Justice Keepers Saga--Books 10-12, page 117
It was a riot.
Grumbling under his breath, Heldoran twisted around in his seat to peer out the window. The angry voices of those outside were growing louder. “It looks like we’ve been invaded.” His head whipped around, dark eyes full of contempt. “Perhaps now, you’ll let me send a squadron to deal with this.”
It occurred to her that she had made a tactical error. Following your conscience usually resulted in that kind of thing. A month ago, she wouldn’t have blinked at the thought of putting down a disturbance. “Go,” she said. “Do what you must.”
Heldoran rose from his seat and sauntered over to the uniformed man who stood by the door. Green epaulettes marked the latter as a soldier in the army. A first lieutenant, if Telixa recalled correctly. “Assemble your team,” Heldoran said. “And hold this floor no matter what. No one gets up here.”
The young man hopped to obey.
Emora directed a scowl at this back as he left the room. “Perhaps we should get the police involved,” she said. “Have them disburse that crowd.”
“I would imagine they are already involved,” Camisa chimed in. “They can’t have failed to notice a crowd that large.”
Stroking his chin, Voth stared thoughtfully at the wall. “Perhaps I should go and talk to them,” he suggested. “Remind them that we are allies here, that our presence on this world will only enrich their lives.”
“They would tear you apart, Minister,” Emora muttered.
“I’m not so sure.”
Telixa’s hand came down on the table with enough force to make everyone jump. Reluctantly, they all gave her their undivided attention. “Enough of this!” she barked. “We will return our focus to more pressing matters. The question of what to do about the raids on our supply lines lingers.”
She would have said more, but screams from the hallway outside cut her off. The buzz of gunfire filled her ears. Her people were under attack.
Thoughtless of any danger, Telixa slid her chair back and stood up. She whirled around and went to the door.
A quick peek into the hallway showed her a line of five men in gray uniforms, all down on one knee and pointing pistols at some menace that came at them from the stairwell. Their assailant was also clad in gray. Tall and broad-shouldered, he flowed through the corridor like a ghost, his face hidden behind some kind of mesh.
Her soldiers opened fire.
Undaunted, the stranger leaped and turned upside-down over their heads. He flipped upright, then dropped to floor behind them. Bending low, he offered a back-kick that took one poor man in the head.
The others were rising, turning around.
The stranger rounded on a young lieutenant who tried to shove a pistol in his face. He clamped a hand onto the poor lad’s wrist, redirecting the gun toward one of the others in the very instant that the young man squeezed the trigger.
A kick to the lad’s knee landed with a devastating snap, and the boy screamed as his bones were shattered. The stranger lifted him off the floor and spun him around, throwing him into the others.
Bodies collided and toppled over like dominoes.
The fifth man – the only one who hadn’t been knocked down or shot – raised his gun in both hands and pointed it at the stranger’s back.
Lightning quick, the stranger jumped and back-flipped through the air. He landed behind the other man and seized his head. With a swift, wrenching motion, he snapped the poor soldier’s neck and then shoved the corpse toward the others.
The two men who were still uninjured got up just in time to be knocked down again when their fallen comrade slammed into them. All three bodies hit the floor.
And the stranger turned his head.
His gaze fell upon Telixa, provoking an icy dread that she hadn’t felt since her days as a shuttle pilot. No shields, enemy fighters closing in on her. She had expected to die that day.
If Anna Lenai represented the best that a Justice Keeper could be, then this masked man was the embodiment of everything Telixa had feared. Power unrestrained. A living weapon, much like the ziarogat.
The ziarogat!
The creature was still skulking in the corner awaiting her orders. All Telixa had to do was speak the words. But would she be able to get the words out before this man put a bullet through her head?
Someone else shouted before she had the chance to make the attempt.
“Stop!”
When Telixa looked around, she saw the last thing she would have expected. The Lady Melani emerged from the stairwell in a factory girl’s clothing, striding through the corridor. The raw determination in her eyes…Telixa would have never imagined that this pampered, rich girl could be capable of such bravery. “Let them go,” Melani demanded.
Abandoning the pile of bodies, the stranger turned to face her. “The admiral has to die, Agent Carlson,” he said. “If she goes, their entire war effort falls apart.”
Carlson.
Lady Melani was really Melissa Carlson, the rebel commander who had organized the raids that were disrupting their supply lines. And Telixa had let the girl slip right through her fingers! Those clandestine conversations were nothing but a ruse to feed her false information.
“We need Ethran alive,” Carlson said. “And I won’t let you slaughter helpless men.”
“They’re Ragnosian.”
“And they have as much right to live as we do.”
Slipping back into the conference room, Telixa spun on her heel and pointed a finger at the ziarogat. “Protect us,” she ordered. “Exterminate anyone who tries to come through that door.”
The silver-eyed cyborg did not move, did not flinch. You might have wondered if it had even heard the command, given its lack of a reaction. But Telixa knew better. It had heard, and it would obey.
She turned around to find Heldoran, Voth and nearly a dozen nobles cowering on the other side of the table. Pathetic. There wasn’t a person in this galaxy who didn’t fear the prospect of dying, but this lot could face it with a little dignity. “Call my ship,” she barked. “Have them send down a shuttle. They can pick us up on the roof.”
“About that,” Heldoran mumbled. “It seems there’s been a disturbance.”
27
“Approaching the Salusian System,” Shinela said. “Distance three point three billion kilometres from the outer edge.”
Jack was hunched over in the captain’s chair with elbows on his thighs, steepled fingers covering his mouth. He shoved his growing apprehension to the back of his mind. “Maintain course.”
On his right, Corin turned away from the tactical station and hit him with a nervous stare. “Captain,” he said tentatively. “They’re bound to have ships waiting for us. And we won’t know until they hit us with a SlipPulse.”
“I know,” Jack said. “But we have to time this just right.”
“Three point one billion kilometres,” Shinela announced.
“Display Salusian system,” Jack ordered “Topographical view.”
The screen lit up with the image of seven planets orbiting a yellow sun placed smack-dab in the middle. Salus was the second of those, its orbital path depicted as a blue ellipse. The Scrappy was represented by a white dot approaching from the right.
Leaning forward, Jack pinched his chin with his thumb and forefinger. His eyes slowly widened as he watched the screen. “Just a little further, guys,” he said. “Hold on.”
Two minutes passed in silence, the tension rising with every breath he took. Corin was right. There were enemy ships out there. Probably a dozen of them, at least. They could be anywhere between here and Salus, and Jack had no way of knowing where they would make their move. Ships at sub-light speeds were indetectable to long-range sensors. If they hit the Scrappy with a SlipPulse, things would go badly.
Shinela was as rigid as a frightened cat. Muttering a few curses, she checked her instruments again. “Two point nine billion kilometres,” she barked. Roughly twice the distance of the outermost planet.”
“Do it,” Jack said.
The image on the screen rotated so that it now seemed as if they were looking at the solar system edge-on. The blinking, white dot began to climb, rising from the three o’clock position in a wide arc.
Without warning, six other dots appeared. The welcoming party the Ragnosians had sent to greet them. They had gone to warp in an attempt to intercept the Scrappy.
Those ships were closer to the sun, which limited their speed, making it harder for them to keep up. The Scrappy had been decelerating for the last twenty minutes. At some point, they would have to go into the system and lose their speed. Jack just hoped they could put enough distance between them and the opposition before they tried. “Increase velocity to 250C, he ordered. “Bridge to engineering. Drayvin, get ready to push those engines.”
“Why do you hate my engines?” the engineer replied.
Grinning mischievously, Jack shook his head. “I love your engines,” he said. “They’re keeping me alive.”
The Scrappy continued its inexorable climb in an arc that took it over the plane of the solar system. Those six ships were still trying to intercept, but they couldn’t keep up. They kept having to change course.
Jack tapped a few commands into his console, opening a comm channel. “Bridge to Shuttle One. I hope you guys are ready.”
Cassi looked up through her cockpit window to see the shuttle bay door blocking her path. She had gone through the pre-flight check. Engines, shields, weapons and life-support: all systems operating within established parameters.
Twisting around in her seat, she found her passengers sitting on benches on either side of the cabin. Larani, Kaydie, Marlin and Sarese on the port side; Harry, Claire, Novol and Vaden to starboard. They were all strapped in with safety harnesses, which was good. Cassi expected a bumpy ride. In all likelihood, they would be dodging Ragnosian fighter drones the whole way down.
This was a smaller craft than those she had been accustomed to flying as a Justice Keeper. No living space, no amenities. Its purpose was to drop off troops and pick them up. Nothing more.
Claire was still scowling at her father.
Even while boarding, the two of them had never stopped arguing. Harry did not want his daughter going on a dangerous mission, and Claire refused to stay behind when her sister was in trouble.
“This is Shuttle One,” Cassi replied. “We’re good to go whenever you are.”
“Glad to hear it,” Jack said. “You launch as soon as we get the signal from Melissa that she has the admiral.”
Cassi felt her eyebrows climbing up her forehead. “I still say you should let us out as soon as we drop out of warp,” she countered. “We’ve got a whole lot of people here who are eager to get down there.”
“Negative,” Jack replied. “One shuttle against an entire fleet? You’ll be blown out of the sky in fifteen seconds. Sit tight. We’ll let you know when you’re up. The whole point of this exercise is to keep those ships away from Shan Tiron.”
On the screen, the Scrappy had reached the apex of its arc and was now coming down the other side. Those six dots were still racing to intercept, and six more had launched from the middle of the solar system. The Ragnosians had deduced Jack’s plan, and now they were trying to block any route he might take to Salus.
It wouldn’t work. They had to drop out of warp to use a SlipPulse, and they would need ten seconds to reroute the power from their engines to the pulse generator. He could breeze right past them in that time.
Propping his elbow on the armrest, Jack rested his chin on the back of his hand. “Come on, come on,” he muttered. “Give up already.”
“Captain?” Corin asked.
“Melissa will have started her attack by now,” Jack explained. “We have to get in there to keep them from sending air support.”
A soft sigh made Corin deflate. The man hesitated for a few seconds and then nodded his agreement. “I know,” he said. “We’ll get there, Captain.”
“Persistent, aren’t they?” Shinela observed.
Jack leaned forward, gripping the armrests with both hands and staring intently at the screen. “Don’t know about you, Lieutenant,” he said. “But all these people trying this hard to catch little, old me does wonders for my ego. Five more minutes of this might just make up for the senior prom incident.”
On the screen, the white dot that represented his ship had reached the nine o’clock position. They had gone all the way around the solar system in a little under five minutes, but they were no closer to Melissa. He had to find a way to punch through.
The dot continued its downward journey, tracing the circumference of the Salusian System. His enemies tried to keep themselves between the Scrappy and its destination, but it was just no good. They had half as much distance to cover, but at their proximity to the sun, they could barely manage one quarter the speed. While his dot neared the six o’clock position, the Ragnosians were still halfway between nine and eight.
“Think we can make it?” he asked.
“Another ten seconds, Captain,” Shinela replied. “We’ll be forced to decelerate as we get closer to the sun. I’d rather not let them overtake us.”
Jack nodded.
“Changing course!”
And just like that, they were racing into the system’s interior, approaching Salus on a vector that would have them dropping out of warp over its south pole. The Ragnosians were gunning it to keep up.
Jack retrieved the VR goggles from the compartment in the side of his chair. He slipped them on and found himself looking at nothing but darkness. The system would not activate until they returned to sub-light speeds.
“Three minutes to Salus,” Shinela informed him.
In three minutes, the Ragnosians could fire a barrage of missiles that would reduce Shan Tiron’s city hall to ash. Not that he expected them to do it. They were imperialists, yes, but they didn’t wantonly destroy human life. Still, the point remained that anything could happen to Melissa in that time.
His heart ached when he wondered whether Anna was still alive. Melissa said she didn’t know. And he had no clue how he would find out. If she was a prisoner, she could be on any one of the ships in orbit or in any prison facility. His only hope was that Melissa’s team somehow managed to take Telixa Ethran hostage. Maybe the admiral would give them Anna in exchange for her freedom.
The optimist within him wanted to believe that maybe they could end the war today. Convince Telixa to hear them out, make a case for peace. But that was just foolishness. Even if they could get the admiral to listen, there was no reason why her government would.
“Dropping out of warp in three, two, one…”
The goggles activated, and a planet suddenly filled his field of vision, a massive sphere of blue oceans and wispy clouds with a continent of pure ice located dead-centre. Green wireframes sprang up all around him, depicting the Ragnosian fleet. He counted ten, all scattered but closing in on his position.
They descended on one of those ships from above.
A massive battlecruiser hung over the South Pole with its nose pointed off to Jack’s right. It was an imposing vessel, shaped very much like the blade of a long-sword, and it began to fire streaks of green plasma from its dorsal cannons.
“Evasive maneuvers,” Jack said.
The Scrappy executed a ninety-degree roll, and the shots that should have taken off his wing instead went over Jack’s head. The enemy was now pointed downward from his perspective.
Pulses of orange light flew from his wing cannons, pounding the battlecruiser from above, making the shields flash. He saw a brief flicker, and then Shinela leveled off, the planet now a sliver of blue under his feet.
A vast expanse of stars stretched on before him, green dots appearing all over the place. Some of them grew larger as the scrappy drew near, becoming wire outlines of ships identical to the one they had just attacked. They quickly reoriented, choosing a nearby target.
Detecting their approach, the Ragnosians fired two missiles.
“Countermea-”
Before he could even speak the word, two spherical devices about the size of a basketball shot out of the Scrappy’s nose. They sped off into the darkness. And then a pair of blinding explosions made Jack hiss.
The second battlecruiser was coming closer and closer, firing bolts of green plasma from its forward cannons. A timely upward slide had every one of those shots streaking past under Jack’s feet.
The other ship was right in front of him!
They were going to crash!
At the very last second, the Scrappy went around the enemy on its port side and then executed a yaw to the left. Jack watched an ugly, gray hull scrolling past in front of him. Once again, Corin let loose a tempest of firepower that stung the Ragnosian ship. The shields absorbed every shot, but it didn’t matter. They weren’t here to win a military victory. All of this was just a distraction.
Having slipped past the blockade, Shinela poured on the speed, pushing the engines hard. They were headed northward, but their course wouldn’t bring them anywhere near the Halor Empire. Keep the fleet distracted: that was his only job. If Melissa’s team had jammed the comm-lines, Telixa wouldn’t be able to call for help. And with any luck, her people would be so focused on the Scrappy, they would fail to notice that their admiral was out of contact.
Enemy weapons’ fire nearly grazed their ship several times, but Shinela was able to dodge most of it. A few shots did hit home; it was unavoidable. Jack was nearly thrown out of his seat several times.
The Ragnosians tried to keep up, but the Scrappy easily left them in the dust. Corin let out a sigh of relief when they were finally beyond the range of those plasma cannons. Unfortunately, their relief was short-lived.
More battlecruisers were coming toward them from beyond the planetary horizon. They would soon be surrounded.
“Pull up,” Jack said. “Put us on a course directly away from Salus.”
The planet dropped out of his field of vision when Shinela executed his order. They were racing into the empty night. He was betting those captains were downright pissed off. A Leyrian comes into their solar system and thumbs his nose at them?
