The Broken Cage (Solstice 31 Saga Book 2) (20 page)

When the crossbow bolt struck her, she didn't even flinch.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The Hole Mapped

“That was the first time Ben, our AI, acted in a way that was unusual. Ben was not to blame, and neither was Barcus.”

--
Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Captain James Worthington, senior surviving member of the Ventura's command crew.

<<<>>>

Captain Worthington walked down the cargo ramp of the
Memphis
, toward the airlock, the gravity reducing as he approached the edge of the apron.

He sipped his tea as he activated the intercom on the airlock control panel. “Good morning, Angie. Did you have a nice night? I did. It was my first, decent night’s sleep since this whole thing started. Tell me why I should not execute you before breakfast.”

Jim watched her through the door’s window. She stopped her pacing, taken aback.

“You wouldn't dare,” she growled.

“It turns out the hole in the security net is too small for the
Memphis
,” Jim said, casually.

He let the implication settle in, for a moment.

“So, I’m running out of reasons
not
to decompress the airlock and freeze your body for the stew pots, later.”

The subtle menace in his voice was not lost on her. This statement seemed to frighten her more than anything else.

“No. You can't. You need me, if you want to survive,” Bowen said, as Worthington worked on the panel.

“What are you doing?” Bowen had panic in her voice as the decompression warning strobe began to flash. “No. I have information.” She watched him sip his tea. His face was hard. “You fool. You were supposed to be stationed farther out. This is not my fault. The
Memphis
wasn't supposed to be destroyed.”

Worthington raised an eyebrow. “You knew this would happen. That's why you were on the
Memphis
?”

“Yes!” She was thoroughly panicked now. “They ordered me to stay onboard during the last crew change. They said you were a Boy Scout and that the
Memphis
would come back intact via FTL. Bloody hell. They said they needed the data. They left me to bring it back.”

“What data?” he asked.

“Promise you won't kill me, or I won't tell you.” Bowen choked down her panic.

“No deals,” he growled, and hit a button.

She heard the air hissing as it evacuated.

Jim turned and began to walk away.

Bowen ran up to the window, screaming, “Nooooo...Alright, I will tell you! Please.”

Jimbo didn't stop walking, until she said the word please. Slowly, he turned and walked back. He knew that by now, her eardrums felt like they were about to burst.

He waited a few more seconds, sipped his tea, then hit the cancel button. Another button reversed the process, returning the pressure and air to the compartment. When it normalized, Bowen dropped to her knees. Her hands were still secured behind her back.

“Last chance,” was all he said.

It all spilled out of her in a flood, along with the tears on her face.

***

“Morning, Captain,” Cook said, as Jim entered the bridge. Muir nodded and Tyrrell looked up.

“We will have line of sight with the East Isles in eight minutes, sir,” Tyrrell said.

“Did you space the bitch?” Beary asked, adding as an afterthought, “Sir.”

“Why are all the women on this ship so ruthless and/or bloodthirsty, Karen?” Worthington asked.

“Because you like us that way, Captain,” Karen Beary answered.

“Why is everyone so damn chipper this morning? Is it because I look good in this beard? Didn't you get the memo? We're all dead in a month.”

Gallows humor was the right tone this morning. They laughed.

Beary added, “Cook thinks he’s a hot enough pilot to fly through that hole. We've been running simulations all night.”

Cook chimed in. “It started as a simulation to fire the lifeboat through on a slow vector launched from the cargo apron. Taking a page from Hume's flight path, if I barrel roll the
Memphis
at the right moment, I could get it through. I'm already up to a sixty percent success rate, on simulations. And, I have weeks to practice. Here’s the best part.” Cook brought up a simulation of the last try they managed to get through.

The simulation started with first the Hammerhead, then the lifeboat, going through. “Everyone else can go through on the lifeboat. That way, I am only risking my life.” The
Memphis
slowly entered the security net and then executed a sharp roll that looked like a cartwheel. And, it got through. “At that point, I will follow the lifeboat down on grav-foils, pick everyone up and head to the rendezvous with Rand and Hume. If I don't make it through, just have them name a high school after me, when you get back home.”

Kuss entered the bridge while Cook was walking through the simulation. “Very nice, Cook,” Kuss said, with her accent thicker than usual. “Remind me to give sex down on planet you, if live.”

Everyone laughed, again.

“Jimbo, can we talk?”

Worthington looked at Tyrrell. “Line of sight in one minute.”

“Can it wait a few minutes, Kuss?” Worthington asked.

“Yes, sir,” she said, but stayed right next to the arm of the command chair.

They passed into line of sight and did not receive the expected hail. They waited two minutes, and then ten. Finally, after twenty minutes, Worthington stood. The good mood kept draining from the bridge, the longer they waited.

Speaking to Tyrrell, he said, “Matt, I will be in the conference room.”

He motioned for Kuss to follow him. They said nothing on the way to the conference room. She didn't speak until the door closed.

“Kill her, now. Bitch. She knew. Helped murder everyone. Hamilton find out. So murdered her, too. Let me. I kill her slow.”

Kuss was beside herself. Jim had never seen her like this before.

“Slow down, Kuss. Sit. Slow down. Breathe.” Jim motioned her to a chair.

She took a deep breath. She rocked her neck and it made a cracking sound that seemed to calm her. She took another deep breath.

“I searched her things. Never did before. The equipment included a private, secure comms unit. Out Band. Stupid bitch used same password everywhere. Opened comms. She recorded, for later blackmail, me thinks. Ben, please play back message.”

It was Captain Neimann, the captain that rotated out four months ago. “You'll be fine, Bowen. The worse part will be spending another four months with that asshole James ‘Boy Scout’ Worthington. We'll need to handle him later, anyway. If you want a bonus, come back without him. That whole command crew is on the list, anyway.”

Kuss asked AI~Ben to play the next one. He did. “All of them need to be taken out and shot with their own guns.” Bowen spewed out in the audio. “Who do they think they are? Spreading their filth across the galaxy.”

“There is more,” Kuss said, calming through force of will.

“Ben can you please review all these associated files and provide me an assessment?”

“
Yes, Captain,”
AI~Ben said, into his HUD.

“Kuss, come with me.”

Jim left the conference room, his good humor from earlier gone. In three minutes, they stood in front of the airlock door. Bowen saw him.

“You need to take these zip ties off me and get me some food and water,” Bowen demanded.

Worthington said nothing, he played the damning audio over the intercom.

“Last chance,” he said.

“You can't do this. No food, no water, and it's freezing in here.” Worthington heard the contempt in her voice

“Ben, based on your full assessment of the information in your possession, what do you think we should do?”

Ben blew the hatch open, without decompressing the airlock.

Bowen died, instantly, her body was thrown about 100 meters out of the airlock onto the surface.

Kuss laughed.

“Ben! What the hell?” Worthington gasped.

“Decision was inevitable. Time is short. Hume has contacted the
Memphis
,” AI~Ben said, in a flat voice.

Kuss was still laughing as she walked away.

***

The bolt struck Hume in the center of her chest and bounced away. It felt like her chest plate was hit with a hammer. But, hitting her body armor with a hammer was nothing. Everyone froze.

Hume unsnapped her holsters. She calculated. They didn't know that her targeting rig had already spotted all the men with plasma rifles, even the ones off to the side. All she had to do was point her guns in their direction and they will fire, automatically, with deadly accuracy. In half a second, they will be dead and then the crossbowman will soon follow. She didn’t target Coff.

She'd kill Coff last.

All of a sudden, a man in slippers, an old bathrobe, and nightshirt, walked out onto the patio, holding two cups of steaming tea. He walked right past the guards and right up to Hume.

“Captain Burke, where are your manners this morning?” He held out the cup of tea to Hume, and said, “Would you care for some tea? Get up Coff, for anvil's sake.” Looking around, he added, “Stand down. All of you.”

“All. Of. You.” It was directed at Burke.

He made a series of hand motions with the cups and all the men, except Burke and Coff, melted into the shadows, before Coff rose to his feet.

“Thank you, my Lord,” Coff said, “Thank you.”

“Don't thank me. I just didn't want to train another security detail,” he said, looking at Burke.

Coff came up to Hume's side, and said, “She was serious when she asked you not to kill them all.”

“I do my best,” Hume replied.

Deciding, slowly, she reached up, took off her helmet and tucked it under her left arm. Burke and his men were taken aback by her dark skin and close-cropped hair.

She took the tea with her right hand. “Thank you. My name is Valerie Hume.”

She sipped it, at parade rest, her helmet still tucked in. The tea mug was in her right hand. The man in the robe was wise enough to realize it was a gesture of good faith.

“I am sorry, my Lord.” Coff bowed his head. “I only met Hume a few days ago.”

“Coff, I didn't think you had this in you.” He chuckled. “Tracker Ann maybe, but not you. I am impressed. Good work.”

Burke openly stared at Hume. She knew from conversations with Coff that it was because of her skin color.

“I didn't think you had it in you either, Coff. You knew these guards were here,” Hume added, while smiling, “Well-played.”

“Please, come in. My name is Ronan. Do you have time to join us for breakfast?” Coff was still frozen where he stood, as Hume followed Ronan toward the house. “You too, Coff.” Ronan waved for him to follow.

They stepped through a door in a wall of glass into a large, beautifully appointed room. Well-worn and cared for leather sofas and chairs faced the vast expanse of southern facing windows. The sky began to brighten, so she could see the tall bookcases in the back of the room and on the surrounding balconies above.

Hume smelled bacon.

She followed Ronan through this great room into a dining room to the right. It also had a wall of windows and Hume could already tell that the view would be spectacular. There was a beautiful, heavy, dark-stained table and chairs in there, with seating for twenty. The chairs matched the table perfectly and looked like they were designed for comfort, not to be ornate. But, the effect was a room that represented the ease of power that seemed to follow the man.

A woman in her middle years walked out from the kitchen with an armful of plates and silverware. “Two more for breakfast?” she asked Ronan, as he kissed her cheek with genuine affection. “Better make it three more. I don't want to have to repeat the entire event to Burke.”

Looking around, Hume noticed Burke had disappeared.

“Valerie, this is May,” Ronan said. May paused in setting the table, hesitating only an instant as she saw Hume’s face, and gave her a nod. Hume looked at Coff, who nodded confirmation that this was Ronan's spouse. “May, you remember Coff.”

“Yes, hello, Coff.” And, to Hume, “Very pleased to meet you, miss.” May went off for one more place setting.

Hume set her mug on the table and Ronan sat at the head of it. She took off her gloves, put them inside the helmet, and placed it on a side chair with her cloak.

“I must say, you’re taking my surprise visit in stride,” Hume said, as she sat in the corner chair next to him.

May returned with another place setting, and her own steaming mug, placing it by the setting at the other corner, opposite Hume.

“I enjoy surprises.” Ronan smiled, sincerely.

Hume realized she smelled hot cocoa coming from May's mug.