“Any energy readings over there?” Charline asked.
“Yes, but sporadic. Looks like their engines shut down,” Karl said. “I’m seeing strong power from two nodes on the sides, though.”
“Those will be the docked ships, fueled up and ready to go. Make for the closest one. We don’t have long until their other ships realize where we went,” Charline said.
They’d had to blow up their captured ship to disable the tanker. Time to get a new, fully-charged one instead. With a full charge, they could get the hell out of there and jump for home.
THIRTY-SIX
The shuttle skimmed by over the surface of the massive vessel, passing several docking ports. They were easy to spot: massive circular blotches on the hull with mechanical works that allowed ships to connect and recharge. What they weren’t seeing was any place the shuttle could gain entry. The two docked ships weren’t going to just open up for them, and there didn’t seem to be any other ways to enter.
“Another set of doors ahead, but they’re not responding to our computer system either,” Juanita reported.
That was three in a row. Either the enemy ship was blocking them from opening shuttle bay doors, which was entirely possible, or it was so badly damaged that the systems to control their shuttle bays were malfunctioning. Whichever the case, it meant they were stuck outside the tanker without any way to get into it or either of the docked ships.
“We’re lucky they’re not sending ships out of those doors,” Karl said.
“I don’t think it’s luck so much as trauma. Power levels are down all over the ship. That impact hit them harder than I’d figured,” Charline said. “We’re probably lucky they’re still in one piece at all. But we’d better move fast if we want to get in there before those two charged ships depart.”
“What about the nose?” Halcomb asked. “The collision tore it up pretty badly. Maybe we can just walk in through there?”
“It’s over two kilometers from the nose to the docked ships. That’s a long march through enemy territory,” Charline said. They had limited time before the other alien ships realized what had happened and returned to assist the tanker.
“You have any better ideas?” Halcomb retorted.
She didn’t. “Make for the nose. See if we can find someplace to land in there. Be careful on approach, though!”
“No kidding,” Juanita replied. The forest of tangled metal and shredded hull plating was coming into view. It wasn’t going to be simple to slip through that mess!
The impact must have been incredible. Charline wondered if anything was still alive inside the massive vessel. The aliens had systems which compensated for some inertia, but the force of their ship driving into the nose of the tanker must have strained even their technology to the breaking point, and maybe beyond.
Charline couldn’t help but compare the tanker’s nose to what was left after a hollow-point bullet hit something. Bits of the ship spread out in a cone-like shape away from the point of impact. But there was a relatively clear area in the center of the damage. Juanita took the shuttle down into that hole, weaving between larger chunks of damaged structure.
Metal pinged off the shuttle’s hull in a steady stream that sounded like rain. The larger chunks made a louder bang each time one of them connected. Charline flinched as one particularly loud noise shuddered through the ship.
“Sorry!” Juanita said. “There’s so much scrap out here floating around, hard to avoid it all.”
“Keep doing your best,” Charline replied. Everyone was in either armor or a space suit except their two critically wounded people. Karl had rigged up some sort of oxygen bags for them. They wouldn’t die if the shuttle decompressed – not right away, anyway. It was all they could do without more supplies.
Then the shuttle swerved, shifting so rapidly that the movement could be felt even through the inertial dampening. Charline pulled up the shuttle’s scans on her tablet. Ahead of them was a relatively flat space of deck. It was only half covered with debris, which made it a better spot to try for a landing than the rest of the mess around them. No place was clear enough for a safe landing area, but the one Juanita steered toward was the best of a bad lot.
Charline held her breath as the shuttle dropped toward the spot, easing into place with tiny jets of the thrusters. It wobbled heavily on approach. An experienced pilot, Juanita was not – and this was an alien craft with an interface built out of twine and duct tape. But she was doing a decent job. No spears of broken metal came stabbing through the deck at them as they settled into place. That was good enough.
“We’re down,” Juanita said. “Pulling the air out of the cargo hold.”
All their armor was strapped into the cargo space at the back of the shuttle. Charline waited until her suit said the air was completely evacuated before undoing the clamp holding her armor in place. She activated magnets on the armor’s feet. They clamped down on the metal deck just like they would on a human ship, which was a hell of a blessing. If the alien metal had been something non-magnetic, she wasn’t sure what they would have done.
“Air’s out. Opening the cargo doors,” Juanita said. “Not sure the way ahead is clear. It looks like a real mess out there, but this is the closest I could get you.”
“We’ll blast our way through anything we need to,” Halcomb said. “Including bugs.”
“Good hunting, then,” Karl said. “We’ll stay here until we hear from you, then dock once you capture one of the ships.”
“Sounds good,” Charline said. “All right, the Overkill unit will lead out. You’ve got the firepower to blast through any debris blockage we run into. Tessa, follow him with your team. Arjun, your team has rear guard. Let’s move fast, everyone. We’re on a clock. But stay alert. The bad guys might not know we’re here, but once they do we’re bound to meet serious resistance.”
“Stay alert, but move fast. Nothing like setting the bar high,” Sing said.
“If you don’t mind getting a few holes blown through you, then just move fast and don’t worry about watching for enemies,” Tessa barked at him.
“No, ma’am. I’ll do both,” Sing replied with a chuckle. “Just want to get the hell off this frozen piece of shit.”
“We all do. Let’s get to it,” Charline said. “Move out.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
Putting Halcomb’s armor up front turned out to be an excellent idea. Their path deeper into the ship was quickly blocked by broken and half-melted chunks of hull. Twisted structural supports twined around each other into a forest of half-seen limbs flickering in the beams of light emitted from their headlamps.
Halcomb strode forward in his heavy armor until he was squarely in front of the mess. “This might take a few minutes, even for me,” he said. “We tore her up pretty good.”
“Cut us a path as fast as you can,” Charline said. “Everyone else, eyes out.”
Holcomb fired four beams of plasma into the web of metal penning them all in. One strut fell away, then another. He was making progress, but it was painfully slow.
Charline glanced at her watch again. She couldn’t help it. She was painfully aware of twine slipping away from them. How long did they have until the alien crew realized they’d been boarded? How long before the small scout ships were able to return and help their mother ship?
“Almost through,” Halcomb said.
“Good,” Charline replied. She was about to say more when movement off to one side caught her eye.
“We’ve got company!” Arjun said.
A swarm of pod-shaped objects streamed out from deeper inside the ship. They used small spurts of their thrusters to maneuver in the zero-g environment.
Holy shit, there were a lot of them! Charline raised her guns as the leading edge of pods swept toward them. Halcomb had already turned from his efforts to bring all his weapons to bear as well. But against these sorts of numbers, their odds sucked. God, there had to be hundreds of the things!
“Wait, do
n’t shoot!” Sing said, breaking into her concentration.
“What the hell, Sing?” Charline snapped back. They didn’t have time for this! Those pods were closing fast.
“No, look over there, on the left,” Sing replied.
She turned toward where he was pointing. Some of the pods had stopped to gather around a particularly dense pile of debris. As Charline watched, some of the pods cut away chunks of damaged hull. Others then ferried the loose pieces into an opening on a very large pod, which in turn was slowly extruding a brand-new piece of hull!
“They’re here to do repairs, not for us,” Charline said.
But they might be dangerous if provoked. Their torches could cut through the ship’s thick hull plating, so they’d probably be able to do the same to her peoples’ armor.
“Keep an eye on them, but don’t interfere with their work,” Charline said. “We don’t want to be seen as a threat.”
“Yeah, I’d rather not become one with this ship,” Arjun said. His tone was light, but the thought was chilling.
A dozen pods jetted toward them. No, not toward them. They were headed for the wreckage in front of Halcomb.
“Step back,” Charline said. “Don’t act threatening.”
“I’m the one feeling threatened, ma’am,” Sing replied as one of the drones buzzed past him.
She could sense the tension building in her team. If one of them snapped and fried off a shot...
She eyed the torches blazing away on the cutting pods. There were enough of the things flitting around that they could tear her people apart in seconds if they wanted to. Halcomb took a slow step back, then a second and a third. Charline heaved out a sigh as the pods drifted right past his armor, ignoring him entirely.
“I’ll be damned,” Halcomb said. “Look at them go!”
They were tearing through the ruined section of hull even faster than Halcomb’s guns had managed. Even more remarkable, they were using the broken parts of the ship to repair it! As a pod cut loose each chunk of twisted metal, another carried the bits away to one of the fabrication pods.
There it was transformed into new parts more rapidly than Charline could have dreamed possible. Human 3D printing had advanced a lot over the years. Complex parts could be printed in a relatively short time. But these pods were converting raw scrap into new hull in a fraction of the time the best human printers could manage. As the rubble was cleared from an area, other pods came in carrying the replacement parts and welded them into place. The whole process was done so quickly that it seemed almost miraculous.
“Look over there, at the center. What are they building?” Halcomb asked.
Charline looked inward toward the spine of the ship. A huge swarm of pods were there, swirling around. She dialed up the resolution on her video to see what they were doing. The thing they all spun around was long and narrow, like a needle. Charline saw the flash of bright crystal there for a moment before she lost sight of it in the twirling mass of drones.
That was a familiar device. She’d seen it before, when the Satori was stripped down and rebuilt.
“That’s their wormhole drive. I don’t know how it works, but it looks just like the drive shaft on the Satori,” Charline said.
“It’s huge, though!” Arjun said.
“Big ship, big drive shaft,” Charline replied. “Damn. At the rate they’re rebuilding it, that wormhole drive might be operational again within the hour.”
“Won’t be too long before you’ll barely be able to see we smashed her up at all,” Halcomb said. “All the more reason to get moving. They’ve cleared the way ahead for us.”
He was right. The blockage he’d been trying to burn through was already gone. Pods were replacing deck plates along the path ahead. Charline took one hesitant step forward, and then another. The drones ignored her. She walked forward more, so close that the pods swirled around her like buzzing flies. There was a moment when she thought they would swarm over her and cut her to pieces. But they went on ignoring her.
“All right, looks like as long as we don’t bother them, they won’t bug us,” Charline said.
She didn’t wait for Halcomb and the others to catch up. Better to lead by doing. They still had a long way to go and not nearly enough time. A short distance ahead a brilliant blue film barred her way. She stepped closer. It appeared to be some sort of field.
“Ideas, folks?” Charline asked.
“Looks like it’s designed to hold atmosphere in. We know they have shields on their ships. Maybe this is the same sort of thing?” Arjun asked.
“That’s what I was afraid of. Any ideas on how we can get through?” Charline asked.
Before anyone could reply, a repair pod flitted past them, darting through the field and down the hall. It rounded a corner and vanished. The field didn’t seem to slow it down at all.
“Well, that’s settled, then,” Halcomb said. He strode forward into the field. There was a slight shimmering where the effect met his armor, but then he was through.
“You OK?” Charline asked.
“Yup. My guess is it’s tuned to keep gas in. I’ve got atmosphere on this side of the field,” Halcomb said.
It was a nice tool. The ability to seal breaches in the hull like that had probably kept much of the ship’s crew from dying of decompression. But that didn’t make her less angry at Halcomb.
“That was a damned fool thing to do,” she said.
“The drone made it through,” Halcomb protested.
“What if the drone had a tag or device that allowed it entry? You could have fried yourself,” Charline replied.
She stepped through the field to follow him in. He was right – there was a sense of having to push through something, like she was moving her armor through a membrane. But there was no pain, and her suit didn’t flash any alarms at her.
“My armor was the one most likely to survive if there was a problem,” Halcomb said.
He wasn’t wrong, there. But... “Your armor is also the one we’re most likely to count on in a fight,” Charline said. “I need you in one piece. Be more careful.”
“Noted,” Halcomb said. She could almost hear the grin on his face over the radio. Infuriating man.
THIRTY-EIGHT
The ship stretched out in front of them, mostly dark and eerily silent. Charline had expected to meet quick opposition on their march to the docks where the best shot at getting home lay.
But the place was empty. Everywhere they looked, there was nothing but empty halls stretching as far as they could see. It would be easy to get lost in the place, wandering around aimlessly until they did happen across some group of aliens.
That wouldn’t do. She spotted a computer terminal mounted on the wall. She stopped at the device and looked down at the cube next to her. Could she hack her way into their computer network with the cube? It ought to be received as a transmission request from a friendly machine. So long as she didn’t ask for anything too crazy, it might work.
“Cover me. I’m getting out of armor for a minute,” Charline said.
“Here? You sure we can breathe this stuff? There’s atmosphere, but…” Halcomb sounded dubious.
“We were breathing the air on Dust. If that’s really where these bugs came from, we ought to be able to breathe here, too,” Charline said.
She tried to push from her mind thoughts of alien pathogens. In theory, an alien biology ought to be so different that any micro-organisms they had living with them wouldn’t be able to infect humans. They hadn’t run across any problems yet, anyway – but that didn’t mean the theory was universal. She decided to keep her time out of armor to a minimum.
Popping her hatch, she slid down from the armor’s cockpit. Her boots rang with a hollow echo when she hit the deck. Even outside the armor, the stillness felt ominous and oppressive. She shivered and went to the terminal. Sooner done, sooner back in the armor, where she at least felt a little more secure.
Hooking up her cube to the termina
l turned out to be child’s play. The lid popped off with only a little prying from her pocket knife. Inside were a half dozen cubes, each one humming away and glowing with a soft blue light from within. She gingerly reached out to touch one.
Nothing happened. It felt cool to her fingers. She grasped it firmly and slid it free from its housing, then glanced around. No alarms rang, and the dim lighting in the hall didn’t go out. That had to be a good sign, right?
She slid her cube into the empty spot. It took on the same dim blue glow as the other cubes. The terminal had accepted her addition.
“Need to hurry up. I don’t think sitting in one place is such a good idea,” Halcomb said.
“Noted. I’m going as fast as I can, but we need schematics of the place,” Charline said.
Her tablet was still interfaced with the hacked cube. She entered a series of commands. It was hard work, especially since she didn’t understand the language. Or most of it, anyway. Charline was already picking up a few written words based on syntax she’d seen in their code. The more she looked at their programming, the more familiar it felt. It turned out that coders really were a lot alike the galaxy over, not just on Earth!
There! That had to be the right directory. Charline entered a few last commands, and a diagram of the ship popped up on her tablet screen.
“Got it!” she said. She tapped a command out to download the entire thing to her tablet.
“Incoming!” Tessa said. She tried to add something else, but Charline couldn’t make out the words over the roaring sound of plasma fire slashing into the wall above her head.
She dove sideways, hugging the tablet to her chest as she hit the deck. Droplets of melted deck spattered everywhere. One small drop landed on her arm and burned its way through her sleeve before it stopped sizzling on her skin. Charline bit her cheek to hold back a scream. She was a small target next to the armored people, but she was also a squishy one. Making noise would only draw attention to her that she couldn’t afford.
Dust & Iron (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 9) Page 16