The captain asked "Can you patch me through?"
Helen acknowledged and the captain said "This is Captain Elliot. We had a slight emergency in the airlock, but we have corrected the problem. We will be out shortly."
A woman came over the radio "Understood Captain Elliot. We are outside with the vehicle.
The pressure finally hit zero and Atticus opened the outer hatch. Ben had his shotgun at the ready and Amelia her M24. Atticus stepped out and walked down ramp they had provided. As he approached the vehicle, it opened. There was a woman at the door and a driver up front. Atticus signaled for Ben and Amelia that it was safe to bring down the plates. The woman in the vehicle opened a container of cash. She said "1 million here and there are the other 3". She pointed to the three containers beside it.
Ben set the container of plates down. Atticus said "Here are three of the plates. The other 3 are attached to the ship. We had to use them to survive and get here. We didn't modify them in any way and they are still fully functional."
The woman thought for a second and said "Very well. We will have a crew remove them, but you can only take half the money until then."
Atticus nodded, "That's fair." and he turned to walk back up the ramp.
The woman said "Captain, our captain would like to have a meeting with you to discuss things."
Atticus turned around. "OK, let us put the money in the hatch and we will go see your captain." Ben and Atticus hauled the cash to the airlock, set it in and backed away, closing the door. Atticus said over the radio "AJ, unload these and make sure it's all there."
The three of them got into the vehicle and drove to the far end of the hangar. They all got out and entered a large transparent airlock. Once it reached 40 kPa, they removed their helmets. The woman and the driver indicated that they had higher pressure suits. So they slowly let the pressure rise to 60 kPa, at which time the driver and the woman finally took their helmets off. The woman had black hair in a pony tail, a narrow face, blue eyes and a scar on her right cheek bone. The man had very short blonde hair with a freckled face and green eyes. As she extended her hand. "Welcome Captain, I'm Lt. Angela Sparrow. I will take you to meet our captain as soon as we pressurize. Heard you've had a hell of journey."
Atticus nodded and shook her hand. "It's a pleasure Lt." Atticus pointed behind him. "This is my pilot Amelia Fortrue, and this is my mechanic Ben Gittings." They both nodded in respect as Atticus pointed. " Yeah, we went through hell to get here and half the solar system is after us for this cargo."
Angela responded. "You don't know how much it means to us that you got the plates here, but the captain will tell you more." The airlock turned green and she opened the inner hatch. "This way please."
When they stepped into the corridor, two guards tried to stop them and take their weapons. Ben struggled and wouldn't let go of his. Angela quickly spoke up. "Let them pass. Captain's orders."
The guards responded as they backed away. "Yes, Lt."
There were 6 men waiting in the corridor. Angela looked at them and pointed to the plates. "There are three of them. You three, take them to you destinations immediately and you three assemble a deck team and remove the other three from their ship. Oh, and replace them with new standard plates when you have completed the job." They saluted and walked off in different directions.
Atticus asked. "Are they taking the plates to all different places?"
Angela looked at him. "Yes, but I shouldn't tell you more. Ask the captain. He has been authorized by the Admiral to tell you what is going on."
The airlock was at the corner of two corridors and they all walked down the one to the right. After 30 meters, they got into a large elevator. Angela waved her hand in front of an ID scanner and selected deck 2. It took about 30 seconds and then the doors opened onto a slightly ornate lounge area. There were tables and couches, but no one was using them. There were officers and staff running or walking fast in all directions.
Atticus spoke up. "What is all the commotion?"
Angela looked back at him for a second. "I don't know, but follow me." She led them around to the left, out of the lounge area, to the captain's private area. The guards let them in and they sat at a large dark wood table with ornate carvings on the edge. It had a big crystal version of the Yorktown floating above the center of the table and it glistened as it rotated. Atticus leaned forward in his chair and looked at the wall of plaques and ship models of what appeared to be the captain's previous commands. He was about to get up for a closer look when the door opened and Captain Morel appeared. The Lt. saluted him as he walked in. He saluted back saying "LT." He looked down the length of the table to Atticus. "And you must be Captain Elliot." Atticus stood up. Ben and Amelia followed suit.
Atticus nodded slightly. "Yes, Captain. Thank you for having us on board."
The captain responded "No no. The pleasure is all mine. You have no idea how valuable the cargo you brought us is. Please. Sit."
As Atticus sat down, "We were beginning to get that idea, with half of humanity trying to kill us."
The captain sat down at the opposite end of the table without taking his eyes off them. "Yes. They don't want us to have the technology."
Amelia said "The warp tech, you mean."
Atticus gave her a look as to say "Shut up and don't reveal too much."
Captain Morel saw this and responded. "Don't worry Captain. We will guarantee your safety. You may have saved all of us." He looked at Amelia. "I see you have figured out what the plates are for." He looked back at Atticus. "Let me give you a quick rundown on what's going on. A senator on Earth had a special division of the military set up to work on warp tech. After a number of years, we received intel that they had successfully tested the tech and they were going to start production of a warp capable fleet."
Atticus spoke. "Let me guess. Senator William Romina?!"
Captain Morel nodded. "Yes. I see he has been putting out propaganda labeling your lot as terrorists, but as you know, it's just a cover up to give him time to deploy his fleet."
Atticus asked. "Fleet? Has he already built it?!"
Morel answered. "We are not sure of how many ships they have completed, but we know they were not ready for this to go down now. We had sent special brain scanners to Earth that could defeat current implants. I believe you delivered those for us." Atticus nodded. Morel continued, "We had an inside man scan the Senator and part of the development team. Our plan was to equip a ship with the new warp drive and just warp it to the outer solar system, so we could replicate it."
Amelia asked "So what happened? How did we get in all of this?"
Captain Morel studied her closely as he responded. "We are not exactly sure what went wrong. We didn't have any communication with the group because we didn't want to give away the fact that we had or were trying to obtain the tech. This is also why they didn't dare transmit the information back. No one would have been able to track the warp ship if it had worked, so that was our best option." The captain leaned forward. "Somehow the Senator's group found out they had been scanned about a month after the fact. They figured out where we were building the ship and sent in a strike team. There was a firefight, but one of the team managed to get away with 12 plates."
Atticus sat up straight. "But we only got 6."
Morel said "Yes, our agent gave you 6 and 6 to another smuggling crew. It was too important to risk all on one ship. Fortunately, you left fairly quickly. The other team took a few more hours and were discovered. It took the government a while to find out that there were 6 more plates on your ship. They sent ships to intercept you, but here you are!"
Atticus responded. "Yes. Just not exactly sure how we made it." He looked at Amelia and Ben with a slight smile. He continued. "What do you intend to do with the plates?"
The captain pursed his lips. "Well, I was just hoping to use them to defend the outer solar system and keep our freedom. Maybe do some settling of other star systems, since we know of some habitable planets. However, the brass wants to first use the tech to invade and take out the threat. I am against that, but it doesn't seem to matter now. The threat is coming to us, thanks to you. I just hope we can equip enough ships to stop the onslaught that is coming. The big three corporations have apparently figured out what it is you were smuggling and have put everything on the line to wipe us out before we can use it. They are also looking to get their hands on the tech for themselves to counter the threat from Earth."
The door opened behind him, a Lt. came in and whispered in the captain's ear. The captain gave him orders quietly. The Lt. turned and left.
Atticus asked "I meant to ask. What is all the commotion outside?"
The captain cleared his throat. "We are being blanketed by radar from an Earth ship."
Amelia interrupted. "Yeah, we detected it just before we docked with you."
The captain, not used to being interrupted tilted his head as he slowly looked at Amelia. Attie put his hand on hers. The captain spoke again. "They are very far out and it will take a while to intercept them, but they may be blanketing us to get a fix for their warp..." The room went red, an alarm sounded and over the intercom came "General quarters. General quarters. We are under attack. This is not a drill. Enemy ships off the port bow. General Quarters."
Captain Morel leapt up from his chair putting his hat back on as he raced out the door. Amelia started to get up while watching the captain leave. She turned to Attie half standing. "What should we do?". Ben turned, waiting for his response.
Atticus stood up and waved his hand. "Back to the Ship!" As they approached the door the Lt. Sparrow said "You can't leave until we have the plates."
Captain Elliot looked at her, but said nothing and the three of them bolted down the corridor as fast as they could in their suits. Lt. Sparrow followed them. As they rounded the corner to the large elevator, the ship shook and a deep rumbling sound reverberated throughout the lounge. Everyone paused for a second looking around, then Atticus pushed the call button on the elevator. The Lt. said "That's not going to work. During GQ, this elevator is reserved for movement of pilots."
The captain turned to her. "What?! Then how the hell do we get down?"
The Lt. pointed down the corridor to the right. "There is a small elevator at the end of the corridor and down a set of stairs."
The captain started walking. "Take us!"
She repeated "We can't let you leave with the plates!"
The captain stopped, turned, pointed his finger at her and in a commanding voice. "Then you had better change them out goddamn fast! I have had way more than I bargained for on this trip already! Let's go!"
When they reached the end of the corridor, the ship shook again and a breeze began to blow up the stairwell. A new alarm sounded with strobes.
The Lt. raised her helmet. "Hull breach!". They all stopped and put their helmets on and sealed them. Everyone checked each other and they started down the stairs. Another jolt and they heard an explosion. Everyone started scrambling down the stairs. When they reached the deck below, Angela pointed to the elevator. They ran to it and pushed the call button. As they waited, there were more impacts and a strange sound. Ben recognized it. "Someone's cutting through the hull!" The elevator finally opened and they got in. Angela waved her arm and pushed the FD button for the Flight Deck.
Fifteen seconds later, there was a large explosion and the elevator went dark. Attie switched on his helmet light. "Looks like we just lost power. We've got to get out of this thing. Help me Ben." They pried the doors open and could see the floor of one deck and the ceiling of another. Attie looked at Amelia. "You go first." He pointed down. She laid down on the floor and scooted out with her feet first. The ship shook with another explosion and she dropped out the hole with a scream.
Attie stuck his helmet out. "Amelia! Are you OK?"
She moaned. "Yeah, I think I sprained my ankle."
Atticus looked at the Lt. "Go. You're next."
She laid down and slid through. She hung by her hands for a second and dropped safely to the floor. Ben went and as he hit the floor, there was another explosion. Ben looked back at Atticus "Damn, that one sounded close!" Atticus nodded and started to turn to drop when they heard gunfire. Over the intercom came "Repel boarders! Decks 3 aft, 7 port side, deck 5 forward."
With that, the captain dropped out of the elevator shaft. "Which way?! Where are we?"
Angela pointed and ran. "Deck 7. The hangar is two decks down. A few seconds later they found themselves at a stairwell, lit by emergency lighting, but the deck hatch was sealed.
The captain looked at Angela. "Can you open it?"
She put up her hands. "Not without power. You two will have to open it manually."
The captain looked at Ben and pointed. Angela and Amelia backed out of the way as they began to manually turned the hatch wheel. As the hatch opened, Amelia yelled "Attie!"
Attie turned to look. There were three men in blue and black space suits coming down the corridor. A marine popped around the corner and opened fire at them. Flashes lit up the corridor as the first man's suit shattered, spraying debris in all the directions. The other two moved against the bulkheads and raised their weapons to shoot back. Attie jumped at Amelia to pull her into the stairwell. He grabbed her by the waist, and as he swung her around there was an intense burning pain that went through his right leg. He threw Amelia into the stairwell with the last of his momentum and collapsed to the deck. Amelia landed on her side, rolled and fell through the opened hatch. Ben tried to catch her, but didn't have the grip with the now over pressurized gloves.