by S. T. Boston
“I say we strike them hard,” said Roger Stanbrook, the General of The United States Army, slamming his fist down onto the conference room table, which was now littered with an array of half-finished mugs of cold coffee and the occasional toppled plastic cup from one of the many water coolers. “We have vested trade interests with Japan and they will be looking to the western world for support on this.”
Hill buried his face in his hands and let out a long, stressful and tired sigh, “If we do that Roger, then we face retaliation from China, whilst they have condemned the attack we all know they are in bed with the North Koreans, despite their dislike for their nuclear program it's one heck of a risk.”
“We have the firepower to manage such risks,” Stanbrook replied coldly.
“I'm not going to be the president that is remembered for turning half the civilised world into a nuclear wasteland,” Hill spat. “The fact that one nuke has been used is one nuke too many in my book. And just how do you think Russia will act if we get a bit trigger happy?”
“With respect, sir,” Stanbrook argued back, “there is no point having one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world if you are too frightened to use it!”
Hill fixed him with a venomous look, stood up and said, “With respect, I never wanted to re-sanction the nuclear weapons program in the first place. Congress forced my hand into it, and you know that.”
“Because if they hadn't, you'd have been a sitting duck!”
“I understand that, but we need to look at other alternatives. Whilst congress forced my hand in the initiating the program the decision to launch lays with me.” Before Stanbrook could voice his side of the argument a deep noted alarm vibrated through the whole of the PEOC. “What the hell?” yelled Hill as one of the two nuclear launch operators barged into the room, his brow clammy with a sheen of sweat.
“Sir, we have a problem,” he panted. “Our targeting systems just went live, the same goes for our other NATO allies.”
“Who the hell sanctioned that?” Hill cried, kicking his chair out of the way and heading for the door.
“No one, sir. We have lost control, we are trying to shut it down now but everything we try fails.”
“Dear god,” President Hill gasped. “How long do we have?”
“Five minutes at most, sir, maybe less before every single one of our launch-ready birds is in the air.”
Chapter 38
Taulass tried his best to keep an eye on just which green dot belonged to who on the life support system, it was a hard task and almost made him see double. As the Enola files finished copying to his handheld he snatched it away from the server cube and prepared to leave, as he turned he watched two more lights blink out, two more people dead. Something was going down on the bridge. Frantically he watched the other dots, sure that those belonging to Adam, Sam and Oriyanna were still in play. Cursing he placed the handheld back on the console. He knew he was of no use to them in person, it would take far too long to reach them, and he knew that he was about as good in combat situations as he was at dancing the tango, not very. He was a tech nerd, and tech nerds had their place, and he was in it.
Instead he quickly accessed the ship's power grid, located the lighting control and hoped that what he was about to do would help, rather than hinder. He knew the other team had zero chance of making the first return window, but if he could buy them a distraction he might give them time to get away and make the second and final one. He briefly paused as he weighed the options up in his head, before realising it was a shit-or-bust situation and killing the lights to the bridge. At the same time he turned on all the lights in the lower part of the ship, thus making it easier to navigate his way back to the hub. He stole one last glance at the mirrored screen from the bridge, Enola had selected her targets and switched to launch mode. Not wasting any more time he bolted from the server room and pounded down the passageway, reaching the stairs he bounded down them two at a time. Running at full sprint toward the hub-room he glanced at the handheld, the first return window was seconds away from opening. If he didn't make it he had no chance of stopping Enola in time.
Arriving at the door he thrust his hand into the recess; it slid open. The arch was live, humming softly to itself as cotton-thin flashes of blue danced occasionally across the glass-like surface. Not wasting a second, he threw himself forward and vanished.
* * *
Sam grappled with Namtar in the darkness, feverishly hammering his fist into his gut, and felt his hot, rancid breath on the side of his face. Pain raged like fire in his damaged shoulder but good old adrenalin enabled him to fight through it. In the darkness he heard the Diablo fall to the floor and with his one free hand he scrambled for it, but the movement allowed Namtar to get the upper hand. With immense strength he felt his large body rise over his, grip his head and pull forward. In the brief moments before he had chance to slam Sam's head into the floor, Sam's fingers found the gun. In the blink of an eye he moved his arm to his front and fired. Namtar's body instantly flew back, the blast at close range knocking him off kilter. Not wanting to give him a moment to recover, Sam thrust himself up and unloaded three more shots in the area that he gauged his head to be. The gunfire was deafening, but he felt a satisfactory spray of blood on his face and across his hands.
Getting to his feet his slowly, his adjusting eyes searched for Adam or Oriyanna, he didn't have the first clue as to what had happened, or why the guy in the too small tee-shirt had suddenly gone on a shooting spree, but he didn't care, not at that moment in time anyway.
“Adam?” he called, the dim glow of the holo-display casting just enough light for his eyes to now see by.
“Here,” he heard his friend shout. “Can you see Oriyanna?”
Before he had time to react he was knocked sideways, punches raining down on his abdomen and face. In the partial light he just glimpsed the white of Croaker's eye-bandage. In a rage of adrenalin, Sam brought his knee up, connecting the cap perfectly with Croaker's groin. The blow was hard, but the determined son of a bitch kept hold, pining Sam to the floor and knocking the Diablo from his grip. Cursing Sam thrust his arms up, his fingers finding the bandage. Using his thumb as a guide he worked out roughly where his ruined eye was located and sunk his thumb into the cavity, hard. The scream was loud enough to break glass, and enough to make Croaker give up his struggle. Sam managed to get to his feet as Adam joined him. Before Croaker had a chance to get up, Sam slammed his boot down hard onto the side of his head, lifted it, and then repeated with just as much gusto.
“Thanks for the help, bud,” he grinned, his eyes now fully adjusted to the pale green light from the holo-display.
Adam ignored the wise-crack, “I can't find Oriyanna,” he said in a panic. “Asmodeous is also gone.”
* * *
Asmodeous knew the tables were on the turn the moment the lights went out, none of it mattered to him as Enola was live, she no longer needed Hawker to hold her hand, she would do her job no matter what. For reasons unknown to him, his unusual eye pigment also afforded him better than normal lowlight vision, and as the bridge plunged into darkness he snatched Oriyanna's unconscious body off the floor and made his escape. In the melee no one had seen him slide out of the door and away. To his satisfaction the lights in the long passage were also out, being linked to the bridge's power systems he thought that would be the case.
Now pacing down the darkened passage with her limp body over his shoulder he grinned wildly to himself. The fact that almost all of his small team were dead didn't bother him, not in the least. He didn't even care now what happened to Fisher and Becker, the ship was vast and he doubted that they would even find their way back to the transportation hub before zero hour. Later on he would enjoy hunting them down and killing them. Oriyanna, though, if left to run free, could cause him issues, she knew the ship and the technology, and out of them all she was the one who needed taking care of first.
Switching left at the first crossroads he accessed one o
f the living quarters and threw Oriyanna onto the floor before calling up the ship's computer, he wasn't going to miss the launch, not for the world.
* * *
“We can't just leave her,” Adam protested as he guided Sam down the corridor and away from the bridge.
“Listen, you have just told me that we have two return hubs to get home, you are sure we have missed one, and if we miss the second we are stuck here!”
“I know, but…”
“But nothing, we have the square root of fuck all time and a ship the size of three cruise liners,” he stopped and took hold of his friend, looking him in the eye, despite the darkness he could see tears glistening in Adam's eyes. “Only you know the way back to the hub room, I can't find it on my own.”
“I'm not sure I can,” Adam replied, trying to remember in his head which turns they'd taken.
“Sure you can,” Sam prompted. “Once we get back we will see what's happening, then we can come back for her.” Sam wasn't sure if he believed his own statement but he badly needed to get Adam moving. “I need to get back for Lucie,” he concluded.
Adam paused for longer than he liked, “Okay, but I am coming back,” he said firmly.
“Agreed, now let's get moving, which way?”
“We need to drop one floor, pass your room, then it's two left turns, down ten decks and straight down the lower corridor, past the server room, four more decks down then, I think, five doors along.” Adam led the way, feeling like shit and full of betrayal at leaving Oriyanna behind. This task is greater than any one of our lives, he heard her say in his head. It was easy to say and agree to at the time, but when it came to the crunch it was a different matter.
They rushed down one deck, past the room where Sam had been held, the two dead guards were still slumped on the floor of the passage, one of them had his right eye closed, as if he were winking at them. Adam found the first stairway and opened the door. The pair hammered down the ten decks, Adam guessed it was Taulass who'd turned the lights on, he inwardly praised him as the handheld was missing with Oriyanna and without it they'd have been fumbling around in the dark. The ten decks passed much quicker on the decent than the assent and they soon found themselves on the floor which housed the server room.
“Are you sure it's this way?” Sam asked urgently.
“Certain,” Adam raced reluctantly along the corridor. “This is the server room,” he said, coming to a stop. He activated the door and peered in, the lights were on and one of the server cubes still had its holo-display active, Taulass however was gone. “He must have made the first return window,” said Adam, glancing at his watch, but not being able to quite tell how much time they had. “Let's get moving.” They broke into a run, found the next door and dropped the last four floors. “This is the passage, just five doors along.”
“I hope to god you're right,” Sam said.
Adam counted the doors out in his head, arrived at the fifth and thrust his hand into the recess. “We must have missed it,” Adam said, a hint of hope in his voice at the sight of the hub, which was silent and dull. “Now can we please…” but before he could finish his sentence a low humming filled the room, and the centre of the hub flickered with blue current.
“No we didn't,” Sam beamed. “Talk about in the nick of time, do we always have to cut this shit so bloody close?” He glanced at Adam and saw in his eyes that he wasn't planning on making the jump. “Sorry old buddy,” he said, grabbing his arm roughly. Adam fought back, using his weight to counter Sam, but Sam was stronger and had caught him a little of guard. With a final desperate effort that caused his shoulder to scream in protest, Sam swung him round and pushed him though the arch, then dashed through himself.
* * *
For the first half an hour Lucie had been able to do nothing other than watch the clock on the holo-display tick painfully down. As the final two minutes ticked by her anxiety grew to a point where she felt sure that she'd throw up. Bang on the thirty minute mark the hub began to hum as it went live. Once live the fifteen second window started its own countdown, just more torturous seconds for her to endure. With five seconds to spare Taulass had literally fallen through the portal and into the bridge, his breathing rapid and his face covered in sweat. Before he'd had chance to steady himself the portal shut.
“Where's the others?” Lucie asked in dismay.
“They – are – alive,” he panted, placing one hand on the server cube to steady himself. “They – have – Sam, I think. But there – was a problem.”
“What problem?” she shrieked.
“No time to explain now,” Taulass said, his breath coming a little easier. “Enola is live, the launch system has already began.”
“Dear god,” Lucie said in a shaky voice as Taulass placed his handheld onto the server cube and connected it. Lucie watched the second timer begin its countdown, ten more minutes of torture, and then what? Not knowing was what she couldn't handle anymore, her nerves were shot.
* * *
Taulass knew he needed to work fast, swiftly he synced Enola with his systems, giving him access to the main control panel. He switched off the automated program and assumed manual control just as Enola set free every launchable nuclear warhead in service. “Launch is go,” he said fearfully, more to himself than Lucie.
“Can you stop it?” she asked urgently.
“No, not the launch anyway,” he said. “I have an idea, though.” He located the primary command screen and pumped in a single line of code, telling all but one of the weapons to abort, pushing execute he held his breath and watched to see if they would take his new command. The screen froze for a second before acknowledging his the abort command. “Done,” he said in a relieved breath, “that was too close.”
“What's happening now?”
He sat back, smiled and said, “I've just de-armed the entire human race of serviceable nukes, that's what's happening. I just altered the targeting systems on each weapon and let them jettison harmlessly into space, well all but one that is. I need one of them.”
“What the hell do you need a nuclear weapon for?” she cried disbelievingly.
“This needs to end now,” Taulass said in a fractured voice that told its own story of the stress he'd been under for the past two days. “I'm re-targeting one weapon to the coordinates of Arkus 2.”
Lucie tried to pull him away from the holo-display screaming, “But you'll kill them, how can you even consider it?”
“The nuke has just launched,” Taulass said firmly, wrestling her aside and causing her to fall awkwardly to the floor, he felt bad but the situation needed controlling. “The next window opens in less than a minute, that weapon will take fifteen minutes to reach target. If they are going to make it back, they will be safely here by the time it detonates.”
“And if they don't make it back?” she said, tears streaming down her hot cheeks.
“They knew before they left that this was likely to be a one way mission, Lucie, even if your brother didn't voice it, he knew. Your brother and Sam are two of the bravest people I've ever met, you should be proud.” The hub was less than a minute from opening, Taulass hid it well but inside he felt like shit, every ounce of his being wanted to turn that nuke around and let it fly off into space with its other deadly brethren, then if they didn't come through launch a hare-brained rescue mission. But Asmodeous was in his sights and the task needed to be finished, to let him escape would just lead to another situation much like this, of that he was certain. He glanced at Lucie and it was clear that she had endured all that she could, she didn't even have the energy to pick herself up off the floor. As the hub began to hum softly she rolled into a protective foetal position and began sobbing fiercely.
* * *
Adam was still fighting against the momentum of Sam's shove as he reeled out of the hub and onto the bridge of the Niribus, followed by Sam who caught him just before he had chance to spin around and go back through the other way.
“You had no
right,” Adam cried, throwing himself against Sam and fighting to get back to the hub. “It was my choice, not yours!”
Oblivious to either Lucie or Taulass, Sam grappled with his friend, placed one leg behind his knees and dropped him to the floor, holding him in place until the portal blinked out of existence. Adam struggled inanely for another few seconds before all the fight went out of him. With the risk of Adam throwing himself back though gone, Sam let go and stood up, only to be almost knocked over by Lucie who threw her arms around him in a bear hug.
“Sam, Sam!” she cried, smothering his face in kisses. He took her into his arms and kissed her back, he could feel her body shaking uncontrollably. Lucie broke away and embraced her brother who had picked himself up off the floor, his eyes red with tears.
“You have to open a new window,” Adam demanded, as Lucie let him go and went back to Sam. “He took her when the lights went out, she is still on that ship!”
“It's impossible,” Taulass said, his voice raked with regret. “If we do we will cripple the craft, we have taken as much power as we can out of the engines, even with the aid of the Earth's energy it's not enough, and the ship is too vast to mount a search in the time we have.”
“Fuck the engines,” Adam screamed. “Do it now!”
Taulass took him by the shoulders, held him firmly and said, “I have stopped the attack, but I have one nuke targeted at Arkus 2. I'm sorry, Adam but you knew the risks, as did Oriyanna. This needs to end now. There is no chance of return. In ten minutes that ship will be destroyed.”
“Then you take this ship up now and take us there, what's stopping you? You can jump the craft there in an instant, there is no need for secrecy now, and nearly everyone else is dead.”
