Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe)

by Britt Ringel

  “Sum ‘bitch,” Brown growled. “They got tipped off, L-T.”

  “Denise,” Vernay commanded as she broke into a run, “get yourself and the grav-pallet over to the docking bay. We’ll get the pilots and meet you there.” She ended the transmission before Gables could respond. While handing the datapad back to Selvaggio, Vernay looked at Truesworth and said, “Looks like the pilots won’t get a chance to eat, Jack.”

  Truesworth shrugged dismissively. “That’s okay. I hear the food in the Moon Crater Café is fine but the place has no atmosphere.”

  Chapter 4

  “Thank God you’re here,” Gables said with deep relief. She had positioned herself partly in the docking bay and partly in the docking tube.

  Vernay looked past her and, to her own relief, saw the docking tube was still attached to Hussy.

  Gables gestured to the empty watchman’s station close to her. “There was a guy there but as soon as I pulled up, he took off down the tube and into the ship. That was about three minutes ago. The tube portal started closing so I blocked it. I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to open it if they locked it and I don’t think they can cut their moorings with this side of the docking tube unsecured.”

  “Good move, Gabes,” Vernay praised. “Chief, get the multi-rifle out of the duffle ba—”

  The unmistakable sound of Brown charging his multi-rifle echoed through the small bay. “We waitin’ fer the station police, L-T?”

  Vernay shook her head. “No, who knows if they are even coming.” She looked at the twenty-one souls around her. Most had wide eyes and apprehensive expressions. She took several deep breaths before saying, “Okay, everyone, relax. It’s just a standard inspection as far as they know. Once we get in, we collect the ship’s captain and take him to the galley. Just stay calm and look official.”

  “The chief’s got the rifle. Let him go through the airlock first, Stacy,” Selvaggio suggested. “If there’s going to be trouble, we don’t want you taking the first hit.”

  “Hell, let the ensign go through first,” Brown teased as he jerked his head toward Gables. “Everyone knows she’s indestructible. The captain’s written her eulogy how many times now?”

  Gables placed a hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes in fake menace at the senior chief.

  “Just kiddin’, ma’am.” Brown winked at her while he walked past her and into the docking tube. Everyone fell into line as they proceeded down the flexible corridor connected to Hussy’s outer airlock door.

  Brown skipped the standard access controls and activated the outer manual override, forcing the portal to open. A slight gust of air pushed past the chief as the pressure equalized. He barged in and bellowed, “Under Brevic Rules of Interstellar and System Commerce and Brevic Military Regulations, this is a ship’s inspection.”

  The small airlock was empty and the portal to the adjoining compartment was closed. Vernay motioned Brown to the next door but frowned when she saw he could not open it. A voice came over the ship’s main channel.

  “What is this about?” it demanded.

  Vernay looked to the top corners of the compartment, searching for a camera, and after finding none replied in an authoritative voice, “Ship’s inspection per ISC Rule 4505.25.”

  “We’ve paid our dues,” the voice insisted. “Is Chamberlain getting greedy again? He can settle this with the council if he wants to push up the credits but for now, you’re not getting onto my ship.”

  Vernay let a new edginess permeate her voice. “Captain, we’re inside your airlock. We are already on your ship. Open the inner door and permit us access or I will have my men blow it open.” After a brief pause, Vernay said, “Okay, Chief, laze us a hole through that portal.”

  “Stop!” cried the voice. Seconds later, “It’s unlocked. You people have a lot of explaining to do. We’ve paid for access in this system. You’ve just pissed off the wrong people, lady.”

  Brown opened the portal and found a small stairwell spiraling up. He looked questioningly over his shoulder at Vernay. After brief consultation with her datapad, Vernay answered, “Up the stairs and then left, Chief.” She raised her voice and said, “Captain, please meet us in your galley with your ship’s officers to present your ship’s registration and captain’s license. I’ll explain everything once we’re there.” She turned around to face her crew. “Jack, stay here and see if the orbital security-police show up. Let me know if they do. Everyone else, follow me.”

  Vernay walked through the portal and climbed the stairs. Brown was ahead of her with rifle at the ready. Vernay knew openly brandishing a weapon was a breach of protocol for ship inspections but thought that the unusual greeting more than justified the more aggressive approach from the chief.

  The alloy stairs ascended to the main deck. Once the group reached the top, they turned left and walked just a few meters to arrive at an open portal marked “Galley.” By the time Vernay’s entire crew had entered, Hussy’s officers had also reached the room.

  “I demand to know who ordered this inspection!” The pirate captain’s dark eyes flashed angrily as he began to bull his way through the naval personnel without noticing that all but three were officers, highly unusual for a simple inspection crew. He fixed his gaze upon Vernay as he stomped toward her while raving, “I don’t know who you’re used to dealing with but when the council hears of this, the least of your concerns will be whether you ever get promoted again, missy!”

  Brown intercepted the ship captain before he came within arm’s length of Vernay. He savagely thrust the rifle barrel into the man’s ribs, the jagged end of the specially-purposed flash suppressor punching the man into obedient silence. The captain’s arms raised reflexively in submission, his leather jacket parting to reveal a fine, silk shirt underneath.

  “Shut up an’ listen, you good fer nothin’ pirate,” Brown admonished. He leaned in closer to the shocked face of the man and rumbled, “Just give me a reason. Please.”

  Vernay scanned the chief’s face and saw nothing of the trusted friend and mentor, just the coiled tension of a predator preparing to strike. “Captain,” she said, loud enough to get not only the pirate’s attention but also Brown’s. “I am conducting an inspection of your ship. Contrary to what you may think, we are not interested in what you’re afraid we may find.” Vernay looked the captain in the eye and lied, “That is of no concern to us. What I am concerned about is an item that one of your crew has smuggled aboard your ship without your knowledge. Your crew will debark this freighter while we conduct a search. If we do not find the item in question, you are free to go about your way. If we find the item, we will confiscate it along with that crewman and you will then be free to leave.” Her datapad chirped and she read the short message. She closed the report and addressed the captain once more. “There are orbital police waiting to watch over your crew while we carry out our mission. You will use Hussy’s MC to order everyone off the ship to allow us to conduct our investigation.”

  “So this isn’t about the euphoria?” the captain asked.

  “No.”

  “And we’re free to go either way when you’re done?”

  “As you’ve said, your council paid its dues, Captain. That money was wisely spent.” Vernay motioned toward the control panel near the galley door.

  The captain muttered under his breath but walked to the panel. He pressed a button with his thumb and announced, “This is the captain. All personnel will disembark the ship. Don’t worry, I’m staying with the inspection party and you’ll be back on it in an hour, but for now, everyone exit the ship.” He paused and then added, “That means you too, Joachim.”

  Vernay arched an eyebrow at the captain who explained, “Hussy’s chief engineer. He never leaves the ship.”

  “Everyone exits but you, Captain,” Vernay maintained. “My people are not going to babysit your crew while we conduct our search.”

  At the mention of Vernay’s comrades, the captain began to look around. His eyes struck up
on officer epaulette after officer epaulette. Vernay saw suspicion grow in the captain’s black eyes. “This isn’t a standard inspection team, Lieutenant.”

  “This isn’t a standard inspection, Captain,” Vernay replied coolly.

  As Hussy’s officers began to filter out of the galley, Vernay reached out to Truesworth via her datapad. “Jack, they’re coming out. I want a count of the crew as they leave the ship.”

  “Sure, Stacy.”

  Vernay groaned inwardly at the familiarity Truesworth had used for his superior officer in front of Hussy’s captain.

  The sensorman’s voice carried over her datapad again. “What about the extra multi-rifles the SPs brought?”

  Vernay noticed the captain flinch at the question. Damn, I shouldn’t have had this conversation in front of him. “I’ll send an agent down to you, Lieutenant.” Vernay purposefully placed emphasis on the words “agent” and “lieutenant,” hoping Truesworth would understand why. “I don’t want any surprises from a freighter crewman who decides to stow away in Hussy instead of waiting off the ship.” Truthfully, Vernay did not think the rifles would be necessary to secure Hussy. However, she had no idea if they might become useful when trying to free the Hollarans.

  “Roger-dodger,” came the reply.

  Several minutes passed as Vernay waited for Hussy’s crew to leave the freighter and for Ensign Gables to retrieve the four extra multi-rifles. Upon receipt, Vernay sent a small, armed detachment led by Selvaggio to Hussy’s bridge to answer any questions the orbital control tower might have, given Hussy’s rushed departure request and now her delay. By the time Selvaggio confirmed her arrival on the bridge via datapad message, Truesworth had completed his count.

  “Thirty-three, Stacy,” Truesworth relayed to Vernay. “That’s my second count.”

  The captain makes thirty-four so someone didn’t leave Hussy, Vernay thought. She shot an irritated look at the captain.

  “It has to be Joachim. Damn fool practically lives in the aft compartments.” The captain sighed with resignation. “Let’s go get him.”

  Vernay followed with Brown in tow. Behind her, she heard him ask someone, “Who got assigned Engineerin' duty?” After a short pause, he said, “Okay, Ensign May, can you come with us… an’ someone else too. You, Ensign Olson, will you please accompany the L-T an’ me.” Given his word choice, the sentence was phrased as a question. Given his experience and authority, the sentence was anything but.

  The ship captain led Vernay and her three shadows through slender corridors. The walls were covered with a faded and chipped paint that may have been a functional white at one time but now resided in the hues of a stained yellow. Most of the deck lacked paint completely, worn away by countless footsteps over the freighter’s decades of neglect. The group stepped down a small companionway, passing the crew’s quarters. Overhead, Vernay knew, were the freighter’s two lifeboats. The corridor ended abruptly at a door. The pirate manually cranked a wheel on the portal and then opened the hatch to reveal Hussy’s aft hold.

  Easily the largest compartment Vernay had ever seen on a starship, the hold was forty-two meters long, sixteen meters wide and some nineteen meters tall. Through the darkness above, Vernay could make out the bottoms of cargo hatches that would open upward into space. Contrary to Brevic military regulations, there appeared to be no containment field ready to prevent accidental decompression, no status board showing atmospheric pressure or hatch lock-out controls, none of the myriad of safety precautions taken in a standard Brevic naval vessel’s hangar. Could I really just walk over to those controls and decompress the entire hold with us in it? Vernay shivered at how close she was to open space. The group reached the far end of the hold and the captain began to open the aft hatch when Vernay’s datapad chirped again.

  “Stacy, it’s Jack. Am I supposed to say anything to the SPs before we take the freighter?”

  Vernay’s ears burned and her mind cursed Truesworth while her blue eyes locked onto Hussy’s captain. She opened her mouth but the words came out slower than the pirate captain’s holdout pistol, stashed inside the sleeve of his jacket. Instinct drove her to the deck as the ugly, snub-nosed pistol boomed. She turned away from the captain and began to roll even as she heard the rounds from Brown’s multi-rifle ricochet off the closing aft hatch. Vernay stopped rolling and saw Ensign May drop to her knees with an uncomprehending expression on her face and a red blossom growing on her abdomen.

  “Dammit,” Chief Brown cursed.

  Ensign Olson immediately grabbed May to ease her down to the deck. “Vivian!” he shouted reflexively.

  Vernay sprung to her feet and ordered, “Olson, stay with her and tell Selvaggio what’s happened.” She threw her datapad at the stunned ensign. “Chief, we have to stop him.”

  Brown, already at the hatch, stood to one side and nudged it open with the tip of his rifle. He peered cautiously into the hall and whispered, “Clear.”

  Vernay looked down the hallway before stepping in. To her left was a hatch labeled “Life Support.” The corridor’s only other hatch was at its terminus. Vernay motioned to the closer hatch. “We have to clear this one first.”

  Brown nodded and again gently nudged open the portal. The sound of cascading water emanated from inside the room. It was dark but the illumination from the corridor was enough to reveal a vacant compartment. Brown pointed to the hatch at the end of the hallway.

  “There’s two of them, Chief. Don’t forget.”

  The pair crept down the hallway to arrive at the portal. Vernay asked quietly, “How do you want to do this?”

  Brown pointed and said in a low voice, “Get to that side of the door, ma’am.” He lowered himself to the deck directly in front of the hatch. “When I give the word, you kick open the door but stay hidden to the side. If I get hit, close the hatch an’ try to keep ‘em from openin’ it.”

  Vernay bit her lip and nodded.

  “One… two… THREE!”

  The hatch swung open hard enough to slam against the inside bulkhead. Vernay thought she heard the holdout pistol’s report but it was difficult to tell over the deafening staccato bursts of the multi-rifle. Brown immediately rose from the deck and charged into the room. Somewhere inside, Vernay heard a desperate voice implore in accented English, “Nein! Don’t shoot my babies!”

  Vernay peered warily around the corner. The pirate captain lay unmoving on his back. His chest was a stitch-work pattern of red, a crimson pool expanding beneath him. Brown had his weapon pointed directly at a man wearing fresh but stained overalls who was using his body and arms to shield a pair of ancient-looking engine control panels.

  “You got him good,” the man said. “He’s dead, ja? Now point that Gewehr away from my engines, ja?”

  “Hands up!” Brown bellowed, keeping the multi-rifle leveled at the man.

  The man slowly raised his outstretched arms but calmly stated, “You are not going to shoot again, ja? You’ve already hit the auxiliary mixture controls when your bullets passed through the kapitän.” He snorted derisively, “I am not surprised that even in death he would find a way to allow my ship to be damaged.”

  “I said hands up!” Brown shouted intensely, his finger resting directly on the trigger.

  “Chief.” Vernay’s tender voice pierced through the enlisted man’s adrenalin and she could see Brown’s arms begin to shake. She walked up to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as she further coaxed, “His hands are up. I think it’s clear now.” Vernay saw Brown’s head bob slowly and attempt several deep breaths that came more like gasps. She also saw a small pool of blood at his left foot. “Chief, you’re hit.”

  “I ain’t hit,” Brown insisted defiantly.

  Vernay reached for the rifle and was surprised at Brown’s resistance to relinquish it. “I’ll cover the engineer, Chief. You check yourself out, okay?”

  Brown’s head dipped twice in acknowledgment as his fingers struggled to release the rifle. He stepped away even as Verna
y brought the rifle back up toward Hussy’s chief engineer. “You’re Joachim, aren’t you?”

  The brown-haired man, perhaps in his mid-fifties, nodded and replied, “Ja, Gnädige Fräulein, Joachim Müller at your service.”

  “Mr. Müller, I need you to disembark the ship for a short time, please.”

  Wrinkles gathered around the man’s mournful eyes as he smiled. “Nein, Gnädige Fräulein. I cannot do this. I must attend to the auxiliary mixture controls your marine so recklessly damaged.” He vaguely gestured behind him with his upraised hands. “If my lady’s primary controls should fail we would be in quite a mess, ja?”

  Brown spoke behind Vernay. “Yeah, I’m hit, L-T. Dammit.”

  Vernay looked over to Brown who had pulled up a pant leg. A bloody, eight-millimeter hole scarred the man’s calf. Brown gripped the wound to apply direct pressure while saying, “I didn’t even feel it. I do now though.”

  “Chief,” Vernay said, “get over to May and tell Olson to get some help from the galley.”

  As Brown gingerly hobbled over the bottom lip of the engineering hatchway, Vernay readdressed her captive calmly. “Mr. Müller, two of my people are shot. Are there medical supplies on board?”

  “Ja,” Müller nodded, “Das Flittchen has a sickbay just forward of the galley, portside.” The engineer slowly moved toward the exit and beckoned amiably, “I will show you. This way, please.”

  Chapter 5

  Minutes later, Vernay paced outside the tiny compartment that was Hussy’s sickbay. Brown and May lay upon the only two beds in the room while Gables stood between them. Gables had simply wrapped Brown’s calf with a tight bandage and then set immediately to work on May. While both patients were conscious, only one was in agony. The raspy breaths and whimpers of pain from the wounded, young ensign hammered at Vernay’s psyche.

  Why didn’t I have the captain searched? Of course he’d have a hidden pistol, you idiot, she chastised. And now, someone else pays the price for my carelessness. She had handed off the rifle and Hussy’s engineer to Ensign Olson. So far, Müller was very cooperative, even helpful, but the enigmatic man had become severely agitated when Vernay instructed him once again to exit the ship. To avoid further complicating an already chaotic situation, she had relented and told him to wait in the galley. Additional, ragged cries echoed from the sickbay causing Vernay to kick the corridor bulkhead to release her torment.