The Col Sec Chronicles Box Set

by Jan Domagala

  “But you said we should hide out until help arrives.”

  “I also said remote because it is. This is a Forbidden Zone governed by a treaty between the Confederation and the Alliance, to send help would further violate that treaty. You put us all at risk by bringing us here. If we survive this then we all face charges of treaty violation. Either way we’re screwed sir. I also think because of whom you are will work in our favour. I don’t think they can afford not to send help whatever the cost to the treaty and until that help arrives, in whatever form, I will do my job sir. Now let’s move.”

  Feeling slightly better about their situation, Prince Aswan followed Natasha toward the exit.

  5

  Before leaving the bridge, Kurt had told the captain to order the evacuation of the ship. Get everyone to the lifeboats and head toward the planets on the edge of the system and try to find somewhere to hide, was his suggestion.

  His conscience would not allow him to just abandon everyone and leave them to their own devices, however strong the temptation. The fact of the matter was, they were all in danger due to one man’s selfishness and another’s greed. There were other innocent lives on board who didn’t deserve what was about to happen to them. It was these who he was going to help or at least as many of them as he possibly could.

  As he headed away from the bridge, he saw a security officer herding a group of passengers down the corridor towards an elevator.

  “How many passengers are left and have they all been contacted?” he asked, as they got closer to him.

  “I don’t know exactly how many sir, but everyone has been contacted personally via the ship’s computer. Prince Aswan and his party were up front in the Observation Lounge. His security detachment will see to their evacuation, we’re under orders to leave his security details to them,” replied the officer, his fear evident on his face.

  “I’ll go check on them, I want to have a chat with him anyway,” Kurt said angrily.

  “Good luck sir,” said the security officer who then rushed off with his group.

  “And you,” Kurt replied. Quickly he accessed the passenger manifest on the computer to see how many were on board. Out of a possible two hundred and fifty passengers there was only one hundred including himself. The Queen had a crew compliment of almost three hundred. Because the flight had been a special charter and the passenger list had been reduced, over half the ancillary staff, such as waiters and stewards, had been granted extended shore leave. This extra expense was added to the Prince’s bill. That still meant there was over one hundred and twenty crewmembers on board and the passengers meant almost two hundred and thirty lives were in mortal peril. The security staff was woefully thin on the ground for the size of the craft and Kurt doubted they would be of any help at all regarding either the evacuation or the protection of the Queen.

  Therefore, it seemed the protection of the passengers would be up to him alone. The security detail guarding the Prince would concentrate their efforts around him, so he could not rely on their help either.

  Now there was not a great deal he could do to safe guard the passengers except hope they managed to get to the lifeboats in time. Once he had exited the Queen himself, he would attempt to co-ordinate some sort of escape and evade plan for them all but first he wanted to see if he could enlist the aid of the Diplomatic Corp Security unit guarding the Prince. Not holding out much hope he had to try anyway and it may give him the opportunity to give the damn fool a piece of his mind.

  Suddenly an automated alarm rang throughout the ship as an androgynous voice told them of an intruder.

  The attack craft had gained access somehow to the docking bays. How they had overridden the docking codes Kurt was unsure? They possibly used a universal override code but one thing he did know and that was the Outlaws would soon be teeming through the huge ship.

  Their time had just run out.

  6

  Leaving the Observation Lounge behind them, Natasha and the prince made their way down the corridor toward where she had arranged to meet with Will Tate. He was her second in command, and she hoped, the other four members of her team had rounded up all the members of the prince’s entourage.

  There were more than enough lifeboats for them, considering there was but a fraction of the maximum load on board, so there were no worries about that. What did worry her though, was the ‘Intruder Alert’ alarm that raged throughout the craft. She did begin to think they might not reach the lifeboats in time.

  The lifeboats were arranged laterally around the centre decks of the ship for easy access from all decks. Each lifeboat was capable of carrying fifty passengers with supplies to last until it reached a safe haven or was rescued. Of course a safe haven would mean somewhere along the flight paths that cruise ships and freighters usually adhered. This time they were far from the beaten track so they would have to make, those supplies last as long as possible.

  “Tate, get your people to the nearest lifeboat, don’t wait for me, I’ll look after the Prince. We can rendezvous somewhere once we’re off this ship,” Natasha said through a com channel. There was no time for them to meet so she had to go it alone with the prince.

  “Will do, hurry Nat, this doesn’t look good. Keep your head down and I’ll see you soon,” Tate replied.

  Tate was a good man and she felt confident those people were in safe hands. Now it was up to her to do the same for the prince.

  “Hurry up sir, we have to get down three more decks to reach the lifeboats,” she said, hoping to urge him on. Glancing at him, she noticed his eyes were wide with fear. His breathing was rapid and his face flushed and she realised he would need little urging.

  As the two of them rounded a corner, they heard a scream so terrible it brought them both up short. Standing before them was a man dressed in battle gear, old and abused, a mishmash of styles obviously taken from the dead soldiers who fought and died so long ago in this area. On his head was a battle helmet. The visor was down but it had a gaping hole through which they could see his wild, staring eyes, alive with a savage blood lust.

  Pressed against him he held a terrified young woman, her back to his front and against her throat was a bladed weapon of some kind, and he was about to use it. The scream had been from her.

  Natasha locked eyes with the Outlaw and he stared back at her as he slowly drew the rough blade across the female passenger’s throat.

  Blood sprayed forward as the carotid artery was severed and the Outlaw released his hold on her allowing her to fall lifelessly to the floor.

  With his eyes still locked on Natasha, the Outlaw stepped over the woman’s prone form at his feet and began to walk down the corridor toward them picking up his pace with every step. His lips parted baring blackened and broken teeth as he screamed a guttural battle cry at her, hoping to terrify her into total inactivity.

  Instead, Natasha calmly brought up her Sig P996 and shot him between the eyes.

  The pulsed plasma bolt snapped his head back so viciously that because he was running forward at full tilt, his neck snapped as he was stopped, literally, dead in his tracks.

  Once he was out of their line of sight, they could see several other Outlaws similarly dressed and armed, who had butchered a group of passengers on their way to the lifeboats. The gunshot alerted them to their presence and Natasha felt a chill run through her blood as they all looked at her and headed their way.

  “Oh shit!” she exclaimed.

  7

  Kurt heard the screams ahead, just around the approaching corner in the corridor and when he heard the gunshot, unmistakably a Sig P996, he quickened his pace.

  As he came around the corner, he drew his own Sig P996 and pulled back on the slide to prime the weapon. Facing him he saw a group of Outlaws all armed with a variety of make shift weapons. At their feet were a group of dead bodies, passengers butchered by them as they tried to escape. Blood pooled beneath the pile of bodies from their horrific wounds. It appeared as if they’d literally been ha
cked to death.

  All the Outlaws were facing away from him, their attention focussed on something at the opposite end of the corridor. They started to move off in that direction and through the mass of bodies, Kurt caught a glimpse of who was the focus of their attention. A young woman and Prince Aswan, she obviously belonged to the Diplomatic Corp Security unit guarding the prince, as she held a Sig P996 aimed at the Outlaws. It was her shot he had heard, probably killing one of the Outlaws, bringing the wrath of his friends down on the two of them. They planned to make her pay for her deed.

  He would not let that happen.

  Hoping to end this quickly, he began firing as he moved forward so he could help the prince and his guard safely evacuate the ship.

  Three Outlaws went down, from rapidly fired pulsed plasma bolts, before they even realised they were under attack. Kurt killed another two as they were deciding what to do, and then another three as they turned to try to defend themselves.

  The last group of five split up; three carrying on toward Natasha while the remaining two attacked Kurt.

  These two were within arms reach of Kurt and attacked him with their bladed weapons, one that resembled a battle-axe while the other looked like a long sword.

  Kurt dodged the sword aimed to slice his head from his shoulders by ducking beneath the swing, and caught sight at the very last second, of the battle-axe whistling through the air aimed at the top of his head.

  Blocking the shaft of the axe with his left forearm, he grabbed the tip of the axe and brought it down to block another swing from the sword. Pushing it away from him he twisted the axe away from the Outlaw holding it, and buried the blade into the neck of the sword wielder almost severing his head completely, the axe still imbedded in his neck. Arterial blood sprayed the walls of the corridor as the Outlaw fell to the floor, dead. Kurt spun to face the remaining Outlaw now unarmed, brought up his Sig and shot him point blank, right between the eyes. The look of surprise on his face lasted less than a second and disappeared along with the back of his skull as his blood painted the wall behind him.

  Turning to face Natasha, he took aim.

  The three Outlaws who attacked her and the Prince were almost on them. As she fired her Sig killing first one then another, the third crashed into her ramming her against the wall before she had time to readjust her aim.

  Straining to keep her attacker’s crude knife from being thrust into her neck or shoulder, she glanced at the prince hoping for a helping hand and got a terrified stare instead, as he cowered against the opposite wall.

  Suddenly the Outlaws head exploded spraying her face with his blood before falling limply to the floor at her feet.

  As she watched the lifeless body sink to the floor, she wondered what had just happened. Bringing her eyes up from the prone form below, she saw all the bodies littering the corridor and she knew she had not killed all of them and certainly not the one at her feet. Then she saw the man standing there, a certain confidence to him. His blonde hair was unruly and along with the goatee, he had a slight piratical appearance, which she found herself thinking, suited him.

  His amazing cobalt blue eyes were staring at her with relief and she realised, he had just saved her life.

  “Who are you?” she asked slightly out of breath still.

  “I’m Kurt Stryder. Come with me if you want to live,” he said calmly yet urgently.

  8

  The prince recognised Kurt immediately from their first encounter, this time though he was truly relieved to see him.

  “We should go with him,” he urged, Natasha though intrigued was reluctant, after all she knew nothing about him and the safety of the prince was her priority. She may not have known anything about him, somehow she felt safe just looking into those cobalt blue eyes, and then she reminded herself of the one thing she did know about him, he had just saved her life.

  If he had wanted to impress her, that was a good start.

  “Proper introductions will have to wait, I’m Natasha Garvey and this is....” she began.

  “I know who this is,” Kurt interrupted adding, “This is the fool who got us into this mess.”

  “I’m a royal prince of the....” Aswan began.

  “You’re a jackass, and if I had time I’d kick your royal ass from one end of this ship to the other,” Kurt replied cutting off Aswan’s tirade.

  “I will not be spoken to like that.”

  In the blink of an eye Kurt moved to stand in front of the prince who he slapped across the face, an insult in any language.

  “You may have just got us all killed. These Outlaws, do not take prisoners, they slaughter them for fun. Now we have a slim chance of getting out of here with our skins intact. I’ll say again, if you want to live, come with me,” he said.

  Aswan’s eyes blazed in fury at the man who had the gall to slap him as if he was a common whore but fear of this man prevented him retaliating, he simply nodded his head.

  “If you do that again, you and I will have a problem,” Natasha said as she regained a little of her composure after the startling speed Kurt had just displayed.

  Turning to look at her, he studied her for the first time storing all her physical details in his prodigious memory before answering. Her long dark hair was pulled back from her forehead and tied off at the back of her head in a plait. Dark brown eyes, large and expressive, sparked anger at him and something else too, intrigue perhaps. She had an athletic figure but not lean and hard, she had retained her womanly curves in a balance that said she not only could kick your ass but also, would look sexy doing it.

  She reminded him somewhat of Zara Hardy, not in appearance, as Zara was the colour of chocolate whereas Natasha had olive skin tones. No, it was more the way she carried herself, they both had the same grace of movement.

  Smiling mischievously he said, “That might be fun, but let’s leave it ‘til later, right now we have to move.”

  She was not expecting that answer, and despite her anger at him, and everything else that was happening around them, she found herself smiling back.

  “Are you going to allow him to treat me that way?” Aswan said angrily, yet still somehow hesitatingly, for fear of what Kurt might yet do.

  “With respect sir, he’s right,” she replied without taking her eyes off Kurt, then to him said, “Right, let’s go.”

  9

  Leaving behind the pile of bodies, the trio moved off down the corridor following Kurt’s lead

  “Are you sure we’re heading in the right direction?” Natasha asked.

  “Trust me, I know every inch of this ship. I’ve studied her schematics and besides she’s based on the Legend which was the first of the Long Range Light Battle Cruiser class, so if you take away all the weapons systems the two starships are relatively the same,” Kurt replied.

  “You’re military aren’t you?”

  “I was.”

  “Which outfit?”

  “Recon Delta.”

  “That explains a lot.”

  “Such as?”

  “Your take charge attitude, the way you took out those Outlaws, everything about you really. I’ve heard Recon Delta were real bad asses, now I know why.”

  “Around this next bend is the elevator that’ll take us to the lifeboat level. I can’t guarantee there won’t be any Outlaws at the elevator or down on the level we need, so there’s one thing to remember. Shoot on sight and shoot to kill. If we get separated get to the nearest lifeboat and get the hell away from here, is that understood?”

  Natasha nodded her head in agreement then asked, “What chance of survival do we have, I mean, seriously?”

  “Seriously I don’t know,” Kurt replied then seeing hope begin to fade from her eyes, added, “What I can tell you is, I’ve contacted General Sinclair, my old boss, don’t ask how just trust me. If there’s any chance of a rescue, he’ll move entire solar systems to make it happen.”

  “Trust you? I don’t even know you,” Natasha said guardedly.

/>   “Don’t worry, you will. I tend to grow on people,” Kurt replied then set off for the bend in the corridor.

  “What, like a wart you mean, or maybe a fungus?” she joked as she followed him leaving Aswan perplexed.

  “We’re about to die and you make jokes?” he muttered and then made sure he was close behind Natasha as she neared the bend.

  Kurt went around the bend and almost walked into a group of seven Outlaws. He had heard them some time ago; the serum also, had enhanced his hearing. The warning to Natasha to shoot on sight had been to prepare her. He was still trying to keep anyone from guessing about all of his enhancements.

  The surprised look on the lead Outlaw’s face soon disappeared when Kurt shot him at point blank range. The pulsed plasma bolt blasted a hole out of the back of his head spraying blood and gore over his fellow Outlaws following behind.

  Before any of them had time to react, Kurt had shot two more putting the four remaining in a state of confusion.

  Rushing forward toward them, Kurt placed the muzzle of his Sig against the forehead of the nearest Outlaw and fired, then brought it across to the next one only to have it blocked by a crude battle-axe before he could fire.

  The axe wielder blocked the pistol then brought the axe blade back swinging it one handed hoping to split open Kurt’s stomach. Kurt stepped back out of range then shot the man anyway. The bolt sent the Outlaw crashing into the corridor wall to paint his blood over it upon impact.

  A sharpened staff crashed against the top of Kurt’s Sig sending it spinning out of his hand and he found himself suddenly unarmed and facing the two remaining angry Outlaws out for his blood.

  The staff was thrust at his stomach as the Outlaw holding it tried to impale him. Kurt sidestepped then closed the gap and punched him squarely in the face.

  The blow staggered the Outlaw and Kurt wrenched the staff from his grasp and spinning it in his right hand above his head, he brought it down to strike the last Outlaw to his right, across the side of his head sending him crashing against the wall.