by GARY DARBY
Seconds later, the console lighted up with a dozen red peewee lights illuminating the board. At the same time, the on-board compu voice began bawling, “Warning! Breach in compart—”
“Shut up,” Jadar said and slapped the control pad to turn off the sound. “I don’t need for you to tell me the obvious.”
He entered the command for a shipwide diagnostic and waited. Within moments, the readout began to scroll across the center console screen. “Okay,” Jadar muttered, “what do we have, or rather, what don’t we have?”
After a few seconds, he gave a half laugh and said to himself, “Well I’ll be—she might just fly after all.” Though damaged, the engine retained some power, albeit a small amount.
Opening a comms channel, he intoned, “Any Star Scout, Imperium Navy, or SciCorps unit; this is Star Scout Lieutenant Colonel Jadar Marrel. I am declaring an emergency and require immediate assistance. Please respond.”
Biting the inside of his lip in an anxious gesture, Jadar waited for an answer, but none came. He tried one more time, but again, the result was the same. No answer.
In some respects, he wasn’t surprised, but the fact that no one replied to his hail could only mean one thing—the Mongans had swept the planet and surrounding space free of Imperium forces.
Studying the readout again, he muttered to himself, “Planetary Search and Save is working.” With rapid strokes of his fingers, he programmed an auto distress signal while he concentrated on his other problem.
He tapped on the console for a second before nodding his head in satisfaction at the display readings. “The ram’s operable, so if I can just get her over that boulder field, there just might be a way to break through.”
Peering over his shoulder at the wreckage that draped itself over the scouter’s midsection, he frowned. When he lifted, the added weight was going to be a drain on what little power he had left. Right now, he needed every bit he could get from the engine.
“Well,” Jadar muttered, “they say that where there’s a whip, there’s a way. So, let’s see if I can whip this thing around and get rid of all that excess baggage.”
He ran his fingers over the pilot console and brought the engine to life. A metallic squeal came from the ship’s rear while the whole ship seemed to shudder. “Doesn’t sound like the mice are any too happy back there,” he mumbled.
“Okay, here we go,” he said and working what remaining controls he had, began to raise the ship.
The ship was sluggish and slow, causing Jadar to say, “If elephants had wings this is no doubt how they would fly.”
The craft rose off the charred ground, but the fragments of the destroyed ship seemed to cling to the scouter as if they had metal claws embedded into the side.
Jadar brought the ship up just a few meters higher and then rotated it 180 degrees. He side-slipped it over the other scouter’s charred wreckage.
The clinging pieces of metal and sylcron began to catch on the damaged scouter’s blackened remains and with a scraping noise, like a wire brush over a brick wall, began to slide off Jadar’s ship.
With a slight tug, the last and largest fragments pulled free and fell to the earth. Jadar nodded in satisfaction and coaxed the little craft over the hillside before using his thrusters to glide over the landslide until he hovered just above the boulder blocks.
With quick taps on the console, he entered the orders that unlimbered the candium ram. In a typical situation, he would have used the arm-sized and tapered candium-hardened shaft to thrust a sensor probe deep into the rock to measure ground movement around fault lines and volcanoes.
However, Jadar had an entirely different idea for the ultrahard casing.
Maneuvering the rod to where it touched the topmost boulders, he used it to give the rocks three quick, hard jabs with the probe.
Easing the ram back, he waited, and then twice more pounded the rock three times. “All right folks, I hope you got the message to move way back because here goes.”
Jadar brought the rod back into the ship’s belly, entered the command sequence, and hit the initiate button.
Like a battering ram, the candium casing slammed into a boulder, shattering it into fist-sized pieces. Jadar brought the shaft back and again slammed the rod into the rock wall.
Over and over, the casing blasted into the hard rocks, sending a tiny jolt through the ship with each titanic thrust. Jadar maneuvered the scouter over the landslide. With anxious eyes, he watched his power drain more and more the longer he stayed airborne.
He was about to move the ship farther up the incline when his console lights started flickering; the little ship tilted to one side. In frantic haste, Jadar tried to bring the craft under control. “No, no, no,” he yelled out. “Not now!”
Just then, the craft lost all power.
Like a wounded bird in flight, the scouter dropped from the sky to slam into the boulder field. For just a second, it listed to one side in a precarious balancing act before its momentum caused it to roll over.
Almost in slow motion, it tumbled down the incline until with one final spin, it came crashing to a stop, sending up an enormous fountain of gray ash skyward.
Inside the pilot pod, Jadar roused himself and found that the scouter had come to rest on its side. He unlatched the acceleration bars that had held him tight during the wild ride, and using the console as a brace, swung himself down to stand on the copilot’s chair.
He peered down the vessel’s length, and his eyes grew large. A little curl of gas floated upward from the ship’s furthermost part. The engine compartment must have cracked open from the pounding it had taken on the way down and now leaked toxic gas into the ship.
Jadar sucked in a great breath of air and held it while he scrambled over the passenger seats to the airlock. There was only one way out, and he only had what air he held in his lungs to make his escape.
He reached the lock and grabbed the lever to crank open the inner door. Without power to the opening mechanism, he would have to pump the handle until the door opened wide enough so that he could shimmy into the cubicle.
Arms working as fast as he could make them go, Jadar worked the lever up and down until the door cracked open just enough that he was able to reach up and pull himself into the small compartment.
Inside, he grasped the second lever that would open the outer door. Praying that the door mechanism wasn’t damaged, Jadar pushed and pulled on the rigid bar.
With a grinding noise, the door began to slide open. Jadar could feel his lungs start to burn from lack of oxygen. He was running out of air, and the door was opening too slowly.
Wider and wider the door opened, but Jadar knew he was losing his race against time. He wouldn’t have the door slit wide enough before he was forced to take a breath of air. His only hope would be that the noxious gas hadn’t seeped into the airlock.
Jadar thought he was dreaming when out of nowhere, two sets of boots kicked and stomped at the door’s lip causing it to slide forward in one solid lurch.
Hands reached in and roughly yanked Jadar up and out of the airlock. Together, he and his rescuers tumbled off the scouter to land hard on the ground.
Grabbing at the two scouts, Jadar pushed them upwind. Together, the three scouts ran at a stumbling gait before coming to a halt some twenty meters from the broken ship. Bent over with hands on knees, Jadar inhaled to take draughts of clean, fresh air into his lungs.
Finally catching his breath, he eyed his two rescuers and said, “I really need to do more exercises to increase my lung capacity. I’m running out of air way too soon.”
Breathing hard themselves, Chia and Vlad smiled back while Chia waved a hand and answered, “Oh, I don’t know, sir; you seem to have done real good. For an older scout that is.”
“Thanks,” Jadar replied with a little laugh.
Staley and Shar Tuul trotted up to join the small group. Shar peered at Jadar with a little frown and said, “I see you’ve been off having exciting adventures wit
hout me again.”
Jadar straightened. “Yes, sir, and between you and me, I’ve really got to quit having these fun times; the excitement is about to kill me.”
He turned to Staley. “LT, how are we doing?”
“We’re getting the last of the injured out,” she replied. Gesturing at the scouter, she smiled, “That was a heck of an idea, sir, busted a nice hole for us to climb out.”
She wiped the back of her hand across a grimy cheek and spoke in a more somber tone, “For now, we’ll leave Kirsky’s and LeBeau’s bodies inside, reseal the cave so that scavengers don’t get to them.”
Jadar nodded and said, “It’s the only thing we can do.”
He took another deep breath and laid a hand on her forearm, knowing how much it hurt to lose someone under your command. “We’ll come back for them, LT, it just might take a little while.”
“Thank you sir,” she acknowledged, “I appreciate that.”
“In the meantime,” Jadar said as he hooked a thumb toward Chia and Vlad, “we need to take care of some business. Matter of non-judicial punishment regarding these two characters.”
Chia and Vlad swallowed hard and gave each other wide-eyed glances at Jadar’s announcement. Looking the two squarely in the eye, he said, “I gave these two a direct order back in the cave, and they obviously disobeyed.”
He leaned toward the two scouts, his demeanor and expression stern as he faced them. “Which of you violated my directive?”
Chia and Vlad glanced at each other before Vlad said in a low voice, “Not which, sir. It was both of us.”
Chia elbowed Vlad and said, “It was him that pushed you through, sir, and I pulled him back out of the tunnel.”
“Uh huh,” Jadar replied, “and in so doing saved my life but risked both or yours.”
He all but growled, “And what was the order I gave you two undisciplined yahoos?”
The two lowered their heads before Vlad muttered, “That we weren’t to try and rescue you if you got in trouble.”
“But sir,” Chia quickly offered, “we did obey the second part of the order and hurried back and reported to Lieutenant Staley what had happened.”
“That’s right, sir,” Vlad chimed in.
“That they did, sir,” Staley agreed.
“Uh, huh,” Jadar grunted with a frown before saying to Staley, “Lieutenant, these two saved my life twice today and disobeyed me once. What should I do about it?”
Staley wrinkled her nose while she let her eyes inspect the two scouts from head to toe. “Well, sir,” she offered with a little sigh, “I know they’re not much to work with, but I still have high hopes for them. I think it would be a shame to give up on them just yet.”
Jadar turned to Shar. “What do you say, Colonel Tuul? After all, you are the presiding authority here.”
Shar came to stand next to Jadar. With a stern expression, he eyed the two scouts, who had come to rigid attention. Bringing a hand up to squeeze his chin, he sternly said, “Disobeying a senior officer is a serious offense under the Star Scout Code of Justice.”
He gave a little shrug and mused aloud as he said to Jadar, “However, I would interpret the applicable regulation as stating that two rescues versus only one violation during one standard day just about makes it a wash, don’t you think, Colonel Marrel?”
Jadar swung back to the two young scouts who stood stiff, their eyes wide in nervous anticipation of what might be their fate.
He took a step to stand directly in front of them, glaring, hands on his hips. Suddenly, his face cracked into a broad smile and he reached out to grab both of them a bear hug. “Scouts, I thank you for saving my life, twice over.”
He let go and stood back. “You risked your lives for mine and I am in your debt.”
The two bobbed their heads and in sheepish voices mumbled, “You’re welcome, sir.”
Jadar stepped back and asked, “By any chance, did you bring a particular chunk of rock out with you?”
Chia nodded, reached into his torso vest, and handed Jadar the dull gray rock. “Thanks,” Jadar answered and turned to Shar.
He held the rock out. “Found something very interesting during our little hike down there. Take a look at this.”
Shar grasped the rock and turned it over in his hand. The sunlight glinted on the purplish vein, and Shar brought the rock close. His eyes widened as he ran a thumb along the small band. “Is this what I think it is?”
“It’s exactly what you think it is,” Jadar gruffly replied. “Orchid Kolomite.”
He turned and gestured up the hillside toward the cave that the scouts had taken shelter from the Mongan assault. “From what I saw, that hill may be full of this stuff.”
Coming closer to Shar, he murmured, “Remember that Tor’al told Dason that this planet must have something that the Mongans considered crucial, and that’s why they had so many of their ships in the system?”
Reaching out, he hefted the stone so that the sunlight caught the Kolomite vein, highlighting the royal purple streak. “What if it’s this? What if Kolomite is as important to them as it is to us?”
Balancing the rock in his hand, he conjectured, “What if this whole planet is full of Kolomite?”
He stopped to stare at the dark purple that streaked the stone. “And, what if—”
“This is how they blow up a star?” Shar answered for him.
Jadar met Shar’s eyes with his own grim expression. “Yeah, what if . . .”
Chapter Eleven
Star date: 2443.076
Aboard the Sha’anay Battle Cruiser A’Gesi
Sprinting down the burning passageway, Star Scout Captain Bianca Ruz threw herself to one side at a sudden eruption of flames from a nearby hatchway. Fires raged all around, the flames leaping out as if to seize her with red-hot talons.
Smoke stung her eyes, and the acrid smell of scalded metal caused her to take short, quick intakes of breath.
Picking herself up off the hard floor and through the thick haze, she watched Anyar go into a far compartment just as a second explosion ripped through this section of the Sha’anay warship.
The violent backlash sent her sprawling against a side bulkhead. Rubbing at her bruised shoulder she waited for Anyar to reappear, but when he didn’t that could only mean he was in trouble.
She scrambled past tongues of blistering, twisted metal to reach the doorway. The thick smoke seemed to curl in on itself, preventing her from seeing through the dense, gray vapor.
A fountain of bright sparks erupted from a far bulkhead. Shielding her eyes from several jets of flames, Bianca crept low to the floor.
A loud moan caused her to whip her head around at the sound. She ran toward the groaning and stopped.
Anyar!
Pinned beneath a large section of overhead that had crashed down on him, he tried to raise himself but the weight was too great. Moreover, lying next to Anyar was the hulking body of an unconscious Sha’anay.
Bianca leaned into the metal, trying with all her might to push it off the two figures. Together, the two strained with everything they had but the thick, deformed panel along with the heavier gravity found on the Sha’anay vessel proved too much.
They couldn’t make it budge and the flames were growing hotter and lashing out at the two as if the fire held a fiery whip that cracked and popped in the compartment.
Getting down on the floor with her back to the wall for bracing, Bianca placed her feet against the torn metal. “Anyar!” she yelled out. “Push with me! Push!”
Coughing, he replied in a weak whisper, “I’ll try.”
One look at the leaping flames told Bianca that they were running out of time. The fires were spreading and were only meters away from engulfing the helpless human and Sha’anay.
“We’re going to need a little more than try,” Bianca answered in a tight voice.
Straining with every ounce of strength she could muster, Bianca pushed at the unyielding metal. Her face contorted
with the effort, she gurgled, “Now, Anyar, push!”
Once again, the two tried to lift the metal, but it refused to move even a centimeter.
Another explosion caused Bianca to throw up her hands to ward off the searing nuggets of metal that showered down. Smoke billowed from the compartment into the passageway.
Rolling away from the fallen overhead plating, Bianca crawled to Anyar and the Sha’anay. She peered under the metal at the young scout, “I can’t move it,” she gasped out.
Anyar pointed with one finger. “Maybe they can.”
Bianca spun around. Two Sha’anay stood silhouetted in the doorway’s dim light. With quick strides they rushed over, took one look, and without saying a word bent over to grasp the metal slab’s underside.
Grunting, they arched their backs and slowly lifted the weighty panel. Bianca reached in, clenched Anyar’s hands and dragged him out from under the metal.
With Anyar helping, she gripped the unconscious Sha’anay’s arms and tugged him to safety. The two Sha’anay dropped the overhead panel on the deck with a loud clang.
One of the Sha’anay hefted the unconscious warrior over his shoulder and lumbered out of the room. The other shoved Bianca and Anyar into the passageway.
Even carrying their comrade, the two Sha’anay warriors moved fast, causing Bianca and Anyar to break into a lope. Reaching over, Bianca put her arm around Anyar’s waist to help him keep up with the two lumbering aliens.
Without warning, an almost ear-splitting sharp warbling sound erupted through the corridor, rising in high and low notes. The unburdened Sha’anay pulled at Bianca, saying, “We must go, or we will be trapped.”
Spurred on by the Sha’anay, they sprinted through several smoke-filled sections of the ship, the loud warbling rising in pitch and volume. A last note sounded followed by a loud braying that lasted only seconds before it stopped.
From behind them, came the sharp ringing sounds of metal on metal, a solid, resounding clanking that reverberated through the deck plates.
“They’re sealing off this part of the ship!” Anyar yelled.
