“This will be a time of great victory for the Seryysan People and time when we will make every last Vyysarri regret the day they were born!”
“May the Founders smile upon you. Good day my friends.”
The moment the transmission ended, Khai knew exactly where he was going and where he would find Prime Minister Trall.
For the first time, Khai called Dah.
Dah was sitting next to Bria’s bedside, watching her intently. She had stabilized the night before, now she was just resting. Dah knew she was going to be all right, but wanted to see her when she woke up. He was drawn to her like a bug to a flood light. When she slept like that, she looked like an angel. He had just watched Trall’s state of the union and fought incredibly hard to keep the bile from creeping up to the back of his throat.
The rhythmic beeping of Bria’s heart monitor began lulling him into a light sleep. But the sudden sharp blare of his com unit jerked him out of the almost nap-like state.
“Dah,” he said.
“I know where he is, Dack.”
“What? How could you possibly know where he is?”
“I don’t have time to explain, but I’m on my way to go get him right now.”
“Wait! Come get me. You’re gonna need my help.”
After a long pause, he said, “All right. I’m coming to get you right now.”
“You need the address?”
“No. Your com unit also has a tracking device in it. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll be on the roof waiting for you.”
“Roger that.”
Dah was sitting on the roof, fidgeting with his sidearm when a ship came to a hovering stop just above the roof. It was the Star Splitter, or at least he thought. If it was his ship, Khai had made a couple changes. For one, the exterior was bulkier, it was still aerodynamic, but it was boxier with ablative armor. It was also bristling with weapons. Exterior missile launcher, forward and aft Mark II laser cannons, and a cannon turret mounted to the top. The hatch popped open and Dah jumped inside.
There were wires hanging from ceiling of the ship, wires he knew weren’t there before. When he got the cockpit, his jaw dropped. Hundreds of wires were bunched together with zip ties and haphazardly fastened to the ceiling. There were two new consoles attached to the bulkhead with adhesive tape.
“What the hell did you do to my ship? This was a pleasure yacht!”
“Well, now no space pirate will dare mess with you.”
“What’s with all the wires?”
“Hey, this was the best I could do in four days, okay?”
“But my ship…” he Dah said, waving a hand over the controls.
“I tried to talk him out of it, but he shut off my vocal processor,” Joon whined.
“You didn’t…” Dah gasped.
“Well, she wouldn’t shut up,” Khai said defensively. “I just increased your market value by, like, three times. Are you really gonna bitch about it?”
“I guess not,” Joon replied, but her tone left that open to debate.
“Is there anything else I should know about?”
“Uh, no.” Khai paused for a bit. “Except for the engine upgrade… Oh, and we installed an Eve’Zon Drive, too.”
“She has an Event Horizon Drive, now?”
“Yeah, that’s why she had to have ablative armor made of Ti’tan’lium—we can’t save the planet if we get cooked in our seats, can we?”
“Where did you get Ti’tan’lium?” Dah frowned. “No. Strike that. I don’t want to know. Is there anything else?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Are you going to elaborate?”
“A Mark I Shield Generator. I know it’s not the best, but we had very limited space to work with.”
“And where did you get the extra space for an Eve’Zon Drive and shield generator?” Dah scowled at Khai.
“Well, let’s just say that you’ll be sleeping on the couch for now.”
“You took out the bedroom?”
“It’s still there. There’s just a lot of equipment installed back there. It’s better if you don’t look.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Dah said, relenting. “So where are we headed?”
“Orbital Station Twelve.”
“What’s Orbital Station Twelve?”
“It’s a top secret space station built into a hollowed-out asteroid. It has its own Eve’Zon and thrusters, an array of defenses and is about three miles in diameter.”
“How do you know Trall’s there?”
“He was in the commander’s quarters when he gave his little speech. I had been in there six times during my time with the SCGF. Admiral Dran’Gyyl Drannig was in command then, may still be, too.”
“Clever. So I’m sincerely hoping you have an equally clever plan to get us in before they blast us to space dust.”
“Yep. I’ll tell you that plan once we’ve broken atmosphere.”
“Okay,” Dah said, leaning back in the copilot’s chair. “So, really, how did you obtain all this weaponry?”
“Not legally, if that’s what you’re fishing for.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“Yeah.” Khai gave Dah a roguish grin. “An old friend owed me a favor.”
“So, you’ve got us in,” Dah said skeptically. “Do you have a plan for finding Trall and then getting us the hell out of there?”
“Nope. I’ll figure something out when we get there. I have no idea how much resistance we’ll encounter there. As far as leaving goes… run like hell and pray the ship makes it out in one piece.”
“That’s not very reassuring, Khai,” Dah growled.
“I’m sorry. You asked to come along. From the start, I had a strong impression that this was going to be a one-way trip.” Khai admitted, pulling into line to leave orbit.”
“A one-way trip? A one-way trip? You could’ve told me that before I volunteered to come along, you know.”
“Well, if you play your cards right, it might not be for you.”
“You have a death wish, you know that? A death wish,” Dah spat out, pointing an angry finger at Khai.
“You’re the second person to tell me that this week,” Khai said, his voice full of sarcasm.
“Yeah? Who was this genius?”
“The person who sold me the weapons and helped install them. She also gave me some other… supplies we may need.”
“What kind of supplies?” Dah eyed Khai suspiciously.
“Go in the back and check it out.” Khai jabbed a thumb toward the aft of the ship.
Dah unstrapped himself and sauntered into the back. There was an armory back there! The thing that immediately caught his eye was a Seryys Combat Mark III Gatling Gun, one thousand rounds per second. There were RPGs, stun grenades, knives, armor and who knows what else in the converted bedroom.
Dah worked his way back up to the cockpit and sat down. He stared at the console for a moment, then looked at Khai. “We’re a flying fortress.”
“More or less,” Khai said, taking the controls. “Strap in. We’re about to break atmo.”
Dah buckled up his crash restraints and Khai pushed the Star Splitter into orbit. There was that brief moment of discomfort when real gravity loosened its grip and the ship’s artificial gravity kicked in. They were in orbit, headed for Orbital Station 12.
“So… are you going to let me in on the plan now?”
“Yeah,” said Khai. “Hit that button over there.”
Dah pointed at a small red button on the navigational console. “This one?”
“Yeah. Hit it.”
Dah pressed the button and the ship listed dramatically. Dah panicked.
“We’ve just lost the starboard thruster! We’re losing attitude!”
“It’s okay,” Khai said.
“What?”
“How is this letting me in on the plan?”
“Kinda busy here…” Khai growled, trying to the keep
the ship from spinning out of control. “We’re almost there.”
The asteroid loomed. The giant bulbous rock looked completely out of place in the empty skies above the planet.
“So, what’s so special about this rock?”
“Several years ago, the Vyysarri sent a ship to destroy Seryys City. They thought that if the system’s capital was destroyed, the military would go into disarray. This ship was called the Hammer Cannon. It possessed a weapon that cracked the planet’s crust and sent a seismic wave that would level entire cities in one volley. This event spearheaded SCR&D development of the shield generator that now protects the city.
“Fortunately, the Defense Navy was able to disable the ship and commandeer it before the Vyysarri could use the weapon on Seryys City.”
“You don’t think…”
“I don’t. I know he’s gonna use it. And we have to stop him.”
Suddenly the com crackled to life. “Unidentified ship, you are entering SCNDF space. Turn your ship around or you will be destroyed.”
“Negative,” Khai said. “We came out of Eve’Zon and clipped a stray asteroid. We won’t make it to ground. Requesting permission to land so we can make quick repairs.”
There was a long pause. Then the com spoke again. “Stay on your present course and power down your engines. We will bring you in with a hauling beam.”
“Thank you, control.” Khai feigned gratitude and relief. “I’m not sure how much longer I could’ve held her together.” The com went dead. “Get suited up. As soon as we land, we’re busting out guns blazing. You got it?”
Dah nodded.
They suited up in flak jackets and armed themselves to the teeth with knives, grenades, guns, everything that Khai had bought.
“How did you afford all this stuff?”
“I gave the owner his planet back. He owed me.”
“I’d say that some damn good credit,” Dah joked.
“You got that right.”
The ship bucked as it dropped down on the hanger floor. Khai made his way to the cockpit and looked out the front canopy. There were hundreds of troops, in full armor, armed with standard machine guns.
Dah came up behind him. When he saw the number of troops waiting for them, butterflies whirled up in his stomach and lodged in his throat as if he had bitten off more than he could swallow.
“We can’t get past that,” Dah said, dread filling his voice.
“Yes we can,” Khai countered. “Remember what I said?”
“Guns blazing.”
“I never mentioned which guns…” With that, Khai brought the new targeting system online for the dorsal cannon. Putting the crosshairs right in the center of the bubble of troops, he fired. The blossom of energy blasted a hole in the hanger floor as hundreds of bodies, and body parts, went flying in every direction. Klaxons blared loud enough for them to hear them from inside the ship as the fire-suppression systems came online to douse the flames.
“You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Dah shrugged.
They hit the hatch button and they came down the ramp, gun blazing. They quickly mopped up the remaining soldiers and Khai used a codepad built into his left gauntlet to lock the ship up. Dah was sporting his usual machine gun but also had two pistols, two hunting knives, four throwing knives, a grenade launcher and a bandoleer full of grenades. Khai was wielding the Gatling gun, but had the same type of machine gun as Dah strapped over his shoulder and just as many pistols, including his personal one, and knives.
“Where to, now?”
“The service lift is straight down the corridor. That takes us to the main deck. There’s a lift at the far end that leads to the command center. Off that room is where we’ll find Trall in the commander’s quarters.”
“Oh, and I thought this was going to be hard,” Dah didn’t bother hiding the sarcasm in his voice.
“Let’s move,” Khai said, heading for the main cargo doors that led to the main corridor.
The doors slid open slowly into a very quiet hallway… too quiet. Khai, being the leap-before-you-look type of guy, tossed a grenade about fifty feet down the hallway. Suddenly, like a mound of army ants, men scurried to avoid the blast. As soon as they left their cover, Khai opened up on them with the behemoth gun and they started dropping like flies. Dah followed suit.
At that moment Khai had a glimmer of hope. This might actually work! They advanced into the corridor, blast marks scored the walls and a giant crater in the floor signified where the grenade had gone off. They had just made it past the hole the floor when the service lift doors yawned wide. Behind the doors were three, count them, three power armor soldiers, bristling with weaponry. They were the new Mark Vs, bigger and stronger than the one that Khai fought earlier that week… but slower.
“Ah, shit!” Khai growled. “I had to say something…”
“What?” Dah asked, not taking his eyes off of the three harbingers of death in their way.
“Nothing. Just find cover.”
Their first move, before they even took a step, was to send a volley of grenades into the hall directly at the intruders.
Khai and Dah looked at each other and bolted back to the hanger for cover. The explosion sent them sliding across the floor and tumbling to a stop. Before they could even get up, another volley peppered them with shrapnel. Dah cried out as a piece ripped through his side. Khai finally got to his feet and pulled a piece of bulkhead from his chest plate, the tip dipped in a crimson liquid. He could hear the thunderous footsteps echoing into the cavernous hanger. Khai dragged Dah to his feet.
“You okay?”
“It’s just a scratch,” he said with a grimace.
“Good. I need you to get into the ship and use the cannon turret.”
“I’ll hold ‘em off here.”
Khai hit the button on his gauntlet and the hatch opened. Dah staggered into the ship and made his way to the cockpit, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
The power suits stomped into the hanger and Khai opened up with the chain gun. A thousand rounds a second battered the armor of the lead soldier, its grey-blue armor sparking as bullets bounced off and ricocheted in all directions. It seemed to be having little effect on it, the others stayed behind in single file using the front man as cover.
The lead Mark V suddenly dropped to one knee; servos whirred louder than usual as it struggled to get to its feet again. Khai was about to shout a victory whoop when the cannon came online. The thundering laser bolts caught the first soldier square, sending him flying back twisting and tumbling end over end. Khai thought that he could actually hear the soldier inside crying in pain.
The other two scattered. Textbook formation, one in each direction to confuse the attacker, returning fire and running as fast as the suits would allow. Dah tracked the one moving off to the left flank, while Khai took the one going right. As Khai thought things couldn’t get any worse, another fifty soldiers entered the arena, thirsty for blood.
Khai swung the big gun around at the newcomers and dropped several of them before they could even register they had been shot. The others took up firing positions using cargo containers and other ships as cover. Khai threw another grenade into a cluster of men ducking behind a large crate; some actually jumped out of cover to avoid the blast while the others stayed and died a fiery death. But, he took his eyes off of the suited warrior who was now not on the run, but on the offensive.
Opening with a barrage of attacks from multiple ranged weapons, the armor-clad soldier pressed the attack. Several bullets splashed across his chest, being absorbed by the chest plate, but stealing the air from his lungs. He gasped a raspy breath and ran for the relative safety of the Star Splitter.
Dah wasn’t having much luck. Now that the suits were aware of the ship’s capabilities, they were able to dodge the cannon blasts as they came. The regular soldiers were keeping Khai pinned down with heavy fire, which allowed the Mark Vs to approach.
“Dack!” Khai
shouted over the fire. “Dack, do you read?”
“Loud and clear, good buddy. You sweatin’ out there?”
“Can it, soldier. Do you see a small, blue button on the weapons console?”
Dah’s eyes darted across the black panel looking for the little blue button. There it was! Like a little blue planet in a blackened sky of meaningless stars. “Found it!”
A grenade went off against the side of the ship, raining sparks down on Khai’s head. “Well, hit it!”
Dah pushed the button and the ship powered down. The dorsal cannon fell silent. All the lights winked out in the cockpit. “What the hell was that, the instant-death-for-us button? Everything’s offline! We’re sitting ducks!”
“Wait for it,” Khai whispered, thumbing off his gun. “Shut down your mic.”
“Okay. Nice knowing you.”
It started as a prickling, tingling pressure- though Dah didn’t feel that because he was protected by the armor plating of the ship. Then the pressure was released in a conflagration of a blue-and-white blossoming ball of energy. To living flesh it was harmless, but to the Mark Vs, it was game over. The electromagnetic pulse hit them, all their electrical parts shut down immediately, trapping the helpless soldiers within. The regular soldiers went on a rage and fear-fueled frenzy, firing wildly at the ship.
“An EMP? You installed an EMP on my ship?”
“Works wonders in space and apparently in hangers as well.”
“You crazy son of a bitch! Joon, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Khai threatened to sell me for scrap if I did.”
“You’re welcome. Now, if you’re not too busy. I could use some help out here.” Dah swung the cannon around and sent a barrage of fire that reduced the entire area, and every living thing in it, to molten slag. “Thank you. Now get off your lazy ass and get down here.”
“I’m on my way.” He stood and slumped against the damage-control panel.
“Captain, Dah?” Joon’s sultry voice sounded concerned. “I detect internal bleeding. I estimate you have five hours to repair the damage to your abdomen until you expire.”
The Seryys Chronicles: Death Wish Page 11
