by Bruce Adams
What am I going to do? Eli frenetically searched his thoughts about how he was going to remedy this horrible situation. Plans, permutations and plots flew through his brain at light speed. Eli was a genius, he knew he’d figure something out, but he hoped his leg would be functional by the time the ship docked. Medi-kits were for emergencies and it was likely he’d need to see a real doctor soon to make sure he was healing properly. He didn’t want to be slowed down if he had to hobble everywhere but modern medi-kits were amazing in what they could accomplish – he wasn’t too worried about it. He knew that Algol had a sizable port, thousands of ships docked there every solar day going about their daily business of carrying freight and passengers. He could easily stow away on another ship, but where was he going to go? Should he try to get back to Eris Monroe? The thought of her sent a shiver down his spine. He wondered if she was dead like the marines he’d watched die screaming. She can’t be dead. No, he’d continue on to his destination and take better precautions. This time however, if he got out of this, he’d be a regular paying passenger on a ship bound for the Verge, just with a new identity card and passport.
Three hours later the Restov Kal had docked at hub 107 of the Lutenko Port, orbiting one thousand five hundred and seventeen kilometers above the second planet Algol B-3. Eli had decided he’d go with the flow and wait for the right opportunity before making any kind of decision on how to get out of this mess. True to her word Captain Amar returned to the small med-bay with two security police who took Eli into custody. He was detained at the port security station for twenty-four hours. Eli’s profile and biometrics had been sent via FTL comm transmitters throughout the quadrant to all Republic security stations located in major ports, out of the way outposts, and military bases. Since Thomas Martin wasn’t wanted for any known criminal charges in the Republic and wasn’t found to be smuggling any contraband, had no illegal implants and wasn’t a security risk, he was released after a two thousand credit fine was paid. Twenty-five hours before Eli was released a quantum sub-artificial intelligence program created for the Vortex mercenary group had been scanning zettabytes of information searching for anything with a ninety-five percent or higher match linking to Bowman. The program lit up like a fireworks display when it correlated that Eli Bowman was currently located in or around the Lutenko Port above Algol B-3 and using the pseudonym Thomas Martin. A Vortex strike team was dispatched to Algol and would arrive one hour after he was released. A similar program had been in place, though much more sophisticated, by a clandestine group within the Dynamic Space Development Corporation. Teams from both groups would converge on his location soon after he was released from detention.
Eli felt much better. The twenty-four hours he had been detained had helped his leg to recover. A port doctor had seen him an hour after he’d been taken off the Restov Kal. The doctor had made sure that his leg was healing adequately, even applying some new therapeutic nano-gel to bolster the process. Held in a cell complete with a comfortable bed to sleep on and a shower was luxury compared with the cramped space of a two meter by two meter cargo container. He had not been idle during his confinement – using his ability, he had been reaching out through databases to erase any information that could identify him. He had also set in motion a new identity which he would pick up soon after leaving the cell, and had also booked passage on a small vessel that would take him out of Republic space and into the Verge. The Algol station was a major commercial hub and dated back to the founding of Earth’s Republic; it was large enough to accommodate two hundred and fifty thousand sentients. The main thoroughfare, complete with shopping malls, hotels, food courts and high-priced condominiums was busy at all times, with thousands of people, aliens included, constantly moving about at all times. A station in space did not have a ‘day’ or a ‘night’ as the artificial lighting wasn’t ever turned off and people arrived from all over the galaxy at every minute of the hour. Eli was passing time gambling; playing the slot machines in a small casino not far from his departure hub. He had been watching people ebb and flow as he waited to board the passenger ship Zheng He which was scheduled to leave in thirty minutes, but the casino drew him in. All of the machines were hard-lines, not connected to any network that he could discern, but that didn’t matter to him. After ten minutes, he had accumulated over twelve thousand credits. He especially liked this casino, the Tail Wind, because it had panoramic windows looking out over the planet below.
“Nice view, isn’t it?” A scantily dressed blonde haired woman had walked next to where Eli was gambling. She was gesturing at the reinforced plasteel windows across from him. She was dressed provocatively, with a low cut and extremely tight fighting white and gold dress that barely covered her breasts. She looked like a prostitute to him, but he wasn’t sure. More than a dozen ships could be seen in the distance maneuvering into position as they prepared to dock. The planet Algol B1 spun lazily below, yellow-white clouds blanketing the surface of the large world.
Eli was not shocked at all when she leaned over, rubbing against him and whispered, “You’re a good looking guy…want to have a good time? I’m just a few hubs down the main corridor staying at the Hauptman Hotel.” Her breasts were practically popping out of her dress as she spoke to him. Eli couldn’t help but look right at them as he smelled her perfume, a hint of floral and spice.
Eli was immediately suspicious and reached out to see what type of neural implants she had. She had standard everyday implants such as Location, communication and longevity nano tektites but also had night vision, rapid healing, acute hearing, acute vision, pain tolerance and a military grade version of total battle awareness; a very expensive suite of wetware more fitting to a special operations soldier.
“Uh, no thanks.” He didn’t want anything to do with her.
“Your loss,” She shrugged, adjusted her very short skirt and walked away. Eli continued to monitor her with his gift. If he’d had any doubts about her before they vanished as he intercepted her communication link and listened in as she was talking in her head to a partner.
“Maahir, he didn’t go for me, how do you want to proceed? “ The woman’s communications were easy to eavesdrop on and Eli began tracing where the link was being sent. “We’ll use the stunners on him, replied the man, who continued, “Fala, be careful with this one.”
After six seconds of effort, Eli had the man under surveillance with one of the numerous hidden cameras positioned all over the giant space station. The man Maahir was human and had all of the same neural implants as the woman did plus a few more. He was roughly one hundred meters distant and rapidly closing in on Eli’s position at the casino.
Oh shit. Eli thought quickly. He decided to cause a distraction and try to lose those two in the resulting confusion. He hastily used his machine control ability on a nearby security MEK, causing it to overheat and to cook off its energy-dense battery pack and super capacitors. People started to notice when the MEK began smoking, and began yelling and running in a panic as it caught fire and small explosions popped off from the capacitors exploding. The security MEK also began walking unsteadily throughout the casino and then into the main part of hub forty-three exclaiming “Do not be alarmed. The situation is under control. Do not be alarmed.”
Eli began running along with all of the other panicked people, but away from where the man and woman team were positioned. He had made it at least two hundred meters away and through a bulkhead when he thought he could relax a bit. He slowed to a brisk walk as onlookers nearby pointed and talked excitedly at all the commotion coming from where he had just been. The crisp acrid smell of an electrical fire and smoke had begun to seep out from hub forty-three. As security MEKS and personnel rushed past him, Eli felt safer. He was already interfacing with station computers booking passage on a different ship when he felt a vise-like grip pin his arm from behind.
“What the hell! Let go!” Eli saw that a K’Tosk clad in plasteel armor had put an arm-lock on him. The K’Tosk said nothing, but reache
d for a small stun gun. Eli’s eyes widened. He was with them. Reacting instinctively, Eli pushed out against the K’Tosk with his telekinetic ability, yelling “Fuck you!”
The force was great enough to send the armored mercenary flying back two meters, but instead of landing in a heap, the K’Tosk gracefully rolled out from the fall like an acrobat and landed on his feet with his stun gun pointed squarely at Eli. Just before he fired, an Evene woman with a huge mane of flowing red hair landed feet first against the head of the K’Tosk. There was an audible crunch. Eli had never seen an Evene up close before. Her golden fur reminded him of tigers he’d seen back at the old Earth zoo back in New York.
“Bow Man, come with me!” She was out of breath and had bared her claws, which gleamed in the amber glow of a nearby advertising kiosk billboard. The K’Tosk was not out of the fight and had swung his weapon to bear on the Evene. She was fast and dodged his shot, then managed to disarm the mercenary with an agile kick to his hand. Infuriated, the K’Tosk charged her with both arms out in a great bear hug.
Eli had taken control of a security MEK twenty meters distant and sent it against the K’Tosk. The MEK advanced on the mercenary mechanically declaring, “You are in violation of protocol,” and fired a laser carbine on full automatic, striking the mercenary twice, once in the shoulder and once in the leg. K'Tosk skin was a tough chitonous substance and he was wearing plasteel armor; nevertheless the mercenary felt pain from the high energy impacts and grunted loudly.
"Come on!" The Evene woman shouted, "I have a ship!" Eli made a snap decision to follow her as he saw more security personnel arriving at the scene. The K’Tosk was busy taking cover from the MEK Eli had hijacked. He ran after her with the sounds and smells of combat receding in the distance. The Evene woman was running much faster than Eli. She noticed and slowed her gait considerably. At hub thirty-eight and dock seventeen, she finally stopped.
"Bow Man, we must hurry. My ship is right there.” Eli saw through the window a small scout sized ship – its durasteel hull a somber black with the word Valkyrie stenciled on the nose in white. Eli hesitated.
“Wait…how do I know you’re not with them and this isn’t some kind of trap? Maybe you’re working with them!” Eli began to back away from her and heard and saw a squad of security personnel coming towards the docking bay he was standing outside.
“Kizzara Amara Vis Sala does not work for Vortex scum!” She was becoming quite agitated and had opened the airlock bridge tunnel to her vessel. “If you wish to be taken by them, then by all means stay…but if you wish to be re-united with Eris Monroe, then come with me!” She ran into the airlock.
Eli looked at the onrushing guards and followed her. Once inside he saw how truly small the craft was, it only had two seats. Kizzara was seated in the pilots chair forward and Eli snuggled into the second seat behind her. Before he had even strapped in, the ship disengaged from the docking mechanism and maneuvered out swiftly away from Lutenko port. Eli used his ability to erase all security camera recordings of himself and the Evene woman just before he lost contact with the station’s computer links.
“This ship is scout-sized; don’t you think they might follow us? Attempt to disable our engines? Blow us up?” He asked her with genuine concern. Those Vortex guys weren’t going to give up so easily. Kizzara replied, “No, Bow Man…this ship is the Valkyrie…and she is very special indeed!” She laughed as she engaged the stealth field and the ship shimmered and faded from all tracking scopes.
“Do not worry; we are headed to a DSD port not too far distant, only four jumps away.” We will be there in two hours.” He listened to the ship calculating jump point trajectories for a moment and then scanned the vessel’s computer systems to find everything out about it that he could. He was fascinated to learn that it was equipped with an experimental stealth field device that masked the ship from detection. According to the computer it had been tested numerous times and was undetectable.
“I guess I should thank you,” Eli’s adrenaline levels had finally dropped sufficiently when he wasn’t in a fight or flight mode. “If you hadn’t hit that K’Tosk when you did, I think he would have had me.”
“I was just doing my job, Bow Man.” Kizzara had made the final adjustments for engaging the jump drive.
“My name is Eli Bowman…not Bow Man,” Eli corrected her.
“Just so, my apologies, I am still getting used to human names and customs - My name is Kizzara Amara Vis Sala…you may call me Kizz.” The Evene locked in the final coordinates and engaged the drive. The ship fell into the artificially generated Lindstrom tunnel and disappeared from this region of the galaxy.
CHAPTER 10
Her team landed one point five klicks from the target area with hand-held energy detectors attempting to pinpoint the ancient installation that had been spotted roughly in this area. Arneson stayed with the landing craft; standing by in case they needed to dust off and evac for any reason. Her men and women fanned out and moved with deliberate speed. The planet’s one point five gravity pulled heavily on them and the poisonous atmosphere was thick as pea soup. Eris had engaged the suits vision enhancement gear to compensate. Every soldier on her team had checked their gear, all re-breathers and oxygen generators were working at one hundred percent and all armor was sealed tight and made of heavy durasteel. They would be able to last several days without any extra equipment. Each member of her team normally carried a mass of thirty kilos of equipment, including gauss assault rifles. In the heavier gravity the weight of all the gear came in at forty-five kilos, a substantial burden.
Promise Okoro was at point when her team located the entrance to the Valdren facility.
“Captain, we’ve found a closed access point,” panted Okoro, “How do you want to proceed?”
His voice was gruff over the comm as the men had been picking their way through rough, uneven rocky terrain for the last kilometer and a half. It had been more climbing than walking, and they had encountered nothing besides indigenous plant life and a few insects. The entrance was a massive hexagonal door set at the bottom of a fifty meter vertical cliff. In the reddish-orange mist of the tainted atmosphere it had an eerie quality. Visuals came through Eris’ suit showing the distinctive shape and green metal of the door; it was definitely Valdren technology.
“Let’s see if we can get it open,” said Eris. “Sergeant Delantus, prep a drone to fly.” Moak would handle all of the surveillance for her team. It was standard procedure to use robotic drones to scout unknown situations and terrain. The robot should give ample warning to her team if something nasty was oncoming. She watched as Sergeant Delantus pulled a small drone from his backpack and released it into the air. It hovered and zipped around as he tested the sensors and flight controls.
"Angelis, crack open that door. Let’s set up a ten meter defensive perimeter and wait for visuals from the scoutmek." Eris uttered her commands with rapid staccato bursts. Valdren doors had their locking and control mechanisms buried within the material of the door itself. The science teams back on Kanpur had figured out how to open them with a sophisticated algorithm.
Corporal Pascha Angelis took out her electronics toolkit and placed a probe against the surface of the door. A minute later the door slid open with a hiss revealing a sloping corridor that angled downward. There were no lights and no movement could be discerned. The drone flew through the aperture silently.
“Negative on contacts,” boomed Sergeant Delantus’ voice and face came through her comm link. “Let’s take a little look-see.” He was guiding the small MEK through his neural implants.
Eris moved to the front of her team and looked down the corridor. “Switch visual mode to Ultravision Select.” She was clad in black heavy durasteel armor and carried her gauss assault rifle at the ready-fire position with safeties off. “Fire-team - let’s move out and search the area.” She motioned for them to follow her as she descended into the alien base. The floor and walls were pristine and without blemish; there were no s
igns that this structure was at least twenty-nine thousand years old. The Valdren built their structures to last. In the forty-five years since the first discovery that the ancient race had existed, no scientist had been able to learn exactly what the material was or how it had been constructed. However, almost all of the facilities that had been found throughout the galaxy in the past decades were in ruins – and no-one knew how they had been destroyed.
Visual enhancement equipment was built into modern combat armor, and military grade specs were superb. Each soldier could see perfectly well in the darkness of the interior and receive precise feedback on direction, distance to targets and even the composition of materials being looked at. The information was being beamed to the landing craft in which Corporal Arneson had a view as well.
"Jackpot; that definitely looks like Valdren metal," offered Captain Malcolm Shaw over the link. The Majestic was a viewing participant from five hundred kilometers in orbit above them. The ship only lost contact when they orbited to the far side of the planet, making radio reception impossible.
"Captain, keep this channel clear." Eris was fixated on the path ahead and wanted to keep distractions at a minimum. After fifty meters the tunnel abruptly ended at a pit. Eris peered over the edge. There were blast marks on the sides of the opening, and it looked like some kind of elevator had been in existence but was gone now. Eris had an uneasy feeling. Her targeting sensors confirmed that the residue was cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine, commonly called RDX. Someone had used plastic explosives on this structure. Her mission was to scout out and find any evidence of a Valdren base. She had accomplished that first goal. Her secondary goal was to make sure it was safe for the science team located up in the Majestic to come explore and investigate. Someone had been here before her team.
