The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy)

by Mike Smith

  “I could not agree with you more, however after your last impressive volley I do not think they are in the mood for a by-your-leave…” A particularly heavy volley of laser fire hitting their rapidly diminishing barricade punctuated that last point.

  “Agreed,” Jon said pulling out a flat grenade from his coat pocket. “I thought we would give them a departing present”.

  Snow eyed the grenade carefully before replying. “We are not that far from the outer hull, if that causes a hull breach we are all going to end up floating in space.”

  “That’s why this is not an explosive,” Jon explained. “A friend designed these babies based on an old concept called a “Flash Bang”, it makes a bright light and incapacitating noise but no explosion. Perfect for use on ships and stations.”

  “Eyes closed,” Jon directed this instruction at Felicity, prizing one of her hands away from him that had been drifting lower. “Cover your ears,” he instructed.

  “I don’t think I have thanked you properly for saving my life earlier,” she instead replied, and before Jon could assure her that it was no problem she aggressively leaned forward to press her lips firmly against his. Taken aback by the brazen move, Jon was stunned into immobility as he felt her soft lips pressed against his. His arms unconsciously went around her, enjoying the feel of her warm, endless flesh. Forgetting about their current precarious situation for a moment, Jon was brought back to reality with a bump by the cough from Snow next to him.

  “Sorry, am I interrupting, a moment?” Snow asked sardonically.

  Prising his lips from hers, gently, but firmly, he disentangled himself from Felicity’s grasp. “Stay here, you’ll be safe, and by the Maker keep your head down this time,” Jon whispered to her. He allowed himself a moment longer to gaze into her eyes, once again reminding himself how long he had been alone. However, it was not Felicity that he so desperately desired. He wondered what it was about being human that you always desired the one thing most that you could never have….

  Pulling the pin on the grenade Jon rolled it in the direction of the remaining attackers before ducking back behind their makeshift barricade. A few seconds later a blinding light and deafening roar signalled the detonation of the device. Grabbing Snow by his good shoulder he pulled him towards the exit, trying to keep low to avoid the now seemingly random weapons fire.

  Managing to make it out of the club relatively unscathed, Jon directed them down a side corridor, quickly shoving their weapons inside the deep pockets of his coat. Snow seemed to be in a bad way. A quick glance at his shoulder, Jon could tell it was a severe wound. The pale face and glazed look in his eyes and the slowly increasing weight was a clear indication that Snow was starting to lose consciousness.

  Lying Snow down, as gently as possible, Jon leaned him against the bulkhead of the corridor and checked for a pulse. It was intermittent and weak. Slowly reaching into his pocket Snow took out a small data chip and dropped it into Jon’s hand.

  “Get this to the Confederation,” Snow wheezed weakly. “They must be warned of the threat; you must tell the…” however before he could finish the sentence his eyes closed for the last time and Jon was unable to find a pulse.

  Looking from the data chip in his hand to the body of Snow lying against the corridor, Jon shook his head in disbelief at how badly this day had gone. Carefully slipping the data chip into his pocket Jon set off quickly for the hanger containing the ‘Light.

  *****

  In double quick time Jon arrived back at the ‘Light. The dock master was already approaching as Jon stepped carefully into the hanger. Eyes darting around looking for anything or anyone out of place.

  “I hope that sir had a profitable stay at Transcendence?” The dock master inquired, with the sort of artificially upbeat tone of voice that was just begging for a significant sized tip.

  Not noticing anything out of the ordinary, Jon replied distractedly. “Could have gone better. By the way, has anybody been asking around for me?”

  “I don’t believe so sir,” handing Jon the electronic pad detailing the docking fee and any repair and re-supply costs. “If I could also recommend our premium VIP membership plan that includes a free service…” he was abruptly cut off as Jon shoved the pad back into his hands with his authorisation for payment and a ridiculously astronomical tip, the dock master’s eyes widened in shock when he saw the size of the tip.

  “Why don’t you go and have a chat with departure control?” Jon suggested. “While I start the pre-flight checks. Explain to them how I urgently need to be about my business and absolutely need to have a departure slot immediately.” The dock master nodded his head in understanding and quickly scurried out of the hanger before Jon changed his mind.

  Heading straight to the cockpit of the ‘Light Jon sealed the ship and immediately triggered the hanger decompression cycle. He then carried out a rapidly reduced pre-flight checklist which mostly involved getting the engines started as quickly as possible and the hell off of this station. It would seem that his second ever visit to Transcendence was going to fare little better than the first.

  With a new record for departure clearance authorised, Jon pushed the engines to full power and quickly exited the station much to the shouts of anger across the communications from departure control reminding him that he should only engage main engines when at least three kilometres from the station. However, by then the station was a rapidly dwindling dot on the aft sensors and the way his last two visits had been concluded, Jon was in no rush to return for a third.

  After at least half a dozen random course corrections to throw off any possible pursuit, Jon finally set-in a course for Terra Nova, at maximum possible speed. He spent the majority of the trip considering the possible contents of the data chip in his pocket.

  *****

  With a slight hiss of gas the pressure equalised between the ‘Light and Terra Nova and the airlock slid open to reveal the concerned face of Paul.

  “You’re long overdue. Were there any problems with the client?” Paul asked anxiously, giving Jon a careful once over to ensure that he was uninjured.

  “Nothing that I couldn’t handle,” Jon replied noncommittally. “Can you get a team down to the starboard cargo bay? There is a pod there that I brought on-board. Check it out to make sure that it’s secure before transporting it to medical before defrosting the occupant.” Jon continued on, while making his way to his quarters. He was in desperate need of a shower!

  “A pod?” Paul asked in confusion “Where did you find that?”

  “Out near the outer asteroid belt, midway to Transcendence.”

  “What was it doing all the way out there? How long had it been out-there?” Paul asked, confused.

  “Not long… I would say only about ten minutes after I blew up the owner’s fighter,” Jon concluded, stepping into his apartment as the door slid shut on Paul’s astonished face. A moment later the door re-opened, only for Jon to stick his head out. “Oh, almost forgot,” he said tossing the data-chip from his pocket to his startled operations chief. “Ask one of our computer geeks from engineering to have a look at that can you?”

  Paul looked at the data chip carefully. “What is on it?” he inquired.

  “No idea,” Jon replied with a smirk. “The guy that gave it to me was shot before he had a chance to explain. Said something about a conspiracy to overthrow the Confederation, end of civilisation as we know it... you know, the usual.” With that the door slid shut on his now completely aghast operations chief.

  “So all around a productive trip,” Paul commented aloud, to the now empty corridor, heading off to the command centre to find somebody to de-frost the stations newest occupant and to find somebody else to decode the data on the chip.

  *****

  With a sudden gasp Miranda came to full consciousness, blinking away the bright, white light. The last thing that she remembered was the asteroid exploding into a million fragments and reaching for the ejection handle, beyond that was
nothing… but darkness.

  Slowly her eyes adjusted to the bright light and she noticed a face peering down at her with an impish smile.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, miss. I am sure you must be somewhat disoriented but I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Excuse my manners, I am Doctor Richardson, chief flight surgeon, but you can just call me Neil,” at this he seemed to chuckle at his own joke. “You are currently on Terra Nova. You were brought here after ejecting from your ship in the outer asteroid belt of the system,” Richardson concluded his brief, congratulations-on-still-being-alive speech.

  Slowly awareness started to come back to Miranda along with her short-term memory of the incident in the belt. Abruptly sitting up, she glanced around, observing the medical bay. She seemed to be the only patient at the moment, as the rest of the beds were empty. The Doctor and a few medical technicians were bustling about around her. She noticed in the corner of the room, her now empty escape pod and winced internally. Mallart was not going to react well at the destruction of her incredibly expensive ship!

  Now that she was back where she started, Miranda realised that she had better make good her escape! Now that she was conscious and before any more guards arrived! As she was preparing to make a flying leap towards the exit, Miranda suddenly stopped. Quickly checking beneath the sheet that covered her, she was naked! She looked at the doctor with an outraged expression.

  Noticing her expression the doctor explained. “We had to cut you out of the flight-suit before we could resuscitate you. Not to mention fixing the numerous stress fractures in your wrist and shoulder,” the Doctor punctuated each area with a jab of his finger. She was feeling slightly sheepish at her response. Of course they would have had to undress her to revive her.

  Meanwhile the doctor continued softly. “I’ll go and see if I can find you some clothes that fit, my daughter is about your size”. It was only then that Miranda noticed the greying hair with white at the edges and wrinkles on his hand and face. While the Doctor seemed very fit and energetic he was far older than her. With an embarrassed blush Miranda could only nod her head in thanks and wrap the white sheet closer around herself.

  Her internal musings were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open and two gentlemen entered, both engaged in a heated conversation, which abruptly stopped when the younger of the two swung his gaze around to focus on Miranda. His mouth dropped open in shock!

  Having been woken from a light sleep by the intercom informing him that the pilot had regained consciousness, Jon and Paul were discussing how best to interrogate the pilot to find out the latest intelligence on the activities of the Syndicate in the system! While not advocating torture, Jon had been actively proposing making the pilots life incredibly uncomfortable during his stay on the station - after all he had been doing his very best to cut Jon’s life abruptly short only hours before!

  Having the preconceived notion of a dangerous cutthroat pirate that would happily kill for money, Jon was completely speechless on seeing the young, beautiful, raven-haired woman, wrapped in nothing but a white sheet. After all Jon could see a fair amount of flesh protruding from the sheet! Meanwhile the young pilot was blushing slightly, obviously from something the doctor had said. Jon was very curious to observe the blush spreading from her cheek, along the length of her neck, down underneath the thin sheet.

  He gave a disbelieving look at Paul, who was trying hard, but failing miserably to suppress his laughter. He knew! While Jon had been plotting days of sleep deprivation, minimal rations and hard labour his operations chief had known all along who the pilot was!

  Bastard! Jon thought peeved, making a note to find some highly demeaning chore for his friend in the near future, before turning back to the raven-haired beauty sitting draped in a sheet, eying the two of them inquisitively.

  Putting on what he hoped was a sincere smile Jon introduced himself. “Hi, my name is Jonathan Radec, but my friends just call me Jon, this is my chief of operations, Paul Harrington. Welcome to Terra Nova. How are you feeling?”

  Having recognised the face from the intelligence file supplied by the Syndicate, Miranda took a moment to study the person in the flesh in more detail; she had never expected to meet him in person! He was just a mission, another threat to the Syndicate that had to be removed. However, the first thing that she noticed when observing him in person is that he seemed younger than he looked, remembering that according to his file, he was in his mid-thirties. He obviously stayed active, and his athletic frame, dark hair and grey eyes made him appear much younger.

  Realising that she had been staring for too long, she motioned towards the doctor commenting, “The Doctor was just telling me that aside from a few bumps and bruises I am perfectly fine and was free to leave.”

  Jon glanced at the doctor to confirm what she was saying.

  “Indeed,” the Doctor confirmed. “She should make a full recovery. However, any dizziness or any other symptoms and I want you to report straight back to medical! Your body has been through an incredible strain and it needs time to fully recover. No physical exertion, hear me? Take it easy for the next few days.” With that firm warning the Doctor departed to find her a spare pair of clothes.

  Turning back to the two men Miranda inquired, “When will I be able to leave?” Jon glanced towards Paul inquiringly, however he just replied with a non-committal shrug.

  “Well…” Jon replied. “We have been trying to get in contact with the Magistratus from the Chamber of Commerce, Business and shipping, but so far they have not acknowledged any missing pilots but they did agree to make further inquiries and get back to us when they can.”

  Miranda groaned under her breath, it was obviously too much to hope for that the Syndicate were just going to send somebody to pick her up. “So you are just going to keep me here, as a prisoner?” Miranda demanded angrily.

  Jon tried hard to suppress a smile. It seemed that this girl had some fire in her. “Well there is the small matter of you trying to destroy my ship, kill me…” Jon continued with a twinkle in his eye, knowing that this was likely to inflame the young woman further.

  “Destroy your ship!” Miranda retorted angrier still. “You destroyed my ship with that crazy asteroid stunt of yours,” she shouted. Almost losing her grip on the sheet, much to Jon’s delight.

  “Anyway,” Jon continued. “You are free to leave the station anytime you wish, however I believe that the next scheduled freighter to Transcendence, where you could find on-going passage is…” Jon glanced at Paul inquiringly.

  “About six weeks,” Paul responded with a completely straight face.

  Miranda just cursed with rage.

  “I’ll leave you to get dressed then, see you around,” Jon concluded the conversation with a huge smile. With that he left with Paul following close behind.

  Miranda was left cursing the day she had ever heard his name.

  *****

  The moment that the door to medical slid shut, Paul leaned against the corridor, laughing his ass off. “Oh, to see the look on your face when you walked in,” Paul crooned. “If only I had a camera so I could store that look for future posterity… and blackmail,” Paul laughed.

  Jon only shot Paul a dirty look before replying, “I’m fairly sure that it says somewhere that I am in charge…doesn’t that mean I can fire your ass?”

  Paul only laughed louder. “So I assume we are going to forgo the rack and thumbscrews?” Paul inquired. “Perhaps a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates instead?” Paul asked with another laugh.

  Jon just scowled and marched off in a huff with the parting order. “When she is ready send her to my office.”

  “Is that before or after we find her some clothes?” Paul called after his departing boss with a laugh.

  Jon only scowled deeper and lengthened his stride, disappearing round the corner.

  “Aghh… to be a fly on the wall during that meeting,” Paul commented aloud before tu
rning back to the medical bay to check that the Doctor had managed to rustle up some clothes. Upon re-entering medical Paul was surprised to note that the young pilot had disappeared from the bed, sheet included. Glancing around frantically, worried that he had already lost her, he was about to call for security when he noticed the Doctor tilt his head towards one of the small offices branching off from the main sickbay area. He assumed that she was getting changed into something more appropriate and hopefully less revealing! Even Paul had not failed to notice the beautiful pilot. He approached the Doctor to inquire about her state, again trying to suppress a laugh at the expression on Jon’s face.

  The Doctor, upon noticing the smile, inquired. “Some joke that I am missing out on?”

  “Oh,” Paul replied. “I was just remembering the expression on Jon’s face when he noticed our latest addition,” Paul waved a hand in the direction of the office where Miranda was getting dressed.

  “Ah,” the Doctor replied with a smile of his own. “I assume that you did not inform our enigmatic leader in advance that my latest patient is of the young, female and very attractive persuasion?”

  “Are you joking?” Paul exclaimed. “And miss that opportunity. No way! Anyway, Jon was discussing all the ways that he was planning on getting his revenge against the pilot who dared scratch his baby. He would not let me get a word in edgeways.”

  “Yes, I heard from some of my staff about the Commander’s adventure on Transcendence. Honestly he seems to spend so much time in here that I am considering allocating him a bed on a permanent basis.”

  With the Doctors reference to Jon’s continual close brush with death a lot of the good humour left Paul’s expression and he turned thoughtful. “You have known Jon longer than anybody… it seems sometimes that he carries the fate of the world on his shoulders.”

  “I assume you are referring to our dear leader’s single handed mission to save the Galaxy from… itself?” the Doctor inquired in a cynical tone.