Page 43 of Neverwylde 6
“They’re thinking a minimum of three weeks,” Kelen answered.
“Okay. Say we’re there three weeks, and we don’t find anything worth getting our feathers all ruffled over,” Fullgrath scratched the bridge of his nose. “Then what? We get to go home?”
Kelen smiled. “Yes.”
“How about you two?” Sandow wondered. “Where will you two end up? I mean, I don’t see Earth welcoming Kyber. And I doubt you’d get a warm reception on Seneecia, either.”
“That is our problem, not yours,” Kyber remarked, his voice warm and not condescending. “But thank you for your concern.”
Mellori snorted. “Wonder what in the world could be so damned important about that planet that is making them go all ape-shit?”
“Too bad they confiscated your tablet and all when they took us off that planet,” Cooter remarked to Jules.
The navigator grinned. “They may have my tablet, but not its brain.”
Kelen stared wide-eyed at the man. “You have the CPU?”
“CPU?” Kleesod repeated. “Is that like the brain?”
“It stands for Central Processing Unit,” Jules explained. “And, yeah, it’s the brain.” He grinned. “I got it safely stored away at the moment.”
“Between that information and Lil’ Bit there…” Fullgrath motioned at Kelen. She’d forgotten the creature was still on her shoulder. The furry had curled into a ball and fallen asleep during their conversation. “Shouldn’t that be enough to blow apart the Seneecians’ cover-up?”
“It is a start,” Kyber admitted. “But it will take more than that to convince the Galactic Council to declare any direct actions.”
“One more thing in our favor,” Kelen mentioned. “And that’s the fact that the tegris is not in Seneecian space.”
“More than likely, Neverwylde isn’t either,” Fullgrath drawled.
“Which explains why the Seneecians are trying to keep the planet hush-hush. They wouldn’t act like this if it was under their jurisdiction,” Sandow concluded. “We don’t need their permission to go there, but you know they’re going to do all they can to prevent any ships from he—”
“D’har Kyber.” The stern voice interrupted from the monitor sitting on the desk.
Kyber went around and flipped the toggle. “Kyber here. Major Baffrey?”
“Report to Colonel Pfeiffer’s office immediately. The Seneecian ship is within range of the outpost, and the D’har is demanding you be returned.”
“And if he refuses to go back with them, then what?” Fullgrath yelled.
The major chose to ignore the question. “D’har Kyber, your presence is needed ASAP.”
“On my way.”
Massapa jumped to his feet from where he’d been sitting on the floor. “We are coming with you.”
“We all are,” Jules added, also standing.
Kyber gave them all a thankful look, then headed out the door. The rest followed in tow. The colonel didn’t hide his surprise when the entire group converged on his office, and got to his feet.
“Thanks for getting here so quickly.”
“You sounded concerned,” Kyber replied.
The man gave a nod. “We’ve received a command, not a request, from D’har Duruk. He wants you and your men returned to him, and he’s given us approximately ninety-nine minutes to comply.”
“Ninety-nine minutes?” Kelen gave the two men a quizzical stare.
“His ship will be within transport range at that time,” Pfeiffer explained.
Fullgrath stepped forward. “What if he refuses? What is he going to do then? Fire on an outpost that’s equipped with twelve protonic cannons?” He made a rude noise. “That’s like pitting a blaster against a volcano.”
Pfeiffer’s expression hardened, to the point where Kelen’s level of concern rose several notches. “There’s one bit of information you don’t know. The D’har isn’t alone.”
“What do you mean?” Kelen asked.
The colonel glanced at her, then back at Kyber. “It appears the man has brought along several of his friends, the same as you have brought yours along with you here. Right at this moment, six Class R Seneecian warships are approaching this outpost. Granted, their firepower can’t match ours, they can still do catastrophic damage to this place and be back in their sector before any supportive help arrives.
“By granting you and your people sanctuary, I’ve placed twelve hundred of mine in imminent danger. I need to know, and I need to know now, what is your next plan of action?”
