Blink: 3003 (Book 1)

05

 The first sight of Blink Headquarters took Amber by surprise. Although impressive in its own way, it simply wasn't very big. Floating out in the middle of a system she'd never heard of, the spherical station skulked unobtrusively in the darkness of space, surrounded by building sized asteroids that would conceal it from prying eyes and sensor probes. She could see a rectangular projection on one side where half a dozen spacecraft were docked, most of them small corvettes, but she marked out one larger ship that looked like a military frigate, its long, angular hull protruding several meters further out than any other vessel.

The main sphere was constructed of interlocked plates of dark metal she didn't recognise, each one dozens of metres across. Around the equator was a ring platform studded with the unmistakable prominences of gun turrets. Although weapons were not her forte, the sleek black barrels and glowing power cells told her enough. Whatever they fired it was sure to be lethal.

"Rail cannons," Idas said when he noticed her examining them. "They're normally slated for ship to ship combat. One of those puppies will crack an asteroid at twenty thousand metres."

"Wow..."

"No expenses spared," Darien murmured, guiding the shuttle towards its bay. "Station BL-Alpha this is Shuttle 15 requesting permission to land."

"Shuttle 15 this is BL-Alpha Dock Control," a man replied over the speakers. "You are cleared to land in bay 10A. Door's open, cradle is ready. Welcome home."

"Roger that, BL-Alpha, good to be back. Shuttle 15 out." Darien aimed the shuttle towards their bay. "Well, Amber, gotta hand it to you, that was one good short cut."

"It's all in the math," she said, tapping her temple with her index finger. "Are we still late?"

"By about a day," he replied. "But that was because we waited for you. I think they'll understand." He looked at her and winked. "Welcome to Blink Station Alpha."

The interior of the hangar was full of ships. In addition to the handful of large vessels she'd seen from the outside, dozens of smaller shuttles were docked in separate bays, all of them outfitted with massive engines and twinned cannons on their bows, identical to the one she now rode in. The people on the deck looked like adults, some of them guiding in shuttles, others performing maintenance and shipping parts from bay to bay.

She spotted the bay marked 10A, but the people waiting for them there looked different. There were three of them – two boys and a girl – all dressed in the jet black fatigues that marked out Blink operatives. She heard Idas groan when he spotted them.

"Looks like we've got a welcome party," he said, his voice thick with disdain.

"I'd be surprised if we didn't," Darien sighed. "Just play nice. The only person we need to impress is Smith. The rest of them can take their opinions and rotate on them."

"Easier said than done."

"Who are they?" Amber asked.

"Just some of the other operatives," Darien answered. "Don't worry about it."

She was unconvinced, but something in his tone told her to let it go. She fell silent as the shuttle began its descent into the docking cradle. Six skeletal metal arms reached out and locked magnetically against the hull before pulling it down into position. The arms locked into place and the shuttle boosters died. Idas pressed a button to release the boarding ramp.

"Let's get this over with," Darien said. "Amber, just stay behind us and let me do the talking. Whatever these twerps say, just ignore it. There's a...professional rivalry between some of the Blink teams."