Unknown Cargo (The Meridian Crew Book 1)

by Blake B. Rivers

  Sam hit the opening, and the air rushed out of the bottom level of the ship in a wild rush of white mist, the ivory curves of the city below filling her vision.

  “Drop!” shouted Benkei as the three let go of their handles and fell onto the surface of the top of the city’s airlock.

  The trio landed with silent impacts, standing up and making their way towards the airlock. Benkei pulled it open, and before they entered, Amelia looked at the raging battle outside the city, the carnage unfolding a stark contrast to the silence in which she viewed it. A pair of Eden spacecraft erupted into rippling fireballs just as Amelia jumped into the hatch. Benkei pulled the outer hatch closed, then opened the bottom, allowing them to drop into the spare white room of the airlock.

  The three pulled off their helmets, collapsed them into small, folded squares, and tucked them into the pockets of their suits before taking the suits off, folding them down, and storing them.

  “Please try not to get these suits ruined,” said Amelia. “These portable ones were so expensive I wanted to cry when I bought them.”

  “I’ll do my best,” said Benkei pulling his rifle from his back. “But I can’t promise the Initiative will be so kind.”

  “Here, I’ll get the….ah,” said Sasha, fiddling with the security lock. “There! There we go!”

  The door slid open and the three stepped out of their airlock into the pitch-black room, the frantic sounds of chaos occurring beyond the door that led into the connecting hallway.

  “These civvies aren’t going to run out of air, right?” asked Benkei, looking around the dark of the airlock.

  “Nah, they should be fine,” said Amelia. “They’d have to be without power for a few days for the air to completely run out.”

  “Well, now that the safety of the people who want to kill us is assured, can we get this thing going?” asked Sasha, his face tight with worry.

  Putting her hand on the silver handle of the door, Amelia looked at Benkei, who nodded, indicating his readiness.

  Then she pulled it, opening the door to reveal a large hallway full of Initiative civilians, all running here and there, the space completely dark, aside from the red emergency lights that covered the place in a sinister glow.

  “OK, the science lab that we’re looking for is about five-hundred yards down that way,” said Amelia, pointing down the hallway, yelling over the commotion. “If we get in and out, fast, we should be fine.”

  “I’m ready,” said Benkei, his face painted with a small smirk, Mädchen in his hands, the energy pack of the rifle glowing a soft green.

  “Sasha, stay behind us. Only fire if you absolutely need to,” said Amelia.

  “Not something you need to convince me, boss,” he said, trying to make his body small behind Benkei’s enormous frame.

  Amelia and Benkei raised their rifles in front of them, moving with quick but careful movements along the hallway, the civilians rushing around them.

  “Nothing yet,” said Amelia, noting the absence of troopers.

  “Perhaps they’re all at the battle?” suggested Benkei.

  “Nah, gotta be at least a skeleton crew here,” she said, looking the barrel of her rifle, keeping it straight and steady against the constant jostling of the near-stampede of the crowd.

  And as they moved further along the hall, the troopers that they were anticipating appeared. A small squadron of black-armored security team members turned the corner, spotted the trio, and took cover behind nearby tables, chairs, and planters. The trooper in charge pointed towards the three with a sweeping wave of his arm.

  “Down!” shouted Amelia, taking cover behind an overturned table, Sasha sliding next to her, his gun next to his head and pointed up.

  “It doesn’t look like they’re about to offer terms of surrender!” shouted Benkei from the other side of the hall from behind his cover of a large, abandoned security car, a great, angled black thing armored like a tank.

  “Then hurry up and kill them!” shouted Amelia, swinging her body around, sliding into an indentation in the table and training her rifle on one of the troops.

  She slammed one eye shut and let her reflexes kick in. Time now slowed, she moved the rifle until the ebony-colored helmet of one of the troopers drifted into her reticle. She emptied her lungs, then squeezed the trigger. The rifle snapped back in her hands as the round blasted down the barrel, connecting with the trooper directly in the center-side of his helmet, knocking him back several feet and killing him instantly.

  The troopers noticed, and the handful that remained fired a barrage of suppressing fire, the red slashes of laser whizzing over the team’s heads and connecting with the ceiling above with a wicked hiss and sending down a spray of sparks.

  Benkei, still behind cover, pulled down the small silver bolt on Mädchen that allowed a build-up of energy to accumulate, the power pack of the rifle glowing a garish bright green. The rifle began to shake in his hands, and, just as it reached a critical point, he whipped it around the side of the car, pointed it at the troopers, and fired a punishing blast of superheated, bright green energy towards the troops. It screamed across the hall in an eyeblink and slammed into the two troopers on the right, hitting them with the crushing force of a train and sending their bodies sprawling backwards.

  Amelia trained her rifle on one of the remaining troops as Sasha blind-fired over the cover with his pistol, the bullets zinging around the troopers, but nowhere near hitting them. The trooper she had in mind made the mistake of getting out of cover to throw a thermal grenade, but a quick single shot that connected square on his breastplate was more than enough to bring him down.

  Benkei set Mädchen to fire a chain shot, sending out a sputter of smaller blasts, two of which struck the commanding officer and the, by now, last standing member of the troops.

  “I think that’s all of them,” said Benkei, slipping Mädchen onto his backstrap.

  “Then let’s move out,” said Amelia, launching over her cover.

  Chapter 28

  The team encountered less resistance as they made their way down the darkened hallway, taking turns when necessary. Eventually, they arrived at their destination and, after a quick bypassing of the control panel by way of a close-range rifle blast, the team was in.

  The lab was stark, white, sleek, and empty, just like the rest of the city. Straight rows of desks were arranged and topped with clear, thin computer displays. The large room was cast in thin white light, seemingly running on its own power supply.

  “This looks like the main lab floor,” said Sasha, looking around, his pistol at his side. “The weapon’s probably in one of the test chambers, probably down this hallway, if I had to guess.”

  “We ought to be as fast as possible,” said Benkei. “I would imagine that if they’re planning on using the weapon, it’s going to be sooner than later.”

  “You give anyone at that weapon one chance to back down,” said Amelia, pulling out her twelve-millimeter pistol. “They even look like they’re thinking of going for the weapon, ice them- civilian or not.”

  Benkei and Sasha nodded in agreement. They made their way down the large hallway past the main floor; there wasn’t a sign of anyone. But the as they moved along, a large steel door was seen at the end of the hallway, the words “Experimental Test Chamber” written above in stern-looking black letters.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say it was in there,” said Sasha. “And if it’s there, so’s the data.”

  “We can destroy the weapon and their ability to manufacture another one,” said Amelia.

  “Then let’s do it,” said Benkei.

  They reached the door, and Sasha went to work on the control panel.

  “This is some high-tier security,” he said. “It’s gonna take a minute to get through.”

  The sound of more troops arriving caused Amelia’s heart to race.

  “Do whatever you need to do, just hurry the hell up!” she said, raising her rifle and aiming down the hallway.<
br />
  “Am-e-lia,” called a familiar voice, saying her name in a mocking, sing-song manner.

  It was Drummond.

  “I know you’re down here,” he continued, his voice growing closer. “You might as well just give up now; I’d hate to have to make a mess of our humble little lab.”

  “Sasha…” said Amelia, her voice tinged with worry.

  “Hold on, hold on…got it!”

  The door slid open, and the three darted into the room beyond without looking. Sasha turned to the interior control panel and keyed in a code, the panel flashing a deep red as he finished.

  “Locked,” he said, no small amount of pride to his voice. “They’ll have a hell of a time getting through.”

  The trio turned towards the interior of the room they had just entered. Like the rest of the lab, it was illuminated with thin white light. But, unlike the rest of the lab, it was bare, aside from a single computer terminal in the corner of the room. There was, however, another door, this one a sturdy, thick steel, which led to a wide, open area with rounded walls.

  “That must be the test chamber,” said Benkei.

  “Yeah,” added Sasha. “And this terminal’s gotta be the one with all the data. You guys sit tight while I figure out how to get into this thing.

  Sasha darted over to the terminal and, after booting it up, began typing furiously. As they approached, they saw that inside the chamber was a stark white pedestal with a single gray cube, each side of the cube a foot across, sitting on top of it.

  “That’s…” said Benkei, walking over to the viewing window and placing his fingertips on the glass.

  “That’s the nanoweapon,” said Amelia.

  “Good to see you all again!” said a voice piped in through the room’s speaker system.

  Amelia recognized it as Dr. Bryson’s. By instinct, she pointed her rifle up towards the direction the voice came from.

  “It’s wonderful that you came back to make sure your cargo was delivered in good condition. It’s rare to see such thoroughness from mercenaries.”

  “Bryson!” called Amelia, moving her gun with quick motions from one section of the room to another, searching for any possible place that she could escape from, if need be.

  “Here, I believe I have you at a disadvantage,” he said.

  A panel of the wall shifted down, revealing a large screen which was filled with Bryson’s visage.

  “There we go,” he said. “So much better when we can talk face to face.”

  “I don’t know where you are right now,” said Amelia, lowering her gun, “but you need to come out and surrender the nanoweapon, now.”

  “Now why would I do that?” he asked. “I’m the one in the advantageous position. I have the nanoweapon loaded and ready to go, thanks to your ship’s scanners, of course.”

  “Then what’s this in the test chamber?” asked Benkei.

  “I figured you were coming,” he said. “So I wanted to have a little something ready for you so your trip wasn’t entirely in vain. It’s a little sample of the nanoweapon, just for you.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” demanded Amelia.

  “I’m currently in another experimental weapon of mine, though this one is a little more, ah, theatrical in nature. And with me is the nanoweapon, loaded into a missile, ready to be fired at Presidium. So, without further ado, let your last moments of life be spent in awe of the most destructive weapon that the solar system has ever seen, the weapon that will allow me to not only conquer Luna, but the Earth itself.”

  “You’re wrong,” said Sasha, not looking up from the data. “There’s no way you’ll be able to control the weapon. Once it’s loose, it’ll cover Presidium before eating everything else on the moon. You’ll be turning Luna back into just as dead of a rock as it was before!”

  “Nonsense,” Bryson said. “I have complete control of the weapon. And you’re about to see exactly how much. Enjoy!”

  With that, the screen went black, and the cube in the test chamber began flickering with a strange white light. Then, like wax under a hot light, the cube began to melt, turning into a glistening gray paste that spread across the surface of the pedestal. Then the pedestal was covered with the paste, and it, too, began melting. Soon the cube and the pedestal were gone, as though never there, a spreading pool of shiny gray sludge in their place which was spreading across the floor, expanding by the second.

  “This does not look good,” said Benkei, backing away from the test chamber as the gray goo covered the entirety of the floor and began crawling up the walls.

  Sasha whipped his head around from the computer, looking at the situation, before turning his attention back to the monitor. He pressed a key, held his slate in front of the computer, and downloaded data onto it.

  The gray goo covered the windows to the chamber, obscuring the room for a brief moment before the walls began to melt, revealing the ever-increasing size of the spreading nanoweapon, which was now only a dozen or so feet away, and getting closer by the second.

  Chapter 29

  “If any of you have any brilliant ideas, now’s the time!” said Amelia, backing closer and closer towards the wall.

  “I think I can access the nanomachines from the terminal,” said Sasha. “They’re controlled remotely, I just need to find the access point.”

  “Then do it fast!” she shouted.

  The gray goo moved at a slow, creeping pace, but fast enough that it would consume them within minutes. It spread slowly across the floor, now only feet away from the three.

  “Almost…” said Sasha, typing feverishly.

  “Hurry!”

  “Almost…”

  The goo had not taken over nearly the entirety of the room and was spreading from the walls to the ceiling. Now it was only a few inches from their feet. Amelia was close enough to see the surface of the goo swarmed and seethed with the nanomaterial, as though it were an ever-expanding plague of tiny insects.

  “Got it!”

  Sasha slammed a final key, and the goo stopped instantly. Within seconds, it went from the appearance of a thick, goopy liquid to a hard, solid material.

  “Damn!” shouted Amelia with relief. “Nice work, Sasha!”

  “That was…quite the close call,” said Benkei, inspecting the stone-still material that was only moments ago poised to devour them whole.

  “It’s completely inert now,” said Sasha, tossing a coin from his pocket onto the nano-material, which landed with a small thunk, as though landing on cement. “You can even touch it, if you want.”

  “I’ll pass,” said Amelia.

  Sasha then swiped his slate in front of the screen, downloading the data. Then, with a few more keystrokes, he wiped the hard drive of the computer clean.

  “That do it?” asked Benkei.

  “It looks that way,” said Sasha. “This computer’s isolated from the network; I assume they wanted to keep this data as secret as possible.”

  “Won’t they be able to just recreate it?” asked Benkei.

  “Possibly. Probably. But this should set them back by a year or so. And without the raw material to work with, it could be decades.”

  Amelia slumped against the wall with relief. But her heart skipped as soon as she remembered that Drummond was just beyond the door. And, is if he could read her mind, the door to the testing room opened with a hiss, revealing Drummond standing amidst a dozen or so troops. But there was something different about these soldiers, she noticed: they were all wearing crisp dress clothes of white dress shirts, slim black ties, and black pants instead of the black uniforms of the Initiative security.

  And Drummond was dressed differently, as well. Instead of the black, knight-like armor, he was wearing a perfectly pressed, immaculate gold-and-white-patterned shirt with a pair of shiny cufflinks, a gold paisley tie, and a pair of tailored dress pants. His matching black dress shoes gleamed with a recent polishing, and his hair was slicked back and glossed. It was a simple, but elegant
style that Amelia recognized as suiting his haughty personality more than the bulky armor of the Lunar Initiative.

  “There’s my girl,” he said, a wry smile on his face.

  Amelia and Benkei instinctively pointed their guns at the squad, and the squad responded in kind.

  “Now, now,” Drummond said. “There’s no need for any of that nonsense.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” demanded Amelia. “If we’re gonna do this, then let’s just do it.”

  Drummond said nothing, instead looking over Amelia’s shoulder at the ruined room behind her.

  “He actually did it, that stupid son-of-a-bitch,” said Drummond, followed by a tsk-tsk. “That’s the problem with these nerds- they get the slightest little taste of power and they think they can take over the goddamn universe.”

  Then Drummond’s eyes widened, as though remembering himself.

  “But where on earth are my manners,” he said, stepping to the side between the two groups and gesturing towards his own with a sweep of his hand. “Allow me to present my humble little group of associates: The Bowery Boys.”

  The gaggle of men stared at the trio with hard eyes over smirking mouths, standing in postures that were casual, almost languid. They seemed itching for a fight.

  “If we’re gonna have a shootout, then let’s get it over with,” said Amelia.

  The men began to reach for their own weapons, their smirking face shifting into the expressions of wolves ready to toy with their prey before devouring it.

  “Oh, no, Ms. Durand,” said Drummond, raising his palm and turning back to his men and shaking his head in a chiding manner, to which the men responded with looks of disappointment as they moved their hands away from their weapons. “You misunderstand. I’m not here to kill you- I’m letting you go.”

  “What?” asked Amelia, Benkei, and Sasha simultaneously.

  “I’m a mercenary, like you. And this little set-up here in this fine city was a pretty comfy gig…for a time. But now, things are looking a bit more, well, grim. I told that damn fool, Bryson, over and over again to just enjoy what he had, to stick to his research, and to not pick any unnecessary fights; plenty of territories in this system would kill to have no more than a single neighbor, and one that’s more interested in lounging around all damn day than conquest. But he got too ambitious, like all men like him seem to do. And I’m no captain; I’ve no obligation to go down with this particular ship. So, me and the boys here are off for greener pastures. There’s a lot of money to be made in the solar system.”