by Dave Lemel
“That’s easy, Stretch. Tucked right up against the western shores of Lake Michigan in my home state. That’s Star Marshal Base.” He glanced over at it. “Least it used to be.”
“There.” Foggen pointed out the windshield of the cruiser as they steadily approached the orbiting facility. “That is our access point. That small ledge above the window that looks out from the lobby by the shops, Ben.”
“I see it.” Ben piloted the cruiser to the flat surface just about twice the area of the cruiser itself and set it down. “Gentlemen, we are in position, and,” he flipped one last switch, “locked to the station. Double check your suit status ’cause next stop is outside, fellas.”
“I just sent a message to ground team that we are in position to begin,” said Foggen. “We must move quickly. I do not know how long the pass-through gel protruder I designed will mask our penetration point.”
“We should drop into a storage room you said, correct?” Li asked.
“Correct. The storage room is for the frozen foods supply warehouse, so it is actually a large freezer. One of the walls is shared with the comms room.”
“Easy as pie,” said Ben. “Drop in. Cut through a wall. Blow some stuff up. Jump back out.”
Li nudged Jack, who was muttering multiplication problems through a clenched-jaw stare. “You ready with your boom booms?”
“Yeah.” Jack swallowed and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m good. They’re not really boom booms though. Should be pretty subdued volume-wise. Special invention I cooked up to give us an even better shot at getting out smoothly afterwards.”
“You’ve never used these before?” growled Ben. “What if they don’t work?”
“No, no, no, they’ll work fine. Foggen went over the makeup of the computers we need to disable in detail with me. No doubt they’ll work for the main purpose. Hopefully, my sound suppressing idea works too.”
Ben shrugged. “All right. I’m gonna unstrap now, so get ready to hold my legs. Now’s not the time for some kind of accidental float-away incident.” Ben ejected a marshal wand from his link and nodded at Foggen. “Where’s that handle we brought?”
Foggen reached under his seat and pulled out a bag. From within the bag he pulled out a black disc. The disc had a handle affixed to it. He handed it to Ben.
“Opening the door now, fellas.” The door opened upward, and Ben unstrapped himself. As he gently floated upward, he calmly rotated and rolled to stick his arms out of the side of the cruiser. Foggen grabbed hold of his feet, and Li grasped the leg floating nearest him. Ben extended his left hand, which held the black disk, down to the outer surface of the orbiting facility. He pressed it flat and held a button on the handle in for three seconds. A tiny green light appeared by the button. He tugged a couple times to be certain it was firmly in place.
Still gripping the handle, he reached out with his wand and pressed the tip in to the shell of the facility. He quickly, yet smoothly, guided the tip in a large circle well around the handle. As he neared full circumference, he paused and looked back at Foggen. “Get that pass-through gel protruder ready.”
Foggen reached a tube out to him with one of his arms not currently occupied with holding Ben’s body in place. Ben turned back to the hole he was cutting and nearly completed the circle. He held the disc in place and passed his wand back. “Take the wand and give me the protruder.”
Foggen obliged, and Ben carefully retraced the circle with the new tool he had swapped. Once he had completed the circle all the way around twice, he handed the protruder back again and requested the wand. Now he pressed the tip once more to the surface and cut the final bit of circle. He pushed the handle firmly, and the circle popped free. He dropped it into the freezer below and nodded once. “Gentlemen,” he looked back into the cruiser, “we have our way in.”
Chapter 25
Jerry Cooper had found himself in hairy situations numerous times in his life. Nonetheless, his current circumstances ranked reasonably high on the list forming in the back of his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the bushes beside the tracks pulling apart. He turned his focus from the gun pointed at his head to those bushes. Two bearded men pushed their way through before pulling the thick brush aside to allow a woman behind them out.
Jerry guessed she was at least forty but probably not much older than that. She had thin, shoulder-length hair pulled back in a messy bun and eyes so dark they appeared black as her pupils. She stared dead at Jerry with those intense dark eyes. “You ex-military?”
“That’s affirmative,” Jerry replied.
“Branch?”
“Army.” He turned his battered body toward her and straightened, his chest expanding outward. “I’d wager a guess you are as well.”
She nodded just enough to be perceptible before continuing. “What are you and this convoy you got here doing? Where are you headed?”
“We’re trying to get rid of the snake scum infesting our planet,” Jasper spat out. “So why don’t you tell your hillbilly clan here to point their guns away from us.”
“At ease, kid,” Jerry said while maintaining eye contact with the intense-eyed woman with the messy bun. “This would be more pleasant if you did give the order to stand down though. We really are just passing through. I’m certain there’re bands of thugs and such roving all over the place at this point looking to take whatever they can. You’re just protecting you and yours. I get it. But really, truly, from one soldier to another, we are simply trying to drag our sorry rag tag crew halfway across the country to help any way we can to maybe take it back.”
The woman whistled once, loud and shrill, before shouting, “Stand down!”
The red dots dropped off their targets. The young man and woman on the tracks lowered their weapons, stood up, and strode off the tracks to join their leader.
“What exactly are you planning to do?” asked the woman. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re currently in the middle of nowhere. The nearest Vikard stronghold is hundreds of miles from here, and it’s back in the other direction.”
“We’re not looking for a stronghold. We’re headed to the stronghold. Lake Michigan or bust. All the way to Star Marshal Base in Wisconsin.”
The woman chortled. “You been takin’ fistfuls of crazy pills, eh, soldier? Them marshals and those damn Bopecans got us into this mess in the first place. Never trusted those purple four-armed freaks. My pop said from the moment they showed up he knew they’d be the death of us all.”
Jasper’s tight lips parted as he sucked a deep breath in under his glare. Jerry held up a hand to cut him off before he spoke. “Let me,” he said under his breath before returning his focus to the woman below the track. “I understand not being the biggest fan of the Bopecans at the moment. I was already beginning to scrutinize their true motives for coming to our solar system even before they sent us on this suicide mission.”
“You’re on a mission ordered by them?”
“Not ordered,” Jerry quickly replied, sensing he may have made a misstep with his word choice. “Asked. And not just them. This man’s brother,” he pointed at Jasper, “is a star marshal. He is with the head honcho of all the Bopecans in this solar system. They contacted us. Told us they’re coming. Have a bunch of assets comin’ with ’em. They just need a diversion for the plan to work. Us and a couple other resistance groups are making our way towards Star Marshal Base, and hopefully enough of us are still upright to provide what they need by the time we get there.”
She stared at him silently.
“Look, I’m not asking for your endorsement. Just keep your weapons down and we’ll be on our way.” Jerry grabbed Jasper’s arm and gently pulled him back towards their still idling truck.
“Wait.” She glanced down at her feet, then back up at the pair of men on the tracks. “It’s gettin’ late. Gonna be night soon. If you all would like to spend the night somewhere safe, we have a bunker not far from here.”
“That would be very
welcome. It’s been a while since we’ve had a quality night’s sleep.”
“For the record, I ain’t sayin’ I believe what you were told by his brother and that head honcho Bopecan. I do believe you believe it though. Just to be crystal clear.”
“That’s fine by me. Not looking to recruit anyone. We’ll just sleep, get up at dawn, and be on our way.”
The intense-eyed woman nodded. “Call me Lydia.”
“Jerry,” he replied. “Nice to meet you, Lydia.”
Lydia turned to the young man who moments earlier had been pointing a gun at Jerry. “Go with ’em, Kyle. You can direct them back to the barn. We’ll be back in a little while.”
Kyle jogged up beside them, and the three men headed the rest of the way back to the pickup truck. Jasper climbed into the driver’s seat as Jerry jumped in back. “You sit up front with Jasper, Kyle. Easier to show him where to go.”
After he climbed in, Jasper extended his hand toward him. “How bout we hit the ol’ reset button? Jasper Cain. Nice to meet you.”
Kyle took his hand and shook once without saying anything in return. He ended the handshake and buckled himself in. “Follow the tracks to the next intersection. When we get there, turn off to the left.”
Jasper nodded and gently accelerated the truck down the tracks.
Chapter 26
“Keep your helmets on, gentlemen,” Jack announced as he dropped to the floor of the freezer beside Ben, Foggen, and Li. “I don’t think these charges will blow a hole in the side of the station, but I can’t promise anything either.”
Li ejected his wand and adjusted the setting to cutting mode. “Which wall to the communications room?”
“Allow me to check if there is anyone inside first,” Foggen responded as he pulled a small device in the shape of a trapezoid from a pocket on the right breast of his suit.
“What if it is?” asked Jack.
“It shouldn’t be,” answered Ben. “This is really only a bunch of servers and heavy duty equipment. The actual comms room is a couple floors below us. This area we’re cutting into next is one of the two main hubs supporting all the systems on the station. Typically, only time anyone’s in one of those rooms, it’s one person for maintenance-related issues.”
“It is clear,” said Foggen as he returned the device to the pocket it came from. “No signs of life forms inside.”
“Then get cuttin’.” Ben responded. “I’ll go stand guard at the door to this freezer. You watch our access hole, Stretch. You two—” he pointed at Foggen then Li, “make us a door.”
Thirty seconds later, Li completed a glowing line at the bottom near the floor. Foggen finished making an arch at the top a couple of feet below the ceiling. “Nearly complete,” Foggen announced. “Please be prepared to work quickly, Jack. Unlike this freezer, the room we are about to enter does have constant video surveillance.”
“What?!” Jack’s face began to take on a hint of olive green to his normally pale complexion.
“The feed is not usually monitored. More for the purpose of identifying what caused a problem during the trouble shooting after the fact than to prevent some kind of sabotage.”
“Well, that was when the star marshals were still in charge of this station,” said Jack, his brow beginning to speckle with sweat. “Now the Vikards control it.”
“He is right,” stated Li as he stood up from his crouch by the bottom of the freshly cut door. He leaned back, firmly kicked the center of the cut-out area, and watched as the heavy metal slab fell into the next room. He turned and grinned up at Jack. “Too late now though.”
“Better get movin’, Jacko,” Ben called over his shoulder as he chuckled.
Jack stumbled as he raced over the high threshold through the doorway. He caught himself and clutched the small black bag containing his charges.
“Fast but not hurried,” yelled Ben as he strode over to post up at the new doorway. “Just focus, kid. Put ’em where Foggen tells ya. Easy peasy.”
Jack nodded and pulled three six-inch long cylinders out of his pack. “I activated them while you guys cut the door. Just press this end up to the surface you want to stick them to.”
“This way.” Foggen waved from their left, heading down a bank of machines softly humming from the sound of cooling fans. The pair quickly followed, and as they reached a corner, Foggen pointed to it. “In that corner, place two.”
Jack did as he was instructed, and Li observed intently. “Easy,” Li said. “Point me to the next spot.”
Foggen indicated the far end down the next bank of floor to ceiling sterile white panels. “That corner,” he said over the whirring noise making its way out from the occasional slits in the panels. “Same way Jack placed these two.”
Li shot down the hall as Jack turned to find his next location. “Follow me,” said Foggen, and he chased after Li.
“Done,” Li said just as Foggen and Jack arrived at the new corner.
“This way.” Foggen rounded the corner and slowed. He scanned the panels more deliberately in this hall until finally stopping a few panels in. “Right here. Two more.”
Li stuck the remaining one he was carrying, and Jack pulled another out and stuck it beside Li’s.
“The rest go in here.” Foggen led them midway down the hall. A narrow passageway revealed itself back toward the center of the room. Jack and Li followed him through the path to the interior of a small square space where the panels gave way to a rainbow of multi-colored wires looping out from thousands of shinning clasps and tiny holes. He briskly approached a bright panel on a stand at the center of the room. “Whatever you have left, find spots and affix them. I will enter the commands to disrupt their network while you work.”
Jack handed Li two more cylindrical tubes and pulled a pair out for himself. They found locations to stick them and did so. Jack pulled a small black box out of the bag and tossed the empty sack aside. “Let’s get outta here.”
“One more second.” Foggen tapped two more commands into the small screen. He spun and squeezed back into the tight passageway back out the way they had come. Jack and Li followed Foggen through and then out to the right. They rounded the next corner to find another long bank of flat white panels. At the end stood the newly made doorway from the adjoining storage freezer. The bear of a man standing guard inside the freezer noticed them as they hit the midpoint of the hall. He winked and stopped humming “One Particular Harbor.”
“’Bout time,” Ben called out to them down the hall. “I was about to start digging around in here for a snack to tide me over while I wai—”
A blazing red flash lit up the darkness behind him. Ben’s head slowly turned then stopped. He leaned and stutter stepped, then fell through the opening. A large, charred, and still smoking hole was clearly visible in the center of his back as he crashed to the floor.
All three stopped breathing following Jack’s audible gasp. A figure appeared in the doorway. Four arms, one clutching a Vikard cluster blaster. The Bopecan stepped through the makeshift doorway and over the lifeless body of Ben Thurston. “These Vikard blasters really are quite useful in tight quarters. Wouldn’t you agree, cousin?”
“Pritzley,” Foggen seethed. His entire body sizzled under his suit as shock turned to rage.
“I happened to be gazing out from one of the many observation decks.” Pritzley slowly approached the trio, Vikard cluster blaster trained on Foggen’s torso. “I noticed something curious. All light seemed to be vanishing behind a tiny, invisible speck that seemed to be moving toward this station. I thought to myself, now where have I seen that before?” His brow creased in feigned thought. “Ahhh, yes. That was it. Star marshal cruiser in cloak. I observed as the speck got closer and closer. I watched as it landed just above our heads here. I saw four figures climb out and then crawl through a hole they cut into the freezer behind me.”
“You are a disgrace to our family. I will see to it that you are incapable of bringing any more shame upon our bloodl
ine.”
Mere feet away now, Pritzley curled his thin lips into a smile. “You are the disgrace, cousin. You and every other slave to that ancient sack of false insight and self-serving sewage, Lombargnor.” The business end of the blaster switched focus slightly off to the side of Foggen and toward Li. “Don’t even think about raising that wand you just ejected into your hand.”
The distraction was all Foggen needed. One right hand grabbed the blaster and yanked it downward as his other right hand delivered a blow to the back of Pritzley’s hand which held the blaster. The blaster fired harmlessly into the wall before falling to the floor as Foggen’s pair of left hands delivered two viscous strikes in quick succession to Pritzley’s face.
Pritzley shook off the blows and lunged at his attacker, driving Foggen into the bank of panels behind them. Li pushed a frozen Jack out of his way and aimed his wand at Pritzley. He squeezed and nothing happened as he recalled having last used the wand in cutting mode.
Foggen yanked all of Pritzley’s arms down and smashed the crown of his helmet into the middle of Pritzley’s face. A flurry of blows from Foggen’s four arms followed, finally sending Pritzley crashing to the floor beside the blaster. Foggen roared as he leaped down on top of him, using two arms and all four legs to hold him in place as his remaining two hands gripped Pritzley’s throat. Foggen squeezed with all his might. Pritzley’s big black eyes bulged and his body twitched.
Foggen stopped squeezing. His grip loosened. He shook his head. “No. You will not get off this easy. You will be made to face your crimes.” His hands released the throat they had been throttling.
Pritzley lunged to his side for the blaster. Foggen ejected his wand, still in cutting mode, and plunged it into Pritzley’s gut. Pritzley howled in agony. Foggen pulled the wand back out and returned it to its chamber on his link. He picked up the blaster and pointed it at Pritzley’s face. “You die slow. Bleeding out on the floor.” He tossed the blaster down the hall and stood up. He slogged over to Ben and crouched beside him. A turquoise tear broke free of one of his black eyes. “Come, help me carry him back up to the cruiser.”