Junkyard Spaceship, page 21
part #3 of Junkyard Pirate Series
AJ pulled on the front of the stack of supply crates and was surprised at how easily the heavy items moved across the landing bay's deck. With Chok pushing and AJ pulling, the hovering stack sped up and immediately plowed into the debris caused by AJ, Jayne and Darnell's explosive exit from their hiding spots.
"Stop!" AJ called, pushing back on the crates as they started dragging debris.
"Move that out of the way," Chok demanded unhelpfully. "Stop pulling."
Fortunately, Jayne recognized the problem and joined AJ in the struggle to free the junk.
The sound of gunfire and the ping of a round ricocheting off the ship's hull caused the three to flinch. A blinking red arrow in AJ's vision warned him to move just seconds before another round struck inches from his face. With limited options, he viciously kicked at a piece of metal that had become lodged against the deck and was impeding their progress. Chok had momentarily stopped pushing against him and AJ managed to free the load even though it hurt his foot.
Only a couple of seconds had elapsed since they'd been fired on. Beverly's visual locator blinked a red outline as she identified Loveit thirty yards away firing at them with his pistol. "Jayne, return fire!"
He ducked around the crates as Loveit fired three more times. The sizzle of Jayne’s high-energy rounds leaving her weapon and the flash of blaster energy instantly bridged the gap between her and her target. A shout of surprise from Loveit followed and he ducked behind a Xandarj vessel.
"Chok, go!"
The small, white-furred Xandarj slammed the supply stack onto the pitched ramp. While the stack had no issues with tipping, Chok didn't have sufficient inertia to push it up the ramp.
AJ joined her, throwing his weight into the back of the stack. For a moment, they were barely able to move until AJ felt another body slam into his own. "Get this crap moving!" Jayne urged, shouldering the load as she exchanged fire with Loveit.
The crates zoomed up the ramp. AJ raised his head to look around the corner of the stack and knew they would be too late to stop the disaster ahead. Their crates were piled higher than the hatch would allow and before AJ could do anything, the arched opening caught the top of the containers, jarring everything and everyone with the force of the ricochet. Considering the circumstances, he knew they couldn't afford to be picky about the condition of their supplies. Digging in, he jammed his body into the stack, spilling the center two crates through the opening. The bottom containers stayed put and AJ fell forward on top of them. The smaller crates on top of the pile tilted back and fell away from the ship, barely missing him. One ended up hitting Jayne and knocking her from the ramp, the crate hanging precariously above her, teetering on the edge.
Loveit seized on the shift in circumstance and rushed toward them, firing wildly, managing to send bullets ricocheting into the ship.
"What the hell?" Darnell exploded on comms. "Take care of your shit, Jenkins!"
AJ struggled to free himself from the crates, which wasn't easy to do given how he'd wound up twisted and wedged inside the gap between the heavy boxes. That they were taking fire, however, was critical and he didn't need Beverly to boost his adrenaline levels to respond with a strength he normally couldn't manage.
Just as he freed himself, one of the crates moved sharply, rammed against his thighs, and bent his knees backward. He yelped and threw himself to the side, barely escaping the unexpected push as Chok burst out from under the pile.
"Oh, I am sorry, Albert Jenkins," Chok said, recognizing that she'd almost plowed him over.
"Jayne, report!" AJ called, ignoring Chok.
"About to put that jackass on his butt," Jayne said, uncharacteristic anger in her voice.
"Ninety seconds, Albert Jenkins," Tork said. "We are not yet running. This could result in poor consequences."
As a group, they'd all discussed in length what Mads Bazer's offer of temporary protection had entailed. She would look the other way for thirty minutes. In that thirty minutes, they needed to move the US vessel from its current spot to outside the Dralli space station. Xandarj, as it turned out, didn't recognize ownership beyond possession on a governmental level. That is to say, if someone took control of some property, there were few repercussions from anyone but the original owners as long as you weren't breaking a contract like the protection contract Mads Bazer offered to ships that landed here.
"Dammit!" AJ scrabbled and pulled at the crate next to him, finally freeing himself from the mess. As he exited, bullets pinged off the ship's hull not far from his position.
"Nice!" Jayne shouted, after letting loose a pair of blaster rounds that elicited a surprised cry from Loveit's position.
She popped up from where she'd been lying prone on the deck and held her free hand up to AJ, who grabbed it and hoisted her around onto the loading ramp. Together they sprinted back into the ship.
"Close the hatch, AJ," Beverly instructed, appearing next to the entry, wearing her sparkling silver spacesuit and being held up by her jetpack. "I believe it is controlled by the levers I'm highlighting."
He smiled. One of the systems his old firm, Pacific Aerodyne, had manufactured for the US space industry had been electro-mechanical locking systems for high-pressure differential egress ports. The mechanism was familiar and he locked the hatch, which in turn caused the ramp to start retracting.
"Big D, tell me you've got something," he said.
"We do, but it's gonna suck," Darnell said. "Grab a chair, fellas, it's about to get rough."
AJ grabbed the back of Jayne's ship suit and pulled her to one of the back-facing, plush white chairs. "Strap in, Doc," he ordered, cinching the seat’s five-point belts. These particular belts, while manufactured by one of his old competitors, were also familiar due to Pacific Aerodyne's attempt to reverse engineer them.
Seeing her struggle, AJ leaned over and tugged on her straps, tightening them to her body. He left her to finish the bottom buckles before trying to buckle himself in.
"Hold on!" Darnell called.
With no further warning, the ship moved violently backward and AJ slammed into Jayne. Neither had managed to completely secure their harnesses, but Jayne was able to keep her seat and grab AJ’s suit. He looped his elbow through two of her straps so he wouldn’t be jerked away. "Sorry, Doc. If I'm right, this is about to get worse."
"What's happening?" she asked, as inertia reversed and she doubled over atop AJ. The crates, which had been pinned against a forward bulkhead, were tossed violently into the curved back wall, only to bounce out of view.
"Somebody can't figure out how to turn the inertial dampening field on," AJ grunted. "Assuming this thing has one."
"I know how to turn it on," Darnell growled over the comms. "It isn't freaking working."
"We're clear of Dralli Station," Tork said. "I am not certain that we were within Mads Bazer's deadline. Without an inertial system, we will not be able to outrun the Dralli patrols. It will become clear very soon if we have created enough of an infraction for Mads Bazer to initiate a contract to return or destroy this vessel."
"She could do that?" AJ asked as acceleration suddenly ceased and he was no longer being pulled away from Jayne.
"Red Fairs reviewed the contract. Mads Bazer will honor it," Tork said.
"Are you okay, Chok?" AJ had just noticed the small white Xandarj who'd managed to wrap herself around another chair. Her limbs, including her tail, were holding on for everything she was worth.
"No!" she answered. "I believe I have watered this chair because of my great fright and I find I am angry and embarrassed."
"Are we done for a minute, Darnell?" Jayne asked.
"Done until a Dralli patrol comes for us or we decide to move on our own," Darnell said. "If we don't get that inertial system going, we'll never get anywhere. We can't survive the g-forces required to get out of Dodge, if you know what I mean."
"AJ, turn to the side while I help Chok get cleaned up," Jayne said, pushing herself free from AJ, who hadn't quite let her go yet. As he pushed away from Jayne, he took one final glance back at the terrified Xandarj, whose hair was puffed out like a cat who'd been hit by a blow dryer.
"Fine, Big D. You have anything up there that looks like a manual?"
"Negative."
"US made, so gotta have manuals somewhere," AJ said, pushing out of his chair and walking aft to inspect the hull around them. As far as he could tell, he and Jayne were in the main passenger space where there was little room for storage. "See if you can find a hardcopy."
"We're looking," Darnell said. "Got a few cabinets up here. Looks mostly like electronics, though."
"AJ, there appear to be trap doors in the deck," Beverly said, floating aft from the oval seating arrangement. While there had once been six chairs in the oval, now there were five and a half as one of the once pristine, leather-covered chairs had been split in two and blackened where a flashbang had landed.
"Trap doors?" He found her hovering over a glowing four-foot-square panel on the floor. At one side of the panel was a pull-ring styled lock that was not particularly high tech but effective in keeping out of the way so as to not trip the ship's occupants.
"Careful, AJ," Jayne said, from where she was helping extricate Chok from the chair.
He raised an eyebrow. He hadn't considered there might be a stowaway. "A little backup?" he asked, reaching for the pull ring. Greybeard nudged his knee, making his presence known. "Atta boy. You smell something?"
Greybeard whined, which meant he didn't smell anything concerning. All the same, AJ had his weapon ready. Anticlimactic, all they discovered was a half-empty hold. Bright LED lights illuminated the hold which was nine feet by twelve feet and roughly five feet in depth. Wide cargo straps held a dozen crates to the Tween deck's floor. If someone had been hiding, there was no other place for them to go but inside one of the crates, something Greybeard wasn’t indicating.
"Cargo hold has crates, no people," he said. "One of those crates might have manuals. I'll check 'em out once I clear the rest of the ship."
"You think we've got a stowaway?" Darnell asked.
"No idea," AJ said. "Probably be a good thing to figure out, though. Chok, do you think you could work on getting our crates stored in here while I search the ship?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"AJ, I think Chok could use a break," Jayne said.
"I'm fine with that," AJ said. "Nothing like a little work to take your mind off things, though."
"I will store the crates," Chok said. "Albert Jenkins will show Chok how to use irritating restraints."
"That'd be a good lesson for everyone," he said, chuckling.
"There is another trap door, AJ," Beverly said, flitting over to the opposite side of the ship, where she highlighted another panel on the deck.
"Greybeard, you want to give that a quick sniff?" he asked unnecessarily as Greybeard trotted to the hatch embedded in the starboard-side decking. Greybeard pawed at the pull ring and gave two deep woofs.
"Seamus says Greybeard believes there is a human beneath the panel. The human is quietly moving away from the hatch," Beverly said.
"Jayne, a little backup over here?" he asked.
She pulled her pistol from her belt. "Okay,"
"For the record, you've been shooting a lot of people today. I thought doctors took an oath about that sort of thing," he said.
"My weapon causes a mostly harmless electrical discharge," she said. "In each case, I believe the person I've shot is in less danger for my actions."
"Bullshit."
She grinned as she approached. "Fine, you got me. It's so darn satisfying to shoot these jerks. It's not like the stun rounds are harmful, not really."
"Wait 'till you get hit with one."
She shrugged. "You're saying you'd like me not to defend you when you open the door?"
"No, forget I said anything."
"Listen up, down there." AJ cupped his hand next to his mouth and shouted at the trap door. "I'm going to open this hatch. If you've got a weapon pointed anywhere near us, you'll be shot. Really, if you make any trouble at all, you'll be shot. If you hide, we'll send the dog down. He likes to bite and if you hurt him, you'll be shot. If you'd like to avoid all the preceding ways of being shot, just put your weapon down and raise your hands. Knock on the hatch to let me know you understand."
A far-off voice said something. Even with Beverly's enhancement, AJ couldn't understand the words.
"Can't hear you," AJ called. A weak knock on the floor beneath his knees startled him. "I'm opening up. Don't get cute."
AJ looked to Jayne, who nodded at him to proceed as she aimed her weapon at the floor. He twisted the ring and gently pulled open the hatch, fully prepared to slam it closed if things got out of control.
"Don't shoot. I'm injured," came a man's voice. "My weapon is on the floor by my feet."
"What are you doing in there?" AJ assessed the man and the position of his weapon, which was just out of reach. He noticed a bend in the man’s leg. "Is your leg broken?"
The man was muscular, with sandy brown hair and a ruddy, outdoor complexion. AJ immediately recognized the look in the man's blue eyes. He was not only a soldier, but he had special forces training of some sort. He'd be a handful if things got out of control.
"I got tossed around down here a bit," he said.
"What's your name, son?"
"Master Sergeant Crawford Reed," Reed said. "Can I assume you've taken command of the USSF Cardinal?"
"Cardinal? Spooks get a spaceship and they call it Cardinal?"
"I'm active duty in the Space Force, Sergeant."
"Loveit's a spook and I dumped your friends out on Dralli Station. They're gonna need to find their own ride home," AJ said. "We'll provide aid to you, but don't get any stupid ideas. As long as you're in cahoots with Loveit, you're an enemy of the U. S. of A. I bled for my country and I'll bleed anyone who looks to do her harm. You read me?"
"Good copy, Sergeant. I'm not your enemy."
"Last time I saw Loveit, he was torturing my crew on a prison ship," AJ said. "I'll treat you a fair bit better, but don't be playing games with me. I've been around the block too many times for that. Now, I'm gonna help you up outta there. You try anything and the good doctor is gonna blast you with a couple hundred thousand volts."
"I didn't have any part of Loveit's rendition plan," Reed said.
"But you knew about it."
"After the fact." Reed accepted AJ's hand and help getting out from the Tween deck.
"What'd you do to the ship?" AJ asked.
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"That broken leg of yours suggests otherwise," AJ said. "You know we'll figure it out, right?"
"My team. Are they dead?"
"You mean the team that was shooting live rounds at US citizens?" AJ asked.
"No, Mr. Reed," Jayne interrupted, keeping her distance and her weapon leveled on the injured man. "Unlike you, we were shooting stun rounds."
"I imagine he's hoping his Cheell friends will come and rescue him," Darnell said, coming around a forward bulkhead into the open passenger space. "Because using enemies of the state to chase down citizens is the mark of a good soldier. Right, Mr. Reed?"
"Cheell aren't our enemies."
"Sounds like a confession to me," Darnell said.
"I didn't say that," Reed argued back.
"Your buddies, the Cheell, were looking to shoot us down. Your boss, Loveit, tortured us," AJ said. "You want to explain just how we're gonna get along?"
Twenty
Check the Tapes
"Can we take it as a good sign that Dralli station hasn't sent a patrol after us?" AJ asked, cinching chair restraints around Reed's chest.
The design of the straps was twofold. Primarily, they were made to keep a body pinned to the chair, regardless of the state of consciousness. A secondary and less public function was to restrain a team member who'd become irrational for any number of reasons. While not common, losing it while on a space mission wasn't unheard of and keeping crew in their chair forcibly was more desirable than building brigs.
"Mr. Reed, I'm going to have to set your leg bones. It's going to hurt," Jayne explained, having cut most of the leg material off Reed's suit. Reed was struggling to maintain consciousness from blood loss, even though Jayne had stabilized his condition. One of the many benefits of being on a human-built vessel was the familiar medical supplies.
"Take me back to the Dralli Station. They have better medical technology," he mumbled.
"I'm going to ask you one more time," AJ said. "What'd you do to the ship?"
Reed closed his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing."
"Way to convince us we're on the same team, hero," AJ said, shaking his head. Irritated, he walked back to a room-height freestanding cabinet in the middle of the space. It was the same cabinet where they'd found medical supplies for Reed.
"I will catalog the cabinet's contents," Beverly said. "I'll highlight items I need a better view of."
"Copy," AJ said. He moved quickly through the cabinets, uncovering more medical supplies, blankets and various repair kits.
"Bingo," Beverly said, her rocket pack streaming little o-shaped smoke rings behind her as she jetted to the top of the starboard cabinet.
AJ grinned despite his foul mood. "Sure enough," he agreed, his eyes lighting on the row of gray manuals she highlighted. The spines of the manuals proudly displayed the US Space Force logo along with overly complex titles.
"This one," she said, highlighting a three-inch-wide, nine-inch-tall volume. He pulled the manual from the shelf and plopped onto the deck, cross-legged, flipping it open to the index. "Page 247," she instructed. He sighed and flipped to the page. "Turn. Turn. Turn," she urged impatiently.
"You're reading all this?" he asked.
"Pertinent details. Turn. They're using a Cheell system. Turn. I'm not familiar with it. Turn."
"Is that bad?"
