Shiyne curtailed her shopping expedition because she knew there was something wrong, she wasn’t sure what exactly, there were too many people around for her to tune in precisely but she knew something was wrong so she relieved Bagg of all his purchases and left him to finish the shopping alone.
“I’ll be
along soon” he said not questioning why she was in such a hurry to get back.
She found
the huge Gouveian pacing up and down beside the Stroller and by the time she
reached him she had read his mind and was fully appraised with what had
happened so when Parse began to speak she said
“I know”
Then she
gestured to him to be silent and closed her eyes while she searched for Lyris
and after a moment or two she nodded and opened her eyes.
“He’s found
her, their ship is in hanger 34, bay 21”
“So what do
we do?” he asked.
“We load
the stores onto the Stroller” she replied as a delivery drone pulled up beside
them.
When Lyris
returned to the Stroller he related everything that he’s seen to the others and
informed them of his and Parse’s intention to effect a rescue.
“Can you go
to hanger 34 Shiyne, bay 21, and get close to them, and read their intentions
while we return to the ship and arm ourselves?” Lyris said
“Of course,
but you must involve the Captain” she responded “She’s good at that stuff”
Lyris
stopped the Stroller outside the commerce wing of the space port where Merri
was waiting and the passenger side door opened and Parse jumped down
“My God”
she exclaimed “I know I asked for some steak but I wasn’t expecting a huge slab
of beef”
Then she
climbed up to the passenger seat and Parse got in the back
“Who’s the
moose?” she asked Lyris and he made the introductions and then Bagg gave
chapter and verse on Asti’s lineage, betrothal and subsequent abduction.
“Good God,
I let you out of my sight for a few hours and everything goes to bat shit”
Merri exclaimed before adding I assume a rescue is in the offing”
“With your
approval” Parse replied
“Never mind
my approval, it will be with my participation Beefy” she retorted and Lyris
felt great pride in the woman with the immense personality and a heart as big
as the moon, and a tongue as sharp as a razor who he was honoured to call his
Captain.
“That’s
what we were hoping you would say” Lyris said
“Ok back to
the ship then” she said
With the
exception of Zerrad who was still not well enough to leave sickbay everyone was
arranged around the mess table.
“So this
tracker” Merri said addressing Parse, “where is it?”
“In her
neck”
“Will it
still transmit once it’s out?” she asked
“Oh yes”
“Good”
“Didn’t she
know she was tagged?” Lyris asked
“No it was
implanted when she was a child, its protocol for all of the Royal family to
have trackers just in case of abductions” he explained “she was too young to
remember it being put in, it’s very small and unobtrusive”
“Can you
remove it Terrell?” Merri asked
“Of course”
he replied
“How long
will it take?” she asked
“Minutes”
Terrell replied
“Ok then
Shiyne tell us what you know” she said
“The small
one” she began and paused to extract the name from Parse’s mind
“Vint
Reganus, isn’t very bright, so he’s very suggestable”
“That could
be useful” Bagg interjected
“That’s
what I thought” Shiyne agreed
“How many
are we up against?” Malena asked
“4” Shiyne
replied “Maxil Weltz is in charge, Vint Reganus is his lieutenant and the other
two are the muscle”
“And there
are definitely only 4” Malena asked
“I only saw
those four and the only other being that I sensed on board was Asti” Shiyne said
“Could
there have been more elsewhere?” Healer Terrell asked
“It’s
possible” she replied
“What else
did you find out?” Merri asked
“They are
leaving tomorrow at 08.00 so we have a very small window in which to rescue
her” Shiyne said
“It’s even
narrower than that because we depart at 06.00” Merri said
“That’s
very tight” Lyris added
“Yes but it
works to our advantage on several levels” she replied “And I have a plan for
the tracker”
“What
plan?” Parse asked
“Well I ran
into Dirk Sharmour, the skipper of the Monsoon at the dock office”
She
explained, the Monsoon was also a Tempest Class Freighter
“The smug
git was full of himself as he had just secured a plum cargo run to Santon 5”
“In the
Pocardin System” Bagg asked
“Yes, and
better than that he has a pick up and return” Merri added
“Lucky pig”
Malena exclaimed, she didn’t like Dirk very much and she certainly didn’t wish
him good fortune.
“Indeed, so
how do you fancy secreting the tracker aboard the Monsoon” Merri suggested and
smiled
The
Scorpion was a fast ship but it wasn’t fast enough to outrun a Tempest so as
they would be more than an hour later leaving Delta 500 that would be the
closest they got to their quarry.
They would
not be able to get close enough to identify the freighter but from their
signature they would detect it as a Tempest Class heading for the Star Gate and
the scanner would pick up the tracker and they would assume it was the Tornado
and that Asti was aboard.
In order to
reach Santon 5 the Monsoon would be in hyperspace for months and the Scorpion
would have no choice but to follow them and they would cross three systems
before the pursuers realized they were tailing the wrong freighter.
Meanwhile
the Tornado, who had a return load to Alwi, a second drop on Lazarion, and a further
one to Androsin Prime which was two star gates in the opposite direction from
Santon 5.
“So what’s
the plan? Do we go in all guns blazing?” Lyris asked
“No we
don’t” Merri said “Subtlety is the name of the game and I have a plan which
will play to our strengths”
“Let’s hear
it then” Malena said
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