The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (44 page)

In large eroded and rusted orange letters along the central
container was the name of the ship, “
La
Brabena Bella
”, and underneath it in much
smaller lettering, “Gloucester Enterprises”. The lettering was
well-worn, barely legible with little more than the outline
remaining; but it was readable if one knew what they were looking
for.

Gloucester Enterprises, one of the galaxy’s most successful
trading companies, was owned by Kelly
’
s family. This was one of her
father
’
s ships.
She had thought it looked familiar when the
Knights
had first approached it, and
her fighter’s computer had confirmed the ship
’
s configuration. The vessel had
been designated a new name (“
The
Mayflower
”)
and universal identity signature, but there was
no chance of disguising its distinctive appearance from Kelly. The
body was segmented into three main parts, like a rigid snake that
had swallowed three large rectangular boxes. The lick of dark red
paint was also something of a giveaway.

What’s it doing here, all the way out in the middle of
nowhere?
Kelly wondered. Despite its
success and reputation throughout Confederate and Independent
systems, the Imperium had never granted Gloucester Enterprises a
trading permit; the Senate had seen to that. It was unlikely to
have been stolen, and she knew the company removed all affiliated
branding before selling off old ships. Something about its presence
here did not add up.

She
lingered for a while, staring at it, contemplating a number of
explanations. She was about to say something to the others when her
eye was caught by something else: portholes and windows dotted the
length of the freighter at various points and from out of one of
the windows a small face was staring back at her. As Kelly
squinted, it remained there, transfixed, gazing back at her in
wrapped, abject horror. It was the grubby-looking face of a little
girl, long, unkempt dirty blonde hair dangling down around her
head. Her mouth hung open, as if she had just made a great intake
of breath and was now too scared to make any other noise or
movement.

Kelly prepared to start forward to the window when a new face
appeared alongside the child. It turned to glance at Kelly before
it and the little girl vanished from sight. From what Kelly caught,
it looked like an older woman, perhaps the girl
’
s mother, who had come to move the
child away from the window. From the looks of things, they were
trying to conceal their presence.

The
surprise made her gasp.

“
What
’
s up, Kelly?”
Estelle
’
s voice
came in her ear piece.

Kelly
looked around to see the others, now quite some way from her, had
stopped their journey towards the port. Had she just imagined it?
No, she couldn’t have. The knock on her head did not appear to be
doing her as much harm as she thought; after all, she had been
right about the freighter.

“
I just saw someone,” Kelly answered Estelle.

“
Where?” Estelle asked, the three men next to her looking in
all directions, as if expecting to see a body swimming through
space.

“
In the freighter. There was a girl, and a woman, in one of
the windows.”

Silence
from the others.

“
And?” It was Dodds.

“
That’s one of my father’s ships,” Kelly insisted. “And they
don’t carry passengers - it’s a freighter.” Kelly saw that all four
of her team mates were staring in her direction. She guessed that
they were peering past her at the window, scrutinizing
it.

“
I don’t see anyone,” Estelle said eventually. “Are you
certain you saw something?”

She
hesitated. “Pretty sure. They didn’t stay there long.”

“
Hey, wait. What’s one of your dad’s ships doing out here?”
Enrique asked. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“
That’s what I’ve been saying,” Kelly said.

Kelly
heard Estelle let out a tetchy sigh, then, “Look, we don’t have
time for this. Kelly, did they look dangerous?”

“
No, they just looked like civilians,” Kelly said.

Estelle
mumbled something offensive under her breath.

“
Right, that’s all we need to know. Now, get a move on and try
to keep up,” Estelle said.

Kelly
tore herself away from the window and started back towards the rest
of the group.

* * *

“
We need to find a way inside. A service
hatch or an airlock,” Estelle told the group as they arrived next
to the port
’
s outer surface. “Spread out and see what you can find. Call
in if you get into any trouble.”

Even up
close and personal, the port was nothing but a mass of grey steel
plates, the occasional warning sign or instructional panel adding a
tiny splash of colour to the otherwise dull surface. The group set
about on a fruitless search for a while, discovering hatches and
doors, none of which could be opened.

“
Found one,” Dodds eventually reported as
he checked out a door close to the main docking entrance to the
port. Unlike the others, it was not security locked. He pulled it
open as the rest of the
Knights
regrouped and joined him
inside.

With the
outer door sealed behind them, Dodds took a look at the control
panel inside the chamber and managed to re-pressurise it. He
gratefully removed his helmet and breathed in the air that now
flowed into the small room. He then worked the control panel some
more, looking for a way to grant them further access into the
station. The inner door opened and, as it did so, the group found
themselves standing in a narrow corridor. A number of men and
women, sat along it, looked up.

The sudden appearance of the
Knights
sent a ripple of shock down
the line and a man close to the group shot to his feet, screaming
in terror. He stumbled and ran down the corridor as fast as he
could, pushing aside a woman who was also trying to
escape.

“
What the hell was his problem? Did we spook him or
something?” Dodds said, as they watched the man who had leapt to
his feet round a corner on his continuing quest to escape whatever
it was that had scared him. The remainder crawled backwards down
the corridor, eyes fixed on the five people that had just entered
the port, terror etched into all their faces. It was as if they had
just seen their worst nightmare step through the
airlock.

“
Beats me. Maybe he thinks he owes Chaz money,” Enrique said,
looking around at the big man with amusement.

Chaz said nothing, his face stern and his eyes sweeping over
the groups of people. “Let
’
s go,” he said, pushing the others
gently aside and starting off down the corridor.
“We
’
ve got to
find Barber, get that data card, and get back to
Griffin
.”

A
stunned Dodds watched him go. He exchanged a confused look with
Estelle, who was wearing her own muddled expression. The people on
either sides of Chaz backed away as he passed them, the often
silent man not giving them a second glance. Dodds, Estelle and
Kelly looked around at Enrique, who shrugged.

“
Hey, look: he might talk to me more than
anyone else, but that doesn
’
t mean that I know what goes on in
that head of his,” Enrique said almost inaudibly, not taking his
eyes off the big man. “Don’t go expecting me to provide all the
answers.”

“
Come on,” Estelle said, following Chaz down the corridor,
passing by the people who were now trying to crush themselves into
the walls.

“
’
t hurt us,>” a woman pleaded as
she tried to move further back than the wall would
allow.

“
What did she say?” Dodds asked Enrique.

“
Sounds like she was speaking some sort of Imperial,” Enrique
said, looking at the woman.

“
Either of you guys understand any Imperial dialects?” Dodds
asked of Estelle and Kelly.

“
Just ignore them,” Estelle said, striding around the corner
and through a set of doors. She stopped in the doorway, where Chaz
had also stopped.

Dodds
walked up behind the pair and peered around them. “Ah. We might be
here a while.” A sea of people lay before them, occupying almost
every inch of floor that could be found.

The five pilots stepped into the central main hall of the
starport, many heads snapping around to take note of the new
arrivals. Dodds noticed that the
White
Knights
received the same reaction from
the groups of people in the hall as they had done in the corridor,
with many of those close by pushing themselves further back. Some
sprang to their feet and moved away, appearing to not trust the new
arrivals. It was obvious that the man who had fled the corridor had
passed through here already, putting everyone on edge.

“
You
’
re right, Dodds.
Something
’
s
spooked these guys pretty bad,” Kelly said as they began walking
aimlessly between the huddles, the search for Barber temporarily
forgotten. The people gathered about did not take their fearful
eyes off the
Knights
for one second.

“
What’s this all about?” Dodds asked, looking all about the
huddles of people. “Are they all waiting for transit or
something?”

“
Yeah, and what’s with all the bags? They look like
refugees…” Enrique said. He stopped walking.

Dodds
stopped and turned to him. “Just like that guy said last night…”
The realisation of what he was looking at dawned on him. Links were
beginning to form from the conversation he now remembered.
Refugees, secret projects, genocide… “Didn’t he say that the
Empire had been completely wiped out?”

“
What are you two talking about?” Kelly asked.

“
Last night, whilst we were playing poker, this guy said that
the Empire had been destroyed, that the civil war actually ended
years ago, and that all that was left were a load of
refugees.”

“
But… we just went up against Imperial
forces when we attempted to take back
Dragon
,
”
Kelly said, appearing a little concerned.

Dodds
shook his head. “Those weren’t them.”

Estelle’s irate demeanour appeared to have all but abandoned
her for the time being. She then scowled. “Wait, what are you
talking about? Kelly’s right. Pay no attention to him. The Empire
hasn’t been
wiped out
!
”

“
Estelle, you were
there
! What happened in
that battle wasn’t… well, it wasn’t normal. I don’t know who they
were, but those were
not
Imperial pilots in those fighters. None of us
would have survived that battle if we’d not been in the
ATAFs.”

Estelle
folded her arms, but did not argue with him further.

Dodds couldn’t shake the feeling that he had his head in the
lion’s mouth. He looked again at the groups of people on the
ground, some meeting his eyes before turning away, even those who
looked as though they could handle themselves.
“We
’
d better get
on with this and get out of here,” he concluded.

“
How?” Enrique said. “How are we going to
be able to locate Barber amongst all these people. She
doesn
’
t
know we
’
re
coming, and like Parks said she
’
s hardly likely to be jumping up
and down, waving to us.”

Dodds’
eyes swept over the groups and huddles, then turned back to his
team mates, seeing none of them looking very optimistic. Even Chaz,
who had been the first to step forward, seemed taken aback and a
little out of his depth. There must have been hundreds of people in
the main hall alone and, to make matters worse, a few sets of
stairs at one end led up to another floor above. How many more
floors were there? How many pockets would they have to
search?

“
You know what? How about we just ask
someone if they
’
ve seen her,” Dodds suggested. He broke from his team mates,
making his way over to a man he had singled out at
random.

“
Dodds…” Estelle started.

“
Estelle, it
’
s cool, I
’
ve got it,” Dodds said.
“I
’
m just going
to ask if they
’
ve
seen her.”

“
Be careful,” Estelle called after him.