Masterson took a step back as, in the viewport behind him, Lee saw the unthinkable happen. The Alystierian flagship, Kamuir—the symbol of the imperial fleet and the “tip of the spear,” as he’d often called her—crossed the battlefield ahead of her sisters and took up a defensive position on the right flank of the ASPraetorian.
“How in the names of the gods could you have done this to us?” the black-haired corporal sneered. “How could you have justified it? My grandfather gave his life at Retaun to see that we never bowed to these things again.”
Masterson sneered back. “Look behind me, Corporal. That is Aura, the homeworld of our true enemy, and my decision to form an alliance with the Kurgorians got us here. You ask for justification.” He snorted and reached for his sidearm. “I’d dare say you have it.”
Out of nowhere, the Kurgorian ceda lunged for the command chair and tagged the comm button. “This is Jahara. Kill them all!”
The scene outside ignited in light as both fleets engaged the Kurgorians, who went on the defensive. Inside the CIC, shots rang out as the mob charged the centurions, many of the former brandishing alien weapons.
“Danny, you good?” Lee snatched up the sidearm of a fallen gray officer.
“Good.” Danny hit the floor in full stride as the chamber around them erupted into a full-fledged melee of screams, gun smoke, and Kurgorian pulse fire.
Both men slid in behind the nearest ops terminal as streaks of green blasted past their heads.
“Okay, so in total candor, I think I know your plan,” Lee said.
“You always were the smart one,” Danny answered.
Lee ejected his mag and checked the load. “What do you need from me?”
Danny spotted a slain imperial just out of arm’s reach. He lunged for it, caught the corpse by the ankle then dragged it over. He reached under the soldier’s pant leg and found his boot knife. “Nice!” He shoved it into his waistband and pointed to a junction panel opposite the command chair. It was crawling with tendrils. “I need to get to that panel. Think you can cover me?”
Lee slapped the mag back to the butt of his pistol and peered past his cover. Centurion one was pinned in the back corner taking heavy fire. Centurion two was nowhere to be found.
Where in the world? A bolt of green charred the deck in front of Lee, and he drew back though not before spotting a lone figure holding cover from the corner across the room. “Centurion one’s under heavy siege from the grays. Centurion two’s bolted for cover.”
“Position?” Danny asked.
“Back-left corner next to the rail you were chained to.”
“Awesome.” Danny frowned and pointed to Lee’s confiscated sidearm. “All right, gunslinger, time to see how good you really are with that thing. See that small plate just below the centurion’s breather port?”
Lee gave a check. “Yep.”
“It covers the air intake that lets out into the mask. Hit it in just the right spot, and you’ll disable the flow, thereby forcing the operator to pop his faceplate to breathe. Go for a headshot from there.”
“Hold on,” Lee said. “I thought they changed the air in here to oxygen?”
Both ducked a fresh wave of pulse fire.
“They did,” Danny said. “But here’s hoping that doesn’t occur to this guy, what with the fear of asphyxiation and all. Now, get ready. I’ll distract him, then the rest is on you.” He leaned in. “Don’t frickin’ miss, bro.”
Lee turned and readied himself. Aim small; miss small. Aim small; miss small.
“You set?” Danny asked.
Lee nodded. “Do it.”
Danny leapt out into the open and waved his arms. “Morning, sunshine!”
The centurion jerked spastically in that direction, giving Lee just the opening he needed. He slid out onto the floor, hands clasped around the sidearm, and kissed the trigger.
Blam!
The round struck the intake dead center, sending the alien stumbling backward, faceplate open just as Danny had described.
Night, hoss.
Blam! The second shot split the Kurgorian’s eyes.
Lee rocketed to his feet. “Go!”
Danny sprinted for the panel as the first centurion, having beaten back the imperials, took aim on him from across the CIC. It never stood a chance.
Lee drew down as he had with the other centurion and fired. Sparks and gray matter flew everywhere.
“What are you doing?” one of the imperials shouted, his face wracked with fear.
Danny didn’t answer. He reached the panel and smashed the cover with the hilt of his boot knife then gripped the blade with his palm and pulled. The blood flowed instantly.
“Get away from that!” This time the imperial pulled a gun.
Lee took aim with his. “Back off, sport. We’re here to help.”
The imperial stood down as Danny turned his blade on one of the tendrils from inside the panel. It writhed in protest but to no avail. Danny grabbed hold of it and laid into it with his knife, sending dark goo spewing everywhere. When it was done, he spiked the blade at his feet and slapped his bloodied palm to the wound of the tendril. “You wanted my blood, fine. Suck on it.” Danny squeezed.
Every terminal in the CIC burst into sparks as the poisonous juice in Danny’s system flowed free of his blood into that of the Kurgorian ship. An ear-shattering klaxon sounded.
“What’s happening?” an imperial asked.
Lee stared in amazement through the viewport as, one by one, every Kurgorian ship in the system convulsed, some of them even blowing apart, as Danny’s virus swept through their battle network like wildfire. I’ll be damned. And here I thought I was the master strategist of this crew.
“Where the hell is he?” Danny’s gaze darted about the room. “Where’s Masterson?”
All eyes looked around. The alien ceda was lying face-first in a pool of his own blood, apparently hit in the crossfire, while an imperial lay dead in the corner with some kind of sword in his gut. But no Masterson.
“That slippery little bastard!” Danny slammed a terminal with his bloodied fist. “He used the chaos outside to escape!”
Everyone lurched when a bone-jarring thunderclap rocked the Vanxus’ hull. The ship’s defenses were officially down.
“Nice to see our side throwin’ some hurtin’ bombs for a change,” Lee said.
“Be cool if they’d let us get off first, though,” Danny answered.
“Sirs?” The black-haired helmsman stepped forward only to find Danny’s rifle in his face.
Lee eased the barrel down with his palm. “What’s your name, Corporal?”
“Yaley, sir.”
Lee put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, Yaley, it looks like for today, anyway, we get to be friends. We need to find a way off this ship, and pronto.”
“No way, Lee.” Danny stabbed a finger at his friend. “No way in hell am I leaving here without Masterson. Not even close to happening.”
Lee rubbed his face. Damn it, Danny, we ain’t got time for this. Still, he knew the hour for dissuasion was over. “Corporal Yaley, how many officers do you have on board?”
Yaley considered. “We had personnel in engineering, but we lost that section in the last wave. That just leaves us. Why?”
Lee pointed to the young man’s tablet. “Can you track human life signs with that?”
Yaley stammered his answer. “Yes, but do we really have time for that?”
“We really don’t, but we’re doin’ it anyway. May I?”
“Be my guest.” Yaley handed over the device.
Swiping from level to level in the display, Lee tracked nothing but alien life signs throughout the ship. His eyebrow rose when he hit the Vanxus’ upper midsection. “What’s on level twenty-six?”
Yaley wiped his forehead. “No idea. Everyone was really hush-hush about that section, even the chancellor. I did hear the ceda mention it in passing, though. What did he call it? The Scorpion something or other.” He snapp
ed his fingers repeatedly, trying to remember. “The Scorpion’s Tail. That was it, I think.”
The Scorpion’s Tail? Lee searched the tablet’s memory for info but came up empty. “Any clue what it means?”
“None,” Yaley said. “But I do know this ship’s got launch tubes in that section. I’ve seen them used before.”
“That slimy little…” Danny snarled. “Masterson wants to go down swinging!”
Lee knit his eyebrows. That don’t make sense—he lost. Why go for a weapon when he can just as easily slip out in the chaos and fight another day? He figured they’d know soon enough.
“Unless I’m mistaken,” Lee said to Yaley, “I saw a cluster of escape pods a level down on my way up here. You think you can get your people to them and off the ship?”
Yaley straightened. “I imagine so, but this place is swarming with Beyonders. We’ll never make it without help.”
“Believe me; they’ve got their hands full,” Lee said. “We just made it open season on every Beyonder ship in the system, which means they’re gonna want off this tub as bad as you do. Just stay out of sight, don’t poke the bear unless you have to, and you should be fine.”
Pure fright swept over the young man’s face. “They’ve got bears on here, too?”
Lee tapped a series of characters into the tablet and handed it back to Yaley. “Once you’re out, head for our side of the line and use your running lights to flash this code. It’ll tell the ASC you’re friendly, and somebody will scoop you up. Now go.”
Yaley signaled his people toward the door. “Thank you, Captain Summerston. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what our people did to you and your friend. I’m sorry for all of it.”
Danny gave him the finger.
“Later.” Lee pointed toward the exit. “Beat it.”
Watching the imperials scramble out of the CIC, Lee leaned down and unbuckled the gun belt from one of the slain officers then strapped it onto his waist and thigh.
“Take this, too.” Danny tossed him back the Kurgorian pulse rifle. “You’ll need it.”
Lee caught the weapon and inspected a meter that he guessed to be a power cell. It looked half-empty.
“There’s a slide on the left side of the trigger guard that’ll switch over to the backup cell if you need it,” Danny said. “Now, let’s move.”
* * * * *
Chapter 39: On the Move
Trailing Danny out, Lee skidded to a halt on his friend’s right flank as the pair drew down on two centurions coming off the lift. Metal and sparks flew, and both aliens crumpled to the deck.
“Told ya you’d need it.” Danny pointed to Lee’s rifle.
From there, they went on to the main atrium, which was embroiled in chaos as, level by level, crews raced for their escape pods. The klaxon continued to sound.
Lee and Danny approached the lift only to lunge back from the catwalk when a wash of green pulse fire sprayed through the grated floor.
“Okay, so that’s out,” Lee said. “I think I saw some kind of maintenance hatch in the corridor. Think we could use it to find our way down to twenty-six?”
Danny exhaled through his nostrils. “Maybe. But I’ve got no clue where it leads, and we need to reach that launch bay now.”
Lee searched frantically for an alternative. There’s got to be another way down. He grimaced, finding but one, and pointed to a nearby panel. “How long are those tendril things?”
Danny shrugged. “The thicker they are, the longer they run.” His eyes widened. “Wait, you’re not thinking—”
“Mako Assault, Environment Thirty-Five?” Lee smirked. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Danny flinched. “Dude, you’re crazier than I give you credit for.”
“The floor’s yours if you’ve got a better idea.”
If he had one, Danny didn’t give it. Instead, he ran to the panel and smashed the glass with his rifle stock then took hold of the thickest two tendrils he could find. He yanked, and both hit the floor with a soppy thud.
Gross. Lee cringed when one of them slithered his way. Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?
“Wrap it around your forearm so you don’t lose your grip.” Danny fed out what he guessed to be the requisite line and took hold of the other.
“What about the current?” Lee asked. “Ain’t these things live?”
“Not continuously, no. The only go live with a command.”
“And if they get one on our way down?”
“Take off your skirt, Lee, and pick up the damn snake already!” Danny gave a yank of his tendril.
Aw, man. Lee psyched himself up and took hold of the serpent. Its skin was slimy, cold, and felt like fish scales around his forearm. Ugh, this sucks.
Using bootlaces for straps, both men tossed their weapons over their shoulders and backed up to the wall.
“You ready?” Lee asked with no lack of anxiety.
“Hell no, but I’m doing it anyway,” Danny answered.
“On three.” Lee tightened his grip on the slime worm. “One…two…three.”
Breaking into full-on sprints, both men leaped over the level’s guardrail and plummeted through the atrium, with pulse fire and debris ripping past them as they fell. Something snatched at Lee’s grip, the tendril snapped taut, and both men swung forward, kicking over the level-twenty-six guardrail.
Danny let go of his snake and tucked into a roll, hitting back-first against the corridor’s far wall.
“You whole?” Lee called out.
“More or less.” Danny rubbed the back of his head then was up and on the move.
Lee pulled his rifle and followed his friend out, both men falling quickly into sync as they crossed and buttonhooked their way from junction to junction and corridor to corridor. Eventually, they arrived at the launch bay Yaley had spoken of.
“Is he in there?” Danny asked.
Lee pulled his tablet and counted one life sign beyond the entrance. “Don’t know, but somebody is.”
They nodded to each other then waited while the bay doors swooshed open. Taking point, Danny rushed inside, rifle stock at his shoulder. Lee followed suit.
Before they could even duckwalk in, however, both froze upon seeing Masterson across the room. There were two dead aliens at his feet—each with gunshot wounds to the head—and something in front of him, a device.
“See ya, bitch!” Danny took aim.
Masterson laughed aloud, fingers racing at the terminal.
“Danny, wait.” Lee jumped in front of the barrel, arms outstretched.
“Not the time for a justice sermon, Lee,” Danny snarled. “Get out of my way, and let me take the shot.”
“Do it, Sergeant—” Masterson’s tone was subzero, “—and you will have done my job for me.”
Lee didn’t like the sound of that one bit.
Apparently, Danny didn’t either because his finger left the trigger though he held the stock to his shoulder. “What is that?”
Masterson didn’t answer.
“What the hell is that?” Danny barked again.
Lee eased back from his friend and studied the device. Resting on a breach loader in front of an open launch tube, it measured some three meters long by a meter wide and was covered in a spaghetti pile of network tendrils. The strange thing was that, at its core, the weapon’s design didn’t look Kurgorian at all. It looked almost Auran. Worse yet, it was pulsing. Oh, that can’t be good.
Slowly, the chancellor straightened and turned, but his hand—and specifically his right index finger—never left the access terminal. “Gentlemen, how familiar are you with Auran history?”
Lee studied the man’s steely expression. In all his years, he’d never seen such resolution. “I’ve been known to pick up a book or two in my day.”
“And Aura’s war with the Beyonders?” Masterson asked. “What do you know of that?”
“Stop playing games, asshole.” Danny took a step, rifle still raised. “What are you up to?”
Masterson rolled his eyes.
“I know the Beyonders occupied Aura for almost a decade,” Lee said, “but they left abruptly not long after Tomys Rayner launched on his mission to find their homeworld. He was supposed to destroy it. Nobody knew for sure if he actually succeeded, though, until today. No one except you apparently.”
“Very good, Captain.” Masterson flashed a skeletal grin. “And what do you know of the actual weapon Rayner used to achieve his mission?”
The frozen specter of revelation descended on Lee’s mind. The Scorpion’s Tail.
“Shit,” Danny muttered. He lowered his rifle. “What do you want?”
Masterson’s grin became a ghoulish mask of pride. “And yet again, Sergeant Tucker, it is I who holds your leash. Alas, however, there is nothing I want from you. There never was.” He turned his scowl to Lee. “You, on the other hand, I want a great deal from. Remember the suffering I spoke of earlier?”
Lee nodded.
“Well it starts now. Kill Sergeant Tucker.”
“What?” Lee blurted. “Are you insane?”
Masterson clicked his tongue. “Decisions, decisions. Although, Captain, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that your choice is a simple one: either you kill your friend, or I kill you, your friend, and everyone else you care about with a single stroke of my finger.” Masterson aimed a fingernail at the panel. “So, what will it be?”
Lee chewed his lip. “How do I know you won’t launch the weapon anyway?”
Masterson glowered at Danny. “Such a familiar set of circumstances, is it not?” Then to Lee he said, “You don’t know that I won’t, Captain. What you do know is that I most certainly will key the launch if you fail to comply with my demand. Now, if you please, kill Sergeant Tucker.”
Lee’s gaze darted frantically from Masterson to Danny to the device, then back the other way. Maybe he could get the drop on Masterson with his sidearm. Fitting family end, but no. He didn’t know the holster, which meant he’d never clear it in time to finish his play before Masterson made his.
There’s gotta be another way. His heartbeat racing, a bead of sweat dotting his brow, Lee looked again from Danny to Masterson to the device then back to Danny. Some way, any way!
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