David Ellis pressed the glowing green button unlocking the holding mechanism and yet another supply shuttle was released to begin its journey to Fortuna. He had lost count in the course of his 12 hour shift of how many times he had done this and his mind was numb from the boredom of it all. He couldn't really complain, He had survived the war as a medical transport pilot and many of his peers had not. After all, flying unarmed transports into raging battles in order to rescue wounded soldiers did not make for long life expectancies according to the laws of averages. Additionally Ellis was the former Chief Ellis of the 431st Medical Transport Detachment which had the misfortune to be on the losing side of the war with the Alliance. So when finally grounded and repatriated from a processing camp after the final battle of Serenity Valley, He and his two man crew hopped the first available outbound transport to the rim. Thats how he came to now be on Pleides Prime. As to being a loader and shuttle dispatcher for the Pan Galactic Mining Consortium, Ellis simply needed money to eat.

It was a mindless existance working for "Pee-Gee" as the mining consortium was called. The consortium had established support and logistics operations on Pleides Prime with its actual mining occuring on the two moons Fortuna and El Dorado in near orbit just a few hours away. The mining was accomplished in null grav in difficult conditions with old fashioned muscle power by an army of employees.

Pleides Prime however was the complete opposite of its inhospital moons. Trees and rivers with a rather temperate climate was the ideal spot for management to operate in relative comfort and ease without inconveniencing itself with things like water rationing, protein supplemented foodstuffs or bare bones utilitarian living conditions.

As Ellis reviewed the loading schematic for the next load he saw a group of PG security operatives approaching. Known as "Pinks" in referance to some old group of company guards from earth that were called "Pinkertons", Ellis eyed them warily. It was common knowledge that two types of people became Alliance contract security out in the rim. The first were those that were intending joining Alliance military special operations units. The Alliance looked for the unique experiance gained in the outer rim territories to flesh out the capabilities of its elite units. The other type of person were those that had done thier time in Alliance special ops and had now retired. This latter group just wanted to keep "thier hand in". Either way, Ellis thought as they approached through the loading bay, thier presence did not bode well for someone.

As usual he was right- especially when the Sergeant and three privates stopped in front of him and asked "Are you David Ellis?" "Yes I am" "Come with us please". Ellis thought it was nice that they at least said please, even though the blaster rifles made the word rather unnecessary.

Ellis accompanied them out thru the staging area to an idling transport. After lifting the transport turned and headed towards the east at a high rate of speed. "Where are we headed?" Ellis asked. "Central" replied the soldier at his side. "Thats all I know so why dont you sit back and relax Mr Ellis". With that Ellis pretty much got the hint.

After a flight that seemed to be on the verge of being a little more than a short haul and more along the lines of fair sized distance, the sprawl of Central began to appear.

Originally the first landing areas on the planet after terraforming, it was the main concentration of buisiness and living on the planet. The buisiness district was dominated by the large regional offices of PG Mining and it was towards this complex the transport began its approach. Ellis noticed the pilot did not use one of the outer pads but rather was setting up for a direct approach in close to the main building. Ellis' curiosity was aroused trying to figure out why all this drama for his benefit. After exiting the shuttle on landing he was surprised to see two familiar figures in the company of another group of pinks.

Mac and Valery his old flight medic and crewchief from the war. The three had been through a lot together during the war. After arriving on Pleides Prime six years ago, Valery had gone to work doing contract maintanance work at Centrals bustling commercial docks. Valery seemed to be able to intuitivly tweak a drive system to even better performance and his services were begining to be sought after by transport captains who set down at Central. When Ellis talked with Valery last about 7 months ago, Valery was planning to open a shop and possibly expand his services. By the way he was looking he must be doing well thought Ellis.

Mac on the other hand seemed to have lost weight and had a rather ragged aura about him. Ellis was not surprised. During the war Mac was always joking no matter how tight the situation got. The joking helped him deal with the wounded that were constantly thrown at him in the back of their Talon class transport SAGANAMI TWO FIVE. Mac had always done his best but often his medical skills weren't enough. Even though he had enough on the job trauma training that most surgeons would envy, Ellis figured Mac harbored guilt at his failures. Mac was working down in the old section of Central at an underfunded clinic that provided the only means of medicine to many of the unfortunate human refuse usually found washed up around any starport.

"Hey Chief hows it going?" asked Mac shaking hands. "Dont rightly know. how about you?" responded Ellis with a grin. "Interesting invitation, more interesting is other guests invited to this party yes?" added Valery with a smile. "Gentlemen this way please",the Sergeant said gesturing them towards the massive building entrance with an air of impatience..

The PG regional headquarters on Pleides Prime exuded the aura of a corporation about to hit it big. Everything from its towering height and sprawling layout to the artwork on the main lobby walls spoke of success. If rumor had it right thought Ellis, PG was probably going to become a division of Blue Sun sometime soon just like every other successful buisiness eventually did.

The group headed at a brisk pace through the massive atrium lobby to a set of internal transit cubes set back unobtrusivly from the main area. The Sergeant ushered the three into the cube before following them in and leaving the rest of the detachment behind. Removing a card from his utility pocket he swiped the control panel and entered a security code on the destination pad. The inertial dampers kicked in and the only indication of movement was a slight press of gravity as the cube accelerated towards its destination. As quickly as the trip began it was over and the doors slid open to reveal a slightly smaller lobby than the main one they had just left. There the similarity ended however, for wheras the main lobby had a series of large windows to let in light at ground level, this lobby was at the top of the building complex and the view was incredible. Central stretched for miles in all directions with snow capped peaks reflecting the fading afternoon light from the systems G9 primary off in the distance.

Turning to the right and heading to a corridor, Ellis noted the two guards in expensive suits flanking its entrance. They were professional, and their eyes spoke of experience and competance. Ellis felt sure that if they had not been invited they would never have made it three feet from the door of the cube with these two.

"Wow this is some kind of setup", spoke Mac sotto vocce, " I wonder what the pee goo is going on?" "I do not know but is getting curioser and curioser", replied Vasily.

The group turned and entered a small anteroom in which a secretary examined them with a critical eye and no small amount of disdain. Two more bodyguards were flanking a large stained wooden door. The lead bodyguard spoke into his subvoc comm and after a brief reply told the Sergeant to wait. He then opened the door for Ellis, Mac and Valery.

Entering the spacious office they were greeted by a small thin man in an expensive grey suit.

"Gentlemen, thank you for coming, I am Randolph Li and I am the regional director for PanGalactic here on Pleides Prime. This gentleman here is one of my assistants Mr. George Ballas" he said gesturing to a tall well built man to his left. "Jen Dao mei!" thought Ellis, as he shook Ballis's hands. "This guy reeks of security."

"This is Vasily Perchenko and Mac Taggert and I'm David Ellis". Firm handshakes all around and smiles which never quite made it to the eyes. It was all ludicrous of course thought Ellis."Why in all the verse was a shuttle loader, a mechanic and a clinic corpsman in the regional directors office?" It was then that he noticed the well dressed man sitting to the side studying the three of them quietly like a predator. Suddenly Ellis felt that old kink in his back creeping in and knew that whatever it was it was probably not going to be good.

"Please gentleman sit down". We here at PG find ourselves in a frankly difficult set of circumstances. In examining our options open to us we find ourselves needing some people with a set of unique skills. Our employee data base was utilized and your names were kicked out as being exceptionally qualified for what we need."

"I am not a PG employee" said Mac. " No you are not, but Mr. Ellis is and you three arrived dirtside in company together." "What kind of skills, and what is the option?"asked Ellis. "Mr Ballas, would you mind conducting the short version of the brief you presented me earlier?" "Certainly Sir".

"Gentleman, We here at Pleides Prime as you know regularly recieve a shuttle carrying routine supplies, operating documents and data from the home office on Procyon. Nothing major, just a shuttle with a crew of about six and possibly up to ten passengers and cargo. Nineteen days ago a shuttle departed from Procyon bound for Pleides Prime. We know this because we recieved a wave informing us of the departure. The trip should have taken no more than 14 standard days to transit. We fear the ship may have been disabled or incapacitated somehow and at this moment is in need of assistance somewhere between the halfway point from Procyon and here. Your records indicate that you three have extensive experiance in Search and Rescue and Medical Evacuation missions during the war. We would be willing to provide a small transport and commission you to initiate a SAR case for our shuttle".

"Fei Hua!" said Ellis. The expletive seemed to startle Mr. Li like an electric stun baton used by the Pinks to break up bar fights. It was probably due to the fact that the word had never been spoken in such cultured surroundings.

"First, why us and not your own security force" "Second, why not just wave the Alliance and get them involved" and "finally why are you asking us and not someone 40 floors lower?"

"Because of me" said the man sitting in the corner as he rose and crossed the room with an economy of movement and eyes locked on the three of them.

" To answer your question Chief Ellis, The Alliance will not involve itself in what they consider to be simply a missing shuttle. Shuttles go missing all the time, if the Alliance responded to each one, they would be chasing dust throughout the verse. As to not using our own security forces its rather simple. True they could do the job, but they are not profficient in it. It is not something they normally do and they dont have the day in and day out experience that you three had as a result of the war. Additionally we do not want to advertise that somewhere out there is a shuttle loaded with cargo and sensitive corporate documents just drifting. If as you say we had someone 40 floors lower down handing this out to you, can you imagine the exponential increase in the number of people between this floor and that floor who would be made privy to this situation?"

"No thats not it" said Ellis looking intently at the fit slightly greying man who now stood before him. "No where have I heard a concern for the crew and passengers mentioned. Are they no longer a factor? Do you have intelligence that indicates more specifically what happened to the shuttle?"

For a brief moment Ellis saw a vulnerability in the man before him and then a steely determination returned. "He probably hates to be reminded of his humanity by some low life shuttle loader" mused Ellis.

"Who are you and where do you fit in to this little drama" asked Mac before he could reply.. "I am the corporate liason Mr. Taggert, you could say I am not only responsible for all PG operations in this sector but also the safeguarding of its assetts. And I will say that on board that shuttle is a treasure of inestimable value."

Ellis could see that Mr. Li was getting nervous over the liasons involvement. He seemed to be wondering how bad this will affect his advancement. Mr. Ballas on the other hand appeared somewhat amused by the exchange between the two.

"There was something else here", thought Ellis, "something wasnt quite right. There is something about this shuttle disappearance that doesnt fit."

"So you want to provide us with a transport, launch, conduct a search and return the crew and cargo when found to Pleides Prime is that correct?' "Correct" replied Mr. Li.

"Mac?" what do you think? "I'll need supplies and equipment" "Make a list and it will be provided" said Ballas.

Vasily?" "No problem, I go with you two OK".

"One more thing Mr. Ellis" said the liason from corporate, "Mr. Ballas will accompany your crew".

"Only if you acknowledge right here and now that it is my ship and my mission!" replied Ellis. "The first indicator I have that he is trying to call the shots we abort and return understood?"

"That will not be a problem" said the liason, "Will it Mr Ballas?" "Certainly not sir".

"Allright Mr. Li, I guess we should take a look at this transport you are giving us and start coming up with a mission plan"

(to be continued)