Night Traveller (Gay Romantic Sci-Fi)

Chapter Thirty

It was nearly morning when Mike's wristcom beeped an urgent alarm at him. He sat up quickly to answer it, pulling the covers off Ryan and Dane in his haste. He didn't recognise the call sign. 

"Lieutenant Oliver here," he announced. Whoever it was, an urgent alarm didn't bode well. 

"Captain Takamoto, from the Oriell Space Station. We've a problem on Asra. Twenty minutes ago Ser Keating from Tinto mines received an extortion threat, two million credits or the caller will blow a hole in the dome." 

"What?" Oliver was incredulous. "Are they serious? Is that even possible? I thought it was impenetrable." Oliver thought of the various pieces of space debris which hit the dome from time to time. None of them had made a dent, let alone a hole. 

"We don't know yet, Ser Keating is trying to get hold of the engineer in charge of the original project at this very moment. At this stage we're taking it seriously. I've already discussed this with Blake, our chief technician here on Oriell, and he says a small hole could cause loss of atmosphere. A large one ..." he paused, "well it could rip the whole place apart. I need you back there as fast as possible." 

"Of course Captain." 

"And by the way, do you know where Governor Callan might be? We need him back on Asra too, we have to consider whether to evacuate civilians." 

"Yes Captain. The Governor is here in this hotel, I'll pass the message on immediately." 

"Ask him to call me would you? At his earliest convenience. And let me know your E.T.A on Asra as soon as possible." 

"Yes sir." 

"I'll keep you informed." Takamoto rang off. 

Ryan and Dane were both sitting up, looking worried as they waited for him to tell them what had happened. Mike was out of bed in a flash, throwing his clothes on. 

"Ser Keating has had an extortion threat. If he doesn't pay two million credits, they're threatening to blow up the dome on Asra." 

"What?" exclaimed Dane in disbelief. 

Ryan looked at Mike, instantly switching from generous lover to the Governor of Asra. He had heard the reference to himself in the conversation. "Who was that? Who should I ring?" 

"Sorry, I should have said. That was Captain Takamoto on Oriell station, I'll send his contact code to your 'com."  

Callan nodded and in a matter of seconds was speaking to the Patrol Captain. 

Dane got out of bed and started to dress in his AISS uniform. "I'll contact the spaceport, let them know the Rover will be making an emergency departure within the hour." 

Oliver nodded in agreement. If Dane was prepared to fly them, that would certainly be the fastest way to get back to Asra.  

He bit his lip, not wanting to waste time but knowing that he should be wearing his Patrol uniform, in case he had to issue any orders or requisitions at the space port. "I'll meet you both at the Rover, I've just got to grab my things from my room. It won't take me a second." 

Callan was still talking on his wristcom but Dane nodded. "We'll see you there."  

He started to pack up his and Callan's few personal belongings, just leaving Callan's boots and uniform ready for him to put on. 

All three men were now focussed on getting back to Asra and the problems they would find there, but Dane couldn't help wishing the interruption had come a few hours later. He had really been looking forward to what Mike had promised to do, when they woke up in the morning.  

XXX 

Cutter Levi fought his way across the surface of the dome, one step at a time. The wind tore around him, threatening to pluck him away despite his magnetised boots. He was buffeted by noise, even though his space helmet muffled the sound, he could still hear the wind's fury. And this was supposedly a calm break in the weather. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be caught in a storm. 

The front of his helmet kept icing up. He could scarcely see his hand in front of his face even after constant rubbing with his glove, luckily he was searching for his target not by sight but by its co-ordinates. He swore constantly under his breath, he'd had no idea it was going to be this tortuous or he would have declined the job. Too late now, of course. He was committed. Another agonisingly slow step, careful to make sure there was no gap beneath his boot for the wind to seize on, to pry him off the dome, one hand clutched desperately around the tether as an added precaution. Nearly, there he told himself. One, maybe two more steps. Then he would have to bend down, somehow, to place the package. 

He wondered what would happen if the wind tore the package out of his hands before he could attach it. One thing was certain, he wasn't going to go chasing after it! 

XXX 

Mo Khan boarded his luxurious space yacht right on schedule with a small entourage of staff moving back and forth, carrying his supplies for the trip. The yacht departed thirty minutes later, watched closely by Captain Spier and the port authorities.  

Captain Spier leant back a fraction in her chair, at least she knew exactly where Khan was going to be for the next few hours. Lieutenant Varga was ready to pick up the monitoring as soon as the ship entered Moonta's atmosphere. There was no need for the yacht to schedule a jump for such a short trip so there would be no break in surveillance. 

Nothing linked Khan to the extortion threat, yet, other than a gut feeling she had in the pit of her stomach, but she wanted to know exactly where she could put her hands on him, in case that changed. 

And Khan wasn't the only person she had in her sights. She wanted, needed, to find Jian Chang or at the very least his second in command, Eric Tate. Chiang and Khan were woven like different coloured lengths of string through the entire case, twisting and tangling the truth until it was almost impossible to unravel. Chang had slipped through her fingers before but this time she wasn't going to stop until she found him, even if her officers had to search every house in the district.