Chronicles of the 23rd Century: Hijacked

by Paul J. Fleming

  The crewmates and Oswald exchanged glances as the enormity of the suggestion settled upon them. It was certainly a valid suggestion, but there was a very good chance they would be forced to fire those weapons once they boarded the scout ship and by the look on each and every face present on the bridge, none of them were keen on ending another life or being on the receiving end.

  It was Simone who ended the silence.

  ‘It’s been a few years, but I think I can still fire one of those things,’ she mumbled with a thin reluctant smile. ‘I’ll go over and help the Ranger.’

  ‘As will I!’ Oswald heard himself saying.

  ‘You?’ Jacob asked with surprise.

  Oswald met his curious gaze, the raised eyebrow challenging him to quantify his presence on the boarding team.

  ‘Yes,’ he said as he steeled his nerves against the thought of the actions he was committing to. He swallowed hard as he made the most awkward admission of his life to date. ‘Agent Jenner was really nice to me, she told me to stay put and stay silent, which I did. She faced down the man in the reactor room and even though I saw his companions enter the room I stayed hidden and stayed silent, even though I could have warned her, shouted and alerted her to the danger she was in. I cowered away and hid whilst they gunned her down. The least I can do is act against those who killed her!’

  He closed his eyes to prevent the tears of guilt and shame from escaping, although a single one broke free and ran down his cheek leaving a mark in it’s wake.

  ‘If you had broken cover and shouted, then you both may have died. You can’t blame yourself for doing exactly what she told you to do,’ Simone cooed softly to ease his burden of guilt. ‘I know how you feel dear. I lost people in the war, but you can’t dwell on the past or recrimination. You need to think of the present and how you can help others about you. Now, are you still up for our little adventure?’

  Oswald looked to his side and upwards to meet her kindly smile, understanding there was much more behind the aged face and greying hair he could perceive with his eyes alone. He nodded in response and smiled back at her.

  ‘Okay then,’ Jacob announced as he stood from the chair and walked across to join Mark by the locker of pistols. ‘I’m going too. Let’s get to it!’

  9 Deliverance

  Walker had ducked and rolled as lances of energy scored the wall of the corridor in the vicinity of his head, wild shots fired from within the bridge itself as he had come into view demonstrating that they had indeed been warned of his presence and were readying themselves for his assault.

  Keeping in a low crouch he quickly tried to re-evaluate his strategy as it was quite obvious as soon as he made an advance upon the hatchway to the bridge there would be more shots, and all it would take was one to end his intended act of retribution.

  ‘Is that you out there Ranger?’ a familiar voice called from the confines of the bridge ahead. ‘Are you responsible for the loss of power on this ship and keeping us here?’

  Walker paused for a moment, contemplating opening a discourse with those remaining ahead in the hope he could persuade them to end this situation peaceably, but the image of his former partner leapt once again to the forefront of his mind and he decided that he really wanted things to continue as they were.

  ‘Ranger? What can we offer you to just go away and release us? What do you want?’ the voice called out again, this time there was less confidence, more a pleading sound to the tone.

  Taking the opportunity whilst they were intent on speaking to shove the pistol from his right hand under his left armpit and then retrieve a small cylindrical capsule from a pouch on his belt, he regarded it for a moment as his next actions formed in his mind. These little devices were standard issue to Rangers in the field, used in anti-personnel situations where one needed to confuse and disorient a large group. They exploded a short time after priming, emitting a blinding flash of light and a short sonic pulse which allowed agents time to move in and suppress any remaining resistance with less casualties than simply storming in with all guns blazing. He raised it slightly and clamped his teeth around one end, twisting it to break the seal and begin the micro timer within it’s circuitry.

  ‘What I want,’ he shouted towards the bridge, ‘is something you’ll be unwilling to give. So I’m just going to take it,’ he growled out as he tossed the capsule as hard as he could so it flew through the opening and into the confines of the bridge beyond the opening. Retrieving the pistol from his armpit he raised both up so that he had his hands beside his ears, and pressed his wrists against his ears to block out the impending sound burst, then averted his eyes as there was a high pitched whine and the device exploded.

  Waiting only a moment after the flash subsided he lowered the pistols to cover the opening, in time to observe the first of the bridge occupants stumbling into view and letting loose a couple of shots which both found their mark and the figure twitched and fell.

  Moving quickly to take full advantage of his efforts, Walker advanced on the bridge and snapped a look about the doorframe to count four more bodies shaking their heads and appearing as disorientated as he had hoped.

  Moving out of cover, he raised his right pistol and with a true aim he dropped the two immediately before him one after the other, snapping about to a figure who lurched towards him from his left to squeeze both triggers and open a large hole in the man’s chest.

  Still moving, he sidestepped the toppling figure and turned about to his right where the man who had faced him on the bridge of the Fortune stood, staring incredulously at him with a look of utter disbelief on his face as Walker levelled a pistol squarely at the man’s forehead.

  ‘Oh Christ no!’ The man screamed as it dawned upon him that he was the only one left out of his entire complement and the Ranger of whom he spoke so derisorily earlier aboard the liner now had him at his mercy, both pistols firmly pointed in his direction and only a moment away from painful oblivion. ‘No, no, no, please no!’

  ’You’re begging?’ Walker grunted out with a snort. ‘You kill an Agent of the Solar Ranger Corps and my friend, now you stand before be begging for your life?’

  ‘What?! Killed a Ranger? I have no idea what you’re talking about!’ he replied quickly but with panicked exasperation as beads of sweat began to roll down his face. ‘I admit we hijacked the ship, I admit our actions led to the unfortunate death of the Captain which I regret, but we did not kill anybody!’

  Walker narrowed his eyes a little to regard the now cowering individual stood before him. His response to the accusation of murdering Jenner was one of absolute shock and surprise. The trained and experienced Ranger within him fought to regain control over his actions, to clear the red mist from his mind and make him see reason. It frustrated him even more as the moments ticked by and rational thought flooded his mind, that his fingers were becoming reluctant to squeeze the triggers and put an end to this miserable worm before him.

  ‘Agent Walker?’ A voice called and broke through the internal struggle. The voice was familiar to him but without breaking his aim on the leader cowering before him, he swept the pistol held in his right hand to cover the entry to the bridge.

  ‘Agent? It’s me, Oswald. Remember? You sent me to the bridge?’ the voice exclaimed quickly and Walker glanced briefly in it’s direction, returning his gaze to fix upon the man he held in utter contempt before him.

  ‘Of course I remember you Oswald. What the hell are you doing over here?’

  ‘We came over to..,’ Oswald paused briefly as he glanced about the bodies on the bridge, ‘.. help you over here.’

  ‘Well I don’t need help so you can leave, now!’ he replied as he returned the right-hand pistol to rejoin the left in targeting the leader of the group who had hijacked the liner.

  ‘Then you will shoot a man who had peed himself with fear? Agent Walker, you’re a Solar Ranger not a killer. Please don’t do this.’

  Walker glanced downwards and back up again as he noted the dar
k patch to which Oswald was referring. So far he had found himself remarkably unimpressed by the resistance he had faced, almost as if this band of bungling mercenaries were simply running through a script than acting out of heart-felt dedication to a belief or cause. He shook his head quickly and briefly as if to shake away the notion which was forming.

  ‘They killed Agent Jenner and are threatening the safety of thousands upon the Earth,’ he remarked simply as he held his gaze upon the leader who was frozen with fear at the end of his pistol. ‘I stop them here and now, once and for all and just maybe I save a few lives on that ruined planet. I go by the rule book and some overpaid smart suited cretin worms them free, they’ll just try it all over again with more lives lost in the process. No. It stops here.’

  ‘No Agent Walker, it was the Martian who fired the killing shot when she was on the ground. The Martian knew who she was and still fired, this lot only seemed to panic when they came across the situation and fired, more out of panic than a decisive act. I didn’t actually see it as I was in concealment as Agent Jenner instructed, but I saw the ones who came in and their shocked reaction. I heard two shots and then they fired in bursts before advancing. That’s when I peeked out to see what was happening and saw the Martian standing over Agent Jenner, who was still alive at that point. At least there was some movement I could see. He stood over her and fired point blank, that’s when the movement stopped. I… I couldn’t help. I had to hide away.’

  Walker’s brow furrowed as he mulled over this pertinent fact which presented itself. He could not resist the notion any further as he tucked the pistol held in his left hand into his belt, quickly stepping forwards towards his target and in a swift motion he snaked his hand up and around the man’s head, tugging at the hair above the base of his neck and forcing his head to tilt backwards as he brought the remaining pistol up so that it’s muzzle nestled under the man’s chin. The man yelped slightly with pain and surprise as his eyes darted to the right to try and stay focussed upon the intense Ranger who had him captive.

  ‘Oswald, you say you saw who killed Jenner?’

  ‘Yes,’ Oswald replied in a quiet voice. ‘He saw me too. I tried to hide away as I was before but he stared into my concealment as he strode away with the others behind him, he was smiling and raised two fingers pressed together to his forehead in some sort of salute as he departed. I think he thought he had done me a favour. I won’t forget him in a hurry.’

  Walker leaned in slightly closer to the man’s right ear, the volume and severity of his tone perfectly audible but his proximity lending to the importance of the man’s response to his continued existence.

  ‘This Martian he is talking about? Where is he? I’ve not come across any Martians on your crew so far.’

  ‘There was a Martian with us at the start, but he did not come aboard when we were evacuating. He recruited us and financed this whole venture, from beginning to end. My name’s Wilbur Arkwright and we’re just freight haulers who got stuck on New Elysium on Venus when we couldn’t cover our dock charges. We haul power cells for a living for Christ-sake! We’re not murderers!’

  ‘You were planning to cause an event which would lead to the deaths of untold thousands!’ Walker countered as he tried to justify his own actions and seeing his intent through to finishing off the job.

  ‘What? The liner hitting Hyperion? Are you mad? You said it yourself back there on the bridge of the ship, the Marshies will blast it into atoms way before it even came close to the protective grid. We never thought his plan would work in a million years, so there was never any threat to anyone on the planet….. not as far as we thought anyway!’

  Walker stared at the face of the man for a long moment before releasing his grip on his hair, stepping back slightly but as his pistol slipped from under the man’s chin he kept it trained squarely at the centre of his chest.

  ‘You, sit down now,’ Walker growled through gritted teeth as Wilbur hastily obliged and lowered himself into a nearby chair. ‘One wrong move and I’ll send you to join your crew, got it?’

  Wilbur just nodded as he cast his gaze downwards to stare at a spot on the floor, lost in grief and regret. His voice tinged with emotion as he mumbled out the remainder of his tale to try to admonish him of any further guilt.

  ‘The whole strike against the detection grid was that bloody Martian’s idea and we were given the tools and ability to go along with it. Ever since Aries introduced their own freightliners our profits have been hit hard, but the costs have kept on increasing. The ship needed repairs and fuel but our contract was whipped out from under us, leaving us stranded and our ship impounded. The money he offered more than covered our debt, it was damn near a year’s worth of profit when things were going good. Too good to be true I thought, but we had a vote and decided to play along, determining it was a foolish idea and once we were sure that the passengers and crew were all away we could depart and leave the liner to plummet towards Hyperion, to be reduced to dust by the Martian onslaught.’

  ‘You left me and five of the crew up on the bridge,’ Walker reminded him and he shrugged in response before putting his reasons into words.

  ‘The passenger manifest registered with New Elysium didn’t show any bloody Rangers on board. We had no idea what to do with you! It was him who suggested leaving you there while the lifeboats fled the ship and he upped our money to convince us to do it.’ He said as his eyes raised up to meet Walker’s accusing glare. ‘I’m bloody sorry, okay?! The money was just…’

  ‘Too much to turn down,’ Walker cut over him, the situation behind the group’s actions and Wilbur’s admission buying favour with his rational side. ‘Enough to buy a good crew’s soul and make them do things they normally wouldn’t. So where is this mysterious benefactor then?’

  ‘I truly do not know. He’s probably aboard one of those lifeboats which are set to be retrieved by the company who run that boat. We were to receive the remaining balance of our payment after we finished the job, transferred directly into our account on Luna. Starting to doubt I’ll ever see him again, or any of his bloody money! He’s done a runner and left us to carry the blame…. Well me…’ he muttered as his eyes cast about the bodies of his fallen crew who littered the bridge.

  ‘What about the Earth Liberation Front then? Who are they and how are they involved with this Martian?’

  ‘I have absolutely no idea,’ Wilbur said in utter resignation. ‘It was a name he told us to use, something everyone could pin the blame on when the dust settled I suppose with a witch hunt for a new resistance group diverting attention?’

  Walker turned away from him slightly to regard the three people who stood near the threshold of the hatch which led out from the bridge. Oswald, Jacob and the woman who had handed him the water.

  ‘Sounds like I took out the hired help but the main culprit is still at large out there. That’ll wait though, we still have to stop this liner from going anywhere near that station if we don’t want the Martians to start shooting at us.’

  ‘Already on it,’ Jacob replied gleefully. ‘I received a signal from Mark that they’ve cut the interface with the computer core and the engines are now offline. At the moment we’re just drifting with forward momentum, but we need to get this ship powered up again to slow us down and nudge us off our course.’

  ‘That’s another thing,’ Oswald ventured. ‘The grid was not the target. There was a new program inserted into the computer which was to divert the Liner at the last moment to hit deep within the Lunarian Financial sector. The target was Luna, not Earth.’

  Walker returned his attention to Wilbur in the chair, casting a suspicious glance at him with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘What? No, our target was meant to be Hyperion,’ he quickly said with astonishment as he shrunk a little under Walker’s intense glare.

  Oswald came to his aid, trying to clarify things.

  ‘The Martian did say it was a last minute change to the guy he shot down in the engine room of the li
ner. He may be telling the truth about not having any idea about the Luna strike plan,’ he said as he nodded towards Wilbur. ‘In any case, it was the computer program which was destined to download into the ship’s core which was to effect the last minute changes to course and speed once they had bypassed the Luna defences. It was a very advanced program too, using the latest algorithms developed in Venusian technical laboratories according to the header tag within the code.’

  ‘Okay then, let’s get the core fired up and try to adjust our course and speed. That’s our priority, but once the liner’s out of danger I’m taking this ship and going after that Martian who set all this up. He’s obviously got resources and is well connected but he’s got the murder of a Solar Ranger to answer for,’ Walker said to the assemblage by the door, before focussing once more on Wilbur who was seated before him. ‘If you want to redeem any shred of your sullied reputation, I’d suggest to help them as much as you can. I’m still not entirely convinced I shouldn’t shoot you right here and now!’

  As he stood and hurried over to Simone and Jacob to join their venture in restarting the engines of the scout vessel, Oswald moved closer to Walker and whispered to him with burning curiosity, ‘You’re not really going to shoot him are you?’

  Walker could not help the wry smile creep onto his lips as he whispered back in an equally hushed and conspiratorial tone, ‘No, he’s guilty of being a fool and going along with the plan but they were stuck and the money on offer was too good to resist. He’ll have to answer to the authorities when they arrive over hijacking the ship but I’m not going to shoot him, no. Just don’t let onto him okay?’