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Big Iron
Posted By: Capo Rip<oscar.archer@adelaide.edu.au>
Date: 20 May 2006, 4:35 am
Read/Post Comments
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-Halo : Ternion-
Big Iron
0418 hours, April 20, 2534 (Military Calendar)/
Port Vuillemin, Gamma Librae I L5 Trojans
"I say again, please transmit ident sequence and surrender navigation to the docking computers," the operator spoke tersely into his boom mike. The radio link was established... the pilot was simply choosing not to respond.
The chief controller floated up behind him. "Still nothing?"
The seated operator kept his eyes on the telemetry. Everyone working the docking tower knew everyone else as well as they knew their own families; Thwaite understood the rhetorical nature of Chief Simpson's query.
Not more than ping replies since the craft folded out of the slipstream two thousand clicks off Southside. She had just cruised up the official debris-free path through the Trojan asteroids that everyone called Main Road, with radar active but otherwise oblivious to local ships' attention.
Simpson said, "Put visual up."
A screen showed a magnified view of a clipped arrow-head shape glinting dark silver in Gamma's yellow light. It was a shuttle, little more than thrusters, fuel storage and a Shaw-Fujikawa engine. Room for two, maybe, and a small recycler-kitchen. The crew probably spent most of the FTL time in programmed hibernation.
"Run a bioscan," she instructed. "Maybe it's running on auto without comm protocols..."
Simpson analysed the sensitive incoming data. "Definitely something alive, Chief. Normal body temp, and it's big - wait, we're receiving a transmission!"
An alert lit up one of the screens. They both stared at it in surprise, before Simpson exclaimed, "Hardcodes! He's over-riding our docking protocols."
"Security measures are not responding. The craft is approaching E dock."
"Get Sheriff Stahl!" the Chief ordered, turning for the control tower door and pushing off with assistance from the planetoid's miniscule gravity.
The little ship sank into the docking shaft that stood around two hundred metres out of the rocky surface of Vuillemin's Planetoid. The craggy, nearby horizon of the roughly 400 km wide rough sphere of metal and rock was blocked from view, but overhead still hung the half-disc of the super gas giant Gamma Librae I - sole companion to the system's large sun - slowly turning and almost large enough itself to see patterns in its hot pink-yellow glare. The planet was essentially a failed star with a core compressed by gravity to degenerate matter. The resulting infrared heat, combined with Gamma Librae's solar energy, put the system's Trojan asteroids in a mirror-pair of habitable zone gradients. Vuillemin's Planetoid orbited near the leading edge of the L5 field, where surface temperature was a comfortable 288 kelvins during the day. Mining colonists had long ago moderated its rotation to roughly twenty four hours on an axis ninety degrees to Gamma's ecliptic; the "north" pole was tidally locked to the gas giant, thirty degrees away.
A cradle extended from the wall of the shaft and caught the craft, then retracted to mate an airlock to the hatch in the stern.
A subsonic clang reverberated through the dock corridors. Sheriff Stahl and a deputy ran through the curving passage, each step sending them forward many metres in the weak surface gravity. The sheriff hoped he would not arrive late. He had only had his badge for two weeks and looking professional and dependable for someone like the Chief Controller was a very good idea.
An unidentified craft, docking without clearance... Gamma Librae was relatively safe from pirates as far as outer colonies went. Most arriving traffic had to go via nearby Beta Librae, a fiercely law-abiding frontier colony. Pirates avoided messing with the Betans. Besides, this was far too subtle to be pirates.
The Sheriff was worried that whoever stepped off that ship would be some other kind of outlaw. Indeed, many asteroid miners who had observed the vessel over the last hour had contacted him with similar concerns. An escapee, maybe. Or a freelancer. Like he didn't have enough trouble already!
Chief Simpson was standing at the airlock with a handful of dock security when the lawmen came bounding up. Their heavy densoles settled them firmly to the floor as the Chief greeted them. "I just arrived, myself. Control says he's in the airlock now."
The sheriff hesitantly drew his sidearm. He hardly wanted to risk a breach in the dock, but appearing weak and unprepared would not do either. The unarmed security guards, unused to dealing with guns in their fragile environment, glanced at him uneasily.
The airlock cycled. With a hiss the hatch opened, and within stood a giant. It stepped out, over two metres of black articulated armour. A dull orange faceplate mirrored their shocked faces. A holster hung on its right hip, the butt of a large handgun sticking out.
It looked slowly and carefully around, marking exits and obstacles, noting the armed man and his deputy in fatigues of local law enforcement, the frightened, uniformed guards, and the tall, blonde woman in the maroon coverall with the markings of a chief engineer.
The woman had a defiant glint her eyes, despite the involuntary backwards step she had taken. "In case you are unaware, you have breeched Port Vuillemin docking protocols," she managed to say. "Can you explain yourself?"
The human voice that replied startled everyone present. "I am Petty Officer Hideki. I'm here under the authority of the Outer Colony Security Bureau." He looked directly at Simpson. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk?"
"The Bureau has information that a notorious smuggler known to you as Perseus Red is currently in this system. Can you confirm this?"
Stahl looked uneasy. The chief controller glanced at him, then looked back at the tall, dark armoured stranger who seemed just too big for her office. She said with agitation, "We sure can. Perseus Red breezed into town twenty four days ago. Lifted half a shipment of supplies and then went to ground in the old mine network. He killed the cargo shift boss. Killed another two men in his escape. Killed the deputies who went to search him out three days later. Then... the sheriff took a squad to take care of him. The old sheriff, I mean. In all, he's taken twenty so far."
"Is his vessel impounded?"
"He didn't dock here..."
"We think his ship is hidden in one of the gorges on the surface," added Stahl. "He forced his way in after hiking in an environment suit, which was the first we heard about him."
Hideki considered that information. "Have you surveyed the surface--"
"First I want some explanations," Simpson interrupted sternly. "We can't even be sure you're what you claim. All I've seen so far is a suit of armour. You bypassed all of our docking procedures and security, and carry a firearm into this dock, and expect our obedient cooperation. Hell, you could be Red's contact, and using us to find him!"
Again, Hideki considered. Then he replied, "The bureau obtained the company override hardcodes for your docking system and I used them to berth my ship so as to avoid both procedural delays and transmitting my identification over public frequencies. Check your logs, they are genuine." He put a gauntlet behind his helmet and detached something from a recessed slot. It was a small ident card printed on a circuit wafer. Hideki pressed it into Simpson's computer.
The sheriff read over her shoulder. "Naval Intelligence?" he wondered. "Why are the brass on Reach so interested in an outlaw like Perseus Red?"
"Perseus Red is believed to be an alias of a man known to us as Sove Rain, a favourite of several large pirate groups. When they need things acquired or moved silently, they go to him. He made his first mistake recently, killing several vital specialists on an agricultural colony. He's getting cocky. The bureau picked up a faint trail because he still delivered his merchandise despite the system alert. I waited till he stopped running to move in because he doesn't normally wait for a sign of pursuit before dropping out of range again."
"Cocky, huh?" Simpson looked up from her screen. "I knew everyone that he's killed here, Petty Officer. They were Stahl's colleagues, too. Whatever you need to do to catch him, you do it. But nothing's going to bring those men back."
Hideki had no answer, but he slowly inclined his head. He accepted the card back from the chief controller, and finally said, "I will need access to your detailed surface charts. Sheriff Stahl?"
"Yes?"
"Is Perseus Red familiar with you?"
He shook his head. "Haven't been in the job long enough... Truthfully, I'm glad you're here. I've had no idea how to deal with this outlaw."
"That is well," said Hideki. "Chief Simpson, I need you to contact someone you trust who has a ship prepped. This is the plan..."
"Unidentified craft, welcome to Port Vuillemin. Please transmit ident codes and state your business."
"Understood, Port Vuillemin. This is Ranger Two, Security Bureau, Beta Librae branch. We're here on an official matter that can't be discussed over this link."
"Acknowledged, Ranger Two. Docking protocols are being transmitted now. A cradle will be prepared for you shortly." The operator cut the active voice link and peered over his shoulder at his chief. "So. Does pretending your prospector uncle is a cop have anything to do with our mysterious visitor from earlier this morning?"
Simpson did not meet his eyes. "You'll have to trust me. Better the less you know here."
Within his dimensionless heuristic plane, a part of Archytas floated in remembrance. He had been one of the planners, one of the number of ONI Smart AIs who had taken all the available data on Sove Rain, his current and potential clients and all incidents he was suspected of being involved in and had finally concluded that eliminating the man, essentially depriving the interstellar piracy networks of his esteemed talents, would almost cripple their more robust activities. The likelihood was about eighty-two percent.
Several of his colleagues had been sceptical that one man could be so vital to such a dispersed organisation. They had all been surprised by the modelled results, and Archytas could only explain it as a function of the smuggler's exceptional capabilities. Of course, this raised the question, should it all be completely wasted? Was rehabilitation possible? The question had divided the AIs. Archytas favoured the "let's keep it simple and just kill him" view.
Meanwhile, he monitored all communication in the local sectors. A narrow-band encrypted transmission caught his metaphorical eye and he ran it through a few stand-by algorithms, then examined the results. "Hideki," he said.
The Spartan took his brown eyes off the topographs he was studying and sat a little further forward in his pilot seat. "Activity?"
The construct's voice was a classically accented tenor. "Leakage from a transmission reporting the arrival of a Bureau ship. Origin is a subsection of the dock's habitat area. It confirms to high probability that the fugitive has a contact in this system."
Hideki nodded, considering. It had been doubtful that Rain had come to this system randomly.
"Recommend no actions outside primary objective," continued the AI. "The accomplice may provide a point of reference for future investigations."
"Agreed."
"We are assured of finding the Target, Petty Officer. Are you still intent on allowing him to surrender?"
"Yes."
"Like some sort of test?"
The Spartan reached for his helmet. "I expect the test will come after that, Archytas."
1120 hours, April 20, 2534 (Military Calendar)/
Vuillemin's Planetoid Night Side, Gamma Librae I L5 Trojans
"This is a system frequency bulletin on behalf of the Outer Colony Security Bureau. Perseus Red, you are instructed to surrender yourself. Your cooperation now will be taken into consideration when your case is heard. Transmit your location and await our instructions. Repeat..."
The official message buzzed once more inside the helmet of Perseus Red's environment armour, nearly drowned out by his breathing. He kept his pace rapid down the narrow, airless gully cut into the planetoid surface, a ragged strip of stars shining hard above him. His flight from the old mine in which he had taken refuge had begun twenty five minutes ago, when an accomplice asteroid miner had relayed the docking request of a Bureau vessel. The smuggler had no idea how they had found him. In more favourable circumstance, he would have let them come to him, let them meet the same fate as the inept lawmen native to this glorified rock.
But this was a surprise. Perseus Red had a thoroughly reliable way to handle surprises, and it involved putting distance between him, and things he did not expect, with the smallest delay.
The gully seemed to slope up, and emptied onto a sort of dustbowl on the edge of a chasm. This was where the surface received so little radiation that the free water that gravitationally clung to the planetoid had long ago condensed and agglomerated to fill the cracks. Down in that chasm was Red's ship, virtually invisible beneath the glass-smooth liquid surface.
And between it and Perseus Red was a surprise that there was no way around. A large suited figure stood a little way from the edge. It was black, it was armoured, and it was armed.
Red could tell it was not an inhabitant of Vuillemin's Planetoid. They were all so scared of guns, especially the sort he favoured which tended to blast straight through anything short of titanium-A hull metal. "So you're the Bureau man?" he asked defiantly over line-of-sight transmission, stopping a little more than twelve metres from the lone individual. "No squad? The bureau can't be that keen to take me."
"This is your one chance," Hideki answered procedurally. "Disarm and surrender. Lie face down. I will administer an anaesthetic and place you in cryosleep presently."
Red snorted contemptuously. But he asked, "Satisfy my curiosity, lawman. How did you know where I was?"
"A ship hidden underwater on an airless world is impossible to see, but environment armour moving and operating at full power is not. I was orbiting within sight of the most likely canyons. Calculating your vector, once you appeared on infrared, was basic." Hideki shifted to face his opponent squarely, and the tone of his voice lowered. "That was your chance. I am equally authorised to take you dead."
The outlaw paused, then said, "You're not Bureau. They don't operate like this. They couldn't even find me."
"Far higher authorities want you now, Sove Rain."
"...Section Three."
Hideki made no reply. He slipped subtly into a lower stance, right hand hovering near hip. Reflected in his orange visor, Perseus Red also prepared to draw.
1930 hours, March 29, 2541 (Military Calendar)/
Aboard Evacuation Vessel Arizona, outbound from Gamma Librae
"Of course, we'd tracked Lawman so we were able to get an imaging satellite into orbit above their location. We replayed the video again and again... I never saw anyone move so fast."
"But who won?" one of the children demanded impatiently.
Simpson laid a hand on his little head and looked around at the rest of the children seated in the corner of the crowded ship's hold with her. "Hideki, of course. Perseus Red didn't even have time to fully draw his gun. The first shot pierced his armour and killed him instantly."
An older child, a girl, sitting nearby looked thoughtful, wondering, "Hideki was a Spartan, wasn't he?"
"Nobody knew about Spartans back then," the Docking Chief said, "but he almost certainly was. So there really was no way he could lose to a thug like Red."
"I want to be a Spartan when I grow up!" declared the boy, preparing to quick-draw his index finger. Simpson smiled down at him.
The P.A. beeped and the pilot spoke, "Attention. All passengers prepare for Slipstream translation. Ensure all children are supervised. If you're near a port, take a last look at Gamma I. Let's hope we see him again one day," he added.
The vessel, and a dozen like it, accelerated out of space-time and left their home to the mercies of the Covenant.
-*-
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