Finnegan's Wake.
Finnegan's Wake had been slowly edging its way toward the periphery of the Ectanus 45 outer system ever since it left Chi Rho, getting ready for a jump. Zheng had shadowed the freighter long enough to make sure it wasn't an in-system trip.
It wasn't. The ship, unaware it was being followed, had headed off well clear of this system's ecliptic plane.
A surprise shot across the bows from the
Midsummer Night convinced them to not try accelerating and to allow
Midsummer Night to match speed so they could sling the Pelican over.
Jeffries came in nice and easy, passing over the hull to the other side of the civilian ship and then slipping the Pelican into the cargo ship's hold.
"Check your equipment!" the ODST platoon commander Canfield shouted. "Look sharp."
In the Pelican's hold ODSTs stirred, undipped their safety belts, and lined up. They'd been bugging Zheng about not getting a chance to board the previous three civilian ships the
Midsummer Night had stopped, so the commander had finally agreed to let them get some action in.
"They're still running a check on the ship's registry," Can-field called out from the back. "But we're ready to rock, sir."
"Sure you don't want to wait for their full report, First Lieutenant?" Keyes asked.
Keyes kicked himself for the rookie attitude he'd had just forty-eight hours ago, when he'd thought he had an easy three days ahead of him. True, this was a shakeout, prior to a real-live mission with possible action thanks to the ONI spook and his mysterious sealed orders.
But that hadn't stopped one exploding pipe and a radiation leak, and several crew from ending up in the infirmary. Two of the point guns on the
starboard hull were out. A number of on/off magnets on the MAC, in essence a railgun, were failing, preventing them from getting the full power of the massive cannon.
The
Finnegan's Wake didn't know it, but at the moment, thanks to a partially shut-down reactor that the engineers were working on, they could've easily outrun the
Midsummer Night.
"Hell no, sir, I'm all for going in," Canfield said. He vibrated with energy. Keyes had a feeling Canfield wanted some action, and now. He'd have to keep an eye on him, make sure Canfield didn't get overly rough with some civilian.
"Okay, Canfield, let's get this show on the road, then." Keyes undipped from his seat, and Canfield stepped forward, waiting for his cue. Keyes nodded at him. Time to give the civvies something to gape at. Impress upon them the absolute seriousness that the UNSC was taking about the Cole Protocol.
And that included sending an officer to oversee the boarding.
Canfield spat chew out on the grated floor of the Pelican and shouted, "Lock and load Helljumpers!"
Keyes turned to the cockpit. "Drop the ramp, Mr. Jeffries. Hard and quick, as long as it's clear."
"Dropping the ramp, sir."
The ODSTs of the 105th, or Helljumpers as they were also called, clad in black vacuum-rated armor, mirror-faced helmets and all, streamed out. They scattered through the hold of the freighter and its containers, picking targets. They were quick and quiet, with no chatter, and focused on the whole process.
Keyes strode down the ramp into a canyon between the containers. He glanced in through the tough, scratched window of one of them. Nothing to see but labeled boxes.
The captain of the freighter and three of his crew stood with their arms folded at the edge of their bay, watching the ODSTs.
"Sir, are you the captain of this ship?" Keyes asked.
The ascetic man nodded a shock of blond hair. "We did nothing wrong. We've made the jump to- -- "
Keyes held up a hand. "Your ship is leaving UNSC protected space, Captain. You had the choice to make alternate arrangements for this cargo, or request to join a convoy where your navigation would be handled by Navy communications AIs. Either way, we need to wipe your nav data and check
the ship out."
"This is a violation of our rights as merchants. We need to move our cargo now," the captain insisted.
"Sir, there is a war on," Keyes snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, there are aliens forcing their way toward the Inner Colonies. Cargo can wait."
ONI was stretching it, targeting civilian ships, but they just couldn't risk nav data falling into Covenant hands.
The captain glared at Keyes, boiling with anger. "And here we lose another right."
Keyes turned to Canfield, who had sidled over. He looked eager to get his men kicking in doors and checking over cargo. "Do your thing."
"Fascists," the captain spat. Keyes kept an eye on the man. He seemed overly keyed up and angry.
Canfield's helmet twisted and Keyes heard the crackle of his radio in his earpiece. "Okay, Helljumpers, move out, Oedant- -- "
Keyes didn't hear the rest of Canfield's orders. The container they stood next to exploded, throwing Keyes clear and smacking his head against the deck.
The scene of Helljumpers scrambling for cover faded away as a thick cloud of smoke and unconsciousness rolled over Keyes.
Chapter FIVE
INSURRECTIONIST FREIGHTER
FINNEGAN'S WAKE,
OUTER FRINGES, ECTANUS 45 SYSTEM
Four more explosions rocked the inside of the cargo bay. Debris flew through the air and clattered off the walls, then rained down to the floor. A thick haze of smoke filled the air, making it nearly impossible to breathe. Keyes lay on his side, blinking away the blood trickling down his forehead into his eyes.
He tried to get on his hands and knees to stand, but he couldn't quite manage it.
An ODST Helljumper grabbed his arm. "Come on, sir, you just got your bell rung."
The man was right. Keyes could hardly focus on the grating of the floor right under the Helljumper's boots. He leaned against the Helljumper's body armor, struggling to keep under his own power.
The thick haze was starting to clear. Keyes let the Helljumper set him down against the side of the container where they'd come in. Keyes could see the high tail of the Pelican around the edge of the container in front of him. The other wounded ODSTs sat by him, armor ripped open or dented from
container shrapnel.
Several of the bodies just lay still, flat out on the floor.
Keyes swallowed and rubbed his sleeve over his face to get the blood off. He could feel the warm trickle of more coming. "Where's Canfield?" He wanted to find out what the veteran ODST commander was doing.
"Canfield's dead, sir." The soldier who'd dragged him to safety was checking people for injuries, spraying biofoam into wounds to try and stabilize things. They needed to evacuate quickly before they lost more soldiers.
"Dead?" Keyes blinked more stinging blood and sweat out of his eyes. "Who's in charge?"
Keyes was overwhelmed with the thought that the entire cargo bay had been a trap that he had led good men into.
"Faison, sir."
Keyes felt for his earpiece and realized he'd lost it in the shock-wave. "Someone toss me their helmet ASAP. I need a heads-up and comms."
A wounded soldier threw his helmet over, and Keyes slapped it on his head, wincing when it touched. Whatever hit him had glanced off his skull,
giving him a head wound and most likely a concussion.
"Faison, this is Keyes, give me a sit rep."