The board was now hers again, and she set to work.
* * *
Outside the station, the battered Cutter Silverthorne approached the side opposite to where Ping An’s forces had landed.
“There’s the docked shuttles,” Kip said, pointing at the enhanced image of their own dark grey shuttles hanging attached to station airlocks. “Bring us close as you can, Ensign. We may need to get out of here fast.”
“Aye, sir.” Helgi answered.
“I wonder how things are going in there?” Kip looked over at Ensign Lott, who was manning operations. “Any word from the shuttles?”
“None,” he replied. “The pilots report they’re under orders not to contact the rescue parties.”
Kip nodded. “So, I guess we wait then. If you need me Ensign,” he told Lott as he headed for the door. “I’ll be in the sick bay. I’m going to go check on Al. Let me know the minute anything happens.”
“You got it, sir.”
* * *
Leaping forward as enemy fire poured off his array’s defense field like a golden shower of sparks, Colonel Cole landed right in the middle of the terrified pirate troopers. Before the men had even had time to react, Cole brought his shock-axe around like scythe, filling the air with screams and vaporized flesh as the energy blade did its work.
Chest heaving, he turned, looking for other resistance, but what he saw dismayed him- was there no end to these pirates? Even as his unit was locked in combat with one group, reinforcements were pouring from nearby passageways into the former shopping district where the first bunch had ambushed he and his people.
As he watched, combined sniper fire took down another of his crew- the third lost in just the last few minutes.
The Imperial forces had come into this fight with a significant advantage, but now it had melted away in the face of co-ordinated attacks. How had things turned on them so quickly?
Taking a moment to cut down a pair of pirates with more courage than brains, Cole finally, reluctantly, called for his forces to retreat and regroup. “Go back the way we came!” He sent to them. “I’ll cover you!”
“Colonel!” Came a frantic reply. “We can’t! They’ve cut us off!”
“What?!?” Cole ducked behind a pillar and looked back down the promenade. Sure enough, more enemy soldiers had moved in behind them and were exchanging fire with his rear guard.
They were trapped.
“Ulstead?” He sent, “Ulstead I need support!”
“Sorry chief, a little busy here!” Came the reply, stress audible in the other man’s voice.
“Ulstead, my men and I have been cut off! Can you assist us?”
There was a pause, then- “No-can-do, Chief. A bunch of bloody bulkheads came down on us and crushed two of my girls. Me and the others are trying to get back to the rendezvous point but they’re hot on our heels.”
Cole started to say something, then stopped. It was clear Ulstead had his hands full, and could offer little help.
“Understood. Cole out.” He sent back, then closed the link.
A crew-woman landed next to him, panic on her face. Cole glanced at the nametag- it said “Tran”.
“Sir! What can we do?” Ensign Tran said, looking at him with fear in her eyes.
“Do?” Said Cole, raising up his shock axe. “What we signed on to do, soldier! We fight!” Then he spun around the pillar and flew straight at the nearest bunch of pirates he saw.
* * *
“There, that takes care of the little mice.” Said Ping An, satisfaction in her voice. “Now let’s keep the rats from escaping…”
“You rather seem to be enjoying this, my dear.” The Lady said, watching her.
“Do I?”
“You do,” Whitcombe nodded. “You are very good at this. I predict a bright future ahead of you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Ping An brought up another map. “Now if you’ll excuse me…Vaela, I want you to drop the following bulkhead doors in this order…”
* * *
“Any change?”
Esther glanced at Kip as he entered the sick bay, then went back to watching Tysen. “None. He remains in a healing coma.”
Kip walked over, checked a few readouts on the healing tank and nodded, looking at Esther. “You really care about him a lot, don’t you?”
“He is my master.” She said properly. “I am always concerned for his safety.”
“Yeah, right!” Kip laughed, and when Esther looked at him quizzically he continued. “I got shot up once when I was in training- ended up in the med center. The whole time I was in the tank, my old girlfriend waited for me in the room just like you’re doing.” His voice took on a nostalgic tone as the memories came back. “First thing I saw when I woke up was the look in her eyes, and lady, I see the same look in yours right now.”
Esther returned to looking at the tank, her face impassive.
“As I said. I am concerned for his future.”
Kip just grinned. “Yeah, I bet you are.” He said, then felt the link request. “Yeah?”
“Sir,” Ensign Lott reported. “I’ve got incoming transmissions from the shuttle pilots. They say the raiding parties have taken heavy casualties and are trapped. The dignitaries are also trapped in one of the other sections.”
“Dammit. I’ll be right there.” Kip sent, then turned to look at the tank as he started to go. “Al, I sure wish you were awake. We could really use you right now.”
Esther watched him leave, then stepped forward, letting her fingers spread out on the frosted glass as she reached out with her mind. “Tysen. Your crew needs you. I need you. Please…” Her thoughts called to him- “Come back to us.”
* * *
On the edge of the asteroid cluster, aboard the clan ship Clockwork God, Captain Michaels paced his bridge, concerned. It had been over an hour since his ship had picked up the explosions inside the asteroid field, and since then there had been no word from the raiding party.
“Sir, we’ve got contacts approaching.” Reported one of his bridge crew.
Michaels spun and looked at him. “From the field?”
“Nossir.” The ops man shook his head. “From the alpha jump point.”
“From the jump point?” Michaels frowned- there’d been no word from the ships they’d left to guard the point. Michaels summoned up a tactical display to see who they were, and when he did his jaw nearly dropped.
The display was filled with ships, not just a squadron or two as he was used to seeing, but literally hundreds of ships.
“It’s…the clan. It’s the whole bloody clan!” Michaels stammered.
“Sir, incoming link request for you.” Said the ops man.
“W-who’s it from?”
“ID marks it as Squadron Leader St. James.”
“Bella…” Michaels whispered, feeling a cold sweat across his skin. Well, it could be worse, it could have been Volkstag. Maybe there was still a chance…
“Put it through- private link!” He ordered.
An AR window flicked open in front of him, and from it Bella smiled.
“H-hi honey…” Michaels sent, “What are you doing here?”
“You left me behind, lover.” She cooed. “I missed you.”
“Well…ah…I missed you too. Look, you know I was going to come back for you, right?”
“Of course, darling.” She soothed. “I know you’d never leave me.”
“Clan ships are targeting us!” Yelled the ops man.
“Of course not,” Michaels answered her. “You know how much I need you. I just didn’t know how this would go, right? I wanted to protect you.”
“Yes, I know darling. I know.”
“Sir! We need to dive into the field!!” Said his Helmsman. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”
Michaels ignored them, he had to talk his way out, it was their only chance. “It’s Ping An- you can’t trust her. She’s always up to something, and how could I risk you?”
<
br /> “Yes, she’s always plotting.” Bella agreed, then her manner became more serious. “Where is she, Michaels?”
“In the cluster, on the station. She went in to capture a bunch of VIPs.” He explained. “S-she left us here to keep watch. She took the rest of the fleet with her. Look, I can help you trap her, just let me in.”
But Bella shook her head sadly. “I would, I honestly would, lover.” Then her lips curled into a cruel smile. “But I’m afraid the clan leader wants you dead, and I promised him I’d take care of it…personally. Goodbye, Michaels.”
“B-but…Bella…I…” He sent, but it was too late, she was already gone.
“Sir! Incoming missiles!”
“Taking us into the asteroid field!”
The crew was screaming around him, but all Michaels could do was stand there and watch the screen in horror. He’d gambled, and lost…everything.
Then he lost his life as well.
* * *
They were trapped- well and surely trapped.
Admiral Veers ran his hand over the armored bulkhead door and then punched it in frustration.
“Does that make you feel better?” Sir Fawn asked.
“Not as much as I’d like,” Veers said, turning to look at the assembled group. They were milling about, scared, stuck inside a short hallway with no side exits, and the armored doors had come down at either end.
Veers looked at the Squire- “How about you, can you help us out of here?”
Ashe shook her head. “The Linkspace network nodes around us have been shut off, I cannot access the network to perform that function.”
“Well, they certainly thought ahead.” The admiral commented, looking up at the ceiling to see if there were any ventilation shafts they could use. He frowned, the ventilation ducts were all closed.
As he wondered about that, he heard a rumble from behind him and spun to see the armored door start to lift.
“Stand back, everyone!” He ordered, but as he did the lights went out and they were plunged into near total darkness.
The only light now was from the space that had opened beneath the door- not more than a single handspan- and then several small, round hissing objects came rolling in underneath.
The gas took only seconds to do its work.
* * *
In the station’s shopping district, Colonel Cole and what remained of his people were huddled inside one of the former shops along the promenade. Cut into the walls, the shop’s cave provided solid protection from enemy fire, but it had no other exits and they were quite effectively trapped.
Cole himself, wounded while providing cover for his troops to escape, was propped against the back wall waiting for the emergency nano-meds to seal a hole in his chest when Ensign Tran came to him.
“Colonel Cole. The enemy commander is asking for our surrender.”
“Never!” Cole cursed, and immediately regretted it as he coughed up blood. After a moment, he wiped his mouth and looked right into her eyes. “Surrender means torture and worse, soldier. Remember that.”
“Of course, sir.” She answered, “But you’re wounded, and I thought…”
“It doesn’t matter,” he waved his hand. “How many people do we have left?”
“That can fight…?” She said, and glanced around the room. “Five sir, including you, but…”
“Then I,” Cole said, pushing himself to his feet. “Will have to stand for all of us.” Then he began to walk for the entrance, slowly. “Prepare to cover me. I will drive a hole through their lines and you will follow.”
“Sir,” she said as she walked along beside him. “Your array is damaged. I don’t think that would be the best choice.”
“It’s the only choice, soldier.” He said, peering out the window at the massed pirate forces. There were easily thirty of them out there, most of them crouched behind rubble or other debris- weapons ready. It was a killing field, but Cole never expected to go out any other way.
“Prepare everyone to move. Have each person take one of the wounded, that should leave…”
“Sir!” She interrupted him. “I’ve got an incoming link from the Silverthorne.”
“The ship?” Said Cole, confused. They’d lost connection to the station Linkspace network some time before. “What do they have to say?”
“They say…Please stand by.”
Cole frowned. “Well? What does that mean? Stand by for what?”
Suddenly there was a huge roar from outside, and everything shook. Cole turned to see that the ground had exploded under one of the larger groups of pirate soldiers. Smoke and debris were flying everywhere, and men were running screaming.
“I think for that, sir.” Said the Ensign. “Looks like someone just made one of the buried power nodes explode.”
“Clearly,” said Cole, powering up his array. “Let’s move!”
* * *
“Command, the power has shut down and we cannot get in. What is wrong?”
“Ping An! We’re being attacked! Someone’s just ambushed six of my men.”
“Squadron Leader, the enemy on the promenade have broken free, I don’t know if we can hold them!”
“Ping An! There’s someone else in the system. I’ve lost control of the power grid!”
A cascade of voices rang in Ping An’s ears, and everywhere she looked she could see her plans coming apart. A moment before, she’d been ready to order her pilot to begin warming up the shuttle, but now in what seemed like an instant everything had changed.
What’s going on? She wondered with a rising sense of panic, how could things turn so quickly? Could it be there was something she hadn’t seen? Were the Imperial forces already here?
No. She forced herself to think. No, they couldn’t be here. There was no-one else on the data feeds, and she hadn’t seen anyone enter the station. This was just a counter-attack, a delay, and she could take control of it. All she had to do was focus.
“Vaela,” she said as calmly as she could. “Just worry about getting control of the section where Dragon’s got the VIPs pinned. Dragon, use whatever it takes to get them out, pry those doors if you have to. Andrews, fall back to cover Dragon’s retreat when they get those doors open. Vickers, fall back and join Andrews. We can do this, people, we just need to hold it together.”
That should do it, she thought. She just needed to keep control and this would all work out.
Still, she wondered, what had changed? Where had this come from?
* * *
“We’ve got them on the run. You did it!”
“No,” Tysen sent back as he watched his shuttle pod maneuver into a docking position with one of the asteroid’s exterior airlocks. “Esther did most of it. I just bought us a little time.” He glanced at the AR map hanging to the left of his vision, it showed a layout of the colony. “You can see they’re regrouping to make a run for it with the Admiral and his men- if they can get to them.”
“Still, you’re still doing pretty well for someone who just got out of sickbay! We’re lucky you decided to end your beauty sleep when you did.”
Tysen paused, and looked concerned a moment, then answered. “Luck had nothing to do with it. I…” He hesitated, as if he wasn’t sure whether to continue or not. “…Heard her calling me.”
“Her?”
“Esther. She woke me up.”
He heard the disbelief in Kip’s voice. “Al, I think you’re still a little woozy. Maybe you better sit this one out.”
Tysen laughed. “Fine, don’t believe me. Right now we have more important things to do- Esther!”
A window showing the Squire’s face from the rear of the shuttle opened.
“Yes, Captain?” She answered primly.
“Did you find them?”
“I have. The person accessing the computer core is doing so from the location I’m putting on your map of the facility.”
Tysen felt the telltale bump as the shuttle linked with the airlock. “Excellent. Tell Colon
el Cole to regroup and head to section 67-B. Then get me Mister Ulstead, let him know I’ve got another mission for him.”
“You’re going in, Tysen?”
“I am, they need help. But, you need to sit this one out, Esther.”
She looked displeased. “Tysen, I need to accompany you…”
“No,” he shook his head. “If anything happens to you, the ship can’t enter hyperspace and escape. They need you more than they need me. You’ll just have to use the station security systems and be my guardian angel.” He reached into a nearby storage bin and produced a dormant silver array cube. “Can you do that?”
“I will.”
“Then let’s do it.”
* * *
“Dragon, almost done?”
“Da. We have them, they didn’t have much fight in them after we used our gas grenades.”
“Good,” Ping An told him. “Then load them up and get back to the main hanger as fast as you can. You’ve got hostile forces moving under you.”
“We commandeered a grav-sled and my men are loading them on board now.” Then the pirate stopped in surprise- “Did you say they were under us?”
“Yes, and I don’t like it. So get out of there as soon as you can.”
“I will, Command.” His window closed.
“I must say,” The Lady said from her nearby seat. “It took you long enough.”
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting your Ladyship.” Answered Ping An with mock politeness as she continued working.
“If I have learned anything in my time, it’s patience my dear. Now, once we have them what will you do? Your ships are gone, and have you heard from your friends outside of the field?”
“No, I can’t reach them.”
“A pity. I imagine they’ve also gotten tired of waiting for you.”
Annoyed, Ping An stopped to look at the old woman. “Why, your Ladyship. I think you’re enjoying this.”
“Oh, I am.” Whitcombe grinned, which looked a little like a prune with a smile cut into it. “I am indeed. Nothing like a little adventure to get the blood moving again is there?”
Ping An shook her head. “Well, at least one of us is having fun.” Then she decided she’d better explain. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan to get us out of here. You see I…”
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