Chapter 26: Pursuit

The next day, I met with Yuhi in the garden. We sat together on our favourite bench.

“We must block her psychic attacks, to stop a repeat of last time,” said Yuhi.

“Agreed. But how?” I asked.

“Perhaps you can use your fog.”

“I could surround everyone in my psychic fog, and make it extra thick,” I said.

“Yes! Imagine the fog blocking her abilities, protecting and hiding us. Do it just before we arrive.”

“But how can I tell if my fog works?”

“If I’m still conscious and the others aren’t behaving like zombies, then it works.”

“I don’t want to risk you again. It took a lot to restore you.”

She blinked.

“We can’t test this until we meet her, but I trust you.”

“Ship, warn me an hour before we arrive at our next location,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“I’ll start before we arrive,” I said.

Yuhi blinked.

Soon after, we left the garden.

In the scout vessel, scanners alerted Uslu Braen of another vessel, descending from orbit, and headed to her location.

“At last! I was wondering what had happened to them,” she said to her unconscious passengers.

Eventually, a larger vessel landed a short distance from hers. She waited for the dust to settle, then she stepped out through the airlock.

Several beings exited the other vessel. One of them carried a small chest. Uslu Braen approached them and they met halfway between the two vessels.

He looked toward her vessel. “Do you have the merchandise...?”

“Yes. And did you bring payment?”

He placed a chest on the ground between them. He opened the lid, then stepped back.

Uslu Braen looked at the one who’d asked about the merchandise. He was obviously the one in charge. She might use her abilities to turn him, but not before the others could respond.

“You took care of their vessel...?” he asked.

“I left it flying towards a star. There won’t be further trouble from the Baglogi,” she said.

“Good.”

She saw the gems in the chest. Their payment seemed in order, so she fetched her passengers. Moments later, they stumbled out of the airlock, in a trance-like state.

She guided them to the other beings who took them aboard their vessel.

Uslu Braen walked to the chest and reached out to close the lid.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you,” she said.

The being in charge stood smiling. Something seemed wrong.

A moment later, a laser mounted on their vessel swivelled around to point at her. One shot, and she was dead.

They’d double-crossed her.

Two days later, Ship alerted me.

“Attention, one hour until arrival in the Kennedli system,” said Ship.

“Understood, thank you.”

I focused on creating my psychic fog around Ship, extra thick this time. Perhaps it was enough to block us from her attacks.

An hour later, I met Saria, Cathy and Yuhi in the main bridge. The hyper-drive went offline, and Ship decelerated to sub-light speed as we arrived in the system.

“Ship, engage cloak, deploy cloaked probes,” said Saria.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

Soon, cloaked probes travelled into the system to gather intel.

“Captain, can you sense Jem?” asked Yuhi.

“No, the fog is blocking everything. Can you detect any life signs?”

“No, Captain. I’m blocked too,” she said.

“Well, better that we’re blocked if it protects us from her attacks.”

“Captain, the third planet has a breathable atmosphere, and I detect no other vessels in the system,” said Saria.

“Take us to the third planet then,” I said.

“Ship, take us to orbit the third planet. Direct a probe to map out the planet’s surface,” said Saria.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

I sighed. This wasn’t going like I’d hoped.

Jem rolled over, bumping into something. Hmm?

Slowly, she regained her consciousness. It felt rather like post-op recovery. Nothing seemed to make sense to her addled brain.

Jem became aware she was lying on a horizontal surface, but where?

By now, Jem sensed she was lying on her back. She slowly opened her eyes. She lay on the floor in a dimly lit room, and couldn’t remember what happened.

Jem’s head was throbbing. Although the pain suggested rest, she had to explore her surroundings. This wasn’t right.

This wasn’t crew quarters. It was more like a storage room. She moved her head and looked to each side to discover Laine lying unconscious nearby.

Jem rolled onto her side, facing Laine, and prodded her.

This elicited groans from Laine. At least she was alive.

The last thing she remembered was meeting Uslu Braen in the shuttle bay. Everything after that was blank.

Jem flexed her leg muscles and her arms, then got to a sitting position.

A bench occupied one wall opposite a door. In another corner was a commode.

“It’s a holding cell,” she decided.

Soon, she got up and sat on the bench.

Laine remained on the floor, unconscious. That would be her next task once she’d composed herself.

“Laine!” yelled Jem.

Laine groaned again and moved her head.

“Wake up, Laine!”

Laine moved about as she awoke. Jem prodded her with a foot, gently.

“Wake up!”

“Huh?? My head aches! Where am I?”

“Get up now. We’re in a holding cell,” said Jem.

Laine rolled over to get her arms and legs under herself.

“Commodore?”

“Come and sit with me. We need to figure this out together,” said Jem.

Ship announced we’d arrived in orbit around the third planet.

“Can you find anything on the surface?” I asked.

“There’s a scout vessel in the northern continent,” said Saria, pointing to the map.

Yuhi looked at me and blinked.

“Ship, try to ping the Commodore and Laine,” I said.

“Confirmed ... No response, Captain,” replied Ship.

“I can’t sense anyone down there, Captain,” said Yuhi directly into my head.

“We must go investigate,” I said. “There might be clues.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but I can’t expose you to danger. We already lost the Commodore, which makes you the highest ranking officer,” said Saria.

I looked at her. She had a steel eyed resolve that suggested she’d shoot me rather than concede.

Yuhi looked at me.

“I don’t want to go, Captain. She’s too powerful.”

“But I can’t protect you from psychic attacks if you go without me.”

“I’ll take Cathy with me. We’ll both carry stun guns with us. If she’s there, we shoot first,” said Saria.

“Agreed. Be careful. Don’t land if you see her. Or shoot her from a distance. Her abilities may have a limited range,” I said.

“Yes, Sir!” said Saria. She looked at Cathy, and they both left the main bridge.

I watched and waited with Yuhi on the main bridge as Saria and Cathy descended to the planet’s surface in the shuttle.

“Ship, any ion trails out of the system?” I asked.

“Negative, Captain. If they left in another vessel, the ion trail has dissipated,” replied Ship.

I sighed.

Yuhi blinked.

“If she wanted to kill Jem and Laine, she would have left them aboard ship to crash into that star.”

“Agreed. We must follow the trail until we catch up. I don’t know why she’d abandon her vessel here.”

Yuhi blinked and tilted her head.

“Villains captured Jem before, with a crew member called Koluna. Koluna didn’t survive, but we rescued Jem.”

Yuhi blinked.

“I didn’t recognize that Uslu Braen was a threat. I should have known better,” I said.

“Don’t punish yourself. You saved us, and we’re going to get them back.”

I looked at her. She stared back at me with her large eyes. I really hoped we find them in time.

“Attention, incoming call from Commander Saria,” said Ship.

“Put her through,” I said.

“Captain, we found Uslu Braen. She’s dead,” said Saria.

“Commander??” I asked.

“Uslu Braen died from an energy weapon. There are signs another vessel was here.”

“Any sign of the Commodore or Laine?”

“Negative, Captain. Someone shot up the inside of her vessel. The consoles are inoperable.”

“Rule one: don’t leave loose ends.”

“Exactly. They did a good job. I suspect they left a day or two ago.”

“Finish up and return.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The call closed.

I turned to Yuhi. “Now we’re stuck.”

Yuhi shrugged and blinked.

Jem and Laine sat in the holding cell.

“What happened?” asked Laine.

“That distress call was a trap! Something happened, and they captured us.”

“But what happened to the others?” asked Laine.

“I don’t know. The last I remember was that female bringing her vessel aboard our shuttle bay.”

“Perhaps they captured the others, too.”

“No idea.”

The door opened and interrupted their discussion. A large guard stood there, holding a tray. He eyed them suspiciously, then crouched down and placed the tray on the floor inside their cell.