There wasn't time to guess at how stupid the move was; there was just time to move. Lise disengaged her boots and hammered on the controls in her hand, twisting and turning the cargo pod, building up as much momentum as the tons of medicine could manage with nothing but cheap gas jets, as she rode it out between the closing shutters, sighing with relief when the edge of the pallet caused a mighty squawk as the safety system froze the shutters.
She rode the pallet of medicine out into open space, her heart was pounding; oxygen consumption rate alarms blaring over her helmet comm. She twisted the pallet and let it drift slowly towards the hull of the station parallel to the plating. Keying the pallet to follow her, she began the task of trudging across the hull between her rings of detection. Everything in her screamed to hurry, but in space, as they used to say in the 'Corps, rushing will get you killed.
"Holden, are you reading?"
"I'm here."
"I just barely got out of the OT. The Bandits were early. I've got the payload. Monitor comms for me, would you?"
"You're cute when you talk like a soldier."
"Scan now; flirt later."
"Yes Ma'am!"
Lise smiled in spite of herself. She'd needed that. There was nothing to do now but keep walking her strange, drunken route along the Space Station's hull.
"...Okay, there's nothing about the uh... OT.. in the Station Sec' channels, but we did just get an unauthorized work pod launch, and somebody's running interference to keep it from getting intercepted."
"Shit. I want you to start venting the Arrow's cargo bay now, and start warming up the M-Drive. Keep on sensors. Low energy sweeps. Let me know when the pod is coming."
Holden paused she could hear him interacting with her bridge computer.
"Look, Lise, scanners I can do, but I'm not a pilot."
"Take your time, even double-timing it I'm probably 17 minutes out. Remind me to invest in a thruster pack when I get paid."
Breathe easy. Breathe slow. You're in more danger from tearing your suit than anything else. Lise focused on taking slow steps and steering the pallet. She carefully registered a flight plan for the 'Arrow as soon as she was on board. But some part of her wanted to claw out of her skin.
Pain lanced through her ribs, as she took a particularly narrow turn and for a moment she was on one knee crying and cursing softly.
"What's wrong?!"
"Another Spasm", Lise said as she knelt on the plating for a moment. Tears floated free, starting to form a shell of liquid on the inside of the helmet. "I just need to breathe and keep my head in the game. I'll be there in 7."
"Is there a reason why you are still wobbling around the ship like a drunken Bwap on Holiday? They already know you're out there."
"The Bandits know I'm out here, but they are avoiding official channels. If I don't trigger any alarms it stays that way. They have no legal right to stop my departure or search the ship."
Come on!
She forced herself back to her feet and started making longer, faster strides. There was no time for pain.
 |
The Freight Handler Pod appears in The Small Craft Calaogue (C) 2023 Mongoose Games |
She was within sight of the 'Arrow when the pod came over the horizon, a battered metal egg with a serpentine mechanical arm that ended in a man-sized claw. An ugly industrial design meant to be bashed around and abused for hours at a time.
The first pass over brought caused the shell of tears in her helmet to contract into a blob that rippled and slithered around in the wake of the gut-wrenching proximity of its gravitics.
And then came the claw; she'd turned to try to make the pallet dodge, but it wasn't coming for the pallet; it reached out for her, a dragon's maw in titanium and carbon fibre. She threw herself hard down to the hull. The heavy metallic clang and the concussion of the claw snapping shut inches from her waist was imagined, rather than felt or heard. There was no whoosh as the claw swung a hand-span shy of her visor, but her brain filled it in for her anyway.
And then it was rolling away to avoid colliding with the 'Arrow.
"We've got a psycho!" she shouted into the comms, pulling herself to her feet.
Visions of being ripped in half burned themselves across her brain for a split second, and she found herself doing impossible calculations.
"I need you at the cargo bay controls start repressurization the second I say so, but no AG!"
Then, aiming the pallet and engaging its thrusters she disengaged her boots and leapt free of the hull. The universe lurched and her ribs burned and shrieked at her as she twisted herself over and used the cable for the pallet controls like a guideline. A moment later she snapped her boots together, reengaging the magnets and planting them on the bottom of the pallet. She had a second to pull herself up hard by the cord to avoid being mashed against the lower lip of her cargo bay doors, then with the floor sliding by beneath her she fired the pallets retros and threw herself off.
"Now!"
The pallet crashed into the wall of the cargo bay, causing the ship to vibrate under her hands. Thankfully, slowly enough that it didn't lose its cargo or punch a hole in the ship. The searchlights of the pod rolled across her cargo bay, as it swung past, reeling int its arm from another missed grab.
Lise grabbed the controls for the pallet out from under it and brought it to a standstill as air roared into the chamber.
"Okay! AG on!"
She stood back as the 8-ton pallet of medicine landed heavily on the deck. She engaged its magnetic locks before staggering towards the hatch. Pain now? her ribs demanded, searing.
Not yet, damnit!
She let herself collapse into Holden's arms on the other side of the door.
 |
Dosari's Righteous Arrow is a Type S Scout Ship as it appears in the Traveller Core Rulebook 2024 version: (C)2024 Mongoose Games |
"Is it as bad as last night!"
"Might be, but the adrenaline is helping. That bastard in the pod tried to kill me."
Holden pushed her up the ladder the the upper deck, then offered her a shoulder as she limped down the corridor to the command deck. They could see the pod waiting in their path through the transparent crystal-aluminum canopy.
"Doesn't look like he plans on letting us leave" Holden said as he spilled her into the pilot's seat.
"He's about six tons, and we're 100 tons of armour and thrust. He'll move."
Lise double-checked her flight permissions. They'd been green-lit ten minutes ago. Gritting her teeth, she released the docking clamps and began to drift gently away from the station arm. The pod slid sideways keeping itself and the 'Arrow face to face.
Lise shuddered through the pain, and ground her teeth behind a savage grin. "Do you really want to play chicken with me right now, psycho?"
She spooled up the gravitics harder and dirtier than necessary, making sure his sensors would see her "revving" the engine. Just long enough to get his hand on the stick... and then she launched herself forward with maximum possible acceleration. Holden was thrown to the floor in spite of the gravitic dampers. She let out a satisfied curse as the pod shot straight up to evade her.
Twisting to give the Cacholot a wide berth, she aimed for open space in the sector.
The rush of victory hit her as she turned and helped Holden up from the floor.
"Baby, are you okay?"
"Don't worry, the deck plating broke my fall." He was halfway up before they heard a crunch and the ship lurched off course.
Turning back to her console, Lise fought to redirect the ship... a sudden shift in mass... an object in the gravity wake... Damage reported to aft plating... She activated the turret camera and rotated it. The pod's claws, embedded in a seam in the armour gripped hard; the coiling arm taut behind it, and the pod rolling behind them like an obscene metal balloon. Or a ball and chain.
🪐
The peace lasted long enough for Lise to get out of her space-suit and jam painkillers in her mouth before Holden called her to the deck, and pointed to an exterior camera monitor.
"What is that idiot doing?!"
She took a second take, then a third, it still didn't want to register. She didn't want to believe the screen. The pod's pilot was EVA, walking the cable bridging the two ships like a tightrope in his magnetic boots. There was a gauss pistol velcroed to his suit.
The estimated velocity of the ship was 50,000 kilometres per hour.
"Is he out of the gravity envelope?" Holden asked.
"Not sure. But this has to be the single dumbest boarding manoeuvre I have ever seen."
There was a moment as they watched him edge slowly along the cable. Lise started to wonder if she needed to get her gun out of the locker when there was a sudden explosion. It was too fast to see clearly. Some piece of micro-debris moving much slower than the arrow intersected with the pilot. There was an explosion of blood, a jet of combusting oxygen, and the ship jerked, and he was torn free. Lost and accelerating into the black.
She had been expecting it... but still...
And then alarms started shrieking as the pod began to sway.
"How bad is it?" Holden scowled at the text whirring across the readouts.
"The asshole just ruined our perfect balancing act. The pod is pulling us all over the place. The computer is having a hard time compensating. I doubt that pod's autopilot can correct at this kind of velocity."
"So what do we do?"
"We decelerate, because I am going to have to go take control of that pod."
"Okay, there are two really big problems with that plan. The first is that if we slow down, that pod is going to smash into our ass. The second is that you just saw what happened to the last guy who decided that this was some old adventure holovid."
"I know. I know. Hear me out. We start decelerating. Once the cable starts slacking, we fire off the sandcaster, we put a nice shiny cloud of mica chips in front of the pod. That should be enough drag to start slowing it, too. Then we compensate, let her drift until she's in our gravity envelope and match vector with her."
"That will buy us a few minutes, unless the pod's autopilot can adjust. I don;t think that is a good assumption to make."
"I agree. But we just need it to be close enough that I am sheltered, so that when I go EVA, I am not going to be turned into paste by some random chunk of ice."
"The risks are insane, Lise!"
"Not as insane as letting that pod smash us like a goddamn chain hammer until the hull breaches or it drags us into a gravity well."
Holden held his breath for a moment as he processed. "Let me do it."
"Sorry, hero, I only have one space suit, and you won't fit."
He cursed softly, a thousand expressions fighting for control of his face, and then he softened into a look of resignation. "Show me what you need done."
🪐
It was a small mercy that it was impossible to tell how fast she was going. The void clawing at her suit was a terror enough as Lise stepped out of the airlock. The ship's basic readouts danced on her visor, monitoring vector, acceleration, errors. She let herself obsess over numbers she had no real control over as she walked ins slow, jerking steps along the 'Arrow's hull.
The pod was glittering now, covered in reflective powder from her sandcaster. She prayed that it was half as good at slowing rogue pods as it was at deflecting lasers and scrambling sensors. This close to the hull of a moving ship she could feel the thrum of the reactionless drive through the suit. A constant pulse of bent gravity around the ship. It was a sickening, disorienting feeling. But it meant that microparticles were being swept clear so long as she was within the bubble.
Small blessings. Count them. Breathe.
She rested a foot on the claw embedded in the 'Arrow's rear plating and watched the pod. It was coming closer now, the cable floating in a loose partial spiral, but also listing, drifting the wrong way. it wouldn't stay slack for long.
"Holden, if I pull this off, I am throwing a party. You me, my quarters, lots of booze, clothing optional."
"If you pull this off, I am taking you to the kind of restaurant that takes a week's salary to enjoy. I'll buy you a new outfit to wear, and it can be optional later."
"I like that idea. Wish me luck."
"Good hunting."
Lise grabbed hold of the cable and began pulling herself along it hand-over-hand, letting her legs trail off behind her.
Please, no micrometeors. Five meters. Six. Slow and easy. Twelve now. Thirteen... nooo micrometeors, please God... and then finally she was at the pod's hull. Climbing over it to the airlock in the rear. When she staggered into the cramped, filthy cockpit she let out a scream of relief.
"I'm in!"
It took her only a moment to sort out the controls, and finally release the claw, reeling it back into the hull. She brushed cigarette ash off the console, and pulled a sleazy printout off of a readout screen, glad she couldn't smell the dozens of beer cans full of butts taped to the wall.
"Matching vectors now"
The pod stabilized, then slowly drifted up alongside the 'Arrow and connected to her airlock.
🪐
There was at least time for coffee before the alarm sounded again.
This time, it was a potential collision alert that pulled Lise and Holden from the comfort of their quarters. The sensors showed a cutter closing fast.
"The loadout says it is Starport security, but their transponder is off." Holden said as he checked the readouts.
"I can't believe that they are going to this much trouble meds that will get them, what? Maybe a quarter million on the black market?"
"Sunk cost at this point."
"Or they want us dead because we have actual proof of the shit they've been up to instead of just gossip. And they have no idea just how bad the psycho in that pod would mess up."
Holden considered this. "It's possible. So far PortSec and Imperial Customs just don't like each other. We know they're crooked, and they see us as the Imperial boot they have to avoid getting stepped on by. I'm not sure that they want me telling them this story to my superiors."
"I'm going to cut the pod loose. It's worth more than a megacred. And they can see that we didn't mess with the computer. If they're about business, they will grab it and go home."
"And if not?"
"I'll give them something else to think about."
There was a thud as Lise broke the link with the pod and allowed it to tumble away from the 'Arrow. Then she swivelled he chair to targeting control and locked on to the ship, taking her time to aim using the loudest active sensors she had. Programming the fire pattern with incredible care. She was already imagining whoever was aboard that cutter shitting their space suits when her pulse laser passed within inches of each airlock and the viewport of her pursuers.
She didn't get to show off before the cutter broke off and turned to fetch the pod.
"That'll get them off your back in the short term," Holden said as he watched them peel away.
"So how do we get them off in the long term?"
"I make some calls. Better you not know exactly how I make this go away. I have a few people that I can pressure. Make it clear that they will lose a lot more contraband if this keeps being a problem. Maybe making the attempted theft of humanitarian supplies a big deal in the press."
"When did you get so connected?"
"I'm not, really, but I am damned good at bluffing and guesswork."
"Make the calls. We'll throw my party when you're done."
🪐
Two days later the St. Bernard and the Arrow anchored over one of the Chava system's gas giants. Lise took her time gently directing the medicine across ten free and open meters of void between cargo bays, enjoying taking in the details of the old medical scout.
She loved ships.
And thanks to this boost to her budget, she could keep flying for a long time.
She let the old tinny klaxons wash over her as the air filled the cargo bay, and pulled her helmet off to take it all in better, as Jim Peren came over to inspect the cargo.
"When I finally got away from that pointless interview they forced me into and saw the Delta-Acyclovir gone, I wasn't sure if you had got it before them or not. I don't think I've really been able to breathe until now. I'm glad I've got it back."
He handed her a case of hardcreds, and shook her hand.
"Straight to Clod from here?"
"As fast as this bucket of bolts can get me there."
"Good hunting, Jim."
"Oh, I wanted to let you know that I made some calls on your behalf."
"Come again?"
"Holden was telling me about the injuries you sustained, and how the corps couldn't get you the cybernetics you need. I know, try not to be mad at him,okay? He only mentioned it after I told him that I have a lot of friends in Chava's private clinics. If you are interested, I wrote you out a priority referral to a clinic that can repair the damage. It's not cheap, but at least for the moment, you can afford it."
"I promise I'll kill him nicely."
"He's a good man."
"I know."
🪐
Lise rose quietly from the bed and made her way across the stateroom to the shower. Holden's breathing paused, skipping a single breath, but he didn't wake from where he lay tangled in the messy sheets. She took a moment to admire him in the light of Chava as her star rose up over the planet's side. She stretched and ran her hands across the smooth surface of her shelves, enjoying the sensations, brought back into full focus, no fear of painful attacks.
Between the docking fees, the implants, and spending a week in a medical tank, all those creds were starting to dwindle again. She'd need work again. Sooner than she would like.
But for now, it all could wait. She was Free. At home. Satisfied.
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