Manny wiped his tears away on his shirt sleeve. “No, we won’t,” he said as he tucked the processor away in his pocket. The shuttle’s former pilot gave the order to the current pilot. “Seth, get us out of here.”
Valjean approached Nightengale, holding his last fire extinguisher at waist level. He had jumped off the freighter, headed toward his ship, using three fire extinguishers as thrusters. Two had been discarded along the way. The first one had been used to propel him forward, the second one to get him aimed toward his ship, and now he needed the last one to keep on course, and slow down enough that the impact wouldn’t kill him, or cause him to bounce off, and become a permanent fixture in Ares orbit.
The ship was looming large in front of him. He placed the nozzle right at his belly button, curled his legs up, and squeezed the trigger. Fire suppression fluid squirted out under pressure, away from him, forming a string of frozen droplets. The droplets impacted his ship, too hard. He was coming in too fast. He squeezed the trigger again, and liquid shot out in front of him, slowing him down. He was off center, moving off course. He swung his arms to turn, and squeezed the trigger again. The stream was weaker this time. He kept the trigger pressed down, until the canister was exhausted, then he pushed it away from him.
It was going to be close. He was headed toward the ship’s nose, and beyond that was empty space. Valjean pulled a cable out of the toolkit on his belt, and made a lasso. He was, he estimated, going to bump into the ship harder than he wanted.
At the last minute, he extended his feet, and used his legs to absorb the impact. His knees were driven up almost past his chin from the shock, and he toppled forward, hit the ship with the top of his helmet, and rebounded back out into space. But not before he got his lasso looped around an antenna. He floated out to the end of the cable, which then violently jerked him around, the belt digging into his waist so tightly that his eyes bulged out, and he bashed his nose on the inside of the helmet. The nose bleed was a concern, the droplets were floating around, sticking to the faceplate, blocking his vision. He began the process of pulling himself, hand over hand, down the cable, until he was able to clutch a handhold on the ship.
Now he need to get inside, charge the hyperdrive engines, and get away, as fast as he could.
Nelson, Sam, and Rick were sitting on the floor of the small office that was attached to the miner’s crawler garage. Legs sprawled out, backs slouched against the wall, they sat quietly, napping, or looking through the large windows at the dead, rust-red terrain outside. All three men were back in their e-suits, helmets on, faceplates buttoned up, breathing the remaining oxygen in their suit bottles. The air in the office had gotten too foul to breathe several hours before, Nelson had been the one to decide it was time to button up and go back on internal oxygen.
The miners had either put on their own e-suits, or congregated in larger buildings, hoping to delay the time when they would put on an e-suit and watch their oxygen supply gauge steadily drop toward zero. The three men from Ace decided they wanted to be together, and didn’t really feel entirely at home around the miners, so they had settled down in the garage office. Mac, still securely tied up, was strapped to a seat in one of the shot-up crawlers, breathing the last two hours of his own oxygen supply. The miners had wanted to throw him out an airlock and take his oxygen for themselves, Nelson, brandishing Mac’s rifle, had put a stop to that. Rick was glad Nelson had stepped forward, Rick couldn’t be sure he could control himself around the pirate. Sitting on the floor, trying to be calm, and to avoid moving around in order to stretch his oxygen supply wasn’t easy. Rick still seethed with frustrated anger and grief. They still didn’t know what was going on upstairs. The radio jamming prevented communication with the ship, the command section, or the pirates. The pirate ship must still be in orbit, Nelson said, because the radio jamming was active.
“Hey!” Sam said quietly, pushing himself slowly to his feet, and looking out the window toward the south. “Look at that.”
Nelson and Rick scrambled to their feet and walked over to the window. “What do- oh.” Nelson said.
Rick then saw what Sam was pointing at. Low on the horizon, an orange fireball was streaking across the sky, it left a long contrail behind it, stretching back across the horizon. “What is that? A meteor? It’s not a missile, is it?” His two companions didn’t answer. “Guys? What is that?”
Nelson sighed through the suit radio. He exchanged a knowing look with Sam, then looked back up at the fireball. Nelson didn’t want Rick to look into his helmet, didn’t want Rick to see the tear running down his cheek. To Rick he said quietly “Rick, that’s something coming down from orbit. It’s burning up in the atmosphere.”
“The ship?” Rick exclaimed in horror.
“No, no, no way, it’s not big enough. Not even close.” Nelson declared. “It could be anything, a piece of the ship that got knocked away, probably. Some cargo, maybe. Ah, so what? The company has insurance.” It was a lame joke. He didn’t say that he thought it was most likely the command section. He quickly continued, so as not to give Rick time to dwell on it. “Damn! I wish we knew what was going on up there! If all the pirates want is to steal some junk off the ship, they should have grabbed it and been long gone by now.”
“Yeah.” Sam concurred. “Unless somebody is giving them trouble.”
“Like who?” Rick asked.
“Uh, well, whatever it is the pirates want, it’s got to be in one of the cargo bays. When we left, everyone was on the bridge, except for your kids, and Jen.” Sam speculated. “So that leaves Jen.”
Rick exploded in frustration. “I don’t give a damn what the pirates want, they can take the whole ship, for all I care! Jen’s responsibility is to make sure the passengers are safe, that means my children.”
“And I’m sure that’s what she did, Rick.” Nelson said soothingly, trying to keep the anguish out of his voice. He was staring at the fireball, certain he was seeing the death of the crew he had served with for years, and trying to stick to what he could do, to do his job, whatever was left of it. “I’m sure the first thing Jen did was find a secure place for your children to hide. It’s a big ship, no way the pirates could search it all. Jen probably made it difficult for the pirates, like lock all the doors, turn the gravity off and on, things like that. Slow them down, buy time for the Navy to get here.”
“And what if she just makes them mad?” Rick insisted.
“They’re not going to risk firing a missile at a cargo bay, risk hitting whatever they’re looking for. But I can tell you this,” Nelson added, struggling to control his own emotions, “as soon as they get what they’re looking for, and leave the ship, they may blow it up, and that has nothing to do with whether Jen made them mad or not. They probably don’t want to leave any witnesses behind. So the best thing Jen can do, is stall for time, you hear me?”
All Rick could think about was a vivid mental image of his two young children, scared senseless, hiding in some dark place Jen had put them, holding onto each other, and trying not to cry so the pirates wouldn’t hear them. “Yeah, I hear you, Nelson. Jen has always been good to my kids, I’m sure you’re right. She has them someplace safe, and she’s doing all she can to keep them safe.”
Sam stared at the wreckage of the command section, which had now broken apart into many individual fireballs, all headed down toward the red dust and rock. He clenched his fists. “Nelson, man, I’m glad you have that rifle, instead of me.”
“Why?” Nelson asked.
Sam said a silent prayer for his crewmates, above them. “Because if I had that rifle right now, I’d blow Mac’s head off.”
CHAPTER 19
The shuttle was in a stable orbit, although so low that Seth held his breath whenever he looked down at the planet. If Ares’ atmosphere wasn’t so thin, they would have crashed by now. Seth’s pilot console beeped. Another message from the pirates? It was something else entirely, something unexpected. “Captain! I’ve got a gamma ray burst, s
hip dropping out of hyperspace.”
“Where? What ship?” Schroeder asked from the copilot’s seat, trying to figure which button to press. He vowed that from now on, he would take regular refresher training in piloting shuttlecraft.
Seth could only hold up his hands. The console in front of him had no wisdom to offer. It was just a shuttle. “Without sensors, I can’t tell anything. I’ll try to get a location on the burst, maybe I can-“
The shuttle’s cabin speakers crackled, and they heard a familiar voice, distorted, the Navy ship’s powerful radio transmitter cutting through the pirate's jamming. “This is the Navy frigate Tigershark, calling the vessel claiming to be the Nightengale. Cease your radio jamming, stand down your hyperdrive, and prepare to be boarded.”
The cheering in the shuttle’s packed cabin was so loud Seth couldn’t hear himself think.
Lt. Commander Ross looked up from his scope. “That’s one mystery solved, Captain. I think we just found the Isaac Newton.” He pointed to the small ship in front of them.
Captain Gante tilted her head. “How so?”
Ross explained. “Same configuration. Her transponder says she’s the Nightengale, registered to a company called Biopharma, but otherwise, she’s an exact match for the Isaac Newton. I think somebody bought, stole, or leased the Newton, created a fake registration, and changed her name and transponder code to Nightengale. And I’ll bet they sent that fake distress call we were chasing.”
Gante nodded. It made sense. She glanced at the console beside her chair, which displayed status of the ship’s major systems. Tigershark’s hyperdrive engines were critically hot from the sustained high-speed run to Ares, temperatures edging into the red zone. On her own authority, Gante had pushed her ship at full military power for the entire run to Ares. Now that the ship was back in normal space, her radiators were dumping excess heat like the surface of a star, but the hyperdrive coils were still way over temperature. She would have to watch them carefully before they Jumped again. “We can check your theory in person, soon, XO.”
As soon as he heard the radio message, Valjean knew he’d been fooled, fooled by a trick so simple he couldn’t believe he’d fallen for it. It was glaringly obvious what had happened: the frigate crew had tinkered with the timecode embedded in their hyperwave messages, to make him think the Navy ship was transmitting the messages from far away, still looking for the ghost ship Isaac Newton. He felt like an idiot, and it made him even more angry. His hand closed around the control stick, then he let go, picked up a datapad, and flung it to smash against the rear bulkhead. Only for a split second, he lost control. Then, with a deep, calming breath, he took stock of his situation. It was not hopeless. In fact, he still had the advantage.
In order to reply, he needed to turn off the radio jamming, so he complied with that part of the Navy’s demands. “Navy, hello,” he said, “nice to see you. Did you get bored looking for the Isaac Newton, or were you just feeling lonely out there?”
The reply came back, simple, direct. “Nightengale, shut down your hyperdrive immediately.”
Valjean looked at the readout. His hyperdrive coils were 82% charged, he needed to stall the Navy ship only a few more minutes before he could Jump away. “No, I don’t think so. Tigershark,” he said in a smooth, oily voice, feeling confident once again, “you and I both know it will take you almost half an hour to recharge your Jump engines. I will be long gone by the time you Jump again, if you haven't melted your drive coils already, and this is a big galaxy. You’ll never find me.” He was speaking truthfully, a small ship like Nightengale, with a thirty minute head start, would be very difficult for a single frigate to search for. The odds were that Valjean would get away cleanly. “It’s been real fun, though, we should do this again sometime.”
“Nightengale, we will find you. The Navy will find you. You won’t have any place to hide in this galaxy.”
“That’s what you think.” Valjean said under his breath. He noted with satisfaction that the Navy ship had been reduced to idle threats. Let the Navy sputter angrily all they wanted. Now, to buy some more time for himself. Valjean checked the controls. Could he still fire his one remaining missile remotely? He didn’t have time to walk over to the airlock and get it connected. Yes, the missile was responding and powered up. This missile had a much larger, more powerful warhead, he had brought it along in order to destroy the mining camp, Mac and the miners, eliminating witnesses. Mac and the miners would now survive. No matter. He gave the missile a new target, programming the missile to explode at reduced power near Nightengale’s hijacked shuttle. He wanted to damage, not destroy, the shuttle. A destroyed shuttle would only make the Navy angry. A damaged shuttle would delay the Navy ship, while they diverted to rescue the passengers. “Navy, while you’re charging your Jump engines, I’m sure you’ll be bored. So, I’m going to give you something useful to do. Like a rescue operation. Farewell, Navy.”
Valjean removed the safeties, and pressed the button to fire the missile. He felt a slight lurch as it left his ship. It had launched from the side of Nightengale pointed away from the target, and would need to acquire the Nightengale’s shuttle with its own radar before homing in. Valjean turned to his radar console to watch the missile’s progress, a smile curling up the sides of his mouth. If he couldn’t get the object he’d been paid to steal, he would at least get revenge. 87% charge on the Jump engine coils. He kept on eye on the radar screen while he locked in a course for the hyperspace Jump.
The collision alarm sounded, blaring in his ear. “What?” His eyes grew wide as he saw the radar display, there were now six objects on the scope; Atlas Challenger, the shuttle, Tigershark, the missile he’d just fired, which had now made its turn and was homing in on the shuttle, and two unidentified objects, approaching his ship at high speed. Very high speed! As he watched, one of the objects changed course and intercepted his missile, blowing it into dust, far away from the shuttle. The second object had flipped around and was decelerating, the readout said the object was slowing down with the force of over three thousand Gees. It was headed straight for him. He turned his attention to the Jump engines, which were now 90% charged. He needed a 96% charge for a successful Jump.
“Nightengale, this is Tigershark. Our second missile has matched your course, and is now in position ten meters off your starboard bow. Disengage your hyperdrive now, or I will order the missile to destroy your ship. Repeat, disengage your hyperdrive now.”
Valjean realized, in a belated flash of insight, that the Navy ship must have fired two missiles as soon as they came out of hyperspace, letting them run onward toward his ship without the missiles using their own radar seekers. The Navy missile alongside his ship was likely programmed to explode if it detected a hyperdrive field forming. He looked at the Jump engine readout. 94%. So close.
"Nightengale, this is Captain Gante. Give me a reason to blow you to dust. Any reason. Please."
That had been the story with this whole screwed up job. How could he have failed so badly? Two children, children, had gotten the better of him! He didn’t get more angry. Instead, Valjean sighed. In order to live to fight another day, you needed to stay alive. Valjean reached over and flipped the switch to start draining power from the hyperdrive coils. In a low voice, he said over the radio “Navy, this is... Nightengale. Jump engines disengaged.” He swallowed hard. “Standing by over here, as ordered.”
In the shuttle, the people aboard heard Valjean’s radio surrender, and a cheer went up, ringing around the cramped cabin.
CHAPTER 20
“Shuttle, Tigershark. We’re sending a lander down to the surface first, with an emergency oxygen supply for the miners. Hold your position, we are computing a rendezvous.”
“Tigershark, shuttle. Acknowle-“ Schroeder started to say.
“No!” Manny interrupted. “They need to help Jen first!”
“Ach!” Schroeder winced. The boy was right. Vassily’s condition was stable, Jen’s was unknown. “Tigershark
, I have a wounded crewman, in the ship’s sickbay. She needs medical attention immediately. We’ll be fine here, for a short time.”
“Roger that, shuttle,” Gante replied. “We will rendezvous with your ship while our shuttle drops to the surface. The oxygen situation at the mining camp is critical.”
“Can you bring our Dad up?” Kaylee shouted, to be sure she was heard.
“Your three crewmen, and the pirate, on the surface, yes, our lander can bring them back up, when it returns.” Gante’s voice had a touch of amusement.
“Kaylee?” Manny prodded.
“Uh-huh?”
“We need to warn Tigershark about the tinos.”
“Oh, shoot. Um, yeah. Hey, Tigershark, uh, listen, there's a, um, kind of a funny thing to tell you about the ship- ”
Rick watched the frigate’s lander approach, it was hovering around a hundred meters altitude, and flying sideways. The lander was not a sleek craft like most shuttles were, it was military, designed for combat. Doors in the nose contained cannons, and along each side were spars for missiles, those racks were empty now. The pilot turned the lander in a full circle, clearing his landing zone, then dropped it onto the pad.
Rick, Sam and Nelson were staring out the window of the mining camp’s mess hall, where everyone had gathered. The lander was bringing a temporary oxygen supply, but only one unit. Enough to supply oxygen to one room, until other ships arrived with a replacement recycler system.
“Hey, Mac, your ride’s here.” Nelson taunted the pirate. “Jailbird express. One way trip to Hell, for you.”
Mac didn’t reply. Sam had gotten tired of listening to the pirate mouthing off, so Sam had disconnected his suit radio’s microphone. Mac was sitting on the floor, arms and legs tied, avoiding the homicidal looks of the miners.
Aces Page 22
