Break Out - By Nina Croft Page 0,27
there are no guards.”
“They don’t need guards,” Rico said.
“Actually,” Tannis said, “they have guards on the outer perimeter, but not in the high-security section where your brother is being kept.”
Skylar frowned. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“Yes it does. The high-security section doesn’t need guards because the prisoners are all kept in cryo. Not much chance for a breakout when you’re unconscious.”
“What about breaking in?”
“Not much chance of that, either. The main problem is the planet itself. It’s part of the Trakis system and close to the mines, but it’s also almost impossible to approach.” Tannis switched on the main screen, and a group of planets appeared, revolving in a complicated pattern of orbits around a number of suns. Skylar recognized them as the Trakis system—pretty much the center of the universe since Meridian had been discovered on Trakis Seven. Tannis narrowed the field until the image zoomed in on a single planet, circling a black star—Trakis One.
“There, you see—” Tannis stood up and pointed. “Trakis One is actually on an elliptical orbit around a black hole. Under normal circumstances a ship can’t get close.” She paced the room for a moment before coming to a halt in front of the screen. “Try and land at the wrong time and chances are you’ll be sucked into that thing, never to be seen again. They don’t even keep a ship on the planet. No point—even if there was some sort of disaster, they couldn’t evacuate because of the black hole.”
“So how do deliveries get made?” Rico asked.
“Very infrequently.”
Skylar studied the planet, watching the orbit closely. “My guess is that they coincide deliveries with shipping inmates in and out, when the single moon is aligned with the black hole. You could probably slip past without being sucked in.”
“Probably?” Rico asked, and he didn’t sound convinced.
“Well they must do it somehow,” Tannis said. “And if they can, we can. After all, we have the best goddamn pilot in the universe.” She grinned at Rico. “Or so he keeps telling us. Time we saw some proof.”
“Do we know when the next alignment is due to happen?” Skylar asked.
“Well, if your brother is scheduled to be shipped out in five days’ time then that would seem to be a good bet—they can’t ship him out if the ship can’t get to him.”
“So we go in ourselves, get Jonny, and we’re out of there before they even arrive.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” Tannis sat back down and took a sip of her drink.
Beside her, Rico shifted restlessly. “Are you going to tell us why?”
“I am. The radiation levels on Trakis One are off the scale. The Cazador would fry on entry into their atmosphere. They use special ships that are shielded. There’s also a matter of getting into the prison once we’re down. My guess is it will be top-of-the-range DNA recognition.”
“There’s a lot of guessing going on here,” Rico said. “So we’ll need the real guards.”
“Yup. Or at least bits of them.”
Skylar shrugged. “We hijack the transport ship, then.”
“Looks like the only way.”
Skylar thought about it for a minute. They might have to take out the crew. She didn’t like the idea of any unnecessary deaths, but it was a risk she would have to take. This job was the highest priority—her boss had told her in no uncertain terms that failure was not an option. Anyway, with luck, the crew of the transport ship would see sense and surrender. Or they could stun them and lock them up. “Okay, sounds like a plan. When do we do it?”
“I’d say we wait until the ship is as close to Trakis One as we can make it,” Rico said. “The security is going to be high, and the less time we have on board, the less chance we have of breaking one of the protocols. Any clue where the ship comes from?”
Tannis studied her palm screen for a moment. “Trakis Five.”
“That’s a two-day trip.”
“And a two-day trip from here. Fits in well. We can intercept them.” Tannis stared at the screen, a frown marring her face. “Almost too well.” She shrugged. “I’m going to see if I can’t scrounge up some more intel on the transport ship. Find out crew numbers and so on and get Janey working on breaking the codes. I reckon we’re going to need some pretty hefty bribes. I’ll leave you two to—”she paused and shrugged again. “—whatever.”
Skylar jumped to her feet. “I’ll come with you.”
“No,” Tannis replied with