The shuttle was spouting smoke now. Khai was losing hope that he was going to make it to Tanbarder in one piece. Finally, as if the Founders answered his prayers, Tanbarder loomed up on the horizon. He coaxed a little more power from the engines and the ship soared as fast as it could toward the city. Khai performed evasive maneuvers, flying low to the ground. The larger ship wasn’t able to fly that low without crashing, so Khai kept it up. Missiles exploded all around him as he swayed from the left to right dodging attacks.
“Computer, are you still operational?”
“Yes, sir,” the male voice responded.
“Where’s the Star Splitter located?”
“Docking bay sixteen.”
“Show me on a map.”
A map popped up on the screen. It showed a blinking light near the center of town. Khai had his destination. He was approaching the city limits when the military ship was about to overtake him in the shuttle. He dived down into the city. The military wouldn’t dare fire on civilian buildings to bring down a criminal, Khai thought. He was wrong, dead wrong.
Chapter Thirteen
The lift doors opened; the smell was the first thing to assault them.
“Ugh! What is that?” Bria asked, covering her mouth.
“Decay,” Tandy answered. “Breathe through your teeth.”
They worked their way through the lowest level, finding the same skeletal remains that Khai had found hours earlier. As they drew closer, the loud banging became clearer.
“What’s making that noise?” Bria asked, fear in her voice.
“The Reapers,” Tander replied. “Single-minded, they are.”
“Are they in the complex?” Tandy asked.
“No. They’re still behind the door. We need to make sure it stays that way… permanently.”
“And how do we do that, exactly?” Tandy asked his brother.
“There’s a hidden security panel inside the rock next to the door. That panel is a failsafe. I had it installed in secret. I was always afraid that someone might try to release these monsters. We have to chip away some rock to get to it, but it was the only way to keep it invisible to scanners.”
“And you know where it is?” Tandy asked.
“Yes, I marked the spot.”
“Good,” Tandy said curtly. “The quicker we get out of here, the better. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Get in line,” Bria grumbled.
The pounding got louder and louder the closer they got, until they had to yell to be heard.
“Ok, now!” Tandy shouted. “How do we get to it?”
Life smeared into view. The ground was the first thing she found. She rolled over onto her back, pain shot to every nerve in her body. The fall was bad, the bullet in her stomach was worse. She used a wristband computer to call her ship down to her. The ship landed next to her. She crawled on her belly up the ramp and into ship. The onboard computer scanned her injuries immediately and a medical robot descended from the ceiling and lifted her into the medical bay.
Surgical arms went to work on her right away. One extracted the bullet, while another set her broken leg and another administered a liquid form of Kryylopax. She cried and squirmed as the robotic arms worked away on her. Strips of metal were placed on the broken bone to reinforce it and the bone was fused back together after the leg was cut open to administer aid. The bullet hole was cauterized to stop the bleeding. As the anesthetic took hold, she became more serene. The surgical arms finished their work and she was well enough to go back out and fight. She could only hope that Khail was still out there.
An initial scan of the area showed that the shuttle and Commander Hoom’s ship were both gone. Damn! He’s gone! She looked at her display and found something else, a consolation prize. Captain Dah was still in the facility, somewhere below her. She focused the scan on the building and she found him on the bottom level of the facility near the center. She pumped some more anesthetic into her system, landed the ship on the landing platform and headed off into the bowels of the building.
It took a several minutes, but they finally found a pick that would be strong enough to chip away the six or seven inches they needed to find the secret panel. Tandy started picking away, swinging with all his might on the completely obscure marking on the wall indicating that that was where it sat, waiting. His superior strength gave him an edge and he was blasting holes in the wall with every strike.
The door slid open into the remnants of chaos. Skeletons lay everywhere, signs of a struggle filled the room and the pungent stink of years-old decay filled her nostrils. Using the entry light on her gun, she worked her way through the labyrinth of corridors following the blip on her tracking device. It was only a matter of time before she found them and killed them. She pressed on, ignoring the pain and looking forward to the time when she licked Captain Dah’s blood from her sword.
As she drew nearer, she could hear two very distinct pounding sounds. One sounded muffled, while the other sounded more defined and like metal on rock. Both grew louder the closer she got to Dah’s location. Finally, she found them. Captain Dah, Bria and… Captain Dah? No. He was wearing a fine suit and had his hair combed differently. A twin brother?”
“Well,” she said seductively. “Hello.”
“Ah crap!” Tandy growled.
“Who’s that?” Tander asked.
“That’s the Agent that’s after me,” Tandy responded.
She holstered her gun and drew her Kit’ra.
“Whoa!” Tander took a step back and raised his hands. “Do you have any idea what’s behind this door, little girl?”
“It’s not my concern. My concern to eliminate all of my targets, Captain Dah and his girlfriend are two of those targets. You are not, but if you interfere I will kill you as well.”
Tandy swung the pick once more and he hit metal.
“That’s it!” Tander shouted.
“Good,” Tandy said. “Get that door sealed and I’ll hold her off as long as I can.”
“Come on, Captain Dah. I’ve been waiting for this for a while now.”
“Well, come and get it,” Tandy said, waving her in and pulling his knife.
She moved so fast, Tandy didn’t even have time to register he was injured. The sword was placed perfectly under his left collarbone, missing the shoulder and any organs, and pinning him to the wall. He cried out in pain and Tander went to aid his brother.
“No!” he cried. “Seal the damn door!”
Tander stopped, looked at him and nodded, getting back to work. Kay twisted the sword causing the blade to bend within him, Tandy cried out again as blood began spurting out from the wound.
“This is not fatal,” Kay stated. “You will live if you do exactly what I say.”
“What’s that?” Tandy asked, grimacing in pain.
She leaned in closer to him; she was nose to nose with him. He could smell her perfume and thought how weird it was that a trained killer would wear perfume. Tandy was no idiot. He noticed immediately that she was injured. Despite her trying hard to cover it up, Tandy saw her limping slightly and saw the smear of blood surrounding what appeared to be a bullet hole in her flight suit just below her ribcage. As she leaned in to apparently kiss him, he wound up, put his military-honed strength behind it and struck that bloody spot.
The gasp that came from the Agent was both pain and surprise. She stumbled back into the wall, rapping her head on a rather large pipe. Tandy had only seconds to react. He tried pulling the sword out, but it was stuck into the wall of the corridor too deep; he didn’t have the strength necessary to do it. So he did the only thing he could think of… he grabbed the handle of the Kit’ra and bored down on it. The blade bowed and he cried out. Eventually, the blade gave and broke. Tandy roared as he leaned forward and the broken blade passed through him, staying in the wall.
He slumped forward and fell to his knees. By that time, Kay had recovered and bashed him in the face with her knee. Tandy flipped to his back, spitti
ng blood as he flew. From his back, he saw the Agent approaching, his knife in her hand. All he could do was kick at the left leg she was favoring as she walked. The girl cried out and fell to the ground. Tandy quickly got up and pressed his attack. He kicked her in the stomach while she was down and she slid down the hallway. Tandy kept it up. He picked her up by the neck with one hand and pounded her in the bullet wound several more times with his balled fist. He dropped her in heap.
She was barely able to get to her feet and was wobbling back and forth; blood covered her face from a large gash above her right eye; her eyes were only slits and she was swinging sluggishly at him to try to fend him off. She dropped to her knees and lowered her head, as if surrendering and asking for death.
Tandy did not comply.
Kay looked up at him. “Why do you not finish it?” Why do you not end my life?”
“I don’t kill kids,” Tandy said deadpan, then punched her in the forehead, knocking her out cold.
“Got it!” Tander shouted, elated. “The failsafe has been activated!”
“Good,” Tandy said, carrying the girl over his shoulder.
“You didn’t kill her?” Bria asked.
“No,” Tandy said. “She’s just a confused kid, brainwashed into thinking what she’s been doing was right. Do you have an infirmary here?”
“Yeah, it’s on the top level right of the control room.”
“Good. We’ll leave her there for the robots to mend her, and then take her ship. I’m sure she can find a ride home.”
They got into the lift and it started taking them back up to the top level.
“So what was the failsafe?” Tandy asked.
“The panel within the wall governed heating coils within the door’s mechanics. The heating coils kept the lubricants warm so the door would work properly when activated. I had to reprogram the panel to tell the coils to superheat. Eventually, they will melt the gears that lift the door together so they’ll never move again.”
“So, why did you have to hide the panel deep enough in the rock to hide it?” Tandy asked.
“Because that panel was designed to power and regulate heating coils that could melt iron and steel. If they found the panel, it was possible that they would have also discovered that the heating coils within the door were far too strong for their intended purpose and replace them with weaker ones that would not melt the gears.”
“Clever,” Tandy said.
“Thank you,” Tander responded. “Those degrees finally paid off.”
“Degrees?” Bria asked.
“Yeah,” Tandy said with an unimpressed tone. “Captain smarty pants, here, has ten degrees.”
“That’s incredible!” Bria marveled. “In what?”
“Well,” Tander sighed, “five of them are in some sort of engineering, mostly pertaining to mining. I thought that if I was going to own a mining company, I should also learn to how run every aspect of it, including the machines. I also have to a degree in economical structure, political structure, geology, philosophy and galactic languages and cultures. I do have some dealings with other cultures outside of Seryys space and though Seryys is mostly isolationistic, I do find it necessary to export some goods.”
“Basically,” Tandy growled, “he’s a genius.”
“And a billionaire,” Tander added.
“Rub it in,” Tandy grumbled.
They reached the top level. Tandy gently placed the child on a medical bed, wrapped himself with field bandages, gave himself an injection of a Kryylopax-based painkiller and activated the infirmary’s automated medical response robots on his way out.
He returned to the control room to the middle of a conversation between his brother and Bria.
“… it’s not that I disapprove of Tandy’s career choice,” Tander said defensively. “In fact, in a lot of ways, we do the same type of work. We both serve Seryys in our own ways: I serve her through innovation and provision, while my brother provides her with protection. It is a noble occupation, just a dangerous one. I live in fear that one day I’ll get a call from Captain Byyner telling me my twin brother was killed.”
“I understand, but he’s a good man and fine officer. He’s resourceful, a quick thinker and a survivor. You have nothing to worry about.”
Tandy decided to break up the conversation and pretend that he didn’t hear it. He was inwardly relieved to hear Bria defend him against his brother. He was worried that Tander might try to steal her by flashing his money and brains. But Bria knew who she wanted.
“All right, guys. Time to head to out.”
“What about your shoulder?” Tander asked, his voice full of concern.
“I’ll have Med take a look at it when we get back to Seryys City. Right now, we need to get out of here before she wakes up. I pumped her with enough sedatives to put her out for days, but I can’t be too sure she hasn’t developed an immunity to it.”
“Agreed,” Tander said.
They entered the ship and Tandy settled into the cockpit. The controls were very similar to that of the Star Splitter’s. Tandy swung the ship around and headed for Tanbarder.
“Shuttle is approaching docking bay sixteen,” the computer’s voice announced.
Khai was piloting the shuttle just above the building line—roughly thirty feet up. Once he got the signal, he put the shuttle on autopilot. The military ship pounded the shuttle and it was threatening to just fall out of the sky. Khai popped the hatch open. He saw the Star Splitter coming up and just before he was completely over the docking bay, he jumped.
The ship scored a shot on the shuttle and it veered off course into a vacant lot and exploded in a cloud of dust on contact with the ground. Khai hit the ground about thirty feet from the Star Splitter and tumbled several times before coming to stop near the ship face down in the dirt. He didn’t move for some time, but eventually, he convinced his body to get up and limp up the ship’s ramp. He was certain several bones were broken from the fall. But he knew someone who could fix him up, if he could just get back to Seryys City.
He started up the ship. The computer ran the preflight checklist and confirmed that everything was ready to go. He lifted the ship up on its hover pads and spun around to head toward Seryys City. He punched the throttle and the ship took off. He was only a few minutes’ flight from Seryys City, especially with his military codes to bypass sky lanes and take a direct route to Medic’s hidden clinic.
He was just about to enter Seryys City space when the ship bucked hard and listed to the right. Khai grimaced. Even the bucking of the ship caused him incredible pain. From all the injuries he suffered, to the days of travelling with them, his body was finally giving up. Blood dribbled from his mouth. But that was the least of his worries. That same damned ship caught up to him. His little decoy worked for a while. He made a snap judgment and yanked back on the yoke heading for space.
The ship followed him right up.
His ship bucked again and pain shot to every inch of his body. He went evasive trying to dodge any of the attacks coming from the military ship. He pushed the throttle to a speed that was barely tolerable to the structural integrity of his ship. His pursuers were falling behind, not willing to push their ship that far. But no matter how fast Khai could fly, no matter how many ships he could outrun, he couldn’t outrun their radios and a whole squadron of Shark-Class Interceptors was waiting for him.
As soon as he broke orbit, they opened fire. Damage lights lit up across the damage control board in the cockpit. Khai had only one more option: make a blind jump and pray. He primed the Eve’Zon drive and activated it.
“I strongly advise against this, Khai,” Joon’s voice chimed in.
“You wanna blow up?”
“Not particularly,” Joon responded.
“Then shut up!”
“As you wish,” Joon said, slightly defeated.
“Is the Eve’Zon primed?”
“Yes, Event Horizon Drive is ready.”
“Activate it!�
� Khai yelled as sparks flew across the cockpit.
A gigantic maw yawned, revealing a black nothingness beyond. The ship rocked again. “Shields down, hull integrity at fifty-five percent.”
Khai pushed throttle and the ship went nowhere. “Computer! What’s the problem?”
“We are caught in a hauling beam. A Grind-Class frigate has joined the fight. They are attempting to keep us from entering the black hole.”
“Reroute all power, even from life support, to engines. I want to break away from them—now!”
The ship shuddered and bucked as she started pulling away toward the black hole. The singularity began to close. Khai rotated the cannon to face aft. “I really didn’t want to do this…” he pulled the trigger and the cannon blast hit the beam emitter on the frigate. The Star Splitter lurched forward, sucking Khai into his seat. The ship entered just as the maw closed and he was catapulted into the unknown. When his ship emerged on the other side, it spun powerlessly. Adrift in space, he may never be found, but he wouldn’t know even if he was. Due in part to the explosive entrance into the event horizon and to his injuries, he blacked out. His heart rate was slowly dropping and he was running out of oxygen as the ship’s systems all went down.
Kay’Lah Kayward came to in an infirmary that was not familiar to her. She immediately sat up and looked around. There was chirping equipment all around her and medical robot arms hung from the ceiling. She felt fine. As she explored the sickbay, she found her x-ray results. The metal plates in her leg were removed and the bone was mended properly. The bullet wound was still on the mend, cleaned properly and bandaged well. Captain Dah went through great pains to make sure she was treated for her wounds, and comfortable. Why? Why would someone whom she was trying to kill take such good care of her, show her mercy?”
She had to find out. She checked her wrist band and was not surprised to see that her ship had been taken. It only made sense that Captain Dah would take the only mode of transportation available. She wandered out to the control room and found the communication console and called for help.
The Seryys Chronicles: Death Wish Page 20