Fragments sf-6

by Randolph Lalonde

  “Good. I’ll work on getting our people back. Watching the Samson fall apart over the last few hours has reminded me of something, something I should have remembered before half the crew who landed with us in the Dower Wastes left us. People are what we need now. Not the ones who left, not just anyone, but the people we’ve come to know, come to trust. More than anything else, the qualities those people bring with them will determine how this all works out. Remember that when you choose your build team.”

  Chapter 30

  Connections

  Ashley was able to get a handle on most of the ship systems with Larry's help, and was happy that all non-essential machinery had been deactivated. Much of the rest of the machinations aboard the Triton were being maintained remotely from the Engineering Control Deck, which had come under siege again. Soldiers were trying to cut into the vault like substructure from the deck above, and according to Larry, who she still regarded warily, they were making moderate progress. It was only a matter of hours unless someone interfered with their work.

  “Why don't you slow them down?” Ashley asked off handedly as Zoe climbed into her lap. Even her favourite game couldn't keep her occupied forever, especially when she looked so tired. For a moment Ashley considered trying to make the youngster at home in the chair beside her, but thought better of it. The little fair haired nafalli wasn't too difficult to work around, and she had seen how Iloona's younger children were with her. Nafalli young liked to cling to their elders, and for the time being, Ashley was Zoe's choice.

  “If they do get through they'll have to deal with everyone in engineering, and there's no way they set up down there without arming themselves.”

  “Ah, so what are you doing?”

  Larry's lips drew into a thin, tight smile as he nodded to himself. “Can't wait to see me go back out there?”

  “No, I'm just wondering.”

  Ashley refocused one of her console displays on a wormhole that appeared momentarily in the dust cloud, it disappeared as quickly as it came up on the passive scanners. She hoped the Captain and everyone else was right behind. Someone had to save them.

  “I knew this would happen. Listen, I'm the same Larry you met only there's a side of me you didn't know about. I'm sure there are plenty of things you haven't told everyone about yourself.”

  Ashley kept her voice calm and soothing for Zoe's benefit. In reality she'd never been so nervous; “Okay, I'll get used to it,” she offered as a placation.

  “Ashley, I could be the most important friend you have on the ship. I know you have the Captain's ear, and he made you Master at the Helm, but you don't see how often they cut you out. It's been happening more over the last two weeks. The Freeground crew have just taken over with the Captain's blessing, and they haven't consulted you on anything.”

  “I handle the pilot rotation on the bridge, help people navigate the training system, review qualifiers and fly the ship.”

  “But do you really get to make the decisions a Master At The Helm should be? You should be consulted before destinations are chosen, when modifications are made to propulsion and flight control, and whenever something changes the way this ship moves, or where it's going. That's what a Master At The Helm is for; to help the Captain guide the ship from port to port and keep the ship on a safe course.”

  “But we're not in a part of the galaxy I know, and I'm new to command. If Captain trusts the people from his home station, then I'll trust them too. Besides, Stephanie is still Security Chief and our Engineering Chief isn't from Freeground either.”

  “All right, but that's besides the point. What I'm saying is that there may come a time when you need someone who knows the ship better than anyone, can get you anywhere without people noticing, or can make something happen for you. That person is me. Your discretion comes at a price, I wouldn't ask you to keep my secret if I didn't have something to offer in return.”

  The thought hadn't occurred to Ashley. If they made it through the crisis she might have real power over the most dangerous person on the ship. The image of soldiers being killed in front of her returned, and, as though sensing how unnerving the memory of it was, Zoe roused from her light sleep and looked up at her. Ashley soothed the toddler, stroking her finely furred face until she put her head back down. “I don't want you to hurt anyone else. Find another way to show security who the West Keepers are so they can deal with them their own way or I'll make sure they find out about you.”

  Larry looked genuinely surprised and stopped working on his side of the table. He stared at her silently for a long moment.

  The communication portion of Ashley's console came to life as Minh-Chu's head appeared holographically over the table. “This is Ronin. Can anyone over there hear me?”

  “That's the Freeground emergency frequency, I've been trying to get in ever since Jason came aboard,” Larry said. “Minh is using it unencrypted.”

  “What do I do?” Zoe sat up in Ashley's lap and smiled at Minh's face.

  “Reply, but don't tell them I'm here. I'll block myself from the transmission.”

  Ashley took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Here goes,” she said to Zoe, who looked up at her, pointing to Minh's image. “Ronin? This is Ashley Lamport.”

  “Ask him if he realizes he's broadcasting in the open,” Larry whispered.

  “Ashley? They put you on comms?”

  “I'm kinda doing a lot of things right now. Do you know you're in the open?”

  “You mean, transmitting in the open? Right, I didn't know who was left over there, so I didn't have a choice.” Minh looked away for a moment, his image flickering violently. When it returned to normal Ashley’s communications terminal displayed a long, rapidly changing number. “There, we’re encrypted. Who's your little friend?”

  “Zoe, she’s my copilot today. We found a safe spot and I'm getting the pilot's controls running.”

  “Can you send me a ship status report?”

  “Um, maybe?”

  “It's the green and gold circular image on the comm screen.”

  “Oh, I've been using that to check the ship myself.”

  Zoe beat Ashley to it, smacking it with her slender hand.

  “Whoa, she's bright, isn't she?”

  “Oh yeah. I'm going to lock my controls though, just in case she gets a little adventurous,” Ashley said, bouncing Zoe in her lap. “Things aren't good here though. The whole ship's under attack from the inside. I don't think there are many safe places left.”

  “I can see, but the ship above you is under attack too. This is a mess,” Minh said, shaking his head.

  “How far behind is everyone else?” Ashley asked, hopeful.

  “I'm it for now, but after seeing this I think Jake will muster up and get everyone out here as soon as they can.”

  “This is Jason. I'm re-encrypting this channel with a biometric access gate.”

  Ashley didn't know the serious minded communications and computer genius, but was relieved to see him. The sight was welcome, especially after discovering that help was much further off than she hoped.

  “What's going on Jason?”

  “Frost is leading the main assault against the destroyer docked to the dorsal mooring point, and I was leading a team to the bridge, but we're getting pushed back. They have some kind of sonic scanning technology in place that's seeing right through our cloaksuits, and we don't have the people to push through with force. I'm glad Frost is doing better. He's already shut down their hangar bay and he's moved into their ship.”

  “Do you have a backup plan?” Minh asked.

  “Oz took care of that, but he was killed while creating a diversion on the Triton’s bridge. I'm trying to get back to put the plan back into motion, but there's a lot of territory between me and the dorsal mooring point. Ashley, this report says that you were woken up when someone interfered with you in the infirmary. Who was it? What happened? There's no security footage.”

  “Tell him you don't know, the soldi
ers were dead when you came to,” Larry whispered. The communications terminal was blocking any sound from his side of the room, a function she'd never seen the computer perform before.

  “Um, the soldiers were dead when I came to. I used a ventilation shaft to get to a safer spot.”

  “You found me knocked out in the next room and treated me with emergency nanobots,” Larry added.

  “Larry’s here too,” Ashley blurted. “Somewhere, getting food maybe.”

  “Nice going. I need you to replace a pilot who was with Oz. I've been in touch with Chief Grady, and he can give us a wormhole using the emitters we have left, so plot a course and as soon as we manage to shake two of the ships docked with us, get us moving. We'll take care of the rest.”

  “How are you going to decouple the enemy ships?” She asked, looking at the port and starboard mooring points again. There was a destroyer firmly clamped to each side, and the sensors there reported that emergency welds were in place, holding them fast.

  “Don't worry about it,” Jason insisted. “Minh, where is the Captain?”

  “We landed on Tamber, it's under Carthan control. They're neutral enough, but I wouldn't call them friendly.”

  “Good enough, forward the coordinates to their secondary arrival area to Ashley.”

  “Already done.”

  “I'm going to make full burn back, see if we can't get everything we've got on its way here.”

  “Ronin, I know every instinct you have is telling you that is the right thing to do, but you can't. The only reason why you're not fighting off fifty fighters and dodging long range weaponry is because they're watching that buoy you lodged, trying to crack our codes and track back to your ship.”

  “And here I thought I was being all careful and sneaky using half a dozen deactivated buoys to relay my comms.”

  “Half a dozen? That’s why I’ve been seeing worm holes pop open. That’s kinda genius, Ronin,” Ashley congratulated with a big smile. It was the second conversation she’d ever had with him, and for the second time she was impressed.

  “It just means that it’ll take them minutes to track this instead of seconds,” Jason interrupted. “Ronin, you have to go back and tell the Captain what's happened, but any help he can send will come too late. There's an Overlord coming. It’ll be here in about two days if the communications I've intercepted are right.”

  The colour drained from Minh's face; “Is there anything I can do right now?”

  “Get back as fast as you can. Tell the Carthans that the Triton is coming and we'll need help.”

  “Will do. Heading out right now. Good luck Jason, be the brain we all know you are and get to Tamber safe. Hang in there Ash, I’ll see you on Tamber. Slick and I scanned some nice beaches on our way out, I’ll make sure there’s a drink with an umbrella in it waiting for you.”

  “How’d you know I was a beach bunny?”

  “Crewcast,” Ronin smiled.

  “Can we hit pause on this courtship for just a little while so I can get back to saving the ship, please?” Jason said in a withering tone.

  “Righto, on my way out.”

  Ashley couldn’t help but snicker as the transmission terminated.

  Larry shook his head with a disapproving expression.

  “What? If we can’t have a teensy laugh, we’d all just snap.” She said cheerily, bouncing Zoe in her lap. “Right baby?” she asked her.

  The toddler slipped to the floor and started running around the table sweetly singing; “roo roo rooooo.”

  “That is the most random thing I’ve ever seen,” Larry remarked, wide eyed. “And annoying.”

  “She’s excited, and probably learning to talk. Just let her go, she’ll tire herself out soon.” She said as she finished plotting their first wormhole jump. Without hesitation she moved on to setting up the second.

  “Say ‘Larry.’” he requested as Zoe stopped in front of his chair.

  She turned around and started making her way back around at a march, singing; “loo loo looooo,” instead.

  “Well, at that rate she’ll be able to say her own name by new years,” Larry grumbled.

  “Say ‘Ashley’,” Ashley invited sweetly.

  “Allee!” Zoe shouted back.

  “See? It’s all in the way you ask, isn’t it hon?”

  “Oh God, I hope Jason’s plan kicks in soon,” Larry groaned.

  Chapter 31

  Camaraderie

  “You've done some good work here, Major,” Congratulated Commander DeHansen as he arrived at the bottom of the bridge ramp way. “We're still fighting in a few compartments but we have control of most of the ship.” He was broad in the middle, and had a toothy grin. This was a potential political victory for him with Command, being the last remaining boarding Captain.

  “We lost a lot of good people. Has Command gotten control of the lower decks on the main carrier?”

  Commander DeHansen's smile soured at the mention of the counter incursion. “They took four lower decks and stopped. We don't know what they're up to but it won't matter for long. Reinforcements are en-route.”

  “Good. The sooner they clear that up, the sooner we'll have a sonic sensor package on deck. If Command equipped us all with them, we would have never been blind sided by these cloak suits.”

  “I doubt that would have made all the difference considering how expensive these scanners are.”

  “I could tell you the names of the people I lost today because we were sent in without a full kit.”

  DeHansen straightened his uniform and cleared his throat. Cumberland was imposing, and all of his men were staring. “I'll pass the recommendation up in my report. In the meantime, assemble four teams to sweep the command deck of the Triton and seal it off. I don't want to lose ground while our techs begin rebuilding these terminals and linking into the ship controls.”

  “I have an issue with that order, sir.” Private Baram said as she aimed her sidearm levelly at Cumberland's head.

  A thought occurred to him then, he'd never seen her without her helmet. “I should have verified idents,” Major Cumberland grumbled.

  “Major! What's going on?” DeHansen demanded.

  “I think one of theirs mixed in with my team when we regrouped on the upper deck. You're surrounded, you know. No where to run.”

  “If your people don't lower their arms and surrender immediately, a comrade of mine will fire all of this ship's torpedo ports. The vessels on our port and starboard side will be destroyed.”

  “Along with a good part of this vessel,” Major Cumberland tested. Everyone could hear him, all the boarding teams, Command, and anyone else wearing a communicator. The Command channel was abuzz already, there was no point in silencing the infiltrator, the damage was done. With decks on one of their own ships out of their control, parts of the Triton still sealed off and a potentially devastating threat, morale would sink like a stone.

  “I do not have the switch. Kill me, and you accomplish nothing. Disarm yourselves and surrender.”

  “I don't think so, lady. There's no power in your torpedo rooms, we verified,” Commander DeHansen objected. “You put that down and come quietly. You might end up in a cell instead of an early grave.”

  “Commander McPatrick, are you still there?” asked the stranger.

  “This is Command. Commander DeHansen; please be aware that most of the torpedo rooms on that ship are powering up. You are not authorized to surrender. Negotiate with the representative,” Major Cumberland overheard through his communicator.

  “I'm plenty alive, good to hear your voice Agameg,” replied the tall, fair haired man from the hallway behind them.

  “Some kind of automatic stasis, right?” asked Cumberland, shaking his head. “Should have finished you off properly.”

  “Put 'em down everyone. We're taking our ship however we can and you have a lot more to lose,” Oz said as he slowly entered the room with his hands up. There was a glint in his eye Cumberland didn’t like on
e bit.

  Major Cumberland nodded; “Listen to him. We're finished here,” he ordered the soldiers on the bridge.

  “Belay that! We have the high ground aboard this ship and it came at great expense!” Commander DeHansen countered. “Commander McPatrick, I can promise a fair trial for you and all your people if you surrender immediately. Haven't enough people died here?”

  “Trust me, we don't want to launch all our torpedoes at close range, but if you and your people don't leave us be, I won't have much of a choice. Our people are out of the areas that will be damage anyway, why do you think you’ve been able to take the port and starboard sides with less opposition? Oh, and you can call me Oz.”

  “It's time to let this one go, DeHansen.” Major Cumberland agreed. “A few thousand people on those destroyers will thank us when they find out what they were about to do here.” He unclipped his rifle and slowly placed it on the deck at his feet.

  A number of the other soldiers started following his example.

  “I haven't been ordered to authorize a surrender, Major,” Commander DeHansen turned to the soldier next to him and ordered; “If he puts his sidearm down, shoot him.”

  “Command hasn't seen everything I have. The people on this ship will do anything to keep it from being captured, fight down to the last man. We haven't even seen what's at the core of the structure,” Cumberland said calmly as he drew his sidearm.

  More than half of the soldiers were following his example. Commander DeHansen's men were watching along with him, some of them looked unsure, a few were about to follow the majority, Cumberland could see it.

  DeHansen drew his sidearm and fired in one smooth motion, catching Major Cumberland several times in the chest.

  The armour had been weakened by previous damage and let most of the damage though. Cumberland's chest felt as though it was in a vise, his world was one of incredible pain. His legs buckled, his back struck the floor, then his head. Spots of light drifted across his vision, and the sounds of a fire fight breaking out surrounded him. He let his head roll to the side and caught sight of Spence firing at DeHansen and the few men who stood with him, his teeth gnashed, eyes fierce.