Sci-fi short, thriller about a space hauler pilot, Mack Kim, who gets embroiled in a mystery that sets his nerves on edge as he struggles to figure out what's going on. Written with the intention of being a Love, Death + Robots episode.
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The SSS (Saturn Shipyard Ship) Finality powered past Herodontus-9, bearing down on the coordinates provided by the space station Wavecrest. A distress call. They were told it was a distress call. But the details were vague. Pilot not in full control of his faculties. Some form of unknown interference messing with ship systems. Probability of unknown entity on board.
None of it mattered to Sergeant Novi Rembrandt. She'd led her squad for multiple tours of duty on the Finality, and it never mattered what the trouble was, you tackle it one of two ways, down the barrel of your rifle or not.
"Alright boys and girls, eta to stranded boat twenty five minutes. I want everyone on high readiness. We haven't been given a clear picture of what's going on on.." she trailed off as she checked the mission details on her helmet display.
"...Wombat-39. Pilot goes by the name Mack Kim. Former marine. Colorful criminal record. Probably armed. Got us a scoundrel on our hands. But he was one of ours, so let's not jump the gun," Novi addressed her squad.
Grunts of agreement all around. Corporal Indra Raj voiced a question, "Says here probability of unknown entity? What the fuck does that mean? Like, aliens? Or just some other dudes on board?"
"Your mom's on board Ind," quipped PFC Jimmy Lang to scattered laughter amongst the squad.
"Psh. That all you got Jimmy?" smirked Indra.
"He's probably smuggling human fucking beings on that hauler of his," said PFC Sven Svensson.
"My dear Sven, the last thing a human trafficker would do is make a distress call, no matter how distressed he is," laughed Novi.
The lights turned red and started strobing in one of the Finality's boarding pods, signaling that they were nearing their target. These pods were usually reserved for boarding actions. But after multiple hails and no responses from Wombat-39, the commander of the Finality decided that the Marines would insert via controlled boarding.
"Look alive gentlemen! Time to target t-minus 10 seconds!" Novi shouted over the automated warning system as it counted down time to impact in a calm monotone. The marines were so familiar with it that none of them took notice.
Initially it was suggested that only a third of the squad be involved in the undertaking. But after deliberation, Novi and the gunboat's officers decided that between wombat's radio silence and the unknown quandaries within, it would be wiser to have another third of the squad prepped and ready in case the first pod got into trouble.
The pod magnetized onto the outer skin of wombat's cargo hold with a clunk and shudder. The heavy duty welding device built into the pod went to work immediately, cutting open the layers of bulkhead whilst welding the pod to the cargo hauler, creating a pseudo-airlock.
The moment the process was complete, the interior lights of the pod switched from red to green and Novi barked, "Go time!"
The marines were out a split second before the lights turned green, Novi's shouted orders weren't even necessary, boardings were rote actions to them. As common as a day out on the range (naval corvettes with a marine complement usually have a hold set aside as a dedicated training range; shooting, CQB/CQC, triage drills etc.).
