Sheffali's Caravan

Julla smiled as she was beginning to like this male. He was refreshingly candid and hadn't tried to flatter or bribe her yet. She approached and used her own blade to cut the ties loose. She stood back as he laid the carpet down and carefully unrolled it. Her eyes widened when she saw two energy rifles inside.

He stood and looked at her. "When we defeated the group of bandits, we collected their weapons as is our right, but we found these amongst the dead. We're aware it's illegal for anyone outside the military to have these in their possession, so I'm returning them to you. I would greatly appreciate your help in assuring these, and their like, never find their way into the hands of bandits again. It's dangerous enough for the families on the trade routes without having to face such weapons."

Julla knelt and wrote down the serial numbers from the weapons. Then she stood and looked him in the eye. "How did you get these past all my officers?"

Lorrenz smiled. "It is a truly ugly carpet. Besides, I didn't bring their energy cells, so they're currently harmless. If you could have someone collect the cells from my Homestead, I would appreciate it. Perhaps not the Lieutenant."

Julla snorted in amusement.

Lorrenz's expression became serious again. "As the Lieutenant mentioned, he's been screening your visitors. He was obviously the one who turned Stron and Illia Krattos away when they came to ask for help in saving their family from the bandits who've taken them hostage on the western route. The Sprell Family convoy was taken as well, but the bandits sent a sole Sprell survivor to the Krattos Homestead with a ransom note. The youth then died."

The Commander scowled. "I haven't been informed of any of this!"

Lorrenz nodded. "It's highly unlikely any members of the captured Krattos or Sprell families are alive at this point, but Stron and Illia came to see my wife and me to ask us to take our caravan west to determine their fate."

Julla scowled. "That's not a task for a trading house caravan! That's our job!"

Lorrenz smiled gently. "I believe you are going to do great things for the people of Llevven, and I fully support your efforts. Many of my colleagues are frightened and upset by your interference, but that's just their fear of the unknown. Once you have fully gained control over the rampant corruption in the military and the local government, the people of Llevven will prosper and flourish. It's been a long time since there's been hope on this planet. We look forward to that day."

Julla was taken aback by the sincerity of his words and nodded to him.

"However, today is not that day. You're on the right path, but you need time to take these bold steps. As I've said, we'll do our part to support you. We're preparing to take our caravan on the western route in the next day or so. If we encounter these bandits, they will die. We aren't novices in battle situations. Every member of our caravan is an expert shot with various weapons, and we drill constantly. Throughout our career, we've encountered hundreds of bandits. They are dead. We are alive. You may confirm our success rate with the other trading houses."

Once more, Julla was surprised. "So... you aren't asking for a military escort?"

Lorrenz smiled and shook his head. "Not at this time. Some of the other trading houses would welcome this kind of support, but again, our family's opinion is that you need time to complete your purge within the forces so we can trust the military escorts once more."

The Commander nodded to the blunt but honest male before her.

"I promised I would ask if you made any progress on locating the granddaughter of my friend, Henko Mrissa. He's distraught as he was the one who convinced her to take the trip to Borrelia and purchased the Gate Pass for her," Lorrenz asked.

Julla's eyes widened. "She had a Gate Pass on her?" she asked in surprise.

Lorrenz nodded. "Did he not mention that?" She shook her head with a scowl, and Lorrenz's expression showed his sadness for his friend. "That omission might have been because of his guilt from pushing his granddaughter to travel or his fear of divulging information to the military. As I said, we need to be able to trust those who enforce our laws. Life on Llevven will become so much better once you've achieved your goals."

"Knowing she had the pass, I can now trace who issued it and who else was aware of it. This will help me identify a suspect pool. I would like to call upon you to act as the liaison between the military and the business community in the future. This conversation alone has granted me so much valuable information and shed light on some serious communication shortfalls," Julla expressed.

"We're at your disposal, but we should be discreet as we need to work with these people in the interim. I understand you have an extensive spy network. Some who contribute to that are people of integrity as well," he said with a smile. He picked up a stylus on her desk and drew the symbol he used for Zell's first initial. "Watch for posts signed with this."

Julla felt some of the weight, which had been resting on her shoulders since she arrived on Llevven, lift free. She had support and honest advice. She smiled at Lorrenz.

He smiled back, then glanced to the window to gauge the height of the early morning sun. "I've taken up too much of your time. I must light fires under the hesitant bottoms of the other trading house masters to assist us with re-provisioning our wagons for the journey." He glanced down once more at the rifles, and she followed his eye.

"I'll have the armory records checked for the serial numbers on these weapons to see who signed them out. There are only a few officers with access to the energy weapon lockers. I'll investigate," she assured the male. "Do you want to take the carpet?"

"After I just got that ugly thing out of my house? No, thanks. I do thank you for your time, though," he said with a grin as he stepped out into the outer office. She followed him out.

"I'll send a couple of City Guard to your homestead to pick up the other items," she said.

Lorrenz turned to face her again. "Ah! I just recalled I promised to mention how impressed I was with two of your new City Guards, badges three-two-two and four-six-five. They arrived soon after my wife and I dispatched the group of bandits yesterday. They took control of the scene quickly."

Julla stared at Lorrenz. "You and your wife took out a team of six bandits?"

Lorrenz smiled. "I did mention we aren't novices, yes?"

Julla just shook her head at Lorrenz and smiled. The older male made his way around the hall to the stairs down as Julla's eyes followed in contemplation. They settled on Pinorra, standing in his doorway, watching Sheffali as well. Was that worry on the Lieutenant's face?

Interesting.

Perhaps it was time to light a fire under the Lieutenant's bottom too.

"Lieutenant Heltas!" she called out, and he jolted slightly as he looked across the open space. She gestured for him to come to her office. She stepped back inside and moved to sit behind her desk.

When the Lieutenant stepped into her office, his eyes were immediately drawn to the two rifles sitting on the ugly carpet. He froze.

"Lorrenz Sheffali's caravan was attacked three days out from the city. They defeated the bandits and took possession of their weapons. Amongst them were these energy weapons. What do you make of that?"

Pinorra seemed like he was lost for words, so she prompted him. "They look like ours?" He nodded quickly. "So we should check the sign-out sheets to see who opened the locker and took these two weapons. I'd like a report on my desk first thing tomorrow morning with that information."

"Y-yes, Commander!" he said, picking up the two rifles.

"Don't leave the carpet! I don't want that ugly thing in here!" she exclaimed, and he immediately bent to roll up the rifles in the rug and carried it out of her office as quickly as he could.

She watched him leave and felt some pieces begin to fall into place. She'd have to keep a close eye on the Lieutenant.

He was going under the microscope.

-=-

Pinorra was struggling not to panic. The Commander hadn't actually accused him of doing anything wrong, so even if she was on to him, she hadn't shared it with anyone else.

This meant he was out of time. He wouldn't outrun her investigation.

So, the only answer left was, she had to die.

The problem was, she was a front-line, battle-hardened veteran, and he was a backwater back-stabber. He wouldn't get within arm's length of her before she diced him up into giblets. He was a terrible shot, so sniping was out. He needed outside expertise.

When the Commander took out the top three leaders of the gangs within the forces, she missed the fourth and probably most significant cabal member. Luccis Hresh was a retired Commander who had off-world ties within the Borrelian Military Logistics Division. Smuggling was their primary business, but his fingers were in every crime on Llevven. Anyone who demanded extra credits from Llevven's businesses paid a share to him.

He'd tried to recruit Pinorra months back when Gorresh first arrived, but when she'd immediately and bloodily dealt with the three bosses, Pinorra's nerve broke.

Now he had no other option. He needed the Commander dead, and Hresh could provide him with the means to make it happen.

He went to the armory and locked the energy rifles back in their secure cage. There was no point in looking in the sign-out log as he knew it was blank.

He did busy work for the rest of the day to burn away the hours. The best time to approach Hresh was late evening.

Finally, the building quieted as most of the day shift people had left before the sun had set.

He swung by the comms room and settled himself behind a terminal at the back of the room. He logged on with the default user account they'd been told not to use and connected to the outside network. He had a contact address for Hresh, and he'd heard the ex-Commander was always online. He sent a brief post to the secure page. He wrote he wanted to accept that offer he'd received, and he sent the code Hresh had given him in their face-to-face months before.

Pinorra sweated behind the terminal's screen while he waited for a response. Five agonizing minutes later, he got a ping. It simply read "Deal Dead."

His stomach sank, and his palms went damp with sweat. He'd have to buy his way in, but all he had of value was... shit.

He supposed it didn't matter. If he killed her, he wouldn't need to leave.

He typed a new post. "Can pay, but need a permanent solution quickly."

Pinorra knew it would take time for Hresh to arrange one, so he'd be dancing on the razor's edge with his Commander until then. He'd show the bitch the blank sign-out log in the morning. He wasn't the only one implicated by that. The pressure on him would be intense, so he hoped Hresh would come through in a day, two, at most.

A response came back. "Expensive."

Pinorra had expected that.

His follow-up was equally brief. "Valuable."

"Better be. What?"

Pinorra checked the room and approaching hallways to ensure he had complete privacy before returning to the terminal to respond. "Gate Pass. Borrelia."

The response was immediate. "Meet. Now."

Pinorra smiled as he knew he had Hresh's attention and support. He cleared the comm's history and logged out before heading upstairs to his office.

He wasn't going to march into the kingpin's domain with the treasure in his pocket. He needed the means to solve his Gorresh issue before he handed over the payment. Hresh would get the Gate Pass after the new Commander was dead.

He had a hidden safe of sorts in his office. A loose ceramic tile on the wall trim behind his desk could be lifted to expose a shallow cavity in the wall. It wasn't large, but the Gate Pass fit inside. No thieves, other than those who worked there, could get access as the building was secure. With the tile back in place, it gave no sign of the hideaway behind it.

Pinorra wasn't deluding himself. The only reason Hresh needed him was because of the security of the building. The Commander would relax her guard in the safety of her office.

He left the office with his treasure safety hidden and set a direct course for the retired Commander's homestead. It wouldn't do to make him wait any longer.

Hresh had a large estate not too far from the downtown core. The neighborhood featured tall, mature trees lining both sides of the roads. The trees had no lower branches but vast canopies of leaves, so the streets were pleasantly shaded throughout most of the cycle. The tree trunks looked like the pillars which supported the awning on Hresh's mansion.

As he approached the front gate, he frowned as he saw the goons waiting for him there. He'd worked with them when they were in the military, and most of them didn't like him. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

-=-

Hidden behind one of the large trees down the street, Julla watched the Lieutenant walk up to the gate of her next target. She knew Heltas would finally connect her to the rot in their society. She took in the mansion's size, the neighborhood it was in, the number of security personnel guarding it, and realized this had to be the head of the criminal syndicate on Llevven. She'd look up this address to find out who owned it in the morning. She was tired, so she faded back into the shadows and slipped away in the night.

Chapter 6

Lorrenz smiled at Lissan, whose face also showed her satisfaction. They'd pulled off a miracle! Lorrenz's pressuring the other Trade House leaders had them jumping through hoops to get the required provisions delivered and stored on their wagons in record time.

Danne came through with sufficient trade goods for all the settlements along the western coastline. These were rush delivered to the Sheffali Homestead and securely loaded onto the wagons by Alleg's and Drema's helpers in record time.

Additionally, the pharmaceutical companies rerouted all of their available inventory from the other trading houses to the Sheffali homestead as they were the only ones willing to attempt the route. There was enough medicine to support the western coastal cities and towns.

While all this was happening, Lorrenz and Lissan informed Stron and Illia that they would be on the road the following day. They borrowed a wagon and a team of Druug to add to their caravan, and Bonna was thrilled to be told she'd be joining them on the trip. She'd prepared herself for the very real possibility that her husband had been killed by the bandits. Truthfully, she and he were not on good terms and hadn't been for cycles, so she was mostly just a little sad. She was pleased to have Noola as her copilot on the journey. The two sisters would have much to discuss on the way.

In their talk on the way back to the Sheffali Homestead, Lissan learned that Bonna's husband had insisted his wife break ties with her old life and use all of her energies towards raising the Krattos family's status. She'd had three daughters, none of whom remained with the family but ran a bakery shop in Mnemmesh. They grew up seeing how the Krattos family ran their caravans and household and how they treated their female family members, so they chose to leave the family and make lives for themselves. Bonna had done what she could for them, and their business was doing well enough.

Lorrenz insisted that now that they'd reconnected with Bonna, they wouldn't allow this loss of contact to happen again. They wanted to meet their granddaughters.

As their homestead was on the eastern edge of the city and the western trade route was on the opposite side, they first passed through the city. They avoided the busier avenues and swung around the southern edge before the sun came up and traffic increased. Maintaining an excellent pace on the mostly empty roads, they arrived at the western gates leading into the surrounding fields by the time the sun poked above the horizon.

This was the first time they'd made a trip with a five-wagon caravan, and Lorrenz appreciated the priority the City Guard gave them as they passed through the security checkpoint and left the city proper.

He'd be letting the Druug run for periods on this trip to make time and to let the beasts use their preferred gait. They loved to run, but the slower trot ate up the miles and put less wear and tear on the wagon equipment and contents. Running also dealt with the crankiness the Druug might have exhibited from having been sent out again so soon.

Their cargo was secured using the appropriate strapping to compensate for the running motion, even the pharmaceuticals. The Druug harnesses had also been adjusted to allow for the uneven push and pull of the beasts getting up to speed and slowing down. They always fell into a synchronous gait once up to speed, but the acceleration and deceleration phases could get rocky.

One of the best benefits of the faster pace for the passengers was enjoying the wind on their faces without the smell of the beasts. As they raced along the road towards the foothills of the western mountain range, they inhaled the fresh scent of the flowering fruit trees and the cool humidity of the early morning.

It only took a couple of hours to reach the beginnings of the woods at the base of their climb. They brought their speed down to the slower and more comfortable climbing pace the Druugs would use to pull the wagons over the pass.

The western mountains were taller than the eastern range, so it would take longer to reach the narrow but flat gap between the higher peaks. It was definitely a choke point that had seen its share of ambushes. Lorrenz would feel far more comfortable knowing they had Zell scouting ahead of them.

Speaking of his adopted son, they'd already passed within the shelter of the forest, and they hadn't heard the birdcall he used to announce his presence.

As they climbed the side of the mountain and moved into the long switchbacks, there was still no sign of him. They finally pulled over at a rest stop at one of the side bends, and Lorrenz stepped down from his bench on the lead wagon and made his way back through the group, speaking to each pair and getting them to prepare their weapons if they were going to have to shoot their way through the pass.

Just as he reached the second to last wagon, he heard the trill of Zell's signal. No additional warning tones, just the call to say he was arriving.

Lorrenz turned and saw Zell stepping from the woods. His robes were torn and scorched on one side, and he had his cowl pushed back to allow his ears to move freely.

"What happened?" Lorrenz asked in concern.

Zell smiled at his father. "There was an ambush ahead. Just a single bandit but dug in tight like a skin borer up on the rocky cliffside. He was on the western side of the pass and armed with one of those energy rifles. The only way to dislodge him was to get above him and drop rocks on his position. There wasn't much cover up there. He got a lucky shot and burned my robe--he didn't get me!" he added to calm his family.

That's when Zell noticed a recent addition sitting on the bench next to Noola.

"Bonna! What are you doing here?" Zell said with a smile and leaped up to give her a hug. She returned it with a cheerful grin.

"I'm part of the rescue mission," she said, then immediately held up a hand to acknowledge their poor odds of finding anyone alive.

"Glad to see you back with us, at least," Zell added. He glanced at Noola, who was watching him with big eyes and an unreadable expression again. He nodded to her with a smile, then slipped back down to the ground.

He looked to Lorrenz. "I need a new robe. The custom cowl of this one needs to be removed and sewn onto the new one.