"Quiet!" shouted Aeyris, then "Quiet!" again as the noise failed to dim. Eventually it died down to mutterings between people sitting next to each other. The soldier had been watching the rabble with a hint of a sneer.
"Why?" Kirrik asked.
"The ship should have been here three hours ago. Two hours ago we heard enemy communications nearby. One hour ago ships were seen entering the system. There's a cargo bay next to this landing pad. Take what supplies you need and get out. We are evacuating; self-destruct has been set for thirty minutes. Broadcast L-01 to activate the launching sequence." The soldier jumped out of the ship as several people jumped up to grab him and demand further information from him.
Once again Aeyris was forced to shout at his crew until they calmed down. "Arrachachak, Mychov, go and grab as many of those supplies as you can. Tikapora and Mu, have a poke around the immediate area to see what else you can find. I want Silsi, Marchero, Edwards, and Sawaka on the bridge. Everyone else, find something useful to do," he finished vaguely.
As people scuttled off in various directions Kirrik turned to Aeyris. "No need for secret planning, after all."
"Humph. Bit of a surprise, them telling us."
"You've spent too long with pirates. There are still a few decent people in the universe."
It was only a few brief minutes before Tikapora and Mu returned. "We can't get out of this area," Mu announced. "Everything apart from this place and the cargo bay has been sealed off, and there are no terminals to be seen."
"Too bad," Kirrik said. "You might as well join the others."
Ten minutes later Arrachachak and Mychov returned. Mychov was driving a lifter, carrying a couple of cargo canisters on a trailer.
"Someone open the cargo doors!" he called out.
"I don't think we've found them," Garath shouted back from the main door. "Chuck them in here, we'll worry about storing them later."
Arrachachak jumped up into the ship. Mychov dropped the trailer and turned the lifter around. With some struggling with the unfamiliar controls he eventually managed to make the lifter's claws crab a canister.
"How long?" he shouted at the ship.
"Don't know - at least fifteen minutes. I think," Arrachachak yelled back.
The lifter headed for the ship. Mychov missed the door, and jammed the canister into the side of the ship. Swearing at himself, he backed off and tried again. This time he was closer, but in his hurry it caught the side of the door. The canister dropped into the entrance as it was jolted from the claws' grasp.
When Mychov tried to back the lifter out the claws caught on something. With more cursing he tried to move forwards again, to loosen them, but without success. He backed again, using all the lifter's power. It did not budge.
The claws had broken through the interior wall, and had caught on a reinforcing strut by the door. Arrachachak tried pulling and pushing from the inside, and had no success either.
A voice suddenly boomed out over some loudspeaker in the landing bay. "Ten minutes to destruction."
Mychov abandoned the lifter and climbed into the ship, having to squeeze between the loading manipulators he had wedged there.
Arrachachak was joined by several other people, but there were still unsuccessful in freeing the lifter until Mu turned up with a laser cutter.
"Where did you get that?" Mychov demanded.
"The hold. This ship hasn't had all its finishing touches completed, remember?"
"Sod that," Arrachachak snapped. "Get to work."
It only took a few minutes for the powerful cutter to separate the claws from the rest. With a huge heave Arrachachak managed to push the rest of the lifter out of the doorway.
"Get to the bridge and tell them to shut the door," he ordered Mychov.
The door started to move, then slowed and stopped with an unpleasant grinding noise and the scream of overloaded motors.
"Five minutes to destruction," rang out the speaker.
Again Arrachachak pushed, this time at the door. There was a sharp snap, and it slid shut.
"We're clear!" he shouted back in the direction of the bridge.
"We might have compromised air tightness," Garath noted. "We'd best get out of this section."
On the bridge, Aeyris was sitting in the command chair. Kirrik was standing by the doorway, mumbling complaints about pirates.
When they heard Arrachachak's shout Aeyris gave the launching clearance code. The engines were already running properly, and there was only a slight drop as the bay's docking clamps released them and its gravity vanished. On the main screen the read view showed the doors opening.
Without waiting for another order, Silsi backed the ship out. Once clear of the confines of the bay she turned the ship around, and the main drives moved them away.
Several ships were visible on the edge of the scanner, moving slowly away from the base.
"Intercept them," ordered Aeyris.
The Constrictor closed with the other ships quickly. The were revealed to be the ships from the listening post - a transport of some kind, and the sixth Vipers and two others in close formation around it. As they closed the message "Incoming transmission" flashed on the main screen.
"Acknowledge," Aeyris called out to the computer.
"Follow us if you will," announced the voice of the post's alien commander. "I will transmit our jump destination when we are ready to depart."
"Why not jump now?"
"The Schriy can trace our jumps from this range. I do not want them to."
"Oh, but you trust us now?"
"More than them. There are four ships approaching. They will need all of them to attack the base, giving us time to escape."
"So you hope. Aeyris out."
"You want to go with them?" Kirrik asked him curiously.
"We've nowhere else to go," Aeyris shrugged.
The Constrictor fell in behind the transport, and they flew on for three hours without further communication. Eventually an impatient Aeyris hailed the evacuee's ship.
"How long until we can jump?" he demanded.
"Uncertain. One enemy vessel is closing on our position."
To their credit the people on the Constrictor's bridge reacted calmly to this news, only a few quick intakes of breath demonstrating any signs of nervousness or surprise.
"What ship?" Kirrik demanded of the alien commander.
"Schriy raider," it replied, unhelpfully.
"That means nothing to us. Can you send details?"
"No. Detailed tactical information of enemy vessels is not in this ship's computer. Schriy ships use a variety of lasers, high explosive torpedoes, and guided missiles. Their shielding technologies are not understood. Out."
An uncertain silence enveloped the bridge. Some people opened their mouths to speak, only to stop before uttering a sound. Kirrik turned from person to person, watching their reactions.
"What's the matter with you all?" he eventually said, his voice no louder than normal but enough to make one or two people twitch.
Silsi was turned away from her station to face inwards, towards the rest of the bridge crew. Her eyes rapidly moved from side to side, seeing her crewmates make no answer.
"What is it?" she exclaimed. "We've been told nothing much at all. Even running up against a Thargoid ship I would at least know what to expect!"
"Death," muttered Marchero. Kirrik's mouth twitched at her, a clear "shut up" signal without audible words.
"Try asking them again," snapped the woman in the rear gunner's position, Sawaka. The rest of them started arguing once more, whilst Aeyris attempted to open a comms link.
Kirrik spoke out above the noise. "Lock the hyperdrive on anywhere convenient. If there's a fight we'll have a look at how those Vipers react, and we'll get out of here if there are any problems."