Sleepers and Scouts

by Phillip Murrell

  The Templars rise from the table.

  “Gallery,” Votary says. “Before you go with Lottery and Seal Pup, please follow me.”

  “What for?”

  “We have some relics collected from our ancestors. We make it a point to bring new recruits by them immediately to see if any of them speak to you. If we have one of your ancestor’s belongings, your own power will increase substantially.”

  “Sure. I’ll take any advantage. Lead the way.”

  Gallery follows Votary through the expansive base that once served as Abel’s ship. He takes her past the normal armory and activates the door leading to the special one with three dozen items on display. As Gallery approaches the entrance, she pauses and shakes her head.

  “What should I be looking for?” Gallery asks.

  “Just listen. If something belongs to you, it will call you over. Do you feel anything?”

  “Yes. It’s faint, but I do feel something.”

  “Really?”

  “You sound shocked.”

  “Honestly, I am. It’s been a while since someone has had a relic speak to him or her. This has become more of a ritual than an actual hope. I’ll let you lead the way from now on.”

  “Okay, but while I search, do you mind telling me what’s with the helmet?”

  “It’s to protect my identity.”

  “Even from your friends?”

  “From everyone. It gets too complicated otherwise. Ask Seal Pup or Lottery if you don’t believe me.”

  “I believe you.”

  Gallery walks among the individual glass domes, each holding a Gudz artifact. She walks past the Helm of Darkness that Perseus wore. Next, she passes Fragarach. The blade shines in the artificial light of The Lair. Gallery slaps her head again as she passes Hades’ bident. She glances for a moment, then continues to walk past. Next, she passes Chaac’s lightning axe, then the Seven-League Boots. Gallery stops and stares at the object after that. She hesitantly reaches toward it.

  Votary reads the inscription. “Apollo’s Bow. So, you’re a descendent of the Sun God. That makes sense.”

  Votary types a specific combination of keys. The dome surrounding the bow opens. Votary reaches in and grabs the bow.

  “Summon it to your hand,” Votary instructs Gallery.

  “What?”

  “Call it over. It’s the final test. If it truly belongs to you, it’ll float over.”

  “Sure.”

  Gallery reaches out her hand. Votary ensures his power doesn’t interfere. The bow gently floats through the air and settles itself in her palm. Gallery wraps her fingers around the golden grip. She almost drops the relic, but Votary anticipates her reaction and is there to support her through the ordeal. After several minutes, the intensity passes, and Votary is able to let her stand on her own.

  “What was that?” she asks.

  “That was your power multiplying. These relics were once required to use your augmentation. Eventually Gudz and Malignant developed a way to give powers without requiring constant contact with a totem. However, if you have both, you can absorb the relic’s power. Now that the power of the weapon has transferred to you, you could forget about it, but most of us prefer to take them on patrols anyway.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I can’t speak for the others, but for me it lets me feel a connection to a long-lost family.” Votary sighs. “Enough history. Let’s go back and make your new teammates jealous of you for more than just your fame, beauty, riches, and youth.”

  “Sure.”

  Gallery follows Votary back to Seal Pup and Lottery.

  Chapter 9

  The Templars are battle-ready and assembled around the conference table in full armor, except for Power, who only has transformed legs, but a human torso and face. Behind each chair is a stack of weapons. They have both melee weapons and firearms piled neatly behind the corresponding Templar who will wield them. Again, Power is the only exception to this.

  “I hope you were all able to get at least a little sleep last night, because it won’t happen again for some time,” Votary says to start the brief.

  “I did,” Lottery says. “Sahil covered down for me.”

  Tired Templars leer at Lottery through their helmets. More out of envy than malice.

  “Lottery and Seal Pup, with some help from SOT, were able to put together a feasible plan, and today is the day that we put it into action,” Votary continues. “I’ll turn it over to them.”

  Seal Pup and Saager stand before the other Templars. They interact with the massive five hundred inch screen in front of the team as they detail the steps of their plan.

  “First,” Seal Pup starts, “let me begin by saying that you are without a doubt the most battle-ready team I’ve ever worked with. The hours of sweat you’ve poured for us is appreciated. Now, here’s the plan. First, we’ll have to load everyone into the two ships we have. Votary will pilot the Valhalla and take Lottery, Port, Stage, SOT, Karmic, Stitch, and me. Nijigen will pilot the Eden with Air Tank and First Line.”

  “What about us?” Power asks, indicating himself and Gallery.

  “I wanted to ask you about that first,” Saager answers. “You’re a technomorph; can you replicate the Eden?”

  Power shrugs. “I think so. Maybe not as big, but I can take off and get myself there.”

  “Good. Assuming you can transform, I want you to take Gallery. If not, then Knight Terror and Gallery will also ride in the Valhalla.”

  “Night Terror?” SOT asks. “You literally love that label.”

  “Nah, it’s with a K this time. I’m armored up and ready to terrorize,” Power answers.

  “Focus,” Votary shouts.

  Seal Pup is about to continue, but Karmic raises his hand.

  “Karmic?”

  “I was a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force for over twelve years. Do you think maybe I’m a better candidate for piloting the Eden?”

  Seal Pup looks to Votary for approval to make the switch.

  “He’s done well with the simulators. It’s your call,” Votary answers.

  “Any objections, Nijigen?” Seal Pup asks.

  “Hell, no. I was going to suggest the same thing.”

  “Alright then, Nijigen is a passenger on the Valhalla now, and Karmic will pilot the Eden. Moving on,” Seal Pup says. “I want drones on the shoulders of those with medium or heavy armor. This means that only Knight Terror and Nijigen go without robot little buddies.”

  The Templars nod. Many already have the reinforced shoulder armor.

  “Saager will now tell you about the Malignant ship’s defenses.”

  Saager takes control of the brief. “The ship is a corvette, so it’s smaller than most in the Malignant fleet. The Malignant are stringent rule followers, so there are no variations on the design. This is good for us because The Lair’s library had exceptional data on this class of ship.”

  “You’re positive it’s a corvette?” Votary interrupts.

  “Yes. We compared the images from last year to what the technical manuals describe, and we can’t see any discrepancies.”

  “Good,” Votary comments.

  “This means,” Saager continues, “that the Malignant will have only two fighters that they can launch from their small bay. They’ll be our first targets. Malignant ships are built for speed, not strength, so they won’t survive too many rocket hits from either the Eden or the Valhalla. Karmic, they’ll be your responsibility.”

  “Only two? That won’t take long,” Karmic boasts.

  “I love the optimism, but don’t allow cockiness to cross over into arrogance,” Seal Pup says.

  Saager continues, “While we engage the fighters, remember to watch out for the rockets from the corvette. They’ll only have one gunner manning the weapons station, but he’ll ha
ve numerous tools at his disposal.”

  “Why just one?” Air Tank asks.

  She’s quite nervous and breathes loudly, a contradiction to how she finishes any physical activity.

  “Take a breath,” Votary advises. “Save the adrenaline for the fight.”

  “I’ll try,” Air Tank says.

  “Both Gudz and Malignant crews usually operate this way. Most train more for the melee combat of a boarding party. It seems they consider it a purer form of combat. This is both good news and bad news for us. Good news, because we should be able to board quickly, but bad news because once we’re on the ship, it’ll be slow moving through the vessel,” Saager finishes.

  “I’m ready,” Stage says. “Karmic isn’t the only warrior here. I served in the Irish Army many years ago.”

  “That brings up a good point,” Votary says. “How many of you have military experience outside of your lives as Templars?”

  Votary looks around the table and notices the hands that are up. They include Seal Pup, Stage, Karmic, Nijigen, and SOT.

  “Better than I thought,” Seal Pup muses. He focuses on SOT’s hand. “Who did you serve with?”

  “That’s not important right now,” SOT replies.

  “I say it is,” Seal Pup presses.

  SOT stands her ground. “If Votary can have secrets, so can I.”

  Seal Pup gives up and nods to Saager to continue the briefing.

  “Once the fighters are destroyed, we can begin our attack to board.”

  “How?” Stitch asks.

  “We’re gonna use Gallery. Her power will burn through the outer hull and give us access to the now empty bay. That’s where we’ll enter.”

  “Are you sure it’ll work?” Gallery asks. “I don’t know if I can take on a spaceship.”

  “We analyzed your attack against the Malignant drop pods. Using some schematics on the corvette and including your increased power from you bow, we’re confident that you can get us inside in a limited amount of time,” Seal Pup answers.

  “The problem is going to be giving you the time to shoot. You’ll have to burn through the shields protecting the corvette, then melt through the armor. That’s a bit hard to do if Knight Terror has to keep dodging rocket barrages,” Saager says.

  “This makes it imperative that the Eden and the Valhalla harass the gunner and make him focus on you. It’ll give Knight Terror the freedom to hover in the perfect spot,” Seal Pup finishes.

  “So, my metal ass is just going to be hanging out in the breeze? Ah hell nah!”

  “I told you he was a coward. This plan relies too much on him,” SOT criticizes.

  Power stares at SOT with his human eyes. She ignores him.

  Saager continues, “Once Gallery opens the door, the Valhalla will drop each Templar in, beginning with Lottery and Votary. After the Valhalla empties its complement, Knight Terror will land, then the Eden will eject its crew. Seal Pup.”

  Seal Pup takes over. “The moment we enter, we’ll have three targets and anywhere from a hundred to one-fifty pissed off crew members to deal with. We’ll stay as one group. We don’t have enough to split up. Not even with Lottery bringing his army. You’ll have to replace them the moment one goes down. How many clones are you up to now?”

  “I can get close to fifty before I become uncomfortable,” Lottery answers.

  “I hope that’s enough,” Votary states.

  “We’ll move down the corridors, clearing as we go, to the auxiliary power station. This will be lightly guarded. We should be able to take it and hold it. Once we do, we’ll have to split up. Lottery will leave ten clones, along with Nijigen, First Line, and Gallery. That should be sufficient fire power to hold the ground while the rest of us move on to the next target.”

  “Before I forget,” Votary says, “I want Stitch to have a Lottery honor guard of four at all times. Things will be much worse for us if she goes down.”

  “Hell, yeah, you need to watch my cute ass at all times,” Stitch seconds.

  The Templars share a small laugh. Seal Pup pauses to see if there are any questions. When he gets helmeted stares back, he continues.

  “Auxiliary power is worthless to hold if they still have the bridge, we’ll then move on them there. Fighting will be fiercer for this part of the battle because the Malignant will have more avenues to approach us from. I’m hoping that by taking out their backup first, we’ll confuse them and perhaps have them protect other parts of the ship. Once we take over the bridge. We’ll destroy it. If the bridge is destroyed, our control of the ship will come from auxiliary power, which is much easier to defend.”

  “What’s the last target?” Karmic asks.

  “The prison cells,” Seal Pup answers. “A corvette can hold up to twenty prisoners. We know they grabbed augments yesterday. I assume many will be there.”

  “And probably willing to join our cause,” Stage jubilantly says.

  “That’s the hope,” Seal Pup agrees. “After that, it’s a simple case of finding any stragglers and killing or capturing them.”

  “What about Malignant augments?” Port nervously asks.

  Saager shakes his head. “I don’t know about that. I was hoping Abel would fill us in, but he’s still MIA.”

  “They’ll be on board,” SOT confidently states.

  “Only officers and senior enlisted will have any unique augmentations. The junior enlisted will have simple augmentations that are unlikely to give us difficulty,” Votary adds. “Regardless of their power, they’ll all still be armored and armed with weapons that can penetrate our own, so don’t take any of them lightly. Anything else?”

  “Just make sure you check your fire,” Seal Pup urges. “And not just for friendly fire reasons. A stray shot could penetrate the hull, and that’ll end our assault quickly. I’m looking at you, Stage. We don’t need an entire ship turn to liquid while we’re running through it.”

  “It wouldn’t be the whole ship, just the bits that I hit with my power,” Stage informs.

  “Anything else?” Votary asks.

  He looks at each Templar and receives silence and shaking heads.

  “Good, grab your gear and let’s board our ships.”

  “Don’t forget to take a piss first,” Lottery warns. “It would be rather embarrassing to soil yourself in the fight.”

  The Templars laugh and grab their gear. Some take Lottery’s recommendation and others take a quick moment for prayer. They move to the landing bay where the Eden and Valhalla await their passengers.

  Lottery grabs SOT’s arm in the hallway and pulls her to the side.

  “Let go of me!”

  “Calm down, you aren’t the big bad here. You need to keep your mouth shut a little more.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I know you’re an augment. Somehow you know the answer to questions you have no business knowing.”

  “I have informants in The Enterprise,” SOT counters.

  “Don’t give me that shit. You’re an augment. You just can’t tell anyone because your power stops working if they know.”

  “How can you know this?”

  “Saager figures things out pretty easily. Don’t worry, none of the other Templars know, but they’re a smart bunch. If you answer everything, they’ll figure it out. You have to be wrong sometimes and only speak if you know it’s gonna end in death and disaster.”

  “I understand. How many of you do know?”

  “So far I think it’s just me. Nothing will work on Votary, so I guess that makes two of us you can’t help. I’ll do my best to make sure a third name isn’t added.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you at takeoff.”

  Lottery leaves SOT standing there, ensuring that all thirty throwing knives are snugly in their sheathes around her body
.

  Votary stands somewhat near Power, but with enough space to not interfere with any transformation.

  “Time to be Knight Terror,” Votary says.

  Power takes a moment to look at the Eden, then mimics its appearance as he turns his body into a replica twenty percent smaller.

  “It worked.” Knight Terror’s voice comes from the nose of the Eden copy.

  “Good,” Votary comments. “Gallery, your chariot awaits.”

  Gallery is dressed in shiny gold armor with a microphone emblem above her heart. She has Apollo’s Bow slung on her left shoulder and no other weapons.

  “Great,” she says as she climbs inside.

  “Knight Terror, adjust the seat inside so that she can stick her hands out your nose and fire a double concentrated beam when needed,” Votary says.

  “What about space?” Gallery asks with trepidation in her voice.

  “Our armor can take the vacuum of space. Just make sure everything is locked in place, and you’ll be fine.”

  Knight Terror makes the necessary adjustments, and Gallery finds that she’s quite comfortable and can easily aim when the time comes.

  “This isn’t bad,” she comments.

  “I’ll treat you right, girl. I spent so many nights dreaming about getting all up inside of you. I guess I had it backwards.”

  “Gross!” Gallery shouts.

  Votary taps the side of Knight Terror, and both Templars fall in a pile on the floor. One nude and paralyzed.

  Power quickly transforms his body into his default robot appearance and stands back up.

  “What the hell, man?” Knight Terror asks with arms held wide.

  “Do you want me to poke you again?”

  “No,” Knight Terror quickly says.

  “Then apologize to the lady and act like a gentleman from here on out.”

  Knight Terror turns to a pissed Gallery.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Whatever. Just don’t talk or touch me.” Gallery groans.

  Air Tank and Stage admire First Line’s massive machine gun. It has rotating barrels and a backpack feeding it ammunition.