“I’m not about to go all postal on you, boss. I got this.”
“You better.”
The diagnostics came back clean, but there was a definite uptick in activity in one part of Cassi’s processors. It made me uneasy, but there were bigger things to be worried about.
“Can you contact the crew?”
“Comms are down. But I am tracking their progress. I’m also tracking the progress of a group of individuals trailing them by about fifty metres.”
“Identification?”
“Looks like local security. Armed Zenith Police.”
Why would the police be trailing the crew?
“How’s that atmo prep going?” I asked.
“It’s going.”
“ETA on when we can bust our guys off this radiation infested rock?”
“You don’t care one bit about the local inhabitants, do you, Kael?”
“Not when troopers are chasing my crew.”
“Zyla might get angry with that attitude.”
“Zyla can kiss my lily-white butt. But she’ll be thanking me when she gets a load of our anti-radiation meds.”
Cassi said nothing. She knew I was right. Zyla might have distant cousins on Ceres Alpha, and this was no doubt about to turn into a humanitarian rescue mission of some description, but getting her hands on medication to halt any radiation sickness would be welcomed by my navigator. Like most Zeniths, she could be pretty damn practical when required.
“Atmospheric entry enabled,” Cassi advised.
“Let’s get down there.”
“Suggestion?”
“Go on, then.”
“I could prepare a buoy and send it to Ceres Actual. Maybe they’re unaware of what happened here and could send some help.”
“Good idea.”
“Of course, it’s been hours since the initial attack, and no one has turned up to save the day except us. Which could mean Ceres Actual is an asteroid field across the black by now.”
“You are a little ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”
“Preparing buoy. Buoy sent. Good luck, little guy.”
I snorted.
“Atmospheric entry in t-minus one minute. Buckle up, boss; this could get bumpy.”
I checked my restraints and toggled the camera views. We wouldn’t see much as we hit atmo, but once we broke through the mesosphere, we’d get a nice picture of just how bad it was down there.
“Still no sign of flight-capable vessels?” I asked.
“Negative. We’re it. Hope they roll out the welcome mat.”
Somehow I doubted that. I looked at the screen that was showing the crew’s progress. They were still moving. Slowly. As if one of them might be injured. I tried not to think too hard about that. The armed officers trailing them were moving faster. Those arseholes didn’t have any wounded among them.
“What the hell have you done, Odo?” I muttered.
“Who says it’s Odo who’s pissed them off?” Cassi offered.
“Point,” I said. Zyla had a temper on her, and the Doc was equally able to piss an armed officer off just by talking to them.
“Atmospheric entry in t-minus 10, 9, 8, 7. Have I told you that I love you lately?”
“Quit being a smart-arse.”
“4, 3, 2, 1. Here we go!”
The ship started to shudder. And then rattle. And then shake itself apart. Or at least, it felt like it. Cargo haulers like the Harpy weren’t designed for atmospheric flight. They could do it. Some of those backwater planets I mentioned earlier didn’t have a space hub and the only way to get the goods down to them, or pick them up, was to enter atmo.
She might have been a swift little thing in the black of space, but she was a brick in atmo.
The restraints dug into me, and my head felt like it was going to fly off. My headache was joined by a neck ache and a butt ache and a few bruises from the seatbelts digging into my shoulders.
The camera went first white and then orange and then red as fiery bits of atmosphere burned up on the ceramic plates. And then we were through, and I was staring at a post-apocalyptic setting out of a thriller movie. Craters the size of city blocks. Rubble the size of Mt New Everest. Bodies. So many bodies.
My throat went dry. My palms were slick with cooling sweat. A hollowness started to consume my insides.
Ceres Alpha was a holiday resort destination. Cruise liners came here and offloaded the rich. Casinos took their chits and then made them spend more on exorbitant priced exotic drinks. The beach accommodations were said to be exquisite and unparalleled in any known solar system.
There was no longer a beach, just a rubble-strewn shoreline, filling up with what I could only assume were blood and bloated bodies.
Alarms started blaring across the bridge.
“Status!” I barked, checking internal readings and finding them all nominal.
“Radiation spike,” Cassi advised. “We just flew over Ground Zero.”
I looked out of the viewscreen and didn’t recognise a thing. I should have recognised something. We’d been coming here, on and off, for the best part of three New Standard years. Ever since Zyla joined the crew and got us cheap accommodation with her cousins.
But I couldn’t make out a single landmark.
“What was it?”
“Zenith Territorial Base.”
“Their army,” I murmured. They’d taken out the only defensive line the recreational planet had. “Anything alive down there?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Negative, boss.”
“Any indication of who might have done this?”
“I’m taking readings, recording everything I can. It’s a lot of data. I’ll need time to sort it.”
The unsaid being, after we get out of here.
“Are we in danger from the radiation?”
“Negative. I’ve sealed off the bridge and established a quarantine in Cargo Bay Beta.”
Cargo Bay Alpha held some goods I was going to offload here. Fat lot of good they did me now. I cringed at the thought of the empty safe in my stateroom. And then I flicked a glance at the threat display overlay.
Worth it!
“The crew will be decontaminated and treated before they enter the ship proper,” Cassi added.
“How’re they doing?”
“The armed thugs following them are gaining.”
“Thugs? Didn’t you say they were local police?”
“Situations change, Kael. I think we could call this one an ever-evolving situation, don’t you?”
“You think they’re opportunists?”
“What does Zyla have that would be mighty handy to those stranded down there right now?”
I swore softly and started arming some of the new modifications.
“Railgun online,” Cassi said cheerfully. “Plasma gun at 100% charge. You are go for bringing the thunder, boss.”
I shook my head and waited for the controls for the new weapons system to flip up and into position before me, and then I gently wrapped my still sweaty palms around the sticks for each one.
“Did you practice?” Cassi asked.
“Of course, I practised,” I snapped back. I hadn’t practiced, but how hard could it be? I had read the manual. While getting drunk. I did my best work when under the influence of alcohol, believe me.
“Perhaps I should man the guns?”
“You just fly the ship.”
“I can do both. Easily.”
“My guns. Hands off!”
“Try telling Odo that when he gets on board.”
I didn’t bother to offer a reply.
Something pinged against the hull.
“What was that?” I snapped
“Incoming small arms fire. It tickles.”
“They’re shooting at us? The police?”
“No. The locals. Maybe they think we blew their holiday resort to bits.”
“Bloody hope not.”
Cassi swooped us around in an erratic z
igzag fashion to make it harder for the ground fire to hit us. My breakfast burrito from earlier decided it really wanted to see the light of day again. I swallowed forcefully. Sweat beaded my brow.
“Kael,” Cassi said. “It’s chaos down there. And from what I can determine, this happened eight hours ago. Some of the bodies I’ve scanned were killed by small arms fire. Not the nukes going off.”
“I just don’t get it,” I muttered. “Why a resort world? Why nuke it from space and not even land marines?”
“All good questions. Of which I have no answers. Only data collected and that will have to wait for analysis. But I can tell you; we’re coming up on the armed thugs trailing our guys.”
I checked the screen. They were mainly dressed in Zenith Territorial Army uniforms. A little worse for wear. They were also very much aware of our approach. The Harpy was silent in space, of course. In atmo, she damn near thundered.
“Goose the engines,” I said.
“Goosing.” We roared overhead, taking a few potshots to our reinforced underbelly, and blowing up a stream of dust a mile into the sky behind us. The TAs were lost in the cloud of debris we left in our wake.
“You didn’t fire the railgun,” Cassi accused, sounding disappointed.
“They didn’t nuke the planet, Cass,” I murmured.
“But they might be why the doc is injured.”
“Doc’s injured?”
“I’m getting telemetry on the crew’s vital signs. Odo’s blood pressure and heart rate are elevated. The doc’s life signs are weak. And Zyla’s entered Rage Mode.”
Rage Mode was what we called Zyla’s mood when she was angry at something. Zeniths could be calm like a soft summer breeze. When we’d first encountered them, we’d nicknamed them Zens. And then we found out that they could flick a switch and blast you with the frigid air from a polar ice cap and then drill you full of icicles just to make sure you got their meaning.
I chuckled. “This should be fun.”
Cassi swung the ship around to face the TAs, opening up Cargo Beta’s doors in the rear as she brought the vessel to a hover; five feet above the debris-strewn intersection we’d tracked the crew to. They’d have to jump up, and with Doc injured, it wasn’t going be pretty. But Odo would manage.
I aimed the forward-facing railgun and waited to pull the triggers.
“You think you got the balls to do it, boss?” Cassi asked.
“If they shoot at my guys,” I said, but inside I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t come to that.
We were bigger than them, we outgunned them, and we were the only flying brick in the vicinity.
I watched on the rear camera feed as the crew came out of cover, Doc slung between Odo and Zyla. He looked bad, but I didn’t spare too much time on him, the TAs were emerging out of the dust cloud and falling to one knee; rifles raised and about to fire.
“Don’t do it. Don’t do it,” I whispered.
One of them did it. Then another followed suit. And then the entire line of armed goons started firing at the Harpy.
“Not my ship,” I growled and flicked the switch on the sticks in my palms, then depressed the firing trigger on the guns.
I was off by about three metres, but it got their attention. They stopped firing.
And then Cassi was rising into the radioactive sky, and we were swinging away from the disaster that was now Ceres Alpha, and I was watching Odo gentling laying Doc out on the deck of Cargo Bay Beta on the viewscreen.
“Can I go check on them?” I asked, knowing decontamination wouldn’t yet be over.
“Negative, boss. T-minus twenty for crew reunion.”
“Shit,” I muttered, activating the comm box.
“Took a beating down there, huh?” I said into the mic.
Zyla looked up at the camera lens, her overly large eyes narrowing.
“What have you done to the ship, Captain?” she demanded in Zenith-accented English.
“Bet you’re glad I did it, Zy,” I offered dryly.
She stood up, long-fingered hands fisted, red-lipped mouth open to retort; definitely in full-on Rage Mode.
Then Cassi said, “Incoming.” And went silent.
In fact, the whole ship went silent. Power. Engines. Environmental. Everything.
And the ground rushed up to meet us.
Chapter Two
The impact was jarring. For the crew, unrestrained in the cargo bay, it might have been deadly.
I unbuckled and collapsed to the gel floor. And then rolled onto my back and stared into the darkness, trying to catch my breath and not throw up my burrito.
“Cass?”
Nothing.
The ship creaked and groaned, and then something clicked, and lights began to come on slowly. I sat up, scrubbed my face, and hauled myself back into the command chair. The viewscreens were all rebooting.
“You there, Cassi?”
Nothing.
“Security override, Jameson, K, beta-charlie-foxtrot-9-9-3.”
“Security override acknowledged,” a generic robotic voice replied.
“Secure the vessel.”
“Vessel is secure, Captain.”
“Status on aftermarket AI?”
“The aftermarket AI is rebooting. ETA to full cognition t-minus ten minutes.”
“Show me Cargo Bay Beta.”
A viewscreen flickered, and then a blurry, lined image emerged.
Odo was out cold. Doc looked dead. Only Zyla was moving, and that was because it was hard to kill a Zenith.
“Establish audio with Cargo Bay Beta.”
“Audio established with Cargo Bay Beta.”
“Zy?”
“Kael! What was that?”
“Hit with an EMP is my guess. Cassi’s offline. Got the Ship Basic on it.”
She muttered something decidedly unfit for kids’ ears in Zenith. Usually, I’d tease her about it. But I didn’t have the heart right now what with the ship and us in danger.
“Show me external cameras,” I said.
“Three out of ten cameras are damaged.”
“Show me what you’ve got.”
“Activating external cameras minus three.”
There was movement in the rubble — dark clothes. Uniforms I was betting. TA uniforms.
I toggled the comm on again.
“Zyla, why are the TAs after us?”
She sighed as she continued her check on Doc. I could see his chest still rising and falling. It made mine ache a little less knowing that.
“They took out the base first,” Zyla said. “Then every armed installation and communications centre. An order was issued to relinquish all weapons to the Territorial Army for population protection from imminent invasion. The invasion didn’t come, but the rats crawled out of the sewers.”
I didn’t think she meant that literally.
“We were trying to get back to my cousins’ house. We got spotted at a checkpoint and tried to dodge it. Odo wasn’t giving up his granddaddy's gun to anyone, and I could hardly blame him. It was them or us.”
That was Odo for you.
“They fired first. Odo fired the last shot. In the middle, somewhere, Doc took a round to the stomach.”
Flux!
“How’s he doing?”
“Not good. Can we access the med bay, yet?”
I checked my chrono. Twelve minutes had passed, and some of that would have been when the decon process was offline.
“Establish decontamination sequence in Cargo Bay Beta.”
“Partial decontamination has been run already in Cargo Bay Beta. Would you like to start at the beginning?”
“No!” both Zyla and I shouted at once. “Reestablish from last known point in decon sequence,” I said.
“Reestablishing from last known point in decontamination sequence.”
I scowled at the command screens. Come on, Cass. Wake up.
“Provide medical assistance to Cargo Bay Beta,” I ordered.
“Medical ass
istance is now available in Cargo Bay Beta.”
I sat back in my seat and let out a breath of air. It was the best I could do for the crew until Cassi rebooted. I stared at the view outside the ship. The TAs were getting bolder. Some had ventured out of cover and were approaching the vessel; rifles raised, fingers on triggers.
“Status on weapons?”
“Weapons offline.”
“Can you make the railgun move?”
“Negative. That is an aftermarket addition.”
No shit.
“Plasma, then?”
“Negative. They have been altered beyond their original specifications and are outside my purview.”
I sighed.
“Light up the external locator beacons.”
It wasn’t dark outside, but they’d see them. And any sign of us being alive in here had to help. Maybe. Hopefully.
I watched on the viewscreen as the TAs all fell to the ground seeking cover. It wasn’t hard. It was a mess out there. Debris and rubble the size of transport vehicles. The ship had landed on its belly, thankfully. But we were leaning slightly due to the uneven terrain. I didn’t think we were about to topple off. But at that moment, I would have taken a well-timed slide down the side of a debris mountain if it took out half a dozen TAs at once.
The TAs slowly raised their heads from cover.
Then started moving forward again when the Harpy didn’t respond with an affirmative action.
There was nothing I could do.
Well, there was, and it was a cheap shot. But I liked cheap things — the cheaper and nastier, the better — so that decided it for me.
“Electrify the hull. Fifty thousand watts should do it.”
“Electrifying hull. Fifty thousand watts.”
“See what you make of that,” I muttered.
The first guy to knock on the front door flew back twenty feet. The rest backed up accordingly and settled in to watch, rifles still aimed at the Harpy.
In the distance, behind the TAs, I could see dust swirling. Something was approaching. Something bigger than a grunt, I was sure.
“Can you tell me what’s heading our way?”
“Negative. Outside of my range, Captain.” Basics were limited in their abilities. They could fly the ship, manage its various essential systems, and make you a cup of coffee. But they were no third-gen AI.
Absolute Zero (The Sector Wars, Book 1) Page 2