by Terry Mixon
“We’re on the proper deck, LT,” one of the marines said. “There’s an isolation hatch ahead of us. It’s closed and seems to be powered.”
“Stand by.”
The rest of the team made it to the deck and spread out. The isolation hatch looked as though it hadn’t opened in many years.
Reese wiped off the manual controls and tapped in a code. The hatch ponderously slid open. A rush of water into the airlock pulled everyone forward a bit, but Kelsey quickly regained her balance.
“Okay, I’m impressed,” she said. “How did you know the code on a ship that you’d never been on? One in the hands of the enemy?”
Reese grinned through his faceplate. “I’ve been studying, too. Every ship in the Empire has these things and it’s possible that a rescue party would need to get through them. Unless the Captain overrides the codes, any marine CO knows them. Something I’m sure never occurred to an AI that knows the Empire fell half a millennia ago.”
He gestured for the first group of marines to go in. “Bravo, secure the other side and wait for us. If you run into the enemy, push them back.”
The squad cycled through and the door slid shut with a slow finality. She watched through their suit cams as the other door opened and water rushed out into the corridor. There were no Pale Ones in sight. The next squad moved into the airlock as soon as the doors cycled again.
Lieutenant Reese led the last team through. Her suit told her the air was foul, but breathable, once they reached the other side. That meant they might run into Pale Ones. The lack of them probably meant that the AI hadn’t noted the hatch cycling. It probably wasn’t registering anymore.
They advanced slowly, ready for resistance, but nothing materialized. Kelsey could see the massive hatch sealing off the computing center ahead. Talbot grinned at her. “We made it! We’re going to take this thing out.”
That’s when his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed. They all did. Everyone except Kelsey.
It must be the anti-boarding weapons. She’d have expected them to fail over the centuries. She doubted her implants were enough to protect her, so it had to be the armor. Commandos were badass. A quick check of the marines’ suits confirmed they were still alive. If the damned AI kept stunning them, though, that might change. She had to end this now.
She tried to access the hatch, but it didn’t respond. A touch on the access panel failed to open it, too. One look confirmed that her rifle wouldn’t do more than scratch it. Time for the big guns.
A shrug put her plasma rifle in her hands. The marines’ armor should protect them from the heat. She hoped. Kelsey walked back to them and took aim at the hatch from as far back as she could and fired.
The bright bit of plasma struck the hatch and blossomed into a wave of intense heat. It melted the hatch and a lot of the corridor beyond the computer room. The armored compartment held up, except for a man sized opening beside the hatch. The other side of the corridor blew out in a huge bubble.
Note to self: maybe a plasma weapon wasn’t the best weapon to use inside a ship.
Kelsey verified the hole went all the way into the computer center and dove through the opening. She avoided the glowing metal along the opening. She didn’t trust her suit that much.
The computer control center looked exactly like the one on Courageous, though in a lot worse shape. It looked like there’d been a firefight in here. Scattered bones told the tale of a stout defense that had fallen under heavy fire. The bodies had long ago decayed and the uniforms had mostly rotted. A few suits of armor told her that some of the defenders had been marines.
“You cannot win,” a genderless voice said from the overhead speakers. “Yield.”
“It seems like I can win,” Kelsey said. She hefted the plasma rifle for emphasis. “That wall between us isn’t going to stop me. You yield.”
“This unit knew your kind would come. It prepared.”
A snarl behind her caused her to whirl. A Pale One glared at her through the hole in the wall. She pulled her pistol before it climbed into the compartment and fired. It fell, its head shattered.
One of the intact consoles to the side of the compartment came to life. It showed the corridor filled with the things. They were already dragging the marines away. Even more of them bunched in the corridor ready to fight. They held weapons, just like the ones on the asteroid.
“You cannot defeat this unit. Yield and you will be granted a swift death.”
She tried to access the ship’s systems with her implants, but they wouldn’t connect. The AI had locked her out.
Her foot brushed against the bones of a corpse. Part of her mind recognized the rank and department insignia on the collar. The body belonged to the Chief Engineer. He or she must’ve been working at this console when the rebels killed the crew and took the ship.
She touched the console and to her surprise, it lit up with the controls available. The Chief Engineer must’ve unlocked it before the rebels killed him or her. The AI, which she now knew had to be the ship’s computer, hadn’t locked it down. Maybe it couldn’t.
Kelsey didn’t pretend to know what ship’s systems did what, but she wouldn’t have long before those things could get through the cooling hole. She’d have even less time before they started killing the marines.
The display on the console was for the ship’s computer. Maybe the Chief Engineer was going to wipe it. There was another set of commands up for the environmental systems. It looked like he was also trying to decompress the ship. He’d almost made it. The command was right there.
She found the menu controlling computer access. It seemed to be for adding authorized users. She hit the key to add a user. The console prompted her implants for a serial number. She gave it hers.
The AI must’ve ordered the Pale Ones to attack, because they came through the hole in the bulkhead even though they burned themselves badly. The first one in knocked her away from the console and beat on her armor.
Kelsey shot him. The rest jumped on her and started trying to rip her suit off her. With their strength, that wasn’t impossible.
She tried to access the computer with her implants. She almost screamed when the AI issued a command to reboot itself. She had no idea how long that took. Presumably long enough for the Pale Ones to kill her.
They pinned her by sheer numbers and she felt a scream rising in her throat. They were going to kill her. Or make her one of them. She’d failed.
Searching desperately for another option, she connected with the console. It allowed her in. She instructed it to initiate decompression, praying that the system would let the command go through. Anything designed to vent a ship’s atmosphere quickly into space would allow a lot of water in fast. She prayed the marine’s combat suits kept them alive.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, but then she heard a distant roaring sound. Water.
The hot wall hissed as a wave of water washed over it. In seconds, water rushed into the compartment and engulfed her. She turned her head away from the Pale Ones and shut off her external audio. There was no need for her to watch them drown. She felt more than heard the AI short out behind her. Hopefully, the main power circuits wouldn’t fry her and the marines.
This fight was over. Kelsey prayed that Jared could parlay his implants into a chance to retake the ship before it was too late for all of them.
Chapter Thirty
Something bright and fast flew past Jared and struck the man with the gun in the chest. He let out a choked scream as he staggered backward with a meat cleaver half-buried in his chest. Two marines rushed in after him while Sergeant Coulter knelt beside Jared and put a kitchen knife to the mutineer’s throat. He stopped struggling.
“Cookie’s going to need a new cleaver,” the marine said with a grin. “That’s just too handy not to keep.”
“I’ll replace it out of my paycheck. Get this guy into the lab and tie him up.”
“Aye, sir.” The marines heaved the prisoner to h
is feet and searched him thoroughly. The two that dragged him off were Pentagarans. They were far from gentle about it.
Stone walked out from the room beside them and shook her head. “That one’s gone. If I had access to the medical center I might have been able to save him, but he bled out.”
“Sorry, Doc,” the marine NCO said. He didn’t sound particularly upset about the man’s death. “I didn’t have a lot of choice.”
The Chief Medical Officer shook her head. “No blame intended, Sergeant. I’m a Fleet officer. I understand people die in combat. Better them than us.”
Jared closed the hatch to the compartment with the dead body once the marines had searched the corpse. They’d clean up once they took the ship back. Until then, they needed to keep anyone else from knowing they’d been there. A handy cloth took care of the blood on the deck.
The lab was a scene of organized chaos as he closed the hatch. The scientific team was producing pistols and ammunition from various cabinets. They had a few rifles, too.
He found his attention centered on a suit of dark grey combat armor on a stand. Unlike the armored vacuum suits used by his Fleet marines, this one’s faceplate was solid armor like the rest of the suit. It must get its view through scanners. It looked intimidating as hell. “Is this operational? Can one of the marines use it?”
One of the scientists rushed over. “I think it’s mostly functional, but it requires implants to operate.”
“So much for that idea.”
Coulter stepped up beside him and looked at the armor. “We can’t use it, but you can.”
He snorted and shook his head. “I remember seeing Princess Kelsey struggle to learn how to control her enhanced musculature. I can only imagine how useless I would be in a fight with this. I’d be flopping all over the deck.”
“Maybe, but you’d be protected a lot better than you are right now,” Coulter said. “If you die, our best ticket to regaining control of this ship dies with you. In the suit, you could probably take a shot to the chest from point blank range and live. Far be it from me to give the Captain an order, but get into the damned suit.”
“I don’t even know how to do that.”
“I watched Talbot work with the Princess.” The marine removed the helmet and opened the armor up at the back. He helped Jared into the suit, sealed it up, and locked the helmet into place. The darkness made Jared feel a bit claustrophobic, but that wasn’t a fear one could really have in Fleet. Then the displays in front of his face came to life.
He could see Coulter clearly, as though there was nothing between them. The display was one of the highest resolutions he’d ever seen. And then it dawned on him that the display wasn’t on the inside of the helmet. It was in his mind. The implants were feeding directly into his visual cortex.
That realization was so powerful that it took his breath away. He’d known it was possible from viewing the video feeds earlier, but this was different. It was completely overriding his eyes. No doubt, he was staring sightlessly into the darkness of his helmet. Could piloting a ship be the same? Would he feel as though he was flying through space without a ship?
He raised his arm and flexed his fingers. They felt somewhat awkward, but manageable. He wouldn’t be running any races in this suit and that was fine. Kelsey had the muscles to use the suit as a weapon. He had to work to make it move. No doubt her enhanced muscles made using it as effortless as thought. He’d just have to make do.
He activated the armor’s external speakers. “I’ll need some weapons. Preferably something I won’t accidentally shoot you with.”
“Captain, how about this?” one of the scientists asked.
He handed Jared a rifle with a thick barrel. There was no opening for projectiles. “This is a neural disruptor. The Princess said she could use her implants to control the power levels. I’m told it can be lethal or just stun.”
“This would’ve been useful a few minutes ago.” Jared accessed the weapon and found it already set to stun. That made sense. Only an idiot would have a weapon like this preset to lethal levels.
Coulter attached a holster to Jared’s thigh and slid a similar pistol in it. “Backup weapon. I’ll put the power packs in the inserts along your waist.” He did so and then handed Jared a knife. “This is old Empire. I wouldn’t try the edge. I saw the Princess gouge a bulkhead with one. You might be able to cut your way out of a compartment with enough time.”
Jared walked over to the prisoner. They’d tied him to a chair. He shrank back from Jared, eyes wide in fear. Jared leaned forward until his helmet was inches from the man’s terrified face.
“In case we’ve never met, I’m Commander Jared Mertz, Courageous’ commanding officer. Your name is irrelevant. You’re a mutineer. Under Fleet regulations, I can execute you. No board of inquiry. No appeals. No extenuating circumstances. I’m judge, jury, and executioner, if I decide it’s warranted.”
He paused a beat to allow that to sink in. “You can bargain that death sentence down to some lesser penalty by telling me everything you know. Be concise, because if I decide that my time is better spent retaking this ship, I’ll shoot you and be done with it.”
Jared pulled the pistol from his holster and put it under the man’s chin. He set it to kill. He wasn’t bluffing and he wanted that to carry through in his voice. “Talk or die. Who are the mutineers, where are they, and what are their plans?”
The man started talking fast. “Our leader’s name is Rawlins. He brought a team of us with him to learn how to run this ship. I’m not sure who he works for, but he takes orders from above. He always calls the leader “his patron” when he talks about him. He’s on the bridge with his senior people. Most of the rest are in engineering, but a few people are in the computer center. They isolated the ship’s computer, so they have to do some things manually. Some of the marines are guarding the prisoners.”
Jared grinned without humor. No doubt the guy wondered how they’d slipped out. He’d just have to keep wondering. “Are all the prisoners in the mess halls?”
“Except you. And the people he left on the planet and shipyard.”
“How close are we to the flip point and what are the plans once the ship gets back to Pentagaran space?”
“I think we’re almost there. Maybe another half hour. I don’t know what the plans are. He just said that our arrival would set off a chain of events that would put his patron in control. That’s all I know. I swear.”
Jared reset the pistol to stun, stepped back, and aimed it at the man’s head. He made certain no one was standing behind the man. “Thank you. I commute your sentence to oblivion.” He fired.
The pale blue beam struck the man in the head and he slumped. Stone stepped up and checked his pulse. “He’s alive. Was that the same thing they used on us? Would you really have killed him?”
“Probably and yes.” Everyone had finished gathering weapons and was watching him. “We’re as ready as we’re going to be. Good luck everyone. Try to keep them from knowing we’re coming, but don’t hesitate to shoot if they see you. And remember, I’m as proud of you as I could possibly be. Go.”
They left the prisoner unguarded. Either they’d win and come back for him, or they’d lose and it didn’t matter. The fight would be over before the man woke up.
They returned to the maintenance shafts. He estimated how long it would take them to get into position and they agreed on a time to attack. If someone went early, it might spell doom. Graves led the assault on the bridge, Baxter on engineering, and Jared led the group going to the computer center. Doctor Stone split her people between the three groups. The few scientists with them brought up the rear.
It felt like it took forever to reach the computer center. They had to wait for the rest of the teams to get into position, so he made his way as close as he could and accessed the video feeds. There were three technicians in the computer center and two marines in full combat armor in the corridor. The main hatch was open, but he knew they could
close it at a moment’s notice.
The closest maintenance access was thirty meters down the corridor from the computer center. No way could they slip up on the guards unnoticed. He hoped the rifle had the range to take them out.
“Coulter, you might want to take this rifle. I’ve set it to stun.”
“Can I even fire it?”
Jared hadn’t considered that. A quick check showed him that he could lock the weapon down to authorized users by implant ID, but he didn’t have to. “You can fire it.”
His chrono vibrated. It was time. He drew his pistol and waited for the marines to line up behind them. When they were ready, he gave Coulter a nod.
The marine NCO opened the hatch and stepped into the corridor, his rifle already up and firing. The blue bolt just missed the man looking their way. The man shouted and raised his rifle to return fire.
That meant he caught the second bolt in the chest and dropped. Jared prayed and fired at the other man. He missed and the mutineer jumped into the computer center.
The marines were already running for the hatch, so he ran with them. The hatch slid shut almost in their faces.
“Shit!” Coulter hit the admittance switch, but the hatch remained closed.
Jared sent an implant command to the door with his command override. The hatch slid open, much to the shock of the men inside. Jared shot the marine first, and then the tech with the communications unit in his hand. Coulter shot the second tech.
The last technician shot Jared with a pistol. The slug ricocheted off his faceplate. He shot the man more out of reflex than anything else.
Jared’s lead computer technician ran into the room and slid to a stop in front of the main console. He tapped the controls furiously. “Computer offline. Booting. Access channels restored. When it comes up, the computer will have complete systems access.”
Jared hoped that meant the computer would immediately lock down the systems and stun any mutineers, even if the bad guys knocked them all out right now. “How long until it’s up?”
