Shortly after 0800 hours, both Sare fan club teams return from their meetings and reboard the Bray Keaven — again, after some negotiations to convince Vasilii that it’s safe to let them enter the berth and the ship.
The crew then gathers in the lounge to briefly review the meetings before heading off to stations during the ship's move to the Stork & Sons yard.
"Well, Kevon. It took some effort for me to maintain my composure when you agreed to the exchange after Sare No. 2 uttered the incorrect pass phrase. I’m interested in hearing your plan!" Ian remarks while flashing a wide grin.
"Plan? I’m making it up as I go along," Kevon admits, clearly lost in thought.
Ian bursts out laughing, then says, "Not surprisingly, I didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling from the guy during your conversation. He obviously doesn’t trust us and I think he is planning to pull something during the transfer. This guy is just a pleasure to work with."
"What we should do is contact Ms. Clegg as soon as possible and deliver the second cube to her before we meet up with the correct Sare at 1200," Kevon says.
"My thought exactly," Ian replies.
"I didn’t want to take the chance that Sare No. 2 would get ugly before we had a chance to prepare for him," Kevon explains regarding his earlier comment. "I seriously doubt that his goons were more than 50 meters away, and that if we didn’t sate him for at least a few hours, we could’ve had a fight on us right there."
"That was basically what I was expecting," Ian says. "Good thinking though. Gives us a chance to regroup and maybe figure something out."
Turning to Swann, Ian asks, "You think there is a chance you could dig up anything on the computer networks about this Sare No. 2 guy? Didn’t know if it would be possible working from a description or even a photo derived from his comm yesterday if we have it saved? Would be nice to know something about him."
Swann says, "It might be better if we go for a drink and ask around. I’ll bet his two goons make him highly visible."
"I was hoping we could find out some info before the meeting at 1300 today," Ian says. "Didn’t know if hitting the bars this time of day would be very fruitful. Then again, we ain’t in Kansas anymore, eh!"
Swann seems puzzled. "Kansas? Don’t believe I’ve heard of that system. What sector is it in?
"Never mind. Why don’t you, Aidan, and I go for a stroll when the others move the ship to the repair berth, and catch up with them there?"
"Kansas was a state in old . . . yeah, never mind," Ian says. "Sure, I’ll tag along. Might stop and have a chat with Mr. Dirty Overalls."
After a bit more thought Kevon says, "Personally, I think we should do the meet, pick his goons off with a couple of snipers, and work the false Sare for as much information he can give us. Maybe I can get a favor from the local military officials to intervene against him?"
"That’s why I was wanting to find some info on him," Ian says. "Hell, he may be on the local authorities’ most–wanted list. Just tell ’em where and what time he’s gonna show and let ’em nab him! Is it ever that easy, though?"
"I think that Sare the First would appreciate knowing that there is a Sare the Second running about attempting to hijack his cube using false ident numbers and pass codes," Saro says. "We could let him know about Mr. The Second when we make our delivery at noon. Unless — do we have a means to contact Sare No. 1 before our noon meet? Perhaps he’d like to know as soon as possible about his ‘twin.’ "
"Good idea Doc. Worth a try," Ian says.
"And since we all have a bad feeling about No, 2, has anyone considered that he may be watching the ship even now," Saro asks. "And that when we leave with a suspiciously large package before noon, he may attempt to try something — unpleasant?"
Swann says, "I think we should try to find out who he is and how powerful he is, first. But I agree that we should complete a deal with Ms. Clegg as soon as possible. As long as she can verify her offer is genuine."
"Swann, how about if we go out, you can ask around, and I’ll try the electronic side?" Aidan says. "Fortunately, Sare No. 1 seems quite on the up and up. Hmm, I need to get some wrapping paper for the cube for him. Guess we could pick that up while we’re out.
"How do we want to handle the transfer to Sare No. 1? Seems that we should have a couple of folks watching from a distance.
"By the way, has anyone chatted up that gentleman in the rather hideous coveralls who’s watching us? Might be worthwhile."
"So many people to interrogate, so little time," muses Vargas. "Perhaps our friend out there is interested in Sare 2 also? Maybe he's even the local law? Who knows?"
Grinning at the comment, Aidan says, "I was curious if our friend in overalls was watching us for the Marquis. Swann and I could swing by on our way to investigate Sare No. 2."
"Anyway," the former Scout continues, "as much as tapping him from long range is appealing, we might want to be careful of Two. He may have heftier friends than just the four–armed wonders at his disposal. Kevon, do you really think you can enlist the aid of the locals?"
"I don’t know, Mr. Vargas," he says. "It depends entirely on how much pull the Imperial Navy has here. But the worst they can say is no. We’re legally in possession of the cubes, with Mr. Silver’s writ, so there’s nothing we can get in trouble for.
"Further, if the authorities — Imperial or otherwise — intervene in this operation, it will hopefully deflect attention from our own involvement in his detainment," Kevon adds. "Of course, he is impersonating someone to illegally gain access to property. Maybe we just make a complaint to the locals and let them go from there?"
Martha chimes in. "If you’re looking for a way to move cubes out of the ship, perhaps once we get over to the shipyard, we can hide one or two in spare box containers, and shuffle them outside secretly there."
She pauses. "Nah, probably won’t work if they’re watching that place, too.
"What if we all took a package out, of the appropriate size and shape, wrapped as a present? And better, what if none of them were the right package? We could arrange for some postal deliveries, and the cubes, to be picked up and sent somewhere after we all leave the ship with the multiple packages, to split up the various forces looking after us. Hell, we can probably even have one of the engineers do it for us, about an hour after we’ve left and everyone’s following us. Risks leaving the cubes alone with someone else, but they wouldn’t suspect that. It’s not something anyone else has suggested, so it might not even be on any of your minds, either."
The young engineer pauses.
"Or we can go with Plan C, and have the two parties interested in the cubes come pick them up from us at the shipyard, and let them deal with the security hassles of getting the cubes where they need to go. Then we find some creative way to deal with Mr. Sare–Two."
"The first thing we need to do is remember to keep this entire thing simple," Kevon warns. "Multiple decoys will only serve to split the party up and weaken us if it comes to a fight with Sare–Two.
"I agree that we should first speak to the Mr. Coveralls," he continues. "At the same time, I’ll contact Ms. Clegg about her offer and arrange an 1130 appointment. Once I’m done scheduling the meet with Ms. Clegg, I’ll contact the local authorities about the impersonator. While I’m doing that, Mr. Silver will contact Sare–One about the impersonator, and ask him to be vigilant. Does that sound reasonable?"
"Seems reasonable." Aidan heads to a console to contact to Sare No. 1 and warn him.
Kevon quickly places a call to the Klenbrooke and reaches Holly Clegg. "Captain Clegg, Kevon Holland here."
"Ah, Captain Holland, please call me Holly. I expected you to call closer to noon."
"We had a chance to discuss your offer a little sooner than I expected. In any case, we have decided to accept all of your propositions, and arrange for a transfer of the last one around 1130."
The redhead captain blinks for a moment as if in a bit of surprise, then sunnily says, "Ah, good. 1130 would be fine. Would you like to come to the Klenbrooke, have us come to your berth, or meet someplace else?"
"I’d feel better letting them come to us," Ian says to Kevon. "That way we are not responsible for the transportation of the cubes. Only problem is the ship will be at the shipyard by then. Dunno how secure the area will be to make the transfer. I’d guess not very."
Nodding once to acknowledge Ian, Kevon replies to Holly, "Given the beating we’ve already taken over these cubes, the crew and I would prefer if you picked it up from our berth at Stork & Sons." Kevon provided Ms. Clegg with the berth information.
Holly replies, "Thank you, that’ll be fine. We would be happy to meet you at the Stork & Sons to retrieve the cube. They’re a good outfit, and I’ve had some work done with them on the Klenbrooke. I’ll be there with several of my crew for the transfer. I’ll have the funds drawn onto 10 Cr100,000 chits."
"That will be more than sufficient, Holly," the lieutenant commander answers, taking care to use her first name this time. "We’ll see you at 1130. Bray Keaven out."
Aidan gives Kevon a snapshot (or two) of Sare No. 2 to pass onto Holly. "Very interesting. I don’t recognize the fellow, but I’ll certainly keep an eye out for him," she says.
-----
At the same time, Aidan places a call to Sare de Salui No. 1 to warn him about Sare No. 2.
"Ah, Mr. Silver. I did not expect to hear from you so soon. Did you call about a change in plans?"
"No, but I did want to warn that you have an impersonator," Aidan replies as he inserts a few stills from the recorded comm calls with Sare No. 2. "This fellow had two serial numbers which were slightly off, the incorrect pass phrase, and a couple of sydite goons. We agreed to meet him at 1300 in order to forestall any immediate rash acts, but we haven’t decided on another course of action yet."
"Interesting indeed. I was afraid something like this would come up," Sare de Salui No. 1 comments as he obviously turns slightly away and is typing into another display. "Yes, definitely interesting. I would highly suggest that not meet with the man. I would also recommend that you do take care and do what you can to avoid drawing attention to yourself or my impostor.
"If you would trust me to do so, I would be happy to come to your berth to pick up the package. My man has indicated that he hasn’t seen anyone else watching your berth, so that may be safer."
"Oh? Your man?"
"Ah, yes, I probably should have mentioned it this morning. I’m a little surprised that you haven’t seen one of them yet. I have a couple of associates keeping a watch on your berth. The fellow on duty now should be in rather stained coveralls. His name is Fred."
Swann, who has been listening nearby, says, "I think we should take Sare No. 1 up on his offer to do the transfer now, rather than waiting. He’s even offering to come and get it from this berth, and he has a man already in place to help with security. I say we do this, now, before Sare No. 2 catches on to us.
"If Sare No. 1 can’t make it here before the ship needs to move to the repair facility, then we can unload one of the cubes inside some sort of cover container, and some of us can wait with it until he arrives to pick it up. He’s dealt face to face with Aidan, so he should definitely stay. He’s also met me, so my presence won’t spook him. Ian was going to come with Aidan and me for our little intel jaunt through the spaceport, so I suggest he also stay behind for the meeting as well.
"But I think we need to act on this now. It will be one less thing we have to worry about. And then when we get the second cube safely to Ms. Clegg, we can concentrate on what to do about Sare No. 2."
Aidan, now on hold on the comm with Sare No. 1, says, "I agree we should take Sare No. 1 up on his offer. I’ll let him know."
Turning back to the comm, Aidan says, "Sare de Salui, we would appreciate making the exchange at the ship as soon as possible. We’ll mention this to Fred. Shall we wait for backup from you?"
"Ah, yes, I’ll be able to meet you shortly, say 15 minutes at the Bray Keaven’s berth? I’ll comm Fred to warn him. I, my assistant, and a couple of my people will come by the berth."
Shortly after Kevon and Aidan finish the calls, Aidan, Swann, and Ian prepare to head out to do a little bit of research while the Bray Keaven moves.
-----
Martha continues to prepare the ship for transit, and begins conducting pre-flight checks as per standard IIS protocols. "Hey, Vasilii, got a question for you. Am I going to get to work on the Bray with these guys every day, or are there some days when I’m not going to be allowed to assist Stork & Sons?"
Vasilii tells her the Stork & Sons bid assumes a five day out of seven workweek. So Martha and the rest of the crew will be off on Saturday and Sunday, or the local equivalent.
-----
Vasilii then announces his intentions of going shopping for a few items he wants or needs before the meeting with Sare No. 2. "Saro, you still feel like coming along? Vargas, you game for a quick stroll with us?"
"Sure, it would be good to stretch my legs," Vargas says.
"That would leave only Martha and Kevon to fly the ship to the repair facility and guard the ship, cargo, and cubes," Ian says. "I would rather a larger contingent stay onboard until we get rid of the cubes. Maybe y’all could wait until Swann, Aidan, and I get back from our information safari, or better yet, wait until this afternoon after the cube transfers?"
Vasilii looks at Vargas, then Ian, and back again as he tries to decide, then lets out a sigh of resignation and says to Vargas. "How about a rain check?"
He turns back to Ian. "Alright then, how about a counter proposal: I stay put with the ship, give you the short version of the shopping list and the credits to cover it, and you guys pick it up while you’re out?"
Ian nods his head. "No problem, be glad to. I’ll bet the Doc would rather you hang out here to help your healing along faster anyway."
After a short pause, Ian furrows his eyebrows as if in thought. "Often times I feel obligated to speak my mind when it comes to concerns of the ship and crew. I think it’s part of my job description," he says with a grin.
"Yeah, it’s a little annoying, but it’s well intended," Vasilii says with a quick shrug and a smirk.
"Vasilii, if you give us a list, we’ll be happy to pick up any items you want or need," Swann says. "In fact, it will help with our cover for the intel mission."
Vasilii pulls out his hand comp and Ian sees him do a few quick drag–and–drop operations. He then hands Ian the hand comp.
On the short list:
A rifle
An electronic sight for the rifle
Three magazines of normal rounds
He also hands Ian Cr7,000.
Vasilii then quickly turns to Kevon. "Just a reminder, Kevon, if you approach the local Imperials, just remember that we didn’t declare these cubes on our manifests. I don’t know how much of a hassle they’d give you for that. Although at this point, with all the people who seem to know about them, it would have been better if we had reported them, but that’s another story."
"If I remember right, Sare No. 1 asked that we not do anything to draw attention to ourselves or his imposter," Ian says. "I’d guess that would include reporting him to authorities?" Ian ends with a questioning expression.
"I imagine Sare No. 2 is going to be bringing more than enough attention to himself and us. I expect anything we do will just be icing on a very messy cake," Vasilii adds with a tone of resignation.
-----
Before Ian, Swann and Aidan head out to speak with Fred, Kevon says, "Ask him if he’s going to follow us to the repair berth? We could use the extra pair of eyes before we rid ourselves of the second cube. He may also be useful if Sare–Two tries something drastic before the transfers are complete."
"Will do," Aidan says. "We can ask if he has any friends nearby to help with the watching too. Hmm, let me print a photo of Sare No. 2 to pass along."
-----
Once outside the berth Swann, Aidan, and Ian stop by the coverall man. Ian looks around, trying to spot any other suspicious loiterers in addition to "Fred." Approaching the man, Ian nods and gives him a half smile. "So, seen anything interesting?"
The man confirms that his name is Fred. He seems to have a bit of a mischievous look in his eye, but he just smiles in response to all other queries or comments.
"Ah well, don’t let the bad guys slip up on ya," Ian says as he turns to walk away.
"Ah well, don’t let the bad guys slip up on ya," Ian says as he turns to walk away.
Evil, evil I say. Is this a dagger,er um I mean a cliff hanger, I see before me? Or is "Fred's" operating under a false flag.
BTW: I don't plan my week around these postings, I check everyday!
Heh, even I check the story hour every week to remind myself where we've been and get a little bit of a different perspective on the game. Sometimes, I need to remind myself that, hey, this is fun stuff!
Swann and Ian quickly load the transport cube into a breakdown cargo container that is quite a bit larger than the cube. They then maneuver the cube into the berth airlock using a hand dolly (part of the berth rental). Aidan joins them in the berth airlock. The trio then use the dolly to move the container into the corridor outside the berth, drop the dolly back in the berth airlock, and wait for Sare No. 1 to come by for the pickup.
"Fred" is not talkative at all and just gives a slight smile without responding. Fred does give a slight shake of the head when Ian suggests that Fred should follow the Bray Keaven to the repair berth.
Ian looks around for anyone other than Fred who seems to be loitering about and doesn’t spot anyone. There is someone he thinks might be loitering, but it appears that the fellow was just waiting for a crewman from the next berth over, and the pair of spacers head down the dock in the opposite direction.
-----
About 10 minutes after the Bray Keaven leaves, Aidan, Swann, and Ian spot Sare de Salui No. 1, his assistant, and two bodyguard types approaching down the corridor. No one has a visible weapon, but the alert posture of the two trailing "associates" marks them as likely bodyguards.
Sare de Salui smiles, and says, "Greetings again, Mr. Silver and associates. I hope that you haven’t been waiting long. If you’ll allow me to inspect the cube and verify its identity, we can conclude this delivery and let you get on your way."
After Swann opens the crate’s top, Sare No. 1’s assistant produces a small handheld computer, checks the readout on it, pulls a small blacklight to shine on the cube (revealing its numbers), and then nods to Sare de Salui No. 1. Sare de Salui No. 1 then smiles and hands a credit chit for Cr100,000 to Aidan. "Ah, very good. Here is your payment as agreed. I do recommend that you stay away from the other fellow trying to retrieve the cube, and don’t draw attention to yourself or him."
After the discussion, Sare de Salui and his party clamp grav lifters around the container and head off, trailed by dark–coveralls Fred.
-----
As the trio from the Bray Keaven are ambling towards the shopping concourse, Swann and Ian receive a frantic call from the Bray Keaven: "Swann, Ian, this is Vasilii. I need to talk privately before you make the exchange! I repeat, BEFORE you make the exchange!"
Ian looks at Swann with a pained expression. Since he had previously removed his earpiece, he re-attaches it to the comm unit so Vasilii’s side of the conversation will be private. Engaging the comm, he says, "Ian here, go ahead."
-----
Aidan wanders off a bit in the corridor, stepping out of listening range but still within sight. He is keeping an eye out for Sare No. 2 and his sydite goons. The corridor the trio is in is a fairly wide concourse that has some light morning foot traffic. There is no sign of anyone the trio has seen before.
-----
Swann rolls his eyes and then smiles at Ian. Swann is listening to the conversation and also looking about the corridor.
-----
Vasilii replies, "Ian, did you guys make the exchange yet!?"
-----
"Yes, the process has been completed smoothly and as planned. Is there a problem?" Ian quickly glances around during the conversation, looking for any signs of trouble.
At the appointed move time, Vargas and Kevon gingerly guide the Bray Keaven out of the far trader’s berth. Given that the ship’s communications are out, the pair is using a combination of suit comms, personal communicators, and a short–range link for communications with Fonnein Orbital Traffic Control, and for telemetry and guidance. There also is a cutter assigned to the Bray Keaven to relay communications for what should be a 15-minute maneuver to the other side of Fonnein Orbital.
Clearing the berth area goes rather smoothly and the Bray Keaven starts making its way towards the Stork & Sons yard. Traffic is a little busy this morning and mostly consists of various freight–bearing small craft going back and forth between the high port and a couple of large freighters in parking orbits.
Vargas guides the ship smoothly along its designated lanes while Kevon keeps an eye on the local traffic. While working the scanner to check the small craft coming and going, Kevon does see something odd: a far trader appears to be under full acceleration while departing its berth in all violation of protocol. The far trader narrowly misses a freight shuttle as it accelerates at a full 2G across the freight shuttle’s path.
Over the suit comms, Kevon and Vargas hear a combination of stern and frantic calls:
"Markov’s Daughter, come to a full stop immediately. You do not have departure clearance and must . . . "
"FS–132. Look out!"
"FS–38. Are you seeing this bozo?"
"Oh my god . . . "
"Marellia Landing, come to course 13 by 330 immediately. Emergency full acceleration."
"All traffic. Unless otherwise directed, come to a full stop immediately."
Vargas swings the Bray Keaven along her axis and applies full thrust. Since the Bray Keaven wasn’t going very fast, the far trader comes to a stop fairly quickly.
-----
Meanwhile, Kevon watches in disgust and mounting horror as he sees the errant far trader clip a freight shuttle while trying to avoid a scout courier. The far trader sends the freight shuttle spinning off at a crazy angle and keeps on accelerating. Unfortunately, the impact seems to have affected the far trader’s angle if not controls, and the far trader plows straight into the forward section of a 1000 dTon Tukera Lines long liner. The collision severely mangles the bridge sections of both ships, and both end up thrusting at odd angles away from the station.
After a moment of stunned silence, over the comms comes, "Signal GK, Signal GK. This is Fonnein Orbital control requesting that any ships underway with medical personnel lend immediate aid to Marellia Landing and FS-57. We are scrambling emergency response now. Advise that you do not approach Markov’s Daughter and leave her to official personnel."
Kevon’s plot marks Marellia Landing as the 1000 dTon Tukera Lines long liner and Markov’s Daughter as the crazy far trader. FS-37 is the freight shuttle.
-----
"Fonnein Orbital, Bray Keaven," Kevon calls on the comms. "We have a doc on board, but our ship is in no condition to be rendering aid. We request that a ship’s boat meet us at our destination to ferry Dr. Talbek to the accident scene."
-----
Martha, feeling that Saro will urge the Bray Keaven to respond as he did at the last Signal GK, comms the bridge. "I’m running a passive sensor scan to see if what damage was done to both vessels, in case Doc wants to get involved. It might help him take some appropriate precautions."
Martha then focuses the sensor suite on the two vessels, looking for tell–tale signs of damage that might require special gear or protocol to address.
-----
On the bridge, Vasilii says, "Uh, Kevon, as odd as this sounds, right now I’d say we’re actually in better shape than the liner is, and everything the high port has is probably going to be used to help them. I doubt they’re going to have a ship’s boat free just to pick up Saro, and I wouldn’t want to just leave him without any help, anyway.
"Um, OK, we’ve still got one working docking tube, and at least some cargo space and the lounge upstairs that we can use for evacuating people. If they can get a cargo crew to meet us, we can offload some of the cargo to make room as we're dropping off evacuees. At the least, we could try to get the crew off the cargo shuttle. How’s that grab everyone?"
-----
"Hide that damn cube, if we’re going to be letting people onboard," Martha speaks softly into her comm unit, distracted by her concentration on the sensor sweep. "I doubt any of these people are among those after it, but we’ve had our share of curious passengers lately."
-----
"Kevon, after all that’s happened I’m leery of taking on anything more without a more functional ship," Vargas says, "but I don’t see that we’ve got much choice. I know if I was out there I’d want us to help." The former Scout shrugs. "Your call."
"You’re outvoted two to one so far, and the other vote is from the guy who will probably be patching you up the next time you get injured," Vasilii says. "But I don’t want you to feel pressured here," he adds with a smile.
Vargas smiles. "I love a good mutiny."
-----
The doc bolts through the door of the flight cabin, his heavy breathing indicating that he ran hard to get here. Glancing out the viewport he looks upon the havoc the Markov’s Daughter has generated. Wincing at the destruction he turns toward Kevon.
"Mr. Holland, what’s the sitch? Has anyone else indicated they’re moving in to assist?"
Looking out the viewport again he continues on in a calm, firm tone. "Get me out there, Mr. Holland. If we can make it without breaking apart, we need to go. I’ll do a tethered jump crossing if we can’t attach to them. If we can’t make it ourselves, get a boat to pick me up."
His eyes darting back and forth between the two devastated ships, he comes to a decision, "Mr. Holland, if we can, I’d like to get to the shuttle first. There is likely only one or two crew aboard, so we can easily fit them aboard the Keaven and they’re not likely to have medical supplies.
"After we rescue the shuttle’s crew, if no one else has assisted the liner, we make for it. They should have medical facilities aboard, and if it is still pressurized, I can stay aboard there and help the passengers and crew. If the situation is worse than that — we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it."
"Hey, don’t forget we’ve got that cutter that was assigned to relay comms back and forth!" Vasilii injects. "We could send them on to pick up the shuttle crew while we go after the liner."
Accessing the internal comms, Saro calls to the rest of the crew in a no–nonsense manner. "Martha, Ian, if we’re going to stow that be–damned cube, let’s do it now. And anyone who has med training, I don’t care how slight, follow me to the sickbay when we’re done. I’ll pass out some medkits and then we’re getting suited up. There’s some work to be done."
"Heads up, Doc," Vasilii says. "Ian, Swann, and Aidan are dockside. Last I saw, the cube was in Martha’s engine room with Kevon’s black box. If she wants them out of her way, I guess we could try putting them up on the bridge with Vargas and Kevon. And if Vargas and Kevon are needed on the bridge, and Martha’s needed in the engine room, that leaves you and me to deal with casualties, and I don’t have any med skill, but I’ll help with what I can."
Vargas waits for Vasilii to finish before adding a comment. "I know what you mean Saro, but I’ll do more good aboard as pilot than impromptu medic. If we’re going to linger at any one place I’ll help you out then. Where to, Captain?"
The lieutenant commander sighs. "This is not a good idea," he says.
Pausing for a moment to glance between Vargas and the expectant Dr. Talbek, Kevon adds, "All right. Mr. Vargas, plot and execute an intercept course for the liner; Doctor, get your gear ready."
"Roger that, changing course."
-----
Saro looks out the viewport again and shakes his head. "Damn it all." With that he turns and heads back to his cabin.
-----
"Bray Keaven to Fonnein Orbital Control. Belay my last transmission; we will intercept the Marellia Landing and render any aid we can. Bray Keaven out," Kevon announces over the comms. Switching the comms off, he sighs again, "You all are going to be the death of me."
"Probably, but at least we’ll have your back when we do," says the former Scout in an entirely too cheerful way.
-----
Vasilii thinks to himself that he’s seen someone on the ship using a long–range comm, but can’t recall who, where, or when. Not on the Oser. Not on Sentry.
"Alief! The holiday outing! Ian had a long range portable he used to call the ship when we needed to be picked up!"
Vasilii checks the ship’s locker for it, then Ian’s quarters when he doesn’t find it there. Once he finds it, he runs it up to the bridge.
"Hey, remember this? Been a while since I’ve seen it, completely forgot we had the little bugger on board."
He turns to Kevon. "That should buy us about 500 clicks or so, which means we don’t need the cutter to relay comms any more, which means we can send them on without worrying about how we’re going to maintain communications."
From port engineering, Martha directs her sensors to scan the damage of the Marellia Landing (the long liner) and FS-57 (the freight shuttle).
The long liner appears to have suffered severe damage to its bridge section and possibly the forward passenger section below. There appears to be a hull breach in the bridge section, and Martha winces as she sees the upper torso of a human go flying through a shattered bridge viewport. The forward passenger section appears to be holding, at least for the moment, and the passenger airlock on the starboard side appears to be undamaged. The long liner is thrusting away from the station and on a course that will likely cause the Marellia Landing to skip off the upper atmosphere. The long liner does have a slight clockwise rotation along its thrust axis.
FS-57 appears to be quite crumpled along its starboard control surfaces and rear hull. Hull integrity has been breached. The freight shuttle is spinning madly off on a course away from the station and away from the planet.
Martha relays that information to the rest of the crew.
-----
Vargas gets the Bray Keaven under way again and starts chasing after the Marellia Landing. There must be someone who has some control of the ship because the ship’s maneuver drives cut out, but her course does not change.
-----
Kevon notifies Fonnein Orbital Traffic Control and receives a reply, "Thank you for responding Bray Keaven. You have priority clearance to pursue the Marellia Landing. Be advised that our current course projects have Marellia Landing entering the upper atmosphere in 45 minutes. Cutter C13 can assist in removing survivors if needed."
Cutter C13 is the cutter pacing the Bray Keaven.
-----
"Damn, Vasilii," Martha mutters under her breath as she spots the remaining cube sitting in port engineering. "This was supposed to be moved before we even began this flight." Then hearing that Vasilii is planning on moving the cube, she waits to start cursing his name any more.
-----
As the Bray Keaven closes, the crew takes turns suiting up, and Saro gathers his supplies. There are no communications from the crippled long liner.
-----
Ten minutes after the initial collision, Vargas has maneuvered the Bray Keaven close enough to start a docking approach. From the bridge, Kevon and Vargas can see a few frantic-looking passengers beating on the viewports. The passenger airlock does appear to be intact. Given its rotation, docking with the Marellia Landing will be a little tricky, but Kevon thinks that he can handle the task. Vargas isn’t so sure that he can.
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"Kevon, you guys are needed on the bridge," Martha says. "I’m heading to the airlock to help these people in, and direct them to a safe area. Lounge first, then cargo?"
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"Hang on a second, Ms. Smythe," Kevon responds. "I want to see if there’s a way to settle the liner down before we start transferring passengers. Stand by."
"I could get my shotgun," Vargas says. "I find it very handy for close encounters. Oh, and does anyone remember what happen the last time we helped a ship in distress?"
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During the 10 minutes it takes to close with the Marellia Landing, Vasilii starts thinking. Seeing the long-range radio they used on Aleif gives him pause to reflect on that part of their voyage. The Keaven showing up with only Martha left alive. The cubes hidden away onboard. The bomb. Seeing all the people on Aleif either starving, afflicted with the disease, or both. There were so many, millions they said.
The guy from the Bromley military delivering a cryptic message to meet an anonymous contact in town. The holiday outing. The KGL people being so determined that the crew on the holiday outing not make it back. The aftermath. They never found the smoking gun. And they’re pretty sure the virus came from off-world.
Then the Oser. Then Aidan rears his ugly head. Says he followed us to Aleif, then back to Sentry. He knew the cubes were onboard. The cubes were put onboard, or given to the original crew, before the ship left Aleif the first time, by somebody who was infected — somebody who also had to go to a lot of effort to get it on the ship under those circumstances.
They never found the smoking gun. They never found it. Maybe because we had it onboard the whole time?
"No! Oh, no, no, no! Sonofa — We never searched Aidan’s room, or his computer!"
Vasilii tries to raise Swann and Ian over the short–range radios. "Swann, Ian, this is Vasilii. I need to talk privately before you make the exchange! I repeat, BEFORE you make the exchange!"
Hope you've finished with whatever you were going to start working on. Looks like you've got your 10,000 views.
PS -- In case you're curious, you're currently #25 in the view rankings of threads that have been active within the last month, and #50 overall. That includes some duplication from multiple Sepulchrave threads, etc.
