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I looked through the viewport as the Daedalus shifted from shadow space into real space. A set of three rings spun perpendicular to the central axis. A large ship sat docked to one of the rings, while two smaller ships, about the size of the Daedalus, also lay docked, though they were detaching themselves as I watched.
Captain Wilson had explained the Daedalus was an assault corvette. It boasted a “stealth” suite of sensor-jamming and sensor minimizing arrays while also being combat capable against ships of its own class. Two dozen starfighters sat in its hangar while four gunships waited, unable to be used for long in the vacuum of space. They were designed to be dropped into low planetary orbit, near where the atmosphere began, and descend from there, if the Daedalus was unable to enter atmosphere itself or time was of the essence.
“Pirates,” I grumbled to Julianna. “Looks like they’ve spotted us.”
“No, not us,” Julianna said with a grin, pointing. “Look, beyond the station.” She tapped on the viewport and the smart display zoomed in to where she tapped. A cruiser and two frigates had emerged from shadow space and were deploying fighters.
“Bait?” I asked. “Why do they need us?”
“Because we want the hostages alive,” Captain Wilson answered tersely, having overheard me. “While our colleagues in the navy hold their attention and drain their station of every available spacecraft, we will slip in, dock and get the hostages out before anyone notices.”
A favorite saying of my father came to mind just then. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Would our plan?
“What kind of hostages are they, sir?” Julianna asked with a modicum of respect. She’d learned, the hard way, to speak respectfully to commanding officers or she’d earn latrine duty or some other menial punishment.
“Hostages with rich families,” he replied. “The Federation doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, but their families are happy to pay the Federation to risk our lives to save them.”
“Oh,” I said. So it wasn’t an altruistic mission? Not that I regretted saving innocent civilians, but the exchange of money suggested we were putting the lives of the rich above the lives of more deserving citizens with fewer resources.
The Daedalus streaked rapidly through space as the battle began in earnest on the far side. Streaks from tracer shells, laser beams and missile exhaust trails filled the void. Colonel Schattler had yet to deploy our own starfighters - probably to maintain the element of surprise. If the enemy had seen us approaching, they didn’t show it. The anti-starcraft defenses remained inactive on the side facing us.
“Intel suggests the hostages are being held in the second ring,” Captain Wilson relayed.
“Makes sense,” Julianna said. “Considering the cruise ship is docked there.”
“Cut the chatter,” Sergeant Reynolds, our squad leader, ordered. “Check your gear, ready your weapons and prepare to breach.”
While the colonel oversaw the entire battalion, Captain Wilson oversaw Delta Company. I’d heard some of the other soldier refer to it as “dead” company, considering it consisted of undead soldiers. Twenty Rangers under the captain’s command, with four sergeants acting as squad leaders.
The second ring of the space station neared and the Daedalus jolted as it slowed. It drifted toward the hull of the pirate base and then the maneuvering thrusters kicked in to bring it close enough.
“Latching complete,” a voice announced over the intercom. “Commencing laser cutting.”
I knew from talking to the other Rangers that the latching procedure involved powerful magnets surrounding an outer airlock of the Daedalus drawing the two ships together. Once close enough, the laser drills would pop out and begin drilling a hole in the target ship or station. They said the ideal place to drill was by an enemy airlock, because once we pulled away the inner airlock would close and the enemy ship would not lose hull integrity like it would if we drilled through an outer wall.
A zapping sound reverberated through the ship as the lasers engaged. There was no sound in space, true, but energy coils lay inside the ship and were loud.
All five companies in the seventh Ranger battalion stood ready, in separate holds so that if one were breached the others would survive. When the breaching completed, we would each leave our separate holds and funnel into the ship. The Daedalus did feature multiple outer airlocks on each side, allowing for up to two points of entry at a time, but today it was only one breach.
The problem with breaching was the enemy could create bottlenecks if they had enough time to prepare. Or if we breached at the wrong location.
For one reason or the other, they were ready for us.
“Enemy airlock breached, enemy airlock breached,” the voice announced. The door to our compartment slid open and we activated our helmets, sealed them and headed into the hallway. Remaining sealed against vacuum and hazardous or noxious gases was standard protocol until the air was confirmed to be breathable. Plus, it was always a good idea to wear a helmet when going into combat.
Two other companies had reached the breach ahead of us. We heard the zap of enemy laser fire meeting the crackle bam of our coilguns. No screams, yet, but the global battalion comms had devolved into a cacophony of voices updating the status at once.
“Enemy on both sides, I repeat, enemy on both...agh” the warning turned to static as the Ranger was hit.
“Grenade, grenade!” a voice shouted, though it was unclear where the grenade was. I wasn’t even in the airlock leading to the enemy ship - there was no threat of a grenade here.
“All non-company commanders, switch to company comms,” a gruff voice barked.
I obeyed and the noise faded the instant the channel switched. Our company captain, in this case Captain Wilson, would tell us of any global orders. That’s how it was meant to work, anyway. Though if he fell our sergeant would join the global channel and if he fell then one of us would join the global channel to report the loss of the sergeant.
“Alpha and Charlie company are taking heavy fire,” Captain Wilson said, calm as if he were reporting that it was raining, as we neared the seared door leading to the enemy station. “We’re up next, Delta. Don’t let me down.”
“Halbert, you’re up,” Sergeant Reynolds ordered.
I groaned inwardly, though I knew showing fear or cowardice in front of the enemy was a good way to end up in the brig, or worse. Deserters ended up dead, one way or the other.
I stepped through the charred hole and then through the inner door which had been opened by an emergency manual release lever. I immediately stepped over a fellow Ranger, helmet retracted, which only happened when they were dead. The nanites in the body of a Ranger and in their suit would deactivate and retract into the dispenser on their back upon death. Then, if the dispenser were removed without proper codes, it would self-destruct. It was a fail-safe designed to keep Federation tech out of the hands of less-than-savory factions.
Lasers flashed above the heads of the remaining Rangers, while shrapnel lay in a heap on the floor, along with three more Rangers.
I raced to an open spot and ducked down behind a glowing pink portable energy barrier. They were designed to project a shield upward when the projector was deployed. They had a limited lifespan, of course, both in time and capacity. Too much damage would overwhelm the generator and cause it to fail, sometimes explosively. I opened my voice comm to speak to those around me. “How many are there?”
“A dozen on this side,” the Ranger beside me said, pointing. “And watch from behind too, as there’s stray lasers flying everywhere.”
I nodded. My first combat mission and it was a practical ambush. Or just fortunate circumstance on the part of the enemy.
“These shields won’t hold much longer,” a second Ranger said, kneeling to the left of the first. “Did you bring one?”
“Of course.”
“Be ready to deploy it in front of an existing shield when they start to fail. You’ll see it flickering.” He popped up and fired a flurry of bullets before ducking back down.
I lifted my coilgun and gradually peaked over the barrier. Technically I could see through the barrier, but it was distorted. The enemy had their own barriers set up, these a dark red.
I took aim and fired, knowing time was of the essence. Zap bam the coilgun fired, the electromagnetically accelerated shell slicing through the air at thousands of feet per second, instantaneously for the purposes of close quarters. It slammed into the barrier and shattered, its energy absorbed. My second shot went high, slamming into the ceiling and shattering, barely leaving a dent.
In the early days of space combat, I’d learned, the walls had been thinner, which resulted in a risk of high velocity rounds piercing the walls of space ships or stations. But as time went on, the walls and hulls of such places were vastly improved. Now they were typically mage-forged, their molecules bonded together so tight they could even absorb a railgun shell or two before shattering. Even interior floor, wall and ceiling plates would be forged of hardened alloys resistant to physical damage.
Enemy counter fire came as a torrent of red beams of light, slamming into our barriers. They were banking on overwhelming the generators of the barriers.
“Grenade!” someone shouted, I thought to my right. I ducked as a grenade came soaring and landed right in front of my barrier. It exploded and my barrier blinked out of existence, while the ones to my right and left flashed urgently, warning of their imminent demise.
There I crouched, exposed. I fumbled for my replacement shield generator but knew I would be too slow. Stupid, stupid, why hadn’t I pulled it out and had it ready?
Berating myself could wait. I considered leaping to one side or the other, hiding behind one of the other shields. But something inside me wanted to fight, wanted to move forward and not cower behind a barricade.
So, in that moment, I decided to use physics against them. Just like we practiced, I said. I summoned a ball of gravitons in front of me. It swirled into existence, a ball of black nothingness to the common onlooker but a cluster of millions of tiny gravitons to my eyes. Then I expanded it, held tight in my mental grip, turning it into a swirling vertical disk, like a pitch-black axial fan spinning faster than the eye could see.
I walked forward, the spinning disk of gravity before me. The enemy laser fire predictably smashed into my shield and was absorbed. I felt the energy growing and dispersed excess energy into the air, warming it. I didn’t want the graviton shield to grow too large, or it would start ripping at the walls of the station.
When I’d first demonstrated this ability before my Uncle Jason, he’d stood astounded, marveling at my prodigious command of gravity after just three short days. Captain Wilson had worn a feral grin, likely imagining the multiple uses for such a deadly ability
Behind me, my fellow Rangers were focusing on the opponents in the opposite direction, pouring all their firepower in that direction with no fear of being shot in the back now.
My gravity shield met the enemy energy barriers and barely hiccupped as it absorbed the energy and swallowed the generators whole. It wobbled as it increased in power and it took more of my concentration to maintain its shape. But then it passed the line where the barricades had been and absorbed the first of the pirates, turning them to mush and sucking them in much like it had my fellow recruits back in basic training.
The smart pirates turned and fled, while the stupid ones stood, continuing to fire, and died.
I continued on my path, following the curve of the hall wherever it would lead me. “Sir,” I said over my company comm channel. “I’ve got them on the run on the right-most path.”
“Yes, I can see that, Private,” Captain Wilson said. “I’m sending the rest of Delta Company to follow you. The other companies will take the left path. Whoever finds the hostages first wins. And I like to win.”
Wins what? I wondered but didn’t ask.
With Delta Company at my back, including Captain Wilson and Julianna, we made our way down the right fork. We passed sealed doors along the way and checked each room as we passed. It wouldn’t do to be hit from behind.
We’d lost two Rangers from Delta Company by my count, during the initial push. I hoped we wouldn’t lose anymore. Periodic laser fire peppered the shield but could not pierce it. But I felt my power being taxed and the shield shrinking, so I had to release my hold on the shield and press against the wall like a normal soldier. I’d have to work on my stamina.
We pressed on, continuing to meet minimal resistance, and at last found ourselves at an airlock. “Halt here,” Captain Wilson commanded. He fell silent for several long moments before speaking. “Command says this leads to the cruise ship. Scans show the hostages may still be on board. Let’s move.” He gestured for me to lead the way. “First and second squad onto the ship, third and fourth squad remain behind.
“I don’t think I can summon another shield right now,” I protested.
“Just do your best,” he said in a terse tone suggesting he didn’t have time for my protestations. And considering the circumstances and time being of the essence, he would be right to feel that way.
I carefully activated the door control. The door slid open with a hiss. I raised my rifle to my shoulder and stepped through the doorway.
Julianna rushed up next to me, rifle also held at the ready. “I’ve got you,” she reassured me.
We encountered no traps or anything passing between the first door and the second. Beyond this door would either be a ship full of pirates or a ship full of cruise passengers. Hopefully more of the latter.
I pressed myself against the wall next to the door control while Julianna took up position opposite me. The other Rangers lined up on the wall behind one of us. When everyone was in position, I counted down with my fingers and then triggered the door control. It slid open with a hiss. I braced for laser fire to stream through the opening...
No laser fire came. I carefully peaked around the corner, expecting to see enemies lined up, weapons leveled at me, prepared for exactly that moment. But the corridor was clear and stretched into the distance for several feet before reaching a junction.
“Sir, did Command say where in the cruise ship those prisoners were?”
“Starboard side,” he answered.
I envisioned the ship in my mind. The starboard side meant the right side, and because the cruise ship’s front, or fore, was docked with the station, the starboard side meant left from our perspective. “Left at this junction up ahead, then,” I said.
At said junction, we carefully pointed our weapons to the left and right. Captain Wilson left four Rangers to guard the corridor while the remaining seven of us, six plus Captain Wilson, headed left.
The sound of nervous chatter came from ahead, behind a pair of elaborate-looking doors. I deactivated my helmet and pressed my ear to the wood door. It must have cost a fortune to get real wood on this ship. From within, I could hear men and women, and maybe even some children, speaking. “Women and children, and men, sir,” I reported. “No indication of pirates.”
“Then what’s keeping them in there?” he mused.
I looked down and saw a heavy metal chain tied through the handles of the door. “Looks like they were locked in.” I moved aside so he could see it.
“Okay, break the chain,” he ordered. “I’ll notify Command.” He paused for a long moment. “Shit, we’re being jammed.”
“Jammed?” I blurted. “But they’re just pirates. How would they have jamming tech that can affect ours?”
“Something smells fishy,” he agreed. “Break the lock, quick. We need to get back to the Daedalus before...”
An explosion rocked the cruise ship, almost sending me to the deck. I barely stayed upright and managed to withdraw my vibroblade. I held it to the metal and it screeched as my blade sliced through it, the razor-sharp mage-forged blade vibrating at hundreds of cycles per second. I flung open the doors.
The faces of dozens of cruise guests met me. Relief swelled up in the form of tears while they swarmed the doors, eager for freedom.
“Form an orderly line!” I shouted. “We’re here to rescue you!”
“Where is Charlotte O’Hara and Dennis Rickman?” Captain Wilson bellowed, amplifying his voice to be heard above the din. He repeated himself, even louder this time.
Who are they? I wondered? But I didn’t have time to ask. I had to forcefully shove several men back and order them into the line. I understood they were panicking, but they were causing more chaos.
A man and a woman, both barely twenty if that, approached. “I’m Charlotte,” the blond girl said.
“And I’m Dennis,” the dark-skinned boy said.
“Rachel. You take these two on ahead,” Captain Wilson ordered.
“Yes, sir,” I responded, trying and failing to keep the curiosity out of my tone. “May I ask, sir...,” I began.
He sighed, agitated, but didn’t deny my request. “They’re extremely high-value targets. Their parents paid billions to ensure their safe return. It’s the whole reason we were called in.”
“Oh,” I said, dumbstruck. Here I thought we’d been called in because it was what we did - helping people. But we only helped when they paid? That felt wrong to me. I opened my mouth to say more.
“Cut the chatter,” he snapped. “Julianna can go with you. Get moving, now!” He shoved me toward the way we’d come.
Discouraged from asking further questions, I led the two twenty-somethings back. Why didn’t we just stay with the rest of the group?
We’d made it to the airlock between the station and the cruise ship when the ship rocked again, this time sounding from the direction we’d come from. I immediately activated my comms. “Sir, are you all right?”
“It’s an ambush,” he shouted through the comms. “Pirates coming out of the woodwork.” Indeed, I could hear laser and coilgun fire in the distance. “Get those two out of here. We’re going to cover the retreat as best we can.”
Out of instinct I turned, preparing to race back to the defense of my fellow Rangers. But I had orders, and people to protect. I led them through the airlock and we ran back toward the Daedalus. We made it back without incident, meeting up with the other four Ranger companies as we did. They all looked the worse for wear, armor scorched and their ranks looking thinner than before. But two companies went off to support Captain Wilson and the remains of Delta Company.
Twenty minutes later, Captain Wilson and the remainder arrived...without the hostages.
“What happened?” I asked. “Where are the hostages?”
“They didn’t make it,” he said. There was no remorse in his voice.
“They all died?” I asked, incredulous. Something didn’t add up.
“As I said, it was an ambush. They hit us on all sides. The hostages went running in all directions and got caught in the cross-fire. None survived.”
I sat there in shock. A part of my mind thought that had to be wrong. There must be another explanation. But the soldier in me knew not to question what he’d told us. My CO wouldn’t lie to us, would he? I searched the faces of the other members of Delta Company, but they wore stern faces that could have passed for solemn expressions. Maybe I could question one of them later, alone.
The captain seemed to sense my reticence to accept his story, for he stepped up to me and asked, “Is there a problem, Private?”
“It’s just that...sir...I find it a bit far-fetched that none of the hostages survived.”
“Are you questioning the official narrative?” His eyes narrowed. “That can be construed as treason.”
“No, of course not, sir,” I hastily reassured him.
“Then drop it,” he said. “That’s an order.”
The Daedalus shuddered as it detached from the cruise ship. The two hostages we had managed to rescue huddled under a blanket together on the bench.
In the distance, the battle seemed to have intensified, with more pirate ships joining the battle and two having attached to the other side of the cruise ship. Maybe what the Captain had said was true - maybe the pirates had killed them all. But something didn’t seem right.
The Daedalus made the shift to shadow space without incident or pursuit, another oddity, and we made it back to base a few hours later.
I caught Julianna’s arm before she made for her bunk. “Do you really buy that story?” I asked, searching her eyes.
She averted hers to the floor. “I talked to one of the others. You won’t like it.”
“What?” I demanded.
“They weren’t killed, Rachel. They were abandoned.”
“Abandoned? What do you mean?”
“I mean they were shoved back into the room we found them in and the doors were barred. Then, presumably, the pirates were cutting in from the outside and reclaiming them.”
“But then what was the shooting we heard?” I asked.
“A cover for their story to make sense.”
“Why would they do something like that?” I asked, sitting on my bunk, suddenly feeling weak.
Julianna shrugged. “I heard something about a black-market deal. The pirates sell the hostages and split the profits with Colonel Schattler. But you didn’t hear that from me, okay?”
I clenched my fists, anger boiling up inside me. If my father heard about this, he would blow a gasket. The seventy-fifth Ranger battalion would be shut down that minute...and my identity would be revealed. I wilted. I had to keep quiet about this if I wanted to maintain my cover.
“Is that why he sent us on ahead? Because he knew I wouldn’t go through with it?”
“And because the families of the two hostages we did rescue were paying more than what the pirates could get on the black-market for them.” She shrugged. “It’s just business.”
I stared at my friend, horrified. “Just business? Innocent cruise passengers being sold into slavery is just business to you?”
“Relax, Rachel. They’re being ransomed back to the families - they’ll see home again. They’re not going to become slaves.”
“I presume only if their families pay,” I snapped. “If they can’t pay, what then?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade to care.”
“And won’t the ransomed hostages tell the truth? How they were abandoned by the Rangers?”
“Not if they want to actually see their families again,” Julianna said. “From what I heard, they have to agree to never speak of it or their entire family will be murdered.”
“That’s brutal.”
“Brutal and effective,” Julianna confirmed.
I stared at my friend, aghast. “Julianna, what’s happened to you? You were so...”
Her nonchalant face faded, replaced with a glare. “I was so what, Rachel? So sad? So alone? Well I’m not sad, or alone, anymore! This is my family now, and I’ll do whatever I need to in order to protect it.”
“I...” I wanted to say I quit, that I would give up the life of a Ranger in order to expose the corruption I’d witnessed. But something made me hesitate. Perhaps it was fear, perhaps it was something else, but I still believed I could do more good from the inside than I could from the outside. Maybe I could prevent a future atrocity like this from occurring. “I understand,” I said at last. “I may not agree, but I understand.”
“So, you’ll keep quiet?” she asked.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
My friend nodded, her expression transforming to a smile in an instant. “Good. Good night.”
What if I’d answered “no?” I thought.