Chapter 13: Playing for keeps
"Look, you couldn't have spent all this time around the Koraxians without having learned something about them," I insisted. My parents, though, were stonewalling. Did they think I was an idiot?
"Robert," my mother whispered, halfway leaning across the table between us, "they didn't expose us to all their secrets, if that's what you're thinking. We were still prisoners, of a sort. They treated us decently but we weren't allowed to touch any of their technology."
"Yeah? And I think you got so accustomed to being in their care you don't want to say anything unpleasant about them. It's perfectly understandable, but I don't have time to get a psychologist in here and work it out of your system. I need answers. The rebels want an Oolian Cruiser. They said they can use it against their government, and maybe so, but I want to know if they have ulterior motives."
"We've only been with the rebels about a month," she said. "In that time, though, they have only attacked Koraxian ships and installations. Even with an Oolian ship, I can't believe they would be a threat to anyone but their own kind."
I hoped she was right. I still didn't feel too great about this whole plan, but what choice did we have? The rebels came through in spades, held their part of the bargain every step of the way. As distasteful as I found the prospect of snatching an allied ship, how must they have felt about slaughtering their own species? We were past the point of sickness. It was war. How I felt about didn't matter. I suddenly remember why I was so glad when the Cranion war ended: no more decisions like that, no knot in my stomach every time I knew I was sending someone to die. Things had been so quiet since then. I'd forgotten what it felt like to make these decisions. But most of my crew had no experience in carrying them out, either. I hoped they were up to the task.
A bit more banter with my parents (well, mostly my mother, since my father just glowered at me) convinced me they were a dead end, so I went back up to the bridge. I assigned one of the doctors to give them a full workup, make sure there was nothing "off" about them, just to be on the safe side. I checked up on Jenna and Sam, whom I'd sent on recon to find a Cruiser to lure.
"There's one in Rigor Vulcanis with a flight plan logged for Trevor. If we leave now, we can beat them there."
"Trevor? What do you figure they want in that system? I mean, the Koraxians were wiping it clean when we passed through."
"I'm not sure. They might just be coming to survey the damage. The system itself is a disaster at this point. We could situate ourselves among the debris and make it look like we bought it standing up for the Trevorans," Jenna explained.
"Excellent. That will make it look more credible." I turned to Rydia. "Let our friends know we're heading for the Trevor System."
Do or die time. We high-tailed it back the way we came, through Nanias, and ended up among the ruins of the Trevoran civilization. I discovered Ms. 'smyth-Kennedy had not exaggerated. The hulks of Trevoran ships littered the system, with the gleaming shards of Koraxian ships impaled through most of them. No life anywhere in the system. Their homeworld had been razed. This was what they had in store for us, if they got close enough to Earth.
We positioned ourselves amid the wreckage and powered down all nonessential systems. The Koraxians did the same.
"Jenna, please tell me you know how we're going to take over their ship," I said.
"I forgot to mention that, sir. Lieutenant Collins and I looked high and low through all the available data, and there is no way to hijack their control systems remotely. Someone will have to get aboard their ship, access the service deck, and carry it out from there."
"You're sure there's absolutely no way to break into their computers from here?"
She shook her head. "Their hardware is pretty secure. The good news is, there are several access points along the bottom of the ship that will let us onto the service deck."
"Any word on how well-defended that level usually is?"
"No, but I think some resistance would be expected. I think the best way to do it would be to hit the aft-most access point, near the engines. No matter the ship type, that section is usually the least populated. We can take dazzlers and stunners and put any guards out of commission quickly and quietly."
"Quickly and quietly is how I like it, Lieutenant. You're sure you can do this without killing anyone?"
"I'm not 100%, sir, but I'll do my best. I could leave that to Sam, since his... modifications give him an advantage."
She seemed visibly discomforted by the reminder that Lt. Collins was, like myself, cybernetically enhanced. Some people were just put off by it, I noticed. It was certainly not something I mentioned in a first encounter. "Hi, I'm Robert Maxwell. Almost half my body was blown away and replaced by advanced prosthetics that make me more versatile and powerful than the average man. You wanna go out some time?" Yep, that didn't go over so well.
Still, I agreed with her about letting Sam take point. I knew Dr. al-Salam wouldn't be too thrilled at having to go with them, but we were left with few options.
When I called her over the intercom to inform her, I could hear her verbally blowing a gasket. Pretty sure I heard some Arabic swearing, too. But she complied, like a good officer, and met Jenna and Sam in Bay 1. They had to launch on full manual control, since the Protector's automated guidance system was shut off, like the vast majority of systems on the ship. They hid behind the crushed remnants of a Trevoran battleship and waited.
And so did the rest of us. Passive scans soon revealed the Oolian Cruiser emerging from a fold vector. It spent a good twenty minutes just ambling about, I assume scanning the wreckage for life signs and any particularly interesting debris. They made a few passes toward us, then went right past, as if trying to provoke a reaction--maybe see if we'd power up, give ourselves away. Nope.
"Automated distress call is sending on all frequencies," Rydia announced. "They can definitely hear us."
"Come on," I muttered, watching the little display on my chair arm. Yes, I was getting impatient. I'd had enough waiting over the past week. I just wanted to get on with it already.
Soon, they descended upon us, getting quite close, carefully scanning us, I'm sure. Vorlano kept on top of things, putting out false radiation readings to block any scans for life signs. They'd get so much noise they wouldn't have any idea if anyone was alive aboard the ship or not.
I had faith that Jenna's team would make it aboard the Cruiser safely and communicate back that they'd successfully knocked out the crew and taken control of the ship.
"Sir," Rydia began, "I'm picking up radio chatter. The Oolians are sending a small scout craft to board us."
That came as a surprise. I didn't think they'd be that interested in an adrift Terran ship. "Where are they headed? What bay?"
"I can't tell. The bays won't open automatically for them, so they may cut their way through."
"I want marines deployed in all bays to incapacitate any boarding party."
I kept my attention focused on Ms. Arnold, since she was my lifeline at this point--both to the fate of my ship, and the progress of Jenna, Sam, and Carina. She listened in on what I presumed were communications between the Cruiser and its boarding party. "They're going to force open Bay 2," she explained.
"Send extra marines."
"I also have word from Lietenant Starsmyth-Kennedy's team. They are aboard the Cruiser."
"Good. Keep me posted."
Minutes later, some progress was reported from Bay 2. "The Oolian boarding party has been detained and their ship has been taken offline. No casualties."
"Perfect. This is going well." Maybe too well, I thought at the time. I should have paid attention to my gut. Things were about to start not going so well.
"We have a problem. Lieutenant 'smyth-Kennedy is reporting that they encountered more resistance than expected. Lieutenant Collins and Doctor al-Salam have been captured."
"What about her? Is she still free?"
"She's going back to the shuttle, she says. They did not notice her."
No, no, no. We couldn't let the Oolians figure out what we were up to. I knew Sam and the Doc would dissemble for as long as possible, but that didn't buy us much time.
"Tell her to wait. Find a safe hiding spot on the service deck. I'll be right over." I made eye contact with Lt. Arnold. "I need you to come with me."
It took her a moment to realize what I was asking. She never looked so young as she did right then. I felt bad even asking, but we'd put too much into this to quit now. If the Oolians found out we were trying to steal their ship... well, there was no telling how they might respond. They were always calm, quiet, professional, cordial. I'd never seen one get angry. As powerful as their ships were, I didn't want to see one angry.
So, this was our only shot. Take the Oolian scout ship back and try to pull this off, just the two of us. I left Commander Ramsey in charge. "If this goes south, get the Protector out of here, to hell with the Koraxians. Do you understand?"
He nodded. I expected him to listen. Ironically, this would be the one time he showed any initiative or courage. Why couldn't he have just been a reliable doormat, like I expected?
Not that it mattered much. Pretty soon, all expectations were going to fly right out the window.
Chapter 13
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Chapter 13: Playing for
"Look, you couldn't have spent all this time around the Koraxians without having learned something about them," I insisted. My parents, though, were stonewalling. Did they think I was an idiot?
"Robert," my mother whispered, halfway leaning across the table between us, "they didn't expose us to all their secrets, (I'd change the order of that sentence to "expose all their secrets to us.' It sounds a little awkward this way.) if that's what you're thinking. We were still prisoners, of a sort. They treated us decently but we weren't allowed to touch any of their technology."
"Yeah? And I think you got so accustomed to being in their care you don't want to say anything unpleasant about them. It's perfectly understandable, but I don't have time to get a psychologist in here and work it out of your system. I need answers. The rebels want an Oolian Cruiser. They said they can use it against their government, and maybe so, but I want to know if they have ulterior motives."
"We've only been with the rebels about a month," she said. "In that time, though, they have only attacked Koraxian ships and installations. Even with an Oolian ship, I can't believe they would be a threat to anyone but their own kind."
I hoped she was right. I still didn't feel too great about this whole plan, but what choice did we have? The rebels came through in spades, held their part of the bargain every step of the way. As distasteful as I found the prospect of snatching an allied ship, how must they have felt about slaughtering their own species? We were past the point of sickness. It was war. How I felt about didn't matter. I suddenly remember (Remember should be remembered.) why I was so glad when the Cranion war ended: no more decisions like that, no knot in my stomach every time I knew I was sending someone to die.