Starborne

Chapter 7

I couldn’t get off Cynabar quick enough. 

Leaving the convoy as soon as I secured transport to the Terran base, I made a quick promise to Akara that I would meet her at the palace after I checked in. I had the option of staying at the base, but the female Cynabarrian was excited for us to spend some time together before I left. I wanted to take advantage of seeing as much of Cynabar as possible, and I had begun to view this small reprieve as a vacation from my normal life. I loved being a pilot, and going on missions, but it was nice to have a few days where I didn’t have to worry about being shot down or captured by mercenaries. 

I was greeted outside of the Terran headquarters by another human woman. She was blonde and petite, but the expression on her face was quite severe. She beckoned me to follow her without a word of introduction, and set off into the building without looking back. She walked very quickly down the fluorescent lit hallway, fast for such a tiny woman, and I scurried behind her while still trying to take in my surroundings. The whole interior of the building was lined with sheets of metal plating. It was buffed so as to not be completely reflective, but I was still entranced by the colors and shapes that moved on the surface as we passed other workers and ventured further into the massive structure. 

We made so many turns I was sure that I would not be able to find my way out without assistance, but finally stopped at a reinforced metal door that was marked with signage demanding a Level Four security clearance.

“Scan your Nav here.” I jumped at the sudeen sound of her voice, and slowly processed the stern command.

I held my Nav up to a screen to the right of the door, and the edges of the frame began to glow green. An electronic whirring noise emanated from within, and the door clicked open. I followed the woman into a lab filled with computers, where a vast team of Terrans were working on code, scanning large digital maps, and huddled around intermittent conference tables. Everyone moved with the urgency of my guide, and my appearance through the doorway barely garnered a second look. 

The blonde woman led me up a set of glass stairs to a small room that overlooked the large central lab. There were several people sitting at an oval conference table, and they looked up as we entered. An older man stood and walked towards us, offering his hand for me to shake. 

“Commander Jeff Wryes. And you must be Pilot Holly Reed?” His tone was firm but not unkind, and I noted appreciatively that he took the time to introduce himself. 

“I am. I have a comm message for you, Commander. Concerns mercenary activity in the quadrant.” I felt my military training kick in as I spoke to my superior. The chain of command was familiar, relaxing. It was a reminder of why I liked being a part of missions and the Terran fleet. Here, I knew who I was. My time on Cynabar had blurred my brain and sense of boundaries; I needed to get back into the sky.

“Very well. Diana, thank you. You may leave now.” He spoke to the woman who had brought me in, and she turned away without a second glance. 

“Pilot Reed, place your Nav on the table and we will get started.” He spoke casually, and I sent him a questioning look. 

“Commander, Sir, am I to be privy to the contents of this message?” I was unsure of my place here, and from what I knew, those in my position were not generally trusted with such high level intel. 

“Might as well be. It concerns your livelihood as much as ours. I understand you got into some hot water with a crew over Anaband. Good work getting here, Pilot, you are quite skilled.” He smiled warmly, and began entering his credentials into a panel. Suddenly my Nav glowed bright blue, and 3D schematics popped up as a hologram from the center of the table. 

I stood a bit straighter at his praise, and was thankful that I would not be reprimanded for crashing. I was intrigued to see the important information that I had risked my life to deliver. 

The rest of the people at the table, who had ignored my presence until now, crowded around the hologram with concern on their faces. I tried to read the jumble of statistics and graphs, but couldn’t piece together their importance. 

One of the women spoke slowly. “Wryes, you’re seeing this, right?”

“This is worse than we hoped, but not unexpected.” The Commander spoke solemnly, and then looked back over to me. 

“The mercenary activity has concentrated, and one of our inside sources sent a coded message in this data set. We hoped it was just a coincidence, but this confirms our fears.” He paused, reading my confused expression and trying to soften the blow. 

“The mercenaries have organized. There is evidence of a central organization, and their priority is to destroy all Terran bases on occupied planets.”

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to calm myself. To any ordinary Pilot, that was terrible news. Our livelihood depended on avoiding mercenaries and moving in between bases. This not only made that job lot more difficult, but meant that there would be an especially powerful target on all our backs. It was possible that the Terrans would cut the number of Pilots out on missions and redirect the manpower elsewhere. I dreaded being reassigned to a colony somewhere, or to doing low level reconnaissance on an occupied planet. 

To me, however, this news cut deeper. I had heard rumours of the mercenaries and bounty hunters beginning to coalesce, but those fears had been circulating for decades. This plan though, to attack the bases, sounded all too familiar. 

“If the mercenaries were smart, they would throw their lot into a central organization. Take out the Terran bases, and occupy the planets one by one. Pilots would be easy picking, and before long, the supply lines would fall.” He spoke excitedly at the plan, his eyes sparkling with something I didn’t like. 

“Jack, that’s horrible. I don’t know why you want to talk about this again. Don’t you realize that we would be those ‘easy pickings’? Our friends, our colleagues… I don’t want to think about how terrifying that would be.” I was young, and my nerves showed through my voice. I was hoping it was all a joke, and he would laugh with mirth that would distract me from the fear shooting down my spine. 

“Yeah, that’s right, Holly. Anyone on the Terran side would be targets. Those are exactly the flaws in their system, that someone smart would know to exploit…” He was wistful, wanting. I shrank back from him, and he noticed. 

“Aw, come on Holls. You know I’m joking, chin up.” Then he leaned in to caress my cheek and I let myself forget….

I snapped out of my reverie, shaking. No, no. I was wrong, it was a coincidence. Had to be, and the last thing I needed was Commander Wryes studying my nervousness directly. 

I shook myself and spoke with a steady voice. “Sorry, Sir. Just coming to terms with this, it certainly has potentially dangerous implications. The other Pilots need to know.”

“They certainly do. You may leave us, Pilot Reed. We will take care of communications, I hope we can depend on you to be discrete.” He was polite, but there was a stern command in his voice. It was a serious situation, and if our knowledge got into the wrong hands, we would lose any tactical advantage. 

I left the building in a haze, continually making wrong turns until I found myself at a different exit than where I had come in. I pushed into the bright natural sunlight of the Cynabarian city, but felt disconnected from the bustle and life of the streets around me. I needed to get myself together and stop thinking about the past. I quickly ventured back to the palace, hoping to find Akara, or another worthy distraction.