Even as intelligent as Lucky was he sometimes had trouble tracking a conversation with the flighty little code slicer. "There could be some argument regarding some of the instances as the others were also involved, but for the sake of brevity we can say I have saved your life fifty-seven times," he said.
"My family never did once and it wasn't for lack of opportunity," Kage said. "It's the same with the others on board … you're all my family. It no longer matters that my own parents didn't care if I lived or died, because you do. It's a powerful thing to realize that there is a place where you matter and belong. A place where you'll be accepted and forgiven even when you screw up and where others depend on you as much as you do on them."
Lucky wasn't sure how to respond. Kage seldom opened up and showed even a glimmer of vulnerability.
"Well, goodnight." Kage hopped out of the seat and flicked the terminal off. "Hope it's a boring watch."
"Kage—"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," Lucky said after struggling to find the right words.
"For what?"
The smartass was firmly back in place now and the Veran strolled off the bridge looking like he didn't have a care in the world. Lucky remembered Jason had once described Kage as a younger sibling who would act up intentionally and take the heat from everyone just to promote family cohesion. At the time it made no sense to a battlesynth that hadn't experienced a lengthy adolescence, but he now saw what his friend meant. Despite the endless bickering and insults, Kage took his job very seriously, and that job was to make sure they all stayed together.
His thoughts for the rest of the night watch were much different than when he'd first walked onto the bridge. Kage had been able to give him a focus and clarity on what was important. It didn't matter how he came into this universe, it only mattered what he did with his time in it. Protecting his crew, his family, was more important than dredging up a past he couldn't change. Moreover, if one were to look at the nature of evolution, they were all creations of chance and accident. What did it matter if his was in a laboratory instead of a puddle of primordial sludge?
18
Saditava Mok paced his office like a caged animal. Against all odds his last conversation with Jason Burke had been genuinely productive and even now Omega Force was flying to his location for a face to face meeting to divulge what they'd learned.
Burke had indicated that they had no smoking gun but had gathered enough periphery evidence that someone with Mok's resources and connections might be able to—how did he put it?—connect the dots. Mok was practically buzzing with anticipation knowing that usually when the human claimed he'd “found something” he was greatly understating the case.
To make his waiting worse, the Phoenix was overdue by more than a full day and there had been no further contact. Give the distance they had to travel that wasn't any reason for concern, but with Mok stuck planetside waiting on them it was nearly driving him mad. So far his own network had yet to turn up anything conclusive save for some unusual fleet deployments by the Eshquarians, an uncharacteristically quiet Saabror Protectorate, and the emergence of a new spacefaring species on the scene that had some impressively advanced starships. He'd been shocked to find out that the new players were the same species as Jason Burke, a coincidence he couldn't simply dismiss out of hand. For all of that he still had no real idea what was happening on Khepri, or about to happen to Khepri.
"Sir, Syodo's team has meshed in and is approaching the planet," his assistant announced.
"Syodo? What's he doing here?" Mok asked. "Did he say what the issue is?"
"They are not answering channel requests.”
"Maybe they took some damage," Mok mused. Something was off. His instincts were tingling, almost a physical sensation, and telling him that danger was close. "Let's have them land at the Thetta Complex. If they don't acknowledge the order, I want you to send out ships to intercept and escort them in."
"I obey."
Syodo popping into the system unannounced was strange enough on its own, but to not respond to multiple queries raised some alarms. Had the ship been commandeered and someone was using it to infiltrate his base?
"That's what I pay competent people for," he said to himself, pushing the matter from his mind. The Twelve Points were also inbound and he expected the first of them to arrive shortly after Burke did, so he would be getting little rest as be juggled meetings and coordinated efforts between everyone. For the short term he wanted to keep Omega Force and the Twelve Points separated. He'd carefully cultivated his relationship with Burke and there were a couple of his underlings who wouldn't be above trying to recruit him directly and a few others that would see Burke as a threat to their position. They'd either try to sabotage the thin thread of trust he'd spun or, in the case of the less intelligent, try to eliminate Burke and end up getting themselves killed.
"Sir, we have dispatched two fighters to intercept Syodo's ship. They still fail to answer channel queries or navigational requests," the assistant said. Mok's eyes narrowed to slits and his ears flattened.
"Where is Sorlotta Arx?" he asked, his voice harsh, almost growling. The assistant, unruffled by his boss's obvious anger, spoke into his com unit.
"Minister Arx is no longer on the compound, sir. He was not tracked as per your—"
"I know what I said, Similan," Mok snarled. "Find him! And lock this place down … nobody in or out until we find out what is going on."
"I obey." Similan bowed and quickly retreated.
Mok knew something was afoot now. Arx, a full Eshquarian Minister, had been slinking around for months trying to get him to commit his resources to some vague plan that would bring glory and riches to the Empire and those that helped her. Now he had vanished just when his own tactical team's ship pops up in the system and refuses to answer Mok, and conveniently right before the Twelve Points were scheduled to arrive. He hadn’t survived as long as he did in the espionage game because he foolishly ignored his instincts.
"Sir! Four Eshquarian heavy combat shuttles have appeared in the system and are taking up formation behind Syodo's ship. They've fired on our fighters," Similan shouted from the office foyer where he was frantically coordinating with their forces.
"So this is the game, is it, Arx?" Mok whispered. "Recall our emergency fast-response force and get everyone into the bunkers. By the time I get down there I want an open slip-com channel to Captain Jason Burke's ship."
"I ob—"
"Move it, Similan!"
Mok was already running for the hidden door that concealed the high-speed lift that would drop him into a hardened bunker below and south of the compound. He lived in constant risk from this sort of attack, since as someone who was trying to give the appearance of being a legitimate businessman he couldn't very well have plasma cannon turrets and warships parked all around his estate. Instead, he'd opted to keep a fast-action fleet at a secret base a short slip-space flight away and had bunkers built throughout the property that would allow him and the staff to weather an attack until they arrived.
The other layer of protection was that, even with the veneer of respectability, everyone knew exactly who he was and what would happen if they were foolish enough to strike at him. They, their families, and anyone they'd enjoyed a sunny afternoon cookout with would be dead within days. Unfortunately that only worked with other criminals. It appeared that an emissary of the Eshquarian Empire was moving against him and governments weren't quite so afraid of a crime boss outside of their borders.
"Let's go," he said as Similan sprinted into the lift car. The assistant keyed in the security code to activate the lift and within half a second the doors snapped closed and the car accelerated down so aggressively that Mok almost felt like he was floating. "Someone will pay dearly for this."
"Yes, sir," Similan said, sounding almost as feral as his boss. "Yes they will."
"SLIP-COM CHANNEL request coming in from Saditava Mok," Kage said.
"What the hell? We're
barely an hour away from meshing-in." Jason yawned. "The man has no patience. Put the old gasbag on."
"You're on," Kage said.
"Mok, we're almost—"
"We're under attack, Captain Burke." Mok's voice came through as if he was in a tunnel. "We have four inbound heavy attack shuttles with an unknown ground complement as well as one of my own runabouts that I suspect has been commandeered flying in."
"What are your defenses?" Jason asked, shaking off his grogginess.
"Minimal. A handful of Spirro-class fighters and some light ground-to-air cannons," Mok said. "I have a quick response fleet coming in, but they're some hours out yet; in the meantime we're in a hardened bunker waiting for them to arrive. I'm messaging you to warn you off … my fleet can handle it easily and I didn't want you stumbling into what is undoubtedly an internal security matter."
"I appreciate the concern, but you're forgetting one thing," Jason said.
"That being?"
"We live for this shit," Jason said with a wide smile. "Stand by, we'll be there within … twenty minutes."
"Now wait a minute, Captain. I have this—"
"Close channel," Jason told Kage as he commanded the slip-drive to eighty percent. "Doc, please take over here while I go down and get my party clothes on."
"We gonna see some ground action?" Crusher perked up.
"Looks like it," Jason said as he walked off the bridge.
"Yes!!"
"DAMN HIM!" Mok fumed. "Do you know why he's doing this?"
"I do not, sir," Similan said.
"It's so I'll owe him," Mok said, smacking the table. "So far I've done everything as a sort of investment and haven't really pressed him to reciprocate, but if he swoops in and saves us that basically zeros out the ledger."
"Maybe they really do just relish combat, sir," Similan offered. "He seemed quite excited."
"Oh, they're probably very excited," Mok said in disgust. "At least three of them will be. We'll be lucky if the damn building is still standing when they're done saving us. Where are the—"
"Incoming message from Syodo's ship," Similan interrupted. "Shall I put it on?"
"Please."
"Don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be, Colonel," Minister Sorlotta Arx said. "This could have been avoided if you'd been a little more agreeable to the common good, but I think the window has closed on that opportunity."
"What are you talking about, Arx?" Mok snarled. "And why are you aboard one of my ships?" He already knew the answer at this point, but he wanted to hear it from the source.
"Messy business trusting your affairs to mercenaries." Arx laughed. "It's a no-win situation. People who take money to kill aren't usually the sort to have any real loyalty. Syodo has been an asset of ours for some time. It was through him that I learned you had summoned your Twelve Points, so now the time for cajoling and pleading is over.
"Unfortunately I've told you too much to allow you simply to remain here playing gangster. I'm genuinely sorry about this, Colonel. I've always held you in high regard and hoped that we'd be able to work together once again."
"Channel has terminated at the source," Similan said.
Mok didn't answer. He slumped into his overstuffed chair as the first rumbles of weapons fire hitting the compound filtered down. How had he been so easily played? It was because he made the mistake of assuming he knew Arx and his motivations based on their previous encounters. He also had to admit that maybe an overinflated sense of his own position, not to mention his status as “untouchable,” might have led to the current crisis. Arx was a full Minister of the Eshquarian Empire … squishing Mok like an insect because he was a loose end and flying back home would be all in a day’s work.
The combat shuttles continued to hammer away at the compound's main structure while Mok and his staff huddled helplessly within the bunkers. He doubted that they were packing enough firepower to breach even the outer armor jacket of the bunker complex, but it still effectively trapped him until help came.
Even more unfortunate, at least for the duration of their current predicament, the planet Mok had chosen as a base of operations had no military of its own and was only loosely associated within a common defense alliance. It made it an attractive place to operate a quasi-legal enterprise from, but it also meant that as far as defense went if you didn't bring it with you, it didn't exist.
"One of the shuttles has been destroyed," Similan reported.
"Our guns get lucky?"
"No, sir. Our ground emplacements have already been neutralized," Similan said. "Perhaps—another one just went down. I can't identify the cause."
"I think we can assume the Phoenix has made an appearance," Mok deadpanned. As if to emphasize his words, the steady rumble of weapons fire above was punctuated with a tremendous boom that made everyone flinch and caused dust to rain down from the light fixtures.
"HOLY SHIT! Did you see that?" Jason shouted as the Phoenix rocketed over Saditava Mok's compound and past the tumbling wreckage of the second combat shuttle. The first he’d downed with a surprise missile shot from just over the horizon, the second he hit with the main cannons as it slogged around from a hover to meet their supersonic charge.
"Mountain!" Kage screamed.
"Shit," Jason grunted and snatched the stick into his lap while chopping the throttle. The Phoenix groaned under the g-load as she fought inertia, flipping up into a vertical climb. Jason rolled her to port and knife-edged between the two jutting peaks before pulling back again and continuing the loop around, advancing the throttle at the apex of his turn.
"Last three targets?" he asked.
"TWO TARGETS," Doc said. "That larger runabout has set down behind the outer wall of the compound."
"One target is hauling for orbit fast," Kage said. "Second is coming about to face us, six hundred kilometers over the ocean. I think he's going to try and sneak in under us the same as we did to the first two."
"Unimaginative," Jason said and hauled the Phoenix down from high subsonic. "Launch both twins, quickly. Give them do not engage orders and have them scout around where that ship landed."
Kage didn't reply as he worked with lightning efficiency, all four hands dancing over his station, programming the two multi-mission drones the Phoenix carried for their task. Jason saw that Doc had automatically assumed tactical duties from his station so he kept an eye on the threat board and for any surprises like the first clown trying to drop a missile on him from low orbit.
"Twins are away," Kage said.
With the Phoenix in full combat mode, Jason didn't detect the clunks of the drones launching from their cradles, but on his status board he saw the hatches were closing back up and he was green to full inter-atmospheric velocity.
"Hang on," he said, slamming the throttle down. "Ungh."
The inertial compensation provided by the artificial gravity system was woefully inadequate compared to the forces the new grav-drive could generate. They were all slammed back into their seats, the deck where Lucky had anchored himself buckled with a tortured shriek, and all manner of things crashing could be heard from the main deck.
"Whoo!" Jason cried in delight as his ship thundered across the landscape and out over the water. He used the trim switch on the top of the stick to bring the nose up a few degrees as their speed continued to climb.
"Jason!" Twingo warned.
"I know, I know." Jason relented and pulled the throttle back. The deceleration from the atmospheric drag was so violent it felt like they'd stopped in midair. "Kage?"
"He's on the deck and running, bracketing him on your tactical display now," Kage said. "It doesn't look like an escape attempt, he's coming around for a better angle after we overshot."
Jason closed his eyes for a split second and allowed his neural implant to fully integrate into the ship so he could use her sensors to “see” the target.
"Careful, Captain," Doc warned. "Ident just came back … Eshquarian Burza-class combat shuttle. It'
s their latest and greatest."
"We'll see about that," Jason said and kicked the left peddle to wheel the Phoenix around, rolling her to port and allowing the nose to fall towards the target.
The other pilot realized right away they'd been spotted and increased his climb angle to meet them head on. Jason looked down and saw Kage had taken note of the maneuver and already biased their shields forward. He allowed the Phoenix to slide into a shallow, unpowered dive to make the other craft expend more energy to come up and meet him. They were only five hundred kilometers apart now, nearly within weapons range.
The plasma cannons weren't as effective within an atmosphere as they were in the vacuum of space, nor were the laser batteries for that matter, but they were much harder to defend against than missiles. You could at least intercept those with point defense. A plasma shot you either dodged or hoped your shields could take it.
"His forward guns are charging, but he's slowing," Kage said. "That doesn't make any sense."
Jason rolled the Phoenix sixty degrees to starboard and pulled out of their dive, pushing the power up as he did.
"He's baiting us in!" he said. "Look for that other shuttle."
"I don't see—"
"Incoming! Landward side, three missiles with active countermeasures!" Doc called out.
"Point defense active!" Kage said. "The sensors can't get a lock at this range, they're too slippery."
"Hold on!" Jason barked and yanked the Phoenix up into a pure vertical climb and poured on the power. The big gunship groaned in protest at the g-loading, but she did as asked and was clawing up out of the atmosphere and actually outrunning the missiles that had to also climb to track.
As the canopy began to turn black, Jason chopped the power and kicked the right peddle, spinning the Phoenix like a top in a tight hammerhead turn. The point-defense systems had better coverage on the rear quadrant and the flanks where the pilot would traditionally be blinded, but Jason's neural implant integration helped to eliminate that. Now he would be diving towards the missiles, increasing the closure rate exponentially while they expended much of their energy just maintaining the climb. It gave him the advantage to dodge the incoming weapons with minimal control inputs.
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