Chapter XXIII: The Plot Thickens

Up on the bridge of the Bridge, Captain Hemdael was shouting out orders. "Match course with the Star Ghost. Don't let it get away." He snapped at a switch on the arm of his chair. "Boarding party, full gear and penetration equipment at the ready. I want the team working on that hull as soon as we lock on."

He glared up at the main viewscreen at the fleeing ship. Then, to his horror, the Star Ghost faded from the screens. He turned to his navigator who was scrambling over his console. "What happened?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "Cloaking device, sir. Similar to an Altairian cloak, but not an exact match. It's gone, sir. No indications of any sort on the boards."

"Damn." Hemdael slumped into his seat. What kind of ship was that? He had heard rumors that HQ was working on a cloak, but hadn't heard anything about it in a couple years. Had they finally perfected it? Or was the Star Ghost belonging to another power, masquerading as an SP ship? No, that couldn't be. It was reported that Raygunn stole the ship from the R&D labs on Luna. The information that Gernas had confided in him must be true. Only a Ferlonian would have been able to arraign such a heist.

Commander Gernas appeared on the bridge, still in his suit of armor, frowning as he noticed the empty viewscreen.

Captain Hemdael answered the unasked, yet obvious question in Gernas' expression. "Cloaked." Gernas nodded in response, sighing.

Hemdael got up and stood next to Gernas. "Any idea why Raygunn would have sent the ship here?"

Gernas gave him a grim smile. "Only one reason. To kidnap Lieutenant Denton. She's the only one that might be aware of any of his weaknesses. Notice the ship only opened its hatch to admit her, and only when she was alone. Then when she was aboard, the ship escaped. Perfect. No doubt Raygunn got ahold of the secret ship codes, which enabled it to override the Feist's systems and escape."

"She knows, though, right? That he's a Ferlonian?"

Gernas nodded. "Yes, she knows. I freed the repressed memories in her, though it wasn't easy. The Ferlonians are very powerful." He glanced down at his wristcomm. "If you'll pardon me, Captain, I need to report in."

"Of course." Hemdael sighed. "Any idea as to which direction we should head in?"

Gernas shook his head. "Back to our original mission, unless we hear otherwise. It's out of our hands now, I fear."

At the Lunar Space Academy…

A young blond underclassman rushed up to her group of friends relaxing at the canteen. "Hey, have you heard? The Leather Lady got transferred. She's not commandant of the academy any more."

The expressions of her friends faces indicated they had not heard. "No!" "Really?"

"Wow. How did you find out?" one of the boys in her class asked.

"I was over in the administration dome going over my room assignment. An admiral walked it, bouncing like he was just off the ferry from Terra. Commandant Gunn was in the office as well, he relieved her on the spot. I think it had something to do about her son being a spy and all."

One dark-haired older classmate snorted. "Rick, a spy? I can't believe it, or that BS about him stealing a ship from R&D."

The blond student snickered. "You're only saying that because you had a crush on him."

The dark-haired woman laughed nervously. "What do you mean? I never…"

One of the boys playfully punched her on the arm. "I'll say. You never would have had a chance with him as long as Wilma was around. Those two were inseparable. If you know what I mean," he finished with a wink.

The group let off a fit of giggles, and their discussion turned back to other imagined romantic interludes between other students of their own class.

Back on the Blood Fever…

Rick was lying on the bed as he stared at the ceiling of his small cabin, recent events twisting around in his mind, trying to make sense of it all. It seemed all he managed to do so far since his mother sent him out on this mission was to be captured by pirates. He had the impression that Red would be starting to search for Ferlon in earnest now, and she was expecting him to be the prime source to start the search.

It was clear that the pirates were much more organized and had much more resources than it was generally known, even amongst the Stellar Patrol. And if they were this well out-fitted, why did they need to be engaged in piracy in the first place? Building a ship like the Blood Fever couldn't be funded in a thousand years of the current rate of piracy. Pirate ships were usually just freighters with a little more engine or better weapons than another freighter, not massive star cruisers like this ship he was on.

It became clear to Rick that Red was not just a pirate. She obviously worked for another government or possibly the Dark worlds herself, and was a prime source of supplies and buyer of pirated goods, with the intent to waste SP resources on chasing the smaller, more numerous pirates, while hiding her true goal. Coupled with her interest in the planet Ferlon, all that could mean is that her superiors, whomever they were, were preparing for war against the Terran Federated Sphere.

But what was so special about the planet Ferlon? Apparently it was important enough that someone like Red would be searching for it. Perhaps the inhabitants had something that would give Red's people a tremendous advantage. Enough that whatever plans they had seemed to ride on discovering this planet. Therefore, it was his duty to find out about Ferlon as well, plus who were Red's superiors were, what their plans are, and to do his best to not only report this information to SP HQ, but to deny the enemy access to the Ferlonian resources, whatever they were.

Rick felt even smaller and helpless than before. He was in bigggggg do-do.

Elsewhere…

A door opened, and a dark-robed figure entered the windowless office, to face another figure, robed and seated behind a desk.

"Sir, the precogs report no change. All is hidden from view. The probability matrixes are unreliable at this point. Too many variables are now in play."

The seated figure nodded. "I feared so. Yet it is the only chance we now have. Raygunn's continued survival has caused much disruption in the probability fields. That does give us hope, however. Our gamble has worked so far."

"Do you think he'll survive?"

The hood of the seated figure shook slowly back and forth. "I cannot imagine that he would survive. At least he has given us a chance. Hopefully the door that has been opened will remain open long enough."

"What about the mother?"

"She knows her duty. And the duty expected of her son."

The standing figure bowed and as he straightened up, an explosion engulfed the room.

To Be Continued...