Moonbeams and magic

by Taylor, Janelle

  Auken, Sach, Starla, and Dagan stepped onto the sensor pads so Moig could transfer them to the other ship, as he was to remain aboard to monitor their safety and operate the transportation unit.

  It did not take long for Starla and Sach to disable the androids. Afterward, they headed to the engine room so the Icarian could set an explosive charge which would leave nothing behind except space debris. Then, the rugged man carried out an unexpected task. Starla watched as he used a laser tool, powered by a small white moonbeam, to open a recently installed and concealed flight recorder box. He poured Myozenic Acid inside to dissolve its contents and beacon, eliminating any clues about the incident and obliterating its tracking signal.

  Sach contacted Auken by transmitter. "All tasks are done," he announced. "How long do you need before I switch on the timing device?"

  "We're finished and ready to leave," Auken answered. "Arm the charge and meet us in the transporter room. Let's get out of here."

  Within five preons, the raid was completed and the group was sitting on the Adika 's bridge with Auken and Sach at the controls. While en route, they observed the distant explosion on the cloaked ship's viewing screen.

  "That was too easy," Auken jested. "No challenge at all."

  "I like easy and quick to protect my skin," Moig revealed. "That's a pretty view, bright colors and pieces flying in all directions, no evidence to point at us or Tochar. Karlee fire,

  those androids are stupid to be so smart; I love those gUtches in their programs so we can bypass their orders."

  Karlee was exactly where Starla wanted the evil villites to go one deega, as a hellish existence and punishment were what she felt they deserved. She made a mental note to report Tochar's knowledge of the investigative apparatus, a secret measure only certain people in Seri should be aware of, one that perhaps would provide the mistake needed to unmask its traitor. She would tell Cypher to add that discovery to their file on this mission.

  Dagan leaned back in his seat. "Auken's right; there were no challenges to stimulate the blood and test our skills. But I wouldn't mind keeping this uniform and marker; might come in handy for future use."

  "You planning on leaving us?" Auken queried, glancing back at him.

  "No time soon, not until I earn enough to buy a new ship; it will take a ying or two for the kind I want. Who knows, maybe I'll stay and hire on as a private raider for Tochar. I do like his generosity and sanctuary. He's smart, so he should be open to that suggestion; having several teams working for him would bring in more profits. You think he would allow me to use the Azoulay if I can get her repaired?"

  After checking his sensors and adjusting his course to head for the stargate, Auken asked, "How would you do that?"

  "There's an old space station orbiting Gavas in the Kalfa system. I've made a few stops at Sion in the past. It's rarely used anymore because the others are newer, better equipped, and more advanced. The parts storage bay might have what Tochar needs to get her going again. Sion was still well stocked the last time I was there, but it could be empty and abandoned by now. If not, only a skeleton crew would be manning it; they shouldn't give us any problems we can't overcome. If Tochar has trusted contacts in Kalfa, he could

  check out that possibiHty; if it's safe and the part he needs is there, we could get one for him. I'm sure I remember my way around that station, so we could be in and out in a hurry. We could use these disguises to obtain permission for docking."

  Starla was dismayed by Dagan's suggestion, as it might endanger the lives of any humans assigned to Sion. If they were divided into teams, she could be given Moig as a partner and assigned raids that didn't include those for moonbeams, which would hinder her investigation and imperil her mission. If she and Moig used her ship while the others used the repaired Azoulay, which was superior to the Adika, that also would prevent Cypher's stealthy trackings. She mustn't allow that obstacle to thwart her.

  "I'm pleased by your idea and offer of help, Dagan," Auken said, "but Tochar doesn't permit anybody to go anywhere in the Azoulay unless he's aboard. But he would be grateful to you for getting him that part."

  Dagan grinned and shrugged as if in acceptance of the Icarian's words. He hoped Tochar would permit him to repair the ship and that the leader would be tempted to take a trek in it for diversion or testing, as that would get Tochar away from his formidable defenses and make him vulnerable to attack. "That's reason enough to do him a favor. That idea came to me after you mentioned the Azoulay's troubles last night."

  Starla was relieved to hear that news, as she feared Auken would ask how Dagan had learned about the Azoulay's problem and might wonder why she had mentioned that fact to the auslander. She suspected Dagan had made that statement to enlighten her. "If our job is completed," she said to Auken, "I'm going to change out of this uniform and scrub off this fake tattoo. It makes me nervous to be this close to them. I don't even want to imagine what an I-GAFqt would do to us for impersonating one of their units. That ranks as one of the gravest offenses we could commit."

  Auken increased their pace to starburst speed. "You're right, Starla, but who's going to find out with the evidence destroyed?"

  Her gaze settled on Auken's Ught hair. "No secret or security is totally impregnable, my friend; somebody—somehow, someway—always finds a means to penetrate them. Our success on this trek proves that's a fact."

  "You aren't losing your courage, are you, Vedris?"

  She looked at the shorter man who was stroking his golden beard. "No, Moig, but it's good to be cautious, and healthy fear is wise. That's what keeps one from making fatal mistakes."

  "She's right, Moig," Sach said, "so don't tease her or laugh. I would be nervous and worried too if I didn't know for certain our secret is safe. Starla doesn't have the same knowledge and advantage we do."

  "It stokes her to be ignorant," Moig disclosed, "she told me so."

  "Wouldn't being kept in the dark bother you when your life is at risk? If I were nothing more than a simple hireling, I wouldn't expect to be told things, but I'm a member of this team and been with it for a long time. I just don't understand why I'm not fully trusted and enlightened."

  "Don't worry, Starla; that won't be true for much longer."

  "Thank you, Auken; you're a good friend and teammate."

  The Icarian smiled. "Thanks, so are you."

  "I'm going to freshen up and change garments. I'll return soon."

  "You can relax and rest back there if you want. It's four deegas to the boundary and three to Tochara. Nothing much to do until we reach base."

  "That's a good idea, Auken. Signal me if there's trouble." Starla left the bridge for privacy as they headed toward the boundary which separated the Free-Zone from Kalfa. The Zone had a small sun but only a few planets and planetoids orbited it every six malees, all close enough to the solar

  body to make their climates and landscapes extremely dry, but not uninhabitable. The Zone was surrounded by Kalfa, Sen, Thracia, and Ceyx; with stargates in each direction to provide fast and easy access from it to those galaxies, especially with certain planetary alignments and their various speeds: sublight, starlight, and starburst. Soon, she fretted, she'd reach Noy again.

  After the journey was over and she was back aboard her ship. Cypher summoned Starla from her sleeping quarters to respond to an undetectable communication link with Thaine Sanger, Star Fleet Commander and head of Maffei's undercover Elite Squad, and son of her parents' best fiiends.

  She addressed her superior who had assigned her to this mission, "Lieutenant Bree-Kayah Saar responding, sir."

  "Bree-Kayah, I wanted to warn you that somebody scanned Starla Vedris's record and requested data on Yana of Asisa. That cue I inserted in the program alerted me to the probes. The origin point was untraceable, so whoever did it has inside knowledge and sophisticated equipment. Do you have any speculations about the intruder's identity and motive?"

  "No, sir. I doubt it was Dagan Latu because he doesn't have access to c
ommunications. Too, I'm sure he was searched by Tochar after his arrival, so he couldn't have brought a device with him." She assumed he had gotten the recorder from one of the traders who was selling stolen goods in the colony. "The only explanation that comes to mind is that Tochar is doing a second scrutiny because he saw the two of us with Dagan. Perhaps Tochar wanted to make certain there were no connections between us."

  "You've already used your Yana identity to approach Lam?"

  "I was hoping she might learn things Starla couldn't, but

  I didn't extract any useful information during my first attempt."

  "Anything else to report?"

  She told him about the recent raid and how it was accomplished using I-GAFqt disguises and knowledge of Seri's secret communications frequency and watchword. She told him about the concealed flight recorder's fate and about a possible raid on the Sion space station.

  "I'll warn Raz Yakir to change his communications frequency and code word. I'll suggest he make a list of people who knev/ about the installation of that recorder and beacon, and to watch them carefully for clues of guilt. As to the Sion raid I hope that succeeds; if Tochar gets his ship repaired, he might be tempted to take a voyage in her. If he does, we could lay a trap for him. You couldn't warn us about his trek if he takes you along, but Cypher can while he's cloaked and tracking you. If we got our hands on that fiendal, we could replace him with a lookalike cyborg and take control of Tochara's defense system and finalize this mission fast. I wish I could contact Autcrie Zeev of Kalfa or the head of I-GAF to make certain a raid on Sion would work, but I can't risk them learning we have an agent inside Tochar's band because we don't know who or where the traitors are."

  "I hadn't thought about entrapping Tochar away from Noy, but that seems a good plan. I'll keep you informed on that angle. Who knows, maybe Dagan Latu will help us without knowing it? I agree with not telling the Kalfan ruler about my presence; we know Tochar has at least one contact there, somebody important and trusted." She revealed everything else she had learned since their last talk, observations and facts that would be disclosed to Yakir. "The mission is progressing, but slowly."

  "Don't get discouraged or take any risks," Thaine Sanger coaxed, "you're doing fine. At least we know more about Tochar and his settlement than we did before your arrival.

  You're getting closer to them and victory every weg. Be wary of Latu; he's cunning and dangerous, and obviously out to stick himself snugly to Tochar for profit and sanctuary."

  "I'll be careful," Starla promised, "if you learn anything else about him, send it to me. I don't want any unknown factors thwarting me. Now, tell me, how is my family?"

  "Doing fine, just worried about you. I'll assure them you're safe and doing a superb job. I'm very proud of you, Bree-Kayah."

  "Thank you. Anything important happening there?"

  "Not at the present. But I don't want to imagine the troubles we'll face if Tochar continues to get his hands on moonbeams. As with every galaxy in existence, Maffei would be utterly helpless to repel his attacks and to protect itself Yakir wishes he had never allowed those weapons to be invented and constructed, and he's distressed about them falling into enemy hands. He had no intention of ever using them against anyone; he just wanted to know the crystals full potential so he could guard against something like this happening."

  "I like and respect Raz Yakir; he's a good man and superior ruler The Tri-Galaxy Alliance was fortunate when Seri and Kalfa decided to unite with Maffei, Androas, and Pyropea. It would be frightening to know those two galaxies possess such formidable crystals if we weren't allies. It must be a terrible burden for him and Autorie Zeev to be responsible for controlling such awesome power, to have the Microcosm's fate in their hands."

  "There have been times in the past when the fates of Maffei and the Tri-Galaxy rested in our fathers' hands, and in your mother's during that viral sabotage. I haven't forgotten the things your sister and her mate and Galen's mate did to save Maffei from our enemies' treacheries, and how our fathers saved your mother's home planet from destruction. Many of Star Fleet's best officers have come from

  your family and bloodline, including our past ruler. No kadim can ever be as wise and revered as your great-grandfather was. I hope Galen and I are as skilled and worthy of our ranks as our fathers were, as you are, Bree-Kayah. Well, we'd better sign off. The longer we stay in touch, the riskier it is for some unknown type of technology to detect our signal."

  Thaine's reflections made Starla homesick for her family and friends, but sent a flood of pride in their accomplishments flowing through her. Her superior and her brother had been best friends since childhood and had carried out many crucial missions together. She had known Thaine and his family since her birth, twenty-six yings after her twin siblings were bom to Supreme Commander Varian Saar of Maflfei and scientist Jana Greyson Saar of Earth. "Tell Father and Mother and the others I love them and miss them. I promise, Thaine, I'll do everything I can to defeat Tochar and to recover or destroy the moonbeams in his possession. Bree-Kayah out."

  "Watch your back, Bree," the close friend in him advised. "I want to bring you home alive and safe. Supreme Commander Sanger out."

  As Starla deliberated the conversation and discussed matters with Cypher, another communication was received. This time, it was from Tochar, an astonishing message to which she would react tomorrow.

  ^'

  LUE

  After finishing her talk with Tochar, Starla asked Cypher's input on the special and secret task Tochar wanted her to help the others carry out the next day. "Why would he signal me so late?" she questioned the android, "If we're not going on another raid or leaving Noy, what could it be?"

  "There is insufficient data to theorize the possibilities."

  "I'll have to come up with a program to teach you to use gut instincts for making guesses," she teased. "Of course, intuition can be wrong, so perhaps it's best to base decisions on facts."

  "It is rare for your perceptions to be wrong; in all instances when you made an error, it was not a serious or incorrectable one."

  If only Antarus had listened to me that fated deega, he would be alive now. At least our mission was achieved and he was awarded a posthumous commendation. If he had survived, would I have fallen in love with him and become his mate? I think not. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

  "Where do your thoughts and feelings travel, Bree-Kayah?"

  She looked at Cypher. "Into the distant past with Antarus where they do not belong. Thank you for your confidence in me and my abilities. I would be lost without you at my side, dear friend."

  "Even if I were not programed to serve and guard you, you have earned trust and loyalty."

  "What a wonderful thing to say, Cypher. Now, back to our mystery: I think Tochar's plan has something to do with buyers for the moonbeams we've stolen so far, at least for part of them. Obviously he doesn't want to involve his Enforcers and wants to keep them unaware of the crystals' power and value, so he needs his special team either to go with him or to carry out the sale and delivery. He wouldn't meet with them in Tochara and risk being seen together by the wrong person. That indicates a probable rendezvous point in the desert. Do you have the device ready that Raz Yakir told you how to construct?"

  "I completed it before I summoned you to speak with your superior." He lifted the tiny square and said, "I assembled it with the frequency Raz Yakir supplied. His theory of destablatory electromagnetic pulsations is rational, but there are no means by which to test the unit's prime function."

  Starla was glad Cypher had many scientific and technological chips within his advanced system and had access to numerous others in several computer networks' data bases. "If it works as Yakir's inventors say it will, all I have to do is get close enough to those moonbeam crates to attach it without getting caught. Do you believe the sound waves it emits can agitate the crystals' internal power source and cause them to shatter into particles too minute to be of use to Tochar? I don't u
nderstand the full concept, but it sounds as if it's some type of implosive sequence." Starla was glad Cypher always tried to explain things to her in a comprehensible way.

  "That is what Raz Yakir's report said it would do."

  "But I thought moonbeams were infrangible."

  "Nothing is indestructible. For every force in nature, there exists a counterforce if it can be found and mastered by thought and action." His control center told him to clar-

  ify his meaning in simple language. "Only a blue crystal can be cut by manmade instruments and only a blue crystal can penetrate the other crystals' surfaces, but all crystals appear to have the same internal structure and power source, heart, as you humans would say. The color of its covering, its skin, alters or decides its capability. Their entire complexities, composition, and potentials are still unknown."

  "Perhaps the Serians and Kalfans have stumbled upon the portal to doom's deega and unleashed the evil beyond it, because an intergalactic war with such awesome weapons would be catastrophic."

  "If such a doorway exists, we will close and seal it again."

  "How does one halt a solar storm after it begins and recall a laser's beam once it has been fired? It is the same with the crystals' power. It has been revealed and loosened upon a weaker mankind."

  The android analyzed her words and grasped her meaning. "One who is intelligent, strong, brave, and agile can evade both forces. We will find a way to defeat your enemies and destroy their threat."

  "If that device works, Cypher, why can't they create a larger unit with the same frequency band and aim it at those Destructoids? "

  "Distance between the apparatus and its target would prevent success. Raz Yakir's communication stated it must be within a certain range to work."