Mostly to herself, she muttered with sarcastic indignation, “Well, why not?” She turned to continue up the stairs.
Matsuri yelled at Galcon, “I sent you to the ships! The docking bay is up, not down! Where were you going? We have to get out of here!”
“That deck’s crawling with drones!”
Bullseye stopped on the top stair.
“We have to go this way!” Galcon’s accent grew thicker with his insistence. “You have to listen to me, Mat! I don’t want to be here any more than you do! Big explosion imminent, remember?”
Bullseye, aware of the decreasing amount of time in which to dink around, hurried back down the stairs. She grabbed Galcon by his medical suit, knowing Matsuri would follow, and ran with Galcon in tow in the direction of the nearest intersecting hall. “Come on! We have to get to the access room!”
Matsuri jogged alongside her. “I should warn you, I’m not sure about this guy. Cagod sent him up here because he’s supposedly the top virologist studying the DRK, but he does work inside the Dominion. They say he’s a double agent, but I doubt it. I mean, he’s only here a day or so and suddenly we’re attacked?”
Bullseye kept her eyes glued to her path. “We don’t have time for this!”
Without further argument, the trio ran on through a flashing hall until they found the access room. Bullseye saw no danger, so she holstered her weapon and reached for the ladder. She took the lead, and they ascended in single file.
After climbing the ladder only a few seconds, she heard a clang from below. She looked down and saw less light than a moment ago. Deck 17’s access had closed.
“Move it!” called Matsuri.
Bullseye climbed faster. She counted off the minutes in her head, and deck after deck closed beneath them. More than once they had to stop as more and more Underground soldiers climbed onto the ladder, but the sense of urgency kept everyone climbing as fast as possible.
Sweat dripping down her facemask, Bullseye reached deck 2’s access room. She stepped off the ladder, followed by Galcon, Matsuri, and Underground soldiers who’d joined the climb behind them. Soldiers climbed up the other ladder as well, and the access room was filling fast. Hundreds of voices shouted in the docking bay around them, so she turned with her two companions to enter near where the WARBIRD was docked.
The docking bay was chaos. Dominion soldiers to the far left were trying to get to their ships, fortunately no longer caring about the fight. As for the rebels, they scrambled to sort out who went with which ship.
“Our pilot is missing!” shouted a soldier from a docking hatch.
“Ours died on level 5! How are we supposed to-”
“I’m a pilot,” called a soldier by another hatch. “Five of my team were killed, so I can fit a few in their places!”
The Solarus computer interrupted the din. “Access to deck 10 and lower is closed. Self-destruct system at fifty percent power. Deck 1 power diversion complete in nine minutes. Self-destruct in nineteen minutes.”
An Underground commander near Bullseye took this as a cue to step up and take charge. “If you’re a pilot, stand by a hatch! Everyone else, line up in front of the nearest hatch with a pilot!”
The mass of soldiers hurried to comply.
Something outside a dock window caught Bullseye’s attention. Pushing soldiers aside, she walked over to this window. Matsuri and Galcon followed.
“What is it?” asked Matsuri.
A ship was detaching from the station. Reflected light from its windshield flickered across Bullseye’s face as she watched. It was a Dominion ship, the only one undocked so far. Bullseye had no doubt who was aboard.
“Hey, there you are!” Whitewolf’s voice boomed.
Bullseye turned and saw him entering the docking bay. He ran over to Bullseye. Then he spotted Matsuri.
“Mat, why’d you activate the self-destruct? We-”
“Where are the others?” Bullseye decided to explain the troubling details later.
“Sis signaled me a minute ago. She’s teleporting from level to level, checking for anyone trapped below. Your brother’s helping a wounded Hood soldier on deck 3. He should be back any second.”
Bullseye nodded. “Go prep the ship. We’ve got less than nine minutes before this docking bay loses power.”
Whitewolf looked like he wanted to ask more, but he ran off in the direction of their WARBIRD, pushing his way through the soldiers to reach the hatch.
Bullseye stood stupidly for a second. They couldn’t leave or do much of anything until Rave and Tigris showed up. Soldiers both rebel and Dominion now streamed into the docking bay, panicked with good reason. Still, Bullseye found herself in a Zen-like state as the chaos swirled around them. Feeling emotionally pulverized didn’t help. But, certain facts began to fit together in her mind now that she gave them time.
She turned to the men with her. “Before we’re blown to bite-sized bits, I want answers.”
Matsuri, antsy, crossed his arms. Galcon raised an eyebrow, still with no idea who she was. They both seemed to think they had more important things to do – fleeing, for one.
Bullseye focused on Galcon. “Jole Cagod isn’t the type to kindly ship a Dominion member up here to work in his secret DRK lab. I take it you are a double agent, probably an important one. Am I right, or should I let Matsuri slay you after all?”
Galcon glanced at Matsuri. “I am a double agent. I’ve worked on DRK research from inside Free Labs since I entered the Dominion. Commander Denito sent me here to head up the research because the Dominion was sniffing around my office pretty hard. We knew our research was close, so we had to get this done while we could.”
Matsuri again wanted his protests heard. “Denito apparently thinks he’s valuable, but I don’t trust him. There’s no Underground file on him, so we can’t be sure who he really is.”
“I’m a highly classified double agent,” said Galcon with rising frustration. “Of course you don’t know who I am, Matsuri. Until today, no one other than Denito knew the truth about me, and I’ve been buried in secrets. This thing-” taking off his wedding ring and throwing it into the crowd “-isn’t even real! Everything about my life is fake, all for the sake of finding the DRK treatment! I’ve spent years of my life working with the virus, and I’m on a bit of a rush at the moment, considering what we’ve done!”
Bullseye caught this. “Wait, you and the lab team did find the treatment?”
“Yes!” Galcon reached into his medical suit and pulled out a vial filled with liquid.
Holy shit, thought Bullseye.
He tucked it back for safekeeping. “No one even knows I’m responsible for the research in the first place, so I’d appreciate if you’d both back off!”
Matsuri was excited too. “So the research I sent to Undertown tells them how to replicate it?”
“Yes! That’s why it was so important to transmit before the Dominion took the station! And I sent a message to Denito telling him where to find blood samples like the one I stole in Chi. That way they’ll have something to work with – without the real thing, you can’t replicate it out of thin air.” He took a breath. “So, even if we’re blown to hell, at least they can find those blood samples and repeat what we did here.”
Bullseye shook her head in amazed disbelief.
Not so gray after all, she thought. This whole time… And Trok knew. This is why Trok knew I’d be okay. Think of the chain reaction started long ago… There was a purpose working itself out!
“Son of a…” Her voice quivered, so she took a breath.
Galcon, still worked up, turned to her. “And who are you, anyway?”
Matsuri smirked when he realized Galcon didn’t know his famous friend. But when Matsuri looked at her, his smile faded. “Bulls, are you crying?”
She met eyes with Galcon.
His mouth hung open. “Bulls? You’re Bullseye.” He laughed at himself. “Woman, are you ever not in disguise?”
Matsuri wasn’t pl
eased. “You know each other?”
Bullseye saw Rave and Tigris enter the docking bay. Feeling strangely revitalized, she knew it was time to get to business and finish this. She wiped her eyes and emitted a short chuckle. Without saying another word to either man, she felt a brief tingling burn before she dematerialized. Matsuri and Galcon exchanged a look, and then she turned her back on them to join her team.
Rave was leaning beside the WARBIRD’s open hatch, watching the scene, when Bullseye blinked into existence in front of him. Annoyed with his sister’s late arrival on top of everything else, he crossed his arms at her.
“Where’ve you been? We-”
Tigris suddenly teleported beside Bullseye with a random Underground soldier. The man looked around in confusion but thanked her before darting off toward his comrades. Rebel commanders had by now arranged their men in lines by the open hatches, and they were quickly loading in the ships. The soldier Tigris just rescued ran to the end of a line, and he was the last to step through before that ship’s hatch closed. Only three hatches remained open as men filed through.
Rave looked at Tigris. “That the last of them?”
Tigris nodded. “He’s the last survivor I could find. Everyone else is up here already.”
“Well, finally!”
Rave ushered Tigris and Bullseye into the WARBIRD. Once their hatch closed, his oversensitive ears received immediate relief from the blaring alarm in the station. But there was no time for relief. Following Bullseye and Tigris, he ran to the front of the ship and hurried to take his seat.
Whitewolf was working through the departure sequence. “Almost there. How much time?”
“About three minutes until deck 1 shuts down. Ten more before Solarus blows.”
From behind, Tigris asked, “Is that enough time for our ships to get out of range?”
“Fingers crossed.” Rave pulled off his headgear and turned to look back at his sister, who’d also stripped her facemask. “Whitey said you found Matsuri. Why’d he still activate the self-destruct?”
“Hold on!” Whitewolf flipped a lever and pulled the stick.
Another grating sound reached Rave’s ears, but the WARBIRD jolted free of the clamps. A sinking feeling numbed his insides, but the thrusters fired and the spacecraft pushed away from the station’s generated gravity. The engines accelerated, and soon they were cruising along the surface of Solarus 5. Rave looked out his side porthole and saw more and more rebel ships pulling away. A few Dominion crafts had detached, but not many.
Bullseye’s head appeared beside Rave’s seat. She looked out the windshield, peering into dark space. “Do you see a Dominion ship ahead of us?”
Not liking the look on her face, Rave faced the windshield and squinted to use his mutate-genes. “No, why?”
“Flush me. They must’ve gotten clear faster than I thought. Activate the radar sensors.”
Rave obeyed and worked the controls. A holographic grid came up from the display, charting the electronic readouts around them. He pointed to a dot moving near Earth’s atmosphere. “There, I got something.”
“Head after it.” Bullseye returned to sit behind him.
Rave turned in his seat. “What’s going on? You…” He saw the pale look on Tigris’s face.
Tigris must’ve entered Bullseye’s thoughts. She looked at Rave and answered his question. “Cruelthor activated the self-destruct.”
“What?”
Bullseye explained. “I did find Mat in time. He wasn’t the one who triggered the self-destruct. Cruelthor did. He knew the majority of the rebel forces would be destroyed if he took out the station. He’s floundering for a way to still win.” She smiled. “They found the DRK treatment, you know. Cruelthor’s weapon is gone now.”
Whitewolf was confused. “That’s great, isn’t it? Everyone’s getting off Solarus okay, so…”
Rave, looking at his sister, realized she knew more.
“Cruelthor’s already working on a new plan. When I found Mat, he said Abduction took Beathabane’s body.”
Rave’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Cruelthor will use him to gain control of the Hood. We might’ve ruined his DRK campaign, but he’s quick on his feet. He’ll find a way to stop us from replicating the treatment, and he’ll abuse the Hood to do it. Either that or he’ll hold Beathabane ransom, I don’t know.”
Tigris understood. “So we have to follow Cruelthor back to wherever he lands and get him before he can sneak away with Beathabane?”
“Yep,” Rave answered for his sister. His mind raced as he sorted things out. “He might even use Beathabane’s body to retrieve and erase the DRK research. That’d ruin everything we’ve just accomplished and put Cruelthor right back on top.” He looked at his friend beside him. “Crank this thing so we don’t lose him.”
Whitewolf didn’t need to be told twice, and he worked the controls to accelerate as fast as he dared while approaching Earth.
Everyone was tensely silent as they neared the atmosphere. Even Rave was mute, but Whitewolf glanced over to see him bouncing his leg. With a farther glance, he saw Bullseye fiddling with the weapon on her lap. He couldn’t see his sister behind him, but he suspected she was white as a ghost. Flying the ship, Whitewolf tried to untangle his own thoughts and focus, but he kept coming back to the same thing.
This is it, he thought. We’re about to face Cruelthor. Will Bulls be the one to pull the trigger, or should someone else? And poor Beathabane… But no matter how this plays out, it all ends now. Cruelthor can go ahead and run in that spaceship of his. We’ve stopped his virus, and we’ll stop whatever he’s planning next. Finally, we-
“Look!” Rave shouted. “Is that what I think it is?”
Whitewolf’s head snapped up from the controls. “What? Where?”
“There! Are you blind?” Rave pointed against the windshield.
A swirl of red and yellow hung in space between them and Earth. It looked like the DuoPorts, but this anomaly was definitely new.
At the same time, Whitewolf noticed a change in the sensors. He got a bad feeling as he altered course to compensate. Sure enough, the Dominion ship was leading them straight for the portal.
Tigris called from behind, “Did Cruelthor open a portal?”
“Well,” said Bullseye, “Abduction was the one responsible for space dimension research back in the day. Maybe he did this.”
The portal grew larger as they approached. The Dominion ship stood in contrast against the background of the red and yellow pulses, and they now saw only the rear of the ship. It sped to enter the portal.
“What do we do?” Whitewolf asked as he handled the controls.
Bullseye again crouched between their seats. “Rave, you know the most about portals. Is there a way they could’ve opened one?”
Rave looked as confused as the rest of them. “Well, Trok can open temporary portals, but that’s because he exists separate from the system. I don’t think Cruelthor or Abduction would be capable of that. And this portal…” He shrugged.
“Why would Cruelthor fly into a portal?” said Tigris.
Whitewolf had an idea. “What if Cruelthor knows all is lost and he’s flying into the portal in a ditch effort to escape? He knows the majority of his operatives were killed back there. He knows we have a way to combat the virus. He’s probably sent transmissions back to his men on Earth and knows our remaining forces are attacking there too. He undoubtedly can see we’re on his tail and will catch him the second he lands. What if Cruelthor doesn’t know any more about this portal than we do but he’s trying to escape through it?”
Rave nodded. “Makes sense. He’s probably betting no one will come after him. He’ll take his chances in the portals since he has no hope of surviving here.”
“There he goes!”
The lights of the portal swallowed the Dominion ship. Whitewolf pulled up the WARBIRD to float in space a short distance away.
What now? he thought. What do we do now?
>
Again working with the knowledge that Rave knew most about portals, Bullseye looked at her brother. “Do you think this portal leads to one of those other worlds Trok’s told us about?”
“Yeah.” Rave’s scowl deepened. “I’d bet this portal and the DuoPorts are the same kind of thing. Trok’s portals are smaller and not locked into any one location, but this one looks more like the DuoPorts, which have definite places they link to.” He seemed to know what she was thinking, and he ruffled his bangs in frustration. “If this portal leads to one of those settled worlds, those people are in trouble if Cruelthor… Well, what if he has a DRK canister with him?”
Bullseye sank back into her seat. She knew Rave was right. At a loss for what orders to give, she watched out her porthole as other rebel ships flew past their position toward Earth.
Matsuri’s WASP was the first spacecraft to cross the atmosphere, and she watched as other ships followed. At least the rebels were safe. As for the WARBIRD, it hung suspended in space between Solarus 5 and Earth. The swirling portal hung inexplicably in space before them.
“What do we do, Bulls?”
She knew. The WARBIRD wouldn’t be following the others back. They’d accept the responsibility of going after Cruelthor, and Bullseye found herself absolutely certain this was supposed to happen. Trok believed a plan was at work, even if they couldn’t see it. But more sacrifice was called for than they’d anticipated, it now seemed…
Bullseye gazed out the window.
This might be our last look at Earth, she thought. But evil truly will flee Earth, as the prophecy foretold – this is what it meant all along. Even without our help, the other rebels will be able to overthrow the Dominion now. The virus that’s plagued mankind for centuries can now be eradicated because of what we enabled those on Solarus 5 to discover. What do we care if the Underground takes the glory? The prophecies never promised fame. Something else awaits us Warriors, I think. The Underground can enjoy the task of cleaning up the Dominion’s mess. They can start a new world order. They’ll be left with the reminders…
The Kota Page 57