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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