“This just went from bad to suck,” Zane commented once the message was over. “Do you think he notified Force Commander Hylaeus of the situation?”
“Cas is a shrewd operator. He spent most of his youth around the worst the Exodus Wars could throw at him. If anyone knows to trust nothing to chance, it's him. Let's get this boat moving, Lance Sergeant.”
“Aye, ma'am.” Zane switched over to his comm with the pilot. “L.T. Swan this is Zane. We're one hundred percent locked. Ramp is up and seals are reading green. Break for atmo on your go.”
“Good copy, Lance Sergeant. Tell her majesty to hold on to her precious backside. Chasing the sky to Objective Domino.”
“Roger that, L.T. Although I think I'll keep your last comment to myself.”
“Your call, L.S. Swan out.”
The engines on the Odin's Folly went from a slight whine to a full throaty roar. Zane stood from his jump seat, wrapping his leg around the support strut just in case Swan decided to jump them into the air. He made a clasping motion with his hands above his head to warn the Devil Hunters to lock into their kit, lids included. He wobbled a bit as the shuttle switched on its repulsors then dropped to his seat, buckling into the restraint harness.
The assault shuttle pushed with the full power of its drive engines. G-forces argued against the ship's inertial dampeners on its frenetic climb to escape the planet. Some of the lancers strained in their harnesses as the two opposing forces battled for dominance over the pit of their stomachs. Zane hadn't liked the armored shoe box they'd arrived in, but he did like the pilot. The one in command of this gun boat even drove angry. He figured she was trying to screw the pooch enough on her current assignment to be busted back to the Elysian Navy. There was no way she could have tried this nonsense in the lancers. They would have processed her out in a hot minute with a black mark on her record dark enough to have her rated as a toilet scrubber. Maybe it was lucky for her she wasn't a lancer.
Twenty
Kel watched from the cockpit as the hangar deck he was on went from quiet to chaotic. Scores of workers flooded the area moving purposefully. Spotting the workers from earlier who had been infected by the nanites, he wondered how many of them had been converted to the Swarm.
“How're we looking?” Kat asked, dropping into the co-pilot's chair.
“We just got the call from the Flight Boss to stay on station and remain inside the shuttle with the ramp closed. Apparently my bestie, Mr. Phoenix, wants us here in case anything happens. He also sent his apology for the rough treatment you got down in the commo pit.”
Kat inclined her head at the last statement.
Flashing a thumb's up, Kel snickered. “Yeah, we're going out later for drinks and to braid each other's hair.”
“He did have nice hair.” Kat said with envy.
“How's mine?”
“You have helmet head.”
Kel pointed out to the dock. The workers pushed carts bearing loads of canisters. They were neatly aligned in three columns of two facing the entry ports for the hangar. Once in place, the mob stayed perfectly still. They appeared as a horde of mannequins waiting for the store to open in order to fill some dread agenda.
“Is it me or is it seriously disturbing to have them just standing like that?”
“It's not you, Kel,” Kat answered. “All this time we assumed that the Swarmers were just jerks. It could be that they modified the tech for some form of mind control.”
“Is that even possible?”
“You should go out there and ask them.”
Kel flicked Kat's helmet. “You first.”
Tolin came over the line, “The repair ship is docking in the hangar bay behind yours. I can patch you into the feed if you like.”
They brought up the image to float between the two seats. The hulking hangar bay was just as immense as the one they were in, save for the columns of workers ready to do some master's bidding. Instead, Work-Captain Phang led a host of guards waiting for the ramp to drop. The militant group all carried electro-pikes, a tool normally reserved for livestock and the predators that stalk them. One particularly twitchy enforcer seemed to enjoy triggering the force charge to arc along the fork-like ends of the weapon.
Phang barked something toward the service ship, slamming the end of his pike into the deck for emphasis. Slowly, huddled groups of people hesitantly began descending the ramp. The procession was short, totaling no more than fifty. Once clear from the service shuttle, the guardsmen proceeded to arrange them into rows. As they lined up, the service shuttle pulled up its ramp on its way back out of the bay. It made for space, leaving the motley group of soon to be indentured servants with their new creditors.
Kel shook his head. “We know what comes next. Too bad we still have to dock with the station or we could go down there and help them.”
“Right now, the only thing we can do is wait.”
Minutes ticked by like hours. Kel spent the time watching the rows of people in their frozen state. When the grisly vista no longer entertained him, he peered to the side of the Humming-Bird to stare out the open hangar door into the emptiness of space. He soon began to fidget, checking the same flight systems multiple times in an attempt to keep his mind occupied.
“Do you mind?” Kat asked, slapping him on the arm.
“I hate waiting.”
“I've never noticed.”
A massive shudder could be felt throughout the freighter. Whirring noises followed by massive clangs echoed through the superstructure.
Kat studdied the feeds from Tolin. “How are they locking onto the ship?”
Kel pointed beyond the view screen, “They close a portion of the blast doors to narrow the gap of the hangar, and the station attaches to us with a magna-locked docking collar.”
“Does the atmospheric shield stay up?”
“Usually. You never know when something could come tumbling through space to shred the collar.” Kel punched into his how hand, making a smacking noise. “Wouldn't want everyone working in the bay to get sucked out into space.”
Almost on cue, a hover sled with rotating yellow light bars floated across the docking collar. A small group of men jumped from the vehicle with handheld scanners working over the first carts. Once checked, they directed the robotic workers to load the first shipment of colabrium onto a conveyor set into the middle of the docking collar.
“Oh, man. This is going to take a while,” Kel said with more than a little disappointment in his tone.
“It'll all be worth it.” Kat pushed a portion of the feed over to Kel's HUD. “See that black case on the back of the sled?”
Kel's interest was piqued at the mention of the container, “That looks like it could hold fifty mil in trade bars. I guess we know how the Chens are going to take payment.”
“Question is, how are we going to steal it?” Kat asked.
“We'll do what we always do.”
“Improvise?”
“Hey. You say problem, I say ‘cleverly disguised opportunity for greatness!’” Kel smirked.
“One of these days that bravado is going to catch up with you.”
Kel nudged into his co-pilot. “I'm sure you'll be right next to me to remind me when it does.”
A flashing message indicator appeared in Kel's HUD. He shared the link with Kat before toggling it on.
“Kel, Kat, are you in the Hangar with the docking collar?”
“Orin, where are you.” Kat asked.
“Making our way to you now. Tolin, are you online?”
“Right here,” Tolin answered almost immediately.
“We need you to take control of section forty-one, airlock two. That's directly below the docking collar. Disable the security alarm for the hatch and open it. I'll ping you once we're inside. You can continue to cover Kel and Kat until they make it out of there.”
“Did you find a way to dock the Baby Doll to the outside of the ship?” Kel asked.
“Nope. We decided to walk ov
er. So worth it. The view out here is killer,” Fluff cooed like a cat happy to have a fresh ball of yarn.
“Orin, it's Kat. We have a lot more people here than were listed in Chen's black book for this operation. There was supposed to be no more than fifty people. There has to be at least twice that. Not to mention the ship is considerably bigger than we thought. I know we planned to take it, but even with our new friends joining us, do we have the numbers to pull it off?”
Lasher chirped into the comm. “We have a plan. Make sure to stay on comms for when we cross back over the Outer Boundary. That's when the real fireworks go off.”
“Alright, Tolin. We're inside the airlock. Cycle us in,” Lasher ordered.
“Can you tell him to hurry it up. This is a little cramped,” Jester said, slapping away Justice's arm folded over the top of his chassis.
“Locked in. Atmosphere is stable. The passage outside the chamber is clear.” Tolin said.
“Good job, Tolin. We're on the move.”
Lasher was first out of the hatch. The Chimera pistol swept down one side of the hall until he dropped into a crouch with it extended in front of him. Fluff followed in his man-panther form, sweeping the opposite side of the hall with the shoulder mounted blaster cannons.
“Clear,” came the stereo reply.
The Card Arkana flowed into the passage. Their frames were smoking from the temperature difference on the outside of the ship. Tarot was the last to exit. Her M-721-X blaster carbine was carried at the patrol ready. She slithered into the hall, barely making a sound as she walked by the bots to stand between Fluff and Orin.
“Justice, is the cargo secure?”
“Yes, Madame.”
“Good. Lasher, where do we go from here.”
“We can find a RAP on any floor but remote access won't give us much control over the entire system.”
Fluff cleared his digital throat. “Not that I don't love sitting in a hallway and acting the target but we're sitting in a hallway like big targets. Can we move please?”
“Passage. A hallway on a ship is a passage,” Jester said with his finger raised high.
“You know what they call a bot blown into a million pieces on a ship? The same thing they call it everywhere else. Scrap.”
Lasher nudged his partner with his elbow. “On point. We'll fold in behind you.”
The group moved in a staggered chain behind the mech as it stalked down the passage. They came to a hatch that opened once he was in front of it. Fluff darted inside. There was a smattering of noise then the Doom Cat reported. “Storage locker. Doesn't look like it's been used in a while. Good place for us to hide out.”
Tarot shut the hatch behind them once her Cards had entered the room. “Seal the door.”
A port in Jester's hand opened to vent a stream of light blue flame. Sparks jumped from the door at the applied torch, fusing the hatch to the frame. He repeated the process twice more producing heavy welds on the door.
Tarot checked the seal. Pleased with his work she took a moment to pat Jester on the shoulder on her way to one of the remote access ports along the wall. She pulled a puck from the pouches on her belt, attaching it to the access lug. After sliding a data card into it, the gadget lit up, producing a hologram of Morpheus' head and shoulders.
“Greetings, Madame. Do I have another body ready?”
“Not yet, Morpheus. We're phase two on Operation Trap Spider. Upload now.”
“Of course, Madame.”
The hologram faded, replaced by a series of indicator lights blinking around the interface. Whizzing noises of the node being dialed ceased as the lights winked out. Tarot took the contraption from the wall and buried it back into her gun belt. “Morpheus?”
“I'm in the system, Madame. It will take me a moment to clone and subvert the ship-board AI before I kill it to upload my own. This vessel is immense. A great deal of its functions are being run by the system. My timing must be precise or we could put the ship in jeopardy.”
“Do what you can, Morpheus. See that you loop in the rest of the team.”
“Of course, Madame.”
“Kel, How are we looking on the cross load?” Lasher asked into his newly placed combat mask. He’d stripped out of the vac-suit he'd used on his bound to the airlock, and relocated weapons and equipment now that he was sporting his usual attire.
“Looks like they've sorted through a quarter of what's listed on the manifest. Raastrider are being sticklers for the scanning process. The hangar boss doesn't seem too worried though. Probably because this is the only part of the operation that's legit, if you don't count the Swarm-controlled folks on the deck.”
Lasher pushed for more information. “How much longer?”
“If I had to guess based on the work flow, twenty minutes, if that.”
“Roger that. Eyes and ears open. Lasher out.”
“So does anyone have a song they want to sing or maybe want to hear me tell a joke?” The tight space still left enough room for the crew to turn and glare at Jester.
Fluff broke the silence with a well timed verse. “I'm a clueless bot, that chuckles a lot. My jokes aren't even funny. They broke me in half, to sell off the scrap. They sold my corpse for money.”
“That was actually quite good,” Temperance added after a moment.
“I'm multifaceted.”
Morpheus came online, projecting his persona into everyone’s HUD. “Madame. I am currently overwriting the AI that controls the ship. Some systems might go offline briefly. Core procedures running on a separate network, like life support and gravity, will be unaffected.”
“Thank you, Morpheus.” Tarot responded.
“Madame, there’s more. The bulk of the freighter has been outfitted for hauling large cargo. There is a shipment being held off the manifest on deck’s four through seven. The system is using an encryption cypher I’ve only seen used on Sidian.”
“What’s Sidian?” Lasher asked.
“It’s the moon on the planet Neroba,” Tarot replied. “It's also rumored to be the current home of the Dreadmarr. Very little of the tech employed there is seen outside of the moon. Can you break it?”
Morpheus was rubbing the back of his holographic head. “No, Madame.”
“Then we have to peek at what’s down there,” Justice said. “Wouldn't be wise to take the ship without seeing everything, just in case they've packed several holds full of explosives. That would turn our good fortune to bad, real fast.” He adjusted the magna-lock on his Vortex blaster.
“We have the ship’s eyes. In moments, I’ll have the doors.”
“Thank you, Morpheus,” Tarot said, removing the grenades from the pump action launcher beneath the 715-X. She reloaded it with grenades of alternating colored bands just above the rim of the casing.
“Rather than going out there and risking exposure, if Morpheus can get us an into the system, maybe we can unlock it,” Tolin said across the comm.
“I don’t think so, sir. It's using panamorphic encryption protocols to –”
“What did you just say?” Kat interrupted over the comm.
“The encryption for the cargo holds is making them appear as though they are shut down for maintenance. However, I can't see into the holds to verify this. The protocol they're using is making them appear offline to anyone running a scan. The only reason I know they're full is that I'm monitoring the fuel usage and power outputs to all levels. There is something inside drawing power, ma'am.”
“Wow. You just got ma'am-ed. Don't you know you never call a woman a ma'am unless she's too old to chase you down to smack you for it?” Fluff snickered into the net.
Morpheus rolled his eyes toward the mech. “Does something about the encryption trouble you, Miss?”
“I’ve got the Chen notebook with me,” she reminded them. “It’s a broadcast unit for the Chen cartel. It uses the same structure for a type of meeting software loaded into it. I wonder if I could use it to interface with the ship?”
“That is logical, sir,” Morpheus agreed. “I would suggest the most logical course of action is to send Romeo down, masquerading as one of the crew or one of the servitors I am currently monitoring throughout the ship.”
“Do it,” Tarot nodded to Morpheus.
Both the bot and the hologram signed their affirmation to their leader, heading back to their assigned tasks.
“Jester, leave the welds in place, I'll crawl my way out of this access hatch so I can come out somewhere else in the ship,” Romeo said as he pulled the grate from the vent above their heads. A quick lift from Justice saw him disappear into the ductwork.
“Feeling claustrophobic,” came a muffled voice from within Justice.
“Let her out,” Tarot motioned to the bot.
His chest plate folded down, revealing a space filled by a small woman. Savoya dropped down, straightening the flight suit under the light body armor she wore. “Not that I don't love you, Juicy, I just don't want to spend all day stuck in that tiny compartment.”
“I didn't even notice she was missing,” Fluff harrumphed.
“Be nice, Fluff.” Lasher chided.
“You be nice. She tried to carve you up and she stuck a burning sword in my shoulder.”
“After you grabbed her by the head and slammed her into a wall like a murder ball.”
The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2) Page 26
