Mantrin Imperial Guard - 003 The Infinite Depths of Space

Chapter 3: The Down Below

"So, what do we do now?"

Looking down at Jetreycka's bag in his hands, turning it over as if it could reveal some clues about where the two women had been taken, Le'tan snorted as he pondered Houn's question. Although it did take some time for the light to turn back on after the incident, there was no sign of Nami and Jetreycka, except for the bag, which laid on the floor at a considerable distance from their location before the start of the incident.

"We have no idea where they are." Whoever was responsible, they had taken two adult Mantrinesses, and by the looks of those around him, several other victims, out of sight in an almost impossibly short time. Trying to remember what happened before, during, and after the incident, he began patching things together, recalling the input of all five senses. "They left some clues behind. Try to recall everything that happened when the lights started flickering."

As he held his arm up, putting his wristcom in recording mode, Houn stepped closer to him.

"Nami said something about shroud screens," Houn said, flattening an ear. "That's pretty advanced technology, often used by special ops teams geared toward infiltration."

"Right. There were some flashes. Could've been weapons being discharged. Looking at the victims, not everyone used the stun setting." He bit his lip. "There was something else. Something very distinctive. A smell kind of like a swamp. Did you notice that?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"It's a safe bet that the Gvort are involved. I think I felt one of them touch me when passing."

"They might not've taken their wristcoms right away. The last known location could give us some directions."

Knotting the broken ends of the strap together, Le'tan flung the bag over his shoulder, then used his wristcom to bring up a map of the station on which he was able to track the location of all members of the Myr'shala's crew. Focusing on the last known locations of Nami- and Jetreycka, the result of his search was as expected, and a reason to be worried. The two dots pulsated in a red color, as opposed to the blue ones of the other members of the crew, which indicated the location was not current. It was safe to assume they had taken away all of the victims' equipment to prevent them from being tracked by anyone, including the station's authorities.

"Looks like they've been taken to the lower levels. We shouldn't go down there ourselves without backup, but every millicycle we lose might lower their chances of survival. Le'tan to Raeth."

It took a few ticks for Raeth to respond.

"Uiisa, had my mouth full. Everything okay? Are you guys having fun?"

Le'tan sighed.

"Afraid not. We weren't looking for trouble, but trouble found us. We're at the marketplace where there was some kind of mass kidnapping. They've taken Nami and Jetreycka. Last location of their wristcoms indicate they've taken them to the lower levels with the other victims."

Raeth cursed under his breath, or at least it sounded like it.

"Damned slavers. On a station this size kidnappings are certainly not unheard of, but they're abusing the huge increase in visitors. I'll contact the authorities. See if we can get help in mounting some kind of operation to get them out. I'm afraid we're gonna have to sort it out ourselves though. Even they don't venture down there too often."

"We'll see if we can find some clues about what we're up against. Whoever they were, they used shroud screens and the speed with which they completed the act... we have no idea how they did it."

"Find out what you can and keep me posted. Be careful though. I'll put a team together. Raeth out."

Le'tan noticed that during his talk with Raeth, Houn had been listening with one ear, while keeping a close eye on what was happening around them. With most visitors moving along the sides of the square, keeping the center clear for paramedics to tend to the injured and police to start their investigation, they got the attention of the latter.