Lorleii watched Karen's image fade away as the call transmission ended. “Ok, maybe that wasn't the best way to handle that...” she said to the walls of her suite as she set down her data pad.
She turned and looked out at the ocean for a few minutes and watching the waves come in while she considered what she knew about her Mother's previous life. She had been a freewheeling trader for a long time before Lorleii was born, that much was given. However, she had also found out that if you wanted something moved with no questions asked and no “entanglements” of any sort, Moleigh Darksaint was one of the best smugglers money could buy.
There was also the question of Lorleii's father. Her mother had never actually said who it was, though she had let on that her sire was one of the major players in the Confederation of Unaligned Worlds criminal syndicate years ago. Her direct questions had always been met with a wink and a knowing nod along with “Well, he might be...”. The arguments the the two of them had about her parentage was one of the sticking points in Lorleii's relationship with her mother. Invariably, they ended with one of them storming out on the other, vowing to never talk to the other again. Then after a ten-day they would meet over coffee at one of the Freeports and all would be good until the topic came up again.
Despite their arguments, Lorleii had sent for her mother when she had formed Saint Logistics. The fact remained that Moleigh knew the trade lane routes and who to contact about lining up cargoes so they were ready to be loaded once the previous commodity was out of her freighters hold. And at the beginning, it looked like her mother had tried to leave her prior life behind her. She had kept to the trade lanes, cooperated with the house officials and her reports had been filed with no obvious anomalies. But now with her disappearance, it was entirely possible that one of her old “acquaintances” had tracked her down, and was trying to re-kindle her association with the Confederation.
Lorleii sighed and turned away from the peaceful scene outside, and began to get her kit together. With any luck this was going to be a short trip, fly out to Diogo Island then to what could possibly be the crash site of her mother's ship. She packed her bag lightly with a change of clothes, chronometer, ear-piece communicator and data pad as well as some extra ceramic tipped rounds for her side-arm. She also checked her DM .40 cal Falcon to make sure it was ready for action then slipped the pistol back into her thigh holster. Once she was sure she had everything that she needed, she picked up her kit and left her suite to go to the landing area.
The landing pads at the Windward II resort were bustling with activity, Tourists and Vacationers arriving and departing from far off locales, commercial ships arriving with supplies to be unloaded by the OS&C ground crews as well as an occasional liner.
Lorleii watched this frantic ballet of space craft from the landing pad gate with an amused look as she listened to the radio traffic on her earpiece. It wasn't often that she had the chance to see this grand dance, as usually she was in the middle of it herself. The space port controllers had their hands full ensuring that every craft came and went safely about it's business and in a timely manner.
Soon enough, she heard a request come over for landing pad 3b, and watched as a Raven's Talon Heavy Fighter dropped from the pattern overhead and landed. A young man emerged from the cockpit, looked around at the few people that were waiting and once he saw Lorleii, smiled as he walked over to her.
“You Lorleii? I'm Pete. Ya can stow your gear behind the jump seat. Hop in and we'll get ya out of here. K's waiting.”
She looked Pete over, he was a fairly good looking young man but there was something about him, maybe it was his cocky swagger, that made him appear older than his years. “Ok Pete, just need a second to get on-board and strapped in.”
There wasn't much extra room in the fighter's cockpit for a jump seat, and it most definitely wasn't built for a passenger's comfort. But for a short hop across the planets surface, she could tolerate a bit of discomfort. As she squirmed into the seat, she caught Pete watching her intently. “Pete, you shouldn't stare so, a lady could get the wrong idea...”
Pete could feel the heat rise to his face, “Sorry Lor, I didn't mean to...” He knew Karen was going to be merciless in her teasing if she found out he had been checking out her friend.
“No worries kid, I suppose I should take it as a complement.” She buckled the flight harness, put on her helmet and plugged it into the fighters comm system as he was sliding into the pilot seat. “Ready when you are.”
As they lifted off the pad, Pete got clearance to re-enter the outgoing traffic pattern. “Next stop, Diogo Island and our friend, K.”. As he hit the thruster he added, “Hang on, it might be a bumpy ride...”
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