Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6)(18)

Warned by the hatch opening, Target One had time to turn toward me and lift the weapon. I had two humans trying to come in behind me so I didn’t dodge, but I didn’t want to block the energy burst with my head, either. I fired from my right arm and hit the Target’s weapon. (I could have aimed for his face but I didn’t consider him that much of a threat.) He yelped and spun sideways as I reached him. I bonked his head against the edge of the hatch and yanked the damaged weapon away.

I flung him through the hatch in front of me to draw fire, and then stepped through to throw the broken weapon at Armed Target Two. It bounced off her head as I fired my left arm weapon at Armed Target Three and hit her in the chest and shoulder. I was still moving across the compartment and I slammed into Unarmed Target Four along the way and threw him into Target Two who had stumbled back and dropped her weapon. They both went down in a heap and I slid to a stop with my back to Aylen and Gamila. I had my drone task group do a fast circuit of the compartment then break into small squads. Three squads took up sentry positions and the rest shot out of the hatches to search the ship for more targets.

Not an ideal intervention/retrieval; my speed had been a little low. Trying to keep Tifany and Farid from getting shot had thrown me off. Also, I wasn’t sure yet if the Targets were hostiles or just really stupid, so I had held back a little. Target Three had crumpled to the floor, still conscious and trying to grope for her weapon. Before I had to shoot her again, Tifany and Farid barreled in and Farid scooped up the weapon. Targets One and Four were dazed and not attempting to move, Target Five had dropped to the floor and was screaming for no reason. Target Two sprawled on the floor, pretending to be unconscious.

I would have worried about an as yet unknown Target trying to lock us inside (it wouldn’t have worked, but it would have been annoying to deal with) (nobody wants to be locked in a ship with an annoyed SecUnit) (nobody) but my sentry drones had a camera view of Balin planting itself in the hatchway and extending four bracing limbs to keep it open. (I’m guessing the Port Authority has dealt with problem crews before.)

Tifany moved further into the room, taking up a guard position to my left as Farid said, “We’ve called for assistance, and uh, I’ll alert Medical.”

I was getting drone video telling me that the ship was a stripped-down cargo hauler, with a small livable space. The drones hadn’t found any other occupants. From inside, the jamming was easy to take down, and I pulled a manifest from the ship’s feed to double-check the complement. I said, “Ship is clear, listed crew is accounted for.” Because I was tired of Target Two’s shit, I turned around to ask Aylen and Gamila, “Are you injured?”

Target Two made a wild grab for her fallen projectile weapon. I kicked the weapon over to Tifany, who snatched it up and secured it. (Yes, it was unnecessary and showing off.)

Aylen said, “We’re unhurt.” She sounded calm, a dry edge to her voice, but her forehead was damp with sweat and her heart rate was still elevated. Her jacket and shirt had been disarranged, like someone had grabbed her and pushed her. “Thank you for intervening.”

Gamila leaned against the wall, a hand pressed to her chest. “I’m not even sure what happened! They threatened us, wouldn’t even listen to why we were here.”

“You’re here to take our ship!” Target Two snarled, the feed translating. “You pussing corporates! You sent a SecUnit after us!”

I turned to look down at her. “You didn’t know they had a SecUnit until we broke in. Try again.”

Target Two’s brow knit as she looked up at me and her mouth hung open.

Target Five moaned, “Shut up, Fenn. They’re going to take our ship.”

Aylen shook her head wearily and Gamila said, “You should have thought of that before you attacked us!”

My drone sentries saw the Station Security Response Team thunder up to the outer hatch. Balin unwedged itself from its guard position, strode down the corridor, and folded itself down to get into the compartment. It extended a limb across to Gamila, she took it, and it led her out of the ship.

Nobody moved until they were out of the way. Then the response team crowded in and Aylen said, “Arrest everyone associated with this ship. They obviously don’t want to talk to us here, so we’ll do it at the station.”



* * *



Putting it mildly, it was weird to voluntarily walk into a Station Security office.

I had never been to one before on any station. (If I had, I’d be parts and recycler trash and you wouldn’t be reading this.) SecUnits weren’t normally used in stations in the Corporation Rim, and we sure weren’t used in normal station regulation enforcement. We were only deployed on a station as an extreme measure, like repelling a raider attack. (And stations with deployment centers weren’t likely to be attacked anyway, unless there were an absolute shit-ton of raiders or they were really stupid or both.) Palisade Security, working for GrayCris, had used a SecUnit as part of their hostage security team on TranRollinHyfa because they were worried about me showing up. And they had used two SecUnits and a CombatUnit as fugitive pursuit when I escaped with Mensah. And look how that had turned out for them.

But anyway, for most of my career as an escaped rogue SecUnit, staying away from Station Security had been kind of important.

Preservation’s Station Security office was next to the Port Authority, part of the barrier that separated the port’s embarkation area from the rest of the station. Both offices had entrances into the admin section of the mall and the transit ring.