Blazer didn’t have time to play politics here and didn’t care if it upset Zithe. “If there are Shock Troops, the Geffers are here. If those four don’t check in soon, their commander will send someone out looking for them. So we need to move.”
“I be agreeing with Blazer,” Trevis added.
“Trevis, I’ll defer to your judgment on this one,” Blazer replied and stepped aside.
“That be the right thinking. Be doing as Blazer says, grab your armors, and whatever weapon you can.”
No one argued and made quick work of slipping on their armored vests and snatching their boot knives. A few even smashed the tables to make clubs from their legs while Bichard fashioned a pair of swords with his resin, handing them off before making two more for himself. Trevis then handed the rifles to their seven best shoots.
“The shooters be taking point, the rest of you to rear. We be moving quick and quiet. If there be a hangar here, we get ourselves a transport or shuttle, then blast off this rock. The whole academy likely be captured at this point.”
That caught Blazer by surprise, and he turned to Trevis. “But we have friends and instructors there,” Blazer protested as he watched Chris help Gavit to his feet. His hands and neck still twitched as Marda gave him an injection to get him mobile.
“And they be knowing the risks. I say our best bet be to let the Confederation know what be going on here.”
Blazer considered that. He’s right, we’re in no shape for a stand up fight. Maybe if we can get some more gear, but…
“Porc, Zithe you be on point,”
The two complied without question and rushed up the hallway ahead of the rest of the squadron. Zithe kept his rifle tight against his shoulder as he ran and Porc, a Nerzain, extended the natural metallic claws in his hands. The others followed a short distance behind them. Blazer had to resist the urge to curse when they disappeared from view around a bend in the tunnel.
The sound of plaser fire erupted an instant later.
Blazer threw himself against the wall and blinked hard. He looked at the others as they waited alongside him and edged his way along the corridor. Tired as he was, he knew better than to run headlong into a trap. With Trevis in the lead, he reached the end of the tunnel and the large foyer it opened onto.
Blazer peeked around the corner. A spiral staircase extended down from the ceiling in the center of the room, and more hallways extended out, a number marking each. Beside the staircase lay the prone bodies of Zithe and Porc. He watched them for a moment and spotted the scorch marks of multiple stun blasts on their flesh as they took several irregular breaths. They didn’t go down quick.
Blazer scooted back towards Trevis. “What do you think now?”
“It be an ambush. If those corridors be leading to other bunkers, then they already be subduing those cadets. Otherwise, they be having soldiers here. They knew we be coming. Something about this just smells.”
Blazer nodded. “I know, but what do we do?”
Trevis shook his head. “I wish I be knowing, boy.”
Standing across from Blazer, Telsh pointed across to one of the other passageways. The dim red light of a Shock Trooper’s eye lenses flashed at them. “There be one there for sure, and he be seeing us.”
“They knew we be here long before that, chromo,” he replied using a Tomeris term of endearment meant to compliment her genes. “If we go out there, we be heading into a kill zone.”
“So what do you think? Head back?” Blazer asked. “Try our luck on the surface?”
“Aye, that be making sense.”
Before they could pass the word, the sound of something bouncing off the wall beside Trevis drew Blazer’s eyes. He turned just in time to watch a stun grenade detonate in front of him. Low energy plasma burst free, engulfing them, and the concussion threw him against the wall. The smell of singed flesh and burnt hair reached his nose as he staggered there.
Clinging to consciousness, he raised his rifle as everyone around him fell. Shunt it away, stupid. Blazer pumped the excess energy into the only receptacle he could—his rifle—as he began to fall back. His knees threatened to give out as he took a knee beside Marda. Her breathing came in ragged gasps. He had slipped an arm under her to try and carry her away when the sound of booted feet echoed towards him. He looked up just in time to meet his mother’s last sight, the barrel of a Shock Trooper’s rifle filling his view. He dragged his weapon back up, his left hand arcing with lightning as the Trooper’s rifle discharged.
Anul System, Anul, Capben University
Unaware of the trials her brother and friends were facing, Jell Vaughnt headed away from campus after she’d finished the last of her classes. She didn’t care what Blazer was up to at the academy. She hated the Space Forces, blaming them for the death of her parents, and couldn’t understand why Blazer didn’t. She hated overhearing conversations from people thinking of going into the service to earn their Confederacy.
It didn’t matter to her—she was a full citizen and didn’t care if she could vote or not. She didn’t want to give up her freedom even for a little while to earn what she saw as just a few extra privileges. She would make her way in the universe by her own rules, and show them that she could be even more successful than the others.
Heading away from campus, Jell looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, the shadow her grandfather ordered was still there.
Why doesn’t he trust me? What did he think I’m getting into? I’m a grown woman now. I get good grades and have never done anything to make him think I’m up to no good. It’s not like I’m some drugged up floosy! So what if I hit the clubs, that’s my right.
Yet his dogs still follow me everywhere. Deny it all you want, old man. At least those blasted orbs left with Blazer. I bet he has them watching him and reporting back too.
She touched the tiny music player in her ear. The contact points touching her finger activated a subsonic device within that tricked her visual cortex into displaying the control menu. She turned up the volume to drown out the sound of the hover vehicles and trollies on the street, before selecting another song, and dropped her hand. She danced around in response to the new song and put eyes on her shadow.
Oh my god, he’s not even subtle. His clothes were beyond nondescript in their lack of markings, a stark contrast to the students and others walking along the street. Those shirts are so three annura ago, only a fleet rat would wear them.
She danced around again, making herself obvious to the shadow. She was supposed to meet her friends soon, and she didn’t want him following. The macomm her grandfather had given her had a tracking beacon, but not so the one she’d bought herself. She didn’t even give the old man its ident code. Tracking it would be next to impossible for him, without a legal order.
As she approached the intersection, she reached into her pocket and deactivated her grandfather’s macomm. The tracking beacon would remain active, though, even with the device powered down, unless she did something to stop it. So she did just that, draining its power cell into herself.
She felt a small wriggle up her arm in response, and danced around again to see if the shadow had noticed. He hadn’t, but as she glanced back once again, she saw him moving, pushing his way up through the crowded street. Might as well wear a sign.
She smiled, knowing this was her chance, and looked down the street to see a trolley coming. It wouldn’t stop here, but that wasn’t about to keep Jell from boarding it. As it approached, she shed her bright-colored jacket with the dead macomm still inside the pocket. In a different shirt than the one she’d left home in, she blended in with the crowd and ran to the back of the trolley.
She leapt aboard and stood on the rear deck, watching, as her shadow shoved his way to the corner and found her jacket. She couldn’t hide her giddiness as he looked about, frantic in a vain search for her, as she slid into a seat at the rear of the trolley. She pulled up the hood of her shirt to conceal her hair. The trolley driver looked at her in the rear vie
w mirror, and she held up her macomm in response. A holographic trolley pass emerged, one that her grandfather couldn’t trace. She had escaped her shadow, and now the duwn was hers.
Anul, Capben, Slub Soren
A few blocks later, Jell hopped off the trolley and switched to another. This one made a circuit all around Capben, diving in and around the campus at several points. As it reached the outermost point of its loop, she leapt off. Capben was a very progressive city, and it didn’t have many bad areas. This was one of the few, the one where the best clubs called home.
Some of the clubs were seedy and dark, not the kind of place she wanted to go. A few were high-end exclusive clubs. She had no chance of getting into those without compromising herself to the bouncer at the door. So she headed to one of the nicer midrange clubs, one that she and her friends could get into without much trouble.
She hopped up to the bouncer at the door, flashed her ID, and also flashed her eyes at him. He waved her in ahead of the rest of the people in line. She never had to wait to get into this club. She had a class with the bouncer and shared her class notes with him so that he only had to take off work for tests. She found her friends inside, each of them having the same deal. Drinks in hand, they made their way onto the dance floor, teasing the men around them.
Jell rushed to the bar a hect later for more drinks. Sure enough, that cute Energy Gatherer bartender was working this duwn. Does he know that I’m an energy gatherer too? The light shows he puts on behind the bar and the little shock charges he puts into people’s drinks make it pretty obvious.
She always pretended that the shock jolted her as much as everyone else, but she could take a charge ten times that before it would affect her in any way. She waited at the end of the bar as he served drinks to a handful of aliens, admiring how his tight pants hugged his backside. He took his time making his way down the bar towards her, serving others along the way.
He was cute, funny, and from what she could tell, smart also. He’s a few annura older, but I like my men with a little extra “seasoning.” The guys at school are so naïve about everything. He handed some guy a beer, then looked up at her and smiled before heading down to her, skipping several other patrons. Good, he’s coming straight to me. He mixed her usual drink as he went. She never took her eyes off him and smiled when he ran his finger around the rim, charging the mix for her.
She took the drink with a smile and took a quick swig of it, intending to play it coy. The shock was far more than normal and she staggered for a moment in surprise. She looked at him, shocked. “Little stronger than normal, don’t you think?”
He smiled that roguish grin she loved so much. “I have a theory, and I think you just confirmed it.”
Jell tried to regain her composure. She rolled her shoulders and leaned up against the bar, letting him get a good look down her dress. Go ahead and look, she thought. “What’s that?”
He took a quick glance before locking eyes with her. He has such intense eyes.
“If you weren’t an Energy Gatherer that charge would have floored you,” he remarked.
She tried to play coy, bringing her hand to her lips as she batted her eyes at him. “And if I wasn’t you would have just knocked me on my ass with that charge.”
“I was sure. I’ve seen you discharging sometimes, on the dance floor.”
Jell considered that for a moment. Have I been discharging again? I can’t remember the last time I did that. She used to have a problem with that, gathering too much energy and having to dissipate it. Trying not to let on too much, she turned to look back at the dance floor. She let the lights frame her silhouette before turning back to him, sure that he he was taking a good look. “Well, maybe.”
He pulled out his macomm and held it up. She knew what that meant. She pulled out her own and touched it to his. “Give me a call sometime,” he said. “I get off at midduwn.”
She looked over at the clock and grimaced. “I can’t stay that long. I have a test, next cycle.”
He scoffed at that. “Students.”
“Hey, at least I’m not going to be serving drinks my whole life.”
He smiled that roguish grin back at her. “I’m putting myself through school too, almost done, as a matter of fact. I wouldn’t be out partying, like you and your friends, if I had a test to study for.”
“Well, if you’re going to be like that, maybe I should leave.”
He held up a hand. “No, I didn’t mean that. I like seeing you here.”
“Well then, maybe next cycle. What time do you start work? I could see you after my test.”
He looked at the clock. “I work some long hects, get in around twenty.”
“Okay. I’ll call you around fourteen, and we can get together.”
He smiled back at her. “I like the sound of that, see you then.”
Jell leaned in like she was going to try and kiss him, then grabbing her drink, pulled away, and ran back to the dance floor. Sure that he was watching her now, she gyrated on the brightly lit deck with her friends. She performed her most suggestive gyrations whenever she noticed him watching and smiled when his eyes lingered on her as a result.
***
Hects later, the bartender made his way to the storeroom in the back, where the noise of the club couldn’t penetrate, and pulled out his macomm. He tapped the stud on the end, and selected the link he wanted to contact from the holographic display, but no one answered. He didn’t expect them to. Instead, he left a message. “Contact made. Will meet with subject next cycle. She has no idea that I have been observing her. Contact will allow for closer observation and possible control over her movements.” He signed off the macomm, sliding it back into his pocket, before grabbing two bottles, and heading back to the bar.
UCSB DATE: 1001.025
Location: Unknown, Detention Block
Pain ripped through every nerve in Blazer’s body as he regained consciousness, threatening to knock him out again. His head, neck and chest felt the worst, as the pain in his limbs subsided. How many times did they stun me? The electrolytic fluid layer beneath his skin felt wrong, and itched. His mouth and eyes felt as dry as a desert.
He forced his eyes open and stared at metal coils supporting the bunk above him. The coils didn’t make any sense; nothing made any sense at the moment. His head felt as if it was filled with a dense fog. He managed to roll his head away from the wall and saw Arion there. He didn’t know what to make of that, either.
The little bit he could make out of the dank cell, thanks to the dim glow panels, reminded him of something out of an ancient castle. Blazer rolled onto his side and kicked his feet out over the edge of the bunk. Movement hurt, and he regretted the motion, but he began to push himself up just the same.
“Take it slow, B,” Arion called out from the bunk opposite him. Arion looked like he hadn’t been affected at all.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s the effects of the stun blast. You’ve been out of it for a while.”
“What happened?” Blazer asked. His head swum and his stomach lurched. He almost toppled over. Grabbing the sides of the bunks above and below him, he managed to stabilize himself.
“You shouldn’t be talking so much yet. Wait for the effects to wear off a bit more.”
Blazer shook his head, and fought off the resulting wave of nausea. “No, where are we?” he asked, swallowing bile. The walls looked constructed of simple brick and mortar. The only light came from a series of glow panels along the floor. The door was just as primitive, a solid steel plate with smaller doors at the foot and eye levels. It stood opposite the small combined sink/toilet and along the two walls were two pairs of bunks. The room wasn’t big enough for four people to stand in, but he doubted his captors cared.
“We not be sure,” Trevis answered from the bunk above Blazer. “All I be knowing is, that they ambushed us.”
“What’s our status?”
“The others be in cells adjacent to our own.”
Blazer saw the image of the barrel in his face again—and shivered. It was just like the security footage he’d once managed to find of his mother’s death. It hit too close to home. Blazer looked around the room again as his head cleared. “Where in Drig’s name are we?”
“Like Trevis said, we don’t know.”
Blazer couldn’t make sense of it. If the Galactic Federation had captured them, they would be on a ship somewhere on their way to a prison, not some stone dungeon. “Could we still be in Singularity Base?”
“No, gravity’s too high,” Arion replied, picking up a metal plate from his bunk. He dropped it and it clattered to the deck a moment later. “Hard to say, but I figure we’re around four-fifths standard gravity. So that would place us…
“On a Terran base or colony?” Blazer groaned.
“That would make sense. They tend not to settle on planets with gravity too different from theirs.”
“I don’t get it. We were only in that bunker for what, two cycles? Do you really think they could have taken the academy that quickly?”
“I not be knowing for sure,” Trevis replied, climbing down from the bunk above. “But two cycles without contact. It be possible, if they be bringing in a large enough force. The Academy not be so heavily defended from outside, we be seeing that when Vampire Group attacked us. I doubt they’d even attempt to take it again, probably just torpedo it into submission, if they didn’t destroy it outright.”
“I don’t think I like the sound of that.”
“And Singularity Base, I not be knowing enough to even guess, it seems like it be falling fast.”
“So is everyone else okay?” Blazer asked, his stomach twisting in disgust.
“Yeah,” Arion answered. “For the most part everyone is holding up. We’ve been using the Corether taps to stay in communication.”
“You best be teaching my people that.”
“We will, Trevis,” Blazer sighed. “If we get out of this.”
“That be a damn near unbreakable code to my ears.”
In Death's Shadow Page 9
