The room held an oval table with various personal screens mounted on it, as well as a large projector screen at the far end of the room from Jared. Sitting around the table were about a dozen men and women in well-tailored business suits, and at the head of the table was a man that looked exactly like the picture Jared had been shown. The gun sweeping the room, he stalked down the right side of the room, around the table, and grabbed him by the collar. Pulling him out of his chair, he put the gun to his head, and began walking away.
"Make a move, and he dies."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Transport set down, and things went on as normal. The Xenos had disguised themselves as the crew that were now hidden, going so far as to steal their ID cards. The deck crew of the Lindau paid no mind to the fact that none of the Xenos looked like they were from Rheinland - they didn't pay much attention to anything but unloading the crates. Their eyes were downcast, as if they were beaten. The Xenos were careful that nothing unusual took place, then they dispersed to their various tasks. Vincent and Ben made for the cell block.
The room held an oval table with various personal screens mounted on it, as well as a large projector screen at the far end of the room from Jared. Sitting around the table were about a dozen men and women in well-tailored business suits, and at the head of the table was a man that looked exactly like the picture Jared had been shown. The gun sweeping the room, he stalked down the right side of the room, around the table, and grabbed him by the collar. Pulling him out of his chair, he put the gun to his head, and began walking away.
"Make a move, and he dies."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Transport set down, and things went on as normal. The Xenos had disguised themselves as the crew that were now hidden, going so far as to steal their ID cards. The deck crew of the Lindau paid no mind to the fact that none of the Xenos looked like they were from Rheinland - they didn't pay much attention to anything but unloading the crates. Their eyes were downcast, as if they were beaten. The Xenos were careful that nothing unusual took place, then they dispersed to their various tasks. Vincent and Ben made for the cell block.
The Dromedary was given priority clearance to land on Ouray, and a disgruntled CEO was manhandled down the docking ramp by two Xenos. He was quiet, because he was smart enough to realize that struggling would get him nothing. Put in his own cell, Jared quickly got into his Eagle, called up Avarice Stryker, a fellow Xeno Guardsman, and launched. They expected Ageira's retribution to be swift, and they weren't disappointed. They couldn't launch anything from Pueblo of their security division, so instead they called in several ships from Detroit Munitions. Having planned on this, more than a few Xenos were launching an unrelated raid on Detroit, but that's besides the point. The point was that several Ageira Eagles were combing the Silverton field - they wouldn't listen to ransom demands as long as there was a chance to get him back without paying. So, it was Jared and Avarice's job to completely annihilate the Ageira ships. They launched and waited for them to arrive.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Vincent found Caleb about halfway down. Calling to Ben to run back and get the keycard off the guard's unconscious form, he waited by the door with anxiousness. Suppose someone happened to walk by now? It would be a disaster. However, Ben came back quickly with no occasion for comment. Swiping the card, the door shuddered open, and they saw Caleb there, sitting on his bed, head hung low. He looked up slowly, and at the sight of Vincent and Ben, sprang up.
"About time you guys showed up, I was beginning to think you had forgotten about ol' Caleb."
"No chance in hell," Vincent replied fiercely. "C'mon, we still got stuff to get done."
Ben, looking down the corridor, said slowly, "Guys... sorry to interrupt, but we got trouble."
Pulling out his gun, Vincent shot the guy that was there. Twice. He hit the floor hard, and then warning lights began flashing all over the ship. Apparently the sensors were fine tuned to pick up weapons discharges - thank god Vincent had restrained himself from shooting the doorman. They had scant minutes to get off the ship, but that wasn't the plan. Caleb had itchy feet, but Ben grabbed one of his shoulders to stop him from running and Vincent explained what was about to happen. As they spoke, a team was getting into the computer system, changing target priorities of the automated defense system, and activating it, as it was normally deactivated while the ship wasn't in danger to avoid accidents. A massacre would ensue, giving the Xenos control of the ship.
Caleb couldn't help but laugh.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It took an hour for the first Ageira ship to happen upon Ouray. It held its distance and started transmitting the coordinates, and it successfully did so, and survived for about another thirty seconds. Jared and Avarice fell upon it like demons from Hell, annihilating it in such a speedy fashion that pure fear and adrenaline must have been the last thing the poor pilot had known. More Eagles came, about twenty all-told, as many as five at once, but they all reached a similar fate. The two Xeno Eagles proved too much for them, and in a dance of fire, death, and a blaze of particle guns, they came off victorious. Now, the ransom demands would be sent...
Five minutes of tense waiting was rewarded by several auto-turrets popping out of secret niches in the walls and powering up. Their sensors tracked everything that moved, and scanned threat level. They passed over the three Xenos with no comment. However, elsewhere on the ship, they were spitting out tachyon death and mayhem upon the crew. It truly was a massacre. After a few minutes, Vincent motioned for them to get moving.
"Come on, we gotta get to the bridge and take command of this rust bucket. Get the hell outta Rheinland while we still can."
They were at a dead run the entire way to the elevator, and were poised to run as soon as the door opened. When it did, they were greeted by a scene of cauterized flesh and cooked bodies. It wasn't a pleasant sight - or smell - but that didn't stop Ben from hauling one of the Rheinlanders off the helms console and taking the wheel, nor did it stop Caleb from removing the CO from his perch on the command chair and sitting down, or Vincent from likewise commandeering the tactical station.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It took little time to convince Ageira to pay. The preliminary message said that if they went to the LPI, LSF, or LN, dear old CEO would meet an untimely death. It also demanded a billion credits delivered to their neural net - no small amount. Unable to rely on any outside help, and terrified of the fiasco of losing one of their CEOs in such a manner, the large company soon capitulated, and transfered the credits discreetly. Mr. CEO was put back in the Dromedary, which was set to head back to Pueblo on autopilot.
Jack Tar and Nicole Conzales led a force of Xeno bombers and fighters to the Lindau's location as soon as they got word that the ship was theirs. They were to act as escort for the battleship as it exited the system through the Hudson jump gate. It would be dangerous, taking the jump gate (yet avoiding the trade lanes), but the Bering jump hole wasn't aligned properly for a ship that size and there was always the problem of the damn Unioners. All-in-all, ten fighters and bombers were in formation with the Linda, making for an impressive display. The jump gate, of course, had a Cruiser sitting by, scanning passing ships, and it looked almost quizzically at the battleship. Until the guns started firing. Then it scrambled to move, but was too late. The Xeno bombers and fighters pounced on the Gunboat escorts, and soon all Military ships were reduced to heaping slags of burning metal.
Quite a few "YEEEHAAAAW"s came from Jack's ship as explosion after explosion ended the careers of several Rheinlanders. The battleship jumped, and made a B-line for Barrow. Hitting the asteroids became a problem, but it made it in one piece. Several Xenos poured onto the battleship as it moored with Barrow, and soon it was given a new moniker - the XA-Alabama|XG. The influx of credits from Ageira allowed them to properly supply and outfit it, as the Zoners were not picky with who they dealt with. Caleb reassumed leadership of the Xeno Guard, and all was right in the world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Boss? Boss?" Everything was hazy, until a slap snapped his head around and brought Caleb to focus. He was lying on his back on the deck of Barrow, three worried Xeno Guard pilots standing over him.
"What... what happened?" he asked, disorientated.
"That Cruiser got you, but we managed to grab your pod. What's the matter?" Vincent said, as he noticed Caleb's expression change.