They were heading to the back entrance to the Pirate Chief's covert ops space dock, of course. They were almost there thankfully.
Suddenly the world jerked and then shuddered with a loud thump and a distant crash.
The Pirate Chief stopped, looked around, and then focused on a tablet sized computing device he held. It must have provided some sort of tactical update. "We're running late," he said. "The SDF marines are a kicking down our front door right now. Time to make haste." True to his word he moved off quickly towards where Sam's store had been.
There was a small gaggle of older men and younger women chained to its front. The Pirate Chief nodded to his zombie guards. It seemed his meaning was clear. They killed those hostages with a quick series of single shots to their undefended torsos, and made sure of them with deliberate head shots.
Jeannie's stomach went queasy and cold. If'd she'd had eaten recently it would have all come up. She schooled her face quickly not to show her revulsion. Some minor good came of it. The attention of the guard named "Jack" had apparently been reset from focusing on her. It wasn't clear if the Pirate Chief realized what he'd done. Jeannie wasn't about to ask him.
The Pirate Chief stepped over a body and quickly made his way to the back of Sam's former business. The rest of his party followed post haste. When they reached the door Jeannie recognized as the entrance to his secret passageway to his backdoor docking hanger the Pirate Chief turned and looked at them.
"John," he said, "you stay here and stand guard. At all costs delay anyone who follows us as long as possible."
The Doctor watched the guard who'd been assigned this suicide mission with a confident curiosity. The guard's expression only flickered before assuming stoic resolution.
Leaving John behind they all crowded into the small closet that was the anteroom to the secret passageway. With rigid calm the Pirate Chief went through the song and dance necessary to gaining them access to that lifeline. It was clear he understood it was best not to rush the delicate operation. Haste makes waste, as in if he hurried too carelessly the back entrance's automated defenses would waste them.
In the brief interval it took the entrance to reveal itself the Doctor murmured to Jeannie, "John's emotions though dull still exist. A body needs some emotion to function. However, his thoughts are fully focused on the pleasant idea of his being a resolute warrior not on the inevitable unpleasant outcome of that resolution."
Jeannie twitched a facial tick of acknowledgment at this information. Once again she was aghast at the ease with which the Doctor managed to read her emotions even her thoughts. She tried to hide how relieved she was that he'd only noticed her speculating and misunderstood what about.
She'd been wondering just how many bodies the Pirate Chief intended to take aboard his necessarily small spacecraft with a range restricted by available life support, not on how he intended particular bodies to stay behind.
Fewer bodies meant fewer guards for Jeannie, soon an optimal time to act would be arriving. She'd only have one forlorn chance. She wanted to make the best of it.
She half expected Jack to be left behind in the passageway, but he remained through the middle where the Pirate Chief gave the pass phrase to disable the remaining defenses. She fought to hide her increasing nervousness from the Doctor.
The Pirate Chief in front had just reached the exit to the covert hanger when the world jerked again. The Pirate Chief stumbled forward banging his head on the door frame of the opening hatch. Jeannie and the Doctor stumbled into the passageway's walls. Only Jack managed to just barely keep his feet.
Not just noise accompanied this explosion. Debris fell from the ceiling in the passageway to their rear. Some sort of automated weapon opened up with a deafening chatter. Both Jack and the Doctor looked back to see what was happening. The Pirate Chief as dazed as he was was focused forward.
Jeannie stepped forward, just slow enough as to not trip her governor programming. With the same economical deliberate and not too quick speed she reached out and fastened her hands around the back of the Pirate Chief's neck. She squeezed as hard as she could.
"He dies so do you!" the Doctor exclaimed seeing what had happened. He pushed the punishment button on her control but the spasm's from the shocks only tightened the death grip she had on the Pirate Chief's neck.
It did hurt. She didn't care. The Doctor had goofed. If he'd just knocked her unconscious her grip would have loosened. She giggled to see the Pirate Chief turning purple as her vision went negative, then black as her thoughts faded.
* * *
She hurt all over. Did dead people hurt all over? She didn't think so.
The Pirate Chief must have lied. Why was she surprised? She hurt so much and she was so tired.
She was alive. She was sprawled over something very lumpy. Her eyes were glued shut and she didn't want to have to open them ever. Bone tired she'd have wished she'd died if she could have mustered the energy. She couldn't. She didn't. She just didn't care. Leave me alone world.
She'd given her all. She was drained. There was nothing left. She wanted to sleep. Sleep, rest, forget, for a good long time, she had nothing left to do, why not?
She wasn't comfortable. Not really. Sprawled, higgly-piggly over hard lumps, her hands painfully wrapped around something. Bastard Doctor had shocked her into convulsions hadn't he?
She realized there were loud klaxons going. Maybe that was what had woken her up? She vaguely remembered gunfire, and the thumps of of explosions. Those seemed to have stopped. Strangely she seemed to have gotten used to the klaxons, because they made a regular noise or because she was that tired? Who knew? Did she care? She supposed so? Maybe not that much.
She took a breath. Yes, she must be alive. She didn't feel like moving, but she did wonder if the Doctor had left her able to. What had happened to him? Had he left? What about the Pirate Chief, and that guard, Jack?
The klaxon's stopped. She thought she heard hurried but firm footsteps. She opened her eyes. There was light, red tinged, but she was down on something cloth covered.
That wouldn't do.
Some of the steps stopped. "Cripes," an awed voice said.
She somehow turned herself over. Guess she could move under her own power if she should want to. Her hands had been clenched around the Pirate Chief's neck. If his purple swollen face was anything to go by he was quite dead.
Two men in combat armor stood nearby looking down at her. Neither of them was the Doctor or Jack the guard.
She forced her mouth to smile at them.
She tried to speak but gagged on the dry dust that filled her mouth and throat. She coughed and choked and tried again. "Hello, gentlemen," she said. "Are you the cavalry?"
"No, ma'am," one of the men, an officer she thought, said, "we're the marines." He knelt down beside her, putting his weapon aside as he did so.
"Well, I'm a marine, sir," the other man said. "Is that the Pirate Chief?"
"It was," Jeannie said with a smug pride. She couldn't help herself. The man had dearly deserved it, and the world was now a better place.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" the apparent officer asked.
"Of course not," Jeannie retorted. Relenting she said, "But much better than I have been. Thank you."
He looked her over carefully. "No obvious injuries. Can you move?"
"I think maybe I can," she said after thinking about it for a second. Maybe she should tell him who she was. "I'm Jeannie Chang. I was a hostage. Do you want me to try and move?"
"Think maybe she's a bit in shock, sir," the marine man, not an officer likely, said.
"If you can stand and walk, Jeannie," the officer said. "Maybe we can get you to a comfortable place, with some blankets, and tea. You'd like that wouldn't you?"
"What's this gadget with the shiny red button," the other man, the marine, said before Jeannie could formulate a reply.
"That," Jeannie said, "is the detonator that will blow us all sky high if you're not careful." It woul
d be so annoying to get killed at this point because of someone being careless.
The men went still, just for a fraction of a second. Jeannie wasn't sure, but did they look a little paler?
"Sergeant, secure that device," the officer said. "Carefully. I'll call it in. Get a demolitions expert here. Tell them the Pirate's Chief has been stopped and that we've found the Chang girl."
"Yes, sir," the sergeant said bending to look more closely at the detonator. "I think all that paint may have made the button stick. I told you bulling into a place rigged to explode was a damned stupid idea, sir. With all due respect, sir."
"That and Miss Chang putting this fellow out of commission probably saved our butts," the officer said. He had a name tag on his chest with "Torson" written on it. "Thank you, Miss Chang, for that," he said reaching down to help her up.
As she levered her still aching body up Jeannie wondered if it all was finally over. "Did you capture the Doctor?" she asked.
"The doctor?" Torson, a lieutenant if she read his insignia correctly, asked.
Jeannie could feel the cobwebs clearing as she focused. "Do you have much background on who these pirates were?" she asked.
"On this bunch very little," Lieutenant Torson admitted. He didn't seem very happy about it. "Just a probably fake name, 'Karl Student', a lot of rumors and the broadcast he made as we were closing in."
"Very little as you said," Jeannie replied. "But honestly Lieutenant if our people had known more I wouldn't be here, and a lot of people of I was responsible for would be still alive."
"We're not out of the woods here yet," Lieutenant Torson said. He must have noticed Jeannie's dawning realization that she'd survived her pirate captivity. "My men have only just started evacuating the hostages in that large forum behind us. Do you know anything about the explosives there? Any booby traps?"
"He," Jeannie waved at the Pirate Chief's body to show who she meant, "centralized the control in that detonator. I'm certain there were no booby traps. It would have meant risking a hostage with nothing to lose setting the trap off early and catching some of the pirates maybe the Chief himself in it."
"What's up ahead?"
"Covert Ops Hanger, back door to this place when he wanted to keep some of his dealings under his hat."
Lieutenant Torson muttered something into a small mic attached to his helmet. "A second evacuation route maybe? Possible hostiles there?"
"Normally he kept at least a pair of guards just beyond this exit, and hidden guards on each ship ready to lift," Jeannie replied. "But I think he sent them all off with the fighting fleet. I think he wanted the fewest possible witnesses to his escape."
A small squad of marines uniformed much the same as the Lieutenant and Sergeant came up. Their leader waited expectantly for the Lieutenant to acknowledge them. One of the new man knelt reverently and gazing at the detonator conversed in low whispers with the Sergeant. The requested demolition expert no doubt.
"Are we done here then?" Lieutenant Torson asked Jeannie.
"Not quite. The Pirate Chief and the doctor he used were both captured Federation bureaucrats," Jeannie responded. "The Doctor had a knack for conditioning prisoners. He claimed to be privy to Proscribed Sciences. It is imperative you tell your superiors to make his capture a priority."
Lieutenant Torson blinked at Jeannie. Turning to the new arrival's leader he said, "Sergeant, your squad must clear the hanger in front of us with all possible dispatch. Report your findings as you go."
The squad of new arrivals minus the demolitions man pushed past Jeannie and the dead Pirate Chief. They assumed tactical order and disappeared into the hanger ahead.
"I should probably get to a doctor for a full examination as soon as possible," Jeannie said. "That man there claimed he'd put a dead man's switch on me."
"Thanks for telling me that right away," Lieutenant Torson retorted. A quick back and forth muttered conversation with his remote superiors failed to improve his mood. Jeannie heard snatches. "She's right here." "A little banged up ... booby-trapped maybe." And a little later, "Being cleared now." Then "I see,sir," and finally, "yes, sir."
"You've lost him? Jeannie asked.
"Probably," Lieutenant Torson admitted. "Here come with me," he said offering her a supporting arm.
Jeannie hadn't given her future much thought for a while, but she knew now it would include making sure all the pirates were gone and not coming back.
14: Amidst the Rubble
The good the truly good do
Has no end in view
It'd been a hell of a risk, plunging through that huge concourse full of hostages and explosives, with only Sergeant Jackson for company at the end.
That on top of having convinced, well strong armed, the Commodore in to fully committing the entire Task Force minus a couple of Patrol Craft against the pirate base, not their fleeing fleet.
Sven Torson half wondered if the Commodore would have missed him he he'd gone sky high along with those hostages.
It was unfair to the Commodore he thought as he helped the tired and battered Chang girl, Jeannie, to her feet. She was very pretty he realized under the grime and surface abrasions. Despite all she'd been through she was showing a spark of spirit. As admirable as it was awkward.
In that moment he could understand how the Commodore must feel.
"My superiors want me to get you somewhere safe and looked at by a doctor pronto," he said to her.
Oddly she shivered at that.
"This doctor you mentioned," he asked. "Not the ethical sort was he?"
"He was ... he is a monster," she replied. "I know you have a lot on your plate, and I appreciate the rescue, but you must convince your superiors to make his capture a priority."
"My first priority is getting you to safety," Torson replied. "Do you know this place well? What's the best, the fastest way out of here? Back through that large concourse or forward into what you tell me is a hanger?"
"The large concourse?" Jeannie said. "I think you mean the marketplace, where there are thousands of desperate hostages surrounded by explosives, mines and autonomous weapons, don't think you want to go that way. We're right at the hanger. The Pirate Chief kept it a secret from most of his people and tightly under his control with him gone don't think there's much danger that way."
"Okay," Torson said. He'd check on what the point patrol had to say. Jeannie Chang seemed ready to wait patiently. She was looking around as if searching for something. "Sergeant Matkowski, Torson here, report," he said into his mic.
"Matkowski here," came the reply. "Quite the little installation here, but it seems to be abandoned. Nobody alive. Several ships were open but their guards blasted their controls and suicided. Very odd for pirates, sir. Hanger doors open and at least one vessel seems to be missing."
"Good," Torson said. "Finish your sweep with maximum dispatch and report back here at the entrance for hostage evac escort duty. Torson out." He turned to Jeannie Chang who was watching him intently. "Looks like your doctor got away but the way out behind him is open."
She just nodded.
"Normandy, Torson here," he said keying a different channel. After they responded he went on, "You have my position and the entrance to a nearby hanger on scan? Yes? Good I want an assault shuttle here top priority." That elicited the response that hostage evacuation was in full swing and there were no resources to spare. "Top Priority," Torson insisted. "I have a critical intelligence asset here in addition to a high profile hostage."
Turning to Jeannie he said with a grim smile, "You do have critical intelligence don't you?"
"Your lucky day, Lieutenant," Jeannie answered. "I'm probably the single most valuable informant you're going to find. Also I'm afraid you need to get to a competent doctor able to perform neurological surgery sooner rather than later." She leaned back against the door frame she was in, clearly fighting an overwhelming fatigue.
"Why?"
"That doctor you're apparently not going to catch
installed some sort of chip at the back of my neck next to my spinal cord."
"Okay."
"Not really," Jeannie said with a grim distracted smirk. "It can control the nerve pulses to my body. He had a control for it. It's not here. He must have taken it with him. I need that thing disabled as soon as possible. Won't feel safe until that's done."
"Christ, lady," Sergeant Jackson, who'd been quietly standing guard, said. "You must have really annoyed the bastards."
"I got loose and reached the bridge of my ship, the Chang's Venture," Jeannie said. "Destroyed his flagship with her exhaust."
"Good on you, ma'am," Sergeant Jackson said. Torson knew his approval was heartfelt. That incident had been the talk of the fleet. They'd all wondered what brave soul had pulled that off. None of them had thought it likely that whoever it'd been had survived their act of rebellion.
"I must agree with the Sergeant," Torson said. "An impressive effort, and it confirms that your debrief is a top priority."
Jeannie looked around wearily taking in the Pirate Chief's body, and the debris littered damaged passageway they stood in. "I failed in the end due to my own arrogance," she said. "They had the bridge rigged with knock out gas. I should have expected that and checked for it, or at least have kept my gas mask on."
"Ma'am," Sergeant Jackson spoke, "maybe you're not perfect. Who is? But, pardon my French, that took some super large balls. You're a bleeding hero, ma'am, and don't let anyone, even yourself, tell you different."
"Again, despite the Sergeant's colorful turn of phrase I have to agree with him," Torson said. He wished his dignity as an officer allowed him to express himself more forcefully. The girl, because the young woman was in fact very young indeed, had come through an ordeal that would have broken most people. Maybe she had her scars but she didn't ever seem to have stopped fighting. He had to count himself impressed.
The young woman in question looked at them with serious inquiry on her face. "Thank you," she said.
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