Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Pursuit (7 page)

"I think now would be a good time to
pull in those mines we have outside," said Captain Vol.

"The sooner, the better,
Captain," Ravine replied.  She was already imagining what it would be like
to fire a salvo of EMP torpedoes on the troublesome Confed ship and watch it
drift helplessly through space as her own ships picked it apart.

"Aah, sheifah!" yelled Web.  He
had just gotten a mild electric shock as the panel he'd been working on had
apparently decided to conduct current. 
That was definitely not a factory option
, he thought. 

"You swear like a sailor," he
heard a gruff voice from behind him.  "And I don't mean it as a
compliment."

"I never assumed you'd grace me with
praise," Web replied to the grizzly mechanic who'd been giving him a hard
time since they'd meet on the gangway of the Solar Venturer almost a week ago. 
The older man was a Drisk, with graying hair and extra pounds that his normally
very health-conscious people would never be carrying around.

"That's because you're messing with
my panel," the man replied, walking up to Web and stepping in front of
him, nudging the younger man away from the stubborn part.

Web held back a biting comment which
centered around the fact that he wouldn't be messing with the troublesome panel
if the abrasive electrical technician would have addressed it in the last two
days.  The idea was to blend in, lie low and not endanger the crew by being
somebody who was remembered in case the Primans would see fit to go snooping
around when they got to Callidor.

Instead of punching the man in the
throat, then, Web simply blew out his breath and walked off down the corridor,
thanking every deity he knew that a man like this was not his superior officer
on Avenger.

"All hands," Web heard the
captain's voice over the public address system, "we're approaching the
Lola orbital platform.  Everyone to docking stations."

Web's step gained some extra bounce at
that announcement.  Halley was finally coming aboard, after four days and one
tedious yet exhausting port call alone.  Even with her aboard, he wouldn't see
much more of her, since to preserve their cover they weren't supposed to know
each other.  Still, it would be enough just to see her again.

Web's station during docking maneuvers
was in the cargo control center amidships, where his crucial task was to stare
at the monitors which showed the status of the clamps that held the cargo pods
to the hull.  It was a waste, though, because anyone with a little systems
knowledge also knew that the clamps on the ship's side wanted to stay closed,
and had to be held open hydraulically to remove a pod.  They also failed to the
closed position, so Web essentially had nothing to do.  He managed to open up a
portal into the security system and observe the gangway feeds, watching Halley
enter the ship. 

He had given her some grief before they'd
left, complaining good-naturedly that while he was sharing a bunk as a cargo
loadmaster, she had earned a private stateroom as a hyperdrive engineer, a
cover she'd also used when they'd first met aboard the wrecked Confederation
survey ship Dyson a couple years earlier.

If she followed their plan, she'd be in a
particular restaurant on the immense orbital cargo station in a couple hours,
after the Solar Venturer had offloaded her own cargo pods.  Before they could take
on their new cargo, the ship had to be fueled, inspected, provisioned, and the
incoming pods had to pass through one last security and bio scan.  That gave
Web just enough time to meet her at their restaurant and catch up before the
next leg, which took them another three days closer to Callidor.  After that
was Callidor itself, and their mission would finally get started.

Avenger entered the Reshing system on
schedule and was escorted to an orbit above the capital planet by one of the
small empire's cruisers.  A brief diplomatic dinner for Captain Elco followed,
during which he did as ordered and presented an overview of the Priman
invasion; their tactics, weapons, and a timeline of events.  The briefing was
fairly grim, considering the Confederation hadn't been able to stop them and
after losing a healthy chunk of its own worlds had entered into what Elco
considered to be an unholy nonaggression treaty at the urging of Senator
Dennix.  Afterwards, he was able to convince the locals to allow shore leave
for small parties from the ship, which was really the whole point of the
exercise.

"Everyone ready for fun and
games?" asked Merritt good-naturedly as he, Cory and Loren were finishing
up the final prep on a Freedom class transport. 

"You know, Merritt," Loren
began, "I think your idea of fun and games and my idea might differ
greatly."

"I like long walks on the beach and
romantic dinners," the younger pilot replied as he nudged Cory's hip with
his own.  "You like blowing up Primans.  I'm sure we can find a way to
accommodate both."

Loren just smiled, then hit the hatch
release to close up the small ship.  Cory was already up front spooling up the
engines, and as soon as she saw Loren and Merritt were bucked in, she gently
raised the ship on its repulsor field and nudged it into the empty catapult
spot ahead of them.  The generations-old script of launching a fighter from a
mother ship was repeated once again, and seconds later the transport was out in
space, angling away from Avenger as Cory yanked up the gear and headed towards
their inbound waypoint.  The surface of the planet Reshing awaited them.

Half an hour later, the trio was walking
the streets of one of the larger cities on a southern continent that was just a
continuous chain of mountain ranges.  There were steppes and the occasional
valley, but there wasn't a flat piece of land to be found larger than the
landing pads carved out of the outlying areas around the cities. 

It was an old culture on Reshing, and it
had buildings that predated the Confederation by centuries.  Loren could have
spent days just studying the architecture of the single city they'd come to
investigate, but the small matter of trying to save the Confederation had to
come first.

The three of them wore civilian clothes;
local garments that helped them blend in well enough, and various mutual
treaties allowed them to carry their SSKs concealed in their jackets.    Though
the indigenous people were humanoid like the Confed crewmembers, they were much
taller and had two elbow joints in their arms.  Enough humanoids from other
planets lived or visited Reshing that the Confeds didn't completely jump out of
a crowd, but they weren't going to pass for locals, either.

"Alright," Loren said, taking
control of the situation as they strolled down a walkway that was only lightly
populated with other pedestrians.  He'd been given a lot of material by the
admiral, and not all of it was at a clearance level that Cory and Merritt were
allowed to see, so he had to brief them personally on some matters.  "The
first stop on Admiral Bak's scavenger hunt from Hell is the library downtown. 
We're looking for old records, materials that were intentionally put on paper
or transparent parchment."

"Why would anyone do that?"
asked Merritt.

"Because," Loren continued,
"supposedly during the last Priman war, everyone became so distrusting of
their technology that extremely sensitive documents were transcribed by hand so
no data system would contain them and thus lead to a possible breach.  All that
old stuff was just a novelty for hundreds of years, and was supposedly lost in
several different reorganizations of the place.  But the fact was that this
planet, and most likely this library, was probably one of the main repositories
of information about the final days of the conflict.  So the admiral figures
even if we don't find anything at first- and let's face it, people have
probably been here before us- if we poke around long enough we might get
somebody's attention."

"So, we're
hoping
people take an interest in us?" Cory asked slowly,
looking not entirely thrilled by the prospect.

"Yes, yes we are," replied
Loren with a smile.

The library was a study in contrasts. 
The new, modern section which the three entered was all polished stone and
reflective glass, modern and trendy, with lots of wide open spaces and natural
light.  After wandering around for a while, they found the older sections
buried far inside the complex, no longer a centerpiece as attention was focused
on the modern portions, with their top-of-the-line holographic librarian
interfaces and workstations.

The older portions of the building were
much more ornate and decorative, with heavy, dark woods and intricate
stonework.  It represented the design style of the times, a nostalgia movement
that had seen the resurgence of deep craftsmanship and the use of traditional
materials.  They walked past rows of old fashioned books, large tables with
warm light emanating from lamps on their surfaces.  Loren counted only two
other people they'd seen since they'd left the newer part of the building,
which suited him just fine.

Eventually they entered a large and open
space.  It was three stories tall, with balconies surrounding the open area on
each of the upper two floors.  More bookshelves, data pad storage and reading
tables were scattered amongst the upper levels.  An immense skylight took up
most of the ceiling, the semi-opaque windows yellowed with age.  It let in a
warm, comforting light that immediately put Loren at ease.  This was the kind
of place he could just sit down and relax and simply forget that there was a
war raging across the galaxy. 

"So what do we do," prompted
Cory, "just start picking books and data pads off shelves?"

"I wouldn't advise that,"
called a voice from among the bookcases.  They heard footsteps after that, and
soon afterwards a trim human male somewhere late in middle age stepped
energetically out into the large open space where Loren and the others were
standing.  If ever Loren had seen someone live up to the stereotype of library
curator, this man fit the bill.  He wore a close-trimmed beard, dark slacks
with a white long sleeve shirt and matching dark vest.  He wore wire rimmed eyeglasses
that Loren assumed were an affectation, since virtually everyone could have
their vision corrected by simple nanobot treatments.  Perhaps he was mildly
technophobic, as well, which might explain his residence in the more ancient
part of the building.  "There are so many topics to choose from, many of
which are not available in the newer parts of the building.  Could I help you
in selecting something?" the man asked.

Loren, Cory and Merritt were caught
mildly off-guard.  Loren had assumed they'd just be ignored and could explore
on their own, but he decided to wing it.

"Well," Loren began,
"we're in town for a little bit and I love history.  Local, galactic,
military history as well because let's be honest: the most pivotal times in
history usually happen during conflict." 

The librarian nodded patiently, waiting
for Loren to offer a request.  "So," Loren continued, "I thought
I'd stop by and force my friends here to help me look up whatever we could find
on the last big Priman war."

"Just specifically that?" the
man asked. "No other interesting times in our planet's history?  I've
lived here my whole life and can tell you that there was a very interesting
independence movement about forty years ago during which we fought with the
next system over when they decided we should both unite under one rule."

"Well," Loren demurred,
"current events and all that.  I'm just curious how they got beaten back
the first time.  I'm sure lots of people have looked around over the years, but
I'm sure I'll come across something interesting while we're here."

The librarian studied Loren for a minute,
then looked at Cory and Merritt.  "And do you two have any specific
interests?"

"My husband has something of a foot
fetish," Cory said with a straight face, "so I think we'll just help
our friend out and conduct our own research later."

The librarian turned back to Loren
without missing a beat.  "I'll go get some of the materials you're
probably interested in looking through."  He started to leave, and then
glanced back at Cory.  "And you'll be happy to know that we do have
extensive files on your topic as well.  You might want to consider spending
some time at one of the data terminals while I head downstairs."

Web munched absently at the meal in front
of him, lost in thought and trying his best to tune out the ship around him. 
The days onboard had dragged, and if this was what being a super-secret SAR
operative was like then the brochures had completely lied to him.  He hadn't
had a chance to talk to Halley since their brief lunch at the station where she
arrived onboard.  He had nodded to her a couple times in the corridors and she
had bumped into him in a lift once, but their cover required them to act as
strangers.  That was all kinds of not-fun to Web.

So now, they were finally on the way, a
day and a half out of their last port and due in the Callidor system within the
next twenty-four hours.  The Solar Venturer had completed its most recent port
visit, swapping out over half their cargo pods and running at virtually max tonnage
to satisfy the requests of the Primans in control of the blockaded Callidor
system.  Even though the company was hauling the items dictated by the Primans,
the prices were good and margins were high, and even with the time the company
would lose during all the extra inspections and impound procedures, it was
still worth it.