“Aside from his crew, we have to assume that Cardax came here because he knew he was being followed and could find sanctuary. That means we are definitely walking into a trap. What we don’t know is how many men he’ll have waiting.”
“So we go in, guns blazing?” Adam asked, excitement reflecting in his blue eyes.
“No,” Keryn said, firmly. “We aren’t carrying enough firepower to bring down an entire city and, for all we know, Cardax has the entire city supporting him. No, this mission is going to take a level of stealth.” She glanced over at the Lithid. “Penchant is our ace in the hole. He’s the one face Cardax will never recognize, no matter how many times he sees him.”
“Stealth,” Adam grimly echoed. While an exceptional fighter with both firearms and hand-to-hand combat, Adam had never excelled at stealth. His towering frame and Terran features made him easily recognizable in Interstellar Alliance space.
Keryn sympathized with Adam’s frustration. She would have preferred to enter the city with guns drawn, firing round after round into anyone stupid enough to ally themselves with Cardax. She still reveled in the memory of destroying one of Cardax’s two escaping ships at Pteraxis. But, even as skilled as they were, they simply didn’t have the firepower to win an extended war with Cardax and his cohorts. The enemy had the option to win the war simply through attrition.
Buttoning her pants and pulling her shirt over her head, Keryn turned toward her two patriots. “Knowing Cardax, he’ll be near the spaceport, so we’ll start our search there. My worry is that even though we’ve looked at the map so many times my eyes feel like they’re going to bleed, we don’t know the city. Cardax does. We don’t know how many enemies we will face. Cardax does. We don’t even know where he’s hiding inside the city, even though we know where to start. What I do know is that the course of the war with the Terran Empire hangs in the balance. If we succeed, we can defeat the Terrans once and for all. If we fail, it will be more than just our lives lost. If that isn’t enough to motivate you, than ask yourself one important question.”
She paused, smiling wickedly. “If you’re dead, how are you going to be able to take your revenge on Cardax, one broken bone at a time?”
Adam and Penchant both laughed maliciously, knowing what she was referring to. Both had gone through the same special operations training that Keryn had, to include interrogation techniques. Clipped to the belts of all three of them was a small pouch, which contained a small rock hammer and a pair of serrated scalpels. When it came time to gather information from Cardax, it would not be a pleasant experience for the Oterian smuggler.
Keryn latched her belt around her waist, adjusting her sidearm on her hip, and pulled on her coat. Adam strapped his tinted goggles onto his forehead, his blond hair jutting over the top of the round glasses, and tucked his modified rifle firmly against his side, allowing it to virtually disappear beneath his loose jacket.
“Alright you two, let’s get going,” she said, turning toward the humid jungle. “We’re burning daylight.”
CHAPTER 3:
As Doctor Solomon’s pre-programmed speech played, the gears and hydraulics controlling the dozens of satellite dishes whirred to life as his computer program ran though its start up protocols. Each dish moved independent of one another, each finding a programmed target in Earth’s orbit. As they clicked into place, one after another, they began broadcasting the same signal.
The data bursts leapt from the Earth, striking seemingly dormant satellites in Earth’s atmosphere. The long-range telemetry satellites, finally glowing with previously latent power, fired small maneuvering rockets, realigning toward their remote targets. Firing massive bursts of energy and encoded data, the signal launched into the void of space.
The signals traveled, unhindered, through the vacuum of space. Invisible to the naked eye, the signals passed within mere meters of traveling ships and crossed over heavily trafficked trade routes.
For some signals, the journey lasted mere hours before reaching their targets. For others, the journey would take months of near light-speed travel before it would reach the receptors that remained angled toward the distant Earth.
The signals with the shortest distance reached their targets before anyone knew of the danger. They struck their target with such speed that warning sirens were never raised. Silently, their untimely death traveled through the void, intent on their demise.
The first signal struck a small heat-shielded ship, which hung in a low orbit around the sun of the Protagon Galaxy, which was inhabited by a race of amphibians that had supplied minor military support to the Interstellar Alliance. Though unmanned, the ship received the signal and altered its course. Dipping its wings, it began a haphazard decent onto the surface of the sun. The metal plating on the ship began to bubble as it entered the sun’s atmosphere. The damage to the ship increased as friction and heat from the surface struck the hull in waves. Strips of metal began to run like wax under the intense heat and panels broke free and disintegrated under the assault.
Through the waves of ambient heat, the ship continued its suicidal decent. The nose of the ship broke apart, exposing the alloy girders that formed the framework of the craft. Fire and acrid smoke filled the cabin of the shuttlecraft, setting fire to the minor furniture that decorated the stripped quarters. As the ship neared the surface of the sun, the last of the metal plates on the exterior of the ship melted away. The girders themselves began to twist and bend under the temperature and pressure, exposing a single black canister that seemed impervious to the overwhelming malevolence of the yellow sun.
As the last of the ship was destroyed, the single black canister fell free, pulled downward by the intense gravity of the sun. The cylinder struck the liquid magma, splitting open and gushing Deplitoxide onto the sun’s surface. The black chemical spread from the canister hungrily, multiplying and converting the magma in growing tendrils emanating from the point of impact.
Across the Protagon Galaxy, the amphibians crawled from their watery homes to watch in horror as a black plague spread across their sun. Tendrils of darkness spread across the southern hemisphere of their sun, greedily devouring the warmth and light that spread across their planet. The blackness swelled until only slivers of sunlight still remained, and even then the ravenous chemicals continued their conversion of the magma into the dormant liquid covering the sun. The amphibians watched as darkness spread across their planets, casting them into an unnatural night. Without the life-giving sun, a chill began to permeate the planets. Temperatures plummeted and, though the amphibians dove deep into their underwater homes, they couldn’t escape the cold.
Throughout the known universe, the signal reached out to pre-positioned objects. In the Raalst Galaxy, home to the Oterians, two seemingly harmless satellites began their suicidal descents into the red and yellow suns. Near the blue sun of the Avalon’s home galaxy, a canister was ejected from a passing freighter. Beginning with the closest galaxies, suns disappeared one by one under the poisonous chemical.
And still, the signal continued its destructive course.
CHAPTER 4:
Keryn and her crew pushed through the thick jungle until they came to the outskirts of Miller’s Glen. With most planetary and all interstellar travel being conducted by air, there were very few roads that led into the city. This allowed the jungle to creep nearly to the outlying buildings. The trio stopped at the edge of the city, thus far unmolested and unseen.
Reaching under the collar of her jacket, Keryn exposed the radio strapped to her throat. Pressing the talk button, she called back to the ship.
“Talon Base, this is Talon Six,” she called, using the call signs she had established with Cerise before leaving the ship.
After waiting a moment, the small radio receiver concealed in her ear crackled to life. “Talon Six, this is Talon Base.” Cerise’s soft, effeminate voice, typical of the Avalon species, replied over the radio.
“Task Force Talon has reached the city limits. Radio
signal reception beyond this point is unknown, but expect delays or communications blackouts due to the tall structures. We will be maintaining radio silence for outgoing messages unless in an emergency, but will still be able to receive signals. How copy?”
Cerise’s voice carried smoothly over the radio. “That’s a good copy. Talon Base will be expecting radio silence for incoming signals.”
“Talon Six out,” Keryn finished her transmission, once again concealing the radio under her jacket collar. She turned back to the other two members of her assault team.
“Remember,” she said, “stealth is the key. Make yourself inconspicuous.”
“Stealth,” they both replied in unison.
Stepping out of the foliage, Keryn and her team slipped past the large stone buildings that marked the beginning of the city. Miller’s Glen sprawled like a miniature metropolis; its stone buildings quickly gave way to the metal and glass structures that jutted from the center of the city in progressively taller and larger buildings. To Keryn, they looked like demons clawing over one another on their way out of hell; their metal spires rose like hands reaching in vain toward the emerald sky. The skies above the city were full of recreational crafts, flying in a carefully orchestrated three-dimensional overlay of airways.
The entire city encompassed no more than two square miles, but the inhabitants packed as much activity into such a small space a possible. Market stalls spread down the narrow streets as merchants hawked their wares. Fabrics from all corners of the known universe stood proudly beside exotic fruits from distant home worlds. Illegal Terran technology was brazenly displayed on the streets by sellers who had little to fear from Interstellar Alliance police forces; the police forces were rarely seen on planets so far removed from commonly traveled space.
Miller’s Glen had been founded as a melting pot of races interested in interspecies trade. Merchants arrived in an amalgamation of ships, each representative of their home worlds and unique physiology. After clearing away a patch of jungle, they established a trading village that catered not just to the legitimate merchants but to black market salesmen and smugglers. What began as a small trader’s haven quickly grew as travelers near the Demilitarized Zone began spreading word of the potential wares available in the small jungle city. The more the money flowed freely through the streets of Miller’s Glen, the larger the established stores. Street stalls were moved into one story stone buildings; one story stone buildings were moved into glistening towers of metal and glass; and those in the glistening towers cared less and less about the quality of inhabitants living in the streets below. The town, in essence, became the perfect hiding place for a traitorous smuggler like Cardax.
“Give me an update,” Keryn said, smiling broadly as merchants flashed their wares from their street stalls.
Adam glanced around, as though deciding what to buy from the nearby tradesmen. “Majority of the populace is armed. It appears that there are bodyguards located at the entrance to most storefronts. Any frontal assaults here are suicidal. Stealth will have to be the word of the day.” Adam grimaced at his own recommendation.
“Penchant?” Keryn prodded the Lithid for his input.
Penchant stared at the hypnotic dance of the small craft flittering overhead. Above them, his faux blue eyes narrowing to see past the smaller ships, he could see the larger merchant vessels floating toward the far side of town like bloated insects.
“The spaceport is located on the far side of town,” his coarse voice seemed out of place on his smooth Terran exterior. “We can assume that Cardax landed there. He wouldn’t travel far from his ship, knowing that he’s being pursued. There are a couple bars and hotels in that area that would cater to Cardax’s tastes.”
Keryn nodded in agreement and led her team through the densely packed streets. They left the flowing shorter stone structures and entered into the cavernous streets of the financial section of town. Though the large buildings blocked the sun, green light filtered down the street, reflected over and over again on the glass exteriors. Here, the flamboyantly dressed merchants gave way to smartly dressed management. The inhabitants of the center of the city consisted of those who had once found themselves hawking wares on the street corners, but had turned a simple stall into a financial empire. Their trade goods were seen across countless worlds and they each had thousands of employees. Some were legitimate businessmen; some no better than mob bosses ruling a business empire by fear and violence. Keryn often had trouble differentiating between the two.
Eventually, the trio found themselves exiting the financial district and were surrounded by the prefabricated buildings and housing subdivisions of those who called Miller’s Glen home. The spaceport dominated the far end of town; a massive steel tower with spiraling arms, each firmly attached to a merchant vessel, space yacht, or in some cases personal warships, their sides rippling with armaments. Despite having Alliance Cruisers in orbit, those in Miller’s Glen knew that they were a facade of security and unlikely to engage any merchant, legal or not, entering the city.
Though this part of the city consisted mainly of residential neighborhoods, Keryn and her crew were unable to escape the constant vendors that created the basis of Miller’s Glen. Glancing at the other two, Keryn noticed the stern looks and darting eyes, true signs of hunters on the prowl.
“You both look like you’re on a mission,” she said coyly.
Penchant tilted his head to the side in a remarkably Lithid movement. “We are on a mission, Keryn,” he said.
Keryn laughed. “That’s my point. You’re not supposed to look like you’re on a mission while on a mission. Stealth is wasted if every person we pass thinks you’re up to something illegal or immoral.” She waved her arm around, drawing their attention to the numerous merchant booths. “Take a moment to look around and peruse the trade goods. It’ll make you look a little more natural in Miller’s Glen. Buy something, so people think you’re supposed to be here.”
Begrudgingly, the trio split up and started looking at some of the nearby booths. Watching over her shoulder, Keryn laughed as she saw Penchant stiffly pick up a silk scarf, rolling the fabric between his fingers. For a race who had mastered the techniques of infiltration and mimicry, the Lithids still had a long way to go when it came to social graces.
As Keryn turned back to her own booth, Adam slid up beside her. Absently picking up one of the large, circular metallic plates that the vendor was selling, his attention remained on her.
“A fine plate,” the vendor began, spinning his sales pitch. He leaned across the table as he continued. “Made from some of the finest metals in the known universe. Very rare. Very rare, indeed. It would make a great addition to an existing collection or a great start for a young entrepreneur like yourself.” The merchant looked back and forth at the two customers. “Or, perhaps, it would make a beautiful gift for the beautiful lady?”
Smiling, Keryn took the plate from Adam’s hands, admiring her own reflection in the shining metal.
“What do you think, honey,” she purred. “Is this beautiful plate worthy of such a beautiful woman?”
She turned the plate in her hand, watching the viridian sky reflected off the plate. The plate froze in mid turn, however, when Keryn noticed a dangerously familiar reflection caught on the metal surface. The massive Oterian frame that pushed its way through the crowd behind the pair was unmistakable. The over eight-foot frame, shrouded in dark brown fur, was capped with hooked horns that bent forward.
“You will buy it for me?” she exclaimed, improvising cool serenity to quell her momentary panic. Smiling broadly, she threw her arms around Adam’s broad shoulders and pulled his head into her neck. With a flip of her head, her silver hair cascaded over his face. Burying her own face in his strong throat, she effectively hid both their identities from those passing close by. Adam, well trained to respond to unusual situation, wisely remained silent.
“Cardax is here,” she whispered as the smuggler walked obliviously past the
duo, “passing within a few feet of us.”
“Should we take him now,” he inquired. She felt the arm not around her thin waist shift to the weapon hidden beneath his coat.
Keryn shook her head slowly in the crook of his neck. “Now is not the time. Just observe his movements. We’ll want to engage him when it’s not quite so public.” She snuggled closer against his body. “Remember: stealth.”
Adam shifted until his eyes were able to glance from under the waves of her thick hair. Cardax and his guards, all of whom were significantly shorter than the smuggler himself, walked quickly through the crowd. Few people stood in their way, most making way for the massive Oterian. For those who did not move quickly enough, Adam watched as Cardax’s brown fur bristled with anger before his meaty hands shoved helpless bystanders into nearby carts and stalls.
Two blocks past where Adam and Keryn shared their warm embrace, Cardax and his crew entered a two story structure, accentuated with glowing neon lights. With danger now passed, Keryn pulled away from her teammate and turned to look up the street. Feeling a gentle tap on his shoulder, Adam spun tensely toward the stall. Startled, the merchant pointed at the plate still clutched in Keryn’s hand.
“So you decided to buy her the plate?” the merchant asked hopefully.
Keryn glanced down at the shiny metallic plate. Shrugging, she tossed it to the merchant, who fumbled as he tried to catch the quickly spinning metal. Finally clutching it tightly to his chest, the vendor released a sigh and set the plate onto the table. He glanced furiously at Keryn.
“We changed our minds,” she said. “But I’ll give you a ten-piece note if you tell me what business that is about two blocks up.” She pointed at the neon-encased building that Cardax had entered.
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