Anarchy

Missing in Action

Bane stared at the console, his silver eyes taking on a dark red ring as he scanned over the information Jagger sent him. Since saving Azrael, the crew hadn’t really heard from their informant. Knowing something was wrong, Bane started looking at the recent messages sent between them.

Axel was perched on a stool, his taloned hands calmly and methodically digging through anything he could find. His feathers flickered through shades of brown, his beak chittering anxiously as he opened another secured transmission.

Then he found it. The one that changed everything.

“Bane, I got something,” Axel said as the door slid open and Talis walked in. “There are several trigger sentences in this one. The first is that he’s got to ‘visit his sister’ in the Ta-Rune sector.”

“Jag doesn’t have a sister.”

Axel nodded, “I know. That phrase means he’s on the run. The next one is ‘did you ever find the hard drive?’. That means he left something behind for us to find, but the one right after it tells us not to go to his last known location: ‘planning a trip, so I won’t be home for a while’. Then there’s ‘ran into an old friend. Staying at the worst hotel in the galaxy’.”

‘Damn,’ Bane thought, dragging a clawed, scaled hand over his face. “Which means we are down an informant.”

“What’s happening?” Talis asked as he walked in, pushing his flowing robes behind him before sitting in the open chair. His hands were closed around his data pad, his violet eyes scanning medical journals. He glanced up at the digital wall clock, scowling. “I would have thought they would have contacted us with an update by now.”

“They went to a few places where Novidia and Tryk are known criminals. If anything, they are staying under the radar just enough to keep the heat off all of our asses,” Bane replied, his forked reptilian tongue flicking in frustration. Keying a sequence into the central system, he pulled up the video feed for the virtual training room.

The screen cleared, and he could see Valiant drying off after his workout. “I need you in the command center, Val. We got a problem.”

“On my way, Cap,” the bulkier Concloian answered, casually throwing the towel over the naturally armoured scales of his shoulder. “What are we dealing with?”

Letting out a breath, Bane shook his head. “Jag is missing and presumed caught by enforcement. Talis is starting to worry about his girls, and I need to know my baby brother is still breathing.”

“On it. Running scans and prepping my freighter now. Where do you need me first?” Valiant asked, his eyes taking on a golden glow. “Sha doesn’t leave you without a message every half hour. How long have they been gone?”

“Two, almost three hours.”

“Okay, so who is doing what?” Valient asked. He shifted forms, running a humanoid hand through his green hair. Transferring the call to his wrist com, he reappeared on the screen in the command center. “Well?”

“Axel and I will stay and figure out what’s happening with Jag. You and Talis can go to do a sensory run just to make sure,” Bane said.

Talis barked a laugh, his crystalline form shimmering under the buzzing overhead lights. “You forget that they have Azrael? She will see danger before it happens, and therefore can assist in defending them.”

As if speaking her name was enough, Talis’s wrist com blinked rapidly. Answering the incoming call, he smiled when he realized it wasn’t Azrael, but Solara using the young woman’s com.

“Hi! Hi! We are going to get clothes now! Tryk bought me some really good snacks from the garden, um,” she looked off screen, her eyes focusing on someone else for a moment. “What was it called?”

“Gaia colony.” Misha answered, his tone light with humour.

“Right, Gaia. And I got to play on the um, um… oh! On the Nyx colony! There were other kids and Novi was watching over me so Aza and the others could shop.”

The Katzenfurg laughed in the background, hissing slightly as something banged. “Damn you, Tryk!”

“Hey, no cussing in front of the kid.” The response sent the crew on the frigate into a bout of laughter.

Bane breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes going back to the solemn silver they always were. Tapping out a few commands, he looked at Axel. “Anything?”

His feathers turning a sickly shade, the Avian turned to the captain. “Jag got caught by enforcers. I found the encryption key, and traced it through the usual. He’s being temporarily held on the Prophesy, which is en route to the Tiberius station.”

Talis leaned forward, his eyes darkening to a deep, royal purple. “Tiberius is the primary galactic prison. He’s nothing more than an informant, correct?”

“He’s part of the Anarchy family,” Bane answered.

Raising a brow, Talis smiled. “Gentlemen, please, a moment of your time.”

The door hissed open, admitting Valient into the room. “I have never seen you so angry, Doctor.”’

“Enforcers are overreaching in their authority, are they not?” the crystalline male said, his voice so calm it sent shivers of fear through the other three males. “Then, as a collective, should we not apply the values of Anarchy and steal their newest prisoner from them?”

The room and the com fell into an ominous silence as Misha came across the holographic screen. “What was that? Jag’s missing?”

Bane nodded. “You stay with the crew members on the frigate. Me and the others will handle getting Jagger back.”

His hearts aching as he noted how his brother looked over his shoulder at their friends, Bane winced.

Misha scowled, his eyes narrowing. “Bane? Are you really considering the suggestion Talis just put forth?”

“I am.”

“That’s insanity! You’ll get caught!”

Axel snickered, holding up one feathered arm. In his taloned hand was a small black box. “Got that covered. The new cloaking mechanism is finished. No better time to test it.”

“Misha?” Azrael called from the background. “Let them. Their mission will succeed, but they need to hurry. Your friend isn’t going to make it to Tiberius alive.”

Bursting to his feet, Talis snarled. “What was it you saw, child?”

Silence reigned for a few moments until she spoke again. Her voice was distant, monotonous. Like she was talking through a tunnel. “A gunmetal gray ship with a beacon. I can feel someone calling out for help. He’s not in a cell. He’s in some kind of chamber tied to a wall and bloody.”

“Take your time,” Trykerius commented from the pilot’s chair. “No rush, Azrael.”

She blinked, her eyes swirling blue and green, the colours chasing each other in a spiral. “He’s pushing the thoughts, calling for help mentally so that none of the ship’s crew hear him. There’s an official there, dark blue uniform trimmed in gold. There’s a… some kind of badge with a symbol. An image of a crown on a nebula.”

“That’s my second eldest brother, Cesar,” Trykerius muttered. “Bane, he can’t fight, but he’s got armed guards everywhere. He’s a political centerpiece while my other brother tells him where to find certain people to up their arrest counts.”

Bane raised a brow. “Any aversion to his death if it came to it?”

“None, Boss.”

“Very well,” the Concloian captain replied. “Misha, you are in charge of ensuring the safety of our crew. I’m going along with Talis’s plan. If they want to take one of us, they need to face the entirety of the revolution. We protect our own no matter what.”

Wincing again, Misha’s scowl deepened. “Val, please, I’m begging you to guard my big brother.”

“With my life, Sha,” Valiant declared, slamming a fully charged clip into his blaster before reaching for his plasma blade. The others were moving, gathering Teflon suits and gear that would help during the mission. “He’s not heading into this alone, I promise. You have, at minimum, two crewmates who need protecting, so stay with them.”

His scales flickering, Misha nodded.

As the call was cut, Bane continued staring at the fading image of his little brother. “Don’t worry. I’m coming home to you.”

“I’ll be there to make sure that promise is kept,” Talis said, shrugging out of his normal clothing and into a suit specifically designed for him. “A fine time to get my field medic skills up to par.”

An hour later, standing on the bridge of the Anarchy, the four males looked out the viewport at the massive prison ship known as Prophesy. Bane growled, shifting seamlessly into his Concloian form, his tail lashing at the floor while his eyes blazed red.

Beside him, armed with only his protective gear, Axel pulled on his custom helmet and set the seal. “Ready.”

“Go do your thing,” Bane said in a gravelly growl.

Minutes after the small craft left the Anarchy’s carrier, Axel turned on the polarized shields. Now blocked from detection, the Avian steadily fired several shots off, but these were not penetrating bullets.

They were tiny detonators that would tear the ship apart in nanoseconds. The collapse would leave them scrambling, but that was not the primary issue.

Turning to Talis, Valiant grinned darkly. “This proves it. You were meant to join our family, Dar.”

“Yes, well, I can hardly stand by while good people are destroyed for political gain,” the doctor said as he went to the small med bay. “Hm. This will do, I suppose.”

Axel returned, docking his small fighter before sealing the hatch. “Charges are set and timer is ready to run. The moment you tell me you have him, I’m setting them off one by one.”

“Good. Valiant, with me,” Bane called, snapping his own helmet in place. Not to breathe atmosphere, but to disguise himself from the enforcement soldiers.

“Right behind you, Captain.”