"Well, I guess that settles what the bastard was up to," Jason broke the silence. "This changes the plan. We're going to have to neutralize Deetz before we hit The Vault."
"I can help with that," Ma'Fredich said. "I've got detailed files on the different types of synths, I'll work out a way to incapacitate him."
"I'll help," Twingo said. "I never did trust that damn machine, I knew he had to be working another angle after Jason told me his story. You sure we shouldn't just kill him?"
"Not yet," Jason said firmly. "This plan just became a lot more fluid, I may need him available still. If we blast him I won't have that option." Both nodded respectfully, indicating their assent. "Ok, so we know what we're doing in the short term. Doc, find a way to knock that backstabbing robot out. Twingo, I'll meet you in engineering later to see about fabricating some concealable hand held weapons. I'd search the armory, but we need to be discreet. Any questions? No? Great. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to try and get a couple more hours of sleep." The two others took the hint and walked to the door. Ma'Fredich paused in the entry way and turned back to Jason.
"Jason, sometimes you call me 'Doc', is there some significance to this?
"Ah," Jason said, smiling. "It's short for doctor. In my time in one of Earth's military branches my team always had a medic with us that looked after us. We all just called them 'Doc'. It's meant as a sign of respect, but if it bothers you I'll try to stop."
"No, no. I think I quite like it," Ma'Fredich smiled as he walked out the door. "Doc," he repeated to himself before the hatch closed completely. Jason smiled and shook his head before laying back down and trying to get some more sleep with all the dangers that surrounded him swirling through his dreams.
Chapter 13
Jason woke up only a few hours after his two friends had left his room. He felt refreshed and ready to get started nonetheless. Despite the seriousness and the danger involved with this latest mission, he felt completely exhilarated. After a shower and some breakfast he wondered down to engineering. He wasn't surprised to see Ma'Fredich and Twingo together, standing by a work bench going over some type of schematic. The two had become nearly inseparable on this flight despite their differences in social standing and vocational backgrounds. The two saw him and waved him over to the table. From what he could tell, they'd been working tirelessly on their plan to knock Deetz out of commission.
"Fill me in, boys," Jason said, his usual chroot mug grasped firmly in his hand. They did. Although he didn't understand most of the technical aspects of the plan (or any of them, if he was honest) he took it on faith that the doctor and engineer could come up with a working plan. It was relatively simple on the surface, and in the end he had them fabricate three sets of the specialized equipment they would need to execute the plan, that way any one of them could get to the synth in case he acted before they did.
Next came the hand held weapons; they needed something like a hold-out pistol that couldn't be detected by the security scanners that may be in place in The Vault. Twingo had decided to go low-tech, in a way. "I took some inspiration from your weapon that was in the armory, Jason. Fairly archaic, but effective. While making an Earth-type projectile gun is plausible, the necessity for metals means it still may be detected." Twingo was showing an exploded view of what looked like a Buck Rogers version of an over-under Derringer pistol. "This baby is all synthetic and has no power source, that's the beauty of it. When you pull the trigger a chemical reaction instantaneously generates the power to fire a single shot. The shot will destroy the emitter and consume the chemicals so I'm including two shots per weapon. It isn't much, I'll admit."
"No, it's perfect," Jason disagreed. "If it takes more than two shots with one of these we've already fucked up beyond repair. I love it. Build it." He nodded to the pair and left the engineering bay. He would have liked to have stayed to help out, but he would best serve their mission by wondering the ship and keeping Deetz and the guards distracted from what the other two were doing. With that in mind, he veered from his original course heading to the bridge and walked to the galley instead.
As Jason had hoped, one of Bondrass' security troops was seated at the table, as usual. He had no idea which one, the trio looked too similar and had the same apparent lack of anything that could remotely be considered a personality. He got another mug of chroot and sat directly across from the guard, plastering a wide, ridiculous smile on his face. "Hi!"
"What do you want?"
"I just realized that we've never really had a chance to talk, just you and me." Jason kept up the same stupid smile while the alien had a look on his face that said he'd rather scrape Jason off the bottom of his boot than talk to him. Wordlessly, the guard stood, glared at him, and stalked out of the galley area. Jason got up and followed him to the lounge. "Ah! Good idea, the seats in there are so uncomfortable. This will be much nicer." This time the alien actually snarled in disgust and stormed off toward crew berthing. As soon as he was out of sight the smile disappeared from Jason's face and was replaced with a scowl. That's two of those assholes out of the way for a while, and the third won't leave the cargo bay. He eyed the stairs to the upper command deck speculatively. It would be useful to go up and keep Deetz distracted, but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep up the charade of the ignorant rube, or be able to keep his hostility in check. He decided that Deetz would probably be just as interested in avoiding them and would likely stay on the bridge for the rest of the flight, so instead he turned and walked back to his quarters to go through the technical data Doc had left him on his new implants.
Nearly forty-eight hours later, Jason, Twingo, and Ma'Fredich had everything prepared that they would need to execute their plan. Since there was nothing to do but wait during the remainder of the flight, Jason took extra care to keep the nerves of his cohorts under control; they had never been in combat before, so they didn't know how to channel the stress and energy that came with a pending operation into something positive, or at least non-destructive. The easiest way he knew how to accomplish this was to make them do something genuinely useful, they were both too smart to be coddled. So instead of busy-work, he asked them to help him get his implants configured and tweaked to suit him. Afterwards, he was able to have pertinent information fed directly into his visual cortex, the displays appeared to float in his field of view in a way that seemed almost natural. Twingo even slaved the targeting system from his railgun to his neural interface, he could now engage targets without having to shoulder the weapon and sight directly through the optics. Jason's human brain seemed to adapt quickly and he soon developed an insatiable desire to see what other tricks his new wetware could do, but Doc cautioned him to take it easy and acclimate slowly. It was easy to become enamored with what the technology could offer to the point of becoming completely distracted and detached from reality, something they couldn't afford during the upcoming mission.
For his own part, Jason had to prepare himself for what was coming as well. He knew the likelihood of them pulling this off without any bloodshed was non-existant, and although he was technically the only member of the team with military training, he had rarely directly taken a life. His time in the Air Force had been spent as a Pararescue operator, or PJ. While highly trained members of the special operations community, very rarely were they called upon as a tactical asset, their job was to get in to impossible spots, rescue and render aid to others, and egress. He had performed joint ops with SEALs and Marine Force Recon units, so it wasn't that he was squeamish, but after years of fighting in the Global War on Terror, he was weary of the constant fighting. That was the main reason he had been hiding in his family cabin high in the mountains. This time he knew he had no choice though, the stakes were his very freedom and likely his life. So, in the end the choice was quite simple; fight for freedom or live and die a slave. Or worse. It wasn't the potential for violence that bothered him. It was the fact that if he hadn't heard Deetz offering to give him up, he wasn't sure he'd be as inclined t
o get involved, and he didn't like what that said about him.
Chapter 14
The big day had arrived. They would be making their final approach to The Vault within the next eight hours and Jason could tell his team was pumped up on stress and stimulants. Timing would be critical, so he did everything he could to keep them settled down and made sure they ate a large meal and had plenty of sleep. His years in the field had taught him you ate and slept whenever, whereever you could during operations; there was no guarantee when you'd get another opportunity. He sat pensively on the bridge with Deetz as the synth guided the ship towards their target after emerging from slip-space. So far as Jason could tell he suspected nothing.
They were almost on final approach before Jason could even tell which asteroid it was that they were heading for, and even then it was only because the ship highlighted it for him in his optical implants. The DL7 passed easily through a natural looking tunnel that could have accommodated a much larger ship and slowed to a stop before what appeared to be a dead end. Jason's pulse quickened at this unexpected turn of events. Deetz turned to him and smiled mirthlessly. Shit, does he know? As he was about to inquire as to what was going on Deetz cycled the landing gear down and a set of flood lights came on within the tunnel, illuminating a landing apron that had been hewn out of the tough iron ore of the asteroid. Beyond that were a set of massive blast doors that presumably led into the hander deck. "Getting into this place is a bit of a trick. It may be notorious, but it's still a closely guarded secret," Deetz said as the gunship settled onto the landing pad. “This is actually a secure backdoor, if you will. If I hadn’t transmitted the proper clearance codes we got from Bondrass we would have been incinerated while still in the tunnel before we even saw the hanger door. The main dock, and entrance, are on the adjacent face of the asteroid and have much more prominent security protocols.” Jason felt a small bit of elation at Deetz’s description of their entry method; Doc had said they would likely enter through a hanger that bypassed the major bulk of security on the station. The security was more focused on controlling those visiting for the entertainment, not so much those that were there on official business.
After another series of com messages, a crack appeared in the blast doors and, slowly, they rolled apart. Jason could see another set of equally impressive doors that split and opened vertically behind that, creating a double-layered door that looked nearly impenetrable. It would be insanely difficult to enter The Vault through this port if you weren't invited. Once the doors were open the gunship taxied forward and followed the go-to directions on their displays that guided them to the docking berth they had been assigned. After the ship stopped and leveled itself on its landing gear Deetz began shutting down the primary flight systems, completely preoccupied. Jason rose and walked around to the pilot's seat. "We all set?"
"It appears so, I guess we should go tell the..." Deetz never finished his sentence as Jason patted him on the shoulder, the seemingly friendly gesture eliciting an explosion of sparks. Deetz's voice scrambled and he stiffened in the seat. Trying to rise, he reminded of Jason of a stroke victim. The synth jerkily tried to come at Jason, who easily backed out of reach, a small device with two protruding electrodes in his right hand. A look of comprehension crossed Deetz's face before it froze completely and he collapsed in a heap.
"Twingo, get in here!" Jason called out. The engineer, who had been waiting in the port-side meeting room that was just aft of the bridge, raced in with his hands full of tools. He quickly flipped Deetz over and began cutting an access opening into his skin. Once through, he fiddled around inside and then installed the device he'd been carrying into the synth. He flipped Deetz back over and looked up, breathing hard and with his hands on his knees.
"That'll do it. I've interrupted his main power distribution center. If we have to, we can start individual subsystems without bringing him fully back online."
"Ok, let's get him down to engineering and restrained. Bondrass' people in the cargo hold with Doc?" When Twingo nodded they dragged Deetz off the bridge and threw him up onto a waiting cart. They whisked him off to engineering as quickly as they could so as to not risk any of the three security personnel seeing them. After securing the unconscious mechanical being to a purpose built chair, complete with heavy manacles, they looked at each other. "This is it. You ready?" Jason asked, satisfied with the calm nod he received in response.
Jason quickly donned his armor and grabbed their new hold-out weapons. Without a word, he and Twingo headed into the armory and brought up a live feed of the cargo bay on one of the terminals. Doc was talking to the three goons as he checked all the stasis pods. "Can never be too careful you know. These units are great for what they are, but running on the internal systems for such a long flight is risky, don't want the boss's cargo damaged before delivery..."
"Computer, highlight the three passengers in the cargo hold that are not Dr. Ma'Fredich," Jason said. Instantly three pulsing green boxes appeared around Bondrass's men. "Now target them with the stunners." The boxes now pulsed quicker and changed to red. "Fire." A bright flash washed out the video feed and an instant later Doc was standing in the cargo bay surrounded by three unconscious goons. He looked up into the camera and smiled. Jason smiled also as he opened the blast doors that led from the armory into the cargo hold.
"Just in time, I'm not sure how much longer I could have kept them from opening the doors," Doc said as he accepted one of the hold-out guns from Jason.
"You doubting me already?" Jason asked with a laugh. "Computer, bring up the external aft video feed." The trio crowded around the display by the rear cargo hatch and saw there were four more hired goons milling about, looking bored. Jason smiled grimly and hit the controls to drop the ramp and open the interior pressure doors. "You're on, Doc."
"Help me!" Doc shouted from the top of the ramp. "Something's happened!" The four guards ran up the ramp and entered the ship just as Jason and Twingo slipped out of sight around one of the stasis pods.
"What's happening in here?" One of the goons asked, trying to establish himself as in charge.
"I don't know," Doc was saying, "they were checking the pods and there was a flash. When I came over they were like this, they appear to have been shocked. I didn't know what to do." Jason snuck back around and activated the internal pressure doors, leaving the ramp lowered. As the doors slid closed the four newcomers spun as one.
"Computer, stun the four new passengers that just boarded," Jason barked. As before, a bright flash and then they had a total of seven knocked out thugs. As he walked over he said to Doc, "I didn't know what to do?" He laughed as he repeated Doc's adlibbed performance.
"What?"
"Don't they know you as a doctor?" Jason was still laughing.
"Oh. Yeah." Doc managed to look sheepish as he began working the controls on one of the stasis pods.
"How're we doing?" Jason asked over his shoulder as he walked back into the armory.
"Good. Very good, actually. Nobody's going to bother checking on this ship and I doubt anyone is going to miss these miscreants."
"Excellent. Keep an eye on things anyway, Twingo." Jason had to shout to be heard through the open armory door.
"Already on it," came the muffled reply. Jason nodded in approval at how his
team had performed thus far; no panic and everyone rockin’ and rollin’ according to the plan. He enjoyed it while he could. Once in the armory he opened one of the wall lockers and stepped back to look over a wide assortment of handheld weaponry. As his eyes lingered over each one his neural implant fed him the pertinent information on that particuler unit. He decided on a short, shoulder fired plasma carbine, it would get the job done without destroying the inside of the ship if he had to fire it. He hefted the weapon with a grin playing across his features. As a long time gun-geek, the smorgasbord of exotic weaponry available in the gunship’s armory was almost intoxicating. When his life wasn’t in danger he would love to find some quite, out of the w
ay continent for some trigger time on each.
After charging and activating the plasma rifle, Jason walked back out into the cargo bay with the weapon leaned casually over his shoulder. He found his two friends working diligently on the stasis pods that had been singled out after a quick manifest search. “We sure we have the right guys? I’d hate to turn loose some maniac in here,” he said.
“Yes, we’re sure,” Doc said in a pained voice. “These aren’t violent criminals, although some of them could do a lot of damage and are likely not very happy right now,” he conceded.
“We’re waking up the technical guys now, although we’re going to be three pods short so we’re also bringing out some that will need to be restrained for the duration of the mission,” Twingo added as he monitored the display on one of the pods. Jason left them to their work. They were already committed to the plan, so second guessing things at this point would be counterproductive. After about thirty more minutes of frenzied activity from the two, Jason began hearing the pop-hiss of the stasis pods opening. Unable to contain his curiosity, he moved over to look into one of them.
Another bipedal being was strapped tightly against a vertical, metallic gurney with a myriad of intravenous tubes running to different parts of its body. It also wore a snug breathing mask and was slight of build. What really caught Jason's eye, however, was the fact this alien had four arms; two larger appendages that sprouted from shoulders like he was used to, and two smaller, thinner arms that emerged from around the mid-abdomen area. When relaxed, the smaller arms tucked up in a way that reminded Jason of a praying mantis. This being had an especially large cranium that came down to a wide but delicate looking jaw.
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