'Maybe it is some kind of error. There could be interference caused by a discharge somewhere,' Finn shrugged. 'Just because we weren't near the comm systems doesn't mean it isn't fried part way through, or there isn't some kind of jamming malfunction, we know they have the tech here to do that kind of thing on purpose, why not by mistake?'
'It's unlikely but possible, I'll admit. Still, we should give a diplomatic solution a try while everyone else works on opening the hangar door enough to permit the Cold Reaver to leave.'
'I'm going with you, and we're going armed,' Alaka told her.
'I'd have it no other way. We came aboard on their terms and it's gotten us nowhere, time to do things our way.' Ayan strode to a weapons locker and retrieved a pulse pistol and rifle. She holstered the first and clipped the second to her chest. 'All right, I need three technicians, Alaka and two squads with me. Everyone else stays here and works on getting that hangar door open.'
Finn was the first technician to step forward, there were several more behind him, many more than three.
'You're staying here and directing the effort to get the door open Finn. I'll take any three techs you recommend though,' Ayan said.
Finn picked three out of the volunteers and they joined Alaka's squad members.
Ayan took a spool of strong, thin wire from her engineering pack, clipped it to her belt and attached the other to a Cold Reaver comm panel. 'We're going to use wired and laserlink communications so they can't jam us. If my wire gets cut, set up a laserlink relay just like you've all practised in simulation. If you can't contact me or run into heavy resistance trying to get to me use whatever means necessary to get back to the Triton. Chief Vega will be in charge of everything besides getting that door open. That'll be Finn's job. Use everything you need.'
'Good luck Commander,' Stephanie replied. 'I'll tell you if anything changes on our end.'
'Thank you, Commander,' Finn added.
Ayan, Alaka, the technicians and two squads of soldiers poured out of the Cold Reaver's main gangway at a run. With the life support back on their suits didn't have to counter the heavy gravity so the strength amplification systems made their movements feel light and effortless.
Terry Ozark McPatrick stepped out of the private ready quarters lift onto the bridge and was struck still for a moment. Every station was manned on the upper and lower levels, internal and external tactical status holodisplays were spaced out across the middle of the bridge, extra personnel were standing by, ready to take a place at a station if an officer there was called away to another task and in the middle of the hornet's nest was Captain Jacob Valance. He was the dark, cold centre around which everything orbited.
The ship was on full combat alert, everyone was called to stations. The Flight Operations deck beneath the main bridge was just as busy and bustling and at a glance Oz could see Chief Angelo Vercelli manipulating the three dimensional interfaces that marked which fighters were ready to launch and which should be loaded after they had been punted out of the Triton’s lower hull.
Without a word he strode to the command seat at Captain Valance's left and brought up the ship wide status screen. Something he wished he'd done before leaving his ready quarters. He managed to stifle his surprised reaction when he read the first line of the status. 'They have Ayan and the whole team locked in the station?'
'They do. We can't contact them, but a close flyby with a Uriel fighter showed all their life signs. Best we could tell there were two squads running towards the station's inner chamber,' Jake answered.
'Do we have a plan?'
'We start with a show of force. I'm launching all our fighter squadrons.'
'So much for getting the new engines installed.'
Jake simply nodded.
'Do we have any sign at all from Ayan since she last reported?'
'None. As far as we can tell they've found a way to block any signals from or to their command units. They did just open a micro-wormhole. Jason's working on decrypting the communique.'
'How long did he say it would take?'
'He's bringing the Minuteman supercomputer online, he said it would be about two hours after that.'
'Good.'
'Sir, the station's sent us a message.'
'Put it up,' Jake said, surging to his feet.
A hologram of a woman in an old, loose fitting heavy vacsuit appeared in front of him. ' Triton. We will be willing to allow your crew members to leave after you've remanded all the raider crews into our custody. They will be charged with destruction of property and piracy. You've already taken numerous vessels into your hangars, we will expect you to comply with our demands within the hour using those ships.' The message ended.
Jake grunted to himself and sat down.
Oz started looking up the regional law on piracy with the provision of being enslaved at the time the crime was committed.
'It's life. The sentence for piracy in this region of space is life for free crew or slaves. It doesn't make a difference,' Jake told him quietly. He was reviewing the readiness of the torpedo banks, missile turrets, gunnery deck, and beam weapon emplacements.
Until then the weaponry on the Triton had just been a list, like any other feature he'd never seen. As he looked at the tactical view of the ship, left of centre on the bridge he realized how very deadly the vessel was. Thirty six torpedo tubes in nine loading rooms across the port, fore, aft and starboard sides were loaded with driller rounds, set to detonate after punching through a hull and detecting an atmosphere. The fourteen missile turrets along the lower hull were loaded with two hundred eighty kilogram seeker projectiles. The gunnery deck's eighty four 280mm round guns were set with electromagnetic pulse rounds while its fourteen 450mm guns were loaded and ready with fragmentation burst rounds. The last of the weaponry, the eight carrier class electromagnetic beam weapons were half charged.
'There she is with all her teeth bared,' Oz breathed as he looked over the broad, gleaming stingray shaped vessel. The only visible flaw was the absence of half her massive main engines, leaving recessed swivel ports open in the lower aft quarter of the vessel.
The first squadron of seven Uriel fighters, led by Ronin launched from the lower hull and began moving into position around Triton. 'Where do you want me Jake?' Oz asked him.
Jake manipulated a series of remote controls and gave the Palamo a heading that led it very close to the station, between it and the Triton before answering.
'I need you here,' he replied dryly. With a flick of his finger he engaged privacy mode around the command seating. 'It's Ayan over there, I need someone who can command this carrier better than I can. I don't know what I'll have to do in the next few minutes.'
'What do you want to do right now, Jake?' Oz asked quietly.
'I want to load every seasoned soldier we have into the Clever Dream, blast my way into the station and pull her out.'
'I don't think the standard smash and grab tactics will work here. We don't know enough and with the material that station's made of it may as well be a prison.'
'All the more reason to act sooner rather than later, I can put a plan together enroute.'
'Have you looked at that thing? From the way those turrets are moving it looks like they have weapons back online. If I'm not mistaken their guns could do serious damage to the Triton, the Clever Dream would be cannon fodder.'
'They'd have to get a clear shot first. The Palamo is moving in to provide cover on remote. I'll pass her controls on to you, her reactor is wired to blow, just in case.'
Oz looked Jake right in the eye. 'What if Ayan's working a plan of her own? She could be in harm's way and we'd never know it.'
'I'll be careful.'
'You're not level, Jake. Let me put a plan together.'
Captain Valance sat back, his suppressed tension showed in the flexing of his jaw. 'All right. You put it together, I'll lead it.'
'We're not trading the slaves, right?' Oz asked.
