DusktoDust_Final3 (16 page)

Letsego didn
’
t show any unease.
“
No, sir. I
’
m from Astro Company. But I would like to request a transfer.
”

“
And why would I want a trooper with no military courtesy in my company?
”

“
Because I
’
m the best, sir,
”
he said with brimming confidence.
“
And I belong in the best company in the battalion.
”

Castle wasn
’
t amused.
“
The best,
”
he snickered.
“
You look a little seasoned to be a specialist. I
’
m guessing you
’
re a grade A screw up.
”

“
No, sir. I served in the South African Army before I joined with Windcorp.
”

“
If you were any good in the army, we would have made you more than a specialist.
”

Letsego allowed just a little amount of false discomfort show now.
“
I was kicked out, sir.
”

“
Oh yeah, for what?
”

“
Alleged theft, but I didn
’
t do it.
”
Castle looked like he was getting fed up with this sob story. It was time for Letsego to go in for the kill.
“
I was set up, sir. My mate stabbed me in the back. Loyalty is hard to come by these days.
”

That statement rang true with Lieutenant Castle. The man
’
s demeanor changed. Before he had seemed skeptical, but now Letsego thought he could see a hint of sympathy in the man
’
s face. The Lieutenant looked him over for a few seconds, sizing him up.

“
Alright specialist, I
’
ll bite. Let
’
s see how good you really are.
”
He turned back to his computer.
“
Johnson, you said?
”

“
Yes, sir. Jared R.
”

Castle began looking up his personnel file, or at least Specialist Johnson
’
s personnel file. And from the medals Letsego had found in Johnson
’
s locker he had a good idea of what the file would say. There had been a handful of personal medals along with the top marksmanship badges. Castle would like what he saw. Letsego just hoped that the Windcorp personnel files didn
’
t include a picture. He continued to stand at attention as Castle scrutinized Johnson
’
s file.

“
You graduated the academy last year?
”

Letsego hoped this wasn
’
t a trick.
“
Yes, sir. Came here straight out of school.
”
It was a safe guess.

Castle nodded.
“
Alright, Johnson. Stand at ease. You may be the kind of trooper I look for in Constellation. But I
’
m not in the habit of just stealing people from other companies.
”

“
I understand, sir.
”

Lieutenant Castle sat in thought for a second.
“
I
’
ll tell you what I
’
m going to do. I
’
ve got a mission going in the morning. I
’
ll talk to your CO and get you on it. Think of it like an audition.
”

Letsego
’
s cunning had worked better than expected. He hadn
’
t even had to ask for the special posting.
“
Thank you, sir. You won
’
t regret it.
”

Castle grunted.
“
We
’
ll see.
”
He stood up.
“
First Sergeant!
”

A few seconds later the company first sergeant stepped into the office.
“
What
’
s up, boss?
”

“
Put Johnson on the roster for tomorrow.
”
He scribbled down a note and handed it over.
“
Get with Astro. Tell them the specialist is ours for the week.
”

The first sergeant took the paper.
“
Sir, this is a little last minute. Are you sure this is a good idea.
”

“
No one ever got anywhere by not taking risks. I want him on the team.
”
The first sergeant looked skeptical but nodded.

“
Roger that, sir.
”
He turned to Letsego.
“
Alright, specialist. Let
’
s go. I
’
ll spin you up on what
’
s going on.
”

Letsego looked to the Lieutenant, who waved him to go.
“
He
’
ll give you everything you need.
”

“
Looking forward to it, sir.
”
He gave the man another salute and then turned and followed the first sergeant out.
I
’
m in
.

Science fiction stories of the past always portrayed starships to be elegant, streamlined machines. Movie renditions of them were always bright and shiney with sweeping wings and spectacular viewports. The ship that stood in front of David was none of these things.

It was early morning. He and Alana had caught a few hours of sleep in a borrowed barracks room and then gotten up and found Mr. Black. The man had taken them even deeper into the mountain. The cavern they now stood in was clearly a hangar. It had lifts and loading claws everywhere. The scaffolding and catwalks around the larger cavern were busy with miners and flight hands who were preparing for the ship’s departure.

The single ship that inhabited the hangar was a different story. It lacked any sign of life. From the look of the ship David would be surprised if her engines even started, not to say anything about lifted her off the ground.

The ship was definitely a Canaveral class Saab Corsair, but she looked like hell. The original teardrop shape of the maroon hull had been distorted by large, gray, boxy augmentations, likely the converted cargo sections. There were also weapons pods bolted onto multiple places along the hull. The ship was a true amalgamation, in the most unappealing sense.

“
This is what I
’
m flying?
”
David finally said in disbelief.

“
Mr. Carpenter, I assure you, she will surprise you,
”
Mr. Black said.

David snickered.
She
’ll surprise me if we make it out of atmo
. With the ship
’
s ungainly figure, he estimated that she would handle just about as daintily as a motorcycle underwater.

“
What
’
s her name?
”
Alana asked from beside him.

“
Catalyst
,
”
Mr. Black responded.
“
Mr. Windham named her. For what I don
’
t know, but I will say the name strangely fits, don
’
t you think?
”
David did not think so. He thought that there was no catalyst big enough in the galaxy to get this hunk of junk in the air.

Mr. Black began walking towards the ship.
“
Come, I will show you to the cockpit.
”

With reservation, the two smugglers followed. He led them under the belly of
Catalyst
and up the large gangplank. Suddenly, they were in a different world.

If the exterior of
Catalyst
had the look of an old beat up ore hauler, the interior had the look of one of the finest of star cruisers. David couldn
’
t believe he was in the same ship. The corridor he now stood in was covered with polished steel and illuminated by soft halogen bulbs. The readouts on the bulk heads appeared to be state of the art holographic displays. He now understood what Mr. Windham had meant by
“
heavily modified
”
. None of this was stock on a Corsair.

“
Holy shit.
”
Alana took the words right out of his mouth.

“
I said you would be surprised,
”
Mr. Black commented, clearly pleased with himself.
“
Now, if you will follow me.
”

He took them forward, toward the tip of the teardrop.
“
As you know,
Catalyst
is a converted Saab Corsair personnel transport. She now has berthing for twenty and can carry thirty thousand cubic meters of cargo
…”
Mr. Black went into another diatribe, spouting countless facts and statistics about the ship. But unlike the story he had spun after they had gotten off the train, David was hanging on the man
’
s every word.

“…
with a bow to stern length of two hundred and seven meters and beam of one hundred and thirty, the ship falls in the Canaveral class. Her control interface and navigation computer are all state of the art, boasting nearly five terahertz of processing power in the core
…”
David was becoming as giddy as a school boy. He had flown many ships in his short time as a pilot, but if Mr. Black was telling the truth, all paled in comparison to
Catalyst
. Even his own
Katana
was inferior.

“
Ah, here we are.
”
They had reached the cockpit. Mr. Black motioned them in.
“
Please make yourselves at home. This is your ship for the next week, Mr. Carpenter. Please do take good care of her.
”
He turned to head back down the corridor.
“
I will return. Please begin the pre-flight. Remember, we are departing promptly at seven o
’
clock. If you need anything while I
’
m gone the flight hands know how to reach me.
”
And with that the overly polite man was gone once again.

David and Alana turned to their work. With Mr. Black gone the two smugglers could truly take in the beauty of the gift they had been given.

“
D,
”
Alana said as she slid into the copilot
’
s seat.
“
I feel like I
’
m in heaven.
”
She began checking various readouts on her console.

David
’
s eyes were still wide with amazement.
“
Yeah, it
’
s good to know that Windcorp is using their blood money wisely.
”
Instead of taking his place in the pilot
’
s chair, he made his way to the navigation console.
“
Damn!
”
he cursed after a brief search through the computer.

“
What?
”

“
The nav computer has a destination in it but it
’
s locked. I can
’
t see it. We still have no idea where in the hell we are going.
”

“
They
’
ll have to tell us sometime.
”

“
Yeah.
”
Once again an uneasy feeling crept into David
’
s stomach.
“
Probably after we
’
ve made it past UNEC
’
s pickets and they have no more use for us.
”
Now he was being the pessimistic one.

Alana didn
’
t say anything. She apparently had come to terms with their uncertain fate. She got up out of her seat and moved to the weapons station.
“
Windham wasn
’
t kidding. This hulk is fitted to take on a small armada.
”
She read through the list of armaments.

“
Alana, taking on the PKs is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to do. Is there anything on this boat we can use?
”

“
D, what you plan on happening and what actually happens isn
’
t necessarily the same thing.
”
David ignored the jab.
“
Alright, here we go. Wow, we
’
ve got a grade three static jammer. We should be able to blind anyone who tries to track us.
”

“
Now that should come in handy.
”
He checked his watch. It was zero five. They had two hours until liftoff.
“
Alright, we need to start preflight.
”
He stood up from his seat.
“
Start the list and I
’
ll be back in fifteen minutes.
”

“
Where are you going?
”

“
There
’
s one more thing I need to check out before everyone else gets here.
”

He headed aft. The ship was large but well marked. Using the computer consoles built into the corridor intersections he was able to find what he was looking for.

It was what he had always wanted; a ship with all of the latest technology. Half of the equipment that was in the cockpit he had not even heard of, let alone seen in real life. It was a pilot
’
s wet dream to fly something like
Catalyst
. Yet this opportunity was not sitting well with David. Windcorp had sunk billions of notes into this ship, and he doubted they had done so just to give their pilot for hire a one of a kind experience. Whatever David was hauling was of immense value to the multinational corporation.

On the ship map the section was simply marked
“
CARGO
”
. When David reached the location he was disappointed but not surprised. The entrance to the cargo hold was a large steel door. A label with stenciled letters on it reading
“
SEALED
”
was plastered across it.

David didn
’
t know why he had expected anything different. Windham had told him whatever he was carrying on
Catalyst
was not to be touched. But he had wanted to verify that with his own eyes.

He inspected the door
’
s access pad. With his index figure he tapped it and the hologram flashed red. It wasn
’
t locked by an access code. It was biometric, probably programmed for Mr. Black’s, or even Windham
’
s retina. There was approximately a one in one million chance that David could hack through the system within the next hour. And even if he did he would probably trigger an alarm.

So much for that
, he thought. For now the cargo was going to remain a mystery.

An hour later, David was outside in the hangar checking
Catalyst
’
s
hull. As he got a closer look at it, he realized that the ship
’
s exterior had been made to look worse than it actually was. Underneath the haphazardly applied paint lay solid, polished steel. The lack of thermal scarring told him that the ship was not that old. She had only seen a few passages through the atmosphere. As for the cargo modules and weapons pods, they had been professionally installed. David had faith that the ship would make it to wherever her destination was. He walked along the underbelly on
Catalyst
, running his hand against her frame. Her features may have been disguised, but he could tell she was solid. So far he had found no cracks or fissures. Her engines checked out well. Alana had spooled them up earlier.

He reached the end of ship, underneath the engine pods. Everything was as it should be. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a ship
’
s communicator.

“
We
’
re all good out here,
”
he said into the microphone.
“
How
’
s everything on your end.
”

Alana
’
s voice echoed through the speaker.
“
All the computer systems are done powering up. I
’
ve been running some tests and they are barely challenging the core
’
s processor. I
’
m ready to go live when you are.
”

“
Stand by.
”
David moved from behind the ship’s engines. All the other flight hands were clear.
“
Alright, hit it.
”

He watched the three engines come to life with the red glow burning Klyston. Catalyst was now ready for takeoff. All she needed were passengers.
“
We
’
re good,
”
he said into the microphone.
“
I
’
m heading back up.
”

He made his way back to the gangplank. He reached it at the same time as another group of passengers.

“
Take that ruck to my cabin. Be careful with it.
”
It was Castle. He was directing traffic as his men loaded gear onto the ship.

“
Good morning, Corporal Castle.
”
David couldn
’
t resist the insult.
“
Did your men find their bunks?
”

Castle scowled.
“
They did,
Staff Sergeant
. They
’
ll be out of your way shortly.
”

David knew that the smart thing to do was to leave the situation. Castle and he were like oil and water. But he was not going to be pushed around by this selfrighteous man. Like Mr. Black had said,
Catalyst
was now his ship, at least for the immediate future.

“
It
’
s not staff sergeant anymore. You can call me captain.
”

That did not sit well with Castle.
“
Get out of my face, Carp.
”

David smiled.
“
Do you have a problem with me, Castle?
”

That set him off.
“
Hell yes, I have a problem with you! I don
’
t trust you as far as I could throw you!
”

“
The feeling
’
s mutual. But at least you don
’
t have to worry about someone torturing you and prying your eyeballs from your skull.
”
Two troopers who were carrying crates past the arguing men stopped, surprised by what David had just said.
“
Oh, you haven
’
t told them?
”
David could see Castle
’
s temper was boiling over.
“
You haven
’
t told them about your glory days in the Corps when you got your jollies off mutilating civilians?
”

Castle cracked. Before David could react, the lieutenant threw a right hook catching David across the jaw. Castle started to advance to deliver another punch but the troopers grabbed him, holding their commander back.