Chapter 7
Regin had been pouring over the information from the disks for ages now. Most of the items listed appeared to have been well and truly lost to everyone, the Federation included. The bonus had been half a dozen files that that been lifted from an old Supreme Commander's private data bank. Most was encrypted, except a couple of lines in each paragraph. What on Earth was IMIPAC, he thought to himself, jotting down the information. It gave a grid reference that he would check out sometime. Then there at the end was another acronym, ORAC. This had a cross reference to another file. He would have to try and tap into the Federation data banks to locate that file, but to do that he would need to find someone with more knowledge than himself. Damn! So much for an easy find. Oh, well, he'll try for the IMIPAC. He tapped in the grid reference and left the computer to sort through the information.
When he returned, steaming coffee in hand, it had spat up the data. He sat down to read it. The planet seemed unremarkable, nothing of note except an old base from many years ago. An escaped criminal apparently crashed on the planet and that was the last entry, except for a brief note made by the Supreme Commander that under no circumstances was any Federation ship to come close to this planet. It was basically off-limits to all Federation.
Now why would that be, he wondered, sitting back and staring off into space. He pursed his lips. He was fully restocked. He could make a long space journey. He punched in the data and asked for a flight plan. Three weeks away. Yes, he could make that fine. But where to then? He punched in further data and viewed it. There were a couple of planets only a couple of weeks away where he could replenish supplies and possibly pick up a few jobs. Yes, it could be a worthwhile trip. Well, there was little point wondering about it any more. Either he goes or he doesn't. It seemed foolish to pass up an opportunity. With that he set the co-ordinates, rechecked the ship over once more, and lifted off.
The planet was as unremarkable as the data had stated as Regin viewed it on the screen. It seemed pleasant enough though; climate mild, atmosphere breathable. He set the ship down near the remains of what must have been the old base mentioned. He could see no sign of life though. He pursed his lips and thought. Should he take his chances and go out and look? He couldn't think why anything the Federation thought was important would be here. He decided to go, being certain to be armed even though there appeared to be no danger.
He wandered around a bit, checking things over. Most was just empty, broken down buildings. Then he came across something that made him pause. There before him was a vegetable patch, set out neatly in rows. He carefully looked around him. Where there was a garden there would be a gardener. It was looked after carefully, with no signs of neglect or time for weeds to encroach upon it. So the owners were still here and nearby, but where? He scanned the area. The nearest building was a small hut over to the right. The windows were all intact and clean – a dead give-away amongst the ruin and dereliction around them. There was no movement from it so he cautiously took a step towards it and then paused. Still no movement, so he continued on his way slowly.
He stopped at the door. Should he knock? Well, it would be the polite thing to do. As long as the owners don't believe in shoot first, ask questions later. With a shrug he knocked loudly. There was no answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. Cautiously, he turned the handle and pushed it open, putting his head through to look around.
"Hello?" he called.
There was no reply. The interior was clean and well looked after. Everything was tidily put in its place. He stepped into the room and walked around. He reached out a hand and touched a delicate sculpture of a bird.
"What do you want?" the low, quiet voice behind him made him jump and spin round. There behind him was a woman; small, petite, dark hair greying, possibly around 40 years old, and holding what was obviously a weapon. Which was pointed directly at him. He slowly raised his hands.
"Who are you?" she asked again, very calmly, her voice indicating no other emotion.
"My name's Regin." he answered.
"What do you want?"
"I.. uhm," He paused, uncertain of what to say. "I didn't know there was anyone here."
"Then why did you come?"
He thought for a moment and then decided to take the plunge. "I came looking for something. I thought I might find it here."
"What?"
"It's called IMIPAC. I don't know exactly what it is but I gather it's some kind of weapon."
"Why do you want it?"
"To sell."
A hardness crept over her face. "Why?"
"Well, if the Federation want it so badly then I could sell it to others. I don't want the Federation to get it. I just can't figure out why they left it here in the first place."
"They didn't have much choice. We made them."
"You!" His astonishment was ill concealed.
"Yes. I and my …husband."
"You have IMIPAC?"
"We do. And we made it quite clear to the Federation that we were prepared to use it if they did not leave us alone."
"So that's why the ban was put on this planet!"
"Yes," The quiet voice answered. "You are not from the Federation?" she said, lowering the weapon.
"No, not at all. I just thought I could find some of the things that have gone missing from the Federation, see if they're still around, maybe sell them to the rebellion. I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to think the Federation would get their hands on these things."
"Are you part of the rebellion?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Yet you don't like the Federation?"
He shrugged. "Most people don't, but unless you can fight a fight you can win, you only end up dead, and usually for nothing."
She motioned for him to sit, setting the weapon down and moving to pour out two drinks. She handed one to him. "You sound as though you know of this. Isn't it better to be free?"
He took a sip. "Of course it is. But what's the point in being dead? You're no free-er then."
She sat opposite him. "True, but you should fight for what you believe in."
"I don't know what I believe in anymore. My mother always fought for everything, she would have fought on. And my father…" he grimace. "Well, he fought all the time against the Federation - and ended up dead for his troubles."
"You are angry at him for doing so?"
Regin looked up. "I guess. I still feel his place was with us."
"We all must follow where our hearts take us."
"How did you come to be here?" he asked. "I thought there was no-one living here."
"I was a slave. Kasar brought me with him when he escaped from the Federation."
"Kasar?"
"Yes. He made IMIPAC. He was quite mad."
"What happened to him?"
"The Federation killed him. But he had set me free before he died, so I was no longer a bond slave but a free woman."
"How did you survive here?"
"I was protected. By the man who became my husband."
"Who was he?"
"He came with the Federation, but he was not one of them. He saved me and then we used IMIPAC to force the Federation to leave us alone. I had nowhere else to go so I wanted to remain here. He stayed with me. We have had a very good life here."
"You're not going to give me IMIPAC, are you?"
She shook her head. "It is too dangerous, and it is the only protection we have. The Federation may always decide to return."
Regin nodded and finished the last of his drink. "It doesn't matter. At least the Federation won't have it and that makes me feel a lot better. Thank you for your hospitality. I won't let anyone know you're here."
"Thank you for that. Can you find your way back to your ship?"
"Yes, thank you."
She held a hand out to him. "Good luck. I hope you finally find your destiny."
Regin took her small, delicate hand in his. "Maybe I will. You never told me your name?"
She smiled sweetly, "Rashel."
"Goodbye, Rashel."
He made his way back to the ship and settled down. Rashel had been so calm, such an innocent soul. As the ship fired up and began to lift off, he switched on the viewer. Rashel had come out to see him off and as the ship rose higher another figure joined her – a taller, broader figure.
Something in the walk and the stance, struck Regin violently. He zoomed the viewer to maximum as the ship ascended rapidly. The face that came into focus briefly shocked him – for although it was older, greyer, fuller, and more lined, it seemed so very familiar to his childhood memories. He stared at the viewer long after the planet was no more than a pinprick of light amongst the multitude.
"I've found something!" Zev's shout roused them all, no matter where in the ship they were. Even if he hadn't used the intercom, the excitement in his voice would probably still have carried it through out the vessel.
From all directions they converged on the flight deck; Veril wiping hands on a towel from the galley, Calan with a screwdriver still in hand from the engine room, Kerran rubbing sleep from tired eyes.
Zev looked up as they approached, enthusiasm sparkling in his eyes.
"Look!" he said, pointing at the monitor in front of him. After a long period of time Zev had finally managed to complete his machine and had begun the delicate task of reading the damaged computer components they had salvaged from Xenon. Most had proved useless, or so severely damaged they were beyond his limited ability, but he had gathered a few bits of information. Every bit had been of interest for them but never had Zev sounded so excited.
They all peered closely at the monitor. The information kept breaking into myriad bits as the components were scrambled but some of it remained readable.
"There!" Zev said, halting the scrolling information and tapping the screen. A fragment of a sentence remained amidst the nonsense.
Veril read it out loud. "….the trail appears .. end .. Guada …. so that is where we will go. From there, who knows? What…."
"Well?" Zev queried, asking the others their opinion.
"I don't know. Do we have any other information?" Kerran asked.
Zev shook his head. "Nothing to give a clearer picture of what it all means. It talks of a trail but I don't know what for or anything else. There's no mention of it amongst any of the other stuff. But it definitely gives the name of something, maybe a planet – Guada."
"And it says they were going to go there." put in Calan. "So I think that's our clue."
Zev fiddled some more with the controls.
"Any luck?" Veril asked, walking in.
He shook his head. "Nothing so far."
"What have we got?" Veril asked, unzipping her jacket. Zev streadfastedly refused to look up and get distracted.
"Nothing more than the word 'guada'." he replied.
Veril grimaced. "That's just not enough to narrow things down. The computer pulled up nearly 100 names with 'guada' forming part of it – from planets to countries to cities to ships. We need something more."
"I know." Zev agreed. "I think we could hazard a guess that we are looking for a planet but we could be wrong."
"Even then, we've got more than a couple of dozen planets to choose from," Veril put in. "And they stretch from one end of the known sectors to the other. We could spend a lifetime trying to see them all."
"I'll keep trying." Zev said, fiddling some more.
"Oh, Zev," Veril said, stepping closer and laying her hand on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to imply that you weren't doing your best. If anyone can find something more from these scraps, it's you. Without you, we wouldn't even have had this much."
Veril's touch seemed to burn right through the jacket material to heat his skin. He looked up into her face, her bright blue eyes looking back. He put one hand up to cover hers resting on his shoulder, taking it in his, and keeping hold rose to his feet.
"Veril," he began, when he was interrupted by the hum of the outer door opening, and the sound of footsteps. He let go of Veril's hand, turning with an unspoken curse at this unwelcome interruption. Kerran stepped onto the flight deck.
"How's things?" she asked.
Zev abruptly turned his back and sat down again as Veril moved away. "Slow." he replied, making every effort to not let his frustration show in his voice. He had to tell himself sternly that it wasn't Kerran's fault to have walked in just when he had finally got up the courage to tell Veril how he felt about her.
"So nothing more?" Kerran asked, coming closer and reading the monitor next to him that was capturing the distorted signals from the damaged equipment as Zev triggered it.
He shrugged. "Nothing that hasn't already been mentioned. The rest is so scrambled the computers can't even take a guess at it."
Kerran frowned, slipping her jacket from her shoulders and tossing it on the console before sitting. "If only we had some way of narrowing things down." she muttered, brow creasing.
Veril reached over and picked up Kerran's jacket, gave it a quick flick and hung it neatly over the back of a chair. Kerran flashed her a quick apologetic smile for her laziness.
"We just don't know enough to even hazard a guess." Veril said, seating herself on the other side of Zev. "None of us know anything more of what or where they went after Xenon."
"I know, I know," Kerran said, waving a hand in the air in frustration. "Doesn't mean I don't wish we did!"
"Did what?" Calan asked as he entered at the end of the conversation.
"Know anything more of where they were going." Kerran put in. There was no need to explain who 'they' were. "Any ideas on your part?"
Calan shrugged fluidly. "None. I'm probably more in the dark than any of you." Considering Calan's isolated upbringing the others had to acknowledge that as probably true.
"Let's review the fragments we've got." Veril suggested. "Even a single word may give us another idea."
Kerran grimaced at the thought, she didn't enjoy pouring over monitors and researching.
"It's worth the time." Calan said, agreeing with Veril.
"Can't hurt," Zev said also, although Kerran knew Zev would agree with just about anything Veril said, even if just to make sure that Veril wasn't left alone with Calan.
Oh, well, she thought, outnumbered again. "Okay." she said, resignedly. "Let's set up a roster and take it one at a time. Who wants to go first?"
"I will." Veril said, volunteering.
"All right, I've been making some enquiries. There's a short freighter run of some Spirian cloth into the next sector, probably a two week round trip. Why don't we take that on?"
"It will give us time to go through these tapes again and not be too far out of our way if we find anything." Calan agreed.
"Any other thoughts?"
Veril and Zev shook their heads. "Sounds good to me. Gives us some income while we research." he said.
"Great." Kerran said. "Calan, you come with me and we'll get this sorted. Zev, Veril, get things started for loading."
"Right." and they went about their business.
They were heading back after the drop off, everyone gathered around the flight deck in various poses of relaxation. Warming cups of beverage steamed in all hands.
"So, what's the verdict?" Zev asked, taking a sip of his drink, feet propped up on a console, well clear of any delicate workings.
"We don't seem to have come up with anything different to what we did before." Veril said, sounding dejected. She was perched delicately on the arm of one of the flight chairs.
"May be, may be not." Calan spoke up, musingly.
"Why?" Kerran asked from the other side of the console, elbows resting on the top.
"Perhaps we've been approaching this the wrong way." he replied.
"What's the right way?" Veril asked.
"Well," Calan took another sip, his eyes unfocused as he thought. "Perhaps we should just try running a word match through the computer and see what it comes up with as a destination."
"That would take forever!" Zev said scornfully.
Calan looked over at him. "Not really. One word we're fairly certain of as the destination is 'guada', and we are pretty certain we're looking for a planet. All we now need to do is run the deciphered fragments we have through the computer, linked to that word and see what comes up."
"But what if the word we need isn't one of those we've deciphered?" Kerran asked.
Calan shrugged. "Then we don't get our answer." he replied pragmatically.
"Fair enough, I suppose." Kerran said, standing up. "Zev?"
"Already on it." he replied, swinging his feet down to the floor and pulling his chair closer to the board. His fingers began flying over the keys before him. "I'll program the computer to take everything we've got and link it to 'guada', either before or after and bring up matches or likely matches. There," he hit a final key and leant back. "That should do it."
"How long will it take?" Veril asked, moving over to him.
"Only a few moments I'd imagine," and sure enough the sound of a bell alerted them to the computers response. No-one moved for a moment, uncertainty holding them back.
Kerran suddenly leant forward and hit a monitor screen button. "Let's see what we have."
The monitor lit up showing a list of half a dozen names, but the one that caught their eyes was the largest print and flashing. This was the computer's likeliest match. They all stared silently at it, as it continued to pulse brightly.
"Well," Calan said, letting out an audible breath of air. "That looks like where we're going." The screen continued to flash out the words: Guada Prime.
"What do we know about Guada Prime?" Kerran asked.
Veril was already sitting at another console tapping in the query. "It's had quite a chequered history; started off as a colony planet, settled as a farming/agricultural community, then it became a mining planet after a Federation survey team discovered it was rich in natural mineral deposits. There appears to be something of an issue there, all laws were rescinded at that time." She tapped a further query and gasped as she read the stats before her. She looked up at the others with horror-filled eyes. "Most of the farming families were either killed or forced to leave! How could that happen?"
Kerran leant over her to read also. "It was a way for the Federation to exploit the planet's resources."
"How?" Veril questioned, bewildered.
Calan answered her, "By rescinding all law on the planet that meant that the mining companies could do whatever they liked and the farmers would have no avenue of protection."
"But…but that's murder!" Veril had learnt soon enough that the Federation was ruthless but this blatant murder of innocents shook her to her very soul.
"The Federation don't care how they get what they want," Kerran said quietly. "As long as they get it. What happened next?"
Veril dragged her mind back to the present and away from the horrifying past. She scanned the information. "It was a mining town for the next 20 odd years and then went under martial law."
"Martial law?" Zev spoke up. "I thought law had been thrown out?"
"The day of the bounty hunter." Calan put in quietly. Zev looked over at him for further explanation. "The only way to enforce the law on a lawless planet is to have the bounty hunters do it. Once law was established they would be able to rejoin the Federation."
"But the Federation was the one doing it all!"
"That's right, but who's to prove that?"
"What then?" Kerran prodded Veril.
Veril shook her head as she read the last of the information with pursed lips. "Nothing much else. The mining closed down only a couple of years later – too costly to keep it going. There's only small communities left on it now." She quirked an eyebrow at the irony of it. "Mostly farmers."
"So it all goes back to the land." Calan said philosophically.
"There's one thing." And the tone in Veril's voice alerted them all to a find. She looked up at them. "During the period of martial law a rebellion was put down." They took this news in silence. This couldn't be a coincidence.
"Well," Kerran said. "I think that decided us, doesn't it?"
"You bet!" Zev said firmly.
"Okay. Punch in the co-ordinates for Guada Prime.