Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN








"And why am I here?" Gell yelled down from the deck of the transporter. He glanced over to the swamp and then smiled at Soll.

"The disk, I need it back."

"The disk?" Gell jumped down. "Ah, I’m afraid that’s going to be a problem."

"Why," Soll gulped. "Don’t tell me you’ve found the Renegade already."

"Not exactly."

"Well then, where exactly is it?"

"It’s a little hard to explain..." The boy felt like a trapped animal. His first instinct to run was tempered by the fresh memory of his last excursion into Terrekka’s untamed jungle. He reluctantly jumped down and stood next to Soll.

"Explain!" Soll shouted in desperation.

He didn’t have the guts to tell Soll the truth. It was his puerile lust for a beautiful woman that left him paralyzed and naked on the forest floor, stripped of the disk and what little dignity he had. The fact that it was Larrvino who saved him from the jaws of a hungry rigacat served only to rub salt in the wound. "I had to give it to somebody for safe keeping. Larrvino was all over me..."

"Sebbreba!" Soll declared.

"No...Wait! How did you know that?"

"She seems to know my every move these days."

"I know what you mean," Gell whispered, his eyes glazed over as the vision of her naked body danced in his head.

Suddenly, without a word of explanation, Soll leapt into the transporter. Gell, standing in stunned silence, couldn’t move. By the time he realized what was happening it was too late. Soll had used his High Council Network Override Clearance to take possession of Gell's transporter. It floated away leaving the boy stranded on the jungle floor. "You can’t leave me here!" Gell screamed.

Soll poked his head out the door as the transporter rose to clear the tops of the trees. "I’ll have the Network send out one for you... No time to explain... Sorry..."

"No, Come back!" Gell screamed louder. "Soll! Please... Don’t leave! I’ll be killed!" He continued yelling until it was painfully clear Soll was not going to turn back. He was alone again. He fell to his knees and wept.

With nightfall approaching he knew he should not be caught on the ground where he could fall easy prey to any of the jungles large nocturnal predators. Again he failed to carry along a sonic immobilizer that every child knew was essential when going jungleside. He sighed and hastily began climbing into the tree. When finally he was safely above the ground he checked with the Network and found that Soll had indeed ordered a transporter for him. Now all he could do was wait.

Darkness came quickly in the deep jungle. The trees, casting their long shadows, created a premature twilight on the forest floor. The spooky chorus had already begun. His eyes were sharp but his ears played tricks on him. He knew the real danger came not from the creatures that made those awful sounds but from the silent stalkers that provoked them. He nervously scanned the horizon for signs of a Network transporter. The minutes seemed like hours as each piercing screech and distant howl caused his heart to fill with dread. Oh, how he hated the jungle.

Finally, giving up all hope of a speedy deliverance he leaned back into the tree and gazed toward the stars. He quickly identified Jenninni’s Constellation, and just as he did as a child he followed an imaginary line from its tail to an indistinguishable yellow dwarf. Circling that rather ordinary star was a truly extraordinary planet. It was a world like no other. A world so rich in life that the catalog on it could never be complete. He knew more about that planet than anyone on Orr, perhaps, even more than own inhabitants, and more than anything else he longed to be there. Visions of Earthly paradises danced in his head. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself, ‘this is not so bad’. It was just about then the rain began to fall on his head.

***

Depp had long since given up feeling guilty about listening in on his daughter’s conversations. She was, after all, the daughter of the Supreme High Chair and had not been above using her position to gain certain advantages for herself and her friends. He understood that her young heart belonged to the Earth Party and would’ve thought it peculiar if it were any other way. She was instinctively smart and always conducted herself with the proper discretion, never embarrassing him or his staff. She was also tough, and played the political game as good as anyone. He had grown to rely on her counsel.

Never had he seen her so intense as she was right now. She had become thoroughly obsessed with the primitive, Julia Rayhied and her incredible resemblance to Teffiona. The American TV star was an enticing subject and he found himself caught up in the commotion over her as well, but for reasons his daughter would never know. He could see the whole thing was tearing Saffrina apart. How was it possible that Julia Rayhied looked exactly like Teff the day she left Orr for the last time? Nothing could explain it. Saff could not accept it as merely a fantastic coincidence. She had done extensive research on the lovely primitive, going so far as to employ the most dangerous person on Orr to help her.

The Renegade gained nothing by conspiring with her yet seemed only too eager to make a deal. It exposed the elusive one unnecessarily for reasons that remained unclear. Oddly though, it was saga of the little disk that piqued Depp's interest the most. Strange alliances had been forged to ensure it would not fall into the hands of Larrvino or any of his minions. First, young Gellseno, who, ironically, was an agent of Larrvino's gave it to Soll whom, in turn, gave it back to Gell who, in a dramatic game of bait and switch lost it to Sebbreba. Presently it found its way into Saffrina’s possession. It was his belief she intended to give it to the only one capable of delivering it to Earth. He awaited this exchange anxiously as it offered him the best opportunity he had to finally identify the slippery one. After two years of frustration, the new Renegade was within his reach.

He leaned back into the chair and smiled inwardly. He thought back to his days as the High Mentor at the Institute of Earth. There the young rebel from Terrekka’s City named Sollalia, met his match. He remembered vividly the moment he realized that the angry young man was in fact the outlaw he had so colorfully dubbed the Renegade. At first, his anger overwhelmed him; he wanted to have the boy exiled from Orr, sent off to suffer on some desert planet far away from the Orrian garden.

After he had calmed down and thought it through what he saw standing before him was an incredible challenge. Could this outlaw, this petty prankster be transformed into the perfect preservationist?

Without the boy’s knowledge or consent, he began the task of recreating a young version of himself. In the end, he had been successful beyond his wildest dreams. Sollalia not only became the man who single handedly crushed the Earth Party; he was now in position to gain the Supreme High Chair for himself. At least this was all true before she came into his life. Julia Rayhied, a mere primitive, had turned his protégéé, the son he never had into a bumbling fool. She had him on the verge of throwing everything away. The question everyone on Orr was asking had no clear answer. Where did she come from? How could she look so much like Teffiona? Saffrina’s own research could not tie this intriguing primitive’s appearance on the scene to any of Soll’s political enemies. In fact everything she had unveiled seemed to indicate Julia Rayhied was exactly what she appeared to be; a beautiful, talented TV star obsessed with uncovering the truth about the UFOs.

The superb ironies did not stop there. It was Sollalia himself who had unwittingly inspired the young woman’s career. As the original Renegade, he had brilliantly designed his drones to play on the superstitions and myths that had put the presence of UFO’s in every era of human history. Depp was particularly amused by the fanatical subculture that arose from it. Ultimately Julia Rayhied was a product of that subculture. In less than two years the UFO subculture had been elevated to the forefront of Earth’s collective psyche. Julia Rayhied was an authority figure whose influence surpassed the heads of governments. A fact she would surely consider lunatic if it were presented to her as such.

Even more amusing to him was how the government of the United States used the subculture to help conceal their own knowledge of an alien presence on Earth. The weeks and months that followed the crash of the Orrian shuttlecraft near Roswell, New Mexico saw an elaborate scheme set into motion. The plan was to use the UFO phenomenon to conceal a secret government that operated outside the view of the populace. The UFO’s and the crash provided the perfect smoke screen for activities that would not stand up under the harsh light of democracy. Behind the veil of the Cold War, the Americans used their rudimentary understanding of Orrian technology to stifle their enemies and to control their own people. To some extent Depp was sympathetic to the plight of the people in power at the time. What else could they do? They had to deny everything. The likelihood of panic and lawlessness was great. They could not reveal what they really knew and expect to keep their society under control. Orr’s own ancient history is rife with stories of visitors from distant planets and alternate dimensions. Terrekka herself was accused of being one. Who was to say the Orrians weren’t being observed and manipulated by a race of beings even more advanced than they. What would he do as the leader of the world if he were faced with the knowledge of such a presence? There were no easy answers, not for him, and not for President Liberty Cole of the United States. The Renegade had made her life as difficult as his. He had much respect for the primitive, perhaps, even felt a certain kinship with her. The battle was not going well for either of them. Not everything was lost though; his work would still bare fruit if only Soll let his heart guide him to the final challenge of his extraordinary life.

He watched Saffrina from a secret chamber as she held the alien disk before her eyes. The time was near; the call she had been waiting for would come like clockwork. The Renegade never deviated, an attribute Depp had hoped to exploit.

There was a muted sounder followed by an instant response. "I’m here!" she said enthusiastically.

"You have something for me?" asked the mysterious voice of the Renegade.

"Right here in the palm of my hand. We need to get it to Dakkalia as soon as possible."

"No good," said the elusive one. In a voice altered so carefully as to be utterly indistinguishable, having characteristics that were neither male nor female, the Renegade spoke plainly, "Dakkalia will be searched before he ever sets foot on that lightship."

The voice was something Depp had long since given up on. It proved useless to filter it with any sort contrast. Instead, he concentrated on the background sounds, which were, to his surprise, left unaltered. He could hear the unmistakable call of a takki hen and the patter of rain. He smiled to himself. Tonight’s call was coming from the jungleside.

"Our only hope of delivering the disk," continued the Renegade, "is to get it on that ship before Dakkalia boards it."

"Can you do that?"

"I can."

"What do you want in return?" Saffrina asked pointedly, but was met with silence. "Surely you must want something?"

"I’m afraid you couldn’t give me what I want. So, in the absence of that, let’s say I’m doing it just to stir things up... That’s what renegades do, you know."

"All right, if that’s the way you want it... So... how do I get it to you?"

"Send a courier drone in the direction of Ballalta’s City. I’ll intercept it before it ever gets there. But first, I need you to listen to me very carefully... It’s imperative you send it off the Network. Use High Council clearance commands. I will tell you this once - you are being watched... You already know that Larrvino has his fingers into everything. The Network has been compromised. The Wave isn’t far behind."

Depp was concentrating on the abundance of ambient sounds of the nocturnal jungle. His console had quickly processed a variety of animal calls. By using distinctive regional dialects he was able to place the Renegade on or near Terrekka’s Plateau. Knowing that, unfortunately, was of little value. It had long been suspected that the Renegade was a resident of Terrekka’s City. He had gotten this far before. This time, however, he was closing in on the complex algorithm the Renegade used to piggyback the signal on legitimate Wave addresses. This constantly changing addressing scheme had been thwarting him at for two years, until tonight. The longer the Renegade kept talking the more a predictable pattern emerged.

"There is one more thing..." Saffrina added. "How will Dakkalia know where it is?"

"You will tell him."

"I will tell him what?"

"Tell him he’ll be sitting on it."

"The pilot’s chair?" she asked.

"Yes, that will be perfect. I’m glad you thought of it."

Suddenly the Renegade was gone. "Are you there? Hello..."

Don’t go! Depp silently pleaded. He was so close this time - moments away from victory. Again, the Renegade knew the call was being traced. At the last conceivable moment the link was cut, the chase over. Depp knew that if he retrieved the courier drone he would risk chasing off the Renegade for good. He would also be exposing himself. Saffrina was never to know about his spying, this caveat he pledged himself to a very long time ago. He would have another chance at the Renegade. It wasn’t over yet.


***

"Where are you?" Larr demanded, his angry face filling the holoviewer. "Never mind that. Get to the New Pallpoli immediately."

Gell fumed. He was in a foul mood to begin with having finally been picked up from that dreadful jungle and again, Larr was demanding something without the slightest concern for what he wanted. Right now, soaking wet, tired and hungry his only desire was the refuge of the city. "Why?" he asked sarcastically. He was tired of Larr pushing him around. He was no
closer to Earth than the day he agreed to conspire against the only person who had treated him like an intellectual equal. Sollalia had always treated him with the respect he deserved. He was beginning to regret the whole thing. "Give up Larr, you’ve lost this one."

"Oh, you think so? Since when do I care what you think? Go to New Pallpoli now, and keep your adolescent opinions to yourself." Larr watched the boy’s veins bulging on his forehead, his brown eyes burning a hole through the screen. "What’s the matter, Gell?" Larr asked mockingly. "You're not so smart, are you? You’re a cretin, worse than that; you’re a fool. I’ve squashed insects brighter than you. You may have dazzled a clown like Viddelio, or should I say Victor Delano? But you haven’t impressed me."

Gell was stunned into silence. How did Larr know about Victor Delano? Suddenly, things were starting to become very clear. In an instant his heart sank. An image of Earth being devoured by the Sirenese barbarians raced through his mind. Was that the extent of Larr’s hatred of Earth? It was unthinkable - blackmailing Vidd and forcing him to sacrifice Earth. He sighed, "I'm done Larr, you’re on your own."

"Not so fast, Gell. Do you know what the punishment is for these kind of subversive actions? You will be banished, sent off to an infertile rock, left to live off sticks and twigs. Are you willing to risk a promising future to protect an unstable, erratic man like Sollalia?"

"What difference does it make, Larr? You’ve already destroyed the only thing I’ve ever loved."

"What are you talking about?"

"I’m talking about Earth! I know what you did. Earth will be destroyed by the Sirenese. It’ll be on your head, Larr! Six billion innocent people will die because of you. You will finally get what you always wanted. Our precious culture will be pure again. Will that make you happy?"

"That’s some imagination you’ve got," Larr countered. "I see Sollalia has rubbed off on you. You’re both crazy..." Larr let out a boisterous laugh, his confidence oozed from ever pore of his being. "Let me tell you this, it would not be in your best interest to be talking like this. Your activities can easily be tied to the treasonous actions of your hero. What Soll is doing is wrong, it’s against the laws of this world, and it is the law that I am defending. That’s what matters here, not friendship, not reputations, not even a broken heart."

Gell said nothing for a long time. What could he say? Larr pulled his strings like a master puppeteer. The time would come when Larrvino would regret what he had done, and how he treated people. He smiled inwardly - one day soon enough Larrvino would be the one dangling by the strings, a powerless marionette in the hands of the ultimate puppeteer, the Creator of the universe. He only hoped he would be there to see the look on that smug face of his. "I guess you’re right, Larr. What do you want me to do this time?"

"It’s quite simple, really. Something even you can handle. We must stop that disk from getting on the lightship Kylli."

"Then we’d better watch Sebbreba very closely. Soll is on his way to Terrekka’s City to find her right now."

"Don’t waste your time on Sebb," Larr offered, "she hasn’t got it. Saffrina has it. It’s probably somewhere in the Meridian Building where I can’t get a lock on it. But she’ll have to transport it to Ballalta’s City before tomorrow."

"She be a fool to bring it there in person..."

"Precisely why you’ll be monitoring every courier drone to leave New Pallpoli. One of them will have the disk. You will bring it to me. You will also bring me the one she has conspired with. This... This Renegade must be stopped. I must have this person, do you understand?"

Gell nodded. "Where will you be?"

"I’ll be at the Ballalta’s City stopping Dakkalia from boarding that ship. Now be off with you. And Gell, don’t let me down."

Larr laughed again. "Your future depends on it."


***

A pale orange light illuminated the shuttle bay. Soll sat quietly on the docking platform carelessly swinging his legs. Sebbreba, ever vigilant, watched the skies for signs of trouble. Trouble, they both knew, would come in a familiar form. Yet, neither of them dared utter his name. The one man who could ruin everything, and would take great delight in doing so, was ironically both his political ally and her nighttime lover. Despite this connection betrayal was not the question. Larrvino did indeed represent the law. Larr was right, there was simply no denying that, but at what cost. Soll had finally realized for himself what Sebb and her disciples had known all along. The Earth Doctrine was bad law. In the face of what they now knew to be true about the proliferation of the human animal it was absurd to cling to it any more. Tragically, the planet Earth was on a timeline without a future. It was only right that the primitives be forewarned. For that to happen the doctrine had to fall.

Therefore, they waited. It was eerily quiet seventy-five stories above the ground, only the sound of the soft southern breeze coming off the bay could be heard sweeping through the cavernous shuttle bay. Neither of them said much all morning. They were used to each other's company and found small talk an unnecessary distraction. Sebb was completely intense; never taking her eyes from the sky that surrounded them on three sides. Soll, antithetically, was lost in a daydream most of the time. They had only to wait for their plan to unfold. Deggneba would arrive first, followed by Dakkalia and then the shuttle crew at random intervals, each taking a different route to dock 75-24. They were assured that Larr's people would

be looking for anything or anyone out of place in or around the Galaxy Building. The shuttle they had marked was a regularly scheduled ferry with drops at eight orbiting bays. Larr would be forced to guess which dock and which flight. He would not have had enough time to put surveillance devices in each bay. Despite the secrecy and careful preparation Soll had an uneasy feeling. Larr was nearby. He could feel him.

By an odd twist of fate his future was now in the hands of the one he spent the last two years of his life hunting down. He had no choice now but to trust the slippery one as Saffrina had. The Renegade's ultimate motivation was a mystery. Perhaps the Renegade now considered Soll some sort of kindred spirit, a fellow dissident, a true rebel. He could only hope this Renegade’s motives were pure. He chuckled quietly to himself; we renegades need to stick together.

"What’s so funny?" Sebbreba asked as she stared out over the city.

"It’s nothing," he replied without looking at her. "Life is a funny thing..."

"I’ll do my laughing when this shuttle is in orbit, thank you."

"Agreed," he said emphatically. He watched her closely as she scanned the horizon. When her head snapped around he leapt from the platform and joined her at the railing. "What is it?"

"Something’s coming." A large, slow-moving touring transporter approached the bay. The welcome pad extended itself as the transporter came to a stop. "I’ll be... It’s a tour. Let’s get out of sight!"

Twenty or so people streamed out of the cabin and began milling about the dock. Soll recognized their attire as the traditional fashion of the Pakkanni region. Often called the outland, Pakkanni was as far from the big cities as one could get. The Pakkanni people were very provincial and its sons and daughters rarely ventured far from home. A tour of Ballalta’s City was akin to a Terrekkan visiting the outer reaches of charted space.

Soll looked carefully at each of their faces. The last one off the transporter was Deggneba. Clad in a hand-sewn tunic and a pair of jungle chaps he casually approached the shuttle and once in the crowd he disappeared from sight. Sometime later the tourists climbed back aboard the transporter and they watched it slowly drift out of sight.

"It has begun," Sebb said, "it’s best we stay out of sight."

Soll nodded in agreement, as he sat back against the wall in a darkened corner of the bay. They waited for what seemed like hours when three people, a woman and two men, approached the shuttle and began unhitching the docking straps. Again, he studied their faces until he was certain the one with sunshades over his eyes was Dakkalia. All three entered the vehicle but only two returned to the platform; the one with sunshades was not among them. Another few minutes had passed when the shuttle commander came up the tube and approached the woman. The two of them talked for a moment until the pilot arrived. The shuttle was a supply rig and no passengers were to be boarding. Just when it looked like everything was going like clockwork a large maintenance door opened behind them and a hoard of holowave reporters poured into the bay.

"What’s this?" Sebb uttered in amazement. "Who could’ve..." It was then she saw him.

Larrvino, flanked by two of his henchmen, sauntered toward the shuttle. "Ladies and gentlemen," he bellowed. "This is the little secret some of our friends didn’t intend for you to know. Commander, do you know you have a pair of stowaways aboard your vessel?" The commander shook his head. "I tell you it is true."

His two men boarded the shuttle and moments later Dakkalia and Deggneba appeared in the doorway. "What have we here... Is it not the great Dakkalia, Orr’s newest hero?" Larr looked to his portacon as Gellseno shook his head from side to side signifying he had not intercepted the disk. He stopped in front of Dakk and smiled. "Would you mind explaining to our friends the reason you are stowaways on this cargo shuttle?"

"I will tell you nothing," Dakk shot back.

"Then I will tell them," Larr promised. "First, I want them searched, both of them."

"By whose authority?" shouted a female voice from the shadows. Sebbreba emerged to face the man she both loved and despised. Soll followed her into the light.

He turned toward the reporters. "Look what we have here..." Larr pointed at Soll. "It’s a family affair."

"By whose authority are you questioning these boys?" Sebb repeated.

He turned and faced Sebb with burning eyes and said: "By whose authority, you ask? By the authority vested in me as an officer of the Terrekkan Council, sworn to uphold the law. A law, I might add, that you and these men seek to violate. I intend to prove that there is a conspiracy to subvert the Earth Doctrine and that you, Sollalia, and these men are the principal operatives." The crowd of reporters gasped. "I have invited someone to observe these proceedings."

A hologram began to materialize next to Larr causing him to smile from ear to ear. Deppopio, the Supreme High Chair of the Orrian Empire, stood straight faced before the reporters. "What of it," he asked Sebb.

"With all due respect, the man has lost his mind, sir." The crowd laughed and Larr’s toothy grin was wiped from his face.

"Then you’ll have no objections to these men being searched?" Depp asked.

"None whatsoever."

"Very well, search them."

Dakk and Degg offered no resistance and the search turned up nothing. Larr was visibly upset by the confidence Sebb displayed, but he wasn’t beaten yet. "I would demand that the vessel itself be searched, top to bottom."

"Agreed," said Depp, and for nearly three hours everyone stood by as a team of representatives from the High Council’s Contraband Investigation Agency scoured the shuttle. To Larr’s dismay the number of reporters slowly dwindled as the morning went on. The attention span of a typical holowave reporter was notoriously short and he was losing them one by
one to sheer boredom. When it was over, and again nothing had been found he watched the rest of them disperse. Larr was beside himself. He was convinced something had been overlooked and insisted the shuttle be searched again.

"Give it up, Larr," Sebb urged him. "There’s nothing here."

"No, you’re wrong we just haven’t found it yet," he insisted. "Your honor," he said to Depp, "you cannot permit this shuttle to leave until it is found!"

"I’m compelled to side with Sebbreba," Depp said plainly. "I’m afraid you have not made your case. I see no reason to delay this flight any further. You have wasted enough of our time." He turned the shuttle commander; "you may proceed."

"No!" Larr screamed. "This is not right. You’re making a big mistake!" He found himself standing alone; no one was listening to his ranting. "You’ll be sorry. All of you!"

***

Larr’s escapade cost them precious time, further complicating the mission. Dakk knew what had to be done he only worried that there would not be enough time. Once aboard the lightship he would need to distract Deggneba and retrieve the disk. From there his plan became a bit sketchy. Somehow he would have to create and opportunity to get the disk to Julia Rayhied, even if it meant disabling Deggneba for a while.

Minutes later they were approaching Platform 88. Degg was busy verifying the registration and flight plan of the Galactic Lightship, the Kylli and making subsequent entries into the mission log. Neither of them said a word about what had just transpired on the surface. Degg acted as if it had never happened, not once asking what Larrvino could have been looking for. There was no reason for Dakk to offer it up.

Dakk floated casually up to the cabin windows to watch the docking process begin. The shuttle pilot used the emergency escape tube to attach directly to the belly of the Kylli. The entire procedure required no docking platform personnel. The process was seamless and soon they were both waiting at the airlock for the tube to pressurize. Dakk was first to enter the tube. He pulled himself along until he reached the hatch on the Kylli. Once in position the hatch opened and he began pulling himself inside when, to his surprise an arm emerged from the hatch and dragged him in. Once inside he found himself face to face with the Great One himself. Dakk was flush with the nervousness of a newbie cadet.

Deppopio merely smiled and put his finger across his lips urging silence. Seconds later Degg appeared in the open hatch and both of them grabbed him and pulled him aboard.

"Your honor," Degg gasped, "what are you doing here?"

"There’s been a change in the crew assignment. I’ll be going along."

Degg smiled. "It’ll be a pleasure to have you the aboard with us."

"You’re not going, Degg. I’ll be taking your place."

"I don’t understand..."

"I need you to trust me. I can’t explain right now." Degg dutifully shook his head; he would not question his master’s motives. Dakk was still in shock. After all these years he was still speechless in the presence of Deppopio. "Listen carefully, Degg. I want you to report directly to the quarantine unit on Dass. No one will be able to find you there and there will be no questions. Kerrekka will see to it."

"But won’t you be missed? What about the time shift?"

"I’ve left a communiqué stating that I’ll be taking a holiday. I told them I'd be staying on Hellinni’s World. There are limited communications there and no one would ever find me on the big island... Even if they tried."

Degg disappeared down the tube and Depp secured the hatch. Dakk quickly strapped himself into the pilot's chair. He began to help Depp but soon realized the old man needed none.

"How long has it been, sir," Dakk asked in a casual conversational tone, "since you’ve tripped the light barrier, I mean?"

"Eight years. I toured Juggedda’s World the year it was founded."

"Yes, I’ve heard wonderful things about it. They say it’s quite Earth-like."

"Much like prehistoric Earth. It has an atmosphere that is closer to Earth’s than any planet we’ve charted. Its axial tilt is nearly identical to Earth’s. Its solitary moon has a gravity slightly stronger than that of Earth’s moon. Many active volcanoes, and weather... The weather is breathtaking. Storms like you have never imagined. It’s quite exciting, really."

"Is it true their having a difficult time recruiting colonists?"

Depp smiled as he finished securing his straps. It was obvious by his manner that he was excited to be in the seat of a state of the art ship again. "It can be a bit intimidating," he continued, "I’m not sure too many Orrians would give up everything for a thrill ride half way across the Alpha quadrant." He pointed to the console. "Shouldn’t you be setting vector control? I believe you’ve been given the coordinates..."

"Yes. Yes, I’m so sorry," Dakk apologized. "I guess I’m a little nervous." He began inputting the acceleration angle from coordinates pre-assigned to this mission by the Galactic Space Traffic Controller when he froze.

"Is there something the matter, son?"

"No, nothing, sir."

"Would you like me to set the breakout points? I know them by heart."

"If you wish," Dakk replied. He swung the console on its pivot until it rested before Depp. He watched as the old man eagerly handled the controls. There was a look of pure joy on his face. Once a tripper always a tripper, or so the saying goes.

With Depp preoccupied at the controls he slowly slid his left hand down the side of the pilot’s chair and began feeling around for the disk. It was not there. Then, pretending to look over Deppopio’s shoulder he felt around beneath the right side. Again, nothing.

"It’s not there," Depp said sardonically.

Dakk sat up straight in his chair and smiled. "What do you mean?"

"You were looking for this..." In his left hand Depp held an object of the exact description his father had left him with.

"What is that?"

"I think you know exactly what it is... What were you people thinking?" The old man scolded. "Did you really think you’d get away with it?"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Dakk protested.

"It's all right," Depp countered. "I know all about it. No use lying to me now."

"All right…" Dakk's shoulders slumped. "I am just the courier. I know nothing more than that."

"I know," Depp admitted. "I’m sorry you had to come home to this. You are a hero, Dakkalia, even if you don’t know it yet. Your stumbling on the Sirenese before they stumbled onto us may well be the difference between annihilation and survival. We have some time to prepare ourselves for them. The same cannot be said for the people of Earth. A time bomb is already ticking and they have so very far to go."

"Are you suggesting that we’re pulling out and leaving Earth to the barbarians?"

"I don’t know what I’m suggesting just yet... The first thing we must do is get that satellite out of there... We will consider our options about the future later." Depp returned the console to his pilot. "Activate the lightdrives on my mark."

"Yes, sir!" Dakk barked. "There’s just one thing I must ask..."

"Yes."

"Are you going to punish my father for this?"

"I don’t know, son, I don’t know."


***

A billion miles from the sun they raced against the clock. Earth was but an tiny speck in an ocean of blackness from this range. The deceleration glide path had been set at the standard ten-degree angle to the sun’s orbital plane to diminish the chance of a collision. It also gave their scanning array a view unobstructed by solar dust and debris. For nearly twenty hours they could only watch on the long-range viewer as three spacecraft were launched from the Earth’s surface, each with the goal of getting to the prize before the other. They could only watch helplessly as one of the space planes, the ship launched from the nation of Russia, malfunctioned, killing everyone aboard. As they approached the inner solar system they watched the American shuttle locate and collect the satellite. The Kylli, one of Galactic’s finest ships, was still too far away to wrap a suspension field around it with the accuracy required. They could not chance Earth’s own satellite network being disabled. When they finally entered Earth’s orbit there was still a slim chance to salvage the mission, however, one more complication served them with a dilemma.

Dakk was silently disheartened. It simply could not have turned out any worse. Not only did Deppopio have the disk, now they were too late to prevent the Americans from confiscating the satellite. The fact that he was still suffering the sickening effects of tripping the light barrier seemed a fitting compliment to the way things were going.

"Sir," Dakk began, holding back the urge to heave, " the Ariane vehicle is still too far away to wrap in a suspension field without trapping other satellites and disrupting communications on the planet."

"Yes, I understand. It’s imperative we do this with minimal intrusion, we must leave cleanly, leaving no trace of our presence."

"OK," Dakk said haltingly, "We could… Or… Have you any ideas?"

"Let’s look at the facts," Depp began. "First, we know the satellite is aboard the American craft. Second, the Ariane is closing in and without intervention will be there before we have enough time to retrieve our property. Third, towing the Patriot out of orbit is not an option. Lastly, we cannot disable the Araine from this range without undesirable effects. That leaves us with only one thing we can do."

"And that is?"

"Prepare a probe. Set it on a collision course with the Araine."

Dakk stared at him in disbelief. "I don’t understand. It will surely destroy them."

"It may. Or, it may force them to alter their course enough for us to get our work done."

"Yes, that's good... It may just work."

Dakk quickly began the launch sequence for a standard sensor probe. He disabled it’s radar evading properties so the Ariane would "see it" long before the point of impact. The probe was programmed to self-destruct once it was clear of the target, leaving nothing of its existence. The instant the probe cleared the launch chute he set an intercept course for the Patriot.

Time was of the essence, the suspension field had to be erected before the shuttle’s reentry rockets were ignited or he risked creating an unstable field that was likely to rip the Patriot to shreds. Unfortunately it meant the Americans would get a glimpse of the Kylli if only for an instant when the false projection dissolved as the suspension field was mounted. It could not be helped. He set the command and held his breath.

By all reports the suspension field was holding. The Patriot and its crew were held in a state of suspended animation that halted all atomic activity. No harm would come to the crew now. When it was over he would wipe all their recording devices clean and bring the field down, leaving them unaware of what had happened. He carefully maneuvered the ship to within a hundred meters of the American ship. The massive Kylli dwarfed the tiny space shuttle. Forty or more Patriots could have fit inside the belly of Galactic’s premiere lightship. He analyzed the structure of the tiny ship and quickly located each of the crew. The woman and the pilot were in the cockpit while the soldier was secured inside an airlock. The satellite was located in the cargo bay. Gaining access the cargo bay by carving out holes in the suspension field would pose little problem. However, the satellite was secured with straps that required human hands to remove. He got out of the pilot's chair and began floating toward the airlock.

"Where are you going?" Depp asked him politely.

"Someone’s got to go out there and free the satellite before we can tow it aboard."

"I’ll go."

"But sir..."

"There will be no discussion."

Dakk sat back down and watched as the Supreme leader of the Orrian Empire donned an outsuit and disappeared into the airlock.