The Whorls of Jupiter

Chapter 4 Tenderfoot

July 21st 2521 Waxing 1

"Enigmatic Wale, this is the Free Traders of Io, we are making our approach. Standby for rescue," the speaker chirped over the comms.

Captain La Trois swapped the comms to his marines waiting in the alcoves of the Prominent Rage's armored panels and clicked twice.

***

Keun watched as two green lights lit up on his hud and gave a thumbs up to the rest. For a few days Prominent Rage was sending out an SoS in known insurrectionist territory and they finally got a bite.

***

"Enigmatic Wale, standby to be boarded."

"Me and my crew appreciate the help," Captain La Trois replied. He waited until the other ship docked and walked out to personally greet them. As the blast doors hissed open he was greeted by a bald man in partial armor, "Nice to meet you. You got a gas regulator problem right? I'll send my mechanic over to help. But I am giving her a fireteam just for her own safety."

Captain La Trois bowed, "Of course."

"You're lucky to break down where you did. Otherwise you'd be drifting into crush altitude before too long."

"I know. These old Z100 engines don't hold up so well without Bridgemoor constantly taking a peek."

"Yeah I get it. Nastaya! Take a team and fix the gentleman's engines would ya?"

A tall blonde woman in mechanics overalls stepped over with a toolbox and four armed men. She glared at her bald boss, "One of these days your kindness will get us all killed Scott."

"We're not company men. It's not our policy to just let a crew die because Bridgemoor finds it cheaper to bring in a whole new crew than to transfer wounded back and forth. Just get it done so we can restore the fleet, ok?"

"Fine," she sneered and led her four man team deeper into the Prominent Rage.

***

Above, the Prominent Rage's fighting force crossed the windswept deck and clambered aboard the enemy ship.

Keun wasn't wearing his power armor, just his pressurized undersuit and exoskeleton as he waved the men to their positions.

"Jorge, get the transponder ready, Oddie, plant the woodpecker on the hull, the rest of you take out their security cameras.

***

Down in the core Nastaya opened the gas regulator and saw that it had been sabotaged, no... it had been simply adjusted wrong. Not the kind of mistake that could endanger a crew. It was an adjustment to give the illusion of buoyancy problems. This wasn't just a simple repair. Any idiot who could read could fix the regulator as easily as turning room temperature up a few degrees. She turned to hear a loud vibrating buzz that thrummed through the air and the most heavily armed soldier fell without a head. Captain La Trois held a long nosed revolver with little tapering squares mounted on the side.

"A railgun?" Nastaya gasped as the captain fired again and killed the next guard. She grasped her wrench and lunged forward and everything exploded.

***

Jorge ripped out the transponder cards as soon as his clone card finished downloading. Keun and the others were already finished and waved him back

"Did you get it?!"

"Yeah! We can spoof their IFF now. Get back inside."

***

"Something's not right..." the bald insurrectionist captain said as heavy boots pounded outside the docking clamps. "I'm coming over."