CHAPTER FOUR
Tam... the device
SYSPOL Detective Inspector Tamara Lo twisted the handle of the door to the forward airlock, took a quick glance in to check for activity, and rushed inside when she was sure the room was empty. Tam shut the door and let go of the long-barrel GMRL she had just retrieved from her quarters, then unsheathed a sword strapped to her waist and placed it between the airlock deck and door handle, making it difficult for someone to open it from the other side. She floated to a cabin near a control panel and opened it. Inside were three unarmored spacesuits. She retrieved one and suited up quickly, securing the helmet over her head. Next she went to the airlock console and, after a few button presses, began the process of depressurizing the room. The difference in pressure would now make the inner door impossible to open from the other side; she was safe for a short while.
Tam had no doubts about what the Firewood’s troopers wanted. She’d stolen top-secret information and weapons from a secret substation orbiting Jupiter’s moon Europa, where the Independence had been docked weeks earlier. SYSPOL had given her a mission to infiltrate the Lava Site using Iravani’s special relationship with the Ravens to gain the advantage. Tam had thought her actions had gone undetected, but clearly they somehow figured it out and were coming to kill her. She had to wipe them out first--all of them, including the Independence crew. There was no way the Ýdalics would let her live. What Tam knew would ruin legacy, the Militia, Tommy Raven, and reveal a dangerous weapon they’d built. Earth needed to know the truth.
A pressurization indicator on top of the outer door changed from green to red, telling her the room was ready and she could exit. Tam twisted the handle and swung the outer airlock door open. She could see the vast blackness of space, and the light from various objects in the solar system… and beyond. She carefully peeked out and found the Firewood about 500 meters behind. She knew she would have to lean out more to get a shot. As she exited the airlock and stepped out of the protection of the ship, panic set in. She was most likely going to die; there was no one on either side of this fight who’d help her. Even if she had a plan to survive, it was unlikely to have positive results for her. Don’t worry. Get the job done. These are liars, criminals, murderers. They chose their side, you chose yours. Do the job. Earth will remember you as a hero.
Tam went back inside, retrieved the GMRL, exited the airlock, and aimed the weapon at the Firewood. The targeting component of the launch mechanism delivered a slight vibration from the weapon as it acquired a target lock. She looked at the sight’s HUD which had several blinking lights of various colors. She needed them to all turn green. As she waited, a small movement in the distance caught her attention. As she focused her eyes, Tam realized there were several small things moving near the aft of the Independence… and closing. She took her eyes off the rifle’s display and peered into the distance. The helmet had a zoom function and, if she remembered correctly, one only needed to speak the command.
“Zoom to center view,” she said, and it worked. Shit! Tam thought as she saw four assault troopers, swords out, coming toward her. Then, from her periphery, she noticed the Firewood was opening a port on the forward top section of the ship, revealing what appeared to be a large cannon. Full panic set in. “Hurry, hurry!” she screamed at the targeting component.
A second later the markers on the sight turned green. Tam did not hesitate and pulled the trigger.
The rocket launched with an intense blue light so bright she couldn’t look at it until the projectile was a few dozen meters out. She observed the Firewood troopers turning to watch it, but only for a moment. The shot seemed to motivate them and they turned back toward her, their small boosters burning at top velocity. She had perhaps 30 seconds to get inside the airlock and close it. But not just yet.
The rocket impacted the Firewood, but nothing happened… as designed. It was meant to stick to the surface and detonate a high explosive charge by remote control. But Tam was not going to use that function. Instead, she activated a small makeshift-drone she’d attached to it. Inside the helmet a video feed appeared revealing what the drone could see. She sent it a command to use a microscopic laser to cut through the gel. It took a second to un-stick. Next she commanded the unit to fly toward a section of the ship mere meters away. It took only moments, but gave the assault troopers time to close the gap. Attached to the drone was a small device of immeasurable power, the one she had stolen from the secret substation. She had to activate that device now. Tam did and immediately followed it up with a command override code. Instantly the ship was under her control--it would take the Firewood’s crew seconds to realize what was happening and take control back; there was no time to waste. Next she executed a deployment order and followed it up with a retro-burn command. Suddenly the ship opened the aft release hold and deployed a tethered satellite which quickly extended beyond the ship. She then activated a preprogrammed routine. Finally, Tam commanded her makeshift-drone to return.
She noticed the troopers coming toward her were close, but waited to make sure it worked.
The tethered satellite fired its thrusters and started a circular trajectory around the Firewood, wrapping the ship in wire as the satellite’s velocity increased. It spun around the ship in a clockwise motion until the tether’s slack ran out and the satellite crashed violently through the section of the Firewood where its main power reactor was housed. A millisecond later, it detonated, sending Firewood debris in all directions.
Satisfied, Tam started to boost back toward the airlock but was hit by something and realized another red trooper had come at her from a different direction than the others. She twisted clockwise out of the trooper’s grasp and used her mini-thrusters to shoot toward the airlock, but the delay was just long enough for the other red troopers to arrive. One grabbed her by the left arm; another tackled her legs and squeezed them together. Someone pushed her head sideways, giving Tam a view of the Firewood debris coming at them. Before she could even contemplate that reality, hundreds of small pieces perforated the suits of the assault troopers holding her, followed by a larger piece hitting them all, scattering the cluster. Tamara was knocked out of their grip and tumbled inside the airlock until her body impacted the inner door. A millisecond later the room began to spin with intense force pushing against her body, until the spin suddenly stopped, causing her to bounce around the airlock. It took the suit’s automatic stabilization system a moment to settle, but once it did, Tam was thankful to still be alive and conscious. Luck was on her side, she thought, until two Firewood troopers entered the airlock, broadswords out, ready for a fight, their armor damaged but functional. She had no time to check if her suit was leaking, the troopers in front were a far more immediate problem than slow depressurization. A shiver of fear ran up her spine as she absorbed the odds against her then dissipated as she remembered the sword she’d used as an improvised lock. Tam boosted toward the inner door, grabbed the hilt and, after two quick pulls, the sword popped out. Now armed, she faced her opponents.
The troopers positioned themselves in a split formation: one going to her left and the other right. They made careful movements for a few seconds before the right-most trooper boosted to the end corner of the airlock, out of her peripheral. She turned her head to follow and realized they were setting up an attack from the other trooper. Expecting an attack, Tam promptly boosted forward to the open airlock, trying to exit the kill zone. She made it a few meters before hearing a loud crack inside the suit followed by the feeling of intense pressure around her left leg. Though hit, forward momentum carried her out of the airlock into space where she was greeted with the sight of bodies and thousands of pieces of Firewood debris floating all around.
She turned away from the carnage, back toward the Independence airlock, and saw one of the troopers exiting head-first, sword-tip pointed at her. Tam boosted right, and the trooper shot past. She aimed for the airlock, fired boosters, and crashed into the second trooper emerging in the doorway. The two tumbled back, hitting the inner bulkhead and, for a brief moment, Tam had the advantage. With all the strength she had left, Tam pushed the sword into the red trooper’s chest, plunging the blade deep, nearly to the hilt. The glass of their helmet’s touched, and she could see a man’s eyes on the other side… full of fear. Before her mind could process more, there was a sudden and extreme pressure at her back that shot a fire through her organs, as if her insides were exploding. The other trooper. She cried out in agony, her voice deafening inside the helmet. Tam felt the blade being pulled out, then stuck inside her again… the pain quickly reaching an apex, so much that Tam felt her body begin to shut down… as all the energy contained within it drained.
Oh no… oh… no…
The last thing she saw was the device attached to the makeshift-drone returning, as she had commanded. It rested in her hand… and stopped moving. Tam closed her fingers around the device in a last desperate attempt to keep it out of their hands, then closed her eyes.
The pain all-but disappeared, dull and distant… replaced by a scatter of thoughts:
I failed… they’ll win… the Dead… pretenders… Bastards… shit on them…
Tommy… most of all…
I’m tired… so cold…
Mother…
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