The Last Flight of the Argus (25 page)

Theodore continued whistling, louder. He was hungry and he was tired and more than a little angry that—

“
Wait until you’re asleep,” a gravely male voice crackled over the ship’s intercom. It was Steve, one of the two replacement pilots. “They tell me I've got a lovely singing voice.”

Theodor laughed and, to the eternal gratitude of those below decks, stopped whistling.

The rocks floated by as if Theodor were at the base of a mountain staring up at an avalanche dropping, in slow motion, toward him. Slow and peaceful…

Theodor’s eyes closed for a second.

“
Another half-hour,” he said. “That’s all. Unless you guys would like to tell us where you—”

Theodor never finished his thought. His long-range sensor flashed with a newly acquired blip. It was near the center of the circle the
Tango
fighter crafts had formed.

The communicator came alive with multiple voices. Theodor, the senior most officer in the current formation, activated his speaker and the communications computer silenced the other voices.

“
Target ship’s sensors are active,” he said, both to the other craft and the
Dakota
, trailing many thousands of kilometers behind.

Theodor turned from the monitor and stared out the port window and in the direction of the sensor ping. He increased the magnification in his lenses to their maximum. After a moment he again clicked on the communicator. There was considerable excitement in his voice when he said:

“
This is
Tango 13
to all units: I have a visual of our target. I repeat: I have a visual of our target. Her location is 2332.44.”

“
Acknowledged
,
Tango 13
.”

The voice sliced through the tension within the
Dakota’s
bridge like a machete splitting brush. Lieutenant Daniels took three long strides and sat in his chair at the center of the bridge. He leaned forward, as if preparing to sprint.

“
Velocity of target?” he asked.

“
Seventy five kilometers per hour.”

Slow
, Daniels thought.
Why?

“
All
Tango
crafts, this is Lieutenant Daniels. You are to close in to fifty kilometers of the subject.”

Daniels rubbed his chin as one after another
Tango
ship acknowledged his order. It was only then that he pulled his personal monitor closer. He examined the visual readout which included the course of each of the
Tango
ships. The
Dakota
, the largest craft on the monitor, hobbled far behind the last of the
Tango
flight group.

We should be closer, just in case.

It was a miracle they had flight capacity at all. The entire mechanical staff was still working feverishly on the damage caused by the decoy ship sent toward the Erebus Displacer the week before. It was good fortune the explosion caused only minor structural damage to the ship’s fourth propulsion engine.

And a good thing there were no fatalities
, he thought.
Or else all hell would
really
break loose. Then again, the damage proved useful, didn't it?

Once this was done, Daniels estimated the
Dakota
would require a month at the Central Docks to regain her full thruster capabilities. However, what happened that far in the future held little interest to him today.

“
This is
Tango 13
,” Oscar Theodor’s voice came over the radio. “Confirming pursuit craft is a class VII Oscarlot.”

Data on the craft appeared on Lieutenant Daniels’ monitor. The Oscarlot was primarily used for cargo runs and was a favorite of the more successful scavengers operating out of
Titus
. Given her speed when she first escaped, it was obvious her engines had been modified. Preliminary video images of the craft appeared on Daniels' monitor. The ship looked intact.

Why did you use your sensors?
Daniels thought.
You’ve been successful for so long and you're clearly undamaged. Why give up now?

“
Tango 13
, this is
Dakota
,” Daniels said into the communicator. “Are the target’s long range sensors still active?”

Because of the distance they lagged behind, the sensor readings received from the pursued craft by the
Dakota
were at least five minutes old. Communication transmissions relayed from
Tango
craft to
Tango
craft, on the other hand, were only a few seconds old.

“
Yes sir.”

Daniels shook his head.

“
Tango
group, be advised to use extreme caution. I have a feeling our friends are up to more of their tricks.”

The
Pilgrimage
flew through the asteroid field as if an arrow sprung from a bow. It kicked through a cloud of debris as if plowing past a swarm of bugs.

“
That’s gotta hurt,” Theodor muttered as the rocks, some the size of an armored vehicle, bounced off it.

After a few minutes of careful piloting,
Tango 13
pulled within the ordered fifty kilometers behind the craft. Theodor examined his instruments. While he did,
Tango 5
appeared beside his ship. The pilot of that craft, Jennifer Gibbs, was near enough to wave.

“
This is
Tango 5
,” she said over the communicator. “Theodor, I don’t get it.”

“
What's that,
Tango 5
?”

“
They’ve avoided us pretty well so far, yet now they’re making themselves a juicy target. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got missiles locked on their engines. They try anything funny and they’re gone.”

“
Don’t get jittery,” Theodor countered. “The higher ups want them alive.”

“
Too bad,” Gibbs responded. “We could have finished this a while ago. Why do you think they’ve given up?”

“
Maybe their engine’s cracked up. Hell, maybe they’re just tired.”

“
Do you really think so?”

“
No,” Theodor admitted. “And neither does Lieutenant Daniels. That’s why we’re hanging back and surrounding them.”

Theodor eyed the computer monitor and the various blips drawing around the
Pilgrimage
.

“
Won’t be long now.”

The
Pilgrimage
, for her part, continued moving in a straight line. She approached, and barely avoided, a rock roughly half her size.

“
That was damn close,” Gibbs said. “You think their controls are frozen?”

“
They better hope not,” Theodor said. “You see what’s coming?”

Jennifer Gidds stared forward and magnified her flight goggles. Not very far away and approaching fast was a massive asteroid fragment.

“
Maybe they don’t want to be taken alive.”

“
The Oscarlots are well reinforced. If they run into that rock at the speed they’re going, they won’t crack up.”

“
The ship might not crack up, but what will happen to the passengers?”

“
They better strap themselves in real tight,” Theodor replied.

Lieutenant
Daniels’ mind processed the developments presented in real time on the main view screen. He tried to understand what was happening, but ultimately shook his head.

“
What the hell are you up to B’taav?” he muttered.

The
Pilgrimage’s
approach to the asteroid fragment continued without the slightest deviation.

“
This is
Tango 13
to
Dakota
. Maybe they’re asleep and need a wakeup call. Permission to fire a shot across ship’s bow?”

“
Permission granted,” Daniels replied. “Oh, and Theodor?”

“
Yes sir? ”

“
Try not to make it quite as close as last time.”

Oscar
Theodor primed a port missile and set her course. After he double checked all systems, he pressed a large red button at the top of his directional joystick. A single missile shot out of
Tango 13
’s rack and flew toward the cargo ship. It skimmed past the
Pilgrimage’s
port side.

No one on board that ship appeared to notice the streaking projectile.

Oscar Theodor clicked on his communicator.

“
Dakota
, this is
Tango 13
. ETA for
Pilgrimage
impact is three minutes.”

The
lines on Daniels’ forehead deepened.

He rubbed his hands and sat down. The cargo ship was going to crash. There was no longer any doubt about it, just as there was no longer the possibility of stopping her from doing so. The fighter craft could try, of course. They could fire on the
Pilgrimage
’s engines and hope to disable them. But the forward momentum guaranteed some kind of collision.

The only possibility to avoid this was to have a
Tango
craft roll up alongside the
Pilgrimage
and have the men aboard it jump the breach, board the errant ship, and take control. They could then guide her to safety. But time was too tight, and there was a very real possibility the ship could be primed with explosives just as the decoy ship was back at
Titus
. And if the ship’s controls were indeed compromised, then boarding the craft served no purpose.

Daniels considered various scenarios and explanations for what was unfolding before him. The most logical explanation was also the grimmest: The crew of the ship was already dead, perhaps a mass suicide to prevent capture. But he had a hard time picturing B’taav going away that quietly. Maybe he was taken by surprise, the first victim…maybe his
Tango
group was following a ghost ship.

No. After all this, they wouldn’t give up. Not—

A tiny smile suddenly appeared on Daniels’ face. The lines so evident on his forehead disappeared.

“
Very clever,” he said. Just as quickly as it appeared, the smile faded.

“
Maintain your distance from the ship,” Daniels barked. “If they want to crash, let them.”

The
Pilgrimage
came to a jarring stop when it collided head on with the asteroid. The ship’s front section crumpled while her rear remained largely intact.

“
This is
Tango 13
calling
Dakota
,” Oscar Theodor said. “Cargo ship
Pilgrimage
has collided with the asteroid. Repeat,
Pilgrimage
has collided with the asteroid. She is heavily damaged but structure remains stable. I do not see –I repeat– I do
not
see any evidence of a breach or loss of internal atmosphere. It is possible there are survivors aboard. Awaiting further instructions.”

“
This is
Dakota
,” Lieutenant Daniels replied. “Maintain your distance. Wait for us to arrive.”

“
Sir? If someone survived that crash, they’ll need medical—”

“
I heard you the first time. Now listen to me: Maintain your distance and wait for us to arrive.”

“
Yes sir,” Theodor said and shut the communicator off. “I heard
you
the first time, too, you cold blooded bastard.”

The
twenty four
Tango
ships did as ordered and kept their distance from the damaged cargo ship. The asteroid the
Pilgrimage
collided against slowly spun away.

Idle chatter filled the communicators as members of the flight crews calculated how long it would take before the
Dakota
arrived and they would be allowed to help those trapped or injured within the useless craft. Ten minutes later, they were glad they were ordered to keep their distance.