by Ryk Brown
“I thought you said you had them?” Marcus retorted, sounding half-serious.
“If Josh could hold this ship still for two seconds I might have nailed another one!”
“If I hold still for two seconds it’ll be the last two seconds that we’re all suckin’ air!” Josh defended. “Maybe if you could shoot straight…”
“…I wouldn’t have to evade their fire!” Josh finished.
Jessica opened the medical kit and pulled out a multi-med preloaded pneumo-ject. She dialed in her medication of choice, adjusted the dosage, and then pressed it against Nathan’s neck. She slid it around to where she expected his carotid artery to be located until the illuminated activation button on the top of the device turned from red to green. She pressed the button and released it. The button flashed orange several times and then turned green again, ready to deliver another dose. She looked at Nathan, who blinked. “You know how to use this?” Jessica asked Neli.
“Yes.”
Jessica adjusted the dosage on the device to accommodate Deliza’s lesser weight and then handed it to Neli.
“Just give me two more degrees to port,” Marcus insisted. The ship turned to port, as requested, as it continued to jink about to avoid incoming rail gun fire. Marcus waited until his sights turned green and then pressed his trigger. Red-orange bolts of plasma leapt from his twin-barrels, again casting flashes of light into the interior of his little bubble. There was a small flash and a puff of smoke in his sights, and the Palean fighter dove to escape. “I hit him!” Marcus declared.
“Yeah, but you didn’t kill him, old man!” Dalen teased.
“Just so long as he can’t shoot at us anymore,” Marcus replied. “That’s all I give a fuck about.”
Vladimir stumbled through the port corridor as the Seiiki shifted side to side and up and down, occasionally rolling to one side or the other. He rounded the corner around the forward lift turbine housing, grabbing the cockpit ladder to keep from tumbling to starboard as the ship suddenly rolled and twisted to port.
“More fighters inbound,” Vladimir heard Loki announce as he started up the ladder. “Flight of six; they’ll have range on us in two minutes.”
“Jump us out of here already!” Vladimir demanded as he topped the ladder and stepped into the Seiiki’s cramped cockpit.
“The reactors are only at eighty percent!” Loki replied. “We couldn’t even jump to orbit, let alone out of the system!”
Vladimir slipped into the seat behind Loki, turning toward the auxiliary console. “Jess, Neli! Strap in!” he ordered over his comm-set. “I’m shutting off inertial dampeners and all gravity plating!”
“That isn’t going to be enough,” Josh warned.
“It will work!” Vladimir insisted as he prepared to shutdown systems and channel all available power to the jump drive.
“Range in one minute!” Loki reported.
“Give me a couple of safety harnesses!” Jessica ordered Neli.
“What’s going on?” Nathan mumbled as the medication finally began to take effect.
“We’re being chased by Palee Militia fighters,” Jessica told him as she caught the safety harness tossed to her by Neli. “Put one on her!” she instructed Neli as she slipped the harness over Nathan’s left arm.
“Why don’t we just jump?” Nathan mumbled, confused and still groggy from the Palean stunners.
“Josh had to liftoff before the reactors were at full power,” Jessica explained as she slipped the harness over Nathan’s right arm.
“You can’t do that,” Nathan insisted, his speech still slightly slurred. “Too much load, it will take them longer to reach full…”
The ship suddenly lurched to one side as something exploded outside.
“Incoming fire!” Loki warned over the loudspeakers.
“Fasten her to the deck,” Jessica told Neli, noticing that she already had the harness secured to Deliza. “Yourself, too.”
“What about you?” Neli asked, noticing that Jessica hadn’t yet donned the harness that Neli had dropped on the floor next to her.
“Don’t worry about me,” Jessica insisted, tightening the waistband on Nathan’s safety harness. She hooked his safety clip onto the deck grating, reaching for her harness to put it on when the gravity suddenly disappeared and she began to float up off the deck.
With the medication taking greater effect, Nathan was able to seize hold of Jessica’s jacket to keep her from drifting away. In the next second, the ship shifted to the left and Jessica was jerked away. Nathan kept his grip, causing her to roll over violently. He refused to let go, struggling to raise his other arm, flailing about until he finally managed to grab the back of her jacket with both hands.
Again the ship rocked, shifting to the side. Nathan pulled with everything he had, trying to bring Jessica in closer, but he lacked the strength. He could feel his hands weakening, his grip fading. Just as he was about to lose her, Jessica grit her teeth against her injuries and twisted to grab his arm. They pulled each other closer as the scooter drifted past her.
Jessica’s safety harness, although not completely secured, was on well enough to be useful. She looped the free end of one of the lose belts through Nathan’s harness, quickly tying it in a simple knot, tugging it tight just as the ship was hit with another series of explosive rail gun slugs, sending its aft end sliding to port and her to starboard. The strap held as she and Nathan clung to one another for safety. “This has got to be Josh’s idea,” Nathan mumbled, still feeling the pins and needles in his extremities.
“Eighty-five!” Loki reported.
“Jump us to orbit!” Vladimir ordered.
“It’s still not enough,” Josh argued.
“Throttle down to zero!” Vladimir insisted. “That will be enough to get us to orbit and away from those fighters!”
“Uh, this thing doesn’t fly too well without thrust…remember?” Josh replied.
“Just point it at the sky for a few seconds and shut down!” Loki insisted.
“Do it!” Vladimir ordered. “We can’t take any more hits!”
Josh pulled the nose up, holding full power for several seconds. “Chopping power!” he announced, pulling his throttles back to idle.
“Shutting down the mains,” Loki reported.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Josh said.
“Plotting jump to orbit,” Loki added.
“We’re losing speed…fast!” Josh reported.
“Ninety percent!” Loki continued. “It’s working!”
“We’re slowing!”
“Four fighters approaching fast from our six!” Marcus barked. “Why the fuck are we slowing?”
“We’ll be falling in ten seconds!” Josh warned.
“They’re firing!” Marcus reported.
“Jump calc complete!” Loki announced. “Jumping!”
The Seiiki’s windows turned opaque, clearing a second later revealing the inky star-filled blackness of space.
“Holy shit!” Josh declared. “I can’t believe that worked!”
“Jump flash!” Loki reported. “New contact! Dusahn gunboat just jumped into orbit! Closing fast!”
“Reactors are up to ninety-five percent!” Vladimir reported enthusiastically.
“Uh, we had almost no forward speed when we jumped, guys,” Josh chimed in.
“The gunboat is painting us!” Loki warned.
“We’re nowhere near orbital velocity!” Josh pointed out.
“Ninety-six!” Vladimir exclaimed. “It’s working!”
“We’re falling back to Palee!” Josh reached for the throttles. “I’m throttling back up!”
“Not yet!” Vladimir insisted. “Ninety-seven!”
“We’re falling!”
“They’ve got a target lock on us!” Loki warned.
“Ninety-eight!”
“Vlad!” Josh exclaimed.
“Podazhdee!”
“What?”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Vladimir replied. “Ninety-nine!”
“Missile launch! They’ve launched four!” Loki announced.
“We don’t even have a clear jump line now!” Josh exclaimed.
“Twenty seconds to missile impact!” Loki announced, panic in his voice.
“One hundred!” Vladimir exclaimed.
“Quick-starting mains!” Loki announced.
“Fucking finally!” Josh cursed, reaching for the throttles.
“Dalen!” Marcus called over comms. “I’ve got no shot! Can you get a lock on those missiles?”
“Negative!” Dalen replied. “Our fuselage is in the way!”
“Mains coming up!”
“Throttling up!” Josh reported, pushing the throttles slowly forward.
“Plotting jump!” Loki added. “Ten seconds to missile impact!”
Josh stared at his flight displays, watching as the horizon of Palee slowly fell away as the Seiiki accelerated and her nose came up. “Full power!”
“Jump plotted!” Loki announced. “Five seconds!”
“Come on,” Josh urged under his breath. “Come on.”
“Three…” Loki counted down.
“Come on!” Josh exclaimed.
“…Two…”
“Oh bozhe.”
“…One…”
The horizon line on Josh’s flight display turned green. “NOW!”
The Seiiki’s windows turned opaque again, then cleared a second later.
“Loading anti-pursuit algorithm,” Loki announced, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Coming hard to port and pitching up,” Josh added.
Vladimir sunk back down into his chair, also breathing a sigh of relief. “Nicely done, gentlemen.” He turned back to his console. “Reactivating inertial dampeners and gravity plating.”
“You see how much easier that was?” Josh said to Loki.
“What was?”
“Not saying ‘jumping’ or ‘jump complete’,” Josh said. “It’s just a waste of time.”
“We’re clear,” Vladimir announced over the cargo bay loudspeakers, relief obvious in his voice. “I’m reactivating the gravity and inertial dampeners.”
Jessica’s full weight suddenly settled upon Nathan as the Seiiki’s gravity came back on. She rolled off of him, untying her harness from his. “Are you alright?”
“No, but I suspect I will be soon,” Nathan replied. “What about you?” he added, noticing the blood.
“I’ll be okay,” she replied. “Nanites, remember?”
“I gotta get me some of those one of these days.”
“Hey!” Deliza exclaimed in slightly slurred speech.
Nathan raised his head, turning to look at Deliza. “Are you alright?”
Deliza looked at the banged up Palean hover scooter laying on the deck a meter away from her. The side of the housing around the thrusters was torn off, revealing one whole thruster engine. Her jaw dropped in indignation. “Those are my thrusters! They’re using my thruster design! Those bastards are violating my patent!”
“Be sure to file a complaint next time we’re on Palee,” Nathan joked, lying his head back onto the deck to rest.
CHAPTER TWO
Cuddy sat patiently in the corner of the small room he and Birk shared, studying the data pad Michael had issued him the day after their arrival. The room was small, but comfortable, and had a viewer connected to the planetary networks to keep him entertained when he wasn’t studying.
The door opened and Birk entered in his usual huff.
“Nothing?” Cuddy presumed by the look on his friend’s face.
“Three days,” Birk mumbled as he took off his jacket. “We’ve been stuck here for three days, doing nothing.” He looked at Cuddy sitting contently in the corner, staring at his data pad as usual. “Tell me you’re not getting impatient.”
“Actually, I’m rather enjoying it.”
Birk’s mouth dropped open. “How could you possibly be enjoying this? We do nothing. We know nothing. We can’t even call any of our friends or family!”
“You don’t have any friends,” Cuddy remarked, his eyes still fixed on his data pad. “Other than me, that is.”
“I have friends,” Birk protested.
“Not ones who are going to miss you.”
“Well…” Birk thought for a moment. “I have family.”
“That you normally go weeks at a time without contacting,” Cuddy pointed out.
Birk threw up his hands in exasperation, tossing his coat on his bed on the other side of the room. “There is nothing to do around here,” he protested, plopping down in a chair at the table. “We don’t even know where here is.”
“We know it’s somewhere in the Dannon valley,” Cuddy said. “We can see Mount Wellesly to the east.”
“Unless that’s what they want us to think,” he countered.
“Right.” Cuddy put down his data pad and looked at Birk. “They’ve surrounded us with a giant hologram to make us think we’re in the Dannon valley. Or better yet, they’ve built a massive underground dome and made it look like we’re outside, just like they do in the shopping malls of Paradar.” Cuddy rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his data pad.
Birk sighed in resignation. “What happened? I’m supposed to be the calm one and you’re supposed to be the crazy one.”
“I’m on vacation,” Cuddy replied.
“What are you talking about?”
“Vacation.”
“How is this a vacation?” Birk argued.
“What do you do on a vacation?”
“Have fun! Party! Meet girls!”
“Or…you sit around and relax, doing nothing.”
“Doesn’t sound like much of a vacation to me,” Birk protested.
“Compared to the previous three days; I’d say it is. At least there are no Dusahn around here. And I don’t have any guns buried in my backyard.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure they’ve got plenty of guns around here,” Birk insisted. “And I’m pretty sure the Dusahn are not far away. Doesn’t it worry you that they could show up at any moment?”
“We tell them we were kidnapped and interrogated by the resistance, because someone saw us talking to the Dusahn in Aitkenna, for no reason, just like Michael told us.”
“Like they’re really going to buy that.”
A knock came at the door, interrupting their conversation. Birk looked at Cuddy, then went to the door to open it. Standing on the other side was Michael Willard, the man who had greeted them when they had first arrived three days earlier.
“Am I interrupting?” Michael asked politely.
“Michael,” Birk replied in surprise.
“You are surprised to see me?”
“Uh, yes.”
“I did say that I would return in a few days.”
“Yes, but…” Birk stumbled on his words. “I didn’t even hear you drive up.”
“That’s because I walked.”
“From where?” Birk wondered. “There’s nothing around for kilometers. I mean…nothing. Nothing and no one.”
“I apologize for that,” Michael replied. “You must have felt quite abandoned.” He looked around. “May I?”
“Of course.” Birk stepped aside, allowing Michael to enter the small room.
“Why did you leave us here?” Cuddy wondered, doing his best not to sound like he was complaining.
“We had to be sure you
were not being tracked by the Dusahn.”
“By leaving us alone in the wilderness for three days?” Birk wondered. “We could have been attacked by wild animals or something.”
“You were never really alone,” Michael corrected. “You have been under surveillance the entire time. If your safety had been threatened, we would have responded quite promptly.”
“From where?” Cuddy wondered.
“We are nearby.”
Birk’s eyes grew wide. “Where? I’ve walked all over this area and there is nothing but trees, rocks, and bushes as far as the eye can see.”
Michael smiled. “We are…well hidden.”
“How? By a cloaking device or something?” Birk accused.
“Nothing quite so high tech. If you’ll gather your things, I will show you,” Michael offered, stepping to the side and gesturing back toward the door.
“What things?” Birk replied, grabbing his jacket in earnest. “I hope you’ve got bathing facilities. We’re both a little ripe.”
Michael smiled. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Lead the way,” Birk insisted, ready to roll.
“Very well.” Michael opened the door and headed out with Birk and Cuddy trailing behind.
The three men stepped out onto the porch of the small cabin and down the steps, heading out on the only path. Birk glanced behind at the old cabin that had been their prison for the last three days. He had been quite certain that they were too far from any pockets of civilization to risk hiking out on their own, especially considering what little provisions they had on hand. And, while he had been convinced that they were alone in this vast area of wilderness; for once, he welcomed being wrong.
“Where are we, anyway?” Birk asked as they followed Michael through the woods. “I mean, I know we’re in the Dannon valley, but where?”