“They? They who?” I looked out the window. “Oh. Them.” The colonial fleet had us surrounded. I cut the throttle and drifted to a stop. He powered down his engines as well. I opened a channel to the lead ship. “This is Bishop. I’m here to turn myself in. I can’t speak for the other guy.”
“Understood. Prepare to be boarded.” The comm went dead.
“Sami, once they take me, jump on their network and see what you can do to get me out. We won’t have a ton of time.”
“I understand.” The ship shuddered as we were grabbed and hauled into their docking bay. There was a loud, metallic knock on the door. I opened it, placed my hands upon my head, and stepped out of the ship. Heavily armored soldiers, their weapons aimed at my face, surrounded me.
“Won’t get any trouble from me, fellas.”
Captain Walters nodded and stepped forward. “Hands behind your back, please.” I complied. “Thank you for your cooperation. We will take you to a holding cell to await your trial as promised.” His men handcuffed my hands behind my back.
“Thanks,” I said. “For keeping your word.”
He nodded once and stepped away. The men behind me nudged me forward and led me to the brig.
It was a small room with old-fashioned metal bars and a small cot and toilet. I’d never been to prison before. If it was anything like this, I wasn’t a fan. This was going to suck. We landed at the colony ship about an hour later. The military transferred me to the local guards, and I was tossed into the colonial prison. Surprisingly, the other cells were empty.
The guard smiled. “Don’t worry. No one else here but you. The president wanted to make sure you didn’t cause any problems.” I didn’t say anything. He frowned and punched me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. I looked up in time to see him smirk and slam the reinforced cell door in my face.
“Dick.” I wheezed. He smirked as he left the cell, locking the door behind him.
The intercom on the doorframe crackled and popped for a few moments. Then Sami’s voice came through. “Bishop. Are you all right?”
“Fine. Guard sucker-punched me in the gut. What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve accessed the colonial network, as you’ve probably guessed. There is quite the chatter about your capture. It seems word is spreading rather quickly. Andy is organizing a militia and will likely be coming to free you at some point. You will have to endure for a time, however.”
“That’s fine. I could use a few hours of sleep anyhow. How are you coming along with the changes to the display monitors?”
“Slowly. Many of the monitors were never configured to do what you intend. I will, however, manage. It just may take extra time.”
“Get going,” I said. “And Sami?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks. For everything.”
“You are quite welcome. I quite enjoy our little adventures.” The intercom popped again and went silent.
I lay down on the small cot and stared at the ceiling until I passed out.
The sound of the cell door opening jolted me upright. Guards rushed in with batons held before them. I was roughly pulled out of bed and shoved out of the cell. After several turns down hallways I wouldn’t remember, we arrived at the makeshift courtroom.
The president of Colony Ship Two-Seven sat behind a large wooden desk with a sly smirk on his face. I ignored him, instead looking around the room. It was sparsely decorated, save for a few potted plants—a sign of significant wealth. Monitors and old paintings adorned the walls.
The president cleared his throat. I slowly turned my attention back to him and raised an eyebrow. Damn, he looked irritated now. Good.
“Sorry, never been to the presidential office before. It’s nice. Real homey feeling.”
“Bishop Jones,” he said flatly. “You have been charged with piracy, sedition, conspiracy to assassinate an elected official, and several other grave activities. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty, you sack of shit. We both know that nothing I say will matter. You made up your mind when I found your little pet project floating in space.”
“Quite true. However, we must keep up appearances to the general public. Lest they lose faith in their leadership.”
“Have you been to the slums? They lost faith half a century ago.”
“That inconsequential filth? Cheap labor. That’s all they are. Their opinions are meaningless. Their purpose is to work. And to die. Such is the cost of a society such as ours.”
“You’re a pompous sack of shit.”
“Perhaps. But there’s something you fail to realize, son.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“This pompous sack of shit has the power to publicly execute you. I will grow in power. Keep my secrets. And the only thing it will cost is your life. Quite the return on investment, I believe.”
I was speechless. I hadn’t expected him to come out and admit everything. He smiled. “Guards, take the prisoner back to his holding cell.”
The trip back to the cell went by in a haze of hallways and turns. It wasn’t until the guards tossed me in the cell and slammed the door that I realized where I was. And to top it off... I wasn’t alone.
“Hello, Bishop,” sneered the man before me. He wore dark brown clothing and army combat boots. Muscles rippled below his sleeves. This man was dangerous. And I was locked in a room with him.
“Uh, hi? Who are you?”
“Oh, we haven’t met. Not in person, at least.” I put my back to the wall. The man smiled. “You cored my reactor by the old ship graveyard.”
Well, this is bad. “You have me at a loss,” I said. “You know my name, but...”
His smile widened. “Winston.” His face grew quite serious. “Winston. Rogers.” Then it dawned on me. Not only was he the pirate from earlier, but he was Captain Rogers’ son. And I’d killed his father.
“I see the gears stopped turning and you realized who I am. Good. This will make this a lot more fun.” Even though I was ready for him to make a move, I hadn’t expected him to move as fast as he had. He slammed into me—shoulder to chest—pinning me to the wall. My head hit the metal bulkhead, dazing me. Punch after punch hit my stomach. I wasn’t breathing.
I had to do something. But what? I used my arms to block my midsection. He responded with a couple well-placed punches to my face. On instinct, I brought my knee up into his groin and doubled him over. Another knee aimed for his face. Crunch! Blood ran freely. He looked up at me, hatred in his eyes.
“I’ll fucking kill you,” he sneered. He charged with renewed vigor. I was on the ground in a matter of seconds. Kick after kick hit my stomach and chest. The blows stopped. I opened my eyes to find Andy kneeling over me as I lay in a puddle of blood. Both mine and Winston’s. Six men held pinned him to the ground.
“Easy there, Bishop. You’re hurt pretty bad.” He turned to his men. “That’s the guy who tore up Steve back a few years ago. Get rid of him, I don’t care how.” His men nodded and dragged the man out the door as he struggled to free himself.
Andy helped me to my feet and looked me over. “A few cracked ribs. Bloody nose. Two black eyes. That your first beating?” I nodded. “Not bad. At least you had the sense to block some of his punches. Could have been a lot worse. Can you stand?”
I shakily stood up, managing to steady myself on the wall. “Yeah, I’m good. Head’s still spinning though.”
Andy pulled out a small light and shined it in my eyes a few times. It was blindingly bright. “Mild concussion,” he said, nodding. “Probably best not to take a nap anytime soon.”
“No nap. I’ll get on that right after a nap.” Andy didn’t laugh. I sighed. “Okay, what’s next?”
“Hell if I know, kid. This was your plan, not mine.”
“Oh. Right.” I thought hard for a moment. My thoughts didn’t want to cooperate. The bridge. “We need to get to the bridge. There were repairs to make locally. Have you found it yet?”
“Yeah. Sami scrounge
d up some blueprints. It’s actually about a fifteen-minute walk from here. You wanting to go now?”
I nodded. “Only a matter of time before they realize what’s happened. The quicker we get done, the quicker this will be over.”
“All right then, let’s get moving.”
We arrived at a massive double sliding door. It looked like a freight elevator but served as some sort of equipment loading bay. As we approached, the door opened automatically.
“Huh,” said Andy. “It’s never done that before.”
“I’m sure we had help. Let’s keep moving.”
We approached a smaller door on the opposite end of the room. The word BRIDGE was faded but clearly readable across the upper door section. A loud clanking sound came from within the door. The locking mechanisms were being pulled back. The door opened with a hiss.
“Holy shit, It’s beautiful.” The entryway stood at the top of a raised platform. Stairs on either side descended at forty-five-degree angles, and the walkways snaked around a central platform. Above this platform, suspended from the ceiling, was a large robotic arm hoisting a flight seat.
Cables hung from the ring above. They connected into the back of the seat, likely providing power and communications. Several stations surrounded the central platform, and the main path led to the very front of the bridge. An enormous window provided an amazing view of the lunar surface.
“Damn it, Bishop. Get out of the way. I wanna see too, ya know. Kids these days...”
“Oh, sorry.” I chuckled, stepping onto the bridge. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Me neither.” He took note of the central platform. “Looks like that’s your chair. Gonna need your fancy hat to fly this thing though.”
“I brought it with me. It’s stashed on the Gilmore. First thing’s first though. Most of the data lines to the bridge were disconnected. We need to reconnect them so Sami can access the central computer.”
“The blueprints showed the network stack behind a panel on the back wall.” We searched the wall for several moments before we came upon a removable panel. Sure enough, a bundle of synapse cable snaked its way through several connection points.
“Bishop, look at this. It’s all connected. Why isn’t it working?”
Looking over the networking cabinet, I took note of several peripheral devices. There were no lights. I followed the power conduits back to the distribution box and flipped the breaker. A rainbow of lights from every box blinked to life. Beeps and whistles and fans filled the air with noise. I smiled. “There we go.”
A low hum filled the bridge as consoles began to power up one after another. The monitors filled with all manner of data from reactor diagnostics to oxygen levels.
“Bishop, you did it!”
The large monitor to the right blinked on. A message displayed across the screen:
SHIP-WIDE BROADCAST
“We have identified several terrorists assisting Bishop Jones in sabotaging the colony ship. We are willing to forgive these transgressions if you turn in Mr. Jones. No questions will be asked. No consequences. We simply want to hold him accountable for his transgressions. Failure to produce Mr. Jones in the next hour will result in military action. I am sure we would all prefer to avoid that.”
END SHIP-WIDE BROADCAST.
27
Andy sighed. “That crafty son of a bitch…”
I turned to him. “How trustworthy is your group? Do you think any of them will turn on us?”
“They’re quite trustworthy…” Andy looked down at the deck for a moment, hesitating. “It’s not their trust I’m worried about, Bishop. They’re desperate. Broken. They just want what’s best for their families. Most of them will fight since they have nothing to lose. But there are quite a few families just trying to get by. It’s going to make things interesting.”
“Betrayal could come at any time,” said Sami.
“Oh, hey. You were able to connect.”
“Yes. Although it did take some time for the connections to the bridge systems to re-establish. I apologize for the delay.”
“No worries. How close to flight-ready is the colony ship? Are the bridge systems intact?”
“Several hours still, unfortunately. The reactors need to be reprogrammed. The FTL drives are missing their core subroutines. They’ve been wiped. There are backups, but it will take time to reload them.”
“All right, get on that. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”
Andy raised an eyebrow. “What do you plan on doing?”
“Something reckless, I’m sure. What’s the nearest major system to where we are?”
He scratched his stubble for several seconds. “That would be the secondary life support systems. Why?”
“Have someone report seeing me tampering with them.”
“Are you crazy? They’ll throw you back in the prison. Maybe even execute you!”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. The president wants to use me as a sacrificial piece. He can’t get rid of me just yet.”
“You’re gambling with your life. This isn’t a game, kid.”
“It’ll be all right. You’ll see. Make that call.”
I opened the bridge doors and looked down the corridor before I took off at a sprint. I made it to the secondary life support plant a few minutes before the guards. To make it look legitimate, I removed a panel from one of the valve controls.
“Freeze!” yelled someone from behind me. I put my hands in the air. “Turn around. Slowly.”
I complied. “Oh, uh. I was just, uh, cleaning the panel?”
The patrol rushed me, roughly handcuffing my arms behind my back. The guards said nothing as they marched me back to my cell. Apparently, they really enjoyed tossing prisoners roughly to the floor, because they did it again. This time, I didn’t land right and hit my shoulder on the cold deck plating. That’s gonna leave a bruise for sure…
“Lights out!” bellowed one of the guards. The lights to my cell shut off. I crawled over to my cot and lay down. It felt heavenly. That was probably a bad sign as it wasn’t much more than a metal slab with a sheet on it.
“Sami? Can you hear me?” Nothing. “Sami?”
I closed my eyes and was on the verge of passing out when the intercom crackled.
“Bish—p. B—op. Do yo—” More static.
What the hell? “Sami? What’s happening?”
More statics and pops emitted out of the intercom panel. “Bishop. Do you copy?”
“Sami. I’m here, what’s wrong?”
“Unknown. Someone is attempting to lock me out of the sys—em. I will have Elyssa’s video plkzzzzt during your trial. It’s scheduled tomkzzzzPOP at 0930.”
“Sami? Are you still there?” The panel squealed one last time and went silent. Who the hell could keep Sami out of a computer system?
I had enough on my mind that I shouldn’t have been able to sleep. However, unconsciousness took me within minutes of closing my eyes.
I was awake and had already used the toilet by the time the guards arrived and opened the cell door.
“It’s time for your trial. Get up. Hands behind your back.” He motioned with his rifle. “No funny business. I’m authorized to use deadly force if you do not cooperate. That includes trying to make a run for it. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly,” I said. “Let’s get going. I have places to be.”
The guard chuckled at my comment. “I’m sure you do.” He motioned to his entourage. “Take him.”
The two guards flanking him moved quickly into my cell. I put my hands behind my back and let them handcuff me again. They nudged me forward and I complied.
“Welcome back, Mr. Jones. We missed you.” The president grinned over steepled fingers. “I was beginning to think we’d hurt your feelings with your…roommate.”
“That guy? Yeah, no idea what happened to him. Last I saw, he was rushed off by a mob of angry people.”
The presiden
t shrugged. “No matter. Tools are misplaced all the time. Even the genetically engineered are plentiful enough. Another will be found. Or made.” His grin widened. “You, however, have actually become even more valuable as a sacrificial piece than you could have imagined.”
“Oh? How’s that?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You were caught red-handed tampering with the life support system. You’re a menace to society. Put simply, you’ve allowed the opportunity for me to gain the people’s trust. The people turned on you. Reported you. And by not unleashing the military upon them, we’ve demonstrated that I have their best interest at heart. Or so it would seem.”
“Whatever you say…”
“Exactly. Also, with your breakout, it will be noted as an admission of guilt. So, you no longer have to declare your plea.” The monitor behind him blinked out, and one word was displayed across it: Ready. I smiled.
“Actually, I’d like to present my own evidence now.” Before he could object, Elyssa’s video began to play on each of the screens. The president watched as the evidence she laid out was presented. Piece by piece. Sweat began to bead at his temples. Good. He’s nervous.
At the end of the video, the president laughed. “It doesn’t matter what evidence there is. You’ll die a slave in the mines, and no one will ever know. You’ve single-handedly ensured my grip on the colony until my dying day. Thank you for that.” He turned to the guard. “Take the prisoner away.”
“I’ll see you soon,” I said, grinning.
“No, you will not.”
The guard lifted me roughly, half-dragging me out of the room. “Let’s go. Move it!” The rest of the guard’s squad joined our ranks as we exited the building.
“So, what happens now?” I asked the lead guard who walked beside me.
“I have no clue. It’s up to the president. If it were up to me, I’d have shot you at the life support system.”
“Well then. I’m glad it’s not up to you.”
Bishop's Gambit Omnibus Page 15
