Mitchell's Revenge

Anton Orlov studied the message just received from the Captain of the Zond. It had taken him a while to decode it. Natasha was up to her old tricks and quit the ship at her first opportunity. The message reported that she left the Zond at Topernicus shipyard and fled aboard a pirate vessel called the Guardian Angel.

Captain Volkov didn’t know whether she actually jumped ship or had been kidnapped by Rufus Yaap and his crew. He also reported that the Guardian Angel jumped into FTL flight as soon as it left Topernicus. They’d been unable to get a lock on its destination. Therefore they didn’t know where Natasha was.

“The name of that ship rings a bell,” mused Anton, as he scrolled through streams of data whilst trying to organise his thoughts.

“There it is!” he exclaimed, as the name Flex McElbing came up on the screen.

“Not that lunatic!” he thought, “Oh Natasha, what have you done?”

The ship that McElbing was linked to was called the Fallen Angel.

“Just enough obfuscation to stay under the radar,” thought Anton as he began to research the rest of the crew. He quickly accessed the manifest that had been received by Topernicus Control Centre.

“Who the hell is Rufus Yaap?” was Anton’s next thought, and he began another search. The details were sketchy, but he soon had a rough picture of the crew that Natasha was now travelling with. He was relieved to see that there was at least one other woman on board. He could see that the skill set these people had would be invaluable to the IGM. He made a few notes on a sheet of paper and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans.

Anton made his way along the homestead hallway to his father’s office. He knocked as he went in and found his father standing at the big picture window looking out over Lake Ladogat. The steam was not so thick today and he could see the entire surface of the lake glinting in the sunlight. Yuri turned towards his son.

“What have you learned?” he asked. Anton smiled at his father. He gave him the hand written notes.

“That Flex McElbing of the Fallen Angel is now calling himself Flex McElroy of the Guardian Angel,” he replied.

“Not that lunatic!” exclaimed Yuri. “I hoped I’d never see him again!” Anton laughed.

“The worse news is that Natasha is on board his ship,” he went on. “But the Captain listed in the manifest for that visit is Rufus Yaap, not Flex.” Yuri shook his head.

“Knowing Natasha, she must have a reason for doing that,” Yuri mused aloud.

“I guessed as much,” replied Anton. “I did a bit more research. It looks like the Guardian Angel was at Topernicus for an FTL drive re-fit. Where would they have got a new FTL drive from do you think?”

“Stolen, obviously,” replied Yuri. “Our last intelligence about Flex suggested that he’d turned into a scavenger, so it could have come from any damaged or retired ship.”

A light came on in Anton’s mind. He looked at Yuri.

“What if it was salvaged from Ripley’s Revenge?”

“Then Tatiana is dead for sure,” replied Yuri sadly. He gripped Anton’s arm so hard that it hurt. “Don’t say anything to your mother yet. Wait until we hear from Natasha, OK? Promise me, son.”

“OK, I promise,” replied Anton. “You’re hurting me Father.” Yuri let go of his son’s arm.

“Could it be that much of a coincidence?” he wondered as Anton left the office to check on the latest incoming coms.