The transport cleared the structure of the central shipyard station, bringing into view the planet of Xeer itself, a huge crescent below. On the visible slice grey cloud covered the plains from which most of the planet's agricultural wealth was obtained. A few concentrations of light could be seen in the dark area, mostly cities but two of the odder-appearing ones were the result of huge numbers of luminescent marine creatures that accumulated at two nights of every year making one of the more impressive natural sights in the galaxy. Up in space a Coriolis station span near to the main yard. This was where some of the more secret construction projects took place. It was rumoured that the Navy were developing their remote- controlled fighter in there, and the Constrictor had certainly been built within it, hidden from prying eyes. Until it was stolen.
The theft of the Constrictor was still something of a mystery, even to Naval Intelligence. The thieves had never been identified. The project had been top secret but all those who were supposed to know of it had been accounted for. Despite much looking no evidence had ever been found of a leak. Since the theft to the time of destruction the thieves had remained as much out of contact as possible, destroying most of those they encountered. The only contact had been the delivery of a galactic hyperdrive and even then it was only seen fleetingly. The crew who went in to install it never came out again and the vessel departed before anyone came looking for them.
Two of the team looking for its remains had been involved with trying to sort out the original fiasco. After a couple of months of futile searching it had become apparent that more help was needed, and with most of the Navy's resources directed against the Thargoids they were forced to turn to the public for assistance. It had been conceded that a hard-bitten trader who had survived numerous pirate attacks and knew all the tricks in the book, and a few more besides, might have better luck when it came to fighting the thing anyway. Angus Williams was one of the two agents trying to locate the missing ship. He had eventually traced the Constrictor to Colesque and managed to contact the last surviving independent trader on its tail. Williams had caught up with it too soon, flying the wrong craft, and was lucky to have escaped with his life. After that the somewhat embittered man was reduced to pointing the pursuing trader in the right direction, until he eventually managed to catch up with and destroy the Constrictor.
The Disian was the other member of the group involved with the original chase. His task had been to try to find out who had stolen it in the first place, and his failure to do so had preyed on his mind ever since. The number of criminal organisations who might have liked such booty was high, but the death rate amongst them was also high in their high-risk business. GalCop had lost track of a number of them at the time of the Constrictor's destruction. Besides, the theft of a top-secret Naval ship from a heavily-guarded base was too daring for most of them. A number of planets throughout the galaxy were engaged in on-going wars. Those within the Galactic Co-operative were confined to fighting themselves but there were a large number of planets outside its jurisdiction fighting interstellar battles. Most of them had too few resources to attempt such a mission as the theft. The most deadly enemies of all, the Thargoids, were not known for their subtlety and when they wanted something they were more inclined to wade in with guns blazing to seize it by force.
Then there was the even more puzzling question of how anyone knew about the ship. Security was tight at the shipyard and there was no indication of where it might have been breached. Grudgingly the case had been closed unless someone discovered new information.
Of the remaining three one of them had lived in the region of the galaxy of Colesque, the area in which Orarra was located and had extensive contacts there. The two others had no particular knowledge or involvement with the Constrictor, and had been selected simply for being people good for the job who were available at the right time.
They had now left the dockyard complex and were headed towards the co-ordinates for Witchspace entry. Numerous craft, both civilian and military, thronged the area. Police patrols, freighter convoys, private lone- wolf traders, and probably a number of pirates and a few bounty hunters masquerading as tradecraft were all present, and for the time being obeying the rules. Until they were as out of sight as could be managed and where everyone had to live on their wits.