Accord of Mars (Accord Series Book 2) by Kevin McLaughlin Page A
Authors: Kevin McLaughlin
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then taken off when the ship reached its destination. The missile pod fitting was easy. Just drop in a missile pod pre-made to match the shape and latching mechanics of the cargo containers, and you had a combat ship.
Sort of. These ships had fared very poorly against my father’s vessels. Against a ship built for war, these makeshift jobs didn’t last long. But they’d add more missiles to the mix, and if they stayed tucked in close to the bigger ships in a fleet, they would benefit from the strong anti-missile defenses those ships were sure to have. I had no doubt this ship would be tagging along when the Earth fleet left dock.
I ventured to the aft end of the ship. There was usually an airlock near engineering, which would make a good way in. I spotted the door and went for it. The outer door didn’t open up like it should have when I tapped the panel, though. They’d thought to lock it. That wasn’t going to stop me, but it slowed me down. I still had the tablet I was carrying earlier in the evening, tucked into a cargo pocket of my space suit. I pulled it out now and began negotiating a connection with the tiny computer managing the airlock.
Everything on a ship was computerized. Even in something as simple as the airlock, you needed to monitor the air pressure, the seal quality, the locking mechanism, and a dozen other things. Rather than over task the central computer with mundane tasks, these sorts of tasks were jobbed out to smaller CPUs around the ship, which then reported to the main computer. I couldn’t have hacked the main CPU from here. But telling the little airlock machine that I was authorized to open the door shouldn’t take too long.
I was almost through the door when a man in a thruster suit jetted down to land immediately across from me.
Chapter 19
Thomas Stein
W hen one is trying to sneak aboard a spaceship, the sudden appearance of an unknown person is alarming. I almost lost my grip on the tablet, which would have been a disaster. I did lose my grip on the ship. That wasn’t quite as bad. I did have some juice left in my thruster pack. I reached for the thruster controls.
The man lunged out at me. I tried to block, but he was too quick. He snagged one of the grip loops on my suit and pulled me closer. Only then did I spot the logo on the suit sleeve - Mars Space Service.
It was Acres. I tapped my helmet against his so we could have a little chat about sneaking up on people.
“You asshole,” I said. I was still trying to catch my breath and slow my heartbeat down.
He laughed. “Little nervous?”
“Little bit,” I said.
“Not in yet?”
“Obviously,” I replied through gritted teeth. “I was almost in when you jumped me there.”
“Stay alert,” he said more seriously. “I saw personnel moving around near some of the ships. I think they’re getting ready to ship out.”
Which meant we needed to get inside. Once the ship was underway sneaking in would be impossible. The door would alarm the second I got it open. We had a few hours of air left, but the trip to Mars would take days. Staying outside wasn’t an option. I got back to hacking the airlock.
A minute later I had it open, and we both hurried inside. The airlock cycled, and the inner door opened up. We were in.
The ship was dimly lit with low-power emergency lighting. We listened for a few long moments before moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. I looked over at Acres and he nodded. I moved out into the main passage.
The pressurized part of these ships was shaped a little like a dumb-bell. Cockpit and crew sleeping area in the nose. Engineering in the rear, along with the fission reactor that ran the main drives. And a long stem connecting the two points. The cargo containers - or missile pods - attached to the stem part. On the inside, the stem was just a big tube between the two main points of interest on the ship.
There weren’t a lot of places to hide.
I popped off my helmet. “Now what?” I
Sort of. These ships had fared very poorly against my father’s vessels. Against a ship built for war, these makeshift jobs didn’t last long. But they’d add more missiles to the mix, and if they stayed tucked in close to the bigger ships in a fleet, they would benefit from the strong anti-missile defenses those ships were sure to have. I had no doubt this ship would be tagging along when the Earth fleet left dock.
I ventured to the aft end of the ship. There was usually an airlock near engineering, which would make a good way in. I spotted the door and went for it. The outer door didn’t open up like it should have when I tapped the panel, though. They’d thought to lock it. That wasn’t going to stop me, but it slowed me down. I still had the tablet I was carrying earlier in the evening, tucked into a cargo pocket of my space suit. I pulled it out now and began negotiating a connection with the tiny computer managing the airlock.
Everything on a ship was computerized. Even in something as simple as the airlock, you needed to monitor the air pressure, the seal quality, the locking mechanism, and a dozen other things. Rather than over task the central computer with mundane tasks, these sorts of tasks were jobbed out to smaller CPUs around the ship, which then reported to the main computer. I couldn’t have hacked the main CPU from here. But telling the little airlock machine that I was authorized to open the door shouldn’t take too long.
I was almost through the door when a man in a thruster suit jetted down to land immediately across from me.
Chapter 19
Thomas Stein
W hen one is trying to sneak aboard a spaceship, the sudden appearance of an unknown person is alarming. I almost lost my grip on the tablet, which would have been a disaster. I did lose my grip on the ship. That wasn’t quite as bad. I did have some juice left in my thruster pack. I reached for the thruster controls.
The man lunged out at me. I tried to block, but he was too quick. He snagged one of the grip loops on my suit and pulled me closer. Only then did I spot the logo on the suit sleeve - Mars Space Service.
It was Acres. I tapped my helmet against his so we could have a little chat about sneaking up on people.
“You asshole,” I said. I was still trying to catch my breath and slow my heartbeat down.
He laughed. “Little nervous?”
“Little bit,” I said.
“Not in yet?”
“Obviously,” I replied through gritted teeth. “I was almost in when you jumped me there.”
“Stay alert,” he said more seriously. “I saw personnel moving around near some of the ships. I think they’re getting ready to ship out.”
Which meant we needed to get inside. Once the ship was underway sneaking in would be impossible. The door would alarm the second I got it open. We had a few hours of air left, but the trip to Mars would take days. Staying outside wasn’t an option. I got back to hacking the airlock.
A minute later I had it open, and we both hurried inside. The airlock cycled, and the inner door opened up. We were in.
The ship was dimly lit with low-power emergency lighting. We listened for a few long moments before moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. I looked over at Acres and he nodded. I moved out into the main passage.
The pressurized part of these ships was shaped a little like a dumb-bell. Cockpit and crew sleeping area in the nose. Engineering in the rear, along with the fission reactor that ran the main drives. And a long stem connecting the two points. The cargo containers - or missile pods - attached to the stem part. On the inside, the stem was just a big tube between the two main points of interest on the ship.
There weren’t a lot of places to hide.
I popped off my helmet. “Now what?” I
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