by Sonja Dewing
The motor started smoking, but the door was almost wide enough. Skye tried to push at it, but that didn’t help. She’d have to wait a few more seconds before she could fit through. She was glad she had kept up her gymnastics training and workouts. Even with her small frame, this was going to be a tight fit.
The motor made a pinging sound, exhaled a puff of smoke, and died. The door stopped at only half open. Time to see how skinny she could get. She squeezed through, using her feet hooked to the ladder under the door to pull her butt through.
She had already mapped out where the oxygen processors were located on the station. Hopefully, the station security had stopped the thieves, but she wasn’t going to count on that. So far, the robbers had taken two stations. Oxygen processors were under the tightest security, yet somehow they had removed all of the processors and left thousands of people dead.
While that didn’t leave her much concern for the thieves, she wasn’t going to turn her phaser to kill. She’d let the justice system figure that part out. But if it came down to it, she’d do what she had to.
There was no one in the emergency corridor and the sound of the fire alarm echoed through the empty hall. She turned the corner and saw five security guards lying on the ground. She ran up to the open door of the oxygen station. In a millisecond, she took in that all three hyper security doors to the three oxygen processors were open. The largest processor was being carried away in the hands of a tall man in a grey space suit, probably to a ship attached to the hull. Two other men in space suits were working on disconnecting the next oxygen unit.
She shot one of the robbers in the back and he went down. She wasn’t fast enough to shoot the other before he turned and shot back. The shot went past her ear. She jumped back to the safety of the doorframe.
The robber came running toward the door, discharging his weapon every few secods. She shot at him as he came into view and the shot hit his phaser. He dropped the weapon and yelled as his hand went numb. He used his other hand to punch at her but she stepped back and took another shot. He fell to the ground unconscious.
She heard an engine. The bastard with the first processor had made it to his ship. He was leaving his men behind and was about to take off. Detaching from the hull would make this room a deadly conduit for the remaining oxygen to be pushed into space and more than likely take her with it.
First, she wanted to make sure that people on the station could breath. Skye pulled out her knife from her boot and cut a hole in the tube leading to one of the processors, and then she grabbed the open tube from the missing processor, shoving it into the hole.
There was nothing around her but machines and metal walls. She could find nothing to help keep the tubes together. She cut a strip from her shirt and wrapped it as tightly as possible around the connection for the tubes, hoping that it would be enough to make sure everyone on the station would have enough oxygen.
She took off running to the casino office. She grabbed the ladder as she heard the sucking sound. Her legs were pulled out from under her, but she held on, pulling herself up, squeezing herself through the door.
She grabbed the large square basket from the shredder and threw it at the opening in the door. It would only give her a few seconds, but that was all she needed to disconnect the wires from the paper shredder motor, then back to the system so it would reconnect the fire emergency program to the door.
The basket was pulled inside out and sucked out as the door clamped shut, sealing the room from the breach. The Faction would be paying her well for this job, but there was still one thief out there.
She sat in the manager’s chair, put her boots up on the desk, took out her flask for a quick drink, and considered her next step. She wouldn’t be able to get to her ship until after the station sorted out the fire alarm. When she did, she’d see if her instruments had recorded the information on the outgoing ship.
The fire alarm shut off. The silence was jarring. Then came a prerecorded female voice. “There is a breach in the outer hull. Please put on your emergency oxygen until further notice.” Skye rolled her eyes as the message repeated. Of course, no one actually carried their oxygen masks and tanks with them, so unless the station got the fire doors open, the warning didn’t help anyone.
She considered pulling out her cigar and lighting up. It wasn’t like it was going to set off an alarm, or if it did, no one would care. But then the female voice was cut off mid-sentence and the fire warning lights stopped twirling in the ceiling. She got up and looked out to the casino floor. The casino fire doors had opened, but not the one next to her on the floor. That one would have sensors telling it there was no oxygen on the other side.
She got up and made her way to the exit of the casino. People were running for their hotel rooms and residences on the inner rings of the station when another voice came over the intercom.
“Station Commander Lee Burn here. Everyone, please remain calm. There is no fire danger. We do have a minor break in the outer hull and our crew is out there repairing it now. For safety, please get out of the hallways and into safe zones in the inner rings, and put on your emergency oxygen until we let you know otherwise. Commander out.”
The crowds in the hallways slowed down a bit, which didn’t help Skye get to her ship any faster. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally turned into the station’s ship docking port.
Station Commander Burn was standing next to her ship, his arms crossed.
She sped up. Wanted to get in the first word so she practically yelled across the cavernous station. “What happened? I told you they were coming. You should have been ready to turn off the fire system right away.” The few ships in the port did little to keep down the echo.
He approached her. “How did you absolutely know they’d hit here?” He raised an eyebrow as if suggesting she knew more than she let on.
Skye scoffed. “Don’t try to lay the blame on me that you weren’t ready. The Walkow Faction is well aware that I did target vector research and this station came out on top. You, Commander, are completely in the ass sling for not heeding my warning.”
“Damn it.” His face turned red. “It’s not the Walkow Faction I’m concerned about. It’s the lives on this station.”
She was surprised when he took a step back and continued, “I apologize for not moving on your information sooner. I did believe you. I just didn’t think they’d hit so soon. I assigned my first officer to take care of the system and to put someone on it tomorrow. I did assign extra guards to the processors.” He shook his head. “And now they’re dead. Another weight for me to bear.”
The young commander had bags under his eyes and his brown hair had gray along the edges. Skye knew places like this could age you quickly, which is why she preferred living worldside and having her own transportation to go anywhere she wanted.
She nodded. “Thank you for trusting me. Honestly, I didn’t realize they’d hit so soon either. But they probably figured that they needed to keep everyone off guard after the last two robberies.”
She pointed at her ship. “One of them got away. I’ve got to get outside and see if I can find the trail of his ship. I set my radar and equipment to keep an eye on outgoing ships, so there’s a chance I can find him.”
The commander nodded. “All right. Get on board and I’ll make sure you have clearance to get out of here fast. Good luck.” He turned and walked away.
Skye headed for her ship. Attuned to her approach, the ship automatically opened the door. “Max, close the door and start the engine.” The AI started the engine as Skey put on her safety equipment. With practice she was down to only minutes to slip on her suit. She’d leave off the helmet until it was needed, but kept it on its tether to the suit so it would be close by. She was under no pretense that the robber would blow her to smithereens if he could.
Max had the engines and systems online. She hovered at the controls but let Max take this one. She needed a moment to breathe. “Max, taxi us out of the por
t and run diagnostic program five.”
She watched as the program ran, scanning recordings of outgoing traffic, pulling up the last ship that left and working through its trajectory. Her own ship turned itself and taxied to the exit.
They went through the shield between the inner port parking area and the launch area. She nodded at seeing the external doors already open.
Max pulled them into the launch area and his smooth voice said, “We are cleared for take off. Also, sensors indicate there are untethered astronauts around the station. Do we want to retrieve them?”
“Good question, Max. Send their locations to the space station. They can collect their dead and maybe find some clues on the robbers’ bodies.” And, she thought, the commander would want to honor his fallen guards. “Let’s take off. I want you to follow the trajectory of the ship from the diagnostic program.” She took out her flask while Max calculated and launched. She threw back some more hot coffee from the flask. Best purchase she had ever made, hot coffee always available at her fingertips and everyone assumed she was a lush. Especially people from her past who knew her when she had been a lush. Let everyone underestimate her.
The three moons of Tregarde were directly ahead of her as the ship turned. “He went toward the moons?” She asked in disbelief.
“The last ship’s trajectory took it in this direction,” Max responded.
“Damn.”
On the screen, Max started highlighting in red the many asteroids that surrounded the moons.
“Max, show me his trajectory.”
A blue line went straight into the heart of the moon systems and was intersected by moving asteroids.
“Max, do we know where he stopped?”
“There’s not enough information to determine his end point. We need to follow to see if we can pick up his trail.”
“Of course we do.” She rolled her eyes and turned up the dial on the flask for more caffeine, taking another quick drink.
“Max, put me at standing.”
The dashboard rose and she stood as her chair was replaced with a cushion that she could lean against. She bit at her lower lip while she took the controls. It would take Max’s quick calculations and her hyper reactions to get through the asteroids. But how had that guy gotten through this? Did he have a top-level AI, or had the robber done it on his own? She shook that thought away. Time to focus.
She easily steered the ship around the first obstacle, the big rock was slowly spinning. The screen filled with more moving red objects that were even closer. On the screen, Max suggested a downward move with a yellow arrow. She ignored it and turned left and up around the asteroid. It would keep them closer to the blue trajectory on the screen.
She could almost feel Max’s surprise as she ignored his suggestion. They came around the rock and found two more in close proximity. She flexed right and also noted that going down would have made no difference in their outcome. There were rocks everywhere.
She ignored the yellow arrow to the left and went right again. Then up, then left. Then there was a clearing ahead. A clever location for people who didn’t want to be found.
She hadn’t actually expected to find him, but there it was. A marauder ship, obvious because of its round, flat front that allowed it to laser cut entrances to ships and stations for illegal entry. The bastard was waiting for a pickup this close to the station. He obviously hadn’t expected any survivors.
She stopped her ship’s forward motion. If he didn’t know she was there yet, she didn’t want to alert him. She needed this guy alive. That was the request from the Walklow Faction. Having him alive would guarantee they’d find out who he was stealing for and why. And, she’d get the top fee for mission completion.
“Max, is that ship close enough to do a space hop?”
Max ran the calculations on the screen, showing maximum use of the space jet pack to get to the ship. According to the results on the screen, it was possible for her space walk over there. Once at the thief’s ship, she could find a way in or cut a hole in the hull and pull him out of there. Hopefully he was wearing a spacesuit.
But she’d have to get it done fast, before his buyer showed up. Or before he realized what was happening and turned on his engines to shake her off the ship.
She set her ship completely in Max’s control, tapped her gold cheek piercing for luck, put on her helmet, and strapped on the space jet. She downloaded the instructions from Max and walked to the exit. “Wish me luck, Max.”
“Good luck, Skye.” Max opened the door and she stepped into the airlock. He closed the door behind her, and there was a sound of air escaping then the airlock opened. Max had slightly turned the ship so she was facing the marauder. She took three running steps and leapt into space.
The momentum was a good start. She turned on the jets and let them carry her even faster toward the dark grey ship. She wondered how many others he had attacked with this lethal ship. She cut her jets. She’d be going full steam until she could stop herself. She pulled out the large D ring attached to the end of the suit’s integrated rope, opened the D Ring’s latch, turned on its magnetic properties, and held it out in front of her.
Her heart was beating fast as she approached the ship. There weren’t a lot of things sticking out on the surface. Within thirty feet of the ship, she realized she’d be arriving at the smoothest part of the vessel. At twenty feet she wished she had something bigger than her D ring. At ten feet she noticed a small handle, probably used during ship construction. At five feet she stretched out her arm as far as she could, held out the D ring, and held her breath.
The magnetic properties made the D ring attracted to the metal surface of the ship. As she headed away from the ship she pulled the D ring toward the handle. She was at ten feet, tugging carefully at her thirty foot rope. At twenty feet she had the D ring on the handle. At thirty feet she slammed to a halt against its full length.
She took a deep breath as she pulled herself back toward the ship, hand over hand. She was going to pay for a hot bath, a steak, and a Coke after this.
She was five feet away when she realized the latch on the D ring was still open. The blasted thing had been barely hanging on. The company that made it was going to hear from her.
She carefully pulled herself up to the D ring and closed the latch. She then looked around for entry options. The surface of the ship was smooth and she’d have to get in as silently as possible. She attached her suits magnetic boots to the ship and walked to the underside to keep from going in front of the bridge and went to the front to look at its docking mechanism.
She had never seen a marauder up close. The marauder’s laser cutter, meant to cut into whatever ship or station they were attacking, was a full circle and inside of it was the door, so its attack would be immediate and clean. The door to the ship was as tall as she was, only 5’3”, so not a normal size for an entrance, but big enough for anyone to get in and out.
She opened up the computer terminal on her suit sleeve and asked Max to see if he could communicate with the marauder. It was a risk. If the system was a smart AI it would alert the captain, but she didn’t think this ship was that top of class. Getting the ship to open its door voluntarily was a better option than using her laser cutter.
Max responded a moment later in text. “I can communicate with the ship.”
“Can you tell it to open its front docking door?”
A moment later Max responded. “I can. It requires the system to set off the lasers first and then open the door. I can see that you’re in range of the lasers. You’ll need to move out of the way.”
Skye used the rope to pull herself to the side and sent Max the message: “Go.”
The laser shot out into space, she hoped it dissipated before it hit anything. She used her jets to move close to the front of the door. Without it being attached to a ship, the air in the ship was being pulled into space. She watched as the stolen air processor floated out of the ship. She shook her head. Their lack o
f securing it would make her job easier.
Inside two men were holding onto interior walls, trying not to be sucked out. One was wearing a suit, the other was not. They couldn’t do anything in their current state and probably thought there was a malfunction rather than an incursion. She waited until the air had equalized, then shot the man in the spacesuit first and then the man without.
She had a moment of regret for the unsuited man, but she had no time and he was probably already dead. She grabbed the guy with the suit and pulled him out the door, cut her rope and turned on her jets. Within seconds Max had moved the ship her ship to intercept them and she was inside with her quarry. Max shut the door as she manacled the prisoner.
“There’s a ship approaching through the asteroids. ETA one minute.”
Skye took off her helmet and got back to the controls. “Get us behind something big enough to hide us, but I want to know who’s approaching.”
The ship moved away from the marauder.
If she was lucky, the buyer would think that there was no problem and still approach. She’d be able to get more information for her employer.
A large ship blipped into being on the screen, it was stopped on the edge of the open area, waiting for something, probably a signal from the robbers. Several orange missiles sailed across the open. She assumed the small explosion was the air processor. Then the marauder burst into pieces.
Skye swallowed hard and kept her fingers crossed that they wouldn’t be looking for anyone else. A moment later the ship turned and left the way it had come.
“Max, give me a chair.” She sunk into the chair and checked her passenger. Still out cold. Who would hire someone for the air processors and yet destroy them? And what kind of man would be willing to kill everyone on a station to get them?
Skye was sure she didn’t want to know. She’d get her prisoner to the station and claim her reward.
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