Starfall

Chapter 33 - Dichotomy

The stars blurred by the contoured frame of the cockpit window as Dipper watched his mentor great Uncle Ford. They had barely made it off the planet. Their escape had been hasty, but Ford had managed to ditch them in the debris field with ease. Once they had evaded the CE fighters Ford had elected to stay in the debris field. While Dipper and Ford worked out a plan Zaharah fidgeted in her seat, clearly not comfortable. Dipper reasoned she was still working out whether to trust the present company. She would have to come to her own conclusion in due time. For now, they had a problem to solve. Finding Mabel! From here Ford had begun tracking Mabel's wierness signature. Even out here her unique signature stood out giving a clear way to track her against a normal background. Well...mostly normal.

Dipper had begun to worry about Mabel. He was not the only one. Ford had been tracking Mabel's signature. Her signature had stopped somewhere in the upper atmosphere and had stayed there for almost half an hour. That worried Ford...and Dipper. To their dismay when her signature moved Ford discovered the ship she was on was one of the massive capital ships. The heavy boosters burned a blue-white glow as they craft headed for the nearest military outpost. Ford had followed discretely at a distance.

Once they had arrived they saw the outpost. It was massive! Ships were docking, refueling, and rearming. Some were undergoing maintenance. From the privacy of a nearby moon, they set up observation. Ford handed Dipper a second monocular. Dipper fiddled with the control zooming in on the ship. Crew and personnel were loading and unloading freight and equipment. They had waited for an agonizingly long time before they saw Mabel's signature move. When they saw her exit the ship Dipper saw she was on a stretcher! Cade was led in handcuffs as he struggled against his captors. Ford muttered darkly, "Well this just got a whole lot more complicated." Dipper hoped Mabel was all right.

Ford had spent an hour and a half constructing a darning prison break. While Ford drew up plans Dipper stared out the window silently. He hoped Mabel was all right. Pacifica put an arm on his shoulder supportively. "She's tougher than she looks. I'll give her that much." Dipper nodded not breaking a smile. Pacifica rested on the seat next to him leaning against the seat back to see his face. "We'll get her back." Dipper nodded but didn't break eye contact with the station.

Ford was in the preliminary stages of laying out the plan when Dipper saw Mabel's weirdness signature move on the map. Dipper excitedly pointed it out. Ford shrugged. It could be anything. They could be transporting her...they could be moving her to another cell. Dipper looked closer at the data. "Great Uncle Ford. Why does Mabel's signature look...different?" Dipper had noticed Mabel's weirdness signature usually had a certain profile. And if it had been anyone else maybe he would have not noticed, but since he often saw Mabel's signature he somehow noticed it seemed diminished, less strong. Ford frowned for a minute before perking up. "That is because she is unconscious and likely under the influence of some kind of narcotics. If they plan to use her as a hostage they plausibly could be keeping her sedated." Dipper sighed.  Pacifica put a conciliatory hand on his shoulder. Dipper squeezed it back. How were they going to get his sister out? They watched for another half hour.

Suddenly a cluster of red flashing lights began strobing on the outpost's platform. No sound could be heard in the vacuum of space but the light traveled unimpeded. Two of the primary drives that kept the station afloat seemed to be powering down! The other drives fought hard to compensate but the station was still lilting to starboard as it ever so slowly tilted towards the horizon and eventually dipped towards the planet.

Ford shouted, "Now is our chance!" Dipper rushed to strap into his seat as Ford fired up the main drive. Pacifica scrambled into her seat. Ford pushed the engines hard as the ship rocketed towards the tilting platform. Explosions and debris scattered detritus into orbit as the angle of tilt grew stronger on the platform. Ford landed the ship near where Mabel's signature emanated. Stanley jumped out of the craft first grabbing a metal beam from off the ground. Ford unholstered his pistol but kept it pointed downwards at his right side. As an airlock opened he raised his pistol aiming it at the silhouette standing in the door frame. Stanley growled, "Ford, lower your weapon!" The figure stepped out of the bright light of the door frame and came into focus.