The Second Book of the Alienbutt Saga. The Rise of Mr Fluffy. Part 8.

If the news that the Coffee House personnel were living in fear was a small speck of good news it was outweighed by the information that Grommit had been captured. A film of her being tortured had been leaked and had almost caused a mutiny, as the remnants of the Fo’c’sle prepared to mount a rescue mission, despite the fact that they had no idea of her whereabouts. Wickede had promised to support the rescue mission but only when they discovered where she was and Commander Kali came up with a viable plan. Her first plan of “We go in and kill everyone,” had been sent back by Wickede, as he insisted on more detail. Kali had accepted that she needed to expand her plan and so sent in a revised one: “We go in and kill everyone, as painfully as we can.” Wickede, knowing that he was not going to win, accepted the proposal with a grin, leaving Snoodgrass muttering about half-baked plans. Despite this outward show of despair at the lack of any real planning Snoodgrass was using every agent at his disposal to try and pinpoint Grommit's location. Kali had already assembled a team ready for a rescue attempt and was just awaiting news, and he knew he needed to get information about Grommit soon.

Wickede looked up as Snoodgrass walked in. His oldest friend and advisor had aged during the last couple of years. The responsibility of leading the Ick during Wickede’s absence had told on him. His hair was now showing more grey than black and the lines around his eyes had got deeper. The eyes themselves though were still sharp and alert and he had lost none of his considerable intellect or ability to run the Ick intelligence service.
“Take a seat and give me some good news,” Wickede said, indicating a chair next to him with the whiskey glass.
Snoodgrass sat down with a slight smile and produced the little computer notepad that he always seemed to carry with him.
“It appears that someone has now started killing Senators. Four have been found executed over the last week, as well as a number of their senior staff. The assassin seems to have moved on from just killing staff employed by the Coffee houses and destroying coffee production facilities. It seems he has moved on to the next tier of the Coffee House hierarchy.”
“Blackarachnia strikes again?” asked Wickede. He did not need the nod from Snoodgrass to know the answer.
“My sources in the Coffee Houses say he has the place in turmoil and there’s some big roaches coming out of the woodwork. It looks like there’s to be an emergency meeting of the Order behind the Coffee Houses. A number of prominent people we suspect to be members have suddenly cleared their appointments and are heading off to some secret location. Even Jee has reportedly cut short his holidays on his estates on AV32.”
“Do we know where they are headed?” asked Wickede. If they could find out the location of the meeting and launch an attack, then they could make a major strike towards ending the war.
“I’m working on it, but I do know that it was Jee holding Grommit and there’s a good chance she is still being held on his estates at AV23 where he was holidaying. I'm awaiting confirmation from an agent I have there. With Jee having left the planet to head for his meeting, there should only be a handful of guards left there to deal with.”
“Have you informed Kali yet?”
“Her ship left about ten minutes ago, accompanied by all available Fo’c’sle personnel. She's meeting up with others before heading there once it's confirmed. I’ve forwarded all information we have on his estates to her ship, plus those holiday snaps we took five years ago when you were invited there as his guest. It’s strange how fast things change in the world of politics.”
Wickede smiled in spite of himself. “He was overly proud of his estates there. Let’s hope they don’t cause too much damage as they rip it apart looking for Grommit.”

To be continued.
All images are mine.