“The guest you are trying to call is unavailable. Please leave a message after the tone.”
Obsidian slammed the phone down. Pacing once more around his hotel room, he contemplated calling Isak to find out where Glare had been for the last eight hours. A glance at the alarm clock showed it was approaching quarter past one in the morning.
“If I call him, he’ll know Glare sneaked off,” Obsidian muttered. “It would likely disrupt whatever she’s up to. If she’s done something stupid and landed herself in trouble, doing nothing could make things worse.”
Sighing sharply, he took a glass from a small shelf near the minibar and moved to the bathroom. Opening the tap in the sink, he filled the glass and downed the contents in a few large gulps, before filling it up once more.
As he shut the tap, he heard ringing. Obsidian left the glass and bolted for the phone. “Obsidian,” he answered. “Glare? Where the buzz have you been? I’ve—uhh, your room? Now? Alright, I’ll be there shortly.”
Hanging up, the changeling took his key card and left the room. Knocking on Glare’s door, he could hear voices within, silenced shortly after. When Glare opened the door, she motioned him in, making sure to lock the door afterwards.
Obsidian was greeted to the sight of the Infiltrators. Sparky sat on the furthest side of the bed, while Shadow occupied the seat by the table. Swift and Shift were on the floor with their backs to the wall, and mugs of coffee between them. Preparing a large batch of tea and coffee by the minibar was a pegasus Obsidian did not expect; Lightning Dust.
“What are—”
“For the third and hopefully last time this evening, lemon sparkly over here needs a pilot for something dangerous and stupid, and I’ve got nothing to lose anymore,” an irritated Lightning Dust interjected, her tone mildly venomous. “Tea or coffee? You’re gonna need it.”
“Uhh, tea,” Obsidian replied. “I thought Sparky was already … able to … pilot …” Watching Lightning pour water from the kettle into a wine glass with a teabag, Obsidian gave her a quizzical look.
“Do the maths, there’s only two mugs, and seven of us,” Lightning started. “Had to get creative with whatever’s in the minibar, okay? As for the matter at hoof, two pilots are better than one. Besides, there are still Raiders out there that need my hooves up their flanks.”
Obsidian couldn't argue with that, so he took the glass and moved further into the room. “Does Sprinkle know you’re here?”
“Who?”
“The Princess.”
“Oh. I flew out of the window in my room. As far as she knows, I’ll be there until she and I are meant to depart tomorrow. Uhh, wait, it’s already tomorrow, isn’t it? I meant tonight. She won’t know I’m gone until it’s too late.”
“Right, then given we’re all here”—Obsidian faced Glare—“I take it things didn’t go your way?”
“I’m afraid not. When it was clear that nobody would listen, I had to come up with something a little more drastic. I’ve had Shadow gather some intel for me, and together we sat down and thought of our next moves.”
Obsidian’s eyes fell upon Shadow. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Shadow swivelled her seat back toward Glare. “It’s your op.”
Nodding, Glare climbed onto the bed and took a deep breath. “In short? We kidnap Khamari, and destroy the research base.”
Swift and Shift’s eyebrows jumped up. Lightning and Sparky made no reaction. Obsidian blinked, as he tried to comprehend the unicorn’s words. “We what? Are you—you’re serious, aren’t you?”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
“Just to be clear, you’re suggesting something that could get us court-martialled, right?”
“Assuming we live long enough for that, yes.”
Swift and Shift shrugged. “Sounds fun. We’re in.”
“Figures you two just need your next fix of entertainment,” Obsidian commented. “You’re okay with this, Shadow?”
“The rest of us are in agreement, and I’ve known this squad long enough to trust each individual’s judgement.”
Giving the twins a sidelong glance, the changeling refrained from further remarks against them. “Well, you know I fully trust you, Glare. Let’s hear it.”
“Right. Well, since the Hiigarans cannot reverse the effects of Khamari’s poison, he has been cryogenically suspended. The pod is to be transferred to a ship bound for a prison outpost one hyperspace jump from here. Officially, we are assigned as part of security, after which we will return to Amarok. Unofficially, we’re hijacking the ship before it jumps.”
“What of the crew?” Lightning spoke up.
“No harm is to come to them. Incapacitate only. Soon as the ship is ours, we jump.” Pausing, Glare’s horn lit up, and she created an image that floated in the centre of the room. “The ship is named Er Khar Lamaat; Towards First Light. Four hundred metres length, fifty-two metres height, and seventy-five metres width at its widest near the top decks, tapering to fifteen at the lower decks. One hard-point is found atop the engine armour for a quad-barrel turret. Looks like anti-fighter or anti-missile.”
Shift analysed Glare’s image and visualised its size. “Chassis class sounds like something between a frig and a destroyer.”
“Correct, though crew complement is closer to a frig’s. The Lamaat is designed as a mobile refinery for extended remote ops. Standard axial layout from aft to fore includes an engine section for three crew, plus one turret operator. Hangar bay holds six ‘vettes. Five external cargo mounts are found along the spine. Three crew stationed in this area. Next section narrows, housing left refinery and right hyperdrive modules, with three crew patrolling between them. Nose section contains the bridge, with three crew. Two additional crew patrol connecting paths.”
Obsidian did the mental maths. “So that makes … fifteen active crew? Any relief or reserve crew?”
“Due to the short nature of the mission, and the need for discretion, only one set of crew will be aboard, plus eighteen pilots.”
“The pilots might complicate things,” Shift commented. “Fifteen crew between the seven of us is doable, but another eighteen? I don’t know.”
“Come on, we’ve taken down carriers and cruisers before,” Swift countered, elbowing his brother. “What’s a frig-load of crew compared to that?”
“The difference, I assume, is that we don’t intend to harm the crew or blow up the ship,” Obsidian looked to Glare for confirmation. Receiving a nod, he remembered something else. “Hold on, security is going to be tight. How is Lightning supposed to get on board?”
“That’s where you come in. We’re boarding the Lamaat through a civilian terminal,” Glare explained. “Lightning will arrive early and wait for you near by. I’ve already planned a route for her with minimal exposure to the public. You’ll need to meet with her, turn yourself invisible, and extend your illusion to Lighting, so she looks like you.”
Obsidian shook his head. “You’re seriously overestimating my abilities, Glare. Setting aside the fact that I can only hold invisibility for a few seconds, doing that while maintaining another illusion on something other than myself would be impossible. Although …” Falling silent, he looked down at the floor, deep in thought. An idea came to mind. He looked up again. “I think I can come up with something doable. Difficult, but doable. Just don’t count on anything more than ten or twenty minutes.”
That seemed to relieve Glare. “Good, that’s all we’ll need. Once aboard, find a place for her to hide, until the next stage of the plan is set in motion. Now since hyperspace modules can’t work near gravity wells, the vessel needs to both reach a certain distance from the planet, and be positioned such that the destination coordinates are not obstructed by sources of gravity. We have until then to stop the jump.”
Lightning hummed. “Not a lot of time to work with. What about weapons? None of us are armed.”
“If the goal is not to harm the crew, weapons seem kinda useless,” Swift pointed out.
“We’ll be provided with pulsar rifles, and shock batons. If any of you remember the stories from the Harmony Campaign, you’ll know what those batons would be useful for.” Pausing, Glare waited until everyone came to the same realisation. “They’re not going to feel too good when they wake up, but they’ll have no permanent damage. Once the ship is under our control, we thaw out Khamari, and let him guide us. Obsidian, you’ll most likely have to keep his energy levels topped up, so—”
“So have plenty to eat to keep my reserves up. Got it. Where exactly is Khamari, anyway?”
“His pod is stored near some of the crew quarters. We’ll keep it undisturbed until we jump.”
“How about surveillance systems?” the changeling probed for more information. “There’s bound to be cameras.”
“I’m reasonably confident they won’t have any.”
“Reasonably? That’s not good enough, Glare.”
“It’s a non-combat ship used in resourcing operations, with a frig level of crew,” Glare reasoned. “It wouldn’t make sense to have them. Perhaps maintenance-related feeds at inaccessible locations such as power-plant cores, but—”
“Let’s assume there are cameras,” Obsidian interjected, holding up a hoof. “How do we adapt?”
“Probably won’t matter anyway. We hit the bridge first. Since non-combat ships don’t have command centres, the only place for central surveillance would have to be the bridge. Once that section is neutralised, cameras become irrelevant. Which brings me to the specifics of our takeover. We’re going to go through this as many times as it takes to commit every detail to memory, so get comfortable.”
Setting the gunship down beside an entrance to the terminal, the pilot awaited arrival of stairs, while Shadow and Glare put their side bags on. Looking outside, Obsidian and Isak caught a glimpse of the sunset directly ahead, as the red and orange hues shone through the distant clouds. Stuffing another muesli bar into his mouth, the changeling rose, slinging his bag of Void’s souvenirs onto his back.
“All clear,” the pilot announced, flipping the door control switch. “Take care.”
Isak led the three down, finding Swift, Shift, and Sparky already waiting by the entrance with their own guard, who exchanged nods with Isak.
“Looks like we won the race,” Shift stated smugly.
“I wasn’t aware there was one,” Isak chuckled, before turning to his three assignments. “Well, this is where I’ll have to leave you. Despite recent events, it was a pleasure working with you. I hope we’ll meet under better circumstances, but until then, safe stars.”
After saying their goodbyes, the Infiltrators waited until Isak and the other guard returned to their gunships, before Obsidian leaned over to Shadow. “Did you manage to take it?”
Pulling Isak’s ID card out of a pocket, Shadow passed it to Obsidian discretely. Pocketing the card, Obsidian pulled out another snack; this time, jerky. From what animal, he was unsure. “We’d better hurry, before Isak catches on.”
The sliding glass doors parted as the group entered the terminal. A short distance away, a row of check-in desks spanned as far as the eye could see in each direction, though many were unmanned. A giant information board was mounted above the desks, displaying details for vessels and their journeys, plus allocated gates and check-in desks.
Obsidian’s eyes landed on the row displaying Er Khar Lamaat’s information. “There. Desks eighty-nine and ninety.”
In the distance, the group sighted two open desks with military personnel behind the counters, and four soldiers waiting in a queue. By the time the Infiltrators arrived, the queue had disappeared, and each presented their identification documents at the counters. In less than five minutes, all six were issued a pass with their gate number printed on them.
Checking the signs, the Infiltrators took a short detour to a nearby public toilet. Leaving his bag, Obsidian split off and entered, finding the place empty, save for one occupant in a closed cubicle at the far end. Moving towards a sink, he proceeded to wash his hooves, and began to whistle a tune lightly.
After the eighth note, Obsidian paused. Another eight notes met his ears from the cubicle. Shutting the tap and drying his hooves, he made his way to the cubicle, knocking twice on the door. “Lightning?” he whispered. “All clear.”
Lightning unlocked the door, and Obsidian squeezed into the confined space. “Seriously?” the pegasus started in a hushed tone. “Of all the tunes Glare could pick, it was Winter Wrap Up? What a filly.”
“Let’s just do this quickly. As soon as I cast the spell, the clock is ticking. Here’s my pass. I’ve got one bag you need to take with you. Stick close to me, and give me some sort of cue if you’re about to do something. Stopping, flying, sneezing, talking, whatever.”
“What kind of cue?”
“Clear your throat. Or better yet, a quick sniff. A believable illusion requires the spell to be as synchronised to your movements as possible. Ready?”
“Yeah, do it.”
Obsidian closed his eyes. Straining, he cast his spell at Lightning, who soon turned into a mirror image of Obsidian. Another spell later, Obsidian turned into Isak. “There. Now let’s go, before the spell becomes unstable.”
Remaining close, Obsidian and Lightning regrouped with the Infiltrators. Moving through the terminal at a brisk pace, they arrived at a security checkpoint. Except for Obsidian, each presented their passes, and deposited their bags on a conveyor belt that passed through a scanner. One by one, the Infiltrators proceeded through the adjacent archway, until Lightning and Obsidian were left. The changeling waited as close as possible beside the arch, as Lightning proceeded through. Feeling the illusion on Lightning slip away, Obsidian passed through with haste. Before the group could proceed, one of the guards stopped them.
“Sir?” The nearest guard raised his voice at Obsidian. “I’ll need to see your pass, too.”
Obsidian displayed Isak’s identification to the guard instead. “I will not be joining the others aboard the vessel. I’m here only to escort them to the gate and see them off.”
“That won’t be necessary, sir. I’ll have a member of terminal security escort them for you.”
“With respect, I have watched over this group since their arrival. My orders were, and still are, to act as their personal guard for the duration of their stay on Hiigara. If you wish to send someone to accompany us, I will not object, but I take my orders seriously.”
A tense silence followed. The guard hesitated, before double-checking the ID card. “I understand. Don’t let me keep you, sir.”
“Thank you.” Turning away, Obsidian led the others through the rest of the terminal. Out of earshot, he commented, “That could have gone bad if I had to stay behind.”
“Well, so far so good,” Glare commented. Glancing around, she added, “Let’s get a quick check on left comms while no one is looking.”
The seven tested transmission and reception of the comms in their left ears, leaving those in the right for use with the Lamaat’s crew. Obsidian was the last to finish his comm check. “Reading five by five. Also, we might want to hurry. Getting harder to maintain this spell.”
Picking up their pace again, the group took advantage of several travelators, until they found their gate number. Several guards flanked the entrance to the vessel’s gangway, and snapped to attention upon sighting the Infiltrators. Allowing the group to proceed, the seven continued down the small tunnel, until they reached the entrance to the ship. Two crew stood guard by the airlock.
Obsidian approached the pair, saluting the higher ranking member. “Isak Soban. Here to deliver the Infiltrators.”
“Documentation?” came the officer’s terse reply.
Obsidian presented Isak’s ID again, and the rest displayed their passes. Satisfied, the officer nodded. “Ren Somtaaw, ship’s XO. Captain Raab Manaan is currently busy on the bridge. It’s likely most of you won’t see him for the mission. I’m sure he’ll want to depart early, so I’d like to get started right away.”
“Uhh, before we do, I’m not feeling too well,” Lightning made her best impression of Obsidian’s voice. “Do you have a toilet near by?”
Ren rolled his eyes. “Aft, down the first corridor. Third compartment on your right. Ensign Lance Nabaal will escort you.”
“I might accompany him,” Obsidian spoke up. “If he’s not fit for duty, I’ll escort him back.”
“Very well. I’ll inform the Captain. The rest of you can stow your bags in the stowages just behind me.”
Obsidian turned to Glare. “Deckhoof? You mind following me, in case he needs assistance?”
“Sure.” Removing her bag, the unicorn looked up at Sparky. “Do you mind taking this for me? Maybe Obsidian’s as well?”
Lightning stopped. “Oh, right. Thanks.” Passing Obsidian’s bag to Sparky, she stepped aboard, followed by Obsidian and Glare.
The three followed the Ensign through a short airlock, before turning right toward the ship’s aft. Leaving the rest of the Infiltrators behind, they moved down a narrow walkway and several cross-aisles, eventually stopping outside a compartment labelled ‘Lavatory’ on the door. With his illusion motioning towards the door, Obsidian said, “We’ll be outside if you need anything.”
Nodding, Glare followed Lightning inside and closed the door. Far enough away from Obsidian, Lightning lost her disguise and started looking around, sighting a toilet ahead, a shower in the furthest corner, and a wide sink and counter top in the closest corner. “Alright, what can we use in here?” she whispered. “Less than ten square metres to work with.”
“Let me check those ceiling panels,” Glare offered. Lighting up her horn, she carefully unfastened the panels lining the ceiling, ensuring no noise was made. Revealing pipes and cables behind the panelling, Glare hummed. “It’s a tight fit, but I can get you up there.”
“You want me to go there? Are you serious?” Lightning hissed.
Glare looked around some more. A large hole was cut into one end of the counter, with what appeared to be a waste bin hidden underneath it. Opening the door under the counter to confirm, she looked back at Lightning. “Option B.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Ceiling, or bin. Hurry up and pick.”
“Fine, I’ll go for the bin.”
Securing the ceiling panel, Glare removed the bin from its compartment and levitated Lightning inside. With the pegasus’ legs tucked in, she barely managed to fit. As Glare lifted the bin and moved it back into place, Lightning grumbled. “This is ridiculous. You know how stupid this looks?”
“It’s going to look worse in a moment,” Glare remarked, taking large amounts of paper towels and scrunching them up. Dumping them through the counter’s hole and onto Lightning’s head, Glare continued until the pegasus was no longer visible.
“I hate this mission already,” Lightning protested.
“Welcome to the Infiltrators,” came Glare’s nonchalant reply. Moving to the door, she poked her head out. “Obsidian will be fine. Minor case of food poisoning. Probably not used to the food on this planet. His species recovers from it in minutes though, so the mission won’t be affected.”
Obsidian turned to Lance. “That’s good enough for me. I won’t take up any more of your time, then. Safe stars to you all.”
“And to you, too,” the Ensign replied, escorting Obsidian to the door. He watched as Obsidian ascended the gangway, until he was no longer in sight, then turned to Ren. “Cleared to proceed?”
Ren opened his comms. “Captain, all personnel aboard, and ground staff have disembarked. Permission to close final door?”
Passing the guards at the beginning of the gangway, Obsidian moved out of sight and hid behind a large column. Dropping his disguise, he cast his invisibility spell, and shot through the air, down the gangway. Ahead, the doors to the ship started to close. The changeling’s wings beat faster, and harder. The door shut faster than Obsidian could close the distance, and he came to a halt just short of the hull.
Ahh, buzz me! Obsidian opened left comms. “Glare! Glare! We’ve got a problem!”
“Where are you, Obsidian?”
“They closed the door on me. I’m at the end of the gangway.”
“Hold on, I’ll be there in a moment.”
Flashing into view behind Obsidian, Glare found the changeling returning to opacity as his spell wore off. In another flash, the pair reappeared in the ship’s lavatory.
Obsidian lowered his voice. “Thanks. What did you end up doing with Lightning?”
“Take a guess,” Lightning’s muffled voice came from the bin.
Bemused, Obsidian shrugged. “That works. Alright, let’s get this over with.” Emerging from the toilet, Lance stood waiting for the pair. “Feeling better. Ready to begin.”
Lance eyed the pair. “What was that noise in there?”
“Magic,” Obsidian answered. “I … had a gastric episode. Those were the sounds of the Deckhoof cleaning it up.”
“Twice?”
“Yeah” Obsidian continued with the lie. “I missed the first two times. Look, I’m fine. I won’t compromise the mission, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
“If you say so. Before I give you your assignments, you’ve been briefed on the mission, correct?”
“Depart planet, jump to outpost, deliver the cargo, meet up with Amarok,” Obsidian paraphrased the official briefing.
“Good. You’ve been assigned where we think your strengths would work best, so Deckhoof, you’ll be on the bridge. Chief, you’re in engineering.”
“What about the others?” Glare enquired.
“We’ve sent the Commander to the modules, and the Lieutenant to the hangar. As for the Specialists, they’ll stick with one of our two guys on random patrol. Once you get to your stations, one of our crew will provide you with your weapons. I’m told our weapon models are still usable for your species.”
Before the changeling or unicorn could answer, a ship-wide tone was emitted from the overhead speakers. “This is the Captain. All hands, to your stations. Departure in five minutes.”
“Deckhoof, I’m heading to the bridge myself. Follow me,” Lance ordered. “Chief, you’ll find floor and ceiling markers that will lead you to engineering.”
Nodding, Obsidian turned and followed the appropriate markings at a trot. Reaching the end of the modules section, he climbed stairs up two decks and proceeded down the top-most deck of the hangar bay, passing Sparky along the way. Descending through the decks at the aft end, Obsidian arrived in time to meet the crew, and hear the drives powering up.
With all gangways, cables, and restraints separated and clear of the hull, manoeuvring thrusters fired, and the ship levitated a few metres above the ground. Dusty whirlwinds blinked in and out of existence, diffusing into the atmosphere, as the vessel backed away and turned to approach the designated lift-off point.
Main engines blasted away. Slowly, but surely, the ship’s velocity and altitude increased at a steady rate. Each Infiltrator set a half-hour mental countdown, estimating the time it would take to reach a high enough orbit to initiate hyperspace, and started their patrols.
Having received a pulsar rifle and shock baton from one of the engineering crew, Obsidian first paced around the inner engineering compartment. The fusion power-plants were easily a quarter the size of Amarok’s own, mounted horizontally instead of vertically. After spending so much time aboard the stealth destroyer, moving about on a vessel fitted with artificial gravity, inertial dampeners, and longitudinally spanning decks almost felt disorienting.
Two minutes had passed. The changeling expanded his patrol of the engineering decks to nearby surrounding areas. Bridge, hangar, modules, engineering, corridors, he repeated the order in which the crew were to be subdued, while anxiously waiting for his left comms to be keyed in a specific pattern.
Another two minutes passed. Obsidian’s left ear twitched, as two short bursts of static became audible, followed by a single short burst. Bridge down. Adjusting his patrol route, the changeling anticipated the estimated time he’d need to be in the correct position to do his part.
“Status report, fore to aft,” Glare’s voice came through the right comms at the fifth minute. One by one, all crew replied in the requested order. Obsidian and the engineers were the last to report no activity, before the comms went silent.
Five more minutes in, two short bursts, followed by another pair were heard. Sparky had secured the hangar section. Obsidian adjusted his patrol route in anticipation for his part, and noted the pattern of the other crew’s patrol. Passing by the engine control centre, he confirmed the two operators were still in place.
Mere three minutes later, two bursts, followed by three, met Obsidian’s left ear. Shadow works fast. Travelling along the upper engineering decks, the changeling headed aft, toward the turret control station. He locked eyes with the operator, and they acknowledged each other with a wordless nod.
Obsidian came to a halt beside the seated operator. “Everything fine over here?”
“Affirmative, Chie—”
The sound of a whip cracking followed, and Obsidian grimaced as he lashed the back of the operator’s head with his left wing. His victim keeled over onto the floor, and the changeling wasted no time in moving the unconscious sailor out of sight. Tearing off part of the soldier’s uniform, Obsidian restrained the wrists and ankles, double-checking the bindings were secure, before heading off to find the other guard patrolling the area. Finding the isolated soldier, Obsidian dispatched him quickly, gliding in silently from behind. Leaving him restrained, the changeling headed for the engine compartment.
Entering, Obsidian found the operators still glued to their stations. “Anything to report?”
“Nope.”
“Negative.”
Moving to a console between the two operators, Obsidian feigned interest in something on the screen. “Hey, guys? Is that a normal reading?” he called out, while pointing at a wall of digital gauges.
The first operator arrived first, bending over slightly to inspect the readouts. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” Obsidian answered. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary with anything on the screen?”
The second operator moved closer, squinting at the display. “Nnnnno? Seems fine to m—”
Two simultaneous whip cracks echoed, followed by bodies hitting the floor. Flapping his wings slowly, Obsidian tried to dissipate the pain. That’s going to leave some bruises. Tying down the crew, Obsidian keyed his left comms twice, then four times. Picking up the nearest crew member, he flew across the decks to a specific airlock near the hangar bay. Upon arrival, he found Sparky waiting by three other unconscious crew. “Twenty-five minutes in. No issues so far?”
“No. Drop your crew here. I’ll keep watch.”
Nodding, Obsidian left the engineer by the others. One by one, he retrieved the others, until seven bodies were lined up beside each other on one side of the floor. As he finished, the two-five comms burst was heard.
Glare’s voice followed. “This ship is ours. You can proceed with the next phase. Get those bodies to the airlocks, and quickly. Lightning? Sparky? Whoever is closest, I’ll need some help piloting. We need to change course in the next few minutes, and I have no idea how.”
“I’m closer,” Lightning replied. “I’ll be there shortly.”
“You heard the lady, Sparky. Fifteen crew to get rid of,” Obsidian stated, his eyes jumping from airlock to airlock. “We’ll dump them evenly into airlocks three, four, and five.”
Glare arrived as airlock four was filled with the fifth crew member. Assisting Obsidian and Sparky with the last airlock, the three secured the ship-side pressure doors, preventing access from the other side. Once finished, the unicorn calmed herself with a few deep breaths and steadied her nervous shaking. She teleported out, appearing to the shock of the three gunship crew docked to airlock one. “Sorry everyone, something has, uhh, happened, and I need your assistance.”
The crew stood immediately. “What’s going on?” the closest asked.
“I’ll explain shortly,” Glare answered. Her horn lit up, and all four teleported to the gunship docked at airlock six. Glare disappeared shortly after, repeating the process with the gunship at airlock two. Returning to the sixth gunship, the unicorn left nine confused crew in the now crowded vessel.
Reappearing aboard the Lamaat, Glare opened her right comms. “Hi. Sorry for—for what happened there with all you pilots. There’s been a small, umm, change in plans. Again, I’m really sorry for—”
“Glare, you’re being too nice,” Obsidian interrupted. “Maybe I should do the talking?”
“Uhh, yeah, sure. Sorry, I just got real nervous all of a sudden. All yours.”
“Listen up, pilots,” the changeling took over communicating. “Those docked to airlocks three, four, and five will each find five unconscious crew just outside. They are unharmed. Bring them back aboard your vessels. Once you have done this, we will release your couplings, and you will leave this ship. Interfere, and we’ll vent the airlocks.”
Silence followed, as those on the receiving end processed the situation. “After all our people have done for you, why would you do this?” One pilot asked.
Another replied, “They’re clearly Raider or Gaalsien agents.”
“Traitors, more like it,” a third corrected.
“You guys can argue about what we are as much as you like,” Obsidian cut in, before others could add to the chatter. “Nothing we say will convince you that we’re doing something that has to be done.”
“Why?” The first pilot’s voice returned. “You think that Gaalsien was telling the truth? You’re a fool! We had this under control. What you’re doing is completely unnecessary.”
“No. What we’re doing is right.” Closing comms, Obsidian cringed. “Oh, that was cheesy.”
“I loved it,” Glare growled, catching herself too late and forgetting Sparky was near by. “Uhh, I mean—”
“Glare. He knows. How about we all just head to the bridge and focus?”
“Ehehe, yeah, good idea, I’ll see you there, bye.”
Arms folded and leaning against a wall, Sparky watched the unicorn gallop out of sight. As Obsidian moved up beside him, Sparky looked down at the changeling. “Technically I didn’t know more than your interests in each other.”
Obsidian grinned. “I don’t take you for a fool. You’d have made a reasonable assumption from that, anyway. Come on. We should get moving.”
Walking beside Obsidian, Sparky grew curious. “Who else knows?”
“Shadow. She seemed to figure it out on her own. Doubt the featherbrains have any idea, though. No sense letting them know.”
“Still ashamed?”
“I still have my reservations, but no, not anymore. I just know the twins won’t keep their mouths shut, and that could lead to complications down the track. Or a migraine at the very least.”
“Might be easier if you two weren’t in the Navy, then.”
“Well, I know Glare wants to leave. Unfortunately, she’s still got half a year left before her minimum service period is up. I’m sure she wants to get back to her family.”
“What about yourself?”
“I don’t know. I don’t mind the navy, but I miss being by my Queen’s side. Problem is, if Glare leaves, I’m stuck away from her for a long time either way.” Falling silent, Obsidian looked down at the ground. “Hmm. Pointless to worry about it. No guarantee any of us are going to make it out alive after this.”
“Ever the optimist. If the worst were to happen, at least it was nice to see something other than a scowl on your face.”
“Oh, I can just feel the love radiating from you,” Obsidian replied with sarcasm. “Seriously, it’s good to be able to have a conversation with you.”
Obsidian and Sparky were the last to enter the bridge. Lightning was busy at the helm, while Shadow kept watch over the hangar situation. The others stood near the port side observation windows, with Hiigara’s Angel Moon silhouetted against the sun.
With all seven present, Glare raised her voice. “Shadow. Sitrep?”
“Airlocks are empty, and I’ve just released the couplings on the gunships,” the zebra answered. “They should be departing shortly.”
“Hyperdrive?”
“Charged. Your course has been plotted.”
Surprised, Obsidian looked over at the unicorn. “I didn’t know you could plot hyperspace courses, Glare.”
“I won’t pretend to be an expert, but I managed to get enough information from a navigation officer I came across yesterday. Took me some time, but I was able to calculate a reasonably accurate course. I’ve had the results ready since then.”
Lightning Dust eyed Glare with scrutiny. “Reasonably accurate? We’re not going to exit hyperspace inside a star, are we?”
“Don’t be silly. The hyperspace module would drop us out of hyperspace if we get too close to gravity, remember? Now if it was one of the hyperspace cores … Yeah, I wouldn’t be as confident about plotting a jump.”
“Last of the gunships departing now,” Shadow announced.
With all but the two empty gunships confirmed away from the vessel, Sparky changed course and headed for the closest safe point to initiate hyperspace. The gunships soon changed course to match, and positioned themselves above, below, and to either side of the Lamaat.
Shadow noticed several alerts at her station. “We’re being targeted. Incoming message.”
Routing the message through the bridge’s speakers, one of the gunship pilots re-established contact. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. If you attempt to escape, we will fire.”
“Shadow, we need to go,” Glare stated. “Before something with an inhibitor gets in range.”
“Can that turret of ours be controlled from here?” Lightning asked.
“No!” the unicorn shouted. “They’re not our enemy!”
“I don’t care if it was Celestia herself!” the pegasus snapped. “Point a weapon at me, and you’re my enemy.”
“They’re not going to go easy on us if we try to jump,” Shadow advised, her calm tone contrasting with Lightning. “Glare, I trust you to make the right call, but know they will fire if they have to.”
Glare exhaled slowly, and weighed her options. “We’re past the point of no return. We give up now, and it’s all for nothing. Do it.”
Shadow gave Glare one final glance, before nodding. “Internal pressure doors sealed. Initiating hyperspace.”
Materialising ahead of the Lamaat, the hyperspace window started to engulf the vessel. Sighting this, the four gunships opened fire. Mass driver turrets hailed down upon the dorsal and ventral structures, while pulsar rounds vaporised craters into two of the main engines. The onslaught was short-lived, with the hyperspace window devouring the last part of the ship before dissipating.
The chatter above Hiigara continued. “Fleet. We’ve lost them.”
“Copied. Coordinates have been transmitted to your ships for the nearest carrier in the area. Medical personnel standing by. Dock and await further instructions.”
“What about the Lamaat?”
“Fleet Intelligence has already identified several potential exit points for the Lamaat. Fleets are currently assembling.”