She and Tarn were having lunch in the crew mess when Akurea came in. She got her own lunch, and Tarn waved for her to join them.
“How’s it going with the hypercom, Commander?”
“Slow. Very slow, Sire.”
Krys turned her head toward Akurea. “Aboard ship, he’s Tarn and I’m Krys.”
“But you’re both Knights of the Realm, My Lady.”
“We’re a crew. It appears that you’ve joined us for a while. It’s Tarn and Krys.”
“Yes, My Lady. I’m Akurea. Are you well?”
“I’m healing. As you can see, I’m blind, but it’s just temporary. My Rider is dealing with it. Did we get the plans?”
“I believe so. I don’t understand the science yet. I’m just about to begin transferring the plans from the Chessori language to our own. It’s going to be a long process, but I might pick up some of the science along the way.”
Krys nodded. “Do you comprehend the critical nature of your work?”
“I do, My Lady. The ability to communicate across the abyss will be a tremendous advantage for the Queen’s forces.”
“An advantage the Rebels already enjoy, but there’s more. Depending on how the transmissions propagate, it might be possible for us to intercept messages from the Rebels and the Chessori, an intelligence gathering tool of the first order.”
“I see what you mean.”
“Your sole focus is to translate those plans, Akurea.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Tom O’Brien came into the mess and joined them.
“Any change, Tom?” Tarn asked.
“Nope. We’ll be there in a couple of hours.” He turned to Krys, though she could not see him. “Do you still see them, Krys?”
She nodded, a grim set to her lips. “I do.”
“See what?” Akurea asked.
Tarn sat back in his chair and stared at her. “Has anyone told you what we’re up to?”
“No one will tell me, Sire, including your incredible AI who has a name. Everyone refers me to Captain Stven who, strangely enough is outranked by Captain O’Brien here. It’s all very confusing.”
“I’ll bet it is. What do you think, Krys?”
“I’m sorry, Akurea, but to know what we are and what we do, you must first be Tested.”
“Tested!”
“Look at your position from our perspective. You could have been planted here by the Rebels.”
“I’ve never gone over, My Lady, and I won’t. I’ve been a spy for so long, I hardly know how to relax anymore.”
“Surely you understand that you will stand before the Queen one day, and soon.”
“I’ve never even imagined meeting her.” She paused, then continued, “Or a Knight, for that matter. I thought I’d drop off a translation and be done with it.”
“It doesn’t work that way around us. With your qualifications, I don’t doubt for a moment that you will head the project to develop our hypercom.”
“My Lady, I’m essentially just a mechanic.”
“A mechanic, an engineer, a spy, a very brave woman who stole the hypercom plans out from beneath the very noses of the Chessori, and the only one in the Empire I am aware of who speaks their language. On top of all that, you’re a leader. It shows, and the Queen will see it.”
“We need scientists and engineers and manufacturing to make it work, My Lady.”
“It’s Krys. And we’ll need someone to organize, train, and lead them. I would suggest that as you work on the translation, you take the long view. Your job is not just to translate, it is to build a functioning unit from scratch, then to bring it into production. I don’t know if it will have any impact on how you go about what you’re doing at the moment, but I ask you to take ownership of the project. Will you?”
“You can just order me, you know.”
“I’d rather ask.”
“You honor me beyond measure, My Lady.”
Resolve made the final jump and began mingling with a large number of traders awaiting approval to land. Complaints were frequent from the traders, but Korban’s ground controllers were adamant in their refusal to allow anyone to land, and many military ships orbited the planet inside the orbits of the traders to enforce the blockade.
Tarn led Krys to the bridge where she attempted to join the net, but again, George could not make the connection. Instead, she had to work through M’Sada who was in the net and doing the driving. She sat in the watch commander’s seat and lifted her arm, pointing to a ship clearly visible in her mind. M’Sada rotated Resolve until her hand pointed dead ahead, and he marked the ship. Stven studied the ship through George’s sensors, but there was nothing remarkable about the trader.
They marked all three traders without having to approach closely and set off alarms. The identities of the ships were forwarded to Korban who assigned a frigate to each target.
Then they withdrew and waited. Two days later, George informed Stven that a large number of Rebel ships were entering the system, all grouped together. Stven contacted Korban on the tight beam.
“We see them,” Korban replied. “I’ve decided to move on the gleasons while there’s time.”
“What if they have Chessori aboard those traders?”
“Waverly left a few guys behind. They’re spread pretty thin, but it’s the best we can do.”
Stven watched as the orbits of three frigates from the military umbrella neared the traders. The timing of each was perfect, with no outward sign that anything was out of the ordinary. Suddenly, all three frigates moved on their targets. Unknown to Stven, who was too far away to sense the scree, a weak scree started up, and the traders left orbit at high speed toward the planet.
The frigates closed and opened fire from a distance, but for some reason they had difficulty staying on their targets. Impressive return fire came from the traders as they deftly maneuvered around the frigates and through the blockade.
“Who’s flying those frigates?” Stven wondered, his anger barely under control.
“Korban mentioned Terrans. Maybe it’s them,” M’Sada answered.
“We’re better than that,” O’Brien objected.
“You are, but are all your guys?”
“Yes.” Then he paused. “Not if they’re ground troops. They must be Waverly’s guys.”
“They are not up against simple traders, Tom. Struthers must have hired smugglers, and I’ll bet there are Chessori aboard.”
Stven objected. “No smuggler would willingly take on a cargo of gleasons, and they’d know they wouldn’t stand a chance against this number of Empire ships. Chessori must be driving those ships.”
He called Korban. “They must be using the scree. ”
“They are, but it’s weak. Waverly’s guys are not the best pilots. It looks like the traders have gotten past them. Our port defenses are prepared for them, and the frigates will be right behind them as they approach the planet. They have to stop to unload, and we’ll be ready.”
Stven turned to Tarn. “It will take them a couple of hours to reach the surface. If they do, it will be bad, very bad.”
“I know, but we can’t risk further damage to Krys.”
“It’s a weak scree. ”
Tarn considered. He didn’t like any of the options, except to leave the system, and he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Such was not the duty they’d accepted as Empire officers.
“Okay. The gloves are off. Use all of our capabilities, and go for it, Stven, but keep your distance as best you can.”
“Aye, Sire.”
Tom O’Brien took the helm, and Resolve fast-shipped to the first trader in minutes. Stven opened a line to the trader before they felt any affects from the scree. “Come about and surrender,” he demanded. “You will not receive a second warning.”
The trader did not respond. Stven left the net, and O’Brien brought Resolve in to attack. Washburn ordered his gunners to open fire at maximum range. Though the trader was jinking all over the sky, Resolve did not have to do the same since her weapons were far more powerful. Because they had a steady firing platform, normally difficult shots at this extreme range were well aimed, and the trader succumbed fairly quickly.