Captain Groxl the younger awoke suddenly to find himself on the Gande’s bridge floor. The four bridge officers stared at him with faces ranging from shock to contempt. He looked down at himself but found no injuries or wounds, just a dark circular singe mark on his tunic, which meant the weapon had been on a stun setting.
‘Are you going to stay down there all day?’ said Senior Captain Ganelaine, extending a hand and hauling the young captain to his feet.
Groxl staggered slightly and looked around in confusion.
‘They were shot by the door guards, in case you were wondering,’ said Ganelaine, noticing Groxl’s bewilderment.
‘Where are they now?’
‘Floating amongst the rocks.’
‘Who were they?’
‘Grondalle who disagreed with the plan.’
Groxl nodded and sat on the captain’s chair rubbing his chest where the laser bolt had impacted.
‘Are you all right to continue?’ the GDA captain asked. ‘That was a heavy stun setting on that pistol, one of that strength can disorientate the best of us.’
‘No, I think I’m all right.’
‘Well, let’s find out. Where are we with the plan so far?’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘I want to see if your memory is sound. Run me through what we’ve done so far and what we have to do next?’
The young captain stared at the floor in thought for a moment.
‘Erm – okay, well, my idiot father snatched Virr from Earth, causing his starship to follow as planned and the GDA to send the cruiser 28 to the vicinity of Zee-Klatt III. We waited until the majority of the Grondalle fleet approached and detonated the 28. We didn’t get the Earth starship as expected, but were able to destroy it as it fled towards Dasos.’
‘What are we doing next?’
‘That’s your decision.’
‘Yes, but I’m just checking your head’s on straight – remember?’
‘Right – err, we’re waiting for the GDA fleet to fully commit itself in Klatt space before overseeing the invasion while their backs are turned. Did I miss anything?’
‘Who do we get our orders from?’
Groxl looked at Ganelaine with a puzzled expression.
‘Well, I get mine from you.’
‘And I get mine from?’
‘I’ve no idea – have I? You said we have to be compartmentalised, so no cell can betray another.’
‘Good,’ said Ganelaine. ‘It doesn’t seem like you’ve suffered any ill effects. You sit back there and rest, we’ve got a bit of a wait now anyway.’
Groxl sat back on the cushioned padding, almost immediately falling into unconsciousness.
Ed shut down his DOVI, opened his eyes and stared at the Klatt captain as he lay sedated in the auto nurse.
‘I’ll give him “idiot father” when he wakes up,’ grumbled Groxl senior, sitting to one side with the others.
Cleo appeared in the room, still in her latest goth façade and raised her eyebrows at Ed.
Once the Gande’s shields were down, she’d been able to scan the interior of the vessel, so creating an exact copy of the ship’s bridge in the younger captain’s mind hadn’t been too much of a drama. Ed had appeared as Ganelaine using his DOVI.
‘That seemed to work,’ she said.
‘Only to confirm our worst fears,’ said Ed. ‘We still don’t know who’s calling the shots.’
‘Perhaps he can give us a bit more,’ said Andy, pointing at Ganelaine in the adjacent auto nurse.
‘I reckon Admiral Geltz has to be involved somehow,’ said Bache. ‘We need to stop that GDA fleet committing to Klatt space. They may have wired more ships to explode.’
‘We need to warn Earth as a priority,’ said Andy. ‘There’s billions of lives at risk there.’
‘Andy’s right,’ said Rayl. ‘Do we know where James Dewey is?’
‘He was in New York the day before my abduction,’ said Ed. ‘I saw him making an address to the United Nations on TV. Ironically enough, trying to drum up interest and funds to install a ring of the GDA’s latest defence satellites.’
‘Boy, could they do with some of those right now,’ said Andy.
‘What are we doing about Ganelaine?’ said Cleo. ‘Am I setting up another scenario like before?’
‘No,’ said Ed. ‘Put your feelers out and find James Dewey’s yacht.’
‘Bache,’ said Rayl. ‘Who can you trust on Dasos? You must have someone in a position of power that can help?’
Bache stood up and strolled around the room rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
‘There is someone,’ he said.
‘What’s their name and we’ll see if we can find their details on the database,’ she said.
‘Ex-GDA Council President Jamill Xutan.’
Everybody in the room froze and turned to stare at him. Apart from the low mumble of the auto nurses, there was complete silence for a couple of seconds.
‘You are kidding, right?’ said Rayl, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
Bache shook his head.
‘He’s gotta be in his eighties,’ she said.
‘Eighty-four,’ Bache confirmed, this time with a nod. ‘He sponsored my career in the early years and we’ve always kept in touch.’
‘Have you got his tab address and will he believe you?’ asked Andy.
‘And if he does, how much authority does he still carry?’ said Rayl.
‘You’d be surprised,’ said Bache. ‘He can be quite – what’s the word? – efficacious when he wants something doing.’
‘Dewey’s en route to Dasos,’ said Cleo, suddenly. ‘I’ve detected his ship in the Callinn system heading for the next jump point.’
‘Can we intercept?’ asked Ed.
‘If we go now and give it the full monty,’ she said.
‘Whatever that is – do it,’ said Ed. ‘We have to get to James before he gets to Dasos, and Bache – see if you can contact your ex-president to stop that fleet going in the wrong direction.’