by Jake Bible
“They are tricky,” the Thin Man said.
“Sir?” the tech asked. “If you think they deliberately moved their ship there then I will have to differ with you. With the utmost respect, of course.”
“Of course,” the Thin Man said. “But differ all you want, I believe they knew exactly where they were going. Drop Team Zero is the best of the best.” The Thin Man chuckled and clapped the tech on the shoulder. “For Fleet, that is. We aren’t fettered by rules and laws and regulations, so we can achieve so much more. Keep an eye on that nebula. Send eight gun probes out to inspect the immediate area. Also, send another dozen to each wormhole portal. Not just the off-grid one, but the main one. I have a feeling more company is on the way. When they come through, destroy them.”
“Who, sir?” the tech asked. “Who are we destroying?”
“Anyone,” the Thin Man said.
“You mean Fleet or Skrang, right, sir?” the tech asked.
“I mean anyone,” the Thin Man said. “If a ship comes through that portal then turn it to dust. Whether it is Fleet or Skrang or Edger or even Syndicate.”
“Syndicate?” the tech gasped. A few heads turned to look at the Thin Man then turned away quickly.
“Yes, even Syndicate,” the Thin Man said. “What we are going to accomplish here will change the way the galaxy is run, for good. I do not believe even my father wants that, but who is he to stop progress?”
The tech gulped, but did not respond.
“Good man,” the Thin Man said and clapped him on the shoulder once more. “Eight gun probes to the nebula, a dozen to each portal, and call me the second anything happens. I’ll be in my quarters elbows deep in a Slinghasp.”
The Thin Man left quickly, a wide smile spreading across his thin face. Even with the horrors he has endured and experienced, he did love his life.
Twenty-Six
Hole sat in the pilot’s seat, stiff and unmoving, her body showing no signs of what was going on in the bridge.
“She creeps me out when she does that,” Wanders said as he crawled out from under the weapons console, more optic cables and wires on the floor around him than actually connected to the console. “I know she’s synthetic, but it’s only when she goes full bot that I realize just how much of an android she is.”
“Doesn’t bug me,” Geist said from his place by the coms console. He didn’t have quite as many cables and wires strewn about him, but it was a close count. “It’s kind of reassuring to know she can get deep into the ship’s systems and fix things. We’d be here until the end of time trying to track down all the core damage.”
“I doubt even that much time would be enough,” Cookie said as he leaned against the bridge wall, staying out of the way. “I am fairly certain you two are doing more damage than good.”
“Yeah? And what are you doing, Cookie? Holding up that wall?” Wanders asked.
“With the damage we took? Yeah, I probably am,” Cookie said.
There was a beep at the bridge door and the three didn’t even hesitate as they put their environmental suit helmets on. Once secured, Cookie banged a fist on the door and it slid open. Motherboard came in, shut the door, and waited until the bridge restored breathable atmosphere before taking her helmet off. The others did the same.
“It’s bad,” Motherboard said without being asked. “Thrusters are totally shot. I don’t think a month in dry dock could put them back together. Gravity engines are still working, but I don’t know for how long. I’d prefer to shut them off and just float since they are a drain on our energy reserves.”
“Which are what?” Cookie asked. He pointed at all the wires. “We’re blind up here, so none of us have any idea how much power, or air, we have left.”
“Scrubbers are working properly,” Motherboard replied. “So we have air for as long as we need. The hull is breached in sections five, seven, and nine. Bulkheads are sealed, so the breaches shouldn’t be a problem. We can maintain atmosphere on the bridge for months without worry.” She nodded at Hole. “What’s her status?”
“She hasn’t said a word since you left to inspect the ship,” Cookie said.
“She must be deep into the system then,” Motherboard said. “I’ll connect and see if I can get a report from her.”
Motherboard sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and tapped at the console. A thin wire extended up towards her. She removed one of her suit’s gloves then let the wire insert itself into an imperceptible port in her wrist. Motherboard’s eyes closed and her body jerked once then went as rigged as Hole’s.
“And the creep factor has doubled,” Wanders said.
“I can hear you,” Motherboard responded.
“Fo,” Wanders said. “I always forget that.”
“I can hear you as well,” Hole said.
“Dammit!” Wanders exclaimed.
Cookie laughed. “Any news?”
“We are worse off than we thought,” Hole said.
“Not the news I was looking for,” Cookie replied.
“Stop that,” Hole said.
“Stop what?” Cookie asked.
“I was speaking to the lieutenant,” Hole said. “I just spent a good amount of time on that section of code.”
“Sorry,” Motherboard said. “It didn’t look right.”
“It is not right,” Hole said. “But it is as right as it is going to get. Leave everything alone. The Eight-Three-Eight’s system is far from stable.”
“Can we get communications out?” Wanders asked. “Because if we can then maybe my connection can help.”
“Your Edger connection?” Cookie asked. “If we get coms up then we’re calling in the Fleet cavalry, not some separatist yahoos.”
“No, I think Wanders is right,” Motherboard said.
“I am?” Wanders asked.
“He is?” Cookie asked.
“How?” Geist asked.
“Because we need to think outside the Fleet,” Motherboard said. “Sha Morgoal, the Skrang Alliance, Collari Syndicate, Edgers, there are a lot of players. We know where the Fleet stands—”
“Do we?” Hole asked. She unhooked from the console and stretched. “I am not sure the Fleet knows where the Fleet stands.”
“Fair point,” Motherboard said. “Which is why we need a new perspective. As soon as we have coms up, I want Wanders to make contact with his connection.”
“We’ll have to move away from this nebula,” Hole said. “Even if the coms are fixed, we’ll never get a signal out. It’s why we hid here.”
“We hid here because the ship wouldn’t go any farther,” Cookie said and shrugged. “Just saying.”
“You have a lot of opinions for a guy that isn’t helping,” Wanders said.
“Didn’t we just have this argument?” Cookie asked.
“All the damn time,” Geist said. “Can you guys can it and let me concentrate?”
“I can take over,” Hole said and stood up from the pilot’s seat. “I believe I saw where the connection breakdowns are while I was in the system.”
“Can you get it working so we aren’t being listened to?” Motherboard asked. “That is key, Hole.”
“Key hole,” Wanders snickered.
“No,” Hole said. Everyone waited. She sighed. “No to Wanders about the joke. Also, no to you, LT, about the scrambling. I will be lucky if we can hold a stable signal long enough to even have more than five minutes of conversation.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Wanders said. “I can get the point across. We’ll know within a minute if the Edgers can help or not.”
“Then do it,” Motherboard said to Hole.
“Geist?” Hole asked.
“Sorry,” Geist replied and got out of Hole’s way.
The teammates watched as Hole’s hands blurred across the wires and cables, tucking most back inside the console, but also removing quite a few permanently. It took her several minutes of work, followed by more minutes of checking and double checking, but she finally got the coms console to light
up.
Then it went dark and a thin stream of black smoke poofed up from it.
“Huh,” Hole said as she sat back and watched the smoke rise up to the ceiling. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
“I expect not,” Motherboard said. “How bad is it now?”
“Bad,” Hole said. “I believe it is fried completely.”
“Now what do we do?” Geist asked.
Hole held up a hand. “I believe a solution is coming our way.”
“It is? What?” Motherboard asked.
“We have eight gun probes on a direct course for our position,” Hole said.
“Scanners are crud,” Geist said. “How can you know that?”
Hole pointed at the view screen. “Because I can count.”
They all turned and watched as eight gun probes came streaming out of the gas clouds that made up the nebula.
“Those probes will have full com arrays,” Hole said. “Working com arrays. Individually, they aren’t strong enough to get a trans-space signal out, but if we linked them together then we might be able to get enough power to contact the Edgers.”
“Yeah, one problem,” Cookie said, “those things want to kill us. We’re going to need to blast them to Hell or get blasted ourselves.”
“No blasting,” Motherboard said, pointing a finger at Hole. “You know the models?”
Hole thought for a split-second. “Yes. They are older models. A decade, at least. That is good. I can handle them.”
“There are eight gun probes out there,” Wanders said. “You can’t handle eight gun probes.”
“Looks like we’re going outside,” Cookie said. “Better than being stuck in here, at least.”
“How bad can we hurt those probes without damaging their coms arrays?” Wanders asked.
“It would be best if we don’t hurt them at all,” Hole said. “Disable the guns, but keep the probes intact. We’ll need the power.”
“Yeah, we will,” Wanders said. “We could link them for their thrusters, too. Hook them up to our nav system and maybe use them to get clear of here and back to that off-grid wormhole portal.”
He frowned as he saw the look on Hole’s face.
“What? Bad idea? Is there something I’m missing?” Wanders asked.
“No, that is a great idea,” Hole said. “If I look troubled, it is because I am unsure why I did not think of it. But it does bring up a separate set of problems.”
“We’ll have to be precise when disabling the guns or we can knock out the thrusters,” Motherboard said. “Good thing we have the best sniper in the galaxy onboard.”
“What am I shooting at?” Wanders asked.
Hole tapped at her wrist and a blank holo came up. She began to draw in the air, creating a facsimile of the gun probes rushing at them.
“They have a weak spot here that doesn’t power the guns down, just makes it so they can only fire in one direction,” Hole said. “If you can hit this spot on each then their guns will lock in place. We turn the probes so they face away from us and they can’t shoot the ship. Coms arrays and thrusters will be useable while the threat is neutralized.”
“Can we take the guns systems over?” Cookie asked. “That would be a good thing.”
“I do not believe so,” Hole said. “Not with this model. But I’ll know more when we link the probes with the Eight-Three-Eight.”
“There is one problem with this plan,” Wanders said. “I can only shoot one probe at a time and only hit the exact spot if that spot is facing me.”
“I said we’re going to have to go outside,” Cookie responded. “Was no one listening?”
“We’ll be the decoys,” Motherboard said. “We suit up and go outside, draw the probes’ fire, and let Wanders do his job. Once they are under control then we get to work ASAP. Coms up first then thrusters. Copy?”
“Copy,” everyone responded.
“Then let’s get to work,” Motherboard said. “Hooah!”
“HOOAH!”
Twenty-Seven
Armored suits in place, Drop Team Zero rushed from the ship and took up the positions they had been given as Motherboard had briefed them in the belly airlock.
Wanders quickly clamped his mag gloves onto the hull of the ship and crawled his way up and around until he had a secure position on top.
Hole and Geist each headed to the bow of the ship while Cookie and Motherboard moved to the stern, their suits’ mini-thrusters propelling and steering them in their respective directions.
The eight gun probes came at the Eight-Three-Eight with no sign of stopping. The two-meter diameter orbs of carbon steel and ultra-plastic were locked onto their target and moving in to the ideal range for maximum damage.
“In place,” Wanders said. “I have a shot on the far left probe. I’ll take it down and then move in from there. The second I hit the first one, the others are going to be gunning for me. Literally.”
“We have you covered, Wanders,” Motherboard said. “You just worry about your shots.”
“Roger that, LT,” Wanders said.
A plasma bolt flashed across the dwindling space between the probes and the ship. One of the gun probes took a direct hit underneath the short line of refraction lenses that directed data to its visual cortex. The probe spun about ninety degrees to its left then stopped as a second plasma bolt hit it above the small pair of dual-guns it had extended from its right side. The probe began to fire wildly, but none of its plasma came anywhere near the ship or Wanders.
That could not be said for the other seven probes.
They opened fire and the Eight-Three-Eight’s shields lit up like fireworks.
“Draw them away!” Motherboard ordered.
She lifted her KL09 heavy pistol and squeezed off two shots before firing off her suit’s thrusters to avoid the imminent return fire. She managed to get out of the way just in time, almost certain that if she hadn’t been in a suit and the freezing cold of space, she would have felt the plasma singe her skin.
Plasma filled the space around the Eight-Three-Eight as the teammates tried to get the probes to focus on them instead of on Wanders. Two more probes were taken out, precise bolts from Wanders, freezing their guns in place.
“Son of a gump!” Cookie shouted over the com. “Careful what direction you freeze those guns, Wanders! I just about took a double bolt to the helmet!”
“I’m taking the shots I’m given,” Wanders replied. “You just gotta get out of the way.”
Two more probes went still, making five total, and Hole rushed towards them.
“I’ll wrangle these and get them prepped for integration with the Eight-Three-Eight,” Hole said. “Keep the others off me. Once they see a target try to approach, they will ignore all of you and go for me. They aren’t the brightest things, but they do have enough of a low-level AI to know a threat when they see it.”
No sooner had Hole’s words echoed in everyone’s coms than the three remaining probes adjusted their strategies and turned guns onto her. Wanders blasted one, but the two still active engaged their thrusters and headed right for Hole.
“They aren’t paying attention to us anymore!” Geist exclaimed. “They’re ignoring our pistol fire!”
“I see that,” Motherboard said. “So we change our tactics. Move in for physical restraint.”
“If you move in too close then I lose my shots,” Wanders said. “I’d hate to take one of you out with friendly fire, even Cookie.”
“Hardy har har,” Cookie said. “But I don’t think we’ll need your pew pew rifle anymore, Wanders. Not if we are getting up close and personal.”
Cookie’s thrusters flared bright and he rocketed at the two probes that were converging on Hole. His pistol was out and he steadied his aim with both hands. It didn’t hurt that his targeting display was up on his helmet’s faceplate and the bright red crosshairs turned to bright green as soon as he had the shot. A squeeze of the trigger and one of the two probes froze in place, guns lock
ed and useless.
That left one last probe that was dead set on getting to Hole. It zipped left then right, avoiding the plasma bolts from Cookie. Hole had been right that the AI was low level, but it was high enough to know it had only one chance to take out the android before it reached the other probes. Whether the thing actually understood what Hole’s intentions were or not, it was determined to put a stop to them.
“Motherboard! You are in my way!” Wanders said.
“Hold your fire!” Motherboard announced, her mini-thrusters at full power as she put herself in a race with the last probe to see who would get to Hole first. “Everyone hold your fire!”
“Yes, I would appreciate that, also,” Hole said. She’d reached the first probe and her hands flew over the carbon-steel surface until a small hatch was revealed and popped open. “It’s easier to work if I’m not dodging plasma fire.”
Motherboard angled her body so she came at the probe feet first. Its sensors detected her and adjusted course one second too late as she collided with it. Motherboard engaged her boots’ mag soles as soon as she made contact. She was locked onto the probe and there wasn’t a thing the machine could do about it.
Except engage all thrusters at once and send itself into a spiraling tailspin away from Zero and the Eight-Three-Eight. Its trajectory was a direct course for the gas nebula. A nebula where a gun probe could survive easily, but even with her armored suit in place, Motherboard had a slim chance of making it through the intense gasses without a full rupture.
“LT!” Geist yelled and shot out after the woman and the probe. “Hold on! I’m coming!”
The two kilometers between the ship and the edge of the nebula shrank away in seconds, but Motherboard didn’t disengage her boots. She crouched down and aimed her pistol at the spot by the dual guns, ready to fire. But the probe came to a sudden halt, its thrusters firing in reverse, trying to shake her free. Motherboard’s plasma bolt went wild and so did her pistol as she was whipped about violently.
Geist was within only a couple meters of both of them when the probe and Motherboard hit the edge of the nebula. The bright orange gasses swallowed them up and only a hint of a shadow of their forms could be seen. Geist aimed for that hint and didn’t let up until he’d pierced the edge of the nebula as well.
