Energize (From the Logs of Daniel Quinn Book 1)

by Thomas R. Manning

  “How the hell did we pull that off?” I said to myself.

  “Please tell me you’re not that stupid,” Cessa said behind me, nearly sending me out of my chair. I didn’t even hear her come in, but had no time to turn and face her as the proximity sensor alarmed me to an incoming ship.

  “We escaped because they let us. It’s time to see if your piloting skills are at all superior to everything else I know about you.”

  SIX

  “How many ships are there?” Cessa’s voice dripped with frustration and contempt. She leaned over my shoulder and attempted to get a good look at my sensor readings. The screen relayed the information that my sensor received every five to ten seconds. The red screen was solid, except for a small blip drawing closer to the center of the screen towards our position.

  “Just one, could be Galaxy One patrol or ESA, I don’t care to spend time scanning the damn thing,” I told her, though I didn’t mention how odd sending out one ship was. Maybe they only had time to prep one ship to follow us or maybe they were attempting to track my route. Either way I had to lose the bastard.

  I input a command into the computer to fly the ship around the station, keeping a safe distance from it and the ship following us. The maneuver bought me little time to think up a plan, but my options were limited. I could plot a course using slingspace but if I engaged the engines now my pursuer would be able to analyze the trail that we would leave and lead them right to us. Additionally I couldn’t risk depleting my fuel tanks by jumping multiple times like I did to escape the Echelon.

  “You are an idiot,” Cessa said, her lips an inch from my ear. “You should have let me kill those agents.”

  “Right, because no one would have noticed the blood, or the sword, or the potential screaming of the victim.” I said sarcastically

  “I knew what I was doing. They could have been disposed of. Instead you had us weaving in and out of trees like cowards. The memory makes me sick.”

  A lot of memories make me sick, I thought.

  That’s when an idea sprang to mind and I looked back toward my sensor screen. With a small transfer of power from my environmental systems, I was able to send my sensors out into a wide arc and I found a way to evade my pursuer. Cessa still paced behind me and told me how much of a coward I was. I spun around in my chair and gave her a stern look of my own.

  “Do me and yourself a favor and strap yourself into that seat over there. This ship gets the job done but it’s not exactly operating at recommended efficiency. If you want to get out of this alive, then sit down and shut up.”

  To my surprise Cessa said nothing, but turned to sit in the seat I indicated.

  The ship was starting to overtake us, and though I assumed their orders were to take us alive, I still wanted to stay out of their firing range. I spun back around to the helm and plotted a course away from the station, straight towards a nearby asteroid field. Behind me I heard Cessa buckling her harness.

  -AL, DEACTIVATE DISPERSION FIELD, I typed into my console.

  -I FEEL IT IS NECESSARY TO REMIND YOU THE DISPERSION FIELD IS WHAT SHIELDS US FROM SMALL SPACE OBJECTS SIR. DEACTIVATING IT WOULD ALLOW ANY SUCH OBJECT TO POTENTIALLY PENETRATE OUR HULL.

  -UNDERSTOOD. DEACTIVATE IT ANYWAY.

  -I DETECT YOU ARE ON COURSE WITH THE OMEGA ASTEROID FIELD. THIS SOUNDS LIKE A TERRIBLE IDEA, NO OFFENSE SIR.

  -YOU’LL HAVE TO TRUST ME ON THIS. DEACTIVATE NOW ON MY AUTHORIZATION!

  - . . . ACKNOWLEDGED, Al responded.

  At the top corner of my helm an indicator light blinked and signified the dispersion array had been shut off. Normally while active, the array would send out a field of energy that would deflect any nearby space junk or debris. Flying into the asteroid field would have been ten times safer if I left it on. The problem with this was anyone following me would essentially get a nicely paved opening for them to fly through. Now I was going to have to fly around each and every one of them, just like I did with the trees in the forest. The agent following me would have to do the same with his ship. I could only pray that I was the better pilot.

  With one hand held firmly on my navigational sphere, the other was tightly clamped to the thruster control. I watched the readings from the enemy ship, mostly to judge his distance in an attempt to match his speed and keep a consistent length away from him. Our speed increased as he tried to accelerate to catch up to us only to fail when we did the same. Ahead of us, the asteroid field was within viewing distance. From here it looked like tiny specs of rocks.

  “You’re not seriously considering taking us in there are you?” Cessa asked.

  “Yup.”

  “So now you’re just as insane as you are stupid. Please tell me you have a deflection device?!”

  “Of course I do, but it’s turned off.”

  She didn’t say another word, though I thought I heard a smacking sound one would hear when a palm impacts on a forehead. I allowed myself a smile before I took a deep breath and stretched out my fingers. We were approaching the belt.

  “SPACE CRAFT, THIS IS THE ESA SHUTTLE CESARO. WITHDRAW YOUR COURSE TOWARDS THE ASTEROID BELT. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY WE WILL OPEN FIRE!”

  The speakers buzzed with electricity as the high pitch man gave me his demands. I only had one demand to give him back.

  “Shove it!” I reported back to him and with that I pushed my thrusters forward to maximum, and the two of us were jolted back in our seats as the Belle took off into our escape or possible destruction.

  The first layer of the belt was smaller than my ship, but if any asteroids made impact at this velocity they could still cause some damage. I jerked the helm left, right, turned us upside down, and basically used any maneuvers I could think of to avoid the rocks on my sensor screen. My stomach hated me right now. Cessa sat behind me cursing and gritting her teeth as the ship swung from one side to the next. The gravitational settings on the ship never worked perfectly. If I kept the ship straight on course you wouldn’t feel a thing, but moving in circles and pitching right and left was really playing tricks on our equilibriums. If neither of us vomited after this was all said and done I’d be surprised.

  So far we were a little over a quarter ways through the field and I had only hit one of the smaller rocks while moving to avoid a bigger one. My damage control screen didn’t show me anything of consequence so I counted my blessings and continued on. The damn ship behind me still kept up and now the screen flashed a warning that his weapons were arming. As if avoiding countless asteroids wasn’t enough to stress me out, let’s add some missiles!

  I couldn’t concentrate on both his ship and mine, so I kept a watchful eye on the sensor screen every now and then while the majority of my attention was on my path through the belt. A minute or two passed before the first missile launched straight at my ass. I altered my maneuvering strategy so that with every rock I passed I put it directly at my back, hoping the missile would hit one of them instead of me. Minutes passed and the signal faded. Two more missiles came at me and with some clever driving and a very sick stomach I managed to pass a larger asteroid that took both rockets and caused an explosion behind me.

  Suddenly I got an idea. I messaged Al and told him to prime the engine reactors for slingspace. I checked my screen for another large asteroid and set a collision course with it. An alarm sounded throughout the bridge.

  “What the hell is that sound?” Cessa asked. I almost forgot she was here, she was so quiet. Now her tone of voice was restricted, almost fearful.

  “Don’t worry about it, just hold on.”

  The Kestrel model of star cruisers was designed with weapons both at bow and stern. I often wondered if someone on drugs designed the weapon systems. The ones at the bow, two plasma lasers, were located at the eyes of the ship. The weapon at stern, well I’m going to let you guess where that was placed. Unfortunately I didn’t have any missiles, but my plasmas in front were charged. I locked onto the asteroid in front of me and hit the execut
e button.

  I watched from my shield window as two beams of intense plasma shot out to the asteroid, causing an explosion and sending a vast number of debris right at us. If there was a divine power watching over us at that moment I’ll never know, but I managed to fly the ship through the debris while only taking minor damage to the Belle. The pursuing ship was another story. My sensors showed the ship’s velocity slowing and eventually stopping. There had been multiple impacts, but I didn’t know where or how bad.

  When we cleared the belt I spun the ship on its horizontal axis so I was facing the belt and powered down the thrusters. I didn’t see the ship, nor was it in my sensor range any longer. If it had been destroyed I would have been able to scan the overload of the shuttles engines, but there was no signature of it. He most likely had been damaged too much to continue pursuit.

  I looked back to check on Cessa. Her eyes were closed, her hands tightly wrapped around the hilt of her sword. Was it for comfort? With her sword being reminiscent of a samurai, would she have fallen on it if the escape hadn’t worked?

  During the downtime I asked Al if he had succeeded in determining a potential course to find the empyreus.

  -YES CAPTAIN. A COURSE IS AVAILABLE. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO APPLY IT TO NAVIGATION?

  -YES. GOOD WORK AL, I typed back.

  I activated slingspace once the course was plotted and let out a deep sigh of relief, much like one would if they had been holding their breath for minutes. My hands were shaking and my vision began to blur. The cheeseburger I had eaten earlier was battling my stomach to regurgitate itself. In all the excitement and built up adrenaline, I didn’t realize until now just how worn out my body was. I typed out a quick message to Al to take control of the ship. Autopilot wasn’t unheard of in starships and cruisers, so Cessa wouldn’t question it.

  When I stood up and turned, Cessa was at the door staring intently at me. The way she moved, so quiet, was creepy. She studied me for a moment and then muttered a single word.

  “Impressive.” She left before she could see my jaw drop in shock. Had she seriously just complimented me?

  After confirming via the sensors that Cessa had found the crew quarters and retired there I trudged my way to my own room, locked the door, and dropped onto the bed. Sleep took me quickly. Instead of dreaming my mind played twenty questions with me, asking things like “where are we going? How long will it take to get there? Did we really get away from the ESA?” And most importantly, wherever we were going, what would we find?

  Empyreus was the next thing that passed through my mind. What was it exactly? And how would I transport it back to Erebos? Should I? The whole deal made me feel sick. If I succeeded in my mission would he be true to his word, pay me the money he promised, and help my reputation, or was it all a farce? Too many unknowns were in my future, and it made me uneasy. I didn’t want this deal, but what choice did I have? I’m already being pursued by the ESA. Did I really want my name added to another hit list?

  After that my brain was too tired to continue. I saw and felt nothing for the duration of my respite. For once there were no nightmares. For the first time in days I wasn’t running from someone anymore. Of course there was a catch. I had a professional assassin onboard who would kill me the minute she detected any deceit.

  SEVEN

  My head screamed at me when I woke up. I was convinced there was a tiny little man inside it pounding a hammer into my skull. I rubbed my temples with my middle and forefingers hoping to massage the pain away, but it only helped to slightly alleviate it.

  Without a change of clothes I stumbled to the bridge which was in full operation, the sensors scanning out into space and the star charts updating our location every few minutes. When I shut the door Al’s voice nearly knocked me on my ass, the pain in my head intensifying with the sound of his voice.

  “Captain.” The sound drummed its way from one ear to the other. “Our passenger is out of range. May I speak to you openly?”

  “Whoa, Al…lower your voice please and turn the lights down 50%.”

  The illumination receded in the room and most of the light now came from the panels and screens on the consoles. I sat in my chair and closed my eyes taking a few deep breaths.

  With the headache I almost forgot Cessa was onboard.

  “Yes, Al. Proceed with vocal communication. There’s no way I’m looking at the damn screen right now. Just keep an eye on her.”

  “Acknowledged sir. I wanted to express my reaction to your escape through the asteroid belt. The maneuvers were adequate. By the time any reinforcements arrive at our last known position the signature left by our engines will have dissipated.”

  Adequate? He continued his report.

  “Our course is set for an uncharted section of the galaxy, previously marked as Orion 035. We will arrive in its solar system in 1 week, 3 days, 12 hours, 9 minutes, and 57 seconds.”

  “Over a week?” I thought about spending ten days confined with Cessa. “Al, could you just open the emergency airlock and let it suck me out?”

  “ . . . Sir, was that sarcasm?”

  I found myself hesitant to answer, but ultimately said, “Unfortunately, yes.”

  Military time was standard onboard a starship except that now it was called SEMT, or Standard Earth Military Time. The clock still turned in 24 hour increments, but to be honest if felt strange when the clock would strike noon and all you could see out the window was the endless dark of space.

  Three days passed.

  Cessa and I managed to avoid each other despite being the only two people onboard. While I kept mostly to the bridge and my quarters (which I firmly locked each time I went in), she stayed in the crew quarters and occasionally visited the cargo bay. With plenty of time left on our voyage, I was able to take a closer look at the boxes and supplies that had been loaded onto my ship. There was no threat as far as I could tell, but all the same I asked Al to do an internal scan.

  “Five of the boxes carry mechanical equipment, nothing that matches any schematics in my database. The other seven read as empty sir. If I may make an assumption, I would say these are for the excavation and transfer of the empyreus.”

  I didn’t know what to think of the boxes, or whether I should ask Cessa about them. Normally I didn’t take any cargo on my ship that I didn’t inspect myself, but this time I didn’t get to decide if they would come with us or not. We were in somewhat of a hurry getting off the Galaxy space station.

  A couple of hours later my headache mostly subsided despite staring at monitors all day checking the sensor sweeps. I knew we were safe, but that nagging paranoia in the back of my mind convinced me to keep an eye out for any unusual readings. I returned to my quarters and did a short workout, a combination of jumping jacks and push-ups to stay in shape. I won’t say how many push-ups I actually accomplished . . . because I’d embarrass myself. Afterwards I walked into my small closet-sized bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, then went to the mess hall.

  In addition to the cargo that had been brought on my ship, my fridge had also been stocked with organic foods and vegetables. The first time I laid eyes on all of it I almost fainted. Eggs, butter, wheat, beef, chicken, and more filled the cold space. The options would make any man drool. I helped myself to a cup of milk and grabbed a couple of eggs to scramble over my stove, but I was interrupted when a hand grabbed the back of my head and slammed it into the refrigerator door. The cheap shot wasn’t meant to be lethal because I could have been thrown into it a lot harder, but it still hurt like hell. I was on my ass and I could see stars inside the ship. I turned around to see Cessa standing over me, her arms raised in a fighting stance.

  “Get up,” she said. Her teeth were visible and her brows contracted inward. She wasn’t wearing her sword, but her black clothing looked flexible as it hugged her body. I tried to say something to her, but before I could speak a syllable she threw her right foot into my ribs knocking the wind out of me and sending a sharp pain up my side.


  “Fight back, damn you,” she snarled. Once more she threw her leg into me, but I managed to block it with my forearm. In response I tried to catch her off guard by tripping her with an outstretched leg, but she saw it coming and jumped back. I wasn’t surprised. My move hadn’t been designed to hurt her, but give myself some breathing room. With the left side of my ribs aching I stood up and took a step back.

  “Cessa, what the hell are you doing?” I coughed out.

  She didn’t waste time and leapt for me throwing her right fist into my jaw. I didn’t see it coming fast enough so I couldn’t block it, but I did turn my neck in the same direction her punch would’ve sent it anyway, and that eased some of the blow. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her left arm following with an uppercut, which I managed to deflect by swinging my left hand down to intercept it.

  I may have been a crappy mercenary up to this point, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t have at least some combat training. It had been years since I utilized what I learned, however I was sufficient enough to block a majority of her blows. The occasional punch or kick did get through, but she wasn’t satisfied with that alone.

  “Fight back! Fight me! Stop running from everything! From everyone!”

  She screamed now, her motions weren’t tactical anymore, but a flurry of uncoordinated attacks. Eventually I didn’t even have to predict her next move. She was just slapping at my chest, her eyes glazing over, but no tears fell. I moved out of range but she didn’t follow up with another attack. She just leaned on the counter with her head down. The only sounds were the humming of the ship’s engines and Cessa’s breathing. I sat down at the table and stretched out my left side. My ribs were sore, but I didn’t think she fractured any of them.

  To my disbelief, she followed the attack by working on the breakfast I had been preparing. She took the eggs, milk, butter, and scrambled enough for the both of us.