He stepped back to the air lock and pulled the lever. He worked through the cycle, and when it opened, Magnum was sitting on the next crate. He climbed out and helped Ben pull the crate out.
“Why don’t you go back in?” Ben told the big man. “I’ll stay out here and pull the crates out of the air lock.”
Magnum looked over at the group from the moon facility. They were busy counting the rifles in both crates. After a moment, he nodded and went back inside the ship. A few minutes later, the chamber cycled again and Ben pulled out another crate. When he popped the lid off, the scar-faced man snatched a power supply from inside.
“They better come fully charged,” the man said, as if threatening Ben.
“We’re just delivering what Brimex gave us,” Ben said. “I have no idea if they—”
Before he could finish, the scar-faced man had the power supply in place and flipped the safety off. He raised the weapon to his shoulder and used the secondary trigger on the side of the barrel to fire the weapon. A crack that sounded like a balloon popping was heard as a sizzling bolt of focused energy flew from the rifle’s barrel. It streaked across the surface of the moon and hit a boulder, cracking it in two and leaving scorch marks on the stone halves.
“Works!” the scar-faced man proclaimed.
Ben nodded, as dread rose up inside him. The men from the moon had already paid for the weapons. No exchange was necessary, and if Ben could just get the cargo unloaded, they could sail away and never see the ruffians again. But something in his gut told him it wouldn’t be that easy.
The air lock cycled again and the outer door popped open. Ben pulled the crate out and was about to work the lever that closed the outer door when someone grabbed him from behind. They pulled him backward, out of the Echo’s sphere of artificial gravity. Ben suddenly had trouble keeping his balance and fell. The moon’s gravity was nearly twice what was considered the normal range. The scar-faced man put his foot on Ben’s chest. It felt like someone had dropped a stone on him. The greasy-haired man pointed the rifle straight at Ben’s face.
“Stay there,” he said.
To Ben’s horror, two of the men from the moon stepped into the air lock and hit the button to cycle it. Instinctively, Ben reached for the com-link on the side of his helmet to warn Magnum of the danger, but the man with the scar spun his rifle around and slammed it onto Ben’s arm. The pop was audible, and pain shot through the arm and up into Ben’s shoulder. He cried out, which only made the scar-faced man laugh.
The others were loading the rifles as fast as possible, and soon two more crammed themselves into the air lock. Ben saw the scar-faced man look over, as if he heard something. Then he bent down and snarled at Ben, but no sound was heard. He grabbed the front of Ben’s space suit and jerked him up.
Ben managed to stumble toward the ship. The man holding him didn’t make a sound. When he got close to the man with tape on his shoulder, the outlaw asked, “How many crew members you got inside?”
Ben didn’t respond, and the scar-faced man drove a fist into Ben’s stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of his lungs. He dropped to his knees, gasping.
“Now that could have been worse,” the man with the tape said. “Your suit absorbed most of that punch. We’ve got your big man subdued inside the ship and we’re all going in, nice and easy.”
“Why?” Ben managed to wheeze.
“Well, it just so happens the Fleet caught onto us. They blasted the hell out of our hanger and killed most of us. What you see here are the only survivors, and we need a ship to get off this rock. You came along just in time.”
“You bought all these weapons,” Ben said, “just to lure us here?”
“No, we bought the weapons to use on the Fleet,” the man said.
“But it took you so long to get here they found us first,” the scar-faced man shouted, his voice suddenly booming from his suit’s exterior speakers.
“So now we’re going to take your ship, and whatever you’ve got in there,” said the man with tape on his shoulder. “It don’t have to be ugly, but it will get that way quick if you don’t start talking. How many crew members?”
Ben hesitated, but the scar-faced man raised his rifle. There had to be a way out of the mess they were in, but it wouldn’t help to get killed for no reason. So Ben decided to talk.
“Three,” he said. “Counting Magnum.”
“Magnum is the big guy, right? The muscle?”
Ben nodded.
“Now, we’re getting somewhere. You and I are going inside, and when we do, you’re going to use your com-link to tell your friends to join us in the cargo bay. Let’s move.”
He pulled the handle to open the air lock door. Ben stepped in and was pressed against the interior door. Pain flashed through Ben’s broken arm, causing him to groan in pain.
“It can get worse,” said the man with tape on his shoulder. “Trust me, it can get so much worse.”
As the air lock cycled, Ben felt the rifle the man held digging into his back. Fear and fury built in equal parts as the air lock pressurized. When the door finally opened, Ben stumbled out, only to be slammed to the deck by one of the outlaws. Magnum sat against a crate, an assault rifle pressed against his helmet. There was a terrible look of rage on the big man’s face.
“It’s my fault,” Ben said.
Magnum tried to shake his head, but the outlaw guarding him kicked him. Then pressed the gun against his helmet hard enough to almost knock Magnum over.
“What part of don’t move do you not understand?” the outlaw growled.
“Well, this is something,” the man with tape on his shoulder said after pulling off his helmet. He sniffed the air and sighed. “I’ve never seen a ship this old. But look at all this precious cargo. No wonder you didn’t want to open the hatch, Ben. It’s a shame you didn’t check each crate and send out the power packs last. We might not have had time to hijack your ship. But, of course, now we’ll never know. God, but it feels good to be in regular gravity again. I think I shrank three inches.
Ben wanted desperately to warn his friends, but he couldn’t operate the com-link without being seen. And his hard-vacuum suit didn’t have stealth capabilities. Whatever he said would be heard by the outlaws.
“Time to hand over the keys, Ben. My name’s Cray. Now why don’t you tell your friends to join us? And once they do, we’re going to search your ship from top to bottom. If they don’t all come now, well we’ll have to kill them one by one, until you’re all worm food. Got that?”
Ben nodded. He was holding his broken arm across his body protectively. Cray reached down and snatched his knife from the pouch.
“I know you’re not stupid enough to try and use this,” the outlaw said. “But why struggle with the temptation?”
The air lock cycled again, and two more outlaws came on board. One was the scar-faced man. He pulled off his helmet, slicked back his hair with one hand, then belched before exclaiming, “Welcome home, ya bastards!”
“Shut your hole, Merv, before you give our little party away,” said Cray. “Call your friends, Ben. And don’t do anything stupid.”
Ben reached up with his good hand, then pressed the com-link activation on the side of his helmet. His heart was pounding as if he had run a race, and he could feel sweat beading on his forehead.
“Kim, Nance, come down to the cargo bay,” Ben said. “Leave your weapons.”
“Roger that,” Kim said, her voice cool and calm.
“You brought ladies along, how nice and thoughtful of you, Ben,” Cray said. “I promise we’ll treat ‘em real nice.”
“I call dibs,” said Merv.
“Shut up, you ugly bastard,” Cray said.
Two figures appeared at the top of the stairs. They were unarmed and moving slowly, but neither was Kim or Nance.
Chapter 15
There are a few times in a man’s life when regret is almost more than he can bear. Magnum felt like a fool. He hadn’t trusted the men
from the moon facility. And he had known that leaving Ben outside alone and unarmed wasn’t smart, yet the last mission had lulled him into a sense of complacency. He had thought that perhaps just delivering the goods, even to bad men, would be enough to keep them safe.
That decision was bitter in his mouth. When the outlaws had come through the air lock, he was pulling a rather heavy crate toward them. His rifle was propped against the bulkhead beside the air lock door. And he had been caught completely helpless.
Perhaps if the outlaws had lesser weapons, he would have fought them. Or maybe if he wasn’t encumbered by the space suit. But it was the perfect ambush. He was helpless. The men had immediately separated, so that even if he got the jump on one, the other would be out of reach and able to fire his weapon at Magnum. So, he had been forced to surrender and could only hope he had the chance to pay the outlaws back for the outrage of getting the jump on him.
When Ben had stumbled in, Magnum had seen the pain on his friend’s face. And the way Ben held his arm made it obvious they had injured him already. It only made Magnum even angrier than before, and his shame that much more bitter.
Magnum had known outlaws like Cray and Merv. They were ruthless, cruel men. They wouldn’t hesitate to murder the men, rape the women, steal the ship, and make off with the cargo. Even worse, they wouldn’t lose a second’s sleep over their crimes. It galled Magnum to know that on Torrent Four, before he’d met Ben or been invited to join the crew of the Modulus Echo, he had thrown in with criminals. He told himself that he had done what it took to survive, nothing more, but his conscious soured like old milk at the very thought of his past sins.
When Ben was forced to call for Nance and Kim, Magnum felt a sliver of hope. Despite his obvious injury, and the fear he must surely feel, Ben had been smart enough not to mention the freedom fighters on board the ship. And Magnum’s debilitating fear that the outlaws might get hold of his precious Nancy was eased when he saw the women slowly descending from the main deck. He recognized them immediately. It was Lieutenant Liachov and one of her fighters, a woman named Beck. They were wearing civilian clothes and moving slowly, like they were frightened. But Magnum knew they were just playing a role. The squad of fighters had been ready, and they were carrying out a plan. Magnum only had to bide his time and be ready to help them if he could.
The women approached, both looked scared. Cray smiled, revealing dirty teeth.
“Hello, ladies,” he said. “Glad you could join us.”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Rena said. “Is Ben hurt?”
“I’m okay,” Ben said, sitting up.
“He’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t do anything stupid,” Merv said, tapping Ben’s helmet with the barrel of his rifle.
The air lock opened again, and the final two outlaws came on board. There were nine of them, all carrying the big Lancet ARs.
“Have a seat, ladies, we have business to attend to,” Cray said. “Merv, take Ulrick and check out what’s through those doors over there. And Merv, don’t go shooting off that laser if you don’t have to. You blow a hole in the hull and we’ll never get off this rock.”
“I ain’t no stooge,” Merv said, standing up.
“Check every nook and cranny,” Cray said. “No exceptions. I don’t want any surprises.”
“Good grief, you’re worse than my old lady,” the scar-faced man grumbled.
He stood up, waved for another of the outlaws, and lumbered away toward the engineering bay. Cray sent two more men up to search the main deck, and after nudging Ben’s broken arm with his boot and finding out there was an upper deck as well, sent two more men to search there.
Magnum had no idea what the freedom fighters were doing. There were only eight of them on board, and two were prisoners along with Magnum and Ben. That left six soldiers to face six outlaws. In most instances, Ben would give the edge to trained soldiers, but the outlaws from KX21 were desperate and heavily armed.
Still, there were only three left to guard him in the cargo bay. And while Ben wasn’t in fighting shape, Liachov and her associate Beck were. He guessed they had weapons of some kind, so he readied himself to spring into action.
“Puck, how much do you think this haul is worth?” Crey asked.
The man holding the gun to Magnum’s head replied, “The cargo is maybe thirty, forty thousand. Depends on what it is.”
“Ben?” Cray said leaning over Magnum’s friend. “What’s your cargo?”
“Weapons and solar gear,” Ben replied. “All from Brimex.”
“Looks like we’re in the gun business boys,” Cray chuckled. “How much d’you think this old tub is worth?”
“Hard to say,” Puck replied. “She flies, obviously. But I don’t know much about ships this old. Maybe twenty thousand credits, if we’re lucky.”
Ben started laughing.
“What’s got into you, Benny?” Cray said. “Lose a marble or two, maybe?”
“You’re both fools,” Ben said. “This is a Kestrel class ship. It’s a hybrid that can go in atmo and space, with a working fusion reactor and hyperspace-capable main drive. It’s worth at least two hundred and fifty thousand Imperium credits, on the low side.”
Cray whistled softly, and Magnum felt the pressure from the rifle against his helmet lessen. The men were suddenly imagining the riches they had stumbled onto. Magnum didn’t know if the Echo was worth as much as Ben claimed, but he knew his friend was smart. He had gotten the outlaws thinking about something other than the danger they were in, and Magnum felt his respect for Ben ratchet up another notch.
“Let’s get the rest of the cargo brought back inside,” Cray said. “Puck and I will watch the prisoners. Drucker, you load the goods into the air lock.”
The outlaw sighed, then set his rifle down next to Magnum’s. He took his time putting his helmet on. Magnum looked at the women, both were looking down submissively, continuing their terrified act. If the third man would just get out of the ship, they could spring into action. Magnum knew there was a possibility that Puck could slag him into atoms with his Lancet AR, but even if he died, it would be defending Nance. The big man could live with that. And no matter what, it would give the lieutenant and her subordinate time to act. Magnum hadn’t seen the freedom fighters in action, but he’d seen them training in the small gym in the recreation space. They were serious about honing their bodies into weapons. Sergeant Ike was nearly as strong as Magnum.
The man named Drucker went into the air lock and hit the button. The system seemed to take forever to cycle, before the outer door finally opened. When it did, Puck looked toward the sound of the outer door, which swished open. Magnum swung his arm so fast no one saw it. He batted the rifle away from his head with his left hand and drove his right fist into Puck’s groin with all the force he could muster. The outlaw dropped his rifle and staggered backward, gasping. Two knives flew over Magnum’s head. He heard the sound of the blades swishing through the air even with his helmet on. Twisting to his knees, Magnum was ready to spring up, but waited. Instinct told him the women weren’t finished, and almost immediately, the sound of two more twirling knives was heard over Magnum’s head.
Looking up, he saw that two were buried in Puck’s chest. The outlaw toppled backward over a crate. Cray had one knife in his gut, the other in his shoulder. The outlaw was struggling to raise his rifle, but Magnum jumped forward, staying low. His shoulder hit the outlaw just above the knees and knocked him back while Magnum wrenched the gun from his hands.
Lieutenant Rena Liachov jumped over Magnum and landed hard on Cray’s chest with her knees. She had a combat knife in one hand, with a thick blade and heavy handle. She rammed it into his throat just below the chin, driving the blade up into the man’s brain.
“Do you have men down here?” Ben asked.
“No,” Liachov said.
Magnum saw the look on his friend’s face as Magnum snatched up his rifle from beside the air lock. It was pride mixed with fear, but Magnum
only felt rage.
“Take care of the one outside,” he said quietly. Then he hurried toward the engineering bay.
The two outlaws were coming out of the recreation space. They were loud, arrogant, and in Magnum’s mind, complete fools. He hurried over to the hydro-generator and bent low. The outlaws didn’t see him as they stepped through the swinging door and into the engineering bay. Magnum knew shooting a weapon inside the ship had risks. If he missed, or if the projectile went through the target, it could damage the ship’s vital machinery. And as good an engineer as Ben was, Magnum wouldn’t dare risk doing anything that might strand them on the inhospitable moon.
Instead he waited until both men were right beside him. He fired one round. It hit the man named Ulrick just above his right hip, tore through his abdomen, came out the other side, and punched into Merv’s chest. Both men fell, as Magnum rose up like an avenging angel. Ulrick was on his back, gasping in pain, as Magnum drove the butt of his rifle down onto the man’s face with all the force he could muster. One blow from the rubber-padded metal stock crushed the man’s skull and drove bone shards deep into his brain, killing him instantly.
Merv was injured, but not out of the fight. He fell too, but rolled immediately to his knees and was struggling to get up. Magnum heard the sucking sound of the wound as Merv tried to breathe. The outlaw turned just as Magnum reached him. He grabbed the rifle in Merv’s hand and jerked hard while shifting his shoulder down and into the outlaw’s body. The gun was pulled free, and Merv was knocked backward off his feet.
“No...no,” he said, in a voice that was no longer cruel and filled with hate, but tinged with desperation and fear. “Please don’t...”
Magnum stalked toward the man. He wanted to take his time and break as many bones as he could before ending the outlaw’s life, but he couldn’t take the chance that he might be needed upstairs. Just the thought of Nance in any kind of danger was enough to drive him mad.
He reached down, grabbed Merv’s head, and tugged it backward with all his strength. The sound of the outlaw’s neck snapping was loud, like someone snapping their fingers. Magnum felt no pleasure, not even relief at the outlaw’s death. He merely released the scar-faced man’s head, and let it thump onto the deck, before turning and rushing back out of the engineering bay.
Jump Point: Kestrel Class Saga Book 2 Page 10