Jerrod held his tongue, only thinking, ‘Worse? We are trapped in here waiting for someone to hand-crank open a frozen door. How could I make it worse?’ It didn’t matter. He had no intention of taking any sort of wild gamble. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Unfortunately, he knew exactly what he was doing, and the idea of the whole station falling out of the sky had him scared. He didn’t even pretend to search for the answer. He cut right through his own mangled code and unsnarled the locks he had put on their escape pod door.
Jona was watching his progress with open-mouthed surprise. He snagged hold of Jerrod’s arm and dragged him close, snarling into his ear. “It’s you! I knew I wasn’t doing everything. The Agent called you, too! Didn’t he?”
Jerrod pushed him away, not caring that the others looking on might see him striking an officer. This was life and death! “Are you kidding me, saying that out loud? What if you were wrong, Sir? You could be executed for blowing your cover! Mine, too, if you keep beaking off so loud!”
Jona sidled up closer again, pressing the issue. “But I’m not wrong, am I? What are you doing?”
“Getting us out of here. You heard the Captain! The Agent must have wanted to screw around with the middies, but this is totally different. I can help undo what I did if I can get down there.” The code finally gave way to his prodding, and the hatch into the station snapped open. Jerrod scrambled into the outer corridor, dimly lit by emergency lighting.
Jona realized what the senior petty officer was trying to do. He cracked the pod’s medical kit, grabbed a handful of items, then followed Jerrod out in a rush.
Then, the junior officer turned and closed it right in the face of the others following on his heels. He stabbed the locking button, which glowed a fierce red in the gloomy pod bay.
Jerrod gawked at the normally bumbling officer. “What are you doing? They could help us! They’d do anything we want and could even help cover our tracks!”
Stuttering with nervous energy, Jona said, “N-no. We can’t do that. We c-can’t…f-fix this.”
Forgetting all about rank, Jerrod stormed up to him. “We’re going to die in here! That can’t have been part of the mission!”
Jona found the strength to meet him eye to eye. “Why not?”
All trace of color left Jerrod’s face.
Jona nodded, seeing him realize the truth. “Y-you thought the TSU was messing with the students. But, w-what if it’s more?”
“They knew we’d be here!”
“You think the TSU would care about sacrificing us?”
Jerrod snarled, “I am not going to die for them!”
Jona shook his head. “No, but I’ll die for my family.” He cut off Jerrod before the SPO could object. “You know what I’m talking about. If this station survives and the TSU finds out we were a part of stopping it, you know what they’ll do!”
Jerrod yelled into his face, “They can’t know. There’s no way! I’m stopping this, now!”
Jona had never been brave. He was used to being humiliated, used to being last or second last in every class. Never seeming to get anything as quickly as everyone else. All he had ever wanted was a quiet career, and to maybe mean something if only in the smallest way.
His family would never know what he had done. They’d just go on living. That would have to be enough.
Summoning every ounce of courage in his body, Jona used his thumb to flick off the top of the needle he had grabbed out of the medical kit and jabbed it with all his strength into Jerrod’s eye.
He fumbled the blow, and it didn’t go in cleanly. The sharp end skipped off the SPO’s cheek-bone before gouging into the soft orb inside the socket. Jona lost most of the power behind the blow, not piercing far enough to reach the brain beyond which had been his original intent.
Jerrod shrieked in pain, cowering away and clutching at his eye. “You little snot!” Blood streamed past his hands as he made a futile attempt to hold together his ripped eye socket.
Sobbing at the mingled blood and anguish, it took all Jona’s will not to drop the needle. He wanted to leave, but who would come? What would Jerrod say? No! He couldn’t do that! The demon that was the TSU loomed in his mind. They would know if he didn’t do everything he could. They’d know and his whole family would vanish in the night!
Blinking away tears, Jona jumped on Jerrod’s back and jabbed the needle into the back of his neck. He’d meant to hit the spine, but missed. He yanked it out then jabbed in again and again, ripping out gouges of flesh with each thrust. At first Jerrod tried to drag himself away, but soon just lay still under the ragged blows.
His panicky assault waned as his arm grew exhausted and the smell of a sewer swept over him. Dead. Jerrod was dead, and he’d done it. He curled up on himself, shaking a little longer.
Until he heard the banging on the escape pods. There were five of them in this bay, and maybe they had heard the commotion. The screams. Could they summon help? A huge part of him wanted to be caught. Right then. If they caught him, he couldn’t do anything else, right? Maybe he’d die, or maybe they’d all live. But he would be in the brig, and they would know that! Right?
But they might also know he had let himself get caught. Was a camera watching him right now? He tried to picture where all the hidden security feeds were located, but he just couldn’t call up the schematic in his head.
They would know. They always knew! Another cry of mental anguish tore its way out of his throat. Staggering down the corridor, he fixed his path toward the engineering spaces.
By way of the arms locker.
He would stop them. And he would save his family.
Chapter 27
Silence dominated the escape pod’s interior. Everyone inside sensed the tension radiating from Makaio. A couple times, Garam looked as if he was about to say something to break through it, but Makaio glared away his attempts.
Deciding to risk it, Garam started with, “It was a test, Mak. You can’t -”
Makaio boomed right over him, “She didn’t know it wasn’t real!”
Johanna allowed the drama to play out. There was little to be gained when Makaio was deep in his emotions. She had already calculated it was more likely he was angry at himself for having missed the signs than he really was with her.
Garam almost wished she wasn’t being so calm. Being that composed only angered Makaio further. “She says she did.”
Johanna scratched at a spot on her skin just above where her tracking implant was located. She was still feeling that tingle she had felt ever since arriving on the station. She affirmed what Garam was saying with a simple nod.
Makaio blasted back, “Bullshit! You’re telling me that choosing to turtle when asked to save those lives was just an act?” His anger deflated a little as he recognized inside that if anyone could carry out that act, it might be her.
Tone sharp as chipped crystal, Johanna clarified, “I refused to risk your life for a game.”
As if fighting off a sneaking suspicion that he should be cutting her a break, Makaio warmed back up to his anger and looked ready to launch into a new verbal rampage. He was interrupted by the twisting gears of their pod door being cranked open.
They all turned to watch the dim lights of the corridor appear centimeter by centimeter. The signs of a rescue bled away his bluster, re-directing his energy to getting out of the cramped space.
The sheepish, pale face of Louisa Cravette appeared through the partial opening. She peered in, smiled briefly at Makaio and Garam, then truly lit up at the sight of Johanna. “You are in here! Hold tight. I’ll have you all out in a jiffy!” She disappeared, and once more the hatch began to creep open.
No more than a minute later, they were crawling out of the small hatch one after the other. The station crew and officers thanked her in a rush, then bolted off to help with the ongoing crisis. A couple of them stayed to help roll open the other pod hatches.
Garam didn’t hesitate long. “I’m not sure what
I can do, but I’m going for engineering. It’s the only place I’m any good.”
Makaio nodded, “I’ll get you there.” He shot a black glare at Johanna. “I don’t need any help.”
Garam tried to object, but it was Johanna who smoothly cut him off. “Go. All that matters is that you get there.”
Garam held up his hands with silent apology, hating that there wasn’t time to figure this out. But there wasn’t time for anything. He didn’t need to be told twice. He was off and running, Makaio close at his heels.
Louisa hadn’t left. “What was that about?”
Johanna returned a sad smile. “A misunderstanding. Hopefully one we’ll have time to fix.” She took a moment to work the mathematics in her head. “If our orbit started to decay the moment of that last explosion, we’re now 98 minutes from an irretrievable descent. Garam is an astute mechanic and might be able to help. I don’t assess I’ll have any sort of real impact.”
Louisa shook her head. “I’m hopeless with that stuff. Should we just help open pods?”
Johanna’s mind was carving down different paths. “If we cannot directly influence on the engineering state, perhaps we can give those with the right expertise more time.”
“Time?”
“Yes. In this case, if we can change our acceleration curve even to a small degree, we can prolong the available time. This station has shuttles. Even if the Captain is summoning help, we can launch from the internal bay, dock at the outer berths, and use the shuttle thrusters as a secondary deceleration source.”
Louisa tried to find the words to describe the idea. “That sounds incredibly dangerous.”
Johanna chewed her lower lip as she puzzled the problem. “It borders on reckless, and without knowing the class of shuttles available I can only make a vague guess at what impact we might have. Given that the automatic docking capability of the station might have been crippled, it might also need to be done without computer guidance. That is beyond my skill level.”
Louisa turned back to the other pods being opened. “Maybe one of the station pilots could do it?”
“Perhaps. But beyond skill, we need both someone who will listen to our idea and have the brashness to make the attempt. We could spend time trying to locate such a one, or we proceed directly to where we know we can find two.”
Not pausing to explain, Johanna set off at a run.
Confused, but not willing to leave her young charge alone, Louisa followed, trying to keep up.
***
The escape pod hatch finally parted wide enough to let out the trapped people inside. Dianne was the first to emerge, leaping to envelope Johanna in a hug. “I knew you’d come!”
Johanna suffered the contact, waving at Louisa to move to the next. “We need Sam too, Lieutenant.”
Hearing the business in her voice, Dianne asked, “What’s on your mind?”
Johanna explained her idea. With anyone else, she would anticipate objection or even outright rejection. With Dianne, she expected the opposite.
She wasn’t disappointed. Dianne filled with sun-bright energy. “We need to move fast! It’ll take ten minutes just to flash up a shuttle, even if we skip every safety step in the check-list.”
By then, Sam was worming his way out of his half-open pod hatch. He had heard them talking and wasn’t going to be left behind. “Well then, let’s go!”
“Wait up!” Louisa hustled away from the pods, leaving the other midshipmen and crew to release the rest of them.
Dianne asked, “Are you sure, Lieutenant? We’re taking a real long-shot, here. If you need to be doing anything else, we don’t want -”
Louisa jumped in, “Absolutely not! I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I should be halfway back home. But you three are going to do something incredibly dangerous, so I’m going to make sure you stay safe!”
Sam shone a bright smile her way, “Here I thought there wasn’t a single other Trinitian with a heart. You’re welcome to stay with us, Lieutenant.”
Normally, Sam’s best smile was known to make all but the most composed women blush. Oddly, she flushed with what looked more like shame. It didn’t stop her from matching their pace as they ran for the nearest shuttle bay.
The corridors were still mostly empty, especially this far from where Ashton was leading a determined effort to free every warm body he could. But the shuttle bay itself was truly deserted. Sam looked up and down the cavernous area. “I see eight, total. But that one over there looks like a visitor. It’s on the temporary pad. There’s another bay just like it on the far side of the station. How many can each take?”
Johanna pulled the statistic from her memory. “Eighteen, but they could probably double that for a short run to the surface. 504 total, 536 if we use this extra one.”
Dianne whistled. “That’s only half the station complement, if you include our class. If the orbit keeps decaying, they’re going to start evacuating within the hour.” Her eyebrows knit together in thought. “We don’t know if this is going to work. Should we use two?”
Johanna felt an important difference from the temporary shuttle. Her skin tingled with a small measure of added power and waste heat clinging to its surface. “The extra shuttle is on hot standby.”
“Really? Well, that means we can start making a difference faster. Sam, why don’t you start warming up a second. Worst case scenario, if I can’t make a connection or we don’t see any difference, then we can both get back here to take people off.”
Usually more than happy to let her friends set the pace, Johanna surprised them both by trying to change the plan. “You need a co-pilot, Dianne. Sam should go with you.”
Dianne partly agreed, “You’re right, I do. Thought you were going to ride with me, Jo!”
Johanna angled her head in polite appreciation for the offer, but said, “Better we have some effect than none. With Sam, the odds of you making a successful manual dock increases substantially. I make the odds of an evacuation starting before the second shuttle is ready to be over 60%, which will make this shuttle needed here.”
Louisa was looking around nervously, uncomfortable in the huge open space. “Midshipman Summer, I really think you should get on that shuttle with Starling. We shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket.”
Sam added, “Hate to say this, Lieutenant, but we’ve gotten used to trusting Johanna’s math. We’ll follow your orders, but trust me when I say betting against her doesn’t usually go well.”
Louisa hesitated.
Johanna prompted her, “82 minutes, Ma’am.”
Louisa looked back toward the hatch leading into the station. There was only a dim corridor beyond. No-one was coming. “Alright. We’ll spin up the second one and be right behind you.”
Dianne and Sam grinned and ran for the launch pad.
To Louisa, Johanna asked, “Will you cycle them through the outbound air-lock, Ma’am? I’ll start flashing up the second one.”
They split apart, each to their own task. As Louisa ran, her eyes never left the door leading back into the station. Her hawk-gaze searched for where the other real danger might be coming from.
Chapter 28
Makaio and Garam dashed into the secondary engineering space, joined with a small entourage of other station engineers. The crew dispersed into the area ready to do some good. Around them, they could see dozens of interlocked machines surrounded by walkways and platforms. Most were scorched from the explosion that had rocked the space, some still functioning but all too many were dead silent.
Not immediately hearing any work going on, they split up to locate the work teams that should have been tearing the space apart to get the thrusters back online. Makaio hung close to Garam, knowing he would be useless except taking orders from one who knew what he was talking about.
Within a few minutes, they knew something was off. Garam pointed, “Look, there’s a third one. These automechs are trashed! I mean, I know they were trying to make the test realistic, but this is ridicu
lous. It looks like someone put a bullet through it.”
Makaio had staggered to a stop at the corner to look past a bulky atmosphere. “This wasn’t part of the test, Garam.” Five steps in front of him, an engineer lay face down on the deck. But she had not died from an explosion. Blood oozed out over the deck from a fresh wound that had punched a hole from her back right through to her chest.
Garam was getting up to see what he meant when he glanced sideways to see another engineer, lying on his back further down the walkway. The dead man’s head was partially blasted away. A sniper had picked him off with a head shot. Garam gagged at the unexpected, gruesome image. “What the hell is going on here?”
Makaio hissed back, “Hell if I know, but whoever did it has a gun.” His eyes darted back, then sideways, then even up. There were catwalks extending above them for another three decks. The space was huge. “They could be anywhere!”
No sooner had he finished than a SNAP-Hissss-PING-Ping-ping sound echoed over the room as a bullet broke the sound barrier, sizzled through the air, then ricocheted off several metal pieces a dozen paces to one side. A cry of pain followed, meaning someone had gotten in the way of the bullet’s supersonic path.
They crouched together down on the deck. Garam whispered, “Are you kidding me? The damn shooter’s still in here! I don’t get it. This was all an accident, wasn’t it?”
Makaio growled back low and quiet, “Thought so. But unless this is a huge coincidence, and someone just happened to lose their mind at the worst possible moment, then this whole thing was sabotage. If that’s the case, we’re probably screwed, aren’t we?”
Garam wasn’t so certain. “If someone planned the damage, then maybe I can see what they did and reverse it.” He waved out at the rest of the space. “Though not if someone’s shooting at me along the way!”
Of Bravery and Bluster Page 27