Alpha, I said. It changed back to the three bullet display.
"I think I've got it," I said. "Marny, I'm taking tactical for the EVA. Once we're on board, it's all you."
"Aye, Cap," she acknowledged.
I cycled the atmo from the hold. We were too big to go back through the hallway to the hatch on the side of the ship.
"Tabby, we're ready for approach," I said.
I watched through my HUD as she carefully sailed us past the outer ring again and approached the same starboard flank where the new skin had recently been patched in. I lowered the cargo bay's ramp just enough for us to exit, hoping that the puff of residual atmo wouldn't draw any attention. From this point, we were on communication blackout.
I was the last to push off from the ship and I pressed the interior panel causing the ramp to retract. It was Tabby's signal to clear the area. She gently nudged the ship away. We were completely exposed, adrift next to the enemy behemoth.
With mere whispers from our arc-jets, we drifted, more than sailed toward the ship. So far, we either hadn't been seen or they were deciding what to do with us. I could imagine Marny chastising me to simply stay in the moment. If it wasn't something I could control, then I needed to put it out of my mind. Distractions would get us killed.
We landed on the side of the ship. It was easy to see how the decks were laid out from the welds stitched across the otherwise pristine metallic surface. The next step would be critical to our plan.
Nick placed the welder/cutter against the hull of the ship. Our gamble was simple. The material the pirates had stretched across the large wound would only be thick enough to hold atmosphere. They were, no doubt, still manufacturing armor. Without the ability to hold atmo however, they wouldn't be able to repair the interior systems damaged in the fight. There was no way to know what was behind the skin.
My suit's visor dimmed when Nick's cutter fired up. The light was extremely bright light and it made me nervous, but there was nothing to be done. His first cut wasn't deep and we were careful to stay away from the meter-radius hole he etched in the surface. His goal was to weaken the metal and allow it to blow out if there was atmo built up behind it. When Nick finally cut through, no atmo escaped. A few minutes later, the panel finally came loose and started to slowly flutter away from the ship.
I grabbed the metal disc before it could go too far, and held it in place while Nick tacked a small hinge in place. The plan was to pull the piece closed behind us, covering our tracks. The deception wouldn't last long and the crew would know we were here soon, regardless.
Marny jumped through the hole and I followed. All of our training in teams would pay off here. It didn't matter that we were in mechanized suits, the rules still applied. I knew Nick would be right behind me and we'd instructed Xie to stay between Nick and myself as much as possible. It would be the safest spot for a squishy.
We entered a vast open deck on the ship and clung to the side. Overall the ship was shaped like a huge shallow V. This deck was littered with debris and stretched across what looked like the entire two hundred meters width of the ship. It also extended forward a hundred fifty meters which was about ten percent of the ship's length. It wasn't hard to understand why we'd gone undetected so far.
Nick grabbed the metal disc he'd cut out and pulled it down, bending the metal, so that it sort of covered the hole. It would be discovered at some point. We needed to move.
My AI started mapping out the interior space, relating it to what we knew about the overall dimensions of the ship. It would continue to build out the map as long as more area was explored.
"Let's move," Marny said. Once again we were communicating using only line of sight transmitters. It made everyone's voice sound tinny, but it was better than announcing our arrival. She'd also assumed tactical command now that we were inside the ship.
Marny pushed away from the wall and slunk forward, sinking to the deck. My HUD showed that there was .1g. It was enough to hold items to the deck but wouldn't take much ship's energy to maintain.
We stayed close to the outer wall and moved forward, finally arriving at a large airlock that was big enough to move equipment between these large lower decks.
"It's locked," Marny said.
"We could bust our way through," I offered.
"No. They'll be on to us right away," Xie said. "Stand against the wall. Let me try to get us through. If that doesn't work, you can blast your way in. Stand back so they can't see you through the airlock."
We pulled back around the corner and Xie took Nick's welding unit from him and stood in front of the airlock door.
"Bakunawa command, this is Captain Mie-su. I need an unlock on the airlock in front of me," she said.
"Mie-su, I thought you were dead. What are you doing on my ship?" a voice came back.
"Identify yourself," she said.
"Captain Jakab. I'm sending a squad your way. I'm taking you into custody," he replied.
"Don't be an idiot, Jakab. I was sent to infiltrate your ship and I've done just that. Don't make it worse on yourself."
"Pardon me if I don't believe you," he said.
"Up to you, but you better send more than a squad. I'm feeling frisky," she said.
"Are you nuts?" I asked.
"No. I'm trusting you to come get me, Liam," she said.
"What? I don't understand."
"Jakab will drag me up to the bridge so he can humiliate me. I'll transmit everything I see along the way, you'll get a map of the ship. It's the only way," she said.
It was already in motion and there was nothing I could do about it. I had to decide who she was playing. If she was playing us, we were in for trouble. If she could get us a path to the bridge, it would be worth a lot.
It took a few minutes for a group of armor vac-suited pirates to show up. Contrary to her bluster she lay her blaster rifle on the ground in front of her and knelt on the floor with her hands behind her head.
"Not so tough," the lead pirate said, taking the opportunity to club her with the stock of his gun. It took all I had not to leave our cover at that moment. They'd sent six pirates, all men, after one single woman. Impressive.
As promised, Xie was transmitting as they drug her down the hallway and to a lift. It took nearly five minutes to drag her to their destination, but she finally stood in front of a red-faced man. The bridge was nestled deep in the center of the ship.
"So what is this about?" he asked.
A crew member approached and said something to Jakab that we were unable to hear, but it became quickly obvious what the conversation was.
"She's transmitting?" Jakab asked.
"Secure her," he screamed. "We've got intruders. Sound the alarm. Lock down the ship."
"Cap, we've got to move," Marny said.
I cut off the stream of information coming from Xie. It would distract me. I just hoped she'd make it through.
"Go!" I said.
Marny erupted from where we'd hunkered down. The end of her left arm sent a stream of explosives towards the airlock. We were in a vacuum so we didn't hear anything, but the lock exploded and atmosphere boiled across the deck. Marny, not waiting for the chaos to subside, charged into the fiery tumult.
"We've got to move, they'll be locking down that bridge," she said, sprinting forward.
The lift was a hundred meters directly forward, but two doors slid down, triggered by the sudden loss of pressure. We wouldn't be able to clear them both, but we successfully got under the first one before it slammed shut behind us.
"Blitzkrieg," Marny said. It was a tactic we'd discussed. Essentially, we would overrun enemy lines and not stop to engage, striking at the heart of the target.
"Go," I said.
She fired an ordinance at the bulkhead that had slammed down, blocking our path. The atmosphere had already started to return to this end of the hallway and no explosive decompression occurred when the door blew.
Marny charged through the opening. Before I was
even clear of the smoke, I heard blaster fire and red targets appeared on my HUD. Marny wasn't stopping, however. I moved just to the left of her and raised my left arm, firing a grenade down the hallway.
Beta, I yelled, doing my best to keep up. The hallway was only a meter taller than we were and the two of us, not to mention Nick, filled all available space. We simply ran through the first group of defenders who'd hastily set up.
"Blow the lift," I said. We'd covered the hundred meters in short order and the remaining pirates in the hallway had taken cover, poking out to take potshots at us. Nick, who trailed, kept them busy by firing back, but so far their weapons were unable to penetrate our armor.
Marny accepted my recommendation and fired a salvo of explosives. The fascia of the elevator exploded shortly after, exposing the open shaft.
"Cover me," she said.
We'd come to a 'T' in the hallway. I spun down, taking a knee, covering ninety degrees to the port side which included looking back down the hallway. Nick had either taken care of our initial attackers or, more likely, they'd gotten smart and weren't trading rounds with a superior, mechanized force. I knew he'd be oriented just like me on the starboard side. I heard him firing, but didn't spend any effort to see what he was into. If he needed help, he'd say something.
"Got it," Marny said.
"What?" I asked.
"Had to blow the elevator cars," she said. "We're Oscar Mike," and she stepped into the shaft.
She disappeared upward, arc-jets pushing hard. I jumped in behind her and followed her up.
"Move now, Nick," I said.
"On your six," he replied.
Marny hovered for a moment several decks up and pushed her way through the un-armored elevator doors.
"You overshot," I said to her. We were two decks above where the bridge would be.
"Aye. Let's go."
I followed her out. The hallways were empty.
"In here." She pushed her way through a closed door.
"It's like there's no one on this ship," I said.
"Aye. They're short staffed. It's not like pirates grow on trees. Mars Navy took out a whole fleet of 'em. If the other fleet's on patrol, you can bet they took the biggest and meanest," Marny said.
"Trees?" I didn't get what she was saying, but the biggest and meanest thing made sense.
"Never mind. Stay on target," she said. "Blow the floor, I've marked it for you."
I wondered what she had in mind, but wasn't about to ask. We were in combat and speed was important. My HUD showed the location and even showed a suggested explosive load. I raised my left arm and the grenades blooped out in a circular pattern.
"Clear," I said and we all ducked out into the hallway, at least as much ducking as you can do in a two hundred kilogram mechanized infantry suit. Three seconds later, the explosion ripped out most of the walls causing me to stagger, but I didn't fall. The suit held up just fine.
"Same again. Nick, we'll need your explosives too," Marny said, having re-entered the smoldering room.
I followed her and looked into the hole, she'd marked the floor in the next room down. I finally understood her plan.
"This time we'll need more cover," she said and jumped out of the room into the hallway.
I leaned over the cratered floor and dropped the recommended spread as Nick did the same. By my estimation she'd nearly quadrupled the amount of ordinance. Again, I wasn't going to question it, but it seemed excessive.
"Clear." We sprinted back to where Marny had knelt down.
A massive explosion rocked the ship, at least in the vicinity where we were. Black smoke roiled up through the floor.
"Go!" Marny said. I followed her toward the raging fire and jumped through the hole. We fell down, landing on a hard surface.
I looked down and the outline of a large, armored, circular room became evident. It had to be the bridge. We were screwed. All we'd successfully accomplished was to burn away the decking around the bridge on the top and the sides, but it stood intact in front of us.
"Frak," Marny said. "That's no good."
Heavy automatic fire started stitching the air around us and we backed around the corner. They'd brought up some bigger guns.
"Stay down," Marny said. "Those babies can get through the suit."
"Retreat?" I asked.
"Not sure that'll work, Cap. It was a good try. We'll have to fight our way through those guns."
"Frak." The blasters they were firing at us ripped up the walls like they were made of paper. It was only the bridge that was giving us cover.
I peeked my head around the corner to see the advancement of a well-armored squad. They'd anticipated our destination and had set up for us. I sprayed automatic fire down the hallway and launched my remaining grenades.
"Outta grenades," I said.
Nick stepped around me and fired down the hallway. A lucky blaster shot caught his shoulder and it spun him back into the wall behind us. I grabbed him and pulled him back to cover while Marny unloaded automatic fire in response.
"I think this is trouble, Cap. No matter what happens, it's been a good run," she said.
"No time for that, Marny," I said. "Stay in the moment."
Big Pete had told me how to transfer munitions between suits and I locked into Nick's suit and vamped half of his remaining load. I spun and fired down the hallway. The pirates had stopped advancing, waiting for us to run out of ammo.
I switched to three shot and lobbed a smaller grenade at them. Unfortunately, it was batted down and exploded harmlessly in the hallway between us. I pulled back behind the corner.
"Nick, how are you doing?" I asked.
"Okay." It wasn't true, he was hurting. I could hear it in his voice.
We were in big trouble. We sat for a few minutes, which was a terrible thing to do, the pirates would be better able to organize. We needed a new plan, and now. At least Tabby would get away, I thought.
"Liam, honey, can you hear me?" A soft voice asked. It was soft enough I wondered if I was hearing things.
"What?"
"I was wondering if I could convince you not to fire if I opened this bridge door." It was Xie's voice, transmitting over the ship's public address. I was hearing it through my helmet.
"Okay," I said hesitantly. We really had no other options.
The armored exterior of the room we stood next to started to slide around, exposing a more normal looking door. The door opened, but it wasn't big enough to fit through with a mechanized suit.
"I need you to come in here," she said from around the corner, still not visible.
"Don't trust her," Nick said. "It's a trap."
"I don't see a choice, buddy," I said.
I turned my back to provide the best cover, opened the chest of the suit, and climbed out. Free of the suit, I skulked over to the door, trying to stay clear of the line of fire from the front line of pirates.
"See? I told you I could end this," Xie said to the man I recognized as Captain Jakab.
She was seated comfortably in a chair, unbound, with her legs crossed. She didn't appear to be under any duress.
"This is the famous Liam Hoffen?" he asked.
"And you captured him. What a hero that makes you," Xie said.
"You bitch." I couldn't believe she'd successfully played me. Again.
"Now, now, lover, don't be mad. I needed a ride home. Maybe I'll keep you as a pet," she said.
"Hah, that'd be funny. Close the bridge," Jakab said.
"You have another problem, though. Their ship is out there, just beyond the ring. The pilot's going to transmit our location if we don't get her," Xie said.
"Don't," I said, my eyes filling with tears.
"Don't be sentimental, lover. It's not personal."
END OF AN ERA
"Where?" Captain Jakab asked.
"I can locate it, but they have very strong stealth capacity. I need access to the sensors. And, lover, tell your friends to stand down. I'd hate to have t
o kill them, especially Nicholas." Xie's voice was silky smooth.
"Ensign Cagnina, provide Captain Mie-su access to the sensor station," he ordered.
"Sir? She's not in our command structure," Cagnina said.
"Ensign. That was an order. Captain Mie-su is a well-respected member of Red Houzi command."
"Yes, sir."
Xie pushed the ensign out of her way, pulling his pistol out of its holster as she did. She shot him in the head, killing him instantly.
Jakab fumbled with his side arm, finally pulling it out and levelling it at Xie, who'd placed her pistol on the station next to her.
"Tut-tut, Captain. That little bastard questions my captain in front of me? It's my duty to put him down," she said.
"That's cold." He put his weapon away, but I noticed that his hand shook as he did.
"Now, Liam," she gushed. "I said have Marny and Nick stand down. If they do, Captain Jakab will no doubt allow me to take them as my trophy."
"Of course," Jakab nodded, trying to sound magnanimous.
"There she is," Xie said. The outline of the Hotspur showed up on the vid screen in front of her.
"Don't, Xie," I said.
"Captain, would you allow me?" Xie asked.
"To?" Jakab asked.
"If you'll give me your code, I'll send a salvo of rockets off to send her along her way. It'd really mean a lot to me."
"0AB55AEC," he said.
Xie punched in the code.
"Captain, we have a problem," one of the three remaining crew said.
"What?" he asked, crossing to look at the vid screen.
Xie winked at me and lithely snaked her way out of the chair, drawing a nano-blade from the waist line of her suit. In a single, fluid movement she deployed the blade and ran it through the surprised Captain Jakab. In that same movement she also picked up the gun in front of her and levelled it at the remaining crew.
"My friends. You have only a few choices here. I've just destroyed the entire base and the Bakunawa is now under the control of my franchise. I've removed the head of my rival, in the best tradition of the Red Houzi, and rightfully claim what is mine," Xie said.
Smuggler's Dilemma Page 28