Justice Keepers Saga--Books 10-12, page 118
They would chase him. He had no doubt.
“One hundred eighty-degree pitch,” Jack ordered.
The Scrappy flipped upside-down, flying backwards with its nose pointed at the planet. Seen from space, Salus was gorgeous. Clouds swirled over the Vanrel Ocean. Some of those had to be storms, but from up here, they looked tame.
His goggles drew green outlines over the battlecruisers that had converged at the spot where he broke orbit. One, two, three, four… He counted six of them in total. More than his little ship could handle. “Missiles,” Jack barked.
Two thin projectiles launched themselves from the Scrappy’s nose, hurtling down toward his adversaries. They detonated long before they got close enough to do any damage, disrupted by Ragnosian countermeasures. Brilliant flashes of light expanded and then faded away.
“I think we got their attention,” he said. “Put us on course for the primary moon.”
Spatial Awareness painted a picture in Rajel’s mind, a picture of a hallway littered with bodies. The masked man stood over his victims with his head held high, watching as Melissa drew near. “The priorities here are fairly simple, Agent Carlson,” he said in an Adunian accent. “Kill the admiral, and Ragnos loses one of its greatest tacticians.”
Melissa stood before him with fists clenched, her teeth bared in a snarl. “We need Telixa Ethran alive,” she said. “If we take her as a hostage, we can bargain with Ragnos. Our priority is to liberate this world.”
“No, that’s your priority,” the stranger replied. “My priority is to win the war.”
“You’re no Keeper,” Melissa hissed. “Who are you?”
Rajel got the impression that the stranger was smiling. “They call me Shindraso. That’s all you need to know.”
Captain Bryse stepped forward, flanking Melissa on her left. “The Patriot?” he said. “Fitting, I suppose. Listen, friend, we can’t let you kill the admiral.”
In a flurry of motion, Shindraso drew his pistol and pointed it at them. “And I can’t let you interfere with my mission,” he growled. “Your little raid was convenient, but we both know how this ends. Ethran dies today.”
Rajel had heard enough.
With a shout, he charged forward and thrust his hand out, a Bending coalescing at his fingertips. It blocked his Spatial Awareness, preventing him from sensing the masked man, but he felt the bullets that he redirected into the floor. Knowing when to lower his defenses required some guesswork. He waited until he was almost within arm’s reach of his target and then let it go.
Rajel jumped over the fallen bodies, kicking Shindraso in the chest. The other man stumbled, dropping his pistol, and moved off to the right.
Landing nimbly on the tiles, Rajel turned toward his enemy with his fists up. They faced each other across the width of the hallway. Keeping this fool busy would allow Melissa to carry out the plan.
Shindraso spun for a hook-kick.
Ducking low, Rajel let the other man’s foot pass over his head and waited for his opponent to come around. He slammed two fists into Shindraso’s chest, driving him back into the wall.
Instead of pressing his attack, the masked man turned and scrambled through the corridor. A heartbeat later, Rajel was chasing him. This guy had probably gotten Anna killed. It was time to deal with him once and for all.
“No, don’t!” Melissa called out.
He ignored her.
Shindraso ran with inhuman speed, feet pounding the floor. Doors flew by on either side of Rajel as he pushed himself to keep up. This was about more than a single enemy with a symbiont. If he could capture Shindraso, they might finally learn who he worked for. They might discover who was giving out the corrupted Nassai.
Shindraso burst through a door, sprinting across a narrow walkway that overlooked the building’s central lobby. Rajel was hot on his heels.
Less than ten seconds later, they were running through a hallway that was identical to the one they had left behind. Doors slammed shut up ahead. The people who worked here wanted no part of this chaos.
Rajel expected his prey to go for the stairwell at the end of the corridor. Which was why it was such a shock when Shindraso suddenly darted into a room on his right. Was the fool thinking that he might escape through a third-floor window? Not impossible with Bent Gravity, but the crowd down there might just tear him apart.
Slamming his shoulder against the wall, Rajel hesitated before following the other man. He waved a hand in front of the opening to get a sense of what to expect.
It was another conference room very much like the one Telixa had been using. A long, wooden table filled most of the space, and three windows in the back wall – each open just a crack – allowed him to hear the protesters outside.
The door was in the corner.
He couldn’t sense Shindraso, which meant the masked man was just out of sight on the other side, no doubt intending to ambush Rajel. Well, he was welcome to try. Most people underestimated Rajel.
When he slipped through the door, he found Shindraso waiting in the narrow space between the table and the wall. The man had drawn his belt knife, which Rajel interpreted as a compliment. It was always preferable when your enemy treated you as a credible threat.
Shindraso slashed at his belly.
Rajel hopped back, the blade leaving a gash in his shirt. In a heartbeat, the other man had his knife raised high. He brought it down with the inevitability of a headsman’s axe.
Bending his knees, Rajel caught the man’s wrist with both hands. He whirled his enemy around and sent him careening toward the wall. Shindraso jumped and kicked off the plaster, sailing backwards over Rajel’s head.
Rajel spun around to face him.
A boot landed in his chest, driving him backward. He stumbled until his spine hit the wall. Only then did he realize that the air had been driven from his lungs. In his mind, he sensed Shindraso closing in on him.
The man tried to stab him through the eye.
Rajel leaned left.
That wicked blade sank into the plaster about an inch away from his right ear. He brought his knee up into Shindraso’s belly, forcing the other man to retreat and give him some space.
Rajel followed that with a punch to the nose.
The masked man stumbled, dropping his knife. Drunken flailing became graceful poise all too quickly as Shindraso fell over backward and caught himself with both hands. He rose into a handstand, then flipped upright.
Half a second later, he was charging in for the kill. The son of a bitch was a blur as he closed the distance and drew back his arm for a punch.
Without even thinking, Rajel brought a hand up to deflect the blow. Another fist came at him, but he deflected that too. It was as easy as breathing. The other man’s gut was exposed. Rajel slammed a hand against it, applying Bent Gravity.
Shindraso slid backward through the narrow gap between the wall and the table. His arms windmilled as he struggled to regain his balance with a string of muttered curses.
Rajel broke into a sprint.
He leaped with a high kick, but Shindraso ducked, allowing Rajel to sail right past him. He landed with a grunt, his shoes sinking into the thick carpet. Spatial Awareness showed him the image of a masked figure behind him. Two hands grabbed the back of Rajel’s shirt and threw him sideways onto the table.
He rolled across its polished surface and landed on the other side.
Rounding on his opponent, Rajel found the masked man watching him. Shindraso kicked the table, lashing out with a surge of Bent Gravity that sent it sliding toward Rajel.
Reacting by instinct, Rajel jumped and somersaulted through the air, landing atop the wobbling table. He leaped, spreading his arms wide, intending to descend on the other man. But he hadn’t noticed that Shindraso had a force-field generator pointed at him.
Rajel felt the electrostatic charge that made his hair stand on end. And then a wall of energy plowed into him, throwing him backward.
He crashed through the window, glass shattering around him. The air whistled in his ears. His arms reached for something to hold onto, but there was nothing. Nothing but wind and a three-story drop to the pavement below.
In that moment of terror, he reached out to his Nassai, reached out and felt the thrill of power coursing through every cell in his body. He twisted gravity with his thoughts, pulling himself back to the building.
When he landed on the table, Rajel crouched down, arms spreading wide. His lips parted, air hissing through his teeth.
The other man was nowhere to be found.
Hopping down, Rajel charged through the door.
Shindraso was striding through the hallway, making his way back to Telixa. The man paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “You don’t quit, do you?”
A playful grin was Rajel’s reply, and he shook his head slowly. “You quit, and they will never respect you,” he replied. “Sorry, friend, but like you said. We both know how this ends. With you in a holding cell.”
Drawing his knife in a flash, Shindraso spun around. His hand flew out to throw the blade point-first at Rajel.
Leaning back, Rajel reached up to catch the hilt. He straightened, but the other man was closing it on him. Shindraso kicked the knife out of his grip, then jumped and spun in the air. His foot clipped Rajel across the cheek, sending him sideways into the wall.
Groaning, Rajel tried to get his bearings.
When the fog cleared out of his brain, he sensed the other man towering over him, trying to corner him. Shindraso drew back his arm, ready to pound him into submission.
Reacting by instinct, Rajel ducked and felt a fist passing over his head. He threw a pair of jabs into the other man’s belly, pushing him back across the hallway. All the way to the opposite wall.
Rajel jumped with a high kick.
But Shindraso slipped away.
The very instant that he landed, Rajel felt an elbow connecting with the back of his head. He was thrown face-first into the wall, dizziness creeping in until he felt as though he might blackout. The pain made it hard to think, But he was dimly aware of his enemy slipping up behind him, ready to press that knife to the soft skin of his throat.
Rajel jumped backward, slamming into the other man with a surge of Bent Gravity that carried them both across the corridor. They hit the wall with devastating force, leaving cracks in the plaster.
Stepping to his left, Rajel flung his elbow into the other man’s face. Once, twice. Three times. “See how you like it,” he snarled.
A low moan escaped Shindraso as he slumped over. His bottom hit the floor, and his head lolled. This fight was finished.
Rounding on his enemy, Rajel stood over the other man. Sweat rolled down his face. “Now,” he panted. “Let’s see who you really are.”
He bent to remove the mask.
Before he could, Shindraso tapped a device on his belt, triggering a high-pitched pulse that rang in Rajel’s ears. Dizziness swept over him. Trying desperately to stay on his feet, he stumbled to the other side of the hallway.
Shindraso tapped the device again, deactivating the hypersonic pulse. He stood up, glowering at Rajel through the mesh. Without a single word, he turned and ran. Not for Telixa but for the stairwell.
Apparently, the man had had enough.
Rajel would have followed him, but his body was aching; the exhaustion he felt threatened to knock him out. If Shindraso had friends, Rajel wouldn’t be able to take them. The best thing he could do was get back to Melissa.
“Another time,” he muttered, watching his enemy flee.
Salus’s largest moon was about the size of Chicago, not large enough to give off much light at night. Its rocky surface drifted past over Jack’s head as the Scrappy went around it. When he looked down, he saw only the emptiness of space. They had been playing a game of hide and seek with the fleet, ducking from moon to moon in the hopes of keeping the Ragnosians occupied. The Scrappy was quicker and more agile than every single one of her adversaries, and that was the only reason they were still alive.
A battlecruiser came into view around the moon’s horizon.
Shinela put them on a course that would result in a head-on collision. Bravado went a long way when your opponent was five times your size.
“Fire!” Jack shouted.
Two orange beams erupted from his wing cannons, converging upon the enemy’s nose. They punched through the shields with nothing but pure brute strength and inflicted some serious damage.
Shinela guided them underneath the other ship, and Jack got to watch its scorched hull rushing past above him. Those cannons along its belly weren’t trying to target him. Maybe that last shot had caused some power fluctuations.
They left the Ragnosians behind and sped off into the darkness. Only then did Jack feel the jolt of weapons’ fire pounding his ship. He was jostled about. “Return the favour.”
The Scrappy flipped upside-down, flying backwards through the void. Pulses of orange plasma exploded from its wings, a tempest of energy bolts that all struck true. Jack was treated to the sight of the battlecruiser’s shields flashing as they tried to absorb the impact. Maybe that would teach them to-
A missile came hurtling toward him.
“Prepare to-”
There was a sudden flash, and then the feed from the goggles was replaced with static. Jack yanked them off so that he could see his bridge crew. “What the hell?”
Corin was tapping furiously at his station, breathing hard as he tried to correct the problem. “Some kind of EM pulse,” he explained. “They’ve temporarily blinded our sensors. I should have it cleared up in a sec.”
Jack put the goggles back on.
When the image returned, he saw a swarm of those fighter drones surrounding him. Twenty of them, at least. Maybe more. They began spitting globs of green plasma from their two curved prongs.
The Scrappy trembled as it was hit again and again.
“Get us out of here!”
Shinela didn’t have to be told twice; in a heartbeat, she had them on a course that would take them away from the planet. The swarm followed, pummeling them with ammunition.
The lights flickered, and the alarms started shrieking. If not for his seatbelt, Jack would have been tossed to the floor. Not good. Not good. Those little bastards were struggling to keep up, but they just kept firing.
Another volley blasted the ship, and this one felt like an earthquake. “Hang on!” Shinela yelled as she pushed the engines to full power. Jack was thrown backward when she added thrusters to the gravitational drives.
At long last, they were out of range.
Removing the goggles, Jack sucked in a breath. His hair was drenched with sweat, dark bangs plastered to his forehead. “Seems they’ve got some new tricks,” he mumbled. “Status report.”
“Ventral shield emitters are damaged,” Shinela said. “Auto-repair systems are online, but it’ll take a while.
Corin’s had gone pale, his eyes frantic as he scanned the readout from his instruments. “It’s worse than that,” he gasped. “We only caught the edge of that EMP. If the missile had been much closer, it would have blown out the entire shield grid.”
“Captain,” Shinela said. “We’ve got four battlecruisers coming our way.”
Jack slumped over, covering his face with one hand. “Melissa, whatever you’re gonna do,” he whispered. “Hurry up and do it.”
28
“No, don’t!” Melissa shouted.
But of course, Rajel ignored her. She felt helpless as she watched him chasing the man who called himself Shindraso through the hallway. How Anna got people to listen was a mystery to her. They were gone ten seconds later, disappearing into another part of the building.
Melissa shut her eyes, exhaling. “Let him go,” she said. “We stick to the mission. Let’s get it done.”
As motivational speeches went, it wasn’t anything fancy, but it seemed to have done the trick. Bryse nodded, and the others stood a little taller. She caught Shaz smiling when he thought she wasn’t looking. Silly man. Justice Keepers were always looking.
She strode toward the conference room, turning on her heel and stepping through the door. And then the ziarogat blocked her path. The blood froze in her veins. Those silver eyes…She couldn’t do this. Before she even realized it, she was retreating into the corridor. Melissa took control of herself in an instant. She had to face this creature. The others were counting on her.
The creature observed her for maybe half a second, and then it thrust out its right hand, powering-up that wrist-mounted gun.
She threw herself to the right, bullets whistling past her to bury themselves in the corridor wall. In a heartbeat, she had her pistol out of its holster, cocking the hammer as she lifted the weapon in one hand.
CRACK! CRACK!
A force-field appeared to protect the ziarogat, intercepting her shots. The crackling wall of energy rushed across the width of the corridor and slammed into the wall. Calm. She had to stay calm.
CRACK!
Her bullet landed at the ziarogat’s feet, and the creature jumped back instinctively. A very human reaction. You could replace the brain with a computer; you could wipe out every last trace of the personality, but some impulses were still hard-wired.
Gripping her pistol in both hands, Melissa narrowed her eyes. “Get the admiral,” she said coldly. “I’ll deal with this thing. Everybody, up against the wall!”
Remarkably, they obeyed without protest, clearing a path for her.
Melissa fired another shot that hit the floor, and this time the cyborg did not react. It just watched her with an almost cat-like curiosity. “Come on,” she said. “I’m the one you really want.”
Spinning around in a blur of motion, Melissa ran for the stairwell. The ziarogat was chasing her a second later. She could sense it with Spatial Awareness. A misty figure that raised its hand to shoot her in the back.
Melissa threw herself into a forward somersault, bullets soaring past above her. She came up in a crouch and erected a Time Bubble in the shape of a tube that stretched to the foot of the stairs.
