"Ohhhh, I think that we will. Commander Michaels, would you and the others care to prepare the ship for departure? I'll watch our friends."
"Aye, Captain."
The assault group, all experienced bridge personnel, immediately turned to the control consoles.
"Captain, the controls are locked out on this ship," Lt. Commander Michaels said from the helm console. "We can't move."
Jenetta looked over at the still smirking face of Commander Pretorious. She knew from his expression that he had no intention of giving her the lockout code. She would have to take it from him, forcefully. She knew that she had to pretend to be just as hard as her jailers had been with her. She had to make Pretorious believe that his life meant absolutely nothing to her, and that she wouldn't hesitate to torture him, or even kill him, to get the code.
"Would you care to give me the authorization code without the pain, Commander, or do you need the hurt to convince you?"
"I'm not giving you anything," he said smugly.
Jenetta masked her face with a malevolent grin and said lightly, "Okay, contestant number one, you've selected the pain category for yourself and your companions. I'll remind you all that you can end this round of the game at any time by giving us the proper lockout code."
Jenetta suppressed a grin as she saw the frightened expressions on the faces of the two other officers. Her act probably had them believing that she had lost her grip on reality. If they knew the code, they would already be shouting it out. Perhaps Pretorious wasn't aware of the effectiveness of the EM collars. If so he was about to learn the hard way. She pushed the button that locked the ankles of the officers. The commander managed to keep his feet because his ankles were already quite close together, but the two junior officers fell down, and the legs of the unconscious officer were pulled together.
"Is that your idea of pain?" the commander asked her.
"No, I'm just warming up. My idea of pain is what I did to Arneu. I really enjoyed that. How would you like to have your nose smashed flat against your face? The pain is almost unbearable, I've heard."
"You don't frighten me," Pretorious said smugly. "I think you're all talk."
Jenetta nodded. "I suppose you could ask my jailer if I'm all talk. Unfortunately, he won't be able to answer. You see, I snapped his neck just after dinner last night." From the corner of her right eye, Jenetta saw Lt. Commander Michael start and his eyes go wide at the pronouncement. He had already heard about her attack on Arneu when the guards entered the locker room. She knew that the assaults he was learning about, those he had witnessed, and the violent nature she was exhibiting now, were totally inconsistent with her appearance. She suppressed the grin she was feeling and continued, never having taken her eyes off Pretorious. "I don't think that he suffered though— unfortunately. He was dead in seconds. But I digress; let me show you what they did to us in the detention center. I think you'll find it most interesting. Here's a level one. I received this on my first day, merely as a warning of things to come."
Jenetta pressed the button that sent a level one shock and all four officers went into a mild convulsion. The commander struggled to remain on his feet, but with his feet placed so closely together, he wound up joining his comrades on the floor almost immediately. Jenetta stood watching dispassionately until they stopped convulsing. The release of the monoamine neurotransmitter in her brain continued to push her into a more euphoric state.
"As I mentioned, that was just a level one," Jenetta said. "Would you care to try a level two?"
"I'm still not telling you anything," Pretorious grunted through clenched teeth.
"Beeep! Oh, too bad; another wrong answer."
Jenetta pressed the level two button. The three conscious officers began whimpering loudly and writhing all over the floor while the fourth just convulsed. Again Jenetta waited until they stopped moving.
"Interesting sensation, isn't it, Commander?" she asked coldly.
"You little bitch," the commander croaked.
"Is that a request for level three? I have to admit that I've never felt this one. I was smart enough to avoid it. I understand that a lot of people go mad, so they normally only use level two in the detention center. No. Tell you what. I'm not going to use level three. Instead, I'll just zap you every minute with a level two. Are you ready, contestants?"
Jenetta grinned malevolently again and pressed the button. Forty-five seconds later she pressed it again. And forty seconds later she pressed it again. It was now ten minutes past the security guards' reporting time.
During the first few zaps, the officers had been able to keep from screaming, but after that they couldn't contain themselves any more and screamed openly. Jenetta's bridge assault team looked on objectively. They had all been subjected to the effects of the collars for months, and weren't distressed to see the Raiders getting it in the neck now.
Jenetta didn't even ask the officers for the code anymore, she just continued to zap them every thirty seconds. She must have zapped them ten times before the commander croaked out, "Enough!"
"Tell us the code, or we keep going."
"Alpha Hotel Tango Three Five Niner November Kilo," Commander Pretorious hissed between gritted teeth.
Jenetta looked over at Lt. Commander Michaels.
"The helm is active, Captain."
Jenetta smiled sadly, sighed, and said, "That concludes tonight's game, contestants. I hope that you've enjoyed your brief participation half as much as I have. I regret that you won't be going home with any cash or prizes, but as a consolation, we'll arrange for an all expense paid stay at the prison colony on Saquer Major as soon as we reach a Space Command base. You're welcome to rest there on the deck while we wait for word from my other teams."
Holding her broken arm to keep it from swinging, Jenetta began to pace the bridge deck slowly. It was almost a full four minutes more before the doors opened and a chubby little man in a cook's uniform entered the bridge.
"Gunny Rondell says to tell you that the crew has been put to sleep and the ship is ours. Mr. Browne holds Engineering."
"Excellent, Jergen. Tell Mr. Higgiby to come aboard. Have him inform us when the cargo bay door is sealed."
"Yes, Captain, right away," the chubby little man said before hurrying out.
"Commander Michaels, prepare to take us out as soon as the cargo bay is sealed. Mr. Kellogg, send the coded message to the other ship."
"Aye, Captain," both men said.
Jenetta took a good look around the bridge for the first time then. Her attention had been so focused that she hadn't consciously realized just how enormous it was. It was easily twice as large as the bridge of the Vordoth, which she had thought was enormous until she became comfortable with it. She could instantly identify the functions of the various workstations from the equipment panels and monitors at each, but the configurations aboard this new ship were unique. Moving to the command chair, Jenetta climbed into it. She delicately placed her broken arm on her lap and leaned back to wait.
"Mr. Higgiby reports that everyone is aboard and the cargo bay door is sealed, Captain," Mr. Kellogg said from the com station about five minutes later.
"The computer confirms that the ship is sealed," Lt. Commander Michaels said, as he looked at the helm display.
"Very good. Get us the hell out of here, Commander."
The current image on an enormous curved viewscreen that filled the front bulkhead wall of the bridge was a view from the bow of the ship. A small inset, presently in the upper right corner, but which the helmsman could move anywhere on the screen, showed a rear view from the stern. Lt. Commander Michaels called out the steps as they were taken.
"Depressurizing airlock seal, releasing docking clamps."
"Airlock ramp is automatically retracting. Ramp is retracted."
"Easing back with maneuvering thrusters."
The large image on the viewscreen automatically shifted with the small one so that the larger image was the view from the stern.<
br />
"Which way, Captain?" Lt. Commander Michaels asked.
"Ninety degrees to larboard."
"Aye, Captain," he said as he engaged the starboard bow thrusters. "Turning to a course two-hundred-seventy-degrees relative, zero degrees declination.
When they were clear of the ships on either side, Lt. Commander Michaels said, "Reverse apogee achieved. Thrusters forward."
The large viewscreen image again became a view from the bow, while the small inset showed the stern view. As the ship began to glide slowly forward, Jenetta could see the other battleship beginning to back away from the dock in the stern view insert.
"Uh, Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said. "I don't see an exit."
"Damn," Jenetta said. "The doors are closed. Newman, can you fire a couple of torpedoes?"
Hurrying over to the tactical station, Newman said, "Affirmative, Captain. What do you wish to target?"
"That flat area at the end of the tunnel dead ahead is actually two enormous doors that disguise the port entrance. I need you to blast a hole large enough for us to pass through. Fire when ready."
"Aye, Captain. Firing."
Two torpedoes raced away from the ship at an incredible velocity and entered the tunnel. Reaching the doors in just two seconds, they exploded with phenomenal fury. One door was knocked completely out of the port, the twisted hunk of metal hardly looking like a door anymore as it tumbled away into the darkness. The other door stubbornly clung to the track on its outer hinges, but only about twenty percent of it remained as an obstacle, the portion near the tunnel center area having been bent out and away. There was now almost enough open area for both battleships to exit the asteroid side by side. The habitat's outer wall had lit up with flashing red lights before the first door had even disappeared from sight.
"Hmmm, I think they might have noticed that we're leaving without proper clearance," Jenetta said, grinning. "Better take us to Plus.05, Commander."
"But Captain, we're still in port."
"Yes, and we need to get the hell out of this port, fast."
"Aye, Captain, going to Plus.05."
The ship began to speed up appreciatively as the forward motion was set to fifty-meters per second instead of using the slowest of maneuvering speeds, the normal procedure while a ship was still in port.
"Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said, "a line of tugs is moving to block the exit."
"Yes, I see them Commander. Ito, open up on those tugs. We can't afford to hit them with the ship. They could damage us."
Ito, sitting at a fire control station, opened fire with the bow laser weapons. One of the tugs immediately disintegrated. Space tugs, especially those designed for deep space operations, were normally built with a standard titanium outer shell, but the inner hull layer was probably only aluminum. The ship's powerful laser had most likely stuck a fuel cylinder after burning through the hull like it was tissue paper. The remaining tugs turned tail and headed for cover with their sub-light throttles cracked opened as much as they dared in the confines of the spaceport. They knew their bluff had been called.
Kellogg, manning the communication station announced, "Everyone is awake now, Captain. They're all trying to scream orders at the same time. A number of ships are reporting that they've released their docking clamps and are preparing to back away from their airlocks."
"Time to throw caution to the wind, Commander," Jenetta said calmly. "Take us to Plus-10."
Lt. Commander Michaels twisted his head in a funny way and said, as he exhaled his breath, "Aye, Captain, Plus-10."
The entrance to the tunnel raced at the ship as the speed increased to ten kilometers per second. Because of the ship's size, the slightest miscalculation in their course could mean destruction, but not getting out of there fast also meant destruction. A second later, they rocketed through the tunnel cleanly.
"Excellent job, Commander. Now open it up. The Indians are hot on our heels."
Lt. Commander Michaels began building the envelope as he applied full power to the sub-light engines. The ship surged ahead as he said, "Time to envelope, one minute thirty-eight seconds. Did you say Indians, Captain?"
They were gaining a comfortable lead, so Jenetta smiled and said, "One of my brothers was a fan of twentieth century video dramas called ‘westerns'— fictionalized accounts of encounters between Native Americans and settlers or cowboys in the western United States during the nineteenth century. In a number of them, Native Americans on horse-back would chase small Cavalry detachments."
"Ah, yes. I've heard about them."
Newman, still at the tactical station said, "A ship is emerging from the space port, Captain. It appears to be the other battleship. Confirming that, Captain, it's Captain Yates."
"Excellent. Keep an eye on the space port opening so we know what's coming out after us."
"Captain, it just blew up!" Newman said loudly.
"Captain Yates' ship blew up?"
"No, Captain, the spaceport blew up; the whole space port; the whole damn asteroid!"
* * *
Chapter Twenty
~ August 11th, 2267 ~
"Commander, all stop!" Jenetta ordered.
"Aye, Captain, all stop."
"Mr. Kellogg, did the computer record the explosion?"
"Aye, Captain. The computer should automatically log all imaging."
"Can you replay it on the forward viewscreen?"
"I think so, Captain, give me a minute while I figure out the process. The other ship has stopped a few kilometers off our larboard."
"Open a channel to Captain Yates, please."
Kellogg, at the communications station, deftly punched a few keys. A second later, the image of Captain Yates filled the front viewscreen.
"Yates here, Captain."
"Stand by, Captain Yates. The asteroid has exploded. We've stopped to investigate. We'll send you the images since you don't have adequate crew for everything."
"Standing by, Captain."
Forty-five seconds later, Newman said, "Here it is, Captain," and the image appeared on the front viewscreen.
Everyone on the bridge watched as the second battleship emerged from the asteroid and accelerated quickly away. The hollowed out planetoid suddenly appeared to turn white and swell to ten times its size before winking out a few seconds later.
"Can you enlarge the image and play back the last few seconds frame by frame?"
"Can do, Captain."
The image of the Raider hideout filled the front screen as the individual frames changed every three seconds. They again saw the second GSC battleship emerge from the station and accelerate away just before the station went up.
A voice behind Jenetta said, "Did we do that, Captain?"
"We didn't fire on them, Gunny."
"Could it have been the eight-hundred metric tons of Corplastizine that we booby trapped with two torpedoes?"
Lt. Commander Michaels' eyes went wide. He swiveled in his chair and shouted, "You did what? When?"
"We brought a little present with us on our reconnaissance mission," Jenetta said calmly. "When we were caught, we tried to detonate it, but they hit us with something that killed the power on the tug and our little present didn't blow."
Lt. Commander Michaels exhaled a long breath. "I'm rather glad it didn't, Captain."
"So am I, right now. But back then, we expected to be killed anyway."
"Captain," Gunny said, "is there something wrong with your arm?"
"It's broken, Gunny. That lieutenant(jg) on the floor over there fired at me and I dove out of the way. It broke when I landed wrong."
"One of the guys on my team was a Space Marine corpsman. I'll get him up here to take care of it."
"Thanks, Gunny. And maybe you can take these officers down and lock them in the brig."
"Right away, Captain."
Gunny stood the three dazed officers on their feet after releasing their legs. Each was still shaking noticeably from the effect of the shocks a
nd was incapable of offering any resistance. He herded them off the bridge while dragging the fourth by his feet. The unconscious lieutenant(jg)'s head was going to be sore from more than just the effects of the stun weapon when he woke up because the tracks for each doorway protruded slightly above the gravity deck plating, and Gunny wasn't being any too gentle with the man that had almost killed his captain.
"Get me Captain Yates again," Jenetta said to Mr. Kellogg.
"He's on, Captain. I've been feeding them the images of the station through the com signal. He can hear you."
"Captain Yates, hold position. We're going back to take a look and then we'll return."
"Aye, Captain. The Chiron will be standing by."
"Chiron?"
"That's the name of this ship according to the brass commissioning plate mounted on the rear bulkhead near the entrance to the bridge."
Jenetta turned around. "Yes, I see ours. We're aboard the Prometheus. Commander Michaels, take us back to the vicinity of the asteroid."
"Aye, Captain."
Pieces of wrecked ships and habitat continued to tumble outward from where the asteroid had been just minutes before, in addition to the large pieces of inner and outer shell from the hollowed out asteroid itself. The bridge crew aboard the Prometheus agreed that the destruction was all but complete.
"Okay Commander, there's nothing that we can do here. Take us back to the Chiron," Jenetta said.
"Aye, Captain."
"Captain Yates, are you still there?"
"Here, Captain."
"We're on our way back to you. I think that it'll be easier to manage our prisoners if we have them all confined on one ship, so I'm going to send some shuttles over to transfer your group here to the Prometheus. Have the men below load up some ‘oh-gee' sleds and start bringing them to the flight bay."
"Aye, Captain."
"As soon as the prisoners are transferred and secured, I'll send you some more people to assist with operations and then we'll be heading for the Periseras Cloud Formation."
"Periseras, Captain?"
"Yes, we have some friends waiting there."
"GSC?"
A Galaxy Unknown Page 28
