Fragments 1: Devolution Landing

Time to Leave

The flitter wouldn't start.

It had taken the team less than ten minutes to gather their belongings and meet next to the Rymerian vehicle. There was no time left for long goodbyes, but Androbos shook Glas Orobos by the hand and wished him well.

But the flitter wouldn't start.

The pilot looked concerned and climbed down to check the repulser motors. He was back moments later with a more worried look on his face.

"The motors are damaged," he said simply.

"How could that have happened?" demanded Androbos. We were flying only a few minutes ago."

He climbed down to see what the pilot was talking about. It didn't take long to discover what had happened.

"They're not damaged, they're sabotaged!" he exclaimed, and swore.

The others joined him by the side of the flitter.

"Look!" he said as he pointed to an open inspection cover.

The repulser motors had been rendered inoperable by an energy beam that had sliced right through crucial components. They needed to be replaced rather than fixed.

The team glared at Ran Perracheck.

"Your work?" demanded Elveren.

Perracheck looked uncomfortable.

"No," he said firmly. "No. I was only instructed to delay you enough that you would miss the last shuttle. This is something else."

"It was me," said a quiet voice.

They all looked round at the foreman, Glas Orobos, who looked a little ashamed of himself.

"I heard what you were saying, and I thought, why not? You were all here for a quick visit and then you're off to safety, but I'm stuck here to wait for an invasion. There's no last shuttle for me or my team. We just have to wait for the Truccani to attack, not knowing whether they will take us prisoner or shoot us."

He glared at the team defiantly.

"I reckon that if your precious Federation is willing to step in to arrange safe passage for you all, it won't stand by if you're stuck here when the war starts."

The team were stunned.

"I'm really sorry, Glas," said Androbos apologetically. "We have been tactless, but we may not be any help to you if no one knows we're still here. They won't send a rescue party if they think we're still on our original timetable."

He turned to Perracheck.

"Can we get a message out?"

"Not without a FTL transmitter and they're too big to carry. I've got an emergency radio in my bag. It's set up to send coded signals. That's all I could bring. There are two destroyers stationed just outside the Rymerian area but it will take a day or so for a basic signal to cover the distance."

Androbos nodded.

"Get that radio and send a message anyway. Is there any other way we can get through to our people?"

"I can try to get something out by radio, but that's all I've got," said Orobos unhappily. "I'm really sorry."

Androbos nodded.

"I know," he said sadly. "But let's try to sort things out. There's no chance of getting on that shuttle now, but we might be able to get our government to come and get us before it's too late."