Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
PREVIOUSLY: The pirates have blown up a main power hub on the space station creating widespread chaos, and causing commander Dillian to cut the WHISPER demonstration short...
Amidst yelling and pandemonium the pirates make their way through the civilian side of the Galactic Marine space station. The dim red emergency lights help to hide them from the armed marines running around. This end of the station is identical in the floor plan to the Marine side where Val served his time.
He leads them confidently through the corridors. A troop of armed guards rush by, they escort a team of technicians to the broken power generator. The pirates plaster themselves behind a corner. After the marines pass Val turns to the others, "C'mon, if Red Klaw is going to leave the station, he won’t waste any time. The docking bay is this way."
In a few quick turns they find themselves in front of a set of large doors. Val pushes a panel and the doors slide open. Inside a deck jockey looks up from his terminal. Rue steps boldly into the dimly lit docking bay, Garr and Val are close behind him.
The deck hand scrambles to his feet, "Who the hell--?" Before he can finish, Fay and May slither silently over to him; a quick jab at the back of his neck and he drops to the floor with a heavy thud.
Val gapes openly at the crumpled body on the deck, "Is he... dead?"
"Not yet." Fay murmurs, closer to Val than he had expects. He swallows hard and walks over to where the deck hand was sitting.
Behind them the doors slide shut. The docking bay seems to be a giant semi-circle, curving away into the darkness. Huge pieces of construction equipment are barely visible in the red glow. Against the back walls are stacks of raw materials. Rue and Garr spread out to explore the darkness.
Next to the body of the deck hand is a control panel, Val steps delicately over the unconscious body. He pokes at a few keys on the key pad, "Yep, this is the docking bay, these are the access tube controls...but there's no ship. What's he guarding?" He glances at the deck hand.
The others wander back toward Val. Suddenly the lights flash back on, everybody looks around blinking wildly trying to adjust to the brightness. The docking bay is much larger than it looked in the dark. Now they can see that it's more than a docking bay, it's a shipyard.
"Whoa," Val looks around. He had no idea this was here.
"So Red Klaw's ship is not here?" Rue asks impatiently.
Before Val can answer, the com chirps loudly from the panel next to Val. Val throws a questioning glace at Rue. The com chirps again. Rue shrugs, "We're here, let's see who it is." He grins at Val's discomfort.
Val grimaces, he'd rather keep a lower profile, but... He pushes the com button and waits. "Smittstein?! What the hell? Where were you?" It's WHISPER'S pilot, Mireck.
"Ahh, had to hit the head." Val responds in a gruff voice. Garr snickers at him quietly. Val glares.
"You okay? You sound like shit." The voice on the other end responds. Val looks horrified. He searches his mind for an appropriate response. Thankfully, Mireck doesn't wait for an answer, "We're coming back early, so be ready." With that the line goes dead.
Val looks at the others, now what? Rue looks thoughtful, "Any ideas who that was?" He asks Val.
"Must be who ever docks their ship here." Val shrugs.
"Can you operate that?" Rue asks, nodding at the control panel.
"Sure, it's just an access tube."
Rue looks at the others, "Well, Red Klaw's not here, and there's no other ships around, wanna' see who's coming through the barn doors?"
Garr shrugs, he can’t seem to come up with a better suggestion.
"We will follow your lead." May says in her silky voice.
Rue looks at Val for his thoughts on their situation. Val has no desire to stop moving at the moment, but he's clearly out voted, so he gives in reluctantly. "Okay, but remember, you swore to me we would get out of here without going to jail!"
"Don't worry, we'll die before they put us in shackles again!" Fay says fiercely.
Val shudders at that thought. "Can’t say I’m very fond of that scenario either." He mumbles as he turns to the control panel.
Garr moves in and grabs the deck hand's body by the ankles. He drags the poor guy and dumps him out of sight behind some machinery. Meanwhile Rue scopes out the area for good hiding places.
In the station's command center, technicians buzz around furiously rebooting the system now that the power is back. The first officer stands in the middle of the room nervously gnawing at his nails, completely in the way. He watches the security monitors come back online one by one.
As the monitor displaying the shipyard docking bay flickers to life, the first officer shrieks! On the screen he sees the pirates settle into ambush positions. The first officer stabs several times at the com device on his belt before he can finally key it on and bring it up to his mouth.
"Get every available armed man to the WHISPER bay! Every man! Now!" He screams frantically at anyone listening.
On WHISPER, Mireck eases the big ship gently into the docking bay. Dillian leads the Generals, their entourage, and Laurine across the cargo bay to the massive doors in the floor. He looks anxiously back at the Generals, they are in the middle of a lively discussion about mass producing the WHISPER proto type.
Clearly Dillian has not informed them of the chaos on the station. He hopes to get them back to their ship and off the station before they ever hear about the intruders or the escaped prisoners. The access tube clangs under their feet, then there is an audible whoosh of air as the seal is formed. The cargo bay doors open slowly.
In the docking bay Rue and the gang are well hidden among the machinery and raw material. They have chosen a spot with a perfect vantage point on the access tube exit.
Dillian is the first off the ship, he looks around curiously, but ignores the fact that there is no one there to meet them. "Gentlemen if you'll just step this way we'll get you back to your ships..."
"Not just yet, we have several questions still." Goddard snaps at him.
Laurine, glares at Dillian, "Of course General, which is why I have dessert planned in the observatory."
Rue's eyes narrow coldly when he sees her. He recognizes Laurine as one of Red Klaw's people, as does Garr. "Perhaps she knows where her boss is...” Rue whispers.
"Let's ask." Garr pulls his metal cane off his back. As he pulls on the top pommel, it extends into a long staff with a sharp blade on the end. The General's crew never hear it snap into place.
Garr and Rue slip out of their hiding spot, Val catches a small shimmer off one of the girls as they move into the light. Rue turns around and hisses at Val, "Make sure those doors stay closed!" He nods toward the doors back into the station.
As Val watches the others go he wonders exactly how he’s going to accomplish that...