CHAPTER 13

I went with Karen out to the hovercraft. Linda was already inside. We got in and she headed the craft toward the hanger.

“Guys, this is a big day.”

Linda showed little emotion. I imagine she is still conflicted. We entered the hanger and stopped to look at the ship. The roof of the hanger had opened up. It looked like the ship was about to launch. Karen led us to a side room. Inside was a bank of monitors. We sat down and Karen nodded at a military man. He pushed a button and a countdown sprang up on one of the monitors. It read 60 seconds. When it reached zero, I heard a loud whine. The noise dropped off quickly and we went back into the main hanger. The ship was already almost out of sight. Karen turned to the military commander.

“How long until the test firing?”

“It should be in position in a few minutes. We are targeting a rock formation on the other side of the moon.”

About 15 minutes later, a bright light lit up the morning sky.

“Wow, I didn’t think the laser would be that visible.”

The commander looked very pale.

“Since we are firing on the far side of the moon, it would not be visible at all.”

“OK, then what did we just see?”

“I don’t know.”

We went back into the control room. One of the technicians spoke up.

“Sir, we have lost contact with the ship.”

“Damn! Keep trying to contact them.”

I could tell tensions were running high. To me, that flash of light had to mean that Jonnie was successful with the sabotage. The technician spoke up again.

“Sir, we have picked up an emergency beacon. It has to be coming from the crew module. The beacon would only activate if the module had been separated from the ship.”

“Shit”

Karen turned to the military commander.

“OK, you want to tell me what that means?”

He sighed heavily.

“The module should only be ejected if the ship was destroyed. We can’t be sure, of course, but it looks like a catastrophic failure.”

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When George got the signal, we jumped up and headed outside. As we went through the outer door, we could see the first marshal ship coming toward our position. It landed about 20 feet away. George had been talking to the team leader and they knew we were standing by. The leader jumped out of the craft and came over to us.

“Well, Marshal Harper, you did a good job. As soon as they activated that laser, the whole ship went up. The crew module was jettisoned and landed safely. We have a ship picking them up as we speak.

“What about the military personnel stationed here?”

“It’s my understanding that they have all been ordered to surrender by Broadskye officials. This project may have been unofficially sponsored by the Broadskye military but, now that it is toast, they want to wash their hands of it.”

I laughed.

“A pretty typical response. In other words, CYA.”

“Yeah, we have a ship landing next to the main hanger now. That team should be rounding up the technical people working there in a few minutes.”

“Can you take me there? Marshal Browning is under cover with Karen Littleton and we need to pull him out.”

“Sure”

He turned to some of his team.

“Unload that hovercraft. We need to go over to the hanger.”

The craft was unloaded swiftly and we piled in. The ride over only took about 5 minutes. When we arrived, the technicians had all been rounded up. My main concern was ‘where are Matt, Linda, and Karen’.

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Someone came running into the control room.

“Sir, several ships are landing around the base.”

Just as the commander was about to address the new arrival, the radio operator chimed in.

“Sir, we have just been ordered by headquarters on Broadskye to surrender to the Galactic Marshal Service. They are landing now.”

The commander turned to Karen.

“That’s it then.”

“The hell it is. Matt, escort Linda to my ship behind the hanger. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

I led Linda out of the control room and we went through the rear door of the main hanger. I looked over at Linda.

“Well, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I think Karen is bugging out. You better get while you can.”

“I’m not leaving you. Who knows what Karen will do now.”

Just then a couple of support officers came around the side of the hanger. Spotting us, they ran over and started to grab Linda. Once again, I reacted by instinct. Unfortunately, Karen witnessed the whole thing. As I was getting up off the second officer, I was suddenly struck from behind. I fell forward and, as I hit the ground, I was kicked in the ribs.

“I had a feeling about you but I couldn’t put my finger on it, Mary Brown. When I saw you take out those two guys, it hit me. Only a Fledoran uses the moves you made on them.”

As I tried to stand, Karen hit me in the face. Linda interceded at that point.

“Don’t, Karen, we need her to get out of here. She is our only protection.”

“We don’t need this lying bitch.”

“You don’t understand. She is Marshal Harper’s girlfriend. He won’t allow any harm to come to her. Let’s take her to your ship and take off.”

Karen looked at Linda hard.

“OK, but you have a lot of explaining to do. I can tell you are holding something back.”

I was barely conscious but I felt some one trying to stand me up right.

“Come on, Mary, help me. If I can’t get you to the ship, Karen is going to kill you.”

I struggled to my feet and Linda half carried me to the ship. Once inside, she put me into one of the pods.

“Don’t worry, every thing is going to be OK.”

As I passed out, my thoughts were on Jonnie.

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I jumped out of the hovercraft and went into the hanger. After searching each room and finding no one, I went into the main hanger bay. Nobody was here but I noticed that the back door was open. Going out it, I saw a ship taking off. Two officers were getting up off the ground so I turned to them.

“Did you see who got on that ship?”

One of them looked over at the departing ship.

“Yeah, two women and a man. The man looked like he was hurt. Before you ask, it wasn’t us. He pounded us into the ground before we knew it. I think that big woman laid in to him for some reason.”

Shit, Karen must have figured out who Matt really is. This is bad!

“OK, thanks.”

I went back around to the front of the hanger and found the team leader talking to George. As I approached, George looked at me.

“I guess you saw that ship leave?”

“Yeah, from what I heard, Karen, Linda and Matt are on it.”

“I have been in touch with our main ship orbiting Broadskye. They say there is no way they can stop the ship but they will track it.”

“Damn! I guess that’s all we can do for now. Let’s wrap this place up.”

We gathered up all the technicians and transported them to our main ship. We let Broadskye’s military handle their people. Once on the ship, I video conferenced with Sam at headquarters.

“Good job, John. That was brilliantly executed. We have informed Fledora and they are grateful.”

“I bet they are. Have you traced that ship that got away?”

“Yes, it went to Fledora.”

“OK, I still have the Fledoran shuttle here at Broadskye. I am going to take it back there.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Look, we still have a warrant for Karen.”

“Yes, but it is a Fledoran warrant and she is now on their soil.”

“I’m going, Sam.”

“I can’t stop you unless we arrest you. Just be careful.”

“I will stay in contact.”

I signed off and went looking for a shuttle that could take me to the spaceport. When I found one, I put in to be transported later in the day. Since my stomach was growling ferociously, I went to the galley. George and James Cooper were there.

“Hey, John, I can’t believe we did it.”

I laughed.

“You’re telling me.”

I looked over at James.

“I see you made it out.”

“Yes, thanks to you. Your people want to interview me so I am going with them. I still would like to take you up on the offer to help Fledora.”

“Sure, I’ll talk to their council when I get there.”

This perked George up.

“What do you mean ‘when you get there’? You surely aren’t going back there again.”

“George, Karen has taken Linda and Matt there. So, yes, I am going. You want to come with me?”

He made an awful face.

“Not on your life!”

I laughed.

“I don’t blame you but I have to go.”

He shook his head. We ate and said our good byes. I headed back to the shuttle. In no time, I was at the space port. I arranged transport to the Fledoran ship and got aboard. I powered up and contacted the council.

“Good evening, Marshal Harper. Please accept our eternal gratitude for destroying that laser ship.”

“Yes, well, I guess you know Karen has flown to Fledora with Linda and Mary.”

“We tracked a ship to Basteria but we did not know who was aboard.”

“Hmmm, OK, I’m coming on your ship. After all, it seems I am actually a Fledoran citizen.”

Carol stared at me a minute. She showed no emotion. Finally, she sighed.

“So, you have figured it out. I guess we have a lot to discuss then. Get in a pod and we will program your return.”

She signed off without another word. That was probably a good thing the way I was feeling. I climbed into a pod after undressing. I just hope Mary and Linda are OK. Well, it’s back to where it all started. So be it.