“No, Buster. Just let them be.”
“I’m Krag,” he stated to the leader while holding out his hand.
Switching his rifle to his left hand, the perplexed leader took Krag’s hand and gave it a firm shake.
“Nathan.”
“There are almost two hundred people here. Do you have any idea how many are planet-wide?”
“According to the announcements before everyone left, about four thousand.”
“How are you all doing? Does anyone need anything?”
“No. when everyone left, they left behind everything we need.”
“No medicine? Food? Shelter?”
“No. we’re all good. I haven’t heard any chatter about anyone else needing anything.”
“Crime? Gangs?”
“Gangs are forming. But they aren’t attacking anyone. Not with all the stuff left behind.”
“Got it. The second reason. I’m looking for space pilots. Are there any here?”
“Nope. Weiskoff took them all.”
“Damn. We are going to need some pilots.”
“Captain, if I may interrupt?”
“Yes, Buster?”
“Tolimar has pilots. Feldmarshal Rosser spoke of forty-three retired pilots. And Major Wilson has the pilots from Odin’s fighter wing.”
“Yes. That’s our next stop.”
Krag raised his wrist quant-com to his mouth and asked, “Igaklay, how’s Griffin?”
“All is fine here, Captain. Ambassador Suzume and Mz. Benton have been scanning all of Atlantius’ space and there are no Morteks here.”
“I’m going to give this quant-com to Nathan so that he will have a permanent connection to you.”
“Okay.”
Krag removed the communicator and handed it to Nathan.
“This is a highly secret device. It has the power to communicate with anyone who also has one of these devices, anywhere in the Federacy.”
“Really.”
“Yes, really. If you ever need us, just talk into the face. Preceptor Igaklay will immediately respond.”
“That’s crap, whoever you are. There’s no science that can do that.”
“Actually, there is. Alien science.”
“What? You’ve been working with the bugs?”
“No, Nathan. They’re called ‘Morteks’, by the way. We haven’t been working with the bugs. We’ve been in contact with another alien race. Two, actually.”
“Right.” The sarcasm fairly dripped from that one word.
“That’s it. Listen up, Nathan. I am going to introduce you to one of those aliens. Don’t even flinch. You are surrounded by more. If you threaten Tribune Ambakai, you will immediately become small lumps of dead tissue. Do you understand?”
“Dead tissue?”
“Yes. A small lump. Tribune Ambakai, stand here.”
Krag pointed to a spot at his right.
The three Panteans looked around as they heard growls and grunts. Krag heard through his cranial web that the Elonian Tribune had taken his position.
“As I said, I am going to introduce you to Tribune Ambakai. He commands a patrol of warriors who are bigger, stronger, faster and meaner than you. Don’t flinch.”
“Small lump of dead tissue.”
“Right. Tribune, please deactivate your chameleon suit.”
Tribune Ambakai did. The seven-foot, armored, cat-like Elonian popped into visibility. Three Humans flinched, almost started to lift their weapons and froze.
“Nathan, what’s your last name?”
“Allen.”
“Mr. Allen, please meet Tribune Ambakai of the Kaporine Guard, a member of the Elonian race.”
Ambakai held out his paw. Nathan, in bewilderment and fear, looked around. Then, girding himself, he reached out, took the paw and gave it a shake.
“Pleased to meet you, Tribune Ambakai. Did I say that right?”
Tribune Ambakai released Nathan’s hand and touched the control to his own translator.
“Well enough, Mr. Allen.”
“Now, I am going to have the rest of the Elonians become visible. Tribune?”
Ambakai froze and relaxed. Seven more Elonians materialized, four floating above the three Pantean Humans.
“Jeez, Louise,” one of Nathan’s cohorts stated.
“Yes, well. Now. As I said, that device you are holding is capable of communicating anywhere in Federacy space. How it works is alien tech. Let’s leave it at that.”
“So, how do I use it?” Nathan asked as he took the wrist quant-com from Krag.
“Just wear it. If you need to speak to us, just ask for Preceptor Igaklay.”
“Preceptor Igaklay?”
“Yes. He will link you to whomever you want to speak to. Say ‘hello’, Preceptor.”
“Hello, Mr. Allen.”
“Um, hello, Preceptor Igaklay?”
“Hello.”
“What if you aren’t available?”
“I’m always available, Mr. Allen.”
“Um, okay.”
“You’re sure that you don’t need anything?”
“No, we’re good here, Krag.”
“That’s one less worry.”
“Now, you’re going back to fight the bugs, I mean, the Morteks.”
“That is correct.”
“With more alien devices.”
“Yes, that’s the plan. Like I said, though, I need pilots. Contact everyone else. See if you can find some.”
“I’ll do that.”
‘Oh, get everyone out of here. If the Morteks do decide to invade, the cities are the first places they hit. Get to the country. Hide out there.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Tell the other settlements. They need to get out of the cities.”
“Are you going to give communicators to the other groups?”
‘Nope. Just you. Since everyone’s fine, we gotta go.”
“Kick their butts, Mr. Marston.”
“I plan on it.”
Aboard Heimdallr
“We’re here, Cap.”
“Thanks, Brooksy. Toast, you’re up.”
“I started searching about an hour ago, Captain. I think I found two targets. With everything shut down on those ships, I can’t tell if they’re ships or rocks. But I found two which are about the right sized.”
“You heard her, Brooksy. Get over to them.”
“Roger, Cap.”
Thirty minutes later, Lieutenant Torres got the first visual.
“Nope. A rock.”
“One for me, Toast.”
“Bite me, Brooksy.”
“Only a nibble, Toast.”
“Pig.”
“Get us to the second one, Brooksy. Toast, keep searching.”
Ten minutes later, the second visual displayed a very large ship. The dark, powerless craft sedately floated in its orbit, if untouched, destined for an eternity of circling the Atlantius star.
“One for you, Toast. That’s one big-ass ship, Cap.”
“Looks like a cruise liner, Captain.”
“Brooksy, get us close to the bow. Let’s see what we’re looking at.”
“Creeping in, Cap.”
“Toast, get some light on her. Let’s see if we can read her name.”
At Captain Scott’s command, Lieutenant Torres activated floodlights and began sweeping the derelict as Brooksy repositioned Heimdallr.
“Found her, Captain. ‘Jewel of the Stars’.”
Scotty worked his console and an image of the ship under power opened on the main monitor with its critical information listed below.
“You’re right, Toast. It’s a cruise ship. Eighty-thousand, seventy-two tons. Eight-hundred, sixty-two feet in length. One-thousand, nine-hundred and thirteen guests. Seven-hundred, fifty-nine crew members.”
“We could convert it to a troop transport, Cap.”
“If that’s what Hawk wants, Brooksy. Toast, contact Griffin. Let her know that we’ve found
our first hull.”
Mortek Drone, Atlantius Space
The Mortek drone, in its electronic patience, had continued to dog Heimdallr, recording every second of its surveillance. It recorded the soft skin ship’s approach and withdrawal from the asteroid.
It then recorded the soft skin’s ship during the approach to the large, dormant vessel drifting in space.
As this new anomaly triggered an exception algorithm, the Mortek drone sent another packet of data to the collector drone hovering at the Cencore gate. That drone, in turn, sent the packet through the gate and to the receiver drone waiting at the other end of the wormhole.
Aboard Griffin, Atlantius Space
“Captain, Heimdallr just checked in.”
“Patch her through, Sue.”
“Hawk?” Krag heard.
“Hey Scotty. What’s going on?”
“We found our first hull.”
“Great news. Who is she?”
“A cruise ship. Jewel of the Stars. Good sized. Almost ninety-thousand tons.”
“That’s big.”
“Maybe we could use her as a troop carrier.”
“Maybe. What shape is she in?”
‘We don’t know. She’s totally dark. And we didn’t want to break in.”
“Wait for us. Let’s see what Mack and Igaklay can do.”
“Roger that, Hawk. How long?”
“Sue?”
“I have Heimdallr’s coordinates. We can jump to within a couple of hundred miles then power in.”
“Go ahead and plot it. Keiko, get us there.”
“Sue sent me the target. Jumping now.”
Everyone felt Griffin’s minor shudder.
“We’re thirty minutes out, Captain.”
“Hear that Scotty?”
“See you in thirty, Hawk.”
Thirty minutes later, two human ships had their spotlights shining on Jewel of the Stars. Heimdallr continued to illuminate the nose while Griffin highlighted a personal entry hatch.
“Mack, what have we got?”
“Just a standard hatchway, Cap. I see a simple entrance pad with a biometric reader and a keypad.”
“Can you get into it?”
“With me and Sweet Sue, easy-peasy.”
“Well?”
“I just need to attach a reader to the pad, Cap. Then, Lassie can do her stuff.”
“Sue?”
“It looks pretty simple. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Mack, does that mean that you need to do a spacewalk?”
“Ya, Cap. No problem. I’ve done a lot of them on the shipyard.”
“Keiko, can you get us close?”
“Give me a few minutes.”
“Scotty?”
“Still here, Hawk.”
“Get above Jewel and fire up every sensor you’ve got. I want to know if you find so much as a wayward pebble coming this way.”
“Will do, Hawk.”
“Buster, suit up, jetpack and full weaponry. I want you on overwatch, keeping an eye on Mack.”
“Aye, aye, Oh Captain.”
“Ya dinna need that, Cap. It’s a short jump.”
“And it will be perfectly safe. You two, get moving.”
Krag waited patiently while Keiko repositioned Griffin, Mack climbed into his hazardous environment suit and Buster strapped on his gear. Once the three completed their tasks, Krag looked around the bridge.
“Keiko, you have the bridge.”
“I have the bridge,” Keiko formally responded.
“Preceptor Igaklay, you are on protection. Sue, sensors. Gopai, guns. I don’t want anything within a parsec of us while Mack is doing his EVA.”
“Don’t worry, Captain. We’ve got this.”
“I know, Sue.”
Krag headed to the cargo bay. Once he arrived, he approached Mack and gave the engineer a thorough check-over.
“This isna my first float, Cap. I got this.”
“Just checking. Buster, ready?”
“As I will ever be, Oh Captain.”
“Yeah, yeah. Buster, you cycle first and take up position on Jewel’s hull. Mack, you follow.”
Buster stooped and entered Griffin’s personal lock, closed the inner door then waited while the air cycled back into its holding tank. Once the small room achieved vacuum, the outer door’s status light turned red. Working the panel, Buster opened the outer hatch, pushed off and floated out. Jetting over to the cruise ship, he flipped, landed feet-first and activated the magnetic clamps on his metal feet, effectively anchoring him to just above Jewel of the Stars’ hatch.
While this occurred, Griffin’s outer hatch closed and the lock refilled with air. Mack entered, waited for the vacuum to be re-established and opened the outer hatch.
Krag, using his tablet, watched the proceedings through one of Griffin’s external cameras.
Mack pushed off. Floating in the void, he spread his arms wide and, using the small control jets on his suit, began to spin on his head-feet axis. Then, with more control, he tucked himself into a ball, spun five-hundred, forty degrees, expanded and lightly touched his magnetic boots to Jewel’s hull.
“Show off,” Krag spoke over his throat mic.
“Space baby, Cap. I’ve been doing this since I was a bairn in me mum’s lap.”
“Yeah, yeah. Quit clowning. Install the pad and get back here.”
“Aye, aye, Captain, Sir.”
Pulling the pad from his utility belt, Mack allowed it to magnetically clamp to the plate next to the hatch’s control pad. Then, using small tools, he removed the pad’s cover, tested the circuitry and attached six wires.
“Done here, Love. It’s on you.”
In a few minutes, the pocket door of the outer hatch to Jewel of the Stars slid into the bulkhead and all could see the empty pressure lock.
“Sue, can you open the inner door?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Mack, get back here. And no clowning.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
Mack saluted, pushed off and worked his way back to Griffin’s open pressure lock. Once safely onboard, he disconnected his helmet and pulled it off.
“See, Cap? No problem. You’ve got your dirt, I’ve got my deep dark.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t get out of your suit. You’re going to be needed once Jewel is secured.”
Krag turned to face the Elonian and marine quarters in the cargo bay. Surprised, he saw eight Elonians and five marines already dressed in their hazardous environment suits.
“Sergeant, Tribune?”
“We anticipated that you would need us to secure the ship, Commander. Therefore, we had our squads prepare for the anticipated action.”
“I see, Tribune. Who is the baddest of the bad?”
“That would be Guardsman Negiani, Captain.”
“Why do you say that, Sergeant?”
“Because, in any close hand-to-hand, knife-to-knife or baton-to-baton training, he kicks everyone’s butt, sir. And you are right. We absolutely hate his tail. We call him ‘Whipper’.”
Krag laughed a good, marine laugh.
“Guardsman Negiani, you’re up. Get over to Buster. You and he will be the breachers.”
“At your command, My Commander.”
Guardsman Negiani donned his helmet as he sprinted to the lock. Quickly entering, the Elonian warrior slammed the inner hatch closed, pressed the vacuum button, opened the outer hatch and thrust himself at his legate, Legate Buster.
“Guardsman Negiani is very gung-ho, Tribune.”
“Gung-ho, Commander?”
“Passionate about his responsibility, Amby.”
“I understand. Gung-ho. A good word.”
“Amby?”
“Sorry, Captain. Tribune Ambakai.”
“No problem, Sergeant. Tribune Ambakai, what do you call the Sergeant?”
“’Bully, Sir.”
“Do you know what a bully is?”
“Yes, Sir. It is how
First Sergeant Boulos treats his and my warriors.”
Krag heard quiet snickers and huffs.
“Quiet in the ranks, you walking rugs and crawling mud ducks!”
“See, Commander?”
“Bully, it is. Pair up. You will be infiltrating in groups of two. I want that ship secured, stem to stern, bilge to con. Understood?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
“Buster?”
“Sue has opened the inner hatch, Captain. We have taken up a defensive position in a reception area.”
“Move your people out, Tribune, Sergeant. Mack, stay ready. Once Jewel is secured, you and I are going over and, with Buster’s help, getting her powered up.”
For the better part of the afternoon, eight Elonians and five marines opened every hatch, searched every room, walked every hallway and crawled every crawl-way. All they discovered was a completely powered-down ship, devoid of all life and empty as a pocket.
With all the guardsmen and marines strategically placed throughout Jewel of the Stars, Sergeant Boulos commed, “All clear, Captain.”
“Prepare to receive myself and Mack.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
“Will you need some help, Cap?”
“Keep it up, Space Baby.”
Having donned his own H.E. suit, Krag and Mack floated over to the open lock on Jewel of the Stars. After they entered, shut the outer hatch, pressurized and opened the inner hatch, the two clomped into the reception area. Seeing that Tribune Ambakai and Sergeant Boulos still wore their helmets, neither removed their own.
“Bridge, Tribune?”
“Guardsman Negiani, lead Commander Marston and Master Engineer Mack to the bridge.”
“At your command, Tribune. If you would follow me, this way, Sirs.”
“Buster, meet me on the bridge.”
“I am already there, Captain.”
It took many minutes to hike the massive cruise liner. Having to go from deck six to deck one, all on foot, in magnetic boots, made the trek slow and tedious. Finally reaching the bridge, Krag and Mack looked around.
“Right swank, Cap.”
Krag and Mack saw multiple rows of pods and a single raised one with a full, one-hundred and eighty-degree console. To one side, a service counter held food synthesizers and drink mixers. A two-teared gallery of seats set against the back wall, obviously for the more prestigious tourists to watch the going-ons. Even powered down, everything shouted luxury. Looking closer, they saw the luxury was a thing of the past, worn out and overused.
Victory in the Stars (Marston Chronicles Book 6) Page 3
