by M. D. Cooper
Tanis set a small device on the railing that would create a distortion field and mask her departure. Once it was in place, she climbed over the railing, and carefully lowered herself to the asteroid’s surface.
The angular momentum imparted by Vesta’s rotation made its surface into a treacherous near-cliff, and Tanis carefully worked her way across the pitted surface toward a cluster of pipes running nearby.
The AI laughed.
It took Tanis two hours to work her way down the surface of the asteroid to where the docking ring met the rock. Once there, she climbed across a series of bracing struts to finally arrive on a gantry that ran along the ring.
Here, unlike on Vesta’s surface, there was far more activity—though most of it was in the form of automated drones. She did spot a few workers here and there, some working on ships in external berths, some working on the ring itself.
Much of her view was obscured by cargo netting that held everything from hull plating to crates filled with freeze-dried food.
After another hour of skip-walking down the catwalks that ran alongside the ring, she finally came to a marker for the berths and bays 8100 through 8150.
She looked over the edge of the catwalk, gazing down at a lower gantry that would take her to the external airlock doors, but there was no external access from where she was down to the lower gantry. The lower walk was technically ‘secured’, which meant that a person was supposed to go into the ring through an airlock, pass through a check, and then go back out to reach it.
That wasn’t an option for Tanis, so she had to take a more direct approach.
Tanis didn’t allow herself any further hesitation, swinging herself over the railing and angling herself to land on the gantry below. A miss here would see her flying into space with no recourse.
Granted, she could activate a distress beacon, and someone would pick her up, but that would likely see an end to her clandestine activities.
The centripetal rotation of the ring created a strange sensation as Tanis fell the two hundred meters to the lower catwalk.
Even though she wasn’t in a gravity well, general relativity’s equivalence principle still applied, and she accelerated at 4.3 meters per second squared. Below her, the catwalk appeared to slip behind her, the centrifugal force—which was actually angular momentum—effectively flinging her forward a hair faster than the ring rotated.
She fired small attitude control thrusters on her forearms to adjust her trajectory, and then four seconds before impacting the lower walkway, she kicked on her calf jets, slowing to a mere meter per second as she hit the steel grating.
Centrifugal force became centripetal force, and she stumbled back a half-step, bracing against the difference in rotational speed further out on the ring.
Tanis glanced around, checking to see if anyone had noticed her fall. Vesta’s ‘lost persons’ detection system only scanned beyond the rim of the ring, which she was not yet past, so she should have escaped its detection, but it was entirely possible that a nearby worker had seen her.
She began to walk purposefully toward the airlock for Bay 8129. Standing around and looking dazed would be a sure-fire sign that something wasn’t right.
No one called out to her, and Tanis thanked the stars that she’d gone undetected.
Tanis replied as they reached the small maintenance airlock.
Tanis snorted.
Darla only grunted in response, and Tanis wondered if the AI had some reason to mistrust the MICI operative.
Misgivings aside, the airlock cycled open forty seconds later, and Tanis stepped in. As the interior pressurized, she activated her armor’s stealth systems. They weren’t perfect, but they should allow her to go undetected by any passive monitoring that the bay would employ.
A minute later, the airlock’s interior door opened, and Tanis stepped through, her mouth falling open as she took in the sight before her.
Bay 8129 was large—more than large enough for the Kirby Jones’s one-hundred-and-twenty-meter hull, which sat directly in front of her, and also large enough to house a second ship: the Norse Wind.
Tanis replied while striding toward the Kirby Jones, noticing that no repair and refit equipment was in evidence. It seemed as though the ship had been untouched since they’d docked.
Tanis cycled open the Jones’s airlock, and stepped in to see the inner door unsealed.
Tanis nodded as she turned left down the corridor to the forward networking hub, where Lovell’s AI core was housed in its titanium cylinder. As she passed through the ship, signs of it having been gone over were in evidence.
Maintenance panels were removed, many duct coverings hung open, and even deck plates sat askew in a dozen places.
Tanis’s words cut off as she reached the entrance to the network node—which was in shambles. But that’s not what held her gaze. The opening to Lovell’s tower was open, and his core was gone.
Tanis had noticed that, but hadn’t paid much heed. Now that she thought about what she’d seen, the only possible conclusion was that the Norse Wind was undergoing repairs to get back into the black.
Spinning about, she ran through the Kirby Jones and out the airlock. She rushed down the ramp and across the bay to where the Norse Wind’s five-hundred-meter bulk rested. As she drew near, she saw refueling lines connected to the ship, and a nu
mber of crates labeled as containing reactor components sitting nearby.
Tanis nodded in response, and jogged toward the airlock, wondering if they’d caught the Repair and Refit crew—or whoever was working in here—on their lunch break. She half-hoped someone was inside the ship; it would give her a person to wring answers from.
She jogged up the ramp, and slipped through the airlock. It put her in a forward cross-corridor within the ship. Ahead was an intersection that would lead her further forward, to the bridge, or aft, toward the cargo holds and engineering.
Tanis slowed her approach and deployed a drone to take a look down the intersecting passageways. Both were clear, and she turned left toward the bridge. As they were passing a series of doors that led into crew cabins, Darla spoke up.
Tanis slowed at the door Darla had highlighted.
She placed an Infil Kit on the panel, and let Darla go to work. The lock didn’t hold the AI up for more than a few seconds.
When the door slid aside, Tanis gasped in surprise.
“Connie?”
CONNIE
STELLAR DATE: 01.22.4084 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Norse Wind, Bay 8129, Sector 33
REGION: Vesta, Terran Hegemony, InnerSol
“Who the hell…wait, is that you, Tanis?”
Connie sat on a bunk in the small cabin, wearing the same clothes Tanis had last seen her in, but looking a lot worse for wear.
She was dirty, her hair disheveled, and more than a few bruises were evident on her face and arms.
“What are you doing here?” Tanis asked, pulling her helmet off to show that it was indeed her.
“Oh, you know, enjoying some relaxing reading time. What the hell do you think I’m doing here? I’ve been fucking kidnapped!”
“But you sent messages,” Tanis said, her eyebrows knitted. “I got one earlier today that said you’d made it to Cune and were following a lead.”
“They made me give them my tokens,” Connie said, glancing away from Tanis. “They’ve been leading you on. A patrol craft stopped the liner a day out of Vesta and brought me back.”
“Fuck!” Tanis swore. “Are you OK…other than the visible?”
Connie nodded as she rose. “Yeah, more or less. They worked me over for a bit, very keen on finding out where the quantum core was. Which I had no effing clue about.”
“Who?” Tanis asked.
“Who do you think? Our good friend Captain Unger—or should I say Tora—of the SWSF.”
Tanis took a step forward and placed a hand on Connie’s shoulder, only to have her engineer rise up and wrap her in a shaky embrace.
“Stars, Tanis, I was starting to think you’d never find me.”
“Well, I got held up a bit, lost an arm, had to get a new one…”
Connie pulled back and looked at Tanis’s right arm, which she was holding up.
“Really? That’s a good-looking prosthetic!”
“I got it from a MICI agent,” Tanis replied with a wink.
“Shit! Seriously?” Connie took a step back. “That where you picked up the retro armor? What the hell is going on, anyway?”
“Far as I can tell, same ol’ story. Someone really wants the stuff we impounded from the Norse Wind, and they’re determined to see it get to the disk.”
“Well, yeah, I get that,” Connie said with a snort. “It was rhetorical. They really wanted to get their hands on the QC in the worst sort of way, but I managed to sort out a bit more of what they have going on. Those reactor control systems are indeed for ancient dreadnoughts, the kind the Diskers built during the Sentience Wars. I overheard Captain Tora saying something about the ships being useless if they can’t get them flying again.”
“So, here’s a question,” Tanis ventured as she leant against the doorframe. “Where is the quantum core they’re looking for? I don’t have it, and you don’t have it.”
Connie shrugged. “Either they’ve misplaced it, or one of our breach team members took it.”
“I hate to think that Marian or one of her squad would have helped themselves to loot like that.”
“Well, if it had just been misplaced, I think they would have found it by now,” Connie replied. “Which means one of the crew has it. But don’t forget, Liam and Seamus were over there, too. I hate to say it, but one of those two would be my prime suspect.”
“Which means we have to talk to the crew and find out who has it,” Tanis replied. “Just as soon as we find Lovell.”
“Lovell?” Connie locked her gaze on Tanis’s eyes. “What do you mean ‘find Lovell’?”
“He’s not on the Jones. I’ve been wondering if he’s tucked away here on the Norse Wind.”
“Shit,” Connie muttered. “If they’ve done anything to hurt him…”
Tanis nodded. “I feel the same way. Let’s check their network hub here, I—”
“Dammit!” Tanis swore as she pulled the feeds from the drones Darla had released in the bay. “Looks like things are about to get interesting.”
“What’s the plan, Commander?” Connie asked.
“You go to the network node. Try to find Lovell. I’m going to kick some ass.”
Connie cocked an eyebrow. “You against how many?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Tanis shrugged, then pulled a kinetic rifle from her pack, and unfolded it, slinging it over her shoulder. Then she grabbed a handgun and tossed it to Connie. “I’m not about to stand down at this point. So far, they’ve not thrown anything at me that I can’t handle.”
“Didn’t you say your arm got cut off?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but that was with my own weapon.”
* * * * *
Tanis rushed back to the airlock, watching on the feeds as the shuttle touched down, disgorged seven people, and then left the bay.
The group began to approach the Norse Wind, and Tanis picked out four soldiers not wearing any TSF markings, and three techs. All seven were angling in the direction of the same airlock Tanis had used.
Then one of them turned and scowled at the Kirby Jones.
Tanis hadn’t, but didn’t assign any blame to Darla as she watched two of the soldiers peel off from the rest of the group and cautiously move across the bay toward the Jones.
Tanis worked her way down the central passageway to the cross corridor that ran to the forward airlock they’d used to enter the Norse Wind.
She took up a position at the intersection, staying out of sight with the drones watching the airlock.
Tanis’s stomach rumbled, and she realized that she hadn’t eaten anything that day—other than the BLT she’d snatched off Harm’s plate.
She pressed her back against the bulkhead, rifle in her left hand, pistol in her right. The intersection opened up just past her right shoulder—once the airlock doors closed, she’d spin around and let fire with the rifle
.
With any luck, she could take out the two soldiers in the first volley.
She watched the soldiers step into the airlock, weapons held ready, advancing cautiously. They released a drone, and Tanis prayed they’d move beyond the airlock before it reached the intersection. If they didn’t, her plan would need some drastic revision…namely, retreating further into the ship.
Lady luck was on her side, and the two soldiers moved out of the airlock before the drone spotted Tanis. The instant they were in the corridor, Darla cycled the lock shut, and one of them turned at the sound.
As good as it will get, Tanis thought as she spun and crouched in one swift movement, exposing her left side to the corridor, and fired on the soldier who hadn’t turned. His medium armor held up to the weapons fire, though the force knocked him back.
She twisted to the side, and fired her pistol as well, aiming for his rifle.
One of her rounds struck the weapon, and Tanis hoped it had been enough as she ducked back into cover, just before the second soldier turned back and joined the fight.
Above, the enemy drone moved into the intersection, but Tanis had been waiting for it, and shot it down right before she lunged across the intersection herself, firing at the first soldier, praying the sustained weapons fire would be enough to break through his armor somewhere.
Sure enough, the first soldier’s weapon was out of commission, but he held his sidearm, and was firing back at her when one of Tanis’s shots cracked his faceplate. He fell to the deck, screaming and twisting off the seal.
The other soldier had better aim, and a shot hit Tanis’s arm, then another struck her leg. She said a silent ‘thank you’ to Harm as the armor held, and the only result was a shift in her trajectory.
Tanis righted herself once back in cover, and swapped out the charge cylinder on her pistol. She looked to make sure the remaining soldier wasn’t advancing—he was checking on his teammate—then swapped a fresh magazine into the rifle.
Soldier number two was still only half-facing Tanis’s direction, and she decided to take full advantage of his distraction.
