by M. D. Cooper
When she was no longer tethered, and the light had turned green, she pulled Lovell’s core and threaded her way through the forest of titanium cylinders to a mobile frame Darla had pointed out.
It was shaped like a tall, lithe man, and if she had spotted it out in the station, Tanis would never have guessed it was an AI frame. A slot hung open on the chest, and she slid Lovell’s cylinder into it.
Then it turned to face the still-open door on Lovell’s cylinder.
She was about to advance on Fred once more, maybe slice off his weapon arms, when another mech frame surged forward from a rack on the wall, rushing toward Fred’s and crashing into it, knocking it back from the entrance and into the corridor beyond.
Darla ordered.
Tanis glanced back at Lovell.
She assumed he was behind her, hopefully gauging her pace well enough to not run into her back. Normally, in a combat situation, they’d use special random IFF frequencies to maintain awareness of one another’s positions, but they hadn’t had time to set that up.
Once in the corridor, Tanis jogged past the mech frame Darla was controlling as it struggled with Fred, praying her AI could keep him at bay long enough.
Fred managed to fire a few random pulse blasts out into the corridor, but by some miracle, none caught Tanis with more than a glancing blow, and the one that did hit, struck her right arm, and was easily absorbed by the prosthetic limb.
Ten minutes later, she was out on Section 12’s main sweep, a maglev platform just a few hundred meters away.
Tanis had to agree. Navigating crowds while invisible was a nightmare. By the time she’d managed to find a corner on a relatively empty maglev car, she’d caused two arguments between people thinking that someone else had bumped into them.
Darla said as the maglev took off.
Tanis breathed a sigh of relief. They were almost home free.
Well, home free before we begin the most dangerous part of all this.
She had mixed feelings about involving the rest of her crew. Keeping them out of this mess had been a major motivation for her over the past few days, but now that the MPs had pulled them in and questioned them—not to mention how Connie and Lovell had been abducted—she knew that keeping them at arm’s length wasn’t protecting them: it was putting them at risk.
Harm had sent her a location to meet with her crew, a bar in Sector 33, one kilometer from where the Norse Wind waited for them in Bay 8129.
The place bore a rather welcoming name, ‘The Pig’s Ass’. When Tanis entered, she could see that it was well-earned.
The ‘Ass’ was a period tavern that was made to look like it was straight out of the sixteen hundreds, or some ancient time like that. Tanis never really got the appeal of dirty period taverns, but a lot of soldiers and sailors did, making bars like it quite popular.
She spotted her crew occupying a long table at the back of the bar, and was surprised to see everyone there. Connie sat at the end closest to the door, and next to her was Lieutenant Jeannie. Lieutenant Smythe sat across from them, and next to him was Corporal Marian, followed by her breach team: Privates Yves, Susan, and Lukas.
At the end of the table, their heads together and chuckling about something, were Connie’s E-3s: Seamus and Liam, seeming unperturbed by their ship to Ceres having been recalled.
Tanis walked around the table and settled into the vacant space between Smythe and Seamus.
“So, what’s good here?” she asked, causing Smythe to jump and Seamus to burst out laughing.
“Commander?” Marian asked from across the table. “You need to be more careful. They’ll be listening with us here.”
“Don’t worry,” Tanis replied. “Between Darla and Harm, they have the audio pickups tackled. Vid’s a bit harder, so I’ll keep my shimmersuit on. In theory, Lovell is here, too.”
“Down here.” Lovell’s voice came from the foot of the table. “Don’t order anything on my account, though, this frame can’t ingest food.”
“OK, Commander, what the hell is going on?” Smythe asked in a soft voice that carried no small amount of ire. “Connie told us that the people we took out on the Norse Wind are behind all this?”
“Plus Admiral Deering,” Tanis replied. “And an Admiral Kiaan of the SWSF. Oh, and they’ve stolen the Kirby Jones.”
“Motherfucker!” Connie swore. “Harm didn’t share that tidbit when he got me to set up this meeting. What the hell?”
“Don’t worry,” Tanis smiled, then realized no one could see it, and added a devious chuckle. “We’re going to steal it back, and we’re going to do it with the Norse Wind.”
“With that tub?” Connie asked. “I don’t even know if it can catch the Jones, let alone come close to taking it in a fight.”
“Well, we’ll have to figure something out,” Tanis replied. “We don’t exactly have our pick of ships, and the Wind is slated to be moved to impound in three hours—so if we’re not there to take it, we’ll miss our window.”
“So we’re going to fake our way onto the Norse Wind as the impound crew?” Marian asked with a mischievous grin. “I kinda like this.”
“Well, I haven’t officially asked you if you’re all in. This is a point-of-no-return sort of thing.”
“Commander,” Connie spoke up, looking up and down the table. “I think I speak for everyone here when I say that not only do we have faith in you, but we’re not going to let the fucking SWSF steal our ship. Most of us have spent a few years on the Jones—and with you as our captain. We believe you, and we’re behind you every step of the way. Now how do we get past the MPs?”
Tanis was glad that the shimmersuit hid the flush on her cheeks as her chief of engineering spoke. “Thanks Connie, and everyone else, too. I’ll understand if anyone doesn’t want to go through with this; you can head out now, no judgment.”
Not a single person so much as shifted in their seats, and a smile split Tanis’s lips.
“You’re all the best, you know that?”
“Of course we do,” Marian said with a grin. “Now about getting past those MPs?”
“Harm told me he has creds sourced,” Tanis replied, getting down to business. “But we’re going to need uniforms as well.”
Connie ran a hand through her dark, curly hair. “Ten is a pretty big crew to take a ship like the Wind out to an impound yard. The MPs will raise an eyebrow at that.”
“Well,” Smythe said after downing half of his beer in one gulp. “I know a guy who works tugs. He owes me a favor. I could get myself, Jeannie, and maybe Seamus and Liam onto a tug. We can have it dock with the Norse Wind after we pull it away from the station. Get it onboard that way.”
“I like that,” Connie said while tapping a finger on her chin. “Only we don’t undock the tug, we leave it there. Heck, any chance your favor with your friend is big enough to
cash in for two tugs? The Wind is a clunky ship; I could see them using a pair to pull it away from the station. Keeping them with the ship can give us a serious boost.”
Smythe pursed his lips. “That’s gonna be a big favor, Connie. Two tugs that we don’t send back is a favor that has to be worth a career.”
“I can get one of the STC AIs to fudge the logs on the tugs coming back in,” Lovell said from the foot of the table. “I’m owed a favor or two, as well.”
“OK, so that gets the team onto the Norse Wind,” Tanis confirmed. “Then we just have to catch the Jones, and board her.”
“Then we’d better bring some serious gear.” Corporal Marian glanced at her team. “Luckily, I have a cousin who runs a supply outfit. We’ll have to pack it up in some supply crates; we can claim they are for the trip out to the impound yard.”
“Really?” Tanis asked, mouth agape. “Stars, I could have used some gear a few days ago.”
Marian adopted a wounded expression. “I’m hurt you didn’t hit me up, Commander.”
“And Harm?” Connie asked. “Will he be coming along?”
“No,” Tanis shook her head. “He has to maintain his cover here.”
“Well then,” Marian stood and stretched. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. T-minus three hours.”
“Less,” Tanis corrected. “Airlock door closes in three hours.”
The corporal glanced at her team, speaking loudly. “Food here blows, lads and lady. I know a way better place, and with better company, too.” With that, she turned and led Susan, Yves, and Lukas out of the bar.
Connie glanced at Seamus and Liam. “You two scoundrels, stay here until I call for you. Don’t get into any trouble.”
“Lovell and I will get down to the bay and try to get on the ship early,” Tanis said. “Worst-case, we wait for you and slip on then.”
“That leaves you two,” Connie nodded to Jeannie and Smythe.
“Jeannie needs to come with me,” Smythe said with a slow wink. “Actually, Seamus and Liam should, too. It will take all four of us to do the favor, and we have to move fast if we’re to do it and get on those tugs in time for the departure.”
“Do I want to know?” Tanis asked.
Smythe shook his head. “No, you really don’t.”
“What about me? Do I want to know?” Jeannie asked.
A wink was all she got from Smythe, and she glowered at him. “This had better work!”
“It’ll work,” Smythe said as he stood. “And then we’ll never speak of it again.”
BACK ON THE WIND
STELLAR DATE: 01.22.4084 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Norse Wind, Bay 8129, Sector 33
REGION: Vesta, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
Tanis was ready to start gnawing on her nails when she finally saw Connie enter the bay on the ship’s external feeds. She was wearing a StarCharger uniform—one of the contract firms that managed hauling ships out to impound yards. Behind her came the four members of the breach team.
“Surprising they got past the MPs, what with their faces not disguised,” Lovell said from his place at the pilot’s console.
Tanis nodded as she leant back in the command chair, centered on the small bridge. “Maybe Harm worked some magic for them.”
“STC has just confirmed our place in the departure queue,” Lovell announced. “And we have two tugs assigned. I guess someone reported our mass wrong, and our ship looks huuuuuuge.”
Darla made a snorting sound.
Tanis continued to watch the feeds, as Marian and her team pulled three crates up the ramp and into the airlock, cycling it shut a scant two minutes before the external bay doors were slated to open.
She kept one eye glued on the feeds, half waiting for MPs to come storming into the bay, like they had the last time. If they did, she wasn’t sure that she’d stand down.
I won’t kill them, but if we can get out of the bay…I’ll do it. I’m done with this mess. We’re getting the Jones back, and Deering is going to clear my name with her own guilt.
“You’ve got that look in your eye,” Connie said as she entered the bridge.
“What look?” Tanis asked.
“The one that says, ‘I’ll kill anyone who gets in my way, and then some’,” the engineer replied with a smirk.
“Don’t you have a ship to go over?” she retorted.
Connie slid into an auxiliary console. “Lovell’s already run all the pre-flight. Everything looks good—they were repairing this ship for a flight out to the Disk before they switched to the Jones. I can run things from up here just as well as down there.”
“You just want to watch the action on the big holodisplay,” Tanis said with a knowing smirk.
“You got me, Commander.”
The ship shuddered as the docking cradle’s clamps disengaged, and the ship began to slide toward the bay doors.
“Buckle in,” Tanis called out on the 1MC for Marian and her team’s benefit. “About to drop.”
“You got it, Commander,” Marian replied on the audible ship’s comms. “We’re good to go down here.”
The ship rolled to the edge of the bay doors, and then the docking cradle extended its armatures, holding the ship out over the rim of the bay.
The Vesta Ring’s tangential velocity would impart thirteen hundred meters per second of v to the Norse Wind the instant the arms let go. From there, the tugs would meet up with the ship and set it on a course for the impound yard, which trailed Vesta by four light seconds, centered around an asteroid named Horax.
Of course, the Norse Wind would never arrive at Horax.
Right before the clamps let go, a message came in from Harm.
Tanis replied with a simple acknowledgement. She knew that Harm had his hands full with keeping eyes off the Norse Wind and what it was about to get up to.
“Cradle is dropping us in five, four, three, two, one!” Lovell announced, though the readout on the bridge’s main holoscreen also held the information.
The instant he said ‘one’, the comfortable feeling of about 0.7g disappeared, and the unnerving sensation of organs shifting in her torso came over Tanis, though it was less noticeable than previous transitions into zero-g.
I guess it’s because less of my insides are organic, she thought as the ship fell away from Vesta.
A call came over the ship-to-ship comms, and Tanis toggled it on the audible systems.
“Freighter Norse Wind, this is Tug Ninety-Seven Aaaaalpha One, here with tug Eighty-Twooooo Charlie Foxtrot, we’re ready to latch on and give you a coooorective boost to get you headed off to Hooooorax.”
The voice was, of course, Lieutenant Smythe’s, and he’d given every possible word the worst drawl it could support.
“Is that how you think tug operators talk?” Connie asked.
“He’s not far off,” Jeannie said, her voice coming in from Tug 82-CF. “I have to listen to those doofuses all the time. That’s actually a pretty tame rendition.”
“We deserve hazard pay for having to deal with them,” Smythe added. “We’re coming in on the port and starboard anchor points. Once we’re latched on, we’ll EV into the Wind and then we can boost on out.”
“We’ll correct for Horax first,” Tanis advised. “I want to get out of Vesta’s nearspace before we adjust course and burn for the Jones.”
“Do we know where she is yet?” Connie asked.
Connie rolled her eyes.
“Well,
” Tanis said with a wink. “We know where the Norse Wind was going. Lovell ferreted it out of their logs.”
“Oh yeah?” Connie asked.
Lovell cast a smug look over his shoulder and nodded at Connie. “Yup, they were headed for Eris. Which is close to the same vector the Wind here was on when we first ordered it to heave to.”
The main holodisplay changed to a view of space surrounding Vesta out to one AU.
“They only left fourteen hours ago at most. If they really poured it on, that’s the max range the Jones could manage in that time. However, I doubt they would have hit the burners that hard; it would make our girl stand out a lot.”
“Not to mention that it would melt the engines long before they got to Eris,” Connie groused.
“Right,” Tanis nodded, drawing a red arc just over half an AU from Vesta. “Chances are they’ve not yet crossed this line—or if they have, only just. They’re also most likely within this cone.”
Tanis added a yellow cone to the display, rotating it to show the 3D nature of the possible trajectory.
“We need to look at every drive signature boosting out in that cone,” Connie said. “We’ll find them.”
“Good,” Tanis nodded. “Because once we have them, I want to pour on every ounce of speed this shit-box has. We’ll head right for them, and do a flying breach.”
“Are you serious?” Connie asked, her face going pale. “If you miss, you’re screwed.”
“She’s right,” Lovell turned in his seat, and locked his eyes on Tanis’s. “Flying breaches aren’t accepted doctrine for a reason.”
Darla joined in the conversation.
FLYING BREACH
STELLAR DATE: 01.24.4084 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Norse Wind, Outer rim of Main Asteroid Belt
REGION: Vesta, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
The Kirby Jones was within optical range, its engine flare only two million kilometers off the Norse Wind’s bow.
Tanis watched the delta-v between the two ships continue to climb, feeling more and more nervous about the maneuver she and her team would soon attempt.
