by Peter Rhodan
He would have liked to bring his shields up but having your shields up when you translated was a dangerous ploy and sometimes meant not arriving at all. No one understood why that was either. Most of the time the shield generators simply reset if they were still on when a ship translated.
“They’re putting up their shields and bringing their plasma guns online.” Krevis started to sound concerned.
“Hold on. Hit the banger, Andreas.” Karvon ordered.
Andreas on the helm didn’t hesitate and pushed the throttle full forward then abruptly cut off the acceleration just before they reached the jump point to make sure they were at a constant speed during the moment of translation. It wasn’t the first time they had accelerated right up to the edge of a warp point, so he had some practice at judging just the right moment to cut the drive.
The ship passed through the jump point at about eighty thousand meters a second and only just moments before the Kimerian station could open fire. Galahad system was home to a brown dwarf, contained no planets, and only had two jump points, very close together. There was no Kimerian presence in this system, as it was not occupied, so they relaxed while they ran for the next warp point and prepared to jump yet again. Kimeria would love to militarize the system but long-standing international treaties stopped her.
“We’ll be changing ID to Blue Sky after the next transit,” Karvon announced as they entered the Horvarth system with no problems. While fast for a freighter, their velocity hadn’t been that high for what was typical of Naval warp jumps.
Like the previous system, there were no planets, but unusually the star trailed a grand total of six jump points which all congregated behind the star’s path around the galaxy. As a result of the six points, the system was home to the large and nominally independent Lennister Station, which floated in space roughly equidistant from all the jump points. Kimeria had wanted to annex the system for centuries but were hampered by another long-standing international treaty. The treaty between Kimeria, Brython, Nordland, and several smaller single planet polities guaranteed the system's neutrality. As a consequence of the jump point cluster and the system’s position roughly halfway between Kimeria and Brython, it was one of the busiest trading stations in the whole region. Karvon decided discretion was the better part of valor.
“I’m going to translate through to the Quorn system, then jump back. Shut down the squawk box Corinne just in case anyone’s listening.”
The squawk box was the nickname of the ship’s ID transmitter. Lennister Station was fairly easy going and it was unlikely anyone would pay them any attention if they simply transited to a different system without approaching the station. Many ships did simply pass through the system transiting from jump point to jump point without calling in at the station.
The Quorn system was another empty system with a couple of mining stations out on the far edges of the system where there were some interesting cometary type bodies but nothing else apart from commercial repeater stations near the two jump points, the other leading to Brython space. They had slowed considerably by the time they jumped into the Quorn system and now reversed course and Karvon hit the button to change the ship’s identity. There was a period of clunking as the outer hull of the ship was reconfigured.
Plates moved and changed shape and the ship went from being a Longship Type Four Freighter to an Iskander Aero Class Fast Transport. Both designs were based on the old Kimerian Empire ship forms so were somewhat similar. Inside the ship, nothing was changed except the walls of the hold. The fake outer hull hid the powerful shield generators and weapons the Kormorant was equipped with from prying eyes, and the hold walls were moved slightly and modified to take on the distinctive profile of the Aero Class hold, although it was a little undersized as well. So far no customs inspector had measured the hold and discovered the subterfuge. The communications buoys at the jump points would notice the change in identification if anyone went through the logs but it would slow things down.
The change was complete before they re-translated back into the Horvath system, this time appearing as the VonKormann, a supposedly Iskander-built ship and now sporting Iskander registry. Any pursuit should be lost because the Kimerian navy would not be able to traverse to the Quorn system without a lot of diplomatic moves. That was presuming they twigged to the first identity change.
Chapter 5
Out of the frying pan into the…
Gizel came awake with a start. She was staring at the off-white ceiling of what appeared to be a cubicle on a spaceship given the piping and other fittings on the ceiling above her. She was lying on the sort of bed she had seen in her brother’s quarters when she had visited him after being posted to his first ship. I’ve been kidnapped!
That was her first thought. This was modified slightly when she realized she was not being restrained in any way. Hmm, Strange. But then if she was locked in a room the kidnappers might feel that was enough to keep a young girl from escaping.
She had been stripped at some point because she was now dressed in a non-descript top and pants suit of the sort spacers habitually wore, which were also a little large for her. And she discovered she had no underwear on! She didn’t feel sore down there so perhaps the change of clothes was all she had been subjected to. She could not sense anyone nearby so she got up and looked around the room. It was a stark, plain room or cabin and she was almost certain she was on a spaceship because of the subtle vibration she could feel. The cabin had a small bathroom attached to it with shower and toilet facilities, a cabinet with three empty drawers, and a bottle of water, which she quickly drank from, and after using the toilet, she warily tried the door.
On the bridge, a light started flashing on both Corinne and Karvon’s consoles.
“Our guest is awake. I think it would be best if you saw her first. Yes?” he said to the woman.
Corinne nodded and left the bridge. The short corridor led to the common room from which three short corridors radiated out, each of which had two rooms opening off on either side. This was a common layout on the smaller cargo ships that also carried the odd passenger or two.
Gizel tried opening the door of the cabin she was in and was quite surprised to find it was unlocked. She crept out and moved cautiously towards the open end of the short corridor. If they were kidnappers they seemed singularly inept, she thought to herself. Exiting the corridor she found herself in a large open area containing several lounge chairs, a couple of computer consoles, and two tables with single chairs around them that had to be used for dining.
She turned around as she sensed movement and found herself face to face with a dark-haired woman of maybe thirty. The woman was similarly attired to how Gizel was now dressed and her robust build proclaimed that she was the likely source of the oversized clothes Gizel was wearing. It was a good thing the waistband was elasticized!
“Hi.” said the woman holding out her open hands in a sign of peace.
Gizel immediately tightened up with fear and then tried to relax.
“Hi,” she answered.
Her voice came out with more of a squeak than she had intended.
“Sorry, no one was around when you woke up. We’ve been kind of busy.” the woman said.
It sounded very much like an apology. What?
“Oh. Where am I?”
The woman smiled. “Onboard our ship. We should be docking at Lennister Station in an hour or so.” The woman said in a matter-of-fact tone that suggested there was nothing untoward about carrying Gizel three systems away from her home.
“Lennister Station! But that’s three jumps from Kimeria!” she cried.
“Yes. Sorry about that. You’ve been out for hours. From the bruising, it appears that you hit your head on the way down to the ground after being shot with a shock gun.” The other woman observed calmly.
That would be the source of the egg-sized lump she had behind her ear Gizel decided.
Gizel retreated slightly and adopted a karate stance.
The woman smiled holding her hands palm out again.
“Sorry. You’re scared and I’m not helping. The Captain of this ship saw you being chased by a couple of men and intervened. Not before they shocked you, unfortunately. Anyway, they were debating about either carrying you off some distance or just shooting you where you lay when the Captain decided to solve the problem for them. He brought you back to our shuttle, but two more thugs turned up using a tracking device. Did you know you were bugged?”
She raised an eyebrow but continued before Gizel could think of how to answer this rather startling piece of information.
“Anyway, he dealt with them as well but decided it would best to clear out before even more turned up, or the authorities arrived, which would have brought its own problems.” she paused and pointed at one of the tables. “Sit and I’ll get you some food. Bacon and eggs? Toast? Coffee?”
“Um. Yes. Thank you. Coffee please.” answered Gizel, thrown completely off by having to think about food.
The woman had spoken with a Brython accent and was clearly trying to be friendly, which was somewhat of a surprise. Perhaps they did not know who she was. She tried to remember if she had been carrying any proper ID, just in case, but couldn’t remember clearly what she had with her, which in turn led to the question of what had happened to her clothes?
A wall panel opened to reveal a small kitchen and the woman started preparing some food for herself as well as turning on the coffee machine, all the while still talking.
“Anyways he moved the shuttle and recalled the rest of us from the fun we were having at Starfire. The Captain figured out they were tracking you through a bug in your clothes, so we ditched them, which was a good thing, cause two air shuttles turned up with like twenty bully boys all looking for you. We quickly took off in our shuttle and returned to our ship which was parked in orbit.”
She paused to break a couple of eggs into the pan while Gizel tried to make sense of this. Bugged? Shit! That meant they had help inside the Palace.
“We had a delivery job to Lennister Station, so we shipped out for there. The Captain felt it was safer to get you out of the immediate area first and ask questions later. Only you didn’t come around as quickly as we were expecting, so we couldn’t ask, and rather than just leave you lying unconscious on the dock at the station orbiting Kimeria we took you with us. Sorry.”
“Oh.” said Gizel in a small voice, the full enormity of what had happened suddenly dawning on her.
A vision of how her parents would react to just her clothes being found came to her and she started to cry. Then came the thought of what must be happening back on Kimeria, and that thought made her shudder in horror. Oh God, Imperial Security will be going ballistic! She felt her eyes fill with moisture and hastily wiped away a couple of tears that had started to roll down her cheek and tried to hold herself together.
The woman didn’t seem to notice Gizel’s emotional state as she was too busy concentrating on the cooking and had her back to Gizel.
“The Captain says he will buy you a ticket back to Kimeria once we get to Lennister Station,” she offered.
The woman’s tone made it clear that she thought the Captain was being very generous. Gizel didn’t trust herself to speak while she struggled with her eyes, so said nothing to this. The woman took her silence to mean she was upset by this arrangement.
“You should be grateful. He saved your life you know!” she said defensively. “He could have just dumped you on the orbital station over Kimeria where it would be even money whether your friends found you before the bad guys did.”
“Oh,” said Gizel.
She considered this aspect. If she had been bugged that meant things in the Palace really stank. Her thoughts went around in circles as she tried to think of who would do such a thing to her.
“Talkative ain’t you.” said the woman, as she began dishing up the food and bringing it over to the table.
“Thank you,” said Gizel.
A plate of bacon and eggs was plunked down in front of her despite her earlier passing on food. The smell made her grateful the woman had ignored her decision, and the food was soon matched with a mug of coffee. It was funny how out of all the animals found on all of the worlds, pigs and chickens seemed to thrive almost anywhere there was a breathable atmosphere.
“You’re welcome.” replied the other woman as she sat down with her own plate.
They were still eating when the ship gave a series of jerks accompanied by various thumps. The other woman nodded between mouthfuls.
“Must have docked. The Captain will be down to talk to you in a moment, I imagine.”
A few moments later a hatch to her right opened and a group of spacers came through. The first was of medium height, dark hair with a small goatee giving him a very piratical look, accentuated by the open vest he wore over standard grey overalls, set off with a low-hung belt with what appeared to be a pulse pistol attached to it. The second was of medium height as well, but with medium brown hair. He was dressed in blue overalls and had what looked to be mechanical tools strapped to his belt, the universal badge of an engineer.
The third man was taller and fair-haired, but he had a scar running diagonally across his right cheek, which was unusual in this day and age of advanced medical care. His hair was tied in a ponytail and his grey overalls had the sleeves cut off revealing tattooed forearms. He looked so much like the stereotypical sailor it was almost funny. Behind him came another tall man, also with blonde hair but more of a golden blonde than the tattooed man. He was wearing a blue shirt with metal tabs on the stand-up collar. He wore pants that were well-tailored and looked expensive. The strange juxtaposition of the others in typical working spacer wear and the rather well-dressed man heading her way was jarring.
As he approached he said over his shoulder.” Get the load sorted Lothar. I’ll be down in a minute.”
The hard-looking tattooed sailor nodded as he headed out of the room by a hatch on the opposite side of the cabin from where the men had entered. The well-dressed man stopped in front of her looking at her intently for a moment before holding out his hand.
“Karvon Alistair,” he said introducing himself.
His unexpected and polished Brython upper-class accent made his name sound almost regal.
He was obviously from a well-to-do family or at least one that had been able to send him to the best schools, given the accent. Which rather begged the question of what was he doing on this small cargo ship? At least she surmised that she was on a small cargo ship from the small number of personnel and the lack of uniforms.
Gizel now discovered herself to be in a quandary. How much did she trust these people who the woman claimed were not kidnappers, and how would they react if they knew who she was? Her best bet was to avail herself of the ticket home the woman had said she’d be provided with. There were problems with that course of action though. Shit. Damn. He was waiting for her to reply with her own name. She thought of the name she had used with her friends.
“Alexa,” she whispered, briefly clasping his hand then dropping hers down to the table quickly.
“Just Alexa?” he mocked her, but the smile in his green-grey eyes showed he appreciated her reticence.
“Very cautious of you,” he observed.
“I don’t know who you people are after all.” she elaborated.
Why did she feel the need to say that? she asked herself, looking into the twinkling green-grey eyes smiling down at her. He was rather handsome, she decided.
He smiled openly at her words.
“But of course you don’t.”
His smile was quite attractive, Gizel decided. Well for a space vagabond claiming not to be a kidnapper at least. The Captain of the ship studied her for a moment.
“More to the point what do you know of the people who were chasing you?”
She grimaced while considering her options. If what the other woman had said was t
rue, then she had this man to thank for not being a prisoner or dead, so she nodded at the woman.
“She said you saved me from the men who were after me.”
He nodded. “They were perhaps not the most effective bully boys I have ever seen, but yes I dealt with them.”
His tone left her in no doubt that his dealing with them had been of the fatal kind. Geez! He continued while she decided how she felt about casual death.
“They had a tracking device for a big attached to you somewhere. The second group of thugs was waving one around when they approached our shuttle. Hence your sudden change of attire. Sorry about that.”
Gizel felt herself blush as she wondered if he was the one who had stripped her naked. She looked up hesitantly into the man’s face and found herself breathing quicker for no apparent reason. She opened her mouth, closed it again, and realized he could see she was blushing.
She quickly looked down at her half-eaten meal, at once embarrassed while also feeling some other sensation she wasn’t sure of.
“I have no idea who they were. I had been with my two friends all day, we were just part of the crowd enjoying the festival, and then all of a sudden two men came up to me and pulled guns and, and oh God, they shot Teron when he tried to grab one of them!”
Suddenly it was all too much and she found herself crying and shaking uncontrollably, then she felt the reassuring arms of the man who had saved her wrap around her body while she let everything out. His strong arms held her firmly, yet in a gentle way that made her feel as though he actually cared. She didn’t understand why, but there was something about this unknown Brython that made her feel she could trust him. Eventually, she recovered herself and then began taking herself to task. A Princess of the Kimerian Empire should not behave like a watering pot!
“I’m sorry. I will be fine now,” she said firmly despite her tear-smeared face.
Having announced she would be fine, she pulled out of his hold and sat up trying to look like she was indeed over her teary breakdown.
