The Handsome, the Skeptical and the On-the-Run
Season 3, Episode 2
Aboard Phantom-2-7 [Class XII Medium Cruiser]
Hyper-lane [traveling through the interconnected hyperspace highway]
21 December; 06:56:09 Hours
Alarms started to blare through the cruiser, red lights flashed nonstop as Syia shot up in her cot where she looked around frantically. Her heart was pounding as she could hear yelling echo through the hall. She slowly got up and made her way to the door that she opened and peered out, where she found Augur and Sacks hurrying toward the ladder down to the lower level.
“What the hell is going on, Augur?” Sacks frantically yelled, watching Augur begin to descend.
“<It sounds like the locked-on alert! And that’s really not good knowing we’re hyper-speeding!>”
“Well, I mean, there’s only a couple ships that can lock on in hyper… Union, GDC, Gold-eyes and Depth…” Sacks said, and Syia’s heart dropped into her stomach as she heard the last place he noted.
“<No, no, no, no,” she mumbled to herself, stumbling backward where she nearly collapsed onto the cot, “he couldn’t have followed! He couldn’t! We jumped far before any Destroyer could lock on!>”
Though Syia slowed her panting back to normal breaths. She ran her hands down over her face, shook her head, and then hurried out of her room. Syia could still hear the two bickering back and forth as she came to the ladder, slid down it with a loud thud as she landed, and Sacks and Augur quickly turned to her. Augur’s eye squinted at her before he aggressively sat down in the pilot chair while Sacks let out a big smile.
“Hey, toots! Um, what, what are you doing up?”
“<What’s going on? What’s with the alarms and flashing lights?>”
Sacks rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, n-nothing. Don’t worry about it, just go back to your roo—”
“<It’s GDC,” Augur barked, “which ain’t good knowing we got a stowaway who we don’t know a damned thing about!>”
“<GDC…” she sighed before quickly opening her eyes wide in a faux display of concern, “W-what do Rangers want with us?>”
“<Maybe the better question is: What would Rangers want with YOU?>”
“Augur, come on! Leave up on her!” Sacks snapped, sat down in the co-pilot chair and they all heard the Galactic Defense Corps Interceptor hail them.
“<This is Galactic Defense Interceptor H3-7G, identify yourselves now!>”
Augur pressed several buttons before flipping a switch on the overhead board. “<Phantom-2-7, is there a problem?>”
“<Prepare for connection followed by boarding, Phantom-2-7.>”
“<Whoa, whoa, hold on!>” Augur snapped. “<What probable cause do you possess to connect and board my ship?>”
“<You have no arrival destination attached to your galactic hyper-port,” the Ranger retorted, “and that’s good enough cause for us.>”
Phantom-2-7 shook and a loud rumble reverberated through the ship as the Interceptor connected to them. Augur flipped the switch, slammed his hands off the control wheel and they all watched out the view shield as the glowing white, blue, and green stream of the hyper-lane faded away and their ship slowed to a stop out in the universe. Sacks leaned his head back, his eyes were closed but then he quickly shot forward as he gasped.
“EQUIN!” he cursed. “We got rid of all of that Ring-Dust, right? We don’t have any product onboard, do we?”
Syia’s eyes opened wide. “<Ring-Dust? You two are transporting Ring-Dust?>”
“We’re smugglers, toots - What’d you expect us to be smuggling? Garnuk cakes?”
“<No, we don’t have any product left, we sold the last kantun back on Skies Rim,>” Augur said, standing up and pushing his way past Syia.
“<Excuse me!>” Syia hissed, nostrils flared and brow furrowed.
Sacks placed his hand on her shoulder. “Again, toots, don’t sweat him.”
A sharp hiss cried from the shocks of the docking door before steam filled the loading bay. The door then slowly began opening with an intense white light bursting into the bay, Augur came hurrying down the hall just as a loud boom erupted and six Rangers marched onto the Phantom. Sliding to a stop, Augur’s right hand moved to one of his Kramat PS22 pistols on his thigh.
“<Alright, so what’s the real reason you Star-Dogs stopped me?>” Augur snapped.
One of the Rangers clocked the charging rod of his silver Kramat TAK8 rifle, a loud hum roared and he stepped toward Augur. “<Watch your mouth, smuggler!>”
“Stand down, Private,” Wade Donte ordered as he came onto the ship, walking past the other Rangers where he stopped before Augur.
The two looked at one another after Wade looked around the loading bay. He then cracked a small smirk before saying, “We tracked you leaving Metrog, in quite a hurry - What’s the reason for that?”
“<Since when do Star-Dogs have jurisdiction over Metrog?>” Augur chuckled. “<I thought it was no-man’s?>”
“No, no, you’re correct. We have no jurisdiction there—”
“<Then it’s none of your damned business why I left there so fast.>”
Wade puckered his lips to the side, tilted his head away from Augur, and sighed. “That’s a shame, really, because it would definitely make our job so much easier than having to tear apart the inside of your cruiser to find anything that would end you up in lockup.”
Augur’s eyes narrowed and his teeth gritted just as Sacks and Syia came walking into the loading bay, causing the Rangers to all quickly take aim at them, with some yelling orders.
“<Freeze!>”
“<Get your hands up! Get them up now!>”
“Don’t move,” another barked before Wade looked around Augur at the two.
“My, my, who do we have here?”
“What’s the holdup, Augur?” Sacks asked.
“<Nothing,>” he snapped before looking back to Wade. “<He’s my partner.>”
“And the lady?” Wade smiled at Syia.
“<She’s—” he went to answer when Sacks cut him off.
“Daisy here, she’s my lady friend…” and he wrapped his arm around Syia, pulling her close, “If you all know what I mean.”
Several of the Rangers immediately chuckled with Syia glancing at him with her right eye squinted before she could see him raise his eyebrow at her. Then quickly, Syia wrapped her arm around his waist and started to kiss Sacks. Wade, though, folded his arms in front of his chest as he watched the two carefully.
Augur nodded up to Wade. “<We done here?>”
“Heeeh,” he sighed before motioning his hand in a shooing manner, “Make sure that your galactic hyper-port is updated.”
“<I’ll make sure to get right on it, sir,>” Augur sarcastically said as Wade turned and started to head back toward the connection to his ship, but he stopped halfway where he raised his right index finger.
“Actually, there is ONE final thing…”
Syia stopped kissing Sacks as their lips were still locked, but she looked out the corner of her eye to see Wade turn and look directly in their direction.
“What did you say her name was again?”
Augur turned to Sacks and Syia, his eyes a bit sunken as Sacks licked the corner of his mouth before answering, “Daisy.”
“Daisy? Huh, that’s odd because you,” Wade said as he walked toward them, “you remind me of someone.”
“<I, uh, I have, um, a familiar face,>” Syia struggled to get out.
“A familiar face? OR you’re actually—” Wade was saying when one of the Rangers interrupted him.
“<First Lieutenant, sir!>”
Wade turned to him. “What?”
“<Sir, Command has an urgent message for you.>”
Wade clenched his fists, glancing back to Syia for a moment before he whipped his head around and barked, “Can’t it wait?”
“<I’m sorry, sir - No, Command says it’s something you need to be made aware of immediately.>”
Wade let out a frustrated grunt before storming off back onto their Interceptor. The six Rangers all then slowly backed away, making a point to keep eye contact with the three as they also returned to their ship before the bay door slowly closed behind them. A sharp hiss let out as their ship adjusted and pressurized before a thunderous boom erupted. The Phantom shook momentarily as the Interceptor detached and shot off.
“Whoooo! That was a close one,” Sacks erupted.
“<Uh, um, y-yeah,>” Syia agreed before he turned to her.
“Has anyone told you that you’re a great kisser, toots?”
Augur stepped up to Syia with eyes narrow and brow furrowed. “<I’m more interested in if anyone told her she’s an expert liar.>”
“<I’m, I’m sorry?>” Syia’s head clocked back in a faux display of shock.
“<You heard me!>”
“<I, I don’t know what you’re talking abou—”
“<Tabyrin’s scrotum - You know exactly what I’m talking about, and now I’m even more certain you’re not who you say you are!>”
“Come on, Augur! Give it a rest!” Sacks stepped between the two.
“<No! You’re too caught up in what you want between her legs to see she’s been lying to us from the second she laid foot on our ship!>”
Syia placed her hand on Sack’s hip, using him as a shield as she looked just over his shoulder to Augur. “<I’m telling you the truth, I’m not lying - My name is Daisy from Daz.>”
“<No you’re not, and mark my words,” Augur said with conviction, “I’m going to find out what you’re hiding.>”