by Dietmar Wehr
“I can. Please be careful, Hoch.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as he passed by her. He was actually surprised that her display of affection was not more…affectionate. Could it be that she was not quite as enamored with him as before? The two of them would have to have a heart-to-heart chat when all the excitement was over.
He stood in front of the still closed hatch and waited while Eriko explained to the others why the lights were about to go off completely. When everyone had stopped talking, he figured it was time.
“Okay, Keko, douse the lights and open the hatch.” He felt the rain hit his face even before exiting the ship. As he carefully stepped down to the soggy ground, he looked around and saw light through a small window off to his right.
[That’s the control room, Hoch. The ground in front of you is clear of obstructions.]
Close the hatch and give them some light, thought Hoch as he started moving towards the light.
[Done. I’ve managed to penetrate the security system now, Hoch. I can see the guard, and he appears to be asleep in his chair. As long as you don’t make a lot of noise on your approach, you should be able to stun him through the window. In any case, he won’t be able to sound the alarm, because I’ve disabled it.]
It’s nice to have something easy for a change. If only it wasn’t raining so damned hard. I’m already soaking wet.
Keko did not reply, and Hoch was grateful for that restraint. He needed to concentrate on not slipping on the muddy ground. He came up on the control room window from the right side so that he could use his left arm to aim the stunner attached to it. After taking a quick peek to fix the sleeping guard’s position in his mind, he stepped in front of the window, pointed his arm at the guard and fired. The photonic energy beam penetrated the window with only a minor drop in energy and hit the guard in the upper body. At first there was no reaction, but as Hoch continued to watch, the guard slumped forward until his head was on the control panel in front of him. Hoch went around to the side with the door, which turned out not to be locked, and entered the control room where he quickly put the guard’s own set of handcuffs on him. The next step was the guard barracks.
The door to that was also unlocked. As he stepped inside, he heard snoring from somewhere nearby. A quick check revealed that the adjacent room was quite large and contained six beds. Even in the dark, Keko was able to use her infra-red opticals to help him navigate his way from one bed to the next, using his stunner at each in turn. He found the light switch, turned it on and made sure that all of them really were unconscious. Another search revealed where the guards kept their weapons. Hoch managed to sling all of the rifles and pistol belts over his shoulders, and then Keko led him to another building where the security system indicated that Eriko’s parents were housed.
Ten minutes later, the entire plantation was secure. All the guards, who were still unconscious, had been handcuffed; every station family was now awake and re-united with their child. Everyone was in the mess hall, and Hoch stood to one side, shivering a little from his wet clothes while the families and children finished hugging and crying over each other.
He saw Sarena’s father coming toward him. “Sarena told us what happened to her and what you did. Are you sure the burning man was the right guy?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m sure. Traeger won’t be raping anyone again.
The father smiled and nodded. “At least that part of this has been settled. We’re grateful, all of us, for having our children back. And settling the score with that scumbag Traeger is no small thing, but as long as URS still controls our station, it’s only a matter of time before they bring in a new load of armed mercs to retake this plantation, and they might take hostages again.” By this time, several other men and a couple of women had also come over to stand around Hoch.
“I know I’m asking a lot, and you have every right to say no, but is there any way that you could help us get the station back?”
Hoch and Keko had already discussed exactly that on the trip back. As long as Orobouros continued to exist, any hope of building up a successful trade route between Dresden and Earth would be highly risky. And if DeHavilland had been hired to hunt him down, it wouldn’t matter where he went; eventually Angelfire would have to face off against the more powerful ship.
“We may be able to help each other. How often does the station send a shuttle down?”
“There’s no set schedule as far as we can tell. It’s whenever the guards need something from up there or when there’s a full load of brandy ready for pickup. We’re actually pretty close to that now. Why?” asked Sarena’s father.
“If we can get one of their shuttles down here, we can surprise the crew, take the shuttle and load it with your people, armed as much as possible. Then the shuttle, with me aboard, will fly back up to the station and we’ll take control of its key systems before they know what’s happening. That’ll be phase one. Phase two will be neutralizing the URS ship. If it can’t rely on the station for help with radar detection, that ship will be at a disadvantage. If we can then lure that ship back to the station, my ship may be able to disable it from close range. There’s lots of ifs in this plan, but I don’t see any other way that’s better.”
Sarena’s father looked around at the others, who nodded. “We don’t see a better way either, but I do have a question. You said we could help each other. What can we help you with?”
“I and my partners, Ceridian Station, have minimal working capital to pay for brandy. If you people are willing to sell me a cargo hold load of brandy on credit, I can sell it on Earth and pay for the brandy by bringing back stuff that you need or want, goods that are of equivalent value.”
Sarena’s father didn’t even bother checking with the others. “Normally we don’t sell on credit, but you’ve earned our trust; so sure, if we get the station back, you’ll have your cargo hold load of brandy, Captain Racheengel. That’s German, isn’t it?”
Hoch suspected he knew what the next question would be. “Yes, it is.”
“I thought so. Does it have a special meaning?”
Before he could reply, they heard Eriko’s voice as she joined the group. “His first and last name translate as High Avenging Angel.”
“Son of a gun,” said Sarena’s father. He paused for a second or two and then said, “We’ve always wondered what happened to Skies The Limit when it couldn’t wait to undock and follow you to Ceridian Station. It never came back. Did you have something to do with its disappearance by any chance?”
Hoch said nothing. He merely nodded. Sarena’s father now looked really impressed. “What do we need to do to get a shuttle down here?”
It was daylight by the time everything was ready. One of the guards, who was due to take a shift at the control room and who was now conscious, had been offered a choice: co-operate and help the families regain control of the station, with the promise of a trip back to Earth as soon as possible with some gold in his pockets, or refuse to co-operate and take his chances with the rest of his buddies as to what punishment the Sovereign Colony of Dresden might impose for the crimes of piracy, kidnapping, rape and murder. He didn’t need a lot of time to make up his mind.
Hoch stood behind him as he opened the com channel to the station and said exactly what he had been told to say about another shipment of brandy being ready to be picked up. The bored-sounding voice at the other end said that the shuttle would be down after the pilot finished his breakfast, which he expected would be in about an hour’s time. Hoch tapped the guard on the shoulder, and when he looked at him, he made a slashing motion across his throat to signal an end to the conversation. The guard signed off and shut the channel.
Hoch patted him on the shoulder. “You did good. You and I will stay in here just in case they call back, so get comfortable.”
They didn’t call back, and roughly an hour later the shuttle pilot called to say that he was on his way. Hoch had already made sure the guard knew what to and to not say.
�
�That pilot will see your ship before he lands, you know,” said the guard.
“Nope. We already thought of that. The warehouse over to the east is big enough to hold my ship. Everything’s been cleared out to make room. But thanks anyway for the tip.”
Can you hack into the shuttle’s systems yet, Keko?
[Shhh! I need all my computing capacity for this.]
Hoch waited. He had no doubt that the dozen armed men who were carefully hidden around the shuttle landing pad would be able to subdue the shuttle pilot when he exited the craft. It was unlikely that anyone else would be aboard, but if there were, he felt confident that they could be subdued as well. If Keko could access the shuttle’s systems, she could make sure that no call for help was sent and that the shuttle remained on the ground until it could be secured by the families.
The landing went off without a hitch, and Keko was able to penetrate the craft’s systems to the point where she could take control at any time. The pilot stumbled out into the bright sunshine and was immediately surrounded by armed men with weapons pointed at him. He was so surprised that he actually wet himself. With the control room guard under the watchful eyes of Sarena’s and Eriko’s mothers, Hoch went over to the pilot and interrogated him in order for Keko to hear his voice. Hoch would pilot the shuttle back to the station, but Keko would answer any com queries. When Keko was satisfied with her sample of recordings, the pilot was tied up and taken to where the rest of the guards were being held. To make the ruse look more credible, Hoch and the armed men waited for the time it would have taken to load the shuttle with brandy, before boarding and taking off. Hoch had his stunner and both tranquilizer dart guns, with his railgun as a last resort. The pilot had confirmed what the guard had already revealed, which was that there were no more than nine URS personnel on the station. He also had confirmed that the Orobouros was back in this star system, but he didn’t know how close she was to the station right now. Hoch was hoping that the station traffic computer would know. When it was time to lift off, Keko, speaking as the pilot, and the control room guard, who had been carefully coached on what to say, exchanged the usual banter between a pilot and traffic control personnel.
Hoch found that he enjoyed actually flying the shuttle himself. The station would control the shuttle’s final approach to the hangar bay. During the trip up, the station guy manning the control room tried to engage who he assumed was the pilot in idle chatter. Hoch thought Keko did a great job of discouraging him with her ‘don’t give a shit’ attitude. As soon as the shuttle was close enough and the station auto-pilot had taken control, Hoch checked with Keko.
Will you be able to blind the surveillance system and still signal Angelfire’s auto-pilot to begin its programmed flight at the same time?
[Affirmative. Angelfire’s auto-pilot knows exactly what to do. All I have to do is send the execute signal. Shutting down the various surveillance cameras as our people penetrate the station will be a little tricky, but I’ve been inside this station’s network multiple times, and I know its quirks. You already know this, so I can only surmise that you’re nervous again.]
Hoch was nervous but didn’t want to admit it. If something went wrong and they couldn’t get control of the station before it sent a warning to DeHavilland, the Orobouros might get to the station before Angelfire could dock and Hoch could get back on board. Keko’s ability to control the ship remotely in a ship vs ship fight was unknown. He needed to be at the controls before facing off against DeHavilland.
The shuttle settled down to a gentle landing on the hangar bay deck, and the room was quickly filled with air. As soon as the pressure was stable, Hoch saw a couple of armed men enter the hangar bay. They were holding their weapons casually and didn’t look as if they were expecting trouble.
When Hoch got back to the shuttle’s cargo section where his armed companions were waiting, he went over to Sarena’s father, who was the unofficial leader of the men and said, “There are two armed men out there. I need to go out first so that I can neutralize them. The surveillance cameras in this bay will go offline the second I do that. When those two are down, I’ll give you the signal to head out, okay?”
“You can arrange for the cameras to go offline while you’re dealing with two armed men? How are you able to do that?”
Hoch chuckled. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you. Okay, here we go.” He activated the cargo hatch door. As soon as there was enough room, he jumped down to the hangar bay deck, aimed his left arm at the first armed man and fired the stunner. He shifted his aim to the second man and fired again before the first guy hit the floor. Both had been too surprised to bring their weapons up or say anything before being stunned.
Hoch turned to look back into the shuttle and said in a voice that surprised him with its calmness, “It’s show time, guys.” All 12 men were on their way to their various assigned destinations in seconds. Hoch stayed in the hangar bay. Keko could control the station’s surveillance system from there as well as from any place else, and the men from the families knew the station far better than he did. Angelfire was now on its way up, and Hoch wanted to get aboard her as quickly as possible. While he waited, he took the weapons away from the stunned men and tied their hands behind their backs to ensure that they wouldn’t cause trouble once they woke up.
[WE GOT TROUBLE!] Hoch heard the station-wide alarm go off. [I couldn’t turn off surveillance of one corridor fast enough. That chatterbox in the control room noticed one of our people running down it. He’s trying to close all the internal hatches, but I’ve blocked that system. We’ve lost the element of surprise now, Hoch. Some of our people will have to shoot their way to their destinations because these two weren’t the only ones who are armed.]
By the time Angelfire was docked with the station, it was back under the control of its original owners, but the price of victory was high. Two URS men had had to be killed, and one of the family men had also been killed. It turned out to be Eriko’s father. His killer had surrendered when it became obvious that there was no hope of holding on to the station. Sarena’s father surprised Hoch by talking the others out of pushing the killer out the airlock right that minute. When all the surviving URS men were securely locked away, Hoch took Sarena’s father aside for a quick chat before boarding Angelfire.
“You showed a lot of restraint keeping that guy alive,” said Hoch.
Sarena’s father shrugged. “Just a temporary reprieve. When all of us are back on the station and things have settled down, we’ll give him a fair trial and then push him out the airlock. We’re a sovereign entity, you know.”
Whatever Hoch might have said in response was circumvented when he heard Keko’s voice.
[Orobouros has just notified the station that they’re coming in to dock. I’ve taken the liberty of pretending to be the URS person who would normally be in the control room now and have acknowledged the message. They’d be suspicious if no one replied. They’ll be here in less than 13 minutes.]
Hoch told Sarena’s father the news.
“How do you know that?” asked the astonished man. “Never mind. If you told me, you’d have to kill me, right?”
Hoch nodded as he ran to the hatch that would give him access to Angelfire. Once aboard, he told Keko to order the auto-pilot to undock. By the time he was strapped into his seat in the cockpit, the ship was slowly moving away from the station.
“Let me see the tactical, Keko.”
The largest screen came to life showing the relative positions of the station, Angelfire and Orobouros. It just so happened that Angelfire was behind the station from the other ship’s point of view. That should mean that DeHavilland wasn’t aware of Hoch’s presence.
[What’s the plan?]
Hoch shrugged. “The only plan I can think of right now is to keep the station between us and them until they get very close. Then I’ll maneuver the ship so that our weapon turrets have a clear shot at Orobouros, and we’ll fire.”
[Why not wait until the
y’re docked, then come out from behind the station and fire at them from their blind spot?]
“No. If they dock, they might be able to retake control of the station, and those families might suffer more fatalities. I won’t risk that. Are you still tied into the station’s radar data?”
[Affirmative. Hoch, that ship is not approaching the station the way it should if it intended to dock. I think they may suspect that something is not right on the station. Hold on, they’re calling the station again. I’ll respond as before.]
Hoch waited. He could see from the tactical display now that Keko was right. DeHavilland’s ship was slowing down to a crawl while it was still almost a kilometer away from the station.
[I think I goofed, Hoch. I suspect that the conversation I just had with that ship’s com officer wasn’t the idle chatter I thought it was. It now appears that they were asking a security question and I gave the wrong answer. New transmission.]
