by Tom Germann
The sensor dropped in the hall is basic and could be produced by any of the space-faring races out there. The picture being transmitted to the armored ship suit that the pirate wears is not high-quality but “cleaned up” by a simple program. The image coming toward the sensor is moving fast and is a simplistic stick figure of a human holding a weapon.
The pirate turns toward the intersection and brings his laser pistol up. He has three shots to take out the attacker before having to reload and let the weapon cool. Whoever they are, they’re a bit taller than a normal human and moving much faster than expected. It could mean that they have passed on a ship suit, which usually slows down newer users, and they are hoping to move fast so that they could not get a shot on target. A targeting carat pops up on his heads up display and adjusts as he quickly prepares.
Whatever the alien is doing, it is moving real fast.
There is a silver blur at the end of the passage and the pirate squeezes the trigger, aiming low.
His faceplate explodes inward and the heavy-caliber round carries on through, exploding out the back of his helmet. The pirate’s head is pulp and the body flies backwards, hits the door and slumps forward, pumping out alien blood on the deck while the armored figure moves forward from the end of the hall.
“Eight, this is Two. The pirate raiding party moving toward Environmental is dead. I am moving to the airlock now.”
“Understood. I am almost at Engineering. I will deal with them and then join you at the airlock while sweeping for other pirates. Be safe, Two.”
“Always.”
PREPARING TO COUNTER ATTACK
Outside on the hull, the two human crew members have approached to within twenty meters of the pirate ship and are behind a sensor dome watching for activity while preparing assorted items for an attack to distract the pirates.
Elise is on sentry while Sue prepares the laser rifle and missile launcher. Everyone trains for ship defence, but Sue has spent more time preparing for her upcoming tests and is not up on heavier weapons, so this is taking much longer than recommended by the weapons designers or military instructors anywhere.
The two are connected via a wire, which allowed them to communicate directly without the use of radio. It is an undetectable method of communication when mixed in with all the background “noise” coming from any ship.
Elise catches movement a third of the way down the ship as a small door irises open and she can see two figures backing out, pulling a sizeable package.
She clicks on the communicator and calls back to Sue. “I have movement on the pirate ship. Two pirates are coming out of an airlock and appear to be pulling something out.”
Sue pauses from her work on the missile launcher and looks up for a second before going back to the weapon in her hands. “Can you make out what it is that they are bringing out?”
Elise shakes her head in the negative and then realizes that Sue can’t see her doing that in a full suit. “No. Do you want to come over and take a look?”
Sue sighs quietly as she continues to struggle with the missile launcher. “No, it wouldn’t do me any good. Keep an eye on them and figure out what they are doing while I sort out the launcher. I want to be ready to give them a nasty surprise when it’s time. In fact, put a sensor up there on passive and record, then give me a hand. I want to be ready sooner rather than later.”
Elise quickly pops up two sensors on the sensor dome and sets them before moving over to Sue and helping her load the launcher and lay out the extra rounds.
THE PIRATES SLOW DOWN
At the Engineering hatch, the laser torch is almost set up and will be operable in seconds. The assault commander oversees the defence and monitors the sensor feeds on his improved command suit’s systems. No problems so far, and every angle covered.
He expects something to go wrong any second. Small directional explosive charges are set up facing down the four passages that feed off this cross-connecting passage. Any human advance down any of those passages will face enough shrapnel to shred any ship suit and slow an assault, allowing the few personnel he has left to quickly deal with stunned attackers.
Every member of this crew carries two laser sidearms so that when the one overheats or needs reloading, the second is available for immediate use, which could mean seconds in combat.
His comms activate and the command channel clicks on.
“Assault commander.”
“Yes, commander.”
“How fares the operation?”
“We are at Engineering and will be in shortly. I have heard nothing from the Environmental team or airlock detachment, but comms are down. Everything appears to be going according to plan, even though casualties are higher than expected because of the humans’ traps.”
“The combat AI is still tying up the ship systems, and our jamming and the saboteurs’ efforts mean that shipboard communications are even worse for the humans. Most of their personnel are unable to interfere.”
“Excellent news, then, commander.”
“No, assault commander. The Environmental team is all dead, your team has sustained casualties, and the airlock detachment easily destroyed the one attack but cannot move up in support of your operations without opening themselves up to ambush. You will immediately hand over operations to a subordinate and move back to the ship now.”
“But commander, if operations are going so poorly, let me pull my team out as these are soldiers of our clan, not mercenaries.”
“Negative, assault commander. We are already setting up the fall-back option. If the engineering detachment can do their damage, then we may still win, but they may not. You will leave them, as they are newly promoted and we will need veterans.”
“If I abandon any member of our clan, that is dishonourable, commander.”
“Failing the clan is dishonourable, assault commander. Everything is for the clan and our standing. As you succeed in the future, you will fully discover how much individual honour does not matter. Fall back now.”
“Yes, commander.”
The assault commander closes his comms down and motions to the young sub-commander that is monitoring the engineers assembling the laser torch.
Using the clan’s secret hand codes, he passes over command. The junior nods understanding and the assault commander takes off at a run for the ship.
The surviving six members of the team tense up as they know what this represented. Valued members are pulled back to safety for the coming counterattack against the clan while junior untested members of the clan are left out to act as early warning devices. This is the way that the clans work and survive.
MARINES COUNTER ATTACKING
Eight moves along the passage at a run, weapon up and charged. The pirate crew is making too much progress and the battle is still up in the air. If they are able to do much more damage, then there is a good chance that the ship will not make it back. Humans lose and pirates win. Even with backup systems and cross-training in crews, star ships are still very delicate.
The last sensor read is of the pirate crew heading for Engineering with a laser cutter. If they cut in and hack the engineering AI, they could overload the shields that much faster, and hard radiation would sleet through the ship or blow the engines out. There are a dozen different options that would result in the crew being dead in time.
The ship announcement system clicks on and the captain’s voice comes over the speakers, sounding breathless. “All crew members hold position. I am attempting to negotiate with the aliens, and we do not want to antagonize them. Security chief, hold your personnel back and stop offensive operations. Eight and Two, you need to stop your military actions so that the civilians can end this conflict. I am sure that they only want our cargo and it is not worth the life of my crew….”
There is a popping screech and the system cuts out.
Eight ignores the garbage that the captain had been spewing. Pirates do not negotiate. Pirates work for some planetary system out there and they never want to be identified. So either the pirates have left, taking every member of their crew with them, or they have killed the crew of the Pig.
His sensors in passive are more effective than any civilian models. He can detect the pirate sensors up ahead and there is a flash of shadow as something moves in the passage outside of Engineering. He moves into a full sprint and feels the armor smoothly adjust to his body’s movements.
Patroe is moving at a run down the side passage toward the airlock. He had grabbed a heavy laser rifle and a small demolition charge. The pirate ship will need to be dissuaded from staying. He just needs to figure out a plan that will get him down the boarding tube so he can attach the charge to the other ship, have that ship detach, and then detonate it far enough away that the Pig is not damaged.
The airlock detachment has seen no action since the last attack and while the pirates are maintaining watch on it complacently in their position, they do not notice the grill over the duct shifting and noiselessly sliding back and the black hole that opens in the ceiling. They also do not notice the two pairs of intent eyes that are watching them.
The crew in front of the Engineering door have finally set up the laser fully and are just finalizing the programming to cut through the door and not the entire compartment when there is a flurry of movement. They are well trained and know the importance of their job so ignore everything. They knew the others would maintain security while they peel the door open so they can finish this.
The fire team at the one end of the passage has been warned by the sensors of something moving fast toward them. An armed human, larger than normal, is moving faster than expected. They bring their weapons up with one dropping down to a squat while the other stays standing. They are going to follow doctrine perfectly, leaping out and firing sweeping bursts that will cut any humans coming down the passage into large chunks.
Behind them, their newly promoted commander takes cover behind the team, running the laser torch with his weapon up, ready to finish off whatever other surprise the humans have that would kill the security team. From what he has seen so far, the humans are nasty and he does not doubt that the security team and likely the cutting team will be killed. But he will finish the surprise and complete the mission against the engineering department. He will make his clan and his father proud.
He takes the grip safety off his weapon and aims at the midpoint in the passage.
None of them are ready for the burst of speed that comes.
Before they can move, the human shape seems to triple its speed and moves from the edge of the sensors’ reach to on top of the sensor. They no longer have the time to leap out and fire but just press firing studs desperately to get shots off before the blur of human kills them all. Two lasers flash out at ankle and waist height but completely miss the flying silver shape.
That was their one and only chance.
As the armored Marine comes to the passage, he leaps using the strength-enhancing capabilities of his armor and flies across the top of the passage.
Eight’s leap takes him across the opening faster than most humans would be able to process. But Corporate Marines, with their training and enhancements, do not operate at the same speed that the rest of humanity does. Not anymore.
As his head clears the wall, he confirms all six pirates and their locations. As his weapon clears the wall and the heads up display tracking carat crosses the enemy, he fires. Eight has loaded armor-piercing rounds so that even with armored ship suits and some extra armor attached, the heavy-caliber round punches clean through the pirate’s gear.
The laser-cutting torch is just activating with a brilliant beam, which starts melting into the armored door when Eight fires.
The first rounds take out the team that was starting to fire their lasers. Each one takes a round in the faceplate, which shatters, and drives them back and down. Their beams don’t even come within a foot of Eight. His third and fourth rounds hit the laser cutter and battery, destroying it and causing an explosion which blows back the two operators, shredding their ship suits and blowing out their atmosphere. The same explosion rocks the new commander to the side, which puts the round for his head into his shoulder instead. The last round punches into the pirate at the opposite side of the hall entering, through his backpack and blowing out the front of his armor.
Eight hits the other side of the passage and slides down the metal floor, crashing and tumbling as he goes.
He’d taken out all six pirates in a second and the passageway behind him is a smouldering wreck, thanks to the battery pack releasing all its energy at once.
But he had not done this without taking damage. While the fire team had only fired off panicked, random shots, the newly promoted commander would have indeed made his clan and father proud. He had taken the extra time to aim, and while the explosion had still knocked him off-target, he still hit.
Eight is lying on the floor shuddering with the adrenaline comedown of that leap when he starts to register pain and damage sensors start flashing on his HUD.
He still has his leg, but the pain starts to wash over him and he can smell and hear the burning. Eight checks his internal diagnostics and sensors and evaluates the damage. The computer injects enough local anaesthetic to block the worst of the pain. He still feels it but it is distant and the anaesthetic allows him to focus on the mission.
He clicks his comms on and tries to raise Engineering.
“Terry, it’s Eight. Can you hear me?”
“Eight, how are you doing? What’s going on? I saw the cutting start on the door and then there was an explosion and the cutting stopped. What’s happening?”
“We won. The Environmental group and this Engineering group are all dead. There is one pirate heading back to the ship, but he isn’t attacking anything, just running. There is still a large group at the airlock that we have to deal with. I have taken damage but can keep operating. Is the captain calmed down or is he still trying to negotiate?”
“He’s offline now. I am sealed in here, as I think the explosion welded the door shut. My stations are all nominal but from what little I’m getting from outside the ship, there is a small fluctuating energy source and whatever it is, I think it’s weapons-grade.”
“Great. You think they have a bomb now?”
“Yup, and it’s near the airlock outside.”
Eight shakes his head and climbs to his feet. He locks the damaged leg in position for support and starts limping toward the airlock. “I am heading to the airlock now to see what I can do,” he says.
GREAT A BOMB
The two aliens and their large package are at the side of the ship and the aliens are using magnetic clamps to attach the package to the ship’s body.
Sue and Elise are watching through the sensors that they’d placed, along with two ship sensors that Elise has tied into using a portable pad. The two are set up but not sure how to proceed. They have tools to unlock the magnets that are holding what appears to be some sort of bomb, but if they go out toward the pirate ship, the two guarding it will cut them to ribbons. To disarm the bomb is beyond their knowledge; most devices from alien civilizations, unless you have a powerful enough AI, are incomprehensible. When the pirate ship detaches, they will have a maximum of two minutes to remove the device and get it far away from the ship or disarm it.
Both Sue and Elise agree that they are screwed.
The only plan that they can come up with is to detach the device, attach the bolo gun’s lanyard to it and then, using the three rockets that they have as thrusters, they can tow it out to space. Their best guess – and that is all it is – is this will put the bomb up to five hundred meters away from the ship when it detonates.
If it is a very small device, then only half the ship will be
damaged and/or irradiated. There are too many different types of devices that exist, though, and they cannot figure out what it is. Nor do they need to.
Whatever it is will destroy the ship if it detonates.
They both agree that the object is likely command-detonated with a timer backup. They just need to take out the guards and eliminate any other guards that may come out in response. Then, they have to somehow detach the device from their ship and start moving it away from their ship, and then quickly run to cover so they don’t die in the explosion that is sure to come shortly after. Easy.
Bu they are still working out specifics on how to make that work. Being clipped together for an internal comms circuit that no one can intercept helps.
Sue is working quickly to unjam the missile launcher and clear the fault indicator. “Elise, I am telling you. You mag-lock your body into aiming position and fire the missile at the pirates. As soon as you fire, I start running and detach the bomb and then use the bolo to start it heading away from our ship. If any pirates stick their head out of the airlock, then you fire a missile into the hatch. I’ll take the rifle with me and take cover after this bomb is off our ship, and we’ll wait for them to leave.”
Elise laughs over the comm line. “Sue, you are barely qualified on EVA, while I spend all my time on sims for EVA and combat. I am a way better shot and know tools. You should stay here and fire the missile, then cover me with the reload.”
Elise can hear Sue’s scowl over the line. “No. It’s too dangerous for you and is likely a one-way trip. When they see someone mucking about with the bomb, they are going to do everything they can to kill that person. I’ll go. You should have cover then.”
The tell-tale lights on the missile launcher all glow a solid green now. “There now, Elise. I’ve cleared the fault for you. You’re up.”
There is a thunk-click that indicated mag-lock. Sue looks down and sees that she is locked down to the hull. She looks for Elise immediately and sees her ready to run around the far edge of the sensor dome. “Elise, what the hell are you doing?”