by James Palmer
“What are you talking about?” Mark replied, concern suddenly written all over his face.
“That big war ship we took out is here, searching for us, and it brought two more just like it. I don’t think we can get to you, at least not without getting fried out here. We’re playing cat an’ mouse with these guys right now.”
“Listen to me, you get out of here, go to hyper-warp immediately and start heading back toward Earth. That is an order, Mr. Jefferson.”
“Wait—are you kidding me? You want us to bug out and leave you here?”
“I want you to save my crew and ship. The Stargrazer is more than capable of hyper-warp interstellar flight. You can’t do us any good by getting killed or getting the ship destroyed. Now do as I ask and get out of here. We’ll contact you when we find what we’re looking for.”
“Well, how far do you want us to go?”
“Go as far as you have to lose any pursuit. I don’t care if that’s right back to Earth itself. Just do it and do it now. Get out of here.”
Miles nodded, despair on his face, “Alright boss, whatever you say. We’re outta here.”
The image on the viewer faded back to a starscape and the moon they were hiding behind.
“What do we do now, Mark?” Ariel asks.
“We’re going to have to go back. That’s the only thing we can do.”
“How can we do that?” Red barked, “They have patrols both in space and on that planet’s surface looking for us. If we go back to that space port we’ll be shot on sight, hell the ‘Grazer will be shot down the minute we head towards a landing pad.”
“Oh ye of little faith. The ‘Grazer is a tough little ship, I’m less concerned with going back there then I am of escaping once we find what we’re looking for. Besides, who said we were going back to any landing site?”
Chapter 7
The Stargrazer slipped back planet-side over the most unpopulated portion of the desert world. Sliding in under security and sensor scans, before landing in a densely wooded mountain range near where Mark and the crew suspected the mysterious captive had been taken.
“Invisibility generator is off.” Red affirmed.
“Good. For now the trees can cloak us. Ari, do you sense anything, or anyone?” Mark asked.
“No, but I’m hearing a mental murmur east of here. It may not be who we’re looking for, there’s no way of knowing until I hear thoughts I can make definite decisions on. Right now it’s all just noise.”
“Alright Dan, give me a hand back in the hold.”
“Whatcha got?” Big Dan Sledge replied as he unbuckled himself and followed Johnson to the back of the ship.
“Well, we can’t just fly around in the Stargrazer looking for our mystery man, but we can take these babies out and cover more ground a bit more inconspicuously.” Mark pulled the cover off the first item he pulled out of the hold. It was a gleaming black sky-cycle, and there were three more just like it within.
“Only four?” Dan asked.
“Yes, someone stays with the ship.”
“Hhhmmph, Ari’s not gonna like that.”
“Who said it’s Ariel who is going to stay?”
“What? Me? You’re gonna make me stay?”
“You’re the best pilot Dan. You can have the ship out of cover and to whoever needs you in minutes.”
“Yeah but I’m also the guy who can shatter brick and steel with his bare hands.”
“And right now I need you for your piloting skills, not your incredible strength.”
“Alright. I really don’t like this one bit, but just give me a yell if ya need me.”
“Believe me Danny, you’ll be the first to hear.”
The big man nodded somberly. Everyone exited the ship and met Dan and Mark at the back hatch where they stood there with the four sky cycles. Stylish modern machines with tires just like any other motorcycle, but also an anti-grav magno-disc built into each solid rim. Black flight suits were donned over their regular uniforms and black helmets with a blackened face shield which was actually a HUD or Heads up Display linking first to the sky cycle then to the Stargrazer itself, sharing information across vast distances.
“Search pattern delta to begin with.” Mark ordered, and the four cycles suddenly leaped straight upwards, then away, disappearing into the night sky. Small horizontal wings slid out of the sides of each to aid in aerodynamics. Below, Dan Sledge shook his head in disgust and re-entered the Stargrazer, sealing the hatch behind him.
“He’s not happy.” Red spoke into the communicator within his helmet.
“Do you blame him? He was just left behind.”
Dan’s voice crackled through their headsets “I can still hear ya, ya know.”
Ariel laughed, “It’s okay Dan, I’m sure we’ll be calling you any minute to rescue us.”
“Haha,” came his crackled his reply.
“All right kiddies, let’s find this guy, whoever he is, and see what’s really going on here.”
Across his helmet’s HUD Mark was watching numbers and heat signatures fly by in quick succession. He hoped the small sky cycles were invisible to the scanners used on this world. There was plenty of shielding built into them for just that purpose, but he had no way of knowing for certain.
“Okay, it’s time to expand our grid,” he ordered. “Eddie and Red flank right, and begin arcing back towards the ‘Grazer. Ari and I will arc left. If you see anything call out immediately.”
“Aye aye, skipper.” Eddie replied sarcastically.
“Watch it there pal, I still sign your paychecks.”
“Yeah, don’t I know it.”
The four sky cycles split up and rocketed through the sky.
The minutes dragged on in silence as the small sky cycles criss-crossed the sky above the designated search location.
“Anything yet?” Mark asked.
“No not yet. Nothing out here but farm animals of some kind that resemble cows.”
“It’s amazing that this is one of the only mountainous regions on this world.” Ariel offered.
“I know, it’s strange. There’s actually some vegetation here as well, and yet signs of habitation are few and far between. Most of these people on this sparsely populated world tend to be near the commerce centers. It’s a dust bowl, but at least they can have some form of a social life.”
“It’s a dreary world. That’s kind of an understatement, I know, but there’s not much other way to describe it.” Ari replied.
“Yes I know, still there has to be something significant about it for them to drag the General here, if that is who it is.”
“Do you really think they have Abruzzi here? Then who was that we’ve been dealing with?”
“Ari, I don’t know. I know it definitely wasn’t him, that much I can tell you. He may be a stodgy pain in the ass, but what he’s been putting us through the past few weeks has been just shy of crazy. Whoever that is taking his place has done his best to confiscate the Cagliostro, which means we would have never made this flight. In fact I have no doubt the ship would have exploded the moment it went to hyper-warp, and that would have ended our deep space program before it started.”
“Wow,” she murmured, “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“This is a convoluted mess, Ariel, and it’s only likely to get worse before we figure it all out.”
“What’s worse is we have no one to back us up.”
Mark nodded as his sky cycle sped over treetops, “I know the Cag is gone now too. We’re really on our own out here, which is definitely something that can bite us if something goes wrong.”
As if in response to his last comment a spotlight suddenly shined upon him and Ariel from above, and then a voice boomed, “You will land your vehicles immediately and allow yourselves to be subject to a search. Land now. You will not be warned again.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Mark replied to his crew over the comm link and suddenly shot his sky cycle straight upwards, past their p
ursuers. Ariel followed but on a different vector.
“Hell, it’s more of those two-man gunships that were after us at the space port.” Mark grunted angrily.
“Do you two need help?” Reds voice cut through instantly.
“Yeah you could say that.” Mark replied testily.
“On our way.” Red confirmed.
Mark and Ariel zig-zagged their sky cycles to and fro, avoiding deadly energy beams that lanced out towards them from the two-man gunship dogging their tail.
“Watch out Ariel I’m going to try to draw their attention.” Mark shouted into his microphone.
Sliding his cycle to the right of Ariel’s, he flipped it over in midair, and sped across the bow of the gunship, then dove down and back up, looping around the two-man craft. When he was facing them directly he fired the two small laser blasters equipped on the sky cycle. Scoring a direct hit on the larger ship.
The problem was that the weapons on the sky cycles were small discharge blasters, and could do no real damage to the heavily armored gunships.
Now it was a dance of death over the blackened landscape with the stars twinkling overhead, as the two small sky cycles dove and spun through the night sky, avoiding the attacks of the much more heavily armed, two-man gunship, its bubble canopy showing the helmeted faces of their antagonists within.
First Mark would draw their fire, then Ariel, as each took turns blasting the larger vehicle, their energy pulses splashing off its armored hide like water.
“This is no good; we’re hardly making a mark on that thing.” Johnson lamented.
“I know, but we can’t run, they’ll shoot us down right away.”
“I know Ari; we have to hold on until the others get here.”
“Here now.” Red’s voice intruded as his sky cycle dove down between the attacking gunship and Ariel’s sky cycle.
“An’ he ain’t alone!” Shouted Eddie as he raced his sky cycle through the air from above the attack craft, heading towards it and strafing it as he passed over it.
“I’m feeding you all the aiming coordinates. Fire there. Together we can take this thing out.” Red shouted.
“Agreed.” Mark replied as the bigger craft turned again and headed towards them. Each Sky Cycle split off from the others in another direction, Each time the two-man craft would draw a bead on one cycle another would attack it, spinning by it, or sliding through the air sideways above or below the small gunship, all aiming their weapons at the same spot, the side of the engine cover at the rear of the patrol vehicle.
This dance of death went on for several minutes, until at one point Ariel flew too slowly, and too close to the small gunship, when one of its blasters found its mark, tearing through the rear wheel of her sky cycle disintegrating it explosively and causing the cycle to cartwheel sideways though the sky.
“Ariel!” Mark shouted as he dove his sky cycle towards her at full throttle through the black sky. “Jump!” He shouted both mentally and verbally, praying she’d hear him one way or another.
Ariel’s sky cycle continued to spin toward the treetops below, now looming much closer in the blackness. Suddenly she was flung free as instantly, Mark dove his cycle directly towards her only a heartbeat behind her decent.
The deadly impaling tree tops loomed through the darkness as Johnson, his sky cycle’s engine screaming, grasped her flailing arm and pulled her up to him. Ariel immediately set herself behind Mark on the long seat and clung to him tightly. ‘I’m okay,’ is all she said mentally to him.
He patted her hand and then squeezed it as he looped his sky cycle in a tight circle, as far below the Sky Cycle Ariel had been riding exploded violently when it finally hit the ground, so far below the trees.
Accelerating madly he climbed his sky cycle towards the battle being played out across his HUD. Now aiming from his far removed position from the battle he began firing upon the two-man patrol ship, concentrating his fire on the target Red had directed them to aim at.
The gunship turned towards Mark and Ariel, but was attacked from above by Eddie as Red arced around it once more and concentrated his fire on the same spot again. Now all three sky cycles attacked the engine cover and within seconds it glowed bright orange and exploded with a horrific grinding of metal. The gunship hurled itself sideways and disappeared within the trees. An instant later a muffled explosion and a burst of flame shot up from below.
“Is everybody all right?” Mark frantically shouted into his comlink.
“Yes,” Eddie replied.
“Ditto,” answered Red.
“What just happened there?” Ari asked.
“I think we discovered where they’re hiding the General.” Mark replied.
“You think we overflew where they have him stashed?” Red asked.
“Yes, I do. I don’t believe that there’d be a heavily armed patrol ship in the middle of nowhere. Something’s being hidden there. I’m sure it's who we’re looking for.”
“Now all we have to do is remember where the patrol ship came after us and start a search from there.” Red commented.
“Not that difficult a thing to do,” Mark explained, “all we do is recall the data going backwards to the point where the gunship attacked us, and fan out from there.”
Ariel squeezed his shoulder from behind as the sky cycle zoomed low over the treetops, heading back to where they came from.
“That was pretty smart,” she said with a smile, while she patted him on his shoulders playfully.
“Well Ari, you have to remember,” he began, smiling wryly within his helmet, “I am a genius.”
Chapter 8
The sky cycles converged on the spot the attack had begun.
“From here we expand in a ‘K’ pattern, sensors on the helmets on full front, Danny, are you there?”
“Yes I am boss.” Dan’s voice replied over the helmet headset.
“Okay Dan, keep us on your sensors and be ready to take off at a moment’s notice, we may need a quick pick up. Conversely, we may need a distraction along the way too.”
“Gotcha boss.” Dan replied.
The three small sky cycles spread out once again, flying low and slow over the black treetops. After twenty minutes of repeating the pattern over and over again, Eddie spoke up over the comm “I got something boss.”
“You wanna share?” Red broke in.
“Yeah I have some heat signatures but they’re faint. I think they might be underground, because I’m not showing anything on the surface. No buildings, no anything. Yet I’m seeing what looks like bodies moving around. I think there are tunnels down there.”
“Okay, converge on Ariel and I. We’re landing, and walking from here.”
A minute later the three sky cycles were on the ground and all four members of the team were off and walking, each using a hand-held scanner that replicated what the Heads up Display within the helmet had done.
“I’m seeing the same heat signatures you were a few minutes ago.” Mark began, “ They are definitely below ground. Now we have to find their entrance. Fan out in a straight line and set your scanners to ‘full sensitivity mode’. Let’s find out how these people are getting below ground.”
“Whatever you say Mark.” Eddie agreed as he walked in an opposite direction from Mark and Ariel. Red trailed Eddie.
“What’ve you got Red?” The smaller man asked.
“Nothin’ Eddie, nothin’ yet.” Red murmured, while watching his scanner.
Ariel and Mark walked side by side as two of the planets four moons shone brightly in the sky overhead. “Nice night, and at least this small oasis is a nice place to be. It’s kind of romantic,” she remarked.
“Hhhmm? Yes it is romantic I suppose, though I’d rather be able to take advantage of that when our lives aren’t at stake.” He turned and smiled at her. “And you are right it is kind of an oasis, except with more trees, and it’s a good fifty mile swath of land that’s like this with the small mountain range jutting out of nowhere.”
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“It’s a little strange isn’t it that this is the only piece of land anywhere around here that’s built like this?”
Mark stopped, smiled, leaned forward and kissed her. “Looks like I’m not the only genius here. That was brilliant.”
Ariel stared at him, perplexed. What was? What did I say?”
He laughed in a low voice, almost a whisper really, “You said ‘built’. That’s exactly what this place is. It’s been terraformed. This fifty mile stretch of land was terraformed for a reason. Now, what is that reason? That’s what we have to ascertain. Any suggestions?”
She stared wide eyed at him for a moment then looked around. “I-I have no idea,” she replied, shaking her head.
“It doesn’t matter, I’m sure we’ll figure it out on our own soon enough. Now that I’m actually thinking about it, I’ll let my subconscious work on it while we continue with the job at hand.”
Ariel stared at him through slit eyes a moment, “Sometimes you really scare me,” she laughed quietly.
“So, I guess I’ll take that as a compliment then,” he replied with a smirk of his own.
“Hey boss, Mark, do you read me?” Red’s voice rumbled through the communicator.
Johnson touched his sleeve and replied, “Yes Red. Find something?”
“We did, our entrance. I’m sending the coordinates to your suits GPS. Come and meet us. And hurry. This place is guarded.”
“On our way Red. ETA is four minutes.”
Mark and Ariel looked at each other and began to jog through the woods as quietly as possible, the bright light reflecting off of the two moons in the sky providing ample light, even at this time of the night.
“What do you think?” Eddie didn’t even look their way as they arrived. He kept his eyes locked on the target before them.
Mark and Ariel looked on from behind thick tree coverage as their scanners depicted a scene they were too far from to actually see. A concrete double doorway, seemingly going nowhere but down, with two armed guards standing silently out in front of it.