by J. J. Snow
“Duv, take a look at this—does this look like what I think it is?” Reilly tossed it to him across the room, her face grim.
Duv caught it, his brow furrowed as he examined the machine. It looked like a high-end edu-system, but the Captain was right, something was very wrong. Duv clicked through the programs, then he entered a command to view the root programs on the machine.
“Son of a…this is ISU, it’s not a real edu-system at all.” Duv clicked furiously through the screens, entering commands and looking through the system. “This is a holo-trainer. I thought they had outlawed these years ago because of the unpredictable effects on the human brain. How’d my kid get hold of one?”
Tiny leaned in to look as well. Zain had done a good job with the system; even she hadn’t recognized it as an ISU plant until Duv began digging. So that was how he had been getting the training to the kid before she arrived.
Duv dropped the system on the desk and sat down heavily. He stared blankly around the room for a moment, then looked back at Tiny. “Tiny, can you recover these programs? I mean back-hack and pull the code to the surface? I got to see what this damn machine did to my kid. Shit, I just keep letting him down.” Duv buried his face in his hands.
Reilly walked to the comms mic and hit the button. “Gunny, I need you and Ty to meet me on the bridge in five.”
She clicked off, turning to Tiny. “Can you do it?”
Tiny picked up the machine and nodded. “I’ll take it to the bridge and start working it now.” She grabbed the machine and climbed up the hatch, leaving Reilly and Duv alone.
“C’mon, Jackson, let’s go.”
Duv looked up, defeated. “Go where? I’m staying here with my son.”
“I’ve known you long enough to know that you won’t stop at anything to keep that kid safe, so let’s cut the crap about letting him down. Do you want to get this programming out of his head? If anybody can help us on this, Zain can.” Duv looked at Seth and then back at Reilly and followed her up the ladder to the bridge. “We’ve got a mission to plot.”
Chang and Ty were up in a minute. “What’s going on?”
Reilly explained what had happened. “I put a message out to the Commander that we’re heading his way with the supplies and told him about Seth. He thinks he can help, but some of these programs are time-critical, so we have to go now. Every hour we waste could mean permanent damage to the brain. Tiny found the download dates on the machine. Zain thinks we still have a window to reverse or block the programming. I need you two to pick up the last of the credits from our salvage sales. We can come back and get the rest of the work done on the ship after Zain has helped Seth.”
Ty and Chang turned to go, but Duv spoke up. “Captain, I’d like to go into town with them if I could. I’ve got the journeys done for the Commander’s new drop-off location. And it won’t take us any longer.”
Holly. Reilly realized that Duv was asking to see her before they left.
“Go ahead and move the ship back to our launch pad in town. But I want you all back on board in thirty minutes, and we’re back in black in sixty.”
Duv nodded and left to fire up the ship while Ty and Chang headed down to the bay and Maude.
A few minutes later, the ship was buttoned up and they were on their way. Duv put down on the open platform nearest town and headed down to the bay. Ty and Chang waved as they rolled out on Maude to pick up the credits. Duv waited at the back of the ship. A few minutes later, another TORR rolled up. Holly climbed out and thanked Shep, who in turn shot a salute at Duv before wheeling around to go back into town. She turned and walked quickly up to where Duv stood waiting, hands on her hips.
“Duv Jackson, it’s a good thing you decided to say goodbye! I’d hate to have to leave Roen to come kick your ass for being rude to a gal!” she teased.
Duv smiled and gave her a hug. She was just tall enough to fit right under his chin. He realized he was going to miss her, even if it was only for a few days. They sat down on the ramp and he told her what had happened, watching as her eyes grew concerned and fearful, then sad.
“The Commander thinks he can reverse the effects, but we have to leave now. Should only be for a few days, maybe a week, and then we’ll be back for the rest of the upgrades the Captain wanted,” Duv finished.
Holly nodded. “I hope Seth is okay. I’ll keep y’all in my prayers.” She grew thoughtful for a moment. “Duv?”
“Yeah?” He liked the way it felt as she leaned against him on the ramp.
“I’ll be here when you get back.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek, then pulled him to his feet and gave him a proper kiss. “I’ll always be here, as long as you just find your way back.” She smiled and turned to go.
Duv stood dumbfounded for a moment as he watched her walking away. He hadn’t been looking for anything, hadn’t even thought about having a serious relationship ever again. Yet here he was, watching this beautiful woman walk off who had basically just told him she’d be waiting on him when he got back, and he couldn’t even muster enough courage to say how he felt. He knew he had to say something.
“Holly!” he called out, and she turned, shading her eyes with her hand. “Um, thanks.” She smiled again and waved, then walked on into town. Duv watched her for another minute, then turned and walked back to the bridge. Yup, that was a real classy goodbye. Duv silently hoped none of the crew had witnessed him trip over his tongue. Reilly met him at the hatch with an amused smile.
“Thanks? That was the best you could do?” She shook her head as Tiny laughed.
“Very romantic, Jackson!” Tiny shot an evil grin his way as he turned an even deeper red. She cackled and got back to work on the edu-system as Duv grumbled under his breath about romance being overrated and began readying the ship for space.
—————
Brynt and Macen watched as Ty and Chang left for town. They finished checking the magnetic mooring locks on all of the cargo in the bay and then locked down the individual bulkhead storage areas as Duv returned from his chat with Holly. Macen looked around outside and gave Duv a thumbs-up on the exterior ship check, then wandered back into the bay.
“Clear?” Brynt inquired.
“Yeah, go for it.” Macen stepped slowly up the catwalk, watching the two doors that led to the rest of the ship, while Brynt pulled out a disposable handheld. He punched in a code and then placed it in the rear hold on the aft side. Before sealing it up, he retrieved a package from a satchel lying behind some of the crates and gently placed it in with the handheld. Then he grinned up at Macen.
“You ready for some chow?” Macen asked, grinning back.
“I could eat.” Brynt climbed the steps to the common room while the handheld sent a burst transmission out, notifying the Tethers that they were free to begin.
—————
Ty pulled up to the salvage yard and shut down the TORR while Chang went in to pick up the credits. He looked around at the people walking by, then slumped in his seat. He had been running through his head how to best apologize to Duv, but every time he thought he had it right, it seemed like it fell short.
He tried the latest version out. “Duv, I know I screwed up and I’m sorry I was stupid and almost got your head blown off…no, best not bring up that part again…uh…Duv, I, uh, was really impressed with your kid’s shooting skills and thought the extra money wouldn’t hurt…and I’m sorry I almost got us all killed…no, that doesn’t sound right either…Duv, I’m sorry I let those mercenaries get the jump on us, but damn can your kid shoot or what?” He laughed briefly, then realized that that version probably wasn’t very good either. “Crap, this apology stuff is hard!” He glanced up as he felt someone standing nearby.
In the moments he had been thinking, six Tethers had surrounded him. The nearest one shot him with an electric neutralizer, coursing energy into his body and causing his muscles to lock. Ty tried to move his arm but instead fell out of the do
or and rolled onto the red dirt in the street. The barbs from the neutralizer came loose and twisted out of his chest. He looked up and charged the closest Tether with a roar, a deadly glint in his eye.
—————
Chang was finishing up the transaction when the first laser volleyed through the front window. He dropped and pulled his blaster, duck-walking to the nearest view of the street. Ty was lunging up from the dirt and firing into the chest of a bounty hunter with his blaster, the bolts knocking the man back as they bounced off of his body armor. Another man lay in the street, a bowie knife through his neck. Ty grappled with the second man and punched him in the throat, then, holding him by the neck, he dropped him across his knee, breaking his spine. Two more bounty hunters stepped out of the alleyway as Chang dodged to the door and began firing.
Ty whirled to face them while Chang directed his fire at several others coming down the street. He glanced up at the rooftops just in time to dodge the purple blast of a rail gun as it sizzled through the metal door frame where he had just been crouched. They were surrounded and outnumbered. Chang punched his handheld to send an emergency message to Reilly. Nothing happened.
As he looked down at the device, the screen flashed a “denial of service” message. They were being jammed. A bounty hunter charged him, and he gracefully sidestepped, pushing the man over a desk and then hauling him back, stomping his chest and smashing his face with a metal stool. Two more stepped in as he flipped the stool and swung it in a wide arc to push them back. One fired an electric neutralizer as Chang bent backwards, the barbs just missing his face, while the other swung an electrified flail and tried to take his legs out. Why use less-than-lethal devices when a single shot would finish them off? It suddenly dawned on him. They want us alive. He flipped backwards and landed on the counter, then rolled, just missing being hit with the large, electrified spiked ball-and-chain that smashed through the counter. He used that moment to throw a knife into the flail-wielding bounty hunter’s eye, killing the man instantly.
Ty, meanwhile, was plying both his blaster and battle rifle at the same time. He picked off a group of enemy snipers positioned on the nearby rooftops with well-placed head shots, then dove behind some crates on one of the side streets and blasted another bounty hunter in the face. A new set of Tethers emerged, this time in full body armor with head gear.
Ty rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding! Gunny, I could use a little help out here!” He dodged as the crates in front of him exploded, hit by the bounty hunters’ explosive darts.
Chang was fighting off three more Tethers inside the building. The explosion knocked all of them back into a pile, with Chang on top. The gunny pulled a sticky grenade and slapped it onto the back of the bounty hunter below him, then ran and dove behind what was left of the counter. Another explosion shook the building as the three men were incinerated and the front part of the building slumped from the overpressure. Chang stood up, grabbed his blaster, and began clambering through the smoldering rubble to where Ty was still fighting.
Ty continued blasting away. He had his blaster in his left hand, pointed down the alley across from him, while his battle rifle with its holoscope was aimed forwards, anchored between the barrels and his body. Sweat and dust mixed on his face as he blinked and peered between the two barrels, watching for his chance. From his periphery, he saw a Tether drop from the side of the building into the alleyway. He had jacked his blaster to full so it would penetrate the body armor in three shots, knowing that this meant he would run out of power fast but also that he didn’t have a choice. He fired, not looking to the side, a three-round burst dropping the man instantly.
Several more moved down the street towards him. He steadied his breathing, waiting for them to make a mistake. He watched as one leaned slowly out, exposing the seam along the neckline of his suit, a weak point that Ty promptly exploited, hitting the spot and blowing the man back with a rifle round. He grinned as the other two scurried back into their cover and the man he had hit slumped. Just then, a shadow loomed over him; Ty looked up perfectly to catch the butt of a battle rifle full in the face. He fell like a sack of rocks. The Tether pulled off the extra armored plating that Ty’s blaster had decimated in the alley and then called his transport. A small, mottled-gray ship that looked like some type of evil ninja star descended on his location, stirring up clouds of red dust in the road. Two other Tethers covered him as he dragged Ty’s limp body to the small tactical ship and tossed him into restraints in the back, then climbed into the cockpit with his partner and took off.
The Tethers cleared the street. There was no sign of the other target, and the building he had been in was on fire and had collapsed. Maude sat in the street, tossed sideways by the explosions, dusty but undamaged. The Tethers called in their transports and took off to set up for their next target.
—————
“Captain!” Duv hollered down the hall, and Reilly turned on her way to the cabin. One look at Duv had her double-timing it back to the bridge where he and Tiny grimly pointed to the ship’s security suite. A burst transmission had gone out just minutes before near or on the ship, and it wasn’t one of theirs.
“That isn’t even in a format we’d use—it’s Vhax. That’s alien for sure.” Duv punched some more keys and turned the transmission into a line of digits.
Tiny’s eyes narrowed. “Captain, we need to take off. Now!” She spun to the back of the bridge and started hitting switches, lighting the ship up.
“What is it?” Reilly gestured at Duv to follow suit as he closed the bay and prepared to lift off.
“Unless I’m mistaken, and I don’t think I am, we’re about to be hit by Tethers. Someone set Seekers on us. The code varies, but there is enough there that I recognize. We’ve been tracked, and that was the signal giving the go-ahead to start. We need to get to the gunny and Sergeant Ty fast.”
“Duv, get us in the air and put us as close to Chang and Ty as you can. I don’t care if you have to take out buildings to do it.” Reilly left the bridge with Tiny.
“Roger that, flattening buildings is approved.” Duv lifted the bird off and skidded sideways in the air as he turned her sharply towards the salvage yards. “Hang in there, guys, we’re coming.”
—————
Chang blinked in the sunlight. The street was clear and nothing was moving. Several fires burned at the front of buildings along the street. He held his gun ready as he turned slowly around the area, looking for anything that moved. The building he had just crawled out of was ablaze, and with a loud crack, the rest of it came down into a heap. He glanced back at it nonchalantly and then turned as he heard the sound of an inbound ship.
Dark Angel 97 roared into view and did a tactical landing, kicking up a cloud of dirt that rolled down the street, causing a brown out. Chang put his head down and got into Maude, firing her up until the tire caught and flipped her right side up again. The ship’s ramp slammed down and Reilly came off, followed by the rest of the crew. He drove into the bay, and then jumped out of the TORR, pulling the brake as it hit the deck.
Reilly glanced around the street with Tiny. Dead Tethers were scattered everywhere in between flaming buildings. Tiny waved them forward to check it out while Reilly turned to Chang.
“Captain, they got Ty, took him alive—they were armed with neutralizers. We have a chance of getting him back, but we need to go now!” Chang called over the engines.
“Tiny! Saddle up!” Reilly yelled as the woman came running back, flanked by the others. “They got Ty.” Tiny looked fierce and Marek cursed. “Marek, I need you and Chang on the guns now. Tiny, you’re with me on the bridge. Macen, Brynt, get the med center prepped and then stand by to help with any emergencies that come up—and strap Seth down in his bunk. I think things are going to get a bit bumpy.”
Chapter 10
“We’ve got company, Captain!” Duv called out as Reilly and Tiny made the bridge. Chang and Marek shimmied down th
e ladders into the right and left gunner mounts, while Duv routed the rail guns to bridge control. He jumped the Dark Angel off the deck while Reilly pulled up the holo-display to look at the red threat icons honing in on their position.
“Duv, execute escape route Charlie and then shoot for the sky, we need off-world like yesterday.”
Duv started the sequence and drove the ship low and fast over the desert floor, heading into the mountains.
“We’ve got more waiting for us up there. It looks like they eliminated the ISU defense stations. Sure you don’t want to clear these out first?” He flipped another switch, and the ship jumped up a notch as the display generated a 3D blueprint of the canyons he was about navigate.
Reilly strapped into the navigator seat while Tiny locked down the back of the bridge and fired up the shields. “They got Ty. Chang thinks he’s still alive. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Duv looked around, a shocked expression on his face, and then redoubled his flying, upping the speed and bringing both rail guns up to full readiness. No one had ever taken Joby Ty before. His thoughts strayed to what that meant.
“Captain, if we don’t get him back before they jump…”
“Then we press on to meet with Commander Zain. Once he gets Seth fixed, we’ll head back for Ty.” Reilly’s eyes were steel as she worked the plots through the canyons and calculated trajectory and speeds. She looked at Duv. “You ready?”
He took a breath and nodded as the first canyon came up on his screen. Behind them, rocks showered down as several laser blasts slammed into the side of the mountain. Duv flew deeper still into the first canyon as Chang and Marek flipped their gun pods in reverse and waited for their pursuers to appear.