“Captain? I guess we had that wrong.” Kaiden shifted his attention to the guard, who seemed to assess him. The ace shifted slightly, and his finger slid closer to the Tempest’s trigger. “Can I help you, or is this a greeting you guys do since you probably haven’t seen anything this good-looking in a good few months?”
“Your weapons. Please relinquish them,” the guard asked as two others stepped up behind him to help.
“Hell no.” Kaiden balked and lowered the machine gun to point it at the guard’s chest. “I don’t remember any one of us agreeing to that.”
The two other guards aimed at him while their leader raised his hands. “It’s standard procedure. You’re on a military vessel. It would be foolish of us to allow someone like you to walk around among the personnel with weapons on your person.”
“And it would be foolish for someone like me to be stuck on a military vessel—which currently also houses murderous marauders—and not have my weapons on my person,” Kaiden countered.
Although he couldn’t see the guard’s face behind his mask, he could hear his breathing speed up. “Will we have a problem here?” he growled.
“I thought we already had one. If so, what should we escalate this to?” he asked. “You know, I have to say I’m not impressed with your boarding party manners. I would have thought you would at least be as decent as the boy scouts, but you seem to be—ow! Hey!” The ace looked at Mack who had hit the back of his helmet with the broadside of his palm. He made a motion to tell Kaiden to quiet down as Lancia stepped forward.
“Please forgive my comrade, gentleman. It’s been a long flight. He does raise an excellent point, however, considering the potential dangers inherent in having marauders aboard. Also, we are in unfamiliar territory and this vessel is in hostile space. Perhaps it is best that they retain their weapons. I’ll surrender mine as I am here to negotiate, but they are both experienced soldiers and are only looking out for our team.”
“This one’s a soldier?” One of the guards snickered. “He’s got shit discipline if that’s the case.”
Kaiden fought the urge to retaliate and held himself back. Instead, he shrugged and looked away from the guards as he raised the Tempest back into the air.
“Yes, I see your point negotiator.” The captain nodded. “From my side, I should have advised you about our safety protocols, but I didn’t think it would be an issue. I had no expectations that your teammates would surrender their weapons, and I should have explained that to the lieutenant,” he muttered and glanced at the first guard. Kaiden noted two blue stripes on the side of the man’s helmet as he turned away, something the others didn’t have, and wondered if that was a symbol of rank or merely a personal touch.
“You may keep your weapons, but I assure you that nothing will go wrong,” the captain promised. “Even if the marauders plan to betray us or cause harm, they only have five members on board—their leader, his assistant, and three bodyguards.”
“That isn’t too much to handle,” Mack affirmed. “To eliminate five guys who probably have the equivalent of pointy sticks compared to what we have won’t cause too much trouble.”
“Again, I assure you that nothing of the sort will happen,” The captain assured them. “It would be suicide for them to try anything on this craft. Not only is it crawling with over thirty-five hundred crewmen, even if they by some miracle escaped, they have no way to make it back to their planet.”
“Why’s that?” Kaiden asked.
“It’s part of the negotiation agreement,” Lancia explained. “The hostile party, in a show of trust, will either board the craft where the negotiations will take place or they will be taken to said location. In this situation, the marauders were taken aboard at another point and the Enyalius will jump to another point in space to evade any potential pursuers or ambush parties.” She turned to the captain. “Correct?”
“Exactly.” He nodded. “We frisked the marauders before allowing them on board and found no trace of any tracking equipment, and we are now well away from their home planet.”
“Fine, fine, I getcha,” Kaiden grumbled. “That means we're on the home stretch and we can get this done without a hitch.” He turned to the negotiator. “Are you ready, Lancia?”
She nodded and looked at the guards. “Please take me to the meeting. I will attempt to complete this as quickly as possible.”
One of the men nodded. “Please follow me.” He turned to lead the group out of the bay. Kaiden stood beside the shuttle for a moment and glared at the insolent guard for a moment before he shrugged and followed.
The guard stirred an unease in Kaiden, an instinct he couldn’t quite pin down. He wondered if he should let it go as he was simply an Animus creation, but the thought didn’t settle him.
They approached the doors to the meeting room. Four guards stood at the end of the hall, while the remaining guard and the one Kaiden had argued with before turned and walked away. This second man had the same blue lines on his helmet as his teammate. Lancia removed her gun and handed it to Kaiden. “I’ll let you hold on to this.”
“It seems kinda pointless to give it away,” Kaiden mused as he examined the pistol. “It’s supposed to be for your safety. My pistol is more than enough for me.”
“I know, but I want to make a good impression. That’s difficult with a pistol strapped to my thigh.”
“At least you’ll know if they’re paying attention or not,” Mack pointed out and she flashed him a quick look. “Either way, she has me. And like they said in the dock, I doubt they are gonna try anything, not while they’re at such a huge disadvantage. All we have to do now is make them sign on the dotted line or whatever and we’re out.”
“If you feel that confident, then by all means.” Kaiden held Lancia’s Servitor lazily in one hand as he leaned against the wall and slid down. “I’ll keep watch.”
“You can’t even pretend to stand at attention before we go in?” Mack jeered.
The ace pointed at the guards. “They’ll make up for me. Besides, it’s not my gig. I’m an ace, sure, and starting to learn what it means to lead a team after a year of this. But that doesn’t mean the old habits will go away all at once. I don’t expect you to bow every time I walk into a room—although to be fair, that is mostly because I’m worried you’d fall over and crush me if I was too close.”
“Where did all that come from?” Mack chuckled. “Being in a military vessel really has you on edge, huh?”
“I’m still grumpy from dealing with that guard.” Kaiden sighed. “Don’t mind me. I’m ready to be done with this. You do your thing, Lancia, and we’ll be back to reality in no time.”
“I’m not so sure. If it was that simple, I wouldn’t need to go to a school as advanced as Nexus, would I?”
“What does that mean in terms of time?” he asked warily and craned his neck to look at her.
“Well, we could be done in short order—thirty minutes to an hour if this is mostly a formal affair—but I doubt that.”
“Give me an estimate. How long do these things last on average?”
“Usually four to six hours. I’ve had higher level ones take days and have to save my progress and return to it several times,” she explained and counted her fingers as if recalling her longer sessions.
Kaiden shook his head and glanced at Mack. “Maybe flex that muscle and pulse a little energy. It might speed things along.”
“Unless lasers and explosives happen, our part is done, buddy.” Mack shrugged. “It’s all in her hands now.”
“Great,” Kaiden mumbled.
“I’m sorry for the delay,” the captain apologized and hurried down the hall as the guards saluted. “I had to check in with the bridge before we entered. I’ll act as both a witness and your advisor in the negotiations.”
“I see. Thank you, Captain,” Lancia acknowledged. “We are ready to begin.”
“Very good. The marauders already await us.” He approached the keypad beside the door
and pressed four buttons in quick succession. The door unlocked and slid open. “Let us get this underway.” He held a hand out, inviting Lancia and Mack inside.
Kaiden caught a small glimpse of one of the marauders before the doors closed. The man was dressed in tattered clothes, and his only armor was a chest plate and the top part of a helmet. His skin was an odd, ashen gray, and his eyes had bizarrely large pupils. Kaiden was unnerved by the thought that they were human.
The door closed and the ace looked at the guards who stood at attention a few yards away. They didn’t seem to be a talkative bunch. He would have to find a way to entertain himself for the next few hours at least. That single brief sight of the marauder suggested that they wouldn’t make Lancia’s task easy.
“Hey, Chief, so you mind looking something up for me?” he asked.
“Whataya looking for exactly?” the EI asked. “I should mention that certain sites aren’t available during missions, at least not without getting into a lot of trouble.”
“I would imagine that they wouldn’t see that as the most professional use of my time.” Kaiden chuckled. “But that’s not what I’m after. Do you still have that message from Julio saved?”
“Yeah. Do you want me to bring it up?”
“If you would.” Kaiden nodded. The letter appeared in dim yellow letters across his HUD.
Hola, Kaiden,
It was good to see you. I wondered how things panned out after you left for that Academy. It’s good to see how far you’ve come after all that, making something of yourself and showing some of those prissy bastards what a Dead-Eye can do. That’s great, my friend.
However, considering what I’ve heard about the fees and such from that place, and the fact that you guys seem to do most of your training in virtual reality—is that for real?—I thought you could use an excuse or two to knock some heads and get paid while doing it.
I was gonna get this to you sooner but had to deal with a few things here at the lounge before I could. I chatted with the gig dealer here in Seattle and heard that you were already thinking the same thing I was and got a couple missions under your belt. A good thing. If you’re interested in continuing your new practice, get in touch with me. I got access to a few higher paying gigs and some connections to rogue ports and guilds all through North and Central America. I’ll have to set you up on one first considering how green you are in the eyes of some of these guys. Even your Dead-Eye credentials will only get you so far, but afterward, you’ll have your pick, my friend.
Shoot me a message when you got the time and I’ll get the order in. If you’re not feeling it, you should still come down sometime. I have a new whiskey you got to try.
Regards,
Julio Alverez
P.S. Those punks you dealt with that day? Haven’t seen them since, thanks for that.
“It looks promising,” Kaiden said. “Although he never mentioned anything like this when I was bouncing for him over the summer. He must have wanted me to prove my mettle first.”
“You gonna take him up on his offer?” Chief asked. “It sounds like the potential for good money.”
“No doubt. I’ll have to follow up with him. When do we get our first time off?”
“It all depends on how well we do here,” the EI explained. “If you pass with flying colors, you’ll only have to take the minimum number of workshops. If you couple that with your training and Animus sessions, you’ll be busy, but you have enough time to run a quick job every couple of weeks—nothing lasting longer than a few days, though.”
“And if we fail?
“That means make-up workshops, longer training sessions, and you’ll probably have to do a few supervised Animus trials. You’ll be swamped for at least the first part of the year.”
Kaiden looked at the closed door of the meeting room and could hear nothing from within. “Tsk, I can’t say I like sitting around here. At least in normal ops, I would have more of a hand in our outcome.”
“Hey, you played your part. Now, it’s her turn,” Chief said consolingly. “I’ll boot up some games or something and we’ll have to wait it— What the hell is that?”
“What’s what?” he asked and looked around quickly. Nothing seemed unusual and even the guards hadn’t moved. “Are you short-circuiting again or something?”
“Nah, not in here, you ass. I read something outside the ship, and it’s gotta be something big for me to detect it considering we’re in a dreadnought.”
“Hey, there’s something going on in the docking bays,” one of the guards called. He looked at his tablet. “The barriers are being cleared. Wait, no, they are being deactivated!”
“What?” another asked, “Why would they— Lieutenant!” The guard who had confronted Kaiden earlier returned, flanked by three other guards. All had blue stripes on their armor. “There’s something wrong with the systems in the docking bays. We need to inform the bridge that—”
The man’s warning was silenced as the lieutenant fired a blaster into his chest. Scattered energy blasts punched their way through the guard’s armor from close range. Those behind the lieutenant followed suit and killed the remaining guards who were too shocked to act quickly enough to defend themselves.
Kaiden scrambled to his feet and drew Debonair while he charged the Servitor, but a noise distracted him. Several shots from within the meeting room were muffled but evident, even with the doors closed. He cursed as he turned quickly to dispatch the hostile guards, only to be knocked to the ground by a blast from the lieutenant. The ace rose slightly, but his mask knocked against the barrel of the aggressor’s blaster with a metal click. The man’s finger eased back on the trigger.
Chapter Ten
Before the lieutenant could fire, both he and Kaiden lurched and fell when something crashed violently into the ship. The ace recovered quickly. He rolled and managed to halt his momentum enough to kneel on one leg and plant his other foot on the floor. He resumed charging the Servitor. Two of the guards turned to fire, and Kaiden used Debonair to shoot the rifle out of the hand of one of them. Three quick shots eliminated the second man. He fired the charged shot from the Servitor at the other guard. The blast erupted against his chest and pieces of his armor shattered and dropped from his body.
The last man helped the lieutenant up. Kaiden charged the Servitor again as he fired at them with Debonair. He wounded the guard twice in the shoulder, but the lieutenant scrambled out of the way and thrust his injured teammate into Kaiden’s path. The ace grimaced but dispatched the guard with a few more shots before he stood. He aimed the Servitor at the escaping lieutenant and squeezed the trigger. The shot narrowly missed him and struck the wall as he spun around the corner. The discharge knocked him into the wall opposite him, but he simply bounced off and continued his retreat.
“Dammit,” Kaiden grunted and took a moment to decide whether he should pursue him before another collision struck the Dreadnought. He stumbled and leaned against the wall to balance himself. “Chief! Do you have any idea what is going on?”
“It might not be obvious, but the Dreadnought is under attack,” he snarked. “That energy I detected was a warp gate. Something came out of it and attacked the ship.”
“Can you be any more vague?” Kaiden growled. “What’s attacking?”
“I can’t tell unless you can get me into an observation system or console to boost my scanner. Everything is muddled between the various energy outputs of the Dreadnought and whatever the hell is outside. The only thing I can say is that I pick up multiple readings—nothing too big so I assume that there might be a team of fighters and bombers out there.”
“Trying to take on a Dreadnought with a handful of fighters? That’s goddamn stupid.” Kaiden slammed his hand against the wall in frustration. “I’ll have to find a window to see what’s going on, but first, get in that panel and open the door. I need to see if Mack and Lancia are all right.”
“I’ll try, but considering it’s locked behind a code and you don
’t have proper clearance, I might take a while if I can do it at all.”
“There anything I can do?”
“Check the bodies of the guards to see if they have ID chips or key cards or something. Or hope that the captain is still alive and can get them out of there. I’ll get to work in the meantime.”
Kaiden hurried to check the bodies for anything that could help them open the door. A bright flash seen from the corner of his visor revealed that a fire had formed on the other side of the hall. Whatever had attacked had done significant damage in a short space of time. He mulled over the events as he searched. The guards who had murdered these four all had blue stripes like the lieutenant. The attack occurred incredibly quickly and the guards had mentioned the docking bays shields being deactivated. Common sense told him something wasn’t right.
Did they get caught up in a mutiny? Was this intended to be a replication of the event that led to the creation of the Omega Horde? No, that didn’t make sense. That had happened on a fleet of battleships, not on a Dreadnought, and the Io marauders didn’t exist at that time. He recalled that the chancellor had made a big deal about these missions being procedurally generated. What they now faced seemed damn intricate for that. He might have to pay Laurie a visit after this was done and give him an earful about how successful his new updates were.
Another blast came from behind him, and Kaiden whirled with both pistols drawn. He lowered them and breathed a sigh of relief. Mack stood in the doorway, and the doors themselves lay in a shredded heap.
“Good to see you’re all right, Kai— Damn, what happened here?” the vanguard asked. Lancia and the captain appeared behind him.
“Some of the guards—those ones over there with the blue stripes on their armor…” Kaiden used Debonair to point at a couple of the bodies. “They attacked and killed the others and were led by that lieutenant from the docking bay.”
“What? Lieutenant Dirk? Are you sure?” the captain asked, his tone a mixture of disbelief and smoldering anger.
Advance (Animus Book 4) Page 8