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
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