Dall was rushed out. He was exhausted from the late hour but also the constant fretting over his captivity and helplessness. The patch they placed on the back of his neck prevented him from seeing more than a meter ahead, disorienting him. He tried his best to keep up and looked down, mostly to see the feet of his unwanted companions moving quickly. The patch made light do funny things - bending and fracturing unexpectedly. Dall might have called it pretty if he had time to admire it. It took all his concentration not to trip or run into a wall.
"Let's go, pick it up. This isn't a party we can be late to," he heard Mike say from behind. Every once in a while, Mike would pull his hand or give him a shove in the right direction, preventing him from getting hit. Dall was grateful though he knew it wasn't due to genuine concern for his well-being. They reached the port after a short while. They made their way through the crew tunnels and then to the shuttle dock.
Mike removed the patch with a special device. Vision became clearer so Dall could take in the entire place instead of just a small sphere around him. To quickly orient himself, he focused on the shuttle's body. The old ship's veneer was a dull gray, a clear sign of its age.
As usual, Dall authenticated himself to the port system using his fake ID. They quickly received the clearance, and Dall signaled the ship to take them out. It was extremely quiet around the port's basin. The low traffic making the yawning mouth seem all the larger.
Mike gave him a set of coordinates. Dall signaled them over and allowed the ship to speed them toward it. At some point along the way, Mike used his device to override the shuttle's transponder ID.
The flight took about an hour, Mike and Jarret were his only passengers. With all that commotion around this mission, he'd anticipated more hands on deck. The three of them sat in silence, with Dall slowly nodding off. The slight trembles the engine sent throughout the ship had a lulling effect. When they arrived at the specified coordinates, the ship's computer pinged Dall's link. It brought him back from the brink of falling asleep.
Dall reduced the engines to almost a complete stop, and as there wasn't anything around that he could see with his visual instruments or radar, he directed the ship to enter a circular course around the spot. Whatever they were here for, they were the first to arrive. "We're here," he told Mike. "What do you see? Any other ships?" Dall got a sense that Mike didn't know much about what was supposed to happen next either. He was about to answer in the negative when the proximity display, hovering in front of his eyes, started to change colors.
At first, a single vessel approached quickly. Then there were two more. After a few minutes, twelve ships flew toward them from different directions. As they got closer, their make and transponder IDs registered on the main display. They were all the same make, all broadcasting the same ID.
Once all ships circled the same spot, an encrypted message arrived from one of them, requiring an authentication code. When Dall told Mike about it, the man produced a small panel and showed him the code on the display. Dall entered it, opening the link. Another message came over the secure line. It ordered his ship to join a synchronized flight pattern. Dall didn't like it, but Mike told him to get on with it.
Dall allowed their ship to join the sync-pattern. He still had full control over the navigation if he wanted to take it, but for now, the ship flew on its own. Slowly the other ships joined the pattern. When they were all joined, Dall noticed that the distance between them was shrinking. After a few minutes, they were flying so fast and so close that no human could take over control of their ship without causing a serious accident.
After a short while of this dizzying flight, the side hatch of one of the ships opened, and Dall almost didn't believe his eyes when he saw a figure in a light gray spacesuit jump out of it. The suit's thrusters fired off immediately to counter the centrifugal inertia caused by the spin. Dall used the sensor mounted on his ship to focus on the figure. The man, Dall was pretty sure it was a man, had a package strapped to his front. He coasted toward the center of the rotating vehicles. At the halfway point, another ship's hatch opened, and the man flew at it. The thrusters took him directly into the open mouth in one swift motion. The whole thing took less than ten seconds.
Why would someone go through all this trouble and risk to orchestrate such an exchange was beyond Dall. He tried to ask Mike who watched the affair unfold on a large panel. "You don't get to ask any questions about what just happened, got it?" Mike snapped. Dall didn't think he knew either. He just nodded and asked, "Now what?"
"We go back. Job's done." Mike answered. It felt anticlimactic after all the buildup and stress they went through to get there.
All of the circling ships slowed down and moved away from each other. When they were all at a safe distance, a notification came over the link, instructing that the sync pattern will dissolve in a few seconds. Dall took over the controls and signaled it to fly back to Akoya, and Mike switched the transponder ID back to normal.
The flight back was as uneventful as the one over. They cruised along en route to Akoya. Dall thought he heard Jarret snoring from his seat in the back. He got sleepy again himself, so he was not ready for the sudden jerk that the ship made. Alerts went off all around him and in his head. Then the main engine completely shut down. There was some problem with the electrical grid in the ship. onboard systems were going down, one by one.
The auxiliary system went into primary-mode, and Dall was happy to see that at least the ventilation and oxygen supply systems worked. The gravity field didn't, though. Luckily, he was strapped to his seat as he always did. Mike quickly grabbed his seat's arm and pulled himself down so he could strap in. Jarret wasn't so quick, or perhaps he was still asleep when they lost gravity. The next thing they heard was a clank and Jarret swearing with all his might.
Dall fought the panic building inside him and tried to get some status information from the ship's systems. It didn't look good. The engine could not come back online, and all they had was the backup thruster ring. Dall instructed it to slow down the shuttle. Without real control over their trajectory and speed, Dall didn't want to get too close to their home cloud. Their only hope was to get help from a rescue ship.
The assistance beacon went on as soon as they lost control of the engine. It broadcasted their need for help in every direction. "What did you gone and do you fuckin' no-good drone-fucker!" was the next thing Dall heard. It was coming from behind him, from Jarret who was awkwardly trying to stabilize himself by grabbing hold of anything he could find.
Looking back, Dall saw the man wave a small gun, trying to aim it at him. Dall was too shocked to do anything beyond staring at the enraged lunatic. "Put that away, you rambling idiot!" Mike shouted at his man. "You want to fire a gun inside a space shuttle? You'll kill us all! I said, put it away!" Jarret reluctantly shoved the gun into the back of his pants. Not accustomed to zero-g, he had let go of the wall-handle he held, which made him float up and bump against the ceiling again. "I told you he was no good, Mike! Should never have used him. Now we stuck here in middle of nowhere," Jarret shouted and pushed himself down.
"I didn't do anything. I don't know what happened." Dall pleaded, looking at Mike. "I know you didn't. This is an old ship. It's not like we've been maintaining it or anything. Probably something just broke down. Now, both of you relax. I'll ping our colleagues for help. It might take a while, but they'll come and get us. Dall, turn off the assistance beacon. We don't want anyone we don't know to come around and ask questions."
They sat there waiting, the stress filling the air. Jarret, calmed a bit, tried to tell some dirty jokes, but they weren't in the mood, so he soon quieted down. About half an hour later, a comm signal came over the ship's channel. Dall showed it on the main panel and asked Mike what to do. Mike told him to answer it; the identification was one of theirs. Someone responded to Mike's private distress signal.
Dall accepted the call. The panel showed the face of a very pretty woman, perhaps a few years older than him. She had auburn hair, at shoulder length, with lighter streaks. She would have been beautiful if it wasn't for her slightly aquiline nose. Not exactly Dall's type either, but very attractive nonetheless.
"Looks like you fellas need some help," she said smiling. "Yes - " Dall started, but Mike cut him off. "Who are you? I don't know you," he said curtly. "Now that's not a way to greet someone who's come to your rescue. Besides, do you mean you know everyone in every crew?" She asked, still smiling. "Is that Jarret over there in the back learning to fly? Tell him hi for me." Mike and Dall looked back at Jarret who was still trying to make himself stand unsuccessfully instead of sitting down and strapping in. Mike had an exasperated look on his face. "Can you help us or what?" Mike asked the girl in the projection. "Sure. Where do you need to go?"
"Akoya."
"No problem. I'll attach a line and tow you back. Hang on."
Dall watched the other ship through the visual sensor, the only sensor that still worked. It was a Crosser shuttle. Their rescue shuttle elegantly flew a couple of hundred meters in front. A tow cable shot out from its back and attached itself to the appropriate rail on their ship. Once the couplings attached, the Crosser moved slowly at first. Everything seemed to be in order as their speed built, making their way back to Akoya. Dall allowed himself to relax a bit. Then he remembered where he was going back to and grew sad again.
The relatively slow ride took at least an hour. As they finally got close to Akoya, Dall noticed the ship in front angled toward somewhere other than the port. After a few minutes, it was clear where the other pilot was heading - the AstroGuard station. There was an incoming call on the comms; Dall answered it right away. "What the fuck are you doing?!" Mike shouted as soon as the image of their 'rescuer' appeared. She just smiled and said - "Did I forget to mention? You boys are under arrest."
******
Hor sat at his workstation at HQ. It was morning time, and he tried to concentrate on one of the other cases he left untouched for a while. He didn't dare look at the list of open cases already assigned to him. He was never going to get to all of them. And this after exhausting a few favors with his colleagues who agreed to take a part of his caseload. Despite his desire and need to make progress, he barely saw the details on the panel in front of him; his thoughts kept wandering back to the Sying case.
Signaling his panel to switch from the case details to a filter he had prepared a while back, there were still no results. The filter was for the descriptions that crazy old neighbor gave for a thin man or woman and even for that shadow-covered man. Hor had fed the filter with what he imagined the thing would look like. The system couldn't find anything on the Fabric that matched his criteria, abstract as it was. It was a longshot, but Hor was desperate for any lead.
An alert popped off in his head, jerking him out of his melancholy. He opened it and almost didn't believe it. Wendall Sying had been spotted. Finally. Even more surprising was where. The kid had been arrested. Caught as part of a smuggler's vessel busted out in space. Amazingly, he was registered as the pilot. Hor had already signed him off as dead or perhaps fallen to drug abuse. He'd seen a lot of people over the years get into trouble after a personal tragedy. After two weeks and not a single sign, Hor didn't think he'd ever see the youngster again.
Hor jumped out of his chair and rushed to the floor lift. He only needed to go up one floor. He stepped into one of the clear tubes, and the platform rose immediately. He stepped out and almost ran to captain Nix's office. Luckily the man was there. The walls were clear, so he could see Nix was inside talking to a younger man in an AstroGuard officers' jacket. Outside of the office sat a pretty, young woman. She was wearing a sleeveless black blouse with a low neckline. It accentuated her small breasts without overly exposing them. Hor instinctively smiled at her, but she didn't notice him, continuing to chew on her lower lip. Then he barged into Nix's office, slammed the door open without knocking or waiting for the man to finish his conversation.
Nix stopped talking when he saw Hor come into his office. He nodded to the young man standing next to his desk. The man got the cue and walked out, leaving the door open. "Ah! Detective Fackel. I was just about to call you. I understand we're holding a person of interest of yours."
"Yes, Sying, where is he? Is he all right?" Hor asked breathlessly. "He's fine. Looks a little malnourished, but physically he's all right. Mentally might be a different story. He claims to have been abducted by some gang. Said they kept him secluded and disoriented most of the time, so he's not much help there." Nix shook his head.
"The good news is that apparently this time one of their crew leaders was aboard the ship we captured. It's a lucky break; finally, turn someone who actually knows something and move up the ladder. We asked, but the kid didn't know why they took him in the first place, or he's not willing to say. He refused to say anything without you. He asked for you by name. I'm guessing you don't want me to charge him, then?"
"Charge him? What the Stars for?" Hor asked sharply. "You better grab a chair if you want the full list," Nix said. Hor didn't intend to sit for a second. "Impersonating a licensed pilot, piloting a stolen ship, colluding to perform offenses in space, flying with a fake transponder ID, fraudulent PL interaction, installing an ID override." Nix's fingers kept popping up with every felony he mentioned. "The list goes on my friend. That last one alone could earn him ten years in prison. It also made it more difficult to identify him at first. Oh, relax Fackel, I'm not going to charge him. Not yet, at least. We'll try to corroborate his story, but it looks to me like he was a victim here. He doesn't have that gang member vibe."
"Ok, good. He's essential to one of my murder cases. I need to talk to him straight away." Hor said, happy he didn't need to fight Nix on those bullshit charges. "Get in line, buddy. Hammond called a few minutes ago. Apparently, there are a couple of agents from some agency here. One we're not even privileged to know its name. Said they're here to speak with your boy. They're down there right now sitting with your Captain."
"What?! Where is he, Nix? Where's the kid?" Hor shouted. "He's in one of the questioning rooms, over there." Nix pointed to the other side of the hall outside. Hor ran out of the room, not bothering to say anything else to the AG Captain. He had a bad feeling.