Crisis at Garmil's Gate - 15

"Take us out."

With those words, Dashing Jack left his asteroid hideout. He stood on the bridge of his flagship, Redalen's Revenge, with Gori beside him.

"By now Duke Far should have received and confirmed the information provided." Gori said, "Our spies report that Lord Fang is under arrest, and that our Paladin friend is the one holding him at sword-point."

"Excellent." Jack said, "Lord Fang's pride will not allow him to submit, so his reason will surely fail him in his desperate rush to soothe his pride, and when that happens whatever measures he's put in place to guarantee his survival shall surely fail him- but not before causing a mess so massive that it can't be ignored."

"Or resolved quickly." Gori said, and he laughed.

"Correct." Jack said, "But we cannot waste the time we just bought by betraying him. We need to get to the tomb, recover our prize, and escape with him before the Paladin clears the mess we've thrown at him."

"How long do you think we have?" Gori said, "We can't have more than a day, at most."

The Revenge cleared the asteroid and turned towards Garmil's Gate.

"Captain," a crewman said, "we're clear and ready to launch. Orders, sir?"

"Spin up the drive. Helm, take us as close to the tomb as we can get. Once we arrive, rig for silent running."

"A micro-jump?" Gori said."

"Not to worry. I had the calculations done while we were here awaiting the rest of the plan to unfold." Jack said, "With our enemies occupied, so long as we avoid attracting attention we can steal in and out without them being the wiser. If that isn't sufficient, then I've prepared one more trump card. After reading that file, it will prove more useful than I expected."

"The noblewomen on retreat?"

"Indeed." Jack said, "If it becomes necessary, we seize them and use them as shields to cover our retreat. Once we're away, we can ransom them to defray our costs, or trade them for other favors we may need later. For all we know, Red Eyes might be looking for a wife."

The entire bridge erupted in laughter.

"Captain, the jump drive is ready." a crewman said, and Jack smiled.

"Jump!"

In a flash, Redalen's Revenge winked out from before the asteroid base. It passed briefly through a spiraling blue-white tunnel, and then emerged at Garmil's Gate- on the far side from Gatewatch, and just outside its gravity well. Dashing Jack stood still a moment to await word of anything going wrong.

"All stations report no issues, Captain." Gori said.

"To the tomb." Jack said, "Let us finish what our predecessors began."