Chapter 48: Back to the Frigid Wasteland.

The five Novas, Supernova, and one Griffon came in through the Tau jump hole into the Siberia system. Kalli had been fairly quiet the entire way. They passed a Nova stationed there, who said, "Good to see you back. I'll notify base that you're here."

The small fleet headed back toward planet Siberia. They came in and set down on the landing platform at the base and disembarked from their ships. "Nice to see that it's still freezing cold here," commented Derek.

"Let's get inside, they'll be waiting for us," Mike said, heading into the base.

Kalli trailed along behind them as they filed inside. She grabbed herself a cup of hot tea before going into the next room. Then she meandered in last, staring into her drink.

"There you are, Kalli," Talia said. "Sit down, we have things to discuss." Kalli sat down without making a reply, swirling around her tea a bit and wishing that they had some nice sugar or cream available here.

"Report?" Alisa said.

"Mission accomplished," Mike said. "Donovan Blake and Richard Penner are both dead."

"Excellent," Alisa said. "Now, we must deal with the Chancellor. Anderos?"

Anderos nodded. "We decided that a sole operative stood a better chance of getting in and succeeding in this task than sending in a fleet of Novas would. We don't want to have to resort to direct force. Furthermore, we determined that the one person who has the best chance of accomplishing this mission, is Kalli May."

Kalli glanced up at him, startled. "Me?"

"The Chancellor being a psyker and having psykers working for him, you're the only one who can really get in undetected," Anderos said.

Kalli nodded slightly. It would be dangerous, to be sure. It may very well get her killed or require killing many people. But she was a Dancer on the Edge of Death. And it might well be their only chance of ending this otherwise. "I'll do it."

There was something about the Empress that she could not explain that inspired absolute loyalty. "Excellent," said Empress Alisa. "You shall depart as soon as possible, in a Griffon so as not to attract undue attention."

Anderos said. "It may be prudent to carry alternate means of disposing of the Chancellor in the event anything goes wrong. Poison, weapons, whatever you think you can get away with."

Kalli nodded. "I'll leave first thing in the morning. I'll need to rest and prepare first."

Alisa nodded. "See to it." She pulled something out of a pocket. "You might need this, as well."

Kalli nodded and stood up, taking the small object. It was a signet ring with the royal insignia wrought in gold on it. She bowed to the Empress and headed out to collect what she might need for this special assignment. She had to wonder why she had agreed to this in the first place, but she was the only one who could do it, and she had better do it right.

She acquired poisons, knives, concealed blasters, Marina even let her borrow her gravity boots. Everything she asked for was granted without question. Rank among the pirates was a fluid thing, and wasn't granted so much as earned through respect and heroism. After the destruction of Dracula Base and her actions there, no one here was willing to say no to her anymore. No matter how unusual the request.

Once she had everything she thought she needed, she went out to her ship for some much-needed sleep. After sleeping, she got up and collected her things and headed inside for some breakfast. She ran into Talia there.

"Hey," Talia said. "Since you're taking a Griffon, it may help if somebody other than you knew the password to your Nova."

"Right," Kalli said, pouring herself some tea and grabbing a ration. "It's 'Hamilton wood snake'."

Hmm, she thought to herself, remembering the snake she had handled back on Hamilton. If they were really as deadly as Mike claimed... After eating, she collected a few more items. Some tough gloves that didn't hinder her movement much, but would protect her hands and forearms against piercing. Just in case.

Kalli headed out to the Griffon that she was to take, and found Mike there waiting for you. "Hey Kalli," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "Get back here in one piece, you hear?"

"I'll try," she said, grinning, kissing him back. "Don't have too much fun here while I'm gone. If you want, you could probably escort me as far as Tasmania."

"Going around that way, eh?" Mike said. "Nah. It's probably raining on Tasmania anyway. Although maybe stopping to ogle the Lesbians on the way, hmm."

"I'm not going through Lesbia," Kalli said. "I'm stopping at Hamilton first."

"Hamilton?" Mike said, quirking an eyebrow. "Maybe I'll accompany you after all. What are you going to Hamilton for, anyhow?"

"Are those snakes really as deadly as you said they were?" Kalli said.

"Would I lie to you?" Mike said with a smile. "Yeah. They're one of the deadliest snakes in the galaxy. Why, are you planning to- oooh. Nice plan there."

Kalli grinned. She loaded up her things into the Griffon and checked to make sure its map and database were relatively complete. "Shall we be off, then?"

"Sure thing. I'll take a Griffon myself so that the Empire doesn't get any hint that we have operation in that area." Mike went and commandeered a Griffon for himself, and they were off.

The two of them flew out from the atmosphere of Siberia and made for the jump hole to the Tau system yet again. This run was beginning to get rather familiar. Mike agreed to remain in Hamilton for the interim while she was in Toronto, but she couldn't guarentee that she'd be able to make it out that way again.

They reached the jump hole to the Tau system and headed inside. Kalli smoothly navigated the twists and turns of the tunnel before they came out to the other side- looking straight at a Military battleship.

"Shit!" Kalli cried, swiftly dodging the incoming blasts from the enormous ship.

"Back in the jump hole!" Mike barked over the comm. Kalli didn't need to be told twice. She spun her Griffon around straight back into the jump hole.

The two of them emerged on the other side again. "Is there a problem?" asked the Nova stationed there.

"There's a Military battleship sitting right in front of the mouth of the jump hole!" Mike replied.

"That's... not good," replied the Nova.

Mike sent a message back to base and said, "What are we going to do now, Kalli?"

"If they have a battleship here," Kalli said, "they no doubt have them in front of the other ones as well. No point in blocking one if they don't block them all. Does the base have enough food to sustain itself?"

"Not yet," the guard replied. "They've been working on getting biodomes set up, but they're relying mainly on space rations for the moment."

"Will they be able to survive on space rations until the biodomes are ready?"

"Maybe."

Mike said, "Kalli, they've been notified of it. They have the Novas available if they really need to deal with it. You've got your own mission to take care of."

"You should stay to help here," Kalli said. "I'll be alright."

"Fine," Mike said. "Can you get past that battleship?"

"It'll take some tricky flying, but I think I can make it."

"Alright. I'll head back to base. Good luck, Kalli."

"Goodbye, Mike." Kalli turned her ship and headed back into the jump hole.

She forced herself to relax as she made her way through the tunnel again. She had been genetically engineered for quick reflexes and good perception. And the Griffon was one of the lightest and fastest ships available. That was all she had to rely on to get her out of this alive.

Once out of the jump hole, Kalli immediately spun into action. Her fingers moved quick as lightning across the controls as the little Griffon darted this way and that, dodging the powerful energy blasts from the battleship Churchill. The ship had massively powerful weapons, but they took a few seconds to charge enough to make a shot, so it was easy to tell where the next shot would be coming from if she paid attention.

To give her more trouble, the battleship released a wing of fighters to take her down after they found that they couldn't hit her. She headed at full speed away from the battleship and in the direction of the jump hole to the Oregon system. The Barracudas couldn't quite keep up with her, but this ship had Ravens with it as well. She hadn't seen the Military actually use Ravens before and was a bit startled by it.

Five Ravens were on her tail, and she couldn't shake them. Once sufficiently far away from the battleship that she didn't think it could get its shots off from this distance, she engaged them in battle, firing upon the Ravens. But this diversion was allowing the Barracudas to catch up. She had to do this quickly.

With speed and agility, Kalli managed to destroy the five Ravens as the Barracudas came into range. Then she broke off and shot off into the darkness toward the jump hole again. The Barracudas tried to stay on her tail for a while, but fell back shortly. She was free of them.

They no doubt knew just where she was going, she thought. It would probably have been more prudent to get out of the system through another route to throw them off. There was no help for that now, though. She just had to keep going and get where she had to go. Much as she might like to rest along the way, she'd have to set up alarms to sleep onboard so that she could fly non-stop. It was going to be a long, lonely journey.