Commodore Zhang dusted herself off. “Thank you kindly.”
“My honor,” Trian said.
Yui dragged the woman guard’s body out of the doorway. “Now what? Do we just leave them here?”
“I don’t see much of a choice,” Joan said. “The more time we waste, the higher the chances other guards will be coming to find Dario here. I think the idea of getting to the transport has to be abandoned.” She frowned, looking over the three security guards. “No, we should go back to our original plan. We have to get to a more leveraged position or we’re not going to be able to win every fight that comes our way.” She gave him a glance, clearly looking at Dario’s injury with some concern.
Dario smiled reassuringly to let her know he was okay. He wanted to reach out to her, to hold her. If they made it out alive, he vowed to himself that he’d take plenty of time with her to do just that. Assuming that quick kiss planetside meant as much to her as it did to him.
Commodore Zhang cleared her throat. “Yes. I agree with Ms. Shengtu’s tactical advice. We need to keep moving before they wake.” She motioned Dario and Yui to the bodies, taking command as it looked to come as naturally to her as breathing. “Grab their plasma pistols though. They might come in handy.” She then inclined her head to Joan. “I’ll have to remember that you have a sound head for tense situations later.”
Dario wasn’t sure, but Joan beamed with pride. And she delivered an almost devilish look to her friend Yui. What was that about?
Yui bent over to pick up the remaining plasma pistols, distributing one to Dario.
“You probably would use this better than I,” Trian said, handing his pistol to Joan.
Dario caught a look from Trian and looked down at his own plasma pistol. He extended it toward Commodore Zhang. “Here. I’ve got no experience firing this either.”
Commodore Zhang took the weapon with a grateful nod.
They moved the bodies aside and took their places inside the lift. Joan tapped the controls for the engine room and the lift began to move. The lift whirred, as voiced died down.
The lift descended what must have been five or six levels on the Megahauler before the doors opened again. Dario was the first out, motioning for the others to stay back in case of another unexpected run-in with security. At least, he could talk his way through them. In theory. That gave him an idea. He turned around. “Hey,” Dario said.
“What’s that?” Joan asked. Maybe it was his imagination, or the way the lift lighting fell on her face, but her eyes sparkled at him.
Dario tried to clear his head. He was reading far too much into her every move and expression. There wasn’t time for that. “I was just thinking,” Dario said, “I helped out one security guard, Engels was his name. He wasn’t with this group just now and he seemed to have a more level head. I might be able to talk to him? See if we can reason?”
Joan shook her head. “They threw you in a cell. I think we’re past reasoning.” She gave him a half-smile.
Dario frowned. “Yeah, you’re right.” An alternative to a stand-off would be ideal, of course. What else was he good for? He’d proven that he couldn’t fight or hold his own as much as Yui or Joan could.
As if Commodore Zhang sensed his words, she patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll help in your own way. Besides, there’s an old saying, ‘you fight with the army you’ve got.’ We’ll make do.”
The lift opened again and Yui was the first to head down the hallway, keeping her plasma pistol trained forward while she moved. It was a protective maneuver, and Dario felt more comfortable with her taking point. “Clear,” Yui said.
Joan jogged to the front to lead along with Yui, with her AI directing her. She pointed the direction for everyone else.
After a couple of turns, the group arrived at the engine room, having encountered no further security resistance. That made sense, as Dario’s father had told him the personnel aboard comprised of a skeleton crew to keep the underlevelers in line.
Joan stepped before the engine room’s door terminal, syncing her handtab with it. The door opened for them, likely due to her AI’s ability to maneuver through security protocols.
In front of them was a sound-shielded room that contained six giant, metallic boxes with swinging doors—each with an internal control panel. Those boxes had head-sized wide pipes protruding from them, circulating water and other chemicals through the ship’s systems. Dario knew little about the engineering of a starship or its components, staring at the structures with awe.
A main control terminal rested across from the units, a display screen that had numerical values displayed. Dario zoomed in to get a better reading with his ocular mods. Each number was marked with whether it displayed engine capacity, the internal engine temperatures and other variables that Dario didn’t understand. Those didn’t matter right now. Hopefully those systems contained links into the rest of the ship’s systems, so the others could stage whatever coup they had planned.
Joan moved up to the terminal with the engine readout, holding out her handtab. “Are you sure you can access this?” she asked the AI that only she could hear. She waited for a moment, and her lips twitched upward. “We’re in. He did it. I think we’ll be able to get a signal out and keep the ship from—”
Red emergency lights flashed in the room. Blast doors slammed shut behind them. Dario spun for the door, but there appeared to be no way for them to leave.
“Uh oh,” Yui said, scanning the potential exit while keeping her plasma pistol pointed solidly in that direction.
“We tripped a security protocol,” Joan said. “My luck has been horrible with that lately.”
“Now what?” Trian asked as the loud alarm blared, repeating every several seconds.
“Take positions of cover. We’re going to have company shortly,” Commodore Zhang said. She pointed to Dario, then Trian. “You both don’t have weapons. Get behind the engine compartment. You’ll just be targets otherwise.”
Yui moved over to a protruding bulkhead, eyes never leaving the door, plasma pistol aimed and steady.
Dario opened his mouth to protest, but caught Joan’s concerned glance in his direction. Commodore Zhang was right, it wasn’t a good time to try to be a hero. He would do little good other than get in the way.
Trian didn’t fight the orders at all, moving for a safe position. Dario crouched behind one of the engine’s massive compartments along with him.
“How long do you think we’ve got?” Joan asked Commodore Zhang from the other side of the large engines. Dario could see her pacing from a low gap between the units.
“Don’t know, a couple minutes at most, I’d gather, why?”
“G.O.D. is still working in the system, even with the alarm. Whatever we can do to buy him time…,” Joan said, trailing off.
“We’ll try that much, but in all likelihood they won’t be firing to stun this time. We have to prepare for the worst,” Commodore Zhang said.
“Well, at least I won’t die bored,” Yui said.
Dario took a deep breath as he could do little but wait. The three military-trained women stood out of sight. Their entire existence hinged on their ability to fight. The lights continued to flash, sounds blasting as they prepared for the worst.
Chapter 36
Megahaulin’
T.F.S. Shareholder—Open Space
Local Date February 15th, 2464
“Ms. Shengtu, I have successfully gained access to this terminal’s systems,” G.O.D. said. “This includes a non-exclusive control of a holovid display, engine coolant levels, and ship energy allocations.”
Joan stayed by the terminal, staring at the displays of numbers she knew little about, red lights flashing behind her and tinting the coloration, making it difficult to focus. “How’s that help us, G.O.D.?”
“The display can give your team an overall awareness of the external tactical situation. Commodore Zhang in particular may find that information to be useful. Additionally,
engine coolant levels can be adjusted to cause the engines to overload. This can sabotage the ship so we will not return to faster than light speeds.”
Joan looked to Commodore Zhang, who had positioned herself to the other side of the door in a nice place to ambush anyone coming through. The Commodore stood pressed against the wall, plasma pistol at the ready. How long did they have to gain an awareness of the “external tactical situation”? Joan wasn’t sure that would do any good, but she’d learned to trust that G.O.D. would have a plan. “Pull up the holodisplay then,” Joan said between the blaring alarm sounds.
“What would you like to see?” G.O.D. asked. “Don’t you, don’t you see me anymore? You are my love for sure.” The singing returned.
A hologram appeared above the terminal in the form of a hovering and rotating Regency BioTech. “Not that,” Joan said. They didn’t have time for her to worry about G.O.D.’s virus. The complete reboot had failed to purge his issues, but they were out of time. At least the measure had produced enough results to get them this far. “G.O.D., focus if you can. Put on an exterior ship view.”
Several moments passed. The holodisplay flickered and dissipated.
“G.O.D.?” Joan asked, concern coming through her voice.
Commodore Zhang gave Joan a skeptical look.
“Processing,” G.O.D. said in Joan’s earpiece.
The display flickered back to life in the form of stars, with part of the hull of the Megahauler covering the bottom corner. In the distance, a shuttle approached. It was a small ship, colored in Trade Federation blues. Next to that was a trade escort vessel. They weren’t messing around in trying to keep Dario safe with that kind of firepower.
“Huh, looks like your ride’s almost here, pretty boy,” Yui chimed in, directing her comment back over her shoulder, where Dario was hidden behind the engine systems.
“What’s going on?” Dario asked.
“Your shuttle arrived, it’s on the holodisplay over here,” Joan said for his benefit.
“Ms. Shengtu,” G.O.D. said. Static buzzed after his words.
“Yeah?” Joan brought two fingers to her ear, but the sputtering static didn’t stop.
“There is a group of six armed guards trying to access the doors to the engine room,” G.O.D. cut through the static.
Joan’s eyes widened. Her body tingled with adrenaline. “Heads up everyone, we’ve got company, and double the size of the group we had last time.” She moved around the opposite side of the terminal, crouching behind it. The translucent holovid between her and the others showed the shuttle coming ever closer. “G.O.D., I need you to silence your program if you can, it’s too distracting.”
The static stopped.
Yui moved to the opposite side of the door and nodded to Commodore Zhang. “We’re ready,” she said. “Bring ‘em on.”
Joan took a deep breath and waited, the alarms still sounding at regular intervals, her heart beating in double time to that.
The doors slid open, slowly, as if by emergency power. She saw the blacks and blues of security’s riot gear. The guards pointed their rifles toward the room. This wasn’t like the group by the lift that they caught by surprise—this batch of guards was playing for keeps.
When the door fully opened, the six security guards fanned outward, covering the entire radius of the room. Commodore Zhang and Yui blasted the first two before diving out of the way of return fire.
The four remaining security guards shot at the three visible targets. One stepped back, creating a shield of the other three before him. “You can’t hope to hold out forever,” he said. “Set down your plasma pistols now. We have reinforcements on the way.”
“No way! You’ll just kill us.” Joan reached over her covering terminal to fire another shot back toward them. It missed. Return fire came very close to scorching her hand.
The guard who led the security group didn’t respond immediately, but Joan noticed she did look over to the holodisplay of the outside of the ship. “Mr. Anazao, are you in here? Are you held hostage?” he asked.
His fellow security guards stepped further in. Joan could see the tips of one’s boots, as the guard came close to rooting out her hidden position. Two focused on Commodore Zhang, who kept them at a standoff as she pointed her weapons back at them.
“Engels? Is that you?” Dario asked from behind the engine units. Determination filled his voice. “I’m here of my own free will. Please, don’t harm these people.”
“Pardon?” The man sounded confused.
“This ship is headed for destruction. It’s a suicide mission—with you on it too. We’re not your enemy. These people aren’t either. They’re trying to stop it, save all of our lives… You told me you were on this mission for your family’s pensions. Don’t make them lose you over some credits.”
“What do you mean? We’re headed for an empty colony to drop off the Mars underlevelers,” Engels said.
“Don’t be naïve,” Trian added. “You really think a drop off would come without a way to communicate beyond calls from the corporation?”
“We couldn’t allow the underlevelers even the prospect of broadcasting their propaganda,” Engels said.
“Is that what they told you?” Yui said. She backed up toward the engine units, half concealed in cover.
“What do you mean by that?” Engels asked.
One of the guards jumped and fired toward Yui, who was able to get out of sight behind the engine unit. Joan took the opening to shoot the guard who fired at her. The guard crumpled to the ground, convulsing from her stun setting. Three down, three to go.
The alarm sound ceased and normal lighting resumed. “Ms. Shengtu,” G.O.D. said in Joan’s earpiece. “I’ve overridden the silence command for your safety. It is difficult to maintain functionality at this juncture. My subroutines are eroding at a rapid rate.” Static returned through G.O.D.’s speaking. “I took the liberty to turn off the alarm. I saw from your vitals the low spectrum repeating lights and high decibel sounds were impairing your concentration.”
“Thanks, now shut your own audible routines back off,” Joan said under her breath. Her earpiece went dead again. She tried to focus on the others’ conversation. If there was at least some hope that Dario could convince the security guards that they weren’t the enemies…
“Half of yours are down and mine are free from injury. I think we’re at a point where you should consider that we have the upper hand,” Commodore Zhang said.
Engels backed up toward the doorway, motioning behind him. “About that.”
Another team of three guards came in. This time they all rushed straight for Commodore Zhang. Zhang was able to get one shot off before she was overpowered, knocking another one down, but three grabbed her and held her arms. Another snatched the plasma pistol from her hands. They shoved her to the ground face first, hands behind her head.
“I can keep calling for reinforcements. It doesn’t matter to me. Stand. Down.” Engels’s tone sounded much more stern.
Joan peeked from the side of the terminal, catching Commodore Zhang’s eye.
“You’re making a mistake,” Commodore Zhang said. “We are in a lot of danger.”
“We’ll be in more danger if the corporation doesn’t get its executive off this ship,” Engels said. “Mr. Anazao, please come—”
Engels shut his mouth. Something appeared on the holodisplay by Joan’s console.
Joan looked up at it, catching an angle from below. Two massive ships jumped into the system off the Megahauler’s port bow. Even from her vantage, she saw ships she could never forget from her time in the Star Empire’s service: Dreadnaughts. Those ships could blow them out of the sky with the touch of a button.
To make matters worse, the Trade Escort opened fire, a barrage firing toward one of the distant Dreadnaughts. The weapons illuminated the Dreadnaught shields in the dark sky. Bright sparks of purple absorbed the weapons fire.
That served to distract the guards as well as Joa
n—who assumed the shots she was hearing came from the holodisplay, before realizing that there’s no sound in space. Those sounds came from the opposite side of the room.
When she looked again, the three guards subduing Commodore Zhang had collapsed to the floor.
Joan looked back at Yui, who had managed to get those shots off all by herself. She had a proud glimmer in her eye. Joan finally understood why the Council of Ministers had assigned her to protect her—and Commodore Zhang. Joan had never seen anyone fire and pick off targets so cleanly.
Engels wasn’t fooled by Yui’s move, however. He rushed over to the engine where Yui hid, dropping to a slide when she fired more shots. Before Joan could react and get her plasma pistol pointed at him, he fired upward toward Yui.
The shot blasted Yui in the chin, the plasma eating away at her flesh. Not a stun shot, but one meant to kill. Without any protective armor, it ripped a hole into Yui. She started to scream, mouth going wide, but her nervous system succumbed to the shot before she could make any noise.
Her body hit the ground. The smell of singed flesh filled the air.
“Murderers!” Joan shouted. She abandoned her cover, standing and firing toward Engels, though he dodged into the protective cover Yui had used. “Didn’t you see we had stun on? We’re not trying to hurt you. We’re trying to save you!”
“Just like your Star Empire cronies are?” Engels pointed to the holovid. “You’re terrorists, trying to upset the very fabric of society.”
The firefight continued outside. Now both Dreadnaughts opened fire on the Trade Escort. Its shields flickered from the onslaught of an assault more than a hundred times of what it let out moments ago. The Trade Escort banked to the left to evade fire, returning its firing shots.
“No. We’re not,” Joan shook her head, fighting back the tears over Yui. How could she go down so easily? Joan had started to think the woman was invincible. Memories flooded inside her. They had spent weeks together, much of that time in animosity with one another, but over the time, Joan realized that Yui had become something to her that she had very few of in her lifetime—a friend.
Star Realms: Rescue Run Page 28