Tau Ceti - The Phage

by M. D. Cooper

  “You got it, Doc Strange,” one of the soldiers muttered under her breath as she turned away, hauling Jason toward the holding cell she’d indicated. With a shove, she pushed him inside, sealing the door shut behind him.

  Jason sat in the secured holding cell for the next two hours, outwardly maintaining his freighter-pilot façade, tipped back in the single chair the room provided, booted feet propped up on the table. While he appeared relaxed, his concentration was focused on directing the breaching nano he’d slapped onto the lift’s control panel as they’d dragged him from Henrick’s office.

  He’d managed to send the nanofilaments tracing their way from the control panel back to a main node; now he was examining the node, trying to determine the best way to hack into it. While studying it, he was also monitoring the feed from the reconnaissance nano he’d embedded in Henrick’s desk.

  He’d heard her inform Landon that he was being held in custody pending a determination on whether or not he was an enemy of the state. He mentally scoffed.

  ‘Enemy of the state’? Who says that anymore, outside of poorly produced, third-tier holodramas?

  He nearly toppled his chair when he received a ping from Tobias.

 

  The AI’s chuckle entered his mind.

  he replied, settling his chair with a thump as he stood and stretched, pacing a leisurely circuit around his small cell.

  came Calista’s tart reply.

  Jason snorted a laugh.

  she laughed, then sent him a feed from her optics as she looked down the dizzying height of several dozen meters down a lift shaft.

  he said, his tone dry.

  the Weapon Born asked.

  Jason sent him what he’d observed plus the data he’d managed to extract so far from his breach.

  he sent them a location pin,

  Tobias chuckled as Jason resumed his seat in the chair.

  Jason murmured, shaking his head.

  Tobias added.

  Jason nodded.

 

 

  His door slid open, and Jason looked up to see two Planetary Security goons standing there, motioning for him to exit.

  “Come on, spacer. Time for your check-up,” the woman leered, and her companion snickered at what seemed a private joke between the two.

  Jason stood, eyeing the soldiers and the flechette guns they held leveled at him.

 

  Jason sent Tobias a mental nod as he walked warily toward the door.

  “Think she’s going to inject him with the phage right away?” the first soldier asked, “or see how long it takes for him to fight off her latest inoculation?”

  The woman shrugged. “Last guy managed to make it an entire week, but that kind of pissed the doc off a bit.” She eyed Jason speculatively. “Since this guy’s immune system’s from another star, I’ll bet she gives him the full treatment—after she does all the testing, at least.”

  She waved impatiently for Jason to move into medical’s mainspace, and he spared the area a quick glance; deSangro was nowhere to be seen, but an autodoc sat prominently in the center of the room. The soldier made a rough grab for him, jabbing Jason in the back with her rifle’s muzzle.

  he complained as he turned and began to walk down the hall.

  Tobias cautioned.

  Jason suppressed a grin at the AI’s words. But he noticed something about the muzzle as it jabbed again into his back and he felt the weapon’s barrel shift slightly; something that he intended to use very soon.

  Jason muttered, sending Calista’s avatar a wink.

  Tobias sent him an affirmative, and Jason slowed a bit, earning himself another jab in the back. He used it as an excuse to turn and protest and darted a glance over the soldier’s shoulder to ensure the area behind her was clear. Then he complained, “Easy there, what’s your hurry, anyway?”

  A look at the weapon the soldier had been jabbing into his back confirmed his suspicions. He then slid his gaze to the second soldier, ensuring that he, too, held the same weapon trained on him. He frowned as he allowed himself to be prodded forward. Soldier number two actually had his finger on the trigger—a very sloppy practice, and he factored that in as he gathered himself to act, one eye gauging the distance between his location and the bend in the corridor ahead.

 

  More rapidly than any unaugmented human could possibly move—and before either of the two soldiers had a chance to react—Jason exploded into action. Whipping around, he shoved the palm of his hand into the muzzle of the flechette rifle that had been used to prod him forward, forcing the slider back and preventing it from chambering. He ripped it out of the soldier’s hands as he pivoted and ducked below the line of fire from the second soldier. He sent the rifle in his hands skidding safely out of range as he rammed his forearm against the barrel of the second weapon, deflecting the shooter’s aim.

  Jason’s ears rang as the weapon discharged, sending a series of flechette darts up into the ceiling behind him. The short-range darts sprayed the back wall of medical, landing harmlessly as the weapon from which they came flew into the air, dislodged by his forearm block. His brain automatically calculated its trajectory and the time to intercept as his internal mednano went to work on the resulting tinnitus that the close-range discharge had caused in his ears. He slapped breach nano onto the light armor of the trigger-happy soldier with the sloppy firearm practice, and the man stilled as his armor locked up on him.

  The other soldier had stumbled forward
when he’d ripped the flechette from her grasp, and was beginning to recover her balance; Jason swept her feet out from under her and leapt over her to snatch the flechette out of the air before it could land.

  The woman on the floor had just begun to react, reaching for her holstered pulser, when Jason dropped out of his enhanced state and placed a hand over hers.

  “Don’t,” he warned with a small smile, removing the weapon and training it on her as he transferred a final passel of breach nano onto her frame.

  She froze, joining her fellow soldier, and Jason relaxed, shaking his head in relief as the tinnitus subsided.

  he complained, and was rewarded by a tart reply from Calista as she and Tobias raced through the entrance.

 

  He huffed a laugh, shaking his head as he shot her a grin. he sent, mentioning the ear inserts he’d had to leave behind in order to pass Henrick’s scans.

  He nodded to the medical bay he’d just exited. “That’s where they left me cooling my heels. Seems like as good a place as any to stash these two,” he commented, as Tobias moved past him and moved the two soldiers inside.

  Tobias asked, and Jason gestured as they exited into the corridor.

  “There’s another lift down here; it’ll take us directly up to Henrick’s domain.”

  “Good,” Calista muttered. “Let’s go kick some megalomaniac ass.”

  SEEDING CHAOS

  STELLAR DATE: 09.12.3246 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Voyager Spaceport and Elevator

  REGION: Hokkaido, Galene

  “I have the FSTC picket’s flagship on comm, sir.”

  Hailey’s announcement from the communications console cut through the quiet of the ship’s bridge center, and Landon stepped closer to the holo display as he murmured his thanks.

  “Don’t put her through just yet. What’s the current status of the Eidolon?”

  Landon’s query had the woman reconfirming the data coming in from the planet. She nodded in satisfaction and smiled at the AI. “Eidolon is on the move. Looks like they’ll be dropping their teams at the spaceport any minute now.”

  “Very good,” he murmured, and then he reached out to Terrance via the tightbeam network. he reported.

  Terrance’s voice came through in response.

  Landon sent an acknowledgement just as the comm officer called his name.

  “FSTC’s getting impatient, sir. Admiral’s name is Berrong. What should I tell her?” the Enfield woman swiveled from her console to look over at Landon, who turned to her and nodded.

  “I’ll take it now, thanks.” He accepted the token the woman transferred to him and opened the channel to the FSTC ship.

  he began,

  the woman said, her voice congenial but reserved, as if she feared the questions he might ask.

  he replied.

  The Eione woman’s eyes narrowed in speculation as she stared back at him for a moment before she asked,

  He nodded. Landon explained. He highlighted the information about the people Henrick had placed in cryo stasis units.

  He saw the FSCT admiral’s brows draw together as she shot him a sharp look. The expression on her face grew distant, and he took that to mean that she had accessed the data and was scanning it. After a moment, she nodded.

  Landon heard his own mental tone edge into dryness at the woman’s understatement.

  the woman’s query was sharp as she shot him a look.

  He pulled up a record of secured transmissions and highlighted for her the instructions sent by Henrick that outlined the intent to hold Jason for ransom in exchange for the stasis technology. He saw her expression begin to darken and knew that she had scanned the most incriminating parts of the packet.

  he informed her calmly.

  He highlighted another icon in the packet they had sent Berrong.

 

  Landon’s mental voice was firm. He hid a mental smile at the startled look Berrong shot him.

  She broke off and her eyes narrowed.

  Landon held up one hand to forestall her protest as he raised a single brow. he reminded her,

  the admiral spat the word as if it were an expletive.

  Landon’s voice grew hard.

  Berrong’s eyes narrowed. Before she could respond, Landon held up a hand.

 

  The woman’s lips thinned, but Landon could tell she knew he was correct.

  He made his tone as persuasive as he could.

  Berrong asked.

 

  There was a brief silence from the other end.

  Berrong said grudgingly, and Landon realized it was the only concession he would get from her.


  He saw her look away from the holo’s pickups as something drew her attention. Landon could clearly hear an exclamation from her command deck carry through her comm. The admiral whipped her head around and speared Landon with a glare.

 

  Landon tried for patience, and failed.

  STORMING THE ELEVATOR

  STELLAR DATE: 09.12.3246 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Voyager Spaceport and Elevator

  REGION: Hokkaido, Galene

  Terrance glanced back from his pilot’s cradle to the Marines he could see packed into the cabin, braced shoulder-to-shoulder in their combat armor. More were crammed into the shuttle’s cargo area in order to accommodate all four spec-ops teams. It was tight, but Logan had managed to fit them all in.

  The Eidolon flew nap-of-the-earth, a tactic used to help evade detection from sensors by hugging the terrain so closely they were almost brushing against the landscape as they swept past. The shuttle flew over the Q-camps one last time, delivering intel to the various camp leaders before heading toward its final destination: Voyager Spaceport, at the heart of the city that once was Hokkaido.

  Logan announced from his starboard-facing position in the point defense cradle.

  He’d opted to pilot from there, fully interfacing with the ship, his battle frame powered down for the duration and maglocked to the ship’s deck. Charley occupied the flight engineer’s jump seat, across from the profiler.