Incursio (Oolite Saga Part 3)

by Drew Wagar

  Ahead of her the Dark Star and Persistence were cruising slowly, with the Hammer bringing up the rear.

  ‘All set?’ Coyote called.

  ‘All here boss,’ Derik replied.

  ‘Confirmed,’ Udian’s acknowledged.

  ‘Rebecca?’ Coyote queried.

  ‘Well, I’m moving aren’t I?’ she snapped back. ‘That’s about all I can do.’

  ‘We’ll be looking out for you,’ Coyote assured her. ‘You’ve got three Elite combateers as escort.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Derik fired back. ‘What else do you want?’

  ‘Bug-eyed lizard liver for dinner,’ Rebecca returned.

  ‘Engaging jump to Esanbe,’ Coyote called. ‘Rebecca you follow me. Derik and Udian bring up the rear.’

  With a flash of light and a slightly erratic curved trajectory, the Dubious Profit materialised in the Xequerin system. Righting itself, it oriented its course towards the planet, its main engines stuttering back up to full power.

  From the bridge the planet spun recklessly on screen as Stepan managed the Dubious Profit’s tendency to roll when turning left. Ahead they could see vast arrays of ships parked across the space lanes. Massive queues of vessels were waiting to be inspected having emerged from the Tortuga expanse. Smuggling was rife in such areas and the Galcop border control was strict. Vipers flitted back and forth amongst the various convoys. It looked like a delay of days to get the permits arranged and the clearance granted.

  Fortunately we’re going in, not coming out…

  Jim reasserted his grip on the grimy flight rail that ran around the perimeter of the bridge in order to steady himself, fighting down the waves of sickness threatening to overwhelm him.

  Guess I was spoiled with Rebecca’s smooth flying…

  Next to him Daddyhoggy appeared unmoved, regarding the activities of the bridge crew with detachment.

  ‘Now what?’ Hesperus demanded.

  ‘Wait a moment,’ Jim hedged. Pulling out his comm-tab. He tried resending his message again but it remained rejected. He began tracing the signal. When the result came back he frowned.

  She’s not here. Esanbe? We’ve overtaken her, what’s taking her so long?

  A tough no-nonsense voice issued from the speakers.

  ‘Python class vessel Dubious Profit. Please state your intentions.’

  Hesperus grabbed the comm-link.

  ‘You sure about this?’ he said, looking at Jim and Daddyhoggy.

  ‘No,’ Daddyhoggy replied. ‘It is a foolhardy venture with little probability of…’

  ‘He means yes. Get us to Anxeonis,’ Jim said.

  We can’t hang about here and she isn’t far behind.

  ‘Python class vessel Dubious Profit. State your intentions!’

  Hesperus triggered the comms. ‘Galcop control this is Dubious Profit. Request immediate transfer to Anxeonis.’

  There was a pause on the comms before the voice responded.

  ‘Python class vessel Dubious Profit. Navigate to marker twenty three gamma and hold for scanning.’

  ‘Scanning?’ Hesperus queried before remembering to keep his mouth shut.

  ‘Due to recent Thargoid incursions we have increased security checks for all key witch-space transit links. All vessels entering the Tortuga expanse are scanned for contraband materials and other restricted cargoes.’

  ‘Acknowledged,’ Hesperus said weakly and shut off the comms. Stepan tweaked the Dubious Profit’s course towards the advertised nav marker.

  ‘What’s the problem?’ Jim demanded. ‘You’re not carrying any contraband cargo are you? I saw the hold, it’s empty!’

  ‘This is true,’ Hesperus lamented.

  ‘And nothing on the restricted list?’ Jim said, his eyes narrowing.

  ‘Define restricted,’ Hesperus said, slyly.

  Daddyhoggy leant forward. ‘Adjective. Limited in extent, number, scope or action. Alternatively for limited circulation and not to be revealed to the public for reasons of interstellar security. Synonyms are limited, confined, narrow, finite and qualified.’

  ‘Clear?’ Jim asked, shooting Daddyhoggy a look.

  ‘Er…’ Hesperus began, in an attempt to clarify matters.

  ‘We’ve got certain items aboard…’ Stepan began.

  ‘…which, while not restricted in the traditional sense. ‘ Hesperus smoothly continued for him. ‘Might cause those with an overly zealous approach to the letter of the law to view us in a less than welcoming manner…’

  ‘What are you carrying?’ Jim demanded.

  D’Vlin clicked and waved his antenna about. ‘Trumbles!’

  ‘Trumbles?’ Jim cried in dismay. ‘You’re carrying Trumbles?’

  ‘Not carrying as such…’ Stepan said. ‘We sort of… lost one.’

  ‘Lost one?’ Daddyhoggy enquired.

  ‘Oh joy.’ Jim said. ‘Where?’

  ‘Somewhere in the ‘tween hulls crawlwalks.’ Stepan said, with a glum expression.

  ‘They’ll be everywhere!’ Jim said.

  ‘We know.’ Stepan acknowledged.

  ‘They? I fear you are confusing your plurals.’ Daddyhoggy interjected.

  ‘No we’re not.’ Hesperus said, shaking his head..

  ‘Perhaps you can enlighten me to the nature of these Trumbles?’ Daddyhoggy asked.

  ‘Trust me, you don’t want to know,’ Jim said.

  ‘Cute and fluffy companions for the lonely space traveller.’ Hesperus said with a gleam in his eyes. ‘Perfect souvenirs for the long haul passenger. I can provide you with one if you wish, for a very reasonable fee…’

  ‘Voracious little creatures which consume anything even vaguely organic,’ Jim countered. ‘With ridiculously overzealous libidos, they multiply until all resources are consumed and over-population ultimately kills them off…’

  ‘Sounds like human-kind to me,’ Daddyhoggy replied.

  ‘Worse,’ Jim said.

  Daddyhoggy’s eyes widened. ‘That bad.’

  ‘Still, it might work to our advantage,’ Jim said. ‘The moment Galcop scanners spot a Trumble infestation aboard they won’t be interested in a closer look. They won’t risk getting one of those things on their ships.’

  The Dubious Profit coasted to a stop near the nav marker. Scanning beams raked the ship, flashing over the pot-marked hull and the corroded external lettering.

  The crew and passengers held their breath.

  The comms buzzed for attention. Hesperus clicked it on.

  ‘Python class vessel Dubious Profit. Scan complete, you are clear to proceed to Anxeonis. Engage drives at your discretion.’

  Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Stepan engaged the witch-space drive countdown.

  ‘Python class vessel Dubious Profit…’

  ‘Yes?’ Hesperus responded, with a worried tone.

  The voice was lowered now. ‘I recommend you give your vessel an extremely good clean before you come back this way.’

  ‘Copy that, Galcop…’

  The Dubious Profit disappeared across the Knife Edge towards Anxeonis.

  The quartet of ships materialised deep in the Esanbe system, emerging from witch-space and coasting to a halt in the darkness near the witch-point beacon. Coyote was scanning the space immediately around them. There were no other ships.

  ‘Let’s get ourselves out of harm’s way,’ he instructed. ‘Torus drive for five minutes at ninety degree negative pitch.’

  The four ships dived away, triggering their drives in sequence. After several minutes they came to a halt and pulled back into formation again.

  ‘Time to power down,’ Coyote called.

  ‘Copy that,’ Rebecca acknowledged.

  Here goes nothing…

  She was already dressed in her enviro-suit, all she needed to do was to put the helmet on and she’d be completely enclosed in a self-contained life support system. That was just as well. Once the power aboard the Spectre was shut down everything would stop working. Engi
nes, weapons, shields, navigation… and life-support. They’d be enough air in the ship to last her for several hours but the rapid temperature drop would be the main problem. The Spectre’s design ensured it could dissipate heat very efficiently given the prodigious heat penalty incurred by having three forward weapons.

  And I hate the cold anyway.

  She stored all the navigation settings and shutdown the Astrogation console. The familiar green ovoid of the scanner flickered and went out. Next came the main systems. The engines faded out with a whine of reducing power as the main power plants were set to standby. The shield generators were already off-line. Lasers and missile systems were next, followed by the supplementary navigation computers.

  Outside the ship lights faded out. Even the pulsing navigation lights went out. The Spectre looked dead in space.

  ‘That’s it,’ Rebecca called. ‘Shutting down my transmitter now.’

  ‘Keep your comm-tab ready in case we need to contact you in a hurry but do not send any outbound messages once we’re in Xequerin,’ Coyote called. ‘And don’t activate anything until we’re in witch-space transit to Anxeonis. You’re not here, remember?’

  ‘I’m not a moron,’ Rebecca snapped.

  ‘Who said that?’ Coyote’s voice quipped back.

  Rebecca pulled a face.

  ‘Cute. No bumps, you hear?’ she replied. ‘I’ll give you marks out of ten.’

  ‘Smooth as silk,’ Coyote assured her. It was far more than just worrying about a comfortable ride. Without power the Spectre would have no inertial management system. If Coyote pulled a full bore burn with his engines the Spectre might easily come apart. Even if it didn’t, Rebecca would be little more than a dark stain on the rear bulkhead.

  ‘We’ll be with you all the way,’ Derik added. ‘Don’t worry.’

  ‘Thanks. You’d better be.’

  Rebecca switched the transmitters off and then powered down the remaining systems. There was a brief pause and then the gravity plating lost its charge and she felt herself beginning to float in freefall. It felt awful, her brain telling her she was falling through space. She instinctively grabbed one of the emergency handholds dotted around the bridge, trying to quell the rising nausea. For a space traveller she had little enthusiasm for zero-gee.

  Who ever said space travel was glamorous!

  Ahead she could make out Coyote’s Cobra arranging itself in front of her. A magnetic grapple snaked out from his ship, twisting and coiling towards her. It locked on somewhere below the bridge windows with a dull thud that echoed through the silent ship.

  Rebecca waited a moment, expecting a message from her comm-tab. She frowned.

  What’s he waiting for?

  The Dark Star floated in front of her. She saw its navigation lights flicker on and off as if trying to indicate something.

  ‘Well?’ she demanded at the bridge windows. ‘You’re supposed to message me!’

  She looked back at the comm-tab. It was blank; empty.

  Switched off! After the bath…

  Hastily she prodded it and it glowed back into life, beeping immediately for attention.

  Messages Pending. Receiving…

  ID: Dark Star (Narrowband) : Tow looks good, you ready?

  ID: DarkStar (Narrowband) : Wakey Wakey…

  Rebecca quickly punched out a confirmation, shaking her head.

  I’m losing it…

  There was a soft jerk and she looked up to see the Dark Star slowly inching forwards, applying a slowly incrementing amount of thrust from its main engines. The pair of Caducei were flanking him, one to port and one to starboard. The witch-space jump would be next.

  The comm-tab beeped. Rebecca looked down with a puzzled frown.

  Messages Pending, Receiving…

  ID: Dubious Profit (CoreComm – Ordima): Rebecca, I know why the Thargoids are after you. Call me now! Jim.

  ID: Dubious Profit (CoreComm – Xequerin): Rebecca, dammit woman! This is important! Where are you? Call me now! I’m en-route to Anxeonis! Don’t leave there without contacting me! Jim.

  Rebecca banged her palm against her forehead.

  Now he gets attentive!

  She started typing but she was interrupted by a flash of chromatic light from outside. The transit to Xequerin had begun.

  Too late.

  And now I’m under complete radio silence!

  The convoy appeared at Xequerin and slowly began to move in system. Coyote’s astrogation scanner was flooded with ship signatures. Hundreds of ships were queued up around the Galcop transit point. It appeared a lot of people were leaving the Tortuga expanse. Getting out was problematic though, needing various permits and clearances from Galcop itself.

  Good, it’s busy. That should help…

  Within seconds the comm-link was buzzing.

  ‘Cobra class vessel Dark Star. Please state your intentions.’

  Coyote triggered the comm-link.

  ‘Dark Star here. Requesting immediate jump to Anxeonis with tow and two escorts.’

  ‘State your final destination Dark Star.’

  ‘Empty holds bound for Xeenle,’ Coyote replied easily. ‘Bulk haul of radioactives from there to Biisza.’

  Radioactives were the most plausible justification for hauling a garbage scow. Nobody wanted all that waste material aboard their own ship.

  There was a brief pause.

  ‘Cobra class vessel Dark Star. Navigate to marker forty eight delta and hold for scanning with escorts.’

  ‘Copy that, Galcop.’

  So far, so good.

  Coyote nudged the Dark Star towards the indicated nav marker. On the forward viewer he could see the queue of ships waiting to go outbound towards the Tortuga expanse. It was far shorter than the arrivals queue. With luck, it would only take a few minutes.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ he called over the narrowband. ‘Formation if you please. Hammer up front, Persistence behind.’

  Let’s see if that metal creature complies…

  Coyote watched as the Hammer assumed a position in front of the Dark Star. Coyote rubbed his beard thoughtfully. The Persistence took up a position behind and they closed in on the marker.

  No complaints from Udian… maybe I’m just being paranoid.

  ‘Cobra class vessel Dark Star and convoy. Commencing scan. Do not deviate from flight path.’

  ‘Acknowledged,’ Coyote said.

  Rebecca saw the faint scanning beams flicker across the Hammer and then across the Dark Star. Next they flickered around the disguised Spectre. Light glimmered off the windows, abruptly banishing the darkness of the bridge. She crouched down away from it, instinctively hiding.

  Coyote watched the scanning beams flicker back and forth across the Spectre.

  ‘Cobra class vessel Dark Star. Identify your cargo hauler.’

  Coyote licked his lips before responding.

  ‘Galcop. It’s a modified multi-facet cargo hauler based on an old Vampire chassis. Picked it up in Atrabiin. It’s for sale if you want it…’

  The scanning beams flickered onwards to the Persistence. A minute had passed.

  ‘Cobra class vessel Dark Star and convoy. Scan complete, you are clear to proceed to Anxeonis. Proceed to witch-space point and transfer in sequence.’

  Udian watched as the convoy slowly moved towards the jump-point. Coyote’s plan was working; Udian would be in position to jump in less than thirty seconds. The wily contrabandista clearly knew that something was untoward and had placed Udian at the front in an attempt to mitigate whatever it was.

  Unfortunately, that’s simply not acceptable. Not if we’re anticipating using plan ‘B’.

  Udian sent a command via the autonomic reflexes of the Hammer, recalling a file he’d assembled during the stopover on the Catechism. Once again he congratulated himself on having the foresight to build in some insurance in case of adversity such as this. The file appeared immediately and he applied it to the engine management computers.

  The driv
es stuttered for a moment, both engines flickering uncertainly before returning to normal.

  It should only take a few seconds…

  Coyote continued to watch. Nothing seemed amiss. The plan was working. Scans of the Spectre had not penetrated it effectively and its state of total shutdown made it appear just like an old freight carrier. Galcop had bought his line. On the rear scanner, Derik’s Persistence was holding station at a low speed and Udian’s ship was doing likewise just in front.

  Almost there…

  There was a buzz on the astrogation console, for a moment the yellow blip that marked Udian’s vessel changed colour to a flashing red and green before returning to yellow again. Coyote frowned, wondering if there was a glitch on the scanner.

  Vipers came streaking in from the sides of the space-lane, their bright magenta flashers sequencing in the darkness. There were four of them, heading straight towards Coyote and the others.

  Fly casual everyone, may mean nothing…

  The narrow-band comms channel crackled.

  ‘Cadeceus class vessel Hammer of Sorrow, abort witch-space transit and pull over. Shut down your drives immediately and standby for boarding.’

  Frak!

  ‘Complying,’ Udian’s voice replied despondently.

  Udian had no choice but to pull over. The four Vipers had already surrounded his ship. The Hammer coasted to a stop. Coyote gently pulled in the Dark Star behind the big bio-ship.

  Immediately the narrow-band comms lit up again.

  ‘Cobra class vessel Dark Star, proceed with witch-space transit.’

  Coyote opened up a return channel. ‘Galcop, the Hammer is part of our escort. We can’t go into Anxeonis without…’

  ‘Dark Star, proceed with jump or your entire convoy will be impounded,’ came the immediate response.

  Can’t push it, if they decide to board the Spectre…

  Coyote heaved an exaggerated sigh for the purposes of theatre. ‘Copy that Galcop, death or glory. Death most likely. Out.’

  The Dark Star moved out past the Hammer, the Persistence following behind the hidden Spectre.

  Rebecca couldn’t hear the communication between the ships but she had seen the Vipers shoot across and watched as the Hammer pulled off to one side.