Engineer: A Sigma Sector Story

by McIntyre, Alistair

  “Where does Fabregas fit into all of this?” he asked.

  Harrington gasped fitfully between every few words, but he managed to explain that Vendra had added Fabregas to the ship’s roster at Banion’s instruction. The guy was supposed to be a scapegoat for the sabotage, if needed. Harrington had been there when Banion told Fabregas what was going on, and the young man had snapped, grabbing a laser scalpel and going after Banion. Zhi and Arkady had restrained the incensed youth and dragged him off.

  “I wasn’t comfortable with the whole situation, so I walked out, not realizing that Banion wouldn’t let me leave in one piece.” Harrington rubbed the side of his face gingerly. “I’d told the captain about Fabregas right before Banion told me what was going on. I was heading back up to the bridge to tell her about it, but those damn O’Briens beat me senseless. Should’ve just called it in.”

  “You don’t have to worry about those two anymore,” Reeves said.

  “The O’Briens?”

  “They’re lying in the jump drive control room looking a lot worse than you do.”

  “What happened?”

  “They’re dead,” Melissa said flatly, inviting no more questions on the subject. She’d probably recover from that affair eventually, but Reeves could tell she was still affected by taking someone else’s life. Two worthless lives, in this case.

  “So Banion’s plan is to hold the Scythe for ransom from Schumacher?” Reeves asked, diverting the conversation away from Melissa’s grisly actions.

  “Right,” Harrington grunted. “That lanky Zhusaana’s the one taking credit for the hijacking. After payment is made, he’s to leave on the shuttle, and I’m supposed to pilot the Scythe back to port after the unfortunate tragic death of our captain.”

  “But you’d never do that?” Melissa exclaimed. “Would you?”

  He looked at her with the pompous gaze that had pissed Reeves off so much in the past.

  “JE Nguyen, I’m a company man, no two ways about it. They couldn’t pay me enough to screw over Schumacher. Your friend Reeves here has always hated me, but even he’ll tell you I’m a straight-shooter when it comes to the company’s best interests.”

  “That’s why I hate you so much,” Reeves said. “But anyway, it must be a big payday for them all if they’re all willing to get involved.”

  Dark shadows fell across Harrington’s face.

  “I don’t think Banion plans on leaving many of them alive,” he said. “This’s his and that Zhusaana’s baby. The rest of them are disposable.”

  “No,” Melissa whispered, mostly to herself as she stared at the floor.

  “You better believe it, Nguyen,” Harrington said. “Vendra was only useful to get Fabregas and Banion onboard. You can bet Nehru won’t last much longer.”

  “You think he’ll kill the hostages?” Reeves asked, dreading the answer.

  “Of course. But it won’t be Banion who does it. He’ll have Zhi or Arkady take care of them as soon as Captain Sturm opens the bridge to him.”

  “So Ally’s just a bargaining chip so that that asshole can take control of the ship?”

  “Seems that way. I don’t understand the thought process behind the whole plan, but Banion believes in it, and that’s scary enough.” Harrington coughed up and spat out some blood for the ASD to mop up.

  Reeves paced up and down the lab, always facing away from Fabregas’s remains as he turned back and forth. They didn’t have time to sit here and chat all day. He was shocked that no one else had bothered coming back here already. What could they do?

  “What about the surveillance?” Reeves asked, stopping in mid-stride.

  “Disabled,” Harrington grunted.

  “Shit,” Reeves said, but he should’ve expected as much. They’d already covered a lot of their tracks, so that seemed like a logical step to foil any rescue attempts. “So we only have to worry about Zhi, Arkady, and Banion. Vendra’s harmless.”

  “They’re all armed, and we’re not,” said Harrington.

  “Wrong,” Reeves said. Both he and Melissa produced their weapons.

  “You stole those from the O’Briens?” Harrington asked, slowly getting to his feet.

  “No, we fashioned them out of modeling clay when we had a spare moment earlier.”

  “Whatever, Reeves. Hand them over,” Harrington said, taking a step towards him.

  “No thanks, Harrington. I think I’ll hold onto this for right now. Not that I don’t trust you or anything.”

  Before the increasingly frustrated commander could say anymore, Melissa revealed that she had a plan. Reeves and Harrington watched as she lifted a beaker of water off the counter and threw it on the floor. Both men jumped at the loud crack as the breaking glass shattered the silence in the room.

  “So how does that help us?” Reeves asked, still keeping an eye on the commander.

  “Just watch, Graham.”

  Within seconds, the ASD rushed from under the counter and started to sweep and mop up the mess with a series of happy little bleeps. Melissa made a flourish of displaying her link, tapped on the floating screen a few times, and smiled as the diminutive robot stopped in the middle of its task.

  “How the hell did you do that?” Reeves demanded.

  While working away on her link, she absently explained that she had a whole suite of hacking tools. She looked up at him, a bit incredulous.

  “Are you saying that you don’t have this software?”

  Instead of answering her gloating tone, Reeves pursued a different tact. “Could you hack an access panel with those tools?”

  She smiled. “Easily.”

  “Could you edit the access history for a panel?”

  Her glee broadened on her face. “Yes, absolutely.”

  “What about changing permissions for a panel or door?”

  “Oh yes, that’s easy—”

  Her voice faded away as she realized what she’d just done.

  “You’re really not making a good case for yourself here, Melissa.”

  “But Fabregas is dead, right there on the table,” she insisted, pointing in that direction.

  “Very convenient, I’d say.”

  “I didn’t do this—”

  Reeves smiled now.

  “Relax, I believe you, but you’re going to have to give me a copy of that program,” he said.

  The data transfer took only moments. Reeves cycled through his new toys and saw a lot of stuff he wished he’d had at engineering school. No wonder it seemed like some JEs now were no smarter than a monkey. They’d been cheating their way through school. What would people do when technology completely removed the need for using a brain? Despite her reliance on illegal software, Melissa’s plan did indicate that she still had a few working brain cells. Reeves stopped tapping away on his link when Melissa finally looked up from hers.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” she said, and they all moved towards the door

  Chapter 6

  The waiting was absolutely the hardest part. Reeves anxiously watched over Melissa’s shoulder as she stood in the hallway, driving the ASD via her link. The first few meters had proven scary, as Melissa’s driving left much to be desired. Yes, the little gliding robot hovered almost silently, but if she’d crashed the ASD into one of those pointless potted plants, the noise would’ve roused some suspicion from inside the main lab.

  By the time the ASD cruised to the door opening, Reeves was about as antsy as he’d ever been in his life. Melissa had a solid plan, but now that the time had come, his body trembled a little bit. Just a little. Nerves. Right?

  As soon as the ASD breached the threshold, the video display hovering above Melissa’s wrist showed all eyes in the room drawn to the mysterious appearance of the device. Melissa nodded to Reeves. He took a deep breath and hurriedly scooted across to the door, keeping his head and shoulders below the height of the long windows running the length of the lab.

  For fear of hesitating, he didn’t pause at the edge of the door. H
e stepped into the room, gun drawn, readying the weapon on the bad guys whose attention had been totally sucked in by the ASD.

  Good job, Melissa.

  Banion and Vendra stood close to each other, with a link lying on the counter next to them. Sturm’s face on the display matched the concern in her voice as she asked what was going on. Nobody spoke. Reeves pivoted around the room as Melissa joined him in the doorway, her gun in hand. In the corner, Zhi stood very nonchalantly, one foot on the wall, a toothpick between his teeth.

  The three hostages all looked in similar shape to the last time Reeves swung by here, so that was good. The only difference was that now they were gagged as well as bound.

  Reeves felt quite calm now that everything was going so smoothly. The anticipation had been far worse than the event itself. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really sure what to do next, especially since Arkady was missing. Luckily Melissa had thought of that and posted Harrington down the hall as a lookout.

  “Reeves, don’t do anything stupid here.”

  The voice was that of Captain Sturm. Banion, Vendra, and Zhi continued to watch the two armed engineers, looking more curious than scared. Well, Vendra looked like he was about ready to crap in his pants. Banion and Zhi both seemed unconcerned.

  Why was that?

  Their ambivalence made sense when Harrington’s loud scream was cut short in a gurgling mess of sound. Both engineers swiveled to look outside and saw Arkady approaching, walking confidently past the windows, a wicked grin on his face. Blood enveloped his hand and the knife held in it. Reeves stepped towards the door, murderous intent welling up.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Reeves.”

  He paused and turned his head. Zhi now held a knife at Alicia’s throat. Her eyes widened farther and farther as the man pricked out a drop of blood from her smooth skin. Not trained for this, Reeves froze. If Arkady stepped into the room, it was all over. There had to be something he could do. The frustration at his impotence hurt almost as much as seeing his girlfriend struggle against the iron grip of the small technician.

  “Hand over your guns.”

  He turned back around and saw Arkady waltz into the lab, now with a gun drawn instead of his knife. With no other recourse, Reeves nodded to Melissa. The embarrassment at losing their only advantage dug into Reeves’s core, leaving deep wounds on his ego. Hopefully he wouldn’t end up with physical wounds to match.

  Banion moved in and took the guns from their weak grips, a patronizing smile bearing down on Reeves. What Reeves wouldn’t have given for another shot at wiping that smug look off the bastard’s face. The man gloated about the greatness of his plan and promised that Reeves would suffer for his interference, but the engineer didn’t really pay attention. Instead, he focused sadly on Melissa as she struggled against both Zhi and Arkady, who tried to pin her down in a chair next to Matt.

  “Banion, this isn’t going to work,” Reeves said. “And everyone thinks you’re stupid.”

  “Ha, keep your trap shut or I’ll open your head all over your precious girlfriend,” Banion replied, smugness gone, replaced by a surprisingly malicious tone. Keeping quiet was probably a smart course of action here.

  Of course, Reeves wasn’t a very smart man sometimes.

  “How’re you going to send ransom demands without any comm beacons? They’ve all been launched.”

  “I’ve got two more on the shuttle that my associate brought for this purpose,” Banion said.

  His associate? Reeves glanced around the room and noticed for the first time that the Zhusaana was missing. Damn it. At least Banion hadn’t kept his promise to shoot Reeves in the head. He wondered how far he could push him, but what good would it do?

  Zhi and Arkady had Melissa in the chair now, but she wasn’t giving up yet. She snapped her teeth onto Zhi’s ear, trying to rip it off. Reeves tensed when the man reared back and punched her hard in the gut. Her mouth opened in a windless gasp, releasing the man’s ear. With disturbing calm, Zhi clamped his hand between her spread legs. She froze immediately.

  “If you don’t behave, I’m going to have some fun with you right here in front of everyone.”

  The snarl on his face had Reeves clenching his fists, powerless to help his friend. Arkady laughed at the idea, while Banion rolled his eyes, dismissing the threat. Vendra was the only one who piped up.

  “No, you can’t do that,” he insisted. “That’s going too far, Zhi!”

  In an instant, Zhi was up, knife out and raised at Vendra’s throat. The guy was so damn quick; Reeves hadn’t even seen where the knife had materialized from. The science officer trembled as Zhi ran the knife around the edge of his neck.

  “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do.”

  Banion stepped in front of Zhi and gently separated the two. Zhi sneered at his prey and walked towards the door as Arkady successfully bound Melissa to the chair finally. Her shoulders slumped forward as much as her restricted movement allowed, her face downcast in shame, despite having done nothing wrong. Reeves had never pitied anyone so much in his life.

  Suddenly, the whole room exploded in bright colors and a series of loud noises. Wave after wave of concussive force flung Reeves’s body around helplessly. Pain accompanied each collision as thousands of small pebbles pelted him. When he finally crashed onto the floor, he looked up bleary-eyed and wondered what had taken so long for the situation to get even worse.

  ***

  A small dark shape darted around the lab, a blurry silhouette careening erratically, this way and that. Black smoke swirled in lazy circles as the ventilation system kicked in, clearing the air with a quiet hum. Foam jets shot out from the ceiling, suffocating the small fires that burned all around the large room. Belatedly, the emergency lights kicked on, flashing yellow strobes indicating a fire nearby.

  No kidding.

  Reeves slowly lifted himself off of the ground, pain arcing across his shoulders. He grimaced at the sharp distress accompanying each movement, but only when he shook his head did his hearing come back and reveal the severity of the situation. The ventilation fans were anything but quiet, instead sucking up the thick smoke with a roar like the main propulsion thrusters on a battleship. Screams filled the air from somewhere nearby, but Reeves cringed when he tried to turn his head to see the victim. His body felt submerged in water, each movement sluggish and delayed.

  Finally reaching a sitting position, Reeves could better survey the grisly scene. To his left, the small dark shape he’d seen turned out to be Malk. The Bashan hefted an enormous power-wrench over his head, targeting Banion, whose leg was pinned under a large piece of a microscope. Banion screamed, but Malk’s downward stroke at the downed man’s head terminated the cry. Reeves jerked his head away and gagged at the sight of the man’s imploded skull. The sudden movement sent shockwaves up and down both sides of his neck, causing instant regret.

  Now facing to his right, an entirely different kind of horrible presented itself. Melissa lay on the ground, still shackled to a chair, only now both of her legs were missing. Alicia lay next to the recent amputee, also bound to a chair. The scientist’s kind and reassuring words left no mark on Melissa as she shrieked incessantly, well beyond hysterics. Reeves could see a large piece of the ceiling had separated, then fallen and sliced straight through both of her thighs. As her stumps flailed aimlessly, blood poured from the wide-open wounds, creating a gruesome river on the floor.

  Stuck in the crimson stream, Tilda lay next to Matt, trying to urge her battered husband back into consciousness. The man looked in a bad way. Whole pieces of his face were missing where shrapnel had ground through his skin, tearing away flesh. Thankfully, Matt’s face pointed away from Tilda’s, so for the time being she couldn’t see the mess. Reeves wasn’t about to tell her that her husband looked like a shark attack victim.

  This was all too much. Reeves was a damn engineer, not a triage doctor. He dragged himself to his feet and stumbled towards the first aid station, which was mercifully sti
ll intact, but now lying on the floor instead of mounted on the wall. Dry heaves threatened with each step in the growing pool of blood released from Melissa’s body.

  He reached the medical kit, but at first the lid to the box wouldn’t budge. Reeves looked around the room, his brain trying to get back in gear and work out what was wrong with the damn lid.

  On the wall where Vendra had previously stood, now only a gaping hole stood, smoke still flowing around the ragged edges. On the floor, a grisly trail of what presumably used to be Science Officer Nehru Vendra jetted out in an increasing radius from the explosion point.

  What the hell did Malk do?

  A fog encumbered all of Reeves’s thought processes. Slowly but surely, the necessary steps formed in his head. He needed to get the medical supplies open, and he needed to free his coworkers. To emphasize that last point, Melissa’s pleas for help turned to an even higher octave, piercing the shroud of confusion hampering Reeves.

  Wasn’t she supposed to go into shock or something? Was he a jerk for thinking that?

  The batteries that controlled the latch for the medical supply box had obviously been damaged in the explosion. Now it all seemed so simple. With the help of a charred piece of metal that lay in amongst the scattered debris, Reeves cracked the lid open. His eyes came into focus more and his movements quickened as he got back up and went to free Ally from the confines of her chair.

  Loosed from her bonds, Alicia rubbed her raw wrists together, smarting at the sensation. Without a word of thanks, she grabbed two cauterizing pads from the medical supplies at Reeves’s feet and slapped them onto the remains of Melissa’s legs. The poor woman’s voice reached a glass-shattered pitch, but only for a moment, then her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.

  Reeves knelt to check on her, but sudden movement from the corner of vision caught his attention. He turned to see Arkady slowly dragging his badly injured body towards the exit. No pity found a place in Reeves at the sight of Arkady’s missing leg or missing hand. Even so, when Malk appeared out of nowhere wielding his giant wrench, Reeves cried out for him to stop, but it was too late. With an inhuman squelch, the wrench crushed Arkady’s skull.