Part V. 

"Come back in three days.  It will all be ready then." 

This is what Barnaby, the innkeep at the Caelum Heights had told me before we parted ways the last time.  He also said, "There is a chance that we are being watched.  Be on guard.  Always be on guard."  I have started meditation sessions to calm the mind and prepare for what lies ahead.  Three days...  It's going to be difficult to stay on this station for three more days.  We've been here a week already.  The patience Grusians have toward refugees is not inexhaustible and rapidly approaching its limit.  There have been altercations between some of the refugees and the station guards.  Something about the crew members of the ship Kismet being beaten to an inch of their lives.  The prince must not be harmed, the prince shall not be harmed.  I repeat this phrase over and over in my head as I draw up the plans.  I hope for the safety of the crew members of the Kismet.  Many good Lylans, both men and women, are on that ship. 

I've only had three days to come up with a plan.  So many variables in the plan, so many unknowns...   I shake the doubt out of my head like old cobwebs.  This is a task I cannot fail in.  The future of my people are at stake.  The Royal lineage must continue in my prince.  As long as hope lives, my people will continue to fight.  With me, I carry the dimmest of hopes for my people.  It is not I who carry this burden, actually.  I am merely a guardian.  I guard the candle in the night.  The silent prayers of those oppressed, I guard them, too.  Last wishes of a dying Lylan...  The prince must not be harmed, the prince shall not be harmed.  The little Prince Sado carries the hopes of an entire planet within him.  It is a heavy burden he carries.  I have to make sure he is brought about proper, with a clear sense of his own destiny.  It is my sworn duty to protect him, to instruct him, to guide him, and obey him. 

Meanwhile, I go about my day, as any blacksmith on an intergalactic refugee ship might do.  I purchase supplies, raw materials, try to pawn a good or two at the junction exchange...  Haggle over the cost of Cephean jewelery, get into a shouting match over the cost of Chameleon ore. 

"There's a ship on this station...  One of last year's Delphinius Cup winners...  called "The Golden Bough"...  fastest ship ever built...  dry dock...  800 parsecs an hour...  built for long distance...  just what you're looking for..."

Fragments of the conversation I had with the innkeep flash in my mind as I go about my days.  

"Steal the ship...  Make it to Pavo system in 5 hours..."

If this ship was as fast as the innkeep says, it may be possible to stay ahead of the Denebian fleet no matter where they came at us from.  I do remember seeing holoimages of that ship from last year's Delphinius Cup.  The Delphinius Cup a bi-annual intersystems race of over 13400 parsecs in distance from Serpens to Delphinius.  The Golden Bough finished last year's race in slightly under 16 hours, 45 minutes, shattering the previous record of 3 days, 4 hours and 26 minutes by a considerable margin.  8 of the 15 checkpoints in the last year's race went through the Badlands, so the ship even had armaments to combat against the pirates.  Not that any of the pirate ships even got close enough to engage in a firefight.  Factor in the ship's speed and maneuverability with the armaments, and the ship was nearly invulnurable, provided we have the right starpilot.  The prince must not be harmed, the prince shall not be harmed. 

"So what do I have to do to get you to meet me half way?"  I ask the shifty-eyed Antilan selling Argellian crystals.  The Antilan, with his furry face and sallow skin, scowled at the thought of lowering his price.  He will, though.  What I offer him in exchange, no Antilan would refuse.  Eridian Spider Ticks.  Antilans use it for bloodletting purposes, It has medicinal values for them.  Antilans covet it like the technocrats covet nanobots.  They say that an Antilan who goes through a bloodletting by an Eridian Spider Tick does live about twice as long as a normal Antilan.  I eventually get him to sell me the Argellian crystals.  The whole spool of it, for a pair of ticks and some handy breeding tips. 

"Plus, it can travel a megaparsec in about 52 days..."   My eyes are spinning just thinking about the speed and the relative spatial effect.  The wake the ship leaves in the fabric of space-time continuum must be tremendous.  The Doppler effect must create waves big enough to engulf whole ships, maybe even entire starbases.  Certainly large enough to render the ship undetectable.  The prince must not be harmed, the prince shall not be harmed. 

"No.  Thank you my friend."  I say to the Antilan as I give the spool a kick.  I'm going to have to roll this spool all the way back to the dock H-3e, where the Albatross was docked.  Once I load the spool on a rod, I can get washed up and have dinner.  In the shower, all I can think about is the Golden Bough.  Highlights of the race on the holoimage.  The ship, sleek and glistening in its black coating, blending it in perfectly with the background, the stealth ship of all stealth ships, with an experimental prototype propulsion system.  Backed up with a proper hyperdrive, backed up with a standard FTL drive, backed up with solar sails, backed up with omnidirectional chemical rockets with a continuous burn of 26 minutes, controlled bursts of 35 or more.  A few phase cannons, a rack of guided hyperdrive missiles, the works...  I couldn't wait to get a look at it. 

After dinner...

To be Continued...