These Scrappers must be the failed Void experiments Iaka’s old boss mentioned. Marcus frowned. Why the hell would they have wanted with a feed from the council chambers?
“Why did these scrappers have you kidnap Solomon?” Dra’kor asked.
“They required a hacker to get them access to your camera feeds. They didn’t specify who, just someone good enough to get the job done. I admit I selected Mr. Keys. I figured as long as I had to get someone to do the job I might as well cause a little discomfort to an old enemy. That turned out to be a poor decision on my part. Anyway I overhead my partner talking to his master. It seems they wanted to learn when especially valuable shipments would be heading out so they could ambush them.”
“Did they mention how they planned to ambush them or where?” Dra’kor asked.
“It seems they stole a device from their makers capable of dragging a ship out of hyperspace. They called it a Hyperwave Generator. I admit the science is well beyond me. The idea was to set up in a secluded spot on the target’s route, force it out of hyperspace, and attack before they recovered from the surprise.”
“This is very important,” Dra’kor said. “Do you know where the Scrappers’ master is located?”
Dorn lip curled in knowing smile. “If I did, what would it be worth to you?”
“It’s worth enough that if you don’t tell me I’ll strap you into a brain scanner and rip the information out of your head.” Dra’kor spoke in such a cold voice for a moment Marcus thought he might do it.
It appeared Dorn thought so too. “All I know was the name of a city, Sidwell they called it.”
Dra’kor nodded. “Thank you.”
A moment later a pair of Vencar in silver masks and white, form fitting, battle armor entered the room. Dra’kor pointed at Dorn. “Take him to a holding cell.”
Without a word the soldiers took Dorn by the arms and half carried half dragged him out of the room. When they’d gone Marcus asked, “What’s a Hyperwave Generator?”
Dra’kor sighed behind his mask. “Something that shouldn’t exist. Our scientists came up with the idea centuries ago. They theorized that a ship could move even faster through hyperspace if they could generate waves to push it along. They believed with these waves they could travel to the next galaxy and return in a few years. Though the theory was sound no one ever created a functional Hyperwave Generator.”
“Is this something else Sar’ken stole when he left your world?” Iaka asked.
“Apparently. And like everything else he ever touched, Sar’ken has corrupted it, taken a potentially revolutionary tool and turning it into a weapon. I hate to ask you to go into danger again, my friend, but we can’t allow these Scrappers to retain possession of the generator.”
Marcus nodded. He’d seen this coming as soon as Dorn mentioned the generator. “This is what you pay me for. If you can find Sidwell, I’ll be happy to smash their generator for you.”
“No, Marcus, you mustn’t destroy it. I need you to bring it back intact.”
Marcus frowned. “Wouldn’t it be easier to destroy it? Once it’s smashed the Scrappers won’t be able to use it anymore, problem solved.”
“The problem is far bigger than a few unfortunate beings getting their hands on a weapon. Even if this is their only prototype the Void have the knowledge to build another. We need to learn how it works so we can figure out how to counteract it. Until we know that hyperspace travel will be at the mercy of the Void, and we both know how little mercy Sar’ken and his followers possess.”
“I can’t argue with you there, boss. Okay, I’ll get the Star ready to move.”
“I’ll help just as soon as I get the spyware stripped out of camera system.” Solomon got to his feet. “Shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”
Iaka stood as well. “I’ll see what I can dig up on the city of Sidwell.”
Marcus shot her an enquiring look. “I thought you didn’t want to do this sort of work anymore?”
She chewed her lip for a moment. “I don’t want to get shot at and run for my life anymore, but I’ve thought about what you do a lot on the way back from Dorn’s. It’s horrible, but someone needs to do it and you have the best combination of skills to do it well. I can’t go back in the field with you; it’s just too much for me, at the moment anyway. What I can do is help with research. I’m good at it. I spent a lot of time in the library in college. I want to help and this is the best way I can.”
Marcus grinned. “I knew you wouldn’t quit on me. Let’s do this.”
14
Corath was a planet on the brink. From their position in orbit most of the largest continent filled the screen. Deep pits and shafts pocked the surface. Didn’t look like much grew on the surface. No large patches of green to indicate fields or forests. According to Iaka, eighty years ago someone had discovered some rare mineral Marcus couldn’t pronounce and a rush of miners, from huge mega corporations to individuals hoping to scrape a few ounces out of the ground, descended on Corath.
The good news was no intelligent life evolved down there, the bad news was pretty much all the animals and plants died during the mining rush and the ones that survived starved over the next thirty years. A lot of people made a lot of money over fifty years, and lot more lost everything. Those unfortunates had no way off the near dead rock so they all clustered in the one city that remained functioning, more or less, near one of the few unpolluted rivers on the planet. It was an oasis of life on the dead world. Apparently it survived because the people who built the city did so on the ruins of a colony that some dead race abandoned a thousand plus years ago. The name of the abandoned city was Sidwell.
Marcus wasn’t sure what impressed him more, that she located the name of an ancient city on a mud ball of a planet he’d never heard of, or that she’d done it in about five hours. Marcus flew around to the dark side of Corath. The lights of the city glittered in the dark, making it easy to spot.
“How bad do you think this is going to be?” Solomon asked.
Marcus shrugged. “About like usual I suppose.”
That drew a wince from Solomon. “That bad, huh?”
Marcus laughed and pointed the ship toward the lights. Part of him wished Iaka had agreed to come along, but another part was glad she remained safe back at the council. Before they left she’d kissed him in a way that made it clear she still had feelings for him. That alone had put him at ease, not to mention giving him another reason to come home in one piece.
“Scanners are clear. I don’t see any weapons, or combat ships.”
Marcus glanced up from the controls. They were in the atmosphere and approaching the city at just under mach one. He didn’t want to blow out anyone’s windows, it wasn’t a good way to make a first impression. “See anything that looks like a landing field?”
Solomon studied the scanners then threw up his hands. “There aren’t any ships of any sort. There’s a big patch of dirt about a quarter mile outside the city limits. That looks as good as anywhere. What kind of city is this? They ought to have flyers of some sort.”
Marcus spotted the dirt patch Solomon mentioned, circled it once, and brought the ship in for a landing. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe I’ll get a better idea once I reach the city itself. What’s the atmosphere like out there?”
Solomon tapped at his computer. “Thin, but breathable. If you’re going in alone you better wear your armor.”
He shook his head. The only way he’d find the Scrappers was to talk to the locals and he doubted they want to talk to someone in a suit of armor. Once he found them and got a feel for what he was walking into he might come back and change. “I’ll scout it out in plain clothes first.”
Marcus got up and popped a tiny ear bud into his right ear. “I’ll keep the channel open so you can hear what’s happening.”
“Alright, be careful.”
Marcus grinned at the absurdity of that idea. “Keep the ship sealed tight. Anything other than me comes cl
ose shoot first ask questions later.”
“Roger, good luck.”
Marcus patted Solomon on the shoulder and left the cockpit. It was a lonely walk back to the hold without Iaka to keep him company. He loaded up with weapons, personal shield, gauntlet, and a data slate with a direct link to the ship in case Solomon needed to do any computer work. It was a new system they rigged up so Solomon could stay safe on the ship and still bring his particular skills to bear when necessary. It was safer for everyone as Solomon in the field was as much a danger to Marcus as the enemy.
Satisfied that he was as ready as he could be Marcus left the ship sealed tight behind him. “Sound check. Can you hear me okay?”
“Loud and clear. What’s it like out there?”
“Humid. It looked so dry from orbit. I’m heading for the city. Out.”
Marcus trudged toward the light. The dirt in the clearing crunched under his feet. Even from a distance the city stank, a mixture of unwashed people, rot, and sewage. Marcus tried to breathe shallow, the air would only get worse as he neared the city. Over all he rated this place half a step better than Randon Prime. Beyond the clearing tough, low shrubs whose leaves resembled saw blades grew in clumps. Marcus picked his way through them, not eager to see if those leaves were as sharp as they looked.
Why couldn’t whoever he was after ever live somewhere nice? Blue skies, sweat air, chirping birds, water that didn’t dissolve his skin, and plants without razor blades for leaves, was that too much to ask? Apparently it was since lately it felt like he went from one death trap to the next. Oh well, no one ever said a life of adventure would be pleasant.
He reached the edge of the city. There was nothing that said welcome to Sidwell, or whatever they named the new city. The ground changed to a mix of broken pavement and dirt, and none of the razor leaved bushes seemed to grow in the city. The buildings were a mix of well built, low, cement towers with ramshackle wood and metal additions tacked to the sides by whoever built them. Code enforcement seemed quite lax. Even stranger Marcus hadn’t seen a single person. Lights burned in a few of the windows, but even if it was night, you’d think there’d be at least a few people outside; walking through the empty city gave him the creeps.
He’d been walking for a while, trying to find a sewer access or tunnel or something that would take him underground, when a series of low groans reached him. He stopped and listened closer. Where were they coming from? He turned his head to the right. Definitely that way. The groans didn’t sound pained, rather half asleep, like him when he first woke up after a hard night of drinking. Had he located the largest group hangover in history?
Marcus followed the groans to a low, rough built single story building. Light spilled out a doorway with nothing but a pair of swing half doors to keep out the weather. It looked like a bar. That would explain the groans except it was too early in the evening for hangovers to set in. Curious, Marcus put a hand on the grip of his blaster and pushed through the doors.
If it was a bar it was the weirdest one Marcus had ever seen. Twenty patrons sat in recliners staring at nothing and groaning like a chorus of the damned. Aside from the people in their chairs the inside was empty. Marcus pulled his blaster. Something stank and it wasn’t garbage on the streets outside. He walked over to the nearest chair. An emaciated Terran Major, his fur falling out in clumps, sat staring straight ahead, a little trickle of drool in the corner of his mouth. Marcus waved his hand in front of the alien’s unblinking eyes. Nothing, no reaction of any sort. He snapped his fingers a couple times and still got nothing.
“There’s something weird going on here, pal.” Marcus described the scene.
“Sounds like a drug parlor,” Solomon said.
“I thought about that, but they’re not hooked up to anything.” Marcus turned the Terran’s arm over and parted the fur around his elbow. No needle tracks or bruising. “They might use some kind of pills.”
“Use the probe in your slate to get a blood sample. I can analyze it and tell you for sure.”
“I’m not sure it’s important.”
“It’ll only take a second to get a drop of blood, and I’m curious now. Please.”
Marcus shrugged and got the slate out of his satchel. After what Solomon went through he’d humor him this much. The probe slid out of a slot on the back of his slate. He pressed a button on the rear of the little pen looking thing and a needle popped out. He poked the Terran Major’s arm and the needle sucked up a bit of blood. Marcus slid the probe back in and hit transmit.
“I got it, thanks.”
Marcus put the slate away and walked to the far end of the building. On the wall beside a second door a gray, metal box hung about head high, a thick cable ran out of the floor into it. It looked like a breaker box, but this place only had lights so it hardly seemed necessary. A smaller black cable ran out the top of the box and out the ceiling. Marcus shook his head and pushed the door open. He couldn’t decide if this was important or a waste of his time.
On the roof directly above the box a satellite dish pointed toward the center of the city. At what he estimated was the exact center of the city stood a tower covered satellite dishes, each pointing in a different direction. It wouldn’t have surprised Marcus to find one of them pointed right where he stood.
“The blood’s clean, Marcus. Whatever’s wrong with them it isn’t drugs.”
“Can you scan for all transmissions in the city? There’s a tower in the center of the city and I think it’s transmitting something to this building.”
“Just a sec.” Marcus imagined his friend’s fingers flying over his keyboard. “I’m picking up something, but it’s flowing to the tower not the other way around.”
Now completely confused Marcus tried to understand the situation and failed. What the hell was happening? Footsteps and rustling from up the street caught his attention. Marcus ducked back inside and pressed his back flat against the wall. He waited, hardly daring to breathe, for a few minutes, before poking his head out the door. A Void assassin in black battle fatigues walked down the street, its flat black mask pointed straight at the tower. The sensors in their masks must let them detect whatever signal Solomon picked up. It looked focused on the tower. Whatever was happening in this city, that tower was the center of it and not just geographically.
Marcus let the assassin get a good lead then slipped out to follow him. It didn’t look like he’d have any trouble, the masked figure walked in a straight line towards its target. As long as it doesn’t turn around Marcus figured he could walk down the middle of the street without a worry. He wouldn’t, of course. For all he knew there might be more of killers wondering the city.
Slipping from shadow to shadow, Marcus followed the Void assassin for three blocks before it paused and raised its masked head. Marcus ducked into a doorway and kept still in the deep, dark shadows. Hardly breathing, praying Solomon wouldn’t choose that moment to talk to him, Marcus waited for the assassin to move on.
An energy blast streaked in from an unseen weapon and skipped off the assassin’s shield. The assassin came to life then, raising its weapon module and firing a burst of green, disrupter energy at whoever shot at it. Another blast streaked in from the opposite direction and doing the masked man no more harm than the first shot. There were at least two snipers out there, but if they had nothing more potent than blaster rifles they wouldn’t last long against the assassin who spun to fire a blast of green energy at the second sniper.
Marcus debated helping the snipers, at this range he could put a blast through the assassin’s mask with no trouble, but he didn’t know who was attacking. He’d feel awfully stupid if he killed the assassin only to have the snipers turn their weapons on him. Better to let the assassin deal with the snipers then follow along behind.
The snipers alternated bouncing shots of the assassin’s shield for a minute or so before it got impatient, fiddled with its weapons module, and fired a micro missile at one of the snipers. An explosion near the top
of one of the towers preceded a body falling to the ground. One down. After the missile no more shots came from the remaining sniper. After a few seconds the assassin appeared to decide it was safe to move on and walked down the road just like nothing had happened.
Once the assassin moved a ways down the road Marcus ran over to the dead sniper. A near human, his legs replaced by steel pillars ending in tank tracks, laid in a blood spatter eight feet in diameter. So the Scrapers were here after all and the Void knew it as well. It seemed they were in a race to claim the Hyperwave Generator. A race Marcus had to win.
15
Marcus crouched behind a pile of concrete and bent girders across from the tower. Up close he counted twenty dishes point all over the city. He would have bet good credits each dish pointed at a building like the one he found earlier. Why, he still had no idea. Gathered around the base of the tower stood half a dozen Void assassins. The one Marcus followed was the last to arrive. Either no one attacked the others, or they dealt with their opponents faster.
“I’m not detecting any ships.” After Solomon recovered from the shock of hearing Void assassins were wondering the city Marcus told him to scan the area for any sign of their transport. “If they’re stealth capable like us, or they just powered down their reactor I might not pick them up.”
It had been a long shot anyway. The Void were too sophisticated to get found that easily. “That’s okay. Keep your scanners working. If reinforcements arrive I need to know.”
“Got it. Watch your back.”
Marcus wasn’t worried about his back; the killers were in front of him. How could he get into the tower with Void assassins surrounding it? He had his shield, penetrating blasters, and good cover. He might take all six assassins by himself, but the prospect didn’t thrill him. Adventure was one thing, but that was suicide. He was still debating when crimson blaster bolts came streaming out of the base of the tower. Judging from the size of the bursts and the fact that they all skipped off the assassins’ shields the Scrappers must only have hand weapons. That would slow the assassins down, but not stop them.
Children of Junk (Rogue Star Book 3) Page 11
