Part 22
The slip fighter was small enough to move away from the Andromeda without being spotted, Rhade used all his skill and judgement to avoid detection by the sectors scanners. Now all he had to do was find some trace of the Maru, but he knew it would be tough. Rhade had decided to decline the help of the man Dylan had found on the shuttle, he proved useless with information, so now had the brig for company. Rhade suspected now that he knew very little, but the man had taught him something, and that was that Yussuf ran a very tight ship, and only those who needed to know the facts actually knew them.
Rhade's thoughts drifted to Beka, on the Maru and he could only guess at the danger she was in, along with Harper and Dani. It was up to him now, he had to find the Maru before Yussuf's men did, he had to warn them all, because Rhade didn't like the alternative, he didn't want to have to try and find them if Yussuf's men already had.
Rhade activated a slip stream portal and started his quest to find the Maru.
The Maru powered down, and Beka released the restraints and relaxed as she checked the surrounding area outside. The drift looked like many others she had seen in her lifetime, it wasn't quite the planet she had promised Harper, it had no surf or sand, but it was a place to disappear for a couple of weeks until the rendezvous with the Andromeda.
The flashing light on the console beside her caught Beka's attention, and she activated the incoming message.
"This is the port authorities, before you leave your vessel we need to come on board to check and authorise your entry to the drift," a man in port uniform stated.
"OK," Beka showed her confusion. "Is this a new thing? I've never had you guys come on board before, usually us checking in at the desk is enough," she returned casually.
"We've had a few problems in recent years, and this directive means we can keep a tighter control on who comes and goes on this drift, crime has been reduced by thirty percent as a result of our changes," the man stated.
"Fine, come on board," Beka instructed and deactivated the message.
With haste, Beka moved through the ship and retrieved an old machine from deep within the Maru's storage compartments. Hearing footsteps, Beka didn't look up as she activated the machine.
"Boss?" Harper's voice questioned. "Why aren't we leaving the ship?" he asked.
"They have different methods of registering with this drift, simple ship ID's aren't enough, we got a couple of guards coming on board to check us out," Beka announced, focused on the machine.
"Sounds kinda weird, they board every ship like this?" Harper asked.
"It's not exactly a busy drift, Harper," Beka answered with distraction. "Maybe because they don't get much traffic, they can do stuff like this?" she reasoned, and then pulled out a chip from the machine, handing it to Harper. "As of now, you are Henry Stryker, I am Sally Simons, and Dani is Jessica Simons, my cousin."
"Great, let's pretend, just like the old days," Harper said with little enthusiasm.
A noise sounded to alert Beka to the arrival of the port guards, and Beka looked up giving Harper another chip. "Go get Dani, and give this to her," she instructed, as she moved past him to greet the guards.
The airlock soon opened and Beka waited for the men to board the ship. Two of them had turned up, just as Dani and Harper stepped through to join Beka.
"Is this your full crew?" the first guard asked.
"Yeah, and you are?" Beka asked with a fake cheer.
"My name is Lieutenant Johnson, and your name?" the guard asked, a pad in his hand awaiting a response.
"Sally, Sally Simons," Beka stated and handed over her chip that the guard quickly scanned.
"And you are the captain, correct?" the guard checked.
"Yeah," Beka agreed and took back her false chip.
"And these two?" the guard now turned his attention to Harper and Dani.
"I'm Henry," Harper said, trying hard not to smirk as he handed over his chip. "Ship's engineer," he added, before he turned to Dani. "This is Jessica Simons, Sally's cousin and our environmental officer," he then declared and gestured to Dani to hand over her chip, as he took his back.
"Right," the guard looked at each of them in turn. "Thank you for your time, I hope you find what you are looking for on our drift," Johnson returned to Dani her chip.
"Pleasure," Beka said with a forced smile, and they all watched as the guards left.
Harper raised his eyebrows. "Anyone else find that all a bit strange?"
"Come on, let's find a place where we can lay low for a while," Beka stated, with urgency.
"Beka," Harper spoke up. "How many drifts have we been to in our time, hell you've been to more than me, have you ever had that happen before?"
"Loads of times," Beka stressed.
"I mean before we've done anything wrong," Harper argued.
"It seemed ok to me," Dani spoke up. "Maybe you're being just a little paranoid right now?"
Harper looked around with a sigh. "Ok, maybe I am," he added, as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Harper, regardless of how weird that was," Beka shrugged. "We can't arrive and then leave, we'll just draw attention to ourselves," Beka reasoned softly. "We're here now, and if those guys are not what they seem, then we have to just be more alert, ok?" Beka stated. "No use getting all worked up now, is there?"
Harper looked away, before he glanced back at Beka. "You knew this would happen, and I didn't listen did I?" he realised. "You know just as well as I do that those guys were just confirming our presence here, and they know full well who we actually are."
"What do you mean?" Dani stepped forward.
"Yussuf is probably finding out this very minute that we're right here," Harper shrugged, turning back to Beka. "So what do we do boss?"
"We get lost on this drift and just hope that we have some friends watching our backs," Beka confirmed.
"Andromeda shaped friends," Harper added.
"If Yussuf knows I'm here, with you," Dani began to panic, until Harper stepped close to her and held her tight.
"Don't worry," he said calmly. "I was always told that it's nice to be wanted," he offered awkwardly.
Beka grabbed a bag, and soon Harper and Dani did likewise, and with caution they left the Maru, in the hope of finding safety on the drift.
Yussuf sat back, and his hands were clasped together tightly. A smile crept across his face, and he slowly considered his next instruction. Dani had been sighted, but not on the Andromeda, or on Ipcres, but on a dead end drift, the Andromeda crew had somehow worked out to keep her away from Ipcres, and send her on that ship.
There was only one way they could have known about his plans for the conference, and he figured with anger brewing that they had tortured his Dani, his beautiful Dani, for the information she had. Inside he felt sick, his hand involuntary lifted itself up and slammed down hard on the desk.
"I want them caught, I want them secured and I want them brought before me," Yussuf yelled. "No one touches my Dani, no one uses her in this way!" he continued to rant to his minions. "Bring me the space pirate that is Beka Valentine and that dirty kludge, and I was you more than anything else to rescue my poor Dani, make sure she is treated like a princess for the torment they have bestowed upon her!"
"Sir," the minions all accepted in unison, and hurried out of the room, leaving Yussuf to only imagine the horrors his poor Dani had experienced at the hands of her monster captors.
The drift offered a lot of hiding places, as Beka, Harper and Dani walked quickly amongst the crowds, but still Harper looked around, his senses on full alert and it didn't go amiss with Beka.
"What is it?" she asked him with concern.
"We're being watched, followed," Harper stated between short breaths, his focus on maximum.
"You sure?" Beka checked, and Harper only nodded his head. "We have to lose them," she stated, from experience she knew not to ignore his concerns.
"Follow me," Harper moved forward and headed down a side ally, a protective arm around Dani.
They moved quickly, past people minding their own business, and suddenly Harper pulled Dani into an alcove and Beka soon joined them. With care, Harper glanced around the edge of the wall and he saw two men, both looking in different directions, both trying to find them.
"I think we've lost them," Harper confirmed as the men continued walking, having missed the side ally.
"Let's find a room for the night," Beka suggested.
"How?" Dani asked. "Surely they've put out our descriptions by now," she stressed.
"Yeah, and people here will be looking for three people, two blondes and a brunette fitting our descriptions," Beka said with confidence, then shook her head and Dani watched in awe as she saw Beka's hair turn black like the night.
Beka took one of her wrist bands and used it to tie her hair back, she then removed what little make up she wore, and Dani had to admit that she no longer fitted her description.
"I'm impressed," Dani had to finally say.
"You learn a few tricks, the life I've led," Beka simply said.
"And I only work with the best," Harper smiled, as Beka left the alcove.
"Let's go, we passed a few guest houses a block from here," Beka remembered. "The one named Sunset View advertised rooms," she stated. "So wait round the back, I'll make sure I get a room with a view," she smiled.
"This is crazy," Dani finally said once Beka had left them. "I can't believe Yussuf has found us, I mean I thought," Dani began but Harper soon stopped her with a gentle kiss.
"I know," Harper agreed once he pulled away. "But as long as we can stay ahead of the goons," Harper suddenly pushed Dani back, and this time straight amongst the garbage cans.
Dani was about to protest when she heard the footsteps, someone was coming and when she caught a glimpse of that someone's clothes, she knew it was their friends, the guards again. Harper dared not breathe, and Dani soon joined him as the guard slowly walked past their position, the guard was sniffing the air, and Harper closed his eyes, a Nietzschean, how had he not spotted that earlier? The uniform he wore, hid his blades well, Harper considered. Thankfully the disgusting stench of the bins hid their own scent, and soon the uber guard moved on, missing them both completely.
"We better go find that guest house," Harper indicated. "We'll take the back route, but first," Harper took some of the garbage and began rubbing it over his clothes and exposed skin.
"What are you doing?" Dani asked with disgust.
"It's gross I know," Harper stated. "But if you don't want old big nose catching a whiff of us, I'd recommend you do the same."
"Old Earth trick?" Dani questioned and found herself some trash to use.
"Old Earth survival method," Harper corrected. "Let's hope the shower works in the room Beka gets us." Dani brightened at that thought, causing Harper to smile. "Man, I must be distracted, even I hadn't considered that," he grinned, and they both quickly moved away from the ally.
Rhade was focused, having scanned five systems already he had to be. Looking for a tiny trace of a ship long gone was always going to be an impossible task. As he looked at the monitor for readings he picked up a disturbance close by, a slip port was opening and he focused the long range scanner.
A ship appeared, but it was not one the slip fighter could identify. Rhade scanned it and discovered it was an unmarked vessel, raising his suspicion, another ship then arrived through another slip stream portal, and once space had returned to normal Rhade was able to easily infiltrate the communication between both ships, obviously they felt they were alone, over confident.
The message was mainly static, and Rhade was about to give up trying to make any sense of it when he heard something that made him sit up and take notice.
"Yussuf," a male voice spoke, but that was all he could understand, until the return message brought him the miracle he sought.
"Then," the message crackled. "Let's go, lead us," the message finished.
Rhade reacted with speed, and once the slip portal was opened, he niftily followed the two ships in, knowing they would never detect the slip fighter, if they were not expecting to find it.
A window opened finally and Harper looked up, and with relief he saw the beaming smile of the blonde again Beka gesturing to him to join her in the room. There was a three storey climb, but with some arrangement of junk and boxes close by, it was possible and soon Dani took the first steps up, with Harper watching her every move. It was tricky but soon accomplished, and Harper took his first steps up, taking care not to do anything stupid.
Beka suddenly looked down the back street. "Harper, freeze," she motioned, and Harper stopped for a second. "The guards are coming, they are about twenty meters away, hurry," she said with haste.
Harper quickened his movements and scrambled up the boxes, he then jumped up to reach the final bit and his hands got hold of the window ledge. He could now hear the guards and he decided it was too risky to try and pulled himself into the room so instead he pressed in against the wall, and thanked his lucky stars that he had worn all black that day. Hearing Beka whispering morale support, and an update on the guard's progress, Harper knew he was hidden against the darkness of the wall, the guards wouldn't look up, but his arms were beginning to tire, and guards seemed to be in no hurry.
Harper moved his hand, to try and get a firmer grip, and he felt the strain now, and beads of sweat ran down his face. His full weight was now felt in his hands as they struggled to keep a grip, but he knew he had to hold on. The next thing Harper heard was Beka saying that the guards had passed and he then felt himself being pulled up, feeling hands grabbing hold of him as he leaned over the ledge, before Harper felt the floor of the room, and he lay back to recover his composure and energy. Sitting up he reached for his pocket and quickly found his meds, needing to ease the tension he felt in his lungs, as the pain threatened to return with the stress of hanging from a third floor ledge.
"That was too close," Harper panted, but he now wore a smile.
"Like old times," Beka agreed, also seeming to enjoy the moment.
"Are you crazy?" Dani protested.
Harper sat up, still grinning. "Come on, you gotta enjoy it, babe, what else can we do?"
"You use to live like this?" Dani asked.
Harper shrugged and looked at Beka. "Sometimes we had to," he answered.
"Now, just like in the past," Beka declared. "I hate bad smells, and you two, I can't even imagine what you've been doing to stink up this room this badly, both of you, go shower, before I throw you both back out that window," Beka ordered.
"Beka, kinky, wanna join us?" Harper hinted with a cheeky grin.
"Harper," Beka warned lightly.
"Ok, ok, going to shower, with Dani," he grinned. "I like this now a lot better than in the past when you used to order it," he stated, grabbing Dani around the waist, bringing a more relaxed smile to the girl that had been absent since they had arrived on the drift.
"Just try and keep the noise down, I am supposed to be on my own in here," Beka sighed as she took a seat, almost resigned now to the couple status she saw before her but appreciating Harper's actions knowing that Dani was genuinely scared and confused. Beka could never handle panicked beings very well at the best of times, and she watched as they both soon disappeared into the bathroom like a couple of teenage kids, bringing even a smile to her face.
The talk had long lost its appeal so much so that Dylan no longer knew what was being discussed. He was distracted, and almost disappointed, it had been almost a day now of endless talks at the conference and so far, no trouble from Yussuf. Security had done its job, and Yussuf had not disrupted anything, but Dylan also knew that there could be another explanation for the lack of action, and that was that Yussuf had discovered that Dani was not on Ipcres.
All along they had assumed Yussuf had wanted to disrupt the conference for his own power games, but maybe they had misjudged his dedication to Dani. As he sat there, bored by all the talk, Dylan now wished he had gone with Rhade, and he crossed his arms to show his agitation.
"Dylan, people are wondering why you seem so unhappy to be here," Trance whispered.
"Let them wonder," Dylan simply responded. "Our crew are in trouble and I'm sat here making nice and eating little fancies," he hissed with disgust.
"We are here to discuss the very real threat of the world ship," Rommie now pointed out. "We should not loose sight of this fact."
"And if I have no crew to fight the world ship with, we've already lost our edge," Dylan said with passion, and both Rommie and Trance failed to respond.
Suddenly the room became a flurry of confusion as two blasts sounded from outside the conference room, and Dylan was immediately to his feet, almost relieved for the distraction, and with Rommie and Trance, he hurried to the nearest exit to investigate.
TBC