The Fringe Wars

5.20

Plan B

On board the Littorio, in Alliance airspace

As soon as Reyne saw the letter "B" flash across his wrist comm, his stomach dropped. He'd hoped they could've done it quietly, but the odds had been heavily stacked against them for a retrieval that didn't include a body count.

"It looks like I have a call I need to take, so if you'll excuse me, I'd better be going," Reyne said to the two techs he'd been keeping busy and away from the Henry Fitzroy.

He took off before they could respond, and walked as briskly as he could toward the docking bay. As he walked, he notified the specters to make way toward the colonization fleet. Plan B meant all bets were off. If they needed a space battle to get off this warship, they'd get one.

He met Miko and Roq on the way, and they joined him, rifles ready. At the far end of the hallway, on the other side of the bay, he saw Domino, Sadie, and Tracks, also carrying rifles. Reyne unholstered his handgun. Unlike the rest of the techs and the rescue team, a stationmaster had no problem carrying a gun wherever he damn well chose.

He glanced at his wrist comm regularly to make sure the dots for Sixx, Boden, Hari, and now Critch were making progress toward the docking bay.

Reyne's team closed in on the elevator that held their friends. On arrival, at least one full squad of droms was shooting at them from a position around a corner. Unable to see the droms, Reyne backed up to the touchpad, trying to make himself as small as possible. "Hold this position," he yelled at his team.

The team spread out against the wall, a couple of the team members going down on a knee.

"We're sitting ducks out here," Domino yelled as she fired back.

"They're almost to us," Reyne yelled back.

Fortunately, the droms around the corner were firing blind and their shots sprayed down the hallway, landing far down from the team's position.

Reyne glanced at his wrist comm to see what was taking the other team so long. The elevator had stopped a floor below them. His jaw clenched. "Nothing's ever easy around here," he muttered. Then he spoke up. "Looks like we have to go bring our friends back."

He looked across the hallway to the nearest stairwell. He tapped Domino's shoulder and nodded to her two crew members. "You three with me. Miko, Roq, keep this stairwell open for us."

Reyne took a breath, covered his head, then leapt across the hallway and slammed into the far wall. He pressed the button to open the door and jumped to the side. When no gunfire came out, he entered the stairwell. Unlike the elevator, and due to the fire code, doors to the stairwells didn't have locks. That fact was both a help and a hindrance.

Domino, Sadie, and Tracks followed him into the stairwell. Domino raised her rifle to scan the stairs above them while Sadie leaned over the railing and scanned below. Reyne led the way down the winding dozen or so steps.

The door was closed on the next level, which meant that as soon as Reyne hit the button, the door would automatically open and they'd lose any element of surprise. But he expected someone in a control room to have the stairs on a vid feed already. He turned to face his group. "Any of you have a smoke or maybe a shock grenade?"

"I have a whole line of regular grenades," Tracks said. He grinned, showing teeth grayed by years of too much Blue Tea, and opened his coveralls to reveal at least six grenades looped on his vest.

Domino shrugged. "My crew only uses the real things, too."

Reyne glanced at his comm to see four dots bundled together on the other side of the door. "Can't use those. Maybe next time."