Aurora Wolf

HOMEWARD RUN

By Ross C. Hamilton

They were all tired, too many hours on duty, too many days with too little sleep and too much worry about the vessel on tow. Eyes protested as if the eyelids were lined with grit. The crazed-kaleidoscope weirdness of n-space outside through the view finders only made the headaches worse.

This situation was normal for a small deep space salvage crew out on the fringe. But now they were less than a day out of the Kildare station where they could dump the hulk of a mining vessel Janno had contracted to salvage. It was damaged beyond realistic chance of repair, only fit for scrap and not a big paying job. That was the life of the small operator, taking the small jobs, keeping your head above water.

“Well, Skip – almost there,” Killy drawled, one long leg draped over the edge of her console as she tinkered with something on the prosthetic multi-tool that replaced her left hand. “Time for the boys to have some r and r.”

 “Yeah,” grunted Janno, owner and operator of the ship Zoe’s Pride. “Do us a favour and try to keep some of them out of the brig this time, Killy. With a bit of luck we’ll have another job soon.”

“C’mon Skip – it’s Christmas in a few days. The boys have all been looking forward to spending it on-station this year, not out on another hauling job.”

“All right for some – if we get a job then we go or you’re all looking for a new crew to sign on with,” Janno growled.

“It’s OK, Janno,” Killy said quietly. “We all know things are tight, and the boys aren’t about to leave you now. Anyway – what about Zoe and Carmyn – you want to be with them at Christmas, don’t you?”

Janno picked up the battered holopic of his wife Zoe and their daughter that rested on one edge of his console. Although it had faded over the last few years, the old prickle of guilt was still there.

Zoe had put up with a lot over the years, being married to a battling salvage operator. The endless struggle to make money stretch far enough. The lonely nights while he was away on salvage runs. Zoe had stayed true to him through it all. After that, Carmyn was born, Janno felt a little less guilty about his prolonged absences. At least Zoe had Carmyn to keep her company.

Sometimes in the quiet of what passed for night aboard a ship in the ever-present darkness of space, Janno thought about what it might have been like if he hadn’t married. At least it would have been one less thing for him to worry over and feel guilty about.

“I don’t think that matters much, Killy,” Janno muttered, rubbing his fingers against his temples trying to relieve a persistent headache. “Truth be told, I’m not sure that they’d miss me that much.”

Life was damn hard operating a small salvage outfit. The costs of running the operation were high, and the enormous mortgage that the Salvage Guild held over the Zoe’s Pride only made things worse. It was all Janno could do to keep things going with the small jobs that came his way. More often than not, the crew made more out of the small jobs than he did. Overshadowing everything was the specter of his ship being impounded by the Guild for defaulting on the mortgage.

Money – it all came down to money. You needed money to be able to make decent money. The bigger outfits didn’t just have the bigger and faster ships; they could also afford the Guild bribes to keep getting the better paying jobs – just a continual vicious circle. But every small outfit had the same elusive dream – holding on long enough until they were in the right place at the right time to score the big job that turned everything around. Just one big opportunity and he would be debt free, able to upgrade the ship and start making real money, or even sell up and settle somewhere in reasonable comfort.

Quietly sighing to himself, he replaced the holopic back on its magnetic base on the edge of the console in front of him.

“Hey Skip – we’re coming up on the jump gate,” Commy called from the pilot’s seat.

Janno flipped on the all-stations comm. “Attention all hands. Stand by for exiting n-space.”

There was the all-too familiar wrenching of the gut, the feeling of your brain being mushed out through your ears as the trans-drives pushed the ship back through the veil into real space. The maddening patterns of n-space faded to be replaced by the familiar signs of their reality.

An almighty CLANG and the ship lurched violently as the auto-guide threw the ship back into n-space, alarms blaring.

“What the hell?”

Janno checked his flight console.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Commy? You must have pulled us out into the wrong bloody place!”

“Bullshit, Skip,” Commy retorted. “I came right through the middle of the gate. Something else must have been there first.”

Janno turned to Killy. “Get back there and check the coupling wasn’t messed up by the return jump.”

Killy was out of her seat and leaving the bridge before Janno had finished speaking.

Janno turned his attention back to the pilot. “OK Commy, bring us back out a couple of light-seconds back from the gate.”

“Yo, Skip.”

The ship eased back into real-space for a second time.

“All ahead slow.”

The battered shape of Zoe’s Pride eased its way forward as Janno ran his eyes over his console and saw the telltale signs. There were objects in the area of the jump gate that was supposed to be kept clear at all times. Behind the debris, the angular shape of Kildare Station moved slowly around the uninhabited planet, Kildare.

“Commy, see if you can get a fix on those things.”

“Yep – doesn’t look powered. Metallic. Looks like someone at Kildare didn’t do the housework.”

Janno growled. If the duty crew at Kildare had failed to keep the jump gate cleared, he was going to have someone’s guts for garters.

The comm buzzed.

“Skip – the maglink took a hammering in that second jump. The load should hold OK provided you don’t do anything too crazy.”

“Thanks, Killy. Just keep an eye on it while we work out what’s going on here.”

The ship eased forward into the area of space that should have been empty of anything but beacons marking the safe point to drop into from n-space.

“Skip – something sure doesn’t look right.”

Janno looked at the shapes coming up larger in their view screen. This was no ordinary space junk. Large pieces of debris littered the area ahead of them.

“That’s ship wreckage,” Killy’s voice buzzed from the comm. “Looks like bits of Kildare’s security force.”

“More coming up, Skip.”

“OK Commy – just steer your way through.”

Janno opened an external comms channel. “Kildare Station, this is Zoe’s Pride. We just tried to come through the gate but there’s crap everywhere. What’s going on?”

A distorted voice crackled in reply.

“Zoe’s Pride – Kildare Station. Janno, we got hit hard by a large party of raiders fifteen hours ago. That’s the remains of our security screen you’re running into. Things are a real mess here. The station is still on backup power and all mooring points are all out of action. Law enforcement is on route but not yet in system. Suggest you find a vacant bit of space and take up station there for the time being until we can sort things out a bit. Kildare out.”

Janno swore. Raiders – bloody pirates more like. Hiding away on uncharted rocks until they swarmed out over whatever shipping they could find.

“Skip – we’ve got something coming fast in towards us,” Commy called out.

“Where from?” Janno snapped.

“Must have been hiding behind Kildare and come out for a look-see.”

“How far away are they?”

“Almost right on us.”

“Change course and we’ll see if they keep coming,” Janno ordered.

With a slap of his hand, Janno hit the ship-wide alarm on his console. A harsh siren sounded throughout the ship, adding to his headache. Judging that the off-watch crew should now be awake and paying attention, he turned the alarm off.

“Attention all hands. Status yellow. We have an unknown ship heading this way. All off-watch crew take up their stations. Captain out.”

Deep down, Janno felt the old thrill come back. He had seen action during his service in the marines and you never quite got over it.

“Skip – they’re still following us,” Commy called out.

Janno flipped open a general comms channel on a tight beam directed at the incoming vessel.

“Unidentified vessel – this is the Zoe’s Pride, a salvage vessel operating under license from the Salvage Guild. Please respond.”

No reply.

“Unidentified vessel, I repeat – we are a salvage vessel under license from the Salvage Guild. Please respond.”

That did it for Janno. Refusing to answer a legitimate hail broadcast on all frequencies, and clearly following them added up to one thing – another raider still skulking around. He hit the intercom again.

“Attention all crew. Status red, repeat status red. We have a hostile vessel on our tail. Gunners find your targets but hold fire.”

Janno opened a channel back to the station.

“Kildare – Zoe’s Pride. We have an unidentified vessel approaching.”

“Zoe’s Pride – Kildare,” the comm cracked back. “Dunno where that mother came from – must have hiding in the planet’s shadow opposite us.”

“Yeah, we worked that one out already, braniac,” Janno snarled. “Anything you lot can do to help if things get hot out here?”

“Not a chance, Janno. We got nothing here that can get out to you. All defences are still out. Sorry Janno, but it looks like you’re on your own for now.”

Killy stepped onto the bridge and slid into her seat as Janno cut the connection to Kildare.

“Janno – I’ve done all that I can with that coupling to the load. It’s like everything else here – just about buggered. But it should hold a bit longer.

“And that’s a big mother we’ve got coming at us,” she warned. “We could have a real problem on our hands. And with that piece of crap hanging off our ass, we’ve got the handling of a bag of wet sand.”

“Don’t even think of ditching the cargo Killy,” Janno snapped. “We lose that, and I lose the ship to the Guild. If those bastards out there want us, then they’ve got a fight. You’ve got the helm now. Now you take the con.”

He flipped the intercom over to the battle com, connecting direct to the ship’s gun crews.

“Gunners report.”

“Gun one set Skip, target acquired,” the quiet voice of Greely replied from the port wing cannon.

“Gun two set Skip, send in the clowns,” yipped the excited voice of young Renta from behind the big ion cannon in the ship’s tail.

“Gun three set, target acquired,” the laconic McIntosh responded in an almost bored tone.

“Stand by.”

Glancing at Killy, Janno raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question.

“All set Skip. Heavy shields set, guns powered up.”

“Unidentified vessel – this is the Zoe’s Pride, a salvage vessel operating under license from the Salvage Guild. Please respond.”

Still no reply.

The continuing silence confirmed it. If the incoming vessel had any legitimate reason to be heading for them, they would have responded. Being advised that Zoe’s Pride was a Guild vessel should have warned the oncoming vessel off. Nobody messed with a Guild ship. The Guild had what passed for the law out here well in its pocket, and anyone interfering with one of their vessels soon had the rough and ready arm of frontier justice on their tail.

No movement from Kildare. Shit! Things must been in a hell of a mess there if the station was not even able to launch a single vessel to come and help. Normally all available armed vessels would have come boiling out of the station against raiders like bees from a hive.

Janno turned to the intercom again. “Attention all hands, incoming vessel now considered hostile. Be prepared to fire on my command. We’re on our own now, so eyes open!”

“Skip – looks like they’re powering up,” Killy announced without taking her eyes off her panel.

Janno switched to the rear external camera, to see a huge, rusty looking craft closing in on them.

A pinprick of light flashed from the weapons bulge on the closest side of the raider, heralding the firing of a laser cannon. Zoe’s Pride jarred from the impact.

“Fire,” Janno yelled.

Twin pricks of light flared on the raider’s shield as Janno’s gunners let rip.

“Evasive action,” he snarled at Commy. The ship began to lurch and roll awkwardly with the big body on tow back and behind them.

“Fire at will,” he ordered the gunners.

Almost before he finished speaking, Renta fired from the belly gun, followed quickly by the wing guns.

“Evasive starboard.”

The ship lurched in the opposite direction. This rolling movement made it harder for the raider to target the smaller ship, while its own bulk made targeting easy for Janno’s gunners. At the same time, maneuvering kept the raider’s guns from hitting the same point on Janno’s shields too often and weakening them.

“Jeez Skip – that is one dumb mother running that outfit,” Killy exclaimed over the comm. “He’s not moving his line of attack and we have to be hitting his shields hard.”

“Commy, just keep her moving around. All guns – find a spot and keep hitting it. We’re gonna take those bastards out!”

Janno couldn’t believe his luck. Surely only a raw crew would be keeping their shield positions unchanged. They had probably missed the main raid against the station and were now hanging around looking for scraps. An orange nimbus began to glow around the incoming ship, evidence of a badly stressed shield.

“Skip – the load can’t take much more of this movement,” Commy called out.

Janno cursed to himself. “Killy – see what you can do to boost the mag-coupling again. I’ll take the con”

Taking the time for one last glance at the view screen, Janno saw the glow around the raider grow stronger. Their shields had to be close to failing.

With a glance at the sensor panel, Janno saw the reading of the raider’s shield fluctuate–a sure sign of failing defenses. Their own was still holding – for now. But wait – the raider’s energy output was starting to spike strangely.

“Skip!” Killy’s voice warned through the comm. “I think that they’re up to something.”

“I told you to worry about the cargo, not those mothers. And yeah – their output is climbing through the roof. Can you see anything from back there?” he asked the gunners.

“Oh shit Skip – they’ve got a heavy blaster cannon coming into position,” Renta moaned from the tail gun.

No wonder the raiders were prepared to take punishment – they were positioning themselves to fire a heavy blaster that would smash through the salvage vessel’s shields, leaving them wide open.

Janno thought quickly. Blasters like that had a lot of power but took long minutes to recharge for another shot. If the Zoe’s Pride crew could just somehow minimize the damage from a blaster shot, they would get a few precious extra minutes to try and do something.

“Skip – for Gawd’s sake, dump the cargo,” Killy yelled. “It’s tying us down too much. We’ve got to get away from their line of fire.”

“No!” Janno shouted. “We’re not losing that load!”

That salvaged vessel was essential. Without it, he may as well let the raiders blow him away, as he would have no choice but to default on his payment to the Guild and lose his ship. Nobody’s taking my ship!

“Guns – just keep hitting them. Their shield must be about to go. Killy – keep that bloody coupling holding. Commy, just keep us moving and make their job as hard as you can.”

Janno felt impotent. The rest of the crew had something physical to do. While he just sat helpless watching the sensors and yelling orders. An incandescent fury built inside him. He wanted to reach out and smash the raiders with his hands, tear them apart and watch the pieces fly. Wait – pieces – pieces of debris in the gate – debris in space.

“Killy – jettison the escape pods right now! Just get them headed towards the raiders.”

“Pods away,” Killy replied several moments later.

Snatching a glance at the view screen, Janno saw the three escape pods heading towards the raider’s ship. The attacking ship shuddered slightly, as the violently red beam of a heavy blaster shot out from the ship’s belly. Down it stabbed towards the salver ship, and straight into the escape pods, pulverizing two of them into dust, continuing on to strike the salvage vessel despite Cammy’s desperate maneuvering.

The ship shook and lurched violently. Lights flickered out, then hummed back to a dull glow as the backup power kicked in. as the backup power came on line. Artificial gravity was barely working, slowing everyone’s movements down. Shrill alarms squawked as systems crashed all over the ship. Janno had been hoping for more of the blaster’s beam to be dissipated by hitting the escape pods. He didn’t need to look at the sensor array to know that their shields had to be finished – they couldn’t handle a blast like that.

Janno knew that they were going to die.

It was so damned unfair.

He punched the console, sending the holopic of Zoe and Carmyn skittering across the control board to settle right in front of him. Zoe’s eyes seemed to be smiling into his.

“Doesn’t look like I’ll be home for Christmas after all kiddo,” he muttered to his wife’s picture.

As he stared at the holopic, Zoe’s faded blue eyes reached out hypnotically to him. They seemed to swell and expand into pale blue pools. He felt as if he was falling into them.

The sounds around him died away as memories suddenly crowded his mind. The joy the young marine felt when the attractive girl had agreed to marry him. The sacrifices that they both made in the early years after he left the Corp. The immense pride he had experienced in finally getting a ship and naming it after his wife. Then the mental image of a very tired Zoe clasping the tiny bundle of newly born child pushed everything else aside. With exhaustion clearly etched into her face, sweaty hair plastered against her head from the long battle of a difficult birth, Zoe smiled up at him, pride radiating from her.

The enormity of not seeing them again swamped Janno. For so long, the ship had always come first – everything else a distant second, even Zoe and Carmyn. He had long felt like he was less the individual and more just an extension of his ship.

In all of the dangerous situations he’d been in before, he’d never considered not seeing Zoe and Carmyn again.

Forget the ship, they’re what really matter. Right now, more than anything he wanted to be back with them once more.

Janno dimly became aware of the noise around him once more. He glanced around the bridge. Commy had an extinguisher out, plastering foam over acrid smoke streaming out of his navigation board. The alarms screamed, heralding the ship’s distress.

Killy’s voice was screeching at him through the intercom.

“Skip – SKIP! Are you there? Answer me you mother!”

“We’re okay up here, Killy. How’s things down at your end?”

“Your trick with the pods must have worked, Janno,” Killy whooped. “We’ve taken damage but not as bad as it probably looks and we still have partial shields. Power’s back again for the moment, but Renta’s gun was hit hard and he’s not answering. I’m going to try and drag him out.”

“Hold there till Commy joins you. Commy – switch whatever helm control you’ve got over to me then get back there and help Killy.”

“There’s not much Skip. Forward and back only at the moment.”

Janno took a deep breath. “That’s all I’m going to need for the moment.”

Commy wiped a handful of foam off the face of the navboard, and pressed a sensor. “Over to you Skip, whatever there is,” he yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted out the door of the bridge.

Janno turned his attention to the helm controls. He gently eased the reverse thrusters online, slowing their forward momentum.

“Skip – I’m at the board back here,” Cammy’s voice sounded through the comm. “Killy’s gone to get Renta. That blast has messed up the couplings pretty bad and the load’s going to go any time now.”

“Just keep it holding there for the moment Commy. I’m working on something here.”

Switching to the all ship com, Janno spoke again. “Everybody – suit up now if you haven’t already.”

Even as he spoke, Janno was reaching behind him to the pressure suit that was always near to hand, leaving the helmet on its wall clip. Stepping into the open legs of the suit, he reached down and slipped his arms into the sleeves in a well-practiced motion. Straightening up, the thin suit slipped into position around him. Running a finger up the groin-to-neck seam, he activated the seal and felt the strange sensation of the suit pressurizing itself against his body.

As Janno sat in front of the console, Killy’s voice broke across the intercom.

“Skip – I’ve Renta back to the medbay. But he’s been messed up pretty bad – we need to get him in to the station.”

“OK Killy – get him into the med booth – that should hold him for now. And get your bloody suit on. Guns – status report.”

“Gun one –still in action and their shields look like they’re going to go down at any time now,” replied Greely’s ever calm voice.

“Same here,” McIntosh grunted from the starboard gun-well.

“Just get their shields down. I’m reversing the ship back towards them and going to hit them with the cargo.”

“YOU’RE WHAT?” Killy screeched. “Are you out of your mother-loving mind?”

“Killy – just get back to the cargo board and stand by to help Commy out.”

The multi-lingual cursing streaming from the speaker left Janno in no doubt of Killy’s feelings.

Checking the sensors, with a quick glance at the view screen to confirm by sight, he could see that they were now perfectly aligned to head towards the engine bays of the raider’s vessel. The other vessel’s power output oscillated erratically, their shields about to go. But with the loss of lateral thrusters, Zoe’s Pride had not been able to continue evasive maneuvers so its own shields were taking pounding now as well. Which was going to fail first?

“OK Janno – now or never,” he muttered to himself.

He killed the forward thrusters dead, directing all the engine power to reverse thrust. The ship shuddered, seemed to stall for a moment before starting to head back along the direction of its previous flight path.

A red glow surrounded the raider as its shields approached critical. But their cannon must be near-charged once more. There was no way that the smaller vessel was going to survive even a partial second hit from that.

“Let it go!” Janno yelled into the mic.

A red diode faded out and was replaced by a pale green one, indicating that the mag coupling on the cargo had been released. At the same time Janno brought the forward thrusters on full, killing the reverse movement.

The ship’s superstructure groaned, protesting this abusive treatment at Janno’s hands.

The tail gun had come online once more and was firing spasmodically. Killy must have gotten down there and worked some of her magic. That extra firepower was overloading the raider’s shields.

The mining vessel hit the raider’s shields in a flash of violently bright light just as they failed.

Killy’s voice whooped through the com, exultantly whooping. “Take that ya bastards! Yeeehaaaaaaaa.”

Janno watched silently. The hulk had only been slowed slightly by the disintegrating shields. Tens of thousands of tons of hardened plassteel, designed to withstand the rigors and abuse of life as a mining vessel, rammed straight into the now vulnerable raider with all of the momentum imparted to it by the salver’s reverse thrust and the hulk’s own body mass.

Straight into the side of the bulkhead surrounding the heavy fusion engines. The raider’s ship sides were not designed to take that kind of punishment – that’s what the shields were for – and ruptured at the impact. The residual fuel in the miner’s engines exploded, triggering yet more explosions throughout the raider.

The blast radiated in all directions, unimpeded by the friction of atmosphere. It caught the salvage vessel and hurled it forward violently, like a paper boat caught in the wind.

Desperately, Janno clung to his console, hands reaching for the stabilizing jets as the seat restraining belts bruised his shoulders. The ship’s wild path slowed as the jets fought against the force of the blast, slowly gaining the upper hand. Over long minutes, the ship gradually steadied, until finally coming to an even keel.

Janno slowly stood and stared at his trembling hands. How in the hell had they survived that? The other four crewmembers quickly followed each other onto the bridge. Bringing up the rear, joyously screaming incomprehensibly was Killy. Grabbing her captain around the waist in a bear hug, she planted a sloppy, wet kiss on Janno’s cheek. “Ya did it – we should be bloody-well space dust by now, but ya did it!”

The other crew gathered around, all gripped in the wild emotion of having cheated death, hugging each other, yelling their relief and screaming their joy.

Janno forced a stern look onto his face. “It’s not over yet, you lot. We’re not out of trouble until we’re locked down safely at Kildare. Commy – take the helm and try using the stabilizers to change course back towards Kildare until we get the lateral thrusters back online. Killy – start nursing those engines. Greely – you’re working for Killy on the lateral thrusters. McIntosh go check on Renta. Now move it!”

His legs trembled. Janno dropped into his seat, and rested his head against his hands.

Killy leaned over and whispered quietly in Janno’s ear, “Don’t worry about it Skip – I know that you needed that cargo. We’ll find some way around things and even if we don’t, then we’ll just have to start out again.”

Janno straightened up and let out a long breath as he reached for the holopic. He smiled as he looked at it.

“Killy – the Guild can have the damn ship. I’ve got a family to see. We’re going home for Christmas. We’ll find some way around things. There’s a helluva a lot of salvage just out here by the station for a start.”