"So it's a terrorist attack or a rebel uprising from within," Karr suggested. "In that case, they'll need an outside contact to appeal their position and demands."
"I'm not so sure about that." Aura continued to study the screen. "They seem content to remain free of any outside contact."
"Well, they can't be self-supporting," Jamie said. "Are they?"
Zaxt displayed a series of graphs on his chestscreen indicating the relative ratio of reprocessed protein versus un-recyclable materials.
"That doesn't look good to me." Kleg stroked his hair with his staticomb.
"On the contrary," Zaxt commented. "I think Aura may be correct. If they're cautious and frugal, these individuals have a chance of remaining on their own for perhaps as long as a decade."
"That's absurd," Kleg sneered. "The Imperium will be out here pounding at their doors inside of a month."
"Why would these people chose to be secluded?" Aura mused.
"Why, indeed?" Jamie agreed.
"Maybe it's the Edorrians," Kleg suggested. Then he shook his spiked head. "Nah, those Edorrians are so gung-ho, they would have just nuked the place."
"Agreed," Aura reluctantly replied. "But it's possible that some other culture might have taken charge of the station. A culture we either are familiar with, or never encountered before. If it's one we're familiar with, it'll only be a matter of time before a ransom demand is made of the Imperium."
"Right," Kleg nodded. "And it'll only be another short time after that, before the Imperium responds with an attack fleet to take back their possessed or renegade outstation."
Jamie wandered over to the lounge view port and stared into the endless night as if he could see the Outstation hanging in the field of stars. "We shouldn't be here," he said, uneasily.
Aura looked up, frowning. "I hate to admit it, but I think Kleg may have a point. What if it's not a familiar alien culture that's in charge over there? What if it's something new…?"
"Then we shouldn't be here," Jamie answered.
"So," she said, turning to face him, "your suggestion would be to run. Cancel the mission, even after Turner Werch told us to proceed with all due haste."
Zaxt suggested, "He didn't clearly specify in which direction we were to proceed."
Kleg rose from the gametable and gave a mild growl. "He told us to proceed with caution. And, by the Imperial Exchange Rate, that's exactly what we'll do. Now who's for going over there and who's for staying behind?"
Jamie's only hope of finding Cast seemed tied to the decision. "Go."
"Go," the bot echoed.
Aura gestured a thumb at Zaxt. "He doesn't get a vote. And I'm still uneasy about all of this."
Kleg muttered in exasperation and sat back down.
The discussion went on for almost another twenty minutes, during which time it dawned on Jamie that, oddly enough, they were starting to function as a team. He would not have believed it possible before, but now Aura, Kleg and himself had begun to share goals and separate problems and work into manageable loads. They still argued more than necessary, but they kept at it, agreeing to set goals and, slowly but surely, accomplishing them...without anyone getting hurt.
Working together, they finally determined that Aura was best suited to take the ship's flitter over to the station, to investigate Zori's non-committal status. Her cover story would be that she'd been part of an archeological dig in the nearby Alpha Circini system, some eleven light-years away, and had spent the last week making the transit in the smaller vessel.
Jamie felt a twinge of concern that Aura might be fired upon, but Kleg agreed they could move the Dagger into a position to rescue her if need be. At first, it seemed like it would be a good idea to take Zaxt along, since his diplomatic abilities might help Aura. But Jamie pointed out that it would be difficult to believe that Aura just happened to have had such a bot with her on an archeological expedition.
In the end, the team's decision was the result of instinct and simple logic. Being a telepath, Aura could advise them of her impressions without resorting to the use of detectable radio waves. She also had years of experience dealing with intrigue and power-struggling factions. If there was an insurrection, or even an unknown alien culture working to exclude Outstation Zori from the rest of the Imperium, Aura would be the best person to have on point.
As they exited hyperspace and drew within ten thousand klicks of Zori, Kleg fully switched on the ship's cloaking device. Soon they were maneuvering toward their target.
* * *
Aura steered the flitter out from behind the Dagger's cloak and sent it on a direct course toward Zori. She knew that her tiny ship's image was massive enough to appear on the station's screens.
The team had positioned Dagger in such a way that it would help create the illusion that she had not originated from a cloaked space in the middle of nowhere. Instead, it would appear to approach from a direct path in line with a nearby small planetary system.
Aura guided her little ship manually, so as to eliminate the flitter's true source from the ship's black box. Then, she carefully programmed the com unit to initiate a hailing message and sat back to wait for a response.
The small vessel seemed eerie, empty and enormous. Before departing, she had considered bringing along a few of her loyal followers, but rejected the idea, not wanting to be perceived as a threat to whatever force had taken over the station. "If nothing else," she'd said, "a single person approaching from seemingly nowhere is bound to raise curiosity."
The station turned in her view, only a hundred-thousand meters away. She stepped up the gain on her com unit, as the flitter "knocked" on the huge construct's "door." The only response was a faint hiss. Her teeth were tightly clenched. "Come on. Give me an answer."
The lights in her small ship suddenly dimmed. She couldn't help but utter a slight gasp. The command control blanked. Fear rushed down Aura's spine. If they'd fired a particle beam at her, she'd be dead in the next few seconds.
The flitter abruptly changed course, slipping off to starboard without any input from her engines. A weak form of tractor beam repositioned her vessel relative to the rotating station. They're taking me aboard, she thought with relief. They've decided to find out who I am rather than blow me away.
She mentally transmitted the sensation to the Dagger and got back a quiet encouragement from Kleg. Jamie offered another note of concerned warning to keep on her toes. Good idea.
The flitter rounded the lower edge of the Outstation's drydock, just below the bank of torpedo tubes. She was out of line with the weapon's trajectory now and knew for certain at long last that she would not be fired upon.
The small ship moved slowly into dry dock number three. A gravitic grapple locked on and held the flitter fast to the deck with a magnetic embrace. The outside hatch slid back into place and she was fully inside the belly of the whale now.
Aura again tried to use her com unit to signal the station, but received no reply. Perhaps everything was operating on automatics. But she remembered the life signs that had shown on the sensors, indicating that someone was inside; they just didn't like talking.
She popped the hatch on her ship, after the recycle signal on her control board turned green, and cautiously stepped out of the flitter. She expected, at any moment, someone would come through the station's inner hatch and take her into custody.
After ten anxious minutes of waiting, Aura gave up on politeness and strolled to the hatch, activating the cycle to gain entrance.
The door slide open.
She stepped back, carrying a handmazer hidden in a holster in the small of her back under her cape. Her right palm felt hot and moist, resting on the weapon's hilt.
She peered around the edge of the hatchway, expecting anything.
"How do you do?" a bearded man said in a disarming voice. He smiled warmly and wore a thick cream-colored robe with odd script rippling down one side. His hands were raised in a universal gesture of surrender.
&nb
sp; Aura gambled and emulated his pose.
The man stepped forward, attempting to press his palms to Aura's open hand in what might have been a form of greeting.
She backed up a step.
The man stopped. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to affront you. My name is Ben Zurek. I am the Outstation's Admin Executive. And you are...?"
"Aura Devor. Doctor of Xenarcheology from Gamma Siegling 6. I received your announcement last week and thought it quite odd, so I decided to come over to see if you could use any help."
"You'll excuse me," Zurek said, clasping his hands behind him, "but I find that difficult to believe."
"Well, I…" Aura tried to sound flustered and a little shy. "I guess I wasn't telling the complete truth. But if you only knew how cut-throat academic research has become these days." She rambled on in the hopes of appearing disarming. "Even Professor Keith lost her grant because she prematurely let the media think she'd discovered the lost civilization of Krypt—"
The Admin Exec gave a quiet laugh, shaking his bearded head. "You have quite a wit about you."
They were alone together ln the passageway. The walls and floor showed no signs of a struggle. In fact, Aura realized that the dock area seemed squared away and normal; nothing like what it should have looked like had there been a struggle for power on the station.
"I don't dispute your name," the man smiled. "But had you been part of an archeological expedition in our sector, I'm certain you'd have checked in with us much earlier before this… eh, for purposes of personal security and back up." He turned and Aura followed him down a cramped but clean corridor. "And since I happen to know that this is your first visit to Zori, I suspect your story is a bit untrue."
This guy is sharp. Aura tried to scan his mind and only got back a mild haze of impressions. Perhaps she was losing her abilities, or perhaps..."Has there been some problem here on Zori? Is everyone all right?"
Zurek spread his hands openly. "Everyone on Zori is fine, thank you. We are extremely busy preparing for an important event, which is why I am the only person free to come greet you. I wish you no harm, but I must learn where you actually came from. We cannot afford a confrontation at this time with the Imperium."
Aura found a smile and gave it to him. "So, why did you send a message saying you were closing relations? Surely, you must have realized that such an announcement only attract the notice of the Imperial fleet."
"Is that what you are?" Ben Zurek asked as they rounded a curve and stopped at a ladder. "A representative of the Imperial fleet?"
"No. I represent a communications net interested in acquiring exclusive rights to your story for distribution on the Galactic comlink."
Zurek laughed again. A deep hearty sound that bubbled up from his chest and shook him he stood. "I'm afraid I don't believe that story either." A panel suddenly slid aside on Aura's left, revealing a uniformed military guard aiming a stunner directly at her ear. "But I'm hopeful that you will volunteer the truth in the next twenty-four hours."
Aura realized she'd been suckered calmly and professionally by this clever man. Why wasn't I more cautious when I found I couldn't scan this guy? I must really be losing my touch.
Zurek stepped back to allow the guard to pat her down. The handmaser was removed from its holster and all personal property taken from her pockets. Aura wore no jewelry, but if she had, she was certain it too would have been confiscated.
"You have no right to hold me," she charged. "I came here to help, or at least to learn more about your condition. I pose you no threat." She thought she recognized the uniformed guard from the personnel listings she had studied before approaching the station. Admiral Sydney Long was high-ranking enough to have better things to do on Zori than lowly guard duty. Maybe the situation here was more complex than she had anticipated.
Admiral Long gestured with the stunner for Aura to step back through the open doorway. "If you please," she said.
The two women locked eyes until the door slid shut.
Aura sent an impression back to the Dagger, tipping her teammates that things were not good on Zori. Time for Plan B.
* * *
Kleg maneuvered his ship closer to the Outstation that had taken in Aura's flitter less than an hour earlier. He concentrated on positioning the Dagger as close as possible to the Imperium station without risking detection of the cloak from Zori's proximity sensors.
"HOW MUCH LONGER WILL THIS TAKE," came a message on one of the ship's screens. "SEEMS LIKE I'VE BEEN OUT HERE FOR AGES."
On the outer hull of the ship, the Dagger's co-pilot stood hunched over the wrist key-pad on his vacuum suit. The key-pad connected directly to the ship's interior, allowing communications between the two men without generating a signal that might be picked up the nearby station. Plan B called for Jamie to cut loose from the communications and lifelines, and attempt to drift across to the rotating construct.
"I'M THE PILOT," Karr answered. "YOU'RE THE SCOUT."
It was the same comment Kleg had made earlier during their planning session. Jamie hadn't contested it; if Aura could go over alone as a stalking goat, he could go over as a spy. Besides, it would put him in a position to gain first-hand information on the whereabouts of Cast Janssen. Still, sneaking on board an Imperial Outstation was not something you did without healthy fear, and Jamie never felt healthier.
"GO FOR IT," came Karr's signal.
Clamber uncoupled his lifeline, kicked off, and began to soar silently through the nothingness of space. At least they didn't fire on Aura's ship. Maybe there's hope yet.
Kleg had given him a stealth suit to wear over his other garments, in order to be invisible once he left the Dagger's cloak. Jamie's left arm held tightly the other items of equipment he'd brought along to use to gain access, hopefully, through one of the station's maintenance ports.
Jamie turned his head and watched Kleg's ship dissolve from his view. The raider vanished as he floated beyond the cloaking field. Cold darkness surrounded him. Faint light glinted inside his helmet. He couldn't use his radio for fear that the station's sensors might pick up the signal. He was totally alone, unless you counted the massive surface of Zori's outer hull, swinging toward him at a frightening speed.
His trajectory was a bit off, so he risked magnetically grappling the station's outer surface. He fired the magnetic pad, striking and holding to Zori's pitted surface, and used the grapple's thin cable to absorb the sudden tug as his body matched the station's rotation.
After waiting approximately sixty seconds for any sign of activity from within the outstation, he began to feel a sneeze coming on. Jamie stifled it between clinched lips, an act which avoided disastrous effects to the inside of his helmet, and his ears popped like he'd been kicked in the head.
He took a breath and located a small jack near the maintenance port, plugging in a datalink. The tiny screen on the link's face flickered through a series of status displays. Jamie was certain that the information he wanted would be inaccessible, but Zaxt had provided the datalink with a "de-classifying" programs that just might cut through the blocks and give a glimpse of what was happening inside the station.
Working the keys of the datalink, Clamber cycled through a series of commands. The datascreens were replaced by a real-time view of the area on the other side of the maintenance hatch. Jamie added a few more prompts through the link and the monitor camera inside Zori panned left and right, revealing a workroom of some kind, but no people.
Thank God. He knew he was nearing the point of no return when his suit's air supply would be just slightly more than enough to get him back to the Dagger.
Jamie scrolled back through the screens on the datalink, using the de-coder function Zaxt had installed to locate and send a signal that opened the outer hatch. At the same time, within the outstation's security loop, an alarm was undoubtedly sounding, but if Jamie's luck held, he'd be through the hatch and inside the station before anyone could respond.
"What do you know," he whispered
to himself. "I'm a full-fledged pirate."
The hatch sealed behind him. He waited with sweat dotting his brow, as the inner lock cleared. His handlaser was at the ready. When the hatch opened, no one was there thankfully to welcome him aboard.
Jamie glanced around, confirming that he was in the station's laundry facility. There were tethered bags of clothing and other fabric items bundled along a wall next to the sonic washers. He took off the stealth suit and shrugged out of his vacuum suit, shoving it deep into an empty bag and tucking the bag beneath one of the folding tables, where it would not likely be found for some time. He checked his elapsed time and slid back into the stealth suit, just as footfalls sounded beyond the room's entrance.
Two Imperial marines in full combat uniforms angled into the laundry, alerted by the alarm and ready for a confrontation.
Jamie huddled behind a stanchion, feeling naked. This costume better work. One of the marines scanned the area for life-signs. Or I'm going to spend the rest of my life in some backwater brig. If I'm lucky.
"You get anything?" the other marine called out, while poking at several bags of dirty clothing with the tip of his mazer.
The first man looked up, staring directly at Jamie. "The place looks clean." The two men checked the hatch, while Jamie moved silently toward the corridor. "The security circuit must have malfed again."
In that instant, Jamie knew he was going to sneeze. The force of the reaction built in the back of his head like a stunner on overload. He clamped a palm firmly over his mouth and increased his pace toward the exit. When the sneeze came, it seemed to have blaster-strength, but Jamie kept the sound down to a slight geep! and froze again just outside the doorway.
The two marines immediately stomped into the passage. They looked around, but saw no sign of Jamie pressed against the bulkhead across the way. One man shrugged and the other wondered aloud how his security report would look with words "skivvy-check" listed on it. They chuckled boisterously, radioed back an all-clear, and passed along the corridor.
Mutiny on Outstation Zori Page 6