They rode out the same way they had come in. There was no need to keep their location a secret. If anyone wanted to approach the bikers camp they could, but it seemed unlikely. He watched Kinsie peel off and head back around the settlement on her mission and smiled. The pieces were starting to fall into place.
Cresting the hill outside of the settlement he was happy to see that the bikers had taken to setting up camp. This consisted of temporary block like structures. Some were larger and some connected to each other. Centuries walked the perimeter between sensors erected to notify the group of intruders or even the wild life.
The Crime Lord’s block was set up in the middle of the camp connected to a kitchen structure and hall. He angled his swoop towards it and stopped just outside. Serials and Babaloou pulled up beside him turning off their swoops. Their own pods were not far away, however there were some things that needed to be discussed prior to calling all of the officers together.
As he parked his swoop his personal assistant, Martini, emerged with the portable cover and security system that they always kept handy for his swoop. Too much had gone into its creation to be left unguarded for long.
“Wonderful Martini, perfect timing as usual,” the Crime Lord smiled.
“Does Boss want any food or drink?” Martini replied. The Crime Lord’s translator implant translated the Jawanese Martini spoke to basic.
“Something light to drink, that Ale was swill.” The Crime Lord instructed.
Martini nodded and raced off on his task. Pulling off his helmet and gloves the Crime Lord led the way into the main block of his structure. He was pleased to see that everything was set up as per the usual specs and ready for the larger meeting.
He placed his gloves and helmet on a table near the door to his private chamber and shrugged out of his jacket. He gave it a shake to get rid of some of the dust, and then placed it over the back of a chair that was positioned by the table.
The Crime Lord motioned for the two officers to take a seat around the large table in the middle of the room. They both removed their jackets helmets and gloves before taking seats on opposite sides of one end of the table.
Martini returned with a tray of Gizer ale and fruit and meats. He placed the tray on the table between Serialz and Babaloou. He then walked over to the table where the Crime Lord had left his helmet, gloves and jacket, scooped them up and disappeared through another door.
“What do you think of our meeting?” the Crime Lord asked the officers.
“Don’t really know what to think,” Babaloou responded, the deep tone of his voice reverberating through the room. “The kids looked half starved and they were well past the age of running around as they were. The settlement has seen better days.”
“Their ale was horrible,” Serialz muttered pouring himself a cup of Gizer ale and taking a long drink. “Ah much better. It was like they hadn’t had a proper shipment of supplies and were trying to milk what was left for all it was worth.”
“No vehicles,” Babaloou stated. “I recall no vehicles.”
“You’re right,” Serialz agreed. “Nothing with a motor that could go further than the edge of town was anywhere near. What do you make of all this?”
“The intell that was shared was fairly accurate,” the Crime Lord nodded sitting at the head of the table. “The settlement is in trouble. Serious trouble, I suspect we will see agreement with our terms quickly.”
At that statement the holocommunicator buzzed with a message. The Crime Lord let it buzz for a few cycles and then responded.
“This is messenger droid d7 with a message for Kajidic Crime Lord,” the droid who appeared with the message stated.
“Proceed this is Josey Wales Crime Lord for Kajidic,” the Crime Lord responded.
“The Settlement Council has agreed to meet with you to discuss further terms of your agreement,” the message droid relayed the first part of the message.
“Oh” Josey snickered.
“At dawn in the Diner attached to Smiley’s Inn.” The droid continued. “I wait your response.”
Josey muted the feed and looked at his officers. He smiled, further terms. That was a very specific way of saying that the council found things to be generally agreeable, but there were some issues that needed to be addressed. Serialz and Babaloou nodded and returned Josey’s smile.
“Agreed,” Josey informed the droid when he had resumed the feed. “We shall be there.”
“Excellent,” the droid accepted the response and terminated the connection with “Thank you.”
“Well, that is a positive event,” Serialz said popping a piece of dried fruit into his mouth and leaning back in his chair.
“Yes, but we shall see what their further terms are,” Josey cautioned. “Let’s not plan our headquarters before we have a formal agreement in place. Do the two of you not need to advise the members that they can go into the settlement for refreshment?”
“Yes, we should do that,” Babaloou stood.
“Only allow the most respectful to go in, send the rest back to their ships.” Josey instructed. “We promised that there would be no trouble so let’s keep that promise.”
“Done,” Serialz agreed, drained the remaining ale and stood following Babaloou to the door.
“When that is done, call all of the officers together, I want to make sure we are ready to go when this is finalized.” Josey called out.
Both men nodded as they walked through the door. Josey heard their swoops start up as they moved off to their respective areas of the camp. Josey thought back through the day and felt that things had gone according to plan. There had been no surprises.
He stood and walked through the door to his private chambers. Time to check on a few things he hadn’t heard from a couple of his Chapter Captains and they were close to overdue on their reports.
Lights were blinking from the holo-terminal located on the wall opposite the door. The Crime Lord pushed the button to see how many messages were waiting for him and was pleased to see that only one had come through.
It was from Sy’ryn. ‘Josey Wales, this is Sy’ryn, I hope all is going as planned with your meetings. I have come into the system and await further contact before joining you.’ He deleted the message and dialed up Sy’ryn’s coordinates.
“Hi Josey,” Sy’ryn responded quickly. “How did the meeting go?”
“As well as we expected,” Josey responded. “The settlement is as it was described, but further into self destruction than we had been led to believe. They are ready for assistance of any sort. Can you secure a channel to participate in an officer meeting?”
“Seems so,” Sy’ryn responded. “We are secure now.”
“Good. I’ll contact you just before we are to begin.” Josey instructed. “Oh how was your mission?”
“Unsuccessful.” Sy’ryn answered her voice gaining a dark dangerous edge. “The information I received turned out to be leading me away from the true path.”
“Too bad, you had seemed very excited about the information,” Josey sympathized.
“Yes, but a waste of my time and energy,” Sy’ryn stated. “And you know how much I enjoy those that waste my time. That one will learn soon of my displeasure.”
“Is it worth your time?” Josey asked.
“Not so much for the individual who provided the faulty information, but for finding out who gave it to him in the first place.” Sy’ryn frowned. “Someone is trying to misdirect me on purpose and I need to find out why and illuminate the rival should it turn out to be such. I don’t like surprises or liars as you well know.”
Sy’ryn had once allowed Josey to witness her special interrogation techniques. The memories of the interrogation still left Josey somewhat unnerved. Yet, a part of him got extremely excited and turned on by the prospect of witnessing another display of the extreme power Sy’ryn possessed.
“Yes, I do remember,” Josey grinned.
“Did you know that there is a signal jam coming from the settlement?” Sy’ryn asked changing the subject.
“Signal jam, on incoming or outgoing signals?” Josey responded suddenly alert to a possible problem.
“Outgoing long range, they can signal short range, very short range, your camp has been set up just far enough away to allow for our communication,” Sy’ryn continued. “I have found the source of the problem, but cannot repair it from here without destroying the settlement. Apparently someone wanted the settlement to be unsuccessful. Curious what they did to gain this type of sabotage.”
“I’m sure we will find out,” Josey shrugged filing away the question to be addressed at the next meeting. “Anything else you see from up there?”
“A large crater north of the settlement with some residual tech signatures of someone who has been missing for a year,” Sy’ryn responded. “Possible that we might be able to help find a missing Bounty Hunter and claim a reward for this one’s safe return. If he is still alive.”
“There was a bounty hunter there,” Josey frowned. “Any name that I can be looking for specifically?”
“Killswitch, the clan that is looking for him is DTS Wolfpack,” Sy’ryn answered. “Something I overheard at my last stop over, his crew will be returning to the planet within the next couple of cycles in hopes that he has turned up.”
“Possible allies should we return their leader?” Josey stated, asking a question without requiring an answer.
“Possible,” Sy’ryn agreed.
“Thank you for the information, I will be in touch soon to connect you to the meeting,” Josey was distracted by another possible addition to the Syndicate. A bounty hunter crew would be perfect for running the shipments.
He terminated the link and stripped of his dusty shirt as he walked to the sonic shower. Time for a quick clean before the officers had been gathered. No need to be uncivilized. As he passed the bed he saw that Martini had laid out clean leathers for him.
‘Such a good Jawa,’ Josey thought. ‘I need to make sure he gets a gift or something when we are done here.’
His holocommunicator buzzed before he could enter the shower. It was Kinsie with a report.
“What have you to report?” the Crime Lord asked.
“A couple of curiosities. One is that the community produces, or produced spice.” Kinsie responded. “The settlement hasn’t had a shipment in months, many months.”
“These are all things that are very helpful,” the Crime Lord smiled. “Keep digging, I have been contacted by the settlement leaders for a meeting in the morning. Meet me at the diner.”
“Will do.” Kinsie closed the channel.
With the combination of information Josey knew that he had the upper hand in any negotiation. He also had a good idea of what the settlement considered another requirement. He smiled; this was the way these things were supposed to work. His smile changed quickly to a frown, he should have warned Kinsie of the Bounty Hunter.
Oh, well she was a big girl and could take care of herself.
Josey yawned. He had not realized that he was tired. With only a few hours before the meeting with the officers he thought he might be able to get a little sleep in as he entered the shower. It seemed like a good plan.
The Adams-Schlag Family 