Prime Alpha (Planetary Powers Book 1)

by Joshua Boring

  “Bah,” Kyler said, dismissively. “If those grunts knew anything about fightin’, I’da been in real trouble. They did not know who they were messin’ with.”

  Nathen stopped, halting everyone behind him. They were in a corridor now, far enough away from the cafeteria. Currently no one else was in sight. Nathen faced Kyler squarely.

  “Did you start that fight?”

  Kyler looked shocked. “What? No!”

  Nathen crossed his arms. Kyler floundered.

  “Well maybe I could’ve bumped inta someone, but thet’s et, I sweah!”

  Nathen’s eyes darted from Kyler to Trent and Doc. Someone was missing.

  “Where’s Jonathan?” he asked, noticing the stealthist wasn’t present.

  “Took off,” Doc said, shrugging apologetically. “We told him to stay, but…”

  “I’ll track him down, Boss,” Helen said, starting to run off.

  “Forget it,” Nathen said. “Kyler, what happened?”

  Kyler turned both palms up, at a loss. “I was just patrolin’ with Jonny, you know. We walked in on a couple oh guys playin’ cards or somethin’. One stahts talkin’ smack and won’t let us pass, so I walk into him and keep going. He musta tried to brain me from behind because next thing I know I turn around an Jonny’s got ‘im en an armbar end the guy’s screamin’ foh help. Well, theh was a couple squads walkin’ by outside, end, well…”

  “Things got out of control, I get it,” Nathen said, dismissing the incident.

  “Look, they stahted et, sir.”

  “I don’t care who started what,” Nathen shot, silencing Kyler’s objections. “Now we’ve got nearly a squad of Infantrymen in critical condition in the med bay, the ranking Sergeant wants us gone, and one way or another the top is about to blow off this whole station.”

  Nathen took a second to breathe, calmly, looking around at everyone’s faces.

  “Has anyone seen Calico?”

  Nobody answered, shaking heads. Nathen sighed and pointed to Trent.

  “Trent, I want you to take Kyler and get those injuries checked out. Do what you have to in order to get him back to one-hundred percent.”

  Kyler frowned. “Er, I love to sign casts, but I might not be too welcome en Orbit Angel’s med bay right now.”

  “We’ll bring them flowers,” Trent said, nudging him along.

  Nathen turned to Helen.

  “Helen, take Doc and go find Calico. Stick together. Tensions are running high for some reason and I don’t want the next fight to be lethal. I’m going to find Jonathan, then check in on Phillip to make sure he’s okay.”

  “What about Donal?” Helen asked.

  “He’ll get over it,” Nathen said, dismissively. “Contrary to what he just said and did, he’s generally a rational man. In the meantime, we’ve all got work to do, so get to it.”

  Trent and Kyler turned and headed off, back the way they’d come. Doc started off the other way, but Helen lingered.

  “Boss,” she said, worriedly. “What happens if Calico ends up being the traitor?”

  Nathen felt his facial muscles tighten.

  “Then I guess ESC Team Alpha will be looking for another translator, real soon.”

  Helen didn’t say anything. Nathen let the moment pass, then motioned for Helen to leave. “Go on. Doc will need help finding her.”

  Helen nodded and hurried after Doc, leaving Nathen completely alone. He didn’t stay long. Nathen walked off alone down the corridor, leaving his stolen assault rifle leaning carelessly against the wall without slowing his pace. If Phillip didn’t have considerable results soon, he’d have to pull him. That was too long a time to work without breaks, even for a tech wizard. No matter how good he was, everyone had their limits. After about two minutes of walking, Nathen was turning a corner when he caught a glimpse of a familiar face at the end of the corridor.

  Nathen hesitated, then smirked and shook his head, slowly striding toward the black and red uniform that was approaching him.

  “Hello, Ambassador,” he said.

  “Hello, Commander,” responded Gordon.

  The two stopped right next to the outer junction viewport, with half the host planet’s horizon in view. The glimmering solar skirt reflected dazzling starlight like a rippling sea as shuttle engines burned in the distance. Nathen leaned against the viewport guardrail.

  “What brings you away from the mobile headquarters, Captain?”

  Gordon stopped next to the viewport and sighed, hands clasped behind his back. “I don’t know yet. A council between captains has been called. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the flotilla docked at the space shield is scheduled to move out soon.”

  Nathen rested his elbows on the guardrail and looked out into space. “Does it seem odd that they invited you to attend?”

  “It does,” Gordon said, standing next to Nathen and looking out at the planet’s dark horizon. “Seeing as I’m not part of any battle group here, it would be odd to invite a captain like me into a private meeting.”

  “Hmm,” Nathen said, nodding. The commander arched an eyebrow at the captain. “What other ships are docked here, anyway?”

  Gordon closed his eyes, thinking. “Three Stormbolts, the Behemoth destroyer near the lower scaffold, a Cutter scout ship, and a Demolisher frigate.”

  “Sounds like it’s going to be a motley gathering,” Nathen said, trying to envision what all these captains from various ship classes would have in common. “What do you expect it will be about?”

  Gordon scoffed. “Probably just space management. With the main flotilla preparing to move out, they probably want everyone to stay put.”

  The two were silent for a few moments, just looking out the viewport. Finally, Nathen turned to Gordon.

  “By the way,” he said. “Have there been any new transmissions lately?”

  Gordon shook his head. “No, if the mole sticks to its time table then the next transmission won’t be for a few more hours. Even with that much time to prepare, I’ve lost confidence that we can stop it.”

  Nathen nodded his understanding.

  “I think whoever is doing this infected Haven Alpha with a virus,” he confessed. “Deliberately to make it harder to stop the transmissions.”

  Gordon looked intrigued, but then he just looked concerned. “I suppose I should be surprised… but it doesn’t matter at this point. The damage has been done.”

  “Maybe,” Nathen said. “But what’s worse is that this means the virus was implanted long before we docked at Orbit Angel. Which means there’s no doubt that it was somebody on the ship. Unless you can think of any other explanations as to where the virus came from.”

  Gordon sighed, wearily. “Not unless we got close enough to any enemy craft for a tight-beam data dump. And even then we’d have to allow it. Viral warfare is more complicated than you think, Commander.”

  Nathen pushed away from the guardrail. “I thought so.”

  Gordon sighed in sympathy. “I’m afraid, Commander, when you let people close in war, you end up getting hurt, either way.”

  Nathen nodded, then pushed away from the railing.

  “Well, you’d better go, or you’ll be late for that meeting. Listen, I’m going to check on my technician. Don’t hesitate to call if something comes up.”

  “Will do, Commander.” Gordon flinched as something occurred to him. “Oh, wait, I forgot. All comm. units and pagers are turned off during private councils.”

  Nathen waved it off. “Forget it, then. I’ll see you back at the ship.”

  “Roger, Commander,” Gordon said with a mock salute. “And please get some rest. You’re no good to yourself half dead.”

  Gordon walked off, leaving Nathen standing by the viewport. The commander tucked his hands into his pockets and started walking toward the junction that would lead him to the core. He passed several viewports along the axis of the station, head bowed in thought. Maybe the captain was right. He needed rest. He couldn�
�t think clearly if he didn’t have rest. He was starting to stretch himself thin, just like Phillip was. Maybe he’d get there, pull Phillip out of the core, and the two of them would go crash in their bunks for a while. Up ahead, the junction that would lead toward the core came closer. From there, it would be a five or ten minute walk to the core.

  Nathen reached the junction, and kept walking.

  He barely even looked up as he passed the turn. He was frowning. Something wasn’t right. Something about what Gordon had said…

  Nathen kept walking, replaying the conversation in his head. What was it? Something… but what? Nathen tried to shake the feeling, but it clung to him and refused to go away. It was, about…

  Nathen slowly came to a halt.

  Then he bolted.

  Nathen ran like the corridor was collapsing behind him. It couldn’t be. But it had to be. If it was, then suddenly the pieces of the puzzle changed so they started snapping together on their own. Nathen circled the axis of the station, hugging the windows and slowing down just long enough to look out the viewports before breaking into a full run again. Nathen’s mind was a rush. All the information he’d accumulated over the last few days came swelling in. The mysterious incidents, the enemy signals, the traitor issue, the virus, all started clicking into place. Slowly, a picture started forming. The more of it Nathen could make out, the larger his feeling of imminent dread grew.

  Nathen nearly passed the window he wanted. He skidded to a stop and doubled back, leaning in close to the glass. There, several decks beneath him, was Haven Alpha, nestled against the docking scaffold. Her sleek, spearheaded bow looked like an arrow in a crossbow, ready to fire off into space. Nathen looked, hard as he could, but he was too far away. Gritting his teeth, Nathen turned and ran for the nearest extra vehicular maintenance airlock. As he ran, he pulled his comm. unit out.

  “Haven! This is Commander Knight! Come in!”

  No response. Nathen tried again, wheeling around a corner and nearly bowling over a couple of station crewmembers.

  “Haven, do you copy!?”

  No response still. Nathen swore and stuffed his comm. unit into his uniform. Haven Alpha's comm. systems must have been more screwed up than he’d originally thought. He started switching channels to the ESC band to call for backup...

  And stopped himself, drawing to a halt.

  The Alpha's comms relayed through the mobile headquarters. Haven Alpha was compromised.

  The traitor was listening.

  Nathen put his comm unit away, grimly switching it off as he recollected his calm. It wasn't time to show his hand. Screaming over the radio at Haven Alpha was a bad enough tip-off as it was. Nathen glanced over his shoulder at the empty corridor, cautiously. He was on his own, whether he liked it or not. He didn’t have time to worry about it now. He broke back into a run. He had to get outside and get close to Haven's hull, fast.

  Chapter 38

  Phillip shook his head slightly to try and rid himself of the haze of exhaustion that was creeping into his head.

  “Just another minute…” he said, trying to coax himself on to the end.

  He blinked several times to try and clear his weary eyes before turning back to his duty. He’d succeeded in isolating and then neutralizing every obstacle that was in his way, and was almost ready to extract the virus. He could have removed it earlier, but doing so would have wiped out the hacker program he was trying isolate. Doing it his way, Phillip could download the virus to a remote file and save it for later analysis, while at the same time preserving the hacker program so it could be cracked and traced. All in all, a job well done.

  Something moved in Phillip’s peripheral vision, making him jolt in alarm. When he turned, though, all he saw was one of the standard station technician EV suits.

  “Spit,” Phillip swore. “Don’t sneak up on a guy like that.”

  The station tech grabbed hold of the handlebar but didn’t unclip from the tether line. “Sorry,” he said over the crackling radio, not sounding sorry at all. “How’s it going?”

  Phillip groaned and reached up to rub his red eyes but instead just hit his helmet.

  “Okay,” he said, talking through his radio to the assistant tech. “I’m just about ready to pull this mess out. Another minute may do it.”

  The tech responded with a grumble. Phillip ignored the sound and focused on withdrawing the virus. He watched the console intently as a progress loading bar displayed at the bottom of the screen.

  “Alright,” he said, rubbing his gloved hands together. “Keep your fingers crossed. Cause if something’s gonna go wrong, it’s gonna go wrong here.”

  ***

  Nathen kept his eyes closed until the air had finished venting from the chamber. He only re-opened them once the exterior doors had parted, exposing Nathen to the endless black. Covering both his arms were electro-magnetic gauntlets that would allow him to hold onto the hull. At least, that was what he hoped they would do. The gauntlets were built for standard battle steel and other starship alloys. Haven Alpha was a little different.

  The station’s airlock was a good fifty meters away. Haven Alpha was firmly clamped to the station by a scaffold that covered its bow, while the stern faced toward the space shield. Nathen could see the glow of shuttles buzzing about in the distance, while repair tugs flitted from ship to ship like pollinating hummingbirds.

  The old, patched maintenance suit Nathen wore was the only one he could find, and it was probably as old as the station. The smell of a hundred past sweaty workers permanently clung to the inside of the spacesuit, but Nathen didn’t care. He had to do this. Around his waist was a clip-holster tool belt, jingling with various tools used for hull maintenance or panel repair. Holstered on his other side was an emergency piton gun, similar to the ESCs Spyder cable guns in many ways. In the dreadful scenario that he lost his grip and floated away from the station, that piton gun was his last chance. He had no maneuvering pack.

  Nathen took a deep breath, and began to climb.

  He activated the gauntlets and grabbed hold of the airlock. His palms immediately sucked against the metal with a clang. It held fast until Nathen twitched his thumb in, killing the electric magnet and allowing him to lift his hand away. Nathen pulled himself out the airlock and turned to his right, which immediately became his new “up”. Sometimes in space, it was better to think of things relative to you, rather than try to keep yourself oriented with everything else. So even though he was moving horizontal to Orbit Angel’s decks, from his perspective, he was climbing up.

  Nathen climbed in silence for three minutes, thinking of nothing but his next handhold. When he finally stopped and swung himself around, he could see the airlock from which he’d exited. Beyond that, Haven Alpha. He’d intentionally gone the other way. Climbing directly to Haven Alpha would take time. From here, at this angle, he had a straight line to her hull, at the spearheaded rail guns.

  Nathen didn’t waste time worrying about what would happen if he missed. He knew they would never find his body. The commander pulled his knees under him, bracing himself on either side with his gauntlets. Nathen took a second to call on his long-passed Marine training.

  Then he leaped.

  Somehow he managed to keep his alignment straight, tumbling only slightly. The twist he had was in the right direction, keeping him facing the ship even as Haven Alpha came rushing toward him. Nathen felt his heart beating faster as the hull grew in the frame of his space helmet. It seemed like only a second passed before he arrived.

  He reached out, activating his left gauntlet. The magnet snagged at the hull but Nathen quickly deactivated it. He kept going, but the pull had slowed him enough that when he reached out with his right gauntlet, he didn’t whiplash against his own arm.

  There he clung for a moment, reorienting himself until he was facing toward the ship’s rear end. Nathen again adjusted himself according to his zero-G training. Most people made the mistake when crawling outside starships of thinking of
the hull as the ground. That led to the incorrect thinking that if you let go, you’d stay there. It was better to think of yourself as climbing up, because if you let go while climbing, you fell away.

  Nathen pulled himself along, lifting one hand, then the other. He climbed the length of the huge rail guns, picking his grip carefully in the shadow of the station. There was no fast way of doing this. Over the next few minutes Nathen climbed across the rail guns, past the bridge, and around to the left side that faced outward, toward open space.

  Not much further, Nathen thought to himself. It should be just up ahead.

  Just then Nathen’s helmet buzzed as a radio that frankly should have been sent for scrap crackled in his helmet.

  “~*ello, come in. Does anyone copy?”

  Nathen started to reach up to turn on his radio, but the outdated suit had its radio switch on a lanyard near the shoulder. Nathen switched the suit's radio on.

  “Knight here,” Nathen said, returning to his climb. “Is that you, Leon?”

  Leonard, the pilot for Hybrid Dropship Two, came back after a second of silence.

  “Roger that,” the pilot said, briskly. “We received your broken transmission on the bridge, but due to the state of things, we couldn’t respond. I’m in Hybrid Two right now, using the dropship’s radio.”

  Nathen grunted and squirmed around one of the ship’s flak cannon turrets. That would hopefully bypass the compromised communications, but he could only hope at the moment. “That will work for now. Just stay on the air with me.”

  Leonard sounded confused. “Why? Where are you?”

  “Right now I’m out on the hull, just past flak station five.”

  “You’re EV?” Leonard exclaimed. “What’s going on?”

  “I’ve found our traitor,” Nathen said, letting his legs drift behind him as he picked his next handhold. “I think so, anyway.”

  “Spit,” Leonard said, sounding shocked. “Let me go get the others. They’ll want to hear this.”

  “Negative,” Nathen said. “Just stay with me a moment longer.”