Alistair took another step forward and Rosco's guards trailed their weapons on him.
“Now I know you're tough, took down Gibb without so much as breaking a sweat. But you want to find out if you're bulletproof, too?”
Both guards were wearing heavy combat armor, ballistic plate carriers with specially magnetized alloy plates. They'd have to crank up their handguns if they wanted to get clean kill shots.
“So how about everybody takes a breath, calms the fuck down, and heads back to their room.”
As soon as he finished his sentence, the airlock behind him hissed and opened. Rosco and his guards turned around to find an unwelcome sight as two power armored marines sprinted out, each grabbing a guard's head with their oversized hands and slammed it onto the wall of the corridor. Both guards slumped lifelessly to the ground. Alistair seized the initiative and sprinted forward and shoulder checked Rosco, who fell and slammed his head onto the metal floor with a crunch.
“You fucking cunt! I'll kill you!” He shouted as the group rushed to enter the airlock to The Ubik. Just as the doors were sliding shut and Rosco seemed to be reaching a crescendo of obscenities from his hands and knees, Lili lifted her handgun and put a slug between his eyes. He dropped to the ground without so much as a twitch.
Chapter 44
Alistair took the severed hand he was still carrying and brought it to a scanner in the medbay. He set it on the tray and the lid automatically closed. Achilles had been waiting for him.
“Excellent work, Mr. Crowe. Your combat prowess hasn't lost an iota of efficacy,” the AI said, to which Alistair laughed.
“Thanks, friend. Now kindly take us the hell out of here? We've got a hunt to start.”
“That may prove problematic, Mr. Crowe. Apparently Ms. Ito's execution of the station head has raised some alarms and all available pirate ships have begun searching for the perpetrator. It's only a matter of time until they realize we are their target.”
“Alright. We've got to put some distance between ourselves and the station before we warp out, which means there's a chance for a fight. Get us moving as soon as you can.”
“Acknowledged.”
Alistair ran from the medbay, down the main corridor and through the mess hall, where the now open-visored marines were talking with Lili and Cairenn.
“No time to lose, we've still got a fight on our hands. Commodore, I need you to the bridge.”
Lili immediately stood and followed close behind him as he filled her in on the situation.
As they rounded the final corridor to the bridge, the ship shook lightly. They'd just undocked from The Bloody Fang arena.
“Attention all crew. Brace for impact. Incoming enemy fire.”
Alistair and Lili entered the bridge to see Rachel already strapped into her de facto position at the nav console, while Mel was sitting at the weapons console. Alistair walked passed the captain's chair and went for the pilot seat. Liliana took Alistair's old chair and began furiously studying the reports in front of her.
The ship rocked as it was pelted with plasma fire briefly before Achilles could engage the main thrusters.
“I've got this, Achilles,” Alistair said as he set the piloting station to engage a manual override. “Did you get the data we need from Wendigo's ship?”
“Acknowledged. Enemy missiles incoming.”
This close to the station, the two incoming pirate corsairs knew they would take out an enormous chunk if they managed to scuttle The Ubik. Apparently they were all eager to land the killing blow on Rosco's killer.
The Ubik rapidly darted from the station and Alistair had her rotate 45 degrees to bring three of the ship's four plasma cannons into play. Their field of view overlapped at only just the right angle and distance.
Plasma wrapped carbon pellets spewed from each of the three autocannons at nearly 4,000 rounds per minute, creating a blanket effect that immediately incinerated the incoming ship-to-ship missiles.
Achilles was deadly with his aim when his processing power could be adequately devoted, but he was currently managing thrusters and power output, firing three of the ship's four point defense autocannons, and working with Rachel to plot a route safely out of the station's sensor range. Not to mention his basic routines of monitoring life support and the gravity system.
“Mel, I hope you're ready to help,” Alistair said. “Achilles, transfer control of the medium railguns to her console.”
“Acknowledged.”
Melanie's console lit up with seemingly endless options, but she'd been studying day and night since she boarded The Ubik. She was ready to prove her worth.
She focused with the cannon that sat square atop the ship, as it was most likely to have a clear firing solution for the longest window. The weapons system station, when fully engaged, encased the user in a fully holographic three dimensional display of their combat arena. It could be used for anything from a firefight between ships in close quarters to commanding entire fleets over many thousands of light years.
She watched the numbers bounce up and down on her targeting solution screen, and once the chance to hit was above 90 percent, she fired.
The gimbal mounted medium railgun atop The Ubik had been tracking its target at Mel's behest and once she hit 'fire', it instantly responded. The railgun stores an enormous amount of energy in multiple large capacitors and unleashes it all within 7 milliseconds of firing, forcing its steel sabot forward and catapulting the tungsten slug at tremendous speeds. Medium railguns, designed for frigate and destroyer class ships, are capable of propelling their ordnance at speeds up to 20,000 kilometers per second, while the heaviest class of weapons can triple that.
As the capacitors drained themselves and began the recharge cycle, the magnetic pylons that created the rigid 'C' shape of the weapon were inundated with electricity. The steel sabot completed the circuit between the two pylons and forced itself forward in an effort to shorten its conductive route. As a result, the tungsten slug resting on top increased in velocity at a rate that would liquefy most elements. Specially treated tungsten carbide spikes were the only applicable ammunition for these devastating weapons.
At the time of firing, The Ubik had managed to move 50 kilometers away from The Bloody Fang and her assailants were about five kilometers above the station. The time it took for Melanie's precision guided spear to reach its target was less than three one-thousandths of a second. Her targeting solution predicted a 90% chance to impact her target's reactor, but a hit anywhere on the corsair was essentially guaranteed.
As soon as the slug punched through the ship's reactor it went critical and released all of its energy, resulting in a miniature super nova. Containment systems only work when they're not being shredded by highly tempered metal spears traveling at a significant portion of the speed of light.
Right as Melanie fired, Alistair had rotated the ship clockwise to line up Achilles' field of fire with the plasma cannons. The ruthless AI pelted the last remaining ship with thousands of burning pellets and it melted under the withering inferno. As hull plates fused, contorted, popped, and melted, the crew inside were cooked alive before being flung into space due to hull ruptures. The corsair ended up a useless husk of jagged metal fused in irregular ways, while any pressurized spaces inside had temperature spikes that guaranteed an instant death. Its once sleek talon-like shape and intimidating jagged underside was now an unrecognizable floating tomb, while any crew not lucky enough to be vaporized under a hail of nuclear fire cooked in their own skin.
The Ubik had completed her mission and warped into the void at the first opportunity. Unfortunately, the salvo of plasma fire that had dissipated on her heat resistant armor plating had torn away many of the pieces of junk Alistair had used to camouflage her, and the station's exterior cameras had captured what appeared to be the hull of a Republic naval vessel.
The surviving Pythons were eager to share their newfound intel, as anybody with good information on Rosco's killer was sure to fill hi
s now empty position.
Chapter 45
“How'd we do?” Stewart asked Rachel. “Was a little hairy there at the end, did we get what we need?”
“Looks that way,” Rachel replied, “Achilles was able to use the hand's genetic imprint to access one of the pirate corsairs. Fortunately it was the one we didn't turn to slag.”
Achilles had forwarded the flight logs and warp drive history to her PCD, which she was now studying intensely.
“There are a lot of points here, it'll take some time to sift through it. That ship had been operating all over nearby systems, as well as some extremely far away, which doesn't make much sense. Why would they be hundreds of light years from Burmea?”
She kept zooming around the interactive map Achilles had compiled as her face slowly wrinkled in confusion.
“One of these points is going to be their main base, but there are dozens. We'll have to narrow our search.”
“Ms. Sahlinz, during our recent conflict I detected trace amounts of aggressive biological agents aboard two of the hostile vessels. One of which we destroyed, the other was the ship captained by Mr. Wendigo.”
“Biological agents? Were you able to determine their origin?”
“Negative, Ms. Sahlinz. They were in shielded containers aboard both vessels. I was only able to determine that the ships were carrying a weaponized biological agent.”
Shielded containers, advanced firewalls, biological weapons? What the hell is going on here?Rachel thought. Something about this was definitely off.
“We'll just have to be careful as we go about searching these different points,” she said. There was no way to know what kind of situation they'd be walking into until they were close enough to perform some intense scans.
“Mind giving me a hand narrowing this down?” she asked Stewart.
“Gladly,” he said with a smile.
Chapter 46
“We need to talk,” Lili said after barging into Alistair's quarters. He'd barely had time to wash up after reboarding The Ubik and fending off their attackers.
“Everything alright, Commodore?” Alistair asked. He enjoyed using her 'official' title while the rest of the crew used her first name. It seemed to rattle her a little.
“You mean aside from just having liquefied a man's head forty-five minutes ago after being paraded around like a hooker?”
Alistair could see this conversation wasn't going to end quickly and decided pants with no shirt was dressed enough. He walked out of his washroom and plopped down onto one of the drinking table chairs.
“Look, we all knew what we had to do going in. Nobody suspected us of being any less than a few scumbags looking for money. Or wait..”
Her eyes watered and her stance was jittery.
“You've never taken a life before, have you?” he asked.
“Not like that. Not in such a personal way. I saw the aftermath of pulling the trigger as the doors shut. His body just stopped. Everything about him was so fragile in that moment.”
Alistair stood up and ushered her to the edge of the bed, than sat beside her.
“Not everybody is wired to do this, Lili. The fact that it bothers you means you have hope. When taking a life doesn't bother you – that's when you should worry.”
She raised her eyes to meet his, and he expected a smile. Instead, he only saw venom and spite.
“I'd ask if it ever bothered you, but I know better. You enjoy doing this. I saw how you carried yourself in the pit, in the hotel. This kind of .. violence is in your blood. It's seeped its way into every part of your being.”
She stood up and put some distance between herself and Alistair. She was clearly uncomfortable.
“I know your intentions are good, but it doesn't make you any less terrifying. You didn't just fight without remorse in the pit, you enjoyed it. In the room afterward as well. The others say you're a good man, Alistair, and I want to believe them – I really do. But what you do.. is terrible. I can't help but be afraid of you.”
Alistair's gentle frown said more to her than any words ever could. He cared deeply for her and was afraid to lose her. But he was also a man who had been broken so thoroughly that he would always be dangerous. What kind of life was he doomed to lead? And even worse, what of those who followed him? No matter the nobility of his mission to 'free the oppressed' and 'defend those in need', he was still a monster at his core and capable of horrific destruction.
He took a deep breath, sighed, and stood up. “Lili, nobody is making you stay here. You're free to leave whenever you'd like.”
With that, he grabbed his shirt and left his quarters. Lili had seen the side of him that reveled in chaos. She had only heard of the part that would dive headfirst into a flaming starship to pull the wounded from the wreckage. Or who would risk capture by corrupt station security to rescue homeless families, only to then relocate and pay for them to start new lives.
She began to wonder if her words were too sharp and if she even meant them at all. Her recent losses aboard The Omarra Kahn had left her damaged and confused. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she had no idea who she was anymore.
Chapter 47
While The Ubik was a ship capable of handling a crew of over 60, it wasn't designed with privacy or comfort in mind. There were no external viewing decks, entertainment rooms, or officers lounges. Alistair needed some time to himself and decided one of the cargo bays was the best place to find it.
Located on the lowest deck toward the rear of the ship, the primary cargo hold was directly beneath the ship's engine bay. A low hum made its way through the room at all times during spaceflight and it was spacious enough to enjoy solitude for some self-contemplation, even with the crates of food, medicine, and raw materials stacked and magnetically secured.
The door from the corridor opened and Alistair immediately felt a hollowing sadness in his chest. As he walked in, he heard a small sniffle.
“Mel?” he asked.
“... no,” she replied.
He laughed and followed her voice. He found her sitting against a crate of printing materials.
She wasn't in too bad of shape, but she did just destroy a ship with 35 people on board.
“This about the ship you took out?” Alistair asked.
“No... kind of. I don't know. It's just a little overwhelming, I guess.”
“Yeah.. all of this is, isn't it?”
Mel looked up and saw Alistair leaning against a shelf, staring at his feet. She could tell something was wrong and felt a little selfish for always being the one to need support.
“Where's your cigar?” She asked playfully. I've cried enough.
“Captain's quarters, didn't have a chance to grab one.”
“Is this about Lili?” Mel liked Liliana and she knew Alistair felt a special connection to her. She wasn't sure if it was purely romantic or something else, but she'd never seem him so down before. He was always a little mopey, but never downright sad.
“She's afraid of me,” he said while lifting his hands and examining them. He half expected them to be covered in blood. “She saw me fight in the pit and thinks I'm a monster.”
“Well, then she's an idiot.”
Alistair looked up at her, surprised.
“I know you better than anybody else here, Alistair. I've seen you chat with the other crew, bullshit with the marines and discuss our little missions, but you and I have spent nearly every waking moment together. You're not a monster, you've just been hurt. You're damaged, like me. And you showed me that it's okay to be damaged, so why don't you allow that for yourself, too?”
Her wisdom betrayed her age.
“Even if all you want from Lili is to have her as the ship's captain while you run around shooting bad guys and crushing them with hammers, she doesn't deserve you if she can't see past the bad things you've done. That you've had to do. You saved me, Alistair. You killed the men who kidnapped me, found the crate we were being held in, and I know you'd
have finished off that dock bitch if Rachel hadn't beat you to it.”
They both chuckled, and she went on, “... I know you do bad things, and at first I thought you were a mix of scary and dopey. Now I know you can be both of those things while still having a good heart. You'd never hurt somebody who doesn't deserve it. Lili doesn't understand just how broken you are and she doesn't have the right to judge you for it. We've all been through something bad, but you somehow took the worst life possible and got other people to follow you because of it. You're an amazing man, Alistair. And even if everybody in the galaxy says you're a monster it's because they just haven't seen all the good you're capable of. You saved me, took me in, and treated me like family – and I will always love you for it.”
Alistair, for the first time in many years, felt tears drawn to his eyes. He smiled and gave Melanie a hug, lifting her small body off the ground.
“Thank you, Mel. I've needed to hear that. For a long, long time.”
“You're welcome,” she said, although it was muffled through Alistair's shirt. “Now put down the rabbit, Lenny.”
He laughed and set her down, then wiped his eyes. “You're getting way too smart for your own good.”
“We're in this together, right? To the end?” Mel asked, her face the portrait of cautious optimism.
“To the end. Hopefully that won't be for a long, long time.”
She grabbed his hand and led him toward the door.
“C'mon, let's go get something to eat. That'll make us both feel better. Is there any ice cream on this ship?”
Chapter 48
“We've been trying to isolate the most likely point that the Python's would use for a home base and we've narrowed it down to 5 points. Judging the advanced sensor shielding equipment they've used to protect their data drives and cargo bays, we're going to have to really get in close to check. This will take quite a while and we won't know how to assault the base until we've actually found it.”
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