by Jake Bible
“Don’t need a play by play,” Roak interrupted. “Just let me know if he does anything we should be concerned with.”
“I shall.”
Roak studied the image of the Sabulos System that was displayed on the view shield. A lot of far-off stars, a few celestial bodies to break up the monotony of the stars, and a single, massive nebula that was impossible to turn away from.
“Not bad,” Roak said.
“What is not bad?” Hessa asked.
“The view. I’ve seen worse nebulas.”
“Oh. Yes. I can see what you mean. There is a certain strange beauty to the nebula. Personally, I find the molecular chaos of the phenomenon to overshadow any aesthetic properties, but eye of the beholder and all that, right, Roak?”
“Eye of the beholder and all that?” Roak couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s one way to put it.”
Roak relaxed into the pilot’s seat as much as he could and kicked his boots up onto the control console. He would have preferred to go have a rest too, but his guts were telling him to stay on the bridge and stay alert. Even with Hessa watching over things, Roak felt the need to be present and ready when things got tense.
And Roak knew they were going to get tense.
“Sleep, Roak,” Hessa said. “You need it.”
“I’ll be fine,” Roak said. “I’d rather keep an eye on things.”
“That is what I’m—”
“I said I’ll be fine,” Roak snapped.
“Of course you will be…”
Roak was asleep within minutes, the view of the system too lulling for him to keep his eyes open. When he snapped awake, he grabbed at the pistol on his hip and shot to his feet. They were inside the nebula.
“I was about to wake you,” Hessa said, her tone hard for Roak to pinpoint.
“What am I looking at?” Roak asked without taking the time to study the view outside the ship. “What is all that?”
“That would be our destination,” Hessa said. “What is left of it.”
“Did the nebula do this?” Roak asked as he watched pieces of asteroids drift around the colorful, swirling gasses. “Are we going to get ripped apart too?”
“No. Analysis shows that the asteroids were destroyed by plasma canons,” Hessa said.
“That’s a lot of plasma cannons,” Yellow Eyes said, suddenly next to Roak.
Roak managed not to jump or throw a punch at the being.
“This kind of destruction would take a fleet of battle cruisers or at least three destroyers,” Hessa stated. “From the blast patterns, I would guess that battle cruisers were used. A dozen of them? More than likely a dozen of them.”
“Any life signs?” Roak asked as he watched a cluster of frozen bodies float out from behind a cluster of asteroid fragments.
“Yes,” Hessa said, sounding surprised. “I am showing life signs on this asteroid here. There must be sufficient infrastructure left for life support to still be functional. Unless they are all using environmental suits. I cannot tell which since the nebula is interfering with deep scans. All I know is approximately fifteen beings still live.”
“Anything else?” Roak asked. “Any sign of the cruisers? Any quantum drive traces that can tell you when this happened?”
“It has been three days,” Hessa said. “I do not know when the cruisers left, but the destruction occurred three days ago according to the degradation of the blast marks on the asteroids. It would take three days for the nebula gasses to begin to discolor those marks as they are.”
“Three days,” Roak said.
“That’s when Wendell showed up at Carla’s,” Yellow Eyes said.
“I have them worried,” Roak said.
“They knew you were getting close,” Yellow Eyes stated. “And they thought you might survive.”
“I always do,” Roak said.
“But Wendell and Ms. Lika could have killed you,” Yellow Eyes said.
“But they didn’t.”
“Thanks to me.”
“Yeah. Thanks to you.”
“They couldn’t have known you would survive, though.”
“They were hedging their bets,” Roak replied, nodding at the scene of destruction in the view shield. “Which points to corporate involvement even more.”
“Why is that?” Yellow Eyes asked. “Criminals like to blow shit up too.”
“But they don’t like spending the resources,” Roak said. “Corporations have dedicated AIs running return on investment and profit/loss scenarios all day long, every day. This was a just-in-case scenario. Kill the information at the source and end the trail here. Cheaper than dealing with a mess down the line.”
“Soooo…?” Yellow Eyes asked. “What now?”
“Now we go see who’s left alive,” Roak said. “Have a little chat.”
“That is not a wise choice, Roak,” Hessa said. “I do not know what the life signs mean. They could be survivors or they could be shock troops left to ambush you if you did show up.”
“I’m betting on the latter,” Roak said as he turned on his heel and headed for the bridge doors.
“You want there to be shock troops?” Yellow Eyes asked.
“No, don’t be an idiot,” Roak snapped. “No one wants to run into shock troops. But if there are shock troops, then they’ll be able to tell me exactly which corporation I’m dealing with.”
“We’re dealing with,” Yellow Eyes said. “Partners on this, tough guy.”
“I don’t have partners,” Roak said.
“Eh hem,” Hessa responded.
“You know what I mean,” Roak grumbled.
“Do I?” Hessa asked.
Roak squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
“You want to come along? Fine,” Roak said to Yellow Eyes. He opened his eyes and stared hard at the being. “But you listen to me and do what I say. If there are shock troops, then this will be a full-on firefight from the start. If there are survivors, then I’ll probably get a little mean with them so I can get answers. Do not get in the way of either scenario, alright? You got it?”
“I got it,” Yellow Eyes said.
“Then come on,” Roak said.
They reached the lift and headed down to the armory, geared up, then proceeded to the cargo hold. Roak didn’t say a word the entire ride. Once in the hold, Roak moved to the suit of power armor hanging on one wall.
“Thanks for moving my armor, Hessa,” Roak said.
“I had a feeling you’d want the power armor for this leg of our journey and it is easier to put on down here,” Hessa said. “Yellow Eyes? Do you need a suit? I believe you said that open space does not harm you.”
“Don’t need a suit,” Yellow Eyes said. “Doubt ya got one that’d fit me anyway. I have blades, so I am fine.”
“We’ll tether over,” Roak said. “How close are we, Hessa?”
“Give me a few more minutes to get the ship into position,” Hessa replied. “Navigating the debris field is not easy.”
“Take your time,” Roak said. “I doubt that cluster of life signs is going anywhere soon.”
There were a couple of thumps against the ship’s hull, but nothing that shook things up too much. After a few minutes, the ship slowed then stopped full.
“Roak,” Hessa said. “You need to know something.”
“What?” Roak asked.
“Shilo,” Hessa said.
Roak paused then, “How do you know?”
“I am able to scan and read some of the debris,” Hessa said. “The syndicate that Wendell worked for was the Shilo Syndicate.”
“So? That bad?” Yellow Eyes asked.
“I did some damage to the Shilo Syndicate a while back,” Roak said. “It frames Bishop’s betrayal somewhat. Still don’t know why he screwed me over, but I know who helped him do it.”
“Oh,” Yellow Eyes said. “When you say you did some damage…?”
“Roak killed the boss and destroyed their headquarters,” Hessa said. “It�
��s how we met. I saved him from Gan Shan Station. Then it was destroyed.”
“We wrecked the Void House,” Roak said. “Shilo was splintered. This was one of the splinters.”
“They made a deal with a corporation to rebuild,” Hessa said. “They should have made a better deal.”
“Yikes,” Yellow Eyes said.
Roak finished putting on the power armor. He ran diagnostics and went through a full checklist of items before he slapped the faceplate down and let the armor pressurize for the next leg of the mission.
“Time to go,” Roak said to Yellow Eyes. He tossed the being the loose end of a tether cable. “Clip that to you. Try to stay taut. If you get too loose, then—”
“I know how to navigate open space, man,” Yellow Eyes said. “When you wake up being dumped like garbage, you figure shit out fast.”
“I bet,” Roak said then slapped his hand on the cargo hold ramp’s controls. The hold opened and all atmosphere was sucked out.
“Dead ahead,” Hessa said and a blinking light came up in Roak’s faceplate display indicating which hunk of asteroid to aim for.
Roak shoved off from the ship and yanked Yellow Eyes after him.
13.
The trip from ship to rock was quick and uneventful.
Yellow Eyes went limp and let Roak tow him along to the hunk of asteroid. Once they hit the rock, Yellow Eyes became animated again and grabbed on with every appendage. Roak indicated for Yellow Eyes to climb to his left about six meters. Yellow Eyes complied and Roak followed.
There was an intact airlock directly next to them.
“Hessa, can you override the code?” Roak asked.
All that Roak heard in response was static.
“Hessa?” he called. More static. “Dammit.”
Roak studied the interface next to the airlock and swore. Yellow Eyes tapped him on the shoulder and gestured for Roak to move out of the way. Roak hesitated then moved, gesturing for Yellow Eyes to be his guest.
“Don’t know how you can do any better,” Roak said then ate his words as Yellow Eyes’ nubs became a blur of motion so fast that if Roak didn’t blink, then it looked like the nubs weren’t moving at all.
The airlock interface flashed green and slid open. Roak pushed Yellow Eyes inside then followed after. The interface inside didn’t need a code and Roak hit the button, closing the airlock behind them. The two beings waited for the red emergency lights to stop flashing and turn green.
“Good job,” Roak said once atmosphere was restored to the airlock. Roak’s helmet was still sealed, but he activated the external comm so he could speak with Yellow Eyes. “How many code combinations did you go through?”
“Six hundred and fifty-one thousand,” Yellow Eyes replied. “Sorry it took so long, man.”
“Yeah, I’m not complaining,” Roak said.
Roak opened the internal airlock door and waited at the edge. When nothing attacked, he stepped into the corridor beyond and gestured for Yellow Eyes to follow. The corridor was carved directly from the asteroid. No metal alloy walls, ceiling, or floor. All rock except for the power conduits and bundles of lights that ran along the center and edges of the ceiling.
“Where are the life signs coming from?” Yellow Eyes asked.
“I think this way,” Roak said, indicating the empty corridor before them.
“You think? Wouldn’t knowing for sure be better?” Yellow Eyes asked. “Maybe listen to what Hessa has to say?”
“Comm is out,” Roak said. “Nothing but static interference.”
“Must be the nebula,” Yellow Eyes said.
“Or there’s a jammer on this rock,” Roak said. “Either way, we’re on our own until we return to the ship.”
“That is not comforting,” Yellow Eyes said. “No offense, but Hessa is the more stable personality in your partnership.”
“It’s not a partner…nevermind,” Roak replied. “And you aren’t wrong, so no offense taken.”
“Really? I thought you’d get all mad at that.”
“I’d rather focus on the task at hand. Like seeing what’s on the other side of that bulkhead.” Roak pointed at the sealed bulkhead at the end of the corridor. There were scorch marks all over the surface. “Someone wanted in and someone wanted them to stay out. Think you can do your speed typing on the keypad there?”
“I can try,” Yellow Eyes replied as they walked to the bulkhead and the being studied the keypad interface to the right of the bulkhead. “Yeah. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Yellow Eyes began to work at the keypad. Then he went flying through the air, an arc of electricity streaking from the interface to half of his limbs. Roak watched him shoot down the corridor then tumble past the airlock and land in a pile of yellow limbs and nubs.
“Shit,” Roak said as he sprinted down the corridor to Yellow Eyes. “Hey! You alive?”
“Yes?” Yellow Eyes muttered. “Maybe?”
“We’ll have to find another way in,” Roak said, helping Yellow Eyes up onto his many feet. “There have to be air conduits and duct work or there wouldn’t be atmosphere. We’ll find the ducts and you can climb through to the other side of the bulkhead and open it from there.”
“Because that side isn’t booby-trapped?”
“But now you know what to watch out for.”
“Gee, I wonder why the only partner you have is an AI…”
“Shut up and look for the ductwork,” Roak snapped. “This rock is solid, but some of it has to be fake to hide the conduits.”
“The power conduits aren’t hidden,” Yellow Eyes said.
He stared up at the ceiling.
“Hey. See that?” he said, pointing with several arms up at the ceiling.
“What? Yeah. Bolt holes. They took the ductwork down,” Roak said as he retraced his steps to the bulkhead. He activated a halogen on his left arm and shone the light up at a meter-square plate next to the top right corner of the bulkhead. “They sealed it off. Why would they seal it off? Defeats the purpose of breathing.”
“Something else tried to get through the ductwork,” Yellow Eyes sated.
“Maybe. But the attack on the asteroid was from battle cruisers,” Roak responded. “So what does it matter?”
“I’ll show you,” Yellow Eyes said and crouched down close to the bottom of the bulkhead. “See?”
Roak knelt next to him. “What’s that scoring from? Cutters?”
“Small cutters,” Yellow Eyes said. “They couldn’t get through the ductwork, so they tried cutting the bulkhead. Didn’t work so well.”
“Small cutters…” Roak mused. He studied the score marks then stood up and began to survey the corridor with new eyes. “They’re still in here.”
Yellow Eyes bolted upright and spun about, arms waving frantically in a manic defensive gesture.
“Who? Who’s still here?” he cried.
“Calm down,” Roak said.
“Easy for you to say,” Yellow Eyes responded. “You’re wearing power armor.”
“I thought you bounced back easy,” Roak said.
“Not against cutters,” Yellow Eyes replied. “Cutters are not my friends, man.”
There was a scurry and scraping noise from the far end of the corridor and Roak turned on his suit’s full halogens, illuminating the entire corridor with bright light.
“Bots,” Roak snarled as he saw the small machines crawling across the ceiling. “With injectors. Great.”
“Injectors? Why injectors?” Yellow Eyes asked.
“I was right,” Roak said as he pulled his Flott five-six. “They were going to infect everyone first. That must not have worked out well for the corporation, so they blasted the asteroid to shit instead.”
The bots were only half a meter in length and made up of a thin cylinder with eight multi-jointed limbs set symmetrically around the body. In the center of the bot’s “head” was a long injector needle. Roak knew that could be switched out for a cutter blade in the blink of an eye.
“But they left the bots,” Yellow Eyes said.
“But they left the bots,” Roak agreed. “They left them to wait out any survivors.”
“Or kill visitors,” Yellow Eyes said. “With cutters.”
“Don’t forget the injectors,” Roak said with a sneer as he took aim with the Flott five-six and fired.
The laser cluster spread lit up the corridor like it was daytime on a dual-sun planet. The bots scrambled out of the way, each avoiding getting hit by the laser bolts by only fractions of a millimeter. They paused collectively then hurried on, returning to their previous path on the ceiling.
“Huh,” Roak said and switched the setting on his Flott to a single concussion blast. “Let’s try that again.”
He aimed and fired, knocking a good chunk of rock out of the ceiling where a bot had been. Had been. It moved out of the way just in time to avoid being blasted apart.
“Fast little shits,” Roak said. “Let’s try this.”
Roak fired twice in quick succession. The first blast was avoided, and more rock came tumbling down from the ceiling, but the second blast found a target and a damaged bot fell to the floor, its legs twitching and sparking until it went still.
“Probably not dead,” Roak said. “It’ll self-repair.”
“How do you know?” Yellow Eyes asked.
“Corporations spend a little more than the syndicates do,” Roak said. “They plan for contingencies better.”
“Oh,” Yellow Eyes said. He hadn’t pulled a single blade.
“How about you go to work on that bulkhead,” Roak suggested. “I’ll take care of these guys.”
“You want me to go get shocked some more? You joking, man?” Yellow Eyes exclaimed. “That shit hurt.”
“I bet,” Roak replied and double fired at another bot, dropping that one as well. “You might want to hurry in case I don’t shoot all of these. Their injectors can’t get to me, but they can get to you.”
Roak didn’t mention that the bots’ cutters could get through his power armor with enough time. He didn’t need Yellow Eyes freaking out.
“Right. Sure. Yeah,” Yellow Eyes said and backed up to the bulkhead’s interface again.
