“You idiot,” she said. “They could have the Overdrive data.”
They watched the pair scurry out of the room. Gabriella ordered a squad to follow them. More Templars went charging into the antechamber.
Entering the audience chamber of Ram Terry IV, Gabriella and Sammael found their Templars supporting the figure of Knights Captain Tynan. Seeing the Princess, his eyes widened and he hastily bowed.
“Princess. I didn’t know you were on Fever.”
“Obviously. Now what happened?”
Tynan shuffled his feet. “They got away.”
“Really," she said dryly.
“Yes. There’s an escape tunnel at the back.”
“Fascinating. And here’s me thinking they turned invisible and walked out the front door.”
Tynan looked embarrassed.
“And who might these be?” she said, nudging the charred remains of a Martian with one dainty toe.
“Martians.”
“And where is your attendant Angel and Templars?”
“Dead, Princess. Killed by a Watcher Prince.”
Gabriella knew this already but liked watching the man squirm.
“Well, in that case, I think you should take some of my Templars and go get me this Overdrive.”
Tynan looked uncomfortable. “My orders are to bring it back for Metatron.”
“Well your orders have changed. I represent Metatron and the ruling council on this rock and you will obey me.”
Tynan bowed meekly. “Yes Princess.”
◊
Crystal used the distraction caused by Tynan’s first crawler bomb to regain her sword. Activating her field, she fired a blast of pure energy at the Nephillim holding it. The energy bolt threw the Nephillim against the far wall. Her sword clattered to the ground.
Crystal was moving before her sword had hit the ground. A fluid and precisely executed somersault landed her next to the unconscious body of the Nephillim. She casually picked up her sword and gave it an experimental twirl. Without turning, she extended one arm and fired a bolt of energy at the two Nephillim holding Felix. They were thrown backwards leaving Felix free and unharmed.
Three plasma blasts hit her, splashing harmlessly off her personal field.
“Never mind her," said Asel, “get Felix.”
Logan and Tarquin had used the opportunity to incapacitate the nearest Nephillim and liberate his weaponry. The other Shepherds were engaged in struggles with the remaining Nephillim. Five robed Shepherds were already smoking on the ground. Felix dropped to the ground to avoid stray weapon blasts. Three more Nephillim attempted to seize him but were cut down as Logan and Tarquin rushed over to protect him.
Two Shepherds had armed themselves and now stood guard over Ram Terry IV, firing shots at the Nephillim. Ram Terry had somehow managed to get one of the Nephillim on his knees and was repeatedly butting him in the head.
Crystal had squared off against Asel.
“I don’t know what you are,” he growled, aiming his Afer at her head, “but I know what you’re about to become.” He fired.
Crystal anticipated the shot and dodged sidewards. The Afer bolt struck one of the Watcher’s own men behind her. Using her momentum, field energy and the alley wall as a kickboard, she flew towards Asel with her sword raised in front of her.
Asel, expecting the sword to be aiming for him, brought his own up to block, simultaneously trying to bring his Afer to bear for another shot. Crystal wasn’t aiming for him. Her sword stroke cut the Afer neatly in two. Asel was left holding the stump.
Dropping the now useless cannon, Asel backed away and brought his sword up in a two handed ready position.
“Alright missy. If that’s the way you want it, bring it on.”
Charging forwards, Crystal’s first blows penetrated Asel field’s forcing him to block every stroke. His face betrayed the shock he felt.
“What are you?," he roared.
Crystal smiled, raised her sword, and began raining blows down on Asel with furious precision.
To the onlookers, both combatants movements were impossible to follow, such was the speed of their blows.
Felix, lying on the ground, was mesmerized by the sight. If Crystal possessed such power, why had she chosen not to reveal it earlier? He looked up at his two friends standing above him. Together with the remaining Shepherds, Logan and Tarquin were systematically taking out the Nephillim. Three of the Watchers had already done a runner. Felix was getting to his feet when another explosion rocked the ground.
Crystal, momentarily distracted, barely blocked a return stroke of Asel’s sword. A fist, rising in an uppercut from beneath her field, caught her squarely on the chin. The blow sent her slamming into the alley wall. Rolling to her feet and desperately preparing for the death stroke she felt sure was next, Crystal was surprised to find no sign of Asel. The Watcher Prince had disappeared.
Around her, the alley was filled with smoking Shepherd and Nephillim bodies. Ram Terry IV, against the alley wall and industriously butting one of the prone Nephillim, was guarded by two Shepherds. Logan, Tarquin and Felix were walking towards her. Behind them, she could see two Nephillim running for it.
“Quite a show," said Logan dryly.
Crystal walked up to Felix and embraced him. “Are you OK?”
Felix nodded mutely.
With the removal of the Watchers presence, their AI connection with Fever’s net came back on line. An automated message arrived, warning them that there was less than two hours until the nova burst.
“Right," she said, “lets get back to the ship. We won’t be allowed to leave during the burst and there’s no telling how many more bad guys could be on this rock.”
“Not to mention local security," said Logan.
“What about his Lambiness?," asked Tarquin.
“He’ll have to come with us.” She turned to her master. “Is that alright with you your Raminess?”
Ram Terry did the sheep equivalent of a shrug. “Suits me. Its not like I’ve got much of a bodyguard left.”
“Ok then.” She picked up the Overdrive with one hand. Logan, Tarquin and Felix’s jaws fell open.
“What?” she said, turning to smile at the men. “Haven’t you met a girl that works out before?”
◊
The two surviving Shepherds happily turned out to be Logan and Tarquin’s escorts from the previous night.
One sheep and six humans made their way to the nearest AG capsule, instructing it to take them to the spaceport.
Arriving, they could hear the unmistakable sound of an emergency siren. About two kilometers away, black smoke could be seen drifting high in the huge chamber.
“Wasn’t that near where you docked?” asked Felix.
Tarquin looked worried. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Hiring a cart, they set off in the general direction of the smoke. As they neared the docking bay of the Debacherous Weekend, black smoke thickened around them and bits of wreckage could be seen littering the ground. Various emergency vehicles clustered around a burning shape in front of them. Medical staff were comforting a group of old people nearby.
“My ship!," cried Tarquin. He was literally crying.
There wasn’t much left of Tarquin’s ship. Security personal had cordoned off the area making it impossible for them to get any nearer than 20 meters. Two familiar figures were waiting for them at the security barrier.
“Bruce, Walter,” said Felix happily. He looked around. “Where’s Derek?”
Bruce wouldn’t meet his eyes. Walter shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Why?," said Bruce, speaking for the first time. “You didn’t kill him.”
“Well, I’m sorry anyway.”
“Fair enough.”
“He was very brave," said Walter. “He saved our lives.”
Ram Terry was having a quiet word to his two Shepherds, Shannon and Heather. After a brief conversat
ion, the two women left.
“Where are they going?," asked Logan.
“Back to Novelle New Zealand. As soon as the Nova passes, they are going to try and hire a ship and warn my flock of a possible Areopagite invasion fleet.”
“Isn’t that a bit risky?”
“Yes, possibly a suicide mission but they volunteered.”
“Oh.” Logan watched the departing women. “Bugger.”
Tarquin had picked up a piece of wreckage and was eyeing it sadly.
“Don’t you worry old girl. I’ll get them back for you.”
Felix patted him on the back.
“Sorry to interrupt, but this isn’t helping us much," said Crystal.
Logan had been looking around and had noticed a cart going past loaded with pre-prepared food. He smiled.
“Fear not,” he said. “I have a plan.”
Felix groaned.
◊
Sammael entered Gabriella’s personal chambers aboard her Valkyrie. He bowed respectively and waited until she acknowledged his presence. The Areopagite Princess was busy filing a nail.
“Yes?," she said without looking up.
“The ship on which the Overdrive data arrived has been destroyed Princess. It seems whoever sabotaged it, went a bit overboard.”
“And?”
“As you believed, the Transplanter led our men back to Felix. Ram Terry IV is with them and they are under observation.”
Gabriella smiled with satisfaction. “Any sign of Asel?” She sat up and looked Sammael in the eye.
“No. He’s disappeared Princess. According to local security reports, there was an altercation behind the Shepherds headquarters. Numerous bodies were found but it seems our Watcher friend still lives.”
“Irrelevant.” She paused to reflect. “Hmmm. The Nova burst is less than two hours from now. There’s no way they will be able to charter a ship or remove the Overdrive. They will have to leave afterwards which gives us a bit of time.”
Sammael smiled grimly. “Probably just as well Princess. Local security are out in force at the moment after the recent explosions.”
Gabriella’s attention returned to her nails.
Sammael cleared his throat.
“Are you still here?” she said.
“My orders Princess?.”
“Oh yes. I would have thought it had been obvious. Monitor them. Make sure they don’t leave. If they do, it will be easier to apprehend them with my ship.”
“Yes Princess." He bowed and departed.
Gabriella tssked loudly. “Bollocks. I’ve broken a nail.”
◊
Piha Watson was having a bad day. Not a bad morning or a bad evening, but a bad day. The sort of day you wished you’d never been arsed getting out of bed. As soon as he had he regretted it.
Eating his breakfast, he’d received a message from the bank informing him that they were cutting his credit. What the fuck?, he’d thought. What idiotic petty bureaucrat organized those sort of messages to be sent out first thing in the morning? Anyway, that had put him off breakfast. His wife, Maria, wondered what was wrong with him. He didn’t tell her. Heavily pregnant, she had enough to worry about.
As he was walking out of his small two bedroom apartment in the Travolta chamber, his twin boys, Luke and Sam, had run after him. Money they’d wanted. Some field trip to see the Nova burst. Two hundred credits. He couldn’t afford it but it broke his heart to see disappointment on the twins faces. He transferred the money over to them, hugged each in turn and wished them a good trip. The boy’s faces beamed.
More money troubles. On his way to work, one of his regular clients cancelled. Said they needed a faster ship. Something about people wanting their meals before the Nova burst. He’d told the client he could do it but they laughed in his face.
“In your ship?”
“Why not?”
“Its a piece of shit. You’re lucky your meal packets don’t go floating into space.”
He’d cut the connection in disgust. Certainly his ship needed a bit of work. Unknown to most of his clients, his ship had failed its space worthy registration. He wasn’t about to tell them and prayed every time he went out that he wouldn’t encounter Fever’s constabulary.
His ship, Hot Tucker, delivered field sealed meals to the townships located on New Jupiter’s surface. So far, there were 5 settlements on the planet, heavily fielded, but dependent on Fever’s infrastructure for survival. And food.
Piha had once had a contract to deliver meals to all 5 settlements. After problems with his ship, he was forced to cut that down to 2. With his latest loss, he was only delivering to one settlement, and that was only making him a slight profit, having been forced to cut his profit margin to undercut his competitors.
He sighed heavily. Arriving at Fever’s huge spaceport chamber, Piha decided to walk. Besides, he couldn’t really afford to hire an AG cart.
There was a lot of activity in the spaceport today. Looked like some sort of fire had broken out as well. Accessing the news reports, he found they were full of coverage relating to a recent bout of explosions and dead bodies discovered in Studio 54. A ship had been destroyed in the docking bay as well, killing and injuring a number of old age pensioners.
Having more pressing matters on his mind, he dismissed the reports and entered his docking bay. By now, the catering people should have delivered the meals. He felt his mood lighten slightly in anticipation. The sight of his ship always cheered him up. Despite its many problems, it was an old friend. Besides, it was completely paid off and fully ensured. Actually it was insured for far more than it was worth. He’d toyed with the idea of having an unfortunate accident, but dismissed it out of sentimentality.
Rounding the corner, he stopped dead. His mouth fell open in surprise.
His ship, companion and source of funds, was gone.
◊
“Is this the best you can do?." Crystal shook her head in disgust. “Its a pile of shit."
“I’d like to see you come up with something better on short notice," replied Logan defensively.
Crystal glared at him and left the bridge of Hot Tucker in a huff.
Tarquin looked up from the modifications he was making on one of the consoles. “What’s up with her?”
Logan shrugged. “Beats me.”
“I will if you don’t get me security access to the AI.”
“Yeah, yeah. Almost there.” He shut his eye again and bought his burglar program on line.
Using their hired AG cart, they had followed the catering people to this ship. After watching the freighter being loaded with field enclosed meals, they had waited until there was no one around before Logan had used his burglar program to access the hatch way. Felix and Walter had gone aft, carrying the Overdrive between them.
Tarquin opened his comms channel. “How's it going Felix?”
Felix’s face appeared underneath his eyelid. “Almost there. Give me another 15 minutes to finish the installation and run a self-diagnostic.”
“Ok. But hurry it up. There’s less than an hour before the Nova.”
“Gotchya.”
Tarquin cut the channel and resumed his modifications.
Logan opened his eye. “Done,” he announced. “You should have full access now.”
Tarquin grunted.
“What exactly are you doing anyway?”
Tarquin looked up from underneath the console. “For your information, I’m trying to modify the field matrix in order to squeeze a bit more juice out of it. Is that alright with you? Do you mind if I get back to work now?”
“Hey, go nuts.”
Tarquin was about to return to work when he saw the frown of puzzlement on Logan’s face.
“What?”
“I was just wondering what the chances are of us getting out of here and outracing the Nova burst before trying to use a relatively untested device and move into a dimension that only a handful of people have actually witnessed?.”
T
arquin turned back to the console he was working on. “Oh, is that all. I thought you had something important to say.”
◊
“How's it going?”
Felix looked up from what he was doing on the Overdrive.
“A lot better if people stopped asking me that.”
“Sorry," said Crystal in mock offense. “Just curious.”
“Well, you can be as curious as you like once we’re out of here.”
“Fine.” She turned to go.
“Crystal?” She turned her head around again to face Felix.
“Yes?”
“You’re pretty sexy when you’re grumpy.”
She winked and smiled before leaving the engineering section and joining Bruce and Ram Terry IV in the storage compartment.
Hot Tucker was a small ship with the bare minimum in life support and fixtures. Obviously designed for brief sojourns, it lacked a lounge or accommodation facilities. Just as well, thought Crystal. If they were in the same condition as the rest of the ship…She cringed.
Logan probably couldn’t have picked a worse ship to steal. The Hot Tucker was a cargo ship. No trimmings or extras, just your basic freighter. Most of its rectangular, uninspiring 100 meter length was taken up with cargo space – currently filled almost to bursting with pre-prepared meals. There was barely enough room to stand, let alone sit. What little remained of the ship was taken up with your basic pre-requisites for space flight – a bridge and an engine room (if they could be classified as such). It didn’t look like any maintenance had been done on the ship for some time. In fact, thought Crystal, they’d be lucky to actually make it out of the space port, let alone the system before the Nova hit.
Back in the Engineering section, Felix returned to his work. Walter was crouching beside him, handing him tools and generally making cheerful and annoying comments. If that wasn’t enough, a think layer of grime covered every surface, making it difficult to recognize even the most basic item he’d studied in his undergraduate years. To top it all off, the cramped conditions certainly made it hard to work properly, what with Walter taking up precious elbow room.
He bumped against Walter as he tried to get to an access panel on the outdated Slipdrive.
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