by Jason Kent
"Sergeant Ross!" Georges shouted. "Find a weak spot!"
Ross pushed Kate down and opened fire with his heavy assault rifle. Most of the rounds were deflected off the trooper. Ross' stream of bullets located a vulnerable pressure line and the trooper spun away in a whirl of hissing steam. Ross blew across the barrel of his rifle. "Well, it can't always do it in one shot like Merrick, but it gets the job done."
"Good enough for me," Kate breathed. She saw a plate drifting along under them and leapt to it. She surprised herself by landing cleanly feet first. She leaned forward and the plate accelerated as she closed the gap between her and Dagger. With their pilot...no, their guide to this crazy quest finally uncovered she did not want to lose her.
Kate caught up to her Blade Redeemed along the lower hull of the market place. She realized her breath was coming in ragged gasps. Could be I'm just excited, Kate wondered, or is the air getting a little thin in here?
"Air's getting scarce!" Ross remarked as if to confirm Kate's observation.
Kate looked at the large pressure hatch Dagger found for them. It was sealed and Dagger and Sparrow were arguing. Kate shouted, "What are we waiting for?"
"Just discussing payment, Princess," Dagger replied.
"Escape now, pay later!" Garrett commented. He grabbed a nearby support beam to steady himself and spun to check for pursuers. Over his shoulder he called, "Negotiations under stress are never good!"
"Negotiations under stress are the only kind," Dagger corrected. Her grav plate swayed as the lights in the marketplace flickered. She eyed the failing lights and sighed. "But, given the circumstances, I think imminent vacuum, sub-zero temps, and darkness are all the stress we can handle right now."
"Where's it lead?" Kate asked.
"No idea," Dagger answered.
"Away from here," Sparrow said. She leapt from her plate to the ledge beneath the dark hatch controls. The console brightened and came to life under Sparrow's touch.
"Jack-head," Dagger noted, a hint of admiration in her voice. "You guys might be useful to have around after all."
"Link sprite, if you please," Sparrow declared, her eyes were wide open but unfocused as she concentrated on opening the door.
"Whatever," Dagger snorted. "Just do what you do and get this thing open before we all look like fish out of water."
"It's a Tallinn station," Sparrow responded. "Jacking doesn't always work..."
"Crappy mech interface," Dagger agreed. "They started pulling Stellar Union tech out of here right after they took the station. Still some around, the mech-heads haven't finished stripping the place clean yet."
"Which means there's plenty of tech still used to hold the station together," Kate explained. She took a deep breath of the thinning air. "Guess the auto-sealers are not on-line anymore."
"Got it!" Sparrow announced. The pressure door slid open partway then stopped. The opening was just wide enough for Ross to fit though. Ross was closest to the doorway and dove in headfirst. Sparrow snorted than wheezed, "So much for ladies first."
Kate heard a grinding noise above them. She looked up and spotted a trio of mechs inching down the hull. Their optical sensors were moving rapidly back and forth as they closed with their intended target. "Mechs!"
Garrett and Merrick reacted instantly. Garrett's bolts bounced off the metal skins but managed to confuse them. Merrick's shot brought one of the machines to a halt.
Georges took the time to toss their grav plates through the pressure seal. He pushed Kate through then gestured for Dagger.
"This is going to cost you," Dagger growled. "You know that, right?"
"Add it to my bill," Georges grunted. "Garrett!"
Garrett fired one last bolt. It struck home in one of the mech's pressure lines. He grinned as he dove through the door. "Please tell me someone saw that!"
Georges fired three quick shots and pulled himself inside after Merrick.
"We need to close the door!" Kate shouted. Air was rushing out of the tunnel into the lower pressure area of the decompressing market. She looked at Sparrow. Her eyes were screwed shut with her hands pressed against the side of her head. The link sprites knuckles turned white as her fingers dug into her short hair.
"Trying!" Sparrow shouted.
"Try harder, Fairy-girl!" Dagger yelled back.
The doors slammed shut and the roar of the wind died instantly.
Sparrow eyed Dagger with a piercing stare. "Sprite."
"That's what I said," Dagger grinned. She climbed on a grav plate. The height of the ceiling forced her to stand in a crouch.
Kate jumped at a loud bang on the now-sealed door. She looked at Sparrow. "Any chance those mechs can open that?"
"Please," Sparrow snorted and rolled her eyes.
Kate took the small woman's answer for a negative and got her grav board under her. Her bag caught a pipe fitting and the gyronav sailed out.
Dagger snagged the gleaming brass device before it hit any of the abundant sharp edges in the tunnel.
"Nice," Dagger commented. She fiddled with the knobs. "Let's see, coordinates..." She spun the small numbered thumb dials and clicked the 'SET' switch. Kate heard the gyros spin up and watched as the arrow pointed down the tunnel and slightly left. The distance dial spun and settled. Dagger read it off, "Zero—one—zero—seven—six. Assume that's in meters." She tossed the gyronav back to Kate. And headed off down the tunnel.
"Knew that'd come in handy," Sparrow stated.
"Now I feel really bad we didn't pay Stampf," Kate remarked.
The grav plates only lasted a few hundred meters. Kate figured there were magnetic field generators in the bays and main passageways which allowed the plates to function. Stray outside those fields and your ride is over. Kate was not too sorry to be rid of the plate. The tunnel was tight. Low-hanging conduits knocked her from her ride several times. Garrett gave up only a few meters in when he became tangled in a mass of wires. As everyone ditched their plates, Kate pulled out the gyronav and studied it.
"We need to head left at some point," Kate called out. Dagger was still leading the way through the tunnel. "You sure these are the right coordinates?"
"Yup," Dagger called back. "I never forget where I parked." She paused at a cross tunnel and stared in both directions.
"You just don't know how to get back there," Garrett grunted after hitting his head again.
Dagger did not look back as she replied, "Keep it up and I'll leave you here for a little one-on-one with the mech-boys. As a matter of fact, I usually avoid service tunnels when on a station." With that, she started down the tunnel which headed mostly to the left. The pilot was taking long bouncing strides in the ever increasing gravity.
Kate followed, wearily scanning each side tunnel and branch for signs of the Tallinns. Merrick was close behind her.
"Will the mechs back there report where we went?" Kate asked.
The sniper shrugged. "Don't know."
"How do they get their orders anyway," Kate wondered. She thought about what she knew of the mechs from tech reports and her more recent, real world experience for a moment. "They can't be totally autonomous. They would need to be tasked."
"It's not Wi-Fi," Sparrow declared. "I would hear chatter."
"Optical?" Kate wondered. "They have to be able to process data from those eyes of theirs somehow." She bit the side of her cheek. "Maybe we can capture one to take with us. You know, find out what makes them tick...no pun intended..." She paused when she ran into Ross' back. He was peering around the corner of the next intersection.
"However they talk," Ross whispered, "they know something's up."
Kate edged around Ross. There was a mech in the side corridor. It looked exactly like the one Merrick just killed back at the pressure door. The machine's backside was to the intersection where they hid. Kate could see the lights from its optical sensor scanning further down the tunnel. It was slowly advancing away from their position.
Dagger crossed the corridor an
d crouched on the opposite side of the intersection. Georges at her side.
Georges gestured to Garrett. He held up one finger to his lips then slashed his hand toward the mech. Silent. Attack.
Garrett nodded and checked the bolt in his crossbow. He stepped into the center of the intersection and took careful aim at the mech.
Kate knew the pilot's targeting must be exact. One false shot and it would let loose with the chain gun welded to its arm. And in the cramped confines of the tunnel, the mech was unlikely to miss.
The machine began a clanking turn back towards the team. It paused halfway in the turn to reposition its legs. The hydraulic pistons hissed and its steam power-plant whooshed for a moment as the mech settled into its new position. The red light projected from the mech's optical system carefully scanned every crevice.
As if we could be hiding in a space barely big enough for mouse. Kate stifled a nervous laugh at her observation. She pulled back into the tunnel and held her breath. Ross and Sparrow joined her, leaving just Garrett exposed to the mech's sensors.
The red beams scanned partway into the tunnel and almost fell across Kate's feet. She quickly pulled them back as far as the cramped space allowed. Kate looked up in time to see the beams fall on Garrett's crossbow.
Kate gasped as she heard the mech's rotary gun barrels begin to spin with a high-pitched whine. The sound was quickly followed by a single twang from the shuttle pilot's bow.
Shattered glass from the mech's optics clinked onto the metal grating of the tunnel floor.
The mech paused for a moment. In full combat mode, Kate knew the machines would usually fire every round it carried if it lost a sensor. The Tallinn obviously did not want to take the chance of this happening aboard their station given the fairly thin walls and imposed more restrictive rules of engagement to the mechs.
"Now what?" Garrett hissed.
"I got this," Dagger whispered back.
Georges opened his mouth to protest then stopped and gestured toward the mech. It was turning back and forth. As its processors computed its next optimal course of action. "After you."
Kate watched the machine for any sign it could detect Dagger's approach. Garrett's bolt was planted neatly in the center of the optics housing. The mech adjusted its legs again with a hydraulic hiss then paused when Dagger was just a few meters away. Kate could hear clicking from within the mech. She wondered how long the safe mode would last while it performed self-diagnostics.
Dagger stopped and stood rock still. The mech clicked and ticked away to itself. Seemingly satisfied the machine was not going to attack her, Dagger continued her approach. When she got within arms-length from the mech, it did something neither Kate nor Dagger expected.
A cover in the mech's chest plate slid aside. Dagger stopped and held her breath.
"Oh no," Kate groaned as a green glow appeared in the newly exposed port.
"Tral," Dagger cursed. She flashed into action as the back-up optics system continued to power up. She jammed one of her knives into the new optics set and twisted hard. The lens housing, still softly glowing, popped out and rolled down the corridor. Dagger jammed her second knife between a chink in the armor where the mech's torso and arm met and jerked hard towards her. There was a satisfying spray of steam and gush of hydraulic fluid as the mech's arm separated and clattered to the deck.
Dagger jerked her knives free and hit the deck as the mech raised its remaining arm. The chain gun spun up and began launching projectiles down the tunnel.
Kate hit the deck.
Dagger went back into action again. She jammed both knives into chinks on the underside of the mechs hip joints and twisted with all her might.
The mech screeched and slumped down as its leg pistons collapsed with a loud clunk. Dagger spun around on her back and shoved her booted feet up under the mech, pushing it over onto its back. The machine gun continued to fire, stitching a line of holes in the ceiling where they punctured several pipes in the process. Steam and water spewed into the corridor.
With one fluid movement, Dagger was on her feet and crouched on the mech's chest. She pulled her gun and fired round after round through the optics port. At least one of the bullets found something vital and the mech finally stopped moving. A pressure release valve burped and a blast of steam vented out the machine's side before it went completely silent.
"I'd say he's out of commission," Ross said as he stepped closer to the fallen mech.
"I have got to snag me a pair of those boots," Sparrow remarked as she peered around Kate to watch the final carnage.
Between the constant stress and Sparrow's shopping comment, Kate could not keep from laughing. She agreed their light-soled station shoes were not up to the task of kicking any mech's behind.
"Hopefully he has no friends nearby," Georges said. "Dagger..."
Dagger nodded and took the lead as a proven, full-fledged member of the team.
Kate ran to keep up with the others. She was glad to be in a part of the station with decent one-gee gravity. Unfortunately, her time on Decatur in reduced gee was beginning to make its effects felt on her. She hoped Dagger's ship was not far. They slipped out of the service corridor and into a wide, curving hallway.
Dagger took one look at the markings on the wall and sprinted to the left. She stopped a short distant at an alcove with markings indicating the hatch led to a docking bay. She tapped a code into the keypad then threw the large contact switch next to the door. The pilot stood back. Nothing happened. Dagger cursed, reset the switch and punched her code into the control box again. She grasped the wooden handle of the contact switch and exercised the mechanical breaker a second time. Dagger jumped back as heavy locking bars slammed into place with a burst of steam.
"This new?" Sparrow asked.
"You try, smart aleck," Dagger retorted.
Sparrow laid one hand on the control box and one on the heavy steel door. Her eyes slid out of focus as she concentrated. After a silent moment, she shook her head and stepped back. Sparrow tapped her finger to her temple. "Sorry, can't touch the controls. You punch in the right code to close the circuit like a key aligning the tumblers in a lock then use the switch to flow power into the door's pin retraction actuators. All hydraulics and gears, no electronics for me to tap into. Pretty slick."
A bullet slammed into the wall beside Kate. The crack of the rifle firing was close behind. She ducked into the door alcove.
"Tallinns!" Kate shouted.
"No tral!" Ross replied. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired.
Merrick took up a firing stance against the wall opposite the door where he could spot the advancing Tallinn troops and machines around the curve of the corridor.
Kate looked at Dagger. "Did you use the right code?"
"Yes, Princess, I used the right code," Dagger snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Then what caused this," Kate gestured at the heavy-duty steel pins now firmly holding the door closed.
"Security lock-down," Dagger explained. "Station Control is keeping everyone inside until they find you."
"How did they know we were with you?" Kate asked. "Or that we would come here? To this bay?"
Dagger opened her mouth and then looked up as she thought back to their movements since they met.
Kate's mind spun as she retraced their steps. She could not figure out what would have given them away. The Tallinn could not have linked Dagger to the rest of the group, could they? Only one thing popped in her head, Knowl would be aware of their meeting. But the tree seemed to be on her side. Until now.
"Maybe they can interlink their optical systems," Sparrow suggested. "We passed by a mech who scanned us as we headed to Stampf's and those mech's we blasted may have downloadable caches. They scanned us while we were having our shoot-out."
Merrick fired. A mech went down with a crunch of gears and blast of steam. Despite being down another machine, enemy bullets continued to whiz at them down the corridor.
"Armored tro
opers," Merrick reported. He sighted and fired. The closest trooper went down. "Door, please." He did not turn to check on Kate and Dagger's progress, just moved on to the next target.
"Ladies," Georges leaned into the alcove to reload his pistols. "I don't give a tral how they found us. We need to get to the ship," he thumped on the steel pressure door, "on the other side of this hatch."
Kate cringed as Ross fired a long stream of high velocity rounds from his assault rifle. She looked at the door. If Dagger's code did not work and Sparrow could not activate the mechanism, the job then fell to her. Great.
The return fire from the closest Tallinn Trooper stitched a rough line of holes in the deck right up to Kate's feet. She danced on her tiptoes.
"Okay then," Kate said. "One open door coming up." She rubbed her hands together, not really sure what she should do. Radios and high speed processors were more her speed. She pried her fingers around the edge of the control box but could not get it to budge. Kate looked up at Dagger and gestured at the case. "Do you mind?"
"Not at all." The pilot leaned back and kicked the side of the control box with a heavy boot. The screws holding the control box to the door snapped. The dented cover clattered down the hallway away from them.
"Hope we don't need that," Kate commented. She dove into the guts of the door control. As far as Kate could tell, the key pad activated a rotary dial mechanism which, when lined up, would allow hydraulic pressure to flow into an actuator. This in turn would open the door. Simple and effective. Kate knew what to do. Mechanical circuits were not so different from electronic ones. "Easy to bust."
Kate manually dialed in Dagger's code and opened the manual pressure valve. Like a key lining up tumblers in a lock, the hydraulics inside the door became energized with a hiss. Kate grabbed the activation lever's handle and shoved upwards. The bolts sealing the door retracted with a series of scraping thuds. The hatch opened.
"Nice work, Princess," Dagger said. She squeezed through the door as soon as the opening was big enough for her to pass.