Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (31 page)

"Ok...
So, what's the mercury and argon mean? And what the hell
happened
to this ship?" Jack adjusted the throttle to coincide with the
Eliza Meru's drift.

"Pirates,
probably." Both pilots turned to look Trigoss in the eye,
expecting
to see some humor there. There was none. "So, we don't want to
hang around here too long." He turned away, "Marcus, those
grapples ready?"

“
Yep."

"Fire
away then!" The small shuttle vibrated as the grapple points
fired,
trailing tether cables. The points pierced the hull of the Eliza
Meru around the hole in her hull and opened to hold the cables fast.
"Ok, Marcus, they've stuck, winch us in." Trigoss was
watching from a starboard observation port. The winches hummed as
the cables pulled the two ships together, the shuttle's hatch
covering the hole in the Eliza Meru.

"Ok,
boys, we're all the way in. Give us a little reverse thrust,
let's
stop this drift." Jack applied back-thrust as Paul gathered
their gear. Above the top of the crippled hull, Jack could see the
Princess Hedonist in the distance, about ten miles out. For some
reason, she seemed farther away than that.

The
four men donned their helmets and popped the shuttle's hatch. A
great
whoosh
and the air disappeared, lost to the starry void through the gap
between the ships. The special suits the men wore were not the
clumsy, bulky suits worn by Earth's Astronauts. These fit more like
a scuba diver's suit, though not quite as tight. The climate and air
support equipment was small enough to fit on a utility belt that
plugged into the waist of the suit and provided about four hours of
life support.

Jack
checked his sidearm as he stepped through into the darkened
interior
of the Eliza Meru. Trigoss touched him on the elbow from behind,
"Relax kid, you won't need that. Won't be anything but ghosts
here..."

Paul
and Jack exchanged glances in the darkness, their faces
illuminated
by the systems lights in their helmets. Neither said a word. They
both had the feeling their Chief Engineer had seen this kind of
thing before. The artificial gravity system was still working but
just barely, and the men had to carefully negotiate their way
through the corridors. Lighting glowed faintly but inconsistently
throughout the ship and Paul was glad for the hand-spotlights they
carried. Signs of struggle were everywhere. The once gracious
interior was strewn with ruined furniture, the walls and ceiling
marred with black burns from small arms fire. Since there was no
atmosphere, there was no sound and the stillness was eerie and
chilling.

The
four men split up to inspect the ship, connected only by the
comm
units in their helmets. Jack's hand itched. He longed for the weight
of his .45, but all he had was the lightweight sidearm issued him in
the flight bay. He pulled it from its holster and returned it, his
common sense telling him, weapons were unnecessary here. The hair at
the back of his neck and his alarm senses made him pull it back out
again, it made him feel less naked.

Paul
had been in three rooms and found nothing. He was about to
head
to the bridge where they'd agreed to meet, when he stumbled over
something in the hallway, some kind of an animal, a pet most likely,
its head and brains blown across the corridor deck and walls. "Ugh."
He turned away in disgust and continued down the hall. He reported
what he saw into the comm unit.

Trigoss'
voice came back calm and dry, "Yeah, I got four humanoid
casualties
over here, probably bodyguards or crew. All done execution style...
real thorough too. Be damned if I could even guess what race they
used to be."

The
last room on Jack's level made him rear back in horror. A woman,
probably
middle aged and of good physical shape, lay nude, spread eagle and
bound to a bed of regal proportions. Her face was frozen in a
ghoulish mask of terror and pain. It was obvious she had been raped
and tortured.

Cut,
lash and burn marks, showed scarlet on her breasts, feet and
stomach.
Her eyelids had been removed so she could not close them against the
horror. Her tongue had been torn out to silence her screams. There
was blood everywhere, frozen to the walls and furniture in the cold
of zero atmosphere. Even in his years on the Police Department, Jack
could not recall anything this horrific. "Oh God..." He
clenched his teeth and swallowed hard, forcing the bile back down.
He backed out of the room and into the corridor. Leaning against the
wall, he turned up the oxygen in his suit and calmed his breathing.

"You
Ok, Commander?"

Jack
turned his head and started, surprised to see Trigoss standing
next
to him. "I'll be Ok." He pointed into the room, "She's
been tortured, it's bad." Beads of sweat ran down his forehead
and stung his eyes, making him blink.

"Pirates."
The Engineer's tone was flat.

"Fucking
animals..." Jack's voice was filled with venom. His disgust
and
aversion was quickly turning to a burning hatred for those
responsible for this atrocity.

The
bridge was a free-for-all of carnage. The crew was scattered
everywhere,
slaughtered at their stations, most unarmed. Marcus began unpacking
a small satchel on the control console. The satchel contained
explosives, detonators and timers. "No one else should ever see
this," he said, "let them sleep in peace."

They
all agreed and began assembling and installing the charges
about
the ship. The unspoken additional truth was, they didn't want the
pirates using the automated distress equipment as bait either.

■ ■ ■

"Good
Lord. What's taking them so long?" Gantarro sat in his command
chair
on the bridge of the Princess Hedonist, with his elbows on the
console and his face in his hands.

"It's
been less than an hour sir."

"Dammit,
Lieutenant I know
how
long it's been.
I'm
telling you it's
too
long!" The rebuked officer said no more, staring sullenly at
his station. "Ensign," said a calmer Gant, "where's
our visitor now?"

"Still
on the very edge of our sensor grid, sir. Still can't tell
what
she is yet, she hasn't moved much. Probably a UFW cruiser."

"Never
assume, Ensign... gets you in trouble. Let me know if she
moves."
The mysterious craft appeared shortly after the shuttle reached the
drifting yacht and hung on the fringes of the Princess' sensor
reaches. Twice it moved restlessly about, but came no closer.
Perhaps, not knowing its opponent, feared revealing its identity. Or
perhaps its Captain was calculating the best opportunity for
assault. Either scenario was as likely as the other, nowadays.

Gantarro
stared at the image of the shuttle and Eliza Meru on the
view-screen,
hoping to see the shuttle break free for its return trip. He knew
one thing for sure, if it was taking this long, it must be bad. This
made him even more wary of their visitor, more likely its intent was
not an honorable one. Gant seriously wanted to just call the shuttle
and tell them to speed it up, but their visitor might hear their
transmissions. No, the best course of action was silence. Silence
and a deliberately casual and unhurried attitude. This, he hoped,
would tell whomever was watching, that the Princess had no fears.
Plain and simple... it was a bluff.

"They're
pulling out sir."

Gant
straightened in his chair, "Who?"

"The
work shuttle, it's on it's way back."

"Excellent!"
Gant slapped his hand on the console. "Navigation,
plot
the most direct route to get us back on course. Helm, swing our
stern to recover that work craft." The bridge became a flurry
of activity. "Tower, no radio communications, follow silent
signal protocol for approach and landing." Gant watched the
little shuttle draw closer on the vidscreen and felt relief.
"Where's our visitor?"

"Status
unchanged sir."

The
Captain rubbed his hands together, "Well, so far, so good."

The
Shuttle had detached cleanly from the Eliza Meru and swung away
to
head for the Princess Hedonist. The return trip took under two
minutes. If the crew aboard the work craft noticed the visitor on
their sensors, they gave no indication of it, executing a perfect
standard approach and landing as instructed by the flight tower.
Before the work craft had her systems completely shut down on the
ramp, the Princess was under way, leaving the Eliza Meru behind.

Jack,
Paul, Trigoss and Marcus, sat in the ready room and stripped
off
their flight suits in silence. No one even made eye contact. There
was nothing that could be said and eye contact could only serve to
reaffirm that painful fact. As they rose to leave, Jack decided he
could brief Gantarro alone. Besides, he figured he couldn't sleep
now anyway. "Look, you guys, uh, go get some rest. I'll take
care of this." He turned and strode away from the others, not
wanting to discuss it further.

The
others watched him go. Trigoss rubbed his chin, "that's one
angry
young man. Think he'll be Ok?"

Paul
nodded, "He'll be alright."

"Well...
he shouldn't take it so personally, it's not healthy."

"He
can't help it, Trigoss, it's in his blood. Once a cop, always a
cop.
His whole persona revolves around being a good guy in a white hat,
and for him, that means being totally intolerant..."

"Well
I hope he doesn't let it eat him up."

Paul
shook his head, "No, I don't think he'd let it go that far,
but
I'll tell you what, I pity the son-of-a-bitch if Jack ever gets his
hands on him."

Trigoss
smiled, "I'd like to watch, if he did."

■ ■ ■

The
corridors were deserted and quiet. Jack was thankful for the
solitude.
The ride to the bridge in the air car was relaxing and the cool air
rushing by, refreshing. Closing his eyes, he pulled in a cleansing
breath and cleared his mind. He would not forget what he saw, but
needed to file away the images and anger. When the air car slid to a
silent stop near the bridge, a renewed Jack Steele climbed out, calm
and collected.

Jack
stared at the vidscreen, still locked on the figure of the
Eliza
Meru. Gantarro watched the somber pilot who seemed to be mesmerized
by the image. He looked over-tired. Gant tried to decide whether to
send him off to get some rest or prompt him into speaking. It could
probably wait until morning but Gant's curiosity got the better of
him. "You expecting her to go somewhere?"

Jack
looked at his watch and smiled wearily, "Sort of."

"What
do you mean?"

"Watch..."

"What
will she do?"

"Disappear..."
Jack checked his watch again, "about now..." The
crew
on the bridge of the Princess Hedonist watched as flickers of light
raced through the hull of the Eliza Meru and tore her apart in a
spectacular final flash. A growing sphere of debris expanded outward
to a chorus of oohs and aahs from the crew. Without realizing it,
Jack sighed in relief.

Gant
wondered how their visitor would react to this. "It must
have
been pretty bad." It was more a question than a statement.

Jack
looked away from the screen. "Disgusting. Trigoss said it
must've
been pirates. All I can say is, I'd like to meet whomever, alone in
a dark alley sometime."

Gantarro
shook his head, "They're getting worse."

"They
need to be stopped." Jack's voice was without emotion.

"No
argument here, though I must say, it's rare to see this kind
of
ruthless behavior..."