Another group of soldiers rushed them, firing their way, but Marquez and Tai joined the action in the nick of time, shooting from the opposite side of the chamber. The four on the catwalk also resumed with clear shots. It’s like fish in a barrel.
With the last of the soldiers falling, the technicians around the workstations all glanced at one another. They turned their attention to Jason and the others and unholstered hidden sidearms from behind their backs, pointing them in every direction.
Aw, crap! I knew this was too easy.
Chapter 12
Cargo Ship Argo
The scanners were drawing a blank. Since fleeing to the opposite side of Psi-Aion, the Argo lost contact with the Seeker ship and was now in a black spot.
Kevin wiped his brow and peered over at his daughter. If Alyssa was feeling the same fear as he, she wasn’t showing it. She’d grown up to be a strong woman. One he was immensely proud of.
“What?” she asked, catching him staring at her.
“Nothing.” He smiled, remembering back to the day she was born. The small baby he held in his arms for the first time had changed his life. He hoped she had the opportunity to grow up a little more.
An alert sounded. Alyssa glanced at the operations console. “It’s the Seeker ship.”
Of course it is. “ETA?” he asked her.
“Now!”
Without warning, they fired.
Kevin ran his hands over the helm and maneuvered the Argo sharply to port. The viewport lit up with the sight of a green energy bolt whizzing by the hull by mere meters.
*
Seeker Weapon Ship
While the Earth-Centauri War had been over for more than four years, the last few days had given Susan far too many reminders of the dreaded conflict.
Nicolas was opposite her behind one of the several workstations, under heavy fire. At the adjacent station, she aimed toward an open target and fired. Nicolas gave her a casual nod in thanks. He then raised his hand and counted down.
Three… Two… One…
They both pulled out from their positions and launched a barrage each. Their attackers fell to the deck.
Susan rushed over to him.
“Just like old times,” he said to her.
“Too much so.” Firefights were being fought in every corner. “Over there!”
The Seekers had the Cassidy brothers pinned down on the opposite side of the chamber.
Nicolas bit his lip and peered at the catwalk where the Marines and Althaus were also taking heavy fire. “It’s up to us.” He swiveled his head back toward the Cassidys. “If we can get to them and take those soldiers out, we can consolidate from there.”
Susan peered farther beyond. “We could take cover at those workstations and catch them in a crossfire.”
Nicolas nodded. “Works for me. I’ll take the right. You take the left.”
Susan put a hand on his. “We don’t die today.”
Marquez nodded, and they hurried toward their respective positions.
On the opposite side of the catwalk, the Marines were immobilized by heavy fire from below. Whenever Conrad poked his head out to get a shot away, he was immediately pinned down as well.
“This isn’t working out how you expected, is it?”
Conrad glanced behind him to where he’d hogtied Christian Nash. There was an overconfidence about him that really pissed Conrad off. And I thought the kid irritated me.
“You know you could just untie these ropes and free me. Why die a meaningless death?”
“Don’t you ever shut up?” Conrad aimed his weapon over the edge, but again failed to get a blast away.
Nash laughed. “You won’t win. You realize that, right?”
Conrad rushed over to Nash and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pushing him hard against the deck. “The kid told me not to kill you, but the two of us never got on that well. So you know what? If you do die, I figure it’s no skin off my neck. Shut your mouth, or I’ll throw you over.”
Before Nash responded, the Marines on the opposite side of the catwalk started firing again. Conrad let go of Nash and peered over the edge. Tai and Marquez had taken out the attacking Seekers. The pair yanked off their helmets to identify who they were and rushed toward the last few soldiers left shooting at Tyler and the kid.
Conrad glanced back at Nash to boast. But instead of the forlorn figure he expected to see, the traitor just smiled. “What?”
“Oh, nothing,” Nash said. “I just think it’s funny you believe once you’ve taken out my men this will be all over with. You may have sealed the doors, but they won’t stay closed forever. When they’re open again, there’ll be hundreds of soldiers waiting to come through.”
Conrad lifted his weapon and aimed it at Nash. There wasn’t even so much as a hint of fear in the man’s eyes. He was telling the truth. Conrad drew back his gun and pointed it over the catwalk where he recommenced firing on the remaining Seekers at the bottom of the chamber.
The shooting stopped. Jason and Tyler eyeballed each other with raised eyebrows. It was either a very good sign or a very bad one. Jason peeked over the conduit they’d taken refuge behind to find Marquez and Tai standing over a pile of Seeker bodies.
Tai broke off and went to Kione’s side. “Can you hear me?” she said to him.
The alien’s eyes fluttered.
“Are you with us?” Jason asked, coming to his aid as well.
Kione twitched, and his eyes opened. His mouth curled upward. “You came back for me?”
“I told you I would.”
The Marines joined them from the catwalk, and Althaus followed, dragging Nash along like a dog on a leash.
Jason took his friend by the collar. “What the hell have you done to him?”
Nash smiled. “What was necessary.”
“This was necessary?”
Althaus stepped forward. “While this little soap opera is fun and all, if what this bastard says is true, we’ll need to figure out how to keep those doors sealed. Otherwise we’re all dead meat.”
*
Cargo Ship Argo
Javier Petit was as far from the Tokyo Institute of Advanced Sciences as humanly possible. On a run-down old cargo ship at the edge of the frontier, three hundred light-years away, he couldn’t have been any more out of his comfort zone.
The near-misses from the Seeker ship echoed throughout the hull. The Argo banked from port and then to starboard. The extreme g-forces pushed Javier from one side of the cargo bay to the other. Their attackers were relentless in their assault. Luckily the pilot on the Argo’s bridge was up for the challenge.
“Professor Petit, are you ready down there?” It was the voice of Kevin Rycroft over the ship’s intercom.
Javier peered down the cargo bay. All the tritonium tanks were ready at the stern while he’d strapped the rest of the cargo down at the bow. It was just a matter of getting out of the way.
“Stand by.” Another blast rocked the ship hard. He stepped on the elevator and ascended to B Deck. With a prod at the controls, he sealed the level below.
“Ready!” he yelled.
He resumed his rise and made it onto the bridge in time to see the pyrotechnics.
“Cargo Bay open!” Alyssa said, toggling a switch on the operations console.
Javier walked over to the systems station and viewed the monitor before him. The rear airlock of the Argo opened, and the decompression blew the tritonium tanks out toward the Seeker ship. While it was Jason Cassidy’s idea to use them as mines, it was his expertise that allowed them to be armed. With a small container of plasma injected into each tank, on contact they would create a mighty detonation.
While the jury-rigged tritonium tanks drifted ever closer to their target, he kept a keen eye on the scanners, hoping they’d be far enough from the shock wave after detonation so it wouldn’t scoop them up.
A blinding light lit up the bridge. One after another, the mines made contact with the Seeker ship.
>
Alyssa smiled. “Now that’s what I call fireworks!”
The explosions filled the viewport while the Argo continued to race away. The deck shook beneath them. Javier gripped the console, bracing himself for the worst. He turned to Rycroft who clung to the helm like a man possessed. The ship lurched forward and rumbled.
But the shaking subsided, and their ride smoothed out. Javier’s calculations had been right.
“Did we get them?” Rycroft asked, unlatching himself from the helm.
Javier didn’t answer at first. There was no clear sight because of all the interference from the radiation. Then it cleared.
How?
“Negative. The bogey survived.”
Chapter 13
Seeker Weapon Ship
While the exterior of the sphere appeared cold and sterile, its interior was the complete opposite. Jason stepped inside and gazed around in wonder. The curved lines of its shape were nowhere to be seen, while white vapor floated throughout, creating the illusion it was much larger on the inside than the outside.
Captain Marquez and Tyler strolled in beside him. “Unbelievable!” his brother said.
“It’s as if we’re walking on a cloud.” Jason waved the surrounding mist. He shifted his head out of the way as a long, silvery tendril whizzed past him from one side to the other to join its many friends that appeared and reappeared around them.
“Is it me, or is this thing breathing?” Tyler asked. “Maybe it’s alive.”
Jason didn’t know how to answer that, but couldn’t help but feel a gentle thrum around them. “Perhaps it’s life, but unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”
They walked up what felt like a ramp toward a bright white light, but beneath their feet was nothing but mist. At the center, the trio shielded their eyes from the intense glare.
“What do you think it is?” Marquez wondered.
Against his better judgment, Jason moved toward it and put out his hand. A white flash encompassed him.
When his vision adjusted, the inside of the sphere was gone. Instead, he was back on the Argo. B Deck to be precise.
But the perspective was all wrong. He stared down at his hands. They were the hands of a child. His clothes had printed patterns of teddy bears on them. He was in the pajamas he worn as a kid.
He walked to the bathroom and jumped onto the washbasin. In the reflection staring back at him was a two-year-old boy.
“Hey, why aren’t you in bed?”
He turned. It was his father, Benjamin Cassidy. Much younger than the last time he’d seen him.
“What’s going on?” a woman’s voice echoed from outside the door.
My god…
Jason’s pregnant mother, Janice, walked in and smirked. There was a sparkle in her eye. “Jason Benjamin Cassidy, you should be asleep!”
There was another flash, and his arm was tugged. Tyler grabbed him. Jason returned to the white surroundings of the sphere.
“What happened?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Tyler said. “One minute you walked toward that light, and the next you froze. You weren’t responsive for several seconds.”
Jason glanced back at the radiance. “I was with Mom and Dad.”
“Huh?”
“We’ve solved the problem!”
They all hurried out of the sphere to the sound of Tai’s voice. She stood at a workstation behind Althaus and Kione. The Marines had untied Nash but kept their weapons trained on him.
“Kione and Mister Althaus have tapped into the ship’s computers. We have a solution to our door issue.” Tai stopped and turned to Marquez. “You may not like it, though. I know I don’t.”
“I’m listening.”
She pointed down at the monitor on the console. “These appear to be airlocks, and we have—”
“What are you suggesting?” Tyler gasped. “Spacing them?”
“The Seekers will stop at nothing until they come in and retake the sphere,” Kione said bluntly. “They’re programmed to obey orders. That includes killing you and anyone who gets in their way.”
“There must be hundreds of them,” Tyler assumed.
“Thousands actually.”
Jason stepped toward Marquez. “We can’t let this sphere fall back into their hands. Agreed?”
Marquez’s hardened eyes stared at Althaus. “Do it.”
He nodded, and with Kione’s help they punched in the command. The clanging sounds of airlocks opening and closing were all they had to confirm the deaths of the remaining Seekers on the ship. Jason shuddered. They were just like Nash. They shouldn’t have been there any more than he.
Tai studied the monitor. “It’s done.”
Althaus broke up the respectful silence. “I’ve knocked out the jamming field interfering with our communications.”
Tyler activated his commband. “Argo, come in. This is Tyler.”
“This is the Argo,” Kevin replied.
“What’s your situation?”
“Not great. The Seeker ship was on our tail before we detonated the tritonium mines. It slowed them down but didn’t destroy them.”
“All of that tritonium? That should’ve blown up a small moon.”
“We’ve got away, but they’re back in pursuit.”
Before Tyler could say anything, Jason walked over to Kione. “Is this vessel flight worthy yet?”
“It hasn’t even begun trials,” Nash scoffed.
“Is it?” Jason ignored his friend.
Kione nodded. “I believe so.”
“We need to help the Argo.”
Kione and Althaus conferred and ran their hands over the controls. After a few moments, the ship rumbled beneath their feet.
Tai’s eyes raised at the readings. “We’re moving.”
“Hold on, Kevin, we’re coming,” Jason said over the commlink.
“I just hope we’re still here when you arrive.”
*
Cargo Ship Argo
“They’re on our tail again.” Alyssa glanced over to her father at the helm. “They’ll be in targeting range in two minutes.”
“Then it’s time to pull a rabbit out of the hat.” Kevin considered the viewport while the Argo rounded the sunlit side of the planet. “Perhaps we can confuse them.”
He turned to Alyssa. “Can we take another pounding in that atmosphere?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“An old trick I learned years ago. We used to skim planetary atmospheres at high speeds erratically to create shadows. To a pursuing ship, it appears as if we were multiple bogeys at once.”
Petit eyed him incredulously. “And that worked?”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Alyssa bit her lip. “If you think that’s our only option—”
“I do.”
Alyssa nodded. “All right.”
Kevin turned and locked in a course. He breathed in and punched the thrusters, sending the Argo toward the atmosphere.
*
Seeker Weapon Ship
The weapon ship moved from the dark side of the moon, and Kione and Althaus maneuvered the goliath toward Psi-Aion. Even with its size and composition, Jason was surprised how agile the vessel was. The Seekers were light-years ahead in interstellar ship design. It’ll be a shame to destroy it.
The Marines attached the explosives they’d come aboard with to the outside of the sphere and along the power conduits. If the ancient relic was as powerful as believed, it’d create one hell of an explosion.
Since his excursion inside, Jason wondered what he’d witnessed. Like anyone he had dreams, nightmares, even hallucinations, but when the light had encompassed him, he’d believed he was actually aboard the Argo again, as a child. It was more vivid than anything else he’d ever experienced.
With Psi-Aion approaching, he walked over to Nash. “This ship. I know its main purpose is to use this.” He pointed to the sphere. “But I assume it has conventional weapons, to
o.”
Nash said nothing.
Jason turned to Kione. “Does it?”
Kione studied his workstation. “It appears so.”
“Arm them and prepare to fire.”
With Althaus’s help, he keyed in the commands. “The weapons are armed.”
“ETA?”
“We’ll reach the Argo in three minutes,” Althaus said.
An eternity. Jason wasn’t religious, but if there was ever a time to pray, it was now. “Hold on…”
*
Cargo Ship Argo
Aly ensured she was buckled into her seat while her bones jangled at her father’s crazy excursion on the atmosphere of Psi-Aion. It reminded her of the zero-gravity trampoline at the amusement park on Delta Station. But this wasn’t nearly as fun.
Her dad’s hands raced furiously across the helm, trying to keep everything together. On the other side of the bridge, Professor Petit stared through the viewport. The burning of the heat shield produced an ethereal orange glow around them.
On the scanners, the Seeker ship continued to gain. They fired potshots at every location the Argo had skimmed.
“It’s working!” she said with glee. But it would only be a matter of time before the Seekers figured out a way to detect them.
“The heat shield is buckling under the stress. We won’t be able to do this much longer,” Petit advised.
“Is there any way to keep this up?” Kevin asked.
“Not unless we stop at a repair facility and install a new shield.”
Kevin shook his head. “That’s not exactly on our itinerary, Professor.”
Aly smirked, but it disappeared when the ship shuddered. “The weapons fire is getting closer. We can’t last more than a few seconds. If they get a lucky hit, we’re—”
The Argo barrel rolled to port. Aly’s harness jabbed into her ribs while she turned and watched her father’s tear and throw him from his seat. He struggled from the deck but couldn’t reach his station.
Dark Side of the Moon: A Gritty Space Opera Adventure (Frontier's Reach Book 3) Page 6
