The Fifth Column Boxed Set

by J. N. Chaney

  Satisfied, I opened the weapons control and took a second to get familiar. They were more or less standard. “Firing now,” I called out.

  For the ninety seconds we waged a one ship war on the Void’s outer line of defense. They responded with a maelstrom of return fire. With Leigh’s assistance Jax kept us out of the worst of it. He shot left, strafed right, and even dove forward into oncoming fire once. The maneuver saved us from one of the fighters that had worked its way above us.

  For my part, I worked the weapons system, tapping and swiping, locking onto the targets that were doing the most damage. Two ships spun away into the black ocean of the system, destroyed before my first cannon was disabled.

  Jax threw us into a dive when the last cannon gave out. “This is our last move,” he said. “Going under.”

  I knew what he meant. Going under the station would provide a momentary reprieve, but the Void would just follow, then we’d be in the same predicament, this time with no working weapons. Sitting rombdin.

  A ping sounded from display. Six red dots remained, all swarming after us. Behind them, a green dot appeared.

  The Second Genesis. I didn’t know if it would be enough, but my crew was here. Three blasts struck us, dropping the shield’s percentage to single digits. My ship opened fire on the Void. Their remaining vessels changed course and fired back.

  The star map chimed again, and I saw another green dot appear. “Who is that?” Before anyone could answer, the holo chimed again, then again, pinging with more bright green dots until more than a dozen joined the Genesis.

  “Dunham for you, sir.”

  He accepted the call and gave a small salute. “Jax, we’re a little late. Ravager situation, but your backup is here. Do you have the ingot?”

  “Yes ma’am. That’s about all we have though. Weapons are fried and the shields won’t take another hit.”

  It struck me that he didn’t sound like the man I had become familiar with. Had that all been an act? My mind swirled, trying to make sense of everything.

  “Understood. Try to convince the Vice-Admiral to let you go. If not, we’re prepared to deal with it.”

  Jax nodded and ended the transmission. “Leigh, open a line to Vice-Admiral-Kaska.”

  Kaska’s face appeared on the holo, drawn and angry. He sneered at us. “All alone except for one other ship. Ready to surrender?”

  Jax smiled. “Not exactly. I’ll let Cortez tell you why.”

  “Well, sir, we’re not alone. A few more friends have come to help. You’re welcome to check.”

  His gaze slid offscreen and the sound went off. He shouted, then curled his lip into a snarl before turning it back on. “What do you want then?”

  “We’re leaving. You can let that happen and live or try to stop us and die.”

  The Vice-Admiral considered that for a beat. “This isn’t over. You think you’ve won, but I’m not done yet.”

  The transmission cut off.

  On the star map, all the remaining red dots backed off, leaving us a path to join the rest of my crew and the Initiative ships.

  “Gods, Alyss. I can’t even tell you how sorry I am.”

  We were back on my ship and Farah stood over me in the medbay. The other bed held Dolph, but the man was snoring from the high dose of pain meds. I’d come out of Xanderis with more injuries than I realized. Besides the broken ribs, two of them, I had contusions and cuts everywhere. During my transition from Jax’s ship to mine, one of the broken ribs had shifted and nicked something in my chest cavity.

  Thanks to our resident medic and the advanced medical bay, I’d survived without too much fuss. Now I was on the mend and under Farah’s orders to stay in bed for the next two days.

  “I’m not mad. Seriously, we got the ingot. But I’m lost. Not all of my memory has come back and so much doesn’t make sense. Can you start from the beginning?”

  She blew out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. It started with your plan to infiltrate Xanderis. Do you remember me storming off the bridge?”

  “A little. It’s fuzzy though.”

  “Well, while I was slamming things around in my room, something occurred to me. You two were going to do the mission no matter what I had to say about it. That got me thinking. The idea was suicidal, but crazy enough to work, just not the way you planned it.”

  “Gee, thanks for the faith,” I muttered.

  “Hold on a sec. When Mack came to calm me down, I told her we needed a better plan. She sided with me because she knew something you didn’t. The Void has fine-tuned lie detection to an art. Jax should have considered that, and he might have later, but Mack and I had a lightbulb moment.” The words tumbled out in a rush as she spoke, a silent plea in her eyes.

  “I already said I’m not mad. Just tell me what you came up with.”

  “Right. We figured the only way for you to pass the tests was if you didn’t know the truth. After you went to bed that night, we met with Jax and told him. He agreed. Vega ran statistics to be sure.”

  “Really. And what statistics were those, V?”

  The AI made a coughing sound. Recorded, but it somehow sounded like her. “I hope you’ll understand I mean no disrespect, Captain, but you cannot lie for bowel movement.”

  “Uh. What was that? V, are you having another malfunction?”

  “Oh dear. I am attempting to curse. My data says bowel movement is a type of coarse language.”

  “She’s right,” Farah said with a laugh. “You can’t lie for shit.”

  I palmed my face and groaned. “V, maybe you should do more research on cursing. But I guess you’re right.”

  Farah saw my gaze move to the side and fisted a hand on her hip. “You did something stupid didn’t you?”

  “I’m not good at keeping my mouth shut anymore. Kaska just wouldn’t stop talking. I might have slipped with insults a time or two.”

  She sobered and laid a hand on my arm. “I guess that explains all the trauma. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No,” I told her. “Not now, maybe not ever. You don’t need to hear it anyway. I know you. The guilt will tear at you.”

  Farah threw her hands up, feigning irritation. “I sent my friend blind into a deathtrap and she’s worried about my feelings. Now I’m thinking that the concussion wasn’t so mild after all.”

  “This is why I didn’t make the cut,” I said. “Too emotional. I have more questions though. Some of that night came back, from when we were drinking. When Jax came your reaction looked so real. Was that the drug?”

  That part was still bothering me. I knew it all fit together but wanted to know how.

  “Oh, that. No, actually. I got a taste of my own medicine there. Mack and Jax changed the plan last minute. He knew they would check the feed from his ocular implant, so they came up with the stun baton to corrupt the file. She stayed out of sight so they couldn’t get a read on her face if any of the feed was saved. Since I did most of the fighting, my reaction had to be genuine too.”

  I remembered the way Mack stayed by me during the scuffle. “I see. Smart. Really smart. Gods, Farah. I’m not going to lie, that was terrifying. Like bowel movement in my pants scary. Also, your brother is a hell of an actor. He could win awards.”

  She waved a hand. “Not really, that was me. Partial paralytic. Fancy ladies use it to get rid of their wrinkles.”

  “You gave the face injections?” I mimed pulling my cheeks back.

  “Yeah. He had to look stone cold during all that too. His micro expressions would have given him away.”

  “Wow. You guys thought of it all. I thought he betrayed us like Calliope. What’s more, I didn’t know how the hell I was going to get out of there.”

  Farah looked stricken. “I knew that would happen. Sorry. I’m going to keep saying it, so don’t try to stop me.”

  “Look, don’t beat yourself up. What you did saved my life in there—more than a few times. Probably saved me some torture too. Besides, I did somethin
g in there I’m ashamed of. Maybe it will make you feel better.”

  I paused, not sure how to tell her I had broken under the Vice-Admiral’s interrogation techniques.

  “Whatever it is, I don’t care.”

  “I still have to say it. I gave Kaska the codes to take back the ship. Did that cause you any issues?”

  She shook her head. “Don’t take this the wrong way… We expected it. Not that you aren’t the baddest ass that ever badassed, but it was Void torture. Jax told us no one can hold out after the brainwashing. We took precautions. Waited until Kaska tried to use the codes. Mack created a latent process in Vega’s programming to detect and neutralize any attempts with the codes.”

  “Last thing. How did you pull off the power failure?”

  “That might have been the easiest part, for Mack at least. We mocked up a file for Jax to give them on you. It had a worm. In order for it to work Mack said it had to be extremely precise. I don’t know exactly how she did it, but I know it took until just before she shut the facility down for it to gain access. That’s why we took so long.”

  “So I’m guessing it was just dumb luck that the power cut out right before surgery?”

  My friend blanched. “What?”

  “The crazy ass doctor was about to take my arm and eye. If you’d been any later, I wouldn’t be here now. Or I’d be here with some upgrades.”

  “Jeez. Jax assured us it would take longer before that happened.”

  “Not your fault,” I told her. “Because of our previous training they cut some out. Shortened the overall time. I did have to run through the facility naked though. That sucked. Until Dolph found me and brought some clothes.”

  “Oh! Dolph. How about that? We filled Dunham in on everything in case Kaska launched an attack. She had Dolph as a sort of sleeper agent. Because we were so close to getting the ingot she activated him.”

  I tried to sit up and get a better look at him, but the motion sent a searing pain into my side.

  “Hey, lie back down. Doctor’s orders. In fact, you need some sleep. I’m going to up the pain meds.”

  On any other day I might have argued. Today, after a mission that mostly worked out and surrounded by friends, I happily accepted.

  There was still more to do, but it could wait until tomorrow.

  Epilogue

  I was on my feet a few days later and back in the captain’s chair. Mack handed me a glass filled with a lime green liquid. My last encounter with a bright colored drink hadn’t exactly gone well.

  “Is this another Shocker type drink?” I asked. “I’m not sure my stomach lining can handle that.”

  “Nope. This is something I think you’re going to like. Slip Tunnel Swirl enerdrink mixed with vodka.”

  “Oh. That sounds pretty good. Did you come up with that on your own?”

  She snorted. “No. People have been mixing alcohol with questionable refreshments since the beginning of time. I know you guys were all straight-laced before leaving the Empire but this is just sad.”

  Farah smelled it and pulled a face. “Yuck. If this is normal, I don’t think we were missing out. Still don’t know how anyone drinks those things anyway. Why isn’t there coffee-flavored alcohol?”

  Mack laughed and kept passing out her creations. “You have so much to learn and I, for one, am happy to teach you both.”

  Jax accepted his like it was a bomb about to explode. “Sorry, I’m not drinking this. I prefer my libations to be amber or brown. You know, real drinks. Manly.”

  “Captain’s orders,” I told him. “You have to at least try it. This is a post-mission tradition now.”

  Dolph grabbed his so fast some sloshed over the side. “If he won’t, I will. Pansy.”

  “I’m not doing a speech,” I said once everyone had a drink in hand. “We lived, that’s enough.”

  Five glasses raised into the air and were emptied in quick order. The enerdrink mixed well with the vodka and I grinned a sloppy smile. “Not bad. A little sweet. Mack, you got any whiskey hidden away?”

  She cocked her head at me. “You been in my quarters or something, Cap? Kidding. Be right back.”

  “Now we’re talking,” Jax said. “Maybe this tradition isn’t half bad.”

  With the mission over, the Void operative had changed completely. He was still a hardass, but another side was beginning to show itself. The resemblance between him and Farah had only become more prevalent as I recognized they shared some of the same mannerisms.

  The hacker returned in under a minute with the bottle and fresh glasses. She played bartender and passed out another round.

  We didn’t get a chance to toast because Vega announced we had an incoming call. She told me over the ear comm who it was and I told her to take it.

  A man with hard features and dark brown hair appeared on the holo. He looked just like the wanted posters, but there was something else there. Hope, maybe.

  “This is Jace Hughes,” he said. “I’m looking for Eva Delgado, rebel leader or whatever.”

  I held up my glass but didn’t get up, opting to sling my free hand over the back of my chair. “It’s Alyss Cortez,” I corrected. “Or Captain Cortez. Take your pick.”

  The Renegade’s eyes slid to my drink. “Is that whiskey, Captain Cortez? My kind of people. Thanks for getting back to me.”

  “Don’t mention it,” I said, studying him for a long moment. He had ruggedness to him, but he still looked young. I suspected he was the kind of man who’d seen more than his share of death and combat, no stranger to tragedy. But even still, his eyes held a warmth to them, like subtle optimism, though it took me a moment to find it. “So,” I said, finally ready to continue. “I hear you have yourself a Celestial problem.”

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