“Let’s get going,” I said to Eve, and she nodded.
“I like her,” Eve said after we had walked for half a minute down the street.
“I can tell,” I said.
“It is nice to meet others who are as we are. Kasta and Paula are also good fits. I am blessed. In just a month I have gone from alone, cold, and hungry, to being loved by an amazing man, surrounded by wonderful people, and well fed. My imagination couldn’t dream a life this amazing.
“And don’t forget Persephone.” I said as we boarded the train tube heading toward the harbor. The scene in the map room played through my mind again, and I thought about what we would find in the city Persephone wanted us to visit.
“Oh no,” Eve said with another laugh. “I could never forget her.” Eve’s red eyes suddenly opened wide, and she looked at me. “She told you where to go?”
“Yeah,” I said “I’m not sure what we are supposed to do there, but I think we should investigate. What do you make of it?”
“Yes,” Eve closed her eyes. “She knows our mission. She will help us when she can.”
“If you say so,” I said as the tube doors closed, and we began to speed toward the harbor. “You seem to be able to communicate with her.”
“No, Adam.” Eve’s red eyes seemed to bore into mine. “She only communicates with you.”
Chapter 21
The trip back to Persephone only took a few minutes. Eve had been correct when she said that we were ready to go. Z was actually sitting in the pilot’s seat and explaining the controls to the twins when we got to the bridge. An hour later she showed them how to plot a warpdrive route back to Gliese 876 B, and then I had her plot a second hyperdrive course to planet Y-114a; in case Gliese 876 - B was infested with Elaka Nota ships.
Z hadn’t asked me about the new destination, but she’d been a bit too busy stealing glances at Eve and me while she blushed profusely.
When we’d gotten settled on the bridge, I thanked Kasta and Paula for joining the crew and told Z to engage the warpdrives.
Then we waited in silence for twenty-five minutes while Persephone’s displays showed us a streaking universe.
“Captain, we are dropping from warp space in thirty seconds,” Z said at last. “We’ll be on the back side of Gliese 876 - B.”
“Prepare for battle,” I said as I buckled my harness over my chest.
“I’m ready!” Z said.
“As am I,” Eve said from her copilot seat.
“We are ready with plasma,” one of the twins, Kasta I thought, said from the gunner terminals behind me.
“And drones,” Paula said from her chair next to her sister. Both of them were wearing Persephone’s tight fitting flight suits, and for half a moment, I wondered how in the hell I ended up on an experimental military starship filled with beautiful women.
“Counting down from five, four, three, two, one! Exiting warp space!” Z shouted as Persephone's screen turned static for half a second. Then the massive display was filled with the purple globe of Gliese 876 - B.
“Nothing on scanners, Captain,” Eve said, and I marveled again at how she always sounded calm. My heart was racing with the thought of exiting warp space in the middle of an Elaka Nota armada.
I spun in my chair to glance back at our positioning on the holographic map. I already knew where we would have come out in relation to Jatal’s moon, but looking at the image helped me plot our next steps easier.
“Turn to port three degrees and proceed forward on sixty percent thrusters.”
“Aye, Captain,” Z replied, and I saw the view shift a bit as Z turned Persephone to the left.
“How long until we see the fourth moon?” I asked.
“Fifteen seconds, Captain,” Eve replied.
“Fuck. Please be there,” Z said under her breath, and we all waited in silence as Persephone blasted around the orbit of the large purple planet.
Then the fourth moon spun into view.
“Yes!” Z shouted, but then Persephone’s alarm sounded, and the display zoomed in around the orbit of Jatal’s moon. There were two starships there, now outlined in red, and the scanners began to stream information down the side of the wall.
Husky Class Battlecruiser: ENB-87876-112-222
Manufactured by: Elaka Nota Corporation: Trappist-1e
Branding: Elaka Nota Corporation 3rd Fleet 2nd Array
Hyperdrive: Adjacent Twin - EN 55 - 8987 (Port side)/ EN 55 - 8988 (Starboard side). 28 hours to 1 light year
Warpdrive: No
Foldingdrive: No
Length: 260 meters
Minimum Crew: 78
Estimated fighter craft: 12
Estimated drone payload: 38
Heavy plasma cannons: 10
Light plasma guns: 14
Laser arrays: 4
Terrier Class Destroyer: HCW-12145-342-212
Manufactured by: Elaka Nota Corporation: Trappist-1e
Branding: Elaka Nota Corporation 3rd Fleet 2nd Array
Hyperdrive: EN - 8300TALLEY- 35 hours to 1 light year
Warpdrive: No
Foldingdrive: No
Length: 95 meters
Estimated Crew: 35
Estimated fighter craft: 4
Estimated drone payload: 10
Heavy plasma cannons: 4
Light plasma guns: 4
Laser arrays: 4
“That battlecruiser is vicious looking.” Z whistled as the screen zoomed in on the ship. The sides were painted black with bright white side striping. The front of it actually had teeth painted on it to make it seem as if it was opening its jaws.
“We’ll take out the smaller one first,” I said. “Can you plot a hyperdrive course on the Z axis above them?”
“Uhhh. We aren’t going to run?” Z asked. “That big one looks like he can eat us for din--”
“No,” I said. “There are only two of them. Jatal’s people need us. We aren’t going to back down. Can you plot the course?”
“Yeah. Hold on and I’ll--”
“Captain, I have done it,” Kasta said from behind me, and both Z and I turned to look at her.
“You did it?”
“Yes, Captain. I just fed it into Z’s control terminal. She can engage it when she wants to. Maybe we should wait for them to launch their drones and fighters? Then we can catch them after they have--”
“How did you do it so fast?” Z asked.
“I’m good with math,” the woman shrugged and then smiled.
“Great,” I said as I turned back to face Z. “Wait until they launch drones and fighters, then we’ll spring on them from above. Weapons locked on the destroyer first. It will go down quicker. Let us know when you are ready.”
“I’m good at math also,” Z huffed. “I’m just not an android.”
“I’m Paula,” the twin that I thought was Kasta said.
“I’m Kasta,” the other twin said as she smiled and waved at Z.
“Okay, you both need to wear different colored hair bands or something.”
“It’s more fun this way,” they both said in unison.
“It’s not fun when we are about to fucking die!” the hacker moaned.
“They are launching their drones and trying to open communication with us,” Eve said, and Z turned back to the screen.
“I’m not interested in talking to them. Wait for my signal before you engage hyperdrives,” I said.
“Aye, Captain,” Z said as she rested her hands on the controls.
“They are making another attempt at contacting us,” Eve commented as the drones and fighters loomed closer on our screen. Persephone was updating her scanners with their count, and the red text showed that both Elaka Nota ships had launched all of their craft.
“What happens if we hyperdrive on top of them and then they hyperdrive away?” Z said breathlessly.
“Then we’ll chase them,” I said, and I realized our reaction might be exactly what the captains of the two Elaka Nota
ships were waiting for. We hadn’t launched any fighters or drones so they might expect for us to try to warpdrive at their flank. But they might just think we were a bunch of criminals that got lucky with the theft of Persephone. They might have thought we’d try to run.
“Engage hyperdrives,” I said as soon as I saw the first line of fighters shoot their plasma cannons.
“Engaging hyperdrive!” Z said. The stars shifted for a blink of an eyelid and then Z pushed on the controls. Persephone dove like a bird of prey, and the screen feed said we were only five hundred meters from the top of the destroyer.
“Fire!” I ordered.
“Firing!” the four women shouted in unison, and a stream of red laser beams and darker red plasma balls slammed into the top of the smaller vessel.
The green shots from the Queen’s Hat’s heavy plasma cannons did some serious damage against the Nebula Gammon vessels, but it took fifteen or so seconds worth of coordinated blasts to cause a ship to melt. I’d expected that we would need to make a few sweeping passes across the destroyer before we took care of the enemy vessel with Persephone's cannons, but my expectations turned out to be very incorrect.
The destroyer practically melted as soon as the first dark red shots of plasma hit its hull.
“Ahhhhh!” Z screeched as she pulled up on the controls and angled Persephone away from the melting mass. For half a moment, it seemed as if we were going to plow into it, but the blonde hacker had pulled up just in time, and we missed the top part of the destroyer by about twenty meters.
“Z, angle twenty degrees to starboard and pitch down ten degrees.”
“Shitttttt!” the hacker said as green plasma fire flew across our screen. It looked as if it missed us by a few hundred meters, but Z followed my orders to aim us adjacent to the battlecruiser.
“Starboard cannons. Fire!”
“Firing!” Kasta, Paula, and Eve shouted, and I rotated in my chair to peer at the twins’ screens.
The battlecruiser was unleashing a salvo of green plasma streaks, but they looked to be half a moment behind where we were flying.
“Faster, Z!” I shouted.
“Okayyyyyyyy!” she cried, and I saw the green balls of energy drop farther behind us.
Our plasma balls did find their mark.
The first salvo hit the battlecruiser right in the painted teeth at the bow. I guessed the front of the ship would instantly fold and melt around the red balls, but a blue wave of energy appeared around the front of the vessel, and our shots didn’t appear to do any damage to the metal.
“It appears to have some sort of shield,” Kasta said.
“That is very rude,” Paula sighed.
“Keep shooting. We’ll punch through it,” I said to them, and then I turned to the front of the bridge where the hacker and vampire sat. “Z, ten degrees more starboard, pitch back up fifteen degrees.”
“You want to get closer?” she asked with a panicked voice.
“Do it!” I said as I unbuckled myself from the captain’s chair.
“What are you--” Z started to ask.
“Going to man a gun,” I said as I sprinted toward the seat next to the twins. “Kasta and Paula, one of you get on drones. If the cannons can’t punch through the shield, we are going to need to try and take out their guns before their own drones and fighters return.”
“Aye, Captain. I’m on drones,” Kasta said, and her fingers began to dance across the terminal controls as if she had done this a thousand times.
I toggled through my own controls to find a gun I could control. Persephone only had three heavy plasma cannons. Two were mounted on her shoulders in the front, and one at her tail. I could only take control of the front port cannon, so I knew Paula and Eve were controlling the starboard and tail cannons. The port wouldn’t be able to get a clean shot unless I told Z to roll Persephone, so instead I toggled to one of the five lighter plasma guns that were on the starboard side. These guns unleashed thick beams of plasma which looked somewhat like a laser. They could also cause the heavier plasma balls to explode if I could get a hit on them.
Maybe that would take out the battlecruisers shield.
“Paula, aim for the back joint of the painted mouth,” I called to her.
“I’ll try,” she said, and I saw her next few shots angle toward the enemy vessel’s painted maw.
“Fuck!” I growled as I missed hitting the ball. Both of our projectiles hit the battlecruiser's shields and didn’t seem to do any damage.
“Drones are closing within two kilometers,” Kasta said. “Do you want me to attack the cruiser or battle the drones?”
“The drones,” I replied. “Paula, keep firing on the painted mouth!”
“Trying!” she gasped as Persephone rocked a bit.
“We got hit!” Z shouted.
“How’s damage?” I called back as I tried to focus on punching my shot through the plasma ball Paula launched. The timing needed to be perfect so that I hit it right before the shields ate the damage.
“Fuck if I know, we are still flying! Go! Go! Go! Persephoneeeeeee!”
“Don’t twist the--” I started to shout as Z rolled Persephone, but the hacker’s movement caused my plasma beam to bend down and strike the ball Paula had launched. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, and the battlecruiser’s shield cast a solid looking barrier before it shattered in a curtain of sparks.
“Shields are down!” I shouted as I saw one of Eve’s plasma balls splatter into the front of the Elaka Nota vessel. The metal folded around the blast and began to bubble.
Then one of Paula’s plasma balls hit it in the same spot, and the massive starship’s front opened like a blooming flower.
“Yes!” we all shouted as the battlecruiser began to glow a dark red. The front of the ship continued to fold backward, and then a half dozen more plasma shots hit it.
The battlecruiser turned a bright shade of crimson, and then the flower shape began to twist and melt.
“Their drones have stopped responding,” Kasta said after she exhaled.
“Did we win?” Paula asked.
“Fuck yeah!” Z shouted. “Yesss! We are alive! Fuck those assholes!” The blonde hacker actually vaulted out of her pilot’s chair and began to dance in the open space between the five raised chairs and the two pilot cockpits.
Eve got out of her chair as well, and the two embraced. Then Z grabbed the dark-haired woman’s hands, and they started dancing together. It was apparent after a few seconds that Eve didn’t, in fact, know how to dance, but neither of them seemed to care, and they both laughed.
“That was a rush,” Kasta said with a big smile as she leaned over to me. “Is this how life is with you, Captain?”
“Hopefully not every day.” I laughed and stood from the seat next to her.
“How about at night?” Paula asked.
“Huh?” I asked, but the two twins just smiled at me coyly.
“Captain, come dance with us!” Z shouted, and I turned to see both of my friends beckon. They each had arms wrapped around each other’s slender waists, and I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat.
“Let’s open communications with Jatal,” I forced myself to say.
“Yes,” Eve said as the smile dropped from her face. “We can celebrate after we finish our mission.”
“Awww. Okay, but I’m dancing with all of you. Even you two geniuses!” Z laughed as she pointed at Kasta and Paula.
“We like parties,” Kasta said, and Paula nodded.
“No party unless we deliver the food,” I said, but Eve had already taken her seat again, and began to work on communicating with Jatal.
“Z put us in orbit around the moon. As soon as Jatal gives us the okay, we’ll land.
“Aye, Captain,” the hacker said after she climbed back into her seat.
I sat back in the captain’s chair, and the twins each sat on either side of me. After a few minutes, Z had placed Persephone in orbit around the moon, and open
ed a visual scan on the surface below.
“Uhhh. I don’t see anyone in their camp,” Z said as she zoomed Persephone's cameras closer on the last spot we saw Jatal and his people. My friend was correct in her observation. The refugee camp looked completely deserted, and half of the structures looked destroyed.
“No one is answering our communication signal,” Eve said.
“Keep sending,” I ordered, but I felt a chill enter my stomach. Had they run out of food? Had Elaka Nota attacked them? Had another mega corp? The ground in the camp didn’t look as if it had been shelled. The place just looked abandoned.
“Should we go down there and look?” Z turned to me, and I could see the anguish on the pretty woman’s face. I remembered her getting a bit upset that we were giving the Children of Rah all of our food, but then Jatal’s people had hugged her and called her a hero. Z had been changed afterward, and I knew she cared about these people.
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “Go ahead and--”
“I’ve got a connection!” Eve hissed.
“On screen.” My heart jumped into my throat, and I almost gave a shout of relief when I saw Jatal’s bright blue eyes.
“Am I happy to see all of you,” the man said with a dry laugh.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Half a day after you left, an armada of starships came here. I feared the worst and got everyone in the caves.” The man sighed and then rubbed a thin hand across his face.
“You’ve been holed up since we left?” Z asked.
“Yeah. Are they still in orbit? We are really low on food and water. We’ve gone through almost everything you left with us. Probably only have a day of rationed calories left. Another week and I don’t know what would have happened. We are all going a bit crazy.”
“The other starships are gone,” I said, “and we brought you a lot of food.”
“A lot of food?” His eyes opened wide, and I could almost see his mouth start to water.
“Can we land?”
“Yes! We’ll come out to meet you up top.” The man cut his feed, and I let out a long sigh of relief.
“Thank the stars,” Eve said.
“Yeah,” Z replied. “Can I take her down, Captain?”
Zeta Hack: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 3) Page 28