by J. K. Mabrey
They took a turn and Brax confirmed they were in the right place. "This is the light security wing. These guys are the non-threatening kind. Some probably wouldn’t even want to be broken out." Seeing Zavik's confused face, he added. "See, Red Moon pays good, if they like your services.”
“And if they don’t?” Zavik asked cautiously.
“Then you pay.”
Brax removed the shackles holding Zavik. He felt immense relief that Brax had come through on his end. They stared down a hall, five doors to each side.
“You know what he looks like?” Brax asked.
Zavik shook his head. He had been given no details on Vask, other than being a Chokmnd.
“Great," Brax said, "we'll check each room. If one's got a Chokmnd in it let me know.”
Zavik took the right side of the room. Each door had a glass square to see through. Inside was a cot, barely large enough for an average human, much less some of the other races it could hold. There was a sink, a door leading to a bathroom perhaps, and nothing more. Not the most luxurious accommodations for forcible guests. The first room was empty, the lights were off, and it was spotless inside. In the next stood a Sequoia, tall and menacing. He must have heard the commotion because he was looking out the window into the hallway. Seeing Zavik must have been his clue that they were not there for him. He turned around and slouched back over to the bed. Brax was already through looking at four of his five and moved to the last room. Zavik went to the third cell. This one had a Chokmnd inside. Telling a Chokmnd’s age was difficult for Zavik in all situations, but in low light and through a glass window, it was near impossible for him. This guy could have been the equivalent of a teenager, or a senior as far as Zavik knew.
“Hey, Brax, there’s a Chokmnd in this room.” Brax had just finished looking through all of his without finding Vask and began to look at the last door on Zavik’s side.
“Ok, I’ll be right there. Vask isn’t on my side.”
“Vask!” the Chokmnd in the room in front of Zavik said. “Are you looking for Canderon Vask, human?”
“I think you had better come over here,” Zavik said to Brax. “Are you him?”
“Of course, what a stupid question." Zavik would have guessed he was rather young if he had been asked. He was younger than Brax, but taller, and more pronounced in his stature. He peered out of the window and said, "What you want with me, is a better question.”
“I don’t have time to explain right now," Zavik shouted. "We’re here to get you away from Red Moon.”
“Who is ‘we’?” he asked.
Brax stepped up to the door. “I’m Brax Miro, Mr. Secretary.”
“Oh!" he exclaimed in mock excitement. "So my loyal government has come to rescue me from the clutches of the evil underground organization?”
“Not exactly. He actually works for the evil underground organization," Zavik said nodding towards Brax.
“I do,” he admitted.
“Then what is the meaning of this coup?”
“I need help,” Zavik pleaded.
“Mentally or physically?” Vask asked. “Cause you could definitely do for some mental help breaking in here like this.”
“I need your help identifying ships.”
“And I’m really bored on this planet,” Brax added offhandedly. They both stared at him. He shrugged and turned away.
“And what if I refuse to help?” Vask asked.
“I’ll persuade you,” Zavik said narrowing his eyes.
“Oh yeah? How?” he asked.
Zavik had to admit to himself that he was never really good at intimidation. “Look, Ambassador Hains said you’d help us.”
“Ah, this is about the attacks on your human planet, I see. You need me to reveal who’s been attacking you.”
“Can you?”
“Perhaps," he shrugged, "if you have enough data. Do you have anything from the most recent battles?”
“My ship was in the most recent one. We’ve got plenty of data from that," Zavik said.
“Excellent. Where is your ship?”
Zavik checked his wrist pad to see where the Rinada was. His device had a direct link to the ship, and to Dani. It communicated his position and could guide the Rinada to him automatically. Currently, it showed that Dani was circling about twenty miles away, awaiting his signal. “Oh, it’ll be overhead soon. If we get you out of here, will you help us?
“Of course, I owe Ambassador Hains that much at least.”
“Thank you. Brax, what do we do?”
“Hold on," Brax said. He eyed the door lock and began pressing button combinations. I’ll just override his lockdown. Give some complicated reasoning, and there.” The locking mechanism turned red, and the door swayed on its hinges. “Now let’s go this way. There is a roof hatch down here. It’s heavily secured, and I don’t have access to those codes, so I won't be able to bypass this one. When we open it, the station alarm will be triggered. They'll come for us.”
“Let's stick to the plan we set,” Zavik said, motioning him on.
They pushed through the hatch. The hazy night sky was obscured by the light pollution of the port. The alarm whaled and flashes of light blinded their eyes. Wasting no time to worry about the alarm, Zavik transmitted to Dani their location.
They scanned the sky for the ship, but saw nothing and heard no sounds. “Where is she?” shouted Brax. “Guards will be here any second.”
“Don’t worry, she’ll be here. She couldn’t circle too close without setting off their sensors and looking suspicious.”
“If they catch us, they will torture us all,” Vask said. “They’ll find out why you came, kill you, and then go after Ambassador Hains, all just to prove that no one messes with Red Moon. They're ruthless like that."
“I guess we’ll have to try really hard to not let them catch us then,” Zavik replied. “There!” He pointed to the horizon. The Rinada was coming into view, swooping in low for their pickup.
Suddenly, out of the roof hatch appeared three armed guards, firing at the trio. Their aim was poor Zavik thought until he realized they weren’t trying to hit them. They just wanted to freeze them in place. Their aim was, in fact, perfect in creating an enclosure around them, any sudden movement could cause one to be struck by their coordinated blasts.
Zavik keyed on his communicator. “Dani, we’ve got three guys coming at us, firing on our position. You need to take them out or we’ll be captured. Hurry!”
The Rinada rounded on the facility and began climbing higher in the air to get a better vantage point.
“I do hope her aim is true,” Brax said.
Zavik glanced at him. “Don’t worry, I trust her.”
“Comforting for you, I'm sure, but I don't know her well enough to trust."
“That is unfortunate…for you," Zavik said.
The three Chokmnd guards continued their push towards them. Their firing had ceased, for now. They were only fifteen yards away when the one in front finally figured out that the large ship in the sky was veering in on them. He yelled, lifted his hand and began firing at the Rinada. Zavik knew their small arms wouldn't harm the ship. A blast radiated out from under the Rinada and shook the building to its core. Dani was firing heavy, if she was not careful the whole building could collapse. The three guards were eradicated in the first blast. It took her another five seconds of shooting to realize and stop the assault.
Zavik, Brax and Vask had run the other way when the guards began to fire at the Rinada. They were shaken by the assault, but uninjured. “Dani, land on the roof,” Zavik said over on the radio. “If it’ll hold still,” he said under his breath. Dani maneuvered the ship lower. It barely would fit width wise on the building. For a second it hovered about five feet in the air, then suddenly dropped down on the roof and the building began to shake again. The damage done had made the building unstable. A corner of the roof began to cave in where the hatchway was. The crumbling concrete crept towards the ship threatening to sink
it along with the whole facility. The side bay door opened and the three men raced to climb aboard the ship. The Rinada lifted off as the rear section dipped below the roofline and blasted for the skies. The thrusters further stressed the roof and it finally succumbed to its fate and collapsed. Smoke billowed from the facility as several ground laser turrets fired at the speeding ship, but never made contact. Dani raced for a portal, any portal, just to get as far away from Red Moon as possible.
Prey
The Rinada exited one of the four portals to Nganu, a small planet that kept itself out of most galactic affairs. The Rovuns controlled it, but their overall presence was quite small. Contained within the solar system was a large asteroid belt. Dani maneuvered the Rinada towards the asteroids. No other ships from Onderon had passed into Nganu space.
Zavik went to the cockpit along with Brax and Vask. “Dani, this is Secretary Vask.”
“Pleasure to meet you, sir," she said.
“Yes," Vask said, grabbing her hand and shaking it, "and might I say, your piloting skills were quite impressive. Definitely earned my vote of confidence," he said glancing at Brax. “Mr. Khan is a lucky man to have someone of such exemplary skills around, Miss?”
“Epson, Dani Epson," she said. “He is indeed."
“Not bashful either," Vask said. "I like it.”
“We’re all glad you’re pleased, I’m sure,” Zavik said glancing out the window. “Good idea,” he said to Dani. “The asteroids will help conceal us, in case anyone gives chase for you.”
“Oh, be assured, if you weren’t at the top of Red Moon’s hit list, you are now.”
“Great," Zavik said. "I did always want to be first in something.”
“Noble aspirations, I'm sure. Now, about this data you have?” Vask continued.
“Dani, can we pull up the data from the battle, so Vask can start to dissect it.”
Dani opened the files saved from the battle at Earth. The information was thorough and included pictures, schematics, dimensions, and armaments. Hopefully, it was enough for Vask.
He gazed over the files for a moment, absorbing the info. “Hmm…yes, no markings, so they clearly don’t want their secret given away easy," Vask said. "Common ships, that’s for sure. Hell, you could go to any junkyard and find a dozen working RAs. We do know how to make them last," he said to himself.
"Any clue who they belong to?" Zavik asked.
He hummed to himself and said, “Ah, see here." He pointed to a ship onscreen. "Look at the weapon systems on the LR-80. Original weapon systems were half that size. They were concussion missiles. These are photon torpedoes, larger systems, much pricier. Small time pirates can’t afford that kind of system, especially not on all of them, like here. This is how you know it is a big time outfit.”
“Do you know who?” Brax asked.
“I can guess," he said looking up from the terminal. "Chokmnd ships are used by a lot of pirates because they're cheap. But the big outfits have pride in their own ships, Rovuns won’t use Chokmnd ships, just like Chokmnd groups won’t use Savin designed ships. Even trying to conceal their identity won’t push them to abandon that pride. This is definitely a Chokmnd organization. And it's a good bet it’s the same one that had me under house arrest, Red Moon.”
“Them again," Dani cursed. "Are you sure?”
“No," he said honestly, "but they have an airfield at their compound on Theros. I imagine you’d find many more ships equipped like this there.”
“How do you know where they have compounds at?” Zavik asked.
“Because, they paid me to outfit their ships with upgrades. It wasn’t illegal," he added after seeing their faces. "Red Moon often helps the Chokmnd government. We subcontract with them on many tasks."
“Till they use these ships to kill innocents,” Dani said.
“Well," he shrugged, "when I wanted out, they locked me in that compound. They were trying to force me to develop new weapon systems and a new engine.”
“New engines?” Brax asked.
“Yes, they want to develop new portal technologies that can be located on ships. But it wasn’t even close to completion. I was only working on a small part of the drive, but it would take decades, and require resources even Red Moon lacks. It’s a pipe dream as far as I’m concerned.”
“Who runs Red Moon?" Zavik asked.
“No one knows," he said staring off, unfocused. "Whoever it is, operates behind a cloak of deception. Anonymity is his ally." He laughed and said, "Some rumors say it’s a computer giving the commands. Wouldn’t that be a great discovery? Others say it isn’t even a Chokmnd, another race trying to bring down the Chokmnd from within. It doesn’t matter who it is. You’ll never find him. Confronting Red Moon isn’t the smartest thing to do, I can assure you that, but it might be your last.”
“We don’t need to confront them," Zavik said, "just get enough evidence that they’re behind the attacks. We give it to Ambassador Hains, she gives it to the Council, and they have to act on it. Crackdown on Red Moon themselves, or provide more security for us.”
He laughed again, this time, more heartily. "You really think it’s that simple," Vask said. "They have connections that go deeper than you can fathom. You don’t become the most dangerous organization in the galaxy without buying a little insurance. The Council won’t do anything, no matter how much evidence you present them with.”
“That’s for Ambassador Hains to worry about," Zavik said. "We just need to get the evidence.”
“Well, you have your lead. That’s all I know about their operations.”
“What will you do now?" Brax asked. "Hide out for a while?”
“No, I don’t think so. If you can drop me off at Cedona, I’ll see if Ambassador Hains needs any assistance in convincing the Council of Red Moon’s dangerous activities. That is, of course, if you can deliver some evidence. I’ll testify to the Council, if you can send us some real data.”
"We'll drop you off after we get the evidence, you owe us that much for rescuing you," Zavik said.
Vask was silent for a moment before saying, "I guess you have a point. I'll accompany you to Theros to help identify if the ships are the same. But then you're to drop me off at Cedona. I don't like all this flying around, helping other systems business."
***
Varin Bragko sat in his office reading the urgent report sent to him personally. It detailed the breakout of one of Red Moon’s prisoners. This type of activity was not usually something that would cross his desk. However, this case was different. The escapee was the Chokmnd Secretary of Fleet Engineering, and the man he was planning to use to develop revolutionary technology. What was more interesting to Varin was that a ship, preliminarily identified as the Rinada, was used in the escape. Varin recognized this as the same ship that had intervened at the recent Earth attack. Varin desired to know what this ship wanted with his prisoner and very much wanted his prisoner back.
He called in Traval. "I see we have scarce information on the pilot of the Rinada freighter."
"Yes, sir,” Traval responded. "Other than the name, Zavik Khan, and that he was in the Earth forces, that's all we really have."
Varin nodded in agreement. "He's a small-time smuggler, now. Never had any dealings with us before. I wonder why he has this sudden interest?"
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence," Traval said.
Varin leaned back in his chair. "Interesting theory, Traval. Someone could have hired him to break Vask out, I suppose. But that would mean we have a traitor in our midst. How else would they know enough to get him out of our compound?"
"Shall I start questioning those who knew where Vask was? I can start with the facility on Onderon, what’s left at least.”
"No," Varin paused. "Now seems the time for a more direct approach to discovering what their interest is. Place a bounty on that ship, seventy-five thousand credits. I want all of them alive, so I can question them myself."
"Is that wise, sir?” Traval asked hesitantly
.
“If I say it," he said turning away from Traval, "it is wise.”
“Of course, sir, as you wish." He bowed and left Varin in peace.
***
The Rinada exited the portal and approached Theros. Vask highlighted on their map where he thought the Red Moon compound was located. It was a remote area of Theros; there were no cities within one hundred miles.
It was a barren planet. Over fifty percent of the land surface was desert, with only sparse vegetation near the ocean borders. Vask indicated the compound was located inland, far away from any habitable areas.
“Red Moon chose Theros as one of their main bases because of its remoteness," he said. "You can see it has many portals, but in reality has very little trade infrastructure. Only a small amount of the mined products are exported. The planet keeps mostly to itself, no doubt propped up by Red Moon funds. If no one in the system complains, the Council won’t come asking questions, and Red Moon gets to keep their safe-haven hidden.”
“You’ve been here before?” Brax asked.
“Yes, but I was locked in my quarters until we touched down. The only thing I got to see was the inside of the laboratory."
"What were you doing for them?" Zavik asked.
"I was recalibrating a shield reinforcement system so missiles cannot bypass their ship’s shields. The Bacarians had developed some new technology to use against them on Doval. They needed a workaround."
"Good," Zavik said sarcastically, "so their technologies going to be just a bit better than everyone else's."
"The best money can buy," Vask said.
“So how do you know the location if you were sequestered?” Dani asked.