by John Walker
They approached Conway’s door, taking either side of it. Hoffner knocked, electing to do the talking.
“Lieutenant Conway, this is Captain Hoffner. We need you to open the door and come out slowly with your hands raised. Do you copy?”
No reply.
“Maybe she’s not home,” Jenks muttered.
Hoffner pulled his mobile computer and checked the logs for her room. It stated she should be present. “This thinks she’s here,” he replied. “Let’s get in there and check.”
He used his security override to unlock the door and remotely opened it, pausing a good five seconds before peeking inside. As a lieutenant, she had a private room though it wasn’t quite as spacious as some of those shared by ensigns. Her bed was neatly made, the desk in perfect order and the bathroom door was wide open.
Not here. Hoffner scowled, considering the room for a long moment. We should be able to find her with the directory. But if she’s up to no good…
“Check in with Walsh while I find out where Conway is.”
“You got it.”
Hoffner tapped into the directory and started a search. With all the network activity, it seemed like it was going to take a moment. He clenched his fist, frustrated but diverted his attention to hear how Walsh and Marsten did. Hopefully, Roper really did show up for duty and was actually there.
And not hanging out with Conway causing trouble.
***
Walsh and Marsten arrived in the tech lab about the same time Hoffner and Jenks hit Conway’s room. They entered to strange looks but no one said anything. Walsh looked at Roper’s picture on his hand computer but didn’t see him in the crowd. The two soldiers exchanged a glance before Marsten took the lead.
“Alright, jack asses! We’re not here cause we’re bored. Where the hell’s Ensign Roper? He’s supposed to be on duty right now.”
“He didn’t show up,” one of the techs replied. “We assumed he hit the medical bay after everything that happened.”
“Oh, you assumed that did you?” Marsten shook his head. “No one called on him? Where’s the supervisor here?”
“Ill, sir.” Another tech answered this time. “He called in to say he was confined to a bed after the event.”
“God damn it.” Marsten stepped away just as their communicators went off.
“It’s the captain and Jenks,” Walsh said. He established the connection. “What’s going on? Did you get her?”
“No,” Jenks replied. “How’d you do with Roper?”
“He ain’t here.” Walsh sighed. “And his coworkers aren’t exactly any help. His supervisor’s down…we need to do a directory search to find these two yahoos. Especially if neither of them are where we expected.”
“The captain’s way ahead of you,” Jenks said. “Give him a moment.”
The ship suddenly listed. Techs hit the ground. Walsh stumbled into Marsten who grabbed the wall and kept them aloft. Everything rattled as the lights went out. The first thought to drift through Walsh’s head involved a simple this is it, this is where we all die. When it didn’t happen immediately, he wondered how long it would take to run out of air.
The techs started panicking, screaming incoherently while the two soldiers made their way into the hallway. Walsh tapped his communicator to see if it was still functional, yelling into it. “Hey! Jenks, can you hear me? Come in, do you copy?”
“Yeah, I’ve got you,” Jenks said, coughing a few times. “What the hell was that?”
Hoffner answered, “something big…something more than enemy fire, that’s for sure. What, exactly, I don’t know though. We need to hurry and find these two ASAP. God knows they might’ve even been involved.”
“Not exactly what I want to hear,” Marsten said. “Let’s meet up, guys. I’m pretty sure they’re going to be together anyway.”
“Sure enough,” Hoffner said. “Looks like they’re heading for engineering. Let’s hook up in corridor C and head in together. Double time it, people. We’ll see you soon.”
***
Gray got on the com to Revente. “Any fighter or bomber wings ready to go? Are the hangars operational?”
“I’ve got people still in their ships just in case, but—”
“We need them up right away.”
“I was going to say I’m not sure it’s a good idea to send them straight out after that attack. I don’t know what’s damaged and what’s not. We’re running diagnostics at this very moment.”
“If we don’t get an advantage in this fight right away, it might not matter.” Gray checked his computer. “Shields are weakened on our ship and may be down in theirs. I guarantee you they’re about to launch fighters now can you get me some air support or what?”
“I’ll get them out there, sir,” Revente replied. “Don’t worry.”
“Let me know when they’re out there.” Gray turned to Redding. “How’s helm?”
“Thrusters are all operational,” Redding reported. “We’re back online and I’m repositioning now.”
“Power output from the enemy vessel?” Gray asked.
“Minimal,” Olly replied. “But it seems to be increasing. I don’t think they’ll be jumping anytime soon. Their shields are currently down…as in totally down. But our weapons are still recharging.”
“Check on engineering,” Gray said. “See if there’s anything you can do from here for them. We need those weapons back to finish this off. I only hope fighters are enough to do the trick if we can’t.”
“Um…this is odd.” Olly tapped at his controls. “Agatha, can you try to reach engineering? They’re not responding.”
“To me either, lieutenant,” Agatha replied. “They seem to be blocked.”
“Blocked?” Gray turned in his seat. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Someone’s jamming their coms…from the source.”
“As in the jamming is coming from engineering?” Gray tilted his head. “That doesn’t make any sense unless…Oh God. Olly, get Clea on the line now. I’m reaching out to Adam. I have a bad feeling we just caught up to our saboteurs and in just the way we hoped not to.”
***
Clea burst from the elevator and nearly ran into one of the medics trying to board. She slipped away and ran, dodging past people in the hallway lingering about from injury or trying to repair shorts. Ahead, she saw the corridor leading to the engine room and put on a burst of speed, feeling her heart pound heavy in her chest.
“Hold on!” Maury’s voice made her slow down and pause. “Just…listen to me, put the weapon down. This is unnecessary! We’ve got this fight in the bag! No one has to die…least of all the entire ship!”
Clea frowned, creeping forward until she could peek inside. She saw someone’s back and a weapon aimed at the engineers. Maury stood in front of them, his hands raised as he tried to talk the culprit down. What exactly is this all about? The saboteurs? It must be! But why? Are they suicidal?
“Just relax, Maury,” the woman with the gun spoke. Clea didn’t know her. “This will all be over in a moment.”
“The way I see it,” another technician spoke up, “there’s no reason to stand here. Get shot by you or blown up by the enemy? What kind of choice is that?”
“The one you’re making right now,” the woman replied. “Now just stay put! We’re almost done.”
Clea considered a weapon but the armory was quite a ways off. By the time she got back, these maniacs would be done. She needed to come up with something immediately if she hoped to prevent whatever new disaster they wanted to leverage against the ship. It might even involve a really stupid risk.
When her com buzzed, she cursed under her breath and faded back from the door, tapping it to kill the volume. Clea held her breath as she waited to see if the lady heard her and a moment later, her worst fear came true. “Did you hear that, Roper?”
“No, I’m a little busy, Conway. Jesus, can you just shut up?”
“I thought I heard a com unit
in the hallway.”
“There are a lot of people running around,” Roper replied. “I’m sure you did. Now shut up!”
“You’re both insane!” Maury shouted, clearly trying to distract them. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing here?”
Thank you, Maury! Clea thought. She moved a ways back and answered her com unit in a whisper. As she did so, she pressed herself into a door to remove herself from casual view. “This is Clea.”
“Clea, it’s Gray. We lost contact with the engineering section. Be careful!”
“I nearly walked right into it,” Clea replied. “There’s a woman holding a gun and someone named Roper. They’re holding the engineers hostage and doing something.”
“That would be Lieutenant Theresa Conway and Ensign Amos Roper,” Gray replied. “They’re the saboteurs responsible for the jump module fiasco.”
“Understood. I don’t have a weapon, sir.”
“It’s okay,” Gray said. “I let Adam know there was a problem down there. He and Marshall were about to arrest these two maniacs. The soldiers are on their way. Hang tight and don’t do anything crazy, copy?”
“Copy, sir. An’Tufal out.”
Clea peeked back down the hall, trying to see anything going on in there. She heard Maury talking again, this time more frantically. “Get your hands off that, you stupid son of a bitch! You’ll kill us all!”
“That’s kind of the point,” Conway replied. “Now, if you want to die right now, keep talking. I’ve had enough of your shit anyway.”
“What the hell happened to you? How could you do this?”
“The alliance will destroy our culture, our species,” Conway said. “We need the people of Earth to rise up and say no to working with these things. They’re aliens and we just welcomed them into our lives.”
“They saved our lives, you psycho!” Another technician yelled it.
“Did they?” Conway laughed. “Did you ever stop to think that they might be responsible for those creatures showing up on our doorstep? They took an interest in us and then, shortly after the enemy arrived and tried to kill us all. I don’t call that a coincidence.”
“Took an interest?” Maury scoffed. “Where are you getting these lies from? I never heard anything like that! They came when they found out a technologically advanced culture was going to rip us a new one! I’d call them altruistic!”
“Then why did they only leave one person behind? Why not give us some more support to help refit the Behemoth? No, they didn’t. They rushed back off to do God knows what elsewhere. All around, it sounds suspicious to me. Only a blind idiot would think there’s not some conspiracy.”
Conpiracy? Clea shook her head. What is she even talking about? She clearly didn’t read anything we provided. This is how we operated with every culture we brought into the alliance. Of course, I guess if you’re trying to build a case against us, it makes sense to do so this way. Still, it holds no rationality, no weight. What a ridiculous waste of time!
“An’Tufal?” Hoffner’s harsh whisper made her jump but she hurried down the hall to meet him and the other four. “What’s going on? Do you have any intel?”
Clea nodded. “There are two people in there at least. One is armed and holding the technicians hostage. The other is performing some kind of sabotage…we need to hurry!”
Hoffner scowled and gestured down the hall. “Alright, guys get down there but try to do it quietly. I don’t want her shooting at us until we’re ready for her to.”
“Rules of engagement?” Jenks asked.
“If Conway shoots, incapacitate her. If that means she dies, then so be it. I’ll take the heat for it.” Hoffner looked at Clea. “You’ll want to hang back if you don’t have a gun.”
“I don’t…but I’ll stay nearby to help when it’s over.”
“Good.” Hoffner followed the other soldiers and Clea watched from her vantage, leaning against the wall to witness the action. Hopefully they’d take care of the two quickly. Such things usually only took a few moments. Especially when the people tended to be trigger happy. After seeing those men in action on the research facility, Clea doubted Conway would be walking out of there.
***
Hoffner let the others take point, watching as they took position on either side of the door. He approached, using the corner as cover. A little negotiation might help and then he could fulfill his directive of bringing them back alive. If she didn’t want to talk, well…Jenks was a damn fine shot. He’d take her down.
“Conway,” Hoffner yelled. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Captain?” Conway sounded surprised. “What are you here for?”
“You and Roper,” Hoffner replied. “Collins gave you up. Surrender. I don’t want to have to shoot you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, we’re almost done!”
“I don’t care what you’re doing, but I do care about your life. If you don’t put your weapon on the deck and come out with your hands up in a moment, we’re going to end you. I’m pretty sure you know I’m not lying.”
“Maybe you forget the fact I have hostages. I guess I can prove to you how serious we are.”
“No wait!” Maury shouted just as a gun went off. The chief engineer cried out and a moment of people shouting ended with a harsh command from Conway.
“Anyone else wants to get shot, just keep talking! Come here, you!”
“She’s using one of them as a shield,” Jenks said. “Shot Higgins in the stomach.”
Hoffner clenched his fist, fighting back rage. “You just ended your life, Lieutenant! I hope all this was worth it to you!”
“To save the human race, of course it is! Now back off or this guy’s dead!”
“If I back off, then everyone on board dies.” Hoffner made eye contact with Jenks then Marsten. They nodded to Walsh. The silent message told them what to do: breach in five seconds. “Even if I have to take that poor bastard to get to you, I have no choice. You realize that, right? I have no choice. You’ve pushed my hand to this.”
“Do what you have to do. I’ll take at least one of you with me!”
“Roper! You want to die too? You that dedicated to the cause?” Hoffner shook his head. “Something tells me you’re not as brainwashed as this psycho!”
“Shut up!” Roper shouted. “Just shut up!”
Before he finished his rant, Jenks and Walsh rushed the door, weapons raised. They both fired at the same time. Conway shot back. Hoffner followed with Marsten close beside him. They breached the room to find Higgins lying on the floor with two men applying pressure. Conway fled deeper into the engineering section and the shield she held was lying on the floor, unconscious.
Roper worked the controls of one of the modules, not even slowing down when they got in there. Hoffner aimed his weapon at the man. “Stand down, Roper! That’s an order!”
“He’s not going to,” Marsten said.
Hoffner sighed, shooting him just above the knee. Roper screamed and collapsed to the ground, gripping his wound and panting. “No! You can’t! I have to finish! You don’t understand, if this fails, they’ll kill my family! I have no choice!”
“Take him into custody,” Hoffner pointed. “An’Tufal, get your ass in here and look at what he was doing. Walsh, get a medical team down here stat. Jenks, you’re with me. Let’s hunt this Conway bitch down and finish the mission.”
“How far could she possibly have gotten?”
One of the technicians looked up from Higgins. “There are access ladders to other decks down there. Maintenance tunnels mostly.”
“Fantastic!” Jenks rolled his eyes. “I say we go on ship wide alert. Get every security guy on board looking for her.”
“I’m ahead of you,” Hoffner replied, putting out the call. “She won’t get far now.”
Clea burst into the room, pausing when she noticed the blood. Hoffner recognized an expression of shock take her face and he hurried over, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Hey! You do
n’t have time for that. Snap out of it and get to work. Undo whatever that prick was doing! You’ve got him for another moment if you can make him talk.”
Hoffner had to give her a quick shake to bring her back to reality. “I’m not kidding, An’Tufal! Get your head back in the game!”
“Sorry, sir.” Clea moved over to the console and looked it over. “This is the shield control array. He was messing with our frequencies…oh no…”
“What?” Marsten asked as he finished cuffing Roper. “You want me to make him talk?”
“No, I see what he was doing. He was going to make it so any blow to our shields from a pulse weapon would cause a chain reaction…essentially, one hit would detonate our core. Instead of reflecting the damage, it would be redirected and cause feedback. The overload would essentially destroy the ship.”
“Great job, asshole.” Marsten nudged Roper with his foot. “Glad you made that decision for all of us.”
“Get him to the brig,” Hoffner said. “Can you fix it, Clea?”
Clea nodded. “I just need to know precisely what he did. I need everyone else working on getting the generators back so we have weapons. If we’re shot in the next few minutes, we’ll all be dead. It would be good if we fired first.”
“We’re after Conway,” Hoffner added. “Good luck, Clea. Talk to you soon.”
“I do hope so, Captain.” Clea frowned at the controls. “For all our sakes.”
Chapter 12
Adam arrived on the bridge just as he received the report of what went down in the engineering area. He rubbed his eyes as he took his seat, turning to Gray to update him. So many events were transpiring at once, he felt like an ass having to bring this issue up but a runaway traitor with a gun was definitely a factor to consider in a battle.
He gave him the update, finishing with the bad news about Maury being shot. Gray wore a neutral expression until he heard about the chief engineer’s injury. Even then, he just scowled but Adam had known him long enough to recognize the rage boiling just beneath the surface. The captain was a fairly good tempered man but when his ire was stirred, he tended to become uncompromising.
