Adrift (Dawson's Star Book 1)

by J. P. Larson

  “I’m sorry, Captain,” Gina said. “The computers show Mr. Swanson in his cabin, but Jimbo says no one is there. He said he searched the entire room.”

  “Find him, Security,” Pamela said immediately. “Have Jimbo begin a visual search while you use the ship’s monitors.”

  “Yes, Captain. But…”

  “Yes?”

  “Can’t you already tell where he is? Even without the necklace?”

  “He just disappeared, Ms. Leider. I don’t know where he is.”

  Silently, Gina returned to the boards and slowly began looking for Alex. “Captain! Someone’s operating the inner air lock.”

  “Shut it down, Ms. Leider! Now!”

  Gina hit some buttons. “I’m trying, Captain. It’s not working. I seem to be locked out.”

  “Get Jimbo down there!”

  “He’s already on his way, Captain.”

  Pamela got on the intercom. “Alex! Don’t do this! Please, don’t do this!”

  There was a pause, then his voice came over the intercom. “I have no choice, Captain Grey,” he replied. “I’ve made notes in the security logs. Neither Gina or Jimbo can read the boards like I can, but that doesn’t seem to matter. It’ll be obvious in another two hours. We are surrounded. We can not win a battle, we can not get away. I recommend you surrender and spare the lives of your crew.”

  He paused.

  “I could see the hate in Susan Borman’s eyes, Pamela. I will not fall into that woman’s hands. You won’t let me protect myself, and you can’t protect me. She wouldn’t kill me, she would just get what she wanted, then remove my good leg. I saw her eyeing it. There is no way I can go through that again, not with the right leg so far from healthy. I’ve been a hostage. I’ve been a pawn. I won’t be either again.

  “Gina, are you listening?”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  “Follow orders. You’ll get everyone killed if you try our plan without me. That woman would fry you on the spot. It’s been a pleasure serving under you, Captain Leider. I’ve never had a better commanding officer. Thank the guys for me.”

  “Commander, you don’t have to do this.”

  “The boards will return to your control exactly one minute after I open the outer air lock. I strongly recommend surrender. Liz told me if we were captured, she would do whatever they told her to do, so you should all be fine. Good luck.”

  “Alex!” wailed Pamela.

  “Outer airlock opening, Captain,” Gina said quietly.

  Pamela stared straight ahead.

  “Jimbo at the inner airlock, Captain. He says he caught a glimpse of an arm.”

  No one said anything.

  “Security controls are working again, Captain. Closing the outer airlock.” She pressed more buttons. “Opening inner airlock.” She listened. “Jimbo says it’s empty, Captain. He’s gone.”

  Gina reviewed the scanner logs, finding Alex’s notations. “Captain, I believe we have several hours. Unless you mind, I’m going to set the alarms, then go tell Alex’s friends what has happened.” She waited for an answer that never arrived. She pressed some buttons, then fired up the intercom. “Random Walkers, please assemble in the galley immediately. Ms. Waters to the bridge.”

  She didn’t listen for an answer, but killed the intercom and silently vacated the bridge.

  Intercession

  “First, we definitely have company,” Jimbo said from the security panel. “Lots and lots of company.” Janice joined Jimbo at the scanners. He gestured to the board, pointing out the ships.

  Janice concentrated for several minutes, then refocused. “I can’t even find them,” she said. She returned to the captain’s chair and hit the intercom. “Captain to the bridge, please.”

  Pamela wandered in several minutes later.

  “We have company, Captain,” Janice told her.

  “I’m sure we do,” Pamela said. “I take it we’re surrounded?”

  “It looks that way, Captain,” Jimbo said.

  “Would you get Ms. Leider back up here, Janice?” Janice nodded, then paged Gina. A minute passed, then Gina appeared, her eyes still red. Pamela just pointed to the security board. Gina took a look, then looked at Pamela. “Do either of you see an escape path?”

  Gina looked at Jimbo. He shook his head. “No,” Gina said after a moment. “Several of them are moving very fast, which implies military vessels. We’re fast, but we’re not that fast. But we’re security, not tactics.”

  “Janice?”

  “I already looked, Captain.”

  “I see.” She paused. “Do whatever they want. Call me when we know what that is.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Janice replied.

  * * *

  There was a bump, then some metalic noises, then silence. “We’re docked, Captain.”

  Pamela got on the ship’s intercom. “I’m sorry, everyone. Please assemble in the corridor near the airlock. We will be surrendering to these people. They have promised to release the Random Walkers as soon as practical. If my mother does what these people demand, they have promised to free the rest of us unharmed. No weapons. That means your knife, Mr. Banner. Leave it in your cabin.”

  Pamela slowly got up from her chair and crossed the bridge. The remaining bridge members followed her to stand in the hallway near the airlock. They were slowly joined by the rest of the crew.

  “Is everyone here, First?”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “It’s just Pamela now, or Ms. Grey, as you prefer.”

  “Yes, Pamela,” Janice said.

  “I’m sorry, everyone. Please stand along the edges of the corridor. When the airlock opens, have your hands on your heads and do whatever they say.”

  Pamela stood immediately in front of the airlock, waiting. After a moment, the outer airlock opened, and she could see into the ship opposite hers. Three well-armed soldiers moved forward.

  “Open it, please, Janice,” Pamela said. “Hands up, now.” Pamela demonstrated, placing her palms to the top of her head and standing very still. Janice keyed the airlock, then raised her hands. Everyone mimicked Pamela.

  The inner airlock opened. Pamela’s air blew around in the slight breeze as air flowed from the Ghost into the ship of their captors; the ships used slightly different air pressure.

  The soldiers rushed in. A dozen flechette rifles were pointed at the Grey Ghost crew. Jimbo shifted.

  “Follow orders, Mr. Banner,” Gina told him quietly.

  “Shut up, you!” one of the soldiers said. “Don’t move.”

  Pamela watched as Susan Borman walked up to stand in front of her. “Ms. Grey, I am very disappointed. All your husband’s famous tricks? Very overrated, I must say. But I do appreciate not having to chase you any further.” She looked around, puzzled. “But where is he? He’s not up to his tricks again, is he? It won’t do him a bit of good this time. We’re going to have such fun together.”

  She stepped past Pamela and searched the faces before her. “Where is your husband, Ms. Grey?”

  Pamela didn’t say anything, but continued to stare straight ahead.

  “He’s dead,” Janice said quietly.

  “Dead?” Susan Borman echoed. “He can’t be dead. I have such plans for him.”

  “We had a… disagreement,” Pamela said. “He said he wouldn’t fall into your hands. He spaced himself about five hours ago.”

  The air continued to flow from the Ghost into the other ship. Pamela heard a slight hissing from the airlock, but ignored it.

  Susan Borman walked around to stand in front of her. “Spaced himself? He didn’t seem the type, Ms. Grey. Let’s just have a little look, shall we?” She concentrated, and Pamela winced.

  Jimbo jerked. “Orders, Jimbo!” Gina told him.

  Susan finished digging through Pamela’s memories, then focused her eyes again. “Oh, did I hurt you, Ms. Grey? I’m so sorry.” She laughed. “But I see what you did to him was far more than I ever could have. I guess I should tha
nk you. I could hurt him, and I could kill him, but I could never have done what you did.”

  The pressure in the two ships equalized, and the breeze passing Pamela’s face died down. The hissing continued.

  “Well, no matter now,” Susan said. “As we speak, your mother is learning about your capture. She is being told that she has six hours to resign her position. Her resignation speech is going to be quite humiliating. She is being told that, if she does not resign, I will be removing your husband’s left leg. Six hours later, I remove the right. Six hours after that, I take both arms. Six hours after that, I start on your crew. We don’t have your husband anymore, so I guess we’ll just go straight to the crew. You’ll get to watch, of course, and offer little reports to your mother about what you see.”

  The pressure in the Ghost dropped, and air began flowing from the other ship back into the Ghost. The hissing in the airlock continued.

  Susan looked around, letting her eyes rest on the Random Walkers. “They are big, aren’t they, Ms. Grey? And they look so fierce. I do believe maybe we should use a few restraints, don’t you think?”

  Pamela started to feel very dizzy.

  “Mr. Grier,” Susan said. “Um….”

  Pamela fell to the floor, followed immediately by Susan. The soldiers nearest the airlock and the rest of the Dawson’s Star women collapsed after just another moment.

  Jimbo decided he wasn’t going to wait anymore and went into action, the rest of the Random Walkers joining him immediately.

  Two seconds later, only the Random Walkers were left standing.

  “I only got two!” said Jimbo. “Not fair!”

  The squad began checking the pulses of their crew mates and collecting weapons from the soldiers.

  “I think you’ll get another chance, Jimbo,” Gina told him, gesturing towards the other ship. Jimbo smiled, then his smile faltered.

  “The Commander set this up, didn’t he?” Jimbo asked. “How did he do it?”

  “You all took your battle drugs, obviously,” Gina said. “The Commander is very sneaky.” Gina pulled out her pocket comm. “Commander, tell me you didn’t run that on automatics.”

  She listened for an answer.

  “Please, Alex, tell me you ran that in person.”

  The radio crackled. “Is that an order, Captain Leider?”

  The men all stared at the radio in Gina’s hand.

  “Congratulations, Commander.” She paused. “Body count is three, two to Jimbo, one to Johnson. And there are a lot of sleeping people, several with extra bumps.”

  “Gina, who do you consider in command?”

  “You are, of course. It’s your show.”

  “You rank me.”

  “Your show, Commander.”

  “Okay. Secure the Ghost. Start giving the antidote to our sleeping crew.” He paused. “Look, I’m running out of air. Start with Alicia. I can’t use the airlock with this barnacle on our side. I’ll come in through an engine access route, but I’ll need her help.” He paused again. “Put Pamela and Janice in their cabins. Let them sleep it off. I don’t want to fight chain of command with them.”

  “Got it, Captain. And the barnacle?”

  “Let my little surprise spread around a bit more. We’ll deal with them shortly.” He paused. “And give that woman something to keep her out for a month.”

  “Absolutely, Alex. Get in here. Johnson is already working on Alicia.”

  * * *

  After much clanging and banging, Alex finally poked his helmeted head through into the engine room. Alicia helped him pull himself the rest of the way into the room. Alex looked at her through the helmet of the exterior maintenance suit, then tried to remove the helmet.

  “Let me, Alex,” Alicia told him, helping with the helmet. She got it off, and he breathed deeply.

  “Much better. Thank you, Alicia. How’s your head?”

  “It hurt at first, but Kevin gave me something to help.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Alicia.” He started removing the suit. Alicia helped. She pulled it off him and set it aside, then threw her arms around him.

  “Oh, Alex! We thought you were dead!”

  “I’m all sweaty,” Alex told her.

  “I don’t care.”

  “I’m a married man, Alicia.” She released him immediately, blushing. “I’m very happy to see you, too. I’ll tell everyone all about it, but time is of the essence. We have to get back to Dawson’s Star and let the Prime Minister know we’re all okay.”

  “You’re wearing your necklace again.”

  “Well, sort of. Will you help me now?” she nodded. “Put everything back together, and let’s be ready to go on a moment’s notice.” Alex limped from the engine room and headed straight for the airlock. He found the area clear, except for the other Walkers.

  “Oh, goody,” he said. “You guys are all dressed for the show.” He looked around. “Cannon, just what is that?”

  “My new toy, Commander. You like?”

  “Got one for me?”

  Gina stepped up to him. “No, Alex. You aren’t going.” She looked at him, then quickly hugged him. “Don’t do that to me again, Alex.”

  “Okay, Gina. Where are the other women?”

  “Galley, staying out of trouble and being quiet.”

  “Gilbert, get them. On the double. We need their help.” Anthony ran off. Alex checked his watch.

  Gilbert returned, the Dawson’s Star women in tow.

  “Alex!” said Linda. “You’re alive!”

  “So I am. I’ll explain later. We need to get back to Dawson’s Star. You heard what that woman said. We can’t let the PM think we’re still captured. That means we need to capture the ship next to us, then undock and head for home. I need your help. From all of you.”

  Linda looked at Mary, Spades, and Sue, then back at Alex. “What can we do?”

  “Gina and the guys are going to take over that ship. We can do it alone, but if you can help, they’re less likely to get hurt. They will be moving quickly, and they will be killing anyone who is still awake that doesn’t surrender. But they need to find those people absolutely as fast as possible.”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” said Linda. She took on a faraway look, frowned, paused, then refocused on Alex. “I couldn’t find anyone. But there’s a lot of metal in the way, and it’s kind of crowded here, too.”

  “Can you follow along and look ahead for them?” Linda nodded.

  “I can go, too,” said Sue.

  “We all can,” said Mary. “But Linda’s probably strongest.”

  “Gina?”

  “Commander. Why don’t we just implement a forced undock?”

  “Because there are four other ships around us, all probably wondering what’s going on.” He paused. “And, well, I have a Letter of Marque.”

  “I heard about that, Alex. And your father said it had been revoked.”

  “I seem to be very good at pulling strings with Prime Minister’s,” he said, smiling. “I have a collection of these. Of my share, let’s say half goes to the people who take her? Equal shares. Plus, just to be friendly, a half a share to anyone left behind.”

  “Ms. Walker, Alex? Does she deserve anything, after what she did to you?”

  Alex smiled. “That’s why she’s asleep in her cabin, out of the way and not causing trouble. Half share to her.”

  Gina smiled. “Okay. Guys, we’re rich. Do you know what those things are worth? We can retire!”

  “Who wants to retire?” asked Jimbo.

  Gina quickly gave orders to the men and told the women what she expected. “Stay low, stay small, do not get shot, and keep up.” Gilbert put a communications headset on each of them, then handed one to Alex.

  “Mary, can you stay here with me? Be an extra pair of eyes?” Alex asked her. Mary nodded at him.

  “Gina, do you think maybe I could have a little gun or two, just in case someone comes this way?”

  Jimbo walked over and handed
Alex two guns and a knife. “Don’t worry,” he said, grinning. “I’ve got more.”

  “I’ll hold the fort,” Alex said. He watched them disappear into the other ship. He listened to their progress on the radio.

  Gina spoke over the raid. “Side passage. Linda?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Johnson, take a look.”

  Pause. “It’s clear.”

  “Ladies, take another good peek.”

  Pause. “Nothing anywhere.”

  “Jimbo, forward again.”

  They searched the entire ship in this fashion, which took some time. Alex kept checking his watch and watching for anyone trying to sneak into the Ghost.

  “Another body,” he heard Jimbo say.

  “That’s fourteen,” said Johnson.

  The Ghost’s klaxon sounded. Alex hit a button on his comm unit, and the sound died.

  “What was that, Commander?” Gina asked him.

  “We don’t need to worry about the other company,” Alex replied. “The cavalry has arrived. If you could hurry it up a bit?”

  “Don’t rush me, Commander.”

  “Sorry, Gina.”

  Alex used his hand comm. “Alicia, what’s your status?”

  “All put back together, and I did a warm up from down here.”

  “Thank you, Alicia. Do you know how to run the communications board?”

  “Anthony taught me.”

  “Good. Would you kindly go to the bridge and let the new ships know that we’re kind of busy, but that we’ll be with them shortly? Tell me when you’ve done that.”

  "New ships?"

  "They'll be hailing us. Just go do it, okay?"

  “Sure, Alex. On my way.”

  “Twenty-two,” Alex heard Johnson say. Alex continued to listen to Gina’s crew clear the hostile ship.

  “Gina!” came Linda’s voice.

  “Quieter, Linda. Just whisper. Tell me.”

  “Three hiding around the next corner. They know we’re here.”

  “Alex, you didn’t get them all.”

  “Had to leave some for Jimbo.”

  “Gilbert, how about your toy?”

  “Everyone cover their eyes,” he said. “Two, one, now.”

  “Linda?” Gina asked.

  “They’re just… gone. Not asleep. Not even dead. Just… gone.”