by Tony Healey
The roof came into view. Closer and closer now. He prepared for the landing, wondered how he'd slow down in time, then didn't have to worry about it. The roof rushed up to meet him and he skidded along, still pulled by the parachute. It went suddenly slack, then flung him back, his arms and legs flailing. The parachute collapsed on top of him, a scramble of light material and cords.
"Nice landin'."
Hawk picked himself up. "Not my best, I'll admit."
Punk was already on the move. "Come on!" The Alpor threw the door open and rushed inside, weapons bristling, Hawk hot on his tail.
* * *
. . . 18 . . . 17 . . . 16 . . . 15 . . . 14 . . . 13 . . . 12 . . .
"I'd cover your ears," Will whispered.
"I was about to say the s–"
The doors behind them re-opened. Men – of both the Terran and alien variety – stormed inside, eyes landing on them straight away.
"Damn!" Will yelled. There were half a dozen of them. Jessica rolled to the right, brought her gun up and fired off a shot. It glanced past one of the aliens, but didn't hit. Will, meanwhile, managed to shoot one of the men in the kneecap. He went down, howling and Will plucked him one in the neck, silencing his painful cries.
. . . 7 . . . 6 . . . 5 . . .
"Quick! Behind this crate!"
Jessica dove next to him. He smothered her with his own body. There were men on the other side of them, shooting. Behind them, separated by a few more crates were the group that were in the room originally.
. . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . .
The rear wall blew inward by the force of the detonation. Huge chunks of it rocketed into the men stood closest, pummeling them as a tenderiser bashes meat. They were bowled over, covered in debris. The fiery hot breath of the explosion rushed into every crevice of the confined space, momentarily turning the air into a hellish brew of exhausted oxygen and smoke. Down low, both Jessica and Will were relatively protected – their civilian clothing was in tough shape, however. The gaggle who'd burst through the door were not so well off. One of them was blinded by the flash of the detonation and stumbled aimlessly, waving his hands in front of his face as if that might prompt his vision to return.
Jessica got up, stumbled to the end cage. Thick black bars housed its latest occupant – the dishevelled form of Captain Rick Shaw, lying on the floor curled into a ball.
"Sir!" Will shouted. "Rick!"
He looked up. "WILL?"
"We're getting you out of here."
"WILL? WILL!" Shaw got up, hobbled to the bars, visibly in agony. "I'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACE."
"Thanks . . . I think."
"Why is he shouting?" Jessica asked, then realised Shaw probably hadn't been curled into a ball when the actual explosion happened, but had no doubt assumed the position when the wall blew into the room.
"Hearing's gone," Will said.
At that moment, Barbie leapt through the hole from outside, and fired at the doors behind them, where the men who'd barged through had roused from their stupor and were aiming weapons.
She let loose a battle cry and charged toward them, hundreds of pounds of pure muscle, with a gun at the front spurting a flurry of green energy bolts. Those that weren't hit screamed and fled from the room, or what was left of it.
"Barbie, get over here. Set the explosive."
The Mantipor chased the last of the goons off, then ran to the cage. She brought a small explosive from her pouch and fixed it to the lock on the bars. "Ten seconds."
They cleared the area and, ten seconds later, the lock was incinerated with a small pop! sound and a puff of white smoke. The Klebin hung from the bars of his own cage as Shaw exited his.
"Please! Yer gotsto lemme outta harr!"
Will gave Barbie the nod. "Do it."
They let Barbie do her work to free the Klebin. Shaw looked about. "YOU GUYS REALLY WRECKED THE PLACE!"
Jessica winced. "That shouting is going to get on my nerves."
Will spoke into his comm. unit. "Kay, get the Spectre online. Make your way here."
"Security systems still down?" Jessica asked.
"We have to assume they are. Besides, by the time they get a lock on the Spectre we'll be shooting off."
The lock to the first cage taken care of, the Klebin stepped out. He made to open his mouth, no doubt to shower them with thanks, but Barbie beat him to the punch. "Get out of here. Now."
"Eee justa wanteed to say–"
"Scram!" Barbie bellowed at him. The Klebin leapt in the air with fright and made for the hole in the side of the building. He was gone before the others could say a word. Meryl came into view, watching the Klebin run off down the alley.
"Hey, are we going to make a move or what?" she asked.
Will shepherded Captain Shaw toward her. Jessica turned back to Barbie, and that was when the Mantipor dropped to the floor, her entire hairy body convulsing, lips peeled back from her teeth in agony, eyes wild. Electricity arced around her, clung to her, the Mantipor's back stiff with pain.
It took a second for it all to make sense. By that point she'd joined Barbie on the floor, electrical charges racking through her body, hearing the shouts of Will and Meryl in her ears, weapons discharging, then blackness . . .
9.
Matz stood behind a man in full body armour, a picture of a clawed hand holding a sun painted on the front of his breast plate. He held a rifle in front of him.
"You," Will spat. It was the very same mercenary who had captured Shaw back at the station.
"Know what, kiddo? I was about to say the exact same thing."
Barbie lay unconscious on the floor.
I don't know how I'm going to get her out of here, Will was thinking. Damn. How will I move her?
Jessica lay next to the Mantipor, also incapacitated.
"No good hiding behind him, X," Will said. Matz stuck his chin in the air, made to move but the mercenary stuck an arm out.
"He's not worth the hassle, sir. Don't put yourself in danger. I'll take care of this."
"WHAT'S HE SAYING?" Captain Shaw asked, both he and Will slowly backing up.
"He's going to kill us."
"HUH?"
Will rolled his eyes. Turned his head so that Shaw could read his lips as he mouthed the words soundlessly: K-ILL U-SSS.
"Got it?"
"OH! KILL US!"
The mercenary chuckled. "Got it in one. Any last words?"
"A question."
"Go on."
"What's your name?" Will asked.
"Tiger Derry. And it's the last name you'll ever know, kid. Should've thought about it all a bit more."
Everything crashed together at once. Will stood there, next to Captain Shaw, waiting for Tiger Derry's rifle to riddle his body with holes. But when the weapon's fire came, it was from above his head, not in front of him. He looked up, saw the energy bolts spreading out in a wide circle, and instinctively moved out of the way. A good thing too, because in the next moment both Punk and Hawk came crashing down, riding the piece of ceiling as it thundered to the floor.
Tiger didn't have time to react. Fire lanced the air around him and he ducked back, drawing his weapon and then seeing it was a futile effort.
"Run! Get outta here!" Tiger snapped at his employer.
Will got down to the floor, slapped Jessica's face. "Jess! Wake up!"
Hawk and Punk were unstoppable. Two of Tiger's henchmen tried to fight, got caught in the aggressive firing pattern and were mown down, cut through with holes. As Punk zeroed in, his face a vicious snarl, Tiger lifted one of the fallen men and held him as a shield from what was coming his way.
In his haste to flee, Matz then crashed into the side of the mercenary and he dropped his human shield, along with several pieces of equipment from his belt.
"Go on! Run, ya yella toad!" Punk yelled at the departing crime lord. Tiger followed hot on his tail.
Hawk dashed back from a large, rotund man, and raised his gun. The m
an knocked it out of his hand, it slid away to his left. He freed the kataan of its holder and held it in front of him. The man lunged for him. Hawk stepped in close, brought the blade up, sliced straight through his arm, severing it at the armpit.
"Sorry, fella, no choice," Hawk said, shoving the bawling man away.
Will looked up to where Tiger Derry's equipment had dropped from his belt and noticed a familiar object. "Ah!" He scrambled toward it, found the on switch, and pointed it. It worked, and was idiot proof.
Punk continued firing, and while he did Shaw hovered over Ardai's shoulder.
"WHAT'S THAT THEN?"
"A containment shroud." He used it to gather both Barbie and Jessica in one hit. They floated together, looking as though they'd simply fallen to sleep. Beyond the broken wall of the place, Meryl peered up, hand covering her eyes.
"Uh, guys?" A brilliant white light shone down from above, making it appear as though she had been delivered from a higher plane. "Probably a good idea to get aboard, I think."
"You're right."
The light became more intense as the Spectre lowered as far as she was able, then dropped several wires by which to reach the ship. Will floated Barbie and Jessica to the wires, then set about stringing them both up by their feet.
Meryl grabbed one and it automatically sped her away. Shaw was next, his deep booming voice trailing away to nothing as he rose up into the Spectre, as the ship hovered next to the building. Hawk and Punk ran, grabbed a wire each and was gone. Will lashed a wire around Barbie's waist, and watched as the Mantipor rose above the chaos. He did the same for Jessica's, only this time he clung on too.
There will be payback for this, Will told himself. And I don't doubt Shaw and I will have a run in with Tiger Derry somewhere down the line . . .
The crew back aboard, the Spectre took off, blasting away from Amity's surface and racing out in to space. Moments later and they were gone. Jumped.
10.
"Shall I prepare and send the latest data packet?" Dana asked.
Protocol dictated that during such dangerous operations, command be kept updated with the latest information regarding the mission's progress. Sent at regular intervals, it ensured someone back at command knew where the Intrepid was at all times.
"Negative, maintain silence," Chang said.
"Understood."
"Chief, any way we can mask our presence?"
Kolvin ran a hand over his white whiskers. "If we drop the Intrepid to one-third engine power and cease all but essential scanners, we should be afforded a certain amount of anonymity."
Chang turned to Banks. "Do it. Relay the order throughout the ship."
"Aye."
"Dana, we've followed this trail for hours now. Any conjecture on where they're headed?"
"Their course deviates, it's almost as if they're searching for something. Finding their bearings."
"Strange."
"Yes. But using what data we have, I have been able to extrapolate their likely end point," Dana brought a visual representation of her work up on the viewscreen. It appeared as a simplistic map and showed their own course and that of the Amarax. The Intrepid currently coasted between systems, through the noxious nebulous matter of the Cluster itself.
The course of the Amarax extended out ahead of them, and the map zoomed out to reveal the end-point. It didn't look like a whole system. More, half of one.
"What is that?"
"It was once a sun, and three planets," Dana answered. "Now it is a sun and what remains of those planets. Mainly debris and ice."
Dr. Gentry cleared his throat. "Evidently, some catastrophic event took place, such as an external body entering the system and causing the planets to fall out of orbit, causing their eventual destruction. Why they're in the state they are now."
"Okay. And that means . . ."
"There is a band of fine material around the sun there. That's where the end-point appears to be."
Chang frowned. "When you say fine material, I'm assuming you both mean it is traversable with a starship."
"Exactly," Gentry said. "Little more than football-sized chunks of ice and rock. Nothing our energy shields can't cope with or, in the case of the Amarax, an incredibly strong hull."
"That'd work," Banks said.
Chang got up, walked to the front of the bridge. She rested a hand on Ensign Gordon's shoulder. "Okay, here's what I want you to do when we get there. Come in here, just in front of this larger debris field. The chunks seem far larger there. It should be easier to duck in behind one of them, use its sensor shadow to conceal the Intrepid."
"Yes Captain," Alanna Gordon said.
"Then what? If they can't see us, we can't see them," Banks said.
"Technically, not true," Dr. Gentry said. "Remember, the Intrepid will be blind, but her probes and fighters will not."
"Ah. So that's what you're thinking."
Captain Chang crossed her arms. She looked at the map on the screen. "We use the debris to our advantage. A small convoy leaves the Intrepid, full stealth formation, and flies recon to locate the Amarax."
"It won't be hard to locate," Chief Kolvin said. "Given its sheer size. But how will we track it?"
"A live feed from the fighter in question will allow me to calculate the position of the Amarax in relation to the natural orbital dynamics of this system."
"I don't understand why we can't use a long-range scan to locate the Namar," Ensign Gordon said. "Wouldn't it be easier?"
"It would," Gentry told her. "But our scans would be detected by the enemy and, second to that, the sheer amount of debris in this system would cause far too much interference."
"Chief, anything we can do to ensure the fighters are as invisible as possible?" Chang asked.
Kolvin considered. "If they're not going to be employed on extensive duty, I can disable several systems to cut emissions and radiation. But after a couple of hours the fighters will overheat, making the piloting of them unfeasible . . . and unsafe."
"I volunteer myself for it," Banks said. "Next to the Ensign over there, I'm pretty much the best pilot we've got. I can be back in time, I know it."
"I don't want my second in command out there doing this, Kyle," Chang said. "Besides there are other pilots aboard the Intrepid whom I'm sure would be just as eager."
"But none of them as good as me."
She couldn't argue with him, nor could she deny his point. She looked him over. How long had they served together? Long enough to know he could be depended upon, that he wouldn't throw his life away. If Kyle Banks volunteered for something, it was either because he knew it would work, or that he was the best suited to pull it off.
"Okay. But choose someone else to go with you, otherwise you won't do it in time."
Banks gave a curt nod. "Understood," then he left the bridge.
Kolvin followed him out. "It'll take me an hour to prep the fighters, Captain."
"That's fine, Chief. So long as they're ready to go when we get there."
"Aye, they will be."
Chang sat down. "How long till we reach that system?"
"At current speed, three hours," Dana said.
"Prepare the data packet, then. Inform command of our belief that we are closing in on the Amarax. Suspected coordinates withheld until we can confirm for definite they are there. I only want to send it once After all, this is a top secret mission."
* * *
Banks watched Chip go to work on two of the fighters, disabling entire sections of their exhaust and coolant units. Of course, sound does not carry in a void. But a ship – of any size – must expend exhaust and heat. Those functions could be suspended for a while; there were other ways to get rid of heat, but not for any extended amount of time. The coolant cells would prove useless after a couple of hours.
"Where did you get him from, anyway?" Banks asked the Chief.
"It's a long story, Lieutenant-Commander. But an interesting one. When things have settled down, I don't mind telli
ng you."
"I'd be interested to hear it."
"Good. You bring the bottle and I'll provide the tale. As it would be on my home planet."
Banks smiled. "And mine."
"Touché."
Banks regarded Chip. "Big brute, though, eh?"
"Oh, definitely so. But completely reliable. It is actually against his programming to harm anyone aboard this ship. He can protect the crew from danger, but not at the expense of life itself. In fact, any sentient life, human or not."
"So you're saying that in a firefight, he couldn't actually shoot someone?"
The Chief scratched the side of his face. "Not to kill. But he could if he decided it would save lives, and not cause any more to end."
"Sounds complicated."
"It is. But the important part is that, though he'd be totally capable, he is not a killing machine. Can you imagine if something his size, with his theoretical strength, were used in a combat situation?" Kolvin shook his head. "It doesn't bear thinking about."
"He makes short work of stuff like that," Banks nodded in the direction of the Android. "I don't think a human could do better."
"Yeah, well, he'll never replace real hands, real people."
"How come?"
The Chief sighed. "It's a hard one. Chip is artificially intelligent. He can hold a conversation, he can whip your behind at chess. He can seem as if he empathises with you, even cares about you . . . and to be honest, I'm convinced that's actually the case. There seems a lot more going on inside that robot than I'm led to believe. However he lacks that something that makes us who we are. You know what I'm saying? Chip wouldn't take a risk on the small chance his efforts might succeed. Whereas we're more inclined to do so."
Chip closed up one fighter and moved on to the next.
"You're saying that he lacks our negative aspects."
"Yes. Human, Gobol, Alpor, whatever . . . we all seem to share the same faults. And they are what makes us who we are. Our faculties define us, in a way, as much as our great failures and accomplishments. Chip and those like him are flat, for lack of a better word. He can do everything we can, but he can never love or hate. He could never risk something that might endanger the whole ship because it might work. That's not enough for Chip."
