They had seemed a powerful foe, but they did not scare CJ. They were primitive soldiers even if they were strong, but they were no match for him and his people. He took aim and knocked the head clean off the first and blew the legs off the second, putting a headshot in to finish it. The rest of Mirov’s platoon opened up, and half of the enemy were dead before they had even closed the distance.
CJ let his rifle drop to his side and drew his Assegai as he pinned one against a wall. He thrust into its chest and up to the neck, severing all of its circuits. The Gueros slumped over him, and he cast it aside. He turned just in time to find himself looking down the barrel of a gun, but a single shot went through the enemy’s head. He had Emily King to thank for that. He said nothing, but his eyes spoke volumes.
“These Gueros, they aren’t so tough. You really think they could turn the tide of the war?” Ross asked.
“In the numbers that Ganbaatar has in mind, certainly,” replied King.
“We’re close now,” said CJ.
They rushed out onto a bridge over a vast chasm that nobody expected to find on a station.
“Whoa!” King yelled.
They stopped for just a moment. It was half a kilometre deep and perhaps the same in height. Every wall was lined with Gueros waiting to be initialised.
“There must be thousands of them,” said Ross.
“Tens of thousands, and this is just the beginning,” said King.
“This must be the central spine joining the stars together,” said Mirov.
“Enough talking, let’s get this done. We’re only a few hundred metres away now,” replied CJ.
He didn’t care what they could see. All of it would be gone within the hour if they did their jobs right.
“Kaner, this is CJ, come in.”
There was no response, and that worried him.
“Kaner, come in,” he repeated.
Still nothing, and then finally a response.
“Captain, are you okay? It’s chaos in here.”
“Have you reached your target?”
“Almost.”
“Same here. You know what to do, so get it done fast!”
They rushed to the edge of the bridge and into a vast hall when they stopped dead. CJ almost felt his heart stop. It was the one huge danger he’d prayed they would not have to face, and yet knew they would have to.
“Ganbaatar,” he snarled.
“What do we do?”
He had two-dozen Gueros around him and two Morohtan officers by his side.
“We don’t have a choice. We have to plant this bomb, and the only way that is going to happen is if we get through him.”
“You know that isn’t possible.”
“Isn’t it? Then what are we even doing here?”
“Whatever we can to make a difference, but that doesn’t mean throwing our lives away.”
“I don’t intend to commit suicide for anyone’s benefit, but neither do we have a choice. We can’t plant the bomb, and we can’t run. All we can do is fight.”
“Even if we can’t win?”
“I don’t accept that. No fight is lost before it has begun, Emily.”
She smiled.
“What?’
“You sound just like Taylor.” He frowned, and yet he knew she was right.
“You could not beat me before, and neither could your great champion, what makes you think now will be any different?” Ganbaatar asked in a loud and gruff voice.
CJ smiled as he strode casually forward ahead of the rest of the platoon so that he could address the Prince. He did not shy away at all and stood tall in a defiant manner.
“It terrifies you that I made you bleed, doesn’t it? I made you bleed, and Taylor messed up your face! And yet he is still alive, and I am still alive, and you bear the scars that we gave you!”
Ganbaatar’s nostrils flared, and he became angrier.
That’s right, you ugly son of a bitch, you get angry!
It was the only thing he could think to do. Play the Prince off against himself by attacking his own credibility and strength, and make him not think clearly. He needed him to be acting on emotion, and it was working. Whether or not CJ could handle the consequences was the only thing he wasn’t sure of, but he’d never let his enemy see that doubt.
“You will need more than that to destroy this station.”
He pointed to the bomb on Ross’ back. It was clear he knew what it was, but the question remained, what else did he know about their plan? Ganbaatar let out a screeching war cry and rushed towards him. The whole room erupted into a warzone as everyone else opened fire. CJ activated his shield and fired as the Prince charged at him. His helmet expanded out and encased his entire head as bullets bounced off. He closed the distance quickly.
CJ tried to get out of the way, but gunfire at his feet from a Gueros caused him to stop as he tried to turn back, so he wasn’t fast enough. He was hit by the Prince like a freight train and launched through the air. He smashed into a bulkhead and collapsed to the ground.
* * *
“This is it,” said Kaner.
He couldn’t believe they had finally made it. Two of his platoon unloaded the bomb and placed it inside a ventilation shaft where it would be well hidden. Kaner checked his pad. There were just twenty seconds left until they had to prime the weapon.
“Right on time,” he said.
It was quiet now. Whatever forces were trying to reach them were either trapped because of the hack of the computer systems, or had no idea how to find them. Kaner watched the seconds count down as if expecting some last minute disaster.
“Arm the bomb.”
One of his people punched in the codes, and the countdown began before they covered it up with the air vent.
“CJ, this is Kaner. We have completed our mission and are heading out.”
Silence.
“CJ, our mission is complete. We are getting out of here, and you should do the same.”
Still nothing came back.
“Probably just interference, or they are jamming our comms.”
But he knew deep down that something worse was going on.
“What do we do?” asked another.
He shook his head.
“We stick to the mission. That is what the Captain would want. Let’s move!”
* * *
CJ’s eyes opened, and he heard the muffled sound of Kaner’s voice in his ear, but he couldn’t work out what was being said. Something similar was repeated as he tried to get back on his feet. As he did so, his attention turned to Ganbaatar who was pushing Ross out towards the bridge they had crossed. The burly Scotsman seemed powerless to stop him. It looked as though he would be driven over the edge. Ganbaatar stopped him at the edge and drew back his partisan as if to skewer the man, but as the last moment Rivera jumped into the fray and thrust her Assegai into his stomach.
The thrust went a little wide and pierced into Ross’ webbing. The bomb fell from his back. He turned to grab it, but was too late as he watched it tumble over the edge and vanish into the depths below. He turned back in horror just in time to see Ganbaatar drive his blade into Rivera. It passed through her armour with ease and burst out through the back plate. He drew it back out, and she dropped to her knees.
“No!” CJ screamed.
The adrenaline pouring through his veins spurred him on, and he was on his feet again in no time. A hail of gunfire hit Ganbaatar and drove him back into the room as CJ reached Rivera’s side. Blood was pouring from her open wound and from her mouth. He held her close, but he was powerless to change her fate, and for the first time in his life he felt what it was like to lose someone he actually cared for, and not just those he had a duty towards.
“Thank you,” she said as she drew her last breath.
It made no sense to him, but King was tugging at his arm.
“Come on, we have to go. We’ll die if we stay here!”
He shook his head as if he didn’t agree, but she
didn’t care.
“Fall back, back over the bridge!” she ordered.
She set a charge at the centre of the bridge as they retreated while laying down heavy covering fire, but CJ could not leave Rivera. He threw her body over his shoulder and ran with her. The bridge blew just seconds after as a dozen Gueros pursued them. They fell with the bridge, but it was little relief as they turned back and saw Ganbaatar standing in the doorway on the far side. He had a smug look on his face. They could even tell from the distance his arrogant body language.
A tear dropped from CJ’s eye. The first time he had ever experienced the phenomenon as he put Rivera down. She was long gone.
“There is nothing more we can do for her now, but there is everything we can do for each other. If we stay here, we’ll die. This mission is over.”
He shook his head, wiped the tear from his eye, and got back up to gaze upon the alien Prince once more.
“No, Emily, it’s not over. It hasn’t even begun,” he snarled.
He was breathing heavily as a wave of passion and emotion overcame him. He’d never felt it before, but it was fuelling his bitter hatred of Ganbaatar and everything associated with him.
“The bomb is gone, CJ. We are finished here. You heard the brief, one bomb isn’t enough.”
“There may be another way,” said Boron.
CJ looked to him for answers with one hundred percent of his attention. It didn’t matter that gunfire still rang out as the two sides skirmished from either side of the bridge.
“What is it?”
“It’s crazy. It won’t work,” said King.
“Just tell me!”
King could see there would be no reasoning with him. She’d never seen him so emotional.
Chapter 28
“If you do this, it would be a suicide mission.”
“I’ll be the judge of that, Boron. I am not leaving this damn station while a chance still remains that we can blow them all to hell!”
King looked desperate. “And if it costs you your life?”
Her voice was shaky, and he could tell she was genuinely fearful of losing him.
“My life is only worth a damn if I can make a difference.”
“What happened to wanting to live?”
“I do want to live, but it’s about more than just what happens here today.”
She wasn’t getting anywhere. Her mouth opened as if to appeal to him in some other way, but she could find no more words. He went back to Boron to fuel his vengeful ways.
“Tell me what I need to do.”
“The reactor of this station. If it could be made to overload, combined with the device that Lieutenant Kaner has placed…”
“That would be enough?”
“Yes.”
“You are sure?”
“Yes.”
Boron seemed to know so much more about the enemy than he would be expected to, and certainly more than the rest of them did. CJ wanted to find out why, but there was no time.
“Where is it, and what would I have to do?”
“We do not know. At the top of one of the stars of this station.”
“So one of eight locations?”
“One in seven. Where you crashed the enemy ship into the station would have had severe effects on the power of this facility if it were the location.”
“Okay, and what do I do?”
“Find the primary engineering conduit, and input this code.”
He showed CJ the code on the screen on his arm. CJ tried to remember the letters, but they were in an alien language that he didn’t recognise.
“King, give me control of the hack.”
She shook her head, but he grabbed the Mappad on her arm and pulled it off. He clipped it in place where his had been, handing his to her.”
“What are you doing?”
“All of you back to the boat. You are getting out of here, and that is an order!”
“You have to come with us,” she pleaded.
“I said that is an order. Go, now!”
She wouldn’t move, so he appealed to Boron.
“You swore to protect her, didn’t you? Well, do it. Take her!”
He did as asked and hauled her away. Someone else picked up Rivera’s body and helped another two who were wounded. King kept looking back as though it was the last time she was ever going to see him, and he felt her pain.
“Don’t leave us! CJ!”
But then she was gone and out of sight. CJ looked back. Ganbaatar remained standing where he had been before in defiance of them.
“This isn’t over, but before it is, I am going to kill you!” he yelled at the top of his voice.
He couldn’t tell if the alien could hear his words, but either way he got the gist. He turned away and ran onwards. The pathway seemed to lead around the central structure and hallway that he had been in. He passed the first corridor leading down the next length of the lower star structure they had landed in and stopped in front of it. He looked around for some sign it might be the right one, but it looked just the same as the first that they had come down.
“One in seven?” he asked himself, “It’s as good as any.”
He took two paces towards it when a voice came in over his comms.
“Not that one,” said Marks.
“Captain?”
“I know what you’re doing, but you’ve got the wrong location.”
“How do you know?”
“That little hack or virus that we put in. A few of the feedback results have paved the way in a manner I wouldn’t have expected. The reasons why don’t matter. You just need to trust me.”
That was a tough call to make. As much as they had worked well together, it was not lost on CJ that he had once held a gun to the Captain’s head and taken over his ship. This was the perfect opportunity to kill him without having to get his hands dirty.
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me, one hundred percent.”
Would he be that selfish?
He didn’t have the luxury of finding out.
What the hell? One is as good as the other.
“Okay, which one is it?”
“Just the next one along, the way you were going.”
“And how do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t, but if you’re probably going to die in there either way, and it’s in all our interests that this mission is successful.”
CJ appreciated his honesty.
“All right, I’ll give it a shot. You just promise me you will get the rest of our people free and clear of here.”
“You have my word. Good luck to you, Captain, and thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Our work here isn’t done yet. CJ out.”
He looked at his pad to see that time was short. He didn’t even know if he could make it in time, but he was going to give it a shot. Six minutes was all that he had. He ran onwards with all the speed that he could muster and came to the spur Marks had told him about.
“You better be right, you bastard!”
It was then he noticed a rail line leading from the base where he was. Further along he could see down a tunnel. It had to lead to the tip where the power source was. It made sense, but he wasn’t sure. Time was running out, and if he went in on foot, it would be cutting it short. It was worth the risk. He leapt onto a flat car that was waiting and yet could see no power source for it, just a single button at the back and another at the front.
“What the hell!”
He punched the one at the back, and the railcar smashed against the framework behind him. “Okay, wrong way,” he said and punched the other one.
The cart launched forward at immense speed, to the level that he had to hold on tight for risk of being launched off by the g-force. It didn’t take long before he was brought to an abrupt halt and almost launched off like a catapult, but he held on firmly as it rocked to a halt, and he leapt off.
“Okay, here we go,” he whispered to himself.
It was not lost on him that he was way out of his depth. He had no idea what he was looking for and of what he was doing. But more than anything he had the willpower to keep moving forward. He soon reached a secure blast door and flicked through the pad on his arm to quickly gain access. The locks prised open, and he stepped inside.
“Whoa,” he said, looking at the vast banks of glowing columns making up the immense power source that fed the station. The room was fifty metres high and a hundred metres long. It looked like one giant engine. Components parts dipped up and down, and cogs turned. He tapped his communicator.
“Boron, you have to give me a little help here.”
“Captain, have you made it to the reactor?”
“Yeah, I am here, but I don’t know what I am looking at or where to begin.”
“The main control module will be marked for easy access. Follow a red line and you will find it.”
To his amazement he looked closer and could see colour coded symbols running along some of the piping systems. He followed the red as Boron had said.
“You do not have long now. The first device will not finish the job, but you may not make it off alive once it has activated.”
“Got any good news for me?”
“Sorry, Captain, but you must find the console.”
He carried on and finally traced the colours to a box a metre-square and covered with thick security glass. It was sealed with a lock. He took aim and blew the locking mechanism off. He prised it open to reveal a large keypad of the type of characters that Boron had showed him, but he couldn’t remember the order. He was about to ask when he heard the sound of a door being forced open. He wasn’t alone.
“Boron, what do I do?”
“Put in the code that I showed you?”
“And if I can’t?”
“You’ll…”
Interference ended the signal. He was being jammed, and he was about to have company. His Mappad flashed. A message had been delivered with the sequence that he had to put in. He punched in the twelve-digit code quickly, and a countdown began, but he didn’t know what the characters meant.
Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth) Page 21