Law's End (25 page)
Authors: Glenn Douglass
Tags: #adventure, #travel, #dog, #future, #space, #rescue, #supercluster
******
The Deck Officer's anticipating gaze shifted
back and forth from his captain to the sensor report before he
finally mustered the courage to inquire, "Should we move in now
Captain?"
Annoyed at have had to wait so long for her
subordinate's interrogative so she could properly denigrate it
Captain Andrews responded curtly, "Negative." She'd had to wait so
long for the inevitable query that she'd forgotten the choice words
she'd come up with and so instead simply explained, "We'll wait
until they're together with a relative zero velocity. Sabha is not
going to rabbit on us again."
Startled by the lack of invective the Deck
Officer simply replied, "Yes sir."
After another moment of consideration Captain
Andrews inquired, "What do we have on this Appaloosa?"
Having anticipated this and a dozen other
likely demands from his captain the Deck Officer recited, "She's a
converted Q-ship, Belgian class with upgraded sensors, engines, and
even a spinal mount particle beam. Even with all that she's no
match for us."
With a sneer Andrews said, "Let's hope they
make the mistake of not realizing that." Toying with all the
tactical options in her head for a while Andrews finally ordered,
"Once they're both in the heart of the field bring us in nice and
quiet. Use one of the larger asteroids to mask our approach."
******
In what felt like many hours instead of just
over one an increasing uncertainty about the sort of reception they
could expect had Kassad signal the Appaloosa to reaffirm their
priorities. "In the interests of getting these people to medical
care as soon as possible I recommend that you have a crew standing
by to take charge of the Sabha when we arrive."
With a delay that made it seem as if they were
still light seconds apart the reply came, "You're not seriously
trying to tell me how to go about my business are you?"
Biting back several choice responses Kassad
finally returned, "There's no need to be snippy. Some people might
be a bit reluctant to seize control of a privately owned
vessel."
With immediacy that spoke both to how close
they were in proximity and how well they knew each other the
Appaloosa's captain replied, "Does that sound like me?"
With a roll of his eyes Kassad snapped back
dryly, "No, as a matter of fact, it doesn't. You'd have made a
wonderful pirate."
"Touché." Kassad could practically hear the
Captain of the Appaloosa's eyes roll with the word. "My people will
take charge as soon as we dock."
"Good…" the word left Kassad's mouth before he
had time to think about what had been said and when he had he
added, "you do know this isn't a boarding operation? Your people
aren't going to shoot anyone are they? You know how Canis feels
about strangers."
In practiced response the captain of the
Appaloosa issued the proscribed warning, "My people will do what is
necessary."
Greene glared at Kassad. "I thought you said
this person would be reasonable?"
"I may have misjudged or maybe my memories have
grown fonder with time." Kassad admitted and then keyed the
communications circuit. "Would you like us on our knees with hands
behind our heads in the airlock or will simply opening the door be
sufficient?"
With cold bitterness the Appaloosa's captain
retorted in tones that made it clear the conversation was over,
"Follow instructions and you won't be hurt."
Toggling the communications circuit Kassad
forced a smile and tried to sound upbeat as he said, "Well that was
reassuring."
Nervous at the possibility of everything going
wrong when they were so close to the end Greene asked, "So we drift
until they pick us up?"
Pointing to the local map generated by Sabha's
sensors Kassad said, "We're stationary relative to the local
asteroids."
"I've never seen this many this close
together." Greene noted.
With the wrap around virtual window providing a
crystal clear view of the exterior Kassad nodded looking out over
the masses of broken rock close enough that they could make out
glittering mineral inclusions in the microgravity formed strata.
"It's a spall asteroid field." He explained, "They break up one of
the big ones into fragments to make it easier to work on and faster
to extract everything worth extracting. It's safer to have crews
working near each other. In case someone has a problem then help is
close at hand." There was something surreal about the floating
mountains that never failed to impress Kassad. "There's an art to
getting them to separate enough so that the mass doesn't
immediately pull back together, but close enough that they don't
just drift apart completely. It's a real demonstration of
demolition skill."
Kassad's previous paranoia seemed suspiciously
absent now prompting Greene to inquire, "Visually impressive but,
why is a Lawship sitting in the middle of an asteroid field?"
Kassad couldn't deny it was a good question and
not less so just because he could think of lots of potential
reasons that would justify the ship's presence. "Maybe someone has
been bothering the miners. All that concentrated wealth is a
tempting target. Or maybe the miners themselves have been
quarreling, and the Appaloosa is here to make sure it doesn't get
out of hand." Working lights and drill flare came from random
scatter spots around the field indicating it was very much in
active use.
Worrying about one of their passengers in
particular Greene complained, "I still don't understand why we
couldn't have just gone straight to Mareville."
"Maybe Armhamon flagged us as running from
them?" Kassad speculated aloud then quickly dismissed the notion.
"No, she's too by the book not to call out an arrest before making
it. More likely it's the hull breaches. Mareville doesn't want a
ship clogging up their port access due to an equipment failure, and
it would take just as long to dock there, waiting for a tug, as to
dock with the Appaloosa."
Accepting this explanation Greene returned to
the topic of Kassad's past. "Okay, so what is the story behind your
engagement to the Appaloosa's captain?"
Relieved at the prospect of finally being able
to turn the whole mess over to the authorities and looking forward
to the payday he'd been promised Kassad replied, "You know the
whole story already. We were engaged to be married briefly. Then
she came to believe I was involved in illegal activities and called
off the wedding." It was as near to the whole story as was
tolerable.
Sarcastically Greene responded in mock
confusion, "I can't imagine how she could come to believe that."
With her mind left to its own devices Greene couldn't let go of the
topic. "There has to be more to it than that. This aggression is
more than a simple failed relationship." Kassad ignored the
implications and studiously checked status reports in the console
display as Greene continued to speculate. "Were you using her to
gain information on how to successfully execute your criminal
plan?"
Offended by the accusation that hit too close
to the truth for comfort Kassad snapped, "I don't need inside
information to conduct my… perfectly legitimate business. The
things she said in private in no way altered my plans, and I
certainly never prompted her to talk about work." The ghost of that
past frustration cast its shadow in the present. "She became all
paranoid."
Processing the information Greene placed
herself into the Lawship captain's shoes and had no difficulty
imagining the woman might still carry a grudge. "Wonderful. So the
Lawship captain we're depending on to rescue us thinks you seduced
her to further your criminal ambitions with the intent of either
abandoning her or luring her into a life of crime. I'm surprised
she hasn't opened fire on us."
"Early on it's true I asked her to join my crew
as a partner, but when it became clear she wasn't interested…"
Kassad trailed off in melancholy. "I was seriously considering
settling down here. I even went through all the trouble of getting
that survey license, and if things had been just a little different
that could have been me out there working the field."
Acknowledging the pain of Kassad's situation
Greene said, "For what it's worth I'm glad you didn't settle down
here. I can't imagine any of us would have made it this far without
you."
Kassad suppressed a full face grin in an effort
at modest acknowledgement of the compliment. "Well, fate has its
little games." He remarked, and then prompted by a proximity sensor
light returned to the business at hand. "Now, it will take fifteen
minutes or so for them to get into position. Check that your
personal possessions are all together and be outside the airlock
with me when they dock. We don't want to spook them."
"Fine, but I'm going to check on everyone in
the hold first. I want to be certain that they were in good shape
now. If anything happens to them after the turnover…" Greene
trailed off and Kassad looked over questioningly as she left, then
Greene turned back to say, "I'll start building a highway out of
the skulls of those responsible."
To Greene's departing back Kassad called, "Ah,
you've been reading Herself's biographies haven't you?"
Greene admitted to nothing.
Chapter 20: "Boarded"
"Boarding operations? Half the time you're
hoping that no one resists so you don't have to shoot anyone. The
other half of the time you're reminding yourself that any
hesitation to fire will certainly get yourself and a lot of other
people killed."
-Excerpt from interview with Hans Solfridge,
veteran Lawship crewman
ten minutes for the Appaloosa to make its approach. Her front end
opened massive clamshell doors to swallow Sabha whole as she
overtook the smaller craft. Once inside her hanger the doors were
sealed and the space within pressurized to make for a shirt sleeve
environment.
The boarding party assigned to take the Sabha,
and they could be called little else, didn't wait for
pressurization to stage to complete for their entrance. Clad in
armored vacuum suits of the sort favored for boarding forces
expecting resistance the well drilled team took up positions in
advance of where the Sabha would come to rest. As the docking
cables secured and reeled Sabha into a fixed position they charged
the airlock in two man teams with multiple covering squads.
Slapping the manual control to open the airlock
Kassad waved in a friendly fashion and quietly cautioned Canis who
had begun to growl a warning, "Guests Canis, guests." Even with the
admonishment Canis could read the body language of his guests and
so was determined to remain alert and serious rather than welcoming
and friendly.
Moving forward on magnetic boots a figure
completely obscured by armor and sporting a massive rifle shouted
unnecessarily in electronically enhanced voice, "Keep your hands
where we can see them." Behind him the second half of his binary
was so close as to be physically touching while another pair
quickly came up behind.
Waggling his spread fingers in front of him
where he floated Kassad announced, "The rescued scientists are in
automated medics within the cargo bay to your right and the cockpit
controls are unlocked up the ladderwell to your left." The armored
figure conducted a brief wordless inspection of the trio, probably
involving sensors built into their suit, before moving off into the
Sabha.
Tasked to deal with passengers it was the
second team, in identical heavy armor and electronically enhanced
voices, who demanded, "Come forward slowly and one at a time. Keep
both hands on the anchor ring."
Mounted to the deck just beyond where Sabha's
ramp opened was the anchor ring. Anchor rings were simple metal
loops a meter and a half off the deck and spanning just over a
meter and a half in diameter. Usually they were a set of two rings
with a second ring near the deck to grasp with feet thus keeping
everyone oriented in the same direction.
Greene continued to be surprised and impressed
by Canis. The animal seemed so at home in the weightless
environment, grasping the lower ring with both legs, that it was
hard to imagine that microgravity wasn't his native state. Even
more impressive was the way Canis kept himself between these
strangers and his people; his look and stance warning of
consequences for any hostile action.
Searching the Sabha took very little time for
the experienced Lawship crew. In part this was due to Sabha's small
size. Mainly the speed of the search was due to the two additional
boarding teams that had joined the first while Kassad, Greene, and
Canis bobbed outside on the anchor ring.
As the search teams withdrew the captain of the
Appaloosa finally put in an appearance. Appaloosa's captain was
dressed in a casual short sleeve shirt and trousers that only came
down to the top of her calves. The outfit only resembled a uniform
because of the large patch on one arm depicting the Lawship motto
and ship's hull number over a spotted horse.
The Deck Officer's anticipating gaze shifted
back and forth from his captain to the sensor report before he
finally mustered the courage to inquire, "Should we move in now
Captain?"
Annoyed at have had to wait so long for her
subordinate's interrogative so she could properly denigrate it
Captain Andrews responded curtly, "Negative." She'd had to wait so
long for the inevitable query that she'd forgotten the choice words
she'd come up with and so instead simply explained, "We'll wait
until they're together with a relative zero velocity. Sabha is not
going to rabbit on us again."
Startled by the lack of invective the Deck
Officer simply replied, "Yes sir."
After another moment of consideration Captain
Andrews inquired, "What do we have on this Appaloosa?"
Having anticipated this and a dozen other
likely demands from his captain the Deck Officer recited, "She's a
converted Q-ship, Belgian class with upgraded sensors, engines, and
even a spinal mount particle beam. Even with all that she's no
match for us."
With a sneer Andrews said, "Let's hope they
make the mistake of not realizing that." Toying with all the
tactical options in her head for a while Andrews finally ordered,
"Once they're both in the heart of the field bring us in nice and
quiet. Use one of the larger asteroids to mask our approach."
******
In what felt like many hours instead of just
over one an increasing uncertainty about the sort of reception they
could expect had Kassad signal the Appaloosa to reaffirm their
priorities. "In the interests of getting these people to medical
care as soon as possible I recommend that you have a crew standing
by to take charge of the Sabha when we arrive."
With a delay that made it seem as if they were
still light seconds apart the reply came, "You're not seriously
trying to tell me how to go about my business are you?"
Biting back several choice responses Kassad
finally returned, "There's no need to be snippy. Some people might
be a bit reluctant to seize control of a privately owned
vessel."
With immediacy that spoke both to how close
they were in proximity and how well they knew each other the
Appaloosa's captain replied, "Does that sound like me?"
With a roll of his eyes Kassad snapped back
dryly, "No, as a matter of fact, it doesn't. You'd have made a
wonderful pirate."
"Touché." Kassad could practically hear the
Captain of the Appaloosa's eyes roll with the word. "My people will
take charge as soon as we dock."
"Good…" the word left Kassad's mouth before he
had time to think about what had been said and when he had he
added, "you do know this isn't a boarding operation? Your people
aren't going to shoot anyone are they? You know how Canis feels
about strangers."
In practiced response the captain of the
Appaloosa issued the proscribed warning, "My people will do what is
necessary."
Greene glared at Kassad. "I thought you said
this person would be reasonable?"
"I may have misjudged or maybe my memories have
grown fonder with time." Kassad admitted and then keyed the
communications circuit. "Would you like us on our knees with hands
behind our heads in the airlock or will simply opening the door be
sufficient?"
With cold bitterness the Appaloosa's captain
retorted in tones that made it clear the conversation was over,
"Follow instructions and you won't be hurt."
Toggling the communications circuit Kassad
forced a smile and tried to sound upbeat as he said, "Well that was
reassuring."
Nervous at the possibility of everything going
wrong when they were so close to the end Greene asked, "So we drift
until they pick us up?"
Pointing to the local map generated by Sabha's
sensors Kassad said, "We're stationary relative to the local
asteroids."
"I've never seen this many this close
together." Greene noted.
With the wrap around virtual window providing a
crystal clear view of the exterior Kassad nodded looking out over
the masses of broken rock close enough that they could make out
glittering mineral inclusions in the microgravity formed strata.
"It's a spall asteroid field." He explained, "They break up one of
the big ones into fragments to make it easier to work on and faster
to extract everything worth extracting. It's safer to have crews
working near each other. In case someone has a problem then help is
close at hand." There was something surreal about the floating
mountains that never failed to impress Kassad. "There's an art to
getting them to separate enough so that the mass doesn't
immediately pull back together, but close enough that they don't
just drift apart completely. It's a real demonstration of
demolition skill."
Kassad's previous paranoia seemed suspiciously
absent now prompting Greene to inquire, "Visually impressive but,
why is a Lawship sitting in the middle of an asteroid field?"
Kassad couldn't deny it was a good question and
not less so just because he could think of lots of potential
reasons that would justify the ship's presence. "Maybe someone has
been bothering the miners. All that concentrated wealth is a
tempting target. Or maybe the miners themselves have been
quarreling, and the Appaloosa is here to make sure it doesn't get
out of hand." Working lights and drill flare came from random
scatter spots around the field indicating it was very much in
active use.
Worrying about one of their passengers in
particular Greene complained, "I still don't understand why we
couldn't have just gone straight to Mareville."
"Maybe Armhamon flagged us as running from
them?" Kassad speculated aloud then quickly dismissed the notion.
"No, she's too by the book not to call out an arrest before making
it. More likely it's the hull breaches. Mareville doesn't want a
ship clogging up their port access due to an equipment failure, and
it would take just as long to dock there, waiting for a tug, as to
dock with the Appaloosa."
Accepting this explanation Greene returned to
the topic of Kassad's past. "Okay, so what is the story behind your
engagement to the Appaloosa's captain?"
Relieved at the prospect of finally being able
to turn the whole mess over to the authorities and looking forward
to the payday he'd been promised Kassad replied, "You know the
whole story already. We were engaged to be married briefly. Then
she came to believe I was involved in illegal activities and called
off the wedding." It was as near to the whole story as was
tolerable.
Sarcastically Greene responded in mock
confusion, "I can't imagine how she could come to believe that."
With her mind left to its own devices Greene couldn't let go of the
topic. "There has to be more to it than that. This aggression is
more than a simple failed relationship." Kassad ignored the
implications and studiously checked status reports in the console
display as Greene continued to speculate. "Were you using her to
gain information on how to successfully execute your criminal
plan?"
Offended by the accusation that hit too close
to the truth for comfort Kassad snapped, "I don't need inside
information to conduct my… perfectly legitimate business. The
things she said in private in no way altered my plans, and I
certainly never prompted her to talk about work." The ghost of that
past frustration cast its shadow in the present. "She became all
paranoid."
Processing the information Greene placed
herself into the Lawship captain's shoes and had no difficulty
imagining the woman might still carry a grudge. "Wonderful. So the
Lawship captain we're depending on to rescue us thinks you seduced
her to further your criminal ambitions with the intent of either
abandoning her or luring her into a life of crime. I'm surprised
she hasn't opened fire on us."
"Early on it's true I asked her to join my crew
as a partner, but when it became clear she wasn't interested…"
Kassad trailed off in melancholy. "I was seriously considering
settling down here. I even went through all the trouble of getting
that survey license, and if things had been just a little different
that could have been me out there working the field."
Acknowledging the pain of Kassad's situation
Greene said, "For what it's worth I'm glad you didn't settle down
here. I can't imagine any of us would have made it this far without
you."
Kassad suppressed a full face grin in an effort
at modest acknowledgement of the compliment. "Well, fate has its
little games." He remarked, and then prompted by a proximity sensor
light returned to the business at hand. "Now, it will take fifteen
minutes or so for them to get into position. Check that your
personal possessions are all together and be outside the airlock
with me when they dock. We don't want to spook them."
"Fine, but I'm going to check on everyone in
the hold first. I want to be certain that they were in good shape
now. If anything happens to them after the turnover…" Greene
trailed off and Kassad looked over questioningly as she left, then
Greene turned back to say, "I'll start building a highway out of
the skulls of those responsible."
To Greene's departing back Kassad called, "Ah,
you've been reading Herself's biographies haven't you?"
Greene admitted to nothing.
Chapter 20: "Boarded"
"Boarding operations? Half the time you're
hoping that no one resists so you don't have to shoot anyone. The
other half of the time you're reminding yourself that any
hesitation to fire will certainly get yourself and a lot of other
people killed."
-Excerpt from interview with Hans Solfridge,
veteran Lawship crewman
ten minutes for the Appaloosa to make its approach. Her front end
opened massive clamshell doors to swallow Sabha whole as she
overtook the smaller craft. Once inside her hanger the doors were
sealed and the space within pressurized to make for a shirt sleeve
environment.
The boarding party assigned to take the Sabha,
and they could be called little else, didn't wait for
pressurization to stage to complete for their entrance. Clad in
armored vacuum suits of the sort favored for boarding forces
expecting resistance the well drilled team took up positions in
advance of where the Sabha would come to rest. As the docking
cables secured and reeled Sabha into a fixed position they charged
the airlock in two man teams with multiple covering squads.
Slapping the manual control to open the airlock
Kassad waved in a friendly fashion and quietly cautioned Canis who
had begun to growl a warning, "Guests Canis, guests." Even with the
admonishment Canis could read the body language of his guests and
so was determined to remain alert and serious rather than welcoming
and friendly.
Moving forward on magnetic boots a figure
completely obscured by armor and sporting a massive rifle shouted
unnecessarily in electronically enhanced voice, "Keep your hands
where we can see them." Behind him the second half of his binary
was so close as to be physically touching while another pair
quickly came up behind.
Waggling his spread fingers in front of him
where he floated Kassad announced, "The rescued scientists are in
automated medics within the cargo bay to your right and the cockpit
controls are unlocked up the ladderwell to your left." The armored
figure conducted a brief wordless inspection of the trio, probably
involving sensors built into their suit, before moving off into the
Sabha.
Tasked to deal with passengers it was the
second team, in identical heavy armor and electronically enhanced
voices, who demanded, "Come forward slowly and one at a time. Keep
both hands on the anchor ring."
Mounted to the deck just beyond where Sabha's
ramp opened was the anchor ring. Anchor rings were simple metal
loops a meter and a half off the deck and spanning just over a
meter and a half in diameter. Usually they were a set of two rings
with a second ring near the deck to grasp with feet thus keeping
everyone oriented in the same direction.
Greene continued to be surprised and impressed
by Canis. The animal seemed so at home in the weightless
environment, grasping the lower ring with both legs, that it was
hard to imagine that microgravity wasn't his native state. Even
more impressive was the way Canis kept himself between these
strangers and his people; his look and stance warning of
consequences for any hostile action.
Searching the Sabha took very little time for
the experienced Lawship crew. In part this was due to Sabha's small
size. Mainly the speed of the search was due to the two additional
boarding teams that had joined the first while Kassad, Greene, and
Canis bobbed outside on the anchor ring.
As the search teams withdrew the captain of the
Appaloosa finally put in an appearance. Appaloosa's captain was
dressed in a casual short sleeve shirt and trousers that only came
down to the top of her calves. The outfit only resembled a uniform
because of the large patch on one arm depicting the Lawship motto
and ship's hull number over a spotted horse.
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