Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 12

Qazvi was the first to stand and leave, moving smoothly through the crowd and disappearing into the bustle of the wide outdoor concourse. Jason stood, gave Kage a sharp kick for the last insult, and walked out before the coughing Veran could get to his feet. In a seedy part of town outside a small spaceport like this one, a little mild violence didn't keep people's interest for long. Jason hadn't even made it off the café's patio before he was back to being completely ignored.

He heard Crusher make some stir as he came clomping out into the crowd but didn't turn to look. His mind was on the unlikely coincidence that their target just happened to find Kage in the first place he started looking, ambushing him easily. Jason knew his code slicer was one in ten million when it came to covering his tracks, infiltrating networks without being seen, and generally being a sneaky little bastard. Either his guy had been uncharacteristically clumsy coming in or this was a setup they were all about to walk into. He touched his right ear lobe to activate the ear piece embedded there, opening a two-way channel to the Phoenix.

"Doc, get with Mok's people and see if they have an image or description of an intelligence operative that when under the name Qazvi Ba. I need it ASAP."

"This will tip off Mok that we've taken a little side detour," Doc said.

"Can't be helped. Get on it, you're wasting time talking."

By the time he took a circuitous route to the rally point, he saw that Crusher and Qazvi were already there, standing near each other but not interacting or even acknowledging the other. Jason walked over to lean against a railing on the opposite side of the walkway and waited for Kage to show up. It was nearly ten minutes later when an angry little Veran, still rubbing his throat and lower back, walked through without looking at any of them.

Jason stood up and followed behind at a discreet distance, not looking behind him but assuming Crusher would take up position behind their new friend to make sure she didn't try anything. He saw a subtle shift in the foot traffic around him and sensed that something was wrong. Nobody was looking at them, and from the direction they seemed to be going, and the furtive looks being cast behind them, there was something up ahead that had people spooked. Unfortunately, that happened to be the direction Jason needed to go to get back to his ship.

"Captain, Mok's consigliere, that weird guy named Similan, he sent an image of the only match in their database for the name you gave us," Kage's voice broke in over the open channel. "Sending it to your com unit."

Jason pulled out the device and looked at the grainy picture of a being about the same proportions as the Eshquarian woman behind him. Unfortunately, the image had been captured in infrared so it was difficult for him to make out the details for a direct comparison.

"Cas, want to give me a hand with this?" he asked.

Given the poor quality of the image, I can only match it to the person behind us to a probability of seventy-four percent. However, the image was taken while the subject was in midstride, and after observing Qazvi walk, it looks like they could have the same gait.

"Thanks, that'll have to do," Jason said and touched the earpiece again. "Doc, we're coming in plus one. She's not technically a prisoner but make sure the Phoenix is ready for a passenger who needs to be watched constantly."

"Copy, Captain," Doc said. "Just so you know, a ConFed shuttle landed near the terminal a little bit ago and dropped off troops. We didn't see which way they went."

Just as Doc was telling him this, he rounded the last corner to get back to the main drag that led to the starport. Standing in the road, apparently waiting for someone, were twelve ConFed shock troops in crowd control armor and carrying plasma rifles. When they saw him come around the corner, he could see they weren't waiting specifically for him but, instead, were checking everyone trying to get back into the terminal.

"Shit," he muttered. "I found them."

The ConFed troops were in a loose formation, blocking the concourse entrance to the spaceport terminal while local law enforcement seemed to be randomly stopping citizens and questioning them. Jason noticed right away that all of those stopped were Eshquarian females. The locals would pull them aside, ask a couple questions, and then send them along. So, they knew they were looking for an Eshquarian female, not at all a rarity on V'pal given their previous status as an Imperial vassal world, but they didn't have an exact description of what Qazvi Ba looked like.

"You! Let's go, move along," one of the ConFed troops pointed to Jason and motioned for him to pass the security line. He was hustled back behind the shock troopers after a brief ident scan. The credentials he gave told the scanner he was the pilot of a small, privately owned freighter called the Sparrow, the same name the Phoenix was currently flying under.

Jason walked through, and then slipped into a small gap between the spaceport's security wall and the beginning of the concourse buildings. He waited as Kage also was waved through the line and Qazvi was stopped. He watched as she argued with the local agent, drawing the attention of the ConFed troops and causing them to ignore the small Veran negligently tossing a handful of something that scattered when it hit the ground, most of it making its way to where a trooper stood before Jason lost track of them.

Qazvi seemed to be making some headway in pleading her case, but then one of the troopers saw Crusher coming right towards them and all hell broke loose. In Crusher's defense, he had been trying to