Continued From Episode 1 -Big Trouble in Little Cheenha- [Part 8]

The interior of the cramped space was dark and brooding. Not a word was uttered as the transport jostled over the rough and broken up roadways of the old city, the silence inside almost as stifling as the darkness itself. Amongst the people situated in the rear of the vehicle there sat a huge hulk of a man, his body covered by a great dark trench coat and wide brimmed hat. Only the chilling green glow of his cybernetic eye peeked out from the shadows he sat in.

Across from him was a large insectoid alien, the vinarfelien woman looking as if somebody had taken a centipede and scaled it up to monstrous proportions. Not only that but had to finish the look by strapping on ten arms and covering their whole body in chitinous armour thick enough to stop bullets. The vinarfel was wearing heavy body armour on top of all that, her long torso covered in holsters and pouches from which many weapons hung.

The other people in the back of the armoured transport were in similar states of dress, their police issue body armour and heavy weapons adding an air of tension to the atmosphere. This silence might have dragged on forever were it not for a strange, furred creature hopping up off the floor into the big man’s lap.

As it did so a muffled chuckle rumbled out of the man’s chest. He put out a hand to scrub the beast’s fluffy head, the fingers of his hand the dark black of cybernetics. “Oh what do you want now you big fluff ball?” Balinski chuckled as Caesar butted her head into his chest.

She didn't reply, she was just a dog after all. A very intelligent dog with neural implants, but an animal nonetheless. Instead of giving him any indicators, she turned and pranced over to the large vinarfelien police woman seated across from him and placed her paws up on the bench next to her. Her pointed ears twitching as she cocked her head up at the alien.

Daryon seemed a bit perplexed by the attention that Caesar was giving her. “What does she want?” The vinarfelien woman asked, her insectoid head cocking slightly and her antennae twitching in apparent consternation.

Balinski simply shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me. I never know what’s going through that cybernetic brain of hers. Try giving her a pat on the head, maybe she’ll leave you alone then.” He knew full well what the sly dog was after. Ten hands were, as they said, better than two.

He watched in mild amusement as the woman reached down tentatively towards Caesar’s head. A daunting proposition given the fearsome cybernetic jaws she had, the titansteel chompers were powerful enough to shear through solid steel. Or cybernetic limbs, as was their purpose.

But this fate didn’t befall the alien as she gave Caesar a small and very polite pat on her cranium. He watched as her ears flattened and she shook her head, letting out a pitiful whine as if begging for more. He smiled again as Daryon’s antennae rose slightly and she gave the cyberhound another pat, this time followed by a little scrub that had the pup’s mouth lolling open and her happy little tail wagging.

From there it devolved even further as more and more arms got involved till Caesar was in doggie heaven. Ten arms questing across her head, shoulders and back, all of them sending jolts of bliss to the poor dog’s brain till she flopped over onto her side and swished her feet around, wriggling around like a thing possessed.

Daryon looked over at him, an expression of surprise on her chitinous features that he had learned to read after much time spent with other vinarfel. “What happened, iss sshe alright?” Her accent catching on the s’ and drawing them out with a hiss.

Balinski shook his head as another passenger chuckled at the sight. “Yeah, she is going to be fine. But I am pretty sure you just sent her to doggie nirvana. She is going to be out of it for a bit I am guessing. You have my thanks.” He gave her a small salute to which she seemed to shrink a little. Her antennae perked up at the same time. It was an odd reaction that he wasn’t quite sure he knew the meaning of, but it seemed positive so he just shrugged internally and went back to thinking about the raid on Slake’s operation.

They had managed to capture the gangster, and done it without too much bloodshed to boot. He nodded quietly to himself as he turned his gaze inward, using his cybernetics to replay the scene over again in his mind. A very useful skill in his line of work.

Another thought crossed his mind, that of a tall nerivith woman in severe looking police attire. Her magnificent swept back horns the same love shade of pink as her almond shaped face. Two violet eyes as deep as the oceans of abyss looked back into his own in his mind’s eye. He found himself smiling, he couldn't help it. It just happened whenever he happened to think of the police commander.

The intercom announced their imminent arrival to the precinct and Balinski realised that he had been daydreaming. He glanced around but was relived to see that his relative lapse in attention had gone unnoticed. What was more, Caesar was still lounging on the floor, her senses hadn’t detected anything off with him and so she had left him to his own devices. That was a bit of a relief, it would be awkward if she started thinking his daydreams were some manner of psychotic fit after all.

The vehicle jostled them roughly, the driver apologising as they ran over a series of speed bumps designed to slow approaching vehicles. The roads leading out of the station precinct had no such disadvantages however, ensuring that the officers would be able to respond to threats as rapidly as was possible.

After another minute or two the armoured personnel carrier ground to a halt. Balinski was the last to have boarded and so he crouched and undid the rear door. The handle was quite stiff, but no match for his cybernetics. All at once the relative quiet of the interior was shattered by the sounds of barely controlled chaos. Sirens and distant shouts filled the air around the precinct, its busy atmosphere never slowing either day or night. The city was large and this building policed a significant portion of its more heinous districts. One had only to wait for a minute and another series of emergency vehicles would surely be dispatched from the precinct.

He exited the vehicle and stepped out of the way as the other officers did the same. His attention was taken up by the other vehicle that had been following close behind. It was a relatively nondescript white and grey-blue van, the pattern having been chosen to blend into the surrounding traffic.

He knew that inside its nondescript confines sat the man who was responsible for so much of the death and addiction that befouled the streets of Cheenha. Slake, that foul mouthed man having been betrayed by his own ambition. If he had taken less money, made less noise, he might have flown under the radar for years. But instead he had decided to get high on the power that his booming trade garnered. Living like a king on his ill gotten gains.

Balinski smiled cruelly, if any passers-by had taken a peek under the dark brim of his hat then they surely would have met with catastrophe. The sight of the huge cybernetic man with such a look might have been enough to send most onlookers screaming. What with the horrific scarring on the left side of his face and the ominous shine of his cybernetics, he looked like a corpse that had come back to life.

And he might as well have been. He had been blown to literal pieces by an orbital strike, only the heavy armoured layers of his powered armour he had been wearing at the time had sustained his life. His capture and subsequent incarceration at the hands of a cell of Hegemony rebels had also taken its toll on him. Mind and body, he had been physically and mentally broken only to later be reforged by the best Union doctors the government was willing to provide to a hero of the Union.

“What a joke.” he muttered under his breath as the thought crossed his mind. Hero? He was nothing, just one more asshole that had believed too hard in a lost cause. Fighting a corrupt war for a government that didn't actually care about him or the others that fought and died in its name.

He frowned as something butted into the side of his thigh and whined. It was Caesar, the cybernetically enhanced husky was both his best friend and his support animal in one. She was attuned to his mood and must have sensed his growing fugue, attempting to change the direction of his thoughts before he fell into a fit again. And it worked, as it always did.

He smiled and kneeled on one knee to bring his face down to her level. Caesar gave him a doggie kiss and he chuckled in spite of his thoughts as he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. “Oh you goofball. I can’t stay negative when you are here to cheer me up girl. Thanks Caesar.” She gave a happy growl and butted his chest with her head before he stood and turned back towards the precinct. “Alrighty then, let’s go and watch them process this asshole.” Caesar gave a very undoglike head nod, her neural implants giving her the cognitive intelligence of a young human child.

She wasn’t a genius, for a human. But she was far smarter than any dog had the right to be, and that had come to their collective advantage on many occasions.

Balinski walked through the main doors of the precinct and showed his security ID to the main watch desk, the bored looking human man behind the counter waving him through without a second glance. He coughed into his wrinkled uniform as the two walked away and Balinski shook his head. They really needed to take security more seriously in the station headquarters, they might think themselves untouchable but the city was full of dangerous criminals.

It didn’t take them all that long to find out where Slake had been taken. As he walked down the narrow hallways he was forced to move out of the way of the other officers, detectives and general inhabitants of the large station. He was wide and took up a lot of the available space. As one particularly muscular specimen of a female yeown slipped by him he frowned as he noticed one of her fuzzy eyebrows raise. She slowed and gave him a speculative appraisal before cracking a predatory grin and moving on, her stance changing slightly as she stalked away.

He knew enough about her people to know that she had been checking him out. The yeown respected strength and cunning above all other attributes, and if she had recognised him as it seemed then it was likely that his exploits on the latest raid had already spread through the building. He just shook his head and kept moving, his eyes moving from her impressively muscular bulk as Caesar gave a low growl of contempt.

He chuckled. “Don't worry, you’re the only girl for me.” She just raised her head and walked away in a haughty manner. Likely a bit annoyed with him, her behaviour that of a disdainful child.

She could get so emotional for the smallest things. He needed to remember to schedule her a cognitive implant check soon, she had taken a couple decent knocks to the head and body recently, he wanted to make sure none of her proverbial screws had come loose.

She seemed to know where she was going as he followed her down the hallways. She must be tracking where they had taken the slaaveth criminal by his scent. For in a few more turns they arrived at a door guarded heavily by four Havoc troopers. The heavily armoured officers appraised him as he approached, determining in seconds that he was an adversary to be wary of. Hands reaching for holstered weapons accompanying the whine of power armour.

The door behind them opened and a very tall figure stepped out, they waved a single hand and the Havoc troopers stood down. Albeit a bit slowly. This newcomer looked his direction and smiled, pearly white molars made for crushing fibrous matter flashed at him as Siyel grinned.

She motioned for him to accompany her, “I thought you weren't going to show up to the party Balinski. Come on, the interrogation has already started.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, a grin split his craggy face despite his best efforts to remain professional. The serene posture of the woman oozed confidence and power, her face like an iron mask when in the regular course of her duties. But she seemed genuinely pleased to see him, and it made his cold dead mechanical heart skip a beat to see the warmth in her eyes.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He followed her inside, the door leading to a darkened hallway that was guarded by another two Havoc troopers in medium powered armour. They saluted her as she passed and they entered one of the two doors at the end of the hall. The room was small, cramped with monitoring equipment. One entire wall was taken over by a one-way glazmite mirror that looked into a dingy room with only a single table and two chairs.

The occupants were currently seated, the officer that sat across from the shackled and defiant face of Slake seemed to be getting nowhere. As Balinski watched the man rail the criminal with accusations and evidence the other man simply laughed. He gave away nothing and seemed to seep confidence, as if he was not worried about getting caught.

This continued for another few minutes with Siyel getting noticeably more and more frustrated by the man’s smug demeanour. His pitch black eyes and scaly features seemed to give nothing away as the officer inside asked him questions from a manilla folder placed open in front of him.

Balinski didn't know the exact contents of the folder, but if it was the same case he had been helping Siyel uncover for the last few weeks then it likely had evidence of drug trafficking and distribution on a mass scale. Enough to hang the man with a mile of rope to spare.

Balinski thought hard, his remaining eyebrow crinkling in thought. There must be some reason for his lack of worry, something that he knew that they did not perhaps. Balinski made everyone in the room jump as he suddenly spoke, “That's it. Let me in there.”

Siyel shook her head slightly. “As much as I would love to see you go in there and bust his head, there are procedures we have to follow here. I am bound by the letter of the law after all.” She slumped slightly, the tiniest crack of defeatism seeming to slip through the momentary gap in her armour.

He thought for a moment. “But he doesn't know that.” Balinski told her. She cocked her horned head, raven colored hair shifting in the tight ponytail she wore.

She narrowed her violet eyes, har voice taking on a bit of a suspicious tone. “What do you mean.”

He shrugged, the faint whine of his cybernetics muffled by the heavy clothing he wore. He gestured at the ineffective interrogation that was happening inside the room. “What I mean is Slake has no idea what the exact operating procedures are. At least not to what level you are willing to stoop. I’ll bet you my hat that he is more scared than he is letting on. Let me in there, I won't say anything or do anything directly. But I'm the one who took down his operation, the boogeyman so to speak.” She began to nod as he spoke, her face lighting up as the idea spoke to her.

She rubbed one of her long, curved horns idly. “Yes, this could work. But if you are going in there then I am going with you. I want this shrij broken like an egg before my shift is over.” Balinski nodded eagerly. Happy to get things moving along. He hated the waiting for approval part of the job, if only he was given free reign to just get the luck damned job done.

She took a few steps towards the door and then stopped, turning to look at him. “Well, are you coming? Leave Caesar here though. At least until he doesn't seem like cracking.”

Balinski nodded, that seemed fair. He gave Caesar a look and told her sternly, “Stay here Caesar. And don't harass the officers, they need to keep an eye on the interrogation.” She made a series of small chuffs. Her way of telling him to stop babying her. He just gave her a raised eyebrow and proceeded to follow Siyel out of the observation chamber.

The hallway outside was still dimly lit, the two sentries still in positions outside both doors. Siyel led him past the saluting officers and to the next room. Without a word she opened the door, causing the interrogator to stop speaking.

The man stood and walked over to Siyel quickly, his voice a whisper that Balinski’s advanced hearing could only just pick up. “What are you doing, Siyel?”

She spoke right back to the human, his face a mask of annoyance. “You aren't getting me results. So I’m turning up the heat.”

The interrogating officer seemed to be a bit upset at her comment, the man clearly not wanting to be relieved. “I must say, this is highly irregular. You can't just come in here and kick me to the..” but he never got to finish his comment.

Siyel spoke over him. Her slightly husky tenor easily carried in the confined space. “I have given you a direct order, now hop to it.”

The man spluttered, clearly not used to being spoken to in that manner. But he nodded stiffly and complied, glaring daggers at Balinski as he exited the room. Siyel gave Balinski a quick gesture to hold his position. Balinski didn’t immediately follow instructions, instead waiting just out of Slake’s vision as Siyel sidled into the room and took a seat delicately on the side of the table, the armoured door swinging closed. But he held it open just a crack.

She tutted, Balinski watching through the gap as she picked up the evidence folder. “Hmm. Let’s see. We have multiple serious charges here. Evidence of massive drug trafficking, armed robbery, assault and murder. Whew, you are going away for a long time.” She frowned as Slake simply chuckled.

“What is this? Are you trying to bore me to death now? There are those that have the guts to make change and those that toe the line.” He gave her an appraising look that Balinski could only just see. The door was cracked just enough for him to hear the conversation. Slake continued, “And you, tits? You just don’t look like you got the claws to do what needs to be done.”

The slaaveth chuckled, his gurgling accent making Balinski’s mouth turn to a frown. Siyel seemed largely unaffected though. “Oh you may be right about that. I don't have any.. claws, as you say.” She stood and walked around behind the shackled man. Leaning down closer to his ear, but not so close as to be within his range of motion. “But that’s why I hire people that do.”

She nodded towards the door, a clear signal for Balinski to enter. He took a breath and then put on his most severe face. He opened the door casually, not trying to be anything too over the top and stepped inside. He was tall enough that with his hat on he had to duck slightly, his shoulders filling the door frame as he stepped inside the room.

Slake immediately reacted, jerking back as if stung. “Who is that? What the deep are they doing here!?” they asked in what appeared to be mild panic. Surely they could recognise him, they had been quite lucid when Balinski had taken him down after all.

Siyel turned and gave him a simple glance, as if he were no more concern to her than the sand that stuck to her boots. “Oh? Just a consultant. One not bound by the same restricting rules and regulations as I am. As I am sure you no doubt witnessed firsthand when he single handedly waltzed through your entire operation and grabbed you.”

Not strictly true. But he had to hand it to her, the embellishment worked. If the man had been capable of sweating, he would have been sweating bullets by now. As it was, he was shifting nervously. His dorsal frill drooping in his turmoil.

Slake looked at Balinski, the definite gleam of fear in those pupilless black eyes. Balinski simply dipped his head slightly, the only thing visible from under the shadow of his wide brimmed hat was the gleam of his cybernetic eye. The cold green piercing through the criminal’s bravado and cutting straight to his cowardly center.

Slake asked quickly, “What do you want from me? I'm just a simple businessman. I didn’t do anything..” But he didn’t get to finish his excuse as Siyel cut him off.

Siyel gestured to Balinski. “That’s ranxshit of the highest order and you know it. My.. associate here. Well they have already been to your little warehouse down by stonewall. And let’s just say that the evidence they found was enough to damn you a dozen times over. You are as good as convicted, what we want from you before we drop you in the hole is the location of your other business associates. Ties and connections to other local gangs and where you commonly sell your goods.” She looked like she wanted to say more. To indicate the other atrocities that he had committed in the name of money.

He watched as the tall nerivith held her tongue though, the effort visible in the manner her long sinuous tail twitched and the crack of her knuckles as she clenched her hands. Slake didn't seem to notice though, his attention being focused solely on Balinski himself. Probably exactly as Siyel had intended, she was very good at her job after all.

Balinski shifted slightly, not in an attempt to cow the man, but the slight movement seemed to draw the criminal’s attention just the same. Before he had the chance to say anything, Siyel slammed a pink-skinned hand down on the metal table causing the slaaveth man to jump as much as his shackled hands would allow.

She picked up one of the documents and slid it towards the man. “This is your handiwork, a week ago at the eastern loading docks. Some of your goons killed a pair of dockhands over a crate of illegal psilocybin shipments. We tracked the manifest back across the city to a warehouse near stonewall and my associate here wiped it out.” Slake picked up the picture, the corpses of the various thugs that Balinski had killed were clearly visible.

If the scaly alien had the ability to turn pale they likely would have. The carnage in the scene would have turned the stomach of all but the most hardened. He spluttered, “Who, what? He did this? Alone?” He seemed to be part horrified and part impressed.

Siyel didn't answer. Instead she pressed him, “I want to know who the buyers were. And I want to know where the shipments were coming from, you clearly don't have the operational capabilities to manufacture on that scale.”

Balinski leaned forwards a little. Now this was information he was also interested in hearing. Instead of speaking though, Slake clammed up. His scaly face returned to its impassive state.

Siyel chuckled. “Your silence speaks volumes Slake. It tells me that somebody’s got a hold over you. Somebody that scares you to silence..”. She petered off. Her face taking on a thoughtful expression.

She stood suddenly and began to pace, her tufted tail twitching in thought as she made small circles in front of the table. As she muttered to herself Balinski noticed that Slake was becoming increasingly agitated as she did so.

After another few moments the man shouted, “You want me? Lock me up, see if I care! There isn’t anything you have on me solid enough to convict.” Once more the smugness. No, he wasn’t smug, he was terrified. And he was using this devil-may-care attitude to cover it up.

Balinski made a small movement, nothing much, enough to get both of their attention. Siyel paused and asked, “Yes? What is it?”

Balinski spoke, making sure to keep his voice as sinister as possible. He had read up a bit on the gangs that operated in Cheenha. And the ones that seemed most likely to be working with the Golden Boys were either the Pit Vipers or the Bloodborn. He decided to take a chance.

He gestured towards Slake, “I think we should go and ask one of our informants in the Pit Vipers what they think of the situation. Maybe they can get the word out that old Slake here has split like an overripe frubble. Spilled his guts to us, it doesn't even have to be true so long as they believe it.” He gave the man another cruel smile.

Now Slake was really freaking out. His already wide eyes opened even further, the man practically vibrating in his seat. “You can’t do that! That's against the law!”

Siyel made a big show of covering her ears. “What I don’t know can't hurt me.” She smiled widely.

Balinski stepped towards the door, but Slake blurted out, “Wait! Stop.. if I tell you something, will you protect me?”

Siyel stopped in her tracks, her face impassive. Though Balinski could tell by the aggravated flicking of her pink tail that she was excited. She gave Balinski a glance and then turned back to Slake. Sidling up to the table she plopped back down into the seat across from him and folded her arms. As she leaned back into the seat, Slake’s eyes seemed to flick between them. Though it was somewhat hard to tell exactly where he was looking.

She nodded to Slake. Balinski moved forward to take up a position over her left shoulder. The intimidation obviously affected the man as he was starting to crack under the pressure.

Siyel closed the folder and asked confidently, “Alright then. Say we were willing to offer you some measure of police protection, and I'm not saying we are.” She raised her hands up. “But on the off chance I am feeling generous, what do you have to offer me?” She spoke calmly, but Balinski could feel the tension growing in the room.

If the man uttered the right word then there was a chance that they might be able to move on the problem once and for all. Every crime they hindered, every gang they were able to knock down a peg. It all helped the greater good. And so if there was any chance at all for Balinski to weed out corruption, he was going to take it.

Slake leaned in, conspiratorially and began to speak. His hushed tone barely audible, as if he were trying to speak without speaking. “It wasn’t just the Pit Vipers.. there is so much more to the story that you don’t understand. It all started six months ago, the rebellion was getting slower and there were fears that the wartime revenue would slow down. So the Sunstarters made a deal with me through an intermediary.” He stopped, his mouth closing as if he would say no more.

Siyel waved a hand in frustration. “That's all you got? You made a deal with the Sunstarters? What the hell convinced you to do something that stupid?”

Balinski frowned. That was unprecedented. The Sunstarters and the Golden Boys were officially enemies. With bloodshed dating back decades. Who had the sway to mitigate so much bad blood and animosity between the rival gangs? Especially two of the bigger players in Cheenha.

He was about to recommend politely that Siyel ask about who was giving orders to settle blood feuds between rival gangs when the entire room seemed to shudder.

Balinski was forced to lock the stabilisers in his legs to avoid toppling over, Siyel gripping the table as dust fell from the ceiling tiles.

She stood quickly, the chair toppling backwards in her haste. “What in the name of the powers that be was that?!”

Continued in E2:P2