by PJ Strebor
The seconds ticked by as the stalemate began. Rebecca decided to break it.
"Shoot him!" she screamed.
Nobody moved.
Rebecca struggled frantically against Mendlesolm's iron grip, to no avail.
"Someone shoot this fucker!"
Unlike Manson, who had completely surrendered to his fate, Rebecca fought back. In the one moment Lucas felt an intense pride in his daughter and a terror that chilled him to his depths.
They were at an impasse that could only end in tragedy.
Lucas caught a brief glint of movement from under the Damage Control console. A sharp jerky movement, of silver. It struck upwards once, twice, three times. Mendlesolm's mouth opened, distorted, his eyes narrowed in shocked agony. Finally a high-pitched scream tore from the guard's throat.
Sensing his grip slip from her neck, Rebecca swung about, catching the weapon as it slid from his hands. She raised the rifle over her head to smash the butt into his face. The head guard fell to the deck, his initial screams dulled to a pathetic whimper. Curled in a half-fetal position he clutched his blood-splattered groin. If he had not proved on so many occasions to be a monster, he may have been a figure deserving of some pity.
Everyone stared at the sight in stunned amazement.
Nathan had crawled from under the console's tiny crawlspace. He stood up clasping a bloody knife in hand. His eyes were sparkling with blue fire, his smile cruel, and his intense satisfaction perverse.
Rebecca turned and snapped the rifle up to her shoulder, aiming at the center of Manson's chest.
Lucas nodded sharply to his daughter who returned the gesture. He released his grip on the colonel and stepped aside.
Manson staggered against the navigation console, his hands at his throat gasping for air. Lucas could see that the sudden realization of his changed circumstances distorted his once-confident face. Now, only wide-eyed terror remained and he made sure to keep his hands well clear of his sidearm.
Rebecca Telford had a special reason for seeing him suffer.
"I surrender," he said, holding his hands up. "Under the charter for the treatment of prisoners by the League of Allied Worlds, I claim the rights and privileges of an officer of my rank."
The surrounding Athenians gaped at him in utter disbelief. Lucas relieved him of his sidearm and took the baton for good measure. The crew stood in place, their faces shrouded in hatred. As the seconds ticked by only the sounds of Mendlesolm's whimpering broke the hate-filled silence.
Manson's head swung from one side of the bridge to the other, finding only a wall of loathing, lips curled back showing set teeth, narrowed, hate-filled eyes, all weapons aimed at him. His gaze fell on Rebecca Telford whose hands gripped the rifle with white-knuckled intensity.
"If you surrender to me now, I will spare your lives." The rampart of cold eyes remained unchanged. "You will never escape this system. Our ships will hunt you down."
Lucas looked along the barrel of the rifle and into the eyes of his daughter. Of all the crew she had suffered most at the hands of this creature. She deserved this moment. He knew in his heart that she would put her obligation to the family before all else. Manson’s mouth hung open, his chest heaving. “I was only doing my duty.”
Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment then lowered the rifle to rest across her left arm. Manson sagged with relief until he saw the glint of unadulterated hatred in her eyes. A shudder passed through the colonel.
Lucas had never been more proud of his daughter. The temptation to obliterate Manson from existence must have been insufferable. However, the sad, simple truth remained. If they were to escape their prison, they needed Manson alive.
The colonel straightened his brown tunic, raised his chin and wiped away tears.
Lucas tapped the gold head of the baton into the palm of his left hand. Manson’s puzzlement at the gesture pleased him.
"I will accede to any of your demands," Manson said, "if you give me your word that you will not harm me in any way. I know that you Athenians always keep your word."
Lucas nodded slowly. The gold head of the baton slammed into the colonel's solar plexus. He fell to his knees, a deep gasping groan his only comment.
A growl of satisfaction rang from the walls. Lucas sobered and looked down at the creature before him.
"As captain of the Bellinda and patriarch of the Telford family, I give you my pledge that no Athenian aboard this vessel will harm you. If you cooperate with us fully. Do you agree to give us your full cooperation?"
Racked with pain and still gasping for air Manson could only nod.
A low snarl, resounded from the crew.
Lucas held up a hand.
"The day is not yet won." The wall of faces hardened into a singular resolve. "We are still in enemy space and a long way from home. Everyone back to your stations." He gestured for Henry to take the colonel over to the vacant DC station. Tapping the comm. stud on the arm of his chair, he spoke into the recessed mike. "Bridge - Engineering. John what's your status?"
A few silent, nervous seconds passed before John Telford replied.
"Captain, we are in need of a cleaning detail down here," the elderly engineer said. "There is Pruessen blood all over the place."
A subdued chuckle sounded from the crew and even Lucas allowed himself a short smile.
"Did they give you any trouble?"
"Didn't know what hit them. But captain, there are a few of them still unaccounted for. I've sent a few of my people after them but, well…it's a big ship, right?"
"Call your people back and post your guards. I don't want those bastards getting anywhere near the vital systems. How long to bring the generator on line?"
"We’ve just started, but we will need the best part of half a day to fit the components and more time for fine tuning."
"Very well John, but anything you can do to shave time off that would be good."
"I'll do my best captain."
"I'm sure that you will. Bridge out."
He turned to the crewmembers who had overpowered the guards. "How's Harry?"
Harry Walder Telford had his torn thigh tied up in a tourniquet. "I'm fine, skipper." His drawn, pallid complexion said differently.
"Put him on the couch in the day cabin then get back here. I have a job for you."
As they picked Harry up Lucas turned back to the bridge. "Rebecca, reduce speed to one quarter."
"Yes captain," she replied.
He walked over to the first officer's station where Mary busied herself by cleaning the blood from Nathan's hands and clothing.
His expression hardened into the sort of unyielding mask that captains were supposed to have. Yet he felt an undeniable pride in his son. "Nathan, we shall need to talk later."
Lucas suppressed the urge to smile when Nathan, eleven going on thirty-one, raised his eyebrows curiously as if to say 'who me?' He had probably saved his sister’s life, but he had disobeyed orders in the process. Again.
"Mary, I would like you to take the attack squad and organize search parties for the missing guards. Use some of our passengers if you have to, but I want those bastards found."
"Certainly captain." She seemed overly pleased with the task of bringing down the last of Manson's bodyguards. "Who do you want manning my station?" Her eyes shifted surreptitiously to Nathan.
Nathan may have disobeyed orders, but he had also showed incredible courage and a mature initiative beyond his years. He had taken the disadvantage of his diminutive size and turned it into a plus. No one else on the bridge could have squeezed into the crawlspace under the Damage Control console.
"Nathan, you have been observing bridge operations for some time now. What do you do if anything out of the ordinary shows up on the external sensor feeds?"
"Report immediately to the captain," he snapped back. "If the captain is unavailable the next-senior bridge officer should be informed."
"Do you think
you can cover the station while the first officer and I are away?"
"Yes, captain."
"Carry on."
"Aye-aye, sir."
Lucas turned away before the smile darted from the corner of his mouth. The sight of Manson sitting at the DCS darkened his mood. With enduring pain he recalled the day that Manson had 'retired' Amy Telford.
"Very well people time to get back to work. We aren't out of this yet."
Henry Telford guarded the colonel with an expression that said he would be extremely pleased if the Pruessen tried anything.
"I expect that we will be getting a call from Kania at any time now.” He turned his attention to the colonel. “This is where you keep your side of the bargain."
Lucas felt his gut twist as Manson's foul smile returned.
CHAPTER 3
The knowledge that the Athenian ship could not escape created a condition of complacency among her captors. Over the years the guard compliment on the ship had shrunk to a token force of less than a platoon of indolent camp guards. Although the garrison guards regularly rotated through duty on Bellinda, they all consider their assignment to the freighter as a great way of catching up on their sleep. Without such a flaccid attitude, Bellinda's interned Athenians could never have accomplished so much.
The task of restoring the hyper generator had been accomplished piece by precious piece, at enormous personal peril, right under the noses of the guards. They had either manufactured, stolen or purloined, through the underground black market, the parts they needed to rebuild their generator. Each individual component had been fitted into place on the gutted remains of the hyper generator, then checked and rechecked with painstaking care. If the part passed the test it was hidden away in one of a myriad of secret alcoves throughout the ship. Nathan and the other children were virtually invisible to the guards so they made the obvious choice as conspirators. Soon the pressure got to the older children and only Nathan showed the courage and tenacity to stand toe to toe with a guard and keep his nerve. All the time, concealed on his person, a small piece of technology that if discovered, would be fatal for him and many of the crew. The individual pieces of the hyper generator remained like hidden treasure waiting for the day when they would finally be fitted together to restore the generator to full use.
Kulak's close proximity to the southern frontier contributed significantly to their hopeful escape bid. Putting all other matters aside, Kulak contained something unique, something very special and something for which the crew would risk all. It bound them together with a fervent purpose akin to a holy quest.
"Captain, team six reports that the last of the security guards have been accounted for." Mary Telford took her hand away from the comm. earpiece and sat back in the first officer's chair sporting a satisfied smile. "Our people found the bastards hiding on deck nineteen near the reclamation bins."
"Along with the rest of the shit," David chimed in from the Navigation Station.
A grin cut the captain's face, finding a host of mirrored reactions throughout the bridge. It had taken far too long to track down the missing guards.
Years of abuse under the guards’ unchecked brutality had resulted in a cumulative attitude. When Mary said that the guards had been 'accounted for' everyone recognized the comment as a less than subtle euphemism.
"Excuse me captain?" Mary asked.
Lucas straightened in his chair. "I said it's about bloody time." He realized that he had begun slurring his words. During the past eight hours he had divided his time between organizing search parties, assisting with the reconstruction of the generator, and arranging to have the Kulak slaves removed from the now foul-smelling holds and redistributed throughout the ship. There had been no time for sleep. A condition shared by all of Bellinda's crewmembers.
The comm. panel beeped once at his elbow. "Captain."
"Skipper, we have all the components fitted and have run the initial tests."
"Well done, John."
"Thank you, captain, but now we need to go fully active if we are to align the harmonics."
"And when you do that Kania will detect it."
"That could prove to be a bit of a problem."
Lucas snorted. "I'll see what I can do about it. Captain out."
He swung around to face Jackson Telford at the communications alcove. Predicting his captain’s next order he pulled a sour face. "I don't want to hear it Jack,” he said, shaking his head. “Just get the colonel up here.”
"Captain we are thirty minutes from insertion into orbit of Kulak four."
"Very well," Lucas said.
They had run out of time. Once within the orbit of Kulak four any chance of escape would be gone.
Lucas tapped the comm. stud. "Janine, how are things going down there?"
The ship’s cargo officer sounded exhausted. "The charges are set, the jettison thrusters are in place and the magnetic constrictors are at full capacity."
"Very well. Let's hope that your services are not required."
"I will have my fingers and toes crossed."
Lucas heard the bridge hatch rumble aside and signed off. He drew in a slow breath to calm his rising ire then stood and turned to face the newcomer.
Manson had recovered most of his confidence since the earlier encounter and stood between the two Athenian guards as he would if they were members of his personal guard. The smugness of the creature made his blood boil. Something caught the colonel's attention off to Lucas' right and shortly thereafter the smirk ran from his face.
Nathan sat in the jump chair next to his mother with his knife in hand. He brushed it across his palm back and forth while retaining venomous eye contact with the colonel.
Lucas suppressed a smile. "Colonel Manson."
The swine jerked his gaze away from Nathan and turned to Lucas. "How may I be of assistance to you, captain?"
"One performance only is required then you can spend the rest of the voyage in your quarters."
"And when we reach Athenian space, you will honor your pledge?"
Lucas swallowed bile. "I said I would, didn't I."
Manson nodded and pointed to the Damage Control console.
Lucas nodded curtly. So much depended on the one man aboard ship who Lucas most wanted dead. But he could not overlook the fact that he had given his pledge to this creature.
Now the game began.
CHAPTER 4
Time: 22nd February, 309 ASC.
Position: Kulak system. Pruessen Empire. The Tunguska Fault.
Status: Pruessen Naval attack boat Kania, on escort duty.
With everything in order Captain Janzen left the bridge, walked into his ready room and fell onto the couch. He rubbed his face vigorously. Intersystem escorts were such a doddle. Half a day out, half a day back. The same routine, ad infinitum. After two years of the constant monotony he was more than ready for a change.
As a full grade lieutenant in the Imperial Navy, he had jumped at the opportunity for his own command. Kania might not represent much of a ship but in the larger scheme of things, the prestige of any command position on his record could only be good for his long-term career prospects. He also had to admit that the title of captain felt pretty damn good. However, nothing ever happened in this back end of imperial space.
Janzen sometimes wondered why the Empire bothered to have a naval presence in Kulak. No League ship would ever violate their quarantine protocols by coming north of the frontier and the once-feared slave uprising had been squashed over twenty years ago. Twenty-two years under the HRS whip had cowered and beaten what remained of the population. Not just beaten physically and mentally, but to the point where their very spirit had been thrashed from them.
“Captain,” his XO reported, “the slave ship has slowed again. We are matching speed with her.”
“Very well.” With the colonel aboard Bellinda, Janzen was loathe to contact him on a matter he probably had under control. He sniff
ed. Besides, the guy was a fucking nut job.
Janzen wondered about his future. Perhaps if he put in for a transfer he could cash in on his experience in Kulak. More through boredom than fatigue he drifted into a light sleep. He jumped as the alert condition alarm sounded.
“Captain to the bridge, captain to the bridge.”
Janzen wiped sleep from his eyes and sprinted onto the bridge.
“XO, what’s happening?”
“Bellinda reports a massive power surge in the reactor. They say they are in danger of a catastrophic core breach.”
"Are we still docked with her?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Helm, undock and give me some distance from Bellinda,” Janzen said. “Comm, put me through to her."
"Aye captain."
On the visual display the captain of the slave ship appeared. Sweat dripped from his face. Through a thin smoky haze Janzen could just make out a crewman slumped over his console, blood running from his face. Telford coughed.
“Captain Telford,” Janzen said, “report your condition.”
The slave captain appeared disorientated and panicky. He coughed again.
“Sir, we have a major reactor overload. Conduits rupturing all over the ship. Reactor approaching critical. What are your orders sir?”
His XO whispered, “If she blows this close to the orbital space dock …”
Janzen nodded. It will damage the OSD, perhaps too badly to be repaired. And it will destroy Kania.
“Captain Telford, you will immediately come about. Take your ship out of the shipping lanes at full speed.”
“But sir,” he pleaded, “what about my crew?”
I don’t give a shit about a bunch of slaves.
“Telford, do as you’ve been ordered,” Janzen shouted. The slave’s face took on an expression of shock and fear. Janzen softened his tone. “Telford, it’s possible if you bleed off energy to your engines it will balance your reactor.”