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On the bench next to Tony, Rhodey let out another sigh and looked at his handcuffed wrists.
“Oh, come on,” Tony rolled his eyes. His own shackles clinked as he shifted to glare back at Rhodey. “How was I supposed to know the Council was in this sector of space?”
“You’re the navigator, next time navigate around the government mining facility.”
“Right. I’ll try to remember that. Avoid the super-secret military rigs marked as outposts. Should be easy.”
“Easier than breaking out of here, anyway.”
Hard to argue there.
The windowless room that they’d been locked into fell quiet. Silence was almost worse than the perpetual sighing, and Tony found himself filling it purposefully.
“What do you think they’re out here doing, anyway?”
What he and Rhodey were doing was plain and simple. Council outposts on the outer-reaches of the star-system were easy pickings for pirates--many of them weren’t even manned. Those were the best: simple smash and grabs. Unfortunately, Tony had picked a manned outpost this time, and from the looks of things, a very busy one, staffed by military personnel.
“No idea. Rare metals? There’s an icy asteroid belt nearby.”
Tony frowned. He’d never heard of anything remotely valuable mined from this region. Its only claim to fame was that it had served as a frontline in a battle between the Council and the Guilders a generation ago. Unless they wanted to harvest antique tech from the scuttled space hulks, Tony couldn’t see the point.
“Maybe they had too much budget and needed to blow it off.”
This time Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Wonder where they’ll ship us off to. Annoval 14 isn’t far from here.”
“They’ll probably just toss us out of the airlock.”
“That seems a little extreme.”
“Hey, dead men tell no tales.”
“We should probably find a way off this station, then.”
“Very much agree.”
“Any bright ideas?”
As if on cue, as Rhodey asked, an audible alarm went up outside their room.
And something very heavy smashed into the door of their holding cell. Both men’s eyes widened at the huge dent, and they heard voices shouting something unintelligible.
“Hate to be on the bad side of whatever that was.” Rhodey said.
Then something smashed into the door again, and this time the door caved inward. A guard in heavy armor sailed through the air and hit the opposite wall of the cell, then crumpled into a silent heap on the floor. Meanwhile, half a dozen more guards stampeded past the broken door of their cell, presumably in pursuit of the mysterious force.
Tony blinked and looked over at Rhodey.
“No, Tony. I know what you’re thinking. And no.”
Tony grinned at him, undaunted. “I think we should go find out what that was.”
“Bad idea.”
The guard on the floor groaned piteously, as if in agreement.
“Might be a fun way off this raft.”
Rhodey just stared at Tony--like he hadn’t heard similar a hundred times before--and sighed again.
#
Finding out what had precipitated their escape was easy. They just followed the trail of smashed walls and injured and unconscious guards, which led them up to the top deck of the mining rig.
It was a large, open space, the cold void of space kept at bay by a shimmering force field dozens of meters above. Amidst the large cargo containers, a lone man was fighting back more of the armored guards with nothing but a piece of scrap metal and a commandeered plasma pistol.
“That’s what broke down the door?” Rhodey asked skeptically. “Maybe we should just try to find a dinghy while they’re distracted.”
One of the guards hit the man with a taser, and his body spasmed, nearly losing his grip on the weapon and the make-shift shield.
“You go,” Tony said. “Come back for us if you can.”
“Tony--” Rhodey protested.
But the innocuous-looking micro-repulsor rig that Tony kept up his sleeve was already unfolding around his wrist. He raised his cuffed hands and took aim at one of the guards in the back. “See you on the other side,” Tony said.
He took out two guards before the others in the squadron realized they were being flanked. The mysterious man realized it at roughly the same time, and used their surprise to take down another guard easily. The remaining two, apparently not liking even odds, backed away. No doubt they’d be back as soon as reinforcements arrived.
“You okay?” Tony called, approaching the man warily, hands still pointed at the retreating guards.
“Nothing that won’t mend.” The man apparently spoke Common, but he had a strange accent that Tony had never heard before. Tony saw him tense. “Heads up, second wave is incoming.”
Tony glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, another squad of armored guards were bearing down on them. He rounded, putting his back up against the stranger’s, and watched as the two cowardly guards crawled back out of the woodwork, surrounding them.
“So with whom do I have the pleasure of fighting side by side?” Tony asked, raising his hand and pointing it at the approaching figures. Just a few more steps and they’d be in range.
“Commander Rogers, of the Howling 55th,” the man replied.
A commander, eh? Tony felt a bit miffed that he was outranked. Navigator Stark didn’t have quite the same ring to it.
He settled for, “I’m Tony, nice to meet you,” as he shot at an important looking module on one of the guard’s helmets.
Unfortunately, the beam of his repulsor was dissipated by an energy shield. That was new. And annoying.
“Please tell me you’ve got two extra bullets in that gun.”
“Actually, I’m out.”
Great.
Tony cast about, the guards advancing quicker now, emboldened. Tony had nearly resigned himself to a fate that ended in the airlock when the deck was rocked wildly by an explosion. The squad on the Commander’s side went down--one fortunate soul was merely singed, the rest didn’t have lady luck on their side. Tony looked up to see a small, sleek metal ship hovering above them.
“Is there still an idiot down there in need of a ride?” asked a voice, distorted over an electronic speaker, but still recognizable.
“Rhodey,” Tony beamed, and motioned for the Commander to stand down. “Knew you’d come through.”
“Well someone has to be the responsible one ,” he replied as a hatch in the ship opened and a ladder lowered.
#
Rhodey fiddled with the controls of the ship, laying in a course before swiveling around in the pilot’s chair. “Run that by me one more time.”
Tony made a small grumpy noise. “This is Commander Rogers.”
“Of the Howling 55th?” Rhodey asked of the imposing blond man, whose dour expression brightened at the question. And hey--no fair. Tony found himself very much wanting to be on the receiving end of the Commander’s ernest smile.
“Just so,” said the Commander.
“But you were lost in the Battle of Rel Fjell.”
“I suppose that would explain waking up in a cell.”
Rhodey looked the man up and down skeptically. “Not really. That battle was fifty years ago.”
The commander frowned. “That’s impossible.”
“Maybe not,” Tony interjected. “That was a mining operation in the middle of an ice field. Maybe they found you--maybe you were frozen.”
The commander looked at him perplexed, and Tony, on impulse, put a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He patted the Commander and then pulled away, looking at their course, which Rhodey had mapped onto a star chart. “You know who we haven’t seen in ages? Pepper. We should go visit Pepper.”
“Who’s Pepper?” the Commander asked.
“An old Captain we used to run with,” said Rhodey.
“She’s been dying to work with us again,” Tony pointed out.
Rhodey snorted. “Me maybe. You…”
Tony ignored this, turning his attention back to the Commander. “You’re welcome to stay on with us. A guy who knows his way around a fight is always handy in a crew. And Pepper is always looking for the best of the best.”
The Commander gave Tony a considerate look, then cast it about the small ship. “Doesn’t seem as if I’ve got much choice till we touch down again.”
“No,” Tony conceded. “But we’ll make sure you feel right at home.”
“Expect teasing,” Rhodey warned with faux disdain.
The Commander smirked. “That I can deal with.”
“Oh, challenge accepted then,” Tony held out one hand and the Commander took it. They shook, and when Tony said, “Glad to have you aboard, Commander,” he meant it, every word. He was really looking forward to solving the mystery of the anachronistic man.
Maybe Tony hadn’t picked the best outpost to raid. But nonetheless, he and Rhodey had definitely made it out of the situation with a rare treasure.