Rizzo, Boomer, and Billy silently waited within Hold 2; their battle suits initiated, each stood well apart from the others, an enhancement shield on their left forearms. Jason felt a bit left out—like not yet a part of a secret club. He really needed to schedule time with Boomer to begin learning the basics of Kahill Callan.
“This is very simple. I don’t expect trouble, nor problems of any kind. A few practice sessions will increase our odds of success.” Jason initiated his own battle suit, then stood in the open space, opposite Boomer. She smiled back at him, looking more excited than he could remember. She lived for this stuff.
“Remember, everyone … you’ll be phase-shifted into Hold 1. You and your teammate will be cloaked.” Jason glanced up at Bristol, assured he’d provided them the new cloaking-capable battle suits. “You have about sixty seconds before you become visible … that’s thirty seconds per bridge jump … but you should be well away from those Caldurian ships by then. This will be a quick, grab and go, exercise. We’ll have an open channel—Gunny will be listening, in case anyone runs into trouble. Any questions?”
They shook their heads.
“Okay, then. Bristol, make us invisible.”
Jason watched as Boomer, Billy and Rizzo disappeared. “Okay … phase-shift us all now, Gunny!”
In a flash, Jason phase-shifted into Hold 1. He was in Chief Horris’ section. The big man was truly surprised, seeing the dual flashes. Jason and Boomer being cloaked from the chief’s sight made it easy for Jason to rush forward and wrap his arms around him.
“Got him,” Jason said aloud. In a flash, he and Chief Horris appeared back in Hold 2. He noticed other flashes going on around him. He let go of the chief. “Ready!” Jason said. Within two seconds, he was phase-shifted back into Hold 1. This was Dira’s section. He saw her and moved to grab her, but she somehow dodged away, running to the far side of the taped-off section. Jason moved fast to grab her but, once again, she eluded his clutches. He saw his mission timer closing in on the one-minute mark. He heard Dira laugh, which sparked a flash of irritation. She was too difficult to catch. Damn!
Jason and Boomer suddenly became visible. Dira’s hands covered her mouth, as she began to laugh. Suddenly, two arms wrapped around her from behind, and Boomer yelled, “Got her!” The three were phase-shifted back to Hold 2 by Orion.
Jason, looking around, could see the other groups were there already, waiting for him, along with their abducted captains. Jason raised his visor and looked up at Orion and Bristol. “How was that from your perspective?”
Bristol spoke first. “A clusterfuck.”
Orion said, “It could have been better.”
“Did you two have problems?” Jason asked, looking at Billy and Rizzo.
“I bumped into Rizzo … sent him sprawling on that first phase-shift. Other than that, it went pretty good,” Billy said.
Rizzo had a question: “Why does the protector need to be invisible? It’s confusing, not knowing where your other team member is.”
“Yeah, one of the two being visible would make for a good diversion, while the invisible one grabs the captain,” Billy added.
Jason turned his attention to Dira. “Okay … spill it … how did you know where I was?”
He could see she was close to laughing again. “The deck plates in Hold 1 don’t fit right. Every time you took a step, I saw them wobble. I knew exactly where you were.”
“And one more thing,” Orion said, “even though I’m up here and tracking your icons, it gets real confusing hearing everyone say ready or got him. Be better if you said something like, Jason has captain, or Billy has captain … that way, I’m less likely to make a mistake.”
“Everyone back to your positions … we’ll keep trying until it’s perfect.”
They practiced again—this time Boomer and Rizzo stayed visible, and Jason and Billy spoke their own names aloud, once they’d made their grabs. On this run, Jason grabbed Sergeant Jackson; he got cute, pushing Jason’s arms away when he was caught, but in the end it worked out better. The only mishap was he’d become visible again at the last moment, which wasn’t a big deal since he’d already taken ahold of Jackson at that point.
They tried the maneuver another four times, until both teams came in with five or ten seconds to spare on their mission timers.
Jason thanked his volunteer helpers, waiting while Dira, Chief Horris, and Perkins returned to their scheduled duties.
“Gunny, do you have the four bridge coordinates configured for our phase-shifts?”
“As well as possible. Those four ships are practically invisible to my sensors, even at this close range. I’m forced to use the coordinates from the Minian as a reference … it’s the best I can do.”
“That should work,” Jason said. He noticed Jackson had rejoined the Sharks positioned around the periphery. “Sergeant, be ready for anything.”
“We’ll be ready, sir.”
Boomer splayed her hands out and raised her shoulders. “So are we going to do this now, Dad?”
“Everyone ready?” Jason asked.
They all said yes.
Jason looked up toward Orion. “Make us invisible, Gunny.”
Billy disappeared from view. Jason noticed he couldn’t see his own arms or legs. “Phase-shift us now, Gunny!”
The next instant, Jason saw Boomer flash into view before him. They were standing in the forward section of a Caldurian bridge, which looked remarkably similar to the Minian’s. He spun toward the command chair. No command chair. In fact, there were no chairs here at all. A klaxon began to bellow loudly all around them. Movement. Identical to Boomer’s droid, Dewdrop, five hovering droids appeared on the bridge. With remarkable speed, the droids spun about to face them … actually, to face Boomer. Simultaneously, access panels on their upper torsos opened and stubby plasma weapons emerged. Jason, using his suit’s integrated wrist plasma guns, began to fire. As plasma fire erupted all around them, Boomer dove both up and sideways over a console to come up behind two droids. She thrust her enhancement shield forward, and bright purple distortion waves pounded into the droids’ backs. Both droids were propelled high into the air, to the far side of the bridge, where they careened into the bulkhead. Neither got back up.
Jason continued firing his wrist weapons until the other droids went down on the deck.
“You okay, Boomer?”
“I’m good,” she said, looking around the bridge, not knowing just where her dad was standing. At that point, a full minute had elapsed and Jason popped into view. Boomer looked at him with a confused expression. “Where’s the captain?”
Jason gestured for Boomer to hold that thought. “Orion … what’s going on with the other ships? There were only droids present here.”
“Went like clockwork,” she replied. “We have two Caldurian captains on board, currently being held in Hold 2.”
Jason checked and saw his mission counter had reset to zero. He was good to become invisible again. “Go ahead and cloak me, and phase-shift us to the last ship’s bridge.”
“They’ll be waiting for you … you won’t have the element of surprise.”
“We’ll be fine.”
A second after Jason was cloaked, Orion phase-shifted them both. They flashed onto the last ship’s bridge and, to no one’s surprise, the Caldurians were ready for them. Boomer, already on the move, cartwheeled high in the air, firing off distortion waves in multiple directions.
There were no less than fifteen armed Caldurians, all standing at the ready on the bridge. There were also five droids. Boomer, visible, held everyone’s attention and was drawing fire. The ship’s captain, the only one dressed in all white and barking orders, stood at the rear of the bridge, close to the exit. Jason reached him in two long strides, but before he even put a hand on him, he screamed out, “Gunny … get Boomer the hell out of here, now!”
He saw Boomer flash away just as his hands grabbed a firm hold on the Caldurian captain’s upper arms. A mixed ex
pression of surprise and fury transformed his face.
“Jason has the captain,” he yelled.
* * *
The Assailant possessed only one operational holding cell within the ship’s cramped brig. All three abducted Caldurian captains stood at the energy field, looking both indignant and red-faced.
Jason stood outside their cell, arms folded over his chest, listening to their demands to be released. He’d already heard them make numerous threats of reprisal, throwing more than a few insults targeting the warmongering, sub-intelligent human race. He gave them no indication their comments bothered him. He simply waited for them to calm down and shut up.
Eventually they did, and Jason spoke up: “You can make this a difficult process or a simple one.”
The demands and insults started up again and Jason waited. Finally, having heard enough, he raised a hand. “Let me speak … if you want to be returned back to your ships … let me speak.”
Once they quieted down, Jason began again: “We are more than ten light-years’ distance from your ships, and we are cloaked. There will be no rescue forthcoming. You are in deep trouble, and only you are in the position to save yourselves. Your lives may be spared … maybe … if you cooperate. If you do not … you each will experience a terrible, painful, prolonged death. I promise you that.”
Jason knew he was piling it on pretty thick, but he deemed it necessary. In reality, he had no intention of hurting these three. At the most he would repeat the poison antidote charade Dira had used on the Eriokian engineer. But time was not on his side. No sooner had he returned from the mission and ushered the three abducted captains into their cell than Jason had been pulled away to a meeting with Admiral Dixon. The older man’s face was projected onto the overhead display in his ready room.
“Captain Reynolds.”
“Yes, sir … good to see—”
The admiral talked over him. “This isn’t a social call, Captain. There’s a big problem with the Cadacci.”
Jason eased down into his chair and let out a breath. He knew what the admiral was going to say, even before he voiced it. The Cadacci were a small, rodent-like species. They were annoying and demanding … but harmless, for the most part. Their planet was only a stone’s throw from the CAP-RIM Star System—the same star system where Captain Oz and the Carrion were creating havoc on an epic scale.
“I believe your primary directive was to bring Oz to justice … one way, or another. So when I received notice you were thirty-five light-years away … obviously still in pursuit of your lost crewmembers … I was surprised. Did I not make myself clear?”
“You did, sir. Things have escalated. There’s a small fleet of Caldurian vessels—”
Again the admiral cut Jason off. “The Caldurians are not our enemy! I don’t care about the Caldurians.”
“I’m just saying … this is more than simply recovering our crew—”
“Look, I am not Admiral Reynolds, whom you had no trouble manipulating. Your days doing what you want … when you want … are over. I gave you an order and I expect you to follow it.”
The admiral stared hard at Jason, letting the silence underline his point. “Now, go get Captain Oz. Then, you can try to find Ricket. Thank you, Captain Reynolds.”
“Yes, sir,” Jason replied, but the screen had already gone black.
Jason brought his attention back to the here and now … brig. He watched as fear was now taking a firm hold on the three Caldurian captains. He instinctively didn’t like them … didn’t respect them. Perhaps because they weren’t battle-hardened officers—unlike the dedicated combatants within his own Allied forces. Those who’d fought against the Craing—some for decades. No, these Caldurians, though full of bluster and arrogance, didn’t actually have any real chops—they were simply military figureheads.
“Look … I have zero time to waste on you. Who will be the first to start talking? Who will be the first to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering?”
Big and ominous-looking, Sergeant Jackson arrived at Jason’s side. “On my way to the mess, thought I’d see if you needed any assistance.”
His timing couldn’t have been better, Jason thought. Neither had planned his presence here, but the way Jackson was now staring straight at the three prisoners—even he was a bit intimidated. The three Caldurian officers seemed to visibly withdraw and shrink. Jason answered, “Maybe, Sergeant … now that you ask.”
Chapter 12
Open Space, Near Arkwane
Assailant, Brig
__________________________
The three captains looked so much alike that Jason had a hard time telling one from another. Not using their rightful Caldurian names, he was corrected on three separate occasions.
“From now on, you, the one on my left … I’m calling you Larry, and you … the bossy one on the right … you’re Moe.” He was the only one with hair—a few black locks at the top of his head. “And you … the clown in the middle … you’re Curly.”
They looked back at Jason, mystified.
Jason turned and signaled the brig guard, sitting at a desk down the corridor, to disable the cell’s energy shield.
“Do me a favor, Jackson, go take a seat behind them.”
Sergeant Jackson took three long strides, brushing past Moe and nearly knocking him over, to straddle the toilet behind the captives. The Caldurians glanced around at Jackson, then faced Jason. The energy field returned and Jason took a half step closer.
He figured he’d start out with an easy question. “Why was one of your ships piloted solely by droids?”
Moe was first to speak up: “Every Caldurian fleet has a droid-only vessel as part of their spacecraft contingent. It’s usually the first ship—sent into troubled conflict zones, or to those unexplored regions of space suspected of posing higher levels of danger to us.”
Jason thought that was probably a safe tactic—but also chicken-shit. He suspected the Caldurians had become very adept at doing things in safe mode.
“Where is my science officer? Where is Ricket?”
Moe, Larry, and Curly exchanged glances. Again, it was Moe who answered first: “What we know is limited. I can tell you he is extremely important to the survival of our people. To our society.”
Sergeant Jackson stood up tall. Like a skyscraper, he loomed ominously above the much shorter captains.
Larry piped up, “They’re being held within the Parcical.”
Moe and Curly looked toward Larry with disgust.
“Thank you, Larry … you will be the first to return to your ship. That is, if you continue to be useful to us. How do we find this vessel … this Parcical?”
“It is a Rogue Class ship … our most advanced vessel. Smaller in size to ours, but it cannot be infiltrated. The security provisions imposed by the AI are impossible to breach. You won’t be able to board her, like you did the four Master Class ships.”
Jason, never having heard the term before, suspected the Minian was considered a Master Class vessel as well, and briefly wondered what type of class The Lilly had been considered.
“Tell me how to skirt the security measures. What would that AI need to allow us access onto the ship?”
The Three Caldurian Stooges shook their heads in unison. Jason waited while the tension within the little holding cell grew palpable. Jackson chose Curly, the officer in the middle. He grabbed a fistful of the white uniform at the nape of Curly’s neck, lifting him up one handed. Both Curly’s hands came up as the makeshift noose tightened around his throat. His face quickly turned red and was on its way toward an ugly shade of purple.
“I think I might know!” Larry yelled.
Jackson lowered Curly to the deck, releasing his grasp enough for him to gulp in several deep breaths, though his hand remained on Curly’s shoulder.
“You would need one of us, a captain-level officer. But, even then, the AI would probably detect something wrong … detect the increased bio-levels. She’d smell the fear.”
>
“Don’t worry about that right now. We’ll find a way to deal with the AI. Tell me, where is the Parcical now?”
“Probably still on Arkwane,” Moe said.
“The water planet? Why? What’s there?”
“Recently harvested crops. This time every year, we … The Caldurian people have an affinity to Palm-Stalk. Replicators, no matter how advanced, don’t do that crop justice. Fresh, naturally grown Palm-Stalk is our primary staple. The Parcical is picking up enough stores of the harvested plant to last us another year.”
“How large a vessel is this Parcical?” Jason asked, imagining the ship to be many miles long—something that would dwarf even a Master Class ship.
“Rogue Class vessels are small. But they are structured to store a near-infinite amount of Palm-Stalk … or anything else, within their MicroVault systems.”
“Huh? How large is this vault?”
All three captains seemed confused by his question. Moe said, “It takes up no physical space at all. It’s a virtual vault. A vault residing within the multiverse.”
Of course, Jason thought. It would be similar to a Zoo’s habitats.
“How long will the Parcical remain on that planet?”
“We are scheduled to stay in Arkwane space for three days. Two of those days have since elapsed.”
“So what’s planned after that?”
The three Caldurians again became tight-lipped. Jackson placed his other hand on Moe’s shoulder.
“To take back the ship, the one you call the Minian,” Moe said. He let out a breath and looked resigned, as if he’d come to some kind of mental decision. “As you know, Caldurians move within the multiverse with relative ease. Very little time is spent here, within this particular realm. Although it is … was … our home, we far prefer others. With the exception of collecting Palm-Stalk, and other essentials, we rarely return here. Recently, our vessels have experienced difficulty making the transition from one realm to another. We fear, even now, that we may be marooned here … here within this realm.”
Ricket (Star Watch Book 2) Page 8
