Once the ship landed Jolo took one last look at the main deck. Everyone was scrambling around like a BG cruiser had just jumped in. Meanwhile Jolo casually walked under the ship back towards engineering. He reached out with his hand and touched the hull. He closed his eyes, felt the smooth alacyte metal, then started tapping with his knuckle.
Finally he found the hollow spot. He knocked once with the butt of his gun, then three short knocks, a short pause, then repeated. Soon he heard the sound of an engineer above him spinning the escape hatch wheel. Jolo stepped back so the hatch didn't hit him on the head, and sure enough, out popped a Federation engineer’s head, upside down. Jolo put the gun right to his face and said, “If you shout I'll kill you. Where's the chief?”
“Captain Vargas? Is it really you? You ain’t a synth are you?”
The captain pulled the gun away and grabbed the man's head and turned it to face him.
“You are Johnny Tanaka. It's good to see you,” said Jolo.
Johnny swung the ladder down, then jumped onto the grass, saluted the captain with a smile on his face. “I thought you were dead.”
“Yeah, me too. Are there any more of you from the old crew?”
“No, just me and a bunch of super greenies. The captain’s a supreme a-hole, hand picked by the president.”
“How many of the old crew are left?”
“You don't know?”
Jolo just looked at him. The young engineer took a deep breath. “We lost a lot of the crew. We thought you were gone too,” he said. “Only a few of us escaped. We barely got Jessica out.”
“Jaylen Voss? Was she there?”
“Who?” said the young engineer.
Jolo thought to question him further, but then stopped. There wasn't time.
“Okay, you run that way,” said Jolo. “Tell everyone I was gonna shoot you.”
“The Marines are coming.”
“Yeah I know. You want to be clear when they get here.”
And then Jolo climbed up into the engineering hatch, closed the door and sealed it.
He waited there for about a minute, just listening. Soon enough he heard a commotion on the ground as the Marines filed out. They were yelling at the engineer who was running in the opposite direction. Then Jolo quietly made his way to the main exit hatch where the Marines left and closed the door, then sealed it, then he put a bullet in the emergency override box so they couldn't get in from the outside. Jolo knew that he couldn't protect the door so he'd have to round everybody up just to make sure no one tried to let them in.
Typical Federation gunboats ran a fairly small crew, so he figured there were about 10 to 15 people total on board depending on what mission they were running. He started in the lower levels rounding up engineering first. He walked the halls quietly like he was back in another Jaylen dream. But this time he was awake, and the memories flooded into his mind. He kept thinking of Jaylen and wondered if he should go down to where her quarters used to be but then thought better of it.
He ran into three engineers, all dressed in black, skinny and pale and looking like they hadn’t been in the sun in awhile. He pulled out the gun and said, “Hi, I am Captain Vargas. This is my ship. I'm inviting you to leave right now unless you’d like to go with me and lead a life of crime in the black beyond Fed space.”
No one took him up on his offer so he dropped them out of the emergency hatch. When the marines saw the engineers coming out they started cussing and ran over. They couldn't fire a weapon for risk of hurting their own men and in full battle gear were too big to squeeze through the hatch. The engineers fell in a little pile underneath the big boat. Then Jolo resealed it and made his way to the mess hall.
Jolo figured the green captain wouldn't call it in just yet. A captain proved himself by being valuable to the Federation. Having a ship taken by one man in a trash boat was something that no one wanted advertised. He’d try to settle this thing here and now before he called for reinforcements. But then it’d be too late.
Jolo stepped into the mess hall and more memories came in. He remembered playing cards there. He remembered where he used to sit, in the corner with a clear view of the entrance, so he sat down right there. The mess hall drone came immediately as it always had, and said, “Welcome Captain Vargas, what can I get for you?” Just like it did before. At least it didn't think he was a synth. Jolo ordered a coffee and pondered his next move.
Only away teams carried guns, so he figured he had the upper hand there. But he didn't want to shoot anyone. His coffee came just the way he liked it, black with a little milk. He took a sip, figured there were five or so remaining: the captain, the chief, and the main deck officers. By now the pissed-off marines had called back to the captain, and the captain would try to reopen the hatch, unsuccessfully, so the chief would call down to engineering to have the wrench heads open the hatch manually, but they weren't there anymore. Which means the chief would be walking right past the mess hall.
So Jolo took another sip and waited. He put his gun up on the table. Sure enough the chief walked right past the mess hall. He was a tall man, and Jolo recognized him.
“Hey Chief,” Jolo said. “Why don't you come and sit down?”
The chief turned with a wild look in his eyes, like Jolo had just threatened to kill him.
“Relax,” said Jolo. “I'm just here to take my ship.”
The tall man
