STAR WARS: Fugitive

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"Admiral on the deck!" shouted the Officer of the Deck as the Admiral stepped from the conference room onto the bridge.

"Carry on," barked the Admiral intending to prevent the bridge personnel from interrupting their work to acknowledge him, as was the custom throughout the Sith Imperial Navy for all of the flag officers such as him. But he had an unwritten rule on his ship that he preferred his personnel to not be disrupted in their specialized attention from their various duty stations for something as trivial as a military custom and courtesy, so his deck officers were informally authorized not to call attention on deck. This must be another new one.... He'll learn soon, I hope....

The Admiral knew that the Sith presence affected the crew. The Sith Lords in particular always seemed to manage some sort of aura that naturally inspired fear and loyalty. Durus assured him that they would be dealing with the approaching vessel and its passengers personally, that he need only maintain his own vessel. He had read the status report from the Officer of the Deck moments earlier, but the report lacked the sort of details he particularly cared more about. This new guy had better learn quick....

"Commander, tell me about the ship we're expecting," he called to the Sensor Array station.

"Sir," responded the Commander, "we have a J-type yacht that appears to be heavily modified, bearing zero-six-three-zero. Technical data is unavailable due to their transponder somehow causing interference to our sensor arrays."

"Interference?" replied the Admiral both baffled and annoyed, especially since his instrumentation had been optimized against sensor jamming by his late crew of engineers.

"Sir," the Commander continued hoping to change the subject and avoid having to explain the instrumentation interference, especially since incompetence was not well received when Sith Lords were onboard, "they have hailed us and await authorization to land. Shall I grant clearance?"

"Negative. Direct them to one of the port side unrep chutes. I've been authorized to ensure they aren't receiving a warm welcome from us. Lord Durus will deal with them personally once they're onboard; then we'll deal with their ship."

"Aye, aye, sir," responded the Commander with a nervous exhale. He turned and nodded to the junior officer standing by at the control console.

"Also, alert Captain Teller that Darth Minax is en route to lead his Third fighter squadron. Have them standing by on his mark."

"Yes, sir," said the Commander. He turned and shouted to the Engineer station, "Ready the tractor beam off the Port unrep chutes!"

"Aye, aye, sir," someone called back.

Something felt wrong, out of place, but the Admiral could hardly pinpoint what it was. He played back the report from the Officer of the Deck in his mind, ...fighter wings at the ready... ...the entire security department ordered to the port side main hanger bay... ...weapons systems fully online... ...increase in personnel reporting to sick bay... ...noticeable new stench in several areas of the ship... ...all hydraulic and hazmat storage compartments inspected satisfactory for material condition... ...galley repairs were moving along on schedule from the explosions a week ago... ...the saboteur... ...engineering... ...engineering....

"Where is Commander Hoim'n? What was urgent from him? Your report was vague," asked the Admiral to his Officer of the Deck.

"I'll page him directly, sir!" he responded, and immediately darted for a communications console. There's fire in him yet, thought the Admiral.