The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3)

by Katherine Bogle

  The group raced across the floor to the ramp lowered near the back center of the ship close to the end where two long pieces jutted out, propulsion tech on the ends of each.

  She had to peel her gaze away from them as they reached the ramp and climbed up it. Flik took the lead, flashing up ahead of Rikkard, Darius, Kayl, and Sav. He looked to either side of the door, quickly inspecting the hold before motioning them up and out a door embedded in the far wall.

  As soon as they passed through it, their pace slowed. If there happened to be any guards inside they’d need stealth to sneak up on them, not a roar of boots flying down the hall.

  Selene took the opportunity to regain her breath, inhaling deeply to replenish her aching lungs. Maybe she was a little out of shape, too.

  “It looks like they don’t guard the inside as we suspected,” Flik mumbled quietly.

  Selene held her breath for a few seconds, listening hard. Nothing but the hum of the ship, and the sounds of her comrades permeated the quiet.

  “There’d be no point, right?” Darius whispered.

  “They probably only have engineers inside,” Rem said. “They’re too busy thinking everything is well guarded outside the ship. Why waste men inside it?”

  They had a point.

  Selene shifted up to join Flik and Rikkard at the head of the pack, keeping her rifle at her shoulder, but the barrel lowered at the floor. “How far is it to the beacon?”

  “Not far,” Flik said. His brow was set with determination.

  Selene couldn’t imagine it was easy to be back on his ship, one he was supposed to command, but had inevitably been taken from him. She hadn’t even thought about it until now, but it was clearly the furthest thing from Flik’s mind.

  They weaved through an assortment of metal halls, some with glowing orange or green lines through them, others grated or barren. Her heart picked up speed; even though she was relatively sure they were safe for the time being.

  Flik stepped ahead again as they neared the center of the ship, and then they reached a set of large doors. “Here.”

  Rem slipped through the group to the door, his eyes widening as he assessed its height—ten feet or so high. “Hmm,” he hummed as he crossed to the control panel next to the door. He scrolled through a list on his holoscreen, then keyed in a code, and the doors whooshed open. “That was easy.”

  Selene shook her head. It might seem easy now, but it hadn’t been easy getting those codes. She hoped he remembered that.

  They all piled inside the large circular room with six other doors off of it, and a huge twisting piece of metal at the center. The door shut behind them with a click, and the team spread out into the large space.

  She looked the beacon up and down. The base was at least ten feet wide, and the tip, several long pieces of jutted metal, had to be almost twice that in height. No wonder the doors were so large.

  Flik went to the command console wrapping one side of the beacon, taking Kayl from Darius’ grip and thrusting him across the room towards it. “Fix it,” he said.

  Kayl looked between Flik and the beacon, his forehead wrinkled. “You really think I can fix this piece of garbage?”

  Selene’s raised her eyebrows. She definitely wouldn’t consider the beacon garbage. It looked like a small city, with thin pieces of metal sticking up from a thick base, creating different heights in the illusion of skyscrapers.

  “Yep,” was all Flik said.

  Kayl sighed, and eyed the beacon.

  While they took care of Kayl, Selene circled the room, shooting out each control panel next to the doors, sealing them inside. They could blow a door to get out when they were ready, but right now they didn’t want any followers.

  “Should we barricade the doors too? Just in case?” Ivy asked, having followed her to help once she realized what Selene was doing.

  “Not a bad idea,” Selene said.

  Ivy waved over Steven and Jared, explained their plan, and let the guys get to work ripping up some of the useless chairs and tables bolted to the ground. It wouldn’t be enough to block every door, but it’d give them some cover should the guards get through.

  Selene looked over at Rikkard as Kayl was forced to work. He grumbled the entire way, but Flik hovered over his shoulder, Rem close by to assess their progress.

  Rikkard glanced up, maybe having sensed she was watching him. Their eyes met, and Selene could see every bit of uncertainty she felt reflected in his gaze. If they didn’t do this—if they didn’t fix this beacon, send a message, and get the hell out—they were screwed, and they both knew it.

  Selene paced the large room as fists beat the doors outside. She gritted her teeth, her heart racing with each step. It had already been half an hour since they arrived at the bunker. Half an hour spent killing their way to the Saegon and ‘fixing’ the beacon.

  She glanced at Kayl whose eyes were dark, and his face twisted in concentration. He tinkered away, twisting this, and switching that. Though Rem hovered, helping wherever he could, Flik was nearly in the man’s face, his eyes burning with desperation. They only had thirty more minutes until backup arrived—if Rem’s estimate was correct. If it wasn’t, they might have less, or more. She was hoping for the latter.

  Her gaze roamed the room, flicking over each of her comrades. The Icarus wore equal looks of detachment. They were ready for the end after their life of torture, but the rest of the crew weren’t. Sav ground his teeth harder than even she. Darius busied himself rearranging the makeshift barriers they’d already constructed. Rikkard leaned against a table near the door being pounded on most, his eyes narrowed at it like it was about to give way and betray them.

  So much was at stake here. If Kayl didn’t fix the beacon, or the guards found their way in, or a myriad of other things went wrong, the world was screwed, and they were dead.

  Selene finally stopped her pacing, closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again to inspect the room.

  Though they’d upended all of the tables and chairs previously bolted down, servers lined the far wall, and control panels curved like little cubicles on the other end. Her eyebrows furrowed as she inspected them, and then the walls. Near the top of the walls were two large screens placed on opposite sides of the room. They took up the space above each ten-foot doorway. Both were black, but she wondered what they were used for.

  “Flik?” she asked. Might as well sate her curiosity since Flik really wasn’t helping repair the beacon.

  Flik jerked like she’d slapped him. He looked up with a mix of surprise and confusion, like he’d forgotten there was anyone else in the room. “Yeah?”

  “What was this room used for?”

  The skin of his forehead wrinkled. “A secondary control room, of course.”

  Selene raised her eyebrows. “Really? Why would you need one?”

  Flik looked at her like he thought she was stupid. “In case the first is compromised.”

  Selene rolled her eyes. “No need for snark.”

  Flik flashed a smile, defusing some of the tension. “There’s always a need for snark, missy.”

  “Hey! This is the third time you’ve messed with that,” Rem snapped.

  Her smile fell and she stepped over to join the three crouched around the base of the beacon. Rem eyed Kayl suspiciously as the alien’s cheeks flushed dark green.

  “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  “He’s stalling.” Rem ground his teeth.

  “No I’m not!” Kayl spat.

  Selene growled. “You better not be, Kayl!”

  Flik looked between Kayl and the beacon, inspecting his work. “Rem is right.” He grabbed Kayl by the front of the shirt and slammed him against the thick base of the beacon. “What the hell are you playing at?”

  Kayl blanched, his eyes wide. “Nothing! I’m just trying to fix this stupid thing!”

  “I don’t think you realize what’s at stake here,” Selene snapped. Though they’d explained some of what they l
earned to Kayl on the trip, he’d hardly even batted an eye, making her suspect he knew more than he was letting on. “If we don’t get a message to the Zahkx, not only are our lives at risk, but so is yours, and everyone left on this planet when the Darri arrive.”

  Kayl narrowed his eyes. “I know that.”

  “Then why the hell are you trying to sabotage us?”

  He worked his jaw. “I’m not.”

  Selene seethed with fury. Her fists balled at her sides and it took everything in her not to deck him. “Stop fucking around and fix the damn thing.” She spun away and resumed pacing.

  After a few minutes of relative silence, the soft cling of metal told her Kayl had gone back to work.

  Outside the doors Rikkard watched, boots pounded the floor, and shouts rose. What the hell are they doing?

  She stopped pacing. “Rem?”

  His white head of hair popped up. “What?”

  “Can you bring up the security feed outside this door for me?” she asked.

  Rem nodded, his shoulders sagging in relief. She had a feeling he wanted desperately to find something to do. He sat back and crossed his legs, sitting his holoscreen in his lap before his fingers started flying across the keys.

  Several moments later, the screen above the door Rikkard guarded flashed on, showing a full color image of the hallway outside the door. At least a dozen guards occupied the hallway, dressed in the typical all-black uniform of Dominion soldiers. They held rifles, and spoke in harsh tones, throwing their hands adamantly around as they spoke. One at the head of the pack closest to the door seemed to be in charge. He ordered around the troops, who scurried back and forth with their weapons, trying to do something—but she wasn’t quite sure what.

  “Thanks,” Selene said.

  “No problem.” Rem watched the screen, and so did the others.

  Flik smacked the back of Kayl’s head. “Get back to work.”

  Kayl grumbled something she couldn’t hear, and returned to tinkering.

  Selene eyed the monitor, her heart racing. She had no idea what they were doing, but she had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to like it.

  Needing a distraction, Selene turned back to the beacon, and then the rest of the room. She still had no idea what any of this other stuff was. Could it help them fend off Saegon security?

  “What are these monitors used for?” she asked Flik.

  Flik looked up. “The one Rem is using is usually reserved for a front view of the ship so whoever’s on deck can see what’s going on ahead. It’s also used for incoming transmissions.”

  “And the other?”

  “Security threats,” he said. “It has built in systems to bring up any warnings we might need, like incoming ships, security breaches, system malfunctions, etcetera.”

  Selene nodded. “That’d be useful.”

  “Yeah, it has its uses.” He shrugged and turned back to watch Kayl’s progress.

  Selene went back to inspecting the room. Her gaze fell on the other doors. Could they use one of them to escape? “Rem, show me a view of the other doors. We need to know what we’re up against.” Though sound only came from the other side of the door they’d come in from, she didn’t want to assume the Dominion weren’t messing with the others.

  “Coming up on screen… now.” Rem pointed at the security screen.

  Selene turned to look at it. The one large image became six. The door Rikkard watched was in the top left hand corner, with the others displayed in two rows alongside and below the first.

  Guards scurried past each camera. One group set up what looked like some sort of detonation device on one door, two others were simply being watched by half a dozen men, another had a small group working with some sort of claw-like device she assumed was going to be used to pry the doors apart, and the last hall was suspiciously empty.

  “Shit,” Selene hissed. Her heart pounded her ribcage as she spun back to face Rem. “What door is that?” She pointed at the screen with the guards carrying the claw-like machine.

  Rem looked at his screen, and then pointed at a door on the other side of the room.

  “We need to seal that door,” she said. “Melt it shut preferably.”

  Ivy leapt from her seat on a control panel. “I’m on it.” She grabbed Steven’s arm and dragged him with her.

  “Which is that?” Selene motioned at the image with the detonation device.

  Again, Rem looked at his screen and pointed at a door. “Barricade it.” Selene looked at Darius, and then Jared.

  “Roger,” they said in unison before racing to the door in question.

  Selene looked back at the monitor as Rikkard joined her. It’d be difficult to see the screen close to the wall. He looked up at it, and both of their eyes widened as a large metal cylinder as wide as her waist and the length of one of her legs was carried on screen right outside the door Rikkard had been guarding.

  “Damn,” Rikkard said.

  Her heart beat faster. “What is that?”

  “Laser drill.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yep.”

  “How long on the beacon?” Selene snapped, looking back at Kayl and Flik.

  “A few minutes,” Kayl grunted.

  Flik met her gaze and shrugged. He might have an inkling as to what Kayl was doing, but that was it.

  “Hurry up,” Selene said. Her voice was rising with her fear. They didn’t have long before the room was breached. Not long at all.

  Selene moved to begin pacing again. Her entire body hummed with adrenaline and unspent energy. She had to move, had to do something. She was useless in this situation. Without anyone to shoot, or a building to infiltrate, her skills went unused.

  Rikkard grabbed her arm before she could get far. His eyebrows furrowed and his lips parted to say something, but she beat him to it.

  “Don’t you dare,” she growled. “We’re not dead yet.”

  He clamped his mouth shut and nodded, then released her.

  Selene paced in front of the door with the laser drill, glancing between it and the monitor overhead. Shit. Shit. Shit. This was not going how she’d like. She’d thought it’d take longer for them to assemble a plan and break into the beacon room. How were they so well prepared?

  She froze. Of course they were prepared. They’d had hundreds of years to prepare for a situation like this.

  Stupid. How could she have been so naïve?

  Selene blinked back furious tears as her nails bit into her palms. This isn’t over yet. Taking a deep breath, Selene went to work, pulling two tables between the door she faced and the beacon. She pulled her rifle from her back to her shoulder. She checked her ammo, flicked off the safety and crouched behind the thick metal table.

  “How much longer?” Rikkard snapped at Kayl.

  Selene glanced back in time to see Kayl had paused. He wasn’t moving at all. “What are you waiting for?” she growled.

  Kayl looked at Rikkard, then her. “It’s done.”

  Her heart skipped. “It is?”

  He nodded, his jaw set. “But there’s a problem.”

  “A problem?” Rem squeaked. He leaned in to see what Kayl had done, and nodded in some sort of understanding. “Damn.”

  “What is it?” Flik asked, irritation thick in his voice.

  “There’s no way to send a direct message.” Rem stood, his legs shaking as Kayl and Flik stood beside him, right next to the command module of the beacon. The buttons had lit up at some point and seemed ready for use.

  “What do you mean?” Selene questioned.

  “He means, if we send out a message, it won’t go to the Zahkx directly, but to the whole universe,” Kayl explained, his voice low, uncaring. “Anyone could hear it. Anyone.”

  He didn’t say it, but Selene understood what he wasn’t saying. Anyone could hear their message. Even the Darri.

  Cold fear spread goosebumps over her skin. She rubbed her arms hard to get rid of them.

  “Is there any way
to fix that?” she asked, her voice small.

  Kayl smirked. His gaze was ice cold, slicing right through her. “Nope.”

  Selene winced.

  “Shit,” Rem exhaled the word.

  A loud grinding noise filled the quiet left by Kayl’s statement. Selene jumped to her feet, and looked at the monitor overhead. Sparks flew as the laser drill cut through the seam of the door.

  “Fuck!” she said.

  Ivy and Steven returned then. “The door is sealed. There’s no getting through it.” She looked up at the monitor. “Oh. Shit.”

  “What do we do?” Steven asked.

  Her mind raced, but she couldn’t latch on to a single thought. This was it. They only had two choices: send a message and risk reaching the entirety of space, including their enemies, or don’t, and let the Darri invade in a couple hundred years. Either way, they’d be dead when those soldiers broke through.

  “What do we do?” Flik echoed Steven. The typically snarky alien held nothing but fear in his large eyes.

  Selene looked between them all. “Do we send it anyway?”

  Rikkard shook his head. “If we do, the Darri could hear it.”

  “If we don’t, we die for nothing,” Rem squeaked.

  Sparks continued to fly on the monitor. A molten line of red appeared on the door in front of her, doing nothing to calm her thoughts. They had a minute, maybe two to decide.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Ivy snapped. “Are we sending it or not?” She looked at Selene, but Selene had no idea. Send it and die. Don’t, and die. She didn’t like their options.

  “We need to decide now!” Flik roared.

  Selene’s hands shook. She was so consumed with cold and fear; she couldn’t even rationalize either argument. Her mind was shutting down, and so was her body, as if both were accepting the inevitable.

  Click.

  Selene froze, looking past Flik and Rem at Kayl, whose palm had slammed down on a large red button.

  Shit.

  “Kayl!” Rem gasped.

  Rikkard grabbed the alien by the shirt, and slammed him against the control panel. “What the fuck was that? You’ve killed us all!”