Episode 86, Stranger Days
03 Aug 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Episode 86, Stranger Days
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We diverted our course, after achieving orbit, flying past our orbiting fleet carrier towards a more distant moon where Jabir and the Coterie were busy raiding the settlements on its surface. Lianna sat at the controls of the Dolphin, guiding it into lunar orbit and then descending towards their signal down below.
Local traffic appeared on the scanners, even as we neared the darkened settlement. No distress call had escaped and none were the wiser that their assets were being plundered. I saw the Python’s contact along with that of a local Type 7 class cargo ship. Jabir was fumbling around with it, trying to keep himself in position, firing on its thrusters to disable it. A small smirk appeared at the sight appearing like two drunks in a brawl, with neither landing the solid finishing blow.
Looking down below I could see small cargo transport skiffs running canisters and equipment to Lysandra’s waiting Cobra Mk IV. Jabir would sooner rather than later need to either disable the Type-7 or land near The Cobra and provide additional cargo space.
“What do you make of the scene?”
Lianna kept the Dolphin in a slow circular orbit, out to her left. “Knowing Jabir he is getting more frustrated and isn’t going to claim the Type-7 unless he gets lucky. By the time it escapes and gets out of range of the Carrier’s jamming to send a distress signal, they should be finished down below.”
“If you were in Jabir’s position, what would you do?”
Lianna looked down at her scanner and then back out toward the aerial jousting match.
“Avariel and Corvus are already flying top cover. I would let the Type-7 go and get down below and download as much of their data as possible. That is where the real credits are.”
She wasn’t a fighter, but of the two Lianna demonstrated again that she was the brains.
“Alright, land on the other side of Lysandra but stay with the ship. We have 12 tons of space they can use. I’m going to go out and take a look at the scene for myself.”
Jabir’s swirling melee above continued and made for an impressive sight. That a Type-7 was holding its own in a maneuvering contest against an engineered Python was a testament to that pilot’s skill. That was the type of pilot we could use on our payroll if they survived and were amiable to a change of scenery.
Making our way to the main command building, the scene was as expected. It resembled the typical dreary drab trappings of a lunar surface settlement, with bleached-out colors, each blending to look much like the others. There was no atmosphere to speak of, so no dust, open flame, or smoke were lingering.
Raven was at the entrance to the building, acting as security while his gang cleaned the place of anything not welded down. I could see the glare of his eyes from behind his helmet’s tinted face shield as we approached. His voice was more of a low growl as he motioned with his head behind him. “I suspect you already know what’s behind these walls.”
“I do, and they made their choice as we made ours. This is the life and you know that. It’s a little late to discover a conscience.”
Raven looked away towards his people, seething, watching as they positioned the cargo under Lysandra’s ship where its automated loading system secured each one and lifted it into its hold.
“They have food, water, shelter, and clothing. Any data you all copied doesn’t deprive them of the same, and most of them have no need for what you have hauled away.”
Stating the obvious wouldn’t aid Raven in coming to terms with reality in his own mind, and we all knew it as Tara and I went through the door to check on those inside.
They were huddled together in the center of the facility's ground floor, mothers hugging children and men hugging their wives as we walked up to them. Tara’s head tilted to one side, as was now common when she was attempting to understand. The faces of each were frightened, but none looked abused or malnourished.
“We will be leaving in a moment. Tell your leaders, any who haven’t fled, that this is our last stop on our way out of the system. You can go back to your normal routine once we depart.”
There were a few in their ranks who were on their knees with their backs against the wall, lined up in a row. I nudged Tara’s arm motioning to them with my helmet, noticing her head tilting the other direction. She was not aware that the ones she was looking at were escaped slaves. So used to being submissive that forming the natural pose was innate.
“All of you kneeling next to the wall, stand up.”
As if one they each stood, their heads and eyes kept low.
“Is there any among you who are not free?”
You could see their individual nervousness as they each shook their heads.
“Good. We are not here to deprive you of that. Now sit down and relax.”
Raven looked through the entrance as we turned on our heels and walked out, our magnetic boots making a metallic clicking sound on the building deck plating.
As we made our way back to the Dolphin, the sight of the ongoing battle above continued to hold a strange allure. Jabir was still wrestling with the Type-7. The more I watched the more impressed I was with the pilot's skill.
As I reentered the Dolphin a thought crossed my mind as I made my way to the bridge. Lianna was there waiting as I entered.
I peered around her, upwards at the swirling melee. "I've got the ship, go back and strap yourself in."
"You're going after him, aren't you," Tara said with a touch of amusement in her voice as Lianna squeezed past her. I looked over my shoulder with a grin on my face as I began strapping myself into the pilot's seat.
"I swear you're incorrigible," Tara chuckled as she went back to get settled in with Lianna, the bridge door sliding shut behind her.
The beautiful thing about the passenger ship designs was their close-in maneuvering thrusters that allowed for finer control in tighter confines. I doubt the engineers who designed these ships took combat into account while designing them for passenger comfort and ease of access, they served their purpose equally well. Another unspecified design feature was their reverse thrusters. They could stop the ship with equal force as the forward thrusters but were far smoother than more purpose-built combat designs.
It didn't take long to lift off and get into a position under the Type-7's aft dorsal section, below and forward of Jabir in his Python. Jabir never saw me arrive but the one who was piloting the Type-7 caught sight of me and began to jink while pulling hard into the Python's line of travel. Whoever this guy or gal was they knew what they were doing, but it wouldn't save their ship.
The small lasers didn't have the hardest of punches, but two of them combined with high-grade engineering went a long way towards efficiency, allowing me to keep two steady beams on their aft section, while deftly matching their jinking motion and keeping one eye on Jabir's motion of travel to prevent a collision.
Jabir was target fixated and still did not know that I was beneath and forward of him as he attempted to stay on the Type-7, lumbering about with the Python's controls. Between the two Jabir's flying was the greatest threat as I watched parts of the Type-7's thruster housing fall away from a clean hit. It slowed his ship but not his maneuvering thrusters as the pilot attempted to compensate, using his ship's upward thrust in an attempt to tighten his turning radius and throw off my aim.
It was an expected move and one that the small passenger ship could easily match as I kept the beams burning intensely, slicing away more of his thruster housing until they began ejecting balls of burning helium gas. I knew the moment was close when I saw those burning balls and his velocity vector begin to sink toward the lunar surface below.
I stayed with his sinking craft, keying the communicator. "Attention, pilot of the Type-7. Man your escape pod if you intend to survive. You will not be harmed. In fact, I intend to make you an equitable job offer."
I did not expect an immediate flash of the pilot ejecting, he was too good and determined to salvage his ship, if there was any chance that it could be done. My only hope was that he not lose sight of his rapidly sinking altitude.
Releasing the trigger I engaged the Dolphin's thrusters to position it between the ground and the Type-7 in an attempt to use its mass to slow the other's descent rate. It was an old pirate's trick when hunting ships near gravity sources, like planetary surfaces. If I could slow him enough it might give his shields a chance to recharge and absorb some of the impact if he chose not to eject beforehand.
The Dolphin shuddered under the impact on its shields with the weight and velocity of the Type-7 pushing it down as I engaged maximum upward thrust to slow both of us while keeping my eye on the altimeter, winding down. We were 900 meters from the surface and sinking fast, but the rate was slowing as the thrusters were beginning to have their effect.
"I can't keep this up much longer. Get to your escape pod," I messaged, expecting to receive no reply. This pilot was good and knew it which meant their ego was at play, and that was a dangerous combination.
Only two hundred meters remained when their shields charged to half power as I pulled out from underneath them and off to one side. I had slowed their descent rate but they were still going to impact the surface.
"Get ready for a forced boarding with a snatch and grab of the pilot," I said in my helmet's communicator to Tara and Lianna in the back. If the Type-7 survived the impact it was going to jar its pilot around and I did not know if they would be injured, unconscious, or awake and in more of a fighting mood.
"We're ready," came Tara's voice in reply over my headset as lunar dust kicked up as the Type-7 impacted and rolled a couple of times, its shields absorbing most of the impact but sacrificing themselves in the process as I saw a dull blue flash telling me that they had dropped once more.
Landing behind the stricken cargo ship, I exited the bridge, meeting Tara and Lianna next to the lift. "Lianna, take the Scorpion and position in front of him with the turrets facing his windscreen. Tara, you and I will assault together and breach the aft entrance between the destroyed thrusters."
Lianna vanished toward the nearby stairwell and Tara and I took the Dolphin's side entrance, dropping down to the lunar surface below.
The scarring burn marks from the twin small lasers had caused significant damage to the aft portion of the ship, melting through part of the aft access hatch enough to see into the airlock. Its access control panel was melted as well. Fortunately, all ships were designed with emergency access areas that were designed to be cut through so that a hatch could be removed to gain access. Even with the scorching, I could make out the red and white pattern.
Cutting through the emergency access required ten seconds with my suit's laser cutter. I motioned to Tara with my free hand to stand back as I reached in and grabbed the lever. Pulling on it released the mechanisms that secured the hatch. Unlike what the movie Holovids would show, there was no dramatic explosive moment as the hatch freed itself from its restraints and fell off the ship onto the lunar surface. Likewise, the inner hatch on the other side of the airlock would be unsecured, unless they manually locked it, which this pilot had.
The inner hatch required a minute to cut through its locking mechanism as I motioned to Tara once more, who took a knee, aiming down the inner corridor with her plasma repeater. As the hatch opened we both were lightly rocked by an escaping gust of internal atmosphere. Tara moved with me as we both made our way down the corridor with our weapons raised and ready.
"Lianna... Pilot status."
"Conscious, sitting in their seat, and glaring at me."
“Point at them then up at your turret and see if that changes his demeanor,” Tara said with a chuckle, causing me to smile as I kept my laser carbine up and at the ready.
In front of us was a bulkhead with a corridor that ran down both the starboard and port sides of the ship. The engineers, when designing the Type 6 and 7 class freighters, made them both four-deck designs, with a-deck being on the keel and d-deck being above us. The airlock was on c-deck with the bridge being at the forward of b-deck.
The cargo would be stacked in racks on both the starboard and port sides, rising up like a container ship of ancient times, with crew accommodations being above on this deck, with all of the engineering being on the deck above us, reaching down to this deck, to maintain the ship's stability, whether empty or loaded.
It was a pain in the arse when boarding, as you wouldn’t be on the same level as the bridge, but you would be in a position to secure any crew or passengers who had not escaped to the deck below. Fortunately for us, and unfortunate for them, the ship’s computer core was on this deck, forward near the ceiling of the bridge.
With only Tara and myself, there wasn’t enough to secure both the starboard and port sides at the same time, so we chose the starboard corridor, which was also where the captain’s quarters would be, and we knew he was on the bridge, glaring at Lianna.
I nodded down the corridor with my weapon ready. “We will clear up to the computer core, then you can link in and see if anyone else is onboard, and what they are hauling. I will cover the corridor.”
Tara moved out smartly, keeping her plasma repeater at the ready as she ducked her head around each hatchway along the way, giving it a brief scan and clearing it with her cybernetic eyes. I did the same on the other side of the corridor, but without the technological advantage she had.
The captain’s quarters were plush. Unmodified they were almost as large as our own on board the Python. If the pilot took my offer, it would take them a few moments to gather their belongings. If they didn’t, then they could sit here on their ass for however long it would take to get mechanics and spare parts out here to repair them.
Arriving at the computer core, Tara stepped in and immediately connected her neurological matrix to the ship’s AI, circumventing its defenses while I kept a watch on the corridor. It felt like an hour had passed, which in reality a couple of relative minutes had elapsed as Tara disconnected.
“There is another onboard, one deck below us in the commander’s ready room, adjacent to the bridge; likely guarding the corridor leading to it.”
I motioned with my head at the computer core as I began to move to the port side lift, which would take us down to the next level on the opposite side of whoever was down there, keeping the bulkhead between us and them. Tara turned and tossed a grenade into the computer core, before moving out quickly to join on me.
The lights flickered, switching to their emergency backup systems, when the grenade went off, removing the computer and its AI from the ship’s command and control loop.
As the doors opened on the deck below, a grenade went off at the head of the port side corridor. We were far enough back from it and still in the lift when it exploded. Smoke from the explosion lingered in the corridor as the air circulation ceased functioning when the computer core was neutralized.
“They panicked and tossed it too soon,” I commented into my helmet communicator, as Tara took the lead, her weapon at the ready.
I removed a stun grenade from a pouch on my suit, priming and tossing it around the corner, as it rolled toward the entrance to the commander’s ready room.
“The pilot is moving off of the bridge,” Lianna’s voice calmly stated over the communicator. I knew that it was only a matter of time, once we were on board before the pilot knew that the Scorpion’s weapons were a bluff when they had people inside the ship directly behind the bridge where they were located.
Tara kept her plasma repeater pointed at the commander’s ready room entrance while I stepped to one side of her, raising my laser carbine up to cover the end of the meter-long corridor between the bridge entrance and the cross corridor we were both on the port side of.
I heard the bridge door slide open, followed by a pause before a male voice asked. “What are you offering?”
“You flew your ship well. I’m here to offer you a job, or pirate what’s left of your crate and leave you here until the system owner can find spares to repair you.”
“We are not pirates,” came the reply as Tara glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.
“I’m not asking you to be. I could use someone with your skill to fly legitimate cargo and various parts both to and from my capital ship. I can pay above market value.”
A long silence followed as the smoke from the grenade continued to linger in the air, and the emergency lighting flickered once more.
“You’ve wrecked my ship. You can’t get it repaired before the local reinforcements arrive.”
It was a fair point but one I had anticipated.
“True, but I don’t care about this ship. I am able to offer you a better ship, plus a steady paycheck along with free quarters and all the amenities my ship has to offer… aside from the brothel. That is for top business clientele only.”
“Honey, are you alright…” the pilot called out as a sobbing and younger female voice replied. “My ears are ringing and my head hurts.”
Tara’s eyes opened at that, as did mine, as I responded back. “It was only a stun grenade. The effects will wear off, but we have a full medical staff if you need them.”
“What of my daughter,” the man asked, remaining hidden in the short corridor.
“Families are welcome, but she would be restricted from certain sections of the ship, as a man of your skill would already know.”
A man appeared with his hands partially raised, a ballistic-style pistol was in one as he walked out into the main corridor and slowly placed it on the deck. Tara kept her plasma repeater raised while I lowered my laser carbine.
“You have ten minutes to collect your gear. I have a Dolphin landed one hundred meters out back. It will take us to our capital ship and your new home, in orbit of the seventh planet on this ring.”
“Honey, it’s safe. Come on out and go collect your items.”
Tara lowered her weapon as a young girl appeared. She had a terrified look in her eyes and her cheek was wet from crying.
“Come on, I will go with you,” Tara stated, walking over to her as I looked at the man, motioning with my head for him to follow.
This day just got a little more strange.