Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 4
The ride to where they were going was only a few hours and kept them on the congested main roads, where their rented vehicle blended in easily. Jason breathed a sigh of relief when the tiny spaceport came into view and the groundcar automatically exited the main road and turned control back over to him so he could pilot them the rest of the way. The spaceport only had four large hangars, two of which were crammed full of smaller craft awaiting repair. One housed a private luxury courier ship when Jason had checked, and the last, the one he'd paid handsomely to have to himself, housed a highly modified Jepsen Aero DL7 heavy gunship. He and the ship had been together since he'd been mistakenly abducted from Earth years ago, and the pair had fought and bled together through impossible odds. While not an overly sentimental man, Jason felt a tangible, familial connection to the machine.
"Looks like we actually weren't tracked," Crusher grunted as Jason rolled through a side door into the hangar. "Those guards will be awake by now and looking for their principle."
"This twerp can't afford the type of security that would have been able to handle an abduction like that," Jason said. "We'll be off-planet and the hell away from here before they ever get around to tracking this vehicle."
Jason parked the groundcar near north wall and hopped out, helping Crusher with the now-wriggling alien they'd bagged and tagged a few hours earlier. Crusher slammed him into the chair they already had prepped under the Phoenix's left wing, secured the straps to hold him in place, and then ripped the bag off his head.
"Who are you?! I'll pay double if—" He never finished as Jason slapped him sharply across the face, enough to get him to stop blubbering but not enough to hurt him.
"Shut up and listen," he said. "The abduction was actually for your benefit, believe it or not, and if you cooperate, this will be the worst thing that happens to you. Understand?"
"How is this a benefit to me?"
"Because, Master Noryant, if the smuggling cartels think you just handed over what we wanted without putting up any fight, they'll be sure to kill you in a slow, excruciating manner," Crusher said, leaning in and menacing the cowering alien.
"Cartels?" Noryant's strategy was apparently going to be to play dumb.
"We don't have a lot of time for games," Jason said. "We can pretend to torture you and let you loose, or we can actually torture you. Either way, I will get what I want. About four months ago, you authorized the sale of over four hundred and fifty thousand units of refined, reactor-grade hydrogen. The sale wasn't approved by the usual authorities, and you were the one who signed off on the exception. I want to know who picked up the fuel load."
"I have no idea what you're talking about! My job is to—"
"Captain! Just picked up some chatter that we have inbound aircraft converging on our position. They're not military or local law enforcement," Kage shouted from the open ramp of the gunship. "Did you check the target for a tracker like I showed you?" Jason and Crusher just looked at each other. They'd patted Noryant down and put his two com units in a shielded case, but they had forgotten to do the body scan like Kage had suggested.
"Looks like you get to go for a little ride, Noryant," Jason said. "We'll drop you off somewhere you can catch a ride back from. Unless you have something to give me?"
"You can't take me with you! They'll kill me on sight!"
"Who? Who will kill you?" Crusher said. Jason looked over to Kage, and the Veran was making the hurry up signal with his two smaller arms.
"We don't have time, just grab him," Jason said. Crusher picked up Noryant, still strapped the chair, and ran across the hangar floor even as the dull throb of the Phoenix's engines going into pre-start made the walls rattle.
"Please! Please don't do this!"
"Shut up!" Jason barked. "I gave you a fair chance, now you'll have to deal with your customers. Crusher, strap him down here in the cargo bay and get to the bridge. We have to get out of here, now!"
Noryant was in a complete panic, both his hearts hammering away as he tried to make sense of what was happening to him. The terrifying monster that had grabbed him slammed the chair down on the deck of the ship's cargo bay and secured the straps to the tie-downs. He leaned down and smiled evilly, growling softly.
"I promise that, if we're about to be boarded, we'll jettison you into space before we let them take you alive," the monster said before shoving the hood back down over his head. As the monster clomped away, Noryant realized he had forgotten to turn on the active sensory dampeners, and he could hear what was happening around him.
He heard and felt the engines of the ship run up and felt the deck rumble as it rolled out of the hangar. There was a sharp jolt as it took off, and then he could feel nothing but the vibrations of the ship in flight, unable to see what was happening outside.
This went on for what felt like half a cycle at least but, in his agitated state, was probably only a handful of millicycles. He was just beginning to calm down when there was a horrific banging on the hull, some faint screaming from the crew from somewhere in the ship, and the smell of