Dario waved his arms, trying to obtain the attention of a worker who manned the transport’s ramp controls. “Hold up! Hold up!”
The worker, dressed in coveralls with dark stains, canted his head toward Dario. “What’s the matter?”
“Transport’s got one more passenger who needs to come aboard.”
“Who’s that?”
“Me.”
Chapter 32
All Aboard
T.F.S. Shareholder—Mars Orbit
Local Date February 14th, 2464
Joan stared out the back viewport of the transport shuttle. The shuttle was crammed with people, though she was able to maneuver into a spot with the view. Her chest ached from a sense of dread. Realistically, she would never see Dario again. That thought bothered her far more than it should have.
Would it have been better to convince him to come with her? What would that have accomplished? The likelihood Trian and she would survive was negligible, as G.O.D. had already pointed out to her.
The transport banked and then shot upward into the sky. Artificial gravity plates kept the standing passengers relatively still for the ride, though Joan still felt the soft tug of the planet’s gravity below. When they broke through the gravity well, the transport jolted, causing some people to lose their footing, but no one in Joan’s field of vision fell.
It wasn’t long before the transport pulled into the back Megahauler cargo pod, attaching itself and sealing. Its front hatch opened, atmosphere equalizing with that of the larger ship.
More security guards greeted the displaced underlevelers on the opposite side, ushering them into the Megahauler. The crowd didn’t go quietly, but the underlevelers grumbled amongst themselves out of confusion as to why they had been brought here. No one had bothered explaining anything to them, Joan had found out from passing conversation on the flight skyward.
Once ushered out into the bay, the security guards pressed the people forward. The crowd funneled through the bay doors and into a large open area. They arrived in a hollowed out section of the ship that Joan presumed was for this transport purpose.
Joan slipped into the crowd. Trian followed.
“Please step away from the doors,” a voice came from loudspeakers that surrounded the large chamber. “We understand this transition is difficult for many of you, and appreciate your cooperation. Blankets and foodstuffs will be provided shortly for your journey.”
“Hey, where are we going?” a man shouted from the crowd.
A series of “Yeah!” and “Where we going?” erupted from several sources.
The security guards stood by at the bay door as it shut, their riot gear on and unmoving.
Someone in the crowd threw something at them. The security guard flinched, backing up to the wall. His grip tightened on his plasma pistol.
“Trouble is brewing,” Trian said. “Keep your head low.”
The overall sense within the crowd was one on edge, like a reactor about to spark into an explosion. Joan felt it as well.
“Ms. Shengtu,” G.O.D. spoke in her ear.
“Yeah?” she said. She had finally become used to responding to both live people and G.O.D. at the same time.
“My algorithms are giving a ninety point three two percent chance that this crowd is going to riot. I would recommend vacating the area,” G.O.D. said.
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Joan clutched Trian’s shirt sleeve and dragged him along the opposite direction.
Shots fired behind them.
The crowd rushed away from the gunfire, not in any organized direction. Several underlevelers collided with one another. People fell, and others didn’t stop moving, trampling over them. Screams erupted, so did shouting.
More shots were fired.
Joan let go of Trian’s sleeve and rushed past him. She wanted to put Trian and herself as far away from the gunfire as possible. At least there were several dozen people between them and the security guards. Perhaps if she could get to a different door…
“Slow down!” Trian said. He tripped behind her, using her back to brace himself.
“Sorry, trying to get us through here so we come out of this alive,” Joan said after a brief glance back. Her tone came out harsher than she had intended. When on the run in the past, she’d never had to deal with people coming with her. She bumped shoulders with several people, passing through the crowd.
Someone grabbed her by the arm, tugging her, and Trian by proxy, to the side.
“You’d better let go!” Joan shouted, clenching her fist and readying to throw a punch when she turned, stopping mid-motion.
“You’ll regret it if you hit me, ensign,” said a smug voice, one she recognized.
“Yui!” Joan said. Instead of punching, Joan threw her arms around the other woman. “I can’t believe you’re alive!”
“Same. I thought you were a goner when I didn’t see you guys come to the cell. Seems you were more competent than I thought.” Yui hugged her quickly and did the same for Trian.
“Amazing we found you,” Trian said. “We assumed you were disintegrated.”
“Nope, just put me in with a bunch of the rioters. Apparently deciding to ship off their problems instead of dealing with them. Any idea where we’re headed?” Yui asked.
“Back to the Star Empire,” Joan said.
“Hey, not so bad after—” Yui’s eyes widened in understanding. “In a Trade Federation marked ship.”
Trian nodded.
The crowed parted around them. As three people, Joan and her friends proved enough to hold their own ground this far away from the security guards. It was hard to see over so many others, but Joan caught a glimpse of a group rushing the guards, who had lost control of their weapons. Even if the underlevelers had weapons, what could they do? They were all trapped in this room on this ship. The security guards as much as them.
Joan wondered if the guards even knew what was happening with this mission, how their lives were in just as much danger as everyone else’s. She doubted it.
“So, you were just caught?” Yui asked.
Joan returned her attention to Yui and shook her head. “No. Heard about this crazy idea that the corporation had to get rid of their rioters and came aboard. From what I understand, Zhang is here somewhere.”
Yui chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Trian asked.
“Finally found our target and we’re all on a one way trip to get shot out of the sky,” Yui said. “Sounds about right for how this mission has gone.”
“If we find her here,” Trian said, “Perhaps there is something we can do.” He still hadn’t lost hope, his voice holding a hint of optimism.
“You crazy? We’re stuck. I’m sure there’s no way to ship controls. The corporation couldn’t be that stupid.”
“No, they’re not,” Joan said, giving Trian an apologetic look. “But we have one thing they might not expect.”
“What’s that?” Yui asked.
“G.O.D. on our side.”
The name initiated the AI. He was already singing in her earpiece. “Oh, you wake up because she never sleeps. Just when you think you’re in too deep, in too deep.”
Joan rolled her eyes.
“What?” Yui asked, sounding perturbed. She had a short fuse when it came to Joan.
Oddly, Joan found she missed that attitude. In some ways, it was Yui’s way of being protective. “Nothing, just the AI malfunctioning again,” Joan said.
“How’s it going to help us if that’s still occurring?” Trian asked.
Joan hit mute on her handtab to stop the distracting singing. “He can still help. The virus is more annoying than anything else. It hasn’t compromised his planning.”
“It didn’t do very well when it tried to get us away from security at the lift,” Trian said.
“That was different. It was a no-win situation,” Joan said.
“So’s this,” Yui said. “But I don’t have a better plan. What do we need to
do?”
Before Joan could answer, one of the security guards lost control, sending out a rapid fire of plasma pistol spray into the crowd. Several underlevelers went down. The smell of burnt flash radiated in the air, forcing Joan to plug her nose.
“That’s not a stun setting!” Yui said, shocked.
“They must want to squash any resistance quickly,” Trian said.
The weapons fire had the opposite effect. The crowd grew angrier and rushed forward, a wave of people moving in tandem toward the guard that fired and two other guards nearby. Despite firing off several more shots, the guards were quickly overwhelmed. People punched, kicked, surrounding the guards. Bones cracked.
One of the underlevelers raised the plasma pistol toward the vaulted ceiling of the hollowed out Megahauler. He fired it toward the ceiling.
“Is he crazy? That could pop a hole in the hull!” Yui said, eyes widening.
“These people aren’t trained with weapons,” Trian said.
Joan watched, trying to formulate a plan to at least get her and her friends to safety if need be.
Security seemed to be losing control of the crowd entirely, as the underlevelers became more confident after the weapon’s seizure. Several more groups of guards backed to the walls.
The lights flickered off.
The crowd noise escalated, confusion and anger spewing from all areas of the room. Only the few with glowing handtabs could be seen, keeping the room from being too pitch dark to see at all.
“Hello, and welcome to the T.F.S. Shareholder. This is your captain speaking,” said a loud voice that carried from all points in the room. “We are about to embark on the journey of a lifetime, providing new opportunity in the colonies and a meaningful life, brought to you by Regency BioTech sponsors.”
“Tyrants!” someone shouted. Other voices echoed agreement.
The loudspeaker voice continued without pause. “This journey is going to begin shortly. The crew here is minimal, outside of the security officers placed about the room for your safety. Please give those officers your utmost cooperation. They are here to protect you in the event of disorderly conduct, to prevent conflict with so many in close quarters. Any further acts of violence will be met with proportionate response.
“We do wish you to have as comfortable a stay as possible while aboard the T.F.S. Shareholder. Food, water, and hygienic goods will be distributed three times per day. Those distributions will be preceded by an announcement over the loudspeaker. This journey will take less than three days with the faster-than-light drive of this excellent Megahauler. Regency BioTech thanks you for your calm and cooperation.”
The voice ceased and the lights returned. The short burst of darkness did seem to have an effect of dulling the crowd’s rage. For now, no one attacked the guards, but the confusion didn’t change. “Why are we here? What did we do?” someone asked.
Joan frowned, knowing that these people did nothing other than vent frustration with their treatment from corporate overlords. It wasn’t her job to comfort underlevelers trapped in this crazy company scheme. She had much more important matters to attend to.
With the lights on, Joan looked for a door. Even if it was locked or non-functional, there would be a terminal close by one. She weaved through groups of people.
Trian and Yui followed. “Where are you going?” Yui asked.
“To see if I can find some information,” Joan said. She found a door that didn’t have any security guards attending. “Can you two stand by me, cover what I’m doing so it doesn’t look suspicious?”
“Of course,” Trian said, blocking out the view to one side of the door’s terminal. Yui flanked the other side of her.
Joan placed her handtab up to the terminal, leaving G.O.D. on mute so she didn’t have to listen to his singing. “G.O.D., if you’re still there and can function, I need you to access this ship’s system, see what security protocols they have, and if there’s any way we can take control of the ship or send a message out. Also, search for any information pertaining to Commodore Zhang. Got it?”
Her handtab made a chirping sound, letting her know that it connected with the door’s terminal. Security protocols were light aboard the ship, which made sense as very few underlevelers would have a way to even connect, let alone the knowledge of how to exploit the systems. G.O.D.’s profile transferred into the ship, and the handtab disconnected.
Joan stepped back.
“Now what?” Trian asked.
“We wait and hope that G.O.D. has an answer for us.”
Yui laughed. “You say things like that on purpose, don’t you?”
Joan grinned. “A girl’s gotta have fun somehow. Otherwise I’d go crazy with all this stress.”
The door to the large room opened suddenly, surprising everyone nearby.
Joan wasted no time, stepping through the door and into the corridor, waving for Trian and Yui to hurry and follow them.
A couple of underlevelers noticed the exit to the room, commenting and pointing toward the door, but before anyone else mustered up the courage to move, the door shut again. A red light circled the terminal to show it was locked.
Trian let out a breath. “This has gone far beyond my scope of typical work,” he said.
Yui patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it then, we’ve got it covered. Right, Ensign?”
“Well, and our AI. G.O.D., you got anything on Zhang’s whereabouts yet?” Joan asked into the hallway. Her voice faintly echoed on the metal plating of the walls and ceiling.
The terminal beside the door activated, and Joan’s handtab glowed. “I have integrated my system into the Megahauler’s network,” G.O.D. said in her earpiece. “The higher level functions of the ship are still beyond my reach, but I have interior door access. Scanning for information pertinent to Commodore Zhang. Stand by.”
Joan looked to the others. “He says stand by.”
“We’re exposed here in the hallway,” Yui warned. “Anyone can recognize we don’t belong here.”
That was true. Corporate security had their uniforms, full riot gear that made them appear very distinct from anyone else on the ship. But if security issues were so tense inside the large chamber, was there a real danger in standing in the hallway? Moving without knowing where they were headed would be a worse idea, in Joan’s estimation.
The ship jolted.
“What was that?” Trian asked.
“Internal gravity reset,” Joan said. “When a ship’s jumping into faster than light travel, it takes a brief moment to calibrate.” She remembered those jolts from the middle of the night when she served in the navy. They had woken her several times, but eventually she became used to them. Better than being adrift in space, one of her bunkmates had always told her.
“So we’re on our way,” Yui said, glancing around the hallway. “We’d better move fast.”
“I have successfully traced the Commodore’s whereabouts and procured a map of the ship. Transferring data to your handtab,” G.O.D. said.
“We’ve got the info,” Joan said, tapping commands on her handtab. The map hologram hovered over her wrist. “This way,” she said, jogging down the hallway.
Her initial hunch had proved right. She couldn’t be certain of the reasoning, but the ship’s perimeter halls were empty through the entire route. They had to climb upward three levels, above the large chambers where the underlevelers were being kept, and make their way toward the forward section of the ship.
They approached a row of crew quarters, not so different than Joan had seen when she was in the navy. Yui checked several of the doors, which were locked, and didn’t appear as though they’d been in use for the journey.
“Means they’ve got a skeleton crew, maybe not even that. Could be as few as the security we saw and autopilot,” Joan said. It would make sense. Why would the corporation risk more of their manpower than they had to? This wasn’t intended to be a journey that would require decisions.
“W
hy have security at all?” Trian asked.
“In case there’s someone like us, smart enough to be able to hack into the systems. They can’t risk their plans being ruined so easily,” Yui said.
“Then why is this so easy?”
That question lingered as they proceeded through the crew quarters. They came to a door that G.O.D. marked as the place the Commodore was being held. Joan’s handtab buzzed.
“According to G.O.D.’s map, Commodore Zhang is behind this door,” Joan said.
Yui tried to open the door, but it remained locked the same as the others. “No way in.”
“Can G.O.D. override the lock?” Trian asked.
“The lock is beyond the measure of security clearance I’ve been able to access, Ms. Shengtu,” G.O.D. said in her earpiece.
Joan shook her head. “He says no.”
“Now what?” Yui asked, hands smacking her thighs in frustration.
“I can try to break in,” Joan said.
“You can do that?” Trian asked.
Joan shrugged. She’d had plenty of experience getting past door locks before. From the looks of the door console though, this was military grade. Which didn’t necessarily mean it would be a difficult task, but she had the distinct memory of getting caught in a set up the last time she had to break into a secured room. “Why don’t you take one corner of the hall, Yui the other, and warn me if someone’s coming?” she asked. At least she wouldn’t have anyone looking over her shoulder that way.
Yui nodded at the suggestion and headed back the direction they had come. She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall a good twenty meters down the hall, resting one foot up against a bulkhead.
Trian watched Yui, then proceeded further in the opposite direction, taking his own watch.
Joan rubbed her hands together, then crouched down to eye level with the door console. It had been sealed pretty well, and she didn’t have any tools to help her with this. That always made things trickier. She clasped her fingers on the edges of the console, not able to get the best grip on the calking, but she tugged all the same.
Star Realms: Rescue Run Page 25
