"True enough," Jason said, stifling a yawn. "Just so we're clear on something, this better not be some bullshit pretense to get us onboard with joining—"
"Captain, I have taken your continued insults with as much good humor as I can muster; however, my patience with it is running thin," Mok said in a voice that made it clear he was not accustomed to being questioned or disobeyed. "Let's be honest; your small band of happy mercenaries is unique, but you're not something I couldn't replicate through quantity … and I have plenty of money to buy all the quantity I need."
"So why all the not-so-subtle efforts to roll us into your operation?" Jason asked. "If you can buy and lose a hundred of us, why give us help when we needed it with no expectation of being repaid?"
"Because your group has some attributes that make you useful in certain cases," Mok said. "That's all I will say on the matter for now. I am not what you think I am, nor do I feel inclined to explain myself to someone with as much blood on his hands as you have. Now … are you at all interested to learn why I've flown for nearly two weeks to your secret base or not?"
"I'm still listening." Jason crossed his arms.
It took Mok a little over an hour to lay out his case, complete with some visual evidence he'd brought with him on a slick little holographic projection interface. A lot of it seemed circumstantial and fairly thin to Jason, but he knew things were never as they seemed with Mok. There was a lot he wasn't telling, and Jason had to assume the information was being presented with a slant tailored to get him to react the way Mok wanted. The problem was, Jason couldn't see the angle. It didn't matter that he knew not to take the gangster at his word if he didn't even have a hint as to what the final goal might be.
"We will agree to conduct a preliminary recon based on this information." Lucky spoke up once Mok had finished his presentation. Both biological beings turned and looked at the battlesynth in surprise.
"We will?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Lucky insisted. The chain of command in Omega Force was more a loose guideline than the rigid structure of an actual military unit. Jason bit off his instinctual response and gave it a second's thought. If Lucky had jumped in, he must have thought Jason was going to reject the request and had good reason that they accept the job.
"You heard him," Jason said. "We'll take a look at some of this and get back to you. Nothing past that for right now though."
"It's honestly more than I expected given the state of things between us," Mok said.
"I don't hate you, Mok … hell I don't even dislike you." Jason laughed humorlessly. "You've helped us out of some tough spots and I haven't forgotten that. The problem is that I don't trust you. For all I know you're involved in things that would make Bondrass look like a Worczest Monk by comparison."
"Understood." Mok stood up and offered his hand, mimicking the human gesture he'd learned from Jason. "I will leave this holo interface here so you can review it at your leisure. Thank you for your time, Captain Burke."
Jason watched him exit the secure room and walk back towards the lift, pausing momentarily to look out over the Phoenix. "I assume you're going to explain why we're taking this job?" Jason asked Lucky.
"Of course," the battlesynth said. "And thank you for trusting me."
"Always do."
JASON SPENT the rest of the afternoon closing up his house as he always did when leaving for an extended period while Lucky went into town to get everything he needed for that evening. Before getting the crew together and explaining the mission, Jason thought it would be a good idea for a grill out in the hangar the night before departing. It allowed him to keep everyone in one place and not interacting with the locals should the party get a little out of hand.
He secured what little he had in the way of valuables in a hidden safe embedded in the house's foundation. There were some personal effects from before he was shanghaied aboard the gunship, like pictures and letters, as well as a few new things he'd picked up along the way.
There was a Beretta M9 pistol that Russ Johnson had given him. It was more nostalgic than useful since he had no ammunition for it and had much better weaponry at his disposal in his armory. There was also an Omega Speedmaster stainless steel watch that Marcus Webb had given him before he left Earth as a sort of peace offering for the friction between them early on and possibly as an apology for setting out to kill him without knowing the facts. It was a beautiful timepiece and Jason appreciated the gesture. So much so that he didn't have the heart to tell Marcus a twenty-four-hour watch with an Earth-based calendar was fairly useless unless one was actually on Earth.
He kept in touch with Russ and Marcus as best he could as Earth continued on its inexorable march into the larger galactic community, but friendships over thousands of lightyears were hard to maintain. He set those in the safe along with a handwritten note from President Abigail Hightower thanking him for his service. She'd given it to him right before publicly declaring him a fugitive again and blaming him for the attacks on Earth.
The last thing he put in was a framed photo of himself standing next to a young man that looked to be in his mid to late teens. He had a digital copy, of course, but he didn't want to leave anything lying around that would lead anyone to believe the boy was important to him and put him at risk. Jacob Brown, named for Jason's father and using his mother's last name, was the son he had only recently found out about. He was conceived during the short time Jason had reunited with Taryn Brown, his ex-girlfriend, and he'd been unaware of the boy's existence until recently.
He sighed and let the door on the safe fall shut with a thud before keying in the lock code. After replacing the bit of false-floor, he made one more pass through the house before walking out and hopping into his Camaro, wanting to beat what looked like an approaching coastal squall while he still had the top down. With a final look over his shoulder, he spun his tires out of the gravel parking pad in front of the house and fishtailed wildly down the narrow street on his way back to the hangar.
"What's going on? We get a contract?" Crusher shouted at him as he drove his car into the hangar, underneath the Phoenix, and parked it in one of the storage cages near the nose of the ship.
"Sneak and peak on a core world that Lucky thinks we should take seriously," Jason said. "We'll go over the details later. I gave Lucky a thousand S'Toran kilnns and told him to spare no expense on dinner tonight. We'll be wheels up first thing in the morning."
The mention of food seemed to put Crusher off from digging for more details. He shrugged and appeared to lose all interest, stopping only to leave a huge, greasy thumb print on the rear fender of the car and smiling as he walked off.
"Damn him!" Jason huffed under his breath and wiped the car off with the tail of his shirt.
Lucky arrived shortly afterwards in a boxy ground vehicle Twingo had bought specifically to move delicate components from the Phoenix's navigation sensor array to a shop a few hundred kilometers away that had the necessary equipment to do a bench-level realignment. Afterwards he procrastinated about selling the unneeded vehicle and Lucky had laid claim to it, eliminating any chance the engineer had of getting his money back. He'd whined to Jason about being reimbursed but was told to take it up with Lucky. Twingo had grumbled but dropped the subject when he saw how attached the battlesynth had become to the cargo van.
"So you want to get this out of the way now?" Kage asked.
"Might as well," Jason said. He realized he had likely screwed up by trying to hold an initial mission brief during what would undoubtedly become a raucous party within a short span. "Everyone listen up! Let's get this bit of business taken care of and then you can commence with the killing of your brain cells."
"Did I hear correctly that Saditava Mok was here in the hangar earlier today?" Doc asked.
"You did," Jason said. "And before the real protests start … yes, that's who this job is for." He let the comments regarding his intellect, questionable parentage, and exasperated huffs die down before continuing.
/>
"We're going to a planet called Khepri. It's one of the core worlds—actually it's one of the ConFed Pillar Worlds—so our lack of any affiliation is one of the main reasons we were asked. The city we'll be heading to is Cenk Vale, the Kheprian capital, and we'll be looking for signs of a covert military buildup."
"This doesn't seem like our usual type of gig," Kage said. "Why did we take this again? Are we already hurting for money after that last mission?"
"We're not spies," Crusher agreed. "What makes us any more qualified to look in on this than some random sniffer Mok could find off the street?"
"Lucky, this was your idea … the floor is yours," Jason said.
"The military buildup in Khepri could be viewed as one of a few precursor events that might lead to the destabilization and collapse of the ConFed," Lucky said. "Or at the very least it would significantly reduce their influence to the point of making them irrelevant."
"This old song again?" Crusher moaned. "Ignoring the fact that we seem to be on the verge of a ConFed collapse every few years, what makes this planet so unique that we want to go there?"
"Khepri is the planet of my birth," Lucky said. "The indigenous species, called pru, are my creators."
"Look, buddy, I'm all for nostalgia," Twingo said, "but that's hardly a reason to—"
"The pru have very little in the way of a standing military," Lucky interrupted. "If there is a buildup or escalation happening on the planet, it means that synths are involved. Specifically, they will have recalled the remaining battlesynths if they feel threatened." Everyone remained quiet for a moment, digesting that bit of news.
"What do they have for a fleet?" Jason asked. "No offense, but even a thousand of you would be of little use against an orbital strike."
"Khepri relies entirely on the ConFed fleet," Kage spoke up, reading from one of the tablets he always had clutched in his hands. "As a Pillar World they enjoy unfettered access to fleet assets as well as priority defense status in the event of an incident."
"That brings up an interesting point," Doc said. "What's our premise here? Are the pru trying to take down the ConFed? Because it seems like they enjoy more perks than most and would have a vested interest in keeping it strong and stable."
"We are not sure what the goal might be," Lucky said, reasserting control over the discussion. "However, I am sure that any overt aggressive actions will not have been sanctioned by the Kheprian government."
"You have suspicions?" Crusher asked.
"I need to see if any of the remaining battlesynth units have been called home," Lucky said. "There are only a few that would have the access to be able to accomplish that. It will tell us much as to what might be behind this, and who."
"So we're all in agreement about doing this?" Jason asked.
The others looked at each other with varying degrees of disinterest and indifference.
"It's not like we have anything else going on," Crusher said. "Between you playing with your weeds and Twingo dragging his ass putting the ship back together I had about given up on the notion we were ever getting back to work."
"Okay then, we'll hammer out the details once we're underway," Jason said. "Lucky, let me know if you need any help with the food. Kage, I have a quick job for you before we depart."
Thanks to the storm Jason had seen kicking up earlier they'd moved the wood-burning grill inside and rigged up one of the maintenance fume extractors over it so Lucky could cook without standing outside under the flimsy lean-to they used for ground car parking. The rest of them all sat on the back ramp of the Phoenix to drink and heckle each other until the food was ready.
Overall it ended up being a very pleasant and blessedly calm evening with friends. Lucky's culinary prowess continued to advance and the mix of meats, seafood, and vegetables that came off the grill was nothing short of amazing. It was still a somewhat surreal sight to see one of the galaxy's most potent weapons hunched over a grill and fretting about overcooking the skewered fish. Cooking for his friends seemed to be something Lucky took very seriously, so Jason was thankful he had a genuine knack for it. Trying to choke down something inedible, or potentially dangerous, just to spare his feelings would become tedious.
He slept on the ship in his quarters that night, a thousand thoughts flitting through his mind before he drifted off to sleep. There was concern about the mission and what effect it might have on Lucky, worry about his own species as they continued to drive forward quickly as an emerging spacefaring power, and a constant feeling of regret revolving around a son that he had no connection to. He had no answer for any of these, but he worried nonetheless.
6
The storm that had been threatening the coastline the previous day finally let loose sometime during the night. Jason woke up and could hear the pounding rain even inside the ship. The driving wind lashed at the closed doors and shook them in the tracks. He groaned and swung out of his rack, grabbing his toiletry bag and slipping on his soccer sandals, intent on getting to one of the three bathrooms in the hangar before everyone else was up and about.
The hangar was chilly and damp as he stepped over and around all the support equipment still attached to his ship. He made a mental note to have Twingo adjust the environmental system to dry the place out once they'd left. The idea of cutting back into the natural rock formation to build their hangar had seemed great at the time, but the reality was that they were always fighting moisture and temperature that wouldn't be an issue with a freestanding building. Jason blamed the A'arcooni influence on them when they began designing their base. The alien species used a type of geopolymer to build their cities that gave the impression of monolithic structures carved out of solid stone. It was something that he and Twingo had been very taken with and had mimicked poorly with their own design.
After he'd showered and donned one of his generic dark gray uniforms he still preferred, he went out onto the expansive mezzanine, prepared to have to rouse his crew so they could depart on time. Happily, they were all awake, bright-eyed and petitioning Lucky for breakfast before being stuck eating food from a synthesizer.
"It's brand new equipment we've never even used and you're already bitching about it?" Jason said with exasperation.
"It's the principle," Crusher said. "Complaining about the food is a cornerstone of our team dynamic."
"Whatever," Jason muttered. "Twingo, want to give me a hand getting her unhooked and prepped for rollout?"
In the thirty minutes it took Lucky to prepare their last meal at home for a while, Jason and Twingo were able to top off the fuel load, begin the preflight sequence including main reactor start, and disconnect all the maintenance umbilicals that provided power, air, and water while the ship was dormant along with the cryogenic line that fed the liquid hydrogen fuel into the containment cells. Once the Phoenix began hissing and rumbling as her various subsystems came online, Jason activated the hangars powerful overhead vents, not wanting to open the doors just yet.
"We ready to hit it?" he asked impatiently once everyone had fed themselves and cleaned up.
"You in some kind of hurry?" Kage asked, making no move to get up.
"Make one last sweep to make sure you haven't forgotten anything and then get aboard," Jason said, ignoring him.
It was another fifteen minutes before they were all in their seats on the bridge and Jason was able to close and lock the rear ramp and pressure doors.
"Go ahead and open the doors," he said to Kage. "Twingo, how long until we have flight power?"
"Reactor is at forty-four percent and climbing steadily," Twingo answered. "Main drive power will be available in seven minutes."
As the hangar doors parted, Jason could see bits of trash the service bots hadn't cleaned up yet swirling around from the wind howling in off the sea. Weather prediction wasn't something the S'Torans took too seriously, so he wasn't entirely sure how harsh this storm was going to get, but the instrumentation they had outside showed the winds gusting up to seventy-five KPH.
After one final look at his instruments and the external camera views, he released the brakes and backed the gunship out of the hangar slowly. Once the vertical stabilizers cleared the threshold, the Phoenix began to rock and sway in the wind. Jason increased his ground speed a touch so he could get the ship outside and close the doors before too much rain was blown inside.
"Closing the doors and setting security protocol Alpha-One-One," Kage said once the nose cone was a few meters clear.
"Reactor at seventy-two percent and climbing," Twingo said. "Main Bus A and B have full power available. Main drive is energized and charging … two more minutes."
Rain pelted and ran off the canopy in sheets while the Phoenix hummed from her main reactor coming up to full power. Now fully exposed, the ship was really shaking as the gusts eddied around the stabilizers and over the lifting surfaces. Jason closed his eyes and let his neural implant integrate with the ship. He would definitely want to use the more powerful multi-spectral sensor feed from the ship as they flew up and out of the storm.
"Everything checks out, Captain," Twingo said. "You're cleared for flight."
"Clear on my end," Kage said. "Building is secure and all of the Phoenix's computers are booted and running."
"Stand by," Jason said. "Taking us up."
He checked local airspace out of habit, not that he expected anybody to be flying around in this, and rapidly fed power to the main drive. The Phoenix lurched into the air and rose at a dizzying speed before he began to angle the nose up and away from the mainland.
Another aspect of their base was that the rock formation it was built into rose up to a peak nearly fifty meters in the air. When wind conditions were this extreme, he had to get up and clear quickly so an errant gust didn't take him too close to the rock face. There was a delicate though brief transition period right after the weight came off the wheels and the grav-drive assumed total control on their orientation and position when she was vulnerable to strong winds pushing her about.
Omega Force 09: Revolution Page 4