Plan B
On board the Littorio, in Alliance airspace
As soon as Reyne saw the letter "B" flash across his wrist comm, his stomach dropped. He'd hoped they could've done it quietly, but the odds had been heavily stacked against them for a retrieval that didn't include a body count.
"It looks like I have a call I need to take, so if you'll excuse me, I'd better be going," Reyne said to the two techs he'd been keeping busy and away from the Henry Fitzroy.
He took off before they could respond, and walked as briskly as he could toward the docking bay. As he walked, he notified the specters to make way toward the colonization fleet. Plan B meant all bets were off. If they needed a space battle to get off this warship, they'd get one.
He met Miko and Roq on the way, and they joined him, rifles ready. At the far end of the hallway, on the other side of the bay, he saw Domino, Sadie, and Tracks, also carrying rifles. Reyne unholstered his handgun. Unlike the rest of the techs and the rescue team, a stationmaster had no problem carrying a gun wherever he damn well chose.
He glanced at his wrist comm regularly to make sure the dots for Sixx, Boden, Hari, and now Critch were making progress toward the docking bay.
Reyne's team closed in on the elevator that held their friends. On arrival, at least one full squad of droms was shooting at them from a position around a corner. Unable to see the droms, Reyne backed up to the touchpad, trying to make himself as small as possible. "Hold this position," he yelled at his team.
The team spread out against the wall, a couple of the team members going down on a knee.
"We're sitting ducks out here," Domino yelled as she fired back.
"They're almost to us," Reyne yelled back.
Fortunately, the droms around the corner were firing blind and their shots sprayed down the hallway, landing far down from the team's position.
Reyne glanced at his wrist comm to see what was taking the other team so long. The elevator had stopped a floor below them. His jaw clenched. "Nothing's ever easy around here," he muttered. Then he spoke up. "Looks like we have to go bring our friends back."
He looked across the hallway to the nearest stairwell. He tapped Domino's shoulder and nodded to her two crew members. "You three with me. Miko, Roq, keep this stairwell open for us."
Reyne took a breath, covered his head, then leapt across the hallway and slammed into the far wall. He pressed the button to open the door and jumped to the side. When no gunfire came out, he entered the stairwell. Unlike the elevator, and due to the fire code, doors to the stairwells didn't have locks. That fact was both a help and a hindrance.
Domino, Sadie, and Tracks followed him into the stairwell. Domino raised her rifle to scan the stairs above them while Sadie leaned over the railing and scanned below. Reyne led the way down the winding dozen or so steps.
The door was closed on the next level, which meant that as soon as Reyne hit the button, the door would automatically open and they'd lose any element of surprise. But he expected someone in a control room to have the stairs on a vid feed already. He turned to face his group. "Any of you have a smoke or maybe a shock grenade?"
"I have a whole line of regular grenades," Tracks said. He grinned, showing teeth grayed by years of too much Blue Tea, and opened his coveralls to reveal at least six grenades looped on his vest.
Domino shrugged. "My crew only uses the real things, too."
Reyne glanced at his comm to see four dots bundled together on the other side of the door. "Can't use those. Maybe next time."
"I have a few gas pellets," Sadie said. "It'll give them vertigo for a good ten seconds."
"I don't have a mask," Reyne said.
"Neither do I," said Sadie. "I usually just toss them into a room and count to three."
Reyne nodded. "Sounds good. I'll open the door, you toss the pellets, and I'll close the door."
He went to open the door. "Wait. Is that ten seconds after your three-count or including it?"
She looked up as she thought. "After, I think."
"Okay. We move fast." He waited until she held the pellets and nodded. Then he pressed the button. The door opened with a swish, Sadie flung the pellets, and Reyne smacked the button again. For a split-second while the door was open, Reyne saw the hallway. There seemed to be twenty droms around their small group, who were kneeling in the middle. Hari and Boden held Critch, whose body was slumped over.
"...two and one. Go!" Sadie said.
Ten. Reyne took a breath, hit the button for a third time, and lunged into the hallway. Any gas had already dissipated, and the droms nearest his people were leaning on each other or the walls.
Nine.
He knocked over a few getting to his people, who were just as wobbly on their hands and knees.
Eight.
Several droms outside the main group didn't seem to be affected. They aimed their rifles at Reyne and his team, but didn't fire. Reyne grabbed the nearest drom to use as a shield.
Seven.
"Surrender," one of them yelled.
Reyne dragged the drom with him. He noticed Domino had done the same.
Six.
They released their shields at the same time to grab the first two of their people. Reyne grabbed Critch, and found he had to bear the full weight of the man.
Five.
He grunted and hefted Critch through the crowd of dizzy droms, Domino right behind with Hari. He was making a big assumption that the droms wouldn't fire into their own people. If he was wrong, he wouldn't be alive to learn from it, anyway.
Four.
Sadie pushed by to grab Sixx. Reyne noticed she was struggling with him. Tracks had Boden, who seemed to be the least wobbly.
Everyone was nearly recovered.
Three. Damn it.
The three-count was included in the ten seconds. Reyne opened the door and jumped through. Critch moaned but didn't otherwise show any hints of consciousness.
"Stop them!"
Domino brought Hari, who stepped away to stand on her own. "I'm good," she said as she grabbed her rifle. Reyne stood by the button to close the door, but knew he hadn't really thought that part through, since the droms could open it any time they wanted.
Sadie stepped through with Sixx, only to have a drom grab her shoulder and yank her back. Sixx tumbled through and leaned against the wall, holding his side.
Hari leapt forward and fired into the hallway. At least one soldier went down. The others scattered. She held out a hand and pulled Sadie through.
Tracks let go of Boden as they reached the doorway. As Boden stepped through, Reyne noticed too late that Hari's gunfire had cleared the area, opening up his team to the droms down the hallway. Tracks was just about through the doorway when red spray painted the wall. Tracks grabbed his neck, but it was impossible to stop the arterial blood from spurting.
Domino raced forward to grab Tracks, but Tracks grimaced and stepped back into the hallway. He reached inside his coveralls.
"Don't move!" a drom yelled.
As the soldiers closed in, Tracks smiled and pulled out a grenade.
Reyne slammed the button. The door closed an instant before the explosion shook the stairwell. The door bowed inward.
Boden jumped over and helped carry Critch while Domino and Sadie grabbed Sixx. With Hari leading the way, they ran up the stairs as quickly as they could. At the top, Hari took a deep breath as her hand froze over the door's button. "Here goes nothing." She hit the button and swung her rifle up before the door had fully opened.
Another battle was taking place. Hari peeked around the doorway for less than a second before backing up. "Looks like four droms to our left at twenty meters. Miko and Roq are covering the door to our landing bay seventy meters to our right. Miko is down, and Roq is holding them off."
"We're lucky they're running on a skeleton crew. If this was a fully staffed warship, we'd have a couple thousand droms coming out of the woodwork," Reyne said.
Sadie released Sixx and stepped forward. She pulled out a grenade. "For Tracks," she said and hurled it down the hallway to her left. She casually regained her hold on Sixx, who was paler than Reyne had ever seen him.
An explosion boomed. Hari glanced back out in the hallway.
"It's clear! Get your asses out here! I think you busted my eardrums!" came Roq's mousy voice.
Reyne didn't bother checking. He and Boden rushed out, dragging Critch and moving in that unrhythmic way one does when carrying bags that are too heavy. He trusted the others were behind. Roq struggled to lift Miko as they approached. Hari ran around Reyne and helped Roq, and the two women hefted the unconscious larger man between them.
The door to their docking bay was held open with a crowbar. Miko's feet dragged over the bar, nearly knocking it away. Reyne winced and grabbed the door. Fortunately the bar held, and Reyne and Boden gingerly carried Critch through. They ran forward through the pressurization chamber that enveloped the ramp of the box-shaped Henry Fitzroy, which at that moment was the most beautiful ship Reyne had ever scene.
Several Tulan Port techs stood at the top of the ramp, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
Reyne spoke. "You want to make some hazard pay, help get these injured on board and to some beds."
They didn't need to be told twice. Five rushed down the ramp and relieved Reyne and Boden of Critch's body and Hari and Roq of Miko's. Domino and Sadie continued on board with Sixx. Reyne checked on his friend as they went by.
Sixx's eyes were glazed, but he was able to make eye contact.
"You doing okay?" Reyne asked, not knowing the right way to ask his friend how badly he was injured.
"I'll be fine in no time," he said, and winced as a tech tried to assist. Domino stepped back to let the tech relieve her.
The clang of metal brought Reyne's attention to the door, where Boden had kicked out the crowbar.
"Let's get on board," Reyne said.
A tech came running to him. "We can't leave. The captain said they've locked the ship. He can't override it."
A big ol' rock suddenly weighed heavily in Reyne's gut. "Of course they locked us in."
"I can override it," Boden said.
Relief flooded Reyne. "Good. Then let's get you on the bridge."
Boden shook his head. "The manual override is in the docking bay."
"Absolutely not," Reyne snapped back. "We'll find another way. We always do."
Boden swallowed. "Not this time. And you know the droms will be here any time now."
Reyne stood, staring at his friend.
"Get on board and tell Will to be ready. You won't have much of a window."
Reyne, still mute, took a couple steps and embraced Boden. When he stepped back, he found words. "If they let you surrender, you damn well better surrender. We'll come for you, just like we came for Critch."
Boden gave him a weak smile.
"Hey, Bodie," Domino said from behind Reyne.
Boden looked up in time to catch a grenade.
She shrugged. "Just in case."
He gave a quick nod, then turned and ran back into the docking bay. He picked up the crowbar and held it in one hand and the grenade in the other. He strode toward a control panel on the wall while the sound of blaster shots came through the door from the hallway, and pried the panel open with the crowbar.
Domino grabbed Reyne by the arm and tugged him on to the ship. "We need to close the ramp door."
He allowed her to lead him on board, but stood just inside the door and kept his eyes on Boden until the door closed him off. When that happened, he rushed to the bridge, where he could keep tabs on what was taking place in the docking bay.
Will was in the captain's seat, his fingers flying over the instruments.
"How're we looking?" Reyne asked as he claimed a seat.
"As long they have those locks on us, we're not going anywhere," Will said.
"Just be ready. He'll get them off," Reyne said, and believed his words.
The view screen was designed for panoramic views of space, not close video, causing a grainy landing bay scene on the other side of the massive clear pane that separated the pressurized ship from space. Still, Reyne watched as Boden worked through the mess of wires in the control panel. Then he abruptly stepped back and looked at the ship.
"He did it! The locks are detaching now," Will said. He applied power too soon, and the ship groaned against the locks before being propelled backward when the last of the locking mechanisms released.
Boden waved, and Reyne lifted his arm, even though the mechanic couldn't see inside the ship. Boden's form became smaller and smaller as the ship backed out of the bay, until Reyne could no longer make out his shape. A second later, a bright orange-yellow explosion caused Reyne to shield his eyes.
When he looked again, the docking bay they'd been in was gone, and air and debris were venting into space. He scanned the debris for Boden but couldn't find any trace. His crew member was gone.
He collapsed against the back of his chair.
"We're not out of the woods yet," Will said.
Reyne forced himself to face the captain.
"There's nothing stopping the Littorio from shooting us into the abyss. She keeps hailing us, but I plan to keep ignoring her."
"Where are the specters?" Reyne asked.
"Still en route. They're not close enough to attack the fleet yet. Oh, crap."
"What is it?"
"The New Liberty has fired up her engines and is now moving toward the fleet. If she stays on course, we'll be sandwiched between a warship and a destroyer," Will said.
"Change course," Reyne said, "and prepare to jump as soon as you have a clearing."
"Don't change course."
Reyne snapped around to see Hari jog on to the bridge.
She pointed at the destroyer growing larger on the view screen. "Head straight for the New Liberty."
Reyne frowned. "Are you crazy?"
"No," she said with a steady voice. "We have three passengers who need immediate medical attention. They won't survive the jump to Nova Colony."
"But who's to say the New Liberty won't shoot at us or ship us back to the Littorio?"
She cocked her head at him. "You really thought Seda wouldn't help us out? He'd never sell out his friends. Fields is out there to protect us, not the colonization fleet."
Reyne thought for a moment before chuckling. "Damn. Now I owe that politician an apology."