“Everyone to the hatch, Perry get over here!”
Rand had Trevor back up to the Tracker. Trevor was so tall he had to kneel halfway down then lean backwards. It was a position he wasn’t built for.
“Mr. Rand, this really feels bad.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll take just a minute.”
Again sparks flew and light gray smoke rolled from underneath the hood, yet it took longer as the battery weakened.
Trevor went back to lean on the door.
One left to go and that was Vallin. Rand proceeded to do one last burn. Now there were two soldiers outside banging on the door. Vallin was freed so Rand disengaged the brake and the two of them removed the chains simultaneously.
Vallin yelled in a low ominous voice to the gang at the door, “MOVE!”
The Tracker hit with enough force to be felt through the floor. Rand locked the brake and ordered Aaron to enter the right maintenance shaft.
“Aaron, open every hatch you see and get back here as quick as possible; try to jam that hatch when you get back!”
“Perry stay here and keep this Tracker against the hatch.”
“Serena, stay with Perry, one of us will come back for you,” Rand said.
“Gotcha chief, go get ‘em,” Serena said giving him a thumbs up.
Rand grabbed strands of heavy wire and ripped them from under the Tracker dash.
“Mitchell, you open the shaft hatch and I’m gonna close the circuit, ...Ready?”
“Yep”
“Go.”
Mitchell turned and pulled the left maintenance hatch and Rand quickly inserted the bent wire to short the signal, then bent it again into the latch opening to keep the wire in.
“Ok kids, don’t open any hatches ‘till we get to the armory”.
###
On the bridge, Remke was watching the hatch circuit board and keeping contact with his crew by radio to keep the prisoners from hearing their position.
“Percy, they’ve entered the right maintenance shaft. I’m showing a hatch opened in the right battery room, Hurry!”
Percy responded and headed from the Tracker bay hatch through the corridor, turned right and entered the battery room through the battery room hatch. Percy pulled his side arm and saw the maintenance hatch open in the ceiling. He tip-toed over to the almost 4 foot square power cells and peeked behind them.Nothing, then his radio chirped again.
“Percy, hatch open in galley floor.”
Percy ran as quickly as he could, In no time he was on the upper level and entered the galley. Again he tiptoed quietly listening for any tell tale signs of intrusion.
“Commander, there’s no one here.”
“They’re infiltrating the right side of the ship; I have openings in the right generator, the right turning plates and the air purifiers.” Remke paused for a second in thought, “Go to the right engine and stay there, report if you see anyone.”
“Yes sir.”
Then Renke called out to his engineer, “Dan, are you on?”
“I’m here commander, in the port maintenance shop.”
“”Leave it, go outside the circuitry room and keep an eye down the main corridor and the right corridor. Williams at the Tracker bay and I want him to stay there. We’re gonna corner these bastards.”
“Yes sir, on my way.”
There are a total of thirteen corridor hatches on a Banshee that can be locked. Eight of those are the sleeping quarters for crew and guests, two are the ones on each side of the bridge, two are on each side of the circuitry room and one is leading into the arsenal. No maintenance shaft hatches can be locked for emergency reasons. No one ever planned on a Banshee being taken by prisoners. It had never been done so it was completely overlooked.
On the bridge Remke closely watched the hatch condition board. The right side hatches remained open and then he saw a flicker. He didn’t catch it’s exact location but it was on the left side of the ship.He realized it would have been very difficult for all of them to be on the right and not one of them was seen. After all, a Banshee is only two levels deep at 124 feet long and 100 feet wide. Not small by any means yet it is not a capital ship either.
He had a frightening thought and it occurred to him his captors’ had just entered the small arms locker room! “GODDAMN IT!!”
He went to open intercom across the ship. “All hands, all hands, our prisoners have escaped and are in the small arms locker. I repeat, our prisoners have infiltrated the small arms locker.”
Remke grabbed his radio again. “Dan, stay where you are, Percy get in the maintenance shaft and follow it to the Tracker, see what’s going on there. Williams, get in the left maintenance shaft and don’t let them out”.
They all gave affirmation.
It left only pilot Meyers, navigator Hensley and Remke himself on the bridge..
Now Remke had wished he had an extended crew.
Percy worked his way from the engine hull down the right maintenance shaft, closing each maintenance hatch after a short cursory search in each. Aaron hear Percy around the corner and dropped down into the right generator room. Two 12 foot wide U115 generators hummed. Aaron hopped over the inducers and hunkered down behind the farthest one. Aaron worried there was not enough time to open the hatch into the main corridor.. Which was luck on Aaron’s part since Dan was watching the lower main corridor and the right corridor at intervals.
Percy stuck his head down from the ceiling , and like all the other rooms, the generator room appeared empty. Aaron didn’t like the feeling of being in the open and listened carefully over the humming as the hatch was closed and latched.
Rand, Terri, Mitchell and Vallin were pulling both ballistic and laser rifles from the taller locker and had already acquired the few pistols that remained as the crew of the Banshee were carrying most of the pistols. The rifles were not suitable for such close quarters but their success took a sharp upturn.
They checked the power cells for the rifles and smiled at the crews efficiency
“At least they charged them for us,”Terri smiled.
“Remind me to leave them a ‘Thank You note,” Rand added.
“Preacher man, you know how to operate one of these?”
Vallin looked the rifle over as if unsure what to make of it. “I think this is the power button,” and he pressed in on what looked like the safety. The rifle gave a short buzz and a bright green L.E.D. lit up over the thumb hold.
“That sound was the capacitor charging. Takes about three seconds and the cell is worth about fifty shots so aim steady,” then Rand handed Vallin an extra cell. “Just in case.”
“Understood.”
“Terri, you take Serena the pistol, I’m not sure I trust Trevor with a weapon.”
“I don’t think he needs one, but yeah, I feel the same way.”
Terri hung two rifles over her shoulder and stuffed the pistol down the front of her orange jumpsuit. She jumped up and grabbed the edges of the maintenance hatch and started to pull herself up when a laser blast singed her hair. She let go and dropped to the floor, immediately smelling singed hair and felt heat radiating from the right side of her face.
“That was close!” She said nervously.
Rand stuck his rifle up in the opening and returned a shot. The blast made a warbling noise in the shaft. ‘Damn,’ Rand thought, ‘no scream.’
In the right maintenance shaft, Percy was slowly edging his way to the hatch overlooking the Tracker bay. His pistol was drawn and he pulled himself along the metal shaft by his elbows. The sound of laser shots were getting louder and he felt if anyone was in the bay they would be too occupied to be watching his approach.
Which coincidentally was Aaron’s thought as he was also crawling up behind Percy.
Laser blasts in the left shaft continued as Percy pushed the hatch open slowly. He brandished his pistol forward.
“You two, hands where I can see them, back against the far wall!”
Perry and Serena looked u
p at Percy’s head sticking out of the shaft entrance.
“Come on Perry, do as he says.”
They backed up, Serena’s heart sank. They were all cornered she surmised.
Aaron locked his legs wide against the shaft wall, coiled back and shoved Percy forward. Percy tried to grab something, anything, but the walls were smooth and Percy went out the hatch head first. Looking at a six foot drop, Percy let go of his pistol and managed to grab a bottom rung. His feet went out swinging him face up. His back impacted the floor and his head thumped on the steel diamond plating. His vision went black momentarily, and Serena sprang like a cat across the Tracker bay.
Aaron crawled to the edge and peered down.
Serena grabbed the pistol and had it in Percy’s face.
“Thanks for dropping in.”
Without turning, Serena said, “Perry, rip the canvas into strips. We need this one tied up quickly!”
Aaron crawled from the shaft and as instructed, he used one of the Tracker chains to secure the right maintenance hatch.
“Now what?” Perry asked.
“Once we get this one tied down we’ll help the others. I think they’re pinned down.”
Perry brought over canvas strips and Aaron took them from him. Serena and Perry pulled the man to a sitting position and bound his hands and gagged him.
“Perry, carry him to the seat. Aaron, lets tie his legs so he can’t get up; oh, and gag him.”
The three of them secured and gagged him and Perry looked at him pitifully, “Are you ok?”
Percy only rolled his eyes at Perry.
Aaron pulled Percy’s radio from his belt. “You wont be needing this.”
“Perry, make sure he doesn’t go anywhere and Do Not let him go, understood?” Serena said.
“O K,” Perry answered giving the ok signal again.
“Aaron, let’s see if we can move this thing.”
Serena released the brake and her and Aaron tried to push the Tracker from the Hatch. It rocked slightly but wouldn’t roll.
“Come on Perry, help us,” said Aaron.
With Trevor’s help the tracker inched away from the door until they could rotate the lever and squeeze through. Serena peeked outside. There was a large reclining seat in the middle of a small room. Serena correctly surmised it was a weapons control of some sort. Her and Aaron quietly stepped around it to the next hatch. Again quietly, although sporadic laser fire still echoed throughout the ship, she peeked out of the next hatch. Beyond was a corridor that went left and forward and the other right and forward. They both took the left forward hallway and it seemed to curve around a small room in the center.
Serena stopped dead in her tracks when she heard another radio only a few feet away.
“Dan, what’s the status down there?”
Then she heard the voice coming from only six feet away around the corner.
“Corridor is clear Commander; I haven’t seen any movement down here.”
“Affirmative, keep your eyes sharp Dan. We’re gonna keep ‘em pinned until we drop from hyper then we can get more troops on for a thorough search and gas them out.”
“Sir, how long until our next stop?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Sounds good commander.”
Dan’s radio went silent. Serena remained flat against the wall but buckled her knees into a lower stance. She motioned Aaron to stay put, then she slipped silently forward. She rounded the corner and could see the sleeve of someone leaning against the inside wall. This must be Dan, she thought. What an easy mark.And it would have been but the radio Aaron took from Percy cut in, breaking the silence.
“Percy, it’s Remke. What’s your status?”
Just then Dan whirled with his pistol high. Serena’s height had her under his aim and Serena quickly jabbed her pistol in his crotch.
“Got’cha!”
Dan was not a hero or either he loved his manhood, for he stretched out his arm quickly, dangled his pistol by his finger and let it clunk to the floor.
Serena raised her dark eyebrows in surprise, “Smart man.”
Aaron quickly picked up Dan’s pistol and retrieved the canvas strips. He bound Dan’s hands behind him.
Serena still held her pistol at his crotch.
Dan sweated nervously as the commander continued questioning on Aaron’s new radio.
“Damn it Percy, answer me!”
Serena stood and swung Dan against the wall, “How do we shut this thing down?”
“R-r-right here,” Dan stammered, “This is the circuitry room.”
Serena pulled him away from the wall and led him to the hatch leading in.
“What’s the code?”
“uhmm...7..5...7..2.”
Aaron punched the code on the keypad and amazingly, he gave the right code. Aaron opened the hatch and the three entered. The room had more switches and gauges than a freighter bridge. The blinking lights were almost overwhelming.
Rand looked at Terri in desperation, “We can’t storm this shaft. There’s not enough room. Terri, use one of the rifles and start cutting the latch. We gotta get out of here.”
Terri and Vallin both aimed their rifle lasers at the top of the latch. The metal turned red and started to burn through but it would take several charged cells to cut through. Especially since the blasts were very short and the charging allowed the metal to cool before the next firing. It was nearly futile. For cutting a hole through soft skin the rifle was great but as a plasma cutter it was almost useless.
“Rand, we’re going to run out of power before we cut through,” Terri remarked.
“Vallin, can you bust up the locker?” Rand asked. “We can use it as a shield.”
“I can do that,” And Vallin began prying it from the wall. He had it off the wall in a matter of seconds and was folding it over to add layers as well as fit through the maintenance hatch.
Lasers were quite accurate and deadly but they had absolutely no compression. As long as their suppressor didn’t use ballistics it would stand up well.
“We can put the plate up to block his fire then we can scoot back to the next forward rooms.
“Terri, you and I will drop below; Vallin, last hatch on top goes to the left turning plates and cripple a couple. I didn’t want to damage the ship but maybe we can spread these guys out.”
On the bridge, Remke was deciding on his next plan of action. It seemed the prisoners were cornered but Percy wasn’t answering. That raised suspicion.
“Hensley, Meyers, I’m checking on Percy. Lock the hatches behind me,” the tall red haired commander said as he raised from his seat. Remke checked his weapon, clipped his radio on and left the bridge with a ‘kick-someone’s-ass’ look.
The commander was walking down the first flight of steps when he was flung backward. The Banshee went into a compressed space/time right turn when the right engine cut out.
Every one on board was flung to the left. Rand, Mitchell, Terry and Vallin smashed each other against the small arms arsenal locker room.
Serena, Aaron and Dan were flung to the left side of the circuitry room. Dan with his wrists tied could not support himself and his head smacked a pointed switched on a left control panel. Blood oozed from the side of his head.
Williams was hiding in the left maintenance shaft when it happened. He slid nearly twelve feet and felt his right leg snap. He screamed loudly enough that Rand, and his nearby companions heard it.
On the bridge, stress condition lights flashed brilliant red as Meyers tried to compensate the turn. Fortunately Vallin never made it to the Left turning plate and Meyers was quickly able to gain control but the Banshee shot way off course.
Meyers quickly got on the radio. “Commander, we’re way off course!”
Remke winced against the pain in his back and tried to catch his breath.
Through clenched teeth he ordered, “Launch the buoy, ...Launch the buoy!”
“Yes sir,” Meyers sounded excited.
/> Remke came back, “Drop from hyper, NOW!”
Remke calculated if they were off course he didn’t want the Banshee farther from the original route.
Outside on the upper surface of the hull, a small round hatch slid open exposing a rounded nose cone. The four foot buoy flared to life and exited with a small chemical rocket engine. It was chemically powered in the event of power failure. As soon as it launched, it produced a powerful signal of the ship’s registry and crew information.
Therefore the search teams would know who and what they were looking for.
Remke staggered to his feet, gathered his senses and pushed on, albeit bruised and sore.
Remke’s radio then chirped, “Commander, ugh...Williams.”
“Go ahead, Williams”.
“I’m in maintenance shaft..aahhhh..left tube.” Williams trying to keep from passing out, “Leg’s broke.”
“Shit”!! “I’ll be right there.”
The humming died down and ceased as the Banshee came to a stop.
“Rand looked at his ‘team’, “I think we got help.”
“About time, I think our friend’s hurt. I hear him groaning,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell raised his head to the maintenance hatch, “Hey buddy, you alright?”
“Aaaaahhh, Fuck You,” Williams spat.
Mitchell could tell he was farther down the shaft.
“He’s not at the corner.”
Rand took the opportunity, “Hand me the shield.”
Vallin handed it to Rand.
“Mitchell, get up there and I’ll hand this to you.”
Mitchell put his rifle in the open hatch then climbed up.
“Ok, ready,” he whispered.
Mitchell took the make shift shield and placed it in front. He crawled forward pushing it ahead of him. He stopped momentarily to listen. Williams breathing was labored and he tried to control his breathing but with the ship silent it was easy to hear he was in severe pain. Mitchell was about to peek around the corner when he heard someone clamoring just ahead of him.Someone was trying to climb up from the left generator room. Mitchell leveled the laser while the other three climbed up from behind him.
Rand pecked on his back.
Rand whispered, “Keep him occupied, we’ll come in from below.”
SIEGE (TRAMPS Book 1) Page 6
