Exploration: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Ghost Squadron Book 2)

by Sarah Noffke

  Eddie flipped the switch on his belt and held up his hands as he materialized. “I believe you’re a man of your word. I’m not here to kill you. I just need that gun you’re holding.”

  “Where’s Doka?” asked Ray, his eyes scanning the area around Eddie. Julianna was still cloaked.

  “Doka met an unfortunate end. He asked me to retrieve the gun for him,” said Eddie.

  Ray’s black eyes tightened. “I was ordered to not sell this gun to anyone but Doka.”

  “Plans changed. Oh, and I can’t buy the gun. I’m just going to be taking it.” Eddie said, his hands still raised. He noticed the water on the ground displaced slightly as Julianna edged forward.

  Ray laughed loudly. “You stupid human, you think I’m going to give you this? You have some nerve.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Ray tilted his head to the side. “We have intruders. Back up immediately,” he said into his comm device.

  “Oh fuck. Why did you have to do that? I thought we could have been friends,” joked Eddie. Why hadn’t Julianna knocked this guy out yet?

  “Who else is with you?” asked Ray.

  Eddie shrugged, daring to lower his hands. “Just me. Where’d you get that gun?

  Ray eyed Eddie, motioning backward with the gun. “Take a few steps back.”

  “But then I can’t see the gun.”

  “If you don’t step back, then I’m going to show you exactly how it works.” There was a small splash of water beside Ray. His eyes dropped to the right. “What’s going—”

  The Trid keeled over, the gun flying up and to the side as he did. His face fell flat to the ground, partially obscured by the standing water. At least there wasn’t any fear of him drowning, being a Trid and all.

  Julianna materialized, holding the giant gun.

  “Damn, it’s about time. That guy was about to waste me.” Eddie pointed to the large weapon in her hands.

  “Oh, don’t be such a baby. I had plenty of time to knock him out.”

  “I think you wanted me to get shot,” teased Eddie.

  “Right, because I want to drag your ass out of here along with this heavy-ass thing.” Julianna pushed the gun in Eddie’s hands. “We’ve got company.”

  “And I’ve got a giant gun, so bring it on.” Eddie studied the gun quickly, trying to understand how it worked.

  “Do not, I repeat, do not fire that thing down here. We don’t know the first thing about the gun, and its ammunition could fire off these walls and blow us to Timbuktu.” Julianna pulled back the door, peering around into the tunnel.

  “Where is Timbuktu, by the way?”

  “Far-the-fuck away. I think it’s in the Axiom system.” Julianna waved him out into the tunnel, pulling one of the blue marble-like grenades from the pouch tied to her belt.

  “Is the coast clear?” asked Eddie.

  “No, I’m just waving you out into an ambush,” said Julianna sarcastically.

  Eddie smirked. “Look who gets catty in battle.”

  Julianna looked around like surveying the room for another person. “Who?”

  “Ha-ha.”

  The pair stepped out into the tunnel. “Backup is arriving from both directions according to Pip.”

  “Sounds like a party.”

  “Should we throw up our cloaks?” asked Julianna just as three Trid turned the corner in front of them, running in their direction.

  “Or kick ass the old-fashioned way.”

  “Fine.” Julianna pulled her gun from her hip, aimed it in the darkened tunnel, and fired off three shots. They all met their targets, taking them down at once.

  “At some point, you’re holding the big-fucking gun so I can play, too,” said Eddie.

  Another gang of Trids materialized behind them. “Time to go.” Julianna turned the blue grenade and threw it in the approaching Trids’ direction. Then she and Eddie took off, retracing their path back to the exit. A moment later, a loud popping noise filled the tunnel when the grenade went off.

  Eddie and Julianna turned a corner in unison, nearly running straight into two large Trids. One grabbed Julianna by the shoulders, pushing her hard into the tunnel wall. Eddie brought the large gun up like a bat and slung it across the face of the other Trid, slamming his head to the side. He swayed, and then fell over, crumpling against the wall.

  “Don’t…use…unknown…gun…as…weapon.” Julianna said each word in between ducking the Trid’s attacks.

  Eddie looked the gun over. “You worry too much. I can’t shoot the thing and now I can’t swing it around.”

  Julianna bounced on her toes, ducking under one of the Trid’s arms and grabbing him around the neck from behind. “Accidentally set that thing off and I’m going to be pissed,” she said, pressing hard down on the Trid’s throat as he flailed. Finally, he slipped to the tunnel floor where he passed out.

  “I think you broke a sweat there.”

  “Don’t be absurd.” Julianna and Eddie set off again, making it to the exit without meeting anymore Trid.

  “Here, you take this and I’ll go check for baddies.” Eddie handed the tri-rifle to Julianna and climbed the ladder to the surface.

  The Trid must have all been inside the underground because the path to the Q-Ship was clear.

  “Let’s get that gun back so we can find out what it does. I want a chance to shoot that thing,” he said, exiting the tunnel.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Officers Lounge, QBS ArchAngel, Lorialis System

  Eddie set his feet on a chair and leaned back, puffing on a cigar. He peered at his cards, then tossed a chip from his stack onto the center of the table.

  Chester eyed Eddie closely. He was excellent at reading people, which made him an excellent poker player. “You know you don’t have anything. That’s why you’re nickel and diming me.”

  Eddie chuckled. “If you know so much then put your money where your mouth is or fold. You know the rules, boy.”

  Covering his grin, Chester scanned the table. Lars had folded immediately. He didn’t know that poker wasn’t about playing the cards. He kept saying he had shit hands.

  Eddie told him that the cards did not matter, but he didn’t understand.

  Julianna looked more interested in watching the group than playing, like she was cataloging everyone’s different ticks and tells. This woman was an observer, and Chester guessed that made her a deadly warrior. Marilla had refused to play and lay across the sofa in the corner reading a book on her tablet, Harley curled up at her feet.

  Chester picked up three of his black chips, twisting them in his fingers. He noticed that Eddie’s eyes widened minutely, but he covered it by puffing on his cigar, blowing smoke up to the ceiling. He didn’t want the bet to be raised, that much was obvious to Chester.

  “Is anyone else falling asleep waiting for Chester to make up his mind?” asked Eddie.

  Chester eyed his cards. It was a shit hand. He tossed the black chips into the pot.

  A serious expression fell on Eddie’s face. He seemed to think on this for a moment. Then he released a wide smile and threw his cards in the center. “Damn it, you got me again. Take your winnings.”

  Letting out a long breath, Chester rejoiced, pulling the chips to him.

  “That makes five hands in a row he’s won,” observed Lars, sipping on a Coke.

  It had been too long since Chester had a real Coke. This was one of the many benefits to being back working for the Federation. On the planet of Kemp, all they had was some shit called Dr. Pepper. Whoever that doctor was who invented that drink, they needed to have his or her license revoked.

  “He’s a damn card shark. But not like one of those Trids. A cool shark,” said Eddie with a laugh.

  Marilla lowered her tablet, a pursed look on her face. “I urge you to have more tolerance for the Trid species. Just because your target happens to belong to that species shouldn’t reflect poorly on all of them.”

  Eddie turned, putting his forearm
on the back of the chair. “Don’t worry. I’ve met some pretty revolting humans, too. I get it.”

  “Trids are pretty ugly, though. We can all agree on that,” said Lars, shuffling the deck of cards.

  All faces turned and looked straight at the Kezzin with strange expressions.

  “What?” asked Lars. “Oh, I get it. You ugly humans think I look strange.”

  “Strange doesn’t sufficiently cover it. You have scales on your skin,” said Eddie lightly.

  “And you have a hairy face.” Lars dealt out the cards.

  Eddie rubbed his jaw. “Only when I don’t shave. And Julianna doesn’t have a hairy face.” He paused. Looked at Julianna. “You don’t, do you? Maybe you shave, too.”

  Julianna glanced at her cards and threw in a chip. “Teach, I say we arm wrestle after you lose all your chips.”

  Coupled with her beautiful facial features and strong persona, Commander Fregin was quite interesting to watch. Chester thought it was fascinating how this enhanced soldier tensed when Harley trotted by. There was a story there.

  Eddie picked up a chip and tossed it into the pot. “Yes, to the arm wrestling contest. You’ll beat me, but I wager I hold my own for a good twenty seconds.”

  Lars pushed his cards away, folding. “I’m out, but I want in on that bet. I wager it will be more like ten.”

  “Fifteen,” said Chester, looking at his cards. It was actually a good hand. Full house.

  “If the captain has another beer, then I’m betting less than ten,” said Marilla from the couch.

  Eddie turned around, a mock look of offense on his face. “I expect this kind of abuse from the others, but not from you, Marilla. I thought you had a heart.”

  She shrugged, pulling her tablet back up to read. “Being on the QBS ArchAngel is rubbing off on me. Soon, I’ll be heartless.”

  “That may be for the best,” deflected Eddie. He brought his mug of beer up, holding it toward the center of the table. “To being heartless.”

  Chester lifted his Coke and clinked it against the other’s drinks. It was a funny toast because no one had more heart than Captain Teach. Although Chester had first met Eddie at gunpoint, Chester knew the man could be trusted. There was something in his eyes that spoke of his honor. Meet enough criminals and the good guys begin to stand out.

  Chester threw in a stack of black chips. Julianna folded right away, leaning back in her chair.

  “I’m all in,” said Eddie, pushing all his chips into the pot.

  Casting a sideways smile at Julianna, Chester said, “Get ready to arm wrestle. The captain is about to lose.”

  Loading Dock 04, QBS ArchAngel, Lorialis System

  One of Hatch’s tentacles stretched across the dock, clambering through a set of tools.

  “Damn it. Where’s the wrench?” he said from several yards away.

  “It’s behind you,” said Pip.

  All of Hatch’s tentacles were busy holding something, screwing in a bolt into the new Q-Ship or soldering wires in the main frame.

  The Londil huffed. “Of course, it is.” His free tentacle retraced and felt around behind him until it located the wrench.

  “Why do you order all of the crew off of the loading dock when you’re working like this?” asked Pip.

  Hatch rubbed the back of his tentacle against his head before going to work with the wrench. “Because they’ll distract me.”

  “Are you sure that’s the real reason?” asked Pip.

  Hatch looked up, surprised. “What kind of question is that?”

  “I’ve observed that you only work like this when you’re alone, using all of your tentacles to maximize efficiency. You never do such things when in the company of others.”

  Hatch gulped and busied himself by burying his head into the main compartment of the Q-Ship’s engines. It was true that no one saw him work like this. No one needed to know that his secret to success was multitasking. Most of the crew only had two arms and two legs, but he had eight, which expanded the number of things he could do. If any of them saw him like this, they’d probably think he was even more alien.

  Not that he minded, of course, but it was always better to lessen the divide between people. If he had to use two tentacles at a time while in the in presence of others, so be it, but the rest of his time would be spent using his full potential.

  “I’m nearly ready for you to upload the interface software,” said Hatch, his tentacles working separately like individual workers.

  “When do you think this Q-Ship will be ready?” asked Pip.

  “If I work without interruption, then in the next couple of days. However, that’s probably too much to ask for, given how often the crew comes to me with problems.”

  “And once you have this one complete, you’ll be ready to turn the updated schematics over to the crew?” asked Pip.

  “Yes, I guess so. You’re tracking the blueprint updates, right? I’m confident I can give them plans so they can build three more Q-Ships, at least.”

  “Doctor, speaking of distractions,” said Pip. “The captain and the commander are headed to the loading dock. They will arrive in approximately thirty seconds.”

  ~~~

  Eddie rubbed his shoulder, grimacing with pain. “Damn, I’m gonna have to ice this.”

  Julianna smirked proudly. “You’re the one who agreed to the arm-wrestling match.”

  Hitting the button for the loading dock, Eddie strolled forward when the door slid back into the wall. “Well, it was worth it. I now know what your call sign is.”

  “What’s that?” asked Julianna. She’d slammed his arm down after a short five seconds. Who would have thought that the sweet communications officer was going to win the bet?

  “Strong Arm. It fits you perfectly.”

  Julianna pursed her lips and nodded. “Yeah, that’s not completely horrid.”

  When they approached, Hatch was fiddling with a small metal box with wires sticking out of it. Distracted, he looked over his shoulder, and then did a double take at them. “There you are. It’s about time.”

  “You told us you needed a few hours to review the tri-rifle,” said Eddie.

  “I lied. I only needed an hour. The design on the weapon is fairly straightforward and easy to understand. It’s powered by an internal sonic force.” Hatch turned and waddled over to a set of targets he’d set up.

  “Sounds so easy,” said Eddie sarcastically.

  “It’s impressively constructed. I’ll leave it at that.” Hatch picked up the tri-rifle from the table. It was quite large in comparison to his size.

  He turned and faced the targets in the distance. “The rifle has the simple technology to shoot single bullets.” Hatch pulled the trigger and fired the weapon, not hitting any of the targets.

  “Guessing you should stick to mechanics, Doc,” said Eddie.

  “This gun was designed to be shot by a Trid, not a Londil. I think it will be fine for you, Eddie, since you’ve got fish eggs for a brain.”

  “Fair enough,” chirped Eddie.

  “Like the weapons the Kezzin use, this one also has stun technology.” Hatch turned a knob and pulled the trigger. A blue ray shot from the gun, also not hitting anything.

  “I’m guessing if that would have connected with a target, then it would have stunned it,” said Eddie.

  “Do you want to walk out in front of me here? I’ll test the stun option on you.” Hatch waved Eddie over, a scowl on his face.

  Eddie held his hands up in surrender. “I’m good, Doc. Sorry, please continue.”

  “I like the stun options. I was actually going to discuss having you create some stun rifles for us in the future. After being in the underground and having to limit the use of bullets, I think it could be helpful going forward,” said Julianna.

  “That’s a good idea, Julie. I agree, and I’d be open to that project. Let me just finish the second Q-Ship first,” said Hatch.

  “Of course. Thank you,” replied Julianna.
<
br />   “That’s a good idea. Thank you,” mocked Eddie. “Why are you two nice to each other but treat me like I’m an imbecile?”

  Julianna and Hatch both gave Eddie loaded expressions. “Ha-ha. Fine, I’m a space monkey. Show us more of the gun.”

  Hatch turned the notch again. “The most useful part of the gun is that it has the option to obliterate something with the density of a one foot thick concrete wall using a spray technology.” Hatch moved several yards over until he was standing in front of a solid concrete wall, roughly five feet long. He aimed the weapon and shot. The wall split in half, the top crumbling and falling to the ground.

  “Whoa. So it has a horizontal destroy option?” asked Eddie.

  “Exactly, which I was able to tweak to create another option for the first two functions. Now the tri-rifle could be considered a quad-rifle, although I don’t think that has the same ring to it.” Hatch moved a switch on the side of the gun. Then he moved back over to the target area. “This new tweak can be used with either the bullet or stun options.” He aimed and pulled the trigger. A ray of bullets shot from the weapon, taking down all of the targets. Hatch lowered the gun and turned, a proud smile on his face. “See, even a poor shot can be successful with this gun.”

  “Damn, that’s far out,” said Eddie, his mouth hanging wide open.

  “And incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands,” said Julianna.

  Hatch shuffled over and handed the gun to Julianna. “Yes, but you’re in possession of the tri-rifle so we can breathe a sigh of relief. Now we just have to keep it away from the bad guys.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Intelligence Center, QBS ArchAngel, Lorialis System.

  Whistling, Eddie strolled into the Intelligence Center. Chester was leaning back in his chair, throwing a ball up in the air and catching it just before it smacked him in the face. Marilla seemed engrossed in her work, typing fast on her computer, leaning forward, close to the screen. She paused when Eddie entered the area, smiling politely at him.

  “I’ve heard rumor that you’ve hacked into Doka’s communications,” said Eddie.

  Chester caught the ball and beamed. He had a wide smile that seemed to take over his face at times. “You’ve heard correctly.”