With the new opening, Johnny held his position and let Cherokee dive through, before he backed through, still firing. He paused long enough to pull another device, activate it, and toss it toward the now approaching and firing Ecronians.
Cherokee could not see Johnny’s sardonic grin, but he wondered if it was there, since he heard the device Johnny had tossed. Not that he could understand it, since the device was speaking in Ecronian. He could guess the meaning, if not the words. Something to the effect of “I am a bomb. I will explode in ten seconds. Nine seconds…”
And he was sure those Ecronians in that compartment were now trying to get out of it, through both the regular hatchway into the passageway, and through the made hatchway, and into the compartment where the other humans were, whom, Cherokee was sure, was taking down every Ecronian that tried.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cherokee saw Johnny motion toward a ship’s hatchway. Actually, to the far-left side of it. Cherokee deployed another hatch maker device and noticed that Johnny had one ready as he went past Cherokee into the passageway.
Three Ecronians concentrating on the ship’s hatch did not have time to react and change aim before Johnny took one down and Cherokee the other two, as Johnny’s hatch maker opened up the bulkhead on the opposite side of the passageway.
As they went through that one, and into another compartment, both heard Sydney urgently announce, “Five Ecronians dead ahead. And… a whole bunch to your left coming down that last passageway. That bulkhead ahead of you looks to be heavily armored!”
“I think we’re here,” Johnny said calmly. To Cherokee’s great surprise, Johnny handed his primary weapon to Cherokee, and took two devices from his harness. Neither one was a hatch maker. Nor any explosive that Cherokee recognized.
All Johnny did was flip a switch on each one. He set one against the bulkhead, and hooked the other one back onto his harness.
As Johnny took his weapon back from Cherokee, he kept his eyes on the bulkhead, and backed right into the passageway behind him, before Cherokee could grab him, to keep him from stepping right into the Ecronians rushing down that passage.
Except, when Cherokee stepped into the passageway, turning his weapon toward where the Ecronians were, he froze. There were at least fifty Ecronians, if not more, all down, with what passed for their blood all over the bulkheads, deck, and even the overhead.
He could barely hear Sydney shouting, with the others shouting in the background, when he felt and saw flame erupt from inside the other compartment they had just left.
Barely before the flames went out, Johnny was running into that compartment, and when Cherokee reached it, Johnny was already going through the huge hole blasted through the other bulkhead. And he saw that Sydney had been right. That bulkhead was armor. Heavy armor. Heavy enough that none of the weapons he, himself, was carrying, would have even scratched its surface.
He could hear the screeching sound of the Ecronian voices raised in panic when he followed Johnny through. Surprised that there were only three of them making all that noise, Cherokee lifted his weapon to cover them, the way Johnny was doing.
Johnny stood there, waiting for the three Ecronians to quit speaking. After a few seconds they did. While he could not be sure, he thought the Ecronians might actually look frightened, which was unknown for them to be, even when facing armed humans.
As he continued to watch, keeping his eyes moving, Cherokee managed to not react when Johnny began to speak. In Ecronian. At least, sort of Ecronian. It sounded terrible to him, and apparently to the Ecronians, as well, for it sure looked like they winced. But they also looked like they understood Johnny, for they were suddenly, obviously, no doubt about it, scared.
Without any sort of protest, the three went out the hatchway Johnny indicated, and marched before him, as Cherokee trailed behind. He kept a sharp watch, but all he saw were dead Ecronians. Each looking like the first ones he had seen in the passageway. With the same gore all over the place.
The three Ecronians avoided all of the gore they could, but Johnny kept them moving with another word and a poke from time to time. It was obvious, when Johnny stopped them, and pointed at a label next to a hatchway, that they had not responded the way Johnny thought they should.
Even speaking bad Ecronian, Cherokee could hear the censure in Johnny’s voice when he said something to one that had replied to Johnny’s question about the label. All three of them seemed to shrink even more. And began to move a bit faster, trying to stay clear of the still occasional dead Ecronian and accompanying gore. And, it seemed to Cherokee, to keep as much distance from Johnny as possible.
When Johnny said, “Time?” it was a second before Cherokee realized that Johnny had just asked him how much time they had left.
He was surprised to see that it had only taken them five minutes to get to where they were. “Three.”
Johnny hurried the Ecronians up a bit more, but when one came to a sudden stop, looking at another of the labels beside a hatchway, Johnny stopped and motioned to that one. When the Ecronian moved to open the hatchway, the slightly taller of the other two made a move to stop him. But Johnny had his weapon on the back of the Ecronian’s head in an instant, and it desisted. When the hatch opened, Johnny pushed the three Ecronians inside, and told Cherokee to watch them carefully.
Johnny went over to a cabinet and began to open drawers and doors. Cherokee could see that Johnny’s actions were making the Ecronians extremely nervous, though he was not sure just how he knew that.
When Johnny suddenly spun around, some kind of device in his hand, all three Ecronians bolted for the hatchway. As big as they were, Cherokee had little trouble stopping them, because it seemed more important for them to avoid Johnny than it was to get out of the compartment.
But the struggle lasted only another second or so. The Ecronians quit struggling when Johnny touched the device in his hand to their necks, one after the other.
Johnny dropped the device, turned Cherokee toward the hatchway, and said, “Time to go. And none to waste.”
With nothing to impede their progress, the two swam as fast as they could, using every projection to speed themselves in the zero-gee toward where Shuttle Five was waiting for them.
One compartment away, Johnny told the other four to enter the Shuttle and leave the airlock clear.
It was well they did, for Johnny shoved Cherokee through the airlock, and zipped through himself, just as the unmistakable vibrations of a major space ship disintegrating were felt.
“Disengage! Get us back to Lady Paladin.” Without even pausing, Johnny took another device from his harness and touched something on it.
The vibrations they had felt beginning either stopped, or the pilot had broken contact with the Ecronian ship. And when they all, other than Johnny, looked out toward the ship they were rapidly backing away from, more evidence of damage was visible. But the other Ecronian ship was slowly disintegrating before their eyes.
And from the looks of it, the disintegration had begun at the access point they had created before, in which Johnny had left what everyone thought was a normal boarding protection device.
Cherokee looked over at Johnny as the two began to remove their assault suits. “How?” Cherokee asked.
“Later, please. We still have pressing business, unless I miss my guess.”
All were brimming with questions, and barely managed to hold them in once they were aboard Lady Paladin again. The crew went to clean up, as did Cherokee, as Johnny headed for the bridge. He met Willi and Major Butler at the airlock. Major Echart had recalled both of them when Johnny had called for the return of the shuttle to Lady Paladin.
“What happened out there?” Willi was the first to ask, as they cycled through the airlock.
“Willi, it will have to wait just a bit. I am sorry. But I have a very bad…”
Just as the airlock hatch inside the bridge opened warnings began to sound. And Sydney, looking over at Johnny in near panic, shouted to him, “Another ship! S
ame size! Three times the speed! Only a hundred klicks out, bearing right on us! I did not see them until just now. I don’t how they…”
“It is okay, Sydney. They have something more advanced than I was told. Pilot, max us out of here. Course Zero, Zero, Zero.”
Everyone on the bridge just stared at Johnny for a moment. But then all moved to be ready for the high-speed flight. The maneuvering warnings sounded, and Evie ran the throttles up.
Only a few seconds later everyone began to settle toward the rear of the bridge, with the acceleration mimicking gravity.
Willi headed for the Co-pilot’s console, and Major Echart left the Command Chair for Johnny to take. But Johnny motioned to Major Butler. “You have the con, Major. That other ship will stop at the other one. We should be out of danger now. I need to freshen up, get some rest, and then when we confirm our safety, I will explain all. Carry on.”
“Johnny!” Willi called, unbuckling her harness, but when Johnny seemed to not hear her, she settled back, and turned toward the console. “I know he heard me,” she muttered. “He is in so much trouble with me…”
The others smiled, making sure Willi could not see them, but with the tension draining from them with Johnny’s announcement, all breathed a sigh of relief, and simply did what was required to put distance between the Ecronians and Lady Paladin.
“Major,” Evie asked a few moments later. “Would you confirm course, Sir? Johnny… He said ‘Zero, Zero, Zero’. That cannot be correct, can it?”
Major Butler looked thoughtful. There were legends… But surely… He shook his head, exchanged a glance with Major Echart, now on the systems Console for something to do, and then told Evie, “Maintain that course, Pilot. I am sure he knows what he is doing.”
Sydney and Clyde, close enough together to hold a whispered conversation without risking too much, wondered about the course. Zero, Zero, Zero were the coordinates of the center of the Galaxy. Said to be unapproachable. Besides which, it would take at least a couple hundred years to get there, even at near light speed, which they could not achieve. Could they?
Chapter Ten
-
Johnny, not quite as sure of everything as he led the others believe, did not head for his and Willi’s quarters. Instead, he headed for the starboard rear Flight Deck Bay. Where his personal new Dominator II was stowed.
A caution to Godiva/Lady Paladin to maintain silence of his activities, and Johnny did a thorough check of the Dominator II. Using the automated equipment, which use was blocked from being seen by Godiva/Lady Paladin, Johnny added a few additional munitions to the racks, and topped off everything he might need on a long, solo, flight.
Readying the Flight Deck Bay, with the Dominator II positioned on a hatch to the lower Flight Deck, Johnny slowly decompressed the area enclosing the fighter. And waited.
Evie had taken him at his word. She was pushing Lady Paladin to the limits. At least the limits she believed the ship could not exceed. When the velocity reached the point where any additional speed would make launching the Dominator II too dangerous to Lady Paladin for him to risk it, Johnny triggered the hatch below to open.
Using the Dominator II’s own power rather than the handling equipment, he dropped down into the Flight Deck, and accelerated out of the Flight Deck at maximum speed he could reach in the length of the Flight Deck, and turned sharply away from Lady Paladin.
He smiled, slightly, as he headed back toward the Ecronians, ignoring the shouted orders to return, the cursing, and then the heartbreaking pleading Willi did on a private channel when Major Butler refused to turn the Lady Paladin to go after him. He did have to steel himself not to respond to Willi.
Johnny ran the throttles up to the limit he could stand, with his body in the shape it was at the moment. Switching on the cloaking system before he was out of the background of Lady Paladin, Johnny used the enhanced long-range sensors for a moment to double check that the Ecronian ship was, in fact, slowing to join the disabled Ecronian ship. The Royal Barge, now with only three Ecronians alive. Three of the Royal family.
The Ecronian Supreme Leader’s eldest offspring, the Heir Apparent. The Supreme Leader’s closest relative within the Royal Family’s complicated family structure, the High Commander of the Ecronian Military forces.
The third Ecronian, one step further down in the Royal Family hierarchy, was actually more powerful than the Heir Apparent, and even the Supreme Leader in some circumstances. The Supreme Leader ruled. But, this third Ecronian filled a role that Johnny had not been able to find anything close to a comparison in human civilizations.
It combined advisor to the Supreme Leader; head of all of what equated to humans’ legal system; and head of their faith system that was even more complicated than the family system. All of which were tied to events that occurred many thousands of years previously at the very beginning of their existence, which took place on the far side of the galaxy.
And, finally, this Ecronian was the sole and absolute arbitrator between Ecronian civilization and all other civilizations, with the power to overrule the Supreme Leader, and even make totally independent decisions, with the power to enforce them, for all Ecronians.
Johnny shook his head. “How can they have a Supreme Leader, and yet have that… whatever… it… is?” he muttered. Johnny had learned everything he could about the Ecronians over the years, but that one, which he had only learned during the time he had been captured, he could still not reconcile in his mind.
It did not matter, however, whether he did or did not. What mattered was that those three Ecronians were who they were, and now had the same type of tracking and execution devices implanted that all other non-Royalty Ecronians did.
The worry for Johnny, was that if that approaching ship held either the Supreme Leader, which was extremely unlikely, or the third Ecronian’s Second-in-Command, which was quite possible, and either of them decided to activate the execution command, without knowing the three members of the Royal Leadership now had one implanted, everything he had just caused to happen could come to naught.
And it was not uncommon for someone with the power to destroy every Ecronian in a ship or even a whole base, if they felt they had not lived up to their duties.
If, when the other ship arrived, and saw the debris cloud of the one ship, and the disabled second ship, along with the total absence of the rest of the convoy, which had included three other Ecronian ships, whoever was in command might just trigger the execution devices without waiting to find out what had occurred.
Johnny did not want that to happen. With the three Ecronians tagged now, and they having seen their entire ship’s crew destroyed with their own tracking devices, they would be very careful about how they dealt with humans in the future.
It was not that they could not simply stay well out of range of humans, but the Ecronians, with their normally paranoid thinking patterns anyway, would have them believing that their deaths were imminent at all times.
Breathing a sigh of relief when the next check of the sensors showed the other ship slowing significantly now, with no indication of them intending to follow the Lady Paladin, if they had even picked up the ship on their sensors, Johnny throttled back, but held course.
With no indications that the other Ecronian ship could tell that the Dominator II was anywhere around, Johnny began to simply coast, watching the tracker now, as the third Ecronian ship approached the Royal Barge.
Another sigh of relief left Johnny when he saw the approaching ship take up a stand-off distance from the Barge and launch a shuttle to go the final distance to the disabled Royal Barge.
When he saw the three blips in transit to the shuttle, Johnny had his hand ready to activate the throttles. But he paused and continued to watch the transfer. When it was obvious that the three Ecronians were now aboard the rescue ship, Johnny again was ready to power away from the Ecronian ship.
He felt the sardonic grin appear on his lips. And knew that if… Johnny admitted it to him
self… When Willi found out what he was going to do, that had just occurred to him, she would be livid.
And even beyond that, what he was going to do would cause him other problems not related to Willi’s actions. He just simply could not resist. Johnny was not even sure himself if he had approached in the exact manner he had, to be able to do what he now knew he would.
Taking a moment to have everything ready, so there would be no delays in executing the plan, Johnny took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then his hands seemed to fly over the controls of the Dominator II.
Accelerating at an uncomfortable rate, Johnny triggered four weapons releases, switched off the cloaking, and sent out a clear transmission, in both English and, through the translator in the Dominator II, in Ecronian.
“This is Oneshot. I have destroyed your convoy. I have destroyed your battleship. I am now destroying your Royal Barge. I am going to damage your rescue ship, just because I can.”
At that point, the four weapons he had released impacted the Royal Barge, disintegrating it there right beside the rescue ship. Johnny triggered four more weapon releases, these all headed toward the rescue ship.
But Johnny spoke again, still heading straight for the bridge of the Ecronian ship. The four missile weapons would sweep to the sides of the ship and impact to cause damage, but not cripple it. “I command thee, Ecronians, to abandon all attempts to subjugate humans. Else, I, Oneshot, will lose all patience and destroy you all!”
With those words Johnny triggered the Dominator II’s four lighter railguns, and the three heavy railguns, as he continued straight for the bridge of the Ecronian ship.
The four missiles, two light nukes and two heavy explosives, impacted. Johnny groaned under the strain as he tilted the Dominator II to go up and over the Ecronian ship, still keeping the throttles forward.
He was never sure if he hit some of the debris that was nearly everywhere, or if the Ecronians had managed to fire off some navigational path clearing weapons.
But when he parked the Dominator II in the Flight Deck Bay of Lady Paladin, he noticed three holes that went completely through the body of the Dominator II, whatever creating them having travelled from bottom, up through, and out the top, missing the pilot compartment by mere centimeters, and two weapons systems by less than that.
Mission to Sector ZZ1219 Page 30
