Winter Dread, page 30
“It never ceases to amaze me the lengths and tenacity you go to, to do the right thing,” Tyto said. “What we doing?”
“There’s a fighter left on Artemis, right?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t say it was a fighter, no.” His brows creased. “But it can probably fly.”
“Then we’re taking it out. Soon as we launch against Fut.”
“I can’t let you do that. You know it,” Tyto said.
“You know I’ll be okay, because you’ll be at my back.”
“You want me to go with you?”
“You’re one of the best fighters I know, and you wield kenosi like no one else can. If there’s Kenosi in there, you will use it to bring them down.”
“I don’t know if Jai will go for this. It’s risky.”
“He’ll go for it because I’m going to tell him the truth. We wouldn’t give up on anyone, even if they’d just respawned, but now . . . they’re alive. We can hopefully stop the hurt.”
“You need to hack more than you ever have if we get inside that place. You’ll have to cut security and much more.”
“You want me to hack everything they have?”
“Whatever it takes, Kyle. This, these people . . .”
“I only ever used it a few times. I never even used it against Motaki. You know I get one big chance to do this. If it gets out?”
On his nod, I knew what we were doing then. “I’ll let Jai know our plans, and fighter it is. You know I’m not letting you out of my sight once we’re down there.”
He frowned. “Or I you. We don’t need any other repeats of Drudel.”
I let out a sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“It was the hardest fight of our lives, and watching them take Yun, and then take you down like that . . .”
“I never really asked,” I said.
“The fight wasn’t over when they left, as you know,” Tyto said. “Vitya and I fought hard. Really hard. I hoped you’d still be alive somewhere in there when I got to your collapsed body. But you weren’t. Those moments where I had no contact with anyone. To think we’d lost everything. There were no respawn pods I knew near the planet. Artemis was our only hope, but when I eventually got hold of them. They didn’t know if you’d take. They were also fighting with everything they had to stop Motaki on his way out. Vitya ordered his fleet to strike, against his father’s earlier wishes. But Rojak didn’t fight him. I was shocked he stepped aside; it wasn’t till after I realised how important Yun really was.”
“I’m glad I made it,” I said. “Though I have many questions when I do get hold of Xirob.”
“You and me both. All of us do. We want to hear it from him.”
I shrugged, and we started to make our way over to the tube once again. I felt strange; we were always doing something so important but good.
This felt noble. To get those pirates back, for everything they did to Lyndsey or anyone else that they had kidnapped from life over the years.
I turned, seeing Hiroto coming over. “Can you broadcast everything I see still using the AI chip?”
“If that’s something you wanted me to do, of course.”
“I want you to take the feed when we’re in the fighters. I’ll try to monologue everything we can, and we’re going to broadcast it through the nites across the galaxy, through HopeNet, the Kiain network, even anything that’s left from Arndale’s computer systems.”
“Okay, I will do that, as soon as you’re live. Anyone that is interested in seeing this will see it as you do. Once again, just like they saw you take down Arndale and free the denti homeworld.”
“You think I’m doing too much?” I said as we walked.
“No, I think you’re amazing.” Hiroto grinned.
“Thank you, I think you all are too.”
Back on Artemis, Jai greeted us over comms in the hangar. Hiroto had gone to the nearest stations to program in everything he could to get the feeds going, and we were just waiting for the go ahead from Joe. It was heart breaking, the wait, knowing every single minute was tough on those we had left behind.
“Been a while since I’ve even looked at one of these, I—”
Tyto slapped me on the back. “You’ll be fine.”
“If I do anything stupid, let me know.”
“Just let me do the flying, and if we have to, any fighting. Then we’ll take it from there.”
“Okay.” I agreed.
MISSION TO RESCUE YOUR PILOTS AND TAKE DOWN FUT
ACCCEPT
Y/N
Of course I clicked the Y.
“With the new plan, General Ward has agreed we’re going in first. Artemis is going to make the jump direct into enemy territory. We will send you in as you are, broken and defeated. With their manufacturing facility, you should be able to slip into the reclamation lines with no issues. You can have some time onboard, so don’t go rushing things. We can’t get in and get you out for twenty-four hours at least. The general’s fleet can’t jump; they need time to intercept, and Fut will then know they’re coming. It’s going to be a full-on fight. The only thing that will turn this is that you’re on the inside, got it?”
“My mission to stop this is at all costs,” I said.
“Whatever it takes, Kyle.” Jai cut the comms, leaving me more than a little speechless. As much as we’d done before, this seemed so much more.
“You sure you’re wanting to do this?” Tyto asked.
“Out with my second in command on a death-defying adventure into the depths of evil?” I frowned. “To right a wrong I wish I hadn’t done in the first place? Hell, yeah! Let’s do this.”
The fighter was a bit of a wreck, but she was capable of getting out in the dark at least. It was as we settled into the cockpit that I felt some nerves try to overwhelm me. I tried to push the thoughts aside, it would be okay. We had the upper hand and once we were out there, I could use Future Insight as well to help.
Jai’s voice came over the comms. “We are ready to jump, you good?”
“Green as can be,” Tyto said.
Even within the confines of the fighter’s cockpit I felt the jump. It may have been small, it may have taken us in as fast as we needed it to be, but it was odd in such a small space. I shrugged off the feeling and watched as the view before me changed. Tyto hit the launch for us, and we were out inside the tubes of Artemis and out into space in seconds.
I had no time to feel sick. Blackness swallowed us.
31
Drifting slightly in space felt strange. Tyto tapped the side of my head. “Turn around.”
I did so and got the flash view as Artemis hopped right on back out. There was no room for any confrontation till Cinna’s fleet was in range. Out there now where Artemis had been was something I guess you didn’t see every day. Before us drifted a line of debris, space debris. It was being moved along with different emitters, pulling it in towards the main goal: Fut Vaskal’s station and his manufacturing choppers.
The place was huge. This line went for miles and miles. “What are they doing in there?”
“I would think their main goal without having to buy in is refining everything down so they can produce weapons—or even more catchers.”
I frowned. “I want as much information as I can as we’re coming in. I’m going to slide down that line. If I can.”
“Don’t use too much energy. We might need it later on.”
“I won’t. Besides, you can watch me.”
“Don’t worry,” he replied. “I will be doing.”
“Times like this I really wish Xe were here and not back with the others.”
“She’s more than doing her job there, and you know it.”
I sighed. “Yeah, she’s a gem.” Focussing, I poured my kenosi into stretching out through all the materials before us. My Molecular Insight was growing stronger all the time. It felt amazing.
There was a thunk of traction from the recovery units as they sucked us inside the line that was literally full of junk. Not just junk. This was remnants of ships, friendly enemies, anything and everything that floated in space. There were asteroids and anything else they could pull in to digest.
I bounced from one thing into another, faster and faster. Making sure I wasn’t disturbing anything. The rush was intense. I realised how far our ship actually was to getting inside the actual station. I reached back. “Tyto, it’s going to be a while till we’re even in the station. I’m going to have to do this, as I am now. Plan everything, know exactly where we’re going, what we need to do.”
“Sounds good,” he replied. “I guess I’ll just take a nap then.”
I laughed at him and bounced back into the flowing veins of materials.
It wasn’t too long before I was near the station and about to breach the inner walls. There was something different here, though. I could sense kenosi and just as tentative as I was, I didn’t just dive in straight away. I poked at it.
They had a shield. Interesting . . . so people had tried to get inside before, most likely to try to rescue missing loved ones. I sighed. Time to be cautious. I needed a way in without being detected, and so did Tyto. That meant I had a time limit on sorting this out. I needed to deactivate it, or cloak over us somehow.
The ship itself I wasn’t worried over, but the souls, our souls. They were my top priority. We needed those friends back.
Locked into trying to get in without alarms, I could see the red barrier in front of me and how I might not be able to turn it. When I approached the barrier one way, it would flash at me. So I followed it, looking for a console. From there, I might be able to touch the code that worked the shield.
Up ahead I spotted it, and I slipped on over, Leaving the lines of debris and the refinery behind me.
The myriad colours surrounding this were beautiful. That I liked, too. It was easy to see where I could sneak in. The console was lit, like a green beacon wanting me to go say hello.
I reached out and touched the metal structure, finding the codes within. Strings and strings flicked before me, and I watched, totally enthralled. I knew time passed, and I waited, it would show me eventually what I needed to see. I had to have patience.
I felt something tap my shoulder a while later. Well, not here right now but my body.
“Tyto?”
“Yeah, sorry. I really did nap for a while. How are you getting on?”
“I’m stuck outside still. There’s a shield. I’ve been watching for a way in. There’s only so much I can see, though. Like nothing tries to break in at all. Maybe it’s so good everyone and everything gave up?”
“Check the logs. There will be breach records that might show you something rather than live code?”
“Great idea!”
I focussed back onto the console and turned away from the live feed. Though I’d learned a lot on how it worked and what it was doing, I soon found what I needed to fool the system into allowing our ship in, without checking the cockpit.
The red flickered before me, and I could reach inside. Once in, I focussed on finding the next security level.
The levels were tough, but there wasn’t much I couldn’t get past with some work.
If I had knuckles, I would have cracked them. I dug in.
Now once inside and able to see everything with their own security system, I saw something else, a light. It was shining bright to me. Kenosi or something else just as attractive to me. I wasn’t sure. I moved towards it, then I saw. Nites, our nites!
I focussed in closer and closer to them. They were crowded, hiding. Yeah, there was no other way of saying it.
I pushed forwards towards them, and reaching forwards, tapped someone mentally.
He jumped at first. Then managed to see where I was. “How?”
“Don’t worry about the how, just know your messages got out and we’re here. We are going to do everything to get you and your team members out.”
“Oh, thank you!” I heard a chorus coming across in many thousands of voices.
“You’re Kyle, aren’t you? Abi said you’d not abandon us.”
“Yes, I am, and no we wouldn’t. Tell me anything you can.”
“I’m Zaki, Abi’s lead.”
“It’s good to meet you,” I replied. “All of you.”
I looked out to them in the thousands.
“We’ve been spreading out through the station.” Zaki said. “Doing what we can to ready us for any rescue attempt.”
“Then let me see what you’ve been doing.”
Zaki used their computer system to show me how big this place was. How fortified. Joe hadn’t been joking when he said they were up against it coming in here. This place was massive and kitted out. Not only several missile stations and thousands of ballistic batteries, but they had a hundred huge laser stations.
“I have some ideas,” Zaki said. “I’ve just not been able to do too much.”
“Tell me everything. You might not, but together I am sure we can.”
I saw his smile. Even in the light we had here, I wasn’t physically here, just floating on the ether.
Within minutes he had told me everything. His friends were pocketed all over the station and had even managed to commandeer a nanite factory. They were pumping out programmed nites for us! This was huge. If we could get the rest of the station taken over on the inside, then we stood a chance!
“I’m going to have to go back as soon as our fighter nears the shield,” I said to him. “Tyto and I, once on the station for real, will need to be quiet. We’ve got to wait for the fleet to join in the fight—if we’re found too soon, it could mean we’ll fail.”
“I understand,” he replied. “As soon as you’re here, I will find you, and we’ll make sure there’s no way the weapons they have will work.”
“Sneaky,” I said, “but I love it. You’ve been doing a ton of work in here. I’m surprised you’ve managed to evade them for so long.” I could see there were enemy nites out on the hunt.
“We have lost many.” I saw pain cross Zaki’s face then. “All of what is here are the original teams.”
Sadness washed over me for their loss. But they were just as mighty as the nites I had inside me, and I didn’t want them to feel they were any fewer people now than I knew they were. “You are strong, and you have done Abi proud.”
He beamed at me. “We have lots to do.”
He turned to the others, and within seconds they were shooting off in thousands of different directions, travelling on what—well, I wasn’t so sure.
Zaki saw my confusion. “We travel here just like we would inside your bodies, on the electronic pulses that send orders everywhere. We just have to find the right pulses to jump on, a skill we learn early on.”
“Now I know how my lead always gets about so dang fast.”
“I believe she’s a formidable warrior.”
“Yes, she sure is.”
Tyto’s voice drifted through to me once again. “I’m almost there. You’re going to have to withdraw, maybe thirty minutes.”
“We have thirty minutes. Let’s get as much done as we can before I have to leave.”
“Done.” Zaki said, and he too was gone in the blink of an eye. I wondered if I would see him again, and when. But I concentrated on the security before me, and the information that was passing through this part of the station. It was something I could not only disrupt, but something I could push on to give out false information too.
“Almost here, Kyle! Where the fuck are you?” Tyto was a little on the panicked side.
I realised I was risking it and stopped, pulling back to my body inside the fighter.
“I’m here,” I said. My eyes blinked at everything around me as the fighter’s lights were squawking all the red at me.
“I thought I was a goner. Have you seen the size of that thing?”
I looked up . . . into the eyes of the chopper. We were no way near it yet, many minutes to get out of the fighter and make a run for it. But crikey, he really wasn’t kidding; it made the fighter seem a tiny grain of sand.
It hadn’t looked so big when I was floating around space. I admired the size and wonder at what they’d built but then I also remembered Flaoer. That place was huge too.
“Do you know where we’re going to see Abi and the others?”
“No, but we’ve got help on the inside with all the nites, they’re starting to program the weapons so that they will misfire, break, anything to help us when the others start firing.”
“Great, but we still got to get them out, remember?”
I nodded, making sure my face shield and suit were airtight. I turned to look at him. “You all good?”
“Yes. Can’t wait to stretch my legs. These cockpits aren’t meant for long legs and sitting in for a while.”
Standing while my body hadn’t been used for anything physically even for a few hours, hurt. I tried my best to get my legs to respond, and they refused.
“Going to pop the cockpit open. We can get out and onto the wings pretty easy.”
“Then the plan?” I asked.
“We gotta jump. The only way we’re not going in that chopper is if we drop under onto the next ship and can get inside under her as she’s chopped apart. There’re cogs and wheels. I’ve been watching them as they turn.”
“Crap.” I wasn’t ready for this. Especially with my legs not working.
Tyto did exactly as he said. He popped the cockpit. A slight hiss escaped with it, and our face shields and suits activated. I sucked in, knowing I still didn’t need O2 like I used to on Earth, but I still needed some. Then I followed Tyto up, and out onto the wing of the fighter. At least the feeling in my legs came back. Though I still felt weird not being inside my kenosi fog and protected.
Tyto dropped down onto the ship below us, and I trailed behind him. The metal on the ship had been ripped to bits by missile explosions or rail gun fire. I tried my best not to trip as I followed him in further so we could then make a jump as this one was pulverised.
Sounds above us as the ships in our range were reaching the chopper deafened me. I’ve turned down your hearing. You should be okay as we get closer, but if it’s too loud I’m sorry. I can’t do anything else, Asht said.
