A Galaxy Unknown (23 page)

The group parted as people tried to distance themselves from the obvious imminent confrontation.

"It's not all the same to me," Jenetta said calmly. "We can't have multiple escape groups running around. If one gets spotted, this entire space station will go on alert and that would jeopardize all our chances."

"I'm not following any orders given by a child," Starnos said haughtily. "Especially not any from a little girl."

"You agreed, before I released you, to follow my orders without question."

Captain Starnos scowled as he and his first mate moved towards Jenetta. The overweight officer looked a ridiculous sight with his large stomach protruding out over the waistband of his boxer shorts, but Jenetta knew just how dangerous the situation was.

Chapter Eighteen

~ August 11
^th
, 2267 ~

Starnos and his first mate continued to advance towards Jenetta until they were within two-meters of her. "That was then, and I was wearing that damned collar. Things look a lot different now, and I'm sure I can do better on my own."

Jenetta knew that Starnos would never adhere to previous promises. In just the time it takes to blink, she raised the pistol that she'd been holding in her right hand, hidden behind the folds of the overly large uniform pants, and shot him in the chest. Before his body had even begun to fall, she shifted the pistol and fired into the chest of the first mate. Both men fell backward to the deck and lay there unmoving. The room had been quiet before the shooting, but not even normal respiratory sounds could be heard afterward. It was as if everyone feared to breathe, lest they become a target.

"Captain Starnos and his first mate will not be joining us on our trip tonight," Jenetta announced in a chilling voice after a few seconds. Enunciating each word loudly and clearly, she added, "Does anyone else expect to have a problem following my orders— to— the— letter?"

None of the wide-eyed throng said a word.

"Good," Jenetta said after a few more seconds of complete silence. "Gunny, take a couple of men and put Starnos and his mate back into cells and lock them in. They can sleep off the effects of the stun and try their own escape some other day."

A soft murmur of whispering voices slowly filled the void of silence caused by the shooting. Jenetta waited until Gunny and the others had returned before starting again.

"Okay, listen up everyone. We haven't been rushing yet because we have a secure location with little fear of discovery before 0500 in the morning— but once we leave here, things will have to move along at a rapid pace. We can't afford to sit for too long in any one place, and we can't afford to be seen. If we are seen, we have to treat that individual as a threat and neutralize him or her, whether that means using a stun weapon, or— more lethal means.

"I want the men to divide into three groups. First, over on my right, I want every male who has had military service. In the middle, I want male non-military ship's officers, engineers, astrogators or bridge personnel, and cargo handlers. All other males move over to my left. The women should remain where they are."

Over the next hour, Jenetta spoke to each of the men, learning his experiences and skills. She knew that the women would be undependable until their conditioning had been reversed. She set up teams for special functions and handed out the remaining uniform and weapons. Each team understood its function and the overall plan. The restraints had been collected as they were removed, and put into pillowcases. Two people were made responsible for seeing that the lightweight restraints were brought along with the escaping captives.

"We're almost ready to go," Jenetta finally announced. "We can only fit four to six people in the food elevator at one time so it'll take a number of trips. Mr. Jergen, you're in charge of the elevator loading. You understand that everyone
must
be transported within fifty-six minutes or the sterilization process will kill everyone after that time. We don't have time to waste. Everyone has been assigned a position number for his or her elevator trip. If anyone balks, load the next one instead. When you get to the end, if someone that you had to skip still refuses to go, stun them and leave them here. We don't have time to wait for them to screw up their courage. Understand?"

Jergen nodded. "Yes, Captain. Do I have to stun them?"

"Yes. If they're just left here, and they manage to open the regular exit door, they'll set off security alarms and put the entire base on alert. Although there are no cameras in the detention center, the same is not true of the corridors on this level. I've seen plenty of them when I've been taken to the medical section, so the food elevator is the only possible esc-ape route."

"I understand, Captain."

Addressing the entire group, Jenetta said, "The choices are come with us, or be stunned and remain here. Once we leave this room, I won't have time for questions or discussions. Anyone failing to immediately follow orders will be stunned and left behind. The stun effects should wear off after four to six hours. We'll all be long gone by then, free, and well on our way to a Space Command base, but if you awaken before the security people find you and imprison you again, you can follow whatever escape plan you wish. Everyone under-stand?"

A lot of people nodded, and some said, "Yes, Captain."

"Okay, as soon as everyone is upstairs, we'll move to the locker room down the corridor from the kitchen. Hopefully, we'll be able to find enough clothes for each person. Remember, once we enter the elevator there is to be no more talking except for absolutely essential communications. And that includes whispering as well. Make no unnecessary sounds. Our lives depend on maintaining absolute silence.

"It's now midnight, and I expect that the majority of station personnel will be asleep, although there will probably be a small staff working in the kitchen, operating the automated equipment that prepares foods such as bread and bakery items. There will also be at least some people eating meals since a station like this naturally operates on a twenty-four hour basis. We have just five hours to get clear of this base because at 0500 the next shift's security personnel come to this detention center."

At one minute past midnight, Jenetta entered the code to disable the sterilization process in the elevator. Gunny had found a slab of ham steak on one of the guard's dinner trays, and it was put onto the floor of the elevator against the rear wall. As long as that remained there, intact, Jergen would know that it was safe to continue sending people up. Jenetta assigned Deitrich to relieve Browne at the detention center entrance.

Gunny and Browne took the front two positions in the elevator, with Jenetta and an officer from a freighter, Lieutenant Commander Hugh Michaels, just behind them. Michaels, whose jet-black hair was turning pre-maturely gray at the temples, was a former Space Command officer. Two years earlier he had taken a job with a freight hauling company after retiring with twenty years service. He had been first officer aboard a ship captured several months ago. Most of the crew had been killed during the takeover, and he was anxious for some payback, but his training would keep him in check. His two years of separation from active service hadn't led to any sloppy habits and he was still fit and trim. Deep brown eyes stared out from a handsome face chiseled from stone as he stooped to squeeze his six-foot two-inch frame into the food elevator.

The sixty-second ride up to the kitchen seemed to take forever. Knowing that they could wind up as a pile of dust on the elevator floor if Jenetta's information about disabling the sterilization sweep was incorrect, kept each of them sweating, despite their calm appearance. But they made it without a problem, and the elevator door opened to reveal a wide corridor with dozens of large, empty food carts lining one wall. The wall with the elevator opening contained several other elevator doors as well, each bearing a sign indicating what section of the habitat it serviced. There wasn't anyone in sight, but they heard a lot of noise, like pans banging and oven or refrigerator doors closing, coming from their right.

"That's the kitchen, obviously," Jenetta said in a whisper, looking at the floor plan that she had downloaded. "We want to go to the left."

Closing the elevator door, Gunny sent it back down. Less than three minutes later the next group appeared. After that, another four or five people arrived near the kitchen every three minutes. When they had a sufficient force at the elevator opening, Jenetta and Gunny went to scout ahead, finding the locker room easily. Not encountering any lingering staff, they returned to the elevator.

By then there were more than twenty-five people in the corridor by the elevator, most of them clad in only their underwear, so Jenetta and Gunny escorted all but Michaels and Browne to the locker room.

"Find something that fits, as quickly as you can," Jenetta whispered loudly, once they were inside the locker room. "A uniform would be better, but kitchen clothing will do."

Jenetta and Gunny made two more trips to the elevator to escort people to the locker room. Miraculously, no one happened by while they were transporting people from the cellblock level and the trips were completed in just forty-six minutes. When everyone was in the locker room Jenetta noticed that Jergen was tightly hugging a young woman who was shaking so badly that the flab on Jergen's chubby arms was vibrating noticeably.

"Any problems, Jergen?"

"Just her, Captain. She was scared to death of getting into that tiny elevator. I'm sorry, ma'am, but I couldn't just stun her and leave her behind. I grabbed her and pulled her in as I closed the door. I think that she'll be okay now."

Jenetta looked at the girl, barely seventeen or eighteen judging from her appearance. She'd been totally uncommunicative when Jenetta had released her from her cell, but she seemed to come along willingly enough at that time.

"What happened to your hand, Mr. Jergen," Jenetta asked when she noticed that he was bleeding.

"It's just the tip of my middle finger," Jergen said, holding up the digit. "I was a bit slow getting my arm into the elevator after I boarded. Those doors close pretty fast, and I was struggling a little with Delilah. The poor kid was frightened half to death."

"You did an excellent job, Mr. Jergen. Take care of her."

"Will do, Captain," he said, smiling proudly.

There were plenty of clothes in the locker room, although the women had difficulty finding things that were small enough. Only a half dozen full uniforms were pieced together, but that was enough for Jenetta's plan. The rest of the people put together whatever they could, most winding up in white kitchen clothes and grey work shoes with red rubber soles. It took just nine minutes to get everyone dressed and ready to move.

Gunny, standing guard at the door, suddenly made a hissing noise, as a signal to get Jenetta's attention. He held up two fingers to indicate that two people were coming. Jenetta snapped her fingers to get everyone's attention, put her finger to her lips, and used her arms to motion that everyone should head for the back of the locker room. In less than five noiseless seconds, everyone had melted from view. Gunny joined Jenetta and Browne in the penultimate locker row.

The doors to the corridor opened less than thirty seconds later and two jaded security guards, dressed in the standard light-grey uniforms of the Raider Security personnel, sauntered into the locker room. Each carried a stun pistol in a flap style black leather holster.

"Doesn't look like anyone's here," one said, glancing around. "Rarely is at this hour."

"Good, let's grab some shuteye. I'm beat. I've been on duty for twelve hours without a break."

"Yeah, me too. I don't know what the big deal is. So there's a major operation coming up. So what?! We've seen lots of big operations, and there's never been a security problem here on the station. They're acting like we have to be ready for a commando attack or something. I'm sick to death of it and I know everyone else is too. This base is the most secure place in the deca-sector. Outside of the company, no one even knows that it exists."

"It's the damn brass. They've been edgy ever since that lone space tug got in and filmed every ship in the port. Now they're seeing spies in every corner, for Christ's sake. One dumb little bitch and a couple of old tug jockeys wander in and they keep us on alert for a month."

"Did you hear what the bitch did to the Commandant? She was in her cell, fully restrained, and he went in to talk to her. Somehow, she managed to attack him, smashed his nose flat to his face, and knocked him to the floor."

"While she was restrained in EM bands?"

"Yeah! If she'd been free, she probably would have killed him before the guard could stop her. I hear that Arneu's nose swelled up like a watermelon."

"What is she, some kind of freak super-woman?"

"No, that's just it— she's just a little bitty thing. Can't be much more than twenty-years-old, nor weigh much more than 100 pounds soaking wet. She's a real looker too, according to the detention center guys. She has a face like an angel and a body to kill for. I heard that the guys downstairs hung her up in the anteroom all day yesterday, just so they could stare at her while they were on duty."

"Man, that's playing with fire. If the commandant hears about that, those guys will find themselves in one of the cells. The brass doesn't like guards messing with the company's pleasure slaves."

"Yeah— but I'd still like to meet her sometime."

"Me too, but right now it's time to call in."

Holding his gloved hand to his lips, the guard said, "Com link on. This is patrol Sierra 124. All quiet in sector November-Niner-Tango. Com link off." Dropping his hand, he said, "Okay, we've got an hour. Let's grab 40 winks down in the back. Set your chrono alarm for fifty-five minutes."

The guards started moving towards the back of the locker room for their midnight siesta, but as they reached the next to last row of lockers, they pulled up short. Jenetta stood there facing them, with Gunny and Browne behind her. Both pairs of eyes traveled down to the stun pistol in her hand. As they calculated whether they could un-flap their holsters and draw their weapons before she fired, their faces reflected the fear gripping their chests. She couldn't kill them with the weapon she was holding, but she could easily manage that after they were unconscious. One swallowed hard.

"What's the matter, guys," Jenetta said smiling, "you just said that you wanted to meet me sometime. Now, as a friend said to me recently, your wish is granted."

Neither guard tried for his radio. Both grabbed instead for their pistols, fumbling with the locked down holster flaps as Jenetta fired twice, so quickly that it appeared she had two weapons. The guards crumpled noiselessly to the floor.