My Other Car is a Spaceship (29 page)

Hal
cut the intercom to spare himself the cursing and shouting.

He settled
back in his couch for a long stretch at the helm, but what other choice did he have? Kalen, Nude, Sue, and Merry needed him. The Unity needed him. Hell, it seemed this whole damn spiral arm of the galaxy needed him.

Hal
“Mongoose” Nellis was determined not to let the galactic arm down.

The new base of operations for Kalen’s Kadre, as the escaped prisoners now called themselves, was deep in the warren of abandoned tunnels that Kalen called the maze. It would have been too suspicious to have more than a dozen people constantly coming and going in the warehouse, even if the locks hadn’t been about to be changed.

Before the breakout, Kalen, Nude
, and Sue had transferred food, clothing, and bedding materials to three unused chambers in the maze, far enough apart that if guards discovered the escapees hiding in one chamber, the others would have a chance to escape.

When
the Kadre was not engaged in a raid, Kalen, Nude, Sue, and Merry occupied one chamber and the nine surviving prisoners divided themselves between the other two. (One of the Sestrans was killed the day after the breakout.) During raids, Nude stayed behind with Merry. As a doctor, he refused to take a life except in self-defense. That meant the Kadre consisted of only eleven fighters: four Thorians, two humans, two Sestrans, two Chan’Yi, and one Foren.

Grossly outnumbered, the Kadre had had to resort to guerilla tactics, not direct confrontations. Tra
veling in twos and threes, they hit rooms secured by only one guard, pounced on people and equipment being escorted by pairs of guards, and otherwise harassed and obstructed the pirates as often and as hard as possible.

The badges the
y took from fallen guards were deactivated as soon as the fact was reported to the command center. If they were to be used to gain entry into restricted areas they had to be used immediately. However they served another equally important purpose: misdirection. If a prisoner wearing a work coverall and an ID badge casually walked up to a guard in an open corridor, by the time he got close enough for the guard to tell that the picture on the badge didn’t match the face of the wearer, it was already too late for the guard.

After losing nearly twenty guards that way
in less than an hour, security had changed their protocols. Now the guards traveled only in pairs, and anyone getting within ten meters of a guard was challenged before he got too close. The dead Sestran prisoner had learned of the change in procedure the hard way.

“Move it!” MekFensal shouted at the security team rushing out the door. The thrice-damned spawn of Fet had killed another pair of guards.
His
guards, damn it!

MekFensal snatched a blaster from its cradle along with a spare
powerpack. The walls were lined with weapons of various sizes, shapes, and types—from handguns to rifles, from shaped charges to lethal or incapacitative gas canisters.

Antennae twitching in agitation,
MekFensal rushed out the door, letting it sigh shut behind him. Seconds later, before the door had a chance to close all the way, a tan-and-beige-furred arm reached in and tripped the safety mechanism. The door hissed open again.

“Hurry up,” Mez Ovlu hissed, waving his fellow Thorian into the weapons locker.

Col Somul slipped in right behind him. Knowing they had little time to spare before another guard came in for a replacement powerpack or weapon, they quickly dumped the half-filled sacks of tubers they’d carried on their shoulders.

Col concentrated on explosives
, gas canisters, and gas masks, while Mez went for the blasters and powerpacks. With no way to recharge the blasters “in the field,” the prisoners had to resort to replacing the weapons or powerpacks whenever one went dry.

In less than a minute,
each had filled up on what he’d come for and were out the door, sack over shoulder once more, and one hand stuffed in a pocket that held another blaster—just in case someone saw them leave the locker.

Four minutes later, chatting like two buddies on the way home from work, they
slipped from the side corridor into one of the many entrances to the maze.

“We’ve arrived, Captain,” Hal reported over the intercom. “Jorseen orbit. I’ll be aboard the space station in a few minutes and I’ve programmed the computer for an out-system jump shortly after that to put you back on your original course. The timer will unlock the door to CH9 and let you out in an hour. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I did what I did with the best of intentions. This may be our last chance to stop the pirates. I couldn’t let it get away.”

“I have had plenty of time to think about what you said,”
Captain Perenfar replied. “You left me little else to do while we waited.” He snorted with dark humor.

“
I understand why you did what you did, but I still am displeased. You have disrupted our timetable and possibly damaged this company’s reputation, and for what? A fool’s errand that will probably get you killed? Face it: there is no Unity to come to the rescue. You cannot take on the pirates by yourself. It is suicide.”

Hal shrugged. “Perhaps
so, but I can’t just sit around on my fat ass doing nothing while they kill thousands of innocent people. Did you
hear
what Captain Tro did to the town on that last planet before he sold me to you?”

Perenfar was silent for a moment. “Yes,
but not until after Tro’s ship departed.”

“Then you know why I have to do what I have to do.”

Captain Perenfar sighed. “Yes. But I still do not like it. What will I do for a pilot once Sel retires?”

Hal
chuckled. “There are likely to be plenty of Unity pilots out of work on Jorseen. Pick one. Besides, you said you’d rather
hire
a pilot than buy one, right? Here’s your chance.”

“Tarl, I have squads of guards patrolling the corridors with orders to shoot on sight anyone not wearing a valid ID badge.” Ishtawahl stood in the doorway of Penrod’s office, strapping a blaster harness around his waist. “I will be joining a squad myself. All security personnel are on duty until further notice. These raids
will
stop.”

Penrod
frowned. “So you keep saying, but I’m still waiting for results! Those bastards are seriously disrupting our operations now. Everyone’s afraid they’ll be shot by the escapees or get caught in the crossfire. It’s impossible to get any work done with one eye looking over your shoulder. We need to get this taken care of and get back to the business of doing business. If you have to, give guns to the dockworkers.
Just get it done!
”

“There they are!” The Melphin guard pointed at the backs of the fleeing prisoners. “Shoot!”

He and the other three guards opened fire. The headshots missed the ducking escapees, s
corching the granite wall beyond. Several workers sharing the same corridor scattered at the first shots.

The prisoners ducked around the corner before turning and firing back. There were three of them, a Sestran, a Chan’Yi, and a Thorian. Their shots missed as well.

The guards took cover in doorways. Both sides traded blasts. Several exchanges produced no results except for damaging the fused stone surface of the corridor.

The Sestran hit one of the guards in the left shoulder. A moment later the Thorian
grazed another guard before becoming overconfident and leaning out a bit too far. A third guard shot him full in the face. He died before he hit the floor.

The two remaining prisoners pulled back around the corner.

The guards charged the intersection with fingers on triggers, but the prisoners were gone.

The senior guard toggled his communicator. “Base, this is Vensin Sho. My team engaged three prisoners in corridor 137, at intersection 22.
We managed to kill one of the prisoners, a Thorian.”

“Good work, Sho,” MekFensal replied. “Any casualties on your end?”

“Two of my team were injured, but not seriously. I am taking them to the med center for treatment.”

“Very well.
Take the dead prisoner with you and then get back out on patrol as soon as possible. We need to eliminate
all
of them.”

“No, damn it!” Vanderwaal shouted, his dark eyes glinting. “We should be trying to get out of this place in one piece. We kill however many pirates it takes to reach the docks, steal a ship and get back to family and friends.”

All the escapees sat huddled in the dimly lit chamber. Sue held Merry on her lap,
attempting to quell the girl’s tears.

“
Keep it
down
, Steve!” Kalen said to the other human member of the group.

“
These tunnels echo like crazy. Look, we’ll never get out of here alive unless we do something to seriously disrupt their operations. For one thing, they have a lot more people than we do.” He made a sweeping gesture to include the rest of the combatants, now down to eight, not counting Nude and Merry.

“We can’t just rush the hangar and steal a ship. They’re too well guarded.
And even if we managed to get a ship, we can’t leave a stockpile of nukes in the hands of pirates. We already know they’ll use them. They could kill millions of innocent people. Could
you
sleep at night knowing you might have prevented it but didn’t even try? I know
I
couldn’t.”

The slender
Vanderwaal nodded vehemently. His long black hair flapped like a raven testing its wings. “Damn straight I could! It’s not
my
job to save the universe. I’ve got enough on my hands just trying to keep my family safe. The other families will have to take care of themselves. My wife and kids are out there, somewhere.” He made a vague gesture with his hand. “I have to find them. The rest of the universe can go to hell for all I care.”

“I understand how you feel—”

“The hell you do! Your wife and kids aren’t god-knows-where hoping you’ll come rescue them.”

“No,” Kalen replied with a chill in his voice as counterpoint to the heat in Vanderwaal’s. “You’re right. I have no wife and kids waiting for me. Pirates murdered my wife
before
we could have children. At least you
have
a wife and kids. I’ve been fighting pirates a lot longer than you have, and I’ve seen what they can do. Terrible, horrifying, heart-rending things that would give any sane man nightmares.
That’s
why I can’t just walk away and leave the pirates with working nukes. I
have
to try to stop them.”

Vanderwaal was undeterred. “That’s fine for you.
Fight
the damn pirates; die trying to stop them. You’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve got a family waiting for me. I
have
to get back to them.”

The two men stood almost nose to nose, seething, angry that the other refused to see reason.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Steve,” Kalen said at last. “But we can’t afford to do what you want. It’s too risky and the chances of success are too slim.”

“Oh,
sure
,” the other retorted, dripping sarcasm. “The odds of taking on the entire pirate army are
so
much better.”

“Well, at least we’re not going to try to take them on
all at once.
Guerilla tactics have worked so far, haven’t they? Get in quick, get out quick. We’ve only lost two people, compared to more than two dozen of the pirates. But your idea would get us all killed before we got anywhere near the ships. All it would take is a couple of guards hiding behind some crates to pin us down long enough for reinforcements to surround us, and then we’re all dead.”

“Not if we hit them hard and fast.”

“Steve, there’s no way we can get this many people all the way down to the hangar without setting off alarms somewhere along the way. They’re on the lookout for groups of people.”

“Then we’ll go in ones and twos.”

“Oh, and what are the first few people to arrive at the hangar supposed to do while they’re waiting for the last few to catch up—tap dance? Ask for directions? The guards will wonder why all these people are congregating in the hangar for no apparent reason. They’re bound to get suspicious.”

“Fine! We’ll figure something out!”

Kalen shook his head. “No we won’t. I’m sorry, Steve, but it’s just not feasible. We have to stick to the plan. It’s worked so far, hasn’t it? We’ve got the pirates running around in circles, looking for us instead of doing whatever evil things they would have been doing otherwise.”

“Yes! We have them confused. That’s why this is the perfect time to attack the hanger and get the hell out of here.”

Kalen sighed. “I’m sorry, but it’s too risky. I can’t allow it.”

“
You
can’t allow it. Who put
you
in charge?”

“I
am
the only Unity officer here.”

“
Bullshit! The Unity’s
dead!
Haven’t you heard? You’re just another civilian like the rest of us. Maybe it’s time someone else was in charge. I say we attack the hanger,
now,
and hard. We steal a ship and get the hell out of here. Who’s with me?” He raised a hand above his head.