Cold Call - [Sibby-verse 1]

13

We hustle out of Medbay's rarely used back entrance into a surprisingly empty corridor. We hustle down corridors, taking an off-route course to the bridge which is on the deck right above us. We surprisingly arrive at the bridge's back entrance unmolested by anyone. We're granted immediate entry.

We head in to find its only Addie-Lit and one other person who's at the comm-boards on the bridge while there's tremendous racket at the main entrance of people yelling and banging on the closed doors.

               "Well!" Addie-Lit widely grins. "Don't you look worst for wear!"
               "I feel it, too." I say, now noticing my ribcage is sore.
               "I resuscitated you. Twice." Ra-Ra states, noticing my discomfort and now I remember that she did indeed tell me that.
               "Thought you were dead! Glad you're alive, Commander! For multiple reasons! Ok, thanks Lito and Ra-Ra! Let the rest of the team know what my orders are – get into containment and gather any of the sane that's left. Its imperative, life or death. I'll maintain command as long as I can but we're outnumbered by the crazies, kay? Go!" Addie-Lit directs.

Lito and Ra-Ra immediately head off after I nod at them for emphasis on compliance with Addie-Lit's directions. They quickly exit through the back entrance.

               "That's my comm' officer, Jubie." Addie-Lit introduces the young gentleman who nods in acknowledgement.
               "Thought you had a kisser stashed somewhere?" I ask, confused.
               "I did. Accidentally got left behind on Endeavors with Twink and the last of my able-bodied crew. So, you're it."

Great. That's just great.

               "Capitalist refused to accept her as mainhelm, anyway. You're in no shape to nav' by looks of ya but, are you Aligned?" Addie asks.
               "It's coming, almost there."
               "We need to get outta here, ASAP."
               "Okay, I'm fine with that. Where to?" I head towards mainhelm.
               "Independence." Addie-Lit states calmly.
                I stop in my tracks. "Independence?"
               "We need to report in person to Trip-C."

My scanner turns right on. Addled as it is.

               "Report to 'em what's burnin' out here. You disagree?"
                I hesitate. "No. Why not drop 'em clips and meet up with Three and Four?" I decided to ask.
                She walks up to me. "So, listen. I need you up-n-up on this before you suspect me. One, I'm not your enemy but Eds is. Two – I'm 90% sure, now, that noth' has went left with these ops. I think the RazerFront has taken over, Front ops-cent is offline and I haven't been able to reach 'em to 'firm these cold calls." She says calmly, clearly, eyeballing me.
               "You smackin' Front Command itself?" new chills run down my spine.
               "Yes. So. I think there's been a coup back home. No proof yet of course however it explains why I can't raise 'em, why peeps're getting killed and hurt out here that's irrelevant to spacer freedom from EarthSol."
                I kind of slide into the mainhelm chair, the wind knocked out of me. "Are you serious?"
               "You have anoth' theory on that insane ruckus outside the bridge?" she sits on the mainhelm chair's arm. "No? Lemme tell you. I was investigating RazerFront before we all got coopted onto these smuggle-ops. They're aware of Sibby's existence."
                My mouth drops open. "Farley!"
               "Correct. They're a new breed of terrorist. They're expansionists with chaos their M-O and insurrection their goal. They don't just wanna expand humanity's perimeter, they want control of Front Command, war with the rest of spacerkin to exert their dominance. They feel this dominance over the spacerkin is New Gaia's role to take and hold out here, an empire of sorts."
               "Seriously?" I just find this all hard to believe, really.
               "That's what happ's when you shake hands with the devil and arm a buncha nutty zealots with a cause. You end up with the RazerFront."
               "This who Eds in cahoots with?"
               "No. we're all in cahoots with RazerFront, if I'm right. Eds buddies are anoth' breed of extremists bent on disclosing Sibby to the gen' populace to set us all free. Call themselves the No Chancers, ironically enough, as they've never been successful. Should be deterrent enough. Their M-O is to first, shoot themselves in the foot. Two, draw attention to themselves even though you've actually benefited from the Redirection program."
               "He's so by the book." I state, in disbelief.
               "All of those wide-eyed suckers are. They're true believers in no second chances, death for all violators of Code. Now, I don't know what these space cadets plans are but I guarantee it'll getcha iced by Sibby – a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one. So Eds got two targets on our cans – Sibby itself and these premium wackjobs on the RazerFront. Eds was to boost a rock down on Independence, courtesy of the RazerFront,"
               "I mean,"
               "I already clipped 'em on it, they wanna in person report."
               "And if they hit our kill-switches?" I question. That's the whole point of running away!
               "We'll be dead. Being as that we're already dead, what's the diff'? We already accepted terms of Redirection, there's no take back on that." Addie-Lit calmly explains as the ruckus in the corridor gets even louder.

Mainhelm, star6 ranked astronavigator, callsign Jay = reacquired – The Capitalist
'Bout time, thanks – me

And ding! I immediately understand why we need to get outta here ASAP. We're in the Front's Edge region, just outside the RoyalStar's scope parameters, sixty lightyears out from Endeavors. That was quite an automated hop The Capitalist took without a navigator – testament of the superiority of her comp-sys suite. The brig must have take-holds in the deck in there...

At any rate, we're a WHOLE lot closer to home.

               "Good, realigned?" Addie-Lit asks. I nod. "You're star6. Can you grab command of this whole ship?"
               "Yes and no. I lack certain command line permission levels."
               "So Eds can regain control of command from second command post in Engineering?"
               "It's possible. I did have our crew lock Eds outta the command structure."
               "Yes, they told me." And she starts pacing the deck. "Eds also ordered your civ navboard to automate that hop here with an unexpected disembark off Endeavors, too. Now you understand the urgency?"
               "I do."
               "Take us to Independence,"
               "With all these peeps running around decks?" I question.
               "Cycle blue lights with extra time laid in for these addled brains to remember to take-hold." Addie takes command chair.
               "Aye,"
               "Excuse me but, Eds is rerouting comm ma'am!" Jubee alerts of a sudden.
               "Stars alive!" Addie's working her boards as there's sounds of the bridge's doors being cranked open.
               "You two, get off this deck! Back door, now! I know I'm your subordinate but you've gotta retain command somehow,"
               "Jay,"
               "I'm the only kisser aboard,"
               "Don't for one second let that make you think you're safe! These fools are psychotic,"

The doors start cranking open, the locks bypassed.