The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Rick's Cafe Americain became Ryan's base of operations during his leave. He came to know the owner, a man from London, and most of the regulars, although these were an extreme minority compared to the transient tourists. (He began to amuse himself with the notion after awhile that he did not fall into this latter group.)

One day, about two weeks after he had begun haunting the place, a new face appeared amongst the regulars. He was not Terran but of a race Ryan knew well enough. He was Mollocan. These people reminded Ryan of pygmies more than anything else. They were bluish-black in pigmentation with thick curly hair that always began too far back on their heads, as if the entire race needed to join The Hair Club for Men. (He searched his memory, realized he had yet to see a female of their race.) This little fellow, about the size of a Dalcachene, seemed to have eyes for only Ryan. From day one he sat across the room alone staring at him. Every time Ryan would look his way, there he was, glossy black eyes locked on him. He had no idea what the guy had in mind but it was really starting to become an irritant by the third night.

“You appear to be staring at me, sir.” Ryan stated bluntly after walking purposefully over to the man. “May I ask why?”

“Yes I am interested in talking to you... if you are Ryan Manniks?”

Ryan was taken aback for a second then replied, “I suspect you know I am... why else would you be here...?”

“You are correct. Please... sit with me. I will buy you a drink.” He motioned to an empty chair excitedly.

“Alright, but you should know, I am strictly AC,” he announced as he slid out the chair and plopped down.

“AC...?”

“Yes... I, uh... only like girls...”

“Ah...” and the little man began to titter hysterically, quite amused with the sudden turn in the conversation apparently. Ryan patiently waited for him to regain his composure, never cracking a smile, waving to several people who were streaming in...

“If not that then why the interest in me?”

“You are with Master Liu, are you not?”

“That's right.” Ryan suddenly was at attention. This guy had done his homework.

“You should know that the assault on Hei'a 12 was orchestrated.”

“By someone other than the Szearfetti, I assume you mean... otherwise this would be no great revelation.”

“By the Federation Navy.”

Ryan must have looked his shock, for the little man grinned and nodded adamantly. “But why would they do something like that?” Ryan finally quipped.

“They had to quell the rebellion on Dalca'odge quickly... before it could gain momentum,” he whispered tersely.

“Why not just make an overt strike themselves... using their own fleet... why the deception...?”

“Because the Dalcachenes would not stand for it. The Baeliwiks are quite popular there. It was only by political pressure from the others on the federation council that the Baeliwiks were ousted in the first place. Many on Dalca'odge consider the cause of the Baeliwiks to be a righteous one. They consider the Baeliwiks benefactors of their race.”

Ryan thought back on those tiny, child-like people he had lived amongst while at home with Charlie. It was hard to picture them as brutal, uncaring enough to actually back what the Baeliwiks were up to.

“I have a name,” the Mollocan continued quickly, “the operative responsible for paying off the Szearfetti to make the strike. Do you want it?”

Ryan looked at him sideways, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “Who are you working for?”

The little black man smiled, showing badly gapped front teeth. “But that is unimportant... Do you want the name?”

Ryan thought for only a second. Quang would certainly want the name. “Yeah, I guess I do,” he admitted.

“She is a Jeraiseanne. Strikingly beautiful, which she uses like a weapon to accomplish her missions, I'm told. Her name is Ma'areol. You can find her at the Galaxy Club. She dances there. It's her cover.” With that he quickly paid the bill and left, leaving Ryan with a suddenly strange taste in his mouth. He and Charlie had walked into a trap once before based on information given to them by an informant. It had spelled his boss' ultimate doom. Was this another trap? Best to see Quang about this before he did anything else.