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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