5. Sisters (and Brothers) of Mercy

The crew felt that they were finally doing the ‘right’ thing. After all, the Mendicant Order on Amerath had helped them out when they’d been in real need of medical treatment, plus they were on the wrong side of the Church which placed them firmly on the right side of the crew. On top of this, they’d all heard stories about how the corporations treated the indentured workers that ended up planetside on Indri. Generations of industrial pollution had produced a toxic environment that led to an all-too-often fatal condition known as ‘Indri Lung’. The workers were anything but volunteers; most of them were just ordinary people who’d fallen on hard times and ended up owing money they couldn’t pay. The Hegemonic courts ordered that defaulters would become the property of the corporation they owed money to until they’d worked off their debt, and as the cost of their food was added to this most people never made it off the surface. Much of the news from Indri was heavily censored, but there were always stories of organ-legging rings and other, less pleasant fates that awaited what amounted to ‘non-people’. Once you became indentured, you had no legal rights: you were property.

Therefore, the opportunity to help these unfortunates by smuggling three Mendicant Healers planetside and get paid for it was too good to resist. What made things more complicated was that one of the three, a xeno named Jaana Hilst, was being actively sought by the Church of the Stellar Flame and their Legion allies. Jaana was tight-lipped about what made her so in-demand, but it was serious enough that her two companions looked suitably nervous as they boarded the ‘Susan’. It was well-known that the Church were less than forgiving with those they considered heretics, and those who fell into their clutches were rarely seen again.

Knowing that they were up against an indefatigable opponent, the crew took the time to plan carefully. Through Vapour’s mob contact, Yattu, they sourced some high-end cover identities for the Mendicants. They would be travelling as mid-level corporate stooges, visiting Indri for some tedious corporate-type purpose; surely dull enough to put off any but the most determined zealot. For their part, the crew of the Susan would be operating under one of their legitimate cover identities. For all intents and purposes, there was nothing about them that should arouse the slightest interest. Probably.

The first sign that things were going to be a little more complicated came as the ‘Susan’ powered past the outer planets of the Indri system. Immediately their sensors came alive as a vast Church-Militant vessel, the ‘Cleansing Flame’, hove into view ahead of them, moving out from the shadow of a slowly-revolving planetoid. Immediately, the vessel launched smaller craft which rapidly moved to an intercept course. Things were certainly going to get a lot more interesting...

As Vapour and Dar watched the sensor panels, they became aware of the three Mendicant priests looking over their shoulders. All three wore worried expressions; although their cover identities were effective, they wouldn’t hold up to determined examination by the Church data analysts. Just at that moment, the comms feed crackled into life and a high-pitched, querulous voice demanded that the Susan heave to and prepare to be boarded. Thinking quickly, Dar greeted the speaker in the name of the Universal Church, throwing in a few choice quotations he’d picked up from services he’d observed on Amerath. Much to his surprise, and everyone else’s for that matter, the greeting he’d used got a much friendlier response from the cruiser than expected. Through a mix of half-remembered quotes and quick thinking, Dar was able to convince the Church flunky that he was a student of a little-known scripture known as the ‘Solar Logics’. More to the point , the person he was speaking to was an avid reader of the Solar Logics and was thrilled to have found someone who apparently shared his passion. Seizing the opportunity, Dar convinced the cruiser that the Susan was entirely as she appeared to be and that they should be allowed to pass freely. Not quite believing their luck, the crew and passengers of the Susan saw the interceptor vessels veer off and the vast bulk of the ‘Cleansing Flame’ move past them without any further incident. As they moved further into the Iota system, they received a heartfelt farewell from the vessel, bidding them ‘travel in the light of the Suns’. As the comm channel cut off, Vapour let rip with a few choice words, and kicked the sub-light drives into maximum thrust.

As the Susan moved into an approach vector for the landing pad closest to where the sick workers were supposed to be holed up, Vapour again used their cover identities to obtain landing permission. Unfortunately, this would mean that they would be searched on landing as per protocol. Not wanting to run the risk of being anywhere near a heavy security presence, Vapour used his hacking skills and some black-market passcodes he’d purchased from Yattu to have the Susan rerouted to a more remote, less secure landing pad. As they flew over the expanse of industrial buildings, Vapour knew he’d never have found this off-grid landing point if not for the intel he’d received from Yattu; he also knew, however, that such black-market codes were often identified in regular security sweeps by slaved AI systems and that this would bring further unwanted attention to the Susan at some point down the line.

But for now it was enough to have gotten their Mendicant cargo planetside. Donning their protective breathing rigs, they knew the  next step would be to find the sick workers. This would be more difficult, as the workers would be doing their best not to be found. Taking matters into his own hands, Dar marched down the cargo ramp as it opened. Looking around, he caught sight of a group of thin, undernourished workers clustered under a lean-to away from the persistent, acidic rain. Without pausing, he strode up to them and demanded to know the whereabouts of the plague-stricken workers. The workers shuffled and looked sidelong at each other, denying all knowldge. However, when Dar grabbed on of them by his pathetically skinny arm and growled into his terrified face they quickly directed them to someone who might know: ‘talk to Chains’ is all they’d say, and gesture into the depths of the surrounding factory.

As the crew and their employers made their way into the hellish interior of the factory, Jaana made it clear that she didn’t want anyone to be harmed, least of all the indentured workers. Dar nodded curtly in agreement , pushing his anger a little deeper down inside. As they moved further inwards, they were directed towards what  seemed to be a hall designed for dispensing flavourless nutri-paste at meal times; enough to keep the workers moving, but also laced with chemicals to keep them obedient and passive. One group of younger workers tried to ask for bribes in return for directions, but again Dar intimidated them into submission.

Eventually, they spotted what could only be their target. Where other workers were scrawny and covered in sores, this one was hugely fat, large rolls of skin pressing against his filthy coverall. More to the point, he wore lengths of chain wrapped around his body, making the rolls of fat bulge even more. As the crew entered the feeding hall, Chains’ piggy eyes watched them warily, peering out from his jowly features. His tattoos showed that he’d long since worked off his debt; no doubt, whatever dubious position of power he’d carved out here was more appealing than anything he could expect off-planet.

After a brief discussion, it became apparent that Chains did know where the sick workers were hiding, but he wanted payment for the information. Although Dar was all for beating it out of him, he was aware of Jaana’s disapproving glare burning into the back of his neck. Instead, he and Vapour provided Chains with some recreational pharmaceuticals from their personal supply as a sweetener and Chains’ eyes lit up when he saw two ampoules of ‘Lithios Ice’ fall into his pudgy, outstretched hand. Vapour could almost see the wheels turning in Chains’ brain as he calculated how much profit he’d make with this much pure drug. Unfortunately, whilst Chains was giving the crew the information they needed, they didn’t notice a rat-faced figure leaving the feed hall, casting glances over his shoulder as he left. Perhaps there were others who already supplied drugs here that would be only too happy to learn that off-worlders were muscling in on their territory...

Before long, the crew and the Mendicants had located the sick workers, and it was obvious that things were much worse than even Jaana had feared. The workers were crammed into a storage hangar, the air filled with cries and moans. Vapour and Dar were thankful for their breathing apparatus, now more than ever , as it was apparent that more than a few had succumbed to the disease and were stacked in the corner of the hangar space. The Mendicants immediately began to triage the sick, helped by some of those who were yet to contract the illness. After handing over the supplies they’d brought with them, Dar and Vapour turned to leave. But Jaana had one more job for them; some of the workers were too sick to be easily treated in the appalling conditions in the hangar, so she offered to pay good money for them to be returned to her Sisters and Brothers on Amerath. Unable to resist a paying job, especially one that seemed the right thing to do, the crew agreed.

So it was that the Susan blasted off from the surface of Indri with nine indentured workers on board, three in a serious condition and six others to manage their stretchers. Vapour had managed to disable the locator nodes that each of them had implanted in their neck, as well as the small but powerful explosive charges that would normally rupture their carotid artery if they went more than 500 m away from the planet surface. Relying as ever on speed over subtlety, Vapour managed to damage the coupling manifold on the Jump Drive whilst evading planetary security shuttles before losing them in the maze of orbital facilities above the planet. Looking for a safe berth to plan their next move, Vapour took them to the orbital where they’d delivered the xenoarchaeologist they’d retrieved from Shimaya. Surely they’d be safe here, for a while at least...