Shattered Skies Book 1: Embers (WIP)

Ch. 6: Escape

Date: 3/22/2159
Location: Reliant Engineering Bay, orbiting New Eden (Trappist 4)
Current Perspective: Rojiss

    Blurred sounds and sights appear before Rojiss. His head swirls with pain and jumbled thoughts, slowly coelessing into actual, coherent patterns of thought. His head clears as his mind fights to make sense of the chaos. He was knocked out. He remembers that. As his sight returns he makes out the bare hallways of the Reliant. And right behind him as a sizable dent in the wall. Probably from when the Aserati- wait, the Aserati!
    Rojiss frantically taps the controls of his mask’s inbuilt commpiece, only to hear a series of dull tones. Error tones. The commpiece was broken. Rojiss curses in frustration before considering his options. He might be able to use the comms console on the bridge. Probably best to arm himself first though. The Aserati is still around, after all.
    Rojiss gets back up on his feet, rushing to the weapons locker down the corridor. He quickly reaches in and grabs a small plasma pistol before dashing off for the bridge.
As he approaches the door he can make out sounds from inside. Sounds of alien speech and switches being thrown. It’s on the bridge. What is it doing? Does it know how to fly this thing? If it can’t speak English how could it know how to read the controls? Does it even know about the grav-jump’s status?
Rojiss readies his weapon and hits the door control panel, only to hear it buzz in retort. The door is jammed. He removes one of the wall panels to reveal the manual release lever. He reaches out and pulls it, only to hear the squealing of damaged mechanisms followed by an explosion of sparks from the lever. And the door didn’t even budge.
“Tal kallsta sharriik!” He yells in frustration. The sounds from inside have grown more frantic. Sooner or later it’s going to finish what it’s trying to do. He can’t let that happen. Rojiss ponders for a moment. He may be able to cut through the door with a plasma torch. There should be one down in the cargo bay. Question is will he have enough time to go and get it?
The sounds of the ionic engines roaring to life answers the question. Is he trying to escape? Well he’s not going very far on just thrusters alone. If he really wants to escape he’d use the…
The grav-jump drive! He might try to jump! And in the state the drive is in now there’s no telling what could happen! Rojiss turns around and runs for the engineering deck. He’s going to have to shut down the drive. And fast.

Perspective Shift: Walker Risan
Current Location: Eden’s Gate Docking Section

“Rojiss! Come on, answer me!” Walker tries yet again to call Rojiss from his commpiece, all the while tram speeds down the line to their docked vessel.
“Walker, I suggest you calm yourself.” Jurril says in her irritating monotone voice.
“Calm down? Rojiss is trapped with a bug! He could be dead as far as we know!” Walker’s voice is hushed. The last thing he needs if for the tram driver to know about their prisoner.
“It could be a simple glitch. After all, the ship is old. The theft alert may have been sent in error.”
“It wasn’t. I know it. It’s the bug. It has to be.”
“Walker, this line of thinking is irrational at best. You’re doing no one any favors by-”
“Alert. Alert. Hull breach at docking port B32. Emergency blast doors closing. Avoid docking cluster B. Repeat, avoid docking cluster B.” Klaxons blare as a thick, metal bulkhead door slams shut over one of the docking ports. The tram screeches to a halt as the driver waits for an all clear.
“B32! That’s us!” Walker looks out one of the transparisteel windows lining the outside. The cause for the disturbance becomes clear. The Reliant is flying away, the docking airlock still attached. Looks like the thrusters melted away the wall and let it tear itself loose.
“It seems you were correct in your assumptions, Walker.” He ignores her comment, watching the ship intently. It spins as the thursters blink on and off with blue light, erratically and ineffectively trying to stabilize the vessel. The bug clearly has no clue what it’s doing. No flight training whatsoever. Even a a first year cadet knows how to correct a spin.
“It’s going to run the engines dry before it can leave orbit at this rate.” Walker comments. “Easy pickings for the interceptors.” As if on cue, five small, blue ships slide into view. Law enforcement interceptors. They’re fast, agile, and able to take a surprising amount of punishment. As they drift into positions, the turrets underneath them fire off tether hooks that imbed themselves into the hull of the drifting ship, connecting it to the interceptors by a reinforced titanium-tungsten cable. For a short while the interceptors are flung around as the freighter spins, but through a coordinated effort they bring the Reliant to a standstill. The boarding shuttle should be on its way now.
“Walker, how do you intend of getting the Aserati to TerransFirst if the Terran Republic  knows of its existence?”
“That’s actually a good question…” Walker hides his frustration. If the Republic hears that law enforcement snagged a bug, they’re going to be watching over it like a Verian bat-hawk. Better than it escaping, though, if he’s perfectly honest.
“I suppose there will be no easy way to resolve this.”
“This just keeps getting better and better. I just hope Rojiss is still alive. Hate to lose him.”