Chapter 17

There were two people standing on the rear deck of the largest oil tanker ever constructed, but the early morning light barely illuminated their faces. Sarah Spencer drew no pleasure from the bright yellow/orange hues in the sparse cirrus clouds overhead. The beautiful early morning display was no match for the disturbing sight of several small boats being launched from Neville Sage's attack fleet.

"Everything ready?" she asked the man beside her.

"Yes Doctor" Fariz Amran replied "All the weapons between here to the Railguns main ramp have been removed and hidden."

"Good; I don't want Sage to get his hands on them" Sarah nodded.

"If I know Sage, he already has more than enough armament to take over this place" an unexpected third voice declared.

"April! What are you doing here?"

Sarah and Fariz were both surprised to see April Diaz walking out of the nearest door with her new baby in her arms.

"Are you kidding? There is no way I'm gonna just sit on my butt back at base and fret about what is going on down here. Better to face Sage now than wait and worry" April noted.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to have the baby here?" Fariz asked.

"After what happened sixteen years ago with Blue, I don't let any of my kids out of my sight till they can walk."

"Really?" Sarah was not sure if this was exaggerating or not.

"Oh yes; Abigail and Saffron went everywhere with me on Mars no matter what Olive Roux and the Leadership Council had to say."

"Have you thought of a name for her yet?" Sarah asked.

"I have to talk to Luis first, but I'm thinking Rose Talon Dias."

"Rose Talon" Sarah thought "I think Olive Roux would be pleased to know her son was being remembered in this way."

"I know it sounds a bit odd, but just imagine if Olive had named her son Thorn instead of Talon; my daughter would have been Rose Thorn" April smiled.

"Never, and I mean never make that joke again" Sarah ordered while trying to wipe the smirk off her face.

The baby reminded Fariz of his own granddaughter and he found it hard to look away from the sleeping bundle. But there were more pressing matters at hand and when he managed to take a glance out to sea, he knew the time had come to leave their viewing point.

"Here they come; let's get down to the dock" he suggested.

After a long walk down through the ships lower deck, the trio plus one took a small electric vehicle all the way to the open bow of the ship before walking down the ramp to the beach. The first few boats were just tying up at the small dock and armed raiders were already advancing towards the shore. The man leading them raised his pistol when he saw the approaching people but quickly lowered it again when he noticed he was pointing the deadly weapon at a woman carrying a baby.

"Guns down but eyes open" the man told the men behind him.

"Giving orders? You must be the guy in charge of this group" April acknowledged.

"Carson Rake ma'am" the man nodded.

"I see you lead from the front" April smirked "Unlike Sage who would rather hold back until the coast is clear.

"Don't think for a minute you'll be able to try and turn me against General Sage Doctor Spencer; yes we're here to secure the area, but the General is no coward. The lives of my friends and family depend on what happens here and General Sage is the only person who can tell us if you have our best interests at heart or not."

"Fair enough but I'm not Doctor Spencer; that honour goes to this pretty lady to my left. I am April Dias and the gentleman to my right is Fariz Amran."

"Dias? Yes I've heard about you" Rake said looking down over his nose.

"Nothing good I'm sure" April nodded.

"No but as I said, I'm here to secure the area so if there are any more of your people nearby, I strongly suggest you tell me now before there are any unfortunate incidents."

"There are a few people working on the ship, but they are unarmed and just getting ready for your eventual space shot" Sarah said stepping forward.

"Perhaps you could... shall we say... introduce me to them?" Rake asked in a way that said it would be unwise to refuse his request.

"Fariz, would you mind?" Sarah asked.

"Certainly Doctor Spencer; this way gentlemen" Fariz Amran invited.

Before leaving, Rake turned back to where the boats were being secured and called out.

"WE'RE GOING TO SECURE THE SHIP COLONEL!"

The leader of the men from the second boat nodded and waved to give the okay. As one group of armed raider departed along the dock, the second soon approached.

"Colonel Joshua Cook" the leader introduced himself politely so Sarah and April did likewise.

"Beautiful baby" the Colonel smiled warmly.

"Thank you and she is very special" April nodded.

"How so ma'am?" Cook asked.

"She is the only one of my four children Sage has not tried to murder... yet."

This snide remark left a sour taste in Cook's mouth and a sour look on his face.

"I can assure you ma'am that we are here only to get an important job done; not to cause trouble and certainly not to murder anyone."

"We'll see" April gave a not so friendly smile "I can believe you but you have to remember this; I know Sage too well."

"Nice try ma'am" Cook sneered and removed the radio from his belt. "We have the area secured sir; you may begin your landing."

"Will Professor Adisa and the other prisoners be coming ashore now?" Sarah asked, knowing they would not.

"General Sage did exactly what you requested. Adisa was released days ago with Captain Branson and Henry Dias; they are currently waiting for someone to retrieve them from Keriri Island in the Torres Straight."

Pretending she did not already know, Sarah dropped her shoulders and sighed.

"I'm not surprised" April stated "as I said, I know Sage very well indeed."

"Does your General have any objections to us sending a boat to pick them up?"

"I'm sure he will allow it... in time."

"If we cooperate" April smiled sweetly.

Cook did not answer but instead gave a similar false grin in return.

'

'

DeGroot felt good stepping onto the One and All again; and although he would never admit it, he like it even more knowing Captain Branson was not onboard. DeGroot had nothing against Reed Branson, but the ships true captain did tend to shout a lot.

"Good to see you again Mister Sumner" Blue smile and shook the older man's hand.

"Its Captain Sumner now" Haley nodded.

"Jack will do" he smiled "Good work finding them Haley; pity about the girls but at least now we have a lead."

"So what now Cap'n?" Haley asked.

"We send word to Sumatra; follow me."

Jack led the group past all the other sailors, happy to see their friends again, down into the hull and further down into the false tube keel. Being much bigger than the one installed on the Star Runner, everyone could stand upright without fear of cranial injury.

"Would you like to do the honours Miss Robinson?" Jack gestured towards the comms computer.

"With pleasure" Haley replied,

As soon as she had sat down she typed 'Capacitors at 70%' on the keyboard.

"This is our pass code" Haley explained "All ships departing from the Railgun Site are given one."

"Why do you need a pass code?" Blue asked.

At that very moment, a short sequence of numbers and letters appeared on the screen.

"That's why" Jack informed them "The fact that they sent those numbers instead of replying means something is wrong. My guess is Sage has arrived."

"First number is 5, so you're right there, the second is 17.2 but I can't remember what that means."

Checking his note book, Jack Sumner looked up the code number.

"Oh... that's good; 17 is help on the way, and the point 2 means two ships."

"Wow; and we hadn't even asked yet" Blue noted. "What's the last sequence?"

"27R-IP" Haley read out.

"RIP? I don't like the sound of that" DeGroot shivered.

Haley could not help but laugh at DeGroot's fear.

"R means request but adding IP just means If Possible" she told him.

"And 27 means they are wondering about you" Jack said.

As Blue watched, Haley began to type the reply 'A/m, B/f, C/m, D/f.'

"What on Earth does that mean?" DeGroot wondered.

"If it means what I think it means..." Blue started but wasn't sure.

"Come on smart boy" Haley smiled "Tell me what you think it means."

"A B C and D must be the four you were looking for, so I'd assume 'f' means found and 'm' means... um... missing?"

"Oh you are good" Haley nodded.

DeGroot stared at the screen for a while before the penny dropped.

"Oh; Abigail, Blue, Calla and DeGroot" he stated the obvious.

"Well I suppose we'd better prepare to shove off again" Jack decided "We'll pick up some supplies while we're here, then we'll sail down the coast to pick up the others. We'd sent out several searchers to look for you."

Stepping out onto the aft deck once more, Blue looked over the small ship with a worried look on his face.

"Captain, what is the crew compliment of the One and All?"

"Twelve including myself; why?"

"I was just thinking, we don't know anything about the other two ships coming to help us. If they're roughly the same size as this ship, it means we'll have no more than forty people when we go to rescue Calla and Abigail; and I don't think that'll be enough."

"Try not to worry about it too much now" Jack reassured Blue "Best we wait and see, then make decisions about how to proceed."

"I guess you're right" Blue agreed but he still didn't feel any better.

While some of the crew took a walk up the cliff road to fetch some supplies, the rest spent the morning doing the kind of maintenance that was much easier to do while still tied to a dock. Up at the ship's bow, Haley had finished cleaning each sheet winch and was just starting to coil the ropes, when a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Excuse me miss, may I have a word?"

Haley turned and smiled at the familiar face.

"Hi Joe; if you're looking to earn more money, I've already given you all I had" she said.

"Well I was hoping to get more; coins like those really help in a place like this" Joe admitted.

"Yes I know" Haley agreed "They come in handy anywhere people survive on trade, but they're pretty useless in other places."

"Can I ask how you got 'em in the first place?" Joe asked.

"Yup; we pick up any that we find in our travels" Haley admitted while she continued her work "In abandoned cities and towns mostly."

"I was wondering... since you're planning to come back here some day... if I could... well... come along? I'm strong and I'd work to earn my passage."

"And maybe pick up a few coins at stops along the way" Haley added.

"That's what I was thinking Miss" Joe admitted.

Haley stopped what she was doing and walked down the port side of the ship where Joe stood on the dock.

"I'll talk to Captain Sumner if you wish but know this; our plans don't include going on any treasure hunts so if you come with us, you take your chances. You may find yourself in a place where coins can be found, but you might not. Have you looked closely at my leg?"

Haley grabbed a nearby rigging shroud to steady herself as she swung her right leg above the gunwale.

"The people that made this could have just given me a lump of wood, but instead they made complex drawings, built several prototypes, tested and retested my walking style and then machined this from some very precious and rare materials. That was when I realised they were just like me, but with better tech at hand. I come from a farming community just north of the old Mexico border and we didn't do much trading there either. If something was needed, we built it; and if something was broken, we fixed it. The friends of Captain Sumner may be smarter and have more resources at their disposal, but they too do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and don't worry about having any favours returned."

"I think I see what you're saying" Joe nodded "If your Captain allows me to come along, I join the team. You all take care of me and I take care of you; no ledger kept."

"Pretty much" Haley nodded.

'

'

"Oww; I hate blisters" Calla declared as she put down her dining fork.

"We'll see about getting you some gloves for you tomorrow" one of the dinner crowd offered "Now tell us the rest of the story like you promised."

Gran may have wanted to paint the girls as selfish criminal types, but they had instead soon become minor celebrities. All around the mountain village, the people who had heard Abigail's previous talk about Mars and her adventures in space, had retold the story the following day, and now the girls found themselves surrounded by impatient listeners. Those who were not lucky enough to have a seat at the table, just stood nearby with their plates in their hands, eager to hear what Abigail and Calla had to say next.

"Now then... where were we?" Abigail wondered as she finished the last portion of her dinner.

"The ship; you'd just seen the ship" a voice behind her stated urgently.

Everyone there knew they only had a limited amount of time until Gran ordered the girls locked up for the night, so they were eager to get started.

"Ah yes; we had discovered the ship on the shores of West Sumatra" Abigail said, clearly enjoying herself. "Now this ship was where my brother was born, but when he was only a few hours old, a radio message warned the Earth First Alliance was about to attack and sink the ship."

"Why?" Someone asked.

"It was full of equipment for the Railgun Project. When that ship reached its destination, Professor Adisa and his crew would be able to extend the Railgun, enabling them to launch humans into space, and not just cargo. The big secret my mom April and the Professor did not know, was that Prime Governor Redding and the Mars Deep Council did not want the Railgun extended; they did not want more people sent to Mars."

"Why?" the same person asked and was pushed to the back by listeners who did not want to be side tracked.

"You have to remember everyone, I don't know all the reasons but it seemed to be part of a plan to keep Mars base small, so the people could be controlled more easily. Redding still needed to get the Professor and his team transported to Sumatra, so they could use the Railgun to launch supplies and tech to Mars Base One because it was partially complete. But at the same time, he needed to get my Mom off the ship so he could send her to Mars. While he wanted all the people in the right place to do their jobs, he did not want the ship to reach its destination."

"But it did" someone noted.

"Yes but we don't know how. Redding sent a helicopter to take Mom back to the United States so she could be on the next rocket to go off planet, but with an Earth First Alliance attack Drone approaching fast, she did not think it was safe. The military men sent to get her had their orders and insisted she go with them; so Mom made the awful decision to leave my brother behind on the ship. That way if her helicopter were to be shot down, at least he would survive."

Abigail leant back in her seat and took a drink of water but the waiting crowd did not care about her dry throat.

"But what happened next?" they urged her to go on.

"Acting under orders from Redding, the military faked the destruction of Mom's helicopter so Professor Adisa would think she had died. Then he and his team were evacuated to Sumatra and sealed inside the Railgun Complex for the next fifteen years; and all this time my brother was still with them. When Mom arrived in the US, she was told the ship had been sunk by the Earth First Alliance and everyone was dead; then she was sedated and taken off planet."

"And the ship?" they pushed for more information.

"It just disappeared; Redding sent forces to sink it but they lost it. We don't know for sure, but chances are the captain decided to leave his assigned course after all the trouble, and head south to avoid any more risk. In the end the Railgun Complex was sealed, Mom and about twenty other people took the last ship to Mars, and Redding assumed the ship was lost. But in fact its captain and crew somehow managed to get it all the way across the Pacific and beach it in the right place."

"And there it sat for fifteen years until me and my Dad found it" Calla interjected.

"Yes and a few months later, we saw it from orbit and my Dad realised if the ship didn't sink, then my brother hadn't died" Abigail added "and that was why Sage tried to kill us; so the people of Mars would not learn the truth about why Mars Base was so small."

Just then, a tall shadow appeared behind the group and caught everyones attention.

"Yes yes, Sage is a bastard, we all know that; now get those girls locked up" Gran ordered.

"Sorry folks; more story tomorrow after dinner" Abigail smiled.

Back in their room, Calla lay on her bed thinking. Sometimes in the dark it was too easy to become overly stressed, but right now everything seemed to be going well for the girls. Although she would not let it show, Calla had constant case of butterflies before managing to pull off Blue's escape. Now it had been achieved she felt a new calm, but it was far from perfect. Every night Calla would think about ways to mentally survive her time in the mountains, telling herself it would not be forever; it would be many months, perhaps even years, but not forever.

'

'

For some reason I am getting very frustrated. I so want to get back to writing this story but Snoggletog 2019 is only about half done. I think one more week (and a bit) and I should be finished. Fortunately I still have a dozen chapters of this one in reserve so they will still come out weekly.

Happy trails everyone :)
Marty