<Why would she encrypt a message sent to you—well, A103?> Erin wondered.
<Beats me, I could barking up the wrong tree.>
Nance spent another few seconds trying different algorithms, and then one clicked and the message from Spheria unfolded.
Are you in distress? Acknowledge.
<Aw, crap! What do I do?> Nance asked Erin.
<Anything you send now will look suspect. You’d best ignore it. Maybe if she reaches—>
Erin stopped as the lift stopped and the doors opened to reveal a squad of Orion Guard soldiers with weapons drawn.
<Grab him!> Erin shouted in Nance’s mind, and she reacted instantly, grabbing Ortaga and pulling him into a back corner of the lift.
“Hold it! Let him go!” one of the soldiers shouted, but Nance was already in the lift controls, closing the doors and sending it up another level.
<I knew it!> Spheria cried out in Nance’s mind. <You’re not A103, you’re an imposter.>
<Brilliant deduction,> Nance replied sourly.
A second later the lift stopped, and then began to descend once more. At the same moment, Ortaga twisted and wrenched free of Nance’s grasp.
<They’re onto us!> Nance cried out to the team.
* * * * *
Iris confirmed she had taken control of the secure lockup’s sensors and Jessica triggered the pod’s lid to open. She rose slowly, checking the room over. Addie stood next to the door, her helmeted head turned toward Jessica, watching implacably.
“Good work, Addie.”
“Impersonating these Widows is a simple task,” Addie replied. “Being you on the moons of Serenity was a much more challenging endeavor.”
Jessica wondered at Addie’s wording. An NSAI didn’t gain any joy from challenges, or lack thereof. They simply performed their assigned tasks.
She opened the compartment on the bottom of the pod and pulled out the weapons, and an Orion Guard uniform. She stepped into the pants and pulled the shirt over her head.
“It doesn’t fit right. I can tell you’re wearing your shipsuit underneath,” Addie observed.
“Yeah, well, this OG uniform has near-zero armor capability. My shipsuit stays. Not getting a hole burned in me today.”
Addie cocked her head. “You expect conflict?”
“Yes.”
Jessica pulled on the jacket that went along with her uniform and picked up the two rifles. She handed one to Addie, and then slung another over her back. She holstered a pistol, and then looked herself over.
“Your feet,” Addie said, and Jessica laughed.
“Shit, must be nervous not to realize I’m barefoot,” she muttered before fishing out the boots to go with her uniform.
<Really? Are you that nervous?> Iris asked.
<A bit, I guess,> Jessica said. <This mission really has a do or die sort of feel to it.>
<I get that,> Iris replied.
<Do you have an Ident for me?> Jessica asked.
<Yeah, I got into their personnel records on the way through the base—piggybacked off Addie to do it. You’re now Lieutenant Mira. I’ve updated Addie with that information as well.>
<Good.> Jessica replied before speaking aloud. “Now to get out of here.” She looked at the door and waved her arms. “Open Sesame!”
Nothing happened.
“I don’t think that’s the code,” Addie said. “I also don’t think it would be an audible command.”
Jessica chuckled and gave Addie a curious look. “I thought you could parse humor, Addie.”
“I wish you would stop making me break my persona,” Addie replied. “I was in character.”
Jessica’s mouth formed an O as she gave a slow nod. “Hard to tell with the helmet.”
Addy touched the sides of her collar and her helmet split open, revealing the face of a Widow. “I could take it off.”
“Gah! No, only if you need to scare the piss out of some little Oggie.”
“Understood,” Addie rasped and closed her helmet back up.
<Ladies, we have a bit of a problem.> Iris said after a moment.
“That’s the name of the game,” Jessica replied. “What is it?”
<I can’t get the door open.>
* * * * *
<That’s the third pair of guards to wander into the bay,> Cheeky said to Piya.
<And they’re following a rather non-random pattern,> Piya replied. <Each pair is moving closer to the ship, keeping in, or close to cover.>
Cheeky nodded as she peered out the ship’s front window to confirm what the external cameras showed.
<We need to get out of here. Should we risk a message to Nance and Jessica?>
<I don’t think so,> Piya replied. <They’ll know we’re suspicious if we do.>
<Surely the Widows talk to one another,> Cheeky countered.
<Let’s get out of the ship first. Then we won’t be cornered if they know that we know what they’re up to.>
Cheeky gave a soft laugh. <You know that I know that you know that I think this is going to get messy.>
<Har har. There was little chance that this mission was going to go off without a hitch,> Piya replied.
Cheeky nodded as she rose from her seat and looked out the window at another pair of soldiers strolling into the bay. “Mission, meet hitch.”
The ship had a rear access port in the roof of its small engineering bay. Once Cheeky had grabbed a rifle and pistol from the armory, she clambered up the ladder and keyed in the code for the hatch.
The inner door slid open, and she quietly climbed the ladder into the small space between the two doors.
Here goes nuthin, Cheeky thought as she activated the Widow stealth systems. She looked down at her body and saw only a slight blur, like a dark patch in the air.
It was surprisingly difficult to key in the command for the external door without being able to see her hand, but then Piya activated an overlay mode on the helmet’s HUD that showed the outline of her own body on her vision.
<Thanks.>
<Anytime, Cheeks.>
The hatch above sunk down a few centimeters, and then slid into the hull.
OK, now here really goes nuthin’, Cheeky thought as she climbed up onto the roof of the ship. She stayed low, conscious of the turrets on the bay’s ceiling, and somewhat surprised no one had seen her yet.
The hatch closed a moment later with a soft ka-chunk that sounded far too loud to Cheeky’s ears and she moved away as quickly as she dared, toward the cooling vanes at the rear of the ship. They dipped low, only a few meters off the deck at the back, and a minute later, Cheeky was at the edge.
<Coast looks as clear as it’s going to get,> Piya said and Cheeky jumped off the ship before she lost her nerve.
She landed lightly and rolled before coming back to her feet, looking around to see if anyone had noticed her.
So far, so good.
On the far side of the bay, she could make out more soldiers entering. At least sixteen were in the bay now.
<I don’t like these odds,> Cheeky said to Piya.
<So do what you did at Gisha Station,> Piya replied.
It took Cheeky a moment to realize what Piya meant, and then she looked at the cradle. Sure enough, there was a ladder leading into the space below the deck. With any luck there’d be maintenance passages leading out of the bay.
<Better than trying to sneak around half the Oggie space force,> Cheeky said and crept to the ladder. She was half way down the ladder when a movement below caught her eye; four soldiers were threading their way through the cradle armature mounts below her.
She froze as one approached the ladder she was on and began to climb.
<The side!> Piya said. <Hang off the side!>
Cheeky swung over to the side of the ladder, planting her feet on the vertical riser and holding on for dear life.
The soldier was just below her now, and his hand barely missed her left foot. Given the distance he moved his hands each time, he was going to gra
b the riser right where her left hand held on.
She timed it carefully, and as he let go with his hand, she moved down, freeing up the space where her hand had been for his to grasp the ladder.
<Shit, that was close!> Cheeky exclaimed.
The soldier continued up the ladder and disappeared onto the deck. The other soldiers followed up other ladders, and Cheeky quickly scampered down to the lower service level.
<At least we know there’s a way out of here now,> Piya offered.
<So long as none of them are guarding it.>
<Jessica gave us nanocloud tech,> Piya suggested as Cheeky crept through the cradle armatures.
<Yeah, but do we want to tip our hand? They may not know who we are yet. Plus, I suck at controlling nanocloud. It always gets sucked into a vent or something.>
Piya laughed and sent Cheeky a soothing feeling. <I’ll run them. You focus on stealth.>
<Easier said than done,> Cheeky replied. <My legs are too long and its really messing me up. Who would have thought that three centimeters would change so much? The ground seems like it’s too far away and I keep feeling like I’m going to fall forward.>
<I shouldn’t do this, but its temporary,> Piya said and suddenly everything felt properly aligned to Cheeky.
<Wow, that’s way better. What’d you do?>
Piya grinned in Cheeky’s mind. <I altered the feeds in your ocular implants to lower your perceived eye level. Just be careful not to knock your head on things. It goes further up than it seems.>
Cheeky reached up and had to keep going to find the top of her helmet. <Gah, my head feels huge!>
<You pick. Worry about falling, or feel like you have a big head.>
<Head it is,> Cheeky replied.
Cheeky caught sight of a passageway leading off the lower deck and a pair of soldiers standing guard.
<Shit!>
<Just walk right past them. It’s dark down here, and I have the nanocloud hiding the slight shadow the Widow stealth has.>
Cheeky drew a slow breath, held it and walked toward the guards, careful to roll her feet and hold her arms still. The less air she moved around, the better the stealth would work.
The two guards never even twitched as she walked past, and a dozen meters into the passageway, Cheeky let out the breath. <OK, the bay down, just a klick of station to go.>
<I’m on the network,> Piya reported. <There’s a lockdown near the command center, and I can’t reach Addie or Jess and Iris.>
<Anything on the secure lockup?> Cheeky asked.
<Nothing on the general network, at least.>
Cheeky reviewed the best route to the lockup, and took off at a slow jog. She’d outpace the nanocloud, but she had a feeling speed trumped complete stealth at this point.
Ten minutes later, she eased into the short corridor that ended at the door to the secure lockup. The door was sealed shut, and Cheeky looked for some way to access its controls.
<There’s no panel or anything,> she said to Piya.
<I can see a scanning arch built into the wall. Step forward two paces and pass your tokens,> Piya instructed.
Cheeky did as Piya directed and then a voice came into her mind.
<Got you!>
<Shit, that’s the station AI, Spheria,> Piya said. <She’s serious business from what I sensed. Not like most of the AI we’ve met up with out here.>
Cheeky didn’t respond to the AI, but knew she should expect soldiers to show up at any moment.
Then the secure lockup’s door opened, and Addie stepped out with an Orion soldier at her side. A very curvaceous Orion soldier.
“Jessica?” Cheeky asked the dark-haired woman.
“Yeah, I can’t just run around all purple on base—wait, A45? What are you doing here?”
<The game’s up,> Piya said. <Station AI is on to us. I can’t reach Nance, though the hackit did make it to the command center—but now it’s out of touch.>
<Oh, this Spheria is a nasty bit of work,> Iris broke into the conversation. <Going to enjoy putting her in her place.>
“OK, Cheeky, you and Addie get to their central command. See what’s up with the hackit and get it Linked into the gate control. I’m going to go hunt down Nance.”
Cheeky felt herself pale…not that anyone could see it behind the helmet. “Really? You sure we should split up?”
Jessica stepped forward and put a hand on Cheeky’s shoulder. “We’re already split up. Don’t doubt yourself because of one little abduction. It happens to the best of us. It’s just two levels up. You can do this.”
<Just don’t take the lifts,> Iris advised.
“Oh,” Jessica pulled the pack off her back. “Take the explosives as well. Once you get the gate lined up, you know what to do.”
Cheeky nodded. “OK, Addie, let’s go.”
BAD TO WORSE
STELLAR DATE: 03.22.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Costa Station, Quera System
REGION: Midway Cluster, Orion Freedom Alliance Space
<What do you have, Iris?> Jessica asked as she watched Cheeky’s and Addie’s shadows disappear down the corridor.
She was half-tempted to take off the Oggie uniform. Since stealth was no longer the name of the game, shock and awe may work better.
Then again, a moment’s pause from any Oggies she saw could be the difference between life and death.
<Strange how they use so much old tech,> Jessica said as she made her way to the lift.
<They don’t call our time the golden age for nothing. Hey, I thought we were avoiding the lifts.>
Jessica prised the lift doors open and looked into the shaft. <We’re not taking the lift, per se, just the shaft. Which way did Nance go? Up or down?>
Iris didn’t respond for a second, then laughed. <She’s down. Looks like Spheria got wise to her, set an ambush, and Nance dropped the lift down to the maintenance levels. From the reports on their network, she has Colonel Ortaga hostage.>
<Can you reach her?>
<No, Spheria has the network between here and there, but I think Nance and Erin are fighting her too. She seems…distracted.>
Jessica looked for a ladder in the lift shaft, but there was none, just a rail that maintenance bots traversed.
“Looks like I’m going for a slide,” she said softly, glad for the gloves that were a part of the standard Oggie uniform.
She slid for fifteen levels before the gloves began to heat up and tear, and then went hand over hand for the last twenty down to the maintenance levels where Iris believed Nance to be.
<Next one, level 17,> Nance informed Jessica as she descended.
<Thank stars, this is exhausting.>
At the specified level, Jessica swung out and pulled the doors open, peering down the—thankfully—empty corridor.
<Got them!> Iris called out. <Hi Erin.>
<Stars! Glad to see you got out! Where’s Cheeky?> Nance asked.
<Hopefully at the command center by now. We need to get back up too.>
The sounds of weapons fire echoed down the corridor before Nance replied.
<Love to, but there’s a whole fucking ‘toon of Oggies down here. Good thing I have Ortaga as a human shield. They must like him or something.>
<On my way,> Jessica replied as Iris pinpointed Nance’s location on the level.
She sprinted down the passageway and passed into a large room. The overhead lay ten meters above, and tanks filled the area. The sounds of pumps, liquid sloshing, and a dozen other noises she couldn’t readily identify assaulted her.
Great, ambush central.
Jessica flushed out a passel of nano as she skirted around the edge of the room, rifle stock tight against her shoulder as she worked her way past the rows of tanks and pipes.
Moveme
nt behind a tank caught Jessica’s attention, and she quickly backtracked to take cover behind a cluster of pipes rising up out of the deck.
She flipped her rifle from pulse shots to its fifteen millimeter explosive tip rounds and took aim at a pipe feeding into one of the tanks.
A long exhale, a trigger squeeze, and the pipe exploded, spraying human waste into the space below. There was a cry of dismay, and Jessica rushed around the clean side of the tank to see two soldiers backing away from the filth.
Two shots later and they were down.
Jessica circled around the tanks and took a new route down the center of the room. She caught sight of two guards a moment before they saw her, and they joined their comrades in the afterlife.
<I have the room covered with nano, now. There are six other Oggies here, but they’re working around the far side. They think you’re still along the bulkheads.>
<Good,> Jessica replied as she reached the exit on the far side. <Seal them in.>
Iris closed off the exit behind Jessica and she continued along her route to Nance.
<Backed into a corner here, Jess. Could really use an assist soon,> Nance called in.
<Almost there, I’ll be on their asses in thirty seconds.>
Jessica rounded a corner and spotted a squad of Oggies crouched along the edges of the corridor. She pulled her pistol free and opened fire with both weapons, tearing into the enemy’s backs and mowing down four before they’d even turned.
There were still ten of the enemy in the passageway, and half of them turned and fired on Jessica, who ducked back behind the corner.
She lobbed a grenade around the corner at the same time that shots joined in from the far end of the passageway.
There was a thundering explosion, and then silence reigned.
Jessica eased around the corner and sighed as Nance emerged from the smoke.
Nance threaded her way through the bodies of the enemy, and one groaned as Nance walked past. The ship’s engineer casually shot the soldier in the head.
The action surprised Jessica. Not that she wouldn’t have done it—they couldn’t afford to leave enemies behind them—but she’d never seen Nance do anything like that.