Gravity Flux: Kestrel Class Saga Book 3

by Toby Neighbors

  Fortunately, things had changed in Spec Ops when Brigadier General Pershing had been put in charge. The entire structure of the Special Forces division had been flipped on its head. Suddenly officers with combat experience were promoted over those with political connections. And operators in theater were given the freedom to complete their missions as they saw fit. The only noticeable exception was the current mission. But their involvement had to be restricted because of the admiral general’s plan. Unfortunately, the men and women whose lives were at stake on Torrent Four couldn’t care less what the admiral general thought. Which meant it was up to Major Le Croix to keep his dogs on a very, very short leash.

  “Major,” Lieutenant Meagan Dodge was Le Croix’s aide and was monitoring the planet’s communication network while he focused on the mission at hand. “Incoming message for you, sir. It’s the general.”

  “She’s here?” Le Croix said, suddenly afraid that perhaps he had done something wrong if she was in the system.

  “Yes, sir. It’s a shortwave transmission, tight beamed straight to our location. Probably from orbit.”

  That made no sense to Le Croix, but he knew better than to keep his superior waiting. He nodded, turned his attention away from the bank of monitors, and slipped on a headset for privacy. Lieutenant Dodge connected him to the general.

  “This is Major Le Croix,” he said.

  “Are we secure, Major?” Pershing said.

  “Yes, ma’am. Is something wrong?”

  “No,” Pershing replied. “The admiral general has sent me to oversee the filming of his great victory. But I’m more concerned with what progress you’re making. Tell me we have eyes on that ship.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Le Croix said. “The Spec Ops team has the ship surrounded.”

  “You’re engaging?” Pershing said, a note of disapproval in her voice.

  “No,” Le Croix said. “As per your orders, we’re in position to affix a tracking device to their hull and working to get intel on the crew. So far, we’ve only seen two of them. It’s been impossible to get inside the ship without being seen.”

  “Don’t bother,” Pershing said. “Send me what you have on the two you’ve seen. This entire operation may simply be a waste of time.”

  “How’s that, General?” Le Croix asked.

  “The admiral general has an armada of ships here. They couldn’t get off-world if they were in a battle cruiser. What has the crew been up to?”

  “They’re gathering supplies, from what I’ve seen,” Le Croix said.

  “Supplies?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Salvage from the trash fields here. My guess is they’re building something, or making repairs to their ship.”

  “Odd,” Pershing said. “The most wanted ship in the galaxy and they’re building something. I had thought they returned to Torrent Four to hide.”

  “Me too,” Le Croix admitted. “But they’ve been busy. We found them yesterday, but they changed locations in the night. They’re not stupid, but they don’t seem to be expecting us.”

  “Well, they’re in for a real surprise,” Pershing said. “The admiral general has enough firepower in the system to destroy a planet. Not that this one is worth the time or effort.”

  “You can say that again. You should smell the air down here.”

  “Anything else I should know?” Pershing asked.

  “Actually,” Le Croix said, “I have a problem developing. There’s a large band of locals approaching.”

  “Friendly?” Pershing asked.

  “I don’t think friendly locals exist on this world,” Le Croix said. “My team counts around thirty armed combatants.”

  “More than enough to take control of the ship,” Pershing said.

  “Yes, ma’am, that was my assessment.”

  “It’s not ideal, but it might work in our favor.”

  “How’s that?” Le Croix asked.

  “We need to get intel on the crew. This might be our only chance. The admiral general is going to destroy their ship in the most spectacular fashion possible, without ever knowing who was behind the attacks on our vessels. We have to know who that crew is and where they came from.”

  “How will the local outlaws help us with that?” Le Croix said.

  “I would expect them to remove the crew in order to take over the ship. Get your team in position to fend off the locals, but hold until you get good images of the crew. We should be able to find out who they are by using facial recognition.”

  “If they’re in the Imperium’s data archives,” Le Croix said.

  “They have to be,” Pershing said. “No one could do what they’ve done without extensive training. Once you get good visuals, take out the locals.”

  “You’re authorizing lethal force?” Le Croix asked, just to make sure he wasn’t misunderstanding his orders.

  “That’s right, but do no harm to the crew of that ship. The admiral general wants a show, and we’re obligated to give it to him.”

  “Roger that,” Le Croix said.

  He pulled off his headset and leaned toward the mic to speak to his commandos.

  “Sergeant Duprey,” Le Croix said. “We have new orders.”

  Chapter 20

  Kim was on her feet, which was the only improvement she could think of. Hoya had threatened to torture her, but it wasn’t really necessary. Kim had no idea where the Echo was, and telling the Scalper about how many berths she had or what type of weapons she carried didn’t hurt anyone. He wanted to know why she left and Kim told him the truth.

  “I was in love with a man who didn’t love me back,” she said. “So I left.”

  “You walked away from a working starship because you were spurned by a lover?”

  The outlaw had found her answer so funny, he laughed for nearly five minutes. Afterward, there was no more talk of torture. He had wanted to know about the crew, but she refused to answer. The threats may have returned if not for another of the outlaws returning with news that the ship had been spotted.

  It took the outlaws less than an hour to pack everything they might need, including a small arsenal of weapons. The woman in the dirty dress gave Kim broth, which was salty and tasted sour, but it helped revive her. And there was water, which filled her with strength. The woman helped her test her injuries, which were painful, but not debilitating. It hurt to move her left leg, but the limb didn’t threaten to give out on her. She could put her weight down on the leg, and walk with an exaggerated limp.

  When the Scalper’s left their little camp, it was a mass exodus. Everyone was going, and everyone it seemed was armed. Hoya had Kim’s laser pistol. He had even taken her shoulder holster and rigged it so that the weapon hung low on his right hip. They carried Kim on her stretcher for over six miles because Hoya didn’t want her to slow them down.

  When they finally stopped, the outlaw explained that they were a couple of miles from the ship. He had one set of long-range optical visors and used them to show Kim the ship.

  “Are her weapons bearing?” Hoya asked.

  “You mean the lasers?” Kim asked. “No.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “They’re mounted on the wing engines,” Kim said. “Which you can clearly see are pointed down.”

  “And they have nothing else?”

  “Nothing mounted on the ship,” Kim said. “But they’re all armed. And not just with sidearms.”

  Hoya smiled. “I love a good fight.”

  “Good, because you’re going to lose a lot of people if you try to take that ship,” Kim threatened.

  “It’s just as well,” Hoya said. “She only has room for ten, correct?”

  Kim looked down, suddenly ashamed that she’d had given him any information. She felt better, stronger, and certainly more focused than she had that morning. Her mind had been foggy and she was too tired to resist his forceful questioning. But none of that mattered as she thought of Ben and the others dying on her account.

  She secretly c
ursed herself for leaving the Echo. Shame stung like poison, but there was nothing she could do to stop the fight she knew was coming. Even if she could somehow get the drop on Hoya and retrieve her pistol, there were just too many Scalpers in his band to stop them all.

  Hoya held a short council with his lieutenants to plan their approach, then the group started out again. They forced Kim to walk, and it didn’t take long for the ship to become visible. It was hard to gauge the distance, and Kim had to pay attention to every step she took. Her left leg wasn’t as responsive as it should have been. Partly from the pain, and partly, she guessed, from the damage done by the outlaw’s hand cannon to her muscles and tendons. Fortunately, the bones were in good shape, but she wondered how long the open wounds would fester, or if she might get sick from bacteria or foreign matter working into the wounds.

  As they drew closer, she wished for death. Nothing could be worse than watching her friends die and Scalpers steal their beloved ship. Kim couldn’t help but admire the sleek lines of the old ship. They didn’t build them so sweet anymore, she thought to herself. The sweep of the wings, the muscular design of the fuselage, the way the engines implied speed and power, it was so beautiful to Kim that her eyes watered. The very thought of the dirty, hateful Scalpers in her ship was sickening.

  “Keep moving,” Hoya snickered at her. “I have plans for you.”

  “Forget it,” Kim said. “I’ll never help you.”

  “Never is a long time,” Hoya said. “Probably half of my family here thought that way at one time or another.”

  “Family?” Kim said. It seemed impossible that the outlaw could even fathom the meaning of the word.

  “That’s right. These people are my children, but it wasn’t always so. And some foolish children have wandered away, like the prodigals you fought. They all died, you know. Even the woman. They thought they could sup at my table and sleep under my protection, then form their own family. Oh, no, that could never stand. A strong man doesn’t tolerate a rival moving into his territory. If you hadn’t killed them, my children would have.”

  “I fought to defend myself,” Kim said. “I’m not a killer.”

  “Semantics,” Hoya said. “Killers kill, the reasons why aren’t important. And anyone who wishes to join my family must be willing to kill. You showed real moxie out there, although your reasons are not to my taste.”

  “Protecting myself isn’t reason enough for you?” Kim accused the outlaw.

  “Self-preservation is the first rule of the jungle, baby. But I’m not talking about that. I’m referring to the very reason you were out there in the first place.”

  Kim didn’t have to ask what the man meant. She hated herself for leaving the ship. There was no denying the foolishness of her decision. Yet every fiber of her being wanted to argue with Hoya.

  “What do you know about it?” Kim snapped.

  “I know that women and men see love very differently,” Hoya said. “When two people try to see eye to eye, they are headed for disaster.”

  “Only fools think they know everything,” Kim said.

  “Takes one to know one,” Hoya said. “At least I’m not the one with slag in my leg and guns at my back.”

  “That’s because you’re a coward,” Kim said.

  “No, I’m a realist. Love is an outdated, dangerous concept that can’t be tolerated. Love makes a person do things they shouldn’t do,” he looked straight at her, and Kim felt the sting of truth in his words. “Love is a sickness, which has to be overcome. Only then can a man make his way in the world, and if he’s lucky, through the galaxy. Once I have that ship of yours, I’m going to need a pilot. Know one?”

  “Not one you could ever trust,” Kim said, trying to sound savage, but failing.

  Hoya laughed. “You talk about love and trust like a child. There’s no such thing as trust in the salvage fields, nor in space, I think.”

  They were getting closer to the ship. Kim guessed they were only five hundred feet away, just beyond pistol range. Kim had counted seven rifles among Hoya’s men. One was a laser weapon, the other six looked like cobbled-together projectile weapons. She had no idea how effective they were, but she was sure the outlaws weren’t carrying them in hopes of bluffing their way on board the Echo.

  “How good is it to be so close to home?” Hoya asked her as he raised his hand for the group to stop.

  Kim was relieved. She wanted to sit down and stretch out her aching leg. The bleeding had started again and warm blood was soaking into her trousers.

  “My children,” Hoya said, turning his back to the ship. “This is our future. This vessel is destined to be our new home. It will carry us far from the salvage fields and into a prosperity that is beyond imagination. Taking her will not be easy, but we will do it. We cannot go back to scratching in the dirt for crumbs. This is our future, and it is glorious.”

  As the outlaws cheered their charismatic leader, Kim secretly hoped that Magnum would blow the outlaw’s head off, but nothing happened. The ship sat silent, and even with the large cargo hatch open, she couldn’t see any movement or activity inside. It was the end of all she cared about, and Kim’s only hope was that somehow, someway, she might strike a blow for the people she loved before she died.

  Chapter 21

  “They’re moving closer,” Magnum warned Ben from his perch atop the Echo.

  “I’m almost there,” Ben said.

  “They’ll see you if you don’t move soon,” Nance said. “There are more Scalpers than I’ve ever seen in one group before.”

  Ben wanted to shout that he understood. He needed to hurry, that much was obvious. But hurrying with old radioactive elements was never a good idea. He had taken hold of the plutonium; it was in the shape of a spherical polyhedron, only a little bigger than Ben’s fist. He lifted it free of the bomb casing and eased it into the open containment unit.

  Once it was settled into place, Ben shut the containment unit, dropped the irradiated tongs with his other contaminated tools, and closed the suitcase-sized box. He then slid back out of his hole.

  “How close?” Ben asked.

  “Two miles,” Magnum said. “They can see the ship for sure. Stay low and they might not notice you.”

  “Or they might shoot him just for kicks,” Nance said.

  “What about the others?” Ben asked.

  “Hard to tell,” Magnum said. “They’re not just Security Force. Not regular units anyway.”

  “But you can’t see them?” Ben asked.

  “They’ve got heavy camo,” Magnum said. “Maybe even some kind of cloaking tech. It’s impossible to know for sure. I’d have to get closer.”

  “Out of the question,” Nance said.

  “Just get inside,” Ben said, pulling off the hazmat suit and stuffing it down into the hole he’d crawled out of. “We’ll take off once I reach the ship.”

  “That’s risky,” Magnum said. “If those are Royal Imperium forces on the ground, they’ll have ships waiting to take us down.”

  “So what options do we have?” Nance asked.

  “Without Kim? I don’t think we make it off the planet alive,” Magnum said.

  “You want to bargain with Scalpers?” Nance demanded. “Is that what I hear you saying?”

  “We have something they want,” Magnum said. “We can’t fly away, not without provoking an even greater threat. We know the Confederates have people on this planet. Maybe we trade our lives for the ship, and take the professor to his people. They might even be willing to trade transport for work.”

  “That’s wishful thinking,” Ben said. “Without the Echo, the Confederacy doesn’t want anything to do with us.”

  “So we find another ship,” Magnum argued. “It’s not impossible.”

  “I have another plan,” Ben said, as he jogged across the salvage field toward the ship. “I just need you to stall them for an hour or so.”

  “If you’re talking about the gravity shield,” Jones spoke up for the
first time, “I must remind you that it is based solely on theoretical knowledge. I don’t know if we can control the fluctuations in the gravity projection. It might not work at all, or it might rip the ship apart.”

  “Better to rip her to pieces than see her in the hands of Scalpers,” Ben said. “I’d die before I just turned the Echo over to those bastards.”

  “Coming here was a huge mistake,” Nance said. “We should have found another way.”

  “Too late for that now,” Ben said as he ran up the ship’s loading ramp and into the cargo bay.

  He set the containment unit gently down inside a crate with other salvaged materials. Then he sprinted across to the engineering bay.

  “Jones, you want to give me a hand?” Ben said.

  “I will help, of course,” the older man said.

  “How close are they?” Ben asked.

  “Eight thousand feet and closing,” Nance said. “I’ve got good images of the group. They’ve spread out.”

  Ben knew that his plan was a long shot. He pulled off the metal housing on the artificial gravity generator. It was a simple machine that cast a bubble of gravity straight out from a silver ball perched on the top. Ben’s plan was to contain that bubble in a rotating band of even stronger gravity. If it worked, the rotating gravity band would act as a shield. Nothing could pass through it to reach the ship without being caught and flung away by the flow of what he hoped would be a very strong gravitational current.

  “What can I do?” Professor Jones asked.

  “First we have to connect power to the modified projector,” Ben said. “Hand me that soldering iron.”

  “The group is passing seven thousand feet,” Nance said. “They’re heavily armed.”

  “So are we,” Magnum said.

  “Tell me you’re inside the ship,” Ben said.

  There was no reply from Magnum.

  “I think he plans on saving the day,” Nance said, her voice as calm as if she were talking about the weather.