by L. Fergus
“Is that how Sheppard is talking to Neptune?”
“Yes.”
“Have Neptune relay a message to Fort Ticonderoga and have them meet us there.”
“No problem, Mom.”
The floor shook, and the power went out.
“Athena?” called Kita, but got no response.
Uh-oh. “Rene?”
“Backup power should be coming online,” said Sheppard.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“The engines still have power. We might have tripped a fuse.”
“Seriously?” groaned Kita. “Where do I find the fuse?”
“Engineering?” yelled Sheppard.
“Yes, ma’am. It depends on where we lost power. The nearest panel is two decks down just past door fifteen.”
“Great,” muttered Kita. “I’ll be back.” Transforming into her cloud, Kita drifted down two decks, through an office to the corridor. Following the numbers on the doors, she found door fifteen and the smoking panel. She transformed into her angelic form.
“We have a problem, girls. This panel was sabotaged.”
“Not by our side,” said Sheppard.
“I don’t know. I’m going to look around. We might be infested with kitty cats.”
“If you find any, kill them,” ordered Defiance.
“Is there another way to get the power back on?” said Kita.
“Yes,” said Sheppard. “There is the backup relay. It’s on the same level, but the far side near door three-two-four.”
Kita grunted. That was on the other side of the ship. She ran down the corridor, taking a cross corridor to get her to the other side of the ship. As she emerged, four Djinn had a wall panel open. The Djinn guarding her direction of the corridor opened fire.
Kita expanded her heat shield, letting the bullets melt against it. She jumped in the air, drew Dead and Buried, and brought them down on the attacking Djinn’s shoulder. Her shield forced the other Djinn from their work. Sliding between the attacking Djinn’s legs, Kita whipped her legs, knocking the Djinn down. She spun up to her knees and plunged her swords into the Djinn’s chest. Flipping over the Djinn, Kita knocked a series of bullets out of the air, swung, and decapitated the shooter. Spinning to her left, she sliced through the last Djinn’s rifle. Kita reversed her grip on Dead and plunged the sword into the Djinn’s neck.
With a flash of flame, Kita cleaned her swords. She sheathed them and went to the wall panel. She removed two demolition charges from a sewage pipe. So close, yet so far. This would have just made some poor soul miserable cleaning it up.
Kita hurried down the corridor and found the right door. The panel was only a few feet away. She hit the latches and opened it. A number of switches were blinking red. She flipped them all and waited for them to turn green.
“Ok, you should have power,” Kita said to Defiance and Sheppard.
“It’s coming back,” said Sheppard. “What was the problem?”
“Djinn saboteurs. I took care of them, but there might be more. Zen, Amanda, start sweeping the ship looking for any Djinn that survived the assault.”
“Yes, Kita,” said Blitz.
“No problem,” said Stormy.
Kita sealed the panel and felt a tug on her arm. Feeling warm on her skin, she looked down to see blood. Something kicked her in the knee and made her kneel. Inspecting her knee, blood leaked from a small hole. She put up her heat shield and tried to stand. Unable to put any weight on her injured knee, she slumped against the wall. A bright streak ran through her heat shield. He’s still out there.
Kita scanned the corridor with her different lenses. She didn’t see anything.
“Jane, I need you.”
“What’s up, babe?” said Sarin.
“I’ve got a sniper. He’s tagged me in the arm and knee.”
“Where are you?”
“Deck twenty-seven, starboard side, near door three-two-four.” Kita sent her an image of her location.
Sarin, Blitz, and Talli appeared on the opposite side of Kita, putting Kita’s shield between them and the sniper.
“Babe, how bad are you hurt?” said Sarin.
Kita pushed off the wall and floated a few inches above the ground. “I can’t put any weight on it.”
“Have you seen him?”
“I searched, but couldn’t find anything.”
“Do you want me to go after him?” said Talli.
Sarin shook her head. “If Kita can’t see him, neither will you. We need to draw him out. Feel like being bait, babe?”
“Sure,” Kita growled.
Sarin holstered her pistols and pulled the two halves of her sniper rifle from her back. She seated the receivers and locked them in place. Taking a large magazine from her belt, Sarin loaded her rifle and chambered a round. She waved Kita back against the wall and then took up a prone position between Kita’s shield and the wall.
“Ok, babe, drop your shield.”
Kita did. She floated in front of Blitz and Talli to screen them from danger. The bullet came. Kita raised her hand and stopped it as Sarin fired.
“Talli, Zen, secure him,” said Sarin.
Blitz ran down the corridor to the body followed by Talli.
“Not much of his face left,” Talli yelled down the corridor.
Kita and Sarin arrived together.
“I’ve never seen armor like this before,” said Blitz.
Kita knelt down and frowned. “It’s phasing armor. It cycles the wearer between dimensions, masking their signatures. I hope we don’t have more of them floating around.”
“We didn’t run into any,” said Blitz.
“I’ll warn the others,” said Sarin. “The gods can see them if they watch the equation.”
Kita wrinkled her nose. How come I didn’t think of that?
“Come on, babe, let’s get you to the medical ward,” said Sarin.
“I’ll be fine. I just need a little time.”
“Kita,” said Defiance.
“Yeah?”
“We’ve crossed phase line omega, and we’re taking cover behind our ships. We nearly have all the fighters on board.”
Kita raised an eyebrow. “How’d we get them aboard so fast?”
“Emergency recovery procedure,” said Defiance. “We land fighters as fast as we can, using all the wires before resetting them.”
That sounds dangerous.
“Hang on. We’re going to jump to Neptune.”
Kita felt her stomach fall to her toes and things went black.
Kita, Sarin, Babydoll, and an elevator full of Angels exited onto Enterprise’s bridge. Sheppard and Defiance stood next to the holotable looking grim.
“What’s the problem?” said Kita.
Sheppard sighed. “Problems. And I don’t think we have all of them yet.”
“What can we do?”
“You could have not brought eighty enemy ships into UEE space,” Sheppard snarled.
“Easy. She didn’t know.” Defiance eyed Kita.
“I just knew about what we were bringing with us. This might be my fault for what I’ve done to free Sahara. They probably think she’s dead.”
“If we gave her to them would they leave?” demanded Sheppard.
Kita shook her head. “I doubt it. They’ll continue toward their goal. Anyway, I won’t give Sahara up.”
“So what is the plan to stop them?” said Sarin.
“We’ve lost our FTL engines,” said Defiance. “We can’t run, but we’ve made it to Neptune.”
“Why lead them to a population center?” said Babydoll.
“Neptune is more than a population center. It started as a fortress, grew into a transportation hub, and finally into a colony. The fortress part is still intact, except we can’t reach Neptune Orbital Command.”
“How many guns are we talking?” said Babydoll.
“Four hundred thirty-six inch guns ring the planet.”
Ryder whistled. “That’s a big gun.”<
br />
“And a lot of them,” said Babydoll.
“I wasn’t aware of Neptune Orbital Command when we took the station,” said Sarin. “Did you, Athena?”
“I was not aware of any such a unit. There was no indication in the records.”
“They’re a separate entity from the Shadow Fleet or Political Bureau,” said Defiance. “They have their own structure.”
“So what do we have to do? Go bang on some doors?” said Kita.
“We may not have time,” Defiance said with a frown.
“We can put out a public service announcement,” said Sarin. “The Legion has control of the central communications network.”
“Yes, do that,” said Defiance. “It would be a good immediate first step.”
Sarin snapped her fingers, and she was dressed in her red and black Legion uniform.
“I’ll come with you. The people need to know that I’m alive.”
Sarin put her hand on Defiance’s shoulder, and they vanished.
“Anything we can do around the ship?” Kita said to Sheppard.
“Patch holes. Sorry. I’m stressed about this.”
“Naturally. Do you have a plan?”
Sheppard sighed. “Yes, lure them in and let the big guns finish them off. I don’t think their shields can stop a three-foot, seven thousand pound shell. But, the ships will need to keep them off the station. I’m recalling most of the ships left to guard Earth and Mars. We lost twenty-seven ships in the initial fight. None of the capital ships, but some were damaged.”
“Did they all make it here?” said Kita.
“Yes. Everyone is reporting in. I don’t know how long we have until the Djinn find us.”
Kita grunted. “I doubt we’ll have to wait long. There’s no hiding once they get a probe above and below the ecliptic plane.”
“We’re going to need some time. The hangars are a mess from the emergency landing operations.”
Sarin and Defiance returned.
“I hope they see it,” said Defiance.
“Can some of us go to this facility?” said Kita. “Maybe we can get it operational while we wait for the staff to arrive.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“We could search for a directory and go get people,” said Babydoll.
Defiance nodded. “I’m sure they must have an alert roster in their systems.”
“There’s not much we can do here,” said Kita.
“Then let’s go,” said Babydoll.
“Where are we going?” said Sarin.
“Here,” said Defiance. She brought up the location of the Neptune Orbital Command headquarters facility. “Rene and I will stay here to organize the defenses. Let us know when you get there.”
“It shouldn’t be but an instant,” said Babydoll. She looked at the other gods, and they vanished.
“I thought we’d be on the surface,” said Talli.
“There is more protection burying it deep in the superstructure,” said Ryder.
A piece of tape blocked the passageway.
Kita read on the tape, “Political Bureau line. Do not cross.” With a heated finger, she melted through the plastic.
“I thought we got rid of the Political Bureau on the station,” said Talon to Sarin as they walked down the passageway.
“This place wasn’t on any map, and nothing mentioned it.”
“What are those?” said Starlight pointing to four androids.
Sarin drew her pistols and shot each android in the head, causing them to collapse. “I don’t know, but I’d rather sift through the pieces than ask them.”
“Hopefully their main processors aren’t in their heads,” said Kita. “Otherwise, we’re sifting through junk.”
The group moved toward the downed androids.
“Neptune’s rings, they’re getting up,” snarled Sarin.
“What did you shoot them with?” said Ryder.
“Armor piercing.”
Ryder drew her revolvers and shot the androids in the chest and head, causing the androids to crumple to the ground.
Kita touched Starlight and Aspen, and phased them behind the androids. “Take their heads.”
The three sword wielders cleaved through the heads of the humanoid-like bodies. Kita held the head in her hand as she studied it. “Alas, poor Yorick,” Kita quipped. “What secrets do you hold?” She connected her finger to the fibers dangling and searched for something to connect to.
“I’ve never seen anything like these before,” said Stormy.
“Nothing this advanced, anyway,” said Sarin.
“These have crystal armor,” said Talon as she knelt over the body of an android.
“Galina’s been busy,” said Babydoll.
“We need to upgrade the Angels’ weapons,” said Talon.
“Kerri, Jane, Leaf, Kara, can you harvest the crystal from these bots?” said Kita.
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Aspen.
Each Angel knelt over an android and placed a palm on the chest. They lifted their hand and pulled the crystal in each android away from the body.
“What are we doing?” said Blitz.
“Upgrading,” said Kita. “Amanda, Zen, Talli, Kristi, Hali, take your weapons to the others, and they’ll imbue them with crystal.”
The new Angels gave their weapons over to the gods. The purplish-black crystal lined blade edges and gun barrels. When they were finished, Sarin turned the rest into bullets for the various firearms. She passed the rounds out to each shooter.
“Save these for anything that doesn’t die by normal means,” Sarin instructed.
Kita dumped the head she was holding.
“Find anything?” said Babydoll.
“No, just sensors in the head. Want to help open one up?”
They knelt over a body and Kita sliced it open with Dead.
“This is a lot more fun when there’s blood,” said Babydoll.
Kita looked at the mess of electronics, servos, and a strange metal case in the pelvis.
“What do you suppose is in there?”
“Probably what I want to talk to,” said Kita.
She pried the case open and found it contained liquid tanks and tubing that ran into plastic wrap. Slicing open the plastic wrap exposed a human brain.
“Not androids—Mexorks,” whispered Kita.
“What’s a Mexork?” said Babydoll.
“A steampunk creature that used human body parts and mixed them with machine parts. They run on steam. This must be the next evolution.”
“Galina said she was building an army,” said Sarin.
Kita wiggled her nose, and Snowy and Sahara appeared.
“What—Kita, where are we?” said Snowy.
“Neptune. I thought you’d want to see what’s become of your creation.” Kita waved at the Mexork body.
“That’s not me,” Snowy said defensively.
“I know it’s not.”
“I could only dream of something like this. How did Galina do it?”
“She took your research and applied it.”
“Nothing original about Galina,” Snowy scoffed.
“What is this?” said Sahara.
“An old research project of mine,” said Snowy. “Someone has taken it to the extreme. They used to be a combination of clockwork, steam, and biology.”
“You used to make creatures like this?”
“Yes. I had cities full of them.”
“We better be careful going against them,” said Ryder from another body. “They have some heavy firepower built into their arms.”
Kita inspected the left arm. It could transform into a maser cannon. “These are going to be challenging.” Standing up, Kita looked at Stormy and Blitz. “Put a bullet in each braincase. I don’t want to leave Galina anything she can reuse.” To emphasize her point, she thrust Dead into the brain she held.
Kita turned her attention to the door the Mexorks were guarding. It was a reinforced split do
or, the kind used for bunkers. And how do I get passed you?
“I’ll be right back,” Kita said to Sarin and Babydoll.
“Where are you going?” said Sarin.
“To get the door open.” Kita changed into her cloud form.
“Not without me.” Sarin transformed and followed.
“Hey, wait up. We’ll be back,” Babydoll told the others. She changed and followed Kita and Sarin.
Kita drifted through the thick door. On the other side, she found eight Mexorks at the top of a ramp lined up ready to fire when the door opened. They fired into Kita’s cloud, but the energy weapon went through her. The three Angels formed a line and drifted up the ramp. When they reached the Mexorks, they transformed.
Kita took the middle. She slashed through the chest of a Mexork, spun, and plunged Buried into the pelvis of a second. She dropped to a knee as a Mexork fired over her. Kita stood up between its arms and brought her swords down, chopping the arms off. She headbutted the Mexork to get some space, stabbed its chest, and then cut down slicing the Mexork open.
Sarin fired three shots from her pistols into the abdomens of the Mexorks. They collapsed together. Babydoll grabbed the heads of the Mexorks and slammed them together. She backflipped, kicking them into the ceiling. She jumped, caught them, and slammed them back into the ceiling. She flung the Mexorks to the ground and landed between them, driving her fist into the Mexorks’ pelvises.
Kita sheathed her swords and entered a small room just beyond the ramp. A locked panel sat on the desk. She searched, but couldn’t find any ports to connect. There was a wireless network, which she was trying to connect to, but the encryption wasn’t standard, even for the UEE.
“Casey, is there a royal override code?” said Kita.
“And you expect me to know what it is?”
“I thought—maybe.”
Defiance laughed. “Yes, I know what it is—RogerStaubach6XII.”
“There must be a story behind that.”
“Yes, I’ll tell you sometime when I’m not busy.”
“Love you.”
“After this you owe me.”
“Whatever you want.”
“You may regret that.”
“You know my conditions.”
“We’ll talk. Love you.”
Kita entered the password, and the panel opened to a control screen. She hit the door control to open it, then searched for a duty roster or emergency contact tree, but couldn’t find either.