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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