“Word of advice, pal,” Paul shouted to Pierce as they left. “Get some gene therapy, Viagra doesn’t exist these days, because of that.”
The beats from the bar faded while Penelope tugged on Pierce’s arm, almost dragging him to the nearest elevators within the bustling atrium of the station.
“Okay, you’re the one that sent the qmail, that part I figured out,” Pierce said. “Why?”
“Is this how you start all dates?” Penelope said. “No wonder you are such a lonely man.”
They arrived at the closed doors to an elevator. Lights overtop of the doors revealed the ETA of the newly summoned elevator she remotely called for, most likely via HNI. A holographic directory next to the elevator showed that the train station was just a few floors below.
The logical side of his head told him this was a big mistake, inviting Penelope to his place. There were too many unknowns, like how did she know he was searching for Pernoy? How did she know he was even on the station? She was trouble, and her inability to smile or not look as if she was gazing into his soul wasn’t helping him think otherwise.
Then there was that other part of his brain. The one that kept reminding him of all the sex he missed during his early twenties with women whom were just as young as Penelope. Given what Penelope mentioned about her past, there was high chance she was experiencing being the age she was for the first time. The concept of Hashmedai on Earth started one hundred years ago, and Penelope said she was a descendant of them. If Paul was right, then Penelope was here to remind Pierce what it was like to have raunchy fun in the bedroom.
He didn’t resist or question her further. Foster is right, I am chasing the past . . . and right now, I don’t care!
The elevator doors opened, and out stepped man wearing a dark business suit.
He pointed a pistol at Pierce’s face.
Penelope didn’t scream for help.
20 Peiun
Rezeki’s Rage
Asteroid belt, Morutrin system
October 15, 2118, 00:58 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Rezeki’s Rage’s dropped out of sub light and entered a close and tight orbit of an asteroid adorned with communication arrays, and tunneled out entrances, including a docking bay wide enough to fit a ship through. A ship like the Fortune Runner.
Sensor and ESP data populated Peiun’s HNI. The asteroid base and the surrounding area were clear of all activity with the exception of the Rezeki’s Rage. Though, that situation was due to end within minutes.
It was time to take action before the sixteen pirates pursuing them dropped out of sub light.
“Are there any mind shields protecting the base?” Peiun asked.
“None, sir, they seem to have been disabled from the inside,” Alesyna said.
It was good enough for him. Peiun left his chair and approached Alesyna at her station. “Alesyna, take me and the human down.”
“Are you sure this is wise?” she asked him.
“The captain and first officer leaving the ship during a time like this?” Peiun shook his head. “No, it is not, but we have no other choice.”
“I could take someone else down,” she offered.
“I know what we’re looking for, they don’t.” Or know of the mission for that matter, I have and studied the files the Qirak gave me.
“Shall we bring your assault team with us then?” Alesyna asked.
“Time is of the essence,” he said. “The more people we bring, the longer your teleport will take, correct?”
She winced. “That is true.”
“We won’t have the luxury of a fifteen-minute grace period like we did earlier. We need to be in and out, fast. The three of us could achieve that.”
She nodded. “Four or more would make things take longer.”
Of course, the two going also meant the young crew would have to take command without the two highest ranking personnel or a psionic, until they returned. If they returned. If they were about to teleport into a deadly ambush, then that would spell the end of the Rezeki’s Rage. A sixteen-strong pirate ship assault without a psionic or proper leadership was un-survivable, even if they turned and fled.
“Uemsu, you are in command.”
The young officer looked at Peiun, gave him an Imperial salute, then marched to the captain’s chair. “I will not fail you, Captain.”
Down in the lower decks of the Rezeki’s Rage, were the holding cells where the human, named Moe, was kept behind a force field. Peiun couldn’t take the risk of him wandering around the ship, not until he proved himself worthy.
This was his opportunity to do so.
“Mister Moe, I require your assistance,” Peiun said in English when he and Alesyna approached his cell.
“If anything isn’t right with the base, it changed without me knowing,” Moe pleaded to him.
“I shall be the judge of that.” He patted his short plasma sword holstered to his side, drawing Moe’s attention to it. He swallowed. Peiun deactivated his cells force field remotely with his HNI, and Moe stepped forward blowing into his cupped hands.
Humans and their inability to tolerate the cold without jackets. Peiun snickered silently.
Alesyna stood in between the two extending her arms out. “Ready?”
Peiun nodded. “We are.”
Alesyna’s body enveloped with blue light that began to consume the three several seconds later. Once the bright light faded, the three had been dematerialized off the ship.
Peiun grimaced the moment his vision returned to normal and the interior of the asteroid base appeared. It was warm, a bit too much for his liking. It was akin to being on Amicitia Station 14, pleasant for humans and most species, but for Hashmedai? You better dress lightly. Moe’s blissful reaction to the wave of warm air didn’t surprise him.
The three were quick to move out, time was working against them. HNI feeds kept Peiun up to date with the status of the Rezeki’s Rage, and its current sensor logs. When the pirate ships arrived and opened fire, he wanted to be the first to know.
A body doused in congealed blood rested motionlessly on the floor when the corner was turned. Peiun drew his blade and moved with caution. Bodies and silence meant an ambush was near. Holes in the rock face walls suggested projectile weapons had been fired, as with the additional bodies of Hashmedai and humans, all of them sleeping for an eternity in puddles of aged crimson that once pumped freely through their bodies. It wasn’t a pleasing sight to observe, neither was the putrid odor that made their noses squirm.
Peiun minimized the projection that relayed live ship data to his HNI and brought up a tactical HUD. His motion detectors and the limited scanning range picked up three targets moving. Three targets that stopped when they did, it was them and nobody else.
“Do you sense anyone else here?” Peiun asked Alesyna.
“I do not,” she said. “But if someone is here and keeping their movements to a minimum, I will not be able to detect them.”
“Magnetic weapons were used,” Moe said, examining the body of a man whose left hand had been blown off by weapons fire. “I guess the rumors were true, pirates betrayed the mercs.”
“Why would they suddenly end their friendship like that?” Peiun asked him.
“No fuckin’ clue, man, they had a really good deal set up.”
The path of death and bullet holes on the walls, guided the three to five sets of passageways leading to the airlocks. Only one of the five passages had a river of stale blood coming out from it. They followed it, and arrived at an opened airlock, there was a ship still connected to it. A computer terminal that remained operational despite the violence was still shining light. Moe ran over to it to read its files.
“Data has been wiped . . .” Moe said to Peiun. “I have no idea what ship is docked here, probably a pirate ship that didn’t make it out.”
“How many airlocks does this base have?”
“Including this one? Five.”
“Like the five passageways we pass
ed here?”
“Yeah.” Moe took three steps away from the computer. “They’re all lined up adjacent to each other.”
“Five airlocks and this is the only one with bodies before it,” Alesyna said, speaking in Hashmedai.
“Whoever attacked came through here, and most likely from this ship,” Peiun replied, also in their native tongue.
Alesyna kneeled giving one of the bodies a closer look. “Look at the way these bodies are facing. These mercenaries were killed facing the airlock.”
She was right. Every person closest the airlock had fallen in a manner that would suggest the attackers came from the ship, not the base. There were bullet holes in the walls opposite the airlock doors as well.
“Let’s see what’s on this ship,” said Peiun, waving for the two to follow him.
The ship attached to the airlock was a red-splattered mess, full of bodies missing small body parts, and in the case of the human man slumped over on the wall, missing parts of his brains. The cause of death of the men and women on the ship as with the asteroid base were consistent. They all were killed by the same weapon.
Or weapons.
“These aren’t pirates,” Moe said, having rolled over two bodies to face up. One was human, the other Hashmedai. “The pirates in this region are mostly Aryile, descendants of the first generation of Radiance exiles.”
“The crew of this ship and the base are the same,” Peiun said. “That means someone boarded, killed them, and forced the ship to dock with the base.”
Moe stood up from the two bodies. “Then they spread from there.”
Peiun’s HNI flashed red. It was the projection he minimized earlier. Enlarging it unveiled what caused his heart to beat faster and his need to hurry up intensify. The pirate fleet dropped out of sub light and had the Rezeki’s Rage surrounded. He didn’t bother to check the rate the shields were dropping, he was able to figure out those numbers on his own, and they weren’t good.
They needed to hurry.
The three entered the ship’s docking bay after a quick run through its maze of corridors. Additional computers, still operational, sent Moe reaching for their controls and keyboards.
“Okay, these haven’t been wiped out,” Moe said.
“What is the name of this ship?” Peiun asked. If this isn’t the Fortune Runner, then we’re leaving.
Moe read the data that outputted to the screen. “This is the Fortune Runner.”
A glorious smirk appeared on Peiun’s face. He found it, too bad the crew was unable to give him the answers he came seeking. But there are other ways to get them, he thought as he looked at one of the transports resting in the ship’s docking bay. They had the flag of the Hashmedai Empire and were of an older design, in service around the time of the Celestial Order wars, perhaps a few years after it, but not much.
He brought up an image of the Hashmedai transport found at New Babylon, the same one the empress asked him to recover. The one before him and the one he captured were the same models. He was getting close, so was the Rezeki’s Rage, as in close to its end.
I just need a few more minutes! “Moe,” Peiun called out to him, while removing the slight buildup of sweat on his forehead. “How familiar are you with QEC devices?”
“I’ve installed a few . . . previously owned ones on some ships out here.”
“Find the one installed on this ship.”
“How do you know it has one?”
He faced Moe with a half smile. “Call it a hunch.”
“It would probably be on the bridge at the communication station,” Moe said. “It shouldn’t take long to pry it out if that’s what you plan on doing.”
“Indeed, that’s exactly the plan.”
“Captain.” Alesyna said in Hashmedai, directing his attention to the Rezeki’s Rage’s failing shields.
“I know . . .” he said to her in their language.
“We need to get back.”
“We need to finish this mission, or the empress will have our heads.”
Peiun had Moe go to work and remove the QEC from the communication station on the bridge of the Fortune Runner. The Rezeki’s Rage’s shields dropped to 45 percent once they arrived, and then dropped another 8 percent when Moe realized he was using the wrong tools. The thought that the three may have to rely on the Fortune Runner to escape crossed his mind. Peiun asked Alesyna to familiarize herself with its operating system, just in case it came to that.
There was one person, however, that could prevent that course of action from taking place. Peiun stood behind him with his arms crossed, and his mouth ready to display his fangs.
“You need to hurry up!” he spat.
“Dude, I want this done and over with as much as you!”
“Captain,” Alesyna called out to him in their language.
“What is it?” he asked her.
“I merged my mind with the ship’s computers to get a better understanding of its operation as you requested,” she said. “I found something you might be interested in.”
“Show it to me.”
Alesyna created a hologram based on what she was able to pull from the computers and pushed it over to Peiun. He caught it and gave it a look. It was an image of the asteroid base with several red lines marked across it. “This looks like a map of the base,” he said, then noted a big red circle around the computer core of the base. The last user of the bridge’s computers was interested in that location—
The hologram transformed into an animated maraschino cherry that laughed at Peiun, making obscene gestures with its animated middle fingers.
He hissed loudly and swatted the projection away. “Maraschino . . .” he groaned. “They were here!”
“I’ve been locked out,” Alesyna said. “Maraschino uploaded a number of hacking applications. This ship will not respond to anyone’s commands unless the encryption is broken.”
Peiun hissed again with frustration. “We don’t have time for that!” He faced Moe and began to speak in English. “How much longer, human?”
“Got it!” Moe said rising up from the partially dismantled computer station. Within his hands was the QEC device.
“That is what we’ve come for, right?” Alesyna said, looking at the QEC in Moe’s hands. “If so let us make our return to the Rezeki’s Rage.”
“Not yet,” Peiun said. “Take us to the base’s computer core, you remember where it was on that map, yes?”
Alesyna sighed, he couldn’t blame her. They’d got what they came for; clues stored in the QEC’s memory that should help reveal the identities of those that took the transport to Sirius then vanished along with the Carl Sagan.
A quick site to site teleport and the three rematerialized within the central computer core of the mercenary’s asteroid base. An Aryile male rested on a computer terminal, his brains were splattered over the computer screen he had been working on. Peiun approached the body of the Aryile, while the looming thoughts of the Rezeki’s Rage’s still under attack continued to haunt his mind. The Aryile looked different from most he’d seen in life. His hair and clothing were similar to what young human men would have, as with the piercings on his ears and face.
There were no further clues he could see, then again, his racing mind kept him distracted. As much as he wanted to stay and find out why a single Aryile was here dead, while everyone else was human or Hashmedai, Peiun had a ship to return to, a ship that was going to be their only means of getting home.
He nodded to Alesyna. She began to focus her powers, using them to teleport the three back to the Rezeki’s Rage, while it was still operational and in one piece. Peiun gave the computer core one last look while she conjured enough power to teleport the three up.
He noticed something.
Everyone on the base and Fortune Runner had been killed with precision, with few missed shots. The bullet holes they saw were a result of exiting rounds. Magnetic rifles were handheld rails guns after all. The mess in the computer core near the Aryil
e was different. The bullet holes in the walls were random, and at least one line of them dotted closer to the top of the walls, and toward an opened air vent. There was an elusive target in the computer core that didn’t die and managed to escape from the shooter.
Someone survived the attack; someone that was better armed and trained than the attackers.
Peiun’s vision transitioned from the interior of the computer core, into light, bright blue light that slowly faded, and became the bridge of the Rezeki’s Rage. Uemsu eagerly surrendered Peiun’s chair to him, backtracking to man the main gunnery console. Breaking away from the encircling fleet of pirate vessels became priority.
Alesyna returned to her post, her psionic powers resuming their duties of caring for the Rezeki’s Rage with an overshield and updating tactical data with her ESP thoughts. Moe did what most humans did when boarding Hashmedai ships, complain about the cold, and Peiun? He considered their next move.
“Can we punch a hole through their formation?” he asked.
“It will take some time,” Uemsu said.
“Keep in mind,” Alesyna added while updating the tactical hologram for the crew to view. “They have new ships about to enter the fray; they could fill the void we create.”
The three-dimensional projection she created depicted a number of enemy ships on a direct course to the Rezeki’s Rage as it continued be circled by the existing pirate ships and their punishing blows against their shields. The Rezeki’s Rage wasn’t outgunned, but it was outnumbered. The longer they remained the worse that outnumbered situation would become. They had to flee, and their adversaries needed to not follow.
There was only one option that could allow for that.
“Activate the MRF,” Peiun said. “Get us past this blockade.”
Nadevina complied with her captain’s wishes, entering the commands on her console. “At once, Captain.”
Once activated, the Rezeki’s Rage would prominently display a wide array of fancy maneuvers with the entire mass of the vessel greatly changed in conjunction with Alesyna’s abilities. If there was one thing you could count on pirates doing, it was identifying high-value ships. The increased performance the Rezeki’s Rage was about to unleash would telegraph to foes they had an MRF, were operating alone deep within the belt, and if they escaped back to the policed inner planets of the system, they would forever lose this once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Unsanctioned Reprisal Page 18