The only way to sneak aboard the Interstellar Panel headquarters spacecraft, is to avoid the perimeter sensors that are capable of detecting a ship as small as a two-door sedan on Earth.
Whadgaf knows about IP headquarters security because she did a brief tour of duty there shortly after she joined the Ointite Independent Militia. She knows how the guards operate and the general function of the overall system, but the intricacies of the security detail that manned the city-sized spacecraft was intricate and impossible for her to know completely.
During her tour at the headquarters, she made a friend from Wiis who manned the docking panel next to hers, but they only really found the occasion to conversate when they were on duty, between logging new arrivals.
“This place is a machine,” Whadgaf said to the young Rhasdwiis woman with skin that was pale pink while they were working, and the woman nodded at her seriously.
“Yeah,” she said. “This is a fortress, one of the most secure places in the universe. I hear someone tried to attack the Representative from Hafjeran recently, and he managed to sneak aboard.”
“How could someone land a ship without anyone knowing?” Whadgaf asked.
“He didn’t land a ship. He didn’t have one.”
Maria likes the helmet of her spacesuit. It is easy to forget that it’s there when it’s engaged, but she can change the settings to tint the translucent material of the helmet, and she could call up an augmented reality display that accesses the IP database to identify locations, the species of various beings, and the origins of some technologies that she encountered.
As she stands with Kal at the shipport, she looks around as her helmet describes the things she trains her eyes on. They lean against the large building of a spacecraft parking structure, waiting for Whadgaf and Sevi. Suddenly, Maria drops her helmet.
“The pronouns that my helmet uses for Druintes, are they Druinte words?”
Kal shrugs at her.
“What are the words?”
“Eris, erim.”
Kal shakes his head, “My translator has a translation for that, it’s the way you identify someone who is both male and female. Eris, erim must be Earthling words, but you should know that, being from Earth.”
“I’ve never heard them before. And there’s more than one language on Earth.”
Kal laughs at her. “Maybe you should do more study of your homeworld’s native languages.”
Maria rolls her eyes and reengages the helmet.
They are keeping lookout while Sevi and Whadgaf commandeer a ship that they can use to travel to the IP headquarters; they decided it was too risky to use either Whadgaf or Kal’s ships. Whadgaf knows a lot about spacecraft and she took Sevi along in case she needs to coerce someone to give up their ship. As an Ointite of Oin, Sevi has a limited mind reading ability that allows for coercion if she really concentrates, and she can subtly suggest to anyone she encounters to change their emotions; she can change anger to happiness at witnessing the theft of your spacecraft for example.
Maria has a much more powerful coercive power; not only can she alter emotions, she can control bodies and see through the eyes of those she takes control over. She decided to stand guard with Kal so that she could people-watch at the large spaceport that is like an airport on Earth, but with a domed, translucent ceiling that covers everything. There is ample space to park crafts of various sizes, many restaurants and hotels, and fueling stations. There are also a few green-spaces, though not all of the vegetation contained therein are green; many of the parks have pale-red grass from the planet Druont that is the most comfortable to sit without need of benches.
“I hope they are almost done in there,” Kal says. “If we’re going to do something stupid, I want to get it over as soon as possible before I talk myself out of it.”
“You think we should leave them?” Maria asks as she watches what her helmet tells her are Bromeris enjoying lunch on the grasses.
“You’re eager to leave them, aren’t you?” Kal says. “Because the Queen can handle herself.”
“That was before your ex arrested them,” Maria says. “Now we can’t let this stand.”
“It’s part of the Eakran War now?” Kal asks playfully.
“I don’t like that name for this conflict.”
“It’s not a good idea to try and break into the IP,” Kal says. “If we are caught, then we’re in the same position as them, and what will happen to our resistance in the Regions without their leadership?”
“There are plenty others who don’t like what the IP is doing. Besides, the Queen Ravileth is an asset we can’t afford to lose. Whadgaf may be the leader, but the Queen has experience with battle strategy, more than Whadgaf. She’s the reason Eakran is still alive, she’s the reason Giovanni and I are still alive.”
“Why did we send such an asset into enemy territory?” Kal asks, genuinely confused by this information.
“We were supposed to be on the more dangerous mission, remember?”
Kal nods.
“Things are changing fast,” he says.
“And we need our best to strategize. We need the Queen.”
Even if you are able to evade the perimeter sensors, getting aboard the ship is difficult if you avoid the main docking station located at the bottom of the ship. There are smaller docking stations, six total, but they have the most security because they are used by Representatives and other important travellers to the headquarters.
“I can’t stop thinking about what you told me last cycle,” Whadgaf said to the Rhasdwiis woman that she worked next to when they arrived for their shift in the docking station. “It’s genius, but so risky. Why did this man risk his life to fly to the headquarters with a jetpack?”
“Politics on Hafjeran are complicated, you should know,” the young woman said dismissively. “But there has been a lot of turnover since they named a Representative. I think since our tour of duty started here, a new one was named.”
Whadgaf didn’t know anything about the Representative from Hajferan. She’d left her homeworld long ago and she hasn’t kept up with news from her homeworld. When she left Hafjeran, the Representative was from the Dharle family, but apparently things had changed.
“So once he evaded the perimeter sensors, did he sneak through the docking station?” Whadgaf asked, pointing at the commotion before them as ships were landing and people disembarked. “It’s usually a crowd he could blend into.”
The young woman shook her head. “They would have seen him enter through here. There is video surveillance and even if the dock workers had not spotted him arriving, the cameras would have.”
“So how did he get inside?”
The young woman smiled at Whadgaf.
“He broke in.”
Onboard the ship that Whadgaf had taken from the shipport, Maria sits next to her as she pilots toward the IP.
“We’re almost close enough,” Whadgaf says as her hands busy over the controls.
“You’re sure about this?” Maria looks back at Kal as she speaks. He is pacing behind Sevi, whose eyes are closed and her mouth seems to be moving in a silent prayer. “I’m down for whatever, but Kal is very nervous.”
“I know, I know,” Whadgaf says and she stands from her chair. She puts on the same spacesuit that Sevi and Kal wear; they are an IP design, but not standard issue and they’d purchased them before leaving the shipport. They were designed for crewmen to work for extended periods outside the ship and they were equipped with faster than average jet boosters in case the worker was separated from their ship. Maria suits up as Whadgaf does.
“Listen,” Whadgaf continues, addressing everyone aboard. “This is stupid, I know, but we can do this. With four of us, we can do it quickly and we will all be back safely in the Regions before you know it.” When she is fully dressed, she grabs a device with a trigger apparatus at the top that is a two foot metallic bar. “Maria and I will go first. We will head toward the bottom where Representative Nuren is holding our friends and we’ll cut a hole in the hull with these blowtorches large enough for you two to fly through. A hull breach will elicit an investigation by the maintenance staff, but we should have enough time before they discover us. Once you’re inside, use this tracking device to pinpoint their location. All of the Earthlings were implanted with trackers that the IP hasn’t detected in Giovanni. Maria and I will catch up to you and I can get us safely inside the nearest airlocked corridor where they are located. We get them, and we get out, just like we go in. The ship will idle a ways away to avoid detection, so we will have to take the jet bikes in. We have extra suits for our friends but not bikes, so the trip back will be a little slower..”
Sevi smiles sincerely at her friend.
“I am ready,” she says and nods.
“Let’s do it,” Maria says as they all look to Kal who is still pacing.
When he notices all eyes on him, he stops and forces a smile as he engages his helmet.
“I’ll be happy when this is done.”
Maria and Whadgaf arrive at the IP headquarters on their jet bikes, following the signal of Giovanni’s tracker. He and the Queen are being held near the main docking station and they approach the headquarters from below. When they are close, their bikes transform into small batons that they secure to their suits as they engage the blowtorches. They are normally used for welding, and they make easy work of the ship’s hull.
Just as they pull the metal away from the square they cut into the ship, Sevi and Kal go zooming through the hole and into the darkness. As Whadgaf and Maria power down their blowtorches and secure them, they hear Kal over the communicators in their helmets.
“We are right underneath them and we found the airlock to the corridor.”
Whadgaf leads Maria inside and they all crowd into what looks like an elevator after Whadgaf hotwires it to open, and when it closes, the small room fills with oxygen before the airlock opens. Maria is the first through and she is impressed by the shiny corridor that is sleeker than any ship she has ever been inside of.
As she looks around, she hears footsteps approaching.
“I’m at the airlock now,” Maria hears a woman say as she turns onto the hallway. The woman startles at the sight of Maria who stares at her intently.
The woman’s skin is a deep, beet red and her eyes blink quickly at Maria, and then she speaks into her communicator.
“I think someone forgot to secure it,” the woman says, never taking her eyes from Maria, but blinking furiously. “There’s nothing wrong here.”
The woman stands blinking as the others enter the corridor and walk past her.
The three encounter another security personnel and Sevi speaks with him while Kal and Whadgaf break down the door to the room where the Queen and Giovanni are being held.
“I can’t believe you came for us,” the Queen says to Whadgaf. “I’m glad we tagged the humans.”
“You could have told me, by the way,” Giovanni says.
“Hurry,” Whadgaf says waving them out of the room and Kal leads them back to the airlock.
Maria had ordered the first security guard to stand with her eyes closed, and she is helping Sevi to subdue the other. Whadgaf, Kal, Giovanni and the Queen Ravileth leave through the airlock first because of the small size of the room, and when it is safe, Maria and Sevi follow, and they fly as fast as the jet bikes will take them to their ship.
They all yell in triumph when they arrive safely to the ship, and they eagerly return to the shipport to return their stolen ship. When they arrive, Whadgaf, Sevi, and Giovanni board Whadgaf’s ship, and Maria goes with Kal to purchase alcohol before boarding his ship where the Queen Ravileth is waiting impatiently for them. They are excited for the celebration they will have when they all return to the Banned Regions.
PRL Serials 