by Ian Cannon
“I want to come.”
She shook her head sympathetically. “Not this time. You belong here for now, in this place. Just for a little while.”
Sireela looked around. The place was big and steel. Her gaze drifted back. She asked, “Are you going to go and fight?”
Her lips tightened. “I’m not going to lie to you, Sireela. There’s going to be a fight.”
The little girl asked with the vaguest fright thinning her voice, “Will you die?”
Tawny said with reassurance, “No. No, I’m not going to die. I’m going to come back for you. I promise.”
“I should go with you.”
Tawny couldn’t help the thought that Sireela spoke from knowledge, not desire. Something fateful directed her words. But she couldn’t take that chance. She put a hand to Sireela’s face and said, “Such a sweet thing. Listen to me. This is my job. I’m supposed to protect you. I will protect you.”
Sireela’s big eyes narrowed. “But you’re a hauler, remember?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re a deliverer.”
That word—deliverer. It struck Tawny with a new, powerful meaning, as if everything she’d ever done had brought her to this point, this day, for a reason. She was a deliverer. But … of what?
She smiled shaking the thought and said, “Well, I’m pretty good at other things, too. You’ll be okay here. This is a good place, just for a while, okay?”
“Uh-huh, okay.” She stepped into Tawny with her narrow, hungry arms wrapped around her. Tawny squeezed her, held her. Releasing her caused a physical pain in her gut. Sireela looked her deep in the eyes, right through her, and said, “You won’t leave me.”
Again, it was more than an observation. It was prophecy.
Tawny took her by the shoulders and said, “Not. Ever.” They hugged one more time. Tawny said, “You go now. I have to go talk to Benji and … that other one.”
Sireela nodded and went back to her friend. Tawny swam in the vision of her momentarily and left, climbing up the ladder toward the upper throes.
When Sireela looked back, her deliverer was gone. All that remained was the gaping cargo door of Gadget’s secondary loading bay, the clear night, the beautiful beach, and way down the shore standing like a tall spire … was REX. He looked so lonely in the night, as if he needed company.
Chapter Fifteen
They were certain Rogan had never played babysitter before, and if asked, Tawny would have suggested he needed a babysitter. But Rogan hadn’t only been their best option; he was their only option. The fact that she was willing to demand, even beg, for his help as she had, gave Ben further evidence of her determination to face off against the Obsalom Order. She seemed obsessed. This situation was cutting her very deeply. Nevertheless, the children were safe, at least they hoped.
That was phase one of their plan. As for phase two …
Yeah—that didn’t exist.
What they needed was information. They had very little. But they had a friend who was chock full of it, and she was very willing to help.
DPM satellites dotted the system. There were literally millions of them placed indiscriminately across the solar twins thatching together the endless web of the data net. Any satellite would do, and all they needed was to come within radio range of one. Within moments, they got iDaisy on the horn.
“The Obsalom ship?” she said. “Yeah—I can tell you what I know, but any information I’ve gleamed was done so not by being a part of their tactical systems, but rather by intercepting reports of the toll of destruction they’ve committed.”
Tawny sighed disheartened. They’d already seen the toll of destruction the Obsalom was capable of. She wanted new information—new info!
“Unfortunately,” iDaisy continued, “most of their attack capabilities so far have been disseminated through various installations of the Imperium military. That information will have no bearing on a direct assault.”
Ben paced through the main hold with his arms crossed. He said, “Let’s just consider their base of operations. I assume that’s the thing we encountered at Requiem.”
“Yes, that’s her vessel, Malice One.”
Ben stopped pacing, looked at Tawny. “Malice One. That’s wonderful. Go on.”
“It’s a vessel of unique design, a one of a kind. I’m not certain of its origins. I believe it came from the Imperium militarization front as a sub-task, meaning its parts were designed at various stations to hide its construction, and pieced together along Dark Space.”
Tawny scrunched her face. “What is Dark Space?”
“It is an unknown area deep in the Imperium. It’s been deemed off limits by planetary security. It has no commerce. I believe that’s where the Obsalom Order plants their base of operation.”
“Do you have the space coordinates?”
“There are no coordinates. It is uncharted. But I can guide REX, if he doesn’t mind.”
A subtle purring noise emitted, REX’s attraction showing.
“We’ll find this Malice One there?” Ben asked.
“Yes.”
Tawny said, “And this … Bitch?”
“Oh yes.”
They looked at each other across the table in silence.
iDaisy said, “I wouldn’t suggest a frontal attack, though.” A pause. “Nor an attack from the rear.” Another pause. “Nor a flanking attack.”
“So, you wouldn’t suggest mounting an attack at all?” Ben asked hopelessly.
“Malice One has two main sections—the forward control stage which houses all operational command, and the space faring city of Aphrodisia at its aft. Both are concealed in plasma bonded, reactive membrane housings for atmospheric and gravitational concealment. Each piece of superstructure is connected by a single, seven mile long stretch of maglev train rail. The lower decks located beneath the city consist of twelve Typhoon Class-VI stellar/interstellar ion propulsion warp engines, and, well, armory, lots of armory.”
Ben dawned an affected look, said, “Uh-huh.”
“The vessel has a moon killer gun, part of which you’ve already witnessed, a number of bulk-light defense batteries, ship-to-ship starburst rocket ports, small armory condensed-light neutralizer decks, defensive tractor shield casters and standard vessel piercing gas projectile howitzer emplacements. Not to mention a full column of Tempest-class fast-attack swarm fighters.”
“Oh, is that all?” Ben said bitterly. He wasn’t sure what a swarm fighter even was.
iDaisy said, “No. There’s also any number of privateer vessels docked at its aft sky frame, some of whom are very loyal to the Obsalom Order. All information I do believe will have bearing on a direct assault—or an assault of any kind.”
“No kidding,” Ben said, and flumped into a chair at the table putting his head in his hands. “That’s more firepower than an armored gun fleet.”
Tawny punched the table with a fist. “How do we get through all that? There has to be a way.”
Ben made a thoughtful face wrinkling his brow, eyes serious. He nodded and said, “I might have an idea about that.” Tawny lifted her head, looked at him. He said, “Do you think your friends are still scouring the Zii Band?”
She squinted. “They put the word out all over the system for us. We’re high profile. It’s not like them to give up the hunt.”
“And you don’t think they tracked us?”
“We’d know if they were tracking us,” She said. “But they’re not going to help us.”
“Help, no,” Ben said. “But I have a feeling they’d chase us anywhere.”
Tawny offered a look of discovery. “Even into Dark Space,” she concluded.
“The Obsalom Order is a hand of the Imperium. Our friends out there searching for us are the Underworld Cabal. They’re sworn enemies.”
“It’ll be a fight,” she warned.
“Yep,” Ben said. “At least we’ll have some firepower.”
“Not enough,” iDaisy said.
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Ben said dismissing the remark, his eyes still on Tawny.
She looked up reading him. A grin etched across her face. It was a good idea. Lure the Cabal into Dark Space, let them take up the fight against the Obsalom Order. It might even work. She had to admit. She nodded her head.
Ben called, “REX, set a course for the Zii Band. Let’s get there fast.”
“Okay, Cap. Tally-ho and stuff … then we get to die. Initiating,” REX grumbled as the ship banked around and boosted off.
REX sped through space at top speed. The inner-warp gyre shown through the viewport as Tawny and Ben sat in the cockpit studying the holomap image display. Their course was laid in, returning them to the Zii Band coordinates they’d limped away from earlier. They were the only blip in their space sector. The whole area was blank, save a few lifeless class-4 outer-rim planets clustered relatively close together at a few hundred thousand miles apart, and the approaching sea of space-born rock and ice still twelve light minutes away.
Ben shook his head disappointed and said, “Nothing yet.” Their long range sensors were scattering powerful broadband light-blossom pings across local space searching for radiation fluctuations in the stellar soup. Such fluctuations often indicated opposing sensors doing the same, looking for someone. If they were still being hunted through radar or light-frequency detection, they’d see it. Of course, REX’s long range sensory was about as dependable as a busted blaster.
Ben leaned back in his chair rubbing his head. He was getting a headache. How had he gotten himself into this mess? They were tangled between two opposing forces, neither of which they were remotely capable of defeating. One was a piece of the solar twin’s war machine. The other was a group so scurrilous he’d always thought they were a nightmarish phantom, a shadow of reality. It was a reflection of the war itself—on one side, the Imperium, the other side, the Cabal. It was no different than the war raging within his own cockpit.
He’d never seen his wife more recklessly determined to square up against an adversary, get into a fight. She’d been more explosive than ever, more irritable, more detached from him than he’d ever seen her. Unfortunately, she’d chosen the one fight he wasn’t sure she could win. And here they were, headed directly toward it.
It made him ponder their Space Rules. This was specifically why they’d devised the list, to avoid this very circumstance. So they would never be in over their heads. All he wanted was to deliver goods, get paid, love Tawny. Simple.
And now?
He grumbled to himself miserably. They were trampling all over Rule One by causing a direct combat situation between two enemy forces. Rule Two, by tracking a Cabal battlefront via long range sensor. Rule Ten, by challenging both of their ideological beliefs, throwing them both into direct conflict with their own respective side of the war. This, of course, was only after stepping all over Rules Three, Four and Five with their involvement in the Menuit-B situation. He groaned miserably feeling as though his marriage had taken a turn he never wanted.
Tawny looked at him and said impatiently, “What is it?”
He glanced over. “What?”
“You’re sitting there grunting,” she observed.
He hadn’t even realized that. “Oh, uh, I’m just thinking, I guess.”
“About what?”
He hesitated for a scant few seconds and said, “Well ...”
“Well what, Benji?” she said presumptuously. She assumed he was having second thoughts, doubting their mission.
He said, “Actually, I was thinking about our rules, hon. And how we’ve seen fit, as of late, to absolutely step all over—”
A proximity warning sounded. They both looked down. They were entering Zii Band space, and three giga-Km to their respective east was a thin circular scattering of light. It pulsed faintly on the map like an expanding circle.
“Uh-oh,” Ben said flipping switches on his panel. “That’s a midrange scan.”
It originated at the Zii Band’s shoreline and spread across the asteroid field breaking apart as it fanned into the ocean of debris. At the center of that scan was the Avian-class battle command vessel with its full compliment of sensory arrays, and all that entailed. The battle group was wandering up and down the outskirts of the band throwing sensory pulses into the debris field, still searching for them. It was a hopeless exercise denoting the Cabal’s desperation to find them, flush them out of hiding.
“Well, at least we know where they’re at,” Tawny said.
Their group leaders were probably getting bored and frustrated. It was time to liven things up.
“REX, calculate how fast—” he thought a second and said, “and how close—we can buzz them while being tracked, without falling under their tractor beams.”
“Or their targeting,” Tawny added.
“Right.”
REX said, “That’s easy. Two-point-one-oh-one max inner-warp at a direct heading of zero-forty at nine degrees on their vertical plane.”
Ben nodded. 2.101 max inner-warp. That sounded pretty good.
“Of course, that’s just a guess,” REX said.
Ben blinked. “A guess?”
“I don’t know what kind of sensory equipment they have. That’s a Cabal sensory ship. Everything’s a big secret with them. These numbers are total averages based on standard operating procedure.”
Ben groaned. This was no standard procedure.
“Plus,” REX said, “avoiding their aforementioned targeting will be a crapshoot. If they decide to gun us with mid or long range condensed light pulses, we can’t outrun their payloads. And at that speed, there’s no evasive maneuvering.”
Tawny said, “They don’t want us dead. They want us alive.”
REX added, “Here’s the plot.”
The map emitted a cube of space representing their location with respect to the Cabal battle group. A gold thread curved up and over Zii Band space making loping adjustments for the vertical change in plane, then committing a cosmic U-turn over the asteroid field nearly half an AU in length, and leading them straight through the Cabal’s position. After that, it trailed long and straight back toward Imperium space. And let the chase begin.
Ben made a big, nervous sigh and looked at Tawny. “Well, there it is.”
She nodded, said, “There it is.”
“If we commit to this, and they actually come after us, there’s no going back. Our next stop will be Dark Space.”
She said coldly, “That’s the idea.”
He looked at her a little hurt. He felt alone in this, as if this was her mission, her fight—and he was merely a taxi service taking her to the fray. They’d always been a team, but her vision had become unusually narrow. She didn’t seem interested in his opinion on the matter. It was N’halo, or nothing. He nodded giving her an accusatory look and turned around. “We’re met and set, REX.” He paused and said with a note of finality, “Let’s run the gauntlet. Burn.”
Not an hour later, REX reported, “Coming up on our old friends, you guys.”
Ben slid into the pilot’s chair scanning quickly over his sensor screens, then the 3-D holomap display. “Bring us in tight,” he said.
The map zoomed up. Sensors were reading individual vessels. The signals were fluttery from residual breakup from the Zii Band, but they were clear enough to get a sensory visual of the battle group. Fifteen primary vessels: The mother ship, a dozen battle-ready corvettes, the sensory vessel and the transport carrier. Gods only knew how many fighters, bombers and fast attack ships that thing had tucked away in its bays. He hoped a thousand.
Let it be enough …
“They’re scanning,” REX said.
“Yep—figured they would,” Ben responded initiating an overhead series of switches.
“Picking up comm scatter,” REX said.
“Can you make it out?”
“No, but there’s a lot.”
Ben nodded knowingly. “They’re ordering a group wide deployment. They
see us.” He manipulated his touch-pad controls boosting the signal. He was reading their group communications at the speed of light as their light-blossom pings bounced information back and forth. It didn’t work. Still too much interference. He growled. “What about targeting?”
“No, just tracking.”
“Perfect!” he punched the inner-ship comm, said, “Tawny, they’re taking the bait.”
Her voice came back flat and even. “Copy.”
There was nothing left to do now but watch as they neared at two-max inner-warp—only about a hundred and thirty five million miles an hour, one-fifth the speed of light. And just like that, according to the map readout, they passed by—vwoosh! The Cabal became a grouping of blips falling behind in space.
Ben watched with hungry eyes as the signal began stretching with distance. “Come on,” he said, waiting, breath held. “Come on, take the bait. You’re a bunch of blood-thirsty mongrels, take the bait!”
The signals began deploying one at a time, entering inner-warp very rapidly, all of them in pursuit.
“They’re following!” REX called.
Ben let out a big sigh and slumped back in his chair. “Thank gods …” They had help against Malice 1 now. Reluctant help. Unsuspecting help. Cabal help. But help nonetheless.
Their next stop was Dark Space. And combat. And shooting. And killing. Oh, and screaming too. And panicking. And all that jazz.
Wonderful …
Chapter Sixteen
Tawny initiated her pre-prep checklist. The Corps-X bio-suit’s operations were optimal, a few recent rips in the vacuum weave having been mended by the suit’s self-employed mol bot servicing. They’d worked invisibly to re-stitch whatever broken fibers there had been. She slipped it on and folded the rigid body harness around her upper torso and shoulders, and flipped the exoskeleton readout feature, connecting its internal computer system to the big armored battle-mech exo suit still sitting on its crane.
She swung the Titan-Y1 dura-armor exo frame over on its hydraulic crane arm, standing it before her. It was a bulky, full-body combat shell, its fully driver-sustaining hydro/electro/intellect-connect mechanism now connected wirelessly to her harness giving her full auto and remote control of the suit.
