ca-book Chapter 788 Port Borgo
Chapter 788 Port Borgo
Chapter 788 Port Borgo
A lane in the city.
Police tape had been put up outside the alley, and two assault team members carrying blaster rifles stood outside the tape, blocking the curious glances of passersby who wanted to peek inside.
Soma Uller and Fu Qinghai got off the land-based boat and headed toward the cordoned-off crime scene. Uller nodded to the assault team members guarding the alley entrance, who turned and made way for him. Uller pulled up the cordon and led Fu Qinghai into the alley.
The body of the brown-bearded sergeant sat in the corner, flanked by two army soldiers on either side.
Lieutenant Uller knelt before the corpse, reached out and lifted the lower eyelids of the reddish-brown-bearded sergeant, then shone a flashlight into his lifeless, grayish-white pupils. He then pinched his cheek, opened his mouth, examined his tongue and oral cavity, and said:
"It is indeed poisoning, some kind of neurotoxin."
Uller stood up, wiped his hands, and said calmly:
"Let's wait for the test results from the base."
A man wearing an Imperial technician's uniform said:
"Our initial assessment is that the person died around 9 a.m., and the body was discovered at 10 a.m. We did not move the scene. In addition, we also found this thing on the body."
As he spoke, he picked up a transparent, sealed bag containing a small, sharp, forked dart.
"Kamino Nautilus".
Soma Uller took the bag and squinted as he spoke.
Camino darts?
Fu Qinghai's heart skipped a beat when he heard the name.
He had heard of this thing before: a three-pronged assassination weapon with a poison container at the bottom and a syringe needle at the middle tip, often containing Malkissem or Fex-M3 neurotoxin, which could be fatal within ten seconds. This weapon was often used by the Assassin Guild and Malki poisoners for silent assassinations.
In the movie *Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones*, Jango Fett uses a Kamino dart to assassinate Padmé. This weapon was originally invented by the Kamino and is popular among bounty hunters. It can be combined with various poisons, but requires a specialized dart launcher.
"I'm starting to trust your gut feeling a little."
Soma Uller turned to look at Fu Qinghai.
Fu Qinghai had already guessed what she wanted to say.
“I don’t mean to insult Imperial soldiers, but using this to assassinate an army sergeant and two army privates is far too extravagant. Kamino darts are not common items, and all nerve toxins are expensive and difficult to obtain. Kamino darts are assassination weapons for high-value targets. To put it bluntly, the combined lives of those three are not worth as much as this dart and the toxin inside it.”
Soma Uller shook his head and said in a low voice.
Isn't what you said insulting enough?
Fu Qinghai thought to himself:
Why don't you just say those three are lackeys?
"The body can be taken back now."
Uller gave the instructions to the imperial technician.
"Okay, sir."
Several staff members began to handle the scene.
"You come with me."
Wule waved to Fu Qinghai, signaling him to follow.
……
Fu Qinghai and Soma Ule sat on the land-based boat.
The landship sailed smoothly, and Uller, gripping the steering wheel and staring ahead, suddenly became somewhat taciturn.
"They may have used the Kamino darts on purpose."
Fu Qinghai took the initiative to speak up and share his guess:
"It's all to lure you into investigating the origin of the weapons."
"you're right."
Lieutenant Uller nodded, staring ahead.
Fu Qinghai glanced at her with a hint of surprise.
Thinking that this time they wouldn't question me anymore?
"Strictly speaking, the ore smuggling case has actually been solved. The smuggling gang was caught red-handed, and a decommissioned frigate was also seized. From any perspective, we have won and effectively cracked down on smuggling activities on Sereno."
Soma Uller spoke in a low voice:
"This batch of ore may have ended up in the rebels' shipyard—this is just my personal speculation and conjecture, and there is no evidence to support this conclusion at the moment. But right now, three Imperial soldiers have been assassinated while on patrol, which is a fact before us. I can't just ignore these three dead army soldiers and go off to investigate and verify a conjecture."
"And my superiors wouldn't agree either."
Soma Uller thought for a moment and then added a sentence.
"Once we finish investigating this assassination, it won't matter whether we find the killer or not. The follow-up clues to the ore smuggling have already been wiped clean, and we can no longer continue to investigate."
Uller frowned deeply as he spoke.
"You believe there's a mole within the base?"
Fu Qinghai turned to look at her and asked, word by word.
Has anyone ever told you that you'd be perfect for my line of work?
Lieutenant Uller's lips curled into a slight smile.
Do you think I'm not in your line of work?
Fu Qinghai thought to himself.
Fu Qinghai fully understood what she meant.
Soma Uller believes that the enemy—whether it's the Rebel Alliance or remnants of the Separatist forces, for the time being unknown—knew that she needed to continue investigating the downstream of the ore smuggling operation. So they deliberately killed three Imperial soldiers, forcing her to deal with this matter first and temporarily preventing her from continuing to investigate the downstream of the ore smuggling operation. They then used this time to completely destroy the clues.
This is her conjecture and deduction.
For this conjecture to hold logically, it must be based on one premise: that there is a mole within the Imperial military base, and that this mole is very familiar with the Imperial Security Bureau's working style and procedures, knowing that Soma Uller must prioritize dealing with the assassination of three army patrol soldiers before continuing to investigate the downstream buyers of the smuggled ore.
"And they tried to drag me into it."
Fu Qinghai thought for a moment and added:
“My team told me that this might not be the first time the soldiers at the base have done something like this. So why haven’t there been any assassinations of patrolling soldiers before? If it was in retaliation for the attempted rape two days ago, that doesn’t make sense. Why now of all times?”
"It's becoming more and more like a smokescreen."
Soma pursed her lips and agreed.
"Then what are you going to do?"
Fu Qinghai looked at her and suggested:
"We... split up? You go investigate those three unlucky guys, and I'll follow up on the clues you've gathered?"
Fu Qinghai also tried to come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides.
“I did say that you are very suitable for our line of work, but that doesn’t mean you can conduct investigations independently, student Aoyama.”
Soma Uller shook his head and said.
She emphasized the words "student Qingshan" as if to remind Fu Qinghai: You're still a bit green.
Fu Qinghai shrugged and stopped talking.
……
Soma Uller parked the landboat by the roadside.
The two entered a narrow, winding alley. Uller stood in front of a tightly closed door, raised his hand and pressed the doorbell on the wall several times. After a few seconds, an impatient, rude curse rang out from the loudspeaker under the eaves:
"I told you we're not open during the day!"
“It’s me, Soma Uller.”
Uller spoke calmly.
The doors slid open to both sides.
Fu Qinghai walked into the local tavern. The bar and booths were empty, except for a tall, burly Besalist with four thick arms standing alone behind the bar, silently wiping the glasses.
Uller went to the bar and sat down on a high stool.
"What's your decision, Ajay?"
Uller looked at the tall, alien figure behind the bar and said:
"Interested in becoming my informant?"
“I can’t be your informant, Uller.”
The Besalsk man shook his head and said in a muffled voice:
“This will make it impossible for me to stay here. I’m also from out of town, and I need to run my business. Please understand.”
This burly, foreign man had a wide, toad-like mouth and a dinosaur-like crest on his head. He wore a dirty apron and looked like an ordinary bartender, but his eyes held a seasoned, worldly air about him.
He wiped the empty wine glass in his hand, glanced up at Fu Qinghai sitting next to Soma Uller, and said:
"This officer looks unfamiliar."
"He is my assistant, a new intern."
Soma Uller brushed it off with a casual remark.
Uller wasn't angry about being rejected. She took out the evidence bag containing the trident, placed it on the bar, and gently pushed it in front of the Besalist, saying:
"Do you know what this is?"
Ajaye glanced at the transparent evidence bag:
"Kamino Nautilus".
"Where did this thing come from? I mean, who brought this thing to Sereno recently? There aren't many people on this planet to begin with, and you've definitely seen any unfamiliar faces in this tavern before, right?"
Uller leaned forward, staring intently at Ajaye.
"I do not know."
Ajaye shook his head again and whispered.
Lieutenant Ule laughed upon hearing this.
“You know, Ajaye, I have a hundred ways to shut your tavern down, not just in Sereno, but anywhere there are imperial troops stationed. Are you sure you don’t want to think about it again?”
The woman threatened meaningfully.
The people of Besalisk stopped what they were doing.
A conflicted and struggling expression appeared on his face.
"The day before yesterday, a new guest arrived at the hotel at 10 Des Moines Street. He came alone by passenger ship."
Ajaye lowered his voice and spoke slowly.
"Hmm, it's a pleasure working with you, informant."
Uller smiled, got up, and left.
……
Imperial military base, seventh floor.
A Lambda-class shuttle burst out of the hangar.
Inside the shuttle's cockpit, Soma Uller and Fu Qinghai sat in the pilot and co-pilot seats. After locking the flight direction, Uller released the steering wheel, leaned forward, and tapped the control instruments a few times to begin setting the destination for the navigation system.
"Aren't we going to the address he mentioned?"
Fu Qinghai turned to look at Wule and spoke.
"My other men will investigate."
Uller stared at the screen without looking up and said:
"Since we've determined that this is a smokescreen, and the hotel is most likely already deserted, we won't waste our time there. We'll just send a few people over to do a token check."
Soma Uller is very bold in making judgments and very bold in acting according to her own judgments. She is not bound by procedures and rules... Fu Qinghai secretly commented in his heart.
"So where do we go now?"
Fu Qinghai asked, seemingly knowing the answer already.
"We're going to investigate the smuggling of minerals."
Uller gripped the steering wheel with both hands and said in a deep voice.
The white Lambda-class shuttle burst out of the atmosphere of Sereno and then disappeared into orbital space in an instant.
……
The Lambda-class shuttle slowly retracted its wings and landed on the deck of a space station.
Fu Qinghai followed Wule out of the cabin, through the coming and going Imperial technicians, and arrived at a hangar.
This is an imperial space military base.
Fu Qinghai looked around at the facilities and thought to himself.
The hangar was spacious, containing several dilapidated old spaceships. Lieutenant Ule stopped and looked around, then walked straight to one of the oddly shaped small spaceships, pulled open the hatch, leaned into the cockpit to examine it, and turned to wave at Fu Qinghai:
"Come on, this is the one."
The two sat in the cockpit of the spaceship. The narrow cockpit had a strange stench, like a mixture of fermented sweat and old leather. Soma Uller plopped down in the right-hand pilot's seat and started fastening her seatbelt. Seeing this, Fu Qinghai also sat in the pilot's seat next to her.
"G9 is a crane-class cargo ship."
Soma Uller began to explain:
“A spice smuggling ship that was seized a long time ago.”
"Made by Corellia Engineering Company?"
Fu Qinghai glanced at the logo on the dashboard.
"Come on, you drive."
Uller raised his hand and patted the control panel, saying:
"Destination: the main planet of Borgo."
Should I drive?
Fu Qinghai asked somewhat uncertainly.
"Why not?"
Uller looked at him with an expression of utter certainty:
"I don't know how to operate these haphazardly modified smuggling ships. Isn't that what I brought you here for?"
Fu Qinghai thought to himself, "I've never driven one before."
It was just a strange spaceship, nothing that could stump the white-scarred master foundry. Fu Qinghai lowered his head and studied the instrument buttons on the control panel for a few moments. He quickly figured out how to operate the cargo ship, ignited the engine, gripped the control levers, and steadily lifted the small cargo ship up.
The G9 cargo ship has a wing equipped with an energy cannon on its right side and on its hull. Generally speaking, this kind of asymmetrical spacecraft is quite difficult to pilot, and its balance is hard to master. However, Fu Qinghai quickly figured out the key points and steered the cargo ship straight out of the space station's hangar.
Soma Uller watched as Fu Qinghai skillfully activated the hyperspace drive. The dark starry sky outside the cockpit window was quickly stretched into dense blue and white lines. Reassured, she unzipped a handbag at her feet, took out a set of clothes, and tossed it to Fu Qinghai, saying:
"Please change your clothes."
After the spacecraft entered hyperspace, the navigation system automatically took over control, and the pilot no longer needed to operate it. Fu Qinghai released the control stick, picked up the clothes, and saw that it was a very ordinary set of crew clothes: a shirt, vest, trousers, and boots.
It's clear she had prepared in advance.
Beside him, Soma Uller picked up his large satchel, bowed his head, and walked toward the cargo hold behind the cockpit.
……
Bolgo, the main planet, and the port of Bolgo.
Inside the cockpit of the cargo ship, Fu Qinghai and Soma Ule were both dressed in loose and tattered civilian clothes, looking like outlaws commonly seen in the outer ring area.
At this moment, Fu Qinghai was carefully maneuvering the cargo ship to avoid the irregular meteorite fragments floating around it, following a group of strange and unusual spaceships as they lined up to enter the port area.
Fu Qinghai looked up and surveyed the port.
Starport is located inside a hollowed-out asteroid, somewhat similar to the "Nowhere" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He had never seen such rudimentary berthing facilities. The port did not even have a normal docking arm or a landing pad. A huge mushroom-shaped space station stood in the vast space surrounded by numerous meteorites. Many steel cables extended from the space station in all directions, which tied together spacecraft of all sizes as a means of fixing and berthing.
"Boeaux is one of the most rampant underground ports for illegal activities in the outer ring area, and a notorious den of iniquity."
Soma Uller slowly introduced himself.
"I see it."
Fu Qinghai nodded and said.
Just looking at the various sizes of spaceships tethered by steel cables in the port, they all belong to the same style as the G9 crane cargo ship piloted by Fu Qinghai—dilapidated in appearance, with a large number of additional weapon systems installed, cheap civilian spaceships that have been modified beyond recognition, probably all of them are pirates' and smugglers' ships.
"Buzz... Port Borgo Interstellar Tower"
A strange Hutt accent came from the transponder:
"Actively reduced speed to accept connection, completed."
Following the instructions in the transponder, Fu Qinghai hovered at the designated location. The shuttle boat flew over, towing a thick steel cable, and secured the cable to the tail engine of the spacecraft.
"You can understand Hutt language?"
Ule looked at Fu Qinghai with some surprise.
“My hometown, Eliadou, is on the outer ring road.”
Fu Qinghai nodded and said calmly.
"By the way, why don't we wipe this place out?"
Fu Qinghai turned to Wule and asked.
"Because it's too far from the core area to be worth sending troops here? You should ask the Imperial Command about that. In my personal opinion, these kinds of places can never be completely eradicated. The universe is so vast that as long as there is fertile ground for illegal activities and smuggling, these kinds of ports will continue to emerge."
Soma Uller shrugged and said.
As the two were talking, a small, flat, bubble-capsule-shaped boat flew over and stopped outside the hatch of the G9 crane ship. Fu Qinghai guessed that it was probably a ferry boat.
Similar to the shuttle buses at the airport.
The hatch opened, and Fu Qinghai and Soma Uller stepped out and into the cabin of the small boat. The space had a slight gravity and thin air, so breathing wasn't a problem. The ferry was piloted by a short, monkey-like Tikh man covered in white hair, less than a meter tall.
The ferry docked at a platform extending from the harbor, and Fu Qinghai and Ule stepped onto solid ground. A Tikman nearby jumped around, chattering and gesturing excitedly; Ule casually tossed it a credit to send it away. The two turned to survey the chaotic yet prosperous starport before them.
Under the cover of night, Porto Borgo resembled a piece of rusted iron forgotten on the edge of the Milky Way. The air was thick with the acrid smell of engine exhaust, the sour stench of cheap fuel, and a strange, indescribable sweet odor of decay. Neon signs blurred in the greasy mist, turning the narrow streets a sickly purplish-red.
The alley was filled with discarded parts, open-air bars and food stalls, crowded stalls set up with waterproof tarpaulins... Of course, there was also the red-light district that attracted Fu Qinghai's attention the most: glowing holographic projections rotated at the entrance, and two scantily clad and voluptuous Tirek women leaned lazily against the door frame, their tentacles wrapped around their slender necks, smoking and looking at passersby with suggestive eyes.
Wherever there is a service industry, there are Tirek people.
“We got the mouth out of the Abyss man you captured. In his confession, he mentioned the port of Borgo, a restaurant called ‘Rusty Tongue,’ and a guy called ‘Zandan,’ who was their middleman in the smuggled ore trade.”
Soma Uller said in a low voice.
At the same time, their eyes were constantly searching.
"Found it! It's there!"
Ule pointed to a fluorescent sign deep in the alley.
The sign features a rust-red tongue symbol.
The two walked briskly through the bustling crowd toward that place.
They arrived at the restaurant entrance and, through the greasy windows, could see that it was crowded with many different ethnic groups.
As Uller was about to go inside, a Bosa man who was sitting silently drinking at the restaurant entrance suddenly reached out and stopped her:
"Halt. People from the Empire are not welcome here."
Ule was startled by this, then frowned and said:
"I do not understand what you are saying."
The Bosa was a short, dog-headed man. This fellow, with his sagging cheeks drooping like a Shar-Pei, raised his drowsy, drunken eyes and glanced at Lieutenant Uller, saying:
"Stop pretending. The smell of the Empire on you is as strong as Bansa shit that has been fermenting in a latrine for three days. I can smell it from ten kilometers away. Rust Tongue is not a place for you."
Oh no, this is so awkward...
Fu Qinghai thought to himself.
Ule turned to look at Fu Qinghai with great confusion.
Her eyes seemed to ask:
Do I really look like an official of the Empire?
Fu Qinghai nodded somewhat helplessly.
Although Soma Uller was dressed in civilian clothes, and even deliberately chose a rather old and loose outfit, the air of someone from the disciplinary department was still undeniable. The expression on her face and the way she walked might not be noticeable to ordinary people, but it was all too obvious to those with sharp eyes and rich experience.
Soma Uller froze, somewhat at a loss.
She didn't expect that her identity would be seen through as soon as she arrived.
Fu Qinghai sighed, stepped forward, pulled a handful of high-denomination credits from his pocket, and subtly shoved them into Bosa's palm. He leaned down and whispered:
"But the empire's money is still money, right?"
The Bosa looked down at the credits in his hand, clenched his furry paws and rubbed them together, the golden metal discs rubbing against each other and making a crisp clanging sound.
"You can go in, but she..."
The Bosa man looked up at Fu Qinghai and said.
After saying that, he looked at Ule, whose face was dark:
I wouldn't recommend her.
…………
(End of this chapter)