Terminus Rising

by T. R. Harris

  The pair began to hobble toward the closest Cartel starship. The vessel was a gangly looking thing; an older passenger hauler with half a dozen gun turrets welded to the hull in no particular order. It flew, and it was armed, making it a typical Gradis Cartel warcraft.

  The side hatch opened as five Cartel soldiers in environment suits left the ship and made their way to the entrance to the base. Sherri and Tidus moved up against the hull. The Juirean let out a moan as he soaked in the residual warmth the hull held from the landing. It was just what he needed.

  Sherri used her ATD to scan the interior of the ship. She detected over a hundred flash battery sources, but only six were moving, the rest being weapons stored in the armory. She methodically worked through each device, severing the firing circuits.

  She looked up at the Juirean’s thin face through the oxygen mask. The greenish tint had returned.

  “Are you ready? Their weapons have been disabled, but once we get a couple of them, I’ll get ours working again. There are six of them, two on the bridge, and the other four amidships.”

  “Amidships?”

  “Sorry. At the middle of the ship, right inside the airlock. Let’s go.”

  The hatch opened easily, but they still had an airlock to cycle through. Sherri watched the energy signatures with her ATD, seeing if anyone was taking notice. Two of them did. They were in the dressing room outside the lock, curious as who was inside. When the door opened, they got the shock of their lives.

  A Juirean and a Human walk into a bar…. Sherri didn’t have time to finish the joke before the Cartel troops reacted. Weapons were drawn and targeting computers engaged. Sherri and Tidus didn’t wait for the customary moment of discovery when their opponents realized their weapons didn’t work. Instead, they pounced on the soldiers, Tidus’s towering figure leveling one of the aliens while Sherri used her Human strength to crush the larynx of another. They scooped up the MKs while Sherri mentally reattached the firing circuits.

  Forty-five seconds later, the ship was theirs, with six dead Cartel members stinking up the place.

  “Toss them outside,” Sherri said to Tidus. “I’m going to the bridge. I’ve been itching all day to shoot a starship from ground level, and there just happens to be one sitting a couple of hundred yards away. It’s not the Arya, but it will have to do.”

  She activated her ATD.

  Adam! I need to give you an update. You’re not going to like it.

  8

  …within the Aris base

  Sherri was right; Adam didn’t like it, not at all. In fact, it made him sick. Not only was the Arya gone—taken by Te’moc—but the Sansa had been destroyed, taking away their only means of getting back to the Aris and the mutants to warn them of Te’moc.

  And to top that off, they were lost within the maze of the Aris station. They hadn’t seen any of the Cartel for several minutes, and what survivors there were must have dropped their broken weapons before leaving the base. He couldn’t even use the signals as a way to guide them out.

  But then he noticed one lone weapon nearby that was moving. The bolt launcher wouldn’t work, but the powerpack was still charged. And it was coming toward the team.

  “Get ready,” he said to the others. “Someone’s coming. Don’t kill him. We need him to find a way out of here.”

  Summer clung close to the much taller alien, following him through a myriad of identical-looking concrete corridors. She had no sense of direction but assumed TeraDon must be leading them to the exit. But from the number of workrooms and huge energy modules they passed, it didn’t seem like it. The place was getting more complex the farther they went.

  “Freeze!” said a voice in English.

  TeraDon placed a long arm against her, using his body to push her behind. His MK was in its holster, but he held the stiletto at arms-length out in front of him. She struggled to look around the huge body. She was sure she’d heard a Human voice.

  Peeking through TeraDon’s armpit, she recognized the dark face and hair of Riyad Tarazi. Relief flooded her emotions. She pushed past TeraDon, rushing into Riyad’s arms, his eyes wide and bright from surprise, even shock. Tears flowed from Summer’s eyes as she swamped the man in a powerful bear hug.

  “I am so sorry! She lied to me!”

  “It’s okay, really,” Riyad said, patting her on the back, his M-101 pressed between them, the bolt latch poking painfully into his chest. “What are you doing here?”

  She broke away, seeing Copernicus with his rifle locked on TeraDon. She moved in front of the alien.

  “It’s okay; he saved me. Te’moc ordered him to kill me, but he could do it.”

  “Is J’nae still inside you?” Copernicus asked.

  “Yes, but she’s under control—I think.”

  There was a disturbance around the corner, and a monster of a man came rushing toward her. Monty slipped his weapon around to his back before lifting Summer in a tremendous bear hug of his own. Summer welcomed the pressure, although she choked at one point, gasping for air.

  “It’s okay, Daddy. You’re crushing me.”

  Monty set her down.

  “Sorry,” he gushed. “I just never thought I’d see you again.”

  “Same here.” Summer looked around at the trio of men. “I really fucked up this time, didn’t I? And Adam. I don’t know what to say—”

  “Did someone mention my name?” said a familiar voice from around a corner. “You better watch out, I had it trademarked a couple of years ago. You can’t use it without paying me royalties.”

  Summer’s knees grew weak, and Monty had to use a little more pressure to keep her upright. Adam Cain stepped forward, smiling broadly at her before shifting his gaze at TeraDon Fief. The smile vanished.

  “We—I—killed you!” Summer exclaimed. Her eyes fell on the peeling skin and sores on his face. He was alive but injured.

  “You should know I’m pretty hard to kill, although J’nae made a noble effort this time. So she’s still inside you? What happened with the extraction?”

  “Te’moc couldn’t do it until work was done on his body. He’s well now, so that won’t happen again. Where is he?”

  Adam looked at TeraDon. “Your boss has abandoned you. He’s taken the TD ship and left.”

  “I anticipated that,” TeraDon said. “But you must hurry. The Cartel ships have been ordered to destroy the Aris base and all inside.”

  “You mean the three remaining ships?”

  “What do you mean? There are five of them.”

  “We have control of one, and another was blown up on the landing pad.”

  TeraDon shook his head.

  “Three is still enough. We must leave.”

  “We would if we knew the way out.”

  “I can lead you.”

  Adam looked at the alien and frowned. “Who’s side are you on now?”

  “I will be honest; I am on my side. Te’moc was untrustworthy and unreasonably cruel.”

  “Please trust him, Adam,” Summer pleaded. “He saved my life.”

  Adam stared at Summer, his gaze anything but nice. The reunion was over.

  “You have a bad record of trusting aliens,” he snapped. “But we have little choice. If he gets us out of here, then I’ll consider giving him a pardon.”

  “Please, we must go now. The two ships you mentioned before were the ones hiding on the planet. The others are coming from space. It will take them longer to get here, but by the time they do, they will be ready for battle. You will not take them by surprise.”

  Adam waved the barrel of his M-101 at the tall alien. “Then lead on. And by the way….” Adam reached forward and took the knife from TeraDon. “A little basic, isn’t it?”

  “It worked. Summer Rains is alive, is she not?”

  TeraDon pushed past the Humans and set off down a side corridor. Reluctantly, Adam Cain and Company followed.

  On the way out, Adam contacted Sherri by ATD and gave her the latest news, after which s
he sent Tidus to the main airlock to the base was a pair of extra environment suits for Summer and TeraDon. She set the early warning system to max and watched the sky for any sign of the three Cartel warships. Coming from space, they could send bolts of plasma energy raining down on them with very little warning. Sitting on the ground made her captured Cartel ship an easy target.

  The minutes crawled by until Adam and the team appeared at the airlock entrance. A few minutes later, everyone was aboard, with Tidus at the controls of the commandeered Cartel ship. It bolted for space on a shallow gravity-well, dispensing with the slower, yet less disruptive, chemical liftoff jets.

  Transiting to space only served to close the distance between the team and the incoming alien spaceships. Bolts lit up the upper atmosphere even before Sherri’s ship reached the boundary of space.

  The alien TeraDon Fief stepped onto the bridge and moved up to the pilot station. “I have much experience piloting this ship. May I take over control?”

  Tidus glanced over his shoulder at Adam. The Human shrugged. “Go ahead. Saving his own hide saves us as well. Let him have the seat.”

  Copernicus and Sherri took up the weapons stations. These weren’t the modern and sophisticated consoles as found on the Sansa, but their basic layout made them simpler to operate. Return bolts lashed out, slowed down by the thin atmosphere above the planet before speeding up in the true vacuum of space.

  “Everyone strap in,” TeraDon ordered. “The compensators are not the most reliable. It could become fairly erratic.”

  The problem: There were only six stations on the bridge with safety harnesses, and there were eight passengers aboard. Monty, Summer and Tidus moved aft, finding seats in the central common room just off the bridge.

  The ship began to spiral, corkscrewing through space as bright balls of plasma slid past it on either side. There was a sudden jolt, and the vessel began to spin on its central axis. They were hit, and not on a diffusion shield panel, but directly on the hull. Alarms sounded.

  “I must lock off the aft engine compartment. We are leaking atmosphere,” TeraDon reported.

  He righted the ship and cranked it over hard to the left, heading for one of the tiny rock moons of the unnamed planet. It wasn’t more than a captured asteroid, but it would provide a modicum of cover.

  Sherri watched her target board. The three trailing Cartel ships were spreading out, covering a much wider arc of space, keeping her stolen ship from making any more radical course changes. To do so would open them up to broadsides.

  The flash cannon patch-work of the Cartel warship wasn’t designed to provide even coverage of the surrounding space. Most were placed forward on the hull, providing more offensive firepower, rather than defensive cover to the rear. The other ships knew this and sought to approach their target from the tail.

  “This can’t go on much longer,” Sherri yelled into the room. “We have no way to keep them off our ass. Can you turn us around so we can bring our main guns to bear?”

  “The forward shields are inadequate to defend against such a move. Our only chance is to run away.”

  “But we’re not making any progress!” Coop yelled from his station. “Sherri’s right; this can’t go on much longer. Eventually, one of their bolts is going to hit something vital in the engines, and then we’re dead.”

  “I can help.”

  Everyone turned toward the voice coming from the bridge doorway. Summer was there, her arms held to either side, braced against the doorframe.

  Adam twisted in his seat. “What are you talking about?”

  “It is I, J’nae. I can help.”

  Sherri saw Adam and Summer/J’nae lock eyes.

  Monty appeared over Summer’s shoulder. “Let her try. Her reactions and targeting are better than ours. She’s saved our asses before.”

  “Trust me; I want the host to survive as much as you,” spoke the slightly deeper voice of J’nae. “Let me have the firing controls.”

  Sherri looked at Adam. “Make a decision, buddy! We’re all about to die!”

  Adam nodded, and Summer/J’nae rushed forward, replacing Sherri at the weapons station. Copernicus eyed the diminutive woman, seeing only Summer and not the alien presence inside her.

  Sherri joined Monty at the rear of the bridge, each holding onto stanchions rather than moving aft. They had to see what happens next.

  “TeraDon,” J’nae said, “reverse course on my count. Sweep negative forty degrees before coming back up. I have weapons control, all batteries.”

  Copernicus pushed away from the console as he felt the targeting stick begin to move on its own.

  “TeraDon, begin your maneuver … now!”

  Those not strapped in fought against the g-forces through the intermittent effects of the inertial compensators. After a moment, it was all they could do to hold on.

  Sherri could see the targeting screen at Summer/J’nae’s station. Locking dots flashed on it before streaking to another spot, leaving solid red lines in their wake. The ship began to buck, as flash bolts erupted from gun barrels. J’nae rotated the firing between the batteries, allowing each to recharge before being used again. Sherri gasped when she saw the bolts contact the streaks from the incoming fire.

  How can she hit flash bolts with other bolts? That’s impossible.

  But the impossible was happening. And more than that. While J’nae countered the incoming bolts, she was directing additional fire at the enemy ships. The weak diffusion shields of the stolen ship were preserved even as the vessel went on the offensive.

  Three bolts struck one of the Cartel ships, the first of the three to take fire since the attack began. They were concentrated on a single shield panel which dropped a split second later. Another three bolts followed the first barrage through the breach, blasting a gaping hole in the forward section of the attacking ship. Light from the subsequent explosion filled the bridge.

  “Come to minus nineteen degrees, accelerate to maximum,” J’nae ordered.

  They closed on a second Cartel ship, managing to approach from a position below the vessel and slightly aft. As with their ship, the enemy vessel was not designed for defense. J’nae laid out a line of brilliant bolts at the underbelly of the Cartel ship, ripping through secondary shields and perforating the hull. TeraDon had them angling over toward the remaining vessel even before the explosion filled this part of space.

  The last Cartel warship no longer had the stomach for fighting. It turned about and raced away. But TeraDon and J’nae weren’t content to let it go. Exposing its vulnerable tail to the pair was too great an invitation. Bolts spit out, and a moment later all three of the Cartel warships were nothing more than clouds of debris drifting in space.

  TeraDon straightened out the course of the stolen ship before leaning back in his chair, a heavy sigh escaping his lungs. Summer/J’nae stood up and faced the rest of the people on the bridge.

  “I am not your enemy, but simply a victim of circumstance,” she stated.

  “Were you the victim when you threw me out the airlock of the Arya and then took off, leaving me to freeze to death in the launch bay?” Adam said as he unbuckled his harness and rose to his feet.

  “Yes. I have always been a victim. Everything that has happened to me was beyond my choice.”

  “Summer’s, too,” Monty growled from the bridge doorway.

  “That is true,” J’nae agreed. “Yet she was voluntarily fed my essence without her permission or desire.”

  “So I’m to blame for saving her life?” Adam barked.

  “Your act may have been well-intended, but the consequences have been tragic. You set everything in motion by your impulsive act.”

  Adam took several steps toward the … the what?

  “What are you going to do?” J’nae asked. “Throw me from the airlock? That will kill my host. Calm yourself, Adam Cain. As I said, I am not your enemy, especially in light of recent events. Te’moc abandoned me. He ordered the Cartel to destroy my host, wh
ich would have condemned me to an eternity of no form, no real consciousness. At one time, I thought we had an understanding, a common purpose for existing. No longer.”

  “What is he going to do with the Arya?” Sherri asked.

  “As you suspect. Te’moc will seek out my other portions. You must realize, the memories he has of me—and I of him—are six hundred years old. They are a part of my essence, part of all my essence. He can redeem the relationship from any of them. But he will not settle for just one. As he acquires more, he will build on my powers. He does not need them all, but he will seek them. The Aris are not safe, and neither is Panur.”

  “What does Panur have to do with this?” Sherri asked.

  “Panur is the key. His assimilation has been our goal all along. It has been such since the time I was created. Te’moc can do it without my powers, but that would be difficult. With me, it becomes possible, even probable. He must be stopped.”

  Sherri saw Adam’s shoulders slump, the fight draining from his body.

  “I’m afraid Panur and the Aris are on their own. Te’moc has the Arya, and the Sansa has been destroyed. We have no way to move between universes to either warn them or to help. We have to count on Panur being one step ahead of him.”

  “And how will we know if that happens?” Monty asked. “He’s in another universe, and we’re stuck here?”

  “We’ll know … when the universe doesn’t blow up.”

  14 years ago

  …at the trans-dimensional portal array

  It bothered Panur that the Sol-Kor now required a fifth universe to satisfy their insatiable hunger. This wasn’t to say the contacted galaxies in other four universes were stripped completely of food stock; just that the Sol-Kor tore through the most-accessible crops quickly, leaving the outliers safe, at least for the time being. U-5 offered fresh hunting grounds, as evident by the four TD portals already detected within four new galaxies.