Nothing happened for 24
hours following the cryptic message that Malena sent on Merri’s behalf until the Tornado lifted off
from Eikon Minor when the comms burst into life and Oshwin Lemik’s voice said
“Golbolt Interstellar, Soman calling Tempest Freighter Tornado”
Merri was in the left seat and responded
“Go ahead Golbolt”
“Change in your itinerary, proceed to Soman and collect a shipment of
bakery items” Oshwin said and Merri turned to Malena and smiled.
“Message received Soman, will proceed directly, Tornado out”
Then Malena headed towards Eirkos’s second Moon Soman.
It was on Soman that
they had decided to make their base as it was the location of one of the
largest Interstellar Freight Distributors in the system, Golbolt Interstellar,
and they had collectively decided to sign up with them rather than operate as
independents and find their own work.
The main reason for
that was that the Operations Manager was Oshwin Lemik and he fought against the
Legion in the Shaxon War with the Skeet brothers, they as pilots and Oshwin as
Logistics Commander.
Merri entered the atmosphere of Soman, with her piloting and Malena in
the co-pilot seat and she used the Tornado’s four vertical take-off jumper engines
and landed softly on the apron, adjacent to a Legion Aeronautica Firedart.
The Tornado wasn’t a huge ship as freighters go but pound for pound
the Tempests had the highest freight to fuel ratio yield of their class, but it
dwarfed the Firedart.
The front section comprised of a sizable pressurized hold for large
freight, accessed via a front loading ramp, and as soon as the ramp lowered the
Pilot of the Firedart, in Aeronautica flight suit and helmet walked up the ramp
and inside the hold, where Merri was waiting, and then the ramp was raised
again.
As soon as the door was closed and sealed the Pilot removed his helmet
and then Merri said
“It’s good to see you again Supreme Commander”
“You too Captain” Emad Salmin said and then the two of them followed the
smell of fresh baked scones to the mess room, where apart from Bagg, who was in
feeding mode, Malena, Shiyne, Lyris, Parse, and Zerrad were also present.
Once in the mess he was plied with coffee and scones and when he’d had
his fill he said
“So now I’ve been suitably bribed, how can I help?”
The gathered members
of the Tornado crew repeated verbatim what Duff Tarver had told them and his
reasoning and finally
Merri said
“There is an unmanned
relay station on Meknar 5 which would suit the purpose”
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 a perfect location
for a deep space relay station.
“I think Meknar 5 is a
good solution but you know that I can’t openly assist you, I can’t be seen to
just hand over the keys” Emad said “and although the station is unmanned that
doesn’t mean that it’s not protected”
“We realise that,” Lyris said “But it would be nice to know where the
mines are”
“Well I don’t know all the details on the defence measures in place
but one thing I can tell you for certain” Salmin said “There are no mines”
“What about pulsar batteries?” Lyris asked suspiciously
“There are no pulsar cannons either” the Supreme Commander assured him
“the systems in place are a little more sophisticated than they were during the
Shaxon Rebellion”
“So what can we expect?” Zerrad asked
“The main defence is a proximity sensor field, and if you trigger one
of those an Electro Magnetic Pulse will be targeted at you and the ship will be
left disabled” Salmin explained “But there is a safe route through”
“How do we find it?” Malena asked
“You won’t” he replied “but I have someone who will”
“Someone we can trust?” Lyris asked
“It will be someone you know” he assured them “However, he will only
deliver you to the surface, once you are down, you’re on your own and you will
have to use your own guile, and exceptional talents to do the rest”
“That we can do” Merri said proudly
“So when do you want to do it?” Salmin asked
“As soon as possible, the transmitter is in its optimum position at
the moment and will be for another five days” Parse said “And it will take
almost three to get there”
“Do you have a legitimate reason to be at that end of the system?”
Salmin asked
“Yes, Oshwin has given us some deliveries to Reknar itself so we
shouldn’t raise any suspicions” Merri said
“Good, then I think you should get underway as soon as is possible I
will have my navigator intercept you on route” he said “Now I just have time
for another scone before I have to go”
Supreme Commander Salmin replaced his helmet and then nodded to
Malena, who then lowered the ramp and the Salmin walked down it to the apron
and then ran towards his Firedart.
By the time he was airborne Shiyne had driven the Stroller down the
ramp were Bagg and several crewmates climbed aboard as they needed to
re-provision for the trip.
Merri and Malena and the Skeets stayed behind as there were tasks to
be done before they collected their cargo prior to departure.
Also with work to do was the short heavy set Prinsloovian engineer,
Pulsat, he had a rough bony skull which raised up like a crown and then receded
to give way to a Mahogany scaled brow, cheekbones and jawline which framed an
ivory coloured face, and yellow eyes.
His entire countenance betrayed his reptilian ancestry, and his fellow
engineer, who was Kesslerian, also owed his origins to reptilian DNA but his
slender and sleek form, scaly countenance, silver scaled skin, large opaque
eyes, pursed lips, and gills clearly indicated that his kind evolved from fish.
As they walked down the ramp Merri called down after them
“We leave in three hours”
“We be ready” Pulsat said and Vanzyl uttered a soft whistle like a
plaintive flute, then he looked at his friend and whistled again
“More adventure, yes” Pulsat agreed
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