body to make their climates and landscapes extremely dry, but not uninhabitable. The Zone was surrounded by Kalfa, Sen, Thracia, and Ceyx; with stargates in each direction to provide fast and easy access from it to those galaxies, especially with certain planetary alignments and their various speeds: sublight, starlight, and starburst. Soon, she fretted, she'd reach Noy again.
After the journey was over and she was back aboard her ship. Cypher summoned Starla from her sleeping quarters to respond to an undetectable communication link with Thaine Sanger, Star Fleet Commander and head of Maffei's undercover Elite Squad, and son of her parents' best fiiends.
She addressed her superior who had assigned her to this mission, "Lieutenant Bree-Kayah Saar responding, sir."
"Bree-Kayah, I wanted to warn you that somebody scanned Starla Vedris's record and requested data on Yana of Asisa. That cue I inserted in the program alerted me to the probes. The origin point was untraceable, so whoever did it has inside knowledge and sophisticated equipment. Do you have any speculations about the intruder's identity and motive?"
"No, sir. I doubt it was Dagan Latu because he doesn't have access to communications. Too, I'm sure he was searched by Tochar after his arrival, so he couldn't have brought a device with him." She assumed he had gotten the recorder from one of the traders who was selling stolen goods in the colony. "The only explanation that comes to mind is that Tochar is doing a second scrutiny because he saw the two of us with Dagan. Perhaps Tochar wanted to make certain there were no connections between us."
"You've already used your Yana identity to approach Lam?"
"I was hoping she might learn things Starla couldn't, but
I didn't extract any useful information during my first attempt."
"Anything else to report?"
She told him about the recent raid and how it was accomplished using I-GAFqt disguises and knowledge of Seri's secret communications frequency and watchword. She told him about the concealed flight recorder's fate and about a possible raid on the Sion space station.
"I'll warn Raz Yakir to change his communications frequency and code word. I'll suggest he make a list of people who knev/ about the installation of that recorder and beacon, and to watch them carefully for clues of guilt. As to the Sion raid I hope that succeeds; if Tochar gets his ship repaired, he might be tempted to take a voyage in her. If he does, we could lay a trap for him. You couldn't warn us about his trek if he takes you along, but Cypher can while he's cloaked and tracking you. If we got our hands on that fiendal, we could replace him with a lookalike cyborg and take control of Tochara's defense system and finalize this mission fast. I wish I could contact Autcrie Zeev of Kalfa or the head of I-GAF to make certain a raid on Sion would work, but I can't risk them learning we have an agent inside Tochar's band because we don't know who or where the traitors are."
"I hadn't thought about entrapping Tochar away from Noy, but that seems a good plan. I'll keep you informed on that angle. Who knows, maybe Dagan Latu will help us without knowing it? I agree with not telling the Kalfan ruler about my presence; we know Tochar has at least one contact there, somebody important and trusted." She revealed everything else she had learned since their last talk, observations and facts that would be disclosed to Yakir. "The mission is progressing, but slowly."
"Don't get discouraged or take any risks," Thaine Sanger coaxed, "you're doing fine. At least we know more about Tochar and his settlement than we did before your arrival.
You're getting closer to them and victory every weg. Be wary of Latu; he's cunning and dangerous, and obviously out to stick himself snugly to Tochar for profit and sanctuary."
"I'll be careful," Starla promised, "if you learn anything else about him, send it to me. I don't want any unknown factors thwarting me. Now, tell me, how is my family?"
"Doing fine, just worried about you. I'll assure them you're safe and doing a superb job. I'm very proud of you, Bree-Kayah."
"Thank you. Anything important happening there?"
"Not at the present. But I don't want to imagine the troubles we'll face if Tochar continues to get his hands on moonbeams. As with every galaxy in existence, Maffei would be utterly helpless to repel his attacks and to protect itself Yakir wishes he had never allowed those weapons to be invented and constructed, and he's distressed about them falling into enemy hands. He had no intention of ever using them against anyone; he just wanted to know the crystals full potential so he could guard against something like this happening."
"I like and respect Raz Yakir; he's a good man and superior ruler The Tri-Galaxy Alliance was fortunate when Seri and Kalfa decided to unite with Maffei, Androas, and Pyropea. It would be frightening to know those two galaxies possess such formidable crystals if we weren't allies. It must be a terrible burden for him and Autorie Zeev to be responsible for controlling such awesome power, to have the Microcosm's fate in their hands."
"There have been times in the past when the fates of Maffei and the Tri-Galaxy rested in our fathers' hands, and in your mother's during that viral sabotage. I haven't forgotten the things your sister and her mate and Galen's mate did to save Maffei from our enemies' treacheries, and how our fathers saved your mother's home planet from destruction. Many of Star Fleet's best officers have come from
your family and bloodline, including our past ruler. No kadim can ever be as wise and revered as your great-grandfather was. I hope Galen and I are as skilled and worthy of our ranks as our fathers were, as you are, Bree-Kayah. Well, we'd better sign off. The longer we stay in touch, the riskier it is for some unknown type of technology to detect our signal."
Thaine's reflections made Starla homesick for her family and friends, but sent a flood of pride in their accomplishments flowing through her. Her superior and her brother had been best friends since childhood and had carried out many crucial missions together. She had known Thaine and his family since her birth, twenty-six yings after her twin siblings were bom to Supreme Commander Varian Saar of Maflfei and scientist Jana Greyson Saar of Earth. "Tell Father and Mother and the others I love them and miss them. I promise, Thaine, I'll do everything I can to defeat Tochar and to recover or destroy the moonbeams in his possession. Bree-Kayah out."
"Watch your back, Bree," the close friend in him advised. "I want to bring you home alive and safe. Supreme Commander Sanger out."
As Starla deliberated the conversation and discussed matters with Cypher, another communication was received. This time, it was from Tochar, an astonishing message to which she would react tomorrow.
^'
LUE
After finishing her talk with Tochar, Starla asked Cypher's input on the special and secret task Tochar wanted her to help the others carry out the next day. "Why would he signal me so late?" she questioned the android, "If we're not going on another raid or leaving Noy, what could it be?"
"There is insufficient data to theorize the possibilities."
"I'll have to come up with a program to teach you to use gut instincts for making guesses," she teased. "Of course, intuition can be wrong, so perhaps it's best to base decisions on facts."
"It is rare for your perceptions to be wrong; in all instances when you made an error, it was not a serious or incorrectable one."
If only Antarus had listened to me that fated deega, he would be alive now. At least our mission was achieved and he was awarded a posthumous commendation. If he had survived, would I have fallen in love with him and become his mate? I think not. She took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Where do your thoughts and feelings travel, Bree-Kayah?"
She looked at Cypher. "Into the distant past with Antarus where they do not belong. Thank you for your confidence in me and my abilities. I would be lost without you at my side, dear friend."
"Even if I were not programed to serve and guard you, you have earned trust and loyalty."
"What a wonderful thing to say, Cypher. Now, back to our mystery: I think Tochar's plan has something to do with buyers for the moonbeams we've stolen so far, at least for part of them. Obviously he doesn't want to involve his Enforcers and wants to keep them unaware of the crystals' power and value, so he needs his special team either to go with him or to carry out the sale and delivery. He wouldn't meet with them in Tochara and risk being seen together by the wrong person. That indicates a probable rendezvous point in the desert. Do you have the device ready that Raz Yakir told you how to construct?"
"I completed it before I summoned you to speak with your superior." He lifted the tiny square and said, "I assembled it with the frequency Raz Yakir supplied. His theory of destablatory electromagnetic pulsations is rational, but there are no means by which to test the unit's prime function."
Starla was glad Cypher had many scientific and technological chips within his advanced system and had access to numerous others in several computer networks' data bases. "If it works as Yakir's inventors say it will, all I have to do is get close enough to those moonbeam crates to attach it without getting caught. Do you believe the sound waves it emits can agitate the crystals' internal power source and cause them to shatter into particles too minute to be of use to Tochar? I don't understand the full concept, but it sounds as if it's some type of implosive sequence." Starla was glad Cypher always tried to explain things to her in a comprehensible way.
"That is what Raz Yakir's report said it would do."
"But I thought moonbeams were infrangible."
"Nothing is indestructible. For every force in nature, there exists a counterforce if it can be found and mastered by thought and action." His control center told him to clar-
ify his meaning in simple language. "Only a blue crystal can be cut by manmade instruments and only a blue crystal can penetrate the other crystals' surfaces, but all crystals appear to have the same internal structure and power source, heart, as you humans would say. The color of its covering, its skin, alters or decides its capability. Their entire complexities, composition, and potentials are still unknown."
"Perhaps the Serians and Kalfans have stumbled upon the portal to doom's deega and unleashed the evil beyond it, because an intergalactic war with such awesome weapons would be catastrophic."
"If such a doorway exists, we will close and seal it again."
"How does one halt a solar storm after it begins and recall a laser's beam once it has been fired? It is the same with the crystals' power. It has been revealed and loosened upon a weaker mankind."
The android analyzed her words and grasped her meaning. "One who is intelligent, strong, brave, and agile can evade both forces. We will find a way to defeat your enemies and destroy their threat."
"If that device works, Cypher, why can't they create a larger unit with the same frequency band and aim it at those Destructoids? "
"Distance between the apparatus and its target would prevent success. Raz Yakir's communication stated it must be within a certain range to work."
"If I were allowed inside the defense sites, I could plant units there, but Tochar is too careful to imperil his treasures. As long as those weapons guard Tochara, an attack by our forces is impossible. Yet, the more raids we make, the more I help him to get stronger. Why can't the Serians and Kalfans halt shipment of those blasted crystals until Tochar is defeated, or at least increase their security and protection?"
"It is too late for research to be halted and it must be done in isolation," the android explained patiently. "To use
a show of force would draw attention to the transportation vessels and a valuable cargo; that would provoke bolder attacks by larger pirate bands. If raids are prevented, no clues are released and gathered; the identities of the traitors could not be discovered. Tochar would wait in safety on Noy until shipments were resumed. If Tochar is prevented access to all crystals, he could be tempted to attack to obtain them; if accomplished, there would be no defense against it."
Those were frustrating points Starla knew well, but reasoning aloud with an analytical Cypher often helped elicit new ideas which might prove helpful. "Your list of reasons is grim but accurate." She took a deep breath. "It's a shame the Serians and Kalfans can't construct large devices and shatter the crystals in their possessions to prevent enemies from obtaining them, and seal those mines forever. That would prevent a threat like this from ever occurring again."
"Is it logical to destroy the good to destroy the bad? Remember what the other crystals will do to help mankind."
"You're right; if mining continues, they can't control what types and sizes of moonbeams they locate. Still, the hazards of having such powers are enormous. Besides, if the mines were sealed, only Tochar would own Destructoids. Now, others must be built for a balance of power, if more large white crystals are found. Let's pray that little device works and slows Tochar's evil."
"I did as you ordered. I attached an adhesive circle for concealing it underneath a crate and disguised it as a metallic disk for your belt. It is ready for use."
"I'll take it with me tomorrow in case my speculation is accurate. This might be the only chance I have to get close to those crystals. Attach it to my belt while I'm sleeping, if I can sleep tonight."
"Take a Calmer if necessary; rest and renewed energy are needed."
"Don't follow us tomorrow, but keep us monitored and record the incident. We don't want to take more risks than necessary with our trick when you leave orbit to shadow me. I'm afraid somebody might discover we're using a hologram and fake signal and your absence would be revealed. If its auto-pilot or image maker malfunctioned, we would be exposed."
"I am programed to protect and assist you," Cypher reminded her. "I can not accomplish that order from a great distance."
"I know, and I'll be extra careful. Even if it seems I am in danger, do not interfere unless I signal you to help or rescue me. I don't want Tochar or the others to grasp the full extent of your capabilities or your constant observations. Victory is contingent upon duping them."