Sideris Gate: A Paradisi Chronicles novella (Paradisi Exodus Book 2)

by Cheri Lasota

“We have a faction that still remains loyal to Challenge Command. We are currently in the process of weeding them out.”

  “And by weeding out, you mean...?” Dextra’s leading question was clear in its intention.

  “We’ll take care of it, Ms. Justice. We have our own internal rules and procedures,” she finished dryly.

  The faint scowl on Dextra’s face required no interpretation.

  “I’ll assume, then, that as we storm the Command Bridge, the majority of JCorpers involved—if not all—will be loyal to our cause?” Solomon asked.

  “Perhaps,” Angel replied noncommittally.

  “Ah.”

  “Do you need a weapon?” Janus asked Solomon.

  “Yes.”

  Janus handed him a Taser. “We all know you can handle yourself in a fight. At this point, your combat skills in the Olympia Vivarium are already legendary.”

  Solomon hooked the gun into his belt loop. “How do you even know anything about that?”

  Janus grinned. “Gossip travels fast and security cameras don’t lie.”

  Solomon nodded. “So, what’s the situation out there?”

  “Katya report,” Angel snapped.

  “We have security details stationed near the bridge, the private mess hall, the officers quarters entrance, Cargo Hold 7, and Watch Deck 16. They are at the ready.”

  “Neutralizing Director Graversen and XO Justice is key—”

  “No,” Dextra interrupted with gritted teeth. “Don’t you dare.”

  Solomon touched Dextra’s arm, and held her gaze. “Have you seen your mother since you arrived on the Command Deck?”

  “I have. Why?”

  “What’s her state of mind?”

  “She’s... extremely angry and upset.”

  “And she knows Commander Edge is unrecoverable?”

  “She does.”

  “And how did she take the news?”

  “Not well.” Dextra glanced away. “I think they were lovers, though they kept it from me.”

  “Is she able to think clearly?”

  Dextra shook her head and looked up at him. “I don’t think so. Not right now.”

  Solomon glanced toward the fenestella and the rapidly disappearing space station—and Vida.

  “So your mother is currently volatile and unpredictable,” Angel interrupted.

  “Yes, but you’re not to harm her.”

  Angel’s lip compressed into a tight line, and she looked to Solomon, almost as if she was deferring to him as commander of the ship already. It didn’t seem to soften the woman’s obvious stance in the slightest, however.

  Solomon met Angel’s strong gaze with the same intensity. “XO Justice is not to be harmed.”

  Angel nodded her agreement.

  “And Director Graversen?”

  Solomon hesitated. “Your best bet is to throw him in lockdown. We may need him later. But use whatever means necessary to take him down,” Solomon added.

  “Where are Graversen and Justice now?” Solomon asked.

  “We’ve been monitoring their movements. XO Justice is on the Command Bridge, and Mads Graversen is... holed up in a conference room, saying goodbye to his wife.”

  “Do you have any idea who else among Founder crew are loyal to Challenge Command?” Solomon asked Angel.

  “No, I don’t. Impossible to know who had family in Serica Sector.”

  Solomon looked out of the fenestella again, picturing again all the people slamming their fists against the glass, wanting desperately to board the ship and live. No matter how far the SS Challenge made it from the Nautilus-11 Space Station, he knew no distance would make him forget their faces—or the part he played in their deaths.

  “All right.” Janus held up a hand to get everyone’s attention. “So this is how we’re going to play it: Katya, your team will take the lead. You’ll lay down a flash bang, and head in. Solomon, Peter, and Angel will follow. I’ll cover your six. Let’s move out.”

  Solomon turned to Dextra. “Stay here. You’ll be safer.”

  “No way. I’ll stay in the back, but I want to be there to ensure my mother’s safety.”

  He shook his head. “And what about yours? It’s going to be chaos in there.”

  “I’ll stay far behind all of you.”

  Solomon eventually nodded. He studied her face. “I know you’re not okay with a mutiny aboard an Asteria-class ship, but will you back me up on this?”

  “If you promise me not to do anything like this ever again,” she said, unable to help the smile that crossed her face.

  “That I can definitely promise.” He swept her up into one final embrace before following a scowling Angel out of the slider and into the corridor.

  It wasn’t far to the Command Bridge. A few short corridors and a lobby to get through. They marched single file. Twice they met with Founder Command Crew members, who eyed them quizzically but let them pass, which led Solomon to believe they were innocent of Challenge Command’s betrayal.

  Before long, they all stood, Tasers and batons at the ready, behind the slider leading directly onto the bridge.

  “Manual override, Solomon?” Katya asked.

  He nodded, and the group parted as he made his way up to the slider’s code panel. He glanced back to check everyone’s readiness. Once he opened the slider, it would begin. Katya stood at the front, and Scarface held the flash bang ready to deploy. Everyone else had filed in behind them. Katya nodded, and Solomon punched in the code, his body tense with adrenaline.

  The flash bang was already flying through the slider by the time Solomon looked up. He closed his eyes to avoid the bright flash, but he couldn’t evade the deafening bang penetrating his eardrums. Katya and Scarface took center, while the rest of her team rushed in, the black and blonde-haired women taking the left and the two men fanning out on the right.

  Shouts erupted around the room, and from his peripheral, Solomon saw the command crew getting up from their scan and telemetry stations to analyze the threat. Graversen and Justice had obviously posted extra security guards around the bridge as well. Some were starting to fight, while others held up their hands in surrender.

  “Justice,” Solomon shouted, “don’t move.” He focused his Taser directly on XO Justice who stood in the center of the bridge still shaking her head to clear the noise and light.

  She locked eyes with him. The first thing out of her mouth was, “Damn you, Reach. Damn you to hell.”

  “It’s over, Alexandra.”

  “You have no authority here, Solomon. You killed Dickson. The only place you’re going is lockdown. I am now commander of this ship.” She glanced wildly around at the members of Katya’s team, shouting, “All of you put your weapons down!”

  “An unofficial vote has left you out of the running, Alexandra,” Solomon said, his voice firm.

  “Mother,” he heard Dextra’s voice from behind him, “you have to surrender.”

  “Dextra, stay out of this.” Alexandra’s voice was cold, as if she no longer considered Dextra her daughter.

  “No.” Dextra’s tone was just as firm. “You and the joint board betrayed everyone aboard this ship. Solomon Reach is now going to take commandership of the SS Challenge.”

  “Like hell he is.”

  “Like hell he is,” Mads Graversen echoed, as he strode into the room, his Taser trained on Solomon. Mads pulled the trigger, but Solomon spun out of the way. The shock hit Alexandra instead. She fell back into Scarface’s arms, and then all hell broke loose. Hand-to-hand combat erupted throughout the bridge, as Dextra pulled her mother toward the back, away from the melee.

  Mads and Solomon faced each other and charged. He could feel Graversen’s rage over the loss of his wife as he slammed into him. But Solomon was angry too. If it weren’t for Challenge Command’s betrayal, Vida wouldn’t be dying today.

  Solomon put all his anger into his right hook, and Mads fell back against the telemetry panel. But he shook it off and charged at Solomon aga
in, this time with the guttural shout of a man who has nothing left to lose. They tumbled to the floor.

  Mads got his hands around Solomon’s neck, squeezing as hard as he could. Solomon attempted to break his grip, clawing at the fingers pressing against his carotid arteries, but he was losing his strength as he struggled to get oxygen into his lungs. The seconds ticked by. Through the cacophony of shouts, he heard Dextra scream his name, felt the jerk of movement as she tried to pull Mads off of him. But in Graversen’s eyes he saw his death. Blood rage burned like an uncontrollable fire there. Mads could not stop—even if he wanted to. The need for revenge was too great.

  Solomon’s vision blurred until all he saw were Graversen’s eyes. Fear surged into adrenaline, pumping strength into his hands. He had to do something. Anything. He wasn’t going to die today. He had fought too long and too hard. Solomon slipped his hands through Mads’s arms and reached up to grab the sides of his head. There was only one way to stamp out that rage in Graversen’s eyes. Solomon pressed his thumbs into Mads’s eye sockets, eliciting a roar of pain from him. Suddenly the pressure against Solomon’s neck slackened and Mads’s hands pulled back.

  Solomon sucked in a ragged breath and coughed violently. By the time he realized he could breathe again, Mads had nearly recovered, blinking wildly and reaching down to grab his neck again. But Solomon was already throwing a punch directly into Mads’s throat. Solomon should have leveled it against his temple to get a knockout, but his own level of rage was rising. It did knock Graversen partially off of him, so he slid out from under him and slowly rose to his feet, waiting a moment for his head to clear of the dizziness.

  He faced Mads once again, both of them now on their feet in the center of the bridge behind the commander’s chair. Dextra stood behind Mads, holding out a stun gun toward Solomon, but he shook his head and waved her back further. No, he wanted to finish this, with his own two hands.

  The fights around the room were quieting down, but Solomon didn’t glance away from Graversen. He leaned in to feign a punch to the right, but Mads rushed him, sacrificing the protection of distance for pure offense. Solomon was ready for him. He twisted to the side and positioned himself for the hardest punch he could muster. Mads’s head snapped back and to the side as Solomon’s fist slammed into his temple. Graversen’s eyes were closed before he hit the floor.

  Dextra was already moving toward Solomon, walking right in between his balled up fists to press her body to his. The hard steel of his anger softened until his fists uncurled to press her closer.

  “Are you all right?” he whispered as the room quieted. He glanced around at everyone. Challenge Command crew were either sitting up against a wall nursing wounds or being held by the JCorpers with Lewies.

  Dextra leaned back to look at him. “Are you?”

  He looked down at Mads Graversen, whose head was lolled to one side. And then he looked back into Dextra’s soft eyes. When he thought about the choice Mads had made, to save his wife above all else, he suddenly understood. And then he thought about Vida’s sacrifice for Kasen, for all of them. And he understood that too. He thought about a choice they had all made decades ago to only build eleven ships, to save just 110,000 people out of 11 billion. And he understood. But most of all, he understood that the Paradisi Penitence would never let him go.

  “I’ll survive,” was all he could whisper back, but she heard in his tone what he meant when he said it.

  “Command Crew of the SS Challenge, Challenge Command and the Joint Board betrayed Reach Corp and did not honor our contracted agreement. In addition, Commander Edge murdered Drive Ops Chief Vida Rosado while attempting to make it aboard this ship. Therefore, we are taking back the ship in the wake of Edge’s death. Having been lead designer of this ship, it has been determined that I am uniquely qualified for the commandership of the SS Challenge. Janus Security Corp has agreed to back this decision and provide security for a peaceful transition if needed.”

  “If any of you cannot submit to my authority, you will need to step down from your positions immediately. Speak now if you want to step down.” Solomon looked at every one of them in turn, slowly examining their expressions. None spoke up or stepped forward.

  “All right, then. Welcome to the new leadership, everyone,” Solomon said, as he propped himself up against a desk, attempting to recover. “I promise it won’t always be this exciting.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Solomon,” came Dextra’s reply from somewhere behind him.

  Solomon laughed, which somehow turned into a coughing fit. He waved a hand at Dextra by way of introduction as he looked over the whole sorry group in various stages of nursing their wounds.

  “And meet your new advisory and ethics board in its entirety: the incomparable Dextra Justice.”

  “Your schnauzer is adorable, Tavian,” Dextra said. “You’re going to let me visit her once in a while, right?”

  “I’d have to distract Reina first. But for you, I’d do anything.” Tavian laughed a little too loudly at his own joke and took another shot.

  Solomon noticed Tavian was already deep into his whiskey and looking a little glassy-eyed when he and Dextra sat down at his table. The bar was overcrowded with Founder and Reacher crews, likely for the same reason they were: to drink off last week’s tense standoff between Challenge Command and the Reachers.

  As he glanced around, he didn’t see much intermingling between Founder and Reacher crew in the bar tonight, but he hoped tensions would ease as the days passed. He wasn’t naïve enough to believe that there weren’t pockets of Founder crew still loyal to Mads and Alexandra—and even the blessedly deceased Commander Edge—but he planned to keep his ears and eyes open for dissension.

  As soon as Kasen and Brooker arrived at the Paradise Bar, they’d begin their whiskey toast in honor of Vida. Solomon would much rather have had Vida join them in a toast to victory over their Founder overlords, but she was floating into the void forever. It was so strange for her not to be there with them. Stranger still, to have Dextra Justice join their weekly get together at the Paradise Bar on Deck 17.

  Solomon glanced over at her. She was laughing at one of Tavian’s lame jokes about his dog. She seemed so comfortable and at ease among the Reachers. He was grateful she wasn’t on his crew. If she had been, she wouldn’t have been there to burst in on Edge’s torture chamber and save his life. And he was sure she had saved him, because it was unlikely he would have made it out of that room alive.

  But now Edge was gone and Mads and Alexandra still languished in lockdown. The crew and passengers of the SS Challenge had all survived the madness of the Founders’ betrayal and were on their way to the Sideris Gate... all save one.

  “So... what’s the deal with Frankie, Tav?” Solomon asked.

  “Frankie was a gift from my girlfriend. She said I had to get her aboard the SS Challenge, or she would break up with me.”

  Dextra smiled and touched Tavian’s arm. “Did you break up with your girlfriend before you shipped out for the last time?”

  Tavian’s jaw tensed, and he looked down into his shot glass, swirling the liquid gold around and around.

  Dextra frowned at Solomon. He shrugged in response, not actually knowing much about Tavian’s love life beyond the outlandish stories of his legendary conquests among his Reacher crew.

  An awkward silence ensued until Solomon asked, “Was she rejected for medical reasons?”

  “No, she was all set to come with me. She had nearly passed all the tests they gave her. No, I... Well, I was on leave a couple years ago. I took her out on the town back at Georgia Tech. Went to a party at somebody’s apartment. She looked like a goddess that night, I swear,” Tavian said, in an almost pleading way, as if they didn’t believe him.

  Dextra nodded, encouraging him to continue. Solomon wasn’t so sure he wanted to hear it.

  “We drank a lot that night. Stumbled out of the party sometime past 2 a.m. laughing and talking too loudly. And then one o
f those roving terrorist gangs jumped us in an alleyway. The leader—had gang signs tattooed all over his bald head—he stabbed me in the stomach right off.” Tavian lifted up his shirt to reveal an old scar carved into his otherwise unblemished skin.

  “Francesca screamed over and over. I watched as they...” He couldn’t finish, so he downed his shot instead.

  Dextra pressed her hand to his forearm again. “They hurt her.”

  “They made me watch. And when they had finished... They slit her throat.”

  “I’m so sorry, Tavian,” Dextra whispered, even though the noise in the bar was deafening by this point.

  “I had no idea you went through that, Tavian. It wasn’t in your file,” Solomon said, not knowing what else he could say.

  “I never told anyone. If I had, I’m sure those Founder bastards would have made it a reason to kick me off the Challenge.”

  “You renamed your dog, didn’t you?” Solomon said.

  Tavian nodded.

  Dextra’s smile was sad. “Frankie for Francesca.”

  Tavian’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, and he ran a hand roughly through his hair. “Anyway, I’ve done gone and had too much to drink, and Brooker and Kasen aren’t even here yet.”

  “Yes, where are those two?” Solomon asked, glancing around the bar. He spotted Brooker meandering toward them, chatting with friends along the way. Unfortunately, he saw Kasen heading straight toward their table from the opposite direction, and the look on his face didn’t bode well.

  A deep scowl plastered on his face and a beer in his hand, Kasen strode with purpose and Solomon could tell he was already drunk since he could barely walk a straight line. Another patron accidently bumped into Kasen, who swung around to punch the guy out. Solomon stood up immediately and caught Kasen’s fist in his palm before any damage was done.

  Kasen continued his swing, pushing against Solomon’s hand. His breath came heavily and his balance was off.

  “Steady on,” Solomon said.

  “You bastard,” Kasen yelled into his face.

  Everyone in the bar went dead silent as they watched how this would play out.