Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 23 (a)

Cole took out his hand-held padd and brought up the passenger and crew schematics. Unlike the regular deck plans, the information he had now gave him every access panel, hatch, crawlspace, ventilation shaft and service tunnel. Still, it was shocking that not every re-configuration of the ship made it into the plans. This was especially true in the cargo area where last minute changes were made by the boatswain and loadmaster.

A longcoat covered the gun strapped to Cole's hip. He was not sure if needed it but after Central Plaza, he was reluctant to go anywhere without it. The last accoutrement was the tin star on the left pocket of the coat. It was probably some other material than tin but it felt like an old style Marshal star.

The voice beckoned in his ear. Female, young but not child-like. He had no way of knowing if it was the blonde girl they were looking for. Despite the name the dossier gave her, he still felt reluctance on using it. Nothing sat well with the sudden release of information in the report but the whistleblower aspects of the security system made it all anonymous.

"Marshal, come find me," the voice repeated in his head.

Stepping out into the corridor, he felt a little stupid. He didn't know where he was going and was responding to a voice in his head. He was just too exhausted enough to go through with it. The voice came to him periodically as he walked. It said: "straight" followed by "right" and then a "left". And so it went until he found himself out of the passenger section and into the crew area. He used his crew pass to access that area and continued getting instructions.

Cole finally arrived at one of the entrances to the cargo hold. The voice said: "enter" and he did. No part of the ship was quieter or more confusing. On each voyage, the cargo area was re-configured to suit what was being transported. At times, it was all done on the fly and while it was recorded there was something lost in translation. A corridor that was listed as passable was in fact blocked by a new pressure door because oversized cargo.

The voice seemed to know what obstacles he was facing and continued to direct him: "left" and then "straight" until he reached a hatch and was told to "enter". There was a key panel that had to be manually pressed and only when a safe green light lit up. Cole had no idea what was behind the door but stepped over the lip of the hatch and inside. Once in, a steady chiming took place and the door began to swing to a closed position. The light slowly died away as the hatch clanked shut. The cavernous room was pitch black and despite air filtration scrubbers there was a smell that seemed vaguely familiar.

Cole fished around for a flashlight in his pocket but just as he found it a single overhead light turned on above the entryway of the hatch. Peering up, it looked like the light was around 10 meters high. One light really didn't do much to brighten things up. The voice had not instructed him since he'd stepped into the room. Turning on his flashlight, he aimed it into the black. Nothing. It was easily the largest enclosed space he'd seen on the ship thus far.

He stepped forward on the assumption the girl's voice would instruct him where to go next. As he moved the overhead light shut off and another turned on above his head. The hatchway just a step behind was now shrouded in darkness. This was not good but easily remedied by taking the padd out of his bag and using the Ship Positioning System (SPS) to track where he was in case of total darkness. The padd booted up and Cole was surprised to see on the screen: No signal. Very clever, he thought. He glanced up at the roof of the room and realized it that it must have a dampening field affecting communications. His pass and comm would be useless. It would be easy to become disoriented and he'd be vulnerable if any harm was intended for him. Still, he didn't feel that the voice that had urged him on till now wished to hurt him.

Cole proceeded on.