Window Between Worlds

"You have no idea what I had to go through to earn these gold bars on my shoulders."
"The fruit salad array on your chest gives me a clue to your ranking Commander. I have been told, Special Force Units are on standby alert, and shield forces are holding strong."
Dressed in blue velvet, the spy master's cape draped artfully over the arms of his overstuffed office chair. His smooth voice revealed no emotion, and yet his cold steel-blue eyes were expressive. Wheeling quickly he pointed to the star grid map that flashed on the wall screen.
"You can be assured we are doing everything in our power to find a solution to this delicate situation. I have been informed of your personal involvement."
"Have you? There are things even you don't know. If they harm her, if they hurt her in any way, I will hold you personally responsible."
"Surely Commander you don't hold me responsible in this matter? She is being held prisoner in a fortress of almost unfathomable depth. Just getting messages in and out of that wormhole is tricky business. A faithful courier was killed relaying her recent communication. Do you expect me to send in another courier after that?"
"I expect you to do your job." A meat-hook sized fist slammed down on the oak desk with determination. You have the ability, you must bring her out yourself. "She is...she is my, my..." Bracing both hands on the desktop, Commander Norton Dean Siskiyou leaned forward, his broad shoulders and bull neck ridged.
"Just suppose I get lucky, and suppose you give me access to a warship fitted with special military password protocol...again the spymaster pointed a finger to the star chart. My getting through that outlaw space quadrant is going to be risky business, very risky." The evergreen grid flickered as Commander Siskiyou walked over to the wide-screen. He touched the target area where the women known as Faye Grimm was last reported. Bringing his clinched fist up to his graying temple, he closed his eyes and sighed. "If you get through please give her this, and order her...no, ask her to engage her electro-heating atomic unit. I advise you to stand back, and have your personal shielding unit on high. The Hodag's will have planted one, or more nano bugs. Whatever is bugging at that time will be sent to another plane of existence."
The small blue marble glowed with swirls of white as if it were somehow live. Darou Rudof Treacle closed his bronze fingers over the object that gyrated slowly in the palm of his hand, and carefully slid it into a inside pocket of his lavender velvet robe.
"I will take the brunt of any backlash that may result. What you hold in your hand is classified, top secret; only the scientist that made it, myself, and you know of it's existence."
Standing to his full height of four-foot-three, Darou Rudof gathers several rolled cylinders under his arm, touches his chest, his lips, and his forehead in one fluid motion. "May the spirit of the cosmos guide our steps."
"One more thing Mr. Treacle, I suggest you first visit the planet called Arctos. There is a man, he may be hard to find, and he may not want to help you. If you can convince him how important Faye Grimm is...