The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2)

by Walt Robillard

  “You're free. That's what he said. If he dies, you're free,” Kat spat.

  “No. That's not what he said,” Lotus stammered through her ruined throat being healed by the swarm. “I have to carry him back to the place that trained him. The Tower of Wind and Leaves. I gave my word to do at least that. We're done here.”

  “Let me get my guy out of there and you can have the ship. Finish your task so you can begin your new life away from all of this.”

  “Lady, in this life, there is no getting away from any of it, no matter where you run.”

  Kel dropped the ramp, dragging his case onto the deck, “Nice shot. You okay?”

  “SRS is stitching me back together,” Kat said. “I took some hard hits when they were kicking me. The two goons from his original crew got a few rifle shots in, too. Going to take a few minutes for those to heal up. ”

  Kel looked around to some of the cargo boxes strapped to the deck. “Hey kid. You still there?”

  A slow thumb's up rose from beside the cases. Beth clambered to her feet, shrugging off the dead Sparks that had served as her shield during the Blaster Bug assault.

  “Nice thinking with the Blaster Bugs. Where were you hiding those?” Kat said, punching him on the arm.

  “In the case under my plums,” He said innocently.

  “Isn't that where you had all those dirty seeds?”

  “Nice one. Let's sit you up and let that body of yours work its magic.”

  “If I did that you might not survive it,” Kat said, playing along.

  “Promises, promises.”

  “Ahem,” Beth coughed to get their attention. “Kid present. Gross.”

  Twenty-Four

  “Got it! Meet us in the hangar on deck two!” Lasher said on the run.

  “Sorry about this. I thought we were going to ride that one till the end!” Kel apologized.

  “Don't worry about it Kel. We're moving to you now. We have a friend in that hangar that can help out if things get too busy.”

  “Moving!” Kel responded to the comm.

  “Morpheus, how are they still able to track us?” Lasher asked.

  The hologram appeared beside Lasher. He looked completely real save for calmly floating right next to him at a dead run. “They've flooded the decks with drones. Most are just tiny motion sensors that they're matching with PDTs transmitting from their cell-coms. The rest are the spherical type similar to the one Romeo encountered outside of the locked bay door. This Work-Captain is no slouch. He's working the system with the resources we're not connected to. Case in point.”

  Just ahead of them was a junction leading to a cut through for the opposite side of the ship. One of the hovering eyes poked around the corner, coming to an abrupt stop. It focused its central lens, locking onto the running fugitive. Lasher gave it no time for anything other than a cursory glance. He brought his X-9-A Chimera pistol in line with his vision, loosing a terrible burp of violence toward the little bot. High explosive munitions shredded the outer casing, rending it into little more than confetti.

  “This is going to get rough if we can't beat the system. Hey Fluff, remember those PDTs we cloned on Doseidos?”

  “The ones that almost got Beth stomped?” Fluff asked.

  “Any chance we can mask our movements using them?”

  “You so sneaky, I love it.” Fluff said, adopting Baby Doll's accent.

  “Morpheus?”

  The floating professor was quick to follow the plan, “Yes, Mr. Lashra. Receiving PDT data from Fluff, now. Uploading personnel overlays for you into the system. Good idea. It should appear you are members of the crew moving through the ship unless someone comes face to face with you.”

  “Of course you had to say that last part,” Fluff said, sarcastically.

  Lasher rounded the corner, adopting a shooter's stance with most of his body hidden by the bulkhead. Running toward him were roughly twenty crew in blue jumpsuits. Each person had coal black eyes that didn't flinch at the sight of a man waiting with a gun. Several members of the crew launched into the ceiling, negotiating the pipes and cables with the grace of a spider hungrily stalking its latest capture in the web.

  “That's not creepy at all.” Lasher said, more to himself.

  “Allow me… Boo!” Fluff rolled into the center of the passage with his dual mounted shoulder cannons ready to clear their throats. The first burst from both guns fired at once, shredding the advancing threat into chopped meat. The force of the attack knocked the next few over, grasping for a hand or foothold within the slippery gore.

  Lasher pelted the blue spiders with explosive incendiary rounds, which also served to break some of the piping they were crawling across. Several of the gasses caught fire from the sparking projectiles, dousing the spiders in a caustic flame that burned them from their grip to hang in the center of the hall from a tangle of burning, sparking wires.

  The few remaining Swarmers seemed to be assessing their combat options when Fluff barked. “Really? You're just going to stand there in the open like that?”

  The Doom Cat coughed out a roughshod, rolling ball that spun toward their attackers at a speed that would have made a murder ball player proud. The scratchy looking thing tumbled until it had almost reached the gaggle of Swarmers held back by the smoking ruin of their comrades. It burst apart, splintering into a deluge of crawling black spider-bots that raced toward the broken surge of assailants. Broken or not, burned or not, the spiders leapt on all the blues, sparking into a deluge of energy surging into them. The blues convulsed, straining against the attack rendering them paralyzed.

  “One for you, and one for you,” Fluff prattled in as sing-song a voice as he could muster on his trip through the passage, placing bolt after bolt into the foreheads of the fallen.

  “Don't let Kat catch you doing that.” Lasher said as he ran through the passage.

  If rolling one's eyes made a noise, the Doom Cat tried to approximate it, “I get that they're not all ee-vile, but we're in the middle of a running gunfight after Miss Cyberpants and her boyfriend let the Kat out of the bag. Can't do a lot of saving people when they're trying to shoot you.”

  “Kat out of the bag. I see what you did there. So, where did that electro hairball thing come from?”

  “Can't let you know all my tricks. Got to keep things interesting.” Fluff bounded after his friend.

  “And here I thought you were with me for the peace and quiet. Let's catch up with our people.”

  “Orin. I'm sorry to interrupt your near death celebration, but we're about to make the transiting back to real space. Jump set has us dropping out back to Doseidos,” Morpheus declared.

  “Why wouldn't they want to go all the way back to Tythian?” Lasher mused.

  “Orin, this is Tarot. It could be that they're here for Chen.”

  Lasher was on the move again, running up the passage to draw the fire of anyone looking to get in a fight. Fluff hung back, ready to finish anything his friend got started. Moving into another section of the ship, the duo slowed their roll toward the lift hearing the rhythmic pulse of automatic blaster fire. It was a heavy blaster with a very high cyclic rate. Something was dumping an epic amount of fury in the opposite direction.

  Lasher brought Tarot's icon back into the HUD. “Madame Tarot. I assume the rotary cannon going off is you?”

  “Affirmative. Justice is clearing the manufacturing bay where a batch of blues are trying to stall us. We'll be on the lift to deck three in a moment.”

  “Cause as much trouble as you can. I want to keep the focus on us instead of Kat and Kel. They have to get to that hangar on deck three to set things up. Orin, out.”

  They moved to the lift, flicking the call switch. Checking the HUD in his mask, Morpheus sent a note indicating the incoming elevator was clear. The doors slid open, revealing a five by five meter box, empty of personnel or equipment. After triggering a message through his combat mask, Lasher stepped inside to key the switch for one level above him. He
and Tarot had been leapfrogging levels to throw off their intent. The Work-Captain had been smart to pull Swarmers out of storage to prevent further loss of life to the crew.

  A panel slid open at the top of the car. A man in a blue jumpsuit dropped to the floor beside the red giant. He was tiny in comparison to Lasher's half-Vosi frame. He simply nodded to the man as though he had just gotten on the lift at a random floor. Drop after drop followed until there were four members of the Swarm enhanced personnel standing around him.

  “You know, these work.” Lasher joked, pointing to the doors at opposite ends of the lift.

  “We have a message from Work-Captain Phang.” All four of the blues were speaking in unison.

  “Are you relaying a message or is he speaking through you?”

  “Cease your hostilities and return what you have taken. Turn yourself over to the Work-Captain and your friends will be allowed to leave.”

  Lasher tapped the screen on his cell-com. “Here’s my counter offer…”

  “What does that mean, counter offer?” Phang said to his first officer.

  As she was going to respond, one of the security guards interrupted, “Excuse me, Work-Captain Phang. One of the techs is here to see you. He says his name is Mr. Wen.”

  The Captain's shoulders raised almost to his ears. Both he and the first officer shared a disturbed look. “Do you have guards on him?”

  “Yes, sir. Two of the Swarm. He's been checked for weapons, malicious AI-ware, and explosives. He's clean, sir.”

  “Show him in.” Phang directed.

  The man that shuffled into the command deck was beyond haggard. He was a disheveled mess of torn fabric covered in dried blood that frequently glanced at every shadow as he walked into the CIC. He'd been carrying a weapon when he left the briefing, but was devoid of it now. He wrung his hands together repeatedly, some nervous tick that by whatever turn of a twisted psyche was the only thing keeping the monsters, real or imagined, at bay. “Work-Captain Phang, I have a message from Orin Lashra.”

  “Spill it, man.”

  “He says upon transition back to real space. You are to take the crew and any active blues, that's what he said, blues. You have to take them off the ship.”

  “I have to? And what happens if I don't?” Phang said, directing his annoyance at this member of his crew turned enemy messenger.

  “Then he will detonate the power core, destroying the ship.”

  “And he let you live to tell me this?” The work-captain bellowed.

  “It followed me. Followed me all the way to the forward ladder. It whispered to me the whole time. It whispered the terrible things it would do to all of you before they set the ship on fire. Then he put the little bead in my ear. Made me hide. They made me wait until he said ‘counter offer’. Then I had to come to you. I had to tell you the message.”

  “Is he talking to you now?”

  “No.” Wen shook his head from side to side, as if the action would rid him of the voices and trauma of watching his team die, one by one.

  The first officer tilted her head, looking at him like a mother seeing the holes in a child's lie. “You said something was whispering to you, that it would do terrible things to us. Were you not included in its threat.”

  “I was,” Wen sobbed. “He threatened to make me watch.”

  Phang slammed his hand on the command console. “Instruct the Swarm in that elevator to slam that fool until he passes out. Make it hurt!”

  One of the techs went to work, sliding through vid screens as she had done myriad times before. A technological halo ringed her head, lighting up her eyes in a cerulean glow. She brought her chin up from her station to Mr. Wen, who was flinching as though being slapped.

  “Sir, no joy on the capture order. The mongrel's just killed them.”

  “What about the others on top of the lift?”

  Mr. Wen was still twitching.

  “They're down too, sir. RIM-IV climbed into the shaft and attacked them while the lift was moving.”

  Phang slammed his fist on the console, sliding it across to dump the few data pads onto the floor. He gripped the sides of the station, heaving breaths coming at first, followed by slower more controlled ones.

  “First we lose Phoenix. Now this. How long until we cast out?”

  The tech danced across her control board. “Transition to real space in two minutes, sir.”

  “Get all available personnel to deck three. Have them slave any working ops to their cell-comms or slates. The longboat shuttles are there. Get everyone aboard and seal them up, shields on. We'll execute biohazard protocols and purge the ship. The massive radiation burst will kill anyone not in one of the shuttles.” Phang ordered.

  The First Officer began running commands to the surrounding ops crew as well as to her data slate. After a moment, she called out to the deck. “Casting into real space in three-two –”

  The whirling hazy blur that was hyperspace came into sharp focus all at once into the blaring alarms of the command deck.

  “Report!” shouted the Work-Captain.

  “We jumped straight into some kind of flotilla! Get me an ID on those boats!” the first officer shouted.

  One of the sensor techs shouted from his work station. “Fleet ID confirmed. Second Elysian Fleet, fast attack group, Redemption! Four destroyers, two frigates, and a battleship.”

  “Battle Betty,” Phang whispered. There wasn't a pirate, brigand, or criminal that operated in frontier space that didn't know the name. Piracy was big business beyond the Outer Boundary, with plenty of targets of opportunity to go around. Going into Elysian space to do bad business usually called down the wrath of the strike group headed by Battle Betty, officially known as the Battleship Redemption. Sending a patrol group to secure a sector with a show of force was one thing. Sending Battle Betty was a sure sign that Elysium was not playing around. Whoever was in the cross hairs was going down in cuffs or a coffin.

  “Transmission coming through!” called the sensor officer.

  “This is Captain Lorrea of the ESS Redemption. By order of the Elysian government, you are hereby directed to reverse power and come to boarding distance. We have reports that you have Elysian citizens on board against their will. Failure to comply will result in being fired upon. If you try to cast away, we will hunt you. We will find you. We will make you pay. You have sixty seconds to comply.”

  Phang searched across the holographic representation of real space. The Redemption was perpendicular to the Forest, and had already acquired a target lock with multiple long range engagement systems. Tiger Hawk fighters, supported by Storm Sparrow attack drones, were flitting around the battle space. The two frigates were positioned close, one at broadside beneath the starboard side, and the other aimed in similar fashion to the Betty, on the port ventral.

  “Open channel to her. This is Work-Captain Phang of the Chen Consortium hauler, Tienshan Forest. You have no jurisdiction here, and as we're not hauling Elysian citizens, I would kindly ask you to provide proof or risk litigation and sanctions from our parent organization.”

  He cut the signal on his side, keying his comm for another channel.

  Ms Chen's face filled the comm channel. “Yes, Work-Captain Phang. I am following what's happening. You did well to call. This was expected. In your cell-com you will find instructions for Project Gemini. Follow them. Get your people off the Forest and proceed to coordinates for Outpost-1. I know this wasn't how you wanted your first full command to go, but trust me when I say you've done well. Project Gemini. Do it now.”

  “Yes Ms. Chen.” He quickly keyed the comm to transfer back to the blathering Battle Captain who was spouting some military nonsense about how bad they were going to be beaten. “We will comply, Captain. We are transferring power to forward thrust and will close to within boarding distance. Forest out.”

  Tarot thrust the phased push dagger into the blue, pinning the man to the wall. She shifted her stance, pulling along his ribs to remove a sizab
le portion of flesh. The mangled thing that had once been a man reached for her in a desperate last attempt to fight, only to have his face crushed against the deck by Justice. The bot spun away, leveling another exterminating hurricane in the direction of the onrushing blues.

  Morpheus appeared behind her. “Madame, the captain of the vessel has encountered a Fast Attack Group from Elysium. He is enacting a plan called Project Gemini. He is being directed to bring the freighter within boarding distance to the main vessel so as to abandon ship for Outpost-1 on Doseidos. At that point all containers for the Swarm will be opened. When the fleet boards, they'll be facing an enhanced attack force that will surely overwhelm them.”

  A grenade fired from the 721-X, lobbed into the center of a blue rush. The round exploded in a quiet malevolence that brought the offending crew to their knees. Romeo was behind with his own rifle. He pulled a micro-grenade from his waist, cooking it off so that it would explode on impact. The vial sized munition popped with the force of a standard grenade, showering the passage in a dazzling array of embers that set anything flammable alight. Screams of pain and fury echoed down toward the Cards who were running on borrowed time as their ammunition and space to run was rapidly evaporating.

  “You get that message to the kid and his cat?”

  “Yes, Madame. They are currently moving to deck two where Temperance is providing cover. Kel's pulse beacon is in place, signaling the Elysian fleet to make entry to the ship through that particular hangar. I have the outer doors opened with atmosphere and gravity stable. Our friends are moving back to us now. Lasher would like us all to rendezvous on our level at the hangar.”

  Friends, Tarot thought. What an interesting word for Morpheus to use. Allies she could see. Comrades maybe. To use the word friends implied that the newcomers had ingratiated themselves to the normally aloof bot. This trip had been full of chance encounters and second chances.

  “Where are we on the slice of that emergency hatch?”