Chapter Five

Sirens and orange lights were all over the ship as people were running to special stations. An explosion out in space is silent to those who are not in the middle of the effect, as there is no air to carry the sound. That still does not mean that there are no repercussions, as the OOW ship is blown apart near the BoseIn.

First, the BoseIn was rocked from the outward movement of the explosion. Next, the OOW ship's fragments were thrown out, some striking the old freighter as it was tumbled away. Being pushed by the movement of the detonation was a blessing, even as the old ship turned over and over. It was thrust out ahead of most of the OOW ship's debris.

Still, some of the broken segments had a harder propel, and some began to collide with the sides of the tumbling blocky old ship. Some added more dents, but the one or two small sharp segments penetrated the thick hide that meant danger to air loss.

The Captain or XO cut the gravity to prevent harm until they could get the ship stabilized. With everyone floating from handholds on all surfaces, the crew was trying to get into off-ship suits. There was some crew that had training to attack leaks, so those people were heading where the announcements were, notifying them of the problems.

At last, the ship was stabilized, but there still was no gravity of the normal type. The ship began to move to escape the debris expansion field, and that meant everything went to the back of the ship. Now people could stand on the back of sidewalls. It wasn't that strong, but it did help some with moving around.

By this time, Traci was in the mess area with Cook, trying to recover pans, cups, shakers, and napkins that had not been put away before loss of gravity. Now all of these items were planted in strange piles on the back wall with some unidentified objects. Cleaning up the area was slower than usual, as their movements were hampered by the off-ship suits they were wearing.

The orange warning lights were still on, but the sirens were shut down. Sounds were coming through their helmets that were open in front, as there was still enough atmosphere to breathe while the repairs were continuing. There came an announcement from the bridge that seemed to be interrupted.

"Arm yourselves, we have in…" that was all anyone heard. Traci stopped and looked at Cook, who was stuffing a handful of garbage into the usual flapping door. He stopped with his arm outstretched.

"What was that all about?" Traci looked around as she spoke.

"I don't know, but it sounds bad. We don't have weapons…but wait." Cook turned and went over behind the serving counter and then came out with two carving knives from one of the drawers. "Catch."

Cook, with thick gloves, held up one of the knives, and just let it go. It came at Traci, who was near the back wall. Since the pull of the ship's forward movement wasn't that strong, the knife didn't fly very fast, but Traci knew she couldn't catch it with the clumsy gloves. She just stepped aside, and when the knife joined some napkins on the back wall where she was standing, she reached down and picked it up. It wasn't a gun, but it was a type of weapon.

"Any idea what we do next?" She looked at the knife and shook her head. Could she drive it through a person?

"What you do next, bitch, is put your hands together and drop the knife."

Both Cook and Traci looked over at the three men who wore magnetic boots and entered one after the other into the room. Traci noticed that they had real weapons, long guns, and each one pointed the barrels at her and Cook. Bringing a knife to a gunfight didn't seem too smart, so both did what they were asked by the team dressed in black.

"Why do the bad guys always were black?" There was that smartass mouth of Traci's. She needed to take some lessons. She was looking the guy up close as one came over to put metal control cuffs on her. The male attached them and then tapped a couple of buttons to set the role they would apply. When he moved over to Cook, she tried to lift her arms and couldn't. The setting was now to keep her wrists at waist level, damn.

With only signals from the weapons, Traci and Cook were marched into the hallway, each pulled by a black-clad person in magnetic boots. Except for the one who had first spoken, they all had full-face black helmets that went with the mismatched black off-ship suits.

Eventually, they were in one of the side slots of the storage areas in the back of the ship with almost all of the crew. The Captain was with them with a bleeding and half-bandaged arm. Most of the crew who worked on the bridge was here and some of the others. There were whispers that a couple of their members were dead.

Among the whispers, there was no idea of who the invaders were or where they were going. So, everyone just sat, not being able to move their hands in the cuffs. It is evident to Traci that the attackers had come prepared to have enough cuffs for everyone.

Moving over to the Captain, Traci knelt. "How are you doing, sir?"

She looked at the rough wrap on his upper arm, and blood was seeping out from under it to move down to his elbow.

"Been better, crewman Cen." Traci was surprised that the man even knew her name.

Looking around the area they were in, Traci saw the small metal door on the wall with the medic sign. "Guys, there is a first aid kit in there. We need to get it out for the Captain."

"Yeah, and we need to go in the other room and get in the armory. Except, I can't scratch my nose." One guy spoke in a snide manner.

"Hell, Ank, you shouldn't scratch your nose because you use that hand to scratch your balls all the time." That comment brought a few nervous chuckles. Humor would always come to the forefront when people were scared.

"Look." Traci stood up and waved her hands and fingers. "We have some movement. Get something to stand on or help a person get on your knee and get someone's hand high enough to open that door and drop the kit to someone else. We are a crew that has worked together, so this should be simple."

Suddenly, a couple of the guys moved around. "I think she has an idea."

"I'll help." This came from another, and then several were standing by the wall with the medic sign on it that was about shoulder high. It did take some false starts and some people on the floor, one lying on his stomach and the next with his foot on the first back.

Others held out their hands to steady or held a foot. It took only a few efforts, and they had a youth up high enough where his fingers could open the door, and he pulled out the kit. He dropped it into waiting hands, and there was a cheer.

Then everyone dropped down and huddled on the ground, aware that the noise might draw the attention of their captors. Waiting a few minutes, they soon felt it was safe to move around, and they began to help Traci take care of the Captain.

First, she and another crewman dug out a painkiller and gave the Captain a couple of pills. They also gave him a couple of anti-inflammation pills and one capsule for infections. Now Traci was able to take the small ion knife to cut away the wrappings and apply some fast-heal. Finally, she put on a clear coat cover, and it was all that any of them could do.

Somewhere in the process, the Captain had either passed out or fallen asleep. "Let's hide the kit."

This came from one of the crew, and soon the kit had disappeared. Traci didn't ask where it was and didn't want to know. She wondered if she was a coward, as she didn't like pain and might be willing to tell anything to anyone if they threatened her.

There was no threat, and when they were moved, there was no comment about the improvement on the Captain's wound. They were moved because the trip was short, and it seemed they were soon docked. As they were led off the damaged freighter, there was a group of guards in plain clothes.

Report: Asset in danger, nothing due to her heritage. I am stepping in to come to her aid without revealing my identity. Details to follow.

They were stopped in the docking area and were told to remove the off-ship suits. These were dumped into a large container along with the cuffs. Everyone did the same thing upon having the cuffs released, first rubbed their wrists and next raised their arms. Release was temporary, and the armed guards started pushing them with the weapons to move them down a tight alley.

Gome worked his way up to be near her. "That was smart to get the Captain fixed."

With just a smile and a shrug, Traci kept up with the group and hoped they were not going someplace just to be murdered. This station wasn't as large as Solitude by a long shot, but if you had a high-powered weapon in your back, pushing you through metal alleys, it seemed huge.

They were forced downstairs, and then they realized how serious these invaders in black were, as they got into a very long row of old-fashioned jail cells. First, they went through several rooms with the doors guarded by people in mismatched black clothes but very solid weapons.

The last central room had a lot of screens with three exits that led to different cellblocks. The group from the BoseIn was led down one passageway that had old-fashioned barred doors on one side. They were put into the cells, four at a time. Traci was put in with Cook and two others, but Gome was pulled away as he started to stay with her.

For the next few hours, they didn't see anyone. Some talk back and forth about guesses as to who these people were and what they wanted. A man without a covering over his face and accompanied by two with hoods and long weapons came down the hall. Halfway he stopped and looked into one of the cells.

"Which one is the XO?"

There was silence. "I asked for the XO to be pointed out, now." This time the man shouted out a little louder. Everyone froze in place and said nothing.

The speaking man walked over close to the bars and pointed to a crewman. "You, come over here."

No one in the other cells could see what was happening, but evidently, the man had slowly walked up to the front to the bars.

The headman looked him over. "You don't look like much. Are you the XO?"

"Nope." The man sounded scared but answered. The head guy stepped back and motioned to one of his hooded guards. The guards just raised his weapon and shot off one blast. There was no sound from the crewman, but the other three began to yell and cuss.

"Hey." The yell came from the cell next to Traci's. "Okay, I am the XO. Stop the shooting. I'm right here."

There was no more talking as the threesome came down, and the cell door slid sideways. The XO was roughly pulled out, and they all were soon gone out through the middle room at the end.

Within minutes a couple of the hooded guards came back in and went to the cell with the man who had been shot. They held up their weapons and ordered everyone to turn and lean against the back wall. No one in the other cells could see what was happening, but they did see the dead body being dragged down the hall after the cell was closed.

"Who was it?" Someone in Traci's cell was whispering as they pressed their heads to the bars.

"I think it was Than." That was Cook who identified the dead crewman. He remembered all the men from the ship, as he served all the people three times a shift.

Things settled down for a time, and then as the hours went by, the need for food and water began to hit their bodies. There was a hole in each cell's back corner, and from the smell, the crew started to use it without hesitation. But there was no sink or running water. Being considerate, the people all turned away from the hole when someone was using it, and privacy was awarded.

A few people got tired enough to catch napes as they sat against the walls. Finally, a young boy came down the aisle pushing a cart with buckets on top and underneath on the bottom shelf. The cart was a standard floating workstation, and he stopped at each cell and pushed two narrow buckets through the bars. One held water, and the other held long loaves of bread, each filled with cheese.

Cook went over and looked at the buckets. "There's no cup. I guess we drink from the bucket. Okay, there are four of us, and we each can drink from a different side marked off by the handle. You start." He handed the bucket to Traci, and no one objected.

Setting an example, Traci wiped her mouth and then took a long drink. She handed the bucket to the next man, not paying attention to whoever accepted the handle.

Next, Cook handed her one of the long thin loaves of bread.

"I'm not hungry." Traci started to turn away.

The hand of Cook reached out and stopped her. "No, eat to keep up your strength. We never know when the next food will come. We also don't know when we might get a chance to escape." Now he looked around and spoke to the others. "We must also exercise to keep ourselves in shape. Being locked up will not be good for our morale, so keeping on working to be ready to get away is important."

After Cook's encouraging speech, it was at this time that they could hear the noise of the guards returning. Everyone went to the bars to look down the hall as far as they could in their limited manner.

It was a couple of the hooded men dragging the XO. It looked like he was still alive but badly beaten. They went to the cell where he had been before, and the door opened, and they just pushed him inside. From where Traci's group was, they could no longer see the man, but they heard him hit the floor. With that, the guards were gone.

The questions began to be yelled from the different cells. Finally, over all the chaos, someone hollered for everyone to be quiet.

From the XO's cell, someone was letting the rest know what had happened. "He's alive but has been beaten up badly. Wait a minute."

There was a pause, and all the people in the rest of the cells were very quiet except for some whispering.

"Okay, our guy with some medical training says no broken bones, but some internal damage and maybe some bleeding inside. They must have hammered on him for hours. He is mumbling. Wait."

Again, the tension built as all the crew personnel was all hanging onto the bars at the front of the cells.

"He says they asked about things that didn't make sense, and they were angry when he couldn't help them. Damn, they did a real number on him. We are using our water to clean him up."

Then someone called out with an idea. "Hey, if you run out, get close to our cell and hold out your empty bucket, and we will reach out and pour some of our water into yours."

All along the hall, different people agreed and said they could pass water down between cells to get to the injured man. Working together, all of the crew had some water to drink and more for the injured man. There was a feeling of accomplishment after things had settled down.

There ran through all of their minds to think about what their captors were after and what would happen if the attackers didn't find anything?