Wyatt Earp , Outside the Asteroid Belt, Tyrosint System
“Bad Company, play nice. Find Private Elbinar. The focus of our mission is to find him. We secure the ship and its people as we go,” Edwin ordered.
Rivka moved to the edge of the cargo bay to watch the Bad Company split into four squads of two, three of which headed over the ship to the starboard side. The final squad with the platoon commander flew toward the port airlock.
“Shall we?” Rivka asked.
Red took a short run and threw himself through the opening, activating the jets to accelerate toward the freighter-looking exploration vessel. As the Bad Company’s mechs closed, lasers lashed out from domes surrounding the airlock. The Bad Company blasted outward in a starburst pattern to get away from the fire. Red maintained his direction and raised his railgun. Lindy, by his side, mirrored his aim.
They ensured the firing lane was clear and unleashed on the laser domes. The ship’s weapons tried to return fire, but the railguns on full auto were devastating, blasting and scraping the laser transmitters from the hull.
Bad Company swooped back to align on the port airlock.
On the starboard side of the ship, LRE-17 fired more lasers, but the two squads took a different approach, zigzagging to the ship until they were inside the lasers' field of fire. They used brute force to shatter the transmitters, then clumped across the hull until they reached the airlock. Four at a time piled in, weapons hot, and cycled the system.
On the port side, the squad went in first while the platoon commander remained outside.
“A beautiful view, eh, Magistrate?” Edwin said as they waited for the squad to send stun and smoke grenades through the inner hatch after the airlock equalized with the inside of the ship.
The system’s star was on the far side of Tyrosint Station, the size of a small moon. The asteroid belt reflected the sun from a light dusting of crystal on the rocky surfaces. Behind them was the ringed giant where the Gate had been hidden. Wyatt Earp, Destiny’s Vengeance, Potemkin , and LRE-17 loomed in a starship standoff. The battleship’s gross tonnage exceeded that of the other ships combined. The exploratory vessel had been ill-advised to be belligerent.
Sometimes criminals were smart, and the rest of the time, they were like this crowd, which confirmed Rivka’s suspicions. These weren’t the blood trade masterminds, but somewhere on board that ship was information that might lead her to them.
“Don’t damage any of the computer systems, people. That’s what we need to tear these assholes new assholes.”
“Profound,” Red muttered.
“I’m still tired and hungry. Never go on a culinary vacation to Delegor.”
“First Squad is through. Securing the corridor fore and aft. Light resistance has been neutralized,” the squad leader reported.
“After you.” Edwin gestured toward the Magistrate.
She shook her head. “I’m last. Red, Lindy, Joseph, Chaz, and Dennicron. You’ll all fit with the good lieutenant.”
It was a tight squeeze, but no one complained. Once they were inside, First Squad moved out, heading aft while Second and Third Squads on the starboard side moved forward. Red and Lindy set up a blocking position at the airlock. Chaz and Dennicron joined Joseph as he went toward the interior of the ship down a transverse passageway that barely allowed a single mech through.
Rivka and Groenwyn stepped into the corridor and tried to get their bearings. The ship’s air handling system had already cleared the smoke. Scorch marks on the deck and bulkheads showed where the grenades had discharged.
“Joseph, do you sense anything?” Rivka asked.
He didn’t answer right away. “Chaz? Dennicron?”
Chaz replied. There is a commotion ahead, but Joseph is blocking the way. This corridor is fairly narrow. It might be better to maneuver without the suits.
But if they’re putting up a fight, we’re better off in our armor.
Good thing you brought us along. As soon as we can get to a terminal, Ankh and Erasmus are standing by.
Onward, trusty trainees. Break through that firewall, Rivka encouraged.
“Which way, Magistrate?” Red asked. The platoon commander had gone aft, following his squad.
“Forward? Seems to be the only way left.”
“Left? That takes us back into space,” Red deadpanned. He hatcheted an arm toward the ship’s bow. “And then there’s more down than up. I think we’re on the second of five decks.”
“Let’s clear this one and move down,” Rivka decided.
“HUD shows the Bad Company’s Third Squad has already gone to the top deck,” Red reported. Rivka checked her settings to find she didn’t have the Bad Company selected. She added that, and the HUD populated. The thirteen mechs were moving quickly through the ship. She added heat sources, and that showed bodies in nooks and crannies at various locations.
She watched while maintaining an easy pace behind Red. The warm bodies fell and were wrapped up and passed to the rear, where they were moved to a room behind them. One warrior stayed there to keep them secured beyond the zip ties binding their hands and feet. Eight of the twenty-four crew had already been put out of commission.
Once inside the ship, the sensors worked. Rivka conducted a quick scan to find warm horizontal bodies. “Lieutenant,” she started, “are you seeing the people on gurneys two levels beneath us? There are eight of them. That makes thirty-two total onboard.”
“We were expecting one,” Edwin replied. “This comes as a surprise, but good catch. Second Squad, abandon the first deck and head down to the fourth deck. Secure the personnel on gurneys ASAP.”
“Joseph?” Rivka asked, calling her team to a halt. “We’re heading down to see what that looks like before the crime scene can be too damaged.”
After a moment, Rivka dialed up the Bad Company. “Make sure you record the video feeds from the first warriors to see the space. Give me the best view for court records.”
Groenwyn jumped into the conversation. “We’ve learned how best to unhook them from the system, so if you find they are being drained, leave them to us so we don’t accidentally kill any of them.”
They had to assume there were more enhanced being drained than just Private Elbinar.
Rivka found that disconcerting.
“Joseph? Where the hell are you? Chaz, Dennicron?”
“We are in a small space with the core computing assets. You want us here. Joseph has moved on.”
“Bad Company, please keep your eyes out for Joseph. His suit has been static for two minutes. I fear he’s parked it and gotten out.”
“Roger,” Edwin replied.
“Can’t we track him?” Rivka asked her team.
“No. These suits don’t have Etheric tracking in them. We have it on Wyatt Earp , except that the dampening field is still in effect and they can’t see through the hull,” Dennicron replied. “We’re working on bringing the field down, but this system is stalwart, an SI-produced system but heavily modified. We don’t sense an SI on board, which means there won’t be active interference, and you know what they say about static defenses.”
“A monument to man’s stupidity,” Rivka replied.
“Exactly that. We’ll report when we’ve made progress. We expect we’ll be able to download the core in short order.”
Before Dennicron could sign off, Rivka added guidance. “Look for buyers. Look for logistics to get the blood to buyers. Look for someone in charge. That’s who I want to talk to.”
“Orders, Magistrate? Do we look for Joseph, help secure the crew, or go after the victims?”
Rivka groaned. “We better get below. Groenwyn says we know how to recover the victims. Let’s do that. The crew isn’t going anywhere.”
“But if Joseph gets to them first?” Red wondered.
“I have his promise. It’ll be okay. There should be a freight lift.”
“Aft,” Red said, highlighting the point on the HUDs.
They turned around and Rivka led the way until Red managed to get past her, giving her a hard look through the mirrored screen of his face shield, one that she didn’t have to see to know.
Red moved quickly, using the suit’s systems to look for threats versus checking each space as they passed, even though First Squad had already been through there. He was focused on getting to the freight elevator, a place the warriors in front of them were beyond.
With a delicate touch, he summoned the elevator and waited.
When it arrived, Red put Rivka and Groenwyn in the back so he and Lindy could be the first ones into the uncleared area two decks below.
“Lindy goes left. I’ll go right. It’s only forty meters down the corridor. Third Squad will approach from the starboard side. I have positive contact with the Bad Company, and we are on their displays,” Red confirmed.
He took a more cautious approach, moving toward the bay ahead, stopping at each doorway to check even though his systems showed the spaces beyond were clear. Red trusted his eyes and his feelings.
Rivka waited impatiently, but Red wouldn’t be rushed. “What’s the holdup, big guy?”
“I have a bad feeling about this.” He continued his methodical movement forward.
“People are getting vampired right up there. Of course it’s giving you the willies. Those people are counting on us.” Rivka stepped closer to Red. He opened a door and was inundated by slug fire from within. Rivka stumbled back into Groenwyn. Lindy closed the distance while watching their rear.
Red bellowed at the enemy while rotating his railgun forward and firing into the space.
Rivka winced at the blasts. Her suit attenuated the sound to keep it from damaging her ears, but that was not what worried her. She didn’t want the railgun to puncture the hull on the far side of the ship. Red ducked through the doorway and stepped inside. He fired once more.
“Security bots,” he reported. “But anti-personnel. The operators of this ship didn’t plan on a mech assault.”
“It also begs the question of why would a research vessel have security bots down here and not where they would be able to leave the ship.” Rivka peeked through the doorway.
“Storage?” Groenwyn asked.
“Then they wouldn’t have been active, but they could have activated them once they realized we were coming,” Red answered. “This was set up as an ambush. Attack into the middle of a group coming down the corridor.”
Weapons fire came from the far corridor.
Rivka checked her HUD and leaned away from the sounds, even though intellectually she knew the warriors only carried non-lethal weapons. “Another ambush?” she murmured.
Red quickly continued down the corridor since there were no more doors except the one to the bay where the horizontal bodies were located. But only six now. Two were up and moving around.
“Stay frosty; we got two walkers. Maybe this is sleeping quarters or a holding cell of some sort,” Red suggested. He looked back at the team before doing a three, two, one countdown with the fingers of his mech suit. On one, he opened the door and went through, stopping one step inside the door and sweeping quickly from left to right to make sure his video recorded all the details.
He activated his external speaker and turned up the volume. “Stop what you’re doing and get on your face.”
Rivka tried to see past him but only caught glimpses of bodies on medical beds, one arm with an IV of clear liquid and the other arm feeding blood into a tube. Electrodes trailed from the individuals to equipment by their heads.
Red stormed into the room. He swung his metal arm in an uppercut that sent a white-robed individual to the far side of the bay to hit the wall and slide down it to crumple on the floor. “I said, stop,” he growled.
He moved to the side, seized a second individual, and lifted her into the air. She struggled futilely against the grip. Rivka walked into the bay.
Six bodies were hooked up. She moved as best she could around the outside since the medical equipment took up a great deal of space and the mechs were bulky. Rivka finally gave up, parked her suit, and climbed out the back. Groenwyn followed her lead.