As a priority military mission SysCon had granted them immediate departure into the Faraway jump. The transport slowed, awaiting final hyperspace permission. When it came the ship moved forwards again, slowly, angling for the theoretically perfect position to make hyperspace as risk-free an event as could be possible. There was nothing else to indicate that the single-use galactic hyperdrive motor was powering up, that could send them hundreds of times further than the standard drives, into a completely different area of the galaxy. As a military model it had far greater precision than those available to civilians (which could only lock onto a random system when the craft was almost in the area) and had been targeted on Orarra, the last known location of the Constrictor. And in an instant it engaged, and the ship vanished.
They emerged from hyperspace several days later. The planet Orarra was a scorched red-brown disc in the distance, burnt by its distant and hot sun. A few minutes later two more specks of light appeared. They slowly resolved themselves into Viper-class fighter ships, the escort for the relatively unprotected transport.
The planet was reached without incident, and before long the task group was sitting in the quiet bar of the hotel where accommodation had been provided for them in the station Dodec Four. There were four stations orbiting the planet. One of the team would go to each whilst the fifth would contact the planetary authorities in the hope that they had any knowledge of what was going on. Not that there was much hope that they would have, but since only the space stations and not the planet were directly controlled by the Galactic Co- Operative the Navy had no official authority on the surface. Unofficial enquiries were only generally made after the gestures towards legality had been completed.
Emily Barbeth was the member of the team to visit Orarra Station Three. Early next morning a shuttle flew her over. Moving away from the landing platform towards the information displays lining the walls at its back was a map of the station. The stations were built as a standard shell with the essential facilities included but the rest of the interior differed depending upon the local needs and resources. The headquarters of the Orarra Corporation, who controlled all interstellar trade at the planet, were located some distance away at the address of Carrock House, Sarros Square, Facet 4. Outside the spaceport and its jostling crowds of humans and aliens Barbeth found a taxi to take her there. The small autonomous vessel lifted off into the central void of the station. The walls and ceiling of the taxi were transparent and through them the interior of the station was an impressive, if dizzying sight. Straight above, three quarters of a mile distant the interior of the opposite face was a blaze of light in the sky. Curving around to meet it were walls no less impressive. The pentagonal facets of the station were difficult to discern under their covering of buildings, parks and farmland and the appearance was more of the interior of a sphere. The Dodo and Coriolis space stations found in orbit around all planets of the Galactic Co-Operative were more than just trading posts, they were small worlds in their own right.
The taxi was heading towards one of the "walls". Since it was station daytime the whole interior was well illuminated, but the dense network of lighting still made the area ahead show up as being a largely built-up area. Numerous other taxi craft darted to and fro from the complex to the rest of the station, amidst them was the occasional larger bus or supply van.
The taxi landed in a square in front of Carrock House. It was an imposing building as befitted the importance of the organisation it housed. Flags from poles jutting out the front proudly displayed the Corporation logo and its name was emblazoned above the doorway.
Inside the building Barbeth was greeted with the usual unimaginative "How can I help you?" from the receptionist in the foyer.
The permission to review the trading logs and more importantly the security video footage of the docked craft loading and unloading their cargo was obtained by means of a borrowed GalCop pass that Naval Intelligence had obtained for the job. It was unlikely that anyone carrying such a "hot" cargo would allow themselves to be seen like this, more probably they had left the system without going anywhere near the planet itself - if they knew what they had found.
The man who arrived to assist her was smartly dressed, somewhat in contrast to his wild hair. He introduced himself as Darhil Peyers, one of the numerous managers of the Corporation. Bad publicity was something that they were keen to avoid and tried they usually tried to persuade someone reasonably high up in the organisation to deal with anything that looked like an official enquiry.