The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 10 – Objective Reknar 5

 

The Tempest Class Freighter Tornado was making good time and were less than half a day from their destination when Shiyne said

“I’m picking up something”

“What on the scanners?” Merri asked

“Not exactly” Shiyne replied “The scanners are clear”

“So you have something on your other scanner then” Merri said, which of course meant that Shiyne could sense someone telepathically, and she could do that because she was a Vann and all of the Vann were telepaths, by varying degrees, and many of them left their home world at some point to use their gifts to earn a wage.

Those at the zenith of their talents worked as corporate negotiators or in the justice systems of the Legion. 

Shiyne was a Vann with mid-range capabilities and she could read most species to some extent, her skills were limited with the more sophisticated or complex brains, lesser minds were easier for her to explore.

In addition to reading minds she could also implant thoughts and the suggestions would stay in place longer with someone who was more intellectually challenged.

But in this instance, it was her reading skills that were being tantalised, she closed her eyes and it only took her thirty seconds before she said

“Got them”

“Who?” Malena asked

“Legion” she replied, “A small ship, a Blue Marlin I think, one occupant”

“That must be our man” Merri said and then she saw Shiyne smiling

“It’s Lt Nulak” she said “no I stand corrected, Captain Nulak”

“We have an incoming message” Malena said a moment later

“Put it on speaker” Merri said

“This is Kolan Nulak requesting permission to dock”

“Permission granted Captain” Merri said “cutting engines and standing by”

There were two docking rings on the Tornado to facilitate transfers to and from the freighter while in space, one in the belly below the loading bay and the other was amidships above the cargo bays which was also the mooring point for shuttles or ancillary craft.

Merri had killed the engines and was using the thrusters to hold the ship steady as the Blue Marlin maneuvered into position and locked on to the belly docking ring, as the Spider Hawk was docked above.

 

When the hatch opened Merri had joined Malena and was waiting to greet their visitor who was not wearing a Legion Aeronautica uniform

“Welcome aboard Kolan” she said “It’s good to see you again, and congratulations on the promotion”

They had first met him when he was a lieutenant on the operation to capture Kurla Babic.

“Thank you” 

“Let’s go to the mess room” she responded “the crew are eager to discuss the plans”

 

The plan was in essence a simple one, Kolan would navigate the unmarked Blue Marlin through the Proximity Sensor field and land on the surface, then Shiyne, Malena, Asti and Parse would proceed on foot to the transmitter, break in and send the data, well that was the plan, although until they got there they weren’t sure how they were going to manage the last part.

Duff Tarver had preprogrammed the data tablet with all the routing destinations so all they had to do was plug the tablet in the port and hit send, so that bit was easy, the difficult part was reaching the terminal, that they couldn’t plan until they got there.

 

Much to her annoyance Merri had to remain aboard the Tornado as someone from the command crew needed to be on the bridge, as he co-pilot and navigator were aboard the Blue Marlin and the Skeet Brothers were in the Spider Hawk acting as an armed escort, should they attract any unwelcomed attentions.

That left Pulsat and Vanzyl who were keeping themselves busy doing minor maintenance, Sciberran Healer Terrell Vorton was in the sick bay planning for the worse and Bagg was in the kitchen cooking.

 

As the Blue Marlin approached Reknar 5 Legionnaire Captain Nulak handed Malena, who was in the right seat, a small data tablet containing navigational coordinates to navigate through the Proximity Sensor Field.

“Give it to Shiyne” she said

Shiyne was the beautiful cerise skinned Vann girl sitting in the navigator’s chair and Kolan Nulak knew that it was her he should give it to but he found that she was so beautiful he was in awe of her.   

His hand was shaking as he put the data tablet in her hand and she was smiling because she knew what he was thinking because Shiyne was a telepath.

Once she had made him as uncomfortable as possible she took the tablet and plugged it into the port and after a moment she said

“Ok, coordinates set”

 

It took ten minutes once they passed the outer navigational marker to traverse the maze of sensors, zigzagging a circuitous route until

They finally set down on the surface about a mile from their destination.

Nulak couldn’t get any closer because of the rough topography, which meant that Malena, Shiyne, Asti and Parse had a perilous uphill climb over rough terrain in gloomy light, while the Captain stayed at the controls should they need to beat a hasty retreat.

 

It took more than an hour to make the one mile climb to the transmitter and when they got up there they were more tired than they expected to be.

And that was because although the atmosphere was breathable the oxygen levels were lower than they were used to, so they had to take some time to gather themselves before they proceeded, but studied the target through binoculars and planned their next move. 

 

In addition to the navigational information Supreme Commander Salmin also gave them a 3 dimensional plan of the relay station and its environs.

So they knew there were no hazards on the approach and there were no sensors.

When they had caught their breaths the four of them got up and walked to the door and were immediately confronted by a Bioscan entry panel.

“How do we open that?” Malena said and Shiyne smiled

“Asti knows, she opened one of these before”

“More than one” She retorted

“Yes, I can vouch for that” Parse said

“She was always breaking in and out of the Palace”

Princess Asti Alegionaris, was the youngest granddaughter of the Regent of Gouveia and was born and raised on Gouveia in the Dania system, at the same time Parse Sacrod was a Legionnaire of the Royal Guard stationed at the Palace.

A blush bloomed on her Ivory skin and her Silver eyes twinkled, then she brushed her platinum hair off her face and crouched down in front of the scanner.

After removing a small panel she reached her childlike hand into the opening and after a moment pulled out a cable loom with a small transparent module attached.

She removed the top cover of the module and put her thump on the contact in the center and the door opened.  

“I don’t believe it” Parse said “It’s that easy?”

“It’s that easy” She repeated and they were all laughing as they walked through the door, but their jollity was short lived, because  after the door closed behind them and the lights came on they were confronted by web of tightly packed multi-coloured lasers stretching the full length of the inner sanctum to within a metre of their objective.

“This I can’t help with” Asti admitted

“Malena, I think this might be more up your street” Shiyne said