Ep.#1 - "Escalation" (The Frontiers Saga: Rogue Castes) (23 page)

A small blip appeared on the sensor display.

“Whoa,” Josh said, his eyes fixating on it immediately.

“What is it?” the captain asked, turning to look at the screen himself.

“I could’ve sworn I saw something.”

“Something? What kind of something?”

“I don’t know,” Josh replied. “An energy spike, a flash of light, maybe?”

“Like a jump flash?”

“I dunno. Maybe. But it didn’t beep.”

“It might not, if the reading was weak enough. The system might think it was an anomaly, or a sensor echo,” the captain explained. Captain Tuplo sighed. “But if it were a jump flash, we’d see the ship that jumped in.”

“Not if it went cold just after it jumped in,” Josh pointed out.

“Cold?” Captain Tuplo asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“As in, shut everything down. No emissions, no heat. Stealth mode. We used to call it goin’ cold, back when I was flyin’ recon missions in the Falcon.”

“You think it’s a Jung ship?” Captain Tuplo wondered, his concern growing.

“Could be,” Josh replied. “But the Jung don’t usually try to hide. They like to come in all showy and shit, like they ain’t afraid of nothin’. Stealth ain’t exactly their style.”

“Could be pirates,” the captain suggested. “They tend to come out when things get chaotic. Play it back.”

Josh pressed the replay button, causing the sensors to display the previous momentary contact reading on the screen.

“Enlarge and enhance,” the captain instructed.

The image quadrupled in size, then became clearer, taking on an outline that was quite familiar to Josh.

“Fuck, that’s a Jung gunship, Cap’n,” Josh said.

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me, Cap’n. I’ve seen enough of them to know.”

“How long do we have?” the captain asked, turning back to his consoles to prepare for a quick departure.

“From that distance? If they’re trying to sneak up on us, then maybe ten minutes, assuming they’ve already detected us. If they
ain’t
trying to sneak up… Way less.”

“Marcus?” Captain Tuplo called over his comm-set. “How much longer until we’re full up?”

“
Second group is starting up the ladders now, Cap’n. Ten minutes, maybe?
”

“We don’t have ten minutes,” the captain replied.

“
Don’t tell me…
”

“Just be ready to cut us loose on a moment’s notice.”

“
And if there’s still people in the tunnel?
”

“Then you get them the hell…”

A brilliant blue-white flash of light suddenly filled the Seiiki’s cockpit, causing both Captain Tuplo and Josh to instinctively raise their hands in front of their faces to protect themselves from the blinding light.

“Holy…” Dalen exclaimed, startled by the sudden flash of light spilling out through the main passenger compartment hatch and filling the starboard corridor where he was directing passengers. “Was that a…”

“
Get everyone in their seats!
” the captain instructed urgently over the comm-sets. “
We’ve got company!”

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. Let’s go! Let’s go!” he yelled at the passengers in a panicked voice.

Sensor alarms and proximity warning tones blared in the cockpit.

“Jesus! They’ve got both of their ventral guns aimed right at us!” Captain Tuplo shouted, looking out the forward windows at the gunship looming over them.

“We gotta get outta here, Cap’n!” Josh said urgently.

“
Unknown vessel assisting fugitive ship, Asa-Cafon,”
the heavily-accented voice announced over the comms. “
Power down all engines and reactors immediately, or we will open fire. This is your only warning. You have one minute to comply.”

“What the fuck does he mean by fugitive vessel?” Josh wondered as his fingers danced across the controls, preparing to power up the Seiiki’s propulsion systems.

“I knew it! I goddamn knew it!” the captain cursed. “Didn’t I tell you something was wrong?”

“What are we gonna do, Cap’n?”

“We’re going to stall for time! That’s what we’re going to do!”

“What?”

“Marcus, get as many people as you can on board, right now! You’ve got two minutes!” Captain Tuplo pointed at Josh. “Plot an escape jump!”

“Cap’n! We ain’t movin’!” Josh reminded him. “You gotta be movin’ to jump, remember?”

“Everything is moving, Josh. Hell, we’re all hurtling through space at tens of thousands of kilometers per second. Even when we’re standing on the surface, the whole damn planet is hurtling through space!”

“I was thinking more along the lines of we were moving
toward
someplace we wanna be…as in, someplace
they
ain’t,” Josh explained, pointing at the Jung gunship floating above them, rail guns ready to tear them to shreds.

“Uh, to the unknown black and red ship hovering over us,” Captain Tuplo called over the comms. “This is the Seiiki. We are on a rescue mission. We were hired by the owners of the Asa-Cafon to evacuate the passengers and bring…”

“
Thirty seconds
,” the voice warned, ignoring Captain Tuplo’s response.

“I don’t think stalling is gonna work, Cap’n.”

“Move it, move it, move it!” Marcus shouted at the Asa-Cafon’s remaining passengers.

“
Close all hatches! It’s time to go!”
Captain Tuplo ordered over Marcus’s helmet comms.

“I’ve got people in the tunnel, Cap’n!” Marcus replied. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

“
You’ve got twenty seconds to close up before we jump the hell out of here, Marcus!
” Captain Tuplo warned.

“Move your ass!” Marcus shouted as the last of the passengers made their way through the tunnel and into the Seiiki’s cargo bay.

“
There’s no more room in here!
” someone yelled from the port side of the docking apparatus.

Marcus turned back to the boarding tunnel. “That’s it, we’re full up!”

“What? You can’t be! What about the rest of us?” the crewman said in horror from the Asa-Cafon’s boarding hatch at the other end of the tunnel.

“We’ll be back for you!” Marcus promised, even though he knew it wasn’t true.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“
Marcus! Get those hatches closed!
” the captain ordered.

“Close those fucking hatches up there! Port and starboard! Close them now! You hear me!” Marcus turned back toward the tunnel, as several of the Asa-Cafon’s crew came charging down the boarding tunnel, determined to get aboard the Seiiki at all costs.

Oh fuck!
Marcus pulled his weapon and opened fire on the charging crewmen. His shots struck several of them in the head and chest, causing them to collapse in the middle of the tunnel in a smoldering heap. It was just enough to slow the rest of them down, and buy him enough time to close the hatch at his end of the tunnel. “Go, go, go!” he yelled over his comms as he swung the hatch closed and spun the lock.
Fuck!
he thought as he closed his eyes and turned his back to the hatch.

“Time is up,” Josh announced.

“Unknown black and red ship, this is the Seiiki. We just need a few…”

The ship lurched to one side suddenly. Alarms began sounding in the Seiiki’s cockpit.

“What the fuck!” Josh exclaimed as he reached for the Seiiki’s flight controls.

“They’re firing on us!” Captain Tuplo yelled.

Another alarm sounded.

“We’ve lost lock with the Asa-Ca…”

“Decompression in the cargo bay!” the captain exclaimed. He glanced out the side window, noticing that the ship was in a lateral spin, and headed for the main drive section of the Asa-Cafon. “Josh!”

“Fuck!” Josh swore, noticing the imminent collision. He grabbed the flight control stick and gave it a twist to swing them around so their aft end was facing the rapidly-approaching drive section of the Asa-Cafon, then fired the docking thrusters to push the ship downward, below the cargo ship.

“We’re taking more fire!” Captain Tuplo warned.

“I’m gonna slide under her and use her as a shield!” Josh announced as the Asa-Cafon rose above their nose, replaced by the beautiful blackness of open, interstellar space. “Be ready to jump!”

There was a deafening
whoosh
of air, and Marcus instinctively reached up and pulled his helmet face shield down. There was a terrible screech of tearing metal, mixed with the screams of at least twenty people. The entire docking apparatus suddenly shot out the back of the cargo bay, taking the last of the air with it.

Everything was suddenly silent. Silent except for the sound of his own breathing. He felt himself being pulled out into space, as he frantically reached out for something to anchor himself. As he shot out the back of the Seiiki’s cargo bay, he could see passengers hanging on to the railing, trying desperately to remain within the Seiiki’s cargo bay, despite the fact that the cargo door was now fully open to space. Several of them lost their fight and were immediately sucked out along with Marcus, dying within seconds, their faces twisted with grotesque expressions of fear and panic.

Marcus shot away from the Seiiki’s cargo bay. Then, he stopped with a violent yank at his back. The pull spun him around, so that he was facing away from the Seiiki, the suit fabric digging into his abdomen. For a brief moment, he saw the Asa-Cafon, falling away from them, Jung rail guns tearing into her hull.

Then he spun back around, and found himself headed back toward the Seiiki’s cargo bay, propelled by the yanking motion of the life support umbilical connecting him to the ship. Two bodies flew directly at him. The first one was a woman, already dead, her mouth agape and her eyes exploded outward by the sudden decompression. The second one was a man. He was still alive and flailing his arms wildly. He eyes were bulging, on the verge of exploding. The man ceased his struggling as he drifted past Marcus, he eyes finally losing their battle to remain intact in the vacuum of space, their bloody spray just missing Marcus’s face shield.

Marcus grabbed at his umbilical, pulling at it like a rope to draw himself back into the Seiiki’s cargo bay. He could see that Josh was maneuvering the ship under the Asa-Cafon, using it as a shield against incoming Jung rail gun fire. At any moment, Josh would fire the Seiiki’s main engines and jump away. If Marcus was too far away from the Seiiki when it jumped, the jump fields would sever his umbilical, and he would be left behind, floating in space, with only the oxygen left in his suit to keep him alive.

Hand over hand, Marcus continued to frantically pull himself along, as more bodies drifted past him and out of the Seiiki’s cargo bay. Then the ship thrust forward, and he almost lost his grip on the umbilical. “Wait! Not yet!” he cried out over his helmet comms, as he continued pulling himself closer to the Seiiki’s cargo bay. One last body, that of an attractive young woman not much older than Josh, drifted past him as he slid under the edge of the Seiiki’s aft-most section.

“Jumping!
” Captain Tuplo announced over the comms.

Marcus closed his eyes tightly, and prayed. There was a brilliant flash of light, causing the inside of his eyelids to illuminate a bright orange. Then it was gone.

Marcus was afraid to open his eyes. If the Seiiki was gone, and he was about to die, he didn’t want to know.

“
Marcus!
” Captain Tuplo called over Marcus’s helmet comms. “
Are you still with us?”

Marcus opened his eyes. The Seiiki was still there, her aft end looming no more than a meter above his head. He was slowly rotating to his right, and he saw the body of the young woman that had drifted past him, severed cleanly at the abdomen by the Seiiki’s jump fields, leaving her upper half back with the Asa-Cafon.

“
Marcus!
” the captain repeated.

“I’m here,” Marcus managed to squeak out in between breaths.

“
Are you all right?”

Marcus looked at the lower half of the young woman, drifting away from him. “No, I’m not. I need a drink. Hell, I need the whole fuckin’ bottle!”

* * *

Josh and Captain Tuplo rushed aft along the Seiiki’s port corridor, pushing their way past the disembarking passengers who were rushing in the opposite direction. They pushed their way through the forward corridor and into the aft corridor, which was still full of people trying to get out.

Fina
lly, they came out the aft end of the corridor, onto the short catwalk at the port side, aft end of the cargo bay. Captain Tuplo stopped, grabbing the railing and twisting forward to look for Marcus. The old man was sitting on the floor of the torn up bay, his arms resting on his knees, his head hanging down.

Josh rushed past the captain, nearly dropping down to the cargo deck without touching a single rung on the ladder. “Marcus!” Josh yelled as he raced toward him. He dropped down to his knees in front of Marcus, looking at his face. His face shield was open again, now that they had landed. “You all right, old man?”

“Right enough to punch you in the mouth if you call me ‘old man’ again.”

Josh smiled as he unlocked Marcus’s helmet and pulled it up off his head.

Marcus looked up at Captain Tuplo, who was taking in the damage.

“Jesus, Marcus. What happened?”

“Rail gun fire must’ve hit the tunnel. Everything just went
whoosh
, right out the back and me along with it. If it weren’t for my umbilical.” He looked at Josh. “You were cuttin’ it a bit close with that jump, weren’t you, boy?”

“We knew you were inside the jump fields,” Captain Tuplo assured him. “Barely.”

Marcus sighed. “Don’t suppose we’re gettin’ paid for this one?”

“Not likely,” Captain Tuplo replied. “Paid on completion.”

“Don’t suppose we can go back and finish the job?” Josh asked, already knowing the answer.

“The Asa-Cafon came apart as we jumped,” Marcus said. “Nothin’ to go back to.”

A vehicle pulled up outside, behind the Seiiki’s cargo ramp. Three men, one of them older and more nicely dressed than the other two, climbed out of the vehicle.

“Did you get it?” the older man asked as he approached the bottom edge of the cargo ramp. “Did you get my cargo?”

“We’re fine, Siggy. Thanks for your concern,” Captain Tuplo replied coldly.

“You didn’t…” Sigmund replied, as he took note of the damage to the Seiiki’s cargo bay. “You did! You went for the passengers, first, didn’t you?” Sigmund grabbed the sides of his head with both hands, dumbfounded at the realization. “Are you idiots or something? I
told
you that the cargo was the priority!” he ranted, waving his hands madly as he spoke. “Get the cargo, get paid. That’s what I said, word for fucking word. That was the deal!” Sigmund put his hands on top of his head and turned away, momentarily at a loss for words. “I don’t believe this,” he finally said, turning back around to face them. “Do you know how much that cargo was worth? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I mean, how often does the entire cluster get invaded! You sons of bitches! I ought to skin you all alive!”

Marcus had reached his limit, and drew his weapon for the third time that day. Only this time, it was in anger. “You slimy little dung heap…”