Kelly started calculating what the Galactic Republic might be willing to do to help out a former enemy, but his thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a servant, walking through the ornately carved door, with a tray of T’Pala and fresh glasses.
J’Gon looked up angrily, preparing to send him away, when his anger changed to alarm. Not recognizing the servant, he fumbled with the arm of his chair then called for his guards. Both doors burst open with a bright flash and loud bang. Four black-clad K’Rang sprang into the room through each door as the servant hit J’Gon with a ray that caused him to crumple to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Kelly jumped in the way of one of the commandos as he advanced on Candy, only to be cut down with a kick to the leg and butt stroke to his head. Candy screamed, but the scream was cut off as the servant aimed and fired his beam at her.
The servant quickly surveyed the situation and made a hand signal for assuming a defensive posture. One of the black-clad figures came over to him as the other seven guarded the doors.
The servant looked at him and said, “My detector shows alarms going off all over the building. He must have had an alarm built into the chair our agent was not aware of. Our egress route is likely to be blocked off.”
The black-clad commando asked, “What do we do, Shadow Leader?”
“Two of you take J’Gon. Two of you take the Human woman. We can use her as a hostage to get out. Call the hover ship to land on the front lawn and wait for us. Let’s go!”
They moved with practiced ease. Two commandos picked up J’Gon between them, another threw the much lighter Candy over his shoulder, and they all ran out through the less ornate door down the utility corridor, down several staircases, and out of the building, without meeting any security forces. They exited into the brightly lit front garden, blended into the shadows of the hedges, and waited for the hover ship. The servant turned on an ultraviolet strobe to guide the hover ship in.
A quick response team burst into the room, finding Kelly alone and barely conscious on the floor. Kelly saw the team come into the room as if looking up at the surface from the bottom of a pool. Slowly his head stopped spinning and he realized all guns were pointing at him.
He cried out, “They’ve taken J’Gon!”
He looked around him and didn’t see Candy. He almost blacked out again, but focused his consciousness to yell at them, “They’ve taken my wife, too!!”
As Kelly tried to sit up, a K’Rang boot came down on his shoulder and kicked him back down. Kelly felt his collarbone snap. He became slightly more lucid and realized he had just yelled at them in Galactic standard. This time he yelled at them in K’Rang, “They took J’Gon and my wife!”
The apparent leader of the security detail came over to Kelly and growled down at him, “Explain who you are and what you are doing in the Elder’s personal quarters and be quick about it.”
“Kelly gathered as much strength in his voice as he could and announced, “I am Captain Kelly Blake, Defense Attaché of the Galactic Republic, accredited to the GR Embassy. The Elder invited my wife and me here. A K’Rang dressed in house livery entered the room, followed by eight commandos. Elder J’Gon must have been suspicious of the unknown servant and hit the alarm button in his chair. I was knocked unconscious by a butt stroke to the head. They have taken your elder and my wife.”
The K’Rang team leader made a quick query over his communicator and ordered his team to take their weapons off of Kelly. Kelly heard as an announcement came over the communicator of a hover ship landing on the front lawn.
He got the attention of the team leader and said, “They have my wife and she is pregnant. Be careful. I also think my leg and collarbone are broken.”
The team leader got on his communicator and sent out a general broadcast that the kidnappers had a human female hostage and that she was pregnant. A call came back from security control to take no actions that would directly or indirectly hurt J’Gon or Candy.
The hover ship landed on the lawn and the commandos quickly and efficiently bounded into the ship, as it rose off the lawn and headed off low-level to the east.
The security team chief called a medic for Kelly and informed him that the commandos got away clean and no harm came to his wife or the Elder.
Kelly acknowledged the team leader’s report, but he was left with a cold, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. His wife and unborn child were out there, under the control of whoever those raiders were. He needed to get to the embassy and report this so he could get the forces together to find and free his wife. The security team didn’t want him to leave, although he informed them in no uncertain terms that he needed to contact his embassy immediately.
It wasn’t until Baron N’Gana arrived, with Elders J’Kol and G’Tol, that medical care was provided – along with a communicator to contact the embassy. Kelly informed the duty officer of the situation as best he could; given the adrenaline was wearing off and the pain medication taking effect. He asked that the Defense Attaché staff be assembled and ready for him as soon as possible. Kelly finished by saying he would return to the embassy as soon as he could.
Baron N’Gana, in accordance with treaty protocols, got Kelly’s details of the twin abduction. Treaty or no, pain medication or no, Kelly wanted to give them all details he could to assist in getting Candy back unharmed. They only held him for the minimum time needed to get the details of the abduction and released him to a waiting medical team to stabilize his broken bones and an imperial ground car to deliver him to the embassy.
The embassy triage team met Kelly at the entrance, examined the care given him by the K’Rang medics, and pronounced it excellent after reviewing the med-scans. Kelly was placed in a hover chair and taken to the secure room where Alistair and the acting ambassador were awaiting him. He recounted the evening’s events and helped prepare the reports to be sent to Earth. When they had all the information out of him they could expect to get, they called the doctor in to give him a strong sedative (against his wishes) and set him up on a cot in his office.
* * * * *
The president’s personal aide entered his bedroom and turned on a table lamp. He said, “Mr. President, wake up, sir. You have a call from Admiral Craddock. He says it’s urgent, sir.”
A groggy president took the phone from his aide, realized if Tom Craddock was calling him at 0300 it must be damned important. He took a second to sweep the cobwebs from his mind and asked, “What is it, Tom?”
Admiral Craddock replied in his crisp military style, “Mr. President, we may have a coup in process on G’Durin. Senior Elder J’Gon has been abducted from his palace. My son-in-law and daughter were with J’Gon when the abduction took place. My daughter was taken hostage by the abductors. Her condition and whereabouts are unknown. Kelly has a mild concussion and a broken leg from the abduction, and a broken collarbone from an overenthusiastic security member. He is back at the embassy and sedated. The K’Rang are downplaying this, but they have their security apparatus on full alert. A line has been crossed here, sir. The Elders are supposed to be inviolate.
“The ambassador has been informed, will leave Earth, and be at the embassy within the hour. The acting ambassador and chief of station are working the diplomatic and intelligence problems and will issue reports when they have any further information. So far this appears to be an isolated incident. The other Elders are secure and no other coup activity appears to be in process. That is all the information I have at this time. Do you have any questions, sir?”
The president involuntarily yawned and said, “Tom, keep me informed. Summarize all you just told me for my morning briefing. If there is anything you need in the way of authorizations or resources, let me know and you have it. Have the Craddocks been informed?”
“No, Mr. President, I wanted to inform them personally after I talked to you.”
“Well, get them on the phone and let them know what is going on. How is your wife taking it?”
“She’s put
ting up a brave front and taking it okay, but I can hear the worry in her voice.”
“Okay, Tom, keep me informed.”
“Of course, Mr. President.”
Admiral Craddock hung up and immediately dialed Moira Blake.
The line rang twice and Moira answered the phone.
“Moira, this is Tom. Sit down.”
She replied that she was and he continued. He told her all he knew of the details of Candy’s abduction and that he would be doing everything in his power to retrieve his daughter and their future grandchild safely. Unsaid was the fate of these abductors if anything happened to his daughter. Moira calmly took the news and said she would make her way to G’Durin as soon as she could to do what she could. She told him not to worry, that Candy was a smart and capable woman and she would get through this just fine.
He agreed with her about Candy. They vowed to keep each other informed of happenings and what she found out on site. When they hung up, there were two heavy hearts wondering what the next few days would bring. Moira called Kelly’s father and made preparations to travel to G’Durin.
* * * * *
The hover ship flew low through the mountain valleys northeast of the capital. At a signal, a door in a mountainside opened and the ship flew in and landed. Gurneys were rolled in and J’Gon and Candy were rolled out and taken to a holding facility. Candy went in one small, soundproofed room and J’Gon into another.
Candy was still unconscious from the effect of the ray, so she did not hear the head of the commando team being reamed for taking Candy captive.
“Are you stupid or feeble minded? You took a Human female hostage. Where in your orders did it say you were to abduct anyone but J’Gon? Now you will have the Humans involved in what was supposed to be an internal K’Rang affair!”
“Who is she? Do you have a clue what she was doing in J’Gon’s palace and private chambers?”
S’Gin, still dressed in the servant’s clothing, standing at crisp, but nervous attention answered, “She was there with a Human Fleet officer. I can only assume that J’Gon had them brought to his study to confer with them on something. No one was supposed to be with him. Our spy in the palace told us he would be alone at the time of the raid. He also told us there was no alarm in reach of J’Gon, but the chair he was seated in had an alarm button, which J’Gon pushed when he did not recognize me. Her capture was necessary for us to effect our escape. We made it on board the hover ship without a shot being fired. We’d all probably be dead if we hadn’t had her with us.”
Shadow Unified Force Commander H’Vat looked him in the eye and said, “That may have been the preferred outcome. Now we have the Humans to deal with and they are very protective of their own. We will handle these problems as they come. For now, find out who she is and for T’Ganu’s sake, make sure nothing happens to her. If any harm comes to her, I will personally command your execution squad.”
* * * * *
Kelly’s sedated mind replayed the assault over and over and ran through all the possible outcomes. He groaned in his sleep as he saw the most horrible ends for Candy his fevered mind could devise. In his dream he floated above his body and saw her taken away by the black clad attackers. A small boy’s voice called out over and over, “Daddy, why didn’t you save us?”
The physician’s assistant watching over him caught him as he almost fell off the cot in his thrashing, and administered a stronger sedative. In Kelly’s fitful mind, his wife and the small boy receded and faded from sight as the darkness enfolded him. The PA watched as Kelly settled into a deep, dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
Captain M’Taso and two crewmen reconnoitered the situation around her ship from high ground to the east. She saw there were never fewer than three of the worker insectoids around the ship at any time. They changed the guard with almost K’Rang precision and discipline. Each old guard was replaced by a new guard one third, two thirds, and midnight of a complete day. Each guard touched antennae with the oncoming new guard and, presumably, passes on any instructions or observances. The new guard then assumed the guard position.
M’Taso noticed that neither the guards nor other insectoids ever entered the ship, but maintained a perimeter, cutting any chance of infiltrating the ship and flying it to her mountain hideaway. She noticed one inconsistency in their normal impenetrable perimeter. One of the guards on the evening shift moved from the position maintained by the other two guards assigned on the other shifts to watch that area. The guard moved forward to a slight mound to give him a longer view out in front of its position. It gave it a larger view to its front, but put a slight gully out of view. M’Taso thought she could crawl up that gully and get behind the guards. If she could do that, she could attempt to recapture her ship. She watched for two more days to make sure the pattern was consistent and returned to her camp to formulate a plan.
; patrols had forced the rest of her command to decamp twice while she was gone and she had difficulty finding where they had moved. She eventually found them and laid out her plan for retaking the ship. While her teams made ready to capture the ship, she caught up on her sleep, so she would have a clear head when the attempt was made.
* * * * *
Shadow Leader G’Fin, military aide to the Director of Treaty Compliance, requested a meeting with Kelly as soon as he was able to receive visitors. The doctors checked him out, pronounced him fit for limited duty, and fitted him in a grav chair. Kelly did not want to meet with G’Fin. He wanted to continue pushing his staff to find where his wife had been taken, but the ambassador insisted. He told Kelly his staff was competent and would work just as well or better without him there pestering them.
Kelly, assisted by one of his enlisted assistants, met with G’Fin in the ground floor reception room.
G’Fin began, “I must express my outrage that Candy has been taken hostage. This is without honor and I am ashamed that such an offense has occurred. I assure you that the K’Rang security apparatus is operating at full capacity to ensure the safe return of your wife and Elder
. No stone will be left unturned in this endeavor.”
Kelly said, “Thank you, G’Fin. It means a lot to me that the K’Rang are not only committed to returning Elder J’Gon, but also my wife unharmed.”
G’Fin appeared to be fighting through an inner conflict before he finally spoke. “Captain, I realize this may be an inopportune time, but you asked earlier if there was any way your government could help. There is one way, if you are amenable.
“We have an ancestral enemy, a race of insectoids we call the T’Kab. They are relentless colonizers and can take over a planet in at little as six months unopposed. We drove them back from several of our planets nearest the galactic hub over a century ago. We now know they are again on the move into our space. You need not confirm this, but we believe that is why you were invited to the elder’s quarters last night.”
Kelly kept silent on what they had discussed with the senior elder. He waited to hear if he would get the same story from the elders – the one that J’Gon had said the other elders did not want him to know.
“Your last ship, the scout ship Orion, is very fast. Our flotilla at top speed will take three weeks to arrive at its destination. We request your very fast and capable scout ship make best speed to the area and scout it for us so that our flotilla does not enter into the system blind. We can ill afford to lose ships to lack of reconnaissance. The T’Kab may have captured one of our planetary survey ships. If so, they will have access to our navigation system and communication equipment and protocols. This would give them information on all our planets and many of yours and the A’Ngarii’s planets. We see this as a danger to all three of our civilizations. If possible, have your ship destroy any unidentified ship in orbit around the planet or in the system. It would be the T’Kab courier ship coming for the navigation system.
“If your government will agree to conduct the recon for us, we are ready to make a liaison team available to
accompany the ship. In return, we will provide unlimited access to our atlas of the empire. It lays out details on every planet, star system, and astronomical feature in our space. It includes detailed information on the defenses, population, cities, and resources of all explored or inhabited planets. We lay ourselves bare to you. You could not collect this much information in less than 50 years even if all your ships were as fast or capable as the Orion. This data crystal contains all we have on the T’Kab.”
The pain pills kept Kelly from being too affected by G’Fin’s flattery over his old ship. He thought for a moment and replied, “I will carry your request favorably to my government. If the T’Kab are as you say, they are a peril to all three of our peoples. I’ll see what I can do. Of course, if your government could find and return my wife unharmed, it would open up many avenues of mutual benefit. We needn’t always be enemies.”
G’Fin looked down at the floor, as if running through an emotional calculus, and back up to Kelly. “Captain, if I find out anything, anything at all, I will let you know without waiting for diplomatic channels. On this I give you my oath.”
Kelly was taken slightly aback by this willingness to forego diplomatic protocol. He also understood the significance of the oath to a K’Rang. When said before witnesses, an oath must be upheld. To falsely give one’s oath was almost unthinkable to the K’Rang; to do so would strip one of all honor and make one an outcast, subject to death at the claws of any member of his clan.
Kelly thanked G’Fin for his offer and restated that he would recommend approval for his request.
G’Fin thanked him and made his departure. As he walked back to the Foreign Ministry, he contacted his clan leader and informed him he had made his oath to the Human, as directed. J’Gon was clan brother and also his uncle. An affront to their elder was an affront to all their clan. He would see what he could find out to make an early partial fulfillment of his oath.
All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) Page 7