High above Lua dos Dragões, it seemed history was trying to repeat itself. Only this time, some of the crew now had small, winged, fire-breathing defenders to back them up!
"Damned mutinous…" Admiral Sharpton was cursing as Falcon, his bronze fire-lizard, laid into one of the latest Voleurs De Dragon zealots, his needle-fine claws reducing the mutineer's face to raw hamburger before Sharpton finished him off with a fury-powered punch to the chin, sending the crewman toppling backwards over the nav-helm console.
Alert klaxons were going off all over the ship as Akadeanna 'ported onto the bridge of Firlea's Fury, the blaster she wielded taking out the psionics dampener control console. A heartbeat later, those mutineers who had been attempting to overpower the Admiral found themselves pinned heavily against the nearest bulkheads by the crushing pressure of Akadeanna's TK ability.
"How did you…" Admiral Sharpton stammered, stunned to see the familiar dragon rider. "Never mind. You can fill me in later. Let's go!"
Rather than take the turbolift, Akadeanna and the Admiral 'ported themselves to the auxiliary bridge, giving them access to the ship-wide defensive systems… auditory stunners plus the stun gas dispensers.
"We've got to get the loyal crew out of harm's way!" Admiral Sharpton ordered.
That's where Akadeanna's special experience with Pern came in handy. To a one, the fire-lizards who had hatched aboard the Fury were defending those they had bonded with. Akadeanna put that to good use, using it as the foci for her 'portings. As each creature latched onto its human friend, Akadeanna 'ported the pairs to the aux bridge, leaving Admiral Sharpton free to flood those vacated spaces with the stun gas. Akadeanna augmented the attack, using ship-wide sensors to search for the implanted psionics dampeners among the crew, giving Admiral Sharpton even more precise coordinates for the delivery of the auditory stunners and the stun gas. It got a little cramped in the smaller aux bridge before they were done, but soon the mutiny was under control.
"Sometimes I think it would've been better if the Pern colony had never been rediscovered," Admiral Sharpton growled, stalking through the passageways of his ship in a full environment suit to protect him from the gas.
"Unfortunately, that genie is already out of the bottle, Admiral," Akadeanna responded, as they emerged once more on the main bridge.
The Admiral himself worked the ship-wide scanners, seeking out the telltale high-frequency emission the psionic dampeners gave off. To his fury and dismay, nearly two thirds of the crew had apparently been implanted with the damned devices. Upon closer examination, those same crew also bore evidence of the unfriendly attentions of the Fury's fire-lizard crew. A tight beam electromagnetic pulse fried the individual dampeners, freeing Akadeanna to use her T1 'porting ability to load the prisoners aboard several large cargo pods that were then released into orbit around Lua dos Dragões.
"Kestrel, what the sharding hell is going on?" the Admiral demanded once the last of the known traitors had been dumped into the orbiting pods.
"You know, I think that's the first time I've heard you use a Pernese curse!" she chuckled, shaking her head. Her expression growing serious, she explained, "Voleurs De Dragon version 2.0. We have evidence that someone may be attempting to weaponize Elara."
Hearing that, Admiral Sharpton staggered backwards, sinking heavily into his command chair. Falcon popped in, landing on the Admiral's shoulder, head-stroking his companion's worried looking face, purring softly.
"You're not joking, are you?"
Grimly, Akadeanna shook her head, barely in control of her own rage. What the hell was the matter with the beings of this reality?
"Do we know who's involved?"
Once again, Akadeanna shook her head. "Someone highly placed… possibly more than one conspiring together."
"Intergal?"
"A strong possibility," Akadeanna had to admit. "Especially after they lost control of Petaybee. The emergence of a second sentient celestial body, albeit with a childlike personality, would've been a highly tempting prize if they could somehow coerce it into doing their bidding."
"By the Fire Falls of Firlea!" Admiral Sharpton hissed, his fire lizard, Falcon, chirruping nervously from astride the Admiral's shoulder.
"Could even be someone high up in FT&T that's involved," Akadeanna voiced her opinion aloud.
I resent the insinuation, Doctor, Prime Reidinger instantly responded.
THEN PROVE ME WRONG, DAMN IT! Akadeanna cursed back, not bothering to shield her considerable fury from him. Firlea's Fury brought the CIS team, many of whom had apparently been implanted with psionic dampeners. Sky, Coaxtl, and Princess Tigress were the first to alert us to the danger. Someone high up had to authorize their dispatch, someone fully aware of their intent. The damned Voleurs De Dragon once again tried to overthrow Admiral Sharpton's crew.
"Son of a bitch!" Sharpton cursed, leaping to his feet. "I just remembered something."
What's he on about? Reidinger demanded.
"Admiral?" Akadeanna prodded.
Moving over to the science and engineering station, Admiral Sharpton growled, "We've been seeding satellites in orbit around Dragons Moon. I was told they were merely communications satellites to support the ground teams."
Oh, bloody hell! Reidinger cursed. Orbital…
"Psionic dampeners!" Akadeanna exclaimed. "If those are activated…"
"Not on my watch," Admiral Sharpton growled, moving to the helm-nav console and taking a seat. "Kestrel!"
Akadeanna took the seat next to him, instantly understanding what the Admiral intended. Firing up the sensors, she located the first of the orbital probes. "Sensors indicate it's in standby at the moment, but its internal power emanations place it at a military grade X6, strong enough by itself to incapacitate an entire planet."
"And we placed dozens of them in orbit," Sharpton muttered, adjusting the firing controls of the Fury's weapons systems. "The damned implants blinded me to their intent."
Astride his shoulder, Falcon began to hiss, his eyes blazing dizzily red, wings spread as if he planned to attack the satellite himself! Admiral Sharpton saved his bronze friend the trouble, obliterating the offending hardware with a plasma torpedo.
"Next!" Sharpton growled.
It took a while to find all of them, but, in short order, the skies over Dragons Moon were free of the dampeners.
"We'll need to interrogate the prisoners," Admiral Sharpton muttered after powering down the weapons console. "One of them has to know something."
Akie?
I'm so sorry, Elara. People who we thought were friends turned out to be bad people.
I saw it in your mind, my friend. I share your anger and pain at this betrayal!
Bloody hell! Reidinger exclaimed, clearly not expecting that.
Bloody hell is right, Prime! Admiral Sharpton growled, his own anger amplified by his fire lizard's rage. Now what are you going to do about it?
Another mind unexpectedly entered the gestalt. Petaybee help?
Stars above! Reidinger and Admiral Sharpton both exclaimed.
How? Akadeanna responded.
Overheard beings talking about Elara, the sentient planet responded, in ships orbiting above. Know who was behind the attempt on Elara.
"Sharding bloody hell!" Akadeanna and Admiral Sharpton simultaneously hissed.
Into the gestalt, Akadeanna asked, Do you two trust me? There was a long pause before Reidinger replied, Yes.
Meeting Akadeanna's gaze, Sharpton responded, "Yes."
Elara?
Sensing what Akadeanna wanted, the sentient moon instantly teleported Akie, Admiral Sharpton, and Prime Reidinger to the Petaybean communion cave. Once there, Akadeanna sought out Clodagh, Sean, and Yanaba and 'ported them into the cave.
"Sláinte, my friends," she greeted the new arrivals. "Sorry for the abrupt summons, but we have a problem."
Yana straightened, her military experience kicking into high gear. "We're all ears."
Petaybee? We're ready.
It was a long, thorough, and quite exhausting briefing. By the time Petaybee had finished relaying what it had overheard, the humans were all speechless.
"By the Fire Falls of Firlea!" Sharpton hissed. "FSP Fleet Admiral Glon'terry?! He hates Talents!"
"Intergal Secretary-General Farringer Ball!" Reidinger growled. "Somehow that figures!"
"And Matthew Luzon!" Yana sighed, thoroughly disgusted. "Didn't that lunatic learn anything the last time?!"
"Now we just have to dig up the evidence," Akadeanna sighed, shutting down the holorecorder.
"And I know the perfect place to find it," Sean remarked, a devious grin on his face.
When he glanced over at his wife, Col. Maddock started chuckling with prurient glee.
Clodagh stayed in the cave to keep Petaybee company. The others headed out to the Intergal and FSP facilities that were still intact at the old spaceport.
What those in power had forgotten is that the high-level communications they would've needed to implement their plans were often duplicated and sent through multiple relay stations in order to guarantee their receipt at the final destination. Because of its previous function as the Petaybean spaceport, the facilities there would've served as one of the relay sites… with copies of the transmissions maintained on secure servers on-site before relay. Between Admiral Sharpton and Earth Prime Reidinger, they had the clearances necessary to access the servers, extracting the incriminating transmissions contained within.
"And I thought what they had planned for Petaybee was bad enough," Yana growled, shaking her head at what they'd uncovered.
"Admiral, wasn't Glon'terry one of your mentors?" Akadeanna asked.
"Aye, he was," Sharpton grunted, his expression pained.
"Earth Prime?" Akadeanna spoke, turning to Reidinger.
"I could easily be charged as an accessory to this madness," he grumbled, shaking his head.
Unexpectedly, the Petaybean Coaxtl showed up, padding softly up to the Earth Prime where he gently laid a paw on the Terran's shoulder. Deceived you they did. The others will see this.
"Primes," Yana cut in, a wicked smile on her face, "I have an idea."
Quietly, stealthily, word was sent back to those in the legal and law enforcement services. The three primarily responsible for the attempt to coopt Dragons Moon into a weapons system were arrested and, surprisingly, brought to the very place they had had designs on… Lua dos Dragões. After all, every accused has the right to confront their accusers… no matter how massive they might be.
The expressions on the faces of the three accused were as black as you could get as the evidence of their traitorous acts was presented. When asked if the accused wanted to speak for themselves, Matthew Luzon launched into a loud and impassioned oratory for the unwise to return to the path of purity… but won over no converts. Farringer Ball simply grumbled about the ineptitude of those under him. Glon'terry didn't utter a sound in his defense, but even the most jaded observer could tell by his body language that he understood the monumental nature of his failure.
The mutineers from Firlea's Fury were tried separately for their actions and sentenced to the same fate as the three masterminds… life imprisonment on one of the most infamous prison planets in the galaxy. As a final mark of the justice served, Elara itself teleported the criminals directly to their final destination, no small feat in the annals of FT&T's storied history. Once that was done, the healing could begin.