Mako Rising - Ch. 1 Part 3

Qadira swung her right leg around to catch the captain behind the ankle and sweep his legs out from under him. Liam chuckled quietly to himself as he watched Qadira put her hands on her hips and glare down at Captain Markov.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“I didn’t do anything! If Irene did plan this, it has nothing to do with me,” the captain protested as he clambered to his feet.

Qadira snorted indelicately. “Right, and I’m the new poster child for the Space Mormons!”

“I haven’t even heard from the woman in two years,” Markov insisted. “And don’t call the pioneer religions Space Mormons, it’s rude.”

“Doc, why are you here?” Qadira asked.

“Jameson is dead and we need a new pilot,” Liam explained.

Qadira punched Liam in the arm. “Dammit, you know I don’t like to hear sad things when I’m being snarky! What the hell happened to Jameson?”

“He got shot by a sexy librarian-looking woman right as we showed up to recruit him for General Siderus’ new mission,” Liam told her.

Qadira growled something that Liam assumed was a vile curse in Arabic. “And that didn’t tip you off that Irene was gunning for you?”

“Jameson was in a bar fight when he got shot. At the time it just seemed like bad luck,” the captain said.

“You survived a nine year war against killer robots, participated in the final assault that secured our victory over those robots, made a lifelong friend and ally out of the most brilliant and famous military mind of our generation, were awarded the first personal FTL ship as payment for your service, and somehow you still think your bad luck comes from anywhere but the one woman who has been your only stumbling block for the past decade?” Qadira raged.

“It seemed logical at the time,” Markov asserted stubbornly. “I wouldn’t have suspected sabotage until we arrived just in the nick of time for your rescue as well!”

“Then why are you arguing with me about whether or not Irene is behind this?” Qadira shot back.

“I…you…Liam, help me out, here!” Markov turned to Liam beseechingly.

Liam shook his head. “She makes a good point, captain. If Irene isn’t behind this, I’ll eat my stethoscope. The bitch of the matter is going to be convincing her to come with us now that we know Irene is involved.”

“Come with you? Oh, hell no!” Qadira shook her head fervently.

“Qadira, you’re the best pilot I know and General Siderus himself needs us for this mission,” the captain explained.

“I don’t care if Mohamed and Moses need me, I am not going up against Irene Ackley again! Why? Because I am not a complete and utter idiot like you!” Qadira growled.

“We need you,” Markov said stubbornly.

“And I need you to go to hell,” Qadira answered just as stubbornly.

“Qadira,” Liam interrupted their argument before it got too out of hand. “Walk with me.”

Qadira glared over her shoulder at the captain as Liam led her away down the corridor. “I’m not going with you!” she said as soon as they were out of Markov’s hearing.

“I know. That’s not why I pulled you aside,” Liam told her.

“It’s not?” Qadira stared back at him suspiciously.

Liam shook his head. “I just wanted to say a proper goodbye without you and the captain hissing and spitting at one another.”

“What do you mean a proper goodbye?” Qadira asked, still obviously suspicious.

“Well, Jameson bought the farm before the mission even started, which means we’ll be relying on Ursula to watch our backs.” Liam sighed.

“I see what you’re doing and it is not going to work, old man!” Qadira insisted.

“I mean, if we had a top-notch pilot on our side to get us out of all the crazy shit the captain and Ursula get us into, maybe we’d have had a chance. But as it is? No, I don’t think so.”

“Shut up, Doc! If it’s going to be such a suicide mission, then don’t go! I’m not going!” Qadira shouted angrily.

“I know you’re not going, but you don’t go as far back with the captain and General Siderus as I do. They saved the whole human race. That deserves having a good physician on hand to patch them up if they manage to survive this shit show. Besides, it’s not like I have a wife or a family that I’ll be abandoning if I buy the farm.” Liam shrugged forlornly.

“Dammit, Liam! I swear to Allah, if you guilt me into doing this I will end you!”

“Why would you feel guilty if I died? I mean, sure there are those four times I saved your life on my operating table and then the time I cured your little sister’s cancer, but is that really worth leaving your cushy test pilot job here on Saturn?”

Qadira jabbed her knee at Liam’s groin, but he had already started twisting away. He expected as much from her. “Fine! I’ll go, but if we die I am going to make sure you and the captain rot in hell!”

*

“Boy, fetch me another bourbon!” Wilson Sherman barked at his gangly nephew. They were tuning the engine of a Nebula class freighter. Nothing fancy, but the ship’s captain had paid up front so there was no use bellyaching about the work being boring. It kept the booze flowing and it was good practice for Andrew. The lad knew next to nothing about engine repair even after nearly two years of living with Wilson here on Blue Cardiff.

Andrew gulped nervously. “But Uncle Wilson, you told me to stop giving you alcohol twenty minutes ago!”

“Nonsense! That doesn’t sound like me at all!”

“You said you were seeing double and couldn’t tell which particle regulator was the real one,” Andrew explained sheepishly.

“Now that sounds like me.” Wilson guffawed drunkenly. “I’m sure I can see just fine now, so fetch me another bourbon!”

“But Mary disapproves of your drinking,” Andrew objected softly.

“Who?” Wilson asked after a particularly potent hiccup.

“Mary. The girl I was telling you about.”

Wilson stared at his nephew blankly.

“We’ve been talking about her for almost an hour!”

Wilson shook his head. “Doesn’t ring any bells.”

“Uncle!” Andrew groaned. “I love Mary, but she won’t go out with me because she still has feelings for her ex-boyfriend!”

“Where’s my bourbon, boy?” Wilson asked as he returned to his repairs.

Wilson continued working. With a few modifications the Nebulas could be turned into proper starships, but this captain didn’t have the credits for that kind of work. A shame, really. Tune ups were so dreadfully dull that Wilson always ended up drinking on the job to keep it interesting. Not that he got much other work out here on Blue Cardiff. It was a pretty planet, but there weren’t enough mineral deposits to warrant a major colony. They made damn good bourbon, though, and that’s what mattered to Wilson.

“Um…uncle?” Andrew called fearfully from the front of the shop.

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, don’t panic if we’re out of booze! Just run to the store and buy some more! You know how I hate details,” Wilson muttered irritably.

“Oh, I’ve heard how you hate a great many things,” a man’s deep voice that was much too calm and confident to be Andrew’s answered.

“The hell?” Wilson looked up from his work to see a burly man with a gun pointed at him.

“Mazrim Krane sends his regards!”

*

“Hurry now, God knows what Irene has in store for Wilson. Knowing him, he’ll be passed out drunk and won’t even notice when the assassin arrives.” Captain Markov pressed Liam and Qadira to move faster. He did not want to arrive too late to save one of his friends from Irene.

Markov saw the door to Wilson’s repair shop was ajar. He raised a hand to halt Liam and Qadira behind him. He drew his gun and the others did the same. Markov kicked the door all the way open and quickly scanned the room for danger.

“Captain? What the hell are you doing here?” Wilson slurred heavily.

A large man lay dead in the middle of the shop with at least eight holes in his chest. “Obviously not saving you,” Markov answered. He holstered his pistol as Liam and Qadira filed in behind him.

“Saving me? Hah! That’s a laugh. When do I ever need saving – don’t answer that!” Wilson hiccupped before taking another drink.

“What happened? And don’t leave anything out,” Markov ordered.

Wilson shrugged. “Not much to tell, really. Fella came in, told me that Mazrim Krane sends his regards, and then when he turned to shoot Andrew first I pulled out my gun and shot him full o’ holes. I only missed a couple times.” He pointed to the fresh laser burns on the wall behind the dead man. “I ain’t a great shot, but he was close enough for it not to make any difference.”

“Shit,” Markov growled. “Irene again.”

“Well duh, but how come you’re so certain?” Qadira asked.

“Mazrim Krane is one of her aliases,” Liam explained. “And who is Andrew? You don’t seem the type to take on an apprentice, Wilson.”

“My goddamn nephew. Been looking after him since I left the Mako. Well, as good as I can look after anybody, that is. Say hello, Andrew.” Wilson waved at the scrawny lad shivering in the corner. Sharing the room with a freshly dead body obviously did not sit well with young Andrew. The boy was about twenty, with light brown hair and eyes. He was also ghastly pale and skinny to boot.

“H-hello,” Andrew stammered.

“Hello.” Markov turned back to Wilson. “How about coming back on as my mechanic? I’m putting the crew back together and –”

“Sold!” Wilson exclaimed jubilantly. “Anything to get me off the goddamn rock. Andrew has to come too, though. And he gets at least a half a share of the rest of the crew’s pay.”

“A quarter,” Markov countered.

“A third?” Wilson asked hesitantly.

“A quarter. Unless he has some of your talent as a mechanic,” Markov said firmly.

Wilson shrugged. “A quarter share it is, then. He’s a good lad, though. You’ll probably like him a lot more than I do.”

*

“You’ll tell me where the diamonds are hidden,” Ursula said calmly. She let a little spark slip down her fingers into the man she held against the wall’s cheek. He squirmed and whimpered, but remained silent. “A brave boy? That is really too bad for you, isn’t it?” She let a full stream of electricity stampede down her arm that sent her victim shaking like a leaf in the wind. When she released him he dropped to the floor, quite dead. She turned to the surviving thieves. “The first one of you who talks gets to live. The rest fry.”

“There’s a hidden safe under the dresser!” one of the would-be robbers shouted.

“Good boy,” Ursula stroked his cheek before electrocuting him. The others tried to bolt in a wild panic, but she stretched out her hands and sent bolts of lightning out in an arc that filled the little room. Five more men collapsed, corpses with charred flesh where Ursula’s freakish gift from the machines had scarred them.

Ursula pushed over the dresser to reveal the concealed safe. A carefully aimed lightning bolt destroyed the hinges and she easily pried the door off the safe. The diamonds she had been hired to retrieve were the only thing inside. Ursula smiled. Another happy customer and another slew of dead people who should have known better than to cross the girl who could shoot lightning out of her fingers.

“The diamonds are worth more than the payout for this job, you know,” a familiar voice told her from behind.

Ursula grinned. “Captain Markov taught me that the object or person retrieved was always more valuable than the reward to retrieve it.” She turned around to see the closest thing she had ever had to a mother. “Otherwise why would they pay you to get it for them? No one wants to lose money on a deal.”

Irene chuckled and sat down on the table in the corner of the little room. “Yet another reason why your adopted father has had his entire life savings stolen more than once. By me.” Irene was fairly tall for a woman, and when she wanted to she was a master of disguise. But today she came to visit Ursula with her hair its natural brown and her eyes their normal blue. No false noses or fake wrinkles or distractionary moles.

“There was a time in my life when I would have given anything to get Captain Markov’s credits back from you,” Ursula warned, sitting and crossing her legs in one of the chairs set up for the interrogators.

“And sadly that time has long past. I did so enjoy your blind devotion to Markov. He needs someone to believe in him.” Irene smirked.

“I still believe in him,” Ursula growled. “I just don’t believe in the rest of the universe.”

That brought a smile to Irene’s face. “And why would you? Especially after all it’s done to you.”

Ursula frowned. She could tell when Irene was trying to manipulate her. “I don’t like to dwell on the past.”

“And why would you? The past is so dreary! Your precious captain is coming to call on you once more, isn’t that exciting? I want you to go with him.”

“And why the hell would I do anything that you want me to do?” Ursula asked.

Irene’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “I’m one of the two people in the universe that you respect.”

Ursula snarled at Irene. “Even if that were true, I’d never betray Markov for you!”

Irene stood. “And that’s the point, dearie. I need someone truly loyal to him to keep him alive through this mess he’s gotten himself into. Can I count on you to do that for me?”

“You can count on me to zap you into itty-bitty particles before you reach that door,” Ursula threatened.

Irene laughed. “No I can’t.”

Ursula tensed. Sparks materialized between her fingertips as she charged her powers.

And then Irene walked out.

“FUCK!” Ursula screamed as she blew a hole in the wall with the energy she had accumulated.

Mako Rising - Ch. 1 Part 2

“This is not a safe place,” Liam warned as they passed another leaking pipe. “I’ve counted sixteen major structural integrity issues since we boarded the station.”

“Studied up on your engineering while you were vacationing on the intellectually bristling New Sahara, did you?” Markov chuckled.

“Har har,” Liam grumbled. “Anyone with half a brain can tell that this space station is one forceful sneeze from a large nosed man away from complete collapse and everyone inside’s death. Including our own, I might add.”

“Noted,” the captain said as he led them deeper into the grimy corridors of Praxis VII.

“Why are we here, anyway?” Liam asked, delicately stepping around a pool of human urine.

“I told you, we’re recruiting Jameson. If your recruitment is any indication of how the rest of them will go, I want some more muscle on our side. No offense,” Markov added.

Liam rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t going to take any until you said that. I know we’re here for Jameson. I just don’t know why we’re not getting Ursula first. She’s worth five Jamesons. He’s a complete and utter idiot, remember?”

“I do indeed.”

“Then why not get Ursula first?” Liam asked again.

“Ursula is territorial. She can, with difficulty, be integrated into an established group, but if she’s there first then it’s a no go. She’ll fry everyone who pisses her off because she thinks the whole ship is her turf.”

Liam sighed. “Yes, I’d forgotten just how crazy your pseudo-daughter was.”

“She’s a good girl. Deep down.”

“That’s what you said about Irene,” Liam muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Markov asked.

“Nothing!” Liam answered quickly.

The captain snorted. “It was not nothing, I heard you say Irene’s name. Are you never going to let that go? I’ve moved on!”

Liam couldn’t quite keep down a sharp bark of laughter. “No, my friend, because you have used up your three strikes. She has made a proper fool of you three times now, and by extension me. So if you think that I am ever going to let that go, you are sorely mistaken.”

“Fair, I suppose,” Markov admitted. “Now quit griping and come along. Jameson should be just a little further down this way.”

*

Former Corporal Nicolas T. Jameson enjoyed this part of his job. Mercenary work just allowed certain latitudes that military life did not. For example, he had a smaller man hoisted up over his head and was in the process of hurling him into the mirror behind the bar. Back in the AI Wars, behavior like that would have earned him a court martial, but in his current line of work he was being an exceptionally vigorous employee.

Once the other man hit the mirror, two of his friends came at Jameson with knives. He took a long scratch along a forearm while he broke the one on his left’s nose and kicked the one on the right in the balls. Jameson grabbed the poor bastard he’d kicked by the ears and spun him around, hurling him over the bar to join to join his friend. The man with the broken nose came at him again, so Jameson grabbed a bar stool and broke it over his assailant’s head.

“Who wants a piece of me now?” Jameson asked the bar, his hands raised triumphantly. Silence answered him, bringing a grin to his square face. That grin curdled into a sneer when he realized the silent bar had nothing to do with him. Everyone was staring at the door, slowly making way for whoever had entered while he was fighting. The crowd eventually parted to reveal a tiny woman with horn rimmed glasses and her brown hair up in a tight bun. She had a respectably long skirt on, wore matching heeled boots, and a sharp looking suit jacket. “Who the fuck are you?” Jameson asked with all his usual grace.

The little librarian pulled a gun out of her extra-large purse and fired a shot directly into Jameson’s groin. When the small caliber bullet hit his pelvis he felt it explode into a thousand tiny pieces of shrapnel and go flying up into his torso and down his left thigh. Groaning, Jameson toppled over sideways. This was why the captain always nagged him about wearing body armor at all times, especially when he planned on getting into bar fights, Jameson’s subconscious reminded him. He reached for the gun strapped to his hip. Miss Sexy Glasses fired another exploding round into his elbow, leaving him with a bloody stump for his right arm.

“This is Izo’s territory now,” the librarian said calmly as she slid her gun back into her purse. “Shenanigans like this will no longer be tolerated. All of you go back to your drinks or go home.” She turned and left while Jameson continued to bleed.

*

Markov drew his gun and tried to follow the woman with the glasses, but she just winked at him and then disappeared into the crowd. Liam grabbed his arm and tugged him back.

“Dammit, I need your help getting him back to the Mako Rising if I’m going to have a chance in hell of saving him! Revenge can wait!”

Grinding his teeth, Markov listened to his first officer. Liam was right, saving Jameson came first. But if only they had arrived thirty seconds sooner! They had entered the bar just in time to see that woman slide a gun back into her purse and then turn to leave.

“Captain! Doc!” Jameson gasped when they knelt beside him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Why does everyone ask me that?” Markov asked with a smile as he held Jameson’s one remaining hand.

“This is not good,” Liam whispered.

“Listen Jameson, we need to get you back to the Mako, alright?” Markov asked, scooping Jameson up into his arms. It was difficult because Jameson was heavier than Markov with all his muscles, but he dug deep and found the strength for his old war buddy.

Jameson winced. “Whatever you say, captain.”

Markov ran as fast as he could with Jameson in his arms and Liam providing first aid along the way, but Jameson bled out halfway back to the ship.

“He’s gone,” Liam said solemnly. “The shrapnel tore open just about every artery down there. He never had a chance.”

Markov set his dumbest, bravest friend down gently. Jameson’s blood was all over his clothes and he was breathing heavily from running with that much weight in his arms. “He’s got family at the Saturn shipyard, doesn’t he?”

Doctor Lafayette nodded. “A sister. Married to a welder, I think. He never mentioned any other relatives.”

Markov sighed. “Then that will be our next stop. Qadira is a test pilot there now. We’ll take Jameson home and pick up your little buddy.”

*

“Hah! I told you she could make that sharp of a turn! Thomas? Hey!” Qadira Jones, test pilot, shouted at her ride-a-long engineer.

Thomas was unconscious, strapped into his seat beside her. Qadira rolled her brown eyes. While she didn’t really consider it a successful test flight until a passenger passed out, having her only victim lose it this early in the route was hardly any fun at all. She hadn’t even gotten to the really scary part yet!

Qadira flew the rest of her test run without incident. This model was the smallest and cheapest starship she had ever flown, other than short range fighters that didn’t have FTL drives, of course. It was nothing like the Mako Rising, but at least it wasn’t a big, clunky cargo ship. Those were so boring to fly! Qadira turned the as yet nameless little ship back and headed for the shipyard.

An explosion somewhere down in the engine room threw the ship into a gut-wrenching spiral. Qadira cursed, kept a firm hand on the tiller, and evacuated the oxygen from the engine room to prevent a fire. A second, much closer but smaller explosion destroyed the escape pod and Qadira cursed again. Still spinning out of control, Qadira checked the engine readings. They were completely dead, adrift with no thrusters. The reactor had not been damaged though, just the conventional drive. Unfortunately, she was hurtling directly for one of Saturn’s moons.

“Mayday, mayday. This is Qadira Jones, test pilot on vessel 715B. An explosion has disabled my thrusters and I am drifting uncontrollably on a collision course with Titan. Our escape pod was damaged in the explosion and we require immediate assistance,” Qadira added, but she knew there was no chance of anyone reaching her before she hit the moon.

Taking a deep breath before she tried something truly drastic, Qadira took a final moment to consider spacing herself and Thomas with a couple extra oxygen tanks and praying that the rescue team found them before they ran out of air. If Thomas weren’t unconscious, she might have tried it, but as it was she would basically be sentencing the poor engineer to death.

“Well shit. I always wanted to try this.” Qadira warmed up the FTL drive while she calculated the exact position they would be in thirty seconds from now. The computer started the calculations and Qadira held her breath. As far as she knew, no one had ever performed a moving FTL jump and lived, but there were no other options given her predicament in this very obvious yet thorough act of sabotage. If they were even an inch out of position when the FTL went off they would most likely end up inside a sun or an asteroid if they even came out of the jump at all. Qadira shivered. The Quran didn’t offer any specifics on what happened to people trapped inside the cracks of the universe.

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” a familiar voice broadcasted over an open channel.

“Captain?” Qadira gasped. “I…what…?”

“Finally got you speechless. It’s about damn time. Power down your FTL and prepare for mag-tow, you maniac,” Captain Markov ordered.

“Yes, sir!” Qadira answered happily. “Saved by your flying, I never thought I’d see the day, sir!”

“Well remember this the next time you open your big mouth about my piloting skills,” Markov said.

“What in the hell are you doing here, anyway? And when did you develop such a fantastic sense of timing?” Qadira asked as the Mako Rising’s mag-tow grabbed her ship and pulled it away from Titan.

“It’s a bit of a long story, but I’ll fill you in when we dock. Liam and I jumped into orbit just in time to hear your distress call,” Markov explained.

“Liam is with you? Hi, Liam! Irene’s not there, is she?”

“No, thank God!” Liam shouted over the comm.

“You’re sure? Did you check all the secret compartments? Last time she hid in one of the compartments!” Qadira insisted.

“Irene is not on board, nor have I had any contact with her since we last saw her,” Markov growled.

“You mean when she stole all your money and broke up your crew? That time?” Qadira asked cheekily.

“Yes, that time.” Qadira could hear the captain clenching his teeth on the other side of the comm.

Qadira wanted to laugh, but Irene Ackley was not a woman to be trifled with, as they had learned to their misfortune several times already. “Well if she’s not there with you then she is sure as hell close by. Having my ship sabotaged right as you jump into orbit has her name written all over it!”