Dr. Ezra said, “We can hardly leave him here.”
Vicky didn’t even slow down as she said, “He’s already tried to take a bullet for me. I wasn’t making a suggestion.”
She got in the elevator and pulled down the gate. It descended to the lowest level of the station and stopped. She stepped out of the lift and looked around. She was below the torus-shaped habitable sections of the station here. There was a single connection down here to the isolated cylindrical hub in the center of the circular station.
Other connections ran to the hub on the upper levels to access the control room and other essential areas, but not down here. The bottom of the hub was mostly heavy shielding material around the station’s reactor and control room. She was still glad the slavers hadn’t skimped on gravity plating down here. Not that her task would have been much more difficult anyway.
She crossed from the torus to the hub and found the single heavy door labeled ‘Danger - Radiation Hazard’ was locked, as she expected. She messaged Hands to open the door for her, and without a reply, the door slid open. She noted the thick bulkhead plating between her and the reactor as she walked into the outer chamber and saw the almost sterile local controls. The slavers were smart enough not to come down here if they didn’t have to. Her resistance training had more than prepared her for this little act of sabotage.
The control room followed the standard layout for Leviathan stations. She found the cryogenic control access panel she needed and opened it. She had a pair of explosive charges and a remote detonator with her. She’d decided to undertake this small act of retribution no matter who or what her team found here. Damon’s description of his captors and his willingness to literally leap into harms way only made this easier.
She set the charges and closed the panel. She walked back out of the hub and took the cargo elevator back to the hanger. The scout ship was now beside their shuttle and she found Rita, Dr. Ezra, and Damon, minus his collar all strapped in when she reached the command cabin. She took her place in the pilot’s seat, sealed the shuttle and called Hands.
She said, “We’re ready to launch, have our shuttle bay ready, and please let me know the moment the scout ship is clear of the station.”
Hands said, “Yes, Captain.”
She spun up the repulsion field and lifted off. After rotating the shuttle to fly out the way they came in, she waited for Hands to vent the hangar and open the cargo bay doors. Once they were open, a small amount of thrust carried them out of the station and on their way back to the Artemis. She could see on her instruments that the scout had also spun up and was slowly following them.
The comm chime sounded and Hands said, “The scout is following you as programmed. It is clear of the station, I have already cycled the hangar doors to close.”
Vicky said, “Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. We will be back on board shortly. LeGrande out.” She turned in her seat to Damon, sitting behind her and said, “This is for you. Just push the button.” She tossed him the detonator. He caught it, looked at it for a moment, then pushed the button.
He looked disappointed and said, “Nothing happened.”
Vicky smiled and said, “You activated the timer. We’ll be pulling up to our ship by the time it goes off.”
As they approached the shuttle bay doors of the Artemis, a bright flare of light nearby signaled containment failure on board the slaver’s station. Damon strained from his seat to see the explosion. A bright light blossomed on their port side, but Vicky was already lining up to land.
Damon looked ahead of them and said, “I thought you weren’t with the USNA, that is one of their ships, isn’t it?”
Before Vicky could answer, Rita said, “That’s our ship now, we stole it fair and square. We lost a lot of good people stealing her and spent a lot of time afterward fixing her too. The North Americans didn’t even build her. Orion’s built that ship. We just took what should have been ours, to begin with.”
Vicky said, “We already know how you feel, Rita. We can explain more over a warm meal in our galley after we get out of here, Damon. For now, let me welcome you to the Artemis. Our home for the foreseeable future.” She landed the shuttle and powered down. The shuttle bay doors sealed behind them with a distinct thump.
Her wrist comm chime sounded, and Hands said, “The Scout ship is firmly docked with us to port and powered down to standby, Captain. The readings on the station suggest their fusion reactor is in a runaway cycle. Shall I jump away with the coordinates you input before you left?”
She said, “That sounds like an excellent idea, Mr. Hernandez.”
In reply, the annoying overly feminine automated jump countdown started. She had to get someone to fix that. Her team stayed in their seats as the countdown reached zero and her vision stretched out and snapped back. She was glad to be back in the hidey-hole they had spent so much time in lately.
They had made it, with more supplies between her shuttle and the scout ship than they would need for months on end. The slavers on the station were dead by now, and with the reactor failure, there would be no trace of their involvement. Her crew still had plenty of things to discuss though. Including their unexpected guest, Damon.
Hands and Daiyu met the returning crew in the galley to discuss leaving the system or committing to Hands plan for Utopia Station and traveling core-ward. Hands had already stripped his station, Oz bare of anything remotely usable and put the remaining hardware there into standby. He was already committed.
The Captain and Daiyu were already in favor of exploring the unknown. Dr. Ezra and Rita were still reluctant, but what they had seen and heard from Hands and Damon about Human slavery eroded their resistance. For his part, Damon couldn’t get over the coincidences that all of them had come to Utopia from Orion and might soon escape into the same deep space he had always wanted to explore.
Although the decision to leave human held space was far from final, Hands’ repairs to the ship, and the effectiveness of his drones had impressed Dr. Ezra and Rita more than the Captain realized. They were both in favor of rescuing Hands’ friend from Utopia Station. They were even more impressed from what she could tell that he intended to make the rescue attempt alone.
The Captain said, “What do you mean, you don’t need our help?”
Hands smiled the same smile he had used when explaining his plan for the raid on the slaver’s station. She had a feeling there was something he wasn’t telling her, but she knew he wouldn’t lie to her either. She just had to be patient and let him say things his way.
He said, “Sister LeGrande, I told you all before the repair work began that I didn’t intend for the Artemis to be involved. With the scout ship secured, and the drone pilot able to fly the simple maneuvers I will require, risking any of you to rescue Phillipe is pointless.”
Rita chuckled from her spot next to Dr. Ezra and said, “You said it yourself, Captain, the man is full of surprises. Even though he told us exactly that to begin with. Honestly, I’d prefer not to risk any of our lives either. If Hands thinks he can pull this off alone, I’m inclined to let him try.”
The Captain said, “We’ll discuss more of this before you leave, Hands. For now, make whatever preparations you need. Doc, can you take Damon to sickbay for a proper examination. I’ll meet you there shortly and show him to an empty stateroom for the time being. We still have to talk about whether you should stay with us or not, Damon.”
The next few hours saw more work for Hands, and a long talk between the Captain, Dr. Ezra, Rita and Damon. Hands had his droids carrying out a marathon of changes to the scout ship. Dr. Ezra found Damon to be physically healthy despite his ordeal, but he worried about the emotional damage he had endured from the slavers. Rita thought having a navigator on board was more than worth the small amount of food, water and air Damon might consume if he stayed with them.
In the end, the Captain decided to let Damon make the choice. She knew he had had few of those while he was a captive. He ought to be free to m
ake the decision to go with them or go back home. She would also be glad to have him along where they were likely going, but the choice had to be his.
The Captain said, “We need to talk about what you want to do next. We’re on the run from everyone in this stolen ship. It turns out; going into unexplored space might be our best chance of staying alive. You have no ties to us, and no reason to go with us. Your particular skills might be more than a little helpful, but we could never ask you to give up a regular life in human space after what you have been through.”
Damon said, “I know I don’t have a vote or whatever here, but going to outer space has been the only thing I’ve wanted to do my whole life. At least until I got taken by the slavers, maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that you rescued me from that fat bastard after all. I’d be a fool not to jump at the chance to go with you, and quite frankly, I could be a big help out there. I haven’t heard anyone else on board say they had a degree in astronavigation.”
The Captain tucked that thought away for later and said, “You may be right. Think it over while Hands tries to rescue his friend. I hear the enthusiasm in your voice, but I haven’t made a final decision yet. I’ll see you in the galley after we find out if Hands fails or succeeds.”
Once Damon settled into his new room, the Captain made her way to find hands and see how much more he had to say about his rescue mission. She found him leaving his workshop and followed him to the port side airlock where the scout ship was connected to the Artemis. She asked him for more details about how he expected to break his friend out of a UN detention center.
Hands explained more of his plan to the Captain from his wheelchair beside the airlock as his drones finished his preparations on the scout ship. Hands called the ship his Carrack. He planned to jump from the edge of the outer belt to the U.N. Annex at Utopia Station. He had precise coordinates on where to dock but still needed a UNSEA ship to look convincing. He had recently stolen a set of access codes for the station while he was on Oz. He explained that all of that was just to get him in the Uni’s back door.
The Captain asked, “What do you have in mind once you get in the door?”
He said, “One of the drones going with me will make a special delivery to their security zone. An explosive delivery. That will trigger some automatic responses, the Uni’s will expect all of those responses to be in place. I will override a few of them in the chaos, then walk into the detention center and release my friend.”
She said, “Won’t they tighten security with an explosion?“
Hands shrugged and said, “They may, but I know they won’t be ready for the other surprises I have planned. If all goes well, I’ll be back here with Phillipe in about an hour.”
The Captain watched Hands roll away through the open airlock and into the docked Carrack. This was a gamble for both of them, she didn’t want to lose her new chief engineer, and she was sure Hands didn’t want to die. She knew firsthand that Hands was beyond devoted to the few people he considered friends. She walked from the airlock to the bridge ladder and climbed up to keep track of his progress from her command console.
In no time at all, she saw the green hard seal between the Artemis and the scout ship go to yellow soft-dock. Then it winked out completely. She looked up at the main display and saw the scout ship maneuver into view before Hands jumped away for his one-man assault.
Absently she said, “I should have gone with him, at least I could have piloted the scout ship.”
From her station beside her, Rita said, “We couldn’t risk any of the rest of us going with him. Certainly not you, if things don’t go his way for a change.”
The Captain said, “I know that, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me.”
The rest of the hour she waited seemed to crawl by. She checked their sensors constantly as the clock on her wrist comm ticked closer to when Hands expected to return. Her restlessness was growing into anxiety when the unscathed scout ship jumped back into view. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
The comm chime sounded and the Captain answered it. She said, “Welcome back, Carrack. I hope everything went well?”
Hands sounded cheerful as he said, “Better than even I had expected. Only two of the Uni’s tried to shoot at me in the detention level. I expected a lot more, so I dressed accordingly. Once we dock, I will introduce you to my friend.”
The Captain said, “We’ll be waiting for you both in the galley. Artemis Actual, out.”
Rita looked at her and said, “Sensors detect no ships nearby. He is either the luckiest guy I ever met or the best planner in human history. The scout ship is moving to dock, port side.”
The Captain nodded and toggled on the ship’s intercom before she said, “Hands is back with his friend. We’ll meet them in the galley. That means everyone.”
She turned off the intercom and took a last look at her command console before turning towards the security door to leave. Rita did the same and the two of them were soon passing the port side airlock and the amidships passage. They entered the galley and joined Dr. Ezra and Damon who were already sitting at one of the bolted down tables.
Dr. Ezra said, “Damon has been telling me more about his youth in Paramount City. His father was caught in the same purge I lost my wife and daughter to. He was already on his way to Camelot by then. Otherwise, he might have joined our cause instead of spending four years at Kennedy International.”
The Captain looked across the table at Damon. He was now clean shaven and in a USNA uniform, minus the insignia. Maybe he still needed a haircut, but he was far more presentable now. Damon held her gaze for a moment but looked back to Dr. Ezra.
He said, “I don’t know that I’d have had the guts to do what you did and steal this ship, but I’d have felt better trying to do anything than I did sitting there studying. After being in that cell so long, my whole dream of exploring the galaxy seemed pretty childish.”
Before anyone could answer that, quiet Daiyu came into the galley. She was followed by someone in a black painted suit of powered armor and a tall muscular older African man in gray prison coveralls. While Daiyu made her way to an empty table next to the others, the armored visitor took off their helmet. She was almost not surprised to see Hands face sticking up out of the armor.
Hands tucked the helmet under one arm and with a dramatic flourish of his other hand said, “Captain, fellow crew members, Damon, it is my honor to introduce you to former United Nations explorer, Colonel Phillipe Baraza.”
The Captain wasn’t sure what she had expected of Phillipe Baraza, but the man she saw beside Hands was not it. He was clean-shaven, where Hands was not. His head was shaved, where Hands still greasy looking, graying hair was pulled back in a long tail. Phillipe was muscular and seemed far more physically coordinated than her flabby friend Hands ever was even if he wasn’t in his wheelchair right now.
The Captain rose and extended her hand. She said, “Welcome to the Artemis Colonel. I trust Hands has told you something of our predicament already?”
He shook the offered hand and said, “I’m no longer a Colonel. Please just call me Phillipe. Hands did tell me some of your troubles and how he helped you fix up the ship. He also told me that I am more than a little indebted to all of you for making my rescue possible. I thank you for that. Are we all gathered here to discuss the particulars of where to go and how to get there?”
The Captain gestured to an empty seat at the table Daiyu had taken and said, “Some of us are of the mindset that anything is better than hiding and hoping no one finds us, but there are those who find the thought of dangerous aliens and no other human contact terrifying all by itself. Hands has tried to paint a picture of what is out there. Perhaps you could share what you have experienced personally.”
Phillipe sat down and Hands stood at the far end of the table facing the rest of them. Hands sat the helmet on the table in front of him and glanced around at the others as Phillipe began to talk. The Captain listened
to Phillipe’s almost gravelly voice as he shared his story of the Caravel Program.
He said, “The first dozen Caravel missions were surveys of systems near human colonies. The Secretariat wanted to confirm what long-range sensors already said about systems with rocky planets close to inhabited worlds. The second wave of missions included fifty ships and was far more exciting. We jumped near unexplored systems, launched robotic probes to investigate anything uncatalogued, then recovered the probes and jumped further away. Each mission was supposed to last four years, that’s two years out and then two years back to Alpha, here at Utopia or all the way back to Luna.”
Rita asked, “Did you find anything worth all that effort and time?”
Phillipe grinned at that and said, “Yes and no and yes again. At first, the systems we jumped into were unremarkable, they were much like those the first wave explored. Each system was unique though and even in systems with only gas giants, there was scientific data worth collecting.
We were alone though, and that did affect us over time. Each Caravel group was made up of three ships, two scouts like the one Hands rescued me in, and a larger science vessel that carried most of our crew, probes, and other equipment. We were out of contact with everyone for most of those four years.”
Dr. Ezra said, “And we could expect to be out of contact with everyone permanently I suppose. That doesn’t sound so good to me Mr. Baraza.”
Phillipe held up a hand and said, “Most Caravel missions went out, collected data and returned with nothing of consequence to report. A few did not return at all. However, three of those second-wave missions found more than empty systems. I was on one of those missions, and I was sent back out to investigate what we found.”
Damon, who seemed to be hanging on Phillipe’s every word asked, “You found more aliens?”
Phillipe shook his head and said, “We found different aliens. Systems out there that have no allegiance to the civilizations they came from. Even more amazing, on my trip back to one of these systems we discovered they were inhabited by more than one alien species at a time. Blended societies that accepted beings from where ever they came from. There were even human enclaves out there. We would not be alone after all.”
Escaping Utopia: Part two of the Renegade Galaxy series. Page 5