by M. D. Cooper
Twenty minutes later, the two women reached a massive bay filled with every conceivable component used in starship construction. Rika gauged it to be over two kilometers across, but wasn’t certain, as the far bulkhead might have just been a wall of crates with hull plating leant up against them.
Rika and Leslie carefully eased through the stacks of crates and jumble of supplies, moving slowly to avoid the host of automated drones—both driving on the deck, and flying through air—which were sorting through and selecting items from the mess before flitting off again.
They were nearing the designated freighter when Niki spoke up.
As though to punctuate Niki’s words, an audible alarm went off in the bay, and the cargo-picking drones all halted operation, settling to the ground in the nearest available space.
Rika had to leap onto a stack of pre-assembled san units to avoid a heavy lifter setting a fabricator on her.
“C’mon, Noah!” she called out over her shoulder. “If we get off the deck now, we can get out before they lock it down!”
< Do you always have to be first?>
Rika laughed, reveling in the adrenaline pumping through her.
A second later, the hatch began to close, and Rika poured on an extra burst of speed, leaping over the rising door and landing inside the shuttle.
Where she collided with Noah.
UNEXPECTED PASSENGERS
STELLAR DATE: 10.23.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Docking Bay 22, MSS Fury Lance
REGION: Fringes of Epsilon Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
Chase watched with a mix of fear and anticipation as the bay’s doors opened, and a graviton beam drew the small, battered craft into the Fury Lance.
Next to him stood Heather, and arrayed behind them was every Marauder not currently on duty, and—from what Chase could see as he glanced over his shoulder—a few that were. He decided to forget seeing them; he didn’t blame a solitary soul for wanting to see if Rika, Niki, and Leslie were in that shuttle.
Active scan had revealed two bodies inside, but neither were moving, and the shuttle’s comm systems were not operational.
Once the craft settled onto the cradle, Carson and Stripes—both wearing protective EV gear, cautious of any biological contaminant—approached the shuttle’s door.
They glanced at one another and nodded before Stripes placed an infil pack on the control pad, stepping back as the ISF breach tech worked its way through the lock.
Within seconds, the shuttle’s door opened, and Carson laughed, looking over his shoulder at Chase.
Chase only shook his head, and gestured for Carson to get on with it.
Stripes had a portable sensor suite in hand and scanned the air and the interior of the shuttle’s small airlock before nodding to Carson.
The two men stepped in and cycled the lock.
“Brave souls,” Heather commented.
“I couldn’t have stopped them from being first if I’d tried,” Chase said. “But if it’s a trap, or if Rika and Leslie are in danger, they’re the best two to handle—”
“Fuck!” Chase swore and turned to the mechs. “They’re not inside. It’s just two Niets—but Carson thinks Rika dumped them there. Kelly, stay here with your team for security; everyone else, you can go. We’ll brief you as soon as we know more.”
The assembled Marauders began speaking softly amongst themselves and slowly filing out, while Kelly, Shoshin, and Keli approached, standing to Chase’s left.
“Two Niets?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Don’t know much more yet. Letting Carson do his job.”
“Understood,” Kelly replied with a nod, her lips pressed together in a thin line.
“Put the Niets in holding,” Chase directed Kelly.
Carson stepped out of the mechs’ way, shaking his head as he walked toward Chase.
“This is for you, I expect.” Carson held out his hand.
Chase realized the device was a holo emitter, and decided not to wait to play the message, pressing the button and taking a deep breath.
A twenty-centimeter-tall Rika appeared on Carson’s outstretched hand. She stood silently for a moment, then gave a small laugh. “Well, not sure where to start. If you’re watching this, then you know that we got captured and taken to Epsilon aboard Admiral Gideon’s ship. That’s who I’ve dumped into the shuttle, along with the ship’s chief engineer, Emelia. The Niets all think they’re dead, but it just didn’t seem right to execute them without a trial…or whatever. Either way, we can probably ship them off to where the Allies are sticking all the Niets from Pyra.”
Rika paused, and Chase whispered, “Don’t really care about them, you silly woman…”
The hologram of the woman he loved shook her head and laughed again. “I suppose you probably don’t care too much about them, though. Oh! Leslie and I are OK, mostly-perfect health and all that, Niki too. But the ship we’re on is low on fuel, and has to dock at Epsilon. We’ve gotten the rest of the Niets to play along and help hide us, though stars know how long that’ll last.
“We’re going to sneak off the ship when we dock and find a new vessel to steal and get back to you. We’ll take the same route back to Blue Ridge, so if we meet you coming in, great, if not, assume we’re headed back there.
“That is…” a wide grin split Rika’s lips, “if we don’t try to blow up Epsilon first. I honestly don’t think we’ll find a good opportunity, but you never know; we just might find the perfect moment to destroy this place.
“I’ll see you all soon, especially you, Chase. Sorry to do this to you again, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that you’ve come after me by this point. Chances are you’re the first one to hear this message.”
Her smile grew larger, and she blew a kiss. “I’ll see you soon.”
The recording ended, and a display appeared giving the timestamp of when it was made, the ship’s velocity and expected docking time, as well as a dark matter map of space around Epsilon.
“Stars,” Chase whispered. “I don’t know whether to be relieved, or even more worried. Based on that
data, they’re probably docking right around now.”
“That’s my estimate, as well,” Heather said. “Glad they’re both OK, but how the hell are they going to get off that place? I bet there are ten million Nietzscheans across all those stations and moons.”
Carson nodded, chuckling softly. “And of course she wants to see if she can destroy the place.”
“Wouldn’t be Rika otherwise.” Heather joined in Carson’s laughter, then turned and gave Chase a light pat on the shoulder. “C’mon, Chase, this is good news!”
“I suppose,” he nodded, his lips pursed. “Wish she’d just gotten into the shuttle herself. Then this whole ordeal would be over.”
“That thing’s life support only lasted as long as it did because those two Niets were practically hibernating,” Carson replied. “Rika and Leslie would have been taking a huge risk, waiting for us in there. She did the right thing.”
“She always does.” Chase straightened his shoulders. “Now we just have to figure out what the right thing is for us.”
Kelly walked past with one of the Nietzscheans—the five-star admiral, Chase realized—flung over her shoulder. “Isn’t ‘just fly in and kill all the Niets’ an option?” she asked.
“That’s why you’re not in charge of fleet strategy,” Heather replied. “Damn, why’s he all bloody?”
Stripes chuckled as he came out of the shuttle, Keli trailing behind with a woman over her shoulder. “Looks like a little bit of theatre Rika played. Unless you really paid attention, you’d think these two had been shot in the head. I guess that’s part of how Rika got the Niets to play along.”
“By ‘killing’ their commanders?” Heather asked. “I can’t wait to hear this story from her.”
Chase cocked an eyebrow. “It’ll be a doozy.”
“A ‘doozy’? What does that even mean? Sounds like you doze off.”
“It comes from the name of a starship company that made a luxury model called the Dusenberg,” Chase explained.
Potter interjected.
“Seems like a solid strategy to me,” Heather said with a shrug. “Maybe even a doozy.”
Chase groaned softly. “OK, but if they don’t all get here in the next twelve hours, I say we leave them a beacon and jump in. The Lance can rescue Rika on her own.”
“Provided she doesn’t make too big a mess,” Carson added.
Heather groaned and pressed her palm against her forehead. “I cannot believe you just said that.”
A SURPRISING DIVERSION
STELLAR DATE: 10.23.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Farthing Station
REGION: Epsilon, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
Rika didn’t hesitate to wrap her hand around Noah’s throat, and whisper in his ear, “I can tell if you send a message over the Link. You call out for help, and I snap your neck.”
“OK…” the man in Rika’s grasp whispered hoarsely. “I need to tell Ellya that we’re sealed up.”
“Do it.” Rika loosened her grasp a centimeter.
“We’re good back here!” Noah called out, his voice raspy and hoarse.
“You OK, Noah?” Ellya called back
“Yeah, just got a bug in my mouth when I ran in. I guess we still have that fruit fly infestation.” Noah gave a convincing cough that sounded loudly in the enclosed space.
“Seriously?” Ellya yelled out as the shuttle began to rise. “I hope none of them got on the ship. I have my lunch up front, and I managed to snag bananas for the first time in months.”
“Let’s hope not,” Noah replied.
“What do you normally do once you take off?” Rika asked quietly.
He pointed past the stacks of cargo. “I make sure nothing’s shifting as we fly out, and then I go to the cockpit.”
Rika took her hand off the man’s throat. “Then do it, but I’ll be right behind you.”
“What do you want,” he whispered while looking over his shoulder, eyes wide. He reached out and his hand collided with her chest. “Ow!”
“You OK?” Ellya called back.
“Uh, yeah…just jammed my finger on something.”
Ellya laughed. “You’re such a putz. Hurry up! It’s thirty minutes to Mistlea Station. We can catch Private Huzzah’s latest cast—I hear he does a great impression of Grand Admiral Prudence.”
“On my way,” Noah called back while grimacing in Rika’s direction. “Sorry.”
“Just stay calm, and when you get to Mistlea, I’ll be gone as soon as the ramp lowers. No one will know I was aboard.”
Rika leant against a stack of crates, waiting for Noah to finish his inspection.
Niki asked, her mental voice toneless.
The AI didn’t reply for a few moments, then she finally said,
Rika watched Noah complete his inspection and walk to the cockpit.
Niki said with a note of apology in her voice.
The AI made a sound of disbelief in Rika’s mind.
Rika whispered the word, trying to gather the courage to get the words out.
Niki let out a long sigh.
Rika mused.
Niki chuckled softly.
Rika nodded her head. It was a strange way to think of things, as a balance in nature that applied to all human interactions, it made sense. Though she was glad that her problems were a lot smaller than Tanis’s.
she scoffed half-heartedly.
Rika’s lips twisted at the thought.
Rika let that sink in, pausing to wonder a bit about her AI. Most of the time she was blunt and focused on the task at hand, but every now and then, she’d wax philosophical and it became hard to argue with her reasoning.
Niki snorted.