Discovery

by Jan Domagala

  “Did he just call me a lady again, that’s twice. I’m no lady, sir, I’m Recon Delta,” Torres joked as they all left the bridge.

  Natasha was about to join them when Sinclair said, “Not you my dear, you remain on board here with us. Your part in this is finished. You’ll be safe here and there’s someone who I’m sure will be pleased to see you.”

  Looking at him a little confused, she asked, “Pleased to see me, who?”

  “Your father.”

  44

  Riley led the team back to the docking bay where ‘C’ Platoon was waiting. He said, “Colonel, we need to get across to that colony undetected. At the moment all their sensors must be focused on us and the planet, we need to find a back door.”

  “What do you suggest?” De Boer asked aware that time was running out on them.

  “Our ship, the Pulsar, has stealth technology. I suggest we take her and sneak up on its blindside and then during a coordinated attack to bring down its shields, we slip on board before the Outlaws can reinitialise them.”

  “It could work but the timing will be critical.”

  “I never said it would be easy, Colonel.”

  “If it was easy, anyone could do it,” De Boer said with a smile. “I’ll ready ‘C’ Platoon while you ready your team.”

  “Copy that Colonel,” Riley agreed. “Artie, we’re coming aboard with some friends. We’re going on another little trip.”

  THE PULSAR HAD DOCKED alongside the Odyssey away from where the action had taken place. The AI had kept her cloaked as per standard instructions when near other vehicles in the Colonial Fleet.

  Riley, the rest of his team, Kurt, Matt, Colonel De Boer and the rest of ‘C’ Platoon all went aboard and made ready for the next phase of the plan.

  “Artie, how long have we got before that super destroyer is within firing range?” Riley asked the moment he reached the bridge.

  “Twenty-five minutes, sir,” replied the AI.

  “Take us to the blindside of the colony Artie and make it fast. We’ll co-ordinate our entry with the attack from the Odyssey so we need to be in place in time, okay?” Riley said.

  “Understood, sir, stand by. I’ll inform you when we are in position.”

  JARED WENT DOWN TO the shuttle bay where the captured craft was being held. He paced in front of it then stopped to stand looking up at the pilot’s section. Through his NI he connected to the internal com. systems and said, “I know you can see me, I’ve come to talk to you, face to face. Your situation is simple; you‘re trapped. There is no way this is going to end well for you if you don’t do as I say.”

  Tarkovic’s voice came through to him as clear as if he was standing in front of him. “What is it you want?” he asked.

  “It’s not what I want as much as this is how it’s going to go. You will release the Prince right now. Once he is out of your craft and safe with us I will order my men to back off and we will release you from the docking bay and you can go on your way.”

  “And what if I refuse?”

  “Then you will die.”

  “If you think you’ll get the Prince from us by storming this craft you must know from your scans that we have breathing units, so pumping gas into our air supply won’t work. If you try to storm us in any other way there’s more than a good chance that the Prince will die in the crossfire. Do you really want to risk it? I’ll tell you how this is going to go...”

  “No you won’t, you’ll listen to me and listen good. If you don’t release the Prince now we will come and get him. I don’t care if he lives or dies but one thing I do know, you all will die. I’ll simply tell his father that you killed him.”

  “You think you can bluff me?”

  “Who said I was bluffing? You have ten seconds to release the Prince then you die.”

  “You would never jeopardise the life of someone who you’ve been sent to rescue, it would ruin your reputation.”

  “If you believe that then you’re a fool and you, your men and the Prince will all die.”

  “Don’t insult my intelligence. I know this is a bluff, now if you want to talk terms, go ahead, I’m listening.”

  “Okay then listen to this. When we storm your craft and you all die, who will know what really happened? We will, so whatever story we decide to spin on this will be believed simply because there will be no one left alive to dispute it. My reputation that you seemed to be so worried about would be secure, I’ll still get paid and you will still be dead. How’s that work for you? You now have five seconds.”

  Silence.

  Jared counted down, “Four seconds.”

  There was still silence from inside the captured craft.

  “Three.”

  “Two.”

  “One.”

  The hatch hissed open just as Jared and his men were about to move.

  Prince Aswan appeared in the open hatch with his hands held high and a look of terror on his face.

  “Come with me, sir, you’re safe now,” Jared said calmly offering his hand to the terrified captive.

  “As soon as we are free of the docking bay we will open the bay doors and you are free to go like I promised,” Jared said through his NI to those inside the captured craft. As he backed out of the docking bay, he never took his eyes off the captured craft just in case they tried anything stupid.

  Once they were all clear and the doors closed and sealed behind them, Jared turned to Mikal and said, “Release the outer doors.”

  “Okay, you were true to your word and for that I thank you. You must know though that our craft does not have jump capabilities so where would we go?” said Tarkovic from inside the attack craft.

  “That, my friend, is not my problem. You attacked my men, kidnapped a Royal Prince and now that it all turned sour you want my help? I have two words for you, no way.”

  “You’re pissed, I can appreciate that and I respect that, but if you could at least help us to repair our engines then at least we could travel to the nearest planet.”

  “Which part of ‘no way’ are you struggling with?” Jared said then turned to Mikal and said, “Flush out the docking bay, I want that vermin off my ship.”

  Mikal operated the controls at the side of the door that would expel all the air from the docking bay to the vacuum of deep space, causing everything inside the room to be sucked out through the door.

  “Done Jared,” he said.

  “Good, now let’s get the Prince home,” Jared said and he faced Aswan to say, “If you’ll follow me, sir, I’ll show you to your quarters where you can rest until we reach your planet.”

  Tarkovic and the rest of the Outlaws inside the attack craft felt the craft thrust out from the docking bay. From their viewscreen they watched as the huge starship moved away leaving them behind.

  “What the hell do we do now, sir?” asked one of them.

  “I’m working on it,” Tarkovic replied deep in thought.

  RILEY STOOD ON THE bridge of the Pulsar along with the other members of the Wildfire Team and Kurt. They were looking across at the Outlaw colony through the viewscreen and Kurt said, “It’s a remarkable feat for them to pull this off for so long without anyone from Col Sec learning the truth.”

  Riley said, “Well it all ends today.”

  Kurt nodded his head in agreement.

  “Artie, inform the Odyssey that we are in position and awaiting their word to go,” Riley said putting their plan into operation.

  “Colonel, make sure you and your boys are ready to move. The second we get the signal we’ll have just seconds to get across to that colony before they reinitialise its shields,” Riley said through his NI to De Boer who was with ‘C’ Platoon in the docking bay of the Pulsar.

  “We’re ready Captain, just say the word,” De Boer replied.

  “As soon as you get on board the colony, Colonel, I want you to make as much noise as possible, keep whoever is there distracted long enough for me and my team to get to the C and C deck and destr
oy any data on this project we can find. If you find anything pertaining to any research that was done down on Tartaran, destroy that too. You’ll have around ten minutes to complete your portion of this mission then rendezvous back at the Pulsar ready to return to the Odyssey,” Riley said.

  “Copy that, Captain, we won’t let you down,” De Boer replied.

  “Come on Odyssey, make your move, time’s running out here,” Riley said almost in a whisper.

  ON THE BRIDGE OF THE Odyssey General Sinclair stood at the side of the command chair in which Captain Biggs lounged almost nonchalantly. They had just received the notification of readiness from the Pulsar’s AI and were making final preparations to attack the colony.

  “How long before the super destroyer enters firing range?” asked Sinclair.

  “Twenty-two minutes, sir,” replied Biggs in his cool, calm, deep bass voice.

  “Inform the Wildfire Team of how long they have and start your attack, Captain,” Sinclair said.

  “Copy that,” said Biggs and then issued the orders that would start the attack.

  The gun crews opened fire on the colony with the high intensity pulse cannons battering its shields with pulsed plasma bolts followed by salvo after salvo of Hellfire missiles.

  “As soon as their shields go down, inform Riley and his team then cease firing until we get the ‘go’ from them that they are safely back on board the Pulsar,” Sinclair ordered.

  INSIDE THE COLONY MARKO was furious. As soon as the attack had started on his domain, he shouted orders to his crew to return fire.

  “Gun crews target that ship; I want it blown to hell and back,” he shouted into the com. link, then added, “Recall all the fighters and tell them to target that ship too.”

  “Sir, the shields are buckling, all the firepower levelled at them are going to overload them unless we do something,” replied the soldier at ops.

  “What do you suggest?” Marko snarled.

  “We have to take them offline so we can reconfigure them. If we don’t and they overload, we could lose them altogether and we’d be powerless to stop any attack,” suggested ops.

  Marko thought about it for a second or two as his colony continued taking fire from all quarters, then he came to a decision.

  “Okay, take them offline and do what you have to and be quick about it. The longer they are offline the more vulnerable we are,” he said.

  Ops said, “I’ll be as fast as I can, sir.”

  “Wait until the attack craft are here so they can run interference while the shields are down,” Marko instructed.

  “Copy that, sir,” replied ops.

  The attack craft had chased the shuttle back from the planet’s surface and were continuing their attack when the order came through to them. It only took a few seconds for them to get into position and when they had, ops took the shields offline.

  On the bridge of the Odyssey, they saw the shields around the colony go offline and their pulsed plasma bolts start to get through to the defenceless colony.

  “Give them the ‘go’ signal,” Sinclair said.

  RILEY HEARD THE COMMAND and said, “Right people, let’s go.”

  The Pulsar’s AI moved the craft closer to the blind side of the colony and the team made their way across once it had docked without anyone knowing. Riley led everyone through the docking hatch and into the confines of the redesigned Outlaw Colony.

  “Colonel you know what you have to do. Matt you’re with me, we’re heading for the C and C,” Riley said.

  Kurt said, “I’m with you Jake.”

  “Right you all know what you have to do so let’s do it. Remember people, the clock is ticking; we have less than twenty minutes to get what we came for and get clear.”

  With that, everyone went to work.

  NATASHA REACHED HER father’s quarters on the Odyssey. She stood outside the door and took a deep breath before entering. She knew what her father’s reaction was going to be, he had never wanted her in the line of fire and her decision to join the Security Division of the Diplomatic Corp was somewhat of a compromise. Now though, knowing what she had been through and the fact he had travelled all this way to be here when she was found, told her only one thing, she was in for a load of ‘I told you so’.

  The door opened and there he was standing in the middle of the room, his hands behind his back, as he appeared deep in thought.

  “Hello Dad,” she said quietly, her voice little more than a whisper.

  He looked up and his craggy face split wide with a huge smile. The relief in his eyes to see her safe seemed to wash the strain of the past few hours away from him.

  He came towards her, threw his arms around her, and held her tight.

  “My God, I thought I’d never see you again,” he said and when she looked up into his eyes she saw them glistening with tears of joy and relief.

  “I never expected you to come all this way Dad, but I must admit it’s good to see you. I’m sorry for what’s happened and I know you won’t believe me but it wasn’t my fault,” she said allowing the words to tumble out over her lips in a torrent, once started impossible to stop.

  “How did you end up in there anyway?” Garvey asked.

  “Prince Aswan bribed the captain of the cruise liner to take us there. Apparently, he had a fascination with the place and wanted to see it firsthand. None of us knew what we were walking into or expected what we experienced there either,” Natasha explained.

  “No one would. What you experienced down there was out of someone’s worst nightmare,” Garvey said.

  Natasha stepped back from her father to look at him. “You know what it’s like down there?” she said.

  “I was on the first expedition down there over fifty years ago, so yes, I know exactly what it’s like down there and it’s not something I care to repeat anytime soon. I still have nightmares about the place,” Garvey said suddenly realising that he had divulged something to his daughter that he had never told anyone.

  “Is that why you never wanted me to join the military? Never wanted me in the line of fire as you put it?” she asked.

  “The galaxy is a huge, very scary place Tasha, I knew from first hand of its dangers. I just didn’t want you in harm’s way where you’d face what I faced. It’s a Dad thing, you wouldn’t understand,” he said.

  “You’re wrong Dad, I do understand, you love me and you just wanted to keep me safe. I’m so sorry for all the arguments we had about this, I understand now.”

  “No need,” he said and she hugged him once more.

  “What happens now Dad?” she asked as she buried her head into his shoulder.

  “We have to trust that the General and his men will get us all out of here safely as soon as they get what they want from here.”

  “What about Prince Aswan, he’s my responsibility I should go after him,” she said.

  “He was taken by the Outlaws I believe. If he’s across in the colony I’m sure they’ll find him but you, my girl, are staying here where it’s relatively safe. You’ve done enough for now.”

  “Shouldn’t we do something to help them?” she asked guiltily.

  “We are doing something, we’re allowing them to get on with what they do best, their job. If we tagged along we’d only get in their way, it’s best we let them get on with it,” he replied.

  “You’re right of course. Those guys are the best, if anyone can get this done, it’s them,” she said.

  “Let’s hope you’re right and they are as good as you say and the General seems to think,” Garvey said. Natasha looked at him thoughtfully as she said a silent prayer hoping that she was right about them.

  MARKO WAS STILL PARADING around the Command and Control deck like a caged tiger. When he heard the intruder alarm sound throughout the complex his fury increased.

  “What the fuck, how in seven hells did they get anyone on board this colony?” he shouted, his face growing red from the fury building inside him. He was like a volcano about to er
upt and the rest of the staff on the Command deck knew it. They followed his orders and kept their heads down just in case that fury was about to be vented on them.

  “Get some men over to where the breach is,” he growled then added, “NOW!” at the top of his voice.

  KURT AND THE WILDFIRE Team were heading down a corridor following Artie’s directions when a team of marines appeared from around a bend. They were armed with the Remm Mk III assault rifles the same as Elysium Alliance Special Forces, the Black Knights.

  “Fire!” commanded the leader of the group and the rest of them brought up their rifles and started pouring pulsed plasma bolts towards them.

  They were trapped in an open corridor with no cover to hide behind and no escape.

  ON THE BRIDGE OF THE Odyssey, ops said, “Sir, I’ve just had some new data on the super destroyer that’s approaching.”

  “Go ahead ops, what is it?” Biggs asked from the Command Chair.

  “I’m getting clear readings on the craft and it’s not what we first thought, sir,” replied ops.

  Sensing something was wrong, Sinclair said, “Put your readings on the forward viewscreen.”

  Ops did as commanded and the image of the starship appeared in total clarity. Sinclair took a deep intake of breath as he recognised the configuration.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Biggs asked also recognising the craft.

  “I’m afraid it is, Captain,” replied Sinclair. “It also proves that MaxCorp had been providing tech to the Alliance because that ship is a variation of the Nemesis that attacked Col Sec HQ not so long ago.”

  “Does that mean things have just got worse or not, do you think?” asked Biggs, concern written all over his face. He knew that if that craft decided to attack they would be in big trouble. The Nemesis had more firepower with triple hull plating and secondary shielding, so if this Alliance version was anything like the original, the only chance they would have against them would be to run away. The Odyssey could not stand and fight against such a craft alone, it would be overpowered in no time and all hands would be lost.