Well, here we go, I thought to myself. Hold on to your medals, boys. It’s about to get weird.
Four
As expected, there were a few sharp inhales and more than a few swears muttered as the officers of the GG looked at one another for answers. The only person who didn’t have a comment to make was the general himself. He viewed the body, hard-eyed and impassive.
The Voy alien was on his back with both sets of arms crossed over his body. Its skin was a creamy white. All six eyes were open, staring unseeing into the ceiling. The black eyes looked like huge marbles.
“Daniel.” Wesley nodded over to me. “Perhaps some accounts of how they operate first hand?”
“Right,” I said, looking at the general. “The Voy soldiers are fast and stronger than most humans. They’re grown, not born. They carry an assortment of weapons ranging from rifles to swords. They aren’t the best shots, so they use their long-range weapons to cover them while they cross the ground quickly and get on top of you with their hand-to-hand weapons.”
“How many?” the general asked.
“Thousands,” I answered. “Maybe more. They have small ships and artillery that look like rockets. Probably other artillery I haven’t seen. We have six days to surrender to them or they promise to kill three-quarters of our population and enslave the rest.”
“Supposedly they came here looking for a workforce,” Wesley said, filling in some of the blanks. “We don’t know where they’ve come from or how many other species are out there, but I’d guess there are more, a lot more.”
“We’re going to need to study the body,” General Armstrong said. “How many people know about this?”
“Of course, the body is yours,” Wesley agreed. “As far as we know, the only people who know outside of Immortal Corp and the Galactic Government are a group of Way settlers who were attacked.”
“I’m going to have to make a call,” General Armstrong announced. “If you’d wait outside for a moment?”
“Of course,” Wesley acknowledged.
I followed Wesley back out into the hall. The doors closed and we waited with a pair of Shadow Praetorians.
For one of the few times since I had known the man, Wesley actually looked troubled.
“Should I even ask?” I said.
“Just a hunch that things aren’t going to go as we planned,” Wesley confided, pursing his lips in thought. “They didn’t look shocked in there. I mean, they were as surprised as anyone when seeing the body, but they already knew and accepted aliens existed. They had an answer for us before we walked into the room.”
“So what now?” I asked. “This was all for show, then?”
“Probably just confirming what they already knew and waiting to see if we had any new info,” Wesley said.
The doors to the room clicked open. Zoe stuck her head out and motioned us inside. She didn’t look happy.
We entered again and the doors shut behind us. Wesley and I moved to the middle of the room with the alien body. General Armstrong and his panel of officers had retaken their seats at the table in front of us.
“As far as we’re concerned, this meeting never happened.” General Armstrong eyed the two of us. “Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” Wesley said.
“Sure,” I agreed.
“Good.” General Armstrong leaned over his table, clearing his throat. “You have to understand something, a person is smart. People in a paranoid, scared, and uninformed mob are dumb. This gets out, we’ll have mass panic in the streets of our major cities. The official stance of the Galactic Government is that aliens don’t exist.”
“And unofficially?” Wesley asked the question I had wanted to.
“Unofficially, we’re in a war,” General Armstrong said. “I have orders to send in a covert team and assess the enemies’ strength. If it’s like you say, and they can’t be reasoned with, then we take the fight to them before they can get to us. We’ll bomb the hell out of them without the public ever knowing. We’ll chalk it up to testing equipment on the far side of Mars.”
I let out a huge sigh I didn’t know I was holding. This wasn’t the best case scenario; the best option would be for the Galactic Government to declare war and bring all their military power on top of the Voy.
This was the second best option. At least they believed us and were doing something about it. I understood the need to not panic the public. If they could do what they said they were going to do, then maybe things weren’t as dire as I thought.
“Immortal Corp stands ready to assist anyway we can,” Wesley answered. “We’ve been there engaged with the enemy. Let us help.”
“The Galactic Government is more than capable of a recon mission,” General Armstrong responded. “Captain Valentine will act as your point of contact should we require any further intel.”
“I understand,” Wesley said with a sharp salute. I picked up a tightness in his voice. There was something going on here I wasn’t quite sure of. I knew enough about Wesley now to understand when he was holding back.
“Very good.” General Armstrong rose from his seat with a salute of his own. “Captain, will you please see these men to their dropship?”
“Yes, sir,” Zoe replied with a salute. She moved from the side of the room toward Wesley and me.
I’d never been in the military, so I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to salute as well or if that was reserved only for those who had served.
Everyone else is saluting each other, I thought to myself. What the heck, why not?
I started to lift my right hand to my forehead while straightening my back.
“What are you doing? Put your hand down,” Zoe whispered in a growl.
I turned the motion into a clumsy act of running my hand through my hair as we moved to go.
“I don’t know what the protocol is here,” I whispered back as I followed her out of the room. “Not like I was given instructions or anything about salutes.”
Zoe just looked at me and shook her head.
We walked out of the room together and followed Zoe back into the hall.
Wesley wore an uncharacteristically disturbed expression on his face. He was always the quiet type but never looked worried. I’d seen him face an alien threat with a puff of his cigar and a twinkle in his eye. The perplexed appearance he wore now gave me the chills and not in a good way.
We followed Zoe in silence as she led us through empty halls. The only other people in the Hall of Power at the late hour were guards and the random civilian working ungodly hours to meet whatever deadline they had waiting for them.
The tension only grew as we traveled. Wesley with the worried look on his face, Zoe straight-backed and silent.
“So I’m sensing we’re not happy with the outcome here,” I said, trying to break the ice. “I mean, what’s not to like? The GG goes in to take a look and bombs our alien friends to kingdom come. Am I missing something?”
Zoe didn’t break her stride or turn around.
Wesley motioned to his right ear with his fingers then pointed to the ceilings.
“They’ll take care of it just like they said they would,” Wesley answered. “No need to worry; we did our civic duty. They can take it from here.”
It was obvious I was missing something huge, but what it was I couldn’t be sure. Wesley’s silent heads up about listening devices in the Hall of Power made me bite my tongue until we could speak freely.
Zoe led us outside to a different landing area where an all-black Immortal Corp dropship stood ready and waiting for us.
“Your weapons will be waiting for you in your ship,” Zoe informed us.
“Let’s go ahead and fire up the engines. Lower the rear ramp; we’re here,” Wesley said into his ear piece.
The pilot must have already seen us coming. No sooner had Wesley given the order than the ramp doors began to open and the thrusters fired.
“We should be able to talk freely now,” Wesley said, raising his vo
ice just a little to be heard over the sound of the dropship’s engines. “Captain Valentine, I don’t want to put you in a compromising situation. You can leave now. Thank you for your help.”
Zoe looked at both of us, furious. I thought for sure she was going to hit one of us. I’d bet money it was going to be me.
“My daughter is here on Mars,” Zoe snarled through gritted teeth. “She’s the only thing I have left that’s good in this godforsaken galaxy. She’s here because Mars was supposed to be safe. It was supposed to be the best place for her.”
I knew when to bite my tongue. Apparently, Wesley also knew when we had said enough.
“We’re not asking you to do anything that you’re not comfortable with,” Wesley said. “You owe us nothing.”
“But I owe my daughter everything,” Captain Valentine answered. “We can’t talk here. I’ll contact you as soon as it’s safe.”
“What are we so worried about?” I asked just loud enough to be heard over the engines. “You don’t think they’ll take out the Voy like they said they would?”
“I think they’ll do whatever it takes to cover this whole mess up and grab as much alien tech as they can along the way,” Wesley divulged. He looked over at Zoe. “Is that about right?”
“They won’t risk mass panic. It’s not their way.” Zoe nodded with determination in her eyes. “They’ll strike, but it may be too late by then. They’ll scout and try to talk with the Voy first.”
I finally understood what was bothering both Zoe and Wesley. The Galactic Government was interested in making contact and bartering with the aliens for tech, all while keeping the truth hidden from the public.
The danger in this was they didn’t know the Voy like I did. There would be no bartering or friendly communication to be had. The Voy would enslave us or kill some then enslave the rest. Those were the only two options as far as they were concerned.
The clock was ticking on the invasion and the GG were late to the party.
A pair of praetorians walked around the corner of the outside parking lot a hundred meters to our left. Odds were they were only on a routine patrol of the grounds.
No one in our trio was willing to take the chance.
“I’ll contact you when it’s safe,” Zoe repeated, making her way back to the building. She hesitated for a moment then called over her shoulder. “Be careful. If they want to keep this hidden and Immortal Corp are the only ones that know…”
Zoe let her voice trail off before she moved on.
I followed Wesley into the rear of the dropship. The ramp doors closed behind us.
We made our way to the seating area in the craft just past the cargo hold. Just like Zoe told us. Our weapons were tucked nicely in the seats waiting for us.
“We’re on board. You can lift off,” Wesley said into his earpiece.
The pilot obeyed, slowly taking the dropship into the air.
Wesley and I took seats across from each other. The older man took a cigar out of his inside jacket pocket.
“You think they’d really make a move against us?” I asked. “You think they’d try and take us out?”
“I think politics are a messy bag of lies and half-truths,” Wesley allowed, producing a lighter from his pocket and torching the end of his cigar. Thick wafts of smoke rose into the air between us. “I think Captain Valentine was right. They see an opportunity not to just keep things quiet but grab some advanced tech in the process. Who knows? Maybe even some powerful allies.”
“No way the Voy will settle for anything less than us in chains or in the ground,” I said.
“I know that, you know that, but they don’t,” Wesley answered.
“So what are we going to do?” I asked.
“We can’t rely on them to do what needs to be done,” Wesley stated as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “We take the decision from them and make the hard call.”
“Immortal Corp versus the Voy Empire?” I asked incredulously. “You sure that’s going to go our way?”
“No, we can’t do it alone,” Wesley acknowledged. “With the GG out, we only have one other course of action.”
I held my breath, waiting for his answer.
“We call a meeting of the Corporations,” Wesley finished. “You can ask the Order firsthand what happened to Amber. We can—”
Wesley stopped himself mid-sentence. His eyes drifted toward the line of square windows that sat open in the dropship wall behind me.
I turned, expecting the worst. All I saw was a city of lights below us and the Mars desert approaching.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Feel the dropship turn?” Wesley asked, pressing a finger to his ear. “Charles, where are we going? We’re supposed to be heading back to Immortal Corp.”
I wasn’t sure what Charles’ answer was to Wesley, but it was enough to bring the man to his feet. Wesley sprinted for the pilot’s cabin, ripping the door open so violently, I thought he was going to tear the thing off its hinges.
I followed close behind with my MK II in my right hand.
The cabin was empty.
Five
The dropship had been piloting itself. I looked out the front window to confirm the worst. The ship was heading outside of the city and descending as it went.
Wesley jumped into the pilot’s chair grabbing the controls and checking the many gauges in front of him.
“Wheel’s locked,” Wesley grunted as he tried to force the ship to ascend. “They’re controlling it manually.”
“The GG really hates us that much?” I asked, taking a seat in the copilot’s chair. I also grabbed the wheel and tried forcing it back. I knew next to nothing about piloting a ship, but I understood right now that up was a very good idea.
“Together, we pull together,” Wesley said, looking at the wheel in front of me. “One, two, three!”
My hands shook. I gripped the wheel so hard. It was a simple handle shaped like a wide curvy W. I used my arms and arched my back, trying for the life of me to get the ship to bend to my will.
I could hear Wesley grunting from his seat.
Nothing.
Outside the window, I could see we were just clearing the city limits. The Galactic Government was taking us out of Athens for an impromptu trip to our graves. I could practically see the headlines now. “Dropship crash outside of city limits due to system malfunction.”
“X, any idea here?” I asked.
Wesley popped out of his seat and ran from the cabin. I didn’t even have time to ask him where he was going. I figured he might have a plan.
“We’re locked out and being controlled by remote,” X answered. “Scanning the ship now. There are explosives set to go blow on engines one and two if we try to override the system. Rear hatch will lock, as will the two emergency exits if I try to get involved.”
“We might not have an option here,” I said. “If you do take control of the ship and the engines blow and we get locked in, can you land this thing?”
“It’ll take me too long to try and take control of the dropship,” X answered in a rush of words. “The security system the Galactic Government uses isn’t impossible to infiltrate, but it would take me much longer than the two minutes we have.”
“Two minutes?” I repeated.
“That’s how long I anticipate until we are far enough from Athens that the GG will make us crash,” X explained.
“They’re gone,” Wesley said jumping back into his chair. “Chutes are gone.”
“X can get us access but the engines will blow and we’ll be locked inside,” I caught Wesley up. “She won’t be able to take control of the dropship once she’s done that. Can you land this thing?”
“With your help,” Wesley responded without hesitation. “Buckle up. X, make it happen.”
“Yes, sir,” X shouted over her external speakers. “Hold on!”
I fumbled with the belt that came up between my legs like a V. I attached it to the harness
that came over my head and shoulders connecting it to my chest. You’d best believe I tightened that sucker as much as I could.
“I hate flying,” I said to no one in particular. “Just when I wasn’t getting space-sick anymore.”
“We have control,” X warned us.
A pair of explosions rattled the dropship as the engines erupted on either side of our craft.
The hard Martian ground was racing toward us. We had cleared the city. If we struck the ground at this speed with our nose down, I had no doubt we were about to become a smear.
“Daniel, I need your head in the game,” Wesley yelled as the dropship rattled and creaked like some ancient house about to cave in on itself. “Hand on the steering wheel and ease her up, slight pressure to start.”
I gripped the wheel in front of me for the second time. The ship was shaking me so hard in my seat, I could feel the vibration in my sternum. My teeth chattered before I set my jaw.
Adrenaline hit me like a wave.
“Pull, pull, pull,” Wesley roared as he hit a few dials on the dashboard in front of him and followed his own instructions.
Trying to pull on something while shaking so hard was an act of determination. We were close enough to the ground now where I could pick out individual dunes. My mind tried to guess how many we would hit before we came to a stop.
We couldn’t be more than forty to fifty meters from the ground when we started to level off.
“Come on!” I shouted to the ship as if she could hear me. “Come on, work with us!”
Out of my peripheral vision, I could see flames shooting out of both the right and left engines. Dark smoke wafted into the already black night.
Then, painfully slowly, the wheel began to inch up.
“It’s coming!” Wesley shouted over another explosion from the left engine. “Keep pulling!”
I heard him, but I didn’t really need the reminder. The ground racing toward us was enough for me to pull with every fiber of my being. My muscles ached and my grip on the wheel was beginning to slip, but I held on.
I held on for myself, for an answer about what the Order did with Amber and to pay back the GG for their little stunt.
Vendetta: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 4) Page 3