Akers wait. (Chapter Three)
03 Jun 2019Sen Zaurak
Kat sends out the message to Sen that the data has arrived. She stands up straight as she catches her breath and looks at the rather banged up pilot in front of her. "Man you are a mess, you need medical attention." She says then looks down at the hulk of a man that was knocked out by the pipe welding pilot. "Suppose he needs some too but.. " Give the man a kick in the leg. "You tried to kill me!" She half shouts at the unconscious heap. "Can I please get this data on your ship?" The banged up pilot asks. "Oh sorry yes, sorry, yes come on." Kat rushes to help the injured man to the lift. Getting under his left arm as she helps him into it. Hitting the button as the lift goes up for the ship access door. "Thank you by the way." She says to the pilot. Her gratitude for hitting the hulking thug when he did may have saved her life. "You're welcome." The pilot breathes out. Helping him through the passageway of the Dreadnaught Kat helps him into a seat.
"Here you are, you can upload the data to the ships systems from here. " Kat explains to the man as she brings up an access screen and opens the terminal.
Watching at the man weakly places the drive into the port and hits transfer. Kat asks. "So you um, know Sen?" She says watching the data transfer bar start to load, the information passing from the small device to the ships systems.
"Only by name." The man weakly responds, his sleepy voice sounding even more slurred. "And, I, I re, I regr, I regret it. " The pilot says slowly.
"Yeah, it's Ok man, lots of peeps feel that way for numerous reasons. " Kay says with an amused chuckle trying to lighten the mood but misses the severity of the mans situation. She instantly notices something is wrong with the man. Feeling his face she feels nothing but cold skin. "Oh no!" Kat says to her self as she gets back on the com device sending an urgent message to Sen.
Deep in the bowls of the stations Docks and sub docks Sen is making his way through. After brief encounters with others he had seen at the bar he once again reaches into his inside pocket as a message comes in. Seeing the message from Kat about needing assistance urgently he tucks the com device back into his inside pocket. Giving the side of his glasses a tap and a swipe of his index finger the lense turns to a glow red. A tactical information hud display he moves quickly through the maze of crates until he reaches another exit point in the dock that would lead out to Dock 11. As the door opens Sen is met with several emergency responders passing by. Shouting and radio chatter over the various station officials indicate that something has happened in the entrance bay of the station.
Sen sees Hector, the Dock supervisor for 11 coming up the walkway, directing some of his crew to assist in the fire and mess from the crashed ship in the landing bay that was witnessed by Kat.
"Hey hey,, Hector..." Sen stops him. What is going on mate?
"We had a bird come in hot, chased by what we think were pirates. Ship hit the pad hard, broke apart, and the pilot jumped out. Took off down the construction side near where it crashed and he would not stop. " Hector says throwing up his arms as if reliving what took place as he tells the story.
"Hector,,, HECTOR!" Sen says louder to slow the man down and regain his attention. "I need to get to my ship, what is the quickest way?" Sen asks. "Well not that way!" Hector motions to the mess of emergency responders down the main corridor to the Decks 15 to 10. "But hey, this way,, take the service tunnel. Count 10 relay conduits and turn left. The hatch will bring you up at the fuse room for 11." Hector says moving over to a secure door in the hallway showing a authorized personnel only sign. Swiping his card he pushes the door open for Sen. "Just hurry Esay, the security forces are locking everything down to find that pilot that took off after his crash up!" Hector says as he keeps a sharp eye for anyone noticing what he is doing.
Patting Hector on the shoulder as he passes into the doorway to move down the access tunnels. "Thanks mate. I owe you one." Sen says moving quickly into the darkness, letting the thermal image enhancement from his prosthetic aid in the darkened run. Hector starts to let the door shut when he hears Sen's comment on debt. Hector quickly reaches out the stop the door from shutting fully to yell down the hallway. "You always say that!" Then lets the door shut and lock before rushing off as he pulls his two way radio from its belt clip and shouts into it. "Dan! Dan! You there man???" Hector blends into the crowd of emergency services and station service workers.
As Sen moves through until he reaches the final relay conduit that leads to the access fuse room to Dock 11 he moves More cautiously. A new mode switch of his glasses shows various thermal readings as he opens the door slowly into Dock 11. Looking around he can see the large man passed out on the dock floor near the back of the Dreadnaught. Pulling his blaster from the inside of his jacket and unfolding the stock he moves along keeping a close eye on the man. Reaching up to tap his glasses twice he says out loud as the com connection to the Dreadnaught is made. "
"Dex, lower access lift." He says to the ships computer. The lift lowering down Sen makes his way to jump to the lift and quickly hit the up button. Turning to be on guard to anything that he meets on the other side of the Dreadnaughts door."
As the access door opens he is met with Kat, holding a similar blaster pointed back at him. Both stay still for merely seconds as Sen asks;
"We clear?"
"Yes and no." Kat responds as she lowers her weapon and Sen enters this ship.
"Can't leave you alone for a moment." Sen says in his normal joking dead pan tone. Moving to check the unresponsive pilots pulse only to find none. His attention suddenly getting taken by the data now fully loaded and displaying on screen the image of a symbol with numbers and text hovering around as if in orbit around the symbol.
"That guy crashed his ship as it was being shot at when entering the dock, then , I get here, some fat man with more muscles in his neck that should be allowed by nature thought I was the commander of the Dreadnaught!" Kat starts to ramble to tell Sen everything. Pacing around the ship, even stopping to start to make her self a coffee.
"I knew ya know! I knew that meat head was trying to pull a fast one on me, I could feel it!" Kat says dramatically as she rants. Sen looks back at the pilot knowing he is gone he respectfully closes the mans eyes, reaching over, getting a near by helmet to place on his head, and arranges him in the chair. Strapping him into the seat as Kat rants to the traumatic assault.
"So I did it ya know, I got the Cap charger. It was the only thing I had, then I zapped him. I zapped him good!" Kat exclaims as she drinks sips out of her coffee watching Sen tend to the pilot.
"I have no idea what all this means, none what so ever!" Kat nearly shouts, then looks at Sen as he stands up from attending to the now dead pilot and turning off the data screen turning to Kat.
"Whats all this mean?" Kat says now clamer as she searches Sen's face for an answer.
Sen's eyepiece still glowing red he only offers the answer of.
"It's time to go. That is what it all means." His serious expression causing Kat to turn and rush to her seat to start running through launch.
"What about him?" Kat asks looking over at the expired pilot.
"He is coming with us. Security is going to be looking for him and if he dies while wanted, if he has any family what so ever they will not get the insurance on him. Can not let that happen." Sen says as he straps in to his seat.
Kat starts cycling through the ship systems and outside camera views. The one directly under the rear of the ship shows a pool of blood with a trail moving off. The Hulking thug that was knocked unconscious from the pilot had crawled away. Unable to see where he had gone from the camera view Kat yells out to Sen; "He's GONE! The meathead! He is gone!"
Sen looks over his shoulder with a slight frown. No time to care about the thug but half relieved he is clear of the ships thrusters. "Good because it is about to get hot around here." Sen says as he requests station control return the Dreadnaught to the surface.
"Where are we going? I need to punch in a route." Kat asks
"We need to get to Guardian space. But we need to hitch a ride to get there. We have someone to catch up with while we ride a ferry."
Kat knows of only one place a megaship acts as a ferry so locks in the location as the Dreadnaught lifts to the surface or the station.
((To be continued))