Manly Heroic Reasons

Posted on Sun Aug 14th, 2022 @ 5:30pm by Alden Loxley & Jonas Bailey & Kinmont Armstrong

Mission: Home Sweet Wonderful Home
Location: Three Hills - Cloudwater Port - Drake's Estate
Timeline: November 15 - Night

Fortune's Echo was relatively quiet, with the shipyard workers gone for the day and the crew resting or out exploring entertainment options. As Kinmont made his stealthy way to the port shuttle, he reflected on how the Firefly class ships were designed to be robust, designed to be maintained and to last. This particular firefly was old and had seen better days but was tougher than she looked. Not unlike Kinmont himself. He overrode the port shuttle's lock with a fairly typical degree of difficulty – making a mental note to modify the shuttle's security to thwart Buccleuch's expert if necessary - and slipped in unseen.

Kinmont parted the curtain and stood inside the door for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Conflicting emotions warred within him. This was his daughter's home, Kindra's work and living space. He could simply wait until she returned from her client appointment the next day and ask for the information he needed. But there might not be time to earn her trust. She might even refuse to talk to him at all, or ask the captain to throw him off the ship.

Cautiously, he crossed the enclosed space, flipped on the small lamp by the bed and took in his surroundings - the settee, a table that held an old tea set that had been Siobhan's, a dresser, a wooden storage chest at the foot of the bed, the shuttle's small cockpit behind another curtain. On the nightstand was a book of Pablo Neruda's love poems and a face-down picture frame. Kinmont's breath caught when he picked up the frame, seeing the old side-by-side images of his beloved Siobhan and himself when they were young. After a moment, he set it upright on the nightstand, photos showing.

Kinmont's search was careful and thorough, leaving everything just as he found it, except the puzzlebox that had once decorated his dearest friend Walter's desk. When he opened it, the promised datarod was still inside. He moved the curtain aside and took a seat in the shuttle's cockpit and plugged the datarod into the Cortex. The datafile Walter had collected was there, and using encrypted multinode protocols, Kinmont uploaded it to a secure location then wiped any local copy. In espionage terms six-month old information was ancient, but his associates might find something useful.

The vid file named Liddesdale on the datarod was impossible to resist. There was the home he'd shared with Siobhan and Kindra, where he and Siobhan had continued to meet. He'd never known Walter had surveillance of each secret rendezvous. Kinmont watched transfixed, lost to memories, everything else forgotten.

--------

There had been a few beers, along with two or three top shelf drinks on offer afterwards, though they had settled for the comforting warmth of a familiar mid-branded whiskey. Alden and Jonas. Neither needed to be drunk or out of their minds with all that was on the line right now, and Alden would save the all-nighter, wander home wonky-legged and brain foggy, for a planet on which he didn't have to deal with his wily little brother.

Still, that late night shuttle-bound wander called to him when he should be trying to get some quality shut-eye. Kindra wasn't home, of course, but those covers on that familiar bunk, the silk and finery, they would all still carry her scent. Maybe a quiet moment or two in their company would ease the rattling snakes in his belly and calm his worried mind? Worth a try. He'd just lie there for a moment...

So, denying his needy heart and professing internally to manly heroic reasons, Alden took the metal walkway ladder route from cabin to shuttle and froze as his hand reached outward to meet its entry point. He hadn't expected this eventuality and confusion clouded his mind for a few seconds.

The outer hatch was unlocked, insecure internally too since it opened at his firm hand to the outer level without protest of any kind.

"Kindra?" He called out, striding into the feminine space with hope picking up the outer edges of his immediate adrenaline rush. "You home?"

Sitting at the cortex in the shuttle's tiny cockpit, Kinmont had been so absorbed in watching the vid of Siobhan and himself, he'd forgotten everything else, including the urgency with which he'd needed to get in and out of Kindra's shuttle. Well, ta ma duh. He raised both hands to shoulder height, palms forward to show physical surrender, and delivered a verbal offensive in a fatherly, disapproving tone. "What are you doing in Ms. Graham's shuttle, Captain Loxley?"

The Model B was already in Alden's hand as the seated interloper held his own up in mock surrender. That cocked pistol didn't waver even a tiny bit as Alden canted his head slightly to the side and exhaled sharply. His tone was serious, barbed and confrontational as he followed that mood with words.

"Stay right there, don't make a move. I'll ask the questions. Who the hell are you?" Alden demanded. "And what do you want?"

"Armstrong is my real name." Kinmont sighed heavily, irritated with himself for getting caught like this, such a rooky mistake. And yet, it was still hard to pull his gaze away from the soundless vid still playing on that small screen. How well did Loxley know Kindra? If Kinmont identified himself as Kindra's father, would that make Loxley more likely or less likely to pull the trigger? He dropped the pretense of border speech. "Kindra Graham is in danger from a man named James Buccleuch, and I want to stop him."

Alden's gaze skittered briefly from the interloper to the screen's display, then returned swiftly to Kinmont. Without lowering the handgun or breaking eye contact again, the Echo's captain took his cortex from his belt in his left hand and speed-dialled Jonas. "Port shuttle, bro. Gotta break-in."

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Jonas hadn't gone anywhere unarmed since they landed on Three Hills. Market places usually meant thieves everywhere. And apparently on the Echo, too. He didn't bother responding into his cortex, but rather ran to the port shuttle. He had his mocked-up .45 ACP drawn and at his side until he came up to the entrance to the shuttle. It immediately went up and pointed at the man with his hands in the air. "What do we have here?" he asked before Alden continued a conversation that had been going on already.

While his stance didn't change in any obvious way, Jonas might have noticed the miniscule difference in tension across Alden's shoulders. Back-up, good.

"Didn't ask your name," Alden pointed out, heart beating a little faster at the shift in Kinmont's accent, though nothing gave that away externally. "Asked who you were. How do I know you're not a danger to Ms Graham?" He asked pointedly.

Kinmont opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and glanced again at the vid even though Bailey had rushed in. Walter never did tell him straight how Siobhan died, but Kinmont knew it was his own fault, putting her in danger. He shook his head with sad resignation. "I've tried for a lot of years not to be a danger to Kindra. Thing of it is, James Buccleuch wants her because he can't find the man he truly wants dead." He pointed to himself with one hand, then returned it to it's previous 'hands up' position.

Yeah, yeah, thought Alden. Keep throwing Kindra's stepbrother's name out there like a lure for us to forget about asking who the devil you are. He'd heard the tale from Kindra herself, or at least the edited low-lights. "You're still not telling us who you are," Alden reminded him, pistol steady, attention focused on the older man.

James Buccleuch, now there was a name Jonas hadn't heard in a while. But it was one he immediately recognized. He saw the stranger glance back at the vid screen and took notice of what was playing. Why was this guy watching a vid of that? he thought.

"James Buccleuch, huh. If that sack of panda piss is on this planet...wait, how do you know James?" Jonas squinted his eyes at the stranger as he studied him. He looked back at the vid for a few seconds, then to the table where he remembered Kindra kept a few personal items, then back to the stranger. A flash of recognition crossed Jonas' face as remembered watching the vid of Siobhan's murder. "Sonofa.... Nevermind to answer that. I think I know."

He moved from a forward, offensive stance to a more upright, relaxed stance, but he never lowered his weapon. "Time provides a pretty good disguise, but the eyes don't lie. I'd shake your hand, but you lied and broke in...gotta answer for that, Kinmont."

"Well now, your hostility toward me is warranted, I admit. I did gain entrance to Fortune's Echo under false pretenses, and I did sneak into Kindra's shuttle. You have no call to trust me, but I should trust you, Mr. Bailey. You saved my daughter's life."

Kinmont considered mentioning his expectation that Alison would be there to vouch for him and supply the intel he was looking for but decided that might make his story less believable. "I didn't identify myself as Kindra's father because I wanted to get an idea of what your security is like on this ship, and if the crew was likely to defend Kindra or sell her out. I broke into the shuttle partly because I wanted to look for the datarod my old friend Walter gave Kindra to pass on to me… to see what Walter died for. Then, I uh, got distracted by what I found on it. He turned to look at the vid, only a few minutes remained. Almost reverently he added, "That's Siobhan. Kindra's mother. My wife."

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It felt more wrong the longer this man spoke. Jonas pushing, Armstrong silently waiting for the other boot to drop. And then - just like that - the recognition and confirmation of something Alden genuinely hadn't expected. It took a few more moments until all the pieces fell into place in Loxley's mind, and the facial expressions weren't too outwardly kind towards his intelligence as his brain processed everything in turn. So this was Kindra's dear old dad, alive and well and hunting her down using nefarious means and outright lies, not to mention a dubious and unnecessary cargo.

"You should have told us who you were," Alden's tone was utterly calm and devoid of menace. If anything, he sounded genuinely disappointed. "Right away. All this..." He failed to find a suitably outraged expletive and settled for cursing Kinmont directly. "Chwee Ni Duh, Guay Toh Guay Nown," Alden noted, eloquently, his gaze direct as long as Kinmont allowed.

"So you're implying you care about Kindra, but you've ignored her for years, stalked her like she's prey and now you turn up here, break into her home and steal the one thing she's been trying to keep safe?" He was guessing at that last part, assuming the screen was playing from the datarod Kindra had mentioned to him previously. "Qing Wa Cao De Liu Mang."

"Prey? Loxley, you ever seen a fox lead a coyote away from his den to protect his vixen and their young?" Kinmont shook his head and lowered his hands to rest on his thighs, still well-away from the firearm tucked beneath his jacket. "You're not gonna shoot me. The mess alone, plus what you'd be needin' to say to her about it. I'll be the first one to admit I owe Kindra a lifetime of explanations, but that's between me and her, and don't concern-"

Kinmont's eyes narrowed and he considered this man, Alden Loxley, and how protective he was of Kindra. "Just what are you to my daughter, sir?"

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Jonas holstered his weapon and walked over to where the datarod was still playing the vid. He stopped it, knowing what was coming next and suspecting that it wouldn't add anything good to what was currently happening. Then he promptly removed the datarod and placed it in his pocket to give to Kindra later and let her make the decision on what to do with it. He looked to the other two men. "Alright gents, before we go blowing holes in each other with guns or words, let's just take a look at what we have here."

He turned to face Kinmont. "I know what Walter died for. I was there when Kindra first watched...and finished...the video. Trust me, Kinmont, you're best to see it later and maybe with her. But I know this, if James is here and he has Kindra, she's not just in danger...her life is at stake."

"Brother," he said turning to Alden, "we can take care of the deception later and you guys can work out your feelings then. But as a member of this crew, Kindra needs to be rescued. And I can't remember a time you ever left a crew member behind. Or dropped one off because she was a little different. As for me, I once had a business arrangement to keep Kindra safe as her bodyguard. That arrangement came to an end, but she's like a little sister to me. And you don't screw with family. So let's three take all this manly anger and put it into something more helpful. Like getting Kindra back on this ship safe and sound. Because, in one way or another, she's important to all of us."

With a hard exhale, Alden lowered his weapon and slowly, deliberately so, replaced the Model B in its holster. They were both right, he wasn't about to shoot this fella, but damn he wanted to hurt him right now. Just a little. A thought floated to the surface of his mind though, now the red mist was clearing. For all his lies and clever theatre - in fact because of them - Kindra's good ol dad clearly had training. He was old enough to have been potentially instrumental in the war somehow, and with that skill set, likely could have done whatever the hell he wanted. "You're right," Alden responded to Jonas, while their eyes locked briefly together in an unspoken exchange and decision. Within the simplicity of that moment, they were aligned moving forward. "But she's working," he stated.

Kinmont's gaze followed the datarod in Jonas' hand to his pocket, then he sighed resignedly and looked Jonas in the eye. "The voice of reason. Thank you." He was almost sorry to hear the man say Kindra was like a little sister. From what he knew from covertly following Kindra's life, Jonas would make her a good match. "According to my source, James Buccleuch will likely arrive on Three Hills tomorrow afternoon, but the timing isn't precise, could be as early as morning or as late as the following day. So, I suggest we collect her as soon as possible. I can hack her companion registry to find out where she's meeting her client. Unless she shared that information with one of you gentlemen?"

"She did," Alden said, simply, then looked once again to Jonas. Do we trust him? Said those dark blue eyes. Do we bet Kindra's life that he's safe to give this information to? While behind that seemingly stoic expression, the Echo's captain's heart thumped a swift bass beat of building panic.

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All those years spent together in their youth running from place to place and job to job had allowed Jonas to get to know Alden's expressions and looks a little better. Hell, it'd even gotten them out of a tight spot or two. And now he could see it in Alden's eyes again. "Yeah, she did." As Kindra's bodyguard, Jonas had always been close-by in case she needed him. Even when she was working, he tried to stay somewhere in the area; if not on the ship. Having Kindra around again brought back that urge to look out for her. So he'd asked her where she was headed before she left. Just in case. But after reading Alden's face, he agreed. "I know where she was headed and I can lead us there," he said, without revealing the location. "But we need a plan. Speaking from experience, when you go to kill a fella that has bodyguards, it's best to go in with a cover story. Don't wanna have to fight our way in and be exhausted for the rescue and a fight on the way out."

"If we're lucky," Kinmont emphasized the 'we' to be clear he intended to be included, "It'll be simply a matter of collecting Kindra before Buccleuch arrives, knocking on the client's door and explaining Kindra has family matters to attend to and must end the appointment early. I expect such news will be more palatable to hear coming from a companion's elderly long-lost father, rather than from a couple of virile young bucks." He rubbed his stubbled chin thoughtfully and made a guess. "She took a limo and not the shuttle, so most likely the place she was meeting the client is nearby - the client's home or a hotel."

If we're lucky... Alden mused that for a second or two. Usually he was real lucky, but lately things had definitely been evening up in the opposite direction somewhat. Still, as Kindra's dear old dad had suggested James B wasn't likely to arrive until sometime tomorrow. And yet, Jonas' concern and proactive nature in expecting more trouble than they oughta was certainly not a bad idea. Go in loaded for bear, and walk out easy? That would be a fine outcome indeed.

"Jonas is right," Alden backed his adoptive brother with certainty in his tone and expression. "We go in expecting a fight, but careful like." He waggled a palm from side to side. "Speaking from experience," he mirrored Jonas' words. "Better to be armed and dangerous and ease down than go in easy and wish we hadn't." Then Alden levelled a serious blue steel gaze on Kinmont and exhaled sharply. "Considering Jonas and I have no reason to trust you yet," he stated. "We'll be the ones going in with the fancy words and the knocking on the door. You can come with, but you stay back, out of sight, until one of us makes contact with Kindra," Alden ordered. "Or you don't come with us."

Kinmont considered how it will look to Buccleuch when he arrives and gets news of two armed men from Fortune's Echo collecting Kindra from her client appointment. But if Buccleuch arrived early, it was a reasonable plan. "Fair enough. I'll stay back, out of sight, and take orders from you, Captain Loxley. But I'll be needin' to stop in the cargo hold and access the gear in my crate." He shrugged, almost apologetically. "By now I'm sure you realize my crate is not packed with sex toys."

While Alden didn't bother to disguise his dramatic eye-roll, he did follow the older man's polite request with a nod. "You can access your crate. Long as Jonas goes with you," the Echo's captain stated, then looked to Bailey, traded loaded looks and shifted his expression deeper into serious.

"I'm guessing this means you're not intending to travel with us either?" Alden stated rather than asked, making the assumption for Kinmont. "No refunds," he added, coolly. "Now get out, and I'll lock up the shuttle, meet you outside the ship." Adrenaline was keeping him awake, but it would only last so long and he needed to let Whit and Cooper know they were on guard duty for Echo.

'I intend to stay as long as Kindra needs me," said Kinmont amiably as he left the shuttle. If Alden and Jonas got Kindra away in time, he'd stay behind and take care of Buccleuch. If they were too late, Buccleuch would take father in exchange for daughter. Either way, he didn't expect to survive. But he hoped he'd get a chance see and speak to Kindra.

"Well," said Jonas, catching Alden's looks, "sounds like the makin's of a plan. Let's go see if Kindra's still there. And if so and she's okay, then let's a find bar somewhere. I'm itchin' to bust some heads one way or another."

Alden offered up a wry smile. More drinks? But then if Kindra was okay, and didn't want to murder all three of them for interrupting what he still hoped was a legitimate appointment rather than very real and dangerous trouble, he'd settled for a real drink and some brawling with Jonas well enough.

"You need any help with this one and the crate," Alden told Jonas. "Just holler and I'll come running. Else I'll see ya outside."

And he wandered off to give Whit the heads up, likely, given the hour of the night, via a note.

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