“That was creepy,” Micky whispered before returning to the captain’s chair. “Stay the course, Mister Christian!”
Clifton looked over his shoulder.
“It’s those old movies,” Micky said with a wave of his hand. “Never mind. I wonder how Terry is getting along on the station…”
Sheri’s Pride
Felicity bowed before standing up straight and waving at the men with her arms held high. They continued to roar and cheer as she walked like a rock star to the center stage to stand in front of the screen on which she usually appeared.
Sue and Rowan followed with large men flanking them, limiting how much they were seen. The guards kept their hands on their weapons. Timmons smoothly rolled in behind the group, watching the audience.
The men from Home World cheered, whistled, and screamed, but stayed in their places.
Felicity called for them to quiet down, but no one could hear her. This went on far longer than she imagined it could.
Dion, can you help me here? Felicity asked through her comm chip.
Yes, no problem. You and the others will want to cover your ears.
Felicity turned to inform them, but Dionysus had already done it. The group put their hands over their ears and a low reverberation sounded throughout the room. It built into screeching feedback before the sound died away, leaving eleven hundred men gripping their heads and blinking away the pain.
“Thank you. We came over her so you could see real women, but know that we will always have a problem if you act like brainless baboons!” Felicity drawled.
They looked at her oddly.
“They don’t know what baboons are,” Sue said softly.
Felicity waved her off impatiently. “You are going to practice being decent human beings!”
Sue looked at Rowan, who didn’t know what Felicity had in mind either. The plan had been to come, talk, and leave.
As TH always said, no plan survives first contact, so Sue crossed her arms and waited for the other shoe to drop.
“We are going to walk between the tables, and you are going to greet us cordially. That’s it. No touching, and nothing else. A greeting and a smile, and we’ll move on.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Sue whispered.
Felicity smiled. “We are desensitizing them to the presence of women.” The director leaned close. “And if any of them get touchy, I expect a broken finger or two will show them we’re serious. If they’re going to act like cavemen, we’ll treat them like cavemen.”
“Punishment? We came over here to dangle a carrot in front of their faces just so we can slap them when they reach for it? This isn’t your best plan, Felicity! In fact, it sucks,” Sue retorted.
Felicity continued to smile as she stepped off the stage and headed for the mass of humanity.
Sue pointed at the guards, sending two after the director. She told the other two to stay close to Rowan, who stood there shaking her head.
Timmons didn’t wait to be told before moving closer to Sue.
“Walk around the outside, but if you’re not comfortable with that then stay here,” Sue told Rowan. The young woman looked afraid. The two guards stood side by side, blocking Rowan’s view of the group. Sue took the woman’s hand and held it for a moment, then nodded and moved off.
She waved as she headed into the crowd.
“Good morning, ma’am,” the first man said. And then the next, and the next.
Rowan peeked between two burly arms, and finally tapped the guards’ shoulders to get their attention. She tipped her head toward the outside of the tables and started walking.
Sue returned the men’s greetings in a neutral voice and without a smile. Timmons stayed so close to her that he constantly touched her as they moved through the crowd. One man tried to stand, but Timmons’ glare made him sit back down.
Rowan greeted everyone on her side of the space until she reached Chris, where she stopped. He stood and they hugged, and he held her while she smiled into his face.
“HEY!” one man yelled, then another. “He got a trip to the station, and now he’s got a girlfriend. Take me!”
Rowan’s guards tried to pull her away, but the men were up and surging forward. Punches started to fly and the mass of humanity became a tidal wave, ready to engulf the women. Felicity was almost through the crowd.
One man came at her and she decked him using the heel of her hand, after which the guards moved in and cleared a path.
“RUN!” Felicity yelled as she bolted out the back door.
Sue and Timmons were in the middle, surrounded on all sides. Timmons fought like a wild man, breaking bones and splattering blood, but there were too many of them. Sue disappeared under a crush of bodies and Timmons yelled.
Men flew upward as if blown from a volcano. A snarling gray werewolf leapt to the nearest table and howled her displeasure.
The Space Station in Orbit over Benitus Seven
Terry carried Ankh under his arm like a bag of groceries as he jumped from landing to landing on his way down the stairs, and Char raced past him.
Ted cried out again, then started to laugh.
Char continued forward while Terry slowed. When he arrived, he found Ted on his knees looking into an area filled with small devices that appeared to be non-operational. Char loomed over Ted.
She grabbed him by his collar and hauled him to his feet. “What are you doing, Ted?” she asked calmly, surprising Terry.
“They’re there for the taking. Look at all the power sources! So much better than going into a Radio Shack.” Ted rubbed his hands together in glee.
Ankh started to squirm. Terry put him down and the Crenellian moved past Ted into the room. “I don’t think we can take one. Look here.” The diminutive alien had crouched and was examining the space between two of the power sources.
Ted joined him and eyed the devices critically.
“I don’t see anything,” Terry muttered.
“There is an immense amount of Etheric power flowing through this area. There must be shielding that kept us from seeing it from the Axe.”
Terry covered his private parts with his hands.
“That isn’t going to change anything, although if you stay here long enough you may become a werewolf.” Char’s purple eyes sparkled. “Ted, we’re going back upstairs. If you take the power down you will give us a heads-up, won’t you?”
Ted waved a hand over his shoulder as he started to speak. “You’re right. They’re hooked up in a series, but if we can establish a parallel power flow we can remove the sources at will without impact to overall draw. What is the station’s draw?”
Ankh removed the pad from his small backpack and started tapping on the screen.
“Do you think they know that we’re still here?” Terry asked.
“I don’t think they care, except in how much we annoy them.”
“I love me some Ted,” Terry said slowly. “Thanks for fixing the nano virus, Ted. No one could have done that except you. You saved the lives of my family and friends. No matter how much grief you give me, you will always be ‘The Man.’”
TH started climbing the stairs to get back to the others and continue their organized search of the station.
“I’m happy he’s on our team,” Char said. “All hail Ted.”
“All hail Ted.” Terry snickered.
“All hail Ted,” Plato echoed throughout the station. Terry and Char stopped cold, but Dokken continued up the stairs.
“Is Ted the AI’s deity?” Terry asked. “The all-powerful being, the giver of life, the bringer of wisdom?”
“Don’t you even,” Char warned. “Those words will never pass my lips again.”
Terry pursed his lips and studied Char’s face. “Will Ramses be taking bets and Nathan making money off you, too?”
“Of course not. I can control myself, unlike someone else in this stairwell who’s not me.”
Terry pulled her close. “I’m working on it.” Th
ey let each other go, and holding hands, they took one more step upward as the station plunged into darkness.
The War Axe
“Mapping complete,” K’Thrall reported. He dropped his holographic screens and stood. As a four-legged Yollin, his chair was like a bench that he rested his belly on. He lifted his weight from it and walked away. Chairs for quadrupeds were far more streamlined than what humans were used to.
The Yollin approached the dais on which rested the captain’s chair, and Micky looked from the spinning map of Benitus Seven to his systems officer.
“We didn’t locate any of the intruders. The fidelity of our sensors is insufficient, so the teams on the ground will have to figure it out. These creatures look formidable. I would like to go and represent the Yollin race as we engage them.”
Micky did a double-take. “You want to do what?”
“Join the Direct Action Branch for this one mission. I have no desire to be a full-time ground-pounder.”
“You’ve watched the colonel for a while now, so you know how he operates. Do you think there is any way he’s going to let you go into combat without the requisite training?”
K’Thrall clicked his mandibles as he contemplated the captain’s words. “I suspect not, but I shall still ask.”
The captain tapped the small screen on the armrest of the captain’s chair. “Bundin, would you please report to the bridge? Christina and Kimber too, please.”
“We’ll ask the experts, so you don’t waste the colonel’s time making him tell you no.” Micky left his chair and moved to the front of the bridge, from which he could better study the planet. “Take us back to the space station, Clifton.”
“On course. Estimate arrival in ten minutes.” Clifton stretched in his chair and then stood to stretch some more, never taking his eyes from the control screen.
The planet rotated in its three-dimensional glory in front of the pilot’s station. Smedley had added icons for the space station, the War Axe, and the interdimensional tear.
“Show us the cities, please,” Micky asked. A number of new icons appeared. “Estimated populations?”
“Infrared scans suggest there are close to four million individuals living near the poles,” Smedley replied.
“Connect me with Colonel Walton, please.” The captain waited. “Smedley?”
“There is no answer, Captain.”
“Keep trying to raise him. Helm, can you improve on our arrival time?”
Clifton jumped back into his seat and started mashing buttons.
The hatch to the bridge opened, and Kimber walked in with Christina and the Podder.
Micky turned to the new arrivals. “This was going to be a social call, but we can’t raise anyone on the station. Get your team ready to deploy. We’ll arrive at the station in…”
“Four minutes,” Clifton called.
The skipper turned back to the open hatch. Kim and Christina were already gone, with Bundin hurrying after them.
“Plato is no longer receiving a feed from the interface that Ted is carrying. If anything has happened to Ted, we don’t know what we’ll do.” Smedley sounded as distraught as an artificial intelligence could.
“We’ll know soon enough.”
***
“Get those mechs out of there!” Kim yelled when she saw four armored warriors who were lined up to enter the drop ship. “Didn’t you listen to the initial reports? The mechs didn’t fit through the airlock!”
Kim ran up to push them out of the way, but they were already retreating. “First squad, get in there! One minute to launch.”
Christina jumped over the ramp and landed inside, and she waved at the warriors to hurry. Bundin ambled across the hangar bay and continued up the ramp. He took a substantial amount of space, but he refused to be left behind. As they had found out in the Alchon Prime op, he had talents they could use.
“Hoods!” Kimber called, and the warriors pulled their hoods over their heads to seal their shipsuits. They wore their flak jackets, and carried their combat load outs. Most had low-velocity weapons—blasters that wouldn’t penetrate a ship’s hull—and two carried oxyacetylene torches.
Christina hefted a unique weapon that she had designed herself based on her knowledge of ships, space stations, and outer space. The short axe contained a spike at the top of the head and bottom of the handle, with an angled pry bar off a hammerhead on the back. The front sported a heavy halberd-style blade, sharpened to better slice through spacesuits and other soft targets.
The warriors opposite her in the drop ship eyed her war axe closely.
The rear hatch closed, and Kimber counted down on her fingers. When she hit zero, the drop ship rocketed from the launch tube into space.
“Where are we headed, Smedley?” Kim asked.
“There is a secondary docking port on the opposite side from where the other shuttle is attached, and that’s where you’ll gain access. The station’s lights are no longer on, for reference,” Smedley told them using the ship’s speakers.
Christina and Kim locked eyes, and the women nodded to each other. “Flashlights!” Kim called. The group removed the small devices from their cargo pockets and attached them to their weapons. Christina smiled and strapped hers onto her shoulder, and Kim did the same as she played with the dial on her Jean Dukes Special.
Christina rolled the handle of the axe between her hands. Her eyes flashed yellow briefly as she fought against turning into a Pricolici.
The energy screen shimmered into place and the rear ramp dropped as Smedley backed the drop ship into place against the airlock.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Ted! If that was you, I swear I’m coming down there to kick your ass!” Char yelled.
“Would you quit your belly-aching and let me think!” A flashlight flared to life below them. Char closed her eyes and started counting.
When she reached ten, she turned and started back down the stairs. Terry watched with mild interest, then decided it was best to sit down. Dokken laid on the landing next to him. The lights flickered back into existence.
We have a problem, Marcie said over the comm chip. Emergency bulkheads slammed into place, sealing us within the center section. The lights just came back on, but the bulkheads remain in place.
“Char,” Terry said conversationally. “I’m heading upstairs. I expect Ted is already working to free us. Come on, boy, let’s go see what there is to see. I’d think the command center would be inside the sealed area, wouldn’t you?”
Terry ruffled Dokken’s ears before standing up.
What if I don’t like you playing with my ears? Dokken said as he got up, shook, and started climbing the stairs.
“Then I’d stop, but you like it, don’t you?” Terry looked down at the huge dog beside him.
You’re right. I do like it. Dokken’s mouth dropped open and he started panting. It’s gotten hotter in here.
Terry tried to estimate the temperature, but he couldn’t tell. “Can you hear the air-handling system?”
No.
“And tell Ted to turn the air back on!” Terry yelled over his shoulder as he continued to climb.
In the central area, Terry found his people on multiple levels.
“I found the cleaning bot,” Kae reported from two levels up. Terry counted the walkways that he could see—five up and five down. Counting the main level, there were eleven decks in the central core. Ted was at the very bottom.
“Anyone make it to the top level yet?” Terry said, cupping his hand to project his voice upward.
“Not yet. We’ll climb up there now.” Kae and Marcie headed for the stairs.
“Look for the command center!”
Joseph and Petricia strolled up. “This is pretty anticlimactic, if I must say,” Joseph suggested.
Terry had to agree. “But we had six mechs, just in case.”
“Just in case. What do we do now?” Petricia asked.
“Wait on Ted. There’s no threat besides runn
ing out of air, and with this big a space and just a few of us it’ll take a while. Are there any lounges or couches?” Terry raised an eyebrow.
Joseph’s eyes unfocused for a moment. “Shonna says quarters are two decks down with beds and all the amenities.”
“All?”
“Let’s go with ‘some,’ and I’ll define that as anything more than none.”
“Cap! Kelly! You guys find anything?”
“Come on down and take a look at this, Colonel,” Capples replied from the next level down.
Terry led the way, with the two vampires and a German Shepherd following. When they arrived, Cap waved them toward a small complex that appeared to be a logistics distribution point.
TH looked at materials in the bins, and picked up a handful of small crystals in a variety of shapes. From crystals to metals to small manufactured items that could have been computer chips, everything defied an easy explanation.
“Any ideas on what this stuff is?” Terry asked.
Joseph shrugged. “Maybe Ted or Ankh would know, but they’re busy with other stuff.”
“They had best be busy with other stuff.” Smedley, can you identify what any of this is? Smedley?
“Has anyone heard from Smedley or Plato recently?” Terry asked.
The others tried their comm chips and Cap pulled the comm device from his pocket and tried it, to no avail.
“Looks like we have some issues,” Joseph offered unnecessarily.
“I’m heading down. I don’t think Ted realizes the gravity of the situation. I’ll light a fire under his a—" Terry caught himself. “His buttocks. Try to find us a way out of here.”
He removed his comm device from his pocket and keyed it, something he was far more comfortable doing than using the chip in his head. “Kae and Marcie, you find the command center yet?”
A few moments later Marcie replied, “There’s nothing up here, just more of the same. You’d think this was some cheesy apartment and office building. It has almost no technology, and is as exciting as uncooked tofu.”
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