The mission was a simple find and illuminate. The subject was a psychic who had taken the mantel of Sun Speaker. It was the head position of the Church of Sol, one of the largest religions in the Galaxy. Normally the Sun Speaker would stay on Venus in the grand temple but this one was a rebel who thought he knew better than a few thousand years of tradition.
According to the briefing, he’d recently managed to blow up a part of the Venusian royal family’s mother ship, and was suspected of kidnapping the Martian infant king. There had been civil war for the past year that the infant was missing. Mars, her home planet, was in shambles. The target had just recently separated from two of his ruffian bodyguards and their intel said that he’d be alone hiding.
While on the Venusian Mother Ship, he’d been tagged with a tracer and her ship was programmed to follow. For the millionth time she thanked the creators of the automatic piloting systems. The calculations for jumping inside the solar system were so complicated only a few geniuses and the Psionic Clans could pilot them properly over long distances. If and when she needed to disable a ship she’d pull out the AI and the piloting systems.
It was odd that the information didn’t include a picture. She had no idea what he looked like, but he had to be the only one on the ship. Her instruments told her he was hiding in orbit of Ceres. It would take a little under a half hour for her to get there. Plenty of time for a power nap.
With the guidance computer taking care of the flying she lay back in the only pilot seat and dozed off.
She wasn’t sleeping long when the ship said, “You have arrived at your destination.” The ship’s voice was male with a deep rich tone and a Mercurian accent. She usually preferred a female voice in her ship; it felt more natural, but this was a nice way to wake up.
The ship hadn’t woken her up early enough and was just above the target’s ship. The Sun Speaker’s ship was an interesting mix of old and new parts. It had obviously seen more action than it had been designed for. Her sensors said that it was running cold, which meant all systems were off except life support. If she hadn’t had the exact coordinates she’d never have found it.
She snorted as she saw the name of the ship painted in bright yellow along the hull. It looked like it had been painted by a child.
She landed her ship on a nearby asteroid and attached her helmet. Another great feature of the suit was its ability to double as a space suit.
Once she left the ship she couldn’t see it anymore on the asteroid its stealth mode was impressive. She used the small navigational thrusters on her suit and made her way to his ship. She landed gently onto the airlock and took a small device and placed it on the airlock. The device hacked his ship and made it turn off all alarms and open the first airlock door.
Once inside she left her helmet next to the porthole and stealthily moved towards the crew cabins. There was only one heat signature on the ship and it had to be the Sun-Speaker.
His quarters were open and she moved towards him. He was lying shirtless on the bed with his back facing the door. He was surprisingly well toned for a clergyman. If he wasn’t asleep and had been armed he might have offered a challenge, as it was he’d be dead quickly.
As she entered the room he spoke, “Hello Helena, or can I call you Suzie?” His voice sounded tired. She’d been in enough hospitals to recognize the sound of someone who was weak and sick.
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