by Sarah Noffke
Pistris Station, Planet Kai, Tangki System
Julianna quickly scanned the long metal corridor. The floors were an iridescent blue and the lights dim, and to her relief the space was empty. She bounded forward, sprinting for the other side. The lab where the animals were held was supposedly on the far side in the northwest corner.
The lights overhead brightened suddenly, then strobed red. A blaring alarm joined the light show.
“Fuck, I think they know you’re there,” Eddie said, obviously having heard the alarm over the comm.
Infrared scanners are showing approaching Trids in the intersecting corridor ahead.
The hallways did “T” ahead, but Julianna needed to follow the corridor until it dead-ended.
Where? Julianna asked, moving so fast her feet barely touched the slick floor. Maybe she could outrun them and barricade the door once she got into the lab.
When you are at the intersection, the Trids will be at your three o’clock and roughly fifteen feet away.
I can outrun that, Julianna thought.
And the others will be at your nine o’clock at approximately ten feet away.
Fuck. They’re going to shoot me in the back.
Not if you take them out first, Pip offered.
All right, challenge accepted.
As Julianna ran she crossed her arms behind her back, reaching for the holstered weapons on both sides. Not jostled from the movement, she withdrew the guns. Releasing the safeties with ease, Julianna halted in the center of the intersection with her arms extended. She aimed the weapons in opposite directions down the connecting hallway and fired each gun once, knocking out her targets on each side.
The Trids fell back, but from both sides of the hallway more armed Trids rushed in Julianna’s direction. With her arms still extended she fired again, but this time the sharks dodged her bullets. She dropped to one knee, firing the weapon in her right hand low and the one in her left behind her back. The next wave of Trids fell, blocking the others. A continuous swarm of Trids poured out of both ends of the hallway.
You better get out of there, Pip said in an urgent voice.
Copy that, Julianna said, springing up and sprinting toward the lab.
“Almost to the lab,” Julianna said over the comm.
“I’ll have it open for you in ten seconds,” Chester stated.
“Don’t you think you could have opened it before now?” Eddie said, sounding irritable.
“I didn’t want to direct the Trids’ attention to where we were headed,” Chester said. “I’m sure the labs where they keep the rats was the last place they expected us to raid.”
Julianna stopped in front of the door at the end of the corridor. The security light beside it still glowed red. She turned, holding up one pistol and firing off a round.
The light turned green and Julianna rushed through the door, keeping up her cover fire as she did, then pushed the door shut and heard it latch.
“I can hold them out of the laboratory for roughly ninety seconds,” Chester stated.
“Is that enough time to get Strong Arm out of there?” Eddie asked.
“No, but it’s enough time to get her to the safe room at the top,” Chester said.
The lab was unsurprisingly filled with equipment and computer stations and from the far side, reflective eyes stared at her. Julianna rushed over to the cages. Rats, rabbits, and a strange cat-like thing were behind the bars, most of them shivering with fright. They all stared at her with fearful eyes, their little noses sniffing.
What had the Trids done to these animals—or what were they going to do to them? How could they hold them in cages like this?
“Strong Arm,” Eddie said, his voice husky. “Did you locate the ferret?”
“Uhhhh…yeah.” Julianna rotated, scanning for more options.
“What do you mean, ‘uhhhh?’” Eddie asked, his tone clipped.
“Nothing. Just trying to figure out how to get the animal out of the cage,” Julianna lied.
A loud bang assaulted the door. The Trids fired again and again at the lock, but thankfully their technology was good enough to keep them out of their own lab.
“You have roughly sixty-five seconds to get to the ladder on the far side of the room,” Chester informed her. “They’re trying to get around my hack, and I can’t hold them out much longer.”
Julianna spied a duffle bag by a workstation. She picked it up and emptied it of books and papers.
“Do you see the evacuation ladder by the entrance where you came in?” Chester asked.
Julianna opened the first cage, swiveling her head over her shoulder and barely noticing what Chester was talking about. “Yeah, got it.”
“You need to be up that ladder and through the hatch in forty-five seconds,” Chester stated.
Julianna opened another cage, reaching for its contents. “Ouch.”
“What happened?” Eddie asked.
“Fucker bit me,” Julianna stammered.
“Oh, well, the ferret is probably scared,” Eddie stated.
It wasn’t the ferret, but Julianna wasn’t going to tell Eddie that.
“Once you’re through the hatch, I can remotely seal it and activate flood mode,” Chester continued as Julianna opened and cleared out each of the cages. “The compartment will detach on my signal and rise to the surface of the water, where Blackbeard will be ready.”
“You’re running out of time,” Eddie yelled. “Are you almost done?”
Julianna opened the last cage, eyeing the tan and white ferret. He rushed for her hand, seeming to understand the urgency of the moment. She stuffed the ferret as gently as she could into the duffle bag with the other animals and ran for the ladder. With the bag across her shoulder, Julianna climbed the ladder. The Trids rushed through the now-open door.
Julianna pulled a single red ball from her pocket, and in a swift movement, she unscrewed it a half an inch and threw it behind her. A moment later a loud explosion rocked the room, nearly knocking Julianna off the ladder. She’d known she was too close to the door to use the grenade, but she’d had to try. Heat blasted her face and the explosion rang sharply in her ears, but she continued up the ladder.
Using both hands, she unscrewed the hatch. Trids were starting to stir below her, stepping over the fallen to get to her. The hatch finally released and Julianna launched herself through.
A Trid had made it to the ladder and was climbing quickly. He dove for her leg, grazing it as she made it all the way through to the other side. His teeth snapped at her as he climbed higher, but Julianna stomped down hard on the Trid’s face, knocking him away.
Julianna slammed the hatch shut and rotated it closed, then threw the manual lock into place.
“I’m through,” she whispered, looking around at the small pod she’d entered. It was a fifteen-by-fifteen-foot space lined with lifejackets and survival supplies. Another ladder like the one she’d just used was in front of her, and at its top was another hatch. So that was how she was getting out of here—clever thinking on Chester’s and Marilla’s parts.
“Oh shit! Pod detachment delayed,” Chester told her urgently.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Pistris Station, Planet Kai, Tangki System
“What the fuck?” Eddie yelled. “What’s going on?”
The pod shook violently when something exploded against the hatch at Julianna’s feet. The Trids were giving it all they had.
“I’m momentarily locked out of Pistris Station,” Chester said, sounding distracted. The click-clack from his side of the comm was a cacophony.
“How is that possible?” Eddie stated.
“They found me out,” Chester explained, his voice overwhelmed with nervous frustration. “I’m trying to find a backdoor. Give me a sec.”
Eddie grunted his disapproval.
Julianna circled, trying to calm the squirming animals in the duffle bag. They scurried around, many of them trying to poke their heads through the opening.
She was pushing them back down when she noticed a box on the wall.
She rushed to it and said, “Wouldn’t there be a way to manually deploy the pod in case of an actual flood?”
“Hmmm…” Chester mused. “I’d expect so. I would also think the Trids could override it.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Julianna ripped open the box. A single button sat under a clear cover, below which was a lever. This seemed easy enough.
“Here goes everything,” Julianna said, slamming her hand on the red button and pulling the lever down, where it locked into place.
The pod creaked, and gears groaned. Julianna lost her footing when the pod shifted.
“What’s happening?’ Eddie asked.
“I’m not sure,” Julianna said honestly. “It’s moving. I think.”
The pod has disengaged, Pip informed Julianna.
“The pod is free,” Julianna said, excitement pounding in her chest.
“Yeah, but the propellers need to activate to push you to the surface,” Chester said, continuing to type loudly.
“Or what?” Eddie asked.
“Or else she’s going to float around aimlessly,” Chester stated.
“And the Trids will be on me in no time,” Julianna said, her eyes running over the box where she’d activated the detachment.
“And I can’t help now, since you’re no longer connected to the station.” Chester sounded defeated, but he wasn’t the one in a cramped pod floating through the ocean with a bunch of rodents.
“The red button…” Julianna said mostly to herself. “Was that to detach?”
“Yes, Indiana Jones says that sounds right,” Chester affirmed. “She also says there’s a lever under that to activate the propellers. The pods are naturally buoyant, but you’re pretty low and will run out of air unless you reach the surface soonish.”
“You’re just full of bad news today,” Eddie seethed.
Julianna gritted her teeth and pulled the lever back into its starting position, then forced it back down—but nothing happened. She tried it again, with no result, and was about to kick the pod’s wall when an engine hummed underneath her and the floor vibrated.
Julianna swayed to the side as the pod floated upward.
“I did it!” she yelled triumphantly. “Propellers are working. I’m headed for the surface.”
“Fuck yeah!” Eddie hollered. “I’m keeping an eye out for you, Strong Arm. I’ll let you know when to open the hatch.”
Julianna climbed to the top of the ladder, her hands ready to spin the hatch open.
“Just so you know,” Eddie began, “we have company. The Stingrays won’t see you before I do, but you’d better be ready to jump onto the wing of the ship. You and that furry little ferret. I don’t think we should engage if we can help it, since this is a rescue mission.”
Julianna patted the bag behind her. “I agree, and don’t worry—we’ll be ready.”
The pod rocked hard, nearly knocking Julianna off the ladder. She held on, tightening her core to stabilize herself.
“I see the top of the pod, Strong Arm! You’ve surfaced,” Eddie said, his voice as happy as she’d ever heard it.
“I’m coming out,” Julianna said, turning the hatch. After several rotations it disengaged and opened, and the night air spilled in. Julianna climbed out as the Q-Ship swooped down in front of her, momentarily uncloaked so she could find her way to the wing. Eddie hung out of the hatch with an arm extended.
Julianna sprang off the floating pod and reached for Eddie’s extended hand, and she was momentarily suspended in air with her feet kicking. The ship dipped and moved closer to her, but the jump seemed to take forever. Her hands reached and reached, finding only air…and then they brushed the metal of the ship. Eddie caught her around the waist and pulled her aboard and Julianna staggered inside, careful to protect her cargo. She turned, breathless, and from the open hatch she looked down at the floating pod receding into the distance.
Lars recloaked the ship as the Stingrays caught sight of them and fired.
“Hold on tight,” Lars said at the controls. “I’m going to give those ugly Trids the slip.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Landing Bay, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System
“You risked your life for rats?” Eddie yelled when Julianna finally opened the duffle bag. They’d been too distracted avoiding the Stingrays for him to notice the large duffle bag. Lars had flown brilliantly, darting around all the Trids’ attacks, and once the Stingrays had lost track of the Q-Ship it was a smooth trip.
Eddie had pressed back into his seat for the rest of the flight, apparently needing time to catch his breath. Too consumed with quelling his anxiety, he hadn’t even noticed Julianna stash the moving duffle bag under the seats.
Once they’d disembarked from the Q-Ship, Julianna finally checked that she hadn’t unknowingly crushed a bunny or broken a rat’s neck.
“I couldn’t just leave them there,” Julianna explained, bending down. She pulled a solid gray bunny from the bag and he sniffed her, then clawed her arm with his back feet. She set the ungrateful rodent down and he hopped off a few paces with his nose twitching.
Lars watched wide-eyed as she pulled a rat from the bag. She was about to drop it on the landing bay floor as well, but thought better of it. Extending her hand to Lars, she said, “Can you take this one? If we have a rat infestation aboard the ship, Ricky Bobby is going to be pissed.”
“‘Pissed’ is not the right word for it,” Ricky Bobby stated. “Incredibly annoyed would be a better description.”
Eddie’s face was a magenta shade that Julianna had never seen him wear. “Did you even get the ferret?”
Julianna pushed a few mice around in the bag. They seemed content to stay in the warm enclosed space. Finally, on the side of another bunny—this one white with red eyes—Julianna found the long ferret. He had big brown eyes and a long tail, and wore a curious expression on his face.
She held up the ferret triumphantly. “I did. See?”
Eddie softened slightly, but still appeared to be somewhat upset. Marilla and Chester rushed forward—thankfully they’d left Harley behind.
Marilla halted momentarily and then rushed over and scooped up the gray bunny, cuddling it to her face. “You got a bunny?”
Eddie glared down at Julianna. “Yes, and the Commander nearly died to save that fucking pellet-dropper.”
Julianna laughed. The bunny had already managed to leave behind a trail of little round poops.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Julianna said, handing the ferret to Chester, who took it a bit reluctantly. “I got the ferret. I’m safe. Everything worked out.”
“The big deal is that you keep risking your damn life to save four-legged creatures!” Eddie said so loudly that everyone’s jovial expressions dropped. “You don’t even like the damn things, yet you’re willing to die to protect them. I don’t get it.”
Julianna straightened, taking a breath to steady herself. “I don’t have to like something to value its life. It’s why we do what do, isn’t it? Because our job is to protect, no matter how large or how small that life is. If I had left these animals in Pistris Station to be used in tests and abused I wouldn’t really be doing my job, would I, captain?”
Eddie’s sharp eyes studied Julianna’s face, which was full of conviction. “You have to pick your battles, and this seemed like a foolish risk. We signed on to protect the Federation, not a bunch of rodents.”
“Wrong,” Julianna countered. “We signed on to protect everything the Federation values, and that includes all life—alien, human, and animal.”
Lars, Marilla, and Chester all looked at Eddie, waiting for his response to this.
He apparently didn’t have one, because he shook his head. “Damn it, Jules, I don’t understand you at all.” He paused, and a slight smile lit up his face as he eyed the little creatures squirming in the other three’s hands. The captain looked at Juli
anna. “However, I respect the hell out of you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jack Renfro’s Office, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System
Jack laughed when he heard Julianna’s tale of the mission at Pistris Station, with many interjections from Eddie.
“She got onto me about Harley, saying she didn’t want the ship to become a pound,” Eddie began, eyeing Julianna. “Then she goes off and makes it a fucking pet shop.”
Jack chuckled again. “Well, we are going to have to find something to do with the animals. Maybe set them free in the woods somewhere.”
“But we got the ferret, and he’s safe,” Julianna stated.
She is fucking unbelievable, Eddie thought with an agitation that was increasingly making him crazy. When she had been on Pistris Station he had thought Julianna was fighting Trids or having trouble locating the ferret. Little did he know that she had been clearing out all the damn cages, and yet she did it. She had fought Trids, saved a dozen animals, and figured out a way to get the pod to the surface and escape. If he’d thought she’d allow him to compliment her on the mission he would have, but right now the most he chanced was showing his respect as well as his unending irritation.
“I believe the ferret is key,” Jack stated, pulling a piece of paper from his desk.
“What’s with you and paper reports?” Eddie motioned to the filing cabinet Jack had moved over from ArchAngel.
Jack looked at the metal filing cabinet, which appeared out of place next to the high-end furnishings of Felix’s old office, and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve just always enjoyed holding paper. I almost feel as though I can understand the words better that way. I also only read paperback novels.”
“Which as of an hour ago were delivered to your private quarters,” Ricky Bobby informed them.
Jack paused, looking up as if waiting for more. When Ricky Bobby didn’t say anything else Jack said, “Thank you. I missed my books.”
Julianna smiled at him sideways. She’d had a different energy since returning from the mission—it must have energized a rare rebellious streak. “Were you waiting for Ricky Bobby to tell you that you should organize the titles in order to find them more efficiently?”