~
Dr Jake opened the door to the stairwell.
“Paean?”
On the bridge were the Captain, Doc Judith, Dr Jake and Sherman. Dr Judith looked sharply at Paean.
“Is Wolf in trouble?” the doctor asked, worried.
“Wolf’s looking better, Doc. Shawn’s keeping watch. It’s only a moment. I have to speak to Captain,” said Paean. “It’s urgent.”
Captain Lascek got up from his programming.
“Carry on, all of you,” he said to the three officers. “I’ll be back in a moment.” He turned to Paean, his thoughts clearly still stuck in the computer. “Is this important?”
“Very, Captain, or I wouldn’t bother you with it,” said Paean earnestly.
“Alright, to the boardroom.”
When they were in the boardroom a few seconds later, Captain Lascek turned to Paean.
“Make it quick.”
“Captain, I’ve made mental contact with Federi.”
Captain Lascek’s brows furrowed.
“What’s this nonsense?”
“The device,” said Paean. “It’s a data capsule. Federi thinks it’s Marsden’s missing puzzle piece. Whatever that means.”
Lascek’s brows flew up.
“How do you know all this?”
“Federi just told me! Captain, there’s apparently a secret Rebellion port on the west side of Hiva Oa. They’ve taken him captive, he’s sitting in the bilges of a ship, he says the ship is moving but he doesn’t know where to.” She paused, frowned, worked on recalling the rest. The Captain was nailing her with his cold blue eyes. Federi, help me out here… “Captain, he says, wait for his signal and keep the Solar Wind submerged. If they’re not back by midnight…” She shook her head. No way was she relaying that bit of message!
A disbelieving smile spread over Radomir Lascek’s face. Jon Marsden had voiced his suspicion that perhaps they were suspecting the wrong girl of being a spy. Up until this point he had almost begun to believe Jon.
But this…
“What’s the rest?” he prompted. “What did Federi say?”
“No, Captain, nothing. We mustn’t look for them on land, they’re not there and it’s dangerous.”
“What about midnight?”
The girl shook her head, looking frantic. She was in fact withholding information. Radomir Lascek knew now. She was telling the truth. Somehow her voodoo gift of lucid dreaming or whatever had connected with Federi’s gypsy radar. Because…
“He said I should set sail and carry on without them if he hadn’t managed by midnight,” he completed. “Right?” That was Federi! Hundred percent!
The Irish redhead was shaking her head, tears streaming.
“Paean,” said Radomir Lascek, placing a calming hand on her shoulder and bending down to level with her eyes, “look at me! Do you believe for a second that I’d abandon Federi and Jon Marsden? I’ll shoot the Rebellion and the Unicate to shrapnel before I do that!”
Paean smiled and wiped over her face with her sleeve. Radomir Lascek straightened out.
“West of Hiva Oa, you say?”
“Just the port, Captain. He doesn’t know where the ship is by now.”
“Well then, let’s follow his trail of voodoo,” said Lascek optimistically. “Go to sleep, Paean. Let someone else take over Wolf’s vital signs! We’ll get this sorted.”
23 - Bloodshed
Federi shook his head and smiled. Kathal!
It was comforting to believe that he had somehow reached Paean. But in fact he was still as alone as before and had to act upon that certainty. Plan A was still Plan A. If Marsden was still alive, he had to find him and free him. He had to kill the entire crew and make contact with the Solar Wind, and as he got back aboard his home ship, he had to sink this vessel. The latter shouldn’t prove too much of a challenge, he thought acerbically.
The storm was slowing down, by the sounds of it, though the sea was still very high. He sheathed the Stiletto and got up, his body aching all over. He began to search once again. In the dark he stepped on something and picked it up. A self-satisfied grin spread across his face. They had lost his spring-loaded pocket knife! Or perhaps it had fallen out of his pocket when he had tumbled down the stairs.
Well, he was very happy to have it back! It had special memories for him. His first knife. He mainly used it for woodcarving these days, keeping the blade honed on a bit of leather. Still a very sharp, strong knife. He opened the solid blade, and with it he removed the pins from the lid of one of the cargo boxes and levered the crate open. It didn’t take much leverage – the lid was of lesser quality wood and came apart. Damp damage, he could feel. The moment he could get his fingers in, he prized it open.
Under a silica gel blanket, beautiful guns greeted him. He fumbled with a bead on one of his several rings and gave it a twist. Soft chemical light spilled from it. He took a closer look at his find in the crate. Brand new semi-automatic and automatic weapons. He armed himself, not to the teeth, but enough that he could get by. A bit deeper under the guns he found ammunition. He checked for damp here too; but the Rebellion were no complete idiots, they had packed silica gel blankets around the ammunition too. He loaded the two guns he had taken, slinging extra belts of rounds around himself. Then he moved on.
The guns and ammunition were merely a backup – Plan B, in case he was discovered or cornered. He wasn’t keen on shooting his way out of a group of terrorists; he didn’t have a bullet-proof vest, so he’d have to rely on speed and accuracy alone. Plan A involved stealth. A lot of stealth.
He found the ship’s desalination system. With a little smile he examined all the ornaments on his scarf and then detached one. It happened to be a minute blue glass vial, so small it could be mistaken for another elaborate bead. He cracked it open over the desalination plant.
“Sweet dreams,” he murmured. “Thanks, little green pirate!”
The tiny chemical light was working itself out now. He used its last few moments to move up the stepladder to the lower deck. He stopped and listened for sounds at the hatch. There was nothing happening overhead. They all seemed to be on the top deck. Warily he lifted the hatch – those geniuses had been so sure of having him tied, they hadn’t even bothered locking it! He smiled. It was useful at times to be taken for several rats short of a full cargo deck. His slight build and his garish sense of style helped this impression along. Nobody was in sight. It was quite dark, although to his eyes, having been in almost complete darkness so long, the dim lighting was lots. With a swift movement he slipped out of the hatch and melted into the shadows of the passageway.
A man came walking by. Federi was waiting inside an empty cabin with bated breath. Quietly he crept in behind the man, and slashed his carotid artery with a swift flash of his stiletto before the surprised victim could utter a sound. Quickly, professionally. Minimal blood; no noise; hardly any time lapse at all. He dragged the man into the cabin, thinking of the vanishing lizard. A predator, that was what he was.
Rubbish! A murderer, in human terms. Yes, this was a war; yes, it was him or them. Excuses, all. Federi closed the cabin door and slipped back into the passageway, looking and listening for the next victim. Wolf was right to call him a cold-blooded assassin. He felt moved suddenly that the bright young nuclear engineer would get himself shot in the knee for him. How did scum like him deserve friends like Wolf?
The Solar Wind surfaced just enough for the Captain to have a good look at the west side of Hiva Oa. Lights; ships. Rebellion-style schooners, by the patterns of light.
Captain Radomir Lascek whistled through his teeth, satisfied.
“I’ll be -! The girl was right! There is a harbour!”
“So we can count on the rest too?” asked Sherman Dougherty.
“I would,” said Radomir Lascek. “I certainly would.”