18
Darren
Darren leaned against theside of Bea’s pilot’s chair and watched the Maine approach Gripwich Research Station. The magnetic disturbance hadn’t cleared out yet, so the partial comms made it hard to hail station control.
“I’ve forwarded our ID. We should be good to dock.”
“Can you just do that? Without approval?” Rick asked, raising a valid point.
Usually, station control issued a permission via comms before any vessel could dock. Most stations had back-up channels in case there were disturbances like the one caused by the magnetic storm, but some of the older ones tended to skim on that requirement if they didn’t have the funding.
Gripwich seemed to be one of them.
“Well, they haven’t raised their perimeter alert systemorsent security to stop us, so yeah.” Bea pulled up the comms log on the main holoscreen. “The logs confirm they got our transmission, so they are aware we are approaching.”
“I’ll head to the airlock,” Darren said, seeing as he wasn’t really needed here. He cut his gaze to Aiden.
Before he got to ask, Aiden was already pushing off the wall. “I’ll go with you.”
“Take Rick with you, just in case the bunch inside isn’t the welcoming type,” Bea suggested, hailing Gripwich again and getting distorted static in response. “Yep, comms are a bust.”
“What did Nyle say?” Aiden asked, pausing with his hand gripping the edge of the wall where the corridor started.
“That the magnetic cloud is circling back through the old mining complex. But I lost him before he gave me a new estimate.” She shrugged. “Either way. It’s not like we are planning to stay here long.” She paused, swiveling in her chair to face them. “Right?”
Everyone looked at Darren expectantly. “Yeah. If these are really Liu’s people, I’m sure they’ll cooperate.”
“Shoo then. The quicker we are done here the better. We’ve no idea when Marcus might decide to show up.”
Darren’s stomach knotted with nerves. Bea was right. They needed to get moving because there was no telling how long it would take Marcus to track the footprint to this station. Darren was impressed how quickly Nyle had managed to do it, but it also worried him. While Nyle was a genius when it came to things like these, Marcus had the advantage of endless resources at his disposal to make up for any shortfalls.
The ride to the airlock was quiet and tense. Darren’s heart beat a little faster as the Maine shuddered and docked, but he swallowed down the worry and focused on disengaging the locks. Once the pressure equalized, they walked out.
Darren stopped halfway down the landing ramp and looked around. The docking bay was empty. He hadn’t expected to see any ships, but it struck him as strange that security wasn’t here to check who’d just arrived.
Tapping his earpiece to turn it on, he said, “Bea, still no answer?”
“Nope.”
“Is the magnetic storm affecting the interior comms?” Aiden posed. He walked down to the control terminal at the base of the ramp and flicked through it.
While such internal disturbances weren’t typical, it wasn’t unheard of with old space stations.
Darren studied the interior again. White and silver walls surrounded the entire space, and he could hear the low hum of the force shield at the entrance. The docking bay ramps led to a central platform, where a massive reinforced glass door with a control point opened up into a freight elevator. To the side of it was a smaller door. That had to be the personnel entrance.
“It’s not. I’m in, but… That’s strange. No one is answering.”
Darren frowned, glancing at Aiden just as Aiden did the same. “Where’s station control?”
“Third floor, Sector C. It’s just past the reception area.”
Darren gestured toward the smaller elevator. Aiden and Rick nodded. “We’ll check it out. Can you access the surveillance?”
“I tried. It’s down for maintenance,”Bea replied just as Aiden got the doors open.“Darren, I don’t like this.”
He didn’t either. But they were here already and he couldn’t just leave. If Liu’s people were really on this station, he needed to at least speak to them first. “We’ll be quick. Keep the Maine on standby.”
“Roger.”
