“The controls are yours. Let me go down and see if I can find some way to lighten our load, or where the telenium rods are stored,” Eerika said.
Eerika tapped a glass pad and the door slid open. She found a ladder and began to descend into what she believed was the room near the thrusters. Because of the volatility of telenium, she doubted that it was stored in the same room but hoped she could find something of value or a clue to the reasons for the excessive weight. Eerika paused as she began to smell an odd odor that, in the midst of their getaway, had gone unnoticed. She climbed back up and looked around. Following the odor, she entered a long corridor with four doors on each side. From behind the metal doors, she could hear faint sounds that suggested that she and Einar were not the only living things on the transport. Caution summoned her to pull the shoulder strap on the PX and retrieved the weapon. She changed the setting to full plasma charge, unsure of what it was she was facing but certain that if need be, it had to die on the first shot. It was a risk using such a powerful round, but Eerika knew that she was in the center of the craft and didn’t feel at risk for penetrating the exterior.
Eerika took a slow deep breath and slapped the door control. The door slid to the left and disappeared into the wall. She couldn’t help but gasp at what was before her. Eerika lowered the weapon. The walls and floor were aligned with shackled people. While they had the dark hair and skin color similar to that of the Egyptians, their faces and clothing were different. Some were covered by tattoos on their arms and upper body. The people looked exhausted and sickly. Some seemed lethargic not even noticing or acknowledging her presence.
Eerika quickly moved down the corridor slamming her hand onto the controls. The doors slid open to reveal the same scene over and over. She now understood why the transport was so heavy. The people were packed to capacity in each room, shoulder to shoulder. In some instances, they were on top of each other. The odor that had drawn her was excrement and bodily fluids. The scene was grotesque and Eerika was at a loss. The people needed to be freed, they needed food and water, but she was unsure what would happen if she let them all free. Would they attack them? Would there be a mass panic that would cause the craft to crash? While in gravity, the shifting of so much weight may have proved to be catastrophic. What would be the consequence?
Eerika moved with haste back to the bridge. She could see what looked like a river on the horizon, “If that looks like a clean water source we need to set down. I know why the transport is so heavy. This is a slave trader. There are eight rooms over capacity with indigenous people back there. There may be more, I am not sure, but we are way beyond our capacity.”
“If we do, then we are all dead,” he said pointing at the screen. Three oblong images were on the edge of the desert in the area from which they had come. “They will be on us in a few minutes. We have to hit the atmosphere and get into celerity. We don’t have time for this.”
He could see that her hands were shaking, “Are you okay?”
She looked wearily up at him, “Those people will die very quickly if we go into celerity. All of this is just a little much. This is not what I am used to. We haven’t had food or much water ourselves in a while. But what is back there is horrific,” she stood, “look…I am sure that some of them will die regardless. I assure you, by the time we get to Econ, most of them will be dead.”
“Well, if we land and those are hostiles following us…looking for us, then we are dead anyway. We can’t outrun them unless we get into celerity right away,” Einar said feeling a sense of defeat and pondering how to counter it.
“If we find an opening, we can at least let as many off as possible,” Eerika urged.
“Too late…Shaudaku!” Einar said pointing to the screen.
“What?” Eerika replied astonished at how quickly they had been overrun.
“I have a visual. Three Shaudaku approaching. Will engage in less than thirty seconds. We are too low and too heavy to make a run for it,” Einar said in disgust slamming his hand down on the panel.
Eerika looked over the control panel and activated the Gabari guns on the aft. Four of the large guns moved at her command as she aimed for the three fighters heading towards them. She fired creating a horizontal line of blue lasers that was simply avoided by the smaller, agile flying craft by minimally increasing altitude. The rounds faded away and fell to the ground with an explosion that sent sand a hundred feet into the air. She fired again, raised the barrels and fired again. She continued to do so creating what looked like a blue net of lasers flying through the air. One of the Shaudaku nosed up and increased its altitude while the other two turned away to avoid the rounds. When they returned fire, Einar did his best to make the transport as difficult a target to hit as possible. Despite his efforts, the overloaded transport was not very responsive or able to do much outside of increasing and decreasing altitude while flying in a straight line. Round after round found their mark blasting large holes in the transport. They felt each impact as it ripped apart the exterior exposing them to a fatal kill shot that would certainly blow up the transport. There was an explosion on the port side.
“Thruster is gone. I have to set it down,” Einar fought to keep the transport from going into a spin. He pulled back and decelerated as much as possible and the transport slammed down belly first. The spacecraft dug a large rut through the sandy desert. Pieces of metal peeled off the bottom exterior by the contact with the dense sand. The forward momentum stopped and the transport’s aft rose up into the air for a second, then slammed back down with enough force to make Einar think it had broken in half. The three Shaudaku circled the transport but continued to fire despite having neutralized the craft.
Eerika ran to the rooms where the imprisoned natives were visibly shaken. Fear seemed to be on a new level as the healthier ones were nearly hysterical. Eerika studied the shackles on the wrists and ankles of the prisoners. There was no place to use a key and there was no visible locking mechanism where the metal overlapped. She attempted to pull the two sections open but was unable to do so. She could hear the lasers striking the transport and burning their way through the metal.
A female captive looked at her and attempted to communicate. She spoke her native tongue but was unable to get Eerika to understand her. With her nose, she motioned for the doorway. Eerika stood and walked over and realized that the touchpad that she had used to open the doors controlled the locks as well. She tapped on the screen and the lights went out and the room became pitch black apart from the illuminated touchpads. She tapped again in reversed sequence and the lights came back on. After a few minutes, she became frustrated and wanted to shoot the thing, which was silly and would possibly mean no opportunity to set the people free. Eerika continued to tap and her heart leapt as she finally heard the sound of the shackles coming apart and the clanking of metal on metal as hundreds of them fell to the floor. She tried to recall the sequence and went room by room repeating it. The condition of the people worsened the further Eerika moved toward the rear of the transport.
The transport shook with each impact made by the relentless assault by the Imhas fighter pilots. Einar was uncertain of how long it would take for the lasers of the Shaudaku to make it past the outer wall and pose a threat to everyone onboard. He kicked at what looked to be an exit on the exterior wall of the transport, but it would not budge. There was a loud explosion but he instinctively realized that it hadn’t come from the transport. He ran back to the observation window that was now riddled with cracks from the impacts of lasers and saw one of the Shaudaku as it fell nose first into the desert sand and exploded. It was followed by a second explosion. The display caught his attention as a second craft fell from the sky and exploded to the rear of the transport.
He looked up and instantly recognized the Atta as it came into view. The Atta was the Viennin military’s most advanced and agile fighter. It was known best for its eight guns and the capability to shoot accurately in a full three-hundred- and sixty-degree radiu
s simultaneously. In combat, most enemy spacecraft would attack from above or below, which was of little consequence when the Atta flew into a corkscrew maneuver and sent lasers in all directions. With its speed and maneuverability, the Atta was the most advanced, elite fighter and was respected throughout the universe.
Einar noticed a fourth Shaudaku as it came out of a barrel roll in an attempt to get a shot at an Atta that was on its tail. Just as it came out of the roll, a blast from the guns of an Atta fighter hit the mark incapacitating the Imhas fighter’s propulsion sending it on an out of control descent from the sky. Einar looked on in horror as it was certain that the Shaudaku was on a direct collision course with the transport. With the spacecraft on its belly, the ramp was of no use to them. The door on the exterior wall of the bridge was jammed shut. The transport suddenly felt like a tomb of death and he realized that they were helplessly trapped. Einar stared at the approaching Shaudaku and his life flashed before him.
“Brace yourself,” he yelled several times as he ran from the bridge using the few seconds he had to protect himself as much as possible. Before he could get fully out of the doorway, an explosion shook the transport. Einar fell to the floor but realized that the impact was not what he had anticipated. He rose to his feet and looked back through the doorway and to the bridge. On the ground less than a hundred feet away was the Shaudaku engulfed in flames. The trajectory that had it in on a collision course with the transport had obviously been altered. He assumed that it was forced to the ground by one of the Atta pilots.
Einar could hear the rumblings of the freed people around the interior of the craft. He needed to find a way out of the transport. There was a ping on the exterior door he attempted to open prior to the impact of the Shaudaku. The door turned a bright red-orange and the stench of melting metal and smoke filled the bridge. In less than a minute, there was a hole with a glowing outline of cooling plasma and metal. An armed drone darted through the opening and instantly noticed Einar and aimed its weapon at him. The camera on the drone zoomed in on his face and a few seconds later its speakers came to life, “Agent Akre?”
“Cyperien? Is that you?” he inquired.
“We got your message from the beacon. Is Eerika Volden with you?”
“Yes. Hundreds of people in shackles are onboard too. They are sick. They need water and medical attention. These people, they are native, but oddly they are from Earth too. An entire city of people from Earth. I’m not sure why.”
Einar could hear Eerika’s feet on the metal floor as she approached the bridge. She looked up at the armed drone and melted opening. She gave it little attention and was startled when it called out her name. Eerika recognized the voice and for the first time was able to realize that they were going to survive the situation. She paused briefly taking in the relief brought on by the rescue. She caught her breath then replied, “These people down here…they are not Egyptian. They are Mayan, Aztec and Incan.”
“Are you certain?” Cyperien asked.
“Yes. There is a white male who says that his name is Dr. Dennis Smith. He says he is an American who was abducted in Quintana Roo, Mexico. He described the Tisht down to the asaziga symbol burned on their wrists. He is weak, malnourished, but seems to be okay. He is trying to help me communicate with the people down there.”
Einar looked back up to the drone, “That is not all, Asger Ulven has a hand in all of this. He was here.”
Chapter 24
“This is certainly an upgrade from your Stur Craft. I still can’t get over how nice this transport is,” Sachi commented as she lounged on a large contoured sofa that was mounted to the floor. The firmness and temperature adjusted to her liking. The lighting automatically manipulated in accordance with her state of consciousness and was getting dimmer by the second as Sachi became increasingly relaxed.
“We’ve been on this transport for a week and you have certainly let me know how much you like it. Too bad it’s a loaner from the good people of Viennin,” Honoré said without looking at her. He was intently studying a hologram of a giant domed structure and was cross referencing it with the intel given to him by SINSTER agents. “I like my old outdated Stur Craft. I think I am going to rename it ‘The Space Ghost’ when this is over.”
The comment caused her to perk up, which was followed by the lights returning to full illumination. She pushed herself up by the elbows and looked over at him, “You know, since you started going to Earth, you’ve gotten kind of weird,” Sachi replied with a smile. Leaving the comfort of the seat, she walked over to where he was intently thinking and pouring over notes, “What is this?”
“This is the Gahn Mine on the planet of Giobi.”
“I realize that we are going to Giobi. It’s kind of right in front of us. I know what it looks like. It is beautiful in person. I find it kind of strange how a planet this large has virtually no land on it. What is it…eighty percent water?” she said walking across the bridge looking out on the approaching blue planet.
“Something like that. Econ is a little over fifty percent. Earth is seventy-five percent,” he said.
“Econ is almost as big, but you could put at least three Earth’s in Giobi,” Sachi said.
“I guess that is why they built so many underwater cities. The Kurun have killed or chased off anyone who wasn’t Kurun or completely beholden to them. Who really knows everything that is going on here?” Honoré tossed a small card in the air towards Sachi as she approached. The airborne object caught her by surprise and she reacted just in time to catch it. “Can you put that in the scanner. According to the agents at SINSTER the Gahn mine is a huge underwater telenium mine that is worked by thousands of slaves. They believe that Dag was taken here. When the Kurun take a prisoner, they insert a tracking chip in them so that they can locate them, read their vitals…whatever they want. If the intel is right, this will show me on the hologram where he is.”
As she inserted the card into the slot, Sochi asked, “How are we going to get him out?”
“I guess that depends on where he is.”
A small yellow-orange light began to pulse slowly, “Well, it looks like he is in an area near the outer rim of the structure that seems to be cantilevered.”
“The pulsating dot is based on his heart rate?” she asked.
“They say it is. That would make sense. I can take the bure and burn a hole in the floor. If the pressure of the room is great enough, then it will not flood the room. But first, I need to create a diversion. We will put down on Keun, that red-orange moon,” he said pointing to the right of the planet. “We will launch the Imil Nommo from there.”
“Well, we won’t stand out at all. A Viennin transport and an Imil. We’re just going to cruise on in there and take care of business,” Sachi said with the left brow raised. She did this when driving home a point she was attempting to make.
“When underwater, the technology on this transport makes it virtually invisible. No one can see this thing coming unless they are close enough to see it with the naked eye. This Nomo’s exterior is customized to look just like a Shuhadaku. Hopefully, that will allow us time to get in the water.”
“Isn’t that an Imhas fighter and not a Kurun?” she asked while looking at him intently.
“True. But they are allies,” he noted showing little concern for her interrogation.
“Is it common for Tisht to just drop in and take a dip into the oceans of Giobi…especially not too far from a major telenium mine?” she asked with a great deal of concern for his plan.
Unsure of how to respond to her comment and having already considered every viable scenario, Honoré focused on guiding the transport to the dark side of Keun and set down in a deep canyon. Red rock and layers of red and orange sediments adorned the canyon walls. Sachi became increasingly uncomfortable as the descent took them deep into a lightless canyon. She felt trapped. To get her mind off the situation, she prepared to board the Nommo, for which she had a separate list of concerns.
S
everal minutes after boarding the Nommo, they ascended out of the darkness and were heading toward a location known as Gahn in the lower Western Hemisphere. The Nommo entered the atmosphere and casually descended over one of the vast oceans that covered the large planet in a manner that suggested they belonged there to any satellite that was focused on them. During the descent, they were not approached by any craft seeking to guide them to some nearby base for questioning. The ocean was black in appearance due to the depth of the water under the massive rolling waves that sent buoy like markers up and down.
“Nothing like twenty-foot waves,” Sachi said.
“Not exactly good for swimming.”
After nearly an hour flying several hundred feet over the surface, the water began to lighten then turned into an incredible turquoise color. Honoré decided that it was time to go beneath the surface as they were within several miles of the Gahn mine.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked hoping she would back out. He didn’t want to put her at risk. If she were injured, he would feel responsible despite her defiance in staying behind.
“Yes. I am a better swimmer than you. You spend too much time flying around. Do you even remember the last time you were in water outside of a bath?” she asked.
“No…not really.”
The panel began to beep as they drew closer to the intended destination. A smaller version of the hologram appeared and the pulsating light from the chip in Dag’s body was indicating that his position hadn’t changed since the last time they checked.
“His heart rate seems kind of slow…or is it my imagination?” Sachi asked.
A second alarm went off and Honoré looked immediately to his starboard side. Tall structures could be seen standing a hundred feet above the ocean’s surface a mile away. “I’ve heard about the cities rising up out of the oceans. I didn’t believe it, but there’s one. Outside of curiosity, I never had any reason to want to come here and see for myself. Wasn’t worth being killed over.”
Universal Code Page 47
