Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1)

by Burger, Jeffrey

  Trigoss' voice came back calm and dry, "Yeah, I got four humanoid casualties over here, probably bodyguards or crew. All done execution style... real thorough too. Be damned if I could even guess what race they used to be."

  The last room on Jack's level made him rear back in horror. A woman, probably middle aged and of good physical shape, lay nude, spread eagle and bound to a bed of regal proportions. Her face was frozen in a ghoulish mask of terror and pain. It was obvious she had been raped and tortured.

  Cut, lash and burn marks, showed scarlet on her breasts, feet and stomach. Her eyelids had been removed so she could not close them against the horror. Her tongue had been torn out to silence her screams. There was blood everywhere, frozen to the walls and furniture in the cold of zero atmosphere. Even in his years on the Police Department, Jack could not recall anything this horrific. "Oh God..." He clenched his teeth and swallowed hard, forcing the bile back down. He backed out of the room and into the corridor. Leaning against the wall, he turned up the oxygen in his suit and calmed his breathing.

  "You Ok, Commander?"

  Jack turned his head and started, surprised to see Trigoss standing next to him. "I'll be Ok." He pointed into the room, "She's been tortured, it's bad." Beads of sweat ran down his forehead and stung his eyes, making him blink.

  "Pirates." The Engineer's tone was flat.

  "Fucking animals..." Jack's voice was filled with venom. His disgust and aversion was quickly turning to a burning hatred for those responsible for this atrocity.

  The bridge was a free-for-all of carnage. The crew was scattered everywhere, slaughtered at their stations, most unarmed. Marcus began unpacking a small satchel on the control console. The satchel contained explosives, detonators and timers. "No one else should ever see this," he said, "let them sleep in peace."

  They all agreed and began assembling and installing the charges about the ship. The unspoken additional truth was, they didn't want the pirates using the automated distress equipment as bait either.

  ■ ■ ■

  "Good Lord. What's taking them so long?" Gantarro sat in his command chair on the bridge of the Princess Hedonist, with his elbows on the console and his face in his hands.

  "It's been less than an hour sir."

  "Dammit, Lieutenant I know how long it's been. I'm telling you it's too long!" The rebuked officer said no more, staring sullenly at his station. "Ensign," said a calmer Gant, "where's our visitor now?"

  "Still on the very edge of our sensor grid, sir. Still can't tell what she is yet, she hasn't moved much. Probably a UFW cruiser."

  "Never assume, Ensign... gets you in trouble. Let me know if she moves." The mysterious craft appeared shortly after the shuttle reached the drifting yacht and hung on the fringes of the Princess' sensor reaches. Twice it moved restlessly about, but came no closer. Perhaps, not knowing its opponent, feared revealing its identity. Or perhaps its Captain was calculating the best opportunity for assault. Either scenario was as likely as the other, nowadays.

  Gantarro stared at the image of the shuttle and Eliza Meru on the view-screen, hoping to see the shuttle break free for its return trip. He knew one thing for sure, if it was taking this long, it must be bad. This made him even more wary of their visitor, more likely its intent was not an honorable one. Gant seriously wanted to just call the shuttle and tell them to speed it up, but their visitor might hear their transmissions. No, the best course of action was silence. Silence and a deliberately casual and unhurried attitude. This, he hoped, would tell whomever was watching, that the Princess had no fears. Plain and simple... it was a bluff.

  "They're pulling out sir."

  Gant straightened in his chair, "Who?"

  "The work shuttle, it's on it's way back."

  "Excellent!" Gant slapped his hand on the console. "Navigation, plot the most direct route to get us back on course. Helm, swing our stern to recover that work craft." The bridge became a flurry of activity. "Tower, no radio communications, follow silent signal protocol for approach and landing." Gant watched the little shuttle draw closer on the vidscreen and felt relief. "Where's our visitor?"

  "Status unchanged sir."

  The Captain rubbed his hands together, "Well, so far, so good."

  The Shuttle had detached cleanly from the Eliza Meru and swung away to head for the Princess Hedonist. The return trip took under two minutes. If the crew aboard the work craft noticed the visitor on their sensors, they gave no indication of it, executing a perfect standard approach and landing as instructed by the flight tower. Before the work craft had her systems completely shut down on the ramp, the Princess was under way, leaving the Eliza Meru behind.

  Jack, Paul, Trigoss and Marcus, sat in the ready room and stripped off their flight suits in silence. No one even made eye contact. There was nothing that could be said and eye contact could only serve to reaffirm that painful fact. As they rose to leave, Jack decided he could brief Gantarro alone. Besides, he figured he couldn't sleep now anyway. "Look, you guys, uh, go get some rest. I'll take care of this." He turned and strode away from the others, not wanting to discuss it further.

  The others watched him go. Trigoss rubbed his chin, "that's one angry young man. Think he'll be Ok?"

  Paul nodded, "He'll be alright."

  "Well... he shouldn't take it so personally, it's not healthy."

  "He can't help it, Trigoss, it's in his blood. Once a cop, always a cop. His whole persona revolves around being a good guy in a white hat, and for him, that means being totally intolerant..."

  "Well I hope he doesn't let it eat him up."

  Paul shook his head, "No, I don't think he'd let it go that far, but I'll tell you what, I pity the son-of-a-bitch if Jack ever gets his hands on him."

  Trigoss smiled, "I'd like to watch, if he did."

  ■ ■ ■

  The corridors were deserted and quiet. Jack was thankful for the solitude. The ride to the bridge in the air car was relaxing and the cool air rushing by, refreshing. Closing his eyes, he pulled in a cleansing breath and cleared his mind. He would not forget what he saw, but needed to file away the images and anger. When the air car slid to a silent stop near the bridge, a renewed Jack Steele climbed out, calm and collected.

  Jack stared at the vidscreen, still locked on the figure of the Eliza Meru. Gantarro watched the somber pilot who seemed to be mesmerized by the image. He looked over-tired. Gant tried to decide whether to send him off to get some rest or prompt him into speaking. It could probably wait until morning but Gant's curiosity got the better of him. "You expecting her to go somewhere?"

  Jack looked at his watch and smiled wearily, "Sort of."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Watch..."

  "What will she do?"

  "Disappear..." Jack checked his watch again, "about now..." The crew on the bridge of the Princess Hedonist watched as flickers of light raced through the hull of the Eliza Meru and tore her apart in a spectacular final flash. A growing sphere of debris expanded outward to a chorus of oohs and aahs from the crew. Without realizing it, Jack sighed in relief.

  Gant wondered how their visitor would react to this. "It must have been pretty bad." It was more a question than a statement.

  Jack looked away from the screen. "Disgusting. Trigoss said it must've been pirates. All I can say is, I'd like to meet whomever, alone in a dark alley sometime."

  Gantarro shook his head, "They're getting worse."

  "They need to be stopped." Jack's voice was without emotion.

  "No argument here, though I must say, it's rare to see this kind of ruthless behavior..."

  "Criminals are criminals," said Jack, dryly.

  Gant agreed again. It was obvious the young pilot saw some terrible things. H
is sensibilities would be raw for some time. Discussing it now could only serve to make things worse. Gant put his hand on Jack's shoulder, "Listen, you look beat, go get some rest. We can talk more after brunch." A report would have to be filed but details could wait until morning. He also told him nothing of the ship that had been shadowing them on the fringes of their sensor range. It simply wasn't necessary or productive at this point. "Go ahead son, in fact, I'm going to get some rest too."

  Jack left and Gantarro retired to the Captain's ready room, a private office and quarters attached to the bridge. He left strict orders to be notified if their shadow made any changes in status. He stretched out on the cushy leather couch and was asleep before Jack had even climbed into a waiting air car down the hall.

  ■ ■ ■

  Flexing and yawning, Fritz was there to greet Jack when he stepped into his suite. The tired pilot reached down and gave the dog's head a playful tussle, "Hey pal, how's it goin'?" The Shepherd grumbled through a yawn as Jack wandered through the living room into the bedroom. Maria slept snuggled in a ball, right where he left her in the center of the bed. Jack could see where the dog had curled up on the bed by the woman's feet. "So, you been keepin' her company?" The Shepherd looked at him with sleepy eyes, climbed gently up onto the bed and wagged his tail. Jack said nothing as he sat on the edge of the bed and stripped off his clothes. He was too tired to argue with the animal, who had already made himself more than comfortable. "G'night dog," mumbled Jack, as he slid under the covers behind Maria. He fell into a fitful sleep interrupted by visions of tortured figures. This eventually and thankfully, faded into a deep, dreamless void.

  ■ ■ ■

  "Sir?"

  Gantarro opened his sapphire blue eyes and looked up at his first officer. Rubbing his eyes, he swung his feet off the couch and to the floor. "What is it?" He said, glancing at his watch. Four hours had passed.

  "Our shadow, sir, he's dropped completely off the sensor grid. Disappeared about ten minutes ago."

  "Hmmm..." This puzzled him. Gant frowned and the furrows on his brow deepened. "What to do next..." There were so many possibilities to consider. "Increase speed... gradually. Maybe we can put some distance between us before he realizes it."

  "So your going under the assumption that it's a pirate?"

  "It's a good bet. This is a standard stalking maneuver, it could be nothing... But, if it's planned, I'd rather try evasion now - we have more options." The first officer nodded his understanding and approval of his Captain's wise actions. Gant continued, "Let's see if we can plot a new course, throw these rats off our trail a bit eh?" He rose up off the couch, went to a small plotting table and turned it on. A miniature three dimensional section of universe shimmered into view above the table in the shape of a cube. Stars, planets, moons, and Genesis Gates, all in various colors were shown in relative scale. A pink icon representing the ship, floated among the stars, a pink line showing its present course. The holographic universe, however, had boundaries. These could be altered by changing the chart number the computer was referring to. The two officers studied their present course and using several holographic charts, discussed several alternate routes. It seemed each route had some drawback of one kind or another, but the decision lie in which was the least objectionable and most likely to succeed.

  The key to evasion seemed to be the use of one of several Genesis Gates in the area. This kind of detour would get the Princess Hedonist out of the area in a hurry. The drawback was, it would take them galaxies out of their way, and they'd have to take two other Genesis Gates somewhere along the line to get them back on course later. But of course, the possible alternative of being boarded by pirates was much less desirable.

  Genesis Gates were a wondrous miracle of space, harnessed by an ingenious method. Once thought to be holes in space, it was actually discovered they were more accurately described as tunnels, linking galaxies and whole universes together. Special Gates were designed to mark and stabilize wandering entrances. Once installed, they are numbered for navigation purposes. Some tunnels have more than one destination and passage can be made in either direction. Before entering, programming a ship's navigation computer with the proper gate number will deposit the craft at the desired exit. Travel time can be reduced by months by using a Genesis Gate, versus a standard trade route.

  Or as in the case of the Princess Hedonist, lengthened because of a necessary detour. The Genesis Gates' numbers were displayed on the holographic chart and Gantarro chose the one which provided the most difficult pursuit. It had three destinations on the other side. He ordered full speed for its entrance. This would place them at the gate in just over four hours. There was one gate closer but it had only one destination and was too obvious a choice.

  Gant laid back on the couch and closed his eyes, "Call me when something happens..." he instructed. Then he fell back asleep. He too saw visions of horror in his dreams, except it was his crew, his passengers, his ship. He tossed and turned, his body attempting to evade the subconscious assault.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  PRINCESS HEDONIST: HERE THERE BE MONSTERS

  The Ensign, sitting at the sensor array console, stiffened in his seat, "SIR!"

  The First Officer sat in the Captain's Command Chair, he looked up from the log notes he was writing, "Yes, Ensign?"

  "I've got a fast mover, just appeared on the sensor grid. The unknown is approaching from our stern, starboard quarter!"

  "Damn! That's where our shadow dropped out of sight!" The officer punched buttons on the Command Chair, calling up the Ensign's sensor display screen on his own video monitor. It was too small to be the same ship that had shadowed them, in fact it was so small in comparison, it could have easily been missed. "Good eyes, Ensign. Projected time of interception?"

  "Just over six minutes, sir."

  "Damn." With his elbows on the console, the First Officer bowed his head to rest on his folded hands. The Genesis Gate was still over an hour away, and with the Princess' engines running at close to full throttle, the small pursuer was gaining easily. Additional throttle would only run the risk of overheating the engine's forcing cones, it would do little to prolong intercept time. There was nothing he could do. "Security..."

  "Yes, sir..."

  The first officer lifted his head, "Wake the Captain."

  ■ ■ ■

  Gantarro opened his eyes and raised his head when the security officer touched his shoulder. "What is it, Petty Officer?"

  "The First Officer requests your presence on the bridge sir... We've got company," he added.

  Gant sat up. "Our shadow's back?"

  "No sir. A small, fast ship, on an intercept course. It's overtaking us from the stern."

  "How far to the Genesis Gate?"

  "Over an hour yet."

  Gant nodded as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "So... the games begin..."

  "Excuse me, sir?"

  Gant rose and headed for the door. "Nothing... nothing at all." He knew what came next, the chase, the attempts at evasion. Whoever he was, the other Captain had timed it just right. The Princess was between the two closest gates, about an hour run to either one. Very vulnerable.

  The bridge door swished open and Gant stepped onto the bridge from his ready room. The First Officer relinquished the Command Chair. "Helm, full throttle."

  The First Officer blanched, "Full, sir?"

  "Yep, every bit."

  "What about overheating sir?"

  "Well, if we make that gate, we have a chance... if not, we're finished. And if we don't go wide open, we'll never make that gate. So... I want every ounce of thrust those drives'll produce. Got it?" The bridge became a flurry of activity as Gantarro prepared for the worst.

  "Intercept
in one minute, thirty seconds."

  "Communications, hail that ship. Science, get us an on screen view." The view screen shimmered as the video pickups brought the ship into focus.

  "It looks like a fighter craft of some kind, sir."

  Gant nodded. "It's an old Warthog. Looks like their using it like a scout."

  "Isn't a Warthog a UFW craft?" asked a young Ensign.

  "Yes, but they're outdated, no longer used. Most were junked, some were sold to underdeveloped cultures for defense. So don't expect this one to be friendly. It's probably stolen or war spoils." The pilot of the craft did not acknowledge any attempts at communication. Gant was not surprised. At a distance of only about a quarter mile away, the Warthog fighter shot by the starboard side of the Princess Hedonist like she was standing still.

  "Damn that thing's fast!"

  Gantarro smiled at the officer's remark. "Son, the Princess doesn't exactly set any speed records... you could pass her with a land speeder," he exaggerated. As the bridge crew watched, the glow of the Warthog's twin engines disappeared as the pilot cut boost and throttle. Doing a wing-over, the fighter went into a tight banking turn and reversed course.

  "I'm reading an increase in systems power on that ship..." The Science Officer was calm. He studiously watched the readings on his vid-scan console. "He has weapons! He's powering up weapons!"

  Gant remained calm, "Easy, Lieutenant. Drop all non-vital ship's systems to half and give me full power to our deflection shields." The rattled officer complied with shaking hands. Gant knew the shields were not meant for combat, but they should have no problem repelling a lone fighter, probably even two fighters. The Warthog flashed by the port side of the Princess feigning an attack run. It did not fire.