Smuggler's Dilemma Read online

  When we were within a kilometer, I hit the bow thrusters at the same time that I reversed the engines, causing us to do a slow cartwheel around the target. I also introduced a little twist so that Marny’s turrets wouldn’t immediately be lined up with the other two targets. She’d have only a few moments to shoot as we spun. I wasn’t giving her an easy line on the third, either, aligning it with the tail of the ship.

  I heard two turrets burp a stream of blaster fire when the targeting window opened and I watched as the battery drained, predictably, a couple of percentage points. I was about to twist around to give her a short moment of alignment on the aft target when I heard a fah-whump and saw the battery drop twenty five percent. I grabbed at the aft view screen and tossed it up to the forward holo projector. The top third of the asteroid, which was roughly the size of a barge, had splintered apart from the rest of its mass.

  Roll back ten seconds, I said and watched as a large blaster round exited the back of our ship and struck the asteroid.

  "Is that what you were looking for?" Marny asked, her voice unusually excited. When the battle was real, Marny was stone cold serious.

  "No," I admitted. "I’d forgotten about the aft cannon. I was about to spin around to give you a shot."

  "Cap. There might be such a thing as being too honest," she said, laughing. "Give me a slow pass on this last group."

  I wasn’t sure what she had in mind, but I was game. She made it easy for me to feel like we were peers and that my sailing skill matched her combat or gunnery skills, but it just wasn’t the case. Marny substantially outclassed me and I always needed to bring my A-Game to live up to the trust she placed in me.

  I lined the Hotspur up on the next set of targets and slowly sailed beneath the first two. Instead of a short burp, Marny poured a constant stream of blaster fire into each of them. I spun the ship over slowly so she could get the third turret involved and watched as the battery level dropped off quickly and the asteroids took a substantial beating.

  Switch port engine to energy regeneration, I ordered. The battery usage levelled off and even started to gain slightly. Marny must have finally seen what she wanted.

  "Nice job, Cap," she said. "I was wondering how well that generator would do. That’s a frak-tonne of firepower. I’m glad we never ran into a ship like this when we were in Sterra’s Gift. Although, somehow I think you’d have come out on top even so."

  "Nick, are you satisfied?" I asked. "Or do you want us to work through your last targets?"

  "I’m good. I didn’t know how much work you guys wanted." He slid a look at me. "And for the record, I was running the belly turret."

  "Nice job," I said and then gave him a grin. "Don’t get cocky."

  LIFE FINDS A WAY

  The asteroid at the center of the outpost had a large shelf that had obviously been created by mining equipment. For someone who’d grown up in a mining colony it was easy to pick out the tell-tale drill holes and loose piles of scree. The work had been hastily accomplished by amateurs, but they’d gotten the job done.

  The amount of litter around the buildings told me that the pirates had been in this location for at least a few years. Marny had once told me that outlaws liked to leave litter outside their buildings as a poor-man’s alarm system. With the low gravity of the asteroid, the litter didn’t necessarily lie on the ground, but it also didn’t simply fly off without an external force. Moving debris was a dead giveaway that someone was intruding.

  Our plan wasn’t complex. Secure the area first and then the buildings. Ada and Jake would be coming along in the barge in a few hours. While connected to the barge, the tug was a sitting duck, so we needed to make sure there weren’t any problems. Now that we’d confirmed our control of the cannons and made sure there were no baddies in the neighborhood, the tug would be safe once they were inside the compound’s perimeter.

  The buildings were arranged so that the front side of the large warehouse was clear. It was surrounded on the other three sides by clusters of habitation domes. The basic design of a habitation dome is a four meter square room that is three meters tall. It’s considered enough room for four people. Maybe that’s true for survival, but for long term living that would be extremely cramped. The great thing about these domes, however, was that they were designed to be ganged together on any of their six sides.

  In all, there were twelve domes arranged in three groups of four. The left quad was closest to the front, connected to the side of the warehouse by an airlock and tucked under the narrow, raised control center. When Marny and I had infiltrated the compound several months ago, we’d blown its connecting airlock.

  "On me," Marny said through the comm. We were standing outside the main entrance of the warehouse. We weren’t expecting to find anyone, but she wasn’t willing to take any chances. It was deja-vu for me, but my understanding of room clearing techniques was much better than the last time we’d been here.

  Our first target was the control center just inside the front door and up a heavy set of metal stairs. Marny left me on the lower level while she and Nick cleared the narrow room that was just a long, countertop with vid screens, an empty gun locker and a couple of uncomfortable chairs.

  "Clear," she announced.

  I felt a hand tap my shoulder and recognized the transfer of point from her to me. The rest of the warehouse was a single large room, twenty meters square and ten meters tall. Eight rows of shelves with wide walkways filled the open space. Marny had prepared the walkthrough before we’d arrived. My job was to take one aisle and Nick the adjacent one, while Marny covered us from the end. When we got to the end, I’d check both new aisles while Nick covered me. We moved through the warehouse quickly, ignoring the airlocks until it was completely clear.

  Since the airlock leading to the left-most habitation quad was disabled, we planned to save that for last. The rear quad was arranged in a square. Given that it was still pressurized, we passed through the inert airlock quickly. One of the domes was set up as a seating area and the other three had bunks to hold nine people. Grime covered every surface and junk was strewn about the entire space. I couldn’t imagine living like that.

  Other than being t-shaped, the right quad was more of the same - junk everywhere, but otherwise empty. To get to the final quad of habitation domes we had to go around the outside. It was all part of Marny’s plan, however, so we exited the right quad onto the asteroid surface. I had another flashback to our incursion. Back then, Marny and I had approached the complex from this side first and then set explosives on the right-side dome before going around to enter from the left.

  Defensively, we leap-frogged around the back and over to the left side, using the buildings for cover. In the process, we came upon the main power plant. Marny and I took up defensive positions to allow Nick a chance to inspect the unit.

  "All’s good," Nick said. "It’s not a new unit, but its output is probably double what they needed."

  "Aye. Move out," Marny was all business when dealing with security. We continued our leap-frog to the final quad. "Freeze," Marny said. "I’ve got movement."

  Nick and I crouched down next to the building and scanned our designated zones. I knew Marny would be working with her AI to replay the movement that she’d detected and attempt to get a read on it.

  "There’s movement in the final quad. Not enough detail to make it out. We’re going to have to take it hard," she said.

  Taking a space without ruining the airlock would be a difficult task, but we’d brought along a tool specifically for this purpose. Marny unfolded the thick, transparent riot shield and handed it to me. The shield was a meter and a half tall and half a meter wide. My job was to hold it in front of me and deflect any fire we might take once the door was opened.

  Marny placed her hand on my shoulder to let me know she was behind me. Nick wouldn’t be coming through with us. There was enough room, but we didn’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. I palmed the lock’s panel. The green color dr
ained from the vertical indicator bars and orange filled in. There were a few different animations on airlocks, but in all cases, green was good and orange was vacuum.

  I didn’t have the capability to hold both the shield and my blaster rifle, so I slung the rifle over my shoulder and held the shield with two hands. Worst case was that we’d get pinned in the lock and I’d have to threaten the inhabitants with blowing the dome. I looked through the transparent part of the door while we waited for the lock to pressurize and was unable to see anything moving. I didn’t have a great view of the entire space and my heart was pounding.

  If something was going to happen, it would most likely be right here when we were nicely pinned down. Finally, the orange bars turned to green indicating that the pressure of the lock was equalized with that of the interior. I palmed the security panel and hunkered down behind the shield. The door swung open. Not seeing anything dangerous, I pushed into the room, visually scanning from right to left.

  "Contact left," I said, sounding much calmer than I felt. My AI had registered movement, but was still unable to provide any details.

  "I got it too, Cap," Marny said. "Whoever it is, they don’t have comms and I’m not getting a weapon signature."

  "I’m going non-lethal." I leaned the shield against the wall and pulled my flechette pistol from its chest holster. As point person, it was my call to make and I knew Marny would back me up.

  "Careful, Cap," she warned.

  Where the first two quads had been set up as barracks, this quad was broken into two different types of spaces. The area we’d initially entered was a galley and pantry and it was completely trashed, with foodstuffs and debris spread everywhere. I didn’t think we’d recover anything that I’d be willing to eat. In order to track down the movement, we would have to clear what I knew to be a common living space. Through that room was the base commander’s suite, where my AI had tracked the movement.

  Marny and I cleared the corner, sweeping visually, trying to locate whatever was moving. Still nothing. I moved quickly to the door frame leading into the commander’s quarters. Whoever was playing with us had to have ended up in there. I covered the opposite side of the door while Marny pie’d the corner, which was simply a movement where she gained visibility into the space a small slice at a time.

  "Frak, Cap. What the heck is that?"

  Her question surprised me. She was always so professional and in command. I had expected to hear her require the inhabitant to surrender, fire at some baddie or announce that we were clear. I was unprepared for questions.

  "Are we clear?" I asked.

  "Aye, Cap. We’re clear," she said and lowered her blaster rifle.

  I wasn’t as convinced as she was and kept my pistol at the ready as I swung into the room. I stood, flatfooted as I finally found the source of the movement. Huddled in a pile of debris were two small cats - kittens I supposed. I didn’t have any experience with small animals, but couldn’t imagine how they could look much worse than they did. Their fur was patchy and missing in some places and they were unhealthily gaunt.

  "How did these get here?" I asked and knelt next to them. They were mewing quietly.

  Provide medical analysis, I asked my AI. I didn’t have any instruments, but my AI would be able to get a lot of information from the video feed.

  Dehydration, malnutrition, evidence of parasites, respiration and pulse below expected norms, body temperature…

  Prioritize treatment, I interrupted the litany. Immediately my HUD showed a water pouch the AI had seen in the common room.

  "What are you doing, Cap? Are you sure you want to get involved with this?" Marny asked.

  "What’s going on?" Nick had been monitoring us on the comms.

  "Cap found a couple of nearly dead kittens. I think he’s going to try to fix 'em," Marny answered for me.

  "Oh," Nick said, nonplussed. "So we’re clear?"

  "Aye, we’re clear."

  "Nick, I need a way to move these little guys to the ship and keep them at thirty-eight degrees. They’re freezing." I’d located the water pouch and was back to tending the emaciated little critters. The AI instructed me to feed them only a small amount of water. One kitten responded to my offering, lapping the water up. Its sibling was too weak to show any interest.

  "For real?" Nick asked.

  "I can’t just leave them here. That’d be cruel." I’d never taken care of an animal before, but it wasn’t about that for me. These pirates had no respect for life and I’d be damned if that’s who I became. Life was important and I’d do what I could for these kittens.

  To Nick’s credit, that was all he needed to know - that I was serious. "Easy enough. There are several small crates with atmo seals. They’ll stay warm long enough to transport to the Hotspur. We’ve been gone for months though. Where could kittens come from?"

  "It’s not as crazy as you think," Marny answered. "You bring in enough cargo, you’ll get rats. Two adult cats would handle that – they're probably around here somewhere."

  "How’d we miss that?" I asked.

  "We weren’t looking for it," she said. "Last time we were here, we were struggling just to stay alive. With all the gun fire, those animals would have hidden."

  Nick arrived with a small crate. He put it down carefully next to where I sat cradling the two animals in my lap.

  I saw the soft material he'd placed inside it and looked up at him with gratitude. "Thanks. I know I’m being nutty about this. I just can’t kill 'em though. They’re innocents."

  He put his hand on my shoulder. "I get it, Liam. I’m glad you care."

  I placed the tiny orange animals into the crate. Neither made any attempt to move. I felt bad sealing the top, but there was no helping it. I carried the crate back to my quarters on the ship and opened it back up.

  When people got sick, it was common to apply a small adhesive discs to their skin to monitor health. While treating animals in space wasn’t particularly common, medical data was easily accessible and I found a feline monitoring disc pattern for the replicator. It cost me a hundred credits, but I was all in by now.

  As much as I wanted to save these little guys, it wasn’t lost on me that they might have some ugly bugs that I wouldn’t want in my bed. I manufactured a couple soft towels, placed them on the bottom of the crate and gently transferred the kittens onto them. The smaller kitten wasn’t moving at all when I applied the diagnostic disc to its stomach. It was still alive, but barely. Its brother had the energy to complain slightly about the disc's application.

  The AI’s diagnosis was immediate and followed by a prescription which included manufacturing an appliance that clipped on a front leg and a medical blanket that would treat the parasites and provide an appropriate level of warmth.

  I found it difficult to walk away, but we were in a dangerous place and there was little more I could do. I carved off a small spot in my HUD to constantly show a view of the kittens and caught up to Nick and Marny, who were still searching the base commander’s suite.

  Marny acknowledged my return. "What are you going to call them?"

  "No idea. I’ve never had pets before," I said.

  They had assembled several two cubic meter crates and were throwing items into them in a way that looked haphazard. Nick pinched and tossed a subroutine at me.

  "What’s that?" I asked.

  "Run it and then just pick up anything. Your AI will tell you which crate to put it in," Nick answered.

  "Even the junk?" I asked.

  "We’ll pack that last, but the salvage is worth more than the fuel to transport it. By the way, we found the mother cat and the rest of the litter." Nick gave a small sigh.

  "Dead?" I asked.

  "Yeah, sorry."

  There wasn’t much to say. I wasn’t particularly upset by the news, but it did put me in a funky mood. I decided the best course of action was to get to the work at hand. Nick’s subroutine was pretty well designed. As soon as I picked up something, my HUD displayed a
n outline around the appropriate crate and directed me on how to orient the items as I put them in. Two hours later, we had picked up and crated everything as directed.

  "I’d say we get some dinner," Marny said. "I’m starving."

  "I’ll program the construction bot to take down these domes and we can stack the full crates," Nick said.

  "How many bots did you bring?" I asked.

  "Just two. You can’t believe how much security deposit they wanted," Nick said. "I had to tie up over a hundred thousand of our bond just for these. Apparently, we’re considered a high risk."

  I guffawed, "I can’t imagine why. Do you need my help? I’d like to go back and check on the kittens. One of them isn’t moving much and isn’t responding to the medical cuff."

  "No problem. Would you take the half-loaded crates into the next quad for when we start back up? The construction bot will need a few hours to take down this side and get it crated up."

  "Do we have enough room to haul everything?" I asked.

  "I think so. I haven’t been able to get a full list yet, but my estimates are that we have more than enough room. Even so, I’m stacking the junk crates to the side. I wish we had a reclaimer, but they’re just not practical to haul around. I’d love to have all the raw materials from this junk."

  "Once we get to Colony 40 we can use the big reclaimer in the down-under," I reminded him.

  The down-under referred to the bottom side of the main station of Colony 40, which was called P-Zero (Perth Zero). P-Zero had been carved out of a large, watermelon shaped asteroid. Anything below the equator was called the down-under and it was where most of the industrial type activities took place. It was also where the more unsavory types could be found, which I’d had more than enough experience with.

  "Yup." Nick answered. I knew enough about his responses to know that he’d already thought it through.