by Smith, T. L.
He climbed onto the lift and Jayda used the controls to raise it up to the top container rack. She remained at the computer as he opened the first door. “Inside are crates. The computer unlocked the ones you’re allowed to take. Look for green lights.”
The boy entered the first container. In a second he appeared with a crate, heavy, even with the lighter gravity. He didn’t complain, putting it onto the platform and returning inside for another crate, then a third. The computer indicated he’d removed all the allowed crates from that container. Jayda moved him on to the next one.
By the third container Denny looked winded. There was a lot to be said for working in lighter gravity, but it required the use of different muscles to maintain balance while performing tasks. He leaned on the rail of the bot.
“Do you need to rest, Denny?”
“Yes ma’am… please.” He stammered. “Just a minute.”
“I’ll bring you down and you can move this batch out into the corridor.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jayda drew the platform back towards her, bringing it down. As it reached eye-level, it slowed for a smooth landing. That sick feeling in her stomach returned.
The boy’s back was turned to her as he leaned against the railing. He wore the light grey uniform of the GR, but the pants legs hung long enough to cover his boots. Long enough to drag the floor. His uniform should fit, but that was secondary to the splatter of blackish stains up the back of each calf.
She backed away as the platform finished its descent. “So, Denny, where have you been so far? What do you do for GR?” She tried to keep her voice calm, curious.
He stood up, turning around, but still not looking directly at her. “Oh… I can’t…well…” The stuttering was back in full force. “I just… just move stuff.”
“Yeah, I guess someone has to.” She forced a smile. “You’re close to the door. Why don’t you take a crate with you and sit down for a breather.”
“Thank you!” He let out an exhausted sigh and grabbed the top crate, huffing as he headed for the door.
He didn’t come back immediately, which is what Jayda wanted. “Nick…” He didn’t answer right away. “Nick, you there!” She hissed, trying to keep her voice down.
“I am!” He hissed back. “What do you want? I’m waiting to hear from our two guys. They haven’t reported in yet.”
“They’re fakes! Sound the alarm.”
She glanced over her shoulder, making sure the boy didn’t hear her.
“How do you know?”
“This boy isn’t any more than eighteen, his uniform doesn’t fit and he has no specific job.”
“How can you tell? He can’t get two words out of his mouth.”
“Alliance would have cured him of that before sending him out on a ship, any ship. GR require at least two science specialties, and he’s got blood on his pants legs.” Jayda did her best to whisper, fighting the panic bubbling in her chest. “They’re not GR! Do something!”
A double-chirp in her ear was his response, a warning tone sent to all the crew, repeated every five seconds. “That’s it?”
“Until we see a deliberate action.”
“I’m telling you…” Denny appeared in the doorway, interrupting the rant she was about to go into. “…I want reports. Do it!”
Denny came into the bay, grabbing another box, quietly moving it out.
“It’s not proof!”
“It is!” She kept her eyes on Denny, her word limited. “I know what I’m talking about. You do it or I will!”
“Hang on!” He shouted at her in her ear, but didn’t cut the link. “Get your suits on and out of there, fast!”
The alarm shifted to a rapid chirp in her ear. “What’s going on?”
“They weren’t taken to medical. They’re in ejection chutes.”
“Told you! We have to stabilize the situation!” She eased past Denny to the doorway. “Do you want me up there?” He continued with the crates, not seeming the least bit alarmed by her change of demeanor. “Is it escalating?”
“Scanners indicate the eight men who just entered the ship are armed. Breeze get yourself clear. Lock the med lab down! Taylor, do you hear me.”
Nick repeated her name, not getting an answer.
Jayda stood at the door to the storage room, Denny was inside. He had a crate, waiting for her to move out of the way. She spun around on him, pulling one of her hand lasers out. “Don’t move, kid.” The boy’s face turned pale. “Who are you?”
“G… GR! Distress signal… please… don’t shoot!” Besides stuttering, he started to tremble.
“Don’t lie to me! You’re no more GR than I’m President of the Alliance.” She pointed the pistol at his head. “Is that their blood on your legs?”
He looked down, turning his leg until he saw the evidence. Jayda didn’t know anyone could look any whiter, except Snead. “I didn’t…couldn’t…” The boy’s eyes started to get blurry. “I don’t want… please don’t hurt me. I never killed… they did…”
He really couldn’t talk now. Total terror filled his eyes. “Answer me, head nods. The real GR crew are dead?” Head nod. “You didn’t kill them?” His head shook, emphatically, the tears more evident. “They did.” Nods. “They’re pirates.”
Denny dropped his head to his chest. “I don’t want… to be. They said… if I don’t…” Stutters were turning to sobs.
No pirate would cry. “How old are you, really?”
“Fourteen, fifteen… I think.” He gasped out the answer. “Help me?”
Pirates recruited from their own, or from the kids they grabbed on colony raids. She lowered her weapon, but didn’t take it off him. “Put down the crate. Don’t signal anyone. Remove your comm and slide it over to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Half-tossing, he slid the comm to her, hard enough it ended up in the corridor behind her. “You believe… believe me?”
“I want to.” Jayda took a deep breath. “I’m locking you in here. You better hope I live long enough to let you out again.”
He nodded, tears slipping down his cheeks as she closed the door and set the security codes.
Picking up his comm, she saw it was the basic model. They could communicate with each other, identify themselves, but nothing else. She opened one of the crates and dropped it inside.
“Jayda, what are you doing? Get into lockdown!” Nick hissed in her ear.
“This is my station and I’m not going to let them hunt me down.” She headed back towards the med lab. “Focus on Adams and his guy. If they get ejected have bots ready to catch them. Status on boarding party?”
“Reaching medical in ten seconds. Breeze, get to Jayda. Taylor and patients are ready. They’ve taken down their target.”
Jayda heard boots, ducking behind the next bulkhead.
“Breeze, you have two men on your heels, get to cover!” Nick wasn’t whispering anymore, but shouting orders.
Just as Breeze reached the bulkhead, Jayda reached out and grabbed her arm, jerking her to cover, then dropped to one knee. Breeze took position over her, laser charging.
Jayda listened to the softer steps coming up on them. Holding up her fingers, providing a countdown. Breeze followed through with the final mark, spinning around the corner and opening fire on the men sent to take her down.
Jayda hit the man to her left. Full-on shot, right below the windpipe. He slid down the wall. The second man scrambled for cover, firing haphazardly as he tried to backpedal in the lighter gravity.
Breeze took a measured aim and hit him. “He won’t be calling for help.” She pulled her laser back, pretending to blow smoke from the tip, a wicked half-smile as she offered Jayda a hand up. “I’m a marksman too.”
“Too soon for bragging.” She took Breeze’s hand anyway. “We got six more on board and two on the GR ship.”
“The GR crew?”
“Dead!”
“You sure?”
“The kid was too fucking s
cared to lie.” Jayda loosened the flap on the pocket holding her other pistol, just in case. “We gotta go!”
She moved past the two pirates. “Nick, status!”
“On my way to medical.”
“So are we.” Jayda could already hear laser fire. Breeze took the lead. The corridor curved gradually. Except for doorways and short passages into the outer ring of the station, there was no cover. Fortunately the med lab was on the inner wall, letting them get a few steps closer without being seen.
Jayda saw a grey-clad body sprawled in the corridor. “Five still standing.”
“You sure?” Breeze tried to get a better look around the corner, but dodged back as laser seared the air, absorbed into the opposite wall.
“Boy couldn’t lie.”
“Umpf, never trust a pirate’s word.”
“My sentiments too.” Nick slid up behind the women. “This vantage sucks.”
“You didn’t figure that out in the drills?” Jayda snapped at him.
Nick ignored it, pointing down the corridor to a doorway. “Our other crewmen are pinned down.”
“For the moment. We need to push these guys back.” Breeze rolled back. “Team One, grenades. Team Two, standby to rush. Get them away from the med lab.”
Nick grabbed Jayda, pulling her back from the bend, blocking her with his body. She started to push him off her, but a round of explosions made her cover her ears. The percussions made the floor feel like it was melting away beneath her feet and she clutched at Nick for support.
“One more!” Breeze crowded up to Nick too as the next round of explosions almost sucked the air out of their lungs.
Jayda couldn’t hear anything, but Breeze jumped into the corridor, laser firing. Nick let Jayda go. “Get into the med lab. Make sure they’re okay.” He followed Breeze.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jayda was still gasping for air. “Son-of-a-bitch!” No one said anything about grenades. The shockwave destabilized her servos. Waiting for them to equalize on their own would take too long. Jayda tore her suit open, jabbing at the power unit on the control belt, forcing a reset.
Everything shut down for the five seconds it took to resurge power into her leg braces. A long five seconds. “Come on! Come on!” She kept her eyes on the corridor, expecting an enemy face to appear any second.
It felt more like five minutes, but a tingling at the side of each knee told her the unit was up and running. She pushed herself off the wall and her legs held her. Following the sound of laser weapons, Jayda moved along the curve of the wall.
The med lab doors were closed. She tapped her comm-link. “Taylor, everyone alright in there?”
“Some injuries, nothing I can’t deal with.” She sounded a lot more confident than when she’d first arrived.
I’m setting an additional lockdown. No one can get in.
“Can I get out if needed?”
“Out, but not in, unless we’re in third-level lockdown. Red light over the door. Just try to stay in there.” She slipped away from the door, over the body of another pirate. Four left. A few more steps and she recognized a Dolan uniform. “Damn.” She knelt over him. He opened his eyes, still alive. “Can you move?”
He groaned, clutching at his right side as he tried to sit up. “Not dying yet.”
“That’s the spirit.” Jayda forced herself to recall her anatomy. There was a good chance no vital organs were involved and he could move, so nothing spinal. “Come on!” She forced him up, her servos whining until he was on his feet. She pushed him back to medical, calling Taylor. “Got a patient for you, hit bypass next to the door.”
Jayda kept an eye on the corridor both ways, virtually shoving the crewman through the doors as they slid open. Taylor and another patient grabbed him. Jayda rushed back to her pursuit of Nick and Breeze.
With the additional crewmen released from their cabin and the two fakers from the medical bay, they had the four pirates pushed back halfway to the airlock. She caught up, earning a scowl from Nick. He slipped off the front line and back to where she checked the wound on a crewman’s arm. “I told you to hold medical.”
“They’re locked down. No one can get in without me or Taylor letting them.” She let go of the crewman’s sleeve. A laser had sliced up along his forearm, exposing muscle and flesh, destroying nerves. “You can’t hold a weapon. Get to medical, before you tear open the cauterization and start bleeding all over the place.”
He looked to Nick, getting a nod. “Yes, ma’am!” Cradling his useless arm, he trotted away, keeping close to the wall.
“Go with him!”
“Stop ordering me around!” She hissed. “We need them off my station.”
“No, as much as I want them gone, we need information. They killed an Alliance crew to gain access to your station. We need to know why.”
As much as she hated to agree with him, he was right. First the sabotage, now these men pretending to be Alliance. “I’m in. Too many innocent people have died to let them escape.”
“Grenades.” Breeze whispered a warning over the comm. Jayda danced back along the corridor, Nick following. They both covered their ears just in time.
After the second explosion, he backed off. “You okay?”
Jayda stood up, the servos still working. “Yes, I just need enough warning to get a bit of distance. The shock waves disrupt my suit.”
“All the more reason to stay out of this.” He said the words, but gripped her arm and drew her forward. The team had advanced again, but the enemy was fighting hard. A sane person would cut their losses when they found their target outgunned them. Unfortunately, these fringe tribes had bred sanity out of their bloodline.
“Have you heard from Snead? Demands, threats, anything?”
“Not yet, but they usually won’t reveal their demands until they have the upper-hand.” He stopped, pushing her against the wall. “You’re the upper-hand they want, so stay back!” He kept an arm on her. “Lewis, are you watching us?”
“Yes, sir. Another few pushes and you’ll reach the airlocks.”
“How many are we still facing?”
“Four, but two are wounded.”
“Not enough to be out of the game?”
“No, sir. Still firing on us. Wait…” There was a moment of silence. “Capt. Breeze, they’ve opened fire on the Dolan. They must have picked up our weapons. Geez, these aren’t GR weapons. We’re taking some serious hits.”
“Keep a line open to the Dolan. If you need to throw them off, do it. The bots can bring them back when it’s safe.”
“What about Adams?” Jayda broke into the conversation.
“Adams made it into his suit and out of the ejection tube. He’s aboard the enemy ship.” There was a slight pause. “Fredrik was ejected. Bot has him in a holding position under the GR ship.”
“Well, get him out of there before he’s fired on too.”
“How?”
“Order the bot to return him through a bot port.”
“Bot port? Oh, got it. Working the order.” There was a moment of silence on the line, filled with a volley of laser fire. “Breeze, something’s up! Capt. Breeze!”
Nick took off when Breeze didn’t answer Lewis. Jayda crept around the corner, seeing Nick change places with his pilot, letting her fall back. She came around the corner, glaring at Jayda. “Breeze here. Glad you remember I’m the captain. What’s up, Lewis?”
“The two wounded have fallen back to the docking doors. They’re doing something, but I can’t tell what.”
“Let me see!” Breeze tapped at the face of her comm, holding out her wrist as Jayda crowded in.
They slapped a device over the manual lock, but Jayda shook her head. “That won’t blow through. Those doors are made to withstand… “What the hell?” Smoke started puffing from around the portal seal. “How’d they get charges into the door frame?”
Jayda glared at Breeze, who shook her head defensively. “I don’t know. I never took my eyes off th
em.”
The door rolled open. Both women expected to see the two wounded jump to their own ship, but instead they moved out of the way. A head ducked through the portal, the enemy’s medic, but when he stepped the rest of the way through, he wasn’t boarding to treat his wounded. He wore body armor and swung a weapon up from his side.
“Oh shit!” Breeze jerked her hand free and pushed Jayda hard, back the way they’d all come while she ran forward again. She pulled Nick back, shouting into his ear as explosions detonated. He grabbed at the next guy and motioned the rest to fall back. The two of them remained, removing grenades from their pockets.
Jayda saw fear as Breeze returned. “What’s going on?”
Breeze shoved Jayda towards two of her men. “Get her out of here!”
The two men picked her up by the arms, heading down the corridor. More explosions made the walls shimmer with vibrations. “Breeze, what about Nick!”
“He’ll follow, but that weapon can pierce armor and will shred a human body. We need to get somewhere safe.”
“The inner circle!” Jayda shouted over her shoulder. “The med lab, the core and my labs are all built to withstand anything they got.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am!” Jayda twisted out of the grip of the two men, staggering away before they grabbed her again. “My work is highly explosive. You think they’d not give me refuge for the worse-case-scenario?”
“Well, this is WCS!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A different explosion rocked the corridor. One of the men pounced on Jayda, knocking her to the floor. Everyone hit the deck as metal pinged against the walls, ricocheting.
As metal bounced around them, another round of grenades rumbled down the corridor, the floor vibrating. Hands jerked Jayda off the floor, running. She struggled against them. “Nick! Where’s Nick?”
“Right here!”
She twisted her head around and saw Nick suspended between two other men, blood running freely from several wounds.