The Omega Drive

by Nik Whittaker

  “Why us?” Tylr spoke up for the first time. “If this is so important, why not send the whole Assembly fleet over to stop them?”

  The Endlings’ shifted uncomfortably at this, they weren’t used to being questioned so much.

  “The secrets of our history are…” Shai began.

  “Better left unknown,” Ezik completed her sentence. “If we send our fleet, the act of aggression could trigger bloodshed we do not wish. Also, it would risk the secrets becoming known across the galaxy, should the book be recovered and read by the wrong hands. We do not want to risk this.”

  “So, if you think it’s all going wrong you’ll bomb us from orbit again?” Tanner laughed.

  “I promise that will not be the case,” Wyx said. “That was a mistake, we doubted you, it won’t happen again.” He smiled at Tanner, or at least his mouth shaped into what Tanner assumed was a smile.

  “Also, we believe that a team such as yourselves could locate the cipher, secure the book and, if necessary, kill the Leader, without the need for a large scale battle,” Travis said.

  The Coyotes paused, looking at each other.

  “Can we have some time to discuss this? We don’t enjoy being put on the spot,” Tanner asked.

  “Of course, but time is of the essence here, the Syndicate could locate the Cipher at any moment, and be heading to the vessel,” Shai answered.

  “Of course if you refuse, then you will remain in SA custody and tried for your crimes against the Assembly. You have twelve hours,” Ezik said, before motioning to the guards. “Take them back to their cells.”

  The Coyotes were escorted out of the chambers, and down the corridors. One guard was at the head of the line and one at the back. Both had rifles trained on the Coyotes.

  As they turned a corner and neared the cells, a Sentry guard walked up as they arrived.

  “Prisoners to be returned to the cells,” the lead guard announced.

  “No problem, send them through,” the Sentry spoke through his helmet comms and nodded and opened the door behind him, the cells visible inside.

  “Affirmative,” the lead guard marched them into the cells and lined them up. “Get in!” He shouted, prodding Tanner in the back.

  They all stepped inside, the cell doors hissed closed behind them.

  “I got it from here,” the Sentry said.

  “You sure?” The guard said, glancing back the crew.

  “Yeah I got this,” the Sentry pushed a button, activating the locks on all the cell doors.

  “Ok, catch you later,” the Guard walked back, the second joining him.

  “Sure, erm, catch you later,” the Sentry called out.

  Once inside the Sentry closed the door behind them, activating the locking mechanism. He then moved to the console and tapped a button, the cell doors reopened.

  “What the hell?” Vittoria shouted.

  “You guys staying in there?” The sentry said.

  “Is this some sort of trick?” Dack said, looking at the frame of the door for signs of a trap.

  “Well, you can stay if you, erm, want to?” The sentry replied, taking off his helmet. Revealing himself to the team.

  “Jako!? You son of a bitch!” Tanner laughed as he saw Jako standing in front of them.

  “How the hell did y’get here!” Lyla jumped up, running from the cell, and hugged his long frame.

  Tylr smiled a rare smile at Jako, nodding in approval.

  Jako blushed, he wasn’t used to all the attention, and the physical contact was a rarity for him.

  13

  After monitoring the Bullet Rose’s capture, Jako had decided that recon was his best strategy. He needed to learn everything he could about the SAF Revenant. Luckily, recon was his speciality, and it didn’t take him long to gain access the to Solar Assembly’s files and the blueprints for the ship.

  He spent several minutes studying the ship, learning its design and layout. It was a heavy frigate, the second largest in the Assembly’s fleet, only outmatched by the SAF Herald.

  He spun around to another console, and brought up the StarQuakes own schematics. It was tiny compared to the Revenant, despite it having multiple modules. The Bullet Rose, Dack’s ship, was the docked on the Revenant, with the remaining ships with the StarQuake. He looked through the options, and decided on the Equinox, Tanner’s small fighter ship. It was rigged with several jammers for radar manipulation in dogfights, which would be useful to get close by undetected.

  Seeing as he was the only one on the ship, he turned off the artificial gravity and was floating through its corridors in his suit. It allowed him to speed up the process. Drifting down from the Azimuth into the main quarters he sailed through the canteen and down into the cargo bay and began gathering items. Within half an hour, Jako had loaded up the Equinox,

  Now, however, he would need to reactivate the gravity, and in doing so he’d need to prepare himself. It had been several cycles since he had last had the influence of gravity on his body.

  Living in zero G meant his physical body had developed differently, becoming accustomed to the lack of downward force. To counteract this, he had developed an exosuit which he wore. The structure of it allowed support across his entire skeletal structure through a crisscross of wire mesh and electrodes, which prompted muscle memory in select places.

  He floated towards the ground outside the Equinox access hatch and punched a button on the wall and taking a breath.

  The first feeling was the air becoming heavy on his lungs, then the drag on his skin and bones as his weight pushed back against the ground. He sighed, the heavy feeling engulfing him, before the exosuit activated and gave him the support. Standing a little taller now, he ducked through into the Equinox, his long frame making his movements more awkward without the zero G to use to his advantage.

  The Equinox was small compared to the Azimuth, comprising of a two-person cockpit and a small living quarters behind it, a ladder led down into the small engine room which doubled as a storage area.

  Jako squeezed through and settled in the pilot seat in the cockpit, and began starting the launch. He set the StarQuake to autopilot, circling a small asteroid out of the range of the Revenants scanners. He entered his Coyote code name, overriding Tanner’s commands, to allow him access to the launch.

  A red light on the dash counted down from ten. Jako braced himself, the Gs he would feel now would push his exosuit even further.

  The Equinox’s twin Ion Engines lit up and blasted the ship forwards, he blinked under the pressure of the launch. A few moments later and the feeling subsided, and the ship orientated itself towards the Revenant.

  As the Equinox approached, Jako pulled out a small tablet which he’d brought with him and began tapping intensely with his long fingers. Before long, he had hacked into the main server and was creating a shipping manifest, transfer authorisation and docking logs for the Equinox. A ship the size of the Revenant had multiple incomings and outgoings, that it was more akin to a space station than a freighter, the automated services used for transport and deliveries was rife for abuse. Not that the hacking was easy, Jako had a vast knowledge of the Assembly computer systems from his training during his time in the SA Army. His skills and abilities had fast tracked him to the top of his field, so breaking into their systems was child’s play to him, despite their high level encryptions.

  The only problem he could come across would be the scanners, which take a full profile of any incoming vessel, searching for any explosives or weaponry. So he had stripped the Equinox of many firearms and devices he thought the scanner might pick up on, keeping only a handful of small items. He held his breath as he began to manoeuvre the ship into the hanger.

  “Equinox, please state your Docking Log and Transfer Authorisation Numbers,” an incoming transmission echoed through the ship's speakers.

  Jako promptly sent over the information and waited for confirmation.

  “All clear, thank you Equinox, one moment while the Trace
r Scans complete.”

  Twilight held his breath, the seconds like an eternity.

  “Ok, you’re all good Equinox, please head to hanger 5B, welcome to the SAF Revenant.”

  Once he’d docked and surveyed the area, he was ready for stage two of his plan.

  He moved into the back of the Equinox and located the suit he’d stored there; it was a basic engineers outfit. Back on the StarQuake, they had several clothing items from many of the major players in the Galaxy. They had came in handy several times in the past and today was another one of those times. He changed and headed out of the ship.

  Jako strolled through the hanger, nodding at several other dock workers as he passed. His walk was awkward but ok, as he was still uncomfortable in the gravity, which was stronger on the Revenant than the StarQuake.

  He had already located the cells where the Coyotes were being held from his hacks earlier. He needed to get to them, and find some way to get them out.

  14

  “So once I got here, erm, there was just the one guard to take care of. I figured you guys would, erm, be back soon, so I just thought I’d wait it out.”

  “Excellent work, Jako!” Tanner slapped him on the shoulder.

  “I didn’t come empty-handed either,” he said revealing a bag full of their equipment, the handful of items he kept on the ship.

  “Yes!” Lyla shouted, grabbing a rifle from the bag.

  “Where did you leave the StarQuake?” Vittoria asked, looking worried.

  “It’s ok, it’s, erm, in a geostationary orbit of an asteroid a few clicks out,” he replied, smiling at Vittoria.

  “Right so, what’s the plan? Did you see the Bullet Rose on your way in?” Dack asked.

  “I did, it’s in the hanger next to the, erm, one the Equinox.”

  “Great, so we get them and blast out o’ here?” Lyla said.

  “Wait,” Tanner said, his face deep in thought. “What about the mission?”

  They all fell silent, in their desire to escape, the mission had slipped their thoughts.

  “We need to decide, it’s not a bad deal,” Tylr nodded.

  “How about we get out of here, then we can decide? They gave us twelve hours right? They didn’t say we couldn’t try to escape first,” Dack smiled. “I’d prefer to make the choice on our own terms.”

  The rest of the crew agreed, and they all gathered the weapons Jako had brought them.

  “Jako, lead on,” Tanner said, once they were all ready to set off.

  They left the cells, and stared to make their way towards the hangers. Jako was still in the Sentry gear, but the others were still in their own outfits. They might get away with the fake prisoner routine, but they weren’t counting on it.

  Halfway towards the hanger they saw a group of Assembly Soldiers heading their way.

  “Showtime,” Tanner said, as the five soldiers approached.

  “Hold up, where are you taking these guys?” The first soldier said, scanning his eyes over the Coyotes.

  “Oh, erm, they told me to, erm, get them to the, erm,” Jako wasn’t good with social encounters and his speech failed him.

  “I’ll take it from here,” Tylr stepped forwards and raised a stun baton upwards into the soldier's jaw, shattering it on impact.

  “Hey!” The remaining soldiers shouted and began to raise their weapons.

  Tylr leapt forwards, running on pure instinct, and planted a foot on one of the guards chests, whilst spinning mid air to land a kick to the back of another's neck. The crack of bone echoed in the small confines of the corridor. By this time Dack had raised his silenced rifle, and took a shot at the guard who Tylr had used as a springboard.

  The final two guards hesitated at the scene, it all happened so fast they had trouble processing it. One raised their hand to the comms badge on their arm, opening a channel to speak.

  “This is Baker four,” he was cut off as Tylr threw the baton into his face, the electric charge shocking all his facial muscles to contract, making his face scrunch up before he collapsed from the pain.

  The final guard dropped his weapon in surrender.

  “Please, I won’t stop you,” he whimpered.

  “Damn right you won’t,” Lyla shouted, pushing past him as they walked by.

  Just as they passed him, Tanner turned and pistol whipped him in the head with the hilt of his gun, knocking him unconscious.

  A few corridors later, they reached the docking sector.

  “This is the first hanger,” Jako said. “The Bullet Rose is through there.”

  He nodded towards a doorway which lead into the large docking bay.

  “Dack, it’s your ship you should take it. Tylr, go with him, we don't know if they have guards stationed on it. Vittoria you go with him too, they may have mag-clamps on it.” Tanner said, “Lyla and Jako, you’re with me.”

  “It’s a plan,” Dack said, “We’ll radio over when we’re ready to launch.”

  The two groups split up and Dack headed into the hanger with his team.

  The hanger was bustling with activity, ships coming and going through the large duel-airlock doors. It was reminiscent of locks on rivers, ships needed to wait in the central chamber for the pressure to adjust before the second doors opened, be it to enter or exit the hanger. The size was immense, a large cruiser could fit into the hanger. So many ships in the air at any one time was staggering to see. The thought made Dack realise the size of the Revenant, getting out might be harder than they thought.

  The smell of cold air filled their nostrils as the airlock doors opened, the coldness of space cooled the air as the ships returned and docked. Several more ships left, parking in the chambers, waiting for the next cycling of the doors.

  “There it is!” Vittoria said, pointing over to the Bullet Rose, it was mag-clamped as they expected.

  “I see, maybe four guards around it,” Tylr said, using a scope on their rifle to check the area.

  “We need a distraction, to get the guards away, how long do you think it’ll take to get the clamps off?” Dack asked Vittoria.

  “Hmm, five minutes, maybe less,” she replied.

  “Ok, Tylr, ready to make some noise?”

  “Always,” they smiled.

  Dack and Tylr moved around the dock until they were away from Vittoria.

  “See those canisters over there?” Dack pointed to some metallic cylinders on a pallet.

  “Sure.”

  “If you can get a hole in one of those, we can add a flame they’ll go up like fireworks on New Year,” Dack grinned.

  Tylr raised a rifle up to eye level.

  “Say when.”

  Dack glanced back over to where Vittoria was watching, he motioned a thumbs up. She returned the gesture.

  “Now,” Dack said.

  Tylr fired a silenced shot. Within seconds, a loud hiss followed the pang of metal on metal, as gas escaped the canister. Dack pulled out a flare and threw it over.

  Warmth hit them, as a large fireball exploded, the flames engulfing the area. The canister, and all its neighbours, began to chain react, each one causing the fireball to continue to grow.

  At the Bullet Rose, the guards were alerted to the sounds and made their way over; the fire threatened the whole hanger if it wasn’t contained.

  Vittoria made her move, and ran towards the ship, beginning to work on the clamps. Luckily Jako had brought her basic toolkit, which contained most of what she needed. The clamps were all linked to one central collar, she just needed to take one down and the rest would follow.

  Dack and Tylr had moved, staying out of sight of the guards and other staff from the dock trying to put the fires out.

  “We need to get up and through those doors,” Dack said.

  “You think they’ll lock them down?”

  “It’s possible, we need to make sure they don't, and we might need to clear the area,” Dack’s mind was running through a variety of options.

  “We need to make more fire,”
he said, “They’ll have to lock the hanger down and vent the fire out to space, it’s the safest way to put them out.”

  “Fine by me,” Tylr said without question. Pulling a grenade from their pouch.

  “Excellent,” Dack smiled, “Give me a minute to get to the intercom on the wall, then cause chaos.”

  Dack sprinted to the intercom, turning to confirm to Tylr.

  Tylr twisted the grenade, it was a compacted petroleum fire bomb, created to cause a large spread fire in a short space of time. One full twist and it primed, they threw it further than the previous fire and watched. It spiralled in the air, after a moment it began to spray out a liquid in all directions, like a garden sprinkler, across several meters. Before it landed on the ground with a loud clang. As it struck, a spark generated from inside it which ignited the liquid, an instant fire started.

  “All personnel,” Dack’s voice echoed around the hanger as he spoke on the intercom. “We are experiencing a large fire in the hanger. Please begin evacuation, this is not a drill.” He repeated the information a second time.

  It only took a moment before several docked ships began to take off, heading towards the doors.

  Distracted by the scene of so many ships in proximity, he didn’t see Tylr running towards him calling his name.

  “Dack come on! Vittoria’s got the clamps off, we need to go!”

  He snapped back to reality, turned, and ran, following Tylr to the Bullet Rose.

  They all scrambled on board, Dack taking the pilot’s seat.

  “Tanner, can you hear me?” Vittoria shouted down the comms. “Where the fuck are they!?”

  A second passed.

  “We’re here, good t’go!” Lyla shouted back.

  “Heading out now!” Dack replied.

  The Bullet Rose began to rise as the engines kicked into gear. Looking out the view screen, they saw the masses of ships continuing their evacuation, as the fires raged on beneath.

  “Dack! Is that you in there?” The voice of Jenkins came over the comms.