“You don’t even know what the plan is,” Martinez added, her voice low and soothing.
“I was lying down, not dead. I heard enough, and I have eyes. Girlie here is going to crawl through there, get some guns, come free us. We then head to the airlock, and escape onto her ship.”
“Okay, that’s basically the plan, but Honey, how are you going to help?” Hanover asked.
Linda sighed, then drew herself up to her full… not very tall height. She was still taller than Morgan, of course, but so was everyone else.
“I have hands, I can hold things, carry things. Besides, none of ya can go. Do you seriously think they’ll bat an eye if I ‘refuse to come out’ for ‘inspection?’ After what happened last time?”
Morgan could see it on both women’s faces. Linda was right, but they didn’t want to admit it. They were protective of her, plain to see, and didn’t want her taking any risks.
Admirable, but right now they were all in danger, and if she really could help…
“Will you follow my orders?” Morgan asked.
“I’ll listen,” Linda said. “Ya just promise me we’ll head o’er to the other side and try to free the men, too. I’m not leaving here without Pa.”
“Wait, you know where they keep the men?” Morgan asked. That would be amazingly helpful.
“Of course, I hadn’t thought of that,” the captain said. “We haven’t seen them since this started, but once or twice, they let Linda go visit her father.”
“That seems oddly kind of them,” Morgan said.
Hanover just shrugged.
“I’m pretty sure they did it to keep her father from trying anything else, proof she was okay and a reminder not to do anything stupid.”
“He did almost bust us out ‘fore we got here,” Linda said, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face so fast Morgan wasn’t sure she’d actually seen it. “The third time we even made it to the shuttle bay.”
“You’d better come with me,” Morgan said, feeling slightly more confident about their chances.
Bit rough around the edges, but she seems capable. Probably would be a real looker too, if she had a chance to clean up.
“Well then, let’s get movin’. We don’t want to be caught with our overalls down when the pirate ship comes back, do we?”
Chapter 28
“In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.” That was said something like three thousand years ago, but it remains important to us now, even if you don’t agree with him on which religion and God that is. We are supposed to be peaceable, yes, but not harmless. Should the need arise we should all be ready to defend ourselves and our loved ones. Give no offense, but be ready to deliver violence to those that would take from us what we hold most dear.
- Chaplain Captain Edmunds Rothbar, counseling the troops of Albion before battle.
Linda
LINDA HAD put on a brave face before the others, but in the privacy of her own mind she was terrified. Growing up on an isolated mining ship, she hadn’t exactly been around weapons ever, and the thought of someone using one against her congealed into a hard knot of unease in her stomach. It had been bad enough to have them just pointed at her, even when she was confident the pirates weren’t going to use them.
Her surroundings weren’t helping her anxiety any, either.
Crawling through conduits? Oh yeah, of course she’d done that. Came with living on a spaceship. Crawling through one toward certain danger, with only a tiny sliver of light ahead of you, a light that was mostly blocked by the body of the girl crawling in front of you? That was just a tad creepy.
“What was yer name again? Anyways, how can you see where ya going?” Linda asked after a bit. “So dark in here.”
The girl paused for a moment. Linda could make out some kind of movement, a shrug perhaps.
“Morgan. And this isn’t that bad, really. When I was little, I crawled around in the heavy metal mines with a light only slightly brighter than this. Compared to that, this is easy. For one thing, it’s smooth and straight.”
“Is that how you got all them scars?” Linda couldn’t help but ask. “And anyway, couldn’t they find you some pants? Inconsiderate of them, if I’m ta crawl around behind ya.”
“Yes, and weren’t you just complaining that it’s too dark anyway?”
Linda just made a noncommittal sound, resisting the urge to ask how long this was going to take.
“I wonder why it is dark in here,” Morgan pondered. It sounded to Linda like she was just thinking out loud, rather than actually asking, but, hey, talking about that beat fixating on the pirates they were about to run into.
“Laziness, of course,” she answered, wondering how someone who was supposed to be an officer – no matter how much she looked to be the same age as Linda – wouldn’t know that.
“Really? The lights worked in the other section I saw.”
“That was next to the shaft, right?”
“Yes.”
“There’s yer answer.”
“What, because it’s more important?”
“No, because the supervisors would be more likely to see them.”
“You were on their ship for a long time,” Morgan said, clearly working her way up to a question, but not actually asking it.
“Yeah. And? Not exactly fond memories, those.”
“How many of them are there? Are they like a merchant crew, everyone pulling two or three duties, or are they more like a military ship, with people who only work when there’s fighting at hand?”
“I wasn’t chatting with them, girlie,” Linda answered. “Why are ya asking, anyway?”
“Just trying to figure out what we’re up against. Are these a bunch of dumb fighters, or are they trained spacers?”
Linda snorted.
“Are you new to this? Trained spacers can get way better jobs than pirating. Once they realized I’d worked on the family ship, they had me fixing stuff ‘most every day.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know what yer thinking, but cut it out.”
“Never mind that,” Morgan paused again, sighing dramatically.
“What?”
“We’ve gone too far. We should have reached the lift shaft by now.”
“How can you tell?”
“Trust me. Judging distances and time in the dark was a vital skill where I come from.”
“We passed by a few intersections,” Linda pointed out.
“Yeah, all going the wrong way. So, what do we do about it?”
“Yer asking me?”
“Why not? I have my own ideas, but let’s hear what you think.”
Linda took the question seriously, thinking it over a moment before answering.
“Back is wasted time, if you’re right about the side passage. Forward might waste time; we don’t know where it goes. Other option is to go back and find another panel covering a crawlspace. But… two walls, floor, and ceiling would be wrong direction, front wall is where the guards are. Maybe same wall, different spot, but then we’re past the curtains and the guards can see us.”
“Not really any options, are there?” Morgan asked.
“Not as such.”
“All right, let’s see where this goes.”
***
Morgan said she could track time as they crawled. Linda could not, so it might have been a few minutes or twenty, she couldn’t tell. Finally, though, she could see a point of light in the distance, turning into small track lights in the crawlspace with a brighter light ahead as they got closer.
Morgan turned, holding her finger up to her lips, before whispering to Linda.
“I’m betting this is the engineering area. There will be pirates here. Let’s get closer, see what we can see. Quietly, now.”
As the light got closer, Linda could see the crawlspace opened onto the floor of whatever lay beyond, engineering, if Morgan was right. There was no cover on the conduit, a point
toward Morgan’s bet on where they were.
They were still a ways back when Morgan paused and turned. She motioned for Linda to stay put, then Morgan turned off her tiny flashlight.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Morgan scooted forward, completely silent.
She got right up to the opening, leaning one way and the next, looking out into the room.
Then Morgan pulled back, just outside the pool of light created by the room. She shifted so that she was lying on her back, head pointed toward the opening, and twisted about so she could look out into the room.
A minute passed, then two.
Linda’s heart was pounding, her body trembling in excitement or fear, or both, even though she was not the one sitting there mere feet from some very bad men.
Almost faster than Linda could follow, Morgan burst into movement, grabbing onto the top of the opening and pulling herself from the crawlspace in a single fluid motion and onto her feet. An instant later she disappeared from Linda’s view, followed by a very surprised shout.
There was a loud crashing sound, and the sound of several blows.
Silence for a moment, shattered by the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Linda couldn’t tell how many shots, because the sounds echoed painfully in the enclosed space, and one blended into the next.
Another crash and then some groaning, tapering off into a hoarse rattle that ended moments later as a single gunshot rang out.
Linda could hear something being dragged, several somethings, and then it was silent again.
The slapping sound of bare feet broke the silence, and then Linda could see Morgan standing in front of the opening. She stepped to the side, and then her upside-down head appeared, blocking most of the light.
“Come on out now, it’s safe.”
Linda did as asked, wondering how Morgan had managed to overcome two men – by the sounds of it – while totally unarmed.
Guess surprise does wonders, she thought, fitting that she used it here. They sure seem to love it.
Then she was out, not so smoothly and quickly as Morgan, but being able to stretch was the more important consideration for her in that moment than how good she looked doing it.
The room was a mess. Several bits of machinery were dented, probably from falling bodies, and there were bullet holes in several more.
There were also several bodies piled in a corner, with some sort of tarp thrown over them.
Wait a moment, Linda thought, looking at the obvious feet shapes visible under the tarp, plus a few more sticking out. Five, six, seven… just how many men were in here?
There was a pile of weapons on the console in the middle of the room, five smaller weapons and two larger. Pistols and rifles, that was the extent of what Linda could say about them, plus a few spare clips or whatever they were called. The bullet holders.
“How, how many was this?” Linda asked, looking from Morgan to the tarp, then back to Morgan. At some point, she had lost one of her sleeves, torn off by the looks of it, but otherwise she looked perfectly fine. Not so much as a scratch.
“A few,” Morgan said.
For a moment Linda took this as Morgan bragging, trying to play down what she’d done to draw attention to it, but that wasn’t it, not one bit. Her tone, her posture… Morgan was shaken. She’d killed several men in moments, and now that it was done, she looked like she was going to be sick.
“Men who had it comin’ more than these would be hard to find,” Linda said, taking a stab at what was bothering the other girl.
“You think so?”
“I know it.”
“They didn’t hurt anyone…” Morgan started to say, but Linda cut her off physically, stepping in front of her and grabbing Morgan by both shoulders.
“Oh, don’t you fall for their nonsense,” Linda shouted. “Because it is. They don’t kill, except when they ‘have to,’ but only so they can hide from their deeds. They destroy lives, they take what ain’t theirs, and they think themselves better because they don’t physically hurt people? Nothing but lies to delude themselves.”
“Is it right, though? Killing them because they want to take our things?”
“They want our things more than they want to live. Just because we’re smarter than that don’t mean their dying is our fault.”
“I killed them.”
“They killed their own damn selves.”
“No… I mean…” Morgan floundered about, waving both arms, easily breaking free from Linda’s grip. For one moment Linda got a sense of Morgan’s power, realizing that while they might be of a more or less similar size, Morgan was far, far stronger than Linda.
“What do you mean?”
“Is this what I want to be?” Morgan asked, pointing to the tarp. “A killer?”
Linda had no idea how to answer that, and really, she only vaguely understood what Morgan was even really upset about, but clearly she had to try something. Linda was right sure she could shoot a pirate if it came to it, but that didn’t mean she’d be very good at it, what with her complete lack of experience with guns or fighting at all. If she wanted to see her Ma again – or even Pa, no matter how close by he was – she needed Morgan.
“You ain’t a killer,” Linda said, hoping her meager attempt would work.
“I’m looking at some compelling evidence that says otherwise,” Morgan said with a dark laugh.
“Uh-huh. If those men weren’t pirates, would they be dead now?”
“Of course not.”
“Is anyone not trying to kill you, or kidnap you, or whatever, in danger?”
“No. I would never…” Morgan protested, only to be cut off as Linda pressed forward.
“Killer, Soldier, Murderer. Mean the same thing, some’ll say? Nonsense. Protecting others and taking what you want aren’t remotely the same, and neither is murder or killing in self-defense.”
“It doesn’t feel that way,” Morgan whispered, closing her eyes.
“Not right now, maybe. I’m right, though. And right now, we need to get on with it, keep protecting people.”
“You’re pretty smart,” Morgan said with another short laugh, though not quite as tinged with sadness. “How’d you get all the luck? Brains, beauty, all at what? Sixteen?”
“Earth years?” Linda asked, and then shrugged. “I think I’m eighteen now. Not rightly sure, I haven’t seen a calendar in a good stretch.”
“You’re my age?” Morgan said, sounding surprised. “Where’d you pick up so much common sense?”
Linda shrugged again.
“VR games can teach you a lot, if you actually pay attention to what the characters say, and don’t just skip to the exciting parts. I also read a lot, when the computer is being stupid, or the littles are demanding a turn.”
In that moment, a massive wave of homesickness came over Linda. She tried to fight it, but she realized she’d failed when Morgan reached over and wiped a tear off her cheek.
“I know how it is, to miss your family,” Morgan said.
“You do, don’t you? How long has it been since you seen them? You have siblings, or just your parents?”
“No siblings. I haven’t seen my parents in more than five years. But come on, we need to get moving. I don’t think any of them got a message out, but someone was monitoring the cameras earlier. First, we need to find something to carry these in, and take a moment to show you the basics.”
“Point and shoot, right? How hard can it be?”
“Just make sure I’m not standing in front of you when you fire it, okay?”
Chapter 29
You all know what I mean when I tell you ‘don’t go Rambo.’ Why going off solo is called that, I don’t know. It was old when Earth was still our only home, and I can only assume it referred to some hero of myth or legend who had no one he could trust. I say no one he could trust because even mighty heroes can’t look in every direction at once, and only the truly stupid would enter a hostile area without backup unless they had no other choice. So, again fo
r the privates in back who think they’re invincible; don’t go Rambo. A squad of soldiers is far, far more lethal than those soldiers on their own.
- Sergeant Matthew Zim, Unified Mobile Forces, Planet Buenos Aires.
MORGAN HALF expected them to run into more pirates the moment they left the engineering space into which they’d exited. It had taken precious minutes to search for a bag or container to put the weapons in, and several more to turn Morgan’s torn-off sleeve and a strip off the bottom of the shirt into a pouch for the pistols. This they then tied to Morgan’s waist like a makeshift belt with a shoelace pulled from one of the boots sticking out from under the tarp, the two spare magazines tucking in on the opposite side.
As they slipped out of the room, Morgan had one rifle at the ready, the other slung across her back. Linda was eager enough, and picked up what Morgan was saying about how the pistol worked adequately, but there was no way she was trusting a complete novice with a rifle, especially one with penetrator rounds.
“Just remember, go for any pirate not wearing a suit first. If you have to shoot at one in a suit, go for the faceplate.”
“I got that the last two times ya told me,” Linda said, but without any anger detectable in her voice.
“I know, I know, I’m just a little nervous,” Morgan admitted.
“Why? We ain’t seen anyone else since leaving the engineering area, and they didn’t have time to call for help that I could see,” Linda asked.
“Because of the cameras. There are cameras everywhere, and they should have noticed us as soon as we left the maintenance areas.”
“But they haven’t,” Linda pointed out, “Or they ain’t acting like they have. I can’t see a reason for that, so first seems more likely.”
“Just because we don’t know what they’re doing doesn’t mean they don’t.”
“Not sure what you mean by that,” Linda said. “Look, these pirate… fellers,” Morgan was quite sure that hadn’t been Linda’s first choice of label, but said nothing as the other girl continued, “are lazy. I can see them watching the screens when ya and yer buddies were wandering about, but now they know we’re all locked up tight. Or least they think it.”
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