“Ready now?” demanded Rosto. “I didn’t like to hurry you or anything, when the security of the Free Union was hanging about waiting.”
“Sarcasm does not become you,” I told him and strode off towards the entry hatch in a lordly fashion. Unfortunately the effect was rather spoiled when I missed my footing and slid all the way down, generating a set of new and quite painful bruises to add to my growing collection.
Rather than help me get up, Rosto simply stepped over me and I watched him peering out of the port in the hatch. “Can’t see anyone,” he said. He opened the document case and pulled out some of the papers inside, then closed the case. Some of the papers he gave to me, others he pushed into an inside pocket of his jacket.
“Let’s go.”
Rosto opened the hatch and stepped outside. I followed him, checking for hidden assailants. I closed the entry hatch, and locked it behind us. Rosto pointed at the lift doors a few hundred yards away. “There we go. If we get separated, then get to the lift and select the very top floor. You’ll be challenged, but if you show those papers I’ve given you, you’ll get in. Take them to the boss.”
“That’s it? Just be a postman?”
Rosto gave me a grin which held no humour at all. “Yes. Remember what happens to postmen on their delivery rounds.” Suddenly he shoved me hard to one side, and dropped to the floor. Laser rounds flashed between us, and I saw Rosto roll away from me. “Go!” he hissed.
I needed no encouragement, as our hidden attackers opened up on us with everything they had. How I survived that immediate barrage of fire, I don’t know. The metal pillar beside the entry hatch certainly didn’t, and I saw it dissolve under the firepower. The walkway towards the lift seemed to be the only way out as it was obvious that I couldn’t get back into the Speedbird without getting fried. Rosto had vanished, so I rolled under the walkway and examined my options.
Top of the list seemed to be being shot by person or persons unknown. Rather unattractive, and lacking in a long term future. There was no convenient drainage channel here to crawl along. But the underside of the walkway did have several crossbeams for support. Now I maintain a healthy regard for my own skin and if you are going to need to run away at speed, a certain level of fitness is needed. I work out when I can and do what exercise I can in the Speedbird. So using the support beams as a climbing frame, I swung myself comfortably towards the lift.
Where Rosto had gone I had no idea, but the firing had intensified so I suspected that the ambush had failed to get him. I wanted to follow his example. A few minutes, although it seemed a lot longer, I reached the end of the walkway. Several other walkways joined together just before the lift, making a sort of platform. Transferring my grip to the sides, I peered over the edge of the walkway. Several shots succeeded in reducing my life expectancy, but in fact missed everything else. I ducked back down. By now my arms were getting tired.
“Keep him pinned down there, while I deal with the other one!” shouted a voice that seemed rather familiar. Colonel Starker. If he was here, then Rosto had not been over emphasising the importance of this mission after all. Renewed firing broke out further away in the docking area, and I wondered briefly what would happen to me if Rosto was killed. Probably the same fate, I suspected. More shots bounced off the walkway above my head, and I looked down and contemplated falling. Falling in a low gravity environment is not as risky as falling in normal gravity, and I thought for a moment about just letting go and hoping to land on the next level of walkways. The docking area ran all around the battlecruiser in a band: I should be able to evade the dread Colonel if I got lucky.
Then I did get lucky. Turning to look at the lift, I saw that there was a service stair running beside it. Well, not a stair but a set of rungs let into the wall running up and down. I swung over to the wall, and with some relief transferred my weight to my feet and started climbing down to the level below. The sound of battle continued above, so Rosto was clearly still giving a good account of himself. It took several minutes to get down to the next set of walkways, and frankly I was rather tired by then. To open the lift door at that level and slump gratefully into the cubicle was the work of a moment.
I pressed the button for the top floor, as Rosto had told me and felt a rush of relief as the lift jerked upwards. Then dismay as it promptly halted at the level I had just abandoned. The doors opened.
“You do look familiar,” said Colonel Starker in a conversational tone as he and two of his goons joined me in the lift. “I feel sure we have met before.”
“I doubt it,” I replied.
The lift doors closed, and the lift moved on.
“It’s so nice to renew old acquaintances, even when it is only for a brief time,” remarked the Colonel.
The lights on the wall were rising up the levels in an encouraging fashion, but one of Starker’s men aimed his weapon at me.
“Briefly?” I asked.
“Sadly so. I do not know what brought you into this line of work, but I do know how you will leave it. I’d say Au Revoir, but I have a penchant for accuracy, so something more final would be more suitable.”
The lift jerked to a halt and the doors opened. Several very tough looking persons of assorted species were there, all heavily armed and with large badges saying ‘Security’ on their clothing.
“Right,” said one of them, who had Security Chief on his badge. “Who pressed the CEO’s button?”
“What?” asked the Colonel, confused. “Please excuse us, this is a private matter unconnected with the Emporium.”
“Er, I pressed it,” I said loudly.
“Then come with us, please.”
The Colonel snarled as the Security staff grabbed me and dragged me out of his clutches. “See you again,” he threatened.
“Not if I see you first, Colonel,” I replied cheerily and went off with the Security team.
“Why did you press the top button on the lift?” asked the Chief.
“I have some documents to deliver to the CEO, and was told to do that by my boss,” I told him.
“Evidence?”
I reached into my pocket, and when I looked around all I could see was the wrong end of what appeared to be every weapon in the universe.
“Go easy,” said the Security Chief.
Thinking I would need to get this flight suit cleaned as well now, I pulled the papers Rosto had given me from my pocket and passed them over. They passed inspection, luckily.
“That’s fine, sir,” said the Security Chief more politely. “Our CEO takes his security seriously. That button merely summons us at a set floor, and then we escort you to the correct place. Would you please follow us?” He gave me the papers back, then led me down a short corridor. There waited another lift. The Security Chief got into it with me, and I swear that the cubicle tilted to one side. He pressed the top button on this control panel, and smiled at me. “Our internal use lifts go to the right places.”
I nodded appreciatively. After a very short time the lift stopped and the doors opened. I was both surprised and relieved to see Rosto there, looking cool and relaxed. “What kept you?” he asked.
“I thought you were in difficulties and so I waited around for you,” I replied. If Rosto was going to be cool, then I could try and match him.
Rosto nodded. “Come along, then.”
“I’ll wait here to escort you back to your vessel,” the Security Chief told us. “Here at the Emporium, we do not appreciate our customers being assaulted whilst they are trying to spend money. Afterwards, well that’s different of course!”
Rosto chuckled, although I rather failed to see the funny side of that. Rosto led me off along the corridor, away from the lift door. This corridor was covered in a deep carpet. Pictures hung on the walls and when we reached the reception area at the end, I was simply astonished at the number of pot plants and other varieties of vegetation that adorned the room. A Rigellian secretary was sitting behind a large and quite ornate desk.
; “The CEO is expecting you,” she told us in a polite and very refined Standard, and pressed a button on a small intercom on her desk. “The Free Union gentlemen are here to see you, sir,” she said into it. I did notice however that there was a second box beside the intercom, and examining the front of the desk came to the conclusion that a small but undoubtedly deadly weapons system was hidden there. The intercom buzzed at her. “You may go through, gentlemen.”
A door opened in one wall, and Rosto walked through it. I followed him, rather overawed by the grand setting. Certainly I was not disappointed by the CEO’s office. It was everything you might expect, including a huge window giving an unrivalled view of the nearby star system: and of several small but heavily armed ships with SECURITY written across their sides in huge letters.
The CEO of the Emporium did not bother getting up to greet us. “Gentlemen,” he said; at variance with the known facts before him but I suppose it pays to be polite in trade. “You have the documents?”
“Indeed we do,” replied Rosto. He held out his hand, so I gave him back the papers he had given me. He added his own to them, and placed them on the CEO’s desk. In silence, the CEO read through them and then signed his name in three places on each set. Rosto did the same.
“The Emporium is politically impartial of course,” the CEO said without looking at either of us. “But this arrangement is better kept quiet. We have no wish to be drawn into your conflict with the Imperium. For this reason, the arrangement has no End User Designation on the documentation. You do understand the implications of this?”
Rosto did not look very happy at that, but finally agreed. “And delivery?”
“We will be in touch. Clearly this order cannot be completed from stock held here. You will be notified via the usual channels.”
“Agreed. But it must be a mutually acceptable location.”
“Fair enough.” The CEO rose and shook Rosto’s hand formally.
This seemed to terminate the interview, as the CEO placed his copy of the signed documents into a file and placed the file in a tray on his desk. He opened a fresh file from a small stack on the other side of his desk and promptly ignored us.
“Nice doing business,” said Rosto, and turned on his heel. I followed him out of the office.
“Please go to the same lift you came in, and you will be escorted back to your transport,” said the receptionist as we walked past her. “Colonel Starker, you may go in now.”
Rosto spun round. Colonel Starker smiled benevolently at us from beside a large potted plant that had otherwise concealed him from our gaze, and entered the CEO’s office. As the door shut behind him, Rosto turned and walked towards the door. The receptionist’s smile never varied, but the front of her desk suddenly revealed the pointy ends of a few weapons. Several security guards with studiously neutral faces also appeared.
“Please return to your vessel.” This time the receptionist was very clearly giving us an order.
Rosto looked as if he wanted to argue, but I grabbed his arm and pulled on it. He shook me off, but then shook his head and headed for the lift. I followed him and the security team followed me. The lift door opened and we were ushered into the lift with little ceremony.
“Is this how you treat your customers?” Rosto demanded, staring at the Security Chief.
“We maintain the peace within the Emporium, sir. That incident earlier was regrettable, and I can confirm that you will not be assailed or molested again during your return to your vessel, and that sanctions have been applied to those responsible. However we make no guarantees once you leave the Emporium. Accordingly, the CEO has decreed that you are to be given a brief lead over the customers from the Imperium who were involved in that event.
“How brief?” I asked.
“Brief. Use the time wisely.” The Security Chief pressed the appropriate button on the lift, and we descended rapidly to the Docking Level. The doors opened, and I peered out apprehensively. Our path to the Speedbird was clear and guarded by the security team. I ran and after a moment, Rosto ran after me.
Once safely aboard with the hatch closed, I turned to Rosto. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on yet?”
“No. Just get to the flight deck and get us out of here as fast as you can. Starker will be after us, you can depend on that.”
“Security said we’d be given a head start?” I hurried up the stairs to the living quarters without waiting for his answer.
“Once we disengage from here, all bets are off. They might keep Starker here for a few minutes, but I’ll bet he has ships out there waiting for us.”
“Why is it that every time I meet you I end up in terrible danger?”
“Just one of those things, I suppose. Now get us out of here.”
I slid into the pilot’s seat and started the preflight checks.
“Can’t you just hurry those along and get us out of here?”
“I’m taking all the short cuts that I can.”
I activated the comms system and the Emporium’s controller was online at once. “Speedbird, you are cleared for engine start and immediate departure. Please vacate the docking zone as soon as convenient and then clear the control zone at once.”
“They want rid of us,” I said.
“Of course they do. They have the contract so they have the money, now we are an inconvenience. And an embarrassment if the Imperium kill us in their space.”
“Embarrassment.” I speeded up the checks, and started the engines. The Emporium released the docking system at once, and the Speedbird drifted away from the huge battlecruiser turned shopping centre. I touched the power lever and we moved out into the control zone. The proximity alert went off as another ship cut behind us and I jumped, nervously.
“Another customer wanted the docking station,” Rosto told me. He was peering at the vidscreen showing the rear view.
“Just that? Not the Imperium?”
“They will be waiting for us,” said Rosto with grim certainty.
I looked at the scanners. There were so many ships all around the Emporium, moving in a confusing proliferation of directions, that it was impossible to identify which ones might be closing on us with evil intentions. The star chart showed that we were close to a small planetary system, and I changed course to head for it.
“What are you doing?”
“Look, they will expect us to clear the control zone and then accelerate away until we can engage the Hyperdrive, right?”
“Yes. I was expecting that. It’s called running away.”
“You might be an expert on whatever it is that you do, but running away is my expert subject, Rosto. I’ve been doing it for a while now, quite successfully.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“To run away, of course! Look, the Emporium’s customers are coming up from that planet. We are going to drop down towards them as if we are satisfied customers going home.”
Rosto growled. “It’s too early for that.”
“Well, we’ve spent all our cash, haven’t we? I know I have!”
The planet filled the vidscreen ahead of us. Rosto couldn’t take his eyes off the rear view.
“Any sign of the Imperium?” I asked.
“No. No...wait! Here they come! Three scout ships, Viper class I think.”
I activated the defense shields.
“Can they cope with Viper class torpedoes?” asked Rosto.
“No.” No other answer seemed necessary, but I added one. “Actually, the screens were so damaged last time I went out that I was warned not to rely on them for anything.”
“Oh, that’s peachy!”
“Umm.” I focused on the flight console and made a minor adjustment to our trajectory.
“Imperium ships closing, in attack formation.”
I made no reply, but engaged the combat console screen. Rosto glanced at the flight console.
“Hang on! You can’t enter the atmosphere at that angle!” he shouted.
�
��Is that right?” I asked, absently.
An alarm sounded.
“What’s that?” demanded Rosto.
“Missile lock.”
Rosto couldn’t tear his eyes away from the rear vidscreen. “Closing fast!” he said.
“Is that so?” The planet filled the forward screens. “Tell me when they fire.”
“Torpedoes away!”
“Right.”
“What are you going to do? We’re going to be killed!”
“Shut up! I’m counting!”
“Counting what?”
“How long we have left to live. Unless I do this.” I flicked a switch, engaging a pre-programmed course correction. The Speedbird twisted sickeningly and bounced off the atmosphere of the planet. The missiles fled past, unable to change course so quickly and burnt up as they entered the atmosphere too steeply. The flare as they exploded lit the flight deck.
“Good one!” yelled Rosto. “One of the Vipers can’t pull out in time!” This time the flare as the Viper Class Scoutship exploded was almost blinding, and the Speedbird bounced wildly, as did the second set of missiles from the next Imperium ship. They too missed us and dropped into the atmosphere.
The alarm sounded again, and I hit the button that engaged the missile avoidance routine. The third set of torpedoes sped uselessly beside us and I quickly changed the trajectory to confuse their guidance systems. The torpedoes tried to reverse their course, and successfully impacted with the second Viper class ship that was trying to attack us from another angle.
“One left!” Rosto sounded excited now.
I triggered the space mines and they were spat from the rear pod of the Speedbird as we swung around the planet under the pull of its gravity. The Viper avoided them, but lost a lot of ground in doing so. I pushed the power lever all the way forward, and the Speedbird fled around the planet. The sunrise was spectacular, but I ignored the incredible beauty in the screens - the immediate danger of being killed lets you do that, I have found. The Speedbird reached the appropriate velocity and I engaged the hyperdrive panel on the flight console.
Scout Pilot Of the Free Union (Space Scout Book 1) Page 12
