The Pathfinder Trilogy

by Todd Stockert

  After concluding that the room was clear, he moved toward the computer sem-icircle in search of the shipboard power functions. Red, blinking dots on the HUD alerted him instantly to the fact that four additional men were moving toward him, following the exact same corridor that had led him to his destination. Taking up a defensive position and waiting for the inevitable, Adam considered himself to be extremely fortunate so far. Everything, more or less, was proceeding according to his ‘make it up as you go along’ strategy. If Snee Vasten and his Captain followed through, the crew of the Pyrhh had an amazing opportunity to capture a great prize. The information this ship could tell us, he thought somewhat greedily. There are lots of secrets here, and we must ferret out each and every one of them.

  Wrist guns raised and ready, he waited patiently for the newest arrivals, lowering them only when he recognized some very familiar voices arguing amongst themselves. Shaking his head in disbelief, he watched as Tran Wuu, Arte Kasik and Janney Stox trotted into the engine room, glancing casually around at everything as though they were taking a tour. Cren Hollis brought up the rear, his expression grim and determined as he kept his rifle shouldered and ready. “Yep, he’s already been here,” nodded Arte Kasik with a smirk as he studied all of the inert bodies lying around unconscious. “This Adam Roh of ours is a one man strike force. My opinion on the matter has changed – I say we keep him in the group.”

  “I have to admit, our good fortune seems to have risen considerably since we met him,” nodded Stox.

  In a bright burst of blue energy, Adam disabled his stealth shield, reappearing in front of the four men who all flinched noticeably at his unexpected appearance. “I’m still here,” he chided them irritably, shaking a finger at them. “I told you guys to wait in the supply ship… you’re going to get yourselves killed!”

  Big Cren Hollis turned on him, eyes blazing. “That’ll be the day when we sit around chatting amongst ourselves while everyone else fights,” he growled heatedly in reply. “We’re not wetback youngsters and we’re not going to let you assume all of the risk.”

  “Besides,” said Arte Kasic stoically. “We could hear atmosphere venting through gaps in all the damage the crash caused. Out here in the black I can tell you that is one scary sound. I think emergency bulkheads closed at some point, but we didn’t wait around to see if they would. So we followed you.”

  Aware that Janney Stox was looking him up and down thoroughly, Adam turned toward him next. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Stox said reassuringly with a wry smile. “I’m just trying to figure out how you do all those magic tricks, mate. You look like us and you’re dressed like us. What’s the difference?”

  Adam sighed heavily, ignoring the comment. He returned to the nearest computer and began tapping a series of commands into its keyboard, watching and reading the alien language with ease as it flashed row after row of strange, normally unfamiliar text symbols at him. While he worked, he took a few seconds to point at the waiting Crasel. “Please gather up all of the rifles and – if you can – move everyone into a pile at the center of the room,” he suggested, jerking a thumb toward the catwalks above. “One or two of you need to go get those guys too… they’ll be conscious again in about thirty minutes.”

  “I’ve seen a lot of engine rooms on a lot of ships in my day, so I can tell you with assurances that I’ve never seen technology this sophisticated,” Tran Wuu whistled softly, glancing up at Adam in admiration. “What are you going to do next?”

  “Since you’re all here, I’m going to explore more of this ship. It would really help matters considerably if you four would hold this position and deter anyone from trying to come in here.” He pointed at the computers. “Destroy these only as a last resort – if you’re about to lose control of the engine room. Otherwise we’ll need them to restore power once we take the rest of this ship.”

  “Take the rest of the ship…” Hollis trailed off with clear astonishment, and the big man was normally unflappable. “How are the five of us going to do that?”

  “We are not,” declared Adam firmly. “You four will stay here, hold the engine room and watch over our prisoners. I’ve already contacted Snee Vasten and the Pyrhh is going to board this ship from the port side.” He smiled at the stunned expressions on their faces.

  “Those buggers!” Stox instantly became irate. “Why involve them? They left us behind, for cat’s sake…”

  “Suffice it to say that Vasten now sees the value of an alliance with us much more clearly than he did the last time we worked together,” Adam chuckled lightly before gesturing sharply toward the nearest of the unconscious men. “I’m not kidding – you guys need to pay attention here. Get to work and make certain these soldiers remain out of action. Once the Zaketh come aboard from the port side, you’re going to have to defend that entrance from retreating Yakiir.” Gesturing toward the other exit to starboard, the one he had used to enter, Adam smiled. “I’ll disable the soldiers’ weapons and anybody else still conscious on this side during my trip back out. You’ll still have to keep at least one man on guard here too, but the starboard corridors will be easier to watch with the front end of our supply ship sticking through it and an enemy attacking from the port side.”

  Finished, he stabbed a couple of key buttons on one of the computers, causing a sudden power outage all over the ship. The lights went first, followed by the rest of the primary system functions. Even the loud, continual thrumming of the main engines slowed noticeably before fading away almost to nothing. At least a dozen sophisticated computers comprised the half circle around the PTP equipment, but only three of them visibly retained power. These were deliberately left functional by Adam so that he could restore key systems easily at a later time. Through the wide open port and starboard entrances to the engine room, he could see low level emergency lights snap on in the corridors outside.

  “You guys be very careful,” he said with concern for the Crasel. “Don’t get shot, by the Zaketh or the Yakiir.”

  “Nobody is coming in here without paying a heavy price,” promised Cren Hollis.

  Tran Wuu picked up a couple of heavy-duty flashlights from several of the unconscious Yakiir soldiers. “Here,” he suggested, offering one of them to Adam. “You’ll need to see where you’re going.”

  “No thanks,” Adam declined with a smile. His body flashed with a bright blue glow once more, turned transparent and then vanished from sight. “I’ve got what I need to get the job done.”

  “You certainly do,” gasped Kasik in response.

  “It’s Mott’s Ghost, I tell you,” replied Stox as he grabbed a pair of feet and effortlessly dragged an unconscious soldier toward the growing pile of inert bodies lying in the center of the chamber. “He’s come back from the dead to save us all.”

  *

  Despite the fact that the Crasel ended up making an appearance in engineering, Adam was primarily relieved. The tactical database in his implant kept telling him that the best option available was to leave the engine room computers functional if at all possible. Shutting down critical ship functions was fine, but being able to get them back on-line just as swiftly was also important, especially when other warships could transit to their location at any moment. He desperately wanted to explore as much of the ship as possible by himself, and the Crasel’s refusal to wait in the supply ship now gave him that option. He was somewhat surprised at himself for having ordered them to stay there. The tactical database had also suggested that he ‘make optimum use of his team’.

  Perhaps I’m really starting to care about those irritable warriors, he thought with amusement. Sentimentality… also not a good idea in a combat situation.

  Making his way back through the starboard corridor, the first thing he noticed was that many of the soldiers he had stunned earlier were showing clear signs of waking up. Taking a deep breath in preparation, he concentrated and raised his fists before pulling them back sharply, releasing a massive, crackling blue electrical puls
e. The blast seared its way back toward the distant supply ship, once again incapacitating all of those who were in the first stages of recovering consciousness. It was a riskier than usual move, since those who were still out like a light would be the most susceptible to the shockwave.

  Even so, Adam had the necessary tactical data displayed on his eye HUD, showing him precisely how intense each burst needed to be. He also submitted a request to augment the strength of his legs and feet, stepping on the center of each of the discarded rifles lying along the corridor so that each of them was sufficiently crushed so as to be non-functional. This too, is not tactically a good idea, the implant’s data cautioned him. Sparing lives in a war zone greatly increased the probability of unwanted interference – lethal interference.

  Adam set his jaw and deliberately ignored this latest piece of advice. He had accepted the assignment and was in the process of pursuing its objectives, but that didn’t mean – in any way shape or form – that he agreed to become a killer. It just wasn’t in him unless it became absolutely necessary. But you have killed, the implant’s data, viewed on the eye display, irrefutably informed him. All those people on that shuttle you crashed through are dead, along with anyone else who was caught between the supply ship and the walls during the crash against the warship. The mental argument he was having with himself refused to go away. That doesn’t mean I have to get used to this, he tried to tell his subconscious. That doesn’t mean I have to kill just because I have the opportunity to do so. It was a good comeback, but even so seemed to fall a little flat.

  Part of you enjoyed that… really enjoyed taking it to the Yakiir. Admit it.

  [“Hey Denny, have you guys got any preferences as to where I explore next?”] he asked suddenly, using his mental link to reach out for the ‘sound’ of another human voice and also get his mind off of subjects that were far too uncomfortable to deal with at this time. [“I’m still a little rattled by this recent confrontation, more specifically with the lives I just took.”] They had instructed him to be honest with himself at all times… it was the best way to handle things.

  [“I thought you might be checking in soon,”] came the swift response, although the presence this time was noticeably different from Kaufield’s. Karen Simmons. Somewhere between the instant he crashed the shuttle and left behind the engine room, the Doctor had taken over as his official on-duty Sentinel. [“Our readouts here indicate relatively normal anxiety and stress levels.”]

  [“I don’t care,”] he thought back at her somewhat irritably. [“Cutting that shuttle in half changed me.”]

  Her thoughts reflected her usual good humor and helped his mood improve by leaps and bounds. [“Adam Roh, you were a changed man the instant you fought for the Crasel and surrendered to the Zaketh.”] She paused just long enough to let his thoughts drift back to that awful instant, the one that started the proverbial snowball rolling downhill. [“You can’t go through something like this, something where some people live and others die, and not be changed forever. When you get back, I’ll run a full psychological workup and we’ll see where you are. Meanwhile, stay strong and use your instincts… we’ve learned an awful lot from your adventures much faster than we expected.”]

  [“Easy for you to say,”] he challenged in response. [“You didn’t have to hear that airlock open.”]

  [“Adam, stay positive,”] she told him firmly. [“Now as to your original request, there is an area that we want you to take a look at. Originally President Kaufield almost sent you there in the first place because he mistook it for the engine room.”]

  [“How could he do that?”]

  [“Suffice it to say, the location in question is emanating almost as much power as the entire engine room. Something very vibrant and full of energy is sitting in what we’ve determined must be an aft cargo bay. Here come the directions.”] He ‘felt’ new information becoming available to him via the implant, and a graphical diagram sprouted into being on the inner eye HUD so that he could read and interpret it more quickly. It helped him to look at an actual map, even if, at this point, it was only a partial one.

  [“Okay, I’ll check it out right away,”] he promised with an approving nod.

  *

  On the way to his newest destination, Adam felt the entire warship shudder uncontrollably. Seconds later, additional, smaller impacts reverberated through the walls and caused the deck plating to vibrate noticeably under his feet. It’s about time, he thought triumphantly to himself. The impacts could mean only one thing; that Snee Vasten had finally convinced his Captain to pull alongside the warship’s port side. In other words, Vasten and his Zaketh colleagues were in the process of landing a boarding party.

  With a pair of undocked shuttles still fully loaded with armed soldiers and sitting helplessly just out of the Pyrhh’s weapons range, the odds were not looking good for the Yakiir. The mere fact that the Zaketh were helping inspired Adam, reinvigorating his mood and allowing him to more quickly pace off the remaining distance between him and the new objective to which Dr. Simmons had transmitted directions. He stopped in the middle of a corridor and opened a firmly secured hatch, using the implant’s capabilities to bypass its locking mechanism.

  What he found inside the cargo bay caused him to stop and simply stare at his discovery with awe.

  The bay was completely empty except for two slim, streamlined gray missiles that stretched across the entire room, each slightly more than forty-two meters in total length, by Adam’s HUD estimate. There were bright green alien markings painted along their entire length, including the familiar four-fingered claw emblem. Some sort of independent power source built into each weapon thrummed sub-harmonically with unseen, carefully controlled intensity. The brief euphoria Adam had felt upon hearing and feeling the impact of the Pyrhh slamming against the side of the Yakiir warship evaporated almost instantly, replaced by ominous feelings of impending danger and evil so strong that the raw emotion of it all ground its way to the very bottom of his gut.

  I’m looking at TWO quashing weapons, he realized with a hard swallow. Here there be dragons, or in this case, the star killers that we’ve been looking for!

  [“Those look like they’re way too large to be ship-to-ship missiles,”] he heard Karen Simmons comment in his mind. Then she noticed something on her end of things that he himself was not privy to, and her tone changed drastically. [“Oh,”] she gasped in a subdued tone. [“I think you’ve found what we’ve all been looking for.”]

  Despite the direness of the situation and the obvious danger the mere presence of the weapons offered, Adam felt a surge of elation course through his body. The series of gambles he had taken, first by surrendering with the Crasel, then by joining the Zaketh and lastly by crashing the supply vessel – all of them had led to this astonishing discovery. In terms of their original mission objectives, to field test the implant technology and gather information from inside the Wasteland itself, the presence of the missiles was an amazing opportunity. Eagerly he deactivated his invisibility screen and then – on a whim – also slapped the inside of his right thigh. Bright blue electricity crackled between his legs and his personal, precision tool kit appeared, strapped tightly to his leg. Moving silently but quickly, watching for blinking red dots on the eye HUD all the way, he walked the length of both missiles and searched for access panels.

  He didn’t need to see his blood pressure reading to know that it escalated upon finding what he was looking for. Removing an adjustable, all-purpose wrench from his toolkit, he began unscrewing the multiple rows of odd-looking hexagonal bolts. It took longer than he expected, because once again his hands were shaking almost uncontrollably. Frustrated beyond words, he set the tool kit on top of the missile he was working on and wiped sweat from his brow using the back of his right hand. Taking a few minutes to gather his thoughts and calm himself helped, but by now it was obvious that a fierce gun battle was in process on the port side of the ship. Distant shouts along with the sporadic bursts of gunfire rea
ched his ears. Resigning himself to the task at hand, Adam picked up the tool kit and resumed removing the bolts, placing each of them carefully in his right pants pocket so that his shaking fingers would not drop any of them. They can’t be put back if they’re lost!

  [“Relax,”] Dr. Simmons said soothingly, trying to inject a calming presence in his mind. [“If it proves to be too much, wait until the battle is over. Then you’ll have all the time you need to examine those devices.”]

  [“Only IF we win,”] he responded pessimistically, regretting the one-liner as soon as it touched his thoughts. [“Sorry… I just don’t think we’re going to have an opportunity like this one very often.”]

  [“Keep using your eye HUD to watch for enemy soldiers,”] the Doctor suggested next. [“As long as you don’t see any, there’s nobody in the area and no cause for concern.”] Her next question originated from pure curiosity. [“What do the markings on those missiles mean?”]

  Her presence was very reassuring and the query helped his mind to focus. Considerably calmer, Adam resumed removing bolts from the access panel, one by one. The electronic wrench auto-adjusted to clamp each bolt he reached for and whirred softly as it unscrewed them. [“They’re mostly warnings… authorized personnel only, watch for radiation leaks, that sort of stuff,”] he replied, meticulously keeping his attention focused on what he was doing. [“This is a secure location, so there is probably an access code but hopefully no booby traps.”]

  [“Hopefully not,”] Karen sounded concerned, causing Adam to smile.

  [“Why don’t you try relaxing,”] he told her, removing the last of the bolts and depositing it in his pants pocket. [“Let’s take a look at what we’ve got here.”] Removing the panel and setting it next to his boots, he inspected the internal electronic hardware curiously. There was a lot of it, along with a standard-sized computer screen and a full keyboard with strange, alien symbols printed on each of its buttons. Activating the missile’s screen functions, he was immediately prompted for an access code… just as he expected would be the case. This is where things really get interesting, Adam grinned silently, accessing his brain implant’s database and using its scanner to wirelessly read encrypted information from the missile’s hardware. A series of numeric codes popped into his brain and he wordlessly keyed each of them into the panel. There was a short series of electronic chirps before the console released its internal locking mechanism with a loud click and granted him full access.