Note: Prissila's part belongs at the end of Chapter 13 in the manuscript.

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Chapter 14 - Part 1

(Prissila)

#

Lying on my bed, I stared at the calendar on the holovid window projected above my palm-slate.

If I was to believe my mother, I had one more week of cram school to endure, then I’d be back at Galatea.

All because I allowed my grades slide into near oblivion.

I tapped the screen, turning off the holovid window, then dropped my slate onto the bed beside me.

I was tired, my head hurt and I still had homework to complete.

Afterwards, all I could look forward to was taking a shower and sleep.

With my entertainment privileges taken away, I had nothing to read outside of academic texts, and nothing to watch outside of study lectures. If I tried surfing the Junction, my online activities were monitored so my mother was sure to come racing into my room with a lecture ready.

I had already lost my palm-slate, and the device I had now was a heavily restricted model.

My life had become a student’s Hell.

However, it was either this or repeat a year, and that was something I truly didn’t wish for.

Somehow, I would pull my grades up.

Somehow, I would pass my university entrance exams at the end of the year.

But right now all I wanted to do was throw-up in mental exhaustion.

After lying across my bed for a little while longer, I wearily propped myself up and then dragged myself over to my study desk. Mother had taken away all my plush toys, leaving me to choose just one to keep me company. I looked at the penguin on my desk, and lightly patted its head, then sat down at my chair to finish off the remaining homework.

I was an hour into it when I received a message sent to my Galatea Academy account. It came from one the girls I was friends with. Opening it, I read the contents and assumed they were a joke. However, when I checked the Galatea community forums I read a number of threads revolving around Simone’s admission to the entire school over the public address system.

I felt hurt. I felt gutted. And I felt angry.

When I could contain my emotions no longer, I stood up and made a fateful decision.

I had been relegated to the sidelines for too long.

Picking up my plush penguin, I carried it with me as I left my room and then walked through the immense apartment in search of my mother.

“Mother, we need to talk!”

It was time for battle…at the water park.

#

(Maestro)

#

Sitting in my quarters aboard Pantra, I visually perused the dossiers floating before me, flipping from one to the next, casting them aside and drawing others near with the wave of a photon-gloved hand.

The faces were growing familiar to me know, having regarded them for so long.

Counting the number we have assimilated into the fold, our first objective was only halfway achieved. However, even if we managed to Imprint all the necessary elements protecting her, I still didn’t know what to do about him.

I flicked away the floating files, and brought one closer, enlarging it with my fingertips.

Caelum Rafael Desanto afil Lanfear, bearer of the Kaiser’s Blessing.

I sat back and frowned as I stared at the image of the young man whom I had little choice but to consider a complication to the plan.

Am I approaching this the right way?

I pondered the issues the mission faced.

A simple snatch and grab was easier said than done. Even if we escaped successfully from Pharos, the next problem was giving our pursuers the slip and Pantra wasn’t the vessel for the job. Infiltration was one thing; escape was another. What Pantra could do was get us outside of the asteroid Island to where Zephyrus would be waiting for us. Essentially, the starship was expendable, and in a way that irked me as I considered it wasteful to lose such a capable little ship.

Then there was Zephyrus to consider. The vessel was sister ship to Celica Desanto’s Induran, and possessed a Core Artifact that improved its capabilities considerably. However, was it good enough to evade its pursuers once they gave chase? The intelligence I had received indicated the Sandoval Family – who owned the private military contractor known as Pantheon Company – had let loose something upon the Hurakan Nebula in response to the presence of Induran and Zephyrus.

That something had a name, Paloma, and while it was classified a Pathfinder, nothing else was known about the starship. Constructed in perfect secrecy, one that even Crescent’s Lorelai couldn’t breach, the Sandoval Pathfinder was an unknown that I equated to a dark abyss that could swallow all my carefully laid out plans.

The problem with unknowns is that you couldn’t plan for them.

How do you plan a route around the unknown if you don’t know how big it is?

I refrained from running a palm over my face.

I would need to head out later this evening to Influence and Imprint the next unwitting pawn in my plan to snatch the girl from under their noses.

And there lay my second problem: the mission proviso that I convince her to come with us, rather than have her coerced into joining us.

If my intelligence on the girl was correct, that would prove nigh on impossible.

I realized I was rubbing my face and stopped, and unpleasant thought worming its way to the forefront of my consciousness.

The more I look at it, the more impossible it becomes.

A sigh laced with misgivings escaped me.

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a trap.

There is a quote I remembered reading in my youth that states the key to avoiding a trap is knowing it’s there.

I wasn’t sure of its validity. I was beginning to suspect this mission was nothing more than a trap, but if so why risk sending me here to be captured? Or did he believe I would not risk being taken alive?

Well, I certainly have no intentions of dying but if the Sanctum get their hands on me, I’m royally screwed.

It was looking more and more apparent that I would need a failsafe or backup plan to save my own skin should the proverbial excrement hit the fan. But then what? I would be unable to return to Crescent. What options were open to me then?

Perhaps it’s better if I quit this region of space altogether. Maybe I should settle down in some backwater colony world and just leave all this behind.

An incoming call on the Fragment-Link had me blinking a couple of times in quick succession. My Artifact possessed the ability to link Fragments and Artifacts of different classes so that they could communicate with each other. In effect, it acted like a node in a communication network.

*Merkala? What’s the problem? I swallowed quickly as I remembered something of import. *Has something happened to Sofia?

*No, Sofia’s fine. We have a different problem.

I sat up in my chair. *Report.

*There are smugglers in the upper level of the Old Docks, about two klicks away from your position. And they’ve just been surrounded by a squadron of Enforcer drones.

My stomach clenched into a ball. *What’s your position?

I had to wait longer than expected for her reply.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

*We’re two hundred meters south of the smugglers, overlooking the scene. Sofia is hiding behind a support column about twenty meters to the right of me. We haven’t been spotted yet.

I cleared away the floating holovid windows, and then stood up, feeling unease creep along the length of my legs. *What can you tell me about the smugglers?

*Not much. They came in two vans—the kind capable of making vacuum runs between the Islands—and small ship that looks like a custom runabout, outfitted with thermoptic camouflage. The ship flew into the Old Docks from the Harbor Tunnel. I’m looking at about eight men and one woman. Seraphim can sense two more—one in each van—and two inside the runabout….

I sensed she was holding something back. *Merkala?

An uncomfortable silence followed as I walked out of my quarters on my way to the bridge.

*Merkala?

*Something…about the woman concerns me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was a Familiar. However, I can’t tell unless I extend my Awareness-field toward her. However, that will give away my position.

Pantra’s bridge was some twenty meters ahead of me, and the corridor widened noticeably as I approached it. This was because the ship’s forward section was wider than its main body, thus the bridge and connecting rooms were rather spacious.

Stepping through the double doors and onto the bridge, I made my way directly to the console and seat that served as my observation station.

*What about the drones? I asked as I sat down on the acceleration chair, then swung the console over my lap. *What are they doing?

I typed a message to the Pantra’s captain, who was seated at his station and observing my sudden entrance onto the bridge with a laconic air.

ENGAGE FULL STEALTH MODE. WE HAVE DRONES IN THE UPPER LEVEL.

The man read the message, replied with a nod to me, then turned back to his station. Almost immediately the bridge lighting dropped to a soft blue, indicating the ship was now operating at full Stealthrun.

Merkala’s voice spilled into my mind. *For the moment, they drones have established a cordon around the smugglers. However, there are more drones sweeping the surroundings. I’m sensing at least ten other machines searching the surroundings. There was a brief pause before she added, *At the very least, I’d say the drones are here to stay.

*Explain.

*I just sighted a relay drone. That one will be issuing commands to the other drones via wireless comm, and it will be linked back to a command station via a Quantum-Link. I’d take that as a clear sign they intend to do a fresh sweep of the area. The problem is we have no idea how far they’ll be ranging.

I held back a curse by clenching my jaw, but my stomach reflexively tightened.

*Very well. In that case pull back. We’ll start preparations to depart immediately. And I’m ordering Sofia back to the ship.

Merkala sounded hesitant. *While she withdraws, I’ll pull back and keep an eye on things from a distance.

I swallowed tightly. *Sofia, are you listening?

*Yes….

Though the girl’s Fragment was a Siren Maiden and thus different from Merkala’s Seraphim, my Artifact, Thoth, made it possible to communicate between devices via the so-called Fragment-Link. As such, Sofia was able to listen in on the conversation taking place between Merkala and I.

The girl sounded nervous, so I hoped she would be receptive to my instructions. I really wasn’t in the mood to tolerate her bouts of teenage hormone laden attitude.

*Sofia, make your way back to the ship. That’s an order. Don’t dally. Don’t deviate. But don’t rush about madly, either. Am I making myself clear?

*Yes—yes, sir.

*Good, then get moving.

The girl was definitely nervous. *O—okay. I’ll try.

*Don’t try, I said to her. *Just do it. Get back here on the double.

*Yes—yes, sir. I’ll do it. I’ll do it.

Abruptly Merkala shouted into our minds. *STOP—don’t move! Sofia, don’t move! Is that clear? Do not move!

*Y—yes. Yes, I’m not moving.

The girl sounded panicked, and I rubbed a temple. *Merkala, what the Hell is the problem?

I heard her sigh in my mind. *A very big problem.

*What problem? I threw at her, while growing both anxious and irritated with her drawn out reply.

Again, there was another annoying moment of uncomfortable silence before I heard her sigh again.

*A drone armada just arrived, and they look ready for an invasion of the Old Docks.

I swallowed in veiled disbelief. *What did you say?

*I said a drone armada has just arrived, and it looks like they’re here to stay and sweep through the Old Docks because they certainly have the numbers for it.

Though I’d expected drone activity, and certainly there had been its fair share in the Old Docks during the last few days, Merkala’s report painted a picture of doom in my mind. It took me a few seconds to recover my mental voice, though my throat had gone dry.

However, before I could use it, Merkala said, *There’s one more think you should know.

I took a deep breath to cushion myself from more bad news. *And what would that be?

She chuckled bitterly, and despite the gravity of the situation, I felt a twinge of irritation toward her beneath my growing feelings of dread.

*Damn it, woman. Be serious.

Merkala stopped chuckling, and I heard something strange in her mental voice – a cross between bitterness and resentment.

*From the insignia emblazoned on their bodies, these new drones don’t belong to the Enforcers.

I took a quick breath. *Then to whom do they—?

*These drones belong to Public Security Section Zero…and you know what that means.

There was no missing the sudden dark feelings tainting her mental voice.

Simultaneously my feelings crashed in stark despair, as I knew exactly what she meant.

Aleron Imreh afil Lanfear, Public Security’s undisputed ruler, and the Meister of Section Zero, had released his automated hunting dogs into the Old Docks, undoubtedly because he suspected something was afoot.

First Desanto, and now another accursed Lanfear has chosen to step onto the stage. Why are the Fates working against me?

I struggled to regain my mental balance.

I whispered in disbelief and dismay, *How could he know we are here?

*He doesn’t.

I was surprised by the abrupt tone of regret underscoring Merkala’s reply, and I looked up and into the distance, picturing the young woman hiding behind a large support column of rock, permacrete, and steel.

Merkala’s mental voice fell to a contrite whisper. *I’m sorry, Maestro. He’s not here looking for you. He’s looking for me.