Chronicles of the 23rd Century: Hijacked Read online

  Chronicles of the 23rd Century:

  Hijacked

  Paul J. Fleming

  Chronicles of the 23rd Century : Hijacked

  Paul J. Fleming

  Copyright © 2014 by Paul J. Fleming

  DEDICATION

  For my two wonderful girls,

  Xsara and Lauren.

  License Notes

  Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

  CONTENTS

  1 Boarding

  2 In Transit

  3 Alliance

  4 In Memoriam

  5 Recovery

  6 Ranger No More

  7 No More Chances

  8 Destination Hyperion?

  9 Deliverance

  10 Onwards

  About The Author

  1 Boarding

  ‘Here we are sir, madam and…’ the cabin attendant began to say as he gestured towards the cabin door to his right but then paused for a moment as he glanced over the trio who came to a halt before him, the third member of whom was diminutive in stature and wore an electronic tag around his right ankle. ‘Oh.. and sir. I assume your travel with us this fine day is more business than pleasure?’ He enquired in an attempt to retrieve the joviality which had escaped him momentarily as he realised the smaller man was quite obviously in custody and the two taller individuals were his escort.

  ‘Is that a problem?’ the taller of the two males stood before him replied and arched his left eyebrow.

  ‘No, not at all sir!’ Arnold Bloom gushed as he proffered his most practiced customer service smile. ‘I just had nothing here on my passenger manifest to indicate a prisoner transport.’

  Swiping his finger across the screen to alter the display on the pad he held before him, Arnold quickly checked once more to ensure he had not missed this detail. He was quite particular over his clients who he was responsible for whilst on board the ship and, although the Captain was in overall charge of the vessel itself, Arnold saw it as his responsibility to ensure all the passengers’ needs were catered for and no problems arose. It was how he had earned his customer service award badge from the company year after year, with a spotless record and special recognition for the praise he received in customer response questionnaires.

  ‘Well we don’t usually announce our travel plans in advance,’ the man replied dryly. ‘So is this still our cabin or are we being re-assigned to the cargo hold? I’ve had that one before!’

  ‘Good gracious no sir! This cabin is indeed yours for the duration of your stay with us but…’ Arnold paused slightly and could not help the nervous smile creep onto his face as he leaned slightly closer to the man. ‘There’s only a twin bed and a single pull out for your…er…charge.’ His eyes flicked from the man to the rather attractive woman stood regarding the conversation with mild amusement upon her face. ‘I do hope this does not present any awkwardness?’ He asked apologetically.

  As the man muttered something under his breath which Arnold could not quite catch, the woman moved forwards and patted him on the shoulder, casting him a wink as she moved to open the door.

  ‘Don’t worry yourself about it,’ she paused to glance at his name badge, ‘Arnold. It’s not like I haven’t bunked down with a few men before.’

  Arnold’s face began to flush with embarrassment as various thoughts swam through his mind, the tight fit of her clothing doing nothing to deter the imagery.

  ‘What she means to say is that one of us will be awake whilst the other rests, to keep an eye on him,’ the tall man said despairingly as he gestured with his thumb towards their prisoner.

  Arnold chuckled almost with relief as the man pushed the prisoner towards the door which the woman had opened and passed through moments earlier.

  ‘Well, yes of course,’ he managed as the man passed in front of him and made his way into the cabin. ‘Breakfast can be delivered to your room if you wish and I hope you enjoy your stay with us.’ His words were truncated as the door slid shut in their wake, leaving him staring at the closed surface before he regained his composure and turned to the next group who awaited his attention.

  ‘Ah, the Parkers. So nice to see you travelling with us once more, this way please!’

  Leading the remaining group of passengers further along the corridor, Arnold resumed his joviality and almost overbearing pleasantries as he directed each and every one to their cabins.

  Within the cabin, Agent Jenner sat herself down on the edge of the twin bed and regarded her two companions with a mischievous gleeful smile.

  ‘Did you see his face? That’s nothing compared to what was running through his mind I can tell you!’ she said with a chuckle, the whole scenario outside in the corridor having amused her greatly.

  Pushing the prisoner ahead of him, past the end of the bed which Jenner sat upon and over to the single pull down bed, Walker shook his head slightly in mild but amused despair at his colleagues lack of formal approach.

  ‘Remind me to run through our etiquette when dealing with the public,’ he retorted. ‘Everything we say and do reflects on the service when we’re on-duty, and even when off duty our actions and behaviour count.’

  ‘Oh come on Walker,’ she replied. ‘Relax a little. We’ve got the perp and all we have to do is enjoy our few days here at the expense of the service before we deliver him to the holding cells on Luna. It’s not like he’s some mad deranged killer we have to sedate and restrain now is it? I mean, look at him!’

  ‘Excuse me, I am here you know,’ the little man piped up slightly nervously. ‘I can hear you.’

  ‘She knows,’ Walker said with a despairing tone in his voice as he turned him about and indicated that he should sit down on the bunk which now was immediately behind him.

  Oswald glanced down and slightly to his rear before lowering himself onto the bunk. Whilst he respected both of them as they were members of the Solar Ranger Corps, the woman seemed more flippant than he every imagined a member of that organisation would be as she liked to joke and tease, more often than not at the expense of the man she was partnered with, the rather muscled and slightly menacing figure which stood before him.

  In contrast this man was the epitome of the service and their enlisted rangers, with a no-nonsense demeanour and physical bearing which seemed to indicate many hours of training.

  ‘If it helps at all, I won’t be any trouble,’ Oswald said rather meekly to the man stood before him.

  ‘Actually it doesn’t,’ Walker replied as he moved away towards the circular table which was surrounded by three chairs. Pulling one out and sitting down, he glanced back at Oswald as he removed his pistol from the holster at his hip and lay it beside him on the table. ‘Last person who said something like that tried to kill me a few hours later, but that’s not the point.’ Walker’s attention turned to his colleague who was bouncing up and down slightly on the end of the bed. ‘The point is that the service has gone through a myriad of changes with respect being eroded as more things seep out of the woodwork about the new Solar Alliance, more and more people just see us as glorified contracted bounty hunters and that doesn’t help when faced with interrogating members of the public within a jurisdiction where the local law enforcement hold that idea.’

  Jenner stopped her bouncing and looked over to Walker, letting out a sigh and dropping her shoulders as she did so.

  ‘Oh not the ‘We are the law’ speech again, please?’


  ‘I’ve not heard it…’ Oswald offered up but was quickly silenced as both agents glared at him, then returned their attention to one another.

  ‘Listen Walker, I know what you are saying and believe me, when it comes to apprehending perps like this guy here I’m all for the whole dark and serious approach that you seem to love existing in, but you have to admit that with all the scandals and suggestions that the Solar Alliance are just puppets put in place to carry out the whims of the Aries Corporation of Mars, surely a less kick-in the door approach to public relations is a good thing? Yes we’re a cross-jurisdictional force and have to suffer working with security plebs who couldn’t find their arse even if you gave them a map and co-ordinates, but that does not mean we just bluster in and stamp all over them. The more amenable and approachable we are, the more they will work along with us and we get our collar in the end.’

  ‘Okay then, you do the cuddles and hugs,’ Walker said with a wry smile, ‘and I’ll knock their heads together when we need to get some real work done.’

  ‘Oh I give up with you,’ Jenner replied with mock frustration. ‘Now if you two don’t mind, this lady needs to use the little girl’s room. Amuse yourselves boys, and play nice!’

  As she turned and entered the small bathroom adjoining their cabin, Oswald raised his gaze to meet that of Agent Walker who simply sat and glared at him.

  ‘She did say play nice,’ he offered meekly to the rather severe gaze of the Solar Ranger who was closely observing him.

  ‘I am playing nice. It’s why you aren’t in restraints and only have that ankle tag, but then again you have Jenner to thank for that. In any case, I’m just wondering why a little guy like you would take such a risk. I mean, I don’t have to be gifted like Jenner to read your profile. I’ve pulled in many perps over my time and you just don’t seem to be the kind to dare be tardy over your rest break, let alone hack a supposedly secure system and sell off company secrets.’

  Oswald looked at him anew, this time with big pleading eyes as he stated that which he had repeated frequently during his arrest on Venus, the journey to the Space Port and then whilst boarding this liner.

  ‘I didn’t hack any system or sell any secrets to anyone!’

  ‘You’re innocent, I see….’

  ‘No really,’ Oswald cut across with urgent insistence in his voice. ‘I have the utmost respect for you and Agent Jenner, I truly do but in this instance Agent Walker I’m afraid you have the wrong man!’

  As soon as he finished speaking, Oswald seemed to realise how outspoken he had been and his gaze darted to the floor immediately before him, his hands trembling slightly as he held them clasped together before him across his knees.

  ‘Well Oswald, we’ll have a couple of days to chat all about it, now why don’t you just lay down there and relax a little?’ Walker replied as he took in the sight of the criminal before him.

  Jenner had remarked upon the fact that the little guy had been so distraught and confused when they apprehended him in the small guest house on Venus, her perceptive abilities leading her to discreetly indicate to Walker that she believed that Oswald was genuinely terrified and had no clue as to what was going on.

  As he watched the small Lunarian lay himself down, almost curling up into a foetal position on the single bed, Walker had to wonder whether they were in the company of the master computer hacker which they had been despatched to apprehend, or whether he and his colleague were simply being used to do someone’s dirty work.

  As Jenner emerged from the bathroom and resumed her debate with him about how the corps should be more of an approachable body than he perceived, he was quite glad of the distraction from his own thoughts as, for the first time in years he actually believed his prisoner was just an innocent pawn, and they had indeed got the wrong man.

  2 In Transit

  They were only a day out of Venus when the entire ship shook unexpectedly, causing due concern from everyone on board.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Jenner muttered as her eyes cast upwards to the ceiling with it’s recessed lighting which flickered slightly as another jolt ran through the infrastructure of the ship.

  ‘Either we’ve run into an uncharted debris field which is pummelling the magnetic deflection grid running through the hull plating, or someone is firing on us,’ Walker remarked quite off-handedly as he made his way over to the cabin intercom system. ‘From experience I’d bet on the latter.’

  ‘What do you think? Pirates?’ Jenner asked as she turned her attention to her colleague, who was repeatedly trying to make contact with the cabin staff.

  ‘Not sure but this thing is just jammed up. Everyone is probably doing the same as me right now so it’s probably quicker to go out and find someone. You stay put and keep an eye on him,’ he directed and pointed over towards Oswald who lay upon his bunk, still fast asleep despite the repeated jolts which shook their environment. ‘Could be just a random pirate strike but,’ he paused briefly as he checked the charge in his laser pistol, ‘to attack a commercial liner so boldly within a well trafficked space lane? Could be just co-incidence that we’re on board with this guy I suppose, but as he’s charged with hacking the Aries Mainframe security and transmitting files off-world to unknown recipients I would just be on guard.’

  Jenner nodded and checked her own sidearm.

  ‘What about you?’ She asked as he made his way over to the doorway which led out to the main corridor.

  ‘Well I’m going to see what’s going on and you wanted us to be more approachable, so I’m going to offer any assistance to the on board security team as I can. I’ll call as soon as I have an idea what the state of play is,’ he replied and tapped the small communicator which was strapped to his wrist.

  With a simple nod, she watched him leave before the door closed in his wake, leaving her alone in the room with the sleeping form of Oswald.

  Walker had to push his way past slightly bewildered and frustrated passengers who had emerged from their rooms into the main corridor, all wanting answers from the ship’s staff as to why their relaxation and enjoyment was being interfered with so rudely but they seemed to lack direction as to what they should do next as no official body appeared to appease them or provide them with answers.

  It was most certainly odd that the Captain had not made a ship-wide announcement, or that he had not despatched his pristine white uniformed underlings to quiet those who travelled in his care. To Walker, it simply reinforced the idea that this was not just random space debris they were being assaulted by.

  Quickly pausing by one of the many terminals which littered the deck he was currently on, he pulled up the deck plan of the Liner and took a moment to peruse his best course to take to find someone in authority. If there were electrical disturbances throughout the ship, which were hinted at by the flickering lights along the corridor, then he decided against the lift system as he did not wish to be trapped within a car between decks. Although it meant a few flights of stairs from his position, it was much safer than relying on electromagnetic rails which could give out at any time unexpectedly.

  Pushing through the gathering throng of complaining passengers in the corridor, he made his way to the stairwell access and gladly pushed through the doors, shaking his head in slight disbelief as he did so. It was the reason he was a Ranger and not a diplomat, for his urge was to fire a shot from his pistol over their heads to get everyone’s attention and then order them back into their rooms. The more they meandered about and became agitated the more chance there was for people to be hurt, but they were not his main concern at the moment. What was happening outside the ship was his focus, and he began to rapidly ascend the stairs towards the command level.

  Jenner sat on the bed with her pistol cradled in her lap, her eyes half closed as she tried to focus her mind against all the distracting aggressive thoughts and emotions which were assaulting her senses.

  There were times when it paid to have her gifts, to be able to read the emot
ions of those who you sought and from that reading you could perceive possible outcomes for the scenario you faced. It had served both her and Walker well during their time together and, even though he never eluded to the fact or directly made comment about her abilities, she was quite certain that he was glad to have her by his side from time to time.

  There were times when she perceived something lurking behind that façade her colleague employed to keep everyone at arms reach, something he seemed to keep buried deep down but she knew that in her time as his partner he had always been just and fair to those they sought to ensnare, even though his methods may have been called into question from time to time. That was why she had been assigned to him, to act as a balance to his more caustic approach but in her current state she found herself less than effective as she fought to suppress the randomness that surrounded her.

  ‘Agent Jenner? Are you okay?’ a timid voice enquired from somewhere within her perceived immediate surroundings.

  Snapping her eyes open and her pistol upwards, she brought it to bear on the figure of Oswald who had been leaning over to her, but now cowered away in utter fear at her immediate response.

  Concentrating upon him and him alone, she found a sense of desperation and clung onto it.

  ‘It’s okay,’ she said softly and tilted the pistol so that the barrel faced upwards towards the ceiling. ‘Sorry Oswald, but you startled me a little. Not wise when a girl’s armed eh?’

  ‘I’m sorry, I woke with all this noise and you were just sitting there as if you were in a trance. Mr Walker has gone and I didn’t know what to do, I’m sorry.

  ‘As I said, it’s okay Oswald. Agent Walker has gone out to assess our situation and I was just, well lets just say I was just thinking happy thoughts okay?’ She replied as she tried to foster a more confident demeanour within her companion.