Page 15 of Star Cruise Captain's Story

When he stepped into the wardroom, emotion threatened to overwhelm him again as he saw who was waiting for him there. “I don’t have enough words to thank all of you for coming to help my brother and me,” he managed to choke out.

“When Maeve asked, we all agreed to come,” Jayna said quietly. “We don’t leave our people behind. Besides I hate to miss a chance to deliver a good ass kicking to the enemy.”

In the wake of her enthusiastic remark there were chuckles from the people at the table.

Instinctively Gil moved to take the chair at the head of the table, even though he belatedly realized Jake was in charge of the team and probably should have the seat of command. The Security Officer didn’t say anything but sat in the chair to his right. He did take control of the meeting though and Gil acknowledged with a head tilt it was his place to do so. Midorri rubbed against his leg and Gil picked her up, staring into her huge eyes for a second. “The gang’s all here,” he said with a grin.

“She’s good at placing ordnance in unexpected places,” Owen reminded them. “And Tyrelle said she was adamant about coming with us. You’ll note Moby had no such intentions.”

The room was filled with laughter again. The much pampered ship’s cat would be totally out of place on a combat mission. Midorri wriggled in Gil’s hands and jumping lightly to the table, walking to Tyrelle and head butting her arm. Gil was puzzled to find the alien empath here as part of the strike teambut he was sure she had her reasons and it certainly wasn’t his place to second guess anything.

“All right, down to business,” Jake said, rapping his knuckles on the table. “Captain, you first. Status on your brother?”

“He’s here, pretty damaged from his time in captivity.” Gil looked at Dr. Shane. “He’s going to need time in the rejuve resonator when we get back.”

She nodded. “I’ve maintained my contacts. We should be able to make it happen.”

“Daveed is technically on active duty to this day,” Gil reminded them. “Not that the damn Sectors has done much for him. As best I can figure from the intel I’ve gathered during my time on Arturo Main’s gang, even when there were negotiations going on for his release, Baxtir, the leader of the Jlonngi, was bidding against the Sectors. He has some kind of personal vendetta against my brother and in the end the terrorists holding him decided it would be more advantageous for them to make Baxtir happy than to have a deal with the Sectors.”

“The authorities need to come out here and clean up a few things,” Owen said.

“No argument there but right now it’s not our concern,” Jake responded.

“There’s another complication.” Gil rubbed his forehead. “There are ten other hostages, three of them women.” Ignoring the exclamations around the table, he continued. “The ladies are employees of a Nongovernmental Organization, who were doing educational outreach on a fringe planet. Not sure what the story is on the seven guys. A couple might be military, hard to tell. I obviously can’t chitchat with them to find out. For now figure they’ll be no help when we go to do the extraction. The terrorists trade hostages as currency out here and Baxtir wanted eleven people for this crazy ass spectacle he intends to stage. Public torture and executions, with my brother as the centerpiece. Theman’s made the Jlonngi into a powerful cult with a broad reach by doing this kind of thing and he intends to whip up the faithful even more. He’s got the true believers thinking he’s the second coming of a major historical religious figure from this world. I can’t explain it all—maybe we need a psychiatrist or a historian or both, someone a hell of a lot smarter than me anyway—to unravel it. Baxtir may even believe the lies himself by now. But all of that malarkey is irrelevant to the mission, which is getting my brother the hell out of this mess.”

“And the other hostages,” Dr. Shane said. “Now we know about them.”

“Right.” Gil held up one hand and stared at each of them in turn before addressing his next remark to Maeve. “But I need all of you to know if the rescue goes south, Daveed and I are going to blow the place up and take those bastards to the seven hells with us. I’ve got a mini persona mine and I won’t hesitate.”

“Let’s just make sure it doesn’t come to that,” Jake said calmly into the ensuing heavy silence. “Where is all this taking place? Where are the hostages being held?”

“And what’s Baxtir’s schedule for this extravaganza?” Red added.

“He’s taken over an ancient temple he found in the jungle. Had the trees and brush cleared away and been refurbishing the place to some extent. Using it as his headquarters bolsters his claim to be this ancient leader reborn to lead the hordes. And as for a timeline, the ceremony is happening in three days,” Gil told them. “Bad weather bought us a little extra time.”

“Not a lot of time but that’s probably a good thing,” Jake said. “The longer we hang out here the more likelihood questions will be asked. We’re not exactly prospecting for jobs or approaching any of the gangs for affiliation and that’ll be noticed. Speaking of this temple, Maeve, can you show us the layout?”

Gil glanced at her in surprise and she said, “I found an obscure Archaeological Service report on this planet from a few hundred years ago. They did a preliminary map and hoped to explore more thoroughly but the funding was denied because there are absolutely no signs of Ancient Observer contact with this planet and any site without the AO element comes in way down on the priority list.”

A hologram sprang up on the table and Gil recognized the facility with ease. “Not much has changed since this was taken.” He left his chair and moved to point out various features. “Here’s the ceremonial platform where Baxtir plans to conduct the executions. He’s setting up seating for the crowds he expects. Here’s his office and his quarters although from what I’ve heard, he actually lives in the penthouse of the best hotel in town and only goes out to the temple when there’s a public event. The hostages are here and here.” His audience was intent on his words, studying the buildings as he indicated the points of interest to them.

“Think we could seal off the prison wing with a few carefully placed gifts delivered by Midorri?” Jake directed the question at Red.

“I can rig up the appropriate firepower, no problem,” his friend agreed promptly.

Midorri sat beside the hologram and chirruped her agreement, placing one paw on the area close to the cells.

“Then we hustle the hostages out the back through this tunnel here,” Jake went on. “Make a run through the jungle to the nearest clearing big enough to take the flyer and extract everyone from there.”

“I can fill in details about the number of guards, at least as of right now,” Gil said. “Patrol patterns and so forth. Baxtir isn’t expecting trouble. He seems pretty secure on this planet, surrounded by his minions and adherents. He kept Arturo’screw on, including me, as extra security, or so he’s said, but I think really he wants all of us in the audience to be impressed by his machinations. Arturo isn’t too happy about it but we’re getting paid extra. I think he doesn’t want to find himself a part of Baxtir’s army, you know? He’s not a zealot or even a sort of believer. It’s all about the credits for Arturo. We were supposed to deliver the hostages, get paid and leave but it hasn’t worked out as expected. I’d have jumped ship and stayed here if Arturo left.”

“We’ll do a recon run tomorrow night,” Jake said. “I need to see this place for myself, good as the holo is. Can you hook Gil up with a subaural com, Maeve? Then we can finalize the plan and the timing with him afterward without risking him coming up here a second time.”

“No problem,” she said. “I’ve made them even more miniaturized than the ones we use on theNebula Zephyr,”she told Gil. “Virtually undetectable.”

“I’ll take your word for it—I’d never doubt your skills. And I’m grateful for them.” He indicated the holo on the big table beside them. “This is amazingly helpful. I thought I was going to have to draw the place out for the team.”

“A girl does what she can.” Her smile was bright and she was obviously pleased with herself.

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