Zero (33 page)

“
Bolt's bringing us round now, Captain. Get away from the entrance.”

Before Webb had finished talking
Father
hove into view, light bursting from its balance thrusters as Bolt manoeuvred the fighter through the gap in the rock. A blast of fire hammered into the rock just behind him. Hugo clutched onto the rock as the surface shuddered beneath him, hearing his breath echoes quicken in the dead space of his helmet.

As soon as
Father
's thrusters went dark, Hugo detached his wire from the rock and re-launched it into the fissure. He drifted into the room then felt his stomach lurch and he was bumping onto the floor as the gravity got hold. He scrambled to his feet just as Webb, Bolt and Kinjo were clambering out of
Father
. They ran towards a light shining through a door on the other side of the room, scrambling over crates and bundles of stores scattered by the blast.

Webb bent to the door controls as Hugo peered through the window into a corridor beyond. Red lights were flashing but it was empty of people.

“Spinn. Come in Spinn,” he said “Do you have us?”

“
Aye, Captain,” the researcher's voice came through on his helmet speaker. “The nearest quarry is down the corridor on your right. There's a flyer pool on the same level.”

“
Copy that. What's everyone's status?”

“
The
Zero
took a hit on the aft vector burner, but Rami's compensated. Other than that everyone's functional, Captain. They seem to be aiming for non-vital systems. But it won't be long before they get enough hits.”

“
Just keep them busy and be ready to blow the satellite’s thruster bank as soon as we're clear.”

“
Aye, Captain. Out.”

“
How much longer, Commander?”

“
Just getting past the breach controls,” Webb muttered. “You might wanna activate your grips.”

Hugo pressed the control on his suit and felt his feet fuse to the floor.

“We've got company,” Bolt said.

Hugo peered back out the window and saw three armed men coming up the corridor towards them.

“Get back,” Webb barked.

Hugo scrambled aside as the door slid open. The force of the corridor depressurising blasted at him. He got his gloves onto the bulkhead and felt the magnets take but his body still bent with the force of it. One of the men managed to grab the door jamb as he hurtled past but his fingers peeled away one by one and he followed his companions out into drift, face twisted and gaping. Hugo watched all this happen in eerie silence, and then Webb was clamouring in his ear piece to move through.

Pulling against his magnets, he stomped through the door. Bolt followed, pulling Kinjo with him. Webb staggered through after and slammed his palm against the control. The door shuddered closed and they stood leaning against the wall and panting. The blaring of alarms filled his ears as the air pressure stabilised.

“
Clear,” Webb said, checking his wrist display and unsealing his helmet. “Let's go.”

Hugo could smell smoke and iron
as they moved down the corridor, stumbling into Bolt when the ground shook underneath him. He gathered his balance and they picked up speed. Empty corridors branched off on both sides but up ahead was a set of double doors plastered in neon safety signs.

“
There,” Hugo said, pointing towards the doors, but then there was a shout and four armed guards ran from a side corridor. There was a confused moment where they skidded to a halt, yelling and pointing, then the floor in front of Hugo exploded in rifle fire.

Hugo swore and threw himself down another corridor, his crew scrambling after him. He was just pulling out his own weapon when the firing stopped.

“Throw your weapons down and come out,” someone shouted. “Now.”

“
What the fuck is a mining satellite doing with this much security?” Bolt growled, checking his weapon.

“
I said get out here, now, spacer fucks,” the voice raised up another notch. “We ain't kidding. Throw out your guns and come out with your hands on your heads.”

“
Webb,” Hugo muttered. “Throw a charge.”

“
Christ, Hugo,” he hissed. “This corridor's too narrow -”

A barrage of gunfire tore the ceiling apart.
“Running out of patience, spacer scum.”

“
Do it,” Hugo snapped.

Webb swallowed then unzipped his vacuum suit and pulled out a charge. He paused but then activated it and threw it around the corner, flinging himself to the floor. Hugo crouched and covered his head just as the air was blasted apart. Debris rained down on him and the lights flickered off then on again.

Once the clatter of falling detritus had quietened, Hugo got to his feet, blinking, shaking dust and chunks of metal and rock from his hair. Bolt helped Kinjo to her feet and then Webb was scrambling back towards the corridor.

“
Well, that did the trick. Come on,” he said and started climbing. The blast had torn the bulkheads open and chunks of rock had caved in. There was no sign of the security men. Dust hung heavy in the air and it tasted like iron. Hugo clambered after Webb. The ground shook again and Hugo heard a groaning noise.

“
Webb,” was all he had time to shout. He caught the back of Webb's suit and stumbled backwards. More rock crashed down from the hole in the roof, and the air again was full of dust and stone. When it stilled, Hugo coughed and clambered off Webb who sat up groaning and clutching his ribs.

“
Are you alright?” Kinjo said, clambering up next to them.

Webb nodded and scrambled to his feet.
“Damn site better than I might have been. Thanks, Captain. Though a little more warning -”

They all froze when the sounds of more shouts and running feet echoed down a corridor behind them.

“Is that
more
security?” Bolt said.

“
I'll draw them off,” Webb said. “Get to the quarry.”

“
Commander -” Hugo was cut off by a rumble and the corridor rocking around them.

“
There's no time, Captain,” Webb said, already moving back down the corridor. “The
Zero
's fire is taking this place apart. Move, move.”

“
Bolt, go with him,” Hugo ordered. “Kinjo, this way.”

They scrambled the rest of the way over the fall of rock and sprinted towards the quarry doors. He heard gunfire and shouts somewhere behind them but didn't look back.
“Spinn,” he said into his wrist panel as they approached the doors. “Spinn, come in.”

“
Remind me to
never get fucking involved
with you lot
ever again
.”

“
Harvey? What are you doing there?”

“
She's helping me pilot, Captain,” Rami replied in his ear piece, voice tight. “What do you need?”

“
Concentrate fire on the satellite, Lieutenant.”

“
Captain?”

“
We need as much confusion in here as possible.”

“
The structure is already destabilising, sir.”

“
Just do, it Lieutenant. And be ready for our signal.”

“
Aye, Captain,” Rami said, then there was a thundering noise and the corridor shook again. They reached the doors and Hugo palmed the control but they didn't move.

“
Breach protocol, Captain,” Kinjo said.

Hugo swore and bent to the panel. He wiped dust and sweat from his eyes and started tapping keys, trying to dredge up his eleventh-grade systems knowledge and what he'd seen of Webb and Rami's tricks for getting round them. The sound of shots in the distance caused panic to spark which shifted the blankness in his brain. His fingers flew and the door hissed open just as the floor bucked violently enough to make them stagger against the wall. There was a sickening moment when the gravity weakened and he started drifting from the floor but there was another slam and it was back. They picked themselves up and ran into the
quarry, pulling their guns out as they went.

Their boots rattled on a metal balcony that bordered the perimeter of the
hollow. The rock ceiling arched into darkness above them. The ground level was lit by scattered flood lights. There were piles of rock strewn about, some still clouded with dust from a fresh fall which had taken out some of the lights, leaving great chunks of the space below in shadow. Between mined stacks of rock were the angular arms, lifters and belts of mining equipment. The heavy smells of iron and cold stone were thick in the air.

“
There,” Kinjo shouted and pointed towards a large machine against the wall on the level below. “That's a new model, Captain.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Positive, Captain. Those drills aren't even licensed yet.”

“
Go, then, go,” Hugo said, gesturing and they were both running towards the nearest ladder.

The warning lights flashing over the doors scattered the shadows around them as they clambered down the ladder. Their boots hit rock and then they were running towards the machine. Kinjo climbed up the side of it like a cat until she reached the control systems near the top of its arm and pulled out a multitool. Hugo kept his gun ready, scanning the quarry, but everything was eerily still.

“Got it,” Kinjo said, pulling out a circuit board from the machine and tucking it inside her vacuum suit.

“
You sure, Midshipman?”

“
Yes, Captain,” she said, starting to climb back down. “This will have all its electronic signatures. We'll be able to prove it's not been cleared for public use -”

“
There they are!”

Hugo swore and fired at t
wo men running from a door on the other side of the quarry. They fired back but then there was an ear-splitting crash and Hugo was flung off his feet. He shook his head, dazed, then felt his heart jump into his throat when the rock near his ear exploded with shots. He rolled away and threw himself behind the nearest rockfall. He came up to return fire when he froze at the sound of a high-pitched cry.

“
Kinjo
.”

“
Don't even think it,” growled one of the men. He had an unkempt beard and a knife at Kinjo’s throat.

The other man, pale and with cruel eyes,
stood with a gun pressed to her temple and a nasty smile on his face. “Come out,
Zero
scum. Now.”

“
Captain?”

Hugo jumped as Bolt
crawled up beside him, face pale, staring out over the top of the rocks. Hugo swallowed, panic fluttering. “Crewman, can you take them out?”

Bolt raised his weapon and aimed.
“I don't know, Captain.”

“
You're playing a dangerous game there,” the bearded man called, as Kinjo continued to struggle. “Come out now. We know he’s with you.”

“
Who?” Hugo called, trying to keep his voice steady and his gun from shaking as he kept it aimed.

“
Ezekiel Webb,” called the gun man. “Send him out.”

Hugo's breath tightened in his chest.

“Do it now,” the pale man continued, “and we'll let all the rest of you go. It's the best deal you're gonna see. Trust me.”

Bolt looked
to Hugo, eyes wide. All Hugo could do was kneel there with his mouth open, desperate thoughts chasing themselves in circles around his head.

“
You've got ten seconds, Captain Hugo,” the gun man called again, and Kinjo gave another choked cry as the knife wielder tightened his grip. “And I'm a fast counter. Ten... nine...”

There was another thunder of distant cannon fire and the floor shook and dust rained from the ceiling, but the man didn't pause in his counting, pressing the gun to Kinjo's temple even harder as he did.

“Bolt, take him out,” Hugo hissed. “My hands are shaking too much.”

“
Even if I do, Captain, the guy with the knife will have her.”

“
Six... five... you're killing her, Captain...”

“
Stop
,” came a shout from the shadows.

“
Webb,
no
,” Hugo cried, scrambling to his feet as a gun skidded across the floor and Webb stepped into the light with his hands up. The gunman fired at Hugo and he threw himself back behind the rocks. “Webb you fucking idiot!” he shouted.

“
Let her go,” Webb growled, face dark. Kinjo gave a strangled sob, trying to shake her head.

“
That's him,” the knifeman mumbled.

“
Alright, Webb,” the gunman said, beckoning with his pistol. “Come with us now, nice and quiet, like.”