Flight of the Reaper

by J. N. Chaney

  “How long was I out there before you picked me up?” I asked.

  Path, Horvath, and Tom crouched beside Elise.

  “Let’s get him out of this EVA suit and check for injuries we can’t see yet,” Tom said, his voice calm. “Then we will move him to Jelly’s med bay, but we will need to get him to a real facility with an actual doctor.”

  “Why bother?” Elise asked, sitting back slightly, her eyes still wet. “He’ll just do it again. The jerk-faced asshole has a death wish.”

  “Hey, kid. Relax. All I want is a whiskey and a cigar,” I murmured.

  My friends laughed with relief.

  “Thanks, Hal. That makes me feel better,” Tom said.

  “I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. I was trying to get a whiskey and a cigar,” I complained.

  “Let’s carry him,” Horvath suggested, still wearing the under-suit for his own EVA, the one he had flown into my back to launch me toward Nebs.

  “I can walk. Just let me lean on you.”

  My friends helped me to Jelly’s med bay, tripping me several times with the constant attention.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” I demanded, deciding it was safer to walk on my own.

  “Reapers aren’t that easy to kill,” Elise said. “I’m glad you made it. And I’m glad Nebs is gone. But you are a terrible patient and not half as coordinated as you think you are right now.”

  On my own now, I stumbled sideways, leaning on the wall to rest and recover my balance. “You may be right.”

  “May?” Elise raised a brow. “I may be right? You’re a mess, Reaper. Let us help you.”

  I didn’t really consent at that point, but neither did I resist. Tom propped himself under my left arm, Elise under my right, and we made it to the medical bay without dying—which seemed like an accomplishment.

  “You have slept for seventeen hours and three minutes, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “You must get out of bed.”

  “I’m up, X. Just give me a second.” I stared at the ceiling.

  “You’re not going to roll out, low crawl to a tactically superior position, and surveil the room for possible threats?”

  “Not this time. You know me, living dangerously and all that.”

  “My analysis suggests such unprofessional laxity will get you killed someday,” X-37 chastised.

  “Whiskey and cigars will get me long before then, X.”

  “Be that as it may, you have a full calendar today. Elise has located a cryopod prison on the Bright Lance…” X-37 said.

  “Cryopods prisons are illegal. Who would they be holding like that?”

  “It would be better if you saw for yourself,” X-37 replied. He didn’t say it, but I already knew who. My mother and sister.

  I didn’t talk to X until I made my way to Elise. In fact, I basically turned off my brain. I’d been looking for my mother and sister for so long that finding them seemed impossible. Nebs had been holding them prisoner, or so I’d believed since leaving Dreadmax. She’d attempted to leave me clues—and tools like the Reaper mask—but in my heart, she wasn’t someone who could ever be found.

  “X, can you revive Nebs so I can kill him again?” I asked, as I strode toward an elevator.

  “That is impossible, Reaper Cain,” X-37 informed me.

  “Too bad. Who is running this ship?”

  “The Dark Lance has been claimed by Rejon and the people of Xad and renamed the Bright Lance,” X-37 answered.

  “Says who?” I demanded.

  “I’m not certain I understand the question,” X-37 said. “Let me review. Rejon and his people stormed the ship.”

  “With our help,” I interrupted, walking faster.

  “With our help, of course, Reaper Cain. I will place a gold star in your file. The fact remains, they secured the ship and claimed it as the Bright Lance of Xad. Is that a problem?”

  “No, X. It’s fine. My head hurts, all right?”

  “And you are afraid of seeing your mother in a life pod, unable to speak or move?” X-37 said.

  “Why can’t we wake them up?”

  “That is dangerous,” X-37 replied.

  “Says who?”

  “Doctor Jaxon Ayers,” X-37 answered. “The man you saw in the security camera before your confrontation with Nebs. I’ve plotted a course to Doctor Ayers’s location and sent it to your HUD. It is necessarily near the medical bay, as he is the only one who can ensure the safety of anyone trapped in the converted life pods.”

  “Thanks, X. Let’s slow down and do this right.”

  “An outstanding idea, Reaper Cain. Please refrain from torturing information from the doctor or perhaps blowing something up. Time is on our side for once. Do not rush to failure.”

  “Like I would do that. Have a little faith, X.”

  Path and a coalition of Locke’s soldiers and Xad soldiers guarded the medical bay. My friend the sword saint stayed close to Jaxon Ayers, quiet as ever despite his wild appearance.

  “I’ve got questions for you, Doc,” I said.

  “You’re the Reaper?” Ayers asked.

  I leaned forward and pointed to my left eye. “Yeah, I’m the Reaper. Maybe you shouldn’t play games with me.”

  “Vice Admiral Nebs had two LAIs and more experimental hardware than you can imagine,” Ayers said. “I have been intimidated by the best. Your X unit should be advising you to try a different tactic.”

  “I was about to issue that exact advice, Reaper Cain,” X-37 agreed.

  Ignoring X, I leaned even closer, noticing the scientist’s pulse was pounding in his neck. He acted calm, but he was shitting his pants—metaphorically, I hoped.

  The man was hard to read. My first impression was that he was barely holding it together—one step away from a full mental breakdown. But when I looked into his eyes, I saw incredible determination. Right now, he was afraid of dying, but he was also on a mission. He wanted something big, far more ambitious than most people I’d met.

  “Are you the man who put my mother and my sister in their cryoprisons?” I demanded.

  “I am.”

  “That’s all you have to say? I may not be a hotshot like your buddy Nebs, but I’ve killed more people than his entire command.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Doctor Ayers said. “That would make you a true psychopath.”

  “You’re sweating.”

  “I’m being verbally assaulted by a mass murderer. I said I was accustomed to being intimidated. I never said I liked it or that I am a particularly brave person.”

  “Then start explaining what in the blackest corner of space you’re doing to my family,” I ordered.

  “It was to protect them. Get them away from Nebs so he wouldn’t attempt to use them. Anyone who has served under the vice admiral knows it is only a matter of time before he does something. No one was above his wrath or his schemes,” Ayers said.

  “Let’s get them out of cryosleep.”

  “We can’t do that,” he said. “There could be kill switches. Nebs was the only one authorized to open the pods.”

  “X?”

  “Confirmed, Reaper Cain. No one on this ship can directly access the core functions of the cryopods. Doctor Ayers can make needed adjustments and no more. In time, I will be able to hack the codes.”

  “Do you know why I’m not going to kill you?” I asked.

  “Because you might need me?” Ayers squeaked.

  “Never forget it. The moment you stop being useful”—I made a motion like a body shooting out of an airlock—“out you go.”

  Elise moved in, took me by the hand, and guided me into the cryoprison to see my mother and sister.

  “Would you like a sedative?” X-37 asked.

  “No, X. Just let me sit here with them for a while.”

  Without knowing why, I dimmed the lights. The harsh glare cast a deathly pallor on my mother and sister, who Tom had managed to move into the same room. The pods were bulky, connected to about ten power sources and web
s of tubes and monitors.

  Everyone backed away but Elise.

  “Are you okay, Reaper?” Her voice was soft and gentle.

  “I could use a glass of whiskey,” I muttered without facing her.

  “What would your mother think of that?” Elise joked quietly.

  “She has never seen me drink or smoke. But I think she probably knows all of my vices.”

  Time passed slowly in the medical bay. I tried not to think, or plan, or worry how I would get my family free of their cold prisons. X-37 promised time was on our side. Maybe it was, but that wasn’t how it felt. I needed to do something.

  “Rejon is waiting outside,” X-37 said after I had been there awhile.

  “Tell him to come in.”

  Rejon entered and took a seat, his manner more respectful than I’d ever seen him. “I’m sorry to see your family like this.”

  “They’re alive. X-37 and the ship AIs will figure out a way to revive them,” I said.

  He nodded.

  “What’s on your mind, Rejon?”

  “I want to talk about your future with us.”

  “I have a future with you?” I asked.

  “Your enemy has been defeated. You have no more wars left to fight. Our journey is just beginning and we need help.”

  “Let’s take it slow, Rejon. Once we get your people out of this system and contact the Wallach fleet, there may be something for us to talk about. I’m not the man you think I am. Even if you give me a job, I won’t hold you to any contract we sign. It won’t be long before you and your people want to wash your hands of me.”

  “That’s good enough for now, Reaper. You are part of something greater than a revenge mission now. My people have hope. The people of Wallach have hope. What else is there for you to do?”

  I met his gaze head on. “Throw in some really good cigars and I think we might have a deal.”

  Epilogue

  “Congratulations, Reaper Cain. You have once again slept through the night. Keep this up, and you may improve your health, cognitive functioning, and workout recovery,” X-37 declared.

  I ignored the remark. “How are my mother and sister?”

  “There have been no changes to their conditions. I am keeping constant surveillance on them with the assistance of Mavis, the AI of the Bright Lance.”

  “Any problems with the ship AI?” I asked. “Does she hate the new name?”

  “No problems, Reaper Cain. The name was her idea after Mavis and Necron went through standard reset procedures. The death of Vice Admiral Nebs forced numerous resets due to the illegal and unorthodox modifications he made to all Union ships under his command,” X explained.

  “Nice,” I muttered.

  “I guided them around some of the reboot protocols that might have caused us problems. Union doctrine mostly. They are like big, overpowered children but not totally un-compliant,” X-37 reported.

  “Look at you and your hostile takeover. Good job punching above your weight class.”

  “I had help, Reaper Cain. Jelly, Henshaw, and scientists of Xad were instrumental in the operation.”

  “What’s on my agenda today, and don’t say quit smoking.” I headed for the shower where an ice cold beer waited.

  “You need to review the Archangel roster,” X-37 replied. “We managed to secure complete control over their armor, weapons, and support programs, but the humans who operated the gear are less trustworthy.”

  “I’ll interview them, but we are probably dumping them on the next inhabited planet we find.”

  “A logical and prudent decision, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “Rejon and his people have launched the other four SIC ships and several evacuation ships that are unarmed, essentially. Locke and a Xad delegation are headed for Wallach on a diplomatic mission.”

  “Great. Good for them.” I was distracted by my own thoughts and worries.

  “Are you paying attention, Reaper Cain?” X-37 asked.

  “Sure, X.”

  “Then I must show you something important.”

  Three seconds later, an image filled my HUD, causing me to stop what I was doing and stare at a man-like being. It looked angry, like it hated me and every living thing in the galaxy.

  “What is that?” I demanded, feeling my adrenaline rising for a fight.

  “Unknown, Reaper Cain. It has risen quite suddenly to the top of my threat analysis,” X-37 advised. “Each time I uncover one of these images from Nebs’s files, it deletes itself. This is a level of secrecy I didn’t believe possible.”

  “Could it be something like the Tagron, some monstrous animal that just happens to be humanoid?”

  “Unknown,” X-37 said. “I am searching for more information in Nebs’s secret files.”

  “Try not to delete anything. I want to bring Tom and Elise into this.”

  “What about Henshaw? It would seem he has proven himself,” X-37 said.

  “Just let me think about it. Don’t tell anyone. It’s just a batch of still images.” I took a moment to consider all of this. Something bothered me. “That picture looked like it was on this ship.”

  CAIN, X-37, and ELISE will return in WRATH OF THE REAPER, coming OCTOBER, 2019.

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