by Charles Nall
“Riko is dead,” Riko replied.
The console beeped.
She looked over the readings. “I can’t detect any nearby NEP access nodes. There should be plenty near Mars. Why can’t I get a signal?”
“Maybe something is wrong with the fighter?”
“No. Everything is fine. I double-checked everything. We should be able to get a signal and get a message out.”
She kept tapping on the console.
“Riko, don’t despair. He was a despicable man. You did the world a favor.”
“Right. He was despicable. So was the Slicer. You deserve to be dead, too, right?”
“As I said, the Slicer is dead.”
“Raj could change too! You don’t know!”
“No one knows. Don’t fret on the things you don’t know, we can’t possibly know the future. You are alive and made it out of there. Thank Terra.”
“Thank myself! Terra did nothing! I pulled the damn trigger, not Terra! She let him... she...”
A tear streaked down Riko’s face.
Zebediah placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
“Algol was right. You’re all just animals. I was so blind.”
“I think I understand what happened. No, you aren’t blind. Your eyes have been opened. There is darkness out there, but you cannot despair. Despair makes the darkened world even darker. You did what you had to do. Terra still loves you. I still love you. The next step is to love yourself. You have to love yourself.”
“I can’t,” Riko stated.
“You did nothing wrong,” Zebediah insisted.
“I know. I know, I just... I felt so–I feel so violated. I never asked for this. I never wanted to land on this god-forsaken rock.”
“Everyone can change... Not everyone will. If someone will only change when faced with a firing squad, it isn’t true, honest change. You have changed Riko, but you can take this pain and turn it around. You are still alive. You got out of that dome, you can get off this planet. You are in control, Riko. You will survive.”
“I’m so ashamed. He...”
“Stop. The shame lies entirely with Raj. Nothing justifies what he did. Your actions were entirely justified. ”
“Murder is worse than rape.”
Zebediah sighed. “Rape takes someone’s life away as well. It won’t do you any good to compare apples to oranges. You have no idea the extent of Raj’s plans for you. You’ll survive, Riko.”
The computer in the fighter beeped.
“I’ll... I’ll try,” Riko said. “I still can’t get a signal from the access nodes. It looks like someone is jamming us.”
“That’s not entirely out of the question. The Citadel may jam signals going off the planet, for this very reason.”
“I am detecting something. It’s not an access node but I am detecting something on the surface. I’m getting a return ping.”
“What?”
“There’s something out here. It’s eleven kilometers east. I wonder what it is. It could be an outpost or something. It could even be what’s thwarting our attempts to get on the NEP. We should go check it out.”
“That’s almost seven miles. That’s outside our typical salvage patrol routes, it would take additional oxygen tanks to get there.”
“This could be the key.” Riko climbed out of the fighter and jumped to the floor.
Zebediah followed behind Riko. “We have no idea what’s out there. It could be a trap.”
“Probably, but it’s worth a shot,” she said.
He scratched his bushy beard. “I suppose so.”
“Sorry about... everything,” Riko said.
Zebediah hugged Riko. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
July 24, 0271 AC – 19:15
Bridge, Madcat-2
Orbit of Euphrates
“We’ve sat out here for months. When are we going to destroy that?” Knave Gunner pointed at the viewscreen that was showing the construction of a huge warship.
“I failed to realize the sheer size of the effing thing. I’ll come up with something,” Teresa Day replied.
Teresa and Knave were alone on the bridge.
The warship was one of the four being built across the galaxy with the capability of destroying an entire planet. This undertaking was called the Apocalypse Project. This particular warship was code named “Black.” The planet killer was nearing completion. The frame of the ship was complete and the hull was being placed. Hundreds of lights from workers with torches glimmered along the hull. Many support craft floated next to the six hundred forty-seven meter long warship. The front of the planet killer looked similar to a Blood Dynasty Cerberus-class cruiser, with five protruding structures jutting out around the fore section. The larger stern section which was going to house the majority of the engine systems for the warship was one hundred fifty-seven meters high. The Tigris Shipyards, a station designed for the construction of starships, was connected to the warship. Wires and support structures acted as umbilical cords to the developing warship.
“You’ve been staring at that thing every day,” Knave pointed out.
Teresa sighed. “I know.”
“What about us?” Knave asked.
“Sorry, I’m focused on this right now,” she replied.
“I thought there was something between us.”
“There was. I mean... There is.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.”
“I’ll come up with something. Then, I don’t know. But one day at a time.”
“That thing will be finished by the time you come up with a plan.” Knave laughed.
“Probably.” Teresa chuckled. “Sorry, I’m a bitch.”
“It’s okay. I knew that when I signed up for this job.” He smiled.
She looked out at the activity over Euphrates. “War is upon the galaxy. We’re lucky no one has investigated our ship yet. We’re mercenaries; we’ve went up against the ISF before. If they realized what we were planning out here they would have our hides.”
“So many ships buzzing around out there. Euphrates, the hub of the Commonwealth. It would take ages to investigate all the ships flying about. If we got close to that Apocalypse, though, you can be sure we’d get some attention,” Knave said.
“There’s no way to get close. I’m a fool.”
Knave placed his hand on Teresa’s shoulder. She smiled and placed her hand on his.
He shrugged. “Perhaps we should get out of here. Go to that jumpgate and head to some other life.”
Or just kill her now. Knave’s head pounded painfully.
“Yeah. Maybe you’re right. Fly over to the jumpgate and...” Teresa pondered something.
“Yes?”
The jumpgate pulsed and rotated. A frigate entered Euphrates space.
“We can’t get close. We don’t have to,” she said.
“What?”
Teresa stood up and ran to a different console. She jumped into the chair and tapped quickly on the console. “Dimensional explosives. We still have some, right?”
“Huh? Well, yes... Reese...” Knave said with concern.
“Ships are getting close to that planet killer... in hyperspace. The area that the shipyard sits in correlates to a point in hyperspace.”
“Okay? Everyone knows that.”
“Dimensional explosives.”
Knave groaned. “You aren’t thinking...”
“We hack into the jumpgate and find a conduit that correlates to that position. Look for a big effing starship that is about to arrive over Euphrates. Hell, hack the codes and force the conduit to pass by the shipyards.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Teresa grinned. “Plant dimensional explosives on Black. Set them off when that ship is about to arrive in Euphrates. That starship will appear inside the Apocalypse and destroy it.”
“Why not just use normal explosives?”
“Do you realize how much traditional explosives we’l
l need to put a dent in that thing?”
“Noted,” Knave said. “How many dimensional bombs do we need?”
“We’ll have to do the calculations. The bigger the conduit, the more explosives we’ll need. We’ll need a big ‘ol ship to cause tremendous damage to that bastard.”
“How are we going to get into that ship?”
“Same way those countless workers did. We’re gonna apply to work on that thing. They accept pretty much anybody. They want to get that ship built as soon as possible.”
“This is a stupid idea.” Knave chuckled.
“Well, it’s my only idea. If we take care of this ship, there will be more time for us,” Teresa said.
“I didn’t say it was a bad idea. It’s just stupid.”
August 7, 0271 AC – 12:12
Apocalypse Warship Under Construction
Orbit of Euphrates
“Alright, maggots. These are your new digs,” said the rough-looking man. Teresa guessed their new manager used to live on some backwater world.
Edwin and Teresa applied for work on the warship. They were accepted. The people running the operation accepted almost anybody. Edwin had a completely clean work history and Teresa had ways of covering her tracks. She was worried the other members of the Mad Cats would not pass the test. She used a fake name and forged records of her past.
Most of the outer plating was complete. The workers were working on the internal workings of the ship. There was artificial gravity in place on most of the ship, as well as a working life support system. The finishing touches were being placed onto the warship.
Teresa found a suitable weapon; a heavy freighter delivering mundane supplies was scheduled to arrive on August 10th. It would pass through the hyper-coordinates that correlated to Black’s position. It would take three dimensional explosives placed in the warship to force the freighter into standard space.
Innocent lives would be lost, but that was the sad truth of war. Countless more lives could potentially be lost if the construction of the planet killer was completed.
They had managed to smuggle the dimensional explosives on board. These bombs were dismantled, they would need to be reassembled to be functional.
Now that the hull was mostly complete, the workers were allowed to live on the Apocalypse as they worked on completing it. As such, they could bring along quite a few suitcases of clothes and other essentials.
Teresa’s didn’t bring anything else except the explosives. Teresa and Edwin spent most of the day reassembling the pieces. Their shift would begin tomorrow. They needed to place these explosives and then leave as quickly as possible.
August 8, 0271 AC – 10:00
Apocalypse Warship Under Construction
Orbit of Euphrates
Teresa placed the explosives in the tool cases that the workers typically used. “Alright. We’re scheduled to start our shifts at noon. We should get these explosives out before that. Then we need to get off this boat.”
Edwin was extremely nervous. “What if they look in the case?”
“They won’t,” Teresa said. “They’ll think it’s just tools. Don’t open it. Remember, you are heading to the hangar and placing it somewhere inconspicuous.”
Edwin shook from nervousness. “I.. I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You’ll be fine. Meet up back here and get ready for our shift after that,” Teresa said. “These quarters will be fine for one explosion point. We just need three explosives around a hundred meters apart to cause a significant tear in space.”
“Alright, wish me luck.”
“I’m not sure you’d know what to do with it if you got it. Just do your job.”
Edwin made his way down the hall. He nearly puked as he walked by other workers. He made his way down to one of the hangar bays.
Just act like you belong here and people will think you do.
He checked his multi-functional watch. He was ninety meters away from the other explosive. This should do.
The hangar was empty. No fighters or any sort of craft. There were maintenance hubs for servicing the fighters once the warship received them in. Of course, Edwin hoped this ship would not receive any further shipments.
He walked to one of the hubs. There were a few tool cases that looked just like his resting on some shelves.
Edwin looked around. Only a few workers were in this area. He dropped his tool case next to another and then grabbed a different one. He calmly walked out of the hangar. When he reached his living quarters on the warship, he ran to the washroom and vomited chunks into the sink.
Teresa found a suitable location to plant the explosives. She walked up to a lift. The lift doors barely functioned when she approached. The lift had a sign next to it. “Out of Service – Expect repairs on lift system to be completed by 9/12. Use stairs.” She looked around cautiously. She grabbed an actual tool out of the tool case housing the bomb and removed the panel with deck destinations out of the wall. She removed the explosives from the case. She forced the explosives into the area under the panel and then screwed the panel back.
“Hi, Miss. Working on this lift?”
She jumped in surprise. “Oh! Hi! Didn’t see you there!”
A young man with a big smile showcasing extremely crooked teeth stood just outside the lift. His hair was long and shaggy. His right eye was lazy and looking past Teresa. Both of his brown eyes seemed small for his malformed face. He was quite possibly the most ugly man that Teresa had ever laid her eyes on.
“Yeah, sorry, I snuck up on ya! I haven’t seen you ‘round. You new?” asked the ugly man.
“Uh, yes, yes I am.”
“Working on the lift?”
“Yeah, but someone effed up the main, uh, lift system,” she replied.
The man slowly nodded. “Uh. Yeah.”
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m...” She realized she had used a fake name to apply. What was that name? Shit. She had used so many names in her lifetime. Did she have a nametag on her jumpsuit? No. She didn’t think so. She glanced around the lift. What was her name? She stared at the centaurite steel walls and struggled to recover the name from her memory.
“Steel... stel... uh, Stella! Pleased to meet you.” She reached out her hand to the worker.
The man’s confused look suddenly changed. He smiled his hideous smile. “My mom is named Stella!”
Teresa breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh! How about that! It’s a good name!”
“Sure is! I’m Stan!”
“Hi, Stan.”
“Yeah, yeah. My mom is back on Tyson VI. I can’t believe they hired me. My family really needed the money. Truth is, my momma is really hurting. Cancer. Oh... Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t want to bore you with my life story. Listen, I’ll let you get back to fixing that lift. I hate using the stairs.” Stan began to walk away.
“Wait...” Teresa sighed. “Stan?”
He turned back to her. “Yes?”
He was so young. No mother should have to bury her son.
“Stan. Can I tell you a secret?”
He giggled. “Oh, oh, okay.”
“Get the eff off this warship.”
“What do you mean? I love this job.”
Teresa looked deep into Stan’s eyes. She pondered what to say. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
The man laughed. “No ma’am.”
Teresa leaned in and kissed the hideous man. “Would you like one? Sorry. I just... it’s been a long time. I know I’m older but... I mean, I feel bad for your mother and we have so much in common.”
The man was stunned.
It was probably his first kiss.
He could barely speak. “What? We do?”
“Of course we do. Don’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“The vibrations between us. The electricity in the air. It’s so warm, the warmth of love.”
“Now that you mention it... yes I do. I feel it all.”
The usua
l vibrations of machinery on a warship this large.
Electricity in the air probably because of hyper-drive tests.
Teresa wondered if there was an issue with the air conditioning system, as it was rather hot in the area.
“Look, Stan, this is moving too fast but... do you have any vacation time? Think you can take off soon?”
“Uh, well.”
“Please?”
Stan trembled nervously. “I—I could work... could work something out.”
“August 10th.”
“That’s... okay, okay.”
“Meet me at the Oceanarium down on Euphrates at 1600 hours. Maybe after we can get a bite to eat?”
“Um, um. Okay. Yeah! Yeah! I’ll do it! I’ll do the paper work right now!”
“Go do it! I can’t wait to see you down there! I have to get to work now, though, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, Stella! Alright! Awesome! You are so hot, you know?”
“I’ve been told...”
“Oh wait ‘til I tell my friends! Uh, uh, I’ll see you again! I’ll go fill out the vacation form now!”
Teresa smiled.
Stan ran off hastily.
A gift to you, momma Stella. Your son will live. He’ll hate me for not showing up... He’ll never know. He’ll just think women are bitches. Well, he’s not wrong.
Teresa snickered and headed back to the living quarters.
“You look sick,” Teresa said to Edwin when she got back to the quarters.
“Something like that,” he replied.
Teresa sat down on a sofa in the room. One of the few pieces of furniture in the room, as the quarters were barely furnished.
“Well, you get the job taken care of?” Teresa asked Edwin.
He began to reply but was interrupted by a sudden, loud series of knocks on the door.
“Hold on, hold on,” Teresa said. “Computer, unlock door. Come in?”
Their manager they met the day before barged into the room.
“Can we help you?” Teresa asked, still lounging on the sofa.
“What do you think you are doing?!” the manager growled. He had a small computer in his hands.
Edwin began to tremble. “We’re sorry! We had to!”