Witch Hunt -- Chapter 23

1. The Theites did not speak to her, test her or seem the least amused or impressed by her.

2. In standard military fashion, she was abrasively, but not abusively, escorted to a holding cell aboard the Elite destroyer and brigged with none other than Dal El.

3. Ireana had seen pictures of this infamous person.

4. When she saw him, she almost laughed at the irony, but caught herself in time to avoid appearing overtly suspicious.

5. Of all the potential cell mates in the Universe, she simply didn't expect to see the dreaded ‘Vice-Elite’ brigged aboard his own ship...with her.

6. Dal El automatically interpreted a hidden message behind her grin; possibly a reaction to the dark comedy of errors that she must have experienced.  Her uniform was certainly unique -- not something that he had ever seen before.  

7. He rendered an inquisitive facial salute, as the "Number Two" personage in Kor's Universe would be expected to render.

8. Ireana instinctively acknowledged Dal El's non-verbal gesture with an unintelligible blurb.  Dal El nodded in acceptance.  

9. Already, Dal El suspected that there was something special about 'this one.'  Why else would they brig her with him?  

10. She must have been assigned to the ship, someplace where he never ventured.  He would have given her a 2nd look if he had known that she existed.  She couldn't possibly be from Earth -- it wasn't Theite style to incarcerate specimens they crossed the galaxy to save.  She couldn't be 'a specimen.'

11. Everything about her was curiously alluring. 

12. "How did 'this' get by me?" he asked himself. 

13. Dal El wasn't psionic by a Vejhonian standard, but that didn't mean he was completely inept.  He could not detect a psionic imprint from her at all, much less her implant-link to Onimex.  Dal El's ineptitude was Ireana's saving grace.  She could see through him like a clean pane of window glass.  

14. "Could she be one of Kor's special agents?" Dal El wondered.  Agents were never rostered on any ship manifest in the interest of State Security.

15. As Dal El tortured himself with the many possibilities, he concluded that 'she' must be the creme' de la creme' among special agents.

16. No other explanation seemed plausible, so Dal El opted to regard her as one of Kor's special agents.  Ireana read his conclusion clearly.    

21. Most of the hustle and bustle outside had greatly subsided.  The interdiction aspect was over.   Now the Theites simply wanted to secure the destroyer.  Ireana's capture pegged Usalahs curiosity:  She was the only Vejhonian in the entire Sol system.  She was found in an Earth utility craft and was mysteriously immune to the acceleration wave. 

22. Usalah decided deal with her later, so he brigged her with Dal El, believing that she was an Elite spy, sent ahead to coordinate the attack.  

23. Contrary to what Ireana had been taught to believe, her first impression of Dal El reflected composure and charm.    

24. Dal El didn't really fit the monster stereotype, so she pondered the situation introspectively. 

25. Were it not for her pre-engineered convictions -- she might have liked him; feeling somewhat charmed even now.

26. She checked herself, "This...defrocked Theite destroyed M'trol-1!"

27. "What's taking Corlos so long?" she asked privately, "Any time now." 

28. Although the Theites had complete control of the destroyer, some of the destroyer's systems were not completely understood.  Most of the Theite battalion were warriors and ace pilots.  Right now, they needed some engineers and cyberneticists to bring the destroyer's systems back on-line.

29. There were some Theite specialists among them, but reverse-engineering an Elite Destroyer on short notice was not what HQ had called for.

30. The most annoying system was the passive psionic scrambler which made the destroyer's sneak approach possible.

31. The scrambler kept Corlos from retrieving Ireana and Onimex.

32. As Ireana psionically assessed the invaders' progress, she discovered the Theites dilemma:  They could not find the 'off switch' for the scrambler -- it was hard wired to run eternally as a passive system.  "Hard-wired" was strictly a metaphor. 

33. Fortunately, Onimex was not in the brig, but he was aboard and knew precisely where Ireana was.  He also read everything that Ireana concluded about about her notorious cell mate.

34. Ireana convinced herself that Dal El was not a psionic threat to her or Onimex, so she psionically located Onimex to discuss their escape options.

35. She wanted to keep her competitive edge for as long as possible.  Onimex had remained out-of-sight for precisely that reason.

36. After Dal El had undressed Ireana for the 40th time, the magical moment finally came.  "They know who I am," Dal El said in perfect Vejhonian, "but what are you doing in here?"

37. He paused for dramatic effect, “With me?” he added.

38. Ireana was wondering the exact same thing.  The only M'trol-1 survivor was within striking distance of M'trol-1's destroyer. 

39. She held back for a perplexing moment, which made Dal El think that she did not understand his language.  Then Ireana made very penetrating eye contact without focusing on a single thought.  

40. "Maintain the charade," Onimex injected, "Corlos knows our situation.  As soon as they get scrambler off-line, we'll be out of here.  Corlos wants you to observe everything you can about Dal El in the meantime." 

41. Ireana never took her eyes off of Dal El's. 

42. Dal El studied her unintimidated demeanor and concluded that she was reading him rather effortlessly.

43. Onimex’s voice came back, "Your orders have been amended by Daniel: You are to assist Dal El in an escape and I am to assist you.  It is imperative that your escape appear as though your psionic abilities alone are the cause.  Corlos calculates a 98% chance that Dal El will assume that you are the Elite Covert Operations agent assigned to his ship.  This is standard procedure.  All ECO's report directly to Kor.  Dal El is not in their chain-of-command and Dal El knows that.  Daniel says, 'If you assume the role -- he'll believe it.'"

44. "So Daniel got personally involved?" Ireana asked, knowing that Daniel's responsibilities are too Universal to focus on a single moment in time.

45. "It's getting better by the minute," Ireana mumbled in her thoughts.  "Don't stress over this," Onimex said, "let me do the thinking -- all you have to do is follow my instructions."  

46. Onimex was invisible, outside the brig and had an awesome tactical advantage.  

47. The comedy of errors was quickly adding up to a belly laugh for Ireana, who needed to relieve the tension, but she held fast instead.  Smart girl.

48. "I wish you would have programmed me to do that," Onimex sighed.  He could cite a thousand hilarious circumstances, but not a single genuine laugh.  

49. "You'll get that wish," Ireana confirmed, "if you get us out of here in one piece."

50. “Wish?…One Piece?” Dal El said out loud curiously; he did not know where the words came from -- nobody's cover was blown. 

51. "Tell me again about your theories," Ireana mumbled psionically to Onimex while sharpening her imaginary knife. 

52.  She would have won every trophy at the Vejhonian Theatrical Awards for this performance.

63. He was trying to figure out the marvelous reality of her existence.  She was something he had never seen before. 

64. Onimex injected, "I think I'm beginning to see the humor in this - even without the added program."

65. Somewhere in his many streams of hyper-data, he could hear a voice admonishing him to "apologize at once."  "Why do I need to apologize?"

66. Onimex had studied the movements of everyone aboard the ship.  "I can navigate you through this now," Onimex said, "Approach the forcefield and gesture as though you are deactivating the forcefield with your hand."  

67. Ireana motioned for Dal El to hold fast while she approached the forcefield.  She performed a Tai Chi motion and the forcefield deactivated.

68. "It's not really deactivated," she explained to Dal El, "I've only made a hole so that we can pass through without alarming the guards."

69. "Cleaver," Dal El agreed.  Now he had seen everything.

70. She led Dal El to the exterior corridor and then pointed to the left because Onimex said, "Go left."

71. The maze through the ship required a computer to navigate, which further proved to Dal El that Ireana had been aboard all along.  She picked the least traveled, most direct path to the utility bay.

72. The utility bay was exactly that.  It was a maintenance hangar occupied by two close-range reconnaissance ships.  There was a long-range passenger sled and a messenger ship suspended from the upper deck.  The hanger was clearly not spaceport capable, so the Theites ignored it. 

73. The deck space was cluttered by abandoned appliances and minor works in-progress.  This hanger was not in inspection condition. 

74. What Onimex discovered, was that the messenger ship was the fastest ship in the Elite inventory.  

75. The messenger ship contained no weapons or frills and was built to dart between long-distance points as quickly as possible. 

76. Every destroyer had at least one aboard, but because they had no tactical use, they were tethered to the ceiling to free up deck space.

77. Onimex disconnected the messenger ship's reporting system and lowered the ship.  He completed the pre-flight, powered up and severed the umbilical before the landing struts touched down. 

78. The crane hooks popped off and hatch opened, all of which seemed like a deft demonstration of Ireana's suave covert prowess.

79. With the expected grace and formality of an Elite perfunctionary, Ireana extended her arm in invitation for Dal El to board first, as was customary for the Vice Elite in any occasion under any circumstance.

80. Dal El, of course, did not want to act overly impressed, as it might indicate that he was uninformed on ‘secret matters’ regarding State security.

81. Onimex asked Ireana to suspend the boarding protocol so that he could get situated aboard first.  He was still invisible. 

82. Dal El was so resolutely convinced of her authenticity that his suspicious mind never once considered that this event might have been staged.

83. Why would an enemy go through such trouble to mislead him... with a daring rescue?

84. While the Theites were still learning how to read the destroyers systems and schematics, Onimex disconnected the messenger ship's station keeping and transponder equipment to fully sever it from the destroyer's grid.  For all intents and purposes, the ship no longer existed.    

85. If a disconnect warning had gone off on some remote console somewhere, it probably went unnoticed amid the myriad of close proximity warnings and every other indication that things weren't going right that day.    

86. To be safe, Onimex had already traced which consoles would receive a launch report, and disconnected the applicable warning systems.

87. The Theite saucers outside had thinned down to modest patrol formations.  Nothing like the frenzied swarms of weapon blasts that had seized control of the destroyer earlier.    

88. Onimex's next move would be the trickiest, because unlike machines, biologicals can make intuitive judgments and react intuitively to stimulus.

89. Onimex sent an unsecured message to flight operations that an Elite fighter was being tested for evidence of industrial espionage, so that additional charges could be brought against Dal El who was now in custody.  Naturally, who, on what planet, would object to that?

90. Without waiting for a reply, in hopes that his message would provoke the 'benefit of the doubt,' Onimex engaged interdimensional velocity before the ship was even clear of the utility bay hanger.  

91. At that point, all three of them stopped caring about anything.

92. Some idiot could have pushed the wrong button since it was an unfamiliar craft.

93. Certainly, any Theite saucer could outrun, overtake and destroy the craft...if the launch was unauthorized.    

94. Several Theite flight lieutenants powered up to pursue, intercept and fill-in-the-blank, but they needed flight ops to confirm the launch authorization first.

95. Onimex only hoped that the delay tactic would work. 

96. In Onimex's unsecured message, he listed Commander Usalah as the investigating pilot -- and Usalah was famous for testing new designs.  

97. The truth is: Usalah had been summoned for his technical expertise to resolve a discrepancy in a part of the Destroyer that did not exist.  

98. Usalah, who claimed that he could navigate the entire known Universe blind-folded, was not someone who would casually stop and ask for directions.  

98. Onimex needed 3 minutes without pursuers to become untraceable. 

99. It took 45 minutes to find Usalah, so Onimex's strategy worked.  

100. "You do know how to make an exit," Dal El said.

101. Ireana sensed Dal El's pride and relief right away.  His fondness for her had become genuine.

104. "I will implore the Master to decorate you highly for this unprecedented performance," Dal El said. 

105. Then he added gravely, "if He doesn't kill me for losing His ship first."

106. It was the first time that Ireana had ever 'thought' from an Elite perspective about anything.  The very notion that she was actually thinking like an Elite operative forced her to re-check her premises:  "I'm staying alive by following orders," she reassured herself.

107. "And doing a damn good job of it." Onimex injected.  Poor Onimex couldn't laugh, but his metaphors were right on. 

108.  Ireana checked for any trace of a Theite pursuit.  There was none.  They didn't know how long it would take to find Usalah. 

109.  "Vice Elite Dal El," Ireana said, noticing how proficient she was in her new role. "It appears that no enemy vessels are in pursuit. My authority terminates once I've defended my charge of all contingencies.  We may proceed to a location of your choice."

110. Dal El responded, "217 413 928."

111. As Ireana's right hand reached for the coordinate console, Onimex keyed the sequence in for her, to give the illusion that her psionic prowess was impressive under any circumstance. 

112. "I'm extremely impressed with your abilities," Dal El said.

113. Ireana returned a courteous nod but said nothing.

114. "You must have been an incredible find for Him." Dal El said to the forward window.  He was not soliciting a response.  "You are a well-trained masterpiece," he added in finis.

115. The vessel had only momentarily adjusted to the coordinates and proceeded for a minute when the asteroid collision warning activated.

116. An on-board computer automatically dodged dangerous debris.

117. The coordinates, which carteology withheld for security reasons, pointed to an uncharted area in the center of the belt.

118. The messenger ship was hailed from the destination source. "Vice Elite Dal El," came a hard voice, well practiced in cold formality, "The Master will meet you here shortly after your arrival."

119. Dal El only said, "Acknowledged," and sat back in his co-pilot's chair once the monitor went blank. He was staring out into space, clearly worried.

120. Ireana wondered if he even had a soul. "Don't think," Onimex reminded her, "Let me do the thinking."

121. "I have some unsettling news for you," Onimex said.  His warning alone was unsettling, because Ireana feared that Onimex was going to leave her.

122. "Please do not ask questions now," Onimex whispered, "I will answer them later, but Kor knows who I am.  He has already seen me several times and I have met myself at various points in time.  I can't explain the details now -- I have to get off of this ship."

123. Ireana continued to avoid shaping any thought of any kind into perceivable words: No sentences, no symbols, no shapes.

124. "You're getting very good at that," Onimex complimented her.  "You will be completely alone until Corlos determines when the right time is to evacuate you.  Do your absolute best to hold together and observe everything you can.  You won't need me once you're on the Elite outpost.  Kor has a way of upstaging everybody, including his covert agents, so just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be OK."

125. Ireana was internally petrified but knew that she had to accept the challenge.  'The Unknown' had always intrigued her and 'right now' was perhaps the most qualifying circumstance ever.

126. "You'll be OK," Onimex reassured her, "I've got to go now."

127. Onimex increased his dimensional rift so that he easily passed through the vessel's hull and into free space.