A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 40

My earlier joke about just sneaking out to wander around the city had not been a bluff. I had already planned to quietly head down to the city and enjoy the sights as part of my evening ship-leave.

'Did you tell him that I was leaving?'

"No. He has been given all of the gadgets, tools, and technology that I deemed necessary for his position. I decided to count this as a surprise test and learning experience since I do not expect any trouble in this port. It will give him a chance to try out what I gave him."

Starsong made it seem as if there was quite a list of things available to Ronan... 'What kind of stuff did you give him?'

"He has a shield similar to yours, as well as well-disguised weapons that no human scanner will detect as such. He will need some training with most of the weapons before carrying them. He has a very small earpiece to allow me to communicate with him if needed. His Guide is smaller, but it is also capable of tracking your communication device."

I snorted faintly in disgust at how hard it had become to slip out for a quiet – normal! – evening. The tracking capability did not surprise me since the Medical Bay and Officers' consoles had access to the tracking program if they chose to use it.

Ronan had probably checked out that feature as soon as he had a chance. I also bet that one of the first things he had done included setting up an alert to let him know if I entered a corridor leading to a main access door whenever we were docked.

I hadn't spotted him yet, but I knew he wasn't that far away. This part of the market was fairly busy, and I had been looking at the small market stalls with their wares as opposed to glancing around surreptitiously. I was here to enjoy myself, not grumble about my unseen shadow. After our long chat, I didn't really mind his inconspicuous presence.

In my civilian clothing, I blended into the crowd of people as I played the part of a tourist. A faint disturbance in the crowd caused me to glance over with sharp eyes.

"Thief!"

A man dodged through the crowd with a pouch in his hand as a rather large and upset man tried to catch up. I turned my head back towards the table of merchandise, pretending I didn't see him. Right as he bolted past me, I swung out my foot at shin height to trip him.

I braced myself for the impact, but to my surprise, a very faint blue light shimmered right in front of my leg just before his legs should have connected with mine. My leg didn't feel any resistance or slow down when it should have collided.

I heard a quiet snap as he went sprawling into the dust – his leg had actually not touched mine, but his one leg was broken from the impact with that blue light, and he had clearly been tripped.

I side-stepped away, pretending to be innocent and merely surprised by his sudden appearance, before slipping away unnoticed through the crowd that was now focused on the owner of the belt pouch as he appeared on the scene, bent on revenge.

I put some distance between me and where I had been. I kept an eye on the people, but no one was following me. My careful surveillance did spot Ronan. 'Can you tell if anyone else is following me?'

"Other than Ronan, none of those around you were at the location of the incident. Most were watching the thief or the one chasing him. I doubt that more than one or two actually saw you trip him. Those that did probably didn't think anything of it since he was going so fast, not to mention that his previous victim is currently thrashing him. They will attribute any injury to him."

'What was that light? I never actually touched him even though it looked like I did.'

"That was your shield. It only partially activated, but that was all that was needed."