The Soldier: Final Odyssey

by Vaughn Heppner

  The station head had informed Halifax that snipers watched from kill-holes and would fire at the Ultra at the first sign of treachery.

  “Fine, fine, but his obedience chip works perfectly,” Halifax had told her.

  “The cleaner was a dark-haired, slender woman,” the station head said.

  “Ah,” Halifax said.

  “Leona Quillian,” the station head said. “Does the name ring a bell?”

  Halifax shook his head.

  “The cleaner had news for the Director about you and that muscleman there. She said the two of you were dangerous.”

  “We are indeed.”

  “But on the off chance you showed up here, we were to let you proceed to Earth.”

  “We are going to Earth,” Halifax said. “This…intermediary event is important, though.” He grinned in a sickly way. “I hope I don’t have to explain to the Director why I didn’t get help here.”

  “Why do you need a battlesuit again?”

  “Because of what’s waiting in the shuttle,” Halifax said.

  “You’ve been vague about part of this. I’d like more details before we proceed.”

  “Why, of course, of course,” Halifax said. “Do you have an XT form handy? I’ll need a duplicate to give to the Director.”

  The station head blanched. “On second thought, you’ve described your needs just fine. No need for the XT.”

  “It’s no problem if you desire details,” Halifax said. “The Director told me to do everything by the book. It’s your right as station head to know what’s going down. You simply have to sign the XT form so there’s documentation I told you.”

  “No, no need. Forget I mentioned it.”

  “Well, if you insist,” Halifax said.

  The station head opened a drawer and took out a computer slate. She tapped it with a stylus. “Hmm. I can procure a battlesuit…one that will fit him, in two days.”

  “I need it sooner,” Halifax said.

  “Then you should have been here sooner.”

  “Granted,” Halifax said easily. “We were delayed, however. The suit is imperative to the mission.”

  The station head chewed on the inside of her cheek. “One day then…but there could be trouble.”

  “No. I can’t afford trouble. We must be in position as quickly as possible. According to the schedule, the tramp hauler should be approaching the star system. If we’re not in position when—”

  “Dr. Halifax. I’ll do everything I can to get you to the rendezvous point. Although we’re risking undue notice because of the hurry-up. Still, I see you have the Director’s confidence. That means you have mine. This is an emergency. I get that. The battlesuit seems strange, but I’m not trying to pry into a priority mission.”

  “I’ll remember to tell the Director how helpful you were.”

  “I appreciate that,” she said, glancing up at Cade. “Does it ever…make you nervous having him at your back? It seems as if he could snap at any time. I feel tension from him, dynamic energy.”

  “It did feel creepy at first,” Halifax said. “Now, he’s learned he has to obey or he’ll wish he had.”

  “Strange,” she said, examining Cade. “He’s brutish but handsome after a fashion.”

  Halifax gave her a sly leer. “I could loan him out to you for an evening.”

  Cade shifted his stance.

  She laughed nervously. “No, no, nothing like that. I’m tempted, but no thank you. It’s a generous offer nonetheless.”

  Halifax made a bland gesture, and that effectively ended the meeting.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  The days merged into a blur for Cade. There simply didn’t seem to be enough time for all the things that needed doing.

  The battlesuit was a tight fit, too tight. That was bad for extended wearing and would cause fatigue. It was not state-of-the-art, but an older model. It lacked lasers or other refinements, using pack-launched grenades and missiles, and had auto-cannons along the sleeves. They were three of the last weapons to use aboard a spacecraft of any kind. If one fired the weapons, he risked hull punctures.

  Cade did not complain, however, but planned and re-planned. He had what he had. This was for his wife and fellow soldiers. He needed the lurker, which meant, of course, that he needed to be right regarding the so-called Master. That was a huge if.

  The ride out-system was in an older shuttle, the gravity-dampeners failing almost immediately after leaving the Louisville Space Hab. That meant the grind of acceleration, which strained everyone’s muscles and organs.

  The Group Six people had plenty of access, but things were done on the sly, often oiled with bribes, sometimes with credible threats. Little was certain. If the Patrol or IPO sniffed out anything wrong, it could mean running and hiding until the danger passed.

  One of the consortium warships kept demanding more information about them as the shuttle headed out. It would have been nice to tell them to mind their own business. The warship could easily accelerate and board them, maybe intern everyone, so they complied as best they could.

  Finally, the shuttle commander’s answers must have satisfied the warship captain, as he gave them permission to proceed.

  Time ticked down. The tramp hauler—

  “It’s here,” Halifax told Cade two days later. Their shuttle was in the outer 16 Cygni System but they still had a long way to go.

  The tramp hauler’s shuttle had already left the vessel, heading in-system with the cyro units holding the two hibernating imposters.

  “How long has the tramp hauler been here?” Cade asked.

  Halifax was sitting beside Cade on an acceleration chair. There were rows of them. The doctor had painstakingly left, gone to the john and then detoured and spoken with the commander. Halifax was pale-faced and sweaty from the exertion of walking at nearly 2-Gs. He touched his chest, made gulping noises and finally relaxed as much as he could.

  “Arrived…?” Halifax touched his fingertips, “the tramp hauler arrived seven hours ago. The shuttle left three hours ago. The lurker could hit them at any time.”

  “No,” Cade said. “The lurker likely wants to be well past the Patrol ships out there.”

  “The lurker must already be here, in the system, I mean,” Halifax said.

  “Yes, I’d think so.”

  “Won’t the lurker captain be suspicious about us, about our shuttle?”

  “For what possible reason?”

  “Uh…I don’t know.”

  Now that they moved openly into a combat situation, the doctor had become more nervous again and Cade more relaxed. This was his element. He’d wanted to board the tramp-hauler shuttle out there and be with them coming all the way in. If they couldn’t reach the shuttle before the lurker did, all this would have been for nothing.

  “You say the shuttle has already started in-system?” Cade asked.

  “That’s what I’ve been telling you,” Halifax said.

  “That’s bad, but I’ve planned for that.” From a pocket, Cade took out a folded paper, handing it to Halifax. “Have our captain message this back to the station head. She’ll have to make the official call for us.”

  Halifax scanned the contents of the note. “She isn’t going to want to do this.”

  “Make her do it.”

  “Kind of hard when the transmissions are already lagging because of distance.”

  “This isn’t time to give me excuses. Get it done.”

  Halifax looked up at the forward hatch. “I’m winded. I need a break before I walk again.”

  “There’s no more time, and we have to maintain the fiction that I’m a brute under the obedience chip. So, I can’t take the note and make the arguments”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Halifax said under his breath. “This is starting to get taxing.”

  “Doctor—”

  “I’m going, I’m going,” Halifax said, as he grabbed the seat ahead of him and with much grunting and groaning worked up to his feet. Laboriously,
he started down the aisle.

  A half-hour later, Halifax returned, collapsing into his seat. “I sent it. Now, we wait and see what happens. It will probably take too long, and the in-coming shuttle will pass us.”

  Cade felt his gut tighten. He’d worked so hard to set this up. He still didn’t know if the lurker and Master were out there, but if he’d guessed right, this would be their one chance.

  Cade had never been much of a praying man, but he closed his eyes and asked God to help. He mumbled, praying the best he knew.

  “You okay?” asked Halifax.

  Cade ignored the man until he finished.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Halifax asked.

  “Waiting can be hard,” Cade said.

  “Huh. That’s the first I’ve ever heard you admit that. Maybe you are human after all.”

  “Maybe,” Cade muttered.

  ***

  Hours later, the answer arrived. The tramp-hauler shuttle captain agreed to slow down just a little. It had cost too many credits as a bribe for Cade’s liking, and there would be records of the transaction. That might trigger IPO protocols. The key regarding that was timing. If the protocols tripped later, that would be okay, as far as Cade was concerned. It might expose the Group Six team here, but that ultimately didn’t matter to him. Frankly, he was surprised the station head had agreed. This showed yet again that everyone feared Director Titus’s ire.

  Soon, the shuttle changed direction and began to brake harder than it had accelerated. Life aboard the shuttle, without the former gravity dampeners, became agony. Cade held up under the crushing Gs the best, but it was taxing him, draining his energy instead of letting him rest before the big ordeal.

  His stomach seethed. He found it impossible to sleep and eat.

  “You’d better eat something in order to maintain your strength and stamina,” Halifax said.

  Cade forced down two sandwiches and guzzled a bottle of water. If the lurker struck before the two shuttles met—

  The hour arrived as their shuttle shed the last of its velocity, almost coming to a full stop. Then the moment arrived. The shuttle changed directions once again, and began to accelerate with the same brutal Gs as before.

  Now the tramp-hauler’s shuttle appeared. It had slowed down considerably. Their shuttle had to increase velocity even more to catch up after the other shuttle passed theirs. Two crewmen broke bones while walking under the intense Gs. One’s heart gave out under the strain and he died.

  In space, the two shuttles neared. Finally, they moved side-by-side. The vessels matched velocities and a docking tube snaked out from their shuttle, attaching to the tramp hauler’s craft.

  The brutal acceleration ceased as weightlessness took hold. Crewmembers vomited, their bodies strained by the sudden difference.

  Cade unlatched his restraints and helped maneuver the container holding the battlesuit. He worked happily, because he was certain the lurker hadn’t struck yet. The outer hull hatch opened, and Cade pushed off, maneuvering the heavy container through the space tube. Stars shined through the clear material. He wore nothing protective in case of a tube breach. He would die in that case.

  Cade reached the other shuttle. He looked back for Dr. Halifax. The doctor did not float down the tube. Was the frightened man bailing on him?

  It would seem so. Would he rat Cade out?

  The soldier would have to endure the possibility. He was on his own—no, Halifax waved, shoving off from the first shuttle, floating down the tube.

  Finally, the small man reached him.

  Cade didn’t say anything, as there were shuttle people helping move the container.

  “There’s a place for you in the back row,” a crewman said.

  “Is that near the cargo hatch?” asked Cade.

  “Yeah, yeah,” the crewman said. “But why that matters I have no idea. The pilot’s been quiet about the reasons for taking you aboard. Why are you here?”

  Cade opened his mouth.

  “Secret mission,” Halifax said quickly. “I could tell you, but then he’d have to kill you.”

  “Ha, ha,” the crewman said. “I’ve never heard that one before. Give me a hand with this. The pilot wants to get on the way again.”

  “Soldier,” Halifax ordered. “Help him, and do what he says.”

  Cade was tired of the charade, but he nodded, obeying his case officer.

  Twenty-one minutes later, they collapsed into their acceleration chairs. The battlesuit was nearby in a cargo hold, and the shuttle resumed its former schedule, accelerating faster than before to make up for lost time.

  The other shuttle slowed, stopped and then headed out to deep space. That was to show the hidden lurker it didn’t have to worry about it.

  Unfortunately for the original shuttle crew coming from the Louisville Hab, it wasn’t going to work out like that.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  The shuttle ride proved uneventful for the next 36 hours. Then an alert reached them. The shuttle from the Louisville Hab had ceased showing on any sensors. Calls were unanswered. As incredible as it seemed, the Louisville shuttle had disappeared.

  Halifax learned this through his grilling in the piloting compartment. Two beefy crewmen wearing t-shirts, overalls and boots stood behind him as he faced the chief cargo handler. He was an older man with a permanent scowl due to a knife scar down his right cheek. He’d probably gotten the grilling assignment because the rest of the crew gave him more respect than they did each other.

  “Why did you need a ride on our shuttle?” the cargo handler asked. “You came from Louisville. We’ll be there in several days. It makes no sense you coming out and then going back in.”

  “That’s private information,” Halifax said.

  The pilot was the shuttle commander who’d taken the bribe and let them board. He turned from his console and stared at the doctor.

  “I’d like to tell you more,” Halifax said. “But I’m not at liberty to do so.”

  “Why not?” asked the chief cargo handler as he shoved Halifax in the chest.

  That caused the doctor to stumble back into the arms of the two waiting crewmen. “Hey, listen,” Halifax said angrily. “Do you want to deal with Fat Felix?”

  That was the name of a notorious underworld criminal on Saint Louis Planet.

  The pilot stared at the chief cargo handler.

  The handler pulled out a wicked looking knife. “I don’t buy that shit. You don’t work for Fat Felix.”

  “You will believe,” Halifax said. “You’ll believe when Felix cuts off your balls and makes you eat them. You’re gonna wish you’d done as told then.”

  “What about the gorilla with the vacant stare of a retard?” the handler demanded. “What’s his story?”

  “He’s my muscle. If I give the word, he takes you all out like that.” Halifax snapped his fingers.

  “I don’t believe any of this,” the cargo handler said, leaning close with his knife.

  “All right,” Halifax said, who pretended not to fear the knife. “I’ve had enough of this. Cade! Cade, can you hear me?”

  “Shut up,” the cargo handler hissed, pressing the razor-sharp edge of the knife against Halifax’s face.

  “Going to give me a beauty mark, huh?” Halifax said, staring into the handler’s eyes.

  The older man scowled, which pulled at the knife scar. Maybe Halifax pulled it off, the pretending. The handler removed the knife and stepped back. He turned to the pilot, who watched again. “He’s for real,” the handler said.

  “How do you know?” the pilot asked.

  “It’s easy. I don’t see fear in his eyes. If he wasn’t from Fat Felix, he’d be pissing down his leg and begging for mercy.”

  Halifax wanted to jeer. The chief cargo handler was a mean-spirited man, but he was too smart for his lowly position. The man probably had addictions that kept him from climbing, jobwise.

  “Fat Felix?” the pilot said. “This really involves Fat Felix the cri
me boss?”

  Halifax did not answer.

  “Is this about drugs?” the pilot asked.

  “You’re fishing,” Halifax said. “That means you’re trying to learn my boss’s business. That hasn’t worked well for lots of idiots. I didn’t take you for an idiot, but now I’m wondering.”

  “Watch your mouth,” the cargo handler said. And he slapped Halifax across the face.

  That hurt, and it made Halifax angrier than it made him scared. “You’re going to regret that,” he said in a low voice.

  “Maybe you won’t make it home to report to Felix,” the cargo handler said.

  “None of that, Stem,” the pilot said. “Their coming aboard was logged. The muscle might not be smart, but he’ll know this one never came out of here alive. He’ll tell Felix, unless you’re thinking of knifing the gorilla in the back when he’s not looking.”

  “Better listen to him, punk,” Halifax told the handler.

  Scar-faced Stem raised his knife as if he was going to start hacking. Then, with a hiss, he sheathed it and went to talk to the pilot, the two of them whispering together.

  Halifax realized they must be brothers or cousins, as there was a family resemblance.

  Finally, the pilot swiveled his chair to face Halifax. He nodded to the two crewmen, who shoved the doctor closer.

  “Why did the other shuttle disappear?” the pilot asked.

  “I have no idea,” Halifax said.

  “He’s lying,” Stem said. “I can see it on his face. He knows what happened all right but doesn’t want to say.”

  The pilot put a hand on Stem’s arm and shook his head. Sullenly, Stem stepped back.

  “Why are you lying?” the pilot asked Halifax.

  “I’m not. I don’t know what happened.”

  The pilot searched his face. “We could space you two.”

  “Wrong,” Halifax said. “If I give the word, “Cade will space all of you.”

  “I have a needler,” the pilot said.

  “Sure, you do,” Halifax said.

  The pilot closed his eyes and shook his head. “All right, I got paid extra.” He was speaking to the others now, looking at them. “I was going to save it for the end and let you guys have a surprise bonus. You all have a bonus coming. That ought to help your nerves. The other shuttle must have had an accident. I doubt it had anything to do with these two. These two aren’t going to sabotage our ship because they’re riding with us.” The pilot faced Halifax. “That’s right, isn’t it?”