The Anomaly

[Rodent]

Chapter 3- The Plan

Ansel sighed, looking at the starscape speeding swiftly by. It had been a few months since he took the loan from Jack and bought the Aurochs class freighter. The ship had been dusty and old when he bought it, but very workable. He had gone through some reading material on ships, and fixed the basic problems on the Aurochs , which he named Adrienne. It had been child’s play from there.

His thought was broken as the navigator shouted “Mazgaran just ahead sir!”. “Prepare to dock.” He answered briefly. Adrienne was carrying a large load of Light arms this time, risky cargo, but good profits. Ansel did not care for the risk, he knew how to minimize it. The crew looked at their captain with something like awe for he always made the runs look so simple. The Adrienne had made a name for itself, because it always took the runs nobody else dared to, and managed to complete it as well.

Mazgaran cleared them to dock, recognizing the Brigands identity of the ship. Soon the ship was docked, and unloading was in progress. Ansel walked up to his contractor, Alsatia Lorraine. She looked pleased.

“Great job again Ansel.” She started.
“My pleasure, but what about the payment?” replied Ansel.
“You are always spot on the money aren’t you?”
“Well, that is what feeds us.”
“Oui, that’s so. Anyways, I will transfer the million credits to your account, good day.” With that, she walked away to check the shipment.

Ansel sighed; they were all just so pathetically stupid, if they thought this work was difficult. But it was the best paying he could find for his freighter, It had been 6 months since he had acquired the ship. The time had certainly been used well, He now had a total of 3 million credits in his bank account. Of course, 2 million were due to Jack, but he had a plan.

The next stop was Marne, he needed to get something, and he knew where to get it from. It was amazing what trading could do to you contacts wise, he now probably knew a contact for any need he should have. This time, the person he was seeking was Anatole, who lived in one of the black market areas of Marne.

Getting there was easy, he soon found himself standing outside the shop, a big neon light announced “Anatole Security Services- Defense, at a cost.” Going inside, he found a big muscular man standing on the counter, he was fingering a rifle. Indeed, rifles were lined all along the shop, lethal weapons of destruction.

“Bonjour Anatole! How are you today!?” Ansel began.

The muscular man looked up, he had eyes like coals, and his face was stern and devoid of expression.

“No worse than usual Ansel, business. Anyways, what do you need?”
“I need to get someone killed, Anatole.” He said quietly and matter-of-factly.

The big man’s eyes narrowed a little, and he signaled to Ansel to follow him to the back of the shop.

“Take a seat. You know that sort of work is difficult.” Anatole began.

“I know, but I also know you will provide” Ansel replied, a faint smile on his lips.

Anatole sighed. “You know me too well. Well, what are the details?”

“Man named Jacques Devereaux. I need to force him to do something for me, and then he is to be killed. However, no one should find out that he is dead, I will have a story cooked up. Your job is to capture him, make him do the thing I want, and then kill him.”

Anatole pondered over it. “Devereaux!? He’s a big man in the Brigands, last I heard.”

“He still is, however, I am willing to pay you as much as it takes.”

“Well…..” Anatole thought over it, “1.5 million credits, but make sure you have a damn good Alibi, cause you know that if you get caught, we will not be able to interfere.”

“I understand that perfectly, and it’s a deal.”

The two men shook hands and now the plan had started in earnest.