Mako (The Mako Saga: Book 1) (13 page)

“
Damn it!
” Lee barked, jamming a finger on the button for Level 10 once everyone was inside.

“Must’ve been one of the eggheads back there in engineering,” Danny barked over the alarm.

“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter now,” Lee agreed before returning his attention to the comm. “Heads up, Mac. We’re comin’ in hot!”

“I leave you alone for five minutes and this is what happens?” she groaned.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” said Lee. “Just get ready.”

“
Delay that
” Link shouted in frustration, “
Hey, asshat
, you got time to listen to me now?”

“
What
Link?
What is it?
” Lee growled as the numbers on the lift panel counted up toward 10. “The drop has been made, and we’ve
got
to go before our little present gets discovered. So
what
?”

“If you’ll shut your pie hole for a sec, I’ll show you.”

With that, Lee listened as Link piped in a radio exchange over the comm.

“Valzer, you’re cleared for service at Bravo station on the far side of Platform 4,” a male voice crackled through the static. “Docking sequence will initiate in T-minus five mics, however be advised that disembarkation has been temporarily suspended. We have a security situation in main engineering and until it’s locked down, all crews are being asked to stand by and keep all hatches secured. Please acknowledge.”

“Roger that, Morrius Tower,” another voice responded. “All hatches secure, proceeding to Bravo-4.”

Lee’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “So what? Another ship is stoppin’ for gas. What’s the problem?”

“It’s a prisoner transport,” Link explained. “In transit to some P.O.W. Camp in the Ganlyn System… and Top?” he paused, “they’re reporting 276 aboard, plus flight crew.”

Lee grimaced at the number that, never in a million years, could have been mistaken as arbitrary.

“Yeah, that struck me as an interesting headcount too,” Link echoed.

“Whoa, what are we talking about here?” Danny asked, not following.

Lee’s expression went sullen. “276 was exactly the number of missing personnel from the colony on Sygarious 3.”

Danny’s face sank.

“Oh my god,” Mac uttered. “Guys, if that’s true, there are whole families on that ship.”

“I know,” Lee snapped, “and they’re about to dock on Platform 4, which means every single one of ‘em is about to die—right along with everybody else on this god-forsaken facility.”

“So, what are we doing?” Hamish shouted over the alarm.

His thoughts filling once more with the mysterious fate of the only other team to make it this far, Lee steepled his hands over his face and weighed his options.

“This has gotta be where you went wrong,” he thought.

Chapter 8: Boost

Slamming down on the emergency stop button, the lift came to a grinding halt as the lights overhead flickered with its abrupt stop. Staring at the level indicator which flashed on 9, Lee’s mind raced to formulate the plan which would now be operated totally on the fly.

“Mac, can you patch me into that prisoner transport on a closed channel?”

“Whoa, why? What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll explain later, but we don’t have a lotta time.
Just do it!!
”

A series of staticky radio chirps later, the comm reopened.

“You’re on.”

“Velzer, this is Morrius Tower, do you copy?” Lee said, fighting back the nerves in his voice to emulate a calm, military tone.

“Go ahead, Morrius, what’s up with the cloak and dagger?” the voice returned.

“Sorry about that, but that security snafu we told you about seems to have gotten a little outta hand, and honestly, we don’t know who’s listenin’ right now. It might take us a little longer than we originally thought to get everything cleaned up, so in the meantime, the brass is redirectin’ all inbound traffic until further notice. However, since you fellas are on fumes as it is, we’re gonna send one of our refueling shuttles out to service you in transit, if that’s okay.”

“Roger that, Morrius. What happened to the other guy?” the voice asked, audibly puzzled.

“Guess this mornin’s chow didn’t agree with him,” Lee laughed, “because he darted for the head as soon as he got off comm with you earlier. I’m just coverin’ for him until he gets back.”

“Understood, Morrius. Never was much of a fan of those powdered eggs, myself.”

“Amen to that, Velzer. Stand by at your current coordinates, and the shuttle will be out to you shortly. Morrius Tower out.”

Hearing the channel disconnect, Lee returned to his Com-Spec. “Alright Mac, now lock out the control tower before they have a chance to figure out that they’ve been duped.”

“Okay, but what the hell are we doing, Lee?” she asked frantically.

Before he could answer, the lift doors slid open to reveal four highly surprised, and very well-armed guards in the hallway outside. Seeing their rifles jerk alert, Lee dropped reflexively to one knee while Danny slid in behind him, his arm outstretched over Lee’s shoulder as both men opened fire. Across from them, Hamish did the same and within seconds, all four guards were down.

“Hamish, gimme the detonator,” Lee shouted, snatching a rifle from one of the slain guards and giving it a quick press check as Hamish slid the handheld device across the floor to his feet.

“Lee, what the bloody hell are ya doing?” he blurted, but Lee said nothing as he continued his pilfering of the guards’ uniform pockets. Then, sliding a blood-stained tac-vest over his shoulders, and loading it down with every spare magazine he could find, Lee snatched the pin from a grenade and lofted it down a nearby hallway.

“
They’re on 9! They’re on 9
!” he shouted into a radio, mindful to keep the mic button pressed so every ear listening would hear the blast, further authenticating his ruse.

“Lee, what’s going on?” Danny yelled over the carnage, but Lee waved him off and returned to the comm.

“Mac, Hamish and Danny are comin’ to you. As soon as they’re onboard, radio me and I’ll blow the charge.”

“Whoa, what’s happening?” she snapped.

“I’m gonna buy you the time you need to get outta the bay and over to that transport ship, which you guys are gonna boost in transit.”

“Hold on there, Toretto!” Link intervened. “Every time we try some kind of ‘Good Samaritan’ crap like this, one or all of us gets thrown under the bus! Now I hate to be the morbid bearer of reality here, but those people are
not
the mission. The mission is to blow the depot and get our collective digital butts back to the ASC side of the line. Sorry if that makes me a heartless tool, but I say let’s do this and go home!”

“He’s got a point, Lee,” Danny admitted. “Besides, if we divert from the plan, what’s to say the engineering team doesn’t find the little present we left for them in the reactor core? They know exactly where we were working, and I can guarantee they’re combing through that panel as we speak.”

“Not to worry there,” Hamish noted. “In lieu of Lee’s decision to detonate before we could vacate the premises, I sorta figured that 90 seconds might be pushing it a bit, so I took the liberty of wiring the charge with a very special Dead Man’s switch of ma own design. Mind ya, it’s by no means tamper-proof, but it should buy you a solid 15 extra minutes before ya’ll have to activate the charge. Then at that point, ya’re back to yar original 90-second countdown.”

“Nice work, Hamish,” Lee said, returning to his original train of thought. “Call it a hunch or whatever, but I think sackin’ the prisoner ship in favor of completin’ the mission is exactly what the other team did, and that’s precisely why they never got another crack at this level of the game,” he explained. “Think about it, guys… how many little moral dilemmas like this have we faced throughout this process, and what happened every time we did what was perceived, at the time, to be ‘the right thing’? Link, you’d be locked up in a stockade right now if you hadn’t have gone back for Katahl on 19, and besides, if all of this was real, you know there ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell that we could leave these people behind—not and be able to live with ourselves, anyway. I’m tellin’ ya guys, my gut says this is what we’ve gotta do.”

“What about you?” Mac posed. “Ninety seconds isn’t a lot of time to find an alternate ride off of this heap, and if you’re killed off, that’s it. Your character is dead, which means you don’t move on with us in the next game.”

Lee’s lips thinned. “Yeah well, all I’m worried about is the here and now, and at present, this seems like the only way to have our cake and eat it too. So just do it and don’t worry about me. I’ll see you back aboard the Praetorian.” Then, sliding a pair of rifles across the floor into the lift, he shouted, “Take ‘em and go,
now!
”

****

Once the doors had closed, Lee set his watch for a 15-minute countdown and jumped to his feet as the distant sound of clattering boots and shouting voices drew nearer to his position. Electing to keep the radio for monitoring enemy chatter, he secured the stock of the rifle to his shoulder and headed out. No sooner had he rounded the first corner, however, than an additional pair of guards spun around to meet him, and in a loud crackle of unsuppressed, fully-automatic weapon fire, both hit the floor—as did the second pair that emerged on Lee’s flank. Moving cautiously through the cloud of gun smoke and ricocheted sheetrock, Lee kept his rifle trained on the corridor ahead as his eyes peered through the tiny windows of each passing door—hopeful of spotting a stairwell entrance or some other way out. The Alystierian radio now all but screaming at him as the voices in the distance grew ever closer, he searched.

One door… two doors… three doors…
Stairs
.

Jumping inside, Lee cleared the area around the door before closing it shut with a silent nudge behind him, meanwhile, more voices echoed from several flights down the stairwell below. Then, turning the radio dial down so as not to give away his presence, he descended to level 7, where he dropped an empty Auran mag beside the door. There was little doubt that getting back to the docking bay on 10 was definitely out, but at the very least, he could lead a few of the security teams on a wild goose chase long enough to find an alternate route off the station. Then it occurred to him—the hatch he’d spotted above the hangar. It had to lead somewhere, and it was almost certainly large enough to fit a ship through—a maintenance bay, maybe.

Figuring it to be his only lead, Lee eased a fresh mag into his rifle and headed back up toward the 11th floor.

“Lee, you still with us?” Mac rasped through the comm as he reached the level’s entrance.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” he whispered, sliding into an alcove out of sight. “Y’all airborne yet?”

“Just now. The target is 350 klicks out, and we’re on course to intercept in approximately three minutes. No sign of pursuit just yet, but I’m sure they’ll be along shortly. FYI, the docking bay is locked down tighter than a drum, so don’t even think about it.”

Lee frowned. “Kinda figured that.”

“What’s your status?” she asked.

“I might have a line on something, but don’t worry about that. Believe me, you’ve got enough to think about right now. Standard crew complement on a prisoner transport like that is six guys; a pilot, a navigator, and four guards. They’ll all be armed, so watch yourselves when you go in and double-check to make sure you’ve got them all when you look like you’re clear.”

“Will do,” she replied.

“Good. Do me a favor and keep the comm open so I can hear what’s goin’ on, okay?”

“You got it,” Mac assured him, and Lee could hear the hesitation in her voice.

“Alright. Good luck, and I’ll see you back with the fleet. Daredevil out.”

Peering through the edge of the window, Lee watched a pair of guards march past the door—rifles raised and obviously on alert. In a facility of this kind, there were usually three teams of two assigned to each level, all timed to move in 30-second intervals from point to point. However without the use of thermal imaging (which he lacked since his character wasn’t technically wearing the necessary headgear), he had no way of knowing just how near or far they would actually be.

“Chalk another one up to
Mako
authenticity,” he thought.

Regardless, there was a lot of ground to cover between his current position and the mysterious room which—when combined with the ticking clock on his wrist—meant that he had no choice but to move, and move now.

Once the guards had vanished around the corner, Lee eased the door open and slipped through. With a quick double-take to each direction, he was clear for the moment; and rushing to the end of the hall, he held there as the guards proceeded on their rounds. His eyes trained sharply on the scene ahead, Lee winced as a loud shot rang out behind him; and feeling a jolt through his gun, he spun around to see the next pair of guards—notably ahead of schedule—drawing down on top of him. Paying no attention to the plummeting vitals in his HUD, which flashed hard red, Lee wheeled around with his rifle and returned fire, dropping both men to the floor in a plume of smoke and debris from the wall beside them. Fully cognizant that the original guards had no doubt heard the shots, he lunged for cover back behind the corner. Now noticeably less nimble than before, he braced himself against the wall, took aim and squeezed the trigger.

“Damn fiber-woven garbage,” Lee grumbled once it was over, drawing back a set of bloody fingers from his character’s right shoulder and leg. Meanwhile, voices and boots echoed in the distance as his watched ticked past the seven-minute marker. Quickly selecting the “medic” feature from his HUD, Lee ripped a piece of cloth from his shirt and tied it around his leg to act as a tourniquet. The shoulder would have to wait for now, but at least this way he’d be able to move. Then, picking up his weapons, he hobbled down the hall toward what he hoped was his way out.

Swiping his forged ID through the door’s access panel, Lee felt his jaw tighten as the closest of three lab-coated technicians jumped for a pistol on the workstation in front of him. The butt of Lee’s rifle already at his shoulder, the attacker crumpled behind his desk with a quick double-tap of the trigger.