The Expanding Universe

by Craig Martelle

“Cream and two sugars.”

  “You’ll be lucky if it doesn’t have piss in it.”

  “You always say the nicest things, Cap.”

  “I also sign the nicest paychecks.”

  “So was that a no to bringing me coffee?”

  I threw my hands up into the air and walked out of the room. She’d get her damn coffee, and piss-free too. That didn’t mean I had to like it. Ice was indispensable to the crew, and if we weren’t about to come under enemy fire, I’d probably have been in a more joking mood. Now all I had to do was remember how to use the damn coffee maker.

  Chapter 4

  Ice

  The captain slid into the chair next to me, setting down a glass that smelled suspiciously like coffee. I wasn’t even sure if he actually knew how to work the machine. I hadn’t decided if I was willing to try it yet. Maybe we needed to invest in one of those single-serving machines. Even the captain couldn’t screw that up.

  I transferred control of the forward guns and the missiles over to his station. Gabe and Maze had already moved down into the hidden compartments at either end of the cargobay and activated the rear-mounted turrets. Everything looked good. We just needed to be able to stay alive for the next five minutes, and then we could jump to anywhere in the verse.

  “Their fighters are going to reach us in the next thirty seconds, Captain.”

  “Can you open a channel to everyone on board?”

  I just gave him a firm nod to let him know that he was wired into the ship's comm system.

  “We have about twenty seconds until the fighters reach us. Remember to try and disable them, if possible. The last thing we need is for the NEA to start hunting us because we blew up a few of their fighters.”

  “Yes, sir,” Gabe responded.

  “We’ll do our best, Captain,” Maze echoed.

  Drake continued to speak. “Doc, be ready in case we have any injuries.”

  “Of course, Captain. The medbay is ready and waiting.”

  “Kyra, do whatever you can to get us out of here.”

  “I’m massaging the engines now, sir.”

  “What?” Drake asked, confused.

  “Just trying to keep it light, Captain. I’ll let you know as soon as we can make the jump.”

  Drake shook his head and took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. Well, at least I had my answer. There was no way in hell I was drinking whatever concoction he had powered in my glass. I mean, seriously, how hard was it to grind beans and power water? I kept the comm line open, watching the fighters as they closed in on us. They were holding together in a tight pattern. Behind them, the battle cruiser had released from the docks and was heading in our direction. If we could get the fighters disabled, it might just buy us the time that we needed to make the jump to FTL. That was, of course, if another NEA ship didn’t jump into our space.

  The fighters moved almost into weapons range and then started to pace us. Why weren’t they shooting? A moment later, it became clear when the external comm channel glowed on my dash. I was surprised they had found a way through the interference I was sending out. “Captain, we have an incoming call.”

  “Open the channel.”

  “Unidentified ship, this is Captain Feragas of the Alliance vessel Pretorian. Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded.”

  I almost laughed out loud. Did that really work with anyone? I mean, I’d rather be dead than forced to spend my life in some NEA work camp. Now I was just looking forward to what the captain was going to say. He had a real problem with authority, so whatever he was going to say next should make for a pretty good show. I reached out for my coffee cup but managed to stop myself from taking a sip at the last moment. If we were going to die, I wanted to do it without the taste of bad coffee in my mouth.

  “Captain Feragas, I’m afraid we won’t be able to comply with your order.”

  “Identify who I am speaking with and state the reason for noncompliance with an NEA directive.”

  “If I told you who I was, the game wouldn’t be nearly as fun, Captain. As to the reason for our noncompliance, well, I’d prefer not to spend any time being detained. Places to be and all that.”

  “You have ten seconds to power down before we engage. Three more battle cruisers are on the way to coordinate your retrieval.”

  “Ah, just when I was hoping we could be friends.” As the captain finished, he gave me the signal to close the external channel, and then started speaking on the internal comms. “You guys have those fighters in your sights?”

  “Sure do, Captain,” Gabe responded.

  Maze didn’t respond, but the captain and I both knew she was already tracking at least one of the three ships. Now I was just waiting for the captain to give me the official order, and these guys would see some flying they hadn’t seen before.

  “Ice, cut hard to the right. Fire when ready.”

  The ship shivered slightly as I pulled it into the hard turn. I felt her belly rumble a bit as the two cannons sprung to life. My sensors showed that two of the ships had stopped following us; their engines were offline. The third ship had stayed with us, and my sensors lit up red as its targeting system locked onto us. Drake looked over at the display and then turned back to his own station.

  “Maze, missiles incoming,” Drake growled into the comm.

  “Already on it, Captain,” Maze responded, sounding cold and confident.

  The hull shook slightly, and I banked away from the explosion. That had been closer than I would have liked. The systems showed that shields had held and that no damage had been done to the ship. Laser fire started to pepper our rear shields, but there was no way it would matter. Two more minutes, and we were out of here.

  “Maze, anything you can do about that last fighter?” Drake asked.

  “Hey, what about me, Captain?” Gabe responded.

  “If you can get him off our ass, then do it.”

  The ship rattled slightly as the cannons fired. Maze’s laughter filled the channel. “Sorry, Gabe.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Way to fucking go, guys!” the captain said as a smile burst across his mouth. He stood for a moment and shouted into the air. He sat back in his chair and grimaced from another sip of his coffee before he used the comm again. “Kyra, how is that engine massage coming along?”

  “They seem to be responding nicely to my feminine touch, but neither of them have offered to buy me dinner yet,” Kyra said.

  “I’ll buy you dinner anywhere you want if you can get us out of here in the next minute.”

  “Sounds good to me, Captain, but I’m going to need at least two minutes. Can’t have my boys finishing too early.”

  The captain started to shake his head. He didn’t have anything to say to that. I was thinking about asking her when she had changed preferences from women to men, but my screen alerted me to the radar. We were in trouble, big fucking trouble.

  “Captain, three battle cruisers have just jumped into our space. They’ll be within range in the next sixty seconds. If they deploy fighters, they’ll be here sooner.”

  “Shit,” Drake said, actually sounding worried. “Buckle in, guys. We’ve got trouble.”

  He was understating that fact now. We had a cruiser closing in on us from behind, and three more waiting in front of us. It was going to take everything I had to keep us clear of their guns long enough so we could jump. Our shields wouldn’t be able to hold up long under the fire from the nine fighters they just launched.

  “Captain, the fighters will reach us in the next twenty seconds.”

  “Kyra, how we doing?”

  “Still about ninety seconds away, Captain.”

  “Have you thought about stroking them?”

  “What?” Kyra responded, sounding confused.

  “You know, because they aren’t responding to the massage. I’ve always preferred a good stroking myself.”

  “Gross, Captain,” Kyra said with a laugh.

  “Just saying.”<
br />
  “Eighty seconds. I’m linking my feed into Ice’s system so she can get us out of here as soon as they are ready.”

  “Since stroking is out of the question, I’m counting on you for a little magic, Maze.”

  “Hey, what about me?” Gabe said.

  “Just try and keep up, sweetie,” Maze replied.

  The fighters were coming toward us quickly, staying in three separate groups. Only one of them was bold enough to stay directly on our tail; the others were coming in from the sides. There was no way we could disable them all, even with Maze behind one of our guns. I was going to have to do some crazy flying just to keep us from turning into space dust.

  The ship shook as the first few bolts slammed into our shields. I felt the familiar hum as the rear guns began to fire. One of the ships disappeared from radar, and then my screen lit up like it was Christmas. “Missiles incoming.” I hit the button for flairs and then jammed on our air brakes, sending us straight up into the air. The missiles exploded into the flairs below us as I re-engaged the engines and peeled off to the side. Apparently, the one thing that pissed these guys off enough to put up a real fight was losing one of their own.

  Maze had picked off two more of the ships, leaving six on our tail. I tried to outmaneuver them, but their ships were lighter and faster than ours. The air brake trick tended to only work once, so that was out next time they tried to blow us out of the sky. The three cruisers were starting to close in as well. If any one of them got within weapons range, we were done for.

  One more ship went down, and then another. There were only four left, but their relentless assault had done a number on our shields. “Captain, rear shields are down to twenty percent.”

  “Divert power from the forward shields.”

  “It’s not working.” Fuck, why wouldn’t the damn shields adjust? “Ten percent.”

  “When it hits five, if the power still won’t switch to the rear, then spin us around.”

  “You want to fly back into them?”

  “Don’t you think it’s about time I got to do something useful?”

  “Whatever you say, Captain. Just be ready.”

  He nodded and then leaned forward in his chair, gripping the controls for the primary cannons in his fists. He looked ready to go, so there was only one thing left to do now. I cut the power to the left engine and hit the flaps. We spun around just as I re-engaged the engine. Those fighter jocks never saw us coming. The captain hit both ships, and we flew past the wreckage. The real bad news was now we were flying right into the teeth of the enemy.

  “Now would be a great time to have our FTL drive come online, Kyra.”

  His voice came out calm, but I could see the muscles standing out in his neck. He knew that if we didn’t engage it soon, we would be flying into weapons range of the battle cruisers. A red light blinked on my station, and I flipped the switch to the FTL drive. The laser cannons on the cruisers started firing. This was going to be close. The dark red bolts continued to churn up the empty space in front of us. Three more seconds and we were done. I held my breath, and then the world turned white.

  I wiped the sweat off of my brow and smiled over at the captain. “FTL engaged.”

  “That was damn close, Ice.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said, standing up.

  “Where are you going?”

  I picked up my coffee cup. “To dump out this poison you tried to get me to drink, and then I’m going to make some real coffee.”

  “How long until we reach our destination?”

  “About two days, give or take.”

  “All right, crew, we are out of trouble for now. Ice, keep an eye on the Net for any reports on our ship. Everyone else, enjoy a little rest.”

  Chapter 5

  Drake

  That job had been close, a little too close. Ellison always had the most up-to-date information. That was why we used him when we had to stay off the radar. If the NEA was that close to the facility, he knew about it and didn’t tell us. That left us with two options. The NEA blocked all incoming long distance comms, or he sold us out. My money was on the latter.

  Either way, we needed the credits, so we had to go to the meet. There was no way I was walking into that cesspit without Maze by my side. I’d have Gabe trailing behind us, keeping an eye on the door for any surprises. Gabe had to stay close enough to help us if shit hit the fan, but far enough away that no one would connect him with us.

  We exited the cargobay and started walking through the spaceport. Maze pulled me to a stop and looked into my eyes before speaking.

  “We don’t have to do this, you know. We could find another buyer or just ship the thing back to a random NEA outpost.”

  The problem was we did have to do this. The crew might not know it yet, but we were sitting on the edge of not being able to get the Talon back into space. Fuel and repairs cost money. I’d been using our emergency fund for a while now, but it just wasn’t going to cut it for much longer. I put my arms around Maze and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “We need the credits to keep the Talon in the black. Not to mention the last thing we need out here is another enemy.”

  “Just don’t blame me when this meeting all turns to shit.”

  I started walking again, and Maze fell into perfect strides right next to me. “Maze, you’re acting like I don’t have a plan.”

  “That’s because I know you. You’re going to sit down until he hands over the credits, and then you’re probably going to shoot him. After that, we are going to have to fight our way out of the bar and back to the ship. Sound about right?”

  This time it was me who stopped walking and turned to face her. “You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Captain, shouldn’t we at least confirm he set us up first?”

  “Well, that’s just an on-the-fly adjustment, but you’re right. We need to find out if he set us up, and who he did it for.”

  “Not to mention the last time you tried your original plan, you got shot.”

  “That was just a graze. It hardly even counts.”

  “You were unconscious for three days.”

  “I didn’t say what it grazed.” I tried to give her a flirty smile, but she just shut me down. Maybe she had a point. I couldn’t always just shoot my way out of trouble and expect everything to work out. If we took Ellison out of the game, a lot of people would be pissed. Not because they liked him, but because they needed the work just like we did. It wasn’t an easy call to make, but if that bastard was working both sides of the table, I needed to know about it, and so did everyone else.

  “I’ll be on my best behavior.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Maze said with a laugh.

  It was easy enough to join in her laughter. She was right, after all. My best behavior wasn’t much better than my normal behavior. Her laughter was like music to my ears and instantly lightened the mood of our mission. One of these days, I’d have to buckle down and let her know just how much I cared about her. If I didn’t do it soon, I was bound to lose her to someone else, and that just wasn’t going to happen. Not on my watch.

  The cleanliness of the space station faded into the grime of the city. Eventually the buildings got smaller and worse for wear, and then trash started to come out the alleys and into the street. It wasn’t long before it was piled against the side of the buildings. That was how you knew you had made it to the right place, that and the giant neon sign for Tinks. The neon lady who guarded the door to Tinks was lit, and her flickering leg had been replaced since my last visit. People from around here probably thought of the sign as high class. God knows you paid for the drinks like you were at the top of one of the skymalls.

  Maze opened the door for me, and I strolled in. The bouncer gave me the usual onceover, but his eyes lingered longer on Maze. I didn’t know if I should be more offended that he thought she was the bigger threat or that his eyes lingered in places that made me want to break his jaw. Shrugging my s
houlders, I walked past him. He was right in one respect. Maze was the bigger threat, and if she didn’t like his leering glance, then she was more than capable of knocking the fat bastard out on her own.

  A quick look around showed the bar was emptier than normal. There were a few people at the holo table playing poker, and another few scattered about, waiting for their turn with one of the girls. I’d never seen Tinks bordering on empty, and my mind immediately went into hyperdrive. This was some kind of trap; it had to be. A quick glance over my shoulder let me know Maze was already on the same page as me. Her quick nod was all it took to reassure me that she was ready for anything.

  “Gabe, there’s going to be trouble,” I whispered. Our comms were state of the art, hijacked from a military shipment, so he had no problems hearing my mumble and there was no interference when he answered, despite the distance between us.

  “Copy that, Captain. There are a few guys trying to look casual just outside the door. If they move in, I’ll come in behind them.”

  “Good man.”

  The spot across from Ellison was empty this time. He knew exactly when we were coming because I had comm’d him before we touched down. It was the polite thing to do, and it assured that we got in and out with our payment as quickly as possible. I slid into the seat across from him, and Maze handed me the briefcase before turning back to face the bar.

  “Why don’t you have your friend take a seat?” Ellison said.

  He asked it as a question, but he really wasn’t asking. I took a second to think about how far and fast I wanted to push this. Part of me still hoped we would be able to get our payment and go without any bloodshed. The other part knew the double cross was in, and just wanted to get our credits before I killed the slimy little trader.

  “She’s fine where she is.” I guess I wanted to push this to whatever outcome was coming sooner rather than later. I noticed Maze place her hands by the pistols she kept on each leg. It must have been the hard edge in my voice that let her know trouble was coming. It wasn’t like I was the kind of guy who sought trouble out or anything. “We have some business to wrap up, and then we’ll be on our way.”