by Jay Allan
For his own part, Jason had to prepare himself for what was coming as well. He knew the likelihood of them pulling this off without any bloodshed was nonexistent, and although he was technically the only member of the team with military training, he had rarely directly taken a life. His time in the Air Force had been spent as a Pararescue operator, or PJ. While highly trained members of the special operations community, very rarely were they called upon as a tactical asset. Their job was to get into impossible spots, rescue and render aid to others, and egress. He had performed joint ops with SEALs and Marine Force Recon units, so it wasn’t that he was squeamish, but after years of fighting in the Global War on Terror, he was weary of the constant fighting. That was the main reason he had been hiding in his family cabin high in the mountains. This time he knew he had no choice, though. The stakes were his very freedom and likely his life. So, in the end, the choice was quite simple: fight for freedom or live and die a slave. Or worse. It wasn’t the potential for violence that bothered him. It was the fact that if he hadn’t heard Deetz offering to give him up, he wasn’t sure he’d be as inclined to get involved, and he didn’t like what that said about him.
CHAPTER 14
The big day had arrived. They would be making their final approach to The Vault within the next eight hours and Jason could tell his team was pumped up on stress and stimulants. Timing would be critical, so he did everything he could to keep them settled down and made sure they ate a large meal and had plenty of sleep. His years in the field had taught him you ate and slept whenever, wherever you could during operations; there was no guarantee when you’d get another opportunity. He sat pensively on the bridge with Deetz as the synth guided the ship towards their target after emerging from slip-space. So far as Jason could tell, he suspected nothing.
They were almost on final approach before Jason could even tell which asteroid it was that they were heading for, and even then it was only because the ship highlighted it for him in his optical implants. The DL7 passed easily through a natural-looking tunnel that could have accommodated a much larger ship and slowed to a stop before what appeared to be a dead end. Jason’s pulse quickened at this unexpected turn of events. Deetz turned to him and smiled mirthlessly. As he was about to inquire as to what was going on, Deetz cycled the landing gear down and a set of flood lights came on within the tunnel, illuminating a landing apron that had been hewn out of the tough iron ore of the asteroid. Beyond that were a set of massive blast doors that presumably led into the hangar deck. “Getting into this place is a bit of a trick. It may be notorious, but it’s still a closely guarded secret,” Deetz said as the gunship settled onto the landing pad. “This is actually a secure backdoor, if you will. If I hadn’t transmitted the proper clearance codes we got from Bondrass, we would have been incinerated while still in the tunnel before we even saw the hangar door. The main dock, and entrance, are on the adjacent face of the asteroid and have much more prominent security protocols.” Jason felt a small bit of elation at Deetz’s description of their entry method; Doc had said they would likely enter through a hangar that bypassed the major bulk of security on the station. The security was more focused on controlling those visiting for the entertainment, not so much those that were there on official business.
After another series of com messages, a crack appeared in the blast doors and slowly they rolled apart. Jason could see another set of equally impressive doors that split and opened vertically behind that, creating a double-layered door that looked nearly impenetrable. It would be insanely difficult to enter The Vault through this port if you weren’t invited. Once the doors were open, the gunship taxied forward and followed the go-to directions on their displays that guided them to the docking berth they had been assigned. After the ship stopped and leveled itself on its landing gear, Deetz began shutting down the primary flight systems, completely preoccupied. Jason rose and walked around to the pilot’s seat. “We all set?”
“It appears so, I guess we should go tell the…” Deetz never finished his sentence as Jason patted him on the shoulder, the seemingly friendly gesture eliciting an explosion of sparks. Deetz’s voice scrambled and he stiffened in the seat. Trying to rise, he reminded of Jason of a stroke victim. The synth jerkily tried to come at Jason, who easily backed out of reach, a small device with two protruding electrodes in his right hand. A look of comprehension crossed Deetz’s face before it froze completely and he collapsed in a heap.
“Twingo, get in here!” Jason called out. The engineer, who had been waiting in the port-side meeting room that was just aft of the bridge, raced in with his hands full of tools. He quickly flipped Deetz over and began cutting an access opening into his skin. Once through, he fiddled around inside and then installed the device he’d been carrying into the synth. He flipped Deetz back over and looked up, breathing hard and with his hands on his knees.
“That’ll do it. I’ve interrupted his main power distribution center. If we have to, we can start individual subsystems without bringing him fully back online.”
“Okay, let’s get him down to Engineering and restrained. Bondrass’ people in the cargo hold with Doc?” When Twingo nodded, they dragged Deetz off the bridge and threw him up onto a waiting cart. They whisked him off to Engineering as quickly as they could so as to not risk any of the three security personnel seeing them. After securing the unconscious mechanical being to a purpose-built chair, complete with heavy manacles, they looked at each other. “This is it. You ready?” Jason asked, satisfied with the calm nod he received in response.
Jason quickly donned his armor and grabbed their new hold-out weapons. Without a word, he and Twingo headed into the armory and brought up a live feed of the cargo bay on one of the terminals. Doc was talking to the three goons as he checked all the stasis pods. “Can never be too careful, you know. These units are great for what they are, but running on the internal systems for such a long flight is risky. Don’t want the boss’ cargo damaged before delivery…”
“Computer, highlight the three passengers in the cargo hold that are not Dr. Ma’Fredich,” Jason said. Instantly three pulsing green boxes appeared around Bondrass’ men. “Now target them with the stunners.” The boxes now pulsed quicker and changed to red. “Fire.” A bright flash washed out the video feed and an instant later Doc was standing in the cargo bay surrounded by three unconscious goons. He looked up into the camera and smiled. Jason smiled also as he opened the blast doors that led from the armory into the cargo hold.
“Just in time, I’m not sure how much longer I could have kept them from opening the doors,” Doc said as he accepted one of the hold-out guns from Jason.
“You doubting me already?” Jason asked with a laugh. “Computer, bring up the external aft video feed.” The trio crowded around the display by the rear cargo hatch and saw there were four more hired goons milling about, looking bored. Jason smiled grimly and hit the controls to drop the ramp and open the interior pressure doors. “You’re on, Doc.”
“I need help up here!” Doc shouted from the top of the ramp. “Something’s happened!” The four guards ran up the ramp and entered the ship just as Jason and Twingo slipped out of sight around one of the stasis pods.
“What’s happening in here?” one of the goons asked, trying to establish himself as in charge.
“I don’t know,” Doc was saying, “they were checking the pods and there was a flash. When I came over they were like this. They appear to have been shocked. I didn’t know what to do.” Jason snuck back around and activated the internal pressure doors, leaving the ramp lowered. As the doors slid closed the four newcomers spun as one.
“Computer, stun the four new passengers that just boarded,” Jason barked. As before, a bright flash, and then they had a total of seven knocked-out thugs. As he walked over he said to Doc, “I didn’t know what to do?” He laughed as he repeated Doc’s adlibbed performance.
“What?”
“Don’t they know you as a doctor?” Jason was still laughing.
“Oh. Yeah.” Doc managed to look sheepish as he began working the controls on one of the stasis pods.
“How’re we doing?” Jason asked over his shoulder as he walked back into the armory.
“Good. Very good, actually. Nobody’s going to bother checking on this ship and I doubt anyone is going to miss these miscreants.”
“Excellent. Keep an eye on things anyway, Twingo.” Jason had to shout to be heard through the open armory door.
“Already on it,” came the muffled reply. Jason nodded in approval at how his
team had performed thus far; no panic and everyone rockin’ and rollin’ according to the plan. He enjoyed it while he could. Once in the armory, he opened one of the wall lockers and stepped back to look over a wide assortment of handheld weaponry. As his eyes lingered over each, his neural implant fed him the pertinent information on that particular unit. He decided on a short, shoulder-fired plasma carbine. It would get the job done without destroying the inside of the ship if he had to fire it. He hefted the weapon with a grin playing across his features. As a long time gun-geek, the smorgasbord of exotic weaponry available in the gunship’s armory was almost intoxicating. When his life wasn’t in danger he would love to find some quiet, out of the way corner of some world for some trigger time with each.
After charging and activating the plasma rifle, Jason walked back out into the cargo bay with the weapon leaned casually over his shoulder. He found his two friends working diligently on the stasis pods that had been singled out after a quick manifest search. “We sure we have the right guys? I’d hate to turn loose some maniac in here,” he said.
“Yes, we’re sure,” Doc said in a pained voice. “These aren’t violent criminals, although some of them could do a lot of damage and are likely not very happy right now,” he conceded.
“We’re waking up the technical guys now, although we’re going to be three pods short so we’re also bringing out some that will need to be restrained for the duration of the mission,” Twingo added as he monitored the display on one of the pods. Jason left them to their work. They were already committed to the plan, so second guessing things at this point would be counterproductive. After about thirty more minutes of frenzied activity from the two, Jason began hearing the pop-hiss of the stasis pods opening. Unable to contain his curiosity, he moved over to look into one of them.
Another bipedal being was strapped tightly against a vertical, metallic gurney with a myriad of intravenous tubes running to different parts of its body. It also wore a snug breathing mask and was slight of build. What really caught Jason’s eye, however, was the fact this alien had four arms; two larger appendages that sprouted from shoulders like he was used to, and two smaller, thinner arms that emerged from around the mid-abdomen area. When relaxed, the smaller arms tucked up in a way that reminded Jason of a praying mantis. This being had an especially large cranium that came down to a wide but delicate-looking jaw.
Hearing some more noises, Jason looked over to see that Twingo and Doc had removed three aliens from their stasis pods and had them lying down on the floor. The trio of newcomers were coughing and writhing around in apparent pain as Doc checked each of them over. When the pod he was standing in front of beeped he had to hustle out of the way as his friends rushed over to start pulling out the strange being he had been looking at.
“He’s looking good. That’s four for four,” Doc murmured.
“Hopefully our luck keeps up,” Twingo said. Jason was starting to get the hint that being stored in one of these upright coffins didn’t always mean you were coming back out alive. That fact only solidified his resolve for what he knew was coming up.
“Jason! You may need to give us a hand with this guy … bring your gun.” Doc was staring into another open pod as the four recently released prisoners started to sit up and lean back against their pods. Jason jogged over and nearly fell down from the double-take he did when he laid eyes on their fifth almost-liberated prisoner. He was enormous. He had to be every bit of seven feet tall and had to bunch up his massive shoulders to fit width-wise in the pod. The heavy musculature writhed and strained under the dark, almost black skin. He sported a bony crest that started at his brow and ran up the length of his forehead before disappearing into what Jason would have sworn were dreadlocks. Or he would have if they weren’t moving, seemingly of their own accord. “I wasn’t aware he was going to be on this load, but he’s already awake so you’ll have to deal with him.”
The alien had a broad face with a short, lupine muzzle that looked to be full of large, sharp teeth. His intense, yellow eyes stared balefully at Jason and the plasma rifle the human kept half-trained on him. “What, exactly, did you want me to do?” Jason whispered to Doc.
“Talk to him,” Doc said out of the corner of his mouth. “He’s a part of the warrior class from a world with a specific caste system. He knows I’m not a soldier, but he might respect you as a fellow combatant.” Jason was highly dubious of that. He also didn’t doubt that the terrifying alien had heard every word they had been saying.
“Hey there, big guy,” Jason said in what he hoped was his most charming, disarming voice. “Everything going okay for you?”
“Let me out and I will show you,” the beast’s voice rumbled out of his chest. Jason’s eyes were fixated on his mouth as he talked. Even with the translation he could tell the alien had to practically chew his words in a mouth that looked more suited for shredding than articulating.
“We’ll hold off on that for a bit. You have a name?”
“Crusher.”
“Is that a family name?” Jason regretted the sarcastic remark even as it left his lips. Crusher’s roar was deafening and he threw himself against the restraints, managing to rock the stasis pod as the wide straps holding him groaned in protest.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy!” Jason raised the weapon, trying to head off what looked to be a pending disaster.
“You capture me, torture me, confine me, and then you DARE to insult me?! Know this: I will NEVER submit!!” Crusher’s bellowing roar was seriously testing Jason’s control over his bladder. “Do with me as you will, but one day in the future you will turn your back on me, and it will be the last thing you ever do,” the giant, angry alien finished in a grating whisper. Jason swallowed hard, trying to regain his composure. He noticed Twingo was trembling violently and Doc was quite pale. He also saw the other freed prisoners were hiding amongst the other pods.
“Well, Crusher,” Jason began when he thought he had steadied his nerves enough to speak, “I’m hoping you’ll reconsider that. You see, I’m not the guy who bought you. I’m the guy who’s going to free you. This is a jailbreak.” A look of bewilderment came over Crusher’s brutish face as he stared at Jason and then over to Doc.
“That’s right,” Doc confirmed. “We’re here to set you, and the others, free.”
“Why would you do this?” The distrust was evident in Crusher’s voice.
“Because we are,” Jason cut off Doc’s answer, not wanting to get into a protracted debate on the issue. “But we’re not free and clear yet. We’re actually on a ship inside The Vault right now in the middle of the operation. We could use some help.” He didn’t come right out and ask. He sensed it would be better for Crusher to volunteer than for him to try and coerce him through guilt.
“I will help,” he said simply, his eyes never leaving Jason’s. The human turned and cocked an eyebrow in Doc’s direction, the question unspoken: Can we trust him? Doc nodded once and walked over to the pod and entered the commands to release the restraints.
Unlike the others, who had needed a while to recover from being in their stasis pod, Crusher hopped out of the machine and landed on the cargo bay deck with a resounding thud. Once he was standing in the open and able to straighten up, Jason marveled at the alien’s powerful build. Crusher looked around the cargo bay and then towards the rear door. “What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“For now just k
eep watch back by the door…” Jason didn’t finish his sentence before Crusher deftly snatched the plasma rifle right out of his hands and strode off towards the rear doors and the video monitor that still displayed the view from behind the ship, taking up a defensive watch.
“Relax, his kind are incapable of duplicity. Once he says he’s with us, he’ll fight to the death to accomplish his mission.” Doc had slid up next to him and also observed the lone sentinel at the rear of the ship. “We’re about ready back here,” Doc continued. “This is where it gets dangerous.” When Jason simply nodded, the doctor walked back over and continued prepping the team. Jason watched as they loaded the still-unconscious guards into the now-empty pods and restrained them. It was almost time to see if they would be leaving here as free beings, or die trying.
“Everybody, gather around!” Twingo shouted after another fifteen minutes of activity. Once they were all in a loose huddle by the rear doors, he continued, “We’re going to lay out the rest of the plan. It’s fairly simple, but let’s all make sure we understand.” Jason looked up and noticed that Twingo was staring at him expectantly. He then turned and noticed everyone was looking at him as well.