Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  “Sir, we’re under attack!” The shout came from someone off screen as Bondrass’ ship seemed to take several more heavy hits. The crime boss looked utterly confused.

  “Why are they attacking me? Get me in touch with the other syndicate members, NOW!”

  “Maybe you didn’t pay your membership dues?” Jason suggested in a helpful tone. Bondrass snapped his head back to the display, seeming to have forgotten he had been talking to them.

  “Did you have something to do with this!?”

  “Well,” Jason said as he scratched his head thoughtfully. “There may be some slight confusion as to who actually stole the cargo ship from The Vault. We might have sort of made it look like your security personnel shot the guards and made off with all that loot. Look, you seem really busy. Maybe you can call back when you’re not so pressed for time?” Before Bondrass could reply, sparks and smoke began filling the bridge of his ship and the link suddenly terminated.

  “Well,” Twingo said with a broad smile, lacing his hands behind his head as he sprawled in one of the bridge seats, “that takes care of that.”

  “Hopefully,” Jason said.

  CHAPTER 20

  Jason and Twingo stood watching the last cargo hauler roll away from the hangar and back towards the flight line. It had taken them a few weeks to fence all the stolen cargo they had liberated from The Vault in a manner which kept it all low-profile enough so the other crime bosses wouldn’t hear about it. The precious metal had been easy enough, and a lot of the weaponry they decided not to keep wasn’t easily traced, but the piles of printed currency had been problematic. Laundering a mountain of bills that had ID chips embedded in them hadn’t been easy, but they eventually found a money launderer who was willing to take on the risk.

  Looking back at the empty hangar they had used to stage all of their ill-gotten goods left Jason with a sense of finality. In a way, he was sorry to see this adventure come to an end. He had been beaten, threatened, terrified, sold … but somewhere along the line he had rediscovered that spark within himself, that love of life he had lost. The thought of returning to his little cabin in the mountains to simply mark time alone was now incredibly unappealing. He looked up at the sky of Breaker’s World and saw they were about to get rained on. “We’d better hustle unless we want to swim back,” he said, slapping Twingo on the shoulder and walking back towards the far end of the space port.

  The pair walked in silence, both lost in thought as they pondered what would happen to them now that they were finished with what they had set out to do. When they finally reached the far end of the complex, Jason broke into a smile as he caught sight of the sleek gunship. Like any man who had been through an incredible adventure with a particular machine, Jason felt an almost emotional bond with the Jepsen Aero DL7. It had kept them safe during their bungling rescue mission attempt and then provided the means with which to exact some measure of revenge on Bondrass. (Or complete revenge, depending on whether one believed the crime boss was actually dead. Jason wasn’t so sure.) He didn’t know where he would be going from there, but he knew he didn’t want to leave it behind.

  The other four crewmembers were standing under the ship’s tail section as Jason and Twingo approached, just in time for the sky to open up with fat, painful raindrops. They all retreated up the ramp and stood at the mouth of the cargo bay as the rain soaked the ground and began to run off the ship in rivulets. They stood in silence for a few moments until Kage, the most high-strung among them, couldn’t take it anymore.

  “So, what’s next?”

  “I’ve wondered the same thing myself,” Crusher said quietly. They lapsed back into an uncomfortable silence.

  “Why don’t we do this?” Twingo said, looking around at them.

  “This what?” Jason asked.

  “This. There are a lot of folks out there who have slipped through the cracks or have nobody to turn to, so many that live in fear and are ignored by uncaring or corrupt governments. We have a modest fortune, a unique skill set, and one badass warship,” the engineer said, impassioned. “We could make it our job to make sure someone stands up for these people.” When he finished, they all looked around at each other, hints of smiles tugging at the corners of mouths. They turned back to Jason, and he looked at each of them in turn, already knowing what his own choice was going to be.

  “Well, I can’t leave you lunatics to your own devices, that much is certain … I’m in,” he said to cheers and wide smiles.

  “I am happy you’ve decided to continue leading us, Captain,” Crusher said as he squeezed Jason’s shoulder hard enough to make him grit his teeth. Kage edged over to the cargo bay computer terminal and started flying through menus and commands. Doc walked over and grabbed five more bottles of a local ale they had been drinking while the others began to discuss the details of their new arrangement. The computer’s voice halted their conversation.

  “Crew manifest update confirmed. Captain Jason Burke, commanding officer.” They all looked over at Kage, who just smiled.

  “Now it’s official,” he said, accepting a bottle of beer from Doc as he rejoined the group.

  “You know,” Twingo said. “We really should name her.” He gestured around him at the ship. The others nodded their assent.

  “Captain?” Doc asked. “What do you think?”

  In truth, Jason had already been thinking about it for the last few days, afraid to say it out loud.

  “In my world’s mythology there’s a creature, a bird actually, that is reborn in fire. It rises up from its own ashes. In a very real way, it’s the same with all of us, and even the ship herself; we’ve all burned away our previous lives and have been reborn new. It’s called the Phoenix,” Jason said.

  “A powerful name,” Crusher approved. The others nodded as well.

  “Am I to be included in this new unit?” Lucky asked suddenly, silent up to that point.

  “You’ve earned a spot here, if you want it,” Jason said. “But it’s up to you. You’re welcome to stay here as a crewmate and a friend for as long as you wish, and later if you decide you want to leave, we’ll drop you off anywhere you want with your cut from the ship’s treasury. The same goes for all of you. This is a strictly voluntary force.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” Lucky said. “I would indeed like to stay and serve with you. All of you.”

  “Glad to have you,” Jason said with a smile. He resisted the urge to shake the synth’s hand; he wasn’t sure Lucky’s grip wouldn’t accidentally crush all the bones in his own hand.

  “So what are we going to be called? It’s a little clunky to introduce ourselves as ‘The Group of Guys Who Help People and Then Break Their Things,’” Kage said with a grin. They again deferred to Jason, watching him expectantly.

  “You guys don’t want to vote on any of this stuff?” he asked jokingly.

  “While we’re all friends, you’re our commanding officer. Whatever this becomes will be molded by you, and the choices you make,” Doc said seriously. Jason stared out at the heavy rain and took a long pull off his beer.

  “Everything has a beginning and an end, an alpha and an omega,” he said as he stared out over the spaceport, voicing a line of thought that had been in his head since they had landed. “By the time we have to get involved, it will be as a last resort for most, at the very end of hope for those that we’ll encounter. Who we are should speak to that, both for the people we’ll be helping and those we’ll be helping them against.” Captain Burke paused and looked his crew over again. This wasn’t going to be an easy life they’d just signed up for, but it could be hugely rewarding if they had the dedication and mental toughness for it.

  “Gentlemen, we are now Omega Force.”

  EPILOGUE

  Jason Burke shuffled out onto the back porch of his cabin and took in the view. It was late summer and the sun was just setting over the Rocky Mountains, splashing the sky with muted oranges and pinks. Beautiful. Being back on Earth had a surreal feel after
what he had been through. It was as if he was now a stranger on his own world and he began to feel anxious to leave again. He had come back to get his personal belongings, but once he was back he realized that he didn’t really have anything he wanted to take with him. He’d been hiding here for so long, just going through the motions of living … he’d not realized how empty his existence had become while wallowing in self-pity.

  He felt like he’d been given a second chance with Omega Force. He had the ability to make a real difference again, but this time on his own terms. The same drive to serve that had made him enlist in the Air Force, and then volunteer for Special Forces in basic training, was pushing him again to embrace this new role. This time would be different though; as Captain of the Phoenix he would decide whom and what he would fight for. He would no longer be grist for the mill, risking his life for causes that weren’t his own and a government that didn’t care.

  He sighed and turned to walk back inside, closing the door behind him. He had also come home to tie up any and all loose ends and was mildly depressed to find that he didn’t really have all that many. The rest of the crew was doing the same, spread out among the stars, each closing out what remained of their former lives. They had flown to Pinnacle Station a couple weeks ago and the others had taken commercial flights to where they needed to go. Since Earth obviously had no flights available to it, Jason flew the Phoenix home.

  He had no living family save for an aunt and uncle that lived in southern Oklahoma, but he hadn’t spoken to them in years. The only thing he had in the world (at least this one) was a little bit of cash saved up from his active duty days, a beat-up truck that wasn’t worth much, and the cabin his parents had left him long ago. He had written a letter to the only person left on the planet he cared about and left instructions on how to get to the property the cabin was on and how to go about legally claiming it. After debating on how much to say, he had settled on a simple “goodbye and good luck.”

  He eyed the two military duffle bags that were sitting on the living room floor, the sum of his worldly possessions, and then checked his watch. The Phoenix was sitting in high orbit waiting to hear from him. He hadn’t wanted to risk it being discovered by leaving it grounded while he took care of his business. When it was dark enough he’d access the ship via his neural implant and have it come and get him. He would be a few days early to Pinnacle by leaving that night, but he didn’t have any reason to hang around on Earth.

  He heard the front door to the cabin open on squeaky hinges and, expecting the worst, spun around to face whatever was coming in. When he saw who it was, his heart began to hammer in his chest almost painfully, but not from fear. Standing in the doorway, blonde hair framed by the fading light of day, was her. She stood there, as beautiful as ever, his one true regret.

  “Hi, Jason,” she said softly. “I got your letter.”

  Maybe the guys will be waiting at Pinnacle for me instead.

  ----o0o----

  A Word from the Author

  Thank you for reading Omega Rising.

  If you enjoyed the story, Captain Burke and the guys will be back in: Omega Force: Soldiers of Fortune.

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  Find Joshua’s Books on Amazon

  BONUS!

  “OMEGA FORCE”

  A Short Story

  ©2014

  (The following events take place between “Savage Homecoming” and “The Enemy Within.”)

  “Jason Burke … human, eh? Never heard of your species,” the agent said, mostly talking to himself. “It doesn’t matter. Are you ready to talk yet?”

  Captain Jason Burke leaned back in his seat as far as he could, the chains of his restraints pulling tight. He’d been sitting in the interrogation cell for hours as ConFed Intelligence pulled their usual tricks of making the room too hot, too cold, and then pumped in some sort of music they assumed he would find obnoxious. In truth, it was better than some of the music from his home planet.

  “Still going with the silent treatment?” the agent said in a studiously bored voice, his Jenovian Standard giving just a hint of the accent that said he was from one of the ConFed’s core worlds. “That’s not worked out too well so far, and it doesn’t really matter. I have the rest of your crew and I’ve learned enough to begin applying pressure

  “The Galvetic warrior and the battlesynth may be able to hold out, but the flighty little Veran will tell all he knows at just the mere threat of violence.”

  The agent studied Jason closely, looking for a reaction to his threats. The human just maintained the same bored, slightly amused look he’d had since they’d taken him into custody. “Or we can begin dismantling your ship until we find something that can help us,” the agent said. Jason’s brow knitted involuntarily for a moment at that. The agent’s widening smile showed that he hadn’t missed the change in expression.

  “An older model gunship like that,” he continued, “it’ll take a lot of cutting. It’s the older construction methods, the hull not having many access panels and such.” Jason refused to be so easily manipulated.

  “Are you about finished?” he asked in a bored tone.

  “Ah … talking now, are we?” the agent said. “So why hold out so long? You can’t be comfortable.”

  “Why make idle threats?” Jason asked instead of answering. “If you had the authority, or the nerve, to torture my crew or cut up my ship, I’d be back in a cell and you’d be happily at it. So what do you want?”

  “What is this? What are we doing here? Are you interrogating me now?” the agent asked in annoyance.

  “We’re negotiating, of course,” Jason said, leaning forward to let the pressure off the chains binding his wrists. “You seem to think I have something you want, and I want me and my crew released. So what is it you’re after here, Agent?”

  “I want to know exactly what happened on Kessmet,” the agent sneered, leaning forward across the alloy table. “An entire logistics hub destroyed, a refueling station in ruins, and a ConFed listening post missing … and at the center of it all is one tiny little gunship. So you tell me what happened there and we can talk about what happens to you next.”

  “You’ll have to do better than that,” Jason said.

  “That’s all you’re getting,” the agent countered. “Any more stalling and I’ll leave you to the Regional Executor and he does have the authority to tear your ship apart and do whatever he wants to you and your crew. He also has a notorious dislike of pirates, smugglers, or whatever form of bottom feeder you and your friends consider yourselves.”

  Jason made some show of considering things before leaning back again. “If you want to know about Kessmet, I’ll need to start the story at Deshja.”

  “Deshja Orbital Facility?” the agent asked in disbelief. “That’s half a sector away.” When Jason just arched an eyebrow, the agent motioned for him to continue.

  “Here’s how it all went down…”

  -o0o-

  “How much longer are we going to stay here?” Kage asked loudly for the third time in as many hours.

  “Every time you ask, we’re staying another hour,” Crusher said, finishing off half of his dark-colored ale-like drink in one noisy gulp.

  “At the rate you’re going?” Kage scoffed. “You’ll be asleep in your chair in under half an hour.”

  “This is the only bar on the station that isn’t likely to put you in the infirmary,” Doc said. “Just try to enjoy it.”

  “There’s a whole city of clean bars right below us on the planet,” Kage said.

  “Parts won’t be done for the grav-drive until tomorrow afternoon,” Twingo said, slurring his words slightly. “The ship isn’t leaving the hangar until I get everything installed and calibrated.” Kage grunted unhappily, but went back to his own drink and took a break from complaining.

  The back and forth was the
typical, nonstop banter that his crew seemed to partake in every waking minute, but at the moment it was setting Jason’s teeth on edge. Every once in a while it all became a bit too much for him and he needed to separate himself from them for a bit. They all seemed to go through it at one time or another; even the stoic Lucky wasn’t immune to being annoyed by his friends.

  “I’m going to take a walk around, maybe go check on the ship,” Jason said, standing up and pushing his seat back. He put a restraining hand on Lucky, who had automatically turned to accompany him. “I’ll be okay. Just want to clear my head a bit.” Lucky’s impassive alloy face belied no emotions, but he nodded once and went back to his conversation with Crusher.

  Jason tossed a five-hundred credit chit on the table to cover the crew’s tab—even with Lucky not eating or drinking, the others could run up an astonishing bar tab at times—and made his way out of the bar and into the throng of other aliens that were bustling around on Deshja Orbital Facility’s main walkway. They had just come off of a long, but well-paying mission, and everyone wanted to get somewhere nice for a little bit of downtime. Unfortunately, the Phoenix chewed up a handful of parts on her grav-drive and Twingo, the ship’s engineer, was having replacements fabricated by the capable machine shops located on the lower levels of Deshja.

  He walked along the promenade aimlessly, fully intending to get back to the hangar decks eventually, but for the moment enjoying the bit of solitude and taking in the sights and sounds of dozens of species going about their business. Deshja was one of the more tame facilities that Omega Force frequented, so he was able to relax a bit and not worry about getting robbed, or worse. He’d made it down the spar he’d been walking through and was coming up in the t-intersection that would allow him onto the outer ring of the main commerce decks. There seemed to be a small commotion up ahead, so he stretched out his stride and quickly walked to see what the fuss was about. When he did, he began to regret deciding to take an evening stroll.