The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  One of the troopers swung Madison over his shoulder while slinging his plasma pistol. Her head dangled and bounced against his back. “Tie her hands you fool, you have a knife in your belt on the back,” said Petrov looking disgusted. Another trooper who had been bending over the male stood up and said, “What about this one? He’s just stunned.” Petrov looked at the unconscious man and said, “Kill him. He’s of no use to us and I don’t want him to come after us.”

  The trooper nodded and cut Martin’s throat, the blood pouring down the front of the Terran’s shirt.

  “One less enemy for later,” said the trooper wiping the knife on Martin’s trousers.

  Petrov nodded his approval and said, “Check the passageway and then we’ll fast pace it out of here. No more stuns.” They reset their weapons and then unslung their rifles.

  One of the men ran to the door, opened it and looked out both ways, and gave the all clear signal and they filed out one by one with the last man covering their moves with a plasma rifle set to kill.

  West and Theo were eating their lunch and trying to decide what it would take to find out where the weapon information was. They had their faces towards the door, which was open, and saw that as Dickens walked by, he had looked in and, seeing them, walked hurriedly along. “Hey, Dickens, where are you going?” called out West.

  Dickens walked back to the door and looked in, “I’m looking for Madison. Have you seen her?”

  West and Theo looked at each other and then Theo said, “I thought she was with you in the classroom?”

  “No, she’s been gone for a while, and so is Martin. None of the others have seen her and I took a look around but couldn’t find her in any of the rooms down there,” said Dickens looking a bit worried.

  “She hasn’t been up here, we’ve been here for a couple of hours and she hasn’t walked by and she would have to pass here to get into the rest of the areas,” said West looking worried too. “You say Martin is gone too?”

  “Yeah, he was doing some research and then he walked out to the west side of the classroom and no one has seen him since. He had been dogging after Madison and I assumed he was with her. I tried to raise her on her HDA but couldn’t get a response.”

  “There’re miles of corridors down there, let’s take a look and see if we can find her. She knows better than wander around on her own,” said West looking annoyed.

  “Hey, she has Martin with her,” said Theo.

  “Like I said, she shouldn’t be down there with only Martin.”

  Theo and West and stood up and motioned Dickens to lead the way. West picked up a couple of laser rifles as he passed their little impromptu armory in the hallway. Amal who had walked up to the doorway listened in and then asked, “May I come too?”

  “Sure, we’ll be a formal search party now,” said Theo. West grinned at her and she gave that little half smile that West was becoming quite fond of.

  After a few minutes of walking they approached the informal sentry post that had been set up and West asked, “Seen anything or heard anything going on?”

  The two men looked at each other and then shook their heads, “No, nothing, quiet as a mouse.”

  West nodded his head and then said, “Keep your eyes open, there may be something going on and I want you to be prepared.”

  The two looked at each other and then both nodded and then turned to face down the corridor with one of them pulling out their optic unit and dialing it up to full magnification, and the other leveling his rifle.

  West and the others continued on with Theo calling up Rae and her team warning them that something might be up. They arrived in the classroom area and the other crew members there were arming themselves having picked up on Theo’s signal. They were looking nervously at all the doors that lined each wall of the room. Theo said, “Take up positions in the corridor and cover both ends of it with your rifles and move off to the main area, set up in the corridor next to the red building shaft, and we’ll meet you there.”

  The crew members nodded and filed out of the room heading to the assembly area.

  West and the others started to search the rooms on the west side and then, having exhausted that area, entered the western passageway and West asked Theo and Dickens, “Is this the farthest western boundary that you explored?”

  “Yeah, we don’t know what’s in this area, although it probably is about the ship though seeing the spoke symbol on the door,” said Theo nodding to the circle and spoke icon on the door.

  “Okay, let’s check the first tier of each room one by one, then second tier,” said West.

  The first door they opened West could see a video screen running some type of presentation of a Cyclops like ship moving towards what looked like an asteroid storm. He heard a gasp and turned to see Dickens looking down at the body of Martin, his shirt covered in blood and the floor slick with it. “They cut his throat,” said Dickens looking aghast, his face white. West swiveled suddenly, his weapon out, and leveled, but nothing moved. Amal bent over Martin and touched his blood, “His blood is still wet, and it looks like a Sovar trooper did it,” pointing down to a bloody footprint next to Martin’s corpse. “Damn they’ve killed Martin and kidnapped Madison. They’ve got her! Damn,” said West. “Theo alert everyone, we’ve got to get her and now.”

  Amal stood and stepped forward, “We need a plan. I would suggest that Theo have the rest of the crew arm themselves and attack the platform as a diversion in the shaft while West and I use the back entrance to enter the Cyclops and find Madison. It would seem likely that they would take Madison to the bridge or at least nearby and that most of the troopers will be warding off an attack on the shaft. There will be some troops guarding the bridge but we should be able to take them out.”

  “Good plan Amal,” said Theo as he left the room and returned to the classroom to catch up with the others.

  West, Amal, and Dickens caught up with Theo in the main corridor facing the red building shaft and were looking towards it.

  “Any sign of the Sovar?” asked West to the sentry.

  “No sir, all quiet here.”

  Turning to face Theo and Amal, West said, “They must have used some other exit to get out of here.”

  “There must be hundreds they could have used. Too many to search. We’ll give them something hot to think about in the interim,” said Theo looking grim faced and hefting a portable rocket launcher and seeing how many rounds it had.

  “How long do you think it will take to use the other entrance?” asked Theo.

  “About 20 minutes and then maybe another 20 to get to the bridge area,” said West while Amal nodded. “I suspect they’ll know we’re there before we get to the bridge though.”

  “Okay, you got 20 minutes and then we’ll start to make a diversion and entertain them,” said Theo, smiling but grim-faced.

  Petrov was smiling too as his men walked down the broad streets of the spaceport. It was nice to be out in the sun again after so many days of being cooped up on the Cyclops. Petrov had served all his adult life in the space commandoes but did like his sun baths as he called them. The other commandoes preferred the close in walls of their ships and didn’t like the wide-open spaces. He smiled at the irony of the thought of being in the greatest openness that they called space and only being comfortable in a floating coffin that sailed through it. The woman continued to bounce along the back of the commando that carried her. They had reached a shaft and taken it up to the street level being too unfamiliar with the lay-out of the city to know what intermediate levels would take them faster, but Petrov was content, this way is a little longer, but has greater visibility and more time in the sun. After 10 minutes, he could see the tail of the Paradig and the tower of the red building. He could also see a shining light from one of the upper windows and realized it was one of the guards that was signaling his arrival, some of the old methods were still the best thought Petrov.

  The little party came to the Red Shaft as they called it and l
owered themselves down to the ship’s entrance. Many of the commandos were lining the walls of the main corridor readying themselves in the event that the Terrans launched an attack. Petrov nodded to the other officers who saluted as they passed. At the end of the passageway, he could see Dragaan standing there impassively as was his wont. Dragaan was not one to be emotional but he did reward those who earned it. They walked up to the Commander and Captain Petrov stopped, and saluted, “With your compliments, Commander, we have the woman you wanted.”

  “Her condition?” said Dragaan, his voice controlled but clearly ominous.

  “We used a sonic block on her and she will be fine in a few hours.”

  “I would have preferred something less lengthy but I am glad she is in good condition as I would be sad to have to get another first officer to replace you,” said Dragaan his face hard.

  “As I would too,” said Petrov saluting again.

  “Take her to sick bay and guard her until she wakens.”

  Petrov started to turn away but looked back to Dragaan, “Any sign that the Terrans have discovered she is missing?”

  The sound of explosions at the shaft entrance erupted in the distance. “I suspect that that answers your question, Captain,” said Dragaan looking down the passageway.

  Theo had elected to fire timed rifle grenades to the level of the entrance to the Cyclops after the agreed upon 20 minutes had elapsed. He had concerns that West and Amal could take on ten commandoes much less anything more than that but he suspected surprise and the diversion would reap large benefits. He looked up and fired another grenade and it exploded just above the entrance. He saw a grenade fly downwards and ducked backward into the passageway and waited for its explosion which soon followed.

  As the diversion proceeded West and Amal journeyed to the secret entrance to the Cyclops. This had been their strategy all along to use this entry to take the Sovar off guard and eject or kill them. Unfortunately, the capture of Madison had shifted all the initiative to the Sovar and they would have to move fast to free Madison and certainly not under the most optimum timing. West and Amal took the shaft to the same level as the Cyclops and hoped that the Sovar hadn’t caught on to their secret entrance or it would be mighty hot when they got there. They could see that there were no lights on at the shaft entrance and it was likely no one was there as they floated up gently to the door activating the lights in the shaft. They moved to where the door was and West floated in front of it for a moment but nothing happened. “What’s going on?” asked West more to himself than Amal. He started to pound on the door but caught himself before he made any noise. He then pushed and tried to shove it aside but it didn’t move at all. “What’s going on? I’m the leader and this should open.”

  Amal looked up at him thoughtfully and then turning to him said, “The Sovar have a Commander too.”

  West looked at her while still facing the door, “What do you mean?” Then it dawned on him what she meant. The Sovar obviously had a commander or leader too and maybe this door would only open for one at a time. West looked at Amal and said, “What are we going to do? Theo is attacking and we can’t get through the door.” West looked around trying to think, his hand running through his hair. “We have to get him out of the ship,” said West, “But how to do it? I’ve got it We’ll have Theo arrange a truce to discuss surrender but only on condition that the Sovar Commander speaks with him personally.”

  “Why would they agree to that? They don’t need a bunch of prisoners,” said Amal.

  “Yes, but these prisoners know how to fly that ship and his men don’t.”

  Amal smiled, “I’ll go and tell Theo, you stay here and continue to try to get into the ship and then I will hurry back.”

  “Make sure Theo gets the Sovar Commander out of the ship and into the shaft, so that I can take control of this entry.”

  Amal nodded and hurried back to the shaft.

  Theo was continuing to lob grenades up the shaft rotating with other crew members who would fire with their laser rifles but there was no damage and it was unlikely that anyone above was hurt or would be hurt by the effort. Dickens tapped him on the shoulder and Theo turned to see Amal running towards him, “Uh, oh, now what happened?”

  Theo looked at Dickens and told him to start firing up into the shaft while Theo talked to Amal. Dickens clearly didn’t want to and was eager to listen in on what she said but Theo wasn’t having any back talk so he ordered him to do it. They moved away from Dickens and Amal explained what they had surmised at the secret door and Theo nodded his agreement, “You’re probably right about the door and why it won’t open and it’s quite clever to lure Sovar Commander off the ship and into the corridor of the spaceport. Okay, I’ll do it, you wait here to make sure it works or do you want to go back?”

  “I have what you call faith that you can do it, Mr. Theo,” said Amal as she turned to race back to West.

  Dragaan waited in the bridge watching the now ineffective attack on the ship’s entrance. It was clearly not going anywhere and then it suddenly stopped. He listened and then walked out the door into the hallway and stood looking towards the main entrance where only smoke could be seen. One of his officers was running down the corridor and then stood before him and saluted,” Commander?” asked the man.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  “The Terrans are asking for a parley and wish to speak with you. They want to discuss their surrender.” Dragaan, taken aback by this offer, looked at his officers and said, “For this I will go and talk with them.” The three men walked back to the entrance where the smoke was thinning.

  Theo waited impatiently for the response and was ready to run for the interior of the passageway if a grenade suddenly appeared instead of the enemy leader. The wait lengthened then he heard a voice from above, “Speak of your surrender.”

  Theo looked up and could see the outline of a man bending over the edge of the shaft. “How do I know if you’re the commander?”

  “I’m an impatient man, speak and to the point. Tell me why I should bother to take you prisoner?” said Dragaan.

  Theo then paused to let the dice roll, “Hmm, you sound like a commander. But to answer your question it’s because we know how to fly your ship.”

  THE FINAL BATTLE

  Dragaan paused to think of this. Yes, that would be very helpful indeed. He would have a crew and he had the marines and commandoes to watch over them. His own men were now sufficiently able to read the sensors and would man the critical components while the Terrans would run the other necessary operations. This would hasten his departure from soon to immediately.

  He paused to think it over again and look for a possible trap, sensing that there wasn’t one, he said, “Very well, I accept your offer of surrender. Have your Captain and the alien come up to me immediately,” said Dragaan.

  Here came the tough part thought Theo, “You should probably hear this in person though. Our Captain has taken off with the alien.”

  Dragaan considered this and ordered two of the commandoes down the shaft, and said to Theo, “I’m having my guards come first, so no trouble.”

  “That’s fine,” answered Theo dropping his weapon. He signaled the others to do the same.

  After the troopers arrived and rounded up the remaining crew Dragaan came down the shaft and approached Theo.

  “Are you the one called West?” demanded Dragaan.

  “No, West and the alien have left and headed back to the surface,” replied Theo.

  “What do you mean they have left?” asked Dragaan, his voice harsh with menace.

  “They’ve gone back to the river to be picked up by the Soshi. They won’t surrender.”

  Dragaan paused but considered it plausible enough, “Can you prove this?”

  Theo smiled and thought here was the kicker to move things along, “Well no, but West said the Soshi should be here soon enough to stop you and then you’ll be his prisoner.”

  Dragaan, gave a faint smile at thi
s bravado but he appreciated it all the same, “Very well, I warn you that any trick will be fatal to not only you but to all the rest of your crew.”

  “I understand fully,” said Theo thinking it would be fatal for a lot of them if this didn’t work out.

  West stood before the door and waited. It had been 20 minutes and the door didn’t budge. He touched it, talked to it in a low voice, and was just about to plead with it when Amal arrived, her face worried seeing West there. He turned to her and said, “It won’t open for me.”

  As he said that, it opened.

  He almost tumbled in through the door. He caught himself and looked around quickly to see if anyone was nearby. Amal crouched down and looked around as well. Nobody was visible and the corridor lights by the door switched on automatically. So far, the plan had worked but the ‘freeing Madison’ part had started out woefully lacking in detail, and now they were faced with this new reality, those little details were still unsettled and they weren’t sure what to do. Like most space ships, most of the rooms weren’t interconnected so it was necessary to travel down halls to get to another room and that meant unwelcome exposure for West and Amal. None the less, that was what they had to work with. West moved to the first door and it opened and there was no one inside. West had seen most of the rooms in the hub area but wasn’t familiar with what many of them were used for or what was inside them except for the rooms along the main hallway from the shaft to the bridge. Unfortunately, he wasn’t knowledgeable about these rooms and he no longer had his HDA to reference the maps that Madison and the others had made. Amal watched him in silence and then said, “I’m familiar with the layout of these ships, although I was never privy to how to operate them.”