Janie Cantarubia and I walked into the Mayflower’s Lounge; it was already starting to fill up. People looked our way but I don’t think they were looking at me.  I glanced around and spotted Andy and Mariana sitting at a large table with a few others who had been in on the Cruiser action, and one guy I couldn’t remember ever seeing before.

We walked on over and the first thing Andy said was, “Good to see ya Bart, let me introduce you to my cousin Ash here. Ash was the Captain of the Cruiser we just captured.”

I launched myself across the table yelling, “You Sonofabitch!”, glasses and bottles flying everywhere. I had him by the collar and had gotten in one good punch when three or four of the others pinned my arms and wrestled us apart.

“That Bastard tried to kill us all and you sit drinking with him!”, I exclaimed while trying to break free.

“Hey, hey. I was doing my best not to kill anyone.“ Ash said, wiping blood from a badly cut lip.

Still struggling, but slowly cooling down, Janie explained about the power plant being set to explode. I could see the confusion showing in Ash’s face and said, “Ok let me go but I want some answers and they better be the right ones.”

“Political Officer. It had to be the Political Officer, I didn’t know a thing about it.”

Ash’s tone of consternated bewilderment was so convincing I almost believed him.

“Let’s get this table together and get Bart and Janie a drink”, Mariana said, “Then I think Ash has got some explaining to do.”

As Hanna’s message came in I was just starting to cut across the Network dead zone on my way to the Lancer dock. I was just starting to turn out of the area when I saw the robots hanging from the ceiling from chains and come-a-longs. “Damn theres gotta be a good story over that!” Exiting the dead zone I keyed the wristcomp, “Mariana Andy; hear the location of the bar” “Heard it and moving, Ash believe it or not might have just brought the price of a ticket. Show you when we get there! Mariana Out!”

Got to the correct corridor to see everyone’s luggage lined neatly up along the corridor walls. Digging up our rucks and cases, I pulled case 1 and the compact cleaning kit from my ruck. I quietly sat cleaning and stowing everything but the AMT. Just as I finished shucking the AMT in the sleeve rig Mariana showed up with Ash and his ruck and carry bag, plus a shipboard container! “You are not gonna believe what Hound Dog has in here!” Opening it she displayed 6 1.75 lt. bottles of Gentleman Jack Aged Reserve. Reaching into the carrier I grabbed two, “Ash, you are now forgiven. Why don’t you take those other 4 into the Bar and make some friends fast. You are sure to need them.” “Damn Cuz, that ain’t never been my problem” As he headed for the Bar door; Mariana growled under her breath, “Now as long as no one has a Daughter or a girl friend he’ll make it.” Mariana quickly cleaned her weapons and stowed the Randall’s back in the case. We ditched the silencers and the sub-sonic rounds; closing the case she looked at me and asked, “Can we really finally Stand Down?”

I had to stare at my boots for a moment as it was finally hitting me. “One more thing to do then, really we can finally Stand Down.” Hoisting the 2 bottles, “let’s find some ice and glasses and get it done!”

Moving into the Bar we saw Hanna and yelled “Glasses and Ice please, we bought our own.” Laughing she sat down 2 glasses with ice and we poured 2 drinks. Being my turn, the toast went up “To absent foes.” “May they find a seat at Fiddlers Green!” “And a cold beer close to hand.” We drained the glasses spun them and sat them mouth down. “Hanna, we hate to be a pain; but, could we get two more glasses?”

Hanna came over with 2 more glasses and a quizzical look. “Memorials, my Lady. Not to be used again this day!” Smiling she walked away. To Marianas ‘what now?’ look I said, “Have a couple of stiff ones and wait for Bart. Meanwhile, smile and answer questions!”

     Jules said, “The troops are going to be mighty thirsty after this and need a place to wind down.  Let’s be ready for them.”  Unsure I called the bridge “Bridge Parker, may I enquire as to the ship’s status?”  “Parker Bridge, you may rest assured that the Mayflower is at normal security; combat operations are over!”   I checked with Glenda and found out that the Lounge was located at Deck 3, B19 cross 22.   She said that it was secured, and okay to retrieve the Lancer’s and pillaged bar stock.  We’d give them a heroes welcome.  Glasses ready, bring on the Guiness, G&T, and even McPherson’s. “Parker, To All, Bar’s open at Deck3 B19 cross 22!” 

     Slowly the warriors returned.  Each with their own story.

As I took another slow look around auxiliary control I had a nagging feeling that I was missing something and there were still a few things to do before leaving the Cruiser. Then it came back to me.

“Joe”, I said. “Grab these bodies and put them someplace where they won’t leak all over everything, then go up to Officer Country and ransack all the living quarters for data files, documents, or anything else that looks interesting. Some how they knew just where to send the troopers on the Mayflower. There must have been a spy in Hamilton’s organization at one time. Lets try to find out who it was and see if he‘s still with us.”

“Gotcha Bart”

I went over to the Flight Control Station and began figuring out how to access ships central databases when a woman, Janie Cantarubia, I had met and talked with, whenever I got the chance aboard the Mayflower, entered, or should I say floated, into the compartment. Janie was in her late 20’s or early 30’s, tall, dark haired and good looking. But more to the point she was one of the few single women in our group. She had worked for the Central States Power Consortium doing reactor system security and control.

“Hey Bart“, she said, while looking at the damaged engineering control station. “Anything I can do?”

“Hi Janie. I’m trying to download all of the ships systems and central storage, whatever I can get a hold of. If we don’t take this Cruiser with us there might be some thing of interest to get at later. How about seeing if you can get something out of that.”   I said, pointing back to engineering.

“Sure thing”, she replied, “The main screen’s gone but there’s power and the secondary displays look active.”

I had just started a data dump from the main ship system when I heard Janie say.

“Bart something’s wrong here. The drive is down, that‘s good, but ships power is at 5% and climbing. No way can we be using that much energy. It just got to 6%. I am trying to kill it but nothing I do from here makes any difference. She‘s dumping heat into the reaction mass but that cant keep up.”

“How long do we have?”

“I don’t know Bart, but if the output keeps rising, minutes at best.”

“Where can we go to stop it.”

“The physical plant has to be on the lowermost deck just above the drive bulkhead.”

“Ok Janie, Follow me.”

“I could keep working at it from here.” she said

“Come on Janie,” I said, “When I get there someone’s got to show me what to do.” I grabbed the Ruger and headed out the door, Janie holding on right behind.

Into the corridor than Bam! I started to spin, the suit stopped me from turning almost immediately The bullet had hit just off center of the body armor.  I looked ahead and saw a guy with a gun.  “Damn! What the fug. I shouted “It’s me Bartlett, cut it out or you’re history.” Pointing the Rug in his direction got his attention. “The Cruiser is secured, out of the way.”

Janie and I sped on down and into the lower engineering spaces. The room was empty, a control station against the wall and a lot of colored conduits leading into a grey bulkhead.

“What now?” I asked.

Janie had reached the control station and I waited while she tried to make it respond.

“No Go Bart. It won’t do anything and power is at 11%. We’re running out of time.”

“So.. What next?”

“Blow the control leads.” She pointed to a conduit run, “The safeties have to kick in and shut the thing down.”

I aimed the Ruger and shot off the rest of the mag. No change. Loaded another and the two penetrators burst through the metal tubing. Sparks and arcs then darkness. A second later dim lighting came on.

“That’ll do it.” Janie looked at me and smiled.

I looked at her and said, “Can I buy you a drink?”

Mariana entered the door just as I finished my message to the Captain.

“Ash, what the hell are you doing here”

“Near as I can tell, brining you some target practice.  By the way, hope there is enough left to ID.”

“His fingerprints are still in one piece!”

At this point I had to interrupt “Mariana, take Ash to his quarters to pick up his belongings.  Ash, if you have any civies; get into them.  We need you out of that damn uniform as fast as possible.”

Flipping open the wrist comp  “Bartlett and Jack,  securing down the Command Deck.  If the Captain wants to scrounge this tub or tie it down and scrounge it later it’s his call.  I am going to try to find the repeater the Goonies took down and get this tub back on the internal net.  Then, I am gonna find a bar!  Stuart Out!”

While Mariana took Ash to pack, I went back to the docking bay.  Stepping over the Black Suit Major I took time to look at him.  “Damn Fred, what idiot made you an Officer?  No answer, Too Bad So Sad!  Look at it this way, you finally found your Peters Plateau”    Moving on, I began to search the storage lockers in the bay.    Four lockers in I found what I wanted, the internal repeater they had taken down.  Over the wristcomp, “Mariana, found the repeater.  I am going to remount it.  Will keep you apprised, keep Ash on a leash.”

The reply, “Like the Hound Dog he is!  No problem.  Find me a damn Bar!”

Moving in to the elevator I went down the shaft we had ascended so short a time before.  Thinking to myself it’s finally over, I hope!  When the elevator stopped I stepped out to be passed by Dr. Van Vogt and several non-shooter colonists rushing upwards.  At least Medical Bay’s supplies were not going to go to waste.  Proceeding down the corridor I eventually reached JJ standing not 10 feet from where I had removed the repeater.

“Hi, Guy!  Any problems?”  “Nope lots of traffic going back and forth but, nothing that I couldn’t handle!”

“Great, let me get this up and see if it fixes the link!  Mounting the misplaced repeater, I watched as the status lights went through the reboot then the network reorder.  As the Comm. Light settled into a steady blink I keyed the wristcomp, “Bridge, Stuart here.  You should now have direct Comms to the captured ship.  Be advised, Dr. Van Vogt already onboard.”  “Stuart, Bridge here.  Comms confirmed, the Dr. in charge of recovery operations!”  “Bridge, Stuart Roger I am retiring at best speed.  Bringing my problem with me, will assume responsibility.”  “Bridge, Aye!”

“BREAK,  Anybody know where there is a functioning Bar?”

Joint Post by The Stuarts, William Bartlett, Hanna Parker and Jack the Blade.

Stuarts

When the message came in from Tim, it was disappointing really wanted a shot at two ships! But, one was going to have to do!

Flipped the Wrist Comp open, “Bartlett, one ship at the opposite spin axis from the Lancer. We will be moving that way with Mariana and one other as soon as we strip the two usable Fleet Marine suits we have!”

Turning to the tunnel, I saw the Mariana, Question Guy and Thompson had just finished stripping the suits off the two head shots. The two Mariana had hammered mostly did not have a back. “Thompson, think you can hold the fort here, we will leave you all of the energy weapons save two? Betcha the ex-grunt can show you how to use them!”

The reply was a couple of vicious looking grins and a reply of “No sweat,they can not have much left!”

“Question Guy, and by the way what is your name?”

“Dave, Dave Webber.”

“Well Dave, you ready to run with the Big Dogs?”

“Yeah!”

“Well then, grab one of those energy resistant suits and one of the 2GEV energy rifles and fall in behind Marina. We are going to be moving fast.”

“Ready up, Spotter?”

“Oh, it’s hunting time in the jungle Shooter”

“Bartlett, we are moving will hold one intersection away from the port!”

Bartlett

After we had taken the Stores Section Marty reported in and then gave me a com code that linked me to Andy & Mariana Stuart. Andy said he was going to try and take one of the UNWG Cruisers and invited me to come along.

I called over to Joe Fortson, who was some kind of ex-military, and we did a quick inventory of the equipment we had captured.

The Goonie squad sent to the Storage Area had been well armed. Two carried blast rifles and the other three slug throwers not unlike what I had used for hunting. Well with hunting outlawed we called it predator control. There were still a lot of black bear and wolves roaming the northern Michigan Forests on the logging property owned by the mill I worked at. Between them the had a dozen or so grenades split between EMP’s, Explosives, and Flash-bangs. The also carried a couple of larger explosive devices which Joe said were shaped charges punching man sized holes through metal or rock.

We each donned one of the dead Goonie suits, grabbed what we could carry and headed for the central axial tube of the Mayflower. Several of the others with us at stores wanted to come along but I had to tell them that Andy said his plan need two and only two more.

Stuarts

Mariana asked if we wanted to take the Axial Tube. “Nope we run the halls!” Pointing to an RF repeater right over our head I said “We want to be able to cut their link to the internal network, you know they have tried to sneak into that!”

“That’s going to get noticed!”

“I don’t think so” and showed her the visual net trace running one my hand held.

“Damn, who’s making that black hole and centered right on the computer core too?”

“My guess, that’s Tim’s war on the gooniebots; but, damn it’s great cover.”

“Dave, you ready to run again?”

Before He could answer a man ran up and introduced himself as Jules Parker Jr. “Sir, I am here to help if I may.” Looked to be somewhere in late thirty’s or early forty’s but, the thousand yard stare was not there. I didn’t want to discourage anybody who was willing to put it on the line, so I said “Names Andy, what do they call you?”

“JJ mostly” was the reply

“OK JJ, can you repeat exactly what you hear, no more no less?”

“Sure Andy, one of my skills is being a trained transcriber; if I can type it I can say it.”

“OK, keep up JJ you got a job and you free up a Shooter. I’ll fill you in when we get there.”

We started chugging down the corridors towards the spin axis docks. The transverse shafts slowed us down a little but not much. Finally we reached a point two intersections away from the dock.

Just then a message came in from Jack. “Moving!”

“Good, you and one more with 2GEV energy weapons, move fast!”

“Flame On.”

I reached up and pulled down the internal RF repeater, switched off and stuck in the “game pouch” pocket of my field jacket.

“OK JJ, there is a rogue repeater just up the road from here, that the goonies dropped in with an IP8V address of (looking at my hand held I read it off) mark its location. That’s their link into the interior network. When we knock it down and put this one in its place (read off its stored address), you lock into it and you become our human repeater. If we fail the others have to know!”

I watched his eyes grow big as he replied “OK, I can do that!”

“All right Troops here’s what we gonna do, Mariana get in to their system and verify our key cards are still good. If, they are not I’ll hack the system and make ‘em good. Then we wait to see what troops we get.”

Bartlett

The Mayflower rotated about its central axis at .75 RPM giving an apparent 1 gravity 5000 foot from the center. It wasn’t a perfect sphere being somewhat longer than it was wide. A lot of care had been given during excavation to take out just the right amount metal and rock at the right locations to keep her in balance. Unlike on earth, instead of falling when moving inwards, what it felt like you were doing was climbing upwards. Another factor was that you had to give up radial velocity when moving inwards. Near the surface, at the Mayflower’s equator, she was spinning at a bit more than 400 feet per second, 280 MPH. All of that velocity had to be shed by the time the axial shaft was reached.

The inward going passage contained an elevator like car riding on rails attached to the tunnel wall. While traveling in it you sat on a bench seat or stood with your head pointed towards the central shaft. To the center was up.

We were loaded, including our selves and suits, to better than 280 lbs but lost almost 6 of those for every hundred foot we traveled inwards. As we shed our radial velocity we felt a tenth of a gravity pressing us towards the wall of the tunnel in the “Spinward” direction. At first the weight was noticeable but as we approached the central axis it just seemed to evaporate. The trip took under 2 minutes. I seemed to be adjusting well as the gravity lessened and was even beginning to enjoy the sensation.

On the way in I asked Joe, “What branch were you in, and what was it you did in the Military anyway?”

He hesitated a bit then replied. “I was one of them.“

“One of Them?”

“Yeah, Fleet Marine, those guys in the tunnel. Joined 14 years ago, just in time for the First and Second Belt Wars.”

“Belt Wars?” In a puzzled tone of voice.

He looked at me and said “You probably heard about them, if you heard about them at all, as the asteroid miner labor disputes. Labor disputes my ass, they were a full fledged rebellion against the UNWG and not against the mine owners as the Vids spun it. We were sent in to suppress them. The First, in 41, was over pretty quickly, little loss on either side. By the time of the Second, in 44, the miners had learned a lot. It took 2 years and a lot of lives on both sides till it was over.

Near the end I had a charge blow up in my blast rifle. I came to in the hospital. Seemed to make a full recovery with no permanent nerve damage but the doc’s found out I now had a slightly irregular heart beat. Chickenshit medical board wouldn’t ok me for line duty. I got invalided out with a three quarters pension 5 years ago. Took me too long but I finally figured out I had been on the wrong side.”

“You must have been on Goonie Cruisers before?”

“A time or two.”

“I think I’ll give Andy a call and let him know.”

We reached the axial tube about halfway from the forward end it was just over a hundred feet in diameter. Open through the center but with pressure doors set 300 feet from either end. On the other side of the pressure door was docking space, roughly circular but greater in diameter then the axis, and a then a second double pressure door at the surface. The Goonies had managed to put the central shaft transports out of business but Joe said. “No problem, I’ll show you how it’s done. Just remember very little forward pressure and stay behind me.“

I caught on quickly and we made very good time. Just barely pushing off and gliding . We had to be careful not to go so fast that we couldn’t stop at the end.

When Joe and I reached the last entrance before the shafts end we saw a group of suited figures waiting for us. Two figures spun and pointed small but obviously lethal handguns at us.

Stuarts

Just as I finished speaking the transverse doors behind us opened, Mariana and I spin turned with the AMT’s springing into our hands! What we saw was two Line Marines, our trigger fingers were stopped by one of them being the damned reincarnation of Matthew Quigley and the other we knew had to be retired.

“Damn Mountain Man, you gotta be Bart, cause that jerk with you is damn sure Joe Fortson.”

Joe’s whitened face croaked out “Yeah, it’s me Reaper.”

“Oh Hell, drop the codenames. The name is Andy, glad to see you and how’s the ticker? You did get your retirement didn’t you?”

Bart asked, “You two know each other?”

“Only professionally”, in three part harmony.

Joe stared and said, “How did you know I was gonna get retired?”

“Well, a couple of us chameleon wearing jerks sorta convinced the Investigating Officer on old PC 137 that He should sorta forget that the evidence showed your blast gun misfire was probably operator induced. Shit, Mariana threatened to geld us all if we didn’t. But, we also saw the report classifying you as “Politically Unreliable” so I would be willing to bet there ain’t a damn thing wrong with your ticker.”

“So why are you out Andy?”

“Same as you, we refused to shoot rock miners who did not have a damn thing to do with the rebellion. Only we were still U. S. SOCOM so we had the right to opt out of amalgamation. Hell, we are probably the reason the UN finally clamped down on Spec Ops. Took the out and got married the next day.”

“You and Magic got married, Christ can I have the draft choice on your first born?”

“Shut up, let me brief you till Jack gets here with the extra energy guns we need.”

At that point Dave popped up with, “What’s the big difference between energy and kinetic weapons?”

I looked at Bart and Joe and said “One of your guys wanta explain I’m kinda busy?”

Fortson proceeded to do his best DI imitation:

“It’s like this. In vacuum use energy. In pressure it depends. Blast rifles shoot a charged particle beam. No problem in a vacuum it’s very very fast with little recoil. In an atmosphere the charge needs to be confined so it don’t bleed off. That means ionizing a path between the rifle and target. And that charge path takes time to form and sucks energy from the shot. The general issue is a 2GEV Particle/Plasma. The energy comes from magazine fed superconducting capacitors. They mass and size about 20% of the KE. round used in the Mod 2035 Ruger. They used to try and make blast rifles with multi-shot power packs. Too many failures occurred at the connectors and in the conductors between the pack and the plasma chamber.

The Ruger’s a 30 cal. capable of single fire or three shot bursts. It fires a saboted penetrator at 4500 fps or a 200 grain expander at 3200. Most of us set up the mag with 2 penetrators followed by 8 expanders.

Both got optics that can be used as stand alones or slaved to a helmet display. The Ruger will even guide you to fire from your center of mass so that recoil don’t result in spin. It’s got a laser designator that the penetrators can track to.

Main Group

Just as the introductions finished, Mariana looked up and said; “Not only are our codes still good our CARD KEYS are still good. How damn dumb, lazy and stupid can they be?”

“Magic, never underestimate the stupidity of the UNWG”

“Bite me Reaper!”

Hearing the suppressed chuckles, I decided to start.

“OK all listen up frago! First, Jules; hike yourself back to the first place you can find that you can see both the ship repeater and the internal network and prepare to relay. If we win get a message to Dr. Van Vogt to get up here and pull the medical supplies. If we fail, run like hell screaming to high Heaven!”

“Mariana, get in your poor me, been captured mode. We are going to use the old Kanabar Muri trick. Everybody wearing a Black Suit make sure it shows some damage to cover the radio failure.”

As JJ, got out of hearing range I remarked “Anybody seen a look like that in years. That man has seen some pain but, no way he has ever looked someone square in the eye and pulled the trigger.”

Joe’s comment was succinct, “Damn Reaper, ain’t he and those like him why we are doing this?”

“Damn straight! Now what we are going to do is approach the elevator with four Black Suits escorting the second most wanted person on this vessel. The command crew will see Magic but, due to obvious suit damage not be able to contact you. This will cause them to release the safety locks SOP says must be in place.”

“Jack as soon as you are in the elevator hand this hand held to Mariana and HOLD THE DOOR! Joe as quick as Mariana confirms she is in the shipboard network, shoot out the repeater mounted here (showing him the 3-D). Then you and I sprint for the elevator, I will place this repeater in place of the shot out one. It will be keyed to talk internal but, not to the ship. That will kill their surveillance outside the hull.

Once inside we proceed to the 1^st T-Intersection. There I will go left and the rest will go right. You will proceed past the mess area and crew sleeping facilities to the next T-intersection. Jack you will stop here, back to you in a moment!”

“Mariana you go left to DC/AUX, take it; Dave you will back her.”

“Bart you go right to Engineering Control, Take it! Joe, you will back him.”

“Jack, directly in your face, centered on the top of the T, is a double wide panel. This is the security override computer. If we take down DC and the Command Deck with it still up, it will blow up the ship! Two simultaneous energy shots to the upper right and lower left corners will drop the ASRS. It’s a safety built into the system. A control panel will then open, plug this hand held (handing him a hand held with interface cable attached) into the data port and press 1**. This will take down the interlocks and it will slide out in the maintenance position. Then, blow the damn thing up! Next press 99## on the handheld, which will flash a message to Mariana and I that we can go.  Wirehead if you can find and blow just the power supply, that will leave a whole buch of salvageable parts.  If not, smoke it all!”
” This is not my plan, in the old SOCOM we had a standing OPLAN to take a UN Cruiser. Five minutes, if we do it right; we have medicine, food and freedom. Any questions?”

Bartlett spoke up. “This is all zero grav. How about the 2 minute course in suit controls?”

Fortson

In DI Mode

“Clench either hand into a fist, or on what you are holding, for 3 seconds and the suit aligns the up. We’re all pointed in the right direction. Do it now!. A green dot in the upper left of your visor will now be lit. If that dot is yellow you have less than 200 fps Delta V in your thrusters, red 50, black, you ain‘t goin nowhere. The suit will keep you upright and take out spin.”

“You wanna move, look in that direction and clench twice. You wanna stop, clench once. These suits ain’t nothin fancy one speed like a brisk walk. Easier than riding a bicycle and you can’t fall off.”

Dave asked. “Joe why didn’t you guys use the thrusters when you came up the axial shaft?”

“Savin DeltaV, savin DeltaV.”

To The Elevator

With any questions out of the way Mariana and I finished gearing up. She had already inverted her field jacket to the damaged side and opened up the Velcro tabs on the pants that looked oh so like tears.

Jack “Are you always this paranoid or have you used this gambit before.”

Mariana and I just grinned at each other and in unison, “yes”.

Dropping the mags from our cross draws, shucked out the up the spout round and pocketed it. We then inserted mags with a red stripe on them, visually cross checking each others. Then we cambered a round, dropped the mag and inserted a single round on the top; we screwed on the silencers.

“Well, everybody ready?” The reply was a round of silent nods.

“OK, face shields on and energized; Bart, start the parade.”

Bartlett stepped out into the axial tube and looked towards one of the smaller access doors leading into the docking bay. His thrusters kicked in and the rest followed. As we neared the lock it sensed our approach and opened automatically.

The cavernous room was mostly empty with a few small shuttles parked on the outer rim. We continued upwards to the docking tube where the Goonie cruiser was moored, elevator shaft attached.

Flipping up their shields and tapping for the glaze, they started a pretty credible imitation of a shaken squad returning with enough to save their tails. Approaching the elevator, Jack had the native smarts to face the repeater and point at his ear with a negating motion. Bart at the same time grabbed Marina by the shoulders and turned her to face the repeater.

Immediately the elevator doors sprang open and the group filed in. Jack and his companion seemingly accidentally left one foot in front of each door.

Just as the doors were attempting to close for the second time we heard “IN”.

Give the ex-Jarhead his due, Joe’s energy blast smoked that repeater before the carrier wave from Mariana’s message dropped. Immediately we were sprinting for the doors. I stopped and removed the smoking hulk of the rogue repeater and slapped up our salvaged ship repeater.

Keying my mike, “JJ, you up?”

“5×5 Andy”

“OK, we are in the elevator. Worst thing that can happen is this baby blows up!’ Then the elevator doors closed.

“Move back people” as Mariana knelt directly in front of the doors and I moved to stand directly over her.

As the elevator slowed we deep breathed 3 times and locked our eyes open. As the doors opened we saw a Black Suit Major starting to say something. He was interrupted by two PHHT-PHHT sounds, followed by the tinkling of four pieces of brass to the floor.

Moving out quickly we reached the first T. “First split folks, good luck and good hunting. And Dave, watch her backtrack!” “Jesus, sure!”

Turning left, I intentionally did not look back!

Main Group

With Mariana in the lead they moved rapidly down the hallway. At one time this much space would have seemed a luxury but, having seen the Mayflower!

Reaching the last T Mariana turned “Luck Jarhead.” From Joe “Luck Spook.”

To Jack “There it is, the key to the door to freedom. Blow it open!”

To Dave, “On me, let’s go”

Without another word they split into their task groups.

As Told by Jack the Blade

Looking at the panel Jack told Wirehead; “I got the upper right, you take the lower left.”  “Right Boss.”  “OK, 3,2,1,SHOOT.”  The pefectly sychronized shots dropped the shields in a flare of brilliance.  Moving swiftly Jack popped the interface cable in and pressed the command sequence.  The computer panel moved out into the maintenance posistion.  “Damn Boss, the power supply is isolated as hell.”  “Bust it then!”  Wirehead quickly slapped a C-12 quarter block on the power supply, popped in a detenator and jumped back.  “Fire in the hole!”  “Clear, shoot it!”  Thumbing the detonator, the decks rang and shook with the force of the explosion.

“Gut shot, Boss.  That thing is dead and salvageable!  I don’t think you need to send a signal!  Every security interlock on this tub just died.”  As he spoke they could hear the sounds of gunfire from two directions.  Jack said “Really, you think you know where the Arms Room is on this tub?”  The only reply was a grin and a pointing motion.

As Told By Mariana

Making it to my door went a lot easier than I had planned. This was fine with me.

As I stood in front of the door, I double-checked to make certain the safety was in the OFF position on my weapon.

I pulled out my card and handed it to Dave. “If Jack doesn’t get it done swipe the card into the card reader and stand back.”

As we waited suddenly the deck shook to a large explosion. The alert lights on the door went out and we heard the electromagnetic locks relax

Kicking open the door, I said, “Knock. Knock.”

As the door opened, I recognized the man standing opposite me. Before he could respond, I put two holes between his eyes. As he was falling I grinned and said, “Tag. You’re it.”

Once he was lying on his back, I walked over, smiled and stated, “I bet you, I would live long enough to watch you die, bastard.”

I took one step closer and fired one round into his crotch. There was still a huge smile on my face.

Next, I turned and began turning off every switch I could find.

In a manner of a few moments later, my mission was accomplished.

Bartlett

Entry into the cruiser went as planed. The suit really did do all the work We split from the others saw no one else till Joe and I paused outside of the pressure door at Engineering Control. He looked at me expectantly.

“Well Joe, how would you go about this?”

“They’ll be two maybe three guys inside. One at the reactor station on the right, one at auxiliary flight control on the left. Could be another but don’t think so. Be in suits but not battle armor. No reason for the door to be locked out. Up above, always, down below we wanna get out if things go wrong

Why don’t we just grab the Rugs, no point in blowing somthin we could use later, and wait for Jack to get the overrides. We hear the word or alarms go off I pop the hatch and take the guy at the reactor you take the guy at flight.” He looked at me expectantly.

“That’s just how I’d do it Joe.” I paused for effect, ”And remember no prisoners, and no chance to warn anyone else.”

“Yeah.”

Joe tapped my Ruger’s sight and a crosshair image about the size of a quarter appeared in front of my eyes showing the ceiling where it was pointed. I flicked off the safety and the crosshairs turned red. Wasn’t long till we heard the alarms go off. Joe pressed the lock control and the door slid open. He launched inwards pointing right. I followed swinging left. It’s a lot easier for a right handed guy to swing left.

I saw a suited figure strapped in a seat partially obscured by a control station and view screen. He must have been checking the alarm status and was beginning to look my way when the crosshairs moved to his chest. I heard Joe’s three round burst just before I squeezed the trigger.

My first penetrator crashed through the view screen hitting slightly lower than I had intended but close enough. Two more out of reflex and it seemed really quiet. There were no others in the room.

Joe turned looked me in the eyes and said, “We done Good.”

As Told by Andrew

I was moving fast, I had two control points to pass before Jack blew security.

We had to get this done, there were enough medications in this sick bay to pattern growth replicators for 20 years. As well as goodly supplies of the anti-agathic drugs the Blue Helmets still claimed did not exist. Here was my one chance to never have to be the Reaper again. If we could get this done, it would be as good a shooting the one bastard I really wanted to.

Grabbing the still valid (how stupid were they) Pilots keycard, I blew past both checkpoints barely slowing down.

Arriving at the Command Deck door, I reached up and opened the access door to the communications status indicators caught my breath and waited.

I felt the deck rock, and then the triple security links went down. In what seemed to me like a heartbeat the DC Slave Override links went down. Mere seconds later Engineering went cold and the EMag locks released with a sigh.

Hi booting the door I blew in to Command Deck to the Co-Pilot swinging up with a Zap gun. Head shot him and swung to the Capt., to see the sight of my life.

With his seat swing 90% right, boots crossed on the center console, Zap gun at his feet and hands clasped behind his head sat Ashcroft William Andrews IV, my damn cousin.

“What in hades are you doing here Ash?”

“Looking for a way outa here I think.”

“No, in space you dumbass. The only reason you stayed UNWG should keep you on the Ground.”

“Oh, Mom died last month Andy. I could not even go to the funeral; I was back in re-qual the next day the Bastards.”

“So why are you setting here like this?”

“I saw the surveillance right before you people blew it up. Mariana without you around, I think not. If you were here, there were too many of them still breathing! Remember I was your taxi driver for eight years. So I caught a whiff of old OPLAN 3160 and sat tight”

Shaking my head I keyed my inter-ship mike. “JJ, you up?”

“Go Andy!”

“Relay to the good Doctor, come raid the closet. Ship apparently new to station, should be fully stocked. BREAK; Relay to the Capt., could you communicate with me soonest. We may or may not have a problem. I for sure have a headache. Ash, if you smile, I swear I will shoot you; Kin or no Kin!”

“Ok, Andy I got a peace prize for you. Mariana’s Ex is my Damage Control Officer and he’s sure got no place to run this time!”

It was my turn to go white in the face; I had sent Magic in after the one man in the system I really wanted to shoot.

“Ash, I sent Magic to take DC/AUX!”

“What’s she carrying?”

“Grandma’s old Randalls.”

“Damn Andy, I hope there’s a big enough piece left to identify. At least you guy’s aren’t leaving any unfinished business behind.”

“Ash, I just hope we are out of this damn business. I sorta want to retire Magic and The Reaper!”

When I learned that the UNWG had secured the Mayflower, I rallied as many of my crew as I could, and got even more volunteers from the civilians onboard. It looked pretty odd, seeing my crew with their burst-fire, SpecOps Battle Rifles alongside hunters and collectors with bolt-action and semi-auto hunting rifles.

We left the Lancer and boarded the Mayflower near the Engineering area. We made our way through the hollowed out caverns and reached the exhaust trenches near the area. Rallying near the front, we could see the UNWG infantry trying to dig in. I had our force split across the two bridges and charge their positions. Standard UNWG rifles are pretty poor weapons, their high recoil and poor accuracy are only offset by their cost in mass deployments. The other group broke through the enemy position first, and quickly flanked the group holding our bridge. Assuming that was it, from the early reports, the fool civilians started to celebrate. A quick recrimation and they were back on board, however.

We started towards the reactor, and it was obvious that they were defending the reactors themselves. This group was bigger than the force that held the bridges, but not by much. They opened up as soon as they saw us, but we met them head-on. A few civilians and one of my crew took some light hits, but we managed to eliminate the force holding the reactors. Emptying the corpses of anything of value, we found two UNWG officers, Black Lines. I had my crew strip them of their uniforms, any damage could be patched, and we might need them.

I reported into the captain that the reactors were secure. The only response I got was an open broadcast: ““Capt., Stuart here, any chance we can go for one of the docked Cruisers. They gotta be stocked for outer patrol, cause they sure did not beat us here from Earth. To All, if it’s a go any takers?”

My only response was “I’m in”. I looked at my militia, “If you’re wounded, get patched up and sit this one out. Otherwise, let’s go raiding!”

The bastards were waiting for us.

Like trap door spiders waiting for a snack. I hate spiders.

We had to dock and unload fast, and try to figure out how to fight them.

Turns out there were only about two dozen or so troops, and we had more than enough folks to handle them.

I hopped onto a security terminal at the boarding gate, and started trying to find out what was up. Luckily it was a Western European made system, so figuring it out wasn’t too bad. Plus it was for Security, so it was made for idiots, sorta like the ones for fast food franchises. Just punch the pretty pictures, reading was only for bosses. The ones from Eastern Europe and mainland Asia are a pain. Those folks think weird. I entered “English” into the config options and started poking around. Literally.

Andy asked if I had any clue where the goonies were coming from, so I checked it out. The security settings weren’t very secure. No passwords or anything, all open. But that was to my advantage. I found the security tracker and looked for groups of people.

They were spread out into four groups right where Captain Monroe had reported. But there was only one ship other than the Lancer. It was at the docking port at the opposite pole, so not right near us which was a lucky break for the moment. It would give us time to plan, but also for them to get away if anyone was left on board.

I passed that on and started to work on the robot problem.

First, the security cameras showed me there were two of them, they were small, looked like mining robots, not security bots, so the goonies probably just decided to use them to beef up their forces. They looked local, and old, not shiny, new and UNWG funded. I remembered reading that these type were used to prospect small caverns and to build small ‘rooms’ for living quarters, and generally grind and pulverize rock in places that the larger main mining machines were too big for, or too expensive to use until it was known to be worthwhile.

They were also remote controlled. That much was clear. They were also tough enough to withstand being buried in rocks, rubble, dust. Mining is a tough environment, bullets probably would not work well against them. But they had operators and communications, and those could be vulnerable. Since the goonies were on the move, they were not controlling them from the regular control room, and a mobile team would not be doing it, you need a console or helmet, and the controls in your hands. That makes walking hard, assaulting an asteroid impossible, which left only the ship. On the other end of the stinking asteroid. Nuts.

OK, if you can not stop one end, stop the other. I would need a team, but I needed some information. I called the control room and they verified that yes, they used RF repeaters for communications throughout the asteroid, that they looked like 6 inch wide poker chips with a dozen antennas sticking out all around them. They worked off the power grid, but had a backup battery good for up to 24 hours in case of failure. I looked around and saw one by hatch and went over to examine it.

It was snapped into a mounting bracket mounted to the ceiling and popped right off, with an on/off switch on the bracket side. It was made to be easily replaced. So all we had to do was pop them off, and turn them off.

Believe it or not, this took all of maybe 5 minutes. Felt like 5 hours.

So I shouted out: “I need volunteers with more brains than muscles! If you know electronics, wiring, networks or even better, robots or anything like that, so much the better”.

Nine folks came over, one network guy named Subbu, two electricians, (a married couple of all things, isn’t spending all day and night with your spouse overkill?), and the rest geeks like me. Seven men, three woman. So we had ten. But no robot techs. That would have to do.

I explained what I wanted to do, the network guy confirmed the repeaters were low power and generally had a 150 foot range, but in rock it would be line of sight as well, since RF does not go through rock, as a rule. So they would be positioned at intersections, mostly on the ceiling, since wall mounts required two to cover blind spots.

So the plan was made. I marked out the corridors parallel to the one the bots were using to head towards the computer room, as well as the computer room itself.

I set them up in teams and explained that we would create an RF zone of darkness around them.

I sent two three “man” teams to each parallel corridor, two should run as fast as they could down the parallel corridors. One person on each team in the parallel corridors should stop halfway down and start disabling repeaters, working towards the computer room, the other should go all the way to the end and disable them as they worked their way back, away from the computer room, the third would start at the rear, near where we were, and work toward the other two as they worked back. Once they were done, we should meet up in one of the intersections we designated, with a crossing corridor that ran between all three of the ones we were clearing

The teams in the bot corridor were to start, one at the computer room, and one behind the bots, and disable the repeaters as they worked their way towards the bots. They were two man teams. One person to be a lookout, to keep an eye and ear open for the bots. They should try to avoid being seen if possible, since we did not want to tip our hand, plus we were not absolutely sure the bots had nothing that could be used as a weapon.

The plan was to have the bots walk into RF darkness as they got closer to the computers, and eventually cut off all signals as we shut down the repeaters. Eventually, they should just shut down as they lost signal.

Once everyone understood the plan, we took off, I was one of the two disabling the bots corridor from the computer room back, that way I could check out the room briefly.

Just a locked door, not airtight since computers did not need air, and just strong enough to keep a human from breaking in, but not a mining bot. It would probably take them all of five minutes to get in.

We got busy. Since my partner was short, I did the disabling since I was tall enough to reach the low ceiling, she acted as lookout. We got about four repeaters in, when she heard them. They were far from quiet, so we kept going and got three more repeaters before we got too close. So we had blacked out the RF signal for about 500 feet from the computer room, since the repeaters were not that far apart.

We backtracked and ducked into the next side corridor and waited. The bots came grinding down the corridor. They certainly were not built for speed. They were traveling at about half walking speed. They each had two sets of tracks under a platform, like little bulldozers, and a low, triangular, “turret”, flat on the front and rear, with ugly looking apparatus on an armature sticking out of one face of the turret, but nothing that looked like it could be a projectile weapon. The turret looked like it could slide back and forth from the front to the back of the track platform, as well as turn. So it might be able to flail around if we approached it. There was a video camera on the front of each, but whoever was operating them didn’t bother to check the side corridors. Probably someone not used to this dragged into doing it by his superiors. I sent my partner back up a side corridor to get the others, and kept watching the bots. I saw service panels on the back of the turrets, so there was probably a way to disable them inside. If they got too close to the computer room, we could get up behind them, open the access doors and rip out whatever we could, hoping whoever was operating them could not react in time. But I had faith in the plan, they should stop any minute now.

And they did. Just before the next intersection they stopped. But why. That was the question. Was the RF cut off, or were they doing something else. I waited for the others.

They showed up about two minutes later and confirmed that they disabled all the repeaters they could find.

OK, so now the test. Subbu, (the network tech), and I went up quietly to the back of the bots. We examined the first one. The panel on the back was marked “Service”, and there was also an on/off toggle under a protective metal cover. Machines, gotta love ‘em. They all have off switches.

We flipped the switch on the first one we got to and then went for the next one, keeping an eye on the first one, but it did not move. The second one turned off, we opened the panels and checked it out. There was a main terminal for recharging, as well as a menu screen allowing access to various systems, like the RF transmitter. We shut everything off on each, as well as a complete shutdown, since the off switch seemed not to power the computer. Since the things heavy, probably close to half a ton even if they were fairly small, that was enough mass to make them difficult to move, but we managed to secure them by hanging them upside down from the ceiling with loops of cable we found nearby, by looping the cable around the platform where the treads and the armature on the turrets could not get to it. Even if they reactivated somehow, they would be unusable. We did not want to destroy them, they could be useful.

I did not want to reactivate any repeaters until we knew what was going on. I sent two of the folks out to report what had happened and later found out everyone was freaking out that so much of the RF network had gone black.

But we did it. We restored the RF network later after the station was secure, but last I heard, the bots were still hanging there.

     Oh no! They were waiting for us. The UNWG forces. Now what to do? Their presence made us even more determined to risk everything for our freedom. Capt Monroe sent four teams out to defend the Mayflower. You could tell immediately who would commit to “fight or flight”. The majority rallied, but some were squeamish. There was mayhem onboard. Jules Jr raced to Captain Monroe, “What if those 2 cruisers attack the Lancer? What’s the plan?”

     Captain Monroe already had the mike in his hand, and signaled for JJ to remain. Then came the announcement: “Okay everybody, stay calm. We have to evacuate the Lancer and remove all its supplies and food. Grab your bags. Hurry. Dump everything inside the Mayflower. Hurry! We could be attacked before we can lock her into the docking bay.”

     Anxious but acting quickly, I said a quick prayer as we transferred our baggage into the Mayflower. Glenda and Steven organized other teams, and concentrated on emptying the Lancer. She sent Linda and the girls to the dispensary via a tunnel transporter. Jules and I helped offload the remaining baggage, for the defense teams and several colonists who never made it on board. Then we formed bucket brigades and retrieved anything not nailed down… from berths, bar, control room, etc.

     As miscellaneous items were hastily passed forward from the berths, a tote bag burst open. An unusual array spilled out: various sized clear bags labeled spices, sugar, brewer’s yeast, gemstones, and a strange-looking 12” oval sealed container. I quickly scooped them into a laundry bag: if someone thought these items were important enough to bring along, I’d better salvage them.

     JJ hurriedly gave each section a final glance. He grabbed the last bottles from the bar (can’t forget the gin and McPherson Scotch!) and reported to the captain “All clear.” Then we ran into the Mayflower.

     Captain Monroe and his crew stayed aboard in order to defend the Lancer if she were attacked, and be ready to dock her inside the Mayflower if we were successful in our defense.

     It was eerie. The tunnel’s uneven rocky sides had amber lighting that intensified as we approached. I never liked motion-sensor illumination because I never trust the shadows. Just then we heard that the Mayflower was secured though there was still a Goonie ship parked somewhere out on the surface. Andy Stuart put out a call for help in capturing that ship and Junior took off. Maybe he could reach Andy in time to assist.

     Jules and I got on a transporter and swooshed down a side tunnel.  We thanked God for our survival thus far, and asked Him to watch over Andy and the others trying to capture the Goonie cruiser.

Into the wristcomp, “Capt., Stuart here, any chance we can go for one of the docked Cruisers. They gotta be stocked for outer patrol, cause they sure did not beat us here from Earth.” “To All, if it’s a go any takers?”

The first reply was “what are you talking about”. Cursing myself for the fact that I sent the first question only to the Capt., I resent “to all, these ships are stocked for outer system patrol. Let’s take one and it’s supplies”.

From the Capt. “Could make the difference!”

Garbled reply from someone “I’m in”.

“Tim, you are in the network, get us a position on their bording points”.

From Tim “Working on it”.

“Well, Shooter, maybe hunting season ain’t over!”

“With any kind of luck Spotter!”

Then clearly from Bartlett, “I am in, get us a location!”

“Tim is working on it, stand by!”

“Spotter, strip off those two usable Black Suits.  Maybe sneaky ain’t out yet!”

“Bet we going back in the jungle, Shooter!”

“Like I said, with any kind of luck!”

To Be Continued