A Wanderer in Trader's Point

"You're going to let her go wherever she pleases.  I'm sure there is bounty somewhere in this sector for my head.  Smuggling a girl out of Novalyse before he can use her as a pawn doesn't exactly go unnoticed."  He grit his teeth, on the verge of revealing the truth behind the fears that play his actions.

"Bounty? Smuggling? What the f - " Dembry was run over by the sound of footsteps down the hall, and a deep, stern voice that he recognized all too well.

"Steele's room, please," the voice of the man outside repeated. A nurse answered affirmatively and could be heard leading him down the hall.

Only a few seconds later, Sergeant Passat made his way into the room. He was a hefty crew-cut man made up mostly of sinuous muscle, with the first tiny hints of middle-age spread and beer gut setting in. He was flanked by two officers who wore uniforms of a higher rank than Dembry or his partner, and stood quietly at Passat's side as they entered.

"Mr. Steele." Passat cordially nodded his head in respectful regard to the injured man. "I'm Sergeant Passat."

"What do you want?" he asked as the men entered the overcrowded hospital room. "An assault rifle not enough to apprehend a restrained man?"

Nathan was in constant moral conflict, unable to truly decide what he wanted to do. He knew at least he had to get Nahdra and the Nurses out of this room before he could make any attempt to escape.

Nahdra was thoroughly confused. She felt out of place and vulnerable here, especially without her covering, and she couldn't even begin to comprehend everything that was going on with Nathan and the police.

Passat quickly took inventory of the room. He had realized within a second that something was a bit out of place here - but he had almost anticipated that this man, apparently being interrupted from his pivotal role on a crucial, confidential foreign military assignment - would not be the most cooperative and carefree in dealing with the local 5-0.

"I apologize for the formality," Passat treaded the water carefully, surveying every iota of the situation with an analytical eye for danger or suspicion. "We take the safety of everyone very seriously, so anyone involved in a shooting incident like this gets an armed guard. You weren't singled out, I promise you. But I don't believe it's necessary any more." With a wave of his hand, Passat dismissed the rifle-toting cop and his own two men to the outside of the room. He had hoped to diffuse the situation, but kept Dembry inside, for safety's sake - and besides, he reasoned, Dembry had already been dealing with the man and might have some insight.

Nathan heaved himself, half sitting on the edge of the bed with one arm awkwardly jarred back by the cuffs that bound him. The wound he had sustained was obvious, a wide part with stitches at the side of his shaggy long hair. It didn't look comfortable...

"Binding a man to a hospital bed with a guard aiming his weapon at any passer by...that is not what I call formalities," Nathan scoffed. "Get on with it, they already told me you know who I am."

"Yes sir," Passat nodded. "Lieutenant, undo his restraints, please. And nurse, if you would be so kind as to please page the doctor when he is next available? I would like to get an update on Mr. Steele's recovery to know when he might be well enough for travel."

Bonnie nodded suspiciously, but left the room to find the doctor. This left Nathan, Nahdra, Dembry, and Passat. The Sergeant looked to his Lieutenant matter-of-factly, as if to clarify some things for the confused man.

"Mr. Steele is our guest here, and we are to see him safely back to his home. This was all a rather unfortunate misunderstanding." He gave him the all-knowing cop look that says 'of course there's more, but we can't say anything about it now.'

"I've traveled in worse condition, lets get this over with." he looked to Nahdra before going on. "Are you doing it for the money, or are you just scared shitless?"

Nahdra listened intently to the conversation, but still couldn't make sense out of any of it.

"Pardon?" Passat asked, trying to maintain a friendly and conversational tone. He thought he might have misunderstood the man.

"I asked if you're being paid or if you're afraid someone might 'accidentally' send a Vanguard to your doorstep." he answered. "Sending me back will only get me killed, and her too..." He had not intended to imply that he was talking about Nahdra as he briefly glanced in her direction to judge her reaction to all of this.

Passat studied Steele's comments for a moment, unsure of how much he should divulge. "Mr. Steele, please don't worry. No harm is going to come to you. I've already discussed everything with the General, and we both have every intention of getting you back safely." Passat seemed sincere. "You have every right to be concerned, Mr. Steele, but we're doing everything we can."

"And if I refuse to return to Novalyse?" he asked bluntly.

Novalyse, Nahdra thought. Return? Why?

Passat turned that question over in his mind. "...why would you refuse, Mr. Steele?" He seemed genuinely surprised and confused.

Nathan raised an eyebrow to the man's question.

"Why would I go back? I smuggled a tribute out of the colony before she could get torn apart and pieced back together with artificial cybernetics. Do you even know who I am?"

Passat and Dembry hadn't heard the first scrap of this side of the story.

"I'm not familiar with the details of your assignment or your history," Passat continued tentatively, "but when I spoke with General Thorne, he filled me in on why it's so important that you return..."

Assignment...Thorne?  What the hell... Nathan stammered, a mixture of shock and confusion on his face. He turned to the datavision playing on silent in the background, a man strapped down to a table as a hole exploded in his skull.  Blood dripped on the ground as the masked narrator spoke in captions.

Novalysian captain Nickoli St. John will stop the coming slaughter.  Tell me Cole, how many lives are worth the life of your own son?  I will take an eye for an eye...

"I'll go...but I need something from my apartment before we leave," he said as he turned back to the others.  "Can I do that?"

Passat and Dembry exchanged glances. They were entirely unsure of what to do about this - policy certainly didn't cover this, but logic dictated that they should let this foreign special agent have considerable reign over what was happening.

"Maybe it would be better if I sent some of my men there to pick it up for you," Passat offered politely, trying not to offend. "I know you can't share much about your assignment, Mr. Steele, but if there are any particular security measures that you feel are necessary for you, we'll do our best to accommodate you any way we can."

Nathan raised his tethered arm as far as the cuffs would allow.

"No, they are things I need to gather myself. Are you going to take these off of me or am I going to have to do that myself as well?"

With a sigh, Passat crossed the room towards Nathan and unfastened the restraints. Dembry didn't take his eyes off Nathan the whole time -yeah, that's just what I need, he thought, this psycho to kill my damn boss on my shift.

Nahdra observed the whole situation studiously. She had barely spoken a word throughout the entire altercation.

He rubbed the stiffness out of his wrist once the cuffs were take off, the one he had freed himself covered in drying blood.  He sat up fully and looked around the room for any of his things, also taking a moment to note any weaponry or printing they officers might be showing.  

"I'll need clothes, unless you expect me to walk into Novalyse in a hospital robe.  Last I checked my name wasn't Chase." he said half joking.

Passat was equipped with a high grade semi-automatic that, even through its holster on his hip, glowed lightly around the edges with the trademark Deyshian paradise-blue and hints of silver highlighting. His uniform was more formal, with his name embossed in fine lettering behind the title 'Sergeant' on his badge; his button-up shirt and uniform trousers looked to have been pressed recently. Dembry carried a more basic standard-issue Deyshian handgun as well as the other tools of the street-cop's trade such as a taser, an advanced type of suppressant spray, handcuffs, and various other items tucked into the pouches across his belt. His uniform was one that might be seen on any Deyshian police officer, with the exception of the indication of his 'Lieutenant' rank on the badge, and an additional detailed shoulder-stripe on his shirt. He looked to be slightly less presentable than his boss, presumably from his hours spent outside pounding the pavement instead of sitting perched behind an office desk.

"Of course. I'll have the call made for you," Passat nodded at Steele, roughly guessing his size. He paged something to one of the officers outside - full set of clean street clothes, to be billed at the department's expense.

Meanwhile, Bonnie returned. "The doc will be in shortly. But I'll give you a fair warning between you and me," she addressed Nathan directly at this point, almost as if she respected him too much to go through the middlemen, "it doesn't look like he's going to be clearing you for travel. Honestly, you should still be out after an injury like that, you know." She was curt and to-the-point with her own verdict, regardless of what the doctor would conclude.

Nathan nodded to the nurse as she explained the bad news.

"Thank you, I appreciate the concern your facility has for its patients. This is an injury I will survive, I've lived through worse with less adequate care, not to offend but even if the doctor does not approve it I would like release papers drawn up. I will sign any paperwork necessary to ensure that you and your hospital hold no liability for my departure."

He finally looked to Nahdra again who had remained utterly silent throughout the course of the events.

"It looks like I have some explaining to do. If you would excuse us, I need to speak to my 'sister.'"

Again, Passat and Dembry exchanged glances. Passat half-shrugged in voluntary surrender.

"Yes sir, we'll be right outside if you need anything."

Bonnie nodded in understanding. "Just push that call button, sweetie, and I'll be right in, alright?" She fussed for a moment as she noticed the wound on his arm, but decided against intervening for now and left, along with the two cops.

Nahdra stood rather dumbfounded and double-checked that everyone had left and the door was shut tightly. She looked at him silently and waited for him to elaborate on the very complicated mess that this had become.

"Sorry..." he began. "You got caught up in something bigger than you intended in helping a stranger in the market."  A deep breath broke his words as he also looked at the door cautiously.  

"My name is Colten St. John, firstborn tribute of the Military General. Over a decade ago I was a commander in the Novalysian military.  I held prestige, rank, and was on the verge of promotion to general when I was used in an underhanded assignment.  A pair of parents fled the capital into the wastes of ruined settlement, surrounded by beasts that destroyed it, in hopes to keep their child safe.  They were murdered because of what I did."

Nahdra fixed her gaze on him, her stoic face betraying very little surprise or emotion. She simply watched him, listening intently, and waited for him to continue.

He gave a audible exhale, half laughing at himself and the predicament he had gotten himself into.

"The girl I asked you to take the package to is their child," he smiled a little. "After what happened she was taken into the Tribute program to begin her augmentation process, I was locked in solitary for god knows how long. When they released me I found where they were holding her, luckily I got there before they had begun any of the extensive structural changes. I took her and fled... I raised her until the constant running started taking its toll on her. I brought her here in hopes for a life I couldn't give her, at least an education and a steady place she would know as home. Believe me, I never intended for any of this to turn out the way it did. Bringing myself and her back into my father's sights will likely cost us our lives."