A loud banging over the radio interrupted her thought process. “Everything all right?” Jennings demanded.
Fix was evidently trying hard not to laugh when he answered, “Lafayette just dropped the power unit on his foot.”
Jennings smiled. “Is he hurt?” he asked.
The answer was drowned in a caterwauling siren coming from one of the consoles.
“Minerva, kill that damn noise and report!” Jennings thundered.
“Ship on approach,” the cool voice of the computer responded. “Vector indicates no other destination but here.”
“Can you identify?” he asked.
“The ship is the Grey Vistula. Registration belonging to one Anastasia Petrova,” Minerva confirmed.
“Son of a bitch, I hate being right,” Jennings muttered. “How long until they reach here?”
“At present speed, twenty-three minutes.”
“How long would it take to get the power plant installed?” he asked.
There was a slight pause while Minerva calculated. “The fastest possible completion time considering all factors would be two hours four minutes,” it reported.
Jennings eyed Michelle and said, “We got problems.”
In the next few minutes, Jennings began issuing orders like mad. “I want the three of you back in the ship now. Lafayette, start pulling weapons when you get here. Fix, I want back-up oxygen for our suits and any other supplies we might need: rope, lights, water, consumables. Squawk, I need you to prep the Tryst for lock-down. I want to be able to access Minerva still, but I want the ship sealed up tight.”
“What about the power plant?” Lafayette asked.
“Leave it,” he replied quickly. “Company’s coming and we’re not going to have enough time to get it installed.”
“Understood, mon capitaine,” he replied.
“Minerva, I’m going to have to ask a lot of you,” Jennings said.
“That which I love to hear,” Minerva replied. Michelle would have sworn that there was some amusement in her voice.
“I need maps,” he said.
“Downloading to handhelds,” she reported. “Although, these are official blueprints. Historically, many mining operations have side tunnels, emergency shafts, exploration corridors, and testing sites that are not indicated on maps as they are not part of the original plan.”
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes,” he muttered. “I also need you to encrypt the processing center’s system. We can’t have them turning off the lights or God forbid the air on us. They’ll have a hacker with them- be better.”
“Of course, captain,” she replied.
“Stay on station,” he added as he stood up. “You’re going to be our eyes and ears topside.”
As Minerva replied an affirmative, Jennings pulled Michelle to her feet and said, “C’mon, we need to go.”
“What are we going to do?” she demanded as he pulled her down the gangplank and into the cargo bay.
“We’ve got no surface-to-space weapons on the Tryst functioning, so we can’t fight,” he said as headed over to one of the weapons lockers. “We also can’t run because the Tryst still can’t power herself. So, we’re left with one other option, we fight.”
“Then why the maps and the talk about topside and Minerva being the eyes and ears?” she asked.
“Counting you, we’ve got a crew of five. Two of which are, no offense, inexperienced when it comes to firefights,” he explained as he grabbed a medium-size plasma rifle with eight rotating barrels, checked the charges and armed the weapon. “This area is way too big to defend. They’ll overwhelm us with a frontal assault or use the weapons on their ship to reduce the ore processing center to slag. Either way, we wouldn’t hold for very long.”
“So, where are we going?” she demanded.
“Into the mine,” he answered as he handed a small pistol to her. “It has a laser sight on it, but don’t switch it on until the shooting starts. They can track it right back to you if you’re not careful.” There was a look of grim doom on her face as she accepted the weapon and tucked it into her belt. Jennings stood up and grabbed her shoulders gently, “In the mine, they won’t be able to send their full force at us at once and the weapons on their ship can’t hurt us. We can turn the terrain into our favor. We can harry them, harass them, pick them off one at a time. We can bleed them until they realize the folly of their ways and leave this place.”
“And if they don’t leave?” she asked.
“Then we make them wish they had,” he said with a smile.
The rest of the crew arrived and started grabbing supplies and weapons. Squawk moved over to one of the computer consoles and began furiously typing commands into the system. Fix started handing backpacks to each of them containing water, food, ammo, medical supplies and any other gear he thought might become relevant. Lafayette passed out the weapons. He armed them to the teeth and when given a questioning look from Jennings, shrugged and said, “Better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.”
“Minerva, time to contact,” Jennings called out.
“Grey Vistula entering final planetary approach,” the computer responded. “Eight minutes until landing.”
“Squawk?” he then demanded.
“All preparations prepared,” he reported before accepting a small rifle from Lafayette.
“Alright then,” the captain said gravely. “Let’s move like we want to live.”
They headed down the cargo bay and back out into the hanger, laden down rather heavily with supplies. The ship’s doors swung shut behind them, the doors locked, and the access code scrambled when Squawk pressed a button on the exterior control panel. Jennings did not like to be burdened with so many items, but he was not certain how long they would be down in the mine. According to the maps, the place was vast and they might be able to hide for a while. Who knew how long it would take for them to either shake Petrova’s goons or take out enough of them that the Russian bitch gave them up as more trouble than they’re worth. To be honest, he had lied to the girl about that being a likely possibility. Petrova was not the kind to give up. If they wanted to get out of there alive, it meant killing every last one of her people. To do that though would take time, and time required ample supplies.
The corridor leading to the mine entrance ran off the second floor of the processing center. According to the schematic, there was a long tunnel underneath of it that was a series of large conveyors that could send ore from the mine depths to the processing center. The tunnel ran at a smooth diagonal down to the entrance base for the mines. The corridor they were walking in led to a lift that would take them to the same place. The area was strewn with random garbage and a fair bit of dust, but Jennings was happy to see that the lift was still in serviceable order. He opened the sliding grate and motioned everyone through. A few moments and a few unhappy groaning noises from the lift later, they were headed down into the mine.
Chapter 22
1
The Grey Vistula settled down gently over top of the tracks the Melody Tryst had made in the red rock dust when it set down at the Comet Corporation mining colony. “Did we miss them?” Vosler wondered aloud, studying the tracks in the view screen.
“No,” Petrova said quickly. “There are tracks leading into the hangar over there, but not leading back out. Sensors show that the ore processing station has power.”
“Captain Jennings has been busy,” Vosler said. “That man escapes death like no other I’ve ever seen. His ship is fried, limping, all but dead, and he not only finds a safe port in the middle of nowhere, but gets it powered. He’s probably in a whirlpool, smoking a cigar, surround by naked women.”
This earned a guffaw from the Grey Vistula’s bridge crew. Petrova did not smile. “Let’s hope so, Vosler,” she said. “He might be easier to catch.”
Nodding grimly, Vosler asked, “How did you want to do this?”
Petrova studied a readout for a moment. “V
e’ll leave the bridge crew here. Everyone else vill come with us. The habitat area has no power or atmosphere according to the sensors, so they’ll be in ore processing. Ve’ll do a systematic search and take the girl into custody.”
“Sounds easy, but there’s one problem,” Vosler observed, looking over her head at the computer terminal.
“Vhat’s that?” she demanded. “This should be a clean sweep.”
He pointed to a small corridor leading from the second floor of the processing center to an elevator. “What if they went into the mine?” he asked.
2
The lift led out into a large entryway cut out of the rock. It was about one hundred yards across in each direction. There were tables and lockers set up in the corners- probably for miners on break, Michelle thought. At least a dozen tunnels sprang off in all directions, many having inlaid metal tracks. The tracks led to a switching station in the middle and then had several lines headed to a large room with conveyor belts leading to the surface. Large imprints in the rock indicated that there may have been some kind of heavy machinery stored in that room to move the rocks from the mine carts to the conveyor belt. The air smelled musty and a fine rock dust threatened to make her cough with each breath. Captain Jennings noticed her difficulty and pulled a bandana from one of his pockets. He gingerly wrapped it around her face while the others pulled their shirts over their noses or produced similar bandanas. Only Squawk seemed unaffected.
“Aren’t you going to need it?” she asked.
“I’ll be fine,” he replied. He turned around and did a quick look around the cavernous room before speaking again, “Alright, this is the best place for our first ambush,” he said.
“Where do you want us?” Michelle asked excitedly.
Jennings smiled. “As far away from here as possible,” he said. “Marquis, you’re going to take tunnel Alpha 7. That one over there,” he looked up from the schematic on his handheld and pointed. That’ll get you pretty far to the north here. At the end of that tunnel, there’s a spiral shaft heading down to the lower level. Take that and meet me at this junction.”
“Dat’s quite a hike,” Lafayette muttered as he studied the route.
“This place is huge. Everywhere’s quite a hike,” he pointed out. “My plan is to hide in tunnel Alpha 2, wait for them to show themselves and see how many I can take out before I have to fall back.”
“You’ll be outnumbered,” Fix observed.
“By a considerable margin,” Jennings agreed. “I’m hoping they won’t expect it and I’ll be able to distract them nicely and slip away in the confusion. Even if they are following me, it’s only a short run to Junction 35. From there, I’ve got eight directions to go. Unless they are right on my heels, they won’t find me. I’ll be free to meet back up with you.”
“What if they find us before you do?” Lafayette asked.
“Keep the girl safe. Split up if necessary,” he ordered.
“Bien sur, mon capitaine,” he replied.
“How long are we supposed to keep this up?” Fix demanded.
“What?” Jennings asked.
“Our grand plan is to hopefully pick them off one at a time?” the Scotsman demanded incredulously. “Until they pack it up and go home?”
“You got a better one?” Jennings demanded. His voice was calm, but Michelle could sense the anger coming off him.
“I’ve got a better one,” he said as his eyes moved over to Michelle.
Jennings stared at him coolly for a moment and then said, “That’s not an option.”
“Just nae one you’re willing to consider,” he corrected.
“As you say, and I’m in charge,” Jennings fired back.
“My bony black arse,” Fix swore. “On the ship, you’re in charge. Out here, it’s everyone man for him-”
Jennings had drawn on him before he could even finish the sentence. Fix’s body flinched like he was going to go for his weapon as well, but the captain was so fast, he would have been dead instantly.
“Every man for himself, is it?” Jennings demanded. “That being the case, why don’t you head back up the lift and see if Petrova is hiring? Because if you’re not with us, then you can fuck off.”
Fix held up his hands placatingly. “Just a suggestion,” he said.
“Noted,” Jennings said as he re-holstered his weapon. “Now all of you get moving. It’s not going to be long before the Russian bitch and her lickspittles are upon us.”
Lafayette gestured to Michelle, Squawk and Fix to follow him. “Oh, Fix,” Jennings called after them.
“Aye?” Fix grunted.
“Let me have those grenades, will ya?”
3
Anastasia Petrova let loose a string of what Vosler assumed were curses in Russian. He did not blame her- he was starting to like their chances of finding the girl less and less. They only had so many hours before General Ounimbango arrived and if they did not have the girl, they were out quite a bit of money. The thirty men they had with them had torn apart the ore processing center, the hangar, and the other two levels and had found exactly nothing.
Sure the Melody Tryst was sitting like a wounded duck in the hangar, but they couldn’t access her without blowing her up. As doing so would probably rupture the air seal on the hangar and depressurize the entire area, he had managed to talk Petrova out of it. Likewise, they had no luck trying to access the now online and functional computer system of the station either. Apparently, Captain Jennings had some aptitude with ciphers. Bulgara, the rake thin, punk-haired, breast-less hacker Petrova employed had been unable to do anything with it. All they had were the sensors on the Grey Vistula and hand units to try to find their quarries. All the same, Vosler was relatively certain Jennings and the girl were not in the station. They had enough people to comb every square inch of space, and there was not so much as a heat signature anywhere.
“They’re in the mines,” he said at last.
“I know that,” she growled.
They were standing on the third floor near the emergency decompression chamber. From the empty food containers and the imprints in the dust on the benches, he could tell that they had been forced to come here first. That probably explained why they were not able to make the needed repairs to their ship in time. They were much more interested in breathing.
“If they’re in the mines, they’re gone,” Vosler said. “We can’t get into the computer, so we don’t have any maps of the mines. But if the mining company abandoned this facility because it was tapped out, then it means there could be miles of tunnels in there.”
“Ve could shut down the air,” she spat.
“Without the computers?”
“Ve could blast the power plant to dust,” she growled.
“Then the girl is dead and Ounimbango is a little furious, and we don’t get paid. Or worse,” he pointed out. With an ominous sigh, he added, “The best thing we can do is take up position outside the mine. We keep them contained and let the TGF go in and get them out.”
“Ve lose out on our fee,” she muttered. “More than that, ve would have failed.”
Vosler recognized that steely tone of resolution that his boss got from time to time. It almost always meant something he would not like. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
“Get everyone together,” she ordered. “Ve’re going in.”
4
Waiting was the worst part of any ambush, Captain Jennings thought. He had never been a patient man. Even his mother had teased him about it growing up, when he would pace around their home whenever he had to wait for someone else. It was all the worse when you injected a life and death situation into the equation. Your senses were running at high gear, and time seemed to slow down while you waited for the battle you knew was eventually going to come.
It had been two hours since they had split up, Lafayette leading everyone else deeper into the mine. Jennings had no idea how long Petrova would be searching for them, but there was one thing he fe
lt confident on. She would come into the mine after them.
Jennings did not truly know Petrova, but he understood the compulsions that drove her. Understanding your enemy was an integral part of any battle, and understanding battle was one of the few things Jennings felt he did naturally well. Even now as he waited, he could see the coming firefight unfurling before him.
They would be coming down in a minimum of three groups as the lift could only carry about eight. That ship of hers could only comfortably carry about forty men. Leaving some behind to garrison the ship and to hold the hallway above the elevator meant she could only bring about thirty against him. The real question was when to strike. Did he attack the first wave down? Petrova was not likely to be in that group- she was far too smart for that. Once he attacked, the element of surprise was gone. The next groups down would be ready for an attack and would probably come out shooting. His entire plan was based on hitting them hard and fast once, and then fleeing into the mines.
No, he said to himself. He would have to wait until they were all down in the mine and then attack. “Waiting on top of waiting,” he grumbled to himself.
For what felt like the thousandth time, he checked his weapon’s charge, made sure the safety was off, went through his back-up weapons, and checked the primers on the grenades he had taken off Fix. Once again, he checked the overturned steel mine cart he was hiding behind. It was fairly solid and should absorb several hits before turning to slag.
The high-pitched whirring of machinery coming to life distracted him for a moment, but then caused a smile to cross his face. The elevator was returning to the surface, and Jennings was about to have some visitors.
5
Vosler and Petrova were among the last to head into the mine. They had left four men behind them to hold the corridor and had sent twenty-five before them to take control of the mine below. Vosler knew that Petrova would not be one to poke around the guts of an asteroid looking for her prey, but she would prefer to bark orders and get the details of the search organized. That suited him just fine, even though he thought this plan was pure folly. Some might think Petrova was allowing her lust for money to get the better of her, but Vosler knew the truth. She just did not like to lose, and letting someone else take money that was in her mind already hers- that was a loss Petrova would not bear.
111 Souls (Infinite Universe) Page 20
