Chapter 50: Exfiltration (1)
Location: Estriduros Republic; Estriduros System; above Estriduros; VS Stargazer
The next few days were Busy with a capital B. All the things Alex ordered had to be stored somewhere and as we don’t have any cargo bots; we were the ones carrying stuff. Sure, Jack’s Telekinesis helped a lot, but Alex and I still had to help. Ronja meanwhile is still busy finalizing her medbay shopping spree and that’s even more stuff to carry once it arrives.
At least she was just as amazed by the Stargazer as everyone else. That made my day. Now though, I wait in anticipation. Not only did she manage to order a holographic interface for me, no she also bought one for Alex and Jack as well. Ronja herself already has one and Maja obviously doesn’t need it.
The package should arrive with all the other medical things, and it’s scheduled for today. It’s still a bit surreal… I mean we order something, and it gets delivered the next day. In orbit!
Anyway, once we arrived back on the ship, Maja told us the good news. She did manage to find everyone. Well, everyone except Greg and Trix, but they both aren’t in the military. And even better, Simon is already on his way to the Estriduros System! We’ve also managed to outline a rough plan to get him out of Star Force’s clutches. It’s going to be a wild ride I have to say.
A chime in my ear shakes me out of my thoughts. The next delivery is here! I hope it’s the exciting stuff.
It is! The interfaces are finally here together with most of the medical supplies. That means we can set up our medical room on deck 03. Once that is done, Ronja can finally set me up with something I wanted to have since I was a kid.
With that goal in mind, I work faster than ever, and a few hours later, everything is ready. I lay down on the bed – this time it’s an actual hospital bed, not the living room table like last time – and Ronja uses a syringe after asking if it is okay.
The next thing I know is reading the word “initializing” right in the center of my vision once I open my eyes. It is done! I jump up and hug Ronja who is still standing nearby. “Thank you!”
She smiles, as always. “You’re most welcome.”
I have to test that bad boy immediately. Where’s Maja? Probably on the bridge… Worth a try, it’s not far anyway.
I’m in luck, she’s there, together with Alex. Are we leaving already? I guess I was longer out than I thought. “Hey girls,” I wave when they notice me. “Maja, do you have a moment?”
“Sure thing, Alex you got this,” she winks at her and walks over to me.
Alex fidgets a bit, but then sits down in the Captain’s chair and takes over the controls.
“So what do you need? Everything went well, I hope?”
“It sure did, I was wondering if you could help me set it up?”
“I can, but you also could do it yourself… It’s not that hard.”
“Yeah, well, but what’s your friendly neighborhood AI for if not for this?” I laugh a bit and she quickly joins in.
In the background, I hear a snort from Alex. “You’re just lazy!” She shouts, and I pretend I didn’t hear her.
Then Maja gets to work and seconds later, I have a complete overlay in my vision. Everything I look at is suddenly named and labeled. Ugh, that’s too much!
“Uh Maja, now it’s distracting… Can you have it just show the time and other important things at the top right or something and have everything else be either voice or gesture-activated? Maybe something like a home button, that lets me open up the menus if I want to use it more actively.”
“Gotcha,” Maja replies, and the view changes. Way better! Now that this is done, It’s finally time to go after Simon.
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Location: Estriduros Republic; Murati System; VS Stargazer
A few days later, we arrive in the Murati System. It’s another one bordering the Estriduros System and the one Simon’s ship, the ERS Verdinum will cross on its way to the academy. It’s also where we have planned our “ambush” or more precisely my ambush as I’m the only one able to teleport if things go wrong. True I’m restrained by gravity, but we’ve got a plan for that.
Now we just have to wait. The Stargazer is on standby a few thousand kilometers from the wormhole. The Cloaking spell is hard at work, encompassing the whole ship thanks to the Magitech emitters around the hull. Jack is now able to cast it as well, so he can jump in in case anything fails with the cloaking. Our yacht waits on an asteroid on the other side of the wormhole in case I’m too slow and the Verdinum jumps to the Estriduros System before I can get Simon out. It’s our way back to the Stargazer if this case occurs.
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I spend the next three days practicing Telekinesis over and over. I’m so close, but then it’s time. The ERS Verdinum appears on our scanners.
We all meet on the bridge and go over the last details. Alex will be steering the Stargazer, Jack is there to provide magical support and we all hope that Ronja stays without work, as having her working would mean something went wrong horribly. Maja will be hard at work infiltrating the ERS Verdinum’s computer systems and I will do the actual infiltration of the other starship.
For that, it’s integral that our cloaking stays active all the time, as we will connect airlock to airlock so that I can cross over. When I look at the others, I see only determination. They are ready and so am I! “Alright guys, this is it. Wish me luck. I’m heading for the airlock, see you later.”
“Good luck!”
“You got this!”
I smile and exit the bridge through the elevator, then I make my way to the airlock. I’m carrying a signal enhancer so that I can stay connected to Maja even when I’m on the other ship. It’s running the old Earth frequency that Maja wasn’t able to detect before she got her robotic body, so we are pretty confident that the signal will stay undetected.
I don’t even feel anything, but half an hour later, the light above the airlock suddenly turns green and Maja’s voice in my ear gives me the go-ahead. We are connected! I take a deep breath and the airlock opens, then I step through. At the other end of the short tunnel is the hatch to the Verdinum. The very first starship I set foot on. At least the only one I can remember.
Maja is deep in their system already, as the other airlock opens as soon as I near the door. Before I step inside, I cast the Cloaking spell and vanish from sight. Once inside, my holographic interface comes alive and shows me the deck plan of the Verdinum. This is so much better than holding a tablet! Let's see, their airlocks are at the bottom as well and the bridge is at the top. That’s where Simon will be during the jump, but we should be far enough away that I can get him before that.
I tap the menu button and activate a virtual keyboard. I don’t want to make a sound if I can avoid it. Then I tap a message to Maja. ‘Can you lead me to Simon’s cabin? And can you look for him in the meantime?’
Her voice comes back through the AI chip behind my ear. “I can lead you to his room and open the doors for you, but looking for him isn’t possible right now. I’m hard at work keeping our intrusion unnoticed and any further intrusion could blow our covers. Their systems must have gotten an upgrade.”
I tap my confirmation and once I’m finished, a green line appears on the deck plan. Now I just have to follow it. The first sliding door brings the first close call. I’m walking toward it when it suddenly slides open and a man in a Star Force uniform walks through. He walks right in the middle of the hallway, and I have to press myself to the side to let him through. Then I quickly rush through the doorway before it can close again.
Luckily, there are stairs next to the elevators, as using them would have been way too risky. I mean the elevator moving up and down without anyone inside? Yeah, that can be written off as normal but what if someone comes inside? It’s a very small room…
So thanks for there being stairs! They lead me up to the second-highest deck, where the crew cabins are located according to the plan. Now that I look around, it’s also where I lived during my short trip with that ship. I swallow down a chuckle at the nostalgic feeling and walk toward the bow of the ship. Simon’s cabin is in the front third of the ship. Two minutes later, I stand before the door. Another quiet conversation with Maja later, has the door sliding open. There are no cameras inside, so we don’t know if he’s even there…
Just my luck! He isn’t, of course. Dang it! Is he already on the bridge? But it’s still more than an hour… I sit down on the bed and furiously tap another message to Maja. ‘We have to go with plan B. I’ll get him out after the jump. Can you install a backdoor for S-57 until you have to disconnect?’
“Shit, plan B it is then. Good luck! I see what I can do for S-57…”
I sigh, now that the door is closed again, I can relax a little. Good thing we planned for this. It takes two hours till Maja messages me that I’m on my own now. They have disconnected and the Verdinum is getting ready for the jump. An announcement over the intercom warns of the jump in five minutes and exactly five minutes later, I can feel it with my Space Sense. The ship has entered the wormhole.
I have to say, it’s strange… Jumping through a wormhole without my magic blocked and I’m still not in charge of the jump. When I concentrate on my Space Sense, I can feel the smallest fluctuations in the Space Bubble around the ship, and even when Simon and his AI take corrective actions. All in all, it’s quite the experience, but I’m still glad when it’s over. We should be back in the Estriduros System.
Ten minutes later, the door slides open, and Simon enters. He’s tall as ever and his brown eyes look exhausted. The spell taking its toll… His hair has gotten a bit longer and ends now at shoulder length, at least that’s what I estimate, as he has bound it together in a small ponytail. There are still some blue strands here and there though. Looks like it’s been a while since he last visited a hairdresser.
The door closes behind him and he walks over to his bed and falls over. Luckily, I've stood up before. That would have been awkward… Not knowing how else to do it, I simply drop the Cloaking spell and appear in the middle of the room.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Simon jumps up in panic at my sudden appearance and I can’t hold back a laugh. His face is too funny.
“Sara?!” He looks at me with wide eyes. “How are you here? Wait that’s a projection, right? Those damn bastards from engineering… But how do they know about Sara?”
I take that moment to step forward and flip his ear, then I speak up holding back another laugh. “Can a projection do this? I’m quite real, you know. Hey Simon, it’s been a while.”
He sits back down on his bed and buries his head in his hands. “I’m finally losing it…”
I sit down and put an arm around him. A bit more serious, I face him. “Simon, you’re not losing it. I’m sorry for startling you like this, but I didn’t know how else to do it. I mean I can’t change the spell.”
He looks back up at me. “You’re really here… How? Wait! You said spell.” His eyebrows reach his hairline. “Your collar is gone!”
I smile. “It is. I can remove yours as well if you want. That’s why I’m here by the way. To get you out of here.”
“Of course I want to get rid of it! But still… How? No offense, but you were the weakest of us all, and now. How are you even here on the ship.”
Wow, this really did a number on him… “It’s a long story… The short version is that I got rid of the collar, and now have a ship that needs a crew. So far, I’ve got Jack. You were the next closest one, next, we look for Lucy, Greg, and some others.”
He takes a deep breath to calm down a bit. “Okay… So you can remove my collar. But we’re still on a military ship. Hmm, if you’re here, you got a plan, right?”