Chapter Three: Road Into the Light

            Horizon Cave was another strange geographical feature. It seemed like the maw of a huge fish, but descended miles below the surface into a complex network of tunnels and caverns. Some of the turns were deadly to say the least, and that was what the thrill of the eigh-hour Endurance Race was all about. Had there not been the crucial matter of the Exile artifact, Tom would have flown in the race himself. Now the entrance to the cave was littered with trailers and machine shops as the participants prepared their beat-up Vanships for the race.

            Standing on the observation platform of the CU CHULAINN, he stared out into the night. He recalled his mission. They were here to make sure the SILVANNA got the artifact, and not the Guild. No more intelligence reports. No more suspected Guild activities. All they could do was wait.

            So he waited.

            "My Lord! General Vitellius requests an audience, he wishes to inform you of new intelligence." The messenger knelt before the throne of the Emperor of Anatoure. "Granted. Bring him in." The messenger bowed and left to bring in the officer. The General, an aging man with a voluminous built, entered the throneroom in his sptless white naval uniform and bowed before the Emperor.

           "What did you wish to inform me of?" The old man on the throne spoke.The General stood straight again. "My Lord, my informants have revealed the location of the rouge ship." The Emperor stared at him. "The SILVANNA?"

            Vitellius shook his head violently. "No, Sire, not SILVANNA. The mysterious Phantom Ship."

            The Emperor kept up his stare. "That mystery ship that is supposed to fight a war with the Guild? It's a legend! It's not even real – nobody has ever seen it. And you dare waste my time with this...this...nonsense?"

            The General knelt. "With all due respect, if my informants are correct, and this is indeed the 'Phantom Ship', then it would serve us well to investigate, and, for sake of our relations with the Guild, destroy it."

            Sighing, the Emperor nodded. "You have my authorization to dispatch three ships, not more, to find this...this myth. If it truly exists, they should be enough to capture or destroy it." Vitellius nodded and bowed, then left the audience chamber.

            Holland van Karmen shifted nervously on his feet as he stood in a dark corner of the Vanship hanger in the Horizon Cave's entrance. Crewmembers of the CU CHULAINN weren't supposed to go to ground, and if someone discovered he was missing...

            He straightened as he heard footsteps approaching, prepared to either jump the arrival or to make a run for it. Then, a voice whispered, "Acceleration booster."

            Holland moved out of the shadows and whispered back, "Stabilizer wing." That were the codewords he had been instructed to use. When his contact moved to stand in front of him, he nearly flinched at the other man's height. Nearly a foot taller than he was, and shrouded in a black cloak, the military informant he was meeting with was an impressive sight – and probably well armed beneath the cloak.

            "Do you have the information?"

            Holland nodded. "The CHULAINN is at two-one-six ecliptic now. They're circling Horizon Cave right now. If you want that ship, now is a good moment for a surprise attack. They are prepared to attack, but now most of the personnel is sleeping, and the ship's still damaged from the last engagement."

            "Do you have the information we asked for?"

            Holland nodded and pulled several folded sheets of paper from his greasy mechanics coverall. He handed the first page to the informant. "This is the information of weapon specifications you asked for," he looked through the papers. "Here is the specifications on the..."

            "Hey, you! What are you doing here?" A voice echoed down the hangar. "Crap. I'm outta here!" Holland murmured and shot out from behind the crates for the nearest Vanship. The informant was close on his heels. "Hey! Stop! What are you doing?" The mechanic who'd stumbled into them ran after them.

            The informant reached into his cloak and withdrew a small handgun, aimed, and fired. The mechanic flew back the way he'd come. Holland heard the shot and scream behind him, but didn't turn. He froze for a second, though. He'd never expected the informant would actually kill someone. Now he was in deep trouble. He kept running.

            "You! Come back here!" He informant was furious and set off after Holland. As the other man ignored his warnings, he aimed and fired.

            Holland heard the shot, and felt the impact of the bulled in his shoulder. He was knocked forward, stumbled, and fell, clutching the wound. The informant stood over him. "You will relinquish the information."

            "You killed that man."

            "He was interfering." Holland didn't especially like the cold tone of the informant.

            "Go to hell. What are you going to use it for?"

            "That is none of your concern."

            "You'll hunt the CHULAINN, won't you – and destroy it, if possible."

            "Hand over the information."

            "Or what? You'll kill me?"

            "Give me the information." The informant levelled the gun at Holland.

            "Go to hell," the mechanic spat. The informant squeezed the trigger.

            Hearing footsteps rushing up behind him, the informant dropped the gun next to Holland and searched the body for the papers he was looking for. As he heard voices in the hangar space behind him, he abandoned the dead mechanic and ran.

            "Tom, we have a problem."

            "What is it?" The captain of the CHULAINN turned his chair around to face his sister. "Holland's dead." She said. "What?"

            "Holland's dead. He was found shot two days ago in one of the hangars of Horizon Caves. The gun he was shot with was found next to him. Apparently, there is another dead mechanic down there. There was quite a commotion."

            Tom slammed his fist on the desk. "Damn! Why was he down there in the first place? How did he get down?" Caroline glanced at him. Her brother was boiling with fury inside. "He slipped past the guards and stole a Vanship. He cold-started it, so no one noticed."

            Tom closed his eyes. "Anything else?"

            "The gun found next to him is a special gun. Small, concealable. It's a standard design for intelligence operatives. Anatoure intelligence operatives. And this was found in one of the pockets of his coverall." She placed a folded piece of paper on the desk, knowing full well what it meant for them. She closed her eyes, waiting for his reaction.

            Tom picked up the paper, and slowly unfolded it. It was a basic schematic of the CHULAINN, including armor and weapon stats. He crumpled it in his hand, then stood. Caroline nearly gulped as she saw the expression in his eyes. He stormed past her to the bridge. "Helm, come about! Move us on a new course! Bearing one-one-eight mark seven! Take us to an elevation of seventeen thousand feet! Move! All hands, prepare for battlestations! Sound the combat readiness alert!"

            Caroline was only a step behind him. "They found us," she said. Her brother nodded. "Anatoure wants to take us out, as well." "That's not for sure." He gave her a dry laugh. "Then why collect tactical data on us?" She had to admit he was right. And she prayed they wouldn't have to fire on their old comrades-in-arms.

            The CU CHULAINN navigated away from the position it had held around the Horizon Cave, and vectored away silently. The tension on the ship was so thick that Caroline sweared she could cut it with a saw. The crew was ready for a fight, but most of the people were unsure about what to do. She couldn't fault them. She herself wasn't sure whether she would be able to fire on her own people.

            Though the revelation of the traitor had been a serious blow to their effort to guard the SILVANNA's mission, Tom had seemed determined not to let it stop them. They waited in silence, waiting once again. Waiting for the inevitable sign of battleships chasing them. He'd been adamant that the supreme commander of Anatoure's forces would devote as many forces as he could muster to bring them down. Caroline didn't doubt him. From what she had heard about General Vittelius from her brother and other people, the General seemed very old-fashioned, and extremely intolerant about vessels outside of his chain of command.

            The bridge was silent until the listening post called out, "Incoming engine noise! We've got a Vanship incoming!" Tom rose and stared out the viewport. He could barely make out a tiny black dot moving against the white clouds. "Are they signalling?" "Negative. Wait – they are. They say, 'Courier from Walker's Dock. Have urgent message for captain of the CHULAINN. Code is ravine. Request permission to land.'"

            Tom nodded. "Granted. Direct him to Alpha Bay. How are the repairs on Beta Bay going?" Caroline relayed the orders, then turned back to him. "Quite well. We'll have it operational in about a day. There wasn't any major structural damage, it was just mostly the debris that was giving us trouble."

            Her brother nodded in acknowledgement and beckoned her to follow him. "Come on, we'll welcome our guest aboard."

            The pilot climbed out of the Vanship and dropped to the ground just as the twins stepped from the corridor into the landing bay. Tom nodded his greetings, and gaped as the pilot took off her helmet and shook out her long, flaming red hair. "What are you doing here?" Caroline mirrored his expression as both recognized the woman before them.

            The pilot straightened and let go a warm laugh. "Tom Riatavin. It's good to see you again. Last time I leave you alone, you fight off a Deusis battlegroup all on your own, and when I meet you again, you're waging your private war against the Guild. I have to admit, you did a great job." She grinned. "They're telling stories of the 'Phantom Ship' and your war with the Guild. Your battle record is already legendary, and the people made something of a mythical protector of you. You don't know how many people have rallied behind you for saving them from the Guild's indifference and arrogance."

            Tom remembered to close his jaw, and smiled. "Sakakibaha Shiho. I'd never have expected to see you here. I thought you were still a flight instructor at the Academy." Shiho shook her head. "Nope. They closed down the flight department a couple of years ago. Kicked me and lots of other good pilots out."

            "I'm sorry to hear that. Come along, I'll have a cabin ready for you." As the three of them retreated down the corridor that lead into the bowels of the ship, Caroline glanced at the other woman. "So, how did you end up as a courier to the CHULAINN? It's quite dangerous to fly courier to us."

            The red-haired pilot laughed. "After I left the Academy, I applied at the Vanship Consortium. They didn't take me, so I kept wandering around, living off the occasional job. Eventually, I ended up at Walker's Dock, and he said he was looking for good, reliable pilots for dangerous flights. And you know me – I like the thrill of it. So I told him, I'm game. And here I am."

            Tom laughed. "Yeah, Walker always says that if a ten-star rating is the highest the Consortium gives, flying to the CHULAINN would be an eleven-star, at the very least." "Yup, that sounds like him, all right. Although it didn't seem to be dangerous to fly to you. You're not particularly hard to find, you know."

            Shiho knew she had hit a nerve, because Tom and Caroline seemed to sober up a little. "Yeah, we've had some trouble with keeping our movements hidden from the military," Tom said simply.

            Shiho nodded. "There are rumors that the Emperor has dispatched a group of warships to deal with you. And to deal with Alex and the SILVANNA." She stopped and looked at Tom. "Whatever happens, I hope you're not going to sink Anatoure ships. They're good men and women just doing their jobs."

            Tom replied, "I know. And I hope it doesn't come down to that."