Gravity Flux: Kestrel Class Saga Book 3

by Toby Neighbors

“Don’t shoot at them,” Ben said. “Get down here and we’ll close the hatch. They won’t be able to get in and we can hold them off.”

  “Sure,” Magnum said.

  Ben didn’t think the big man was actually agreeing with him, but there was nothing more Ben could do. He had to focus on completing the work on the art grav genny or they wouldn’t make it off Torrent Four.

  He stripped the power supply and got shocked in the process.

  “Ouch!” Ben shouted.

  “Are you hurt?” Jones asked.

  “No, just got a shock. Can you disable the power to the artificial gravity generator?”

  “If you walk me through it,” Jones said.

  “I’ve got it,” Nance said. “There, it’s down. Don’t be careless, Ben.”

  “Tell me about it,” he replied.

  He snipped the power line, then began soldering a new wire to it. Once he finished, he still needed to run the new power conduit up through the top of the housing, which would require cutting a hole in the metal sheeting. Or so he thought, but then inspiration struck him. He could just pull it off and leave it, at least until there was time to refit the casing properly.

  “Professor, can you get up there and remove the metal housing on top of this unit?” Ben asked.

  “Of course, of course,” the older man said.

  It just might work, Ben thought. He might have enough time to get the modification working. It would draw more power, but they had enough to spare, especially if they weren’t using the deflector shields. And if the flux shielding worked, there would be no need to outrun their enemies. They could fly right through a battle without a single scratch. It seemed too good to be true, and in Ben’s experience when things seemed that good, they were usually an illusion. But the shielding was his own idea, or at least an adaptation of the professor’s theoretical work. Ben had turned the concepts and research into a practical application that could be applied to the Echo. That thought gave him a sliver of hope. If he could just get it finished, they might make it off Torrent Four alive.

  “Ben, we have a problem,” Nance said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ben replied.

  “No, I’m sorry. Can you come up here?”

  “There’s no time for that,” Ben snapped. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Okay, I will,” Nance said. “I’ve got good visuals on the Scalpers. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure.”

  Ben felt a tremor of fear. Not only did Nance sound nervous, but she was actually rambling just a little bit. He didn’t know if the Scalpers had some type of weapon, or if perhaps they were working with the Security Force Magnum insisted were out there in the salvage field somewhere. His hands shook as she began screwing a bolt into the new component to hold it in place.

  “But I can see her and there’s no doubt, not anymore,” Nance continued. “It’s Kim. They’ve got Kim with them.”

  Chapter 22

  “What?” Ben said, pulling back from his work so that the new component on the artificial gravity generator dangled precipitously.

  “It’s Kim,” Nance said. “They have her.”

  “No,” Ben said. “That’s impossible.”

  “I can see her. She looks rough,” Kim said.

  “The bastards,” Ben said angrily. He walked away from the artificial gravity generator.

  “Where are you going?” Jones asked.

  “To get my rifle,” Ben said. “Magnum, where are you?”

  The big man didn’t answer. Ben’s blood was beginning to boil. He could see that the rear hatch was closed as he opened his storage compartment and pulled out one of the Lancet AR laser weapons. He checked the charge to make sure it was at full. He twisted the dial that activated the power supply. The Lancet came to life with a slight hum. The batteries amped up with a slight keening noise that rose in pitch. Ben checked the rifle’s safety switch. It was in the safe position, but a flick of his thumb and the weapon would be ready to shoot.

  “Magnum?” Ben asked. “What’s going on?”

  “I think he turned off his com-link,” Nance said. “And he’s not in the ship.”

  “Is he still on top?”

  “No,” Nance said. “I think he circled around, but he’s out of sight. It’s hard to say where he is.”

  Ben ran up the stairs and looked at the big display screen. The Scalpers were moving across the salvage field in a scraggly line. A line of text showed that they were only a mile out.

  “Where is she?” Ben asked.

  The picture zoomed in on a woman that Ben recognized instantly. She did look rough. He could even see a patch of red on her leg. Her hair was disheveled and there were smudge marks on her face and hands.

  “Damn!” Ben said.

  “They’re taking their time,” Nance said. “Why don’t you keep working until they get closer?”

  “Or why don’t we power up the lasers and show them what they’re messing with?” Ben said, knowing it was a stupid and futile thing to say.

  “You know why,” Nance replied. “They would kill her.”

  “I’m not giving up the ship,” Ben said.

  “We might not have a choice,” Nance said.

  “No, Magnum has a plan. He wouldn’t have gone out there if he didn’t.”

  “What if his plan is to sacrifice himself to help us get away?” Nance said. “That would be just like him, the big dope.”

  “You don’t really believe that,” Ben said.

  “Don’t tell me what I believe,” she said angrily. There were tears in her eyes. “I love him. I’d rather die with him than live without him.”

  At that instant, Ben realized he felt the same way. He loved Kim. He had planned to come back for her. He didn’t want to be without her. Perhaps Magnum had been right. Perhaps bargaining was their best option.

  Jones came slowly up the stairs. He looked old and tired, but Ben knew how incredibly valuable the professor was. Not to mention just how dangerous the man’s plans for a gravity flux rocket were. He couldn’t let Jones be captured.

  “Power up the engines,” Ben said. “I’m going to talk to them.”

  “Who will pilot the ship?” Nance asked.

  “You will. If they kill me, take off.”

  “And go where?”

  “Anywhere,” Ben said. “I’ll try to negotiate with them. If they’re willing, I’ll trade the ship for our lives.”

  “And if they’re not willing?” Nance asked.

  “Then you take the professor and get as far away from them as you can. Go back to Tortuga and wait for us. Magnum and I will find a way to get to you.”

  “You’ll be dead,” Nance said. “And we’ll be dead or captured.”

  Better to be in the hands of the Fleet than in the hands of Scalpers,” Ben said. “Professor, gather your research. If we’re captured, you have to destroy it.”

  “Y-yes… Of course,” the older man said, starting up the stairs.

  Ben checked to make sure his com-link was off. Then he bent down and whispered in Nance’s ear.

  “They can’t take him alive,” Ben told her. “His plans are too dangerous.”

  “I know,” Nance said. “How did we get here, Ben? I don’t believe this is happening.”

  “We’re here because of me,” Ben said. “I brought us here. I ran Kim off. I thought we could get what we needed and escape with none the wiser because I’m a fool.”

  Ben stood up straight, slung the rifle over his shoulder and walked resolutely down the stairs. It went against every fiber of his being to leave a task unfinished in the engineering bay. Another half an hour and he could have the new flux shield up and running. But there was no way to test it, and if the Scalpers got his ship, he didn’t want them to have it.

  For a moment he even considered scuttling the ship. The odds that the outlaws would actually let them go in peace were astronomical. But he wouldn’t trade them a ship that didn’t fly. He wouldn’t risk them c
oming after his friends if there was even a sliver of hope that they might let them go. And if Nance had to get away, she wouldn’t be able to do it if he sabotaged the ship.

  He left the cargo door closed and went through the air lock. It was the perfect fallback position. He propped the Lancet AR inside the air lock and left the outer door open. He could see the Scalpers across the salvage field. They were getting closer. Ben felt his hope fading, like an ember in a fire with nothing left to burn. The glow was dying, and he knew that if he wasn’t careful, he and his friends were next.

  Chapter 24

  Magnum had slipped off the front of the ship. He almost twisted his knee in the drop as he landed on the unstable debris, but he dropped into a roll that moved him under the body of the ship. The Echo didn’t have large struts like some vessels, and the trash beneath her landing gear was crushed down by the weight of the ship. There were only a few feet of clearance between the bottom of the ship and the junk under her. Magnum moved like a ghost through the narrow space without making a sound.

  The best-case scenario would be to flank the group of Scalpers and time a coordinated attack with Ben and Nance. But the last thing he wanted was for the woman he loved to be firing a weapon at outlaws. Nor did he give the group much of a chance. He had seen Kim with the Scalpers, which meant that, in all likelihood, Ben would either run or try to negotiate. Either way, he needed an asset on the ground, one that could take out anyone who tried to hurt Kim. If he could rescue her, they might even manage to find a way to contact their shipmates and get off Torrent Four in one piece.

  He was under the starboard wing and about to circle around behind it when he caught sight of something about a hundred feet away. It was a slight movement, perhaps some bit of junk flapping in the breeze. But there was no wind. It could have been a small animal, but Magnum didn’t think so. He lifted his rifle and looked through the scope. There was a man-sized mound of junk that seemed to be slightly out of place. Most of the trash and debris in the salvage fields had settled over time, but what Magnum saw was loose garbage. He began to move toward it, staying low, moving from cover to cover. The salvage fields were heaped with discarded ship parts. Most of it from vessels that had been blasted apart thousands of feet up and left to fall to the ground. There was so much of the larger debris that Magnum had no trouble moving from piece to piece and using the old, rusty junk to hide his movements.

  He angled around and moved toward the mound of debris he’d seen from the ship’s wing engine. There was no way to know if it was just fresh junk, perhaps moved by someone digging through the debris the way that Ben did. The cunning engineer had a knack for finding treasures in the endless fields littered with junk and trash. Magnum slung his rifle and drew his laser pistol, then moved in.

  He stopped right beside the mound of trash. It was almost impossible to see the man beneath what looked like a dirty blanket the color of rust, covered with bits of junk. Some were the size of Magnum’s thumb, others were as large as his head, but as the big man leaned closer, he could see that it wasn’t really dirty, or even rusty, but painted to appear that way.

  Magnum drew his knife, it was a big, thick blade. A fighting knife that could puncture sheet metal and chop through molded plastic. He put the point down in the middle of the trash-covered ghillie suit and pressed slightly. To his credit, the man beneath the camouflage didn’t cry out or move.

  “Do anything and I’ll drive this blade straight through you,” Magnum said.

  There was no response. Magnum took hold of the edge of the cloth with the same hand that held his pistol and flipped it back. A Royal Imperium commando lay face down on a heap of garbage. Magnum pointed the barrel of his pistol at the man’s temple.

  “How many of you are there?” Magnum said.

  “Go to hell,” the man said.

  Magnum moved the knife to the man’s ear. He let the point slide into the ear canal until he felt resistance. The commando whimpered ever so lightly, but Magnum heard him.

  “How many?”

  “Enough,” the man said.

  “Why are you here?” Magnum said. “You think you can take our ship?”

  “If we wanted that piece of flying junk, we’d have taken her hours ago.”

  “So why are you here?”

  “Look, man, I just go where they tell me. And they don’t bother explaining anything.”

  “What are your orders?”

  “To watch and report,” the man said. “Take video when appropriate.”

  “Why?” Magnum said. “Why not just raid the ship and take us prisoner?”

  “I don’t know,” the man said.

  “Maybe you can answer this question,” Magnum said. “Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”

  “Because you’re too stupid?”

  Magnum rammed the knife into the man’s ear. It punched through cartilage and bone, before stabbing into the man’s brain. The commando began to twitch and spasm. Magnum ripped his com-link free and held to his ear.

  “We have position on either flank,” said one voice.

  “And you’re sure they haven’t spotted you?” asked someone else.

  “No,” said the first voice. “They’re completely focused on the ship. Just give the word and we’ll cut them down.”

  “It’s a textbook crossfire,” said a third voice, a woman by the sound of it. “It’ll be over in seconds.”

  “Roger that,” said the second voice again.

  Magnum moved the tiny speaker away from his ear. It made no sense. Why would the Royal Imperium not take the ship? They had been cut off from the flow of information for a while, but Magnum couldn’t imagine that the Fleet wasn’t eager to capture the Echo—not after the Confederacy posted the video of them blowing up the Imperium space station in the Bannyan system.

  So why sit and wait? Maybe the commando was being honest, and their orders were just to gather intel on the ship. But then why would the Imperium forces fight the Scalpers? The only thing that made sense was that the Fleet wanted the ship, and her crew, to get off Torrent Four. Magnum guessed there were Imperium forces waiting to follow them back to the Confederates, or perhaps they wanted to capture the ship in some other way. The only thing Magnum knew for sure was that something wasn’t right. He had to help his friends, no matter what it cost him.

  Chapter 25

  Nance was at her console. It was the one place in all the galaxy she felt at home. The Modulus Echo was her center, the only place she felt in control. For a girl in a world like Torrent Four, to find a place she felt safe was rare.

  Ben was a big part of that. He had given her tools and resources to build her binary computer system. She hadn’t worried about food, or running into outlaws. The Echo had become a cocoon of protection around her, and the thought of losing her precious ship made her feel sick. Yet she knew they really had no choice. They could give up the ship in exchange for their lives, or the outlaws would take it from them. If not the Scalpers approaching them across the salvage field, it would be the Imperium Fleet, or even the Confederacy.

  Nance knew that she could take off, fly away, and hopefully make a safe landing somewhere else, but the circumstances would be even more dire. She was no leader, and certainly not a pilot. With just herself and the professor on board, they would be captured or maybe crash. None of those options were appealing.

  “I believe we are being hailed,” Jones said. He had returned to the bridge after gathering his sketches and data readers. It was all stuffed into a satchel that sat at his feet.

  Nance snapped out of her nightmarish train of thought she had been caught up in. The older man was looking at her expectantly. Nance activated the ship’s speakers and spoke into her microphone.

  “Hello?”

  “Nance? Thank God I got through. This is Hamish.”

  It took Nance a moment to remember the name. She had never met the Confederate smuggler in person, but she knew his name and that he operated in and out of Torrent Four.
<
br />   “We’re in trouble, Hamish,” Nance said, hoping the smuggler would come to the rescue.

  “That’s the understatement of the century,” he said. “The whole damn Fleet is in orbit. We’re trapped here. What the hell were you all thinking?”

  “What?” Nance said.

  “Where is Ben, or Kim?” Hamish said. “I have a message from our mutual friends.”

  “They’re…busy,” Nance said.

  “Yeah, well, tell them I said thanks for ruining my life. I’ve never heard of so much heat being brought against a single world.”

  “I’m still not sure what you’re referring to.”

  “I’m referring to the armada of Imperium battleships in orbit around Torrent Four. You try to run and you’ll be slagged the moment you break atmo. It’s overkill, bigtime. But then it seems the lot of you don’t know the meaning of the word discreet. Your little video is a hit with all the rebels, but the government isn’t amused. They’re coming for you.”

  “I have no doubt you’re right,” Nance said.

  “Fine, you’ve been warned. Don’t come looking for help from me. I’ve done my bit, and I’m going to disappear while I still can.”

  “Thank you, Hamish.”

  The line went dead, and Nance felt a stab of terror. It was just as she feared. The Imperium was on their trail and they really had nowhere to run. Perhaps leaving the ship was actually the best course of action. They might be stuck on Torrent Four, but maybe they could hide like Hamish.

  “What now?” Jones asked.

  None of her answers were hopeful, but there was a slight chance they might make it through. If anyone could get them out of the predicament they were in, it was Ben. She trusted him, but she couldn’t help but wish that Magnum had stayed close to her.

  “We wait,” Nance said. “Ben will come up with something. He always does.”

  “It seems one way or another, we are going to die.”

  “Maybe,” Nance said. “As you heard, the Confederates have people on this world. Maybe if we can distance ourselves from the ship, we might survive.”

  “Will the outlaws let us live?” Jones asked.