Sacrifice of Angels: A Pax Aeterna Novel (Pax Aeterna Universe Book 6)

by Trevor Wyatt

  “Do you know how to operate it?” Adachi asked.

  “I don’t,” Sef said. “It’s complex.”

  “I do,” Ashley said. “I can operate the teleporter.”

  Jeryl glanced at her, surprised. “How?”

  “Long story,” she said. “We don’t have time to sit for a chit chat.”

  Jeryl felt anger simmer in his stomach. “More Armada Intelligence?” he asked.

  It had been shortly after the conclusion of the Earth-Sonali War, as Jeryl spent three years trying to bring various races together into the Galactic Council as a Vice-Admiral, that Ashley had been covertly recruited by Armada Intelligence. She hadn’t told him until several years later and at first he had been shocked. Armada Intelligence cared nothing about peace in the galaxy – they simply sought to ensure that humanity had the upper hand in all dealings with alien races. It had seemed like a betrayal then. It still seemed like one now.

  She didn’t reply to his question. “Are we going to do this or what?”

  Jeryl felt the urge to pull rank on her, but he held himself from doing it. They stared down at each other, tension rising in the room. Mahesh, Adachi and Sef only stared at the couple. They didn’t dare intervene.

  Jeryl cocked his head sideways in defeat.

  “What emergency are we going to create?” he asked.

  Chapter 21

  “There’s already a breach in the quarter’s deck,” said Adachi. “We can widen it.”

  Sef checked the computer system and narrowed down to the quarters’ deck in a level below theirs.

  “At the time of the breach, the station wasn’t in a lockdown. Hold on…” Sef inputted another set of information.

  “Okay, so when our ship crashed here in the beta quadrant of the station, it was detached from the others so that the damage didn’t extend to the other quadrants. Then when we escaped, this quadrant was put on lockdown, sealing off its every exit and entry points. They also shut down teleporter access. The breach was self-contained by the bulkhead of the vessel and the Tyreesian emergency walls.”

  “So it’s just like what Adachi said? All we need to do is widen the breach,” asked Jeryl.

  “That wouldn’t suffice,” Sef said. “This quadrant is self-contained, and widening the breach won’t affect the whole space station. That section of the ship needs to explode. The systems will react automatically, and the teleporter will reactivate.”

  “Do we have any explosives in our arsenal?” Jeryl asked, but Adachi shook her head.

  “We have a couple of flash bangs, but that’s all.”

  “Nothing in the armory?” Jeryl asked with an incredulous look. For a species that exalted violence and massive weapons, the Tyreesians had a piss poor armory.

  “No, sir,” she replied. “I believe they might have a policy on stashing the armory in the same quadrant as their prisoners…with tools they need to blast the station.”

  Jeryl arched his eyebrow in realization. It made sense for the armory in beta quadrant to be not well stocked, seeing how the holding facility was nearby. In the case of a riot and escaping prisoners, the escapees would be severely handicapped even if they made it to the armory.

  “So, how are we going to blow it up?” Jeryl said. “Can we blow up the Sonali vessel?”

  Ashley made a horrified face. “That thing is almost as large as this quadrant, sir. If we blow it up, it’ll not only consume this quadrant but it’ll also destroy the other quadrant. I think it’s best we use an approach that guarantees our safety.”

  A tense silence followed her response.

  Everyone was looking at Ashley and Jeryl, neither of whom met the other’s gaze. The bitterness and anger in her words were unmistakable.

  Jeryl sighed. He didn’t look at Ashley; he didn’t have the nerve to do so. He didn’t even have the nerve to talk her down. He knew she had the right to take it out on him.

  Jeryl wasn’t just a captain because the Armada had assigned him that position. He earned the title. He earned the respect and devotion of his crew. And somehow, he begun to take that respect and devotion for granted. He’d let his status go to his head.

  The same went with Ashley. He earned her trust. He earned her devotion. He earned her love. And he wasted it all in one day. The feeling he had in his heart was the most painful he had ever experienced in his life. It was resistant to any logical reasoning and it was persistent, tugging at his heart like a tight knot he couldn’t get away from.

  Jeryl glanced at Adachi. “Commander, do you have any suggestions?”

  “We can blow up the pod,” she offered.

  Sef’s slits widened and he nodded vigorously. “That could work. We will have to overload the battery cells then set a couple of flash bangs to go off at the same time near the cells. That should get the pod to explode.”

  “Just what damage are we looking at? Ashley asked. “Can you show us a projection?”

  Sef nodded. He inputted some information into the workstation and keyed the computer into performing the calculations. After a few seconds, they saw a three dimensional representation of the space station in green, blue and yellow on the view screen.

  The computer zoomed into the outer lower portion of the beta quadrant where a large vessel was lodged into the side of the quadrant. Then, the simulation showed an explosion that pushed the vessel out of its lodging, setting a bite size portion of the quadrant on fire.

  “It will destroy twenty five percent of the quadrant,” Sef replied.

  “That’s still too much,” Ashley said.

  “We’ll do it, anyways,” Jeryl said.

  Ashley glared at him.

  Jeryl met her gaze. “Do you have a problem with my decision, Commander?”

  Ashley’s eyes widened in betrayal and watered with tears.

  She looked away. “No, sir.”

  Jeryl nodded, his face straight. Even though it pained him to his core, he had to keep everyone in line so they could at least make it out of there alive.

  “Here’s what we’ll do,” Jeryl said. “Mahesh and I will head over to the living quarters and see about setting those explosives off. The rest of you stay back to ensure that once the matter transport comes online that everyone’s teleported over to the next quadrant where our ship is. When we arrive there safely, you can follow through.”

  “Sir, I think it’s best we teleport ourselves when you’re all aboard the Seeker,” Ashley said. “We’ll need to monitor for reinforcements and keep the quadrant under control. We’ll need one more officer, at least. A navigator.”

  “When do you think you want to teleport to safety?” Jeryl asked her.

  “We’ll do it before you want to jump into FTL speed. We’ll stay on comms in case you need us.”

  Jeryl nodded. He wasn’t keen on leaving Ashley behind or being separated from her again. But she was making it hard for them to reconcile. He really didn’t know how to reach out to her or what to do.

  “Also, I’ll need the crew to get organized,” Ashley said. “Not many people will fit on the teleporter platform at once, so we’ll need to move fast to get them all out.”

  “Where’s the other transport platform, the one you’ll send us to?” Jeryl asked.

  Ashley pointed to a spacious compartment on the topmost section of the next quadrant. It was two floors above where the Seeker was docked.

  “What’s this place?” asked Ashley.

  Sef pulled up the information. It was a meditation room.

  “Meditation?” Mahesh said. “I didn’t peg the Tyreesians for the religious type.”

  “Alright, send us over,” Jeryl asked, ignoring Mahesh’s banter. He seriously doubted the Tyreesians enjoyed meditation—they were probably just keeping under wraps the fact that all quadrants could be accessed via teleporters.

  Ashley nodded. “Got it.”

  Jeryl said, “Then we have our instructions. Mahesh, come with me.”

  Jeryl and Mahesh left Ashley, Adachi and the Sona
li in the control room, while they headed out to meet with the others in the general area of the holding facility.

  Veld was stunned and dozed it out at the corner of the spacious area. All the officers of the CNC were present, including Mary Taylor, who looked bruised and battered. Kaia was standing over Veld’s body, while Ferriero and Tira had stood ready in the back of the assembled officers.

  Jeryl started by telling them everything that happened to him and Ashley so far. He told them what he felt the plans of the Tyreesians were. Then, he ended by telling them what their plan of escape would be.

  “Tira, I want you to coordinate with Ashley so that we can move everyone out of here,” Jeryl said at the end. “There’s a matter transport platform on the control room, and that’s what we’ll use to get the crew out once it comes online. Mary, I want you to reach out to every crew member. I know we’ve taken heavy casualties today. I know there’s enough blame to go around, but right now we need to be strong. We’re almost home free. I want everyone to pick up as many weapons as they can find.

  “Once we blow up the pod in the living quarters and reactivate the teleporter, the Tyreesians will know what our play is. They’ll be prepared. But we’ll win. We have an overwhelming number of people backed up by our determination to go home. Now go.”

  There was a grim determination as people nodded. He had gotten them into this mess, and now he was standing up to lead them out of it. Jeryl heard a few voices say, ‘Aye, sir,’ or ‘Yes, Captain’.

  They still had faith in him.

  Mary immediately got on comms and began broadcasting to every crew member in the beta quadrant. The rest started to head toward the control center, with Tira at the head and Kaia and Ensign Adewale hefting Veld’s limp body behind.

  Ferriero was about to leave, when Jeryl called out to him.

  “Sir,” he said, coming over to where Jeryl and Mahesh stood.

  “Ashley has requested your help in the control center,” Jeryl said. “Make sure you all get out of there before we have to leave with the Seeker.”

  The head of navigations gave a curt nod and walked away in the direction of the control center.

  Mahesh led Jeryl down to the living quarters. The corridors were littered with dead bodies of both Tyreesians and humans and the walls were stained with their blood. The quadrant looked like a freak show.

  Decapitated heads and severed limbs lay strewn across hallways. Jeryl saw all this with his heart growing tighter with each passing. They all died because of the decision he made—the order he issued. This was all his fault.

  They picked as many flash bangs from the dead Tyreesians as they could find before making their way to the pod. Mahesh didn’t know much about the pod, so the responsibility fell on Jeryl to hotwire it. Thankfully, half the job had already been done; the panel of the battery cells was open with its wiring exposed.

  It took Jeryl about ten minutes to connect the wires to cause an overload.

  “We just need a way to spark off the cells,” Jeryl said.

  Mahesh looked at him weird.

  “Why’re you looking at me that way?” Jeryl asked with a frown.

  “Because Vu Le was the last person who said that and he ended up getting cooked,” Mahesh said. “If that happened to you, Ashley would never forgive me. And if Ashley doesn’t forgive me, Adachi wouldn’t either.”

  Jeryl was surprised by that. “Adachi?”

  Mahesh flashed Jeryl a knowing smile.

  “Lieutenant Commander Taylor to Captain Montgomery, come in,” Mary’s voice came over his comms.

  “Go ahead, Ms. Taylor,” Jeryl replied.

  “We’ve huddled everyone inside the control center, sir,” she said. “We figured out where they kept the teleporter platform inside here, and we are ready for teleportation.”

  “Got it,” Jeryl said, “Doctor Mahesh and I will be with you shortly.”

  He cut the connection and contacted Ashley.

  “Go ahead, Captain,” she said.

  “Can you remotely overload the pod’s drives?” Jeryl asked without any preamble.

  “Hold on, let me confirm with Sef,” she said and went off comms.

  One minute later, she said, “Yes, he can. Please vacate the area when he begins.”

  “Roger that,” Jeryl said. “Everyone’s ready, let’s do this.”

  Ashley didn’t reply. The line simply went dead.

  “Doctor?” Jeryl said as he and Mahesh walked out of the room.

  “Yeah?” Mahesh replied.

  “Am I doing something wrong?” Jeryl asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ashley,” Jeryl said, and that was all he needed to say.

  “Well, sir, she has gone through a lot,” Mahesh replied. “Don’t expect things to go back to the way they were. You’ll have to give her time to process what happened. You’ll have to give her time to see things the way you saw it.”

  “How much time is enough?” Jeryl asked. “I can’t have her undermining me all the time.”

  Mahesh said, “Is that your real concern? Or are you concerned about…Ashley accepting you again?”

  Jeryl nodded. “I’m afraid, Mahesh. I’m afraid she’ll never forgive me.”

  “Even though all you did was because of your duty to the Armada?”

  “Yes,” Jeryl replied. “Was I wrong to have held out?”

  Mahesh didn’t reply until they were headed down the corridor.

  “That, my friend, is a question only you can answer,” came his reply.

  Chapter 22

  Jeryl and Mahesh walked into the control center. Adachi found a hidden room inside the control center where the transport platform was. Luckily, it was large enough for the whole crew. Adachi had them arranged in a circle around the platform, with a loose outer ring made of armed crewmembers. Kaia held Veld within the outer circle though she had her gun too high for a fight.

  Jeryl whispered to Mahesh, “Go into the middle, Mahesh and stay there.”

  Mahesh began to complain. “Captain…”

  “I’m not asking you, Doc,” Jeryl said. “I may have lost Ashley. But I’m not going to lose you.”

  Mahesh conceded and made his way into the middle. Tira and Mary were in the front of the circle. Tira handed Jeryl a weapon, which he took from her without any hesitation.

  Jeryl looked over to Veld. He was fully conscious, though he looked like he was going to explode. His face was squeezed in a frown, and his hands were folded across his narrow chest. He looked like a kid who was having a bad day and didn’t want to talk to anyone.

  Veld caught Jeryl looking at him and said, “Clever thing you plan to do, Jeryl. Clever. I may have underestimated you, but don’t think the security forces will. They will be expecting you.”

  Jeryl smiled wryly. “Good. I want to look them in the eye while I cut them down with their own weapons. I told you. You’ll pay for this.”

  Veld’s frown deepened. Jeryl waited for the clap back, but the Tyreesian remained quiet. Jeryl thought perhaps Veld realized that he was about to lose and will be taken into Terran space.

  “Ashley,” Jeryl said to his comms.

  “Are you ready?” came her reply. This time, her voice was different. It was soft. It was subdued. It was loving. It was as though all her rage and bitterness melted in the little time he had been apart from her.

  Jeryl swallowed hard as his eyes began to water and his heart began to race. What could this mean? Had she finally realized the things he wanted her to know?

  He wished Ashley knew how seeing her being tortured almost brought him to insanity.

  “We’re ready to leave,” Jeryl said, his voice betraying his emotion.

  Ashley began to say something, but then paused. “Can the others hear me?”

  Jeryl shook his head, shutting his eyes so the tears wouldn’t pull through.

  “No. It’s just me,” he whispered.

  “Be careful,” she said.

  Jeryl cou
ld sense that she wanted to say so much more, but she was holding back.

  “I love you, Ash,” Jeryl whispered, “never forget that.”

  “I know, Jeryl,” she replied, “and that’s what scares me.”

  Jeryl didn’t reply. He understood that. If what he did to her was an expression of his love, then his love wasn’t worth a damn thing.

  “I know you were in a difficult position,” Ashley said, “believe me, I know. I know that the worlds of nine species hang in the balance. I understand. But it’s…difficult to accept…and I don’t know if I can,” said Ashley.

  “But I’m trying. I just can’t look at you and not see Veld. Somehow Veld was able to make you look like the bad guy, while he was the one having mercy on me.”

  Jeryl was about to protest at the warped nature of her talk, but Ashley was already speaking again.

  “I know it makes no sense,” Ashley said, “but that’s how I feel.”

  She gasped and held her breath for what seemed like a minute. Jeryl had his eyes closed and his heart burning the whole time. No one tried to stop him. It was as though they knew what turmoil he was going through.

  He heaved in a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry, Ash...I’m really sorry.” He felt his throat tighten. “I wish there was a way for me to change it.”

  “There is,” she replied. “Give me time.”

  “I understand,” Jeryl said.

  “Hang tight,” she said. “And get ready for instant trouble. Scanners show that there are about five bogeys in the room where I’m teleporting you to.”

  Then the line went dead.

  Jeryl relayed the information to the crew. While he was speaking, an explosion rocked the space station. It was followed by an alarm, like klaxons, that blasted through the cargo hold. And then the familiar golden light erupted around the platform.

  “Weapons at ready!” Jeryl, raising his weapon as he cut through the circle of officers and got ready to step on the platform. “Let’s show these assholes what we’re made of,” he told the crew, and then he stepped through the transport arc.