Nothing
happened for 24 hours following the cryptic message that Malena sent on Merri’s
behalf until the Tornado lifted off from Eikon Minor when the comms burst into life and Oshwin Lemik’s
voice said
“Golbolt Interstellar,
Soman calling Tempest Freighter Tornado”
Merri was in the left seat
and responded
“Go ahead Golbolt”
“Change in your itinerary, proceed to Soman and
collect a shipment of bakery items” Oshwin said and Merri turned to Malena and
smiled.
“Message received Soman, will proceed directly,
Tornado out”
Then Malena headed towards Eirkos’s second Moon Soman.
It was on Soman
that they had decided to make their base as it was the location of one of the
largest Interstellar Freight Distributors in the system, Golbolt Interstellar,
and they had collectively decided to sign up with them rather than operate as
independents and find their own work.
The main reason
for that was that the Operations Manager was Oshwin Lemik and he fought against
the Legion in the Shaxon War with the Skeet brothers, they as pilots and Oshwin
as Logistics Commander.
Merri entered the atmosphere of Soman, with her
piloting and Malena in the co-pilot seat and she used the Tornado’s four
vertical take-off jumper engines and landed softly on the apron, adjacent to a
Legion Aeronautica Firedart.
The Tornado wasn’t a huge ship as freighters go but
pound for pound the Tempests had the highest freight to fuel ratio yield of
their class, but it dwarfed the Firedart.
The front section comprised of a sizable pressurized
hold for large freight, accessed via a front loading ramp, and as soon as the
ramp lowered the Pilot of the Firedart, in Aeronautica flight suit and helmet
walked up the ramp and inside the hold, where Merri was waiting, and then the
ramp was raised again.
As soon as the door was closed and sealed the Pilot
removed his helmet and then Merri said
“It’s good to see you again Supreme Commander”
“You too Captain” Emad Salmin said and then the two of
them followed the smell of fresh baked scones to the mess room, where apart
from Bagg, who was in feeding mode, Malena, Shiyne, Lyris, Parse, and Zerrad
were also present.
Once in the mess he was plied with coffee and scones
and when he’d had his fill he said
“So now I’ve been suitably bribed, how can I help?”
The
gathered members of the Tornado crew repeated verbatim what Duff Tarver had
told them and his reasoning and finally
Merri
said
“There
is an unmanned relay station on Meknar 5 which would suit the purpose”
Meknar
Prime was the furthest planet from the sun in the Eikon Cluster, and was
circled by four moons, the largest of which was Meknar 5, in addition it also
had the highest orbit and the longest transit time, and that meant that for
most of the Solar year it was the furthest object in the system, which made it
a perfect location for a deep space relay station.
“I
think Meknar 5 is a good solution but you know that I can’t openly assist you,
I can’t be seen to just hand over the keys” Emad said “and although the station
is unmanned that doesn’t mean that it’s not protected”
“We realise that,” Lyris said “But it would be nice to
know where the mines are”
“Well I don’t know all the details on the defence
measures in place but one thing I can tell you for certain” Salmin said “There
are no mines”
“What about pulsar batteries?” Lyris asked
suspiciously
“There are no pulsar cannons either” the Supreme
Commander assured him “the systems in place are a little more sophisticated
than they were during the Shaxon Rebellion”
“So what can we expect?” Zerrad asked
“The main defence is a proximity sensor field, and if
you trigger one of those an Electro Magnetic Pulse will be targeted at you and
the ship will be left disabled” Salmin explained “But there is a safe route
through”
“How do we find it?” Malena asked
“You won’t” he replied “but I have someone who will”
“Someone we can trust?” Lyris asked
“It will be someone you know” he assured them
“However, he will only deliver you to the surface, once you are down, you’re on
your own and you will have to use your own guile, and exceptional talents to do
the rest”
“That we can do” Merri said proudly
“So when do you want to do it?” Salmin asked
“As soon as possible, the transmitter is in its
optimum position at the moment and will be for another five days” Parse said
“And it will take almost three to get there”
“Do you have a legitimate reason to be at that end of
the system?” Salmin asked
“Yes, Oshwin has given us some deliveries to Reknar
itself so we shouldn’t raise any suspicions” Merri said
“Good, then I think you should get underway as soon as
is possible I will have my navigator intercept you on route” he said “Now I
just have time for another scone before I have to go”
Supreme Commander Salmin replaced his helmet and then
nodded to Malena, who then lowered the ramp and the Salmin walked down it to
the apron and then ran towards his Firedart.
By the time he was airborne Shiyne had driven the
Stroller down the ramp were Bagg and several crewmates climbed aboard as they
needed to re-provision for the trip.
Merri and Malena and the Skeets stayed behind as there
were tasks to be done before they collected their cargo prior to departure.
Also with work to do was the short heavy set
Prinsloovian engineer, Pulsat, he had a rough bony skull which raised up like a
crown and then receded to give way to a Mahogany scaled brow, cheekbones and
jawline which framed an ivory coloured face, and yellow eyes.
His entire countenance betrayed his reptilian
ancestry, and his fellow engineer, who was Kesslerian, also owed his origins to
reptilian DNA but his slender and sleek form, scaly countenance, silver scaled
skin, large opaque eyes, pursed lips, and gills clearly indicated that his kind
evolved from fish.
As they walked down the ramp Merri called down after
them
“We leave in three hours”
“We be ready” Pulsat said and Vanzyl uttered a soft
whistle like a plaintive flute, then he looked at his friend and whistled again
“More adventure, yes” Pulsat agreed
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