Jak Phoenix

by Matt D. Williams

Chapter Fifteen - The Devil’s Horn Nebula

  “There it is,” said Jak, pointing out the cockpit window, at the dark red cloud, quickly growing in size as they approached. “You can see why it’s called the Devil’s Horn Nebula ... I hope.”

  “It’s beautiful,” responded Cyan unexpectedly.

  “Maybe on the outside babe, but inside it’s a death trap.”

  The nebula was, for the most part, a massive gaseous formation, formed into a roughly spherical shape. It had been given its name because of the two horn-like points jutting out of either side of the top of the sparkling cloud.

  “There are several large planetary bodies around this area,” explained Baxter for Cyan’s benefit. “Some kind of gravitational disturbance pulls the two peaks in different directions. And, it’s very spooky in there.”

  “Still, it looks nice.”

  Jak couldn’t help but chuckle at Cyan’s statement. It was truly fitting to see Cyan, the beautiful girl with the internal soul of stone, find solace in the outwardly dazzling appearance of such a dangerous phenomenon.

  “Guess things aren’t always as they appear. Right, Bax?”

  Cyan kicked the back of his chair in retaliation for the chuckle and comment, which just went to reinforce his point.

  “So what do we do?” said Cyan. To the point as always.

  Jak and Baxter turned and looked at each other, verifying the thought each of them already had. The biggest thing they loved about doing what they did for a living was that they had no boss. Neither of them were interested in having one any time soon.

  Cyan waited until she knew there was no response coming. “Well, you might want to start by stopping the ship.”

  “What’s step two? Ejecting you out into space?”

  Cyan didn’t even give Jak the satisfaction of a response. He had always enjoyed having the last word, until he realized it was actually more annoying when she refused to acknowledge an insult, and stubbornly said nothing instead.

  Jak slowed the ship and came to a stop several hundred kilometres from the undefined edge of the giant translucent crimson phenomenon. Due to its size, it was still the only thing visible outside of the ship, even with them at a presumably safe distance.

  “Do you think he’s here?” asked Cyan.

  “Hard to say for sure,” said Baxter, “because our sensors can’t penetrate the plasma field to look for the regular things you look for in a ship. Like metal, and so on.”

  “He’s obviously hiding inside,” said Jak. “Murdock’s not exactly known for his courage. Bax, are the sensors picking up any of his magneto mines out here?”

  “Nothing. If you trust the ship.”

  “Course I do,” said Jak. He punched a few buttons and brought the radio online.

  Cyan and Baxter shared a quick glance in their shared dread of Jak’s trust in the old ship, which was so fond of failure and mistakes.

  “Murdock,” said Jak in his loud radio voice. “Come out of the nebula. We want to talk.”

  Obviously, static was the only response.

  Jak sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, as if his work was complete by either failure or some success unseen by anyone else.

  Cyan hoped they weren’t finished. “What exactly do we want to talk about?”

  “Nothing. But it sounds good, doesn’t it?”

  “And that’s your plan?”

  “Do you have a better one?”

  Cyan reached up to the cockpit console and opened up the radio signal again.

  “We’ve locked on to your position, Murdock, and Baxter has our weapons charged and ready. Would you like us to fire, or are you going to come out here and act like a man?”

  Jak was impressed, and slightly turned on, by her aggressive approach to the situation.

  Static continued on the open line.

  “Well, that was a lot of help—”

  The static on the communication radio changed slightly and was replaced by voice mixed with heavy interference.

  “Hello, Jak,” said Murdock. The signal cleared up and his voice became relatively clear. “I see you’ve obtained a new fiery companion.”

  “Never mind that,” said Jak.

  “Tell Baxter to relax on the weapon controls over there. We are just doing a bit of prospecting out here. What exactly brings you out this way?”

  Murdock knew how to tear at Jak’s nerves. How had he ever managed to work with this guy?

  “I’m gonna be straight with you Murdock. You’ve got something that we need to get back. I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement.” Jak cursed his words as they came out.

  “What is it that you want?”

  “You know,” said Baxter. “The crates you screwed us for on Scoparia.”

  A short delay was filled with radio noise.

  “I’m afraid I’m not exactly sure what you’re speaking of, but I’ll tell you what ... I’ll send you over a manifest and you can take a look at our cargo log and let me know exactly what it is you need. I’m sure then we can come up with some type of fair compensation. There are—”

  Jak pounded the button to mute the radio’s microphone.

  “What the hell is he talking about?”

  “Let’s back off a bit,” said Baxter. “This isn’t right.”

  Jak agreed.

  “Are you still there Jak?” asked Murdock.

  Jak checked his sensors.

  “What’s that?” asked Cyan, pointing out the cockpit window, down and to the far left. The urgency in her voice was echoed by the warning bell which began its squeal as she finished speaking.

  The tiny spark of light shot around from the lower outside edge of the blood red nebula, on an intensely bowed course toward their position.

  Without hesitation Jak hammered the controls, whipping the ship into turn while firing its thrusters, in an attempt to evade the incoming attack.

  Even with Jak’s quick reaction, the ship was just not fast enough to evade the screaming pace of the missile.

  As the small, but fierce rocket tore through the front corner of the ship, Jak thought about the last thing Dodge had said to him before he left. ‘Don’t get yourself killed.’

  He had managed to come through on that promise by the skin of his teeth. Shrapnel danced across the cockpit window as the Tempest continued on its looped path. The ship shook the crew in an all too familiar way.

  “Front edge of the ship is gone,” reported Baxter. “One of our new cannons is completely gone too, but the rest of the hull integrity seems okay.”

  Cyan had moved up in between Jak and Baxter for a close view of the cockpit. She stretched to peer out the window in an attempt to visually confirm the damage. She looked over at Jak, just in time to see the unexpected smile on his face.

  “Baxter, he’s lost it.”

  “What?” said Baxter, turning around to see Jak. “What’s wrong, Jak?”

  “Nothing guys. This makes it a whole lot easier.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Cyan.

  Jak turned the ship around to once again face the gigantic red nebula. The two demonic horns were taunting him, and seemed to ask, ‘Are you up for it?’ Cyan knew something was coming and gripped the back of the two seats.

  Jak answered the nebula by punching the controls and throwing the ship forward, at as fast a speed as he could safely manage. He could tell Baxter and Cyan were nervous.

  “Let me tell you something,” said Jak, while he checked his controls and the ship rocketed forward. “Deep down, I’m a softy. I’m the type of guy that would feel guilty for the rest of my life if I had just barged in there and blew him away. This way, he has drawn first blood. Made the first move. Now I can freely go about my business of beating him senseless. You know what I mean?”

  Their silence told him they did.

  The ship’s entrance into the great nebula seemed slow, only because of their tiny size in relation to it. There was no defined border, as was the case when o
ne walked through fog. The dense part always seemed to be just a little further ahead of you.

  The ominous red hue in the cockpit, coupled by their blind-flying method had tensions high. Jak slowed the ship as they moved deeper inside. With only a few kilometres of visibility around them, they all knew Murdock could pop out in front at any moment and they would have practically no warning.

  “At least he won’t be able to see anything either,” said Cyan. She studied the sparkling tapestry in front of them. “What can I do to help?”

  Jak tapped on an ancient glass gauge in the console. “We’re losing oxygen. Must be a leak where we took the damage. Can you see if you can seal it up?”

  Cyan supplied no argument and rushed out of the cockpit, eager to be involved.

  Jak hit the ship wide intercom button.

  “Oh, and Cyan, if you fix that up, would you mind going down to the engine room? I’m sure they’ll be failing soon enough.”

  He heard her laugh. Even through his intense concentration, Jak realized how much that simple gesture both calmed his nerves and lit a spark in his soul.

  He muted the microphone and turned to Baxter.

  “I have no idea what to do right now.”

  “Well, you pulled us in here at full tilt, so that’s a good way to start, I guess.”

  “Can he see us?”

  “Not likely,” said Baxter. “The distortion in here is ridiculous.”

  “So we’re both basically going to fly around in circles until we eventually crash into each other.”

  The fast beep of the warning alarm sounded again.

  Jak made a hard turn and banked the ship on its side. He barely saw the rocket blur past the ship and into the depth of the nebula.

  “That was close.”

  Jak flipped the intercom back on.

  “Cyan, are you alright there?”

  “Yeah I’m fine. I’d appreciate if you could keep us right side up for a bit though.”

  “Sorry babe. Either that or we get ripped to bits and take a quick swim in that nice glowing plasma out there.”

  “Good point,” she said, over the sound of banging metal.

  “I’m gonna leave the intercom on so you can talk to us.”

  “What’s wrong? Is Baxter boring you?”

  Jak loved it. Maybe she was taking her anger out on something constructive. He would need to keep her busy in the future.

  “Good one,” said Baxter. He didn’t care. He was too busy playing with the sensor control, trying to make some kind of informed decision about what they should do.

  “Can we follow the trail of that missile back to him?” asked Jak.

  “Nope. Already checked. He’s using some kind of rocket that must travel out from his ship before it starts toward its target. Then it takes a crazy route and is impossible to follow back.”

  “Where exactly does one go about finding all of these sneaky weapons? How come everything I have is so straightforward?”

  “Maybe because you’re not a weasel.”

  “Could be.”

  “Or maybe because all your stuff is older than me.”

  Jak spotted the next two threats before the alarm started. Two dots straight ahead, closing fast.

  “Hold on to something, Cyan,” he shouted.

  Jak spun the ship around and banked off to the left, missing the first one by a long shot, but missing the second by an inch. He heard the rocket physically scrape the metal hull of the ship before it deflected off and sped out of the nebula.

  “If he can’t see us, how is he launching missiles at us?” asked Cyan, sounding ill tempered again.

  “I think he knows our general direction and is just firing them off this way,” said Baxter. “The rockets are probably supposed to lock on to us, but only can when we’re very close. If they miss, I’d assume they just keep going in a straight line until they peter out.”

  “So, what can you scan for in here?” asked Jak.

  “The sensors seem to pick up gasses and particles alright, but you can’t really narrow anything down.”

  “I want you to get a full cross section of the nebula. Scan for every element you can pick up.”

  Jak dodged another rocket as Baxter loaded the data.

  “Here it is Jak. Just a read out of gas and plasma statistics.”

  “What does it say on our exact location?”

  Baxter was perplexed. “Nothing,” he said. “There’s no gas here because our ship is sitting here ...” He took a second to comprehend the data. “He’s in sector three point eight! Let’s go.”

  Jak whipped the ship into a dive, toward the bottom side of the nebula. Now, he would make his own sneak attack against the other pocket of nothing inside the nebula. The other spot, where the gasses and dust were displaced by Murdock’s ship, creating a hole in the readings.

  Jak spun the ship around on its axis and flew on a path from the bottom of the nebula toward Murdock’s location.

  His heart was pounding as the red fog faded during his approach and revealed the underbelly of Murdock’s shiny new ship.

  Jak increased speed as he let a barrage of firepower loose from his one working cannon. The beams slammed into Murdock’s ship, sparking and piercing the soft side of the craft.

  Murdock also wasted no time in flipping his ship around in a pursuit course of the Tempest.

  Jak felt thud after thud as Murdock pounded the delicate engine area with blasts. Jak spun the ship around quickly, if only to move some of the punishment to a fresh area.

  Cyan had been successful at repairing the leak and had moved into the engine compartment. She communicated a few instructions regarding thruster diagnostics to Baxter, which Jak did not hear, while his concentration was centered on the dog-fight with his old friend.

  Jak made a manoeuvre and came alongside Murdock’s ship, both flying along at outrageous speeds, through zero visibility in a deadly energy field.

  Jak swung the Tempest over into direct physical contact with the other craft. As he crunched the ship into Murdock’s, the sound of breaking parts and the groaning of strained metal boomed through their hallways. Both captains backed their ships off slightly, careful not to lose the view of the other.

  “Hey, Jak,” said Cyan from the engine room. “Don’t forget that we need to get over there and get the tablets. It won’t do us any good to both end up as fireballs out here.”

  “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.”

  He had forgotten.

  Jak threw the thrusters into reverse, nearly stopping the ship. As Murdock sped up ahead, Jak followed, filling the rear of the other ship with laser blasts. He saw the path of Murdock’s ship was becoming inconsistent. The damage was beginning to take its toll.

  Murdock unexpectedly performed the same move with his ship, coming to a dead halt while Jak followed closely at top speed. Jak veered the ship upward sharply, narrowly missing the back end of Murdock’s craft.

  As he sailed up and over, he felt the thumping of Murdock’s laser fire, which was gradually heating up the underside of the Tempest. He executed a perfect back flip and barrel roll, moving the ship back to safety.

  “Jak, I suggest you take it easy for a minute or so,” said Cyan. “These engines are dangerously close to overheating. I’ve done all I can.”

  Jak acknowledged her suggestion and could feel how much she hated being buried in the dirty engine room, when there was so much going on up front.

  Jak could see that Murdock’s ship was starting to struggle, as he noticed it starting to fly at awkward angles. His gimbals must have been damaged in the last attack. Murdock probably hadn’t yet figured out that he’d have to make manual adjustments. Manual changes were not his strong suit.

  Jak decided to do as Cyan said, as soon as he made one more move. He just had to let Murdock have it one more time.

  He whipped the ship about, unleashed a half a dozen blasts into the side of Murdock’s craft and spun back around to head in the oth
er direction. When he pounded the accelerator in his excitement, he felt something give in and slip. Jak heard the sound of the engines roaring forward, but their speed only changed minimally.

  “That’s it, Jak,” said Cyan. “We’re going to need time to fix them now. It’s not going to be a simple job.”

  Jak pounded the console with his fist. They were now in a lumbering craft, vulnerable to anything Murdock wished to deliver.