by Jason Hutt
Akimbe lunged for the fallen soldier’s weapon.
Hannah raised her pistol and called the Senator’s name.
Akimbe swung his arm around and squeezed the trigger, hoping his aim was true. The plasma bolt was absorbed by a personal shield. Hannah still spun around from the force of the shot and lost the grip on her pistol. Akimbe aimed again, targeting Hannah’s torso, when he noticed the detonator in her hand and the explosive packs strapped across her chest. He held the shot.
***
The stealth suit deflected most of the energy of the plasma bolt, but Hannah’s shoulder muscles cried out in pain as she spun around. She quickly looked for the pistol; it was a good four meters away. Akimbe was aiming at her and two other Republic soldiers were now running towards her from the shuttlecraft.
Hannah locked eyes with Maria. The Senator was only a few meters away.
This is it, then, Hannah thought. We can all die here.
Hannah tapped the detonator.
***
“Stop!” Max yelled as he came running in with his hands up. He stopped a few meters away from Hannah. “Please, Hannah! Stop!”
“Max?” Hannah asked, her face a mask of incomprehension.
“Don’t do this, Hannah,” Max pleaded, “Take your finger away.”
“What? I don’t... why? Why do you care?” Asked Hannah. “You’ve already given up. You’re already dead. So am I.”
“No, Hannah, don’t,” Max pleaded, “I was wrong, Hannah. I’ve never been so wrong. Don’t throw your life away.”
“You’ve wished I was dead every day for the last twenty years. Now I can give you what you want.”
Max closed his eyes and felt pain in his chest as his heart sank. “I…it’s not you…Hannah, I…”
“Bullshit,” Hannah said, “I’m nothing to you but a reminder of a life unfulfilled. Your little girl is dead, Max. I’m not her. I’ll never be her. You didn’t care what would’ve become of me before. You left me with a damned band of pirates! Why do you care now?”
“Hannah, don’t,” Max said, but his tone had changed. Gone was fear. Gone was apathy. Max spoke with his heart, “You’re my daughter, Hannah. I don’t want you to die. I want to give you the life you want.”
“What?” Hannah said, as her finger trembled over the button.
“I am seceding, Hannah. My colony is seceding,” Maria said as she got to her feet, hands raised, “You’re going to fight with me against the Republic.”
Hannah’s finger still rested on the button. She didn’t know what to do.
“It’s true, Hannah,” Max said, “And I’m going to fight with you.”
Hannah’s mouth dropped open. Her mind swam and her finger dropped away from the detonator.
Akimbe erupted in a howl of anger. “How could you?!” he screamed. “You…you’re a senator! You traitor!” Akimbe aimed at Maria and squeezed the trigger.
Max saw the man’s aim and lunged in front of the shot. His torso erupted in searing pain, he pitched forward, and landed in an unconscious heap.
“No!” Hannah screamed.
She watched as Akimbe took aim again at Maria. “How could you?!” He yelled at Maria. “How could you!”
Maria stood with her arms raised and closed her eyes, waiting for the shot to come.
Hannah sprinted toward Akimbe. She put her entire weight behind a punch that connected squarely with his jaw. Blood and saliva sprayed from Akimbe’s mouth and his head hit the ground with a thud. She stood over him expectantly, but he didn’t move again.
Hannah looked back to Max. He was prone on the deck of the launchpad, a large black scorch mark in the back of his gray prison uniform.
One of the soldiers moved toward Maria, but she waved them off. “I’m okay,” Maria said. She nodded toward Max. “Is he alive?”
The other soldier had his hand on Max’s neck. “Yes.”
Hannah breathed and her knees started shaking.
“We need to get him on-board, ma’am,” the soldier said, “We’re out of time.”
Hannah could hear the whine of other approaching aircars. Sirens started blaring. She watched as two soldiers propped Max up between the two of them and double-timed it back to the shuttle.
Maria bent down and put her hand to the forehead of the fallen shuttle pilot, the one whom Hannah had shot moments ago. Then Maria stood and grabbed one of her two bags. She looked at Hannah.
“Are you coming?”
Hannah stared at the dead man. She couldn’t find the words to answer and simply nodded. The two women ran for the shuttle. Maria ran up the ramp but Hannah came to a screeching halt at its foot. A young woman, probably about the same age as Hannah, stood blocking the path. The woman held a pistol with both hands. Its muzzle was aimed at Hannah’s feet. Hannah stared at her; the soldier’s blue eyes had a glassy sheen.
“Vestoli was my friend,” she said with a nod toward the fallen soldier that Hannah had just killed. “I can’t let you come on-board.”
“Stand down, soldier,” Maria barked, “You will let her pass.”
“I can’t.” She said as she raised the pistol.
The whine of the approaching aircars grew louder. Hannah considered running.
Maria stepped in front of the soldier; the pistol’s muzzle an inch from her chest. “You will let her pass or you will get off this shuttle. We don’t have time for this.”
With her jaw clenched and the muscles of her face visibly pulsing, the young woman sat down on the bench.
“Let’s go, Hannah. You’re going to be safe here,” Maria said.
Maria buckled herself into one of the seats just outside the cockpit. Hannah sat in the chair opposite her as the shuttle lifted off and immediately broke for orbit. A couple of the soldiers in the back were eyeing Hannah with obvious fury. This is a problem that will have to wait, Maria thought.
The shuttle’s comm unit blared. “Shuttle Two-One-Niner-Alpha-Tango, you are ordered to immediately return to base. You have ten seconds to alter your course.”
The shuttle pilot held course and Maria started counting in her head. When she reached ten, she watched the pilot’s tactical display and the icons of their two escorts started falling behind the shuttle. The pilot’s console started beeping.
The escort on the right suddenly exploded and the beeping stopped. The escort on the left started to peel away before something connected with it and tore the craft to shreds. Admiral Dorn’s voice erupted from the comm, “Shuttle Two-one-niner-alpha-tango, you are clear to proceed to the Reli…excuse me…the Defiant. We’re ready to receive you.”
Maria smiled and she heard the pilot exhale slowly.
“Copy that, Defiant. We’re on our way. Have a med team standing by, we have wounded.”
“Copy all. We’ll be ready.”
“Admiral, has everyone been collected?” Maria asked.
“You’ll be the last.”
“Well done, Admiral.”
“Save the congratulations for later.”
Chapter 21
Maria cleared her throat and stepped forward toward the camera. Admiral Dorn stood a step behind her to the right. Arrayed around them were the holographic projections of six other former Senators. Maria stood with her shoulders back and head held high. The camera started recording.
“To the inspection teams en route to Demeter, reverse course. You are not welcome here. Demeter no longer falls under the domain of the Republic. We are joined by the colonies Taraq, Shire, Koenigswald, Valhalla, Pasqua, and Hazel. Together, we are the Coalition of Independent Colonies and we will no longer abide by the corrupt law of the Republic.
“Our borders are open to any Republic citizens – or worlds – that wish to join us. No Republic ship will be permitted to land on our worlds or patrol our skies. Any attempt to enter our borders under the Republic flag will be considered an act of war.
“Do not test us. Any attack on our sovereignty will be met with deadly force.”
; The recording cut and Maria took a deep breath. The rest of the bridge crew erupted in applause. The message was ready to send. Maria flexed her hand into a fist, took a final deep breath, and pushed send.
“May history judge us kindly,” Maria said.
Admiral Dorn laughed. “That will depend on if we win.”
***
Akimbe walked the bustling corridors of the administration building while dozens of people scurried about. He was invisible to most of them as they dealt with the chaos that had gripped the base and the Republic. His disciplinary hearing had been quickly completed so that the presiding officers could focus on more urgent matters, like recalling various elements of the fleet to Earth and discovering just how deeply treason had cut their forces.
Admiral Dorn had control of all but a few small ships in the system. About a thousand men and women were abandoned at Ceres who wanted no part of her rebellion. Admiral Kersey was desperate to find out more about what had happened and to find out exactly what assets Dorn had absconded with. The old man had broken out in a fine sheen of sweat at the thought.
They had reinstated Akimbe in record time. He was to head to Ceres, bring back the ranking officers, and help sort out this mess. Akimbe strode confidently, shoulders back, chest puffed out. He stepped out of the building and into Earth’s bright daylight.
A shuttle was descending toward the landing pad in front of the building. It set down, throttled the engines low enough so that Akimbe could board, and then, when he did, it was off again. Akimbe took a seat towards the rear of the ship so that he could be off as soon as it touched down again.
He started thumbing through news reports on his wrist computer. He stopped at a picture of Senator Cahill. Senator Graham’s spoke over the projected image.
“This is an unconscionable act of treason against a Republic that has provided far more than it should to these ingrates. We cannot let this Republic be divided. This will not stand,” Hunter said.
Akimbe stared at Maria’s image, studying every detail of the woman’s face, every line, every mole, every hair.
He would find her. He would find them. All of them.
Maria Cahill. Max Cabot. Hannah Cabot.
They had made him look the fool. They threatened his Republic. They would all pay.
***
Max woke to the soft beeping of monitoring equipment and the gurgle of fluid somewhere just out of sight. An IV had been inserted into his left arm. He tried to sit up and winced as pain exploded in his abdomen. He was in a softly lit medical ward featuring two columns of mostly empty beds, save for another patient on the far end of the room whom Max couldn’t see save for a couple of lumps beneath the white blanket.
“Easy, Max,” a medical robot said as it glided over to him, “It will be some time before you can do stomach exercises again.”
“What a pity,” Max said. The words came out somewhat slurred; his tongue felt like a dry sponge.
Hannah sat in a seat on the far side of the room watching him. Even with her face in shadow, he could see that her eyes were sunken and hollow with big, dark circles under them.
“How long have I been out?” Max asked.
“Twelve hours,” Hannah said.
“Ah, crap, Reggie…”
“I already called him in. He arrived about two hours after we reached orbit. They’ve already got the Guardian crawling with techs and have started combing through the generator code. They’re probably splicing the drive into the ship’s systems as we speak.”
“When do we make a jump?”
“In just a couple of hours from what I’ve heard.”
Max stared at her. “Thank you.”
She nodded.
On the opposite end of the room, someone burst in screaming. “It’s been long enough. I want to see her!”
“Roger?” Max asked.
Hannah nodded. “With the way he was looking at you on the shuttle, Maria thought it was best to keep some space between you two.”
Roger shrugged off the grip of his escort and stood next to the bed on the other end of the room. Max couldn’t see the person, but he had no doubt who it was. He watched as Roger reached down and wrapped his daughter in a tender embrace. Eleanor’s arms moved slowly as she tried to return the hug. Roger started softly sobbing.
“We’ll never be like that,” Hannah said. It wasn’t a question.
“No,” Max agreed. “But your mother would tell you that I was never really the hugging type.”
“Max, I’m sorry about your daughter, I mean, the original…well…the other…”
“You don’t need to be sorry. You are your own person,” Max said. He swallowed hard before continuing. “Hannah, I’m sorry for what’s happened between us. I’m sorry for what I did to you. I’m sorry for pushing you away.”
Hannah nodded, not taking her eyes from Roger and Eleanor. “So, now what?” She asked.
“First, I need to get healthy enough to have a drink.”
Hannah frowned and folded her arms across her chest.
“Just like your mother,” Max said. “I’m kidding. Sort of. Regardless, the first thing I need to do is get healthy enough to get out of this bed. Can’t really look after you from a hospital bed.”
“So you meant it?” Hannah asked.
Max nodded. “That was my second condition for the good Senator. If you’re joining this fight, I might as well be there to get you in and out of tough spots.”
Hannah stood in the shadow, but Max could still see the light glinting off the sheen of tears that threatened to fall.
“I’m not much with a gun,” Max said, “But I don’t trust anyone else in this galaxy to get you in and out of things.”
Hannah took a step toward him and hesitated. Max looked away and started fiddling with the bed controls, lifting himself up.
Hannah cleared her throat. “Ironheart’s going to be royally pissed at you.”
“You can add his name to the end of a long and distinguished list.”
“He’ll come after you.”
“Maybe,” Max said, “But I tend to think we broke even on that exchange. I don’t want you going back there.” Max braced for an argument.
“I don’t plan to,” Hannah said, “But I don’t know where to go from here.”
“You don’t plan to stay here? This is the fight you wanted.”
“Admiral Dorn has offered me a spot, but I don’t know…I think half the ship wants to kill me.”
“It’ll pass in time,” Max said, “All things do. Once they see you in action, you’ll win them over. You’ve got fire in you, Hannah. Use it the right way and you’ll be leading them to victory.”
Hannah’s expression betrayed her doubts. She was as much an outsider here as she had always been. “What was your other condition?” She asked.
Max pointed his chin to the other end of the room, where Roger was still holding Eleanor in a warm embrace. “I’ve travelled from one side of this galaxy to another to protect that. I couldn’t just leave her there.”
“I know,” Hannah said, “And you were right.”
Max smiled and tears welled in his eyes. Hannah and Max watched in silence as Eleanor laid back down and Roger tucked her in.
“You’re going to need another ship,” Hannah said, her voice strained as she tried to hold back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. “The Guardian is already in so many pieces, I doubt even Reggie would recognize her.”
“That’s all right,” Max said, “I can always find another ship. Maybe a stealth model, something to help with your cloak-and-dagger missions.”
Hannah couldn’t help smiling as she wiped at the corners of her eyes.
END
About the Author
Jason T. Hutt is the author of two books and various pieces of short fiction. He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife and three daughters. He has worked in human spaceflight for the past 18 years at NASA Johnson Space Center and is currently working on the Orion
program.
Connect with me online:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhutt75
Facebook: http://fb.me/jasonthutt
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/jasonhutt
Table of Contents
Pursuit of the Guardian
For Laurel, Samantha, and Charlie.
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Part II
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Part III
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21