Unexpected Destiny by Trevor Gregg

Author:Trevor Gregg [Gregg, Trevor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

31

Custodian

The shuttle sped on toward the orbiting station, thrusters not quite at full burn. Alis set the autopilot once the station’s nav signal was locked in and then turned in her seat to face everyone. Kyren noticed she looked like she wanted to speak but seemed like maybe she was unsure what to say.

“So Oracle, what do your visions say about our plans?” Kyren asked on both their behalf.

“I will defer to Theo, he is the expert in locating lost relics,” Elarra replied.

“We’ll need to get to Zataxia first. I’m hopin’ we can trade this baby for a ride,” Theo said confidently, patting the side of the shuttle. “From Zataxia we’ll have to hire a ship, one that can withstand a debris field. A heavy hauler or something.”

“Or a mining ship or tug,” Alis offered.

“Sure. The rest we’ll have to make up as we go along,” he said casually.

“So what’s this relic we’re going to retrieve? Is it a weapon? ‘Cause we need something to fight Tharox with,” Kyren broke in.

“No, and yes,” Elarra said enigmatically.

“Enough with the suspense,” Alis interjected, unable to hide her frustration any longer. “What is it we are going after? What the heck is an Ashari?” Alis hated the Oracle’s obfuscation.

“Okay, I guess I better tell them,” Theo said, looking hesitantly at the Oracle. Alis noticed her give a slight nod.

“Twenty six years ago, Elarra enlisted my services to find a mysterious alien relic for her people,” Theo began. “We journeyed together for some time in our pursuit of this relic. We passed through a system called Pharos, where we picked up an identification beacon amongst the background noise.”

“Ooh, I know what that means.” Alis said excitedly.

“So when I cross-referenced the beacon’s ID with the data structures in my datacore, I found a match. The ship was a Consortium scout cruiser,” Theo explained.

“Ooh, a scout cruiser, primarily used for escort and scouting missions. Standard crew of sixteen. And an antimatter coupled ion drive!” Alis’ voice rose and her speech sped up. “It also has its own warp drive, and a complement of weapons, too.”

“Where’d you get your ship knowledge? That is impressive,” Theo said.

“I grew up around ships,” was all she said, her mouth tightening imperceptibly.

“Anyway, we were unable to investigate the source of the beacon at the time,” Theo began, only to be interrupted by the Oracle.

“And why couldn’t we investigate?” she asked.

“Uh, we were being chased,” he said hesitantly.

“Chased? By who?” asked Kyren.

“And why was that?” Elarra chided, ignoring Kyren.

Theo snorted, ignored Elarra’s question, and continued, “So, contained within my data core is the beacon’s signature, which will allow us to follow it to the source. If we find the ship intact, I have the access codes. We should be able to take full control of her, provided she’s still operational.”

“I’m not going to let that mystery rest, Theo. You’ll tell me eventually,” Alis teased, winking playfully at him.

The alert light on the archaic manual controls began to blink, and Alis spun back around and began toggling switches as she prepared the craft for approach to the station.

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