"Depends on how often that's going to happen," she said. I felt bad for her, as her suit was filthy with a brown-green viscous fluid.
"One more time in a hundred ten hours, but then we'll be to our destination," I said.
"That's a long trip to be cooped up like this," she worried. "But I imagine they'll survive. A little warning would have been appreciated."
"My sincerest apologies," I said and cut the comm. I glanced over to where Ada sat and noticed that she'd turned back rather quickly to her navigation station. It wasn't lost on me that Tabby was nowhere to be seen during transition to fold.
"You're busted, Chen," I said.
"What? I told them we'd be transitioning," she said, feigning innocence.
"Quite a coincidence that Xie happened to pull livestock duty on Hotspur for transition," I said.
"No coincidence," Ada said. "Just laying out ground rules."
"No more special ground rules or hazing, okay? Xie is a member of the crew and we have to play nice," I said.
"Understood."
"Would you schedule an all-hands service for Mark-Ralph?"
"What about Juanita?"
"I'll give her some time with her husband," I said. "I'm hoping her presence will bring him around."
"Sure, I just don't think having her at the memorial makes sense," Ada said. "There could be hard feelings."
"Let's schedule for 1800 dinner tonight. I don't see a problem locking the bridge down for a short time."
Ada nodded. "We'll make it work. Marny put on fresh supplies at Freedom."
"Thank you. I'm out for a while."
"Understood. I know the crew will appreciate having a memorial," she said.
"We owe it to Mark-Ralph."
My next stop was the brig. We'd rescued the two abandoned Belirand crew from being sold as slaves. With any luck, they had information and were ready to talk. Marny had chosen to use three of the four isolation rooms in the brig, as opposed to keeping our three prisoners in either of the two much larger general population cells.
I knocked on the door before entering the first cell. A woman, a few years older than myself, with considerable bruising on her face considered me from her bench. "Are you Hoffen?" she asked before I could say anything.
"I am. And you are?"
"What does it matter? You killed my crewmates," she said. "You're going to kill me too."
"Is that why I didn't let them take you as a slave on Freedom Station?" I asked.
"I don't know, was it?"
"You're welcome to be grumpy at me, but it won’t help your situation. What do you need to make your travel more comfortable?"
"Basic med-patch would be nice," she complained.
"I can arrange for that. How'd you know we were going to Freedom Station?" I asked.
"Above my paygrade," she answered. "We got the call, met up with Justice Bringer and you know the rest."
"How about the other survivors? What's their story?"
"They say you're worse than any pirate. We'd be better off dead," she said.
"Pretty horrible so far, eh?"
"Hasn't been great."
"If you recall, you jumped us, not the other way around. You should get your facts straight. I'm offering you a shared cell with the other Belirand crew - if you tell me both your names and ranks," I said. "If you lie, then you can stare at the walls in here. The truth will get you entertainment pads and a shared cell. Incarceration is a hundred times better with someone else to talk to."
"Melanie Webber, Fire Control technician, third class," she said. "Your other prisoner is Braden Webber. No relationship. He just made Boatswain second class. He doesn't know anything either. Belirand doesn't share mission details with low level people like us."
"You know something. You didn't ask about transition," I said.
"Sure. Done plenty of that," she said.
"I'll give you an hour of entertainment pad for every story you record about visiting an alien planet," I said. "That is as long as your story checks out."
"How you going to verify it? I could tell you about purple unicorns named Maggie Grant and you'd never know if I was telling the truth," she said.
"You're on a ship headed into the deep dark. Your life depends on the good will you establish," I said. "My point is. Don't lie. I'll show good faith and upgrade you to the general population cell and get you a med-patch."
"I thought you were going to check out my story," she said.
"It's not a long trip." I handed her a reading pad and a med patch and closed the cell door. "You start recording stories; we'll see about getting you something interesting to watch."
I knocked on the next cell door and repeated the interview with Braden. Turns out, they were either amazing liars or really were as far down the pecking order as one could get. According to Braden, the chaos aboard Ferez right before it was destroyed was incredible. Apparently, Ferez's captain hadn't been told to expect a real battle. Running into a full-up frigate and then a sloop had been well more than they'd expected.
"Let the crew know if you're uncomfortable. If the request is reasonable, we'll do what we can," I said after placing Braden into the general population cell with his crewmate. "You'll understand why we can't allow you to roam freely, though."
Melanie looked at me skeptically, but shrugged when I didn't demand anything further. "Where are you taking us?"
"Planet Ophir," I said.
"Where's that?" Braden asked.
"Look it up," I said and walked off, immediately annoyed by his lack of knowledge about the damage his company had wrought in the universe.
I knocked on the final door and pushed it open. I wasn't surprised when Vince Ferrante rushed the door. I was ready for it and diverted his energy into the wall. He was in no shape to be grappling and I easily pushed him to the ground. "I'm just here to talk, Vince."
"We both know how this ends," he said.
"Juanita is aboard."
His chest fell and he looked at the floor. "You're a monster. Everything they said is true."
"Nothing they've said is true, as far as I can tell, but I very well could be a monster. I will, however, let Juanita eat dinner with you tonight, then we'll talk. I'll tell you what I told her, though. You keep holding out on me and you'll never get off this ship alive. You're endangering my crew and I won't have it. Think about that while you're having dinner," I said and held my hand out to him to help him from the floor, which of course he slapped away.
"Frak off, Hoffen."
I finally made it back to my quarters and was pleased to see that Tabby was already in bed and the lights were low. I dropped my suit to the ground and slid in under the sheets next to her. She didn't completely wake up, but accepted my presence all the same. It was initially hard to ignore her lightly clothed presence, but neither of us had been getting much sleep and we were more than happy to leave it at spooning. At least, that's what I thought. Apparently, Tabby's alarm was set to leave-enough-time-to-get-frisky mode and my waking dream was beyond fantastic. I wasn't a journal keeper, but if I was, this would have gone down as my favorite way to wake up.
"Now, that's how we do it on the big ship!" Tabby smacked my naked butt on her way to the shower. I lay face down on the bed, wondering if my presence at dinner was really required. "Are you really going to make me soap myself?" I heard from the shower.
It was a good point and I rushed to join her. I'd seen entirely too little of her in the last several days and the invitation was too much to resist. I tried not to be obvious about it, but I suspected we had more than a little of a skip in our step as we joined the crew in the large mess hall.
A whistle sounded and the din of many people speaking dropped as the crew turned toward Tabby and me. "As you were, my friends. This is a celebration of Mark-Ralph." I raised a glass, grabbed from the table in front of me. I had no idea whose glass it was, but I needed to divert attention away from me as quickly as possible.
"Maybe say a few words, Cap?" Marny prod
ded. "Then we'll eat. Jonathan and I put quite a feast together."
"Of course, but someone's going to need a new glass," I said, which earned me a small laugh from the group.
"Together, we've traveled a long distance. Some longer than others. The danger we've all faced coming to this point in space … is significant. As a company, we've embarked on a mission of critical importance to the survival of many of our fellow humans. We've agreed to not turn our backs on people in need, but to come running with arms outstretched. For Mark-Ralph, this ended tragically, but he died a hero. And it is as a hero he shall be remembered. Mark-Ralph - who we early on discovered should never be called Ralphie - was a farmer. Just hours before he died, he confided that he didn't mind the gentle beasts we'd purchased from Freedom Station. The wistfulness with which he looked across the green fields of Dirt Side told me something about him. While his soul needed to wander, his heart was firmly attached to his home, Ophir. So raise a glass to our friend and hero, Mark-Ralph. Drink with me and celebrate our friend. We'll take him back to his home and give a proper burial so he can watch over the new herds of Ophir." I swallowed a long drink of what turned out to be water.
"Did you find out why he was killed?" Baker asked.
"I haven't yet, but I’m determined. If I can, I'll share it," I said. "That brings to mind another point I wanted to make and that's just how proud I was when I entered that bar and saw my newest three crew members guarding their fallen mate. You might not have understood what we saw in you – the qualities that would make you good recruits - but I guarantee the rest of that bar did. Baker, you care to give a guess what they saw?"
She looked at me with concern, like I'd put her in the spotlight one too many times.
"That'd be a team, Cap," Marny answered for her.
"Aye, Master Chief. That's what they saw all right," I said. "Now I know we've all seen Mark-Ralph eat and I sure know we've heard him complain about letting the food get cold. So I say we get to it!"
For twenty minutes we enjoyed the spread put in front of us by Marny and Jonathan. We ate fresh beef steak along with potatoes, vegetables and loaves of fresh bread that were crusty, but with a soft interior. I'd learned to enjoy the small moments and while alarmed, wasn't particularly surprised when Mark-Ralph's wake was interrupted by the sound of rumbling beneath our feet. A concussive wave like we'd hit a rock rolled through the deck. Those of us who'd lived through something like this before knew what was coming next as our vac-suits snapped into place and automated hatches snapped shut.
Status, I ordered as Ada and Moonie jumped from their seats and sprinted from the mess.
"Decompression event on deck three," my AI replied.
Show location. My heart sank. There was exactly one location where it would matter and when it appeared on my HUD, I knew it was no accident.
"Marny, on me. Nick, we're going to need a hallway sealer," I said. "Tabby, can you help Nick?"
"On it," he replied.
I flicked the schematics I'd already pulled up to Nick and Tabby.
"Sorry to cut it short, folks. Let's get this cleaned up. Our mission can't be ignored for even an hour, it would appear," I said.
It took almost thirty minutes for us to work our way into the breached sections of the brig. An armored plate had given way to the interior pressure and our three prisoners as well as Juanita Ferrante had been sucked out into vacuum.
"Too convenient," Nick said as we watched a replay of the hapless Ferrantes being sucked out through the opening, their bodies lost to fold-space, their fate both romantic and horrible at the same time.
"Did we have repairs there?"
"Checking," Nick answered. "No, nor did we take a strike."
"Who?" I asked.
"My best guess would have been one of Beers' crew. We'll need to go through our data streams," Nick said.
"The timing is convenient," I said.
"What do you mean?"
"I was hoping Juanita would put pressure on Vince to tell us what was going on," I said. "Someone wanted to stop that. With both of them in the cell, the timing was too good."
"You're thinking it was someone onboard," Nick said.
"Who else would have known our schedule?"
"Beth Anne arranged for travel to Freedom Station before we took off. People on Freedom Station knew we were coming. They could have easily communicated with Belirand," Nick said. "If the attack came from someone on the station, it would explain Ferrante and his crew."
I sighed. I wasn't satisfied. Nick's was the simplest explanation, but for whatever reason it just felt off. "How would they know where our brig was located and that we'd keep Ferrante in there?"
"They had access to schematics," Tabby said.
"The only people not at dinner were sucked out into space," Nick said. "If there is evidence, we'll find it."
"Unless that evidence got sucked into space too," I said.
"True."
***
"All hands, prepare for transition to normal space," Ada announced over Intrepid's all ship comm system. We'd adopted a primary transition stance, which put Tabby, Nick and Ortel in Hotspur with Moonie, Ada, Marny, Jonathan and me on the bridge of Intrepid.
"Three… Two…" My mind flitted to Zebulon and Baker, who were tending the livestock during transition. No doubt, they would be dodging a literal shite storm in a second.
"We have two sensor contacts at fifty thousand kilometers," Ada announced. As she did, the forward video displays switched to tactical mode, showing Intrepid and the two objects; the first was huge, the other resolved to a light frigate. It appeared our experiment with moving rocks had been successful.
"I'm reading Petersburg Station and a light frigate, Dulcinea del Toboso?" Ada announced, although it came out more like a question.
"Hotspur has separated," Jonathan announced.
"Mark both as friendlies," I responded and establish comm.
"Liam, we're heading straight for Ophir. We have animals down," Tabby announced.
"Understood, Tabbs. Ada, make way for Petersburg Station," I said, my breath catching in my throat as I said it. I hoped I'd be able to get beyond that feeling every time I approached the Co-Op where Big Pete had died.
"We're being hailed by Dulcinea del Toboso," Moonie said.
"On main," I said. "Greetings, Katherine. I wasn't expecting to see you out and about."
"I could say the same to you, Liam," Captain LeGrande replied with a big smile. "I trust your mission was successful."
"How long has the Co-Op … Petersburg, rather, been in orbit?" I asked.
"Arrived thirty hours ago. We were just headed up to check out a signal we're receiving," she said.
"From the asteroid?" I was confused. "There's nothing on there but equipment."
"Merrie, send the signal to Intrepid," LeGrande said.
"Jonathan, can you make anything of it?" I asked after we'd received it.
"There appear to have been passengers," he replied. "We believe they are in need of medical assistance."
"Ada, get us over there as quickly as you can. Mom, meet me in the cargo bay. We'll take Beth Anne's shuttle," I said, grabbing the bridge's emergency medical kit.
"Baker, grab a rifle and go with 'em," Marny ordered.
I caught up with Mom, who had come from her cabin and was already jogging down the starboard passageway. Together, we took the ramp down to Deck-3 and pulled to a stop in front of the cargo-hold's air-lock.
"Just a second. Baker's on her way," I said.
"What's going on? Aren't we orbiting Ophir?" she asked. She’d just woken up.
"Did you sleep through transition?" I asked.
"Hardly. It woke me up. I just got off watch," she explained.
"The Co-Op asteroid is orbiting Ophir and there's an emergency signal," I said. "Jonathan believes someone hitched a ride and they need medical assistance."
"Of all the stupid things," she exclaimed as Baker slid up behind us, out of breath, but
wearing an armored vac-suit and holding a blaster rifle. I raised an eyebrow at her quick change, but didn't question it. I palmed the security panel on the airlock. The cargo bay was pressurized, so we passed through with minimal fuss.
"I'll fly," Mom said, pushing me aside as we climbed into the shuttle that was designed to hold six comfortably or eight snugly. "I remember how you like to push these small crafts."
"Hear that, Baker? Even the captain answers to his mom," I said.
"Darn right, you do," Mom replied.
Link comms Intrepid, bridge. I ordered. I wasn't getting buried further.
"Moonie, can you cycle the air out of the hold? We're loaded up," I said.
"Copy that, Captain," he replied.
"We're closing in on Petersburg Station, Liam," Ada said. "Once you get the green from Moonie, go ahead and take off."
"Roger that," I said. "Mom has the helm."
"I think she gets motion sick," Ada said and I could swear I heard snickering as her voice cut out.
I ignored the jab and found the data-stream Jonathan was sending. The distress signal was originating from the flat side of the shoe-shaped asteroid, near the central elevator shaft that led down into the ruined habitation area. I flicked the information to the shuttle's main vid-screen.
"If someone was going to stow away on the Co-Op, that'd be the best place to do it," Mom said.
"But who?"
"All I can say is, I better not know him," she said firmly. I was missing something and felt like I was in trouble.
A moment later the doors of the cargo hold slid open and light poured into the hold. The sight of Ophir was beautiful. Unlike Grünholz, the planet was considerably more arid and didn't boast nearly as much cloud cover. Regardless, the site was breathtaking.
Gently, mom lifted the small craft from the deck of Intrepid's cargo hold and scooted out. Pride welled up in my chest as we rounded the bow of Intrepid and Petersburg Station came into view, back-dropped by Ophir. "Look at that," I murmured.
"Pete would have loved seeing this," Mom said as she accelerated, pinning us into our chairs.
"Someone set up habitation domes." I stated the obvious as she set the shuttle down. "And they didn't have a clue what they were doing."
Give No Quarter (Privateer Tales Book 10) Page 14