by C. M. Kane
After all that has occurred between us, is Loki to be my reward from the Universe? She wondered.
She started to laugh again.
Chapter 25
Loki stood with his back towards a large Barva tree, its thick bark dug into his back as he watched the excavation of the Felice rock begin. After the meeting had finished he’d collected the Tore and extra men and come straight back to Tartarise. He’d wanted to talk to Tae, but there was simply too much to do, and not enough time to do it in. Every second counted now, and any personal troubles he may have had to take a back seat.
At first he was slowed by the need for Borig to organize the local Minotaur and to retrieve his own men, who luckily, seemed to be no worse for wear after their encounter with the rogue Harpies. He had also informed the Minotaur of the coming war, being honest and telling them that they would be far safer staying here on Tartarise until they had sorted things out. To his surprise the Minotaur had jumped at the chance to be in a fight. As they had patiently explained to him, they were not only built for battle, but in their minds, there was no greater honor then to die whilst fighting; especially if they were to die whilst fighting for their Gods. So it was settled, any of the Tore who wished to fight beside him would have to swear personal allegiance, including swearing to obey all of their commanding officers, or they would not be accepted aboard. He had retained Borig as a Sergeant, he was to be in charge of any Tore contingent, but he had made it very clear to him that he would be under the direct control of Commander Brohan and would have to obey his every order as if it was Loki’s own.
The Tore leader had bowed low to Loki when told of his new position. He knew it was one of honor and trust, especially for one so new to a Gods command structure, and he swore on his honor that he would not fail him. They were to be transferred to Brightmoon as soon as the bombs were finished. At the moment they were organizing for food shipments, as well as some of their own females and males for the new House of Aphrodite that was being set up aboard Brightmoon, all in all things were progressing smoothly.
He stood quietly ignoring them all, his mind only half on the job he should be doing. He found, to his disgust, he couldn’t even begin to formulate a plan for the coming raid against the Titans, all because his thoughts were fixated on Tae… or more precisely, what Vulcan had informed him about her. He kept going over and over it in his mind. He vaguely recalled something of what Vulcan had told him from the past teachings he’d received from his mother. He’d never thought about it because he’d never thought that anything so ludicrous could ever apply to him. Bartha syndrome was extremely rare to his race as it was. Yet it explained everything so perfectly.
Yes, he would have been attracted to Tae under any conditions, but he was becoming increasingly fixated on her, to the extent he’d been making grandiose plans about their first night together. He’d even wanted to reject her advances in the cave, and just look what had happened there. He took a deep breath and sighed.
What Vulcan didn’t realize, and what he was now only admitting to himself, was that his feelings went beyond Bartha syndrome. He genuinely liked Tae. She was smart, sexy, smart-mouthed, insightful, funny, and far to brave for her own good. She also never shirked taking responsibility for her actions, hell, she embraced them, which was quite rare in terrans. Usually they were always trying to blame everything and everyone around them for what they had made happen. When this current crisis was over, he knew that nothing, or no-one, would be able to keep him from her. Bartha syndrome or not, they had unfinished business. Until then he’d just have to ram his personal feelings down and get on with the job.
Damn! He ruthlessly put his feelings aside and tried to concentrate on coming up with a plan by building on Zeus’ idea. Zeus’ reasoning had been sound, but there wasn’t going to be any room for errors in their timing. Once again he thanked the Universe and Cassandra for the Felice; at least they now had a fighting chance. All he had to do now was work out how to get close enough to use it on them, without the enemies fleet simply blowing both the bombs and Brightmoon out of the sky. He was about to start the men on a different outcropping of rock when his com-watch began signaling an incoming message.
‘Lord Loki, this is Captain Settria, I’m afraid we have a situation developing onboard.’
Loki straightened away from the tree. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Lieutenant Rames has just run from the bridge, she says that the Felice has begun to leak. We have begun to scan the hanger and have found a small area that has now gone dark. It is beginning to widen slowly, do you have any suggestions, sir.’
Loki looked skywards and knew with certainty that, Brightmoon, Tae, and all of their plans for the coming fight, were in now serious trouble. He didn’t hesitate; he bolted from the area and sprinted for the troop jumper he had arrived in with the men. Thankfully Brohan had come with him; he knew he would look after everything here. In the meantime his mind was screaming at him to get back to the ship immediately. If they lost Brightmoon, the war would be over before it had even begun.
He made it back to the jumper in fifteen minutes, fear lending speed to his feet. He brushed passed the guards he had left and quickly jumped into the pilot’s seat, beginning to take off without bothering with pre-flight checks. He absently hit his belting mechanism out of habit rather than any concern for his own personal safety, before quickly calling Brohan and telling him to continue with the collection. He then called the Captain and told her he was on his way.
As he hit space he turned directly to where Brightmoon lay in high orbit. He could tell that something was wrong immediately. The swirling red patterns that occasionally crossed her hull had stopped, and there seemed to be a growing square of utter blackness near Hanger two. As he got closer his own jumper started to become erratic and falter, it was then he realized there was nothing he could do from where he was. He immediately tried to contact Tae, to see if she could tell him what was happening, and if she’d had any ideas for getting the Felice off of the ship. He was now hoping she’d had one of her crazy plans, but what exactly that could be, he had no idea. If the leak was this bad, then she would never be able to get the jumper out of the hanger, and if she couldn’t get it out, then the leak would just get worse until containment failed completely, leaving Brightmoon a crippled hulk that no-one would be able to get near. How could they possibly get the Felice off of the ship when it was so obviously losing its power? He knew the Felice bombs were still in Zeus’s small troop jumper that he had used to transport his men over. Loki berated himself on his own stupidity; he should have had the small transport kept outside the ship, just in case something like this happened. Now his unforgivable oversight just might destroy everyone.
As he moved closer he noticed a small debris field floating around outside the hangers’ doors from his now barely working sensors. He also saw the troop jumper; it seemed to be jammed between the partially open space doors. It was then he knew what she’d done. She’d tried to eject the jumper straight into space, a clever idea, but one that obviously hadn’t worked.
So now what is she doing? He wondered. Worry over both her and the Dreadnaughts safety coursed through him as he slowed his jumper, trying to get as close to the ship as possible without losing power himself. Suddenly the troop jumper lurched towards him as if shoved violently from inside the ship. He slammed down his hand on the port thrusters, setting them at full burn; it sent his ship sideways and away from the contaminated jumper that was now careening towards him. When he was clear, he watched his com-display to see what was happening, the contaminated jumper swung around lazily, before beginning to float directly back towards Tartarise. At it swung away from him he saw a particularly large dent in the lower forward section. He frowned in puzzlement; it had almost looked like it had been hit by something.
His eyes widened in shock. HIT! Is she insane? Did she just do what I think she did? And where the hell is Vulcan in all of this?
Vulcan had told them the cont
ainment system he and Brightmoon had devised was a gamble, and as it turned out he was right, but that didn’t answer any of his now pressing questions. Was the ship and Tae alright? He crushed down his panic, it was time to sort this mess out and see exactly what had happened. He checked on the contaminated jumper once more, it was just entering the atmosphere of Tartarise and had started to gather speed as its orbit rapidly decayed. He ran his now fully operational sensors over the slowly recovering Dreadnaught, there was nothing outside. He moved his ship closer to the Hangers doors noting the damage and making a mental note to have it repaired as soon as possible.
His communications panel lit up and he heard Captain Settria’s voice over his ear piece. ‘Jumper Langred, this is Brightmoon, can you tell us what happened and if there is any damage to ship? We know someone must have opened the doors and decompressed the hanger, but we haven’t heard from anyone as yet. Do you have any more information to add?’
‘Can you close the doors?’ Loki asked.
‘Yes, sir, I think so. Our sensors are now starting to come back online for that section of the ship, as are our communications; we are also able to see your ship now. I must also report that Lieutenant Rames is still missing. As I informed you earlier, she simply jumped from the star chair and ran to the turbo lift yelling something about being in trouble, and about the Felice. I have no idea what she is doing, or even if she may be responsible for what has happened.’ she added suspiciously.
‘She isn’t! Loki snapped. ‘In fact she’s probably just saved the lives of everyone on board. When you are able to I want you to contact the Olympus and inform them that the containment system on the Felice bombs leaked, and that we will need to have another meeting urgently. And try to get these doors closed and the bay re-pressurized, because I think Tae is in that Hanger somewhere and she may be injured. I’m heading in to check on it now.
‘Do you think that’s wise, My Lord, there may still be lingering radiation and you may be injured.’
Loki’s eyes widened as his temper, already at breaking point due to his worry and frustration, finally found a way to release some of its pent up rage.
‘So you think I am coward! You think I am someone who would send others into a situation because he thinks it might prove dangerous to him! If so, then you have no idea of what your gods are capable of, Captain. I will not tolerate your innuendo; you are relieved of duty forthwith. You will report back to Velonchos immediately for reassignment. I will not have either my honor or courage questioned by anyone … EVER! I have done and faced things that would make you quail in fear. Just be thankful I am not onboard, Captain, or I would be staring down at your headless corpse right about now. Now put one of the Tuvarnans in charge until I return. And get the hell off of my bridge!’
‘Immediately, My Lord,’ came the muffled reply.
There was a short break before another voice spoke hesitantly to him. ‘Lord Loki? This is Lieutenant Dolath, Captain Settria has allocated command to me until you re-join us; she has now left the bridge, sir.’
‘Good,’ muttered Loki angrily.
‘Do you have any orders, sir?’ asked Dolath.
‘As soon as you have sensors turn them to Hanger two and see if you can find Tae, get back to me when you locate her,’ said Loki as he swung his own jumper around towards the hanger’s space doors. He felt the jumpers handling start to become quite sloppy, obviously the radiation hadn’t fully cleared as yet. A few red warning lights suddenly blinked on, illuminating the tunnel with their flickering glow. He swung his jumper onto its side and eased it slowly past the partially opened space doors. Once he was safely inside he straightened out again and dropped to a slow crawl noting the damage that had been inflicted on Brightmoons interior as he inched along. How the hell could she have survived this, he wondered? When he reached the second set of safety doors he saw something just ahead, he slowed a fraction more and contacted Dolath again.
‘Close the middle safety door as soon as you can, there’s a small jumper just ahead of me. I’m going to try to use my jumper to push it back into the main hanger. When I have it back in the hanger I’ll contact you again and you can close the main doors and re-pressurize it as soon as you can, and make sure you have a med crew waiting.’
‘At once, My Lord,’ replied Dolath.
Loki’s sensors picked up the middle safety door starting to close, albeit incredibly slowly. He looked ahead on his screens to the small jumper which was now just in front of him and drifting slowly back towards the hanger.
Damn! What a mess, I’ve got to give it to you Tae, you’re certainly inventive. Now just make sure you’re alive, you haven’t come this far to die over a stupid little jumper crash.
He barely repressing a shudder at his thoughts, he found he needed to check her immediately; he needed to touch her, to reassure himself she still breathed. Then he needed to yell at her a bit for risking herself in this way, especially when there was plenty of other crew around to do as she had just done.
He edged up to the slowly drifting jumper until he could give it a slight nudge, it moved a fraction quicker as it headed for the nearing inner hanger door, he nudged it again and it floated through the doors back into the main hanger.
Well at least she’s inside, he thought. Loki looked around with gratitude at the simple brilliance of Brightmoons hanger design. All of the unused jumpers were strapped firmly to the walls in their brackets, only two midsized jumpers that had been in use were now floating listlessly through the hanger proper. He knew if they had been on any of the other ships of the Gods they’d be surrounded by floating debris. Already plans were in progress to redesign their hangers to match Brightmoons. He breathed a sigh of relief; at least now they wouldn’t have to worry about being crushed by a floating jumper when the artificial gravity came back on. He moved his jumper around quickly to the front of the smaller jumper and matched his speed with its, then slowly he bought it to a halt as near to the turbo lifts as he could manage. He then moved atop it and pressed is down so it rested lightly on the floor. When he was satisfied he contacted Dolath again and asked him to close the inner doors and start re-pressurizing the Hanger, as well as turning the artificial gravity back on.
‘We are trying, My Lord,’ he replied. ‘The mid-line safety doors are now closed, but the space doors are too badly damaged and will need to be repaired. The inner doors are starting to close as we speak, but they will take at least another three to five minutes. We are hoping to have some gravity restored soon; it should be strong enough to be able to walk. I am in the process of having Brightmoon redirect all her spare power to closing the inner doors and to start re-pressurizing the hanger. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be a question of power, it’s a question of clearing the lingering radiation, and that will take time.’
‘Thank you, Dolath, if there’s anything else you can think of to do then do it.
‘Yes, My Lord. I have the Medics standing by the turbo lifts to the hanger, as soon as it’s pressurized they will be sent in. Our internal sensors have now picked up both yourself and the jumper. As there appears to be severe damage to the smaller jumper I have also organized some engineers that will arrive with cutting equipment as well, just in case they should be needed.’
‘Good thinking,’ said Loki absently as he moved his jumper around to settle just in front of the partially destroyed Snuggle Bunny, and to watch in frustration the agonizingly slow progress of the hangers doors as they inched closed. After a further few minutes he heard Dolaths voice again.
‘Pressurization is complete, My Lord, both the safety doors, as well as the inner doors are now completely closed, gravity is at fifty two percent earth normal and climbing slowly.
‘Loki didn’t bother to listen to the rest; as soon as he heard the words- pressurization is complete- he slapped the door release mechanism and ran for the Snuggle Bunny. He skidded to a halt as the turbo lift doors opened and the med team and engineers rushed in.
He stared in
disbelief at the remains of the small jumper, its entire front end was crushed inwards, there was also severe denting along both its sides and the roof. The little jumper now looked as though it had been compacted to two thirds of the size it once was. Loki reached for the door, when it wouldn’t open his eyes narrowed in frustration. He gripped a large fold where the metal was now buckled up, then he wrenched it with every ounce of strength in his enraged body. He had to get to Tae, every fiber in his being was now screaming at him to make sure she was safe. Slowly, in a howl of screeching metal, the door began to open. He quickly moved into what was left of the small rear compartment and looked towards the ruined cockpit, straight into the laughing faces of both Tae and Vulcan.
Tae looked back at him. ‘Hi,’ she said, before she started giggling madly. He stared at the two perplexed, his mouth slightly ajar. Both were covered in blood, and after a quick survey he saw that both of them had metal sticking out of their bodies. They also had obvious broken bones, judging by Vulcan’s twisted arm and the piece of bone sticking up against Tae’s skin at her collarbone. Yet they were both grinning at him as if sharing some kind of private joke.
Tae turned to Vulcan and said croakily. ‘You know we’ve gotta do this again sometime; but perhaps next time we outta bring some snacks along, cause I’m positively starving.’
Vulcan grinned. ‘Let’s make it soon, but I think I’ll drive next time, your parking’s doesn’t seem to be quite up to scratch as yet,’ then both of them started laughing uproariously again.
Just then Tae’s vid ball came scooting out of the turbo lift, having finally made its way down from the bridge. Tae looked up at it as it scanned her. ‘Don’t worry about the jumper, Moony,’ she said, ‘a lick of paint and she’ll be right as rain, but I hate to say it,’ she looked across at Vulcan seriously before nodding to the rod impaled in his side. ‘I think that might leave a scar.’
