Coalescence (Dragonfire Station Book 3)

by Zen DiPietro

  “I got it. Old engineer’s trick. The wall alongside a door is usually far less reinforced than the door itself. That’s definitely the case here.” Wren dropped her backpack, rummaged around in it, and pulled out the laser torch Colb had given her. At least the thing had turned out to be useful to them.

  Wren cut a roughly circular shape in the wall beside the door. The cutter went through with relatively little resistance. When she had a hole big enough to get her shoulders through, she returned the torch to her bag and pulled out a thermal blanket. She shoved the cutout circle to the other side, then laid the blanket over the bottom of the hole.

  “Careful. It’s hot, and the metal’s sharp.”

  After pushing their backpacks and weapons out the other side, Fallon helped Wren go through head first, arms up so she could catch herself as she tumbled to the floor. Then it was Fallon’s turn. She ignored the bite of the metal digging into her stomach, grateful for the durable fabric of her jumpsuit.

  As she got to her feet on the other side, Fallon heard the whir of a turbine starting. A red light began flashing above the door.

  Wren grabbed the blanket and dropped it, then reached for the metal cutout. “Hurry, help me!”

  They shifted it around to find the right fit for the irregular shape, then slid it into the hole. Wren used the same laser cutter to fuse the metal. It warped and bubbled unevenly, but she achieved a seal on their side of the wall.

  “There.” Wren turned off the cutter.

  “What would’ve happened if you hadn’t sealed it?” Fallon put her weapon belt back on as she asked. She felt naked without it.

  “That’s the batch tank for the air supply. Since we averted a decontamination cycle when we hit the emergency button, it’s now preparing a fresh supply of the perfect formula of air. If we hadn’t sealed the hole, the unmixed gases would have leaked into this corridor, causing a potentially dangerous mix.”

  “Which would have set off an alarm and informed Colb of our location. Gotcha.”

  “Also, we might not have been able to breathe.” Wren picked up the blanket and returned it to her backpack, then put on the pack. “But yeah, the alarm thing too.”

  Fallon consulted the station’s schematics in her head. “Where do we need to go next?”

  “The service conduit next to the air distribution duct. You’ll have to get past the security though. That’s a highly restricted area, since it goes right to crisis ops.”

  “Right. That’s this way.” Fallon went to the left.

  “So this is what you really do?” Wren asked as they went.

  “More or less. There’s often a lot more shooting involved.”

  “And you like that?”

  Fallon took a left, and a right, which led them to the conduit they needed. “Yeah.”

  There were a lot of things she could say to add to that, but she stopped herself. Most of those details would probably not be helpful in seeing Wren through this experience.

  They kneeled next to the entrance to the conduit. While Fallon worked on getting it open, Wren said, “We could adjust his air mix and kill him. That would make it easier to take crisis ops.”

  “It would.” Fallon frowned at the code sequencer, which was proving harder to crack than she’d hoped, even with the small device running Raptor’s program. “But if he’s dead I can’t get the answers I need about what he’s done.”

  The right code finally came up and she sighed with relief as she got through that layer. Next, she input a master command authorization code, which Krazinski had given her. Nope. Colb had changed that too. She reset Raptor’s device to work on that code.

  “Not to mention that you want to ask him why,” Wren added.

  “Why what?”

  “Why he’d do all this. Why he chose you.”

  Fallon frowned at the device, still running through thousands of possible codes every tenth of a second. “It would be nice, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that a lot of people are dead because of him. You saw some of the bodies, but there are a lot more that you didn’t see. Most were probably good people who had been led astray by someone they trusted. Those were our people, and if they were largely innocent, their records should reflect that. And their families should know it.”

  “Yeah.” Wren sounded sad.

  “And he had an entire station of scientists doing research on illegal tech, hidden away on a little moon base. They fought, and they died. I want to know about them. To clear their names if they were coerced. To let their loved ones know what happened to them.”

  She wished the code-cracking device would hurry. For all she knew, Colb knew they were on the station and was preparing to destroy it and everyone on it.

  “Does it matter if they were coerced or not?” Wren asked. “They were still doing things that broke our treaties.”

  Fallon kept her eyes locked on the device. “You broke some major PAC laws helping Colb. You’d be in a brig somewhere right now if not for your intentions, and someone to explain them for you.”

  Wren’s voice was barely audible when she said, “Right.”

  “Don’t let it get you down. You’re making up for it now.”

  Wren pursed her lips and nodded.

  The code clicked into place. “Yes! Got it.” She removed a hair-width wire from her backpack and threaded it through the DNA scanner’s input port. She backed away slightly, and with what sounded like a computerized sneeze, the scanner went dark. “Hah.”

  “What was that?” Wren asked.

  “DNA scanners are extremely touchy devices. They’re a weak point in any security system because of that. If they’re disabled from the command side, they disengage and leave the rest of the security in place until they’re recalibrated.” The wire was one of her favorite Blackout tools. Fortunate for her that Krazinski had supplied her with some.

  She opened the conduit, but before going in, she activated her comport. “Status request.”

  Raptor replied almost immediately. “No other souls found on board. Proceeding now toward crisis ops to try to force our way in.”

  “Hold off on that,” Fallon ordered. “It’s unlikely to work and the attempt would be incredibly loud. I’m hoping to be able to take him quietly by surprise. We’re making our way in via conduit, where there’s a hatch into control ops. Once we get inside and secure Colb, first order of business will be shutting down lockdown mode and opening the door for you.”

  “Any chance we can follow your route in?”

  “Negative. You’d never fit through the conduits. They’re meant for bots, not people.”

  “Understood. Waiting for your signal. Blood and bone.”

  “Blood and bone.” She ignored Wren’s curious look. “I’ll go first this time.”

  Half crawling, half dragging herself through fifteen meters of conduit was not kind to Fallon’s body. She knew Wren had to have it even harder. Though she had a slim build, Wren was a good bit taller.

  Finally they made it to the hatch, which mercifully was surrounded by a wider space, giving Fallon enough room to pull herself into and sit up, if she kept her head down.

  “The good news,” Fallon whispered to Wren, who lay flat in the tighter part of the conduit, “is that this side is not secured. It’s a regular old hatch. All we have to do is drop in on Colb. Literally.” The opening was in the ceiling of crisis ops, which meant she’d have to lower herself from it, then drop another meter and a half to the floor. The plus side of that was that she could do it quickly and quietly, and hopefully take Colb by surprise.

  Wren nodded.

  “First, I’m going to get a look in there, to see what’s going on.” She put on a pair of glasses and removed a coil of wire attached to a tiny display from her backpack. Attached to the wire was a tiny camera. Carefully, to avoid any scraping sounds, Fallon fed it though the air delivery grate.

  Rotating it slowly around, she saw that Colb was, in fact, not alone. Nine large toughs surrounded him where he
sat in the command chair. Damn. Zooming in on faces, she recognized the surviving members of Stone Unit and three members of Ice Unit, plus three unknowns. Double damn. She could take on six average bruisers, but not six BlackOps plus three others.

  She blew out a breath. Okay. Different tactic. She didn’t need to beat them. She only needed to get crisis ops out of lockdown mode so her reinforcements on the other side could get in.

  Right. No problem.

  “Wrinkle in the plan,” she whispered to Wren. “I was going to tell you to stay up here, but that clearly won’t work. Since we’re both dead if you don’t come down with me, we’re going to have to do that.”

  “Wow, great pep talk,” Wren whispered back.

  Fallon had to hand it to her. The woman had nerve. “Best you’re going to get today. I’m going to drop in and keep the people down there busy. I need you to get crisis ops open to let the others in.” She pulled a stinger from her belt. “You know how to use one of these, right?”

  “Sure, it’s like a laser torch. But instead of cutting metal, I cut people.” She looked unhappily resigned to that idea.

  “More or less. It’s set to lethal force. You only have to hit them once, unless they’re wearing dissipators. If they are, you’ll need to switch to that torch of yours. Just don’t hit me, and don’t hit Colb. Unless you have no choice but to take Colb out. But really, really don’t hit me.”

  “Right. Take out everyone, including you. Got it.”

  If Wren didn’t stop that, Fallon would start to think she was cut out for this kind of work.

  “I’ll need the torch for a minute.” When Wren handed it to her, she carefully sliced the bolts holding the intake hatch in place.

  After handing the torch to Wren, she turned backward to the opening on her knees. “This is going to happen fast, but time will probably feel like it’s slowed down. At least that’s how it happens for me. Good luck.”

  Wren scooted closer, getting ready to occupy the space when Fallon left it. “So I’m about to see the business end of what you really do.”

  “Fraid so. Can you handle it?” Fallon knew full well that most people couldn’t deal with seeing that kind of action.

  “Yeah. Blood and bone, or whatever it is you all say.”

  Fallon grinned at her. “Blood and bone.”

  She lifted the hatch and moved it aside, then palmed her second stinger. With her other hand she slid a knife from her belt. She nodded to Wren and dropped to the floor of crisis ops.

  She hit one with her stinger center mass during her drop. No help there. They were wearing dissipators. Damn. That would make this job harder.

  She threw the stinger at one and the knife at another. The blade stuck right into the throat of the closest BlackOp. At least the stinger distracted the other for a moment.

  In the seconds it took for them to advance on her, she grabbed two more knives and launched them into two more throats. They landed true, and she was down to six opponents. Plus Colb, but she was barely aware of him while she tracked her bigger threats.

  Two came into range of her within two seconds of her landing, with two more only steps away. The last two remained with Colb.

  No more room for knife throwing. It would be close combat from here on out. On the plus side, they couldn’t use ranged weapons either. No one had tried using a stinger so they either recognized her dissipator or just assumed she wore one.

  Her first priority was to reverse positions with them. She needed them facing away from the hatch to give Wren a chance. She launched herself into the air. She tucked her knees in sideways to her body, executing a head-over-heels flip that had her landing on a voicecom terminal.

  She dodged a punch from the man on her left and delivered a kick to his throat. Her stance on the console gave her a vantage point. He went down choking for breath. Unfortunately that left her open to the second person, who landed a solid punch to Fallon’s chest, knocking her off the terminal. At least it pushed her closer to the far wall, drawing the others toward her and away from Wren.

  She landed awkwardly on one foot, which required her to adjust to balance. It also caused her to take another hard hit, in the same spot as the last one. Her chest felt like it had caved in.

  But now on level ground, she mounted her own offensive. She threw the most vicious combo she had in her arsenal. Kick, jab, cross, feint, and a left hook to the temple. The woman stumbled back, giving Fallon the advantage. Before she could follow it up, the one she’d kicked in the throat came at her back. She sensed him more than she heard or saw him. She bent at the waist, reaching for the floor. Using momentum and her increased reach, she kicked her right foot up, catching him in the chin and sending him falling backward.

  And here came the one she’d hit with the stinger. Dammit. They were too many, too fast. Wren had dropped and begun working at a science station, and Fallon hoped she could work fast. She estimated they had less than half a minute.

  She backed up, making as much noise as she could to keep their attention on her and not on what was going on behind them. She threw punches and dodged theirs, but she was only marking time. She was the bait, and she knew she’d get eaten eventually. They converged on her, and she knew she didn’t have much time now. If only they would politely come at her one by one or in pairs, like in the holo-vids.

  Another hit to the chest made her wonder how many broken ribs she had. A punch to the head muffled the sounds around her and made her vision dim. Yeah, that was bad. But she couldn’t pull herself together enough to block the hits she saw coming her way. She felt the impacts as they came, but less and less as things grew blurrier. Huh. So this was how it felt to lose a fight. All she could do now was remain on her feet as long as possible.

  Dimly she was aware of a pause in the hits, like a missed beat in a drum cadence. She shook her head, trying to process what was happening around her. The door had opened. Hawk flew in first and destroyed the two that came at him, like a chef tenderizing meat. Peregrine bolted past him to yank one of Fallon’s assailants away and tackle her. Somewhere in the background Krazinski jumped in with Hawk while Ross took on the one she’d tried to shoot with the stinger. She watched it all, dumb and confused, as if it were a hazy dream.

  Raptor took on the last of Colb’s flunkies, the one Fallon had thought would end up killing her.

  She staggered back against the wall, wiping her hand over her right eye. It came away with blood on it.

  She closed both eyes for a moment, struggling to center herself in real time.

  Finally remembering to look for Colb, she stepped away from the bulkhead. As soon as she focused on him, time slowed to a crawl. She saw his hand, holding a stinger pointed toward Wren. She couldn’t see Wren, but her exact position was burned into Fallon’s awareness.

  She needed answers only Colb had. Needed them for herself and the entire PAC. But she’d watch everything burn before she’d let Wren die.

  Her harpoon gun had appeared in her hand, and she didn’t pause a microsecond before pulling the trigger. It flew across the brief space and landed in Colb’s chest, the force of it causing him to fall backward. His stinger came alive as he fell, snaking a bright arc of energy in Wren’s direction. He hit the ground and the stinger’s blast cut off abruptly as the weapon tumbled out of his hand.

  As much as she wanted to go to Wren, she had to finish the job. Her vision and mind clear now, she bolted to Colb, her gun still pointed at him even though she hadn’t reloaded it.

  “No need,” he gasped. The old, familiar face of Uncle Masumi looked at her sadly. “I’ve got a minute. Maybe two.”

  “Why did you do all this?” she asked.

  “You’ll see when you get older. Spouses die. Friends move on. Children grow up and become strangers. You always end up…alone.” He coughed hard and blood came up, coating his lip and chin. “Only the mark you leave on your civilization stays. I tried to ensure the PAC’s survival.”

  “You’ve threatened its surviv
al. We’ll be lucky if we can avoid interstellar war. That’s your legacy.”

  He coughed again and gasped hard for breath. “…wrong. Wait and see.”

  She leaned down to hear his weakening voice. “What do you mean?”

  But the light in his eyes had gone out. She straightened.

  Her heart froze. Wren. Oh, no. Was she too late? She turned and ran. As she approached, she saw eyes full of grief and sympathy.

  Wren’s pale eyes looked up at her, tortured. “I’m so sorry.” She moved aside.

  Fallon fell to her knees beside Raptor. His skin had gone a sickly color.

  “He dove in front of me,” Wren murmured.

  Words poured out of Fallon’s mouth. “No, no, no! Raptor!” Her throat burned as she framed his face with her hands. Traces of her blood smudged onto his skin. “Why did you do that?”

  His eyes didn’t open, but his lips moved slightly. “You love her.”

  He went limp.

  “Oh, hell no!” Fallon yelled at Raptor. “You are not dying on me!” She looked around wildly. “Where’s his backpack?”

  Someone found it and brought it to her. She tore it open and grabbed the packages of nanopods and the injector. She slammed every damn nanopod they had into him.

  “Fallon.” Hawk touched her shoulder. “Don’t torture him. That was a maximum-setting blast. He can’t…” His words trailed off. “He’s not breathing,” he said carefully. He probably sensed that telling her that Raptor couldn’t survive it would have a bad effect on her.

  “Then someone had better fucking start breathing for him!” she shouted. “He wouldn’t give up, if it were us, and we’re not giving up on him.” Her cheeks were wet. She impatiently swiped her hands over them but was surprised to see little blood on them.

  It was Krazinski who knelt by Raptor’s head and put a respirator over his face as she wiped her hands on her thighs.

  “Per, inform the Roosevelt that we need medevac. Immediately.” The docking of the Roosevelt would probably take more time than Raptor had. Maybe it was already too late. The rest of them thought so. But she wouldn’t stop trying until a doctor forced her to.