Part 9: The Calm Before the Storm

Alex sat propped against the wall of the Bucephalus’s cargo bay, his head resting on the assault rifle that stood between his legs. He closed his eyes and went over the mission in his head. He hated this part, the waiting, the anticipation.

When he’d flown in the fleet, he loved prepping for missions. He had absolute confidence in himself and the machine he flew. The men and women in his squadron were the best trained and most disciplined starfighter pilots in the galaxy. While everyone knew that death was a possibility each time they engaged the enemy, countless hours of training and preparation made him feel confident to the point of invincibility.

Fighting on the ground, back on Kilos, was nothing like that. He’d had only the most basic in combat training before that experience. When he fought the Redipsilons in the tunnels, he did so from a position of weakness, an animal caught in a cage, lashing out at its captors for any hope of survival. Every ambush, every firefight he gathered his ragtag group of soldiers for should have been their last, and he knew it.

Now, holding his rifle, wearing this bulky armored pressure suit, he felt that way again. He could feel the low rumble of the engines through the walls, every rattle and bump taking him closer to his destination. This was a big job, as Joab had explained when outfitting Alex. People were going to die. No one on the ship they were preparing to attack was going to give up their cargo without a fight.

As soon as he’d been briefed on the mission, Alex wished he’d chosen not to take it. They were going to steal a shipment of mutonium. An element more rare than gold. It was nearly impossible to work with, foundries require nearly as much energy as interstellar space drives just to mold it. But when forged, it makes armor that is nigh indestructible.

Some wealthy pirates were rumored to have armored small ships with it, but no government could afford to outfit a battleship with mutonium. Few could imagine finding enough to cover an entire hull. But this ship, the ship that Byron’s fleet was going to ambush, it was loaded with the stuff.

Alex scanned the room. Michael was fiddling with the battery for his rifle. There were a few people huddled around the hull cutting unit, making sure everything was ready to go. They’d better be sure, because not getting through the hull would make this a short mission. Most of the other men and women were like Alex, nervously trying to relax. All of Team 13 were new to Byron’s Freedom Flyers.

From a strategic point of view, Alex could appreciate Byron’s boarding team concept. Without the cooperation of both ships, docking them was impossible. Obviously, stealing the cargo from another ship was not something that ship would normally cooperate with. Redipsilon Raiders and other pirates would instead try to destroy their prey, stealing what they could salvage from the wreckage. A well prepared ship could usually hold off a pirate long enough to make the jump back into hyperspace. Pirates had a low success rate and when they were successful, they destroyed much of the value of their prize.  

Byron’s method instead left the victims alive, most of the time. Resistance was met with force, but the method of attack was so novel that most ships gave up pretty quickly. Instead of disabling a ship or trying to attack the well-defended airlocks, boarding teams sliced into the hull. Once inside the breach, they secured the ship and pacified the crew, allowing for the offloading of goods.

Keeping the crews alive and the generally swashbuckling nature of the Freedom Flyers had created a romantic notion of them in the culture, and Byron played that to the fullest. He was tapping into a growing unrest on Earth and the Terran Republic at large. The yoke of Kilos was not heavy, but its presence was beginning to chafe.

At the moment, though, Alex wasn’t concerned about inciting a rebellion. He just wanted to get through this mission alive, get his debt paid off, and be done with Byron and his idealistic crusade. He checked his watch. An hour or so until they’d reach ambush zone. Alex decided he was tired of sitting, and decided to take a walk to the cockpit.

The activity in the cargo bay was contrasted by the quiet of the corridor. Seeing a faint light coming from the crew quarters, Alex popped his head in to see what was going on. There he saw Kwame prostrated on the floor. He was speaking something, but it wasn’t anything Alex could understand.

“Hey Kwame, you ok?”

Kwame went silent for a moment, then sighed, drawing himself up on this knees. Without turning around to face Alex, he said, “I’m fine, just praying.”

“I hope I could have found a way into those prayers. I could use all the help I can get.” Alex walked in and sat himself on the edge of a bunk. “Where’s John?”

“He is up in the cockpit,” Kwame said, standing up. He reached down and grabbed the rug he was on, stowing it next to his Bible. “If I understand him as well as I think I do, he is likely explaining to Jade just how rich his father is, and how he can take her away from this life.”

Alex smiled. “I wonder how I can get in on that deal?”

Kwame’s demeanor was still serious. “I have a bad feeling about this.” He sat down on the bunk opposite Alex.

“About the mission? So do I. I’ve got a room full of mercenaries and criminals who think they’re an elite military team, and I have to try to get them through this thing alive.”

“Yes, about this mission, about everything. I feel we are heading to a very dark time.”

“Not the cheery sort of thing I’d like to here at the moment Kwame, I’m not going to lie.”

 “Byron has been poking around, digging up our pasts…”

“I know, he had my entire history in a folder yesterday, he knows more about me than me.”

“Do you believe, Alex, that you know me? Not that you know who I am, but that you know what I am,”  Kwame clenched his fist and brought it to his chest, “here on the inside? You know what type of person I am?”

Alex squinted his eyes for second in consideration, cracked a smile, and then said, “I don’t care if you’re gay, Kwame.”

Kwame cracked an eyebrow. “No, that is not… do you believe I am…”

“Look, its ok. I mean I love you, man.” Alex was laughing now. “Well, not like that, but you know what I mean.”

Kwame, in spite of himself, allowed a smile to cross his lips. “No, no, this isn’t anything like that. I just want to tell you about what I did before I joined your crew, before Byron can find something…”

Alex stopped laughing. “Look, Kwame, I don’t need to know. I know who you are,” he said, putting his fist on Kwame’s chest, “in there. I owe you my life. You are a good man. I don’t care who you were or what you’ve done before. I know who you are now, and that’s all that matters to me.”

“Alex..” Kwame said, his voice grave.

“No, I don’t want to know,” Alex replied, rising to his feet. “I’m going to the cockpit. Can you get down to the cargo bay and make sure the merchandise transfer?”

Kwame stood up. “Yes, I will take care of it. Would you send John down too?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Alex said, leaving.

“Oh, and Alex?” Kwame called after him.

“Yes?”

“Thank you for your friendship.”

“Stop talking to me like I’m about to get killed.”

Kwame laughed. “It is always good to be prepared.”

Alex could hear John as he climbed to the cockpit “… my dad’s villa, on the Chesapeake…”

“Where is the Chesapeake?” Jade replied.

“Oh, erm, it’s in Maryland, you should come sometime, next time we have some time off… maybe you’d like to stay there…”

Alex cleared his throat. John spun around in the chair as Jade turned and smiled. “Outta my seat,” Alex said.

John leapt to his feet. “Oh. Hey Captain, didn’t see you there.”

“Kwame could use a hand down in the cargo bay.”

“Right, on it!” John said. As he climbed out of the cockpit, he looked back to Jade. “Think about it, my offer.”

“Ok,” she said, dismissively.

Alex sat down. “The kid bothering you?”

“No, not at all,” she said, not looking up from her instrument panel. “Actually, I think he’s kinda cute… but don’t tell him that.”

“We pulled out of the Rock so fast that I didn’t get a chance to talk with you. Did Byron tell you in the pilot’s briefing what we’re after today?”

“No, but I don’t really care. I can handle whatever they throw at us.”

“It’s mutonium, a whole cargo ship full of it.”

Jade looked up at Alex. “Really? With our cut, you suppose that we’ll be able to pay off Byron?”

“Maybe. But that’s not why I’m telling you. That ship is sure to be well defended. I just want you to be careful.”

Jade smirked. “I’m always careful. I’m best pilot on the Rock, remember?” she reached over and grabbed Alex’s hand. “You just make sure you bring Michael back in one piece.”

“Just Michael?”

“Well, you too, if it isn’t too much trouble.” She looked at her readout. “Almost there, you should get your guys ready.”

Alex sighed. “I know.” He stood up, and slowly walked to the back of the cockpit. “For the record, I’m not excited about this.”

“Noted, Cap.” She looked down. “For the record, you’ve got about 10 minutes to get ready.”