Flight of the Javelin: The Complete Series: A Space Opera Box Set

by Rachel Aukes

  He didn’t shut the door behind him. He couldn’t give away any hint of where he hid.

  All pod layouts were identical in that seats lined the two walls and a cargo hold spanned the area below the floor. He found fingerholds and lifted the smooth metal surface, releasing a grunt as his injured arm rewarded his effort with instant fury. He dropped to the floor four feet below. He had to kneel to reset the floor tile. He then crawled around a crate, sat, and leaned against another.

  As long as the Jaders didn’t thoroughly search every single escape pod, they’d never find him.

  The cargo hold was small and uncomfortable for any full-height human. Escape pods were meant for saving people, not equipment, and the only reason cargo holds were included was to store emergency supplies: food and water mainly, along with a few medical and sanitary supplies.

  He opened the crate nearest him and pulled out three packets of water. He downed two before he rested. Before he tore open the third packet, he pulled out a meal kit. In the dimly lit cargo hold, he could barely make out the contents. Goulash. Wasn’t the best, wasn’t the worst. He dug in. The dull flavor made it easier not to eat too quickly and risk vomiting it back up.

  After he finished the meal and third water package, a thick calm blanketed him. He hadn’t allowed himself more than a couple of hours of sleep over the past couple of days, and he couldn’t allow himself to sleep now.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the black box. He opened it and took out the two items: a small black disk and a folded computer tablet no bigger than his palm. He raised the magnetic disk to the metal ceiling, where it snapped to the metal.

  He unfolded the tablet, clicking the components in place until it was larger than both his hands. As soon as the last click sounded, the screen came to life. The Galactic Peacekeeper logo was emblazoned in the center, and the words Quantum Splitter Relay were printed below. The screen morphed, dropping the logo and many of the letters, leaving only QuSR. He tapped the acronym and a messaging screen displayed.

  QuSR messaging was nearly instantaneous, even across multiple star systems, and it was a system he often used in communicating with Sol representatives and his fellow GP directors. It was still quite limited in that it could only send text packets—video and images were out of the question. The Atlas network relied on a QuSR backbone to aid in data transfers, but anything connected to Atlas was out of the question. The tablet he held was an emergency QuSR device, not tied to any system and stored in a Faraday box, making it possible to use even if Free Station was hit by a star flare and ended up without power.

  He selected the first address listed, GP Central, and typed out a message:

  FREE STATION HAS FALLEN TO JADER PIRATES OPERATING UNDER ANNA EAST WITH INTENT TO TAKE CONTROL OF ROSS SYSTEM BY FORCE AND DECLARE INDEPENDENCE TO THE CONSORTIUM. ATLAS NETWORK COMPROMISED AT ROSS HUB. CASUALTIES. REMAINING PERSONNEL STILL AT RISK. LAUNCHING COUNTEROFFENSIVE. IMMEDIATE SUPPORT OF NEARBY GP NEEDED.

  – CHIEF CORMAC ROUX, DIRECTOR, ROSS SYSTEM GALACTIC PEACEKEEPERS

  Finished, he tapped the ENCRYPT & SEND button at the bottom of the screen. It took over ten interminable minutes for the tablet to encrypt the text and send the data packet. When a green checkmark appeared on the screen, he breathed the first sigh of real relief he’d felt since Cat Mercier had triggered the EMP in his office.

  GP Central now had Chief’s message. They were too far away to help, but they would notify the other directors as well as the Consortium. No matter what happened, he could at least guarantee that Anna East would never see her vision become a reality.

  With Anna East’s plan stopped, he now had to focus on freeing his people still on the station. He couldn’t help them alone. Any Peacekeepers not on Free Station were scattered across the Ross system, most in Hiraethian colonies, others in the mining colonies. Several of the barons on Hiraeth had QuSR dishes, but he couldn’t count on them to do the right thing, not with Anna East being one of the wealthiest people in Ross, and every baron he’d met could be bought for the right price.

  That left only one person in the Ross system, and Chief had no idea if he was even still alive. Still, he sent a quick message to Punch Durand just in case. Finished, he decided it was time for sleep. To take back Free Station, he’d need his head clear and his body primed. A couple of hours of sleep could at least help with clearing the webs in his head. He went to lie down, paused, then grabbed the QuSR tablet again.

  He’d been thinking of Peacekeepers to contact. He’d never considered allies who weren’t quite allies. He pulled up a contact he heard from only when that contact needed something. Now, it was Chief’s turn. He started typing his message:

  GENERAL ZHANG…

  Chapter Fifteen

  Anna strode down the hallway, the crew of the Bendix protecting her, and stopped to stand above Pete. He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. His chest plate was lying on the floor, and he was dabbing a nasty burn on his chest.

  That he didn’t stand when she approached made her all the angrier. “You’re screwing up everything. First, you lose the router. Now, you lose Chief. What’s next?”

  He cocked his brow at her. “I’m screwing up everything? I remember that I wanted to execute Chief Roux. I remember telling you that he was resourceful and not to be underestimated. You should’ve heeded my warning.”

  She made a mental note to never let him in her bed again. He’d grown far too informal in their interactions, and his behavior would surely rub off on others who thought they could talk to her like an equal.

  But Anna East wasn’t their equal. She came from a heralded line of astute leaders. Her family’s wealth had built Jade-8, the station that enabled colonization in the Ross system.

  She took a step closer, lifted her leg, and pressed the sole of her boot against his burn.

  He winced but knew better than to knock her away.

  “You wanted Chief Roux dead. Now’s your chance. Find him and finish him.”

  He glared up at her. “I will.”

  She didn’t move. “And as soon as you do that, you will bring Throttle Reyne to me so I can cut her throat wide open, just like she did to my brother.”

  He frowned. “I told you, she’s not here—argh!”

  Anna twisted her boot on his wound. “Then you will do whatever you need to do to make sure she comes here. She’s lived long enough.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “We’re dropping out of jump speed now,” Rusty announced.

  Throttle sat on the bridge along with Sylvian, Finn, and Punch, who’d healed remarkably over the past fifteen hours.

  She felt a series of vibrations before the stars came to a standstill outside the front window. Seeing no ships firing upon the Javelin, she relaxed. “Rusty, make sure we’re not broadcasting any credentials. Scan the sector for traffic.”

  “There are no ships or torpedoes on an intercept course. There’s moderate traffic around the Jade-8 megastructure, as to be expected, and several ships traveling on routes that are likely to or from the satellite structures,” Rusty answered.

  “How about Rod’s Repair Garage?” Punch asked.

  Rusty said nothing.

  Throttle shot Punch a quick glance. “Rusty’s programmed to only respond to the crew,” she said before asking, “Rusty, what traffic do we have at the coordinates we’re heading for?”

  “There are no ships in motion, and there are four ships docked.”

  “Is the High Spirit one of them?” Throttle asked.

  “There is a ship matching the credentials of a Peacekeeper ship. From my initial scans, it appears to be operational and in standby mode.”

  “Good. I was counting on East to have all the Jaders so busy with her whole ‘take over the universe’ plan that they wouldn’t get around to chopping up the Spirit for parts yet,” Punch said. “Now that we’re in the same sector, I can connect to her.” He pulled out a small tablet computer and tapped in a code.

  “Ru
sty, take us in at sub-speed. We don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers, assuming there’s someone even at the chop shop.”

  “We’re too far away to run detailed scans. When we get closer, I’ll scan for heat signatures,” Rusty said.

  Throttle glanced at Punch, who was frowning as he tapped on the tablet.

  “What’s wrong?” Throttle asked.

  He didn’t look up. “The Spirit’s not responding.”

  Sylvian spun out of her seat and walked over. She held out her hand. “Let me see.”

  He eyed her for a length before handing her the tablet. “Have at it, but if the Spirit’s not talking to me, she’s sure not going to talk to you.”

  Sylvian stood next to where Punch sat while she busied herself with the tablet.

  Throttle frowned when a question hit her. “When Pete hit you with an EMP, why didn’t it fry the tablet?”

  “It has a liquid processor,” Sylvian answered before Punch could as she continued to work. “EMPs have no effect other than a temporary ripple.”

  “Pete’s goons assumed it was fried too. Otherwise, they would’ve taken the tablet when they took my weapons,” Punch said.

  “I see you’ve found your weapons,” Finn said from behind Punch.

  Punch looked over his shoulder before tapping his holster. “This? This is just something I borrowed until I can get back on the Spirit.”

  Sylvian returned the tablet to Punch. “You can’t connect to your ship because the Atlas network has sent a lockdown command.”

  Punch cussed. “I was afraid of that.”

  “Afraid of what?” Throttle asked.

  “That when the Jaders hacked Atlas, they’d use it to lock down all Peacekeeper ships in this system. It’s an easy way to prevent all of us from going to Free Station and going after the Jaders. Wait.” He frowned and looked around. “If they sent out a lockdown code, why is this ship still running?”

  “Because it’s never been connected to the Atlas net,” Throttle said.

  Punch gave her a sideways glance. “Trust issues?”

  “Since both of my ships were stolen by Jaders as soon as I reached this system, you could say that. I don’t like anyone except my crew and me having access to this ship. And, since it seems like the Jaders have now stolen your ship and likely every other Peacekeeper’s ship in this system, I’m feeling pretty good about that decision.”

  “It’s a decision I plan to revisit as soon as we free Chief and get Free Station back.” He cocked his head. “Though I was never told that it was optional to have my ship on the Atlas net.”

  Throttle shrugged. “The way I see it, the Javelin is my ship, not a GP ship. I had no interest in it wearing a GP collar, and I told Chief as much.”

  “Yet you allowed you and your crew to get Atlas chips implanted in your heads,” Punch countered.

  Throttle sighed. “Chief was nonnegotiable on that one. I think I’ll revisit that decision with him after this is all said and done.”

  “Chief might not be a stickler for rules, but he sure is one when it comes to looking after his people.” Punch thought for a moment. “You’re giving up a lot of fancy features by not having your ship connected to the GP net. It’s a whole lot faster to look up information and set up flight plans using Atlas than relying on those tiny chips. You’re missing out.”

  “Nah.” Throttle smirked and shot Sylvian a glance. “Not with a software specialist on the crew.” She turned back to Punch. “Still sure not having a crew is the way to go?”

  Punch became stoic. “It’s better than carrying the knowledge that if anything happened to them, it’s on me.”

  Throttle sobered as her mind immediately brought forth images of crew members she’d lost. She sucked in a deep breath. “Rusty, are we close enough for detailed scans?”

  “Yes, but the temperature is too high inside to isolate how many people are on the station.”

  Punch scowled. “They’re a chop shop. They have big cutters to make short work of stolen ships. It’s always hotter than a Hiraethian summer in those.” He cracked his knuckles. “No problem. I’ll just have to be sneaky.”

  Throttle gave him a droll look. “And that’s something I know you can do. But it won’t do any good as long as the High Spirit is locked down by Atlas.”

  “I can remove the Atlas card,” Sylvian offered. “It won’t take long. All I need is admin access to the ship’s systems and the mainboard cabinet.”

  “That sounds easy. If you tell me what it looks like, I’ll take it out when I board,” Punch said.

  The specialist shook her head. “It’s not as easy as pulling out the card. If you do that, you’d corrupt your ship’s core system. No, I have to be over there to set up a sandbox and run a program to make the Atlas network think the sandbox is the correct system. That way, when we pull the card, Atlas will corrupt the closed system instead.”

  Throttle grimaced, not liking the idea of Sylvian leaving the Javelin, but not seeing any way around it. “Okay, so let’s review the plan. Assuming the chop shop doesn’t have proximity sensors, we don’t have to worry about the Javelin being noticed as long as we avoid any windows. Then Punch and Sylvian need to spacewalk over to the High Spirit. Sylvian gets on board while Punch sneaks onto the station to release the High Spirit from the dock. And you both have to do all that without raising any attention from anyone inside the chop shop. Sound about right?”

  “Sounds about right,” Punch echoed.

  “I don’t like it,” Finn said. “It’s been less than a day since you had surgery. If something happens out there, Sylvian will be stuck taking care of you as well as your ship.”

  Punch stood, turned, and faced Finn. “I’ve recovered more than enough for a simple spacewalk. And I’ll make sure nothing happens to your wife while she’s out there.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Sylvian grumbled.

  “I agree with Finn that I don’t like this either,” Throttle said. “It’s a sloppy plan, and there are far too many ways it could go sideways.”

  “Trust me. This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten onto a ship at a chop shop before,” Punch said. “They never have proximity sensors, and even if they did, they never have staff watching them. This will be easy, in and out.”

  A ping sounded on Throttle’s screen. She frowned and tapped to open the incoming communication.

  “This is commercial station Ross-four-eight-six-two. We have picked you up on our scanners. Declare your intent.”

  She gritted her teeth and snapped a glare at Punch. “No proximity sensors, my ass.”

  Punch sighed and said dejectedly, “They must’ve just gotten some.”

  Throttle muttered several colorful things under her breath before she tapped the transmit button. “Ross station, hi there. Skully Pete sent us from Free Station. We’ve got a Peacekeeper ship for you to process.”

  “Another one? Okay then. Bring it on into dock five. We’re attaching a station map for you.”

  “Dock five. Got it,” she said and terminated the connection. She turned back to the three crew members on the bridge with her. “It looks like plan A is off the table. They’ve seen us, so we’re moving to plan B. Just like we discussed on the jump here, Finn and I will pose as pirates to distract the Jaders while Eddy sneaks onto the docks and unlocks both ships. Punch and Sylvian, you will have eight minutes to get the High Spirit up and running.” She held up a finger. “But remember, Punch, you don’t cut and run until the Javelin is ready to launch. Shit’s going to fly as soon as the first ship moves, so we have to go together. Otherwise, whoever’s left is going to have a lot of angry Jaders at their door.”

  “We’re a team. I wouldn’t dream of leaving you behind,” Punch said.

  Her eyes narrowed as she tried to gauge his sincerity, but she soon gave up and glanced at her screen. We’ll be docking in ten minutes, so you’d better suit up and get ready.”

  Finn and Sylvian left together.

  Punch pau
sed on his way off the bridge. “I really didn’t think they’d have proximity sensors.”

  “Let’s hope that’s the only bit you’re wrong about,” she said and turned back to her panel. She tapped the communication screen to open a channel to the back of the ship. “Eddy, we’re moving to plan B. You got that?”

  “Plan B. Got it.”

  “Be careful,” she added.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  She smirked but didn’t respond. Instead, she glanced upward. “I’m taking control, Rusty.”

  “You now have full flight control, Captain.”

  She smoothly and quickly guided the Javelin toward the marker on her screen while looking through the window. The chop shop was an oblong station with blinking lights around its perimeter. As the station came into better view, she thought it could’ve easily been assumed to be a derelict, except for the lights. ROD’S REPAIR GARAGE was painted in bright orange. Beneath the name, she could still read UNS SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH VESSEL in faded letters along the outside of the white exterior that had been patched so many times, it looked more like a quilt than a space station.

  Four of the docks had ships attached. She maneuvered the Javelin into the dock with a large number five painted on the airlock door, placing the ship between the High Spirit and the last remaining empty dock.

  As soon as she heard the docking locks click into place, Throttle stood. “Rusty, no one gets on board except for the crew.”

  “How about Marshal Durand?” Rusty asked.

  “He’s leaving on his ship. He doesn’t come back on without being escorted by a crew member.”

  “You don’t trust him.”

  She left the bridge. “I don’t trust anyone who’s not a member of my crew.”

  “You can trust me.” Rusty’s voice came through speakers as she walked down the hallway.

  “And you’re a part of the crew,” she said, then added, “But if you get hacked, that’s a different story. No offense.”