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Not too far away from the space headquarters building, the second meeting between Earth represented by Ambassador Kennedy, and Mazere represented by Chancellor Krieg, was about to take place. Yesterday`s meeting was just to welcome him to Mazere; today they were due to get down to the task of arranging the exchange of embassies, at least that is what Kennedy thought. He arrived as per usual exactly on time, and after greeting the Mazeren delegation, he took his seat along with the rest of his team. Chancellor Krieg looked across at Kennedy and the look on his face chilled the blood in Kennedy`s veins, he knew that he was about to receive some bad news.
“Good morning Ambassador Kennedy, I`m afraid that I have some bad news for you, for the moment our talks on exchanging embassies must be suspended.” Chancellor Krieg said. He sounded and looked very sad, Kennedy felt more than sad.
“Why on earth Chancellor, what has happened since yesterday to cause such a situation?” Kennedy`s stomach began to hurt, and he knew deep down that somehow the Charlton clan must be at the cause of his misfortune.
“Captain Charlton.” Chancellor Krieg began. Kennedy nearly fainted with these two words, but forced himself up from the dark pit that he almost descended into to listen to the Mazeren Chancellor.
“Ambassador, are you alright, would you like a glass of water maybe?” Chancellor Krieg asked, he had noticed how white the ambassador had become, and was now just a little concerned for his health. Kennedy quickly poured himself a glass of water from the carafe which was between the chancellor and himself, and drunk it straight down before refilling his glass and breathing deeply.
“I`m sorry about that Chancellor, please go on, you were saying something about Captain Charlton?” Kennedy said after a moment more.
“Yes Ambassador, as I was about to say, both Captain Charlton and his fiancé have been charged with incitement to cause a riot and involvement in a murder, and it is only because of their diplomatic credentials that we are allowing them to return to their ship rather than taking them to one of our prisons.”
“But Chancellor, there must be a mistake; whatever could lead you to such a ridiculous idea?” Kennedy said. He had recovered some of his brain`s functions and was once more a politician, albeit a very angry one. Angry that is with David Charlton.
Kennedy then played the recording that Delong had put in the place of the music festival the evening before. After watching the recording for the full twenty minutes Kennedy was speechless, this he had never expected from Charlton. He expected him to be charged with espionage, caught in the act of trying to steal files relating to his father`s disappearance, but this, this was absurd. Ambassador Kennedy didn`t like the Charlton clan, but he was an intelligent man, one who didn`t hide from the facts, and they were getting clearer with each second that ticked by. His brain finally rebooted and he knew without question that the recording must be a fake, mustn`t it? Surely even Charlton couldn`t have come up with some hair brain plan that involved the broadcast of the recording that he had just seen, for how could this ever allow him to move his personal quest forward?
“My first thought is that this is an absurd charge brought against Captain Charlton and Ms Hardin for reasons known only to the authorities of this planet. I will of course have to talk to the captain before I make any firm statement regarding the recording, and of the charges that you are holding over their heads.” Kennedy said icily.
He was once more the cool diplomat. With that, he got up from his seat and with the others of his team left for the spaceport and the space cruiser Intrepid. As soon as he got back he asked the captain of the Intrepid to send an officer across to the Galactic Traveller to ascertain whether Captain Charlton and Ms Hardin were back yet, and if so he was to escort them both over to the Intrepid, and he was not to take no for an answer. The lieutenant arrived at the freighter just as David and Sarah returned, but as the sentries around the starship would not allow either of them to leave the ship they weren`t able to abide by the summons. The lieutenant was now forced to report that although they were back aboard the freighter that they were also both under house arrest, so as to speak, and the ambassador would have to go to them if he wanted to speak with them. Kennedy ranted and railed about this but in the end he had to agree to go across to the freighter, which he did, and he took with him the captain and first officer of the Intrepid, plus his own aides.
David and Sarah had only just returned, and had barely had time to tell the others of the trouble that they were in, when Kennedy had one of his aides bang on the airlock door so that they could gain admittance. Once inside Kennedy stormed into the small galley looking more like a charging lion that a diplomat.
“What the hell have you been up to Charlton? The Mazerens have temporarily suspended talks with us while they investigate you, Ms Hardin and the rest of your gang, well out with it, tell me now Charlton, are the charges against you true, have you been conspiring with a group of terrorists to overthrow the Mazeren government?”
“Of course not Ambassador, we have been framed by the Mazerens for a number of reasons. Let me summarise them for you. The first reason is to ensure that they have a reason to suspend your talks regarding the exchange of embassies, they obvious never wanted them to go ahead.” Kennedy tried to step in here to protest but David stopped him.
“Let me finish Ambassador and then the floor is yours.” David said butting in before Kennedy could do more than open his mouth to start to complain. David then continued to defend his crew and himself.
“My second reason is that they intend to use this excuse to stop my own quest dead, for had I been successful then it would have proved highly embarrassing for them. There is a third reason of that I`m certain, and I`m also sure that it has nothing to do with us, and that it does concern Admiral Stator, of that I`m sure. Unfortunately I don`t have enough data in yet to be able to even guess at what there third reason may be, but it must be a whopper of a reason, for why else would they take the trouble to bring us to their planet. They could have dismissed us easily enough at our last stop.” David didn`t mention the planned coup by Admiral Stator, for he had no evidence to support such a charge, and anyway Sarah had promised to keep all that Lantana had said, private and confidential.
Ambassador Kennedy looked at David for a very long moment before replying to him, he had dwelt on the matter ever since Chancellor Krieg had brought the serious charges to his attention, and his anger had mostly dissipated now, so what he now said almost floored the crew of the Galactic Traveller.
“Fortunately for you I tend to agree with all of what you have said Charlton, and that is exactly what I told Chancellor Krieg during our brief meeting today, that I felt their assertions were completely false. Unfortunately, unless they let us check the recording for signs of editing we will not be able to prove anything. I would ask that you do not leave your starship again. Should the Mazeren authorities ask you to go with them, then please contact Captain Suárez first so that I can intercede on your behalf, or if that fails then arrange for an armed escort to go along with you so as to ensure your safety.”
David was very surprised that Kennedy had decided to side with him, and even offer to send aid if required. But then David was forgetting that Ambassador Kennedy was an experienced diplomat, who was respected by most everyone except David`s own small group of friends. Kennedy had put aside his intense dislike for the Charlton clan to come down on the side of what was right, even if it did gall him to do so. The day had become late afternoon when Kennedy, Captain Suárez and the other members of the ambassador’s party prepared to leave the freighter and return to the Intrepid, but as they entered the airlock Steve pushed something into the ambassador’s hands and at the same time warned him not to say a word about it. A puzzled Kennedy looked at the memory device in his hand, and acknowledging it left the aging freighter. On entering the Intrepid, he asked to speak to the captain in private.
“Captain Suárez, I want you to mount a watch on the Galactic Tr
aveller and her crew. I may not be over fond of her captain, but I will not see anyone shanghaied, and especially by an alien race that has in all probability launched a series of attacks on our planet and its people, and one which is almost certainly behind the disappearance of the Blazer Explorer.”
He then looked at the memory stick in his hand and after a moment of indecision, he loaded it into his own personal computer. The first thing he saw was a warning that the Mazerens were probably using state of the art listening devices to listen in to whatever they said, and so not to mention out loud the contents of the program. The first thing that appeared on his computer was an index listing just two items. The English Mazeren translation program and dictionary. The second item was the proof that the Mazerens were behind the disappearance of the Blazer Explorer. Steve had preceded this with a note. We thought that as you are the representative of Earth, that you might be able to make some use of these three starship logs. The first is a copy of the log belonging to a broken scout ship that we found on the planet that the initial talks were held. Kennedy smiled when he first saw the translating program, so they had progressed a little further on than he had surmised. When he had finished reading the translation of the scout ship`s log he was in a mild state of shock. When he read the copy of the logs of the space cruisers Timor and the Sentinel, he knew that David Charlton was on the trail of his father, and he had in his possession proof indeed of the criminal actions of the Mazerens against the people of Earth. He went to his intercom and asked if the captain of the Intrepid might call by his quarters when he was able. They would need to talk about this, and if Steve Ryan was correct in his belief about the Mazerens, they would have to ensure that the Mazerens weren`t able to listen in to them. They should have suspected this all along, but then up until now they hadn`t really had anything vital to listen in to anyway.
The listening post duly reported the conversation that had taken place aboard the Galactic Traveller, they were happy to have something more substantial to report, for normally it was about whose time it was to cook. Admiral Stator read it but he wasn`t really interested in the fact that the ambassador from Earth had disbelieved his charade, for it had all been meant for internal consumption, rather than for use against the ambassador from Earth or Captain Charlton.
Back on the Galactic Traveller, Steve had been busy ever since David had notified him that he was inside the space headquarters building. He had hacked into their computer, and was finding to his delight that the Mazerens were very meticulous about their record keeping, and so he soon found exactly what he was searching for, the whereabouts of the survivors of the Blazer Explorer. There was one other prisoner there along with them, Steve could hardly believe his eyes, and so he called David across to read the name on the monitor, it was Patricia Charlton.
David looked at the name on the screen and fought back the tears that came into his eyes, but found that he was unable to. Embarrassed at his open show of emotion he turned away from Steve and let the tears flow down his face, Sarah who was in the room rushed to his side and gently held him.
“What is it David, what is wrong?”
Steve quietly called to her and she moved away from David to look at the monitor.
“Oh my god, I don`t believe it.” Sarah said. She went back to David and said just two words. “David, we need to talk.” David allowed her to lead him down into the freighters hold and into the shuttlecraft; Steve and the others followed leaving Barney temporarily in charge on the bridge of the starship. When they were all there, and the shuttlecrafts airlock was closed, David looked at them asked them a question that they all wanted an answer too.
“She is alive, alive, but why would they kidnap my mother and bring her all the way to Mazere, what on earth was the point in doing that?” He asked in a daze, for he couldn`t quite believe the fantastic news that his mother hadn`t been killed in the plane crash.
“Steve, does it say which members of the crew survived the crash?” Tony Miles asked.
“Yes Tony, it lists their names here. They are Richard Charlton, Christopher Anderson, Alan Lee and Millicent McIntosh. That is all of those who were in the forward section of the ship when they were attacked by our Mazeren friends; it looks as if everyone in engineering bought it well before they crashed.
“Steve, just whereabouts are they keeping them all?” Jimmy Fielding asked. Everyone turned towards Steve to await the answer to the sixty four thousand dollar question.
“On the outskirts of a Non Citizen`s city, it is about fifty miles away from here as the crow flies, but it might as well be in another galaxy with us all under house arrest and forbidden to lift off.” Steve replied despondently.
“Steve, I cannot and will not accept that.” David said. “We have accomplished everything that we set out to do when we left Earth, except to actually rescue them. They are now just a few miles away, and I am certainly not going to give up now. No with just a little thought we will come up with a workable plan, and with some luck and daring mixed into the pot we will make it work, you mark my words Steve.”
After saying this David turned away from his friends and left the shuttle craft to return to his cabin, there he lay down on his bed and thought about the good times his family had all been together, it was only later that he began to think hard about their problem. Now they were within just fifty miles of each other, not bad when you consider that they travelled sixty light years or more to be able to get that close. He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off into a dream world where good things did happen.
Back in the shuttlecraft, the other watched as David left them, then Sarah stood up and turning to them smiled. “Sounds like David has come up with the perfect recipe, lets start with the little bit of thought, with any luck the rest will follow along naturally.” Sarah said and then she too promptly left the shuttlecraft. Once she reached the ship`s galley she sought out a comfy chair to sit on while she pondered over their problem.
Steve`s way of thinking was to forget about the problem and surf the internet, whatever answer he was looking for usually popped up this way, so he too left the shuttlecraft and headed back to the bridge of the freighter to work on the problem his way.
Tony and Jimmy looked at each other for just a moment then as if they were one they began to check over the shuttlecraft, for they knew that it would probably play a large part in any plans that they were able to come up with, and they meant to ensure that the craft didn`t let them down. As they worked, they threw ideas back and forth but always they came up against the one problem. How were they to get away without the Mazeren authorities being alerted and stopping them in their tracks.
Steve was following a protest march via the internet, it was written by someone on the planets social networking website when he sat bolt upright. A new article suddenly appeared on his monitor, unasked for it almost leapt of the page as the writer screamed out his or her own protest.
‘People of Mazere, the state police have attacked the peace marchers with stun guns and they are arresting them en masse and even killing some who resist. Any amongst you who considers that they are a patriot should leave their homes and take to the streets to show our contempt for this government. Please come to Constitution Avenue to help the students before it is too late for all of us, I will report later on your heroism, now I must also go to their aid. Farewell for now.’ It had been signed; Action against Tyranny, a title many knew already, and many more would come to know in the following days.
Steve switched on their external cameras to see if their guards were reacting in any way to this new situation and to his surprise and delight he saw them all jumping into a vehicle which then drove at speed towards the perimeter gate of the space port. Steve now ran down to David`s cabin and rapped quickly on the door and then entered. Inside David looked up surprised and asked.
“Are we under attack or something Steve?”
Steve had written the word shuttlecraft on a piece of paper and he passed it across to David and th
en left the cabin with David following him. On the way, they picked up the other members of the crew, when they were safely within the shuttlecraft; David asked Steve what was going on.
“David, when I burst in on you, you asked if we were under attack. Well we aren`t but someone else is, I imagine that it is because of the recording that you are supposed to have supplied. The students’ right across the planet have gone on a protest march in aid of the Non Citizens, and the authorities have sent in the state police, they are using stun guns on the marchers causing mayhem out there with no regard for anyone. David, you wanted a diversion, well our guards out there, they have just driven off in a hurry, towards the city I can only suppose. With all of this going on we can slip away in the shuttlecraft.” David almost leapt from his chair after hearing Steve`s words.
“Yes Steve, your right this is a perfect opportunity to pull it off. We shall need the shuttlecraft of course, because of all of the people involved, but as long as we fly low over the space port until we reach the far perimeter fence we should be alright.” David said excitedly.
“Should we tell the Intrepid, seeing as how you are best buddies now?” Sarah queried. David looked at her and shrugged.
“What if they say no Sarah, it would stop the whole operation in its tracks, no we go ahead and tell them about it when we return. Everyone agreed?” They were all agreed so David called Barney down to give him his instructions.
“Barney, we will be gone for quite a while, so you are in temporary command. If the Mazerens come by, do not admit them and tell them nothing. If someone from the Intrepid comes, then only communicate with them using one of Steve`s android devices. Tell them why you are using that form of communication and where we have gone. When we leave close up the hanger door and wait for further orders, understood?” When Barney said that he understood David turned to the others.
“We will have to go armed with our Phasers and we had better take some explosives along with us, John Blazer sent a small quantity along to use in an emergency. If we are caught then I will imagine that we will join the crew of the Blazer Explorer in their prison cell, and there we will stay. I doubt whether Ambassador Kennedy will be able to get us out of there, as the Mazerens will simply deny any knowledge of us. If any of you would prefer to stay aboard the Galactic Traveller then that is fine, I certainly won`t hold it against you, for this is going to be a little dangerous.” David stopped here to await the response of his friends.
“David, I signed on to find and to rescue any survivors of the Blazer Explorer, and I intend to do just that.” Steve said.
“And that goes for Tony and me, right Tony?” Jimmy Fielding said.
“Damn right Jimmy, I didn`t come along just for the trip, I told you right out that I was bored and needed some excitement, well let`s get going and find some more excitement David.”
“I don`t know why you even had to ask David, we are all members of the same team, and teams stick together all the way to the final whistle.” Sarah said smiling at her friends. “We have the makings of the start of a plan at least, now all we need is some luck and some daring. Steve, this place where our friends are being held, have you any photographs or plans of it?”
“Oh Sarah, would I come to you all without having all of the details to hand?” Steve protested.
He then turned on his tablet and first showed them an aerial photograph of the area around the building. They have a Google Earth type of program on their internet, made it nice and easy for us to find the building. They are also a very meticulous people, I found a government site that showed the drawings that they were asked to provide when they sought planning permission for the building twenty years back. So you see we only have to find out which room they are being held in.” Steve stopped here for a second before continuing. “Now that you have all agreed to join David and me, I suggest that you all take a deep breath before looking closely at this page.”
On the tablet they looked at the plan views of a large two storey building set in its own courtyard, at the bottom were the words designating the user and use for the which the building would be put to. It read, ‘Proposed State Police Area Headquarters Building.’ Tony swore and Sarah sank down into her chair and sighed before turning to David.
“Well we didn`t want it to be too easy, did we?” Sarah said as she made a face that showed that maybe she did.
“Well guys, as I said earlier, you can still opt out of this part of our quest if you like.” David said hoping that none of them would do so.
“We are wasting time David, Steve, save what you have there regarding the building and where it is, and then turn back to the internet. Let`s see how the riot is getting on.” Jimmy said overriding David`s chance for any of them to pull out.
“It is still going nicely, and to help us out even the Non Citizens are rioting, seems that drug they were given isn`t working too well.” Steve told them all. “Jimmy`s right we should be ready to move off as soon as the sun sets, if we hang around too long the Mazerens may come back and invite us all to go straight to gaol without collecting our $200 bucks. They are going to blame us for the riot, you all know that?”
“Ok then, the sun sets about now so we leave in twenty minutes time, will you gather up what you need and be back in the shuttlecraft in fifteen minutes time. Barney you stand watch up on the bridge of the Galactic Traveller, Sarah; you come with me to check the area around the ship.”
With these orders given, everyone moved off to collect water, food, and their Phaser weapons. David and Sarah used the ship`s external cameras to check that all was quiet outside of the freighter, and then they too collected their Phaser weapons. They also collected the explosives and put them aboard the shuttlecraft where they joined the ever-growing pile of equipment deposited by the rest of the crew.