Project Starfighter

by Stephen J Sweeney

  “Kethlan,” Chris said. The WEAPCO commander was standing ahead of several dozen war bots and drones, all of which had their weapons powered up. They outnumbered Phoebe’s robot army a good five to one.

  “Stand aside,” Chris said. “We’re taking Ursula out of here.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” Kethlan said, shaking his head.

  “Phoebe,” Chris said.

  Phoebe focused on the drones and war bots floating next to Kethlan. The tall man followed her gaze to the machines by his side, watching them. Nothing happened. Kethlan shrugged.

  “A staring contest, perhaps, Ms Lexx?” Kethlan asked.

  “Phoebe ...” Chris prompted again.

  “I ... can’t,” Phoebe said. “Something’s blocking me.”

  Could it be Ursula? Chris wondered. In her unconscious state, was the woman somehow dampening Phoebe’s psionics? No, she couldn’t have been. Phoebe would have lost control of the drones and war bots that were already under her control. Phoebe tried once again, though still nothing happened. She exhaled audibly then, as if the effort had winded her.

  “I wouldn’t keep doing that if I were you,” Kethlan said. “You could give yourself an aneurysm. So, as you can see, Mr Bainfield, there is no way out of here.”

  Chris saw that Kethlan was right. The man and his troop of machines were blocking the only exit. Chris wasn’t sure that recalling Athena would help. This battle was happening on the inside of the facility, not in the space beyond it.

  “I must admit,” Kethlan said, “you’ve accomplished one hell of a lot in such a short space of time: evading capture back in Spirit, earning the trust of a group of mercenaries, downing the Grand Vizier, destroying one of our major shipyards ...” He stopped, looked up. “You’re a good pilot, too. Your skills are certainly very advanced for someone of your age. Our encounter at Elamale certainly showed you have a lot of promise.”

  “I’ll promise you one thing,” Chris snarled, “give me another chance like that and you won’t be walking away from the fight.”

  “An interesting offer, and a challenge that at another time I would be willing to accept. A shame then that my mission directives don’t permit me the opportunity. My superiors were baffled that I took so long to capture you, and that I passed over the opportunity to kill you back in the Eyananth system. But as you can see, I did it all to bring you here, so that I could finish this in one single move.”

  “Chris, I think I can do something,” Phoebe said. It came out as a bare whisper, the woman feigning pain and turning her back on Kethlan, so that the man would not see her speak. “But you need to keep him distracted for a little longer.”

  Chris tried to think of a way to keep Kethlan talking. A genuine question then sprang to mind. “Why are you still human? Why are you human, when everyone else in your little empire has digitised themselves and ... transcended? Why are you not a part of their world? Who cast you out of Olympus and why?”

  To Chris’ astonishment, Kethlan’s spiteful expression completely vanished, and the man stumbled to a halt. He appeared genuinely amazed by Chris’ question. The surprise left him quickly, however, calm returning, mostly. “Who told you this? Mal? Tyler?”

  “No,” Sid said, nodding to the executive transport. “Erik Overlook. His consciousness is consigned to that transport. Something malfunctioned when he tried to send himself home, and we captured him.”

  “I did wonder if he had escaped or not.” Kethlan appraised the vessel behind him. He turned back to Chris. “And he spoke willingly?”

  “No,” Chris said. “Athena got it out of him. The Firefly,” he clarified. He glanced quickly to Phoebe, to see if the woman was ready for whatever it was she was going to attempt. She didn’t seem quite so.

  “Athena’s fully sentient, you know,” Chris said, hoping to open up a new avenue of conversation, with which to stall the commander further.

  “So I hear,” Kethlan nodded. “Overlook will be dealt with, as will the Firefly. But first ...” The man raised a hand and pointed to the four men and women ahead of him. “Kill them.”

  Or at least, that’s what Chris thought he said. The words the man uttered were lost over the cry that Phoebe gave. It was far more of a roar of anger and hatred than one of fear or terror, directed towards Kethlan and the drones and war bots behind him. The lights on the bots and drones extinguished, their anti-gravity suspension systems cutting out and dropping them to the ground. A loud bleeping then started, coming from each of the machines, slightly out of time with one another.

  “Run,” Phoebe said. “Get away from the bots.” She had fallen to her knees, the act of smashing through whatever barrier had been protecting the drones and bots sapping her strength. Her nose was bleeding.

  Chris did not pause for even one moment, taking sole custody of Ursula, and lifting the limp woman over his shoulder, while directing Sid to assist Phoebe. He turned and started retreating with Ursula past the central lift, moving as quickly as he could away from the bots. Sid followed after him, half dragging Phoebe along with him. Chris wasn’t sure exactly how far they needed to run, but was satisfied that he had judged it correctly when the first bot went up.

  The explosion was deafening, the combination of so many machines going up almost at once far louder than the one that had detonated in the mercenaries’ workshop. There, the explosion had been contained. Here, in the bay, it had been free to spread as far and wide as it desired. That was perhaps what saved their lives. That, and the sprinklers that began to dump water all over the bay within seconds.

  “Good work, Phoebe,” Chris shouted to the woman, who was still recovering. His ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion, and he could barely even hear himself. Phoebe only nodded in response. She looked exhausted.

  “How are we going to get out?” Sid shouted.

  “The same way we got in,” Chris shouted back.

  “So long as the transport survived!”

  Yes, that was the clear flaw in Phoebe’s plan. While she might have saved their lives, she had potentially cut off their most direct route of escape. At least they still had their bots and drones with them. Phoebe had somehow managed to maintain control over them. And there was one less problem – Kethlan was dead.

  Chris looked back in the direction of the smoke and flames, considering how long it might be before they could reach the transport. He nearly swallowed his tongue as he saw a figure emerging from the fire. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he breathed.

  Kethlan strode from the fire, appearing as fresh as when Chris had first seen him. He did not appear to have suffered at all at the hands of the explosion. How? The skin on his face and hands was untouched, not even a single thread of his uniform singed.

  “Clever, Bainfield,” Kethlan said as he came closer. “That would be another fault of being human – talking too much. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “Neither will I,” Chris said, and with that he raised his rifle and fired, sending a bolt of plasma directly at Kethlan. The bolt passed straight through him.

  “Good shot,” Kethlan said. “Just a pity that I chose to use a temporal-state avatar for this meeting.”

  Sid fired his own weapon, each shot as accurate as Chris’ own, but each also meeting failure. “Although, if he’s a temporal-state avatar, that means he can’t hurt us,” Sid said, lowering his weapon.

  Kethlan grinned, and in an instant had sped forward, punched Sid in the gut with such force that it sent him flying backwards several metres.

  “The hint there was the word ‘temporal’, Mr Wilson.” Kethlan smirked, and rounded on Chris.

  Chris jumped back as best he could to avoid Kethlan’s punch, the weight of Ursula on his shoulder making it more difficult. The slippery film of water that was now covering the floor wasn’t helping much, either. Chris prepared to deal with the follow-up, but he overbalanced and went down, the semi-conscious woman slipping from his shoulder, crashing down onto the floor.
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  For a moment, Kethlan seemed torn over whom to deal with first – Chris, Phoebe or Ursula. In that moment, Chris got up on one knee and loosed off another handful of rounds from the rifle. As before, each shot passed straight through Kethlan’s avatar. The man’s projection must have been capable of shifting from a solid to a non-solid state at will. That was the only way to explain how he was able to prevent Chris from shooting him while he remained able to hurt others. The only way to damage the avatar would be to locate its source, or wait until Kethlan shifted to a solid state.

  Kethlan had made up his mind. In response to Chris’ attempts to shoot him, he kicked out, catching Chris on the wrist and sending his gun flying from his grasp. An instant later, he had returned his focus to Phoebe, punching the young woman in the face. She had been raising her own gun, preparing to fire, hoping to catch the avatar in that moment of vulnerability. Phoebe staggered backward, slipped on the floor, and fell.

  Chris noticed something then. The lights on the drones and bots under Phoebe’s control briefly flickering, as though they were coming out of some kind of trance. The flickering ceased as soon as Phoebe had regained focus, but by then it was clear to Chris that if Kethlan succeeded in knocking her out, the drones and bots would revert to their original behaviour. Chris couldn’t allow that to happen.

  He dived for Kethlan as the man went to follow up his assault on Phoebe, finding the avatar once again solid. He held on for a time, trying to put the commander in a headlock, before he felt himself slip through the projection and onto the ground. Kethlan had changed state once more.

  Chris was trying to stand, when a force flung him aside. He knew without having to be told that Kethlan’s solidifying had most likely done that, pushing matter out of the way as his avatar took form and forced aside everything within the space it wished to occupy.

  The commander smirked as Chris skidded along the floor, before quickly turning back to dealing with Phoebe. A plasma bolt then streaked through the air, striking Kethlan in the chest. It was Sid that had fired the shot, Chris saw, the man still clutching at his stomach where he had been punched. The impact of the bolt caused Kethlan to stagger backward, but that was all. The bolt dissipated where it hit, bursting in a fashion similar to striking any other solid object. It did nothing else, didn’t even leave a scorch mark.

  Kethlan looked down to where the bolt had struck him, confirming he had suffered no harm or damage. He looked between the baffled Chris and Sid. “Well, what did you think was going to happen?” he asked. The gunfire avoidance had all been a feint.

  Chris once more lunged for Kethlan, the commander batting him away fiercely, knocking him to the ground before trying to stamp on his throat. Chris rolled out of the way just in time. Chris’ further attempts to stop Kethlan were in vain, the man was focused exclusively on Phoebe. At Chris’ instruction, she began to run, to put as much distance between herself and Kethlan as possible. The attempt proved worthless, Kethlan’s avatar disappearing and reappearing in front of her, causing her to change direction and run haphazardly. It was only a matter of time before she was caught, and very soon Kethlan’s hands were around the woman’s throat.

  “Put her down,” Chris ordered, training his gun on the man.

  “Or what?” Kethlan asked. “Weren’t you paying attention earlier? You can’t hurt me with that; you can’t hurt me at all!”

  Phoebe began to choke as Kethlan tightened his grip on her throat. Chris had no idea what to do. He couldn’t harm a projection, and unless he or Sid could somehow locate the source, Kethlan was going to choke Phoebe to death.

  He saw that Phoebe’s drones and war bots seemed to be leaving their controlled state, returning to their normal functions. How soon before they opened fire on the intruders they saw? Chris considered whether he should start shooting them down now? Likewise, Sid was sweeping his rifle between the bobbing machines, readying himself to gun down as many as possible. It likely wouldn’t be possible, Chris knew. The machines would raise their shields in a heartbeat, and open fire the very next moment. He would barely have time to destroy one, let alone the number that had followed them through the facility. Chris felt defeated, almost completely helpless.

  Kethlan then cried out, his grip on Phoebe loosening.

  “Put ... my sister ... down! Now!”

  Walking slowly up behind Chris was Ursula. She appeared to have recovered from her comatose state, and just in time, too. Her eyes were alight, fire most definitely in her belly. Had she sensed Phoebe’s plight? Chris wondered.

  “I’ll crush her throat,” Kethlan said, glaring at the woman over his shoulder.

  “Try,” Ursula said.

  Kethlan did not move. It was as though he was suddenly frozen. Chris then realised – it wasn’t because Kethlan was fearful of the consequences, but because of Ursula’s natural ability to influence the avatar. Phoebe had been unable to achieve this, but that did not mean it wasn’t possible. Likely, Ursula was simply more powerful.

  “See?” Ursula said. “Now, if you’re not going to let her go willingly ...”

  Kethlan’s hands opened and Phoebe slipped to the floor, gasping for breath. Sid was quick to move to her side and help her up. Just as Chris wondered what Ursula might do next, Kethlan’s avatar vanished from sight. Chris readied himself for Kethlan to come at him, for the commander to pop out of thin air and attack. Nothing. Kethlan was gone.

  “Ursula Lexx?” Chris turned to the angry woman. Ursula nodded. “My name’s Chris Bainfield. Sid Wilson, your sister, and I have come here to rescue you. Although, in all fairness, we probably should be thanking you for saving us.”

  “You’re welcome,” Ursula said. There was little warmth in the woman’s voice, understandable considering what she must have been through while here. Phoebe had said she had felt suffering.

  Sid was helping Phoebe up. “Chris, how are we going to get out of here?” he asked.

  Chris looked back the way they had come. The fires were still raging, even with the sprinklers continuing to dump water down throughout the bay. There would be little chance of them returning to the executive transport until the flames died down.

  “Is there another way out of here?” he asked.

  “There is,” Ursula said. “There’s another airlock at the far end of the bay.”

  “We need a ship,” Chris said. “Ursula, can you control ships?” Phoebe still had her hands full controlling the drones and bots.

  “I can, but I can’t do it blindly, if that makes sense. I need to be able to see it, to be more aware of it.”

  “So, you can’t bring the transport around to us?”

  “No.”

  Hell. Chris had no idea what to do. “We’re stuck,” he said under his breath.

  “I can help, if you like?” a female voice came over his earpiece.

  “Athena ...?” Part of him wanted to scold her for still being here, the other part was relieved. She had clearly chosen to stick around and help out, listening in to everything that was going on, and only making Chris aware of her presence when she thought it was needed. She confirmed the very same.

  “I didn’t jump out of the system; I just held back a bit, as I thought you might run into problems getting out. I’m battling a group of fighters out here, but I can bring the Dodger around to you.”

  “Send Overlook’s transport,” Chris said.

  “I can’t. I’ve lost control. It’s the Dodger or nothing. I’m approaching the rear airlock.”

  “We’re on our way,” Chris said. “Signal me as soon as the boarding tube is in place.” He turned to the others. “Athena’s going to help us. We just have to wait by the airlock.”

  The four hurried to where Ursula directed them, finding the airlock as promised.

  “Athena, how long?” Chris asked.

  “A few minutes,” Athena said. “You’ll have to hold tight. I’m going to dedicate more of my control to the Dodger once I’ve dispatched these fighters.”

 
“Are you using the Talons, or are you out there yourself?”

  “Both.”

  “Sacrifice the Talons if you need to, to get the job done faster. There’s quite a lot of smoke in here. I don’t think we’re in danger of suffocating, but if anything else goes up, that could change.”

  “How did you know this airlock was here?” Phoebe asked Ursula.

  “I found out from the drones; they told me about it the first time I tried to escape,” Ursula said.

  “There won’t be third!” a man’s voice shouted.

  Chris started, seeing Kethlan striding towards them. Only this time, Chris was certain, this was no projection. The man was real. Chris paused only briefly to consider whether the WEAPCO commander might have been in the facility the whole time, or had only just landed after his avatar was disrupted by Ursula. Then he raised his rifle.

  He fired the shot at the same time that Kethlan lifted his right arm, a translucent oval shape appearing before him, the plasma bolt Chris had fired slamming into it. An energy shield! It appeared to be powered by a device affixed to Kethlan’s wrist. Chris had heard that WEAPCO was in possession of such hardware but had never believed one so compact and portable could actually exist.

  “Get behind the drones!” Phoebe ordered, as Kethlan began to return fire. The four did so just in time, the machines that Phoebe remained in control of erecting shields of their own, enough to protect the four men and women from the advancing WEAPCO commander. Kethlan stopped firing after only a handful of rounds, his face dark.

  “Looks like we’ve reached a stalemate,” Chris shouted from behind the drones. “We can’t hurt you, and you can’t hurt us.” Though Chris was sure that a barrage of fire from the drones would be enough to break down Kethlan’s shield’s defences. “As I said before, we’re leaving. There’s nothing you can do to stop us,” Chris finished.

  “And that’s where you’re wrong, Bainfield. Very wrong.” Kethlan raised a hand in the air, clearly wishing for them to see it, and clicked his fingers. At once, the drones shielding the four would-be escapees dropped from the air, their running lights extinguishing, their shields and anti-gravity systems cutting out.