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Authors: K.L. Tremaine
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your drive section. Heave to immediately and prepare for inspection.”
Ver onica wasn’t sure if the drop of the fleeing ship’s velocity was actual compliance or simply the consequence of damage to its main warp ring, but slow it did, dropping to a mere two hundred gees, then one hundred, and then merely coasting on the momentum it had already built up. No escape pods, no last-second maneuver attempts, and the ship’s laser turrets remained silent. Veronica wondered if the owner-operator was rational enough to argue their way out of a fine or a prosecution rather than try shooting it out with a Navy corvette, or simply too badly disabled to fight back. But you never knew for sure.
“ Reverse field, give me a least-time intercept vector for boarding,” her voice sounded crisp, but tired. The warp rings reversed the direction of their spatial distortions, turning the after expansion field into a contraction field. Having already accelerated past a perfect zero-zero rendezvous course, the ship would overshoot her quarry and reach relative stationary roughly thirty thousand kilometers past her, within mutual laser range. “We’ll be close enough to throw rocks, Ma’am,” groused Natasha.
“ I know that, but we’re going to actually need to be even closer–we’re going to need to close to skin-touch range, in order to board.” Veronica smiled at Natasha’s image on the intercom. “You done good, kid. You done good.”
The minutes ticked agonizingly by as Dog Two-oh-Seven slowed. The freighter swelled on the tactical display as the two vehicles converged, until they were sitting virtually nose to nose with just a few thousand kilometers between them, Veronica deftly slowed her corvette with small touches on the vector thrusters, bringing the two on a converging course. “We’ll have converged with their main boarding airlock in about ten minutes.”
She peeked into the small hatch leading down into the middeck. “Alyse, Bowman. Suit up, you two are coming with me. Yeboah, you and Leblanc stay on Two-oh-Seven and keep watch for anyone else.”
Veronica started powering up her suit as Yeboah carefully maneuvered Dog Two-oh-Seven to its rendezvous. The slow minutes ticking by felt maddening on her nerves. She was frustrated with waiting, and simultaneously worried by the fact that she was about to board a ship underway–it was a dangerous thing for a command officer to enter a foreign ship, but a corvette simply didn’t have the personnel to include a true marine detachment. Her only actual marine was Natasha, and she had to stay on the corvette in case of an assault past the landing party, at least for first contact–Veronica resolved to change out for a different force mix on the freighter as soon as she could.
Finally, the clang of the docking grapple engaging was heard, and the airlock cycle light went from red to green. “Atmosphere on the other side of the lock. Everyone, stay sharp and don’t open your faceplates until we have an all-clear to do so.”
Kellie nodded to Veronica, “Don’t need to tell me twice–or really, even once, but it’s good to hear the boss has the right idea.”
Louis simply nodded his agreement.
The airlock door cycled and Veronica walked into the other ship ’s entrance antechamber. There was no one to be found immediately, but plenty of evidence that the crew was about. “Stay sharp, people. We could run out of room real fast. And make sure we’re not going to suffer any surprises from behind.”
With an increasing sense of unreality, Veronica Gray and Kellie Alyse made their way down the companionway of the blockade runner. There had been two resentful-looking crewers tending an unconscious officer as they had entered, but there was no other sign of life in the entire ship. “This thing’s gotta be at least a century old, they haven’t made D-42s since the late-third century.”
“ The manifest just says, ‘two hundred thousand kilograms
Ver onica wasn’t sure if the drop of the fleeing ship’s velocity was actual compliance or simply the consequence of damage to its main warp ring, but slow it did, dropping to a mere two hundred gees, then one hundred, and then merely coasting on the momentum it had already built up. No escape pods, no last-second maneuver attempts, and the ship’s laser turrets remained silent. Veronica wondered if the owner-operator was rational enough to argue their way out of a fine or a prosecution rather than try shooting it out with a Navy corvette, or simply too badly disabled to fight back. But you never knew for sure.
“ Reverse field, give me a least-time intercept vector for boarding,” her voice sounded crisp, but tired. The warp rings reversed the direction of their spatial distortions, turning the after expansion field into a contraction field. Having already accelerated past a perfect zero-zero rendezvous course, the ship would overshoot her quarry and reach relative stationary roughly thirty thousand kilometers past her, within mutual laser range. “We’ll be close enough to throw rocks, Ma’am,” groused Natasha.
“ I know that, but we’re going to actually need to be even closer–we’re going to need to close to skin-touch range, in order to board.” Veronica smiled at Natasha’s image on the intercom. “You done good, kid. You done good.”
The minutes ticked agonizingly by as Dog Two-oh-Seven slowed. The freighter swelled on the tactical display as the two vehicles converged, until they were sitting virtually nose to nose with just a few thousand kilometers between them, Veronica deftly slowed her corvette with small touches on the vector thrusters, bringing the two on a converging course. “We’ll have converged with their main boarding airlock in about ten minutes.”
She peeked into the small hatch leading down into the middeck. “Alyse, Bowman. Suit up, you two are coming with me. Yeboah, you and Leblanc stay on Two-oh-Seven and keep watch for anyone else.”
Veronica started powering up her suit as Yeboah carefully maneuvered Dog Two-oh-Seven to its rendezvous. The slow minutes ticking by felt maddening on her nerves. She was frustrated with waiting, and simultaneously worried by the fact that she was about to board a ship underway–it was a dangerous thing for a command officer to enter a foreign ship, but a corvette simply didn’t have the personnel to include a true marine detachment. Her only actual marine was Natasha, and she had to stay on the corvette in case of an assault past the landing party, at least for first contact–Veronica resolved to change out for a different force mix on the freighter as soon as she could.
Finally, the clang of the docking grapple engaging was heard, and the airlock cycle light went from red to green. “Atmosphere on the other side of the lock. Everyone, stay sharp and don’t open your faceplates until we have an all-clear to do so.”
Kellie nodded to Veronica, “Don’t need to tell me twice–or really, even once, but it’s good to hear the boss has the right idea.”
Louis simply nodded his agreement.
The airlock door cycled and Veronica walked into the other ship ’s entrance antechamber. There was no one to be found immediately, but plenty of evidence that the crew was about. “Stay sharp, people. We could run out of room real fast. And make sure we’re not going to suffer any surprises from behind.”
With an increasing sense of unreality, Veronica Gray and Kellie Alyse made their way down the companionway of the blockade runner. There had been two resentful-looking crewers tending an unconscious officer as they had entered, but there was no other sign of life in the entire ship. “This thing’s gotta be at least a century old, they haven’t made D-42s since the late-third century.”
“ The manifest just says, ‘two hundred thousand kilograms
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