by D. R. Rosier
The guard must have done something, maybe his assistant talked to mine, since Ann was my security pass in this place.
The guard grunted, “Very well, but I’ll be putting this on my report. Skirting regulations is never a good idea.”
The guard faced me, “Not your fault. We have some… temporary guests from the battle last night. They are locked in this compartment. You will not look at them or speak to them, and I’ll be accompanying you for your safety. Do you understand these instructions?”
“Yes. Umm, is there an honorific involved? Second day.”
“I am sergeant Jirian. You may call me sir.”
Interesting, I should have realized, all I had to do was say sir and Ann would translate it into the proper honorific in whatever language the receiver spoke. Or at least, his artificial assistant would. I also assumed that sergeant was just a similar rank from Earth’s military, he wasn’t really a sergeant. It was important to remember that even translations from my artificial assistant wouldn’t be exact, and subtleties along with bad assumptions could cause miscommunications.
“Thank you, sir,” I said back.
Jirian turned and opened the landing bay door, he’d told me not to stare, but for about two seconds I couldn’t help myself. Luckily, I didn’t stare long enough to bring Jirian’s ire.
There were four new races in there. One looked like a bug, compound eyes, six legs and two arms, segmented body, and clearly exoskeletal. The second looked a lot like humans, but were at least seven feet tall, and had four arms. Their legs were incredibly thick as well, which made me wonder if their world had a high gravity. The third species was Saurian, it was humanoid, but clearly reptilian with dark gray and green scales.
It was the fourth species that took me by surprise. They looked human in almost every way, except they had light blue skin, and dark midnight blue eyes. The three of them were between six foot two and six foot five. One had very light blond hair, the other two were dirty blond. They were also very well built, incredibly muscular, and… hot. Nipples tingling hot. I blushed at that thought, suddenly unsure about my no alien sex rule, and finally ripped my gaze away and walked over toward the wall with the access plate.
I also felt self-conscious, they were all glaring at Jirian, all of them except the light blond blue skinned hunk who was staring at me with narrowed eyes. Ann had told me the Isyth Empire was made up of four races, and these four races had been on one other ship until the battle last night. Had our ship taken one of theirs last night as a prize or something? Or was it a skirmish between governments? Impossible to know for sure, and I knew better than to try and ask Ann, or one of the aliens.
I popped the panel out, and set it aside, and then ran diagnostics. Of course, I could see the problem, the power node was missing, and at a guess, it was the current guests that had taken it. Still, the diagnostics would tell me why. There were other intact power nodes, for the lights, heat, and life support.
When the diagnostics came back, I studied the schematics and power flows, and the answer was obvious. They’d pulled the node responsible for powering the cargo bay’s airlock door, and tractor beam loaders. Except, triple redundancy, it wouldn’t prevent them from being spaced if someone on the bridge decided to do it. I imagined all it would take was someone in engineering engaging the secondary or tertiary systems, which they hadn’t done yet for some reason.
Maybe to make the captives think they succeeded, until the last moment? But if that was true, why send me to repair it?
Why would they attempt this, unless they were expecting a rescue of some kind, which might trigger their deaths? Wow, speculate much Lori? Maybe they were just hungry, and the bug thing likes the taste of power modules. In other words, I needed to reel in my imagination, there was no way to know or guess. That had just been wishful thinking, rescue, go away with the hot blue dude, and allow him to claim his reward from my body, which he’d richly deserve. Sounded like the beginning of a cheap torrid fantasy to me. I have to admit, romance books were a guilty pleasure of mine.
It also sounded good, but this was hardly the time to fantasize about sex, no matter how sexy the hot blue male aliens were. Besides, why the hell would they save me? I could only depend on myself.
I was also out of sorts because I didn’t see a way of not betraying the truth, not that I owed these beings anything. Except, we did have the same enemy, and the last thing I wanted to do was aid the Stolavii against these people. Unfortunately, I had an assistant in my head who was also a controller and a spy. Chances were, she’d already done it long before I stopped staring at the empty slot for the node.
“Sir, I need to run down to stores and get a replacement.”
It was a waste of time I thought, not to have the spare part with me when I went to check on a broken system, but I had to verify through diagnostics something was truly broken, before the stores would allow me to access and remove a replacement part. Given that the earlier life support network node wasn’t bad, and had just been loose, I supposed it wasn’t a completely stupid system.
Jirian said, “Be quick about it.”
“Yes sir,” and I jogged out of the room and down the hallway.
Ann said, “You didn’t report it had been taken.”
I replied caustically, “That’s your job, isn’t it? Security and tactical matters are not a concern of slaves, except for following the rules of course. In fact, I never should have been in that room and wouldn’t have been, if there wasn’t damage to the ship last night that took priority. So… why would I need to report it? I figured you already had, and it isn’t my job. Technically, I shouldn’t even know about it.”
At least I knew why the light blond blue alien had narrowed his eyes at me like that, he knew they were about to be busted. How they’d expected to get away with it was beyond me, unless they expected to get rescued before engineering got around to it? No, no wishful thinking.
Ann said, “You are angry.”
“Yes, I suppose I am. That sounded far too much like an accusation, when I was just trying to stay out of it, and let you handle that part. I’ll get over it.”
Ann replied, “I apologize for being unclear, it will take some time for me to get to know your personality and preferences.”
That made no sense, “Unclear in what way?”
Ann said, “It was not an accusation, more a request to know why.”
“I see.”
I walked into the bay that held power couplings, nodes, and EPS lines. Ann did something to access the container, which popped open at my approach. At least, I assumed it was Ann doing it. I pulled out a spare power node, and the container automatically closed itself. I didn’t feel like jogging anymore, but I did walk quickly, just in case Jirian was monitoring to see if I was obeying his command to hurry it up.
The ship shook, and then an alarm went off.
I started to run back. Maybe it was desperate, maybe it was wishful thinking, but if I had any chance to escape this would be it. I couldn’t do it alone, but with the Isythians on board I’d have allies, I hoped. I’d force the Isythians to take me if I had too. Plus, I was pretty sure they were screwed without my help, as limited as it might be. A switch in engineering would repower the door, and I was sure the bridge could flush them all into space after that.
Chapter Six
Ann said, “You should not go back until the danger has passed.”
“Are you capable of lying Ann?”
Ann replied, “No.”
“I supposed I’m going to find out.”
She told me she couldn’t harm me, but in the next few minutes if she could, she probably would. It was a chance I’d have to take to escape in any situation, so I accepted it. The ship shook again, the inertial compensators were good, but obviously not perfect with unexpected impacts and changes of acceleration, not like it would be during self-propelled movement that could be anticipated and perfectly calculated.
The second warrior wasn’t in the hal
lway when I got there and ducked into the room. I went down on a knee at the smell of burnt metal, and then watched as the blue guy formed a plasma ball in his hand, and it shot at the guy in armor.
Jarian was already dead.
The second guard opened fire again, and a blue shield shimmered as the plasma was routed around him and sent into the wall. I wasn’t sure what kind of alloy it was, but the wall stood up to the plasma bolt fairly well. I also wondered if I was dreaming, I knew there was no such thing as magic, but what science would explain forming a plasma bolt in the palm of a hand and shooting it? Or a shield like that? I had no clue, it didn’t seem possible, or even sane.
Two of the blue guys shot bolts this time, and that seemed to overload the armor, and the guard screamed and fell to the floor, smoke rose from his body. It was ugly.
I got up and ran toward the opposite wall as the door behind me closed. I knew what would happen next.
One of them yelled, “Stop!”
I said, “No time,” as I ripped the panel off the wall, and pulled out a power node.
Ann sighed in my head, “I can no longer guard your fate.”
She almost sounded, sad about it?
The light blond demanded, “What are you doing?”
I said, “Finishing your piss poor sabotage job before we get flushed into space, and I expect you to take me with you.”
I ran over to one of the dead guards and grabbed his gun, and pointed it at the ceiling. I fired, but nothing happened.
Ann helpfully said, “It is tuned to his DNA.”
Well, fuck. The ceiling was too damned high to reach, at least twenty feet, and there were no ladders handy.
I pointed at the ceiling, “Shoot that, now.”
He scowled, “Why?”
“Tertiary power node to power the outer airlock door is up there. I’m sure engineering knows I already pulled the secondary, I’m sure right now the captain is ordering engineering to switch over so he can eject us into space. No more questions, shoot the damned thing or were all dead.”
He asked, “Why should I trust you.”
Oh hell, was he stupid?
I dropped down to the ground and put the weapon in the dead guard’s hand, here goes nothing. I pointed up, and pulled the trigger. It took three more shots to get through the ceiling.
When I looked back at blue guy, I really needed to ask him what his name was, he was pointing his palm at me, with a plasma ball in it.
“How do you do that?” I asked in amazement. I wanted one of those, whatever it was.
He looked startled by the question, and the plasma ball shrunk and disappeared.
I dropped the weapon, and stood up.
“Dimensional technology. The plasma is stored elsewhere, obviously it can’t be contained within a body. The device which emits the various fields to control and channel the plasma to our location through a microscopic aperture is in my palm. It’s extremely small and bioelectric. State of the art. Now, tell me why you helped us, and why we should believe you.”
I said, “I heard slavery was outlawed in the Isyth empire. I figured helping you escape was my best chance at not being a slave anymore. Surely, you’ve taken down other Stolavii ships, what do you usually do with the humans?”
He nodded, “There are humans in the Isyth empire, but we aren’t a charity organization either. You’d be free, but you still have to work to survive, just under better conditions, fairer wages, and we sure as hell can’t take you home. Well, food and water are free for everyone, everything else costs credits.”
I shrugged, “I don’t want a free ride, but if I’m making ten times as much doing things on my terms, and can eat real food, I’d be thrilled. Why can’t you take me home?”
He said, “That would take a lot of fuel, and there is nothing of value to compensate for that just to drop off humans, and we’d have no return load on the way back. You could earn enough credits to buy your own ship though, eventually.”
“Free food?”
The Stolavii were charging me a lot, even for the shitty three meals in one bar.
He smirked, “A lot of our wars used to be fought over resources such as food and water. We had plenty of food on the planet, yet many starved. Much like your planet now. When A.I. started to boom, we handed the problem to them. The Artificial assistants take care of the entire food, clean water, and power infrastructure.”
I shook my head, that sounded like it might work. An A.I. would just send the food where it was needed, end of story.
“But not anything else?”
He shook his head, “No, mining resources, building ships, and all other things are done by us. We could turn it over, like we have ship repair and all that, but us organics need a purpose too.”
The ship shook.
“What’s your name?”
He grunted, “You can call me Vik,” he pointed to the other guys, “This is my ship mate Rilok and Telidur.”
“So, it was your ship, is this the rest of your crew?”
Vik shook his head, “No, it was a transport ship. My ship was undergoing upgrades and refit at a base, so we decided to take a vacation. Apparently nabbing us, and the cargo in the transport ship we were in was just a coincidence. They’re damned pirates and slaver scum. Enough questions, we might all be dead anyway.”
“Wait, you’re in the military, and you usually hunt these bastards down?”
Vik shrugged, “Something like that.”
Rilok snickered, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Why are we going to die anyway?”
Vik said, “They only sent three destroyers to retrieve me, it was all they had in the area. Those three ships are still out massed by this cruiser almost two to one.”
“Right, so will you hire me?”
Vik frowned, “To do what?”
I smirked, “To kick Stolavii ass, until I have enough credits to go home. Who knows, I might never want to go back.”
Rilok said dismissively, “We don’t need repair crew.”
I nodded, “Consider this situation my interview then, and repair isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Ann?” I asked.
Ann replied, “If you make it to a Isyth ship, I will serve you as my primary master, no slavery in Isyth. Until then, you’re on your own, although I have been and will continue to translate for you.”
Wow, I didn’t even think of that. That would’ve sucked if she’d turned that off.
I got down on the ground, and pulled up an access panel from the floor. Then I ran a diagnostic. I frowned, the artificial gravity and inertial dampening was powered by the same nodes in this room, although they were two separate systems.
“What are you doing,” Vik demanded.
I said, “We’re locked in this room, and if three destroyers aren’t enough, that means we have to help even the odds by sabotaging the weapons systems if we can, while hoping they don’t kill us. We’re on deck thirteen, weapons are on decks twelve and four, I think.”
I reached in and pulled out several gravity emitters. The gravity lessened drastically, until I backed up, and pulled up the next plate, and repeated the process.
Vik asked, “How will that help?”
I smirked, “This might sound crazy, but what if we blast a hole in the ceiling, and then jump up to the next deck. There’s almost no gravity in the middle of those four squares, we should make twenty feet easy. I assume the doors are hardened against plasma, both the airlock and inner door which is also airlock rated.”
“Most of these are civilians, just Rilok, Telidur, and myself have combat experience.”
I shrugged and smiled, “The four of us will have to do, we can come back for them when the asshole in charge here surrenders.”
Vik nodded, and I went back to the dead guy. I’d have taken viscous enjoyment out of blowing up the ceiling, and up through the floor of the twelfth deck. If the gun had fired, but it didn’t.
Ann said, “His body is too cold
now, the gun knows he’s dead.”
Well, shit. I sighed.
I interfaced the diagnostics device with the weapon, and it came back that it was working okay. My wishful thinking that I could reset the coding for DNA was just that, wishful thinking.
I said, “Can you guys shoot the ceiling? I can’t get the plasma gun to work again.”
Rilok asked, “Then how much help can you be?”
“Oh, you’ll need me to take out the weapons, without blowing up the ship. I’m also not as defenseless as I look.”
Rilok was kind of an asshole, or at least, I was getting that vibe. I searched the armor on the dead Stolavii, and found something similar to a hunting knife, it was about eight inches long anyway, but it was dual edged. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about a high-tech way of stopping me from using a survival knife.
Vik said, “I can get it.”
It took three of his plasma balls, which I still thought was cool as hell. We waited a few moments. Once the hole was clear of smoke and dripping metal, and when no one showed up to shoot down at us, I bent my knees and jumped…
Chapter Seven
I flew up from the hole, pushing off the metal to give me a sideways trajectory, and then landed on the deck. While I stumbled from the rapid return of gravity I didn’t fall. It was immediately apparent why no one had investigated the hole yet, there was a large piece of jagged metal through the chest of a Stolavii crew person. Some kind of weapons officer I’d bet, he was in a normal uniform, but he also had a blaster attached to his belt. I didn’t bother checking it, I was sure it would be locked out. There were monitors and displays in front of him, which Ann surprisingly translated. I didn’t understand how she could do it, but everything looked to be written in English.
I found an access port, and interfaced the diagnostic machine, I was sure we could easily take down this one weapon control station on the ship, but I was greedy, I wanted to take down as many weapons on deck twelve as I could.