by Jan Domagala
“Aye, sir,” replied the captain who relayed the order to ops. Turning back to Wilde he said, “Sir, you know as well as I do, Confederation policy is not to negotiate with terrorists, whoever is involved. The most we can hope for is a little time if, and I stress if, they wish to verify his presence on board.”
“And in that time we make our jump to hyperspace,” Wilde replied more calmly now as he knew he had the upper hand once more.
“But what if they don’t bother to verify his presence and simply consider him a casualty of war?”
“In that case the three captains will have to confer with whoever is in command now. My guess is they’ll have to contact President Takagi, considering how we just decimated Confederation Headquarters, so either way they’ll hesitate and that hesitation will give us the opportunity to make the jump.”
“I see, sir,” replied the captain, smiling as he saw the simplicity of it. “I’ll have the co-ordinates set and ready to go on your command but I’m afraid that when we open the hyperspace window, being so close to those cruisers, we may drag one of them along with us, sir,” he added thoughtfully, working out the calculations required.
“I’m not worried about one cruiser, Captain, I’m sure we can take care of that should the need arise.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Have Sinclair brought up to the bridge, I want him to witness our victory,” Wilde said finally.
* * * * *
As the troop carrier entered the docking bay the automated docking codes authorised her to land on a specific pad. Once down, clamps engaged from the pad to hold the craft in place securely whilst the pad was raised up to one of the twelve levels where she would be stored until required.
Once on this level the hydraulic ramp disengaged to allow the pad to be moved along to its allotted storage position along the side of the docking bay where the rest of the craft were stored, leaving the centre section free for incoming or outgoing traffic. The hydraulic ramp returned to the base of the bay where another pad would slide into place. Once the craft was secured in position against the side of the bay by clamps, gantries slid into place to enable the crew to debark.
Rygar and the eight remaining Rover5s debarked along with Sinclair, Hawk and Tanya.
“Your presence is required on the bridge General, you’re coming too Miss Wilde, I’m sure your father will be pleased to see you,” Rygar said. Speaking to the eight Rover5s he added, “You two stay here with him, the rest you’re with me. Make sure he gives you no trouble. I’ll be back shortly to take care of him personally.”
Hawk locked eyes with Tanya as she was about to be taken away and he smiled to reassure her that everything would be fine. Then she and Sinclair were gone, being herded along the balcony that ran along the side of the level where they were standing.
The entire docking bay was fully automated which meant that Hawk and the two Rover5s were left alone. This suited Hawk for it would be easier to escape if he only had the two clones present to contend with before he tackled the real task at hand, Tanis Rygar.
Putting his aches and pains to one side he steeled himself for what he had to do, which was to get the better of two heavily armed clones in close quarter combat. He’d had problems with the Rover5 back at the mall on Cordoba and he’d been up against just the one there, now he had two to face. Taking solace from the fact he had faced one before, knew its strengths and weaknesses and therefore was in a better position than last time, he prepared for the brutal battle.
Rygar led the other group to the end of the balcony then into a large elevator with a clearplas door that closed once they were inside. It took them up to the top where they got out and headed towards the bridge, Hawk supposed, because once the elevator reached the top he lost sight of them.
Hawk decided it was time to make his move; it was now or never.
They were all standing roughly on the same spot where Rygar had left them, having disembarked the C230. The clones were vigilant and watched Hawk all the time. If he were ever going to make this work he would have to divert their attention somehow. As it was, the second he moved they would have him and it would be all over.
“You two are exceptionally alert,” he said as he had an idea. “Is that built into your genetic makeup or is it something your father added later? He is your father, Jonas Wilde, well sort of. He is the one who bio-engineered you into what you are; he’s the one who set the parameters for the education programme that you absorbed while you were growing in your vat or tube or your mix. Was obedience added, you know, the ability to blindly follow orders?” As he was speaking he was looking at them, first one then the other, he accentuated the dialogue with hand gestures and also slight body movements as he began to creep ever so slightly forward, towards them.
“What I mean is, do you follow orders to the letter? Your boss said to keep me here and that he would deal with me personally. Now, if I tried to escape, obviously you’d try to stop me but, and here’s the question, would you shoot me or would you just knock me down. Don’t forget, your boss will be back and he’s expecting to see me alive,” Hawk said smiling at the clones, and then it happened, they glanced at each other and the second they averted their eyes Hawk moved.
Slamming into the two of them he knocked their assault rifles down so they pointed towards the floor with his left arm while he snatched a Sig P996 from the shoulder holster of the one to his right. Regaining their composure remarkably fast they pushed Hawk from them and their combined strength sent him flailing backwards to collide with the railing that bordered the balcony. Glancing down over his shoulder he noticed they were a hundred and fifty odd feet from the bottom of the docking bay, a hell of a drop should any of them go over the railing.
His attention was brought back to the task at hand when he realised the clones were advancing on him and in that instant he knew he had his answer. They would try to subdue him and keep him alive for their boss, which gave him the advantage of having no such constraints.
Before he could move though they were upon him, pushing him against the railing and bending him backwards with such force he thought his back would break at any moment.
Both his arms were held, and when they thought they had control of the situation they pulled him away from the railing.
Hawk knew what they wanted to do, force his arms up his back and fasten his wrists together with zip cuffs.
As they brought him off the railing there was a split second when the clone passed Hawk’s hand across his own body prior to forcing it around Hawk’s back to apply the zip cuffs, but in that split second he forgot one tiny detail. That was the hand holding the Sig.
Hawk shot him point blank three times in rapid succession, the shots striking almost as one. The salvo smashed into the clone shredding his chest cavity in a virtual explosion of blood and gore, the force of which threw him across the balcony. The second clone was shocked by the turnaround of fortunes and in the microsecond it took for his brain to register, Hawk had brought the Sig around and shot him right between the eyes blowing his brain apart in a mist of blood.
The clone’s head was snapped backwards so violently it sent him staggering across the balcony a few steps, his arms cart- wheeling as he frantically tried to regain his balance before dropping down to the floor below, dead.
Keying his ear bug Hawk said, “General Sinclair, hold tight, sir, I’m on my way.”
“What’s the matter with those fools?” Wilde asked angrily as he stared at the viewscreen displaying composite views from around the huge battle carrier. “Has the message been sent? Did they receive it?” he asked as he and everyone else on the bridge watched the three cruisers continue their attack with no sign of it abating. “Are they really willing to risk the life of their leader so readily?” he pondered when a voice answered from the doorway.
“Simple answer, yes.”
Wilde turned to face who had spoken, recognising the voice immediately, “Ah General Sinclair, so glad you made it,” he said smi
ling like a genial host greeting an honoured guest.
“How could I refuse such a gracious invitation,” replied Sinclair in the same vein.
“Father, what have you done?” Tanya asked, both angry and bewildered at his actions of late.
“I have garnered my revenge against the thing that ruined my life, Col Sec and the architect of it all, General Sinclair. How does it feel, General, to watch everything you’ve worked for destroyed before your very eyes?” gloated Wilde, his eyes alight with his madness.
“What you destroyed here today can be rebuilt, that’s not going to stop us Jonas, but you will pay for the lives lost here today, you have my word on that.”
“Oh I don’t think so, you have no idea of the scope of what I’ve done, what I’ve achieved, but you will, in time, if you live long enough,” Wilde said with the supreme confidence borne from insanity. He turned to the captain and said, “Make the jump.”
Before the order could be relayed to the pilot, ops shouted, “We’ve just lost secondary shields.”
The captain turned from ops to rush over to the pilot when the huge ship was rocked by a series of shuddering explosions that were felt rather than heard throughout the massive carrier.
Everyone on the bridge was knocked off their feet and went sprawling across the floor. General Sinclair shielded Tanya from harm, holding and keeping her close to him.
“Sir, the main drive is offline, that last salvo must’ve taken out the engines, we’re not jumping anywhere,” said ops once he’d regained his feet.
“The only option now is to give yourself up.” Sinclair said, “Surrender now and save any further bloodshed.”
Wilde got to his feet and said to the captain, “Get some sort of propulsion online, we need to get away. Prepare to receive borders, they’ll try to take the ship by force and I won’t allow that.” Grabbing a Sig from one of the clones he turned to Sinclair and Tanya, aimed at them and said, “You’re coming with me.”
He herded them towards the door once more then, to Rygar said, “Organise the troops Tanis, kill anyone who gets on board,” and before Rygar could respond the three of them had left.
Pretending to scratch his ear Sinclair keyed his ear bug then said, “Give it up Jonas, the main propulsion is offline, your shields are depleted and any minute now you’ll have troops coming aboard, what will you do then? Do you really think that holding me as your hostage will prevent them taking this ship or if they can’t take it, blowing it out of space?”
Wilde stared at his old commander and said, “They won’t do anything while you’re on board.”
“That’s where you’re wrong Jonas. I’ve already given orders that if this ship can’t be taken it’s to be destroyed with everyone on board, no matter who that may be.”
A voice came into Sinclair’s ear, “I hear you loud and clear General but it won’t come to that, we’re gathering to launch a counter strike as we speak. Just hold tight, sir, we’ll be there soon,” Colonel De Boer said.
“And did your men understand your order?” Wilde asked.
“Loud and clear, there was no misunderstanding of that, you can be sure,” Sinclair replied, then changing tack asked, “What about your own daughter Jonas, don’t you want her to be safe?”
Wilde glanced at her with no more affection than a shark shows for it’s next meal.
“She’ll get to see her father’s crowning achievement before she dies,” he said and then urged them forward with a wave of the pistol.
“I’m sorry my dear, I hoped at least to procure your safety,” Sinclair said as they moved forward.
“At least I know where I stand with him,” she replied, holding back her tears.
Leaning close to her he whispered, “Don’t give up hope just yet my dear, we’re not dead yet and I’ve great faith in the Colonel and Matt, neither of them will let us down, you mark my words.”
Tanya gave him a half smile in reply and she hoped that the general’s faith was well founded for at that moment she couldn’t see a way out of this.
* * * * *
Colonel De Boer had taken command of the troops that had arrived from Fort Bragg and had them organised back inside the troop carriers heading for the Nemesis in orbit around Earth.
The huge carrier was motionless, hanging in space with her engines offline and her shields down, leaving her vulnerable to attack.
De Boer watched as the three cruisers slowly circled her like a pack of wild dogs surrounding their prey, waiting for just the right moment to strike.
Small explosions erupted along the flanks of the great ship, the result of her battle with the smaller craft, and De Boer couldn’t help but feel sadness for her, to be reduced to this by such a dishonourable act rather that what she had been intended for, defending the Confederation. Putting those thoughts aside he looked for an available docking bay and once he had located one ordered both pilots to enter.
On approach he had contacted the captains of the attacking cruisers to inform them of the situation on board the Nemesis and of his intentions. He instructed them to destroy her after thirty minutes unless they heard from either himself, General Sinclair or Matt Hawk to the contrary. His mission would be a search and rescue one, to locate General Sinclair and Matt Hawk and bring them to safety. Their specialised knowledge of the workings and infrastructure of Col Sec was too important to be allowed to fall into enemy hands. Their secondary mission would be to capture the Nemesis, but if that proved to be impracticable or impossible, they were to destroy her.
Finally he contacted Captain Jefferson on the Valkyrie who had been watching the battle from a distance with mounting frustration at his inability to render assistance.
“We’ll be ready, Colonel,” Jefferson said once De Boer had relayed his plan to him.
Confident he had done everything he could at such short notice to secure the success of the mission, De Boer gave the command to enter the Nemesis’ docking bay.
24
Hawk followed the route he’d seen Sinclair and Tanya being taken on to the bridge, but once he reached the level where he lost sight of them he was at a loss to know where they could be. Sure, he had a knowledge of the ships of the fleet and roughly where main sections were, such as the bridge or engineering, but if, as he suspected, Jonas Wilde had left the bridge with his prisoners they could be en route to anywhere on the massive ship and he was running out of time.
Keying his ear bug he said, “General Sinclair, have you any idea where you and Tanya are?”
Sinclair and Tanya Wilde were being herded towards one of the elevators when Hawk made contact.
“Where are you taking us Jonas, I know this is a big ship but eventually the troops will find us. There is nowhere on board you can hide, you know that, don’t you?” Sinclair said in answer.
“Do you honestly think I haven’t planned for this General?” Wilde said with a sneer of derision.
“You’re taking us off the ship,” Sinclair said when it dawned on him what Wilde intended. “Well it’s true what sailors used to say about rats and sinking ships, it works in space too, eh Jonas?” he added.
“Thanks General, now if you can get him to divulge which docking bay he intends on using, I can head you all off,” Hawk said hopefully.
“I suppose you have a special shuttle already picked out for this, one that your troops know nothing about. I mean how would they feel about their illustrious leader if they knew he was leaving them to their fate at the mercy of Recon Delta marines whilst he escaped in luxury?” Sinclair said, hoping to draw the answer out of Wilde for Hawk.
“You are so right, General, if I had time to staff this ship with my Rover5s it wouldn’t be a problem, total obedience you see, but seeing as the crew are humans I had to take precautions. I secreted a transport with hyperdrive in a docking bay that wasn’t being used. It has a limited range but is sufficient to take us to where I want to go,” Wilde replied smugly.
“And your crew bought that, never questioned
it?”
“No, I told them it was still under construction. Believe me General there are many systems on here that are not quite up to spec, such as backup generators for the shields. If we had time to outfit her fully there would’ve been no way your cruisers could inflict the damage they did.”
“Thank God your impatience got the better of you then,” Sinclair said more to himself than to anyone else.
“Thanks, General, I think I know where he’s taking you,” Hawk said. Using his NI he accessed the computer and asked for the ship’s schematics, specifically docking bays. There were four with only one not being used, and when he had the location of the fourth he logged out saying, “Got you now, Jonas,” and he set off for the nearest elevator.
* * * * *
Tanis Rygar left the bridge along with the six Rover5s. He called the rest of the Rover5 contingent, numbering close to a hundred, on board and ordered them to defend the docking bay when the incoming troop carriers arrived. The other six Rover5s who had followed him from the bridge were ordered to rendezvous with their brothers.
Seeing the clones march off to do battle brought a wry smile to his face as he wondered if using clones like that would be the future of warfare.
Putting that thought away to concentrate on more important matters, he headed towards where he’d left Hawk. There were two things he had to do; first, take care of Hawk and second, get off the Nemesis. It was blatantly obvious that Wilde had deserted them the moment the Nemesis was crippled and Wilde was a fool if he didn’t realise he saw through his little subterfuge. So if the great man didn’t rate their chances of survival as being too high, then escaping had to be a priority. He would make it the first and only thing on his “to do” list if professional pride, need for revenge, whatever you wanted to call it hadn’t got in the way of logic. Hawk had eluded him in the chamber and once again in the shuttle in the skies of Cordoba, he was not going to let him escape a third time. Once he saw him lying at his feet, dead, then and only then could he even think about leaving.
