Gabriel breathed deep before he let out the next bit of news: “We do have an issue though that we should discuss, General.”
General Dimmings glanced up from the new push of inebriation. His eyes squinted as his pupils dilated. “And what is this problem that you speak of, Fortner?”
“We found evidence of something from the crash and the operations that followed.”
“I do not like guessing games, general Fortner,” Dimmings said impatiently.
“Haden Rachid is alive and has gone rogue.”
The large man sitting across from Gabriel suddenly looked as though a ghost were in front of him. “That is impossible. His death was reported and confirmed seven years ago.”
Gabriel had already paged through the endless files of the ARDME’s and the Alliance’s top operative and the countless missions that he had embarked in. What he wanted to know however, was the reason that Haden Rachid was sent on a suicide mission to start. Nothing on record noted anything about it other than subtle notations of an unauthorized relationship. Such facts were trifle for an operative of Haden’s caliber though. Those questions would have to wait until later to be answered.
“His genetic data was found on the body of one of our operatives on Rhea.”
Dimmings coughed. He was visibly agitated by the news. “You have no idea how bad this really is for you and this organization if Haden Rachid has gone rogue.”
Alliance-Independent Territory Border
ISS Intrepid and DASS Washington
“Docking is secure,” the first mate Nate Hillman announced as the DASS Washington completed the docking procedures with the Intrepid.
“As I’ve already instructed, no weapons, no resistance. We are surrendering,” Constantine reminded his crew. He was sweating. He knew that he was going to be going to prison, if he was lucky. Were he unlucky, he would be let out the airlock to instantly freeze.
He didn’t want to die, but at least he felt some hope that his crew would remain alive.
“Opening airlock,” his first mate announced. Constantine had remained in the bridge instructing Nate to escort the boarding party to the bridge. Communication was left open between the two locations. His pilot and second mate remained with him. The young second mate was still unconscious.
Immediately as the doors completed opening, there was shouting. Constantine could barely hear what was being said. It was the sudden gunfire and screams that caused him to freeze.
“WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER!” Nate yelled repeatedly. More screams from others of the crew as they were all being executed. “NO NO NO NO NO!” Nate cried as another round was fired. Constantine could only assume Nate was executed as well.
He was frozen. His mouth remained agape. The ship’s pilot gripped him and screamed in his face. “WE NEED TO EVACUATE, CAPTAIN!”
There was no response.
The Intrepid had two emergency escape pods. One had enough velocity to outstrip a pursuing ship and get past the immediate artillery fire. It was reserved for the Captain or highest ranking officer aboard with 3 others to go.
Gun fire and shouts were growing further away on the communication channel. Constantine knew the assault was heading directly to them.
The pilot decided not to waste any more time trying to snap his captain out of it. He knelt down and picked up the second mate to take her with him to the escape pod.
The escape pod ejected moments later leaving Constantine frozen in place.
“Captain Sellers,” the weapons tech said on the DASS Washington. “We have an escape pod that ejected.”
“Lock weapons and fire,” he instructed. “No survivors save the captain. If he’s alive.”
“The pod’s hit half-light and is already out of sensor range.”
“SHIT!” Sellers exclaimed. “I said no goddamn survivors!”
A few minutes later the sergeant called over the communications channel. “We’ve secured the ship and restrained the captain of the ship. Only two of the crew are unaccounted for. The rest are dead.”
“I expect a full report on how you made the stupid decision to start firing as soon as you got into that ship instead of waiting as I instructed to make sure that the entire crew was secured prior to their execution. Now we have two goddamn witnesses to this.”
“Affirmative, Sir,” replied the sergeant. There was only a bland tone of following orders.
Sellers motioned to cut the communication. “Pete, in the briefing room.”
Captain Sellers stormed away from his station towards his quarters off to the side of the bridge. Attached to that was a small conference room.
A young officer, Peter Thomas got up from the navigation controls and followed the captain.
Both men entered the room and the door slid shut behind him. “Computer,” Captain Sellers announced. “Disengage all recording and audio pickups.”
“Affirmative,” a sterile, robotic voice chimed.
“What in the fuck!” Sellers immediately yelled in frustration pounding his fist against the wall.
Peter stood calmly near the door. He was used to these fits of anger from his superior and had long since stopped reacting to them. “The orders were not specific to methodology,” he dryly reminded Sellers.
“Goddamn it, Pete! I shouldn’t have to fucking announce these damn things! Shit!” he punched the wall again. “We warned them! They fucking surrendered and then we gave them warning that we had not a shit’s worth of intentions to let them live!” His face was sweating and red. He paced angrily while huffing and growling. “We gave them the chance to escape!”
“I don’t believe that this is something that we should concern ourselves with. They did secure the captain of the vessel. We’ve detained him. Now we can report that there was no attempt at surrender, that the crew immediately fought us.”
Sellers paused for a moment letting the words of his executive officer sink in. The redness in his face shrunk away a little.
“We were forced to disable their ship after they refused to surrender. Then upon requests to lay down arms, they fired upon our marines. We had no choice but to take action and defend ourselves. The pod carried a mere two people. Even if their story is found out, we could easily supply evidence to the crew’s treachery. Besides, what concern do we have about a couple of smugglers?” Peter continued appealing to Seller’s distaste of privateers, to their level in society.
“You’re right, Pete,” Sellers exhaled. “You’re right. You’re right. This isn’t something we should concern ourselves with. Write up the report as you suggested. I’ll give Sergeant Abernathy a commendation for his bravery in seizing the vessel with no loss of life on our end.”
“And what are your plans to deal with the captain of this vessel given the story?”
“We’ll charge him with treason. We’ll either have him hanged, or put him away. Either way, I’ll let my superiors see if they want to make a show out of him.”
Undisclosed Alliance Facility
Adrianna sat with her head in her hands. She had been sitting in shock for what felt like an hour. She did not know what to do. Either it was going to be her or Haden who would end up dead, that much was certain.
The initial offer to become a part of the black operations team was too good to be true. She believed that she would easily gain access on whether or not Haden was still alive. Now she was simultaneously given the information that not only was Haden alive, but the Alliance drafted her to change that. The only thoughts that she could manage were how she could avoid it, if it were at all possible.
The next stage of her initiation was a briefing on the history of this renegade soldier. It was odd to her that the Alliance seemed either not to know that Haden and she were involved, or they were choosing her for some sadistic purpose. Despite this, there was a strange sense of excitement in learning more about her lover. She knew a lot about him, but there remained a large chunk of his life that Haden kept guarded.
She wanted that inform
ation because she loved him. She needed that information to kill him. She hoped the information could save him.
She wiped her eyes on her sleeves. The events were draining on her. She felt taxed like she had never been before.
There was a little time remaining until the briefing would take place. It was going to be dictated through the holobands.
Holobands were 3D, holographic communications systems. Adrianna assumed at first that the briefing would be held in person just like with her tribunal hearing earlier.
“I’ll go rogue too,” Adrianna said aloud, trying to convince herself of some complicated plan to fake both of their deaths so they could escape together. Quickly she shrugged it off as wishful thinking. “I just can’t kill you, my love. I’ll figure out how we can make it.”
It took another hour before there was any sense of communication from anywhere. A small red light began flashing from the communications console located in the center of the small station. Adrianna walked briskly over to the station and looked for the acknowledgement. She found it and pressed the button.
A small device lifted out of the machine. It looked like a small fingerprint scanner to Adrianna.
“Place finger in device for preliminary DNA identification.” The voice was droll and robotic.
Adrianna obliged. Upon placing her finger in the device, it seemed to clamp on tightly. If she wanted to escape she would have to rip her finger off in order to do so. The feeling made her nervous. Suddenly there was a strong pinch causing her to wince as she let out a barely audible grunt. It was more of the surprise of it that got to her rather than the pain.
“Voice pattern identification,” the robotic voice instructed.
“Commander Adrianna Feyet,” was all that she could think to say.
Silence. There was no response from the machine for a few moments. It took long enough that she thought that she failed the authentication. Following that thought was contemplation on cutting her finger off so that she could work on a way to get out of the station.
“Commander Feyet,” a gruff voice came out of the speakers. Her finger was released at that moment. She pulled it away swiftly, but she declined to examine it.
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
No hologram or video displayed. Adrianna wondered if she had misheard the other operative. The gruff man on the other end of the conversation continued: “Haden Yamir Muhammad Rachid was an operative seven years ago who was sent on a suicide mission where he had reportedly died. All evidence had suggested that it was not to be disbelieved.”
Adrianna swallowed. She remembered the days after finding Haden vanished, eventually having to succumb to the fact that he was dead. Nothing came around to provide that to her or not. She had wished so many times that she had had such closure originally.
The voice continued. “It was understood that due to crimes against the Alliance, he would be executed were he not killed in that mission. He would either die an honorable Alliance operative, or return a traitor.”
“What were his crimes?” Adrianna asked.
“Such trivial matters are not of any importance.”
She wanted to let out a sigh. She was sure that the reason they would give for Haden’s punishment involved her to some level.
“According to records, Miss Feyet,” the man continued. “You had contact with Rachid, a cause of much headache for you shortly before he left. Will this be an issue?”
Having thought that she was clear just moments before, Adrianna felt her blood pressure rise substantially. “No, sir,” she replied stoically, trying her best to not succumb to the fear she was now feeling.
“I am rather disappointed that ARDME and your unit didn’t have better record keeping,” the voice continued tangentially. “We don’t just let any skilled soldier with your caliber enter into the operations corps. You did show remarkable resourcefulness in the days leading up to and after the crash of the Yorktown, and now you are the sole survivor with knowledge on how the ship’s technology can be repaired. This and other reasons seemed to pile up on my peers’ and my own decision to recruit you. Upon learning of Rachid’s still being alive, I see some interesting correlations between your file and his own, as shallow as the official documents may be.”
“I can acknowledge that I did know him, but I can admit to nothing else.”
“Knock off the courtroom defense, Commander. Our reason for choosing you did involve some knowledge that you knew him. It was to hope in an off-set familiarity. He may relax somewhat around you and allow you to kill him.”
“Can you brief me more as to how he came to be flagged for treason? Such information will aid in my tracking him.”
“We cannot discuss that.” The response was dry.
They knew she was romantic with Haden. She was sure of it now. “Why not have executed him prior?” Adrianna asked plainly.
There was silence for a moment. “Execution creates too much paperwork. It is easier on all parties that operatives simply die in the field, which we believed had occurred to this point.”
Adrianna decided not to pursue the questions any further and to get straight to it. “Where do you believe he is?”
“That’s what you are to find out. Go to Rhea and pick up the trail there. But by all means, do not attempt to engage him in combat. You would be better to lure him unsuspectingly. Keep us informed. From this point forward you are to work solely on an objective. Yours is to kill Haden Yamir Muhammad Rachid by any means in your possession. And need I not remind you to use discretion in all of your actions.”
The communications abruptly cut off from there. Adrianna suddenly felt as though she were heading into a trap. For that moment, she suddenly understood as to why Haden may have chosen to leave her and escape rather than take any chances with the Alliance.
On a screen next to the communications console, instructions began to print out on the screen. Adrianna found a sheetcom near the console, and she transferred the data. Scanning through the data, she discovered that there was a small corridor behind some of the maintenance panels in one of the rooms. That corridor led to a single person long-range transport vessel.
Rhea was to be her first stop.
Shadowing the Regalia
DASS Yorktown – 3 September 2274
David awoke with a jolt. It took a few moments for his vision to focus and for him to remember where he was.
“We are in orbit of Uranus,” a monotone voice commented out of the darkness of the room. David let out a small yelp as he jumped knowing that it came from her. “I did not wish to startle you,” she responded to David’s reaction.
“How did you get in here? I have a lock on my door that should only allow me in.”
“Operatives have an override in all Alliance systems allowing us unlimited access.”
David felt a burning in his throat as the acids in his stomach started to build. The anxiety of this woman was incredible. “Do you have to scare the shit out of me all of the time?”
“I do not mean to frighten you. I will take my leave,” each word spilled out as carefully rehearsed and trite as a journal on particle physics. Silently, 356Q stepped out of David’s quarters as he slowly picked himself up out of bed.
They had been pursuing the Regalia relentlessly for the last few days. Although the ship behaved as though it were being stalked by the Yorktown, neither David nor anyone else could figure out how they could be detected if they were at all. During their pursuit, he worked to piece the ship back together with minimal staffing.
“Lights,” David said aloud. His room illuminated.
He looked around cautiously expecting to still find that woman standing somewhere in the room. She had been doing such things throughout their time serving together. In this respect, David felt as though he was the Regalia and she was the Yorktown. His demeanor seemed to mimic the same paranoid behaviors that the other ship was displaying.
“This is silly,” he said aloud to himself again. “She’s not goi
ng to do anything to me. She’s just creepy.” The explanations seemed an attempt to convince himself to not be so afraid of 356Q, something he did not believe.
He didn’t understand why she appeared to be so drawn to him. She was beautiful, despite the tattoos that perfectly covered half of her body. The art surely intrigued him. Nothing like that was seen in the Alliance military.
Now that he was captaining the Yorktown, he had to get his wits about him. His mind kept swirling around her. He couldn’t get the stress of his mind to focus.
Not wanting to waste any more time, he got himself dressed and headed out to the bridge. As the doors of his room opened, he saw that 356Q was not there. He sighed. It was only a temporary relief though.
“She’s going to take the shuttle down to the station. We’re in far orbit of Oberon and Uranus 13 colony,” an officer announced when David entered the bridge.
David shook his head. “They’ve docked?”
“Nearly an hour ago, actually. She said she was going to wake you.”
David cringed. She was standing in my room for an hour? The acid resumed its advance in his throat. “Where is she now?”
“The operative should be in the shuttle bay.”
Turning immediately around he instructed, “keep orbit with the station staying out of any of the traffic lanes and I will instruct you further after I figure out what this woman intends to do.”
The walk down to the shuttle bay was quiet. Even the slight hum from the ship’s systems blended in to the background silence.
When he finally reached the bay, 356Q was slowly redressing herself in an outfit not normal to her appearance. David only could see from the back, but the majority of her back was covered in similar tattoos as those on her face and arm as he had seen before. The tattoos didn’t stay restricted to half of her back but rather appeared to wrap around her torso as well.
David felt a sudden rush of embarrassment. He worried his face flushed with a deep red. He waited quietly until she was dressed again before asking: “what are your plans?”
Awakening of a Predator (Gravity Book 2) Page 5