The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Ryan Manniks of Saar'floe... requesting permission to dock.

Permission granted Saar'floe, please proceed to docking gate three, came the immediate response. The procedure did not take long and upon opening the docking hatch, he was welcomed by a group of three naval officers of various races.

Captain Cellarre will see in his stateroom. One of the officers stated. Please follow me.

Ryan did as instructed and very quickly found himself deep in the bowels of the immense ship. Now he was standing before an open doorway, which the officer motioned toward, turned and left. The two other men stationed themselves either side of the doorway.

Cautiously Ryan entered. Seated at a desk was a grizzled man, tall, grayinga Daalj'n, one of the three original starflyer races. He motioned for Ryan to be seated before him. Ryan complied.

I am Captain Cellarre. I was instructed to meet with you before assuming my post here, enforcing the quarantine of Pella'agre.

Yes, sir. I was made aware of that by Ma'areol before she... he stumbled for a moment over the words.

... before she what...?

She was murdered... ambushed on the way back to Urtyre by an Exeonas... my prior master: Quang Liu.

I see. The man's icy gaze fell heavily on Ryan for several long seconds then he continued. What can you tell me about where to find this murderer?

I can tell you exactly where to find him, Ryan grinned in spite of himself. I can also tell you that unless someone goes to fetch him fairly quickly that he might catch a bit of a cold... The other man narrowed his eyes at that. Ryan chuckled to himself and continued. He is trapped in the ruins of the old archaeological facility on Hei'a 12. I sealed him in after damaging his ship enough to force him down there.

The grizzled warrior before him grinned widely then broke into a series of guffawed laughs, stood and offered Ryan a drink. He accepted and they both toasted the life and accomplishments of a mutual lady-friend.

Three some odd hours later Saar'floe left docking gate three of the gunboat Kogeera. As he spun the ship around and pointed her bow toward the brilliant planet in the foreground, Ryan idly wondered what Laura was making for supper. (She had promised him his favorite: geesole stew.) He smiled, anxious to get back home.



THE END