by Justin Sloan
Gulch dismissed them and Antwon showed them back to the pod system, which they would be able to ride freely because of their religious covers. He reminded them of the plan, then pointed them to where they needed to go.
“Remember, we have less than twelve hours now,” he said, taking a step back away from the pod doors as they were about to close. “Finish sooner and that leaves more time for celebration.”
The doors closed and the pod swept away, spiraling up. Their destination was the third floor from the top, assuming the docks they would arrive at were actually above where they’d started. As far as Marick could tell, the plan was to use religious quarters to find an entry point from which the signals would be strong enough for Alicia to work her magic and get an opening for Marick. Then, they’d make their move and he’d walk right in—simple as that.
It still gave him a feeling of unease. Alicia had a worried look as well.
“Less than twelve hours and we’ll be on that elevator out of here,” Marick said, voice low and looking away from the few passengers riding up.
Alicia nodded, taking his hand but looking away.
“What is it?” he asked.
“At what price?”
“I don’t like helping his kind either, but—”
“Marick, there was more on that chip. I was able to decode the next layer in those few seconds back there. Not enough details to really know what we’re dealing with, but… it’s definitely some sort of weapon. More advanced than what I saw back on Horus.”
“Here’s the thing,” Marick said, considering this, “we’re helping a criminal make a move against another criminal, basically. Does that make us bad?”
She eyed him, concerned. “We don’t know for sure that New Hope is in league with New Origins and this plan of theirs. They might not all be bad.”
“Let’s hope not. But would New Origins really be able to make a move on their own? Yes, many of the Earth’s governments entrusted their military to private companies—mostly these two—but the Americas still have a strong military, the Marine Corps not least among those forces. I know for a fact that they wouldn’t simply stand aside.”
“You mean that same Marine Corps that saw decreased salaries and funds for equipment over the last few years? That same Marine Corps that you and many others left for the increased prestige of space exploration New Origins offers?”
He felt his mouth drop open as he tried to come up with an answer to that, but couldn’t. Damn.
“Did I really sell out like that?” he asked.
“It wasn’t selling out,” she replied. “At the time, you were considering what came next—service in a military that wasn’t seeing action or promises of the next phase for humanity, along with higher pay that could help our family when the time came.”
He scratched his head. “But in hindsight, kind of a stupid decision.”
She laughed, glancing back to be sure nobody was listening. He did the same, and they seemed safe.
“Actually,” she said, leaning in and lowering her voice further, “if you think about it, in spite of our sacrifices and ignoring the negative impact it’s had on our lives over the past year, we’re on our way to either preventing a war or at least giving the people on Earth enough warning to strike first. Thinking of it that way, in hindsight we’re unwitting geniuses.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “I like your version more. Were you always the positive one of us?”
She cocked her head, considering this. “Actually, no, especially not around the time when you were applying to be a PD soldier. You were all sunshine and rainbows, talking about all the great things in life we’d accomplish and how the move would set our kids up to be whatever they wanted in life.”
“Raising kids in a world like this…” He shook his head, trying to make sense of it all.
“Excuse me,” a prisoner said as a guard leaned against the car wall, only half paying attention.
Marick looked between himself and Alicia before realizing the man was speaking to him.
“Yes?”
“I overheard you pondering about raising kids in a world like this,” the prisoner said. “Gotta say, that question goes much deeper for me.”
Marick blinked, trying to compose himself and make sense of this, remembering what he was doing there. Blowing his cover this early wouldn’t be smart, even if it wouldn’t matter much in this particular situation. Hell, it was good practice. He nodded for the prisoner to go on, ignoring the humored expression on Alicia’s face.
“How, Father, can God exist in light of everything we know now?” the prisoner asked.
“What is it exactly that we know?” Marick asked, trying to play the part. “We have yet to discover actual aliens, only the existence of aspects we could point to and say they belonged to aliens or were created by aliens. Perhaps there’s another explanation, or perhaps even they were put there by the devil himself to tempt our faith.”
The prisoner looked doubtful, but more at what Marick was saying than his performance. “Here’s my thought. You ready? I say the angels, God, all of that, they were aliens. See? They created all of this, left behind a great civilization, but… maybe they’re extinct now.”
“What?” This time Marick couldn’t help but look at Alicia, and she shrugged.
“Not our beliefs, but I’m interested to hear more,” she said.
“You know, like the ruins they found out on Mars. You heard about that?” The prisoner leaned in now, scratching a scar on his left forearm and eyeing them excitedly. “That could be an ancient angelic city. God was their leader and… you’re not buying it?”
Marick hadn’t meant to look skeptical, but as much as he wasn’t sure about the various religions, this guy was spouting pure craziness. “My son, all things are possible with the Lord, but what you speak is blasphemy.”
The prisoner glared, a flash of anger in his eyes, but then he leaned back and laughed. “You’re all right, priest. Pastor? Whatever you are, we should talk again sometime soon. Can we do that?”
“I’d like it very much,” Marick lied, hoping he’d be off this damn station before that ever happened.
The prisoner turned, glared at Alicia, and looked like he was about to spit on her. “Blasphemer,” he said as the guard came over and gestured him away.
“Enough from you,” the guard said. When he was between them and the prisoner, he apologized and moved back to his position against the wall.
The pod arrived at their location and Marick was relieved to be free of it, both because of the uncomfortable situation with the prisoner and also because of the twirling sensation it gave his stomach.
4
Alicia: Space Station Ramiel – Tower Two
Alicia was to infiltrate the network, given her skillset. This meant she would be entering Tower Two where the Titanians had a temple on the fourth floor. With network security for the prisons located one floor below, she could easily then work her way down and use that to break into the security for Tower Three where Marick would be waiting to make his move on the item.
He would return to Gulch and she’d find them down there, her husband dead, she imagined. Of course, she had no intention of it going down that way. As she ditched her robes in one of the floor panels and made her way into the lower tech room, her mind was racing with ideas for how to change the end result of the operation.
She worked her way around the panels and interior metal that was much like back on Horus, considering her options as she went. If she rerouted security protocols to put the attention on Gulch, he might be distracted and not able to make a move against Marick. Then again, Marick might get stuck down there and their chance of making the elevator would be gone.
Other options seemed equally as risky and nothing was giving her the sense of relief she was hoping for. Even as she reached the network room, dropping down to find it unguarded, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all going to end badly.
“Ah, relief
,” a soldier said, walking by just then. He wore a similar uniform, though green instead of the blue and grey of New Origins. He paused, looking her over, and pursed his lips. “Oh, Project Destiny? Damn. I didn’t think you all would be in here, too. Sorry. Thought you were my relief for the watch.”
“No,” she said, standing tall as if she belonged. “Just searching, as directed.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it’s true then, huh? I hear they’ve got you all on the stations, too. Even got a few PD soldiers heading out to intercept ships bound for Titan and Mars, though that’s a stretch, am I right?”
“About what?”
“Titan or Mars. Come on, if you were an escapee, rebel, or whatever the hell, would you go to Titan? What for, right?”
“Unless they’re Titanians and believe this is the start of a coup against the gods, or whatever it is those nut jobs believe.”
He laughed. “True enough.” Leaning in, he added, “You know, I was walking by their floor the other day and heard some of their religious mumbo-jumbo… Give me a break, right? They actually believe the president of the Americas is a reincarnated Greek god or something like that.”
“You don’t say,” she replied, rolling her eyes, but it was all a show. As much as she didn’t believe in the same things as the Titanians, she wasn’t into bashing religion. Her main thought right then was how the hell to get rid of this guy.
“I can help, you know,” he said. “We aren’t as strong as you all. I mean… Well, you’ve had the enhancements, right?” He stepped in closer, eyes roaming over her and landing on her chest.
“The enhancements didn’t include chest augmentation,” she stated flatly.
“Damn, sorry. I didn’t mean to—but you did, right? I mean, is it true? Healing, and you’re like super fast and strong?”
“How would you feel if a woman just stared at your package, then kept on as if nothing had happened?”
He cocked his head, confused. “When’s the last time a man got annoyed at you staring at his package?”
“I… I don’t do that.”
“Ah, not the type, huh? More into the scissor action, the girl on girl?” He smiled, nodding his head. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“You can…?” She took a step toward him. “You always talk to your superiors this way?”
“Superiors?”
“As in, I’m about to kick your ass and prove to you how these enhancements make PD soldiers superior.”
He grinned. “That so?” Holding up his wrist, she saw that he had on one of the wrist computers like Alicia had found during her raid on Space Station Horus’s dome. “I see you have one of these—two if you count the other lame excuse for one. Guess who makes these? We do. That means I don’t need your strength to see who wins in a fight.”
She had to admit she was curious about whether his wrist computer could do more than hers. If it had other functions similar to the stun pellets, she wouldn’t mind getting her hands on one. Right then, her job was being sidetracked, but talk of the wrist piece had given her an idea.
“You have a training room around here?” she asked. “Maybe we can put our skills to the test, see what’s what.”
He raised an eyebrow. The look in his eyes showed that he’d somehow taken that as an invitation, which was more than she’d intended.
“This way,” he said, nodding and then walking off. “But I’m on duty, so we need to keep this quick. Not that I’ll have a problem there.”
She wanted to gag at the idea of this jerk honestly thinking they were about to hook up, or whatever was running through his head. As soon as he had led her to an unoccupied room nearby, she lifted her arm and shot two stun pellets at him without a second thought. Unexpectedly, the pellets encountered some sort of shield that rippled and then went clear again. They dropped to the ground and burst with electricity, then went dead.
Silence followed. His hands were frozen on his undone fly as he processed what had just happened. His mouth moved as if in slow motion and he cursed, turning his wrist piece at her. This was the time for her instincts to take over and actually use the first-level enhancements she’d received when impersonating a PD recruit.
She moved in for the attack just as a shockwave flew out at her. It hit her hard and she flew back into the wall, warm blood trickling from her nose.
“What the hell…?” she asked, shaking her head as he took aim again, his other hand moving for a blaster at his hip.
“You’re her, aren’t you?” he said, the realization causing him to pause.
That was all she needed. A regular person probably would’ve taken that blast and been out of commission, but someone with PD enhancements—no way. She rolled this time, not taking any chances, and came up in a leg sweep. She wasn’t the best at martial arts, though she had certainly put in the time learning over the last year. Her best bet was to get him on the floor, so that’s what she did.
He tried to shoot at her again, but the burst of energy hit the lights above instead, sending a shower of glass down on them as she slammed her elbow into his face. Apparently, his shield only stopped projectiles or had been taken out with her pellets—she imagined it was the former—and her elbow slammed into him, hard.
Like an egg cracking, his nose burst forth so that they both had blood running down their faces, though she imagined his was worse. Considering how nasty it looked, she damn well hoped so.
The next strike took him out, and then she jacked his wrist piece off his arm, stowing it for later. Next, she searched him for any sign of that shield and what had made it. His uniform was more complicated than her own, with nothing standing out to her other than odd gadgets on his belt and chest.
With a sigh she gave up, dragged him out of view, and darted back out into the hallway to get back to work. Marick would be approaching his target soon. She didn’t have time to be searching an unconscious soldier for a shield she didn’t know how to operate anyway.
Two more soldiers were out there, approaching but lost in conversation. She turned, entered the room she’d started in, and closed the door.
“Don’t pull that on me,” one of them said. “You didn’t pay up last week, and you lost. I want double this time or I’m not playing.”
“Maybe you just won’t be invited,” the other replied, and then they were gone, walking past the door as their conversation faded out of her awareness.
She sighed with relief and turned to the servers. Time to show what she was capable of without her team. Another movement caught her by surprise, but this time it was a face she recognized. Antwon.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Ensuring we have the leverage we need,” Antwon said. “Carry on. We’ve giving Marick instructions, and you’ll be with us until he’s seen those through.”
5
Marick: Space Station Ramiel – Tower Three
Marick strolled right into Tower Three as instructed, his priest robes wrapped up and tucked into the back of his harness. It was bulky, but not too bad. The plan for him was simple—he was from Space Station Horus, here to look for the escapees.
If they had his picture already, Antwon had assured him not to worry because they had their own bag of special tricks for him. One of the perks of being on a high-tech station was the tech the criminals had, as well—for example, the face scrambler. It was attached at his collar and created an effect similar to digitally editing a picture of him so that his features appeared different enough to scanners and even casual glances that nobody would recognize him as Stealth.
He strolled in and turned to the two-man security team. “I’m here to speak with security. Check footage of the station.”
“You with the rest?” the tall one asked.
Damn.
“Yes,” he said. He had to be, but his mind was reeling already with what ‘the rest’ might mean. If Nightshade or any of the Taipans were there, he would be in trouble. And if that academy piece of rat feces Captain Legorn was there,
also bad news. All of that seemed unlikely under normal circumstances, but a PD soldier going rogue was definitely an unusual circumstance.
“Head on up,” the guy said, giving him a nod and then turning back to show his buddy a screen that had a video playing. Soccer, by the sound of it, though it had been a long time since Marick had paid attention to anything other than training.
He passed a window into an office and paused at his reflection in the glass. This technology certainly didn’t make him look like a beautiful redhead or anything, but it was very odd to look at himself and see someone who wasn’t quite him. Just different enough. His hand reached up, feeling the face that was his and passing through points that weren’t, like the slightly longer nose. As long as nobody tried to caress his cheeks, he’d be okay.
Voices came from the passage up ahead, so he turned down another route. He paused to check the instructions since they changed if he went off course.
“You find something?” a voice said, and he looked up to see a female PD soldier staring at him.
“What?”
“Just a sec,” she said, eyeing him. “I don’t remember you coming over with us. What detail did you say you’re with?”
She was already starting to look away, likely searching for backup in case she needed it. He couldn’t let it get to that.
“Taipan, advanced scout” he said, freezing as the words left his mouth. Stupid! It wasn’t a good idea to associate himself with the Taipans when he had been one of them. He waited for her to connect the two, but apparently not all ranks had the full information on him because she just nodded, looking him over.
“Where’s your uniform?”
“Low key,” he said, winking. “In case we find him, don’t want to alarm him. But this,” he said while gesturing at his exoskeleton, “got be sure I can catch him. I hear the guy’s evasive as hell.”
She nodded, but then her eyes went to his harness. Clearly not standard issue. “Is that Taipan gear?”
