At Lexi’s insistence, the Aeolus team had been training in unarmed combat for the last year and a half. They were all expert at defending themselves and taking out opponents now. These men weren’t in bulky suits. They wore normal uniforms with no armor or padding.
She set her helmet down on the desk and gave them a few seconds to gather around her. She schooled her expression to look excited as she looked at each one. That was easy, it was how she still looked at Ron most of the time. Lexi licked her lips for effect while she reached for the first man, slamming his head down on the desk. One down, probably concussion. The next closest she kicked in the crotch. He bent over, all interest in everything other than his sudden pain forgotten. Second man disabled. She took the third man down with a karate chop to the carotid artery in the neck. Guard shack secured.
She reached over and hauled the man she kicked to his feet, taking his gun as she did so. He wasn’t in a resisting mood at the moment. “Urania,” Lexi asked, “can I kill them all?”
“Sorry, hon. Better not. We’ll explain later.”
Lexi sighed. Turning her attention to the man she was holding, she said, “I need you to make a quick choice. I’m sure you must have restraints in here somewhere. You can either tell me where they are or I can shoot all three of you.”
“Third cabinet on the right.” He didn’t even hesitate. His voice was pained.
Not trusting that the third cabinet on the right wasn’t booby-trapped, Lexi said, “Get them. Three sets, please.” While he was doing that, she asked, “Urania, how are we doing on the flight deck?”
“We’re still short one-hundred-twenty passengers. Your team is attaching the force-field generators.”
She manacled behind his back the arms of the man who was still upright and told him to sit. She put restraints on both the arms and legs of the two she knocked out. Picking up one of the men, she slung him over her shoulder. In this light gravity, he weighted fairly little. She put the extra pair of leg restraints in her helmet and picked it up as well. To the other guy, she said, “Get up and walk toward the transports. I’m going to strap you in. Let me remind you, I’m not adverse to putting a bullet in your head so don’t give me any trouble.” He nodded his head and started walking. Lexi followed.
“This is interesting,” Urania said. “Your life-sign reading was already the strongest on the deck. It just increased.”
“I’m carrying one of the bad guys. The equipment isn’t sensitive enough to separate us. I need Zagem to swing by the guard shack and carry the third guard to one of the transports.”
“I’ll let him know. I have a lot of life-sign data for you to analyze.”
***
The Ostrieachian members of Team Two steadily forced their way through the crowd to the flight deck entrances carrying drone forcefield generators on their backs. Zagem, the largest and strongest of the three, carried two of the devices. Set to block and seal the entrances around the perimeter, when activated they would make interference by the base personnel next to impossible. After the flight deck was airborne, but before she inserted them into hyperspace, at a command from Urania, the four units would detach from the blocked doorways. They were literally drones, capable of limited flight. They were designed to fly into the huge cavern Urania would be leaving behind where they would detonate. The power pack technology used in the forcefield generators was the same as that in the hand-held Zappers. As such, it could not be allowed to fall into other hands.
If anyone opened the hatch after that, they had only themselves to blame for any unfortunate consequences. In reality, it would be difficult for anyone to open any of those hatches once the flight deck was ripped from the base. It could still be done with cutting tools.
Once the field generators were in place, the Ostrieachians headed back into the crowd to begin directing people toward the transports. It wasn’t working. Kalia commed, “Lexi, they’re not moving.”
Lexi, who had not only been watching over the heads of the crowd with her left eye, was watching the flight deck’s sensor feeds, relayed by Urania, on her contact lens, said, “I see that. Go ahead and get your people positioned at the transports. Urania, how are we doing?”
“We haven’t had any stragglers arrive for the last four minutes. They moved quickly. I count six-hundred-and-sixty-nine people on the flight deck. I see a few humans mixed in with the Ostrieachians. Lexi, you also have a number of children on the deck.”
“Damn, we should have expected that.” She sighed. “OK, seal the entrances. It doesn’t affect the evacuation procedure. Keep monitoring and if anyone else does show up, use your judgment as to whether to let them through.” She looked around and shook her head. If they could have packed them all into three of the transports, they could have flown them off the flight deck if needed. But there were too many and none of her remaining Ostrieachians were pilots.
Urania could have easily flown one of the transports, but neither she nor Lexi trusted her capacity to do that while trying to move the flight deck itself through hyperspace. That alone brought her close to the limit of her processing power. “Urania, pipe me into the flight deck broadcast system please. And up the volume.”
“You’re on, Lexi.”
“Everybody, stop and pay attention.” With her voice blasting over the flight deck like a marine drill sergeant’s, everybody settled down remarkably quickly. She spoke perfectly enunciated Trakish, even with the gutturals and thrills of the Ostrieachian language. “Thank you. The announcement you all heard came from my team. It was only partially fake. This base is under attack. By me.” She paused. “I know you’re scared. I know you’re trying to find family members and friends. I’m sorry, that needs to wait. I need your full cooperation for the time being. We’re taking you back to Ostrieachia.” That was met with dead silence as shocked expressions spread across every face she could see.
“There are four transport vessels on the northern quadrant of the deck. Make your way to them. One of my team will meet you at the ramp. Follow their instructions. Board quickly and strap yourselves in. If there are others who need help, give them a hand. We know there are children on the deck. If they’re not already accompanied by an adult, help them get to the ships, even if they’re not yours. We’ll sort you out once you’re home. Start moving now.” Over the headsets Team Two was wearing, she said, “Get them settled. We need to be leaving.”
She took up position at the transport assigned to her and began directing people up the ramp and into the interior. She paused when a group of ten unaccompanied Ostrieachian children approached and looked up at her with frightened eyes. Considering that she was a good two feet taller than most adult Ostrieachians, for the children it was a long way up. Some of the smaller ones were crying as the older ones were leading them by the hand towards the ramp. She repeated, “We’re taking you home kids. We’ll find your families when we get there.” If their families are still alive, she couldn’t help thinking. Maybe they’ll at least have relatives on Ostrieachia. Someone must be taking care of them here.
She said, “The next adults to board, make sure these guys are secure.” She nodded back at them as three women answered her instructions with a nod. As they passed and the next couple came into view she pulled her Zapper, only to watch an Ostrieachian woman step forward and do her best to shield the much larger human who was holding her close. “Please, don’t hurt him, lady. He’s a good man.”
Lexi looked from one to another. He was wearing a flight suit, carrying his helmet. He was also armed, but his weapon was holstered. Kill them all. Except this one? Oh, right! And the three in the guard shack. What kind of a policy statement is that? She nodded. To the man she said, “Hand your helmet to the woman. Walk toward me with your hands clasped on your head. I’ll take your weapon as you pass.” Once she had his weapon, she instructed, “Get on board and double-check for me that people are strapped in correctly. Start with those kids. Then take back your helmet and strap down in the second pilot’s se
at.”
He said, “Understood.”
She shortly heard Zagem’s voice come over the comm. “Transport Three is fully loaded, Lexi. The prisoner is still out but he’s strapped in. I’m waving the others still in my line on to Transport Two. It seems to have the smallest crowd.”
Lexi looked around. He had made a good call. A moment later, she said, “I’m shutting down One. Let your passengers know that I have unattended children on board.”
She climbed on board her transport and sealed the ramp. “Urania, how are we doing?”
“Ron and Geena are on board. I let a couple of additional Ostrieachians through. They’re headed to Transport Two, which is still loading. The other three are full and sealed.”
“Pipe me through again and let me know as soon as we’re all ready. Clone your console displays to Transport One’s panel, please.”
“You’re on the speakers again, hon.”
Over the open link to the other ships and the flight deck, Lexi announced. “If anyone hasn’t yet boarded one of the transports, get to the one with the open ramp immediately. You are on these transports for safety reasons. My name is Lexi Stevens. I know it’s crowded and uncomfortable. Please bear with us. Our starship is holding position in a cavern physically below this base. We are about to cut the flight deck loose and boost it into hyperspace. The transports will maintain a livable environment for the trip to your home. It’s going to be scary. Because of the mass we will be carrying, the ride is going to be very rough. In fact, it is going to be a nightmare, but you will all live through it. We know what we’re doing. Stay strapped in and try to stay calm. It will take somewhere between four and six hours to reach Ostrieachia, depending on conditions in hyper. I’m sorry, nightmare might have been an understatement. Brace yourselves for a hell-ride.”
Chapter 23
Hell Ride
Moments later, Urania announced, “We’re fully loaded. I’ve taken control of all four transports. They’re sealed and environmental is on. The other craft on the deck are sealed as well. You’re still miked in from Transport One’s comm, Lexi.”
“Thanks, Urania. Cut us loose.” Immediately the Zappers ringing Urania’s hull began firing, first slicing deep into the rock surrounding her on the plane of her midsection then carving a ring around the flight deck which encompassed all four transports and the vast majority of the other vehicles stored there. In an effort to keep the size of the chunk she would be carrying into hyper as small as possible, three fighters parked outside of her ring were cut to shreds by the Zapper fire, beyond any hope of repair. Nor was the cut truly a circular ring, though it came close. Urania carved as close to the parked vehicles as she could. This didn’t need to look pretty. The platform barely shook as she cut it completely free, supporting it with only the anti-gravity field.
Over the team’s comm, Lexi watching all of her panels, said, “Urania, let’s do it.”
Lexi continued to watch her instrumentation as the entire flight deck shook around the edges, edges which began to crumble almost immediately. “Lexi, I can hold this much mass but I’m afraid that’s about it. Kicking in the drive now.” The n-space drive, used for navigation in normal space was powerful but normally didn’t push anything other than Urania. While she had some latitude to direct the direction of it’s matter stream, it was designed for horizontal movement in the forward direction. It was not designed for lift. Other than making it larger, which she didn’t have room to do, Lexi hadn’t figured out any way to beef it up. Urania switched it on now, at full power. If they rose from the base at an angle, that would be fine. She was using the atmospheric thrusters at the same time, not that they were powerful enough to add much to the equation. Still, with the anti-grav field, the ion-drive and the thrusters all at max, she was gradually overcoming the massive inertia of the flight deck. Her efforts would have had no effect whatsoever if the anti-grav field hadn’t already been negating most of that mass. Slowly, very slowly, the deck began to rise, making a horrendous noise as it scraped along the forward edge. The base’s thoroughly confused automated point-defense installations left it unmolested.
Twenty-two minutes later, at a mere seven inches above the surface, Urania shut the drives off. The flight deck was suddenly enclosed in a hyper-bubble, one more or less the shape of a hot air balloon. “Best we can do, guys,” she commed. “Here we go.”
Lexi was surprised they made it as high as they did even with the powerful anti-grav field. She was sure the n-space ion-drive was going to need some serious servicing after this stunt.
Urania cut the anti-grav generators, causing the entire platform to lurch alarmingly, as her redesigned hyper-drive came on. The shaking was almost unbearable but not nearly as bad as they feared. The dampeners that were protecting Urania would do very little to stabilize the flight deck itself. There was a lot of noise. Lexi switched one of the transport’s monitors back to an external view. Starships, including the four transports, were walking across the flight deck, bumping into each other as they went. With no atmosphere outside, the raucous noise was being conducted through the base of the flight deck. “Guys, see if you can do anything with the tractor beams on these ships. Lock us together and lock us down.”
“That’s stretching my abilities, Lexi,” Urania said, “but I’ll see what we can do.”
She heard Ron say, “You don’t need to maintain control of all the ships, hon. Just connect, activate the tractors and move on to the next one. Once they’re stabilized, you might want to look into tractoring them closer together. Lexi, we’re picking up signs of the granite substrate cracking already. Landing this thing is going to be a bitch and a half.”
The pirate in the seat next to Lexi had been watching the monitors and the instruments but keeping quiet. The dancing ships were settling down now, one by one. Now he remarked, “You guys are totally insane. So I’m wondering, are you providing beverage service on the flight?”
Lexi shrugged as she turned to look at him. His eyes were alert, watching the displays, with no glazing as he observed what he must know should have been impossible. She also didn’t see any sign of deceit or guile. If anything, she saw admiration. “Quite likely we are insane, but not to the extent of providing beverage service. However, like I said, we know what we’re doing. We’re going to be in hyper long enough for you do some talking. You OK with that?”
“Yeah, sure. I like talking. What do you want to me to talk about?”
“Nothing just yet. Urania, Ron, any sign of the missing Raiders?” Of the five that attacked them on their way in, three where now grounded on the liberated flight deck. They verified that. Two were not. Presumably, they were patrolling. Rathca always had ships on patrol. If they weren’t already after them, they would be soon. They had no way to shield the flight deck, far less cloak it. Other than Urania, only the four transports had active shields. Of course, if the pirates attacked, they would be faced with a nasty dilemma because they would lose all of the expensive starships parked on the flight deck. That probably wouldn’t go over too well with their bosses. She supposed they wouldn’t be rewarded if the Ostrieachians wound up with possession of them either. Although, tactically, if they acted quickly enough they might be able to retrieve them from Ostrieachia. It would take more than two Raiders to make that happen.
“No sign of them,” Ron said. “I imagine they’re still gaping at the gaping hole we made in their base. It might take them a few minutes to collect their wits and get organized.” He paused. “Although they had plenty of notice something was up before we went to hyper.”
“I’ve got one of the pirates on board with me.” She was pleased to see him cringe ever so slightly at that designation. “Feel free to jump in with any questions.” Then, looking at the man, she said, “Start with your name and what you do. Then what you were doing on the flight deck with an Ostrieachian woman.”
He nodded. “My name is Danders Y’Trothe. I am not a pirate. Why would you even think that? I’m a fighter
pilot. I was off-shift when you guys started the ruckus. The woman you found me with is Sedima Shi. She’s one of the domestics who works the food service. It’s a shame too because she’s way too smart for that. She was a mathematician before she was captured.” He paused. “I might as well tell you. I’m, ah, well I’m in love with her. I know it’s weird. She loves me too. I was frightened for her when I heard the announcements. I’m authorized to carry a weapon while on the base, so I went with her, to protect her until we knew what was what.”
He shook his head. “I still can’t believe what you’re doing. You’re crippling the base and rescuing almost all of the prisoners at the same time. That’s awesome.” He paused, “I should try to stop you. I just don’t see how I can. Like I say, I’m a fighter pilot, not a secret agent.” Everybody on the comm circuit heard Geena’s short burst of laughter. Danders added, “What are you going to do with me?”
“What do you think, Lexi?” Ron’s voice asked.
“He’s mostly OK. Like he said, he’s not a pirate, he’s a fighter pilot. We’re clearly going to have to modify the ‘Kill them all’ policy.” She sighed. “Tell me, Danders, why did you come with us? You heard me announce we’re taking these people home. What do you want?”
Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens Page 12
