Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (19 page)

“All right, Frost is
going to take the vault car at the rear,” Jake ordered. “We’ll
head for the quad-car that reads like a couple million bugs.”

“Aye, Sir,” Frost
replied, taking Stephanie and Agameg with him.

Jake led Minh-Chu and
David, one of the slaves freed from the Palamo near Ossimi Ring
Station, to the container he chose. “Just wondering, why did you
send Frost’s team to the vault car?” Minh-Chu asked.

“He’s gotten into
trapped vaults before,” Jake replied. “There’s a good chance
the captain of the Torano set up that container to blow the whole
train if it’s opened wrong.”

“Oh, so the hazard
markers aren’t for the container we’re opening?” Minh-Chu asked
as they took a ladder down to the narrow access hallway. The hall ran
the length of the cargo train and another hundred metres longer.
Large manual levers for releasing the individual cargo cars hung
along the walls beside their computerized control panels. The panels
also contained manifests for the car they were affixed to. Jake
ignored everything they’d already accurately scanned and verified
using the cargo train’s link to the Warlord.

“The hazard markers
are for the whole cargo train. There’s a chance this is the best
take we’ve ever had, but that could come with some complications.”

“Valuable means
dangerous?” Minh-Chu asked, to Dave’s amusement.

They traversed down the
access walk running down the length of the one point six kilometre
long cargo train free of gravity. The passage was dimly lit by the
status screens they passed, telling them only basic information about
what was within the cargo containers that were affixed to the train’s
spine. There were hundreds of seven and fourteen metre long shipping
containers, all attached to hard points on the shipping train’s
spine. There were three hard points every seven metres, and the
access way they travelled down was triangular. Minh-Chu glanced at
the status panels they passed, noting a variety of goods ranging from
high density foodstuffs, construction bots, hard to produce colony
support equipment, hardened portable shelters, a few vehicles, and a
few other valuable articles.

“In this case,
definitely,” Jake replied as he stopped to stand between three
heavy hatches. “Here it is.” Each led to one of the joined cargo
cars that surrounded the corridor. The displays that were supposed to
contain the manifests and have release controls were dark.

Minh-Chu’s suit
scanned the system and found that the power to the automatic system
linking the cars had been cut.

Jake opened the inner
door after a quick scan and held a high-powered hand scanner up to
the inner hatch. Minh-Chu watched the display as it indicated that it
was scanning.

“If these cars are a
forma farm, I’m gonna break down and cry right here,” Dave said.

“I might join you,”
Jake answered.

The first part of the
scan results started coming in and Jake opened a channel. “Warlord,
I need you to drop the train and get outside of the hazard marker I’m
setting. Do it now,” Captain Valent said in a level tone.

“Aye, Captain,”
Finn replied. A few seconds later, the sounds of the Warlord
decoupling from the cargo train filled the narrow gangway.

“Dave, give me your
pry-bar,” Jake said.

David complied and
stepped back. Minh-Chu followed his example and moved back down the
rough corridor.

“A few feet won’t
save you if I get this wrong,” Jake said. “Frost, watch your
panel for any incoming signals.”

“Aye, what’re you
up to down there?” Frost replied over the communicator.

“Just seeing if this
is wired the way I think it is, doing a little prying.” Jake
lightly touched the bar to one edge of the hatch and stopped.

“Hold it! Hold it!”
Frost shouted. “I’ve got a relay lighting up.”

“Trace it,” Jake
said, not moving a millimetre.

“Got it, there’s a
cable running down the central spine to the oversized container
you’re in. It runs to some kind of tube filled with a solvent and a
detonation wire.”

Jake gave the crowbar
back to Dave. “All right, what do you want to do?” he asked.

“The easiest way to
make sure this entire train doesn’t turn into a bomb is to disarm
all the cars except for the vault, one by one. We do the vault and
the Xetima factory last.”

“Xetima factory?”
Minh-Chu asked. “We’re standing inside a fuel factory?”

“Aye, Ronin,” Frost
replied. “If I opened the vault car in the back, or any of the
other cars, that tube would burst and the solvent would pour out.
When the solvent hit the Xetima in the quad-car you’re standing in,
it would blow up so bright that they’d see the flash from Tamber.”

“Time to leave?”
Minh-Chu asked. “I don’t know anything about disarming this.”

“David, can you stick
around and give me a hand?” Frost asked.

“There’s danger pay
in it for you,” Jake said.

Dave didn’t seem to
pay attention to his captain’s offer. “Sure, I’ll stick around.
Just walk me through.”

“How long do you
think it’ll take to make all these cars safe?” asked Jake.

“Gimme twelve hours,”
Frost said. “They did a hell of a job setting this up, they just
didn’t expect anyone to hesitate when they were opening the
containers, so I can track all the wiring. Oh, and there’s a
detection circuit for lasers, plasma cutters, and all manner of
cutting gear, so we’re working with manual tools from the outside.”

“Space walking,
cool,” Dave said. “Oh, Captain, can I ask a favour?”

“What’s that?”
Jake asked.

“Don’t let Nerine
find out what I’m doing here until we’re done. No need for her to
worry.”

“No problem,” Jake
said. “Minh, you’re sticking around. I’ll walk you through this
while we work.”

“It’s a day of
firsts,” Minh-Chu said. “Just wondering, are we going to run into
a lot of these things?”

“No, this is a once
in a lifetime catch,” Jake said. “Xetima is made by genetically
engineered cockroaches, and I think what we have here is an active
nursery. There are millions of them in there maturing right now.”

“I was asking about
trapped cargo trains,” Minh-Chu said.

“Oh, probably not.
Trapping a cargo train can backfire; it can go off, destroying the
cargo.”

“Good. I have one
more question: how do they make Xetima?” Minh-Chu asked, suspecting
he already knew the answer.

“They poop it,”
Stephanie said over the communicator. “They eat patented food, and
poop fuel. I’m coming to help, by the way.”

“I think I saw that
in an old cartoon somewhere,” Minh-Chu said, finding the idea
amusing and disgusting at the same time.

“This oversized
container could be the nursery that provides for an entire production
facility,” Jake said.

“Are there any
markings telling us which one?” David asked.

“No, but whatever
facility these were bound for won’t be increasing production,
that’s for sure,” Jake said. He looked at the hatch with a
disposition that seemed pensive to Minh-Chu. “This could signify a
strategic victory against the Order, not to mention the advantage we
might gain here. The Rega Gain system doesn’t have a license to
produce Xetima – they have to buy it like everyone else. Whoever
gets this will be the first ones to offer it to the region.”

“I’m thinking at
least some of those materializers in the other cargo containers can
convert biomass or proteins to make food for these little buggers,”
Frost said. “This is a whole setup. The only people who can afford
this is the British Alliance, and they don’t use Xetima for their
thrusters unless they have to.”

“I’m not selling
it,” Jake said.

“What? We can't be
going into production with this, it’d take way too-“

“Don’t worry,
Frost. I have a plan.”

Reunited

Minh-Chu was only
faintly aware of the command crew of the Warlord in the large
observation room as he held Ashley tightly. “I missed you so much,”
she whispered into his ear. Ashley didn’t have to say so, her quiet
tears and trembling were more than enough sign that nearly two months
away was too long.

“I missed you, too,”
Minh-Chu replied. He was exhausted, and almost as happy to be away
from the cargo train, where he spent hours participating in defusing
a giant bomb, as he was to see Ashley.

A joyful screech
sounded from their right the instant before a toddler Nafalli landed
on their shoulders and attempted to burrow between them. Minh-Chu
loosened his embrace to let her in, and after a few seconds of
manoeuvring, he was nose to nose with the toddler. “Zoe!”
Minh-Chu shouted exaggeratedly. “You’re twice the girl you were
when I left! How are you growing so fast?”

“Minh-Chu!” she
said perfectly in her squeaky high voice before kissing him between
the eyes and burying her pink nose in the collar of his vacsuit.

“She’s been
practicing that,” Ashley said, her tears of joy abating. “And
picking up English fast lately.”

“Her Loodau, our
Nafalli language, is very good too,” Panloo, a tall, white furred
Nafalli said, flashing a glad smile. “She has to learn to slow down
and inflect, but it’ll come. She’s in her first hunting age now.”

Minh-Chu looked at
Ashley who closed her eyes and nodded. “I’ve never seen anything
with so much energy, and she’s into everything. She has two modes:
full speed and passed out.”

Zoe squirmed and turned
to look at Ashley. “Chompie?”

“Go see Mom,”
Ashley replied.

To Minh-Chu’s
surprise, the toddler leapt out of their arms and made the four-metre
jump between them and Panloo effortlessly. “It’s this one’s
lunch time, I’ll see you later,” Panloo said as Zoe made herself
at home over one of the large Nafalli’s shoulders. “Welcome back,
Minh.”

“Thank you,”
Minh-Chu replied.

“How was it?”
Ashley asked.

“More interesting
than we expected. We gathered a lot of intelligence, filled in a lot
of blanks, finished a couple deals we couldn’t make within earshot
of Haven Shore. We made a bigger capture than we expected in the end,
and we know exactly where to hit the Order from this end.”

“I’m coming with
you next time,” Ashley said. “Even if I have to stow away.”

“I don’t think
anyone has a problem with that, I wasn’t the only one who missed
you.”

“You were the only
one who missed me like this, I hope,” Ashley said with an upraised
eyebrow.

Minh-Chu smiled and
gave her a light kiss. “Everyone would have felt a lot better with
you at the helm.”

“My trainer rotation
on the Triton ended yesterday,” Ashley said. “So I have nothing
but time, and an empty apartment.”

“I won’t be much
good to you before I get some sleep,” Minh-Chu said. “And that’s
on hold until we finish a couple things.”

The next group of
people disembarking from the Warlord came through the inner airlock.
Bryson, the shipwright foreman, led most of his people into the
observation area. When he was sure everyone came through behind him
and the inner airlock door was re-sealed, he cleared his throat and
approached Captain Valent with a look of determination. He offered
his hand and Jake Valent shook it. “We did everything we were
supposed to for you, Sir, and you’ll find our work is
second-to-none.”

“I know, I was
there,” Jake said with a little levity.

“It was a pleasure,”
Bryson replied, nodding. “But I have to say something I couldn’t
while we were underway. We were to build aboard your ship while you
conducted exploration and intelligence gathering. We all knew the
Warlord could come under attack, and that was covered in our
contract. What I didn’t expect was to have our contract with you
broken when you started a fight with a ship that matches your own, if
not in construction, in the cunning of her crew. I’ll be lodging a
formal complaint, and I doubt the British Alliance will make any
shipwrights or repair facilities available to you again.”

“I’m sorry to hear
that,” Jake said. “Is there anything I can do to make this up to
you?”

“No, I’m afraid
not. You’re a good captain, but I believe it’s my duty to my men
to report any ill use of them.” The master shipwright walked off
then, leading the rest of his team deeper into the Triton. Minh-Chu
assumed they would make their way to another mooring point where a
British Alliance ship would meet them, and take them back to the
fleet proper. Most of the British Alliance builders didn’t look at
Jake or anyone else from the Warlord, but Minh-Chu could tell they
had mixed feelings.

“At least we have
people coming from Haven Shore,” Stephanie said as she walked
towards Ashley and Minh-Chu. He detached from Ashley so she could hug
Stephanie, but it was a brief embrace.

“Ayan tried to get
our motion passed to become Haven Shore citizens,” Ashley said.
“She even made sure it went through someone else, but it failed. We
can’t recruit from Haven Shore or Tamber, and you guys still can’t
sell them anything you found out there.”

“Sounds like you’ve
been following politics closely,” Minh-Chu said, a little
impressed.

“Yahuh, it’s been
interesting here. The Council only meets three days a week, but so
much happens every time. They started reformation at the end of their
last session, so the Council’s size is probably tripling, not that
we’ll have any representation there.”

“The Triton will,”
Oz said as he entered the Observation Room. “I’ll make sure your
interests are represented through me. Welcome back.”

“Thank you for
offering, Oz,” Jake said. “But I think we’ll keep all our
interests in orbit with the Triton. Haven Shore may only be good for
shore leave. Can I have a minute? I have an offer or three for you.”