After receiving the images, Jenetta summoned Lieutenant Jacoby, her engineering chief, to her office.
"Look at these hull breaches, Derrick," Jenetta said as he sat down across from her. She tapped a button on her com console and they were projected onto a large wall monitor. "They appear to have been caused from within the ship."
Lieutenant Jacoby stood back up, walked to the monitor, and closely examined each high definition image for a few seconds. He called on the computer to magnify certain parts, before saying, "From these pictures, it's difficult to fully appreciate the size of the breaches, but they appear to have been caused by the small, shaped charges that Vyx had me place against the hull. They were disguised as fire suppression devices, and could be triggered from a remote detonator located in his stateroom."
"He asked you to place charges inside his ship?"
"Yes ma'am. He said that it was sort of a 'mission fail-safe' device. He could set the trigger mechanism for up to thirty days. It looks like something happened that caused him to trigger it. That, or someone else found the remote and played around with it without realizing its purpose."
"You're absolutely sure that your devices did this damage?"
"As sure as I can be from the images. I'd have to see the actual blast holes and take metal filing samples to be a hundred percent certain."
"Okay, Derrick. Thank you. That'll be all."
"Aye, Commander. Is Trader Vyx still alive?"
"That's the big question, Derrick."
* * *
The fresh food supplies were exhausted, so Vyx, Byers, and Nelligen were eating food exclusively from the food-synthesizer now. After more than a month and a half in the deserted base, their nerves were on edge. Byers and Nelligen were bickering almost constantly, and Vyx was spending as much time as possible by himself. They always came together for meals though.
"I hope that our rescuers get here soon," Byers said at dinner. "This waiting around without being able to contact anyone is getting on my nerves."
"Rescuers?" Vyx said. "You believe that rescuers are coming?"
"Rivemwilth said that he was sending someone to rescue us."
"He actually said that 'someone will be by to pick you up in a few months.' That's not the same thing. Why do you think I've spent so much time working with the explosives that we have in the storerooms?"
"In case someone unexpected arrived."
"Not only that. I've been working to prepare for whomever the late Shev Rivemwilth has sent."
"Who are you expecting?" Nelligen asked.
"I doubt that the late Shev Rivemwilth would have sent anyone unless he stood to profit. It could be relatives of Recozzi, the Tsgardi I killed. Rivemwilth might be hoping to get the bounty the family is offering on my head. But I expect them to more likely be slavers. Or they could be both. They kill me and enslave the two of you. Whoever is coming, I don't intend to simply let them kill me, or to live out my days mining ore."
"Slavers? You think that lousy toad has sold us? If that's true, and I ever get my hands on him, I'll choke the life out of him."
"I expect that you're too late. I believe that the life has already been choked out of him."
"I've noticed that you keep calling him the 'late Shev Rivemwilth'. I originally thought that you meant that he was 'as good as dead'. Why do you think that he's already dead?"
"I rigged the Maid with small explosive charges that would breach the hull in a number of places. When we came down to the surface, the detonator probably had about two weeks left of the preset thirty days. I suspect that Rivemwilth died from asphyxiation about a month ago."
"Explosives? You never told us about any explosives."
"It was need to know information. You didn't need to know, and it was one less chance for somebody to slip up and tell Rivemwilth. I told him that he'd soon regret leaving us here, but not for long."
"So, if he hadn't yet told anyone exactly where we are, we won't be seeing anyone. Not even slavers."
"I suspect that those arrangements were made long before we arrived. Rivemwilth always planned well ahead."
"If he was so smart he would have taken us down as soon as we finished loading the ship and not given you a chance to set the detonator."
"It was set from the first minute that we arrived at the rendezvous point. I was resetting it every week to the maximum time, but we had been so busy with the loading that I hadn't reset it in a couple of weeks. I plan well ahead also."
"You mean that we spent over a month working on that ammo filled ship while the timer was running?" Byers asked.
"Yep. It was the only way that I could assure that Rivemwilth didn't get away if anything should happen to us quite suddenly."
"Maybe he found the charges."
"It's possible, but highly unlikely. They were well disguised, and the trigger is a remote detonator so there weren't any wires to spot. There's so much explosive aboard that they couldn't use sensors to find them, and it's totally unlikely that they could have found all the devices anyway. Since the emergency door controls are disabled if the detonator is activated, the entire ship could depressurize from just one breach. The Light Speed engines are likewise set to shut down, so we have plenty of time to recover the ship once we get out of here."
"You're awfully sure of yourself. Maybe you've blown the entire ship to pieces. It was loaded with ordnance after all."
"The charges were tiny, all specially prepared just to evacuate the air in the ship, and located with that in mind. The charges were shaped to blow outward only, and the crevice holes should only be about fifteen-centimeters across, and thirty wide. The ship will still be around for us to find."
"You really think we're getting out of here, alive and free?"
"I'll believe that until the second I draw my last breath here."
* * *
As the door opened to admit her, Jenetta entered the bridge briefing room of Captain Payton. He welcomed her to the Thor and invited her to sit down.
"So what can I do to help the base commander today?"
"Captain, I'd like your assistance with a little problem that's developed. You're scheduled to depart the base tonight, and I don't know if you have a specific mission or if you're going on routine patrol, but if it's the latter, I wanted to ask a favor."
Captain Payton smiled. "No specific mission this time out, Commander. What is it you need?"
"What I'm about to tell you is confidential, Captain. We've been conducting an Intelligence operation during the past six months, and at this moment, the Ottawa is escorting a large transport loaded with seized illegal ordnance towards this base. We believe that much of it was stolen from Space Command. Captain Kanes named me, as the senior officer on Stewart, coordinator for the operation because the distance to Higgins prevented him from issuing more timely instructions in response to delicate situations. Following the seizure of the weapons, I released the Geneva and it resumed its normal patrol, while the Ottawa has continued on as escort."
"I see, Commander, but what do you need from me? It would appear that the operation is over."
"Three of our people, the three operatives responsible for our recovery of the armaments, are missing. I wasn't sure until all of the bodies aboard the seized ship were identified. It's possible that they were lost when the ship's hull was breached, but it's more likely that they weren't aboard the ship at all. I believe they might have been left behind, at the arms merchant's former base. The transport was parked in orbit over a small moon for more than a month, during which time it was loaded with ordnance for its journey to the new Frontier Zone. I'd like to have someone visit that moon to see if our people are still there. I could order the Geneva back, but it would take her weeks longer to get there than it would you, since the Thor can achieve Light-375. The Ottawa can't be freed up because it's needed for protection of the loaded transport."
"So you'd like us to check out the moon to see if we can locate a secret base, and then search that base fo
r any sign of your operatives?"
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
"The Frassah system. It orbits the fourth planet."
"Computer," Captain Payton said, "display the deca-sector chart on the wall monitor, showing our patrol route and highlight the Frassah system." After looking at the chart, he said, "That's well outside our established patrol territory, Commander."
"These are extenuating circumstances, Captain. I know that I can get approval for this deviation, but it will take almost two weeks for new orders to arrive. In that time you could be a quarter of the way there, or, much further away if you deny my request."
Captain Payton was silent for a few seconds. "You're the base commander of a StratCom-One base, Commander. You can order me to do this."
"I didn't want to pull rank on a senior officer, but I'll make it official if it will make you more comfortable. Space Command doesn't desert its people, especially after they've served so valiantly. We have to learn their fate, even if we only ascertain their deaths and recover their bodies for proper burial."
Captain Payton nodded. "Very well, Commander. We'll check out the moon and see if we can find your missing people."
"Thank you, Captain. I'll send messages to Captain Kanes and Space Command Headquarters explaining that your patrol course deviation was on my explicit order."
* * *
Vyx was awakened sharply by Byers' voice coming from an overhead com speaker.
"Vyx, wake up, someone's here!"
"Wha? Who's here?"
"Two shuttles have just entered the bay."
Vyx came instantly awake and jumped off the bed. "Who is it?"
"I don't know."
"Where's Nels?"
"He's at the bay, watching the ships on the monitors."
"Good. Stay away from the control room window so they can't see who's in here. Get ready for action. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Hurry."
After pulling on his pants and boots, Vyx strapped his laser pistol belt around his waist. It was an older model than the one that he usually carried, which meant that it was bulkier and not as efficient, but he had a dozen charged power packs on his belt. Byers and Nelligen were similarly armed. They had found a large cache of the older weapons in one of the storerooms.
Vyx finished dressing as he ran through the corridors to the flight bay. "What's happening?" he asked as he entered the control room, staying low to avoid being seen through the window. He raised up just high enough to see figures encapsulated in bulky EVA suits begin to disembark from the shuttles and head for the airlock. "Tsgardi!" he said.
"I've blocked the controls," Nelligen said, "so the outer doors can't be closed remotely. They had to suit up, and must use the airlock to get in here. We should be able to pick off the first group before they know what hit them. Here they come."
"Let's get into the corridor outside the airlock," Vyx said, pulling out his pistol and checking the charge.
The three men tensed as the airlock finishing cycling and the inner door began to open. Five Tsgardi warriors, the most that could fit into the small chamber at one time, stepped out of the airlock. They were all carrying laser rifles. As they started moving down the corridor, Vyx, Nelligen, and Byers stepped partway out from the doorways where they'd been hiding and opened fire. In an instant the corridor was filled with light pulses from laser pistols and rifles. The exchange of fire lasted less than a minute, and when it was over, the five Tsgardi were down for good while the three Terrans had suffered only minor injuries. Nelligen had been hit in the leg, but the shot passed through the fleshy inner thigh. Vyx had suffered a hit to the shoulder, but the shot had only creased the flesh. Both wounds had been sealed as quickly as they had been inflicted. They were painful, but not disabling.
"I'm glad that they're using laser rifles instead of lattice rifles," Nelligen said, wincing as he placed his weight on the injured leg. "This wound could have killed me."
"Same here," Vyx said, rubbing his shoulder. "It's another indication that they're here to collect us as slaves, rather than coming to kill us. Let's get moving. We can set up another ambush outside the galley."
"No, let's stay here and pick off the next group coming out of the airlock," Byers said.
Grabbing Byers by the front of his shirt, Vyx shouted in his face, "There won't be a next group coming out of the airlock! Now run!" Vyx released the shirt and took off down the corridor behind Nelligen.
Byers waited indecisively for a couple of seconds, and then followed the others. Stopping just past the second of two emergency doors, Vyx stabbed at the buttons as Byers passed. The doors slid quickly and noiselessly down the tracks, sealing off the flight bay area from the rest of the base an instant before a blast rocked the walls.
"What the hell was that?" Byers exclaimed.
"They've blasted their way through a wall from the flight bay to the corridor with an explosive charge so we couldn't ambush them coming through the airlock."
"Whoa!" Byers exclaimed. "We would have been killed from the decompression if not by the blast. How did you know?"
"It's what I would have done."
"What do you think they'll do next?"
"They'll move more cautiously now. If they blow these emergency doors, the entire base will depressurize. We'll be dead, and they'll lose their slaves, but more importantly they'll lose the chance to torture us for mowing down their friends. If they close the outer flight bay doors, they can reestablish the pressure and come for us in force. Let's hope they exercise the later option."
"How many will come?" Nelligen asked.
"As many as they can muster. They might even bring down more from their ship. They've already lost more than they hoped to claim, so we'll see how badly they want us."
"Should we just wait here?" Byers asked.
"No. Let's take up positions in the corridor by the galley. Then we can fall back towards the storerooms if they still want more. We'll see how they like the surprises that I rigged for uninvited guests."
The three men jogged through the corridors until they reached the galley. Vyx retrieved a remote detonator that he'd left there and turned on a monitor tied into the base security cameras. They watched an image of the flight bay as a third shuttle entered and the bay doors closed. Estimating that the internal systems would require fourteen to fifteen minutes before the bay and corridors were adequately pressurized, they sat down to wait and watch the monitor as Vyx switched to different cameras.
Several Tsgardi approached the first emergency door warily, their rifles at the ready, once the pressure had risen to the base's normal level. Vyx watched as one reached out tentatively and pushed the control that would raise the door.
"Now!" Byers shouted when the three Tsgardi came within a meter of the door.
"Not yet," Vyx said. "Be patient."
The door rose and the three Tsgardi moved towards the second door.
"It's too late," Byers said. "You blew your opportunity to get them. They're too far past it now."
"Yes," Vyx said almost absentmindedly as a group of twelve more moved into view of the camera.
Waiting until the first two Tsgardi in the second group had passed the wall panel where he'd secreted two old personnel land mines, Vyx depressed the button on the transmitter. Instantly the corridor was filled with smoke and flame. The air purification system immediately began to filter the air as a fire suppression system smothered the flames with foam from a computer directed nozzle in the ceiling. When the view was clear, Vyx saw that eight Tsgardi were down. Two of those were still moving, but barely. It was a surreal site, with the eight downed Tsgardi covered in white foam. It looked a snow sculpture on Earth. The first three returned to view the bodies of their fallen comrades.
"That seems to have slowed them a bit," Vyx said.
"Not for long," Byers said as the remaining seven turned towards the base corridors again and began to move forward.
"They didn't even leave anyone
behind to help the wounded," Nelligen said.
"They don't believe in helping a downed warrior until the enemy is neutralized or the battle is lost," Vyx said.
"Then let's help them understand that this battle is lost," Byers said. "What's next?"
"We greet them again in the corridor. Come with me."
Vyx placed the two men and told them not to leave their positions unless he was down, no matter what happened. The Tsgardi worked their way slowly through the base, not finding any sign of their opponents as they searched every room and closet. It took almost an hour for them to reach the galley area. Vyx waited until five of them had entered the corridor before stepping out of the doorway and opening fire with his pistol. Byers and Nelligen joined in immediately. The Tsgardi tried to retreat around the corner of the corridor, but not before four of them went down. The one that managed to reach safety, stopped where Vyx expected they would choose to regroup, and was joined by the remaining two. As the three Tsgardi spoke hurriedly with their ship and formulated a new plan for attack, Vyx set off another explosive charge that he had planted inside the wall partition next to where the Tsgardi were standing. The two personnel mines took out the last of the Tsgardi that had so far entered the base.
Signaling to Byers and Nelligen to follow him, Vyx retreated into one of the storage rooms where he'd set up a tripod-mounted rapid fire lattice rifle. Byers and Nelligen took cover behind some packing crates, as Vyx moved to the gunner's position of the rifle. Then they waited.
During the next few hours, the three Terrans waited for an attack that never materialized. Vyx cursed himself repeatedly for not rigging up a monitor in the storage room to use the base's security cameras. Only low rumbling noises, and vibrations that shook the room repeatedly, rewarded their patient vigil. After half an hour of such motion, they cautiously left their positions and walked to the door. The vibrations could be felt in the walls, doors, and floor.
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