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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