It was the change in air pressure as the door opened that actually awoke her. Kella’s head was awash in fog, and she slowly sat up, rubbing at her eyes to try and clear her mind. What the hell happened? She felt like she’d been on the bad side of a wrecking ball. She looked around to get her bearings and realized she was in the brig. Again.
“What the hell,” she groaned as she stood up. She experienced a moment of queasiness, but it passed quickly. The brig was just like she remembered it, with its bleak trappings and muted lighting. The only difference this time was that the door was open. She tried to remember what had happened. It came back in bits and pieces. They had been on Tal Rho’an, and had been talking with Gavin’s buddy. Gavin! What had happened to Gavin? She remembered the Military pukes taking over the Praetorian and shutting Gavin down. She remembered sneaking on board and reactivating him. She remembered the AI Housing, reconnecting Gavin and the pain it had evidently caused him. She remembered him not responding to her calls. And then she remembered being attacked.
Her head snapped up towards the empty hallway beyond the door and she immediately went on alert. She crouched down low and silently stalked towards the open threshold. Upon peering around the door jam, she saw nothing. The main brig area was empty. She needed to find her gear; she might be able to get hold of Gavin with that. But where would those bastards have put it?
She quietly crossed the floor over to the opposite wall and rummaged through the lockers stacked there. She came up empty. Damn. She moved to the large desk meant for a brig watch officer. The drawers were empty but one was locked. Cursing under her breath in annoyance, she reached around to the back of her pants behind the belt loop. Her lockpick kit was still hidden there. Thankfully, the kit was small enough to avoid all but the most direct of searches. She pulled it loose and unfolded the small laser scalpel. She shook it up and down quickly a few times to generate a charge and then used the laser to cut through the lock. Inside the drawer was what she’d been hoping to find.
She quickly hooked up her d-com and slipped into her multi-pocket vest. She also found her weapons and secured them in their proper places. She was ready to move. She clipped the vox patch back onto her lapel and tapped the d-com.
“Gavin,” she called. “Gavin, are you there?”
“Quiet, you idiot!” Gavin snapped over the earpiece. Angry, but not willing to risk it, she said nothing. “We’re not out of the woods yet, kiddo. I have some system control back, but undoing the software changes of the Military’s controlbox is taking time. I’m still trying to access my remotes, and I don’t really have any control over the main systems. We’ll need to go to the bridge to fix that.
“As to our opponents, there are only three of them, as far as I can tell. There’s one on the bridge, one on your level just down that hallway, and another down in the AI Housing. I really don’t think he knows what he’s doing down there honestly, or I would have been shut down again already,” he scoffed, and then paused for a moment. Kella had a sudden feeling that Gavin was about to reveal a piece of bad news. “You gave me a real scare there, kiddo. You’ve been out for three days,” Gavin said, the tone of his voice hinting at the worry he’d felt.
Kella crouched down lower behind the desk to try and muffle her question. “Three days?” she asked in as quiet a whisper as she could manage, but it still came off as harsh. How could she have been out for three days?
“Yeah, we both were. I had my own problems, and those Military guys were keeping you sedated. I managed to change the substance they were requesting from the med kiosk to sugar water. I’m sorry it took me so long,” he said regretfully. Kella shook her head, a gesture that would have assuaged Gavin’s guilt had he been able to see it. “We’ve both been through the wringer, but I think we can get past these morons now that we’re up and about. Just give me a little more time to get my miniature army up and running, and we can kick some ass. You up for that?”
“I think so. What miniature army?” she whispered.
“Just wait and see, you’re gonna love it. Give me just another minute or so. These interfaces take too damn long to write.”
“You’re writing code? Right now?”
“Not exactly; it’s more like orchestrating a symphony. But having a slew of VI interfaces tied to me does have its advantages, I guess.”
“Just hurry it up,” she said, trying to be as quiet as possible. She couldn’t hear anything down the hall. From what she could remember of her last little visit down here, the brig had two separate holds formed like kidneys just forward of the Patterson Reactor. A long ‘T’ hallway connected the two holds to the residential common area. According to Gavin, one of the Military men was keeping point in that common room, a natural choke point. Of course, if he heard noise from the brig area, he’d come checking, and that was exactly what Kella didn’t want. She was armed again, but she felt stiff and sore, and wasn’t confident in her ability to go toe to toe with a Military special forces.
“Booya,” Gavin hooted from the earpiece, startling her. “Alright, let’s go,” he said.
“To where?” she asked skeptically.
“To watch the show of course. C’mon, you’re going to miss it.”
Kella heard a loud thump from down the hall, followed by muttered swearing. She crept from around the brig airlock, and down the hallway. When she got closer to the common room, the noise had increased, and she could clearly hear someone struggling. She peeked inside and saw the trooper on his back, desperately trying to claw off a slew of cleaning robots. The little vacuum cleaners on wheels were running all over the place and sticking to the man like leeches. Gavin had indeed created a miniature army as there were nearly fifty of the little things. Some were using their powerful vacuums in reverse to assist in tiny hops to gain elevation and land on the man. For every one he managed to dislodge, two more took its place, and he was quickly covered in tiny vacuums.
“Ok, sellsword. I think you can thump him now,” Gavin said, obviously pleased with his ‘miniature army’.
Kella moved over and pulled her pistol from its holster. The trooper never even saw her approach, nor did he even attempt to dodge away from her blow so preoccupied with the cleaners. He slumped to the ground, unconscious. The cleaning robots fell from the man in waves and formed up in a small box formation at Kella’s feet.
“I guess it is rather useful,” Kella admitted, grinning. She heard Gavin snicker.
Kella quickly disarmed the trooper and removed his armor. Then with the help of the cleaning robots, she dragged the man back into the brig cell. Kella left him on the floor, and Gavin locked the door remotely, securing the threat. She went back to look over the armor she’d removed from the trooper.
“This was some nasty stuff,” she said, examining the suit. “I’d like to try it on, but it obviously wouldn’t fit me. The damned thing’s tailored,” she said in disappointment. She did take the stunner and the rifle, however. “Now where?”
“The AI Housing,” Gavin said. “I don’t like him in there. If you don’t mind using the crawlspaces again…” Gavin started but Kella cut him off.
“Oh no, not again. I’m done crawling around in filth. I have a better idea.”
“Really?” Gavin asked, skeptical.
“Really. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“My army has your back, my lady,” Gavin mocked. She could just imagine him throwing in a corny bow.
Kella made for the stairwell that connected the areas of the ship vertically. She went down another level and went past her suite. From there, she continued aft until she found the heavy airlock that accessed the AI Housing. It had been through there that the men had gotten the jump on her before. She hid along the wall, pressed up as close as she could and opened the airlock. She then motioned for the cleaning robots that had trundled down the stairwell behind her. The cleaners caught the motion and immediately moved past the airlock and into the room.
The Trooper had heard the door rotate open, and was coming to investigate. What he saw only confused him. A carpet of little vacuum cleaners was rolling into the room.
“What the hell?” the trooper grumbled, but quickly reassessed the situation. He activated the camouflage on his suit and faded out of existence. He fell back against the far wall and waited.
“He’s not falling for it,” Gavin whispered over the earpiece. “Was this your master plan?”
“Oh shut up,” Kella said, annoyed. “We’ll just have to do it the hard way then,” she said pulling the rifle from her shoulder. She peered around the edge of the access door and watched as the little cleaners ran to and fro along the grated flooring. Getting an idea, she pulled back.
“Gavin, line them up on the grating and move them forward. If he’s standing on the grating, they’ll either run over him, or force him to move. You can see the suits barely in motion, I think,” she said trying to remember what she’d seen before she blacked out.
“Got it,” he replied and the little vacuum cleaners lined up along the grated walkway, and as one, began moving forward. Kella peered back around the edge again and watched as the box formation started forward.
“Speed ‘em up, Gavin,” she whispered, concerned that if the trooper was behind the access hub, she wouldn’t be able to see him move. The cleaners picked up their pace as commanded, and to her relief the box formation collapsed. Several cleaners had hit an invisible wall.
“Got ya!” she shouted as she leveled the rifle and fired. The bullets pinged away off of the bulkhead, all misses. “Shit!” she exclaimed as she twisted behind the edge again. He’d been expecting the tactic and had moved. She’d been too slow. “I need some help, buddy,” Kella called out over the vox patch as a few pot shots ricocheted over her head. The trooper was apparently firing blindly as well, probably from behind the AI Housing.
“Hold on,” Gavin said, and the connection clicked off.
“What the hell are you doing?” she shouted back as she fired the rifle blindly around the corner in the hope of keeping the trooper pinned down. The little cleaners were charging every which way, trying to push the trooper into the open, but he was using something to bat them away. Kella could see the little vacuums fly through the air, but couldn’t tell where they were coming from.
“Out of the way!” came Gavin’s call from down the hallway. Kella turned and saw a large robot running down the hallway. She had no idea where Gavin had pulled it from, but she cleared the airlock. It ran past her and into the AI Housing room. Kella watched it disappear behind the large center column and heard struggling from behind it. Finally, she heard a loud exhale of breath, and someone collapse to the floor.
“Got him!” Gavin called from behind the column. Kella made her way into the room and found the robot standing over a crumpled trooper. His helmet had been shattered, and the suit was having trouble projecting images so the man looked like a cloud of static. Kella rolled the man over and disarmed him.
“What is that one?” Kella asked, indicating Gavin’s new remote as she and the robot dragged the trooper to the brig.
“This is a cargo loader. They’re far more complex to program than the cleaning bots, so it took the longest, but it has multiple vision modes, including infrared. This made the trooper easy to see,” Gavin said happily. “Now we just need to get to the bridge.”
“Right,” Kella said. They finished dragging the man to the brig and dumped him onto the floor next to his comrade. Gavin shut and locked the door once more.
“I think I know how to undo the control box, or at least part of it. We need to get back to the AI Housing,” Gavin said.
“As long as I don’t have to crawl in muck, pull switches, or get shot at,” Kella said as she walked from the brig.
“Report,” Hughes demanded from the bridge. He hadn’t heard from his men since the banging had started down stairs, and that had been almost ten minutes ago. The sound had been unmistakably gunfire. Hughes had locked the bridge down and tried to access the security systems, but found the system was on the fritz and useless. They were nearly back to Dulabar, only twenty hours left to go. Everything had been going so well. Why’d this have to happen now? Damn it all to hell.
“Gladius, this is Praetorian,” Hughes said, changing vox channels.
“Go ahead Praetorian,” Dawson acknowledged almost immediately. The Gladius was keeping pace with the Praetorian holding in formation off the starboard wing as the two vessels traversed slipspace.
“I have a situation on board. If you don’t hear from me in ten minutes, consider the ship captured again.”
“Understood, sir,” Dawson said after only a moment’s hesitation.
“Praetorian out,” Hughes said and closed the Vox channel. “I guess it’s all up to me, then,” he said as he pulled his pistol from its holster and primed it.
“Not quite,” a voice said from behind Hughes. Hughes spun around quickly and fired off a shot from the direction the sound had come from. The bridge speaker exploded in a shower of sparks as the super-heated needle slug ballooned in the outer casing.
“What the hell?” Hughes asked, dipping into a crouch behind the command chair. “How did you gain access to the system?” It wasn’t the voice of the girl locked up below. So another accomplice had been hiding, biding his time for the right moment to strike. Where had he been hiding? He and his men had covered every nook and cranny of the ship over the past three days.
“Because it’s really my system,” the voice explained. “I’m getting a weird sense of déjà vu here.”
“Who the hell are you?” Hughes said as he moved around the chair, heading for the rear of the bridge.
“Who the hell are you?” the voice retorted.
“I am Major Evan Hughes of Military Special Operations. I have been charged with collecting stolen property and returning it to its proper place,” Hughes said, standing up and leveling his weapon towards the shadows at the rear of the bridge.
“I am Gavin Cross. Doctor Gavin Cross. You may call me Dr. Cross,” the voice said mockingly.
“Like hell,” Hughes said firing again and another speaker exploded.
“Would you mind stop destroying those? It’ll be difficult to negotiate if I can’t speak to you.”
“Negotiate? There will be no negotiating. This ship is going back to the Military; end of story,” Hughes said sliding up behind a support strut for cover.
“That’s a shame. In that case, you may as well wait in the brig with your friends,” the voice said; false pity in his voice. Suddenly the door to the bridge unlocked and opened. Hughes ducked behind the strut, expecting gun fire, but nothing happened.
“You expect me to walk there myself? Just give up?” Hughes asked disbelievingly.
“That would be the best case scenario, yes,” the voice said from just outside the door. “Otherwise, it’ll probably just end up being painful.”
“Right,” Hughes said under his breath. He only had one chance to nail his attacker. His refuge had turned into a trap, keeping him bottled up in one location. He had to break free. Activating his Phantom Armor, Hughes blurred from reality, and then jumped away from strut to roll forward and through the open bridge door. He recovered immediately, coming to a crouch and leveled his weapon. The spine passage was empty. As he’d expected, the voice was coming through the hallway speakers.
He slowly got to his feet and in a defensive posture, pushed forward. He checked his flanks, and any possible places someone could be hiding. It never occurred to him that he was actually doing exactly what the voice had suggested. To Hughes, he was hunting. He was planning on flipping the thief’s script and end the threat once and for all.
Hughes walked down the few steps into the upper commons area, and saw nothing in the room, only the furniture that had always been there. And the robot, shut down in the corner. Wait. Had that been there before? Hughes racked his memory as he stared at it suspiciously. No, it hadn’t. That was new. But Hughes was a moment too late and knew it as the robot came to life.
The robot wasn’t powered down, it had been in hibernation, but now was back up and sprinting across the room towards him. Hughes only had a scant few seconds to react, and react he did. The pistol was already leveled, and Hughes opened fire. The first needle slug buried itself center of mass, disrupting the robot’s gate, making it miss a step. The second was in the shoulder, unbalancing it. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth shots put the robot down. Hughes pulled the trigger until he heard the slide lock. The weapon was empty, but the robot was a mess of sparks, wires, and twisted metal. It was done.
“Thanks for not shooting me,” a female voice said from directly behind him.
Hughes spun in panic, a single thought in his mind. He only got half of the “Oh shit,” off before a boot to the face knocked him unconscious and he fell like a sack of potatoes. Kella’s high kick had found efficiently found its mark, and she quickly reset her stance. It’d been a while since she’d been able to use any of her martial skills outside of her Scythe.
“Nice one,” Gavin said over her earpiece. “I didn’t know you could,” he paused searching for words, “kick so high,” he finished lamely.
“I’m not without some skill,” Kella said. “Thanks for using the remote as a decoy though.”
“You can pay me back when you make it rich,” Gavin said. “Now get to the bridge. I need your help to undo the final restrictions from the Controlbox. This guy also sent a signal for help. We need to fix that.”
“Right,” she said rummaging through the pantry in the common room. “But first, we need to take care of him.”
“We don’t have time to drag his ass down stairs,” Gavin said impatiently.
“I know, that’s why I’m looking for this,” she said, producing the packing tape. “There’s always some somewhere.” Kella quickly wrapped Hughes up in tape, making sure he couldn’t break free, and then ran to the bridge, leaving him unconscious and bound on the common room floor.
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