Star Traders (Corporate Marines Book 3)

by Tom Germann

  Elise waves at Sue. She has a tool belt on and both the bolo gun and laser rifle mag-locked to herself. “Sue, I can’t handle the firing of the missile launcher, and while that is minor as I would be mag-locked, I am not big enough to reload it. That is one thing you can do faster than me, and it may keep me alive. I’m going. Kill those pirates.” Elise detaches the comms line and moves closer to the corner.

  Sue curses loud and long while she swings the missile launcher up to her shoulder and stands fully upright. She cannot see the pirates, but programs their shape and rough distance into the computer and then launches the missile.

  The missile whooshes away, using a slow launch by compressed air before deploying its rocket system. Sue reaches down to her waist for the reload and Elise launches herself around the corner and takes off at a slow, lumbering run over the sixty meters toward the bomb and pirates.

  PIRATES FALL BACK

  On the Mama Pig, the assault commander is just running past the airlock detachment and heading back onto the pirate ship.

  Patroe is coming down the side passage, almost at the airlock, still trying to figure out how to get past the blocking forces.

  Two is stalking down the passage, preparing herself to take out the armor waiting for her and is about to change magazines so as be fully loaded.

  Eight is just limping down the passage and is the furthest away from the coming activities.

  Throughout the ship, the rest of the ship crew are either waiting at hardened defence points or, in some cases, desperately trying to override and unlock the jammed doors to get into the fight for the ship.

  Over the airlock, two pairs of eyes watch the blocking force from inside the ductwork, and the two crewmen argue about what to do and how.

  Derek and Snyrl are too close for any verbal communication, so use shipboard sign language instead. It’s not a formal language, but an informal method of communication indicating actions to be taken. Snyrl wants to attack now while Derek wants to wait until the other crewmembers start causing trouble so that they can maximize the distraction of an ambush on the blocking force.

  They are still plugged into the local surveillance sensors but are not using pads. They have plugged the sensors directly into their implants. The older crew usually don’t do this as they are not comfortable with the advanced technology, but the boys, younger adopters, understand the benefits of the new technology and have embraced it, especially after seeing the additional benefits while working with the Marines during the voyage.

  They see without looking that Patroe is at the end of one of the passages and looks like he is making his mind up. They can also track Two and Eight moving toward the airlock. No other crewmen are moving in their range and given what they heard earlier from the captain, they do not expect to see anyone else come down the passages.

  They both realize that Two and Eight are coming from the same direction and passage that the pirates had taken, and that probably meant the group of pirates that had headed that way were no longer a threat.

  They look at each other and nod. They each pull a shiny metal ball off the bandoliers that they wear and carefully twisted the dial to full strength at the smallest diameter. From the training sims they had gone through, they know this will project a strong enough directional force to punch through several inches of armor with a beam half a centimetre thick.

  It may or may not kill the pirate in the armor, as it will cauterize the wound immediately. But they can hope to take out an important system and, if not, the aliens will still be losing atmosphere, which will distract them.

  They have practiced this. They know what to do. They look at each other and carefully breathe in and out to calm themselves. It isn’t real; it’s just another sim. Derek holds up one finger, two fingers and then the third finger and both boys drop head-first through the opening, stopping themselves with their feet. They are hanging half-exposed in the intersection. Derek throws his device at the one armored figure while Snyrl throws his at another.

  The devices immediately mag-lock onto the armor and then pause for a split second while the computer orients the charge against the armor. Both boys immediately curl their bodies up and grab onto whatever handhold they can in the recessed area.

  Two of the ship suit-wearing pirates start to turn before the charge detonates.

  The charges are small and highly efficient directional charges, with little damage being directed outward from the blast itself. Area damage is caused by shrapnel being launched by the initial shot. Spalling on the inside tends to be minor as well, which makes the charge an excellent tool.

  The boys are quite lucky; one of the pirates that turns toward their noise takes a small piece of shrapnel through the ship suit and when he hears the warning sensor indicating pressure loss, panics and goes for a patch kit. Derek’s target takes the brunt of the charge through a secondary power system, which overloads and shorts out the entire suit, turning the pirate into a cinder.

  Snyrl’s target fares better, with the charge missing any critical systems and only knocking out some comms circuits. But the hole in the back of the armor, along with the non-critical injury, throws the pirate off. When the atmosphere sensors go off inside the suit as well, he also panics and opens a comms channel to the command suit, which is still untouched. One of the pirates that had been using him for cover slaps a quick patch over the hole in the armor, which cancels the sensor’s warbling.

  Above, Snyrl is reaching for another ball on his bandolier when he loses his grip, and the bandolier, with three more charges, drops to the deck.

  Derek is quietly whimpering; he has not been as fortunate and a small piece of hot shrapnel has cut through his ship suit and burned a track along his left leg.

  Derek’s grip with his feet and legs falters and he falls toward the floor.

  As he falls, the burnt-out pirate armor drops to the floor while the other four suits maintain cover. The five remaining pirates in ship suits are assessing their situation when Derek falls in their midst in a heap.

  The pirate in the damaged armor sees Derek in his rear camera and takes a step back so that he is close enough to crush Derek under his armored boot.

  Snyrl drops down onto his helmet and rolls back, starting to shoot with his laser pistol and hitting one of the pirates in a ship suit, cutting him down in pieces with one shot. The other shot hits the armored leader, and the armor absorbs the hit. The last shot hits a bulkhead, causing no damage. Snyrl is out of ammo.

  One of the pirates shoots him off the damaged armor. Snyrl falls to the floor with a large cauterized tear running along his chest. He whimpers, lying there, before his eyes glaze over and he stops twitching.

  Derek tries to crawl toward Snyrl’s body, crying while he does so. “Snyrl? Snyrl, no!” he yells before he reaches his dead friend, crying with his arm stretching out.

  The pirate in the armor prepares to crush the life out of Derek and smiles while he lifts his foot up and back.

  SPACE FIGHT

  Meanwhile, outside, Elise takes off at a waddling run for the package. Sue is keeping an eye on it while reloading to try to gauge what other threats may exist or pop up. She does not take the time to remove the mag-locked boots as they will help hold her steady. Elise is a third of the way to the package and has just been spotted by the pirates when the missile zooms ahead, detonating just before the pirates and their large box. When the warhead detonates, it looks like an ancient cloud of ball bearings. Old Earth soldiers would have recognized it as a canister round.

  The canister round’s modern equivalent unleashes a swarm of round metal balls. Dozens of the balls strike the pirates, ship and package, and each one detonates. Similar devices to what Derek and Snyrl had used, in this case they cause dialled-down damage so that each act like a small underpowered hand grenade. The pirates standing guard on the package explode, the box is dented and the ship’s su
rface is scuffed.

  Elise moves as fast as she can, pulling out the tool bag so that she can immediately start removing the magnetic clamps.

  Behind her, Sue is frantically reloading the missile launcher. She’s cursing a constant stream of profanity that would make the rest of the crew wince. The round is not loading properly.

  Elise makes it to the package and starts working on the magnetic locks, which are quite easy to detach. The pirates had not anticipated anyone being able to get outside on the ship so fast, given the confusion inside.

  Sue brings the loaded missile launcher up and aims it at the portal on the side of the pirate ship. She can see a pirate bringing his weapon up to a firing position. She locks the sight on-target and presses the launch button.

  The red light indicates the recurring fault with the missile launcher, and while Sue starts trying to clear that fault again, the pirate fires first. The explosive charge he fires hits a few feet to the side of Sue and shrapnel is sent slicing out, cutting Sue to ribbons before she even has the chance to scream. The warhead detonates.

  While the pirate above surveys the explosions, Elise puts down her tool, slips the laser rifle off her shoulder, and shoots the pirate from below, causing his ship suit to explosively decompress. She puts the rifle down and keeps feverishly working on the magnetic clamps.

  Through the ship hull she can feel the pirate ship bringing its engines up from standby.

  She has minutes to complete the work and figure out how to get the bomb off her ship and out of the danger area. She tries to work faster in the clumsy gloves.

  THE PIRATES FLEE

  Above her, the portal irises shut and the pirate flight crew starts the flight check as they prepared to disengage from the Mama Pig and move away. The commander sits in the command chair reviewing multiple feeds while the assault commander comes onto the bridge without weapons, bristling with anger.

  “Commander, we could still win this fight.”

  The commander never stops reviewing the feeds. “This fight is lost, assault commander, and yet we will win this particular war very shortly. Ship captain, you will be ready to depart, now. Sound the recall and prepare to retract the boarding tube.”

  The ship captain keeps his eyes on the launch checks. “Yes, commander.” A loud gonging noise echoes throughout the ship and down the boarding tube, where the airlock is still open.

  The commander continues to review the different sensor feeds. “Yes, assault commander? Why are you not preparing the survivors to strap in? There will be quite a shockwave.”

  The assault commander radiates anger but draws himself to his race’s version of attention and salutes. “Yes, commander, I will ensure that is carried out now.”

  The assault commander walks off the bridge and makes his way to the troop area, where he looks around at the many personal spaces and prepares to greet whatever survivors have made it off the ship.

  The laser blast cuts right through a ship suit and slices into the medium armor on the pirate, punching right through it after a second, turning it into a pile of wrecked gear that is now useless.

  Patroe lets the hot weapon drop on its sling and while walking down the side passage, fires with his laser pistol three times, draining the battery. He reloads and fires again, cutting down four of the remaining ship-suited pirates. On his back is an explosive device.

  He mag-locks the pistol to his suit and brings the laser rifle up again as he continues advancing forward.

  The gonging noise interrupts everything as it comes booming up through the airlock from the pirate ship.

  Every space-faring race ends up developing or adopting certain practices to ensure safety in the depths of space. Ships’ communications can go down, so it is standard to employ loud noises, in most cases, or bright flashing lights as a last-minute warning of undocking procedures.

  At the same time as the gonging sounds, the interference clears up and radio communications are possible past a few feet.

  Every human on board the Mama Pig can hear a young girl’s voice. “Mama Pig, this is Elise. The pirate ship has dropped a large bomb on the outside of the ship. When they detach, they are going to detonate it. I say again, Mama Pig, the pirates dropped a large bomb on the ship that they will detonate when they detach. Can anyone hear me? I am trying to disarm the bomb now and not having much luck, but will keep trying.”

  Her voice fades away and instead, the muttering of someone using tools is audible over the open channel. Suddenly, it clicks off.

  The two surviving pirates are in a quandary. They have been cut off in a crossfire by someone with a laser rifle who knows how to use it, and wouldn’t make it across before being cut down. The armor can’t turn and move out, but would have to back into the tube to keep its firepower covering where the crew may be coming from.

  While they consider their circumstances, Patroe is on the move.

  The last two pirates are irrelevant. If the pirate ship undocks and takes off, they will detonate the bomb. Star ships are supposed to be so important that they are never risked or destroyed. To him, it makes no sense that they’d do that, but the pirates are aliens and seem like they don’t care.

  Patroe takes off at a run for the airlock and is through the first hatch before the pirate in a ship suit can even react. He takes running leaps and is in the tube in a moment. He pulls the explosive pack off his back with one hand. If he can get the explosive into the pirate airlock and detonate it, he knows it will likely cause too much damage for the pirates to get away and will also likely leave them unable to detonate the bomb as they will be too close to the ship.

  He’s ready to do anything to buy some more time so that the bomb can be shifted or disarmed. He is in the boarding tube, which barely flexes under his feet. Gravity is less in the tube.

  The pirates had not expected to be charged and don’t have time to react when the crazy human slips by, heading for their ship. When they see the explosive charge, they immediately take off after the human. Neither can get a shot until they enter the airlock, and only the pirate in the front can shoot. He unthinkingly sends a sweeping burst down the boarding tube, cutting the human down.

  Patroe takes the hit across the back and he can feel the burning, searing pain. It is indescribable and he almost blacks out. He is just before the airlock and everything goes blank for a second. Then he is slumped against the ship hull, holding the explosive charge.

  The pirates move quickly down the boarding tube. Their salvation is being one of the few survivors and they must make sure that the crazy human is dead. If he isn’t and he detonates the charge, the ship will likely be damaged, and being stuck here in deep space to die far away from their clan grounds is not how any of them want to go.

  The lead pirate pulls a boarding knife and mag-locks the pistol to his suit. He doesn’t want to damage the boarding tube or the commander will be upset. The rear pirate maintains a watch back toward the human ship.

  The armored detachment commander starts walking backwards so that he can cover the passage ahead of him. He stops and looks at the sensors looking down. The young human is lying on the ground, unable to move, making mewling, pitiful noises. A pathetic end to a being that had fought like a warrior.

  He points his secondary weapon down, as a single ballistic round would penetrate a ship suit and kill the pathetic creature, while his main weapon covers the front arc against counter-attack. He cannot wait to get off this ship and watch it explode.

  The rounds come down the passage and slam into his secondary weapon, turning it to scrap. His onboard AI immediately tracks the threat and engages with the primary weapon. The figure at the end of the hall in the silver armor is bigger than a normal human, and fast.

  Two moves back and forth, dodging the laser shots and trying to stay ahead of the programmed AI’s responses. She is forced to keep triggering rounds that are not kill sh
ots to keep the armored pirate from taking her down.

  She is doing lots of minor damage now, but nothing like the initial shot that took out her enemy’s secondary weapon.

  The one round that is on target for the primary weapon is burned out of the air by a laser blast.

  She is doing so little that the pirate is still slowly backing up toward the airlock and only has a few feet left before he reaches the chamber and becomes harder to get to.

  The laser fires and punches a hole in the flooring; Two snags her foot in the hole while dodging the laser blasts coming her way. She flips and smashes flooring while still trying to writhe out of the way of the shots.

  Her weapon clicks empty and her foot is pinned. She has no grenades loaded in the launcher and has nothing else available. She hasn’t even made it to the section that she was to be deployed to, failing after so little.

  The laser is lining up on her when the rounds come in from the side passage. Four rounds smash the weapon so that it is unusable. Before the pirate can turn or back up farther, the rest of Eight’s magazine hits him in the side and punches through, killing him quickly.

  “Two, this is Eight. Bad guy down. Reloading.”

  Lying on the floor, Two scrabbles for a magazine and reloads while wedging her foot back and forth to free it from the metal wreckage. “Thanks for the save, Eight. It was bad.”

  Eight clicks his magazine home and slowly moves up, covering the airlock. “We aren’t done yet and we don’t have any heavier weapons, thanks to the captain not releasing authorization. I don’t know how we can take out the pirate ship. Any thoughts?”

  Two stands up. “Head-on, killing everything in the way.”

  A SACRIFICE