by J. N. Chaney
“Where’s Octavia?” I asked. We were standing in the lounge, and I expected her to be there when Abigail and I showed up.
“She’s with Alphonse,” said Freddie. “He’s doing better, but she had to replace the bandages.”
“He’s still out of it?”
“The trauma to his skull was pretty bad, from what she told me.”
“Well, we can’t worry about that now. Siggy, get ready to follow the plan I gave you.”
“Yes, sir. I shall follow it with precision. Rest assured.”
“Good man.” I took a deep breath. “Everyone ready?”
Abigail raised her rifle. “Just give me the word.”
“Athena,” I said. “Do you hear me?”
“I do,” said a disembodied voice. I was surprised at how loud it was, despite the turn-key being all the way in my room’s closet. “Activating tractor beam in five seconds.”
I looked at Abigail. “Let’s go kill us some goddamn Sarkonians.”
Twenty-Five
The Renegade Star flew towards the squad of ships, taking aim at the centermost vessel, the flagship of this tiny fleet. “Fire when ready, Athena!” I barked, right as we were close enough away to use our weapons.
Several beams like the one that had brought us to Titan exploded from all across its surface, combining at a center focal point to create a massive ray of light. It swept across the void between us and struck the Sarkonian ships, consuming all of them at once.
Once it did, we were very nearly there. We had to do this quickly if we were going to make this work.
The timer had begun.
“Take us in, Siggy!” I ordered, not wasting a moment.
My ship approached the lead vessel, extending clamps and forcing a dock. “Overriding internal defense systems,” said Sigmond. “The airlock will open in—”
The door slid open on both sides, with me holding my gun as two Sarkonians came running towards me. Both Abigail and I shot them instinctively, before they could even cross the threshold between our ships.
“—now,” Sigmond finished.
“Yeah, thanks!” said Abigail.
“You ready?” I asked, unholstering a second pistol. It was the same one I’d taken from Spiketown.
She nodded. “Let’s go get that family back.”
We stormed through the airlock and entered the nearby corridor. A Sarkonian charged at Abigail, trying to take her by surprise, but all he got was the butt of a rifle and a broken nose. He fell backwards, against the wall, and Abigail shot him clean through the forehead.
I kept moving, knowing she was right behind. The second section was a corridor with multiple rooms, which meant multiple opportunities to be ambushed. We swept them, clearing the first four.
When we reached the fifth, Abigail grabbed my sleeve, holding me there. I gave her a confused look, but she motioned to the floor. There were two shadows, just beneath the door, breaking the light inside. I nodded, motioning for her to step back against the wall. She did, and I hit the switch to open it.
The idiot inside fired off his weapon as soon as the door moved.
Abigail and I were on both sides of the entrance with our backs to the wall. I curved my arm around and fired off a shot, right in his gut. As he started to fall, Abigail twisted around the wall and finished him with a headshot. Two and done.
We kept moving, arriving at the end of the hall. As we curved toward the center of the ship, down what I was sure would be the final climb, I was surprised by a group of three soldiers. They didn’t hesitate to fire, and we didn’t hesitate to dive out of the fucking way.
We hit the floor, sliding back into the previous corridor. I heard Athena’s voice in my ear. “Shield reduced to 20%.”
My leg had been struck and was glowing blue from the shot. There went one of my free hits.
Abigail leapt back on her feet and squatted next to the bend in the hall, holding her weapon low.
They had us pinned, which meant we’d have to either plow through them or give up and leave.
“Ideas?” she asked me.
“Only one,” I said. “Time to make use of these shields.”
She nodded.
“You go low; I’ll go high. Stay close to the wall so you can take cover if you have to.”
I peeked into the hall to see one soldier laying suppressing fire on us while the other two moved up along the corridor. One of them had a riot shield. They’d obviously come prepared.
Then again, so had we.
I dove out in front of the oncoming soldiers as they drew closer, firing into the first one before he saw me coming. I collided with him, grabbing his hand and pushing him into the one with the riot shield, which kept both of them from getting a clean shot at me.
Abigail fired from the corner, tagging the guy with the shield in his side multiple times. Her own shield flickered as the soldier at the end of the hall continued his suppressing fire on her.
“I’m out!” she yelled, diving behind the wall again.
I raised my pistol and pressed the barrel to the soldier’s chin. He was still in my arms, trying to free his own weapon from my grip. No such luck. I fired straight into his skull, and a river of blood poured out of his nose as he collapsed in front of me.
The man with the riot shield had also fallen, just in front of me. I grabbed the ballistic shield and lifted it just in time to block the gunfire from down the hall.
I heard the voice tell me I only had 10% left. Apparently, I’d taken a shot without realizing it.
I pressed forward, holding the shield with my barrel peeking out the side. With one last bullet, I fired a shot at the third and final soldier. It stuck him in the thigh and knocked him on his knee, where he struggled to get his rifle back up. Before he could, I reached in my side and, using my second pistol, sent the final blow to his forehead, exploding the back of his skull in the process. With confusion in his eyes, and the life in him gone, the soldier fell straight onto the floor with a hard thud.
I reloaded.
“Think we’re almost there?” asked Abigail, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead.
“Don’t know,” I said, locking my magazine in place.
I helped Abigail to her feet. We double-timed it over the bodies and made our way into the centermost part of the ship, towards the bridge.
As we neared the door, a voice came on the speaker system. “Captain Hughes, stop what you are doing at once!”
It was Mercer, no doubt with some kind of ultimatum. Let her try and stop me.
“If you do not cease your actions, I will eliminate the two prisoners in my hold. Do you understand? This is your final warning!”
I touched the com in my ear. “Ready, Siggy?”
“On your command, sir,” he answered.
I reached into my side pocket and retrieved a set of goggles, placing them over my forehead and flipping the switch. Abigail did the same. “Do it.”
The doors slid open between us and every light across the ship instantly died. “Hack successful, sir,” said Sigmond.
I slid the goggles over my eyes, and everything was bright again, only with a shade of green. “Let’s do this.”
Abigail and I turned into the corridor ahead of us. Several Sarkonians struggled to find their way in the darkened hall as we neared them, sniping each as soon as we had the chance.
The path led straight into the bridge, spacious and presently filled with panic. Someone was shouting. A woman I recognized. “Get the fucking lights back on! Tersa! Answer me you godforsaken A.I.!”
“I’m afraid Tersa is indisposed at the moment,” said Sigmond, his voice coming over the speaker. “I am Sigmond, but my friends call me Siggy. You may call me Sigmond.”
“Who the fuck is that?!”
We stayed low, moving fast. The woman yelling, the Commander with the scarred face, stood with her hand on a railing and a pistol in the other.
Not far from her position, I spotted Bolin and his daughter
being held by two soldiers. I touched Abigail’s shoulder and motioned towards them. She raised her finger to acknowledge and then went forward, coming up to them and raising her rifle.
She slammed the butt of the gun into the first man’s cheek, cracking the bone, and in a fluid, quick movement, dug the barrel into the second soldier’s stomach and fired. She did this in seconds. Neither of them knew what had happened until they were on the floor.
“Kill the prisoners!” shouted Mercer. She lifted her pistol in the dark, aiming it in the Bolin and Camilla’s direction. She couldn’t see, but she fired anyway, hitting the wall behind them.
Camilla screamed, crouching on her knees and holding the sides of her head.
I ran towards Mercer, only to collide with one of her aides, knocking them down.
Mercer heard this and swung her barrel toward me, firing off a bullet. It hit my shoulder and the shield flickered. “0% remaining,” Athena said.
Shit, I thought. No more second chances.
I reached for her weapon, grabbing the barrel right as she squeezed the trigger. The bullet fired off near my head, missing but giving me one hell of a fucking headache. My ears started ringing, but I didn’t let myself slow down.
I knocked her hand against the railing, trying to force her to let go of the gun, while also burying my own into her waist. “Drop the fucking pistol!” I barked.
She struggled to move beneath me. “Let me go or I’ll have your entire crew shot!”
“I wouldn’t count on that, Commander!”
Abigail was with Bolin and Camilla, telling them to get up. She slid a third pair of goggles onto Bolin’s forehead. “This will help,” she said, activating them.
When he had them on, she told him to pick his daughter up and follow. I waited for the three of them to leave as I held Mercer back.
“I’m going to kill you, Hughes!” she snarled as she tried to move. “I’m going to kill every last one of you, starting with that freak girl you have!”
I nudged my goggles up with my shoulder, pushing them over my forehead. It was suddenly so dark, but I could still make out Mercer’s face, only six or seven centimeters from me.
Without warning, the lights clicked on. “Control recovered,” said a mechanical voice overhead.
I was suddenly face-to-face with Mercer. Her eyes filled with hate the moment she saw me. She opened her mouth to speak, no doubt to order her crew to kill me. I wouldn’t give her the chance.
“Someone kill him!” she barked.
“Not today, you crazy bitch,” I said, and then pressed my barrel further into her side and fired, watching her expression change from rage to shock as the bullet tore through her abdomen and out the other side.
She loosened her grip on the gun in her hand, and I snatched it away, tossing it behind me. Every eye in the room was on me as they reoriented themselves, finally aware of my position.
I swung her around and got behind her, wrapping my arm around her neck and buried the gun in her side, slowly backing away.
Half a dozen weapons were aimed at me in seconds, ready to blow me to pieces. I dragged Mercer back with me through the hall. “Watch yourselves!” I barked. “She’ll live if you stay back!”
Mercer struggled under my arm. “Let…go!” she said, squirming. I felt blood, wet and warm, running out of her and onto my thigh. It was coming fast. She wouldn’t last very long. I’d have to move.
I dragged Mercer down the hall while several of her subordinates followed me from a distance. They kept their rifles and pistols on me, but didn’t fire. So long as I had their leader at gunpoint, I knew I was safe.
“Siggy, get ready to close the hatch,” I muttered, right as I neared the turn in the corridor.
As I made the bend, still pulling Mercer, I felt her go limp. Her arms dangled on her sides.
“Sir,” said Sigmond. “I must inform you, the woman in your possession has ceased her breathing.”
“Damn,” I muttered. The soldiers would keep coming, but I could run the rest of the way. I had a few seconds before they had me back in their line-of-sight. “Fuck it.”
I dropped Mercer and started running. I heard the body hit the metal grate as I hurried through the hall. “Once I’m in, close the airlock!” I ordered. “Siggy, you hearing—”
I felt a sudden jerk in my shoulder, sending me against the wall. I hit the floor a few meters from the doorway, a numb pain filling my upper arm. I’d been shot before, so I knew exactly what was happening.
I turned to see a soldier aiming a rifle. Fuck, I thought, staring at the stranger who was about to end me. I thought I was faster than that.
Before he could pull the trigger, someone fired a shot off, surprising both of us. It hit the wall behind the soldier, but before he could react, another one got him in the chest, followed by a third in the waist, and then a fourth in the neck. He fell to his knees and collapsed on his side.
I turned to see Freddie standing in the airlock, holding his rifle, breathing heavily. “Fred?” I said, not sure if I was hallucinating.
He reached out with his hand, grasping mine, and pulled me backwards while still aiming down the hall. “I’ve got you, Captain!”
I touched my arm, feeling the warm blood between my fingers. “Count me relieved to hear that,” I muttered. “Now, let’s get our asses out of here.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, sir.”
Twenty-Six
We arrived inside Titan and docked The Renegade Star in the bay. Before I could do anything, I heard Athena’s voice come over the com. “Captain Hughes, please return to the observation room right away.”
Abigail had taken the time to patch the wound on my shoulder during our short flight back to the Moon. It hurt like fucking hell, but I’d managed far worse before today.
Hitchens was standing outside, waiting for us when we arrived. He looked concerned when he saw the shoulder, but I gave him a dismissive wave. “It’s nothing,” I said, before he could ask.
Lex ran up to Abigail and gave her a hug. “Abby!”
Freddie followed, carrying Alphonse on one of the mobile transports. He was still unconscious, by the look of him.
Octavia rolled beside them. Since she and Freddie had still yet to come here, they couldn’t help but gawk at the sheer size of the megastructure.
I took Hitchens by the arm. “Let’s see what Athena wants.”
“You want me to come with you?” he asked.
“Of course. You’re the expert, Doc. Not me.”
He nodded, and we started moving.
The doors to the small conference room slid open with Athena behind them, standing in the same spot she’d been before we left. “Welcome back,” she said. “There is another ship inbound to our position. I need you to classify it so that I may assess the situation further.”
“Classify it?” I asked.
She waved her hand at the back wall, changing it to show the Sarkonian ships, which were out of the tractor beam and firing on Titan’s shield. “Here it comes,” she said.
Right then, a massive ship appeared, nearly half the size of Titan. I recognized it as The Galactic Dawn.
Shit, I thought. “That’s definitely hostile.”
“I do not believe Titan’s shield can withstand an attack by such an entity. We are still not at full power. I will be unable to return fire.”
“What are we going to do, Captain?” asked Hitchens.
“We have to get out of here,” I said. “Athena, how fast can this ship move? Can we outrun them?”
“Titan can only move at one-tenth the speed of light with its primary engines. The only viable solution would be to use slipspace.”
“There’s no slip tunnels in this system,” I said.
The screen behind Athena showed The Galactic Dawn dispersing its strike ships. “Tunnels?” asked Athena.
“Slip tunnels!” I answered. We were running out of time.
“Ah, you are referring to preexisting passages,
” said Athena. “Please, observe.”
She froze in place, but only for a second, and the screen behind her changed, showing the section of space ahead of Titan.
A rift appeared, slicing through the empty void like a knife mark, revealing the inner green light of the slipstream. “A tunnel?” I asked, staring at it. “There was one here this whole time?”
“I don’t quite understand,” said Hitchens.
“It seems your people have forgotten a great many things in the time since your ancestors left my side, Jace Hughes,” said the cognitive. “I can not only open existing slipstream tunnels; I can create them.”
Titan pushed forward, though only a little, and suddenly we were there, inside the newly-created tunnel.
I looked at the other screen, which showed the area behind us. The Galactic Dawn was moving, too, no doubt trying to make its way inside the tunnel. Before it could, however, the rift closed, immersing us in the inner bands of slipspace.
I was stunned by what I was seeing. In all my time, traveling from one section of the galaxy to the next, I’d never seen a ship with the ability to create its own slip tunnels. “Be at ease,” said Athena. “Your enemies will need to find another path if they hope to reach us.”
“Where are you taking us now?” I asked.
“Not I,” she corrected. “What follows is up to you.” She looked behind me, and I turned to see Abigail and Freddie there, with Octavia in her chair. “To all of you,” finished the cognitive.
Lex squeezed between them, forcing her way into the room. She walked up to me and took my hand. I smiled at her without knowing why.
I turned to Abigail. “We came here for a reason, didn’t we? Might as well see this through to the end.”
“That’s right,” she said, taking Lex’s other hand. “We’re not just going to walk away, not after everything we’ve been through.”
“The path ahead will be difficult, despite all that you have accomplished,” said Athena. “The journey is long. Titan is in need of repair and fuel. It will not be easy. Are you certain you wish to continue?”
I nodded. “Let’s do what we set out to do.” I looked at the ancient cognitive, at the woman from across the stars. “Athena,” I finally said. “Set a course for Earth.”
