“Sawyer,” I said. “Did you know?”
“Know what?” she asked over the ship's comms.
“About Endellion.”
“Yes.”
“You never mentioned anything.”
“It never became relevant.”
I placed my hand on the starfighter and exhaled. “What're we doing?”
“Your starfighter, Endellion's starfighter, and a third starfighter have the rebellion's operating system. They aren't affected by Felseven's hold. We'll fly out of the dock, but first we're waiting for the doors to open.”
Admiral Gaeleven had ships docked at the station, but he and Felseven had left for the planet hours ago. By the time he ordered anything, we would be well on our way.
“What're we doing?” I asked. “Meeting our commodore friend?”
Sawyer waited for a long moment before replying, “We're going to dock at the central port for Capital Station. Endellion and I will take control of the station's main computer terminal. After that, we'll rendezvous with the commodore.”
“Why fuck around with the main computer terminal?” I asked.
“We'll have control over the relays.”
The information relays transmitted information ten times faster than any starship. Once Admiral Gaeleven sent his reports, the relays would get them to Vectin-14 in a matter of days. But if Endellion interrupted the relays… maybe she could get to Midway Station first.
Was that her plan?
“Does Endellion still plan to win?” I asked. “After everything that's happened?”
“Yes.”
I gritted my teeth. “What about you? Do you still think it's possible for her to achieve her dream? For her to become a planet governor?”
“I think Endellion will find a way.”
Fanatic to the end. I wasn't surprised, but I was worried. Taking control of the main computer terminal for all of Capital Station? Was it even possible? I never would've considered it as an option. Endellion hadn't ruled anything out. But what was her long-term goal? How could using the relays help her overcome the situation?
I climbed into my starfighter and allowed the cockpit to secure me into place. With a deep breath, I placed my hands on the side-sticks and waited while the screens powered up and displayed the various points of information. The map of Capital Station had a highlighted section—our destination—and I studied it with a keen eye.
The main computer terminal for the station was at the core. The heart of all operations. And the core had such an odd position that access seemed limited to one lift from the main station or six access ports near the base. The ports had acted as landing stations for the construction bots back in the day, allowing for the easy transport of material while the station was initially constructed.
My flight plan headed straight for one such access dock. Endellion's led her to the one next to mine, but a third path led off to the opposite end of the core computer terminal.
“Who else is coming with us?” I asked.
“I am,” Sawyer replied.
“Why?”
“The main computer system has safeguards in place to prevent disaster. The central computer requires a dual-unlocking system: one person at one end, and another person at the other. These two key terminals are separated completely.”
“Why so many safeguards?”
“The main computer system controls everything for the station, not just the relays.”
“Wait, you know how to fly a starfighter?” I asked, my mind still twisted by the recent bombardment of knowledge. “Since when?”
“I always have, but Endellion has prohibited me from fighting.”
“Yeah, I can understand.”
Without Sawyer, the Star Marque wouldn't have been half the ship it was.
“So, you'll be unlocking the main computer, and Endellion will be unlocking it on her side?” I asked.
“No,” Sawyer replied. “You'll be unlocking it with me. Endellion will be at the main computer terminal, downloading my alterations. The old code for the core computer is centuries out-of-date, but that also means it's easy to mess with. This operation shouldn't take much time.”
“It's a three-man unlocking system?”
“Yes.”
That didn't surprise me. Access to the whole station's main computer systems? Of course you would want a triple-secure locking method. Although, I doubted anyone had accessed the core terminal in some time. Capital Station's operating system was meant to maintain the baseline functions, such as the engines, relays, and power converters. Disrupting any of those processes would cause havoc for everyone on Capital Station.
My starfighter hadn't been resupplied since the last fight. Low fuel, and only two hyperweapon bolts.
“What's this commodore going to do for us?” I asked.
“He'll take us back to Vectin-14.”
“And leave everyone here? Why?”
“Endellion believes she needs to speak to the other ministers directly.”
Perhaps she would change the rules back in her favor. Keeping defects from the military had made sense back in the day, because they broke easier than healthy men and women. But obviously, Endellion had overcome her weakness, and her cyborg body could withstand more rigors than a whole troop of soldiers could. Maybe she had a plan after all, but the daunting number of variables made everything uncertain and foggy.
The doors to Dock One opened.
“Go,” Sawyer said. “And follow the flight path exactly.”
I detached from the Star Marque. My screen displayed two other ships leaving the Star Marque as well, and I focused on Endellion. She hadn't spoken to us. She hadn't even opened her comms line. I ignored the dread seeping into my system and focused on controlling my starfighter.
The outside of Capital Station didn't have the amount of traffic I had seen in the past. The other starships must have been held down by Felseven's trap program as well. He might have been trying to catch more than just Endellion, but it didn't matter. My starship didn't register anything out of the ordinary.
I sailed the starfighter straight into the access port at the bottom of the space station. It was small—my starfighter was almost too big to fit—but I managed well enough. Once latched in and attached, I pulled a plasma rifle out of my fighter's storage and stepped out of the cockpit. In an ideal world, I would have had my enviro-suit—since it offered the most protection—but I hadn't thought to pack it.
Endellion docked in the access port next to mine, and I waited as she jumped out, her own rifle in hand. She also hadn't packed an enviro-suit, but she was capable without it.
The landing zone, clear of any objects, had more color than the rest of Capital Station put together. Red, yellow, and black strips marked the area, along with an assortment of instructions for loading and unloading. The metal and paint had seen better days, all scuffed and faded. The place looked untouched by time, like the whole area had stepped out of a documentary vid about how origin-world humans built the first space stations.
Endellion motioned to the far door. “We don't have much time.”
“Why?”
“Once they figure out my starfighters have left Dock One, they'll come searching. Act quickly, Clevon. This is where I need you the most.”
I replied with a curt nod.
We opened the door and stepped into an engineering corridor. Grate floors, a mezzanine level above our own, and huge data-processing computer terminals shaped like towers made up the whole control room. The place smelled of oil, dust, and neglect. The forever-running central computer let off steam as though it were too hot for the environment, but I suspected it was from a coolant system that long needed to be replaced.
I turned my attention to the two guards stationed by the one access hatch that led to the lift. They stood a good 30 meters away, chatting to themselves, their guns at their side, casual in all regards. They hadn't seen us. And they had likely never gotten any action in a remote and forgotten location,
such as the center control room.
I hefted my rifle, but Endellion grabbed the end of it.
“The discharge of plasma will register on the sensors,” she said. “You kill the one on the left, I'll take the other.”
I pulled a knife from the belt of my cargo pants and nodded. The room had an abundance of nooks and crannies, allowing Endellion and me to jump from one darkened corner to the next without trouble. Memories of my criminal days came rushing back. I had done this before—easy to fall back into.
Endellion and I were too fast for the common man. By the time we got close, they were already dead. We both jumped out and took the men by surprise. My target—some schmoe with a lazy eye—attempted to lift his rifle, but I stabbed him clean in the throat, the blade stopping against his spine. He stumbled back, and I yanked my blade free in time to stab him again before he hit the grate flooring, my mind processing everything four times faster than my victim ever could.
Endellion stabbed her target under the chin, planting the blade of her weapon deep into the guy's noggin. What a way to go. She left her knife embedded in his head and continued.
“There,” she said. “The key terminal.”
She tossed me a stick drive—antiquated tech compared to things like PADs—and pointed to the insert slot. I walked over to the computer terminal and examined the many plugins for the computer tower.
“Wait for Sawyer's commands,” Endellion said.
I frowned. “Did Sawyer have to deal with guards?”
“No. Her room only houses the key terminal. They don't station guards there until access has been scheduled.”
Her answer betrayed the research she and Sawyer must have done. Yet Endellion had told me nothing. How was it that we could be so close, yet so far away? Every step of every plan felt like I stumbled behind her in the dark while she ran ahead with the only flashlight.
I waited at the computer terminal, the stick drive poised over the only slot that matched. Endellion ambled up the stairs to the central computer on the mezzanine level and ran her fingers over the controls. Her gaze locked on the screen, unseeing. She'd had that same intensity when I met her, that same hard look of someone willing to do anything. I shuddered and turned away. Her determination shook me sometimes.
“Demarco,” Sawyer said over my PAD. “I'm ready.”
“All right.”
I plugged the stick drive in and waited. The computer terminal lit up, showing a total of three lights, all red. After a few painful seconds—like the machine needed extra time to process the information—one light flashed green. Then, another. Finally, Endellion tapped at her computer terminal, triggering the last green light.
“Welcome to the space habitat control systems,” a feminine voice said from the computers, greeting us like we were tourists. “This terminal monitors and—”
Endellion plugged in her own stick drive—no doubt with Sawyer's workaround code on it—and then typed away at a furious pace, cutting the computer off before it could get any momentum.
I started to head up the stairs, but Endellion glared. “Stay there. I'll need you to input a few commands at your key terminal.”
“All right,” I said.
I walked back to the terminal and tapped my fingers along the edge. We didn't have much time, and each second that crawled by added to my blood pressure. The two dead guards bled out, but their blood dropped between the openings of the grates and fell into a pit of darkness below our feet.
“Are you sure you want to remove the first failsafe?” the computer asked.
Endellion tapped at the keys, her focus unflinching. “Clevon, confirm each action.”
My screen asked whether or not I wanted to confirm the removal of the first failsafe system. I confirmed, and the computer reported Sawyer as having done the same. Sawyer must have been manning her terminal without direction.
“Are you sure you want to remove the second failsafe?” the computer asked.
I waited and confirmed Endellion's actions the moment the computer allowed me to.
“Are you sure you want to remove the third failsafe? Life-sustaining operations could be at risk if the failsafes are removed and the code is tampered with beyond immediate repair.”
Again, I confirmed Endellion's actions. I wasn't surprised there were so many failsafes and warnings. The main computer could have been used in all sorts of inappropriate ways, and the level of security, though archaic, had likely been put into place to ward off as many troublemakers as possible.
“Are you sure you want to remove the fourth failsafe?”
So many failsafes. How many would we have to confirm? It ate time faster than a glutton in a slop pit.
“Are you sure you want to remove the fifth failsafe?”
I gritted my teeth and confirmed every time it asked. This was what we needed to do to interfere with the relays? Damn. I knew communication was important, and disrupting the flow from one source to another could be a felony, but the precautions bordered on the ludicrous.
I stopped paying attention for a few seconds, my thoughts returning to the future. What would Noah and Lysander do after everything was said and done? After Lysander had been discharged, he'd nearly fallen apart. I wondered if something like this was what had gotten him caught in the first place—a random check. No, that wasn't it. He'd said someone betrayed his secret.
Someone.
“Endellion,” I called out, my chest tight, and my muscles tense.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Are you sure you want to remove the twenty-second failsafe?” the computer continued.
I balled my hands into fists, understanding now that everything had been planned out from the beginning. “It was you, wasn't it? The one who revealed Lysander's defect to the HSN Corp officials? You wanted him as your ground commander.”
“Yes,” she replied, no remorse in her voice.
“And Mara was right. You got her old captain wasted beyond reason and pushed him into a situation where he lost control. All so you could take his team of starfighters.”
She said nothing, but I knew the answer from her tense posture.
“And me…” I had never considered it until just that moment. “You helped my old associates fuck me over, did you? Someone had to sell them those new ID chips, and Sawyer… she has so many.”
Endellion had said she had been watching me. She'd admitted without flinching that she had wanted someone genetically modified to be her starfighter and right-hand man.
I bet there were a hundred more stories, from her funding, to her contacts, to her suppliers. Mara and Yuan. She'd made every deal, manipulated every situation, bending reality to her favor. It was a smart move, considering that when reality had dealt the cards, it had given her one joker and that card with all the rules on it. How could you win a game with that hand?
Endellion had decided to burn down the card house and claim the insurance money.
“Well?” I asked. “You did, didn't you?”
“You know the answer, Clevon,” she said.
“Are you sure you want to remove the thirty-first failsafe?” the computer asked, oblivious to our conversation. “Life-sustaining operations could be at risk if the failsafes are removed and the code is tampered with beyond immediate repair.”
I almost couldn't believe Endellion's past actions. But I had decided to let go. I had to. There was no point to holding onto it. She'd made it clear that her methods worked the best. She wouldn't be stopped.
“Are you sure you want to remove the final failsafe?”
I confirmed the action, ready to leave and make the long trek back to Vectin-14. Maybe with enough time, I would see how everything was for the better. How the ends justified all the struggle and manipulation.
Endellion continued to type away, faster and faster, almost as if she couldn't wait to end our time there, either.
I stepped away from my terminal and exhaled. “You done yet?”
“Almost.”
“What's going on?” I shouted.
Tremors filled the room. Grime and dust fell from every surface, and the steam from the central computer increased. Rumbling mixed with the strain of the girders and the twisting of the grates. Capital Station had rotated with same speed and orbit for three centuries—changing anything could cause structural damage.
Endellion didn't answer me.
“Warning,” the computer announced as a pulse-increasing siren blared across the station's comms. Red lights flooded the area, blanketing everything in crimson and darkness. “Planet collision detected.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
VICTORY AT ALL COSTS
Endellion turned to face me, her expression hard and set.
“Planet collision?” I asked between the shrieks of the siren. “Endellion, what the fuck is going on?”
“Get to your starfighter,” she said. “We're leaving.”
“What's happening to Capital Station?”
“It will collide with Galvis-4 in a matter of minutes. Radioactive particles from the station's core will break away into the sky, polluting the atmosphere, destroying most of the grain operations. The resulting impact will leave a crater where Felseven makes his base of operations, destroying everything he's ever worked toward and killing him in the process.”
Sirens continued their terrible wail. I shook, not with fear, but with mounting outrage. Endellion planned to send all of Capital Station to the planet's surface, destroying everything and everyone in one brutal strike. The sheer magnitude of such a decision didn't seem to faze her. She walked down the stairs, one step at a time, her green eyes focused on mine. Even in the red hue of the emergency lights, her gaze had an inner light that demanded attention.
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