by Frank Carey
"Billy! Is this one of your CGI creations?" Arriska demanded.
"No. Cmdr. Thurgood had nothing to do with this image because this image is real-time from the barracks facility in the Security Wing of Protector. Now, the vid of the prisoners being executed was one of Billy's masterpieces. It's amazing what that boy can do when given an impossible deadline to meet."
"How is that possible? I was there!" Arriska asked in shock.
"Advanced holoprojector technology coupled with high emotional state. I'm sorry for the deception but your reaction was crucial to the operation. Your mother is old hat at this, so she could fake it. You, on the other hand, had to believe it."
"I hope you both can forgive me someday," Billy said.
"So why all the secrecy?" Gloria asked while she continued to stare at the view from the barracks.
"Rebirth has gotten wind of the Halcyon and is rumored to have sent hit teams in to punish the population of the Halcyon home world," Ange explained. "Protector is heading to the Halcyon home world not only to open a dialog, but to offer our assistance in protecting them from attack. We can't let any of this slip until we've stopped the attack on Northcal Six and have secured the asteroid."
"You don't trust Skaarn and her motley crew, do you?" Gloria asked
"Frankly, no," Ange replied. "I'm not going to believe anything until I'm standing on the Halcyon home world and shaking their leader's hand."
"Ma'am, how do we proceed?" someone from the Engineering Section asked.
We continue on course until we receive the all-clear from command. We then change course for Halcyon and proceed at best possible speed. We have sent Command the Halcyon home world's coordinates which they have shared with the Erdexi and the Martok, both of whom will send ships to join us at Halcyon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tobath sat in the lounge and relaxed while he waited for Arriska to return from the staff meeting. He had spent the last several hours running checks of all Melete's systems including the band's instruments. Having run out of chores he took time to sit down to read some long-neglected books on top of his reading pile. He was half-way through his second book--a novella about an Elf on a quest--when Gloria and Arriska walked in and grabbed tea from the dispenser before sitting down, Arriska snuggled next to him while Gloria opted for a nearby couch.
"How'd it go?" he asked while putting the e-Reader down on the table in front of him.
"We're under a security lock so we can't discuss it right now, but I can say the crew of the Melete are officially heroes of the League, though I think Charlie would love to lock us up and throw away the key," Gloria said with a grin "Where is everybody?"
"Tour of the ship, autograph signing, arranging for a concert, the usual. It seems many of the ship's crew members are fans of the band. I heard the captain even arranged for Glit to fly the ship for a bit. I swear her feet have not touched the deck since we arrived here," Tobath said, smiling. "Oh, and Mom is touring Engineering."
"And you're just sitting here reading?" Gloria asked.
"No, I first ran a complete set of diagnostics on the Melete, then I sat down here and read."
"Oh," Gloria said as she looked over and saw Arriska curled up next to Tobath. She was sound asleep. "She’s had one hell of a day."
"We all have," Tobath said as he brushed a lock of hair off her forehead.
"I'll leave you two alone. Chief Engineer McKenzie wanted to show me something down in Engineering. Something about a problem they're having with a computer system. Need anything while I'm out?"
"Naw. I'm just going to sit here and read while Arriska sleeps. Have fun."
"Thanks. I'll check on you later," she said as she got up and headed toward the door, her waving tail the most relaxed he had seen in days.
He sat there and looked at his beloved Arriska wondering what the future held for him. He thought about his people and how she could lead them into a new era of prosperity, but to do so he needed to die and, honestly, he didn't want to die and he didn't want his beautiful Arriska to become a four-armed giant either.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he tried to solve the unsolvable puzzle. Soon he too was asleep as the exhaustion from the day's work caught up with him.
###
Engineering was subdued as its personnel attended to the myriad tasks associated with keeping a ship the size and complexity of Protector running at maximum performance. Gloria, led by Chief Engineer McKenzie, walked into the heart of the Protector and was immediately impressed by the controlled chaos around her. Billy walked up to her on his way out. "You just missed Nersa. She finished her tour and is heading up to join the band in the main lounge. Have you seen Tobath or the Princess?"
"They're aboard the Melete resting. It has been a tough few days on the two of them."
"I can imagine. Well, I must be off. Let me know if you need anything," he offered.
"Thanks. I will," she said before turning back to Mac.
"Over here is what I wanted to show you," Mac said as she took Gloria by the arm and maneuvered her through the throng of people to a large black cube about six feet on edge located at the approximate center of the room.
"I recognize this. It's a Clystrop-03 NAVComp. Nice, but a little dated, isn't it?"
"Yeah, we were going to swap it out but a little mutiny got in the way. We were scheduled to get a Silvestri prototype, but it was rerouted. You wouldn't have anything lying around the shop we could borrow when this is all over, would you?"
Ooops, Gloria thought to herself. Hope she hasn't toured the Melete yet. We do, actually. The Silvestri Two--we call her Nancy--in final test. I'll talk to John about rerouting it to Protector."
"Great, Thanks. So, how's your team doing?
"They're working like maniacs. Serena took over the Lead position so John could concentrate on design."
"Is he still making those disturbingly real drawings?”
"They've gotten more real looking."
"Yikes..." Mac's comment was cut off by yelling and gunfire, two sounds never heard in Protector's Engineering Room.
Gloria was grabbed around her throat by someone with greater than normal strength. She tried to break the hold, but couldn't. She then tried to turn around but stopped when a blaster was put to her head.
"Stop struggling, or I swear I'll pull the trigger," the someone said in a female voice.
"Let me go!"
"I have five times your strength, so shut up and stand still," the voice said.
"Genna, let her go and we'll talk about this," Mac said as the security alarms started going off. "Charlie's people will be here in moments, so just calm down and let Gloria go."
Genna is a Tralaskan name, Gloria thought to herself. She's right; I'm no match for a Tralaskan woman in my real body, dammit. She forced herself to relax.
"Good girl," Genna said. "Mac, you and your people step away from the NAVComp. I don't want to hurt anyone aboard this ship.”
"What are you going to do?" Mac asked as she signaled everyone to move away.
Genna aimed her gun at the navigation computer and fired. The black cube melted as the ship dropped instantly into real-space throwing everyone to the deck or into the bulkheads. The uncontrolled decant caused the ship to tumble as the emergency systems tried to establish control while bleeding-off massive amounts of kinetic energy. The lights went out as systems overloaded, adding to the confusion. When the emergencies kicked-in, Genna and Gloria were gone.
"Alex, lock down all systems!" Mac yelled as she got off the floor and ran to the main console. She punched in commands at a furious rate to stabilize the ships disrupted systems. "Lock out the bridge while I get us back to rights."
"Aye, ma'am," he replied as he got up and ran up to one of the control panels.
"While you're at it, activate reaction quads and stop this tumble."
"Aye ma'am," the Engineering Second Officer said as he manually fired the reaction quads to stop the ship's uncontrol
led rotation.
"Engineering! What the hell is happening? Sarah, do you copy?" Captain Thurgood yelled over the intercom.
"Angie, Genna just slagged the NAVComp and kidnapped Gloria at gunpoint. We've dropped out of FTL with a hell of a lot of rotational energy which we are trying to bleed off. You'll have control back in..." She looked at Alex who held up three fingers, "...three minutes. Engineering out. Keesh, reroute network connections to the backup NAVComp!"
"On it, ma'am," the Alturan said as his tentacles flew over the main patch panel. Connections formed on Mac's console screen as Keesh rewired the ships navigation system in real time.
"We are flying straight and level, ma'am," Alex yelled as the main lights returned.
"Emergency NAVComp online, ma'am," Keesh said as he replaced the panel cover.
"Unlock the Bridge," she yelled. "Captain, you're back online." She looked at the Master Chronometer and saw they had accomplished the impossible in less than four minutes. "Not bad, people, not bad at all."
###
Genna carried Gloria down the dark hallway while firing off shots at anyone who stuck their heads out into the corridor.
"Put me down, brute," Gloria hissed.
"Enjoy the ride. We're almost there," Genna said while firing at more people.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Dorsal Bay Three. We're taking a little ride."
They reached a door guarded by two heavily-armed security team members who Genna summarily shot. She grabbed the hand of one of them and pressed it on the palm pad, causing the door to open. She stepped in, still carrying Gloria.
Genna and her hostage headed toward one of the heavily armed battle shuttles--the Sun Tzu--while firing at people along the way. One of the shots hit a young Torsan girl near the Melete.
"Glit! You shot Glit. Stop it. Let me down," Gloria screamed.
Genna pushed the gun against Gloria's temple and said, "Not one more word." She thumbed the power setting from heavy stun to disintegrate, to add emphasis to the command. Gloria glared at her as blaster bolts rained down on them from the group near the Melete.
"The Martok are excellent shots," Genna said as a bolt hit her square in the back. It didn't faze her though the backwash had stunned Gloria. The firing stopped as she entered the shuttle and sealed the door behind her. Once inside, she placed the stunned Gloria in a seat and handcuffed her to it using a pair of restraints from the security rack near the door. Once Gloria was secured, Genna walked to the cockpit and began an abbreviated preflight checklist which ended with an emergency engine start. Seeing all was well with the ship, Genna sent an override command which opened the overhead doors. Seconds later, the Sun Tzu climbed into the darkness as Protector hung there powerless to stop her or even follow.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Tobath sat on the couch with Arriska curled in the crook of his arm as they slept, exhausted by the events of the last few days. Neither moved a muscle as they dreamed peaceful dreams of hope.
Their rest was interrupted by an abrupt lurch which threw them off the couch and across the deck, coming to rest against the opposite couch in a tangled pile of limbs. "Princess, are you hurt?" Tobath asked worried about the fall she just took.
"I'm uninjured, what happened?"
"I don't know. Silvestri, ship's status?"
"Sir, we are still locked down, but external power has been interrupted. I have switched us back to internal systems for the time being."
"Good. Any idea what just happened?" Tobath asked as he got up, and then reached down to help Arriska up.
"Protector has experienced a total NAVComp failure. The ship was on alert status right before the failure occurred.
"Nature of alert?"
"There is a hostage situation in progress. The kidnapper and hostage are heading here."
"Any other details?"
"The hostage is Ms. Gloria."
"Dammit," he said as he grabbed a pair of pistols from the cupboard and threw one to Arriska. They checked their loads before heading to the forward ramp.
Once outside they looked around and saw the rest of Tobath's family coming down the port side ramp having returned to the ship while the two Martok were napping. Just then gunfire erupted from the far side of the bay. That's when they saw someone carrying Gloria across the deck, heading to one of Protector's armed shuttles. The person carrying Gloria was firing shots at anyone who moved.
"Get down! Arriska yelled to the Musae family, but it was too late. One of the shots hit Glit square in the middle of her chest, sending her into a crumpled heap on the deck. The others grabbed her and dragged her unconscious body to safety behind a large loader parked near the Melete.
Seeing Glit was safe, Tobath's and Arriska's training took over as they set their weapons to heavy stun knowing Gloria could be hit by backwash when they hit the kidnapper.
Arriska took careful aim and fired, hitting the person carrying Gloria in the center of their back. The runner kept going as Gloria went limp.
"Dammit, who makes these weapons? I might as well be shooting marshmallows," she said, referring to the confection Glit had recently introduced her to. The runner, still carrying the limp body of Gloria, entered the ship and sealed the door behind them.
"Silvestri! Target Sun Tzu, Tracker puck now! Tobath yelled. A shot sounded above them followed by a disc-shaped object emerging from the Melete and attaching itself to the Sun Tzu a split-second before the shuttle raised its shields. Above them the containment field activated and the doors opened as the shuttle lifted off and exited the Protector leaving only the sound of alarms and Glit's limp body lying on the deck.
"How is she?" Arriska asked as Tobath knelt down beside Glit and took her limp hand.
"Stunned, unconscious," Nersa said as a medical team ran up and started working on her daughter. "Did you tag that ship?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "Silvestri, status of tracker?"
"Transmitting. Would you like me to send the details to the Bridge?"
"Yes, please," Tobath replied as Charlie and his security team ran up. "How is she? Anyone else hurt?"
"Everyone else is fine, but Ms. Glit has been heavily stunned and she may have hit her head on the deck. We're taking her to Sickbay," the lead medical technician said as they raised Glit's gurney and started rolling it to the door.
"I'm going with her," Silk said as xe took her limp hand.
"And we're going with them," Tolk and Miriam said in unison.
"Mr. Trost, what just happened?" Kaylon asked. She was worried about Glit. They all were.
Charlie explained.
"Why would Genna do this?" Arriska asked.
"We've been doing background checks on the crew starting the minute we heard about Tralaskan hit squads being sent out against the Halcyons. Genna's came back a few minutes before she took-out the NAVComp and one of Genna's brother was part of the hijacker group aboard the Arriska. She and her family think he's dead and the family swore vengeance and tasked her with carrying it out."
"But why not kill me? I was there? It was my mother who ordered the executions."
"Princess, the vengeance isn't against you or the Martok. It's against the Halcyons. The Tralaskans found out about the Halcyon's role in the Arriska incident." He stopped to listen to his comm. "Fast thinking with the tracker, Tobath. It puts the Sun Tzu on a direct course to the Halcyon home world. ETA one hour. The captain is trying to raise the Halcyons on the radio to warn them, but no one is answering."
"We have to stop her and save Gloria. When can we get underway?" Arriska asked.
"No can do for at least another four hours. We need to build a new NAVComp capable of FTL travel.
"What if you had one ready to plug in and go?" Tobath asked.
"Let me check," Charlie said as he called Engineering. "Billy says thirty minutes. Why, you got a NAVComp just lying around?"
"Yes, I do,"
Five minutes later, Charlie, Mac, and Billy were in the Melete's Na
vigation Computer Room staring open-mouthed at the only Silvestri One NAVComp unit in the universe. Behind it, in standby mode, was the Melete's aged, but still usable NAVComp.
"We disconnect here, here, and here, then connect a port-a-power unit here. The floor lowers for ease of replacement," Tobath explained. "Silvestri, are you up to driving the Protector?"
"Aye, sir."
"You know, Silvestri, we love you like family," Nersa said from the doorway, "but Protector needs you."
"I understand mistress. It has been an honor to be part of your family."
"What about the Melete?"
"Two minutes and we are back in business."
Captain Thurgood walked in and looked Silvestri over. "So, this is it?"
"Yes, Captain, I am it," Silvestri replied.
"Captain, we would like to do more to help than just supply a NAVComp," Nersa said.
"What do you have in mind?" Ange asked while staring at Silvestri. She had the distinct feeling it was staring back at her.
"We want to go after the shuttle. Melete is fully armed and her crew is combat trained," Nersa said as if she was complimenting Ange's shoes.
"What?" Ange said while tearing her gaze away from the Silvestri NAVComp.
Tobath handed the captain a datapad with Melete's specs. Charlie whistled as he read over his wife's shoulder.
Ange looked up at Nersa then back at the pad. "You're free to launch as soon as you're ready. We'll follow the moment repairs are complete," she said as she handed the pad back to Tobath. "What about the Princess?"
"I'm going wherever Tobath goes," Arriska said before anyone else had a chance to answer. "I'm Heir Apparent to the Martok Empire. I don't hide from battle."
"Speaking of the Martok Empire," Ange said as she shifted her attention back to Nersa. "I've alerted Space command about the new development. The Martok and Erdexi have dispatched warships which will rendezvous with you at the Halcyon home world, but you are on your own until help arrives.”
"I understand, Captain."
"I don't think you do. Genna will do everything in her power to exact revenge on the Halcyons. OffSec speculates she will probably resort to detonating the FTL inside a major city, assuming she can find one. Regardless, if you can't stop her you are ordered to destroy the shuttle at all costs."