by T. M. Catron
“Captain!” Abel pulled himself along the tops of the crates, now wearing his blue powered armor. “Tally found the problem! There’s nothing wrong with the hyperdrive. But he needs time to get it back online.”
Rance listened to the clunking sound of magnets attaching to the outside of the Streaker. She looked at the drive in her hand and then back at Harper. She shook her head. “We don’t need the drive—we need a distraction.”
“Even if we somehow get free, Captain, they’ll blast us into a million pieces.”
“They won’t, as long as we have the drive—that’s our insurance. Everybody, grab a weapon!”
Harper grabbed the Caducean Drive to seal it back into the box. She fastened it carefully, then left it where it was. By the time she finished, Abel held a rifle and had numerous sidearms attached to his body. Solaris joined him, holding his staff. Rance also grabbed a rifle from the weapons locker as well as an ammo belt which she slung around her body.
The weapons were for show only. She hoped they didn’t have to kill anybody. But she would defend everyone on the ship if she had to.
Wishing James was with them, Rance pulled herself back to the cockpit and opened the ship-to-ship comm again. “Devil Raider, stand down! We are prepared to let you board us.”
“Too late. You had your shot.”
“I’m willing to let you in and take anything from our hold without a fight. Cutting your way through will take longer, and I’m guessing you’d rather be on your way.”
Fox laughed. “I’ve got time for this.”
Stupid mercs, Rance thought. “If you don’t board us peacefully, I’ll destroy the drive.”
“What?” he asked sharply.
“It’s not worth losing my life over, or the lives of my crew.” Rance knew she was showing her hand, but sometimes being honest was the best way to survive. “Think about what it’s worth to you, Captain, and consider what will happen if you lose the drive. If you hurt anyone on board this ship, I’ll make sure it’s lost for good. Use the airlock, take what you want, and be on your way.”
Rance muted the ship-to-ship comm and called down to Solaris. “I have a plan!”
His voice came over the comm. “I’m listening.”
“We need to distract them long enough for someone to sneak over to their ship and disable their weapons. Then we’ll be free to leave.”
“I’m assuming that someone will be me.”
“Can you do it?”
Solaris paused.
Rance ran a hand over her eyes. “I’m assuming your previous life involved stealth as well as fancy tricks.”
“You assume correctly. Buy me five minutes.”
Rance unmuted the ship-to-ship channel. “Have you decided, Captain Fox?”
“We will use your airlock, Cooper.”
“Standing by to receive your men.”
They had give in too easily. Rance knew mercs, and once they decided to destroy a ship and crew, they wouldn’t be stopped. But they also wanted that drive intact. Rance guessed they would take the Caducean Drive, kill them all, and then leave the Streaker floating in orbit above Coru for wreckers.
Let them try, she thought grimly. She muted the transmission with the Devil Raider and climbed out of the cockpit.
“Solaris!” she called as she maneuvered to the top of the stairs. She paused to grab her magnetic boots from her cabin. They connected to the floor with a satisfying thunk. “I’ve bought you ten minutes, max. Oh, and they’re connecting to our airlock. Abel, make sure they’re delayed there.”
“That’s not a problem, boss.” Abel, who had engaged his own boots, walked to the airlock door to the left of the bay doors.
The Streaker, for all its sleek lines and luxury, had an agonizingly slow, tiny airlock. The ship had been built for fast travel, not spacewalks. It frustrated the crew whenever one was required. And it took ten minutes to cycle air, which meant the person inside waited that long to enter or exit the ship.
It would delay the crew of the merc ship for a few minutes, but once they attached the boarding tube to the airlock, they would be able to leave the doors open and share an atmosphere with the other ship.
“I hid the drive, Captain,” Harper said.
“I need you to unhide it.”
Harper shot Rance a look. “We’re going to give up the merchandise we were paid to transport?”
“Have to, or they’ll tear up the Streaker and kill us.”
A scraping sound tore through the hold as the boarding tube disconnected. Rance balled her fists. “Stop tearing up my ship!”
The mercs wouldn’t hear her, but yelling made her feel a little better.
Solaris joined her then, wearing all black, even down to his mag boots. He had his staff in hand. “I’m going to hide in engineering. I need you to get them far enough into the hold that I can sneak behind them.”
“What if they’re wearing armor?” Rance asked. “Their cameras will find you.”
Solaris raised an eyebrow. “I’m not worried about their cameras. Just make sure no one looks my way when I sneak into that boarding tube, or they’ll get suspicious.”
Rance nodded, and a lump formed in her throat. She barely knew Solaris, and he barely knew them. The mission was risky—if he were caught, the mercs would kill him.
If he were caught, the mercs would kill them all. If he didn’t go, the mercs would kill them anyway.
The situation was less than ideal.
Solaris seemed to understand her silence and nodded. He went to engineering, and Tally met him at the door.
Rance filled Tally in on the plan.
“I don’t need to be out here for a meet and greet, Captain,” he said. “I need to make sure the hyperdrive comes back online.”
“I don’t need anyone else in engineering to draw their attention there. Harper,” Rance said, “set the hyperdrive coordinates back to Ares. As soon as Solaris gets back, we need to be ready to leave. I’ll monitor the hyperdrive with my ZOD, Tally.”
They went through the rest of Rance’s plan, and everyone braced for the encounter. The biggest unknown would be how many mercs boarded the Streaker and how Rance would get them off her ship once they got the Caducean Drive.
The boarding tube connected to the airlock, and Rance gave the okay to open the outer door. Abel watched for the tube to seal against the Star Streaker’s hull, and then opened the door. Harper climbed on top of a rations crate and trained a rifle on the airlock door.
An armored face appeared through the porthole. Rance steeled herself and nodded to Abel. He pressed the button to let them in and backed away with his gun ready.
Eight mercs flooded into the Star Streaker’s cargo bay with their boots engaged. Three wore light armor, and one wore heavy powered armor like the mercs who had killed the smugglers. The rest wore body suits and sidearms. The armored mercs spread out around their comrades, analyzing the Streaker’s crew and their weapons and no doubt deciding how best to kill them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rance saw Solaris ease along the wall from engineering. He slid into the airlock, and the mercs didn’t react.
Whatever he was doing to evade the sensors in their armor, it worked. Now, Rance needed to buy him time.
The unarmored man in the middle stepped forward. “Where is it?”
Rance nodded toward the box at the far side of the hold. “There.”
The man glared at Rance, annoyed that the Caducean Drive wasn’t already at the airlock door. He motioned for one of the lightly armored men to go get it. “Couldn’t have brought it to us?”
“It’s heavy.”
The man’s eyes darted up to see Harper in her sniper position. Then he looked at Abel in his armor. “You mean this guy can’t handle it? What’s he doing with a weapon, then?”
“Making sure you keep your end of the deal,” Rance said. She willed herself to remain calm. “You want the drive, you come and get it.”
“If I had time, I’d m
ake you bring it to us. Lucky for you, we’re on a tight schedule. Also lucky for you, it doesn’t look like you have anything else worth taking.”
Rance’s ZOD began showing her a readout of the hyperdrive’s progress as it came back online. They needed twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes they didn’t have.
The merc unstrapped the box and opened it without ceremony. His visor was up, and his eyes brightened when he saw the diamond. There was no doubt it was what the mercs had come for, and they had no intention of letting her crew live.
Rance’s plan hinged on the other crew’s sense of self-preservation. If the mercs shot now, they would risk Rance’s crew shooting back. If they pretended to walk away and fired on the Streaker when they were safely on their ship, they risked nothing.
They chose the latter.
The merc closed the box and hefted it under one arm. The others kept their guns on Rance’s crew while he walked back to the airlock.
Nervous and expecting an attack, Rance kept her finger near her rifle’s trigger. She didn’t raise it, though, unwilling to start a shootout. The mercs stood stern and steady, no doubt expecting Rance to pull some kind of stunt.
“You got what you want,” she said. “Get out.”
The first merc eyed Rance up and down, leering at her. “Next time Kaau li hires somebody to make a run for her, she needs to send a tougher crew.”
“I’ll tell her,” Rance said, biting down on her own angry retort.
The merc laughed and motioned for his buddies to leave. “You aren’t her usual runner. How did she meet you?”
“Lucky break.”
“Lucky for me. Wait until she finds out you lost the drive.”
The merc walked out behind the others. Rance panicked—Solaris hadn’t made it back yet. Abel waited for her command to close the door.
“I suggest you get that airlock closed,” the merc called, “or you’ll all be spaced when we disengage this tube.”
Rance ran into the airlock, watching him exit the tube on the other side. “Come on, Solaris,” she whispered. “Where are you?”
“Captain?” Abel asked.
“Give him a few more seconds!” she hissed.
The door on the other end clanged shut. They would detach the boarding tube next. With a growing sense of doom, Rance closed their outer door, too. It sealed shut as the boarding tube seal broke and the tube released.
Rance ran out of the airlock, pulling out her handset. Abel closed the inner door.
She waited, unwilling to call Solaris in case it would give away his location.
“Captain!” Harper called. She had jumped down from her perch to run into the control room. “They’re maneuvering to a better firing position.”
The Streaker’s hyperdrive still wasn’t ready, and Rance wasn’t about to leave Solaris even if it was. Rance called Tally as she ran to the cockpit. “I need you up here!”
“I’m still securing everything in here. The ship’s taken on a lot of stress. Treat her gently!”
“We have to get Solaris!”
“I can help you from the control room, Captain,” Harper called.
“Okay. Everybody hang on!” Rance sat in the pilot’s seat and began flipping switches. The ship wasn’t dead anymore, but she only had power to the thrusters. The main engine wasn’t working yet, so all she could do was adjust her angle. The thruster power wouldn’t move the Streaker out of the way in time.
She switched her ZOD display to the screen on her left. The hyperdrive still needed ten minutes. The Devil Raider had retracted their boarding tube. The Streaker was out of time.
“What about our engines, Tally?”
“Those sustained some damage. That hyperdrive is our only chance.”
“We can’t leave Solaris!”
“What do you want to do, Captain?” Harper called.
Rance didn’t have any bright ideas for saving Solaris. Nothing. They were going to lose him. If she didn’t fly away as soon as the hyperdrive was ready, she risked the whole crew.
We don’t leave anybody behind.
“We don’t leave anybody behind,” she said aloud. “Tally, what do our shields look like?”
“What shields? I’m working as fast as I can, Captain. Do you want shields or engines?”
Rance chewed her bottom lip. They were going to have to chase after the merc ship. Shields wouldn’t help them do that. “Engines.”
Tally didn’t respond. He didn’t have to—he knew the stakes. Rance watched the Devil Raider’s guns adjust their position. Any second, they would fire. Tally wouldn’t be able to get anything working before they did.
She stared at merc ship, disbelieving. Everyone on board waited for the first blasts to hit them. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
At least Solaris would live. Maybe. If he hid somewhere and didn’t get caught.
A fleeting thought occurred to Rance that Solaris had abandoned them. It was an uneasy feeling, one she couldn’t shake once it took root.
Roote. Rance wondered why he had chosen that name as an alias. She had never asked him.
The Devil Raider didn’t fire. The longer Rance waited, the more convinced she became it wasn’t going to.
“Captain,” Solaris finally whispered over the comm.
Rance breathed a sigh of relief while scrambling for the button to answer. “Roote?”
“Their guns are disabled. You’re free to go.”
“What about you?”
“If you have any ideas about how to get me off the ship, I’ll gladly hear them. But I think they would notice if I tried to reattach that boarding tube.”
Rance gripped the armrest. “We’re not leaving you behind.”
“For the moment, I’m hidden—” his voice cut off as he held his breath.
Rance waited, barely breathing.
“Sorry,” he said after a minute. “I’m hiding in engineering for now. But I expect they’ll be down here soon.”
“Why is that?”
“I cut power to their hyperdrive, too.”
“That’s great news!” Rance fought to keep her voice low. “We’ll follow them and come get you.”
“Negative. Get out of here. I’ll find my way back to you.”
“No,” Rance said firmly. “If you get caught, you’re dead.”
“And if they figure out what happened, they won’t give me a second chance to disarm them. Run while you can.”
The Devil Raider began to move away. Since they were unable to shoot the Streaker, they were leaving—with Solaris.
“Captain,” Harper called, “a small fighter just launched from the other side of the merc vessel.”
The Devil Raider veered away as its fighter darted around to finish the job.
“For the love of Xanthes,” Rance muttered. Working thrusters would do nothing to help the Streaker evade that fighter. “Tally, I changed my mind about those shields!”
“Nothing is going to be ready in time, Captain. The only choice is the hyperdrive.”
“Tally, for once could you be a bit more optimistic?”
Tally didn’t respond. Rance hadn’t expected him to.
“I’m down here helping, boss,” Abel called.
Rance pinged Solaris.
“Yes, Captain?” he whispered.
“They just launched a fighter. Apparently, they aren’t willing to leave witnesses. Any chance you could create a distraction?”
“I’m sure I could find something else to tear up down here. I’ve been working on it for the last few minutes.”
“Good man. Remind me to give you a job when you get back.”
“Get out of here, Captain. I can fend for—”
Rance heard shouting over the comm, and then it went silent. She cursed their luck—the mercs had found Solaris. Unable to do anything more in the cockpit, she rushed downstairs. They had to find a way to get Solaris off that ship.
“Captain,” Harper warned. She was back in the control
room. “Any second, and that fighter will fire and destroy the Streaker.”
“We can’t leave Solaris,” Rance reiterated. She wracked her brain to find a way. They needed to board that ship, needed to find Solaris. But the Star Streaker was disabled. No weapons, no shields, not even a small shuttle to get them to the other ship.
Rance ran into engineering, and the mess of parts, burns, and destruction stunned her. Metal floated through the room. The lingering smell of smoke stung her nostrils. From the look of it, they were lucky to be alive. Tally had worked a miracle to get the hyperdrive working.
“We need to go, Captain,” the Graeken said. His bright green eyes were the only thing she saw in the sea of destruction.
With the link in Rance’s ZOD, she watched as the fighter came within firing range. The little red dot lined itself up for the killing blow.
With grief in her heart, Rance turned and sprinted back to the cockpit. Her magnetic boots hindered her, and she finally disengaged them to spring for the ladder. She jammed herself into the pilot’s seat as the first yellow flares burst out of the small fighter. “Hold on!” she screamed, and hit the button.
In two seconds, the wash of blue overtook them, taking them into hyperspace.
Chapter Thirteen
Twelve hours later, they arrived at Ares, where they sent word to James to find them a tow. He arrived with the salvage ship, directing the crew about how to best attach to the disabled vessel, driving their captain crazy until he kicked James off the ship and sent him over to the Streaker. James complained about missing all the fun until he saw the state of engineering. “How did you even get back?” he asked.
Rance shook her head. “Without Tally and Solaris, we would be dead right now.”
After being filled in, James volunteered to go with Rance and Abel to see Kaau li. Once they got the ship safely to the spaceport, they again trudged through the back alleys to the smugglers’ house.
“Who hired the mercs?” James asked.
“Don’t know,” Rance said. “But they were well-financed with a good ship. And they didn’t want any witnesses left over.” Her stomach churned with guilt at abandoning Solaris. She didn’t leave anyone behind, ever.