The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 08 – Snagging

 

After spending the weekend on Eirkos at the agrarian settlement of Montrose they took off from Cranack and headed for Eikon Minor, where they had to return Wisma to Gipki before picking up their cargo.

Wisma had been with them for the weekend so that Bagg could introduce her to his brother and family.

 

Merri entered the atmosphere of Eikon Minor with her piloting and Shiyne in the co-pilot seat and she used the Tornado’s four vertical take-off jumper engines and landed softly.

 

After arriving at the port the loading didn’t take long and then Merri parked the Tornado on the apron and then everyone got ready to depart for Gipki where they had a variety of chores and errands before they left later that morning.

The short heavy set reptilian Prinsloovian, Pulsat Rad, was first down the ramp, holding his rough bony head proudly high.

On reaching the apron proper he turned stiffly to address his amphibian companion Vanzyl, who was uttering a string of whirls, whistles and clicks.

“I know it, I know it” Pulsat said to his Kesslerian friend, who was a more slender and sleek form than he, and he had the hint of a smile about his pursed lips and Vanzyl whistled and clicked again and Pulsat snorted.

Pulsat was the only one of the crew who could understand every tone and toot Vanzyl uttered, as if it were in his own tongue, but that was common place for his species, there were very few races he had met on his travels that he couldn’t understand, although he couldn’t speak back to them in their language, but he nonetheless understood every word that they spoke.

While they stood to one side of the ramp in conversation Shiyne drove the Stroller down the front ramp and the rest of the crew followed in a group in her wake, with Visitor Parham bringing up the rear wearing his more formal attire of a full length pale blue robe tied at the waist with a royal blue cord, which was beneath a full length dark blue leather jerkin, and he carried a simple roughhewn staff which was undecorated but for a carved cruciform relief a few inches from the top, which he held in one hand while Wisma Berita held the other.  

The Tornado’s APMTV, (All Purpose Multi Terrain Vehicle) was nicknamed the “Stroller” which was an ironic name because when Shiyne or Merri were behind the wheel it did anything but stroll.

The moment it came to a halt the group climbed aboard, Malena paused before remotely closing the ramp and the joined Zerrad in the back and the healer Terrell got in the passenger seat beside his lover Shiyne.

 

With all their tasks completed they returned to the Tornado two hours later, after an uneventful visit into Gipki, to find a worried looking Duff Tarver waiting on the apron beside the ship.

Bagg immediately jumped down and rushed over to him

“Are you alright? You don’t look as if you’ve slept, since Friday”

“I haven’t, but I’m fine” he said and hugged his friend “but we need to talk”

 

When the crew and the Stroller were back aboard the Tornado Bagg spoke to Merri and immediately called a crew meeting in the mess room.

When everyone was present the first thing she did was introduce Duff to those who didn’t know him and explained what he was doing for them, although that they already knew.

“So Duff is an ally, and he has a problem”

“So how can we help?” Parse asked

“The material on the tablet you gave me is mind blowing” he said enthusiastically “And I know precisely who to send it to”

“So far so good then” Lyris contributed

“But I’ve hit a snag” Duff admitted

“How so?” asked Malena

“There’s just so much data” he said “and if I try and dribble it out it could easily be supressed and sanitized before it’s reached the publics ears and eyes, and then there is the possibility they could track the source and prevent me from getting the rest out 

“So what’s the alternative?” Bagg asked

“Well In order to get the information into the public domain and to ensure it stays there for maximum exposure I need to fire it out into every corner of Legion space simultaneously, because if Amery’s as powerful as we believe he is, and I send it to one system at a time, his allies will close down the dissemination before it’s even properly out, but if I can do a blanket broadcast then there is no way they can stop enough of it getting out to silence the truth”

“But?” Bagg asked

“But he doesn’t have anything powerful enough to achieve even a fraction of what he hopes to do” Shiyne said

“That’s really spooky how you do that” Duff said “But yes you are correct”

There was a resigned silence in response to what Duff had said until clicks and whirls began to emanate from Vanzyl which were clearly directed at Pulsat.

“Ok I speak” he said and more clicks and whirls followed

“I telling, I telling” Pulsat retorted and to the assemble group he explained

“Vanzyl say, Meknar 5”

Then more clicks

“He say, relay station, big transmitter, no people”

“Meknar 5” Parse mused

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 was a perfect location for a deep space relay station.

“That’s not a bad idea” Merri said

“That would do the job” Parse agreed

“Well done Vanzyl”

“Yes, well done” Merri said and Vanzyl uttered a soft whistle like a plaintive flute, then he looked at his friend and whistled again

“Head very big now” Pulsat said and snorted, while everyone else laughed, except Lyris who was frowning, which Asti had noticed.

“What’s wrong” she asked

“It’s not going to be as easy as you all think” he replied

“What’s worrying you?” Merri asked

“Well I agree that the unmanned relay station on Meknar 5 will definitely suit our purpose, but unmanned doesn’t mean unprotected” Lyris cautioned

“Ground to air weapon systems, space mines, anti-navigational pulse wave emitters, and that’s before you even reach the surface”

“And you know this how?” Asti asked

“We attacked one during the Shaxson Rebellion” Zerrad replied

“But we were just trying to destroy it, not hijack it”

“And?” Asti asked

“And we got a pasting” Lyris said

“But we learned a lot” Zerrad added “And no one is at war with the Legion in the Cluster, so it may not be that well protected”

“Well there’s one way to find out” Merri said and turned to Malena “send a coded message to our Aeronautica friend, “Your favorite baker needs help to send his scone recipe to some friends””