by Cary Caffrey
Only then did the XO lower his own weapon. "All right, let's take her to the brig." He checked his wrist monitor—the environmental systems had pumped the last of the gas out. He pulled the breather off his face and took a deep breath. He hated wearing those things.
The quinuclidinyl-benzilate they'd dosed her with left Sigrid feeling quite nauseous, especially when the medic had followed it up with the sedative. He'd given her enough to put a horse out for a day. Sigrid did her best not to retch and kept her breathing low while the billions of nanomites scattered to combat all the drugs they'd pumped into her. Sigrid's bionics worked to keep her pulse low and steady, leaving little reason for them to suspect she wasn't completely down for the count.
Either Keller was paranoid, or just overly cautious, because he had another crewman tie her wrists with a set of plastic binders.
Great; just what she needed.
They were taking her to the brig. She knew from the schematics loaded into her PCM that their route would take her in the vicinity of the Engineering section, one deck below.
The crewmen charged with handling her had a bit of a time passing her down the ladder to the lower deck. One crewman held her hands, lowering her down to two more crewmen below, who gathered her up in their arms. Even with her eyes closed, her sensory modules picked up the men's reactions as they handled her nearly naked body. She hadn't anticipated this as affording a distraction, but the young men seemed to be concentrating far more on her rear than the task at hand.
While they carried her, Sigrid took stock of the crew's location on the small ship. Five crewmen had accompanied her down toward the brig, and four more manned the engineering section. That only left three, presumably on the bridge.
They were approaching the brig. Sigrid knew she couldn't let them lock her inside. If she were lucky, the captain of the Morrigan had already transmitted the deactivation codes for the mine, but Sigrid had to assume it was still live. The auxiliary control center was only ten meters down the corridor from her current position.
Now was the time.
Sigrid slitted open her eyes. Two crewmen gripped her arms on both sides; the one on her right held a riot gun; he also had several gas grenades clipped to his belt. Perfect. She held back a smile.
Sigrid bent her knees and sprang to her feet. She hooked her trussed-up wrists over the first man's head, spun him around and threw him into the body of the other man who'd held her a moment before. Both crashed heavily into the wall. It was a simple matter to relieve the crewman of his riot gun; she snapped it out of his hands as he fell, off-balance.
Three crew charged at her from the direction of the engineering section and she fired, watching the net spread out as it pinned the crewmen to the bulkhead. They spasmed—quite satisfyingly, Sigrid thought. She winced at their cries as the power-pack discharged its potent dose of electricity.
Her sensors registered a warning. Sigrid ducked and rolled under the stun-charge that whizzed past her head. In one fluid motion, she liberated two of the gas grenades from the felled crewman, pulled the pins and rolled one down each direction of the corridor. Only the XO had time to get his breather back on his face, but in his haste he dropped his stun pistol. Sigrid stepped in next to him and yanked the mask off his face; he took one panicked, short breath and slumped to the grated, metal floor.
Sigrid tossed the breather aside. The nanomites in her system could probably handle the gas, but she was still feeling nauseous from the earlier gassing, so she held her breath. She could hold it for six minutes easily enough. She relieved an unconscious crewmen of his knife, cut herself free from the binders and massaged her chafed wrists. The brief skirmish had lasted just under sixteen-seconds. She scanned and detected no alarms. Good. Sigrid did a quick count; all five of her escort were down, along with three of the engineers; she realized there was one remaining and cursed.
She peeked into the cramped Engineering Room, but there was no sign of him. That meant he was either on the bridge or her information was wrong. The Auxiliary Controls were in front of her. She moved to the console, where her PCM searched and found the correct network access, linking her directly to the ship's systems. A number of security protocols tried to block her access as she worked her way through the firewalls. Suko would be better at this, she thought. Suko was always better at decryption.
It took longer than she'd have preferred, a little less than a minute, but she finally managed to break through the security and found the deactivation codes for the mine. She breathed a deep sigh as she confirmed they hadn't tried to detonate it yet. Her efforts had so far gone unnoticed on the bridge, but that would change shortly.
Sigrid stifled a giggle as she fed a worm-hack into the control systems—this was a little mischief Suko had shown her. It was fast-acting and, if it worked, would keep any of the command crew from doing anything until she could gain full control of the ship.
* * *
Captain Gregory Oslov leaned forward in his chair and peered over the shoulder of the helmsman in front of him. The bridge on the scout ship was so small he could see the consoles of most of the crew. He'd gotten into the habit of looking at theirs rather than his own master-console in the arm of this chair. He was a control freak, and he knew it.
He checked the chronometer again. His XO had reported that they'd captured the girl and were on the way to the brig, but that report was two minutes old. Oslov wasn't about to relax until she was safely locked away. He didn't know much about the package, only that she was to be regarded as extremely dangerous. She'd been given the highest threat-rating by their commandant.
He was distracted for a moment by the flashing light on his communications panel. The Agatsuma was hailing him again, eager for the deactivation codes, no doubt.
"Not just yet, my friends," Oslov muttered, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair. Not until she's safely stowed and secured.
He checked the time again. It had been too long. Oslov wasn't quite panicking, but the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. His XO should have reported by now. He banged the com with the back of his fist, opening a channel.
"Keller—report!" He waited. Silence. Fuck. "Chen. Hiller!" Only the squelch and rasp of static answered back. The helmsman turned around in her chair and shot him a worried look. Oslov stared down at the small console attached to the arm of his chair. One light blinked like a beacon—the switch that would send the activation command to the mine he'd laid for the Agatsuma. Could he really do it? Could he blow up an entire crew of fellow Mercenaries? Would it make any difference?
He looked up at the helmsman. "What's the position of the Agatsuma?"
"No change, sir. Still just sitting there, ten thousand klicks out."
"All right. Lock us down until we can figure out what's going on. No one gets in here, you hear me?"
The young officer worked furiously at her controls, then a bewildered expression spread over her face.
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure, sir—everything checks out, but…nothing's working. I don't…I have no control!"
"Mother…" Oslov jumped to his feet and banged his head, yet again, on the low ceiling. He drew his sidearm and moved quickly to the door. Too late—it slid open. Captain Oslov was too seasoned a professional to be surprised or shocked at the sight of the small, nearly naked girl in front of him. He didn't want to hurt her; he wasn't a violent man, but orders were orders, and he didn't hesitate in his duty. He fired his weapon, point blank.
The speed at which she moved didn't seem possible. She became a flickering blur before his eyes. His slug pierced the air where she'd just been standing and exploded against the bulkhead down the corridor. Oslov's mouth fell open and his hand went slack. This time, he did hesitate. He stared wildly at her as she leveled the riot gun at him. The blast knocked him backward, sending him tumbling over the back of his captain's chair and pinning him up against the helm and navigation's consoles. He felt the surge of electricity judder his system; his eyes rol
led back in his head, but not before he saw the girl leap over him; he heard a sickening thud and his helmsman's screams, then everything went black.
* * *
Sigrid pushed the unconscious body of the helmsman from her chair onto the floor, taking a moment to relieve the woman of her uniform jacket. She hit a switch on the control panel, deactivating her worm program and restoring control to the bridge. She took care to ensure that the auxiliary controls remained locked out; she still had to worry about the missing crewman, probably hiding somewhere on board.
Mercifully, the ship was small and she soon found him, snoring soundly in his quarters. He'd somehow slept through the entire action. Sigrid snorted at the comedy of it as she sealed him into his quarters before returning to the bridge. The Agatsuma was out of range of her implanted comlink so she used the Morrigan's transmitter and thumbed the channel open. The loud sound of cheering from the Agatsuma's bridge crew was a welcome assault to her ears. She put the image up on the forward viewer and smiled at the relieved countenance of the captain and the crew behind him.
"Well done, Ms. Novak. Is the ship secure?"
"Yes, sir. I've gained control of the bridge and I've locked out control through the rest of the ship. The crew is incapacitated. I've also deactivated the mine—I think you'll find it's quite harmless now."
The captain nodded acknowledgment. "Very well. Stay where you are—keep the bridge. We'll come alongside and send a boarding party aboard. I…don't know how you did it. We can't thank you enough. I'm sure there's a hefty commendation bonus in this for you."
Bonus? Sigrid hadn't considered that, but of course, this was the life of a Mercenary.
She acknowledged the compliment with a slight bow. "Thank you, Captain."
"Stand by. We'll be alongside in a moment."
The viewer winked-off and Sigrid was alone again, apart from the untidy heap of unconscious bridge officers. Something on Captain Oslov's body caught her eye. He still held his sidearm in his limp hand—a matching one lay holstered on his left side. Sigrid picked it up. She always found the allure of such weapons compelling, ever since the day she'd discovered what a crack shot she was. The captain's pistols were unlike anything she'd held before. Slightly larger than the Markovs, these were a unique, custom-design. There was nothing like them in her database. They were pearl-handled and fit the palm of her hand perfectly, even better than her Markovs. Longer, heavier and fashioned from polished tungsten, they fired a variety of simple, high-powered ballistic rounds. They were lethal, brutal and utterly lovely.
Trophies perhaps? That's what Mercenaries did, right? She wondered if she'd be allowed to keep them, even as she removed the captain's holsters and fastened the belt around her own waist.
As she looked around the ship, another idea occurred to Sigrid.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mercenary
March 2, 2348
"You what?" Captain Maalouf demanded.
Standing before him in his ready-room, dressed in her Academy outfit, Sigrid raised her posture, hands clasped behind her back. She had scoured Kimura's database, and also asked the advice of Karen and Lieutenant Lopez. She was determined not to back down.
"Yes, sir." Her reply came measured and steady. "I claim the Morrigan as bounty."
Captain Maalouf leaned back in his chair and studied the small yet clearly determined girl in front of him. "You know that after a victory it is customary for the attacking ship to claim salvageable vessels as prize. Honoring your demands would mean the entire crew would have to forfeit their bonus—not to mention Kimura's own claims. The Agatsuma is still a Kimura vessel and they'll be expecting to charge a tax on the operation as well."
Sigrid had already studied the complex bonus structure thoroughly. On the face of it, the Agatsuma and the entire Kimura corporation appeared to have a legitimate claim on the spoils.
Unless Sigrid could make her case.
She felt a wave of doubt, but steeled herself and blurted out what she'd been rehearsing in her head all morning. "Begging your pardon, sir, no disrespect intended, but…well, you surrendered to the captain of the Morrigan. You surrendered, sir. As such, I was operating on my own. And…" Sigrid swallowed, "I claim the Morrigan as spoils of war under article 487, section 6C of the Mercenary Act."
Captain Maalouf scowled at her. "Article…" His hand moved over the console on his desk, as if to verify the quoted article, then he fixed her with a stony stare. "You know we had no choice in surrendering—that was part of the plan."
"Yes, sir. I realize that you were left with few choices. But still, you did technically surrender, sir." Sigrid coughed to clear her dry throat, as much as fill the silence.
The captain's eyes narrowed. "I could refuse…"
"And I would request arbitration."
Her words drew a wry smile from Maalouf. "This won't make you popular with the crew—they'll be expecting a bonus in this matter."
Sigrid breathed a sigh. Was he really giving in? "I'll still need to hire a crew to bring the ship in, Captain. Or have the Agatsuma tow the Morrigan to Aquarii. Either way, the crew and the ship would be rewarded for the task."
"You've given this much thought, I see."
"Yes, sir."
The captain laughed with more warmth this time. He nodded and leaned forward. "Very well, Ms. Novak. I concede. You may claim the Morrigan. I propose towing the ship the rest of the way—I believe you'll find the standard towing fees more reasonable than hiring a crew."
"Thank you, sir, but I'd prefer to crew the ship." Sigrid pulled out her data-pad from behind her back and placed it on the desk. "Here's a list of the personnel I require for the operation."
Captain Maalouf couldn't help but grin at Sigrid's determination. He leaned back in his chair and chuckled before rising and extending his hand. "Very well, Ms. Novak. And congratulations on a job well done."
* * *
March 3, 2348
Sigrid was once again grateful for her diminutive stature. As she stood behind the command chair on the cramped bridge of the Morrigan her head almost touched the ceiling. The other crew members had to stoop as they entered the crowded cockpit.
The door to the bridge slid open. Lieutenant Lopez came breezing in and banged his head smartly on the low ceiling. "Mother…"
Sigrid and Karen winced in unison.
"Glad you could make it, Lieutenant," Sigrid said, with a wink to Karen. "Think you can handle bringing the ship in-system?"
He nodded, then rubbed the sore spot on his forehead before taking his position at the helm. "You know I'm just a Tac-Officer. I've never piloted anything like this."
"Yes, but you're certified. I've checked your record." She also knew Captain Maalouf would be reluctant to release his more skilled bridge officers. Christian was certified, and she was grateful to have him on board—and to have his company.
Karen cleared her throat. "The Agatsuma is signaling they're ready to get underway."
Ensign Karen McTeer was still assigned to her personally, as her Orientations Officer and Sigrid had employed her as Communications Officer.
"Good. Let them know we're also set to go. We'll follow them in at ten thousand kilometers aft."
"Aye, sir—I mean, ma'am." Karen chuckled.
Sigrid peered through the side viewport and watched as the thrusters of the larger craft at their side flared brilliantly. The Corvette slid by them, slowly, then accelerated at an incredible rate before disappearing a few moments later. Sigrid frowned at the command chair in front of her—somehow, she didn't feel right sitting in it so she stood alongside it with her hand on the backrest.
"Ma'am?" Christian asked. They all seemed to be looking at her, waiting.
"Let's go to Aquarii."
* * *
March 8, 2348
For just over six days, both ships thundered through space, moving ever deeper into the heart of the Aquarii system. At the halfway point, they flipped 180º about, decelerating the rest of the
way toward the small blue-green planet that was Aquarii II. The Morrigan could have easily covered the distance in half the time, but Sigrid chose to follow the larger ship in. She was in no hurry to get to Aquarii and passed the time by exploring every inch of the small scout vessel. It was lightly armed compared to the Agatsuma, with only two forward torpedo tubes and two rail-turrets, mounted dorsally and ventrally. Spanning less than fifty meters, the Morrigan was small, but fast and highly agile.
Much of her time was spent with Ensign McTeer. In light of the recent attack, Sigrid insisted the ensign should brief her on the political and economic climate of the Federation, rather than worry about what Sigrid was doing—or not doing—with her hair. Sigrid was surprised to learn how the Trade Federation had grown to cover twenty-four planets, with seven more already being explored for mining and resource extraction. When she'd been a girl, there had only been colonies in twelve systems. Much of the information was already included in her database, but Karen had a knack of explaining the complex nuances of the Federation's political structure in an illuminating way. Sigrid would never have thought to claim the Morrigan as a spoil of war, were it not for the ensign's tutoring.
On the bridge, Christian frowned at his controls. "I know you say I'm checked out on these things, but I hope you won't think less of me if I let the automated systems take us down."
Sigrid laughed. "Not at all. Take us in, Lieutenant Lopez."
"Aye, ma'am."
The nose of the Morrigan dipped down and the sight of Aquarii filled the forward viewport. Sigrid spied Aquarii's most unique and spectacular geological feature, The Slash, a wide and winding inland sea that divided Aquarii's two largest land masses, carving its way from ocean to ocean.
They pierced the atmosphere at 25,000 kph. After the smooth ride through the system, the sudden buffeting was a noisy, uncomfortable contrast. The inertial dampening systems handled much of the turbulence but Sigrid found herself clinging hard to the back of the command chair as the small ship bumped and jittered through re-entry.