Hospitalization

Nisinasha/Banasdan, 109/989

Nisinasha A-9EA987-E Im

Nisinasha, like Easter, is egg-shaped, distorted by tidal forces far in the past, when it was much closer to its gas giant primary. Its atmosphere, however, is nearly spherical, producing near-vacuum at the ends, too-high pressure at the middle, and two habitable bands between these extremes. The Scout Waystation has been comandeered by the Imperial Navy, in reaction to the increased local tensions, and is now a military base of considerable size. Army, Navy and Marines all have significant forces stationed here.
- Solomani Travel Services library data

The weird waterworld Nisinasha was a tourist attraction for planetologists in peacetime, and had a large IISS base planetside for studying its' peculiar characteristics. Now, however, with the approach of war, a large percentage of the facilities had been taken over by the Imperial Forces.

The surface portions of Taranis Way Station had been transformed into a massive Army and Marine base. Twenty-four regiments were garrisoned in the arcologies there, and their troop-ships, an entire squadron of Skinblade class vessels, floated in the vast oceans, ready to be loaded and sent into the Confederation.

The SolSec agents aboard the Nemesis viewed the sensor readouts with trepidation. They'd known what Nisinasha was before jumping in here, but the reality of it was unsettling. Still, they were here now. Time for some good old-fashioned subterfuge.

An incoming transmission from system control broke the quiet. "Alien vessel located 256,37,432, on incoming course, displacement 400 tons, please identify." They provided the Nemesis' alternative Imperial identification.

"This is Imperial Navy system control. A course has been transmitted to you; follow it without deviation; this is a military system. You will dock in hangar bay 27." Vasquez looked at Fox. "Do what she says," she ordered, "but make up some co-ordinates for an emergency Jump." This was desperate stuff; a Jump executed as close in as Taranis Way Station would be almost certain to miscarry.

Taranis Way Station, Nisinasha/Banasdan, 109/989

After around an hour's flight, the Nemesis slid gracefully into one of the many civilian docking hangars clustered at the end of one of the arms of the Taranis station. A force field closed the entrance off and the bay was pressurized. A few moments later, a stiff, punctilious-looking officer in IN uniform stepped through the personnel lock into the bay and walked over to the ship, where he stood expectantly, datapad in hand. Fox sighed, collected the relevant papers, and lowered the ramp.

The officer looked up at him. "Ship's papers, cargo and passenger manifests, crew ID and Cr100 docking fees," he rattled off. Fox grinned. "Two of each please!" he said brightly, "Oh, sorry, I thought you were selling."

"Ha ha, sir" said the officer flatly.

Fox handed him the papers - Jeremiah and Vasquez were once again going under the names of Amlukhu Iikkiishu and Meliina Kesserin - and he logged everything carefully into his datapad before accepting the hundred credits. "Nature of business?" he enquired. Fox presented the pre-prepared story of them being the crew and support team of the journalist Meliina Kesserin, and of them coming unstuck on Ludovic; her cameraman, he explained, had been caught in crossfire and was seriously wounded, requiring regrowth facilities for which they'd come here. Expanding on this, he asked the officer where a good hospital might be found. The man was utterly uninterested; "There's a public comm terminal over there," he said with a wave of the hand, and left the hangar.

Public the terminal might have been, but it still charged a credit for access. Some research located several hospitals nearby which sold regrowth services, and allowed the published reviews of their services to direct the selection of a good one; the Belle Vista Hospital. Further searching found a good purveyor and installer of regrowth equipment; Keldar's Systems. This company recommended Brenstein regrowth tanks as the best available, and could fit two in three days for KCr14,000.

The Belle Vista proved even more efficient. A quick vid call, describing the nature of the injuries (explosive concussion), and a small deposit left with a cashcard, and a g-bulance was out within half an hour. Swift-moving paramedics had Jeremiah's battered body out of the low berth and into the low stretcher they'd brought with them. Vasquez climbed into the g-bulance with them and soon Jeremiah was in surgery. Soon after, he was installed in a regrowth berth, and the miracle of stimulated cell growth was repairing the terrible injuries he'd sustained in the battle with the Ikaanis Mugina.

While she was there, Vasquez took the opportunity to read up on some of the options for her own injuries. While regrowth would put her lost eye back exactly as it was, a more appealing option was to have it replaced with a cybernetic one, capable of more than plain sight. She settled for a plain eye with light intensifier and infra-red capabilities; Heads-Up computer display was too expensive and she'd have needed a complete skull rebuild to have had video recording capabilities - and Victor already had those.

She called Fox. "We'll be nine days," she told him, "all yours until then." Fox was pleased. "Thank God!" he said, "I can finally get the drives serviced before we blow up in Jump!" She left him to it.

Taranis Way Station, Nisinasha/Banasdan, 118/989

Nine days later, the pair left the hospital, feeling better if rather strange. Jeremiah felt as if he had a new skin on instead of his old one; and Vasquez, who had just got used to managing with one eye, kept bumping into things. She was also occasionally dazzled when the LI kicked in under normal light conditions.

Back at the ship, they discovered that the two regrowth berths had been successufly installed, replacing two of the vessel's low berths, and that Fox had performed the proper maintenance required for the safe operation of an interstellar vessel.

The crew now turned their attention back to the mission. SolSec files had given them the name of a sleeper agent on Nisinasha, one Brand Corwin (with a cover name of Shurii Numan).

The Solsec files included contact details and a picture which - though rather old - gave them an idea who they were looking for.

As they pondered, a sudden impact and sound of breaking glass from outside attracted their attention. The sound was closely followed by another impact, and another, and then suddenly the plate-glass window of the cafe shattered under the impact of a piece of debris.

Vasquez and Jeremiah hit the deck, rolling under a table, and then wondered if their trained reflexes might have given them away. However, they weren't alone; about a quarter of the flyboys around them had also revealed ex-military reflexes by diving for cover at the signs of danger. Their contact had not, however.

Peering through the ruined window, Jeremiah could see that the cause of the disturbance was a grav vehicle accident; the speeder had crashed, bounced, and struck a solid object near the cafe. A piece of its' engine cowling had flown off and smashed the cafe window. Most of the cafe's patrons were emptying into the street, either to gawk or to help, but Vasquez slipped across and sat down opposite the man they'd come to find.

Idly allowing her fingers to trace patterns in spilled tea on the table between them, for an instant she drew out the symbol of the Solomani Confederation - a cross in a circle - and then wiped it away.

He looked into her eyes for a long minute, and then murmured, "Not here," and rose to leave. Jeremiah and Vasquez followed swiftly, as he led them to an alley, where they spoke further.

Briefly, Vasquez explained enough of their mission to allow him to be of help, culminating in the names of the four war planners that Shimuusha's computer had held - Patricia Kennedy, Van Rowlands, Alyn Miller and Newton Bailey. Corwin's eyes lit up; Van Rowlands, he said, was well-known on Nisinasha as a financier. His company made loans, and was reputed to operate in the seedier end of the market.

He was galvanized; "a chance to strike a blow for Earth!", he said. "It may make the difference between winning and losing," said Vasquez seriously.