by R. E. Graham
“Frick” Varius muttered as he walked over to the window. He lifted one of the slats covering the window up to peak down below. “We need to get moving.”
“Hold up. I have an idea. It seems like every other day is here though.”
“How will that help us?” Varius asked as he turned back to Eva.
“What if we could find whoever delivered the weapons in the first place? Didn’t you say that Carso met with the Shadow Man the first time at that very warehouse?”
“Yes, he did.”
Eva clapped her hands in excitement. “So, what if the Shadow Man used that facility longer than just the two times? What if it was a staging point of some kind. Maybe whoever deleted the footage only thought to delete the day the raid happened.” She started going backwards through footage but played the video at a very fast speed.
The Inquisitor again looked out the window anticipating KoP forces to roll up into the complex at any minute. He jumped a little when Eva shouted, “I found something!”
“What?” he asked as he walked back over to the computer.
Eva pointed at the main screen and replayed footage. A team of personnel working for the refinery went about their duties as a smaller sized dark red and brown colored freighter lowered itself into the camera’s frame and flew over the warehouse where it descended behind the building and out of view. “In one other clip I saw this shuttle that stopped at the warehouse. Now I can’t tell from this if they were delivering or picking up, but I can tell you that it is the same shuttle.”
“Can you rewind the footage so we can see that logo on the side of the ship?”
The video rewound back a few seconds and Varius read the label of the transportation company’s logo on the side of the shuttle aloud. “Nonin Lucem Shipments? Never heard of it.”
“Neither have I, but they are the only thing I have seen go in or out of the warehouse” she said.
“Good work, now we know where else we need to go. Shut this all down and let’s get going” Varius said as he headed for the door and raised his left arm. “Marth, find me Nonin Lucem Shipments and whatever facilities they operate out of on Eden.”
Chapter 24
Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 14
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Eden
Location: At the Nonin Lucem Shipments HQ in Jancen, Outside of Lucifer
Despite Eva’s protest about using any public transportation, Varius decided it was worth the risk of taking a cab. The only other option was to steal a vehicle which could also attract unwanted attention to them if the owner reported it stolen. Since the Nonin Lucem facility was outside of Lucifer in the smaller city called Jancen, they needed to get there quickly. Thankfully, the cab driver spent the entire trip talking about his two daughters and their new pet and barely even looked back at them.
The cab came to an abrupt stop as they arrived, and the driver kept on talking. Varius caught himself before he headbutted the thick glass between the driver and the passengers of the cab.
He grumbled something under his breath, but Eva placed a hand on his forearm to calm him down. Long ago it had become common as the economy went through hardships on Eden for passengers to use a cab to get around but then run out before paying. To combat mischievous riders, cab companies instituted a new policy of installing payment terminals in the backseat of a cab and locking the doors of the cab until payment was received. If they couldn’t pay, then drivers were instructed to take them to the nearest KoP station to have them processed.
Varius put his gauntlet up to the payment terminal to be scanned.
“Payment declined” the terminal said with a synthetic male voice.
“Declined?” the Inquisitor asked in shock.
The cab driver stopped talking and looked up into his rear-view mirror at his passengers.
Eva put her hand up and smiled. “Don’t worry my love, I will take care of it.” She pulled a plastic card out of her pocket and waved it under the terminal.
A green light and a ding signaled payment accepted. The driver immediately began talking again about his daughters and Varius’ eyes rolled. On either side of the cab the doors raised upward and the two stepped out. The Inquisitor exited the vehicle on the side with the road and a teal hover car honked at him as it swerved to the right.
“Reckless idiot!” Varius shouted then walked behind the cab and onto the sidewalk.
“Thanks for the ride” Eva said as the cab driver waved and drove off.
Jancen while being smaller than Lucifer still had a great deal of traffic coming and going down its highways. Several tall skyscrapers reached high into the sky towering over the citizens below. On the Southside of the city was where the Nonin Lucem facility had been established.
“Did you learn anything interesting on our ride over?” Eva asked as they made their way towards the Nonin Lucem building.
They had decided it was smart to stop several blocks away from their destination in case they were being followed. That way they could disappear into the alleys and crowds if need be.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t really any information on the stream about Nonin Lucem. The only article I could really find was about the ribbon cutting event when they opened back in 401.” Varius moved around a man waiting for a taxi to pull up alongside the sidewalk. “It seems that Nonin Lucem is a small freighter company that was started by two brothers, Torvan and Thyrus Lucem.”
“Okay, that doesn’t help a whole lot” the woman said just before she yawned.
The Inquisitor looked over at her and she waved his thoughts away. “I may have been out of the service for a while, but needing sleep isn’t going to stop me. Did you learn anything else?”
“Not really. I looked into the two brothers and there also isn’t much about them on the stream either. No social accounts that I could find, no resumes, nothing.”
“Dang. What about on the Inquisitor Network?”
Varius’ face turned sour and he looked straight ahead. The ex-inquisitor saw the change in his demeanor and skipped up closer to him so that she could talk softer. “What’s wrong Varius?”
He checked behind them to see if anyone was tailing the pair before he spoke. “I was denied access to the network.”
Eva’s eyes grew wide. “Uh oh.”
“Yeah” the Inquisitor said shortly.
“So, combine that with you not being able to pay the cab fair…”
“…I have been excommunicated” Varius said finishing her thought.
Eva felt a tightness in her stomach as they came up on the frontside of the Lucem facility. “What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Titus got a message out to Director Seneca.”
“Knowledge did say that there was more going on than we could see. Maybe there are more corrupt inquisitors than Titus and Vega?”
Varius nodded as he inspected the large gray building. From the front of the structure it looked ordinary enough. Accept that it was closed even though it was late enough in the day that the business should have been opened for customers. “It changes nothing. I still have my orders.”
The two made their way up the three steps to the front tinted glass door and Varius waved his hand over the door panel. Eva used her body to shield the Inquisitor from those passing by.
“Marth, do you detect an alarm system?” Varius asked as he acted like he was looking through his pockets for the key card to the door.
“Negative Inquisitor.”
“Can you get this door open?”
“Accessing.”
People along the sidewalk moved in whichever way. No one looked up at the pair on the porch of the business.
The door slid open and the two quickly moved inside. Varius instinctively began searching for threats while Eva noticed the camera pod in the corner of the small foyer. The Inquisitor nodded when he saw it as well. “We won’t be here long” he said as he made his way to the door behind the front counter.
Eva made sure to lock the front door before she followed him.
Varius opened the door behind the counter and saw that it led down a long hallway. The lights built into the ceiling were on, so he walked as quietly as possible as Eva came up from behind.
“We need to see if one of the freighters are here. They will have a destination log onboard that may help give us some leads” the woman whispered as she checked out a holo picture on the wall of the two brothers standing in front of one of their two space ships.
Each of the doors in the hallway were closed accept for the one that led into the small kitchen. The lights in the room were off, but the two proceeded deeper carefully.
Varius waved his hand over the panel of the door at the very end of the hallway and it revealed the massive garage. Both freighters sat together in the middle of the huge room. There were all sorts of repair equipment all over the place with several plasti-crates stacked up near a work station.
The Inquisitor walked around the crates and saw each one had the same triangular symbol spray painted onto it. “This is the right place” he said as he looked up to Eva.
One of the freighters was painted a dark green with yellow highlights while the other was the same dark red and brown as in the security footage. “Let’s check that one first.” Eva rushed over to the freighter and opened the door.
A subtle hiss sound filled the garage as the door lowered to the ground. The woman hopped up inside and went straight to the cockpit. Varius’ boots loudly clanked against the door as he entered the ship. He found Eva already accessing the ships digital log book on a secondary screen built into the left wall of the cockpit. She pressed a key that displayed all the deliveries the freighter had made within the last cycle.
“Looks like they have been to a bunch of worlds in the Republic. Horizon, Canopy, Eon, Frost, Assembly…”
The last world got Varius’ attention. “Assembly?”
“Yeah, looks like they made a run there earlier this cycle.”
“Does it say where on Assembly they went?”
Eva worked the screen for a few seconds. “A…la…ala…”
“Alachua” the Inquisitor said as he made eye contact with Eva. “It was the small town I had fire bombed for acts of cannibalism. They are in a pacified zone, yet they had a lot of firearms.”
The woman used a few keys on the screen to return to the map of deliveries when she hastily turned back to Varius. “This says they have been to Foundation.”
“Can you see whe…” the Inquisitor stopped speaking when they both heard a sharp clang like a tool had fallen to the floor and echo through the garage.
The pair nodded to one another. Eva closed out the ship’s log while Varius snuck up to the door of the freighter and peaked out.
He held up his hand at first and the ex-inquisitor stopped right up behind him. Varius lowered his arm and stepped down the ramp moved for cover. He peaked around the corner of a stack of equipment but still didn’t see anyone.
The Inquisitor waved Eva over and she dashed down the ramp while keeping her head low. “Do you see anything?”
“No” replied Varius with a whisper as he continued to scan around him. “I don’t think we are alone in here though.”
Eva checked behind them and saw nothing of out of the ordinary. She turned back to Varius as he said, “Follow me.”
The Inquisitor kept his profile low as he dodged in between cover. He finally saw the doorway to the hall when a pair of men stepped out behind them.
“And what do we have here Thyrus?” the one man asked before he began to chuckle to himself.
Varius and Eva turned around slowly to look at the men.
Both wore old orange technician uniforms covered with stains and patches. On the chest of the uniform up in the left corner was the Nonin Lucem logo.
“Looks like a couple of snoopers to me brother” the other man said with a deep voice that echoed off the garage walls.
“Is this the…” Eva began to ask before Varius cut her off.
“The Lucem brothers. Torvan and Thyrus” the Inquisitor said as he stood up tall.
“Oh, this one knows about us my brother?” Torvan said sarcastically.
Both of the men stood in a place in the garage where their faces were slightly obscured due to poor lighting. Even in the dimness Eva and Varius could see that Thyrus was over a head taller and much bigger than his brother.
Well, might as well put my cards on the table and see what happens…
“I am Inquisitor Varius. You two are under arrest and need to come with me and my compatriot immediately” Varius said with the harshest scowl he could have on his face.
Thyrus looked over to Torvan who just began to laugh disturbingly. “He doesn’t look like an Inquisitor to me” Thyrus said with his deep bellowing voice.
“That’s because he isn’t one anymore” Torvan said as he stopped laughing.
Eva looked over to Varius. “What do they mean?”
“I mean little lady that this man here has been removed from the service and is now a real fugitive of the law.”
“Little lady?!” Eva blurted out.
Varius continued to glare at the shorter brother. His blood began to boil as he processed all the events of this mission and how it kept looking worse and worse.
“My status in the service doesn’t matter. I am an inquisitor, and I am going to bring you both to justice for the involvement of a conspiracy with the Shadow Man to spread illegal firearms throughout the Republic.”
Torvan held up his hands to his mouth in shock. “Oh no dear brother, he has us. I guess the gig is up. The fugitive lawman has come for our hides.”
The Inquisitor clenched his fists tightly.
“Actually…” the shorter brother said as he stepped into the light. “…I think you should be more concerned about yourselves.”
Thyrus took two steps forward as well. His mouth was contorted into a wicked shaped grin.
Varius and Eva instantly noticed that both brother’s eyes were completely black.
The Inquisitor stood resolute while Eva took a step back. “Varius, run.” She spun about and took off for the door.
“He’s all yours!” Torvan said as he broke off and chased after Eva.
The tall brother stood there for a moment and adjusted his neck. It cracked multiple times then he brought both of his arms up ready to battle. Thyrus and Varius darted forward to one another.
As Eva made a mad dash for the hallway out of the garage Torvan hopped up on all fours onto a pallet of plasti-crates. He threw himself an inhumanely far distance and tackled the ex-inquisitor to the ground.
Varius ducked under a wide strike from his opponent and followed up with his own one-two punch to the larger man’s abdomen.
“Haha” Thyrus chuckled.
The big man grabbed hold of Varius with his massive hands and hoisted him up into the air. Varius used his left elbow to smash into his attacker’s barbaric face three times before the man staggered back. Thyrus then tossed the Inquisitor into a work station sending small parts and data pads flying.
Positioning himself on top of his female prey, Torvan tried to punch Eva in the face but she dodged her head to the right. His punch was so hard that it cracked the stonecrete floor. He brought his fist up to strike again but Eva used her legs to flip her attacker off. She rolled the opposite direction and crouched in a defensive pose.
Torvan growled and ran forward with his arms wide to grapple her again. Eva spun and kicked the black-eyed man across the face and into a pile of empty boxes. They crumpled under his weight and he struggled to regain his footing.
Meanwhile, Varius and Thyrus continued to tussle together as the Inquisitor did his best to strike his adversary while also avoiding the much bigger man’s attacks. Varius picked up a metal rod he found on the floor and swung as hard as he could down onto the brother.
Thyrus blocked the attack with his forearm without so much as a tiny flinch. The
Inquisitor was surprised at the display of raw strength.
“Are you ready to die Varius?” the larger brother asked venomously.
“Are you?” the Inquisitor asked boldly as he dropped the pipe and activated his assassin’s blade. He stabbed repeatedly into Thyrus’ torso until the brother grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
Varius began to suffocate and choke as Thyrus grinned. With little choice, the Inquisitor stabbed straight into his attacker’s left eye.
The big man dropped him to the ground and Varius coughed coarsely as his lungs fought for air. Despite the injury Thyrus didn’t scream in pain as blood streamed down his face and into his mouth. He reached down to grab the Inquisitor, but Varius rolled to his right.
Torvan now up on his feet growled fiercely at the woman. “We don’t need you whore. I’m going to rip out your throat!”
“Come and get it!” Eva said as she readied herself for another round of attacks.
The brother charged forward and again Eva kicked him in the face this time with a front kick. Torvan staggered back a moment and she followed up with two more quick kicks to the head. The last attack knocked the brother down to one knee and Eva jumped up to strike him in the head with a swift punch, but he caught her hand in his.
“Ah!” she cried out as he twisted her hand up.
Varius happened to hear the pain in Eva’s voice and turned around to see Torvan standing up as the ex-inquisitor fell to her knees from intense pain.
“Raaah!” Thyrus shouted as the Inquisitor turned back to see his attacker stomping right at him. Varius blocked his attack and spun around him. He kicked out Thyrus’ left knee with his boot and ran for Eva.
He wasn’t expecting Thyrus to grab him by his collar. Before he knew it, he was spiraling through the air and landed very hard onto the stonecrete floor over by the other two.
Torvan was just starting to choke Eva with his bare hands as Varius staggered to get himself to his knees.
Thyrus grasped him tightly by the shoulders and hoisted him up into a bear hug.