RIPE & DRAGGERS

CHAPTER 17

"You walk funny, sometimes." Kai said to Bob as they watch the giant hunter being cared for by the Rikish doctors.

"Do I?"

"Yeah... You limp by the right leg sometimes, I don't know why you do that?"

Bob giggled at her. "See.... This is how I get the idea that you really like me. Coz' you pay too much attention to my details. You notice things about me."

She went silent for a bit.

"Shut the fuck up." she said repulsively.

"Hahahaa...See... Your disgust only confirms it! hahahaha..."

Him laughing again at her expense made her nostrils widen, again.

She waited for the opportune moment and she swung her left hand to slap the back of his head, the laughing sonofabitch!

She made sure its a good hit but somehow she missed.

Its like trying to hit a hologram.

You know the target is there. And you're quite sure that its an accurate hit but then your swing just run past thru it. Hitting nothing but thin air. You're quite sure that your palm went through his head as if hitting a ghost, but then again he's not a ghost. And she's pretty sure he's not a hologram either. He is real, and he's right here by her side. So how come that her hand would pass thru his image?

Bob also froze at what just happened. Then Kai realized something.

"Shit!!....you're a back-dragger!" she said pointing a rigid finger to his nose while trying her best to keep her voice down. Her eyes grew very large as it explains everything; her hand hitting thin air as he instinctly dodged her slap without knowing that he's dragging.

He was so delighted at his own joke that he moved at super high speed and not realizing it.

"What?" he said lifting his shoulders.

"Don't you fucking lie to me, Bobby!!!"

He was about to open his mouth to answer when Lima interrupted.

"Boss, master-of-arms Gener sent a forward transmission."

Bob raised a finger up to Kai's face to keep her on hold. They would have to finish this conversation later.

"Master Gener's freighter will be appearing in orbit from curve-jump in 5 mintues." Lima added.

Bob waved his hands. "Salbi !! Kuya-Rod !!" he said calling out the others, and within a minute they gather around Salbi's portable holo-comm. The five of them around one small spherical projector in the middle, that started to sparkle and emit controlled light.

The Runkan with yellow-green hair appeared to them in hologram form.

"Hey Bob."

"Hey Gene.... how's the capital?"

Before answering, Gener noticed everybody circled around his comm-link. "So everyone's here huh? I see Lima's with you... what happened to your ear horn?!"

"Boss Bobby smashed it with a hammer, remember? In Callesten?"

"Oh yeah..." he said nodding. "So you're his new bodyguard now huh?"

"Bound by honor, yes. Not by choice." Lima confirmed.

The rest of the team chuckled.

"Hey Salbi... how you doin'.... what the fuck? Is that a Gloshon?" he suddenly said noticing the giant hunter behind Salamunbi's background.

"Yeah... the hunter. Gritt." Bob interjected.

"He's a bit sensitive... hi-tempered too." Salamunbi said.

"Yeah, yeah.... you need to be polite, don't intimidate or he'll run wild and get out of control."

Rodrick and Kai looked to Salbi and laughed at Gener's remark. If he only knew what happened, they thought.

"What?... what happened?..... What did you do Salbi?"

The small Rikish dude shrugged and raised his eyebrows, as if disgusted by the accusations. "Nothing!!" he cried in frustration.

"Gene... how's the Capital?" Bob repeated to get the chat back on track.

"Oh yeah.... you're right again, old buddy. The council denies responsibility. We're on our own."

Bob sighed and went silent.

"Oh, and I uhh saw Euclid.... she's very sorry for stabbing you in the leg, bro'."

Kai looked at his leg and realized that it all explains the limping in the right leg, that she noticed. "You were stabbed?" she murmured close to him.

"Who's Euclid?" she immediately followed, worried, of some ex-girlfriend psycho-maniac killer stalker out there to hunt him.

Bob had to blink several times and shake his head to stay focused. "Gene's ex-wife." He murmured back to her, and then he put up a finger again to get back to Gene.

"She's sorry. Okay..... then what?"

"She's on her way to Dualen, in Mawari."

Bob shook his head. "She can't be there Gene."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Mawari is the forward base for Pedro. She will be facing a hundred battle-ship when she arrives there?"

Gene sat back in his chair at the impact of Bob's news. He would have stopped her if he knew this. And, he knows that she is a skilled back-dragger but a hundred battle-ship equipped with probably thousands of speeder fighters may prove to be too much, even for her.

"We need to get her outta there bro'." Bob said as Gener nodded in affirmation.

"You'll need a ship with enough jump to go there with me." Gene said, reminding Bob that Salamunbi's fighter cruisers are a bit slower than the bigger freighter classes.

"The 'Vegas' is the only option." Rodrick said.

Gener and Bob startled towards Rodrick and blurted in unison. "NO!!"

Kai frowned at their odd anxiety. "Why not?"

Both Runkans shook their heads. "We cannot risk your safety, Kai. All E-breds should not get involved in this." Gener said.

"Why not?"

Bob bowed down and looked at his feet in deep thought. "Because humans cannot go to war ever again, you can't repeat history.... you can't make the same mistakes again." he said, still looking down at the ground.

"Your tribe must stay pure, Kai." Gener added.

A few moments of silence and Rodrick shook his head. "It can't be helped... Only the 'Vegas' has enough power and the escaping member to jump back here, just in case."

"One rescue mission won't declare our tribe to war, right?"

"No it wouldn't." Lima interjected.

Shit, here we go.

Bob and Gener looked at each other intensely without sound. It's as if they are speaking in telepathy in what to decide next. The rest of the team just stood there waiting as the two guys stare and eventually nodded briefly at each other.

"Ok..." Bob finally said, with an inert tone of sadness in his voice. Kai could sense it. The guy is worried, she thinks.

"Salbi you stay here and prepare your fleet for Quant, our father forbidding. Lima you go on ahead there too, and announce our arrival. When we get Euclid, we all meet in the Quant satellite base, everyone clear?" Gener the master-of-arms said, which the team responded to in acceptance.

Now it gets real..