StarFlight: The Prism Baronies (Beyond the Outer Rim Book 2)

by Reiter

  “Six men in total,” she thought as the double doors were opened. “Not too shabby. A couple of them sound a little light to me, but it’s not my detail.

  “And there she is,” Jocasta said, smiling at Thandace who was already in the room and seated near the fireplace. Her monkey sat in her lap and locked eyes on Jocasta. “I thought sure that man in the powerfully yellow suit was going to make off with you.”

  Thandace laughed, stroking Teo’s head. “Powerfully yellow, you say. There were times I couldn’t hear the orchestra over that rather unfortunate design.”

  “Then why in the stars did you keep dancing with him?” Jocasta asked.

  “Because she wanted to dance on the elevated stage,” Quordion explained as he ushered Jocasta to the right side of the rectangular table. The fireplace was on the left side of the room, so the pirate was agreeable to the seating arrangements. “And from that place in the room Thandace had a very good view of me.”

  “It was a good view,” Thandace testified, looking at Jocasta who was just sitting down. “Unlike the last festival, there was a great deal to see. The two of you dance very well together. I especially liked the way you kept changing who was leading.”

  “A testament to your brother’s grace,” Jocasta smiled, gesturing to the Onyx Baron. “He is an exceptional dancer!

  “And this is no time to get an itch!” Jocasta thought as she played with her hair.

  ** b *** t *** o *** r **

  Zipping up the energy line, Pristacia could see she was quickly approaching the wall of the tower. She readied herself, checked her distance and speed, and depressed the thumb switch on the runner handle. A pulse of energy traveled up the line, sending an energy wave into the wall where the end of the energy line touched the hull of the platform. Another portal was made and Pristacia flew through the wall, landing in the middle of Haggenshire’s office. She landed on her feet and lowered into a tight and quiet somersault, stopping in a one-foot, one-knee stance. Placing the runner on the floor, Pristacia checked in all directions and she reached for her weapons belt. With one flick of her hand, Kryltane and Obanyo, wearing a black bodysuits and masks, came rolling out of her holding satchel. Their masks quickly changed to goggles as their reserve tanks filled with oxygen.

  “We’re clean and green,” Pristacia reported, “thirty-seven seconds ahead of the schedule.”

  “Extra time?” Kryltane inquired as he walked around the desk.

  “Sounds like it wasn’t too much trouble getting in,” Obanyo said as he adjusted his goggles and knelt down, reaching into a dedicated dimensional pocket. It was not a weapon he retrieved, but three small black discs he threw toward three different wall panels in the office. “Everyone close their eyes please.” A very bright blue flash of light came from the three devices going off. All three panels started to slowly open, revealing vault doors.

  “Dammit, Scamps!” Pristacia whispered as she looked to the door of the office.

  “What?”

  “No one said anything about a bright flash of light,” she replied, reaching to her weapons belt. A recent addition had been made to what was stored in her weapons hold, and a small, thick, disc-shaped device was quickly deposited in her hand. Pressing her thumb in the center of the disc armed it, and Pristacia could hear heavy footfalls rapidly approaching. “Grab something anchored,” she said softly as she steadied herself, adjusting her goggles so that she could see through the door and wall. Five men approached, more than she could ever handle alone… normally. The office door unlocked before the first man could reach it and as the doors drew apart, Pristacia lobbed the disc toward the opening. The disc arched up toward the ceiling as it sailed over the floor. It was about the height of the lead man’s chest as he and two of his cohorts came rushing into the office. They carried energy rifles and wore body armour much heavier than any of the pirates were sporting, accounting for the thunderous rumbling she had heard. A flash of soft blue light and the first three men were enveloped in a gravity field that lifted them from the floor and quickly hurled them out of the room. The wake of the field pulled Pristacia out of the office.

  “Princess!” Obanyo yelled as he held onto the statue in the corner of the office which nearly left the ground, but the effects of the field quickly subsided.

  “Get to work,” she cried out as she flew out of the office. The field had struck the fourth man, knocking him to the ground, and Pristacia caught the side of the door frame, swinging her feet into the chest of the fifth person, the only woman in the group. That guard flew back from the impact, landing on her back and rolling into a wall.

  Pristacia actually managed to release the door frame at the end of her swing, twist her body, and land on her feet. She reached to side of her backpack along the right edge and removed a cylindrical device. “Set for six point one two meters,” she commanded before stabbing the small pole into the floor. “Thirty seconds,” she said, turning off her goggles and reaching for the handles protruding out from slender pockets along the outside of her legs. A snapping action extended both escrima to their fighting lengths. “Activate!” The floor-mounted device beeped once before the lights in the area dimmed. The lights themselves had not gone out; the light was simply not allowed to reach the floor.

  The first man to his feet was the one who had only been knocked down. He still had a hold of his weapon and as Pristacia charged him, he leveled it for her chest and pulled the trigger. The end of the barrel fizzed before Pristacia landed a flying spinning kick to his face. She flew by the man as he was knocked to the floor.

  Eager to make the most of her time, Pristacia turned and attacked the three men who had collided hard with the wall of the corridor and were all stunned. Her first swing cracked the back of the helmet of one, a side kick landed on the face of the second, and a spinning swipe of the escrima broke the jaw of the third.

  Recovered from the pulse grenade, Kryltane smiled underneath his mask as he went back to work. The edge of the null-field came into the office, but stopped shy of the vault closest to the door. “Move, Scamps!” he commanded as he resumed keying in commands into the computer.

  The moment the unit was operational, Kryltane took a small black box off the side of his belt and smacked it up against the statue that was supposed to have disguised the data-tower inside of it. Looking at his brace-com, Kryltane could see he had a clear signal and the stored programs were already attacking the system. He had not been allowed to go through every file Dungias had collected over the years of dealing with the man who called himself the Net Black Assassin, but what little he had covered regarding systems invasion and coercion – along with a few forced recoding techniques gained from working with Tusyll Ronnay – Kryltane had managed to compose a program he called Raider. It was designed to enter a database, draw the attention of the security of the system and, if it could not destroy the protective programming, it would keep said security from running properly anywhere else on the system. Raider was doing its job rather well as another program started gathering data. Kryltane left his programs to give Obanyo some assistance.

  Obanyo knelt in front of the vault closest to the door, making sure not to get too close to the null-field. He looked at the screen of his brace-com as the sensor sweep of the vault door was completed. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he whispered as he touched one button on his brace-com. “All vaults open,” came from the device, in Haggenshire’s voice. Two of the three doors started to open. The third, the largest vault door, emitted a scan wave into the office.

  “What the hell is that?!” Kryltane asked.

  “Something that wasn’t in the plans!” Obanyo replied as a metal panel fell down in front of the door. The sound of seams pressurizing hissed through the room before the entire floor rumbled and shook. Obanyo put both hands on the floor and Kryltane fell to the floor from the force of the tremble. The two young men could hear rockets firing. “That part was, though. The main vault just jettisoned!”

  Kryltane move
d quickly to open a channel. “Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible,” he said before looking out into the corridor.

  ** b *** t *** o *** r **

  Silnee took a firm grip of the handle for the throttle and pushed it forward. She shook her head as the Feather rocketed from its holding position under the Haggenshire. The plan, the damn plan, was going just as JoJo had envisioned. There had been a couple of hiccups, but the countermeasures JoJo had orchestrated made up for them.

  “She didn’t even take that long to look at the floor plans,” Silnee thought as she took a tight turn around the edge of the platform. Off to her left, she could see the lights of the hangar doors beginning to flash; the prelude to them opening. She knew it was a matter of seconds before the tow-drone would be launched to collect the jettisoned vault. Her job was to beat the drone to its prize. “The Captain looks young,” Silnee thought, getting a visual on her target. “Why do I get the feeling she should be old and gray?!” She readied the universal clamp on the belly of her ship and took hold of the throttle. Her sensors also detected ships entering her immediate area.

  “Looks like I’m about to have company,” Silnee whispered, firing her reverse thrusters.

  “Remember, Tolip,” she thought, recalling one of her lessons from JoJo, “ in space, there is no up and down. There’s some gravity at this range from the platform, but not much. And that thing’s got a fatter ass than it does a head!” Silnee piloted her craft so that it was inverted with respect to the Haggenshire. She flew between the top of the platform and the bottom of the vault. She fired her reverse thrusters hard, nearly bringing the Feather to a dead stop. She could hear the teeth of the clamp grind slightly against the metal, but she had a secure lock on the vault. Her forward thrusters fired as a laser bolt just missed the canopy.

  “Hey!” Silnee yelled, piloting her ship closer to the platform. If these pilots worked for Haggenshire, she felt they should have been more reluctant to fire, taking the chance of hitting the platform. “Finders keepers! Gods, that woman is infectious!”

  ** b *** t *** o *** r **

  “Could I interest either of you ladies in something from the bar?” Quordion asked.

  “Perhaps after you give me your offer, First Baron,” Jocasta replied. “I might need it then!”

  “A glass of wine for me, if you please, my brother.”

  “Make that two,” Quordion said as he signaled one of the servants. “And then we’ll be needing this room.”

  “Of course, sir,” the lead servant replied, giving a sharp bow of his head. Jocasta put her hand to the back of her head and smoothed the rising hairs. Her eyes squinted as she took a quick headcount. It was six to four, in favor of the servants, and the one behind the bar looked to be a bit on the large side.

  “Whoa! Is that flash-cooled?!” Jocasta asked, looking at the bottle of wine and then the lead servant. “No one said anything about flash-cooled Guldrenberry Wine!”

  “Yes, ma’am, I believe it is flash-cooled,” the man replied, giving her a warm smile.

  “Then make that three glasses!” Jocasta said eagerly. When the lead servant turned to signal the bartender, Jocasta looked at Quordion, Thandace and Teo as she got up. Only the simiate failed to receive Jocasta’s warning, but a slight tilt of Thandace’s head changed that. Jocasta moved quickly, but so smoothly that it did not appear that she was rushing. “Here, let me help.”

  “Really, ma’am, there’s no nee–” Jocasta drove her forehead into the man’s face. She caught his lapel to keep him close. She brought him forward into another head butt and she heard his nose snap.

  Quordion was quick to get up from his seat and throw his chair into the servant closest to him. The disguised operative stepped forward and smacked the chair aside before receiving an overhand hook to the face that blurred his vision. He lifted both of his hands and caught the next punch Quordion threw. Nearly blind and slightly stunned, the man performed a practiced maneuver, bringing Quordion in for a hip toss. Quordion went with the momentum but kept his hold on the man, flipping around the man and getting his footing so he could throw his opponent. The operative flew, face first, into the wall. Another operative found his attack dodged by a spinning Quordion who swung a ridge-hand chop into the man’s sternum. The man was still bending over from the blow when Quordion’s fist pounded down on the back of the man’s head.

  “Target is wary!” the servant furthest from the door said calmly, reaching to the small of his back. “Go, go, go!” The man produced a small metallic sphere and rolled it toward Thandace. Jocasta had just spun the man she struck and stepped so that he was between her and the bar. The bartender had taken out a power rifle and fired. The blast hit Jocasta’s human shield in the back, and both bodies were sent flying over the table. The sphere rolled to a stop and burst in a bright white light. Thandace and Teo were caught in the glare. Thandace screamed as Teo dropped to the floor, unable to move. “Grab the girl!”

  “Grab this!” Jocasta muttered, snatching the jewel of her earring away from her head. She threw it toward Thandace and turned away from her target, tapping her choker. A black light bomb threw the room into complete darkness, and Jocasta was blind for nearly two seconds before her goggles formed and allowed her to see the room. The goggles had to change their chosen spectrum when the black light was absorbed into Quordion’s right hand.

  “Thank you for that,” Quordion smiled.

  The Onyx Baron spoke in a language Jocasta did not recognize, and the tone was deeper than what she had thought man was capable of emitting. The room shuddered as Quordion lunged, thrusting his left hand forward. Six tentacles of black light shot from his hand and moved at a speed almost too fast for Jocasta to follow. Each of the false servants were ensnared and slammed into the far wall. Cracks formed in the wall panels where the bodies had landed.

  Quordion spoke again, turning his thrusting hand into an upper-cutting grab. The tentacles returned to his hand, snatching shadowy replicas from each of the operatives. Quordion breathed out slow as the six shadow forms landed in a circle around the Onyx Baron. Jocasta was just getting to her feet when explosions sounded off in the corridor. “Go,” Quordion commanded the shadow forms. “Assist my guards in holding the corridor.” As the six forms flew through the wall, Jocasta ran to the collapsed bodies, searching for weapons. Quordion ran to his sister who was on her hands and knees. “Thandace!” he cried, taking hold of her shoulders.

  “I’m fine,” she stammered, reaching over to touch her shadow-brother. “They struck me through the bond.”

  “It doesn’t sound too good out there, Baron,” Jocasta said, gently picking up Teo. “I’ve got the shady monkey and a couple of blades. Get your sister off the floor and move!

  ** b *** t *** o *** r **

  With a broken arm, two cracked ribs, and a fractured collarbone, the man released Pristacia’s neck and fell deeply into unconsciousness. Holstering her escrima, Pristacia moved quickly and picked up the null-field generator. She smiled, seeing that she had a few seconds to spare on time. Her goggles reconfigured to a mask as she made preparations to leave the office.

  Obanyo made it a point not to look too closely at the materials in the vault. He just inserted his left arm into the vault and waited for the brace-com to make its sweep. Once the readings had been taken, he touched his brace-com to his belt buckle and activated the gathering field. It sprang from the belt into the vault, shaping to the necessary dimensions to sweep and grab everything inside with one swipe.

  “Holy shit! You’re up, Shotgun,” Obanyo said. “I’m nearly at my max load.” Kryltane approached the second vault when Pristacia heard more footfalls approaching. They were fewer in number than last time, three at the most, but they were a great deal heavier and rhythmic in their strides.

  “Robots,” she thought, taking up a firing position at the doorframe of the office. She drew her blaster and peaked around the wall. She jumped back in time to keep the extended hand from clasping arou
nd her face. Two of the robots had opted to fly to the office! Pristacia had dodged the hand, but as her back met with the floor, the chest-mounted guns on the second robot fired, striking her in the chest. Her body armour held, but the force of the blasts sent Pristacia down the corridor. The robot landed and gave pursuit.

  “Shotgun, duck!” Obanyo yelled. He had retrieved the last of the override discs he had used on the wall panels when he saw the robot land inside the office. Screaming and collapsing to the floor, Kryltane managed to avoid the shot meant for his head. The override disc was caught by a third robot that turned to look at Obanyo before sparks flew from its chest. It leveled its free hand at Obanyo before it fell forward to the floor. The robot that had taken a shot at Kryltane fired on Obanyo, hitting him in the face. The young man they called Scamps flew up and over the desk, slamming into the far wall. He fell to the floor with sparks coming from his mask.

  “Son of a bitch!” Kryltane yelled. Still on the floor, he drew his weapon and leveled it at the robot that had just shot Obanyo. It released an orb of fiery-red energy, hitting the robot in the shoulder. The explosion carried the robot of out of the office, but not before it fell into the machine that was going to take the place of the fallen mechanoid.

  “Get up, Princess!” Pristacia thought as she rolled over, finding it hard to breathe and therefore, hard to move. “Move your sweet ass!” Pristacia pushed against the floor, throwing her body into another roll. The hands of the robot went through the floor panel, just missing her torso, taking only a moment to free itself and resume its pursuit. Pristacia was up to her hands and knees when the robot knelt down and swung again. She lifted her arm and her brace-com took the impact of the blow. The force of it nearly lifted the young woman off the floor and Pristacia grunted in pain as her back slammed into a wall. She lifted her head up in time to keep her skull from getting crushed, and swung both arms into the forearm of the attacking robot. Its straight punch went into the wall instead of her face. Taking hold of that arm with her hands, Pristacia managed to get a leg around the other arm as the robot lifted its free hand up. Looking like a hammock, Pristacia locked in her grips as the robot stood up.