She hesitated before pressing Open. “It would probably be best to wait and check out the door systems before trying this, but we've got places to be, so....”
When she activated the doors, they heard the whine of struggling actuators, followed by a loud bang. With that, the ceiling above them split down the centerline as the two doors rotated up and out, one to port and the other to starboard.
Anailu looked up at the sky now visible above them. “I think it was a little stuck.”
Diamond gave Anailu a pat on the back. “You should tell your chief engineer to get on that.”
Anailu snorted, then she cycled the door closed. She ran an integrity check, and sure enough, the door seals hadn't completely resealed – no surprise after thirty years without use or maintenance. She thought she had replaced all the seals aboard ship, but obviously there were more that the ship hadn't told her about.
As they returned to the bridge, Velvet asked, “So what is this all about? It's obvious this ship wasn't designed to be a regular commercial craft. Maybe a pirate ship, though...”
Anailu groaned. “She's not a pirate ship!” She put Motul's message into a data reader on the main console and linked her comm to unlock it. “Here, watch this and you'll know as much as I know.”
While they watched the video, Anailu moved on to checking out the “Sculpting” system. She had already decided the simplest thing to do was to turn off the scan masker and see what showed up on an independent scanner. With the Sculpting system disabled, she went down to Engineering. She had a short-ranged, handheld scanner down there that she used for ship maintenance.
Once she'd retrieved it and turned it on, she began turning around, reading the scanner as she went. She was shocked. The Engineering compartment was almost surrounded by core ship's systems, the bulkheads, deck, and even the overhead covered in access panels. The scanner was picking up the walls and structure, but none of the ship systems were visible. It wasn't just as if they were turned off or scan blocked – it was as if they didn't exist. In the scan, they were just blank spaces.
That's impossible!
OK, it's not really impossible, but who would scan block the interior parts of a ship, much less stealth them? I can't imagine how much that would cost.
She opened a floor panel where one of the crossover fuel pumps was located. Still the same result – no readings. She removed the insulation layer from the pump. Finally, her scanner picked up what she expected – the fuel pump standing by with its self-diagnostics powered. Anailu considered this. She knew that almost every system in the ship was covered in insulation to block noise and vibration. It was standard for Doves. It was why you didn't hear or feel the usual hum of a ship that was powered up. From what she was seeing, it seemed that on her ship, the insulation was not just a scan blocking material, but also a scan absorber. She closed up the panel as the gravity of the situation hit her. It was now obvious that every time she'd scanned a component through the “insulation,” she'd actually been reading a false image generated by the ship itself, based on its self-diagnostics. She'd been on the ship for almost a year and she'd never realized it!
Anailu knew the ship's electronics didn't have insulation around them – how were they being protected? She had a simple way to find out. She opened the access panel covering the life support systems control modules. This time, the electronics showed up as soon as the panel was out of the way.
Why would you shield the internal components in a ship? A stealthed hull is enough – shielding every part individually is a waste of money. At least the stealth explains why the scan masker is active by default – a stealth ship doesn't show up on scan unless you create a fake return.
Anailu closed everything back up and returned to the bridge.
Chapter 34: Making Plans
As she entered, she could see Velvet and Diamond had finished watching the video. Velvet burst out, “It's amazing! The wounded agent tells you his great secret and then dies leaving questions unanswered, just like in an action show!”
Diamond sighed. “He didn't die, you nut. He just got beat up. He doesn't want anything more to do with Ana, because he's afraid for his family.”
Velvet crossed her arms. “Well, my version is more exciting. But it does seem like Grotehl and the parts are a trap! I know he talked about some crazy conspiracy, but is there any more reasonable explanation for why someone would try to bait you? Is it the government trying to trap us?”
While they were talking, Anailu had made her way to the pilot's position. As she sat down and turned the seat to face the others, she frowned. “I don't know.”
Diamond rolled her eyes. “If it was the Empire, they wouldn't need 'bait.' If they wanted to arrest us, they'd just do it. It's not like the Queen can run very far. Is there anyone else who would have the desire and ability to come after you?”
Anailu sighed. “Yes.”
“OK, who is it?”
“I can't say.”
Diamond leaned forward, toward Anailu. “You can't say, you won't say, or you're not allowed to say?”
“I promised not to talk about it.”
“OK, OK. Can you at least tell me if it's a contractual agreement or the Honor College?”
Though she tried not to show it, Anailu started getting flustered. “Please, stop asking me! I made a promise and I'm going to keep it!”
Diamond backed off. “Sorry, sorry! I suppose the specific identity isn't really that important for me to know, but I do need one more piece of information. Is this noble permitted to get back at you?”
Anailu was certain she hadn't said he was a noble. This seemed like a reasonable question, though. “No, he's not allowed to seek revenge. In fact, he's required to leave me entirely alone.”
“OK, so he can't do anything direct or obvious. How much would he respect his promise? Would he try something indirect, maybe something he couldn't be blamed for?”
“I was told that even if I mysteriously died, or my ship blew up, or anything like that, he'd still take the blame for it, even if there was no proof it was tied to him. But from what little I know of him, I could see him trying something if he thought he would get away with it.”
“OK, that's good. That puts some limits on him. Unless you can think of someone else who would have it in for you, he's our prime suspect.”
Anailu shrugged. “I don't really have any enemies. I mean, there were people at school that didn't like me, but that was just normal immaturity. I certainly hope they've grown out of it by now.”
“OK, then let's try to figure out what 'Sir Noble' might try. What if you got yourself into trouble, through your own actions? Would he try to frame you for something?”
“I don't know, but I guess that's possible.”
“And like the man on the tape said, it's no secret that you really want those parts. Maybe they think they can tempt you to do something illegal, using the parts as bait.”
“But the parts were stolen from Motul after they beat him – they're the ones who are breaking the law!”
“Want to bet that Motul won't claim the parts? That would raise questions about why he had them in the first place. It doesn't matter if they do something illegal to set you up – it only matters who gets caught by the authorities. Besides, if they put some some 'valuable Imperial property' in the crate with the Dove parts, then when Grotehl sold them to you, they'd catch you in the act of receiving stolen Imperial property. They wouldn't even care about anything else in the crates.”
Anailu sighed. “That makes sense, and I can see it would be easy for the – the guy who doesn't like me to allow something valuable to be stolen. If I accept the crates, they'd put me in irons for a long time.”
Diamond nodded. “OK then, Ana, we need to just turn around and head back to the City – or go on to the Lightness. Any way you want except into that trap.”
“Nope.”
“Are you crazy, woman?”
“I have to try for those parts. Maybe
it's a trap, but now that I'm expecting it, I won't walk into it. Besides, if I don't show up, they might just destroy my parts!”
Diamond shook her head. “Nah, I don't think so. Sure, that would hurt you, but not much. Besides, do you think he'd be satisfied with that, especially if he can't make sure you know that you've been hurt?”
“He could destroy the parts and still find some other way to hurt me, but even if he doesn't get rid of them – what if he just holds on to them? To know the parts exist, here on Doran, but I can't get at them?”
Diamond nodded. “I can understand that. But I've got another thought. What if he wanted you to get that video message?”
“I don't think so. If he had Motul in his pocket, he could have just gotten me where he wants me, directly. Beating up Motul and stealing from him and letting me know about it – wouldn't that be unnecessarily complicated? I'm not sure he's that sneaky, anyway – and look, even if this is a bad idea, I gotta try!”
Diamond sighed. “OK, then, I can't talk you out of taking us into the trap. What's your plan for getting back out again?”
“I don't know yet. For now, I just want to go in quietly and take a look, just to see if I have any chance.”
“Yeah, good thing we're not in a completely unique and obvious ship.”
Anailu nodded. “You're right, that's a problem. But you're wrong about part of it. She's a very unique ship, but from what we just found out, I think she can be a very sneaky ship, too.”
Anailu brought up a display of the terrain between the Queen and the town of Purport, where Grotehl was awaiting their arrival.
“OK, here's my plan. We'll set the Queen to use all the stealth she can. I'll fly at low level toward the coast, staying down 'in the weeds.' We'll cross the coast well to the south of the town and go underwater for the rest of the trip.”
Diamond nodded. “Sounds good so far. What then?”
“Well, when we get there, I'll take my bike into town and see what I can find out.”
“And what are V and I going to be doing?”
“You'll stay here and look after the ship, of course.”
Diamond shook her head. “Nope.”
“What? You know, I am still the captain here!”
“Sure, but that's just a dumb plan. You're going into a place you don't know except that it's a trap, and you're going alone? No, I'll come along and keep you out of trouble. V can stay with the ship.”
Now Velvet shook her head. “No way! I'm not letting you go in there without me, Di.”
Diamond shook her head again. “Nope.”
Velvet exploded. “What! How come you decide that you get to go and I don't! You need all the help you can get!”
Diamond nodded. “Yes, we might, but we need you ready to fly in if we need a quick exit.”
“If we need the ship, we can fly her in remotely, with Ana's comm.”
Diamond shook her head. “I know neither of you or Ana have actually practiced flying the ship by remote. Are you sure you can fly with the comm as well as you could from here? If we have to get out of there in a hurry, we might need every bit of skill and precision you can muster. And this way, you can focus on flying instead of worrying about running or getting shot at the same time.”
Velvet frowned. “It's sounding more and more like this is a really bad idea. You do remember I've never flown an actual ship, right? Are you sure about this?”
Anailu shrugged. “V, I'm not sure we'll be able to get the parts, but I am sure that I need to try. But are you willing to stay aboard? You know there's nobody else I'd trust with the Queen. I've seen you fly in StellaTactics, and you know that flying the real thing takes the same skills. It's just that the consequences are greater. Besides, you probably won't have to do anything.”
“Hm.” Velvet still looked uncertain. “This will be totally illegal. I'm not a licensed pilot, you know.”
Anailu laughed. “I illegally freed you two, and apparently, I've been flying a ship with an illegal scan masker for months now. We're going to be flying without an ID beacon, and if someone is setting me up, then we'll be sneaking in with the intent of avoiding Imperial authorities. But after this is over, we can finish getting you legal to fly. Good enough?”
Velvet threw up her hands and pouted. “Fine! But it's not fair.”
Diamond patted her on the shoulder. “Maybe next time.”
Anailu turned to Diamond. “OK, next item. Purport doesn't have a great reputation, and Grotehl has a decidedly bad reputation. If you're going with me, are you OK with going armed?”
Diamond nodded. “Yes, I'd rather have the chance to do more than just be a target when this all goes bad because it's a trap.”
“OK, then let's get started. I do have one more thing to try before we can go....”
Anailu knew that even with a generally stealthy ship, there were more considerations than just scan blocking on the hull. There were also issues like power leakage and the ID beacon. With enough time, she could adjust all those things manually, but knowing Telani design, they probably had a simple control to manage it all. The first place she looked was the screen that allowed the setting of overall ship modes, such as settings for maximizing fuel efficiency or performance. Sure enough, there was now a section for managing how observable the ship was. It even had different settings for the minimum legal level and the absolute minimum of observability, with a separate selection of whether to allow for maneuvering. She set it to the absolute minimum, of course allowing for maneuvering. With that done, she checked the status of the ID beacon. The ship reported it offline. As soon as they took off, she could add “Flying in Imperial controlled space without an active beacon” to the growing list of illegal things she was doing today.
Anailu started up the main drives. As she was doing her standard checks of the systems, she realized that both the main drives and the auxiliary generators now showed a higher power output than they had before. Apparently, they'd been upgraded when the ship had been refitted, but the extra power had been hidden with the rest of the “special features.” At last she understood where the Queen's extra fuel usage had been going – to power the Sculpting system that had been running the whole time.
Anailu was ready to lift off when she had an idea. She hesitated, then she got up from the pilot's position and moved to the captain's chair. “V, why don't you take us to town?”
Their course took them down a river valley to the sea, and at first, Velvet was flying just below the hilltops. As she got more comfortable with the Queen, she took them lower and faster until it looked like they were skimming just above the ground. It was mostly desert, with nothing more than scrub breaking up the rocky, dry hills they skimmed across. When Anailu saw they were raising a dust trail behind them, she told Velvet to take them up a few meters to avoid that. About 30 kilometers north of Purport, they reached the coast.
As they sped toward the open sea, Anailu gripped the arms of the captain's chair tightly. “Umm, let's not find out how fast we can hit the water today.”
Velvet gave a wry grin. “Spoilsport. Fine, I'll take it easy.”
“And don't go very deep. Those door seals are probably leaky now they've been opened, and door shields only hold so much.”
“Yup.”
Anailu checked the ship's status. She knew the ship was sophisticated, but that didn't stop her from being impressed that the ship had already set itself for underwater operation as soon as their nose was pointed down into the open water.
Velvet slid them into the water smoothly, then they turned south to run along the coast. Anailu confirmed that the launch door seal was leaking, but its energy wall was holding the leaks outside. She didn't want to find out if it could hold more than that, at least not today. It didn't matter to her plans: she wasn't launching from underwater because the airbike wasn't watertight. She set a waypoint out at sea, opposite the town. She planned to pause there before making the final run to Purport.
As the Queen slid throu
gh the water, Anailu decided it was time to come up with a specific plan of what they were going to do once they got to town.
She activated a small holographic display to project in front of the captain's chair. “OK, so here's Purport. I'm thinking we surface beside this big structure that goes from the water to the top of the cliff and take the bike up from there. What do you think, Di?”
Diamond got up and walked over. “Where is this guy's shop?”
“I think I remember it over here.” Anailu pointed at the map. It was located in one of several depressions located further back from the cliff.
“Why doesn't it show up in the map data with the rest of the businesses?”
“I think Grotehl mostly deals in less-legal merchandise. I only found out about him from a guy running a pawn shop in the city. Come to think of it, that guy was kinda sleazy, too.”
“Oh, you mean Grotehl's a fence.”
“Maybe? I didn't really inquire when I visited here. I got the impression that most people here wanted me to mind my own business. It's not a very welcoming place. I think there's listings for a couple independent tour guides based in Purport, but I doubt they get much business.”
“It looks like most of the structures are built in these circular depressions.”
“I didn't really think about it last time, but this is the desert. They look like they were originally landing bays, but now they're all being used for houses and shops, including Grotehl's place. There's tunnels connecting them all. The landing area is this concrete pad on the surface, to the north. Basic power connection, nothing more, and dust everywhere.”
“OK, so these tunnels – are they big enough for the bike?”
“The one I saw was big enough for a truck, but I didn't go inside it. I just went from the landing pad to his shop and back.”
“Fine. When we get close, we'll try to get into the tunnels from the sea side, and go take a look around. If it's a trap, there will be people doing their best to hide, but they've gotta expect us to land out on the pad. If they don't know we're already there, maybe we can catch them off guard.”
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