Linton Chronicles - Prelude to Action
28 Apr 2018Andrew Linton
The story so far01Mar3304, Maia, Obsidian Orbital, aboard the Cutter Rask 289
Pnin Re sits at the controls of Rask 289, a Cutter in the Rask fleet. We're in the dock at Obsidian Orbital.
"Oh, yes! This is me!" he says working the throttle and joystick and scanning outside the cockpit as though we were actually in space. "Can I have it when we're done?"
Re is always grinning, but this time I fear that he'll turn his head inside out if he grins any more broadly.
"It's definitely you," I say, "but you do know it's spent five years doing nothing but haul biowaste? The fluorescent paint-job is some sort of compensation for the pilots - to make them feel better about the job."
"Makes no difference to me," he says, refusing to contain his excitement. "And all you want me to do is fly around carrying two hundred million in cargo?"
"That's right," Justin Gardner says a little nervously, "so we're giving you control of half a billion in ship plus cargo."
He turns to me. "I hope this plan of yours is going to work."
"And so do I," a voice says from the doorway.
We all turn to see Agneta Elonsdottir join us on the bridge. She's one of the richest women in the galaxy. Although I've seen glamorous pictures of her leaving clubs in the early hours and read features about her in glossy magazines - as a private investigator I need to read widely about potential kidnap victims - today she is wearing a drab but practical flight-suit in a shade of green that matches her eyes. Somehow she still looks refined and graceful as she advances like a supermodel towards us.
"Tell me what you plan to do, Mr Linton."
My head is suddenly full of doubts and reservations. It's her money we're using in the quest to find and rescue Dieter Wegener and his family. The scheme we've dreamt up seems very ambitious and may be beyond our abilities to execute. It's new territory for me, actually intervening in a kidnap case; I'm more experienced at negotiating prisoner release remotely rather than taking direct action.
"What we intend to do is this," I start tentatively, "we'll use the Cutter as bait, giving the pirates a prize they can't resist. We've plotted a route from Maia to Sol that passes through the Hyades Sector which, according to Satnav Patel's flight logs, is where the pirate gang is operating."
"And where will you be? On the Cutter?"
"Well, no, we'll be flying the Corvette along the same course. The Corvette will have cabins for the people we rescue and also she's fully shielded and armoured. Each time we jump, Wang Shu will use the hyperdiction detector to tell us whether or not we can expect to be pulled out of witchspace. I'll be posing as a pirate who was chasing the Cutter. Wang Shu will be my personal slave."
Agneta looks at Wang Shu who is holding the black box I recovered at Stargazer. "And that'll work, will it? I mean, you've tried it out, haven't you? If it doesn't work then I'm kissing goodbye to half a billion."
Wang Shu is unflustered; she looks levelly at Agneta and replies calmly, "Of course it'll work - because Dieter designed it."
We all see the sincerity and confidence in Wang Shu's face and Agneta relents.
"All right, that's good enough for me," she says, "so the only decision remaining is which ship I'm flying in."
Gardner looks aghast. "No, Miss, it's too dangerous."
"I'm inclined to agree," I say, and I even frighten myself when I add, "These pirates we're going up against would kill you as soon as spit, and spitting is like breathing to them."
"You forget how valuable a hostage I would be."
Pnin Re stands up with a proprietorial air, like he's the owner of Rask 289 rather than Agneta herself.
"Come on, I'm escorting you from the bridge."
He steps towards Agneta as Gardner raises his hand in warning. "No, don't."
Five seconds later, the ex-commando is lying face down on the deck with an arm twisted behind his back and with Agneta's boot applying pressure to his neck.
"I did try to warn you," Gardner says. "Swiss finishing schools are still the best and these days they teach self-defence, which is a priority when you're as wealthy as the Rask family."
"Okay," Pnin Re struggles to say through squashed and twisted lips. "I guess she can come along."
The pressure is released on his neck and Agneta helps him to stand.
"I'm flying with you," she says as Pnin Re rubs his neck. "It seems you need someone to look after you."
"Right, we're just about ready to go," I say to Pnin and Agneta. "We'll fly to Aries Dark Region ahead of you and wait for you at the rendezvous point. I don't want anyone to think we're travelling in convoy. Remember, before you set off, make sure that Eric Cobham is on starport-defence duty."
Wang Shu makes her way to the Corvette while I work through some last-minute tasks. I call Eva Wegener to tell her our rescue mission is about to start. The 'phone is on audio but I can picture her eyes filling with tears as she wishes us well.
Next I visit the black market to load the Corvette's hold with contraband. I need to look like a pirate who's been accidentally caught up in the hyperdiction of the Cutter. Based on what happened to Satnav Patel, and according to Wang Shu's best guess at how the hyperdiction is achieved, we're counting on the Thargoid technology drawing in all ships in close proximity to the pirates' hijacked Cyclops.
Finally, I visit Vinny Ayr's workshop to congratulate him on cracking the cipher that Wegener built into the v-space modulator, and also to see how he's getting on with his analysis of Cobham's cash flow and comms history.
To my surprise the workshop is shuttered, locked, and bolted. There's no sign of Vinny. I notice a message that's attached to the door. I photograph it then destroy the paper. The message is encrypted like the ones I've seen before but, of course, I have no way of decrypting it – Vinny was my man for that.
I reason that, if the message is from Vinny, he didn't want anyone else to see it but me. The only other person who can read it is the man we're going to rescue – Dieter Wegener himself.
I make my way to the hangar where the Corvette has returned from the paintshop. The vivid red, orange, and yellow flashes of the Predator paintjob send out a shockingly different message from the previous Camouflage Khaki – enough to convince the pirates that I'm one of them, I hope.
I see the last of the illegal cargo being loaded and join Wang Shu on the bridge.
She has attached the hyperdiction detector to a new bracket on the main dashboard, and is making settings adjustments as I lower myself into the pilot's seat.
"All set?"
"Yes," she says, "I've hooked up the detector's output to the galaxy map, so that's where we'll look at signal strength."
"Let's do it!" I say uncharacteristically, trying to mould myself into a pirate's persona.
Wang Shu smiles at the attempt but says nothing. She's taciturn, true, but I've learnt over the last few days that she likes to let her competence do the talking.
After undocking, I sense the extra respect we're getting from other pilots. The queue of ships waiting to depart seems to melt away to make room for us. The Corvette is an out-and-out war machine and nobody wants to cross one with a pirate at the controls.
It's about fifteen jumps to the rendezvous system, Aries Dark Region KC-V d2-73, which was the last system Satnav Patel was in before the pirates hyperdicted him. As we get closer, Wang Shu pays more attention to the detector. She's wearing headphones and listens intently during hyperspace jumps. It's hard to tell if she's picking up any signals.
"Anything?" I ask.
"Not yet," she replies in a confident tone that means: We will.
At the end of the next-to-last jump she looks at the galaxy map and says, "I think we've got something. Can you jump next to d2-75? I'd like to triangulate the signal – see if we can pin it down."
I scarcely pay attention because I'm watching a Type-10 Defender that's in the system with us. He, or she, is circling, trying to get behind us, then the ship hails us. "You have something I want; don't try to run."
Of course, running is the first thing on my mind. We don't want our plan ruined at the first contact with the enemy. I punch in Wang Shu's target system and charge the FSD. I keep the throttle at fifty percent and easily win the turning battle to keep the attacker in front of me until the FSD is ready. I can understand why so many pirates have taken up the Type-10 for its defensive strength, but they're so cumbersome.
Wang Shu seems unperturbed by what's happening; she's listening intently to the signals from another dimension and is maybe a little impatient for the next hyperspace jump.
We line up, I give the thrusters full throttle, and the countdown begins; the Type-10 still has ninety degrees of turn before the interdictor will work, by which time we've gone.
For the first time, I see excitement in Wang Shu's expression. She does some rapid calculations, brings up the galaxy map and says, "There, between d2-73 and HR-W d1-76 in the Hyades Sector, that's where they're hiding."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure," she says with no resentment at my doubting her.
"We'll jump to d2-73 next – and hope there are no pirates lurking there. Who knows? Maybe the pirate we just saw is in the gang, acting as some kind of lookout."
Again, there's no reaction from Wang Shu; she seems totally preoccupied with the detector and it's impossible to guess what she's thinking.
Aries Dark Region KC-V d2-73 is deserted. I put the ship down on planet A1 and we wait for the Cutter.
