Pax Galactica - A Space Opera

Chapter 23 - A Localized Problem

Jeeke/Gyeee took Decker and Aranarth all the way back to the Overdog so they could try and establish a mutual fatline with the Sic Semper Tyrannis. Trying to engage in instant communication over interstellar distances with a starship whose movement is occasionally hyperspatial was a real craps shoot.

Luckily for once the Tyrannis was exactly where it was supposed to be and Aranarth managed to catch a link on his first try.

Aranarth sat in the pilot's chair of the Overdog, with Decker beside him in the co-pilot's chair. The screen-window in front of them resolved from a view of the makeshift starport into an image of the coat-of-arms of the Sic Semper Tyrannis: a dragon coiled around a sword surrounded by broken chains.

"This is the A.R.C.S. Sic Semper Tyrannis," came the soft, even voice of the ship's AI. "Please identify yourself."

"This is Ranger Aranarth on the Overdog calling for Lodge Mistress Quartermass."

"The Lodge Mistress is flagged unavailable," said the ship.

"The Lodge Mistress is always unavailable, can you actually ask her?" asked Aranarth.

"Have it your way," said the ship.

There was a beat of silence.

"The Lodge Mistress will take your call in her office, one moment please."

The few minutes later the screen flipped from the coat-of-arms to the Lodge Mistress in her office.

"What do you need, Ranger? I'm very busy," she said.

"I need more rangers here on Xalax," said Aranarth.

"Why would I do that?" asked Quartermass. "I don't even like having you there."

"Because I spoke to a gug-gug-gug prisoner of war and he's confirmed what I already guessed about how the gug-gug-gugs have been reinforcing. They're using Old One warp gates, the xalaxians must have just destroyed the one here by chance during one of their aerial bombardments. But if enough of it is left to be identifiable and I find it we can prove the Old Ones are involved in this war and start fighting openly."

"Why does that require diverting additional rangers all the way to Xalax?"

"There's an active Long Shadow cell already trying to destroy all evidence of Old One involvement. They assassinated two of the prisoners of war and would have gotten the other one if we hadn't stumbled upon them by chance. As soon as they figure out what I'm doing they're going to try and destroy whatever remains of the warp gate. I don't actually know where it is, just some places it could be. Apparently it was being moved around a lot. I need to be able to hit every likely location all at once."

The Lodge Mistress narrowed her eyes.

"You're telling me you want me to divert rangers away from worlds that are currently under attack so you can deal with a local Long Shadow chapter? You deal with it, you have a squire."

"My squire isn't yet at the point where he's more of an asset than a liability."

Rather than being insulted by being called a liability, Decker's heart leapt a little at Aranarth's use of the qualifier "yet".

"This isn't high priority for us right now," said the Lodge Mistress. "We have a cruiser in the system that will protect it from any attempt at re-invasion. Xalax has finally been acknowledged as a Cooperative protectorate by the Parliament. And half of the Corps is doing other things. We have to deal with the planets still at war."

"Don't you see what I'm saying? This isn't about Xalax. What I'm doing here is the key to opening up both of those worlds that are under attack to open aggression. All I need to do is prove Old One involvement. The fact that a Long Shadow cell activated just proves I'm on to something."

"If that's true you should go find it, because we can't spare anyone else, nor any further time discussing it," said the Lodge Mistress. "Goodbye, Ranger."

She signed off. The screen returned to the view in front of the ship.

Aranarth made a frustrated noise and tried to call another ship, but he couldn't establish a fatline with the A.R.C.S. The Ship With The Unnecessarily Long Name That All Kinds Of People Are Going To Be Inconvenienced By.

Aranarth spun around in his chair.

"What did I tell you squire?" he said. "Everyone is stupid except me."

* * *

Jeeke/Gyeee was waiting for the two rangers in the repulsorcraft when they exited the ship. Decker and Aranarth approached the vehicle.

"A.R.C. isn't sending any more rangers," said Aranarth. "They don't want to divert resources away from the planets still at war."

"This is understandable and disappointing simultaneously," said Jeeke/Gyeee. Decker figured it must be some kind of xalaxian expression. It probably sounded better with two dissonant mouths.

"It's short sighted, but it is what it is," said Aranarth. "We're going to have to deal with this ourselves."

"To that end I have been thinking," said Jeeke/Gyeee. "Could your ship's scanners penetrate one of these cloaking devices? We might find this Long Shadow cell that way."

"Not at a range that would be useful. If I knew what I was looking for and the area in which I was looking for it had no more than a half a click radius then maybe."

"Do you have a plan?" asked Jeeke/Gyeee. "I can make whatever resources are at my command at your disposal."

"I do and I regret it already," said Aranarth. "We'll compile a list of all the most likely sites where the warp gate could be and hit them two at a time, which means we'll need to split up. So squire, you're going to be on your own. Try not to sprell this up like you do everything else."

Decker just nodded, he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"How is that going to deal with the Long Shadow?" asked Jeeke/Gyeee. "That is my priority."

"Oh don't you worry about that," said Aranarth. "This will bring them crawling out of the woodwork."