This is a good man, Vargas thought. “Well, I'm holding the gun. And didn't they tell you? I'm a synth.”
“I don't believe it.”
The man stepped in to the mess hall close enough so that Jolo could read his name on the jacket of his Federation uniform: Belcher. And then Jolo remembered, his name is Travis Belcher.
Computer, he thought, give me what you got on Travis Belcher, Federation engineer.
Travis Belcher, 48 years old, married, two children, lives on the Federation core world of Virgil, came the reply.
“Listen, Travis,” Jolo said. “I want you off the ship now, or I'll head straight to Virgil. Are you gonna bet everything that I'm not a synth, or you gonna do what I say?”
“What do you want?” he said.
“How many more on board?”
“The captain and two fresh recruits: a navigator and comm officer.”
So Jolo dumped the chief out the escape hatch just as he'd done with the engineers and then headed to the main deck. The green captain and the two recruits went quickly. They had not armed themselves. There was nothing in the Fed protocol manual about a Federation gunboat being taken by one man from a refuse ship.
Qualus
Sol
Jolo sat in the captain’s chair of the Jessica and looked around at the empty main deck. He could fly the Jessica with the help of the on-board computer, but it wasn't ideal by any stretch. He wondered about the engineer, Tanaka. Wondered if he would come. Then thought better of it. He didn't want to put his career straight into the trash, like his own.
He stood up and looked out the main deck view port. And there sat the massive hulk of the refuse ship. Jolo grabbed the comm. “Refuse ship 7258. This is the Federation gunboat Jessica.”
“Do I still get my reward?” Katy said.
“I don't know. Who is paying you?”
“Someone is supposed to meet me in Qualus at the trash run.”
“I need a pilot,” said Jolo. “How about I pick you up and take you to Qualus, and we’ll get your money there?”
“Come get me,” she said. “I'll be on top. Send down a ladder and don't get too close. And you might want to scatter that pissed off group of Marines down there. I don't want to die being shot off the top of a pile of shit.”
Jolo engaged the drives and slowly lifted off. The previous crew scattered, making sure to stay out of the thruster burn. It was difficult for Jolo to get the ship positioned, but he managed to hover 20 meters over the top of the refuse ship. Soon Katy was inside the Jessica, cursing. The Marines had come right as she made it in, their guns fully charged.
“Are we gonna go?” said Katy.
“Yes,” said Jolo.
“Well, lets head to the black. You got pissed off Fed boys down there and more ships will be here soon.”
“Yep.” Jolo squeezed the arm rests of the captains chair, but didn’t move. Katy stood, hands on hips, and stared at Jolo.
“Well? Get us out of here, Captain. I’m only rated for single-seat trash haulers.” Jolo just stared at the nav seat, still clutching the arm rests.
“Oh, no. You’ve screwed us,” said Katy.
Jolo just looked at her blankly.
“You don’t remember this part, do you?”
“It’ll come,” said Jolo.
Suddenly the ship rocked a little to one side and a red warning light came on at the engineer’s chair. Katy ran over and looked at the screen. “The plasma gun monkeys are trying to take out the right rear thruster,” she said. “All four of them are concentrating their weapons on that engine. We've got to get out of here now.”
Meanwhile the audible warning message looped.
“How about the force field?” Katy said.
“No,” Jolo said. “They are too close. They’re inside the field.”
Jolo looked down. Took a deep breath. Closed his eyes for a moment.
“Let's go,” Katy yelled.
“Yes, yes,” said Jolo. “I know, I know.”
Meanwhile the engineer’s display was reporting 30 seconds until right thruster damage would be too much for a jump.
“Computer,” Jolo commanded. “Take us out of here and make jump calculations for Qualus.”
“Unauthorized use of Federation property is prohibited,” came the reply from the Jessica's computer.
“We should’a stayed in the trash hauler!” yelled Katy.
“Computer, this is Captain Vargas. I do have authorization.”
“Captain Vargas, is currently deceased, and therefore restricted to atmospheric flight commands only,” came the reply from the computer.
“If he’s dead, how can—?” Katy started to yell, then stopped, shaking her head.
Jolo just sat there in the chair, brows furrowed, staring off to the side, but he wasn't really looking at anything. Meanwhile the boom, boom, boom continued outside as the Marines kept pounding the thruster with energy blasts.
And then he remembered, he had his own computer. Computer, he thought, what is Federation protocol to engage gunboat engines without use of the ship’s computer?
Enter destination on the navigation screen, came the reply.
“Enter destination on the nav,” yelled Jolo to Katy.
Press auto calculate on the lower right navigation screen.
“Hit auto calc,” Jolo said.
Engage thrusters manually in engineering panel, lower-level.
Jolo jumped out of the chair and started running to engineering. He made it down to the lower level found the engineering panel and engaged the drives. He could hear the Marines still firing, but soon he heard something else, something wonderful: the sound of the Jessica's thrusters engaging. The ship turned, gained altitude, and made it out of atmo. Then, using his embedded computer again, Jolo manually entered the commands to make the jump to Qualus.
They would be in Qualus in an hour, which gave him time to head down to quarters and find number four. On the way, Jolo reviewed Fed gunboat landing protocol on his computer. He wondered why he could remember Jaylen’s quarters but not how to manually make a burn. He knew he had to make a landing without the help of Jessica's on-board computer. So he'd have the landing checklist ready to go.
