Carlisle didn't have the codes to deactivate the force curtain but she did still have the quantum knife she had taken from Fahada.
"Stand back!" she said.
A meter and a half away from the control pad for the force screen, she plunged the quantum knife into the wall of the compartment, creating a ragged, unpretty opening roughly a half meter square. She pushed the center of the "door" she had created into the cell. Then she helped the prisoner to get out into the central compartment. The man looked familiar...
Her heart fell when she realized who he was.
"Ezra Hellfire Brimstone!" she exclaimed. She went into a fighting posture, the quantum knife at the ready.
"Do I know you?" he asked. He looked her over. "Dark hair, short stature, Spacer tattoo. You must be Ensign Tamara Carlisle. It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
"It may be a pleasure for you, but I assure you I do not share the sentiment."
"You have no reason to trust me, Ensign Carlisle, but what I just told you about the two devices that were designed by this evil genius is true."
"Why do you care? I thought we were your enemies."
"The Sheik's people aren't what I thought they were. They told me that they only wished to create an environment where they could live the way their beliefs tell them to. Instead, they are bent on taking over this Quadrant and everything else they can get their hands on. My own people will be destroyed or assimilated before they're through. I must do what I can to stop them!"
"I should take you back to the Federation authorities with me, to face justice, but I'm afraid that trying to do so would just increase the chances of both of us getting caught. I am going back to join up with the Federation fighters in the ninth ring of the station. You do what you must, Brimstone, but you'll do it on your own!"
"That is all that I ask, little warrior," replied Brimstone. "I thank you for letting me out of that prison. Only now do I think I might be able to stop this madman!" He grew sober. "For what it's worth, Ensign, I am truly sorry for all the trouble I've caused."
"Save it for someone who cares!" she replied. "Farewell, Mr. Brimstone, may your God help you!"
The two of them left the compartment and each headed in their own direction. Carlisle negotiated a few more corridors, ducked into a side compartment when a knot of the Sheik's soldiers floated frantically by on their way to somewhere and finally found a spot where she could get back into the ventilation system and head northwards again.
Chapter 61.
Military spaceship docking area near the Santana Nexus Station, January 13, 2599.
As the Beastie lined up for her strafing run, the three destroyers of the Junkyard Strike force, Asimov, Nasr and Perseus, approached the Cobra, the closest of the Sheik's destroyer's to the Station. The three were deployed in a classic "line ahead" formation with Asimov leading, Perseus in the center position and Nasr bringing up the rear. The unsuspecting guard ship, distracted by the actions of the Beastie, did not seem to notice as the line of Junkyard ships used their classic formation to execute a classic maneuver: The three destroyers of the Junkyard Strike Force had "crossed their enemy's T." One of the most sought after advantages in modern or ancient naval warfare, crossing the enemy's T meant that all of the Federation ships could fire all of their main battery weapons -- their full broadsides -- at an enemy who could only respond with his front battery while facing multiple targets.
Just as the Beastie opened fire on the line of parked destroyers, the Perseus came into position directly in front of the Cobra. Captain Nesbitt, in the lead ship Asimov, gave the order to open fire. All three ships of the attacking force began firing all four of their main battery pulse cannons at the hapless Cobra. The crew of the Cobra, belatedly realizing the danger, had managed to get her shields up but it was a matter of too little, too late. The concentrated fire from all twelve of the main battery projectors of the Strike Force team was just too much for her to handle. Her shields went down and her front battery was destroyed within thirty seconds.
With Cobra in a desperate state, Nesbitt accepted her Captain's offer to surrender. Having seen the carnage dealt by the Beastie and the efficiency with which the three destroyers had taken out their companion, the Sheik's remaining two destroyers surrendered soon after.
***
Santana Nexus Station, ring ten hub area, January 13, 2599.
As the action out in the shipyards got underway, the men who had volunteered to monitor the release of the clamps that held the tenth ring onto the rest of the station had deployed to their respective stations. The interior space of the station's spindle was partitioned off with stout bulkheads delineating each of the areas where the rings attached. Around the central portion of the spindle was another cylinder made up of the stacked sections of the ring hubs which had become an ever-lengthening central cylinder as each of the successive rings had been added to the station. The spindle rotated along with the rings as the station was spun for gravity. The only parts of the station that did not rotate were the two huge receiving airlocks with their "force curtain" doorways. The big military airlock had been the final addition to the south end of the station when the project was completed. That airlock would remain attached to the tenth ring after the ring was decoupled from the rest of the station.
"That strange-looking ship just attacked and ripped the hell out of five destroyers!" said Harley Earl, "Took the enemy totally by surprise! We are go to proceed with the separation! I repeat, we are go to proceed with the separation."
Earl was seated in the master control room for the entire station, located in the hub of the fifth ring. Across the compartment from him, Jeremy Fenster sat at the console that controlled the Station's thruster systems, waiting for the order from Earl to activate the system. Within the corridor next to the latch disc for the tenth ring, eight of Earl's observers dressed in spacesuits had deployed to their respective positions to monitor the unlatching of the clamps that held the tenth ring in place.
Earl made an announcement to his observers, "I am activating the decoupling motors in five, four, three, two, one...activating! All of you! Be sure to tell me when you have a meter of clearance between the lug and the clamping slot!"
A chorus of "ayes" greeted the order. With a series of loud "thunks" accompanied by the whirring of some very large electric motors, the threaded retaining rods began to slowly turn, initiating the process of pulling the lugs outward and free of the latching disc. The volunteer clamp separation observers kept a close eye on the progress.
"How long is this going to take, Harley?" asked Fenster.
"I'm not absolutely certain," replied Earl. "These motors run at about five rpm. The pitch of the threads on the tension bars is pretty fine but that rpm should still lift the locking clamps out of the retaining ring in somewhere around five minutes or less. I can control each motor separately so each of the observers needs to tell me when their lug is clear of the retainer ring."
The process of loosening the retainer rods had been going on for about four and a half minutes before one of the volunteers announced that their clamp had the necessary clearance.
"This is retainer six," came the announcement, "I have a meter of clearance."
"Roger retainer six, cutting power to your motor...now! Head for your safety exit immediately!"
"Roger, Central."
Ten seconds later, team five announced that their lug would also clear the retainer ring. The other stations followed in rapid succession...
...all except for station three.
"Central? This is retainer three. My lug is still locked into the retainer disc! It doesn't seem to want to pull free!"
Earl cut power to stations four and one as their respective lugs came into the proper alignment before responding to three.
"Your lug hasn't pulled free?"
"No Sir, it's jammed tight. There must have been a moisture source or something, the whole area is corroded something awful!"
The fastidious enginee
r and station designer, so careful and precise, shuddered as he gave the next order.
"I'll keep running the motor. Stand clear, and tell me immediately when the tensioning rod clears the lug. I mean immediately! We don't want that rod wobbling around after it comes loose. Do you read?"
"Affirmative Central."
A couple of minutes later, Harley Earl heard from station three again. "That's done it Central, the rod just pulled loose from the lug. Omigod! Cut the motor! CUT THE MOTOR!"
Earl quickly flipped the switch that turned off the motor.
"Three? Is everything alright?"
"Roger Central, it's just that the tensioning rod started whipping around something awful after it came free. Scared the daylights out of me!"
"You have about thirty seconds to get clear!" said Earl, "If you can't get out, use a tether to lash yourself to something solid, it's gonna get awfully windy in there for a while!"
Earl called over to Fenster who had remained at the thruster control station.
"Initiate separation on my mark...three... two...one...mark!"
Fenster tapped the "enter" key on the computer display that controlled the ring ten thrusters. The eight thrusters arrayed around the ring began to fire simultaneously. After a hesitation of about ten seconds, the tenth ring began to slowly and majestically pull out of its moorings and away from the rest of the station. With so much mass to move, the separation itself was going to take more than a few minutes.
"Increase to one quarter thrust!"
Fenster complied as Earl continued to monitor the progress from his own displays.
"Give me another five percent thrust on seven and eight, Jeremy. We don't want to let her get too far out of alignment." Fenster made the adjustment and the ring continued its slow progression outward.
"Good, perfect! The ring should be clear in another...twenty seconds."
After twenty seconds the tenth ring was indeed clear of the rest of the station.
As the tenth ring achieved true separation from the rest of the station, all of the electrical connections, water and sewage conduits and all of the ventilation ducting were severed at designed-in break-away junctions and automatically sealed off within thirty seconds of the separation.
As the connections were severed, ring ten lost main power and all of the lights went out.
"Okay, everybody," shouted Earl, "the ring is free! Keep those thrusters firing, Jeremy."
At a slowly increasing rate, the tenth ring began to move away from the rest of the Nexus station.
Chapter 62.
Santana Nexus Station, tenth ring, January 13, 2599.
Immediately after the Sheik and his entourage witnessed the spectacle of Carlisle unexpectedly defeated Fahada by virtue of using her tether as a weapon, the Sheik's meeting dissolved into chaos. The Sheik stormed out of the room in an obvious hurry, saying that he would resume the meeting only after he had checked on the welfare of Fahada.
In the confusion generated by Fahada's defeat and Carlisle's escape, the Sheik's men were dashing about in a near panic all over the tenth ring hub area. They could find no sign of Fahada's opponent, that dangerous little Spacer woman, but they did manage to find an unconscious and tied up Fahada after about ten minutes of frantic searching. The Sheik delayed his return to the meeting until he had been assured that his Champion was fine. Given the intensity of the blow she'd taken to the head, the doctors told him it was best that she remain unconscious for a time.
Meanwhile Captain Kassad of the Hercules had used the diversion created by the spectacle for his own purposes. While everyone in the meeting room had been on their feet to see the finale of the contest, He had nodded to one of his Lieutenants who was standing along the wall with the rest of the guards. The Lieutenant had sidled up next to his Captain and slipped a pulse pistol into his Captain's hand. Kassad was ready to take drastic action but the Sheik had left the room in a rush before the Captain could do anything.
A half hour or so later, the Sheik returned to the room to resume the summit meeting. He took his place at the podium in the front of the assembly. Meanwhile, Captain Kassad eased his way through the crowd until he was only two meters in front of the newly announced Prince.
"I do not recognize this man as Prince Merrikh of Jasmine!" shouted Kassad, so that all could hear, "He is obviously an imposter!"
With that, the Captain raised the pulse pistol and fired a three pulse burst directly into the Sheik's chest. The crowd watched in stunned silence as the newly revealed Prince Merrikh of Jasmine tottered to the floor, mortally wounded. To ensure there would be no recovery, Kassad took two steps towards the fallen prince and fired another three pulse burst into his head. The shocked silence was shattered by an uproar of angry shouts and curses.
This time there could be absolutely no doubt whatsoever. The Sheik of Barsoom, Prince Merrikh of Jasmine, leader of the Glorious Islamic Revolution, was completely, irrevocably and very publically dead. Captain Kassad's men immediately attempted to take control of the room before any more shots could be fired.
"You should be thanking me," shouted Kassad, "I have saved us and our glorious revolution from this pompous blustering fool!"
"You miserable dog!" shouted the Sheik's Guard captain, "You've killed the true heir to the throne of Jasmine!" In an instant his own pulse pistol was out and blazing. The Captain of the Hercules, shot in the head at close range, joined the prince and crumpled dead to the floor. Suddenly the entire chamber was crisscrossed with pulse bolts as the room erupted into total chaos. A number of people were cut down in the crossfire before they could take cover. Within the next thirty seconds at least a dozen guards from opposing factions were ducked down behind furniture, exchanging shots with one another.
Suddenly the tenth ring of the station, the one they were all on, was shaken by a ponderous shudder. In an instant, all of the fighting ceased.
There was a lurch and everyone could feel a pull towards the north side of the ring.
At that very moment, the lights went out.
***
Santana Nexus Station, somewhere in the tenth ring hub, January 13, 2599.
Carlisle was still making her way through the ventilation ductwork towards the ninth ring hub when she felt the first lurch indicating that the ring ten separation sequence had been initiated. She fought down another wave of panic as she realized that she had maybe thirty seconds or so until the ductwork she was in would no longer be holding air! She was still not close enough to the ring nine hub to be able to get to safety there in the limited time remaining. To make matters worse, she was deep enough into the junction between the two hubs that the portion of the ventilation shaft she was in would be closed off from the rest of ring ten when the ventilation ducting was forcibly disconnected by the separation.
If that happened, she would have nothing to breathe but vacuum!
She used the quantum knife to cut through the screws holding the nearest ventilation grating in place and dropped out into the compartment below. Fortunately, it was a small compartment that was also unoccupied. She was not yet out of danger, however. There was a high probability that this compartment would also be exposed to vacuum when the ductwork above was automatically shut off from the rest of ring ten. She had to get out of the compartment and secure the hatch behind her.
To her immense relief, she exited the compartment into an unoccupied corridor. She was dogging the hatch behind her when she felt the entire structure of the ring give another lurch. She could hear the atmosphere rushing out of the room she had just vacated.
The lights went out.
She had escaped that trap but how was she going to get to safety from the now detached tenth ring?
Find a spacesuit, Tamara, she told herself, if you can get outside, you can call someone to come and get you. A check of her wrist computer schematic indicated that there was a spacesuit service compartment just a short way down the corridor ahead. She needed to get there, find a suit of some kind that was
even remotely the right size, and get off from this ring of the station. She might even be able to get past the Sheik's men in a spacesuit. In the silvery competition suit she was still wearing from her contest with Fahada, they would know who she was immediately and she would either be shot on sight or taken prisoner again!
Using her computer display as a kind of makeshift flashlight, she made her way as quickly as she could in the low gravity of the still empty corridor and into the prep room. She knew that as soon as people figured out what had happened, some of them would want the extra security afforded by a spacesuit and would be seeking out this same room. Some of them were probably on their way already. She looked frantically around the prep room in the poor lighting for something that might fit her and spotted a small reconnaissance suit on the end of one of the racks. A temporary tag attached to the suit indicated that it had been serviced and was ready for use. As she took it down and began to slip into it, she realized that it almost had to be the same suit that had belonged to her arch enemy, Fahada!
She quickly pulled the reconnaissance spacesuit on over the telltale silver competition suit.
She was just securing the helmet when several of the Sheik's men came rushing into the room. As she had hoped, they ignored her as they too began to frantically select suits for themselves. Carlisle just pushed past them and out the door. Dressed in the suit and in the dim light they hadn't bothered to challenge her!
She checked her schematics again, looking for a likely place to exit the tenth ring. She found a compartment that had been right at the junction of rings nine and ten before the separation. The compartment had a bulkhead on either side and, more importantly, both bulkheads also were equipped with a hatch. She floated and pushed her way there as quickly as she could, entered the compartment and then closed and secured the inner hatch behind her. To remove the atmosphere she used the quantum knife to punch a hole in the outer bulkhead. As the air rushed out, she could see particles of dust and tiny bits of detritus, inevitable byproducts of human habitation, streaming rapidly towards the opening she had created and out into space.
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