Echoes of the Past

Chapter Twenty Eight - Part One

Chapter Twenty Eight: The Iron Forge - Part One 

They were crouched on a roof overlooking the Riondon Iron Forge. The main tower reached up over a dozen levels, narrowing gradually and leading to a flat peak at the very top. Large sheets of copper-coloured panels made up the exterior of the tower, with small round windows at various points. Metal walkways, stairs and ladders ran around the perimeter. It looked to Evan to be well traversable from the outside. On either side were two shorter towers, like smaller imitations of the main one that reached about two thirds its height. They connected to the main tower via two walkways that housed corridors, which could be seen through various windows along the connecting tunnels.

The sun overhead was overbearing and insistent, leaving little wind as Evan squatted beside Liana Khallo, looking over a low wall on the roof of a building two hundred yards from the forge.

"There is a front and back entrance on the ground level," Liana said, resting a hand on the hilt of the sword on her belt. "And several access ports around the outer frameworks of the tower. Those will be our best point of entry. There are some guards stationed along the perimeter, even at a high level, but they are few and far between and don't linger for long. Jaxx doesn't want the forge to look too protected."

"You are familiar with the layout inside?" Evan asked.

Liana shook her head. "We have an idea based on architectural records of the old forge, but not of any changes Jaxx may have made since buying it. Our satellite imagery only picked up life sources." She turned to Evan and paused, before adding, "There are likely security cameras inside, and we will be spotted, eventually, even if no one sees us while we're there. I don't plan on ever returning to the iron forge so it makes little difference if they have my face on record. Are you okay with that?"

"I am very far from home," Evan told her. "I do not have any intentions of staying on this planet, or even this system, for longer than I need to. And I do not care for hiding my actions."

Liana regarded him with a blank, yet subtly intense expression and nodded. She had a way about her, Evan thought. A stern air that held a solid resolution. She reminded him of Sam, in the way that her expressions were hard to read.

Evan looked back towards the tower. "Where do you suggest we enter from?"

Liana pointed ahead, a little below them. "Right before the tower starts to narrow, the upper levels start there, by that porthole. The first few floors might as well be opened to the public, the exposure they've had from local newscasts, so there won't be anything hiding or worth finding there. Underground has forges and generators, no room for hidden floors, unless Jaxx has got really creative. That leaves the upper levels for any surprises he might have for us."

"What surprises do you expect to find?" Evan asked.

Liana lightly shrugged a shoulder. The gesture also reminded him of Sam.

"More than the everyday items they've been producing for the public," she said. "Jaxx has been known for a few things. Drugs being one of them, as well as the acquisitions and selling of armaments, along with the Trigger Switches, of course."

"I did not think it was possible to sell armaments with their Trigger Switches," Evan said. "Not beyond military organisations."

"You can make rifles and guns of all kinds, but the law says you cannot create Trigger Switches in the same vicinity as the armaments, within a specified distance. The penalties for distributing them together are severe. Only high-level military have some exceptions. But none of that stops our friend Jaxx from dealing with such things, if it makes him a profit."