Chapter 2: Calamity Jane-1
937 Words
Chapter 2: Calamity Jane
The Ranger, Captain Riordan Dalhart, stared down the darkened hallway, then sheepishly glanced back at the destroyed docking bay door. He dismounted and walked towards it, examining the wreckage.
“Sorry,” Blaise said from behind him. “Training took over. Automatic reaction.”
Rory sighed and rubbed his face. “It’s okay, it did for me, too. Destroying public property is not a good start to our mission, though.”
“Well, we have broken a fair number of doors in our time,” Blaise admitted with a toss of her head.
“Yes, doors broken in the line of duty are a legitimate excuse, but we don’t even know what we were chasing or why.”
“It certainly helps that this station appears to be a trash heap anyway, so our contribution to the effort may well be overlooked.”
“Well…” Rory followed in the direction of the mysterious figure that had been watching them. “We might as well go, then.”
A few minutes later, an examination of the elevator shaft turned up nothing except a chain that swung slowly back and forth, clanking lightly against the metal siding. Rory peered up into the darkness, but found no sign of their spy. He remounted, and he and Blaise continued sedately towards the nearest settlement, if one could call it that.
“There are five people around a fire near here,” Blaise reported, one ear twitching back and around. “I think two are female, going by size and body shape.”
Once they got closer, Rory pressed lightly on the corner of his right eye. One half of his vision started seeing in infrared and picked up the outline of people ahead of them. Their movements appeared agitated, and he wondered if they’d heard the earlier commotion. He flicked off the infrared after noting their positions. His right eye automatically began relaying data to his brain, faster than the other eye, although the left picked up less scientific details. The man who seemed to be their leader stood five-eleven and a half, weighed exactly one-hundred-seventy-five point three-four pounds, and Rory’s right eye picked up disparities in his frame and fit the specific measurements to weapon dimensions. He had two pistols holstered under his jacket and a six inch folding blade knife on his hip. Those around him were similarly armed.
His left eye saw the rough, unwashed clothing and scarred faces, and some of the people had teeth missing. Their expressions upon catching sight of them ranged from surprise to suspicion. The leader had an eye missing, but rather than getting it repaired, he wore an eyepatch.
Rory decided that they were probably bandits.
“Did someone come through here?” he asked, voice even.
“Nope,” the leader said and spit on the ground in front of him. “Not a soul.”
Rory’s right eye tracked the leader’s own eye movement and pupil dilation. It measured the pulse of blood through the man’s veins by picking up the slight movement of his carotid artery under his jaw. Every few seconds, it recalculated the leader’s heart rate. It was high, although Rory thought that was to be expected. He didn’t think the man was lying.
“Any other settlements nearby?” Rory asked, watching them for signs of movement.
The leader frowned, obviously debating on how cooperative he wanted to be with a lawman. Rory waited. He could be patient, and maybe he could get some worthwhile information about what was going on in this station, which appeared to be derelict.
The bandit leader obviously decided that if he sent Rory elsewhere, he wouldn’t be around to bother them anymore.
“There’s a small camp up that away.” He waved one hand in a vague direction. “But you’ll want to go up to A Sector. That’s where most people gather. You’ll want to talk to Jane.”
“Who is Jane? Is there any chance that she was here earlier to spy on me?” He watched their faces for reaction. They were wary at best.
“Naw,” the leader said with a sneer. “She’s the boss-lady. Doesn’t move from her headquarters on A-deck. Sends others to do her dirty work. If you didn’t catch him, I’m betting your little peep is the lady’s gunman.”
“Gunman…?” Rory prompted when it looked as if he wasn’t going to offer any further information on this mystery person.
“Best sniper this side of Sirius.” The man snorted. “Could shoot the head off a pimple, he could. He’s Jane’s pet. No one f***s with him.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Rory replied. “How do I get to A Sector?”
“That direction.”
The bandits pointed him to a ramp that headed steadily upward in a square pattern. No doubt the regular stairs would be out of the question when he had Blaise with him. He didn’t meet anyone for the longest time, and by that point, he figured he was nearly to A Sector. Suddenly, he saw a lone figure coming from the opposite direction: female, five-five, one-hundred-and-forty pounds. Although she didn’t look it, she was armed to the teeth, her jacket lined with assorted handguns and ammunition. She halted when she saw him, and her dark eyes studied him as he and Blaise made their way towards her.
“Is there a town over there?”
“Yeah, there is. They’re expecting you.”
“Really.”
“Yep, whole place is in total chaos, anticipating your impending arrival.”
“Right.”
She turned and fell into step beside them, seemingly unconcerned. Rory watched her, trying to figure out her motivation in being there. She had obviously been waiting. Had Jane sent a lookout?
“Do you know Jane?”
The girl laughed. “Everyone knows Jane, Ranger-boy. She’s been looking forward to meeting you.”
They continued on in silence, and Rory pondered what he was going to do once he got into town. He knew he needed to see this Jane woman, but no one so far had told him where to find her. He didn’t know what she did either. Was she the mayor of this sad rabble of misfits? He had seen only a few people, but so far, they’d all seemed rather rough around the edges.
“Where are we going? Will you take me to Jane?”
“Don’t worry, Ranger-boy. Jane will find you.”
- Writer
