Free OMEGA Exile by Stephen Arseneault

lifted. Word from the nav officer soon came, and I moved the Daunte across the deck and through the gravity wall into free space.
    The Igari seemed to have no issue with my leaving. I suspected they desired that I carry the information of their raid back to the Alpha sector for the authorities to see and hear. No better account could be had than from the logs of the Daunte and from a detective inspector as an eyewitness. I landed on the rogue moon to wait out the two-day period. The Jasmire , with Joni Salton still aboard, soon disappeared from my nav screen.

Chapter 6

    Six hours had passed since the Jasmire left my view. I was in a situation I was not prepared for. If I left for SS5, I would likely be arrested, interrogated, perhaps imprisoned for having left Jonias Salton on the Jasmire without putting up a fight. I was still not in contact with the station, as the Igari had placed a comm obstructer on the moon’s surface beside the Daunte . I would be waiting for the comm jamming to end before heading back to the station.
    As I sat with my arms crossed, looking down at Raptor, a proximity alert went off on my holo-display. A small, sleek black ship was setting down beside me. Under a minute passed before a being in a jet-black space suit was standing in front of the Daunte ’s viewports, waving their arms.
    I dropped the ramp-way, and the being proceeded up the stairs and through the gravity wall. I reached to restrain Raptor, but the Rottweiler seemed to be excited instead of showing his usual anger.
    When the ramp-way had closed, the being removed their helmet. It was a young Human male.
    The man spoke. "Mr. Beutcher, I am with the security force assigned to Jonias Salton. Please tell me she is sleeping in her quarters."
    I sighed. "She is on the Jasmire . I could not get her out. She is in hiding, but she cannot remain there for long."
    The man replied, "I was afraid of that. What are you doing here on this moon?"
    I sat back in my chair. "I was directed to wait here for two days, until that jammer ceased to function. I was told if I leave the Human crewmen they captured will be executed. When the jammer quits I'm supposed to go back to SS5 and tell them what happened. The Igari who hijacked that ship, they don’t know Joni is aboard."
    The man held out his gloved hand. "My name is Garrett Rourke, Mr. Beutcher. Together, we are going to figure out how to get her off that ship."
    I replied, "I am stuck here, Mr. Rourke. They thought I might need a little incentive to stay after they left so they threatened to kill the crew."
    I looked down at Raptor, who continued to wiggle his short tail. "I would guess that since this dog appears to know you, Joni knows you as well?"
    Garrett Rourke shook his head. "No, Sir. We have actually never met. I am her first-line shadow detail. I am not to interfere in her life in any way unless a security concern dictates that I do. I trained Raptor as a pup before her father offered him as a birthday gift. He comes from a long line of purebred champions that leads all the way back to Earth, the Humans’ first colony. Rotties are, and have been, a big part of our family for two thousand years."
    I nodded. "A champion, huh? He has been a well-mannered dog."
    I reached down to scratch his head. "So, how do we get Joni back, Mr. Rourke? I can’t move this ship."
    The Human looked around the cabin. "If you have a storage container large enough, we can take Raptor to my ship. You will come as well, and the three of us will then catch up to the Jasmire . How do we get her back? We’ll have to figure that out on the way. Put on your suit, Mr. Beutcher. Time is of the essence. Oh, and call me Garrett. My father is Mr. Rourke."
    After emptying a container and placing a confused Raptor within it, we sealed the box. With a two-minute trek down the ramp-way and up into Garrett’s ship, we were ready to lift off in pursuit of the Jasmire . The Daunte was placed into sleep mode as I pecked away at