"Understood," replied the security dispatcher on the other end.
With that done, his eyes checked the clock on the wall. It was time to get to the Assembly. The session to approve the enabling law for the neural control implants was beginning shortly.
Just another step on my road to power, he thought contentedly as he rose to leave.
* * *
Henry checked the monitors while they were on final approach to the station. He took a moment to view the station proper as it loomed ever larger through the cockpit.
Rigault's Hestia Lunar Station was fixed in orbit over the planet's moon by a space elevator. The elevator's cars came in a regular cycle with the proceeds of the automated lunar mines. At three kilometers long, the station was decently sized.. Much of its volume was used for ore processing, but there were several large docks for repairs and loading. Four of them had the cruisers they were here to steal.
The station itself was a single shape, a beveled cylinder with the ore-processing areas on the "lower" side nearest the tether and the various docks and hangars towards the top, along with living areas.
The station's traffic control updated their approach course on an active link. The data guided Miri toward one of the small docks for senior station personnel.
Both of them were in Rigault uniforms, the same they wore in the earlier raid. This time, though, the uniforms were only meant to gain a moment's advantage, not to fool enemy personnel. There was little chance of that working so well again.
Miri eased the Nimrod into the assigned hangar with care, turning the ship to point the bow toward the exit. Henry kept his eyes on the monitors and noticed the welcoming committee. "A pair of guards, it looks like. Waiting for Kepper."
Miri's brow furled. "Rigault must be suspicious of something."
"Or he's taking precautions. Either way, we go to Plan B."
She grinned at him. "Given our usual luck, I'm surprised we had 'Plan A' to start with."
While Miri brought the ship in, Henry went back to the cabin. A simple nod to Wu was all he needed to communicate the issue.
The team walked toward the back of the ship. The engine compartment was mostly automated as the ship was meant for a single operator. Hatches provided entries to the crawlways that gave direct physical access to some of the systems such as the engines. The central reactor core had its own hatch for accessing its vital parts.
One hatch was not like these others, however. It led to a shielded compartment with another hatch on the opposite end. There he waited with Wu's team.
The beep that came over his link told him Miri was in position. He nodded to Wu before working on the far hatch. It opened to reveal the station hangar. After a visual scan told him no guard was looking his way at the moment, Henry swung the hatch out completely and climbed out. He gestured toward the others to follow and rounded the ship to check on the main airlock. The security guards were gone, having presumably boarded the ship. Seconds passed with nobody coming out, a sign that he found increasingly concerning.
Finally, the airlock did slide open. Miri stepped out, looking a little winded but otherwise fine. "I've got them restrained and taken care of," she said. "But it won't take long for trouble to start. We need to get moving." She held out a link to him. "I took their links. The hangar's surveillance might be shut off, but I didn't want to risk the monitors tracking their links. This way, they'll see movement."
"I'm with you on that." Henry hefted his rifle and led her back to Wu and his team. "Let's hustle."
The group exited the private hangar. They followed the route Kepper shared with them to leave the area and head toward the station's inner sectors. Along the way, they passed station personnel here and there without reaction or interaction. The local workforce seemed more interested in not coming to the attention of station security. I guess Hestia's not the only world where Rigault's people act like jackboots.
The internal signs helpfully indicated the final turns toward auxiliary control. The room itself was manned by four people, two men and two women, wearing operations uniforms instead of security.
One of the men turned toward them and spoke with a Franco-African accent. "What is it? What is wrong?"
Here we go. With that thought in his head, Henry brought his rifle up. "Away from the stations. You too." He swung the weapon over to the second man. "Everyone away from the stations and you won't get hurt."
Wu's team moved quickly to begin securing them. Looking rather nervous now while Wu put tie-straps on his wrists, the lead operations officer spoke again. "What are you doing? What is this? We haven't done anything!"
"Just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Henry assured them. "Stay quiet and you'll be fine when this is over."
Miri and Sanchez were already at work. "I'm going to reroute controls to us, but they'll know something's up."
"In positions, now." Wu and his people started taking up positions behind control displays and tables. Henry found his own position near the upper console, putting him close to their captives.
"Alright, I'm re-routing controls down here now," Sanchez said.
Miri was already working away at her station. "Nimrod team to Venture Star, we're in. I say again, we're in. Killing comms systems now." After she finished speaking, Miri tapped several more keys. "It's not as good as shooting out the actual transceivers, but I'm locking up their comms by putting it in an access request loop for a ghost GalNet site. It should take them some time to undo it."
A moment later, a klaxon filled the air. Lights flashed red above their heads. "They must've hit the alarms," Wu said.
"They likely have a hardline for that." Sanchez shook her head. "I can't turn it off."
"What about internal sensors?" Henry asked. "What've you got for us there?"
"I'm having to lock that down too; otherwise, they'd use them as well," she replied. "It's the best I can do."
"Whatever you want, just don't kill us!" one of their captives screamed. It was the second of the men, a thin Caucasian with brown hair cut short. "We just work for Rigault. We don't decide policy."
"We're not here to kill you," Henry replied. He turned his head to face them. "This isn't about you at all. Just stay down and keep quiet, and you'll make it out of this alive, I promise."
The promise did little, as all four were clearly terrified out of their minds.
Minutes passed. While Miri and Sanchez continued their work of tying down the station's systems, everyone settled in for the prospect of a firefight. The familiar "hurry up and wait" sensation brought Henry to checking over his assault rifle. It was a surplus Coalition pulse rifle, a CRP-2525, preferentially used by second-line units on space stations and ships after the wholesale changeover to ballistic weaponry by the TCMC. He remembered training with one during his early years in the service as part of anti-boarding drills. While it was a decent weapon, he found he missed the family rifle he'd lost with the Shadow Wolf.
There was a low buzz in the air, followed by a soft glow from one door. Henry looked toward the door, on the far side of where they entered, and noticed the dull orange as it grew brighter. Sparks began a colorful eruption from the orange spot as it slowly moved across the surface. "Looks like they're onto us," Wu said. "Everyone assume positions! Breathers on!"
Henry reached into the Rigault jacket and brought out a breather unit. It was a partial face mask for the nose and mouth tied to a filter and a container of concentrated oxygen-nitrogen blend gas for breathing without an atmosphere.
As the cutting continued, Miri and Sanchez dropped into cover. "We've tied them up as much as we can," Sanchez reported while pulling her breather from her gear. "They won't be able to kill life support, call for help, use internal comms, or use internal sensors or their tactical systems. The ship can make its approach safely."
"Well done, ladies." Wu's tone was genuinely congratulatory, but not with any enthusiasm. "Everyone hold fire until the door's blown."
A chorus of "Yes, sir!"
came from the rest of the team as they waited through the last seconds of peace.
Henry breathed silently. You've seen me through this much, Lord. Please see us through this. Tia and the others are counting on us.
* * *
The bridge of the Venture Star was about the same as the Shadow Wolf's, but the layout was distinctly different. The command chair was near the back while the individual stations were arrayed in a fan around it.
From her seat in said chair, Piper could look to her right to face communications and shop operations, where Brigitte was seated. The left was her old sensor post, now occupied by Vidia. Cera had the helm, naturally, directly ahead, and astrogation was tied directly into her controls as well. Along the side walls were auxiliary panels, and instead of the entire front wall being a liquid crystal display, a holographic viewscreen could be activated and controlled from Vidia's station. Towards the rear side was the hatch leading to manual astrogation.
Everything about the bridge was better. That only made Piper pine more for the lost Shadow Wolf.
The holo-viewscreen now showed the Rigault Lunar Station. She asked, "Any sign of defenses being active?"
"No," Brigitte replied.
Even if there were… Piper wondered about that. Would she risk the lives of the few hundred people in the ship's holds to try and save nine people? Captain Henry's one of them; yes, I would! She knew that thought was wrong, but she couldn't push it away.
To her gratitude, no such need materialized. The Venture Star burned in without opposition. The defensive mounts remained silent.
They picked one of the big cargo-transfer hangars to land in. Three rail lines there were joined by ore loading equipment and controls.
She also noted the multiple figures crouched and holding up assault rifles and other firearms. "It looks like they're ready for us," she said. "Think we could find another hangar?"
"They've probably got teams in all o' them," Vidia said. "The Captain needs us ta be quick."
"Alright. Cera, finish bringing us in. Brig?"
"Activating point-defense emplacements."
Brigitte brought the Venture Star's auto-turrets online. The weapons swiveled on gimbal mounts to face the security teams, who scrambled for cover in the moment before the weapons opened fire. The weapons accelerated strips of metal to lethal velocities, sending sparks flying from the floor hull of the hangar as they tracked their fire toward the enemy.
With all of the ore-hauling equipment in the hangar, there was decent cover, and with a couple of exceptions, the Rigault security troops found successful cover.
That's it, then, thought Piper. It's up to the boarding teams. She triggered the intercom. "Captain Nhan, Sister Innocentia, you're up."
"Understood."
The holds carrying the boarding teams opened one by one. From each came a combination of armed Hestians wearing a gold star on black and red arm band and teams from the Little Sisters in white combat armor. Piper noticed their helmets had the same arrangement of red stones as their veils did.
"Cera, stay here." Piper stood and nodded to Vidia and Brigitte. "We're going to join the others. They'll need every gun."
"Aye. Just be sure t' come back in one piece."
Piper nodded and left the bridge by the rear door, the others close on her heels.
Rushing through the unfamiliar ship—her mind still thought in terms of the Shadow Wolf's layout—gave Piper time to feel the familiar fear and terror of imminent combat. Firefights and shootouts were one thing, but this was another. Megacorps security troopers were usually military-trained, putting them above many bounty hunters, outlaws, and pirates that were their usual foes. If it weren't for the others, she was certain she'd freeze up.
They entered one of the port holds. One of Lou's hired armorers grabbed rifles from a stand and handed them to the three as they ran by. She took the offered weapon and felt transported back in time by nearly twenty years, to when Grandpa Carlos took her hunting in the savannahs of the Tohono O'odham lands on Sanctuary. Granted, that was an old gunpowder hunting rifle; this is a Coalition military pulse rifle.
They emerged from the hold to find the battle already swinging their way. Between the numbers, the Sisters' stun grenades, and the cover fire offered by the Venture Star's auto-turrets, the Rigault security troops were falling back towards the hangar door with heavy loss.
Piper raised the rifle, ready to fire at opponents, but there was no need. By the time she was close enough to get a shot, the last Rigault squad went down to a stun grenade blast. "Secure the hangar!" shouted a Hestian voice. A squad of Lou's mercenaries rushed to do so.
"Sisters, forward. The station must fall quickly!" The words, spoken in a Slavic accent, prompted the white-armored women to leave the hangar at a steady pace. The Hestians followed.
"I wonder how many security troops Rigault has aboard?" Brigitte pondered aloud. "Do we have enough?"
"Probably." Hopefully. Piper took out her link. It showed Henry's as an active connection again, allowing her to call him. "We're aboard, Captain."
The sounds of gunfire echoed through the link. "Good," came the answer. "Because we're going to need backup."
42
The only thing that competed with the sound of gunfire in auxiliary control was the frightened cries of the four operations staff. They alternated between languages as they called out for the shooting to stop or, at least, for the mercy of whoever won.
From his firing point, Henry felt a combination of sympathy and irritation. They didn't ask to get pulled into this war. They're just folks doing a job, he reminded himself of the desire he felt for them to, frankly, shut up.
Both doors were breached and the site of at least three fallen bodies apiece. There were more wounded and dead, Henry was certain, given how vigorously the Rigault teams pushed their attacks, but they'd pulled the wounded back with them after each failed attack.
Another push came. Plasma bolts flew over and around Henry's head from the suppressive fire. He couldn't properly aim the rifle, but he didn't need to so long as he kept it in the general direction of the door while pulling the trigger. The slight recoil kick of the rifle sent brief tremors down his arms.
"Hold on just a little longer!" Wu called out.
A grenade flew through the air, sailing toward the position held by Woods and Osterman. Woods snatched the device and lobbed it back. A split second after it was in the air, it went off, filling Auxiliary Command with light and noise. The flash nearly blinded Henry. As his eyes returned to normal, everything seemed to have an afterimage that blurred his vision.
The Rigault forces chose that moment to make their biggest surge, coming through both doors. With Woods completely blinded for the moment and Osterman struggling, the fire on the door slackened considerably. Two Rigault men made it through and took up a position toward the corner of the room, using the control systems as cover as well.
Henry's vision cleared enough for him to see what he was shooting at. He noticed the partial enemy success and called out, "They've got people in, watch your backs! We need more fire on the opposite side!"
Miri turned her attention from the far door. The addition of her firepower restored some of their suppressive ability, but at the cost of the other door being more vulnerable. The enemy squads there quickly tried to push forward in conjunction with their comrades on the opposite end. The two soldiers in the room maintained their own fire, adding to the infiltration team's woes.
"We've got another one!" Wu called out. "On this side! He's—"
A bolt of plasma struck the side of his head. Henry watched him fall lifelessly to the ground with a heavy heart. The old, familiar pain of seeing a comrade die hadn't lost any of its sting. Godspeed, Major. You're off to a better place, he thought solemnly. And we may be joining you soon.
With Wu gone, he was in full command of the team, for all the good it did. Their situation was more untenable by the moment.
Or, at least, it seemed that way.
Henry recognized that the fire coming from one of the doors was slackening. Soon it faded entirely. The only fire still coming from that direction was from the two security troops who'd slipped in.
While those troopers still laid suppressive fire against Miri and Sanchez's position, Henry had a chance to glance at the door. He could make out Brigitte's face despite the helmet she'd donned. Help's here, he realized. Hallelujah.
Not that this meant the battle was over. We're going to run behind schedule if we don't finish this. Henry reached to his belt and pulled one of his last remaining grenades. He called out "Grenade!" before tossing it toward the troopers on his side.
The weapon flew through the air, bounced off the control station they were hiding behind, and rolled into the space between them. A moment later, a bright burst of light and energy came, accompanied by a pair of thuds.
Brigitte moved in with Vidia and Piper behind them. They moved with the skill of a team, if not that of a military force, taking cover in the same place the Rigault troopers had.
Nor were they alone. A squad of white-armored Sisters followed them in. Their weapons were firing stun bolts, as expected, and their arrival quickly put an end to the enemy push. They took cover momentarily before pressing on, as Wu's team quickly and efficiently provided cover fire for them.
Henry moved up to help, but that quickly proved unnecessary. The security forces outside the opposite door were under fire from two directions, with another relief column coming up on their rear. After barely ten more seconds, they were all down.
He walked up to his crew, Miri at his side. "Glad to see you made it," he said. He grinned at Piper, who looked uncomfortable in the combat helmet she'd borrowed from the Sisters. "You did well, First Mate Lopez. Or maybe Captain Lopez by the time this is over."
"No. Please, I just want to chart stars," she pleaded.
"You still did well," he said. He clapped her on the shoulder. "You've reason to be proud."
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 33
