Light and Haze, 6: Counting Minutes
22 Sep 2021Meowers
I was sitting in the pilot seat, and, ugh, I swear it was the most unpleasant moment of sitting there. That Delaine's lapdog told me not to touсh anything until his buddies return. Holding his goddamn carbine pointed at my head, but too far for me to grab it. And he put my rifle into the clamps on the wall. Completely out of reach. Damn... I was in the pilot seat, ready for a takeoff, maybe I should try manoeuvring hard when we leave the station, smearing them over the walls with G-forces... Just have to do it unpredictably enough... Calling the station guard wasn't an option, I had to start the ship systems first. And then that comm panel... My manipulations with it will be too visible... And I can't open the entry airlock without starting the systems, only with an emergency switch, too visible, again...
And then his friends returned. With... Jacqueline. They dragged her along the floor towards the wall and cuffed to the handrail. She was looking almost unconscious, barely moving, not even trying to say something. Her red hair was disheveled, and there was blood on the face, drops were falling from her nose, leaving the trail on the deck floor. One of the slavers had a deep scratch on his cheek. Ah, at least she didn't give up without a fight... While I was still planning and planning... Goddammit. But... How the hell... What was she doing here? Explains this little party onboard... But why she didn't come to the living cabin while I was there?.. I could turn that place into a fortress and cut down waves of those losers... Well, ummmm, sharp manoeuvring plan is a no-go now. And also they got my bag from the corridor, with both a pistol and a knife in it. Crap. Why... Why I was so goddamn careless, again?! Hate it... Really hate it... Only if I was a bit more... Damn! Every time I drop my guard... That crap happens.
"Power up our baby, miss Captain! And let's go home!", announced the squad leader with that pompous voice.
I put the keycard into the slot and turned the main switch. Systems started to boot up, engines began to roar with their low voice that was slowly becoming louder, ventilation fans spinned up and I felt that fresh and warm flow of air touching my face... Yeah, now I got what those 'unusual temperature readings' meant, it wasn't my modified air heater, it was about..people onboard, so, their presence here was kept secret from the maintenance station manager. He was just overviewing the telemetry report before calling me, as it happens in usual. And that tech guy was cooperating somehow... Wait... Air... I can do something here... Just have to make some settings... Marshmallow never let me down...
"Why it's so long? Just reset that damn thing!", he seemed nervous, but I was already finishing what I wanted to do. So, few seconds after I took my hands off the tech console, looked at him and nodded. He walked towards the pilot seat and pushed my shoulder. "Now get out of here and know your place, bitch. Damn... Have to put you on a diet... Hey, guys! Place her near the red-headed one!". Then two slavers grabbed me by the hands and cuffed to the handrail near Jacqueline. I wasn't resisting. Was no reason right now. Another two of them were still pointing their guns at me. Hell... They seem too cautious. Just have to wait now, hell knows how long...
"Put a helmet on her", I said.
"What?! A heeeelmeeet?!", one of the slavers answered with a mocking tone, "Oh, maybe a pillow? A lullaby? A cup of milk?"
"Put a helmet on her. I have spare one in the locker here. You stunned her, and now we're going to zero-G on a manoeuvrable ship. You don't want to see her throwing up."
She's going to need it. And, well, mentioning bodily reactions was quite at their level of daily communications. And I had my helmet on me already... So we took off. That guy seemed quite excited, flying my ship. Eeew... Have to wipe the seat and controls clean... He even did a few rolls after leaving the station behind, but his buddies, who were struggling to remain standing, told him to keep it straight. I had no chance to see the nav panel, pilot seat was blocking the view, but something told me that we're going to Harma. Archon Delaine's nest. And that's pretty far from Inara, none less than ten jumps... Ummm, fifteen, maybe...
Marshmallow has a combat-optimised loadout, so doing many consecutive hyperjumps was a challenge. He had to stop after each three or four jumps and scoop hydrogen from the stars to refill the comparably small fuel tank. And, well, when I had a chance, I minimised the power, routed to the fuel scoop, so it was operating sickeningly slow. Had to buy some time for me and Jacqueline... She was recovering and regaining her ability to speak.
"Ah, hi again...", she said quietly, looking at my face, and then at my hands, cuffed to the same handrail, "Not a..good day, certainly... Sorry for... This."
"We'll find a way out. We have to keep trying. But... Why are you here? On the ship?"
"That clerk guy... He found that note after..asking me to pull everything..out of the pockets... Was searching for any drugs, and, you know..all that stuff, and... He took it away from me. 'No contacts' he said... Jerk... Address and number were..too long, but I remembered the ship name... Ha, it's cute...", she smiled a bit, looked through the canopy glass at the hyperspace tunnel, swirling around the ship, and then resumed, "And, yeah..sorry, shouldn't have left you there... Hell knows why I did this, like I wasn't myself... Wanted to..Can't explain... Run away? From everything?.. Uhhh... So, thought that my medical experience may be of some use... But they sent me..damn... To mop the floors in some grocery store... Ugh. Idiots..."
Jacqueline told me that as soon as she realised she's being constantly watched and followed by some suspicious men, looking much like these guys, she ran away from that job, grabbed her makeshift flight suit from the shelter and made it straight to the hangar. Then she sneaked in when maintenance crew was too busy removing the diagnostics machinery, and tried to hide in technical compartment. Having a few tubes of cheap nutri-paste and a bottle of water from that shop. Still no explanation of how did they found her here... But maybe she really has some kind of tracking implant... Damn... Things are getting more and more complicated. I told her to save her breath and lower the helmet visor...
Six of them and three of us. And one of us was still fighting...