“Can we get closer? Maybe I can point them out as we pass them by.”
“We need to get you to better medical care, and we want to get the hypercom computer to Chandrajuski as soon as possible. It’s three more weeks to Orion III, wasted weeks.”
“Maelia tells me she has things well in hand. I do not need help, but Korban does. We cannot let the sector fall. You know that, and I see them.”
Tarn called Korban again. “We’re continuing inbound. We might be able to identify the traders for you. My question is, should we go fast or slow?”
“I don’t know how long I can hold the blockade. Use your stealth mode and hurry.”
Krys was healing, but she was blind. Even she saw the irony: a Seer who could not see. Maelia was working on restoring her vision, but the short-term prospects for full recovery were not good. It would be a while.
The traders carrying gleasons remained clear in her mind. She had no idea why. Privately, she wondered if her lack of sight was the cause for her improved visions, if this constant state of awareness could be called a vision. It was something she’d never before experienced, and it frightened her. Could this be what life was like for an experienced Seer? Was this what she had to look forward to?
As always, there were no answers to her questions and no one to whom she could turn for guidance.
She and Tarn were having lunch in the crew mess when Akurea came in. She got her own lunch, and Tarn waved for her to join them.
“How’s it going with the hypercom, Commander?”
“Slow. Very slow, Sire.”
Krys turned her head toward Akurea. “Aboard ship, he’s Tarn and I’m Krys.”
“But you’re both Knights of the Realm, My Lady.”
“We’re a crew. It appears that you’ve joined us for a while. It’s Tarn and Krys.”
“Yes, My Lady. I’m Akurea. Are you well?”
“I’m healing. As you can see, I’m blind, but it’s just temporary. My Rider is dealing with it. Did we get the plans?”
“I believe so. I don’t understand the science yet. I’m just about to begin transferring the plans from the Chessori language to our own. It’s going to be a long process, but I might pick up some of the science along the way.”
Krys nodded. “Do you comprehend the critical nature of your work?”
“I do, My Lady. The ability to communicate across the abyss will be a tremendous advantage for the Queen’s forces.”
“An advantage the Rebels already enjoy, but there’s more. Depending on how the transmissions propagate, it might be possible for us to intercept messages from the Rebels and the Chessori, an intelligence gathering tool of the first order.”
“I see what you mean.”
“Your sole focus is to translate those plans, Akurea.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Tom O’Brien came into the mess and joined them.
“Any change, Tom?” Tarn asked.
“Nope. We’ll be there in a couple of hours.” He turned to Krys, though she could not see him. “Do you still see them, Krys?”
She nodded, a grim set to her lips. “I do.”
“See what?” Akurea asked.
Tarn sat back in his chair and stared at her. “Has anyone told you what we’re up to?”
“No one will tell me, Sire, including your incredible AI who has a name. Everyone refers me to Captain Stven who, strangely enough is outranked by Captain O’Brien here. It’s all very confusing.”
“I’ll bet it is. What do you think, Krys?”
“I’m sorry, Akurea, but to know what we are and what we do, you must first be Tested.”
“Tested!”
“Look at your position from our perspective. You could have been planted here by the Rebels.”
“I’ve never gone over, My Lady, and I won’t. I’ve been a spy for so long, I hardly know how to relax anymore.”
“Surely you understand that you will stand before the Queen one day, and soon.”
“I’ve never even imagined meeting her.” She paused, then continued, “Or a Knight, for that matter. I thought I’d drop off a translation and be done with it.”
“It doesn’t work that way around us. With your qualifications, I don’t doubt for a moment that you will head the project to develop our hypercom.”
“My Lady, I’m essentially just a mechanic.”
“A mechanic, an engineer, a spy, a very brave woman who stole the hypercom plans out from beneath the very noses of the Chessori, and the only one in the Empire I am aware of who speaks their language. On top of all that, you’re a leader. It shows, and the Queen will see it.”
“We need scientists and engineers and manufacturing to make it work, My Lady.”
“It’s Krys. And we’ll need someone to organize, train, and lead them. I would suggest that as you work on the translation, you take the long view. Your job is not just to translate, it is to build a functioning unit from scratch, then to bring it into production. I don’t know if it will have any impact on how you go about what you’re doing at the moment, but I ask you to take ownership of the project. Will you?”
“You can just order me, you know.”
“I’d rather ask.”
“You honor me beyond measure, My Lady.”
Resolve made the final jump and began mingling with a large number of traders awaiting approval to land. Complaints were frequent from the traders, but Korban’s ground controllers were adamant in their refusal to allow anyone to land, and many military ships orbited the planet inside the orbits of the traders to enforce the blockade.
Tarn led Krys to the bridge where she attempted to join the net, but again, George could not make the connection. Instead, she had to work through M’Sada who was in the net and doing the driving. She sat in the watch commander’s seat and lifted her arm, pointing to a ship clearly visible in her mind. M’Sada rotated Resolve until her hand pointed dead ahead, and he marked the ship. Stven studied the ship through George’s sensors, but there was nothing remarkable about the trader.
They marked all three traders without having to approach closely and set off alarms. The identities of the ships were forwarded to Korban who assigned a frigate to each target.
Then they withdrew and waited. Two days later, George informed Stven that a large number of Rebel ships were entering the system, all grouped together. Stven contacted Korban on the tight beam.
“We see them,” Korban replied. “I’ve decided to move on the gleasons while there’s time.”
“What if they have Chessori aboard those traders?”
“Waverly left a few guys behind. They’re spread pretty thin, but it’s the best we can do.”
Stven watched as the orbits of three frigates from the military umbrella neared the traders. The timing of each was perfect, with no outward sign that anything was out of the ordinary. Suddenly, all three frigates moved on their targets. Unknown to Stven, who was too far away to sense the scree, a weak scree started up, and the traders left orbit at high speed toward the planet.
The frigates closed and opened fire from a distance, but for some reason they had difficulty staying on their targets. Impressive return fire came from the traders as they deftly maneuvered around the frigates and through the blockade.
“Who’s flying those frigates?” Stven wondered, his anger barely under control.
