The Fifth Column Boxed Set

by J. N. Chaney

  “That’s not correct procedure. Our orders are to—”

  His response was cut off by two short bursts from Dolph’s rifle. Two soft thumps and no return fire told me that he’d hit his marks. We moved into the corridor and crept past them. I didn’t spare them more than a glance. They’d made their choice.

  I wanted badly to voice my concern as to why during a power failure we had only run into two soldiers so far. A couple of scenarios went through my mind as we kept on. First, Jax had attracted the majority with whatever he was doing. My other thought, and the least appealing of the two, was that Kaska had retasked them to guard one specific spot. The one we were headed for.

  We reached a bank of elevators, both of which were open, and continued to a maintenance shaft like the one on Dulsa. I didn’t like that we had to do it. The way I saw it, Dolph and I were being herded.

  “Careful with the blade on the way up,” Dolph warned me. “I was serious, it doesn’t nick, it severs.”

  I nodded, annoyed with myself for not grabbing a sheath. That’s how things went sometimes, hindsight and all that. The shaft wasn’t wide enough for me to put the short sword in my mouth, plus I didn’t relish the idea of having it near my face. The best I could do was angle the sharp edge away as I climbed the wall ladder and hope it didn’t catch anything.

  Again, Dolph led the way, which I was happy to let him do. Maybe it had something to do with the last few weeks of “training” that I had endured, but I was still getting my bearings.

  Since hearing Farah’s message, I had locked away my doubts and questions to focus on the mission. Now, climbing up the shaft, I had a few seconds to think. Everything flooded back, threatening to overload me. The last few weeks had finetuned my already considerable bank of strategic skills. The Void operation knew what they were doing—knocking down parts of the psyche to instill their values, keeping others strong, all while breaking down the body.

  Smart. Effective. But, then again, so was I. Slamming a mental door down to cut off the stream, I compartmentalized any thoughts that didn’t have a direct impact on the mission.

  Above me, Dolph slowed. I half expected there to be a death squad waiting for us, but no shots were fired. He lifted himself out and cleared the hall before reaching down to help me. After maneuvering the bolo to balance on the ladder, I grabbed his hand.

  At first contact, it seemed to be flesh and bone. When it gripped and he pulled me up, I felt the power there and unfamiliar hardness beneath the skin. It was the cybernetic, he was just wearing a flesh-sleeve. Then we were on the lab level and it was time to focus again.

  19

  We made it halfway down the empty hall when voices sounded at the far end. The spartan corridor had zero cover, leaving us with no choice but to duck into one of the open rooms. It was cramped, filled with supply-laden shelves. The brick shithouse that was Dolph took up a lot of room and I had to crouch because there wasn’t enough space to back up without hitting anything.

  The voices got louder, carrying through the bare hall. A team lead ordered for the rooms to be swept. I counted as I steadied myself with a hand on the floor. Three, unless there were more who had yet to speak. Dolph made minute adjustments next to me, then went completely still as the soldiers came level with us. From my lower vantage point I could see the boots and rifle noses sway into view. Four, not three.

  Two checked the room across from our position. Before the last two came inside ours, Dolph was on the move. He caught them off guard with the speed of his attack, but they were Void too and reacted in kind. One fell to the ground and didn’t move, but the second leaped to the side, avoiding the bullet.

  The commotion brought the other two, leaving Dolph to handle three. Old instinct would have had me leaping to help, but now I studied the scene with measured eyes. Going out too soon would result in death for both of us, so I waited. Another operative fell by Dolph’s hand, but another took his place and pulled a sidearm.

  Dolph hit the ground and rolled but it wasn’t enough to avoid both shots. The other remaining soldier circled around when he sprang up. Blood didn’t show up in the red-washed room or on his black uniform, but he was favoring the right leg.

  That was my moment. On silent feet I padded out of the room. Two, three, and four steps, then I swept the blade across the legs of the soldier who shot Dolph. He shrieked, which was fair. The top three quarters of his body hit the ground, leaving two stumps, cleaved at the calf, to topple after him.

  Dolph and the last soldier ignored the grisly scene behind them and went at each other with fury. The now legless man on the ground didn’t moan or cry out anymore. I checked and found him reaching for a pistol. One slice stilled the movement and separated his head from the rest of his body. I still wanted the familiar weight of a pistol in my hand but had to admit that the bolo lived up to Dolph’s hype. If we made it out alive, I might have to keep the thing.

  When I looked back to Dolph, his opponent was done, a knife shoved through his chin. Dolph pulled it free, swiped the blood on his pants, then stuck it back into a sheath on his belt. He nodded at me and we continued our search. His leg had to be on fire but he barely showed any discomfort other than a slight limp.

  Our fracas brought more soldiers, three sets of two. Not hard to handle, but they slowed us down. The last pair got the drop on us, showing up just after we dispatched two of their brothers, and Dolph was reloading. They were too far for me to use the blade so I reached into my pocket and came up with a litegrenade.

  I couldn’t warn Dolph without tipping off the enemy so I activated it and hurled it toward them. They were only supposed to affect mechanical optics but I squeezed my eyes shut just in case and counted to three, the length of the light attack. When I looked again the men were stumbling and holding their eyes.

  Jax’s advice was to use any weapons at my disposal to buy seconds I could use to run. I did, just at the operatives. I reached the first and rammed my sword through his chest, burying it to the hilt. He made a choking sound when I pulled it free and pivoted back to avoid an attack from his partner. I didn’t move fast enough and a force unlike anything I had felt before slammed into my chest. I rocketed back, dropping the bolo when I hit the wall. All the air left my lungs and everything in my torso seized up.

  The operative was already on me again and I couldn’t move to stop it. He cocked his head to the side as if regarding me. I stared up for a second, confused as to what he was waiting for. Then the man fell over and I saw the bullet hole in his skull.

  Dolph pulled me to my feet and handed me the bolo. “You good?”

  Unable to speak, I nodded.

  He didn’t double check. There wasn’t time. At least one rib was broken. I’d had enough over the years to know what they felt like. Fighting through the stabbing pain that came with each breath, I pressed on.

  “The lab is just around the next corner,” I said through gritted teeth. “Hang a left.”

  Dolph paused to clear it before waving me around. He pointed to a figure standing in front of the lab door, a man tossed over one shoulder. While I watched, he tossed the man down and pointed at the door. It was shut, the first I’d seen.

  As we approached, I caught sight of the panel. It glowed, waiting for input. Had to be on a different power source than the rest of the facility. Or it had a backup for situations like this.

  The man on the floor wore a white lab coat, a scientist. “No!” he cried, trying to crawl away. “They’ll kill me.”

  When the figure reached down to drag him back, I saw it was Jax.

  “So will I,” he told the man. He held a pistol and pressed it to the scientist’s kneecap. “Two seconds.”

  “Okay, okay,” the man sobbed. “I’ll do it. Please, just don’t shoot.”

  Jax grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him to the panel. When the door opened, Jax brought the pistol down on the scientist’s head and used him as a doorstop.

  “You made it.” He was looking at
me and Dolph.

  Dolph answered. “Yes. Is the ingot in there?”

  “This man said it was.”

  I didn’t speak as we stepped inside. All I knew was the godsdamned ingot better be here or I would riot.

  The lab looked like it had been ransacked at first glance. Mechanical pieces littered tables, data pads were lying all over the place, and workstations overflowed with tools and unidentifiable items.

  All the lights were on, more evidence that the room ran on power separate from the rest of the facility. Still, they didn’t outshine the illumination coming from one side of the room. In a small cube, supported by a mechanism I couldn’t begin to understand, was the ingot. I knew it at once. It matched the dossier from Navari’s data cache for one, but even without that I would have known.

  It radiated power and light, shining like tiny pieces of a sun.

  “Grab the cube,” Jax instructed. “You’ll need the base it’s on too. I’ll get the weapon.”

  He gestured at the mini cannon I had missed while staring at the ingot. It looked heavy but the Void operator lifted it as though it weighed no more than his sidearm. I did a quick inspection of the ingot’s case, afraid it might be booby trapped, but it looked clean. There wasn’t time for anything else, so I crossed mental fingers and picked it up gingerly.

  The scientist moaned from the doorway. “You can’t take it. The ingot isn’t stable enough to be moved.”

  I ignored him and put the cube in my bag. Dolph, unladen, ran point as we exited the lab. None of us were fool enough to believe that this was over and we set off at a fast paced clip.

  “We’re going to the main hangar,” Jax said.

  No other soldiers appeared as we made our way back to the maintenance shaft, then down it. Everything was eerie and quiet, like we were in an abandoned facility. I knew that didn’t mean to relax; it just meant the enemy almost certainly waited for us in the hangar.

  Unimpeded, we made it in under fifteen minutes. The tension skyrocketed when we saw inside. Kaska stood between us and the ships, a platoon of a dozen Void operatives behind him. Too many. Jax didn’t appear to be hurt, but both Dolph and I were. On my best day I didn’t think we could take them all.

  I recognized Jax’s ship from the times I’d seen it outside the Genesis, but I didn’t see how he expected to escape with it, even if we could get onto it. In short, our situational status could be summed up in one word: Fucked.

  With that same irritating leer, the Vice-Admiral stepped forward. I could tell he was preparing to give another speech. Gods, I did not want my last moments to be wasted listening to him babble on.

  “You might as well join us,” he called out. “This is the end for all of you. I have to say, Jax and Dolph, I am extremely disappointed.”

  I glanced at Jax, who rolled his eyes, a very unVoidlike mannerism. “The asshole talks too much. It’s going to screw him. Vega, status?”

  Vega? I didn’t have time to mull that one over before Jax propped the cannon over one shoulder.

  “Follow my lead.”

  He strode into the hangar and I had to jog to keep up. Dolph followed suit and I was surprised to see the rifle on his back instead of in his hands. Whatever plan they had was sure as hell ballsy.

  “Ah, there you are. Sergeant, you are turning out to be a very expensive project. Thanks to this latest stunt, I’m down men. Still, I suppose that speaks to your skill. And we can hardly spare another, so you’ll all stay alive.” He rocked his head in a side to side motion. “Well, kind of. After this we can’t leave any doubts so we’ll have to start from scratch.”

  I couldn’t take it anymore. “Gods, do you ever shut up?”

  Kaska’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Excuse me?”

  Beside me, Jax grunted. Oops. So much for following his lead. Me and my damn mouth.

  “Just can’t help yourself, can you?” The Vice-Admiral shook his head, the picture of disappointment. He motioned to us with the flick of his chin. “Take them. If they resist, kill them.”

  Half of his forces moved forward while the rest formed a protective circle around their commander. The idiot didn’t even make us put our weapons down. I supposed he saw the face value of what we represented. The soldiers, two of them injured, with two guns and a blade between them. The cannon didn’t count since it wasn’t armed, nor did it have a power source.

  I held up the bag. “Aren’t you worried about hitting the ingot?”

  Kaska shrugged. “That cube is built to withstand anything we could throw at it. You’d die before it broke.”

  Well, that was that.

  Jax pulled his pistol and trained it on the dozen advancing operatives. Dolph did the same. When the first slug rammed into one of Kaska’s men, then another, the hangar erupted into chaos. I don’t think anyone expected them to shoot.

  Ten soldiers spread out into a fan, their weapons aimed at us, yet silent. That didn’t make sense. Why?... I heard it then. The subtle sound of clicking. They were firing, the weapons just weren’t cooperating.

  Together, Jax and Dolph took out five more before they were dry. After tossing the guns down, both switched to combat knives. The enemy realized what happened and broke from the cover they had taken.

  Hoping Kaska wasn’t lying about the ingot’s case, I put the bag on again and hefted the sword. My ribs screamed, but so did I. A battle cry erupted and I flung myself into the fight.

  Hack, slash, jab, whatever. It doesn’t have to be pretty. Jax’s words during our sparring session came back.

  Following the advice, paired with all the rage that had been locked up during my time in Xanderis, I gave in to a frenzy. Rending flesh from bodies, I twisted and sliced, barely checking to make sure it wasn’t one of my team.

  A Void operative stepped into my kill zone and dropped to slide under the deadly sweep of my blade. His mechanical arm punched out, aiming for my knee, and I used my momentum to spin and adjust the angle to get him at the wrist. The metal hand fell to the ground with a clunk and he stared at it for a long second. He shouldn’t have. I used the temporary distraction to liberate the top half of his head from the bottom and moved on to the next before it hit the ground.

  An explosion rocked the hangar, driving me to my knees. I didn’t know where it came from but when I looked around, Kaska was running for the exit. Grunting, I used the bolo like a cane to stand and moved to follow him.

  “Cortez!”

  I ignored Jax’s shout and launched after the Vice-Admiral. Before I got two steps, a hand grabbed me by the back of the shirt and yanked me back. I turned to see Dolph staring at me with hard eyes, bleeding from a piece of shrapnel protruding from his chest.

  At that moment, I didn’t care and knocked his arm away. “Dammit!

  “He’s not the mission.” The words, spoken with quiet urgency, broke through the red haze.

  The ingot was why we were here, not the Vice-Admiral. Added to that, the explosion had blown a hole in the hangar and it was venting, dragging all the air out of space and shifting anything not firmly fixed in place. With a nod to say I understood, we joined Jax at his ship.

  Inside, Jax dumped the cannon like it wasn’t important and hit the bridge at a dead run. Dolph and I made it there as the ship’s engine came to life. Dolph strapped himself in with one hand. I took the only other empty chair next to Jax, moving the bag with the ingot to my lap so I could buckle the safety harness.

  “How are you planning on getting out?” I asked when the ship lifted into the air.

  In answer, he sent two blasts from the mounted quad cannons into the hole the explosion had started. It grew in size and the ship was caught in the venting atmosphere, spinning out of control and moving closer.

  “Jax, that’s not big enough,” I told him.

  “Working on it,” he muttered, fighting with the controls. “Leigh, give me a hand.”

  A prim, female voice, responded. “Right away, Jax.”

  The ship stopped spinning and anoth
er blast lanced out to make the hole bigger. It worked, but I still felt metal scrape metal when we passed through. But we were through. I’d been holding my breath—partly because I was nervous, partly because it hurt to breathe.

  “It’s not done yet,” Jax said, pointing at his holo.

  Red dots were scattered across the display.

  “Of course not. It can’t ever be easy, you know that,” I told him.

  A moan behind us shifted my attention to Dolph. He gripped the metal shrapnel still in his chest and yanked it out.

  “Gods, where’s your medkit?”

  “In the medbay.”

  I cursed and moved to unbuckle.

  “Don’t, I’m good,” Dolph said. “It wasn’t that deep.”

  “Jax, incoming fire,” Leigh informed.

  He worked the controls and put the ship into a vertical climb, avoiding the shot.

  “Hold onto that bag,” he told me. “This is going to be rough.”

  20

  He didn’t lie. Nine ships went on the offensive. In the grand scheme of things, space was a big place. Dogfights in open space didn’t look quite like they were depicted in the vids. This close to a station, however, was a different story.

  We were pinned against what amounted to a giant wall. The enemy lay in front of us, so our options included moving up and down but not back. This ship looked decent, but I wouldn’t have put it on par with the Genesis. The Void vessels outnumbered us nine to one and I didn’t like those odds.

  “Jax, incoming transmission from Farah.”

  “Take it,” he barked.

  My head jerked around to the holo. My friend’s face appeared, a mask of determination. “Jax, we’re here. Two minutes out.”

  “We might not have that,” he told her.

  “Don’t get emotional, brother. Just stay alive for… one minute and forty-five seconds.”

  She clicked off.

  “I’m going to handle the armaments. You try not to get us killed,” I told him.

  Turning, I checked on Dolph. He looked a little pale but alive. I tossed the bag in his direction. He snagged it, then undid his harness to slide through the handle so it wouldn’t fall.