Equilibrium of Terror: Part 1

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Scathing Hand, Titan orbit around Saturn, Sol system

  “The humans are trying to move.”

  “Keep with them,” T’esih ordered. “Do everything you can to keep them boxed in. Inform the Night Hunter to do the same! Let the fighters handle the surface.” She grinned knowing that her plan had worked, and that all the fighters from Titan were in orbit. It would take some time for them to double back and return to the surface to deal with the interceptors. “This will be another glorious victory for the empire!”

  UNE Black Site exterior, Titan, Sol system

  Gavin entered the transport they came down in, powering up its engines. He took two deep breaths as he saw green bolts of plasma rain down from the hazy yellow skies of Titan, then later Hashmedai interceptors. He piloted the transport off the landing pad of the black site and took to the skies. He double checked to ensure the shields of the craft were at max.

  “Boyd, you seeing this shit?” Gavin said transmitting to Chris.

  “Yeah. You might want to consider returning.”

  “Fuck that, I got this,” Gavin said pulling the transport up. “I got to get back to my fighter.”

  Another swarm of interceptors swooped down behind him. They weren’t interested in bombing the surface. Multiple lock on warning alarms blared from the transport’s computers prompting Gavin to make one of two choices, make a run for it back to the black site, or take evasive action.

  UNE Black Site, Titan, Sol system

  Several UNE personnel and workers wearing lab coats surged around the main command center of the black site. Half a dozen holo screens transmitted live footage of the carnage going on outside as the Hashmedai continued its bombing of the city and the military installations. It was a sight Chris was hoping he wouldn’t have to see as he entered to join them.

  “Any word from the local forces?” Chris asked.

  “None, those fighters knew exactly what areas to hit,” a trembling communication officer reported. “Communication towers, fighter bases, and the barracks.”

  “How about civilian areas?

  “Safe for now, evacuations have started though I don’t know where they are going to go.”

  “Bad time to be asking, but who exactly is in command here?”

  Miriam König faced Chris and boldly said. “I am.”

  Chris shook his head toward her lab coat. “I mean, for defense.” He corrected himself.

  “This isn’t exactly a military base,” she said. “Those security personnel are all we got if things get nasty.”

  “All right, I’m taking command,” Chris said. König crossed her arms in disapproval. “In regard to protection, you can keep working on your science project.”

  He began to consider his options, and review what he had to work with. The black site didn’t have much of a defense force and the computer screen he loaded listing all personnel assigned to it confirmed that. Just a small handful of UNE personnel trained to use rifles and pistols. As it stood, him, Sarah, and Michei were the only ones that could stand a chance. His thoughts were interrupted as his feet felt the sudden shallow vibration of the ground moving.

  “They’re getting closer,” he whispered to himself, then used his headset to speak with Sarah. “Anything on the translation?”

  Sarah transmitted back. “According to Lynn, it was a message stating that the Radiance fleet was destroyed and that Earth only had a few ships to defend ourselves.”

  Chris heard Ella shout something to Sarah, sounded like she had something more to say. Ella’s Australian accent was heard seconds later. “There’s one last part I’m not sure of. It’s something important to them at least. Eight something or the other is all I can gather. It’s some kind of weapon they plan to use, and a list of coordinates.”

  “Coordinates? To where?”

  “The fuck if I know mate, I need more time.”

  He cut the communication link, and tried to reestablish one with Winston Churchill. “Winston Churchill, this is EDF lead.” Static was all he got in response. “Winston Churchill this is EDF lead come in!” More static irritated his ear drums. He switched links to communicate with Michei. “What do you got man? I can’t reach the Winston Churchill.”

  After a brief pause, Michei said with the results to his ESP scan. “Winston Churchill is still there, but not doing well. And Chamber’s transport...”

  Gavin? Jesus Christ. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s on fire. It never made it into orbit.”

  “Ah, fuck!” Chris shouted as his fist smashed into the wall, the load whoop sound caused everyone in the command center to look away from their terminals and toward him.

  Gladius squadron, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Aura smiled upon hearing Red Lotus’ voice speak over the radio. All these years and she still remained on station at Titan. “Red Lotus, is that really you?”

  “Aura.” Red Lotus said over the radio. “Figured you’d be protecting Geneva.”

  “A lot has changed.”

  Aura saw flashes of green light from the interceptors and Hyperion squadron fighters discharge. Complex maneuvers from both sides followed, allowing them to avoid sudden death. In the end, however, the swarms of Hashmedai interceptors continued to push down toward the yellow moon below them, the fighters from Hyperion squadron were playing it safe, the downside of using a plasma cannon.

  “We can speak of it later,” said Red Lotus finally as her fighter leveled off from the exchange. “Right now, my forces are at a disadvantage, we’re using plasma cannons”

  “And have weak shields as a result,” Aura said. “Gladius form up with me and assume a defense stance, protect the Hyperion fighters at all costs.”

  “This is Hyperion lead,” Red Lotus said. “All fighters return to the surface and protect the city.”

  The fighters from Gladius formed the tip of a spear that traveled down toward Titan while Hyperion squadron’s fighters flew behind. Ten fighters to draw enemy weapons fire away from the city and the paper-thin fighters behind to make the kills needed win this battle.

  No pressure.

  Gavin where the hell are you...

  Scathing Hand, Titan orbit around Saturn, Sol system

  “Captain, my mind just detected a faint pulse of a psionic scan,” Martop said after leaving his psionic trance.

  T’esih’s face grimaced. “I thought all Radiance members left?”

  “It’s coming from the surface.” He closed his eyes, while his mind began to probe the sector. “Here.” He conjured a hologram displaying a map of the surface of Titan. His finger extended out toward a base nuzzled into a small mountainous range.

  T’esih’s hands input a command on the terminal mounted to her commander’s chair, a copy of Martop’s holographic map of Titan loaded before her sights. “How many?” she asked him after gazing at the data.

  “I can feel two minds, one of them very weak.” Martop’s eyes opened wide as did his mouth, in surprise. “One of them is human.”

  “Interesting,” T’esih said, waving the hologram away from her face. “Prepare a ground assault team and have the interceptors withdraw from bombing that location.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Derkurio spaceport, Derkurio, Morutrin system

  Derkurio was one of the inner planets of the Morutrin system, rocky but largely uninhabitable world due to its extreme heat more so than Morutrin Prime, its toxic air and solar radiation. Most of the cities were built underground by the old Linl government and took advantage mining the large deposits of metals there. Derkurio in the coming years became one of the primary spots for natural resources in the system then later a prime spot for archeological research when ruins of the Lyonria were discovered, one of many ruins within the system.

  Today the planet had become a hot spot of unlawful activity since what remained of the old Linl government fell apart and retreated to Morutrin Prime thanks to years of fighting for control of it by the Hashmedai Empire and Radiance Unio
n. Those stuck living on Derkurio as a result had to rely on making up their own rules in order to survive as pirates, salvagers and raiders started to make their presence known heavily as the years went by.

  Derkurio spaceport was located at the southern pole of the white rocky planet. A haggard station surrounded by five landing pads with tube shaped airlocks that would reach out and latch on to idle ships as they unloaded cargo, travelers and wanted criminals fleeing from the trouble they caused on Morutrin Prime. And on that day, the location of the user who posted an ad on the knowledge network requesting information about a human woman.

  Kasidey double checked the ad she found on the knowledge network. This is it, Hanna better be right, she thought. The buyer she contacted agreed to meet her here to make the exchange. Her body shifted to assume the form of Chidorli once again as she grabbed onto the data pad she found on the derelict ship from.

  Her teleport down to the outpost below was quick, certainly faster than most psionics, even the ones with the best cybernetic upgrades. The gem and its gifts were rewarding her well. She walked past a small group of people, going about their business at this semi active outpost. Her contact, a human-Hashmedai hybrid, sat on a bench staring off into the rocky landscape in front of him though the large window.

  She came to sit next to him on the bench discreetly, as if she was just a random Hashmedai psionic sitting down minding her own business. “Danyal I presume?” she asked him.

  “Who wants to know?” he said keeping his face forward.

  “My credit chit does.”

  He looked at her, gently stroking his goatee in the process. “You must be Chidorli?”

  She nodded and he removed his credit chit from his pocket. She did the same and the two chits came close together. A beep sounded, credits were deposited into Kasidey’s account then she handed him the data pad. “Skim through the contents if you don’t believe me,” she said to him. “But everything you wanted to know about Rana Farhadi is in there.”

  “Thanks, I was starting to lose hope.” He stood after securing the pad inside his coat pocket.

  “There’s a tavern on the other side of the station,” she said. “You should sit down there and read it, have a few drinks. The pirates that hang out there are an interesting bunch.”

  The stage was set.

  The crew of the Dark Star waited at a small tavern in Derkurio spaceport for their ship to be refueled with helium-3, the cheapest place to refuel in the inner worlds of the Morutrin system. Phylarlie and Avearan sat together at one end of the tavern while the crew of the Dark Star apart from Bira, demanded more drinks from the bartender, a rugged looking Linl with scars across his face. The same words could be used to describe the interior of the tavern as well. Rugged, carrying the scars of several bar fights since the downfall of the old Linl government.

  “So, run that by me again,” Phylarlie asked Avearan as she scratched an itch on the side of her slave collar. “The raid we are going to go on.”

  “Linl exploration teams from centuries ago were lost in the area,” she said. “They left behind some valuable equipment and maybe some artifacts that were never collected.”

  “And all these years nobody found it?”

  “There was a quake in the area that buried the Linl ship,” Avearan said. “The team that went in to rescue them were killed. Now that I think about it, they probably left behind some loot as well. In any case fighting over the system broke out when the empire tried to lay claim to it. The dig site ended up being forgotten.” Phylarlie nodded then went to finish her drink. “Try not to drink too much.”

  “Why? Everyone else is.”

  “Everyone else is going to sit back while we take point in the raid.”

  Phylarlie winced at the thought. She and Avearan would be living up to the names of their collars according to that statement. “Exactly what will we be doing?”

  “Grabbing anything of value, technology from the old Linl republic is still quite advanced. People are willing to kill to get their hands on it, thus making our line of work a dangerous one, including other salvagers. We got to stick with our ships and crew. There are no friends outside of your own crew in most cases.”

  “Most?”

  “There are a few ships that team up with each other, but it’s rare for that to happen. And those groups usually operate in the more dangerous parts to this system like here. Good salvage but greater risks of running into pirates, hence the need to form small alliances.”

  Four men of the Aryile race entered the tavern. They all wore light combat armor, an older model by the looks, ones that couldn’t generate personal shields. Pistols were holstered to their sides, one them wore a necklace made of Rabuabin horns and Hashmedai fangs.

  “Speaking of pirates,” Avearan said while the four men started to make lots of rowdy noises. Some of the pirates began aiming their fingers toward the Dark Star’s crew with murderous eyes while taunting them.

  “Ha!” one of the pirates shouted. “Who let these Coa’kahis in here?”

  “Those are some strong words for a crew without a psionic,” Trin said, turning away from his drink to address the pirate.

  “Says the captain of the all psionic crewed ship who wasn’t brought in anything of value over the last four months!” the pirate said.

  Trin’s hand stretched backwards to grab and take another sip of his drink. With a sarcastic smirk, he said. “I’m sure you know all about that.”

  “Yes, every time we board your pathetic ship,” said the pirate. “Next time I find it I’m taking your women as play things, and you for my engineer. He fancies lanky men like you.”

  Phylarlie’s first instinctive response was to take her daggers and enter stealth. Then she remembered none of that was an option. It was an unsettling feeling especially when two of the pirates looked right at her and Avearan, and made strange sexual gestures with their hips toward them.

  “That a threat?” Trin asked.

  “A promise,” the pirate said, leaning his face a whole inch away from Trin’s. “Keep looking at me like that and I’ll just go ahead and do it now.”

  Phylarlie saw the exact moment when Trin lost his cool. Right about the time he used his mind to shatter the bottle he was drinking from and force the shards to orbit around the pirate’s neck. The rest of the pirates drew out their pistols from their holsters as a gesture of hello. Phylarlie pushed Avearan over in response and they took cover on the side of the bar. It was the best idea she could think of, hiding, Phylarlie never realized how reliant she had become on her cloak until this incident. Running to a fight head on without the element of surprise wasn’t her expertise.

  “Hey, take it outside!” said the bartender.

  Trin grinned. “Whatever you say pal.”

  Phylarlie peeked up and saw Trin use a telekinetic push to fling the pirate outside into the main halls. Trin then vanished as his jump ports carried him outside to carry out exactly what the bartender requested. Tables, chairs, and shards of glass were hurled toward the remaining pirates while the Dark Star’s crew used their thoughts to partake in the brawl. The pirates retaliated with gun fire that hit their psionic shields, shields that were quickly failing, alcohol and psionics don’t work well in combat situations.

  “This a common thing?” Phylarlie asked Avearan.

  “This is how we say hello to each out in these parts.” She lifted her head to watch the fight along with Phylarlie. “Trin and the rest won’t last long. All that drinking is affecting their powers.”

  “Then there’s us with our powers suppressed,” Phylarlie said. “Trin must be regretting having us fitted with these collars right about now.

  The gun fire and drunken psionic fighting flooded into the outside halls. Phylarlie started to wonder how much longer the Dark Star crew could hold their ground, their balance awful, some of them even resorted to hand to hand combat, meaning they’d given up on psionics. Meanwhile the sober pirates kept on shooting. None of the bullets we
re being stopped by a barrier or telekinesis. Someone was going to die.

  Avearan yelped loud, Phylarlie felt her body move away, rather was pulled way. Turning around she saw one of the pirates grab her by the hair from behind and pull her toward him. “You thought you can hide?” a pirate said while cupping Avearan’s breasts.

  “Let go of her,” Phylarlie said sharply.

  “I don’t like blue skin girls, so consider this your lucky day.”

  Phylarlie rose in defiance to fight him. The pirate responded by releasing his grip on Avearan’s chest and pulling out his side arm. Phylarlie swiftly reminded the pirate she was a trained assassin by disarming him with the incredible speed of her Hashmedai hands, then putting two bullets through his forehead sending two jets of blood splashing out from the back of his head as he fell over.

  Phylarlie aimed her newly acquired weapon toward the outside hall where she saw through the taverns windows, the three remaining pirates in cover. Her pistol produced a storm of bullets seconds later. One pirate waddled from left to right as a stray shot from Phylarlie’s pistol hit him in jugular, a red river dripped away from the hand that held onto his throat. A critical wound that turned into a fatal one when Phylarlie put three more bullets into his head as she stepped out into the halls, she had no patience in the matter.

  Wyngard and Garif from the Dark Star lay on the floor, bleeding. Breathing yes, but badly shot up. Trin was in better shape holding onto a bloody gash on his arm. “We got to get them to a hospital,” Phylarlie said, lowering her pistol.

  “There aren’t any in these parts,” said Trin.

  “What about your ship?”

  “There’s an infirmary, but we haven’t had a doctor in months.”

  Trin knelt to catch his breath and nurse his wounded body while Avearan stepped outside to join them and look at the mess they now had to deal with. “He put our doctor out the airlock,” Avearan said with a smug smile.