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

by Rachel Aukes

  She eyed the first camera they walked under that seemed to be still operational. She eyed it, wondering if Anna East was watching Throttle at that very moment or if the power outage had sheared the video feeds. She hoped for the latter, but a part of her wanted East to see who was coming for her.

  They moved steadily through the hallway, each carrying a rifle. They’d come across bodies, several pirates and three Peacekeepers. All three had been wearing blue armbands, and she suspected they were some of the cadets Chief had leveraged in his counterattack. Rusty’s scans of Free Station had shown the greatest concentration of people in one place: the mess hall. She knew Chief well enough to know that he’d be where his people were.

  As they continued down the hallway, a door to their right opened. Throttle and Finn swung their rifles at the same time. An older specialist peeked out. She was a woman Throttle had met once or twice previously, causing her to wonder why the GP didn’t have a mandatory retirement age. As soon as she saw Throttle and Finn, she let out an “Eep!” and slammed the door closed.

  The pair exchanged a glance and continued forward. As they migrated through the residence walkways, confidence filled Throttle that Sylvian would be okay. Peacekeepers walked openly through the hallways. Many bore ragged expressions from too much stress and too little sleep, but they were uninjured, and that they walked freely meant that Chief had reclaimed at least parts of Free Station.

  By the time Throttle and Finn reached the mess hall, they found what had to be nearly fifty marshals who’d been on Free Station when it’d been invaded. Some were eating, some were conversing, some were checking their gear. All looked ready to go into battle. And she found Chief near the center.

  He sat hunched over a table. Cadets wearing yellow armbands sat at the same table.

  “Chief,” Throttle said as they approached.

  He glanced up. His skin was paler than she’d ever seen, and he had dark circles under his eyes. His shirt was torn open and she could see a bandage underneath. When he noticed Throttle and Finn, relief relaxed his muscles. “How many ships did you bring with you?”

  “Two. The Javelin and the High Spirit. We came as soon as we freed Punch’s ship from a Jader chop shop,” Throttle answered.

  Chief frowned. “You couldn’t pull together any more ships not connected to Atlas?”

  Throttle shook her head. “I tried, but it seems like folks aren’t willing to put their lives at risk for the Peacekeepers.”

  He scowled. “The barons have a myopic view of their world. They think their own police forces are all they need. It’s been too long since we’ve had an intersystem conflict, and they’ve forgotten the real reason that the Galactic Peacekeepers exist. All they see are the taxes.” He drew in a breath and winced.

  “You look like you should be in bed, Chief,” Finn said.

  “There’ll be time for rest and recuperation when this is over with,” Chief countered. “Where’s Punch?”

  “He took Sylvian to try to get Atlas back online,” Finn answered.

  Chief sat up straighter. “He can’t.”

  “Why not?” Throttle asked.

  “Anna East came here for Atlas more than anything else. The moment we take it away from her, there’s nothing stopping her from trying to escape and blow the station.”

  “Can she escape? I heard all the ships were restrained,” Finn said.

  “The ships in the docks are restrained for now, but it’s only a matter of time before they cut through the lines. But East has a good-sized pirate fleet. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has another ship waiting off-station to come and get her at a moment’s notice.”

  “I didn’t pick up any other ships on my way in,” Throttle said.

  “You also didn’t pick up a hundred pirates hiding on the Wu Zetian either,” Chief countered.

  A cold chill flitted across Throttle’s skin. “That’s how they got onto Free Station?” Her jaw had slackened. “I gave Anna East’s pirates a ride here. I can’t believe I didn’t notice.”

  “I didn’t notice either,” Finn said.

  She closed her eyes. “Of course they were on board. That’s why the Bendix didn’t fire at us when they had the chance, and that the other ship’s aim was so pitifully bad. I knew something seemed off about that.”

  “It doesn’t matter how they got here,” Chief said. “What matters is that pirates are notoriously sneaky, and I wouldn’t put anything past them. Just because you didn’t see a ship out there doesn’t mean there isn’t one. That’s why we have to make sure East can’t get off Free Station. She wouldn’t have any qualms about killing her employees, but I imagine she’d be timid to detonate explosives while she was still on the station.”

  “Punch and Sylvian have already gone for the Atlas room,” Throttle said.

  Finn tapped his comm-chip. “Sylvian, report.” When there was no answer, he repeated his request before turning back to Throttle and Chief. “She must be running silent.”

  Chief held up a hand. “We should be okay. The Atlas server room is on level two, but its control center is on nine, and it’s still under Jader control. If we can’t get up there, they can’t as well. In fact, that is one of the reasons I need ships here.”

  “The Javelin’s at your disposal,” Throttle offered.

  Chief nodded. “Good, because I’m launching a full-out counterattack on each level, starting with the docking bay and the training level and then working up through the command level and control center level. The problem is the pirates have all the interior access points covered.”

  “Where’s East?” Throttle asked.

  “As of two hours ago, she was in the command center on level eight. There’s a large emergency airlock nearby, making it easy for a ship to pick her up in case of a hasty retreat. We believe all ships in the docking bay are still restrained, but that won’t be for much longer, and she could have another ship waiting for her not far from the station. If we can put one of our own ships at that airlock, we can deploy directly and take her out before she can escape. If Anna East is out of commission, the remaining Jader pirates would quickly show loyalty to their own crews, and squabbles would rise among the independent captains. Pirates are experienced and devious, but without alignment, they will inevitably fall apart.”

  Throttle thought for a moment. “We can fit at least thirty, maybe more, on the Javelin, though it’d be standing room only, and most would be in the cargo bay.”

  “Levels eight and nine are crucial for us,” Chief said. “Nine has all the control centers, and eight has the command center. While we’ve been unlocking doors one at a time, East has someone up there locking the doors almost as fast as we can unlock them. It hasn’t been easy building our numbers, but we’re making headway. Upon deployment, one team would head to the security control center on nine to deactivate the lockdown while the other team would go after East in the command center.”

  “Why not send everyone at the command center if you can cancel the lockdown from there?” Finn asked.

  “Because I never put all my eggs in one basket, and I want each team to focus on a single priority. If one team fails, then the other team will take up both tasks.”

  “Send as many as you can on the Javelin. Finn and I want on the team that goes after East,” Throttle said.

  Chief eyed the pair. “I figured as much. You should know that anyone entering eight and nine is likely entering the viper’s pit. Intel gathered from the few pirates we’ve managed to capture indicates East has focused most of her firepower there.”

  Finn spoke. “If that’s the viper’s pit, then that’s where the viper will be, and you can count on us to cut the head off that snake.”

  Chief’s brow rose. “I want East captured alive if possible, so we can learn what she did to Atlas while she had it under her control.”

  “Alive. If possible. Sure,” Throttle said.

  Chief eyed them with uncertainty, then nodded to the table. “Okay, take a seat. Here’
s the plan…”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Punch took the stairway up to the residence level five, the nearest he could get to the docking bay without getting shot at. He’d run into several marshals, a dozen specialists, and the remnants of Red team. Only two remained out of the original eight, and he realized that Roxy’s team had been three short of eight. The cadets had sacrificed their lives taking on an assignment they were sorely unprepared for. What had Chief been thinking?

  The Peacekeepers he’d met had come from a staging area in the mess hall and were now patrolling the hallways. From the sounds of it, nearly a hundred Peacekeepers had been released from their rooms so far and were gearing up to reclaim Free Station with vigor. The pirates didn’t know the station and didn’t have the training, but in space, the odds always played out differently than expected. It only took one pirate to lob a grenade and breach a hull to take out the entire mess hall full of Peacekeepers. He wouldn’t bet against the pirates yet.

  The pirates had kept to levels six and above. That Free Station’s general population was in levels five and below concerned Punch. Each floor on the station could be breached without breaching the entire station. He figured the pirates knew that fact as well, and he wondered what Anna East had in mind for the lower levels—he had a sinking feeling that she certainly had something planned.

  A marshal Punch knew, Detroit, waved and started walking over. But Punch swerved behind a couple of specialists to avoid his old buddy. Detroit would no doubt recruit him to help on the counterattack, and Punch needed to get Atlas back online.

  He knew that it was essential to get Atlas online, but it wasn’t more important than the counterattack. But that data card was more important than either to Punch. He hadn’t lied to Sylvian when he said the card wasn’t for sale. But it would help someone who desperately needed help.

  His daughter.

  He had to trust Sylvian to keep her word.

  As he came closer to the docking bay, the marshals he came across were more tense.

  “You can’t go to the docking bay,” one said.

  “Can’t?” Punch asked.

  “Trust me. You don’t want to go up there. The pirates still have control of the docking bay. They’ve been holding us back while they cut through the restraining cables that are holding their ships here.”

  Punch walked forward. “Thanks for the heads-up, but I’ve got to get up there.”

  “You’ll get yourself killed.”

  “Let’s hope not,” Punch said.

  Behind him, he heard the marshal grumble, “Idiot.”

  Punch agreed.

  He continued forward despite the dubious looks from the Peacekeepers holding the stairwell. He stopped when he reached the door.

  “You don’t want to go that way,” a marshal said.

  Punch ignored her. He cracked open the door and was met with blaster fire. He slammed the door shut and ducked.

  “Told you,” the same marshal said.

  Punch turned around. “I don’t suppose there’s a way to get to the docking bay that doesn’t involve me getting shot?”

  She shrugged. “Not unless you can walk through walls.”

  He thought for a moment. “Good idea.”

  He turned around and went back down a level. There, he walked through the hallway until he found a group of specialists sitting in a common room. They were focused on a map of the docking bay. He approached them. “Any of you happen to be a network specialist?”

  A member of the group pointed to another group in the room. “Mick’s a net spec.”

  “Thanks,” Punch said and approached a group of three specialists. “I’m looking for Mick.”

  “I’m Mick,” a petite woman said.

  “Come with me,” Punch said.

  She frowned at his curtness but stepped away from her friends so they could speak with a bit more privacy.

  “Here’s my problem,” he began. “The pirates have hardlined into Atlas, likely from somewhere in the docking bay. I need to find where they’ve tapped in and break it, so we can get Atlas back online. Can you help me track down where they’ve hardlined in?”

  “First of all, it’s a hardline, not ‘hardlined.’ A noun, not a verb.”

  He stared, unimpressed.

  “And second, yes, I can locate the hardline. I just need to grab a network monitor.” She cocked her head. “Did Chief tell you they used a hardline?”

  “The Atlas specialists have reached that conclusion since the pirates haven’t gotten into Atlas through the network room or comm center.”

  “Oh. That makes sense. Hold on. I’ll be right back.” She jogged away, leaving Punch alone in the crowd.

  He’d begun to think she wasn’t coming back when he saw her weave through the growing crowd of Peacekeepers leaving their rooms and forming groups to head to the mess hall.

  As she approached, she held up a handheld device with two metal prongs at one end. “Got it. I just need to connect to a primary cable.”

  He motioned for her to lead, and she started walking down the hallway, away from where he’d come. She walked several feet and stopped, then walked several more.

  “What are you doing?” he asked after she repeated the cycle.

  “I’m trying to remember where the primary cable is. It’s not like it’s marked, and I’ve always used the maps through my Atlas chip before. But Chief is sending the medics around to power down our chips, so I can’t use mine right now.”

  Frustration brimmed. “Can you find the cable or not?”

  “Just give me a minute already.”

  Punch tapped his foot while Mick stared at the walls. After a moment, she scowled and looked down at his foot. “Not helping.”

  He stopped.

  She turned back to looking at the walls. After another moment, she raised a finger. “Aha. This way.” She pointed forward, and he followed.

  She approached a section of the wall with a small panel on it. She entered a code and the panel slid open to reveal several bundles of wires and cables. She sifted through the bundles until she singled out one that looked no different from the others. She held it one-handed while she took the handheld device and pressed its two metal prongs against the cable. Data scrolled across the screen until she pulled the device away and skimmed the stored contents until she pointed at a code. “There. It looks like the cable is showing a patch at panel Six-Hotel-Lima.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “You’re right. It’s at the dock level.” She pointed to the code 5-S-L painted above the open panel. “See? This is Five-Sierra-Lima. The codes are in logical order. The number is the level, and the letters show which panel. Six means it’s on level six. Sierra means it’s about ten panels back that way from where this panel is.” She pointed. “And Lima means that it’s on the same side of the hallway as this one. Otherwise, the letter would be Romeo. Make sense?”

  “Sure,” he said, though the rationale made actually very little sense to him. “You’re telling me that if I walk that way until I come to Five-H-L, I’ll be exactly one level below where they’ve hardlined into Atlas?”

  “Five-Hotel-Lima, yes,” she corrected, then added, “And you’ll be one level down from the hardline.”

  “I bet you’re a lot of fun at parties,” he said.

  She cocked her head. “Why do you say that?”

  He ignored her question. “So do you have any ideas on how a guy can cut the hardline without getting shot?”

  Mick thought for a moment. “Not if you don’t want to cut the cable.”

  “What would happen if I cut the cable from here?”

  “Well, sure, it’d cut the hardline since the cable is traveling down to the network room from the hardline, which would force Atlas to reboot to move traffic to its secondary cables. And I’d probably be the one stuck to repair the cable, and cables are a pain to patch.”

  “But Atlas could still work, and it’d be free from the hardline?” he clarifi
ed.

  “Yeah, but if you cut the cable, everything that Atlas is running on that cable to or from levels one through six would be offline until someone goes in and repairs the cable.”

  His brow rose as he waited for her to understand.

  Finally, she sighed. “Yes, we could get Atlas back online with just a couple of dead spots. But once the hardware is disconnected, you still need a software specialist.”

  “Already covered,” he said.

  Mick nodded. “Okay, fine. If that cable’s going to get cut, let me do it. Otherwise, you’ll probably cut the wrong cable and really screw things up.”

  She led the way to the panel. When they reached it, she opened the panel and found the cable. She turned back and looked him up and down. “Give me your knife.”

  He unsheathed the blade and handed it to her.

  She brought the blade up to the cable and held it there as she seemed to struggle with the action. “Chief Roux said it was okay to cut lines?”

  “Yes,” he lied.

  She flicked the blade through the cable and then handed the weapon back to Punch as if she’d done something completely against her principles. “There. It’s done. The hardline should be disconnected. The soft spec can work on Atlas as soon as it’s rebooted. Hopefully, we can all use our chips soon. It’ll make it easier when we have access to the video feeds.”

  “Thanks. I was expecting a lot more blaster fire involved in cutting the hardline. You may have just saved my life.”

  She didn’t seem overly impressed with her heroics and frowned instead. “Which cable would you have cut, by the way?”

  He shrugged. “All of them.”

  The idea seemed to terrify her. She closed the panel, turned, and walked away without so much as a “good-bye and good luck.”

  He stood and stared at the now-closed panel. After a moment, he belted out a laugh, not out of humor but out of unexpected relief. People eyed him oddly, but he paid them no mind. When the sensation muted, he turned and made his way back to Sylvian, not to protect her but to make sure she had the data card.

  Chapter Twenty-Five