by C H Gideon
Geroux brightened. “I can try.”
She fished another of the drones out of her pouch and activated it. It hovered silently in front of her as she programmed its commands.
“I’m setting it up so it can operate independently without requiring a communications stream from my computer,” Geroux explained. “That would make it so it doesn’t immediately become disabled once it crosses the dead-zone threshold.
“It will have to come out to report to us, but it should be able to cross the barrier and slip inside if it can find an opening.”
She finished her adjustments and sent the drone on its way.
The tiny thing shot across the street so fast that it was hard for Jiya to keep her eyes on it.
The drone darted along the face of the building, seeking an entrance to the interior. It never found one.
A few seconds later, there was a beep at Geroux’s wrist, warning of a system’s failure, and the drone dropped from the sky. It struck the ground with the barest of metallic tinks.
“What happened?” Jiya wondered.
“The barrier,” Geroux growled. “It’s apparently designed to deflect any electronic signal that tries to cross it. They zapped my bug.”
“Will that affect us if we try to enter the building?” Reynolds asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “None of your circuitry, or that of our equipment, is so sensitive as to be impacted by it like the drones are. The barrier is set up to keep listening devices and tracers from crossing its border intact, nothing more.”
“And there’s no sign of movement anywhere around the building?” the AI continued.
“None,” Geroux replied. “Our target is holed up inside or has another way out, but they haven’t attempted to leave the place in any traditional way.”
“Asya’s reporting the Pillar is powering up and staring them down,” Maddox commented, “but they haven’t opened up as of yet.”
“Tell her to stand by and wait them out,” Reynolds ordered. “Jora’nal is trying to split our focus, maybe hoping we’ll rush off and return to the ship because of the escalation.”
“It does make it clear that he has a direct line out of there, though,” Jiya pointed out. “That makes me think he’s feeling the pressure because he didn’t expect us to catch up to him so soon.”
Reynolds nodded his agreement of her assessment, but that meant either Jora’nal was trapped inside the building and was searching for a way out or he was simply distracting them as he slipped away.
Neither boded well.
Time was up.
“We need to get inside,” Reynolds stated matter-of-factly. “Geroux, remain outside. Cloak and stay out of sight while you keep track of the drone feeds. If anyone tries to leave the building, it’ll be on you to stop them from doing it. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the young tech replied, moving to the side of the alley and triggering her cloaking device.
Only the advances of Takal’s tech allowed them to register her as she disappeared from all visual sensors.
It was an eerie and awesome sight, Jiya had to admit.
Geroux’s disembodied voice came across the comm. “We’re still secure around the perimeter,” she announced.
“Then it’s time to go,” Reynolds said.
“We taking the door?” Maddox asked, assessing the reinforced metal of the portal.
Reynolds laughed. “I’m thinking the wall.”
While his scans were ineffective at reaching the interior of the building, they worked well enough to examine the structure, at least on the surface level.
Jora’nal either hadn’t had time to reinforce the walls or he simply hadn’t bothered, but Reynolds could pinpoint its weak spots, and there were plenty of them. The building hadn’t been designed to ward off a concerted attack of the ferocity Reynolds could muster.
The AI pointed at a particularly weak area of the wall just to the right of the secure door. “That’s where we’re going through.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Jiya warned before Reynolds could start on his plan.
“Why’s that?” the AI asked.
“Our scans are being cut off at the door,” she started. “Geroux won’t know what’s going on inside, and we won’t know what’s going on out here.”
Reynolds glanced over to where Geroux stood cloaked, and Jiya could practically see him thinking.
“This could be the trap he was leading us into the entire time,” Jiya went on. “There’s no telling what’s inside the building. He took the time to defend it against spying devices but he didn’t bother to reinforce anything more than the doors?”
“I hate when you make sense,” Reynolds grumbled.
He wouldn’t put it past Jora’nal to be crafty enough to put their trap fears at ease by letting them stumble across him while he appeared frazzled and desperate, then to spring the real trap on them once they were inside.
“What do you suggest?” he asked Jiya.
“We need to do some more recon before we commit to anything,” she replied.
“That means someone still needs to get inside, seeing as how none of Geroux’s drones can,” the AI countered.
“Then we merge plans. Go with a bit of what they expect us to do, and mix it up from there.”
She turned to Geroux, who deactivated her cloak to make conversation less creepy.
“If you were to get a drone inside, could you program it to seek out the communication blocker and shut it down?” Jiya asked.
“It would need to be deactivated when it went through the barrier and shielded in something,” Geroux said. “Then it might be possible.”
“So, if I stuff it in my armor and cross the barrier with the drone off, would it make it through?” Jiya pressed.
Geroux nodded. “I believe so, yeah.”
“Then get a couple programmed,” she told her friend as she shrugged free of her loose clothing, shedding it to reveal the armor beneath.
“Is this your way of volunteering to go inside to reconnoiter the place?” Reynolds asked, an eyebrow raised.
“It makes sense,” she answered. “If this is a trap, then just one of us slipping inside cloaked will make it much easier to avoid getting caught up in a confrontation.” She motioned to Geroux. “It will also make sure we’re not being lured inside and giving them an opportunity to take out Geroux while we’re out of touch.”
“But you’ll be out of touch still,” Maddox clarified. “As will the drones.”
“But I’m capable of punching a hole in the wall and slipping out, or at least reaching out past the barrier to send a message if the drones don’t succeed,” she argued. “It also minimizes the risk to the crew if Jora’nal and his minions take me out. There’s still enough of you to do something about it.”
Jiya looked at Reynolds.
“It also keeps you in touch with the SD Reynolds the entire time so you’re apprised of what’s going on with regards to the Pillar and whatever is happening up there,” she told him.
“I don’t like it, but it makes sense,” Geroux admitted. She hugged her friend.
“Besides,” Jiya went on, “you get to blow a bunch of holes in the wall. What’s not to like about the plan?”
“Always a bonus in my book,” Ka’nak said with a grin.
“If you punch enough of them, not only do I have a better chance of slipping inside unnoticed, but the cultists will likely engage you, thinking you’re trying to bring the building down on them.”
“That’s true,” Maddox said, nodding. “They don’t know we’re looking to bring Jora’nal in alive. They might suspect, but if we turn up the heat enough to rattle them, we might just bypass whatever plans they’ve worked up and make them desperate enough to do something stupid.”
“Takal,” the AI said across the comm, opening a link to the inventor. “Is it possible to transport us inside the building with the Gulg system?”
“Afraid not,” he came back a moment later. “T
he barrier Geroux reported isn’t like a shield. There’s no way to punch a hole in it to gain access to the interior of the building. While I could transport you without problem, the issue would be once you arrived. With no way of knowing the layout, I might land you inside a wall or, heaven forbid, a person,” he explained. “That would be a horrific way to die, and not instant, I’m afraid.”
Reynolds considered it for a second, thinking he could take the chance, but dismissed it immediately.
Even though a glitch in the transport might not kill him, the damage to his android body might be sufficient to cripple him and make it so he was useless even if he survived.
Jiya’s plan was their best option.
He nodded at her. “Looks like it’s up to you.”
“And my little friends,” she joked as Geroux handed her three of the programmed mini-drones.
Jiya checked to make sure they were deactivated, then stuffed them inside her armor for safekeeping, hiding them where the armor would best defend them against the barrier’s effect.
Once she was ready, she nodded to Reynolds. “Let’s do this.”
He acknowledged her, then cloaked. Maddox and Ka’nak did the same, and all three of them ran off to approach the building from different angles.
“Be safe,” Geroux warned.
“Always.” Jiya hugged her friend. “Be back soon.”
The first officer cloaked, and Geroux followed suit to keep from being the only one visible once she was left behind.
A creepy silence settled over the street as Jiya waited for the crew to start punching holes in the building.
Reynolds broke the silence first.
He let loose a barrage of weapons fire, blowing holes in the wall to the east, then darted off to find a new location to do it again. Ka’nak and Maddox did the same on opposite sides of the building as Geroux kept watch with the drones to ensure that none of the cultists tried to flee.
Jiya waited as the crew broke through the walls, chewing them apart in random locations to keep the cultists from guessing where they might come through.
Frantic return fire came back at the crew as the cultists tried to stop Reynolds from bringing the building down on them.
Jiya held her ground for a few more seconds, waiting to find the best entry, and when it appeared, she ran as fast as she could and slipped inside. She felt the slight tingle of the barrier being triggered, and she dodged to the side to avoid fire in case the barrier doubled as an alarm system.
She didn’t sit still for more than a second as she gained her bearings.
Jiya had emerged in a small room on the west side, which was filled with crates and boxes that looked as if they’d been there a long time. There was the slight whiff of mildew in the air, and Jiya spied mold growing on some of the boxes.
Low-rent bad-guy hideout, check, she remarked in her head as she crept along the floor while Reynolds and Ka’nak continued to blast the building from outside.
At the door to the room, she stopped and listened. Though she could hear little over the explosions of rock and rubble and the furious shouts of the cultists, she didn’t believe anyone was stationed just outside the door. She eased it open and peeked, grateful that the door didn’t protest its motion.
Beyond it, she saw a large room, mostly barren of furniture, but it became instantly clear she’d made the right choice coming in alone.
There on the floor were dozens of makeshift beds constructed of simple mats with thin sheets, wadded pillows topping each of them off.
Cultists filled the room, weapons at the ready, but only two of them stood near the hole punched in the closest wall, returning fire at Reynolds and the others. From the angle of the hole, it was clear the crew couldn’t see inside well enough to realize just how many were crowded into the room.
And it wasn’t the only one filled with cultists.
One of them ducked into the room from an adjoining room on the far side of the chamber, leaving the door open in his wake. That room was also covered in bedding, soldiers kneeling all around in tight clusters as they stayed low.
“Draw them in,” she heard a cultist she couldn’t identify say. “Pull back.”
The people did as they were ordered and eased away from the holes in the wall as if retreating, their return fire slowing dramatically. One of the cultists at the far end of the room opened another door, and the disciples backed through it.
Jiya spied even more of the cultists in the far room.
There had to be over fifty she could see, and who knew just how many there were positioned around the rest of the building?
The fire outside came to a halt, and she knew Reynolds and the rest of the crew were pulling back to observe and await her signal.
She thought about going back the way she’d come in and letting them know what she’d found, but that would ruin what little surprise they still had in their favor.
No, she needed to continue with the plan.
Jiya slipped behind a broken set of freestanding shelves and hunkered down. Despite being cloaked, she felt more comfortable there while digging out the drones.
She pulled them out and examined each, activating them with a touch. Two of them sparked to life immediately, but the third had been fried by the barrier. She released the two operational drones to do their work, and they hummed off and disappeared. She stuffed the scorched one back into her armor to make sure it didn’t get left behind.
She didn’t want the cultists stumbling across it and taking advantage of the tech.
Once it was secured, she crept across the room, angling toward the doorway the last of the cultists had gone through. She inched up to the edge and glanced inside to get the layout of the room.
It was half the size of the room she was in, and there were overturned tables taking up what little space was left after all the cultists had squeezed inside. The disciples, easily twenty of them, crouched behind the tables, using them for cover, and remained quiet as they watched the door she peeked in through. It was the only exit out of the room. Their weapons were trained on the door, and nervous fingers hovered over their triggers. Sweat beaded their brows.
Jiya drew a deep breath at seeing just how many of them there were in the room, not even counting how many were stashed about the rest of the building.
There were simply too many to take them head-on.
Then she had an idea.
Chapter Five
Jora’nal snarled as his minions reported the arrival of the SD Reynolds’ crew outside their temporary headquarters.
Explosions rattled the walls moments after. It felt as if they were tearing the building down around him.
Jora’nal growled low in his throat.
While he’d expected them to arrive at some point since Reynolds and his people were wily and resourceful, Jora’nal had believed he’d have more time before they showed up.
He hadn’t expected to be cornered, and he hadn’t prepared for it.
Now it was too late.
The disciples on Muultar failed him. They had given in to fear and offered Jora’nal’s location to the android, and now, here they were.
The Pillar had been severely damaged in its last contact with the SD Reynolds, and it had taken far longer for him to gather the necessary tools and materials needed to attend to the damage than he had thought it would.
As necessary as it had been to see the Pillar fully repaired, Jora’nal regretted that he hadn’t packed up and finished the work elsewhere. He’d been too comfortable here.
He’d also trusted the terror evoked by Phraim-’Eh’s name to keep the disciples loyal.
That had been his biggest mistake.
And now the enemy was upon them, and he could think of no easy clear way out of this mess.
It didn’t help that the SD Reynolds had positioned itself in a way that essentially locked the Pillar into its berth at the space dock. The only way out would be to fight, if he could even make it back to the ship, and that wou
ld trigger the automated response of the Asparian defense system. Being caught in the middle of the dock with all the other ships squeezed in alongside them made that an unenviable proposition.
The Pillar could handle the defense system and locals long enough to Gate away before becoming too damaged, but with the SD Reynolds looming over them, there was no way that would happen.
At best, his ship would be destroyed after wounding the SD Reynolds. At worst, and also the most likely outcome, given that the enemy had armed its most vicious of weapons, the Pillar would die a miserable death without dealing a substantive blow in return.
And with Reynolds outside his headquarters, it would only be a matter of time before they made a push inside.
Jora’nal didn’t think his minions could take out the android or his people, despite their numerical superiority. He was a rat, trapped in a hole.
He clutched his small computer, which doubled as a communication device, hesitating to activate it. Explosions continued rattling the building as he debated, and Jora’nal knew his time was running out. He had to reach out to the master.
There was no longer a choice in the matter.
Jora’nal triggered the comm program and held his breath as he waited for the device to relay the signal to the hardwired system he’d run beneath the building, triggering the transmission across the Etheric.
Moments seemed to stretch into decades as he waited, but at last, Phraim-’Eh’s voice sounded across the Etheric.
“Given you are using the backup communication device, I presume this contact is not of a positive nature,” Phraim-’Eh stated, his voice icy.
Jora’nal swallowed hard, clearing his throat before he managed to speak. “Master, the Federation android has found us earlier than predicted,” he reported, doing his best to not stutter. “I have enough people to—”
“If you believed you had enough disciples to prevail over them, you would not have dared to reach out to me, now would you?” Phraim-’Eh asked, a snarl evident in his tone.
“No, Master,” Jora’nal admitted, hating the terror leaking into his voice.
He bit back a growl at his submissiveness, but he made certain not to let his master hear any of it.
