Star Scavenger: The Complete Series Books 1-5

by G J Ogden

  “What does it do?” Hudson asked, turning the object over in his hands. It looked like a small, shiny cannonball, with a thin trench running along the diameter. Hudson tried twisting it and suddenly the trench lit up red. Morphus quickly plucked the object out of Hudson’s hands, and twisted it back so that the light went out.

  “Unless you wish to vaporize yourself, I would suggest not doing that until it is needed,” said Morphus, in a way that almost came across as scolding. It then handed the device to Tory instead.

  “Wait, this is a bomb?” exclaimed Hudson.

  Morphus cocked its head to one side, “It would be more accurately described as a short-range matter demolecularizer,” it said, casually. “But ‘bomb’ will suffice.”

  “You could have warned me…” said Hudson, feeling like he’d lost one of his nine lives.

  Morphus cocked its head to the other side, “I believe I just did?” Then before Hudson could complain again, it added, “If you roll this into one of the conduits leading into the navigation hub, it will disintegrate enough matter to allow your corporeal frames to enter.”

  “Blowing holes in stuff is one of my specialties,” said Tory, before smiling at Hudson. “Maybe you should let me take care of the matter demolecular-thing,” she said.

  Hudson didn’t argue; he was just glad the object was no longer glowing. “So, where do we meet you, assuming we either get the crystal back, or find this combiner thing?” Morphus didn’t answer; it was staring into the sky and appeared distracted. “Morphus?” Hudson tried again, but then the alien suddenly stiffened and met his eyes.

  “Goliath has arrived in this system,” it said, with a coolness that did not match the enormity of the statement. “We are running out of time.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Morphus’ sudden statement felt like a hammer blow to Hudson’s skull. He spun around, instinctively peering up into the sky, trying to spot the great ship. “Goliath is here, at Sapphire Alpha?” he said, scanning the horizon, but he could not see the monstrous vessel.

  “Yes, and we must leave, now,” Morphus said. “Goliath will destroy this planet, and its seed drones will hunt down and destroy any remaining vessels. The great ship will then continue to destroy what you call the outer portal worlds. But once Goliath detects the Revocater, it will move directly for Earth, destroying any inhabited planet in its path.”

  Hudson forced down a dry swallow, then said, “In that case, we should aim to meet up back at Earth. Assuming it’s still there when we eventually arrive.”

  “Once the Revocater is activated, we will have around twenty-four of your Earth hours before Goliath arrives at System 5118208,” said Morphus.

  “But that’s no time at all,” said Hudson, throwing his arms out wide. “We can’t just portal from place to place, like Goliath can.”

  “The modifications I made to the Orion will moderate some of the debilitating effects of high-g acceleration on your corporeal frames,” replied Morphus. “This will allow you to transit between planets in far less time than would normally be possible.” Then the alien entity paused and added, “Nevertheless, I would strongly suggest finding the crystal as soon as possible.”

  “That’s the understatement of the millennium,” said Hudson, but then he saw Liberty and Tobin running towards them. Liberty’s skin was glowing softly, like it was covered in a light dusting of glitter.

  “Something’s wrong!” Liberty called out, sliding to a stop in front of them. She was staring at her glowing hands, as if they were about to explode.

  “Do not be concerned, Liberty Devan entity,” said Morphus, taking on a more comforting tone. “Your augmentations are merely reacting to the danger of Goliath’s arrival.”

  “Goliath’s arrival?” repeated Liberty, and then she peered up into the sky, eyes wide, just as Hudson had. “Oh, I think we should definitely be concerned!”

  Hudson spun around and he saw it too. Goliath was now visible in the sky, and already appeared larger than Sapphire Alpha’s small moon. He glanced at Tory, and she understood his intentions at once.

  “I’ll get the engines started,” Tory said, before sprinting towards the Orion.

  Hudson raced over to Liberty and held her shoulders gently. “I’ve only just gotten used to having you back,” he said, realizing they were again about to be separated. “But I’ll see you at Earth, okay?”

  Liberty nodded, and smiled, nervously, “I’ll be there; don’t be late…”. Then they embraced, as the ground beneath them began to shake.

  “We must depart,” said Morphus, “the planet’s core is being removed as we speak.” There was urgency even in the alien’s voice now. Whether it was added for effect, or Morphus was genuinely feeling the pressure, Hudson didn’t know, but it had the desired effect of motivating him to make haste.

  Hudson and Liberty separated, holding each other’s eyes for a second longer, and then Hudson ran for the Orion. Glancing back, he saw Tobin, Liberty and Morphus racing in the opposite direction, towards the alien shuttle. He charged up into the cargo hold and slammed the button to close the ramp. He was running so fast, he ricocheted off the corridor walls as he moved through the Orion, until he reached the cockpit. The whir of the engines had already reached a crescendo.

  Tory was leaning over the secondary console, activating the new weapons systems. “We’re ready to leave,” she said, turning back to the pilot’s chair, but Hudson was standing in front of it. Tory folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re in my way.”

  Hudson held his ground, and thought he might feel more afraid about confronting Tory than he was of the giant killer spaceship in orbit. “Look, we need to talk about who does the flying,” said Hudson, feeling Tory’s eyes drilling into him.

  “Really?” said Tory, her eyebrows raising even higher up her forehead. “The planet is about to be torn apart, and you want to do this now?”

  Hudson admitted to himself that he could probably have picked a better moment, but if he didn’t stake his claim now, he never would. “I’ve been flying since I was a kid, and I’m a good pilot,” Hudson continued. “And I know this ship better than you do.”

  Tory’s eyes narrowed slightly, as the Orion was rocked by another shudder. “Fine,” she said, unfolding her arms. “But if this is going to work between us, we share the flying, agreed?”

  Hudson smiled, “There’s an us?”

  Tory rolled her eyes and then shoved Hudson down into the pilot’s seat. “Do you think you can fly us off this planet before it blows up?” she said, slipping down into the second seat and fastening her harness. Then she aimed a finger at Hudson, like it was her revolver. “But if you crash this thing, I’ll break your arms.”

  “I’ll bear that in mind,” said Hudson, fastening his own harness, then quickly lifting the Orion off the slowly crumbling soil beneath them. He was fairly sure Tory was joking, but there was enough doubt at the back of his mind to make him focus on the controls even more attentively than usual.

  Hudson pushed the throttle forward and the Orion shot upwards. The acceleration was ferocious and took Hudson completely by surprise, forcing him to pull back on the throttle lever. “Damn, whatever Morphus did to the engines really worked,” he said, checking on Tory. However, Tory was anxiously looking at her navigation scanner.

  “We have incoming,” said Tory, glancing across to Hudson. “Seed ships…”

  Hudson checked his own scanner display, as the blackness of space enveloped the cockpit. He turned them towards the portal, noting how the ship responded near-instantly, almost like they were still flying in Sapphire Alpha’s atmosphere. Morphus had said the modifications to the Orion would enhance its maneuverability in a vacuum, but he was still surprised by how responsive the vessel was.

  “Four seed ships, closing in fast,” said Hudson, “I think we’re going to need to test out these new augmented weapons.”

  He glanced across to Tory, but she was already on it. The targeting overlay was d
isplayed on the cockpit glass, and the new dorsal and ventral cannons were already tracking the incoming targets. Hudson spun the ship around and rotated the engine pods, so that they were facing the oncoming ships. But it was the imposing sight of Goliath that stole his attention.

  They both watched in rapt silence as Goliath continued its apocalyptic assault. Just as had occurred at Chrome One, a purple vortex began to swell on the opposite side of the planet to where Goliath hung in orbit. Seconds later the core matter was expelled into space and the portal snapped shut, leaving a void in the center of the planet. A void that was instantly filled by the violent collapse of the outer core. The planet began to break up in front of Hudson’s eyes, and Goliath turned, lining up the next destination for its voyage of destruction.

  “If you’re going to insist on flying, then can you actually fly?!” Tory called out, jolting Hudson back to the moment. He checked the navigation scanner, and stood ready on their physics-defying thrusters to evade the oncoming seed ships. He knew that Morphus had also upgraded the Orion’s armor, but he didn’t want to chance that it could take a head-on hit from the arrow-like seed ships.

  “I’ll be ready,” Hudson called back. “It would be nice if you took out one or two before they got here though…”

  Tory squeezed the trigger and fierce red bolts of energy sped out in front of the Orion, taking them both by surprise. A second later there were two explosions, and two of the seed ships disappeared off Hudson’s navigation scanner.

  “Show off,” said Hudson, as he pulsed the thrusters to dodge the remaining two ships. The Orion responded with a rapidity that should have left them as stains on the wall, and the seed ships raced past. Reverting the engine pods to their standard configuration, Hudson targeted one of the remaining two ships and accelerated after it. The arrow-like vessel spun back towards them, but Tory was already waiting on the trigger. She fired volleys from both cannons, again sending bolts of energy searing out into space, and the ship was engulfed in flames.

  “I could get used to these,” said Tory, clearly enjoying herself, but then the Orion was hit, and sent into a spin.

  Hudson wrestled with the controls to counteract their motion, while anxiously glancing at the damage control panel. Remarkably, there were no red lights showing.

  “No damage,” Tory called out, “Apart from us maybe needing to hammer out a ding in the hull.”

  Hudson regained control, then focused on the final blip on the scanner. However, then he noticed dozens more seed ships approaching. “I think that will do for a shake-down test of the new systems,” he said, turning back towards the portal, and accelerating harder. He could see that Morphus’ was already at the threshold. “We’ll have to let this last one go.” There was another flash of red light and another explosion, and Hudson saw the last of the four seed ships vanish off the scanner.

  “It’s already gone…” said Tory, coolly.

  “Now you really are showing off…” said Hudson, though not for the first time, he was glad of Tory’s expert aim.

  Hudson saw the portal flash open ahead of them, then Morphus’ ship also disappeared off the scanners. He waited until the last moment, then spun the Orion around and decelerated hard. He realized the ship must have been pushing ten or fifteen g-forces, but even with the alien tech that Morphus had infused into the Orion’s DNA, the pressure on their bodies was still immense.

  “Ten seconds…” Hudson called out, watching the second wave of seed ships close in. The Orion began to vibrate, shaking them even harder than the quakes on the planet had done.

  “Five seconds!” Hudson shouted. Then he cut the deceleration burn, spun them around, and pulsed the thrusters to realign them with the portal.

  “Transiting now!” There was a bright flash of purple light, and the forces on their bodies were gone. He looked to Tory and she was staring back at him. To his surprise, she was smiling.

  Then there was another bright flash, and they were pressed into their seats for a second time, as the Orion emerged into normal space again. They were through, and safe for now, but Hudson knew they had escaped one danger only to fly willingly towards another. Hudson reached over to the navigation scanner and updated their course to lock in the next waypoint. Their destination was the Gale Basin, on Mars. And, perhaps, a final rendezvous with Cutler Wendell and Logan Griff.

  CHAPTER 25

  Griff and Cutler sat in stunned silence as their debilitated shuttle finally approached Earth. However, it wasn’t the sight of the blue planet that had awed them. Waiting in orbit was an armada of CET warships, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the early days of the Earth-Mars war. They ranged from powerful capital ships, the size of luxury cruise liners, to small, two-man armored shuttles, and everything in-between.

  “How many are there?” asked Cutler, steering a course that took them as far from the bulk of the fleet as possible.

  Griff slapped his palm on the side of the navigation scanner, causing the image to jolt and wobble. “Hell, I don’t know,” he grumbled, “Nothing on this piece of shit shuttle works.” Then the image stabilized for a moment; it was long enough for Griff to get a reasonable impression of the fleet’s size. “There’s got to be three hundred ships, maybe more. That’s most of the damned fleet!”

  A whiny alarm sounded and Cutler quickly silenced it, before checking his instruments. “We have experienced another drop in fuel pressure, and number two engine is faltering. There are also failures in the magnetic field coils and a slight radiation leak.”

  It was the last part that got Griff’s attention, “A radiation leak?” he said, turning his attention away from the fleet. “Just how slight are we talking?”

  Cutler studied the data for a second, before replying, “It is not dangerous yet, but we must set down soon.”

  Cutler’s dry delivery didn’t help to instill Griff with confidence, but the looming threat did work to focus his mind on the task at hand. He rapidly cycled through the communications menu on his console, until he found the RGF control tower at Hunter’s Point in San Francisco. “I’m requesting clearance to land at an RGF base,” he explained to Cutler as he worked. “If we dock at a regular spaceport, the biometric ID scanners will identify us the moment we step off the ship.”

  “Hunter’s point is close to Swinsler’s Shipyard,” replied Cutler, appearing to be satisfied with Griff’s choice of port. “There is a refuge there that will suffice.”

  “Anywhere is better than this broken-down tin can,” replied Griff, glowering at the stained upholstery of his chair. “For once, I actually can’t wait to set foot back on Earth.”

  “That may be more challenging than we first thought,” replied Cutler. “It appears that the CET has revoked the RGF’s independent authority, and has taken the force under its control.”

  “What?” snapped Griff. “Are you sure?” He’d heard Cutler clearly enough, but didn’t believe it. He switched his monitor to a local news feed, and cycled through the bulletins. It didn’t take long to confirm what Cutler had said. “They’ve suspended all of the top leadership, and halted all relic hunting operations, until the alien threat is dealt with,” said Griff, reading one of the more detailed articles. “But since the CET military is pre-occupied up here, I doubt they’ll be paying that much attention to what goes on in the bases. We might get lucky.”

  Cutler continued to pilot the ship towards Earth, aiming for a re-entry slot that would bring them in along the west coast of North America. The communications panel then lit up, and Griff checked it, expecting it to be a reply from Hunter’s Point. However, to Griff’s dismay, the request turned out to be from one of the CET cruisers.

  “Don’t answer it,” said Griff, noticing Cutler’s hand sliding over to the panel. “Pretend we have a comms issue or something.”

  Cutler hovered his hand over the switch. “They will simply block our path and communicate with signal lights instead,” he replied. “You RGF types may be used to ignoring the CET�
�s authority, but you’re the same as the rest of us now.”

  Griff scowled. It was often difficult to read Cutler’s emotions, because of his dull intonations. However, this time he could clearly hear the satisfaction in Cutler’s voice while he was reminding Griff of his newly-reduced status. “Authority or not, we can’t let them stop us,” said Griff. “It won’t take them long to realize something doesn’t add up with our ship.”

  “I will stall them,” replied Cutler, adjusting his headset mic so that it was closer to his mouth. “But if you cannot get clearance from the RGF, we are caught anyway. Whether in orbit or on the ground, the CET will have us.”

  Griff growled and returned to his communication panel, while Cutler flipped open the channel to the CET cruiser.

  “Unidentified shuttle, this is Commander Lane of the CET Light Cruiser Humboldt,” the CET officer began, his voice crackly and indistinct through the shuttle’s glitchy comms system. “We are detecting a radiation leak from your engines. And your transponder ID is not active. Do you require assistance?”

  Cutler took a deep breath and answered, putting on a fake accent and feigning cheerfulness. “Cruiser Humboldt, this is Shuttle Logan, thanks for your concern,” Cutler began. Griff found Cutler’s put-on sunniness disconcerting. “We hit some space junk coming out of the portal, but we’re doing just fine. We’ll be setting down at Ride Spaceport for repairs ASAP.”

  There was a short pause, during which time Griff said, “Shuttle Logan? You couldn’t have thought of something else?” But Cutler just glared back at him and waited.

  The voice of Commander Lane crackled over the speakers again, “Understood Shuttle Logan,” Transmit your entry clearance and we’ll let you be on your way.”

  Cutler muted the link and turned to Griff. “This is where you finally prove your usefulness, Inspector,” he said. Although he had resumed his normal, flat speaking voice, Griff could still detect an undertone of aggression. Turning the mic back on, Cutler replied to the cruiser, “Will do, Commander. Give us a minute or two to pull it up. We’re still a little glitchy over here.”