Aurelia's ship exited warp speed in the Kappa system.
According to Dr. Sanara, the first component of the cure could be found on the
planet Kappa-2. There was nothing specific regarding the planet or its
inhabitants that would potentially affect this mission; however, space pirates
were known to be operating in the area, so Aurelia would have to be careful. As
the princess of another star system, she and her ship would command a very high
price on the black market.
As she assumed manual control of the ship once more,
Aurelia checked the ship's thrust vectors to make sure it was properly on
course, then contacted Dr. Sanara via the ship's comms device. "I've
emerged in the Kappa system," she said. "I'm on route to Kappa-2 now.
Everything looks good; there shouldn't be any problems from here on out."
"Well, there's always the pirates to be worried
about," said Dr. Sanara, a little warily. "Your ship isn't
well-armed, is it, my lady?"
"Right now it isn't armed at all," said
Princess Aurelia. This was a craft built for speed and luxury. Its only weapons
were two photon blasters in the nose cone, and those wouldn't bother anything
larger than a fighter. In any case, they had been deactivated ever since her
crash-landing on Sigma-2, and she had so far chosen not to repair them. She had
been hoping she wouldn't need them. "However, I do still have my plasma
shields, and the ship's armour is pretty tough. Even if I can't out-manoeuvre
them, I can still take a few…"
Aurelia paused, her voice petering out. She thought she
had heard a rattling sound coming from the cargo bay. It was impossible that
any space pirates had infiltrated the ship, so unless it was just her
imagination…
"Is something wrong, my lady?" asked Dr.
Sanara.
"I thought I heard something coming from the cargo
bay," said Aurelia, glancing over her shoulder.
"Space pirates?" asked Dr. Sanara.
"No, that's impossible," said Aurelia.
"There's no way they could have gotten on board."
"Then a stowaway?" asked Dr. Sanara.
"Someone from Sigma-2?"
"That's the only explanation I can think of,"
said Aurelia. "I'll go check it out."
"Okay," said Dr. Sanara. "Be careful… and
remember to turn on the autopilot while you're not in the cockpit."
Aurelia, who was already halfway out of her seat,
abruptly re-engaged the autopilot, letting the ship steer itself for a moment
while she investigated the cargo bay. She didn't really see the point in this,
as they were in the middle of open space and there was no chance they would hit
anything. Apparently it was so that evasive manoeuvres could be conducted in
case of a sudden ambush, but Aurelia doubted that the autopilot would be much
use in a situation such as that.
Drawing the primitive handgun General Pereira had given
her for self-defence purposes, Princess Aurelia slowly made her way back
through the ship, towards the cargo hold. If anyone was inside, they must have
somehow snuck in while it was being loaded. The only way in during flight was
through a airtight door, and like all the doors on the ship, it would only open
if a sensor detected someone with the appropriate clearance level was
approaching. In other words, the doors would only open for Princess Aurelia and
the most trusted of royal staff.
Sure enough, as Aurelia approached the door, the sensor
detected the security information encoded in the insignia of her jumpsuit, and
the door slid open to allow her access. Stepping inside the cargo bay, Aurelia
held the firearm at her side, her hands shaking a little. There was no chance
of the bullets going straight through the wall and causing an explosive
decompression, so she didn't have to worry about missing. But it was hitting that
she was more worried about. She had set out on this mission to save lives, and
she didn't want to end any, certainly not innocent ones.
Aurelia quickly swept the perimeter, checking behind the
boxes of supplies that had been loaded into the bay. At first, there seemed to
be nobody there. Then, Aurelia noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
Slowly, cautiously, she turned round, looking up at the ceiling.
There was something on the ceiling. Before she could
properly tell what it was, Aurelia squealed, raised the primitive pistol, and
fired.
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