by G J Ogden
“Well that went well,” said Liberty, catching up to Tobin and the others. Though the young man looked like he was ready to have a heart attack. “Which way do we go now?”
Tobin quickly got his bearings then pointed to an intersection ahead. “We head down there and then swing left on the main concourse. The travellator is in the center; you can’t miss it.”
Liberty took the lead, walking at a brisk pace. However, she resisted the urge to run, conscious of the need to remain inconspicuous. On a station like New Providence, if you were running, there was a good chance you were running away from something, or someone. Thankfully, there was plenty of foot fall outside and they all blended into the crowd seamlessly. Turning left onto the main concourse, Liberty saw the large, six-lane travellator, leading to the levels above and below, and felt a flicker of hope. However, she had barely taken a step towards it, when the public address system chimed an announcement.
“This is a security lock-down. Wanted fugitives are loose on the station,” the booming voice of the announcer began.
A group of people next to Liberty laughed as this played. “Who isn’t a wanted fugitive on this shithole?” said one of the men, and the others all laughed along with him.
Then every single infopanel on the station switched to show pictures of Liberty and Tobin. These quickly cycled to mug shots of Jonas, Pearl and Kris.
“If you see these fugitives, report them immediately to the security forces on the station,” the guttural announcer continued.
Liberty’s eyes widened, and she glanced over at the man next to her. His eyes moved from the infopanels down to Liberty. She placed her hand around the handle of one of her tonfa, expecting a fight, but the man simply held up his hands.
“Hey, lady, they didn’t mention a reward for handing you in, so I don’t give a shit what you did, or why they want you.”
Liberty laughed, and turned to Tobias. “You have to love mercenary thinking.”
“Actually, it makes a nice change not to have a bounty on my head,” said Tobias. “Not that I’m complaining. Come on, we need to move quickly.”
Liberty set off at a jog, figuring there was little point trying to remain inconspicuous with all of their faces blown up six-feet high on a hundred infopanels. She reached the top of the travellator, suddenly conscious that everyone was giving her a wide berth, but then she froze. Two security guards were bustling past the travelers on the opposite walkway, working their way up.
Liberty took a deep breath, and committed herself. Drawing the tonfas from her belt and holding them in the natural grip, so that the shafts rested across her forearms, she charged at the guards. Pain shot through her thigh, but the sudden burst of speed was enough to take the guards completely by surprise. She ploughed through the center of the two men, driving the tonfas into their throats, before they’d even realized she was coming. Liberty’s leg then gave way, and she tumbled down to the bottom of the travellator like a ragdoll. For a few seconds, she just lay, sprawled out on the deck, paralyzed by exhaustion and pain. Then she felt hands grabbing underneath her arms, hauling her up.
“You’re one crazy lady, do you know that?” said Tobin, smiling at her.
“Don’t say your mom would like me, or I’ll use these on you next,” said Liberty, raising the tonfas.
Tobin laughed, “Well, she would,” he said, but then quickly changed the subject. “We’re almost there; just one more level down and dock four is directly to our left.”
Tobin led the group as Liberty struggled to keep up the pace, due to the shooting pain in her thigh. She glanced behind, and saw three more guards at the top of the travellator, scouring the crowds looking for them. This is going to be close… she thought.
Liberty reached the second travellator and pushed through the pain barrier to catch up with the others. Tobin reached the bottom first, and urged Jonas on, slapping his back as he ran past. Pearl and Kris were next, but as they reached the foot of the moving walkway, Liberty heard a shot ring out. Pearl fell, and then Kris dropped to her side, screaming. Blood coated his hand as he pressed it over the wound to his sister’s side.
Liberty peered past them, looking for the shooter, as the crowd scattered in all directions, like startled pigeons. Then on her left she saw two security guards moving up towards Tobin, yelling at him to put up his hands. Liberty ducked down behind the side barrier of the travellator. She hadn’t yet reached the bottom, and the guards hadn’t spotted her.
Tobin and Jonas shot their hands up in the air as the guards approached. Liberty bided her time, sucking in deep breaths, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. A few meters from the bottom, she used the momentum of the moving walkway and raced forwards, swinging the first tonfa into the closest guard’s throat, before punching him with the second. The other guard reacted more quickly than Liberty had expected, shifting his aim towards her, but Tobin managed to grab the guard’s arm, deflecting his aim. A shot rang out, but it flew wild, and Liberty seized the opportunity to attack. She thrust the head of the tonfa into the guard’s sternum, before whipping the second across the side of his head, sending him down hard.
Lungs burning, Liberty turned back to Pearl. Kris was still at her side, pressing his hands over the wound. Blood was leaking from the hole, but the young woman was still alive. Moving her was the last thing Liberty wanted to do, but she had no choice. If they left Pearl on the deck, she’d certainly die.
“We have to carry her!” Liberty cried, looking at Tobin and Jonas. “Grab under her shoulders and her legs.”
Liberty ran ahead, through the archway into docking bay four. She then darted over to the dock master’s counter, startling the man cowering behind it.
“Jewel Star Liners, where are they?” Liberty called out to the man. “Quickly, we need to get off this station!”
The dock master glanced at Liberty, recognizing her at once. “You’re the one they’re looking for!” he said, “You have to get out of here! If they find you, they’ll think I had something to do with it.”
Liberty aimed a tonfa at him, “Look, mister, if you don’t help me, I’ll definitely tell them you were helping me to escape.”
“But, wait…” the dock master stammered, though Liberty was not giving way.
“Jewel Star Liners! Which bay?!”
The man pointed over to the far corner, “Bay six, but the station is on lock down. The captain won’t leave, they’ll just intercept him and destroy his ship.”
Liberty shut her eyes and sighed; she hadn’t considered that possibility. However, she knew that if they stayed, they’d be captured or killed, anyway. She didn’t see that she had a choice. “I’ll take that chance,” said Liberty. She glanced over to the archway and saw that Tobin and the others had just entered.
“Bay six, go!” Liberty called over to Tobin. Then she had an idea. Turning back to the dock master, she asked, “Can you seal that archway? There must be an emergency door, in case the docking bay loses pressure or something like that?”
“There’s a manual control by the side of the arch,” the dock master replied. “But access is restricted. You need the master ID fob.”
Liberty glanced down at the man’s belt. “You mean that one?” she said pointing the tonfa at the collection of ID fobs he was wearing.
The man winced, as he realized the painful stupidity of his mistake. “Please don’t make me give you this…” he said.
Liberty rested the two tonfa on the counter, and then locked eyes with the man. “Then don’t make me make you…”
The dock master groaned and removed the bundle of ID fobs, throwing it onto the counter.
“Do me at least one favor,” the dock master said, as Liberty grabbed the set of ID fobs. “Knock me out or something so it at least looks like I resisted.”
Liberty moved around the side of the counter, as urgent voices grew louder in the concourse. She held the tonfa ready, and nodded at the dock master, who closed his eyes.
“Will
it hurt?” the man said, eyes still shut tight.
Liberty spun out the weapon, striking him across the side of his head. He crumbled to the deck, but Liberty managed to partially catch him, and break his fall. “Yes,” she said, as she rested him flat on his back. “It’ll hurt like hell…”
Rushing back to the archway, she saw five security guards gathering on the concourse. She yanked open the emergency panel and began to cycle through the key fobs, pressing each one to the lock. For the first one the light turned red. Damn it, come on! Liberty urged, glancing back through the archway. The guards were on their way; she had only seconds to close the door. She pressed the second fob to the lock and waited. Another red light. Third fob… red light again. “Come on!” she yelled out loud, pressing the fourth fob to the lock. The wait was agonizing, but then the light turned green, and the inner panel opened. Liberty grabbed the handle and yanked it down, causing the emergency door to slam shut like the blade of a guillotine. She rested her head against the metal of the archway, feeling about ready to collapse. However, they weren’t in the clear yet.
Rushing over to bay six, she found Tobin arguing with the captain of a Jewel Star Liner ship.
“Look, I don’t give a shit if you’re Vespa Rand’s son,” the captain was saying, “You could be the King of England for all I care, I’m not leaving. The Council run this place, and they’ll gun us down before we get even half-way to the portal!”
Liberty stepped up, “If you take us, he’ll make sure you get paid two years' salary as a bonus.”
The captain and Tobin both looked at her, mouths agape. “What?” Liberty shrugged, “You’re good for it, right, rich kid?”
“Well, yeah…” said Tobin, also shrugging. “I guess I am.”
The captain’s eyes narrowed, “Make it three years' salary, and you have a deal.”
“Captain, if you get us to Mars in one piece, I’ll pay you four years' salary, and hand it to you on a silver platter,” said Tobin.
The captain’s narrowed eyes suddenly widened again. He stroked his fingers across his chin, then said, “Bollocks, I’m going to regret this, but what the hell, get on board…”
CHAPTER 28
The Orion cleared the dock and Hudson engaged the main drives, putting some welcome distance between himself and New Providence station. He wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of OPW space, but it was still gut-wrenching to be leaving without Liberty. Despite knowing there was nothing more he could have done, he felt like he’d failed her again.
The communications panel blinked and Hudson opened the channel to Morphus’ ship.
“I will detach now and begin my journey to the Corporeal’s homeworld,” said Morphus.
“Understood,” replied Hudson. “How are you feeling?”
There was a pause, before Morphus answered. “My base functions are still severely impaired.” Then with a much more human touch, it added, “But I feel fine, thank you.”
“Then I’ll see you when you get back,” said Hudson. “Good luck.”
“I wish you success also,” replied Morphus. “I will return as expediently as circumstances allow.” Then the channel clicked off, and Hudson felt a solid kick against the Orion’s hull as the alien vessel detached. A few seconds later, Morphus’ ship powered out in front of him, and vanished into the starry blackness at astonishing speed.
The navigation scanner bleeped, and Hudson checked it, noting that three new contacts had just appeared. He checked the registry IDs of each vessel. One of the ships was a Jewel Star Liners transport, on course towards the portal. It was a common, mid-sized commercial space liner, and ordinarily Hudson would have paid it no attention. However, he recalled the dock master saying that the station was on lock-down. Unless that status had changed, this lone transport shouldn’t have been able to depart.
He parked this thought for a moment, and checked the registry information for the other two ships, but they came up blank. Hudson could see that they were both XJ-11 Assault Gunboats, a type of light attack vessel that the MP military phased out and sold off a decade ago. It offered no creature comforts, like the RGF Patrol Crafts, but it was similarly agile and capable in combat situations. It was the perfect short-range vessel for mercenaries or private security forces. And with blank registry IDs, their actions would be almost impossible to link back to them, or to any particular organization. The Council… Hudson realized. Looks like I pissed them off pretty badly…
Hudson angled the nose of the Orion towards the portal and began to accelerate, while watching the scanner closely. However, instead of both gunboats turning towards the Orion, as Hudson expected, one had set an intercept course for the liner instead.
“What are you up to?” muttered Hudson, watching the chevron on the scanner. The liner then put on a sudden burst of acceleration, clearly trying to make a run for it. However, Hudson had flown that type of liner before, and knew its capabilities well. They were built like tanks, and moved about as fast. There was simply no chance it could outrun the gunboat.
The communications panel flashed again and Hudson sighed. The Jewel Star Liner had just put out a mayday. With the station on lock-down, there were no other ships in the vicinity, not that he would have expected any of them to answer the mayday. The only other vessel nearby was the Orion, which meant that Hudson was faced with another hard choice.
Hudson checked his distance to the portal again. If he continued at his current rate, he’d be able to jump long before the gunboat could close to weapons range. He also knew he’d be jumping away in the full knowledge that the liner would either be captured or more likely destroyed. The smart, albeit callous option, was to go anyway. The priority, even above that of rescuing Liberty, was to find Cutler and Griff, and recover the crystal. He couldn’t do that if he was blown to pieces by the hired guns of angry Council mobsters. He knew that he should continue his run for the portal. He also knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did.
Hudson throttled back the main engines and spun the Orion one hundred and eighty degrees. Clenching up tight, he then slammed the throttle forward again, initiating a three-g burn, which began to sharply reduce his velocity towards the portal. As the Orion slowed, the closing velocity of the other ships increased. It was like playing a game of chicken, except at thousands of kilometers per hour.
The gunboat clearly wasn’t in a mood for games. Hudson’s last-second, crazy change of course had caused it to veer away dramatically. Hudson saw tracer rounds fly off harmlessly into space above him. Panic flying and panic shooting… the Council needs to find itself some better pilots, Hudson thought.
Hudson then watched the smaller gunboat burn hard in an attempt to match the Orion’s relative velocity. However, Hudson was already tracking its position, and pushing the Orion even harder to close the distance. All the gunboat had achieved was to give Hudson the advantage. He flipped a switch on his instrument panel, and the whir of the Orion’s weapon systems deploying rattled through the deck. Hudson locked onto the engines of the target vessel and prepared to fire. One shot from the main cannon would obliterate the small attack craft. However, as much as the Council ship probably deserved to burn in space, Hudson wasn’t about to gun it down in cold blood.
The gunboat appeared to recognize the danger it had put itself in, and tried to run, but with the augmentations that Morphus had made, the Orion was significantly faster and more agile. Hudson waited for the little ship to fill the targeting reticule, then he squeezed the trigger.
The ventral cannon rattled off a volley of rounds, pulverizing the gunboat’s single main drive. The ship went into an uncontrolled spin, with electrical arcs erupting from its aft section, like a sparkler being waved on Independence Day.
Hudson adjusted course again to intercept the second gunboat, but it was already almost on top of the liner. He opened a channel to the vessel, hoping it had just seen what had happened to its companion.
“Unregistered gunboat, break off your pursui
t,” Hudson demanded. His previous victory had given him confidence, and he sounded clear and assertive, but there was no response from the gunboat. Hudson stayed calm and made constant micro-adjustments to his course, leading the target as the gunboat continued to charge down the liner.
“Unregistered gunboat, I say again, break off your pursuit,” Hudson repeated. “I am responding to a mayday. I will act in defense of this vessel, unless you discontinue your pursuit immediately.”
There was still no response. Come on, damn it, give up! Hudson urged. Then the gunboat suddenly cut its engines, and pulsed its thrusters, lining up the cannons on its wing tips with the Orion instead.
“Shit!” Hudson shouted, changing course, but the gunboat had already got a shot off. Hudson felt the ship shudder, and a red light flashed up on his damage control panel. He didn’t look at it. The gunboat and liner raced past, and Hudson fought the controls to bring the Orion back in line with the target. The gunboat’s maneuver had caused it to lose some ground to the liner, but Hudson too had been forced out of weapons range. With time running out, he adjusted his trajectory, flying purely by eye, and rammed the throttle hard forward.
The forces on his body increased to painful levels, but soon the gunboat crept back into range. He checked the ventral cannon, but the automatic targeting system was down, possibly as a result of the hit he’d taken. He’d have to use the nose cannon, which meant aiming the old-fashioned way.
“Mark-one eyeball it is then,” said Hudson, making minute adjustments with the thrusters. He checked the relative distances again and saw that the gunboat was almost in range of the liner. It was now or never. He made one more tiny adjustment, leading the target like a World War Two Spitfire pilot, and fired. The cannon shells flew off ahead, and seconds later the gunboat exploded. Hudson quickly veered away to avoid the debris, then eased off the main drives, before releasing the controls. His hands ached and fingers throbbed, but the pain had been worth it. The liner was safe.