Chronicles of the 23rd Century: Hijacked

by Paul J. Fleming

  The accompanying wink caused Oswald to chuckle before he had chance to stifle the mirth and try to compose himself before turning to depart after his colleagues to help their efforts.

  10 Onwards

  Walker sat back in the chair before the comm station on the bridge of the small scout vessel, his report now being registered with the Lunarian Ranger control centre who would then liaise with the relevant authorities to send an interceptor out to take charge in lieu of a tug arriving to bring the liner into port.

  As they were still a good few hours out from Lunarian space the chances were it would be a diverted Martian naval cruiser, under the terms of their deployment to police the space lanes external to planetary jurisdiction.

  Wilbur Arkwright, the leader of the band of mercenaries posing as a splinter Earth resistance group, had aided almost over enthusiastically with the restarting of the scout ship’s core, then in taking the helm and using the power of the small craft to slow the larger bulk of the liner whilst monitoring the stresses upon the docking grapples so as not to sheer them in their efforts. It had been a slow process, but gradually their momentum had been halted and the vessel now drifted amidst the blackness of space awaiting arrival of the authorities. Wilbur had elected himself to be confined to the nearest cabin to the airlock aboard the liner for the duration of their wait for recovery, more than content to abide with the Ranger’s decree that he may remain alive unless he showed any signs of rebellion. It had gone some way to reassuring Walker that the reputation of the Rangers still held weight amongst some of the residents of the colonies at least.

  He could not help but think of his fallen comrade, her body now lying in their former cabin awaiting retrieval and delivery to the Ranger Corps for proper and respectful handling, as well as her name entered into the roster of brave Rangers who had fallen in pursuit of their duty. The Martian who had purposefully ended her life was still out there amongst the stars, melting into the background but Walker knew it was only a matter of time before the murderer emerged once more and he would be there, not to apprehend but to deliver judgement upon him. The Martian obviously had resources and contacts to bring about such schemes as this one, so Walker was not reliant upon the legal system to bring him to justice. Such men had ways and means of walking away from incarceration. Much less chance he would walk away from a laser bolt or two.

  Acknowledging a signal from Jacob aboard the liner that the docking clamps were released and his vessel was free to manoeuvre, Walker moved across to the helm panel and prepared the engines for departure, his first port of call being the rendezvous zone for the lifeboats. Maybe if he was lucky the retrieval effort was tardy and he would catch up to his quarry in mid flight. Making a few adjustments to the controls, the port thrusters fired and shoved his little craft away from the liner, clear to move freely.

  A noise behind him caused Walker to spin about in his chair, his pistol drawn in a matter of moments to cover the direction of the noise.

  Oswald squeaked as he thrust his hands up in the air.

  ‘Don’t shoot! It’s only me!’

  ‘Oswald!’ Walker growled with both relief and surprise at the new company he had on board the ship. ‘You were meant to be over on the liner, waiting to be transported to Luna to face the Judgement council. What the hell are you doing over here?’

  ‘Well,’ the Lunarian began, then paused to silently nod upwards at his outstretched arms as a query that he could be allowed to put his hands down which Walker confirmed. ‘You see, I got to thinking about the crimes I’m accused of and how things may turn out for me.’

  Walker holstered his pistol once more and gestured to a seat beside his own at the forward control panel.

  ‘Thanks,’ Oswald responded as he swiftly moved over and sat himself down, swivelling the seat to face the Ranger. ‘You see, despite your glowing reference for me with your superiors for which I never had chance to thank you, which would obviously be taken into consideration and probably alleviate things for me a bit, whoever put the blame on me went to the effort to drug me and transport me to an entirely different planet to make my guilt appear more truthful.’

  There was a pause and Walker turned back to the helm, partly as his need to traverse the distance to the rendezvous was pressing and partly as he suspected what was about to be asked of him. ‘Go on,’ he encouraged of his new companion.

  ‘Well, they went to a lot of effort. Probably had resources and contacts to make sure I was convicted to divert any further investigation, allowing them to continue on with whatever plans they were concocting. I just thought that if I stayed here with you, I mean in your custody so to speak, I would possibly have the chance to look into things and maybe we could rummage about a bit and dig up something that would prove my innocence and clear my name?’

  Walker glanced back to Oswald, taking in the sight of the large pleading eyes to accompany the request which had just been proffered.

  ‘Well you’re here now and I haven’t the time to dock with the liner again to kick you off the ship, I’ve a pressing date with an elusive murderer. So I guess you’re along for the ride for the time being, there’s plenty of time to drop you off on Luna later on I suppose, as long as you stay in my custody in the meantime.’

  ‘Yes, exactly!’ Oswald replied eagerly.

  ‘You get in the way or try to run and I’ll shoot you.’

  Oswald’s enthusiasm deflated quickly and he stared into Walker’s impassive face, trying to read the expression thereon but he was not too certain whether the Ranger was warning him or pulling his leg.

  A slight upturn at the corner of Walker’s mouth let the cat out of the bag and Oswald let out a long sigh of relief.

  ‘You have to learn to relax a little more,’ Walker jibed as he turned his attention back to the controls, checked the course was laid in and fired the engines to full, propelling them away into the blackness of space which surrounded them.

  ‘A damned good Solar Ranger once said that to me,’ he added as he thought of the times Jenner would poke fun at his more austere approach to his profession. ‘Now, let’s go find ourselves that Martian shall we?’

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Boasting an extremely healthy interest in science fiction and horror tales from his early years of school, Paul quite often scribbled short tales and stories, or snippets of adventures which fired through his imagination.

  In later years that same imagination created whole worlds for groups of role players to fight their way through, trying to foil devious plots and avoid dastardly traps to save the day – or most often just save their own characters’ skins!

  Now after many years of Dr Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly / Serenity, and many other sci-fi genres being absorbed cerebrally and mentally digested – he has spat out his own effort depicting a universe he originally described as ‘old school ray guns and rocket ships, with a mix of Earth vs. Mars thrown in.’

  With more adventures to come for the inhabitants of the established colonies, he hopes you enjoy the journey into the 23rd Century as much as he enjoys writing about it.

  Want to know more about the worlds of the 23rd Century and details of upcoming adventures?

  Website : http://www.pauljfleming.co.uk

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/temporalorbit

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  Feedback is always welcome, please leave reviews to let others know your thoughts on this title.

 

 

 
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