The Last Praetorian (15 page)

“Why don’t you go and have a chat with departure control?”
Jon suggested.  “While I start the pre-flight checks. Explain to them how I
urgently need to be about my business and absolutely need to have a departure
slot immediately.”  The dock master nodded his head in understanding and
quickly scurried out of the hanger before Jon changed his mind.

Heading straight to the cockpit of the
‘Light
Jon
sealed the ship and immediately triggered the hanger decompression cycle.  He
then carried out a rapidly reduced pre-flight checklist which mostly involved
getting the engines started as quickly as possible and the hell off of this
station.  It would seem that his second ever visit to
Transcendence
was
going to fare little better than the first.

With a new record for departure clearance authorised, Jon
pushed the engines to full power and quickly exited the station much to the
shouts of anger across the communications from departure control reminding him
that he should only engage main engines when at least three kilometres from the
station. However, by then the station was a rapidly dwindling dot on the aft
sensors and the way his last two visits had been concluded, Jon was in no rush
to return for a third.

After at least half a dozen random course corrections to
throw off any possible pursuit, Jon finally set-in a course for
Terra Nova
,
at maximum possible speed.  He spent the majority of the trip considering the
possible contents of the data chip in his pocket. 

*****

With a slight hiss of gas the pressure equalised between the
‘Light
and
Terra Nova
and the airlock slid open to reveal the
concerned face of Paul.

“You’re long overdue.  Were there any problems with the
client?” Paul asked anxiously, giving Jon a careful once over to ensure that he
was uninjured.

“Nothing that I couldn’t handle,” Jon replied
noncommittally.  “Can you get a team down to the starboard cargo bay?  There is
a pod there that I brought on-board.  Check it out to make sure that it’s
secure before transporting it to medical before defrosting the occupant.”  Jon
continued on, while making his way to his quarters.  He was in desperate need of
a shower!

“A pod?” Paul asked in confusion “Where did you find that?”

“Out near the outer asteroid belt, midway to
Transcendence.
”

“What was it doing all the way out there?  How long had it
been out-there?” Paul asked, confused.

“Not long… I would say only about ten minutes after I blew
up the owner’s fighter,” Jon concluded, stepping into his apartment as the door
slid shut on Paul’s astonished face.  A moment later the door re-opened, only
for Jon to stick his head out.  “Oh, almost forgot,” he said tossing the
data-chip from his pocket to his startled operations chief.  “Ask one of our
computer geeks from engineering to have a look at that can you?” 

Paul looked at the data chip carefully.  “What is on it?” he
inquired.

“No idea,” Jon replied with a smirk.  “The guy that gave it
to me was shot before he had a chance to explain.  Said something about a
conspiracy to overthrow the Confederation, end of civilisation as we know it...
you know, the usual.”  With that the door slid shut on his now completely
aghast operations chief.

“So all around a productive trip,” Paul commented aloud, to
the now empty corridor, heading off to the command centre to find somebody to
de-frost the stations newest occupant and to find somebody else to decode the
data on the chip. 

*****

With a sudden gasp Miranda came to full consciousness,
blinking away the bright, white light.  The last thing that she remembered was
the asteroid exploding into a million fragments and reaching for the ejection
handle, beyond that was nothing… but darkness.

Slowly her eyes adjusted to the bright light and she noticed
a face peering down at her with an impish smile.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, miss.  I am sure
you must be somewhat disoriented but I will be happy to answer any questions
that you might have.  Excuse my manners, I am Doctor Richardson, chief flight
surgeon, but you can just call me Neil,” at this he seemed to chuckle at his
own joke.  “You are currently on
Terra Nova
.  You were brought here
after ejecting from your ship in the outer asteroid belt of the system,”
Richardson concluded his brief, congratulations-on-still-being-alive speech. 

Slowly awareness started to come back to Miranda along with
her short-term memory of the incident in the belt.  Abruptly sitting up, she
glanced around, observing the medical bay.  She seemed to be the only patient
at the moment, as the rest of the beds were empty.  The Doctor and a few
medical technicians were bustling about around her.  She noticed in the corner
of the room, her now empty escape pod and winced internally.  Mallart was not
going to react well at the destruction of her incredibly expensive ship!

Now that she was back where she started, Miranda realised
that she had better make good her escape!  Now that she was conscious and
before any more guards arrived!  As she was preparing to make a flying leap
towards the exit, Miranda suddenly stopped.  Quickly checking beneath the sheet
that covered her, she was naked!  She looked at the doctor with an outraged
expression.

Noticing her expression the doctor explained.  “We had to
cut you out of the flight-suit before we could resuscitate you.  Not to mention
fixing the numerous stress fractures in your wrist and shoulder,” the Doctor
punctuated each area with a jab of his finger.  She was feeling slightly
sheepish at her response.  Of course they would have had to undress her to
revive her. 

Meanwhile the doctor continued softly.  “I’ll go and see if
I can find you some clothes that fit, my daughter is about your size”.  It was
only then that Miranda noticed the greying hair with white at the edges and
wrinkles on his hand and face.  While the Doctor seemed very fit and energetic
he was far older than her.  With an embarrassed blush Miranda could only nod her
head in thanks and wrap the white sheet closer around herself. 

Her internal musings were suddenly interrupted by the sound
of the door sliding open and two gentlemen entered, both engaged in a heated
conversation, which abruptly stopped when the younger of the two swung his gaze
around to focus on Miranda.  His mouth dropped open in shock!

Having been woken from a light sleep by the intercom
informing him that the pilot had regained consciousness, Jon and Paul were
discussing how best to interrogate the pilot to find out the latest
intelligence on the activities of the Syndicate in the system!  While not
advocating torture, Jon had been actively proposing making the pilots life
incredibly uncomfortable during his stay on the station - after all he had been
doing his very best to cut Jon’s life abruptly short only hours before!

Having the preconceived notion of a dangerous cutthroat
pirate that would happily kill for money, Jon was completely speechless on
seeing the young, beautiful, raven-haired woman, wrapped in nothing but a white
sheet. After all Jon could see a fair amount of flesh protruding from the sheet!
 Meanwhile the young pilot was blushing slightly, obviously from something the
doctor had said.  Jon was very curious to observe the blush spreading from her
cheek, along the length of her neck, down underneath the thin sheet.

He gave a disbelieving look at Paul, who was trying hard,
but failing miserably to suppress his laughter.  He knew!  While Jon had been
plotting days of sleep deprivation, minimal rations and hard labour his
operations chief had known all along who the pilot was! 

Bastard!
Jon thought peeved, making a note to find
some highly demeaning chore for his friend in the near future, before turning back
to the raven-haired beauty sitting draped in a sheet, eying the two of them
inquisitively.

Putting on what he hoped was a sincere smile Jon introduced
himself.  “Hi, my name is Jonathan Radec, but my friends just call me Jon, this
is my chief of operations, Paul Harrington.  Welcome to
Terra Nova
.  How
are you feeling?” 

Having recognised the face from the intelligence file
supplied by the Syndicate, Miranda took a moment to study the person in the
flesh in more detail; she had never expected to meet him in person!  He was
just a mission, another threat to the Syndicate that had to be removed. 
However, the first thing that she noticed when observing him in person is that
he seemed younger than he looked, remembering that according to his file, he
was in his mid-thirties.  He obviously stayed active, and his athletic frame,
dark hair and grey eyes made him appear much younger. 

Realising that she had been staring for too long, she
motioned towards the doctor commenting, “The Doctor was just telling me that
aside from a few bumps and bruises I am perfectly fine and was free to leave.”  

Jon glanced at the doctor to confirm what she was saying.

“Indeed,” the Doctor confirmed.  “She should make a full
recovery.  However, any dizziness or any other symptoms and I want you to
report straight back to medical!  Your body has been through an incredible
strain and it needs time to fully recover.  No physical exertion, hear me? 
Take it easy for the next few days.”  With that firm warning the Doctor
departed to find her a spare pair of clothes. 

Turning back to the two men Miranda inquired, “When will I
be able to leave?”  Jon glanced towards Paul inquiringly, however he just
replied with a non-committal shrug.

“Well…” Jon replied. “We have been trying to get in contact
with the Magistratus from the Chamber of Commerce, Business and shipping, but
so far they have not acknowledged any missing pilots but they did agree to make
further inquiries and get back to us when they can.”

Miranda groaned under her breath, it was obviously too much
to hope for that the Syndicate were just going to send somebody to pick her up. 
“So you are just going to keep me here, as a prisoner?” Miranda demanded
angrily. 

Jon tried hard to suppress a smile.  It seemed that this
girl had some fire in her. “Well there is the small matter of you trying to
destroy my ship, kill me…” Jon continued with a twinkle in his eye, knowing
that this was likely to inflame the young woman further.

“Destroy
your
ship!” Miranda retorted angrier still.  “You
destroyed my ship with that crazy asteroid stunt of yours,” she shouted.  Almost
losing her grip on the sheet, much to Jon’s delight.

“Anyway,” Jon continued.  “You are free to leave the station
anytime you wish, however I believe that the next scheduled freighter to
Transcendence
,
where you could find on-going passage is…” Jon glanced at Paul inquiringly.

“About six weeks,” Paul responded with a completely straight
face. 

Miranda just cursed with rage.

“I’ll leave you to get dressed then, see you around,” Jon
concluded the conversation with a huge smile.  With that he left with Paul
following close behind. 

Miranda was left cursing the day she had ever heard his
name.

*****

The moment that the door to medical slid shut, Paul leaned
against the corridor, laughing his ass off.  “Oh, to see the look on your face
when you walked in,” Paul crooned.  “If only I had a camera so I could store
that look for future posterity… and blackmail,” Paul laughed. 

Jon only shot Paul a dirty look before replying, “I’m fairly
sure that it says somewhere that I am in charge…doesn’t that mean I can fire
your ass?”

Paul only laughed louder.  “So I assume we are going to
forgo the rack and thumbscrews?” Paul inquired.  “Perhaps a dozen red roses and
a box of chocolates instead?” Paul asked with another laugh. 

Jon just scowled and marched off in a huff with the parting
order.  “When she is ready send her to my office.”

“Is that before or after we find her some clothes?”  Paul
called after his departing boss with a laugh. 

Jon only scowled deeper and lengthened his stride,
disappearing round the corner.

“Aghh… to be a fly on the wall during that meeting,” Paul
commented aloud before turning back to the medical bay to check that the Doctor
had managed to rustle up some clothes.  Upon re-entering medical Paul was
surprised to note that the young pilot had disappeared from the bed, sheet
included.  Glancing around frantically, worried that he had already lost her,
he was about to call for security when he noticed the Doctor tilt his head
towards one of the small offices branching off from the main sickbay area.  He assumed
that she was getting changed into something more appropriate and hopefully less
revealing!  Even Paul had not failed to notice the beautiful pilot.  He
approached the Doctor to inquire about her state, again trying to suppress a laugh
at the expression on Jon’s face. 

The Doctor, upon noticing the smile, inquired. “Some joke
that I am missing out on?”

“Oh,” Paul replied.  “I was just remembering the expression
on Jon’s face when he noticed our latest addition,” Paul waved a hand in the
direction of the office where Miranda was getting dressed.

“Ah,” the Doctor replied with a smile of his own.  “I assume
that you did not inform our enigmatic leader in advance that my latest patient
is of the young, female and very attractive persuasion?”

“Are you joking?” Paul exclaimed.  “And miss that
opportunity.  No way! Anyway, Jon was discussing all the ways that he was
planning on getting his revenge against the pilot who dared scratch his baby.  He
would not let me get a word in edgeways.” 

“Yes, I heard from some of my staff about the Commander’s
adventure on
Transcendence
.  Honestly he seems to spend so much time in
here that I am considering allocating him a bed on a permanent basis.”