Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (86 page)

              They approached the junction and Corajen listened hard and breathed in, checking for foreign scents.  She could hear noises, but nothing nearby, only the sounds of her team and the hum of the station.  They weren’t in the corridor.  But with hand signals, Corajen directed one of hers to check around the corner.  The man moved forward, hugging the bulkhead.  He darted his head out, peeking around and seeing nothing, he shook his head.  “It’s clear, Chief.”

              “Go, heads on swivels.”  The squad rushed out, double-timing to the hatch.  Corajen faced forward while the others all faced the way they’d come, keeping an eye out for hostiles.  Once she reached the panel she activated her comms again.  “Ops, we’re here at Corridor Two, open up.”

              There was a pause and then the hatch clunked and then slid open.  “Get in here!” a voice from inside nearly screamed.  “I’m not leaving that corridor open!  Move!”

              The lupusan snickered, but did as she was bid as she and her squad hustled inside.  The Operations Center was an octagonal room, with two consoles on each of the six facings, the remaining two on opposing sides held the hatches leading out.  All the consoles had someone seated at them, with the young woman standing up from the main control station to face the security chief.

              “Oh, thank the stars you’re here,” she gushed, relief clear on her face.  “They’re approaching up Corridor Four and they’re determined to get in here.”

              “Show me,” Corajen ordered, stepping up as the hatch slid shut behind them.  Tiyaana led her over to her console where the security camera footage was showing on the display.

              There were a dozen or so that she could see out in Corridor Four, approaching the hatch for Operations.  All of them were armed with rifles or what looked like shotguns.  One of them, a domak, was carrying a large bag on his back and another of the soldiers was digging something out of that bag.  The rest of them were deployed in two groups, two soldiers facing the door, the bagman and his buddy in the middle, the rest deployed in a phalanx facing out, to prevent an ambush.

              “What weapons do you have in here?” Corajen asked.  “Quick!”

              Tiyaana shook her head quickly, the question momentarily stunning her.  “Um… I have this,” she said, producing a stunner pistol and a slimmer grenade.

              Corajen smiled, but gently shook her head.  “Those are fine, but I was hoping you had a box of ammo or a shotgun in here.”

              “Sorry,” the young woman said mournfully.  “No.  There’s an armory two…”

              “Two compartments over, I know,” Corajen said, speaking over her.  “No matter.  Those guys are blocking the way anyway.”  She turned to her squad.  “All right.  We rush ‘em.  Everybody stack up behind me on the door.”

              “Flash bangs?” one of her deputies asked.

              “Do we have any?”

              One of them, a zheen, produced one of the devices but pointed at his boss’s waist.  “You gotz dem sslimer grenadz, Chief.  Throw a couple of them when I throw thiss.”

              She nodded.  “Everybody ready?” she asked, as they all stepped up to the hatch.  One of the deputies behind her hand his hand over the button to open it, everyone else tensed, ready to rush forward.

              “Now!”  The door clunked and slid open and the grenades were tossed out.

              “There we go,” Verone said, bringing out the explosive breaching tape.  It could be form fitted to neatly blast through metal and the mercenaries had used the same stuff to make it past the emergency bulkheads the station crew kept slamming down to try and stop them. 

              “Set it up,” Glacis replied, glancing back over his shoulder.  “Let’s get this done.  I’ve got the others in the corridor jamming things up, but we need to get into Operations.”

              The man started to step toward the door, pushing the two other soldiers out of the way as he brought the roll of explosive tape up to adhere it to the hatch.  But without warning, it hissed open in his face, two items were tossed over his shoulders and then he recognized the head bitch herself, the lupusan security chief standing right in front of him, framed in the doorway.  Her rifle barked and he knew no more.

              Corajen tore forward into the attackers, until her rifle clicked empty, one more of the mercs fell, bullets riddling his chest and she was already into the others, hands and claws moving faster than they could actually see.  The one with the bag went down in a shower of blood as the lupusan’s claws tore into his throat, and she raked her other hand down the back of the closest of the ones in the phalanx.  As he was screaming and her wicked claws sliced through his armor and the flesh beneath, Corajen was already hitting the next.  And then the next. 

              Glacis, who heard he noise and realized something was happening, dove forward an instant before the flash bang and the slimmer went off.  Both devices exploded, one filling the confined space with light and sound, the other with expanding foam, which actually managed to dampen the fury of the flash grenade.  Glacis somersaulted, then leapt forward, managing to get clear of the lupusan’s killing frenzy.  And what few she missed, her deputies mopped up, but not before Glacis made it back to his feet and raced off toward his men further down the corridor. 

~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~

              “Missed one!” Corajen raged as her team came out and checked the soldiers on the deck.  There was little to check, truth be told, the lupusan as a race were very efficient killing machines and with the addition of the flash bang, the immobilization of the slimmer grenades and plain old surprise they didn’t stand any chance.  Of course, they did have their back to her, but she wasn’t going to quibble about an advantage.

              “Move up,” she ordered, her voice returning to a normal level.  The hatch to operations was sealed behind them and they moved up.  Corajen’s rifle was out of ammo, so she left it.  Drawing her blade in her right hand, she led the way to the junction, a wicked look in her eye. 
Saiphirelle will be chewing the bulkhead on the
Grania Estelle
with jealousy for missing this!

              Tamara took a deep breath, running one hand through her hair. 
What in the hell is going on over there?
She wondered silently.  The
Cavalier
had been receiving a near-constant update from Operations Control on the station, but that wasn’t the same.  She wanted to be over there, trying to help, trying to figure a way out of this mess.  But over here, on the corvette, there was nothing she could do.

              Her eyes fell over the displays, scanning the status feeds, but not really seeing anything of interest.  Nothing to do out here.  All these weapons and there was nothing she could do with them.  But then her eyes fell on the
Kara
, which was still listing, falling away from the station and her mind snapped to order. 

              “XO,” she said, and the Romigani turned to face her, “We’re going to send a party over to the
Kara
.  We’re going to secure her and take her a-prize.”

              The squid-like creature made a gurgling sound in his throat and clear membranes slid over his black eyes.  “Pardon, ma’am, but we’re going to
what
?”

              “We’re going to take that ship as a prize, XO,” she repeated, earning stares from everyone on the bridge.  She glanced up and everyone looked at her for another moment before hurriedly returning their gazes back to their own displays.

              But the XO didn’t back down.  “The government wouldn’t appreciate that, Captain,” he warned.             

              Tamara chuckled.  “No, XO, I’m sure they wouldn’t.  But then, they shouldn’t have sent soldiers to try and take my station.  We’ll deal with the fallout later.  In the meantime, Mister Ykzann, scan the
Kara
.  Best guess, what is the crew complement?”

              The zheen consulted his sensors.  “Eighteen, ma’am.  Perhaps as high as twenty-five, spread out along the port and forward section of the ship.  They’re giving the breached section a wide berth.  Probably can’t do much more than seal off the damage.”

              Tamara nodded.  “I suspect you’re probably right.  Boarding party of twelve, XO,” she said, turning back to the Romigani.  “Armed with hand weapons and also make sure they all have breathing hoods.  We don’t know how much of the ship is depressurized.”  She turned back to the bridge proper.  “Comms, open a channel to the
Kara
.  Find me someone to talk to.  I’m going to accept their surrender.”

              As Leicasitaj hustled off the bridge, the comms specialist nodded to the captain.  “I have the captain for you, ma’am.”

              “What do you want, you butcher?” Ferrod demanded.  He looked harried and flustered, and sported a cut on his cheek and another above his eye.  When the ship took fire he must have fallen and struck his head on something, a console, perhaps.

              “Butcher?” Tamara replied acidly.  “I’m not the one who was releasing armed soldiers onto a peaceful station.  Oh, don’t try to deny it.  I have very clear sensor readings and security footage from the station showing exactly where those soldiers were coming from.  Now,” she said, glancing over to Garidhak at Tactical and flicking two fingers at her, “I will give you thirty seconds to surrender your ship and your crew over to me.  Failure to comply will result in another volley fired into your ship.  And this time I won’t be aiming for your airlock.”

              “You bloody pirate,” Ferrod blustered.  “You cannot attack a government chartered ship in that government’s star system!  This is piracy!  It’s illegal!  You’ll hang when the government’s warship gets here- ulp!” he cut himself off, but it was too late.

              Tamara’s face went feral.  “Ykzann!” she barked.  “Long range sensors, go full active.  Tell me what you find.  Now.”

              He hissed.  “Yess, Captain.”  His sibilance slipped more as his nervousness reared up.  But he was doing his job, just as ordered.  This was a very green crew, Tamara knew, but they weren’t as wobbly as they once were.  After a moment, he looked over to her.  “Not seeing anything new on the ssenssorz, Captain,” he replied.  “Not sure what they were talking about.”

              Tamara pursed her lips, looking to her own display.  He was right, aside from the
Kara
, all ships in the immediate area were all company assets.  But Ferrod wouldn’t have said what he had if something else weren’t coming.  Something big and impressive, perhaps?  She looked up at his image on the screen.  “Your time is up, Captain,” she said, managing to keep her voice calm.  “What is your answer?”  She held out one arm toward Garidhak at Tactical, who tensed her own hand over the button.

              The man gritted his teeth, his face completely white.  “Very well.  Send your boarding party.”  He cut the connection.

              Tamara sighed.  “Helm, move us into position for hard dock.”

              “Yes, Captain,” Wymea replied, working his helm controls.  The ship smoothly sailed over to the freighter, readying for the docking maneuver.

              “Mister Ykzann, keep one of those eyes of yours fixed on the long range sensors.  I want to know the instant you find anything coming this way from the planet.”

              The zheen’s antennae perked up.  “You expecting company, Captain?  I mean the freighter captain could have been lying.  Or referring to the backlash by the government.”

              Tamara shrugged.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “But we were surprised once and that bastard snuck troops onto the station.  I don’t want to be surprised again.”  Her voice was very firm.

              The zheen nodded.  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, looking back to his displays, sounding chastened.

              Tamara sat back, watching the pilot maneuver the ship into position, acknowledging Leicasitaj’s call saying that he had a boarding party of fifteen, some from gunnery, engineering and even two from environmental.  They were all outfitted with hand weapons and breathers and were ready to go.                A moment later, the ship eased over and matched speed and rotation with the freighter.  She tapped her lips with her forefinger, trying to pin down where this bad feeling was coming from.  Was it the boarding action?  Her people were green, yes, but they were all armed and would be watching for any tricks from the freighter crew.  They might have one or two soldiers left aboard the ship, but even still, her people should be able to handle it. 

              She took a deep breath to steady herself.  She had to trust her XO to be able to handle the freighter crew and secure that ship. 

              Once the ship hard docked with the freighter, Leicasitaj secured his breather, thanking the stars for the evolutionary gift his race had been given: his skin was toughened to the point where he could stand short periods in hard vacuum, a few minutes at least.  It meant that for the boarding, he didn’t have to worry about wearing a skinsuit and if there was a decompression aboard the freighter, he could survive long enough to make it into a pressurized area, so long as his breather was still secured.