by M. D. Cooper
The ship’s ramp was only twenty meters away; Tanis kept her approach slow and steady, when she heard a noise to her left. She resisted the urge to duck behind something, relying on her shimmersuit’s ability to render her entirely undetectable.
It was Collins and another man she didn’t recognize; they were carrying a bundle between them.
By reflex, Tanis attempted to look the other man up and was met with the Link offline symbol in her mind. She was reminded just how often she relied on the Link for data about the ship without storing details in her own mind.
The men rounded a pallet and Tanis got a better look at the bundle they carried.
It was Amy Lee.
“Goddammit, why couldn’t we just leave her back there?” the unidentified man asked.
“Because I don’t know if she managed to get a signal off and I need to find out. It will affect where we can go,” Collins replied between grunts.
Tanis knew that Amy Lee had a number of strength modifying mods. While she looked like a slim woman, just under 180 centimeters, she likely weighed over 120 kilograms.
“You told me we were going to Tau Ceti,” the man said.
“Well, if she got a signal off, then we’re going to Epsilon Eridani.”
“What a shit hole.”
“It’s a shit hole with transports to Sol.” Collins gave the man an aggravated look.
“I guess that’s true,” the man agreed. “I can’t believe I signed on for this…two hundred years just to take out one ship.”
“Me either. We were hoping the STR would succeed, but since they failed, it was up to us.”
The man nodded. “I understand. They have to be stopped. I just wish it wasn’t taking so much time.”
“There was no way they could be allowed to do that research at New Eden,” Collins said.
“No way we could allow this ship’s abomination of an AI to live either.”
Collins nodded. “Leave her here for a minute; I saw some restraints in the security locker back in the dock ops center. You start the ship’s launch process.”
Tanis watched the unidentified man walk up the pinnace’s ramp while Collins walked down a corridor toward the dock’s ops center. Stopping the ship from leaving was the top priority, and she followed the unknown man up into the pinnace.
There wasn’t a lot of room inside—a cockpit, common room, two cabins with two bunks each, and a small cargo hold. Off the common room were stasis pods for four people. It was enough to get them to the closest system, and slip into regular insystem traffic without undue attention.
Tanis crept down the corridor to the cockpit. The man settled into the pilot’s chair and she moved into position behind him.
Tanis waited; the intel that Angela could gather while the man was on the net could be invaluable.
Angela said.
Tanis knew enough; no reason to let him prep the ship for launch. She pulled back her arm and swung at the man’s head.
Right through empty air.
Tanis only had a moment’s warning before her body was peppered with particle beam fire. She spun to see Collins in the pinnace’s central corridor, rifle in hand.
The shimmersuit was torn to shreds, but the armor underneath saved Tanis from a grisly death. It dissipated the beams, though it grew uncomfortably warm against her skin. A few more shots and it would be searing. She dove behind the pilot’s seat, the remains of her shimmersuit melting off and lighting the chair on fire.
Collins had stopped firing during the exchange and Tanis peered around the smoking ruin of the seat. There was no one there. She crept cautiously through the corridor to the exit ramp. Her fleet of nano probes scouted outside the ship and showed Collins holding a gun to Amy Lee’s head.
“Lieutenant Colonel Richards!” he yelled in her direction. “I’ve reversed the trigger on this weapon and I have it pulled. If I let go, it will fire and kill her. Come out where I can see you.”
Tanis edged out onto the ramp. Amy Lee was conscious and there was fear in her eyes.
“Please, Colonel, do what he asks.”
“Yes, do what I ask. Walk down the ramp.”
Tanis did as she was instructed. “Clever bit with the holo. I can’t believe I fell for it.”
“Honestly—” Collins gave a throaty chuckle “—neither can I. I had no idea you’d get taken in so well. It worked pretty good at flushing you out. Now you walk toward those crates and Miss Amy Lee and I are going to get on the ship.”
“How did you know to expect me? You weren’t just waiting around on the off-chance someone came by, were you?” Tanis asked, stalling for time.
“Of course not. You forget that I subverted half the sensors on this ship. I knew you were coming an hour ago.”
Tanis ground her teeth; it was stupid of her not to expect something like that. Just because she couldn’t use the shipnet didn’t mean the saboteur didn’t have some sort of access to it.
She slowly edged back toward the crate as instructed. Her only solace was the knowledge that she was moving toward her weapons.
Collins backed up the ramp and stood at the top, Amy Lee in front of him.
“Send her down,” Tanis said. “There’s nothing we can do now to stop you.”
“I don’t think so, you’ve proven to be very resourceful,” Collins said.
Tanis backed up another step, her left hand within reach of her pistol.
“There’s nothing to gain from this—” Tanis began to say as she reached for her pistol. Her fingers wrapped around the grip and in a single motion she raised it, pivoted, and fired three shots at Collins’s head.
He dove back into the ship, pushing Amy Lee as he did. She lost her balance and toppled off the edge of the ramp, the thud of her impact lost in the shots Tanis fired into the pinnace’s entrance and hull.
The ramp began to retract and Tanis swore as she raced to recover Amy’s body.
Tanis dropped her weapons and pulled Amy Lee into her arms as the pinnace rotated in its cradle. She was unconscious and Tanis slung her over a shoulder and turned toward the dock’s entrance, breaking into a full sprint.
Behind Tanis there was a clang and a hum as the launch rails came to life, lifting the pinnace into the air. She cringed as the snap of lasers filled the air—heralding the end of the dock’s bay doors.
The sound of atmosphere whistling out into space filled the air, followed by the sound of rending steel. Tanis found the energy within herself to close the last twenty meters to the dock entrance in record time, while behind her the pinnace’s engines roared to life, thrusting the ship out into space.
She raced past the entrance, feeling the pressure doors brush her foot as they slammed into place.
; Tanis could all but taste Angela’s worry.
“Tanis! Are you alright?”
She looked up to see Joe running toward her. Seeing him caused a feeling in her chest she had forgotten about years ago. The look of concern and love on his face made her stomach do a pirouette.
Shame dampened the feeling of relief. She had always felt something was off with Collins. Now her lack of follow-through had cost Gollee his life and could be the end of the Intrepid.
“Yeah. I’m OK. He got away, though.” She gestured to the sealed door.
Joe skidded to a halt and wrapped his arms around her. Some part of her realized this was her first hug in over a decade; another part told the first part to shut up and enjoy it. She wrapped her arms around Joe and returned the embrace.
Joe looked down at Amy Lee. “Is she OK?”
“Yes. Angela just had some nano take a peek, she’ll likely come to in just a few minutes.”
Joe looked Tanis up and down slowly with a quizzical expression. “Why are you naked?”
Tanis looked down at herself and her cheeks reddened.
“My shimmersuit burned off…I have my flow-armor on, but it’s transparent,” she smiled sheepishly.
“Looks good on you,” he grinned.
Angela said; a second later the armor changed to a matte grey from the neck down.
“Thanks Angela, what would I do without you?”
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Bob?” Tanis asked Joe.
“I got Priscilla out of stasis. She’s seeing to him and the ship, trying to figure out what the heck happened.”
“And how to save our collective asses, I hope.”
“Yeah, that too.”
“We should get back up there. Nothing more we can do down here.”
They woke a very appreciative Amy Lee and worked their way back to the upper decks by a more circuitous route than Tanis took on the way down.
“I can’t believe I missed Collins being such an ass,” Amy Lee sighed. “I mean…I knew he was an ass, just not this much of an ass.”
Tanis grimaced. “Yeah, he was such an dickhead it managed to function as cover.”
“Did you find Gollee?” Amy Lee asked.
“I did, but he didn’t make it,” Tanis replied. “I’m sorry, Amy Lee.”
Tanis turned her head to look at her lieutenant and noticed a strange look in her eye—one she hadn’t seen before. If she didn’t know any better….
“Colonel, you know you can just call me Amy,” she said.
The statement caught Tanis off-guard. Amy Lee had always insisted on using her proper full name. Perhaps the four-year duty-shift out of stasis had finally loosened her up.
“Very well, Amy,” Tanis smiled.
The lifts up to the command deck were offline and conversation ceased as the group climbed up a half kilometer of maintenance shafts.
At the top, Joe waved for Tanis to stop.
“You may be all jacked up on your super-soldier endorphins, but the rest of us mortals need a breather,” he said with a wheeze.
“And how are you not covered in sweat?” Amy asked as she wiped her brow between gasps for air.
“This armor does an amazing job of dissipating heat; I’m not even warm,” Tanis replied.
“Where can I get some of that stuff?” Amy asked.
“Uh…Callisto?” Tanis replied.
“Oh, so not too likely I’m going to find any in the armory, then.”
Tanis shook her head. “Rest break over, let’s get moving again.”
The group started off at an easy run, and Tanis replayed the confrontation on the docks in her mind, looking for clues in the details.
“Amy, Collins said you may have gotten off a signal to Sol about our situation. Did you?”
Amy shook her head. “No, I didn’t manage it. Collins shut down power to the area I was in before I could get it out.”
“Good,” Tanis replied.
“Good?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, the last thing we need right now is Sol knowing we’re in trouble out here.”
“I don’t follow.” Amy furrowed her brow. “I shouldn’t have called for help?”
“No help will get here in time, and if we failed to get a message back saying we’re OK, they’d give the colony to someone else. It’s best if Sol doesn’t know about what’s happening at all.”
“Did you learn anything else about what Collins was up to? If he had any help?” Joe asked.
“I didn’t. I was on the bridge reviewing logs when I stumbled across some irregularities. I attempted to ask Bob about them but he didn’t answer. I was trying to get a signal out when the bridge lost power. Collins showed up a moment later. All I know is that he somehow subverted a lot of systems.” Amy shook her head. “I wish I knew more.”
The group arrived at Bob’s node several minutes later to find Priscilla standing in the midst of holo interfaces, trying to track the source of the ship’s mass failure.
“What’s the word?” Joe asked the ship’s avatar.
Priscilla’s eyes looked up from the display, while her hands continued to race across the interface.
“As best I can tell, we’re looking at physical failures. We think that faulty parts were installed from the get-go. The sensors were also altered to ensure that they would miss the sabotage.” Her mouth twisted with concern as she spoke. “I wish Amanda was here, but I can’t get in contact with the stasis chamber she’s in.”
Tanis wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I know how you feel. A lot of people I care about are out there on the ship, but we don’t know if they’re OK.”
Priscilla nodded, her eyes showing thanks while she worked her holo interfaces.
“Amy Lee! You’re OK,” Priscilla said with a smile when the avatar spotted her behind Tanis and Joe. “With what happened to Gollee? We were worried.”
“I don’t worry,” Bob said.
“Thanks for the concern, Bob,” Amy said sourly.
“Gollee didn’t make it,” Tanis said somberly, and no one spoke for a few moments.
Bob broke the silence, speaking audibly again. “I assume from your presence that Collins escaped alone?”
“That’s correct,” Tanis replied. “He was behind this—though I don’t know for sure if he was alone. He strikes me as the sort who would have no problem leaving co-conspirators behind.”
“So, when Collins wanted to disable the ship, he sent a signal through the system that triggered the faults and essentially fractured everything.” Priscilla continued with her report.
“Protocol indicates that we must wake the captain,” Bob said. “We need his input on our next actions.”
“You haven’t done that yet?” Tanis asked.
“You are the ranking officer on the ship,” Priscilla said. “Execution of command structure orders are your domain.”
Tanis was startled for a moment. On the Intrepid, the pro-tem command structure was Captain Andrews, First Mate Mick Edward, Admiral Sanderson, and then, with her re-instated rank of Lieutenant Colonel, her. With none of the others out of stasis, she was top of the list.
Tanis drew a deep breath. “Yes, I should go wake the captain. Joe, you’re with me; Amy, there’s a security locker around the far side of the node. Arm up and keep Bob and Priscilla safe.”
She turned to Priscilla. “I believe the ship to be clear of hostiles. I think your next step should be to get the servitors to set up a hard line out of the node and to take out whatever is damping this node. Then start physically analyzing the destroyed components. We’ll want to give the captain as much information as possible.”
Priscilla glanced at Bob’s node and sighed. “We would never have thought of that!”
Tanis couldn’t help but smile as she walk
ed out of the node, followed by Joe.
“Good to see she still has her sense of humor,” he commented.
“I think she has to. We could leave on a pinnace or one of the larger cruisers, but, no matter what, they would have to go down with the ship.”
“I honestly don’t think we could go either,” Joe said. “There are two and half million people in stasis on the Intrepid. What cowards would leave?”
Tanis clenched her jaw. “I can think of one.”
ESTRELLA DE LA MUERTE
STELLAR DATE: 3241790 / 08.15.4163 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: GSS Intrepid, Executive Stasis Chamber A1
REGION: LHS 1565, 0.5 AU from stellar primary
Andrews rose from his pod. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, then gave Tanis and Joe a searching look.
“You’re not on rotation before me,” he said.
“Yes, sir, but there’s been an event,” Tanis replied.
Andrews cocked an eyebrow and she brought him up to speed.
He gave a long sigh. “Lieutenant Colonel, I can see it in your eyes that you blame yourself. You can stop that right now. No one suspected that Collins was with the enemy. Though, being in supply and acquisitions, he was well placed to get the sabotaged components aboard.”
“Be that as it may, sir, I was head of the SOC. It was my job to suspect everyone.”
“Save your recriminations for later. If we don’t fall into this star and burn up, I’ll be sure to dress you down. In the meantime, I need you…both of you, at the top of your game.”
Without realizing she had done it, Tanis found herself standing straighter and saw that Joe had done the same. The captain’s calm surety was contagious.
“Take me to Bob.” Andrews eased up from the edge of his pod.
Bob, Priscilla, and Amy had cleared the dampening field surrounding his node and the AI had access to the general shipnet once more. None of his other nodes were online, which was good; it avoided any issues of a fractured personality needing a merge—something never before attempted with an AI even close to his complexity.
