Dogfighter Gospel
created by Phoebe and Damien Phoenix
this chapter by Marcus Fong

Log Four: Tourist Traps


"You _what_?"

It was a truism in Fleet that there was exactly one thing colder than
space--the stare of an unhappy commanding officer. And Major Aaron Belles
was very much not happy at that moment.

"You're telling me," he started, dangerously patient, "that you threw one
of the _biggest fighter-sized bombs in the Fleet arsenal_ at the Gospel,
missed, and blew up a big chunk of Holliday Station instead."

"Uh, that's about it, chief," Kassidy St. Claire's voice echoed in his ear,
fuzzy from the long-range communications link.

"Odd," he gritted, "because I was under the impression I'd sent you two out
to _find_ the Gospel. Not to charge in with guns blazing and frighten them
off."

"But, sir," Kassidy protested, "they resisted arrest! We need to get a
battle group out here and blast their--"

"Do you know what kind of an incident that would cause?" Belles cut her off,
shaking his head. "No, here's what we'll do. Head for the nearest Fleet
starbase. Repair and refit will be authorised by the time you get there.
Then get back to Holliday as fast as you can and observe. Notify me as soon
as they leave the station, _is that clear?_ We'll have a capture team
standing by."

"Yessir!" Kassidy answered hastily. "We'll get right on it, sir!"

With a sigh, Belles tapped a button, cutting off the communication. He
leaned back in his chair thoughtfully, tallying up events. The Gospel,
implicated in treason and weapons smuggling, and subsequently docking at
Holliday. Ignoring orders to halt, and shooting up Fleet ships in the
process.

They might still be innocent, he supposed. After all, "resisting arrest"
could be called "staying alive" when St. Claire was doing the arresting. But
it certainly wasn't looking that way. Not for Captain Aino, or the two
pilots, or this First Lieutenant Nadia Kournikova who had apparently
responded to St. Claire's first transmission to the Gospel--

Kournikova...? Now, where had he heard that name before...

Shrugging, he mentally filed it. He had more urgent things to worry about
right now. Such as arranging for a force big enough to capture the Gospel
from what ships remained at Cascade Point.

If there was anything important about this Kournikova, it would come to him
sooner or later.

                                  *

"Are you sure this is going to be okay?" Jacob asked, tugging at the collar
of his borrowed shirt. Well, technically borrowed. His own duffel and
personal belongings were long since vaporised with the Javier, and the
previous occupant of his cabin wasn't likely to be needing civilian clothes
anymore. "All of us going stationside, I mean."

Kenji shrugged. "I think it'll go faster if there are four of us to look
around. It's not like the Gospel's all _that_ easy to break into." He
turned to Nadia, who was looking just a shade uncomfortable in civvies.
"Nadia, you're really going to have to stop calling me 'sir' while we're on
Holliday. You know how much most people on an Orange Level station like
Fleet and all things military."

"Yes, sir." Evidently she'd decided to cross that bridge when she came to
it.

Kenji frowned for an instant, then turned to Jacob and Ayako. "Well then,
let's go."

                                  *

As stations went, Jacob had to admit, Holliday was better than he'd
expected.

After seeing an example of a Yellow Level station at Hard Rock, he'd
expected the Orange Level Holliday to be much the same, only more so--a
seedy collection of bars and brothels, with a seedier clientele.

To his surprise, Holliday actually seemed to support a reasonably normal
community. He and Ayako were currently walking along one of the station's
major corridors, one big enough to drive vehicles through (and by the look
of some suspicious dents in the walls, someone had tried). People of all
kinds crowded past, from sober corporate drones who wouldn't have looked
out of place behind a Fleet desk to hard-looking types who perfectly fit the
image of mercenaries... or pirates.

Of course, he remembered, given that the "reasonably normal community" here
encompassed anything from plain anti-authoritarians up to organised
criminals and murderers, if you let your guard slip you could disappear
without a trace, and good luck to anyone trying to find you. Then he
shrugged. Whatever Holliday was like as a place to live, he wasn't here to
find out. The important thing was to clear their names, and for that they
needed a long-range communication system. And for that they needed money.

Jacob glanced to his right, making sure Ayako was still next to him. They'd
divided into two groups, one to try to sell the wrecked fighters from the
Gospel's hangar and raise some cash, and one to look for the parts they
needed.

And they were going to need a lot of luck for either, he silently commented.

Ayako seemed to read his expression. "Cheer up," she suggested, moving
closer to him. "We're getting refueled for free, right?"

Jacob smiled a bit, remembering how long it had taken Kenji to parlay the
station management's boundless gratitude into a more tangible form of
appreciation. Of course, that was before Nadia had joined the
"negotiations..."

"C'mon," Ayako nudged him. "Bad luck can't last forever, right?"

Shaking his head, he finally gave in and smiled back at her. (When was the
last time he'd seen her out of uniform, anyway?) "Come on." He pointed.
"Looks like a ship dealer over there."

                                  *

"What do you think, Nadia?" Kenji asked quietly, as the two left yet
another prospective supplier after yet another fruitless attempt to elicit
the components they needed.

"I don't know, Kenji," Nadia replied, her voice low. "I suspect that the
parts we need are in fact available for sale here. However, considering how
many of them are restricted to military use, I suspect that they are not
available to the casual buyer."

Kenji sighed. "In other words, we need contacts." His brows creased.
"Contacts we haven't got."

"Yes," Nadia confirmed.

"Well, then. This is going to sound odd..." Kenji gestured toward a nearby
building, whose brightly lit signs clearly indicated a bar. "...but would
you join me for a drink?"

Nadia's eyebrows lifted a fraction. "Cap--Kenji, do you think that's
appropriate?" Her tone carried a clear, icy note of disapproval.

"It's the only way I can think of to try to make local contacts." Kenji
shrugged, tactfully ignoring the warning in her voice. "Maybe if we drop it
around that we heroically chased those 'Fleet goons' off, they'll play
nice."

Nadia thought for a second, her face absolutely still. "Very well, Kenji.
Let's go."

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Kenji led the way into the bar. And
sincerely hoped that Jacob and Ayako were doing better than he was.

                                  *

"What do you mean, you don't need any more?" Jacob asked, genuinely puzzled.
"These are _Mantises_ we're talking about here. Fleet-standard space
superiority fighters." Maybe not in the best working order, but hey... "You
don't find those floating around every day."

The heavyset man shrugged. "Maybe so, but I got a whole bunch of 'em in
perfect condition a while back." Jacob opened his mouth again, but the other
forestalled him. "Plus a load of parts, so we don't need any more just to
strip down."

Jacob exchanged an incredulous glance with Ayako. "And who exactly was it
who sold you all this?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light and
curious. "They might have a few things I'm looking for myself."

The man smiled slyly, teeth incongruously white against his stained
coverall. "Y'know, the details seem to have slipped my mind at the moment."

_I'll bet they have,_ Jacob thought, fuming. For an instant, he considered
pressing the issue--with his fists if necessary--before he relaxed. They
didn't have enough friends to be making trouble here, after all.

He was thinking about other ways to ask the question when, from near the
door where she was playing backstop, Ayako gasped. Not a loud sound, or a
particularly distinctive one... but Jacob had known her a long time, and she
was genuinely surprised. Maybe even astonished.

Casually, he nodded a good-bye to the dealer and walked over, opening the
door and holding it for Ayako. "What is it?" he hissed, under cover of the
movement.

"Not sure," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth as she stepped past
him. "Watch my back, will you?" And then she was off, and Jacob cursed as he
scrambled to follow.

He kept his eyes glued to Ayako as they jostled and pushed through crowds on
one of the main corridors, angling around through alleys filled with small
shops and housing, only to rejoin a seething mass of people at the other
end.

He finally managed to catch up with her as they passed a bar, excusing
himself profusely as he shoved through a crowd of patrons waiting to get in.
"Okay," he panted, "just who are we following, exactly?"

"See that guy up ahead?" Ayako motioned with her head, but didn't point.
"The one wearing white."

Jacob strained his eyes, trying to make out details in the crowd. There were
several people in white of one kind or another... wait, there was a man
walking away from them at an unhurried pace, wearing a white jacket. "You
mean the one who just passed that alley?"

"Yep," Ayako confirmed, not slowing her own pace... but she hesitated before
adding, "He... looks like someone I knew."

"Yeah, so what about--?" And then he made the connection. "You mean, someone
you knew on the _Gospel_?"

Ayako nodded, her expression suddenly grim. "Hurry up," she ordered. "We
might lose him."

Jacob lost count of how many twists and turns they followed him through
after that. Gradually, though, the people thinned out, giving way to
narrower corridors in featureless grey, shops and offices replaced by
sparsely populated observation decks and maintenance crawlways... and then
he nearly bumped into Ayako as she stopped short, peering around a corner.

Ayako turned, raising a finger to her lips to indicate silence, and Jacob
nodded. "He went around the next bend," Ayako whispered, gesturing.

"Right. Is he still alone?" Jacob asked softly, one hand going to his
holstered blaster. "And if he is, do you think we should take him?"

Ayako's face twisted in an agony of indecision. "I--I honestly don't know.
Maybe we should just follow him and then report back... what do you think?"

Jacob was half inclined to agree--he'd certainly feel a lot better with
Nadia around. But there was something odd beneath the surface here...
"'Yako?" he asked carefully. "Um... how well _did_ you know this guy,
exactly?"

Silence. A faint flush crept up Ayako's cheeks. "That has nothing to do with
it," she insisted, her voice low.

"Ah." Jacob eased round the corner for a look. Nobody.

"You know the regulations on fraternisation," Ayako said defensively. "If I
dated anyone on the Javier..."

Jacob snorted. "I doubt you ever needed to worry. I mean, have you heard the
stories about what our esteemed captain used to get up to?"

She scowled. "Yeah, but I haven't heard of him going out with any traitors
lately."

Jacob shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess. So, are we going after--?"

"Well, well, if it ain't our fighter pilot friend again." The sudden voice
from behind made Jacob jump and spin, just in time to stare down the muzzles
of two blasters.

"Nice to see you again," Kaz grinned from behind his beard. Beside him, Sep
nodded, his one eye glaring at Jacob and Ayako.

"Uh oh..."

                                  *

"And you thought Holliday was a waste of time," Kaz scoffed, as the two
bounty hunters marched their prisoners back along the maze of corridors.

"It's the only Orange Level station anywhere near Hard Rock!" Sep growled.
"How was I to know they'd be dumb enough to put in here?"

Kaz shrugged, grinning. "Well, they did." He nudged Jacob with the barrel of
his blaster. "Hey, what happened to your other friend? The looker?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jacob saw Ayako bristle a touch at that, and
almost smiled. But he remembered where he was, and kept his face impassive,
saying nothing.

"'Ey," Kaz prodded him again. "I'm askin' you a question--"

"Aw, leave it, Kaz," Sep grimaced. "We ain't got time to get a straight
answer off him. We know where the Gospel is already, remember? Saw it on our
way in." He motioned to Jacob and Ayako. "So all we have to do is find the
right bay, watch it and wait. If their friends are in the ship, they'll come
out looking for 'em sooner or later. If they're not, they've gotta come back
sometime. We can bag 'em then."

Kaz nodded. "Not a bad idea." A wry smile split his features. "'Course, that
assumes that we get 'em before every bounty hunter in this sector swarms
over and spoils our little party." He shrugged philosophically. "Let's get a
move on. We'll stash these two someplace safe first--"

He rounded the next corner, and Nadia's fist embedded itself firmly into his
solar plexus. Gasping for air, the bounty hunter crumpled to the deck in a
heap.

Jacob whirled, eyes going to Sep, but Ayako was closer; as Sep's blaster
wavered towards Nadia, Ayako's elbow slammed into his stomach and he doubled
over. Another hit, across the back of his neck this time, and Sep joined his
partner on the floor.

"Geez," Jacob commented as he stepped over to Kaz, retrieving his and
Ayako's sidearms and handing hers back. "Don't these guys ever give up?"

"Thanks for the help, Kenji, Nadia," Ayako said gratefully, buckling on her
holster.

"No problem." Kenji grinned. "We were just heading back to the ship to wait
for you when we spotted you. Then we spotted these two guys," he indicated
the unconscious bounty hunters, "following you. So we followed them."

That brought Jacob's mind back to the mission. "Sorry, Kenji," he started.
"I hate to say it, but we didn't have any luck trying to sell the scrap in
the hangar bay."

Kenji actually smiled. "That might not be a problem. Nadia and I found a
contact who claims to have the parts we need. In fact, she said that she'd
let us have them, no monies needed..."

Jacob's eyes widened, then narrowed again. "And the catch is..."

Kenji's smile faded. "She'd like us to do her a 'small favour'..."


Author's Notes:

In Which Marcus Gets Another Lesson On How Real Life and Improfanfic Don't
Mix...

Well, I managed to survive another week _and_ get my Impro part in.
Wai. ^_^

I didn't have nearly as much time as I'd planned to work on this, so I
tried mostly to advance the plot (notably, the traitor subplot and the parts
subplot). I'd rather not have used Kaz and Sep as straight fall-guys again,
but I just ran out of ideas at that point. Besides, the arrival of more
bounty hunters could possibly be used to kick Our Heroes off Holliday when
it's dramatically appropriate...

Thanks to Ardweden, Ravi and especially Phoebe for offering to pre-read;
unfortunately, I didn't get a draft done in time, for which I offer my most
sincere apologies. Also, thanks to Ravi for many useful plot ideas.

Anyway, to echo Kristen's notes for DFG #2: best wishes to Working Title!

Marcus Fong
13/9/00