She ventured outside into the streets full of chaos, fleeing civilians, and rampaging dragons from the skies. Miles was alone with his rifle, hunkered down behind a statue in the city’s main square. He was battered and burned, the shields his exosuit provided him had failed. A lone wyvern came to land on the winter-touched stone roads, its wings torn apart by the rounds Miles hit it with, and its burning blood vaporized the snow and ice on contact, turning it into steam.
The wyvern moved to the side of the statue, stalking its weakened and bleeding human prey, opening its mouth and bearing its razor-sharp incisors. Meanwhile, Miles did the same oblivious the wyvern was stalking him from behind. Avearan took a second glance at the stim and sedative delivery devices in her hands and made her move.
She shouted at Miles, getting the attention of both targets. She hurled the sedative pack at the wyvern, and then gave it an extra push with telekinesis, forcing the device to hit and then inject its chemical contents into the neck of the wyvern. Nothing happened immediately, which was expected, the size of a beast like that would require dozens of sedatives to knock it out. The stim pack left her hands next and came twirling though the air, falling at Miles’ feet.
The wyvern shirked for a moment, jerking its head about and using the arms attached to its wings to push off the small delivery device. It faced Avearan with vengeance burning in its eyes when the task was finished, then came charging to her. The thump from its heavy footsteps sent vibrating shakes across the stone road that she felt in her exposed legs. She was out in the open at that point, with no place to dive for cover except behind her low-powered psionic barrier.
Jets of green flame-like plasma erupted from the mouth of the wyvern, spraying across a bright lavender bubble that encompassed Avearan’s body. She kept her hands forward and her concentration high to strengthen the forwardmost section of her bubble and waited.
And waited.
The wyvern’s breath attack ceased. Armored hands from behind clenched onto its neck, forcing its head upward. Miles’ hands mustered the strength needed to climb to the top of the beast and wrestle with it. His eyes were bloodshot, and his battle cry was on par with a human that took a full dosage of a Hashmedai combat enhancement stim.
The wyvern’s face slammed into the ground, a plume of snow shot up as a result. Miles pummeled the wyvern repeatedly using his newfound strength, combined with his exosuit’s power and the wyvern’s slightly sluggish body due to the sedative it was hit with. A twelve second choking grip saw the wyvern twitch briefly, then become limp.
He went to retrieve his rifle, while Avearan helped guide his body back to the clinic. He was going to need medical attention next for his new wounds and the fact he took chems that were chemically made for a Hashmedai body, not a human.
“You’re . . . a psionic right?” Miles said to her as they returned to the clinic.
She nodded to him, placing him on a chair next to the medical bed Williams recovered on. She scanned his body up and down. “That’s right.”
“There a reason why you didn’t just teleport us here?”
“I had those implants removed in favor of receiving the smaller and lightweight medical ones,” she said. “My powers are limited to healing and light defense.”
“Didn’t know that was possible,” Miles slowly spoke as the stims continued to affect his body. “To remove implants without killing ya.”
“HNI and psionic brain chip removal is fatal,” she said. “The rest is doable, assuming you’re not heavily augmented and have the procedure performed by this specialist out in Radiance.”
“Someone from Radiance helped you? A Hashmedai?” Bailey cut in.
“Crazy isn’t it?” Avearan said. “That ceasefire did more than end the fighting between the two of us. Sometimes, you find people in Radiance that aren’t assholes to Hashmedai. It worked out for me since my HNI didn’t work upon insertion.”
“Cybernetics requires an HNI link, I thought,” Miles said.
She shook her head. “UNE made cybernetics do; you can’t have one without the other same with Imperial ones. The cybernetic parts, that the special doctor in Radiance uses, can be installed in a person that doesn’t have HNI.”
She finished patching up Miles’ wounds, and then gave him a mild sedative to counter the effects of the stim. Bailey stepped aside from Williams, allowing her to resume where she left off. She went to remove the bullets from his body, by forcing them out with telekinetic pulls, ensuring no vital organs and veins were damaged with the aid of her deep ESP thoughts focusing on the inside of his body.
Slowly, each crimson-drenched bullet slipped away from a small slit on Williams’ body, and floated onto a steel collection tray. She took a fresh regenerator to the slit and watched as the green beams of light shot out from the device forcing it to seal shut.
“Your friend is going to make it,” Avearan said, stepping away from Williams.
Miles’ was slumped back in his chair with his eyes shut. She ran a check on his vitals with her medical scanner, she gave him a bit too much of the sedative. He was out cold, and probably wasn’t going to awake for another hour.
Bailey was focused on Williams, ecstatic to hear him grunt and groan about the pain he was in. It was confirmation to the aging chef that he was going to make it. Watching Bailey comfort a member of his crew, reminded Avearan of the talk she had with him, and the dangers of running away. Taxah may have been under siege, but it was going to need people like her to stick around and help the wounded, and not run away from its problems and possible solutions.
She retreated outside while Bailey’s back was turned, and Miles still passed out. She pulled out her wrist terminal and found the contact code Phylarlie gave her. A dark and discrete corner further into the city falling into chaos kept her appearance hidden as she made a call for the psionic part of Phylarlie’s team to pick her up. She was done with running away.
Miles, Williams, and Bailey weren’t going to be welcomed in the bunker, but that was okay. They had their mission to complete, and she had hers. And that was get back to the bunker, reorganize, take back the planet, then find Lisette.
Wherever in the system she was taken.
54 Foster
ESV Marcus Antonius
Near Uelcovis Space Bridge, Uelcovis system
October 17, 2118, 03:04 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“Foster to Kepler, tell the Rezeki’s Rage to act now!”
“Understood,” Odelea’s voice said over Foster’s wrist terminal. “We’re contacting them now.”
With that call taken care of, Foster collected her rifle and marched back to Chevallier’s body, while making a transmission to the EDF psionics still on the bridge. “LeBoeuf, Maxwell, meet me in engineering ASAP.”
“Copy that, teleporting down.”
Chevallier’s partially butchered body was still unresponsive, and spilled a lot more blood than Foster had realized when the duo teleported in. They rushed to their fallen comrade in arms with haste.
“Oh, fuck,” Maxwell said, tending to Chevallier’s body. “What happened?”
“Moriston got the drop on us,” Foster said.
“Where is he now?”
She pointed at the pile of ash on the lower engineering deck as they carried Chevallier’s body out. Their trek through the corridors came to a halt when the ship rumbled below their feet and gunfire echoed deeper, mixed in with the sounds of dragons shrieking or dying.
“Sounds like they’re trying to retake the ship,” LeBoeuf said.
“Let them,” Foster said drily as they continued making their way to the infirmary.
Once inside the infirmary, the three did a quick check to see who was there, hoping there was at least one doctor they could force at gunpoint to help Chevallier. It was empty. The medical staff was most likely called to support the rest of the crew. Chevallier was going to have to wait longer for medical attention.
Foster looked at the exit. “LeBoeuf, can we get a barrier
over this?”
LeBoeuf nodded, using her psionic powers to create a shimmering shield around the door. “You know I won’t be able to keep this up for long, right?”
Foster smirked. “Don’t worry, only need it to be air tight and active for a minute. Maxwell, see what you can do for Chevallier in the meantime.”
Her wrist terminal beeped, and she picked up the transmission. “The Rezeki’s Rage has access to the Marcus Antonius’ network now, Captain,” Odelea’s voice said.
“I want life support throughout the ship cut, except the infirmary.”
“Captain?”
Angry foot stomps crashed against the door to the infirmary. Foster was sure she heard a few gunshots hit it as well. Those on the outside wanted in, and they probably weren’t going to be pleased to see the four inside.
Foster spoke into wrist terminal. “Do it now!”
The sounds from the outside stopped. Every section of the ship lost air, heat, and gravity with the exception of the infirmary. Multiple bodies and rifles came crashing to the floor afterward once the okay was given to return life support. It was a rotten move, but it needed to be done. Foster’s next stop was the bridge, and she needed the assurance they weren’t going to be ambushed by surviving crew members while she and the others took control.
Maxwell did what he could for Chevallier, using the first aid kits and flesh regenerators. Her wounds, however, were too deep and gruesome to deal with, she needed a doctor, not two combat psionics and a starship captain turned dragon tamer. LeBoeuf used her psionic gifts to create a close-fitting barrier around Chevallier’s body, keeping what little blood she had left inside. It was up to Foster and Maxwell to take the bridge. But first, Foster had a promise to keep.
She told Maxwell to go ahead and made a detour to the bio labs. Stepping over the bodies of the ship’s crew, security teams, dead doctors, and dragons, she found it. Foster grabbed a duffle bag from the crew lockers and returned to the item the drake requested to be obtained and placed it in inside.
She arrived on the bridge minutes later, shocked at the aftermath of Maxwell and LeBoeuf’s sorcery. She saw partially burned bodies, and sparking computer stations draped with the bodies of the bridge crew that thought they were strong enough to fight two EDF combat psionics. The sparking body of the EVE android laid in pieces off in the corner, as was Furnadjiev’s half-vaporized body.
Maxwell manned one console, Foster did another and booted up the computers. “I’m no expert at these HNI only computers, what do we got?” she asked him.
“Most of the fleet has Taxah surrounded,” Maxwell said, checking the computer’s holo screens. “They’re preparing to launch nukes. This ship and four others got the space bridge surrounded, looks like they’re planning to capture it.”
“The Empire probably still thinks this fleet is here to help,” Foster said.
A flickering projection of a Hashmedai woman, with silver hair and glittering jewelry appeared in between the two. She waved her hand. “Greetings and salutations.” She also had an English accent.
“Who the fuck are you?” Maxwell said to the projection.
“I’m the hacker that saved your lives,” she said. “Diamondrose, Penelope Diamondrose, at your service.”
“Mind explaining what’s going on?” he asked.
Penelope clapped her hands twice, summoning a number of holo screens to appear for Foster and Maxwell to view. “I pulled these out from the admiral’s files,” Penelope said. “He and the crew of this ship joined the Terran Legion in secret. They’re planning to—”
“Nuke Taxah, and start a war, yeah, figured that part out,” Foster cut in. “How do we stop this?”
“Not all these ships have been compromised,” Penelope said, waving her hand to create a massive three-dimensional hologram.
The hologram highlighted a number of UNE ships with red, while many others were blue. All the blue ships were facing Taxah.
Penelope continued. “The red ships have commanding officers and crew that pledged their allegiance to the Legion. The blue ones, as you might have guessed, are following orders the orders of Furnadjiev, oblivious that he and the Terrans have secretly taken control.”
“What a fucking dick,” Maxwell said. “So, he ordered the UNE allied ships to nuke Taxah, while his crew hangs back at the space bridge?”
“Makes sense, this way, when the Empire retaliates, they’ll target those ships first, giving the Terran ships time to take the space bridge,” Foster said.
“Let’s not forget about the Draconians,” Penelope said, bringing their attention to the fleet of bio-ships pushing past the Imperial blockade. “UNE loyal ships are closer to the Draconians; they’re likely going to be targeted first.”
“We need to get the word out to them,” Foster said.
“How? They’ve all shut down their QECs according to this,” Maxwell said, hitting the side of his computer.
“They’ve been communicating using standard fast-as-light communication,” Penelope said.
Foster faced her hologram. “Penelope, how much control do you have over this ship?”
Penelope gave the two a cold-hearted and emotionless stare. “All of it.”
“Good, find a way broadcast to them all what happened,” Foster said.
“They’ll want proof,” Maxwell interjected.
“Oh, I’ve got plenty of that to transmit,” Penelope said. “Let me work my magic.”
What the enthralling hacker did next, by the standards of people on Earth one hundred years ago, was magic. Holographic images surrounded her, they all contained recorded video, audio files, pictures, and logs from the Terran controlled ships and confidential EISS documents. Her data package was sent to all ships in the system, as well as the entire UNE QEC network.
Foster checked the screen she was using. The blue ships around Taxah still had their nuclear missile ports opened and ready for launch. Not one of them changed position.
“Come on, someone out there must have some sense in their heads!” she yelled.
“Got a transmission coming in,” Maxwell said.
“Let’s hear it.”
The view screen displayed the bitter face of a UNE captain sitting on his captain’s chair, on the bridge of his ship. “This is Captain Holdsworth of the ESV Ferdinand Foch, to who am I speaking to?”
“This is Captain Foster temporarily taking command here,” she said with a smile while sitting on Furnadjiev’s chair.
“Foster . . . you’re supposed to be in cuffs.”
“Look, we ain’t got time to debate this. Y’all need to stand down now, while the Hashmedai still thinks you’re here to help.”
“If those dragons on the surface turn this world into another breeding location.”
“If I’m wrong about this, y’all can come back and nuke it later but, right now, we’s need to deal with the Draconian ships. That’s the real threat and you know that, as do the Imperial forces getting annihilated by them ‘cause y’all ain’t helpin’.”
“Don’t listen to her.”
Another transmission cut in, turning the view screen into a split screen projection. Holdsworth was on the left, and another unknown captain on the right, probably allied with the Terrans if her guess was right.
“Stand your ground, and continue the mission,” said the Terran captain.
“Excuse me, asshole, but we’s havin’ an A and B conversation, so C your ass outta it!”
“Captain Foster is a traitor that released the dragons into this system, massacred the crew of the Marcus Antonius, and is now siding with a Maraschino hacker! Look at the facts everyone, and the human blood on her.”
“Look, Holdsworth,” she said to his image. “Do the right thing and get everyone to pull away, now.”
“Any ships moving away from Taxah will be fired up,” said the Terran captain. “This is your only warning!”
“Draconian ships have broken through the Imperial fleet’s blockade,” Maxwell s
aid. “They’ll be here soon.”
“Y’all gonna have Draconians in the sector soon,” Foster said. “What would you rather spend your nukes on? The planet? Or them?”
The video conference between the three captains ended, restoring the view screen back to its previous sights, the conflict in space and around the planet Taxah. Foster sat cross-legged on the now dead admiral’s chair and waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Three UNE ships broke away from Taxah’s orbit.
“They’re breaking off!” Maxwell said jubilantly.
“Thank Christ,” Foster said, drying her forehead of the sweat that built up. “What of the Terrans?”
Three blasts of particle energy against the Marcus Antonius’ shields answered her question.
“Staying true to their word,” Penelope said.
The ships around Taxah broke away, while those ships following the word of the Terran Legion opened fire on those that didn’t follow. Two battles were waged in the system at that point, the Draconians against the Imperial fleet, and the fleet of human ships firing upon themselves. Foster hoped it wasn’t a sign of things to come, humanity returning to its roots, and fighting itself while the rest of the galaxy went for the real enemy.
“Well, it’s a start,” Foster said drily. “But we’s need everyone fighting the Draconians, not each other . . .”
The Marcus Antonius rumbled again thanks to the Terran controlled ships that encircled it.
“We’re not going to last long without overshields,” Maxwell said.
She put her wrist terminal to her face. “Foster to Kepler, can you get within teleportation range of us?”
“Negative, Captain, you guys are right in the middle of the kill zone,” Chang’s voice said.
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