"I see him!"
With a cord plugged into the back of Gazelle's head leading to one of the ship's monitors, the rest of the racers can see what Gazelle is seeing, x-ray vision and all. And sure enough, there's the doctor at the very top room of the ship, with his trademark spiked fox-ear style hair and big red scarf. It looks like he's just sitting in what would be his office, looking over a few notes, like he's just having a normal day at work.
Jack moves over to the telescope and asks if he can look through it too. Confused, Gazelle lets him look through the telescope to see the side of the ship. "I can't see him…", Jack says.
There's an awkward pause, as the other confused or annoyed racers are now on the monitor, since Gazelle is looking at them. "Who's gonna tell him?", Gazelle asks the others.
Jack then comes up from the telescope, looking apologetic. "Oh, sorry, I must've broke it. I'll just…", he says as he moves away sheepishly.
Clash is looking at the schematics that Terry gave them, and is trying to piece together a path through the ship that won't get them caught, as Gazelle goes back to the telescope. "So it looks like the medical bay can only be accessed with an elevator from the end of the hallway. Luckily, that elevator goes to every floor of the craft, so as soon as we get inside, we've got a clear shot to his office."
"Not so fast, Teddy", James pipes in. ("Please don't call me Teddy.") "That elevator almost certainly has a lock of some kind, like a keypad or something. ("I didn't go to engineering school for a decade to be called Teddy.") So we'll need to figure out that combination before we can get in there."
"So we just get the key, go up there, get the doc, and head for the exit?", Monique asks.
"Assuming you don't have a legion of goons chasing you down, yea", James says. "If we go about this stealthily, we should get in and out before they even know we're there. We just have to figure out how to get on."
"Well, the only path onto the ship that wouldn't raise suspicion is the crew's transport ship. Can we sneak on there?", Monique asks.
"Mmmmm, maaaaaaybe", James says, deep in thought, "How about some of us go down to the planet's surface, find some work uniforms, then get on board the transport ship? Then you can find the code for the elevator on the ship, head up to the medical station, and get him out of there."
"What if he's uncooperative?", Monique wonders. James answers her question by sliding her a small pistol. "Tranq 'em. Then you can just get him out like a corpse. Find where they keep the bodybags, an operation like this always has them, hide him in there, and we'll come get you. Thanks to those stealth drops Teddy got us ("Oh my god, why?"), if I go slow enough, I can get all the way into the loading bay without tripping the radar, and you can just climb in and we're gone."
Monique picks up the tranquilizer gun and examines it closely. She's never held a gun before, since Super Arrow tends to stay away from guns. Unfortunately, the gun fires when she presses a panel on the side, firing silently right at Gazelle. The tiny projectile flies right into Gazelle's titanium body, but since it doesn't actually touch his organic body, he doesn't even notice. Jody looks up from her tablet, and takes the gun away from her, holstering it to her hip. "I'm a little more trained in this kind of thing, I'll handle that."
James turns to Jody, "By the way, did you figure out any info on that kid you ran into?"
"Well, I found out a lot about him, but nothing that really helps us. Apparently the kid's really good at engineering and astronomy. Multiple-time science fair champion, couple of patents in his name, he's even name-dropped a couple of us as inspirations. But no connections with Black Shadow, besides living a couple planets away from a base of his. No missing period in his timeline, nothing really sketchy at all. There's no guarantee he wasn't just mimicked or something, but I've got nothing on him."
"It was me that was his inspiration, right?", Zoda asks, narcissistically.
"I sure hope not. Let me pull that one back up… he said Falcon, Mr. EAD, and… oh hey, you're in here, Clash!" This makes Clash sit up in his chair, beaming with prime.
"Alright, I think we have a solid little plan, but who's actually going down there?", Monique asks.
"Well, Jody's a no-brainer, but we should send the least conspicuous-looking people possible. Like, people who just look like normal workers, who can blend in with those around them. So, that would probably be Jody, Teddy (*grumble*), and maybe Monique for some extra protection."
Clash realizes the implications of such a thing and is a bit nervous. "Um, you're sure that's a good idea, James?"
"Yea, if we need to get into the medical bay, you can say something medically convincing and get us in."
"James, I'm not that kind of doctor. I'm an engineer, not a medical doctor."
"Well, yea, sure, but you look and sound smart, and that'll get you really far on operations like this. My partner Slappy does that sort of thing all the time on our missions."
"Don't worry, Doc", Jody says, patting him on the back. "We'll take good care of ya."
"Yea, Jody might be better with weapons then me", Monique says, "but I can more than hold my own in a fight, remember what happened in the terminal?"
"Oh yea, I do remember. Thanks for that, by the way", Clash says sheepishly.
The two women head off to get prepped, while Clash stays behind to talk to James. "Hey, is there any way, one of you guys can come too?"
"Sorry Teddy, I…"
"Please stop calling me that, it sounds so silly, and I like Clash or just Doc better!", Clash blurts out, almost so fast, he doesn't realize he's saying it.
"Oh, sorry Doc. But still no. I have to fly the ship into position, Gazelle is gonna watch you three from here, so we can offer ground support, Zoda would just kill everyone ("haha… yea…"), and Jack would instantly get recognized again. And if we send fewer people, you'll be way too outnumbered. It's you three. Sorry, Doc."
Gazelle offers a weak thumbs-up to him, which Jack joins in to be helpful and Zoda confusedly joins as well, just because everyone else is doing it.
"Why are we doing this?", Zoda asks Gazelle.
"He's afraid to talk to girls", he replies quietly enough for Clash not to hear.
"Seriously? Clash, you're old enough to be my dad, and they're not even trying to kill you back. Just talk to them like you do to your boyfriend over here ("hey…"), and get on with it."
Clash just rolls his eyes and walks out of the room; if it had been that easy, this wouldn't have been a problem for the last fifty years. Gazelle shoots a glare at Zoda and shakes his head in disappointment.
It takes the three of them a bit to get ready, but luckily there are clothing options on the ship that won't get them spotted on the ground. Slappy is big as well so Clash can fit in his clothes, and the same goes for Jay being tall for Monique to fit into his clothes. Once they're suited up, Jody picks up a few more rounds for her new tranq gun and they head onto the ship. Jody gets into the pilot seat, Monique sits at the navigational chair, and Clash sits in the turret. He's not expecting to have to use it, but it's isolated from everyone else. He can still hear everyone on the communicators that they have, but he still doesn't have to talk to Jody or Monique.
Before long, the transport ship whirs to life and leaves the Big Wyvern, heading for Zorok. They have to come at the planet from a wide angle, so as to not pop up on the station's radar. The angled path works, as it seems like the ship has no idea it's even there. Once they get into the pull of the planet, they fly low on the planet's surface to avoid planet-based radar detection.
"Alright, guys", chimes in James on the communicator. "We saw a couple of ships head toward where you are now, about 20 miles ahead of your location. Go until you're about a mile away from the base, or closer if you can land undetected. Disembark, and travel the rest of the way on foot."
"Roger that, let's keep communications to a minimum, that way they can't trace us as well. Out", Jody speaks, already speaking in hushed tones to keep her voice low on the radio frequency.
The three fly across the planet's surface, a mostly barren place with a few small pockets of water and vegetation, which unfortunately, makes for very few spots to hide a medium-sized ship like theirs. They find a little patch of forest about two-thirds of a mile away from one of the planet's many basecamps. They disembark the ship, and the first thing they notice is that the air is very thin, almost like they're in a high-altitude place on Earth. The limited amount of plants have begun the process of photosynthesis, and the planet is at least hospitable for the more able-bodied people who're helping create this new world.
However, Dr. Clash is not one of those people, and hurries back onto the ship when he gets a taste of the thin air. "Nope, I can't make it all the way there like this, this'll kill me. You'll have to go without me", he says, jumping at the potential to sit this particular mission out. The two ladies follow him back onto the ship and find him panting and gasping for air. Monique goes to put a hand on his back for moral support (which only seems to tense him up more), while Jody takes a more practical approach, and starts looking for some kind of breathing device.
"Don't worry Doc, we're not gonna let anything bad happen to you. Jody's gonna find you a rebreather, and then everything should be fine", Monique says in a soft, soothing voice. Clash looks like he's on the verge of a panic attack, breathing in and out, almost to the point of hyperventilation.
"It's not that… it's just… that…", he stammers out before he's interrupted by Jody, excitedly finding a rebreather. It's compact enough to literally just cover his nose, and made from a material that can simply merge with his glasses to stay comfortably secured on his face.
Clash looks up at the women, still a bit panicked, but noticing the kindness they're showing him. Monique is trying to help him emotionally, while Jody is helping him physically. He gingerly reaches out, takes the breathing apparatus, and attaches it to his glasses, letting a rush of oxygen reach his brain. He inhales deeply, lets out a deep breath, and thinks about what they need to do.
"Thank you, ladies. Let's do this."
