“Very well. Thanks, Doctor.”
The doc entered a few commands on his holo-terminal.
“There. I’ve dedicated ten percent of your nanites to this task. They are short-term powered, so you need to have them flushed out of your system as well, but there’s no urgency to remove them, unlike those in your stomach.”
“Got it. Thank you.”
“I would tell you to be careful, but the patients I see usually aren’t the corporate types. There’s always some battle to be fought, a mission to be done, lives to be saved or taken.”
“Indeed, careful is not what awaits me next.”
“If that will be all?”
“Yes, Doctor, thanks again.”
“Your friend is waiting for you in the next room. Good luck.”
10
Alix and Ryonna arrived at the abandoned factory, where Jonas was waiting for them.
“Your choice of meeting location always amazes me.”
Jonas smiled, but Ryonna could read his tension.
“What is it, Jonas?”
“It’s about Jax. I’ve pieced it together. I know who killed him.”
“Who?”
“You’re not gonna like it.”
“Spit it out already. Who did it?”
“A high level executive within the Hathan government.”
“What? That makes no sense. Jax had no ties to Hathan. He was just a teacher here on Droxia.”
“I think he lied to both of us.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jax was Section Seven.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“What’s Section Seven?” asked Alix.
“It’s a top secret organization that does very specific missions for the Droxian military. Shadow operations.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning my husband was a spy and I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Kind of how this works, Ryonna,” added Jonas. “Believe me, I was the first to be surprised. You’ve known him for almost twenty years, but I’ve known him all my life; or so I thought.”
“Are you absolutely sure?”
Jonas took a small, portable holographic projector and activated it. It projected an image of Jax’s Section Seven rap sheet.
“Damn,” said Ryonna.
“Didn’t you try and join Section Seven yourself?”
“I did, but I was rejected. I think I know why now.”
“Yes. Jax would never have agreed for you both to have such volatile and dangerous occupations, not with Ronan in the picture.”
A tear fell from Ryonna’s eye. A dark pit opened in her stomach. The man she thought she knew had deceived her. But she didn’t hate him for it. In fact, she admired him. She would have had to do the same to him if she had been admitted to Section Seven. But once she was pregnant she had made the decision not to re-apply. She realized now she would probably never have gotten the job anyway.
“What do you want to do, Ryonna?”
“I want a name.”
“Sector Atrak.”
“I know that name.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“I . . . Not long ago I was helped by the Alliance. It led me to Hathan, where Grolax told me I could find Ronan. This was the person who contacted the Iron Fire.”
“Iron Fire?”
“The name of the Alliance ship that picked me up from the world I was stranded on.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Tell me more about him.”
“He’s the one who gave the kill order. That’s all I could find.”
“What was Jax doing on Hathan Prime?”
“I couldn’t recover that information, but whatever it was, it cost him his life.”
“And it will cost Sector Atrak’s his as well.”
“Killing a high-placed executive will surely have you sent to Hellstar. Fortunately, Hathan doesn’t have the death penalty.”
“Do you have more intelligence on this guy?”
“Not much. He’s a very skilled military man, turned executive for Hathan Prime, reporting directly to the ministry of defense. He could be quite difficult to approach.”
“He won’t be an easy mark to take down. You’ll definitely need my help on this one,” said Alix.
“This is the one mission you might not come from alive. Are you sure, Alix?”
“I am. We’re going after him.”
“Very well. Thank you.”
“Jonas.” Alix turned towards him. “Would you mind wiring my assets to my wife in case I don’t make it?”
“I’ll need your credentials to access them, but yeah, consider it done.”
Alix logged into his accounts and transferred control of his assets to Jonas. “You now have full access.”
Jonas nodded. “Mind if I get a minute alone with my sister?”
“Sure thing. I’ll wait on board my ship.”
“Sister, huh?”
“You know I never cared that we aren’t of the same blood. I was just pissed at you when you didn’t listen to me about Jax’s accident.”
“I can understand that. Again, I’m really sorry. I didn’t want to hear any of it at the time.”
“I don’t blame you. You had just lost your husband, the father of your child. I should have been more patient and let you deal with your grief first.”
“We both made mistakes.”
“Yes, we did.”
“No matter what happens next, I’m really glad we’ve had the chance to patch things up.”
“Me too. Please promise me you’ll be careful. I want to see Ronan, but I would also like to see you again.”
“My plan is to break him out of there, so that implies I survive this mission as well. I know it sounds suicidal but I have no intention of dying.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear it. Any chance I can convince you to let me come along?”
“Jonas, you have every right to come with us, but if you get caught, you’ll also be sent to Hellstar. I don’t think Jax would have forgiven me for that.”
“Part of me really wants to go with you, but I’m no fighter. I might just end up being a liability.”
“Can you hack into Hathan’s systems from here?”
“My DT credentials and access to the InterSystem network that goes with it should allow me to do this from home, yes. But perhaps I should come along and stay on the ship?”
“I think it’s best if you do this remotely.”
“Very well. Promise me you’ll come back.”
“I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to come back. How does that sound?”
“That sounds good.”
He took Ryonna in his arms and hugged her tightly.
“Jax would be proud of you.”
“And I’m proud of being your sister. Now, you’d better go home. We’ll stay in contact. I’ll definitely need your help to infiltrate Hathan security systems.”
“I’ll get you inside, and make sure that Atrak guy pays for what he’s done to Jax.”
“On that I can give you my word.”
Alix safely landed the ship on Hathan, avoiding all detection thanks to both his state-of-the-art stealth engines and a little help and smart jamming on Jonas’ part. He rejoined Ryonna in the cargo bay.
“Ready to go?”
“Any chance you have bigger weapons than our blasters?”
“I thought you’d never ask. Then again, I thought the idea was to go in stealthily.”
“It is, but I’d rather be prepared for anything.”
“Computer, armory.”
The wall near Ryonna vanished to reveal a secret room. Ryonna’s eyes sparkled with interest at the impressive weaponry on display.
“That’s quite the arsenal you have there. Are you readying yourself for a war?”
“Like you, I enjoy being prepared for anything.”
She beamed him a wide smile.
She entere
d the high-tech arsenal and browsed. Alix had it all: military-grade, concussive rifle blaster; augmented, vision-cortex add-ons; pretty much every type of grenade for any situation; latest generation body armor; and some tech she didn’t even recognized.
“This is gonna take a while.”
“Let me present you my dream-team selection, if I may?”
“Please, there’s so much choice I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“How much can you carry?”
“As much as needed.”
“Let’s start with my personal favorite, the Zaxon Industries MR-227. This isn’t available yet. I’ve got a buddy who acquired it in an R&D weapons depot. Top-of-the-line rifle blaster, fastest recharge and salvo-firing weapon ever created. Armor piercing; high shields depleting ratio; integrated grenade launcher. But let me demonstrate my favorite feature.”
With two fingers, Alix swiped a blue band on the side of the weapon which promptly turned orange, and the weapon morphed into a sniper rifle. “Liquid metal.”
“Sweet!”
He swiped it again. The color band turned red and the weapon morphed into a veritable mounted turret canon with a shield protecting the upper half of the wielder’s body. “This is for when you’re vastly outnumbered. It won’t last long as a turret, but you could still take on a small army with this.”
“Looks like I don’t really need any other weapon than this.”
“You’d think so, but you’d be wrong.”
Alix took a couple of one-handed blasters off the wall.
“These babies are among my favorites. You can tag your enemies and then shoot, and the lasers will auto guide themselves to their targets. It’s very useful when you’re outnumbered and behind cover. You just take the time to lock onto your targets. It can lock as many as you want. Then you can fire blindly. It doesn’t have perfect accuracy, but when you’re under heavy fire it will thin the attacking crowd rapidly, even if you stay behind cover. It has three small explosive charges as well.”
“And I thought my own blaster had all the bells and whistles I needed,” said Ryonna with a smile.
Alix smiled back. “Your blaster is very powerful and the binding energy shot is great. I wish I could have that on any of my weapons, especially for a mission where I must bring someone back alive.”
“What else?”
“I propose we both wear my latest acquisitions. Latest in smart body-armor protection. It’s made of a morphing alloy similar to the liquid metal of the MR-227. It gives total protection and can masquerade as normal clothing as well. When turned into body armor it even adds a helmet on demand. It has an integrated shield that allows you to take many shots before the armor even has to do its job. It’s very light and you barely feel you’re wearing it. It has features like short-term cloaking, super speed, which enhances your own movement, allowing you to react twice as fast. But also friction control and magnetizing boots, so you can run on walls as well as stick to metallic surfaces.”
“Neat. Anything else?”
“As a matter of fact, it is fire repellant. You can walk through fire for a few seconds. It will also resist very low temperatures. And you can glide with it in case you fall from a distance.”
“This could all be useful for sure, but shouldn’t we get going now?”
“Just one last thing,” said Alix as he grabbed a few morning stars.
“I do like white weaponry.”
“I noticed. These babies have a homing sensor similar to that of the blasters I just showed you.”
“How do you lock onto your enemies?”
“The smart armor has a targeting system built into its holographic HUD. Just think target when your eyes are looking at your enemies and it will lock onto them.”
“What about the blasters? Are they linked as well?”
“Only if you want them to be. Sometimes you need manual targeting. Simply put your finger on that control to activate or deactivate the link with the smart armor.”
“Okay, we should go now.”
“Right, I’ll let you choose your arsenal.”
“I’ll take everything you’ve just shown me; a few grenades as well. I still have the EMP device you gave me earlier. I’ll take that as well. We’ll only get one shot at this, and I can’t take any chances. Today is the day Sector Atrak dies.”
“I wouldn’t want to be him.”
“Alix, once he’s down, you run, you hear me?”
“Let’s cross that bridge when get to it.”
“No, Alix, I want you to get the hell out of there the moment I kill that bastard. Soon after I’ll be taken into custody and sent to Hellstar. This needs to happen.”
“It will go as planned, don’t worry.”
Ryonna couldn’t help thinking there were simply too many variables for things not to go awry. It needed to work, though. This was Ronan’s only chance.
Ronan, I’m coming soon.
11
Night had fallen on Hathan Prime’s central city. Ryonna and Alix arrived at the security headquarters by speed cycles. They had just finished their survey. A stealthy entrance would prove difficult at best, impossible at worst.
“What do we do? Are we sure he’s inside that building?”
“He’s on the seventieth level.”
“What about entering from the roof? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“That was my hope as well, but Jonas says the top level is booby-trapped. A powerful shield protects it from intruders and he couldn’t get this feature disabled remotely.”
“Too bad. A front entrance will mean heavy resistance.”
“I know, but you don’t have to come with me, and you know it.”
“Let’s not go there again, Ryonna. I want to come. You stand almost no chance of survival on your own.”
“And with you along?”
“Well, together we stand half a chance at least, but those are still better odds.”
“Right. The next security shift is in a few minutes. That’s when we make our move. There’s only one objective.”
“Kill Sector Atrak, got it.”
She smiled at him even though she was worried about what came next. She dreaded having to take the life of the best ally she’d had since meeting Sarah and Chase. She really hoped Chase was right, and that the future could be changed when one knew about it. While she wanted to kill the person who murdered her husband, this mission was first and foremost her ticket to Hellstar. Even if everything else failed, she needed to be sent to Hellstar one way or another. Killing a dozen guards on her way to the top of the security spire of that Hathan government building should ensure that, no matter what. But she needed to survive. Failure was not an option, not today.
They activated their full body armor and the liquid metal crafted a helmet around their heads. The armor was black matte, with blue lights emanating from the helmet. They approached the building and activated the cloak. They became invisible.
“What’s the range of this feature?”
“A few hundred yards when you move. Less if you use your super speed at the same time.”
“What about when you don’t move?”
“A couple of minutes, perhaps three. I haven’t had the pleasure of testing that feature yet. Your HUD displays an energy bar on the lower right. It will let you know when you reach ten percent power for a feature by flashing the entire HUD.”
“Recharge time?”
“A minute, give or take, depending how you’re taxing the overall power supply of the armor.”
“We should hurry then.”
“You can also think what you want to tell me once we’re inside. I will receive the signal but no one else will hear us. This will work with your communications with Jonas as well.”
“Very well,” said Ryonna with her mind, testing the efficiency of the feature.
Then she activated her communicator. “Jonas, I need you to unlock the front service entrance.”
“Done. Be careful, you two.”
“We will. Do you still have a visual on our target?”
“I’ve hacked into the camera system for the building. He’s still on the seventieth floor, but you should get moving. It looks like he’s packing it in for the day.”
“We still have at least five minutes before the next shift,” said Alix.
“We can’t afford to wait. We go now. Perhaps we can pass the lobby undetected.”
“Alright, let’s try.”
Ryonna looked at Alix. Each suit registered the camouflage cloaking effect of the other suit, displaying the wearer’s outline on the HUD, so they could keep a visual on each other.
She waited until the nearest guard had passed and opened the service door, making sure she made absolutely no noise. Alix slipped through and she quickly followed. Once inside he gestured for her to take a path right through the middle of the lobby, where no less than seven guards were posted at different stations, each covering a part of the big room.
One of the guards near them had just turned a corner and was no longer in sight of his colleagues. Ryonna grabbed him from behind and broke his neck as silently as she could. She made no noise laying his lifeless body on the floor.
“Nice kill,” said Alix mentally.
“Go secure the elevator. I’m right behind you.”
Alix moved fast, but when he reached the middle of the lobby, something went wrong. He was struck by a couple of lightning bolts, revealing his position. Alarms wailed almost instantly and all hell broke loose.
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” came out of the speaker system of the lobby.
Holes appeared in the walls in all four corners of the lobby and laser-guided blaster turrets started firing at Alix. He jumped out of the way as he activated the super-speed feature of his suit. His cloak had been temporarily disabled by the security feature that had struck him with lightning. His armor still showed a ninety percent power level. He jumped and, while in midair, grabbed his MR-227 blaster rifle, shot one grenade towards the nearest turret, which promptly exploded.
“So much for a stealthy entrance!” he shouted.
Ryonna was already on the move. She threw a pair of flash bangs towards each side of the lobby. When they exploded the guards in range were blinded and disoriented. She wielded both blasters and fired at her first two targets. The commotion from the flash bang made it difficult to aim precisely, so she activated the homing feature and locked onto her targets. The next shots hit them in the face and they were dead before their heads hit the marble floor, accompanied by the satisfying sound of skulls cracking.
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