Traynor awoke to a sharp pain in his chest. It wasn’t as strong as he felt before but it hurt him nonetheless. He opened his eyes and found himself in a room. He looked down to his chest and saw that his clothes were off. He instinctively reached with his right hand to touch his mark on his left shoulder, more concerned with this that the bandages and medicine that covered his wound. He looked around the room to see if it looked familiar. He was still groggy but it slowly came back to him. The furnishings the bed all belonged to Attan. He was in one of the spare rooms behind the bar. He looked across the room and saw his clothes. With some effort he got out of the bed and moaned as he stood up and moved to get his clothes. He looked for his pulse pistols, comlink, and armor but they were nowhere to be found. He put on his clothes and proceeded to look for Attan.

He opened the door and made his way forward to where the bar was. The place was empty not opened yet for business. Traynor wondered what time it was and knew that it was sometime midmorning but he could not be sure. He saw Attan carrying some crates that were no doubt bottles of alcohol and placing them on the bar top. He looked up and smiled when he saw Traynor. “Looks like you’re doing ok. Some piece of work that armor of yours. You had us worried for a while.” “Us?” “Yes me and Elantras.” “Where are my pistols?” “I have them they’re locked up. I also have that transmitter.” Traynor looked at him surprised. “Yeah I saw that. Did you see who shot you?” “No. As soon as I turned around I got hit. How did you find me?” “Elantras did. She went after you when you didn’t say goodbye. She saw you get hit on the head, shouted out your name then they ran off.” “They?” “Yes. She did not get a good look at them but she said that there were two of them. After they ran off she came back to get me and we pulled you into the bar.” Traynor winced in pain as he sat down at the bar. “Thanks. I owe you.” “Yeah you do.” Traynor smiled as best he could to deal with the pain. “Where is she anyway?” “She went out to get some more medicine for your wound. I still don’t know what she sees in you,” Attan said shaking his head. “What’s that mark on your shoulder?” He looked at him and replied somberly, “It’s just a scar,” trying to change the subject, “Frell, what time is it?” “Two aryns before midday.” “FRELL ME. I was supposed to meet U’ave at the docking bays.” “I took care of it. He was trying to reach you on your com but it was burned. He contacted me and asked if I’d seen you and I told him that you came back to the bar and had a few more drinks and you were sleeping it off in the back.” “Think he bought it?” “Nope. He said to contact him when you’re ready.” “Where’s my armor?” “You mean what’s left of it. It’s here behind the bar locked up with your pistols.” Attan hopped over the bar and bent down to remove a floorboard that revealed a small vault built into the ground. He punched some keys and it opened up. He handed Traynor the armor and placed his pistols and the transmitter on the bar top. Traynor looked at the armor relieved that it had worked, but he was surprised and upset. Surprised at the amount of power the blast had. He rubbed his hand over the hole that used to be the chest platting and was still not able to understand how. Upset that it was now useless to him. “I’m going to take it with me,” he said out loud. “There’s one more thing,” Traynor continued, “My thermal sensor.” “Sorry that was burned too. Funny thing though, we found it near the center of the armor close to where you were hit.” Traynor could not understand that. “It might have been all that heat that the armor produced after you got hit. It may have been attracted to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if your body temperature went up. Frell your armor was hot and we had a hard time getting that thing off of you. It was like it did not want to leave you,” Attan said while opening up the crates. Traynor stood up and leaned on the bar top and began to put on his pistols, shoulder holsters first. “Why don’t you rest up for a couple of arns?” “Can’t have too much to do and I’ll still need you to work on items on my list.” “Sure as soon as you get it me.” “Like I said as soon as I check the information that I need you’ll have it and I’m going to need them as soon as possible.” Attan nodded. “Once I contact U’ave I’ll com you. I’ll need you at the docking bay. I should have the list then. Do you remember the bay number?” “Bay 3744.” “Right,” Traynor replied fastening the notch on his belt on his waist making sure that his holsters were securely fastened. He grabbed the transmitter and placed it in his pocket grimacing in pain. “I’ll contact you in a few arns,” Traynor said as he turned and walked away from the bar heading towards the exit.

Traynor boarded the transport pod for the ride back to the docking bays. He closed his eyes still feeling pain throughout his body. But he was trying to concentrate on the events that had just occurred. It was obvious to him that someone had wanted to get rid of him. He tried very hard to make the image that he had in his mind of the figure that he saw clearer, but it was no use. It was a waste of time. Traynor then tried to focus on what he could remember from the moment he arrived on Siecom. But nothing stuck out. He closed his eyes tighter hoping to see if he could remember anyone from the bar. Then it hit him. The drunken tavleks that he had run into at the bar. He immediately opened his eyes and looked around and found that the pod had just landed at the docking bays. He paid the pilot and walked towards the bay where the ship was. He made his way up the landing ramp to the command deck. Traynor began to search the ship’s data banks for information on leviathans. Once the search was complete, he went over all the information that he had procured, then completed his list for Attan and contacted U’ave and they both agreed to meet in four arns. He contacted Attan and told him to be at bay 3744 in six arns. Traynor then made his way back to his quarters for some rest and a fresh change of clothes.

Traynor opened up one of the containers and looked over the strobe grenades that U’ave had gotten for him. He liked strobe grenades, they were cheaper than plasma grenades, and the effect was just as good. Once they explode the emit intense flashes of blinding white light effectively stopping an enemy in its tracks making it easier to capture them or to finish them. He opened up another container that was filled with tannot roots, which he would use to recharge his weapons as well as those from the ship. The other containers contained spare parts and tools. “Everything in order?” U’ave asked. “Yes,” Traynor replied. With his head still inside the container Traynor asked, “And the rest?” “I have it right here,” U’ave replied steeping aside to reveal twelve containers filled with Traynor’s payment being closely guarded by two of his bodyguards. “I take it you’re feeling better after you night of drinking.” “Frelling wonderful,” replied Traynor sensing that U’ave wasn’t buying it. “Hey you!” Traynor yelled at one of the ground personnel. “Give me your scanner.” He handed the scanner over to Traynor and he proceeded to scan the containers for explosives, tracking devices and anything out of the ordinary. “Traynor, come now…” U’ave said incredulously. Traynor only looked at him. He completed the scan and all was clear. “When will you be leaving?” “As soon as I restock the ship with supplies I’ll be off this planet.” “Is there anything else that you require?” Not from you Traynor thought. He shook his head no. “Very well. You may contact me should you need anything else.” Traynor took out his money and paid U’ave half the agreed price. “Good bye Traynor, good luck.” He said this sounding relieved and walked away to pick up a transport pod being closely followed by his bodyguards.

Attan arrived on time as usual. He walked over to where Traynor was and stopped to look at the containers. “What’s all that?” “My supplies and my payment.” Attan’s widened his eyes, “I take it that the large stack is your payment.” Traynor smiled, “I have the list for you,” and he handed it over to him. Attan looked it over and uttered out loud, “No problem.” He looked at the second item, “No problem,” the next item, “I kind of figured you would need that,” and frowned when he looked over the last one, deep creases in his face appeared, “This one may take some time and its going to be very expensive. It’s going to have to be modified to fit and honestly I don’t think that it can be done.” “Fine just see what you can do. There’s one more thing,” he said as he looked over his shoulder towards the Takayi, “See what you can find out about this freighter. Now give me a hand moving this and loading it onto my ship.” “You said I wasn’t going to do any lifting?” “I lied. Besides don’t you want your twenty five percent?” “My WHAT?” “Your fee for the bar.” “TWENTY FIVE PERCERNT? Which one do you want to move first?”

Traynor was in the command deck and looked over the specifications intensely making sure that the torch would be able to fit into his raptor. The raptor was the second and final payment from the mining guild. The miners used a one-man transport module to mine very difficult terrain. He was concerned with the speed not the weight of the equipment that we would carry; he would be able to compensate for that. “Traynor?” Attan’s voice coming over the comlink. “Go ahead.” “I’ve got all the items that you requested. But the tridelium torch is going to take time.” “How long?” “Two days to fit your specifications. But there’s another problem.” “Wonderful. What?” “Because you have to modify the torch, the power cells needed to generate power are proving to be an obstacle. The cells to be compressed and converted into cartridges that you’ll have to insert in order to power it. The torch is being made smaller so the heat dissipation is a concern. You can only use on cartridge at a time to power it.” “Is that going to cut into the torch’s cutting power?” Traynor asked with concern. “No because your power cells are compressed. Essentially, you are getting three times more power than a normal sized tridelium torch, but in a shorter time frame.” “That explains the heat.” “Exactly,” Attan said. “How soon were you planning to leave?” “Two days, why?” “Compressing the cells takes a lot of time. If you plan on leaving in two days I can only get you four cartridges.” There was a pause as Traynor thought, “Its going to have to do,” he replied. “Anything on the freighter?” “Yes, but I would rather not talk on the comlink.” “Understood. In the meantime I am going to restock the ship with provisions and work on recharging the gun turrets.” “I’ll get in touch as soon as it’s ready and bring it and the rest of the items to the ship,” Attan said as he faded out over the comlink. Traynor sat back in his chair and looked over the specs once again making sure that it would fit. Once satisfied he turned his attention to the information he gathered on leviathans from the ship’s data banks and pulled out a star chart. He looked it over carefully and began to double-check his coordinates looking for his starting point. Smiling, he put the chart away and headed down to the cargo bay to begin recharging the gun turrets and restocking the ship with supplies.

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6