Covertly he checked his HUD, feeling Defender bring up his defensive protocols. He noted about ten guards standing in a column in the corridors around the throne. More were coming up behind him. Only two had plasma weapons. Both were at port arms behind the king.
“I'm in their central system Admiral. The others have been located and I have disabled the electronic locks to their doors. I am using my vocoder over the antiquated speaker phone system to order them out.”
“Nice,” Irons muttered nodding minutely. “Red queen?” he asked, subvocalizing.
“Exactly. I didn't think you caught the reference?”
“I do now,” Irons said nodding to the scarlet queen. Her eyes glittered. His sensors detected the unpowered armored suit under her layers of red silk. It barely fit over her ample frame. Her outfit was trimmed in gold and silver. She had her wig and face paint on. If he didn't know any better he'd think she was a clown or a circus performer. She turned to speak softly to the king.
The Admiral's jaw tightened. He noted the delegate leader Mayfair speaking with the king and queen in a low voice. The queen imperiously waved for her to step back and join her fellows. Reluctantly Mayfair came to attention, hands clasped together in front of her. She backed away slowly, a slight grimace on her face. She looked decidedly nervous.
“Want to know what she said?” Sprite asked.
“I can guess,” Irons replied dryly as he arrived at the base of the dais.
“It wasn't off with is head, but you're warm,” Sprite replied.
“What the hell's going on?” Irons asked, loud enough to interrupt the royal couple's discussion. He glanced at the delegates who looked a little nervous.
“The Pyrax delegation has offered your services,” the queen replied haughtily. “We have accepted.”
“Oh they did did they?” Irons said ominously, turning to the delegation. “They didn't have the right to offer my services to anyone.”
Willis looked a little annoyed. She turned on Mayfair.
“Well, you did want a new home Admiral,” Mayfair said, with a lifted chin and sniff of disdain. “Here it is. I don't expect thanks.”
The Admiral's lip curled. “And you're not going to get any. Where I go is no concern of yours miss. Not here,” Irons replied turning back to the royal couple.
“Yes here!” the queen said, smacking the pommel of her golden staff on an arm rest. “They have given thou to us as a gift!” the queen said, jutting her chin out. “In return they may leave to spread word of our rightful assumption of the throne,” she said turning a look on the delegates. A few looked relieved. Others were warily watching the Admiral to catch his reaction.
“That's not what we said,” Mayfair said, shaking her head as the Admiral turned to her. “She's twisting my words Admiral,” she said, voice dripping with raw appeal. He could tell she was only partially telling the truth. She looked at the Admiral in appeal hands apart in supplication. Her eyes were wide. She licked her dry lips, suddenly as afraid of him as she was of the monarchs and their lackeys. “They have had most of our people locked up and confiscated our radios. I had to do something. Say something. To get word out.”
Willis caught his eye and nodded in confirmation. His jaw set. “And why is that?” Irons asked turning to the royal couple.
“Because thou are all our subjects. Only those we choose may use technology,” the king said, staring at them. “You shall be our new Meryden.”
“Well, that answers that question,” Sprite said. “I was curious where all this would lead.”
Irons however had had enough. “I'm a citizen of the Federation,” Irons said, shoulders and back straightening. His voice dropped into his best commanding tone. “I am an officer of the Federation Navy. Any attempt to interfere with me, to confine me against my will, will be considered a hostile act. One you will regret,” he growled menacingly, subsonic bass adding a hint of thunder to his voice. “Briefly.”
“Let's not be too hasty now,” Mayfair said eying the guards. She wasn't at all happy about being caught in a cross fire.
“No let's,” Irons growled as his shields spun up. Targets appeared on his HUD. The air around him began to crackle and pop. They could see a blue shimmer around him. Dust danced at his feet.
“You dare challenge me?” the king asked. “You dare?” He lunged off the throne then staggered in the powered combat armor. It looked like the gilded suit was more cosmetic than functional. Most likely he was using it to awe and terrorize the simple people here, but Irons wasn't that simple.
“Seems like you've got a problem,” Irons observed noting the left leg actuators were seizing up. “Which I'm not inclined to help you with.”
“Kneel before me or die worm!” the king thundered at maximum volume. He raised a fist.
Irons grimaced, not in pain but in sympathy for those who had no protection against the subsonics in that voice. There was an awful whine from one of the sub woofers. The king was laying it on thick, even the guards were starting to kneel, heads down.
“No,” he said, matching the volume with his own and meeting the king eye to eye. There was a great deal of malice there, but a little shock as well. The old man wasn't familiar with anyone daring to stand up to his terror tactics. His eyes narrowed in sudden rage. Irons however was anticipating that reaction.
“Then I shall teach you to mind thy betters!” the king snarled, pulling a plasma gun. Irons lunged forward, slapping the gun aside and twisting it out of the man's armored grip.
The king looked stunned at the sudden speed and strength as the grip of the weapon shattered in his armored hands. Irons reached into the open helmet and crushed the man's wind pipe and the blood vessels in his throat. He snapped the old man's neck for good measure. He spun as a soldier came at him from behind, body checked the man then activated his monomolecular knife in his right hand. His index finger morphed and slid through the man's waist. The guard fell screaming onto the flagstones, cut into pieces.
Irons turned and hefted the plasma gun. nanites interfaced with it easily. He pointed it toward the charging men then up to the ceiling above. One burst and the ceiling fell crushing them.
“Mayfair, Willis, we're leaving,” he growled not sparing them a look. He had better things to do with his attention. He didn't care if they came or not. A part of him hoped they didn't. He could feel Sprite using his communications to bounce a signal through every tablet in range to contact the shuttle and the ship. Or at least trying to do so, the thick walls were blocking most of the signal from getting out.
“The others have been freed Admiral,” Sprite reported. “I am directing them to the shuttles now.”
“Good.” He turned and dodged a clumsy swing by a soldier. Others were trying to circle around him. He kept the king's dead powered armor at his back. His first targets were the guards with the plasma rifles. When they exploded into flaming gore he turned his attention on the other guards in the room. One was already inside his immediate threat zone. Instead of rebuffing him with the shield he took him head on.
“Oh I don't think so,” he growled. He fell into a horse stance, then swatted the pike aside. He reached out and grabbed the man and tossed him over his shoulder with his free hand then turned the plasma gun on the group of men near a side door. One shot and the gun failed and began to spark.
“Crap,” he sighed. He tossed it onto the flagstones near the base of the dais making sure it broke.
“Stalemate,” Sprite reported.
“Not quite,” Irons kicked the body of the king. He toppled over backwards. The two men behind it were crushed to the ground. “Your king is dead. Keep pissing me off and you're next,” he bellowed.
The ladies in waiting gasped looking away. The queen's jaw clenched but her eyes were suddenly bright with hunger. Irons grimaced.
“Thou....” her jowls shook. Her face was white except for the big red circles on each cheek. “Thou art our new consort. With you by my side we shall rule supreme!”
>
“Sorry lady, I don't do planets. Especially planets with psycho nut job rulers like you. I'm a space Admiral,” Irons said dryly.
“We didn't ask thy opinion,” she gave him a haughty look. He grimaced as her jowls quivered.
“Look red queen, it's not going to happen. You are definitely not his type,” Sprite said from the speaker embedded in her throne. She blinked at it.
“What is this? We didn't call for anything!” she stared at the throne.
“She isn't just anyone. She is my AI. Which is in your system.”
“Get her out,” the queen snarled coldly. “I command it.” She jutted her chin out.
“Just as soon as I leave. With these people,” Irons said nodding to the others. “Though I am sorely tempted to leave them behind,” he said darkly, giving Mayfair a dirty look. The woman hunched her shoulders and didn't look his way.
“That is quite impossible,” the queen said shaking her her head and waved a snow white hanky to the door. “They may leave. Good riddance to them all. But thou. Thou shall remain here. We so order it.”
“I don't think so,” the Admiral growled turning away from her in disgust. She wasn't armed. “You folks stay behind me. Sprite? We're going.”
He moved for the door. His shields were fully charged. The men on either side of the door leveled stunners. He grimaced as the queen flicked her hand down. The men grimaced then their fingers tightened on the triggers. Blasts of energy struck his shields then rebounded off to the nearest metal objects.
Since the guards were in crude body armor they were struck hard. They both spasmed in place then fell to the ground flopping like fish. Irons looked back to the queen, smiled and shook his head. “You can't stop me. Piss me off and, well...” he said. He signaled his arm.
Sections of his skin began to glow blue, then purple then red. His arm morphed and a plasma blaster was now where his wrist had been. He turned and pointed. A bolt of purple plasma leapt out and slammed into the doorway just as a group of soldiers were coming through. The men were splattered all over the chamber.
After a moment they could hear sobs and whimpers from some who had survived the blast.
The queen had been turned away by one of her ladies. The women surrounded their mistress. Loath to kill an innocent the Admiral nodded. “Let that be a lesson. I'll take this place apart if I have to. You can get out of the way or watch your kingdom crumble around you,” he snarled.
“Go!” one of the ladies said. She looked up, face full of wrath. “If you ever return though...”
“I won't. Believe me lady, I won't,” Irons shook his head, noting the queen had fainted. He turned back to the delegates. “Let's go people,” he said. He was amused by Mayfair's stunned look. Willis though looked like she was ready for action. She definitely knew how to handle the shortened pike in her hands. He blinked in surprise and then turned away from the questioning thought. “Sprite the shuttle.”
“I'm talking to the pilots now.”
“Get my launch down here ASAP. It's built for this. That shuttle is too big to land here,” he said.
“Aye aye Admiral. On it,” Sprite replied.
“Fine,” Irons said scanning the area. Fortunately the native civilians had barricaded themselves in their rooms, removing themselves from the situation in the best way they could.
“I have finally gotten access to the space port's communications. Accessing it now. I'm punching a signal to Destiny. I'm in the launch. Boat bay alarms are going off, it's cleared. Powering up, flight check will be brief.”
He allowed Miss Willis to take point so he could play rear guard as they made their way out. He hustled them along, making sure they didn't dawdle. At the entrance of the courtyard the others paused, warily staring at the guards on the battlements.
“Problem?” the Admiral asked, coming through to the front. He blinked a little at the bright light. There were a few bodies in the courtyard. Most were servants. One was a member of the delegation, the man that had been behind Miss Willis. Most of his torso was gone.
“It is a death trap,” Willis said. He was curious as to how she hadn't gotten her ass blown apart like the others. She was either lucky or devious enough to let others take point.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” he said and pointed. Out of the sun his launch came in. It spun in place then settled, as close to them as possible. As it flared out, dust was kicked up by it's gravity drive, blinding anyone in the area. The hatch opened. “It's tight, but it should get us to the space port or Destiny. Everyone in folks,” he said and waved.
The guards stared as the people rushed out and boarded the shuttle. The Admiral grimaced as one aimed at them. He raised his arm and fired. The plasma bolt sizzled into the man's chest, ripping through the primitive plate armor and throwing him backward over the battlements with a wail.
“Shit,” he grimaced as the others let loose. The shields came up as weapons fire started raining down on the shuttle. “Do we have everyone?” he snarled, climbing into the hatch. It appeared that he was the last one but he wasn't going to take that for granted. He'd leave Mayfair here in a heart beat but some of her cronies were a different story.
“Everyone in the castle left alive,” Sprite answered as the shuttle lifted off. “Where to?” He felt it pitch a bit before the intertial's stabilized.
“The space port of course. Alert the pilots to get ready to lift. We're too overloaded to make orbit with this crowd,” Irons grunted, trying to pull someone's elbow out of his face and not succeeding.
“Space port. Right,” Sprite replied. “You know I haven't flown a shuttle in a while right? Remote is for the birds. I had a hell of a time getting her off Destiny and down here in the first place.”
“You're doing fine,” Irons replied. He closed his eyes and accessed the feed. “Got it.”
Sprite completed the hand off. “You have the controls Admiral. Thanks,” Sprite said with what sounded a little like relief.
“Where are we going?” Mayfair asked somewhere near the front of the ship.
“Shuttle port. We need to unload. They have been alerted. Security is up. But don't dawdle folks we need to get off world fast. I'd forget about any souvenirs or luggage.”
“Just the way it should be. One step ahead of the sheriff. This is hilarious,” Willis snorted. “You do this on all your stops Admiral?”
“It is getting to feel like that more and more lately. At least this one didn't want me to leave.”
“True,” she laughed. “Too true. I so can't wait for a shower!”
Chapter 27
“Yup, we've got it easy now boys, but the moment the Admiral's gone we're in for it, mark my words. So take advantage of the peace and quiet while it lasts,” the crewman said, propping his feet up and putting his hands behind his head. He rested his hands over his slightly large middle.
He was glad that he hadn't had shore leave on that miserable mud ball when he'd heard the stories getting passed around in the galley. He'd seen the recordings the Admiral's AI had dumped into the system. It was just as well that only the delegates and Irons had been on the planet. If more people had been there it would have been messy. Some might have been left behind. Screw that.
Nineteen days out to the next jump point and then they were in hyper, safely away from the clutches of the nut jobs on the planet. Here it was their second day in hyper and it was time to kick back and relax.
“Is that so Dallas?” a familiar gravel voice growled. He looked up over his shoulder in alarm just as a strong simian arm pushed his elbow down, throwing him off balance and down onto the deck.
“Chief!” Harry said standing. The others followed. “You four get to check out boat bay one. Dieter told me he can't get that engine fixed without help.”
“Uh, boss, I thought the Admiral was doing that? Tune ups and trouble shooting is his nature,” Harry said as Bruno helped Dallas to his feet. Dallas rubbed the back of his head.
The veraxin tech nodded. “It is true
.”
“Yeah it is, but he's busy so you four get to do your jobs for once,” Bailey growled. “Now get to work. I understand the four of you should be able to do it in two shifts. I want it done in one.”
Harry shooed the others out ahead of him and shook his head. “Me and my big fat yap,” Dallas muttered.
“You said it,” Bruno growled shooting an annoyed look at their boss.
“Why the sudden change of heart boss? I thought Irons was going to do that?” Harry asked.
“He was, but he got a last minute call to help on the bridge. Something about a sensor glitch and a sticky servo. Since getting to where we're going is a mite more important than a drive tune up, I thought you could get off your lazy good for nothing but griping asses and do your jobs. Capiche?”
“Sure, sure boss,” Harry said, hands up in surrender. “I didn't have a problem with it, I wanted to do it with him actually. I wanted to pick his brains on it.”
“Well, get on it anyway. Do your best. If he gets done early I'll send him over.”
“Geeze what a screwed up situation. How'd we get this shit detail?” the veraxin griped as they trooped into the bay.
“Probably cause I shot my mouth off,” Dallas said sheepishly. He was kicking himself over that. When would he ever learn to keep his mouth shut?
“Nah, oh I admit it's that, but I heard Bailey griping about Irons doing our work for us again last shift,” Bruno said, setting his tool box down and studying the shuttle. “Where's Dieter anyway?” He looked around the room scowling.
“Coming in behind us, he was in the can. Still is in the can actually,” Harry said coming in behind them. He looked at them. “Yeah I know, we can't touch the bird till he's on hand, but we can look.”
“Whatever you say boss. Just don't get us into any more shit with Dieter. Bailey's bad enough as it is.”
“You've got your own selves to blame for that one. You don't need any help from me on that score. Let's see what we can see.”
Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) Page 45