Chapter 21

One of the three ships had moved to block their travel lane while the other two had taken up station to either side. The lead ship had launched a pair of shuttles that were rapidly closing the gap between the blocking ship and the passenger liner. The crew reported the closing distance in a calm, business-like manner, estimating time of arrival and, based on trajectory, the possible destination.

There were three hatches on the forward part of the ship that could, through the use of a mating collar on the shuttles, be used to transfer people from the approaching vessels. Two were used for passenger loading and unloading while the third was strictly a maintenance hatch used for servicing the ship's systems. The passenger hatches had pressure locks that could be engaged if, for some reason, the ship had to be evacuated and the passengers moved to a rescue vessel without a mating collar. The service hatch did not, and if they decided to try and enter there, they risked venting the atmosphere to vacuum.

The tension on the bridge was palpable. The Comm officer was trying to get them to respond to questions, but his transmissions were being ignored by the blockading ships. The Navigator had, evidently, been working on possible escape routes when he turned and addressed the captain.

"Captain, there is no movement we can make that will take us out of range of their weapons before they destroy our engines. This tub just isn't designed for rapid acceleration, not without smearing the passengers and crew all over the bulkheads. Even if we had enough acceleration couches, cutting the artificial gravity to get more power would only give us a few extra minutes. I am sorry sir."

"Carry on, Mr. Nelson." The Captain replied, not moving his gaze from the forward vidscreens. He knew as well as anyone aboard what the operating envelope for an aging passenger liner was. He had probably had the navigator working on a solution to keep him busy. Still staring at the screens he waved in the direction of the scanner techs. "Mr. Clemens?"

"Sir, our scanner match Union Military hull types, but the engine readings do not match. We can see several weapons systems that are live, including missiles, and an Ion cannon that is on standby, but not targeted. I cannot give you a positive ID at this time."

Helios exchanged a glance with Kat. These were probably three of the six missing ships. If so, they had been refitted with newer, more powerful power plants and, evidently, scanner suites as well. The old ships would not have been able to intercept them if they were not already in n-space, but these had surrounded the passenger liner in Hyper. The ships had been rearmed, and it sounded like they had been armed with more powerful weapons than the originals would have carried as well.

The shuttles were almost in place. Scanners had confirmed that they were heading for the passenger hatches and the exterior cameras could see that the mating collars on both shuttles were deployed. The Captain ordered the First Officer, his deputy, to have those corridors cleared and all passengers in that area moved to the dining room until further notice.

Kat imagined that she could hear the magnetic seals on the boarding tubes clang against the hull. With a ship that size, it was impossible, but the feeling persisted. When the exterior cameras reported that docking was complete, the entire bridge went quiet, everyone waiting to see what would happen next.

"Incoming hail from the ... the other ships, Captain." reported the Comm officer.

"Put it on speaker, Mr. Cole." There was a low hum, almost felt as much as heard, as the speakers were activated.

"Attention Captain and crew of the CPS Altair. Our shuttles have locked on to your passenger hatches and we will soon begin boarding your vessel." The voice was strong and certain, a voice that was used to being in command. The speakers on the bridge gave it a slightly metallic twang, but the accent was pure Betan and that meant he was a local.

"I am not an unreasonable man, and to prove that, I will give you three strikes. While our shuttles are docked to your ship, if you attempt to power up your engines or even use the maneuvering thrusters, that will be strike one and we will open fire on your engines."

"If the hatches are not unlocked and unmanned, the shuttles will be ordered to breach the hull. This will be strike two and will probably lead to loss of additional lives aboard your ship as the atmosphere is vented to vacuum."

"If there is any resistance, armed or otherwise, to my men who are boarding the vessel, that will be strike three. I will order them to withdraw and I will, I promise you, completely destroy your vessel. I have enough fire power to insure that your ship will be in pieces too small to ever be identified. Do you understand?"

There was a moment of silence and every eye on the bridge was fastened on the Captain's face. The anger was easy to read, as was the resignation. There was fear there as well, though it was well masked.

"This is Captain Johan Ridig. I understand and will comply with your demands, not that it appears I have a lot of choice. If you would tell me what you want, we could make sure that you get it and that this episode is over with as quickly as possible."

"What I want, Captain... " the voice was hard and brittle, a sneer evident under the almost polite tone. " ... is for you to follow orders. The leader of the boarding party will contact you with further instructions."

The slight hum of the transmission ended abruptly, the Comm officer shrugging his shoulders and making a short gesture at the Comm console, indicating that the other side had cut the transmission.

"Split screen on the main, Mr. Cole. Show me the cameras on both hatches."

The main vidscreen, easily three meters across, showed a view of both passenger hatches, each taking up half of the screen. The cameras were located in the same basic position, just above head height and positioned so that they could see the inside pressure hatch. Each of the doors had indicator lights that showed the atmospheric status on each side of the hatch. Right now, they were both glowing green, meaning that the hatches could be safely opened. Red would have meant that the outside of the hatch was open to space and the door was locked closed.