Veil of Reality (Cadicle #2): An Epic Space Opera Series

by Amy DuBoff

  He paused. I could vent them… Carzen is expecting to see an airlock activate. He looked at the control panel, but all of the text was in a language he took to be Bakzeni. I don’t have time to figure this out. Part of him was relieved to leave the guards alive.

  No one else was visible in the passageway. I don’t have much time. They won’t be out for long. Once they wake up and sound the alarm, there’s no way I’ll get free. Wil looked down both wings of the hall, having absolutely no idea which way to go. He hesitated, wasting valuable time. Move. He ran to the right, just trying to distance himself from the Command Center and Carzen. Where can I go?

  He rounded a corner and came to a dead end. Great. There was a single door, apparently to the Bakzen version of a lift. Wil walked forward and the doors opened. Keep moving. He entered the lift, and the doors closed automatically behind him. There were no exposed controls. Voice activated. Will it understand New Taran? Where can I go? Wait… “Hangar,” Wil said, willing the computer to understand the command. If I could only get a ship…

  Wil held his breath, waiting, hoping the lift would go where he wanted. Movement. He didn’t know for sure where he was heading, but any movement was a good sign. Just keep breathing. Stay calm. It will all work out. Another violent jolt took the ship and Wil was thrown against the wall of the lift. He caught himself against the wall and rode out the shock of the blast. They know what they’re doing. Just stay calm. Stay focused. The lift came to an abrupt halt and the doors opened, revealing another hallway. Wil peered out. Again, to his relief, there was no one to see him. He crept out, keeping close to the wall in case anyone came by.

  Where am I? There were signs, but it was all in Bakzeni. I should have paid more attention in linguistics class. He looked around. There was a large doorway in front of him. Blank, unmarked hallways stretched in either direction. Assuming it did take me to the hangar, this is probably the entry door. But there are likely people in there, so how am I supposed to get a ship without being caught? He combed the walls without moving, hoping to catch sight of something that might serve as a distraction while he entered the room. As he had suspected, the walls were completely bare, leaving him with only what he was carrying.

  Wil crouched down, and he felt his pants tighten around a form in his pocket. That’s right! His handheld and the demo explosive from his electrochemistry class were still tucked away. He pulled out the two objects. I can work with this. He brought up the imaging controls on his handheld and set the screen to cycle through a timed frequency sweep of colored light that should overlap with the trigger range for the explosive. Then, he queued up a music track. Once everything was configured to his satisfaction, he carefully laid the explosive film over the screen so it would get maximum exposure. The guards are sure to wake up soon. This will have to be good enough.

  Wil dashed across the hallway, staying low. He came to rest beside the door, his back pressed up against the smooth surface of the wall. It would be a one-shot deal to quickly assess his surroundings and formulate an action plan once he got inside. With the luck that had been coming very easily in the past few minutes, he would be able to procure a jet and be on his way while the personnel were distracted by the sudden sound and explosion. Not that I’ll necessarily know how to fly a Bakzen ship, he realized with a wave of apprehension. Well, there’s one way to find out.

  He made a sudden movement toward the door. As he expected, it opened automatically. Not pausing to look inside, Wil simultaneously initiated the light frequency sweep and started the music on the handheld, then slid the device across the floor. It would take approximately twenty seconds for the frequency sweep to make it to the trigger range for the explosive.

  When he heard the opening notes of the music, he ran into the room, staying close to the wall and low to the ground. Once he was safely behind a crate near the door, he risked a look at what he hoped was a hangar. He sighed with relief. There were rows of fighter jet-like spacecraft, similar in appearance to those Wil normally flew, and all of the visible personnel in the bay were standing over the handheld, looking quite confused. Wil had been carefully counting as he ran into the room, and ducked down to gain some shelter from the impending blast. Four… three… two… one…

  The explosion was more forceful than Wil had anticipated, but it served its purpose well. There was a sharp crack as the explosive detonated. The music cut off with a digital screech. Shouts of pain and surprise rang out as the blast hit the Bakzen who had been hovering around to peer at the foreign object in the middle of their shuttle bay. Wil got up and ran toward a row of fighter jets in the middle of the hangar.

  As he approached one of the fighters, he caught sight of some Bakzen soldiers recovering from the blast. Others were still lying on the ground, apparently injured. Good thing that didn’t accidentally go off in my pocket!

  Wil turned his attention to the ship. He climbed to the cockpit in much the same way as any TSS ship, stepping up the footholds running along the hull in front of the port wing. They were sized for a large Bakzen soldier, but Wil nimbly made his way up. Once he was standing on the wing, still undetected by the Bakzen soldiers on the other side of the bay, he was able to get his first good look at the control panels of the alien vessel. To his surprise, they were manual controls rather than the touchscreens that he had previously seen on the Bakzen ships. There were also craft in the TSS fleet that used manual controls, and Wil happened to prefer them.

  He climbed into the cockpit and his confidence evaporated. It was huge for him, and the location of the seat was fixed. Shite!

  Wil slipped off his jacket and shoved it behind his back to give him a little boost toward the controls. He still strained to reach the front panel, but it was just enough.

  Now, how do I work this thing? He stared at the controls as he fastened the safety harness around his chest and lap. Of course, the controls were all written in the mystifying Bakzeni language, leaving Wil in a very awkward position. He looked around at the metal bracing around the top of the cockpit, hoping to find whatever mechanism was used to close the cockpit hatch. There must be something. Finding no indication of a closing button or lever along the upper edge, he returned to his examination of the control panel. The panel looked as if it was laid out in the same way as TSS ships. However, a button’s corresponding position on a TSS ship didn’t guarantee a corresponding function on the Bakzen vessel. After several more seconds of staring dumbly at the control panel, Wil knew he had to take action before he wasted even more precious time.

  Here goes nothing. Taking a breath, he pressed the button that, on a TSS vessel, would start up the taxiing engines. The welcome noise of engine ignition met his ears as he pulled his hand away from the button. Moments later, the hatch began to close above his head. The control panel lit up as the engine settled into a humming idle. With momentary panic, it occurred to him that he wasn’t wearing a flight suit; hopefully the cockpit was pressurized. He waited for the hatch to close and was relieved to hear a hiss as it sealed. Even if there wasn’t an air filter, there would be enough oxygen to get him to his destination.

  Wil turned his attention to the forward controls. He gently moved one of the levers forward and the jet immediately responded—by moving in a backward direction. Well that’s a stupid design! Quickly bringing the ship to a complete stop, Wil then pulled the lever toward himself and the jet began rolling forward. I can do this. He brought the jet out into the open area between the rows of jets. There was no way the Bakzen hadn’t noticed him yet, but he couldn’t see anything out the back of the ship.

  Looking ahead, Wil saw that the exterior doors were sealed. Hoping that he wouldn’t have to shoot out the doors, he charged the engines. The doors began to spread apart, revealing a nearly transparent force field. As he passed by the row of jets near the door, he realized that several of the crafts were powering up. Stars! Here we go. Wil engaged the primary engines and accelerated as he approached the force field. It washed over his jet and he glided i
nto the expanse of space.

  As soon as he was clear of the cruiser, Wil braked sharply and spun the jet around one hundred-eighty degrees to face his pursuers. So far, his assumptions of controls had been accurate; the technologies weren’t as different as they seemed at first glance. The vessel was more responsive than many in the TSS fleet, and Wil almost swung past his mark. He managed to catch the spin in time, and spotted the lead pursuer. As he locked the weapons into his target, he located the protective field generator for his jet and switched it on. Wil took aim and fired.

  The blast glanced off the shield of his opponent, as a return shot issued from the other jet. Wil nudged his jet to the side, avoiding the shot. As he did so, three more ships joined the one he had already targeted. An energy field formed between the ships: a containment net. Shite, they’re trying to capture me! Wil spun the jet back around to port, not quite one-eighty, but slightly off to his new starboard side, and accelerated quickly. The ship was obviously built for extreme speed and responded effortlessly at the faster pace. He brought the jet over the top of the Bakzen cruiser he had just left, cutting it so close he could almost reach out to touch the hull—he was very much in control now that he knew how the vessel operated.

  When he came over the top of the Bakzen cruiser, the Vanquish came into full view. He kept the jet at the same breakneck speed as he neared the Vanquish. When he was within three hundred meters, he began to slow, just enough to prepare for landing. As he did so, the Bakzen jets behind him began to speed up and moved into a protective formation. Wil couldn’t see them clearly because of the cockpit design, but the shot over his starboard wing made their intent obvious. He was forced to swerve to his port side in order to avoid another shot from the jet on the right of the formation. The maneuver threw him off his course to the Vanquish’s hangar just as he neared the most crucial part of the landing procedure.

  When another shot just barely missed the roof of the cockpit, Wil had to abort the landing attempt and circle around to once again face his attackers. He swung above the other jets and opened fire at a downward angle while accelerating straight toward them. As he had hoped, due to the angle, Wil left their cone of fire just before they were out of his. He got in a few clean shots before passing the lead ship.

  It took several moments for the jets to recover from the attack, but when they did, Wil took on a course running along the underside of the Bakzen cruiser. Let’s see how they handle this. The course cut precariously near the hull of the cruiser, and Wil surprised even himself with how close he got. One wrong move and his jet would be obliterated. The jets trailing Wil’s fighter had to follow him at nearly as close a proximity to the ship if they wanted to keep him within range. All four ships followed in close pursuit, but the jet that had been at the front of the original attack formation trailed behind slightly. When all the jets needed to take a steeper heading to veer away from the cruiser, the laggard jet continued on a straight course.

  Wil focused straight ahead, pulling up sharply to maneuver away from the cruiser. When he swung back around to face the oncoming jets there were only three, and there was evidence of an explosion on the hull of the large Bakzen cruiser. He couldn’t help but heave a relieved sigh at having eliminated one of his pursuers, but he also was gripped with an unexpected pang of regret. My first kill. He had always been taught that taking a life was an unwelcome last resort. You had to. There’s no other way out of this. He grimaced. One down, three to go.

  All of the maneuvering had led Wil away from the Vanquish. The approach was completely exposed, and if he made a run for it, he would likely need to abort again due to another attack during landing. So instead, Wil did a one-eighty and opened fire on his opponents. One of the jets exploded in a brief burst of flame that was quickly extinguished in the vacuum of space. With the hope of snaring Wil in a containment net lost with the destruction of the second ship, the remaining two jets returned with earnest fire, Wil again accelerated toward them. Just before he left their cone, he was hit in the left wing with a direct blast. The shield partially protected his jet from the shot, but the craft was knocked to the side. Wil managed to hold it on course and got in a few more shots. As he passed over the attacking jets, one burst into another ball of flame as the cockpit imploded.

  Wil’s jet responded sluggishly. Come on… As he tried to swing the jet around to fire upon the remaining ship, the turn was much wider than he expected. Wil looked out the cockpit dome as best he could at the injured wing and saw a sizable chunk missing—only tattered metal shards remained around a blackened area where the port wing’s maneuvering thrusters used to be. That’s going to make for a difficult landing. He continued around in the large loop: a very exposed position, but it was too late to try and pull out of it. The other Bakzen jet was going too fast to turn sharply enough to keep Wil’s ship in its cone of fire, so it accelerated away from Wil to avoid his attack, and then circled around to face him.

  Wil tried to swing the jet off to the side, but the missing thruster on the damaged wing prevented precise execution of the maneuver. Left with no other choice, he shot his jet full speed toward the oncoming Bakzen vessel. He tilted his course down slightly so he could duck underneath the other ship, but that took the enemy out of his firing range and put him directly in its path. Blasts shot by on all sides of him, some coming close to striking him, but he held his course. As he neared the other jet, it was obvious that his vessel could not withstand many more hits, and that at his current speed he wouldn’t be out of range in time. Another wave of blasts hit full force against his already weakened shielding.

  The two fighters drew closer together and a light began flashing on the control panel of Wil’s jet. That can’t be good! Just as the enemy fighter was about to fire another round to finish off Wil’s jet, the enemy craft was suddenly enveloped in a flaming ball as a blast took it from a remote location. Wil dove his jet to avoid the debris and then looked around to see that the Vanquish had taken on a protective position for him. The Bakzen cruiser that had been carrying General Carzen had several blackened marks on it where the Vanquish’s assault had taken its toll, but it otherwise looked unharmed.

  Wil cracked a smile. It had been a very carefully calculated shot that had saved him from his predicament; likely made by Kari. He wanted to relax, but he wasn’t out of danger yet. I just have to get to the Vanquish. Then I’ll be safe. He brought the jet around and looped it toward the Vanquish’s hangar. He slowed the vessel down in anticipation of a rough landing with the damaged wing.

  At the slow speed, he lined up the doors to the hangar door and activated what he took to be the controls for the landing gear. He felt something happening through the floor of the jet. Almost there… The opening was only forty meters away. Come on… come on… He could see the shimmering force field.

  The last few meters closed rapidly. Wil braked hard as he passed through the doorway and the jet bumped down roughly on the floor of the hangar. The landing gear hadn’t opened fully, as far as Wil could tell, and the jet skidded, sparks flying. He continued to brake, and the jet swung around, its back end screeching backward toward the interior wall.

  The jet careened across the floor, hurtling dangerously close to a row of parked jets. Just as Wil thought a collision was imminent, the emergency net deployed and brought the Bakzen vessel to a grinding halt.

  Wil sat in stunned silence for a moment, trying to comprehend that he was back with his own people. As he caught his breath, he felt the familiar vibration of the spatial jump drive activate through the floor of the jet.

  He exhaled with a complete release of nervous energy, on the verge of laughing with relief. “Wow.” He unstrapped the safety harness in the jet. Now, how do I get out of this thing?

  There was still no release lever on the upper dome of the cockpit, even with the hatch closed. Maybe… He switched off the engine and the cockpit dome released with a hiss, and then slid open automatically. He looked up at the ceiling of the shuttle bay, taking in th
e familiar surroundings. I’m safe.

  In the heat of battle, he hadn’t been able to think about his mortal danger—to realize how close he had been to an early death. That thought stopped him cold. He had never before been in a situation that threatened to end his life, but this was just the beginning. A chill ran through him with that thought, and he shuddered. So, this is how it really is.

  Wil was roused from his thoughts by a shout from the other side of the hangar. “Wil! Are you okay? Wil!”

  “I’m okay, Dad… just a little shaken up.” Wil climbed out of the cockpit and out onto a beaten wing. The jet was even more damaged than he had thought, and it struck him just how lucky he was to have landed safely. The black scarring on the floor plates was enough to show how rough the landing had been.

  His father came running over as Wil jumped off the wing. He was immediately pulled into a warm embrace.

  “I’m so relieved that you’re safe!” Cris held him for a few moments, then pulled back to look Wil over at arm’s length, his hands still on his shoulders. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  Wil opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t know what to say. There are so many unanswered questions. I don’t know what to think anymore… “We have a lot to talk about.”

  Cris looked into Wil’s eyes. “It’s been an enlightening few days. I have a lot of questions of my own.”

  Wil took a shaky breath. “Are we safe?”

  “We’re heading home. The Bakzen gave one final assault as we jumped away, but we’re in the clear.”

  Wil only nodded in response, turning his head away as tears began to well up in his eyes. The last several hours had brought him to the edge of his emotional endurance. He hugged his father again, needing the physical reassurance that he was out of immediate danger. After a minute of quiet embrace, he pulled away. “I’m glad to be back.”