Gateway (Gateway Series Book 1) (25 page)

“Roger, Engineering,” replied Orion. “Damn it,” she continued while contemplating her options.

“To your starboard!” warned TC.

Orion lunged the ship forward and down as she took evasive action against a large chunk of metal that used to be a magnetic main battery. “We need to get out of this crap,” she declared. “I’ll turn and try to match our speed with the debris until we reach orbital range of Sierra 7. When we’re there, I’ll slingshot us around on a tangent and take us back around for a landing with the planet covering our approach.”

Turning
Hydra
, Orion and TC worked to calculate the speed of the debris and quickly matched it. Once they were in equilibrium with the speed of the system, Orion let out a sigh of relief. “So have either of you ever been to Sierra 7?” asked Orion. “It’s beautiful from the sky.”

Stone looked over to Mori, who was smiling. “Sierra 7. I think we may have been there before.”

***

“Captain, coming up on Sierra 7 gravitational field in 40 seconds,” reported TC.

“Mark the tangent line,” ordered Orion.

“30 seconds to mark,” reported TC.

“30 seconds, aye. On my mark, standby to initiate full thrusters and hard to starboard. Let’s hope she’s got enough left in her to make the turn.”

“15 seconds to mark…10…5…”

“You two should get ready. This is going to be a bumpy ride,” said Orion. “Engineering, standby for acceleration and hard to starboard in 3…2…1…Mark.”

Stone could feel the force of the acceleration pushing him into the seat. It was almost as powerful as the initial acceleration into a jump. A powerful force pressing his body outboard told Stone the bank to starboard had started. Turning at full thrusters with the added acceleration of the gravitational pull of Sierra 7 had the
Hydra
at almost jump speed.

“Hold on,” said Orion. “Here comes the gut buster.”

“Securing thrusters, full port-180 Z-plane-NOW!”

Stone and Mori lost consciousness. Orion grunted as she struggled to keep her focus and control the ship through the maneuver. As the ship rapidly decelerated and full stabilizers placed a downward force on the
Hydra
, Orion shifted the controls downward and quickly pulled back. The maneuver caused the ship to tumble nose over tail. As it completed its revolution, Orion engaged full thrusters and leveled the ship, now traveling at cruising speed and heading inbound to Sierra 7.

“Whew! I wasn’t sure that was gonna work,” declared Orion. “I guess TC’s buying drinks back on Port Royal.”

“Maybe,” said TC after the squeaking was decoded. “If we make it back alive though, Rickover will owe us a drink so it’ll be a wash.”

“How are the passengers doing?” asked Orion.

“What the hell did you do?” huffed Mori.

“Looks like they’ll make it,” laughed TC.

“Sorry for the acrobatics, but we needed a quick way to get out of the debris path and on the safe side of the planet,” explained Orion.

“That…was insane,” said Stone.

“No,” answered Orion. “That was necessary. Your suicide mission to Alpha Humana is insane. Either way the money’s still worth it. Besides, it hasn’t been boring. And if there’s anything I hate…it’s boring,” she said as she looked back toward the two and smiled. “TC, let’s get this bird on the ground so Rickover can work his magic.”

Hydra
entered the atmosphere over the Great Sea and moved swiftly toward the plains and mining villages. Before the plains came into view on the horizon, large plumes of smoke could be seen in the distance.

“Wonder what that is?” asked TC.

“I’m not sure but it doesn’t look good,” answered Orion. “We will set down just short of the Red Moss on the other side of the ridge at the end of the plains. That should be the safest place if there are any Terillians or Humani still around.”

While the crew was concentrating on the columns of smoke dotting the horizon, Mori was scanning the foreground. A large object appeared near the rapidly approaching shoreline. The mangled steel structure was still recognizable. “Look at that,” she said.

Half-submerged, the wreckage of a Terillian carrier jutted out of the water only a few hundred meters from shore.
Hydra
passed over the shipwreck seconds later and continued on toward the smoky columns.

“The fighting must have extended to the planet,” said Stone. “Terillian carriers don’t just fall out of orbit.”

“And towns don’t just disappear,” added Orion as they flew over what had been the trading post town of Farland.

Vaporized by main batteries from either the Terillians or Humani, nothing but ash and debris remained. As
Hydra
sped over one destroyed village after another, the magnitude of the damage began to sink in to the crew. Passing over the remains of Slocum City, the ship pitched upward to clear the volcanic mountain marking the entrance to the Red Moss fields.

“We’ll set down as soon as the Red Moss fields come into….”

“I don’t believe it…” uttered Stone. “It’s gone.”

In place of the Red Moss fields lay a blackened wasteland. The bloody confrontation that had taken place in space had been mirrored on the plains and fields of Sierra 7. “Unbelievable,” muttered Orion as she settled herself. “We still need to set down and check
Hydra
for external damage. I guess this place is as good as any.”

Hydra
slowed to make its landing a few hundred yards from where the fields would have begun.

***

“I guess we should go outside and take a look,” said Stone as he unlatched himself from his seat.

Orion, Stone, and Mori stood at the outer door of
Hydra
preparing to exit.

As the outer door opened, Mori and Stone quickly moved to the right and left flank, rifles at the ready. Orion moved straight ahead.

The smell of charcoal and death filled the air. As far as Stone could see, everything was dead save the groups of scavenger birds feasting on the carnage.

Orion choked against the odor. “It’s all gone. Everything,” she said, placing her undershirt over her nose and mouth.

“The infantry from the fleet we passed must have fought here,” said Mori in a hushed tone. “There must be thousands of dead…tens of thousands.”

“I knew that both the Humani and Terillian had the power to destroy entire worlds but I never thought I would see it,” said Orion, still covering her nose from the horrible smell.

As Orion, Mori, and Stone stared emptily across the land, a rustling noise from the burned debris caused them to instinctively react. All three turned and trained their weapons toward the noise.

“It’s coming from that foxhole,” said Stone.

The butt of his rifle firmly secured against his shoulder, Stone moved toward the sound. His finger rested on the trigger guard as he moved slowly. His body crouched down to present a smaller target and to allow him to stay compact and coiled if he had to react. In his peripheral he saw Mori circling toward to flank the position while Orion took up a defensive stance. When he was close enough, he stood fully erect and leveled his weapon at the source of the noise.

After a quick glance he looked over toward Mori, lowering his rifle to his side and motioning for her to do the same.

“What is it?” she asked as she rushed toward Stone.

“A wounded tiger,” he answered.

The tiger looked up at Stone, its mouth open and ears flattened. In a feeble warning, it let out a low growl. The gaping wounds on its thigh and side made it obvious that the growl was only for show.

“Damn,” said Mori as she reached the foxhole. “I wonder—”

Stone raised his hand to quiet Mori. “I hear something.”

At first the sound was almost inaudible. Stone slightly shifted his position to get a better viewpoint.

“She has cubs,” reported Stone. “They must have followed her into the foxhole.”

“They will stay there until she dies and then they will starve,” added Mori as she stood beside Stone.

Stone did the only humane thing. Taking careful aim, he fired three shots. Lowering his weapon, Stone stepped away from the edge of the foxhole.

“What is it?” shouted Orion as she made her way to the foxhole.

“More victims of Xen deception,” replied Stone coldly.

“What is he talking about?” asked Orion as she looked toward Mori.

“Nothing. Nothing is out there,” replied Stone. “Maybe that’s what it will take to make things right again.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Orion again.

“Maybe we all just need to be wiped away,” he continued.

Mori responded. “Ty, hold on…”

“I’m going back to the ship,” interrupted Stone. “We need to get to Alpha Humana and Dominotra.”

Orion stood dumbfounded as Stone walked past her and toward the Hydra. “Is he all right?” she asked Mori.

“I think so. He is having a hard time coming to grips with all of this. For years he thought he was doing what was right, just to find out he was a pawn of an evil empire. He will be fine. It will just take him some time. The Great Spirit has a destiny for him—I know it.”

“I hope it’s sooner rather than later,” said Orion. “We don’t have a lot of time. It will only be a few days once we get
Hydra
up and running.”

“He will be fine,” restated Mori. “He will do what is right when the time comes. His spirit is strong…he has powerful medicine but doesn’t yet know it. We should get back to the ship and see how the repairs are going.”

As the two women reached
Hydra
, Rickover was working feverishly on the externals of the old falcon.

“Where’s Ty?” asked Mori.

“How should I know?” snapped Rickover as sparks flew while he secured the last of the hydraulic rods that had been damaged in the debris field. “He’s onboard somewhere, I think.”

“How much longer, Rick?” asked Orion.

“Not much, if people would stop asking me questions. Leave me alone, and it will be done in an hour.”

“No problem. Would you like TC to give you a hand?”

“No!”

“Fine,” replied Orion as she held her hands up in the air and backed away from the short-tempered engineer. Orion wasn’t too upset, though; Rickover did his best work when he was pissed off. And he was usually pissed off.

Orion and TC were going over their startup checks when Rickover stuck his head into the cockpit. “Everything’s fixed. I’ll be back in my reactor spaces bringing up the auxiliaries for the jump. By the way, Captain, when are you going to shell out some Humani for me to hire a snipe or two? Unless you enjoy me slaving away down there by myself.”

“Sure thing, Rick. We’ll look at some assistants for you when we get back to Port Royal.”

Orion laughed to herself. She had tried to hire help for Rickover three times but he never found any of them qualified enough.

“Maybe this time I can find one or two that aren’t complete idiots,” Rickover shouted on the way back to the engineering space.

As he moved aft, Rickover came across Mori.

“Rickover,” she asked, “do you know where—”

“Your man was back in the storage bay earlier—if you’re still looking for him,” stated Rickover as he quickly walked past her, disappearing into the engineering spaces.

When Mori found Stone, he was pacing back and forth in the storage space.

“Ty, are you okay? You seemed a little out of sorts out there.”

“I’m fine, Mori. That tiger and her cubs just put things in perspective for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“It just helped me come to grips with the truth about the Xen and what I must do.”

“What must you do?” Mori asked as she took Stone’s hands in hers.

“I must fight them. That includes the Humani, including the innocent that know nothing of the Xen evils. I hate it but I don’t think I can do anything else.”

“You must look toward the greater good, Ty. The sooner the Xen are defeated, the sooner your people have a chance to see them for what they are and create their own identity.”

“I don’t know if they are my people anymore. Our whole civilization is based on a lie anyway. Most of them may not know it, but I do and everything about Humana society disgusts me now.” He looked up toward the overhead, exhaling heavily. “I am alone.”

“You are not alone, Ty. You have me,” said Mori as she placed her arms around Stone. “You are one of the most honorable men I have ever known. You may have been born Hanmani, but you have the heart of an Akota warrior and if you so desire, you will become one.”

“I have lost everything I thought I wanted.”

“But you gained everything you need, Ty.” Mori pulled his head down to hers for a slow, tender kiss. “Continue to let your heart and your honor lead you and everything will work out. Your spirit is strong. That is why you have been burdened with so much.”

“My spirit?” asked Ty.