“I'm sorry,” Agameg said sympathetically.
“Not like you could do anything. Gave Ashley something to think about other than worrying about how to get us free. She's a bright girl, but there's no way she could hatch an escape plan with Wheeler staring at her.”
“So he's a bounty hunter?”
“He works for Regent Galactic. They fixed him up with a skeleton crew and sent him off on his ship, the Triton. I could swear I heard Burke's voice on Wheeler's comm for a minute. If I ever get my hands on that little bastard I'll finish what Captain started.”
Price retrieved a black metal box from his footlocker and went to Ramirez's side. “He was not my favourite crew mate. Why did they torture you?” He asked.
“It was a demonstration. Wheeler said he needed Captain to take him seriously. Makes sense, I've never heard of the bastard before.”
“You are fortunate the weapon he uses causes mass cauterization. There is virtually no bleeding.”
“Lucky, heh.” Ramirez muttered. “Have anything for the pain? I wish I could just pass out.”
“No, my race does not generally require pain management. I do have three doses of active medical nanobots though. They're infantry grade,” he replied, holding up an injector. “Do you have any physical or religious problems that would prohibit-”
“Just patch me up already!”
Price injected the nanobots right below Ramirez's hip. “Considering the severity and depth of the injury, this will itch profoundly.”
“I don't feel anything yet.”
Price gestured for Finn to come down from the top bunk then cocked his head at Ramirez. “Any sensations?”
He shrugged. “A little tingling, pain isn't as bad,” a moment later his leg twitched and he gripped the bedding. “Holy hell, that's not itching! It's more like my leg's on fire from the inside!” He shouted out so loudly they were sure they could probably hear him ship wide.
Price snatched a pillow from his bunk and put it on Ramirez's face just hard enough to muffle his screams. Finn took hold of his ankles and tried to keep him from kicking too much. He looked down at the man's leg and could see the flesh knitting. The nanobots were invisible, but their work was obvious. Before his eyes, veins, muscle, and skin were repaired and in the space of less than a minute the injury was just gone.
Ramirez pulled the pillow off his face and laughed as he checked his injury. “You should have told me they were old emergency nanos. I've heard of them but never used 'em before.”
“I always have a medical kit near at hand. I'm sorry I didn't pay for a better one.”
“No, hombre, you did good here. I just thought when some of those old soldiers said; it itches, it was like an itch. Not every nerve in your leg getting hit like you just smacked your funny bone with a sonic jack hammer.”
Finn looked up at the porthole and saw the stars moving quickly. “We're underway,” he climbed to the top bunk and put his face against it so he could see outside better. “Headed to open space at a pretty high speed. The emitters are still powered down though, so I don't think we're going into hyperspace just yet.”
“I only hope the Captain and Stephanie can find us before we're out of the area.”
“Captain has all kinds of ways to track his ship. They'd have to turn everything off and dock us inside a shielded bay for him to lose sight of us.”
Price dug around in his footlocker a little more then produced a small centimetre by centimetre box. “I have some dermal transmitters, in case we get separated. We will be able to communicate on a discreet channel.”
Ramirez looked at the box. “Normally I hate those things. They don't have much of a range and you can't take 'em off. In this case, I can't refuse.” He took the box, placed it against his jawbone and pressed the button. The feeling of the tiny, invisible communicator knitting into his skin made him shudder. He knew it was made so the user wouldn't even know it was there, but he swore he could still feel it just under the flesh.
Agameg Price implanted one into his cheekbone and offered it to Finn. “Just press it against my jawbone?”
“Yes, the transmitter will pick up the vibrations of your speech. It will also send vibrations that your ear canal will pick up so you can hear incoming transmissions. It will only work with others who have transmitters from this box or use this frequency.”
Finn expected a pinch, some kind of pain as he pressed the box up against his jawbone but he only heard a click, then another click. “I think I implanted two, sorry.”
“Don't worry, these are cheap leisure items. Spacerwares sells them for a few credits at the counter. They only have a range of approximately half a kilometre.”
“Hooray for impulse buyer items. These are just half a notch better than proximity radio,” Ramirez said with a smile. “I can already hear you both through the transmitter though. It's checking out.”
“I am terrible for spending my entire budget on the first aisle and the counter. I once became lost in Spacerwares and almost bought a shuttleboard and the impact armour that goes with it.”
“Now those are fun, there's nothing like hovering along at three hundred klicks an hour. They cost a fortune if you buy the brand name one though.”
“Yes, seeing the advertisement on the box was so exciting, I momentarily forgot about my living conditions. Stephanie caught me while I was waiting in line to pay and asked if I truly needed one. I am glad she stopped me, I haven't found a practical use for one yet.”
Finn was still looking out the port hole, and he could see the engines had swivelled and begun firing. “We're decelerating but there's nothing in front of us.”
“Perhaps we're entering a holding pattern? Can you see the planet?”
“Nope, there's nothing in sight from this angle.” He flinched, startled at something outside. “Whoa!”
“What?” Ramirez asked.
“We're inside a hangar, but I didn't see the ship coming up. We were in open space one minute, then suddenly we're in a hangar.”
“How does that happen?”
The sounds of the ship gently landing came from below decks. “It must be a cloaked ship,” Agameg commented.
“You're right.”
“Well, as long as they don't completely drain the power from the Samson the Captain will be able to find us. It'll be harder though.” Ramirez commented.
“The crew here will find any signals emitted by the ship, so he won't have much time to track us down. We'll have to try and find our own solution,” Finn said with determination. “Is there any way out of this room?”
“Yes, there's a maintenance hatch just here.” Agameg pointed at the deck plating. “It lets out into the hallway below.”
“That's some pretty sloppy planning,” Ramirez commented. “Locking everyone in their quarters probably wasn't the best idea,” he reached under his mattress and pulled out a pistol.
“Okay, so once we get down there, I'll head for the Big Surprise. If anything will knock out the cloaking field on the ship we've landed on that'll do it. It'll make us a lot easier to find and might buy us time.”
“That's an excellent idea!” Price whispered excitedly.
“We should get moving, if I were running a ship capture I'd be moving everyone on the Samson into my own brig. When I get to a communications console I'll see if I can patch in and get in touch with Aucharian Command. They might be able to help us.”
Price quietly removed a half meter by half meter deck plate and pushed a bundle of cables aside. “I'll go first since I'm the most flexible,” reaching down he unclipped the latch that held one edge of the ceiling plate in place then put his head down against it so he could see through the crack. He couldn't see anyone in that direction, so he proceeded to carefully unlatch the other side of the plate. It swung open to reveal a crew member looking up quizzically and without a moment's hesitation Agameg jumped down.
He landed in a heap atop the surprised boarder and struggled to disarm him. “I mean you no harm!” Agameg insisted as quietly as he could while he struggled to disarm the man trapped beneath him.