"Not unless you give me a good reason to."
"That’s good to know as well, then."
"Captain, all pre-flight checks have been made. We are ready to jump."
"What are you waiting for?" CJ asked impatiently.
It was clear the ship's Captain wanted him to follow protocol, but he had no time for it.
"Do it," he added.
Marks didn't look happy as he carried on and gave the order.
"You don't much like these people, do you?"
The look CJ gave Kaner told him everything he needed to know.
"Neither do I. I don't much like being told what and where to go."
"Then maybe you shouldn't have joined the army...Sir," added Ross.
Mirov smiled. He liked the Scot's sense of humour.
The engines spooled up and were reaching full power as Marks began the countdown.
"Jump in 5,4,3,2,1...jump!"
The usual shift in gravity occurred that would turn most men's stomachs, but CJ felt nothing. It was like any other day for him. With a flash, they were out and on the other side.
"Marmara," declared Marks.
CJ's eyes widened as he recognised the name.
"The Krys outpost?
"Once maybe, but not for some time," replied Marks, "A Cholan convoy was attacked when passing near this region recently, and the last ship that was sent out to investigate did not return."
"I guess they forgot to mention that fact when they handed you the mission?"
"We knew we were getting the shit jobs, Mirov. I don't think anyone was under any illusions about that."
They could see the lights on the surface of a moon in the distance, and the glimmer of a few ships in space between them and the surface.
"Did they really send us here to fight, or to die?" asked Mirov as he began counting the number of ships.
CJ opened the file on his Mappad and skimmed over the mission requirements.
"We aren't here to destroy them. This is a retrieval mission."
"Retrieval of what?" Ross asked, "What could be so important?"
"More important than a ship full of convicts? Quite a number of things I should imagine," replied CJ.
He rubbed his chin as he thought it over and looked at what they had to face.
"What are your orders?"
He did not respond to Captain Marks.
"Captain, if we stay here much longer, we will surely be spotted. We need to act while we still have the element of surprise."
CJ shook his head.
"You know what? This mission looks like a shit sandwich. A deal nobody in his or her right mind would take."
"Captain? You have your orders," said Marks in surprise.
"Not from any authority that I recognise. These Morohtans, I have no fight with them. I have never even met them, and I am not getting my head blown off for Earth and her war."
"This war is against more than just Earth. Are you refusing to carry out General Lysenko's direct orders?"
CJ looked to the others around him and could see the disdain in their faces. They felt just the same. They were as disillusioned as he was. Marks opened a compartment on the side of his chair and pulled out a pistol.
"Captain Jones, you are relieved of command."
CJ leapt forward and knocked the pistol aside as a single shot went off, and he punched the Captain with one heavy hook that knocked him down. Two other crewmembers reached for weapons, but Mirov and Ross were on them in seconds.
"Captain!" Rivera yelled.
He spun around. She was holding Lieutenant King who was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest, and he couldn't help but feel for them both.
"Get her to the medical bay, now!"
"What are you doing? You'll hang for this!" Marks shouted.
"Yeah? Well, they've tried that before, and they'll try again, but I'm still here, and I'll be the one choosing my own destiny."
He picked up the Captain's pistol and smashed him across the face with it so that he was knocked out, but a warning light and siren rang out.
"What the hell is that?" CJ snapped.
"Sir," said a woman whose arms were up in surrender as she sat facing the barrel of Rivera's rifle.
"What?"
"We have been spotted. They'll surely be coming after us."
CJ sighed.
"What do you want to do?"
"This isn't our fight, Mirov. Plot us a course out of here, and be snappy about it!"
"Sir, if you do this, your life will be over. This is mutiny. You'll be a traitor to the Alliance!" she pleaded.
"Yeah? Well that Alliance has never been a friend to me, and I won't do its dirty work. Set a course!" he yelled.
She could see he wouldn't be reasoned with.
"I...I."
"Just do it!"
He could see more movement towards the surface of the planet as three Morohtan craft banked and began to head their way.
"Come on!"
"W....w...where do you want to go?" asked the woman as she began to shake.
"Anywhere that isn't Morohtan or Alliance controlled."
She looked over a map on her screen and glanced back as if to give him options, but could see he didn't want to hear another word from her mouth until her job was done.
"Course plotted, ready to jump," she finally said.
"Do it, now!"
CJ turned to the front view of the ship. The enemy was closing on them fast. A light lit up on the front of one as a weapon system activated.
"Jump in five, four, three, two..."
A flash erupted from the ship ahead of them, and a beam of light surged towards them.
"One...jump!"
The light was just fifty metres from them as the engine activated, and they soared in through the jump gateway. Light flashed before them once more as they came out of the other side. The woman gasped with relief.
"Nice work," said CJ.
Chapter 9
“We’re through. We’re clear,” said Ross in elation.
The crew of the ship still looked terrified. Marks had pulled himself up to the base of his chair and propped himself against it. Blood was flowing from a cut above his left eye, and he looked both physically and mentally exhausted.
“You have no idea what a massive mistake you have just made,” he spat.
CJ simply smiled in response as he so often did.
“Really?”
“This is all a joke to you, isn’t it?”
“I’d say so. I should be dead. Buried and long gone from this world, and yet here I am. Free, and stronger than ever.”
“The Alliance will track you down and make you pay for this, and you will never see the light of day ever again!”
“Really? Because it seems to me that the last thing the Alliance will be able to do is spare the resources to come after me. They are weak and desperate.”
“You, traitor! You couldn’t even stand beside your own people in the face of their destruction!”
“My people? My people don’t exist anymore. I have no love for Humanity, and the Krys are a sad excuse of a people, compared to what they once were. No, I owe them nothing. I am in this for myself now, and anyone who will follow me.”
He looked to the others in his team and could see they agreed wholeheartedly. They were just relieved to be free.
“And what will you do? Bolormaa is sweeping the entire universe and destroying every form of life that she encounters. She would just as soon as destroy you; given the chance.”
“Maybe. Maybe she might want a hand.”
“You would side with her against your own people?”
“I side with the strong, and you aren’t it. Take him off the bridge.”
Ross grabbed the Captain by the collar of his uniform and dragged him off the bridge without hesitation.
“Think you know what you are doing, Sir?” Rivera asked.
“Don’t call me that. Follow me if you want to, but I won’t carry their rank. I am
my own man. I serve nobody and nothing.”
The officer who had plotted their course looked terrified. She was a short and slight looking young woman who couldn't have been long out of the Academy.
"What have you got to worry about, you're still alive, aren't you?"
"What will happen to us?"
CJ shrugged. "I haven't thought that far ahead."
"You seized control of an Alliance vessel in a mutinous action, and you haven't thought about it yet?"
"When freedom is at stake, that is all that matters."
"Well, you won't get away with it. General Lysenko will hunt you down," she snarled.
CJ smiled, appreciating her strength and defiance.
"What's your name?"
She didn't look keen to give it.
"Come on, I only have to check with the ship’s records. Why make it difficult?"
She thought about it for a few moments as she sighed and replied quietly.
"Lieutenant Viani."
"Viani? That wasn't so difficult, was it? Well, Viani. It's like this. We aren't going back. You can either work with us, or against us."
"I'll never work for you. You are a traitor!"
CJ sighed. "Take her away."
Rivera led her away at gunpoint, and CJ looked to the rest of the crew.
"We need to keep on flying. Now either you can help, or we can improvise and try and work it out ourselves. But just remember, you share our fate now. If we crash and burn, so do you. So what will it be, will you keep on piloting this ship or not?"
"Never," shouted the Captain.
Mirov struck him across the face with the back of his hand, and that silenced him.
"Who else shares your Captain's feelings? Speak up now."
Nobody said a word. CJ nodded towards Ross to take him away, and that left just him and three of the ship's crew.
“I didn’t think you had it in you,” said Mirov proudly.
“Yeah? Well, captivity can make a person do many things, and I never owed Humanity or this Alliance anything. They were my enemy, and the prospect that they thought I would fight for them now is absurd. It is their own stupidity and weakness that has led to my freedom, and yours, too.”
“They will come for us, you know this?”
“Let them.”
“Okay, so where to now?”
“Seems to me that the universe is at each other’s throats. We’ll go where we please, when we please, and take whatever we want.”
“You want to live as a pirate?”
“Until such time as I find someone worthy of following, yes.”
“And you think there is someone out there who is good enough to meet your high standards?”
“Just because Humanity is weak, do not assume that all is lost. This Bolormaa sounds strong. Perhaps she could have a use for a few capable hands.”
Mirov smiled, but he couldn’t tell whether CJ was joking or not.
* * *
“Jump!”
Light flashed before them as they passed through the gateway and appeared on the other side just moments later. CJ smiled as he could see the single transport in space just a few klicks ahead.
“That’s it, unmanned supply freighter, SS1061,” said Rivera.
“It’s a perfect score. It’ll be another twenty minutes until their jump engines are spooled up,” added Mirov.
CJ groaned. “It’s not exactly exciting, but it sure would be useful.”
“The contents of that ship will give us enough food, water, and fuel to last six months or more.”
“Mmm,” groaned CJ.
“Sir, I am getting readings of another ship incoming.”
“Put it on screen!” roared CJ with excitement.
A jump gate opened, and an Alliance warship came through three klicks from their position on the far side of the freighter.
“It’s the Tempest, Alliance destroyer, type 43. They sure called in the big guns to come after us, just like Lysenko said she would.”
CJ’s smile only grew wider.
“Do we run?” Ross asked.
“Run?” asked CJ in amazement.
“They were always going to come after us, weren’t they?”
“Yes, but that it no reason to run. It’s time to find out what this machine can really do.”
“You want to engage a formidable warship?” Rivera asked.
“Why not?”
CJ agreed with Kaner. “Why not indeed? It’s time we had a little fun.”
“That is fun?”
“It’s a challenge, Rivera, and who doesn’t want a challenge in life?”
“I thought you want to be a pirate, not a warlord?”
CJ shrugged.
“I’ll go wherever life takes me right now. We have no purpose in life. That is both our pleasure and our curse, and until such time as we have found one, let’s make ourselves be heard.”
“We can’t take that on and win, you get that right?”
CJ smiled as if he knew something they didn’t.
“The freighter, it has supplies that they cannot afford to lose, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” added Mirov.
“Then take us in and dock.”
“What?” Rivera gasped.
Mirov was just shaking his head in amazement, realising what CJ was doing.
“Genius. They can’t fire on us without risking damage to the freighter, and they need those supplies too much,” added Mirov.
“But don’t fire, and we jump away with the whole prize,” replied CJ.
“They won’t just let us get away with that.”
“They won’t have much choice. Get the freighter between us and move in to dock, now!”
“They can still stop us. They can still board us,” said Rivera in fear.
“Precisely,” replied CJ with a smile, “Get everyone ready. It’s time we got to work. Stay off the comms, and pass messages in person. I don’t want them picking up on our actions.”
She didn’t know what to make of it, but she rushed off to carry out the orders anyway. Their engines roared, and the Phoenix surged forward with an immense turn of speed. They quickly came in line with the two vessels to use the freighter to block line of sight.
“Take us in smooth and easy,” said CJ.
Then to everyone’s surprise, he turned and headed for the door as if to leave the bridge.
“Where are you going?”
“The bridge is yours, Rivera. Mirov, Ross, you’re with me. Kaner. You board that freighter, and be sure to give them a hell of a welcome party, got that?”
“Yes,” he replied bluntly.
“What says they’ll even board the freighter?” asked Rivera.
“Trust me,” he replied before rushing off with the others.
“Well, that’s just great,” she replied.
CJ picked up the pace as he headed for the docking bay, the largest communal area in the ship, and where most of his team would be.
“All right, listen up. The Alliance thinks they are gonna take us easy. Well, I’m going to send them a message. I am going to give them a chance. Don’t kill unless you absolutely have to. We will give them a chance to leave us be, but this will be the first and only one that they get. Krys, you are going aboard the freighter.”
“And us?” Ross asked.
CJ just smiled with the wicked grin that they were all now accustomed to seeing.
“We’re going for a walk.”
They fell silent as they waited for his word. It wasn’t long before they felt the impact with the freighter and heard the docking clamps seal into place.
“What is stopping us just taking this and running?”
Even before Ross had finished speaking, they felt another impact as something else rocked them.
“Sir, the Tempest has attached harnesses to the freighter. We’re not going anywhere,” said Rivera.
He shook his head. “Damn it, I said radio silence,” he snapped back.
“
I sure hope you’ve got a great plan,” said Ross.
Kaner led his platoon through the docking corridor and were soon gone from view. CJ slid the visor of his helmet down shut to seal his suit and headed for the maintenance exit beside the docking bay doors. He hit the release button. They soon saw what he had in mind.
The hangar finally sealed shut, and the maintenance door opened to give a clear view out to space, and the lower hull of their ship and the freighter they were attached to. He didn’t even say a word as he leapt out and free floated towards the other ship. His boots hit the surface of the freighter and sealed. The rest of the platoon jumped onto the hull beside him, but he was already passing under and around the ship by the time the last of them arrived.
Not one of them said a word as they hiked around the ship. They couldn’t afford to have their communications interrupted. CJ looked back occasionally, not out of concern, but that he couldn’t afford to lose any numbers for what he had in mind.
* * *
Docking bay door 12 began to prise open, and light from the Tempest flooded into the freighter that was in darkness.
"This is Captain Allard, and I carry a message from General Lysenko!" a voice called out and echoed around the vast storage area.
It looked more like a warehouse than a docking bay. Crates and shipping containers were stacked ten metres high, and in vast rows and columns with just three metres spacing.
"I repeat, this is Captain Allard, and I carry a message from General Lysenko! We are not looking for a fight! General Lysenko says to tell you that if you lay down your weapons, no harm will come to you!"
No response came.
"The General says that this is a misunderstanding, and that she made a mistake! Come back, and you will not be harmed!"
He waited a full minute for a response, but nothing came. Finally, he and a unit of marines stepped through the doorway.
"Somebody get the lights."
"They're out, Sir," the response soon came.
Flashlights lit up on their weapons and helmets and beamed all around the room. There were two whole platoons worth.
"Fan out, find them, and bring them in. Alive if possible," ordered Allard.
The echoes of their boots rang out through the room as they spread out to sweep the area. Allard went right down the centre with a full squad, and he led from the front with rifle in hand and ready to use. He made it almost a hundred metres in when he stopped as he heard a loud bang, though it wasn't gunfire, and something came over his comms.
Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth) Page 7
