Revenant

by Raymond Bayly

  Who said this was a party boat?”

  Kree smiled and poked Blake in the chest.

  “Because Big, Tall and Goofy,

  you need me, and not just for one job,

  my price is off this rock;

  I am no longer safe here.

  Besides I can be of use if you need something hacked, sliced or checked into,

  I am the best there is.”

  Blake grumbled, the little guy had a point,

  they needed someone with those skills,

  and since the monk vouched for him,

  Morgan vouched for her,

  then at least he could semi-trust him.

  He thought about it and the more he did,

  the more he liked the idea of having a slicer on board. Moreover,

  they didn’t have much time if they wanted to get the hell out of here in one piece.

  “All right Little Man you’re on, for a probationary period, if I don’t like something,

  I will throw your ass out an airlock personally,” Blake said pointing at him. Kree put on his innocent “what me” face.

  “I am a professional Sir; I will have you know that I have never let anyone down.”

  Blake shook his head,

  “Get on; we will show you a stateroom if we live through this.”

  To the rest of the assembled crowd he said

  “All right let’s get on board, we need to make tracks and from the sound of it,

  we have a reception committee waiting on us” Blake walked up the ramp as it began to close Xera and Kree on his heels.

  “Kree, can you disable that damn beacon?”

  Blake asked as the door shut

  “I don’t want them tracking us out of here.”

  Kree hovered over to a terminal,

  “I’m on it, it will take a few minutes, I need to find it.”

  Rom who reentered the bay looked at him quizzically

  “What do you mean find it?”

  Rom had asked.

  Kree began with a sarcastic tone,

  but one look at Rom and he changed to a more, sincere demeanor.

  “Did you ever wonder why the Machine couldn’t find it and turn it off? It’s because its outside of the ship's sensors.

  In fact, it’s totally off the grid and self-contained, there was no way to use the ship's sensors to find it, nor once you did unless you physically could be at the unit, disable it.”

  Blake nodded

  “That makes sense, how do you keep a machine from disabling a machine,

  make it so it can’t access it,

  all right do what you need to do.

  Rom grab Shira from medical and meet me on the bridge;

  we aren’t out of this yet.”

  Morgan had explained to Blake once the jammer was down that while in the dock no one would fire upon them,

  the station would automatically see them as a threat and fire back,

  but once they left the dock all bets were off,

  so, he wasn’t in a big hurry to shove off.

  “Morgan, you want to check the ships internal defenses to ensure everything is online,

  I wouldn’t put it past them to try and board this ship” Blake said heading for the bridge

  “And keep an eye on our little friend,

  I don’t want him slicing into the ship and causing any trouble.”

  Morgan replied into Blake’s earpiece as not to be overheard

  “Of course, I am ensuring that I have a turret or maintenance bot watching him at all times,

  I am not stupid,

  he is a curious being with incredible intelligence, and sooner or later he will want a look at me.” She answered

  “Glad we are on the same page,

  once we are out of this mess,

  you and I are going to talk.

  You are holding back, and I need to know what you are holding back and why,

  I mean your handing out augments like candy,

  this isn’t free. I can figure its self-preservation on your part, having augments around will keep you safe, but I think you have an end game here.”

  Blake said.

  Morgan sounded repentant as she spoke in his ear.

  “Blake, I may have held information back,

  but never would it have put you in danger,

  nor do I have any malicious intent,

  I have grown fond of you and the others,

  I would never, ever harm or allow harm to come to you.”

  Blake smiled

  “I know Morgan,

  that’s why I am still here if I didn’t trust you

  I would have walked.”

  Blake entered the bridge,

  Shira was getting into the pilot seat,

  and Rom was at the weapons control,

  both began checking the ship to ensure no damage was taken and that all systems were green.

  “How are we looking guys?”

  Blake asked climbing into the captain’s chair.

  Rom finished his initial check of the weapons.

  “The battle outside didn’t do any damage to our systems;

  we are still locked and loaded so if we have to fight, we are ready.”

  Shira checked her boards.

  “Slip drive online, lateral and main thrusters, docking thrusters all online.

  Looks like we can fly,

  not that we want to.

  I am looking at the sensors out there,

  and it has to be 30 ships including 20 destroyer class vessels all itching to get a shot at us.” Rom stated reviewing the sensor data.

  “What’s the play, boss?”

  Shira asked turning her chair around,

  “We are in a serious Butch and Sundance moment, and I really would like to not go into that big ranch in the sky,

  so I hope you have something good.” Shira finished.

  Blake sat there,

  this guy, this Selcarm,

  was a step ahead each time.

  What would he expect them to do?

  One thing Blake learned from a teacher in Martial Arts,

  when in a fight be where the enemy doesn’t expect you to be. They had played on this guy’s terms all day,

  every step they took,

  he had been there pulling strings,

  now Blake needed to surprise him,

  it was the only way out of this,

  the only way to survive this he corrected himself.

  Selcarm expected them to leave the station and run for it, that was the only play they had, wasn’t it?

  He tapped the chair as he thought,

  Blake went over every option in his head,

  and then he stopped tapping as an idea formed in his head,

  “Kree, did you find that beacon yet?”

  Kree came on the line with some grumbling and grunting

  “Yeah, I found it, it’s not easy to get to,

  but I am almost there once I get to it,

  I should be able to deactivate it easily.”

  Blake played through the idea in his head “All right when you are done,

  come to the bridge,

  might have another job tailor-made just for you.”

  Selcarm’s shuttle landed in the destroyer’s dock.

  He was at the hatch as soon as the flight crew had opened it and was securing the shuttle.

  “What’s the Status update?”

  he asked the XO who had met him on the flight deck.

  A twitchy man who always seemed nervous glanced at his data-pad and sputtered.

  “Sir the Nismel has not moved from her dock; however, the drives are firing up.

  We are standing by waiting for her to pull out of the birthing dock.”

  Selcarm stopped and looked astounded at the little man,

  “Why haven’t you fired on her engines while she is docked,

  it’s a prime target,

  and we can disable her from here?”.

&nb
sp; The XO seemed to shrink a bit

  “Um, the captain denied the request despite the bonus you offered saying, and I quote

  ‘There aren’t enough credits in the galaxy for this fleet to fire into the birth of a Calibrex class Station regardless of your assurances of the defenses being down.’”

  The little man stepped back slightly probably expecting Selcarm to hit him.

  He just shook his head and grumbled.

  “Get me to the bridge asap Commander.”

  So, with that, the XO hurried off with Selcarm in tow.

  Three hours had passed as Selcarm sat in the Observers chair on the bridge watching the sensors and the live stream coming from the docking birth that the Nismel sat in.

  “Are you sure they are all still on that ship,

  I mean what if they had gotten out and are taking another ship out of the dock?”

  he asked annoyed at the stoic captain of the destroyer.

  The Captain sighed and looked over at Selcarm with his own slightly annoyed look,

  having to answer this question, for now,

  the third time in so many hours.

  “Because sensors tell us they are all accounted for on the ship,

  and we have every angle covered with cameras.

  I assure you, sir, they are on that ship and have not left.

  It is a possibility they are waiting for the authorities to arrive or for the defenses to come back online before trying to leave.”

  Selcarm chuckled

  “They will be waiting a long time for that Captain, this I assure you. Are you positive there isn’t a way I can convince you to disable her engines from here?”

  Selcarm asked yet again.

  The hostile look from the Captain answered his question. So, they waited.

  The ship was there,

  the crew could not leave,

  and at some point,

  they would have to try something to get away before any more reinforcements arrived.

  Time was not in their favor.

  So, the fleet waited,

  like a school of piranha waiting for the cow to wade into the water.

  The Captain didn’t like Selcarm,

  and he had dealt with his kind before,

  he knew nothing of space combat and,

  like anything in space, it was a waiting game,

  the one who flinched first or moved too quickly garnering a mistake was the one who would lose. All they could do was wait and see who hesitated first.

  The sensor operator spoke after another 30 minutes of silence.

  “Captain, the Nismel is firing her main drives, and her maneuvering thrusters have come online, she appears to be readying herself to move out.”

  The Captain smiled,

  it appeared the Nismel had flinched first.

  “Tactical, I want to set a spread pattern missile barrage, low yield, aim it at the aft of the ship,

  I need her engines out but the ship intact.

  Inform the other ships, to use energy weapons only and to disable any point defenses on the ship.

  Coms go to condition yellow, general quarters.”

  Selcarm leaned forward watching intently at the screen as the Nismel began to pull out of the birthing dock slowly.

  There was no way they could be this stupid;

  surely, the captain knew that there was nowhere to go.

  He had fully expected the Captain to broadcast his surrender or try to make a deal or something,

  but no, they were going to run.

  Just as Selcarm was about to pronounce victory inwardly,

  the Sensor officer interrupted his inner revelry “Captain, she is rotating 180 degrees and bringing her reactor up to 110 percent, in the dock”

  The amazement and shock were evident in his voice.

  Selcarm shot up

  “Captain what does that mean?”

  he asked insistently trying to gauge what was happening on the screen as the Nismel,

  in the dock flipped end over end.

  The Captain staring at the screen answering with a little fear and dare he say a little respect

  “They are going to punch out of the station using their mains while in the dock.

  They will tear that dock up,

  but the speed boost could give them a bit of an advantage as the velocity will be almost full acceleration in only moments.”

  he said. At once the Captain was striding across the bridge passing the consoles as he went.

  “Tactical, I want you to make adjustments for your fire if that ship launches out of there as I think she might,

  I need three different firing solutions in case she tries anything funny.

  Navigation move this ship to block a direct path from that bay to open space,

  I don’t want to give her a straight shot at running. Coms,

  notify the other ships of what we think she is going to do and tell them to update their firing calculations as well,

  she cannot escape.”

  Selcarm was standing now,

  yelling at the bridge

  “Captain, FIRE! Get that ship before she gets away!”

  he pointed at a crewman operating a station. “Launch those damn missiles before she escapes!” he said practically getting hysterical.

  The Captain took two paces over to Selcarm

  and was instantly in his face.

  “Sir, I understand you have overall command of this mission,

  but if you don’t sit down and shut up,

  I will have you removed from this bridge,

  you will not say a word and just sit there,

  do you understand me?”

  he ordered, locking his eyes with the other man. After a moment Selcarm nodded,

  not trusting himself to speak.

  The Captain had no idea the amount of money riding on this,

  but he knew that should he say one wrong word, he would find himself in a brig.

  Selcarm sat down and waited.

  Digging his nails into his palms in an effort to remain calm.

  Bridge of the Nismel, 10 Minutes Earlier THIRTYdfgegqeergwekbjhg

  Blake braced himself and ensured his straps were fastened tightly in the captain’s chair. “Everyone strap in, this is going to be a fucking wild ride.”

  Rom and Shira did the same and waited for the captain to give the word.

  Davi was still in medical with Xera,

  so Morgan was running the reactor.

  Blake looked around the bridge,

  this was probably the worst plan in the history of plans,

  but they didn’t have much choice.

  “Morgan gear up the reactor to 110 percent,

  kill the safeties,

  either this works,

  or we are dead anyway.”

  Acknowledged Blake.

  He could hear the reactors spinning up as the ship began to vibrate from the power load.

  “Shira, you have the coordinates set it,

  we are going to be close,

  so, we don’t want to bounce off anything as we are streaking by and it’s going to be fast.”

  Shira glanced back at him

  “No worries Cap; this baby is going to burn right along the edge of that thing.”

  Blake hit is comm and prayed to whatever god was listening.

  “Kree, please tell me we are good to go on this because if this doesn’t work,

  it will probably be the shortest escape in history.” The little man snorted,

  “Don’t worry, I have got the surprise of a lifetime for these fools.”

  Everyone had given him the go signal;

  it was now or never.

  “All right, Shira take us out fast and hard,

  you know what to do,”

  Blake said.

  Shira flipped the ship,

  so, the front portion was facing out into space with a small prayer she pushed the lever allowing the engines to spin up,


  the ship began to shake so hard from the vibration it felt like it was going to come apart at the seams.

  Shira punched the button on the console,

  and the rear engines came to life with a crimson explosion.

  The birthing dock began to glow red and melt,

  and cargo was flung across the giant room.

  As the decking on the dock itself peeled away trying to retreat from the heat

  the ship started to pull forward towards the force shield.

  The entire bridge crew could see the 30 ships out there, waiting for them,

  the largest of them was directly in their path as if trying to block their escape.

  Blake grabbed his chair a little tighter as the ship continued to push forward against the gravity of the stations bay.

  At the point, it reached the shield the gravity gave way,

  and the ship lurched forward with all its velocity and out into space.

  As soon as they were clear the bright red and blue of energy pulses began to reign down on the little ship causing it to shudder,

  Shira snapped the controls to the left straining to try and get them to turn back towards the station's hull.

  “Fucking move you pig!”

  she yelled as the maneuvering jets fired fully trying to push against the ship’s massive forward velocity. For a second Blake didn’t think she would turn and that they would plow into the mass of ships in front of them.

  At first a little and then with more and more momentum the vessel lurched left until it was parallel with the hull of the station.

  From the viewport,

  they could see the station skin on their right and the ships still blasting out laser shots into the hull of the Nismel on the left.

  A Console exploded next to him showering the bridge in bright light and smoke.

  “What the fuck was that?” Blake yelled.

  “Sensors.” was all Rom replied.

  “Rom light those bitches up with everything we have NOW!”

  Blake yelled as the ship rocketed along the outside of the station.

  “Captain the shields are starting to fail,

  and we are getting hull hits,

  we are down to 70 percent on hull integrity!”

  Rom yelled over the booming of the laser hits coming from the fleet outside.

  “Shira, snap roll us along the hull try and keep the ship rolling to space out the shots

  so, they can’t focus on one area”

  then looked over at Rom,

  “Every time a gun is facing towards that fleet fire it. I want a continuous burst towards the enemy at all times.”