The Delkar Job Part III
11 Feb 2017Jellicoe
I came to, still in my armchair, still full clothed, my head throbbing and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, on the table was an empty bottle of brandy and a second of Old Sol. Mira was curled up on the sofa still sound asleep, I grimaced, that would give the gossips a field day no doubt. I groggily got up, reached into my desk draw for my 'Clear Head' stim pills and flicked on the kettle, I had just heard Mira yawn when the computer alerted me to an incoming coms request."Put it through." I said queasily, waiting for the stims to kick in and fighting a surge of irritation at being disturbed before I had had my tea, which turned to outright anger when Nedim Rickard's half smirking hologram appeared across my desk.
"Good morning Commander Jellicoe, hope I'm not interrupting anything?" He glanced at Mira his smirk getting bigger. "You must be insatiable."
"Can I help you?" I had no wish to exchange lame witticisms with a man I would dearly love to shoot.
"I do miss intelligent conversation in the morning." His florid face feigned disappointment. "I had hoped for better from you. Never mind." His face became grave, though his intense eyes retained their mocking humour. "I do so hate betrayal don't you? and I do despise traitors, so can you imagine how angry it makes me when my hospitality is abused by one of my guests to encourage my own staff to betray me?" The holo camera panned back to reveal a huge man in Delkar Ltd uniform holding a naked woman by her hair, the woman's face and body showed the darkening bruises of a recent and savage beating but even with her lip fattened and bleeding and her cheeks and one eye swollen and darkened she was still recognisable as Adelaida. "I'm a generous man though, so we're going to play a game. If this 'person' can get down the corridor to your hanger you can have her, if not? Well, you'll see." The brute of a corporate thug shoved Adelaida forward, Rickard whispered something in her ear and she set off running, the camera zoomed out again and I saw the corridor leading from the lift to our docking bay, about two hundred yards long with Adelaida sprinting as fast as her damaged body would allow. I also saw a section of armed police preparing their rifles. I slammed the coms panel of my desk.
"Commander to all marines, friendly incoming to docking bay, give covering fire immediately." I barked.
"Very good Mr Jellicoe, very decisive." Rickard said still smirking. "In the best traditions of the Federal Navy, but is it really Federation business? What would your superiors say about you using navy personnel for such a purpose?" I was only half listening, my attention entirely on the scene unfolding before me. The first marines had reached the corridor and had opened fire, Federal Marines are superbly trained and though only three of them were in action they were laying down a fusillade of murderous suppressing fire that had effectively pinned down the Delkar Ltd goons. Adelaida was struggling now, visibly slowing as exhaustion and the effects of the beating took a twin toll but she was close now, just ten paces from safety.
"So near." Rickard said in a voice laden with mocking sorrow and from somewhere in the roof a single gunshot rang out. Adelaida pitched forward, the back of her head exploding in a burst of crimson, hit the floor and never moved again. I felt sick. "But so far. I win." Rickard grinned as though he had just won nothing more than serious a game of cards.
"Bastard!" Mira screamed "Murdering fucking bastard."
"Do please shut your whore up." Rickard hissed with the first flash of anger I had ever seen him exhibit, but he quickly regained his smug, smirking composure. "Oh dear Mr Jellicoe, it really doesn't look good for you does it? A young woman is found dead, shot with a Federation issue weapon after being beaten and raped, with your DNA all over her body and when police arrived to question you they were met with a barrage, I like the word 'barrage' don't you? It looks very good in official reports and scares the public, of rifle fire. I'd say I have more than enough to hang you, but for some reason I quite like you, so we're going to play another game. You have twenty minutes to get out of the station before I file this report, the game begins when you leave the no fire zone. Good luck." I cut the link and punched my panel to get the bridge.
"Claude get me immediate launch clearance, then get everyone aboard we're leaving as soon as I get to the bridge." I pulled on my flight suit, ran all the way to the bridge, strapped down and took off, filling Claude and Vik in on what had happened as we cleared the bay. "What's waiting for us?" I asked.
"Three authority Anaconda's and five Vipers, do we make a run for Caillie? Vik asked.
"No they'll be ready for that, Claude plot a course for Solati, then we'll plan our next move." We cleared the stations mass lock.
"Authority ships incoming." Vik said. "They've deployed hard points."
"Under attack." The computer announced and our shields flared under the hail of laser and multi-cannon fire.
"Jumping now." I said and punched the jump drive.
"Frame Shift Drive charging." The computer told us and I watched the progress as our shields soaked up more and more fire.
"Why's he let us go?" Claude asked unexpectedly and a my stomach lurched as my brain followed his lead. We had had routine maintenance on the ship, which meant Delkar Ltd had had had their hands on my engines. I punched the switch to cancel our jump. Nothing. "Jock." I called the engine room. "Cancel the jump, don't let us go into Frame Shift." There was a long pause.
"I cannae skipper!" Jock's anxious voice came back. "Something's wrong, she's no responding."
"Four, three, two, one, engage." The computer counted down and then the stars stretched and we felt the familiar surge as the Resolution sprang forward into witch space. Had we made it?
"Skipper something's wrong." Jock's voice came through. "The drive's overloading, I cannae stop it, evacuating engineering or everyone down here's a dead man." Warning klaxon's sounded everywhere, the temperature gauge on my console rose way beyond safe limits, then a massive explosion sounded in the bowels of the ship, then nothing.