Once they got back to the Echelon and the soldiers went back outside, Sarah handed the note to Dave. Karl and Wulf hadn't even questioned things when Claire told them that Mel went on ahead of them.

"The bartender said Mel left this for us. But he wouldn’t leave without telling us, would he?"

"Not usually, but he was pretty desperate. He doesn't like being crowded." Dave started to open the note. "Hopefully, he did come back here and didn't wander off some place."

He nodded as he read the note. "Yes, right here it says that there was a medical emergency he needed to help with and he didn't want to get the Colonel or soldiers involved."

That was a relief. Sarah had thought he was in some kind of trouble. But it would've been nice if they had known sooner.

"Hang on, there's something on the back." He flipped over the note. "It's in Alemanian. I can make out the word doctor and captain, but that's it."

It was time for Sarah to earn her keep. The crew gathered around her as she read over it. She decided to read out loud as she translated.

"Captain of the Abloanian freighter, your doctor is currently with us helping a hurt person. He is safe and will not be harmed." The next part was a bit smudged and she had to squint to read it. "If you… want him back, meat us at the following address. If you do not come, we will assume you no longer have needle if him and kelp him."

Claire leaned on her shoulder to look at the note. "I think you might have a few words wrong there, Lexicon."

"The meaning’s clear enough." Dave paced the floor. "Mel's gone and gotten himself kidnapped. I wonder what they want in exchange."

"Um, it looks like they just want a meeting. But there's some caveats." She read the next section. "Send your mechanic, cook, and translator. Do not worry about your babysitters. We will provide distraction." Then that was the end of the note. "I wonder why Ash and Claire. If anything, you'd think they wouldn't want Ash there." Sarah wasn’t surprised at the request for her presence.

"Maybe they want to meet in a rough neighborhood. Who knows? But we need Mel back, so we'll have to follow their instructions. Just hope our babysitters don't find out and we get in trouble for not reporting this." Dave banged the end of his cane against the ground. "We're going to have to put a leash on him or something. How many times have I told him not to go off by himself?"

"You know him when someone's hurt." Heather replied. "But at least it doesn't sound like he's in danger. Who sent it?"

"It's not signed." Sarah confirmed as she turned the paper. "Maybe a criminal gang?"

"No. They wouldn’t leave that nice of a note or offer to distract the guards." Ash rubbed his hand on his face in exasperation. "Probably a resistance group of some sort. Not even the ASP can keep them all down all the time."

"How'd they know our jobs? You can't tell them by just looking at us." Claire furrowed her brows in concern before heading toward the back. "Think I'll be able to sneak a blackjack to this little meeting, just in case? I don’t think a wrench would be good enough if we run into trouble. Not to mention a wrench is harder to hide than a blackjack.”

"Maybe. It doesn't say anything about coming unarmed." Dave took the note back and put it in his pocket. Exhaustion was etched on his features. "Unfortunately, we can’t do much about it short of alerting the soldiers and risk not getting Mel back. So let's get some rest.” He started to walk to his room. “I hope their distraction is a real one. But at least I know I have a good poker face. Hopefully, it will be enough to fool Zehn.”

Sarah couldn't understand how everyone seemed to be taking everything that had just happened so well. Their crewmember was being held hostage and everyone was going to bed! Well, maybe he was being held hostage. If he had gone with them willingly, he might not even know about the note. And depending on the situation, he might not have found it odd that they wanted to keep him overnight.

She returned to her own room and found herself unable to sleep. Sarah pulled out her journal and started writing in it. She was careful not to put in too many details. After all, there was no telling when someone would stumble across it during an inspection and read it. The last thing she wanted to be is convicted by something written in her private thoughts. When she got back to Kingsgrove, she would buy another journal, one she could write everything in.

After she wrote the entry, she turned to her notebook and looked over the things that Juste had taught her about Paradisian. The advice would help her, though it would be a while before she had a good grasp on it. The few words and phrases she knew got her by, but it wasn’t enough to help in a situation more complicated than ordering some food. At least the group they were meeting tomorrow wasn’t Paradisian. Though she hoped she knew the dialect they spoke. It would be rough if she didn’t.

Once she was relaxed enough, she put away her materials and turned out her lights. At least the bed was fairly comfortable, though not as comfortable as the ones at the Dyers.

--

Sarah woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. It was Claire, who was back in her familiar coveralls. She stood back from the bed so that Sarah could put her feet on the floor and push herself up.

“Come on, Lexicon. Ash’s got breakfast ready for us. We need to be ready to go as soon as this “distraction” occurs. I’m smuggling my black jack in. No doubt Ash has his club somewhere. If we were anywhere but Aleman, he’d probably be carrying his pistol.”

Sarah wondered if she would be given a weapon to carry. She trained with a rifle and occasionally a pistol, but she had no experience with any weapons aside from those.

She found the crew on the bridge with breakfast. There was no dining area, so Ash brought the food out on a rolling cart. Everyone was rather silent at breakfast, not entirely unusual but Mel’s absence definitely affected the mood. Usually, Mel was the one happily chatting breakfast away while everyone else was still in the process of waking up. And he was the one that usually made the tea and knew how everyone liked theirs. The tea didn’t seem to taste quite the same without him around.

Toward the end of breakfast, someone knocked on the door. Ash answered it this time and stepped aside to let Karl, Wulf, and Agent Zehn in. He would notice that Mel was missing and ask questions. Unlike Sergeant Ivanov, he wouldn’t be easy to fool with a few false words.

“I hope I’m not interrupting something. I just thought I would check in with you before I attended to some of my other duties. Oh, and I needed to return something.” He removed Sarah’s passport and visa from his pocket and held them out to her. “Technically, I’m not supposed to give them to you until you’re about to leave, but I didn’t want to forget it. I doubt I’ll be around to see you off. But Wulf and Karl can take care of you until then.”

Sarah accepted her things back and put them in her overcoat pocket. Well, that was one thing taken care of. He looked around.

“You seem to be short a crew member. Is the good doctor sleeping in this morning?”

“Yes. I’m afraid last night was a bit much for him.” Dave answered while finishing up his piece of bread. “He’s not fond of being crowded and had to come back earlier than the rest of us. I figured we could let him sleep in this morning. He doesn’t do much for pre-flight anyways.”

“Yes, Colonel Heinz told me about his meeting with you at the alehouse.” He shifted the conversation to Ash. “ Apparently, you’re a good poker player, Mr. Lettermen. The Colonel said to extend an invitation to you for the next time you’re in Aleman.”

“I’m not much on gambling, to be honest.” Ash admitted as he took a sip of his tea. “But thank him for the offer.”

“And Ms. Cunningham?”

“What?” Claire growled out. The mention of last night seemed to have put her in a sour mood. Zehn considered his words for a moment.

“Wulf and Karl told me about what the Colonel said last night and your reaction. You might not believe me after yesterday, but i think he went too far." Claire didn't reply to that. He doffed his hat. "I suppose we'll meet again some day. Take care in the meantime."

He exited the ship, leaving Wulf and Karl. Dave held the plate with the bread out to them.

"Want a piece? It'll go stale soon."

"No thank you, Captain." Karl declined. "We already ate. Will you be leaving soon?"

"In a few hours. It's still a bit early in Lum. Wouldn't want to wake our client up."

"We will be outside. Let us know when you're ready."

The soldiers left them. Heather and Ash took the dishes back to the kitchen. Sarah noticed that Claire seemed to be staring at the wall. She had a distant look, unusual for a woman who didn’t seem to be too sentimental. Dave went over to her.

"Are you all right, Claire?"

"I'll be fine." She assured him as she snapped out of it. "Just never expected past things to be dredged up here of all places. It makes me wonder how much they know."

"I doubt they know much. They're just taking shots and happen to hit something. Are you up for that meeting?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

Ash and Heather came back from the kitchen. He tucked his club into a place inside his jacket, concealing it. Heather gave him a kiss.

"Be careful. We don't know what to expect." She told him. "Or who we're dealing with."

"You be careful too. Karl and Wulf might get suspicious with so many of us gone." He headed toward Claire and Sarah. "Do you think we'll have to wait long for this distraction?"

A gunshot outside followed by the shout of indicated that no, they wouldn’t. Ostrugry was a country that had been absorbed by the Aleman League. Their liberation front was probably one of the only ones that hadn’t been stomped out yet, mostly because they had semi public support where their home country used to be. Naturally, Wulf and Karl went to investigate.

Ash opened the door and made sure the coast was clear. Heather and Sarah followed him out. Sarah looked at the address on the note.

"I guess we'll have to take a cab. I have no idea where this is." The address certainly didn’t mean anything to her.

"Heather found it on the map and wrote down directions, so we don’t need to worry about that." He pulled it out. "In fact, it's not too far. Honestly, Mel could’ve walked back if they let him.”

“Maybe that’s not where they’re keeping him, if this is a revolutionary group.” Claire pointed out as they walked along, making sure to stay away from the main street. “Maybe it’s just somewhere they want to meet so that no one finds out where they really are.”

“Where are we meeting them exactly?” Sarah looked behind them. She didn’t see anyone following them, but that didn’t mean much. People could be followed and never realize it.

“It appears to be some kind of warehouse.” He put up the map once he was sure of the directions. “No doubt it’s supposed to be abandoned.”

They arrived to a pretty desolate part of the port. There were no signs of anyone even being around. No doubt these warehouses used to be occupied, but a lot of foreign businesses had moved out when the League had been formed. Sarah didn’t blame them. She wouldn’t want to do business in a country that would only deal with you if you happened to speak a certain language group.

“This is the one.” Ash stated as they stopped in front of it. “Sarah, are you going to be able to translate?”

“Most likely. If the one who wrote the letter is the one we’ll be talking to.”

He nodded and knocked on the door. “Don’t make any sudden moves unless you feel threatened.”

The door opened a little bit and a hand came out.

“Letter.”

Ash deposited the letter and the hand retracted back in. A few seconds later, the door opened wider.

“Enter, quickly.”

The trio did so. Sarah was the last to enter and and the door shut right behind her, making her jump slightly. There were no lights on, so it was pitch dark. Footsteps echoed in the warehouse as someone approached.