by M. D. Cooper
After a moment he nodded curtly. “Of course.” The stationmaster turned, his route describing a direct line to the bar.
Evans’ warm laugh filled her mind.
The evening progressed uneventfully and in time the dignitaries with adequate clearance gathered and made their way to the maglev station for their tour of the ship. Tanis went with the tour, both for security’s sake and to get a firsthand view of more of the ship. The guests weren’t being taken anywhere too dangerous, or too sensitive, but it was better than standing around in the ballroom. On top of that, she had a suspicion that Evans was considering asking her to dance. Tanis didn’t dance.
The tour was uneventful until the maglev ride back to the VIP corridor. No alert had come over the security net, but Tanis sensed something wasn’t right.
Angela didn’t respond for a moment.
Even as Tanis was issuing the order to belay docking for that vessel, it made its seal and the airlock cycled open. Security responded that the lock controls were compromised and they were unable to close it.
Once the train was outstation, a new train rolled in with a platoon of TSF Marines on board. They deployed with smooth precision, secured the station and set up a barrier at the entrance to the VIP corridor.
Tanis’s vision zoomed and she peered down the straight hallway to the dock. No movement at the airlock. So far. Four TSF Regulars stood like statues with their pulse rifles leveled at the hatch.
Her HUD alerted her to laserfire down the corridor. She switched her vision to IR and saw the bodies of the four soldiers on the deck.
“Fuck,” she swore softly.
Laserfire lanced down the corridor toward the maglev station. The Intrepid deployed refraction clouds and the beams played harmlessly against the TSF Marine’s shields.
“Lieutenant Forsythe,” Tanis called to the CO of the platoon. “We need to secure the ballroom to the right. Deploy your personnel in a scaled phalanx.”
“Yes, sir!” The lieutenant nodded and signaled her staff sergeant with the particulars of the maneuver. One squad stayed behind to keep the station secure and the other two interlocked their shields and advanced down the corridor.
Tanis looked back at the squad guarding the maglev station. “Someone want to give me a hoist up?”
“Up where, sir?” A Marine bearing a corporal's insignia asked.
“Into the crawlspace above the corridor,” Tanis replied.
One of the privates coughed. “In that, sir?” He looked her up and down.
“That’s an officer you’re gawking at, Mendez,” the squad’s sergeant growled.
“Aw shit.” Tanis looked down at her new dress. “Someone give me a knife.”
The sergeant handed her his blade and Tanis cut her dress off at the tops of her thighs. “Now hoist me up and no comments please.”
At least the two privates who lifted her didn’t ogle. Rank had some privileges after all. Clambering up into the access hatch, Tanis set a VIV on her HUD to Forsythe’s vision as she advanced with her men below. The vision-in-vision showed the two squads advancing under steady fire from the airlock toward the entrance to the ballroom. They were over halfway there, and judging from the angles of fire the attackers were closing in as well.
The accessway had a small ledge for maintenance crews and Tanis scrambled along it, wishing she hadn’t bowed to fashion and had simply worn pants. She could hear the shouts of the men below as they worked their way down the corridor, combined with the whine of the enemy’s lasers and the Marine’s pulse rifles. The corridor had never seemed so long and Tanis was certain she had drawn blood on her knees as she progressed. Luckily, the forces below her seemed to have battled one another to a standstill. Both were still over twenty meters from the entrance to the ballroom.
With her knees now freely bleeding, Tanis passed over the platoon, and a minute later she was positioned over the attacking force. Angela deployed probes through a grate and the team got their first clear look at the attackers. There were fifteen of them in heavy body armor—probably why the TSF’s pulse rifles were doing little or no damage. She relayed the feed to Lieutenant Forsythe.
Tanis added that to her to-do list.
Angela focused on the delicate procedure of slicing through the plasma conduit, while Tanis controlled other nano manually and used them to loosen the fastening for the grate.
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Tanis initiated a count on the combat net and fifteen seconds later a stream of plasma burned through the corridor’s ceiling and sprayed across the enemy below.
Screams erupted as the attacking force dove out of the spray. The visual from the probes showed six men tearing their armor off and one down with a hole burned clear through his torso. The plasma flow to the conduit was cut.
Three quick shots from her rifle took out three of the enemy trying to get out of their half-melted armor. Moments later, the ten seconds were up and Lieutenant Forsythe’s Marines let loose a concentrated volley of pulse blasts.
Two other attackers, who were half out of their armor, fell backwards onto white-hot metal and screamed as their skin caught fire. Another three fully armored attackers also fell.
Tanis took quick stock of the armor the attackers were wearing. It was Trylodyne Mark VII; good enough for most situations, but weak under the arms. She checked the specs on the laser rifle and saw that it was a Westings A41, more than enough to slice through that weak spot.
One of the enemies, still combat-ready, spotted Tanis and pivoted to fire on her. As he took his shot, Tanis dove to the side and returned. The shot burned clean through the man’s shoulder and out his head. He fell to the deck, spasming.
She fired at another man, nearly cutting his arm off before he was flung to the ground by the second timed pulse from the Marines. The volley knocked the remaining enemies to the ground and moments later the Marines rushed them, force shields pinning them to the deck.
The enemy’s armor was power assisted and the Marines fired point-blank shots in an attempt to stun the mercs. One of them broke free from the chaos and lunged across the hall to hold a beam rifle to Tanis’s head.
She froze, swearing at herself for not moving back once the Marines got in close.
“We go free, or she gets it!”
Before anyone could respond, a sound like a thunderclap echoed through the hall and the man holding the gun on Tanis dropped to the deck, his armor’s face shield cracked.
“Damn that was loud, what was that?” Tanis looked around to see Evans holstering a ballistic sidearm.
“Told you I didn’t want your job back.” He grinned.
“My god, how on earth did you get that aboard a starship?” Forsythe asked, eyeing the weapon.
“Umm… I was my own CO for a while.” Evans pulled an innocent face.
“Hope Sanderson doesn’t have words with you over that. Since it saved my life I’m going to pretend I didn’t see it,” Tanis said.
Forsythe directed six of her men to secure the lock while they waited on word from the TSF team that was breaching the exterior of the shuttle at the hatch down the hall. Medical teams rushed in, attempting to save the attackers that had been doused with plasma, or that had fallen onto the hot steel.
“Goddamn…” one of them muttered.
“Commander Evans, let the folks in the ballroom know that their VIP selves are safe for the moment,” Tanis said.
Evans chuckled. “They probably would like to be let out of the catering room.”
Tanis nodded to Forsythe who signaled the six men at the airlock to remove the brace that was holding it open. They took custody of the two men who were brought out to the corridor. With that done, the Intrepid was able to seal the airlock and minutes later the display above the lock showed the ship had undocked.
“Anyone for drinks?” Tanis asked the platoon with a smile. “It’s an open bar.”
ASSESSMENT
STELLAR DATE: 3227164 / 07.30.4123 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: GSS Intrepid, Mars Outer Shipyards (MOS)
REGION: Mars Protectorate, Sol Space Federation
“That was quite the breach,” Captain Andrews said to Tanis.
Admiral Sanderson, Terrance Enfield, and the Reddings were gathered in the bridge’s conference room. Tanis’s incident report was up on the table’s holo.
“I guess that means the dockside security is good; they had to circumvent it.” Terrance chuckled.
“I’m glad you find it funny,” Sanderson growled.
Terrance’s smile disappeared instantly. “Finding humor where I please is my prerogative. Don’t think to claim credit for any of her success either.”
Tanis sighed internally. That wasn’t going to earn her any points, but she bit her tongue. The admiral didn’t want her help defending himself.
“In two days we’ll have our own fighters and patrol craft in place, which will seal up this hole in our security. Until then we should have the MOS TSF garrison provide us with additional support on our portside docks.” Tanis spoke impassively, hoping to avoid any more comments about blame or credit.
“I’ve already put in the request,” Sanderson said, not betraying a reaction to Terrance one way or the other. “They’ll be checking every ship before it docks, unless it has a TSF grade 5A security token.”
“What’s the damage to the corridor?” Captain Andrews asked.
“It’s a bleeding mess,” Abby said. “I’m sure that plasma slice and dice you did seemed like a good idea at the time, but it burnt through several comm lines, coolant conduit, and a fuel line, which was empty, thank God.”
“We queried the Intrepid before we did our little ‘slice and dice’. It was either that or let them do whatever other unpleasantness they had in mind. I know you love your ship, but I’d feel a lot worse about a dead guest or Marine than I do about melted deck plate,” Tanis replied.
Abby huffed, but didn’t respond as her husband rested a hand on her arm. Tanis had a suspicion that her ship probably ranked higher that most of the VIP guests in her mind.
“Have you gotten anything from the boarders yet as to what their objective was?” Terrance asked.
Tanis addressed Terrance. “We’re letting them stew for a bit, I’ll sit with them tomorrow.”
“They’ll just have their nano rest them up,” Sanderson said. “Waiting won’t get you anywhere.”
“They don’t have any nano anymore. We’ve got some nice tools these days for making people a bit more pliable.” Tanis couldn’t help give a small predatory grin.
“That’s an invasion of personal space.” The expression on Captain Andrews’ face showed his distaste for the act.
“It is. However, when someone has been convicted of attempted murder, part of the incarceration process is to strip their nano.”
“Convicted?” Abby asked.
“Angela, my AI, has judicial authority in InnerSol space.”
“Convenient,” Earnest murmured.
“It has proven to be so,” Tanis agreed.
“I don’t know how comfortable I feel with this. Are you certain there are no legal ramifications?” Terrance strok
ed his thin beard, his expression uncertain.
“You are aware that the TSF is an authority cleared by SolGov to try, convict, and incarcerate criminals.” It wasn’t so much a question as a confirmation to calm him.
“I am… I’m just not used to them making decisions that so readily favor me.” Terrance seemed to relax as he identified his own reason for concern.
Tanis found herself wondering—not for the first time—precisely why Terrance was backing the Intrepid’s mission. He was the head of the TRE Corporation, one of the largest privately owned companies in the Sol system. If he wanted to run a colony mission, why was he doing it through the GSS? The Generation Space Service had many inconvenient rules and guidelines he would be forced to follow.
On the other hand, the GSS had special access to additional data from the FGT, and it was the official organization for doling out terraformed colony worlds. Non-GSS-sanctioned colonization efforts of worlds terraformed by the FGT seemed to have a high failure rate—often with no explanation. The colonists simply disappeared in some cases.
“If I’m involved, we’ll always be the wronged party; not only in the right, but the winners. It’s part of my job description.” Regardless of his motives, Tanis had to make sure the man paying the bills was appeased. “With your permission, I need to see a medic for some regen on my knees and get a good night’s sleep before I begin convincing our guests to speak with us tomorrow.”
“Your report is in order.” Sanderson closed it out on the holo display. “Dismissed.”
“Sirs, ma’am.” Tanis nodded to the assemblage and headed for her quarters. Intrigue, confrontation, and now violent confrontation; the Intrepid was starting to feel like home already.
TAKE THE DEAL
STELLAR DATE: 3227165 / 07.31.4123 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: GSS Intrepid, Mars Outer Shipyards (MOS)
REGION: Mars Protectorate, Sol Space Federation
Tanis looked from the sheets of plas on the table to the man in front of her. He was a mercenary; all of the boarders were. Not a lot of information could be found on him, but he did have ties to the Ardent Stars as well as Morning Glory, both of which were merc outfits.
