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'Ship approaching, sir, it looks like a Pellacian destroyer,' said Billy Flax, after being alerted by a midshipman on watch. Dark gray, with the insignia of the Galerian dynasty on her bows, the FS Reynolds bore down on the Tortuga. 'Shields up,' said Captain Cutter. 'There are also two behind us, sir who have just uncloaked,' said Flax over the top of his console. 'On screen with the Reynolds,' said Cutter, and immediately a superbly dressed commander in the Galerian colours of dark blue and gold appeared on the main viewer. 'I am Captain Leon Ravasio of the FS Destroyer Reynolds. You have no doubt seen that there are another two destroyers aft of you who are as capable as we are.' 'Yes, we've seen the Nightingale and the Landseer. We take it that as brothers in the Federation you are mounting an educational exercise.' 'I assure you we are not in class today, Cutter. Am I correct, my boys?' said the Pellacian space dog. 'ABSOLUTELY correct,' said a voice behind Cutter. He turned to find a sarcastic leer on the face of a steward called Groat, a fellow who had served him with ale many a time. Behind Groat were other treacherous staff members, with plasma guns in hand. 'And I'm afraid you can't count on your robots, this time, sir,' said Groat. 'They are locked in standby mode.' 'You may either let us board you peacefully,' said Ravasio via the screen, 'or you can transport to us one of your employees, a Mr Lupo Venner.' Cutter stood throttling himself in his own impotence. 'Even if he WERE aboard, you couldn't expect me to know him on a ship this size,' he spluttered. 'In that case,' shouted Prince Barratat Galerian, taking Ravasio's place onscreen, 'you must lower your shields and allow us to board, or taste our powder and suffer the, uh, discomforts of depressurisation.' Groat and the other traitors on the bridge flinched at this. 'By the way, you will not be able to send any messages to the Federation,' said Ravasio. 'Your communication systems are in our hands.' 'He's right, sir,' said Flax, after patting his own comm badge and finding it dead. Two signals officers on deck nodded in confirmation. 'If not today, the news will come out,' said Cutter. 'This is a Federation Accredited starship.: 'Of course the news will come out,' barked Prince Barratat. 'The news that the Pellacian fleet was able to apprehend a notorious traitor whose comrades are even now causing the deaths of innocent civilians in Caram and other cities throughout Mazarat.' 'He's got us, sir,' said Flax. All the colour had drained from his complexion into the roots of his red hair. 'We can't so much as order up a sandwich on our comm badges, let alone mount a co-ordinated defence of the ship. All we can do is go down kicking and shouting,' he said, touching the pistol on his belt, 'and we're willing to do that right now, eh, lads?' 'Just give the word, sir,' said a bulky ensign standing between Groat and another treacherous steward. 'No, my boys,' said the Captain. 'we've got six hundred passengers to think about. Seems as if we'll have to let them aboard to look for this fellow, what was it? Leonard Venables or something? I know they won't have any luck.' Cutter is one hell of an actor, thought Billy Flax to himself. The Tortuga's passengers were unaware that their starliner was under threat from three Pellacian destroyers. People were following their own inclinations: relaxing in their cabins, or shopping, or drinking. Some were in the gym. The Dorms buzzed with the murmur of conversation and the bubbling of laughter. Stretched on a couch under a coconut tree with its roots in actual soil from the planet Jycona, was Lonnie Pascoe, thinking about the night before. Mrs Clark, or REIANNE. What a dame. Lonnie had felt she was interested in him, and he was more than willing to take her on. He would comfort the widow as he best knew how. A lazy exhilaration stirred his blood. Yeah, comfort the widow and make her like it. He stretched out with his eyes closed and the dappled 'sunlight' from the concealed light bulbs of the Dorms played on his eyelids. 'Lonnie.' He opened his eyes, expecting to see Reianne, the voice was that caressing and inviting. Instead of Mrs Clark, however, he saw Latonia. 'Tonia! Hi, kiddo!' She shrugged as if he had asked a question. She was wearing a big smile, glued-on like, and her hair, which she often kept in a bun, was down around her shoulders. He had told her he liked it that way. 'Lonnie, I'm feeling so lonely lately, after being lost in the Holodream, and all that.' He reached out and she grabbed his hand. They hugged. Surely, he was one of the luckiest men in space. What had he done that was so great? Whatever it was, he must have done it, and God was good. 'Shall we go to my cabin?' said Lonnie. 'Yes, please.' Hand in hand, they went to his pad where he turned the Tunesmith to a playlist of songs beginning with 'We Gotta Get Outa This Place' by the Animals. 'Like it?' 'Yes, it's wonderful,' she said, reclining on the sofa. Lonnie then laid her back further and made love to Latonia Fletcher.Afterwards he was in a trance. He could hardly believe it. She had had a silly smile on her face throughout.Afterwards she went to the bathroom. When she came out she was no longer smiling. She left him there with a sad wave of her hand. Lonnie rubbed his chin for a long time while the Tunesmith continued to play.
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Prince Barratat was one of the first to transport to the Tortuga and start searching for Venner. 'I know you regard this as a wholly justified police exercise, sir,' said Cutter, 'but I must point out to you that we are keeping a log of every single action that takes place on my vessel.' 'You shut your mouth, Cutter,' said Barratat. 'You have already had plenty of chances to hand this menace over to us. It's no good saying you don't know him, all you have to do is look on your computer, after all.' 'I have looked, sir,' said Cutter. (He had looked, all right, to check that the IT guys had wiped all mention of Venner, and altered his ID photographs too. They probably knew what he looked like, but maybe not. So far as the computer was concerned, the members of the Top Hats were Lionel Kilmartin Pascoe and Vincent Crotchett .) 'I must also ask you, sir, not to approach, question or in any way alarm my passengers.' Barratat waved his hand and swore. Cutter was surprised later to find that the Prince had in fact observed this restriction. Staff members and crew were questioned, and nobody admitted to knowing anything about Venner. One or two of the Galerians' undercover agents claimed to have seen him on the ship, but not one of them was enough of a music lover to know anything about the Top Hats. The traitors on board coalesced into a knot and followed the Prince and his retinue of half-a-dozen around the Tortuga. Captain Ravasio remained on the bridge of his ship. Though Barratat had been ready earlier to blow the star liner away if only he could be sure that Lupo Venner would be one of the fatalities, he had now seen the sense of limiting the damage. The fewer passengers who were even aware of this intrusion onto the Tortuga, the better. Though the Prince's people did not question any passengers, there was no reason why a passenger should not speak to them. A tall, dark-haired woman watched Barratat and a couple of air crew in fatigues passing through the Coconut Lounge and unobtrusively clocking the customers. 'Anyone particular you're looking for?' she asked a fellow wearing Galerian blue and gold jeans and jacket. 'An entertainer about twenty,' said the man, giving the passenger a special smile. 'Would you know of one?' 'I couldn't possibly say,' replied the woman. 'Are you out to award him a prize?' 'I can say this that he's a lad who may have great expectations.' 'A lot of people have those,' she replied cagily. 'It's this fellow Lupo Venner we want to talk to,' said the Prince's follower. 'Do you know him?' 'Ha ha! Yes, I know Ven,' she said. 'And you know where he is?' 'I couldn't tell you,' she replied. 'On the ship?' She shrugged. Aware that there was no way he could coerce any information out of a passenger, the officer grunted and started to move on. 'I can tell you one thing,' added the passenger in a gloom-laden voice. 'Yes?' 'A girl who could not fall for anyone, fell for Lupo Venner.' This information was regarded by the investigator as irrelevant. He consulted his wrist screen. The deck he was now on, deck eight, had been checked and he now needed to rejoin his companions on ten. All this searching was to be followed through in a non-threatening manner. The odds were that this Venner individual was unaware that Prince Barratat and his team were aboard or that he was being sought out. This was simply a reconnaissance, on the off chance that he might fall into their hands. If Venner was not located like this, a sweep of the ship woul
d be made by laser to check the DNA of everyone aboard. This process could easily involve rights infringement litigation however, and was to be the last resort. 'Are you looking for somebody, sir?' asked a steward. 'May I help?' As Barratat's investigator was sizing up the individual in front of him he felt a crushing blow on the nape of his neck that sent him spinning into inner space.
* * * * * *
It was Prince Barratat Galerian who recognised the man in question. As he strode along the corridor, he noticed a fellow with a long upper lip and wide-set eyes that reminded him of pictures he had seen of the Kleissenbergs and Ralladars, the enemies of his family. The man looked away and walked briskly towards the next turning. 'That's him! Lupo Venner!' said Barratat, nudging a military policeman who had a revolver and a pair of handcuffs on his belt. The officer put his fingers to his lips to whistle and two more bloodhounds began racing after the fugitive. These men had been issued with low-charge bullets supposedly incapable of piercing the ship's hull, and though warned to be sparing with these, they each took a couple of shots at him, aiming low. Luck was with the runner however. Until he saw three more of the Galerian troops barring his way. So it was that six men piled onto Lupo Venner and he was unable to land a single blow for honour's sake. 'So this is the heir of the Ralladars, is it?' said Prince Barratat with a laugh, puffing his chest out. 'He doesn't look to me as if he could make a convincing monarch. What do you say, lads?' The captive remained silent, saving his energy for the first opportunity to escape.
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Tak Vakrovar had arranged Drax a job as a steward on the Tortuga. The objective was to sound out the other menials and discover who were Galerians and in line for 'just cause' assassination. A 'tidying up' kind of a job, not pleasant, but necessary. Takrovar said that as far as he was concerned, this work would effectually wipe out Drax's record with Prince Barratat. Vakrovar had provided him with documents in another name, and had had him transformed with a seamless prosthetic make up and a blond dye job. Walking the corridors of the Tortuga like a new man was a thrill for Drax, and so far as his duties went, he had already identified two Galerian spies amongst the other stewards. One of Vakrovar's experts had also presented Drax with a comm badge that tuned in to the waveband used by the ship's security. On this, Drax was able to listen to the voice of Hollis Pierpoint, amongst others. Consequently, he was aware of the three destroyers stationed around the Tortuga, and when he found out that Barratat and his party were coming aboard he decided he would temporarily set aside the mission he had been entrusted with and do what he could to rid the world of Barratat Galerian. After casually strolling the ship's corridors for twenty minutes he saw a couple of men in Galerian fatigues, and with them Prince Barratat. He felt the Prince's eyes on him briefly, very briefly. Evidently, his disguise was good. Drax shadowed them for a while, until they began chasing a man. In the next few minutes, by discreetly tuning in his comm badge he learned that they had captured Venner and were headed for the transporter bay. As he made his way there, he saw the girl who had jumped past him and into the Holodream to find Lupo Venner: Latonia, or whatever her name was. She was being questioned by another member of the party of Galerians who were after Venner, and she was giving nothing away. Drax Deerfield realized that the uniform of the fellow questioning Latonia would be a snug fit for himself, and would enable him to get close enough to Barratat to give him a wonderful surprise. He motioned to Latonia to say nothing, then slipped up behind the fellow and delivered a hammer fist across the base of his skull. The fellow flopped out and down. 'Put him over here!' said Latonia, immediately entering into the spirit of the thing. She did not, of course, know who Drax was, nor what he intended, except that as he was against the military he was probably for Lupo Venner. Luckily there was no one else around and she helped him to lug the fellow into a utility room. The serviceman started to revive and when he sat up Drax gave him an uppercut to the chin which rendered him fully comatose. He then stripped the fellow, peeled off his own clothes, and dressed in the blue and gold fatigues. 'Do you know the transporter bay?' he asked, adjusting the peaked cap over his eyes. 'Of course,' said Latonia. 'Well, they are on their way there with Ven. Try to get to the entrance there first. Then here's what I want you to do.'
* * * * * *
The Prince got a call on his palm screen from the FS Reynolds. 'I have received a message from the office of the King himself, sir,' said Captain Ravasio. 'The Nightingale and the Landseer are to draw off and return to their star base, in fact they have now left. The Reynolds is to stay here purely for observation purposes.' 'All right, Leon,' said Barratat silkily. 'You won't have to observe much longer because we've found the party we were looking for. So that makes fifteen of us who will be beaming back shortly. Captain Cutter has given permission.' Barratat bowed to Cutter and pushed his way past Billy Flax. Waving to his party to follow, which they did, with Venner walking in the midst of them, he entered the corridor which led to the transporter bay. The other members of the party had been summoned by comm badge, and the whole group made their way through. Barratat got close to Venner and stuck close to the captive's heels. 'For a Ralladarian Pretender you don't have very much to say for yourself,' he jeered. Waiting at the entrance to the transporter bay were a slight-looking man and two women. They shouted over to a group of passengers who had started trailing Barratat's group. These were fans of the Top Hats who were either curious or outraged to see Lupo Venner being escorted by a party of soldiers. The man standing beside the two women was watching as Lupo Venner was escorted to the entrance to the transporter bay with Barratat Galerian and a couple of hefty soldiers giving him a helping hand. 'They won't keep you long, Ven, we'll get some more gigs,' said the slight man, and the captive nodded. 'No, don't let them take him!' shouted someone in the crowd that was coagulating on the heels of Barratat's men. More folk appeared on the other side, from an entranceway that led to the transporter bay, and they caught the shout from the other group. 'Yes, come on, boys, he won't be going in!' shouted an older passenger who looked as if he might be ex-military. Barratat's force did not want to hear this, and though there had been no hint of violence from the Tortuga folk except the odd fist lifted in frustration, several of the soldiers now drew their pistols. 'Steady, friends! Let them take him for now, this whole incident is being recorded,' shouted Billy Flax in a booming voice from amongst those following the band of blue and gold intruders. The passengers gathering to stop the transportation hesitated as if wondering whether to stand down, because Billy Flax was popular with everyone, as well as being authoritative and respected. Barratat's squad relaxed also, holstering their guns and standing easy whilst looking towards Barratat Galerian. The Prince walked over to the doorway of the transporter bay. Next to the place's door was a disposal hatch camouflaged as a shelving unit. It was kept unbolted except when potentially harmful cargoes were being beamed aboard. Its existence was known to the senior officers on the ship, and the codes to open it were, in theory, known only to the captain. The hatch was fitted with a massive nanospring suction valve for emergency disposal. Billy Flax, for one, flinched as the Prince approached the doorway and the potentially dangerous hatch. Naturally, Flax believed that the bolt was on. Nevertheless, the very existence of that fissure in the ship's hull that could open and close while you were hardly aware of it, put his teeth on edge. Barratat for some reason hesitated in the doorway, looking around him perhaps in order to relish, before he and his prize were transported to the FS Reynolds, the disappointment of the Ralladar-supporting passengers. Then one of his men pushed through, smiling and patting the shoulders of his fellow soldiers. They must have thought he had some urgent news for Barratat. The Prince turned to him with a half-smile, then his face dropped as he did not recognise the man. 'What is this?' he said, and the man leapt. Flax realized that the newcomer's idea was to get his arms around the Prince and hurl himself and Barratat Galerian into the life-sucking, blood-boiling vacuum which is deep space. Equally swift though were the reactions o
f the Prince, who appeared to bow to the fellow engulfing him. This wrong-footed his assailant, who hesitated long enough for Barratat to drive a straight punch into his cheekbone and knock him off his feet. The man was slung against the unbolted hatch and in an almost-invisible blur was thrown into nothingness. The soldiers jumped at the Prince and pulled him away from the innocent-looking alcove. 'Let me through!' shouted Flax, who immediately touched a slide-out panel on the hatchway to infinity and entered the code which secured it. Shaking himself free from his helpers, Barratat studied the faces of his soldiers. He saw nothing except shock and a sense of professional shame at nearly losing the Galerian prince who was their officer. 'Please, sir, go through,' said Billy Flax, waving his open palm. Barratat grabbed Lupo Venner by the collar and pushed him into the transporter suite, looking around carefully in case there was somebody else there with a notion. All was fine though, the techs were at their consoles. Barratat turned to a group of his men standing by. 'You five wait here and see that nobody attempts anything.' The soldiers drew their pistols and moved aside to watch Barratat and the others, including Venner, get onto the transporter pad. The technician made an adjustment then gently slid the gauge forward. The party glowed in a flickering fog of crystals and vanished from the deck of the Tortuga.
By the Time I Get to Pellax Page 20