CassiOpeia 91787

“Mother, what are you doing?” Tong asked incredulously as their Riman vessel barreled through hyperspace. “Don’t take that tone with me Tong,” Morgann growled from the skipper’s chair. “I didn’t expect Allteir to get his precious CassiOpeia into space so quickly. I needed to buy some time for us to get our cargo to Rime.” “If you had accidentally destroyed the CassiOpeia…” “I wasn’t even close to destroying that ghedyo little vessel Lad. Don’t think for one second that I am unsure of what I am doing. I needed to stall Allteir and I did.” “But surely he identified our craft as Riman, how long will it be before he decides to head there?” “I expect him to head to Rime; that is what we are being paid for—to kidnap Farria and use her to lead Allteir to Rime; remember?” “Excuse me, Matron,” one of the Riman crew members turned from his post at the comm. board. “You have an incoming comm. from the home planet Matron, it is…” “I know who it is Peon Fllbbtt, just put it through to my office.” The towering Zin stood and strode across the bridge to the skipper’s office where she stopped at the door and turned back toward the bridge, “Tong, you have command.” With that she stepped into her office and dropped her massive form into the small, round chair behind her desk. She hit the accept button and began talking without waiting for acknowledgment from the other. “I can’t believe you find these Riman’s useful. Their onomatopoeic names and sluggish nature…ugh!” A female voice cackled sternly through the speakers. “Watch your tongue Zin, I find many beings useful—including you and your son. If it were not for me, my Rimans and my…interest in … employing useful beings, the two of you would still be stranded on Nechtanesmere where Farria left you.” “Of course, of course, pardon me Matron, I didn’t mean to offend you. I am very grateful to you for providing my son and me the means to retrieve our vessel and leave that horrid planet. I am most happy to assist you…” “Oh enough,” the dark-voiced female squawked, “the mockery in your words is thicker than Riman Yak milk. You are incapable of gratitude, I provided you with a service and now you owe me.” “Indeed. On the subject of the latter, I assume you commed for a reason?” “I want a progress report. Your debt is not paid until Allteir is lying dead at my feet, I would have expected you to be here by now.” “We will be landing on Rime in about three hours. The trip to Newtondyne was a success, we were able to acquire Legate Governor Farria and have drawn pursuit by Condor Allteir. My vessel and my trusted helmsman were lost in the process.” “How far behind you is Allteir?” The female squawked again. “I would estimate that he will be about three hours behind me.” “Very well, I will expect his arrival in six hours.” The communiqué cut off without waiting for acknowledgement. Morgann chuffed to herself as she stood from her chair, “This one is dangerous, Tong and I will be wary.” She strode back onto the bridge and sat heavily into the skipper’s chair. “Increase speed” she ordered absently, “I want to land on Rime in no more than three hours.” “As ordered Matron” the Riman helmsman answered automatically. As the craft rocked slightly with hyper-light speeds, Morgann leaned close to her half-breed son’s ear and whispered, “I told her Allteir would be about three hours behind us. She is expecting him in six hours. I figure, he’ll calculate our vector and correctly deduce that we are on our way to Rime. He’ll estimate that it will take us three hours to arrive and he’ll wait that three hours before following us, anticipating that he’ll pass us in hyperspace and arrive on Rime while we are arriving back at the rendezvous point.” “You’re sure that’s what Allteir will do?” Tong whispered back. “It is what I would do Son.” “We can assume that the vector she left was accurate, it leads directly to Rime.” Allteir spoke matter-of-factly as he walked in circles around the small cock-pit. Lucas Adams sat in the co-pilot’s chair watching and listening while Governor Zolos stood, translucently near the door. “Given their departing velocity and the known specs of Riman ships, it is safe to assume it will take them at least three hours to reach Rime. Allowing time for them to land, disembark, hide Farria somewhere, take off and begin the return trip, I’d wager at least another four hours before they arrive back here…if they actually return right away.” “Or at all,” Lucas Adams muttered. “Indeed Commander, if they return at all. So what is our best course of action? If we leave now, and really push the velocity, we could almost catch up to them; in the very least, we could arrive at Rime shortly after they do, maybe catching them off guard, giving us the chance to port Farria away from them.” “Or, they panic when they realize we are right on top of them and kill her” Adams grumbled again. “Or,” Governor Zolos said hollowly, “or this Morgann is expecting you to follow her and we burst out of hyperspace into the midst of a small Riman army.” “What did Zolos say?” Allteir asked, reading the expression on Adams’ face. “Oh, he said there could be a Riman army waiting for us” Commander Adams stuttered, forgetting that Allteir couldn’t hear the governor while he was pacing. “Right. On the other hand, if we waited, and left here for Rime about when we assume this Morgann will be leaving Rime to return here, we would pass them in space and arrive at the planet before they got here and discovered we were gone. That might buy us some time to find Farria.” “That assumes she is even really planning to return for us.” “And if she arrives here, realizes we’re gone and sends a comm. back to the planet ordering Farria be killed before we’ve found her…” Allteir’s voice trailed off as he stopped pacing and stared out the window. “Commander,” Zolos said suddenly and deliberately, “switch with me, I need to be able to talk to the condor.” Lucas Adams nodded and immediately felt the familiar tingle as the world around him took on an orange tint. He saw Zolos materialize and listened intently as the big Zin began speaking. “Allteir,” Zolos growled, “Something is really bothering me about this situation. This Morgann, she has no motive for taking Legate Governor Farria. I mean, according to Witko’s report, Morgann’s life’s obsession has been with avenging the death of her husband. Her present course of action does not serve that end at all.” “What are you thinking Governor?” Allteir asked without turning from the window. “Sire, do you recall about ten apogees ago? We were constables on Inso and took on that case with the serial killer. Do you remember that?” “The Liid case?” Allteir answered curiously, “I remember, sure. Liid, a Nain, murdered five Dor females; that was twelve apogees ago.” “Whatever, the point is do you recall how we finally caught him?” “Of course I do. He had been impossible to track because he…Oh snap, you’re right Zolos, that has to be the answer.” “We have a little time to play with Sire, if we could get Witko here, we could probably have a much better advantage.” From his seat in the co-pilot’s chair, Adams spoke up; disliking the hollowness his voice took on in his semi-transparent state. “All right, wait, what did I miss Zolos?” The Zin looked over, at Lucas Adams as if seeing him for the first time, “Oh snap. Sorry Commander.” Zolos spoke aloud, “We caught the murderer Liid because he broke from his normal pattern of behavior. He…” Allteir interrupted and spoke, even though he couldn’t see or hear Commander Adams, “He took on a contract job; he hired himself out, killed for another party.” “And you think this Morgann…is working for someone else.” Commander Adams exclaimed, snapping his fingers and standing up. The sound of his snapping fingers was inaudible even to the human and when he stood, instead of this chair sliding back, his legs passed through the solid object. Zolos laughed, watchi