Resurgence (Redleg In Space Book 2)

by Z D Dean

  Days went by with no action and he was beginning to get anxious. They still hadn’t come up with a plan to deal with the pirates and he was beginning to feel like he was wasting time. One side of him still wanted to head closer to the contested zone to try and find Earth, while the other wanted to free the miners from the threat of being enslaved. The days passed slowly with the same routine. Wake, eat, work at the forge, sleep.

  Letting the pirate problem drift to the back of his mind while he worked did not help him obtain the inspiration to solve the problem as he had hoped. Just as he was about to inform the crew that they were heading towards contested space, Sam raised him on comms.

  “We are getting a tight beam communication blast from the proximity of the pirate base. What should I do?”

  He jumped up from his work and immediately headed towards the bridge.

  “Hold on. I will take it up there.”

  He sat in his command chair as Ann projected a screen a few feet away from him. He nodded to Sam and the image of a Baast male materialized on the screen.

  “Captain of the unknown ship who has been harassing my crews: I first want to thank you for dispatching the violent subordinates. We do not tolerate that kind of behavior on the Hub. They had gone rogue, and we appreciate them being neutralized. How much did Brax pay you to fight us?”

  “They have paid us nothing. Enslaving the innocent workers in this system is enough for us to make you atone, free of charge,” Zade replied sternly.

  “I agree with the sentiment completely, but we are not the masters.”

  It seemed like the man was waiting for a response, but Zade just sat silently waiting for him to explain himself.

  “I am not sure what you have been led to believe, but we are not the bad guys. The situation is not what you suspect,” the Baast man continued.

  “What is the situation then? I am wasting valuable time hanging out in this system to make sure the miners are taken care of.”

  “It is not safe to talk like this. The companies may be listening in. Come to the origin of this transmission and we will speak face-to-face.”

  “No way I’m going to just fly up to your base to chat. That sounds like a trap.”

  “Let’s meet at the first location we went after you dropped out of warp. I will only bring one ship so you feel comfortable.”

  At the end of the stranger’s statement, the communication channel was cut and the screen in front of him went blank. He had so many more questions to ask the man, specifically why he had been tracking them since they arrived. Everything about the potential meet up felt wrong, but if he wanted answers that could expedite resolving the situation, he would have to attend. At the moment, the only thing he wanted more than to see the miners safe was his to get back home.

  “You can’t seriously be entertaining his offer. This is a trap,” Sam said.

  “This isn’t ideal, but you do have to admit something about this doesn’t add up. If they were just taking the people prisoner, why haven’t we seen any destroyed ships in the belt? Or, for that matter, any signs of battle where the attacks have been concentrated?”

  “They are probably taking the ships for their fleet or to sell.”

  Before he could respond Mara spoke up. She had snuck away from her work to watch the communication from the bridge without him even noticing.

  “The Baast are many things, but we are not good liars. We have a subtle tell when we are lying; we cannot make eye contact and our eyes will dart around. I didn’t see any signs of dishonest body language when you were speaking to the pirate king.”

  “Jesus, don’t call him a pirate king. He is probably just some thug trying to feel important in a backwater system,” Samix said, putting Zade’s thoughts into words.

  “Regardless of this stranger’s title,” Zade continued. “I have to meet with him. It has to happen. All we can do is make sure we are prepared if something goes wrong. Mara, Ann says you are taking to your engineer duties well. Can you focus on improving the ship’s shields as much as possible before the meeting? Sam, can you get us there before him and find us a place to hide where he won’t be able to find us?”

  Both women nodded in the affirmative.

  “Good, we have a game plan then.”

  “What will you be doing to get ready for the rendezvous?” Sam asked.

  “I’ll be getting my weapons and armor ready for a raging gunfight. Not sure it will come to that, but it’s best to be prepared.”

  He was proud to watch the women spring into action. It was a testament to how far they had come as a crew in a short period. Sam opened up a map of the system on the large hologram projector in the bridge, while Mara disappeared into the engine bay.

  Their route was a simple one. Sam chose to wait until the stars masked the objective from the view of both the pirate base and the planet. The hardest part was where she planned on landing the ship. Instead of docking where they had before, she chose to dock the ship with a large piece of debris that was orbiting close to the broken ship but spinning erratically. She intended to anchor tight and stop all outside signs of life. She hoped that the potential enemies wouldn’t be able to find them because they wouldn’t be looking too closely at such a dangerous landing spot.

  They waited a few hours for the orbits to line up before rocketing towards the ever-dark portion of the belt. It wasn’t a long trip at the speed they were going. Zade had complete confidence in his pilot and her plan up until he saw the landing zone.

  “This might not be the greatest idea. Did you, by any chance, pick a secondary landing zone?”

  He didn’t get a response. Sam had been working closely with Ann to improve her connection with the ship, and at the moment was so deep in concentration that he doubted she even heard his question. The ship stopped just outside the strike zone of the large chunk of metal, almost as if it were observing it and trying to predict its movements.

  He tightened the fit of his restraints as Sam began creeping the ship forward. During the time spent watching the object, he could see an axis where they could anchor and maintain a view of the wreck. He silently hoped it was where they would be putting the ship down, unable to confirm with the focused pilot.

  His attention was split between the actions of his pilot and the view outside the windows. Subtle movements of the controls sent the ship pirouetting next to the debris, coming ever closer to mirroring its exact movements. Conceptually he understood that the ship was becoming as erratic as the debris, but as he watched Sam work, the object slowed and almost appeared stationary.

  It was, of course, because their relative velocities were zero, not because their total velocity hit zero but a sense of relief flooded over him when the debris appeared to stop. He had to assume the approach was conducted primarily by Sam because Ann had to be focused on adjusting the grav-plates to prevent everything from being thrown around the interior of the ship. Just as he thought they were about to slam into the object he heard the whirr of the landing gear being deployed. There was a violent thud followed by Ann announcing that the magnetic clamps were secured. The world took on an eerie calm, and he felt a tremendous sense of relief to be landed.

  He wasn’t feeling any real inspiration for doing his improvements, so he spent the flight on the bridge working with Sam. When he left the bridge, after the ship landed, he was surprised to see the interior of the ship was a wreck. Mara had been hard at work diverting every unessential system to the shield capacitors. Quarters that weren’t occupied had cables running from them to exterior portions of the ship to siphon the life support power and grav-plate power. The crates in the cargo bay had been strapped down, allowing her to transfer a large amount of the bay’s gravity capacity to the shields. The only rooms left unmolested were the armory, forge room, and the three current crew quarters. She had even made up prepackaged meals so she could bleed off the galley.

  With his crew hard at work, he headed into the forge room to do his part. He didn’t have anything
new he wanted to create, but knowing he would be operating in a low gravity area that was exposed to space changed what he wanted to carry. Without knowing the duration of time he would have until the arrival of the pirates, he didn’t want to risk tinkering with either his armor or his weaponry. All he could do was finish the improvements he was implementing on his grenades. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use them, but wanted them to be ready if they became necessary.

  Chapter 11

  Almost two full days passed before their scanners picked up any signs of life outside the ship. The time spent reminded him of his time while deployed with the US military. Just waiting was a killer. Knowing that they were about to participate in an operation kept most men, especially new guys, from being able to relax enough to rest, and the monotony of pre-mission checks made them complacent. It was a tough position to be in when you couldn’t sleep and also couldn’t focus on the tasks at hand.

  Zade was on watch when the scanner pinged. There was one small transport headed towards them from the direction of the pirate base. He alerted the crew immediately. Sam immediately went for her pilot station where, as he had learned after the treacherous landing, she could have better access to the ship’s readouts. Mara simply stood next to the door, a pensive look on her face.

  “I’ve done everything I can to make the ship ready. She’ll be able to fight, take a beating, and flee,” she said quietly.

  “Good work, Mara. Let’s see what they do. It only looks like one ship, as promised.”

  “They’re doing a large loop with their active sensors on full power,” Samix said. “I think they are looking for hidden company ships.”

  “Do you think they’ve spotted us?”

  “I don’t think so. I turned off all external transmitters and sources of heat. After two days of being tied to this debris, we should just look like another piece of junk from the big ship.”

  The ship made a few more full circuits before heading to find a place to dock on the wrecked carrier ship. Immense floodlights flared to life on the front of the pirate ship as they drifted past the behemoth. Towards the rear of the broken ship, they found the docking area that Zade and Sam had used when they first entered the system. They all watched as the ship turned and locked into the docking bay.

  “Well, what do you guys think?” he asked his crew.

  “I don’t like this,” Samix said quickly. “But there is just one ship like he promised.”

  “I better get dressed for the party then,” Zade said. “Get us docked so I can get this thing started.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Mara blurted out as he started towards the armory. “He is one of my people. I could be of assistance.”

  He looked to his pilot, hoping she would shoot down the idea. To his chagrin, she agreed with the new engineer.

  “Although she isn’t versed in combat, she did arm herself while you were off helping me. I think she could make the dialogue easier since she knows the culture,” Samix said firmly.

  “Well fuck,” he said dejectedly, not wanting to have to babysit a noncombatant when the shooting started.

  He fully anticipated that there would be shooting because, if the pirate couldn’t give a compelling argument as to why he should be left alone, Zade was going to take him out then and there. He was hoping that if he could decapitate the snake, the rest of the pirates would start infighting and leave the miners alone, possibly destroying themselves from the inside.

  “That makes me feel useful,” Mara quipped sarcastically.

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” Zade retorted. “I think this thing is going to get messy and you’re not a fighter.”

  “How do you know that? We’ve only known each other for a short time. You don’t know what I am and am not capable of.”

  “I’m not doing this right now, Mara. I would rather see you safe on the ship, but I’ve been outvoted. Let’s get down to the armory and get you outfitted.”

  Sam gave him a dirty look before turning her attention back to the ship’s sensors. The walk to the armory was conducted in tense silence. Mara seemed like she had more to say, but stayed quiet until they started suiting up. He gave her one of the basic hard armor sets that he had found on the carrier during their first visit.

  After she had the armor on, she perused the scantly stocked weapon racks to determine her armament. He had already established the reliable components of his kit and had them strapped to his person, careful to place them where they wouldn’t interfere with his movements.

  When they were finished, he radioed Sam and let her know it was time. He felt the subtle shift in gravity as the ship disengaged from the debris and quickly escaped the range of its wild thrashing. He watched through the tiny window in the airlock door as they approached. With her new control over the ship, Sam decided to drop the away team at the break in the carrier’s hull. It took precise flying, but within seconds, the side of the ship was nearly touching the jagged remains of one of the floors.

  “You are on the same level to which they are docked,” Ann informed him as he swung the external door open.

  After stepping out, he cleared the way and waited for Mara to join him. Her exit was far less graceful than his, as she began to float back into the void when she cleared the artificial gravity of the airlock. A panicked squeak across their internal channel made him smirk as he sprung forward and clasped onto her boot, the only piece of her he could reach.

  “Turn your magnetic boots on,” he said through their internal comms. “Ann, why didn’t you activate the grav-plates on the ship like you did last time?”

  “I am not physically connected to the ship through a docking port like last time. I have no control over the ship,” she responded.

  After pulling Mara inside the wreck, she safely secured herself to the floor. Knowing that Ann couldn’t help by controlling the environment of the ship changed his plans slightly, but didn’t cause him concern. Mara’s helmet had the same low light sensor as his, so they were able to move towards the pirates quickly, without announcing their presence with lights.

  “This ship is fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mara said in slight disbelief. “Of course, I hadn’t until I got on Ann.”

  “The Groz were an ancient species that were exterminated by the Unity,” Zade said. “Their ships and bases are scattered around colonized space, long forgotten. The only reason I was given Ann is that the Unity thought she was an old relic, a piece of junk from a bygone time. They didn’t even expect me to break orbit.”

  “That’s horrible. If they only knew what she was.”

  “That is something I am trying to prevent. My species is located on a planet in the contested zone. I want to bring them the technology so that we are not enslaved by either of the galactic superpowers when the time comes. I want my people to be able to defend themselves.”

  “If you are desperate to get back to your planet, why did you stop here?”

  “The ship that picked me up was damaged, and they lost the exact location data of Earth. Ann’s database had been damaged and corrupted from centuries of neglect. She had a couple of last known locations for Groz ships, and we are hoping to find Groz tech that will allow us to find my home again. All I can do now is fly towards the contested zone, stop at Groz relics, and hop to find a way to get back to Earth before it’s too late.”

  “I am truly sorry,” Mara said quietly. “You were ripped away from everything you know and thrown into this mess.”

  “No need to feel sorry for me. I don’t feel sorry for myself. I did at first, in the quiet times between adventures, but now I realize that feeling sorry for myself won’t fix the situation. All I can do is drive forward. And without being picked up by Sam, no one would know the Unity or the Galactic Domain even existed until they were trying to incorporate us or kill us.”

  The massive nature of the ship gave them time to have the entire conversation before they started to get close to the docked ship. As they neared, a pens
ive silence fell over them. The closer they got to contact, the more careful their movements became. Doors and crossing passages that would have been ignored earlier were now closely examined and covered with weapons as they moved. The corridor wasn’t perfectly straight. It followed the contour of the hull which was why it came as a surprise when they happened upon the docking area. He had been ignoring the map projected on his visor in favor of watching his immediate surroundings for threats.

  The side chamber that connected the hall to the docking point had been obscured from his view by a bend in the passage. As soon as he saw it, memories from his first foray came back to the forefront of his mind. It was familiar except for the two Baast, clad in combat armor, securing the area. Ann informed him that she would be patching him into a local channel that she was picking up traffic on.

  “That’s far enough. Keep your hands where we can see them,” the larger Baast ordered when he spotted them.

  Rage at being ordered around immediately began flowing through him. Didn’t they know that his armor could take the punishment from their weapons without even a scratch? Didn’t they know he carried a weapon that could easily rip through them and the ship that carried them without even slowing? The men didn’t even threaten him by raising their weapons when they spoke. He was surprised by the thoughts, even as they crossed his mind. He began trying to calm down the Groz influence that was playing in his mind.

  Zade simply raised his hands and tried to calm himself as he watched the second man conclude the conversation he was having through his comms.

  “The boss will be right with you. Please monitor local channel X579Y,” the second man said as his hand dropped from the side of his helmet and found its place atop the weapon slung across his chest.

  A short while later, the airlock door opened and another Baast emerged, dressed in a Brax-colored environmental suit.