At last he could put his head down on that comfortable bed and as he eased himself into a relaxed position, not too bad despite his bulky clothes, he expected to fall asleep very easily. There was a light tap and Kyle was angry that his much needed sleep was interrupted, but as he headed for the door he reached down for his e-pistol and shifted the safety button, just in case his visitor was trouble.
It was Bambi and she had been crying, “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” Kyle moved some of his gear from the couch and led his crewmate to a seat. He had noticed immediately that Bambi, so called for her long spindly legs, was not in her protective vacuum suit, nor had she brought her weapons or shield. He also saw that her short blonde hair was shiny and plumped up realising she must have come straight from her shower.
“How are you coping?” he said, trying to be as supportive as possible.
“I’m not coping Kyle, my ex, Lengo Piasi was on the Seeker when we left and he must be dead now, I had been giving him a cold shoulder since we broke up and now I feel terrible. I cannot stop thinking about our friends we won’t see any more and now the five of us are stuck light years from anywhere just waiting for the killers to come back for us. It just feels hopeless.”
Kyle was confused on a number of levels; firstly Bambi had never wanted to get this close before, she was calling him Kyle instead of the usual Getaway, on a physical level he was starting to be attracted to both Esther and Rachel, but this could be due to the libido suppressant drugs no longer being mixed into his food supplements. This was a procedure used on all the ‘ex con’ volunteers to integrate them back into a mixed sex, closed community, on board long range star ships and would be carried out for the first three years but he hadn’t been dosed for thirty six hours so emotions could be stirring.
“Kyle, I don’t want to be on my own tonight, can I stay with you?”
“Look Rachel, I am right here for you and I think I understand a little of what you must be feeling but I need you to be strong. I want you to go and get your astrosuit, your guns and your shield and bring them here, if we are raided tonight it’s important that you contribute to what little we can muster in defence.”
Rachel disengaged herself from Kyle and did as she was told, it did mean something to her, that she too was being depended upon and should not just be thinking of herself.
When she returned, he was lying head against the backboard of the bed, still in his full suit and beckoned her over.
“Come on Bambi,” he said with a friendly smile “jump in, it won’t be very romantic whilst I am in this suit but at least you won’t be alone.”
“I take your point about being ready so I had better keep my coverall on, which is a shame as I normally just sleep in shorts,” and she smiled cheekily at him.
The two of them somehow managed to cuddle up and Kyle was very appreciative of Rachel’s closeness, she smelled pleasantly fragrant having recently showered and he had to make an effort to keep his feelings under control. They were both mentally drained after the day they had been through and soon they fell asleep.
It wasn’t long before there was a bang on the door and it was Buzz Watabe, “Getaway, you zombie, the crew meeting is in ten minutes, get moving else Esther will have you on toast and Bambi is no better, she isn’t answering at all.”
“O.K. Buzz, keep calm I will be there and I’ll give Bambi a knock, just tell Esther that we are on our way.”
“Sure, but it’s your look out.”
As soon as they heard Watabe’s footsteps diminish they both jumped out of bed and Kyle helped Rachel get into her astrosuit, whilst she was finishing off he went over to the entertainment consul, looked for the video communicator module, which he recognised from the standard twelve inch video screen and microphone bulb. The camera lens was offset to the left of the screen and he motioned Bambi to keep quiet and out of sight whilst he went on-line. He pressed the activate button and spoke firmly, “Bridge” and the link to the matching unit on the bridge opened up.
Staring inquisitively out of the screen was his Sub-Officer Esther. “Getaway shouldn’t you be on your way here for the crew meeting?”
“Yes Ma’am but I thought I’d bring hot drinks for everyone and I went to the Kaffoo machine forgetting it was on power lock down hence my call now, if it's ok can you shift some of the power to the forward mess vending machines?”
“In the circumstances, I agree, I will switch the power for 10 minutes but get here as soon as you have the drinks, is that understood? Have you seen Klein?”
“Confirmed to both Sub, I have left Bambi at the drinks machine.”
“OK, both of you get back here ASAP.”
“Confirmed Sub, over.”
Kyle switched off the communicator and turned to look at Rachel.
“You are a very good liar,” she said and as they walked through the cabin doorway.
“No I am a rotten liar but I am pretty good on excuses and we are going to make my story partly true. Grab your gear and let’s get down to the Mess.”
Ten minutes later they marched purposely onto the bridge, Kyle with a tray of mugs containing steaming hot Kaffoo, a large jug containing even more and also there was a plate full of sweet pancakes that had been dispensed from another machine in the vending area. Behind came Rachel, weighed down not only with her own gear but she was carrying Kyle’s too.
“Hi everyone, sorry we are late but I thought the refreshments might help,” grinned the ex-con, knowing that his colleagues would be wolfing down the goodies as soon as they hit the table.
Esther asked them both to take their seats which the others had set up, the food and drinks were passed around and they waited for Sub Fuentes to start the meeting.
“Let’s get started, firstly thanks to those that have done a bridge watch and also for the reports you have made. Let me summarise our situation and give my opinion."
We find ourselves isolated on an apparently deserted juggernaut, with limited power reserves. According to the system outputs we have emergency power only and as it still has to supply the ‘anti-grav’, external force field, internal life support and bridge electronics, we have all of four days to figure out a way off here or to get the power cells charging again. Then if that is not enough to contend with, we could be attacked by homicidal pirates any minute.”
Esther looked around the other four to make sure that everyone was paying attention and the serious look on their faces showed they were.
“Sub,” Shiner broke the momentary silence, “is there any chance another ship will pick up the distress beacon and head this way?”
“Good question Shiner, when the Seeker scanned the area there was certainly nothing within four days of here and if somehow a ship did appear it could well receive the same treatment that the old Seeker did."
At this time we may have to make our own salvation, which may lie in one of the hundred or so hangars on board. Normally we could go through the Inventory Database but it has been compromised so we may have to work through the hangars one by one to check for anything that might help. My research may also be linked to the problem with the memory bank, I have found two things; firstly, the on board movement sensors are not working in a small area by the reactor room. Secondly, my pane has picked up a number of computer searches being carried out on the main ships systems and they have not been completed by any of us.”
“Are you saying that there are other people on this ship?” asked Rachel.
“That is exactly what I am saying and before we can think of checking out the stores we will have to find who is hiding out on this ship. I would guess that whoever it is or whoever they are, will be using the office by the reactor room as their base, because that is the source of the blocked out life and movement sectors. We don’t have a lot of time so I will keep it short, I’m going to take two of you with me to recon the area and to make a contact. Shiner and Getaway I’ll take you two and leave Buzz and Bambi holding the bridge, keeping watch and prov
iding a rescue party if my group gets into trouble. If there are no questions I want everybody tooled up with their weapons packs in 10 minutes, that means checking pistols and carbines are fully charged and will fire for real if required.”
Exactly 10 minutes later Esther, Shiner and Kyle strode out of the bridge section, power carbines in hand, pistols in their belts and shields on their backs. As they passed Rachel, she called out, “Take care all of you,” and Kyle couldn’t help thinking that as she said it she was looking at him.
The reactor room and its attendant office were near the stern of the great ship and it took the trio nearly an hour of cautious, probing exploration to reach the zone, which still failed to respond to the sensor readers on Esther’s pane. She motioned Kyle to go towards the blacked out office first and he fought back his fears trying to remember his training from Sub Stahl. He activated his helmet visor, checked oxygen and pressure levels on the visor display panel. Then released his shield from its strap and hefted it in front of him, like an ancient Roman soldier, with his left hand to cover his body core and the lower part of his face. Finally he checked his carbine for the last time, the safety catch was off, the power light shone red for live and the firing frequency set to ten bolts per trigger depression.
He turned looking left and right, with Esther and Buzz adopting a similar stance slightly behind him. He strode forward, eyes darting in all directions looking for any movement. None came. The door to the office was now only a few feet away and he expected some sort of explosive reaction to his presence. He swallowed hard to clear the tension in his throat and reached for the door control with his shield hand, this meant he was vulnerable for a few precious seconds. The door slid open and the emergency lighting flickered on but still nothing.
Kyle, silhouetted against the open door took three quick steps through the doorway and dodged to his left to miss the expected volley of electron and plasma beams, but there was no response. Crouched behind his shield he spoke into his helmet microphone,
“Door way clear no challenge so far.”
Buzz entered in a similar way, and took up position next to Kyle forming a two man shield wall. “What now?” said Buzz through Kyle’s helmet speaker, “do you think anyone else is in here?”
Looking out over their shields they saw half a dozen rows of desks most having computer units on top and interspersed were a number of documents and filing cabinets. The green emergency lighting made it very difficult to see clearly and Kyle decided that walking to the far end of the office provided too many ambush opportunities.
Out of his belt pouch he took a flash grenade and spoke into his microphone again, “Sub, it’s too dangerous to go further, I’m going to launch a ‘flasher’ on three, ready Buzz?” Buzz nodded, Kyle counted down and on zero threw his grenade to the far end of the room. It exploded on impact producing a blinding sunburst and a shattering bang which blew the glass out many of the cabinets, causing others to crash over and the emergency lights momentarily flickered before returning to normal.
They both knew what to expect from their training and had taken position behind their shields which absorbed much of the shockwave. Together they raised their heads and looked out over the devastation. The disturbed furniture lay in a mess, small pieces of debris and loose papers were falling like snow. They stood up, looked around and then for the first time could hear groans. Still expecting some sort of trap, they approached the source of the noise warily, shields up and carbines ready. As it turned out this was not necessary finding under a large overturned document cabinet they found two pairs of legs. After a quick check to confirm there were no other people they returned to the two prone figures. Esther had been updated and came in to join them.
Having completed her own assessment, she instructed the men to put their weapons down and to aid the casualties, meanwhile Esther made sure that her e-pistol covered the situation.
Once the debris was removed, they found that the two figures were a man and a woman in the green crew fatigues of the Galactic Stellar Merchant Service and their arms displayed the crew emblem for The Seven Moons. The pair were helped to their feet and seemed none the worse for wear, though they had much dust and grime to brush off.
Still with her pistol trained on them, Esther ordered the two dazed individuals to identify themselves.
“This is our ship, so shouldn’t you be identifying yourselves?” snapped the male.
Esther answered firmly but politely, “We are part of the boarding party of the Repair and Salvage Tug Seeker and from the moment we landed on this ship it became a salvage claim and ownership is therefore debatable. Whilst that is a fact, if you have experienced what we have in the last 48 hours I think you may have an interesting story and it looks like we may have some shared motivation over the next few days.”
“Very well said the man, my name is Ivan Freeman, I am or was the Second Senior Communications Engineer on The Moons, my colleague is Kalima Waheed, Stores Clerk and although we knew you were on the ship we wanted to make sure you were nothing to do with the Pirates. It looks as if we are the only survivors but we do know many of our crew have been captured and taken off the ship. We also understand that many of our colleagues and friends have been killed, some whilst putting up a desperate fight but many were simply executed and their bodies ejected into the vacuum whether they were dead or alive.”
The girl broke in, “As the Secom says, my name is Kalima, I was performing a stock check in warehouse hangar 11 when the lights went out and everyone seemed to collapse. I woke up quite quickly and was coming to my senses when I heard fighting and shouting. As the noises got nearer I decided to hide inside one of the bays, amongst a pile of ovens and fridges. I waited and waited but all I heard were the screams of my friends as they were shot in cold blood. I didn’t know what to do, I was scared and stayed in between the appliances for hours.”
The group headed back to the bridge with Esther contacting Bambi and Shiner to let them know they were bringing guests.
“Secom Freeman, how come you weren’t a victim?” asked Buzz, as they walked back together through the maze of corridors. Everyone now seemed a bit more relaxed with guns lowered as they talked.
“Oh I am a victim and a very lucky one. At the time the first ship appeared and subsequently paralysed The Moons, I was working on a communications array on the outside of the ship underneath one of the stern fins. Against the size of our ship I must have been like a microbe, they had no idea I was there but I was aware of them because the paralysing beam blanked me out. I passed out for quite a time, they had been in the ship causing mayhem whilst I was outside. When I came around, I managed to pull myself back to the rear access airlock using my tether and when inside I thought I was on my own, until I eventually found Kalima who had come out of hiding. We found that the pirates had triggered the rescue beacon, but we did not realize that they would use it as a lure for another attack, if we had switched it off they would have only come to look for us and switch it back on again.
Before you arrived, the pirates had returned with two tenders which were used to transport our people away, they also ransacked a number of the bays looking for valuable items. As we had managed to scramble the contents of the stores database they did not find things easy, but I am afraid what they have already taken may cost us dearly.”
Esther broke in and used Ivan’s merchant rank, “Secom, I plan to hold a meeting quickly so that we can pool our experiences and thoughts about this predicament, but you have already suffered quite a lot and I am afraid Getaway’s flash grenade has not been a very polite greeting. I suggest that you and Kalima spend a little time getting cleaned up in two of the unmarked cabins by our berths. Then get a bite from the Bridge Mess Vendors and we will all get together at the bridge break out area at 14.00 hours ship time, for a council of war.”
After numerous power switches and trips to their cabins, the combined survivors of Seeker and the Moons assembled around a table in the bridge break out area. A
s Esther had instructed, all the Seeker crew were finally allowed to remove their astro-suits and those assembled were in either blue or green working fatigues.
Esther leading the meeting firstly completed the introductions, then quickly moving on, asked the Secom to give a ship status report from his perspective.
“Firstly, as I am sure you have found out, the emergency power will last around three and a half days at most.
Secondly, the ship cannot regenerate its reactors without the three fuel cells sabotaged by the pirates being replaced.
Third point, would be that both the space worthy tenders of The Moons have been taken over by the pirates, with the one remaining tender being unfit for flight.
Fourthly, all of the shuttle fleet not stolen were damaged in the fighting and it would take many hours to repair and make them flyable.
Point five, would be that on their return visit the Pirates did find the warehouse containing the stock of fuel cells and all they have left us are batteries for flashlights and panes.
Point six for me is purely a guess, but I have estimated that in two days’ time we can expect another visit from our friends for a further raid on the stores and if they find the weapons arsenal they are going to cause even more chaos.
Already Kalima has used my pane to correct the stock read-outs and the entire contents of this ship are available if we can find a plan to use it to our advantage.”
“Thank you Secom and Kalima for your summary and help so far, could you link your pane to one of the monitors so that we can all check through the inventory and then try to come up with some sort of solution?” asked Esther, whose overall command went unchallenged by the newcomers.
“Can we use the escape pods to get away?” asked Bambi hopefully.
“No they do not have the range to reach a safe planet and we would be easily picked up by the pirates.”
Buzz Watabe then added, “Well could we use the pod fuel cells to replace the three damaged reactor cells?”
Seeker of Moons (Cassidy's Command Book 1) Page 3
