by Terry Mixon
The hatch opened into a deserted maintenance corridor. She gestured for Gomez to disable the lock. They might be coming back this way in a hurry.
When that was done, Kayden consulted the map and started them to the left. They traveled as a group, tightly packed and in the same formation that they’d used in the corridor below.
Sadly, there just wasn’t enough space to spread out properly. Hopefully, they wouldn’t run into anyone with grenades.
Their good luck ran out when they chanced across a pair of technicians in light-blue coveralls working on something behind a wall panel. The men gaped at them in shock just before her lead elements took them down with stunners.
Grace cursed under her breath. She’d hoped to avoid running into anyone before they reached their target.
She assigned a pair of marines to carry the two. When they reached the cargo control area, they’d make sure that they weren’t overlooked. She’d stunned them, so she was responsible for their ultimate safety.
It took them almost fifteen minutes to reach the control area that they’d decided to breach. That was far more time than she’d initially allocated, but they hadn’t gotten word that Na and her people had reached the engineering section yet, so they were still good.
When Na arrived in engineering, Grace would get a burst transmission, indicating that that part of the operation was ready to execute on her command.
On the positive side, she hadn’t received word that her subordinates had run into resistance, either. So far as she knew, they were still undetected. Or, if they had been spotted, they’d managed to stun whoever had chanced across them, just like her squad had.
When they reached the hatch they’d decided to use, she put half of the squad into a defensive perimeter and stacked the rest to go through as soon as they got word from Na and Anders.
“Remember the plan,” she said softly. “Stun everybody you can and try to keep this quiet. The longer we can keep them from knowing that we’re here, the better. Clear?”
Acknowledgments flowed back from everyone.
She tugged Kayden over to stand next to her. “Unless you absolutely have to, leave that stunner in its holster. Let the professionals do this. That’s what we’re trained for. You’re only to use that stunner if things go completely to hell, understood?”
“Understood, Lieutenant,” he said with a grin. “And yes, I know I’m not supposed to use your rank. I just couldn’t resist doing it this once. It makes you sound so… official.”
She smiled in spite of herself. The man was incorrigible.
Bypassing the lock on the access hatch took about the same amount of time it’d taken to crack the last one. That accomplished, they waited for the rest of the platoon to get into position. Until and unless Na was ready to go and their ride was in place to receive them, it made no sense to kick things off early.
What she did do was send a burst transmission about their readiness. That way, the rest would know that they were okay and prepared to proceed.
Less than five minutes later, her implants pinged with an incoming transmission. It was from Bright Passage. The ship was docked and awaiting cargo.
Amusingly, the freighter had docked at the same cargo bay they’d used to enter the facility. Sometimes Lady Luck really did smile down on them.
Now all they had to do was wait for Na to get into position. Once that portion of the project was underway, they’d have one hour to steal everything they could, get back to Bright Passage, and get away from the transshipment center.
Things could still go wrong, but she was pleased that they’d gone smoothly thus far. That could all change in a moment, though, so she wasn’t going to get too cocky.
Ten agonizing minutes later, a second burst transmission came in, this time from Na. The rest of the platoon had made its way to the engineering section and was ready to begin its assault.
Na’s report indicated that they’d stunned a couple of people already and would be bringing them into the engineering section with them. Unlike the cargo control area, they could be relatively confident that engineering held a lot of people.
They weren’t going to be able to stun everyone there, so they’d have to make sure that whoever they did take down was accessible to rescue parties once the word was given that there was a timer on the evacuation.
With any luck, there’d be escape pods present in the engineering section that they could eject before they began withdrawing.
Grace composed a response. “You are go to proceed with the attack on engineering. I repeat, you are go to proceed on your own discretion. Give us a time hack when you start the overload countdown.”
Once done, she compressed and sent the message.
That was it. In just a few seconds, the Singularity forces on this station would become aware of their presence in the most unpleasant manner. Time to get her part of the operation underway.
“Breach the cargo control center,” she ordered.
Her people flowed through the access hatch one after the other, each sweeping different areas of the control area with their stunners. Unlike in the vids, she came in close to the back, ready to add her fire to theirs but safe from any initial resistance.
Somewhat anticlimactically, this particular room was empty of people. Even as her people spread out to cover the other hatches in the compartment, she turned quizzically toward Kayden.
“Shouldn’t there be people here?”
He shrugged. “The control center is probably a fairly large affair. This might be an overflow room of some kind. I’d imagine that they have times where they’re busy and times when they’re not. Perhaps they only use this room when there’s a lot of traffic or if there is maintenance required on the consoles in the main area.”
“Well, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. You and Gomez break into the system and get control of the portions that we want. Bright Passage is at the same bay we arrived in, and they’re ready to take on cargo. You have the list of empty containers, so just have the system swap them out.”
The two men got to work. Ninety seconds later, Gomez gave her a thumbs-up.
“We’re in. I’m going through the cargo manifests now, locating where the cargoes we’re looking for are located and determining what the possibilities are for extra goodies.”
“Prioritize the rare elements used for flip drive construction, because that will have a lot of value, but if you find anything else that’s in the same range, don’t hesitate to snag it. Maybe completed flip drives. Whatever you do, be efficient. I want to be on our way as soon as we can.”
“I found the cargo you were looking for,” Kayden said. “And I’ve bumped Bright Passage up in priority, so she’ll get serviced first. We should be able to get quite a bit of cargo loaded in the next half hour.
“I’ll have the empties that we had aboard the ship just left in the cargo bay. It’s not going to make any difference now and will speed the process.”
“What are the chances that someone is going to notice what we’re doing?” Grace asked, eyeing the hatches around them that might open at any second.
“With everything else that’s going to be going on shortly, probably very little. Even if they do, what are they going to do about it? They’re under attack in engineering, and that’s going to command a lot of their attention.
“And as soon as they get word that they have an hour to get off this orbital, they’re going to have far more pressing matters than somebody stealing their cargo.”
Gomez nodded. “I’ve put a security lock on the cargo transfers. Even if someone sees them, they’ll have to override what we’re doing. Certainly doable, but I think it’s unlikely, given the timeframe.”
It had taken them over half an hour to get here. If they wanted to get back to the ship before everything went to hell, they were going to have to find a place where they could put their prisoners and get moving soon.
Standing orders aside, they weren’t going to have time to searc
h for booty. That was actually something of a relief. The idea of personally stealing something of value struck her as wrong. Yes, she and her people would profit from this mission—if they survived—but that wasn’t the same thing.
Perhaps they’d find some stuff in the cargo containers for everyone. That should count. It would have to.
“Lock the console down,” she ordered. “Stack up on one of those hatches and be ready to go. Once we find the crew, we need to make sure that they take these people with them.”
“You’re underthinking this,” Kayden said, popping his helmet off. “Going in and mowing down everyone in sight is not the simplest answer. That’s just going to cause more chaos. May I suggest an alternative?”
Grace raised an eyebrow, choosing to ignore the implied insult. “I’m listening.”
“Take your people back into the maintenance corridor and leave the hatch unlocked. I’ll go find someone and tell them that I found a couple of unconscious maintenance people in here. That’s going to cause a stir, but it’s not going to be as messy as an active-shooter alarm.
“And if they get suspicions, I’ll stun them and run for my life. You have my promise on that.”
Part of her wondered if this was a way for him to get away from them, but she rejected the idea. While it was possible that he’d betray them, it hardly mattered at this point. Her people were already assaulting engineering, and if the people in control didn’t know that already, they would in extremely short order.
The marines taught their officers not to dither when making decisions. That was almost always worse than making a less optimal choice. That made her decision easy.
“Do it,” she said as she gestured for her people to retreat into the maintenance corridor.
Once there, they set up a defensive perimeter and waited. Less than a minute later, the hatch slid open just enough to admit Kayden, who slipped through and eased it closed again. He manipulated the lock and sealed it from their side before turning to face her.
“It’s done. As soon as they started looking at the unconscious men, I slipped away. They never even thought to ask who I was or why I was wearing this armor. In other words, they thought that I was one of them.
“That’s one of the benefits of having a good accent in Singularity space. You really should let me give you elocution lessons.”
He added an arch smile to his assertation.
“You’re hilarious,” she said in a deadpan voice. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here. We’ve got to get back to Bright Passage before everything goes to crap.”
They began withdrawing along the same path that they’d come. They hadn’t gone ten steps when a low alarm began thrumming through the corridor. The attack in engineering had been detected, and the clock was sure as hell ticking now.
15
The afternoon class on leadership theory had only barely begun when a low, throbbing tone sounded throughout the classroom. One Twenty-Four frowned. She’d never heard anything like it before. What did it mean?
Keeper immediately walked to the wall behind her desk and uncovered a screen behind a wall panel that slid up when she touched it—a wall panel that One Twenty-Four hadn’t even suspected existed.
She pressed her hand to the screen and said something softly. From where One Twenty-Four was sitting, she could see lines of text begin scrolling down the screen. Whatever it said displeased Keeper.
The woman turned toward them and gestured toward the doorway. “We are vacating the crèche. Form up in a single line, and I will lead you to our designated evacuation point.”
Evacuation? This wasn’t a situation that they’d trained for. What could be going on that was so serious that they needed to leave the crèche?
Curious to know more, One Twenty-Four violated protocol and placed herself at the very front of the line. Three, who typically occupied the lead position, looked scandalized but didn’t have an opportunity to complain about the violation before Keeper started walking briskly toward the exit.
Keeper led them into the corridor outside the crèche, just like she’d done when they’d gone to the ship for their tattoos. This time, however, it hadn’t been cleared. For the very first time in her life, One Twenty-Four saw people that didn’t belong to her line.
The corridor was half filled with people rushing to and fro on tasks that she had no way of knowing. Some of their faces held caste tattoos, but many did not. Most looked markedly different from one another and from Keeper.
It took all of One Twenty-Four’s willpower not to stare at the strangers around them. Then she decided it was stupid to waste the opportunity, and she did stare. That was when she noticed that not all of the people around her were female.
Shocked, she realized that she was seeing men for the first time in her life. Knowing that this opportunity would be fleeting, she stared at each of them as Keeper led them through the throng, trying to commit what she saw to memory.
Interestingly, the people seemed just as astonished to see her and her line sibs. She supposed that made sense. Children of the Andrea Line were never so openly on display. It made her feel a little self-conscious.
That didn’t stop her from gawking. This was just the kind of experience that she’d always longed for, and her curiosity was being sated at an incredible rate. She couldn’t have been more excited.
Sadly, her examination of the people around them was cut short when Keeper took a turn down a side corridor that opened into a larger room. There were more people here, but they were different.
Each wore some type of clothing that seemed to be made up of hard shells. Their heads were covered by helmets with dark visors that hid their features. They held what One Twenty-Four suspected were weapons.
These must be the protectors of the crèche. Since the inhabitants of the crèche didn’t come out, she’d never had the opportunity to see one of them face to face, though they’d all known the crèche was guarded.
Keeper marched up to another screen set into the far wall, and, unsure of what to do, One Twenty-Four followed closely behind her. The woman reached the wall and placed her hand against the screen.
One Twenty-Four stepped to the left to get a better view of what was going on, and Keeper didn’t see her when she turned to the right and gestured for everyone to line up against the wall.
She knew that she should back away, but she hesitated. She really wanted to know what was happening.
Keeper spoke softly. “Override authorization Andrea Seven Seventy-Six.”
“Authorization provisionally accepted,” a monotone voice said. “Passphrase?”
“Oblivion sunrise.”
“DNA sequencing in progress. Identity accepted, Andrea Seven Seventy-Six. What are your instructions?”
“Initiate self-destruct sequence. Set timer for forty-five minutes. Engage on my authority with no audible countdown.”
“Command accepted. Self-destruct sequence engaged.”
One Twenty-Four stepped away from Keeper and headed back toward the wall where the rest were waiting, but she wasn’t fast enough. Keeper must’ve seen her moving out of the corner of her eye, because she turned and glared at her.
“One Twenty-Four, this is not the time for your nonsense. Go to the back of the line and stay there. I’ll deal with you when we’re safely away from the station.”
She turned toward the other girls as One Twenty-Four made her way to the rear of the line, her face aflame.
“Let me be bluntly clear,” Keeper said coldly. “Keep up, or you’ll be eliminated. I don’t have time to coddle you and cannot allow even a single member of this crèche to fall into the hands of whoever has attacked this facility. If you become separated from the group, I will dispatch guards to find and execute you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Keeper,” they all intoned.
“We’ll see. Guards, lead the way. Detach a small detachment to bring up the rear. Do not allow any of the girls to become separated from the rest. If any are, y
ou are to utilize their wristbands to track and eliminate them before they can be captured.”
As one, the guards silently slapped the butts of their weapons.
One Twenty-Four was frightened. Nothing like this had ever occurred, and she was worried. Had the Empire come? Were they trying to capture the crèche so that they could dissect them?
This worry so filled her thoughts that she barely paid attention to the course they were navigating through the station. The wide corridors had shrunk down by the time she finally began paying attention again, and she saw that they were now traveling through what was obviously not a public thoroughfare.
She turned her head to look at the guards behind her and saw that their attention was primarily focused in the direction that they’d come from. In fact, they were walking backward, their weapons pointed toward the rear.
One twenty-Four was so absorbed by what was taking place around her that she almost missed that they were passing by a partially open hatch. What was in there? Did it lead to some other portion of the station? Could enemies be lying in wait there?
Even as those thoughts ran through her mind, someone grabbed her. She tried to scream, but they’d clamped a hand over her mouth. Those rough hands wrenched her head around, and she found herself staring into Thirty-One’s hard eyes.
“You heard Keeper,” the other girl whispered. “If you get separated, they’re going to kill you. I win.”
One of the girl’s lackeys pushed the hatch open while Thirty-One shoved her through. One Twenty-Four drew in a breath to shout but found herself plummeting into the darkness.
She did scream then, but it was far, far too late to do her any good.
Grace and her team were nearing the bottom of the ladder when she heard a shrill scream above them. As she was toward the back of the group, she was able to see the two marines above her on the ladder and something falling toward them from the darkness.
She barely had time to register the falling form before the person slammed into the uppermost marine and knocked her off the ladder. She, in turn, struck the marine below her, who landed on Grace.