Riza and Pilo scurried their way through the hangar, weaving through the different military ships within the command ship and made their way to a mid-sized cargo vessel. It wasn’t going to be the fastest vehicle, but it was one that Pilo could manipulate well enough to get them out of there.
“Quick,” He said as the loading door touched the ground and they both made their way up the ramp. Five guards were in pursuit, and Riza slammed the button that slowly brought the door to a close as blaster beams started hitting the ship.
“How long do you need?” She asked as she made her way to the bridge.
“Two minutes for the engine, five minutes for the trackers,”
“Copy that,” She said as she took the Captain's seat, eyeing up the various panels and overhead switches to get an idea of the ship's controls.
She wasn’t exactly a skilled pilot, but had gotten her pilot's license to pilot the skipper, so she was generally able to fly any spaceship as long as she knew where the key launch controls were located. Fortunately, a cargo ship was on the easier side of the spectrum, and she began engaging the main power systems of the ship.
_CARGO SHIP K-C-V-928_
_INITIATING…
The lights on the ship slowly faded on as her chip began connecting to the ship's HUD.
“Cmon, Cmon,” She urged as she heard the thud of the cargo door closing.
_INPUT ACCESS CODE:
_ …
“Pilo?” She called out on comms as the sound of blaster fire continued to hit the vehicle.
_DAMAGE DETECTED - OUTER HULL
_OUTER HULL STRENGTH: 78%
“Working on it!” He responded.
_ACTIVATE SHIELDS
_INPUT ACCESS CODE:
_ …
She watched as a host of soldiers began surrounding the vehicle, with their blasters pointed at the cockpit. There was a loud crash from the cargo doors as the soldiers attempted to breach the vehicle manually, jostling the whole ship.
_DAMAGE DETECTED - OUTER HULL
_OUTER HULL STRENGTH: 64%
“Hold your fire!” A voice called out, putting an end to the blaster fire that was damaging the hull.
“Pilo!” She anxiously stared at a dozen blasters aimed up at the cockpit. I don’t suppose these windows are blaster-proofed, she jittered at the thought.
“Riza Beleke and Pilo Sama, you are not authorised to commandeer this cargo ship. Exit the vehicle now, or we will use deadly force.” The Commander who interrogated her stood ahead of the other soldiers as his voice entered the cockpit radio.
“Uhh,” Riza looked around, uncertain of what to do or where the transmitter was for her to respond.
“If you do not comply, your sentences will be increased, and your case will be expedited to the Atlas courts.”
When she found it, she held it to her mouth, thinking about what she could say to buy more time for Pilo, but nothing came to mind.
“You have ten seconds to respond, or I will authorise my soldiers to fire. Ten.”
She frantically looked around the cockpit, unsure what for and how it would help but in her indecision, she couldn’t help but panic.
“Nine.”
The thought of dying in a low-tier cargo ship had never crossed her mind before, and the idea that it may happen on an Atlas Commander ship as an outlaw was a future she’d never have foreseen coming.
“Eight.”
For whatever reason, the thought of Duncan and Violet came to mind- two faces that she’d never see again. Two people that she knew were being used as scapegoats for whatever agenda the Kythera and the Atlas were toiling with.
“Seven.”
The thought irked her, and there was a growing sense of anger that she felt in response to the whole situation now that she had processed it under stress.
“Six.”
All of the Rims who’d died, all of the children and families that thousands of people worked so hard to provide for, were gone- an almost shameful waste of efforts that wasn’t going to get due diligence in investigation.
“Five.”
Instead, the Altas would pin the incident on a small team of scientists that had the best interests of the rig at heart. The thought of Thabz came to mind, and the request that she’d never get to fulfil.
“Four.”
All of the children who had hopes and dreams that she might have inspired. All of the potential progress for hard-working Rims, stifled by the incident. She’d seen cases like this before. She wasn’t ignorant. If Kythera could blame it on the rebellion, they’d be absolved of financial compensation for the families on Cintri.
“Three.”
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Riza’s blood began to boil. It all became as clear as day that her past. Violet’s past, which she’d worked so hard to lift the burden of, was going to be the legacy that the galaxy remembered her by. A murderer.
“Two.”
She lifted the radio to her mouth, and realised that she no longer wanted to appease to systems and corporations that had their own interests at heart. Maybe that’s why she’d joined the rebellion in the first place all that time ago- A sense of duty to fight against a system that was built on the back of abuse and inequality.
“One.” The officer called out, raising his arm in the air and turning his head to his soldiers.
“Wait-” Riza called out over the comms, “Sorry, it took me a while to figure out how to use this thing.”
The Officer signalled his soldiers to hold their fire, lowering his arm as he looked back up at the cockpit. “This is no time for games, Riza. You understand the weight of the situation.”
“Yeah…” She murmured as her gaze drifted off to the side, an image of the team she had pinned in the view of her Chip. She expanded it, “But, I don’t think you do.”
“Excuse me?” The Commander asked, disgusted by the suggestion that he didn’t know something.
“You people tend to get away with rather heinous crimes, don’t you, Commander?”
“I’d be careful of the words I use, Riza. This will be used against you in the court of law.”
“Well, then I’m pretty screwed, huh?” She shrugged, with a tear building in her eye.
“Not if you comply.” He urged, “You can be tried fairly and according to the truth.”
“The truth,” She chuckled, “We’re light years away from the truth.”
“Riza. There is no time for games. Open the cargo hatch and step out of the vehicle with your accomplice, or there will be consequences.”
“Y’know. When I was a child, I read all about the Atlas. What it stood for, what governed its philosophies… It seemed like it once, actually stood for something. The first time I saw the Atlas on Cintri, they helped our community during an electrical storm that disabled our heating during the winter… A command ship entered orbit, which you know they rarely do, to power the entire town. Nowadays, you Commanders just bully people in the systems you govern. I almost forgot how fucking pathetic it is.”
The Officer remained silent, clenching his jaw in frustration, “This is your last chance, Riza.”
“Got it!” Pilo called out as the engines engaged and the HUD loaded the next screen.
_ACCESS GRANTED_
_WELCOME ABOARD, CAPTAIN
_ENGINES - GO
_POWER SYSTEMS - GO
_STEERING - GO
_DEFENSE SYSTEM - GO
_SHIELDS - GO
_BURNERS - GO
“Is it?” She asked. “Something tells me that you don't get to make that decision.” She reached over to the central panel and began switching various dials and controls.
_SHIELDS ENABLED
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 100%
_BURNERS: ENGAGED
The Cargo ship roared to life, and the thrusters engaged with flames spitting from the rear of the cargo ship. A sense of relief washed over her as she officially took control of the vehicle, knowing that their low-powered blasters would have little to no impact on the shields.
“Don’t do it!” The Officer called out, but Riza immediately disabled the comms- waving goodbye as she looked down at him from the cockpit
Slowly, the ship rose into the air with its mid-tier burners at full capacity, and Riza gripped the helm, guiding the ship out of the hangar as it hovered high above the guards.
“Cargo Ship K-C-V-928, you are not cleared for takeoff. Over.”
“Copy that, Marshall. That’s my bad.”
Riza slowly piloted the ship out of the open hangar bay, passing through the energy wall as she familiarised herself with the steering.
“Everything in order?” Pilo asked as he entered the cockpit, taking one of the seats behind Riza.
“She’s flying,” Riza replied, with a grin on her face.
The cargo ship wasn’t large, but wasn’t so small either- it felt rather lightweight for something so large, but chalked it up to there being no load onboard. Regardless, as she exited the Atlas Commander ship, she increased the thrusters to one hundred percent, jolting back as the ship roared away.
///// /// /////
Izzy held the sides of her chair with all her might as the centrifuge spun endlessly, taking sips of air from her oxygenator as she tried to remain conscious under the persistent five G’s she had been exposed to for twenty seconds.
“Five more seconds, Izzy. Increasing to nine G’s.” A voice confirmed over comms.
She groaned as the weight of her body slowly increased, the vision around her eyes began to tunnel, and the blood throughout her body rushed towards her feet. Fortunately, her augmentations aided with the blood regulation throughout her body, helping her muscles squeeze and trap as much blood as possible in her upper body and, most importantly, her brain.
Maintaining consciousness under low G’s for a long period of time was far more difficult than maintaining it under high G’s for a short period of time- the most she’d been exposed to was twenty-one G’s for a second and a half, which felt like a cake walk compared to the training she’s doing today.
“Good job, that’s the session.” Her coach confirmed as the whirring began to wind down, and the centrifuge slowed.
Izzy felt the tension throughout her body immediately dissipate, and her breathing deepened as she began to recover. “Holy Shit,” She mumbled as she caught her breath.
“You see what I’m talking about? Five seconds of twelve G’s would do your head in, right now.”
“I don’t understand, since when did I struggle reaching ten? My record is fifteen for ten seconds.”
“Nothing surprising, it comes with age.”
“Are you calling me washed up?”
“No, no,” Coach Abram chuckled, “As you get older, you need to be more consistent with the training. You might reach ten for ten, possibly higher when we find your baseline; you just need a more consistent schedule when it comes to G-training. This one's on me.”
“I guess it's been a while since we really stress tested me in the centrifuge.”
“Exactly. I had to tone it down because it was all you wanted to train when you were younger. You damn near risked your health to hop into that thing.”
“Huh, I almost forgot about that… I was so determined to reach fifteen g’s for ten seconds for some reason.”
“It was, and still is, a training record. Well, two records actually: Youngest person to withstand fifteen g’s and Longest time withstanding fifteen g’s. The record before you was around seven seconds or something.”
“Why was I so obsessed with that?” She mumbled to herself.
“Seventeen-year-old Izzy was a nightmare,” Her coach chuckled, “If the press thinks you’re cocky on screen, they’d never seen you in training.”
She smiled as she thought about how intense she was back then, hitting the centrifuge multiple times a day on occasion; it was somewhat overkill.
“What I lacked in press confidence I made up for in discipline… Kind of the opposite now,”
“You set a standard, though. Before you, pilots rarely trained over ten G’s for a drop, but since you hit that record, it's been standard to train at twelve G’s. Pilots are trying to break your record all the time, taunted by the grit of a seventeen-year-old girl.”
“She taunts me too, now”
Coach Abram laughed a hearty laugh, “Now you know how we all felt watching you pull it off.”
Izzy stepped out of the centrifuge as it came to a stop and grabbed a towel from Pearl, who still had her eyes on whatever her chip was showing her. “We’ll have to skip the review this session, or else you’re going to be late for dinner- there’s a dress in your locker room.”
Izzy wiped the sweat around her neck and forehead, stretching out her legs to ease the tingling sensation that the irregular blood flow left behind.
“Thanks for the session, Coach.”
“No problem, Kiddo- Good work today.”
