View source for Comm-Link:The Lost Generation - Issue 10

The airlock inside Nagia’s hummed as it began to pressurize. Tonya got a good look at wreckage of the other airlock, the one he tried to use to board the Beacon II.

The Beacon II … she looked out the small porthole to the two halves of her ship hanging in the void. She was going to have to start thinking about a Beacon III.

A panel by the inner airlock door pinged and slid open, revealing Nagia, a henchman and a pair of laser guns aimed at her.

“Ain’t this a joy,” Tonya said as she put her hands up. “I’m a little disappointed, Nagia, jump-stalking seems beneath even you.” The henchman slapped the cuffs on her without taking the suit off. She glanced over her shoulder at the henchman. “You mind switching my air supply over to the filter? Stuff ain’t cheap.”

The henchman glared at her for a moment.

“I don’t think you’re funny,” the henchman said finally. He dragged her to a chair and snagged her cuffs to a hook in the wall.

“Your guys don’t seem to like me too much,” Tonya replied to Nagia.

“Lem’s just enthusiastic.” Nagia slipped into the pilot’s chair and resumed control. “Turov wanted a word before we ghosted you.”

The henchman, Lem, kept his weapon charged and watched her.

Tonya settled back in the seat, trying to get comfortable. It was going to be a long flight.

The other thugs on Nagia’s payroll fell into a loose formation behind his ship on the way toward Kallis IX.

The system was buzzing with activity. Surveying teams and deep-orbit scan ships circled the eight other planets. Senzen Turov must have really been impressed by the primitive paintings on Oso to pull this many resources into the system. Tonya had no idea where Senzen could have gotten an orbital mining laser but there it was, surgically boring holes through the clouds of the small planet. She would love to see how Senzen could possibly explain this to any authorities who weren’t under his sway. Like Oso, this was a developing system and technically off-limits to any kind of surveying and mining activity. He must be counting on the fact that the discovery of the Artemis would make any politician happily look the other way.

Nagia dove through the atmosphere and emerged into a blizzard. The ship rocked as it sliced through tumultuous clouds. When they finally parted, giving the first glimpse on the planet’s surface, it was icy tundra as far as the eye could see. Along the horizon, cryovolcanoes pumped massive plumes of freezing magma into the air.

The ship began to descend, passing between conflicting wind patterns that even battered Nagia’s sturdy ship around like a toy. She could see small teams of miners were positioned at each of the holes burrowed into the ice from the laser. They set up scanner buoys on anti-grav beds and dropped them down the shafts.

“Any chance Senzen could come onboard to gloat? I hate the cold.”