by C H Gideon
“The other location is called Suri,” Geroux added.
Reynolds nodded. “This one seems to be larger and more active cult-wise, but it’ll be more like the one at Rolant. It’ll be a fight on its own, even if Phraim-’Eh isn’t there.”
“The latter is more likely to have intel, though,” Maddox stated, rubbing his chin. “A staging base at the butthole end of the universe isn’t likely to serve much purpose beyond giving the cult’s ships one last stopover before they fly out of the galaxy.”
“Maybe, but Jora’nal’s logs show Phraim-’Eh frequented the place for some reason,” Reynolds said. “That makes me think it has more importance than we’re being led to believe.”
“Where better to hide out than the middle of nowhere?” Jiya asked rhetorically.
“My point exactly,” Reynolds agreed.
“Could be what Phraim-’Eh is hoping we’ll think,” Ka’nak pondered.
“Normally, I’d agree with you, Ka’nak, but I think Jora’nal fucked up when he let us get our hands on his computer. He looked about ready to shit himself when he realized it had survived the explosion. I don’t take him for being a good actor. This was intel we weren’t supposed to get our hands on. It’s probably the same for the cruiser’s data, although that seems more benign at first glance.”
“Well, what else do we have to do besides tear down Phraim-’Eh’s world one brick at a time?” Jiya asked. “I say we hit the out-of-the-way post and see what we find, then go from there. Does it really matter which one we take out first?”
“It might,” Reynolds stated. “We could be in for one hell of a fight if word gets out that we’re attacking his installations. Shit, they might already know we’ve gained some sort of intel, and likely know what it is, given what happened on Aspar. They have to suspect that Jora’nal is in our possession by now, even if they don’t actually know it.”
“Sounds like we’ve made our choice,” Ka’nak said. He grunted, leaning back in his seat, and rubbing his belly. “As such, I say we relax and enjoy the rest of our stay in this comfy palace and make the most of it.”
“You know, you actually make sense sometimes, Ka’nak,” Maddox told him, raising his glass in a toast.
“Sometimes,” Jiya agreed. The crew clinked glasses to that and settled in to plan the specifics of their next move.
Chapter Fourteen
The night came and went far faster than Jiya wanted it to.
She’d spent time with her sisters, but once she’d returned to the SD Reynolds, it was clear it hadn’t been enough to satisfy her longing for their company.
She had promised to return when she could, and she meant it, wanting nothing more than watch her sisters grow into the people they’d soon become, but she still had a mission to attend to.
She was part of the crew of the SD Reynolds, and that was not only a job she took seriously, but it was an honor. Jiya loved being aboard the ship, traveling across the universe and helping better it one planet at a time.
When they took out Phraim-’Eh, it would release millions of souls from his sway, and she could think of no greater use of her time and efforts.
She stared out as the brilliant orb of Lariest disappeared behind them. Ria guided them into space, readying to Gate them to the outpost Hajh.
Jiya didn’t know what they’d find there, but she hoped it would be Phraim-’Eh himself so they could end this farce of his godhood and put him away. He’d been a shadow at their backs since the moment she’d joined the crew, even if she hadn’t known it then.
She’d become a part of Reynolds’ mission to destroy Kurtherians, and though Phraim-’Eh wasn’t exactly that—a foul descendant of that other vile race—she wanted to help Reynolds lay waste to the person who claimed to be a deity.
“Opening the Gate to the coordinates for Hajh,” Ria reported. “Shields and weapons up and at the ready, and scanners set to sweep. Ready to go on your command.”
“Do it!” Reynolds told the ensign.
The SD Reynolds Gated without hesitation, appearing in the distant galaxy hidden away from the rest of the universe.
Jiya didn’t know what to expect when they arrived, but it was every bit as barren and desolate as she’d expected.
“Report,” Reynolds called.
“That’s one frosty ball out there,” Tactical said.
“He’s not really wrong.” Maddox chuckled. “The temperature is tolerable, but we’re looking at it being about negative twenty degrees Celsius on the more habitable side of the planet. Looks to be about negative eighty on the dark side.”
“Come to the Dark Side,” Tactical muttered. “We have cookies.”
“Medicated ones, hopefully,” Jiya fired back.
“Scanners show there is an outpost located exactly where Jora’nal’s intel shows it to be, and there are maybe two hundred lifeforms packed into it,” Ria reported. “They’ve pinged us and know we’re here, but I’m not picking up any ships anywhere in the area. It looks like they’re all alone down there.”
“Could be a trap,” Asya said, examining the data.
“Could be, but I’m not seeing that they have the resources to surprise us with anything,” Reynolds noted.
He double-checked the reports, confirming the ensign’s assessment of there being no ships nearby. And with no other planets in the system, the only way someone could reach them quickly enough to cause them grief would be to Gate in.
“I say we pop dirtside and see what we can find,” the AI suggested. He looked at Ensign Alcott. “Can you get a clear scan of that outpost and determine a clear layout?”
“Yes, sir,” Ria replied, turning to focus on her console.
“Thinking about transporting down?” Maddox asked. “That’ll save some wear and tear on the Pods.” He laughed.
“We also need more practice with transporting, and this seems like a good time to get that in,” the AI replied.
Jiya shrugged. “What the hell. I’m in.”
“Besides, it gives us the advantage of surprise, since there’s no way they’ll expect us to teleport down,” Reynolds went on. “They’ll be waiting for a Pod or for us to bring the superdreadnought into the atmosphere. As long as we don’t do either of those, we’ll keep them guessing as to what is going on.”
“I’ve scanned the entire outpost and have a basic map of it,” Ria reported. “Since the compound isn’t shielded, I was able to do it easily enough. It’s a live recording, so it should update to show you where the cultists currently are.”
“Excellent. Transfer it to Takal, and have him adjust the beam for a location nearest what might be the administration section of the compound, and where there is the fewest number of people,” Reynolds told her. “We’re going to test the accuracy of this system.”
“Information transferred,” Ria said.
“I’ve got it plugged in, and we’re ready to go, Captain,” Takal reported. “I believe I have a suitable location, although it’s not directly into the administration area since that section is far too populated to risk transporting you into. All it would take was for a person to slow down, and we might end up merging you with them.”
“Fair enough,” the AI confirmed. “You’ve got the conn, Asya. Takal, transport only me down there right now, and I’ll survey the location and confirm when it’s best to send the rest of the crew.”
Ka’nak chuckled. “You just want to go it alone, huh, Captain?”
“You found me out, Ka’nak,” Reynolds joked. “Transport me, Takal.” He cloaked himself.
Seconds later, the bridge disappeared and Reynolds arrived on the planet, exactly where Takal had intended to send him.
I love this system!
Reynolds glanced around, surveying the landing spot and comparing it against the electronic map Ria had created. It was a perfect match.
Even better, the map continued to function, showing Reynolds where every cultist was in the outpost.
If only it were always t
his easy, he thought.
He triggered his comm and called up for the rest of the crew. Jiya, Ka’nak, and Maddox appeared beside him moments later, nothing more than hazy outlines picked up by his enhanced senses tuned to identify them in their cloaked state.
“Nice landing,” Jiya quipped. “Now, what are we looking for?”
“Anything that points to where Phraim-’Eh might be hiding out,” Reynolds replied. “We’ll go from here, and make our way to the administration section, taking out anyone who gets in the way.”
The crew acknowledged the order and started off behind the android AI.
They made it through several winding corridors before running into anyone. Fortunately, they’d had a heads-up on their arrival.
Two cultists strolled straight toward them through the corridor. Ka’nak and Reynolds moved to either side, pressed against the walls, and waited. When the cultists drew close, Reynolds and Ka’nak reached out and snapped the disciples’ necks.
They died without a sound or even realizing what had happened.
The crew stuffed the bodies out of sight down a corridor that showed no cultists nearby, and they moved on.
Down another corridor, a short distance from what they assessed was the administration section, they came upon four cultists standing guard in the hall outside a door.
“We do this quietly or out in the open?” Maddox asked over the private comm, knowing his voice wouldn’t carry outside of his helmet as the crew lurked around the corner.
“No point making a mess so soon,” Reynolds answered. “Each of us picks a target, and we take them out quietly, no muss, no fuss.”
“Roger that,” Jiya replied, and Maddox and Ka’nak nodded agreement.
They were on their way a moment later.
The crew eased up in front of the cultists, who were chatting back and forth.
Reynolds grinned as he stood there, ready to end the life of the person before him who couldn’t even see him coming.
It wasn’t very sporting, and normally Reynolds would hesitate to be so callous, but the cultists had proven they didn’t give a damn about morals or the well-being of anyone else besides themselves.
Besides, Reynolds had inherited Bethany Anne’s sense of judgment, and that left these cultists, even friendly, chatty ones, wanting.
He glanced at the others, and the crew coordinated their attacks. Then he gave the signal, and they launched into motion.
Four bodies fell as one without a fight, helped to crumple silently to the floor.
Reynolds was about to congratulate the crew when another cultist turned the corner and spotted the four bodies slumped outside the door.
“They’re here!” he screamed. “Intruders!”
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Reynolds told the cultist, removing his cloak and blowing his head off.
“So much for stealth.” Ka’nak chuckled, turning to cover the door to the administration section, expecting it to come flying open.
Alarms rang out, bathing the corridor in crimson lights.
“You stirred up the hornet’s nest,” Asya reported from her post aboard the SD Reynolds. “Pretty much everyone in the compound is headed your way. I’m updating your maps. Seems there was a slight lag in them, thanks to the transport system.”
“Sorry, guys!” Ria called over the comm.
“Geroux and I are adjusting the latency of the system on our end,” Takal reported. “Seems there is a bit of lag between systems when you’re transported. Hadn’t noticed it before because your suits always caught up before you checked the systems.”
“Good to know,” Reynolds replied, raising his pistol and firing down the hall as one of the red dots on his map appeared.
A cultist shrieked and slammed into the wall behind him, his head a smoldering ruin.
“Seems to be synced up again,” the AI reported.
He fired a couple more shots at cultists who stepped out into the corridor, dropping them alongside their headless companion. The rest of the cultists wised up and stayed behind the cover of the wall.
“They’re massing on the other side of the door here,” Jiya informed. “Looks like fifteen arranged to cover every angle once the door opens.”
“Now would be a good time for a grenade,” Ka’nak said, grinning.
“It’s always a good time for a grenade with you,” Maddox told the Melowi.
“Hey, don’t mess with what works,” Ka’nak fired back.
“No grenades for you,” Jiya told him, waggling a finger his direction.
“Awww, Mom!” the Melowi whined, sniggering a second later.
The door started to slide open right then.
It was about halfway when the first barrage of fire exploded out from the inside.
The crew hunkered down, pressing against the walls, but it would only be a second or two more before the door opened wide enough to expose all of them to the cultists’ shots.
“Grenade!” Ka’nak screamed, using his helmet to amplify his shout.
His voice reverberated through the corridor as if he’d used a loudspeaker.
“Oh, fuck!” Jiya growled. “You better not—”
She watched as Ka’nak stepped forward and threw something into the crowd of cultists on the other side of the door.
“You didn’t?” She started to groan when she realized what he had tossed into the room.
It was his pistol.
The unarmored and unprepared cultists, however, didn’t realize that.
They scattered and retreated into the room in a frenzy of assholes and elbows, desperately trying to put something solid between them and the grenade as it thunked loudly to the floor.
“Seriously?” Jiya asked the Melowi. “You threw your gun?”
Ka’nak shrugged and bolted into the room. “They didn’t know that.” He scooped up his weapon and turned it on the fleeing cultists, who were only then realizing that nothing had exploded at their backs.
By then, many of their heads actually were exploding, only adding to the confusion.
Ka’nak blasted the cultists from behind, plowing through half of them before the others managed to recover and spin around to attempt a panicked defense.
Jiya joined him at that point.
She sprayed the room, being careful not to hit anything crucial that might contain the information they needed to track down Phraim-’Eh.
Maddox joined them, sniping cultists who’d avoided slaughter and found the wits to return fire.
Seconds later, all the cultists in the room were dead or incapacitated.
Reynolds stepped into the room, firing down the hall to keep the remaining cultists at bay. Ka’nak joined him on the near side, the pair ripping off shots as needed to keep the cultists honest and back behind the cover of the wall.
While Phraim-’Eh’s disciples piled up in the halls at their brethren’s backs, the corridor between them and the crew had been unceremoniously turned into a killing field. There was no way for them to clear the distance between the corner and the administration section without being gunned down.
“You got that?” Jiya asked Reynolds.
“Sure, I’m not going anywhere,” he replied, lazily shooting down the hall anytime a cultist dared to pop his head out. “Take your time.”
Jiya chuckled, and she and Maddox angled around the room, out of the line of fire, and started searching the place.
“Damn, this place is prehistoric,” the general muttered as he dug through file cabinets and rifled through papers left on the desks scattered around the room.
“Too damn cold for computers,” Jiya joked as she did the same, using her suit’s scanners to examine each document quickly before discarding it.
“Waste of resources out here, more likely,” Reynolds said from his post at the door. “This here is the sticks. They probably wipe their ass with rolls of brown paper towels, extra rough.”
“Which only makes me glad it’s so cold out here,” Maddox stated. “Ther
e’s no smelling any of that.”
The two continued to search as the cultists piled up down the hall. They looked ready to abandon any sense of tactics and rush forward as a group, hoping that some of them made it close enough to take out the intruders.
It might have been a valid plan if Reynolds and Ka’nak were any less efficient with their hands than they were their weapons.
Which wasn’t the case.
“You find anything?” the AI asked, getting tired of imagining the scenarios the cultists might be planning in hopes of stopping the ransacking of their master’s paperwork.
“Not a damn thing,” Jiya told him, shaking her head. “All this crap is invoices and supply recs and busywork bullshit.”
“Well, we had to give it a shot,” Reynolds replied, shrugging. “We couldn’t know that without coming here.”
He opened a channel to the ship.
“Get us out of here, Takal,” he called up. “We’ve got bupkis.”
“Is it contagious?” the inventor asked. “Do I need to alert Dr. Reynolds?”
Reynolds shook his head in disappointment. “Just transport us home, Takal.”
The AI snapped off a couple more shots before he found himself standing on the bridge, pointing a gun at the wall.
He chuckled and holstered his weapon, seeing Ka’nak do the same, a silly grin on his face as he did.
“We’re going to have to time that better when we transport in combat, I think,” the AI announced. “Someone’s liable to get shot up here without clear signals about when we’re poofing.”
“Any clue as to where Phraim-’Eh is down there?” XO asked.
“Not a one,” Reynolds grunted, turning to Tactical. “I’m thinking those cultists down there are feeling the chill right about now. How about we heat them up?”
“A dozen super-toasty missiles coming right up,” Tactical replied.
The viewscreen zoomed in on the compound as the missiles hit, turning it into a blazing fireball.
