“Damn, that’s some kind of commitment,” Kim said. “Too bad for us you made it.”
“Very funny,” Liachov said. “The weapons we’re taking back are a drop in the bucket of what is needed by our people. The Imperium bombards our cities and lands thousands of troops with state-of-the-art weapons and armor. Most of the rebellion is being fought with old-fashioned projectile weapons. We can’t win the war outright without help. Our best bet is to hold out so long and cause enough damage that the Imperium decides we’re not worth the fight.”
“Little chance of that,” Ben said. “They slagged Torrent Four until it was nothing but a giant landfill, yet they still maintain control of it. Even keeping a military presence on the ground and in orbit.”
“There’s nothing they won’t do,” Kim said. “The greedy bastards.”
“So what now?” Ben said. “We’re here. There’s no need to keep us under guard.”
“I wish that were the case,” Liachov said. “But you can make the jump to hyperspace anytime you want. So, until we’re safely on the ground, we’ll remain in control of your vessel.”
“Can we at least continue the work on the port engine?” Ben asked.
Liachov nodded. “But Sergeant Ike is going with you. Try anything and we’ll kill Kim and Nance, take over your ship, and leave you floating in space.”
“Let’s get started then,” Ben said.
He got up and approached Liachov, waving her over to the atrium railing, overlooking the cargo bay.
“There’s a little problem with your guy coming with us,” Ben said.
“It’s nonnegotiable,” Liachov said coldly.
“I’m not trying to get out of having a guard. Send two, they may come in handy. But we only have two umbilical lines. And the work on the engine could take ten hours or more.”
“Ten hours?” Liachov asked suspiciously.
“We have to solder the wires together,” Ben said. “That’s harder to do in negative four hundred–degree temperature. And that’s just the start. We’ll have to test every line to make sure there’s no power loss or anything that might trip the power supply’s internal breaker.”
“How do I know that you aren’t making all this up?” Liachov said. “It was your idea to do it this way, remember?”
“I do, and I’m confident we can get it done,” Ben continued. “But not if we have to stop every half an hour for your people to get fresh air tanks.”
“What’s your solution?”
“Maybe have them trade off and on,” Ben said. “I mean going EVA isn’t all that safe, and I don’t want to endanger anyone unnecessarily, but I can’t do the repairs with my bad arm. So there isn’t an extra umbilical line for your people.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Liachov said. “Get your gear together and suit up.”
Ben nodded, but instead of going down the stairs to the engineering bay, he walked back onto the bridge and down to the pilot’s station. Beck was guarding Kim, who apparently hadn’t shown any signs of compliance apart from being held at gunpoint.
“You okay?” Ben asked her.
“Physically, I’m fine,” Kim said. “But I won’t lie. This is a shitty situation, and if I get a chance, I’m going to rip her tiny black heart out.”
“Oh, how I’ve missed you,” Ben said with a grin.
“There’s no time for that crap now, you romantic gearhead. How are we getting out of this situation?”
“There’s only one way,” Ben said, looking over at Beck, who had a smug look on her face. “We have to get them onto Brigton.”
“Then you have to get the engines working,” Kim told him. “Without both wing engines, we’re cooked.”
“Alright,” Ben said. “Consider it done.”
“How’s your arm?”
“He’s fine,” Beck said. “Move along, Ben. Or I’ll break your other arm.”
“You touch him and I’ll—”
Ben put his good hand on Kim’s shoulder and gave her a little squeeze. She looked up at him, and there were tears in her eyes. He nodded encouragingly at her, then left the bridge.
“You should tell her to stay calm,” Liachov said in a low voice. “She’s come close to getting slagged by my people a couple of times.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Ben said. “I don’t like what you’re doing here, but I’ll see to it that we get you home. Unless you do something to one of my people. Then all bets are off.”
“Toe the line, don’t cause trouble, and there won’t be trouble,” Liachov said.
“You better hope not,” Ben said. “Because I won’t just kill you. I’ll turn you over to the Imperium and tell them everything I know about your precious rebellion.”
The look of horror that crossed Rena’s face gave Ben a tiny sense of satisfaction. Then she poked his broken arm. It was a small gesture, just enough to get someone’s attention in a normal circumstance, but the pain that shot through Ben’s body was like an electric current. He tried to step back, but his legs gave out under him.
He would have fallen to the deck, but Magnum caught him. The big man had a delicate touch and managed to stop the fall without hurting Ben’s arm. It took a few seconds for the pain to pass and Ben to become aware of his surroundings once more as Magnum slowly raised him back up.
“That’s the only warning you’re going to get,” Liachov said coldly. “I’m beginning to think you just might be a liability.”
She turned on her heel and walked back to the bridge. Ike came to where the two men were standing by the stairs leading down to the cargo bay.
“Let’s go,” he said.
They went down to the engineering bay and pulled on their space suits. Once they were both dressed, they collected the tools they needed, including a cold temperature soldering iron, and a low-light magnifying display. Ike wore a space suit and carried two extra tanks. He also had a laser pistol strapped across the front of his suit.
“How much air do you have?” Ben asked.
“A little over an hour in each tank,” the sergeant replied. “I’ll stand a three-hour watch, then switch out.”
“Good,” Ben said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we can use your help.”
“I’m not here to help,” Ike said. “My job is to make sure you don’t signal the Imperium Fleet.”
“Look, I get it,” Ben said. “We weren’t going to deliver on our promise to take you home, so you’re doing what you have to do. But think for just a second. Why on earth would I want to signal the Fleet? They’ll take our ship and throw us in prison or execute us as traitors.”
“You just want an excuse to leave the system,” Ike said.
“On some level, perhaps,” Ben said. “But the first priority is to repair this engine. Magnum will do the soldering, and I’ll be holding the low-light magnifying display. We need you to make sure there is no illumination outside the engine compartment.”
“Fine, but if you try anything, I’ll kill you,” Ike said.
“I keep hearing that,” Ben said. “It’s like a one-size-fits-all solution for you people.”
They went to the air lock, and Ike went through first with Magnum. Ben followed. He carried no gear, just some tools that were strapped onto his space suit. But getting around the ship’s hull in zero-gravity wasn’t easy. Fortunately, there were handholds and places where he could hook his boots into so that he didn’t go floating off into space. It was still a nerve-racking ordeal that made him angry over his broken arm. He shouldn’t have tried to use his com-link when the outlaws attacked him. Having an injury only made his life more difficult and put the people he cared about in jeopardy.
Once he reached the wing engine, Magnum attached Ben’s umbilical hose, which not only gave him life-sustaining oxygen but also powered his space suit’s heating system and served as a tether. They went to work on the engine immediately. The work wasn’t complicated, but it was tedious. Fortunately, the low-light display worked without shining any visi
ble light. With the sun behind them, they could see pretty well, and Ben doubted that the Imperium ships would take the time or make the effort to look toward the star with their infrared displays.
Ike was relieved and a few hours later returned to continue watching them before Magnum got the soldering all done. Once the lines were connected, they spent an hour checking each one with a pair of electric current meters. Satisfied that their work was complete, they called it a day and returned inside. Ben was starving. Magnum helped him strip off the space suit, and they went up to the galley.
Kim was eating, still under guard, and Liachov was waiting for them.
“Did you finish?” she asked.
“All the connections are completed,” Ben said. “But we still have to wrap each one in rubber sealant and then insulate the system from the engine itself.”
“But we can turn the power on and run a diagnostic check of the engine?”
“No,” Ben said. “Not until the shielding is in place.”
“I don’t see why that’s necessary,” Liachov said. “If the test shows further damage, putting the insulation shielding on will require you to just remove it again when you go to work on the engine proper.”
“True,” Ben said. “But the power supply will get hot. The engine has been sitting idle a long time. A sudden change in temperature could crack the engine components.”
“You’re being overly cautious,” she accused.
“You’re right, I absolutely am,” Ben said. “Because like it or not, there’s no guarantee of help out here. If something goes wrong, we have to fix it, and there are only so many things that can be fixed without shutting the entire ship down. We take every precaution, and we check everything twice.”
“Fine, but I want it done as soon as possible.”
“We just spent eight hours out there,” Ben said. “Let us have a bite to eat and a few hours of sleep, then we’ll get the shielding on and you can run the tests.”
Liachov looked at him suspiciously, then left the galley. Magnum brought Ben a plate of food and they sat down by Kim, who was picking at her meal. Ben and Magnum, on the other hand, shoveled in their food hungrily. Ben ate so fast he barely tasted the processed seasoning powder that coated the protein brick.
“How’d it go out there?” Kim asked.
“Fine,” Ben said. “A few more hours and we’ll be done.”
“And then what?” Kim asked.
“Then we test it,” Ben explained, “run computer diagnostics, and hope we haven’t missed something.”
“I simply can’t believe we’re in this mess,” she said angrily. “At the very least, we should have stayed away until you were done and the engine could be started and properly tested.”
“Well,” Ben said, “it’s too late for that now.”
“This entire thing is your fault, you know,” she snapped.
“My fault?”
“Yes, we should have dropped off the Special Forces A-Team at the first available opportunity.”
Magnum couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
“If this is anyone’s fault, it yours,” Ben shot back. “If you hadn’t argued so long and so loud about not taking the rebels home, they wouldn’t have gotten suspicious and hijacked the ship.”
“Well, someone had to be the voice of reason,” Kim said. “You had your head so far in the clouds you would have gotten us all killed.”
“I don’t think so,” Ben said.
“Well I do,” Kim replied. “Just look at your busted arm because you weren’t being careful.”
“My arm is broken because an outlaw attacked me.”
“You should have had your guard up.”
“And you should have kept your mouth shut.”
They stared at each other for a minute, neither speaking, then Kim got to her feet.
“I’m going back to the bridge,” she said.
“Fine,” Ben replied.
“Good,” Kim said.
“Who’s stopping you?”
“Certainly not you.”
She left the galley, and Ben watched her with a sense of fury and disbelief. Sometimes her fiery disposition was something he admired, and other times it drove him crazy. Magnum was still grinning when Ben looked over at him.
“Can you believe that?”
“So funny,” Magnum said.
“It wasn’t funny.”
Ben felt irritated at Magnum for laughing. Ike was watching the two of them suspiciously. Ben stood up and looked at his guard.
“I need some sleep. Please tell me I can go to my cabin,” Ben said. “You can post a guard and watch me sleep if you want, but I can’t take another night on that gurney.”
Ike stood up and pointed to another of the soldiers.
“Piers, go with him. Make sure you have eyes on him at all times.”
“Roger that, Sergeant,” the man named Piers said.
Ben went down the stairs and crossed the atrium to his room. They left the door open, and Piers took a seat just inside the cabin, while Ben climbed onto his bunk fully clothed and went to sleep.
Chapter 23
When Ben woke up, Liachov was sitting next to the bed. He wondered briefly whether the lieutenant ever slept. Before he did anything else, he moved his hand. Pain rippled through his broken arm like waves on a pond. It hurt so bad, he even groaned a little.
“Your arm?” Liachov asked.
“It’s still hurting something awful,” Ben said, slowly sitting up. “It should be better.”
“Something must be wrong,” Liachov said.
“That’s a cheery thought first thing in the morning.”
“Reality is seldom cheery,” Liachov said. “You need to see a physician.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Ben said.
“Okay,” Liachov said. “There’s movement around the planet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, three of the capital ships left the system.”
“Really?” Ben said. “Is that good or bad?”
“I suppose it’s good news for us. It should be easier to sneak back onto the planet. But it might also mean they’ve won a decisive battle and don’t need as many troops to finish killing my people.”
“Or maybe there’s trouble somewhere else,” Ben said, rubbing his eyes with his good hand. “Perhaps they were called to another war.”
“Let’s hope so,” Liachov said. “Unless more planets wake up and realize the true nature of the Royal Imperium, the stronger they will become. Eventually, they’ll be too strong to overthrow and we’ll have no choice but to live in servitude.”
Ben thought the RI was already too large to fight. They controlled everything, from trade to communications between systems. It was nearly impossible to organize against them. The Confederacy of Free Planets was making a valiant attempt, but they were vastly outnumbered.
“Today we finish the port wing engine,” Liachov continued. “I want a full battery of tests run. If it’s operational, then we’re accelerating our plans.”
“Accelerating how?” Ben asked as she helped him to his feet.
“By engaging the engines and going into the system.”
Ben looked at his chrono. Only fifteen hours had passed since they set course for Brigton inside the system. That left at least forty more hours just to reach orbit.
“You can wait two more days,” Ben said. “It won’t make a difference.”
“We don’t know that,” Liachov said. “And I’m through taking chances. “With only three ships, they can’t monitor the entire surface of the planet.”
Ben wanted to argue, but he knew it was futile. He walked out of his room and saw that Kim wasn’t at her place on the bridge, neither was Nance. Ike sat at the communications console with an old-fashioned headset on.
“Anything?” Liachov asked.
“Nothing coming out of the planet,” Ike said. “The Imperium must be jamming all outgoing communications.”
> “That’s because they’re up to no good,” Liachov said. “Probably committing atrocities against our people. We have to get down there. Ben, I’ll give you five hours, then we’re going in with or without the port wing engine.”
“Where’s Magnum?” Ben asked.
“He’s already down in the engineering bay. Beck’s going out with you. No funny business.”
“There’s no time for it,” Ben said. “We’ll barely get our work done before your insane deadline.”
“So stop wasting time,” Liachov said.
“Where are Nance and Kim?”
“They’re sleeping,” she said. “I’ll wake them soon.”
Ben wanted to argue. He wanted to insist that he see them both to ensure that they weren’t hurt, but ultimately he knew he had no leverage. And if Liachov had any sense at all, she wouldn’t hurt them because she needed them to fly the ship. Magnum and Ben, on the other hand, were expendable, at least from Liachov’s point of view.
Ben went downstairs and over to where Magnum had their gear all laid out, including two protein shakes.
“This for me?” Ben asked.
Magnum nodded. They drank quickly and then got into their space suits. A half hour had passed before they were ready to go EVA. It took another half hour to get to the port wing in zero-gravity and remove the housing on the engine.
“Alright,” Ben said. “Use the sealing spray on all the wires, after we get the heat barrier in place underneath.”
Ben cursed himself for being so helpless. Magnum had to carefully lift all the wires as he pushed and pulled the flexible heat-resistant resin sheet across the engine. They spent an hour spraying rubber coating on all the exposed wiring. Then they added a layer of flame-retardant insulation under the power supply and wires, but on top of the resin sheet. A second layer of insulation went in place on top of the power supply, followed by a final layer of heat-resistant resin.
“Alright, we have it insulated,” Ben said over the com-link. “Let’s power it on and see what happens.”
“Copy,” Nance said. “Here goes.”
Ben and Magnum watched in silence. Nothing seemed to happen, but Nance radioed back that all was well.
“Okay, let’s get the cover back in place,” Ben said.
Jump Point: Kestrel Class Saga Book 2 Page 15