“Fine, but instead of doing passes, why don’t we just match its speed and hammer it. It doesn’t appear to be firing back.”
They did just that, hanging back at close range and firing long sustained bursts until they were notified that the transport’s shields were down.
“That was rather easy. Let’s take out the engines and then go after another,” Morrison said.
“No need, we’re having similar success,” Franklin said.
Within five minutes, everyone had reported back that all of their transports were disabled.
“Good job guys,” Kendra said, “I’m showing all transports disabled and just drifting.”
“Yeah, but something bugs me,” Morrison said, “the whole things was way too easy. I think we need to get inside one of these transports and take a look around. Any way you think we can manage that?”
“You’re all wearing the flight suits that were in the hangar here?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Apparently they’re good for EVA. You should find air tanks in each ship that you can hook up to the suits.”
“That’s fine, but how do you suppose we enter the airlock on the transport? It’s not like we can control it remotely.”
“You might not need to. There are specs on those things on this computer. It looks like there’s a small airlock on the starboard side, roughly in the middle of the ship. It has an outside control for people to get back in after an EVA.”
“Shouldn’t that be controlled from inside the ship?”
“Probably a redundant system, in case of a malfunction. Wouldn’t want a guy stranded outside.”
“Yeah, makes sense. You guys cover me. I’m going in there.”
He closed in on the nearest transport, spotted the small airlock about halfway down the side of the ship, and brought his fighter in, landing on the hull of the freighter. Ten minutes later, he was suited up and exiting the airlock on his fighter.
“Fine time to see if these magnetic boots work,” he said with a chuckle.
“We’re right here in case they don’t,” Franklin said.
“Well, here goes nothing.”
He exited the fighter and walked across the hull of the freighter to the small airlock door. There was a small touchpad and also a panel that opened up to reveal a set of mechanical switches. There was writing in a language he didn’t recognize on the touch screen and on the switches.
“I’m there, but I don’t have any idea how to open this thing.”
“Hold on, I’m looking it up,” Kendra said in his ear.
A minute later she came back on and told him which switches to manipulate. He flipped one, heard a series of clicks and thirty seconds later, the door opened. He entered the small chamber, and the door shut behind him. Thirty more seconds and there were clicks, and the door opened into the ship.
“Okay guys, I’m in, but it might take a while to explore. This thing is huge. I’m going to move forward and see if I can find a bridge.”
He moved forward through corridor after deserted corridor until he came to a door that lead downward into the cavernous hold.
“I’m in a large storage area. There are thousands of pods, big enough to hold a person. I’m gonna check them out.”
“That’s what we saw on the moon,” Franklin said, “They’re probably the soldiers they’ll use for the invasion.”
Morrison walked over to one and noticed that it had a green light glowing on one end. He also noticed a small touch screen. He touched the screen, and it lit up, and when he touched it again, the pod opened.
“Got one open,” he said.
“Well, what’s in it?” Kendra asked.
“Bugger all...”
“Come on dude, don’t leave us hanging. What’s in the pod?”
“Nothing. Darn thing’s empty. Let me open a couple more.”
A few minutes later he had opened twenty of the pods, only to find them all completely empty.
“Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Let me find the bridge. Moving out.”
He continued down another corridor toward what he hoped was the front of the ship. He found a set of stairs and went up, eventually coming to a control room. He saw a bank of computer monitors on one side and a large window in the front with a view out the front of the ship. He appeared to be the only one there.
“Guys, I think I’m on the bridge, but I’m the only one here. We’d better check the other transports, but this one appears to be a ghost ship.”
30
Walter woke up, got up from the couch, and took a chair next to Kendra.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Oh, you’re awake. How you feeling?”
“Kind of in a fog, but okay. Last thing I remember I was surrounded by those drone fighters and now I’m here.”
“One of them hit you and it knocked you out. Fiona scooped you up and brought you here. They’re taken out the fighters and disabled the transports, but the one transport they checked was empty.”
“Empty?”
“Yeah, he said it looked like a ghost ship. They’re going to check out the other ones, see if they’re empty as well.”
“There’s only one reason those transports would be empty.”
“A diversion?”
“Yep. I’m going back up. I can probably inspect all of them faster than they can. How did they get in?”
Kendra showed Walter the specs on the entry hatch and before she could wish him good luck, he was gone. Franklin was approaching another transport and preparing to suit up when he saw Walter fly past.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Franklin asked.
“Good as new, kid,” Walter said, “You guys just hang back and watch out for any more of those darn fighters.
No more fighters appeared and Walter, moving at a speed that was hardly visible, checked each transport and reported back.
“They’re all empty, and the pods in them are empty too.”
“What have we been doing here?” Curtis asked, “If they’re all empty...”
Before he could finish his sentence, it hit him.
“A diversion,” he said.
“A diversion?” Fiona asked.
“Yeah,” Morrison said, “keep us busy here and the real attack
