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The station rotated peacefully at the edge of a purple nebula. By those that had been here and come back alive, this sector was described as possibly the most beautiful of all. When Brennan entered this system 25 jazuras ago he certainly had little time to admire the beauty of the backdrop. Back then his only aim was fighting an army of Xenon ships that were determined to stop him. His powerful ship, courage and ingenuity saved not only his life but also that of millions of inhabitants of the neighbouring sectors. The destruction of the Xenon CPU marked the beginning of the end, the end of the Xenon threat to the core sectors.
Now this system harboured a small number of stations, and among those the base of the Curada clan. The base was heavily protected by five laser towers and a large number of ships. Chances of somebody being bold enough to attack this station were slim. The clan under the livery of a third party either owned all other stations in this sector or their very existence was hinged solely on the willingness of the owners to provide cheap supplies to the Curada base. Every now and again, however, Telonissos IV, the current leader of the clan, had to send out a number of ships to remind his peasants just how much they depended on his benevolence.
As peaceful as this sector appeared at this point, nothing was further from reality. Telonissos IV was outraged. A task as simple as kidnapping a scientist had jeopardised his future plans. The failed attempt had not only resulted in the loss of three of his men, it also meant the Boron re-acquired their test ship and technology. The vision of possessing advanced technology had been dampened significantly. He commanded the best pirates in the universe, not because they loved him but for the good pay he offered. Now they had failed twice within two tazuras. Not only that, they had been beaten twice by the very same pilot. It appeared no matter how many or fast ships he deployed, that Split Scout ship always managed to escape. This venture had become rather expensive. The loss of many ships had not been part of the plan.
“Master, there is an incoming transmission from Cho’s defeat. Chin wishes to talk.”
Chin, what did the old man want this time? The last thing that Telonissos needed now was a silly old Split, blinded by revenge.
“Put him through. I guess I’ll have to talk to him at some point.”
The visibly annoyed face of an old Split appeared on the screen. His eyes fixed on the leader of the Mohawk clan.
“Ah, it is very difficult to get hold of you, Teladi. Did you manage to acquire the technology as promised?”
Telonissos did not need to answer; it was obviously a rhetorical question. His ally’s spies had certainly reported the failure. The remaining question was how much he knew.
“There has been a slight delay and change. My men are nearing completion of this mission. How about you, did you capture the admiral?”
Chin moved slightly discomforted in his throne, then looked up. “Yes, he is being held in our dungeons. My men are interrogating him as we speak. You will receive the information upon delivery of the technology. Let me know when you are ready to trade.”
With these words he terminated the communication. Telonissos IV laughed disdainfully, he knew too well that the Argon had returned safely to Argon Prime. What puzzled him was that it appeared to have been the same scout ship that kept crossing his plans, which had delivered the Admiral back to safety. Was somebody deliberately trying to interfere with their scheme? Who else would know their plans? Only two persons knew about it, he himself and the old Chin. Where could there be a leak?
“Computer, locate Tagor.”
“Tagor is currently in the bar on level 27.”
“Call him to my office. He has no reason to party. There is work to be done.”
Three mizuras later a young Argon male entered the room. His posture slightly bent, ready to duck and hide – or ready to jump at his opponent’s throat. Tagor took in the situation with one glance of his light grey eyes. He could sense that Telonissos had not called him for small talk. The failures of the past tazuras had enraged the leader of this powerful clan. They had repeatedly been defeated, robbed of a certain prey. Did the Teladi now want him to do the work? It could not be too difficult, as they appeared to be facing only one person. But this one person had managed to escape all ambushes yet.
His train of thoughts was interrupted by the commanding voice of Telonissos.
“Come closer. There is work for you in Kingdom End or wherever your target may move. You have seven tazuras to complete the mission and must not fail. You reward is either 200.000cr or death. Do your work well or I will know to find you. All available information is on this chip. Read it thoroughly.”
“Go now and return soon.” With these words Telonissos handed over the chip and turned his back to the Argon assassin; the audience was over.
Tagor turned around and left the room. The content of this chip should be interesting. Most of the news had already made it to the bar. How much more was there to it?
*
“Atrocity! This lying lizard knew too well that we are aware of his failures.” Chin spun around and faced his first man. “Since he does not have the technology we will get it ourselves and then submit the Curada clan to our mercy!”
He did a few paces up and down the room, and then stopped in front of his desk. “Send our two best spies to the Goner temple to acquire their latest findings. Another three have to go to Kingdom End and find out where the location of the research station is now. I want them to report back within two tazuras. We do not have much time. Then send somebody to the Terracorp HQ in Home of Light. This is the last location where the old man has been seen. Finally, get me that pilot that keeps crossing our plans. He is using a Split ship, there must be a trail somewhere.”
With a low bow Ra t’Knk backed out of the room. Back in his room he issued the necessary commands and sat back. His lord had an opportunity to rule the pirate faction in the entire universe. But first they had to acquire the new technologies. It’d give them an edge the other clans had nothing to compete with. The jump inhibitor and the beam weapon were only the beginning.
A short while later three jump tunnels formed and his men were on their way.
Next Ra t’Knk reviewed all information regarding the mysterious scout ship. Being an M5 class ship it’d not be simple task to track down the owner. The shipyards manufactured approximately 30 million of them every jazura.
As he had expected, the ship id did not yield any results. However, to Ra t’Knk’s knowledge there were only a few independent engineers around that could change that id. Usually each Pirate clan had one of them on their pay roll, so did the governments for obvious reasons. It’d take some time, time they did not have.
*
“Sir, may I ask that next time you decide to go places you let us know. We were prepared to receive anything from ransom messages to news of your death. I don’t know where you have been and assume neither are you going to tell me. However, I need not to stress that our agents can investigate whatever you were looking for. They are being paid enough credits to do their job well.”
“Thank you Commander but what I was looking for could not have been found by our men; at least not without arousing unnecessary attention. Let’s just leave it with me being back in one piece.”
“With all due respect, there are indications that your trip has stirred up somebody as it were. The Terracorp HQ securities have arrested a supposed Split spy. They also were after an Argon man who, however, managed to escape in a Paranid Pegasus. So I would say your quest has not gone by unnoticed.”
With a slight tremor in his voice he asked the commander, “Has this Split been transferred to Argon Prime yet?”
“He is on his way as we speak.”
“Send a Centaur and three Novas as an escort and get him on board this ship. We need him alive.”
Commander Corand issued the necessary instructions.
Twenty mizuras later he entered the Admiral’s office again.
“Sir, I have bad news, our ships came too late. The Express that had the prisoner on board experienced a core overload, which resulted in the destruction of the ship. No survivors. This is unprecedented and Terracorp are looking into it.”
“Darn, I’d loved to ask this Split some questions. This means he was not alone. Get Terracorp to look for at least one more person. Any news on the Argon suspect? Has he been seen since?”
“He has left Home of Light through the West gate and reportedly headed in northern direction. Sector patrols have been informed to watch out for him and keep us posted.”
“Good. I just read a report about a Boron research facility that has been destroyed by pirates. No survivors and a prototype weapon went missing. Has the Queen sent any requests for support?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, the Queen had asked for help. However, three stazuras ago we received news that the prototype ship has been returned. Also the only surviving scientist, who was in Argon Prime at the time of the assault, is back in Kingdom End. It appears they have come across somebody who was decent enough to return the ship rather than keep it.”
“Decent or stupid?”
“About that I am not so sure. It is the very same person that transported the Boron scientist to Kingdom End. Probably either too inexperienced to see the potential or straight up honest. Ironically, the pilot owns a Split Jaguar so I am not sure why the Boron did get on board in the first place.”
“A Split Jaguar? A rare sight in this area. Do we have an ID on the ship and or the pilot?”
“We do indeed. My men managed to trace her back to the Goner temple. You may have heard of the delivery of the new jump inhibitor. Correct, same person, same ship. She must be a hell of a pilot considering the reports from Ore Belt and CBSE, or plain lucky. Add to that the capture of the ship with the Boron prototype, I think we should know this person. I am gathering all available information as we speak. Somebody with her skills must have appeared somewhere before.”
The admiral looked up. “A woman? How curious. Argon?”
“Yes, about 20 jazuras old. She does not hang around the stations for too long, always leaves as soon as possible. I understand the only longer stays she had were because she needed rest. The ship is still a bit of an unknown. It does not have a recognised ID. Could be stolen, or a pirate ship. I will look into it but would not hold my breath. There are so many of those scout ships around, it’ll be difficult to find a record.”
“Hmmm, follow it up anyway. Perseverance pays in the majority of all cases.”
After Commander Corand had left the Admiral sat back and revisited the events of the past two tazuras. Stupid or plain honest, the commander had called her. It was relatively certain that the pilot was the young Argon female that had saved his life and taken him to Home of Light. She was indeed an interesting person; somewhat inexperienced perhaps but certainly not stupid. Honest? Probably. The way he’d gotten to know her made her appear honest, even sympathetic to some extent. Though, Admiral Dana still struggled to apply any sort of stereotype, as she appeared to hide significantly more than she was letting him know. If she was a spy then she was extremely dangerous, most of all because she had gained the trust of Argon authorities so easily. But perhaps she was just an independent pilot that could prove very valuable. Either way, it could not hurt to find out more.
Thanks for the spots! Corrected.