of getting a weapon past police security.
"As long as she stays aboard your vessel, absolutely nothing. Arresting her would be too much paperwork. Your ship is registered as out of Winnipeg Drift so technically as long as she stays aboard I can't touch her without an extradition permit from the Winnipeg embassy. And I'm busy enough without generating extra work for myself. When she was spotted and associated with the two of you I called up the FTA files on the Eureka Maru. It seems the authorities on Roanoke are about evenly divided on whether you should be charged with grand theft or given a medal. Or maybe both. The people of Tesla Drift don't have any doubts about the matter though. The two of you aren't wanted for anything on Bathsheba so as long as you keep your noses clean and Grape stays aboard your vessel everything will be fine.
"Now, other than relaying a hello to an old acquaintance, what brings the two of you here?"
"We want to see what we can do to help Trance's friends Jenni and Concepcion get away from someone called Fagin," said Beka.
The geniality abruptly left Asagawo's face and his eyes became ice cold. He stood up and bellowed over the partitions. "Liza, get your rear end over here."
A moment later a blonde women even shorter than Trance walked into the cubicle. "Keep your prick in your pants, John. I told you I'd be back in... " She broke off as she realized Asagawo had visitors.
"Liza," said Asagawo, "this is Captain Beka Valentine and Seamus Harper off the Eureka Maru." Captain Valentine, Mr Harper, this is my partner Eliza Bailey." Noticing Beka's somewhat dubious look Asagawo continued. "Don't let her size fool you. She could probably break your arm with nothing more than a dirty look."
"Pleased to meetcha," said Bailey holding out a hand to Beka. Beka took her hand. To her surprise the small woman's grip was as strong as most mens'. "So, what's this all about, John?" Bailey asked.
"Liza, do you recall me mentioning that little girl Grape a time or two? She's a crew member on the Eureka Maru now. The Captain and Mr Harper say they're here to help out a couple of Fagin's girls Grape used to work with before she went straight."
Bailey's transformation was as sudden and complete as Asagawo's as all expression left her face. "Do the two of you have any idea what you could be getting into if you cross Fagin?" she finally asked.
"That's why we're here," said Beka. "We want to know what ever you can tell us about this Fagin and Sikes."
"Fagin can be summed up in two words," said Bailey. "Evil and untouchable. He's an FTA stooge. The FTA likes to have some local muscle on the spot for times when it's not worth sending out an enforcer. The port police commissioner and the judicial chief magistrate are in bed with the FTA and the words out that Fagin's to be left alone."
"About the only thing I can give you," said Asagawo, "is the current address of Grape's friends. I have it in my file on Fagin. Just a minute I'll call it up for you." He sat back down at this desk and began to type in commands on his computer. A moment later he was studying the data displayed. "There it is," he said as he reached for a disposable flexie. "I've entered the address in the flexie." He stood up and gave a theatrical yawn. "I could really use a cup of coffee. Captain Valentine, Mr Harper how about I get you some as well. Liza, why don't you join me in the cafeteria I'll need some help bringing back the cups." He strode out of the cubicle with Bailey a step behind him, and the computer still on displaying his files on Fagin.
As soon as the two officers were out of sight Beka nodded to towards the terminal. "What are you waiting for," she asked, "an engraved invitation?"
"Why … Oh I gotcha Boss," Harper replied as he slipped into Asagawo's seat and pulled out the cable from his data port. Once he had made the connection Harper followed the links to all the other data associated with the information currently shown on the terminal and began copying it to his data port. While that process was running he started another search for info on some of his old contacts on Bathsheba. He found that out of the five he had known only two were left. By the time he had began copying the short list of locations they were known to frequent the first copy job was almost complete. While waiting he fought the temptation to rifle through the database for other usable information resisting mostly because he was pretty sure that Beka wouldn't like it and Trance would like it even less.
While Harper was copying files Beka kept a look out for anyone approaching the cubicle. This self appointed lookout duty was more to keep her from seeing Harper while he was connected to the computer than to keep an eye out for anyone coming their way. She hated seeing him like that simply because it reminded her of a drug addict when they got a fix after being dry for a while. She just hoped that Harper would restrict his search to only information on Fagin and Sikes. She would have preferred doing the search herself but with Harper using his data port he could get a more thorough search done faster than she could. Plus there would be no information on the flexie that they shouldn't have if anyone checked it.
Harper had just finished disconnecting the cable from his data port when Beka heard Asagawo and Bailey approaching . They were discussing rather, loudly the prospects of the local splat ball team in the upcoming finals. Asagawo a handed Beka and Harper cups of some sort of black sludge that he claimed was coffee. Beka took a taste and had to resist the urge to ask for water. The stuff tasted even worse than it looked. Harper seemed quite happy with his cup, but then he drank Sparky Cola, and that had warning labels on the side of the cans it came in.
Rather than leave right away Beka decided to make small talk with the two officers. She wanted to get a feel of how the local police felt about the FTA. After a few minutes of talk it became apparent that Asagawo and Bailey disapproved of the FTA's heavy handed methods but that they were among the minority of the force that felt that way.
After a few more minutes of chat Asagawo changed the subject. "Liza I changed my mind. I don't want the Captain and Mr. Harper wandering through Lowport by themselves. Get a car and take them out to where Grape's friends are living."
"We can take care of ourselves, officer," said Beka. She didn't like the idea that Asagawo thought they needed babysitters.
"I'm sure you can, Captain Valentine," answered Asagawo. "It's the local citizenry I'm worried about. If the two of you go by yourselves some fool will probably think you're easy marks and end up dead. If Liza goes with you they'll steer clear and continue breathing. My job is to protect the inhabitants of the port. Even when it's from themselves."
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