mission
parameters after the jump has been initiated."
"Understood."
replied a slightly confused master.
"And Maulik,
may the Gods be with you."
Commander
Trulek severed the connection.
"This is
between us," he signalled Relik and received a nod, "So when do we
expect our bridge guest, or guests?"
"Unknown,"
answered Relik as he scanned the data stream, "Currently on
accommodation level 3, but I'm locked out of surveillance."
This is why There's discord in the fleet, he told himself as he became confident that the military were
behind all the secrecy. Harvesters were under the jurisdiction of
the Senate, not the military, he didn't need to see a Colonial
uniform to know that the defence boys were behind it all, military
level encryption had confirmed that theory for him.
"You have the
con," he instructed Relik, "I'm going to inspect Hold 32."
"And our
guests? What if they come to the bridge while you're away?"
Maulik turned
and grinned, "Then lock them out until I get back, two can play
that game."
***
Two hundred million tons of harvester equalled a vast ship
and the trip to Hold 32 would have taken hours on foot but Maulik
hopped into a grav-lift and was soon hurtling down seventy six
decks, right into the bowels of the beast. As master he knew his
ship inside out but Hold 32 had never needed his inspection before,
all he knew was that it was just one of fifty on the lowermost
deck, all identical, nothing out of the ordinary, except today he
had a million tons of classified cargo... and that was out of the
ordinary!
Colonial Marines, he congratulated
himself as he stepped from the lift and was faced by a wall of grey
and green camouflage uniforms.
Of all his
race only the military wore any form of clothing, their uniforms
were simply protection, woven from a synthesised silicon that was
impervious to all known energy weapons they were no better than the
Watu in Maulik's mind, grey and green symbols of dominance.
"Hey guys," he
signalled, "What's happening here?"
"Move along."
came the reply, "This is a restricted area."
"Really?"
replied Maulik as he flashed his credentials.
The marines
straightened and signalled apologies, "Sorry Master, you should
have let us know before, but again I'm sorry, you still can't pass
this point."
"I'll go anywhere I want on my ship." flared Maulik, but the
marines weren't playing games as he heard the faint hum of plasma
rifles charging,
"Hey, don't
get excited." he laughed masking his nerves, "I'm just on a routine
pre-flight inspection, no big deal."
"Everything
will be explained once we've made the jump" assured the Colonial
Squad Leader, "And Master, I'm sure you will be needed on the
bridge very soon." Maulik nodded as he heard the sound of docking
clamps releasing, soon 7 would be in free space and manoeuvring to
the jump gate. He gave an overly stiff salute loaded with sarcasm
before stepping back into the grav-lift. His day was definitely not
going as planned.
***
"This is
Colonel Balak." announced Relik as he stepped back onto the
bridge.
"What happened
to locking the doors?" he signalled privately.
"I have
complete authority over access on this ship at the moment," cut in
Balak, "And while I am on board there will be no attempts at
private links."
Maulik stared
in disbelief, "How did you access our link?" all he caught in reply
was a thin grin.
"That's
classified." replied the colonel.
"OK, so what’s
all this about?" Maulik demanded not trying to hide the irritation
in his thoughts as Balak pointed to the gold crescent on his arm,
indicating his rank.
Maulik gave a mental shrug of dismissal, "So what Colonel,
I'm not military, that mark means nothing to me, and you appear to
be a guest on my ship so I suggest you start explaining what you are doing
here, and why my Hold 32 is crammed to the roof with the Gods know
what?"
"Classified."
came the stiff reply.
Maulik turned
to his bridge crew and announced, "I wonder if this guy ever gets
tired of that
Desiree Holt, Cerise DeLand
Robert A HeinLein & Spider Robinson