Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl.
I was piloting the LEP supersonic shuttle down chute E7, when I got the call from Police Plaza.My day had already been turned upside down, firstly I get reports that the B'wa Kells General Scalene has escaped from Howlers Peak Correctional Facility, then Julius gets murdered, apparently by Captain Holly Short, who has coincidentally disappeared.Anyway, there I was, suspended in Impact Gel, travelling at three times the speed of the sound, when Foaly called from the plaza.
A window opened in my visor; "The stolen shuttle is back in the chute, hovering at one-twenty-four miles." He informed me.
"I have it," I replied, as I located the dot on my radar.
I wasn't exactly certain on what I should do. Do I catch up with the shuttle? The shuttle that could possibly be transporting the accused murderer, Holly Short. Or do I stick to my original orders and change the course of the human probe?
As it turned out, the decision was made for me. A sunburst of white, yellow and orange flared on my scopes.
"We have an explosion of some kind." I relayed the information to Foaly, although he probably knew about before I did. "Was it the stolen shuttle?" I queried. There was a chance that Holly was aboard that shuttle, and murderer or not, she was one of my closest friends, and I didn't want to watch her die.
"No, Trouble." Foaly put my mind at rest; "It came from nowhere. There was absolutely nothing there. But keep your eyes open for debris."
Nothing there? Then how could it have exploded? We were being tricked somehow. But how? At least it wasn't the LEP shuttle.
The screen was littered with jagged yellow lines, as hot metal shards plummeted towards the earth's core.
I activated the shuttles nose lasers. It was highly unlikely that my vessel would be threatened, as the chute was wider than the average city at my current depth, and the debris shouldn't spread more than a mile, I had plenty of room to steer myself out of harms way.
Unless some of the debris followed me, that is. Two of the yellow streaks were veering unnaturally in my direction. The on-board computer ran a scan. Both items had propulsion and guidance systems. Missiles.
"I'm under fire," I said into my microphone, "two missiles incoming."
I wasn't sure what to think. Had Holly really turned to the bad? Was Sools ridiculous theory correct? Had Captain Short opened fire on me?
I didn't have time to dwell on the subject, not with two heat-seekers locked on my engine anyway.
I reached into the air, tapping a virtual screen, then selected the representations for both missiles, targeting them for destruction, before steering into the middle of the chute. Lasers wouldn't work unless they had a straight line of fire, so it was best to give them the largest range possible. When the missiles entered that range, the computer would hit them with a beam of laser fire.
About three minutes later, the missiles powered around the bend in the chute. I barely spared them a glance, letting the computer dispatch them.
I had more important things on my mind. I piloted the shuttle through the shock wave, the Impact Gel effectively cushioning the vibrations.
Another screen opened in my visor. The newly promoted Commander Ark Sool on a line from Police Plaza. Great. He was probably the last person I wanted to hear from, except possibly my brother, that would've been awful…
"Major, you are authorised to return fire. Use all necessary force."
I scowled, although the camera was point of view and I could see Sool, but he couldn't see me. A good thing too…
"But Commander," God he didn't deserve that promotion… Note to self, do NOT say that out loud. "Holly may be on board."
Sool raised a hand, silencing my objections. "Captain Short has made her allegiances clear. Fire at will."
Who the hell did he think he was? He didn't know Holly like I did. In fact he hardly knew her at all.
Foaly, however, was on my side. "Hold your fire, Trouble. You know Holly isn't behind all this. Somehow Opal Koboi fired those missiles."
This comment sent Sool crazy, "How can you be so blind to the truth, donkey boy? What does Short have to do to convince you she's a traitor? Send you an email?"
I watched the anger flare up in Foaly's eyes. He too, was good friends with Captain Short. This didn't stop Sool.
"She has murdered her commander, allied herself with a felon and fired on an LEP shuttle. Blast her out of the air…"
Blast my best friend to pieces? What sort of torture was this?
"No!" Insisted Foaly. "It sounds bad, I grant you, but there must be another explanation. Just give Captain Short a chance to tell us what it is."
Sool was apoplectic. "Shut up Foaly! What the hell are you doing, giving tactical orders? I'm the superior. I give the orders. Now get off the line."
Foaly ignored him, "Trouble, listen to me…" But that was all he managed to say before Ark Sool terminated the link.
It didn't matter though. I knew what he was going to say. Hold my fire.
"Now," The commander attempted to calm himself, "You have your orders, fire on that shuttle."
The shuttle in question was actually in view now. I magnified its image in my visor and immediately noticed three things:
Firstly, I could see Captain Holly Short in the cockpit, her face was drawn and defiant, but at least she was alive.
Secondly, the shuttle's communications mast was missing. Well that explained why Holly hadn't gotten in contact.
Finally, it was a transport shuttle, and not rigged for missiles. So it hadn't been Holly who opened fire on me.
"Commander Sool," I said, figuring he may be slightly interested in my observations. "I think we might have some extenuating circumstances here."
"I said FIRE!" Screeched Sool. "You WILL obey me."
I was at that second I had an idea. An idea that not only stick to my given orders, but would give Holly a chance to explain herself…
I fired, but not with an average weapon.
I watched the communications spike travel the distance between our shuttles.
Personally, I wouldn't have liked to be in Holly's position right then. For all she knew, I had just opened fire on her. But this was Holly Short, keeping her head in a crisis was what she was famous for, after all.
The spike buried itself in the stolen craft's hull.
Those spikes were a simple little contraption.
Each spike is cone-shaped, with nozzles at the base of the cone, which will erupt with a quick-drying sealant that will fill the breach the spike makes when it impales the shuttle. Then the nose cone will unscrew itself, revealing a conical speaker.
This was precisely what happened. I now had full communications with Captain Short.
"Captain Short, I have orders to blow you out of the air. Orders, which I'd just as soon as disobey. So start talking, and give me enough information to save both our careers."
I held my breath; this was Holly's chance. If she didn't take it, I was going to have to follow through with the orders given to me by Commander Sool, and open fire on her.
Thankfully, she chose to talk.
Apparently, Opal Koboi had orchestrated the entire operation, from murdering Julius, then locking Holly and Artemis in a troll infested exhibit at the Eleven Wonders, to being directly involved with the Zito probe. Typical Koboi. If I searched the chute, I'd find her and her two pixie henchmen, but I had a more important job to do.
"Ok," I said, after hearing an obviously condensed version of Holly's story, "That's enough to keep you alive for now. As much as I didn't like it, I had a procedure to follow, even if that procedure meant I had to place one of my closest friends, and all other occupants in the shuttle, under arrest. "Though officially, you, and any other passengers in your shuttle, are under arrest until we find Koboi."
There wouldn't be any hard feelings, well not between Holly and me, at any rate. Holly knew the procedure just as well as I did. I was only following orders.
I heard someone cough over the speaker. Then a voice spoke, "Excuse me. I don't believe that you have any jurisdiction over humans. Therefore it would be illegal to arrest me, or my associate."
I knew that voice. Every underground dweller knew that voice, as probably many above ground dwellers did too. It conjured fear into many fairy hearts.
Artemis Fowl. He would be the only human Holly would allow into a shuttle, except for Butler, Artemis' manservant.
I sighed, "I should've known you'd be mixed up in this, Artemis. You people are quite the team. Let's just say you're a guest of the LEP, if that makes you any happier. A retrieval squad will be after Koboi as soon as possible. Holly, follow me back to Haven."
"But Major Kelp, Trouble, I could pick up Opal myself…"
I cut across her, "You could, but for one, I don't trust you to be in the same shuttle as Miss Koboi, and two, I'm on express orders to escort you back to Haven. You're in the council's bad books as it is."
I watched her put the shuttle into gear, ready to follow me.
Holly Short following orders, this was a day with a difference.
I could only cross my fingers and hope that once the council had heard the full story, they would see things from Holly's perspective…