Bounty's Call

by Max Jager

  Turning and rushing down the platform, Jameson reached for his backup firearm. Then he spun around and let loose a few bursts. He blinked in surprise as Axus soon appeared with a weapon of his own.

  Swearing, Jameson dove behind another terminal. The two traded shots, but it was clear Axus was packing heavier weaponry. His incendiary shots were tearing apart console after console. It was a wonder the cannon was still operating.

  The inevitable happened and Axus let off a shot that breached the fire control room wall. The shot blew apart several other components, and a series of explosions rocked the cannon. Jameson blinked, watching in horror as the hole expanded, finally breaching the station's outer hull.

  The violent vacuum of space was pulling at him once again. Before Jameson knew what had happened, he was tumbling roughly through the open air, up through the hole, and out into space. Somewhere in the madness, he managed to get a grip and activated his armor's clinger system. Switching to maximum setting, he prayed it would latch onto something.

  It did. Just out of the maw his feet snapped to, grabbing hold of the cannon's exterior surface. The effect whiplashed his body around into an upright position, the stars around him tumbling over and over before he was righted. Jameson fought off oncoming nausea.

  "Jameson!" Mathison cried out. "I lost your signal! Are you still with me?"

  "Yeah…" Jameson replied woozily. "I'm outside again. How are things going inside? And what about Madeira and the Crimson?"

  "They're fine. We're already outrunning those patrol ships. But I'm really having a hard time hacking Axus's signal. His MATHISON on Andorra is fighting back."

  "Just keep at it," Jameson replied, turning around to get his bearings. They were on a completely different part of the cannon's exterior. The hull was much more varied here, with lots of ridges and modules. They must be somewhere along the platform below the actual cannon.

  A pulse of piercing blue-white light screamed past his head, sending Jameson's armor into a fit of alarms. Jumping to the side, he barely missed another shot from Axus.

  The man was somewhere behind him, having ended up lower down along the cannon's platform superstructure. He still had the same massive weapon, too, which meant it was time for Jameson to get moving.

  Running for it, Jameson climbed over ridges, edges, and dodged around barriers as Axus continued firing shot after shot. It left a trail of carnage and craters along the exterior of the station. Apparently, they weren't trying to keep the thing intact. That or it would fire just fine regardless of the superficial damage Axus was inflicting. It was clear Axus had gone from playing with his food to certain destruction.

  Funny, he was doing better when he tried to fight Jameson hand-to-hand.

  Eventually Jameson ran out of platform hull plating to run across. The massive barrel of the cannon stretched out before him; a hundred meters out into space. Without much else in the way of options, Jameson leapt for it, streaming through space from the higher point along the platform, down to the narrower shaft of the barrel.

  Glancing back, he was startled to find Axus jumping down from above as well. He no longer had his incendiary weapon, this time wielding a handheld firearm of some sort. It fired single pulse bolts, which were easy for Jameson to dodge as long as he kept ten meters between them.

  Axus cackled, and Jameson realized their comms must be connected. There was no way he would have heard him otherwise through the protection of his suit and across the vacuum of space.

  "You idiot!" Axus cried out, still laughing. "You think distracting me out here will save your precious Gibraltar? Everything is automated. And now we have front row seats to the start of the show."

  "Yes, keep him talking," Mathison muttered on a separate channel. "If this thing is automated, I should have a split second window when his MATHISON sends the signal."

  "Are you ready to die, then?" Jameson breathed, egging him on.

  "Die? Oh no, dear Jameson. Even if I don't finish you out here, I'll be safely back inside before the cannon fires. True, it won't be as fun watching the exhaust radiation fry you from a screen inside, but it's better than nothing, I suppose."

  Jameson rolled his eyes. "Listen to yourself, Axus. Even if this was all about vengeance for what I did to your world in another time, look at where you've taken it? Were you always this kind of person?"

  Axus grunted, his smirk softening. "No…you're right, choppin'-block-doc. But this is beyond vengeance. I don't think you understand how intimately I felt every single way you destroyed my world. So now I want you to feel it in ways far worse when I destroy everything you love."

  Jameson blinked, shocked. Axus was so consumed by his hatred that this was beyond vengeance. His whole goal now was to create pain and suffering.

  He had become a devil; a monster that would only consume more once these plans here were finished. Perhaps he would bring similar fates to Draconia.

  "I'm so very glad you're here, Jameson," he pressed. "I want you to know that I primed five specific cannons in the Draconian Strategic Grid. I attuned them to the assets where the last of your friends are currently stationed. And once I have finished you here, I will have utterly destroyed every last one of you murderers who burnt Kraven to ashes."

  "And what then? Will your blood lust come to an end? Will you be satisfied then?"

  "Damn, this is gonna be close," Mathison whispered. "You need to get moving, Jameson."

  Jameson felt a trickle of sweat drip down his cheek. Even if Mathison succeeded with the incoming signal, there was no guarantee he would make it off the platform alive. It didn't help that they were standing so close to the crown of the barrel. When the light show began, they could both fry.

  Axus seemed to consider Jameson's words, and for a moment, the man looked like he might call the whole thing off. But then the smirk returned, wider than ever.

  "Oh no, I'm sure there will be much more to do when this is over. In fact," he laughed quietly to himself. "I've given specific orders to Draconia patrols to capture the Crimson Night intact."

  He winked and Jameson felt a new level of horror creep into his gut. Live or die, he could not allow Axus to walk away from this encounter.

  "I don't know exactly what I'll do yet, but when I finally get my hands on that mermaid of yours again…" He licked his lips, as if savoring some delicious flavor. "I'm sure I'll find some creative ways to end her."

  Jameson gritted his teeth, well aware that Axus was goading him into their final duel. But he had to resist. Just a bit—

  There was a sudden tremor through the ground, and a bright burst of light pierced the inky black of night. The exhaust beam.

  The cannon was priming to fire.

  "Jameson!" Mathison screamed. "GET OUT OF THERE!"

  Axus raised his firearm, starting to back off. "Looks like the show's about to kick off."

  "Mathison, talk to me!" Jameson breathed, trying to inch forward. Axus laid down some fire, limiting his mobility.

  "The signal from Axus's MATHISON just came in. Draconia's whole Strategic Grid went live. Shit, they're targeting every last Gibraltar platform and dozens more military assets."

  Jameson bolted forward, feeling a sudden heat wash over him. The residual radiation from the cannon's charged beam would cook him alive if he stayed out here as the damn thing fired. He traded a few shots with Axus, but he still wasn't making much headway.

  Suddenly one of his shots got lucky, knocking Axus's sidearm away. Laughing at his own fortune, Jameson charged forward.

  Axus was ready. Before he was even four meters away, Axus pulled some move that sent him spiraling over Jameson. Jameson tried to compensate, but in doing so, he left himself exposed, and Axus swiped away his firearm.

  Then Axus was behind him, laying down a few quick hits that sent tremors through Jameson's armor.

  The next thing he knew, the two of them were standing on the edge of the platform, Axus's boot pressed down against Jameson's chest. They were safely away from
the cannon barrel now. Axus grinned down at him, pulling up a holographic display on his suit's wrist mount.

  "Guess neither of us will be frying today. But we can still enjoy the show together."

  A galactic star map sprung up from the holo-display. To Jameson's amazement, it flashed colored targets on every Gibraltar Strategic Cannon. Axus had done it. He had Gibraltar lined up, ready to carve to pieces.

  "Now I shall destroy worlds!"

  Jameson blinked hard as the glowing light at the crown of the cannon reached its apex. A moment later, a blinding pulse of pure energy screamed out into the silence of space, disappearing at some unknown point as the Lauritzen manipulators prepared to bend the energy across thousands of lightyears to the intended targets.

  "Yes indeed," Mathison chimed in. "Time for this show to get underway."

  Axus suddenly frowned. "Who the hell was that?"

  "Oh, almost forgot to mention. I'm in Axus's comm channel, too. Thought he would enjoy watching this."

  Axus's eyes grew wide, focusing on Jameson. "What the—?"

  "You hacked the signal," Jameson breathed, still catching his breath from having his ass kicked by Axus. He meant it as a statement, not as a question. Mathison had succeeded.

  "Too true, I did! I used Axus's very line to shoot a feedback into the Gibraltar grid. Now that Draconia has gone active, Gibraltar has a direct line of sight to every last one of their cannon locations. Which means…ah yes, there they are."

  On Axus's holographic map, the yellow targets painted over Gibraltar cannons suddenly went active. New, red colored targets suddenly shifted over every single Draconian cannon.

  Both sides had each other's guns in their cross hairs, the first shots already away.

  Axus's boot suddenly disappeared from Jameson's chest. He was screaming into his headset, bringing up new holographic displays in a frenzy.

  "No! No, no, no, no! Shut down! Shut down!"

  Jameson scooted away, lumbering to his feet. He watched as Axus vainly tried to power down the Draconian Strategic Grid. Perhaps he thought doing so would shake off the signal locks Gibraltar had just achieved by pinging back through the hacked signal. It wouldn't work, though. The Strategic Cannons were hardwired WMDs. Once a Mutually Assured Destruction event was underway, they couldn't be unwound.

  Axus had his back to Jameson, working away furiously on his holographic link up. It occurred to Jameson that in this unguarded moment, with Axus's full energy elsewhere, he could do it.

  He could end Axus.

  All these years; all the hurt and devastation Axus had dealt him. The friends he had killed; the lovers he had stolen. The way he had threatened to do unspeakable things to Madeira. He deserved to die at Jameson's hand.

  But at what cost?

  Was the price of vengeance their own sort of mutually assured destruction?

  Without another thought, Jameson crouched low, kicking off sharply from the hull of the platform. He killed his clingers and fired a microburst of propellant that launched him deep into space.

  Axus spun on his heels, his face becoming inscrutable as his figure grew smaller in the distance.

  "JAMESON!"

  "Goodbye, Axus."

  "Jameson! Get the hell back here NOW! This isn't finished!"

  A new icon flashed onto Jameson's HUD. It was a proximity alert. The Crimson had just jumped back in system. It was somewhere outside his field of view, hopefully swinging around to pick him up.

  He was far enough away now that the Strategic Cannon Platform looked like a toy; something he could reach out and grab in the palm of his hand. The bright beam of white-blue firepower still streaked into space, no doubt finding one of its targets at that exact moment.

  "Jameson!" Axus cried out once more. "You coward! Come back and finish it!"

  "No Axus. Now it's finished."

  A pulse of excruciatingly white light briefly blinded Jameson. When it cleared, he watched as a new beam lanced through space, enveloping the cannon. The retaliation strike from Gibraltar. In a flash of light, fire, and ionized radiation, the cannon and Axus vaporized into oblivion.

  The shock wave hit next, sending Jameson tumbling so violently that he began to see black edges around his vision. Before slipping out, he briefly caught sight of four walls suddenly swallowing him. He must have flown directly into one of the Crimson's cargo bays.

  Then he hit something hard and everything went completely black.

  Somewhere, sometime, he became aware of the pain before much else. His cybernetics did their best to compensate, but there was only so much they could do. Especially when a person flying at several meters per second through space came to a crunching halt.

  But that was nothing new.

  Besides, pain was good. It was Jameson's first clue that he wasn't dead. Dead men feel no pain. So as the pain came in waves, his cybernetics adjusting to keep him from going into shock, the blackness faded and the world slowly came into focus.

  As it did so, Jameson also became acutely aware of a song. He recognized it now; the music of the Nereis. It was sweet and rejuvenating, calling him back into the land of the living.

  As he came to his senses, he realized that Madeira had his head cradled in her arms. She had one of his cybernetic diagnostic tools in hand, working meticulously as she sang. Then her song dimmed, and she glanced down at him, smiling as he blinked awake.

  "Welcome back," she breathed. She sounded tuckered out.

  "Someone's busy," he grunted. He could taste thick blood in his mouth.

  She made a face, cocking her head. "If you thought you were in bad shape when I saved you from drowning, that's nothing compared to now."

  "But singing?"

  She shrugged. "I had to keep you from going into a coma. It worked, didn't it?"

  Jameson chuckled, but even that hurt. Madeira glanced away from his face, concentration filling her gaze as she worked on him. Jameson felt her bare hand on his chest and realized she had pulled apart his armor. He was afraid to see how bad the damage was, but if he was conscious, she must have repaired most of it.

  At least, he hoped so.

  "Well, that looks like mighty fine work," Mathison spoke up over the hangar's stereo system. "You make a better medic than I would, Madeira."

  "Thanks," she replied. "I think you can sit up now."

  She placed a stabilizing hand on Jameson's back, easing him up. He groaned, feeling like his insides had been shredded as he did so. But when he glanced down, he was pleased to see no lasting damage across his exposed torso. Just a few extra scars and a couple of cybernetic implants recently cinched back into place.

  "You should show him," Mathison pressed.

  "Show me what?"

  A grin flashed across Madeira's face. "You'll want to see this."

  She set aside the diagnostic tools and pulled up a tablet. In a flash, it showed a galaxy-wide map displaying both Gibraltar and Draconian borders. The Intel was obviously from when Mathison had hacked Axus's signal. More importantly, it had working intelligence on both sides' Strategic Grids. Perhaps the one time in history that either nation knew where all assets were located.

  And both sides had completely toasted each other.

  "Well I'll be damned," Jameson muttered. He took the tablet gingerly from Madeira, focusing closer on the real time feed.

  It had ended nearly as quickly as it had begun. Both nations had targeted each other's cannons, too entranced in the chance to dispose the other side's ability to strike back. In effect, both sides had completely and thoroughly destroyed each other's Strategic Cannons. No civilian casualties; no other worlds targeted.

  "Look closer," said Mathison. "Rappel and Torik got out the evacuation warnings. They abandoned the Fleets before the shots hit."

  Jameson blinked, astonished. He could see now that the shots hadn't been targeted exclusively at cannons. All three Gibraltar Fleets had been hit, too. A few straggler ships had survived, including most of the assigned officers and soldie
rs. A few wild shots had hit minor Draconian Fleet installations, but they had never had much of an offensive fleet in the first place.

  Both sides were down for the count.

  "We did it," Madeira breathed, contained excitement dripping in her voice. "We freakin' did it!"

  She hugged Jameson tight. He ignored the pain, just glad to have her arms around him.

  "We did it."

  Paradise