Smuggler's Dilemma (22 page)

"I don't see a single move we could make that would help," I said.

"Then don't move. Sometimes the best action is to stay put," he said. "Your warning gave us time to work out a plan and get people to refuge. We sent the young families away first. You wouldn't believe how tough those old miners were, refusing to take a transport spot, even though they knew what was coming. You think you know people, but the only ones who stayed to defend Colony 40 were the crusty old bastards who'd used up their lives on these rocks."

I looked over my shoulder and noticed that the bridge had filled with all of my family. I needed to deal with it. It was easy to feel safe inside our little cocoon, but I knew that could change instantly. It would be dangerous for everyone to be milling around.

"Jack, I've got a job for you," I said. I pulled Filbert out of the grav-box and handed him to Jack. "Mom, Dad, I bet you're exhausted. You take my room. Jack, you and I will hot-bunk in the aft bunk room with Ada. Ada, you have the helm. If anything changes, call me right away."

I placed my arm around Jack's shoulders and led him to the lift, dropping through the floor to the berth deck. "Jack," I started, "Filbert is a survivor, but needs someone to look after him. There's a grav-box that we haven't had a chance to install yet. Take the top bunk and I'll bring the box in for you and you can mount it to the wall." We were standing just outside of the aft bunk room. Jack nodded his agreement. He was in much better shape once Mom had made him shower and clean his suit.

I found the grav-box and tools and dropped them in Jack's room. He was enthralled with Filbert, for which I was thankful. I closed the door and hopped on the lift.

"So, we wait?" Marny asked. She'd reclaimed her chair from Big Pete and slid it over to the table where I was seated.

"What else can we do?" I asked.

"If those destroyers have fighters on board, we wouldn't last long."

"You know that's what Tabby's been called up for. She's training to fly fighters," I said. "I'm not sure they'd let her fly one yet, though."

"That's how they train 'em, Cap. Baptism by fire. They'll have her flying a fighter within six months. Not in combat, mind you, but patrols can get dicey. Not everyone is happy to see the Navy show up."

"Liam, you better get up here," Ada called over the comm.

I ran to the cockpit and slid into my seat.

"Marny, you seeing this?" I asked.

The two destroyers had stopped their orbit around the station and come alongside each other with a frigate above and below each of them. The cutters had also moved in next to the destroyers. It was definitely some sort of formation.

"I thought maybe they were going to dock with each other, but I think something else is going on," Ada said.

"Something's in the system," Marny said. "That's a combat spread."

The destroyers were steaming forward, away from the station, as if it was all but forgotten. The problem was they were heading directly at us.

WAR

"Ada, I want you to back us up out of this asteroid as quietly as you possibly can. If you see a place to turn around, do it." Ada had a much finer touch on the controls and I needed time to think.

"I've got it," she responded.

"Marny, do you think they saw us?" I asked.

"No. I know it looks like that, but that's a crazy response," she said. "We're just not that big of a threat."

Ada gently spun us around in a spot I wouldn't have thought possible and we approached the other entrance.

"All crew, please take a seat. The Red Houzi fleet is on the move and we appear to be in their path," I announced. "Ada, take us out and poke us up above the horizon so we can see their approach."

We were still running dark and our sensors weren't at their best, but it wasn't difficult to see the approaching fleet of sixteen warships.

Calculate trajectory for the enemy fleet. Plot on forward holo
.

I reasoned that if they were coming for us, the additional light of the holo wasn't going to tell them anything new. If they were focused on something else I'd think the same would be true. The holo displayed P-Zero, and the nearby larger asteroids along with the ships. A cylinder of translucent blue predicted their navigational path. They would pass above our asteroid at five kilometers. I sighed with relief, knowing they weren't coming directly for us.

"Nick, Marny, any ideas about what's going on?"

"It has to be Mars Protectorate," Marny said. "It's the only reason they'd form up so tightly."

I wanted to cheer. If the Navy was here, this fight was about to be over. I was surprised that the Red Houzi Fleet hadn't simply fled from the threat. Surely they couldn't stand against the Navy.

"Why wouldn't they flee?" I asked.

"Good question. M-Pro knows the size of this fleet. They certainly wouldn't be here without knowing they could win the fight."

"This might be our opportunity to rescue survivors from the station," I said. "Ada, sail us around on the opposite side of the asteroid as the fleet sails over the top of us."

I hastily drew a navigation path that would keep us behind asteroids on our way over to P-Zero. "Once they're past, take this route. It should keep us well out of their line of site."

I got up from my chair and walked through the bridge back to my office. Nick joined me as he saw me pass. I pulled out the communications box and picked up the handset.

"
Kuznetsov
, come in, this is
Hotspur
," I said.

I wasn't surprised that he answered immediately. "Belcose here."

"Red Houzi fleet is formed up and moving. I believe they are anticipating the arrival of a fleet," I said.

"Roger that. Can you transmit their current location and trajectory?"

Nick fired up the Morse protocol and a series of fast beeps could be heard.

"Thank you, Captain," he said. "Is there anything else?"

"Is your contact still on the station?" I asked.

"Yes."

"We're going to land in docking bay twelve, green level. We'd like to take as many survivors off as possible. I don't want to be on station for more than a few minutes. Can you get that word over to them? Do you have a head count?"

"Twenty-five souls. And I'll get word over to them. Belcose out," he said.

I'd been expecting hundreds. It must have been a massacre. I wondered how many people I'd grown up with were now dead at the hands of these murderers.

"We need to dump the containers that just have rubbish in them," Nick said. We'd originally planned to recycle the materials, but they were taking up much needed room.

"How long will O2 hold out with twenty-five additional?" I asked.

"It will stretch us, but we should be okay. I'm more worried about the septic," Nick answered.

"Crap, why is it always that?" I asked, flinching at my use of that curse word. "Hopefully, this is temporary and M-Pro will take them off our hands."

"Dad, can you meet me in the hold?" I asked, jumping on the lift. For a moment it refused to drop. He must have been passing beneath me.

I found him in the hold, waiting expectantly. "What's up?"

"We're going to land in docking bay twelve on the green level and I need you to dump the following crates out when we do." I pinched the list of junk crates from my HUD and tossed it at him.

"What's in the crates?" he asked.

"Just junk, we were going to run it through the reclaimer. Can you unload these in less than ten minutes?"

"You've got forty crates on here. It's not possible."

"I didn't tell you the best part." I lifted the top off the large crate that held the new mechanized infantry suit we'd taken from the outpost. "Could you do it in this?" I gestured dramatically like a game vid host.

"Right. If it has fuel and power, I sure can," he said, running his hands along the armor that was lying flat in the box.

"What do we need to do to get you in it?" I asked.

A moment later Dad had peeled off his vac-suit and was leaning over the crate, opening the mechanized suit's helmet. "We're in luck. It isn't registered. I suppose it would be hard to sell if it was all locked up." He placed his palm on a panel at the back of the neck. It was weird to see a suit that actually kept most of its shape while unoccupied. The joints moved slightly in response to startup and Dad brought his hand down the side of the chest, pulling it open. He perched on the side of the box, swung his legs around and slid them down into the suit. He lay back carefully into the open chest cavity and threaded his arms into the suit's arms. The suit did the rest, closing the chest and helmet sections with a series of mechanical clanks.

"I've missed this," he said. Rear arc-jets fired from his shoulders and he stood up. He was now a little over three meters tall and a meter and a half wide. "I've got half a load of ordinance and I'm fueled up. I'd say I can easily remove your crates."

"Good, I'm headed back to the bridge. I'll let you know when we're ready," I said. I watched for a moment as he flexed the suit around him. If he weren't my dad, I'd have been nervous to be this close to the man-machine combination.

"Cap, the M-Pro fleet has arrived and they're lighting it up, if we're going to do this, the time is now," Marny said.

"Ada. Punch it," I said. We could move at about sixty percent and stay dark. Fleet combat could take a few minutes or stretch out for hours. It depended a lot on how poorly balanced the fight was. The fact that the Red Houzi was headed out to meet them still confused me.

The
Hotspur
accelerated and the inertial system and gravity generator kicked in to make up for the rapid change.

"Mom, when we get there, can you help people onto the ship? We can't hold all twenty-five people in the main living space, but Dad's making room in the hold. I'm locking out the lift from all non-crew personnel," I said.

"Just let us know when," my mom replied.

"Liam, we're here," Ada said over the comm. "I'll have us down in sixty seconds."

Marny came down on the lift and followed me back out to the hold. I'd been transmitting all of my conversations to Nick and Marny so they knew what we were up to. I picked up a blaster rifle and handed one to Marny.

"You're terrifying, Pete," she said, admiring the unblemished, mechanized suit.

"Your captain has me working as a stevedore," he replied, amused.

Mom entered the hold as I locked the door and hit the atmo recycler. I would like to have timed it better so that we could have immediately opened the rear loading ramp when Ada came to a stop, but it took a full five minutes to remove the atmo. That seemed plenty fast under normal circumstances.

"We've got company, Cap," Marny said. She'd been monitoring the exterior video.

"Patch me in," Big Pete requested. After reviewing he said, "Looks like they left a squad of squishies behind. Let me clear the deck before you come out."

"Aye. You've got tactical control of the deck, Pete," Marny said. It was unusual for her to share tactical command with anyone, although it wasn't common for her to have someone around who was capable either, I supposed.

"Lower the ramp and stay back. This should only take a moment," he said.

I hit the button to lower the ramp and loaded a view screen in my HUD that showed what he was looking at. I wouldn't get all of the rich information he was receiving, but at least I would be able to see what had his direct attention.

The enemy squad had taken a position inside the open bay door. They clearly didn't want to come into range of the ship's turrets. I doubted those pirates had any idea we had a mechanized Marine, however. Pete exited the ship and bounded across the bay, immediately taking fire. I watched, through his HUD, as red target outlines jumped from one hostile to another. Instead of backing out or taking cover, Pete lobbed a grenade at the squad and charged forward, wading into the middle of a confused group, swinging his arms like giant clubs.

From my experience, it was the shortest combat I'd ever been involved in. An entire squad, taken out in less than thirty seconds.

"Do you think there are any more?" I asked Marny.

"Better than fair odds," she said.

"Okay, I'll go with Dad. Can you work on getting those crates outta there?" I tossed her the list.

"Aye. Just stay behind your dad's armor, Cap. That's what it's for."

"Nick, can you hear me? We don't have contact with the survivors. Can you establish communication with the station?" I asked.

"Yup. Working on it," he said.

We rounded a corner and saw an old man peering out from a doorway. Dad had also seen him as evidenced by a yellow outline highlighting the man's face.

"Red, you old scoundrel. This is your lucky day," Dad said. "You have the whole crew?"

The outline in my HUD changed from yellow to green.

"Pete?" The old miner asked. Red, I assumed.

"That's right. We're on a bit of a short leash here, Red. How many you have with you?"

"Everyone who's left. But there's several squads running around. You need to be careful." Red stepped into the hallway. I heard a thwap-thwap of blaster fire hitting the wall. I ducked down and lined up on where the fire was coming from. Red slumped over, falling toward me. His face shield had been pierced and he was obviously dead.

"Get down!" Dad ordered and as he spun to the left, fire erupted from both of his hands in short bursts. This squad was more careful and decided to duck behind a corner. I looked back to the man called Red. It was too awful to describe.

"Liam, get the rest of these people and make a run for the ship. This area is too open to defend." Dad's voice was calm but firm. It was the voice he used when he wanted me to do what he was saying and not argue.

I stepped into the room and had the AI do a quick head count. Twenty three. According to Belcose we should have one more.

"Listen up. We don't have far to go. We're just headed down to bay twelve. Big Pete can hold the hallway, but we have to move, now!" I said over an open comm. "I said MOVE." I pulled the first person out of the door and slowly got the group to start moving.