by T S Paul
“Understand this, if the lower hatch is not closed all the way, depressurizing alarms will go off everywhere and they will find and destroy you. But we can prevent them from seeing the outer hatch opening. The old system was never updated up on the bridge.”
“Chief where does the inner hatch open up to? I don’t remember any hatches in that area.” The lieutenant was peering at the schematic and scratching his head.
The old Chief chuckled, “No you haven’t seen this one. That’s because it opens up into the waste disposal area. There is a crawl space here,” he pointed on the map. “Once you crawl about five meters there is another ladder leading up. That hatch opens up to the cargo deck lavatory. It is set into the wall in the last stall. I would suggest borrowing a remote stethoscope from the Dr. That may help you to detect if there is someone in the lavatory before you climb through.”
The Chief Engineer stood watching the Marines digest this information. “Do you or your men have any questions for me, Lieutenant?”
“Do you have any suggestions how we should get out with the hostages? I thought that we should try and take the bridge or assault the CIC, but there will be too many mercs for that.”
“I’m not a Marine, son. Should you need to, use this code to seal the hold doors.” He slid the lieutenant a slip of paper. “Because they lead into the hold, the doors are double armored in case of blow outs. From what we have seen on our cameras they don’t have much in the way of cutting tools. So anyone you leave there should be safe.”
The Chief pressed a button on his tablet and there was a knock at the door. The door opened to the smiling face of computer tech Kovak. “Chief, those suits are ready for the jarheads. Was there anything else you needed?”
“No, go ahead and get back to your computers.” Motioning after the tech Chief Tad looked at the Marines. “She got your space suits all tuned up and firewalled against this hacker the pirates have. We have you set up by the fusion vent tubes. Be careful out there, boys.” He handed the lieutenant a small electronic stethoscope. “I figured you would forget. I stole… I mean borrowed this from doc Smith earlier today. Good Luck.” As he watched, the Marines got ready and began putting on their suits. Novak and of the other engineering staff pitched in to help the men.
Novak leaned down to kiss one of the privates goodbye. The Chief saw this and yelled at her, “Novak, he’s a Marine you don’t know where those lips have been!”
___
The tight space of the fusion vent tubes was pure hell in a space suit. If it was this bad going down, coming back up is going to be even harder. Lieutenant Mutai was now considering exiting the suits at the forward hatch. The skin suits they had on, along with the helmets would give them enough air to get in. But it meant no going back if they dumped the suits. He decided to wait until they got there before making that decision.
All Marines are trained in space combat and in using the suits. Most of that training is on a stationary ship with jet packs and anti-grav belts. The acceleration of the ship could be felt immediately when they exited the vents. There were hand holds and as expected pitons within reach of he exit. All five Marines had on makeshift harnesses that held clips, carabiners, and extra rope. They had all clipped on and were very slowly crawling across the bottom of the ship. Single file seemed to be the best option. The first man would clip on and the man at the end would unclasp the carabiners as he passed by them. Sergeant Sveldig was the only one of them with actual climbing experience so he led. Lieutenant Mutai was second followed by privates Ascot, Diamond, and Khat.
The first six meters or so was fairly easy. Clip on and clip off, repeat. They then came to one of those sections that they had been warned about. No pitons. Using the magnification setting on his helmet Sergeant Sveldig peered into the darkness looking for a hook up. The flashes of light from the ships thrusters dimly lit the hull of the ship. The sergeant strained his eyes searching for something, anything to hook up to. There! Off to starboard about two meters away was a piton. Two meters! It might as well have been a mile. With the ship moving they had zero chance of making that if they unhooked.
The sergeant was communicating this to the lieutenant when he was tapped on the shoulder by Private Diamond. “Sergeant what if we swung one of us over to it. These ropes are more elastic then rope. What if we dangle one of us then swing back and forth and ‘throw’ them over to it?”
“Private, that is a crazy idea that we will not be attempting! No gravity to swing from. You will just float off and die.” He thought for a moment. “OK new plan. We backtrack. I think there were some pitons that headed off to starboard about 2 meters back that way.” He pointed behind them.
The Marines reversed course twice more when they could not reach pitons or did not want to chance it. They would need every man for the rescue and assault. It took over two hours, almost to the limit of the air in the suits. Though they had brought emergency back ups along with extra weapons for the rescue.
They finally reached the former mine laying hatch. Lieutenant Mutai had to feel around for the recessed keypad. Up here by the bow there was no light except for their suit lights. Event the stars gave off little lights. The ships movement made it a faint blur, not enough light to see by. Feeling seduced by the moment, the lieutenant said a silent prayer to Jenny and punched in the number. The hatch gave a little tremble and slowly slid open. They had made it.
___
In Engineering computer tech Novak was staring at an antiquated signal board. It had been over two hours and hope for the Marines was beginning to fade. She was typing on her computers working to keep the ‘hacker’ out of the engine systems. Whoever this guy was, he was really good. Just then, there was a soft ‘ding’ and a red light lit up on the board.
“Chief! Chief! They made it! The light lit up!” The tech was jumping up and down.
“Well all right!” Chief Engineer Kościuszko immediately sent a runner, one of the cooks, to the Captain.
Captain Pigot was tired of all this inaction. Finally, some good news! With the Marines in the bow, it was time for the diversion to draw the troops away. He stepped out of his office and looked at the waiting officers and crew.
“The Marines are in position, it’s time. Remember, don’t worry about prisoners, just attack. Let’s go!”
Taking a page from the pirates the crew members pushing an engineering cart in front of them rushed up the corridor taking pot shots at the pirates. Arriving at the secondary defensive point, the ‘assault force’ armed back up and then pushed forward. The force of cooks and assorted crewman were now led by Commander Garcia. Captain Pigot, at the urging of the officers, had elected to stay in the relative safety of the defense point. Garcia was cursing the pirates and yelling at them in his guttural Spanglish.
Pushing the pirates back even further the loyal crew regained the now shattered primary defensive point. Directly in front of them was the burnt out remains of he two pirate guns. The interior bulkheads had sustained severe damage and were bowed in several places. The Dr’s office had been looted and burned in the explosion. The goal of this push was CIC; if they could reach that room their chances of beating off the pirates increased.
Grenades were readied and the navy crew took positions in doorways and behind their rolling barricade.
___
Alvin conferred with ‘Mickey’ his Chief Lieutenant. He had to laugh about that name. As the boss, only he could get away with calling him that. Reuben had gotten drunk one night, really, really drunk and had told Alvin a story about his mother.
Mickey was a lifetime criminal. His parents had been panhandlers and swindlers. Fake home repairs and insurance scams were his fathers game. His mom did it all, everything from selling fraudulent furs to credit fraud. As a child he had been responsible for acquiring the ‘fine fur’ for the coats that his mother sold. That story was so evil, maybe he should tell Jenna that one. The name Mickey came from the other scam she would pull. She would dress him up like the childr
en's cartoon mouse and rent him out to parties. He would conveniently have to use the lavatory or find some other reason to go inside the house. He would rob them blind. Who would suspect a big kid in a mouse costume? Cops would. Nothing beats sitting in the juvie facility dressed like a toy mouse. That was how Reuben ended up making his bones and got so scary. Beating the living crap out of anyone who dissed the mouse!
The increased sounds of gunfire drew both mens attention. “What the hell is that?” Reuben began grabbing random pirates and almost literally throwing them into battle with the Navy. Remembering that his boss was here, the big man spun around. “Alvin, sir. We need to get you under cover. It looks like the Navy is attacking us.”
“Screw that! I’m ready for this fight. I need to work on my collection anyway.” He said fingering the cryo box at his side.
Alvin pointed at one of his guards, “go forward. Tell those idiots to move the women back to the number one hold, then come help us here.” When his man ran off, Alvin looked back at Reuben. “No point in having double guards. We can use those guns up here with us.”
___
The Marines now knew why the Chief engineer and some of his people had been smiling and laughing at them when they got ready for this mission. The space suits proved too bulky to squeeze into the ship with. They had to be abandoned. Kinno’s men disabled the location beacons and then cast the suits loose. A sacrifice to the space gods. The hatch to outside did indeed come out in the waste disposal area. Right in the middle of it to be precise. Private Ascot was the first victim because he climbed the ladder. The hatch seemed heavy so her pushed harder. With a sucking sound the hatch opened and raw sewage poured down onto the Marines looking up the ladder. With brown vicious fluid dripping down their bodies they cursed all engineers in every language they could think of. They would not have to worry about shooting the pirates, the stink coming off them would knock them right out. Kinno swore to his gods that if he got out of here he would get back at those engineers.
Using the stethoscope they listened to several pirates peeing and telling dirty jokes. Finally they left the room. After ten minutes of silence the lieutenant and his men popped the hatch and climbed out into the lavatory. This was a familiar part of the ship to the men. The Marine stores were kept in the number one hold. Exiting the lavatory the Marines carefully crept down the short corridor towards their target.
___
Markus and his brother Isaak really hated guard duty. It was even harder to guard the door knowing what was inside. They both had been looking forward to raping the rewards after the ship was taken. It would have made up for the weeks of pretending to be ‘good navy crew.’ They had both had enough of THAT in the Rus militia back on their home world. Judging by the explosions and screams the battle must almost be over. It was always a good time watching Alvin torture his victims. His brother Isaak was a little slow, but when it came to chopping up the enemy he was a genius. Unfortunately, he pissed off Reuben by calling him Mickey to his face. Besides the black eyes and cracked ribs, the both of them now had permanent guard duty and last pick of the women. He cuffed his brother again as they passed. Back and forth, back and forth, they had been walking for what seemed like hours. Isaak did not like being hit for no reason and this time reared back returning his brothers punch. Soon, the two of them were in a knock-down-drag-out battle for who was the better brother. Neither man saw or smelled the approaching Marines.
___
The door to the cargo hold was being guarded by two large and hulking pirates. Suddenly the two began exchanging blows. To the Marines’ incredulous eyes the pirates began fighting each other rolling around on the floor. Weaponless, the two were beating on each other to no avail.
Markus finished breaking Issak’s nose and rolled off him onto a couple of large booted feet. Wincing, Markus turned his head to take his punishment for fighting on the job. The last time this happened Reuben broke all his fingers. He looked up into the faces of a couple of angry Marines holding assault weapons to his head. Crap!
Lieutenant Mutai looked at his men as they duct taped the pirates and locked them in a storage bin. “This may be easier than we thought” he commented to Sergeant Sveldig. The door to the cargo hold was unlocked. The five of them opened the door and stepped inside. Using the code that the Chief had given him, Lieutenant Mutai closed and locked the door. There were two groups of prisoners chained up in circles before them. The women to port and the men to starboard.
——
Ensign Enyo Tisiphone had seen all the pirates that she wanted to. The ensign had been looking forward to spending some time with family at the end of the deployment, not being molested by disgusting pirates. To think these people had been shipmates not two days before. She had been peacefully sleeping when they had grabbed her and her roommate. Fortunately she slept in pajamas. Her roommate, not so much. The pirates had roughly searched them for weapons then after tying them up had locked them up. From the comments and leers, her and the other women had expected to be raped. Suddenly they were tied up and moved to the cargo hold. The men were already there tied up. Vibrations from the deck plates meant that somewhere someone was fighting back. Internally, she cheered them and said a prayer for her safety. FSM and the space gods were fickle, but just.
She heard the door open and footsteps approached her. The pirates had all of them tied face down of the deck so all she could see were dirty feet. One of the feet knelt next to her and she could see hands reaching for her. “Just get it over with you dirty, smelly, pirate.”
“Is that any way to speak to an officer, Ensign Tisiphone?” That voice! That wasn’t a pirate! She felt her hands being untied. Rolling over she saw the ships Marines all untying the other women.
“Is it over? Did you kill all the pirates?”
“Not quite ensign, this is more of a rescue mission. Can you stand?”
The ensign stood up with a little help. It had been hours since she had been able to stand. She rubbed her wrists then reached down and did her ankles. Lavatory breaks for pirates were few and very far between. The women were starting to get organized and were helping the Marines untie the men. Many of the men were hurt very badly. Facial contusions, broken noses, ribs, arms, and other maladies were common. Of the almost 50 men that had been tied down, six had died of their wounds.
“Can I have everyones Attention!” Lieutenant Mutai stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled.
The group of officers and crew stopped talking and all looked toward the Marine Lieutenant.
“Captain Pigot sent us here to free you. We do have a plan. Those of you who can fight we need help. The Captain is attacking the pirates right now to give us the diversion that we need to take the bridge. Without it they will still have control of the ship.” He looked at he bedraggled men and women. “We could use some volunteers.”
Ensign Tisiphone looked around at her fellow crew members; many were looking down at the floor or just not paying attention to the Marines. Were there that many cowards on this ship? Is this why we hadn’t put up more of a fight? Not this descendant of warriors! “Lieutenant Mutai I volunteer!”
The flood gates did not open up, a choir of angels did not appear. Two other young crewmen raised their hands as well as one of the former bridge officers. Everyone else elected to stay, using the wounded as an excuse.
The Marines located clothing to replace the lost clothing of their new troops.
Ensign Tisiphone watched as the Marine officer showed her fellow volunteers how to work the assault rifle. Her family lived out on the Lost Archipelago back on Hong Kong. She had a gun in her hands from birth. Lots of dangerous animals on home planet.
She gave each of the Marines a big hug before changing clothes. When she got to Private Ascot she sniffed and did not hug him. “What have you been rolling in?” The stink rolling off the Marine was starting to make her eyes water. “Just stay over there!”
Chapter 6
You would think that after a revo
lution it would be a lot quieter. I, Athena Lee, sat in ‘my’ cafeteria observation area. I could be found here most days. I was in charge of repairing the damage caused by the assault on the station by the Militia forces. Some of that damage I helped to create. The station had a full squadron of Navy fighters to work on too. The FLEA scientists were helping but their hearts were not in it. Other than them I was the only trained Navy engineer on station or in this part of the galaxy. The EOM ship Laffey was a destroyer that had been in port before the planetary revolution. It had a faulty engine and had been in pieces before the attack. The ships crew had elected to be interned along with 95% of the other navy personnel, below on the planet. I had chosen to stand by my world against the corruption and murder that the Sector Governor had brought here. For better or for worse this was where we would make our stand.