Two Mercs: Part Seventeen

The meat turned out to be pork and when Emily complimented Sir Basil, or just 'Basil' as he insisted she call him, the crime lord merely smiled.
"The finest, imported from Ireland only the other day."
"From the Union?" With the subject broached Emily cut a chunk of pork from the portion on her plate, holding her meat-laden fork so that it was between her and Basil. "How is the Union?"
"It's pushed too far east. My sources on the continent tell me that the Union is turning back on itself."
Emily slowly nodded and popped the pork into her mouth.
"Seeking to reclaim lost territory?"
"Possibly. The Union could always try to push south into Africa."
"No dear. The Union is withdrawing from the East because it is afraid of war. It won't enter Africa for the same reason." Seated next to her husband Mrs Christine Yardley delicately gathered a spoonful of peas together, looking between her husband and Emily. "Our guest is right."
"Then we shall thank the stars that the Border Force exists. Still I'll instruct my men to keep me updated on the Union's actions."

The rest of the meal mostly went by in virtual silence, the scraping of cutlery on ceramics the only sound in the room. Vicki had come down from her trip long enough to inhale the vegetables on her plate before swallowing another of her pills, Emily noticing the slight disapproval on Christine's face. Basil finished his meal soon after his daughter embarked on her second trip, citing business concerns, and Christine looked at Emily as he left the room.
"My husband might not have met you before but I have. Why are you here?"
Emily dipped her head, focusing on her food for a second.
"I needed to get out of London. I'm sorry for imposing Mrs Yardley."
Christine frowned at Emily's words, looking at the younger woman's face for a moment.
"You are in trouble with someone? Someone powerful?" Christine rose and moved round the table to loom over Emily, her voice rising to a shout. "And you thought to hide here?"
"I didn't know where else to go!"
"You can stay the night and be gone tomorrow. Do not contact my daughter again."

---

Emily returned to the room given to her and Dave, flopping down onto the unclaimed bed with a huff. Lying length-ways on a sofa next to the bathroom door Dave looked up, glancing over at her.
"Everything alright?"
"Mrs Yardley wants us gone by tomorrow, hopefully she means tomorrow night."
Dave hummed and gestured towards the boxes of computer parts.
"Do you have any other friends I don't know about? Anyone who will actually shelter us?"
Emily started to shake her head but stopped and crossed to the boxes, beginning to assemble a computer tower.
"I don't have any other friends like Vicki but I did send out a new trawler to find stuff on Khem. Maybe it recovered information I can give to Sir Basil in exchange for continued protection."
"Is everything you need here?"
Emily quickly went through the boxes before nodding, a hint of a grin on her face.
"All here."

Dave watched as Emily built the spread-out computer, part of him wondering why she'd never thought to have a casing stashed away. After a few minutes Emily plugged the machine, in the loosest sense, into the mains power supply, and glanced at the TV she’d hooked everything up to. Opening the internet when the desktop screen appeared Emily navigated to her game server and then logged in.

The floor of the flat was covered with a multitude of ID badges and Emily carefully stepped around them as she walked towards the trawler.
"Find anything?"
"He had some worthy opponents. I took them as trophies."
"I see." Emily glanced at the ID badges again for a moment. "And what about the information I asked you to find?"
The trawler scowled and threw two heavy blows at the punching bag.
"Money is coming in from some group called the Venice Appreciation Society, based out of the American States."
Emily frowned as she contemplated the new information for a moment.
"Did you find any emails?"
"Khem is in contact with someone called Randall. Their messages were pure garbage though."
"Keep them. I'll go through them in my own time."
The trawler snorted and went back to beating up the punching bag.
"Suit yourself."
Emily watched her for a moment before closing her eyes and quitting the simulation, glancing over at Dave when she felt she was back inside her body.