Ten minutes later, the cargo ship had just finished breaking through the sandy planet’s thin atmosphere and was on a course away from it at a gentle speed.
‘Well, I’m glad that’s over. Now I can finally breathe!’ said Ellu as she put her hands behind her head and leaned back in the pilot’s chair in the cockpit.
‘I too,’ added Zeeree from the main view screen.
The blue-haired girl gave the blue-faced AI a quizzical look.
‘What do you mean? I didn’t think AIs were capable of feeling emotions like fear and getting stressed out by things.’
If Zeeree had shoulders, she would have shrugged them at that comment from Ellu.
‘I cannot speak for all Artificial Intelligences throughout this galaxy but I believe I feel something akin to the basic fear reaction present in all organic life in response to certain environmental stressors. I am quite capable of getting “stressed out” as you put it.’
‘Really? I wonder why,’ Ellu wondered aloud. ‘What purpose could it serve? I suppose your programmer must have had their reasons for giving you the ability to feel certain things.’
‘I do not know. I am uncertain as to who my creator is.’
‘Well, that’s a question for a different time,’ said Ellu as she heard Saleek make a noisy entrance into the cockpit with Patrick not far behind.
She swivelled in her chair to face the lyan and human.
‘I’m tellin’ ya man, it was that close...’ said Saleek as he quickly finished whatever anecdote he had been telling Patrick and met Ellu’s stare. ‘Hey, look who it is, it’s the number two pilot in the Barren Lands! That was some nice flyin’ out there, Ellu. Oh, and thanks for the assist with those guys who were chasin’ us. Y’know, some people just don’t know when to quit!’
Patrick glanced at Saleek and was about to make a comment involving a pot, a kettle and the colour black but ultimately decided against it as the idiom would be lost on the spiky alien. Ellu simply cocked an eyebrow and looked at the lyan.
‘Second best pilot?’ she paraphrased, looking both a little hurt and a little confused at Saleek’s comment.
‘Well, only second to me,’ came the cocky reply. ‘If I wasn’t here, you’d totally be number one!’
Ellu giggled. ‘I suppose that’s as close to a “thank you” as I’m going to get from you, so I’ll begrudgingly take it,’ she said as she stood from the pilot’s chair. ‘Where’s Kracht?’
‘He’s still gettin’ outta his suit of armour in Cargo Hold One. He might be a while,’ explained Saleek as he pointed over his shoulder in the general direction of the rest of the ship.
Patrick walked to the middle of the cockpit, stopped and looked around. It wasn’t exactly home but it felt safe and comfortably familiar as he looked around at all the screens, consoles and chairs that filled the room. It was a lot better than his previous accommodation down on the desert planet at any rate. The human sucked in a lungful of the ships slightly stale air and breathed out with a smile on his face.
‘I take it you’re the cause of all this trouble,’ said Ellu as she tilted her head to one side and looked at Patrick.
‘Hm?’ the human mumbled as he realised he had not been paying much attention.
He looked at the blue-haired girl with a startled expression on his features. She appeared to be roughly his height with a long mane of beautiful, thick blue hair which was tied in a plaited ponytail which ran all the way down her back. He couldn’t accurately guess her age – her tanned, light orange skin was flawless and wrinkle-free yet her large eyes seemed to be the eyes of someone who had experienced quite a lot in life. She was slender yet lightly muscled (he imagined she was fairly strong when she needed to be) and she was wearing rather tight-fitting clothes which showed off her attractive body well. She was staring intently at him and one corner of her full lips was curling upwards in a half-smile. Patrick gulped as he realised he had been staring at her for quite some time without uttering a single word.
‘I’m...sorry...?’ he said in a low voice, somewhat embarrassed.
Ellu simply laughed. ‘I’m only kidding. My name is Ellu. It’s nice to meet you, Patrick.’
‘It’s...nice to meet you too,’ replied the human as his cheeks began to get hot and turn a rosy colour.
Saleek thought he detected some kind of spark between Patrick and Ellu and he was going to tease the human about it before figuring that he had probably been through enough for one day without having jokes made at his expense, so instead he said, ‘Don’t worry, Patrick. She’s a saldorian – they have a notoriously weird sense of humour.’
Ellu shot a glance at the spiky lyan. ‘Look who’s talking,’ she said with a playful grin.
‘Fair point,’ conceded Saleek with a slight chuckle. ‘I suppose some parts of lyan culture would seem weird to outsiders.’
‘Then it’s settled – I guess we’re all weird here, right?’ said Ellu before laughing loudly.
Saleek began laughing too and then Patrick joined in.
‘No argument from me,’ piped up Zeeree with an unusually laconic comment which only served to make the others laugh harder.
The cargo ship gradually made its way across the vast blackness of space and its crew were in good spirits after a successful rescue mission. However, this did not last long. Around six hundred million kilometres away from the desert planet, something stirred. At first it just appeared to be a single spark of something that began flashing rapidly. Then more sparks joined it, making the resulting pulse bigger and brighter. Seconds later there was an enormous flash of bright white light and with an ominous crackling sound a large ship re-entered normal space.
‘I do not wish to spoil the mood-’ started Zeeree.
‘Then don’t!’ interrupted Ellu with a giggle.
The stress of conducting a rescue mission had gone and she was now feeling extremely relaxed, almost a bit giddy in fact, now that they were in the clear.
‘I have just detected a ship re-entering normal space approximately six hundred million Drekkmas from our current position,’ explained the AI, her face taking up the entirety of the main view screen.
‘So?’ said Saleek casually, lounging comfortably in one of the chairs in the cockpit along with Ellu and Patrick.
‘I think you should see for yourselves,’ said Zeeree and with that her face slowly disappeared and was replaced by a magnified version of the new ship as seen from the cargo ship’s optical sensors.
‘My goodness,’ whispered Ellu, her mouth open in shock.
The ship that had just re-entered normal space from super-space was large. Very large. In fact, words like huge, gigantic and enormous didn’t really do it justice. It was many, many times larger than Saleek’s vessel and if that wasn’t enough, it boasted enormously powerful engines and an array of deadly weapons all over its hull. The craft was sleek and streamlined in spite of its huge size and it was painted as black as space itself with trim an angry red colour.
Patrick gulped as he tried to take in the ship currently taking up the whole of the main view screen.
‘What...what the hell is that?’ asked Ellu as she stared unblinkingly at the main screen.
‘I am uncertain as to the exact designation of the ship, however it is comparable in size and armament to a Destroyer and a Battlecruiser combined,’ explained Zeeree. ‘I do not believe it is an official military vessel however.’
‘You’re telling us that thing belongs to someone? Who in the galaxy would need....or who could even afford a ship like that?’ said Ellu as she stared at the screen in disbelief.
‘Please tell me that’s not who I think it is....’ said Saleek, desperately hoping that he was wrong.
As if on cue, an audio transmission crackled over the main speakers in the cockpit.
‘Greetings, Saleek. Or should I call you “traitor”?’ spat an angry voice.
‘Oh boy,’ muttered the lyan, shaking his head. ‘Hey there, Vallan. How’s life treatin’ ya?’
‘I suppose I cannot complain. The fates have seen fit to lead me right to you!’ exclaimed Mr Vallan over the com.
‘That’s just great,’ said Saleek sarcastically in a low voice.
‘Allow me to make this as simple as I can, so that even a simpleton like you can understand my words. You have stolen from me, Saleek. As you can imagine, that upset me. Now I am here to reclaim what is mine and exact some revenge! Power down your craft’s engines and prepare to be brought aboard my vessel. Get ready for the worst torture you have ever experienced – when I’m through with you, there won’t be enough pieces of your body left for the authorities to identify you! That goes for all your friends aboard your little ship too. And don’t even think about trying to run – my ship is capable of disabling your engines with a single shot. I’ll see you soon, Saleek,’ said Mr Vallan before the communication ended abruptly.
‘What do we do?’ asked Patrick.
He had just escaped from one form of captivity and he was not about to go straight into another without a fight.
‘There’s nothin’ we can do,’ said Saleek as he hung his head despondently.
‘What? There’s got to be something we can do! There’s always something we can do!’ exclaimed Ellu defiantly. ‘Zeeree, what are our options?’
‘Extremely limited,’ admitted the AI. ‘That vessel is equipped with very powerful engines and as a result its speed is far greater than ours. We cannot outrun it. It has thick armour and most likely several overlapping energy shields so I doubt that our weapons can do much damage. And his assertion is unfortunately correct – that craft has many weapons that are military grade and thus are capable of immobilising us with a direct hit and possibly destroying us altogether with another two.’
‘So what are you saying? We’re just going to give up? Nuts to that!’ said Patrick in an uncharacteristic display of boldness.
‘I’m with Patrick,’ said Ellu, nodding vigorously. ‘What about evasive manoeuvres? We’re much smaller than that ship so we have to be much more agile. Maybe we can use that to escape somehow.’
‘It won’t do any good,’ said Saleek as he shook his head. ‘If we had more time, maybe we could have charged the jump drive and made it to super-space before that ship was in weapons range but they’ll be within range in about ten seconds. We’re outta options.’
The lyan looked at Patrick, then Ellu then finally at Zeeree. The silence that had descended on the cockpit was deafening; it was almost smothering. Patrick and Ellu stared intensely at Saleek with expressions of desperation on their faces whilst Zeeree almost looked like she was holding back digital tears in her deep blue eyes. The lyan sighed and prepared to give himself up.
‘I’m so sorry, guys. Looks like this is it.’
Aboard the gigantic black and red ship, Mr Vallan licked his pale lips with a snake-like tongue. He could not help himself from rubbing his bony hands together repeatedly as he tried to plan what he was going to do the traitor once he was aboard his craft.
He glanced to his right and told a nearby underling, ‘Contact the prison deck. Have them ready all the torture chambers. Oh, and tell them to also prepare a wide variety of stimulants and healer medicines – I don’t want Saleek to pass out from the pain, I want him wide awake the whole time so I can watch his face as he suffers.’
‘Yes, Mr Vallan. Right away,’ responded the underling as he quickly began tapping commands into the computer at which he sat.
Mr Vallan turned his attention back to the main screen on the bridge which showed a magnified version of Saleek’s ship and started to rub his hands together again.
For a few moments, all was quiet aboard both ships apart from the beeping of computer systems and the occasional tapping of keys, before a voice suddenly cut through the air.
It was rich and authoritative and it said over the com, ‘This is the Galactic Police. All craft are to power down their engines at once and prepare for questioning.’
Another moment of silence passed before everyone started looking around rapidly in confusion.
‘What the hell was that? Who said that?’ demanded Mr Vallan as he looked around the bridge frantically. ‘Who is monitoring sensors? What is happening out there? Somebody talk to me!’
Back aboard the cargo ship, Ellu said, ‘What in the galaxy is happening now? Zeeree, are you picking up any ships nearby?’
‘Nothing on short-range scanners,’ replied Zeeree, looking as nonplussed as the saldorian girl.
The lines that composed the AI’s forehead changed and seemed to indicate a furrowed brow. Saleek, on the other hand, let out a loud breath before leaning back in his chair and looking remarkably relaxed.
‘I never thought I’d be so glad to hear that guy’s voice. His timing could be better though.’
For a moment, Ellu and Patrick gave Saleek looks that suggested they were totally confused before Zeeree piped up and announced, ‘I am picking up a ship on mid-range scans. Correction, now I am detecting three ships.’
Saleek just grinned whilst Patrick’s mouth hung open in shock and Ellu spluttered, ‘But....But where did they come from?’
‘What do you mean, you don’t know where they came from?’ snarled Mr Vallan in a voice growing in volume and anger.
‘I...don’t know, Sir,’ spluttered an underling who was standing at the sensor station on the large craft’s bridge. ‘They came out of nowhere. It....It’s possible they have some kind of stealth generators or cloaking fields....’
‘Can you confirm that they are indeed police craft?’ demanded Mr Vallan.
The underling frantically tapped controls as beads of sweat began to form on his brow.
A few seconds later, he nervously replied, ‘Y-Yes, Sir. They are definitely Galactic Police ships...’
‘Damn it all to hell!’ screamed Mr Vallan in frustration.
He could not believe that he was so close to getting revenge on Saleek and it was about to be ripped from his grasp at the last moment by an unanticipated interruption.
The underling at the sensor station then said, “Sir, those three ships are scanning our vessel. If they can penetrate our armour and detect what we’re carrying, we won’t just be brought in for questioning, they will arrest us right here and now!”
Mr Vallan clenched his jaw and ground his filthy teeth together. He knew the underling was correct – there were currently a few hundred slave girls, several tonnes of narcotics, many crates of banned weapons and more things aboard the ship which were very, very illegal. If the police detected them, they would all be arrested. For a second or two, Mr Vallan considered the option of destroying the three police craft. It would be easily done with his ship’s massive firepower. However, he quickly realised that would be a foolish course of action to take – if he murdered many police officers in cold blood then the entire galaxy would be after him to try and arrest him. He knew what he had to do.
Reluctantly, he said, ‘Charge all engines and secure all systems. Prepare for emergency randomised jump to super-space. Now! We’ve got to get away from here!’
The huge black and red ship turned about ninety degrees to starboard as its main engines flared. It began to move away from Saleek’s ship as well as the three police craft.
‘Any attempt to escape will result in a charge of resisting arrest which carries its own penalty. I repeat: power down your engines at once,’ said the commanding voice over the com.
‘Saleek, would you mind explaining to us all how you knew this would happen?’ demanded Ellu as she pressed several buttons and the rumble of the ship’s engines suddenly vanished.
The saldorian proceeded to methodically shut down the craft’s propulsion systems as per the police’s request.
‘I always like to have a plan B just in case. As Patrick knows, it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?’ said the grinning lyan in reply.
As the looks from Zeeree and Ellu intensified, Saleek said, ‘All right, all right, I’ll explain. I wanted to rescue P
atrick but I knew I couldn’t do it alone-’
‘That’s why you asked Kracht and me for help,’ interrupted Ellu.
‘Yeah, but here’s the thing: I knew that even with you guys helpin’ me, it’d be nearly impossible to pull this off and escape without a hitch,’ continued Saleek. ‘I know Vallan – I’ve done small jobs for him for a while and I know what kind of scumbag he is. He’s the toughest guy in the world when the odds are in his favour. When he thought it was just him and his gigantic ship and little ol’ me, he was overconfident. I knew he’d want revenge for what I stole from him and I figured that when those guys kidnapped Patrick and tried to take me too, they’d tell Vallan exactly where I was. I knew he’d come lookin’ for me and I knew we needed a sure-fire escape route, which is why I contacted my buddy in the police.’
‘So....just to be clear here,’ said Ellu, still looking unconvinced, ’your big plan was to save us from being tortured to death by getting us all arrested and put in prison instead?’
‘It won’t be like that,’ insisted Saleek. ‘Me and my buddy go way back – we can cut a deal. We’ll give him info ‘bout Vallan and he’ll let us go as long as we stay in touch with him as criminal informants. Trust me, everything’ll be fine!’
Ellu tucked a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear with a delicate motion of her slender fingers. Staring hard at Saleek, she replied, ‘You’ve done this sort of thing before, haven’t you?’
Feeling uncomfortable with Ellu’s gaze burning into him, the lyan looked away as he said, ‘Yeah....’
‘How many times?’
No response.
‘How many times, Saleek?’ demanded the blue-haired girl. She was getting annoyed now.
‘A few....OK, more than a few times,’ admitted Saleek.
‘My God, Saleek,’ said Ellu angrily. ‘Your criminal record must be so long it needs its own section in the police databanks! Did you even think what you were dragging us into before you came up with this ridiculous plan?’
The lyan said, ‘Actually, unusually for me, I did.’
Ellu’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.
Saleek continued, ‘But I did it anyway. I couldn’t let Patrick suffer and die ‘cause of me. The biggest mistake I made was swiping that damn artefact in the first place. Once I’d done that, there was no goin’ back. The only thing to do now is keep movin’ forwards. Sorry if not having a tiny blip on your record is more important than saving an innocent life.’ He paused before saying, ‘Man, I seem to be sayin’ this a lot lately but trust me Ellu, I will make it up to you somehow. The important thing is that Patrick is rescued, we’re all safe and Vallan is gone. I reckon that’s a win.’
Chapter 28
The Hidden Treasure of Darfor Page 49