Unexpected Encounter 1
06 Apr 2016Rebecca Hail
Something rumbled.It's not unusual that things rumble, but when you're five thousand light-years out of human space and have to go another fifty five thousand light-years, suddenly rumbling things can make you quite nervous.
Rebecca was more annoyed than nervous and thought about not standing up from her seat to go and check.
Then she realized, that the cargo hold of the anaconda she was flying sat almost two levels below and 100 meters towards the back of the ship and that something more than a poorly-secured limpet falling out of its holder has to happen to hear the rumble to the cockpit.
"Activate all security cameras in the Cargo Hold" spoke Rebecca to the ship’s computer. Then she grabbed her Personal Ship Assistant (PSA), which displayed information about the ship.
The PSA began slowly flicking through what had happened in the cargo hold. One of the cargo racks had lost it's balance and tipped against another rack.
She made a mental note to find the outfitter and mechanic who installed that rack in and beat their asses from one end of the station to the other, when she noticed something odd. One of the limpets had lost its cap, and in front of it, a number of little red stains covered the floor. It took her a minute to realize what they meant, then she quickly drew her automatic pistol out of the holder on the side of the headrest, locked and loaded it, stood up and aimed at the door.
"Ship, lock all doors and get ready to vent the cargo hold."
She quickly looked at the other two pilot seats on the bridge and felt relieved when she saw her confused cat.
"Cargo Hold ready for pressure drop, all doors airtight locked" echoed the ship’s voice through the cockpit.
"Ship, Establish long range communication to Dispatch in Wollheim Vision and activate all Security Cameras. Show me the footage from the Cameras in the cockpit main floor and my cabin."
The PSA displayed the pictures from the cameras and both rooms seemed to be clear.
"Ship, open the cockpit door and the door to my cabin."
She sweared as the long range comms took their time to build up the communication, then she opened the cockpit door and aimed into the adjacent corridor. Empty. Rebecca slowly walked past the Detailed Scanning Room and the holo-conference room towards her cabin, holding her pistol at the ready.
"Rebecca, what's up?" Noah’s voice suddenly startled her and she almost pulled the trigger. "Don't scare me like that, Noah!"
"Uhm, but ... doesn't matter, what's going on?"
"One of the cargo racks wasn't installed properly and collapsed, I haven't checked yet but it's possible that half of the cargo is gone."
"Can you check if the special equipment is still alright? The loss of the limpets isn't that bad, Burwellian still has some and he's ahead of you. And also, why have you your gun out? Do you want to shoot your outfitter from outer space?"
"There is the possibility of a stowaway."
Noah's smile dropped: "A stowaway? Why would a stowaway sneak onto an exploration ship?"
"Well, there is the possibility that he's after me. I’ve done a lot of dirty work in the past."
"I'll call some of our people out there and ask them to get to your position ASAP."
Noah had started to sound more and more worried by this point.
"Don't worry, it's not the first time someone’s tried to kill me." Rebecca smiled, then she said: "Ship, Open the Cargo hatch and the airlock in the cargo hold."
"Hatch opened. Opening Airlock, 30 seconds until opening."
Noah looked at her: "And if it's not a killer? If it's really just someone who sneaked upon the wrong ship?"
"You said it, they sneaked upon the wrong ship."
Rebecca had a expression on her face he had never seen before, it was cold and calculating, but there were elements he couldn't really identify, too.
"20 seconds until opening."
Another voice started speaking: "Becks?"
"Derry? Is that you?"
"Becks, it's pretty ironic that you fly fifty-five thousand light-years out to rescue someone without fuel from certain death, but now you're going to vent out a stowaway because he or she is a potential threat? You're not in the war anymore, not everyone is out to kill you, Rebecca."
"Opening in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ..."
"Abort opening, close the Cargo hatch. Damn you, Mr Conscience-Bear, if he makes one wrong move, I'll shoot him."
"What's up with you? You're usually not like that..."
"I know, it’s just... It has brought up some bad memories..."
She opened her cabin door with one hand and aimed with her pistol at the concealed bathroom.
"Becks, what's going on? Update me."
"Wait a moment."
Rebecca took a deep breath then she jumped around the corner, ready to shoot.
Nothing.
"No stowaways in my cabin, my whole ship is on lockdown. Give me a moment to get my stuff."
"What stuff? Rebecca? Hey, don't ignore me."
Back in the main cabin she pulled out a drawer to get at the secret compartment underneath it.
Quickly she put on a light reactive armor, installed two automated injectors for combat stabilizers around both of her legs near the veins, then she made sure all her implants were working fine and the injectors synced correctly with her vital monitor.
Noah came up with: "Wow, I had no idea you had those specific implants."
"A lot of soldiers who fight in planetside warfare get heavy augmentations, without them I wouldn't be standing here."
Then she reached out and pulled a case from under her bed back into the warm light of her cabin lamp.
The case opened after she typed in the code - the birthday of a person long gone. Within the case was a whole arsenal of weapons. After a short moment of hesitation, she chose an automatic shotgun with a drum magazine, the type of weapon unimpressive to someone who had no idea but frightening to people who knew what they were facing.
"Okay, I'm searching now for the stowaway, Derry, Noah. Ship: show me the footage from all cameras on the second level."
Slowly the images from the cameras lit up on the PSA. Rebecca zoomed in on the footage from the floor leading away from the damaged cargo hold and noticed the chain of red stains leading down the floor to the midship.
"Show me the footage of the second level elevator.”
The PSA did so, showing the feed from the elevator.
”There are no stains near the elevator. He has to be somewhere on the second level. I am going there now."
Noah was on it again: "Alright, Rebecca, be careful down there."
Rebecca entered the elevator to the second level, "Don't worry, I'll be fine." she said as she locked and loaded her gun.
Derry just said: "We'll talk later about storing Battle-weapons and ammunition under your bed."
Gun at the ready she waited for the door to open.
The door opened and she advanced slowly through the corridor, carefully aiming on every door.
"Have you found him?"
Noah's loud voice startled her again and she almost pulled the trigger.
"Goddammit, Noah. I'm trying to move without being immediately heard." she whispered back.
Suddenly she noticed the red stains leading to the bulkhead right before her.
"He's in the hangar. I swear if he damages my vehicles, I'm throwing him out of an airlock. Ship, give me the footage from the cameras in the Hangar."
There were only two cameras in the hangar and both of them showed a person, clothed in a pilot suit, holding an unidentified weapon in his hands facing the door.
The intruder obviously had already noticed that someone was approaching and was apparently ready to fight.
"Noah, he has noticed me and he has something looking like a weapon."
"I'll send someone to your position."
"No, I have an idea."
She walked in front of the door, crouched down and set her magnet boots to maximum, then pressed the shotgun butt into her shoulder.
"Ship, What is our actual speed?"
"Actual speed is exactly 9,48c."
"Ship, emergency drop to normal space."
"Dropping in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Dropping."
The drop from 10 times lightspeed felt like getting facedesked from The Hulk.
Pretty similiar felt the intruder since he suddenly flew through the air, was stopped facefirst by a hangar wall and stayed there headfirst.
"Ship, open the hangar bulkhead."
"Opening Hangar bulkhead."
She stormed inside the hangar and aimed her shotgun at him.
"One wrong move and you're dead. Stand up and put your hands up in the air."
The intruder stood up and lifted his hands above his head.
"Now take your helmet off with one hand!"
He slowly turned around and took his helmet off.
The face under the helmet was young, surrounded by brown hair and certainly not male.
The "weapon" she dropped was a black bag laying beside her feet, probably containing everything she possessed.
"Are we already in Sol?" was the only thing she could speak, then she fainted and lost her consciousness.