Insurrection (Athena Lee Chronicles Book 5) (6 page)

“Sir, we don’t have a choice. Eventually those pirates will rush us or use them as human shields. If I had more Marines I would do something different. All I have is cooks.”

“OK Lieutenant, it’s your show. Now come over here and look at this view screen.” The gruff sounding engineer led them over to a tabletop screen viewer. “In case you didn’t know already, this ship is a Fubuki class destroyer. It was originally made for the Pan-Pacific-League navy before the last war.” He stopped at their expressions. “Yes, our ship was built pre-war and is older than all of us, including me. The PPL built 24 of this class. It was originally designed as an anti-pirate ship which given todays circumstances is ironic. Only two of this class survived the war, our ship the Paney and the original one the Fubuki.” He paused and just glared at the Marines. Touching several buttons on the table the Chief brought up a close up of the hull.

“This is important because this ship is rare. It has a few features that other Destroyers don’t. Size is one. We are about 30% bigger than most Empire destroyers. The ship builders envisioned having to do hull repairs en route to new locations without the benefit of a shipyard. At the time these were built there were only about three major yards in the galaxy. Surrounding each hatch is a series of rings or pitons. These were to be used by suited up engineers, they would ‘hook up’ to the ship and be able to move about outside without fear of flying off. We don’t use these anymore. That is what we have shipyards for. But, the pitons are still there in most places. Many have been damaged or removed with successive repairs but there are some there. You can take the rope and carabiners that we found use them to ‘Climb’ the ship.”

“Chief are you sure the rings are still there?” The lieutenant was uncertain of this man’s plan.

The Chief ignored his question. “Every hatch on every Navy ship has a secret pass code known only to engineers. It allows us access to hatches in out of the way places.”

“Wait, what? Do you mean to tell me that anyone can just walk right in with this code? On any Navy ship?” All five Marines were just staring at the engineer with wide eyes. “Do you realize what a huge security risk that is? Who knows this code?”

“Son, you worry too much. That’s why it’s a secret! The code is passed from one engineer to the other. It’s like a rite-of-passage to be let in on the canon of engineering.” He took off his glasses and wiped his forehead and eyes. Putting his glassed back on he glanced at the Marines. All five stood there with their palms of their hands on their faces.

“Chief, if we survive this we need to have a talk about the code. OK? Now what is this mysterious code?”

The Chief Engineer cleared his throat and began to speak in a formal tone. “As it was told to me, in the distant past an Engineer named Tommy got locked out of his ship called the Jenny. Unable to remember the number to get back he was trapped without air and dying, he wrote his wish on the wall for those that came later. In memory of this poor engineer the numbers were at first written on the wall. Later they were learned by all as a remembrance of the Jenny and poor Tommy. The sacred engineering numbers are 8675309.”

One of the Marines, turned his head and started laughing. “Sorry Chief, but that sounds like the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard in my life.”

“Well private I suppose that if I told the same story but changed it to Corporal Steve White from the Mars Colony that lost his life would you still think that?” All the Marines’ demeanors quickly changed to outrage.

“Sorry if that angers you but I was only using it as an example. I told you that I have Marines in my family. I know that the Corporal’s hand-to-hand battle against the rebel General on Mars is legendary. No offense was intended. Like the Corporal’s statue in Mars Prime city, the Engineering Corps has a mural done in mosaic tile at the Academy. The black and white shades make Tommy come to life on the wall. I will admit that the story is an allegory to always have an escape route planned.” The Marines were grudgingly nodding their heads; having an exit strategy was something they could understand.

“So, back to the ships plan. Just below the number one hold is an access port. It’s a leftover from the original layout of the ship. Before the torpedoes were added this ship could act as a mine layer. There is a small hatch on the bottom of the ship. The larger mine door was sealed and plated over years ago so don’t try and use that. The hatch should be dead center, look for a recessed access panel. It opens up to a small room with a ladder going up. At the top of the ladder is another hatch. Make sure the outer hatch is closed before opening this one.” He stopped and met each of their eyes.

“Understand this, if the lower hatch is not closed all the way, depressurizing alarms will go off everywhere and they will find and destroy you. But we can prevent them from seeing the outer hatch opening. The old system was never updated up on the bridge.”

“Chief where does the inner hatch open up to? I don’t remember any hatches in that area.” The lieutenant was peering at the schematic and scratching his head.

The old Chief chuckled, “No you haven’t seen this one. That’s because it opens up into the waste disposal area. There is a crawl space here,” he pointed on the map. “Once you crawl about five meters there is another ladder leading up. That hatch opens up to the cargo deck lavatory. It is set into the wall in the last stall. I would suggest borrowing a remote stethoscope from the Dr. That may help you to detect if there is someone in the lavatory before you climb through.”

The Chief Engineer stood watching the Marines digest this information. “Do you or your men have any questions for me, Lieutenant?”

“Do you have any suggestions how we should get out with the hostages? I thought that we should try and take the bridge or assault the CIC, but there will be too many mercs for that.”

“I’m not a Marine, son. Should you need to, use this code to seal the hold doors.” He slid the lieutenant a slip of paper. “Because they lead into the hold, the doors are double armored in case of blow outs. From what we have seen on our cameras they don’t have much in the way of cutting tools. So anyone you leave there should be safe.”

The Chief pressed a button on his tablet and there was a knock at the door. The door opened to the smiling face of computer tech Kovak. “Chief, those suits are ready for the jarheads. Was there anything else you needed?”

“No, go ahead and get back to your computers.” Motioning after the tech Chief Tad looked at the Marines. “She got your space suits all tuned up and firewalled against this hacker the pirates have. We have you set up by the fusion vent tubes. Be careful out there, boys.” He handed the lieutenant a small electronic stethoscope. “I figured you would forget. I stole… I mean borrowed this from doc Smith earlier today. Good Luck.” As he watched, the Marines got ready and began putting on their suits. Novak and of the other engineering staff pitched in to help the men.

Novak leaned down to kiss one of the privates goodbye. The Chief saw this and yelled at her, “Novak, he’s a Marine you don’t know where those lips have been!”

___

The tight space of the fusion vent tubes was pure hell in a space suit. If it was this bad going down, coming back up is going to be even harder. Lieutenant Mutai was now considering exiting the suits at the forward hatch. The skin suits they had on, along with the helmets would give them enough air to get in. But it meant no going back if they dumped the suits. He decided to wait until they got there before making that decision.

All Marines are trained in space combat and in using the suits. Most of that training is on a stationary ship with jet packs and anti-grav belts. The acceleration of the ship could be felt immediately when they exited the vents. There were hand holds and as expected pitons within reach of he exit. All five Marines had on makeshift harnesses that held clips, carabiners, and extra rope. They had all clipped on and were very slowly crawling across the bottom of the ship. Single file seemed to be the best option. The first man would clip on and the man at the end would unclasp the carabiners as he passed by them. Sergeant Sveldig was the only one of them with actual climbing experience so he led. Lieutenant Mutai was second followed by privates Ascot, Diamond, and Khat.

The first six meters or so was fairly easy. Clip on and clip off, repeat. They then came to one of those sections that they had been warned about. No pitons. Using the magnification setting on his helmet Sergeant Sveldig peered into the darkness looking for a hook up. The flashes of light from the ships thrusters dimly lit the hull of the ship. The sergeant strained his eyes searching for something, anything to hook up to. There! Off to starboard about two meters away was a piton. Two meters! It might as well have been a mile. With the ship moving they had zero chance of making that if they unhooked.

The sergeant was communicating this to the lieutenant when he was tapped on the shoulder by Private Diamond. “Sergeant what if we swung one of us over to it. These ropes are more elastic then rope. What if we dangle one of us then swing back and forth and ‘throw’ them over to it?”

“Private, that is a crazy idea that we will not be attempting! No gravity to swing from. You will just float off and die.” He thought for a moment. “OK new plan. We backtrack. I think there were some pitons that headed off to starboard about 2 meters back that way.” He pointed behind them.

The Marines reversed course twice more when they could not reach pitons or did not want to chance it. They would need every man for the rescue and assault. It took over two hours, almost to the limit of the air in the suits. Though they had brought emergency back ups along with extra weapons for the rescue.

They finally reached the former mine laying hatch. Lieutenant Mutai had to feel around for the recessed keypad. Up here by the bow there was no light except for their suit lights. Event the stars gave off little lights. The ships movement made it a faint blur, not enough light to see by. Feeling seduced by the moment, the lieutenant said a silent prayer to Jenny and punched in the number. The hatch gave a little tremble and slowly slid open. They had made it.

___

In Engineering computer tech Novak was staring at an antiquated signal board. It had been over two hours and hope for the Marines was beginning to fade. She was typing on her computers working to keep the ‘hacker’ out of the engine systems. Whoever this guy was, he was really good. Just then, there was a soft ‘ding’ and a red light lit up on the board.

“Chief! Chief! They made it! The light lit up!” The tech was jumping up and down.

“Well all right!” Chief Engineer Kościuszko immediately sent a runner, one of the cooks, to the Captain.

Captain Pigot was tired of all this inaction. Finally, some good news! With the Marines in the bow, it was time for the diversion to draw the troops away. He stepped out of his office and looked at the waiting officers and crew.

“The Marines are in position, it’s time. Remember, don’t worry about prisoners, just attack. Let’s go!”

Taking a page from the pirates the crew members pushing an engineering cart in front of them rushed up the corridor taking pot shots at the pirates. Arriving at the secondary defensive point, the ‘assault force’ armed back up and then pushed forward. The force of cooks and assorted crewman were now led by Commander Garcia. Captain Pigot, at the urging of the officers, had elected to stay in the relative safety of the defense point. Garcia was cursing the pirates and yelling at them in his guttural Spanglish.

Pushing the pirates back even further the loyal crew regained the now shattered primary defensive point. Directly in front of them was the burnt out remains of he two pirate guns. The interior bulkheads had sustained severe damage and were bowed in several places. The Dr’s office had been looted and burned in the explosion. The goal of this push was CIC; if they could reach that room their chances of beating off the pirates increased.

Grenades were readied and the navy crew took positions in doorways and behind their rolling barricade.

___

Alvin conferred with ‘Mickey’ his Chief Lieutenant. He had to laugh about that name. As the boss, only he could get away with calling him that. Reuben had gotten drunk one night, really, really drunk and had told Alvin a story about his mother.

Mickey was a lifetime criminal. His parents had been panhandlers and swindlers. Fake home repairs and insurance scams were his fathers game. His mom did it all, everything from selling fraudulent furs to credit fraud. As a child he had been responsible for acquiring the ‘fine fur’ for the coats that his mother sold. That story was so evil, maybe he should tell Jenna that one. The name Mickey came from the other scam she would pull. She would dress him up like the children's cartoon mouse and rent him out to parties. He would conveniently have to use the lavatory or find some other reason to go inside the house. He would rob them blind. Who would suspect a big kid in a mouse costume? Cops would. Nothing beats sitting in the juvie facility dressed like a toy mouse. That was how Reuben ended up making his bones and got so scary. Beating the living crap out of anyone who dissed the mouse!