Wings of Earth- Season One

by Eric Michael Craig

  “We’re locked down and the chrono’s running,” Nuko said over the comm as the indicator lights turned green to say they had a seal to the gangway interconnect.

  Two security officers met them at the safety bulkhead door, and Ethan nodded as they walked up. “Captain Walker, we’re supposed to escort you to the FM,” the taller of the two said. “The manager said we might need to give you some protect—” He stepped back as Quintan ducked through the door behind them.

  “We figured that might be an issue, so we brought our own,” Ammo said, ignoring their reaction. “Is Luca still running things here?”

  “Uhm, yah,” the second guard said. She stared up at the handler with her brain apparently shorting out as she calibrated his absolute hugeness. “You are a large one, aren’t you?”

  “Momma fed me well,” the handler said, shrugging.

  “Luca Chao is the Facility Manager,” Ammo said as the first guard turned and started down the corridor. She and Ethan fell in behind the guards and Quintan dropped in behind them. “She owes me a favor or two so at least we’ll get you a fair shake.”

  It was easy to keep track of where the handler was because the continuous groaning protest of his leather suit set a cadence with his slow lumbering footfalls. It was amusing to watch people step to the side and stare as they passed. Sandwiched between Ammo and his giant security guard, he might as well have been invisible. Not a single person made eye contact with him for the whole walk to the Management office.

  “Tiamorra Rayce? How long has it been?” the Facility Manager asked. She smiled as they walked in.

  “Too long,” Ammo said. She walked over and threw herself down in the chair in front of the desk like she owned the office.

  “And you must be Captain Walker of the Olympus Dawn?” Chao said, standing up and offering her hand. She was a tall woman with sharp eyes and short platinum hair. “I don’t believe we’ve met, but your reputation precedes you.”

  “So, it appears,” he said, taking the seat she’d indicated.

  “We’ve maybe got a misunderstanding happening,” Ammo said. “What can we do to make it go away?”

  The manager shook her head. “Always to the point, aren’t you?”

  “We’re on a timeframe apparently,” she said. “Dancing is fun when you have time on your side, but two hours isn’t much when there’s work to do.”

  “True enough,” Chao said, turning toward Ethan and leaning back on one of her arms. “Here’s what I’m up against. The Shipmaster’s Guild has filed to revoke your membership, and since your dock authorizations are all cleared through the Guild, you technically shouldn’t be aboard.”

  “Wait, the Guild has jerked my membership?” he asked, shaking his head. “On what grounds?”

  “That’s between you and them,” she said. “I know what the rumors say about you, and if Ammo says you’re legit, I frankly don’t give a frak what their issues are with you. I just have to keep the documents in order.”

  “Does this mean we’re banned?” Ammo asked.

  “Not entirely,” she said. “Your ship is still allowed to pick up cargo and passengers at X-04, but it would be ill advised for Captain Walker to access the station facilities. At least until we can get new authorizations completed.”

  “So, it’s bureaucracy,” he said.

  “Exactly,” she said, looking back at him and nodding. “We’re a free port so we can’t deny you permission to be here, but you need to understand that while you are aboard, you have no legal protections. That means anything you might do that would have a negative impact on our regulations could be grounds for prosecution.”

  “You’re saying he has no legal rights, but is obligated to adhere to the law?” Ammo asked.

  She nodded again.

  “And this is permanent?” Ethan asked.

  “No, not at all,” Luca said. “Even if the Guild revokes your membership, you’re welcome to complete an Independent Use Application. Once you’ve submitted the forms, it will take us about ninety days to complete the back work and approve you. After that your access status will be reinstated and you’ll be good to come and go as you wish.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “And this is probably going to happen at every Transfer Hub Station, isn’t it?”

  “I can’t speak for the other facilities, but I’d say it’s likely,” she said. “Isn’t documentation compliance why most captains join the Guild?

  She was right. “So where do we get the app?”

  “I can have my AA forward it to you if you want,” she said.

  He nodded.

  Leaning over, she tapped the command into her desktop screen. “As soon as we receive the completed forms and your application fees, we can issue you a probationary permit.”

  Of course, there would be fees. There are always fees. He rubbed his forehead and let out a slow breath. “Probationary permit?”

  “It still doesn’t provide you with legal protections, but it does limit your liability as long as you commit no capital crimes.”

  “Well at least there’s that,” he said.

  His thinpad chirped in his pocket. It was a message from Marti. “Independent Use Application received and completed. Affix your biometric authorization and I will return it immediately. Remittance is required.”

  He scrolled down the file and gasped. The fee was almost as much as a month’s worth of overhead for the Dawn.

  He pressed his thumb onto the screen to seal the document. “We should be good to go,” he said as he watched the file upload to the station server and got his confirmation tag.

  “Excellent. You’ll have your probationary permit before you return from your run,” Luca said, standing up and offering her hand again. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you. Good sailing, Captain.”

  Rising, Ethan glanced at Ammo who remained seated and winked at him. “I’ll be along in a few minutes.”

  “I think we’re still on the chrono,” he said, glancing at his thinpad to confirm the time they had left.

  “It’s alright, I know the boss here, so I think we’ll be good.”

  He frowned but could tell from her expression that he shouldn’t push. He knew he needed to trust her to do her job even if at this point, he wasn’t sure what she had left to do. “I can leave Quinn with you?” he offered.

  She shook her head. “I’ve just got some catching up, so you two can run along home, and I’ll be there before we untie.”

  Chapter Six

  A fist appeared out of the darkness, followed by a growling roar as Ethan’s head snapped backward with a flash of instant pain. A second set of knuckles swung through the air where his face would have been if he hadn’t already been heading for the deck plating with the back of his head. It wasn’t the captain’s first fight by any means but catching him blind as he stepped out of the lift was a new low point.

  Fortunately, he wasn’t alone. Quintan was the worst of all possible nightmares for someone wanting to cause trouble. The two men who had thought to make easy rubble out of a middle-something captain, had no clue what had grabbed them until they found themselves eating wall panels. And bulkhead edges. And ceiling plates.

  Repeatedly.

  Before Ethan managed to get back to his feet, there were two crumpled piles of formerly conscious human flesh, tossed in a corner.

  “You alright, Cap’n?” the handler asked, helping Walker to a standing position and pulling a rag out of an improbably hidden pocket in his leather bodysuit. He offered it to him for his profusely bleeding nose. It didn’t look like he was even aware that he’d rearranged the anatomical distribution of the two men who had attacked them.

  “Yah. Frakking cheap shot,” he said, dabbing at the running blood on his upper lip and wincing in pain. “Thanks.”

  Quintan shrugged. “I know it’s your call, Cap’n, but I’m thinking it might be bad to keep standing here.”

  “Maybe so,” Ethan said, nodding his head and looking around. The ligh
ts along the interconnect were down at least as far as where the Dawn was docked. They were the only ship on the end of the stanchion, so the corridor was empty and dark. The only illumination on the whole deck was from where the lift doors stood open, and the faint glow of reflected light coming in through the windows.

  Even the emergency lights were offline.

  One of the men groaned and they both turned. It didn’t look like he’d be getting up for a while, but Quintan walked over and grabbed him by the back of his coverall. Picking him up, he carried the man over to the lift platform and dropped his still unconscious body in the doorway. It would keep the door from closing and give them some light as they made their way back to the ship. “He’s wearing a maintenance uniform. That explains the lights, but it’s also a bad sign, I think.”

  Station personnel. The captain nodded.

  “We’ve had a situation out here,” Ethan said, tapping his collar link and gesturing for them to move out. They were less than 400 meters from the airlock to the ship, so his call wouldn’t route through the station’s internal comm repeaters.

  “What’s up?” Nuko asked.

  “Somebody tried to rack us at the lift landing,” he said.

  “You’re alright?”

  “Better than they are,” he said. “Quinn took care of the problem. But we’re in the dark out here.”

  “You want I should report it?” she asked.

  “Negative on that,” he said. “Luca warned me to keep my nose clean, and they were wearing station uniforms.”

  “Understood,” she said. Her tone said she wasn’t surprised.

  “Lights and backup power are down in the interconnect corridor. We propped the lift door open, but I don’t know if we’re alone out here.”

  “I can send Angel and Marti out to meet you,” she suggested.

  “Negative, we’re on our way and will be at the airlock in a minute,” he said. “Did Ammo check in yet?”

  “Da. A couple minutes ago,” she said.

  “Tell her we’ll be moving as soon as I’m aboard. She needs to hop a jump-bus over to the staging platform for array-four.”

  “Should I let her know what’s going on?”

  “Negative,” he said. “She might not be alone, and I don’t want admin catching wind of this before we’re clear. Just tell her to get legs under her.”

  “Yah, Boss,” she said.

  “Tell the Doc that Cap’n’s got a broken nose,” Quintan said. “He’s leaking some, too.”

  “It’s not broken,” Ethan said, shooting the handler a glare in the near dark. He glanced back and saw that the second man had crawled over to the one they’d used to prop the door.

  “They’re moving,” he whispered.

  “I can go fix that if you think I need to,” the handler offered.

  “No, let’s get aboard the ship,” the captain said, doubling his pace. “Unless they’re idiots, they won’t want to dance another round with you.”

  He almost expected to face another set of knuckles as they rounded the corner and entered the gangway tube to the airlock. It was dark, but clear. Skidding to a stop, he thumbed the biometric scanner at the security door. Nothing happened. He hit it again before he realized why. “Frak! The power’s off to the gangway egress hatch.”

  “I anticipated that possibility,” Marti said, “and I am already approaching your position with an automech. I can power the circuit from the inside. Stand by.”

  Quintan stood just behind him in the narrow hallway but was looking back in the direction they’d come. A faint light splashed on the wall across the interconnect. “They’re on their feet and coming,” he said, leaning around the corner and jerking back as a stunner pellet whizzed past his head and exploded in a shower of sparks beside him. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t thump them hard enough.”

  “Yah, Marti, make feet. We’ve got more fun about to start out here.” Ethan leaned back against the door behind his handler and held his breath.

  “Step away from the door, Captain,” the AA said.

  “Nogo. We’re pinned in place,” he said.

  “Powering the lock mechanism will take several minutes and I think it might be prudent to use power tools.” A grinding sound screeched on the other side of the door. After several seconds, it gave way to a shrill buzzing hiss and then the door groaned as it erupted inward. Another stunner pellet snapped along the edge of the wall in front of Quintan punctuating the moment with a loud crack.

  Ethan stumbled backward as two strong mechanical arms grabbed his coverall and swung him up over the top of Marti’s automech body. He landed on his feet in a stumbling run. He bolted toward the safety of the open airlock and Quintan slid in a half step behind, crushing him against the inner hatch. Marti skittered backward toward the ship holding the safety door as a shield between them and the two men that had arrived at the end of the gangway. Several stunner rounds snapped against the door shield before the automech tossed it in their direction. They leapt around the corner to avoid being bisected by the flying hunk of scrap steel.

  “Unfortunately, X-04 Administration are likely to bill us for damages to the door,” Marti said as it squeezed into the lock beside them and the hatch sealed them safely inside.

  “We can blame it on faulty maintenance,” Ethan said as the inner door cycled, and he fell forward into the safety of the ship.

  “Cap’n’s right,” the handler said. “I’d say it was definitely a lack of preparation on the part of maintenance personnel.”

  Nuko, we’re aboard,” he said. “Let’s push back and get out of here before they change their minds.”

  “We’re waiting for clearance,” she said.

  “Just blow the seal and shove us back,” he said. “I want to be free floating before security gets called.”

  “Cando,” she said as the hissing of venting air whistled outside the airlock door.

  “The doctor is in MedBay and prepared to treat your broken nose,” Marti said.

  “It is not broken,” Ethan said, watching the automech tilt its head to the side in a fair affectation of doubt.

  “Regardless, she is waiting to fix your unbroken, broken nose,” it said.

  He shook his head and blinked several times. It did hurt. A lot.

  “Other than Ammo, has everyone else boarded?” he asked, swinging into the lift cage and stepping to the side to make room for Quintan.

  “Affirmative,” Marti said, switching to the commlink as they rode up to the mid-deck.

  “Ammo says she’s on the jump to array-four staging,” Nuko reported from the ConDeck as he stopped at the door to MedBay.

  “Good,” he said. “As soon as I’m done with the doctor, I’ll be up to the ConDeck to relieve you. I want you in the loader and pulling our cargo. Cando like twenty minutes ago, yes?”

  “Fast as we get there,” she said. “We’re maneuvering into the queue now.”

  He knocked on the doorframe and Kaycee turned in his direction, frowning.

  “I didn’t think you were a brawler,” she said, pointing at the diagnostic bed.

  “I’m not, but it was a cheap shot,” he said, sitting down so she could look at his face. She reached out and touched the tip of his nose with her finger and he flinched.

  “It’s broken,” she said. “You’re going to have a couple shiners for a while, but it doesn’t look too bad.”

  “Just fix it and let me get on deck,” he said.

  “We should check for a concussion.” She turned and grabbed a scanner from her tool rack. “What happened?”

  “Two guys jumped us as we got off the lift,” he said. “They’d killed the lights, so I didn’t see anything until it was too late to duck.”

  “Did you report it to station security?” She stared at the display for several seconds.

  “No,” he said, trying to read her expression. “I’m on probation here and any entanglement issues with security could make that go sidewise.”

  “That’s
fragged.” She tossed the scanner on the counter behind her and picked up an osteo-regenerator.

  The tingling sensation from the electromagnetic stimulation made him want to sneeze, but he closed his eyes and tried not to wrinkle his nose.

  “Sit still,” she said. “You’re worse than a kid.”

  He opened one eye and glared at her but didn’t move.

  “Why would someone attack you?” she asked.

  “Shipmaster’s Guild is trying to throw me under the shuttle, so maybe they wanted to make sure I got the message.”

  “The Guild?”

  “Yah. It’s why we had authorization issues to tie down here,” he said.

  “I didn’t know they had that kind of power,” she said.

  “They don’t directly, but they cover the docking permits for their members,” he explained. “They can’t keep me from getting my own, but it complicates things for now.”

  “How will that affect our ability to get work?” she asked. Adjusting the field, she ran the unit over a wider area of his face.

  “The ship is legal, but it might make it tough for me to do any legwork.” He opened his eyes and realized she was biting her lip. “Is there something wrong?”

  She shook her head. “If we need help to nail down the permits, I do have people at Smythe.”

  “Let me see where we are next time we put into a hub station,” he said. “For now, we should file this as a conversation for later and get me on deck. I need to pilot so Nuko can load.”

  “You’re good to go,” she said.

  Chapter Seven

  “We’re ready to make the jump to cruise,” Nuko said.

  “Incoming message from X-04 Security. They are ordering us to stand down,” Marti said.

  For the last twenty hours, Ethan had been waiting for the call. It surprised him that they let them get this far away before they tried. “Ignore it,” he said.

  Nuko glanced at him but nodded.

  “They are ordering you to return for questioning regarding the assault on two station personnel,” it said.