by James Wisher
“How was it?” Marcus set his cards on the table.
“Tech heaven. Do you think he’d adopt me and make me an honorary Vencar?”
Marcus and Iaka both laughed. “I don’t think so. Is that the program?” Marcus asked.
Solomon nodded. “Dra’Kor is getting his assault team ready. They have the coolest stealth shuttle. When he’s done we’re supposed to meet in the lounge.”
“I guess we’d better get going,” Iaka tossed her cards on the table. “I bet you they stick us with Oliver and his crew.”
Marcus grimaced. The last thing he wanted was those four on his ship. On the other hand if it freed up space for four more Vencar soldiers it might be worth it. “No bet.”
When the three of them reached the lounge they found Vlad and Tommy keeping an eye on the prisoners. Dra’Kor joined them a few minutes later. The Vencar had traded his flowing robes for a form fitting suit of silver battle armor that matched his mask. The suit looked beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Marcus was glad to have the Vencar on their side.
“My team’s ready,” Dra’Kor said. “The antivirus program is ready. We need to decide how we’ll approach Earth.”
“There’s a blind spot in the early warning system near Jupiter,” Oliver said. “We can make a micro jump there and continue on in real space.”
“Won’t Voidwalker know about the blind spot?” Celine asked.
“Just because he has all my memories doesn’t mean he’s studied them. There’s no reason he’d be looking for the blind spot. The jump will save us half a day.”
“I think it’s worth the risk,” Marcus said.
Dra’Kor nodded. Oliver wrote the coordinates and handed the slip of paper to the Vencar. Dra’kor studied the numbers then vaporized it with a weapon built into his gauntlet.
Vlad gave Marcus a data chip. “This has the frequency of the dragons secure comm line. Tell them when you want to infiltrate and they’ll hit the installation. Good luck, my boy.”
“What about these bloody cuffs?” Oliver held up his hands.
Vlad gave Marcus the key. “I wouldn’t let them out until you had to.”
“You read my mind.” Marcus shook Vlad’s hand then Tommy’s. “When this is over we’ll have to get a drink.”
They boarded the star and disconnected from Vlad’s shuttle. Marcus flew a little ways away. Dra’Kor’s shuttle flew out of the cruiser’s bay. Marcus formed up behind the sleek silver ship. Solomon was right, it looked cool. Dra’Kor’s shuttle shimmered and vanished. Marcus activated his own cloak and shot into hyperspace.
***
The two massive Void ships made an intimidating sight. They dwarfed the Earth Force destroyers drifting in orbit beside them. When they emerged from hyperspace in Oliver’s blind spot near Jupiter no black Void ships lurked in the vicinity waiting to blow them to bits. Oliver’s gamble had paid off.
The star floated near the moon and Marcus watched the count down on his monitor. In ten minutes the dragons would attack the early warning installation. They’d arrived fifteen minutes before they needed to enter the atmosphere. Marcus felt the familiar queasy, excited churning in his stomach. He wanted to get on with it. The waiting always bothered him more than the job. Once he was active and under fire he didn’t have time to be nervous. When the timer read zero he pushed the throttle forward. If the dragons hadn’t done their job this would be really short trip. The star streaked toward Earth and he hoped the Vencar ship followed along.
The Pacific ocean and the coastline of California filled the view-screen overlaid by a navigation aid. Marcus sent a little prayer to whatever forces looked after crazy's ex-smugglers and pointed his ship towards the gap. When they hit the atmosphere friction shook them around. Marcus grinned and hoped the passengers in the hold got a good bouncing around.
The ride smoothed out once they were through and he throttled down. Marcus held his breath for a few seconds until it became clear that they’d done it. They flew east towards Washington at hypersonic speed, covering the distance in fifteen minutes.
Oliver had mentioned a landing area for shuttles near the Earth Force building. Marcus spotted it and began the landing sequence. Nothing had shot at them yet and that made him nervous. There had to be someone around to notice the dust blowing and the smaller ships rattling as he eased the ship into position. They settled on the landing gear. Marcus left all his external defenses on and the three of them left the cockpit to collect their passengers.
In the back he found all four of his unlikely allies standing near the ramp. Marcus took out the key Vlad gave him. “Hands out.”
He unlocked the cuffs and headed over to the weapons’ locker. The cylinder spun around and he took his preferred blaster and ion pistol. When everyone had the weapons they wanted he lowered the ramp. Outside twenty Vencar soldiers had disembarked from their ship and formed an arc watching the Earth Force building. Dra’Kor came over to join them.
“Your friends did a remarkable job on the West coast facility,” Dra’Kor said. “We scanned the area and spotted the building fully engulfed by flames.”
“One thing about the Black Dragons,” Marcus said. “They don’t do anything halfway. We’d best get started. It won’t take them long to figure out we’re here.”
“Void soldiers incoming,” one of the Vencar soldiers said.
Marcus shrugged. “Told you.”
He turned to look and sure enough twenty of the black masked soldiers were marching toward them. Five of the Vencar soldiers separated themselves from the group. “We’ll hold them, sir.”
The rest of the group ran towards the building. “Can they hold off twenty of those Void killers?” Marcus asked. “We barely managed two or three at a time back on the asteroid.”
Marcus could almost hear the smile when Dra’Kor spoke. “Our weapons are more effective that what you’re used to. I assure you five Vencar soldiers are more than a match for five times that number of Void soldiers.”
He kept his doubts to himself and concentrated on running. They reached the doors and five of the soldiers led the way in. Marcus entered just in time to see a pair of Void soldiers go down with holes burned through their chests. The Vencar weapons went through the enemy’s shields like they weren’t there. He grinned. No wonder Dra’Kor had been so confident his guys could handle the masked solders outside. Without their shields they were sitting ducks.
Dra’Kor held up five fingers and pointed at the entry doors. Five Vencar soldiers detached from the group and spread out to secure their exit. Oliver led them to a lift and pressed the call button.
“I’d feel better if we took the stairs,” Iaka said, her knuckles white where she gripped her blaster.
“As would I,” Oliver said. “But the only way to the lowest levels is this lift.”
“That’ll make it easy for them to know where we’re coming from,” Marcus said.
“That was the idea.” The doors slid open and Oliver led the group into the lift. It became clear in a hurry that they wouldn’t all fit.
“Let my people secure the exit first then we can follow,” Dra’Kor motioned his solders into the lift.
Oliver got out making room for the last Vencar to enter. The doors closed and the lift descended. The little group watched the numbers light up as the lift descended. When the lift reached the bottom floor and a rumbled vibrated through Marcus’s feet.
“Everyone get back!” Marcus grabbed Solomon and Iaka and pulled them away from the lift doors.
Moments later the doors blew off their hinges in flames billowed out the shaft. The heat of the flames seared Marcus’s back. When the heat vanished Marcus spun around. The explosion had reduced the lift doors to mangled hunks of metal, charred and blackened beyond recognition. The shaft itself had partially collapsed. Marcus looked down the shaft but saw no clear path to the bottom floor. Twisted metal girders narrowed the path so that they couldn't fit through.
“What now?” Solomon asked.
“Are your men okay?” Marcus asked.
Dra’Kor cocked his head, listening. “The blast killed four and three more are injured. The others are taking heavy fire. Their position is secure for now but I don't know how long they can hold it. We need to get down there.”
Dra’Kor sent a message in his native language. “I’ve ordered one of my men to bring a rope. We can widen the path so the rest of you can follow.”
“What sort of opposition are we looking at?” Marcus asked.
“My men report two Void knights and a dozen soldiers secured behind barricades.”
The soldier with the rope sprinted through the doors and over to their position. Two of the soldiers guarding the door detached from their squad and joined him. He took what looked like a drill bit with an eyelet at the top, placed it on the floor point down, and pressed a small switch on the side. The device drill down until the top was flush with the floor. The soldier tied the rope to the eyelet and threw it down the shaft. Dra’Kor and the two soldiers slid down the rope. Marcus looked down; the Vencar used the lasers built into their gauntlets to cut chunks out of the girders blocking the path. It didn't take long for them to open a gap wide enough for the others to follow.
When the Vencar had moved out of the way, Marcus grabbed the rope and slid down behind them, picking his way past jagged metal. When he neared the bottom of the shaft the sound a blaster fire echoed up to him. The floor immediately below him was clear of debris. He dropped the final few feet and rolled to break his fall. Blaster bolts screamed overhead. He crawled to the nearest pile of stone. Behind him boots hit the floor. Marcus got to his knees beside the closest Vencar and peaked around the pile of rubble.
A pair of the massive Void knights stood in the middle of the walkway leading to the central computer. The Vencar soldiers’ blasts chipped pieces out of their armor but seemed to cause them no great difficulty. On either side of the knights behind crude barricades the Void soldiers crouched, their weapons sending out a stream of constant fire. How they would get past them Marcus didn’t know.
Iaka and Solomon scurried over to him. Oliver and his people went in the opposite direction. Marcus flinched away from a blast that came too close. Dra’kor hunkered down a little ways away firing blast from his built-in weapons. Marcus made his way towards Dra’Kor, dodging behind piles of stone and twisted metal. He reached the Vencar leader without getting his head blown off.
“How are we going to get past them?” A piece of shrapnel hit his hand, scraping the skin.
“I had hoped to avoid using our heavier weapons, but I can see no way to avoid it. Their armor is too thick even for our blasters.”
“What are you worried about? They already blew up the lift, a few more craters won't make any difference now.”
“My main concern was that we may bring down the roof on our heads.”
“If this fight goes on much longer the roof may come down on us anyway. I say let them have it.”
Dra’Kor took a grenade out of a compartment of his armor, pressed the primer on top, and threw it at the nearest Void knight. Marcus clenched his eyes tight against the blinding flash. When he opened them Void knight’s legs had disintegrated. Too stupid to realize it should be dead the monster kept on shooting. The other Vencar soldiers threw their own grenades at the final Void knight and the barricades the Void soldiers hid beyond. When the explosions stopped only a few small pieces of the defenders remained.
Marcus got up from behind the pile of rubble. The roof still looked secure and no one was shooting at them. It appeared they had won the first round. The others were slowly getting out from hiding places. Solomon remained on the ground, his arms covering his head.
Marcus tapped him on the back. “You can get up.”
“Is it safe?” Solomon peaked out from under the crook of his elbow.
“There's no one shooting at us right now, that's the best I can give you.” He reached down and helped his friend up.
Oliver and his crew came over to join them. “It’ll cost a fortune to clean this mess up,” Oliver said.
“At least you're still alive to complain. So what do we do now?” Marcus asked.
“The central computer is at the end this hall. The lock is keyed to my DNA. Once I open it we can run the antivirus program and get out of here.”
“Somehow I doubt it will be that simple,” Iaka said.
***
They left the destroyed entryway behind and walked down a sterile, undecorated hall. No doors branched off it. They continued on for perhaps two hundred yards. At the end of the hall it widened out into a huge round chamber. In the central chamber a moat ran around the computer room. The only way to access the room was across a narrow bridge. Marcus shook his head, it looked like such a medieval defense yet he couldn't see any way around it.
Sitting in his hoverchair, the puppet Oliver guarded the bridge like a troll from a child’s fairytale. Marcus wanted to laugh it seemed such a ridiculous defense after what they had already dealt with. Two soldiers leading the group fired their weapons. The blasts struck a shield and deflected away. The two Vencar soldiers looked at each other in obvious surprise. Before they could react, a pair of blaster cannons popped out from the front of puppet Oliver’s chair and fired, blowing a hole through one of the soldiers’ chests. Marcus looked around for somewhere to hide but found nothing, they were completely exposed.
Dra’Kor and the other soldiers rushed to the front of line, hands raised. The cannons fired again. Marcus flinched and closed his eyes, expecting to be blown to bits. A few seconds later, surprised to still be alive, Marcus opened his eyes. The Vencar had combined their suits’ shields to create a barrier that deflected the blast, scorch marks on the walls nearby testified to the attack’s power.
“It's another standoff,” Marcus said.
“Not really, we can only maintain this shield for short time,” Dra’Kor said. “In about two minutes we'll run out of power.”
Marcus drew his pistols. “Can you make a gap for me to shoot through?”
“I don't think your pistol will penetrate his shield,” Dra’Kor said.
“What if we all open up on him at the same time?” Oliver asked.
Dra’Kor shook his head. “Your weapons would add only a negligible amount of power. I don't think it will be enough to make a difference.”
“What the hell are we supposed to do, just wait here until you run out of power and he blows us to bits?” Oliver asked.
“While that would be an amusing way for you to commit suicide, but I have another idea. I only need a small gap.” Marcus said.
Dra’Kor adjusted the control on his gauntlet and a small gap opened in the shimmering vale. Marcus aimed his pistol and fired. His shots ricocheted off enemy’s shield. He worked his aim down until he hit where the shield and the ground came together. When the final shot skipped away Marcus pulled back.
“It's a dome not a sphere. Iaka, did you bring some ion grenades?”
Iaka reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the small spheres. “I don't go anywhere without them.”
“Perfect. When I say, roll it nice and easy down the bridge so it goes under that thing’s chair. Everyone get your weapons ready, we need to distract it so it doesn’t notice the grenade.”
Dra’Kor once again opened gaps in the shield. When everyone with a blaster had taken aim Marcus said, “Fire!”
Blaster fire streaked toward the puppet Oliver, all of it deflected by his shield. Marcus waited two seconds then tapped Iaka on the shoulder. “Now!”
She pressed the activation button and rolled her grenade toward the chair. Marcus held his breath and kept firing. The little sphere slipped through the shield and exploded in a ball of crackling, blue electricity. When the light vanished the hoverchair lay on its side, the puppet Oliver slumped over, unmoving.
The Vencar lowered their shield, but kept their hands raised. When it became clear that the old body wasn’t faking they walked
toward it, every weapon they had leveled. Marcus tapped its head with his boot and got no reaction. The ion blast must have fried its internal computer.
Oliver stepped up and blasted a hole though its chest. He looked at Marcus. “Better safe than sorry.”
What must it feel like to stand over your old body and shoot it? Marcus shook his head. He couldn’t imagine.
Oliver led the way to the computer room door. “Everyone stay back. I need to deactivate the security system.”
Marcus and the others kept their distance while Oliver approached the door. He placed a thumb on the entry pad and a pair of laser cannons slid out of the wall. Marcus held his breath if the enemy had changed the key code Oliver would be dead shortly. Something beeped and the cannons slipped back into the wall.
Oliver pushed the door open and they joined him beside it. “It’s a little tight inside most of you will have to wait out here.”
Marcus and Solomon separated themselves from the group. Solomon went in first then Marcus motioned Oliver to go ahead of him. He had no intention of letting Oliver get behind him.
Oliver offered a humorless smile. “Still don’t trust me?”
“I wouldn’t trust you with a dog’s supper. Let’s go.” Marcus rested a hand on the grip of his pistol.
Oliver didn’t protest. He followed Solomon through the door. “The primary system control is in the center.”
“I found it.” Solomon sat in front of the central workstation and plugged the data to chip in. He typed in a command and the computer whirred to life. “This will take a few minutes. Do you want to send any messages to the fleet?”
“Tell them to assemble around the colony on Titan. When all the ships are accounted for they are to jump back to Earth and destroy all Void the ships in orbit. Once they've accomplished that they are to remain in orbit and await further orders.”
Solomon typed the message. A little bar on the screen displayed the antivirus scan’s progress. When the bar reached one hundred percent Solomon typed another command and hit execute. The computer beamed the antivirus program instantaneously to the entire fleet and the planetary defense system.
