Hutton Orbital, Part 5
11 May 2017User4296
Somewhere in the Alpha Centauri systemFederation Space
January 3302
"Status?" I asked as I ran along in the tunnel toward the Helix’s engine room.
"The outer hatch is at thirty-two percent." Verity was as calm as ever over the comm link pressed into my ear. Of course, she was a virtual assistant. They didn't have emotions.
"It's taking them a while to breach the airlock," I observed, mostly to myself. "I don't think they came prepared." The ship rocked.
"Detonation detected," Verity offered. "Hatch integrity at thirty percent. The connection tunnel has been damaged."
"They must be new to this pirating thing. Nobody uses explosives to get through airlocks," I said. "That's good. We may be able to use that inexperience against them."
There was little hope in winning in a straight up fight if they boarded the ship, and the presence of the Vulture meant that the Helix wouldn't be going far if I tried to run. The only hope, then, was to poison the milk. Or at least set enough traps where taking the Helix was more trouble than it was worth - at least long enough for the repair systems to bring the engines back online.
After a few moments, I came to the correct door, marked by the bluish glow emitted by the Helix's fusion core though the small window.
I entered and surveyed the readouts. The fight had knocked out the Helix's shields and engines, but the weapon systems were still online. Unfortunately, the fight had fused some of the internal wiring, preventing this information from being accessed on the bridge, requiring me to do it manually.
I tapped at a few of the keys. "Beginning restart sequence," I said, eyeing the readout. Simultaneously, every module on the ship - except life support - switched off as the system began its cycle. Over time, the ship's automatic repair system would strip other systems of some required parts in order to restore functionality to the disabled systems. It wasn't as good as repairing the systems at a shipyard, but it worked in a pinch - which this certainly counted as.
"Divide et impera," I said next, pressing a few more keys and bringing up another menu. "Verity, can you access the life support controls?"
"Affirmative, commander," came the reply.
"Good." A few more taps. "We may need to turn off the oxygen across the entire ship. Do we have a view on the airlock?"
One of the screens on the console shifted to show a short hallway. At the end, a heavy metal door stood between the Helix's interior and whatever lay beyond - in this case, several angry pirates. After a moment, the scene shifted again, but this time to a screen full of static, but switched back to the first view half a moment later.
"The external airlock cameras are not functional," Verity added. That meant the gentlemen at the door had probably done something to them. I took a few moments to study the view - there was some kind of a light flickering about two-thirds of the way down the ridge that joined the two halves of the door together. Some kind of cutting tool? I looked away from the camera feed and cursed. If that door came open, there was little chance of getting it closed again.
A beep from the console interrupted my thoughts. Looking over, I saw that one of the modules - the power distributor - had already restarted, restoring emergency power to much of the interior of the ship.
***
I had just arrived on the bridge when one of the consoles beeped.
"Commander, a new contact has appeared on sensors," Verity offered a moment later. There was a pause. "Configuration is a Type-7 freighter."
"Interesting," I said, tapping one of the bridge screens. "Maybe somebody heard our brief distress call and came to see what was going on. Can you get a visual?"
The screen I tapped flickered. A moment later, it showed a Type-7 freighter moving through space.
"Here for a look-see?" I asked, and looked out one of the bridge windows. The Viper and Vulture, which had been lazily orbiting the two conjoined ships, had stopped and were now both pointed off into space, though I couldn't see what they were facing. Probably the Type-7.
I glanced down at the screen. The Type-7 was also stopped, and didn't appear to have rotated much from the heading it was traveling in. Thanks to the limited sensors I couldn't see where it was in relation to the Helix. As far as I could tell, the three ships were all sort of staring at each other, trying to figure out who was going to act first.
Seemingly at the same moment, the Vulture surged forward, hurtling downward and out of view, while the Type-7 started turning. The Viper moved forward, then stopped, evidently unsure of what to do.
"How long until system reboot?" I asked.
"The reboot is requiring more time than usual," Verity said, after a pause. "Reboot will be complete in five minutes."
"And the airlock?"
"The airlock will be breached in two minutes," came the reply.
Not enough time. There's never enough time.
I cursed and turned toward one of the cabinets on the bridge. Pulling the door open, I found a standard issue pilot's suit, put there when I took the Helix out on her shakedown cruise - most pilots either wore one all the time or kept one nearby for emergencies like this, because one never knew when one would be taking an unexpected spacewalk.
It took less than a minute to slip the garment on over my clothes and to ensure the remlock - a sort of hood that extended over the head of the pilot that supplied an emergency oxygen supply - was functional. I hefted my pistol and headed toward the bridge's door.
***
The airlock door was located at the end of a short hallway just off the main living area on the Python's main deck. There was a door at either end, but the one on the living quarter side was controlled via door panel. I could close it to slow them down, but they wouldn't have to cut through this one - any halfway decent hacker could probably splice it open fairly quickly.
I slapped the door control, and the door slid open. Several meters away, the flickering light had reached the bottom of the door - within moments the maglocks would fail, allowing the door to be forced open.
I braced myself against the doorframe, training the pistol's barrel at the opposite door.
Any minute now...
The light disappeared, and the end of a crowbar forced its way through the crack.
Almost...
The doors separated slightly, and two pairs of hands worked themselves into the opening.
Wait for it...
The doors moved further, and a body appeared to fill the gap-
There!
The pistol roared, and the figure's eyes went wide at the sound before they were gone, lost behind an explosion of crimson. Several shouts echoed through the opening, and I caught a glimpse of the barrel of a laser rifle moving into the gap to replace the body. I moved left and slapped the door control at nearly the same instant, though a few streaks of angry red energy collided with the opposite wall before the door finally slid closed.
An uneasy silence fell over the room as I surveyed my options. One path, up a small staircase, led back to the bridge, while the other led deeper into the ship.
There was another beep. "Commander," Verity's voice said, back through the commlink, "There are multiple contacts on radar."
I cocked a brow. "What are they?"
"Three vipers," Verity replied. "They and the Type-7 appear to be engaging the Vulture, though the Type-7 is heavily damaged and attempting to flee the battle. The remaining pirate Viper has disengaged and is attempting to jump out." There was a pause. "Sir, we are being hailed. Audio only."
"Patch them in," I said.
"What's your name?" the next voice was gruff, probably the pirate leader again.
"Does it matter?" I asked.
"Few more minutes and we would have had you." It wasn't a threat this time. We both seemed keenly aware that I had gotten lucky.
I shrugged, though he couldn't see it. "Looks that way."
"I'll remember this, Helix," he said. "Next time you come this-"
I cut him off. "Maybe you will, maybe you won't. Though now you'll think twice about starting a piracy operation this close to Hutton."
"We'll see," came the reply, and the ship shook.
"Commander, the other ship has released docking clamps," Verity said.
The other voice was gone, replaced with a new one. "Security cordon established! You will submit to a security scan!"
I smiled weakly and turned back toward the cockpit. "Knock yourselves out, fellas," I said, to no one in particular.