I bet Neil is having more fun than I am Sayeeda thought to herself as she was marched down the street and through the chainlink fence that surrounded the old cannery. Like the Scorpion's base, pillboxes of sandbags and courgated iron had been errected so heavy weapons could be pointed back towards town. Improvised towers, made of structural girders from the long derelict factory stood at the corners with watchers mounted in look outs. They two had heavy weapons, but Junebug suspected that firing them from such precarious perches was far more dangerous to the shooters than the enemy. Given the fact that the thugs had bothered to cut the grass around the fence, and the care they took not to touch it, Sayeeda had to assume it was electrified. They had taken her weapons belt and her side arm, which was smart, but they hadn't conducted a proper search or made her remove her body armor, which was very stupid.

"Love what you have done with the place," Sayeeda commented ironically, guesturing to the dilapidated cannery. Sections of roofing had been torn away to reveal girdirs within and improvised electric lights hung from strings. Rust was everywhere giving the place a stink of decay and old steel which offended Sayeeda's tankers soul. Talin guffawed as though it were a hilarious joke and slapped his belly.

"Hey, its not much to look at, but it is a fortress! The Scorpions don't dare even think about attacking it," he boasted. Unless of course they had a half dozen good snipers, or mortars, or even some half decent machine gunners to knock out the towers Sayeeda thought, but she was being unduly pessimistic, the odds of the Scorpions having such skilled people, or even the imagination to try such an assault were low which mean Talin was probably correct. They walked passed the check point and Sayeeda ignored the chorus of cat calls and improbable sexual suggestions from the half drunk half stoned gang toughs. Talin waved three of them over as an escort and took her through the front doors of the place. The interior was a maze of girders, conduits, gangways and other industrial fittings, many of them had deep bright scuffs in the steel as though cut by the claws of some vast animal. 

"Just so you know we done playing games, you lie to the boss, we shoot you dead," Talin said, his voice now carrying a hint of nerves. Sayeeda wondered what would happen to Talin if she didn't play along and if he were in more trouble than she was. She wished Neil was with her, an extra pair of eyes would have been welcome and his smart ass witicisims would have bouyed her spirits. Well, she thought with a grin, she would just have to be be obnoxious enough for both of them.

"Wha..." Talin gasped, clearly taken aback by her sudden smile.

"Just thinking about something funny," she said smoothing her face with some effort.

"Care to let us in on the joke?" he demanded. Junebug shrugged.

"Maybe later."

Further conversatoin was interupted as a dark shape dropped from the ceiling. There were a seires of deafening clangs and sprays of sparks as the thing fell, striking gangways and and girdirs as it came, sending showers of orange sparks flying into the air. It hit the ground  in a spray of concrete chips, one of which scored a line across Sayeeda's chestplate. A creature stood in the center of the room, not a creature exactly a cyborg with the torso and head of a man, but with its legs replaced by eight augmentic limbs that hissed and popped with hydraulic pistons. Each limb was nearly two meters long and tapped the floor with a decidedly arachnid affect. They were tipped with sharpened wedges of metal. The man atop the thing was fat, rolls of flab hanging down and concealing the augmetic joints of his body and cybernetic legs. The legs made his arms look rather stubby and he was completely bald his skin shining with oil. Sven would have been disgusted by such a crude union of man and machine. Of course he might have shot the thing for offending his sensibilities or offered to help fix it.

"The Spider, I presume," Junebug said with a slight bow, making a show of not being impressed. The Spider scowled clearly used to his guest recoiling in horror.

"You presume correctly mercenary," he said in a voice that was probably meant to be intimidating, but had a slightly breathy edge which robbed it of gravitas. Sayeeda wondered if his diaphram had been damaged in whatever accident had left him in his current state.

"Well I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you, but your goons here," she made a gesture to encompass the four guards, "didn't give me much of a choice."

"We don't take kindling to the Scorpion's hirelings wondering into our territory," he threatened. Junebug snickered and the Spider's eyes blazed with fury.

"Something amusing mercenary?" he half snarled.

"If you really thought I was working for the Scorps you would have had your boys kill me rather than drag me in here to suffer your overly dramatic theatrics right?" she asked. The Spider lurched forward, one of his legs, equiped with a gripping pincer seized her around the chest. The armor creaked but didn't give way.

"Watch your mouth, you think you are the first off planet big shot to wind up in a shallow grave?" he demanded. Junebug resisted the urge to go for a concealed pistol with an effort.

"Probably not, but I'm the first to drop 12 of the scorpions in one without so much as a scratch," she responded levelly. The Spider snarled and let her go.

"You have an awfully large opinion of yourself for a freighter captain," the Gang boss growled.

"Look if we are just going to talk about me, Id just as soon go back to getting drunk," Sayeeda replied levelly.

"If you are going to try to kill me, go ahead, if not say whatever it is you are going to say and let me get on with my evening," she said, her tone that of a teacher who has been asked a stupid question one too many times.

"Is there a good reason I shouldn't kill you? Just to be on the safe side?" he asked, eyes narrowing dangerously at the emphasis she had placed on the word 'try'. 

"Plenty, starting with that trying to kill me definitely wouldn't be on the safe side, but more importantly would cost you millions of credits," she returned levelly. The Spider gave her a slit eyed glower but predictably the mention of money caught his interest. He clattered eratically on his legs, his torso remaning steady but the limbs adjusting to balance some problem in weight distribution.

"Millions of credits, what are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Before I killed those Scorpions they tried to recruit me on a raid, targeting your drug storage facility." That did get his attention and he reared back on his limbs as though about to strike her, the guards around her edged back gasping and muttering.

"What nonsense those fools don't even know here it is!" the Spider all bout screamed.

"You mean they don't know its in the old quarry west of town?" she asked sweetly. That drew definite gasps of shock from all concerned. Truth be told the Scorpions hadn't know before Neil had told them. It had taken her all of ten minutes and nothing more sophisticated than the sensor reading from the Highlander on approach, but even that basic piece of intelligence gatherings was probably beyond these dim wits.

"When is this raid happening?" he demanded, stalking back and forth, two legs half climbing a network of pipes, ripping one of them open to spill foul smelling steam by accident.

"Tonight I heard," Junebug responded with a shrug. 

"If you are lying to me I will feed your your own..." the Spider began but Junebug burst into action. She drove her booted foot into the instep of the nearest guard with a crunch of bone, in the same motion she ripped a stun baton from his belt and hurled his body into Talin sending them both down in a pile. She whipped around in a snap kick that caught a second guard in the stomach, sending him tumbling back, vomiting bile and gasping for breath. Letting her momentum carry her around she smashed the stun baton into the face of the final guard with an electric crackle that filled the room with the smell of burning hair. Before the fellow collapesed she snatched a heavy chemical pistol from his belt and pointed it at the Spider, tossing the still arcing baton onto Talin and the first guard she had assulted absently, sending them both to the ground in spasming heaps.

"Lets keep the threats to the woman who just gave you invaluable intel to a minimum shall we?" she asked, thumbing back the hammer of the pistol for dramatic effect. The Spider was pale, obviously caught between striking and cowering from the gun that was suddenly pointed at his face. Boots thundered as men rushed into the room from outside carrying weapons. Junebugs pistol didn't waver so much as an inch. The Spider began to laugh.

"You have some balls, Ill give you that," he rumbled and the tension in the room eased.

"In exchange for this information, you are free to go, my men wont stop you. Ill have men in place to make them wish they had never been born," he rumbled ominasly. Junebug snorted a laugh.

"Something funny mercenary?" the spider asked, his eyes narrowed with rage. Sayeeda kept her face calm but inwardly was worried she might be pushing the mobster too far.

"Look you want to be in the bush leagues forever, that isn't my problem," she replied, holing up her free hand in a theatrical shrug.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Look you know where a good portion of the Spiders are going to be, great, but then you also know where a good portion of them aren't going to be right?" she explained, wincing at the obviousness of what she was doing, but then these weren't exactly people for whom subtle had an appeal. The Spider seemed to consider it for a moment and then a broad nasty smile spread across his face.

"You mean they won't be at the mansion defending the Stinger?" he asked in dawning realization. Junebug nodded.

"Why are you doing me this favor mercenary, you clearly believe you could get out of here even if I told my men to kill you." Junebug shrugged, she certainly could have gotten out before all these thugs came running, now even with her Terran enhanced reflexes, she would be pushing her luck.

"Look I've met the Stinger and the bitch gets what she deserves for hitting on my boyfriend," she admitted, lowering the pistol. The Spider gazed at her incredulously for a moment, and then began to laugh.