“Step away from the terminal sir,” one soldiers ordered, pointing his rifle at the engineer.
“I'm sorry, we have a riot underway and if I don't turn the lights on innocent people will be injured or killed.”
“Fire on him and you will have killed the only man with a solid understanding of these systems,” Captain Valance stated. “And then I'll kill you myself.”
“At ease Sergeant,” Lorne ordered haughtily. “Let the man finish his work.” He turned to Captain Valance. “I'll ask you politely, please surrender command to me.”
“I'm afraid not, and since when did you have a military rank?”
“I served five years when I was younger, as a high ranking member of the cabinet I carry the rank of General in an emergency. Now, if you would Captain?”
Jake ignored him. “Liam, are the lights back on?”
“Just now Captain.”
“Good. Computer; lock down all command functions, release only by senior command codes belonging to Captain Jacob Valance.”
“Please verify lockdown,” The monotone female computer persona replied.
“Don't do it Jake,” Minister Lorne said ominously.
“Lockdown verif-” two of the soldiers opened fire and everyone dove for cover. Captain Valance was shot several times, but there was nothing anyone could do.
Stephanie rolled to her feet and drew her pistol, firing two stun shots at the nearest soldier. They impacted on his armour and had no effect. She flicked the pistol's setting to lethal with her thumb and fired again, catching one soldier in the arm. It burned the surface of his armour, doing heat damage beneath and forcing him to drop his rifle.
The two security officers who were manning the bridge opened fire as well but were gunned down in short order.
The soldier to Lorne's left focused on Stephanie after finishing off the guard behind her. She ran for one of the console seats. The first burst of slim, white hot bolts missed her entirely. The second was closer and by the time the soldier opened up for a third round she was behind the nearest console seat.
The fabric on the chair burst open in a dozen places. Stephanie stared at the little smouldering holes for a moment, feeling like she had been run through by burning needles. Her attempts to breathe brought forth thick gurgles. She could taste the blood in the back of her throat and resisted the urge to cough. Looking down Stephanie saw her vacsuit had been punctured in many places, blood was running down from her throat.
Ashley ran to her from behind her console. “Oh God, Steph. Don't do this to us, hang in there!” she took her hand and gripped it tightly.
Stephanie tried to speak, tried to tell Ashley it was all right, not to worry, it didn't hurt much but nothing would come out.
Frost rushed into sight as well and put pressure on her wounds. The pain was beyond anything she'd known. “Hang on lass, there's a medic below who'll take care of you just fine. Just keep those eyes open.” He was so concerned, she had never seen him so desperate about anything.
After a moment she heard Jake's firearm go off several times and then he was grabbing her arm. Punching something into her Command and Control Unit.
“We'll put her in emergency stasis and get her down to a tube. She'll be fine as soon as we can get her to a medical center.”
“You've gotta save her,” Ashley shouted through tears as the world spun and faded away.
One Thing After Another
Captain Valance's wounds finished healing as he walked from where his First Officer was quickly sinking into a deep state of suspended animation up the ramp to Minister Lorne. He was so stunned he didn't bother running for cover.
“You were shot at least five times. How the hell are you even breathing?” his voice were panicked, his eyes were wide.
“Bridge, seal all entrances,” Jacob called out. The heavy paired doors were drawn into place by the motorized arms and they sealed shut. “I don't know why I'm so disappointed. For some reason I never thought the Aucharians would betray me.”
“This is the only combat ready ship in the entire solar system. You don't even have the crew, Jake.”
“What about the destroyer you docked with? I'd say that looked pretty functional.”
“You mean the half that was left undamaged? We managed to get the engines running after the Eden Fleet caught us fleeing the system.”
“So General Lorne runs away instead of remaining to coordinate his forces in their time of need. You serve your people better managing matters of finance.”
“Most of our fleet was out of the system, going after Regional Galactic assets. Our intelligence indicated that there was no threat, their nearest battle group was over a week away. No one saw the Eden Fleet coming, no one could have.”
“So you try to take my ship.”
“This is an Earth ship, how could it be yours?”
“That's not for you to question,” Captain Valance said as he let go of his throat and took the collar of the uniform firmly in hand. He dragged him towards the front of the bridge, yanking him hard whenever he tried to get his balance.
“Now you're taking me captive?”
“Why not? I need options, and if I can take you hostage for a little more leverage, what's the harm?” The door to the forward observation room opened and he pushed him inside. “Seriously, I'd expect a better solution from you. You're known for striking a good bargain. What the hell were you thinking?” he didn't let him answer, but pressed the manual close button and locked the door. “Computer, disable everything but life support in that room.”
“I'm sorry sir, all AI driven automation is inoperable in this section.” the computer replied.
“I've got it sir.” Frost announced as he moved to the security station, right beside tactical. “Won't be able to use the computers, materializers or open doors. Just put a communications block on the room. Even his own comm won't work.”
Captain Valance went back to Stephanie, she had been shot one in the throat and several times down the torso. The punctures were small, but there was a lot of bleeding before he had managed to put her into emergency stasis. He extended his left hand and took a medical reading. “She won't last more than a couple hours like this. Frost, check those rifles and see what they fire.”
He ran over and picked up one of the fallen soldiers rifles. “Looks like they use a kind of needle ammo.” he checked the clip and opened a small servicing compartment. “The shots are razor thin and low velocity.”
“So the needles are probably twisted up inside,” Jake concluded. “We have to get her down to medical.” He looked to Ashley, who was hanging on his every word while holding Stephanie's hand. “Can you make sure we don't veer off course and check our power levels?”
She just looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears.
He stroked her cheek, wiping some of the wetness away. “Ashley, you need to pilot the ship. We can't help her if we end up smashing into a moon.”
“O-okay.” She nodded as she put Stephanie's hand down carefully at her side. Ashley wiped her tears as she sat down at the helm beside her navigator, who was shaky at best.
“Medical.”
“Yes Captain?” Replied Grace.
“Can you spare a stretcher and two trained people to get Stephanie to the nearest stasis pod?”
“I'll go up now with my best. You're only one express car ride away. What's her condition?”
“She was shot with some kind of needle rounds. There are no exit wounds. I put her in emergency stasis.
