Exploration: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Ghost Squadron Book 2)

by Sarah Noffke

  “I had no idea any of this was possible,” said Lars, his eyes large with amazement.

  “The Federation makes all sorts of things possible.” Eddie cut into his steak, his mouth salivating from the ease of which his knife sunk into the flesh.

  Lars did the same, and they both looked at each other as they lifted the meat to their mouths. Both let out sounds of pleasure.

  “I’ve rarely tasted anything so good,” said Lars.

  “I told you, man,” replied Eddie.

  “And here I thought you were incapable of enjoying a good meal, you ugly human.” Lars laughed, his lizard face pink from the alcohol.

  “I can enjoy all sorts of meals. It just so happens I prefer a potato with my steak.”

  Lars eyed the vegetable sitting alongside Eddie’s steak. “I don’t get that part, but I’m glad we both can enjoy the meat together.”

  “Cheers to that.” Eddie lifted his glass and held it out to Lars. They clinked their glasses, and Julianna held hers in their direction, nodding appreciatively just as the transport ship shifted into landing mode.

  Mabank City, Kemp. Behemoth System.

  “Looky there. I had an all access pass to food and drink and I didn’t get wasted. You should be proud of me.” Eddie threw a glance backwards at Julianna.

  “I hope you’re not looking for a medal because you’re not getting one.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” remarked Eddie. “I’ll get one still. Just you wait.”

  Lars paused outside the transport ship and stared around. “Are we in the right place?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Julianna said from over his shoulder. Mabank was mostly an assortment of murky grays, its buildings wrought by years of warfare and poverty. The economy had tanked many decades ago, and now the city was host to disease and low life scum who couldn’t make it anywhere else. A low-flying aircraft, which looked like it might fall out of the sky at any moment, roared overhead.

  Lars covered his ears. “Where are we headed?”

  “To the middle of BFE,” said Julianna.

  “What’s BFE?” asked Lars.

  “Bum Fucking Egypt. It’s an old human expression that means the middle of nowhere,” she explained.

  Lars tilted his head. “I thought we already were in BFE.” He glanced around at the tiny airport, most of which was filled with crop duster planes.

  “You’d be surprised how much worse it’s going to get,” said Julianna.

  Eddie flagged down another Kezzin, who was standing off to the side by himself. A moment later, Eddie pressed his thumb to a pad and handed it back to the alien, then received a set of keys.

  When he returned, he was smiling. “I called ahead and reserved us a vehicle,” said Eddie.

  Julianna nodded, then loaded into the front of the vehicle. “You have your moments, but don’t break your arm patting yourself on your back.” She took out her pad, pulling up the directions. “We’re headed north. Let’s get going.”

  “So damn bossy,” said Eddie, chuckling. He turned the key and started the engine. “Alright, folks. Let’s go explore us a city!”

  ~~~

  “Nothing like driving a rundown piece of shit to make you appreciate your Q-Ship,” said Eddie as they cruised down a dirt road.

  “Yes, my appreciation is high right now.” Lars covered his head, which kept careening into the overhead in the back every time they hit a large bump.

  Overgrown fields of corn ran the length of the road and stretched out in all directions. Those plants were Mabank’s currency. A fucking vegetable. It could be used for everything from fuel to food, but the planet had failed the export negotiations, losing many of the larger contracts. Now, the city of Mabank and its surrounding areas had corn coming out of their asses and no one to sell it to. That’s why the town had been overrun by pirates and gangs and was often victim to attacks.

  “Hold on to your butts. Got another pothole coming up,” boomed Eddie, trying to swerve the car. The vehicle reacted a bit slowly.

  “That was more of a crater, I’d say.” Julianna bounced, keeping her eyes fixed on the farm houses sprinkling the distant fields.

  “What’s the plan?” Lars asked from the back.

  “Chester, according to Hatch’s tracking, lives in an apartment building in town, a mile up ahead. With any luck, he won’t be expecting us. Lars, you take the rear in case he tries to flee. Jules and I will take the main entrance.”

  “Hard to believe there’s a town in all of this corn,” said Julianna, staring out at the field.

  “I hear if you blink, you’ll miss it.” Eddie laughed, slowing the jeep after having caught up with a slow-moving tractor that was hogging the road. It was probably made using plans from Earth, since it looked to have a similar design. “Fuck, come on with this shit.”

  “How do you like that?” asked Julianna. “Travel halfway across a galaxy, only to get held up by a damn tractor.”

  The old farmer slowed more, pulling the tractor over into the ditch to allow the car to pass. Eddie waved at the man, who looked all too displeased to see them kicking up dust on the old road.

  Ahead, the road evened out and led into a small town, where squatty buildings lined the main street. Dirty men sat on the curb, staring blankly at their feet or lying on broken benches.

  Julianna pointed to a parking space. “The apartment building is a road over from here. I say we park on this street and walk through the alley so we don’t draw attention to ourselves pulling up.”

  “Right, let’s not draw attention to ourselves…” Eddie motioned to their shiny black uniform and holstered weapons. “We wouldn’t want to do that.”

  The three slid through a narrow alleyway that smelled of ash and smoke. Their boots trampled over broken glass and other debris. At the exit to the alley, Eddie motioned to Lars to go around the back of the building. It was five stories tall and made of brown brick. There, on a stoop, a man sat by himself, whittling a stick.

  “Oh, looks like old Chester will be moving again,” the man said when he looked up at Eddie and Julianna. “That’s oh-so sad.”

  “You know Chester? We’re not here to hurt him. Quite the opposite,” said Eddie, looking down at the old man who had one blind eye.

  “No one knows Chester,” he said, his one good eye watching his stick.

  “He’s on the third floor,” muttered Julianna to Eddie, striding forward into the apartment building. The sounds of babies crying, husbands yelling, and feet stomping echoed from inside the cavernous apartment building. They charged up the stairs, stopping once they reached the third floor. The first two doors in the hallway were ajar, by the look of them, but the third and final door was shut.

  “I pick door number three.” Eddie strode forward, his shoulders held back.

  “Wait,” whispered Julianna. She pulled the flashlight from her belt and switched the setting on it down two clicks. When she turned it on, the black light revealed a set of laser beams that stretched across the hallway, making an obstacle course of sorts.

  “What’s all this?” asked Eddie.

  “Looks like a security system,” she answered.

  “Why would he have a security system in the middle of a hallway? Wouldn’t the other people living here trigger it?” he asked.

  Julianna paused, growing very still. “There’s no one else here,” she muttered, staring with distant eyes. “Most of the floor is empty.”

  “How can you tell?” asked Eddie.

  She relaxed, like she’d come out of a trance. “I have good ears.”

  Eddie cocked his head. “Was that one of your abilities?”

  She nodded. “Something like that.”

  “I never knew you had fancy hearing like that,” he said.

  “I have to concentrate to use it, and it doesn’t work if there’s gunfire or a ton of noise,” she explained.

  “Nice, but it doesn’t solve this problem,” said Eddie. “What should we do? Fuck if our hacker has
n’t thought of everything.”

  “Actually, I’m sure he has more in store for us if we trigger one of those lasers,” remarked Julianna.

  “Like an anvil to the head.” Eddie pointed up to the ceiling where something was suspended overhead, too hard to make out in the darkened space.

  “This isn’t a cartoon,” said Julianna. “Most likely, it’ll be a bomb beneath one of the floorboards.”

  Eddie gulped. “Yikes.”

  Julianna nodded. “You hold the light for me. I think I have the best chances of making it through this maze of lights.” She got down low, pressing her chest to the dusty floor and scooting forward until she’d cleared the first laser. The next bit required her to high step, weave her body through the obstacle course, and finally lean down low as she side-stepped between two tight lasers.

  Eddie watched from afar as the genetically modified supersoldier made it look easy.

  “Awesome,” whispered Eddie, still holding the flash light.

  “Actually, I’m surprised it wasn’t more difficult,” said Julianna. “Which is what bothers me.”

  “Try not to be so cynical,” said Eddie. “You did great!”

  Julianna dismissed him with a shake of her head, quietly pointing to a camera in the corner.

  “Maybe you can try talking to him through that,” said Eddie.

  Julianna turned and faced the camera. “Chester Wilkerson, I’m Commander—”

  An ear-splitting beep rang out from a speaker under the camera. It made Julianna and Eddie double over at once, clapping their hands to their ears. The sounds jolted Eddie straight in the teeth, vibrating his skull. It wasn’t even a loud sound, just an ungodly one. He managed to reach for the pistol in his belt and hold it up, aiming it at the speaker, although his hand was shaking from the excruciating sound. He fired and the sound dissipated, breaking at last.

  “Fuck! That made my jaw come unhinged.” Eddie grabbed his chin and toggled it back and forth, trying to release the strange pressure in his head.

  “Yeah, you’re telling me. So much for trying the welcoming approach.” Julianna knocked at the door in front of her and suddenly convulsed, electronic shocks started at her fist and wrapped around her arm. She yanked herself backward, eyeing the door with great offense. “Damn it! This guy is fucking insane. He better be worth all this.”

  “If he isn’t, then you can use him as a sparring dummy.”

  Julianna agreed with a nod, pulling her own pistol from her harness, and firing it at the locks on the door. It creaked open an inch, the locks having been broken. She picked up her foot and knocked the rubber bottom into the door, sending it back all the way. With her gun at the ready, Eddie watched her enter the apartment, his eyes intently on her. He felt trapped on the far side of the hallway, but those lasers triggered something, or a whole host of somethings, and he wasn’t going to chance that until he had to.

  “We have a runner!” yelled Julianna, sprinting back out into the hallway. “He’s taking the fire escape down!” She ran across the hallway, triggering multiple traps, ignoring the lasers. Heavy objects rained down from the ceiling and catapulted from the open doors of the other apartments.

  She slipped by each of them, making it back to the far end of the hallway where Eddie had been standing. “Holy shit!” he barked.

  “I know!” she answered.

  “He really did put stuff in the ceiling!” he exclaimed. “Who even does that?”

  “Hurry! He’s getting away!” said Julianna.

  Eddie bolted, leaping down the stairs, taking them five at a time until both he and Julianna were out into the open air in front of the apartment building.

  ~~~

  Lars stood with his back against the metal walls of a warehouse, his eyes scanning the back of the apartment. He spotted a young human pop his head out of the third story window, just before he heard Julianna yell from inside the building. Lars’ sprinted forward, about to leap onto the fire escape. This was his chance to help the team bring in Chester. The guy he was supposing was the hacker in question had something in his hands, a metal object of some sorts.

  Lars was up the first floor of the fire escape when he looked up. This was too easy. He’d meet Chester on the way down and subdue him until Eddie and Julianna arrived. Then they could be out of there and off Kemp, which smelled like a pile of burning garbage.

  He glanced up when he’d nearly cleared the second floor. Chester had positioned the metal object onto a wire that was bolted into the side of the building. He held on to either side of the wire, then kicked off. Easily, he glided across the alleyway, down and to the warehouse on the other side. He dropped, sliding to the ground when he was close enough to land.

  “Damn it!” sputtered Lars. He threw himself over the railing and landed, rolling out of the jump to lessen the impact of the fall. Lars sprang forward and sprinted after Chester, who had entered the warehouse from a small side door. He caught up quickly, reaching the warehouse in record time.

  Inside, it was dark and smelled of moldy dust. Lars slowed to a walk as he became more mindful of potential ambushes, staring up at the tall shelves, each filled with dozens of crates. Chester could be anywhere, for all he knew, or he could have run through the place entirely and be on the other side by now.

  Lars stepped carefully, his senses working overtime to try and find any clue that told him where the hacker was hiding.

  “We’re not here to hurt you. Just come out and we can talk,” said Lars, staring up at the shelves that reached the ceiling.

  In front of Lars came a shuffling noise. He spun around. A dragging sound. He squinted in the darkened warehouse, up at the shelf where the noise was emanating.

  A large crate fell forward, toppling overhead to the floor where Lars stood. He dived just in time to avoid being crushed by the crate, which busted upon impact, its bits of wood spraying in all directions. Lars’ covered his head, continuing to run forward.

  Another crate fell from even closer, that one nearly landing on Lars’ as well. He picked up the pace and sprinted down the length of the row until he was on the far end. Three more crates had fallen. Chester must be on the third shelf, pushing the crates out.

  Lars dove to the left, looking up at the third shelf. He could barely make out the figure running in the opposite direction, along the length of the shelf. Dashing forward, Lars ran down the side of the warehouse, hoping to cut Chester off.

  ~~~

  Eddie had spied Lars entering the warehouse just as he’d come around the building. Julianna took the side entrance, and he sped past her, taking the main one on the other side.

  He was just about to jerk the door back when he heard footsteps slapping against the concrete. Pulling his gun from his holster, he took a steady breath. No, he didn’t want to point a weapon at a potential teammate. However, Chester was scared and didn’t know who they were. That was a deadly combination, and Eddie couldn’t take a chance on him just yet.

  He yanked the warehouse door open and slid into the open space, gun at the ready. A guy came running forward, his head turned to look over his shoulder as he cleared the space. He spun his head forward and halted at the sight of Eddie standing squarely in the doorframe, gun pointed at him.

  Chester spun to face the side entrance just as Julianna stepped out from a row, her gun pointed at him. The guy turned, putting his back to Eddie. To his relief, Lars approached from the back, his own weapon held up, pointed at Chester. The hacker spun around until he was facing Eddie once again.

  “I’m Captain Edward Teach, and I’m here to offer you a job,” said Eddie, lowering his weapon.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Storage Warehouse, Mabank City, Kemp. Behemoth System.

  Chester Wilkerson held up his hands, his brown eyes flicked between Eddie and Julianna on the other side of him. He had a head full of spiky blond hair and was tall and lanky. “I don’t work for terrorists. I’m done corrupting bank software so you all can get rich. Shoot me if that�
��s what you’re going to do, but I’m not stealing for you.”

  Eddie nodded to Julianna, and then Lars. They both lowered their weapons to offer Chester a sign of trust. “I’m glad to hear you say that. We don’t want someone working with us who would so easily help out bad guys.”

  “Bad guys?” asked Chester. “Isn’t that what you are or have you not looked in the mirror recently?”

  “I’ve done some pretty revolting things, but I think I’m still on the good list.” Eddie motioned to Julianna. “We work for the Federation on a special forces team. Our job is to take out terrorists and prevent attacks happening on the fringe. Shit that will cause the Federation more problems if they are directly involved.”

  Chester blinked. “You have a badge?”

  Eddie laughed. “They don’t usually give out badges to covert squadrons.”

  “Good point. But how do I know I can trust you?” asked Chester.

  “You don’t, son. Honestly, we’re fighting a silent war for the empress and the Federation. There aren’t many you can trust. Come with us though and you won’t have to run. You’ll be safe aboard the ArchAngel.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. That ship was destroyed,” said Chester in disbelief.

  “I’m telling you that it wasn’t, but you’ll have to see with your own eyes. Now we could have killed you ten times over, but we haven’t.”

  “I’m still considering it since he electrocuted me,” said Julianna, shaking her head, irritation written on her face.

  “Me too,” muttered Lars.

  “Point is, we want your help. And in return, we’ll help you. No more running or hiding,” said Eddie.

  Chester’s eyes dropped as he seemed to consider this.

  “Teach,” called Julianna, her eyes on the back of the warehouse.

  “What?” asked Eddie, his gaze on Chester.

  “We’ve got company. Pip detected movement nearby, using the satellites. He plugged into them once we were on the ground.”