From the look on the woman’s face, her reaction came as something of a surprise to her as well. She didn’t follow it up, though.
Instead, she glossed over it. “You guys went out to the bar the other night and came back in one solid piece—and thankfully, without mug shots trailing behind you. So why not another planet? Right?”
Stephanie’s eyes took on a distant look as she remembered that night. There’d definitely been a considerable volume of booze, an equal amount of laughter, and in the end, several punches thrown before the team snuck out of the bar brawl Frog had started with another guy who, in all fairness, had been a right bastard. She looked at Elizabeth who watched her with humor in her eyes.
She tried hard to get rid of the idea that the woman knew exactly what had gone down, swallowed quickly, and nodded. “Oh, yeah. Right. We got back safely. Um, sure, that’s fine. What could possibly go wrong?”
Ms. E grinned and patted her on the arm. “Good. You’ll do great and you’ll be back before you know it. Now, I have some meetings to get to. If I don’t see you before you leave, buckle up, make sure you get enough sleep, don’t start fights, and don’t blow the royals up.”
The girl laughed nervously as her mentor left and watched the woman answer her phone as she walked out of sight. As soon as she’d gone, she shut the door and ran to retrieve her hand-held comm. “Are you guys there?”
She was slightly panicked. Okay, she was freaking the hell out. Johnny came on. “We’re here, big chief. What’s up? Do you need Frog to come get your luggage?”
The other man groaned in the background. “Why am I always the bell boy?”
Stephanie shook her head and flapped her hand at the same time. “No. I got it. I wanted to know if we had everything. You know…do we have the armor, the MU stones, the backup batteries, the stuff from the armory, the—”
In the other room, the guys gathered around the comms when they heard the panic in her tone. Lars cleared his throat to interrupt her. “Whoa! Hold up there, Quality Control. Relax. Take a really big breath. The supplies have been checked, double checked, and then triple checked. Then, Brenden watched them loaded for the trip.”
She instantly felt a little bit calmer. “Okay. Thanks. I thought I would ask because if I didn’t, it would be my fault if we arrived there empty-handed.”
Johnny chuckled gently. “It’s all accounted for, boss lady. All we’re missing at this point is you.”
Stephanie looked around. “Oh yeah. Okay, be there in…uh…ten minutes.”
She ended the call and shoved the comm unit in her bag before she rushed into the shower and yanked her bathroom bag off the counter.
Using her arm to swipe all her stuff into the bag in one sweep, she set it back on the counter as she double checked the drawers and the bathroom. When she was sure she’d left nothing behind, she picked it up and shoved it in her suitcase.
With two hands, she slammed it shut and leaned on it with her elbow to get it closed. She put her thumb on the front mechanism and it flashed blue and then green to confirm that it was locked.
Once she’d put her bags at the door, she walked over to the tablet on the desk. She swiped right and pulled up Todd’s email, even though she knew he couldn’t check it yet.
It didn’t matter. She decided she’d leave him a little message before she left. A holographic microphone rose from the screen and she cleared her throat and leaned forward to speak into it as a small animated camera hovered in front of her to record the video.
“I always hated these things.” She laughed. “Todd, I’m getting ready to set off on my own adventure. I wish I could tell you what, but it’s kind of hush-hush at the moment. From the background, though, I assume you can tell I’m not at home. Anyway, I wanted to check in, tell you I am thinking about you and I hope you’re kicking alien butt, and hopefully, by the time I’m back on Earth, you’ll be out of boot camp. Love you, dude.”
She raised her fist and stood there for a moment, then glanced from the camera to her fist and back again. She pointed at it and smiled. “Did you catch that? Jud Nelson? Breakfast Club? Yeah…probably not. Bye, dude.”
Stephanie ended the message and sent it, laughing at herself as she shoved the tablet in her shoulder bag. She drew her information slip from her pocket and made sure she was headed to the right place. “Deck 9, Meligorn Dreamer, departing Elpis One 09:47 E1T,” she read aloud.
After she’d repeated it, she took a deep breath and shoved the slip back into her pocket. She had reached the door when she remembered she was supposed to board the liner incognito.
With a scowl of irritation, she summoned her magic to give herself long red hair, green eyes, and honey-colored skin. After a careful examination of herself in the mirror beside the door, she asked the magic to make her look a good two inches taller and ten pounds heavier than she really was, and to make her look as old as thirty.
When she was satisfied that not even her mother would recognize her, she stepped through the door and drew it closed behind her.
“Now to find the boarding area,” she muttered. “All by myself. Because now, we’re on our own.”
The boys were way ahead of her and taking their gear down to the cargo area, and they bitched every step of the way.
“Ouch,” Brenden protested. “Don’t push so damn hard. If you give me a shoe wedgie with that bitch, you’ll rip my whole foot off.”
Frog looked at him from behind the wheeled pallet. “Sorry, but it’s hard to see through the giant pallet of shit you made me push. I know I was the last to join the team—by ten minutes, I might add—but that was a long time ago. Can we please either make me an equal or hire some newbie I can hand over to?”
Marcus laughed. He carried two duffels with ease. “There’s no room for more, dude. You’ll have to suffer through it for another round. Don’t worry, it makes you stronger.”
Frog groaned as they made their way across the dock with the last of the equipment. They’d told Stephanie it was all already locked away but had decided a little white lie wouldn’t hurt when they heard how panicked she was. Not only did they not want her to freak out, but they also did not want a surprise appearance of Morgana.
The guard at the entrance to the umbilical leading to the hold put his hand up and flipped through his tablet when Lars showed him their badge. He glanced at it and back at him before he stepped to the side. “Lower Deck Twenty-four, Compartments nine-three-two and nine-three-three. Use your palm print to secure them. If you have any problems, use the comm center in your rooms to call the concierge. If you can’t get in, drop past security over there.”
Lars looked in the direction he’d indicated as he tucked his badge away. He nodded once he’d located the relevant area. “Thank you.”
The team lugged everything down to their assigned storage, packed it away, and secured it for the journey. They didn’t put a single thing in the second compartment but had rented it in case. Marcus shook his head as Lars pressed his palm to the pad. “What good is the equipment down in the hold?”
The guys turned and looked at him, and Lars sighed. “You aren’t suggesting we’ll need it on the voyage out, are you?”
The other man stared in return and gestured at the upper decks. “I’m only saying it’s no good down here if we’re attacked by pirates up there.”
Lars rolled his eyes. “We have permission for our personal sidearms as security escorts, but that’s it.” He narrowed his eyes. “Of course, if you don’t think you’re man enough to handle a pleasure cruise without anything extra...”
Frog snorted, and Marcus shook his head. “No, I’m good. I’m man enough to deal with anything without my sidearm...unlike the rest of you pussies.”
The team leader gave him a look that said he might consider making him prove it, but the final boarding call came through and he led them back to the boarding lounge.
They checked in under their cover names. Frog was last to come up, tipped an invisible hat, and
put on a passable Irish accent. “Shamus McGee,” he told the attendant and showed her his boarding pass.
She didn’t even blink, found his name, took his fingerprint, and handing him a map of the ship. He turned away with a sigh and rolled his eyes at her lack of reaction to his obviously impressive Irish name.
The guys laughed at him as they walked through the entryway toward the ship’s foyer where a fountain sprayed multi-colored arcs of virtual water that looked almost real. Lars looked around and saw they’d caught the attention of a female passenger headed in the same direction.
He smiled at her and nodded politely before he turned back to the team. She nodded in response and her lips curved into a small smile as she studied her ticket and scanned reception for the right elevator.
After he’d taken a minute to admire the tall, leggy redhead, Marcus leaned over and whispered to Lars, “I thought Steph—I’m sorry, Lilly was supposed to meet us here. You don’t think the nerves got to her and turned her into Morgana, do you?”
He looked around again but saw no one who might be Stephanie in disguise. His scrutiny dismissed the woman who stared at the same bank of elevators they needed.
His voice lowered to a sotto voce whisper, he added, “Maybe we should look for her and make sure she’s not doing something desperate like holding hostages in the boarding area or looking for some Dreth to kill.”
The woman hid a smirk and turned toward them. “If I were her,” she told them seriously, “I’d come in here to Hulk out. And maybe bash a couple of you knuckleheads together for talking about her that way.”
Lars caught on first and covered a laugh, but the other man looked suspiciously at her. Stephanie ducked in close and put her hand up to hide her face from people passing by. For a brief moment, she assumed her own face and quickly returned to her disguise.
Marcus jumped slightly. “Whoa. Either you’re her or we have a really big problem.”
She laughed and her long ginger hair cascaded over her shoulders. “It’s me, you dummy. I didn’t want to give anyone a chance to recognize me. This place is huge. There are way too many people here.”
He made another furtive scrutiny and this time, took note of the open floors layered above them. They stood close to the fountain in the center of an open atrium surrounded by what looked like thousands of people who milled aimlessly about.
Stephanie shook her head. “I didn’t think for a second that this place was so monstrous.”
Lars grinned. “Come on. Me, Frog, and Johnny have been on one before, and we studied the schematics for this one. We’ll show you around.”
“Mostly to make sure you know where not to blow shit up,” Frog interjected. “You know, so we don’t get sucked into the cold dark depths of space.”
Johnny elbowed him. “You have no chill, do you? No chill at all.”
He shrugged and hurried behind them. “What? I’m being for real here. Under the circumstances, I would say I have every right to feel that way.”
“No offense taken, Froggy.” She laughed and turned to squeeze his cheek.
When she’d let go and turned away, he rubbed his face. “She really freaks me out with a new body and everything. Her attitude’s the same, though.”
They all laughed as they wandered across the atrium and into the elevator. It was glass fronted, so Lars pointed out all the cool things he’d noticed about the ship. Frog followed up with safety advice.
The team leader pointed down a level. “And there’s the richie shopping mall with loads of designer boutiques for clothing and jewelry and stuff. I’m not sure I understand why’d they want to shop before they get to Meligorn, but whatever, right?”
They left the elevator and followed the corridor away from the center of the ship. When they reached the last T-intersection, Frog grabbed her arm and almost dragged her over to the wall opposite.
“See this?” he demanded, tapped it with the tip of his index finger, and made sure she was paying attention. “This section of wall is very thin. This goes to the outside in about twenty feet. We want no unnecessary explosions close to this wall.”
A woman walking past them gasped, put her hand to her chest, and stared at them with wide eyes as she hurried away. Stephanie rolled her eyes as the passenger scuttled off.
With any luck, that was someone who thought they were a bunch of hooligans making really terrible jokes at an inappropriate time. If she didn’t, they could expect a visit from ship security very soon.
She glared at Frog. “Are you done telling me stuff I already know?”
Over on Star Base Notaro, Captain Asparos stared out the viewing port at Elpis One. His mind drifted from the job at hand to the memory of seeing the command center of a Federation cruiser blown clean away.
It was hard to focus on what he needed to do next when he could still see the bodies they’d salvaged. He closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over them as he tried to will the images away.
It was a relief when a soft chime caught his attention. He stepped up to a console and typed quickly to bring up a screen that displayed the luxury liner known as the Meligorn Dreamer.
A brief message flashed across it.
Special people boarding…
The captain nodded and murmured to himself. “Got you.”
He shut the system down and pulled out a rather archaic-looking contraption. It was a coder, old but a more modern variant of something used throughout most of Earth’s history.
Seated at the desk, the captain plugged the device in, drew a carefully folded piece of paper from his pocket, and waited to send his reply. When the machine was ready, he tapped the sender three times before beginning.
It took him a moment to run his finger down the code words on the sheet as he tapped them out. James sends his regards. You owe him drinks when you get back from your trip. STOP.
When they reached their rooms aboard the Meligorn Dreamer, Stephanie immediately wandered to the balcony. She stared at the atrium beyond and tried to take it all in. It took her a moment to realize that what she’d thought was completely empty space was actually not that at all.
Every few floors, there was a magnetic floating floor, clear so it could be seen through, which gave an open feeling to the enclosed space. These floors also created a place for people to socialize under the everchanging colors of the artificial lights.
Holographic images of fields and forests graced the walls of each level to enhance the impression of openness.
Lars came to stand beside her and leaned his elbows on the rail as he followed her gaze. “They’re creating an impression of the real world using Virtual World technology. They added it when they found that many passengers, especially the Dreth and Meligorn, became claustrophobic on the longer cruises. From the balconies, you can see all the way down if you want to, but you can also change it so you can look out at whatever world your floor is programmed to show. It’s very cool.”
Stephanie laughed. “You say that like it’s not a total security nightmare.”
He stared out across the level. “Yeah, well, that’s because I can see what’s really there. Even on this level, we’re three floors up, and I have it set so I can monitor everything I need to see.”
She smiled. “It’s good to know someone’s on the job.”
Lars had nothing to say to that, and as his gaze roved over the balconies opposite, he noted there was no walkway linking them together. Beside him, Stephanie was silent, still amazed by the technology the world outside the Gov-Subs had become accustomed to.
All around her were things she hadn’t even known existed. It almost made her mad to see the difference between how people in the Subs lived compared to the wealth around her. She frowned, distracted by the sound of giggling coming from the floating floor two levels beneath them.
Irritated, she leaned over the balcony as several families began to enjoy some time out in the simulated parkland, oblivious to the drop below them.
The kids really struck her,
especially the little girl with her bouncing blonde curls and innocent smile. Stephanie watched as she played with her brother, laughing like she didn’t have a care in the world…not a single one.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Power thrummed through the Meligorn Dreamer as it warmed its engines. Warning klaxons blared a demand that the flight lounge inside the station be cleared before the umbilical was released and retracted into the station. At the same time, the cargo entry to the dock was sealed.
While the procedure usually ran trouble-free, nothing was left to chance. Accidents were rare, but in space, the consequences of a failed seal could be catastrophic. Lights flashed amber, and entrances into both the cargo and boarding areas were locked down.
Only when the station was sealed did the Dreamer use small auxiliary jets to push it carefully away from the station. Once it had reached the required distance, it engaged the larger drives and moved steadily into space.
On the viewscreen that displayed the scenery outside the ship, the passengers might have seen the rings of Saturn flash by, but only if they’d actually paid attention. The ship now moved faster than any human ship before contact with Meligorn.
The technology of interstellar flight improved by leaps and bounds and slow, small, heavy ships became things of the past.
The Meligorn Dreamer—mostly referred to as the Dreamer—was fitted with the latest advances in interstellar flight technology. It cruised rapidly through the Limitation Zone toward its transition point.
Limitation Zones were the areas around planets and other orbiting bodies where ships were prohibited from entering or exiting transition space. In these zones, they had to maintain a specific speed and be aware of passing vessels.
Once it had passed through this, the Dreamer would set course for the Transition Zone, where it would make its jump into the dark expanse of transition space to reach the Meligorn system.
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 31