The Rylerran Gateway

by Mark Ian Kendrick

  Darreth bit his thumbnail. This was potentially disastrous. At best, it was a complete breach of privacy. He had to have a conversation with his father as soon as possible to warn him about not saying anything else, even over what he considered secure comm channels. Certainly, no standard photronic means of communication would be appropriate to contact his father at this point now that he knew what she knew. What if she even had access to his neural implant conversations?

  “She’s clever, but not foolproof,” Grevi said with a smirk. “She’s getting help on Rylerra. Any idea who that might be?”

  Darreth’s head was spinning. She was guilty of attempted murder as far as he was concerned. And for the first time he was asking himself the right questions. How was it possible that not a single person in the Space Navy had come up with any good leads on the pirates, but this totally amateur group had? Was it because no one suspected her or her office in all of this? Were there really no tentacles reaching out from his division to discover things like this? Were there higher ups or others who were keeping the lines of communication closed between divisions? Who in his chain of command was blocking all of this? How was it possible that the Planetary Director had as much power as she did over his life? It appeared as if she personally had the power to make sure his life came to an end! It was like suddenly having a veil lifted from his eyes. It was becoming extremely obvious to him that Inandra had blocked a thorough investigation into this incident by planting the idea that it was pirates who had shot down his shuttle. That way no one would suspect the ship had originated from Rylerra.

  “I have a damn good idea,” he told them angrily. “His name is Zelin Raxi. He’s a mining operations manager. It’s rumored they have a thing going on. Long distance, of course, but a thing nonetheless.”

  “A lover. I knew it,” Traig said as he wrote down the name in his vidPAD. “I’ll have Caddo do the research on him.”

  “Why haven’t you brought this to anyone else’s attention. Someone in authority,” Darreth asked.

  Traig answered. “As you’ve already pointed out, breaking into the Planetary Director’s communications grid is highly illegal. Then there’s the issue of who to really trust with this information. We don’t know who Alarr has on her informal payroll. We don’t know who else might mysteriously disappear. After all, you and your passengers were supposed to have been the first.”

  Alista indicated she wanted to speak. “I’m not a part of their group. That’s why I came here with them. They contacted me because I’ve known Naylon so long. They knew you might not trust them, so I tagged along. If you ask me, these guys are doing work that should have been done long ago. There are a lot more problems on this planet than meet the eye.”

  No kidding, Darreth thought. “I want to see the data Caddo dug up.”

  “If you do and we’re caught you’ll be implicated, too. Are you sure you want to do that?” Grevi told him.

  Alista chimed in. “They’ve shown me some of it already. I think they’re right. The pirates are just a radical faction of regular people like us who’re fed up with the status quo. The pattern of corporate corruption that’s been finding its way to our planet goes all the way back to Earth. I don’t dare say I understand all the legal and financial machinations taking place to allow it to happen, but one thing’s obvious: the Planetary Director’s office has been sticking their noses into our local affairs more often than ever before in our history. It’s getting worse as the weeks go by. Your shuttle being shot down was just the latest indicator of that.”

  Darreth was still reeling at how these ordinary people had been able to sidestep all the data security to be able to dig this up. Was it really possible he was an unwitting pawn in a game the Planetary Director was playing? If what these people had uncovered was in fact not a ruse by them for some as yet unknown purpose, then he had been duped far more than he could possibly have imagined.

  “This is as much about getting Naylon back as it is about exposing the Planetary Director’s offices. Will you help us?” Alista asked.

  “You want my help,” Darreth stated.

  “It makes sense you’d help us. Look, she targeted you. Instead of you disappearing, your brother and your boyfriend disappeared instead. Your position in the Space Navy gives you access to people and data we don’t have.”

  “Such as?”

  “I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out.”

  “Spell it out anyway.”

  Traig sighed heavily. “Your father, her offices, official business, etc. Need I go on?”

  “I still can’t believe you’ve not gone to the authorities with this information.”

  “You’re all the authority we dare tell. We do not want to be on her list of people who disappear!”

  Alista, Grevi and Traig left the Triangle through the main hallway entrance. Darreth exited through the back door where he had entered. He stopped as the door shut and looked everywhere to make sure no one was spying on him before he took off. His head was swimming with the information he’d been given about Inandra, but mostly about how his father was clearly in danger now. It was surprising to him that the Planetary Director’s office hadn’t had his father arrested already. The fact that nothing had happened meant she had little direct evidence of his involvement in the discussions by other provincial managers, didn’t have enough authority yet, hadn’t found a law that had been broken yet, or was simply waiting for the right time. Yet, he couldn’t think of a single charge she would be able to levy against anyone on the Council for simply discussing the matter. Of course, that hadn’t stopped her from having false charges hung on him for everyone to see.

  The meeting had lasted only a little over an hour and a half. It was still dark out when he returned to the house. The side entrance door slid open and let him in. The door quietly slid closed and he headed back to the guest bedroom. The house was completely quiet. His mother and father were still asleep. Although Darreth felt tired, especially after not gotten any decent REM sleep, his adrenaline was still pumping. His father would be awake in another hour.

  Chapter 26

  Darreth was in the adjacent bathroom when he heard the water running in the kitchen. His father was making a pot of coffee.

  “You’re up early,” his father said upon seeing him fully clothed.

  Darreth sat on a stool across from his father at the peninsula in the kitchen. “We need to talk,” he said.

  “Coffee first,” Siloy replied, empty cup in hand.

  They had retreated to a small basement tool room. Siloy had been listening intently the entire time. What Darreth had presented to him was a huge cause for concern. He searched his memory several times to determine how many vidcomms he’d accepted from other provincial managers that contained any discussion of independence. He determined there were only two. Both of them had been brief and neither he nor the other party had ever openly discussed the issue. He was well aware of prying ears and eyes no matter how well encrypted comms were. Regardless, he never suspected he was being outright spied upon. His private conversations were not supposed to be in the common domain, nor were they supposed to be viewed by anyone, much less a Planetary Director.

  But the vidmail from Kals on his personal account deeply disturbed him. Kals had implied that Inandra might be closer to their sentiment for independence than they suspected. He had responded that nothing could be further from the truth despite what she had alluded to. Siloy’s assessment of the meeting was that she had been on a fishing expedition. Now that he knew what she knew, it was clear she was attempting to get Kals to warm up to her so he would tell her what she wanted to know. Siloy was going to put a stop to any further discussions with that woman immediately.

  “You realize no one can go public about any of this due to the highly illegal nature of what that group did,” Siloy told him.

  “You don’t think it’s highly illegal what she’s been doing with private vidcomms?” Darreth asked incredulous. Wasn’t his father appalled b
y this egregious breach of privacy, not to mention a couple dozen Provincial laws?

  “Of course I do, son. It’s just that until I can work my way through some channels this can’t be discussed by anyone.”

  Darreth’s wide shoulders sagged, a mixed look of chagrin and relief flooded his face.

  “It’s all right, son,” he said, looking into Darreth’s eyes with a smile. He reached out and grasped Darreth’s arm now. “Don’t agit. This will all be worked out. Trust your old man to act when it’s appropriate.” He looked at the time. “Look, I’m going to be late for my morning meetings. I’m going to cancel my afternoon ones though and head right out to West Litok to discuss what you’ve learned directly with Manager Ustbe. I can’t risk saying anything else to him via a vidcomm.”

  Darreth nodded.

  “You look a wreck,” Siloy said with fatherly concern. “How much sleep did you get?”

  Darreth emitted a sigh. “Not much.”

  “I’m sorry you’re involved in any of this,” Siloy said with serious regret. “I guess, though, that it’s a good thing I had mentioned this ‘issue’ to you so you wouldn’t have been broadsided by it.”

  Darreth noticed he was biting his thumbnail a lot lately and pulled his hand from his mouth. He straightened up, too. Shoulders back, his face set. “About this ‘issue’. I want you to know I fully support it. One hundred percent. Say the word and I’m there.”

  Siloy looked surprise.

  “Wouldn’t you after what Alarr’s done?”

  A slight grin found its way across his father’s face. “When the time is right I’ll let you know who you can trust in orbit.”

  “Huh?”

  “A very high level officer on the Guardian space station has backed us from the very beginning.”

  Both men went back upstairs. Siloy emptied his coffee cup in the sink, then went back to his bedroom to finish dressing for his full day. Darreth went back to the guestroom in a failed attempt to get some rest. His thoughts continued to stray to Naylon and his brother. In his semi-fatigued consciousness, his thoughts were drawn to the backpack he had had while on Rylerra. It was sitting on the floor of the closet back in his bungalow. Despite his profound sleepiness, he bolted upright in the bed as a forgotten memory surfaced. In one of the zippered pockets was the strange disc-shaped device he’d found in the cavern. He only just now realized it was still there.

  He arrived at his own place a half hour later. He pressed the button on the frame of his closet to open the door. The overhead light illuminated the closet’s contents. He knelt down and unzipped the compartment. Underneath several miscellaneous items was what he was looking for. He pulled the alien object out, then inspected its curious shape and the unusual designs etched on the surface. The device had to have some connection to their disappearance.

  He had already given a complete statement about what had transpired on Rylerra, with Merek corroborating everything, yet leaving out the existence of this ‘souvenir’. Even Merek didn’t know anything about it. If he presented the device at this point, he knew he could easily lose his commission for having withheld information during an official investigation. Due to the political masquerade which had surrounded him since his return, he knew there was no way he could add to what he had already stated.

  Darreth sat with his back against the wall, breathing hard as he thought. Rehl. He needed to talk with Rehl as soon as possible.

  Chapter 27

  Soldat Epo Agrida looked at his wristcomp. It had been only fifteen minutes since their ship had left them alone. Soldat Jarien Lazcún was hidden next to Agrida in the brush. Both were crouched inside the stealth field by way of portable shield generators they had set up before their ship had taken off. Two of them had been placed three meters apart. The invisible field draped over them like an umbrella, masking their biosigns or the energy signatures of the weapons they had fully charged and at the ready. The portable stealth field generator was stronger than their personal stealth fields, thus providing them with a larger area of protection.

  The small Telkan scout ship crossed their position twice before returning. It began a slow circle around their hidden location. As expected, the ship was steadily scanning the clearing their ship had occupied. Agrida’s sensors had detected the particular frequency used by them doing so. The scan had crossed near them twice, but never actually over them. He was sure the stealth shield was doing its job. If it hadn’t, they would have been burn spots in the vegetation.

  “It doesn’t get any better than this,” Lazcún whispered to Agrida, jazzed that everything was going according to plan. The ambush they had set up was making his adrenaline surge like mad.

  Agrida grinned as he nodded. He glanced at his pulse cannon’s power indicator. It showed a full charge. He would first disable the Telkan energy shield, then they’d pierce holes into the side of their ship. He knew exactly where to fire. He’d been through sixteen simulations and had already shot a ship in the same manner eight months previous. Eight months between shooting a Telkan ship was too long as far as he was concerned.

  The ship clearly hadn’t detected them. It began landing procedures not more than ten meters at their twelve. Agrida took aim. Lazcún did the same with his cannon. Agrida pressed the trigger as soon as the landing thrusters shut off. Although he could have easily let the targeting computer do the work for him he preferred doing it the old fashioned way. Lazcún wasn’t as confident and let his targeting computer determine the optimal firing pattern.

  The first blast from Agrida’s weapon severed a tiny junction at the primary power coupling on the starboard engine nacelle. His second shot completed the job. Lazcún fired at three points. He knew what he was aiming at. During a landing procedure the ship wouldn’t be shielded like it would be for interplanetary flight. Agrida’s disruption of their primary energy grid helped. His first shot pierced the hull at a strategic location. His next shots burned out the three backup and redundant energy nexuses. Within two point eight seconds of landing, the Telkan ship was totally disabled.

  The two soldats held their position for only a moment longer before deactivating the stealth generators. Now with personal stealth shields operational, Agrida assumed the nine o’clock and Lazcún the three o’clock positions. They knew that once the Telkans manually opened their outer airlock their first course of action would be to fire on the positions from where the strikes had taken place. The stealth shield only masked energy signatures, it wasn’t a true defensive shield. They would have been smoke if they had been fired upon.

  Agrida raised his wrist and spoke to the comm. “Agrida here, sir. Mission accomplished.”

  Dozens of kilometers away, Commander Selaye grinned. “Good work, men. Standby. Out.”

  The commander raised the captain on the internal comm. “Sir, the fire team has taken out the Telkan scout ship.”

  “Excellent. Plot return course for insertion.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Naylon discovered that the comm screen on the wall had no particular security codes with regard to its activation. Thus, after he ordered the screen to energize he inquired about outside cameras. There were twenty.

  “Tell it to give us a forward view,” Tann told Naylon.

  “Why not,” Naylon offered.

  A forward view activated on the right half of the screen. Both were surprised to discover they were in flight. The inertial dampeners had completely masked any sensation of movement. Tann had suspected something was up though because they both heard a high-pitched whine start only moments before.

  Tann tried his luck with voice commands, “Full screen mode,” he said.

  The image immediately filled the screen. Moments later they noted their ship was hovering at a distance from the same clearing they had earlier left. Both of them saw a ship in the clearing. It was obvious right away that the ship was different, even from the craft they now found themselves in. Both looked at each other, wondering what was next.

  As they
slowly descended, Tann told the display panel to center the closest camera on any activity outside the ship. The panel responded while they landed not more than ten meters from the alien vessel. They both recognized two of the soldats from the crew, who were already there, apparently left behind. They both had handheld weapons trained on something or someone inside an open airlock door.

  Tann spoke to the panel. “Magnify view fifty percent.” The monitor instantly complied with that request.

  Two soldats waved their weapons and were obviously yelling. There wasn’t an outside microphone pickup, so they were reduced to just watching the vid. Moments later, an obviously alien creature slowly moved down the ramp. Naylon and Tann both sucked in startled breaths at what they saw.

  “That-that’s one of the aliens we found in the cavern!” exclaimed Tann.

  “It certainly is,” Naylon returned, mightily intrigued. He also noticed that instead of the creature having six appendages, it had only four. Perhaps it was a different species? He was intensely fascinated at what was going on and wished there was an audio feed. Clearly, these creatures were the Terran’s enemies. It looked like this one was going to be in for some big trouble, too. It appeared to be two against one so far, as well. “So that’s what they look like when they’re alive,” Naylon added.

  “What are they doing?” Tann asked.

  “Looks like they intend to capture or kill him, uh, it.”

  Tann tried another camera to get another view of the drama unfolding outside the ship. “There’s another one. It looks dead.”