The hangman comes to Tyche - part 2
Taggard is put to work
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Taggard’s fingers played on the hilt of his blaster as he walked up behind Inspector Sharp. Crowden Sharp looked the part of a noble diplomat rather than the relatively low-ranking officer in SIPS — the Secretariat of Interplanetary Peace & Stability — that he was. He had classically handsome features — chiselled jawline, gold-flecked brown hair, broad shoulders. His stance exuded casual confidence. Even the heat seemed thwarted by his cool demeanour.
Sharp stood on the protective berm that circled the town, shielding it from sandstorms. A gentle breeze woke dust devils on the sands, carrying with it a ferrous tang. With his hands on his hips, the inspector surveyed the expanse of desert and beyond that the massive hill of Tem Cylla, now an archaeological site.
“Taggard,” Sharp said without turning around. Instead, he jerked his chin the other way, along the length of the berm. “Another rebel was tried today and found guilty.”
Taggard had already noticed the body tied to the post. It provided little consolation that the woman was new to Ate, not someone he’d grown up with. Still, he wondered if she had a family, friends amongst those back in the square.
“What did she do?” He swallowed; he’d meant to keep that question silent. This was the third execution Sharp had ordered since arriving a month ago — three more than all of last year under the previous inspector.
“It’s what she didn’t do.” Sharp didn’t change his posture, but Taggard still heard a thread of tension enter the man’s voice. “She failed to tell me what I needed to know.” The man inhaled sharply. “You’ll take care of her.”
It wasn’t a question, so Taggard didn’t answer. He was taken aback when Sharp continued rather than dismissing him.
“She was an archaeologist, you know. One of the original ones over there. Felicity Pell." He nodded at Tem Cylla. "For some reason, she didn’t leave when the Empirical Antiquities Authority seized the site.”
“But what can an archaeologist tell you that you don’t already know?” Taggard cursed himself silently for continuing this conversation.
“What’s the one reason an archaeologist would hang around when they’re no longer welcome on the site?" Sharp paused as if expecting an answer, but Taggard had none to share, so Sharp continued. "She found something over there. Something important enough to stay.”
“Not a rebel, then?”
“Oh, I’m sure she was a rebel as well. We found seditious links in her Connect history.”
Taggard knew SIPS could easily manufacture Connect history to justify their case.
“This planet is a hive of a questionable activity,” Sharp's jaw ticked, and his hands shifted, his fingers edging towards his blaster.
“Maybe if you told me what you were looking for, I could help.”
Sharp barely glanced at him before his gaze landed on the grey kitten that had followed Taggard up the hill. “You know what they say about curiosity.” The man’s shoulders shifted as he refocused his attention on the archaeological dig across the stretch of sand. “I just need you to keep the peace.”
Taggard pressed his lips together as his eyes narrowed. His gaze slid left then right - the two of them were alone on this section of the berm. He rubbed his palms on his pants. Sharp’s bodyguard was absent. Although the man himself had a blaster, Taggard could shoot him before he realized what had happened - he’d always been the fastest draw and most accurate shot. Better even than Rebeka Mino when they used to kill time shooting cans off crates back when he was on the Lyra.
His shoulders slumped. That ship had been the only other home he’d known, and he’d ruined that too.
“She was a friend of your niece, apparently.”
Taggard blinked — Sharp had turned around without him noticing. As their eyes met, it almost seemed like Sharp sensed that Taggard's had been thinking about shooting him seconds before.
“The archaeologist.” The man’s hand came to Taggard’s shoulder. “You’ll take care of that, right?”
This time it was a question, but Taggard didn’t know if Sharp meant the body or his niece.
Sharp dropped his hand, and walk down the berm, back towards the Dominion detachment at the edge of town.
Taggard’s fingertips caressed his blaster as he watched Sharp walk away before closing his eyes for a second and turning back to the land outside the berm. If he killed Sharp, the Dominion would just send someone else whose first job would be to kill Taggard. Then he’d be no use to anyone, including his niece.
He glanced down, startled by something brushing his ankle. After a childhood on the planet, his mind leapt to sand spiders, but it was only the kitten.
“Shoo,” he said, but his heart wasn’t in it, and when he finally turned to head down the berm, the cat followed him.
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