by Trevor Wyatt
One moment is all I need. Before this is all over, I will make my move. There may be a chance for us, I think.
Who would have thought that a low life space pirate like me could ever have a chance with a high ranking Armada Intelligence agent like her?
Of course, I know she might be playing me. Seduction is one of the hallmarks of Intelligence Agents. Still, I do like the attention. I’m willing to explore it for as long as it lasts.
She clears her throat and says, “We need you for another mission.”
I nod.
“There’s an asteroid belt near the border with Sonali space, near the Mariner nebula.” she says.
“Yeah,” I reply. Every smuggler knows it. “The Asteroid Belt of Azoc. It’s abandoned. It’s nothing but rocks. No minerals.”
No One nods, her hair splashing around her neck and chest in inciting waves. I try not to gawk at her—an extremely onerous endeavor.
“Well, Jeremy, that Asteroid Belt isn’t abandoned,” No One says. “The largest asteroid is the site for a top secret communications installation that we believe is vital for the Sonali war efforts. Destroying it will cripple their communications for as much as one year. We need you to sneak in and destroy the installation.”
“You command a fucking cruiser,” I say in reply, “why don’t you just cruise in and blast the shit out of that thing? It’s going to be easier and safer, rather than risking sending an agent into an installation that’s probably guarded.”
“Because that installation has one of the most powerful shields known to us,” she replies. “If we begin bombarding the asteroid, it’s going to take us hours to bring down the shield. Also, remember, we aren’t that far from the border. Sonali reinforcements could be there in less than an hour. We need to destroy the installation covertly.”
“Okay,” I say, “but why me? Why not you? Don’t you have people who are specifically trained for this?”
She smiles again.
“You’re the only person I trust enough to pull it off,” she says. “You see, you have a special skill set.”
“Oh…I can sneak into places and sneak out without being caught?” I say, a bit hurt that she saw me only as a pirate.
She shrugs. “You said it not me.”
This is when I realize that another aircar is approaching. No One doesn’t seem alarmed so I relax. The aircar lands beside mine and another agent exits the aircar, carrying a box the size of a suit case. He drops it at No One’s side and returns back to the aircar without saying a word or looking at me.
“Let me guess,” I say, “that’s the bomb?”
“Yeah,” she replies. “Put it anywhere within the installation, preferably near the generators or computer equipment and set the timer with enough time for you to get out. Once it’s started, it cannot be stopped. Plus, the bomb has a great blast radius. Make sure you’re off the asteroid by the time the bomb goes off.”
I look at the suitcase. There’s a small LCD display on its head and a conspicuous power button.
“How would you know the mission is a success?” I ask.
“I’ll be here when you return, Jeremy,” she says in a soft voice.
The hairs on my nape shoot up. I swallow hard not sure what I caught in her voice.
“Do this, and you’ll finally get what you want,” she says.
I look her up and down while saying, “You have no idea what I want”
She stands up ever so slowly and my response is a stony hardness between my legs.
“I know exactly what you want,” she says in a whisper.
Biting down on my lips helps me keep my hands in check, because all I want to do is to shoot up to my feet and grab her…all of her.
She pulls out a sheet of paper from her pants’ pocket and hands it to me. I take the paper and our skins touch for the first time. Sparks light my brain up.
“You’ll find me there,” she says. “Enjoy the meal.”
I watch her enter the aircar with the agent and fly off into the night. I stick the paper into my pocket and feast on the roasted meat and milk. I need all the strength I can get to convince my crew mate of this venture, even though I’m the only one benefitting.
“You what?” screams Garret Summons, his eyes swimming with disgust. “For that…”
“Just plot the damn course, Garret,” I say, my voice low and subdued. I am sitting in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Corvette. I rub my forehead, which is moist with the tension of my planned mission.
Garret turns to plot the course in. Then he engages the engine and we begin to lift off the ground.
I knead my temples, my eyes focused on the screen as we break out of the atmosphere and the thrusters kick in.
“How long till we get to the asteroid belt?” I ask.
“On FTL 3, we will get there in two hours,” Garret replies.
Alex, my other friend, is silent by his station. I can feel his eyes boring holes in my face. Since I told them my plan, Alex hasn’t said anything. I fear what he will say.
When I weigh the high likelihood of failure and death with the possibility of success and a night with No One, all I see is her soft skin, her sweet voice, and those curves on her.
“Have you even told the rest?” Alex asks. His voice is so full of disdain and indignation that I shiver in my seat.
We have two more crew members, one of which works in engineering, while the other is in charge of the cargo. I have failed to mention this plan to them for fear that they would all gang up on me and discharge me from my duties as captain. I wouldn’t put anything past space pirates.
I shift in my seat and clear my throat again. “Of course, I did,” I lie.
I tap the comm unit on the arm of my chair.
“Cargo,” comes Sibiu’s voice.
“Hey, prepare a suit,” I say. “I’m going outside.”
“Copy that, captain.”
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Garret says. “We paid our dues. We bombed that Sonali ship. That devilish commander has no right demanding this of us.”
Alex heaves a deep sigh. “Captain, what did she promise you?”
I note his distinctive use of the word ‘you’. He’s setting a trap for me, I realize, because if I admit to having been promised something then they’d all know that I only have myself at heart and not the whole crew as a captain should.
“Not me,” I lie again. “She’s promised us nothing. She’s just a friend seeking our help…”
“Friend?” spits Garret. He’s getting more physical by the moment.
“Those guys are the enemy, Jeremy,” he says. “The Terran Armada would not bat an eyelid when putting us in jail. That blood thirsty captain they call the Avenger of the Mariner would not even think twice to blow us out of the sky. And you call them friend?”
He looks away back to his screen, shaking his head in unbelief.
“I can’t believe you just agreed,” Garret says.
“So you just decided to help?” asks Alex.
I stand to my feet. “Look, I’ve made my decision. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. I will not discuss this further. If I don’t make it alive, at least you guys get to keep the ship and do whatever the fuck you like. As for this mission, it’s settled.”
I walk out of the bridge and take the elevator to the residential deck. I spend the remaining time in my quarters, worrying about the mission and fantasizing about No One. When it is time, I get a message from Garret.
“We are orbiting the dark side of the planet, boss,” Garret says in my ears. “We have detected signs of life and activity on the asteroid. It appears the lady was correct. We are subtly correcting our course so we can drop you off at a spot that’s not too far from the installation.”
“Roger,” I say. “One more thing. Are there any scanners or satellites?”
“No,” Garret says. “I guess they don’t want to be found. Mounting satellites and scanners in a base that’s supposed t
o be secret will defeat that purpose.”
“Right.”
I grab the suitcase, leave my quarters, and head on to the entrance bay. Sibiu is standing near to the far right, where there’s a small elevator hatch. He’s holding parts of a mechanical suit with a bubble head. Sibiu helps me climb into the suit and seals it up. Then he powers up the machine and it is immediately pressurized. I feel pure oxygen flush into the bubble head. The view screen has indicators showing the amount of oxygen I have, my rate of consumption, how long I have before it’s expended, the battery life of my suit and so on.
I walk into the hatch and activate the controls. Once the hatch is sealed from the entrance bay, I push the up button. The elevator ascends until I am outside the ship and on its hull. The hatch opens up. I step out, my magnetized boots holding me firmly to the hall.
“Landing in a bit, Jeremy,” a voice says in my ears. “Hang in there.”
It’s like I am hovering above a dark barren land with a dark brown sand stone formation. Spreading across my vision are the ruins of the asteroid. Ahead, however, I see a small settlement of dishes and buildings with masts. It’s about ten minutes run from my location.
The Corvette touches down seconds later. I leap off the hall and land with a jerk on the sandy ground. I bounce up two yards into the air before settling on the ground.
“Careful boss,” Alex says. “Gravity here is really tricky.”
“Roger,” I reply. “Stay put. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
“That’s if you’re not cut and blown to pieces,” Garret says. I cut the channel and begin in a light jog towards the settlement of buildings and equipment. As I get closer, I realize that there are five small buildings arranged on the edges of an imaginary pentagon. In the middle of this arrangement is a cluster of equipment including masts and dishes. The collection twinkles with lights. I notice about three patrol guards moving around.
On the other side of the settlement is a power plant—a small, boxy machine that sucks atoms out of the atmosphere and generates power.
I sneak all the way around to get to the power plant. The moment I place the suitcase on the metal body of the thrumming power plant, it sticks by magnetism. I tap the power button and set the timer to five minutes. Then I start the countdown.
“Halt!” roars a voice by me.
I don’t bother to look back. I jump to my feet and push against the power plant, twist, and leap towards the voice. The guard gets two shots off, both of which fly harmlessly away from me. I slam into his body, knocking the wind out of him. I didn’t wait to continue. I made a mad jog for the ship.
Laser shots zip past me. I take a zigzag path towards the ship, trying not to be killed as well as trying not to be within range of the blast. I know that because the power plant uses nuclear fission, the whole asteroid was going to explode when the bomb goes off.
“Open the main hatch!” I yell into the comms.
Half a minute later, I get a reply. “Opening. What’s your status?”
“I’m being pursued!” I shout. “Get ready to leave!”
I see the hatch opening from afar. I crane my neck to look behind. Four guards are hot on my tail. They are catching up as they make bolder leaps into the air. I don’t want to take the chance of leaping and leaping out of the atmosphere. However, when I am within range, I leap towards the open hatch, fist first.
“Lock hatch!” I yell as I slam it the ground of the entrance bay. I rolled away as laser fire scorches the floor where I previously laid. I feel the ship vibrate as Garret lifts us up, then a jerk, and we are headed away from the asteroid.
While Sibiu is helping me out of the suit, the call comes in from Garret that the asteroid has gone up in a mighty explosion.
I am standing in the middle of a large, plush sitting room in a hotel by the sea. It’s dark outside and I can see this because the sliding doors to the verandah is open. The flimsy curtain dances in the moonlight stroking the portion of the sitting room close to the door.
The light in the room is dimmed. There is a small bar to my right, where No One mixes a drink for both of us. When she is done, she comes to me and hands me a cup.
I take the cup in my hand, but I never take my eyes off her. She’s a wonder to behold. She’s scantily clad in a red dress that leaves nothing to the imagination. She has a light makeup on and her hair is tied back in a bun. Her eyes are ablaze with desire, and I wonder if she wants me as badly as I want her.
She takes a sip of her wine, her eyes penetrating mine. “We are so good together,” she says in a whisper, drawing closer to me until I begin to feel the warmth of her body. I can also smell desire oozing out of her pores. My head begins to spin.
“Join Armada Intelligence,” she says in a voice that stirs me down south. “You can keep the ship and use your identity as a space pirate as cover, but I want you working with me.”
“I’ll do anything for you,” I hear myself say. Some part of me raises an objection, but it’s as weak as a fly buzzing by a man.
“Swear it to me,” she says as her ample, round breasts touch my chest.
I grab her waist and pull her in stronger until I begin to feel her hardened nipples against my chest.
“I swear on my life,” I say. It does feel good to say it. I know I may regret this decision later, but right here, right now it feels good to give myself to her.
She kisses me softly at first. It’s like my whole brain comes alive with sparks. My hands stiffen around her body as I kiss her back. Our clothes come off next before we make it to the ground.
She’s beneath me when I break for air. We are both panting. I can tell from the way she looks at me that she wants me as bad as I want her. It almost makes me smile, which is the last thing I do before sliding into her and my mind explodes with passion.
8
Division 51
I fall through the overhead pit into a musty tunnel with a low headroom, my guns up and aimed. The Sonali soldier turns a second too late. One second is all I need to raise my aim so I can get a bullet through the middle of his eyes.
I am perfectly still and in control of my breathing when I squeeze the trigger. The Sonali drops dead before the recoil of 9mm Berretta. Behind is a dead end. There is a cache of weapons, meaning I am in the right place.
The tunnel is dimly lit by light bots attached to the walls.
Ahead, the tunnel stretches for about twenty yards before winding right and out of view. My mission is simple. Somewhere in these tunnel system, a terrorist has planted a bomb and is willing to detonate it, destroying the foundation of the above. The size of the tunnel system makes it impracticable to send in an army.
I am their best option at stopping this terrorist attack.
I bring my right wrist to my face, palm fisted so I can speak into the tiny mike concealed underneath my pin suit.
“I’m in,” I whisper.
“Roger that,” comes the reply in my ear. “Proceed with extreme caution. Tangos are heavily armed and dangerous.”
I only smile as I proceed forward.
It smells like gun powder in there. I should be using a laser blaster (and dressed appropriately, not wearing a pin suit), but I hadn’t had time to report to Armada Command to gear up. The suit was what I had ready the moment I got the emergency call—the suit and the antique 9mm Berretta I keep in my house as a souvenir from the days before our space exploration program.
I’m glad it still fires well. All those nights spent oiling and cleaning it is finally paying off.
My footfalls are all but inexistent. By the time I get to the end of the tunnel before it turns left, I begin to hear muted conversations. I slip silently to the side of the wall, pressing my back against the wall, my gun pointed downward and away. I can hear water dripping, with echoes going forth and back.
I try to listen in to determine just how many men are around the bend. I can only pick three distinct voices, but that doesn’t suggest anything. There could be as much as f
ive, with the other three silent or watching.
This situation is not ideal. Usually, I should have the support of some tech to sniff around the edges. Or the spaceships orbiting the Earth to scan for life forms. I don’t have all these, because the Armada Command is trying to keep this all quiet. What would people think, when they hear that the almighty Terran Armada can’t even keep itself safe?
Perhaps, if news of this impending terrorist attack gets out, nefarious forces may begin to get bad ideas. They may not come to earth. They may go to New Washington. They may go to Edoris Station.
If I fail here, then they will know it’s possible.
I take in a deep breath, deciding to go ahead with my plan. I have two options. I can decide to sneak a peek and hope no one is looking my way. Or I can decide to jump out of my hiding guns blazing. If I peeked and someone is looking, then they would know I’m here—game over.
I decide it’s better to jump out guns blazing, partly because it’s less risky and partly because…well, where’s the fun in assessing the risks and making decisions after assessment?
Pulse pounding, I slide out of my hiding place. It’s a small cave like room. Another tunnel in the wall on the other side of the room leads deeper.
There are six of them. All armed with the latest laser based weaponry the Armada just sent out to aid the war effort. Three are sitting around a small fire on weapons caches. One is close to me, but he has his back to me. The other is just coming into the room from the tunnel. He’s the one that spots me.
He’s the one that fall first. I aim and fire.
I aim again and fire.
I leap into motion, even as the two men standing have yet to hit the ground.
I race to the other three, firing twice. The one who already has his guns in his hands, take the two bullets in his chest. Reflex action has him spitting a few bullets and killing one of the remaining two terrorists where he sits, stunned. Halfway to the fire, I dive forward, breaking into a roll once I hit the ground. I come up to my knees and aim.