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PREVIOUSLY: While a group of galactic marine Generals prepare to test drive the WHISPER proto-type, the pirates and a pair of chameleon assassins evade the station's security by fleeing into the ventilation tunnels...
The Marine station commander, Dillian, leads the Generals and their aids onto WHISPER. Red Klaw's agent Laurine follows them, while Mireck, the pilot, brings up the rear. They board the ship through an access tube attached to her cargo bay.
The cargo bay is massive, with two circular bays on either side. The ceiling stretches up through the center of the two levels of above them. Each deck has a walkway that circles the cargo bay.
Dillian leads the group toward the rear of the cargo bay where the engines stretch around an access port to the long tail of the ship. "WHISPER'S sub light engines are the best the Borosell Company has to offer. We have modified them to run silently with zero emissions making her impossible to track. Red..." He stops himself from actually naming his true boss, Laurine eyes him coldly, "er, He has provided the Whip Drive--our hyper space engine. A massive power surge builds from a capacitor in the fore section there, under the cargo bay, through the conduit here, and down the ships tail to a receiver at the end. As the drive is engaged the tail snaps out behind the ship, launching it into hyper space faster than anyone has ever seen!"
The Generals inspect the energy conduit and the rest of the engineering section as Dillian continues, "With her chameleon skin and zero emissions, this ship is completely invisible and untraceable."
When the Generals are satisfied, Dillian leads the way back toward the other side of the cargo bay. "As you can see we can easily accommodate three full sized troop transports. The battle bays on either side are designed to carry and launch fighters into combat. Each bay holds two rows of ten ships, top and bottom."
Mireck stops in the engineering section to flip a couple of switches. The large cargo bay doors slide shut. The rest of the group pauses at the entrance to the battle bay to peer inside. A single man fighter sits locked into a launch bay aimed at a circular door in the floor as an example.
"The battle bay doors are covered with a membrane of the ships chameleon skin so they can remain hidden when the ships come and go." The Generals continue to nod quietly, the aids make a few notes. So far the ship is exactly like the blue prints they all agreed upon. As Dillian heads toward the lift in the fore section of the ship, he points up.
"Deck 2 above us, has all of the amenities for long voyages; rec room, exercise rooms and blatter ball court, a medical lab, and the brig. Level three is the main mess and crew quarters. The top level holds the executive quarters--they are amaz--"
"Let's just get to the bridge, shall we?" Goddard interrupts him gruffly.
"Oh, ah, of course." Dillian leads the group into the lift. Behind them a small clang indicates the access tube to the station has now disconnected.
On deck 2 the lift opens near the door to the bridge. The commander leads the group onto the bridge, the Generals gasp and murmur approvingly. The bridge is a semi-circle at the nose of the ship, it is ergonomic and efficient with a spectacular view. Two massive windows run down the front of the ship to her nose, giving her the illusion of two menacing eyes. The captain's chair sits in the center of the upper level, the navigation, communication, and engineering stations are in front of it.
Directly in front of the captain's chair, a set of stairs leads down to the gunnery deck. Six tactical stations are pressed close to the windows, three on each side of the stairs. Each station corresponds to one of WHISPER’S massive cannons lining the front of the ship.
The stairs continue down into the pilot's cockpit; a small glass bubble at the very tip of WHISPER'S nose. Mireck trots down the stairs into the cockpit while the C.O. continues his diatribe, "While the ship can be operated from the controls on the captain's chair, the cockpit offers a more delicate set of maneuvering controls for close quarters battles. The gun stations are practically on top of the cannons they control, so a gunner can be very accurate--"
"Enough of your blathering, let's see what this thing can do!" Dubaal snaps!
"Uh, okay, Mireck! Take us out!" Dillian settles into the captain's chair while Mireck fires up the engines. There is an almost imperceptible purr as they warm up. After a moment he slowly steers the ship out of the dock away from the station.
Inside the space station, Rue and his friends have lost themselves in the ventilation tunnels that run through the civilian end of the base. There is only just enough room for them to stand. Val's fine, but the others must hunch to fit, Garr especially.
"Well, we seem to be off the radar now, but how the hell are we going to find Red Klaw, and get out of here?!" Val asks quietly.
"You came for Red Klaw?" One of the female prisoners asks incredulously .
"We came to kill Red Klaw!" Garr replies fiercely.
"Mmm, ambitious." The other prisoner murmurs.
"He tends to keep a low profile," Rue answers Val's question, "I'd bet he's somewhere on this end of the station. Maybe if we create enough of a ruckus, we can flush him out."
"Then we plant ourselves in the right spot and he'll come to us." Val finishes the plan.
"Exactly."
"I'm pretty sure that there's a docking bay of some sort on this side of the station. I could see something over here when we flew missions." Val offers.
"Perfect, now all we need is the appropriate ruckus." Rue says thoughtfully.
"You guys aren't exactly the ‘plan ahead’ types are you?" One of the girls asks coldly.
"Plans never work out like you expect. Besides if we had a plan, we would never have found you two!" Rue responds a little indignantly.
"You're right; we do owe you, and you could clearly use our help." The other one says.
"Well, that's probably true." Rue admits.
"What sort of catastrophe did you have in mind? Another fire drill?" The first girl asks.
"What if we cut the station's power?" Garr asks.
"That would do nicely." Rue says.
"With some explosives we could create a large catastrophe!" Val says.
"Explosives I have, can you get us to the main power generator?" Rue asks him.
Val pauses to look around the tunnel, "Sure, most Marine bases have a similarly unimaginative layout; somewhere, this ventilation tunnel should intersect a utilities tunnel which should lead us back to the main power hub... here we go. This way." He finds a power cable along the ceiling and follows it.
As they wind through the ventilation tunnels, Rue glances over his shoulder to the shadows behind him, "So, if you don't mind my asking, what's your story?"
"I am Faylon, she is Maylon, we are the Premier Aegis, Silent Habergeon to the Royal Emperor Louis Fabian Seargent VIII."
Rue pauses to gape at her, he is impressed, "Silent Habergeon, eh? I thought they were a myth!"
"I assure you sir, that is not the case." Maylon replies.
"How did you get here?" Garr asks.
"Red Klaw ambushed us. He over-powered us." Faylon answers angrily.
"They brought us here; we have been poked, cut, probed and stabbed, like lab rats." Maylon continues bitterly.
"Which is why we would be more than happy to help you kill Red Klaw before we return to our Emperor." Faylon concludes fiercely.
Ahead of them Val disappears around a corner. As the boys stare at Fay and May in awe, he pokes his head back around the corner, "I found it!"