Starborn: Origin of the Stars

“On my way!” Niu agreed and hurried back to get Ang’Tue.

“Are you fuckin' kidding me, dude?” Baldy asked.

“Nope, you just failed to introduce you time and time again, so I had to improvise. Don’t fret.” Robin shrugged.

“You have no idea who you are messing with!” The man snarled.

“Mate, keep calm. You sound like a cheap villain and not like an upstanding UAS official. What will the people think?”

Baldy became even more angry when he realized that his colleagues had a hard time suppressing a chuckle. However, in the end he calmed himself down, since he was about to get what he was asking for. No need to bicker with some jumped-up wanna-be-adventurer.

He didn’t have to wait for long and Niu came back with Ang’Tue. The Eltaran had his hood up to hide his ears but kept his third eye open as he inspected the five men.

“Greetings, I’m Ang’Tue, Elder of the Eltaran council and seeker of knowledge.” He introduced himself and gave a small bow.

“Awesome title, I’m Rain Trevil and want to invite you to a meeting with my superior. Let’s go.” Baldy said dismissively and motioned for his men to step forward.

“Thank you very much Mr. Trevil, I must decline however. I have important matters to attend to and don’t have time to travel through the system.” Ang’Tue courteously said with a friendly smile, “But you don’t have to worry too much, together with Mr. Tulward here, we have already proposed a meeting between my superiors and the ones in charge of the UAS headquarters.”

It took Trevil only a moment to realize what they planned and his eyes went wide.

“Cut the crap, you know very well how this will go. We have to leave, now! Will you follow us as an honored guest, as I suggested, or as a prisoner?” He snarled, time was running out. He knew that this operation would be canceled as soon as the main HQ would give new orders. Not even Ramones could go directly against that.

“Well if it is like that, please lead the way. I really want to experience the UAS’ hospitality.” Ang’Tue said with squinted eyes and walked forward. When he was tightly surrounded by the four other squad-members, he looked back at Robin once and gave a last bow.

The group quickly walked towards the Discovery, the scout ship that brought them here. It was only half the size of the Hubble and formed like a triangle. ROMAS assumed it was colored gray and green, but wasn’t really sure. This ship was only made for short scouting trips or fast response operations, quick but without much comfort for the crew. It came with a drone bay at its top and had few windows to speak of. Instead of a proper bridge, a small cockpit for two people could be seen at its front. Robin couldn’t make out more details from where he was, but he had already learned enough and ROMAS had confirmed that they got everything they needed.

“We will take good care of your new friend, now worries. See you next time!” Trevil said with a grin and turned to follow his men. After he took the first few steps, Robin called him to a halt however.

“Ah I almost forgot, Mr. Trevil, we kind of are in an emergency situation right now.” He said with fake despair on his face.

“Too bad, I can’t help you right now. We have our own mission to do and are in a hurry.” Baldy turned and said annoyed.

“You know, I saw you have a fully armed squad with you and since we are in the lucky situation to have met, I want to request your protection until our crisis is resolved.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” The man snarled, he was still annoyed but also a bit wary, Tulward seemed to be up to something.

General UAS Law, §29 a), Priority Of Protection

Robin took out an external communication device that was directly connected with the UAS. Everything that was said would be recorded and sent to the UAS later on.

“Since I’m not ‘dude’ but the captain of the UAS IPR Hubble, I hereby officially request your protection based on GL §29a. My crew came under attack twice over the last few days, our UAS contact, Keran Bex, is heavily wounded and unconscious ever since. In addition, Landom Walzor, team leader of my security squad and one of his members, Sevastian Vlasov, are wounded too and also unconscious. In this momentary situation, we are nearly defenseless and do need external protection.” Robin said with a grin, “But don’t worry, we already have medical personnel aboard and hope that the crew is back in a condition that allows further travel in 12 hours at most!”

Rain Trevil looked stumped for some time, not knowing how to react at all. He had his orders from Ramones and knew that with any lost minute the risk of new directives coming from the main HQ was rising. He needed to get the Eltaran to Gaunus as soon as possible. However, the young captain was indeed right, he could request protection and theoretically Trevil and his crew were in no position to deny such a direct request.

Quickly the bald man closed his eyes and Robin assumed he was skimming through the GL to look for a way out. Together with Happy and Alena he patiently waited for him to finish.

“I’m sorry that you are in such a tough situation, however, we are transporting a highly valued guest and have to prioritize that above your needs.” He finally concluded, happy to have found a paragraph that mentioned the priorities in such situations.

“Is it like that? I’m certain this guest is an unknown Eltaran and not a prisoner. You should check my profile mate, I’m pretty sure there should be a note about the grave consequences for the UAS, if they lose me as an asset. So cut the crap and make your men secure the surroundings or whatever. But you better not let us stay here alone so close to potential enemy activities.” Robin said with a stern voice and put the communication device away. Without any further discussion he turned and left with his friends.

“Ramones doesn’t care about that, no one will shit on his desk because of this clearly made up situation!” Trevil shouted and also wanted to leave.

“You are probably right, Baldy.” Robin said without turning, “However, it wouldn’t be Ramones who will get the disciplinary enquiry but you and your men. Are you sure he will be able to protect you from the anger of the main HQ? It’s only for 12 hours, after that you are free to go.”

***

“Do you really think that will work? They will stay just because of some bullshit law?” Patience asked after everyone gathered in the conference room. It was the first time after she woke up that Robin met with her, but she understood the situation and didn’t say anything about the ‘easy gene repair’ that nearly killed her.

“Don’t badmouth these rules. The UAS prioritizes the well-being of its people above nearly everything else. That are values one should be proud of, not make fun of.” Timothy said and Robin had to agree. Large organizations like the UAS or other governments too often forget the people that made them what they are. Therefore, the UAS valuing such a seemingly basic law definitely was praiseworthy.

“He is right.” Robin said, “I’m pretty sure they don’t dare to leave now. The question is if 12 hours are enough?”

“I already had a call with Hutton. She said that the topic is being discussed right now and we have to wait until they come to a conclusion. Hutton knows about Ramones attempt to get the Eltaran but cannot do much as there are factions in the HQ that support him. Also, on the paper it doesn’t look suspicious that Ramones tries to get the Eltaran to Gaunus. Many people think it would be better if he looked after Ang’Tue rather than us being responsible for him. That the Eltaran doesn’t want to follow them to Gaunus is… gracefully overlooked. Right now the idea is to secure the Eltaran first and, depending on the decided course of action, apologize later.” Timothy explained, “Hutton expects a decision from the UAS in 24 hours at most.”

“We don’t have that long. 12 hours was the most I could demand, any more would be unreasonable.” Robin shook his head, “Happy, what do we know about their ship?”

Over the following minutes, Niu explained with much enthusiasm everything she knew about the model and made everyone aware once again, just how much of a nerd she was with these things.

“Okay, that that was... intense. Let’s go for a walk, what do you think?” Robin said when she finished and led the group outside. After they moved away from the Hubble for a few meters, he continued, “To summarize, the only way to enter their ship without anyone noticing would be through the drone bay?”

“We want to enter the ship? Where does that come from?” Alena said surprised but with one of the rare smiles on her face.

“I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to leave Ang’Tue with those guys. So, why not lend him a hand to get out of their ship? With his mutation, all we have to do is turn off the lights in the ship and open the door of his cabin or whatever it is they put him in.” Robin said with a shrug, “If he escapes because of a sudden blackout, what does it have to do with us? Seems to me like the guys were just incompetent. Didn’t we just tell them that we already were attacked here, too?”

“I’m in!” Niu immediately agreed and Patience and Alena also nodded.

“Yeah, I think I’ll help, too. And I do understand why we are here, outside of the ship, to discuss that - how do you plan to avoid the shitstorm that will definitely come, if the UAS can prove our involvement?” Timothy said, also agreeing.

“Great!” Robin gave his friends a thumbs up. Ang’Tue wasn’t really one of them yet, and Niu and Alena didn’t even meet him for more than a few minutes altogether, but still everyone was immediately on board, even though he was talking about going directly against the UAS to rescue the old man.

“Niu and Timothy, you two start deactivating any autonomous outgoing communication. Also, no more private comms for anyone for now. If someone wants to make a call, he has to come to the bridge and do it from there… after getting my permission. After that, begin to disassemble all surveillance that we have no control over. Leave only the normal cameras that are separated from the network.”

“Not very subtle, if you ask me…” Alena said with a frown.

“It doesn’t have to be. We were ambushed in the inn, someone had knowledge about our ship, crew and location. We are only drawing consequences.” Robin argued and Timothy gave him a nod.

“Could be explained that way, seems plausible.” He said, “Also, this is more like a political game we play and even if everyone else knows, they cannot do much about it. Robin has at least enough leeway for games like this - as long as the UAS doesn't lose its opportunity for the promised meeting.”

“Alena, I would like to send you to the town. Get me two stun guns, the strongest you can find. I’ll prepare our scout drone, it’s time for it to return to its proper role!” Robin said.

“Uh, you want to infiltrate the Discovery with ROMAS? That’s a good idea. If anything goes wrong, none of us is personally involved. I’ll head out immediately!” Alena agreed and hurried off.

“Perfect. I’ll check on our three patients and send the doctor home. The poor guy was practically abducted by us.” Robin said and ended their outdoor-meeting.

For the short rest of the afternoon, Robin worked on transforming the scout drone back into a combat drone. He first disabled all surveillance in the little hangar, where he also found the totally ravaged Melody II. Not only had he ripped out many of her systems and broken her repulsor, but afterwards the storm continued to batter the little ship with its icy projectiles and after hours out there, it now looked worse for wear.

“I’ll patch you up as soon as we have Ang’Tue back and I found the necessary spare parts, okay?” He said in a loving voice and patted one of her remaining winglets that was riddled with holes. The Melody II was his personal creation and had served him well over the last months, there’s no way he would leave her behind just like that.

When Alena returned, night was falling already. Robin had removed the casing from the drone and Landom sat on one of the stored crates, observing him with interest.

“You really think it will be that easy?” He just asked when Alena entered the hangar, a big package under her arms.

“Yeah, I thought this through more than once.” Robin replied and turned to the red-haired woman, “You got them?”

“Yes, after asking a few forceful questions, I quickly found the right guy. In a town like this, there always is a demand for weapons of any kind and as such there will be someone to provide a steady supply.” She said and took two identical guns out of the box.

They looked like energy rifles but with many wires winding around the barrel. Robin took one and inspected it with his mutation to understand what he was dealing with. He needed to remove any unnecessary parts to fit them into the drone and not overweight it.

“Ugh…” He sighed, it wasn’t everyday that he had to work with weapons, “I’m more into spaceships than guns n’ stuff. How does this shit even…”

“Try this one!” Landom said and handed him something that looked like the skeleton of the rifle he held in his hand. To his side, many different parts were placed neatly piece by piece.

“Not bad, Chief!” Alena said in surprise.

“Stun weapons are part of the basic equipment of any city’s Security. I had to dismantle and reassemble mine so often, I could mimic the necessary hand movements while sleeping!” Landom proudly explained while making creepy grabbing-motions with his hands.

“Your poor wife…” Robin muttered and Alena gave an agreeing nod.

“Just shut up!”

***

An hour before midnight, the moons stood high up in the sky and shed a gentle light onto the sandy beach. At the edge of the forest a big white spaceship was resting and a bit further in, hidden among the trees, a smaller, rectangular ship was barely visible. Its paint job allowing it to become one with its surroundings. A few nocturnal animals were all one could hear besides the calming rush of the ocean.

This seemingly peaceful scene wasn’t disrupted, even when a black drone sneaked out of the white ship and silently vanished into the woods.