The commander was beside himself with fury.
"Find her!" he blasted at his men. He raised his arm to bellow more orders into his wrist device. "Jeiel! Get here fast! Casina's been taken. We need more troops here!" "Marketeers?" came Jeiel's response.
"No doubt. Or dissidents opposing the new arena law. Just get here as fast as you can."
"Aye, Commander!"
With that, the device went silent. Furious at his own stupidity, the commander turned with a growl to scan the streets. His men had already arrested many of the people seemingly involved in the kidnapping, but it hadn't made him feel any better. He should have known. How had he gotten so careless? Snatched right from his own hand! Maka! Why hadn't he foreseen something like this happening before? Especially considering the reason he had come to Dandor, of all places. It was one of the most insidious places on Konatha. It was from here the black marketing had originated, and now Casina was in direct danger because of his laxity. Maka! If he hadn't been so distracted by thoughts of his day's agenda and his beautiful companion, perhaps he would have been more cautious.
He stood glaring at the populace, daring them to do anything like this again. They knew what he was capable of and still had dared allow such an occurrence.
He made his way back to the canvas module, mumbling epithets to himself the entire time. Once aboard, he scanned for Casina on his trace board. It didn't take long for him to locate her. The implant in her head contained a tracking device, for just such a purpose, and he was thankful their engineers had had the foresight to include the device in it, for just such an emergency. It certainly made life easier for him, especially in cases like this. Still, regardless of where he knew Casina was, he wanted more men there to assist in the recovery efforts.
Giving a loud sigh of regret, he notified Iddo Aemons, at TrCasinaar, to postpone or cancel the rest of the solarity's appointments or meetings. It was a first for him.
Sighing again, he stared glumly at the console, tapping his fist against it in agitation. The few men left aboard pretended absorption in their duties as they listened to his guilty sighing and groaning over the kidnapping.
"N'dan," he ordered into the intership communication device, "bring me the most powerful laser you have aboard."
"Whom shall I sign it out to, Ziros?" came the security request.
After a thoughtful pause, he answered. "Me."
"But, Commander, you never--"
"I said to put it under my name! Is that clear? And get it here to me at Dandor as quickly as possible."
"Yes, Commander."
With that, he went back outside to wait. A stiff drink would be the best thing right now, he decided. Unfortunately, he would have to seek out a local saloon for that since none of the modules carried such supplies.
So, at his unexpected appearance in the closest drinking establishment, it didn't surprise him when the patrons immediately vacated the premises, none wanting to be near a man of his ilk and reputation when he was in such a foul mood. Ten micron later, after a couple swigs of Kathian ale, on the house, he departed the pub to round up his men and await Jeiel's arrival.
But N'dan arrived first, his ship having been in that quadrant on routine assignment.
"This is the best you have?" the commander asked him, when handed the laser he had requested.
"Yes, Commander. The latest innovation, in fact. More powerful than any we've yet had in our armory."
"Good. Wait here until Seth Vernier arrives, then direct him to this location." He shared with him the coordinates from his wrist device, his d'lab'r, of Casina's location. Then, feeling the weight of the pulsar tucked beneath his arm, he ventured back into the city, his crew following with arms-at-the-ready