Part 28: Taking Notes

The Kilon Head Security Officer paced back and forth in the control center for the SPARK project. He was in charge of coordinating operations between the Kilon Expeditionary Force and on site security. It had been six months since he’d accepted the assignment, and so far it was a simple job. The project was top secret, and had the best security personnel available. Furthermore, he had the full cooperation of Fleet Command back on Kilos. Everything had been routine… until today.

---

The day started with things a little bit out of the ordinary. There was a double shipment of mutonium scheduled first thing in the morning. This was problematic because construction was behind schedule, and ships would be required to wait in the main supply docking bay while their cargo remained aboard until manpower could be freed to unload them. Extra security personnel would be needed to stay with the ships, putting pressure on his crew’s work schedule, and of course increasing costs.

Along with that, a mutonium supplier requested, as a condition of selling her asteroid claim, that she be allowed to tour the facility. She even negotiated a lower than market price for her mutonium ore in order to get the SPARK command to agree to this stipulation. Today was her scheduled visit. That required pulling Dr Uitleg from her duties on the SPARK science team in order to chaperone the tour, and of course more security personnel, and a shuttle.

To complicate matters, Broker Mertomco decided to choose today of all days to spring a surprise inspection on the facility. Of course, Mertomco held no official power in the Kilon government; he was simply a well connected civilian. In practice, however, Mertomco was the real power in the Kilon Federation, a skilled negotiator whose crowning achievement was getting the Terran Republic to submit to Kilon rule under a specific set of circumstances, circumstances that soon became a reality, ensuring the security of Kilos in a galaxy full of threats. With the SPARK project, though, Mertomco would exceed even that accomplishment by creating scores of new worlds for Kilons to spread to.

These facts in and of themselves were plenty to make the security officer’s day a challenge. But then it got worse. A rogue cargo ship blasted its way out of Miraxix Station, crippling a Kilon Patrol Ship in the process. It was only with the quick thinking of the commander on board that SPARK security was even aware of the threat. The cargo ship had been involved in the attempted theft of a mutonium shipment weeks earlier. To make matters worse, the mutonium supplier touring the SPARK was actually an accomplice to the rogue cargo ship; her and her assistant were now being brought to the security officer for interrogation.

*****

Jade made sure she kept he head held high as the security team led her through the space station. In a way, she was glad the charade was over; she never was one for subterfuge. Now things were out in the open. She was a pilot, but more essentially she was a soldier; she had an enemy and an objective. This was a role she understood.

Behind her, she could hear John whimper. They were bound before the effects of the shocks wore off, but he’d fought their captors none the less. Jade knew they needed to save their strength, to figure out what was going on, so she cooperated, and yelled at John to do the same. But she could not help but to admire his tenacity as he head butted one guard and roundhouse kicked another. He definitely ended up worse for it once the entire security team began to beat him, but he let them, and Jade, know he was not someone who would shy away from a fight.

As she’d been doing since the moment they arrived at the SPARK, Jade was taking mental notes of her surroundings. This was a separate security statin than the one they’d initially landed in; there were more guards and a few starfighters in the shuttle bay. Jade recognized them as two-man Kilon ships, she’d cross trained on them during the war. That would likely be their best chance at escape.

Jade began to make a mental list of what needed to happen. First, obviously, she needed to get her and John away from their captors long enough to free themselves. Second, she needed to get word to Alex and the Bucephalus; they needed to know that they walking into a trap. Although, whatever situation compromised the Bucephalus may have convinced them to abort the mission. But Jade knew better than that. Even if they knew they’d been compromised, they wouldn’t leave her and John to their fates. She knew Alex was coming no matter what.

So, get loose, contact Alex, get to a starfighter. Those were the objectives. Getting them accomplished would not be simple. They were being led into a white room, a room with no windows, only the one door and two chairs. The Kilon guards strapped her to a chair, then John, and left the room.

“Are you ok?” John asked.

“Fine. I can’t move, can you?”

“No.”

“Good, now we can get started.”

*****

“The prisoners are secure in the interrogation room,” said a Kilon guard as he entered the control center. “What do we do next?”

Before the Head Security Officer could respond, a warning bell rang out. Beyond the station, a pair of enormous white frigates dropped out of hyperspace.

The guard squinted as he tried to make out the ships’ identification. “That’s not the rogue cargo ship, and those don’t look like the Kilon Expeditionary Force.”

“They aren’t,” replied the security officer, “they are something much more dangerous.”