Ep.#3.5 - Escape of the Free Fleet , page 19
Without a word, Nathan rose and headed for the bridge, Kit following close behind.
“Report?” Nathan asked Aurora as he and Kit entered the bridge.
“Unknown contact,” Aurora replied. “Bearing three two five by two one two. Range two million kilometers and closing.”
“Are they on an intercept course?” Nathan inquired.
“If they are, it is not a very good one. They only have two gun turrets, and their current intercept angle will only give them a shot with one of them, and at a very poor angle.”
“What kind of ship?”
“Based on size and configuration, it appears to be a medium-sized cargo vessel.”
“But it is armed,” Kit stated.
Laza entered, heading straight for her sensor station.
“Affirmative,” Aurora confirmed. “But I believe its armaments are purely defensive.”
“Where are our patrol Dragons?” Nathan asked.
“I have already sent intercept vectors to Hotdog and Remo. They are awaiting orders. “
“Does that guy ever sleep?” Kit wondered.
“Not much,” Nathan replied, tapping his comm-set. “Dragon One, Aurora Actual.”
“Go for One,” Josh replied over comms.
“Intercept and determine intent, but try not to kill anyone.”
“You got it, Boss.”
Jessica entered next, along with Sima.
“What have we got?” Jessica asked.
“An armed cargo ship, two million clicks,” Nathan replied. “Josh and Nikolas are on their way to intercept.”
“Are we going out as well?”
“Aurora, status of ships’ crews?” Nathan inquired.
“All of our crew members are aboard, and crew members from other ships in the formation have returned to their ships. My call to general quarters was for all ships.”
“Very well,” Nathan replied. “Disengage from the Celestia, and set course for that contact, but do not jump until I give the order.”
“Understood,” Aurora acknowledged. “Retracting boarding tunnels and umbilicals. Disengaging all mooring clamps in ten seconds.”
The jump flash washed over Josh’s cockpit, and the unknown cargo ship appeared before him, less than a kilometer away. “What the hell is that?” Josh wondered.
“We’re being targeted, “ his AI warned.
Josh glanced at his threat board but saw no indications of danger. “By what?”
“Low-powered laser targeting systems.”
“You’re shitting me?” Josh laughed as he dialed up his comms. “Unknown…whatever you are. Identify yourself and state your intentions.”
“Fuck you! “ An old man’s voice cursed over comms.
“Kind of sounds like Marcus,” Nikolas commented.
A series of plasma cannon bolts slammed into Josh’s forward shields, lighting them up and rocking his ship.
“Is this guy nuts?” Josh wondered. “Sweetie, target his gun turret and disable it.”
“Targeting; firing to disable.”
Two staccato bursts leapt from Josh’s nose turret, slamming into the unknown ship’s offending gun turret. The turret exploded, sending pieces of it flying in all directions. Several secondary explosions also went off, nearly all of them at seemingly unrelated locations around the odd-looking vessel. The ship’s main drive went dead, as did its running lights, and the ship began a slow, uncontrolled roll to starboard, its nose slowly pitching down as well. “What the hell?” Josh exclaimed. “I told you to disable his gun, not his whole damned ship!”
“I fired at the lowest power setting possible,” his AI defended. “Technically, it should have just temporarily overloaded his plasma generator, and made him incapable of firing for several minutes.”
“Aurora, Dragon One. We’ve got a bit of a problem, here. It seems that even a low-power blast was more than this hunk-of-junk could handle. I’ve got no power readings from the target, and she’s in a slow, two-axis roll. Best I can tell, she’s dead in the water, including life-support.
“What the hell?” Nathan exclaimed. “Did you hail them first?”
“Affirm, “ Josh replied.
“Did he hear you?”
“He replied, so, yeah. “
“What did he say?”
“’Fuck you’.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s all he said, Boss. ‘Fuck you’. Then he opened fire on us. “
“Well, what did you say to him?”
“I just asked him to identify himself and state his intentions. That’s when he said fuck you and lit us up. “
“I’ve got full readings on the target,” Laza reported. “All of its systems appear dead. No back up power, no life-support, nothing. And the target is venting atmosphere.”
“From a single low-power shot?”
“I believe the leak was a pre-existing condition,” Laza replied.
“Who the hell takes to space in a leaky ship?” Jessica wondered.
“How many life signs?” Nathan asked Laza.
“Just the one, sir.”
“Sima, try hailing that ship,” Nathan instructed. “Maybe they have a portable comm that’s too weak to detect.”
“I’ll relay through Dragon One’s comm-array,” Sima replied.
Nathan glanced at the specifications on the contact now being displayed on one of his overhead view screens. “That’s not a small ship,” he said. “And the hull is very irregular. I’m not even sure we can get a seal on her hull with a breach box.”
“No response to our hails, sir,” Sima reported.
Josh peered out his left side at the ship as he and Nikolas slowly circled it. “That is one ugly-ass ship.”
“I’m detecting at least eight different types of designs,” Nikolas reported over comms. “I think it was cobbled together from about a dozen different ships.”
“Dragon One, Aurora Actual,” Nathan called. “Move in closer and see if you can tell if anyone is alive in there? Laza is picking up one life-sign, but it’s weak, and not moving. “
“I’m on it,” Josh replied, pushing his back end out and swinging his Dragon around the front end of the ship and moving in closer so he could see through its cockpit windows.
“Uh, he’s alive, that’s for sure, “ Josh reported.
“You saw him?” Nathan asked.
“Oh yes.”
“What was he doing?”
“Flipping me off,” Josh replied.
“I estimate the atmospheric pressure inside that ship will be insufficient in six minutes,” Laza warned.
Nathan sighed. “Will that thing fit on our flight deck?”
“It will,” his AI replied. “However, some of its dorsal structures will protrude beyond our pressure shield.”
“As long as his airlock door is inside,” Nathan said. “Let’s go get her.”
“Jumping now,” Aurora confirmed.
“You two go and greet our guest,” Nathan instructed Kit and Jessica. “And be careful.”
“I’m just going to stun-first, and ask questions later,” Jessica replied as she turned to leave.”
“Jump complete, “ Aurora reported. “Moving into recovery position.”
“Keep a close eye on her,” Nathan warned. “Be ready to jump us out if she even twitches.”
“Always,” Aurora replied.
* * *
Mori joined Jessica and Kit in the corridor outside the main hangar bay, falling in beside them. “I heard you might need a hand.”
“It’s just one grumpy old guy,” Jessica insisted.
“Would you send only two people to take down Marcus?” Kit asked.
“Good point,” Jessica conceded as they made their way across the hangar bay.
Outside the entrance, out on the flight deck, two of the Aurora’s exterior manipulator arms gently guided the ungainly vessel through the pale blue, nearly invisible pressure shield, and down between the ship’s main drive nacelles.
“Careful, gravity’s going to be light until they get it on the deck,” Marcus warned as the others approached the flight deck.
Jessica glanced at him, noticing the heavy assault rifle slung over his shoulder. “Think you’re packing enough heat, there, Chief?”
“I’m wonderin’ why you ain’t,” Marcus grumbled.
Jessica, Kit, and Mori stepped through the opening onto the open flight deck, treading carefully in the greatly decreased gravity. The ship being lowered to the deck was massive, taking nearly every square meter of space on the deck. In fact, if it were not for outwardly sloped sides enclosing the nacelles, the odd-looking ship might not have fit at all.
“I have seen some ugly fucking ships in my day, but this one is the ugliest,” Marcus commented.
“It is an interesting design,” Mori agreed.
“Ain’t no design about it,” Marcus laughed. “I’m pretty sure a half dozen ships just ran into each other, and this was the result.”
The ship’s descent was halted when its closest portion was a meter off the deck.
“The vessel will require bracing to be stable, until its landing gear can be deployed,” Aurora reported.
“Already on it, Rori,” Marcus replied as he pulled out his data pad and began pushing buttons.
“Rori?” Kit wondered.
“My nickname for her,” Marcus explained.
“That’s dumb,” Jessica opined.
“Better than ‘Sweetie’,” Marcus defended.
“Who calls her ‘Sweetie’?” Kit asked.
“Josh.”
“Figures,” Jessica muttered.
Jack posts began rising out of the flight deck at key positions.
“Wait, that ain’t right,” Marcus decided using his data pad to cancel some of the posts and select others.
“May I, Master Chief,” Aurora asked.
“Please,” Marcus agreed, putting his data pad away.
The remaining incorrect jack stands retracted back into the flight deck as ten others rose, each of them stopping at differing heights. Once they stopped, the massive ship slowly descended until it sat atop the jacks.
“Increasing flight deck gravity to normal levels,” the Aurora’s AI announced.
“I had no idea there were jack posts built into the flight deck,” Jessica stated as she examined the ship before and above her. “Any idea where the boarding hatch is on this thing?”
A large panel fell open, swinging on loose hinges along its aft edge, revealing a large opening in the ship’s underside.
“Maybe that’s it,” Kit suggested.
“I think a piece of its fucking hull just fell off,” Marcus commented.
Something suddenly dropped out of the ship onto the flight deck. A massive man, nearly half-again larger than Marcus, stood before them wrapped in something akin to a pressure suit, but covered with a patchwork of loose fur pelts. He barked something in a language none of them understood, his voice amplified and echoed by some kind of loudspeaker built into whatever it was he was wearing.
“Fuck me,” Jessica exclaimed, startled by both his grandiose entrance as well as his unusual appearance.
The man’s arms went wide as he bellowed something else, and then, to their surprise, two large weapons swung up from under the pelts hanging from him, which he grabbed with both hands.
“Shit!” Jessica exclaimed, going for her sidearm.
Kit and Mori were already in motion, drawing and firing as they charged to either side to split their attacker’s attention. But their shots bounced off the man, who was protected by some kind of energy field.
Jessica charged forward, firing as she ran straight for the man, zigzagging in random fashion to avoid taking direct fire on her own personal shield. The guns the man was wielding were as massively oversized as he was, and she had no idea how long her shield would hold up against that kind of firepower.
“HIT THE DECK!” Marcus barked from behind her.
Jessica dove to the deck as instructed, her sidearm still pointed at the man and firing, her shots bouncing off his shield. A series of plasma balls larger than a man’s head passed over her, their heat threatening to singe her skin as they flew past. They slammed into the massive, fur-covered man, the force of their impact energy causing him to stumble backward, struggling to stay on his feet.
Marcus continued firing, sending at least a dozen bright red fireballs at the man, causing his shield to flicker, threatening to give out at any moment. But then he stopped. “Son of a bitch,” Marcus muttered. “I’M OUT!”
Jessica jumped to her feet, running toward their attacker as Kit and Mori continued firing, further draining the man’s personal shield. Jessica lowered her shoulder and drove herself into the man’s shield, throwing all of her momentum into it. Pain erupted throughout her body as the shield interacted with her skin. She cried out in pain as she passed through the shield and slammed into the man, causing him to lose his balance and topple backward. His shield disappeared, finally giving up.
Jessica straddled the fallen man, holstering her sidearm and grabbing his helmet faceplate with both hands, trying to pry it open without success. Instead, she yanked his helmet off completely, drawing her right hand back to deliver the most powerful blow she had to the face inside.
But there was no face there.
“What the fuck?”
“Get off me, you crazy bitch! “ a muffled voice cried from underneath her.
Jessica felt something push up against her crotch, causing her to jump up from the headless body.
A plate fell open in the middle of the man’s chest, revealing the face of a bearded old man. “Fuckin’ Christ! You nearly killed me!”
“What the hell!” Jessica exclaimed as she stepped back, startled.
“Help me up!”
Jessica drew her sidearm again as Kit and Mori appeared by her side. She fired a shot at the old man’s face, stunning him and rendering him immobile. “That’s for calling me a crazy bitch, you old fart.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“There’s nothing wrong with him,” Doctor Barra reported as she returned to the medical treatment ward where Nathan, Jessica, Kit, and Mori all stood watching over the old man they had pulled out of the bizarre battle-suit. “In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s awake.”
Nathan turned to the old man, stepping closer to his bedside. “Is that true, old man?”
“Who the fuck is asking?” the old man muttered in a gravely voice.
“Captain Nathan Scott, commander of the Aurora.”
A smile came across the old man’s face. “That’s a good one.”
“Open your eyes,” Nathan urged.
One eye popped open, then turned toward Nathan. Then the other eye. “You do kinda look like him.”
“Why did you attack us?” Nathan wondered.
“Figured you wanted my ship.”
“You call that a ship?” Jessica scoffed.
The old man turned to look at her. “Oh, yeah. The crazy bitch.”
“Can I shoot him again?” Jessica asked Nathan.
“What’s with the outfit?” Kit asked.
“Scares people,” the old man explained. “Scared you, didn’t it?”
“Not really,” Kit insisted.
“Scared us that we’d catch something from it,” Jessica joked.
“What do you intend to do with me, Captain Scott?” the old man asked.
“Well, you present a bit of a problem,” Nathan admitted.
“How’s that?”
“You’ve seen us. You know our position.”
“You disabled me with a single shot,” the old man snorted. “And your crazy bitch there took me down pretty damned easily, as well. Don’t see how I’m a problem fer ya.”
“You’re a big problem if you have an AICC node,” Nathan said.
“A what?”
“A net-node. You know, for connection to the Alliance-net,” Nathan explained.
“Yeah, I got a node,” the old man admitted. “But not for connecting to the Alliance-net. That place is a fucking cesspool. Nothing but lies and propaganda.”
“Sounds like you don’t like the Alliance,” Nathan surmised.
“Hate would be more accurate,” the old man insisted. “Why the hell do you think I’m way out here in the fucking frontier?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I was once a schmuck like you. All uniformed up, serving the greater good and all. It was all a lie. Good men and women dying to make corporations richer, and the Alliance more powerful.”
“Then you fought pirates?” Nathan wondered.
“I’m talking about war, son. Something I doubt you know shit about. Flying around in your fancy ship, with your antique fighters. Your daddy must’ve spent a fortune on all this.”
“My father was assassinated, long before this ship was ever built,” Nathan defended.
The old man looked at him. “Stayin’ in character, I see. I’ll give ya props for that.”
Nathan looked at Jessica, puzzled by the old man’s comments. “Is this making any sense to you?”
“You’re talking to a guy who attacked us wearing a Frankenstein suit covered with animal pelts, and you’re expecting him to make sense?”
“What’s your name?” Nathan asked the old man.
“Hyram.”
“Hyram what?”
“Hyram Buttermaker.”
“Hyram Buttermaker,” Jessica exclaimed. “Your parents not like you, or something?”
“I’m a slag.”
“A what?” Nathan asked.
“A slag.” The old man looked at them, noticing their puzzled looks. “How the fuck do you not know what a slag is?”
“Sorry.”
“Slag is a slang-term for people created in birthing farms,” Kayci explained.
