“I believe it’s time.”
***
“Sir, why would the chancellor do these things?” AI~Ben asked, as they left the bridge.
“He thinks he knows what’s best for humanity. He thinks he is smarter than everyone else, and people need to be controlled, so they don’t make the wrong decisions.”
“Why does he care what the colonies do?” AI~Ben asked.
“People are leaving Earth by the millions, annually. They no longer need to put up with its bigotry, its control, or any bullshit—political or otherwise.”
“He’d rather see all the people, outside of his control, dead.”
At that point, Kreiger ceased to exist. They were less than two hundred meters from the bomb that left a crater and consumed all of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island spaceport was laid to waste for ten kilometers in every direction.
***
“Barcus…”
Po trailed off. She saw the flash below, beneath the clouds.
“Barcus, I think…”
She turned to him; his face was in his hands.
He looked up, and Po saw his face. And she was afraid.
“Stu, high orbit above the Isle of Calf,” he said, as he stood.
He avoided her eyes.
“What are you doing?”
She reached for him but missed because she was strapped in. She fumbled with the harness, afraid, panicked.
He didn’t reply.
Barcus stopped, face-to-face with Hagan.
“If I don’t come back, get Rand, Hume, Worthington and his family, and run.”
“What about Cook, Muir, and Beary?” Hagan asked.
A wave of fury rolled off Barcus that was so visceral, Hagan was taken aback.
Po’s fear grew as she freed herself to go after him.
Hagan stopped her at the top of the ladder.
“What happened to Cook, Muir, and Beary?” Hagan growled.
***
“What does this mean?” Mike said, confused. “I am supposed to detain you for collection and questioning.”
“Well, that will be easy.”
Beary gestured with her bottle as a third, armed drone appeared at the mouth of the hangar as she sat.
“Well, I for one, am not going anywhere as long as there is still cold beer,” Cook said.
“We got busted because of the stupid autoDoc?”
“I bet it was your ugly face, Cook. Those kind of drones have broad spec scanners and face recog,” she said, opening a fresh bottle.
They all laughed again now. Mike, too. He had no idea why, but he opened another beer.
“You are such a flirt, Beary. Why don’t you just admit you want me?”
“Cook, now that you mention it…”
She never finished the sentence as she flashed out of existence.
CHAPTER FORTY: DS-12 Lands
“It was him. Roland Barcus. It was his Warmark. DNA and surveillance footage confirmed it. We were not wrong. And we were totally wrong. All at once.
--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: General Patricia Chase, senior member of the Earth Defense Coalition.
<<<>>>
“Barcus. Wait, please,” Po pleaded, as she slid down the ladder.
“Everyone up onto the bridge. I am going to open the hatch at a high orbit,” Barcus yelled.
The fury on his face left no room for argument. Cine, Jude, Shaw and Kuss all moved, quickly, to comply.
“What are you doing?” Po yelled.
“I’m going to end this.”
He moved toward the Warmark that had a skull painted on the front.
“Wait.” She tried to make him listen; it was like trying to slow a locomotive.
“STOP,” he yelled at her.
She didn’t.
“I asked you to stop,” he said, in a low voice that was even worse than yelling. “Stu, after I am away, you are to do whatever you have to do to keep these people safe. Start by removing Po from all pilot and admin control functions.”
“WHAT?” Po screamed.
“STOP. You must live through this. Even if you don’t like it.” He growled.
“You bastard!” She pounded on his chest. It was like pounding on stone. He caught her wrists.
“I thought you said you’d do anything I told you to do.” He had never spoken to her like this before.
Her face flashed uncertainty. She started to struggle.
“Stop. Please.” Barcus growled.
“You can’t do this to me. You can’t make me into this and then leave me. It’s crueler than the Keeper’s torture. You can’t show me what freedom is and then take it from me when I need it, want it, most.” She struggled, but his grip was like iron.
“Sometimes, the hardest part of being free is doing nothing.”
He released her. She almost fell as she stumbled backward. She stepped back and straightened her spine.
“Stop,” he whispered.
“Is this what you saw, all those tortured nights when you thought I was sleeping?” Po was furious.
“The world is closer to doom at this moment than any other. Not because of the chancellor, but because of you,” Barcus said.
She was fierce, and her eyes blazed.
“You saw that I wasn’t your simpering slave, anymore. Well, you’ll get no tearful good-bye kiss from me, you insufferable prick. Go get yourself killed; take the easy way out, and if there is anything left of you to bury, I will find your grave one day and piss on it.”
She slapped him, hard, across the face.
“But you saw that coming didn’t you. You let me slap you. I don’t give a fuck that you can see the future. That does not mean that I cannot make my own decisions.”
She stormed over to the ladder.
“Go to Hell. Alone.” She spat at him over her shoulder as she headed up the ladder to the bridge.
I am already there.
He climbed into the Warmark.
***
“Dan Sawyer, please report to launch bay twelve,” actually came over the station’s public-address system.
“Jesus, when was the last time they used the PA?” the bartender said, absently. “Hey, Dan. Are they talking about you? What is Dan’s last name?”
The bartender pointed to a man that was in a booth, leaning against the cold glass that was the only thing between him and vacuum.
“Jen, wake up Dan, will ya,” the bartender asked the tired-looking waitress.
It was a slow night. She poked him, hard, in the neck with her tray.
“Wake up, Dan. You’re being fucking paged,” Jen said.
He came awake so fast, he startled her.
“Sawyer, here,” he said, out loud, into a HUD call.
“On my way.”
He slid out of the booth, and as he walked along in front of the empty bar, he snatched up a shot glass of bourbon the bartender just barely finished filling, downed it, and said, “Thanks, Joe.”
Sawyer ran to launch bay twelve. They had the fast-locks that opened and closed fast enough to kill you, if you were not careful.
“Station, Sawyer here. What the fuck?”
There was only one ship in launch bay twelve. An old-school fighter tug. It was warmed up already. It was an obsolete design that only flew on manual.
“Hello, Dan. Are you sober?”
“When has that mattered?”
He laughed.
“Dan, there is a nuke on the station, and I need you to fly it away from here. The problem is, station security might try to stop you.”
“And you don’t have time to explain it. Am I right?”
“You are cleared to fire upon anyone that tries to stop you. Accelerate this container out into deep space, on any vector,” AI~Station said.
“I don’t hear from you for years; and out of the blue, I’m forced into retirement. If I survive this, you owe me a good story,” Dan said, and he climbed into the ship and buckled in.
“What about your pressure suit?” Station asked.
“Pressure suits are for pussies. Launching.”
The fast launch was always a thrill.
“It’s a little crowded out here, sweetheart. What the fuck is happening?”
Ships launched from every spire. It was chaos; traffic control was completely ignored.
“There is a nuclear war. Millions are already dead on Earth. The container is indicated on your tactical.”
Sawyer found the box, floating away from the station, at a slow ten meters per second. With an easy flip and turn, he matched its speed and vector. Magnetic clamps had it by the end. He hit full throttle.
It moved away at increasing speed. In forty seconds, he cleared most of the swarm of random traffic.
“How big is the bomb, Station? How far is far enough? How fast is fast enough before I detach?” Sawyer asked.
“Unknown,” AI~Station replied. “Looks like company.”
The ball-shaped, transparent, glass cockpit rotated and faced the rear. The four powerful engines blazed at full power. His tactical targeting systems pinpointed the two ships trailing him. They both had station security idents.
They didn’t even try to hail him. Projectile rounds impacted all around him, and two even deflected off his canopy.
He fired all four plasma cannons. First at one and then the other ship. They both went up in a flash.
A quick look at his controls told him he was already going 1,500 kph.
Sawyer shut down the main engines and detached. Thrusters pushed him away.
“Station, how is this vector?”
The station looked tiny from this far out.
“Perfect, Dan Sawyer.”
“Dan, are you in the market for work? Two positions in orbital security just opened.”
***
They never detected the Warmark until it landed at high speed in the center of the chancellor’s private landing pad. The guards had not been ordered to hold fire, but no one wanted to be the first to open fire on the most deadly thing in the universe.
Its weapons were at rest, not deployed. It waited one minute, and then two, and then three.
The chest and helmet finally opened fully, and Barcus emerged. His head was bare, and his hair and beard were long and almost black.
The guards saw, as he lightly stepped down, that a Frange carbine hung on his chest with a bandoleer of extra magazines beneath his cloak.
Head held high, he walked directly up the grand steps, three at a time. He unclasped the cloak and let it fall on the steps, revealing his weapons. As he entered, the nave lights turned red and a chime sounded. He didn't slow as he dropped the carbine, bandoleer, and two hand guns on the floor. His weapons belt followed with knives and other devices. He paused just before the next door, reaching down and drawing long boot knives out of hidden sheaths and dropping them. He even took a chain from around his neck.
He stared at the guard before the door. He had on a tunic, tabard, and a simple braided and knotted leather belt, all handmade. The scanner in his hand registered no metal at all. The medical splints that registered told a story of pain but no weapons.
The door slid open, and he moved through with no alarms; no alarms on the next door either. Without a pause, he made the last right turn and pushed the double doors open, with guards behind him, scrambling to keep up. They didn't cross the threshold. The double doors closed by themselves with an ominous thunk.
Barcus said nothing.
“So this is Roland Barcus. Maintenance guy number 42 from the Ventura. I never expected anyone from that sad vessel to be any problem at all. High Keeper Atish was a bad geneticist, leader, and visionary. You, on the other hand, are a loose end. Come any closer and your friends on Freedom Station will die.”
Barcus didn’t stop coming.
Dalton pressed a control on the console he stood behind. A great flash in the sky above illuminated the room through the high, stained glass windows above.
“Freedom Station is gone. Blamed on you, just like the Ventura, just like Sri Lanka, Mexico City, New York City, and now Freedom Station. After today, I will control the moon, Mars, and all of Sol. Tomorrow, annihilation ships will scrape the filth of humanity off all eighty-eight other human colonies.”
He paused, waiting for Barcus to say something.
“You made one mistake.”
“Oh, really? Do tell.”
“You let my friend Chen die in my arms. I swore to her I'd find you.”
Massive weapons fire erupted outside. It came from the landing pad. Dalton saw on monitors that the Warmark started firing, in automatous mode, destroying the residence.
“Kill him,” the chancellor said, in a bored tone.
The four hulks closed in and reached for Barcus. The chancellor could not see what happened. He only saw their four heads tumble off at nearly the same instant. When the bodies fell, he saw Barcus holding a long, dripping curved blade, made of bone.
“Stop or I will kill another city.”
“I don't care.” Barcus growled.
“What?”
“You see, Chancellor, Turkot is dead. He got it all wrong. Everything. His war is over. Humanity will never be an army for him. You will never rule all of mankind. Because everyone was wrong. I am not the monster. I am the witness.”
“Turkot could see the future!”
“I want you to stand right there, fucker.”
The stained glass roof shattered and DS-05 landed directly in the center of the room. Its red painted face was a frozen scream. Weapons blazed as the entire building began to fall away in all directions until they had a view of the devastation that was once the Isle of Calf.
Wind blew Barcus’s hair as he turned to the horrible, nightmare of a machine.
“I thought I told you to stay on the ship,” Barcus said.
“I am free. I do what I like.” The terror replied.
A shoulder mounted cannon deployed and aimed at Dalton. “You also told me never to use this in atmosphere.”
“Wait. You’re not allowed to have Warmarks here…” Dalton begged.
“Is this the asswipe that killed all your friends on the Ventura?”
Barcus only nodded.
She fired, and the top half of Dalton simply disappeared in a cloud of red mist, along with all the walls behind him.
She turned and opened fire with dual projectile machine cannons. The end of the room with the entrance finally collapsed.
Po said, over the suit’s PA, “Besides, I thought you might need a ride.”
Another Warmark crashed onto the remains of the roof that were scattered around Po’s Warmark. Weapons fire increased from Barcus's Warmark, on the front landing pad, attack ships fell from the sky into the ocean. DS Happy Face opened, and Barcus climbed in.
“Ascend 1,000 meters and come to a full stop,” Barcus said. “You see that landing field over there? Just above Calf, the Isle of Man and the chancellor’s base.”
“Yes,” Po replied.
“There are eighty-eight ships on that line. Modified, prepped and ready.” Barcus shared his targeting telemetry.
“The ships he was about to use? To kill the colonies he didn’t control?”
“Yes.” Barcus’s tone was harsh.
He set the weapon to max and used his targeting package to control the area of impact.
There was a clap of thunder.
Before they ascended to space, the entire residence and spaceport was leveled.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: Evidence
“We made assumptions. Took evidence for granted. We didn’t want to think that we were the villains. That we were all blindly following another Liberal Fascist Hitler. The story was covered up and Barcus scapegoated. If the colonies had discovered the truth, then it would have been war.”
--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: General Patricia Chase, senior member of the Earth Defense Coalition.
<<<>>>
When
they reached one thousand kilometers, Barcus hailed the STU, and he swallowed them from the sky. Barcus noticed, before they even locked in, that the starboard hatch was missing.
“Stu, what happened to the starboard hatch?” Barcus asked.
“That’s my fault,” Po answered. “After you left, I asked Stu to give me access to the med bay because I hurt my hand,” Po said. “He saw how hard I hit you, and allowed it. I got right into the Warmark.”
“She said if I didn’t return to the area over Calf, she would kill all the passengers,” Stu said. “She activated one of the big cannons and aimed it at the bridge. So, I returned. You said to keep them safe, no matter what.”
“I was about to blast open the ramp when Stu said the starboard hatch would be easier to repair. So, I shot it. Stu sent the second Warmark out, on remote. I shadow controlled it, at the end.”
“When did you learn to control Warmarks?” AI~Stu asked.
“On the way down,” Po answered.
“You know we can’t exit the Warmarks until we get to the station,” Barcus said.
“You’ll have to wait to punish me until then,” Po said.
Barcus heard the smile in her voice.
***
“Station, this is Barcus. Is there a nice, quiet hangar where we can land? We need to do some repairs, and then we will be gone.”
“Barcus, are you aware of what has been happening? The station is on full lockdown.”
AI~Station sounded angry.
“It’s over. Freedom Station is now safe,” Barcus said, as the coordinates of the hangar came in.
“Buy Dan Sawyer a beer, on me.”
“How do you know about Sawyer? I have redacted all information regarding his involvement in this event. There are likely opposition assets still on the station,” AI~Station asked.
AI~Stu flew the ship into a private hangar, and the massive door closed behind them. The STU took up half of the bay as it settled to one side.
Blood of the Scarecrow: Book 3: Solstice 31 Saga Page 27