He took a deep breath, his pupils pulsing, hands shaking. He hissed, sinking the dagger in deeper, enough so it could not possibly come loose and fall down the stairs.
The explosive beeped; twenty seconds remaining.
He held up his rifle and leaped for the wall, pushing off the moment his feet touched and jumped the gap between the stairways, disappearing from Slade’s view.
Shots fired and Space Marines screamed orders. A thump and Slade knew Guvka was dead, then everything went quiet.
“Your friend is dead, now surrender or the rest of you will follow,” explained a Marine on the next landing up. “We will give you five minutes to think about it.”
“We don’t need five minutes,” responded Slade. He winked at Craig. “We’ll be up in a minute. We’re disarming now.”
Slade closed his eyes and plugged his ears, bent at the knees and crouched.
Bapoom!
The bomb went off and more chunks of concrete fell from the steps above, covering Craig and Slade in a layer of cement, gravel, and sand. The Kelhoon, on the other hand, were already up and in action and jumping over the gap the same way Guvka did and quickly moved onto the next landing.
“We can’t do that,” said Craig.
Slade stood at the edge of the gap, studying the stairs he was on and the length it would take to get to the stairs across the way. “Here we go.” He intertwined his fingers together and crouched, hanging his hands between his legs. “Run and place your foot here. I’ll launch you up to the next step over and up.”
Craig slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so, Slade.”
“What are you going to do? Wait for them to kill you?”
Craig looked behind him, craning his neck to look around the twisted support beam. “I guess we have no choice.” He took several hefty steps toward Slade and went into a quick run. He jumped, landing his foot on Slade’s hands. Slade extended his knees and threw up his hands and arms, catapulting Craig over the gap and onto the steps.
Craig wiped the sweat off his brow. “That was easier than I thought.”
“Don’t ever doubt me.”
The doors crashed open and Slade drew his weapon. “You come around the corner and you’re dead,” he warned.
“We’ll overrun you, Slade.” It was Fleet Admiral Lon Vernadore, aka the Wolf. “We know what you did to Craig’s wife. You won’t survive this today.”
Craig moved up the steps, his clown mask jostling back and forth at every step.
“Is Craig with you?” asked Slade. “I’d love to take my first kill shot on the asshole of all presidential assholes.”
“We wouldn’t put the president in harm’s way, Colonel.”
That was good. Lon still thought Craig was on his side. Probably thought Craig was in his presidential suite, grieving over his wife.
Slade pulled the trigger, his gun recoiling. The slug slammed against the wall—a warning shot. He holstered his gun and jumped, landing his foot against the wall, and shoved off. He reached for the stairs, his arms and torso hurling against the steps, his head hitting the concrete, nearly knocking him out.
A gun fired, slicing through his shoe’s heel. He let out a quick breath and swung his leg up and over the step, pulling himself onto the stairs. He grabbed his pistol and twirled around, sending several shots at an empty wall across from him, hitting true, creating a black, coal-like mess that dripped from the wall.
He ran up the stairs. The Kelhoon were waiting for him. He motioned for them to burst through the next door—Deck 5. “You have free reign. Enjoy your hunting.” He gave them a thumbs-up and winked.
They burst through the door, shooting every Space Marine in sight.
Slade and Craig bolted up the steps and onto Deck 4’s landing, hearing the explosions and screams on the deck below.
Slade holstered his gun and reached for Craig’s mask. “Give it to me.”
Craig swiped Slade’s hands away. “Bad idea.”
Slade put his hand on his holstered gun’s grip. “Do it. We don’t have much time. They won’t shoot you. They think you’re on their team. They’ll shoot me on sight and I’m not risking that. Give me your mask.”
Craig sighed, pulling off his mask and handing it to Slade. “That was my way off this ship, incognito.”
Slade handed Craig his gun. “Put this next to my temple when we walk through Deck 4’s doors. A person in a clown mask, walking next to you isn’t going to fly too well in the eyes of politicians.” Slade took a few steps up the stairs.
“Wait,” said Craig. “When someone sees me with a gun to a clown’s head, I just tell them to have a good day?”
Slade thought for a moment, a smile slowly appearing on his face. “Exactly.” Slade hurried up the stairs.
Craig followed. “That isn’t going to work.”
“You’re the damn President of the United States. Whatever you say, they’ll go with. Trust me.” Slade put the clown mask on and leaned back against Craig. “Put your arm around me and the gun against my temple.”
Craig complied and pressed forward, using Slade’s body to open the doors.
“Mr. President?” said Gloria Avanoe, the Representative from Nevada. “What in God’s name are you doing?” Several people were walking in another direction, toward the launch bay.
“Have a nice day, Gloria.” Craig side stepped her, flashing his shiniest smile, and ducked into a public restroom.
“Alright, good job. Now let me go,” Slade said.
Craig let go and Slade kicked open a stall. There was nothing there but a toilet. He kicked open the next stall. “There it is.” A black duffel bag.
He grabbed the bag, unzipped it, and dug through, pulling out a Space Marine jumpsuit, a pilot’s helmet, and a pilot’s vest. He undressed and slapped his new clothes on quickly. He pulled the helmet over his head and shoved it on, pulling down the visor to hide the majority of his face.
“Sir,” said a man’s voice. “Are you in danger?”
Slade poked his head out of the bathroom stall.
A Marine stood next to Craig, concern in his eyes.
“Calm down there, soldier,” said Craig. “I’m fine. Is something going on?”
“Yes, Mr. President. We have a situation a few floors down. Please get to your room for safety. I’ll escort you up there.”
Slade walked out of the stall. “No need, Lieutenant. We’re getting the president off this bird.”
The Marine shifted on his feet, clearly uncomfortable with this new information. “I’ve not been notified. I should—”
“Marine, you’re taking up my valuable time,” said Craig. He put his hand out and the Marine took it. “Thank you for your service. What’s your name?”
“Lieutenant Buffington...Jared Buffington.”
“Well, Jared. I’m going to let your superiors know about your good deed today. I’ll make sure they look at you in a different light. I’m sorry if you weren’t informed, but I’m leaving on account of my and my children’s safety. I assure you, where I’m going will be safe.”
“Where are you going, Sir? I’ll notify the Fleet Admiral.”
Craig smirked. “I’ll contact him myself. It’s time for you to leave.”
The Marine nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
A crackle came over the Marine’s comm device. “We need you on Deck 5, ASAP. We’ve got them secured, but we need more bodies.”
The Marine clicked his comm. “On my way, Sir.” He turned, saluted the president and ran out of the bathroom.
“Being the president must be nice,” said Slade. “You can get away with anything.”
Craig’s eyes twinkled. “It’s better than nice. Let’s go.”
49
Edge of J-Quadrant, Starship Atlantis (Slipping Further Away from Jupiter)
Slade and Craig made their way out of the bathroom and into the hallway. They followed the signs on the walls that pointed to the launch bay until it opened up into a large lobby where two l
arge, metallic doors hugged a wall.
Alarms blared. It took some time, but the starship’s central ops eventually pressed the high alert button. The Kelhoon were on board and of course, the alarm was a great distraction Craig and Slade were waiting for.
Craig punched in his code onto the control panel. It beeped and the doors slid open, displaying a bay full of pilots and technicians chaotically moving around on high alert, rushing orders back and forth. Several Space Marines ran in, protecting the perimeter, just in case the Kelhoon made it this far.
A transport ship sat in the middle of the bay, this one large and wide. Slade jabbed a finger at it. “That’s our ride.”
“Excellent.”
They hurried to the transport. It hissed and the back portion opened with a ramp descending, the ramp clanking as it met the bay floor.
“President’s go first, Mr. President,” Slade said.
The President formed a steeple with his hands and pressed them to his lips. He wasn’t a man of God, but it was as close as he would come to prayer. He needed this to go right. “Off to our new home. Congratulations, Slade. It’s finally done.”
The president walked up the ramp and Slade followed closely behind, their steps clacking against the ramp’s tough metal iron alloy. Slade slapped a round button just inside the transports cargo deck and the ship quavered, the ramp lifting. He stood, arms clasped around his stomach, and watched the ramp shut, letting Craig make his way to the small bridge on his own.
“So long, my friend. You were a good ship to me.” He gave a quick salute to Starship Atlantis then spun on his heels, and paced through the enormous carrier—past boxes of supplies and a few cargo hatches—until he came to a door. He typed in the code and the door opened.
Two wide-eyed girls stood next to Dr. Andrea Cross. They screamed in unison, “Uncle Slade!” and dashed over to him, hugging his legs.
He patted their backs. “Hey, girls. It’s great to see you.” He took a couple pieces of gum out of his pocket and handed it to them, feigning an overly exaggerated smile. “Chew up.”
They popped the gum into their mouths and sat down on some chairs, swinging their legs back and forth, giddy, as if they were heading to Disneyland.
Craig appeared behind him.
“Daddy! Daddy!,” said Rose. “Uncle Slade let us have candy!”
Craig whispering in Slade’s ear. “I see they have a new uncle now? Congratulations.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d like that memory implant. They actually think I’m a nice guy.”
Craig chuckled. “Well, give them some time. They’ll see through it.”
“Where’s your secret service?”
“Crew quarters.”
“Well, let’s get this show on the road.”
Craig walked to the command chair. “Girls, follow Andrea to the entertainment area. I’m about to launch us to our new home.”
Andrea grabbed their hands and pulled them off the chairs. “Let’s go, darlings.” She led them past Slade and down a set of stairs beyond the ship’s bridge.
Craig swiveled. “Get out of view, Slade. I can’t have them seeing you, compromising our mission.”
Slade hid behind a beam, then slid down to the floor, making sure he was out of the vid screen’s vision.
Craig brought the starship’s flight deck on the screen.
A man in white, observing calculations on a data hologram came to attention. “Mr. President.”
“Please open a tube. We’re ready for a launch.”
The space controller looked over his launch bay status screen. “Opening tube 5. Please proceed.”
“Thank you.”
The vid bleeped off and Craig rolled the craft forward. “I never thought it would be this easy.”
The vid screen bleeped back on. “Mr. President, Fleet Admiral Lon Vernadore here. What in God’s black-space and everything in between are you doing?”
“I’m getting out of here. I have my kids, safe with me. Please don’t worry about my safety. I’ll be back ship-side as soon as you notify me the coast is clear.”
“Where are you going?”
“Out on a stroll until everything eases up, Admiral. I couldn’t help but hear all the commotion on Decks 5, 6, and 7. I hear enemies are on board. We have to leave now.”
The admiral eyed him like a wolf, analyzing his every word.
Craig knew Lon. He’d been looking for a crack in his story.
“The threat is neutralized, Sir. You don’t have to leave.”
“I may be a day out here, maybe two. I can’t risk any more of my family.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Sir?”
The vid screen split, showing tube 5’s inner doors opening. Craig moved the craft closer. “Are you calling the president a liar?”
“Stop your ship, Mr. President. Like I said, the threat it neutralized.”
Craig continued to move the ship forward. “You do not have executive orders over me. I’m putting this bird in space.”
Craig turned off the comm link and Lon blinked out. The screen changed from the split screen to the tube.
Slade eased himself into the co-pilot’s chair. “Initiate Adaptive Boost. We need that space Doppler system to find the nearest portal.” Slade opened the comm line, typing in 5-1-0-0-8 into the radio frequency, making the ship itself into a massive receiver.
“Initiating launch,” said Craig, pressing the holographic thrusters, throttling them up. The ship moved faster. The launch tube’s exit doors opened and in a matter of seconds, they blasted out of the tube and into space.
A large cruiser, cannon turrets at rest and offline, was a ways in front of them. The Doppler system beeped and a map pulled up on the vid screen’s upper right portion, showing a spinning energy source close by.
“We go through that and they know we are up to something. They’ll see us disappear right before their eyes.” Craig glanced around the map. “Is there another portal farther off?”
“No.” Slade had no reason to look for another portal and didn’t care to. He wanted to get away from Lon and his fleet as fast as he could. No more waiting, no more ducking, dodging, and setting conspiracies in motion. “We go through that vortex.”
Craig let out an exasperated breath. “They need to think I went down in flames somewhere, Slade. That was the plan. They need to think I crashed into an asteroid off in the distance. We have the detonations set and we can drop them, crack a meteor in half, ‘cause a big stir, then blast into the next portal—a portal they won’t see us disappear into. I don’t want them following me. I want a clean break. A way out.”
Slade unholstered his weapon. He’d pull the trigger if he had to. “Fly through that portal now.”
“That gun is becoming your best friend, Slade. Be wary of what you consider a friend.” He adjusted his navigation to the nearest portal and changed to Sub Light 3.5. “We’ll be leaving the fleet in four seconds, entering the portal in five.”
Slade watched space, the stars all around. He couldn’t see an actual portal or vortex or any energetic doorway that would lead him and this ship into another quadrant, but he knew it was there, waiting, wanting him, daring him to jump from this quadrant to the next.
A static sound erupted and the transport ship shuddered like a house during an oncoming tornado. Slade gripped the armrests, digging his fingernails into the leather, and held his breath. Blue, yellow, and orange lightning streaks twirled inside and around the ship. An orange-lit tunnel opened before them, sucking them in, like lint into a vacuum. The tunnel rotated, spun, pushing them at an incredible pace.
The ship rattled and the holographic instrument panel shorted in and out as the ship blitzed through.
“What the hell is happening, Slade?”
“Hold on.” Slade had no idea if they were heading straight for a brick wall or the actual quadrant he hoped for—J-Quadrant, just outside of Callisto orbit.
Their craft buffeted and spun, ligh
ts of every color shrouded the cockpit, clouds of electric gases and more lightning erupted, creating a swirling array. The static-sound stopped, and they heard a low, deep rumble, like thunder. Another lightning bolt cut through the gases and then shifted, blanketing them with clouds of pale whites and reds.
Silence filled the cockpit, until Andrea, Craig’s daughters, and a few Secret Service ran up the small staircase and onto the bridge.
Andrea, nearly out of breath, held onto the kids like a mom to her own children. “What happened?”
Slade couldn’t see anything outside the window except the colorful clouds. He flinched when another crack of thunder rumbled around their transport. He checked his holovid, pulling up the radar. “Nothing bad. We are...” He smiled. “We are near Ganymede, a Jupiter moon. Along with Europa, Io, Lysithea, Elara, Autonoe, and bang! Callisto.”
“Where are we now?” asked Craig, standing, making his way over to his children.
Slade brought up their exact location and about fell out of his seat. They were in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.
“Everyone, sit down and buckle up. Getting out of here won’t be a smooth ride. We’ll be heading out of Jupiter’s atmosphere and exosphere and to our new home on Callisto. And soon.”
50
Flood of Dawn, Callisto’s - J-Quadrant, Solar System
The Callisto sky was filled with ash and black clouds. Thunder and lightning split the heavens like a gong and fireworks show.
Flood of Dawn was ravaged and scorched, the trees were black with leafless branches, the homes burnt to soot, the crystal domes and palaces resembling charred coal.
The glass dome, which had given Flood of Dawn its pristine environment, was in pieces throughout the city, glass everywhere. A sabretooth tiger lay on its side, breathless and dead, dried blood covering its face.
And everyone was gone. Other than the many dead just outside of the city, where had everyone else gone? Where did they flee? Was there a safe haven some place nearby?
Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Page 70
