A Message Received None Too Soon

“Good news comes to those who wait.”

-common aphorism

Sid got the news within a few hours of the Impulse jumping back in to the Emerri system. As soon as the radios could be aligned to pick up planetary feeds, it was like the ship was back, tethered to civilization. It had been an island unto itself while it was jumping from place to place. Now it had returned to the fold, and the information came to it in a stream.

They were still out on the edge of the system. Safety concerns dictated that jumping from completely uninhabited space towards planets and stations be done in two jumps, to lessen the chance of collisions. After all, jumping into a system completely blind from light days, months, or years away was a danger. It wasn't even ideal jumping in from the distance of light hours at the edge of a system, but things could be more easily scheduled when radio contact was technically possible. The ship would just send their intended jump information as soon as they came in, and they would wait for the planet to confirm.

So for hours after jumping, as they waited for radio messages to crawl their way across space, Sid amused himself during what he felt were probably the last few hours on the Impulse. He would be going home, and the crew would all be returning to their normal lives, free of their Fleet obligations. Some, like Cesper, would be returning after the Impulse was done receiving her maintenance, but most of the enlisted people would be going. Sid wandered the halls of the ship, looking around for Cesper. He didn't find him, which was unfortunate. He had wanted to spend some more time with him before they both went their separate ways for a while, but it seemed as though Cesper was avoiding him.

Maybe that was just an illusion, and he was on duty elsewhere. Now that Sid and Kino's official duties aboard the ship were concluded, and they were more familiar with its operation, it wasn't as though they needed a tour guide all the time. Cesper probably had more important things to do with helping the ship prepare to go into hibernation for a while.

Still, it was hard to not feel dejected and rejected when Sid couldn't find Cesper to spend his last day with. They would definitely get to say goodbye when they jumped in to the planet (they would probably be taking the elevator ride down together), but there was no privacy there. And a little privacy would have been nice.

Whatever plans Sid thought he had, though, were wiped away when he received that first data package. He and Kino were sitting together, their own computers open in front of them, in one of the little conference rooms aboard the Impulse that they had commandeered as their own personal meeting room. They knew when the radio broadcasts were set to start, and it would just be a few hours before they would be able to jump back home and take the elevator down to the surface of the planet.

“Here it comes,” Sid said, as his computer flashed with incoming notifications. He clicked the very top one, a red, urgent message from Sandreas. Presumably it was actually written by Halen, and it probably wasn't that urgent except that it was from Sandreas, but it definitely didn't hurt to read that first. “You got a message from Sandreas, too?”

“Open it,” Kino said. “It's addressed to both of us.”

Sid did then glance down at its contents.

Sid and Kino,

I hope this letter finds you well. I'll get right to the point. We have received intelligence that we think is reliable on Yan's possible location.

Because the Impulse is the only Fleet ship available on such short notice, she will be going to investigate.

I have ordered the Impulse locked down for the moment; no crew will be allowed to leave until I have talked to Captain Wen. I will waiting at Emerri station when you jump in so that we can discuss this in person.

Safe jump,

Aymon

Sid's hands shook as he ran his fingers across the sides of his head, trying to steady himself at this revelation. He had been hoping every day that there would be news about Yan, and to finally have that news materialize made him feel far too much.

There was a seed of hope growing in his chest that still felt sick and twisted. If this turned out to be a false lead, or if it was a correct lead, but Yan was already dead, that would be too much to bear. He tried to temper his expectations, but found that he couldn't. His mind was already running a million light years a second, imagining what they would find when they went to...

Actually, he was mad at Sandreas for not giving any information whatsoever.

Actually, Sid had a sneaking, horrible thought.

“Kino, any idea why he didn't tell us where this information is leading?” Sid looked over at her. She was positively green, and her fingers had found their way into her mouth as she bit her nails aggressively.

She shook her head.

“Are you okay?” Sid asked.

“Fine.”

“You look sick.”

Kino removed her fingers from her mouth, then opened and closed it a couple times as though she were struggling to find the words. Sid felt a bit of sympathy for this. He had been in that situation many times, where the words were too much. He always had sign to fall back on, though that wasn't something Kino was fluent enough into make it feasible for communication. He looked at her for a second, then decided that if she wasn't going to be able to say what she needed to, he would go ahead and blurt out the thought that had arrived screaming in his brain.

“I don't think Sandreas is going to let us go,” Sid said.

This was, apparently, not what was getting Kino so worked up, and her head jerked up in surprise.

“Think about it,” he said. “Why else wouldn't he just send the coordinates or information to Captain Wen? Why would he have to come here himself?”

“Because it's delicate information?” Kino offered.

“Encrypted radio is very secure. I don't think that's it.” Sid drummed his fingers on his chin, elbow resting on the table. “I think he's coming here to escort us off the ship.”

Kino stared at him blankly, so Sid continued.

“Think about it. He never wanted us to go out and look for Yan before. It was hard enough convincing him to let us go deal with the station. And this would be going directly into danger, maybe.”

“But why would he need to escort us? He could just order us to come home.”

“I can't believe you think so little of me,” Sid said. “I've had worse disobedience for much less reason.” He was thinking back to that horrible period when he was in withdrawal from Vena. That had been such a stupid time. He had been so stupid.

“True.”

“But if he came here, we'd be strong-armed into following him back home.”

“Why wouldn't he just not tell us the information, then?”

Sid raised an eyebrow. “You don't think Halen put him up to it?”

“I think he and Halen agree on most things,” Kino said.

“No, think about it,” Sid insisted. “What would we do if we got home and found out that information had been hidden from us?” Sid could feel his voice becoming high and shrill with a familiar tightness in his throat, even if he couldn't hear his voice.

Kino stayed silent and stoic, waiting for Sid to answer his own question.

“I honestly don't know what I'd do.” He deliberately tried to calm down, lowering his volume and taking a deep breath. “I don't know what I'd trust myself to do.”

“Maybe he just thought it wasn't worth keeping a secret,” Kino said.

“I might have found out even if he had tried to make it secret. And I would have been mad at him for that, too.”

“How?”

“Cesper would have told me, I bet.”

“Even with Fleet information training?”

“We're both cleared for access to everything. He could tell me, if I asked.”

“And would you ask?”

“If I thought things were suspicious.” Sid paused for a second. “Actually, that might be the reason he's not keeping it secret.”

“Why?”

“Because he knows that Cesper would tell me.”

“He doesn't even know Cesper,” Kino pointed out.

Sid grimaced a little. “Yeah, but I, uh, talked about him in my letter.”

“Ha.” Kino's face was still grim, despite the single syllable of laughter that Sid's glasses provided to him.

“Did you figure out what you were going to say earlier?” Sid asked.

“I don't want Yan to be dead,” Kino said finally. Sid nodded.

“We're going to fight to go there, right? Together?”

Kino thought about it for a long moment as she ripped at the sleeve of her cassock. Finally, slowly, as though it were against her better judgment, she nodded.

---

Sandreas came aboard without any fanfare. There was no formal greeting by the greater crew of the Impulse; there wasn't time for that. He swooped through the airlock and onto the ship, where Sid, Kino, Captain Wen and his officers were waiting. They exchanged quick greetings, perfunctory, even.

It was awkward. Sid and Kino were sidelined as Sandreas shook hands with Wen and several of the officers. Sid snuck a glance at Halen, who lurked in the back of Sandreas's party. Halen noticed his look, and possibly his slight resentment at being almost ignored by Sandreas. Halen's eyebrow and lip quirked ever so slightly upwards when their eyes met, and Sid shook his head slightly and looked away.

Ervantes Cesper was in the back of Wen's party. He was the most junior officer in the group, in terms of experience, if not also by rank, but he was the apprentices' liaison, so it made sense for him to meet Sandreas as well. Sid had been paying less attention to the greetings than he should have been, but when Sandreas reached Cesper, Sid watched.

“So you're Lieutenant Cesper?”

“Yes, sir,” Ervantes said, looking slightly nervous. Sid remembered the conversation he had had about what Sandreas was like.

“Thank you for saving my apprentice's life,” Sandreas said. “I won't forget it.”

“He saved ours as much as anything,” Ervantes said, trying to deflect.

Sandreas looked down his nose at Ervantes, not judgmental, simply imperious, as if that made much of a difference when one was underneath his gaze. “Sid communicated to me how much he appreciated it regardless. We should talk later.” He clapped Ervantes on the shoulder, which in the zero gravity area of the ship made them both drift apart slightly. Ervantes steadied himself on the wall, and Sandreas turned to continue his greetings.

Ervantes looked shaken, and he glanced across the hall at Sid, who smiled at him. Something changed on Ervantes's face. He looked away, possibly angry? Sid had no idea what was going on. He glanced over at Halen, hoping to maybe catch some sign from the empath. Halen's attention was focused solely on Sandreas, though, and there would be no figuring out what was going on with Ervantes from him.

The greetings concluded, everyone filed out down the hallways towards the ring section of the ship where they would be meeting in Wen's officer's briefing room, which was just large enough to fit all of both parties. As they traveled through the hallways, Wen's group led the way, and Sandreas fell slightly towards the back so that he could talk to his apprentices a little.

He put one hand on Sid's shoulder and the other on Kino's upper arm for a second, just to get both of their attentions. It would have been nice to have something more, but Sandreas had never been the touchy-feely type, so it wasn't exactly surprising that he didn't go in for a hug or anything like that.

“Admirable job with the station,” he said as they pushed off the floor and drifted down the hall. “I hope you two weren't at each other's throats the whole time.”

“We got along,” Kino said. “We're adults.”

“If being an adult precluded people from fighting, the universe would be a very different place,” Sandreas said. “But I'm glad to hear it.”

Sid wasn't exactly feeling up to discussing their previous work. He really wanted to get on with the business of the future. He really wanted to guarantee that he would be staying aboard the Impulse to go rescue Yan. And the best way to do that was maybe by being blunt.

“Why didn't you tell us what's going on over the radio?” Sid asked.

“Because this is a delicate situation,” Sandreas said.

“Which means what, exactly?”

“I didn't want anyone rushing heedlessly into things.”

“I don't rush,” Kino said.

“You two are not the only people involved in this situation,” Sandreas said.

“We're wasting time,” Sid said.

Sandreas rubbed the bridge of his nose. “A few hours, a few days, it doesn't matter. Yan has been missing for months. If the worst was going to happen...” There was an unspoken end to that sentence. “I understand that you're eager. I am as well. But we'll discuss all this in a minute. With the group.”

Sid shook his head slightly, pushed off from the ground with extra force, and brushed past Sandreas to go join the Impulse's crew, or at least tag along right behind them. In the brief second when he was in physical contact with Sandreas, Sid sent, “It's like you don't care at all,” through the power. He wasn't sure if Sandreas received the message, and he didn't particularly care, either. It was more of a way for him to let out his frustration than to accomplish anything.

And if Sandreas did hear him, then all the better if he changed his behavior.

Was acting like a petulant child going to accomplish anything for him? Probably not. Sid tried to come up next to Ervantes, but for some reason, he was now most definitely being avoided. He would need to corner him later and figure out what was going on. Something Sandreas had said had gotten him all worked up. Sid didn't understand how; the conversation was so innocuous as to be completely forgettable.

So Sid's little rebellion left him drifting along with no one to talk to. Kino and Sandreas's conversation drifted in tiny letters across the bottom of his glasses, but Sid shook them down to the tip of his nose so that he wouldn't see it. In terms of information being power, he was definitely missing out, but he was finding it uncomfortable to be back with Sandreas.

When Sandreas was in the room, all of Sid's power left. Not physically, just socially. He had no authority here anymore. No one would listen to him when they could listen to Sandreas. He couldn't win in a fight against his boss. He had no hope of getting what he wanted unless he played nice, and Sid was incapable of doing that. At the very least, he was incapable of doing that when he was agitated, and he was significantly agitated now.

They came to the gravity section, and then it wasn't long before they all filed into the conference room and sat down around the long table. Captain Wen and Sandreas sat across from each other at one end of the table, and the Impulse's crew and Sandreas's entourage all took seats along the respective sides. Halen stood near the back wall, just the right distance away from Sandreas. Sid ended up between Kino on his right and Jayhun Rook, the intelligence officer who had accompanied Sandreas to give this information, on his left. He didn't know Rook that well; they had met incidentally a few times, and Sid received regular reports from his staff, but there were far too many Imperial staff for Sid to keep real track of them all.

Sandreas brought the meeting to order, though he hardly needed to say anything. Everyone listened when he talked. He had a magnetic presence, partially because of his station, partially because of the way he held himself, and partially because of the way that Sid suspected he sometimes injected the power into his voice.

“First of all,” Sandreas said, keeping his face carefully neutral as he stared around the room. “I'd like to thank you all for the work that you did with Less-Travel Station. I am very grateful to your efforts. The measure of success we had is all thanks to your expertise.”

Clearly, Sandreas did not consider what had happened aboard the LT to be an unmitigated success. There was still the matter of the missing ship, and the Guild was no closer to being brought to heel, at least last Sid had heard. It could have been far worse, though, so it was worth it for Sandreas to remark on the small victories, especially when he was about to ask something major of the crew of the Impulse.

“Now, perhaps fortunately, congratulating you on a job well done is not the reason I came here. As you are all aware, my third apprentice, Yan BarCarran, was kidnapped off of the Guild ship the Tranquility several months ago, and, up until this point, we have been unable to pin down her location.

“That changed as of a few days ago. We have received intelligence that indicates that Yan is being held...” he paused and waited for someone to send the starchart to the big screen at the front of the room. Everyone turned to look. “Here.”

The map was a standard looking starchart, showing points of light, distances, and names of stars. The region of space that it was centered on was curiously empty.

“As you can see, this is a region of dead space. We suspect, then, that there is a pirate outpost here, far from stellar bodies in order to avoid detection.

“We say suspect because we do not know for sure. This could be a rendezvous location for two ships in order to pass off a trade, or this could be a completely misleading trail. Or it may not be pirates. The Adversary may be involved.”

Captain Wen raised his hand slightly, a real show of deference. Sandreas nodded to him. “We were all out of contact range at the time that the original kidnapping occurred, so I forgive my crew for not being completely informed on it, but she was originally taken by pirates, correct?”

Sandreas nodded. “Pirates, as well as collaborators aboard the ship she was on.”

“Then, and pardon me if this is an obvious question, why do you believe that the Adversary had anything to do with it?”

“We believe the original attack was intended for me, and Yan was taken as a second place trophy, if you will. There was a thought originally that she had been taken solely as revenge for fending off a pirate attack while aboard the Sky Boat, another Guild ship. That turned out not to be the case.

“Based on the fact that there have been no attempts made to contact the Empire for a ransom or a threat, which pirates might be inclined to do, the attack was probably political in nature. There have been no signs that it was any group within the Empire. Any terrorist faction or political separatists would have had no problem claiming the act, but there has been nothing. This is what led us to believe that the Adversary may have her.”

“And yet you believe that there could be a pirate base?”

“The worrying thought is that the Adversary and pirates have connections. Not close ones, but perhaps some working relationship, in which the Adversary disguises their true nature. This may be the place where that crossover happens.”

“And how did you come by this starchart?” Wen asked. He seemed skeptical, scratching the side of his face casually.

“My intelligence officer, Jayhun Rook, will be able to explain that better.” Sandreas leaned back in his chair. Rook stood to address the room.

“As you may be aware, we have a web of agents operating across the galaxy. Most are stationed on planets, but we have a few embedded into key locations on board stations and ships, both of the Guild and of pirates. They provide information about the goings on in the underworld that we would not otherwise be privy to. During the course of their duties, they make a point of tapping into the computer systems of certain high-priority ships, and ensuring that their data storage is dumped to station memory while ships are docked.

“One of these ships, called the Bellringer, is a pirate vessel with a specific connection to Yan BarCarran. The captain of the Bellringer has a bounty out on her head, along with on Sid Welslak's.” Rook nodded at him, and Sid's cheeks heated up momentarily at this reminder of his role during the pirate attack on the Sky Boat.

“Two undercover agents were aboard the Bellringer, and they managed to witness the Bellringer gathering information about BarCarran's location. They kidnapped a man by the codename of Starman, who claimed to have worked for the people who took Yan. He provided them this starmap of the location where he was going to be paid to transport her.

“This information is about a month old,” Rook cautioned. “The agents who provided it couldn't access the station dump files, so they left the message on a beacon that was only recently picked up by another agent who passed it along to us. Are there any questions?”

“Do we trust the source?” Wen asked.

“Our agents, who we trust, made the judgment that this is credible information, or at least worth investigating. The crew of the Bellringer clearly believe the same thing. Anything else?”

Wen turned to look at Sandreas. Rook, seeing that his turn to speak was clearly over, sat back down. “The Impulse is going to investigate this, correct?” Wen asked.

“Yes,” Sandreas said. “I understand that you are past time to return home for your leave, but the Impulse is the only ship available.”

“I understand that,” Wen said. “Though I hate to be the one to break the news to my crew that they did a whole tour of duty peacefully, only to need to head into the unknown again.”

“You're authorized to give double pay for this excursion,” Sandreas said, expression dismissive. “None of us like it, but none of us have a choice. I'm in contact with the rest of the Fleet and we're making plans to relieve you immediately should the situation turn out to be... deeper than expected.”

“How far away is this place?”

“About fifteen days travel.”

Wen's upper lip curled unpleasantly. “Far.”

“Yes.”

“And when we get there?”

“I have a team assembled to integrate with yours. Depending on what the situation is in this place, they may be able to enact a rescue operation.”

“If there's a station, you mean?”

“That would be the best case scenario, yes.”

Sid spoke up, interrupting the conversation. “You said that this information came off of the Bellringer. What happens if they get to her first? They're going to the same place, and they have a major head start.”

“The a pirate ship doesn't have the resources a Fleet ship does,” Wen said. “If there's any resistance, I have no doubt that we will succeed where they have failed.”

“I'm not talking about what if the Bellringer already tried and failed,” Sid said. “I'm asking what if they succeeded?”

“I think we would find that out relatively quickly,” Sandreas said. “Pirates are not known for being particularly humble.”

So they were banking on the pirates bragging about killing her, then. In other words, she would be dead if they got to her.

Rook spoke up. “Our agents are also, as far as I'm aware, still on the Bellringer. They may be in position to sabotage the Bellringer's plans in order to prevent her capture.”

Sid nodded. He wasn't appeased but there clearly was nothing he could do. He looked up the table towards Sandreas, and their eyes met. There was a note of warning there. Caution. Don't overstep your bounds.

Sid looked up and down the table. He saw the Fleet soldiers, their faces calculating, concerned, tired. Kino ripped at the sleeve of her cassock. Halen stared him down, sensing that Sid was making up his mind. He shook his head ever so slightly, but Sid turned away.

“Kino and I,” he said, then took a deep breath. It was hard to think of the most solid yet delicate way to phrase this. He didn't want to put his foot in his mouth. He didn't precisely want to cause a scene and anger Sandreas. But he did want control of the situation.

“We're going,” Kino said. “We're coming to rescue Yan, if you'll continue to have us on board.”