Sertian Princess (21 page)

"Makes my point, I think," David went on.  "I can't see one of those trigger happy pirates putting down their laser rifle in order to break somebody's neck.  Whoever it was, wanted that uniform and wanted it undamaged."

"Ok, let's assume you're right.  Why did.... whoever it was, want a stewards' uniform?"

"I don't know.  Sam, what do we know about the missing passenger?"

"I've got his details that the Aldebaran sent over, boss.  Only point of interest is that he was one of that group of late arrivals at Andes."

"We had that whole group checked out, didn't we?"

"Sure did, boss.  Clean as a whistle.  Nothing on file on any of them."

"Well send this one’s details back to Centre.  Give them the circumstances and ask them to double check.  And tell them to go as deep as they can."

"Yes boss."

"The ship is ready to jump on your command, my lord," Simon reported.

"Hold the jump until Sam's got that transmission off to Centre. Then we can go.  And relay the Aldebaran's latest information to the Cleopatra and the Antares."

"Yes my lord.  We're in contact with the Antares but the Cleopatra's still in the silent period after her jump.  We haven't managed to raise her yet."

"Well send it to the Antares anyway.  And relay the message to the Cleopatra as soon as you do get a comms link."

CHAPTER 21

The Salamander emerged cautiously into normal space just outside the maximum range of the Parm Space Defences.  To make doubly certain of being undetected, they had chosen a point of entry that was completely shielded from the spaceports on Parm I and III by the massive bulk of the dying star.  Parm II, unfortunately, could not be avoided in the same way but it was largely uninhabited and, in any case, they were well outside the limited range of its local scanners.

When she had completed the preliminary checks, Elida, who had taken over as Officer of the Watch, buzzed through to David in his sleeping quarters.  He answered immediately, having been woken from sleep a few minutes earlier by the feeling of spatial disorientation that the jumps always caused.

"Yes?"

"Final jump completed, my lord.  We're in position and all systems are green."

"Any sign that our arrival's been noticed?"

"We're monitoring signal traffic from the Parm Defence System, my lord.  There's no increase in the traffic rate and ECM reports us clear of any hostile scans."

"Very good.  And the Palomar?"

"25 light years out, my lord, and manoeuvring for final jump.  Her last jump was 28 minutes ago, so depending on the efficiency of her crew, she should be here in 30 - 40 minutes time."

"Thank you, Lida.  Anything else?"

"Permission to launch the probes, my lord."

"Yes carry on.  But make sure it's done carefully and quietly."

With a half-choked "Of course, my lord," she broke the connection. David smiled to himself at the mental picture of Elida stamping round the bridge, indignant at the suggestion that she would launch the probes in any other way.

He was still smiling as he walked across the room and activated the door panel just in time to see Julia slipping out of the door of the guest quarters opposite.  Kylie, the duty bodyguard, was standing rigidly to attention with her eyes focused straight ahead, carefully looking neither at Lord David nor at her Guard Commander.

"I was just making sure that Prince Gerald had everything he needed," Julia said smoothly.

"Quite so.  I trust that he is rested."

"He seemed very relaxed a few moments ago, my lord."

"Hm.  Then perhaps you would be good enough to advise him that we are in position at Parm, awaiting the arrival of the freighter which should be within the next half hour.  And ask him to join me in the shuttle bay at his earliest convenience."

"Yes, my lord."

***

David had only been on the floor of the dock for about five minutes when Prince Gerald arrived in full battle armour.  Julia was still by his side, guiding him round the Salamander, and they had obviously detoured on the way to pick up Sergeant Harrides and the rest of the Guards squad.

"Has the Palomar turned up yet?"

"Not yet," David replied.  "We're still waiting.  Sam will tell us as soon as she gets here."

"I see."  Gerald looked slowly round at the activity in the dock, strangely empty without the bulk of the Phoenix which they had not had time to retrieve.  As well as the activity around the shuttle, a ground crew was busily working on one of the one-man fighters.

"That's a Mark IV Penetrator, isn't it?  Why are they getting her ready?"

"Corin, here, is going to ride shotgun for us.  Just in case we run into any trouble before we hit the spacefield.  This shuttle is really only a personnel carrier.  She's got some defensive shielding but not much in the way of heavy armour.  She relies on getting through undetected, so if we do get spotted, Corin's our insurance policy."

"Good idea to take along some insurance, as long as it isn't doubling our chances of being detected."

"They'll be increased slightly, but not doubled.  That penetrator's got the same equipment and modifications as the shuttle. She's designed for quiet work.  The risk is justified, Lieutenant."

His use of the Service Rank was quite deliberate, reinforcing the operational chain of command rather than their respective places in the Imperial Aristocracy.  Prince Gerald looked at him for a quiet minute and then acknowledged the situation with a nod of his head.

"All right, Captain.  We're in your hands for this phase of the operation."

He turned to where the Imperial Guard were standing patiently. "Sergeant, take the men aboard the shuttle and get them settled."

David looked across at Julia.  "You'd better get your team on board as well, Julia.  And where's Brianey?"

"Brianey, my lord.  I wasn't going to take Brianey on this mission.  I thought she needed a rest after the Aldebaran."

"We can all rest after we've retrieved Zara and the Lady Lynda.  I want Brianey down there to cover my back on this operation."

"But Kylie's the duty bodyguard, my lord, and she's one of the best girls I've got."

"I've got nothing against Kylie, but she's never actually seen any combat.  If you want to blood her, she can join your attack team, but I want somebody with combat experience covering my back.  Now I know I can depend on Brianey, so find her and get her down here."

"Yes, my lord."  Julia turned away and started speaking rapidly into her communicator.

"Palomar's here, boss," Sam broke in.  "She's approaching the outer defences now."

"Thanks Sam.  Let me know when she's through the inner defence ring."

"Right boss.  And there's another message coming through from the Aldebaran.  They've found their missing passenger.  Or at least they've found his body."

"Any details?"

"Same as the other one apparently.  Body hidden in a locker and the door lock welded shut."

"There's something very wrong about all this," Gerald said.  "I'm beginning to agree with you: it doesn't sound like the work of space raiders.  They wouldn't bother to conceal the bodies.  Maybe Captain Wainwright's got a murderer on board."

"Maybe...." David began, but broke off as Brianey came hurrying up, still strapping on a weapons harness.  One of the ground crew threw her a laser rifle which she caught neatly as she snapped to attention immediately in front of David.

"You sent for me, my lord?"

"Yes, hello Bri.  How are you feeling now?"

She looked at him a bit quizzically.  "I'm fine, thank you my lord."

"Are you feeling up to coming with us?  Julia thought you needed a rest."

She flashed a look at her Guard Commander, standing in the hatchway of the shuttle, and then back to David.  "No, my lord.  I was a bit bushed when we got back but I managed to catch a few hours sleep and I'm fine again now."

"Good.  I want someone I can rely on to cover my back when we're down on the ground.  You've got the job, if you want it."

"Oh, I want it, my lord," she said fiercely.  "I still owe these bastards.  Marie was my best friend and they haven't paid half enough for her yet.  And the Lady Zara's always been good to me.  I'll do everything I can to help you rescue her."

David gave her a grateful smile.  "Good.  Finish your weapons check and get ready.  We'll be off in only a few minutes now."

As she turned away, Sam's voice came through as if on cue.  "The Palomar's coming up to the inner defence ring now, boss."

"Ok Sam.  Give me a status check on our friends."

"The Aldebaran's on her way to Quental again.  The Antares and that captured Rigellian frigate haven't moved yet: looks like the repairs to the main drives of the Mastodon are taking longer than expected.  And the Cleopatra's well on her way to Serta but we still haven't been able to raise her."

"Still?"  David looked up in surprise.  "They can't still be out of phase with us surely."

"That probability is currently down to 38.6% and decreasing all the time.  Most likely explanation now is some sort of equipment malfunction."

"Do we know where she is?"

"Oh yes, boss.  She shows up OK in the tank.  She's on course for Serta and bang on schedule.  We just can't talk to her, is all."

"Well keep trying to raise her, and let me know as soon as there's any change in her status."

"Yes boss."

"Ok Sam, clear the area and prepare for launch."

As the klaxons blared out their strident alarm and the ground crews scattered for cover, David led Prince Gerald and Brianey aboard the shuttle and watched as the outer airlock door sealed.  Inside, the main passenger compartment was already crowded with the areas around the main and emergency airlocks occupied by Sergeant Harrides and his five guardsmen.  Bulky in their full battle armour, each took up the space of two ordinary people.

The guardsmen were clustered around the exits in order to be the first out when the shuttle hit the spacefield, to take out the local ground defence systems.  Behind them Julia had organised a full attack team of 12 of the bodyguard, split into three groups.  The largest group comprised the specialist marksmen, armed with laser rifles to immobilise any ground vehicles and gas grenades for the guards that would be around the hostages.  Then there were the two 2-man snatch squads, fast and mobile to get the hostages themselves.  And finally there was a medical team in case anything went badly wrong.

While Prince Gerald stayed with the Imperial Guard, David and Brianey went through to the flight deck. Julia was already seated in the copilots position, going through the prelaunch checks with the onboard computers.  David lowered himself into the command seat and Brianey, as was her right as duty bodyguard, took the third position.

The shuttles own system lights were all green but Julia methodically completed the routine checks anyway.

"All systems green, my lord," she reported formally.  "Shuttle's ready for launch."

David glanced to his left at the auxiliary display which was relaying the status of the docking bay itself.  As soon as the last of the auxiliary lights flashed green, he pushed the button to transmit the Shuttle Ready signal and release the interlock on the docking bay doors.

The giant doors swung open and the shuttle shuddered slightly as the tractor beams reached out from the roof and walls of the dock and lifted her clear of the floor.  On one of the exterior screens he could see the penetrator with Corin at the controls, already passing through the force screen at the entrance to the dock.  Then it was the turn of the shuttle to be carried through the shimmering screen and into the void beyond.

He kicked in the main drive units as the tractor beams released their hold on the shuttle and, with Corin taking station on his right wing, locked onto the course pre-set in the navigation computers.

The first leg of their approach was to be a steep dive, down past the second planet and towards the Parmian sun.  This was planned to give them two vital advantages.  First, they could use the gravitational pull of the planet and then of the star to whip them around and accelerate them towards the innermost planet without producing too much of a radiation flare from the use of the shuttles own drives.  Second, approaching the heavily defended base from out of the sun would help to mask any residual image which they might generate on the defence system screens.

It was sheer bad luck, therefore, that just 15 seconds into the dive the proximity alarms exploded into raucous life, warning of an imminent collision.  David switched the shuttle back onto manual and made a grab for the controls, pulling her round in a high-g turn as the other ship flashed by.

"What the hell..." he muttered as a barrage of angry yells and complaints came through from the passenger compartment.

"Go talk to them Bri.  Calm them down and check there's no injuries.

"Corin," into the communicator.  "What the hell was that and where did she come from?"

"I've got her in view, my lord.  It's a large Atraxa class freighter of the type used for mining operations.  Course indicates she's just left a low-level parking orbit around Parm II.  We'll have to do something about her quickly though.  She's screaming for help on all emergency frequencies."

"Ok Corin.  Stay on her," David ordered and hurriedly switched communication channels.

"Sam, jam those bloody transmissions.  And give me a complete scan of that freighter.  I want to know if she's armed.

"Julia, get us back on course and boost the power to make up the time we've lost."

David punched in one of the emergency channels on the communicator.  The freighter, apparently called the Parmine IV, was still broadcasting frantically.  Suddenly the transmission cut off in mid-sentence and there was only white noise left on the channel.  In the sudden silence he could feel Julia pulling the shuttle back round onto course as Brianey slipped back into her seat.

"No real problems back there, my lord.  A few bruises and a bit of wounded pride, that's all."

"Ok, thanks Bri.

"Sam, have you got that scan yet?"

"Yeah, she's clean boss.  Those Atraxa class vessels can be adapted to fit weapons pods, but there's no sign of any military hardware on this one."

"Hm, a pity.  If she's strictly civilian, we can't just blast her out of space.  Can you induce a bit of positive feedback in her transmitter loops instead, Sam?  Overload a few circuits and keep her off the air for a while?"