The flight was surprisingly short, as eight minutes later they landed in some sort of military base on the outskirts of a small town.
‘Is that Yelter?’ asked Nexen, glancing from the window to the major.
‘Face the front,’ snapped the soldier sitting next to him.
The major smiled. ‘Nice try, saboteur,’ he said. ‘That your target was it?’ The major sat stiffly for a moment, listening to something on his earpiece. ‘Destroyed?’ he said, staring into space. ‘Nuclear – well who the hell fired that?’ He snapped his attention back to Nexen. ‘Don’t expect a rescue attempt any time soon,’ he said. ‘Your ship has been nuked.’
‘Why d’you think we were in a lifeboat?’ said Nexen, rolling his eyes. ‘The person you want is in the other lifeboat. We had just boarded the Xhamin to arrest them, only to discover they’d sabotaged the ship and left on the small bridge lifeboat.’
‘Boarded it from where? You’re making this up as you go along,’ growled the major.
The doors opened and as they were ushered out, another officer approached the major and whispered in his ear.
‘Where?’ Bache heard the major say. ‘Get a unit there, don’t let any of them escape.’
They were all marched inside a bunker of some kind and down concrete stairs several floors underground to a detention centre. Here they were searched again and placed in separate cells.
Bache sat on the metal bed frame bolted to the wall and waited. Occasionally, he heard other cell doors being opened, the murmur of voices and the clump of boots in the corridor. It was a couple of hours before his door opened and a soldier appeared and beckoned him out into the corridor.
The interrogation room he was escorted to was as he expected. Square, bland and with a simple table and two chairs. His cuffs were attached to a metal loop on the table top and he was left alone again. He was pleased to see there were no blood stains on the concrete floor and, knowing he was being watched, he sat still, remained impassive and just stared at a mark on the opposite wall.
He estimated around half an hour passed before the major appeared with a soldier and closed the door behind them.
‘Name?’ snapped the major, who remained standing and pointed for the soldier to stand behind the prisoner.
‘Bache Loftt.’
‘Rank?’
‘Recruit.’
‘Another recruit!’ he stormed. ‘Do they consider us so backward they send recruits here on espionage missions?’
‘We weren’t on an espionage mission,’ said Bache, keeping his voice calm and neutral. ‘It was our final training flight before finishing our officer course and being offered our first junior officer positions. I’m sure Zaphir would have explained this to you.’
‘What’s the name of your ship?’
‘The destroyer Dres’kin.’
The major pressed a few icons on a tablet he’d been holding and turned it so Bache could see the screen. Bache’s eyes widened as he watched a video of a crashed GDA destroyer, sitting in a wooded area. It was leaning badly to one side as though its struts had collapsed and surrounded by small fires as the heat from the hull ignited nearby foliage.
‘Is that the one?’ the major said, this time in a more sarcastic tone.
‘It must have been damaged by the Xhamin exploding so close to it,’ Bache said. ‘Are the crew okay?’
‘We have no idea,’ he said. ‘Apparently, its shielding is still operational and we can’t get near it.’
‘Do you want me to talk to them?’ Bache asked.
‘No need,’ said the major, grinning. ‘They’ve been told if they don’t surrender their vessel within the hour, then the prisoners will be executed one at a time until they do.’
‘And you believe that’s a responsible way to behave towards a vessel in distress do––’
Bache was cut off as the door cracked open and a senior officer Bache hadn’t seen before, looked in and nodded his head towards the corridor.
‘Yes, sir,’ snapped the major, a look of surprise on his face as he hurried out and closed the door.
Bache heard muffled raised voices outside, before the door reopened and the major, his face bright red, stuck his head back in.
‘Uncuff the gentleman and take him to the mess hall,’ he said to the soldier, before disappearing again.
Nexen and Zaphir were already there when Bache arrived in a much bigger and brighter room. Zaphir was sitting on a comfortable lounge chair in one corner and Nexen was having an animated conversation with the senior officer from before.
Bache went and joined Zaphir, her face lighting up when she saw him.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked, standing and giving him a fist bump.
‘I was about to ask you the same question,’ he whispered as he pulled her into a hug.
‘I’m good,’ she said. ‘Do you know what suddenly changed? One minute I’m being threatened with execution and the next I’m given a comfortable armchair and having a meal prepared for me.’
‘By the look of it, they’ve realised that Nexen really is who he says he is,’ said Bache, turning as Nexen approached together with the senior officer.
‘This is General Took,’ said Nexen. ‘He’s the northern hemisphere military commander.’
Zaphir stood and they both saluted him smartly.
‘Sir,’ they said together.
‘You’re very kind giving me that level of respect after the way my men have just treated you,’ he said. ‘Needless to say, the captain will not be troubling you again.’
Zaphir and Bache nodded and raised their eyebrows at Nexen, both of them understanding the general’s meaning.
‘The general would like you to accompany us over to your ship and help sort this mess out,’ said Nexen.
‘Absolutely,’ said Bache.
‘Get yourselves something to eat,’ said Took. ‘We leave in an hour.’
‘Commander,’ said Bache, as Nexen turned to leave. ‘Have you informed Captain Yamaton of the situation change and that the threats of execution no longer exist?’
‘We have,’ said Took. ‘Although, as yet we have had no response.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ said Zaphir. ‘He’ll think it’s a trick.’
‘That’s why we need you to convince him otherwise,’ said Nexen.
‘Actually, while you’re here, sir,’ Bache said looking at the general. ‘Has anything been learnt about the whereabouts of the other lifeboat?’
The general glanced at Nexen.
‘That’s what we were just discussing,’ said Nexen. ‘We know the android had taken on the appearance of my wife and escaped in the bridge lifeboat just over a minute before we ejected in ours.’
‘Allowing for a similar re-entry trajectory,’ said Took, ‘it puts her landing site, we think, somewhere in the southern hemisphere.’
A junior officer came trotting into the mess hall and on seeing the general, came running over, saluted and give him a piece of paper.
Took read the message and nodded at the corporal. ‘It seems there are reports of a parachute being seen in a rural area near Reddat City,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of chatter from the local authorities, who are out trying to locate it.’
‘We need to find her quickly,’ said Bache. ‘If she gets loose in the local population, a lot of people will die.’
‘Let’s hope they find her then,’ said Took, a little despondently.
‘Once we’ve got the ship sorted out, we’ll go over there and use our technology to help locate her,’ said Bache, noticing the general flinch as he said it.
‘Not possible, I’m afraid,’ said Nexen. ‘Both the northern and southern hemispheres are presently in a state of war, apparently.’
‘More like a fragile ceasefire,’ said Took. ‘But whatever we call it, going over there is not remotely possible. I’m informed that some of their senior government are convinced it was us that nuked them, so tensions are extremely high.’
‘Are they likely to retaliate in kind?’ asked Bache.
‘Well, that’s just it,’ said Took. ‘We don’t have any nuclear weapons and as far as we know, nor do they. Nukes were banned centuries ago.’
‘I could talk to them and explain the situation,’ said Nexen. ‘When I left, the planet was united and ruled by King Challon the Third.’
‘Hmm, we could try it,’ said Took, rubbing his chin. ‘But I think they’ll be as sceptical as we were until you had the iris scan.’