Chapter 8. Gone Girl
21 Sep 2020Black Llama
September 4, 3306Deep space, Trianguli Sector UZ-O A6-1 system
The ship's galley slowly came back into focus. I rose from the chair, misjudging the effort in the microgravity, and ended up bumping my head against a locker. The sharp pain of the blow helped clear my head a little. I fished my glasses, which were slowly orbiting the galley's small table, then looked at the journey progress indicator screen next to it. "This isn't right", I said out loud. We had dropped into normalspace.
I made my way to the Rogue Star's cockpit, struggling with every handhold. It was obvious that I had been drugged. As I entered the cockpit I noticed Skinner, slumped on the helm chair. A spanner was floating near the console. I checked her pulse: faint, but steady. With some effort I dragged her to the sick bay and hooked her to the vitasigns console. I then popped a performance enhancer pill and started to make my way towards the passenger cabin to check on Maggie, when I heard the COVAS say "Fighter rebuild 50% complete". I stopped, stunned for a moment, then returned to the ship's helm.
Sitting back at the controls I looked at the sensors panel: first, I noticed a debris field a few hundred meters ahead of our position. I engaged the Star's thrusters and turned on the external lights. Soon enough, the wreckage of our Taipan fighter showed in the cone of light. The canopy was smashed, but there were no signs of a corpse. That's when I noticed that one of the white signals on the sensors display was further away.
A high wake.
I went back to the passenger cabin: empty. A handwritten note was attached, with a magnetic holder, to the side of the bunk bed. As I picked it up and started reading it, Skinner appeared at the door holding an icepack to the back of her head. "What the hell cap'n?" she said. I turned around to face her, and asked, "You okay?"
"Been better. For your sake, I hope your insurance covers head trauma." She looked around the cabin. "Where's our princess?"
Still reading, I replied "Glad to see your fine humor is still intact." I pocketed the note. "Our 'princess' is gone. Looks like we got played." I pushed past her and made my way to the cockpit. Skinner followed, pulling herself forward with one hand while trying to keep the icepack in place with the other, saying: "Aww, I had such hopes... But right now, I just want to pull those pretty arms out of their sockets." We took our places, and I checked my inner jacket pockets - the thumbdrive was still there. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the nav console to plot a course. Skinner asked, "What now?"
Still working on the course, I replied "Well, I have a plan. First, we'll visit someone who may help." I confirmed the destination, which showed on the status display. Skinner looked at it, with a puzzled expression.
"Meene?"
"Maggie found something in that abandoned base in Hermitage. Some data package on an old computer bank." I pulled the drive out of my pocket and held it up. "Whatever this is, it's important enough to send a freakin' Imperial fleet after us."
Skinner was astonished. "You stole that from her?"
"Well, no, this is a copy."
She narrowed her eyes. "You went through her stuff? Pervert. I'm locking up my panties from this moment on."
"Wh- what? I wouldn't -" I gasped, then shook my head. "I tried reading the contents. It looks like a copy of old station logs, but there is an anomalous pattern underneath which cannot be read. Not by me, in any case - I'm no software guy. But I know someone who's good at decryptying stuff."
"Ram Tah? You seriously think he'll want to touch that? With the risk of getting orbital bombarded and all?"
I pocketed the drive again and turned to engage the FSD. "Well Mila, we're business people, and business people take risks."