Resurrection

by Jan Domagala

  The rear of the lobby led to a walled off section with one door which led to an alley out back and a set of elevators guests would use to access the upper floors. As Jared approached the door it suddenly opened as a tall, dark suited man entered.

  At the side of the elevators was another door that opened out onto a staircase. It had no locking panel so Jared pushed it open pulling the senator after him.

  “Back alley’s a no-go area, heading up,” Jared said.

  “Who are you talking to?” Tovaric asked as he followed him through the door.

  “My back-up, he’s waiting outside with our ride. We just have to get to him, which is proving more difficult with each minute,” Jared replied.

  “Get to the roof, you might be able to get across to one of the adjacent buildings and from there down to street level again, but you have to hurry. They are cordoning off the whole area for at least three blocks. If you don’t get out soon I won’t be able to reach you,” Mikal told him.

  Jared glanced back at the senator and said, “We could have a problem.”

  28

  I

  Tartaran

  The missiles fired from the Potemkin battle group exploded in the lower atmosphere of the planet where their destructive force would be greatest. The fuel-air bomb type of thermobaric weapon deployed used the oxygen in the atmosphere to fuel the explosive force of the missile.

  The explosions radiated outwards in a fiery wave that tore apart or burned everything in their path. The winged creatures had no chance of survival and all of them in the vicinity fell to the ground in flaming fragments or were vaporised on contact, depending upon how close to an explosion they were.

  Very few of the creatures were able to survive, only those on the extreme edge of the blasts managed to escape with no injuries or just minor burns.

  On the bridge of the Cronus Major Solon watched the destruction on the viewscreen mounted on the forward bulkhead. He turned to the Captain, his face a mask of pure fury. “Who authorised this?” he demanded.

  “General Tillic personally,” stated Captain Arvin Dankovic pushing himself off the command chair to square up to the burly Black Knight.

  “Does he realise what he’s done?” Solon asked looking the captain squarely in the eye.

  “The question you should be asking is, does he actually care? It has presented you with an opportunity though to complete your mission,” Dankovic countered as he waited for the explosion between them. He would not back down; he hadn’t get to his present position without being able to stand his ground against adversity.

  Solon glanced back at the screen to see several landing craft leave the battle groups’ docking bays.

  “Are you going to stand there and allow those newcomers to grab all the glory?” Dankovic goaded.

  Solon shot the captain a hostile glance. He was right though, he had to get down to the surface; he couldn’t let those from the battle group gain the foothold that his men had fought and dived to gain. It should be him and his men if it was anyone and he would be damned if he would allow anyone to steal that from him.

  Accessing the comm. channel he used to contact his men he said, “Prepare for deployment, we leave immediately. We’re going back to the surface men and this time we’ll finish what we started.”

  He looked at the captain, flashed a smile and turned around and left the bridge.

  II

  Kurt and Zara looked around for some way to stop what was about to happen.

  “If you have any brilliant insights, now would be a good time to let me hear them,” Zara said looking at the man beside her.

  Kurt was desperately thinking of something, anything that he could do to prevent the weapon from firing. So far he could not come up with one single thought that would help.

  “Come on Kurt, what do we do?” Zara shouted. “You’re the brains of this team, what do we do?” she added, pulling at him to turn him so she could look him in the eye.

  “I thought you were the brains,” he said with the hint of a smile.

  “We’re screwed then,” she said not seeing the joke.

  “There’s not much we can do at this time except try and ride this out. It might even work in our favour,” Kurt said, his mind still racing through all the permutations that their present situation offered.

  “How so?”

  “Think about it for a second,” Kurt started as his racing mind finally latched onto something. He continued with, “If that weapon fires it’ll knock out any electrical system of any craft either on the planet or in orbit. All those starships up there will be useless until they can reboot their systems. That should give us, what, say half an hour or so, maybe more. I’m betting Jake will get clear in the Pulsar until after the pulse has passed and then they’ll have a clear path through the blockade to us.”

  “I see where you’re going with this but what if they launch any craft down here before the weapon fires?”

  “We’ll just have to hold them off then,” he said.

  Zara smiled for the first time in a while. “Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day,” she said.

  III

  Major Solon led what was left of his men from the Cronus down through the atmosphere. They had boarded the fastest shuttle available, flanked by several fighters they headed for the ground.

  They had caught up with those shuttles loaded with Marines from the battle group that had left before them. It would be close but Solon was sure they would be among, if not the first to land. This time he was determined to succeed.

  The landing thrusters on the shuttle fired as the pilot brought the craft in to land remarkably close to where they landed the first time. This time though their journey had been peaceful by comparison because they were not harried by the winged denizens of the air

  Solon was the first man out of his shuttle and he watched as his men pile out of the other shuttles that had landed while some were still coming in to land. All in all there were fifteen landing craft including the one he and his men had used. He accessed a comm. channel that would connect him to all the men in those craft.

  “This is Major Solon of the Black Knights. I am in command of this mission and you will all report to me. As soon as you touch down I want you to form up in teams of five. We will take this city and rip from it what we need,” he said forcefully.

  Standing proud he squared his shoulders as he watched the men arrive. He glanced up to the sky, for the first time since their arrival at Tartaran the sky was clear and free from danger but the ground was littered with the dead bodies of the beautiful yet deadly creatures they had fought in getting there.

  Solon motioned for his men to form up behind him. He stood proud in front of them as the others filed out of the shuttles and formed the five-man teams like he had ordered. When they were all ready he gave the signal and he led them across the ground towards the city entrance.

  IV

  Jake stood on the bridge of the Pulsar watching the viewscreen as the Tartaran Battlefield receded.

  “Are we far enough away yet Artie?” he asked glancing up to the ceiling. He considered the AI as part of the crew but the problem of not actually seeing the person or thing you talked to was something that they all had trouble with.

  “It is difficult to estimate fully sir as I have no way of determining the range of the Pulse weapon,” replied the AI.

  “How long before it fires?” Vance asked.

  “Five seconds sir,” replied the AI.

  Jake looked at all the team and said, “Brace for impact.”

  V

  Kurt and Zara felt it simultaneously. The tremor ran through the entire city shaking the walls and floor alike. They staggered and had to hold each other to stop themselves from being thrown to the ground.

  “There we go,” Kurt said recognising what it meant.

  Zara looked at him and her expression grew hard as she said, “We need to move.”

  “You felt that too?” Kurt asked looking a
t her

  “Not just the tremor, but also those Marines that have landed, yes, I felt it too,” she replied.

  “Let’s get moving. We have to stall them before Jake and the Team can get back here to help us out,” Kurt told her.

  VI

  The EMP blast had taken out all the electronic equipment in the whole of the battle group including the super destroyer. All the ships were effectively dead in space.

  The crew of each ship had also been neutralised as the EMP took out every NI on board. The overload caused by the blast to the circuitry in the Interface sent a pulse through the brain of each individual causing them to black out.

  “Get me some power back on,” shouted Captain Dankovic as he floated towards the command chair after recovering from the black out. The artificial gravity was also not working so, coupled with that and the pitch black they had been plunged into, it was no mean feat. He had a massive headache from the EMP but he had to get on with things, he couldn’t just sit back and wait for someone to come to their aid. If the Cronus had been taken out like this, chances are that the rest of the group was in the same predicament. Until they got power back to the systems there was no way to confirm or deny any of it though.

  Chaos reigned on the bridge of the Cronus as the rest of the crew woke up.

  “There’s no power to any of the systems sir, even the computer is offline, our NIs too,” replied Ops as he clung to the back of his seat to prevent himself from floating off. The significance to that last part sank in and Dankovic realised without their NIs they could not link to any of the systems which also meant they could not communicate with the rest of the group, anyone on the surface or anyone outside of the system.

  “What about the back-up systems, surely we have power to those?” Dankovic asked as his brain quickly tried to formulate some sort of plan to get them out of this.

  “Sorry sir, but that blast took out everything.”

  “Right, get someone down to engineering and get the engines back online and reboot the computer. We have to get control of this ship back before we start to drift into the path of the others. If we collide with any of them before we can get the power back it’ll be a disaster.”

  “I’m on it sir,” Ops said and by the sound of his voice Dankovic could tell he had left his station and was moving towards the door using the equipment and chairs, anything that was secured to the floor to help him move along.

  “Sir, we may have a bigger problem,” Ops said from behind Dankovic who realised what it was.

  “There’s no power to open the doors is there?” he said.

  “I’m afraid not sir. Looks like we’re trapped in here until engineering can come up with something.”

  Sakovic turned to face the front of the ship once more even though he could not see it. With no way to communicate with either the rest of his ship, the others in the battle group or his troops on the planet’s surface, all they could do was wait.

  VII

  “We are out of range sirs,” the Pulsar’s AI told them.

  Jake glanced around the bridge and gave a sigh. He let out a huge breath he was unaware he’d been holding and said, “Okay, good. Can you get a sensor reading off the battle group Artie?”

  “I have been running continual scans since we left the area sir. I can see no activity in the battle group. I am reading life signs inside each ship but there is no electrical activity of any kind emanating from the group. All their equipment is offline, it seems the EMP did more than simply shut them down sir, it seems it short circuited every circuit board, breaker and chip they had.”

  “Does that mean they can’t get the power back on at all?” Torres asked, her voice rising with the implications of that statement.

  “It seems not Miss. We saw the effects of an earlier Pulse in the Tartaran Battlefield. All those ships were not the result of a battle that was fought there but of the weapon from the planet,” Artie explained.

  The Wildfire Team exchanged worried glances.

  “Okay people, first things first. We help our people down on the planet and then we organise a rescue party for those ships,” Jake said finally.

  “Should I contact General Sinclair with a sit-rep sir?” Artie asked.

  “Good idea Artie, the General can get the ball rolling with the rescue party before those ships orbit deteriorate and they crash on the surface or each other,” Jake agreed.

  Vance said, “We have to get down to the surface, Kurt and Zara are alone down there against those troops.”

  “Artie take us in,” Jake said as he nodded in agreement with Vance.

  “Sir, I am reading a hyperspace window opening close to the planet,” the AI informed them.

  “What now?” groaned Cooper.

  They all watched intently as the hyperspace window opened and two huge starships emerged through it. With another sigh of relief Jake recognised the Odyssey and Atlantis as they headed for Tartaran.

  “Artie, hail both those ships and give them a sit-rep. Perhaps they can secure the battle group and then start rescue operations, the air inside those Alliance vessels will soon start to go sour without the life support working. That’s a death I wouldn’t wish on any of our enemies,” Jake said.

  “Sir, another window is opening,” Artie told them.

  “That’s the Legend,” Jake said as he saw the ship emerge from the hyperspace window.

  “Captain Riley what is your status?”

  Jake immediately recognised the voice he heard through the comm. channel. It was his old Commander Colonel De Boer.

  “Good to hear your voice again Colonel. We don’t have time to explain, our AI can give you a full report but for now we have to get down to the planet’s surface so we can help Kurt and Zara,” Jake said.

  “Could you use some help, I have some people with me who I’m sure are more than capable?” De Boer said.

  “We’ll swing by to pick them up and thanks. We’ll be with you in a few minutes,” Jake said and before he could say anything else Artie said, “Altering course to intercept the Legend now sir.”

  “Good work Artie. Let’s just hope Kurt and Zara can hang on until we get there,” Jake said and from the looks on the faces of his team they were in the same mind.

  29

  Paradisia

  Jared and the Senator ran to the stairs at the back of the lobby in the rundown hotel. Jared opened the door and pushed the Senator through first. As he followed him through he looked up and then down the staircase. There was a basement level too. He discarded going down there, if those following them forced them into the basement there was no guarantee they would find a way out of it. They had no alternative but to go up.

  “Okay Senator, up we go, I hope you exercise regularly,” Jared said and began to sprint up the rickety stairs taking the steps two at a time. Behind him he could hear the politician powering his way up also which brought a smile to his lips. Perhaps they would get out of this after all he mused.

  By the time they had run up ten flights of stairs they were both breathing heavily due to the effort they were putting in. Jared was running as fast as he could, trying to keep his pace steady and even. He knew if he stopped or paused he may not be able to pick his pace back up again which could prove fatal.

  Behind him the senator was desperately trying to keep up and Jared could hear the man’s breathing getting harder as his legs pounded the stairs. Both of them were soon taking the steps one at a time and their pace began to slow not out of any effort to conserve their energy but out of sheer necessity. They simply could not keep up the pace.

  Another two flights and Jared heard the man behind him stop. He turned to look and he was hanging onto the bannister, his face bright red from his exertions, his mouth wide and gaping as he tried to drag air into his lungs. His faced was covered in a sheen of sweat and Jared realised he was probably not much better except he would not stop until he dropped which was down to his training and a grim determination that had seen him through t
ougher ordeals than this.

  He reached behind him and grabbed an arm and said, “We have to move… now!”

  He dragged the senator off the bannister and forced him to follow.

  It was only another few flights and they were at the top pushing through the agony of tired and aching legs as they reached the door to the roof.

  “Hope it isn’t locked,” Tovaric managed to say as he pulled up at the top of the stairs. He leaned his back against the wall to prevent himself from falling over.

  Jared accessed the locking panel and the door opened roughly, grating on the runners. Obviously it had not been used much he observed.

  “Quick, get through,” he said and pushed Tovaric hard sending him staggering onto the roof.

  “Where now?” the senator asked as he looked around at the rooftops of the surrounding neighbourhood. They were dirty and as run down as the hotel roof they were standing on. It was a veritable sea of filth and decay.

  “This way,” Jared said leading Tovaric to the edge where a ladder was attached. Jared looked over the edge down to the street level. There was another tall building next to them and the gap between the two formed an alleyway. The ladder on their building ran down to the ground.

  Jared looked around to see if there was any sight of the men chasing them in the alley and when he saw none he came to a decision.

  “This way Senator, follow me,” he said which earned him a wide-eyed stare from Tovaric.

  “Are you serious?” he asked, his voice going up an octave as his eyebrows threatened to join with his hairline.

  “Well, we can’t stay up here for the rest of the day and wait for them to get bored now can we?”

  “There must be some other way.”

  “If there is you’re welcome to try,” Jared looked into the Senator’s eyes and saw only fear and desperation so he said, “I take it you have no other ways then, so down it is.”