The Jolo Vargas Space Opera Series Box Set

by J. D. Oppenheim

  They did not fear him. That was a good thing. They stood in the open, confident in their high-tech force fields. He shot the closest one in the center of its alacyte chest plate and the worm inside screamed, a horrible screeching wail. The other leaped onto the jump drive and suddenly the red end of its energy blade swung down. He ducked and felt the hot end sear the commander’s jacket, but Jolo stood up in one piece. By then the first BG had regained his composure and now both were in striking distance. He could not shoot both at the same time. And suddenly two red energy blades were sweeping down from on high.

  He had one move left.

  He jumped as hard as he could, and just like the fall from the Jessica, he discovered something else he could do. He flew thirty meters up to the first ring of the heat riser and now was looking down at the warriors. He fired three shots in succession at the first warrior and it went down but by then the second had leaped up to first ring. It held its staff out over Jolo so he could not make another jump. It leaned over him, the worm inside screaming. Jolo raised his gun again but the warrior knocked the Colt out of his hands with the unlit end of his staff and it bounced along the walkway behind him.

  This was it. The BG towered over him, still sneering and screaming. It put the unlit end of the staff to his chest and pushed just a little and Jolo screamed in pain.

  “So weak, you little humans,” said the warrior. “Are you the one the Emperor is seeking? I shall bring you to him in pieces.”

  He pulled back the staff and the blade went hot and Jolo put his arms across his face. It was just like the moment in the escape pod when he’d lost all hope and there was a strange sense of relief. He closed his eyes and Jaylen was all he could see.

  He heard the sound of the energy blade moving through the air and knew he was done for. But then a loud BOOM and a crunching metal sound and his eyes popped open and the blade had flown out of the creature’s hands. The big mech teetered, then started to fall. Jolo scrambled forward, under its legs as it crashed down onto the walkway where he was laying a second before.

  Down on the floor Greeley still had Betsy aimed at the big monster, a trail of blue smoke from the end of the barrel. He turned and shot the one on the ground for good measure as Jolo jumped down from the walkway.

  “Thanks,” Jolo said to Greeley, as George, Katy and the two engineers gathered right next to the jump drive.

  “Are you okay?” Katy said to Jolo.

  “Fine.”

  “What about me and George?” said Greeley, grinning.

  Katy put her hand on Greeley’s arm. “Are you guys okay?” she said.

  Greeley rubbed his chin, then looked at George, who was as cool as ice. “Yeah, we’re okay, thanks for askin’.”

  “But more importantly, Captain, what’s the next move? The BG have the lower level, and our only escape, sealed off,” said George.

  “We need a ship to escape, with or without the drive,” said Katy.

  Jolo turned to the two remaining engineers. “Can you seal off this level?”

  “We are Federation engineers. We don’t take orders from pirates and thieves.” At this, Greeley just shook his head, started to bring Betsy up, but Jolo held out his hand.

  Jolo looked at the engineer, read his name and rank from the patch on his coverall. “Okay, McCarty, I guess you’ll be taking orders from the black bastards that killed your shipmate?”

  Everyone looked over at the still, lifeless body of the engineer, a glossy circle of red on the floor around him.

  “I can seal us off,” said the other engineer. “I’m Crowely. The BG killed my father on Vegas near the end of the war.”

  “They’ll send you off to a work planet!” yelled McCarty. “Those aren’t just rumors.”

  “I’d rather die killing mechs,” said Crowely. He picked up the spanner near the jump drive and hurled it at the BG warrior crumpled on the floor. The wrench bounced off the black armor and spun across the floor.

  “We’re wasting time,” said Katy.

  Jolo looked at Crowely. “Are you in?”

  He nodded.

  Jolo turned to McCarty. “As it stands now, they’re probably going to send you to a prison planet or kill you for just being near me. You are expendable. If you are in, stay and help. If not, run to an upper level and plead your case.”

  McCarty stared down at his boots.

  “Boys. Gotta go,” said Katy, she was pulling on Jolo’s arm. McCarty looked up at Jolo and nodded.

  “Crowely, seal off this level,” said Jolo. “McCarty, reconnect the jump drive. George, you and Greeley guard the entrance.”

  “How can we escape if we don’t have a ship?” said Katy.

  “We got a ship,” said Jolo. “We’re taking this one.”

  Leviathan

  Iris, in Federation Space

  “What’s the status?” said Jolo.

  “The Fed still thinks engineering is in lockdown repairing air filters. The BG will wonder where their scouts went soon enough. The commotion caused by the Emperor and the President’s visit is giving us a little cover, but it won’t last,” said George.

  “We have to clear the bridge and block out the BG and the Fed marine teams from getting to us.”

  “Can we force an evacuation?” said Katy.

  Jolo searched his computer for all possible toxins that would cause a Fed ship evacuation, but most called for chemicals either not on board the Corsair or not in enough quantity.

  “How about a fire?” said Katy.

  “No. We’d have to run some kind of accelerant through the vent system and even if we got it to work we run the risk of destroying the ship,” said McCarty.

  “George, what do you think?” said Jolo. George had been quiet up to this point.

  “If we had a week to prepare and were able to sneak 1/2 a ton of supplies on board undetected, then we’d have a 27.2% chance of forcing a ship-wide evacuation.”

  “How about right now, with no time and no supplies?” said Katy.

  George just shrugged and shook his head. And the triumph of defeating the two BG had suddenly faded and now the cold reality of the situation hit them.

  “Fine by me,” yelled Greeley from his position at the entrance. “They’ll be singin’ songs about me and Betsy.”

  Jolo yelled to McCarty, “Jump drive ready?”

  “It’s ready,” he said.

  “Great, how fast can you shut it down, then turn it back on?”

  “Takes a minute or so.”

  “Okay, shut it down now, and be ready to fire it up on my command.”

  “Crowely, can you control the doors on this ship?”

  “You mean, from the control board?”

  “No, I mean from the lowest level possible. Overriding the computer.”

  “I suppose so, I’d have to break into a relay box behind the engine and it’d be guesswork at first, but I think it can be done.”

  “Okay. Seal off the bridge, the armory and any marine teams that are still roaming the ship.”

  “George, I need you to do a little recon. Locate any marine teams and report their location so Crowely can seal them off.” Jolo grabbed one of the BG energy staffs off the ground and cut George’s sleeve where his arm was missing. “We want to make it look like you’ve been attacked,” said Jolo. The sleeve was burned and it looked like George’s arm had been severed in battle.

  “He needs a little more to be believable,” said Katy, looking over at the red spot where the dead engineer had been.

  So Crowely began manually opening and closing doors so that George, the wounded waiter, could make it up a level and begin his search.

  “What are you doing?” said Katy.

  “If we can’t get the Feds out, we’ll just take them with us. Most of the civilians have been escorted off the ship anyway, so all we have to do is jump out,” said Jolo.

  “How do we do that?” said Katy.

  Just then the comm light lit up. “It’s from the bridge,” she
said. Jolo nodded.

  “Engineering, this is Commander Falkowski. What’s going on down there? The President’s ship just arrived and the Emperor is already sending crews for pre-inspection.”

  Jolo pulled out his gun, pointed it at McCarty. “Buy us some time.”

  His face went white.

  “Take a deep breath,” said Jolo.

  “This is McCarty in engineering, sir. We are having some, uh, difficulty getting the new filtration system online. But we should be good to go soon.”

  “Son, don’t yank my chain, the readings from this end are fine. I’m sending a security detail down there. And why is the jump drive offline? I can’t have any issues with the President coming. Enough trouble just getting everyone off this monstrosity on short notice. One more thing, be advised, there was a report of an attack on a service staff who claims it was Jolo Vargas.”

  “Roger that, Sir. We’ll be done soon. The jump drive is offline as a precaution while we reset the filtration system.”

  “That don’t sound like protocol.” There was a long pause. “Okay, you have ten minutes. Get it done, son, or I’m sending down the sec detail.”

  McCarty took a deep breath.

  “Okay, we got engineering for another ten minutes. George is doing his job.”

  “One little problem,” said Katy. “Can’t fly this thing unless you got the access codes and Falkowski ain’t gonna give them up.”

  “Bring him down and I’ll start winging him until he squeals,” yelled Greeley from his spot near the door.

  “No, he’s gotta want to give them to us,” said Jolo. He took a deep breath, then turned to Katy, always there at his side. He held her hand and looked her in the eye.

  “I could give myself up and you could go hide.”

  He watched her face for any hesitation.

  “No. I’m no Fed. And I couldn’t live with myself. I want to be here with you and the team.”

  “Okay. But it’s about to get a little dark. We can’t go back from here.”

  “I’m in,” she said.

  “Okay, here goes. I need you on the comm.”

  Then he turned to Greeley. “Greeley,” he yelled and pointed at the dead BG on the first ring of the heat riser, “cut the worm out of the chestplate.”

  Greeley’s eyes lit up. “Ahh, yes. A little biological experimentation!”

  Then Jolo turned towards the engine compartment, “Crowely,” he yelled, “seal the doors to the bridge, and any marine teams that George found.”

  “Roger that. It’ll be a few minutes,” came a muffled reply from behind the engine.

  “You got two minutes,” said Jolo.

  Then he got on George’s comm. “Come home, George,” he said.

  “McCarty, when I get the codes, can you jump us out from here?”

  “Uh, yes sir, but the calculations won’t be perfect.”

  “That’s fine. I need three random jumps that’ll put us closer to Vellosian space, then we’ll head straight for the BG home worlds. Make sure the first three are random, so they’ll have difficulty following. I want to be clear of any BG or Fed ships by the third jump. Also, the third jump point needs to have a human habitable atmosphere. We’ll need to offload some guests.”

  Then he turned to Katy, “get me the bridge on the horn.”

  Soon Commander Falkowski was there on the screen. “What’s this about? Who are you?”

  “I’m Jolo Vargas.”

  The gray haired commander took a deep breath. “So the rumors were true. I know you. You fought well. I remember what you did on Titus. It was unorthodox, but the rank and file loved it. It gave us courage. And for what it’s worth I did not agree with their treatment of you.”

  He signaled to one of his crew, then turned back to the camera. Jolo looked over at Crowely and the engineer nodded, the doors were sealed.

  “So you are the thorn in my side that’s got everyone in a stir? You picked a bad time what with the President and the BG here.”

  “I want you to see what they’ve done. And then I want you to give me this ship.”

  The commander laughed. “Captain Vargas, the Corsair is a little rich, don’t you think? They wronged you, but why don’t you just come with me and we’ll demand due process.”

  “Due process? You mean a work planet. They don’t want me or what I represent. The BG are not your friends. Here’s what they do.” He had Katy replay the video of the BG warrior killing the engineer. “This is what they think of you,” Jolo said.

  The commander’s face went cold. “It was a random event. A rogue soldier. We’ll take care of it.”

  “We already did,” said Jolo, the camera focusing on the dead BG on the floor.

  “Give me the codes,” said Jolo.

  “You’re crazy. I’m sending a team down there now.” And then one of his officers whispered in his ear and he shook his head in anger. “They’ll be down momentarily. Closing the doors won’t hold them out.”

  “Give me the codes, Commander, or the BG are going to attack this ship.”

  “They wouldn’t dare. The war is over, and you are nothing more than a pirate.”

  Jolo had Katy turn off the commander’s mic but kept his video and audio on.

  Then he got Katy to open a channel to the Emperor’s ship.

  “Who are you?” said a BG warrior on screen.

  “Jolo Vargas. Tell the Emperor I have a present for him.”

  “The Emperor does not speak to pirates and enemies of the Alliance.”

  Jolo held up the dead worm. It was heavier than he expected, about two feet long, thick on one end with a circular row of teeth and a tapered tail. There were no eyes that he could see.

  The BG warrior screamed “Desecration! Defilers will be destroyed!” And then the Emperor appeared on the screen.

  “You will all die for this!”

  Jolo held up the worm, moved its tail with his thumb so the BG would think it was alive.

  “It yet lives!” screamed the Emperor.

  And then Jolo threw it on the floor and shot it with the Colt.

  “Now I’m going to kill you!” screamed Jolo. The Emperor leaned into the camera, made a fist with his shiny alacyte fingers, and cursed him in his native worm tongue. Katy cut the video.

  “Katy, get the BG boats on screen,” said Jolo. Sure enough, the BG cruisers went into attack position with total disregard for the civilian boats, still making their way out.

  Katy turned the commander’s mic back on. “Well, you’ve done it now. You fool!” he screamed. He was gesturing wildly off camera, his face red.

  “The BG are going to destroy the Corsair. They want me dead,” said Jolo.

  “The Federation President is here and will board soon. They will not fire upon the Corsair.”

  “Really?” said Jolo. “The President wants me dead just as bad as the Emperor. Do you think they care about an old commander and his crew on a shiny party boat? They’ll spin it and say you and your crew died heroically defeating the synth gone rogue: Jolo Vargas.”

  “They wouldn’t dare.”

  “Check your screen, Commander. The BG boats are in position, even with civilian boats nearby. They’ll take us all out. Do you want civilian deaths on your head?”

  “Captain!” Greeley yelled, “we got company!” The loud BOOM of Greeley’s shotgun echoed off the walls of the engineering section as the commander’s security detail finally made it down to engineering.

  “Use the bangers. Don’t kill any Feds,” yelled Jolo.

  Greeley rolled two of the special explosives down the hall and the noise and shock stunned the marine team. George pushed the crumpled door further into the entrance for cover, then threw another banger down the hall. Several energy blasts made it through the entrance burning holes in the far wall.

  Jolo ran over to the screen to check on the BG boats. They were all in position, the Emperor’s ship just outside a semi-circle of cruisers. Then he ran back to the doorway, sh
ot a marine in the leg who’d made it half-way down the hall, then ran back to the screen.

  Just then the whole ship shook and the lights went red.

  “Commander,” Jolo yelled into the comm. “They’re firing on your boat.”

  “Those cocky bastards,” he said, shaking his head. “Warning shot, nothing more.”

  “Captain,” said Katy, “look!” Suddenly the two large Fed Defenders were gone. The two big blue dots on the screen had disappeared. Then the four gunboats vanished off the board one by one.

  “Commander, they’re hanging you out to dry,” said Jolo.

  There was a long pause. Then the Corsair started shaking again, multiple ion cannon blasts from either side rocked the big ship, the shields starting to fail.

  “Captain, shields can’t hold,” yelled McCarty.

  A few seconds later there was a horrible grinding, tearing sound as one of the BG ion cannons broke through the shield and bore into the alacyte fuselage of the Corsair.

  McCarty ran to a screen on the wall and monitored the damage. “They’re gunning for level III. Hope everyone got out.”

  “The President’s ship is still there,” said the commander. “He wants you, not me or my crew.”

  But just as soon as he said those words, the last blue dots on Katy’s screen, the Presidential carrier and her escorts, vanished. Only the BG and the Corsair remained in Iris.

  “Connect the jump drive!” screamed the commander. “This is my ship and they will feel her full potential. I’ll kill all those worms!”

  The giant ship rocked again, shock ripples coursing through her core as five ion cannons blasted the outer shell, slowly eating their way to the most heavily defended sections: the bridge and engineering.

  “They’re gonna blow us up if they cut into engineering and hit the engines, Captain!” yelled McCarty. “This is suicide.”

  Jolo stared at the commander. He was a man being torn in half with anger and emotion. His face was red and his eyes watery and full of anger. Another blast rocked the ship and he fell to the floor. Finally he stood again and screamed into the comm, “Damn you, Vargas!”