“How did …”
“C … C … Caldurian tech. It … no longer works right.”
She was reminded that her own SuitPac device hadn’t worked properly, nor her NanoCom, either.
“Are you … okay, Tobi? Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“We’ll get out of this … I promise,” she said, with less certainty in her voice than she intended.
“I hope so.”
Dira tried to make out some of the people around her. Two over from Tobi lay a prone figure. She leaned forward, trying to make out who he was.
“Tobi, can you tell if that’s the Omni over there? Several people down from you?”
A few moments later, he said, “By the look of the uniform … yeah … I think it’s the Omni. Wow, the Omni’s here?”
Ignoring the question, she asked, “Can you tell … if he’s breathing. If he’s alive?”
Another few minutes passed before Tobi replied. “His che … che … chest is moving.”
“Good! That’s very good!”
The soft murmuring voices around her began elevating in volume and again, chains rattled. Seeing movement to her side, Dira caught the approach of several figures in the semi-darkness, approaching from the same direction as earlier. They were knights.
Keys jangled and she felt her wrist being freed from her shackle. She was abruptly hauled to her feet, and two sets of hands gripped her upper arms. As she was hustled away she called over her shoulder, “Tobi … keep an eye on the Omni, please.”
One of the guards looked down at her with interest. Feeling the chill, she realized the front of her gown again hung open. But it was the least of her problems right now, knowing where she was being taken. She had no one else to blame. She’d made the proposition herself. She thought of the newly anointed king, what he most assuredly expected before he killed her. Dira’s thoughts then turned to someone else. I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry, Jason.
Chapter 15
“God … I didn’t realize how much I missed you guys,” Boomer said, kneeling down to give Ricket a hug. When she separated from him, Jason saw her make a conscious effort not to stare. Ricket’s appearance seemed to always be changing. His head was somewhat more distorted these days—he was always cramming in more and more memory, adding technology of varying sorts.
“It is good to see you too, Boomer,” Ricket said, his eyes conveying his emotional reaction at seeing her again.
A voice rang out from down the corridor. “Let’s get the show on the road, boys and girls.”
Jason, along with the others, turned to see Billy Hernandez, leading his team of eleven new recruits. Like Jason, they all wore short-barreled Remington 870 shotguns holstered at their thighs. Following right behind them was the hovering fetch-it drone.
Jason, studying the gangly recruits, wished at least some had made it through their MediPod HyperLearning sessions. Some of them looked like they were only days out of high school. And some probably were.
Billy, obviously happy to see her, gave Boomer a big hug. After that, she looked hug-satisfied enough to last her the next few years. “So … what’s going on here, Dad?” Boomer asked, turning toward him. “I heard something about Michael being lost?”
“Lost to us but probably not lost as far as he’s concerned. We think he’s inside this habitat. We were just about to head in and take a look.”
Boomer glanced over to the open portal to HAB 311. Following her gaze, Jason realized the habitat looked completely different now than it did when the portal window was closed. “You seeing that, Ricket?” Jason asked.
“Very interesting, Captain.” Ricket scratched the top of his head as he visually surveyed the landscape. “Seems like an alias projection view was used to cover the portal window.”
Billy remarked, “Are we all going?”
“I’m not,” Ryan said, who at some point joined the group. “I’ll keep the home lights burning and the fires stoked.” Rolling her eyes, Boomer made no effort to hide her annoyance with the ship’s young helmsman.
“And you noted the code we entered?”
“Yes, Captain. Got it.” Ryan tapped his head with a finger.
Jason brought up the rear as, one by one, the entire group stepped over the portal threshold and into the habitat beyond. Second to last to file in, he noticed Boomer’s eyes flash toward Ryan, who winked back at her. She shook her head and clucked her tongue. Jason, unsure what was going on with the two, wasn’t interested enough to ask.
“Keep an eye out. If necessary, send in the fetch-it drone to come and get me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jason followed the others entering the habitat and observed Ricket, standing off to the side. Apparently, he’d found the hidden, matching portal access panel to the one back inside. Ricket waited for Jason to fully enter the habitat before entering the series of symbols to close the portal window.
Fifty feet in, they congregated together at the outskirts of the ravaged city. Jason waited for Billy’s raw recruits to settle down some.
“Hey … knock off the chatter, men. Pay attention to the Captain,” Billy ordered.
Jason nodded at Billy, then turned to the recruits. “Stay on mission. We’re here to find my son. He’s most likely with a seven-foot-tall robot, called Two-ton, who’s pretty hard to miss. Let’s break up into teams of three. Stay close to each other and report anything out of the ordinary.”
“I think this whole place is out of the ordinary, Captain,” one of the recruits said. He pointed toward what looked like a pack of mangy rodents moving together ahead. Bigger than rats, smaller than dogs, their heads were overly large. Even at a distance, their oversized canines could be seen, protruding out from thick black lips.
“What’s with the old-school weaponry, Dad?” Boomer gestured to the shotgun holstered on his thigh. Looking then at Billy, she asked, “What … you no longer teach recruits the use of enhancement shields? What happened to all the Kahill Callan training courses I set up for you guys?” Her expression showed a mixture of disappointment and irritation.
Ricket said, “Boomer, I assure you that your Kahill Callan fundamentals have all been integrated into Shark recruit HyperLearning courses. But due to the Ingress Virus, and the effect it would have on MediPods …”
Billy interjected, “That’s right. None of these recruits has been properly trained yet. But I have to be honest with you, Boomer. Without you around, the physical Kahill Callan portion of the training has not been kept up with. Not even for officers, like your dad and me. Without a real Tahli Warrior around … the program just lost momentum. Sorry about that.”
Three of the recruits, speaking together in low tones, laughed at something one of them said.
Boomer turned on them. “You have something to add to the conversation, recruit?”
The tallest of the three looked embarrassed at being singled out. “Well, it’s just that I’ve heard about that … um … whatever you called it …”
“Kahill Callan,” she said, with a raised brow.
“Yeah, that Kahill Callan shit. Heard it’s okay for little girls who can’t handle a real weapon.” He gave a couple of taps on the shotgun at his side.
Jason heard Billy mutter, “Oh no …” under his breath.
One moment Boomer was standing still, relaxed, a bemused expression on her face, and the next she was a blur. She released the enhancement shield affixed to her satchel and spun high into the air. Higher and higher she went—five, ten, fifteen feet up. Bringing the face of the shield around, she let loose with eleven pulsed, bright blue distortion waves. One by one, the startled green recruits took a hit—center mass, right in the chest. Thrown backwards off their feet, they landed flat on their backsides, several yards’ distance from where they’d been standing. But Boomer wasn’t done yet. She repositioned her shield, which caused her to flip forward twice in the air, and land softly on the ground directly before the tall recruit who’d spoken out. Her sh
ield, mere inches from his face, persisted with blue energy bolts that danced and crackled across the ancient metal surface.
Returned was Boomer’s bemused expression. The recruits, apparently all unhurt, slowly got back on their feet. Even knowing Boomer’s abilities, Jason was impressed. As for the recruits, they were having a hard time closing their gaping mouths.
“Now that took me all of three or four seconds. I used non-lethal force. But know … it would have been just as easy to cut each of you in half. Still think becoming a Tahli Warrior is for little girls? Still think Kahill Callan can’t stand up to your archaic projectile weapons?”
The same tall recruit looked toward Billy. Eyes wide, his excitement evident, he asked, “Are we going to learn to do that, and get one of those metal things?”
“It’s an enhancement shield,” one of his buddies said.
“Yeah … an enhancement shield. We’re going to learn how to move like that too, right?”
Billy shrugged. “Unfortunately, you’ve just disrespected a Kahill Callan Master of the Third Degree. It doesn’t look promising.”
Billy and Boomer exchanged a quick smile.
Jason said, “Now, if it’s all right with the rest of you, I’d like us to continue on. Go find my son before anything happens to him.” He then headed toward the only road leading into the city. Boomer hurried to catch up with him. When she was alongside, he glanced over, and said, “Show off.”
“Sorry about that … guess I got carried away. I know this is about finding Michael. I’m sure he’s okay though.”
Jason wasn’t so sure. Realization that his son was actually missing was finally setting in.
“We’ll find him … I promise, Dad.”
Jason stopped to stare at the broken and missing roofs and sidings of the wrecked buildings around them.
“What … what is it?”
“You didn’t see that?” Jason asked.
Boomer shook her head no.
He turned and looked for Ricket among those following. The recruits, ordered by Billy to split into smaller teams, were each heading into the city from different directions.
“Ricket’s right here, Dad.” Jason shouldn’t have been surprised hearing that. Ricket, hurrying to the other side of Boomer, said, “Yes, Captain … I saw it too. A projection flux, would be my initial assessment.”
It happened again, this time lasting for several moments. Everything around them altered and a different world appeared, then switched back.
“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for us all to enter here,” Jason said.
“Caldurian tech is being affected by the Ingress Virus. No doubt, this habitat is unstable,” Ricket told him.
Chapter 16
Orion could hardly hear herself think over the persistent racket. Enemies were at the gate. More accurately, at the Jumelle’s rear starboard hatch. The spaceship remained cloistered within her berth on Xavier Station 35, as two dozen enemy fighters, hard at work, tried to breach the ship. For now, she felt confident that forced entry into the ship would be nearly impossible—at least without completely blowing apart the outer hull. Would they risk destroying such an important chattel of war?
“Master Sergeant Blatt, you and your men will hold this position. Is that understood?” Orion ordered, her tone icy cold. “You will not allow entry into the Jumelle. At any cost.”
“Understood, Commander Orion.” Glancing around the aft intersecting corridor, she found Blatt already had a small army strategically positioned all around the area.
“Give me ten … fifteen minutes, max. I have it on good authority we can take out that retractable bridgeway. But we’ll have a limited amount of time, and even less ammunition available for the Jumelle’s aft rail gun. There’s no guarantee this will work. You and your Sharks are the backup plan.”
“I understand, Commander,” Blatt said.
He sure looks confident, Orion thought, holding his stare. Orion glanced to Stone. “Sergeant Stone … you’re with me.”
As Orion and Sergeant Stone hurried away, moving forward down the corridor, Orion wondered, how on earth did we get ourselves into such a mess?
It wasn’t too long after the Omni, Dira, and a contingent of fleet officers had departed from the Jumelle before all hell broke loose. Attempts to contact the Omni, and Dira, proved fruitless. Her thoughts turned to the Aquarius. What transpired leading to the mass of crew being left behind? She contemplated the possibility of deceit—perhaps on the part of Captain Granger. Maybe. One thing was for certain, the so-called accord between the Alliance and Sommis of Adriark had been nothing more than treachery from the very start. Such deceit was King Gallderaunt’s modus operandi, and how an immense section of space was acquired in a relatively short span of time. Apparently, what the king lacked in fleet warship assets, he made up for in talent, breaching even the most secure fleet and spaceship networks. For the Alliance and U.S. fleet, a handful of viruses were introduced. One, specifically, for U.S. fleet Craing warship assets; another for the many Vastma Class warships; and one that systematically brought down most Caldurian tech on board the Star Watch vessels or caused a failure to operate. Orion had decided to refrain from using DeckPorts and MediPods. Same went for phase-shift technology as well as all JIT weaponry. Obviously bad actors within the Sommis of Adriark were master interstellar hackers. It was now time to batten down the hatches, and find a way to escape.
With only a moderate-sized crew—a contingent of Sharks, little in the way of intellectual capacity, like a Ricket or a Bristol—she knew she couldn’t fight back just using smarts. No way. If the Jumelle and her crew were to survive, it would only be through the use of pure, unexpected cunning, plus brute force.
Together, Orion and Sergeant Stone reached the Jumelle’s armory. On entering, Orion instantly felt at home. It was on Jumelle’s sister ship, The Lilly, where she attained the nickname Gunny. She knew the compartment like the back of her hand—what weaponry was available and where everything was located. Unfortunately, much of the weaponry here utilized Caldurian tech.
Sergeant Stone roamed freely about the space. Picking up an energy rifle, she presented it to Orion for approval.
“No. Multi-guns are Caldurian tech,” Orion said, focusing her attention on several racks of projectile pistols, rifles and shotguns. Obviously, this armory had been stocked with at least some Earth-based weaponry.
“What is this thing?”
Orion, in the process of checking the magazine of a Glock 19, looked up. “That’s an enhancement shield. The weapon of choice for a Tahli Warrior.” Orion thought back to the last time she’d used one, when Boomer, probably no older than fourteen or fifteen, was teaching a class. Was that back on the Minian? Nan Reynolds and Dira were there too. It had been both challenging and fun. Now she wished she’d stuck with it—the grueling trainings. There were few weapons, if any, that could surpass the sheer finesse and destructiveness of an enhancement shield—that is, if you were willing to put the time in to learn how to use it.
“Toss it over to me,” Orion said, then caught it with one hand. She felt the heft of it as she glided her fingers over the intricately engraved facing. Sliding a hand into the straps on the reverse side, she closed her fingers around the leather, thinking back to her trainings. She had been the star pupil—according to Boomer. But it was one thing to yield the weapon in a ship’s gymnasium. Could she yield it successfully in battle? She closed her eyes, listening to Boomer’s voice instructing her five years ago. She felt a slight tingle—like an electrical current.
“Hey! Watch it!” Stone yelled.
Orion opened her eyes. A foot over Stone’s head was a blackened scorch mark—still smoldering.
“What happened?”
“You shot that thing in my direction! That could have killed me … you do know that, don’t you?” Sergeant Stone was angry, was righteously pissed.
“I had no idea I could even make it … work. Wow!”
“Can you show me?
” Stone asked, her sudden anger already gone.
“Come over here and grab a pistol or two—whatever your preference is. And grab one of those empty satchels and load it with extra magazines. You’ll also need an assault rifle. Let’s see … we’ve got M16s, AK 103s, even a few Heckler and Koch G3s.”
The two spent the next few minutes arming themselves. As Stone filled two satchels, Orion did the same, also tying the enhancement shield to the strap on one of the satchels.
“You sure I can’t get one of those things too?” Stone asked.
“Not without proper training. But if we get out of this mess alive… I’ll make sure you get one.” Orion hefted both satchels onto her broad shoulders.
“So what’s the plan, Commander?”
“We return to Deck 4 and, if necessary … if we’re unsuccessful blowing the bridgeway … if Master Sergeant Blatt and his Sharks fail to hold their position … well then, we’ll need to defend the Jumelle’s bridge.”
“There’s only five of us up there,” Stone said flatly.
“Yeah … so?”
“Nothing, we’ll do what we have to … hell, we’ll rip them a new one.”
“Damn right we will!”
* * *
Dira was led up the Bastille Spire stairs and out into the night, then back into Lardel Hold castle. Where less than an hour earlier there were hundreds of partygoers milling around, now only a few grief-stricken ones remained. Dira could hear, rather than see, the sorrowful wailing echoing off the enclosed stone walls. Then she noticed one of the late king’s wives, or concubines—unsure which—being consoled by someone she didn’t recognize. Dressed in black, with a silver-lined cloak around his shoulders, he was kneeling down beside her—an arm sympathetically draped over her shaking shoulders. They both looked up in time to see Dira and her three guards move past. Dira was struck by the hatred in her eyes—but not in his. He expressed no emotion whatsoever.
Scrapyard LEGACY (Star Watch Book 6) Page 9
