The servants' corridors formed their own network of paths inside the palace. The first thing Jack noticed was how much smaller everything was when it was not intended for the high lords.
The carriages in which he was used to travelling through the palace were large, well-padded and had various amenities on board, as well as being protected against the headwind by a small force field and, despite the hover technology, still had extra shock dampers that absorbed even the slightest vibration.
The various service buildings were connected by magnetic levitation trains. These were much faster than the hover cars, but the acceleration was enough to make you feel sick. The shock absorption, especially during braking and acceleration, also left a lot to be desired. They were crowded and most of the people were rushed and silent.
This suited Jack and his cronies just fine.
No one paid them any attention as they joined the others in the wagon, no one questioned their intentions or their destination. People moved up silently while typing on their mini-computers, checking lists or staring silently at the ground.
The journey to the Inner Palace took only a few minutes. By comparison, together with the prince, the journey had taken almost twenty minutes. Jack could only shake his head at the inefficiency of the transport system. He and the two mercenaries had not been affected by the speed, but he could see a few servants who were slightly green in the face and needed some time to regain their composure after the rapid journey.
They followed the stream of servants through the narrow corridors until they were near the prince's study. Jack didn't know any of the guards personally but had a good memory for faces.
So it didn't take him long to find a guard he recognised. Since he had no other criteria to judge by, he simply assumed that the guards who had been present at his last meeting with the prince should be trustworthy.
After standing around outside the office for so long that the guards were already eyeing them suspiciously, Jack finally mustered his courage and walked over to them.
Fortunately, the men were very alert and trained to recognise people, so they allowed Jack to approach without them making a fuss.
"The Prince is not on the planet, Honoured Guest."
Jack glanced quickly from left to right to make sure he wasn't being watched.
"I need to talk to your captain in a safe place, it concerns the safety of the prince."
The men looked at him suspiciously for a moment. Then one of them nodded cautiously.
"You can wait in the antechamber, I'll inform the Captain."
The door was opened a crack and Jack and his entourage entered the waiting room outside the prince's office.
The room was magnificently furnished, gold and the royal blue of House Vallian decorating much of the surfaces, the frames of the large floor-to-ceiling windows and forming a border on the wall. A seating area of large comfortable sofas formed the central part of the room. Scattered along the walls were a number of wooden display cases containing art and other treasures with which the prince wanted to impress his visitor. A large open fireplace radiated a cosy warmth into the room, although no flame was lit in it.
Jack had no great interest in the treasures on display, but he could see the eyes of his companions glittering.
"Hey! Don't you dare take anything from here. I want to get out of this alive. Once we leave the planet we can go treasure hunting somewhere, even if it's boring as hell most of the time."
The two men nodded knowingly.
"Sure Captain, it's just been a long time since I've seen so much glitter up close. You know, with being in jail and all."
Before they could delve deeper into the subject, the captain of the guard arrived. Normally he wouldn't appear like this just because a guest asked for him, but Jack was an exception. The prince himself had instructed all the other officers to at least investigate the man's warnings if he came forward. Apparently, they had come true many times before.
"You wanted to speak to me, Captain Halo? I'm Captain Miller of the Palace Guard."
"Do you work directly for Janus?"
Normally the captain wouldn't just accept it when someone spoke so casually of the prince in his presence, again the voidfarer captain was an exception. The Prince didn't have many people he could call friends, but this was one of them and so he refrained from correcting the Captain's pronunciation.
"Yes, I am under the direct orders of His Highness, Crown Prince Janus".
"Very good, I need a concealed vehicle for the large corridors, as well as guard uniforms for my two companions."
"What is the threat you came to warn us about?"
Jack looked at the man for a moment, expressionless. It wasn't going to be quite as easy as he had hoped after all.
"The princess who was with Janus the day he took me to that brunch."
"You mean Her Highness, Lady Ravenna?"
Jack showed the still picture of the woman from the abduction video.
"This one."
This time the captain couldn't let him get away with his behaviour.
"Sir, I know you are a close friend of the prince, but I must ask you not to speak so casually about the High Lordships."
Jack cleared his throat a little embarrassed, normally he acted more thoughtfully when there were consequences to consider.
"Of course, this is the lady I was talking about."
" That is Princess Ravenna Secunda Vallia Vallian, the younger sister of the Crown Prince."
"She kidnapped my daughter while I had entrusted her to the Prince's care."
The guard captain's face immediately turned white.
"Are you sure?"
Jack played the first part of the video showing Maya and the princess.
The captain swallowed hard, the fact that a guest of the prince had been kidnapped inside the palace while the man was not there would reflect badly on him and bring harsh punishment. But before the man had a chance to think clearly, Jack spoke to him again.
"You understand what this means right? If this gets out, the Prince's reputation will be damaged for a long time and if anything happens to my daughter, I will personally see to it that no more Voidfarers come near this planet."
The second part was, of course, an empty threat, but the man didn't need to know that.
"I understand your concern, of course, Captain Halo, but without a direct order from the Prince, it is not possible for me to take action against the Princess, or even to have investigations made in that direction."
"I know that myself and I don't want to harm Janus, that's why I'm here. I want to find the teacher of the class my daughter attended and I need information about the teachers' Prince Janus chose, just to be sure."
The captain looked at him uncertainly for a moment. Then he nodded slowly.
"Yes, that makes sense. You are independent and if you are caught, the prince can deny any involvement, which should prevent open conflict on the planet. I can get information on all the palace employees without any problem. And for the uniforms, we can arrange something, I already have something in mind."
...
Ten minutes later, two of the regular palace guards found that their uniforms had been stolen when they visited the public bathhouse.
Later that same day, a hover van with tinted windows stopped in front of one of the palace staff dormitories. Two guards and a man in a black suit got out. They approached the dormitory and used a key to gain access.
Jack was almost a little sceptical about how easy it had been to find the exact location of each of the teachers.
He put on a neutral, slightly arrogant face, and then knocked on the door. It took a little while and a woman opened the door.
"Are you Laura Gullivan?"
"Yes, what is it about?"
"I'm an inspector under the Prince's authority, I'd like to ask you a few questions, can we come in?"
The woman looked confused for a moment, then stepped aside.
"Yes, of course, anything for his highness."
The answer sounded loyal, but Jack knew that any other would have led to a possible arrest for insubordination.
The interior of the flat was decorated in tasteful pastel tones and furnished with plain furniture, all of which screamed boredom and cat lady.
"Would you like to sit down?"
"No. What do you know about the Voidfarer Maya Halo who attended your classes?"
Jack had practised at the questions by now, having visited the other teachers first.
"Not much, she only took part in one history lesson, which she also disrupted by making unseemly noises."
"According to my information, she was supposed to attend five lessons, why didn't this happen? Did they expel her after the disruption?"
"No, I could never disobey an order from the prince. The maiden who accompanied her came by the next day and said the plans had changed and she would now attend another class."
"Do they have the name of the woman? We'll need to verify that information, of course."
"No, I uh"
The woman visibly faltered and looked almost panicked for a moment until she thought of something.
"The school, of course, she must have registered to enter the building that day, if you check the registration you will find her name, I'm sure of it."
She sounded almost pleading. Jack wasn't sure what rumours of interrogation were circulating among the staff, but he immediately felt a chill grip on his guts as he thought of Maya being interrogated by these people.
Using a disposable radio the captain had given him, he contacted the man as soon as they had left the teacher's flat and a little later they were on their way to their next destination.