Windjammer: The Tradership Saga Book 1
Page 43
“Why, hello there Grayson. What bring you to this station?”
“Well…I was just curious, I guess. It seems that every time I have passed by tactical, the boards seem to always be ‘hot’, but there never seems to be anything out there,” Zax noted quizzically.
“Ah…Well, be happy that there isn’t anything out there, Zax. This is the one station that everyone would rather never be used. Because if weapons are brought online, it usually means an attack of some sort,” said Trina lightly.
“Has the Windjammer ever been attacked?” Zax inquired.
“Yeah, a couple of times, but as you can see, we are still here. The last time was about four planetfalls back. We had just picked up a load of high-end techtronics, to be delivered to the planet Gizmo. Word must have gotten out about our cargo because a day out from the transitional point, we were jumped by four stinger ships, accompanied by their scavenger mothership. Two of the sting ships came up our tail trying to spook us into a dead run for the ‘T’ point, but Captain Ahosi had figured out that they were trying to herd us toward the main ship.
“The captain let them think that their tactic was working by launching a missile at our pursuers. The missile went off on a skewed course, then abruptly shut down as though it was a miss fire, so the sting ships ignored it. That was their mistake. What she actually did, was send the missile out on a ballistic course to where she figured the mothership was waiting, lying doggo along our projected path. Then at the last minute the missile ignited and acquired the scavenger with her shields down. It was glorious!
“The mothership took a hit in the midsection and began leaking atmosphere like a teapot. We used her leakage to target her for the impulse rail guns and put two massive slugs in her before she was able to reach the ‘T’ point and transition out, leaving her ‘chicks’. The three that were left behind put up a feeble fight, before one self-suicided. Of the two that were left, the pilot was dead in one that was too badly damaged to salvage, and our drone found the other ship adrift, its engines cold, but the pilot was only unconscious.
“So, we opened his suit up to space and jettisoned the body on a ten-year trajectory towards the system’s sun.” Gomez finished saying with a flurry. Turning, the first mate saw the shocked look on Zax’s face and pulled him aside. “Look Zax, this ain’t no Tri-D holo show out here. It’s life and death! Piracy carries the automatic penalty of death. No paroles, no pardons. Why do you think the other ship suicided? What do you think they would have done to us if they had succeeded, eh? They would have stripped down the ol’ Jammer and chucked us out the nearest airlock! If you are going to be a real spacer then this is a lesson you had better learn, real quick!”
Zax nodded mutely, then went thoughtfully back to his cabin.
During an off shift, there was chime from his cabin door. When he opened it, there stood Trina dressed in a sleek, sheer, black, evening gown holding two bottles of something she called ‘champagne’ along with two glasses.
“I just wanted to show you that we weren’t ‘blood thirsty’ killers all the time,” she whispered, seductively.
After he welcomed her into his stateroom, she went over to the autochef and ordered two dinners. When they arrived, she sat opposite to him at his small table and began to talk. Zax listened attentively to her fascinating account of how she left the pleasure world of Zippo to become a spacer. After conversation and consuming both bottles of the ‘champagne’ they retired to the contragrav bed, where she proceeded to ravish him completely. If it were not for his several episodes with Pilar, Zax would have been thoroughly exhausted in the first ten minutes.
Two days after his tryst with Trina, Windy informed him that Pilar wanted his assistance down in cargo hold three, and for him to come down in spacer clothes ready to work. When he arrived, Zax found Pilar floating five meters off the deck on a contragrav disc, inspecting the lashings that held one of the huge cargo containers in place.
“Hey there Zax, you are just in time. I need you to go over to the wall, saddle up one of the discs, then come up and help me unsecure two of these straps for the wall braces so we can make room for new cargo,” she shouted down at him.
Zax shot her a look of pure surprise at her words. “New cargo?! Where in hell are we getting new cargo from, out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Pilar grinned at him then sighed, “Sometimes I forget that you aren’t really a tradership spacer. After transition, the captain checked the in-system warehousing transponders and got a hit. Listen, almost every star system has a series of automated, warehousing stations dotted near their transitional peripheries. These store goods that are either inbound towards the planets or outbound to specific destinations. The ones inbound are usually drop shipped by traderships who were headed this way and passing through the system but are not intending to make planetfall. They drop their freight off at one of the warehouses, collect a transport fee and set a beacon notifying any planet bound freighter that there is cargo available for transshipment. The tradership picks up the short haul and delivers it planetside, usually for a hefty fee.
“While you have been, er entertaining, shall we say, certain members of the crew, the rest of us have been readying the ship for pickup of three cargo containers at one of these in-system automated warehouses. Now enough chit-chat. I need you to don one of those spacesuits out of the locker to your right, so we can on load three shipping containers.”
Zax stared wide-eyed at Pilar for a moment, then swallowed a lump in his throat that magically appeared. Seeing the look on his face, Pilar laughed musically, “Don’t worry Zax, we are not going AV on this one. Captain Ahosi will maneuver the Windjammer right up to the loading dock, where mechanical arms will lift the containers through the open hatchway. We will not be leaving the confines of the ship, but the both the docking bay and the cargo hold will be open to space. The warehouses are not pressurized. When we are suited up, I will have Windy cut the contragrav in this section of the ship, that should make it easier to shift the containers over and create the space we need. While you are getting ready, I’m gonna check the bay’s wall mounts. They look a little dicey.”
Zax did as she said and put on the spacesuit. After sealing the faceplate and carefully checking his air flow, he floated up next to her as she moved to get a closer look at the wall mounts. “See this mount here?” Pilar instructed, pointing to friction ring that was welded to the bulkhead. “I’m gonna loosen it so that the container will be free to slide towards your right. But before I do, I want you to go around to the other side of the container and loosen the strap a bit. Just make sure that the mount on that side is secured to the bulkhead before you do, ok?”
Zax nodded his understanding, zipped over to the other side of the container and inspected the mount there. Having worked in the drydock yard, he knew what to look for to know if that mount was also compromised, it wasn’t.
“Ok, Pilar. This mount looks sound, so I’ll hit the quick release and loosen the strap on your say so,” he said.
“Great…just a second…” There was a slight shift in the cargo container and then it moved slowly up from the deck. When it reached the wall bulkhead, Pilar emerged from the other side of the container and floated over to where Zax was hovering at the mount.
“Good…good…Now help me fasten the container to the wall and that should give us enough space to take in the new cargo containers and secure them.”
The new shipping containers were not the standard octagonal shaped cargo boxes usually used by shipping companies. They were three four sided cubes with latching rings on their corners. Because of this, it was necessary to latch them down on the flat surface of the cargo hold rather than against the curved surfaces of the bulkhead. After about a half an hour of work, strapping down the standard containers onto the wall braces, Pilar signaled that they were secured tightly and for Zax to join her at the opening of the cargo hatch. When he had moved up to her side, he saw her activate a wall scanner as the warehouse cargo
arms maneuvered the bulky containers, through the open portal and onto the cleared space of the Windjammer’s cargo bay number three. A crisscross pattern of laser lights played across each container as they entered the hole, then a readout flashed on the panel in front of Pilar.
“Humm, no wonder the captain took the time to pick up these containers, they contain viable life forms.”
“What?” Zax exclaimed, “you mean that there is something alive in there? But they are in a vacuum!”
“Don’t blow a gasket Zax, they are in cryo suspension. They read as breeding stock: two beefalos, probably a steer and a cow, and what looks like six porkuswine.
While in cryo they can be shipped without atmosphere, as long as the containers are sealed and insulated.”
“You mean that they were just dropped off without a guarantee that someone would transition in and pick them up for delivery to Plato? What if no ship came, or if we decided not to transship them to the planet?”
Pilar exhaled loudly, shook her head slowly, then turned so Zax could see her through the face plate. “These containers are rigged with beacons that are linked to the cryogenic readouts of the containers. If no one has picked up the cargo after a certain amount of time, a signal is sent to Plato and a company owned cargo shuttle is dispatched to claim them. Of course, this costs almost triple what it would if the cargo were delivered via a tradership such as ours. Which is why the captain has decided to take on the extra load. We will get a hefty bonus for transshipping these crates. Now enough jabbering, come and help me lock these down.”
After another half hour of work, the containers were fastened down in the center of the cargo hold and Pilar motioned Zax towards the bulkhead hatch. “Well that should hold it for a while, at least until we make planetfall on Plato, the only thing I don’t like is that we had to shift the normal cargo up against the overhead bulkhead and partially cover the secondary access hatch. But that is only used if there is a malfunction of the main hatch anyway, which is not likely.” With a wry smile of satisfaction, Pilar turned to him and her smile widened into a toothy grin as she pushed him through the opening and sealed the hatch. Divesting themselves of their vacuum suits, they stowed them in the suit locker and headed towards the crew quarters. Pilar patted Zax on the shoulder for a job well done.
“By the way, I want to thank you for taking my advice about Branda and Trina. They both said that they were beginning to wonder if they had lost their touch in attracting men. The only problem is that now, they both have been chiding me for keeping you all to myself! Branda said that she had never met a more considerate and through lover, male or female. And Trina, the minx, said you were the only person who could wear her out,” Pilar snickered. Zax had the sense to look only a little embarrassed, as he was getting used to how spacers were. Pilar stared at him hard and laughed again.
“At least you have that blush reflex under control! As for me, you probably noticed that you have seen little of me over the past few days. That is because Brax has become very attentive this past week and I have you to thank for that. Well, you and that dress I cobbled together. But seriously, I hope that you decide to opt in and take the spacer position we have all offered you. Even though it will cut a little into our ship shares, we all feel that you are worth it! Well…anyway that is just my two centi units. Come on now, you should get out of those dirty clothes and I need a shower! I think I will ask Brax to join me. See ya later…that is if Trina or Branda doesn’t see ya first!” Pilar giggled impishly, kissing him on the cheek.
When Zax reached his cabin, neither Trina or Branda was waiting for him and for that he was grateful. Moving the massive cargo crates was hard work even in nil gravity. He was exhausted. It was all the energy he could muster just to strip down, make it to the fresher then collapse gratefully onto his cushioning, contragrav bed.
It seemed like he had been asleep only a few seconds, but he could hear a voice in his head calling him. Zax tried to wake up but found that he was just too tired. If only he could sleep just a few minutes longer… but the annoying voice kept buzzing in his head.
“All hands on deck! All hands on deck! Warning we are under attack!” This is NOT a drill…Warning…
The words seemed imperative, but he was so tired!If he could just sleep a little…
Just then, Zax could hear a dull pounding at his cabin door. He tried to come fully awake and found that he had to struggle to sit up and move his feet over the contragrav threshold of his bed. On wobbly legs, he staggered over to the portal and palmed the door release. He was startled to see Pilar standing there, a portable breathing mask on her face and a second respirator unit in her right hand. Without a pause Pilar shoved the unit onto Zax’s face and pulled the straps tight around his head. A flood of fresh oxygen pulsed into mouth and into his lungs. His lethargy instantly disappeared, and his head was clear, but before he could react Pilar was shoving something into his arms.
“It’s a damn good thing that you sleep in the buff! Here…put this on NOW!” Zax looked down in his arms to see a floppy man shaped, semitransparent, plasticine article that he recognized as an emergency ‘skin suit’. He paused for a moment, as he tried to remember how to put the thing on when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder…”
“God damn it Zax, we don’t have time…get your ass in that suit NOW!” Pilar chided as she jabbed him in his right shoulder. “We are quickly running out of time here!”
Her words galvanized him into action and he quickly fanned out the flaccid plasticine suit and thrust his feet into the leggings. Once he got his legs in, he wiggled his arms and shoulders into their openings, then reached down to touch the red tabs embedded in the thin fabric. Almost immediately, the skin suit began to form a vacuum seal and quickly tightened around his legs and torso. Within seconds, it was as though he was wearing a second semipermeable skin. The only parts of his body that were outside of the outfit were his hands and his head. The skin suit gloves hung limply down from his wrists and contained their own activating strips, while the hood had transformed into a rigid transparent dome that hung down behind his head.
All the while this was happening, Pilar was standing out in the passageway anxiously looking up and down the corridor. With a shock, Zax noticed that she was carrying a muon beam handgun. This was the first time he had seen any crewmember armed with anything other than a needler. Muons were strictly forbidden inside of a ship in space for they were one of the few weapons that could punch a hole through the tough steel/titanium ceramic of the ship’s hull. She stopped gazing down the passageway just long enough to bark an order at Zax.
“C’mon man, get the fucking lead out! Get dressed. We are in a shit load of trouble here and we are going to be lucky if we survive.” Looking own at her weapon, she nodded to Zax. “Arm yourself with whatever you can find. A club, a spanner…anything! I’m sorry I don’t have an extra gun or needler, but the armory is up near the bridge and I don’t think we have the time to get back up there. For the time being, we are on our own.”
Zax started to stop and ask questions, but the look on Pilar’s face told him that now was not the time. He quickly strode over to his locker, yanked out his one- piece work overalls and rapidly pulled them on. He was zipping them up when his eye caught sight of the antique ‘firearm’ that he and Brax had been working on sitting on the overhead shelf. Without giving it a thought, he reached up and pulled down the heavy piece. With a quick motion, he clicked open the chamber and saw the six cylindrical ‘cartridges’ that Brax had cobbled together resting in their chambers. With a twist of his wrist, he snapped the cylinder chamber back into place and stuck the weapon into one of the rings on his suits work belt.
Moving over to the door, he saw that Pilar had taken a defensive stance at the portal and was checking the change on the blaster. Her face assumed an agonized look at Zax and then, to his surprise, she started to shake uncontrollably.
“Pilar STOP!” he shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Slow down, c
atch your breath and tell be what the fuck is going on!” The wild-eyed look in her eyes faded as she focused on Zax’s face. She paused, took a deep ragged breath, and slowed down her breathing, then to his surprise she looked sheepishly into his eyes.
“You’re right Zax, I’m too old of a spacer to be acting like a fidgety dirtsider! Ok, listen…about an hour ago we were just into second shift, when an air contamination alarm was triggered on the main filtration board up on the bridge. About a year ago, the captain had an air monitoring system installed in the main air conduits throughout the ship. She had heard of a tradership that had been poisoned dockside by the introduction of an airborne, toxin through the ventilation system, while a ship was exchanging air at an independent waystation. The skulks were gassing certain ships then stealing their cargo. Captain Ahosi was determined that it wasn’t going to happen to the Windjammer. The monitors were set to detect a wide spectrum of noxious and poisonous gasses, whether they were sleeping or nerve toxins. At 1700 ship time the detectors were triggered, and an alarm was sent. Almost simultaneously, Abrams came under a cyber- attack! The first prong of the intrusion was to disrupt the A.I.’s communications link. This would have left us blind and dumb to the atmospheric contamination, if it weren’t for the bridge’s hard-wired monitoring system which was independent of Abrams’s monitors.”
Almost on cue there was a crackle in Zax’s head, and a static filled voice was in his brain. “I…I…a…am… currently under…