“Are you okay, Rizzo?” she asked.
Slowly, he turned his head and looked at her. Obscured from her view earlier, the left side of his face was a blackened mask of charred flesh. His words were slurred and distorted, coming from a mouth only half-intact. “I think I will be, once I get into a MediPod.”
Boomer took his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you for trying to shoot Shakrim. I know you were trying to protect me.”
She saw his failed attempt at a smile. “I’ll get him next time.”
She smiled back at him. No … I’ll get him next time.
Boomer noticed Hanna looking out the window above Rizzo’s prone body. Her face was taut—angry. Boomer realized that Hanna, too, had not accomplished what she’d come here for. She never even saw Ridert.
The SpaceRunner rose above the planet’s gray atmosphere and now all Boomer could see was the absolute blackness of space. She thought of Lord Shakrim—picturing him mere inches from her face—the deep, blackened, scars on his cheek, trailing all the way down to his neck … and his eyes … those deathless eyes … staring into hers—into her very soul.
Chapter 48
Dacci System
Planet Harpaign, Ancient Subterranean Ruins
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Ricket phase-shifted into an area beyond the subterranean city—at the cavern’s farthest boundaries—where the rocky ceiling angled down to a mere twenty feet. Before him, a portion of the cave’s wall was finely chiseled flat. He focused the beam of his helmet light there, and could make out on the wall an intricate engraved pictograph. He stepped closer and viewed a scene depicting numerous warriors. Blues or Sahhrain? Ricket wasn’t sure which. They were in the process of leaping over some kind of void, some kind of elongated, roughly triangular platform. Ricket tilted his head. It looked like a spacecraft … uncanny, how similar to the Minian’s shape it appeared.
Ricket, again checking his HUD, noted he had less than two minutes before the charging Sahhrain warriors would arrive. According to his directional locator, he was standing before the portal leading into habitat 7. He quickly needed to find the access panel. Typically, Caldurians made it a point to hide habitat access panels out of easy view. As the seconds ticked by, Ricket’s search became more and more frantic. He placed both hands on the wall, moving them around; perhaps there was a hidden panel, something he could trigger or dislodge, as he’d encountered that sort of thing before. Nothing. He only had forty seconds before the Sahhrain would catch up to him.
Maybe the access panel wasn’t on the wall itself? He looked right, then left. Nothing. Wait … he looked left again. The shadows, showing up on the wall in his spotlight’s beam, didn’t look right. There was a shadow that shouldn’t be there. He quickly shuffled to the left, sliding his hands along the wall’s surface as he went. Eight feet over, his left hand lost contact with the wall. An optical illusion? Only now, standing right before it, Ricket could see that an actual wall wasn’t there. It was an opening—a doorway—virtually impossible to see unless standing right in front of it. He stepped forward and found that the cave continued on another thirty feet, farther back. And there to the left, where the real back wall was actually sited, hung a metallic box, mounted about four feet off the ground. Ricket ran to the box, opened it, and began entering the appropriate access code. The same backdoor code Aahil and Capri had provided him earlier. Halfway through the code’s activation process, a ten-by-ten-foot portal window appeared to his right. He glanced at it and saw another cave, or vault, situated inside the semi-transparent portal window.
Beep Beep Beep! The portal window vanished.
Ricket crossed over the portal’s threshold into the dark vault and immediately spotted carved stone steps leading upward. At this point he was leaving the planet of Harpaign and entering a secondary portal into HAB 7, and was one step closer to reaching the Minian. Behind him, he heard more beeps, the portal’s open time had elapsed, and the portal window reinitiated. Racing up the stairs, he suddenly stopped midway. He sensed movement—or the shifting, perhaps, of a shadow. Ricket turned, seeing a dark form standing outside the portal window. It was too dark to make out who it was … but he, nevertheless, knew anyway.
He called up his HUD portal directional locator overlay and saw the next portal icon hovering close by. Very close. He phase-shifted directly to its designated coordinates.
Ricket flashed onto the surface. Sure enough, the familiar access panel for HAB 7 was before him. But what first caught Ricket’s attention was Capri, bent over and entering a code onto the panel. His initial confusion turned to alarm.
While continuing to enter the code, the ten-by-ten-foot portal window directly to her right became visible. The clear window barrier was still in place, but Ricket could see into the Minian’s Zoo beyond it. Capri looked over her shoulder, made eye contact with Ricket, then continued entering more digits.
“Stop!” Ricket said, rushing forward and slapping her hand away from the panel. “You can’t do this. Capri! … Please stop!”
She flailed an arm out without looking—her enhancement shield smacking the side of his helmet. Ricket felt himself propelled into the air. He hit the side of a stone wall, covering partially buried ruins with enough force to trigger alarms—now blaring within his helmet.
Unhurt, Ricket sprang to his feet and rushed back toward her. At any moment she’d have the portal window open—providing unobstructed access into the Minian. He made it back in three steps before a large hand grabbed his upper arm and lifted him off the ground.
Ricket twisted and kicked—tried to free himself from whoever had come up behind him. He’d never been proficient at fighting; it wasn’t in his nature. He called up his HUD’s combat menu to access his integrated wrist plasma weapons. He’d shoot his way free, if he had to. But he didn’t get that far.
Lord Shakrim flung Ricket forward with enough force, like tossing a small rag doll, that he hit the same stone wall again, face first, with incredible force. His body bounced and flipped over backwards before crashing upside down onto the ground. Everything went black for several seconds before his sight returned. Ricket tried to move—tried to stand, but his arms and legs remained immobile. He realized his spinal cord was severed. He briefly thought about some engineering alterations he could make to the battle suit’s design—to better withstand this kind of catastrophic assault. His thoughts turned inward to his labored breathing. Realization set in … if only his spine had been severed several vertebrae lower.
* * *
Lord Shakrim glanced over at the small crumpled being wearing a battle suit and propped awkwardly, upside down, against a nearby stone wall. He wasn’t a threat. He turned toward Capri—this traitor to her people—as she tapped in the remaining code digits. He loomed over her, his eyes traveling over the strange Blues female. He took in the curves of her slender body and felt the beginnings of stirring in his loins. Perhaps he’d take her again … right here … right now.
Beep Beep Beep!
She stood up straight and nervously smiled at him. “The portal window is open and will stay open for as long as you’d like, my Lord. You can bring forth your Sachem … for, in there, your magic chariot awaits.” She bowed her shoulders and lowered her head.
“Yes … you have done well, Capri Sharan,” Shakrim said, eyeing the portal, then looking down at her. “I have not forgotten what was promised you.” He reached out a hand and lifted her chin—bringing her head up so as to look into her eyes. His hand dropped to her stomach and he held it there. “Even now, my seed has taken hold within you. A future king grows there, thus you will be spared. In fact, you will be revered. Now, step aside, so I can fulfill my destiny.”
Capri obeyed him, keeping her eyes fixed on the father of her unborn son … and now her one true lord.
Commander Ridert Douville rushed forward from the distant ruins. Lord Shakrim waited for the human at the open habitat portal. Ridert, a spear grasped firmly in one fist, momentarily bowed his h
ead as he advanced to his side. “My Lord … our warriors approach … and we are ready.”
Shakrim knew as much. He saw his warriors—big, strong, and immensely capable, as they one by one emerged from the distant ruins.
Exhilarated, he slowly filled his lungs with air. He stood erect and closed his eyes. My Lord … we have reached the very pinnacle of our destiny. Together, we’ll bring about ultimate darkness. Shakrim knew that finally the time had come … his time. He felt the presence of his Sachem, Rom Dasticon, filling the space around him … pushing him toward the open portal.
“First the drones,” Shakrim said aloud. “Let them infiltrate every compartment and corridor within this ship.” With a casual swipe of his hand, he signaled for the charge to begin. Both he and Ridert stepped aside as the first of the mirror-like drone spheres came forth from the ruins, moving around and past the warriors without hesitation, and sped into the Minian’s now open portal.
Chapter 49
Dacci System
The Minian, Zoo Rhino-Warrior Habitat 170
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Jason had to give Granger his due. Sure, they’d had their differences over the years, and he still didn’t completely trust the opportunist Caldurian, but today, he’d actually come through. His knowledge and understanding of the Caldurian technology was unparalleled and had, in this case, allowed him in a matter of minutes to modify the operational configuration of a single habitat portal window. Jason didn’t understand all the technical specifics but he didn’t need to. Granger had explained it as being a simple crossover patch … a means to bridge one habitat portal to another.
Anyone crossing over the threshold from HAB 7 into the Minian’s Zoo would actually be diverted to an alternate habitat—thus bypassing the Minian’s Zoo completely.
“How many are coming, Cap?” Billy asked.
“Could be up to a few thousand Sahhrain warriors … and a shitload of attack drones.”
“Relax … we’re ready for them,” Billy said, through a billowing white cloud of cigar smoke.
“It’s not my job to relax.” Jason was uneasy and knew he had good reason to be. Sahhrain warriors, armed with enhancement shields, opened up uncharted territory for him. He’d put his own multi-guns up against just about any weapon he’d ever come across, but these shield weapons were new to him … an unknown entity.
It was still early dawn within HAB 170, the chosen home of two hundred and fifty, plus or minus, rhino-warriors.
Jason and Billy, both wearing battle suits, stood off to the side of a cluster of house-sized boulders. A stone’s throw away was the start of an alternate rocky ridgeline, making this habitat an excellent choice for providing cover. Anyone exiting the portal would be forced to traverse between the boulders on one side and the ridgeline on the other—a fifty-yard exposed span where the enemy would be vulnerable to formidable crossfire.
Jason scanned the mostly hidden positions of Billy’s Sharks. Close to two hundred Sharks were left behind, back within the Minian, as a precaution if things didn’t go well out here—if Lord Shakrim, somehow, found his way inside the ship. That left nearly two thousand heavily armed men and women, strategically placed, holding high-ground positions on the rocks above where he now stood, as well as along the other ridgeline.
Jason felt the ground start to tremble and looked back. Three rhino-warriors running close together were fast approaching. Each, no less than a thousand pounds of hulking muscle and a quick-to-anger temperament, was carrying a four-hundred-pound heavy hammer in a colossal-sized fist, with a multi-gun slung over one shoulder.
Jason recognized Traveler as the rhino in the middle. They slowed, walking the last few yards as they approached. For most, a rhino’s expression was just about impossible to read, but that wasn’t the case for Jason. He knew Traveler too well and right now he looked like a kid in a candy store. He was eating up the chance to fight ahead … there were very few things the old rhino-warrior enjoyed more than an honorable battle. He’d been going stir crazy and was now back in his favorite element.
He heard all three rhinos snort in excitement; bursts of hot steamy snot blew from some kind of vent hole on their helmets. “Captain … we are in position.”
“Thank you, Traveler. Again, this isn’t your fight. You don’t need to risk rhino lives here today. Allowing us to be in your habitat is enough.”
“If it’s your fight … it’s our fight.”
“Where are your warriors? Other than you three, I don’t see any of them.”
“Good … then we are doing things right.”
Jason stared off behind Traveler toward a grouping of distant, mud-colored, domes. The morning sunlight was just hitting their rooftops. He held up a finger: “Hold on,” as he answered an incoming NanoCom hail. “Go for Captain.”
“I really really want to be there, Dad.”
“I told you before, no! That’s not going to happen, Boomer. I probably shouldn’t have agreed to it the first time.”
“But I can beat him this time. I know I can! You need me there … I’m the one—”
Jason cut her off. “There’s an army invading us, Boomer. I want you safe and as far away from here as possible. Stop arguing and make yourself useful. Why don’t you help Dira in Medical when the wounded start coming in?”
Jason listened to Boomer’s breathing as she tried to think of something to say to convince him to change his mind. “I need to go, Boomer. Stay out of trouble.” He no sooner cut the connection than another hail came in. It was Dira. “Go for Captain.”
“Ricket’s in trouble. That, and the Sahhrain warriors are just now heading out of the habitat.”
“What? Where are you?”
“I’m standing in the Zoo with about ten others. I just saw a giant warrior dude throw Ricket into a wall. Oh God, Jason … he might be dead.” A moment passed before she spoke again. “And they’re sending in drones … a lot of them!”
Jason heard Dira’s worried tone and tried not to over-think Ricket being injured, or worse, dead. His eyes were leveled on the square habitat portal two hundred yards in front of him.
One of the Sharks yelled, “Incoming!”
“I see them … something’s happening at the portal … have to go, Dira.”
“But what about Ricket? We just leave him out there to die?”
Jason saw drones through the portal window first—one after another—perfectly spaced as they sped along the ground, then suddenly shot upward, toward the sky. Jason gave Billy a decisive nod. He heard Billy speaking through the open channel over his helmet comms.
Dira, on NanoCom, was still waiting for an answer.
“Talk to Granger, Dira … see if there’s a way to get to Ricket without giving the Sahhrain access to the Minian in the process.” She cut the connection without saying another word.
Plasma fire erupted from both lines of Sharks. As more and more of the shiny small drones filled the air, Jason was reminded of flocks of birds, like geese, which instinctively moved as one when they changed course. Here, the drones were making similar moves, by breaking into smaller units and strategically attacking positions on the boulders, as well as the distant ridgeline, from multiple flanks.
Jason changed his HUD munitions menu from plasma gun setting to tracking micro-missiles. Unlike conventional weapons, multi-guns were tied into the Minian’s phase-synthesizer. Even here within the habitat, his multi-gun was constantly fed a wide variety of JIT manufactured munitions, which were continually phase-shifted in. As long as he remained there, and ready to pull the trigger, he would never run out of ammo. He aimed at the tight cluster of drones above him, firing off ten micro-missiles, and watched as they shot toward their intended targets. Soon splitting off, each had tracked its selected quarry. Right off the bat, four missiles were destroyed by drones, while another six drones, focusing on the missiles targeting them, destroyed them in explosive balls of fire. Other drones now changed their targets, tracking missiles instead.
His suit power levels were down, showing fifty percent, and his shields weren’t back to full strength either. He’d have to stay out of the line of fire for a while.
Orion was hailing him. “Go for Captain.”
“Just checking in. We’re basically still mopping up, Cap.”
“Status of the enemy?”
“They’ve backed off … no longer engaging Star Watch warships. But they’re still not answering hails and won’t let us approach their damaged ships. Won’t even let us rescue their wounded.”
“We can’t force them to accept our help.” Jason, back to firing micro-missiles, unleashed seven more into the sky. “Keep me up to date if anything changes.”
“Copy that, Cap.”
Jason heard Billy’s voice over the open channel. “Warriors coming through the portal. Holy shit … these guys are really trucking!”
Jason used his HUD optics to zoom in on the portal and the stream of attacking warriors. The drones entered the habitat in an organized, single-file manner, while the Sahhrain entered six or seven abreast, and at a much faster rate. He saw the telltale strobes of violet light emanating from their enhancement shields and marveled at the warriors’ speed as they flew into HAB 170. Already several hundred had emerged. At the front of the formation was a stout-looking human, wearing a silver breastplate and holding a long thick spear. That would be Hanna’s husband, Commander Douville … Ridert … Okay, so where’s Lord Shakrim? Jason wondered.
Star Watch Page 27
