Dwynwen Strong, Parse Sacrod, Malena Endia,
Vann telepath Shiyne and Andraxian agent Ambor Etra were stood in the security
office of the Galileo Hotel.
And among the group, dressed in her official uniform of a blue skirt and
jacket with a crisp white blouse, was head of security, Stradd of the Vann, and
like Shiyne she was a Telepath, as were all of their
kind, though 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.
Stradd’s abilities however were much lower,
but for her job, it was only reading skills that were
required, she couldn’t scan deeply but she knew who was telling the truth and
who was lying.
Stradd was a small woman and like Shiyne and the rest of
the Vann women she was completely bald, and had cerise coloured skin and purple
eyes, though she was a good many years older than the Tornado’s navigator.
It was clear that the two Vann were deep in conversation though they
didn’t speak, and this went on for almost ten minutes, until they broke their
telepathic bond and Stradd said
“We caught the moment of the abduction on our video scanners”
She nodded towards a large screen on the wall and everyone turned around
to look.
The first image they saw was of Merionwen walking into the lift followed
by two humans, one tall and one small, the
small one was shabbily dressed, with weasel like features, and the other was
cut from very different cloth, tall good looking and well dressed, but they
were clearly together.
They reached the lift at the last possible second, just before the door closed the big man used his arm to halt the doors progress
and then the two men joined her in the lift.
The next image was a bird’s eye view inside
the lift and the door had just closed and the good-looking man said
“It’s Miss Strong isn’t it?”
Merionwen turned to look at him and replied
“Yes, it is, but I don’t know yo…”
While the good-looking man had her attention,
the small one paralyzed her with a jab to the neck with a needle and Dwynwen
gasped.
“Oh God this is all my fault”
“Nonsense Dwyn” Malena corrected her
“Are they known to you?” Parse asked
“No, they’re not” Stradd replied “But one of
my people thinks they are mercenaries, he recognized one but couldn’t recall
his name”
“Mercenaries, that’s good news” Mal said
“Why is that good news?” Dwyn asked “it
sounds like terrible news to me”
“It’s good because it means they are in it
for the money” Parse explained
“If they wanted to kill her they would have
done it and left her body in the lift” Shiyne added “I suspect they want your
evidence as well, and they need her alive for that”
“Where did they go when they left the lift?”
Andraxian agent Ambor Etra asked and Stradd pressed another button and some
more footage appeared
“We tracked them all the way through the
Hotel until they went out of this exit which leads to an alleyway” Stradd said “But
I have nothing else after that I’m afraid”
“So, we have no idea where they could have
gone next” Dwyn stated
“No, but if I have to hazard a guess as to
where they took her, where they wouldn’t look out of place, despite their
differences, then I would say they’re at the Concord” Stradd said
“We appreciate all your help” Malena said
“Yes, thank you” the others chorused and
Shiyne and Stradd stood with brows touching while they shared a farewell.
Once they had left Stradd’s office they were
instantly barraged with questions by the rest of the crew and Ambor said
“Ferro and I will see if we can track down
any other footage, from outside the Hotel”
In their shabby Hotel room, Geloc and Hatt
had just finished searching Merionwen’s sedated body and were angry as they had
found nothing.
They were searching for the data tablets that
Dwynwen had secreted the damning evidence about Captain Bersian of the
Alexandretta, two of the Science Directorate aboard, Brenhol and Ocec and the
Captain of the freighter Hollander, Ca Erdd, and
the corruption.
“Can we just kill her now?” Hatt, the little
weasel of a man asked
“Of course, we can’t you idiot” Geloc
replied
“Stopping her reaching Andraxis is only half
the job, and half the money, so No we can’t kill her”
“Half’s better than none” Hatt retorted
“Listen to me, this is the biggest score
we’ve had for years I’m not going to let it slip through my fingers, so we need
the tablet and then we’ll get the other half the money”
“Yes, but where is it, we searched her room
and now we’ve searched her and there’s no sign”
They had bribed one of the Hotel staff to let
them into Dwyn’s suite and the two of them had searched every inch, but to no
avail.
“We simply wait for her to wake up and we ask
her” Geloc said
“What if she won’t tell?” Hatt asked
“Then we cut chunks off her until she does”
he replied
After updating their crew mates, they all
headed for the door were Merri and her abductors were last seen but Dwynwen was
stopped by Ferro and Ambor
“It looks like Stradd was right about the
Concord” Ferro said
“Great let’s go and get her” Dwyn said
“Hold on, you can’t go” Ambor said
“I have to” she replied “it’s my fault”
“We are under orders to protect you” Ferro
said “and protect you we will”
“Then you’ll have to come with us” Dwyn said “Because
I’m going with them”
“Excellent idea” Ambor said “a bit of action
at last”
Once outside they made their way towards
the Concord Hotel with Shiyne stopping every 50 yards to scan for signs of
Merri and after the tenth stop Shiyne closed her eyes and tuned her mind in and
scanned the vicinity and after a few moments she smiled.
“Well?” Dwyn asked
“Yes, she’s there and she’s fine” she replied,
and they all breathed a sigh of relief
“Is she awake?” Parse asked
“No, but she’s not as heavily sedated as
before” Shiyne replied
“Can you pin point the room” Mal asked and
Shiyne tuned her mind in again and after a few minutes she said “Got it, 14th
floor room 34”
“Great let’s go get her” Parse said
“Wait a minute we need a plan, and as our
chief planner is the one that needs rescuing, it’s down to Malena to take
charge as the Tornados second in command”
Asti said, and Murmurs of approval went around
the group
“Wait a minute I’m not a leader” Mal
protested “Second in command is just an honorary title, Parse is far better
qualified, or Lyris”
“Nonsense” Lyris said “I’m too hot headed”
“And I have too much at stake” Parse added
“Well ok then” Malena said reluctantly “but
we need to give it some thought, before we go blundering in”
“Agreed” they chorused
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