Echoes, Part 3
01 Jun 2017User4296
Near Reorte 5, Reorte SystemAlliance Space
3288
"Careful now," came the voice over the radio. I looked over at my compatriot, and we nodded in unison, before floating to either side of the airlock of the derelict Hauler.
"You have two choices," the voice continued. "You can either cut your way through the door or pull the bolts off the door mechanism. The second one only works if the ship is unpowered, as magnetic locks will hold the door on anyway. In cases like this, we can just pull the door off the damn thing and not worry about it."
"I still don't see why he's out here," my companion said, placing the end of his ratchet tool over one of the bolts on the underside of the airlock, where the door was hinged to the vessel. I copied him, and two pulls of separate triggers began twisting the bolts free.
"He needs to learn sometime, Slade," my father's voice answered. "Better he do it now than later. Besides, it wasn't too long ago you were out here for the first time yourself."
Slade answered my father with a grunt. Nearby, the Asp Explorer's lights flickered on, washing the airlock door with light. "Much better," he said next, pulling the first bolt free and moving on to the second.
I wasn't far behind him, making the same transition a few seconds later.
"Hurry it up," my father's voice added. "Whoever spaced these guys may still be around, and you don't want to be outside the ship if they show up."
A few minutes later, I pulled the last bolt free, and Slade floated back toward our Asp, disappearing into the cargo bay. He reappeared a moment later with a long hose, only a few inches thicker than the hoses that tethered us to the Asp, but this one had a black brick on the end, which he pressed up against the airlock door.
"Magnetic tow line activated," my father said. "Stand back." Slade and I floated aside as the Asp fired reverse thrusters, and the door popped off the side of the Hauler.
"Let's go," Slade said, pushing past me to the airlock. I followed, and we found ourselves inside.
"Remember," my father said, the transmission crackling slightly as it penetrated the Hauler's hull, "What you're looking for is in the cargo bay. Should be a large, grey cargo container." He paused. "If you see anything else of value, snag that too. It's not like they'll be needing it."
"Got it," Slade said. We floated along in silence for a moment before we reached a split in the corridor. "Cargo bay should be this way," he said, pointing down one of the corridors. He then nodded in the opposite direction. "Go see what's in the crew quarters, I'll go secure the crate."
"If you say so," I said, both of us moving off along separate passageways. It was a short trip into the crew quarters, but the door was closed, and doubtless sealed due to the loss of power.
I stared at it for a second, before the realization struck me. About halfway down the right side of the door - left now, since the ship was floating upside down - there was a small panel. This was easily pried free, revealing a small red lever embedded within the wall. Pulling this acted as a sort of crank, and repeatedly moving it slowly worked the door open.
The crew quarters were empty, thankfully, though the personal effects of the previous inhabitants were strewn about the room. Clothing, knickknacks, and food from the nearby dispenser floated haphazardly in the vacuum. Normally, Haulers were only large enough for one person to live comfortably - or two, if the crew were really friendly. That seemed to be the case here, as both men's and women's clothing were present among the detritus.
It was a short float to the door to the cockpit, though I spent much of the time pushing random articles of clothing out of the way. I had just reached it when Slade's voice came over the radio.
"Found it," he said. "But it's weird - there's nothing else in this cargo bay except for this one crate."
"Maybe they were between jobs. Maybe this was the one job they could take so they could afford fill their hold again," my father replied.
"Still, though. Why didn't whoever hit this ship take the cargo?" Slade asked. "John, how are you doing?"
The cockpit door slid open, having been bypassed the same way as the previous door. "Shit," I breathed, upon looking inside.
The canopy had been blown out, and the scorch marks around the hole showed that it had been a direct hit, though by what was hard to say - probably a cannon or railgun. Large bullet holes peppered the room, meaning that someone had fired a multi-cannon into the cockpit at some point, likely after the loss of the canopy.
The occupants didn't stand a chance. There was a male sitting in the pilot's chair - he wasn't wearing a pilot's suit, and so had gone without the emergency oxygen supply, leaving him to suffocate where he sat. A look around the room revealed why - a second body, this one female, floated toward the back left-hand corner of the room. She had managed to put on a remlock mask, and the green light on the front showed it was active, though it ended up not mattering - her torso had been all but torn apart from one of the multi-cannon rounds. She was clutching the second remlock mask.
"This wasn't piracy," I said, when I had finally found the words. "This was murder, pure and simple." My gaze was drawn to the nearby gas giant and its orbiting ice field beyond the smashed canopy, its cosmic beauty in stark contrast to the horror inside the cockpit.
The radio was silent for a moment. "Get back to the ship, both of you," my father's voice said, finally. "We've got what we came for, and the buyer's going to want to know what happened to their courier."
***
Davies High, Reorte System
Alliance Space
"Killed?" the man asked.
"So it seems," my father answered. "Strange thing - whoever it was, they weren't after your cargo. Could have been a random act of violence, or maybe revenge."
The other man leaned forward and gently slid his drink out of the way, clearing a spot on the table that separated the two men. "It is safe, then?"
My father nodded. "In our hold, yes. We can send it wherever you want once the payment clears."
The other man tapped a few keys on his PDA. "Payment sent. Please have it sent to bay 13." He extended a hand toward my father. "A pleasure as always, John."
My father shot me a glance. "It's Jack, now." His PDA chirped, and he shook the other man's hand. "The pleasure was ours."
The other man left, allowing Slade and I to move in - he took the empty chair while I dragged one over from a nearby table.
"Well?" Slade asked.
"After fuel and repair costs, not well - only a few thousand credits. Justus won't be happy," my father said, sighing.
"Is he ever?" I asked.
My father shot me a look. "Watch your mouth. Justus was nice enough to give us this job, and I feel bad not having anything to show for it."
"So what's next?" Slade asked, draining what was left of his drink.
"We keep working. Go check the board, I've got a few contacts I can ask," my father said.
Slade nodded, stood, and disappeared into the crowd, leaving the two of us to sit in relative silence for a few moments.
Finally, he turned to me. "I know you're new, and that was an okay first job, but you need to pick it up. We can't afford to hold your hand forever."
"I... know. I'll do better," I said, trying not to look at him.
"See that you do," my father said, standing. "I won't think twice about cutting you loose if you start costing us money."