“Why would either of them be important?” Drang asked.
Cade shook his head. “I never should have left Velia there. I did it because of the oath to my wife.”
“What does that mean?”
“That Velia was too tempting for me, at least if I remained in her presence for too long. She had some kind of…sexual power, perhaps psychic. In order to keep my vow to Raina, I had to leave Velia’s company. In this case, she left mine by remaining on the space station.”
Drang sneered. “Your antiquated notions of fidelity don’t interest me. If you have the data concerning the Vellani Rift vortex—and the cyborg Master in the lurker desires it—the wisest course would be to have you and Halifax shot, thereby erasing the data.”
“Or you could help us escape the lurker and the star system,” Cade said.
“What value is there in that for the Concord?”
Cade stared at Drang. “Yes, a reasonable question from your point of view. The best I can tell you is that by aiding me now, you’ll help the Concord against Group Six of Earth. Director Titus has dangerous plans, which include using more Ultras as secret agents. Even as spies, we’re highly effective and will continue to plague the Concord, especially as the Director’s plans mature.”
“What plans?”
“I don’t know the specifics,” Cade said. “But who wielding power doesn’t have grand plans? You can bet Director Titus does.”
Drang grew thoughtful. “Is the Director as great a threat to us as the lurker and the secret tech company?”
“That’s not always the question,” Cade said. “Threats are potentialities. Clearly, the lurker out there is deadly, as is the tech company. You must destroy both if you can. That doesn’t negate Earth’s threat to you.”
“A Patrol fleet in the Solar System could quickly quell that threat.”
“Maybe,” Cade said. “The point is this. Keeping us out of cyborg or secret tech company hands is imperative. Yes, you can have us shot. If you send us on our way, though, you’ll also gain the positive possibility of my putting an end to Group Six’s Ultra use.”
“And you will achieve this how?”
“I’m heading to Earth to free my wife and my fellow soldiers of Battle Unit One-Seven-Six.”
“You alone against Group Six?” asked Drang.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Probabilities suggest I take the more likely course,” Drang said. “The renewed cyborg threat is real. Ending it is the priority.”
“Chief Arbiter, I’m an Ultra. We once fought the cyborgs to a standstill. It cost this part of the Orion Arm dearly. Don’t think you can do this alone. If you fail to wipe out the resurgent cyborg threat, you’re going to need help.”
“Help from a handful of Ultras held by Group Six?” she asked.
“We have long memories. We’ve dealt victoriously with the cyborgs in the past. Crush the terrible menace before it grows again. That’s sound strategy. However, the fact of a fully functional lurker means it came from somewhere. Perhaps that base is the true threat. How do you propose to find the base?”
Drang shook her head.
“Humanity must unite and work together,” Cade said. “I’ve helped you here. You’ve helped me. Let’s continue to do so and become stronger through it.”
“What’s your suggestion? I need a real plan, not just theories.”
“Get rid of us,” Cade said, “by lending us a sting. It can drop us off at a large Concord world. There, we’ll buy starliner tickets to Earth.”
“Earth is more than four hundred light-years from here. In case you don’t know, that’s a long way off.”
“I’m aware of that. You should be aware that time has become critical to me. I’m eager to reach Earth as fast as possible.”
Drang rubbed her jaw. “Suppose I do as you suggest. How should I deal with Rohan Mars and Egon Krenz?”
“I doubt I have to tell you how to do your job, although I can help, if you want.”
“And if the lurker trails the sting and captures you anyway?” asked Drang. “What happens then?”
“I’m hoping you have a way of keeping the lurker busy for a time.”
Drang glanced at the man hunched at his equipment before regarding Cade again. “I’m sending you to the other compartment with Halifax. I’ll give you my answer soon.”
Cade nodded, wondering if he should attempt taking over the heavy lifter. Before he could decide, three operatives with drawn guns entered the chamber. Drang told them to escort Cade to the other room.
Cade hung back as his muscles tensed.
“Wait,” Drang said sharply.
The gunmen halted.
Cade judged the distance to the three as just a little too far. He noticed that Drang now had a small flat weapon aimed at him.
“You were about to disarm them,” Drang said.
Cade did not reply.
The fierce light grew in Drang’s eyes. “Thank you, Soldier. You’ve just made my decision for me.”
Cade waited for it.
“Go,” Drang told the three. “I’m not going to need you. Sir, if you would advise me, I’d appreciate it.”
The three operatives left as Cade went to the comm equipment. He waited as Drang began giving the hunched man new instructions.
Chapter Forty
Time, it was a matter of time, trickery, distances, laser ranges and firepower.
The heavy lifter went to the other side of Therduim III. That meant, of course, that Krenz failed to recapture Cade and Halifax because they did not land on the space station. Soon enough, he reported this to Rohan Mars.
“Where did they go?” Rohan demanded.
“Yes,” Krenz said. “That’s what I want to know.”
“Are you holding back on me, sir?”
“No,” Krenz said. “I’m dealing with rank treachery on my side.”
“Do you have the extra cyborg items dug up from the planet?”
“Only what we originally brought onto the station,” Krenz said.
On the screen, Rohan did not move for several seconds. “That is a pity. The Master is displeased. However, he is still willing to pay for what you do possess.”
“Good,” Krenz said. “I’m ready to begin the exchange.”
Rohan nodded.
***
A small satellite previously launched from the heavy lifter kept the space station under observation.
It should be noted that none of the orbital nodes circling Therduim III worked as advertised for Krenz and his people. This was because the Chief Arbiter had used special codes that caused the main relays aboard the space station to give false data. If the orbital nodes had worked, it would have been a simple matter for the Sub-Protector to spot the heavy lifter. A second aside was that Senior Commandant Estevan was still being held in his quarters. He, possibly, could have found the deception. Since he wasn’t in the Operational Center, it gave the Chief Arbiter more time.
A shuttle left the space station, heading out, while a small drone headed in from the four enemy ships. Soon enough, the shuttle neared the waiting warships.
In the heavy lifter situated in the stratosphere of Therduim III, Drang told Hemlock, “Now.”
Hemlock manipulated his special equipment. That sent a pulse through the small satellite to the space station. That, in turn, caused the station to send a self-destruct signal to the shuttle, which triggered the main engine. The engine overheated and detonated, rupturing the shuttle hull and necessarily destroying the cyborg relics in the main cargo bay.
In the space station’s Operational Center, Krenz shouted in distress as he helplessly watched the main screen.
Rohan appeared on the screen in thirty seconds. “You indulge in treachery, eh, Sub-Protector? I did not think you were that great a fool. Now, you will reap the consequences.”
At that point, the small drone with the platinum cubes exploded spectacularly.
Krenz stared at the screen in sl
ack-jawed bewilderment. How could this be happening to him?
The Operational Center personnel helped bring him out of his funk by pointing out that the four warships had resumed their attack run.
In desperation, Krenz called Captain Williams. “They’re coming. We must fight it out.”
“Maybe you must,” Williams said. “I have other options—” He scowled as people shouted in the background. “Just a moment. I have a crisis that demands my attention.” He cut the connection, but reactivated it in less than a minute. “You’re right,” Williams said. “It’s time to fight.” He was shaking and pale-faced.
Krenz frowned. “What just happened? What changed your mind?”
“There’s no time for that,” Williams said in a hoarse whisper. “We must fight for our lives.”
What had happened was that the Chief Arbiter of Quartz Sector had used more of her special codes. Those codes had temporarily caused a malfunction in the main thrusters aboard the Illustrious, meaning it wasn’t going anywhere soon. Some of the bridge crew must have pointed that out to Captain Williams. Hence, his realization that he had to fight to survive.
The four enemy warships bored in, using their long-ranged lasers to burn the aerosol cloud. The space station continued to pump more aerosols into position. The lasers were winning the contest, although most likely not as quickly as Rohan or his Master would have liked.
The proof was the launching of enemy missiles.
Now, as the Illustrious mysteriously regained use of its thrusters, the cruiser edged to one side of the weakening aerosol cloud and beamed the nearing enemy missiles, destroying them.
The space battle seesawed as more enemy missiles zeroed in upon the space station and as the Patrol destroyer added its laser batteries to the counter-assault.
Meanwhile, Sub-Protector Krenz ordered masses of missiles manually moved by tugs out of the station. He did this behind the dwindling aerosol cloud. The station had pumped its aerosol reserves even as machines began to desperately manufacture more.
Emergency klaxons began to blare throughout the space station. All but a tiny, dedicated crew raced for the lifeboats and other space-capable tugs and shuttles. Krenz stayed with the last people, who would man the lasers until the end. The rest of the station personnel climbed aboard the final vessels. One after another, the tugs, shuttles and small spaceships headed down for Therduim III, for the Spaceport. They were fleeing to the planet, hoping for survival and eventual rescue.
The four enemy warships closed to within 60,000 kilometers of the station. Their lasers burned the last of the aerosol cloud and started to slag the station’s armored hull.
Now, masses of missiles ignited their thrusters, roaring out to meet the enemy task force.
Meanwhile, the Illustrious and the destroyer escorted the many small craft around Therduim III. Captain Williams hadn’t given up on life like Egon Krenz had, neither had the destroyer’s commander.
Mayhem ensued on the battlefield. The station’s lasers reached out, burning into enemy hulls. Accelerating Patrol missiles exploded, some spewing heavy radiation, heat and EMP and causing sensor whiteouts. That allowed the fleeing personnel time to reach the other side of Therduim III.
The heavy lifter had already landed at the Spaceport, with Chief Arbiter Iris Dragonfeld assuming full authority. With Hemlock’s special equipment, she watched the missiles and station lasers whittle down the enemy task force.
The sheer volume of missiles overwhelmed the enemy defensive fire. A nuclear blast shredded a warship’s hull. Debris cluttered space. Another blast devoured most of the debris and sent hot molten metal against another enemy ship. A beam from the station struck, burning through the hull. A powerful electromagnetic pulse washed over the enemy vessel. Androids deactivated and so did automated equipment. The lasers shut down there. Another blast hurled massive chunks of shrapnel against the ship, rendering it infective.
Simultaneously, enemy lasers chewed through space-station armor, devouring interior hardware, causing explosions and then human deaths. Another set of enemy lasers bored into a different area. The space station began to blow apart, sections of hull and interior tumbling away.
The last Patrol warheads detonated, crushing the third enemy ship.
The final “smuggler” warship had already taken emergency actions, using counter-blasts, reactive armor and hard acceleration to survive the surprise missile assault. Thus, in the end, one enemy warship survived.
The androids had destroyed the space station. Instead of the viable structure, there was a mass of drifting debris, much of it already drifting down toward the planet. Sub-Protector Egon Krenz was dead. Perhaps he’d decided to go down fighting instead of facing Patrol justice later. Senior Commandant Estevan had never made it off, locked in his quarters and forgotten in the rush to evacuate the structure.
The Chief Arbiter had sent a Patrol Intelligence Special Squad in a shuttle. The craft docked with the Illustrious. Soon, the special squad took Captain C.F. Williams into custody. His second-in-command took over.
After the shuttle left for the Spaceport, the cruiser and destroyer went onto the assault, heading for the remaining enemy vessel.
The “smuggler” warship accelerated. Perhaps it had received new instructions from the hidden lurker. The warship did not attempt to flee Therduim III; instead, it headed into the atmosphere as it attempted to circle around the planet.
“It’s a kamikaze attack,” the Chief Arbiter told the new captain of the Illustrious. “You must destroy it before it reaches a direct line-of-sight with the Spaceport.”
The last enemy warship continued to accelerate, its forward hull heating up as it dove through the atmosphere. That actually proved a defense against the lasers beaming from the Illustrious and the destroyer farther back.
The Chief Arbiter sent instructions, but the static created by nuclear explosions meant they never reached the two ships.
The former second-in-command of the Illustrious launched missiles. The missile cones heated up, but one reached the descending warship and erupted into a nuclear fireball. The enemy warship disintegrated, most of it consumed in the harsh blast. Pieces that survived the holocaust burned up like meteors as they plunged toward the planet.
The Illustrious received a wash of heavy radiation, the new captain taking the cruiser up to limp away and letting damage-control parties begin repairs as the medical teams began theirs. The destroyer followed at a distance, its sensor operators searching for new enemy vessels.
The lurker did not appear, nor did any other enemy ship.
The nuclear detonations washed some of the planet with radiation and caused EMP surges. Fortunately, that took place on the other side of the planet as the Spaceport. Perhaps mutant villages took damage. It was doubtful any Diggers did, as they were a subterranean species.
Fortunately for the people huddled at the Spaceport, a Patrol battleship had begun maneuvering for Therduim III. It was in the outer system and still 62 hours away, but it was coming on strong. The battleship was heading for the planet because its commander had received her orders from the Chief Arbiter several hours earlier.
***
As all this occurred, the four stings headed out-system, each in a different direction. In one of the stings were Marcus Cade and Dr. Halifax. She’d made the decision for two reasons. One, to plague Group Six with the Ultra. Second, to possibly flush the lurker as it gave chase, as she was certain the captain of the ancient vessel would realize what had transpired and attempt to follow the correct sting in order to grab the prized Marcus Cade.
She might also save everyone at the Spaceport that way. It was a calculated risk: that was what she planned to tell her superiors when the time came.
Chapter Forty-One
In many ways, Rohan Mars the android replicated a human male. His positronic computer acted like a brain, but he was a machine, a thing and not a real person. He did not have a soul as a human was said to possess. The android’s only co
ncern, however, was with the here and now.
Rohan Mars the android unit still functioned. He drifted in space in a spacesuit. He had watched the space battle from within a warship and later from without as he tumbled end over end.
He didn’t strictly need the suit, but it protected him against some of the damage of exposure. Also, if he ever got picked up by others, it would make it less obvious he was an android and not human. He’d put it on when it became obvious his ship would be destroyed.
The space battle had ended a day or two ago. The Patrol battleship was nearing Therduim III, but it was still nineteen hours away.
The positronic computer functioned, and using the optical cells in the eyes, Rohan saw a blurry object maneuver near him. He noticed the blurring because it came between him and Therduim III.
A hatch opened in the blurry object. Rohan saw darkness there, and he concluded the lurker had come to the planet. A segmented coil of metal reached out of the darkness, grasped a space-suited ankle and drew him in. Soon, the hatch closed behind him and gravity control took over. Rohan sat up, removed the space helmet and listened to instructions given from a wall speaker.
The android did not feel elation. He did not feel anything as he lacked emotions. If called for he could mimic them. But here, in the lurker, there was no point.
The Rohan Mars unit traversed empty corridors until he reached the bridge. There, in the captain’s chair, sat a cyborg, a tall, thin combination of minimalist flesh and robot parts. The face was the true monstrosity with black metal eye sockets, metal balls and red lights for pupils. The cyborg had a modified human brain in an armored brainpan. The Rohan Mars unit did not know that the cyborg had originated from the Web-Mind that had interrogated Tarragon Down. The android did not know this was the last known lurker in space.
Rohan did know—in the poetic sense, at least—that the Master, the cyborg captain of the lurker, possessed the correct codes that had given it full authority of the secret tech company. The Master had learned of the tech company’s ongoing plan for Therduim III and had changed them to suit new purposes. These purposes Rohan did not know. Thus, he could never give them away if captured and his positronic computer hacked.
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