Gateway (Gateway Series Book 1) (31 page)

Martin pushed against the nurse and attempted to pull herself out of the bed. The pain was agonizing but she wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Nurse,” shouted the doctor, “we need to sedate her again.”

Martin felt the pinch of an injection and pushed herself into a sitting position. Almost immediately, she felt her head grow heavy and her muscles loosened, sending her falling back onto the bed. She grabbed the doctor’s arm, focusing her blurred vison on him. “No. It can’t be,” she coughed.

Martin’s grip on the doctor loosened and her arm fell limply to the side of the bed.

Chapter 19

The wolf clan and their new allies emerged from the trap door just as darkness enveloped the forest. They quietly made their way, single file, toward
Hydra
.

“These guys are natural warriors,” Stone whispered to Mori as they crept through the blackness of the forest.

“Even the young ones,” added Mori. “It would take months to train men to do what seems to come naturally to them.”

“It must be the alterations, but you are right,” continued Stone.

Suddenly Magnus stopped, his nose high in the air. He quietly made his way to Stone. “Xen,” he whispered. “About a hundred meters ahead.”

“That’s were
Hydra
is,” said Orion.

“Elder,” ordered Magnus, “stay here with the youths. Horatio, take your group to the right. Caliph, move forward and take up positions. I will move to the left.”

Magnus looked back toward Stone. “Shall your team join me?”

“I’ll help keep an eye on the youths,” said Rickover. “Hand-to-hand combat isn’t my bag. I’m an engineer, not an infantryman.”

Magnus and his men quietly took up positions near the clearing.

Kneeling behind a felled tree, Magnus whispered to Stone. “Do you see them?”

Struggling to focus through the darkness, Stone gave up and donned his night goggles. Adjusting the gain, he saw several short reptilian creatures milling around
Hydra
. One, apparently the officer, was inspecting the bay doors to the ship. “Are your men in position?” whispered Stone.

“Yes. They are waiting for my signal.”

“Wait,” added Orion, who had just crawled up beside the two. “I can add a little more distraction. Tyler, you may want to take that off,” she said, as she tapped lightly on his goggles.  She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small remote module. “Get ready for daylight,” she smiled.

Orion activated the remote and every exterior light on
Hydra
lit up in a flash of blinding brightness. The Xen soldiers, startled and partially blinded, staggering in the intense light. Before they could recover, Magnus let out a loud piercing howl and gunfire erupted.

The majority of the Xen fell in the initial salvo. As the survivors attempted to regroup, Magnus leapt from his position, followed by the rest of his clan and the humans. A mixture of guttural howls, hisses, and gunfire echoed through the forest. Magnus dropped the first Xen in front of him with a shot from his pistol. The next Xen, an officer, was waiting for him with his sword drawn and mouth gaping open, venomous saliva dripping from its mouth.

The two collided in a burst of growls and hisses. When they came to rest, Magnus had his hand against the Xen’s head, forcing its snapping jaws away from him while he sank his powerful canines into its neck.

The attack was over quickly. As he pulled his sword from the torso of a dead reptile, Stone looked for Mori. He saw her, next to her sister, checking the Xen for survivors.

“That felt good. I haven’t tasted Xen blood for quite some time,” said Magnus as he walked toward Stone. “Just stay clear of their saliva and they are actually pretty tasty,” he added as the blue life-fluid of the Xen officer dripped from his mouth.

Having ensured there were no survivors, the group gathered outside
Hydra
and quickly went about their tasks. Rickover immediately made his way back to the security of his engine room. TC went to work calculating the complex jump sequencing Rickover had recommended. Katalya assisted the young and old onboard the ship while the rest discussed their situation.

“We need some kind of diversion in order to make it to the asteroids,” said Orion. “Otherwise, if the land-based condors don’t get us, the batteries of the warships in orbit will.”

“We won’t be able to cause a distraction big enough to draw the attention of every fighter and warship. There’s just too many,” said Mori.

“We may not need a grand diversion,” Magnus postulated. “Slavers are constantly coming and going. Maybe we can just leave.”

“They may not be looking for anything leaving the planet since they spend so much time keeping everything out,” said Orion. “If it works, that should get us at least close to the asteroids. From that point we’ll just have to rely on luck and Rickover’s big brain.”

“Does anyone have a better plan?” asked Stone.

Silence.

“I guess that settles it,” said Orion. “Let’s stuff ourselves onboard and wait for Rickover and TC to finish the calcs.”

***

Everyone fit onboard. Barely.

Rickover cursed under his breath as he squeezed his way through the crowded compartment to the cockpit. Pushing his way through the hatch he handed a piece of paper full of diagrams and calculations to Orion.

“Forty-five seconds.”

“What?” asked Orion, trying to interpret Rickover’s calculations.

“Forty-five seconds,” repeated Rickover. “That’s how long you need to stay at jump speed. Not forty-four, not forty-six…FORTY-FIVE. If you’re off one second…we’re screwed.”

“I got it, Ric. Forty-five seconds.”

“TC, do you have the jumps calculated?” Orion asked.

“I think so. I don’t think anyone has intentionally, or unintentionally, jumped in a circle before. I had to do some manual overrides but it should work.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“If it doesn’t, we won’t have to worry about condors or battle cruisers.
Hydra
could tear itself apart, shoot off on some tangent and end up running into a planet or star, or we could just crash into the asteroid belt.”

“More good news,” puffed Orion. “I’m just gonna go with the glass-half-full look at this one. It’s gonna work…It has to.” She paused. After a deep breath, she flipped the switch aligning thrusters to the ship’s power. “Let’s get this baby off the ground,” Orion added as the ship began to hum and rumble from liftoff.

“My numbers are good,” said Rickover. “Just don’t screw up your part,” he added as he turned and headed back toward the crowd and the safety of the engine room, cursing all the way.

***

“Bringing up passive search, nav, and weapons,” reported TC.

“Bring everything up,” ordered Orion. “Remember, we’re not trying to hide. We’re just another slaver headed off planet.”

“Roger,” replied TC as he brought all systems online.

Hydra
banked to the right and began her ascent through the atmosphere. Orion nervously scanned the sky for condors while TC kept watch on his radar systems. To their amazement, the ship passed through the atmosphere into orbit without a hitch. Passing the massive battle cruiser, the asteroid belt appeared in the distance.

“I don’t believe it,” said Orion, “but I think its working.”

“Are the coordinates set?”

“Set, Captain.”

“Roger.”

Their small celebration was cut short by a transmission from the planet.

‘
All outbound traffic, this is Venato Control. Return to Venato immediately
.’

“Damn it,” said Orion. “What is that about?”

“The patrol,” mumbled Stone. “They must have found it.”

“We’re too far gone now,” replied Orion.

‘
All outbound traffic, return to Venato immediately
.’

“Going to full power, standby.”

‘
Outbound falcon this is CAP 5. All outbound traffic is to return to Venato. Change course or we will engage
.’

“Full power, now.”

Hydra
shuddered and accelerated rapidly toward the asteroid belt.

“Condors are accelerating,” warned TC. “They will be in weapons range in…damn, they’re fast…twenty seconds.”

“How long until jump speed and location?”

“Twenty-one seconds.”

“Let’s hope it takes more than a second for them to pull the trigger,” said Orion, thinking out loud.

Hydra
raced toward the jump point with the advanced condors closing quickly.

“Condor fire control radar already has a lock, Captain,” reported TC. “They will be able to fire as soon as they are in range.”

“How long till jump?” asked a nervous Stone.

“Fifteen seconds. Condors have increased speed,” said TC.

“What? They were already at top speed,” added Orion. “This is gonna be way too close.”

“Weapons range in five seconds,” TC continued to report.

“Damn it,” said Orion as her fingers turned white gripping the controls.

Her body moved forward as if she was trying to urge
Hydra
on. “Engineering, remove all safeties. Max power,” she ordered.

“Weapons range now five seconds. Jump location in eight.”

“That didn’t help much. How much maneuvering room do I have?” asked Orion.

“Point five degrees, Captain. Anything else will put us off course for jump,” replied TC.

“That’s useless, TC.”

“Condors in weapons range. Three seconds to jump. Two…Condors firing…one…at location.”

“Engage jump!” shouted Orion.

Blue light filled the cockpit as
Hydra
initiated the jump. Unlike normal jumps, the blue light flashed bright then disappeared and then reappeared repetitively as the ship initiated the same jump coordinates every half cycle. Orion and TC fought off the urge to close their eyes in the ever increasing, wind-milling jumps.

“Time?” asked Orion as she closed her eyes against the brilliant flashes of blue.

“Ten remaining.”

“I hope this works,” added Mori.

As
Hydra
continued to accelerate around the asteroid belt, the blue light grew more intense. Tracks of lightning began to flash between the ship and the asteroids.

“I hope that means its working!” shouted Orion, still clutching the controls.

“Standby for last jump coordinate,” said TC.

“Three…two…one…”

The release from the spiraling centrifugal forces was overwhelming as the ship shot of off on a tangent at incredible speed.
Hydra
began to rattle and Orion noticed the bulkhead buckling inward. “She won’t hold together very long with these forces,” warned Orion as she struggled to slow the ship. “Once we slow, we’ll turn back to see if it worked.”

***

A Royal battle cruiser slowly accelerated from its orbit around Venato as dozens of condors sped past. Onboard, the Xen admiral reported back to Venato.

“A large magnetic disturbance has affected the asteroid belt. The orbital stations have received damage from asteroids deviating from normal orbits. I am ordering the squadron clear of the planet until the disturbance is clear.”

“Admiral,” reported the watch officer, “the condors are reporting acceleration of the asteroids toward Venato and our positions.”

“How many?” hissed the admiral.

“All of them, Sir. The magnetic field has collapsed.”

“Collapsed. The gravity will…Captain, commence jump preparations,” spat the Xen admiral.

“Admiral,” replied the Captain, “backup reactors are not online. It will take ten minutes…”

The Admiral turned toward the viewing screen. Dozens of massive rocks grew closer. His tongue flicked and saliva dripped from his mouth.

“Set battle stations. Turn to starboard, open fire with all batteries on the asteroids.”

“Sir, batteries will be at full power in three minutes.”

“Then we are doomed,” replied the admiral. “Watch officer, send a long-range message packet. The Directive operation has been destroyed. Suspected Terillian clandestine operation.”

“Roger, Sir. Preparing packet.”

“Very well,” he replied. “Damn humans…they are a weakness we cannot free ourselves from. It is we who are the slaves…they will be the downfall of us all,” he said aloud.

As the admiral looked back up toward the view screens a massive asteroid appeared on direct course with the battle cruiser.

“Admiral, constant bearing decreasing range on asteroid at 010, estimated size three kilometers by one kilometer.”

“Hard to port, full power…”

The battle cruiser was ripped in half as the colossal asteroid passed through the ship on its path toward Venato. Dozens of small craft darted from the planet in vain as the shower of death began to rain down from space. Nothing could escape the wall of metal and stone racing toward the doomed planet.

***

“Wow,” said Orion as she sat in the cockpit watching shock waves ripple across the Venato as hundreds of planet killing asteroids impacted on its surface. “I would have to call that a success,” she added.

“We’ve done it,” said Mori as she leaned over from her seat to give Stone a kiss.

“It’s only the beginning,” answered Stone as he held Mori’s hand in his.

“Where to from here?” asked Orion. “Consider me back on the clock, though,” she joked.