by JK Franks
Cade touched below his cheek to activate his comms. “Doris, you in the system yet? Any idea how large a security force they have?”
“Negative, I am running up against a formidable level of security from the onboard computer. It will take me approximately seven minutes to bypass all the safeguards. Judging by the different voices we have heard monitoring the prisoner’s CommDots, and how quickly the first team responded, my estimates are a force of between 82 and 94.”
Great, thought Cade and again he felt like this place was made to house a lot more people. Perhaps they had just found it before they were ready to go.
“Currently, I only have command level access to the docking bay but will be expanding my reach soon.”
A thought occurred to Cade. “Greg, move to moon pool. Doris, open that as soon as we are at depth to receive Team Raptor.” That could speed up the battle dynamics in a big way. They both acknowledged.
“Jesus,” Charlie said from up ahead. “Nomad, you seeing this?”
Cade wasn’t sure what his XO was talking about but swung his attention from covering their six to stare at something as out of place as could be imagined. “So, that’s why you couldn’t find it.”
“Well, we never had a precise location, but yeah, wouldn’t have guessed here.” Both men stared in awe at the tapered object with the flattened end section. Bits of white paint still clung to the charred surface and a faint outline of the USAF insignia along one section. “It’s the space probe from Snowbird?” Charlie asked astonishingly.
“I believe so. Wonder why Thrall needed it?” The probe was in a room that appeared to be specifically designed for it. It hung in a cradle about six feet above the floor. The sample container doors were open. Deuce ducked into the room while Cade stood watch. Charlie was back in seconds.
“Empty,” he said. “Whatever they got, it’s gone now.”
“WarHawk, Team Raptor is coming aboard,” Stansfield’s voice said.
“Cutter, you and Greg try to locate engineering. We need to keep this ship from diving back down again. If it does, we will have no good way of getting off. Oh, and try to minimize casualties except for security. Kissa feels like many of the staff may be here against their will.” A tired, but somewhat relieved, voice from Alexandria acknowledged. Technically, he was over-stepping Charlie’s current command role, but he had more perspective of the larger mission than his friend. Plus, Charlie would likely prefer his friend handled the non-combat tasks.
“Kissa, where is Nance and the rest of her team being held?”
Kissa motioned for them to follow. “Not far, Nomad.”
The team was confined in cells along one side of a storage room. From floor to ceiling, pallets of fresh food sat alongside more long-term food supplies. Along another wall, were rows of walk-in freezers. Cade had been on a Navy aircraft carrier once. The provisioning lockers on the Navy ship looked very much like this. They’d designed those to feed 5,000 men for a couple of months at a time. What he saw here could feed a few hundred people for much longer. Doris seemed to think they were planning to be onboard for years. This vessel is designed for long duration, so…not more people, more time…why?
“Contact,” Deuce said as he and Kissa both aimed and fired nearly as one.
“Nice shooting, Warlock,” Cade said, using Kissa’s old combat name.
“Hard to miss with these, Boss.” He held up the H&K style assault rifle and smiled.
“Four guards down. How many more?” Charlie asked.
“Not sure, Deuce. I was only out of my cell a couple of times, and it was never the same number.” He raised a finger and pointed across at the cells. “Two on the left are your people. Apache is up a level in medical, if he is still with us.”
Cade didn’t want to think about Trondo being gone. That would be two of the team killed before the battle had even gotten started.
Charlie was crouched low, scanning for the enemy. “Warlock, stay with Nomad. We have Battlesuits, so Yeager, me, and Alias will go get Nance and Coffee.”
Again, Cade wanted to object but knew it was the right call. Operating at this level meant you needed to be at your best or have somebody else take over. The Talon Teams were all in peak conditioning and had training that surpassed any other agency in the world. He watched as the two men slipped quietly through the maze of supplies toward the cells. He felt a tap from Kissa and looked where he was pointing. Several security men were entering the warehouse and fanning out, weapons searching for targets. Cade crouched low, an action that caused pain to arc up through his body. He motioned Kissa to go right, and he moved left. He heard, then saw more security entering the room. Damn, Thrall has plenty of people, that’s for sure.
“Warlock in position,” Cade heard Kissa whisper over the comms. He was not even close to having firing lines on all the ones on his side, but shooting opportunities rarely were ideal in combat.
“Engage.” He heard Kissa’s weapon bark several times. Rolling out nearly flat on the floor, he began picking targets and firing. “Two down.” He fired again. “One wounded, headed toward you guys, Deuce.”
Kissa confirmed all kills on his side. The Honduran was settling a score, and Cade had no interest in stopping him at this point.
“Warlock, watch the door; I’m going after the one I winged.”
Cade received two mic clicks in response. Moving laterally through the aisles, he began to climb higher to get a better vantage point, a feat made more challenging with his injured leg. He saw Deuce and Alias at the door panels attempting to use the keypads. Yeager was at the other. “Blow ‘em, Deuce!”
He saw the man's head bob up and down as he reached in his pack and removed one of The Cove’s unique blaster patches. The thing looked like a square piece of chewing gum. All Charlie had to do was peel off the safety strip, fold it in half and stick it on the surface he want to go bye-bye. “Make sure you stick the black side down this time, Deuce.”
Charlie flipped him the bird. “That was one freaking time in training, Nomad.”
“Nance and Coffee, away from the door!” Charlie yelled. If they still had active comms, they would have been monitoring it anyway, but no one had heard any calls from them in a while. The shaped charge would not extend far into the room, but if either were standing by the door, it might not be so good.
The muffled thud was the only thing that indicated the blaster had gone off. Then, Cade saw the rifle barrel protruding from the far side of a large container. The missing security man was taking aim directly at Deuce. Cade engaged KillPoint, which was less effective when the target was not visible. In this case, all he could see was the enemy’s weapon. He pulled the trigger, and the gun fired multiple times and obviously had selected multiple ammo types. The first two hit the gun barrel just as it fired, then explosive rounds tore into the container, ripping it to shreds and sending a shower of bloody red mist in the opposite direction.
Cade saw Charlie slump against the far wall just as the cell door fell away from its tracks. “Shit…Deuce!” He was off the stack of containers and running for his friend before he fully realized what had happened.
88
Cade slid to a stop just as a Captain Nance stepped from the room and knelt to check on Charlie. She was disheveled and sported a few fading cuts and bruises, but otherwise appeared to be in good shape. “He’s okay, Nomad, the Battlesuit did the job. Think it just punched the air out of his lungs.”
“Good to see you.”
Nance stood and hugged each of them then; her eyes were rimmed in red. “Likewise, sir. I was beginning to get a little concerned.”
“Nomad, Raptor is pinned down in the docking bay. Astra has activated the system locks on all watertight hatches,” Doris said.
“Cutter, ya’ll facing any hostiles?”
Alex’s voice answered promptly, “We were, Nomad, but not any longer. I guess you heard we can’t get out of here just yet.”
“Working on it, stay alert. See if you can g
et any of those runabouts operational, we may need a way off this tub in a hurry.”
She acknowledged and signed off. “Warlock, watch the door. Alias, fall back to assist.” Cade turned his attention to Charlie, who was red-faced and beginning to gasp, but gave a thumbs up and nodded.
“Let’s get Coffee out.” He removed a blaster patch and placed it about the same place Charlie had on the next door over. He filled Nance in as best he could. She assured him several times she was combat ready. He tossed her an assault rifle from one of the downed security men and moved her back to blow the charge. In several seconds, they were pushing the remains of the surprisingly lightweight door out and checking out Master Sergeant Willy Coffee, who appeared to still be unconscious. The massive soldier was lying on a built-in platform with a thick cushion, and other than the fact that he wouldn’t wake up, he appeared uninjured.
“It was the neural pulse, Nomad. Coffee took it more directly that the rest of us,” Nance told him.
Cade thought he understood. Like the ones they had faced on the way down, the effect was not universal. “I think he’s safer here for the moment, plus, I’m not sure we can carry the big guy. We need to get control of this beast. Nance, Kissa said Apache is up in medical, get the location and take Alias with you. Trondo apparently wasn’t doing too good.”
The expression on Kristin Nance’s face was all too familiar to him. No commander is ever ready to lose someone. It’s a part of the job, though, one that never really gets any easier. She nodded grimly and moved away.
Deuce was once again standing at the door to Coffee’s cell. “He gonna be okay?”
Cade nodded, “Pulse is strong, breathing’s good. Hopefully, he’ll sleep it off like Micah did.”
“Where next, Boss, labs?”
Cade nodded. “We need to pay a visit to see Kissa’s girlfriend.” That was technically the only other location they had any information on so far. Doris had to get control of the station's system soon, but until then, they were blind.
“Yeah, let’s go. You know Kissa won’t be stopped until he knows she’s safe.” Kissa finished up with Nance and rejoined them. Deuce began moving out—Cade again had to adjust his suit to compensate, as the pain in his leg and thigh kept slowing him down. Kissa was all but running ahead.
Deuce dropped one guard coming at him from a side corridor. “Damn, this place is big.”
Cade agreed, too many angles to cover, too many closed doors with rooms of God knows what. Thankfully, they had left the sea monsters outside. Suddenly, Deuce disappeared beneath a coiled tentacle shooting out from a side door. This must be the labs, lovely. Guess they knew where the monsters had all originated now. Cade stepped confidently into the room and raised the rifle to center mass on the ugly fucking thing.
“Nomad, no!”
The command caused him to drop his aim, but he was completely unsure who gave it. Dee, Deuce, Riley…shit, Ace? Charlie was struggling in the mass of tentacles, the creature had blood all over its head and forelimb, tentacle things. “Who?” Then the creature turned toward him and he no longer cared.
Images flooded his mind, a young woman and an Asian man fighting. Kissa being released by the same woman. That had to be Thera, he knew instinctively it was. The animal, this version of Saraph, was communicating with him. “Deuce, stop fighting!”
Cade lowered the gun. “Can you release my friend? He won’t try to hurt you.”
Images came at him again, and he noticed a familiar faint blue glow emanating from beneath the animal. Scenes of him in the dark water fighting against the other Saraphs, killing them. Was that his family? Cade wondered.
He held up his hands, “Look, we are just here to get our friends. Let the ugly fella go, and we’ll be gone.”
Slowly, Henry lowered Deuce’s legs back to the floor, his tentacled front arms uncoiling like a snake releasing its prey as they did so. Charlie stumbled back, still disoriented, he still held the weapon at the low ready, but had no idea why he hadn’t been able to fire.
A woman came running down the corridor; Kissa bolted across to meet her. Cade turned to see, then smiled. “You are Thera,” he said, a somewhat out of place look on his face. “I think we met one of your friends.”
“Hi, and yes, thanks for not hurting Henry.”
“Henry tried to eat me, dear,” Charlie said, rising slowly back to his feet, still unsettled by the attack.
“No,” Thera said. “You would not still be here if that was his intention. He probably just wanted to make sure you didn’t do anything foolish.”
Cade reached back and fist-bumped Kissa. “Where did you find her? She’s a keeper, even if she does make monsters.” He looked at the Saraph, “Uh…no offense…Henry.”
“Cade…Nomad,” Kissa paused, seemingly unsure on something. “I did also want to know, did your people find the boy…Micah?”
Cade nodded. “We got him. That was you? Smart thinking, and the sample helped us a great deal.”
“Yes,” Kissa said. “For whatever reason, I was less affected by the creature’s defenses than the others. Micah was unconscious, and I had no time to put supplies in the raft, so I have been most worried.”
“He’s good, man. You can talk to him anytime with your CommDot,” Cade said gesturing to his jawline.
Turning back to Thera, Cade asked the only real question he had. “What in the actual fuck is going on here?”
Her head shook. “I’m not that sure, Henry has tried to show me, but it’s all confusing. My job is to spawn each new series of Saraphs and raise them to a level where the data they carry can be retrieved. Of course, I haven’t been here long, the last scientist they had apparently got killed by the prior series. The ones they call the SS3s—I believe you met some on the way down. All I know is, they are desperate for the data files and the Saraphs won’t give them up until they reach breeding age.”
“So, these things are breeding?” Deuce asked, horrified.
“They aren’t supposed to, one of my jobs is to essentially sterilize each one, but it is an alien physiology. I have no idea if I am working with their reproductive system or rummaging around in their digestive tract.”
“Thrall’s put too much money into all this for it to just be some elaborate alien zoo,” Cade said.
“Definitely more than that,” Thera agreed. “There is a group of ‘em. I’ve only met a few, they call themselves The Founders. My sense is they are nearing a deadline and are getting desperate.”
“Desperate enough to kidnap foreign nationals and possibly start a global war if Cuba figures out who we are?”
Thera answered, “For some reason, I think the stakes are even higher, Captain. And whatever it is, they only feel safe at the deepest parts of the ocean.”
Thera made good sense. “What kind of threat would miles of ocean protect you from?” Cade asked, just wanting to get her opinion more than anything definite.
“My specialty is what lives in the ocean, not why it might be safer. I could guess, though. Global storms, asteroid strike maybe. Not all that sure you’d be safe, but maybe. Pandemics, you remember back in 2020 when COVID-19 hit? People had to stay away from everybody to stop the spread. Still, that wasn’t lethal to the vast majority of humans. Other than that, maybe alien invasion. I mean, maybe I’m building the first wave of attackers if that’s the case.”
Cade turned and looked at Henry. “You know anything about this, Henry? Can you help us?” The small Saraph’s five eyes unsettled Cade in ways he could barely understand. Something primal in his brain recoiled from the creature’s gaze. Then, nearly like getting a ReLoad from Doris, he knew where the control deck was and also what was coming. Thrall was worse than he’d imagined. Damn, why couldn’t this shit ever be easy? Cade nodded to the creature, “Thank you.”
“Deuce, who do we have that can help get Raptor back in the game? They have to secure engineering.”
“I can do that,” Kissa said. “Henry has shown me a layout of this ves
sel. I think he may be on our side, thanks to Thera.”
Charlie nodded, “He’s the man, Cade. He doesn’t know the tech, but he still knows our tactics.”
Rearden thought about it briefly, then nodded. Taking a SmartCom from his pocket, he placed it in Kissa’s palm. “Hold this.”
The islander did so, a confused look on his face.
Charlie patted him on the shoulder, “Brace yourself, friend.”
“Doris, upload mission packet and essential combat training to Kissa, combat sign, Warlock,” Cade instructed.
In a matter of several seconds, she responded with, “ReLoad sequence complete.”
Kissa was holding the side of his head. His eyes expressed shock, but his smile was one they all understood. “Yeah, yeah, we know…you know, Kung Fu. Welcome to the team, Warlock.”
“This is unbelievable, so much…how?” Kissa said, bewildered.
“Later.” Cade said. “Go to work, kid, get ‘em out, keep ‘em safe. You have a hell of a lot of firepower at your disposal. Call Doris if you need help. Reunion’s over, me and Deuce have to get to the control deck. We cannot allow this craft to descend again.”
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Cade considered all he now knew. The stakes on this mission had increased exponentially. Now, the very people they were here to rescue might wind up being sacrificed for the greater good. “Thera, I’m going to give you one of our CommDots so we can stay in contact.” He pressed the freckle-sized device gently to her jawline. “Tap it to make a call, just say who you want. Same thing to answer it.”
He nodded toward the Saraph. “Henry can show you Thrall’s device and what it will do. See if you can come up with a way for us to stop it.”
Thera nodded. “I will, and thank you. Will Kissa be okay?”
None of them had any idea of what faced them, but Deuce had the answer. “He will be just fine. You should worry about Thrall’s people. They are the ones who kidnapped you. If I know Warlock, he’ll unleash several levels of hell on them.”
