by S. J. Bryant
Kari cast a long glance down Ghost's familiar passage. "Do you think it will be okay if we leave Ghost here?"
"Of course. No one comes here. Why would they?"
Kari nodded and led the way out of Ghost, and through the Imperium's stealth ship to the airlock on the other side where they'd docked the transporter.
"It's a whale of a ship," Ryker said, peering at it through a portside window.
"Flies like one too."
"Are you sure about this plan?"
"No." Kari said. In fact she didn't think she'd been less sure of anything in her whole life.
"But we're doing it anyway?"
"Apparently."
They trekked through the stealth ship to the control center where the others had gathered.
"Have you worked out a plan yet?" Wren said.
"We're taking the stealth ship in as cover," Kari said. "They should recognize it and let us through. We'll bring the transporter with us to carry the people."
"And when we get there?" Wren said.
"We fight," Kari said.
"The whole Imperium?"
"It shouldn't come to that. There will only be scientists and patients with a few guards. We go in, get the people, and leave."
"What if you're wrong?"
Kari didn't have an answer to that. She had no real idea of what to expect when they got to the facility, she just had to hope. If she were wrong, it put all of them in danger, including Piper.
"You're all welcome to turn back now," she said. "I won't drag you into a danger you don't want to be part of."
"Then I'm out," Rusty said.
"That doesn't include you," Kari said. "You won't be fighting anyway. But we might need repairs."
Rusty grumbled and pulled a small flask from one of his compartments. Kari had tried to take all the coolant off him before they came on board the stealth ship, but he had ways of hiding his stash from her. Oh well, let him have a few drinks, it wouldn't do any harm.
"We're all staying," Ryker said. "What's happening at that facility is wrong."
Kari nodded. "Atticus, you'll have to walk us through any security checks. The rest of you be ready at the weapons stations in case things get hot. Piper, stay with me."
Piper stood staring out of the front window at the distant stars and gave no sign of hearing. Kari didn't mind as long as she wasn't crying—she intended for Piper to stay on board the stealth ship the whole time, out of danger.
"Let's move out," Kari said.
With Atticus' help—apparently he'd worked on a ship like this before—she detached Ghost and then they shot toward the facility. Ghost shrank in the rear camera, becoming a distant glint and then nothing. That ship was everything Kari had—except Piper—she didn't know what she'd do if she came back to find it missing.
The next six hours were spent in relative silence. Even the gentle brush of someone's foot on the metal floor made everyone jump. They knew what they were flying into: almost certain death.
Kari understood why she was doing it—Piper—but she didn't know why the others were risking their lives. Even if she brushed Atticus and Ryker off as stupid idealists… what was Wren doing here? But she didn't want to think too long about Wren, because then thoughts of Alec would creep in, with questions that Kari did not want the answers to.
"We're coming within range," Atticus said.
A few moments later, the speakers crackled and a harried voice said. "Razor, what are you doing here? I heard you were in the beta quadrant dealing with something."
Atticus looked to Kari but she had no idea so shrugged.
"We're here to help with the evacuation," Atticus said. "We brought a transporter. Should fit most of them."
"Then why didn't you say so? I've been waiting for a goddamned transporter all morning. Bring it in."
Kari let out a low sigh and eased the ship forward. If anyone connected the transporter ship with the rebel faction… they would be shot out of the sky like a wayward asteroid.
As they drew closer, the facility resolved. Unlike the last time they'd visited, when it had looked like an abandoned mining settlement, it now teamed with ships. Small shuttles shot in and out of the scaffolding while tiny figures ran along the corridors, flashing past windows.
They'd arrived only just in time; the evacuation was in full swing.
"You've got today's access code?" the voice said.
Kari's hand froze on the controls and she shared a long glance with everyone else in the command center, her gaze coming to rest on Atticus last. His hand hovered over the transmit button and a panicked helplessness filled his eyes.
"Razor?"
"Sorry, can you repeat that?" Atticus said.
Kari shook her head. What the hell could they do? They didn't know the code, of course they didn't, but if they didn't respond then the person on the other end of the line would know they were lying. Then they'd be dead.
"Today's code."
"Oh," Atticus said. He spun in a mad circle, tapping on the control screen.
Kari did the same, searching through the most recent transmissions for any hint of the code.
Wren crouched near the front of the ship with a hand on her knife, but this was one time when her skills wouldn't be any help at all.
"Spanner forty-five," Piper said, still gazing out of the window.
"What?" Kari said.
Piper's face remained expressionless. "That's the code. Spanner forty-five."
"Piper," Kari said. "We can't afford to be wrong with this. They'll kill us all."
"That's the code."
"Are you sure?"
Kari had no idea how Piper could possibly know, but they didn't have any other options. Atticus looked at her, eyebrows raised.
"Do it," Kari said.
Atticus held down the transmit button. "Spanner forty-five."
The silence stretched on and Kari's heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. It was wrong, it had to be wrong, how could Piper know something like that? Dammit! They were all dead.
"Welcome back, Razor. You can dock at bay 3B."
Atticus' mouth dropped. They all looked at each other with open wonder.
Kari strode across the control room and gripped Piper's shoulders. "How did you know that?"
"It was obvious."
"Clearly not," Kari said. "How did you know?"
"It's all about patterns," Piper said. "Each day a transmission comes in with a list of instructions. But the first one never makes any sense."
Piper gestured toward the list of transmissions that Atticus had been scrolling through. She would have only just been able to see the screen's reflection out of the corner of her eye.
"The transmission is received at the same time every day, right when the date switches over. How else would everyone get the code every day?"
Kari drew Piper into a tight embrace. "You're a genius."
Piper returned her hug and then shrugged. "It's obvious."
"Not that this isn't great," Ryker said. "But we'll be docking soon, and then no number of codes is going to help us."
"Everyone to your positions," Kari said. "Ryker and I will put on the suits. Remember, as soon as that door opens, we start shooting. But only the hostiles. There are prisoners in there, a lot of them."
Everyone nodded and drew their weapons while Kari and Ryker stomped through to the storage bay and the crystal hunter suits. They wouldn't stop everything, and the shielding would only last so long, but it was better than nothing. It might let them survive.
Maybe.
CHAPTER 27
The crystal hunter suit was at least two sizes too big and rubbed against Kari's shoulders. The air filter made the inside of the helmet hot and humid and created a thin sheen of condensation on the face shield that blurred her vision. Her parents would have died wearing suits similar to this, although without the extra shielding. What were they thinking when—
No! Kari shook her head and adjusted her grip on her
gun. The bulky gloves made it hard to hold anything small, so she'd taken one of Ryker's massive automatics. The weight of the suit, combined with the gun, dragged her arms down but better the suit than nothing.
"Rusty, don't you let her out of your sight," Kari said. "And Piper, don't move from here unless they get past us."
"Why do I have to babysit?" Rusty said from the comfortable chair in the command room of the stealth ship.
"Would you rather fight?"
"No."
"I can help," Piper said.
"No."
"But they're my friends."
"Let me do what I do best and save them. You'll only get in the way."
If she'd had the time, Kari would have tied Piper to the controls—anything to keep her away from the worst of the combat—but she didn't have time. And just in case the enemy got past… she needed Piper to have a way to escape.
"Stay here," Kari said. "Be safe." She found a lump forming in her throat and so turned and stomped away, the heavy boots of the suit clunking against the metal floor. Atticus crouched around the corner from the main door with his tools spread out around him, his fingers working furiously with a small metal ball.
"You've got something?"
"I will," he said. "Hopefully."
"No pressure… but we're counting on you."
Atticus snorted and went back to his work.
Kari continued on to the door, the automatic docking was in process and in a few seconds it would open into the facility, and whatever waited beyond. Ryker was already there, wearing a suit like Kari, except that he looked natural and stood tall. Kari felt like she was being crushed and suffocated at the same time.
Even if there'd been a third suit Kari suspected that Wren would have refused. As she put it, she 'preferred the personal touch.' Whatever. Better to have the assassin on their side than against them.
The airlock hissed.
The door slid open onto pandemonium.
People in white cloaks raced across the entrance room, dragging patients to the airlock of an adjacent ship, another transporter. A few guards stood at attention near the elevator door.
Kari took a single step forward and started firing. She aimed for the guards first, killing two before anyone in the room realized what was happening. The guards crumpled to the floor, their guns falling from limp fingers.
The people nearest stumbled to a stop, stared at the bodies, and then lifted their eyes to Kari.
Screams filled the small area, more voices joining the cacophony as doctors and scientists and patients pushed and shoved to get out of the line of fire. The remaining guards leveled their weapons, but too slow.
Ryker killed two more and before either he or Kari could aim at the last, Wren melted into the crowd and reappeared at his side. Her knife plunged into his neck and he collapsed.
"Maybe that's it?" Kari said. Her voice came out muffled and distorted by the suit.
"No," Wren said. "They're coming."
"We have to get the prisoners," Ryker said.
Kari snatched hold of the nearest man in a white coat and hauled him forward. He'd been dragging a line of starved-looking prisoners who stumbled after him.
"They're ours," Kari said.
The man—a scientist Kari assumed—shook his head. "No. They belong to the Imperium."
Kari tightened her grip. "Didn't you hear? We got rid of slavery centuries ago."
"I can't give them to you."
Kari squeezed and twisted. The bones in the man's wrist crunched and shattered.
The man screamed and fell to his knees, losing his grip on the first of the prisoners. "My hand. What have you done to my hand?"
"Be glad it wasn't your face," Kari said. "You lot, get in!" She shoved the closest patient toward the open door of the stealth ship. They stumbled past her, as if in a dream, and disappeared into the ship's interior. They had the same dazed, drugged look that Piper and Ray had had when Kari first rescued them.
"Here they are," Ryker said.
Kari turned back to the entrance room to see the elevator doors opening and enforcers in thick armor plates pouring out, already firing. Bright blasts of plasma lit up the room and reflected off the metal scaffolding and the sides of the ships.
Across the room, the scientists ducked, hands over their heads, while the prisoners stood, as if dazed. Some tried to cower against the walls, others slouched, dazed, as though they couldn't see the fight at all but were instead lost in a daydream. But a few stood with fists clenched. Most of these wore handcuffs that attached them to a scientist, or in some cases one of the dead guards.
An orange blast careened toward Kari. She tried to duck but it hit her shoulder and knocked her sideways into the wall. Pain engulfed her arm but the blast didn't break through her armor. She drew a deep breath between her teeth, trying to shut away the agony.
On the opposite side of the room, one of the handcuffed prisoners knelt beside the dead guard he was attached to. He fiddled with the dead man's arm, then with a loud roar he tore the other man's hand clean off, allowing the bloodied handcuff to fall free.
The pain in Kari's arm disappeared as her whole focus centered on that one man and the blood that spattered across the wall behind him as he tossed the mangled hand free. It dropped to the floor with a dull thud, the end of a bone poking out from the ragged flesh.
The prisoner caught Kari's gaze, grinned, and then turned on the nearest person—a man in a white coat. The prisoner grabbed hold of the scientist's shoulders, lifted him from the floor, and slammed his head against the wall. A loud crack snapped over the room and the scientist crumpled.
Through the commotion, Kari could just see the dead man's forehead, crumpled inward as if he'd been hit by a brick dropped from several stories above.
The prisoner turned away, rounding on the next closest person—a fellow prisoner—and grabbed him by the shoulders.
Kari had to force herself to look away, stomach churning. It wasn't the prisoner's fault really—the people here had turned him into a monster. Besides, she couldn't worry about him, more guards were pouring out of the elevator, all of them firing at her. Another blast narrowly missed her face and brought her back to the current moment.
Ryker stood against the opposite wall, firing a continuous stream into the other room.
"Watch out for the prisoners and Wren," Kari said.
"They can duck," Ryker said. "Those bastards will kill us if we don't do something now."
Kari's stomach clenched. Some of the prisoners were so drugged and dazed that they still stood, fully exposed, amongst the gunfire. What if one of her shots accidentally killed one of them? It could have been Piper… But Ryker was right. If they didn't do something now, then the enforcers would overwhelm them and they'd all be dead anyway.
What the hell was she supposed to do?
CHAPTER 28
"Get out of the way!" Kari roared, waving at the prisoners who stood, mouths open, in the middle of the firefight.
They blinked at her, trying to process her words but not quite understanding.
"Get out of the way."
A few turned, confused, but seeing nowhere to go, stayed where they were.
Kari felt a familiar rage rise up inside her. What the hell were they doing? Didn't they want to be saved? Couldn't they see that they were putting themselves—and Kari—in danger? But she couldn't really blame them, who knew what the Imperium had done inside their heads?
Kari swung her gun across the mayhem, aiming at the elevator where another group of enforcers emerged into the fray. They had no concerns for the prisoners and the bright blasts of their plasma rifles knocked two to the floor where they lay sprawled, eyes open.
Wren moved among the writhing crowd like a ghost. She darted and weaved, appearing from nowhere beside the guards, burying her knife in their necks, and then moving on before they knew they'd been hit. When a prisoner got in her way, she shoved them hard, often knocking them to the floor, but Kari wa
s glad for that—at least they were out of the way.
Kari got a clean shot and fired into the elevator, killing two guards and making the others duck for cover. But it wasn't enough. Somehow, she had to get all the prisoners into her ship and fly away before reinforcements arrived, and no doubt they were on the way, probably burning through their katium reserves to get there.
A purple blast appeared from the side, filling Kari's vision. It careened into her helmet and knocked her sideways against the wall. Her head hit the inside of the helmet and stars flashed in front of her eyes. She blinked and found herself lying on the floor, staring at the wall. Pain pierced her head while something warm trickled down her chin. Gunfire and screaming surrounded her, joining with the smell of smoke and burning flesh and the scent of blood.
She struggled to sit but the bulky suit held her to the floor, leaving her flailing like a dying fish. Her heart hammered against her ribs. If one of the enforcers saw her pinned to the floor they'd shoot her like a rabid dog. She had to get up! Had to defend herself.
She strained harder and managed to roll onto her stomach, bracing her arms against the floor. She heaved and got to her knees. The room spun around her and she wobbled, almost falling. She managed to hold herself upright by snatching for the wall and then climbed to her feet.
The effort left her breathless and heaving as the pain grew to something unbearable, like a metal clamp fastened around her head with someone screwing it tighter and tighter, threatening to shatter her skull. She tried to clutch her head but the bulky helmet got in the way and she staggered.
"Kari!"
A voice through the pain. Kari blinked and tried to focus. A shadow appeared in front of her, gradually resolving into Wren.
"Get it together."
Wren shoved Kari's gun into her hands—she must have dropped it when she fell—and turned her to face the conflict.
Kari could barely see through the pain and struggled to lift the weapon but she knew Wren was right. She had to fight or they were all dead.
She braced the gun against her shoulder and fired across the room at the dark silhouettes of the enforcers. One of them crumpled.