There was a short pause and then the other guard suddenly found their voice. “What is it you want from us?”
“I think I just covered that,” said Drick not unkindly, “but it is simple, I want all the information you have as a testimony. If I get that I will let you both go. In fact I will help you off planet as I am pretty sure after making that statement that there will be some local trouble for you both.”
“You think,” growled the first voice, “we’ll end up dead.”
“Again, that’s what I kind of implied.” Drick made a short comms call to Boomer and gave them a list of next potential actions, Drick mostly wanted them to come a little closer in case they needed to cover Drick leaving the vehicle. Then Drick opened up an encrypted communications channel to judiciary for Krennar’s eyes only.
“How can we trust you?” asked the second voice. Drick could tell that they had already made their mind up. They were likely to talk. The attitude of resignation was evident in their body. The mouthier companion was still too tense. Drick ran a scanner view over them and wished once again that this executive vehicle had a finer grain on its array.
The systems were detecting nothing dangerous but Drick had a long life because of caution and close observation. There was something about their attitude and body position. Drick flicked the comms to Boomer. “Hey Boomer, tell me about lefty, that’s your left and not mine. My screens have them clear of dangerous items. But I have a nasty feeling.”
“Really?” the words were filled with surprise but the tone was not. “That fills me with a slight level of dread considering I am less than ten metres away.” There was a pause. “I’m out of my main vehicle and my suit scanners are pretty poor in comparison, but I think you’re right. They’re tense and they are moving very slightly.”
Drick suddenly made a decision. “Well let’s make me a target and then you can see what they are going to try. Be careful.”
“Hell you know I always am. I already moved back five metres and have my kinetic shield notched up to its highest sensitivity.”
“I meant to be careful in protecting me.”
“Well that’s going to break a long held desire, but I reckon I can try.”
Drick popped the door catch and waited as the smooth hatch slid slowly up and over the roof of the vehicle with a gentle hiss of hydraulics and hum of a servo. Then Drick slowly and carefully stepped out of the vehicle bending very low so their head was kept upright to keep the two prone figures in view the entire time. They would either make a move now indicating a ranged weapon, or when Drick was close which would likely be a melee.
Drick was just about to come fully upright when the figure on the ground made its move…
