What May Come

Please see chapter 1 for author's notes. Real life has kept me offline for several weeks, but chapters 13 and 14 will be coming shortly (as soon as I get them beta'd).

WARNING—More violence…

Chapter 11: Invasion

As if in response to Goddard's comment, the communicator chimed again.

"Damn, we've got to tell them something," Aslinn muttered.

Jacie reached for it. "What is—was—his name? Seris?"

"Tseros," Aslinn corrected. He frowned at his friend, and if Harlan was seeing faint trembling in Jacie's hands and eyes that weren't quite focusing, he knew the redhead was too. "Maybe not you, brother…you're kinda shaky right now. Sure you're up to imitating a warlord?"

He made a face, then held the device out to Radu. "Pro'ly not."

"Wait…Radu doesn't sound anything like that guy," Harlan interrupted. "They're going to know something's up as soon as he opens his mouth."

"Harlan's right," the commander agreed. "We need to buy ourselves some time. Aslinn, can you open the cargo bay doors to space so they can continue their scans? If they ask, tell them the commander ordered it, and now he's checking…somewhere that their communications array can't reach, and we'll tell him they're trying to contact him."

"Yeah…that's easy enough." He spent a moment in command, and then returned. "We have ten minutes before they open fire."

Harlan half rose. "What did you say to them!" Radu caught his elbow and jerked him back down suddenly, on the heels of a low hiss from Jacie. The Ashrach boy was glaring at him. "Huh?"

"Just…stay down," Aslinn said. "And I didn't say anything except what Commander Goddard suggested…apparently it's required that survey teams remain in constant contact with their base ship."

"That makes sense," Goddard agreed. "Well, I was hoping for more time, but it will have to do."

"Commander, do you have a plan?"

"Actually, we're going to use your idea, Mr. Radu."

"M-my idea?"

"Ah, man, we're going to steal their ship, aren't we?"

"You're going to do what?" Aslinn demanded. "That's nuts!"

"Unless you can come up with a better option. Harlan, Radu, you both should know the theory behind this."

He seemed to be gaining confidence as he spoke, but Harlan didn't remember covering theft-of-enemy-crafts in any class he'd taken. And while he might not have been a stellar student, he suspected something like that would have caught his attention. "Um, commander…?"

"It's a standard boarding drill…only this time we'll have surprise on our side. Three of us—" and his face seemed to fall suddenly, but he took a deep breath and continued—"Three of us will take the transport tunnel back to their ship. When they see three shapes coming—and the distortion in the tunnel should prevent a clear visual—they should assume it's their team coming back. Although if the airlock is sealed…" he trailed off.

"We could send a message first," Harlan put in. "Something about an equipment malfunction…we could tell them that's why the comms aren't working. So they're coming back to get them fixed. I guess that doesn't make sense though…they could just use your command post."

Radu shook his head. "No, that will work. We can just tell them that since scans were complete, they decided to return directly instead of wasting time on transmission."

Aslinn nodded. "I still think you're crazy, but…I haven't got anything better. For what it's worth, if you can pull it off that ship should fit in the cargo bay for transport. Be a tight fit…those engines will be scraping the ceiling panels…but if one of you is a competent pilot it's possible."

"So how many people do you think are onboard? I mean, three of us against 20 of them…" Not that Harlan really thought there were 20 Spung on the little scout ship, but he'd feel better having some idea what they were facing. And being able to account for the entire crew instead of having nightmares about a man they'd missed hiding in a closet with a pulse rifle.

"Crew compl'ment is six," Jacie spoke for this first time since they'd begun planning. "I'm not sure whether they'd have counted the Ashrach crew or not, so you're looking at two or three. I'm…I can fight, 'f you want me along." He caught a glare from Aslinn and gave an unnerving laugh. "I can. I'm even good at it."

Harlan reluctantly agreed with that assessment. He'd started karate at the age of six, right after his father left to fight in the war, and after the man had been killed had thrown himself into his practices with ideas of becoming tough enough to take on the entire Andromedan race. He'd grown out of that idea—or he thought he had until Radu had come to the StarAcademy—but he'd kept studying and had learned pieces from other disciplines as well. Jacie's technique didn't bear much of a resemblance to any of them, and Harlan doubted he'd ever be able to pick up any pointers from the other boy—not if he didn't want half the bones in his body shattered, anyway—but it had been effective. He shook his head. He'd still prefer if it was Radu watching his back.

"The three of us are familiar with each other's moves," Goddard replied after a moment. "Thank you for the offer, but this isn't the best time to start mixing up teams."

Aslinn looked relieved at that. He'd obviously known from the start that his arm would disqualify him—he might be able to fire a blaster quickly, but if it came to hand-to-hand combat he would be at a distinct disadvantage. "I'll get you all sidearms." He tugged Jacie's arm lightly. "You want to take the helm now? Worst comes to worst, we aren't going to have much time to react. I'll be up as soon as we're ready to transmit."

"Hm? Oh, sure."

Both of them went through to command, Aslinn returning a moment later with three basic blasters. "I assume you're familiar with their use?"

"Point and shoot," Harlan said with a shrug. He'd always done well in target practice.

"What setting level should we be using?" Goddard asked with a frown at his student. "Two to knock out, three to kill?"

"One to knock out, two to kill," Aslinn corrected. "Assuming it's a shot to the chest or head."

Radu dropped his setting immediately. "What does three do?"

"As defined by the friend who got us these, three is the setting for 'crispy critter'. I've never tried it." He shook his head. "Not much time left. If they fire on us, we'll do our best not to blow up the ship with you still on it, but…do us all a favor and take them out before they press the trigger."

Goddard nodded, standing. "Transmit the message as soon as we're in the tunnel, all right? If they're expecting their team, hopefully they won't look too closely."

"Sure."

Harlan glanced over at Radu as they stepped into the tunnel. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

Well, if the other boy wasn't going to admit how scared he was—and anyone who'd known him for more than five minutes would be able to tell he was terrified, despite the determined set to his jaw—Harlan wasn't about to either. "Course."

They walked in silence, Goddard setting the pace. When they reached the Spung airlock, he tapped the entry panel lightly, and all three breathed a sigh of relief as it began to cycle. "Band, left, Radu, right, I have the center."

Harlan nodded, not bothering to give verbal confirmation. They'd done this drill before often enough that they knew what to do. The only thing missing was Bova at their back, predicting the dire consequences likely to result if they ever tried the maneuver in a 'real' battle situation. Except this was a real battle, and Bova was one of the reasons they were doing it. The hatch opened, and he froze for a moment. They were staring directly into the Spung command post. Later he'd wonder why he'd been so surprised—it was the way the Christa was set up as well—but having direct access from space to the control center of your ship was definitely non-standard in a military vessel. Even a tiny one like this. A blast from the commander's weapon snapped him back to the present, and he fired a moment after Radu.

The commander's blast caught the pilot directly in the chest as he rose to call a warning, and he fell hard. The second Spung had been at the one of the consoles directly behind helm, but he'd launched himself over the farthest one from the airlock as soon as he saw them. Radu's shot barely clipped him and Harlan's missed entirely.

"Cover!" Commander Goddard called, diving behind the near console flanking helm and aiming a shot in the direction the crewmember had gone.

Harlan scrambled to put the helm between him and the Spung. "Where is he?"

Radu was crouched on the far side of the console mirroring the one their opponent was hiding behind…they faced sideways, inward at the rest of the command post. "Straight across from me...he's coming around!"

Harlan carefully stuck his head out, weapon ready, hoping to catch the man as he moved. A blast struck the panel just above his temple, and he jerked back. "I can't get a shot!"

"Radu, keep firing…keep his head down!"

Judging by the sharp sounds that followed, Radu was complying, and Harlan began to move around again. His shoulder burned suddenly and he fell back. "Hit!"

"How bad?" Commander Goddard asked.

"I think just a graze…" but man did it hurt. "Let's get this guy."

"I think I got him," Radu answered. "He came up pretty far that time."

"Are you sure?"

"He's not moving anymore, but I don't know whether he ducked or fell."

"You two, stay in position," Goddard ordered.

Harlan gripped his weapon, gazing cautiously around the helm. The commander was moving slowly towards the Spung's location—a perfect target if the man was trying to trick them. He knew Radu would be covering from his position as well. The commander slipped carefully around the near side of the console—Harlan's weapon jerked before he even realized that his finger had tightened on the trigger, and the Spung fell back to the ground.

"All clear," the commander announced a moment later. "He's unconscious. Let's check the rest of the ship. Mr. Radu?"

"I don't think there's anyone else here," he said after a moment. "The engines are all around us though…"

Harlan nodded at that. Unlike the Rockhopper, with its engines attached to fins off the side, the Spung scoutship was much more compact with a powerful main engine built directly above the living quarters and maneuvering thrusters below. He could feel the vibration of the idling engines through the floor. "So let's check it out."

"Let me check your arm first," Goddard replied, moving towards him.

"It's just a graze." Now that the initial burn had faded the pain wasn't as sharp—still there, and energy burns were never pleasant, but not as bad as it had been.

The commander agreed with his assessment after a moment. "When we get back to the Rockhopper, we'll pick up a first aid and bandage it. Mr. Radu, anything?"

Radu had moved to stand by the door leading into the rest of the ship, listening for anything moving on the other side, and it took him a moment to reorient himself at the commander's words. "I still haven't heard any more heartbeats."

"Well, let's play it safe anyway. I'll go first, Mr. Radu after me, and Mr. Band will cover our backs."

"Should we lock them up first?" Radu asked, nodding to the two Spung.

"We should, but without knowing the layout of the ship we don't have anywhere to put them." He paused, glancing at what were obviously escape pod entrances. "Let's put them in one of them. It's not exactly secure, but it's the best option we've got."

"Besides, they aren't waking up anytime soon," Harlan added. It only took a moment to move the unconscious bodies, and then he fell in behind Radu as the commander shifted his grip on his weapon and moved to open the hatch into the ship. The first room wasn't much bigger than the Rockhopper's bathroom, but at a guess from the mats on the floor and a cabinet of handheld weaponry it was some sort of workout room. It had two doors leading from it besides the one to command—one to a galley even smaller than the workout room, and one to a bunkroom. It, at least, was bigger than the workout room, but not by much. Two sets of narrow bunks—apparently only four crewmen on this ship could sleep at once—a cabinet with uniforms and a few personal effects, and a tiny shower and bathroom. Exits from there led down into the lower engine room which apparently doubled as secondary command, and one to a smaller room above that gave access to the main engines. "Man, Spung must not suffer from claustrophobia…I'd go nuts stuck in a place this little with five other people for who knows how long."

"Scout ships are designed to be small and fast," Goddard said with a shrug. "I was posted on one for a few months before the war…it was a little bigger than this, but not much. You get used to it."

"Maybe," Harlan said doubtfully.

"We better get back to the Rockhopper and tell Aslinn and Jacie we've got the ship," Radu put in. "They said it would fit in the cargo bay if one of us could fly it in, but if we just disconnect the bridge without giving them some warning first…"

"Yeah, that would be bad." He shrugged. "It's not the Christa, but it can't be that hard to figure out the controls. We better take those two Spung back with us when we go to explain though. We can put them in the pod with the others."

"Good idea, Mr. Band."