payback's a b!tch (Broken Eggs sequel)
folder
M through R › Predator
Rating:
Adult
Chapters:
4
Views:
1,161
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
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Currently Reading:
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Category:
M through R › Predator
Rating:
Adult
Chapters:
4
Views:
1,161
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own the Predator movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter Two: Enter the Arbitrators
Chapter Two: Enter the Arbitrators
There is a shout from the back of the crowd “Back up, make room!”
A leatherlunged bystander bellows “The Arbitrators are here!”
“Move it, NOW!”
Another bystander hollers “Let them through!”
A ground hauler with the Arbitrator logo can be seen in the background.
One observer says quietly to his neighbor “FOUR Arbitrators? And a drunk-hauler? Must be bad!”
H’dlak-di the Arbitrator and her three deputies approach the saloon. “Kai-dte, what the pauk is going on here?”
As Kai-dte has yet another pair in headlocks, his reply is short “Drunk Ferengyi started riot” He indicates YoH and ‘Ong with his head “Klingons chased ‘im, helping now”
The two Klingons each have a brawler in a chokehold with an agonizer pressed up under their chins; the Arbitrator and her deputies start putting restraints on YoH, ‘Ong, and Kai’s quartet, then do the same to the ones held by the bystanders. H’dlak-di tells the Klingons “Enough, we’ll handle it from here”
They look relieved. A deputy tells them “Not so fast; stay here, you’re witnesses”.
The four Arbitrators come into the bar where some are still fighting. They power up their plasmacasters and target the combatants. “This is the Arbitrator; weapons down, hands up!”
The pugilists pause; they have heard the whine of the ‘casters and seen the targets on themselves. In moments they are quickly subdued and put in restraints.
When the Arbitrators finish, they take a look around; there is much damage to the saloon, overturned tables, broken chairs, smashed bottles and plates; even holes in the wall where punches were ducked.
The brawlers are loaded into the drunk-hauler and carted off to the lockup, but the cowardly Ferengyi is nowhere to be found!
H’dlak-di barks out a question: “All right, who are witnesses?”
Kai-dte, YoH, ‘Ong, Naxa-di, Setg’in-de, and Tjauke-de all indicate themselves.
“First witness, what happened?”
Setg’in-de says, “That Ferengyi got drunk and started ranting, finally insulted my intended –he gestures to his braid and Naxa-di’s with the identical rings- I had no choice but to defend her honor”.
Naxa-di nods her agreement.
Tjauke-de looks as if he is going to say something.
“Go ahead”
“That inspector went off on everything, the food, the prices, the service, the offloaders, even the Klingons; he ended up asking Naxa-di for uhhh, certain favors”.
H’dlak-di tells them “Defending your honor or that of your engaged is fine, but if anybody breaks stuff, they WILL be apprehended, charged and sentenced!” She looks around at the remaining people. “Next witness?”
YoH and ‘Ong tell their part about hearing the Ferengyi insults, and his inciting the disturbance by pushing and shoving the offloaders as he fled.
“Breaking things is one charge, instigating a riot is another; anybody doing that gets punished double! What else do you have; where did that Ferengyi go?”
“We chased him into a narrow alley a couple blocks from here; we blocked the entrance so he couldn’t get out”
The Arbitrator asks “Where did it lead?”
“Into an industrial area, besides we saw his head suddenly fall as if he went over a drop-off”
The Arbitrator’s deputy gives a snort “I think I know that place”.
H’dlak-di tells YoH and ‘Ong “Ok, you Klingons can go, any fine you may have incurred just got erased by your leads on that hac’nikt inspector”
Kai-dte throws the Arbitrators a questioning look as they pass him on their way out. H’dlak-di pauses next to him and asks quietly, “OK, Kai-dte, which offloaders caused the damages?”
“Hmmm, all the day shift ScornDodgers and YautjaPost guys”.
H’dlak-di sighs, “I could’ve guessed”. She turns to her deputies “Let’s check the dump first”. They make their way to the area and find the craven Ferengyi hiding behind a pile of rotten food; even then he starts whining and carrying on.
“EEEH, those Klingons chase me out of baaaar, throw me in heeeere”.
The Arbitrator gestures to the largest deputy; he grabs the fugitive and puts restraints on him and throws him over his shoulder like a sack of meal. They cart him off to the station and throw him in the lockup along with the rest of the brawlers.
Day Three-
At the jail the offloaders are in line to pay their fines before being let go; the Ferengyi is at the end. After a while he is next.
“OK that will be 500 credits”.
He starts to object; at this the clerk thinks ‘I can give him what he’s been dumping on others’ and says “Complaints cost 50 credits a word!”
The inspector shuts up and reluctantly pays his fine. He has heard the offloaders grumble about having to pay their fines and thinks to himself ‘how much MORE payout?’
As he and the others go to the exit, they are fitted with wristbands. The Parole officer tells them “You stay away from that saloon for three seventurns; this is so you stay honest….if you try to get it off, we’ll know about it and you’ll end up back here!”
The Ferengyi hurries back to his office and proceeds to look up all the inspection rules; landing speed, compliance with port systems, shipworthiness, safety, communications, cargo rules, etc. etc. ”Ahhh, I have REASONS now; now I get money back!”
Day Four-
The Ferengyi starts inspecting ANY ship; not just ScornDodgers, and YautjaPost, but HuntMasters training ships, anybody and everybody that flies.
A HuntMasters vessel pulls in, fresh from a successful but strenuous training run. The ship is somewhat the worse for wear; acid burns and dents dot the various shield panels.
“HuntMaster vessel, what CAAAARGO?”
“Well, we had twenty eggs-“
“How many NAOOOW?”
“None“
“You lose SHIIIIPment!”
“What?!?”
“You LOOOOSE, you PAAAAY! One hundred per EHHHGG!”
“What kind of hulij-bpe rjet c’jit IS this, we’re not SUPPOSED-“
“You cuss open chAAAnnel, you PAAAY…. 50 a word!”
The Hunt Master pilot is speechless; his second-in-command just shakes his head and taps his head as if to say, ‘hulij-bpe Inspector’.
The Inspector does the walk-around and sees the numerous scorch marks and dented panels. “You got lotta DAAAAMAGE, 100 a panel, ten panels, ‘nother 1000”
The HuntMaster pilot mutes the com and roars in frustration, then lets up on the mute
“-hundred credits”
His second-in-command asks, “What was that, we didn’t copy you”
“3200 plus 100 for a bad com”
The pilot interrupts, “Bad? I hit the mute to talk to my second!”
“”3250 then you and crew go home”.
As they and the newly blooded hunters assemble at the ramp, the pilot says to his second, “If that miserable tarei’hsan starts inspecting US, I won’t be responsible for my actions!”
“Me neither; at least all of us are here and not missing anything.”
Some wag in the back says “Except our mates”
The Hunt Master says over his shoulder, “I heard that!”
The second continues, “I hope he doesn’t charge for polished trophies”
The HuntMaster pilot glares back at him, “Don’t give him any more ideas!”
The hunters disembark without incident, going their various ways.
The Hunt Master checks in with the Paymaster. “That inspector just soaked us for 3250 credits for lost cargo, cussing, acid burned and dented panels, plus a supposedly broken com! Lost cargo? On a Hunt Ship?!? How can he DO this?”
“All right, I’ll check…..hmmm, unfortunately all those fees are legal, but they’re SELDOM used!”.
The pilot looks at him in disbelief; the Paymaster continues, “I’ve heard of this from my friends at ScornDodgers and YautjaPost, but I didn’t think he’d start after US. You and I should get with them and see if anything can be done about this….WITHOUT resorting to ahhhh ‘other means’; we don’t want to start an interplanetary incident if we can help it”.
“All right, we’ll all meet at the Kainde Tjauke”.
That evening they meet up with the paymasters from ScornDodgers and YautjaPost, plus Setg’in-de, Tjauke-de, Kai-dte and Naxa-di. They are all shaking their heads over the obscure onerous fees and assessments.
The Hunt Master exclaims, “I don’t believe the gall, charging for missing eggs on a Hunt Ship? Since when do we have to explain our traditions to a miserable Ferengyi?”
His Paymaster adds, “That’s right, and charging for acid burns and dents? What does he think the Kainde Amedha are, pets?”
The conversation continues in this vein, but everybody is at a loss as to what course of action to take. Naxa-di says “Well, all we can do is report it to the Arbitrators and let THEM take care of it!”
Tjauke-de replies, “You’re right Naxa-di, that’s their job, all we gotta do is keep our eyes and ears open”.
Setg’in-de interjects, “Sooner or later that Ferengyi is going to make a mistake and get caught, Paya have mercy on him then!”
Kai-dte cracks his knuckles and rumbles, “Cause we sure won’t”.
There is a shout from the back of the crowd “Back up, make room!”
A leatherlunged bystander bellows “The Arbitrators are here!”
“Move it, NOW!”
Another bystander hollers “Let them through!”
A ground hauler with the Arbitrator logo can be seen in the background.
One observer says quietly to his neighbor “FOUR Arbitrators? And a drunk-hauler? Must be bad!”
H’dlak-di the Arbitrator and her three deputies approach the saloon. “Kai-dte, what the pauk is going on here?”
As Kai-dte has yet another pair in headlocks, his reply is short “Drunk Ferengyi started riot” He indicates YoH and ‘Ong with his head “Klingons chased ‘im, helping now”
The two Klingons each have a brawler in a chokehold with an agonizer pressed up under their chins; the Arbitrator and her deputies start putting restraints on YoH, ‘Ong, and Kai’s quartet, then do the same to the ones held by the bystanders. H’dlak-di tells the Klingons “Enough, we’ll handle it from here”
They look relieved. A deputy tells them “Not so fast; stay here, you’re witnesses”.
The four Arbitrators come into the bar where some are still fighting. They power up their plasmacasters and target the combatants. “This is the Arbitrator; weapons down, hands up!”
The pugilists pause; they have heard the whine of the ‘casters and seen the targets on themselves. In moments they are quickly subdued and put in restraints.
When the Arbitrators finish, they take a look around; there is much damage to the saloon, overturned tables, broken chairs, smashed bottles and plates; even holes in the wall where punches were ducked.
The brawlers are loaded into the drunk-hauler and carted off to the lockup, but the cowardly Ferengyi is nowhere to be found!
H’dlak-di barks out a question: “All right, who are witnesses?”
Kai-dte, YoH, ‘Ong, Naxa-di, Setg’in-de, and Tjauke-de all indicate themselves.
“First witness, what happened?”
Setg’in-de says, “That Ferengyi got drunk and started ranting, finally insulted my intended –he gestures to his braid and Naxa-di’s with the identical rings- I had no choice but to defend her honor”.
Naxa-di nods her agreement.
Tjauke-de looks as if he is going to say something.
“Go ahead”
“That inspector went off on everything, the food, the prices, the service, the offloaders, even the Klingons; he ended up asking Naxa-di for uhhh, certain favors”.
H’dlak-di tells them “Defending your honor or that of your engaged is fine, but if anybody breaks stuff, they WILL be apprehended, charged and sentenced!” She looks around at the remaining people. “Next witness?”
YoH and ‘Ong tell their part about hearing the Ferengyi insults, and his inciting the disturbance by pushing and shoving the offloaders as he fled.
“Breaking things is one charge, instigating a riot is another; anybody doing that gets punished double! What else do you have; where did that Ferengyi go?”
“We chased him into a narrow alley a couple blocks from here; we blocked the entrance so he couldn’t get out”
The Arbitrator asks “Where did it lead?”
“Into an industrial area, besides we saw his head suddenly fall as if he went over a drop-off”
The Arbitrator’s deputy gives a snort “I think I know that place”.
H’dlak-di tells YoH and ‘Ong “Ok, you Klingons can go, any fine you may have incurred just got erased by your leads on that hac’nikt inspector”
Kai-dte throws the Arbitrators a questioning look as they pass him on their way out. H’dlak-di pauses next to him and asks quietly, “OK, Kai-dte, which offloaders caused the damages?”
“Hmmm, all the day shift ScornDodgers and YautjaPost guys”.
H’dlak-di sighs, “I could’ve guessed”. She turns to her deputies “Let’s check the dump first”. They make their way to the area and find the craven Ferengyi hiding behind a pile of rotten food; even then he starts whining and carrying on.
“EEEH, those Klingons chase me out of baaaar, throw me in heeeere”.
The Arbitrator gestures to the largest deputy; he grabs the fugitive and puts restraints on him and throws him over his shoulder like a sack of meal. They cart him off to the station and throw him in the lockup along with the rest of the brawlers.
Day Three-
At the jail the offloaders are in line to pay their fines before being let go; the Ferengyi is at the end. After a while he is next.
“OK that will be 500 credits”.
He starts to object; at this the clerk thinks ‘I can give him what he’s been dumping on others’ and says “Complaints cost 50 credits a word!”
The inspector shuts up and reluctantly pays his fine. He has heard the offloaders grumble about having to pay their fines and thinks to himself ‘how much MORE payout?’
As he and the others go to the exit, they are fitted with wristbands. The Parole officer tells them “You stay away from that saloon for three seventurns; this is so you stay honest….if you try to get it off, we’ll know about it and you’ll end up back here!”
The Ferengyi hurries back to his office and proceeds to look up all the inspection rules; landing speed, compliance with port systems, shipworthiness, safety, communications, cargo rules, etc. etc. ”Ahhh, I have REASONS now; now I get money back!”
Day Four-
The Ferengyi starts inspecting ANY ship; not just ScornDodgers, and YautjaPost, but HuntMasters training ships, anybody and everybody that flies.
A HuntMasters vessel pulls in, fresh from a successful but strenuous training run. The ship is somewhat the worse for wear; acid burns and dents dot the various shield panels.
“HuntMaster vessel, what CAAAARGO?”
“Well, we had twenty eggs-“
“How many NAOOOW?”
“None“
“You lose SHIIIIPment!”
“What?!?”
“You LOOOOSE, you PAAAAY! One hundred per EHHHGG!”
“What kind of hulij-bpe rjet c’jit IS this, we’re not SUPPOSED-“
“You cuss open chAAAnnel, you PAAAY…. 50 a word!”
The Hunt Master pilot is speechless; his second-in-command just shakes his head and taps his head as if to say, ‘hulij-bpe Inspector’.
The Inspector does the walk-around and sees the numerous scorch marks and dented panels. “You got lotta DAAAAMAGE, 100 a panel, ten panels, ‘nother 1000”
The HuntMaster pilot mutes the com and roars in frustration, then lets up on the mute
“-hundred credits”
His second-in-command asks, “What was that, we didn’t copy you”
“3200 plus 100 for a bad com”
The pilot interrupts, “Bad? I hit the mute to talk to my second!”
“”3250 then you and crew go home”.
As they and the newly blooded hunters assemble at the ramp, the pilot says to his second, “If that miserable tarei’hsan starts inspecting US, I won’t be responsible for my actions!”
“Me neither; at least all of us are here and not missing anything.”
Some wag in the back says “Except our mates”
The Hunt Master says over his shoulder, “I heard that!”
The second continues, “I hope he doesn’t charge for polished trophies”
The HuntMaster pilot glares back at him, “Don’t give him any more ideas!”
The hunters disembark without incident, going their various ways.
The Hunt Master checks in with the Paymaster. “That inspector just soaked us for 3250 credits for lost cargo, cussing, acid burned and dented panels, plus a supposedly broken com! Lost cargo? On a Hunt Ship?!? How can he DO this?”
“All right, I’ll check…..hmmm, unfortunately all those fees are legal, but they’re SELDOM used!”.
The pilot looks at him in disbelief; the Paymaster continues, “I’ve heard of this from my friends at ScornDodgers and YautjaPost, but I didn’t think he’d start after US. You and I should get with them and see if anything can be done about this….WITHOUT resorting to ahhhh ‘other means’; we don’t want to start an interplanetary incident if we can help it”.
“All right, we’ll all meet at the Kainde Tjauke”.
That evening they meet up with the paymasters from ScornDodgers and YautjaPost, plus Setg’in-de, Tjauke-de, Kai-dte and Naxa-di. They are all shaking their heads over the obscure onerous fees and assessments.
The Hunt Master exclaims, “I don’t believe the gall, charging for missing eggs on a Hunt Ship? Since when do we have to explain our traditions to a miserable Ferengyi?”
His Paymaster adds, “That’s right, and charging for acid burns and dents? What does he think the Kainde Amedha are, pets?”
The conversation continues in this vein, but everybody is at a loss as to what course of action to take. Naxa-di says “Well, all we can do is report it to the Arbitrators and let THEM take care of it!”
Tjauke-de replies, “You’re right Naxa-di, that’s their job, all we gotta do is keep our eyes and ears open”.
Setg’in-de interjects, “Sooner or later that Ferengyi is going to make a mistake and get caught, Paya have mercy on him then!”
Kai-dte cracks his knuckles and rumbles, “Cause we sure won’t”.