Agameg Price nodded and passed the order to his tactical team. They started a focused scan of the slowly descending carrier beneath the Triton. “There are three life forms without a det device, nine hundred and three with and they're all armed.”
Jake sat back and slowly shook his head. “The Captain's ready to blow his whole crew if he has to.”
“So he's holding his own crew hostage?”
Jake brought up a larger diagram of the rough, rectangular small carrier. The Palamo had been mapped in detail by the Triton’s advanced scanners. There were a few damaged, decompressed sections but for the most part the ship was active. Red and white dots were scattered across the length of the vessel, designating several hundred life signs. “It looks like they're affecting emergency repairs. They really don't want us to take that ship.”
“I'm detecting several tons of highly dense material, it could be raw diamond,” Agameg highlighted.
“That would do it. A haul like that is worth a fortune, especially to a captain who doesn't have to pay his crew.” Jake stared at the cross section of the damaged vessel as he thought about the problem. “I hate slavers,” he muttered at long last.
“From what I'm seeing it would take them weeks to repair the engines and there's too much damage to their emitter systems to even try to get into hyperspace.” Ayan offered.
“All his other ships are either in the same or worse shape,” Agameg advised.
“He's cornered,” Jason commented.
Jake nodded slowly. “This couldn't be worse. I'm going aboard personally. Have a team assembled and order the Clever Dream to land on the Triton as soon as they finish recovering pilots.”
“Are you sure that's a good idea Jake? You're the most experienced commander aboard.” Oz objected.
“I'm also not sending someone else aboard that ship. If the worst happens the only person I want to blame is myself. How are we for manpower Stephanie?”
“We have sixteen squads left, four with boarding qualifications,” she replied over the comm.
“I'll take three. Are we covered after that if we have an incursion on the Triton?”
“Barely, but yes, we're covered. Do you know something I don't Captain? Should we be expecting a boarding party?”
“You never know. This group of ships could be just a part of a larger syndicate. I'll try to get all the intel I can from the Captain when I board the Palamo.”
“The Clever Dream's here, good luck sir.” Stephanie said before closing the channel.
“You have the bridge,” Jake said to Ayan. “Just get the Triton inside the energy barrier and establish a micro wormhole so you can monitor things outside the field.”
Ayan took a deep breath, let it out and nodded. “I'm ready, barely.”
Jake stood, Ayan caught his hand. He looked to her in mild surprise. His eyes met her deep blues and he recognized her concern. It had been a long time since he'd seen anyone worry about him, it was disarming.
Randolph Lalonde
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Fracture
“Be careful,” she whispered.
“I'm sorry about earlier. I'll see you soon,” he reassured.
Chapter 8
The running lights along the hall ceiling whipped by like illuminated dots and dashes as Nerine's bare feet caused the old deck grating to clang and creak under the pressure of her hurried gait. Her left arm, shoulder and cheek stung unlike anything she'd felt before, the mild pain killers she had hidden in her crew pouch made it bearable but she knew there would be scarring.
Other crew members moved hurriedly through the narrow halls and compartments, affecting emergency repairs. The Triton and her fighters had taken out the entire squadron, most of their support ships and the Palamo was completely disabled. She never had a great affinity for engineering or power systems but she knew that when the crew started pulling cable free from the corridors and cross wiring things that they were in serious trouble.
She knew it wasn't worth the effort. Captain Gammin had to surrender, there was no other logical option, especially if the holograms she'd seen when she visited her father in the Enreega system were true and Captain Jacob Valance was commanding the Triton. He was a bounty hunter, a privateer and a criminal wanted across the galaxy. If Captain Gammin actually thought he'd survive an encounter with him he was crazier than she could have imagined.
She stopped at a ladder leading to the deck below. The lifts were out, she'd have to climb down with one arm. The ship rocked violently. The air stirred her hair and she heard the distant squeaking and grinding as an emergency bulkhead door slid into place. For a moment everyone stopped what they were doing. Somewhere on the ship, and not too far off, part of the ship had decompressed.
It would be easy to hate the Triton, her fighter pilots and her Captain, but if the rumour was true, if Captain Valance was actually a freedom fighter and not the scourge the Order of Eden made him out to be then Captain Gammin was on the wrong side. He was a slaver, and the first thing she'd heard about Captain Valance was that he freed slaves. She hoped Kadri wouldn't regret sending the distress message to the Triton earlier that day.
“There you are!” David shouted from below. “What happened?”
“I got caught when something exploded in the hall.”
“That looks bad,” he climbed up nimbly. He was an engine room grunt, with enough mechanical know how to fix any of the old systems on the third hand carrier and enough sense to move very slowly up the chain of command. Out doing your superiors too quickly was a good way to disappear mysteriously. “Here, loop the Captain's bag around my neck then get on my back. I'll climb down for both of us.”
Nerine nodded and looped her Captain's sealed satchel around David's neck. Wrapping her arm and legs around David was painful but better than staying in the corridor. The bridge was the safest place and they would be welcome there. “Is it true that Captain Valance is trying to board? This isn't the station firing on us?” Nerine asked, still trying not to get her hopes for freedom up.
“Aye, Gammin's trying to escape, he just didn't want to leave this behind. He'll leave you in your condition though.”
“I know. It would be cheaper for him to buy a new cabin girl than getting me fixed up.”
David carefully set foot on the lower deck and put her on her feet. “Don't worry, I'll make sure we make it through,” he reassured.
“If what I heard about Captain Valance is true we won't have to worry.”
David gave the satchel back, knowing that, with her beauty spoiled, that bag was all that could make her valuable to the Captain. “Don't get your hopes up. Gammin's doing everything he can to get away and he's not taking chances. He activated the detonators on the crews raiding the core of the station.”
“What? So they're all-”
David nodded, his square jaw set. “Everyone on the cutting crew is gone. I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping him from doing the same to us is the fact that he's still aboard and there's a chance we could get the engines going. Just stay quiet and do what you have to until I find us a way out.”
They rounded a corner. The bridge was only twenty paces down the main corridor. Captain Gammin spun on his heel. “Finally! Get your ass over here!”
Nerine started to run but was knocked off her feet as something collided with the outer hull. The hall lights went out, leaving only the white and green glow of the bridge lights ahead. To her right she heard the sounds of metal grinding against metal and realized she was right in front of a primary airlock door.
David hurriedly helped her to her feet as sparks showered the deck in front of her.
Captain Gammin was just getting to his feet. “Throw it!”
She did her best and it landed half way.
“Stupid bitch! Pick it up and get in here! We have to leave!”
