Andar walked into what he had been told was the Leviathan's Command Tier. On the imaging device that served the crew as a view screen there was an image of the man called Crichton. It reminded him of the posters used to warn people about escaped thieves and murderers that were used on his homeworld. He looked at Crichton, a wave of fear passing through him as he began to realize that's exactly what the image was. "What have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself.
Malika entered behind Andar as she followed him into Command to answer Zhaan and D'argo's urgent summons, the others had already arrived there ahead of them. She looked up and saw one of the wanted beacon devices being held by a heavyset man on the holo-screen. She had seen more then a few when she was on her own and she was almost sure there had to be some with her name and likeness in them. The beacons were one of the ways she had found out about Zhaan being in the Uncharted Territories.
The others were already deeply into a discussion while Andar was standing off to the side.
"Do you know what's going on?" she asked him as she approached him.
Andar looked at Malika, "You mean aside from Crichton's wanted poster?"
"That's not new," she said looking over and she noticed the growing look of discomfort on Andar's face, "He's not an actual criminal. I've heard the whole story and you don't have to worry about him. I've done worse things than he has," she said jokingly.
John stood stunned and speechless, as the Command Tier seemed to become crowded as the other's arrived and everyone began asking questions. D'argo glared at the man on the view screen.
"We will never turn John over to you!" he said, again slamming both palms of his hands down on the console to emphasize his statement and anger.
"Curb your dog," sneered the Trader to Zhaan. "Never the less, I said your three friends are safe for the moment. The longer you delay in turning Crichton over to me, the less likely they are to remain... healthy."
He stopped making the hand washing motions as he held up a single finger to make a point. "Oh! Don't bother trying to find them. They are nowhere near this planet. I've taken the liberty of storing them someplace you'll never find." Laughing he added, "At least, not in time that is." The laugh abruptly ended. "The choice is yours and your time... and theirs, is limited. Don't take too long making a decision. I'll be waiting for your answer."
The screen went black as he ended the connection and Pilot's image came to life again on the clamshell.
"This is terrible. Moya and I are willing to do anything we can to help," said Pilot
"Goddess protest them," murmured Zhaan, quickly making hand signs as blessings.
"I'm going to enjoy killing him," said D'argo
"There will be time for that later, Sweet D'argo," said Zhaan trying to calm him. "At this moment we need a plan."
Resolutely Crichton said, "What else can we do, Zhaan. You heard him. Either I turn myself over or Sparky, Pip, and Berret are dead."
Her role switched from worrying about the Pod crew to the voice of reason. "We have some time John," she said consolingly. "If anything, Chiana and Rygel are resourceful and clever, and Berret..." she paused remembering his lapses in his memory. "Berret will be their strength and protect them if he can."
"I hope you're right, Zhaan," replied John.
Zhaan asked Pilot, "Can Moya retrace the Pod's flight path or track it in any other way?"
"She will try Pa'u Zhaan, but you must remember... like the DRDs, they are a part of and dependent upon Moya. However it is not the other way around. Moya might be able to sense the Pod if they were near enough to each other," explained Pilot.
"That is good enough to start with. If you will ask her, Pilot, to try any retrace their flight path," Zhaan asked. She turned back to the others in the room. "Now if anyone has any ideas on how to find our missing shipmates without turning John over to that man and Scorpius... now would be a good time to put them on the table."
Aeryn was the last to enter command. She had been down in docking bay doing some repairs on Malika's prowler.
"What's going on?" she asked as she jogged into command to stand next to John. She observed the look on his face and knew that something was wrong.
"Well, we just got done talking to Rygel's contact on the planet," he started.
"What trouble did he and that little tralk manage to get themselves into this time?" Aeryn asked annoyingly.
"They didn't Aeryn. That guy Tarcus is actually holding them for ransom!"
"Ransom? What could we possibly have that he wants?" she asked, looking around the room. She looked over to Zhaan whose head was down. Malika and the new arrival, Andar, were over in corner. She looked at D'Argo last, who answered her question.
"This Freck-ned has obtained a wanted beacon. He said he would return Rygel and the others if we give him... if we give him John," D'Argo said apologetically.
"John?" Aeryn turned to look at Crichton questioningly. "What exactly does this wanted beacon say?"
"It's Scorpius, Aeryn. I turn myself over to him and Scorpy and the others will be returned."
"No. We are not going to let Scorpius have what he wants without a fight. We won't go through this again," Aeryn ranted.
"Aeryn, listen."
"No, John. You listen! We can come up with a plan to get them back without giving you up."
"There's no way of knowing where they are. By the time we find them they could be dead," D'Argo said raising his voice.
"Well, maybe we'd be better off then," yelled Aeryn as she stormed out of Command.
John followed Aeryn as she left the Command tier. He took her by the arm to stop her.
"Aeryn, you don't mean that. They haven't done anything to deserve that."
"Well, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have gotten into as much trouble as they put us in."
"What are you going to do now?" John asked.
"I'm going down to the planet and have a talk with this Tarcus. Pilot, prepare my Prowler!" she snatched her arm away from John's hold and continued down the corridor.
"Aeryn don't! We have to think this through. You can't just go down there without knowing what you're getting yourself into. Let's just go back to Command and figure out a plan."
Aeryn stopped to think about what John was saying and slowly turned around to look at him.
"Come on, Aeryn... please," John pleaded. They both walked back to Command.
The Transport Pod crashed on the Ice Moon and had bounced several times along the snow covered surface, leaving a number of parts of itself scattered along behind in its wake. Berret, who had sustained only a cut along his temple, which had already begun healing, climbed outside the wrecked shuttle and surveyed the damage. The crew and cargo compartments had survived more or less intact, but the drive section had sheared off and was laying almost a metra away and burning.
The Cargo Pod would not fly again.
He pushed through the deep snow and entered back into the downed craft. Chiana and Rygel had suffered only bruises from being knocked around the cabin. Chiana had climbed under the control panel that had exploded and after tearing it apart had pulled out a burnt device.
"This isn't suppose to be there," she said wiping away a smudge of dirt from her cheek. "It was connected to the helm and navigation linkage." Berret took the device and examined it for himself while she continued her explanation. "It frelled our course readings and when we got to this position in the system, blew out and fried the Pod's controls."
"Someone wanted us to crash here... but why?" asked Berret.
"Who could have put it there?" began Rygel, and then stopped as the answer already hit him.
"The Tech-Officer," was all Berret said.
"Well, it looks like your emma-kissing friend... really wasn't your friend," said Chiana sarcastically, and then threw down the tool she still held in her hand. "Grot! It's getting cold in here," she said putting her arms around herself.
"It'll get colder here yet," observed Berret. "The orbital scans showed this moon has a 28 arn rotation. Once we hit the night side we'll have 14 arns of colder temperatures."
Rygel's whiskers drooped at the news and he let out a long moan of distress.
They collected what supplies they could from the cargo section of the ship and closed off that part to help retain heat inside the crew compartment. They were sitting huddled inside trying to think of ways to improve their situation. The cold was effecting Chiana more so then Berret so he gave her his heavy cloak to wrap herself up in. As soon as she sat down Rygel climbed up and disappeared somewhere inside with her. Berret had stripped off the metal armor plates because they drew the cold like magnets. Both of them had also put on the spare flight suits stored in the Transport Pod, but there was nothing that would have fit Rygel. They were sitting listening to the wind howl outside the ship when Chiana had an idea.
"The Caloric Climate Control Rods!" she said suddenly standing up and spilling Rygel onto the floor.
"What do you mean?" asked the Shrike, ignoring the Hynerian's complaining about being dumped over.
"The Pod's batteries are Calorics like Moya, and they have to be kept in a constant climate control environment to work. We can pull out the rods and use them to heat this part of the Pod.... if we can find a intact power source," she added
"It's worth a try," agreed Rygel. "And its better then waiting to freeze to death."
"Agreed," said Berret. "I will go outside and see if any of the power cells survived the landing while you and Rygel began pulling the rods from the service crawl ways."
While they worked inside, Berret went outside and after an arn of labor managed to return with seven intact power cells, the other three having been lost in the crash. Chiana and Rygel managed to find four working control rods and had wired them together along with a power flow regulator. They quickly connected the first power cell to the arrangement and were rewarded when the rods began to glow a deep red and throw heat. Berret thought a moment and returned to the cargo section. He had retained one of the gauntlets on his right forearm and now used it to cut a cargo container into sections. He dragged the four largest pieces back into the crew section and arranged their reflective side toward the glowing rods. When he was satisfied with their placement, he turned the dial on the power flow regulator down past the halfway mark... much to Rygel's horror.
"What are you doing? Is your addled brain totally fahrbot! We'll freeze!" he cried.
"We only have seven power cells. They will last only about three and half solar days operating at full capacity. The shiny sides of the cargo crates will reflect more of the heat back to us," he explained. "Which means we can use less power and extend the life of the cells."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," said Chiana from under his cloak. "We should be able to get a few more days out of them then."
"There is one other thing you can do if you wish to avoid becoming cold, Rygel," said Berret to the Hynerian
"What's that?" the Hynerian replied.
"Kill yourself," he said with an evil grin.
They were four arns into the night cycle of the moon. The lunar body was large enough to have it's own atmosphere which meant it was also large enough to have it's own weather. Earlier the wind had picked up so much that they could barely hear each other speaking over it. They had enough food and water to last them for sometime and in addition they could melt snow if they needed any more water for other uses.
Rygel had urged them all to eat their fill from the supplies, wisely explaining that their bodies would need the extra fuel to produce heat. Berret had also dragged in several sacks of pliable goods and made a makeshift bed so they wouldn't have to sleep in the Pod's seats or on the cold deck. They'd used several canvas tarps and cargo tie-downs as blankets. Even with the Heating Rods, the temperature in the Pod was cold; not as cold as outside, and not cold enough that they would freeze. It definitely was not comfortable.
Berret sat on the bed with his back up against one wall of the transport pod. They had all fallen asleep for an arn or two but another bloody dream soon interrupted the Shrike's rest. Between his legs laid Chiana wrapped in his cloak and using his lap as a pillow. The makeshift blankets hid her from view and somewhere else under there was Rygel. The only sign of his presence was the rough snoring issuing from the mound of material... at least Berret hoped it was Rygel's snoring and not the Pixie's.
Not sure if he was unable or not wanting to return to sleep, he distracted himself by using a small tool kit to dismantle the device that Chiana had found inside the control panel of the Pod. Working carefully and quietly so not to disturb the others, he soon had the machine in several pieces. He worried at the largest component and managed to detach a small plate. To his surprise he found that the device had not been totally destroyed in the blast, something inside had power and was working! Several more microns later he had the working part uncovered. He wasn't sure, but it appeared to be a homing transmitter, he would have to ask the others when they awoke what their opinions of the part were. He put the tools back into their case and pondered the device and it's meaning. If this is what he thought it was, then that means somebody has been keeping very close track of them... and knew exactly where they were.
Chiana and Rygel had agreed with Berret about the device he found being a homing device. The conclusion being ominous, somebody had deliberately caused them to crash on this ice moon and was keeping track of their whereabouts. They discussed the reason for the act but could not find an explanation why anyone would want to kidnap a Nebari girl, a disposed ruler, or an ex-assassin. No one would care about the first two and the Syndicate would just kill the third instead of going to such elaborate lengths.
The weather had not improved at sunrise, the blowing wind making visibility no more then a few hentas in front of your face. Berret found three tether-lines aboard the pod and after fastening them together to make a long safety line, ventured outside to explore the area around the down transport hoping to find something useful to them. His search yielded nothing of use and he'd only discovered a vast field of ice and snow for as far as the tethers stretched.
He returned to the Pod and reported his findings to Chiana and Rygel. The Hynerian being barely able to remain awake long enough for him to finish speaking before rolling himself back up in his blankets and nodding off again. Chiana was still wearing his cloak and had torn off strips of cargo harness to wrap and tie around her body to hold the large cloak closed about her. Once Rygel was asleep again she approached Berret as he stripped off wet pieces of tarp and cargo cover he'd used for his trip outside.
"I'm worried about Rygel," she said in a whisper. "All he does is sleep. He only wakes up to eat and use the facilities... I don't think he's going to make it much longer."
"He is smaller then either of us. It makes sense that the cold would affect him more. If the weather clears, I'll be able to search farther beyond the reach of the tethers. Perhaps then we'll find something we can make a fire with. If I could reach the drive section maybe there is some fuel left that didn't go up in the crash," he said, adding the last to give the Pixie hope. "Until then try and make him eat more to maintain his body heat."
She nodded, the sad look in her eyes making him feel useless. If the enemy had been a living thing instead of freezing cold temperatures, something he could kill, he though darkly, he'd maybe of use to his friends. As it were, the other two had thought of most of the survival ideas. Watching Chiana stiffly move about the compartment he realized she wasn't doing well herself. The though of losing her filled him with panic and rage. If he ever got out of this he vowed to himself, he'd make whoever was responsible pay dearly.
"I say we go down to that planet and make Tarcus talk!" said D'argo, loudly cracking his knuckles. "There is no way we are turning John over to him so Scorpius can get his hands back on him."
Aeryn nodded her agreement while Crichton held up his hand to stop the line of thought.
"Whoa...whoa, big guy. Thanks for the sentiment. But what happens to Pip and the others if we can't get him to talk in time. We have no idea where they are or exactly what kind of danger they're in. If we take the time to try and make him talk, it might be too late for them."
D'argo hung his head and leaned over a console. "Why does everything have to be so frelling complicated?" he asked disgustedly. Zhaan's eyes lit up as she had a thought.
"Why indeed, Sweet Dargo. Would not one kidnapping deserve another?" she asked, "There has to be something or someone this Tarcus values more then the reward he will get for Crichton." She looked around at the others to see if they were following her thought. "We just have to find out that that someone or something is," she finished.
The day crept by slowly and they spent some time trying to salvage more material from the cargo section of the Pod, and the rest they spent sitting around listening to the wind howl outside. Rygel awoke twice to eat and relieve himself and Berret had to agree with Chiana, the Hynerian was looking gray and unhealthy. He spoke little to the other two and almost immediately after concluding his business went right back to sleep.
Chiana eyes held compassion for the small being and a question for Berret. Without her asking he answered her in a whisper,
"We cannot turn the temperature up any higher, it will just exhaust the power cells and we will all perish sooner."
Chiana nodded her understanding and started to turn away, but he caught her shoulder and turned her back to face him. She glanced up and it struck him how haggard she looked. There were dark circles under her eyes and her white hair was uncharacteristically limp under the hood of his cloak.
"If it was possible, we would, I'm sorry," he said.
Chiana nodded again and went back to the place she'd been sitting. It was right then that Berret decided that no matter what the weather conditions the next day, he would try and make it to the drive section. Even if he did there was no certainty that there would be any fuel left for them to burn. He just had to figure out how he was going to accomplish the trip.
After sunset they all huddled back into the makeshift bed and blankets. Chiana had unwrapped his cloak from around herself and now it was wrapped around the both of them with the Rygel making up a ball of material somewhere along their legs. The Pixie snuggled up along side him and rested her cheek along side his as she got comfortable, not complaining for the first time about the stubble that was now on his own cheeks. She wrapped her small arms around his chest and for the first time Berret was thankful for Chiana's higher body temperature. They talked for a while about their situation, pausing sometimes to listen to Rygel's soft snores. The Nebari girl eventually fell asleep and he thought awhile longer on how to get to the drive section. He had the beginning of a plan, but it would require both him and Chiana to accomplish it. He refined a few ideas and decided to get some sleep himself. Pulling Chiana tighter to him he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
On Scarren Homeworld
With a feeling of dread, Tytius entered the throne room. Arckatius was entertaining himself with a slave girl and Tytius had to clear his throat to get the other Scarren's attention.
"I'm sorry, my Lord. Please forgive the intrusion... but there is news from the operation in the Circarta System," he said.
Arckatius dismissed the slave girl with a wave of his clawed hand, much to her relief she slipped out a side door.
"Tell me, Tytius. Has our friend been dealt with in the proscribed manner?" he asked.
This is the part of the news Tytius dreaded telling the would-be king the most, steeling himself he got to the point of the matter. "No, my Lord... there has been a... complication," he replied nervously.
Arckatius' eyes turned hard and deadly, "Exactly what kind of 'complication', do you mean, Tytius?" he growled. "Spit it out and don't play with words. Has he been taking care of or not?" he demanded.
"I'm afraid not, Sire. It appears Shrike 457 did not complete the mission. It seems there was an altercation shortly after his arrival, apparently several common street thugs attacked the Shrike, and used a Peacekeeper Stun baton to damage the collar," Tytius explained.
"Frelling Dren!" shouted Arckatius, slamming his fist onto a nearby table and sending a number of objects flying about. "Was the Shrike neutralized?" he asked after a moments thought.
Now the worse news thought Tytius. "We don't believe so, my Lord. There's evidence that the attackers were injured using Bat'Rellite Blades. A number of our local contacts also witnessed a Sebacean male fitting the Shrike's description with a young Nebari waif, and later at the space port boarding a transport with the Nebari girl, a large Luxan warrior with General tattoos and two other Sebaceans, one male, one female. The report goes on to say this group left the surface and docked with a Leviathan ship," he finished.
"If the Shrike abandoned his mission and left with this group of strangers that would have to mean that he's no longer under control of the collar," Arckatius thought out loud. Turning back to Tytius he asked, "Why didn't the collar self destruct and kill the Shrike as it should have if it had malfunctioned?"
"Unknown, my Lord. The self-destruct device could have been damaged also at some point during the attack on him," Tytius guessed.
Another thought hit Arckatius, "Was the collar's memory wiped before sending the Shrike out on this mission?" Knowing this question would eventually come up, Tytius swallowed hard.
"No, Sire. It wasn't," he finally said.
Cursing, Arckatius asked in a low dangerous voice, "How many mission records were left on the collar's memory bank?"
"Four... Five including this one, Sire. They were scheduled to be wiped upon completion of this assignment," Tytius said, but not wanting to remind the king that he'd ordered the Shrike sent out before the last scheduled collar tuning could be completed. Giving such a reminder could prove very fatal to Tytius' health. Better to take the blame for the oversight and possibly live through this disaster.
"This is a very big problem for this Syndicate House, Tytius, if we have a rogue Shrike running lose with important information about our activities. Is there any chance the Shrike didn't survive the collar removal long enough to make it off planet and this group just happened to take the body with them?" Arckatius hoped.
"No, my Lord Arckatius. Our instruments also indicate that the Wraith Cruiser assigned to Shrike 457 powered up and left the planet's surface a few microns behind the shuttle. We lost the homing beacon a few microts after it broke orbit. It's possible that the ship was destroyed somewhere above the planet, but we know that the ship would have simply returned to home base if the Shrike had expired. We believe the craft was sucked into starburst behind the Leviathan and the homing device then burned out."
He was deep in thought for a few moments then Arckatius made another royal decree. "Tytius... I want you to personally take charge of the effort to track down this rogue Shrike. When you find him... kill him... and anyone else you find in his company. But first attempt to find out how many of our secrets have been compromised if possible," Arckatius said, and then added, "Damage control is the keyword here. If you have to call on my cousin, Scorpius, then do so, that half-breed might be good for something useful, besides certain Peacekeeper officials owe us a certain amount of 'favors'. Now may be the time to collect."
Malika entered behind Andar as she followed him into Command to answer Zhaan and D'argo's urgent summons, the others had already arrived there ahead of them. She looked up and saw one of the wanted beacon devices being held by a heavyset man on the holo-screen. She had seen more then a few when she was on her own and she was almost sure there had to be some with her name and likeness in them. The beacons were one of the ways she had found out about Zhaan being in the Uncharted Territories.
The others were already deeply into a discussion while Andar was standing off to the side.
"Do you know what's going on?" she asked him as she approached him.
Andar looked at Malika, "You mean aside from Crichton's wanted poster?"
"That's not new," she said looking over and she noticed the growing look of discomfort on Andar's face, "He's not an actual criminal. I've heard the whole story and you don't have to worry about him. I've done worse things than he has," she said jokingly.
John stood stunned and speechless, as the Command Tier seemed to become crowded as the other's arrived and everyone began asking questions. D'argo glared at the man on the view screen.
"We will never turn John over to you!" he said, again slamming both palms of his hands down on the console to emphasize his statement and anger.
"Curb your dog," sneered the Trader to Zhaan. "Never the less, I said your three friends are safe for the moment. The longer you delay in turning Crichton over to me, the less likely they are to remain... healthy."
He stopped making the hand washing motions as he held up a single finger to make a point. "Oh! Don't bother trying to find them. They are nowhere near this planet. I've taken the liberty of storing them someplace you'll never find." Laughing he added, "At least, not in time that is." The laugh abruptly ended. "The choice is yours and your time... and theirs, is limited. Don't take too long making a decision. I'll be waiting for your answer."
The screen went black as he ended the connection and Pilot's image came to life again on the clamshell.
"This is terrible. Moya and I are willing to do anything we can to help," said Pilot
"Goddess protest them," murmured Zhaan, quickly making hand signs as blessings.
"I'm going to enjoy killing him," said D'argo
"There will be time for that later, Sweet D'argo," said Zhaan trying to calm him. "At this moment we need a plan."
Resolutely Crichton said, "What else can we do, Zhaan. You heard him. Either I turn myself over or Sparky, Pip, and Berret are dead."
Her role switched from worrying about the Pod crew to the voice of reason. "We have some time John," she said consolingly. "If anything, Chiana and Rygel are resourceful and clever, and Berret..." she paused remembering his lapses in his memory. "Berret will be their strength and protect them if he can."
"I hope you're right, Zhaan," replied John.
Zhaan asked Pilot, "Can Moya retrace the Pod's flight path or track it in any other way?"
"She will try Pa'u Zhaan, but you must remember... like the DRDs, they are a part of and dependent upon Moya. However it is not the other way around. Moya might be able to sense the Pod if they were near enough to each other," explained Pilot.
"That is good enough to start with. If you will ask her, Pilot, to try any retrace their flight path," Zhaan asked. She turned back to the others in the room. "Now if anyone has any ideas on how to find our missing shipmates without turning John over to that man and Scorpius... now would be a good time to put them on the table."
Aeryn was the last to enter command. She had been down in docking bay doing some repairs on Malika's prowler.
"What's going on?" she asked as she jogged into command to stand next to John. She observed the look on his face and knew that something was wrong.
"Well, we just got done talking to Rygel's contact on the planet," he started.
"What trouble did he and that little tralk manage to get themselves into this time?" Aeryn asked annoyingly.
"They didn't Aeryn. That guy Tarcus is actually holding them for ransom!"
"Ransom? What could we possibly have that he wants?" she asked, looking around the room. She looked over to Zhaan whose head was down. Malika and the new arrival, Andar, were over in corner. She looked at D'Argo last, who answered her question.
"This Freck-ned has obtained a wanted beacon. He said he would return Rygel and the others if we give him... if we give him John," D'Argo said apologetically.
"John?" Aeryn turned to look at Crichton questioningly. "What exactly does this wanted beacon say?"
"It's Scorpius, Aeryn. I turn myself over to him and Scorpy and the others will be returned."
"No. We are not going to let Scorpius have what he wants without a fight. We won't go through this again," Aeryn ranted.
"Aeryn, listen."
"No, John. You listen! We can come up with a plan to get them back without giving you up."
"There's no way of knowing where they are. By the time we find them they could be dead," D'Argo said raising his voice.
"Well, maybe we'd be better off then," yelled Aeryn as she stormed out of Command.
John followed Aeryn as she left the Command tier. He took her by the arm to stop her.
"Aeryn, you don't mean that. They haven't done anything to deserve that."
"Well, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have gotten into as much trouble as they put us in."
"What are you going to do now?" John asked.
"I'm going down to the planet and have a talk with this Tarcus. Pilot, prepare my Prowler!" she snatched her arm away from John's hold and continued down the corridor.
"Aeryn don't! We have to think this through. You can't just go down there without knowing what you're getting yourself into. Let's just go back to Command and figure out a plan."
Aeryn stopped to think about what John was saying and slowly turned around to look at him.
"Come on, Aeryn... please," John pleaded. They both walked back to Command.
The Transport Pod crashed on the Ice Moon and had bounced several times along the snow covered surface, leaving a number of parts of itself scattered along behind in its wake. Berret, who had sustained only a cut along his temple, which had already begun healing, climbed outside the wrecked shuttle and surveyed the damage. The crew and cargo compartments had survived more or less intact, but the drive section had sheared off and was laying almost a metra away and burning.
The Cargo Pod would not fly again.
He pushed through the deep snow and entered back into the downed craft. Chiana and Rygel had suffered only bruises from being knocked around the cabin. Chiana had climbed under the control panel that had exploded and after tearing it apart had pulled out a burnt device.
"This isn't suppose to be there," she said wiping away a smudge of dirt from her cheek. "It was connected to the helm and navigation linkage." Berret took the device and examined it for himself while she continued her explanation. "It frelled our course readings and when we got to this position in the system, blew out and fried the Pod's controls."
"Someone wanted us to crash here... but why?" asked Berret.
"Who could have put it there?" began Rygel, and then stopped as the answer already hit him.
"The Tech-Officer," was all Berret said.
"Well, it looks like your emma-kissing friend... really wasn't your friend," said Chiana sarcastically, and then threw down the tool she still held in her hand. "Grot! It's getting cold in here," she said putting her arms around herself.
"It'll get colder here yet," observed Berret. "The orbital scans showed this moon has a 28 arn rotation. Once we hit the night side we'll have 14 arns of colder temperatures."
Rygel's whiskers drooped at the news and he let out a long moan of distress.
They collected what supplies they could from the cargo section of the ship and closed off that part to help retain heat inside the crew compartment. They were sitting huddled inside trying to think of ways to improve their situation. The cold was effecting Chiana more so then Berret so he gave her his heavy cloak to wrap herself up in. As soon as she sat down Rygel climbed up and disappeared somewhere inside with her. Berret had stripped off the metal armor plates because they drew the cold like magnets. Both of them had also put on the spare flight suits stored in the Transport Pod, but there was nothing that would have fit Rygel. They were sitting listening to the wind howl outside the ship when Chiana had an idea.
"The Caloric Climate Control Rods!" she said suddenly standing up and spilling Rygel onto the floor.
"What do you mean?" asked the Shrike, ignoring the Hynerian's complaining about being dumped over.
"The Pod's batteries are Calorics like Moya, and they have to be kept in a constant climate control environment to work. We can pull out the rods and use them to heat this part of the Pod.... if we can find a intact power source," she added
"It's worth a try," agreed Rygel. "And its better then waiting to freeze to death."
"Agreed," said Berret. "I will go outside and see if any of the power cells survived the landing while you and Rygel began pulling the rods from the service crawl ways."
While they worked inside, Berret went outside and after an arn of labor managed to return with seven intact power cells, the other three having been lost in the crash. Chiana and Rygel managed to find four working control rods and had wired them together along with a power flow regulator. They quickly connected the first power cell to the arrangement and were rewarded when the rods began to glow a deep red and throw heat. Berret thought a moment and returned to the cargo section. He had retained one of the gauntlets on his right forearm and now used it to cut a cargo container into sections. He dragged the four largest pieces back into the crew section and arranged their reflective side toward the glowing rods. When he was satisfied with their placement, he turned the dial on the power flow regulator down past the halfway mark... much to Rygel's horror.
"What are you doing? Is your addled brain totally fahrbot! We'll freeze!" he cried.
"We only have seven power cells. They will last only about three and half solar days operating at full capacity. The shiny sides of the cargo crates will reflect more of the heat back to us," he explained. "Which means we can use less power and extend the life of the cells."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," said Chiana from under his cloak. "We should be able to get a few more days out of them then."
"There is one other thing you can do if you wish to avoid becoming cold, Rygel," said Berret to the Hynerian
"What's that?" the Hynerian replied.
"Kill yourself," he said with an evil grin.
They were four arns into the night cycle of the moon. The lunar body was large enough to have it's own atmosphere which meant it was also large enough to have it's own weather. Earlier the wind had picked up so much that they could barely hear each other speaking over it. They had enough food and water to last them for sometime and in addition they could melt snow if they needed any more water for other uses.
Rygel had urged them all to eat their fill from the supplies, wisely explaining that their bodies would need the extra fuel to produce heat. Berret had also dragged in several sacks of pliable goods and made a makeshift bed so they wouldn't have to sleep in the Pod's seats or on the cold deck. They'd used several canvas tarps and cargo tie-downs as blankets. Even with the Heating Rods, the temperature in the Pod was cold; not as cold as outside, and not cold enough that they would freeze. It definitely was not comfortable.
Berret sat on the bed with his back up against one wall of the transport pod. They had all fallen asleep for an arn or two but another bloody dream soon interrupted the Shrike's rest. Between his legs laid Chiana wrapped in his cloak and using his lap as a pillow. The makeshift blankets hid her from view and somewhere else under there was Rygel. The only sign of his presence was the rough snoring issuing from the mound of material... at least Berret hoped it was Rygel's snoring and not the Pixie's.
Not sure if he was unable or not wanting to return to sleep, he distracted himself by using a small tool kit to dismantle the device that Chiana had found inside the control panel of the Pod. Working carefully and quietly so not to disturb the others, he soon had the machine in several pieces. He worried at the largest component and managed to detach a small plate. To his surprise he found that the device had not been totally destroyed in the blast, something inside had power and was working! Several more microns later he had the working part uncovered. He wasn't sure, but it appeared to be a homing transmitter, he would have to ask the others when they awoke what their opinions of the part were. He put the tools back into their case and pondered the device and it's meaning. If this is what he thought it was, then that means somebody has been keeping very close track of them... and knew exactly where they were.
Chiana and Rygel had agreed with Berret about the device he found being a homing device. The conclusion being ominous, somebody had deliberately caused them to crash on this ice moon and was keeping track of their whereabouts. They discussed the reason for the act but could not find an explanation why anyone would want to kidnap a Nebari girl, a disposed ruler, or an ex-assassin. No one would care about the first two and the Syndicate would just kill the third instead of going to such elaborate lengths.
The weather had not improved at sunrise, the blowing wind making visibility no more then a few hentas in front of your face. Berret found three tether-lines aboard the pod and after fastening them together to make a long safety line, ventured outside to explore the area around the down transport hoping to find something useful to them. His search yielded nothing of use and he'd only discovered a vast field of ice and snow for as far as the tethers stretched.
He returned to the Pod and reported his findings to Chiana and Rygel. The Hynerian being barely able to remain awake long enough for him to finish speaking before rolling himself back up in his blankets and nodding off again. Chiana was still wearing his cloak and had torn off strips of cargo harness to wrap and tie around her body to hold the large cloak closed about her. Once Rygel was asleep again she approached Berret as he stripped off wet pieces of tarp and cargo cover he'd used for his trip outside.
"I'm worried about Rygel," she said in a whisper. "All he does is sleep. He only wakes up to eat and use the facilities... I don't think he's going to make it much longer."
"He is smaller then either of us. It makes sense that the cold would affect him more. If the weather clears, I'll be able to search farther beyond the reach of the tethers. Perhaps then we'll find something we can make a fire with. If I could reach the drive section maybe there is some fuel left that didn't go up in the crash," he said, adding the last to give the Pixie hope. "Until then try and make him eat more to maintain his body heat."
She nodded, the sad look in her eyes making him feel useless. If the enemy had been a living thing instead of freezing cold temperatures, something he could kill, he though darkly, he'd maybe of use to his friends. As it were, the other two had thought of most of the survival ideas. Watching Chiana stiffly move about the compartment he realized she wasn't doing well herself. The though of losing her filled him with panic and rage. If he ever got out of this he vowed to himself, he'd make whoever was responsible pay dearly.
"I say we go down to that planet and make Tarcus talk!" said D'argo, loudly cracking his knuckles. "There is no way we are turning John over to him so Scorpius can get his hands back on him."
Aeryn nodded her agreement while Crichton held up his hand to stop the line of thought.
"Whoa...whoa, big guy. Thanks for the sentiment. But what happens to Pip and the others if we can't get him to talk in time. We have no idea where they are or exactly what kind of danger they're in. If we take the time to try and make him talk, it might be too late for them."
D'argo hung his head and leaned over a console. "Why does everything have to be so frelling complicated?" he asked disgustedly. Zhaan's eyes lit up as she had a thought.
"Why indeed, Sweet Dargo. Would not one kidnapping deserve another?" she asked, "There has to be something or someone this Tarcus values more then the reward he will get for Crichton." She looked around at the others to see if they were following her thought. "We just have to find out that that someone or something is," she finished.
The day crept by slowly and they spent some time trying to salvage more material from the cargo section of the Pod, and the rest they spent sitting around listening to the wind howl outside. Rygel awoke twice to eat and relieve himself and Berret had to agree with Chiana, the Hynerian was looking gray and unhealthy. He spoke little to the other two and almost immediately after concluding his business went right back to sleep.
Chiana eyes held compassion for the small being and a question for Berret. Without her asking he answered her in a whisper,
"We cannot turn the temperature up any higher, it will just exhaust the power cells and we will all perish sooner."
Chiana nodded her understanding and started to turn away, but he caught her shoulder and turned her back to face him. She glanced up and it struck him how haggard she looked. There were dark circles under her eyes and her white hair was uncharacteristically limp under the hood of his cloak.
"If it was possible, we would, I'm sorry," he said.
Chiana nodded again and went back to the place she'd been sitting. It was right then that Berret decided that no matter what the weather conditions the next day, he would try and make it to the drive section. Even if he did there was no certainty that there would be any fuel left for them to burn. He just had to figure out how he was going to accomplish the trip.
After sunset they all huddled back into the makeshift bed and blankets. Chiana had unwrapped his cloak from around herself and now it was wrapped around the both of them with the Rygel making up a ball of material somewhere along their legs. The Pixie snuggled up along side him and rested her cheek along side his as she got comfortable, not complaining for the first time about the stubble that was now on his own cheeks. She wrapped her small arms around his chest and for the first time Berret was thankful for Chiana's higher body temperature. They talked for a while about their situation, pausing sometimes to listen to Rygel's soft snores. The Nebari girl eventually fell asleep and he thought awhile longer on how to get to the drive section. He had the beginning of a plan, but it would require both him and Chiana to accomplish it. He refined a few ideas and decided to get some sleep himself. Pulling Chiana tighter to him he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
On Scarren Homeworld
With a feeling of dread, Tytius entered the throne room. Arckatius was entertaining himself with a slave girl and Tytius had to clear his throat to get the other Scarren's attention.
"I'm sorry, my Lord. Please forgive the intrusion... but there is news from the operation in the Circarta System," he said.
Arckatius dismissed the slave girl with a wave of his clawed hand, much to her relief she slipped out a side door.
"Tell me, Tytius. Has our friend been dealt with in the proscribed manner?" he asked.
This is the part of the news Tytius dreaded telling the would-be king the most, steeling himself he got to the point of the matter. "No, my Lord... there has been a... complication," he replied nervously.
Arckatius' eyes turned hard and deadly, "Exactly what kind of 'complication', do you mean, Tytius?" he growled. "Spit it out and don't play with words. Has he been taking care of or not?" he demanded.
"I'm afraid not, Sire. It appears Shrike 457 did not complete the mission. It seems there was an altercation shortly after his arrival, apparently several common street thugs attacked the Shrike, and used a Peacekeeper Stun baton to damage the collar," Tytius explained.
"Frelling Dren!" shouted Arckatius, slamming his fist onto a nearby table and sending a number of objects flying about. "Was the Shrike neutralized?" he asked after a moments thought.
Now the worse news thought Tytius. "We don't believe so, my Lord. There's evidence that the attackers were injured using Bat'Rellite Blades. A number of our local contacts also witnessed a Sebacean male fitting the Shrike's description with a young Nebari waif, and later at the space port boarding a transport with the Nebari girl, a large Luxan warrior with General tattoos and two other Sebaceans, one male, one female. The report goes on to say this group left the surface and docked with a Leviathan ship," he finished.
"If the Shrike abandoned his mission and left with this group of strangers that would have to mean that he's no longer under control of the collar," Arckatius thought out loud. Turning back to Tytius he asked, "Why didn't the collar self destruct and kill the Shrike as it should have if it had malfunctioned?"
"Unknown, my Lord. The self-destruct device could have been damaged also at some point during the attack on him," Tytius guessed.
Another thought hit Arckatius, "Was the collar's memory wiped before sending the Shrike out on this mission?" Knowing this question would eventually come up, Tytius swallowed hard.
"No, Sire. It wasn't," he finally said.
Cursing, Arckatius asked in a low dangerous voice, "How many mission records were left on the collar's memory bank?"
"Four... Five including this one, Sire. They were scheduled to be wiped upon completion of this assignment," Tytius said, but not wanting to remind the king that he'd ordered the Shrike sent out before the last scheduled collar tuning could be completed. Giving such a reminder could prove very fatal to Tytius' health. Better to take the blame for the oversight and possibly live through this disaster.
"This is a very big problem for this Syndicate House, Tytius, if we have a rogue Shrike running lose with important information about our activities. Is there any chance the Shrike didn't survive the collar removal long enough to make it off planet and this group just happened to take the body with them?" Arckatius hoped.
"No, my Lord Arckatius. Our instruments also indicate that the Wraith Cruiser assigned to Shrike 457 powered up and left the planet's surface a few microns behind the shuttle. We lost the homing beacon a few microts after it broke orbit. It's possible that the ship was destroyed somewhere above the planet, but we know that the ship would have simply returned to home base if the Shrike had expired. We believe the craft was sucked into starburst behind the Leviathan and the homing device then burned out."
He was deep in thought for a few moments then Arckatius made another royal decree. "Tytius... I want you to personally take charge of the effort to track down this rogue Shrike. When you find him... kill him... and anyone else you find in his company. But first attempt to find out how many of our secrets have been compromised if possible," Arckatius said, and then added, "Damage control is the keyword here. If you have to call on my cousin, Scorpius, then do so, that half-breed might be good for something useful, besides certain Peacekeeper officials owe us a certain amount of 'favors'. Now may be the time to collect."