Ion clenched his hand to a fist and looked around on the bridge of the ship. The crew of the Cleus’ spaceship were dead. His companions were standing on the bridge. The two Titans were still carrying their plasma guns. The young woman was sitting in a seat, her body trembling and her eyes widened. Her mouth formed a silent cry. Chief in command Ion watched her, enraged.

 

“How could you be so careless, Lady Tiana?” he hissed.

 

The Titans raised their plasma guns, but Ion waved his hand.

 

“Wait,” he said. “Take her down and lock her up in a room. Leave me alone. I must think.”

 

His companions dragged Tiana from the seat and shoved her from the bridge. Ion looked after them, then sat down in the captain’s seat and looked at the dead men hanging in their chairs or lying on the floor. His eyes turned to the main window of the spaceship. They were in outer space, but not far from the Sirrah solar system. The system was on the ship’s route from the planet Cleus to the main planet of the Great Empire of Titania. The Sirrah system was a no-go zone because of various political and international disputes in the past. It was general knowledge, however, that the Alliance furtively controlled the system. For what reasons, no one knew exactly, but there were rumors, of course.

 

Ion was thinking. He rose to his feet, went to the main console and pushed the seat with the dead pilot aside. He bowed over the devices and gadgets. The Empire of Titania would try to trace the Cleus ship. The ship had started from Cleus four days earlier and communications had worked properly, until Ion and his team had disabled the ship’s electronics. The investigators would trace the logs and ultimately locate the ship. Ion clenched his teeth. He had to proceed rationally. After they had shot the Cleus crew, the Titans had re-booted the ship in order to re-enable communications. Ion straightened. No self-deceit, he scolded himself. He knew The Empire of Titania had started investigations as soon as they had lost contact with the ship. The Empire knew exactly where the Cleus ship was located.

 

(...)

 

The spaceport bar on Alpha And was crowded because departures of all flights were delayed. The crews had taken it lightly in the beginning, but the mood had changed meanwhile. The men were angry and complaining loudly.

 

“I wished we could finally get out of here,” Lest said. “How many hours have we been sitting at this very same table?”

 

“Three hours and forty minutes,” Doctor Midad replied. “But if we give up on the table, we won’t get another one. I prefer to stay seated, captain.”

 

Lest leaned back impatiently. “Hell, what’s going on here? Why don’t they inform us? I hate this information policy.”

 

The crew at the next table stood. Their chairs were instantly claimed by an Orean crew.

 

“Incredible,” one of the Oreans said. “The hangar was empty when we got in an hour ago. Who would have thought that the bar was so crowded.”

 

Lest turned to the Orenas. “You came in an hour ago? All departures are delayed. What’s going on? Do you have an idea?”

 

“We were told that all incoming flights were directed to the old spaceport. Only the huge cargo ships are permitted to touch down in the new hangar. My ship is vast,” the man said with a grin. “I’m Captain Ekain. Greetings to you. You look like a Daglon.”

 

“I’m Daglon,” Lest replied. “Greetings to you. I’m Captain Lest. We have been waiting here for more than three hours.”

 

“Something’s going on here,” Captain Ekain said. “We saw Alliance vessels in the new spaceport. Quite a fleet of ships, and a couple of military ships. The Sirrah system is in the sector. I suspect that whatever is going on here has to do with the no-go zone.”

 

“Damn! Thanks for this bit of information,” Lest said, turning back to his crew.

 

“A fleet of Alliance ships? This doesn’t sound good,” Doctor Midad said.

 

He pushed his chair closer to the table to let Jeff and Le’Ton pass by behind him. The two men placed several glasses on the table and sat down.

 

“What?” the Orean shouted.

 

Lest turned to the man. “What’s up, Captain Ekain?” he asked.

 

“You won’t believe,” Ekain said. “I was just informed that hangar security detected a shuttle mag-locked to my ship. Hidden between the landing gear. I have no idea when they did it.”

 

“Good luck explaining this to the authorities,” Lest said. “What about the shuttle crew?”

 

“No one on board of the shuttle,” Ekain replied. “I guess we’re screwed up,” he said, hitting his fist on the table. He motioned to his crew. “The party’s over. We’re called to contact hangar security. That’ll be fun, I guess.”

 

“Go in and win,” Lest said with an encouraging nod.

 

“Thanks, captain,” the Orean replied.

 

The Orean crew pushed through the crowd. Their seats were instantly claimed by others.

 

Lest sighed and shifted in his chair.

 

Corr made a gesture with his hand and focused on his neural implant. “Hulton, calling from the bridge,” the pilot said.

 

“Don’t tell me they found something mag-locked to my ship,” Lest said.

 

“The Horus is scheduled for take-off in three hours,” Corr replied.

 

“Finally,” Lest said. He seized his drink and downed it an one gulp, then he pushed back his chair.

 

(...)

 

The Horus was rolling slowly towards the entrance of the tunnel. A battered looking ship was ahead of them. Another vessel followed the Daglon warship close up. The queue of ships was moving slowly. More than an hour had passed when the ship in front of the Horus was finally cleared to roll into the take-off hangar. The Daglon ship rolled to the exit of the tunnel and was ordered to wait. Several cargo ships were rolling into the hangar from different tunnels. One ship after the other was cleared for take-off. Lest was pacing the bridge and the other men were shifting in their seats. A streamlined ship came into the hangar and slowly passed the Horus by. Lest stopped and looked out of the window with interest.

 

“Another warship,” he said. “An Atkon gunship, I think. Warships really stand out in this place.”

 

The Atkon gunship rolled on and took off. The Horus was ordered to roll into the hangar. Lest sat down in his seat with relief. The Horus taxied and finally reached the starting position. Space traffic centre gave clearance for take-off. The engines came on and the Daglon warship shot into space.

 

“Le’Ton, set course on Cyrus as soon as we have reached the end of the assigned flight corridor,” Lest commanded. “Perez is waiting for the ore. Corr, get a message out and inform him of the delay.”

 

An alarm went on. The men straightened in their seats.

 

“Object on collision course,” Jeff shouted.

 

“Evasive manoeuvre,” Lest commanded.

 

Le’Ton threw a lever and hit a button. The computer calculated the manoeuvre and sent the ship on a steep climb. The men were pressed into their seats. The ship finally levelled out and resumed the former course.

 

“Hell, what was that?” Lest asked. “I thought I saw a ship coming right at us.”

 

“The computer identified the type of the ship,” Hulton said. “An Atkon gunship, type AK504.”

 

“The ship we saw in the hangar?” Jeff asked. “It left a couple of minutes before we took off.”

 

(...)