Starmen (Starmen (Space Opera Series) Book 1)

by J. M. Hagan

“Swell.”

  Jack proceeded to the kitchen and she followed him. “Swell? George McFly – what have you done with my brother?!”

  Jack laughed as he opened the fridge and started putting his beer cans into a bag. “It went really well. I mean, even though I stood in dog shit, and done a few stupid things – on the whole – it was a major success. Even got a kiss.”

  “Wow. Well done, bro.” Brigid scrunched her eyes. “You stood in dog terd? Really? If it’d been me, I would’ve died from embarrassment.”

  “Meh. I downplayed it. Turns out she’s even cooler than I’d hoped.”

  “Good. Glad to hear it.”

  “Also, it was her damn dog’s fault!” As he shut the fridge, Jack put a hand on the counter and leaned into it. “Hey…how come you’re home?” His face flushed with anger. “Don’t tell me that asshole stood you up again?”

  “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “Not this time. This time – I stood him up.”

  Jack nodded his approval, smiling wide. “Way to go, Brigid!”

  “I know, right?”

  “Well, I’m gonna drink with, Claudia, and, Anderson. You wanna tag along?”

  Brigid mulled it over briefly before swaying her head to the side, with an unsure look. “Um…I’m not really ready,” she said, waving a hand down her casual get-up.

  “What do ya mean? You look fine. It’s only Anderson and Claudia – who cares what you look like?”

  “I do,” she yapped.

  “Well, damn, if it means so much to ya, then go and make yourself more presentable.”

  Brigid smiled. “Okay. You gonna wait for me?”

  “Hell, no.” Jack was itching for a beer. “You take way too long. Besides, he only lives a couple of doors away.”

  “Okay. Okay. I’ll see you there soon.”

  *

  He walked along the street with a strut, carrying his beers in a bag. For some reason…he didn’t know why…Jack stopped and looked up at the sky when he noticed how clear it was.

  The stars looked so close. When his cold breath went skyward, it looked beautiful. He thought about people in ancient times, all the things that they made up about the stars to make sense of them. The Gods, the angels, the demons…and he knew why they’d been so creative about the whole thing.

  The night sky – it gave him perspective for a fleeting moment. None of it mattered – everyone was just on a floating ball in space.

  Then he walked on thinking about what was coming out of his next pay check. He marched up the driveway and came a-knockin’ on the door to the Anderson residence.

  Sometimes, he still expected Mrs Anderson to answer. She always smiled so bright for him, stood aside and said, “Jack, come on in.” He would say. “Hey. Thanks,” on his way by. He missed her, even though that was basically the only dialogue they ever had. She had been a lovely lady. Jack knew what it was, losing a mom.

  8

  Cane was replacing the components Siena had damaged on Deck-E. While Venec was at the helm, as they closed on Amataius’ position. Black Dawn was drifting on low power in the nearby solar system. The Gateway had done a number on his ship, too.

  As he slid a capacitor in place, Cane considered the information they received from the future crew of Europa. In a matter of hours, his life had been turned upside down. Oddly enough, he welcomed his future. He was afraid – but he wasn’t going to allow that fear to hold him back.

  As for Siena, she was still in hiding. Europa was keeping tabs on her, making sure she didn’t reach any vital parts of the ship. Cane stayed well away.

  That girl was small, but she’d almost killed him. She could’ve finished him as he lay on his back, yet she decided against it. Why would she hesitate? If she was willing to attack an entire planet, what difference would the life of one man make to her conscience?

  “Cane, you almost done?” Venec asked, over the com.

  Cane pressed his. “Yes, Commander. I’ll be done in a moment.”

  “Well, hurry up. We’re almost in weapon’s range of Amataius.”

  “Excellent. Assuming he’s even still alive.”

  Venec groaned, “Something tells me that he is.”

  When Cane was done with his repairs, he hurried back to command. Europa was mindful of Siena’s presence and directed him along a path that would guarantee they didn’t meet. She was still armed, and Cane didn’t expect her to spare his life a second time.

  As he stepped out of the lift to command, Venec peered over his shoulder. His console was blinking. “We’re being hailed,” he said.

  “By whom? Amataius?”

  Venec grit his teeth. “The one and only.”

  I suspect this won’t be as easy as it seems. Cane sat at his co-pilot chair. A nervous feeling in his gut as he strapped himself in. Any moment now, they could be locked in deadly combat. “Are you going to answer his hail?”

  The Commander gave a slight nod. He crossed his arms strongly. “Europa…answer.”

  “Affirmative. Connection established.”

  The com crackled with static. A deep, unfeeling voice came from the other end. “Whoever you are, my implacable enemy, you have forced my hand…”

  The Commander bit down. “I am, Commander Venec Omodo.”

  “Venec Omodo…” he trailed off, bemused. “Ah, yes, I remember you. I tried to recruit you a long time ago. Many scientists you knew helped build my weapons’ program.”

  “I didn’t think you’d remember me,” said Venec, and Cane was shocked they had history beyond what he’d already discovered.

  “One does not forget a brilliant mind so easily,” said Amataius. “We could have accomplished much together. How in the world is it that you are the one who has tracked me down, Professor?”

  “I was in the right place, at the right time, it seems,” said Venec, and Cane considered fates part in all of this.

  “I recall your early experiments,” Amataius went on. “When I was a young man, you were something of an inspiration to me.”

  Insulted, Venec grimaced.

  “Venec Omodo – a great mind – born out of a generation of fools. We are alike, in that respect.”

  “We are nothing alike, Amataius.”

  “So you say.”

  “Tell me, Amataius, what are you going to do?”

  “I have few options available to me now; Black Dawn sustained heavy damage exiting the wormhole.”

  Venec muted the com. “Europa, arm weapons.” Then he put it back on again. “If you think I’m here to take you back, you’re gravely mistaken.”

  Amataius chuckled. “The thought never crossed my mind. The way you followed me through that unstable wormhole? You chased me down like a madman, Professor. You are clearly seeking blood. I see you have armed your weapons and targeted my ship.”

  They were close, just seconds from reaching optimal range. Cane’s gut was a tangled cloth because of the anticipation.

  “Professor…”

  “What?”

  “All of my active weapon systems at the time were fried by the power surge. But there is one that I had powered down. It is fully operational.”

  Cane hurried to check their scans of Black Dawn. The holographic interface projected an image of the vessel, and he saw the same weapon that Venec had stopped him from deploying on Plysar during the attack.

  The Commander muted the com and awaited his advice. “It seems a missile tube is operational,” said Cane. “It just deployed from a hatch in the ships underbelly. The same weapon we stopped him using before…”

  “My deadliest weapon,” said Amataius.

  Black Dawn came about swiftly and fled in the other direction. Venec immediately gave chase. Cane fingered the console and prepped his combat drones for release.

  “I have worked too long, and too hard, on my newest creation, to die before seeing it in action,” Amataius revealed happily. “It seems as if fate is on my side once more, as it has always been.”

  Venec mut
ed the com. “Europa, analyse that weapon immediately.” He looked to Cane. “He’s clearly heading for planet Earth.”

  “Agreed.” Cane nodded grimly. “But the future crew said nothing about this?”

  “Analysis complete,” said Europa. “The missile appears to be a biological weapon.”

  Amataius laughed. “Venec, are you there?”

  He flicked on the com. “What is that weapon?” he demanded.

  “Something my team had been working on for a long time,” he revealed coldly. “I had intended it for use on our home-world, before you stopped me. It would have caused the deaths of billions.”

  “What is it?” Venec cried.

  “A virus – a very deadly virus – to which there is no cure.”

  A bright light burst out from the bottom of Black Dawn.

  “Missile launch detected,” Europa warned.

  They watched the missile descend upon the planet with hearts in their mouths. Cane couldn’t help the trembling of his hands.

  “Why would you do this?” Cane cried suddenly. “Why would you attack a helpless planet?!”

  Amataius cut the com link…

  Venec squeezed the trigger, and the pulse cannons let loose a blinding purple stream that split through the hull in a curved line. Europa’s heavy repeaters blasted Black Dawn with bullets. Sparks sprang from the hull all over.

  “You are too late, Professor!”

  As Black Dawn was bombarded by Europa’s wrathful artillery, the forward compartment of the ship detached. It shot off toward the planet, and it's exterior was set ablaze as it burned through the atmosphere.

  Black Dawn blew to pieces…

  “Amataius has fled in his escape pod,” relayed Europa.

  “I know; I saw it!” Venec screamed. “We’re going after him!”

  “Commander – whatever that missile was, it didn’t reach its target.”

  “Wait…what?”

  “The missile was just destroyed by…scanning. Commander, the Future-Europa has returned. They didn’t show up on my scanners until they intercepted the missile. It seems I will have stealth capabilities in the future.”

  Cane ran a hand through his hair, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” he said. The sickly feeling in his chest relented.

  “Commander, they have disappeared off my sensors again.”

  Venec unlatched his straps. “One less thing to worry about,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow. Then he laughed happily. “Okay. Get me the location of his escape pod.”

  “Amataius, is descending in a thickly wooded area. It will be difficult to locate him if he flees on foot.”

  “In that case, Europa, take us down.”

  His eyes shot to Cane. “We better get suited up, if we’re gonna chase him down on foot.”

  Cane gulped, giving a nod. “I am so happy they returned to stop that.”

  “So am I. Like they said, they gave us all the help we needed. Let’s assume that dealing with, Amataius, once and for all, is our responsibility.”

  *

  Siena watched on a viewscreen she hacked in the guest quarters on Deck-C, as her father’s ship went down. The escape pod shot out seconds before Venec put the last nail in the coffin for Black Dawn. The pod was plummeting to the green and blue planet’s surface.

  Europa chased after it. She guessed that meant they were going to hunt him down on foot. Before that, though, she knew they would hunt her down. I have to get off this ship immediately!

  Remembering her training, Siena went and hacked into Europa’s door controls for the airlock. Then she hid and waited in the room next to it, with the command ready to be executed on her PDP. When she checked the readings of their vital signs with Europa’s internal sensors, she saw that both Cane and Venec were proceeding to Deck-D, while Europa was on approach to make a landing.

  This is my chance!

  She ran to the airlock, and it opened with a deafening release of air when she pushed the button on her PDP. Siena’s heart leapt out her mouth when she saw the drop she was about to take. Europa’s airlock was thirty feet off the ground, and the ship continued to travel at speed.

  The grassy hills below were whizzing by in a green haze. She looked ahead, her eyes thinned by the wind. There was a town coming up with housing. The ship vibrated as the landing gear deployed. They began slowing their approach.

  Siena prepared herself for the jump…

  *

  They hurried to Deck-D to get suited up in the armoury. By the time they had equipped protective vests and armed themselves with sub-repeaters, and pulse pistols, Europa was on approach to Amataius’ position. As he lifted the pistol, Cane eyed his injured arm, hoping it wouldn’t hinder him in the battle.

  “Don’t worry about your arm,” said Venec, having observed his concerned look. “Once we have everything back online, and we’ve dealt with our current situation, you can make use of the medical pod I designed.”

  Cane’s eyes widened at the offer. “A medical pod?” Those things are top of the line!

  “Yeah. It’s an upgrade of current tech. They use them in hospitals. Only the very rich can afford them, though.”

  “Yes, I have heard of them, of course,” said Cane, knowing full well that they could perform surgeries, and heal fractures within a matter of hours. “I just didn’t expect you to have one on-board.”

  “It was busted up by a bombing a few years back. A guy I know worked at the hospital. He told me I could have it for five hundred credits, and if I fixed it up, I could keep it. It sounded like a good offer to me, and it acted as a good diversion when I hit a mental block with my calculations. Let me tell you, I invented a few things on those days over the years.”

  “Venec, if he is wearing power armour,” said Cane, worried, “can we really take him with these weapons?”

  Power armour provided a foot soldier with the ultimate protection. The men who saved Amataius from the Hall of Justice had stood up to dozens of armed police.

  Venec, with a smirk, sampled a little round ball in the palm of his hand that he’d taken from a storage compartment. Cane squinted at it.

  “What is that? An explosive device?”

  “Nope. This little thing – it sends out a powerful shockwave. It was designed to destroy power armour, like his.”

  “Had you planned for this?” he asked, smirking. “Or shall we thank coincidence?”

  Venec chuckled. “My Pop – he chased down a group of pirates once with his team. Their den was a small asteroid. They hid so deep inside that bombing them wouldn’t have mattered. Pop and his guys had to go in and take them out. This was the only one they didn’t use.”

  “And if that fails?”

  Venec grimaced. “It would take a dozen clean shots from a sub-repeater at close-range. A pulse pistol, though, with a well-placed shot, could do the trick. If it comes to that, aim for his side, and his neck.”

  “Well, in that case, what are we waiting for?” Cane asked, trying to sound gutsy.

  But he was still shaking a little from the adrenaline. They were on a strange world, and they were about to go up against the most feared man in Venec’s galaxy.

  “Commander, Siena, has hacked the airlock.”

  “Dammit,” Venec moaned, at the A.I. “That bitch is really starting to get on my nerves. If we see her, we’re putting her down.”

  9

  Mark Anderson opened the door, and his glasses captured the lamplight of the street. “Hey,” he greeted, his voice sounding a little grated, like he hadn’t spoken in a while, and his brown hair was a ruffled mess.

  Jack pushed his way by him. “Let’s drink, bitch.”

  They went to his bedroom – the den of the geek, as Jack called it – the place where they often drank. Anderson had a sofa up there and a mini-fridge that Jack liked stocking with beers. As usual, he found a few bottles of water inside, and shoved them aside to make way for beer cans.

  Anderson’s face was drawn as he removed
his glasses and rubbed his dark blue eyes where they were red underneath, probably from looking at his computer screen all day. Jack glanced over to his computer desk with the Cartman figure and Superman sign lamp either side of his laptop, and was glad to find that he’d finally switched the damn thing off.

  Jack provided him with a beer. As the tops frothed when they opened their cans, they hit them together.

  “Sláinte,” said Jack.

  “Cheers,” said Anderson.

  They drank down the bubbly goodness. Then they both sounded manly groans of satisfaction. Anderson checked his phone.

  Jack had a look around. There was always something in here to capture his gaze for a moment. This time, it was the Duff beer sign on his wall, then the shiny gold Judge Dredd badge and helmet on the shelf by his window.

  “So, how’s things? You hermit.”

  Anderson’s eyes geared toward him angrily. “Fantastic. How’s life as a shopkeeper?”

  “I’m not a shopkeeper. I don’t work the register. I just replenish crap that needs to be replenished.”

  “The Replenisher,” he said, in a theatrical voice, using his hands to show the width of the movie poster, “starring Jack Murphy – he had a lot of shit to get out.”

  “Yeah. Blockbuster material – and, judging by that pun – it’s bound to be full of toilet humour.”

  In a glass frame on the wall above his bed was one of the most amazing and colourful drawings Anderson had ever pulled off. It was a big green dragon doing battle with a Knight in a scorched suit of armour. The look of desperation on the Knight’s face, as flames sprayed on his shield, evoked so many epic thoughts in Jack’s mind every time he looked at it. He imagined an incredible fight, one for the ages, while he drank his beer.

  Anderson and Claudia both had amazing hobbies. He was an artist and storyteller, while she was an aspiring novelist who had had some success with a series of short stories recently. Having two friends who were so creative, who shared so much in common, didn’t make him feel out of place. He was a part of it, having always shared in their respective journeys, and he enjoyed it…most of the time.

  Claudia arrived shortly after.

  Her dark hair had a healthy sheen, and looked soft as silk in the lamplight. As her piercing, luminous green eyes found him, Claudia’s bowlike lips parted for a pearly smile.