“You’ll be in Garmman airspace,” Voa said. “So try not to be scooped up by the Garmman while you’re there.”
“Got it.” Rial seemed even more excited than he had been. Favri tried to look neutral, but Hal knew her too well, and he could see she was thrilled as well.
The two jogged away and Yiko reversed the pod back so that it acted as a marker, no longer bashing itself up against whatever was in front of them, but instead hanging in place.
Eventually Rial and Favri came into view. Each was gripping the handles of a tiny propulsion vessel that pulled them forward.
They slowed when they reached the maintenance pod and then floated to a stop.
Protocol meant they were clipped to their propeller by a line for safety, and Favri let go of her handlebars and pushed herself over the little vessel, her safety line spooling out. She seemed to touch something in front of her.
“Report,” Hal said.
“It’s metal,” Favri said. “And now I’m right next to it, it looks like an ultra-reflective surface, but it isn’t reflecting me.”
“There’s a tiny camera here.” Rial had pushed away from his propeller as well, and he switched on his lens feed. “It could be the surface is a massive screen and they’re projecting whatever the camera is capturing onto it. He bent his helmeted head overthe camera, and suddenly his head appeared as if floating in thin air between himself and Favri.
“Okay, that’s actually super low tech, but exceptionally effective.” Yiko stood and got closer to the big screen.
“Go around it, see how big it is, and whether we can tow it over to our side,” Hal said.
Chel looked at him, shocked. And then smiled. “I like it.”
They waited while Rial went left and Favri went right.
Voa split the screen, showing their lens feed side by side until they met up again.
“It’s roughly rectangular,” Favri said. “About the size of a large runner.”
“Whereas it’s reading like a full sized battleship on our scanners,” Chel said. “And our scanners say there’s four of them.”
“Maybe there are four runners,” Gerbardi said. “The maintenance pod just bumped into one of them.”
“Maybe.” Hal thought it was probably likely. “For now, let’s concentrate on the one in front of us. A large runner is easy to tow. We’ll send out a magnetic hitch.” He turned to Yiko and she nodded.
“I’ll need at least three people to pilot it across,” she said.
Chel murmured into his earpiece and Yiko made her way down to engineering.
“Something’s coming toward our position from the Garmman side, and they’re coming fast.” Voa pushed herself away from her console, hands on the desk in front of her as she turned to look at Hal.
“Rial. Favri. Get to the front of the vessel. We’ve got company.” Hal kept his voice calm, although his pulse sped up. “Time until contact?” he called.
“Fifteen minutes,” Voa said.
“Tell Yiko we’re moving into Garmman airspace right in front of where Rial and Favri are waiting. Hitch that runner directly into the launch bay.” Hal did not want to lose this opportunity.
“Noted.” Chel lowered his voice as he talked to Yiko, but Hal could hear the suppressed urgency in his voice.
He moved the ship over the boundary, until Rial and Favri vanished from visual sight, although the screen still showed their lens feed.
“Get back in,” Hal instructed them. “Let Yiko’s crew grab the runner.”
“Time until contact is seven minutes,” Voa said as the screen showed Favri and Rial back inside the launch bay.
Gerbardi switched across to Yiko’s team, who were securing the invisible runner with the magnetic hitch.
“Pull it in,” Chel ordered. “Fast as you can.”
