It was simple physics and she knew it, almost chiding herself for not coming up with this idea initially.
Naveya smiled a grateful smile. “Thank you, Miss Universe, for your help. To the infirmary we go!”
She started on her way to go to the infirmary, then paused, slapping the side of her head. “Great! Now, where am I going to find a frequency monitoring system to correctly identify the frequency of these plants?” She looked down at the bag she was holding in one hand, and then at Mimi in her other arm.
There were a few chemistry labs in the infirmary and that was her best gamble at the moment. The Chem Labs outside of the infirmary had them, but time was of the essence. She would have to get lucky and that was what she was betting on.
MiMi jumped out of her arm and ran ahead. Naveya held her fist in the air as if leading a charge. “Lead the way, girl!”
∞
Manning pressed his fingers against his ear, listening intently to the directions.
“They have broken into the grocery complex and somehow rewired the security system. Now they are eating mushrooms from the fresh food section,” said the ITS voice from the other end.
“They're eating? Mushrooms?” asked Manning, waving his team through a park.
“Yes. They don't seem to know or care that you are on the way.”
“Why would they need to break in?”
“It's 4 AM, sir. Everyone is off work and at home sleeping. The only way in is to break in.”
Manning turned, seeing Louise on her own com link, most likely speaking to the General of the Matrona Guard. Manning mouthed the words, “It's 4 AM,” with a look of surprise on his face. Louise nodded and went back to her conversation.
Manning rubbed his eyes, not because he needed to, but because he felt he should. He was usually in bed and sleeping at this time.
He surveyed the streets around a park he and his team were currently at, trying to get a good look at a street sign. Spotting one, Manning spoke into the com link. “We are near Columbia Street. Where's their exact location?”
“Sphere 1 Grocery,” came the reply. “Location 117 Exeter Way.”
“How far is that from here?”
“Exactly 9 blocks south.”
“Copy,” replied Manning.
Manning was the head of the pack, giving orders to his fifty-person team by hand signals, since he couldn't speak to his team and ITS at the same time. His team consisted mostly of Brigantia Guard, as he was more comfortable with his own men, but some were Taranis Guard as well, seeming to take orders just fine.
They spread out along the park, moving toward a military complex for starfighter design, which he always thought was stupid and needed to be scrapped, because there had only been one design his entire life. At top of the building were the words, “Aerospace Corp,” which was a fancy name for a fancy business that fancied themselves.
Maybe we could accidentally blow up this building.
“Incoming, sir!” said the ITC agent.
“Down!” Manning fell to the grass, taking cover.
Everyone hit the ground, laying face down, covering the top of their heads with their arms, readying for something to hit them or near them. When nothing came, Manning spoke into his com link, “What's the deal?”
“Exactly eight hovercars en route to your location.”
“Well, just say that, man! You got me looking like a fool in front of my squad. Incoming usually means something is about to hit us!”
“My apologies, sir. They are almost to your location.”
Manning wanted to squeeze the ITC agent's throat, at least for a second. Instead, a humming sound told Manning of the vehicles’ approach.
He tapped his ear. “Are these enemies?”
“I don't know who they are. They are driving government registered hovervehicles, so it may be our Prime Director.”
“Let's hope not,” replied Manning. He didn't want a confrontation between Louise and Zim, especially at a time like this where they were in hot pursuit of Payson. Worse yet, Zim would take a lot of focus away from his men and women.
The squad took position behind boulders, trees, and whatever else they could find and pointed their phasers at the approaching vehicles.
Louise approached Manning, who was now on the outskirts of the park, next to an ebb bench, crouching with his phaser.
She crouched next to him. “The Matrona Guard are sending as many Guards as they have available, plus I have the rest of Brigantia and Taranis Guard en route here.”
Manning nodded at the white hovercars appearing on the street before them. “Is that the Matrona Guard?”
“If so, they are fast. I don't think that's them.” She readied her gun. “Tell everyone to stand down, unless fired upon.”
“Aye, Captain.” Manning spoke the orders through his com-link, reaching everyone on his team.
“Sir,” said the ITC agent. “Payson is back on the move.”
“His location?”
“Heading toward the air locks. He is coming your way. I still don't think he has detected your presence.”
“Yes, noted. We will be ready.”
“The way they are traveling, the ETA will be about twelve minutes,” added the ITC agent.
“Roger that,” responded Manning, putting his index finger loosely against the phaser's trigger.
The hovercars stopped and then descended a few inches to the ground. When the door opened, a man wearing an orange Guard's uniform stepped out, putting his hands up. “We mean you no harm. We are Knights Templar, here to stop Payson.” He kept his hands up, waiting for a response.
Manning nudged Louise. “You want to talk or should I?”
Louise slowly rose from her position, pointing her gun at the man. She cautiously approached. “Move toward me and keep your hands up.”
“Yes, Ma'am.” He slowly made his way to her. “My name is CJ.”
“Great,” Louise responded. “Now get on the ground, face down, CJ!”
CJ got on one knee, then the other, and slowly lay face down. Louise patted him down, then told him to flip over so she could get the other side. “Who else is in the vehicles?”
“Shanraing and the Knights Templar Guard.”
“That doesn't tell me much, soldier. Nothing about this is trustworthy enough for me to—”
“Captain Louise Stripe of Starship Brigantia,” said a woman exiting one of the hovercars. “Greetings. My name is Shanraing.”
The woman was a giant, literally. She wore a white outfit with an orange cape secured by her collar that flowed all the way to the ground. She carried herself like a queen and her strides were nimble and fluid, almost taking Louise's breath away.
Louise pointed her phaser at Shanraing.
Shanraing halted and gave a calm, sweet nod. “I'm Shanraing of Knights Templar. We are with the Brotherhood of Light, and Kien's Alliance, here to help you all. If you don't mind, we detect that Payson is closing in on this location. We have parked our hovercars in between you and him, to act as a shield from his fire.”
Louise lowered her weapon. She had no idea who this woman was, but regardless, she had a good feeling about her. Plus, she didn't have time to interrogate Shanraing. That would come later.
“Place your Guard where they need to go. We'll take up positions and wait.”
Shanraing put her hands together at her heart and bowed. “Thank you for trusting us. We'll take actions now.”
In a matter of seconds, all the Knights Templar Guard evacuated their hovercars and moved toward buildings on each side of the park. They climbed the walls easily, as if their hands had suction cups. Some made it halfway up and remained there, sticking to the wall, waiting. The others scaled the buildings and took positions at the top.
Shanraing, however, walked over to Louise and stood next to her, watching the Knights Templar just as Louise was doing.
Shanraing pointed at one of the buildings. “They have devices on their hands that stick into
the side of the ebb building walls. Their incredible speed and their acrobatic ways is their training, not the help of the devices. They are just as strong and skilled as Payson's men, if not more. Plus, unlike Payson's men, these ladies and gentlemen are benevolent and bear no ill will to you or your friends.”
“Can I get up?” said a man's voice.
Louise realized she still had her foot on CJ's stomach. “Sure,” she said, taking her foot off him.
“Thank you.” He stood and bowed, then ran across the street at incredible speed, then scrambled to the top of a building in a matter of minutes.
Shanraing folded her hands in front of her. “Payson and his cronies will be here in two minutes. You must understand, they have a highly developed intuition factor. They already know we’re here, and since they haven't changed their course, we can assume they intend to fight and kill us.”
“Yeah,” chuckled Louise. “Good luck.”
“Precisely,” replied Shanraing. She again bowed, then bolted toward a building, also scaling it, but in half the time that CJ did.
“Manning, did you see what I just saw?” Louise exclaimed.
“Yeah. I'm glad they're on our side.”
“Well, that's still not proven,” replied Louise, turning her com link to broadcast to her entire squad. “Everyone, listen up! We have Payson on his way—and he means to fight. Make sure your shots are true. Shoot to kill—or you will be killed.”
“The Matrona Guard will most likely arrive behind them. They will be surrounded,” added Manning. “I don't think Payson can get out of this one.”
“I hope not,” Louise frowned.
“We have two men heading toward the airlocks. Potential danger, maybe a Payson player,” said the ITS agent over Manning's com link.
“Could they be civilians?”
“I don't know. One looks familiar, but the other one doesn't. My guess is they’re from Payson's crew. No one else would be up at this hour, and they look alert. They seem to be looking for something.”
Manning eyed his men and called a few over. “Head to the airlocks, we have possible targets and—”
The ITS agent interrupted Manning. “They are opening an airlock compartment. They may be a threat.”
Manning pointed to his troop, “You, you, and you. And you five. Go, now!”
The men and women sped off toward the airlocks.
A shot from a Knights Templar rang across the Sphere, then another shot. Soon, phaser fire was being exchanged between Payson’s location and the buildings. Some of the Knights Templar jumped from building top to building top, blasting intended targets below. Some jumped off the buildings entirely and fell fast toward the ground, shooting their weapons. Just before hitting the ground, their shoes spit out an air-stream similar to that of a Mech landing from a jump. The resulting maneuver was incredible. Instead of slowing them down too much, it slowed them down just enough for them to touch ground and immediately move like gymnasts somersaulting and flipping their way toward Payson's group.
“Are they going in for hand-to-hand combat?” asked Manning.
“Appears so,” replied Louise.
A laser singed a hovercar in front of them. “Get ready,” said Manning. He cocked his head to the side. “It looks like some of them took another route.”
∞
Slipping by a Starhawk Transport, Devon and Chase made their way to the airlocks.
Devon rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I could fall asleep right here and right now.”
Chase gave him an odd look. “How?” Chase was wide awake.
“You forget that I haven't had much sleep. I've been recovering from my knee injury and all.”
“Slap your face or something.”
Devon rubbed the skin beside his ears. “That's a better way to keep you awake.” He shook his head like a wet dog. “That's another way.” He then jumped up and down, then ran in place. “Anyway, do you think that when this is all over we can get back to normal life?” He continued running in place.
“Guild, you must be tired. Nothing will be the same. Everything will have to change.” He gave Devon a friendly jab to his shoulder, bringing Devon's run to an abrupt halt. “Let's keep going.”
They continued forward, moving around starfighters and Starhawks, ducking under wings and moving around landing gears.
“If nothing will be the same, then maybe you could be the next Prime Director.”
Chase shook his head. “Oh, shoot me now. Guild no!”
“What? You'd be a great leader.”
“Not in a million years. I won't lead anyone ever again.”
Devon narrowed his eyes, suddenly becoming serious. “You will. That’s your next step. You'll lead on a grand scale.”
“I'll do no such thing.” Chase paused. “Don't tell me this is something you painted in one of your pieces...me as Prime Director?”
“No. Something more grand.”
“So, you painted me?”
Devon nodded. “I think so.”
“But it's not me being a Prime Director, right?”
Devon shrugged. “To tell you the truth, I don't know. Just...something big.”
Sphere 1 was encircled with huge windows, just like the rest of Starbase Matrona, allowing everyone to see out to the beauty of the Universe. Where the windows ended, the airlocks began. Here, door upon door lined the walls, and behind those doors were small cargo hangars for dangerous chemicals, weapons, or something as mundane as garbage. The hangars were called airlocks because Starhawks could fly directly to them instead of entering the launch bay. When a Starhawk connected to the hangar from the outside, it created a passage for people and objects. The hangar acted as a pressure vessel, minimizing the change of pressure in the hangar and potential loss of air to the starbase. To keep this as an airlock, if any change of pressure occurred inside the airlock, the pressure would rebalance before the door to Sphere 1 would be allowed to open.
“We're here,” said Devon. “Now what?”
“We look through the window of each door for containers that look like they are holding poison. You got the codes?”
Devon pulled out the sheet of codes they had previously printed off. He kissed them. “Thank you, sister.”
They came up to the first door and stared through the window. It was full of missile-like items, along with laser mounts for starfighters.
“Next,” said Devon. “This may take forever.”
“We don't have forever. I'll start down there and you start here.”
Chase jogged down to the far corner, where the airlocks ended and the large windows in Sphere 1 started up again. “You keep looking and I'll start at this end!” He yelled, hoping that only Devon that could hear him.
“Alright,” Devon whispered to himself. “Here we go.”
Devon glanced through the window of the next airlock, then at the next—both empty.
After what seemed to be a half an hour, Devon heard his name being called.
Looking up he saw Chase waving him over. “You found it?”
Chase nodded his head up and down like a happy child. “I think so, but I need the codes!”
Devon hurried over to Chase, then handed him the codes. Chase scrolled down the paper with his finger. “Airlock number twenty-seven...is...right here.” He handed Devon back the paper and pointed to the correct code. “Read off the code.”
“9981,” said Devon.
Chase keyed the numbers into the door's console, then a beep sounded and the door opened, blowing air outward for a few seconds. Entering the airlock hangar, the door shut behind them.
“There's gotta be a hundred or more in here,” determined Chase.
“There's more than that,” said Devon.
Chase pointed to several large containers. “Check those and I'll check the ones on the other side of the room.”
“Wait! Don't open the containers.”
Chase rolled his eyes, walking hastily away. “I know. Check the tags, the ma
rking, the whatever. See if anything says baktotoxin.”
“Batrachotoxin,” corrected Devon.
“That's what I said,” flared Chase, now running toward the containers.
“No you didn't,” Devon said under his breath, bending down to read the middle of the container. It clearly said batrachotoxin on an elongated white sticker. “Here’s one!”
Chase looked at his containers, all labeled batrachotoxin as well. He clapped his hands together, “Yes, yes, yes.”
“Okay,” said Devon. “How do we get these off the starbase?”
“Well, we have to open the airlock.”
“And then we get sucked out.” Devon pressed on the back of his neck, feeling sweat against his palm. “How do we open the airlock?”
“We open it by...well...” Chase looked down, tugging at his hair, overwhelmed.
Devon straightened, rolling his eyes at their lack of a good plan. “We got ourselves into a stupid little pickle here.” Devon thought for a moment. “We could—”
A knock pounded against the window on the door. Devon and Chase turned around, thinking the worst, seeing an angry man demanding that they get out of the hangar.
“Who is that?” asked Devon.
“I don't know. It might be one of Payson's men. We have to hurry and find an emergency button or something that opens the door to the outside.”
“We open it, we die. We get sucked out into space!” This just wasn't computing with Chase. Devon was beginning to wonder if Chase had a death wish or if he was willing to sacrifice both of their lives to get this potentially genocidal poison off the starbase.
“Halt!” said a male voice.
Devon and Chase quickly put their arms up, surprised that the door had opened. Several Brigantia Guard were standing at the door, their phasers aimed to kill.
Chase nudged Devon with his hip, saying through gritted teeth, “Did you leave the paper with the pass codes out there?”
“Must have. Sorry,” Devon hissed back at him.
Chase cleared his throat and pulled his frame upright, summoning up all the dignity of his standing. “I'm Overseer Chase Byrd. You will lower your weapons and help us. Directing your weapons at a person of governance is against government policy—”
Star Guild Episodes 10 - 18 (Star Guild Saga) Page 13
