by Ryk Brown
“Partly,” Jessica replied. “Hey, I think I see our place up ahead.”
“Finally,” Nathan sighed. “I was afraid I’d gotten us lost.”
“Yup, this is it,” she said, opening the gate into their yard. “Just in time, I was starting to get cold.”
“In that skimpy, little dress, I’m not surprised.”
“Hey, I look hot in this dress,” Jessica insisted.
“Damned hot,” Nathan replied with a grin.
Jessica glanced back over her shoulder as she opened the patio door, smiling at Nathan. “You haven’t answered the question,” she added as she entered the house. “Why did you decide to lead us this time?”
Nathan took a deep breath, letting it out with a long sigh as they headed down the corridor toward their bedrooms. “It was partly because I felt like it was the right thing to do,” he insisted, “but it was also because I didn’t feel whole. I felt like I’d been missing a part of my life, and I’d pretty much accepted that I was never going to get it back.” They stopped at the end of the corridor, each of them leaning their backs against their respective doors. “It made me feel like I was just going through the motions of life. I couldn’t tell if my goals were mine, or if they were what I was told were mine. Then you came along, and you were so beautiful and so familiar, and you were so confident in me…more confident than I was in myself. It was a way to find out who I really was.”
“How come you’ve never told me all this?” Jessica wondered.
“I guess because I felt guilty,” Nathan admitted, looking down. “It was about me. I wasn’t even going to stay around after I got my memories back.”
“But you did,” Jessica said, “and you know why?”
“Because you’re hot?” Nathan said, flashing his usual charming smile.
“Well that, but mostly because you’re Nathan Scott. You’re Na-Tan. You’re a savior. Not the savior, but a savior, nonetheless. It’s what you do. You save those who need saving and you’re willing to sacrifice your own life to do so. In fact, you did.”
“Not my best plan ever,” Nathan joked.
“That’s why the Ghatazhak follow you. That’s why we all follow you.”
“Is that why you follow me?” Nathan asked.
“That, and because I love you.”
Nathan smiled, saying nothing.
“You’re not going to say anything?” Jessica wondered.
“You already know how I feel about you.”
Jessica smiled, moving closer to him. “You know,” she said, reaching behind him to open his door, “it seems a shame to mess up two beds.”
“Yeah, I’d hate to make the robot-maid do extra work,” Nathan agreed.
CHAPTER NINE
Nathan’s eyes opened slowly. The bedroom was bathed in the soft amber light of SilTek’s dawn. He felt rested and relaxed, more so than he could ever remember.
Nathan turned his head slightly, taking in the smell of Jessica’s hair. She felt so soft, so warm, cuddled up next to him, their naked bodies sharing one another’s warmth. He couldn’t help but smile. In that brief moment, there was no Alliance, no rebellion, no war.
But there was a sound…like a door closing.
Jessica’s eyes popped open, her head rising slightly.
“You heard that?” Nathan whispered.
“I’m a light sleeper,” she whispered back, still listening. “Someone’s here,” she stated, immediately climbing out of bed.
“It’s probably just the android maid, or something.”
Jessica ignored him, donning her robe as she headed for the door.
“Jess,” Nathan called, also rising from the bed.
The door suddenly flew open. Jessica stepped to the left, out of instinct, as two armed officers stormed into the room.
“SILTEK SECURITY! DO NOT MOVE!”
Nathan reached for his robe as the officer on the left opened fire. A bolt of pale-blue light struck Nathan’s left arm, causing it to go completely numb and fall limp at his side. The sudden sensation took him by surprise, throwing off his balance and causing him to tumble to the bedroom floor.
Meanwhile, Jessica sprung into action, dropping down to her side and sweeping her leg under the other officer, tripping him up. As he fell, she snatched his weapon from his hand and fired at the other guard as she rolled away, paralyzing him and dropping him to the floor, as well.
Nathan scrambled to the other side of the room, grabbing the dressing stool with his still-functioning right hand and holding it in front of him like a shield as another pair of guards followed the first two into the room, opening fire, as well.
Jessica continued to fire, dropping the second pair of guards in seconds. She then dropped down, with one knee on the neck of the still-conscious guard, whom she had tripped up. “Check the corridor!” she ordered Nathan.
Nathan scrambled to his feet, his left arm still numb and dangling at his side. Still naked, he charged into the corridor and crossed into the opposite bedroom, which had windows facing the transit pad in front of the residence.
“There’re two security vehicles on the pad!” Nathan yelled as he headed back into his bedroom.
“What are your orders?” Jessica yelled at the trapped officer, her knee threatening to choke him out.
“I…can’t…breathe,” the officer struggled to reply.
“Our vehicle is gone,” Nathan added as he re-entered the bedroom.
“You might want to put something on,” Jessica commented as she turned the power setting on her captured handgun to its maximum setting. “I wonder what a max-power hit feels like,” she threatened, placing the muzzle against the officer’s forehead, at the same time easing the pressure on his throat.
“We were ordered to apprehend you both and deliver you to flight ops,” the officer admitted, his eyes focused on the muzzle on his forehead.
“Why?” Jessica demanded.
“I don’t know, I swear,” the officer assured her. “All I know is that all hell is breaking loose!”
Jessica dialed the weapon back down, then stood up and shot the officer, rendering him unconscious. She turned and shot the remaining, still-conscious, officer and then turned to look at Nathan. “What the hell is wrong with your arm?”
“That one caught me with a shot. It’s numb as hell.”
“We have to get out of here,” she said, grabbing her evening dress.
“You’re going to wear that?” Nathan wondered as he struggled to pull on his pants.
“I don’t think our uniforms are going to be very covert,” she replied.
“Maybe, but an evening dress?”
“Maybe you’re right,” she admitted, tossing the dress aside and heading for her bedroom.
“Why the hell are they trying to arrest us?” Nathan yelled to her as he pulled on his shirt. “What did he mean by ‘all hell is breaking loose’?”
“I don’t know,” Jessica yelled back from the other room, “but I’m not about to wait around to find out.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have attacked them,” Nathan remarked as he pulled on his shoes.
“I prefer to shoot first and ask questions later,” Jessica replied. “How’s the arm?” she asked as she returned to the room, wearing pants and a comfortable shirt.
“Still numb, but I can move it a little,” Nathan replied, standing up. “Nice outfit.”
Jessica ignored him as she squatted down and began searching one of the unconscious officers. She pulled a comm-unit from the officer’s ear and a card from his shirt pocket.
“What’s that?” Nathan wondered.
“I’m guessing it’s some kind of security card,” Jessica said, slipping it into her pocket and continuing to search the man. “Hopefully, it will come in handy.”
“I’m assuming you have some kin
d of plan?”
“Get someplace secure and lay low until we figure out what’s going on and what our options are,” Jessica explained. Satisfied there was nothing else of value on the one man, she moved to the next officer.
“Maybe we should just call Ariana Batista’s office and ask her what’s going on,” Nathan suggested.
A low wail sounded in the distance, climbing in volume and pitch within seconds.
“What the hell is that?” Nathan wondered.
“All hell breaking loose,” Jessica responded, rising to her feet. “Let’s move.”
“It’s locked,” Nathan said with surprise as he tried to open the front door.
“Well, unlock it.”
“I can’t,” he insisted, struggling with the lock.
“Ory,” Jessica called out, “unlock the front door.”
“I apologize for the inconvenience, Lieutenant Commander,” Ory replied, “but the building has been secured according to SilTek security protocol one four seven dash two five, subsection five B.”
“What the hell is security protocol one four seven dash two five, subsection five B?”
“SilTek security protocol one four seven dash two five, subsection five B requires all building control systems to secure their building to prevent persons who present a severe threat to the public’s welfare from escaping.”
“Are you saying that we are a threat?” Nathan asked.
“I am not programmed to make such determinations,” Ory explained. “The security protocol requires that I restrict ingress and egress to only those possessing SilTek Security access credentials.”
“Ta-da!” Jessica declared, pulling out the security card she had taken from the unconscious officer.
“It can’t be that easy,” Nathan insisted.
Jessica stuck the card into the slot below the door handle, and the door unlocked. “Never underestimate humanity’s potential for poor planning,” she stated as she headed out the door, her stunner at the ready.
Nathan followed Jessica down the path leading from the front door to the transit pad, coming to a stop at the nearest of two black security vehicles. Now that they were outside, the distant alert sirens seemed louder, and numerous, coming from all directions. “Those sound like air-raid sirens,” Nathan commented.
Jessica stuck the security card into the slot along the vehicle’s doorjamb, causing the doors to unlock. “These people know nothing about multi-layered security,” she announced as she climbed into the pilot’s seat.
“Maybe they don’t have the need,” Nathan suggested. He glanced through the side windows of the security vehicle, noticing two energy rifles attached to a rack between the seats.
Another sound caught Nathan’s attention, also in the distance: more sirens, but different. He looked skyward, spotting two sets of flashing blue and red lights descending toward them at a rapid rate. “Move over,” Nathan insisted.
“Why?”
“I’m the pilot, you’re the shooter,” he said, pointing at the incoming security vehicles.
Jessica leaned forward, looking skyward through the front window. “Oh, shit,” she said, climbing over the center console into the front passenger seat.
Nathan hurried into the pilot’s seat, scanning the console while Jessica moved over. “How the hell do you start this thing?”
Jessica jammed the security card into the slot at the upper center of the dashboard, and the console lit up. “State destination,” the vehicle’s auto-flight system requested.
“Manual control!” Nathan ordered, closing his door.
“Flight controls set to manual operation,” the system confirmed.
“Uh…lift…attitude…horizontal speed…”
“Do you know how to fly this thing?” Jessica wondered.
“I think so,” Nathan replied, grabbing the controls.
Jessica looked skyward again. “They’re nearly on top of us!”
“Here goes nothing,” Nathan announced, grabbing the throttle and twisting the lift collar all the way around the throttle handle.
The vehicle leapt skyward, pushing both of them down in their seats. It shot straight upward, climbing at a frighteningly rapid rate, nearly colliding with the two incoming security vehicles, both of which had to swerve to avoid colliding with the climbing vehicle.
“Whoa! Too much!” Nathan exclaimed, twisting the lift throttle back a bit to slow their rate of climb. The ship reacted more quickly than expected, lifting them both up out of their seats, causing them to hit their heads on the ceiling. “Maybe we should buckle up?” Nathan suggested, putting on his restraints.
“Good idea,” Jessica agreed, reaching for her own restraints.
“This is SilTek Security,” a voice called over comms. “You are ordered to land your vehicle and surrender, or we will be forced to disable.”
“Forced to disable?” Jessica said. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Where’s the auto-flight,” Nathan wondered, searching nervously.
“Receiving request for remote operations,” the auto-flight system announced. “Switching to…”
“No!” Nathan yelled in frustration, finally finding the auto-flight control display and punching at the buttons.
“Look out!” Jessica exclaimed as she smashed the auto-flight control display with the butt of her sidearm.
“Are you insane?” Nathan yelled. “How the hell am I…”
“Auto-flight system malfunction,” the auto-flight system reported. “Flight controls set to manual.”
“Get us out of here!” Jessica exclaimed, looking behind them, and down, at the security vehicle circling back around toward them.
Nathan jammed the throttle forward, causing their vehicle to accelerate suddenly, this time throwing them against their seat backs.
“Jesus! Take it easy, slick!” Jessica yelled, grabbing hold of whatever she could to steady herself.
“This thing is really sensitive!” Nathan exclaimed defensively.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t jam the controls to the max!”
Nathan eased back on the throttle, moving the flight control stick in his left hand from side to side, up and down, and twisting it left and right, trying to get the feel of the vehicle’s flight characteristics.
“They’re both on our tail,” Jessica advised.
“Hold on,” Nathan warned, putting their vehicle into a forty-five-degree dive and easing back on the throttle enough to keep their airspeed from dramatically increasing.
Jessica turned back around to peer out the front window, her eyes widening at the sight of the hills rushing up toward them. “What are you doing?”
“Just seeing what she can do,” Nathan replied, struggling to remain calm. He continued his dive, pointing their vehicle toward a hill with a valley on either side.
“What are you doing?”
“How many times are you going to ask me that?” Nathan wondered as he pushed his throttle forward and twisted his lift throttle a bit more, pulling back on his attitude control. “Hang on.”
Jessica braced herself as their vehicle barely cleared the top of the hill; the tips of the trees brushing the underside of their hull. “Was that really necessary?”
“Yes…and no,” Nathan replied as he rolled the ship into a tight turn toward the canyon on their left. “I just needed to know how well this thing would pull out of a dive before I started snaking the deck.”
“I don’t think I want to know what snaking the deck means,” Jessica said as she took one of the energy rifles out of the rack between them.
“What are you doing?” Nathan asked as he pulled out of the turn, taking the vehicle even lower into the canyon.
“I’m the shooter, remember?”
“I don’t think shooting down a few of their security vehicles is goin
g to win us any points with Missus Batista,” Nathan said.
“I stopped caring about what that bitch thought the moment she sent armed goons to arrest us.”
“I’m sure she has her reasons.”
Jessica tossed a disapproving glance his way. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” she commented as she reached up and pressed the overhead hatch control.
The hatch slid open, sending a gush of forced air into their vehicle. Jessica stood up, turning around to face aft as her head popped up through the hatch. The slipstream pushed her against the back edge of the opening, forcing her to brace herself with her left hand as she pulled the rifle up through the hatch. After wrapping the weapon’s shoulder strap over her body, she spread her feet and braced herself, raising her rifle to take aim at the nearest of the two security vehicles, pursuing them from above and behind, as Nathan jinked their vehicle back and forth. She pressed the charge button on the weapon and toggled the safety. A moment later, a green light appeared on the top of the weapon. “Hold it steady for a moment!” she yelled down to Nathan.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea!” Nathan told her.
“You can snake the deck all you want!” she argued. “They’re just going to follow us from a safe distance until we run out of options or reinforcements arrive!”
Nathan’s eyes suddenly widened. Ahead of them, massive bolts of red-orange plasma began raining down from above, slamming into the planet ahead of them, causing massive explosions with each impact.
Jessica pulled the trigger, sending a green ball of energy at the nearest pursuer, slamming into its underside.
“Jess!” Nathan yelled.
The nearest pursuing ship rolled right, smoke pouring from its underside.
“Got one!” she declared triumphantly.
“JESS!”
A bolt of red-orange plasma struck the other vehicle, blowing it apart. Jessica felt Nathan grab her, pulling her down into the vehicle, and knocking the rifle from her hands. “What the fuck!” she exclaimed as she fell into her seat.
Nathan rolled their vehicle into a sharp right turn, diving their ship into a valley covered with homes. “LOOK!” he yelled.