Sean-Michael Argo - Carrion Duty

The sounds of screaming and shooting were deafening in the tight confines of the network of corridors and checkpoints that surrounded the engineering deck. Rhett followed the young trooper to a checkpoint that had been taken by the boarders and got his first glimpse of the enemy. They were far better equipped and armored than average space pirates, though, given that the boarding party had launched from the likes of the Fatalis that was no surprise. What did strike Rhett as odd, was that the boarders were not advancing, choosing instead to hold the checkpoint against cor-sec.

The checkpoint itself was simply a few flimsy mobile barricades and a plexiglass guard shack. The checkpoints only existed to provide basic security for the engineering deck, to manage traffic and make sure that only authorized individuals entered. Rhett’s gaze swept the area before he ducked back into cover around the corner of the corridor. He took note of the handful of dead cor-sec troopers already littering the corridor and the checkpoint. The sounds of shooting weren’t just in this section, and Rhett guessed that Dante was right, and every checkpoint had been seized. The cor-sec presence on Andromeda was thin as it was, now with such a sudden and fierce assault they were likely down to only sixty or seventy percent strength.

“Bring up the breaching shields!” shouted a cor-sec trooper that Rhett recognized as the proctor of the unit. From behind the twins came another group of four troopers, each of them carrying the massive, wide shields that were often used for shipboard combat. “ Fall in, troopers! ”

Rhett moved to join the ranks of the cor-sec troopers as they formed a tight wedge of riflemen behind the protection of the shield bearers. As he stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with the young trooper they’d met in the corridor the proctor grabbed Rhett by the arm.

“We don’t need help from a bunch of ragtag bounty scrappers,” growled the proctor as he firmly pressed against Rhett, making the former trooper step back, “Cor-sec has this under control.”

“Sir, we could use every gun we can get,” piped up the young trooper.

“This is Rhett Calibos, lost his badge after the Dunhill Massacre. Aegis pulled him out of some Rubicon penal colony and stuck him on a Vulture ship. Those two are Fenrir cultists and they aren’t even trying to hide it. You don’t think Port Authority knows who you people are?” the proctor snapped at the young man before turning back to Rhett and the twins. “You want to do something useful then get yourselves back to the main deck and away from the combat zone! Let the professionals handle this!”

Rhett stood in stunned silence, then stepped back further as the proctor called for the formation to advance. As soon as the men with the breaching shields rounded the corner their equipment shuddered with multiple impacts. It took all the strength they could muster to push forward, aided in this by the men behind them. The breaching shields were stout indeed, though not invincible, and Rhett knew that if the troopers couldn’t put the boarders on the run soon, the shields would fail. The shields had gun ports in the front, and the throaty growl of the short-barreled shotguns carried by the shield bearers filled the corridor.

There were perhaps a dozen troopers who filed into the corridor and it was clear from the sound of the fighting, that the boarders were throwing everything they had at the advancing formation.

Several more troopers shouldered past the bounty scrappers and Rhett wondered if similar scenes were playing out at each of the checkpoints. If that was the case, then nearly every cor-sec trooper on the station would be engaged in the fight for engineering. That meant that the rest of the station would be defenseless if another boarding party entered from a different section.

Rhett was shaking with fury as he turned away from the fighting and stomped back down the corridor towards the main deck, though whether that fury was directed at the proctor or himself he could not tell. He had been laid bare by the proctor’s words, the cor-sec leader having known just how to hurt the scrapper with simple words. He and the rest of the crew of the Six , other than Captain Estrada and Vitrian Holt, were all criminals and debtors of one kind or another.

When the Vulture Six docked on the station it was easy for Rhett to forget who he was, and since he had money to spend, the people of the station didn’t seem to care or want to know, anyway. It made sense that the Port Authority would have been provided with detailed profiles of the bounty scrappers, else they’d never have allowed the Vulture Six to have a permanent berth on Andromeda Station.

He had not expected to be turned away from the fight, the proctor’s classism having taken him quite by surprise. It seemed that even in the heat of battle some prejudices were so ingrained that they expressed themselves regardless.

Rhett moved out to the bottom of the main deck, where many people still lingered, unsure of where to run, making Rhett realize that many of them might not realize that some of the housing decks had been strafed with rail gun fire.

“We were not the only individuals rising up,” said Dante suddenly as he pointed towards the upper levels of main deck.

As Rhett followed the man’s gesture, he saw that several dozen armed civilians were making their way down towards them even as the horribly out of place sound of a heavy machine gun boomed in the corridor they’d just left, “And their timing is good.”

More shooting filled the corridor behind them suddenly, and it was closer than it should have been. Drago turned and just as he did several cor-sec troopers pounded around the corner. The large man stepped out of the way and the young trooper that had led them to the fight in the first place sped past him. Behind the young man were five other troopers, and a sixth who was suddenly riddled with bullets from deeper into the corridor.

“It would appear that battle has found us regardless of our social class,” smiled Dante as he thumbed the safety off of his combo-weapon.

Rhett did the same and took note of the armed civilians gathering around the beleaguered cor-sec troopers. He shook his head, clearing the cobwebs of doubt and shame from his mind, and realized that many of the civilians were looking at him expectantly. The cor-sec troopers were only barely keeping themselves from retreating further. Rhett imagined that the sight of he and the twins with their full kit gave the impression of authority. They might not have the social status or the legal clout, but in the heat of the moment it seemed that the would-be defenders were prepared to take their orders from the scrappers.

“They had a mounted gun hidden behind the checkpoint,” sputtered the young cor-sec trooper as he fell to his knees on the floor plating near Rhett. The scrapper could see several places where bullets had battered their way through the young man’s armor. “Waited for us to bunch up behind the shields. Who would use heavy weapons on a station? Probably punched through the hull in a few places.”

“Ravagers,” said Dante as he held his weapon at the ready, pointing it down the corridor that now seemed even more menacing, “They have no concern for maintaining hull integrity.”

“You see anything coming out of that corridor you fill it with holes!” bellowed Rhett at the armed civilians, and to his surprise they responded by moving forward and taking up firing positions across the lower deck as even more of them descended from the main deck.

No sooner had he given that most basic of orders than several of the ravager boarders rounded the corner and opened fire on the assembled defenders. Two civilians who had not yet found cover were instantly cut down.