Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2)

by Matthew Kadish

  “Most unfortunate,” replied Shanks before pointing off to the side. “Oh, my. What in the world is that?”

  Green and Dan both turned. “What?” asked the Professor, alarmed. “Do you see something?”

  While their attention was focused elsewhere, Shanks took his staff and struck the door with a forceful lunge, breaking the lock and causing the door to swing open. When Green turned to look at the now open door, Shanks was already back in his casual stance, as though nothing had happened.

  “My, that was strange,” Shanks said. “Must have been a random lock malfunction thanks to the moon’s gravitational pull.”

  “I would like to point out, sir, that makes absolutely no sense,” said Dan.

  “Very few things in this world do, my computerized companion,” said Green with a nod toward Shanks. “I find it best never to question good fortune in favor of rationality. Now come along.”

  The trio crept into the hangar. Green relaxed when he noticed there was a lack of security-bots stationed inside. He looked at the cannons that were still ravaging the Earthship. Do not worry, friend, I’m finally here to help! he thought. Green made his way up to the control room of the hangar and quickly accessed the main console in front of the window looking down upon the Earthship.

  Shanks gazed at the ship as the cannons continued to fire upon it, his face pained. “Great Observer,” he said. “I… I sense much pain and suffering coming from that ship! It’s almost as if…”

  “The ship is alive,” Green said as he went to work bypassing the security software the Maguffyn techs had set up. “Those cannons are designed to destroy its life force by targeting its energy signature while leaving everything else unharmed. It’s going to take me a while to hack into this console and gain control of them. Luckily there are no security-bots inside the hangar we have to worry about.”

  Shanks frowned as he leaned upon his staff, gazing down at the Earthship. “It is not luck, my friend,” he said. “I fear it is a trap.”

  Green looked at Shanks, taken aback by the monk’s theory. “It… it is?”

  “Casgor knows there is only one way for the Earthman and his companions to get to the Princess,” Shanks said. “After they took over the robots, its obvious Casgor doesn’t trust the security drones here at the spaceport. If he had them removed, it is because he has something worse in store for Jack when he and the others arrive.”

  “Oh… oh, my…” fretted Green. “What could it be?”

  “That is the question, is it not?” replied Shanks. “As a mere observer, I would strongly recommend you begin thinking about the answer to that. But an even more important question is…” Shanks looked at Green gravely. “What can you do to stop it?”

  Jack, Scallywag, Heckubus, and Grohm ducked into an alleyway on stratum 170 just in time to avoid a Peacekeeper hovercar patrolling the area. A large holographic display on the side of a nearby building was playing a newscast with headlines such as “Capitol in Lockdown. City-Wide Manhunt in Progress” scrolling across the bottom of the image.

  “We’re just now receiving confirmation that Director Casgor has officially declared a state of emergency lockdown in Capitol City,” the newscaster announced. “All citizens are being asked to return to their homes and to stay off the streets. Peacekeeper and military forces are asking everyone to be on the look-out for these fugitives – a berserk Rognok known as Grohm, responsible for a rampage on stratum 80; Scallywag the Red, a known pirate and war criminal; Heckubus Moriarty, a robot; and the most shocking of all, Earthman Jack Finnegan, famous throughout the galaxy as a Hero of the Empire and now accused of terrorism, treason, and crimes against the Empire…”

  Images of each of the group appeared on screen as the newscaster read the names. Heckubus scowled. “A robot? That’s all the description I get? How insulting!”

  “Oy, we got every bloody person in this bloody city lookin’ fer us, and yer complainin’ about how they talk about ya on the holonet?” grumbled Scallywag.

  “Easy for you to say Mr. ‘Pirate’ and ‘War Criminal,’” said Heckubus. “What I wouldn’t give to have a couple of atrocities attached to my name! Would it have killed them to simply mention I’m an evil genius? Like that is too much to ask!”

  Jack slumped against the wall of the alley, looking about as depressed as one could get. “So much for saving the day…” he muttered. “Anna’s going to break the Great Seal and there’s no way we can stop her. We blew it.”

  “Now is not the time ta allow yer jimmies ta be rustled, lad,” Scallywag said. “We gotta start worryin’ about ourselves, not the bloody Princess fer a change. Let’s figure out how ta get back to yer ship and high-tail it off this rock.”

  “For once, I’m inclined to agree with the war criminal,” Heckubus said. “Hopefully by now the Professor and my henchman have found a way to save the Earthship from whatever nefarious scheme the Maguffyn Corporation was perpetuating upon it and have set the stage for our speedy getaway.”

  “I still can’t sense my ship,” Jack said, sadly. “The way our luck’s been going, the Professor has probably been recaptured by now, or worse. I hate to say it guys… but I think we’re totally boned here.”

  “Big bloody kitten!” cursed Scallywag as he peeked over the side of the alley. “If we weren’t before, we are now. We got inbound…”

  The group peeked around the side as well to see a legion of security-bots and Peacekeepers marching through the streets, with hovercars and shuttles flying overhead in a search pattern heading right for them.

  “Quick, we gotta get inside!” ordered Scallywag as he made his way to the back entrance of one of the buildings that formed the alley.

  “They’re going building-to-building, you twit,” Heckubus said. “Hiding indoors is the worst idea possible. Especially with him around.” Heckubus gestured to Grohm. “It’s not like he’ll fit in a closet!”

  “Well we can’t bloody well stay outdoors unless ya feel like wavin’ hello ta the Peacekeepers and good-bye ta yer keister,” Scallywag said.

  “Heckubus, do you have any of your secret tunnels nearby?” asked Jack. “Anything we can use to avoid the search and make it to the spaceport?”

  “Not on this high of a stratum,” Heckubus said. “Our best hope would be to find a teleporter of some kind and hack it to get us close to your ship. Unfortunately, it’s standard procedure in a city-wide lockdown to disable any and all teleporters.”

  “So it’s either stay out here and definitely get caught, or hide inside and maybe get caught,” Scallywag argued. “I, fer one, will take tha ‘maybe’ option. Now, robot, if ya wouldn’t mind…” Scallywag gestured to the door. Before Heckubus had a chance to hack the lock, it opened, revealing Phineas Alabaster on the other side. The group all gaped at him in surprise.

  “Gentlemen,” Alabaster said calmly. “This way.”

  Alabaster turned and began walking away. The group exchanged nervous glances with one another before following him inside. “Oy, did we just surrender ta the head of the IIA?” asked Scallywag softly as they walked.

  “I… don’t think so?” replied Jack, unsure of what exactly was going on.

  Alabaster stopped at a door and slid a keycard through a receiver. The door opened and he stood aside. “Inside, quickly. All of you,” he ordered. The group filed into what appeared to be a rather normal, albeit small, office. Once everyone was inside, Alabaster stepped in, closing the door and locking it.

  “Uh… Chief, you wanna tell us what’s going on?” asked Jack.

  “I’m helping you evade capture,” Alabaster replied.

  “Even the Peacekeepers aren’t incompetent enough to miss this place,” said Heckubus. “They have the authority to search every room in the city. It is only a matter of time before they come knocking.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Alabaster, moving to a wall. “You won’t be here when they do.” Alabaster waved his hand in front of it and an electronic voice quietly spoke, “Bio-scan
confirmed.” Then the wall opened to reveal a small hallway. “Follow me,” Alabaster ordered.

  “Oooooh,” mused Heckubus. “He has secret tunnels, too! And they are way nicer than mine…”

  Jack glanced at Scallywag, who shrugged. “Like we got a choice?” the pirate muttered. Jack and the others filed into the passage after Alabaster, the wall closing behind them. They came to a small room with a teleportation platform in it.

  “What is this?” asked Jack.

  “I’ve spent the last couple of years manifesting a secret teleportation network around the capitol, for occasions just like the one we find ourselves in now,” Alabaster said. “I am the only one who knows about it and can use it.”

  “Manifest?” asked Jack. “You’re a Paragon?”

  “I don’t consider myself one,” replied Alabaster, “but I do have Paragon training. Just enough to allow me to do the things I need to perform my job to the best of my abilities. In my business, I often find I’m unable to trust anyone but myself. My Paragon training gives me the ability to do certain things I would not otherwise be able to accomplish solo.”

  “Where ya gonna teleport us to?” asked Scallywag, suspiciously.

  “The Earthman’s ship,” said Alabaster as he typed the destination into the teleporter’s touchscreen control panel on the wall. “It’s currently in the Maguffyn Corporation’s private hangar at the spaceport. Once you’re all safely on board, use this.” Alabaster handed Jack a small datastick. Jack looked at it curiously.

  “What is it?” Jack asked.

  “The location of the Portgate Great Seal,” Alabaster said.

  Jack looked at Alabaster wide-eyed. “You – you know where the Great Seal is located?”

  “There are very few secrets I am not aware of,” Alabaster replied as he ushered the group onto the platform. “Particularly the ones I’m not supposed to have access to. I had a conversation with Virtuoso before he left which led me to believe he wasn’t planning on returning from his expedition. Knowing him, he’d cover his tracks, which was the very reason I keep secret back-ups of all Maguffyn related research. That datastick also contains security signatures that will get you past Omnicron’s orbital defense rings. But they won’t last long once you’re discovered, so you must make your escape as soon as you can. Once the defense matrices begin to target you, I’m afraid you’ll be beyond my ability to protect.”

  “Why are you helping us?” asked Jack. “I thought there was nothing you could do?”

  “Nothing overtly,” said Alabaster. “Any attempt to stop the Princess on my part would have tipped my hand and made me a target for Casgor. If I am to be of any use, I must retain my position within the government and work against him in secret. From my knowledge of your previous adventure with the Deathlords, I’d hoped you would take action, and you did not disappoint. You’ve proven to be a very important piece in a game I find myself playing from a losing position in, Earthman. I am counting on you to be my Swindle. Do not let me down.”

  Jack smiled and nodded toward Alabaster. “Don’t worry, Chief,” he said. “I hate to lose.”

  “So do I,” said Alabaster, returning Jack’s smile. “Good luck.”

  With that, Alabaster hit the activation button on the teleporter’s touchscreen. In a flash, the group was inside the hangar housing the Earthship. For the first time, Jack got to see in person the cannons that were blasting away at it.

  “Oh, no,” lamented Jack. “The Professor was supposed to have turned these things off by now!”

  “We can only assume Casgor anticipated we’d try to get back here at some point and captured the Professor,” Heckubus said. “Looks like we’ll have to be the ones to disable those cannons and get out of here as quickly as possible.”

  “But, the Professor—”

  “Sorry, lad,” Scallywag said. “There ain’t nothin’ we can do fer him now.”

  Jack frowned. He looked at the datastick in his hand, and then back at his ship. “You’re right,” he said. “We have to stay focused on saving Anna. Come on. Let’s hurry up and turn these dang cannons off.”

  The group began walking through the hangar, heading for the control room. Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting BOOM which rang out from high overhead. Grohm immediately stopped at the sound, looking up toward the hangar’s roof. “Uh-oh,” he said.

  “Uh-oh?” repeated Scallywag, alarmed.

  “The Rognok just said ‘uh-oh’,” pointed out Heckubus, equally alarmed.

  Then, Alpha Force Commandos came crashing through the ceiling, one by one, each landing with purposeful impact in a formation encircling the group. Jack and the others looked around frantically as the power-armored soldiers stood, unslinging their graviton rifles and aiming them directly at their targets.

  “Uh-oh,” said Jack, petrified.

  “Attention fugitives,” the Alpha Force Commander said. “We have you surrounded. Surrender now. If you attempt to resist, use of deadly force has been authorized.”

  Jack could feel his heart thumping in his chest. No, he thought. No, we were so close!

  Jack could hear a low growl escape from Grohm as the Rognok’s body tensed. He saw Scallywag’s hand flirting with the blasters at the pirate’s sides, the Visini’s eyes narrowing, slowly studying the situation around him. The motors whirring in Heckubus’s head were audible as the robot was no doubt running through a myriad of scenarios on how to get out of the rather tense situation. And all Jack could do was stare helplessly at each of the imposing super-soldiers one by one.

  They were caught. They all knew it. And there wasn’t a thing they could do about it if they wanted to live.

  “One hundred percent charge,” the Commander ordered. The Alpha Force squad raised their weapons in unison, their massive graviton rifles humming loudly as they charged up. “Resistance is futile,” the Alpha Force Commander said. “Raise your hands and surrender now, or we will be forced to kill you. Comply immediately.”

  Jack glanced at his friends. His chest was tight with the feeling of defeat. For a moment, he thought he could hear the beating of his heart as the despair of failure snaked through him. But then, he realized that sound was the tapping of a wooden stick on the floor.

  The others heard it, too. They all turned and stared as Shanks appeared, walking toward the group of Alpha Force Commandos surrounding Jack and company. It didn’t take long for the Alpha Force soldiers closest to him to turn and level their weapons at him.

  “Halt!” the Alpha Force Commander ordered.

  Shanks stopped, gripping his elderwood walking staff casually as he smiled at the Commander. “Good day, compatriots,” he said. “Forgive my intrusion. It was not my intention to interrupt your duties.”

  “Identify yourself,” the Alpha Force Commander instructed.

  “Me?” said Shanks innocently. “I am merely a humble observer, who has sworn not to take any part in the conflicts of the Empire.”

  “You are to turn around and exit the premises immediately, citizen,” the Alpha Force Commander replied. “There is nothing for you to observe here.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” Shanks said. “In fact, I was just about to observe those men you have surrounded drop to the ground. Right now.”

  Shanks looked at Jack, and Jack instantly grasped his meaning. “Get down!” Jack said, dropping to the floor, his friends wasting little time following suit.

  No sooner had the group taken cover than the cannons ravaging the Earthship turned, their raging beams of crackling white energy sweeping over the members of Alpha Force. The beams cut through their ranks before they had time to react, electric tendrils snaking around each one as the Maguffyn cannons continued to unleash their unrelenting assault.

  Jack could hear the Alpha Force members cry out as their armor trembled and short-circuited, the eyes of their helmets going dark before they collapsed to the ground, their power armor smoking.

  When the last member of Alpha Force dropped, the cannon
s ceased firing. Jack looked up and saw Shanks standing exactly where he had been when the assault had started, looking around at the fallen soldiers in the hangar with a somewhat amused grin on his face. Jack and the others climbed back to their feet, looking around shocked and amazed at what had just happened. “Are they… are they…” sputtered Jack.

  “Dead?” replied Shanks. “No. Though their power armor makes Alpha Force soldiers quite formidable, the moment you short out that armor, they are essentially prisoners within it. Without energy to assist them, they can’t even support the weight of their suits. I’m afraid they will all be stuck like this until someone comes to remove them from their shells.” Shanks used the tip of his staff to lightly tap against the helmet of the Alpha Force Commander.

  “Well, I’m glad you finally decided to help us,” Jack said. “We were total goners.”

  “Help?” replied Shanks. “I merely did nothing but observe.”

  “Yeah, I observed, too,” said Scallywag. “I observed ya savin’ our right rosy bums, that’s what I observed.”

  “Oh, the honor of saving you goes to your friends,” Shanks said, turning to the door of the control room behind him as Professor Green and Dan emerged.

  Jack lit up. “Professor! Dan!” he said. “There you are! Thank God you’re okay!”

  “Jack, my boy!” said Green cheerily as he approached. “I say, I’m glad that worked. I honestly didn’t know if those cannons would have the same effect on the Alpha Force power armor as they were supposed to have on the ship. But it would appear it successfully disrupted the energy flow to the suits without harming anything else, as expected.”

  Dan looked at all the fallen members of Alpha Force. “Ha. Ha ha. Ha,” he said.

  Heckubus leaned in toward him. “We’re going to have to work on your maniacal laugher,” he said quietly.

  Jack looked at his ship. Though the cannons were off, he still didn’t feel that his connection to it had returned. “Did… did those cannons kill it?” Jack asked, afraid to hear the answer. “Were we too late?”