Also present, Tess Child, so easy on the eye, so focused on the next flying rock in her asteroid field of a mind. Her private hell was her business. All he needed from her was to keep on going. Never stop.
The others looked up to her as pilot. She’d never yet met a challenge she couldn’t master. He’d met her type before. Always playing chicken with life. Daring it to ram her head on.
Rage knew, sooner or later, she’d meet that personal or profession rogue asteroid that would beat her at her own game. He needed to stick close by to make sure he pulled her out of that game of chicken before she got them all killed. Or worse, exposed their shared secret.
Next to Tess child sat Harley Link, Engineering liaison officer. He of all of them felt the burden of their secret. Privately, he confided he should have known something was wrong. But Rage told them all that if anyone was to blame, it was Rage for trusting Admiral Finnean. He should have known Finnean would play on his weakness by making him the head of top-secret project Alpha.
Next to Harley sat Bo Sun, the bridge navigator. A man who could triple check mind-blowing algorithms in his sleep while reciting the Gettysburg address, and the ship was under superior enemy cannon fire. His Cybernetic jacked mind was a wonder to behold.
But Rage couldn’t help wonder if all that cybernetic logic system had overwhelmed the compassion and warmth he knew Bo Sun was capable of. At least, before the incident. He never spoke about it.
But then, Rage considered, none of them really divulged the true personal cost of Project Alpha. Amongst them, it was just assumed if they were to live normal lives, the personal cost had to be kept a secret. From outsiders, from Finnean and even from themselves.
Becky Rune sat with Tess Child. The youngest of the group and perhaps the closest to Siorus. She worked side by side with Siorus, and if anyone knew what he was going through, then it was her.
The only one of their group missing was Siorus. Like Harley, he had blamed himself for the situation they were in. The others secretly blamed him too, he could tell. But they could never hate him as much as he hated himself. Perhaps, that was why he felt so protective of Siorus.
It troubled Rage that lately Siorus had been more withdrawn than usual. He’d asked Doc Ransom to look into it and bring forward his routine medical examination and psych evaluation. He’d then face the problem of what Siorus might divulge to the Doc, and what, in turn, Ransom might divulge to Captain Hannibal Grint. The issue of neutralizing Doc Ransom rose up high on his list of priorities.
I wonder if Ransom has any vices I can exploit to silence him.
He glanced around for Siorus and noted the new XO stood at the entrance.
“I take it everyone is aware of who our new XO really is?” Rage said to the table.
Silently they all nodded. Too busy reining in the anger he felt.
“What are we going to do about him?” Child said.
“What do you want to do?” Rage asked quietly.
“Throw him out of the nearest airlock,” she said.
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“We need to keep a low profile, people,” Rage said
“The Colonel’s right,” Wesley said, “But I can’t help but feel uneasy at the coincidence of Dax being assigned to Valiant.”
“How do you mean?” Child said.
“Anyone wonder about why we all got reassigned to Valiant?” Wesley asked.
“Special orders from Admiral Finnean,” Rage said. “I asked him and he said he wanted the best of the best on board.”
“And you believed that, Colonel?”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t suspicious,” he said glancing around as Siorus joined them at the table. He seemed flushed. Avoiding their eyes. “But we need to keep a low profile, do our duty and keep our eyes open as agreed. Unless anyone has anything contrary to state?”
No one said anything. But he saw it in their eyes. All of them. The cracks opening wide.
CHAPTER 9 - CORNERED
Van Cleef and his marines stood at the entrance of Valiant’s canteen. Tables seemed to stretch out in all directions for miles. At any one time there were a thousand crew members dining.
“Are you sure he came this way?” Dax asked.
Van Cleef pointed to the blood trail on the floor.
“Siorus is here, somewhere,” Van Cleef said and glanced at the grafted screen of his skinphone on the back of his hand. “Crew locater pinpoints him directly in the center. This entrance is the only exit. Don’t worry, Commander, your traitor’s going nowhere.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Dax said and stepped ahead of the marines.
“What do mean by that, Commander?”
“Why would Siorus come here, Sergeant?”
“Hiding in plain sight,” Van Cleef said. “Good plan as far as it goes.”
“And then what?”
“On the run and panicking, maybe he isn’t thinking that far ahead,” Argyle said as she joined them at the entrance.
Dax shrugged. “Or maybe this is exactly where Siorus needs to be.”
Dax turned to Captain Argyle Valkyrie. “Can we evacuate the canteen quietly?”
“Without Siorus noticing?”
He nodded.
She thought about it for a moment. “We can issue a code-black transmission to squad leaders known to be off-duty dining. Get them to pass the word discreetly.”
“Good. Do it.”
He whispered the voice command to the grafted hand-console of his skinphone and brought up a list of officers known to be off-duty and in the canteen. He segmented all the officers and sent the list to Argyle’s hand.
“Tell them to act casual,” Dax said.
She nodded. “I’ll tell them to leave in random sized groups, staggered at twenty seconds.”
Dax sighed. “It will take too long.”
“He’s trapped,” Argyle said. “What’s your hurry?”
Dax sighed. “Bad feeling, is all.”
“You act like its personal, Commander,” she said. “You know him?”
“My judgment is sound...”
“Based on what?” She demanded. “A bad feeling?”
“Siorus is an accomplished spy and saboteur,” Dax said. “Perhaps the best I’ve come across. Getting trapped like this feels off.”
“You think he’s set an explosive device inside the canteen?”
“He’s been too smart up until now,” Dax said. “Why get trapped?”
“We all make mistakes,” Argyle said. “His is getting trapped near any potential explosive device. He’s got no choice, but to surrender. I say we wait him out. The enemy’s exhaustion is our ally.”
He knew that more than most. “Tell your marines to fall back out of sight around the corner. And keep it quiet.”
She whispered a priority code-black statement into her helmet microphone. A minute later, crew members of one long table in the center of the room stood up slowly and headed for the exit. A few seconds later, another group near the front also left.
“Eyes on target?” Dax asked.
“Target sat at a table with a bunch of flight crew.”
His stomach backflipped. “Order them away,” Dax said. “Now!”
Argyle whispered into her helmet-mic.
The entire table of crew members around Siorus stood up in silence and left together. Siorus glanced up. He looked to the left and right of him. He hunched his shoulders over.
“Damn it,” Dax said, “he suspects something.”
He turned to Argyle. “Call up a pair of G-RUNT.”
“I know, quietly, right?”
She whispered instructions into her helmet-mic.
“So what’s the plan, Commander Dax?” Argyle asked.
“I need your best marine to go in on the back of a G-RUNT.”
“And the other G-RUNT?”
“That one’s for me?”
“Objective?”
“Bomb disposal.
”
She shook her head. “Commander, in a hall that size, I don’t like the odds of detecting an explosive device before Siorus detonates.”
Two bright yellow robots walked up to Argyle and saluted crisply. Their straight fingered hands bounced off their dented block heads.
One wore a blond wig painted across its square block head. A pair of juicy red lips had been painted around its dented and rusty jaw of razor teeth. Long black eye lashes were painted around its glowing blue eyes.
Dax’s eyes focused on the giant boobs painted on the metallic chest. More Space Marine humor for Dax to deal with. He suppressed an instinct to roll his eyes. As far as he was concerned, the marines had earned the right to a sense of humor going in battle.
“Peggy Sue, your mission commander is XO, Dax,” Argyle said. “Confirm.”
“Dax, mission commander, confirmed,” Peggy Sue said with a rasping metallic voice.
Curly joined Peggy Sue.
Argyle selected Van Cleef.
“Ready when you are, Commander Dax,” Van Cleef said and climbed onto the back of G-RUNT Curly.
Some five hundred crew had left the dining hall by now. It wasn’t nearly enough, but Dax sensed he was running out of time.
“Now, Dax?” Argyle asked.
“Need another ten minutes,” Dax said.
With sudden violence, Siorus stood and grabbed a female crew member. She screamed. He held a device in one hand and shouted into her ear to shut up.
Dax’s enhanced contact lens told him Siorus held a remote device detonator.
“On my command, acquire target. Alive. Confirm.” Dax said and climbed onto the pinion step attached to the back of Peggy Sue. He noticed red lipstick hand writing on the G-RUNT: Just married. Hold on tight.
“Acquire target, alive. Confirmed,” Peggy Sue and Curly said in unison.
“Now.”
CHAPTER 10 - COUNTDOWN
Curly and Peggy Sue sprinted through a crowd of panicking crew members towards Siorus. Dax clung on tight and looked over Peggy’s shoulder at the young woman hostage. She seemed frozen with fear. They were ten seconds away from Siorus.
“Let her go, Siorus,” Dax shouted.
Nine seconds...
Siorus shoved her to the ground. She crawled slowly away on her knees. He tore open his suit and revealed a sleeveless jacket of high explosives strapped to his body. Peggy’s explosives scan relayed to Dax’s I.R. contact lens. All wires seemed to converge in a centrally located silver disk on his chest.
Siorus smiled and held the remote detonator high.
Eight seconds...
Peggy scanned the saboteur’s life-sign readings and relayed them across Dax’s contact lens. Every conceivable measure spiked.
Seven seconds...
A thumb twitched over the detonator’s button.
“He’s going to detonate,” Dax shouted. “Peggy, protect.”
Six seconds...
A laser beam shot out of Peggy’s eye and eviscerated the hand holding the detonator. Siorus screamed and doubled over.
Five seconds...
Peggy’s explosives scan scrolled across Dax’s eyeball and zoomed in on the silver disk.
Four seconds...
“Second detonator,” Peggy said flatly as if announcing space weather. “Laser intercept will cause detonation.”
Three seconds...
Dax knew they had no choice. For a split second he delayed his decision to picture his wife and son as he imagined they might look if they were alive now. He reserved a place by their side. Then he snapped out of it.
Two seconds...
“Shield,” Dax shouted. “Confirm.”
“Negative,” Peggy said. The G-RUNT slowed and began to turn away from Siorus. “Must remove human passengers from blast radius.”
“Negative. Override human safety protocol,” Dax shouted. “Engage.”
One second...
“Shield protection,” Peggy said. “Confirmed.”
Peggy Sue and Curly leapt through the air at Siorus. The saboteur stood straight. With his smoldering stump, Siorus punched the silver disk.
A white flash consumed the room and blinded Dax.
CHAPTER 11 - REUNION
Thirty seconds earlier. Colonel John ‘Jeb’ Rage stared up at Siorus as the man pushed Becky Rune away from him.
“Siorus,” Rage said, “you don’t have to do this.”
“You don’t get it, Colonel,” Siorus said. “He’s making me do it.”
“Who?” Rage said. “Who is making you?”
“He’ll kill them if I don’t,” Siorus said.
“Kill who?” Rage said. “I can help you, Siorus. We all can.”
“You can’t help yourself, Colonel. See, it’s happening to you again.”
Rage reached out to Siorus and noticed a swirling rainbow of light engulf his hand. It slithered up his arm.
“It has to end,” Siorus said. “The nightmare ends now.”
“No, not now,” Rage cried out as the rainbow light slithered across his entire body and coiled around his neck. I must stop him.
He leapt at Siorus.
Siorus reached for the detonator disk. An explosion ripped through the dining hall, but Rage never saw it.
Silence gripped Rage. The expected ringing in his ears failed to sound out. He kept his eyes shut. If he was mortally wounded he didn’t want to risk inducing shock by witnessing a limb or two torn from his body.
I’m flat on my back. But there’s no pain. Either, I’m OK, or I’ve bled out so bad I’m beyond pain. Waiting at the gates where fallen heroes end up.
He took a deep breath and held it. He wriggled his fingers. They seemed to move without problem. He felt along his arms and then his chest. Nothing appeared damaged. He reached down to his legs. He wriggled his toes. He could feel them OK. He left the worst for last. Do I still have my sight?
He dared to open his left eye.
What he saw made his breath explode from his body. His right eye popped open wide.
I wasn’t imagining things. It’s happening again. Dear God!
“I ghost-warped!”
He raised himself to his knees and stared at the gates of his family home. He stood and stumbled along the wet driveway to a three story house set off from the quiet road amongst several acres of landscaped parkland.
The scent of spring blossoms pummeled his senses.
It’s been raining. Just like that day when Jeff--
He refused to allow his mind to go there. He knew he just didn’t have the strength to endure the memories.
He walked around the side of the house to an open window. His wife Kate stood in the kitchen making toast. Just as she did on that day...
He pushed gently at the glossy red door and stood in the open doorway watching. The wall clock flashed the date: July 4th 2177.
“Damn Project Alpha,” he said quietly. “Damn you all to hell.”
Kate spun around to face him with a look of surprise.
“Jeb,” she said and smoothed down her hair without realizing it. He loved her for those small unspoken actions. The day she repressed that instinct was the day he knew he’d lose her forever. Death by attrition, that was what killed most marriages in the USF. Not like dying over a rock in space. Those kind, you never see coming. He knew which he preferred.
“I didn’t expect you,” she said. “Thought I’d be spending Independence Day alone or with the Wilsons.”
He smiled just as he had that day. This day! For it was the same day all over again. Those on project Alpha that knew about these sort of things had warned him about warp-ghosts, but he hadn’t listened.
Time was money. War was imminent. He had pushed hard to advance the project. Too hard.
Now, the curse of warp-ghosting was his. He had to relive the day his son--
No, enjoy this moment while it lasts. It’s all too brief. The rest you’ll deal with when it comes.
He enjoyed Kate removing her
apron and showing off her slim figure. At fifty she had the best damn body any Colonel in the Fleet would kill for. She smudged cookie flour across her nose and wrapped her arms around him.
“I’ve got wonderful news,” she said.
He didn’t want to hear it. Not because he didn’t care. Whatever was important to her, was also important to him. No, it was because he cared too much. He already knew what she was going to say. Even now his knees trembled with the knowledge that he knew what was coming, and she did not.
How he envied her ignorance. If only for a few brief moments until their world would come crashing down to Earth.
He leaned forward and kissed her lips. The kiss was succulent, like the first summer hints of jasmine and rose petal scents in summer rain. He indulged for as long as he could without conceding to the inevitable. She kissed him back, smiling through the cookie flour impression she was rubbing into his face.
But then it came. Like the sound of thunder without the warning signs of storm clouds, the holo-phone rang. She turned her head and pulled away. He reached out to stop her.
“Leave it,” he said.
She laughed, “but that’s what I was trying to tell you,” she said. “Jeff is calling later. He’ll be so pleased to hear you made it back. Why are you back? I thought you were off-world for another three months.”
He laughed to himself. He wanted to tease her about taking a breath so he could attempt to answer at least one of her questions, but he was struck by how she masked the loneliness in her voice. He wanted to squeeze her tight and promise he’d never leave again. But he knew she’d scold him for his lies.
Maybe this time could be different. Maybe I can change the outcome. Maybe, just maybe, it’s not inevitable that Jeff will die today. I can warn Jeff, yes, I can save him.
“Did you hear me, Jeb?” she said. “Jeff’s calling today.”
As if it had heard her, the PEC announced the caller in a sing-song voice.
“Jeff is calling, Jeff is calling, Jeff...”
“Answer,” she said.
A ball of blue static appeared in the kitchen. It resolved into a life-size holograph of Rage’s only child.
Valiant (Jurassic War Universe Book 1) Page 6
