Crime and politics, part 6 (20/04/3304)
22 Apr 2018Archived
Previously in James' LogbookAfter investigating the death of his friend, Blasius Hajdu and discovering corruption in the highest echelons of Federal administration, James got arrested by the very faction he found responsible for close cooperation with criminal elements in San Tu system. Sentenced to death, after timely intervention by Vice Admiral Malcolm Goodwin, he was sent to a prison ship. However, it turned out that he never got there...
***
Unknown System
The ship shook violently.
James woke up strapped to a bed 10 minutes before as they emerged in whatever system it was next to an M-type star. They stayed there for several minutes before gaining speed and going towards a small rocky body roughly half the size of Earth’s moon, orbitting a gas giant with a single asteroid ring.
James looked out of the small window and saw a quickly growing side of the planet.
His head hurt from a hit of a rifle butt. The Dropship he was on docked with another vessel after one of the jumps. The doors to his cell opened and two people in unmarked military outfits entered, untied him and then promptly knocked him out.
Now he was on a different ship and in a different location.. Tied to a bed with three leather straps. He pulled sharply and found them to be rather loose. James clenched his teeth and began to work methodically on the bounds. They let go just before landing.
The gravity was very weak, not more than 0.15 G. He looked around - economy class cabin, simple, no terminal or computer. Sound of mag boots on the corridor outside and male’s voice.
“Yeah, let me just handcuff our cargo and we’ll drive him to the Vision. I really don’t understand why we had to haul his sorry ass 53 light years from Puppis instead of just shooting him on the spot..”
The response from the cockpit was too quiet to understand. James positioned himself to the left from the entrance. The door opened and a short, bald man in miltary overalls entered. Barrett was lucky: his opponent clearly was left handed, as the holster with a laser pistol was easy to reach from the point where he was standing. The man came to a halt seeing an empty bed and reached for his gun, but Barrett was quicker - he snatched it first and hit the mercenary hard on the occiput. As the man fell on his knees, he hit again.
James left the room and turned right, away from the cockpit. He was looking for an auxiliary console in hope of hacking it and sending a distress call to Crashbx or Matt. Again he was lucky - he found one it the fighter bay. As launching was not an option during the landing procedure, he activated the comms relay in emergency mode and started typing a message.
Just as he was finishing, he heard a voice from behind:
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Without even turning back James shot blindly several times towards the voice. That gave him enough time to hit “send” and duck behind the console. Just in time - incoming laser bolts hit the wall above and the screen, causing a fountain of sparks to erupt. James leaned from his cover and shot back. He was cornered with no way to run, and had two mercenaries with blaster rifles in front. Not an ideal situation.
“Perhaps we can talk it through? I am sure it is just a misunderstanding, lads!”
In response more shots landed all around him.
“I see. How about I just surrender then?” - he tried. He wasn’t the one for heroics. Nobody would know if he went down taking one, five or ten mercenaries with him. The result would be same.
“You better do that. Throw the pistol and raise... slowly... with your hands up”
“Fine” - James did as he was told. Now three men in military overalls were aiming at him. The one in the middle, bearded and with neatly trimmed hair, grinned and shot.
Laser bolt hit Barrett in the shoulder, pushing him back on the wall. He moaned and slowly slid down to a sitting position. The shooter approached with an even wider grin.
“You probably overheard us saying that we need to deliver you alive. Alas, nobody specified anything about your condition” - he fired again, this time piercing James’ thigh. James screamed, only to be shot in the second leg a moment later - “And that will make you think twice before you try to run again, scumbag”.
With that the man kicked the commander curled on the floor. Heavy boot connected with a sickening noise. The darkness encompassed Barrett again...