"Does that mean it's working?" Victor asked in a whisper.
Ayan stared at the screen for a moment, started to say something then shrugged. "It's a little vague." As an afterthought she accessed the colour controls for her armour through her command unit and changed it to white. The black horizontal overlapping metal slats and the vacsuit material beneath shifted to match her request. "I'd rather not be dressed head to tow in black if they can see me. White's a better colour for negotiations."
"Hello? Who is this?" asked a husky female voice.
Ayan smiled and cleared her throat before replying; "This is Commander Ayan, I'm with the repair team from the Triton that restored power earlier."
"Oh my God, thank you. I've been looking for a way off the station since the trouble started. You don't know how good it is to hear from you. You have to get me out of here!"
"I'm afraid we're trapped, that's why I had to hot wire this terminal."
"So you have no control? This is just a hack?"
"I'm afraid so. Who are you?"
"I'm Larissa Ferris, the last surviving medic on the station."
"Get away from the comm system Larissa," warned another woman.
"It's the repair team! They found a way to-"
"You've said enough. Confine her to her quarters Bradley."
There was a long pause, during which Victor pulled his side arm free of his belt and checked the energy clip. It was fully charged.
Ayan noticed and shook her head, indicating quietly with a wave that he should put it away.
"Now, who are you?" asked the woman on the other end.
"I'm Ayan, leader of the team that restored power to your section of the station. It seems we're locked inside."
"Yes, I'm holding you until your ship turns over all the raiders you've taken captive. They'll be held accountable."
"It was a slave crew acting under the direction of a few senior crew members."
"That doesn't make a lick of a difference. They could have mutinied."
"They had controller implants embedded in their breastbones, I'm afraid they didn't have a choice. The Captain of the Triton, my home vessel, killed two of the senior officers, but there's one left. They called her the Doctor Thurge and I'm sure Captain Valance would trade her for us."
"I'm afraid that wouldn't be enough. The company wouldn't accept that one person could be held accountable for disrupting our operations."
"I'm led to wonder how handing us over would help if you didn't get the slave crew?"
"You mean the raider crew. According to the company, the Triton crew are wanted too, so either way I win."
"We must be able to find a middle ground. We have supplies, we can offer more help if you'd allow us more access and the freedom to come and go. In trade we could use a safe harbour for a few days."
"That would be tempting if there weren't a small fleet of rescue ships and a military escort already on their way. You're not going anywhere until they get here either. Not unless your Captain hands over those raiders."
Ayan's fair complexion started to betray her, even in the dim light Victor could see she was starting to turn red. She fought through it, taking a deep, slow breath before speaking. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Forewoman Amanda Dimitri."
"All right, I understand being in command of a station this size must be a massive undertaking, but I didn't see any kind of company markings on my way through or on the hull outside. You're independent, right?"
There was a pause preceding the answer. "We have investors."
"I imagine those investors, or the men they hire to represent them, don't really care about you or your staff. They're here to get things running smoothly again. Whatever promises they've made, you've got to realize they won't matter once they see the state the facility is in."
Victor's eyes went wide. The woman Ayan was speaking to seemed immovable, frustrating, and he would have already given up. Instead Ayan took a completely different approach and he couldn't help be impressed at how calm she sounded as she did so.
"They wouldn't replace me, I'm essential staff."
"There are always other experts. Investors have a tendency of getting their way, especially when things start falling apart. There's a lot we can do for you if you let me communicate with Triton."
"For reasons I can't get into there's no way I can allow you to directly contact your ship."
"How can I demonstrate to you that we are here to help? The Triton and crew have taken care of your raider problem at a great cost. We lost several crew members during the fight. That must gain us a little goodwill, a little trust."
"How do I know that you didn't follow the raiders here? That defeating them and taking this slave crew and their ships for yourselves wasn't the plan from the beginning?"
"We're not pirates, and if we were the last target we'd take on is a small raider fleet."
"Your ship doesn't fly a flag, there are no sponsors listed, how could you be anything but pirates? Maybe this station is just a bonus prize you stumbled into and now that you've become trapped here you don't have any other choice but to speak to us?"
Ayan rolled her eyes. "If you won't allow me to speak to my ship directly, let's speak to them together. Simply open a channel with them and we can all sort this out."
"Actually, they're sending a message right now, you just hold that thought," said the woman on the other end.
Ayan closed her eyes and shook her head.
Several moments passed before Amanda clicked her end of the intercom back on. "They're bringing the raiders in now. We'll be opening the prison processing doors and walking them straight into the holding facilities. The machines killed all our workers when they contracted a virus, now we can replenish our workforce and start repairs as our rescue fleet arrives."
"Oh shit," Victor muttered under his breath. "How the hell did I miss that?"
Ayan shook her head quickly. "Listen, you seem fairly bright, so you must know that-"
"This could be some kind of reverse trap? Of course I do! You've seen this place though, how well it keeps its people inside."
Ayan nodded mournfully and adjusted a wire inside the console. "You're going to want to put your headgear on." she said.
"What?" Amanda asked, confused.
"Not you," Ayan replied.
Victor realized she was speaking to him, brought his headgear up and sealed it.
She did the same and pressed a tiny daub of adhesive putty down over the lead end of a wire and the circuit board. A high pitched whine screamed over the intercom, their vacsuits protected them from the harsh sound. "If this intercom is their primary means of communication inside the station, they'll have to find a way to cut this room off from the system entirely before they can use it again."
"What did you do?" Victor asked, noticing that their suits were using a laserlink to communicate.
"I created a feedback loop on the circuit board. I can't believe I didn't see this coming when we first arrived. I should have suspected something was going on when there was no one here to meet or direct us," Ayan scolded herself. "We have to get back and regroup. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think Jake and the others will realize it's a prison until it's too late."
Chapter 16
A Good Plan
The Jade Whisper drifted slowly towards the station docking clamps. The engine fire bathed the stretch of station in front of Jake and the two squads of soldiers as they watched the hull of the complex draw nearer. Jake viewed the remote feed from the main docking gangway through his link with the ship as it started locking with the station. The debarkation compartment was empty, in fact the only place that held crew was the port side airlock.
It was Oz's plan. So unlike the kind of smash and grab tactic Jake would have used, the idea had a good chance of working, only it would be costly. They'd lose the Jade Whisper for one, a serviceable vessel. The thought of losing an operational ship, even one as old as the Jade Whisper, was
more than a little irritating, but Jake couldn't see any other practical way of getting close to the station.
The ship shuddered as the main docking clamps secured and the engines cut out. The lights in the main debarkation compartment turned green, and when the crew from the station entered they'd find there was no one inside. "It's time," Jake stated as he pulled his data line free of the airlock control panel. He punched the button to open the outer hatch and looked down. There was eight meters between him and the hull of the station. "This first step's the worst, careful." Jake warned as he pushed off.
It was by far the strangest and most dangerous space walk he had ever experienced from the very first second on. At twelve times ideal gravity he plummeted so rapidly that he didn't get a chance to fall properly. The armoured vacsuit compensated enough so his impact felt like nothing more than a mild bump, but he felt several outer protective plates crack under the strain. Without hesitating, he stood and ran out of the way.
The next to drop behind him made his descent look graceful by comparison, landing shoulder and head first. The suit stopped his spine from twisting and shattering. "That's insane!" He exclaimed as he stood up, checking his headgear. "I mean, one minute you're just stepping out of an airlock, then wham! Naught to a hundred klicks in a millisecond then you hit the deck like a bug on a windscreen!"
"Move so everyone else can follow."
"Yes sir."
They each made their awkward drop, one after another violently falling from the ship airlock to the surface of the station's hull. The last two had the pleasure of carrying heavy backpacks loaded with high cutting equipment. Neither of them had much control of how they fell, they could only make sure that they landed pack first.
"All right, it's safe to assume that they know the ship is empty now. They're probably aware that it's a trick. We're crossing the distance to the secondary hangar doors at a jog. Be careful not to fall. If you feel that you're about to slip, call out and try your best to get a grip on something. Mag locks and hull spikes won't work because we're too heavy, so just grab something with your hands. Remain in single file." Jake told them as he clipped his safety line to the man in front of him. "I'm taking the rear."
"This thing is huge, I barely see a curvature to the hull."
"You're right, but the surface is irregular. There's probably a lot to trip on if we don't watch our step. Everyone clipped in?"
All fourteen of the squad members checked in and Jake directed the group to start jogging. He nearly tripped over a hastily repaired reinforcement plate after only a few meters, and made an extra effort to be careful from then on.
The sounds of the synthetic muscle in his suit ground and squeaked with the rhythmical movement of his legs and arms as he ran at an easily maintained jog. He couldn't help but be reminded of his jogs with Doctor Anderson on the First Light.
Those polished hallways and smiling crew members were like ancient history. Things had been so different, it was as though they were some holomovie, the man starring, Jonas Valent, seemed so alien. He faced his problems head on and had close friends, confidants he depended on.
The image atop the statue in the centre of the Triton’s botanical gallery came to mind. It was Jonas and Ayan who were remembered there, a short lived coupling that he secretly envied. Everything seemed simpler in retrospect, even facing his own demons.
He hadn't even been down to see the monument to the man who was responsible for him coming into being, responsible for everything he had, even his daughter. How was it that he hadn't been to the rear hold to see what remained of the Samson? He wanted to, he'd even ordered all the Samson crew member's footlockers and bunks to be emptied and tagged so they could pick up their personal items.
Ensuring that the people who served aboard that old converted hauler wasn't a problem or a chore for him. He was always quietly watching, making sure that they were getting on well aboard the Triton. Somehow seeing the remains of the Samson herself was more difficult than keeping tabs on his old crew.
The list of things he'd been avoiding hadn't escaped noticed. Even speaking to Shamus Frost about his refusal to have the perfectly good foot waiting for him in medical attached was something Jake hadn't gotten around to. Stephanie had tried to get him to go, but that became a matter of pride. He knew that the moment he told Frost in no uncertain terms that he had to do it the old Gunnery Chief would be in medical. Jake had somehow let the simple task slide for two weeks. If it were the only thing, it wouldn't have been much of a problem, but atop everything else it forced him to ask why he was avoiding so many things. They were minor compared to Alice's passing that morning, but as someone who didn't like to walk away from anything, they nagged at him constantly. His already frayed nerves felt like they could burst into flames any second.
As he carefully jogged around the base of a long antenna he decided that he'd make rebuilding his old ship a priority, as soon as he explained himself to Ayan.
His reverie was interrupted as one of the squad members called; "Sir! We're taking fire!"
"Halt and take cover." Jake ordered as he slowed to a stop and turned. At least two people were firing on them from the open airlock of the Jade Whisper. "Everyone wave," he invited.
Several squad members raised a hand and did as ordered, waving, gesturing wildly for attention, or turning and offering their backsides. "It's right here! Come and get it!" One yelled.
Captain Valance couldn't help but smile as he watched the more experienced squadron Oz had chosen for the mission enjoy themselves. Most of them knew full well that the suits could take several hits from most energy weapons before sustaining serious damage. The outer armour was made to survive more serious damage of a cosmic origin, and each of them came with a personal shield. "Here's the expensive bit," Jake muttered as he activated the explosive charges distributed along the main supports inside the Jade Whisper. Explosive bursts of air escaped the broad, thirty meter vessel as it began to collapse towards the mooring point and the station beneath it.
The pair who had been firing at them from the open airlock realized the ship was crushing towards them and leapt. Neither landed gracefully. Their much older suits may have allowed them to survive, but it was unlikely that they fell without injury. It didn't matter for long, however. Large segments of the Jade Whisper’s hull came loose and crashed down on top of the station crew members, burying them under several tons of twisted metal.
"Let's get going. Who knows what they'll send after us and where it'll come from," Jake said as he turned away from the crumbling wreckage.
Before long they arrived at the large secondary hangar door. Captain Valance knelt down and took a point blank measurement of the metal with his command unit. It was a meter and a half thick slab of reinforced metal. He shook his head. "Explains why they haven't been able to cut through," he said. "All right, let's get the fusion cutters set up. I need the mini-reactors here and over there. We're going to extend the arms wide enough so the Cold Reaver will have enough space to fly out."
A green spotlight a meter wide started to dance around Jake. It was a long distance laserlink.
"Message for you sir," one squad member quipped.
Jake stood perfectly still so the laserlink could hit him. Finally the light touched his suit and Minh's voice came through his comm loud and clear. "This is Ronin. We have a big problem Hitman."
"A bigger problem?"
"Right, much bigger. A command carrier with markings we haven't seen before just arrived with five heavy destroyers and a whole fleet of rescue and construction ships. It looks like they're just about to head through the obscuring field."
"You're right, that's a bigger problem. Tell the Clever Dream that they're going to be picking us up. We don't have time to cut a whole big enough for the Cold Reaver."
"Aye, we'll cover you while you get everyone out."
"Start by taking out their turrets. Good hunting Ronin."
"My pleasure."
The communicator close
d the channel and Captain Valance turned to the squad leader. "We're making a hole a meter wide. Use both fusion cutters."
"Aye, Captain."
"This trip keeps getting more and more expensive," Jake grumbled.
Minh-Chu relayed the message he received from Jake and waited for Oz to review it in the cockpit of his Ramiel fighter. He'd loaded his ship down with as much firepower as he could muster without unbalancing the thrusters. His rate of acceleration and manoeuvrability were effected just enough for him to have to make a few adjustments early on in the flight.
"All right, I reviewed it. I'm surprised they can jam their comms with them standing outside the station though." Oz told him from the bridge.
"I don't know how it works, my comms jam up when I come within fifty meters of the hull. It's like they're using the frame of the station to transmit a low powered jamming signal. Speaking of the station, my squad will move on and take out those big cannons. If we come around so we're skimming along the station's hull there's no way they'll fire at us. There's too much risk of them hitting their own assets."
"Hold off on that. I'm going to try to hold off these people diplomatically. Maybe there's something I can do to get us out of this."
"Gooood luuuuck," Minh sang back. "From the scans our spotter outside the barrier took it looks like they came here expecting trouble."
"And we took care of the raiders for them."
"There's that. I'll be out here, ready to go if you need me," Minh said as he took his fighter into a tight roll and looked down at the nearest cannon mount. It was over fifty three hundred kilometres away, slowly rotating back and forth.
Terry Ozark McPatrick stood in front of the command seating as the image of the Caran Enterprises control Ship Ellis Commander appeared. At first he thought it was the intentionally squared graphical representation of an artificial intelligence, then he realized that the Captain's image was rendered roughly to obscure his or her identity. Oz found that insulting, but set his irritation aside. "I'm Commander McPatrick of the Free Ship Triton. We've come to the assistance of Ossimi station and rescued a number of slave crews."
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