by DJ Morand
It must be the EXO Prime, she thought.
“Come on E, you know it is.” She said aloud.
Despite what she felt to be true, Echo didn’t have proof the EXO Prime was involved. In a time like this she wanted the attack to be the EXO Prime. If it were she would at least be hunting for Zee’s killer when the Justice took off. She rarely discounted her feelings, they were almost always right. The attack on Quintar IV by the URSA gunship was not the only thing that unnerved her. Abel had come the moment someone attacked the city,attacked the EFNF base to be precise. She looked back at the base. It was in the distance now, she had wandered far enough away that she could no longer see the rubble.
Standing out from the base was the sky elevator. The structure reached into the sky like a lone tower. She followed the line into the clouds where it disappeared. The Justice would be in the facility at the end of that line. She suspected this was part of the reason she and her crew were being sent out. The TP-D Justice was the only vessel capable of launch right now. The civilian port was still functioning, but they couldn’t handle anything much bigger than a gunship.
A gunship? Echo thought. Did it come from the civilian port?
The thought disturbed her and she couldn’t help but draw the correlation. She wondered if Abel had known about the attack, or had staged it. Echo knew Abel was prone to brash action. In the attack he had come to save only her. His recklessness unnerved Echo. He was foolish enough to do anything for her. It was why she had sided with the Fleet Admiral and alienated him. His dedication had frightened her.
Abel would not have planned the attack, she decided.
The thought startled her as she realized she was considering that he had. She felt a connection to him. Every time he stepped in to her life he impacted her. Part of her loved it, and part of her loathed him for it. As an officer of the Exodus Fleet Naval Force, Echo Shade knew her limitations, but she knew her strengths as well. Abel on the other hand continually proved he would act to save her whether she believed she needed it or not.
“Are you mad because he helped you? Or are you mad because he’s better than you?” Echo asked herself.
Neither, she barked internally.
If she was honest with herself she would come to the realization that it was both. Echo loved Abel, for all of her attempts to do otherwise, she loved him. His reticence for order and his snap judgments worried her. However, for all of his flaws he would always be more skilled than she. It infuriated her. Echo had trained for years to get as good as she was. It seemed that Abel hardly had to try.
He’s older than you, the pragmatic voice in her mind offered.
“That’s another problem,” she grumped.
Echo stopped and looked up. She had been walking for the better part of an hour and she was now in the civilian port, at the edge of it anyway. Something possessed her then. She knew Abel had flown out of the civilian port, which meant he either had made his way there very quickly or he was staying nearby. He was likely in the port itself. Echo ducked into the cantina she was about to pass and sought out the first Quintarran she saw.
If anyone knows where Abel is hiding the Quintarrans will, she reasoned.
“Esucxe em,” Excuse me, she said tapping a Quintarran man on the shoulder.
“Olleh. Yam E pleh ouy?” Hello, May I help you. The Quintarran said. He was short for one of her mother’s people, nearly as short as her. His skin had a sky blue tone to it and his eyes were nearly all white.
“Sey. E ma Edahs Ohce,” Yes, I am Echo Shade, Echo said. “E ma gnikool rof Naic Leba.” I am looking for Abel Cain, she used the Quintarran form of address although most would have tried to pronounce his name properly.
“Sey! Ew was mih ni eht kcatta, sih pihs dehsarc. A namow thguorb mih kcab a wef syad oga.” Yes! We saw him in the attack, his ship crashed. A woman brought him back a few days ago. The Quintarran smiled and told her where Abel had been staying.
The Quintarrans had been keeping a close eye on their hero. They had seen him suit up in the SATYR armor and take a RAVEN-S to fight the URSA gunship. The man had also told her of the fights that had broken out in the cantinas and warned her away from any others. He had explained that some claimed it was the Kodiak that attacked the city, humans mostly. When it was said within hearing of a Quintarran a fight broke out.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe the attack was more than a stunt to draw out Abel, Echo thought. If the EXO Prime wanted to cause this kind of dissention with the EFNF and the Remnant the suspicious nature of the ship and the attack makes sense.
Echo proceeded to seek out the hangar number given to her by the Quintarran. She was nervous. Echo had not expected that Abel was involved with another woman. The Quintarran’s description of a fiery redhead made her blood boil just a bit.
Jealous E? She asked herself.
She ignored her own question. As she rounded the corner she saw the Kodiak, at least it looked like the Kodiak. As she drew nearer it became apparent it was a different ship entirely. The Quantum plating was broken into smaller parts, instead of four plates there were now eight. The ship was very similar, but subtle differences continued to catch her attention. The main anti-matter cannon had been replaced with two Gatling style turrets. Forward and rear nacelles she noticed winged protrusions had been added.
That should aid with atmospheric maneuvers, she assessed, understanding Abel’s design.
She did not need to see the missile bays to know where they were. The Justice had hard-points just like it. However, she had not expected them alongside the nose of the ship. It still resembled an URSA class gunship, but it was not the same, this bird was meant for war. The Kodiak had relied on precision technique. This gunship was a war-bird, a blunt instrument of destruction. She feared for any one that got between Abel and his prey. He was going on the hunt for vengeance.
Who is his prey now, though? The EXO Prime? The EFNF? Maybe both, Echo thought.
“She is a beauty,” a soft, hard voice said from behind her.
Echo turned around and saw the woman that had been described to her. Echo felt plain next to this woman. She was keenly aware of her own shortcomings as she sized up Aurora Rigel. The woman was an attractive redheaded bombshell. Next to herself, Echo could only recognize their differences. Aurora was tall while Echo was shorter. The woman had a light tan and very human skin. Echo frowned at the blue tinge of her own skin. She immediately felt out of place, like she often did around humans - or Quintarrans for that matter. Echo could see the appeal of Aurora Rigel and she did not measure up.
If he has her, Echo started. What would he want with me?
“It is.” Echo said pointing up at the gunship. “URSA class, Modified.””
“It is not technically an URSA class, it uses the same frame, but the vessel no longer uses radio-graphics,” Aurora said.
Echo couldn’t stand the sound of her perfect melodic voice. It had the deep husky quality that drove men mad. Echo’s own voice was higher in pitch, she felt it drove men mad too, but for different reasons.
Aurora continued, “Abel termed it an ATLAS-V class, the Aluminum-Titanium Laser Assisted Superluminal Vessel. The plating is lighter and the magnetic field output has been increased by seventy percent,” Aurora pursed her lips.
Echo wanted to hit her. She wanted to shut Aurora up, but the woman still spoke as if Echo wasn’t there.
“It far outstrips the Kodiak, or any URSA model. Including the one that showed up a few days ago.” Aurora said.
Aurora’s voice was melodic, but her tone was decidedly cold. Echo hated her already. She could not deny the assessment of the ship and she couldn’t deny how the way Aurora said Abel’s name made her blood boil. The woman said his name like it was something delicate and dear to her.
The whole exchange angered Echo, she could feel the rage festering in her gut, threatening to spill over. However, there was something about Aurora she couldn’t catch - something elusive. The woman infuriated Echo and she began t
o fantasize about smashing her face into the ground.
Echo took a deep breath, “Is Abel here?”
Aurora nodded towards the ATLAS-V, “He’s in there. Abel is working to integrate the computer system as I understand it. He’s worried that the loss of his co-pilot will affect her ability to fly.”
Echo nearly lost herself. Something about the offhand way Aurora mentioned Zee’s death stiffened Echo’s back. She found herself clenching her fists and new images of stuffing Aurora into the exhaust port of the Justice mid-flight sprung to mind. Echo disliked this woman and she was starting to get the sense that Abel was more a fool than she thought. Echo nodded to Aurora and started to walk over to the ATLAS-V when she heard Aurora mutter something.
“What?” Echo said.
“I said,” Aurora raised her voice slightly. “He didn’t do it for you. The Quintarrans were in trouble, he went to save them. You were just a footnote.” Aurora turned and walked away.
Echo watched the seductive sway of her hips and ground her teeth. She couldn’t understand why men couldn’t see past an attractive body and to the heart of a person.
You didn’t see past Abel’s façade at first, she chided. That woman is proof it wasn’’t a façade, she barked.
Echo huffed at herself and knocked on the starboard docking door. The door opened spiraling out from the center. She heard something from the command deck. It sounded like Abel telling Aurora to come aboard and that she didn’t need to knock. Echo felt the heat in her face and she wasn’t sure if she was seeing red or if the emergency lights were on.
Abel looked up to see Echo and his body froze, “Echo.” The tone of his voice was filled with wonder, surprise, and pain.
Echo could tell her presence was painful for him, it had been ever since Zee saved them. Echo stared too. Her heart fluttered in his presence, despite her anger. She tried to steel herself. Then she tried to yell at him. Echo couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
She took a step forward and noticed that the chairs were not quantum locked. That saddened her a bit. It was another sign that the boyishness of Abel was dying, that he had left that part of himself with Zee on the funeral pyre.
Didn’t you hate that he was a boy? She asked herself.
“So, Atlas. Just like you said.” Echo had her hands behind her back and she looked at the floor.
“Yeah. Aluminum-Titanium--”
“Aurora told me,” Echo interrupted. She didn’t want to bring the woman up. Her feelings were still too raw for that. “Have you flown her yet?”
Abel gave her an odd look and Echo backtracked quickly, “The Atlas I mean, not … not--” Echo’s face flushed.
“No, I haven’t,” Abel said. “Either one.”” He added with a mischievous grin.
Echo’s face flushed more.
“That’s a good color for you,” Abel said with a chuckle.
Echo could hear the pain in his voice, but there was a hint of his old self there. She hoped that Abel wasn’t all lost. Losing Zee had been painful, but losing Abel seemed cruel.
“Abel,” Echo said.
“Don’t.”
“But--” she started.
“I said don’t,” Abel said more firmly.
“Fine,” Her tone was ice.
“Don’t do that either Echo,” he said. “Why are you here?”” The fire crept into his voice again.
Echo couldn’t help but correlate his fire and the ice in her.
How did we ever get along? She thought.
“I wanted to say goodbye, in case …” She couldn’t finish.
“In case what?”
“In case I don’t make it back. The Justice is going after that URSA. I think it is the EXO Prime’s doing, maybe even Mercury Frinz if he is still alive,” Echo let it all spill out. She wanted to express her love, to grasp a hold of him and melt into his arms, but she dared not.
“You’ll make it back,” Abel said. What he couldn’t say was goodbye. He refused to believe he could lose Echo, she was stronger now than before. Abel knew he had interrupted Echo’s assault on the URSA vessel, but he understood now, it had not been necessary. Echo would have found the weaknesses eventually; she was a fully capable commander.
“If I don’t--” she said before Abel interrupted her. He put his hand on her shoulder and leaned in. She thought he might kiss her, then he shook his head.
“Don’t say it. You’ll make it back.”
Echo nodded. His proximity had stolen her voice again. She could smell him, the musky odor of manliness that she loved and hated. He did not smell terrible, but it struck her as odd. A part of her wanted to breathe him in and the other more logical part wanted him to take a bath.
“Be safe,” Echo said and turned to walk away.
“You know me,” Abel said.
“Yes, I do. That’s why I said it,” Echo said.
17: SPACE ELEVATOR
Quintar IV - EFNF Alpha Base: Production Facility
2973 ESD - Monday, May 31st 12:00 hours
Echo had left Abel in the civilian port hangar. They hadn’t said anything more. Abel watched her go. Echo turned back once, but Abel had already gone back to tinkering with the computers. She hoped he would be safe. Her feelings for him were real, but Abel wasn’t the man she had fallen for - something had changed in him.
Echo did not see Aurora as she left and she was glad for it. Her mission was all that mattered now. She had lost Zee and she felt like she was losing Abel as well. Echo’s heart knew that killing the EXO Prime would not bring Zee back, but she hoped it would save Abel.
The civilian port was beginning to bustle with activity. Echo ignored them. The cargo trucks carried supplies to various hangars and for a moment she wondered if any were bound for Abel’s hangar.
Drop it, E. God you have to stop obsessing over him, she scolded herself. Echo nodded and closed her eyes. Something small ran into her. She opened her eyes, but nothing was there. Echo turned and looked behind her, but she saw no one.
She shook her head and continued. Behind her, a few feet away, a small insectile creature depressed a button on a hand held device. It looked at the device and then disappeared into the shadows.
* * * *
Quintar IV - EFNF Alpha Base: Production Facility
2973 ESD - Monday, May 31st 12:45 hours
The trip back to the EFNF facilities had been uneventful. Echo stopped by the apartments and dressed into her military uniform. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail before wrapping it into a bun. The silver nameplate on her left breast read Cpt. E. Shade. She polished the surface and donned her shoulder holster. The plasma pistol felt cool against the side of her thin uniform. The material was made for maneuverability and to allow the body to breathe. It did little to shelter against external elements though.
The weather was beginning to warm on Quintar IV so accompanying cool weather clothing was not something she wanted to wear. If she needed it aboard the Justice it could be made. She exited her apartment and scratched at her elbow. The spot had a small red bump. She assumed she’d been bitten by something indigenous.
If it gets worse I’ll have the medic take a look, she thought.
Echo entered the main floor for the elevator transport to the orbital station. The station, where the TP-D Justice had been manufactured was the only vessel in space at the moment. The majority of the production facilities on the ground had been severely damaged and the wreckage was still being cleared. The small number of smaller fighters - RAVEN-F and RAVEN-S - that were intended to be aboard the TP-D would be cut in half. Echo was not sure how she felt about this development. On the one hand fewer fighters meant less mass and thus easier transitions at power. On the other hand it meant they were less prepared for carrier assaults.
She decided that the number of missiles and turrets should protect against a carrier like the Infinity. The URSA gunship they were to pursue would likely not be alone once they found it. The TP-D Justice and her crew had prepared for that
eventuality and Echo thought their chances were good. Just in case, she kept a copy of her modified DINA artificial intelligence program. DINA should be able to handle any exfiltration or emergency landing with minimal casualties. She kept it only as a last resort.
Echo had purposely not mentioned the AI to either Abel or the Fleet Admiral. Both of them had an unnatural hatred of AI. She feared disapproval from Abel, but she feared reprimand from the Fleet Admiral. Andromeda Clark could be forgiving of failure in a training sim, but she would not risk the same in a live operation.
She itched at her elbow again and walked up to the safety scanners. The scanners prevented anyone from bringing unauthorized tech or weapons onboard military vessels. The practice had been implemented to prevent EXO spies from blending with crew members. Echo had designed a small micro transmitter to mask the tech in her left pocket. She drew her plasma pistol and placed it in the bin to her right and entered the scanners. The scanner beeped once like it always did. Echo was about to move through when it beeped again in three rapid pulses.
“Hold on Ma’am,” the guard said. “Something is pinging. Please open your left palm.”
Echo complied and the guard seemed perplexed, “did you fully empty your pockets ma’am?”
“I did,” Echo looked at his rank. “Engineer Tosk.”
Echo reached into her pockets and turned them out. The micro transmitter remained hidden in the pocket lining. The guard looked at Echo and her pockets then checked the scanner again. He reran the scan and the machine beeped once.
“System’s just being a bit odd Captain,” Engineer Tosk replied. “Proceed.”
Echo nodded and walked to the other side. She stuffed her hands back into her pockets and smoothed them out. She retrieved her plasma pistol and re-holstered it. As she made her way towards the elevator entrance the door behind her exploded.
The shrapnel shredded through the guards and she caught a piece of it in her right leg, just above the knee. With lightning precision she drew her plasma pistol and aimed it at the smoking doorway. The smoke began to clear and several figures emerged. She could tell they were EXO because of the sections of missing skin and revealed mechanics beneath.
