My heart was racing as I stared at the sensor display.
The ISS Kennington was in position about two kilometers away from us, blocking our escape. And the research facility's docking clamps were still locked onto the Demeter, so we couldn't go anywhere without making a mess of things and alerting both the facility and the Navy that we were trying to escape.
Meanwhile our AI needed another five minutes before she could purge the facility's computers and the backups. And down in the hold Rebecca was being held at gunpoint while a literal madwoman gloated about using her mind control tech to turn our captain into her meek obedient accomplice.
And worst of all, I had no idea what to do. There were too many crises, too many things all about to go drastically wrong at the same time.
Kelsonian's voice drew my attention back to the camera feed again as she stated, "I'm afraid I need to cut this short Becky. That customer I mentioned has just arrived, and they require my undivided attention. Don't worry though, by the time I'm back we'll be the best of friends."
Then she addressed the two armed men with her, "Ignore the sexbot, it's harmless. Leon you have permission to injure Captain Piper if she tries anything, but if you kill her I'll make sure you spend the next decade as one of my test subjects. Kent, you know what to do."
Apparently Leon was the man on the right, with the submachine-gun. He shifted his aim from Jenny to Rebecca instead. And Kent, the man on the left, kept his shotgun-looking weapon aimed at the tall redhead as well.
Even watching through the monitor I could tell the boss's muscles were tensed, she was prepared to try and duck or jump clear. But at that range, with both guns already aimed at her, I knew there was no way she could dodge a shotgun blast or a burst of automatic gunfire. At best she'd escape death, but whatever happened she was going to be seriously injured.
The moment Kelsonian finished speaking, and without any warning or hesitation, Kent pulled the trigger on his weapon. And that's when a bunch of things all happened at once.
Something fell from the top shelf on the starboard side of the hold, where our grav-sled was stowed. It came down almost ontop of our captain just as Kent's mystery weapon discharged, but that turned out not to be a shotgun after all. Instead of a blast there was just a muffled pop sound. At that moment I realized the falling object was actually our cat-kin shipmate, and Rebecca caught them at the same moment Kent's shot caught Cam square in the back.
The resolution on the camera display wasn't great but it was good enough to see that Cammie hadn't been wounded as such. What I saw instead was much worse. Rather than blood or an injury, there was a hypospray dart embedded between the cat-kin's shoulder blades.
"Cam!" android Jenny shouted as she lunged towards the cat-kin and our captain.
She yanked the dart free, then with mathematical precision and a flick of her wrist she launched it almost straight back where it came from. Except rather than striking the man who'd fired it, the dart embedded itself in Kelsonian's neck.
Barely a second had passed by that point, but both Rebecca and Jenny already had their guns out. The android was also cradling Cam in her other arm, as she and the captain moved almost in synch.
Both of them aimed and fired, and the two armed men crumpled simultaneously under a barrage of pistol bullets. Dr. Kelsonian was still standing as the two men collapsed on either side of her, but her face had gone white as a sheet and her eyes bulged wide while her mouth hung open in shock or fear.
AI Jenny suddenly spoke up. Her voice came through the intercom speakers throughout the ship as she warned, "Several more armed men are approaching the docking gantry."
Down in the hold Rebecca holstered her pistol. She moved to the side and pulled a carbine from its hiding spot on one of the shelves. At the same time android Jenny fired one more round, and Kelsonian fell to the deck between the bodies of her two men.
The boss took up a position just to the left of the main airlock, with her weapon ready and aimed down the gantry. At the same time android Jenny swept Cam up in both arms and raced aft towards the secondary hold, where she was stopped by the sealed doors.
Our android actually kicked the doors as she shouted, "Open up! We can use the Re/Gen capsule to stop the nano-tech!"
"Sarah unseal those doors!" I ordered. Then I addressed our AI, "Jenny we're out of time! What can we do right now?"
Our AI sounded stressed as she replied, "I need three more minutes. The only other option is nuclear."
"You mean the missiles?" I asked as my gut lurched yet again.
"Negative," Jenny stated. "I can overload the facility's reactor. That will only take thirty seconds. I'd prefer not to make the call myself though, so I'm awaiting your orders."
Before I even had a chance to process that we all heard the sound of automatic gunfire through the intercom speakers. Rebecca had engaged the additional guards, who'd taken up positions in the docking gantry.
And on top of all that, android Jenny called up from the secondary hold. She wasn't talking to me or Sarah though. Instead she shouted into the intercom, "Sis you have to process Cam immediately! They're in your capsule, you have to help them!"
"I'm busy right now and you know it," AI Jenny snapped in an even more stressed voice. "I can't start working on Cam until I've finished the job here!"
That was the last straw, and in the next heartbeat I made my decision. After that the orders came easily, "Sarah seal the airlock and raise the ramp. Jenny, nuclear option as fast as you can then help Cammie."
"Rebecca," I added into the intercom as the main airlock started sliding shut, "We need you in the cockpit ASAP."
Sarah reminded me, "The docking clamps are still locked. If that place is about to go critical we want to be clear the moment our ramp's up and the airlock's sealed."
"On it," AI Jenny responded. "I have the override on the docking clamps. Also there's a shuttle docked to an airlock thirty-five meters to our port. The facility computer indicates that craft contains the shipment Kelsonian meant to deliver to the Kennington."
I asked, "Can we destroy it right now? The shuttle and its contents?"
"We could try the point defence lasers," Sarah suggested.
AI Jenny disagreed, "They're not strong enough to be certain. The fighter's main armament would be a better choice."
"I've linked the fighter's fire control system to the Demeter's gunnery console," the AI added a moment later. "And the facility's reactor has now passed the point of no return. All safeties have been disabled, catastrophic failure and core breach in twenty seconds."
"I'll take the weapons," Rebecca stated as she moved into the copilot seat. She buckled up her safety belt as she ordered, "Amanda get us the fuck out of here. Sarah be ready to give us everything this ship's got."
"On it boss," the cute blonde responded as she got out of her seat and raced aft towards engineering.
Our AI announced, "Releasing the docking clamps in three seconds, then I'll be offline until I'm finished with Cam. Good luck everyone."
She went silent just as the clamps released. I hit the thrusters and pulled us free of the gantry, but there was a bit of turbulence as we broke the seal and depressurized the facility's docks.
"Give me a few degrees of port yaw," the boss ordered.
I nodded silently and started to swing our stern to starboard and bow to port as I guided the ship backwards away from the asteroid. As I was doing that android Jenny quietly joined us in the cockpit and strapped herself into the engineering seat behind Rebecca. Neither the boss or I said anything though, we were both too focused on our tasks.
A moment later a bright violet lance arced out from the port side of our ship. It burned a line across the outside of the Fuminja Epsilon exterior until it met with a small freight shuttle docked against an airlock. The craft was roughly the same size as our own shuttle, but obviously designed for easy loading of bulk goods. And it was neatly sliced wide open by our fighter's beam laser. That was followed up by a few invisible bursts of pulse laser fire, which shredded the craft's contents then detonated its power plant and fuel supply.
The explosion was completely silent, and there was barely any flame as the small craft's oxygen quickly dispersed into space. Meanwhile I continued swinging the Demeter's bow around as I started to ramp up power to the main engines. By my estimate we only had another five or six seconds, and I wanted to get as much distance between us and the facility as possible in that time.
Unfortunately we still had one more big problem, and it had already started manoeuvring to intercept us. At the same time a familiar voice came over the ship's comm, "Merchant Vessel Demeter this is Captain McClure of the ISS Kennington. In cooperation with local -"
Whatever she said next was lost in a burst of static. That faded after a second or so, to the sound of pandemonium on the Kennington's bridge. I already knew what happened, but we got to hear the Imperium folks figure it out for themselves. That didn't take long, as they quickly realized the research facility's reactor just blew.
"Keep us moving Amanda," Rebecca stated in a grim voice. "Get us clear of the asteroids so we can jump."
Noise on the open comm settled down after another few seconds, then the Navy captain's voice came through loud and clear.
"I have no idea what the hell's going on here Demeter," she stated angrily. "But until I know the truth I have to assume you people are responsible. You will cut your engines and prepare to be boarded, or I will open fire. You have fifteen seconds to comply."
I glanced to my left but the boss just shook her head, "Keep flying. I'll take care of the Navy."
"You're not going to try and fight them are you?" I asked as I focused on piloting the ship. "I know you said those atomic warheads could break a warship, but they have anti-missile defences."
We weren't clear of the asteroids yet so I had to keep most of my attention on flying the ship. I couldn't help worry though, that we'd only escaped the first crisis just to fall to the second one.
When the boss didn't respond I added, "Or are you going to use the tailpipe?"
Rebecca's voice had a sort of forced-calm to it that told me she was stressed but suppressing it as she replied, "The tailpipe would poke holes in their hull, but it's not much use against anything that big."
"So what are we going to do?" I asked as I glanced over at her again.
She wasn't even using the weapons controls anymore, instead she was focused on a panel way off to the left-hand side of the co-pilot station. It took me a moment to remember which one that was.
As I looked at my own displays again I asked, "The tractor-repulser system? How's that going to help?"
"Remember I told you it takes a lot of skill to use this equipment?" she asked grimly. "You have to use a very delicate hand to bring a big ship under tow. Get it wrong and you'll do more harm than good."
My eyes widened as I realized what she was getting at, "Oh."
Android Jenny finally spoke up. She was looking over Rebecca's shoulder at the sensors as she reported calmly, "The Kennington has powered up their weapons systems. Laser turrets are active and missile launchers are open. Their targeting sensors are locking on to us now."
"I need ten more seconds before we're clear to jump," I added, and unlike the android my voice wavered with anxiety.
Just then Rebecca shouted, "Sarah, full power right now! Amanda, full thrust on the engines! Everybody brace!"
Without hesitation I jammed the throttles full forward and our ugly little bug of a ship tried to surge ahead, but instead we were jolted backwards as if there was a giant leash anchoring the ship to something. A moment later a panel shorted out on the engineering console and android Jenny was showered in sparks, but she reacted quickly to isolate the overload and suppress any fire before it could get started.
A second jolt rocked the Demeter a moment later, but it wasn't as strong as the first. And this time the ship did surge forward, but not on the course I'd set. We were in a clockwise roll and a gentle starboard turn, which left me scrambling to get the ship back under control.
"Status report?" the boss asked as her hands moved over her controls again.
I responded, "Getting us back on course. It's going to take me a half minute to reset then we should be ready to jump."
"The main starboard engine is offline," Jenny stated. "I can't get accurate damage control information from here due to the damage to the engineering console. The engine may have overloaded during the tractor manoeuvre, or we might have taken a hit."
"Are we clear?" I asked. "They're not still shooting at us are they?"
Rebecca shook her head, "The Kennington has much bigger problems to worry about than us right now."
"Sarah what's our status?" she added into the intercom. "Can you get that engine back online?"
A weight settled into my stomach and got colder and heavier over the next few seconds as we waited for our girlfriend's reply.
"I need to go check on her," I stated. "Rebecca can you take over?"
The captain shook her head, "Not until we're in jump. We don't need that engine for Jump-1, only the jump drive."
"But -" I tried to protest but she cut me off.
"Jenny can you tell if the jump drive's working?" the boss asked.
Our android shipmate responded, "As near as I can tell from here it is fully operational."
Rebecca stated firmly, "Then both of you stay at your posts until we're in jump. We can check on our girlfriend along with the rest of the ship after we're clear."
The next thirty seconds were among the toughest in my life, as I forced myself not to worry about my beautiful blonde girlfriend. Instead I made sure the ship was stable and secure as I began to prepare for our level-one jump. To my left Rebecca continued monitoring the sensors, with one hand on the ship's defences and another hand on the weapons controls. And behind me on the left, android Jenny did what she could to monitor the Demeter itself.
After half an eternity everything was ready and I stated, "We're good to jump."
"Do it," the boss ordered.
I nodded as I reached out and flipped up the little protective cover, then turned the red toggle underneath. The ship shuddered slightly as the jump drive kicked in, and a moment later I felt that shudder pass through my body as we surged forward into jump-space. The stars outside flared bright then blurred together into a swirling mass of blue and violet light.
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My heart was racing as I stared at the sensor display.
The ISS Kennington was in position about two kilometers away from us, blocking our escape. And the research facility's docking clamps were still locked onto the Demeter, so we couldn't go anywhere without making a mess of things and alerting both the facility and the Navy that we were trying to escape.
Meanwhile our AI needed another five minutes before she could purge the facility's computers and the backups. And down in the hold Rebecca was being held at gunpoint while a literal madwoman gloated about using her mind control tech to turn our captain into her meek obedient accomplice.
And worst of all, I had no idea what to do. There were too many crises, too many things all about to go drastically wrong at the same time.
Kelsonian's voice drew my attention back to the camera feed again as she stated, "I'm afraid I need to cut this short Becky. That customer I mentioned has just arrived, and they require my undivided attention. Don't worry though, by the time I'm back we'll be the best of friends."
Then she addressed the two armed men with her, "Ignore the sexbot, it's harmless. Leon you have permission to injure Captain Piper if she tries anything, but if you kill her I'll make sure you spend the next decade as one of my test subjects. Kent, you know what to do."
Apparently Leon was the man on the right, with the submachine-gun. He shifted his aim from Jenny to Rebecca instead. And Kent, the man on the left, kept his shotgun-looking weapon aimed at the tall redhead as well.
Even watching through the monitor I could tell the boss's muscles were tensed, she was prepared to try and duck or jump clear. But at that range, with both guns already aimed at her, I knew there was no way she could dodge a shotgun blast or a burst of automatic gunfire. At best she'd escape death, but whatever happened she was going to be seriously injured.
The moment Kelsonian finished speaking, and without any warning or hesitation, Kent pulled the trigger on his weapon. And that's when a bunch of things all happened at once.
Something fell from the top shelf on the starboard side of the hold, where our grav-sled was stowed. It came down almost ontop of our captain just as Kent's mystery weapon discharged, but that turned out not to be a shotgun after all. Instead of a blast there was just a muffled pop sound. At that moment I realized the falling object was actually our cat-kin shipmate, and Rebecca caught them at the same moment Kent's shot caught Cam square in the back.
The resolution on the camera display wasn't great but it was good enough to see that Cammie hadn't been wounded as such. What I saw instead was much worse. Rather than blood or an injury, there was a hypospray dart embedded between the cat-kin's shoulder blades.
"Cam!" android Jenny shouted as she lunged towards the cat-kin and our captain.
She yanked the dart free, then with mathematical precision and a flick of her wrist she launched it almost straight back where it came from. Except rather than striking the man who'd fired it, the dart embedded itself in Kelsonian's neck.
Barely a second had passed by that point, but both Rebecca and Jenny already had their guns out. The android was also cradling Cam in her other arm, as she and the captain moved almost in synch.
Both of them aimed and fired, and the two armed men crumpled simultaneously under a barrage of pistol bullets. Dr. Kelsonian was still standing as the two men collapsed on either side of her, but her face had gone white as a sheet and her eyes bulged wide while her mouth hung open in shock or fear.
AI Jenny suddenly spoke up. Her voice came through the intercom speakers throughout the ship as she warned, "Several more armed men are approaching the docking gantry."
Down in the hold Rebecca holstered her pistol. She moved to the side and pulled a carbine from its hiding spot on one of the shelves. At the same time android Jenny fired one more round, and Kelsonian fell to the deck between the bodies of her two men.
The boss took up a position just to the left of the main airlock, with her weapon ready and aimed down the gantry. At the same time android Jenny swept Cam up in both arms and raced aft towards the secondary hold, where she was stopped by the sealed doors.
Our android actually kicked the doors as she shouted, "Open up! We can use the Re/Gen capsule to stop the nano-tech!"
"Sarah unseal those doors!" I ordered. Then I addressed our AI, "Jenny we're out of time! What can we do right now?"
Our AI sounded stressed as she replied, "I need three more minutes. The only other option is nuclear."
"You mean the missiles?" I asked as my gut lurched yet again.
"Negative," Jenny stated. "I can overload the facility's reactor. That will only take thirty seconds. I'd prefer not to make the call myself though, so I'm awaiting your orders."
Before I even had a chance to process that we all heard the sound of automatic gunfire through the intercom speakers. Rebecca had engaged the additional guards, who'd taken up positions in the docking gantry.
And on top of all that, android Jenny called up from the secondary hold. She wasn't talking to me or Sarah though. Instead she shouted into the intercom, "Sis you have to process Cam immediately! They're in your capsule, you have to help them!"
"I'm busy right now and you know it," AI Jenny snapped in an even more stressed voice. "I can't start working on Cam until I've finished the job here!"
That was the last straw, and in the next heartbeat I made my decision. After that the orders came easily, "Sarah seal the airlock and raise the ramp. Jenny, nuclear option as fast as you can then help Cammie."
"Rebecca," I added into the intercom as the main airlock started sliding shut, "We need you in the cockpit ASAP."
Sarah reminded me, "The docking clamps are still locked. If that place is about to go critical we want to be clear the moment our ramp's up and the airlock's sealed."
"On it," AI Jenny responded. "I have the override on the docking clamps. Also there's a shuttle docked to an airlock thirty-five meters to our port. The facility computer indicates that craft contains the shipment Kelsonian meant to deliver to the Kennington."
I asked, "Can we destroy it right now? The shuttle and its contents?"
"We could try the point defence lasers," Sarah suggested.
AI Jenny disagreed, "They're not strong enough to be certain. The fighter's main armament would be a better choice."
"I've linked the fighter's fire control system to the Demeter's gunnery console," the AI added a moment later. "And the facility's reactor has now passed the point of no return. All safeties have been disabled, catastrophic failure and core breach in twenty seconds."
"I'll take the weapons," Rebecca stated as she moved into the copilot seat. She buckled up her safety belt as she ordered, "Amanda get us the fuck out of here. Sarah be ready to give us everything this ship's got."
"On it boss," the cute blonde responded as she got out of her seat and raced aft towards engineering.
Our AI announced, "Releasing the docking clamps in three seconds, then I'll be offline until I'm finished with Cam. Good luck everyone."
She went silent just as the clamps released. I hit the thrusters and pulled us free of the gantry, but there was a bit of turbulence as we broke the seal and depressurized the facility's docks.
"Give me a few degrees of port yaw," the boss ordered.
I nodded silently and started to swing our stern to starboard and bow to port as I guided the ship backwards away from the asteroid. As I was doing that android Jenny quietly joined us in the cockpit and strapped herself into the engineering seat behind Rebecca. Neither the boss or I said anything though, we were both too focused on our tasks.
A moment later a bright violet lance arced out from the port side of our ship. It burned a line across the outside of the Fuminja Epsilon exterior until it met with a small freight shuttle docked against an airlock. The craft was roughly the same size as our own shuttle, but obviously designed for easy loading of bulk goods. And it was neatly sliced wide open by our fighter's beam laser. That was followed up by a few invisible bursts of pulse laser fire, which shredded the craft's contents then detonated its power plant and fuel supply.
The explosion was completely silent, and there was barely any flame as the small craft's oxygen quickly dispersed into space. Meanwhile I continued swinging the Demeter's bow around as I started to ramp up power to the main engines. By my estimate we only had another five or six seconds, and I wanted to get as much distance between us and the facility as possible in that time.
Unfortunately we still had one more big problem, and it had already started manoeuvring to intercept us. At the same time a familiar voice came over the ship's comm, "Merchant Vessel Demeter this is Captain McClure of the ISS Kennington. In cooperation with local -"
Whatever she said next was lost in a burst of static. That faded after a second or so, to the sound of pandemonium on the Kennington's bridge. I already knew what happened, but we got to hear the Imperium folks figure it out for themselves. That didn't take long, as they quickly realized the research facility's reactor just blew.
"Keep us moving Amanda," Rebecca stated in a grim voice. "Get us clear of the asteroids so we can jump."
Noise on the open comm settled down after another few seconds, then the Navy captain's voice came through loud and clear.
"I have no idea what the hell's going on here Demeter," she stated angrily. "But until I know the truth I have to assume you people are responsible. You will cut your engines and prepare to be boarded, or I will open fire. You have fifteen seconds to comply."
I glanced to my left but the boss just shook her head, "Keep flying. I'll take care of the Navy."
"You're not going to try and fight them are you?" I asked as I focused on piloting the ship. "I know you said those atomic warheads could break a warship, but they have anti-missile defences."
We weren't clear of the asteroids yet so I had to keep most of my attention on flying the ship. I couldn't help worry though, that we'd only escaped the first crisis just to fall to the second one.
When the boss didn't respond I added, "Or are you going to use the tailpipe?"
Rebecca's voice had a sort of forced-calm to it that told me she was stressed but suppressing it as she replied, "The tailpipe would poke holes in their hull, but it's not much use against anything that big."
"So what are we going to do?" I asked as I glanced over at her again.
She wasn't even using the weapons controls anymore, instead she was focused on a panel way off to the left-hand side of the co-pilot station. It took me a moment to remember which one that was.
As I looked at my own displays again I asked, "The tractor-repulser system? How's that going to help?"
"Remember I told you it takes a lot of skill to use this equipment?" she asked grimly. "You have to use a very delicate hand to bring a big ship under tow. Get it wrong and you'll do more harm than good."
My eyes widened as I realized what she was getting at, "Oh."
Android Jenny finally spoke up. She was looking over Rebecca's shoulder at the sensors as she reported calmly, "The Kennington has powered up their weapons systems. Laser turrets are active and missile launchers are open. Their targeting sensors are locking on to us now."
"I need ten more seconds before we're clear to jump," I added, and unlike the android my voice wavered with anxiety.
Just then Rebecca shouted, "Sarah, full power right now! Amanda, full thrust on the engines! Everybody brace!"
Without hesitation I jammed the throttles full forward and our ugly little bug of a ship tried to surge ahead, but instead we were jolted backwards as if there was a giant leash anchoring the ship to something. A moment later a panel shorted out on the engineering console and android Jenny was showered in sparks, but she reacted quickly to isolate the overload and suppress any fire before it could get started.
A second jolt rocked the Demeter a moment later, but it wasn't as strong as the first. And this time the ship did surge forward, but not on the course I'd set. We were in a clockwise roll and a gentle starboard turn, which left me scrambling to get the ship back under control.
"Status report?" the boss asked as her hands moved over her controls again.
I responded, "Getting us back on course. It's going to take me a half minute to reset then we should be ready to jump."
"The main starboard engine is offline," Jenny stated. "I can't get accurate damage control information from here due to the damage to the engineering console. The engine may have overloaded during the tractor manoeuvre, or we might have taken a hit."
"Are we clear?" I asked. "They're not still shooting at us are they?"
Rebecca shook her head, "The Kennington has much bigger problems to worry about than us right now."
"Sarah what's our status?" she added into the intercom. "Can you get that engine back online?"
A weight settled into my stomach and got colder and heavier over the next few seconds as we waited for our girlfriend's reply.
"I need to go check on her," I stated. "Rebecca can you take over?"
The captain shook her head, "Not until we're in jump. We don't need that engine for Jump-1, only the jump drive."
"But -" I tried to protest but she cut me off.
"Jenny can you tell if the jump drive's working?" the boss asked.
Our android shipmate responded, "As near as I can tell from here it is fully operational."
Rebecca stated firmly, "Then both of you stay at your posts until we're in jump. We can check on our girlfriend along with the rest of the ship after we're clear."
The next thirty seconds were among the toughest in my life, as I forced myself not to worry about my beautiful blonde girlfriend. Instead I made sure the ship was stable and secure as I began to prepare for our level-one jump. To my left Rebecca continued monitoring the sensors, with one hand on the ship's defences and another hand on the weapons controls. And behind me on the left, android Jenny did what she could to monitor the Demeter itself.
After half an eternity everything was ready and I stated, "We're good to jump."
"Do it," the boss ordered.
I nodded as I reached out and flipped up the little protective cover, then turned the red toggle underneath. The ship shuddered slightly as the jump drive kicked in, and a moment later I felt that shudder pass through my body as we surged forward into jump-space. The stars outside flared bright then blurred together into a swirling mass of blue and violet light.
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