The crew had been traveling on Azav’s ship for a few sleep cycles now. If Michael had to guess it had probably been 4 or 5 Earth days since they had left Zogan. The crew had been studying all the information they could regarding the target, Titan. Ellop, Tiki and Sheerya were sitting at a table behind the main command center of the ship quizzing each other with flashcards written up by Azav to prepare responses to questions they may hear at the Bay of Crooks. Ellop read the awkwardly written flashcard questions outloud. “Typically what is the procedure for a man of the crew who once was loyal but found his way into the hands of enemies and used his knowledge to undermine your own activities?” asked Ellop reading the flashcard.
“Why is the question worded like that?” asked Tiki.
“To remove all ambiguity from the question,” responded Azav still sitting in the main control chair and staring out the glass of the ship.
“What do you do with traitors?” asked Ellop rephrasing the flashcard so Tiki could understand.
“Um… we reduce their rations,” said Tiki lacking confidence in her answer as Ellop waved his hand signaling to continue.
“Also, we… kill them,” said Tiki with continued unconfidence.
“Well I for one thought that was excellent,” said Ellop.
“I disagree. Tiki should make another attempt at answering the question,” said Azav as his chair turned around to face the group sat at the table.
“Well, what’s the problem with her answer? Pirates probably kill their traitors just like Tiki said,” said Ellop.
“It’s not just about the words, it’s about the tone in which it’s said,” said Azav.
“Well, that’s grand coming from you,” said Ellop poking at Azav’s monotone and lack of expression in his speaking.
“It is imperative you guys have the tone down before we arrive. Even the slightest suspicion can undermine the mission,” said Azav.
“We should be fine, they don’t like Titan there. Afterall, that’s why they told the police where he’s at,” said Ellop.
“I wouldn’t be so confident about that. The Bay of Crooks is a dangerous place, so it’s important nobody suspects a thing. These flashcards may save your life and prevent others from targeting you,” said Azav.
“Okay, okay, let’s try that again Tiki. What do you do with traitors?” asked Ellop.
“We make them walk off of the space plank,” said Tiki.
“See? That was good,” said Ellop.
“Keep practicing,” said Azav as the seat turned around to face back out the window.
A few more sleep cycles passed as the crew was now getting increasingly closer to the Bay of Crooks. When they were less than an intergalactic hour away the crew changed into their clothes and holstered their guns. “Everyone, be ready, we’re just a few minutes out,” said Azav as the ship approached a smaller grimy planet. The ship touched ground on the Bay of Crooks. The settlement was filthy with neon lights reflecting in the puddles all over the streets. The buildings seemed to vary in looks, from those that lit up with neon lights signs, and others with windows covered in sheet metal. The crew stepped off the ship and Ellop disappeared for a moment before anyone noticed. “Hey where did Ellop go?” asked Sheerya.
“This is why I said it was important you paid attention to presentation I made. It’s so you don’t get kidnapped,” said Azav in an annoyed tone putting his hand against his mask.
“Wow, look how pretty,” said Ellop enthusiastically returning with a travel brochure.
“Where did you get that from?” asked Tiki.
“I just found it. Look here, the Pirate Islands contain luxury resorts,” said Ellop excitedly opening the brochure and looking at the photographs.
Azav snatched the brochure from Ellop’s hand. “Everyone, meeting in my ship,” ordered Azav.
“What do you think? Pretty cool huh? Could we go?” asked Ellop referring to the brochure as he walked to Azav’s ship.
The crew entered Azav’s ship and Azav threw the brochure across the room. “Ellop, two things. First, we are absolutely NEVER going to the Pirate Islands or whatever. Second, you can’t sneak off on your own like that. Did I not already emphasize the importance of partnering up here?” said Azav frustrated.
“You did, I’m sorry I just-” said Ellop before being interrupted.
“No excuses, Ellop, you’re with Tiki from now on,” said Azav.
“Tiki, got it,” said Ellop.
“That means Michael, you’re with Sheerya,” said Azav.
“Who are you going with?” asked Michael to Azav.
“I’ll be on my own since I have the most experience navigating similar enviornments,” said Azav.
Once again the crew exited the ship and walked back out into the grimy street and split up. Ellop and Michael made their way over to a noisy building with several aliens drinking alcoholic beverages. The chaos of the pub made Michael’s head hurt, but he stood up straight with proper posture to avoid unwanted attention. Ellop lead the way through the crowds of people that formed hallways in through the crowds. Drinks flew overhead shattering upon impact with the wall, as the yelling of others in the pub drowned out all other noise. Michael followed Ellop who seemed to have a clue of where to go and navigated through the chaos. They approached a larger figure sitting at a counter with light blue skin with a body covered in scars with a black eyepatch. Ellop took the seat next to him and Michael stood nearby as no seat was available. The man sitting at the counter seemed to recognize Ellop, and although the conversation was hard to follow through all the noise Ellop and the man both stood up. Ellop signaled for Michael to follow and they took the conversation outside. As they were leaving the building an alien fell from the second floor of the building down the the ground landing in a grey puddle. Bottles were still flying even as they exited the building. “Michael, we are lucky, this is my good friend Rikitan,” said Ellop introducing the large blue alien.
Rikitan acknowledged Michael for a moment before looking back at Ellop. “This guy working with the Intergalactic Council?” asked Rikitan pointing at Michael.
“Who? Michael? No, no way… he’s with me, he’s cool,” said Ellop.
“So you’re looking for this ‘Titan’? Sorry, haven’t met him, but I can say this, you’re not going to find him around these parts,” said Rikitan.
“Do you know where we could find a guy like this?” asked Ellop.
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“Again, I don’t know the guy, but I know folks like him in the extorting business tend to hang around the Tower of Blood,” said Rikitan.
Michael felt uneasy hearing the name of the area Rikitan had suggested they visit. “Sorry could you repeat that?” asked Michael.
“He was perfectly clear Michael, he said to check out the Tower of Blood,” said Ellop.
“Oh, okay,” said Michael still uneasy but trying not to show it.
“Well, thanks for all of your help Rikitan,” said Ellop.
Rikitan waved to Michael and Ellop as he walked back into pub as two were throwing hands their way out the door. “Well, that’s good, we got something,” said Ellop as he send a message to Azav on his Galactoband.
“Well, are you sure that’s where we should go?” asked Michael.
“We’ve got nothing else, we might as well check it out,” said Ellop.
Ellop and Michael walked back to Azav’s ship where Sheerya and Tiki were already waiting. “Did you two get anything?” asked Ellop.
“Nothing, I can’t believe you already got something so quickly,” said Sheerya.
Azav entered the ship dusting off his black clothes with his gloves. “So, the Tower of Blood, that’s where we’re headed,” said Azav.
“Doesn’t sound too pleasant,” said Sheerya.
“I know, I’m really hoping they have some trees over there that aren’t on fire,” said Ellop.
Azav’s ship took off and after only a minute or two of travel they arrived at the Tower of Blood. A large black skyscraper stood tall surrounded by city blocks with no buildings. There were just streets and concrete sidewalks in perfect squares and rectangles without any buildings in the center. Azav landed the ship on the nearest empty lot and the crew exited and approached the skyscraper. They entered through a glass door and on the inside were met with a much calmer interior than in the other building Michael and Ellop had visited earlier in the day. There seemed to be nobody in the lobby room, so Tiki pressed the button for the elevator and everyone crammed inside as the elevator took them to a random floor. The elevator doors opened and the crew found themselves in an office. The clicking of keyboards from behind the cubicles and the ringing of phones sounded throughout the large space. The aliens in the room were short and hairy wearing suits and ties and all were busy at work. “Are you guys looking for something?” asked one of the workers who was carrying a stack of papers.
“Yes, remind us please which department is this?” asked Azav taking the lead to speak.
“This is the extortion revenues department,” said the worker.
“I see, thank you,” said Azav signaling the crew to follow him back into the elevator.
When everyone entered the elevator Azav pressed the button to close the door. “Interesting, we’ve stumbled upon something truly monumental here. We’ll talk once we’re back on my ship,” said Azav.
After taking the elevator out and returning to Azav’s ship Azav took the ship to a rural point on the planet in order to avoid anyone listening in on the conversation. “What we found appears to be the accounting department for a criminal organization as the employee so openly informed us. Included in the long list of crimes Titan is wanted for extortion is one listed. If this really is for our guy then we will need some type of way to follow where the money is going which could hopefully lead us to locate Titan, assuming this is really Titan’s operation and not someone else’s,” said Azav.
“So, how are we going to get the information? Criminals are always sneaky about their money,” asked Ellop.
“Well, given the only information we’ve been provided on our guy is his general whereabouts it may be a shot in the dark, but we are yet to collect any other leads. It may be looking into to find a way to get access into the computer system here to try and trace where the money is headed,” suggested Azav.
Tiki’s eyes lit up. “I could try and figure something out,” said Tiki.
“Perhaps, there is certainly vast quantities of information on the computers within the building. Gaining access to the database may provide some insight into where the money is going, which hopefully could help us to locate him. There’s just one issue, our outfits were good for inside town, but not out here. We need something else if we are to blend in,” said Azav.
“Well where are we supposed to find clothes like that here?” asked Ellop.
“I’m not sure. We don’t know for certain if this even is related to Titan, but we would have to travel elsewhere to find different clothes,” said Azav.
“We can’t do that though. If we leave the Bay of Crooks now we may miss a big lead giving us clues to where Titan is,” said Sheerya.
“Guys, don’t worry, we can just use my drone,” said Tiki.
“Excellent, that would be perfect Tiki,” said Azav.
“We still have the formal clothes from that time we infiltrated the ____ building. I could use one of my robots to go and collect up the clothes from back on the base, then make it load them onto the drone. It should be just a couple of intergalactic hours since my drone can travel faster than the ship since, well, it’s more compact,” said Tiki.
“That would be just perfect. In the meantime while we wait for the drone to arrive let’s do more research while the drone arrives,” said Azav.
Tiki studied the computers of the Tower of Blood while the rest of the crew looked over the information on Titan once again. The sun began setting as Tiki’s drone was half way to arriving at the Bay of Crooks. The crew ate dinner and went to sleep. Everyone was sleeping in the barracks apart from Azav who stayed up through the night continuing to look through the files on Titan. Michael noticed the dim light from the command center and went to check it out. He noticed Azav slowly leaned backward in his chair as text was displayed across the front window. “Going to sleep soon?” asked Michael.
Azav jolted forward in his chair. “No, but you ought to get some rest. I’m going to need you tomorrow,” said Azav.
“Okay, well goodnight then,” said Michael.
Azav didn’t respond and was now lively scrolling through files and documents on Titan. After a few seconds Michael walked away from Azav back towards the barracks. “Sleep well,” said Azav as Michael was leaving.
Michael looked back and Azav was turned around in his chair facing him. Michael waved, and Azav waved back. As Michael turned his head and continued walking he could hear Azav’s chair turn back around.