Gunship (33 page)

Tiny decided to set aside the mystery to help with the rescue plans. She couldn’t do anything else on Zain’s project without more data. But she could help to plan the raid on the space station, and it was probably in her best interest to do so, since she would likely be involved in pulling it off. She joined the Captain and Chang at the planning table on the bridge as they reviewed the sector of space around Crazy Ray’s station and the station blueprints.

“The heavy guns are going to give us the biggest problems if we have to go in. I’m not sure how we can get by those.” Chang looked at the holo-displayed blueprints and highlighted the main guns. “Might be able to use that EMP with some modifications to take them out, but we’d have to modify our shields…” Chang jotted a couple of notes in a journal he had on the table.

“If we can just intercept them before they break through the asteroid field…” Reilly spun the 3D rendering of the station and turned it into an overview of the area around the station.

Chang highlighted several spots on the stellar map and zoomed them. “These are the most likely transit points for the Tethers to move through to get to the station. If we keep track of these areas, we might be able to grab them as they get ready to enter the asteroid field.”

“We could also place engine locks at each location. There is enough debris to cover their presence.” Tiny pointed to the locations Chang had highlighted and added one more of her own. “I noticed you had some in the hold when we were loading the ship,” she added in answer to their questioning looks.

Reilly nodded thoughtfully. “And if we have to go into the station, what would you recommend then?”

“If we’re going in blasting, then I’d use the HE drift mines you have—launch them first and take out the guns, then blast your way in here.” Tiny clicked on the holoscreen and enlarged one of the main bays. “This bay is furthest from the main security hub but also has access to all the main decks and emergency access to the detention wing. If we go in here, we can avoid most of the security and be on the way out by the time they send response teams our way. Noisy, but it could work.”

Reilly found it interesting that Tiny already knew so much about the weaponry they had on board the ship. She wondered if the Gaiden had discovered their backup plan to deal with her as well, but Tiny gave no sign that she had. The device Chang had brought on board was unique enough that if she had found it there would be no question about what it was for. She would know it was meant to be used against her.

Reilly zoomed in on the blueprints for the bay and the access points for the detainment wing. “We will still have the detainers to deal with, plus any security personnel on the wing. And Duv will have to deal with potential borders while we’re getting Ty. Not to mention Enforcers. We’ll be lucky if we can fly away from this one,” Reilly ended grimly.

“What about the alien technology we picked up on Vervian? We have two of those cloaking devices that might come in handy to sneak aboard,” Chang suggested.

“Gunny, we haven’t even had a chance to test any of those items out yet. I’m not willing to risk it. Let’s roll with what we know. We’ll have to do this one old-school, regular weapons and blast our way out as needed.” Reilly sighed. She was certain that this would be a mission that would require them to blast their way out, especially if Crazy Ray was involved.

“There are other, less noisy options to consider.” Tiny zoomed the station out again and tapped on an emergency hatch towards the top of the station. “We don’t necessarily have to go in blasting. We could go in as invited guests”—Tiny smiled as Chang eyed her curiously—“and then leave by a back door.”

“You’ve got a plan. Well, let’s hear it, then.” Reilly folded her arms and waited.

“Marek and I go in as Tethers…and you get to be our captive.”

Reilly raised an eyebrow and looked at Chang, who was nodding thoughtfully.

“I’m not so sure I like your plan so far, since I get to play the bait,” Reilly growled. “But Gunny seems intrigued, so out with it. This had better not work out like the last mission I got to be bait for!”

Chang smiled innocently. “It all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“You blew up half a moon. I remember crawling through a series of drainage pipes trying to follow a handwritten map that lacked any type of directionality as far as which way was up while avoiding swords, microbots, and lasers. I had to detonate a grenade to keep the pursuit back and got blasted out a side shaft that opened over a very deep crevasse.”

“See? Important lesson you learned that day! If you get up one more time than you fall down, you will make it through! Besides—I was tracking you anyway, so Duv was waiting to pick you up.”

Reilly snorted. “Duv was thirty minutes out. I got to hang by my fingertips with three broken ribs watching the opening above me for any movement in case I had to fight someone off. Not to mention that there was a hell of a crosswind blowing through there that day!”

“Distance tests a horse’s strength, while time reveals one’s true character.” Chang put one finger over his lips to silence any further disputing and gestured towards Tiny again. Reilly rolled her eyes, then leaned forward to hear the rest of the plan. They already knew she’d do whatever was necessary to break Ty out of Crazy Ray’s. And who better to help them plan a covert rescue than a Gaiden?

—————

Duv was at the helm when the Dwyer solar system came into view. The solar system was ugly, malformed. It consisted of only five planets and no gas giants to draw off the more-than-occasional hails of meteors. He already had gone evasive a few times to avoid the errant space rocks as they went inbound on their paths of destruction. No one was sure why this solar system was different, if perhaps war or an alien race had worked to destroy some of the planets. Maybe it was just a freak of nature, one of the galactic babies that had gotten thrown out with the bath water. Whether by nature or design, the planets were brown and scarred as a result, their surfaces uninhabitable due to the constant pounding. There would be no colony here.

“Lousy Christmas gift, this place.” Duv sipped his coffee and headed for the fourth planet in the chain. “Seems like someplace Zain would pick out.” He grinned at his own joke.

Back in the day, people had bought stars and moon or planet acreage as gifts for friends and loved ones. The certificates provided coordinates and allowed the proud new owners to name their stars. Advertisements touted them as unique, educational, romantic, one-of-a-kind type gifts and they soon became all the rage. Some people collected entire constellations or huge tracks of lunar land as a hobby, putting telescopic images of their holdings on the span as part of astronomy club collections. That was before space exploration and colonization began to take off. Suddenly, naming a star or buying land on a moon you could only see through a telescope turned into a legal battle. People came forward with certificates, claiming rights to entire solar systems and moons. Even more ironically, the legal system at the time had only antiquated laws relating to the ability to hold land on Earth’s moon left over from the days of early space exploration. Interstellar law didn’t even exist yet. Since there was no precedence, the legal system was forced to go by the rules on the books governing private property. Apparently, Dwyer had been bought by a family as a gift for their children one holiday and had been passed down over time. No one from the family had ever shown up to make a formal claim, however. Just then, several red puffs erupted on the nearest planet, the end destination of the meteors that they had avoided. Duv watched with interest as the clouds lingered, forming intricate patterns in the thin atmosphere as they passed.

Reilly continued to watch the display of their destination. As they approached, Tiny pushed a focus screen to the front that zoomed in on a weak, partial signal they were getting from the planet. Reilly slid it onto her screen and zoomed it in several more times. In the center of several large impact craters was the emanation point. In fact, if Zain hadn’t emphasized that they up their receiver gain, they would’ve cruised right past the planet and been none the wiser.

“Very smart, Commander. Very smart indeed! Duv?” Reilly slid the enlarged image across to his display.

“I see it, Captain. Heading for it now.” Duv banked to the right towards the signal blip.

As they entered the atmosphere and headed for the craters, Tiny broadcasted out the code Zain had passed to them. There was no response as Dark Angel 97 continued to head for the surface. Soon the crew could make out the pockmarked surface below as giant craters peered up at them like a multitude of eyes.

“Are we sure this is it?” Duv looked doubtful as they began to drop altitude faster, the steep sides of the craters and the ground rising to meet their descent.

At that moment, there was a rumble below them. A cluster of rock outcroppings split apart to reveal a darkened portal. Duv looked to Reilly, who waved him forward. He dropped the ship down and entered the gaping hole. It was pitch black, but the holo-display showed the three-dimensional outline of a long tunnel. Duv pushed the bird forward, following the display. They continued flying, dark rock passing by to either side as the tunnel began a gradual swing to the left. Without warning, the holo-display indicated a set of stealth portal doors blocking their path. Collision alarms sounded. Duv madly tried to reverse the gunship by rotating the thrusters, but they were already too close. The doors showed no sign of opening.

“We’re going to hit!” Duv grimly slaved the rail guns in synch with the Bofors turrets in a last-ditch effort to attempt to blast through the doors.

The Dark Angel flew forward as the guns charged, glowing brightly in the darkness. Duv had placed his fingers on the trigger, preparing to fire, when he was blinded by a bright blue light. The entire bridge lit up, and they all blinked as the gunship slowed, then stopped without crashing. They were through.

“Well, if that don’t beat all…” Duv gazed around in wonder.

They had entered an enormous underground spaceport. Everything was illuminated in a cold white-blue light as they looked around. Even Reilly was shocked by the size and sophistication of the base. Small tender vessels flitted here and there like gnats, while military transports and an entire wing of gunships sat in dock or in various stages of arrival or departure. A thick, white, metallic column covered in blinking green lights formed the center of the hub, with metallic spokes radiating outward high above them to support the rocky ceiling and the various metalworks and docking bays associated with an active military space facility. People, dwarfed by the surrounding infrastructure, could be seen as tiny shadows moving past large sections of metallic glass as they went about their duties.

“Looks like Zain wasn’t joking about the war effort against Welch,” Reilly noted with a somber look. “There are enough ships here to take on a serious invasion. How would Welch come by a similar force unless he was recruiting aliens? Or some other force we don’t know about?” Her eyes rounded the bridge and settled briefly on Tiny, who was steadfastly manipulating the switches and dials in preparation for landing. No one answered. They were still too busy taking it all in.

“X-ray Delta Niner Seven Foxtrot Whiskey One, this is docking control. We have you on approach to docking bay four. Please proceed via route one-one-niner-four. How copy? Over.” The comms link crackled to life as the crew continued to stare in amazement.

Reilly grabbed the mic as Chang, Marek, and Skeeter crowded through the hatch to take a look at what was going on.

“This is Captain Campbell. We have good copy, docking control. Proceeding to docking bay four on one-one-niner-four.” Reilly glanced at Duv, who held up five fingers. “Estimated arrival in five minutes, over.”

“Roger that, Dark Angel Niner-Seven. We have you proceeding to bay four with expected arrival in five minutes. Welcome to Raptor Base, Captain Campbell, over,” docking control finished, handing the gunship off to two tenders who would guide them into their berth.

Duv flipped a few more switches and then locked down the yoke as the tenders took over. The crew continued to gaze around at the station in wonder. Only Tiny and Seth seemed to be preoccupied with something other than the scenery, although none of the others noticed, overwhelmed as they were by their new surroundings.

Seth glanced at Tiny. She didn’t seem surprised at all. In fact, if anything, this was the first time he had seen the woman relax her guard since he had met her. It dawned on him then that this place they called Raptor Base had been something else before Commander Zain had taken it over. It had been Tiny’s home. It had been a Gaiden stronghold. He was sure of it. And he was also sure that he had been brought here not by coincidence but with a purpose. As the ship slowed and docked, Seth finally realized that he was about to get the answers he had been looking for. He just wondered if they would be ones he wanted to hear.

—————

Crazy Ray was tiring quickly of his unwanted guest. Welch was proving more problematic than he had originally expected. The man and his entourage should have been gone by now. But despite Crazy Ray’s best efforts, Welch remained, waiting patiently for the capture of Campbell and Ty and the return of his stupid ledgers. That patience was beginning to get a bit tattered, though. Crazy Ray ensured that he filled every waking moment with as many problems as he could conjure for Welch, slowly killing off his crew and sabotaging equipment whenever the chance arose.

The campaign had begun when Crazy Ray had finally managed to deactivate the two Enforcers Welch had taken control of and ejected them both into space. This had annoyed Welch so much that Crazy Ray had immediately begun to search for additional ways to entertain himself at Welch’s expense. He instructed his staff to kill and do it in such a way that they could not directly be blamed. He also began providing incentives for creativity and any deaths caught on film. A creative death on film that he could enjoy after his evening meal received the highest level of incentives for those responsible. He kept a list of Welch’s personnel on hand and checked it daily. The number they had killed so far had reached thirty. Crazy Ray’s staff was more than happy to assist, especially since it meant that they were no longer the focus of their boss’s murderous games. At least while Welch and his people were around.