“We’ll dock in the moon, get what we need and get back to it. Jupiter is still a long way off.” Irons turned the wheel toward the moon entrance. “Hannah, you figure anything out?”
“Not yet, sir. The calculations just aren’t working with the Slipstream Regulator.”
“Well, keep trying. Maybe Wartech’s got some toys that’ll make the math work.”
“Aye, sir.”
* * *
The tip of the bow on the Lucky Liberty touched the FAC wall and pushed its way through. The energy from the wall rippled toward the doors of the moon entrance as the hole widened. The blue field stayed connected to the ship as if the Lucky Liberty itself were a part of the seal. Not one hole or empty space was made as the two vastly different materials worked together to keep the atmosphere contained in the dock.
Wartech employees flagged the giant cruiser forward into the massive dock. As big as the USS Lucky Liberty was, the dock was nearly five times the size. Some workers were busy dealing with the last ship that survived the battle while others dealt with the ships that had stayed docked. There were no other vessels as big as the mining ship inside the moon. At least, none that the crew could see. The moon was big enough that it was possible there were other docks in the satellite. For all Irons knew, Wartech had a hyper shuttle that tunneled throughout the whole structure to various other sections.
Irons finally brought his ship to a stop and turned off all engines. “Like I said, kids, get what we need and we’re back out. Hannah, how long till refuel?”
“Twenty minutes till a full tank, sir.”
“Looks like you might get that R&R, Durham. Before you do, I want you to check out the weaponry. Stevens said he stocked us with guns other than these.” Irons took out his Ice Gun. “I wanna know what we’ve got.”
“You won’t be disappointed, Captain,” Benjamin said.
“How long till you’re not in my ear anymore, Stevens?”
“I’m glad to say it’s going to be awhile, sir.”
“That’s what I figured. So who’s in charge of the moon?”
“That would be Director Natalia Rayweather. And my guess is she’s already on the dock waiting to meet you. My advice, Captain?”
“Stick to the tech speak, Stevens.”
“Fair enough. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Fourteen
Reminders
Only Syracuse Hill had even an inkling of it but for all of his brashness and his tough exterior, James ‘Albatross’ Irons was really a hopeless romantic at heart. Having been married three times, how could he not be?
He fell for each of his ex wives. Courted them, treated them like queens and had divorce papers served to him. And while Admiral Collins was by far his favorite amongst the three, it was the third one he liked least of all. She had a major superiority complex and was somewhat of a bully in public. It was easier and in some ways safer to fight in a war with the Ka’traxis Brood than it was to be around wife number three.
The loading door to the Lucky Liberty lowered like a drawbridge to a castle. At its halfway point, the crew began to walk out but James Irons stopped at sight of the woman standing alone on the dock while workers scurried about their business. Her hair was in a tightly controlled bun, pulling her hair line back and tightening her forehead. That plus the glasses made her eyes wide enough you would think nothing ever escaped her notice.
She uncrossed her arms to look at her watch then glanced back up to dead stare at Irons. He didn’t let anyone else see it but a cold shudder ran through the him as her gaze froze him in his spot. The suit she wore, the shoes she wore, her very posture and stare all reminded him of wife number three.
“You ok, Boss?” Durham asked.
Irons straightened up and shook off the feeling of dread. She may have looked like his third ex wife but she wasn’t her. “What did I tell you about the weapons storage?” He said to Durham.
The Private’s shoulders slumped and he trudged his way back up the gangplank.
“Captain Irons, I presume.” Her words came out like a demand, as though she were telling him who he was.
“That’s me.” He put up a front, mostly to protect himself from his own memories.
“You’re late.”
“Yeah, well—”
“Forgive me, Miss,” Syracuse offered his hand.
“Rayweather.” She took his hand and shook it. “Natalia Rayweather. And I was informed by Mr. Stevens that you would be here five minutes ago.”
“Well, maybe you—”
“Go find their engineers. Get them to help Hannah with that math,” Irons ordered.
“You sure, Captain?”
“She ain’t her. Yeah, I’m sure.”
Syracuse saluted Irons before heading into the base. It was more as a show of who was in charge to Natalia than to Irons. A nudge so that she understood who she was dealing with.
“I don’t know what ‘her’ you are referring to and I don’t care,” Natalia said. “I run a very tight schedule on the moon, Captain. I expect promptness at all times.”
“Lady, I don’t know if you realized the Catters were at your door. So you’ll excuse me for being a little late while me and my crew took care of them.”
“I don’t tolerate excuses, Captain Irons.” Natalia turned on her heels and walked away.
Irons stood dumbfounded at the nerve of her as well as at himself. Going into any situation with little intel was never a good idea and this whole mission was almost completely devoid of intel.
“Tick-tock, Captain.” Natalia didn’t even turn around.
Irons took a deep, calming breath and marched after her.
* * *
Natalia Rayweather pulled down a projector screen and turned on an old overhead projector. It was a machine that was used before the first man was sent into space and while practically ancient, it was in impeccable shape.
“Wartech didn’t give you a budget for something more modern?” Irons asked, leaning against the back wall of the small and unimpressive room.
“A display wall with all of its touch points, LEDs and multi-use systems has its function, Captain,” she said. “It also has the greatest opportunity to malfunction. A malfunction— much like this discussion— is a waste of time and ultimately a waste of financing. Mr. Stevens hired me for my ability to maintain a well oiled and efficient machine. That is what I do.” She pointed at the overhead projector. “This machine has a light bulb and a magnifying glass. It is perfect when needed and allows me to get straight to the point without all of the extras to clutter things up. Now, will you allow me to get straight to the point, Captain Irons? Or shall we continue this shared banter?”
“You’re doing all the talking, lady.”
“Very well.” Natalia placed a transparency sheet on the projector and the magnified image appeared on the screen.
Two dimensional images did make it hard to form a fully realized tactical plan. Fortunately for Irons, a flat picture of a planet was just as effective as a 3D image. A sphere or a circle, either way, it was round, making visualization fairly simple.
“I understand you have three days to make it to Saturn. Two and a half at this point. And I’ve been informed that your ship has a Slipstream Regulator on what is essentially a diesel fueled engine.”
“It’s not exactly diesel—”
“I’m paraphrasing, Captain. I’m well aware of your ship’s fuel source. And as time is of the essence, I’ll need you to relegate your answers to yes and no where applicable. Now then, Slipstream Regulator?”
Irons scowled. “Yeah.”
“Very good. Obviously the USS Lucky Liberty won’t make it to Jupiter in the designated time frame. Even if you diverted all power to the engines and closed the regulator to its narrowest point, you’d be days away to say the least. And that’s if you actually had enough fuel for the trip.”
“I’ve got my specialist working with your engineers on that.”
“S
hort of a new type of engine, you’ll still fall short. Even Wartech’s most recent patents can’t make it that distance in that amount of time.”
“Well wha’dya want? It’s all we got.”
“True. It’s all you have. Unfortunately that will just have to do.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “You make it sound like there ain’t a point.”
“Earth has no spacefaring vessel that can make that trip in that short of time. It’s possible that with a few adjustments, some of our smaller ships could make it. But like your ship, they would run out of fuel before getting anywhere near the Ka’traxis Brood stationed in Jupiter.”
“For someone who’s obsessed with keeping time, you sure wasted a lot of it telling me this whole thing is hopeless.”
“On the contrary, Captain. I merely want you to understand your limitations before telling you how to surpass them.”
Irons narrowed his eyes at her. No one told him about his limitations and got away with it. ”What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t be offended. I meant is as a general statement. Your ship is fast just not fast enough. No ship is. The Ka’traxis Brood Queen gave Earth an impossible task. But you’re not going to get to Jupiter by just flying there.”
“You been hiding wormhole tech up here, Stevens?” he said into the air.
“Not quite, Captain Irons,” Benjamin said through the Neural Transmitter.
Natalia frowned. “Mr. Stevens is on Earth, Captain. Who…”
Irons pointed at his head and snickered. The truth was, Benjamin could very well have told him all of this and saved Irons the trouble of having to deal with Natalia Rayweather. But you don’t get to be CEO of a trillion dollar conglomerate without thinking several steps ahead. Natalia was right about time. Earth was very short on it. And she would get to the point faster than Benjamin would. Whether it was his simple guffawing over Irons or the two of them debating how to approach a situation, too much time would be wasted between the two of them. Natalia being the informant in the moon would save much of the time.
“Neural Transmitters. Of course. Will you kindly tell Mr. Stevens that the sooner the Lucky Liberty gets back on track, the sooner we can save humanity from enslavement. I have better things to do with my time than to suffer the whims of bi-pedal house cats.”
The remark made Irons smile. That was the thing he did like about wife number three. For all of her faults, she had a fire about her that even Mona didn’t have. Natalia Rayweather telling the Catter Queen off would be quite the sight.
“Hey, Stevens, you might want to cut the chatter till we’re back en route.”
“She can’t hear me,” Benjamin said. “Wait. She knows about the Neural—”
“Yup.”
“Ok. Yes, you let me know when you’re off the moon.” Even after the attack on Earth, this was the only time Irons could identify the sound of fear in the CEO’s voice.
Irons snickered at the whole thing. “He’s gone. You have my undivided attention.”
“Thank you,” Natalia said as she swapped out transparency sheets. The next one had some kind of octagon on it. Behind it was another smaller one. And behind it, one more.
“These are Hypergates, Captain. Wartech has a series of these leading out into the solar system. They work like slingshots, providing a speed boost of nearly one point five million miles an hour. Each gate is spaced far enough from the other that you can steer off course without having to worry about accidentally passing through the next one. This is how you will get to Jupiter.”
“They pointed at my destination?”
“They are stationary but each planet on this side of the Earth will eventually pass in front of them.”
“So I got another time window,” Irons said, annoyed that things were getting more difficult. He liked a challenge but not when it took this long and certainly not when the fate of Earth was at stake.
“Time is the one constant in the universe, Captain Irons.”
“So how much do I got before Jupiter is no longer in the gate’s path?”
“Taking into account how late you were arriving here.” She said as she glanced at her watch, “I’d have to say you’ll miss the bullseye. However, the last gate you’ll need will still put you within distance of Jupiter.”
“The Catters know about these gates?” Irons took a long look at the projected image.
“They’re one way portals.”
“So how do you expect me and my team to get back?”
“That is something you’ll have to figure out on your own, I’m afraid. Once the threat is eliminated, the need for haste will fall.”
“Of all the—”
A sudden alarm interrupted him. It was followed by a red light illuminating the office.
Natalia ran to the wall and pressed the button on an intercom. “What is happening?”
“They came out of nowhere!” a scared man said. “There were these purple flashes of light and then they were inside, ma’am. There’s too many of them. We can’t—”
“Can’t what? Repeat that!”
“He say purple flashes of light?” Irons asked.
Natalia turned to the Captain and nodded. “What does that mean?”
“You got any weapons nearby?”
“They’re in the…Um.” Natalia’s stern demeanor quickly melted into fear.
“We ain’t got time for fear, Rayweather. Weapons. Where?”
“I’ll take you there. Are we being invaded? What do we do?”
“What do we do? We go big cat hunting.”
Fifteen
Big Cats
“The weapons store is on the other side of the dock.” The fear in Natalia’s voice was obvious even above the noise of the alarm.
Irons cracked open the office door and peered into the hallway. It was empty. A good sign, usually, but no visible enemy while under attack didn’t sit well with him. It’s the one you don’t see that gets you.
“I need the fastest route to get there. So here’s what’s gonna happen,” Irons told her. “You stay behind me but give directions. I know there were a few intersecting hallways on the way here. The minute we take a turn, I want you to call out the next one.”
“I don’t know. I know if—”
Irons turned to her. “Listen up, Rayweather! You want this to go efficiently, you do as I say. Once we’re in the dock, just point the weapons store to me then go hide. But until then I need you thinking clearly.”
“Ok. You’re right, Captain.” Natalia took a deep breath. “Go left as soon as we leave the office.”
“Outstanding.”
Irons pulled his Ice Gun and opened the door. He took a quick glance both ways down the hall and motioned for Natalia to follow him.
The flashing red lights and alarm sounds were getting on his nerves. It took much of his training to listen for other sounds to indicate what might be up ahead.
“We need to take the first right,” Natalia yelled over the alarm. She kept a hand on his shoulder.
“Watch our six,” he told her. “Anything sneaks up from behind, you yell ‘Rear’.” He didn’t like raising their voices too much. Catters had excellent hearing and yelling was bound to make stealth movements difficult. But it was the only way they were going to hear each other through the chaos.
Irons stopped at the corner and poked his head around only to be met with a gun blast. He moved just in time for the shot to hit the wall, missing him at an uncomfortably close range.
Natalia screamed while Irons dropped to a crouch and kneeled into the intersecting hall, gun aimed. He fired two shots at the Catter, both chest hits. The alien took two more steps before dropping to the floor. Irons quickly scanned the hall for more enemy warriors and stood only when satisfied there were none.
“Move!” He hoisted Natalia up and rounded the corner.
“Should we take its gun?” Natalia asked as they raced by the dead alien.
“Negative. Any other speci
es grabs one of those, it’ll explode. I got two paths coming up.”
“Um…We have to—”
“Get down!” Irons’s free arm reached back and shoved Natalia down to the floor while his gun arm fired three shots. Two flew at the Catter from the right hallway, one at the Catter from the left. The two shots found their marks and dropped the enemy quickly. The second Catter ducked and returned fire. Irons took a grazed shot along the side of his calf. It hurt but, with his adrenaline spiked, not enough to stop him from firing back. His Ice Gun sent two more bullets at the Catter. The first one hit the big cat’s arm, forcing it to lower its gun. The second shot hit it square in the eye, knocking the alien backward to the floor.
“You’re hit.” Natalia watched the leg of Irons’ pants darken with blood from the bullet.
“It’s just a graze, let’s go.”
“It’s past this intersection then the next right,” she yelled.
The two rushed toward the intersecting hallways. As soon as they stepped foot in the open, they were met with gun fire zipping past them from the left.
“Double time!” Irons shouted as he rushed out of the open space.
“You’re not fighting back?”
“Too many and they’re behind us. We need to get to those weapons, ASAP!”
* * *
Durham didn’t bother taking careful aim, dual wielding his Ice Gun and a heavy machine gun. When he saw a Catter, he fired.
“Damn gun has to charge again,” he complained, holstering the pistol and using both hands to better control the machine gun.
“Maybe if you took better aim.” Lindsay ducked behind a steel drum, avoiding enemy fire.
The two privates stood on the open gangplank of the Lucky Liberty. They used makeshift barricades resting at the midpoint of the door for cover as they traded gun shots with the Catters.
Lindsay popped up and fired what looked like a shotgun except the projectile was a laser. A green digital display on the side read out how many shots were left. Durham swung the machine gun out from the side of his barricade and fired off a rapid burst at a Catter running toward them. The bullets sank into the attacker and knocked it off its feet. The gun’s magazine fell to the floor and another sprang forward and shot up into the magazine well. Durham barely noticed the first magazine had dropped.
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