by James Wisher
Marcus stepped over the body into the stairwell. He climbed the steps, pistols leading.
***
They reached the third floor door without meeting any more assassins. Marcus crouched beside the door and activated the mini map in his gauntlet. A hologram of the asteroid appeared in the air. He memorized the path to the safe room and switched off the map.
He got Iaka’s attention. “Ready?”
She took position beside the entry switch and nodded. Marcus pointed his pistols and nodded. The door slid open. A pair of assassins stood in the hall, their weapons pointed at the door. Marcus dropped to his stomach an instant ahead of a pair of green disruptor blasts, his pistols slipped out of his hands and slid a short distance away.
“Grenade!”
Iaka fumbled a grenade out of her pocket and dropped it. Marcus snatched it out of the air, pressed the activator, and tossed it through the door. Two-seconds later blue sparks filled the hall. He leapt to his feet, recovered his weapons, and went through the door. The assassins lay on the floor twitching from the effects of the grenade. Marcus shot them both.
“I’m sorry, I panicked.” Iaka trembled in the doorway.
“Forget it. These two knew we were coming.”
“They’re probably connected to a private network. When you killed the one downstairs these two must have seen it and assumed we’d come upstairs. I bet there are two more watching the second floor door.”
“If you’re right then they know we’re here. We need to hurry.”
They ran through the halls, Marcus in the lead. He counted doors and turned at the fourth on the left. No masked men yet. They hadn’t gone far when a high pitched whine filled the air. Marcus stopped. “What the hell?”
“We must be close.” Iaka cocked her head. “The first councilor said they were cutting through the door. That noise might be a saw.”
“Right, get a grenade ready.”
Iaka pulled a grenade out of her pocket and nodded. Marcus hugged the wall and eased forward. He doubted they’d hear anything over that whine, but he didn’t want to take chances. The hall turned right a few feet ahead. Marcus poked his head around the corner.
Eight Void assassins surrounded a pair of robots using built in plasma cutters to slash through the heavy steel door to the safe room. Marcus yanked his head back before they noticed him. He didn’t know if one ion grenade would take out that many assassins.
Marcus flinched when Iaka grabbed and yanked him to the ground, her grenade rolled over against the far wall. A disruptor blast flashed over his head. Two assassins walked down the hall toward them weapons raised. Marcus fired the ion blaster at the right hand assassin who went down in a storm of blue sparks. They rolled aside when the second assassin fired at them. He recovered and blasted the second one who went down beside the first. Before he could finish them off a stream of laser fire streaked past his head.
“Four more behind us.” Iaka said
Marcus turned in time to see Iaka recover the grenade she dropped and fling it at the approaching assassins. The ion blast caught all four and they went down twitching. The first two sat up. Damn it! They recovered already. Marcus shot the left hand assassin. His blast deflected off the assassin’s shield.
“Finish those four before they recover,” he said.
Marcus switched back to the ion pistol and blasted the half recovered assassins again then finished them with his blaster. He spun back around, expecting the four remaining assassins to come firing out around the corner. Nothing. Where were they?
He walked back beside Iaka. She trembled all over. Smoke rose from holes in the Void assassins’ chests. He put a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up at him. “I never killed anyone before.”
“I’m not sure these things qualify as people.” Marcus gave her shoulder a squeeze and walked over to the corner. He peaked around the corner for an instant before jerking his head back ahead of a laser blast. The four remaining assassins clustered around the cutting robots, their weapons pointed outward. “They don’t seem inclined to move.”
Iaka shook her head. “That’s convenient.” She took the last grenade out of her pocket, tossed it once, caught it, and threw it around the corner.
Marcus waited until the sizzling stopped then peaked around the corner. The assassins lay on the ground and the cutting robots slumped, unmoving. He ran forward and blasted the assassins. The ion blast fried the intercom so Marcus dialed Dra’Kor’s comm.
“Marcus?” the first councilor’s voice sounded rough.
“Yes, boss. We’re outside the safe room.” Marcus rapped twice on the door with the butt of his blaster pistol. “Did you hear that?”
“I did. One moment.” Marcus and Iaka waited and a few seconds later the door groaned open. The first councilor and four other councilors stood in the doorway, dressed in torn robes and looking a good deal less imposing than usual. “It’s good to see you.”
The councilors frowned and walked around the bodies. Marcus grinned. “Sorry about the mess. Do we need to collect anyone else before we go?”
“No, the council wasn’t in session. We were the only ones here.”
“Great, we need to hurry before reinforcements arrive.”
“Excellent idea.” One of the councilors, a tall, broad shouldered, hairless male said. Marcus couldn’t put a name to the man or his species, but he liked the councilor’s attitude.
Marcus and Iaka led the way back toward the staircase. Iaka leaned in and whispered. “We’re out of grenades. If we run into more assassins…”
“I’ve got half a charge left in the ion pistol. As long as there isn’t an army between us and the hanger we should be okay.” When he said it out loud it sounded believable.
They reached the staircase door and Marcus went in first. No assassins lurked on the landing so he continued on. The door to the second floor was open and Marcus assumed that was where the two assassins that jumped them came from. Marcus cleared the doorway then slammed the door shut. He repeated the process on the first floor and when he found it clear motioned the others to follow him.
The wall across from the door to Dra’Kor’s office had a huge scorch mark. Marcus held up his hand to stop the others and called Solomon.
“Marcus? Where have you been?” Solomon’s voice sounded hoarse.
“I’ve got our passengers and we’re outside the office. I’m coming in and I didn’t want you to blast me by accident.”
“That’s a good thought. Come on in. I’ve had some issues.”
Marcus entered the office. Through the hanger door Solomon waved. Six dead assassins littered the floor, each had a hole in his chest the size of Marcus’s head. Marcus looked back at Iaka. “Told you the Guardian would handle them.”
“You were right.” She looked a little green looking at the bodies.
They entered the hanger and Marcus motioned the councilors toward the ship. “If you’ll get aboard, councilors, we’ll be on our way shortly.”
The councilors walked up the loading ramp with Iaka. Solomon had the laser disconnected from the cable so Marcus carried it in. When they’d stowed the weapons and locked up they went to the cockpit and fired up the star. Solomon sent the code to open the hanger door while Marcus activated the cloak. He eased out of the hanger and as soon as they cleared the door they entered hyperspace.
Marcus set the autopilot and turned toward Solomon. “That was way too easy an exit. Those black ships weren’t even scanning for us.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we may have picked up a mole. Scan for transmissions, I’ll check on our passengers”
He went back to the hold to check on the councilors. Iaka had found them some spare crates for them to sit on. They didn’t seem upset by the crude furniture. When Dra’Kor saw Marcus he stood and met him halfway across the hold.
The first councilor took Marcus’s hand in his and gave it a firm shake. “We owe y
ou our lives. I’m more grateful than I can say.”
Marcus smiled. “Happy to be of service, first councilor. Do you have a destination in mind?”
“Where are we headed now?”
“The middle of nowhere. It’s a preprogrammed jump we keep for emergencies. We spend an inordinate amount of time running for our lives so it seemed prudent.”
“We have much to discuss and the middle of nowhere is a good place to do it.”
***
Marcus leaned against the wall and watched the councilors. He suspected at least one of them worked for the enemy. He discounted Dra’Kor at once. In the six months he’d worked for the first councilor he done nothing but play it straight with Marcus. He liked and respected the enigmatic Vencar. That left the other four. Marcus had never dealt with any of them directly.
One, a four foot tall hairy fellow, that looked like nothing so much as an over evolved mouse fidgeted and couldn’t look in one place for more than a few seconds. He seemed like the only one really nervous about the attack. The tall hairless one sat still, a neutral, almost disinterested look on his face. The third, a four armed female that looked like a cousin to the negotiator they rescued a couple days ago, sat with her thin arms crossed. She wore a fierce scowl and looked angry more than anything. The final councilor was the most exotic of the lot, sporting six tentacles in place of arms and wide, webbed feet. Marcus couldn’t even tell if it was a male or female much less read its expression.
“It’s an outrage!” the four armed councilor said. “How dare they attack us? I’ll see them hunted to the ends of the galaxy.”
Dra’Kor raised his hands to try to calm her down. “They will, of course, be made to pay for their crimes. The more immediate question is where do we go from here?”
The tentacled councilor said, “We are closest to my home world. We could travel there and get a military escort wherever we decide to go.”
They argued amongst themselves for a while. When they paused to catch their breath Marcus said, “Could I offer you all something to drink?”
“Thank you, Marcus,” Dra’Kor said. “I think water would be safe for everyone.”
Marcus nodded. “Water it is. Excuse me.”
“I’ll give you a hand,” Iaka got up to join him.
They left the hold and headed to the galley. Marcus kept going toward the cockpit and Iaka put a hand on his shoulder. “Where are you going?”
“I need to check on something. I won’t be long.”
He stepped through the cockpit door with Iaka in tow. Solomon looked up from his console. “You were right. I picked up a transmission. Looks like a simple hyperspace capable homing device.”
“Can you block it?” Marcus dropped into the pilot’s chair.
“Already done, but I don’t know how long we’ve been broadcasting.”
“What’s going on?” Iaka asked.
Marcus explained his theory. “We need to move before one of those ships shows up.”
“Course laid in,” Solomon said.
Marcus activated the hyperdrive and streaked through the portal. “Where’re we headed?”
Solomon grinned. “A different bit of nowhere a parsec closer to the Vencar home world.”
“Perfect. Come with me and bring the little scanner. You’re going undercover.”
They collected glasses of water and made their way back to the hold. Solomon carried the tray in one hand and the scanner in palmed in the other. They went to Dra’kor first and Marcus handed him a glass.
“Is everything all right?” the first councilor asked. A straw extended from his mask to the glass and he took a sip. “I felt the engines fire up.”
“Everything’s fine, I needed to adjust our position a bit.” Marcus hadn’t technically lied, it all depended how you defined a bit.
They went to the tentacled councilor and handed it a glass. It nodded. Marcus glanced at Solomon who gave a minute shake of his head. They continued to the four armed councilor and got another negative on the scan. The nervous, mouse looking fellow was also a bust. Nervous and twitchy must be his default setting. It had to be the big, muscle man. Marcus handed him his glass and Solomon nodded.
They moved away from the councilors and joined Iaka a short distance away. Marcus murmured in her ear, “The big guy.”
“Now that we’ve enjoyed our refreshment,” Dra’Kor began. “Let’s continue our discussion. How could the council’s defenses have been so easily defeated?”
Marcus stepped forward and looked the big councilor in the eye. “I have an idea. Someone must have betrayed you from the inside.”
“That’s my thought as well.” Dra’Kor tapped his chin.
“Who could have betrayed us?” The four armed councilor asked.
“Him.” Marcus pointed at the big councilor who jumped to her feet.
“Ridiculous. I won’t stand for being insulted.”
“You’re broadcasting a homing beacon,” Marcus said.
“One moment,” Dra’Kor said. He studied the big councilor then reached out and removed a small device from the folds of his robes.
The four armed councilor leapt to her feet, wrapped an arm around Dra’Kor’s neck, drew a hold out blaster, and put it to his temple. “I didn’t think you’d find the signal before the Void ships arrived. If you’ll all remain calm they should be here soon.”
“I doubt that.” Marcus took a step closer than stopped when the councilor’s grip tightened on the blaster trigger. “Solomon blocked the signal and we’re in hyperspace on our way to a safe location.”
“No!” she took the blaster away from Dra’Kor’s head and pointed it a Marcus. “You must take us back. Now!”
The first councilor touched her arm and every muscle in the female councilor’s body seized up. Dra’Kor freed himself from her grasp and Iaka took the blaster from her nerveless fingers. The four armed councilor slumped to the floor, wrapped her arms around her legs and wept.
Dra’Kor knelt beside her, a little too close for Marcus’s comfort. “Why?”
She looked up. “The Void took my family. They said if I helped them destroy the council they wouldn’t be harmed.”
“You trusted them?” Iaka stared at the councilor, disbelief plain in her face.
“They have my mate, my children. What would you do in my place? Any chance, even a small one, I had to take it. Now…” She hung her head again, her misery clear to them all.
“What now?” Marcus asked.
“I will contact my home government,” Dra’Kor said. “And arrange a warship to meet us. We can transfer and get out of your hair.”
Marcus grinned when the Vencar used a human expression. “You won’t be in my hair, but you might find the sleeping arrangements uncomfortable. You can use the comm in the cockpit.”
He and Solomon led the first councilor to the cockpit. When they were alone Dra’Kor said. “I have your next mission. After we rendezvous with the warship I want you to go to councilor Tille’s home and try to rescue her family. I hold out little hope, but we must make the effort.”
CHAPTER NINE
Vlad accepted the slate and looked at it in silence for a few minutes. “There’s been a terrorist attack on Earth. All the top Earth Force commanders have been killed.”
Oliver made a strangled noise. They’d made their move all ready. “We need to get off Mars. It won’t be long before they move to control the colonies.”
Vlad stood up. “I’m inclined to agree. Tommy, put the word out. All our people should go to ground. Get your crew and meet me at my ship in three hours. First get some stun cuffs for this lot. I’m not taking any chances with them.”
“Right boss.” Tommy ran off into the dark.
“Please,” Oliver said. “I need to get a message to Adam. If the Void have made their move he’s in great danger.”
Vlad raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m surprised you care.”
“Adam’s been useful in the past and may be again. We�
�re not exactly drowning in resources here.”
“True, tell me your message and I’ll get it to him.”
Oliver hesitated a moment, but had no real choice. “Tell him he’s been compromised and needs to get out. Ask him to meet us wherever you’re planning to take us. Attach code A74Q91 to the message so he knows it’s legitimate and from me.”
Vlad nodded, got up, and left them alone with his empty chair. When he’d gone Celine said, “So our lives are in the hands of a gangster. Not very encouraging.”
“No, but Vlad doesn’t want the Void to control Earth Space any more than we do. It wouldn’t be good for his business. He’ll help us for his own reasons. We’re in no position to complain one way or the other.”
An hour later all the lights in the basement came on and Vlad walked towards them with four pairs of stun cuffs. He tossed them through the bars. “Put them on.”
Oliver snapped the cuffs around his wrists. “Did you get my message to Adam?”
“He should have received it by now.” When they all had the cuffs on Vlad pushed a button on a device clipped to his belt. The cage lock clicked and the door swung open. “Let’s go.”
Oliver led the others out of the cage. When they walked past Vlad Max’s idiot partner lunged at him.
Vlad whistled and the guard twitched once and collapsed on the floor. “A demonstration of your good faith?”
“I didn’t—”
Vlad pulled his blaster and blew the guards head to bits. “Any more trouble and the rest of you will end up like him.”
The muscles in Max’s neck tensed. Oliver had to act fast or he’d lose both his guards. “Max!”
Max looked at him and Oliver shook his head. “Let him go. We have to get out of here and Vlad’s our ride.”
Max let out a sigh and relaxed. Good, Oliver might need the burly driver later. Vlad directed them out of the building and into the back of a waiting truck. A couple seconds later the truck powered up and they took off.
Streets and building streamed by. Oliver had no idea where they were, but he assumed Vlad would head toward the spaceport. He didn’t know how much time passed before the truck stopped. A murmured conversation came from the front of the truck then they moved again, slower this time. They drove past dozens of rows of parked ships before coming to a stop.