Immediately, all the troopers’ weapons fell clattering onto the wooden floor.
Stunned, Lysette stood slightly away from Tink and carefully regarded her armored figure for a moment. She had never in her life seen anything quite like that, and she’d spent many an hour with quite a lot of weapons proficient Imperial Death Watch troopers when she was a child.
Outside the tavern, blaster fire had suddenly erupted as Captain McTaggart and his Marines began systematically eliminating the troopers around the exterior of the Pretty Red.
Taking off his helmet, Gunns shouted, “Buster, take off a helmet from one of these troopers and begin monitoring his communications.”
Quickly removing his own helmet, Buster replied, “Aye, aye, Colonel darlin’.”
Now that the inside of the tavern had been effectively secured, Morgan again turned her attention to the officer whose chin sat resting atop the muzzle of her blaster rifle. “What happened ‘eer, mate? Who kilt them four Night Watch over there lyin’ dead on th’ deck?” she asked, motioning with her head toward the dead bodies by the entrance. “Obviously none a’ these gents, er they wouldn’t still be sittin’ ‘eer as hostages.”
Before the officer could answer, if he was indeed going to answer at all, Bully popped up from behind the bar where he had taken refuge when he saw Morgan remove her helmet. “They be kilt by Kana an’ Blaze, Cap’m,” he said excitedly. “Miss Tell, Jon, an’ the girls be arrested an’ taken up teh th’ carrier. Kana shot that officer fella’, Cap’m. Shot ‘im clean through th’ back, she did. Seems she figger’d ‘ee knew somethin’ about summon at th’ table Miss Tell be sittin’ at. Shot ‘im dead afore ‘ee could get there, she did. Dead, ‘ee was, afore ‘ee ‘it th’ deck. Never ya mind, though, they arrested Miss Tell anyways, Cap’m.”
“All right, Bully, all right,” Morgan said, soothingly. “But tell me, what be Kana doin’ ‘eer?”
“She come in wi’ Jon, Cap’m,” said Bully. “That’s all I knows about that. Miss Tell made ‘er security fer ‘er an’ th’ girls, but . . .”
“All right, Bully,” Morgan frowned, “where be Kana now? An’ who in th’ blazes be Blaze?”
“Blaze be just a pirate what fell in wi’ Kana. Works barmaid fer me sometimes. Fenian, too, she is. Th’ both of ‘em be over at Sim Carstairs, Cap’m. They ran over there after th’ shootin’, I figger. These fella’s been tryin’ teh git us teh give ‘em up. But, no, by thunder . . .”
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