Inside the Spaceport's control room, a man sitting at a console informed his superior of the message he had just received.

"What are your orders sir?" The man asked. "Do I let them land or fire?"

The superior officer was a tall, muscular man, with dark hair. "Let them land." He announced. "I've been expecting them." He then exited the control room and met with two other men. These two looked like two ordinary civilians. There was no menacing look to their appearance whatsoever. Of course looks can be deceiving.

The three stood where they would have a good view of the Maru landing.

Becca finished landing the Maru and opened the hatch. Becca, Rhade and Harper exited the Maru half expecting to be surrounded by a mob of angry and armed Port authorities. They were surprised when all they saw was three men slowly walking their way.

"Captain Valentine, I presume." The superior officer said. "My name is Captain William Fletcher. We received your communication and fully understand your situation. May we be of service to you?"

"Thank you Captain Fletcher." Becca replied as she shook Fletcher's hand. "But my engineer said he could handle it. I do appreciate the offer and for you allowing us to land."

"Not a problem captain Valentine." Fletcher said. "Technical malfunctions happen. I have experienced them myself, and they seem to always happen at the most inopportune moments."

"Ain't that the truth." Becca replied.

"I'll go ahead and start on the repairs Boss." Harper said.

"You do that Shorty." Becca replied. "We'll see you in about five hours." Harper went back inside the Maru and closed the hatch. Becca politely smiled at Fletcher and his two companions and She and Rhade walked away to begin their search for supplies.

"Is it just me?" Becca asked. "Or did that seem too easy?"

"I was wondering if you noticed." Rhade said. "I think we better watch our backs."

"What about Harper?" Becca asked. "He's alone back there."

"He'll be safe as long as he stays on the ship."

After Rhade and Becca were out of hearing range, Fletcher instructed his two henchmen to follow them.

"What about the engineer?" One of the men asked.

"He is of little importance." Fletcher said. "Besides, the engineer will be too busy repairing the ship to be of any concern. It's obvious that Captain Valentine and the Nietzchean are the ones going after the package. Follow them and if they split up; Rondal, you stick with Captain Valentine while Krandal follows the Nietzchean. Now get going!"

Fletcher's men left the spaceport, following Becca and Rhade. They were careful not to follow too close. They were very good at their job and most people would have never known they were being followed. Rhade, however, was not like most people. His senses were even better than most other Nietzchean's.

He quietly informed Becca that they were being followed.

"What should we do?" Becca whispered.

"Nothing yet." Rhade replied. "We'll continue with our shopping and see what transpires. Somehow I don't think this has to do with Spaceport Authority. If they do attack, I should have no problem dealing with them."

"I hope Harper stays on the Maru." Becca said. "Until he fixes the communications system, we can't even warn him that something strange is going on here."

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Onboard the Maru, Harper came to the conclusion that the problem wasn't in any of the equipment on the command deck, so he began tracing the Com cables throughout the ship. Within thirty minutes he had traced the cables back to engineering without finding any faulty wires. He then removed the wall panel that hid his secret case. As soon as the panel was off he saw the cut wires and cursed himself for being so careless.

"How could I have done something so stupid?" Harper asked himself. "Oh well, no sense in crying about it now. At least it's an easy fix."

It only took Harper a few minutes to splice the wires back together and replace the wall panel.

"There!" Harper said. "As good as new."

Harper left engineering and returned to the Command Deck. After undoing his temporary fix that allowed them to transmit to the Spaceport, he initiated the communications system.

A message appeared on the Maru's computer screen.

COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM REBOOTING

10 MINUTES TO COMPLETE

"Perfect!" Harper said. "Now I have time to get that package for Dylan."

Harper went to the Maru's crew quarters and grabbed a long black leather jacket from underneath his bunk. Inside the jacket were several High Guard force lances. He then put on a pair of dark sunglasses and exited the Maru.

On the Maru's Command Deck, the communications system finished rebooting and was back online. If anyone would have been there, they would have heard a message from Andromeda instructing them to return immediately.