Omega Force 3: The Enemy Within (29 page)

Jason stood in the observation lounge of the large commercial spaceport. This wasn’t the terminal the general public used when the cattle-car-like slip-space liners came in and purged their passengers. It was a private terminal with luxurious accommodations and even a fully staffed bar. He looked longingly in that direction, desperately wanting a drink while he waited, but he would be piloting a ship in less than an hour (hopefully) so it was out of the question.

“You look ready to crawl out of your own skin,” Kellea said with a little chuckle, coming up behind him.

“You know me,” he said with a half-smile, “never happy sitting in one spot. How are you so calm? You should be climbing the walls right now.”

“I would be if there weren’t so many people around I’d rather not make a spectacle in front of,” she said as she linked her arm in his, surprising him that she did it at all, much less in public.

“I’ve learned to lighten up a little bit recently,” she said, seeming to read his thoughts. She hesitated a bit before continuing. “I’ll never forget that you came for me, Jason. Risking everything like that, and not giving up ... I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”

“That’s the beauty of it,” he said gently, “you’ll never have to.”

“How’s your bird?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Good as new,” Jason said with a smile. “She wasn’t too banged up on this mission. Twingo is furious I crunched another drive emitter, but I secretly think he likes being angry and looks for excuses. We took advantage of Scleesz’s hospitality outrageously and did a depot-level inspection and overhaul. She even has new paint.”

“Paint?”

“Outer coating on the hull,” he sighed. “Must you be so technical all the time?”

“Must you be such a yokel all the time?”

“Ouch,” he said with a laugh.

“It won’t be months and months without even hearing from you again, will it?” she asked after another moment. Jason had been enjoying her proximity, but knew this subject would come up eventually.

“I’ll sit down and talk with your boss after I do this last favor for Scleesz,” he said, making a face as he did so. “We might not be fully ready to come back into the fold, but I’d also rather not continue on like we have been. It’s tough out there on our own.”

“I can imagine,” she said. “Speaking of ... here he comes.” Sure enough, a sleek, expensive shuttle was descending gracefully to the landing pad for a flawless touchdown. Jason and Kellea moved over to the doorway that led out to the tarmac, but they were quickly shuffled out of the way by overdressed dignitaries who were jockeying for position to be the first to greet the guest of honor. The pair gracefully stepped aside and moved back near the window where they had been originally standing.

There was a smattering of polite, species-specific applause and cheers from the entryway as Jason could just make out Crisstof Dalton’s white hair. Despite his disagreements with the man, he still had an enormous respect for him and seeing him walk out as a free citizen lightened his heart a bit.

“Where are they?” Crisstof called out, confusing the crowd slightly. “Where? No, not you. Excuse me, please.” He came pushing his way through the crowd, ignoring nearly everyone, until he spotted Jason and Kellea standing off on their own. “There!” he said and rushed over in as dignified a manner as he could manage. He paused in front of them before enveloping Kellea in a huge, fatherly embrace. Jason could see her self-control was waning as he spoke into her ear. Thankfully, he released her before she actually did begin to cry. Crisstof, however, had no such qualms about public tears, and they flowed freely down his cheeks.
We’re all so alien, and all so similar at the same time,
Jason thought with a smile
.

“It’s good to see you among the living and free again, Crisstof,” Jason said, holding out his hand. Crisstof ignored the hand and also wrapped up Jason in a bear hug. The wiry old man had a surprisingly strong hug. He released Jason and stepped back.

“First and foremost, thank you for getting to her first and keeping her safe,” Crisstof said, nodding towards Kellea. “And thanks for everything else. Perhaps we can discuss some things later?”

“Sure, Crisstof,” Jason said with a reassuring smile. “We can talk later. Right now I’m sure you’d like to get out of here.”

“You’re more right about that than you know,” Crisstof muttered, looking around at all the sycophants waiting their turn. “I should probably greet everyone briefly. Any possibility you could give me a ride up into orbit afterwards?”

“It just so happens I have a ship sitting on the ramp not far from here,” Jason said with a wide grin. Crisstof laughed out loud and turned to talk to the growing number of guests in the lounge.

*****

The
Phoenix
tore across the mountain ranges of Aracoria’s northern hemisphere, performing a series of gut-wrenching maneuvers as she skimmed over the peaks and dove into the valleys. This went on for some time before the ship yanked up into a pure vertical climb, clawing for orbit.

“Is this necessary,” Crisstof said tensely, maintaining the death grip he had on his seat.

“Don’t ask me,” Jason replied, his face mirroring Crisstof’s as he also gripped the armrests of his seat.

“Oh pipe down,” Kellea griped from the pilot’s seat. “I just wanted one more chance to do this while I have the opportunity.” The ride smoothed out as the
Phoenix
transferred smoothly into orbit and came about onto a new heading. “You sure you don’t want to sell her?”

“You sure you don’t want to join us?” Crusher asked, earning a hostile look from Jason. “What? I’d just like to see what a mission would be like with a pilot who didn’t fly directly into shit as a tactic.”

“You and me both,” Twingo said.

“Everybody is
so
funny today,” Jason said as he slid into the seat Kellea had just abandoned. He keyed up his nav display and corrected his course slightly to bring them in on the prescribed flight path.

Soon a tiny pinpoint of light could be seen moving faster against the backdrop of space. As they flew on, the speck became larger and brighter until a discernible shape could be made out with the naked eye. It was an enormous cylindrical structure with spidery outriggers branching off of it at irregular intervals.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jason said, “the Aracoria Shipyards.”

“There’s only one lady here,” Kage said.

“I was counting you as well,” Jason replied. Crusher stifled a laugh.

The Aracoria Shipyards, though orbiting a ConFed stronghold, didn’t actually support Fleet operations. Due to the enormous wealth concentrated on the planet, a private company opened the yards to provide high-end ship construction for anything from a private yacht to a personal battleship. The only limits were how many credits you were bringing to the party.

“Approach Control is transmitting our new vector,” Kage said, ignoring Jason’s barb. “Sending it to your panel now.” Jason looked down and tweaked his course slightly and began slowing the gunship as they approached the upper-most docking arm, the section of the yards where most of the large-class ship construction took place.

As he slowed on final approach, the brilliant white prow of a battlecruiser could be seen poking out of the dock. Slowing even further, he angled around and flew the
Phoenix
into the dock, paralleling the ship until the ship’s name could be read upon the hull:
Defiant
.

“Welcome home, Captain Colleren,” Jason said as he brought the
Phoenix
down for a landing on the battlecruiser’s flight deck.

Jason and Crisstof sat in comfortable silence in a luxurious, if somewhat minimalist, lounge on the latter
’s new flagship, the Defiant. At his insistence, Jason and his crew remained aboard while the new battlecruiser performed a short shakedown cruise. Once they’d departed the Aracoria Shipyards it became clear the older man wanted a captive audience to discuss Omega Force once again working with his organization in an unofficial capacity.

“
It’s been an eventful few months,” Crisstof commented after a while, swirling the drink in his glass. “How is your crew enjoying the new ship?”

“I’ll
need to get them out of here soon,” Jason answered. “Too much longer with access to your mess deck and I’ll have a mutiny on my hands once they’re back to processed ship food.”

“
Speaking of,” Crisstof said uncomfortably, “what do you plan to do with Dr. Ma’Fredich?” Jason stood and walked up to the full-length window that overlooked the gleaming upper hull of the battlecruiser. He took a long moment before answering.

“
He’s free to stay, if that’s what he wants,” he finally said. “The deception was based on a lack of judgment and not necessarily a betrayal of trust. It’s not something I expect he’ll repeat.”

“
Have you told him that yet?” Crisstof asked. “Last I saw him he was still quite drawn and depressed-looking. I think he expects you’re going to leave him here.”

“
I’ll let him know before we depart,” Jason said with a half-smile. “I’m going to let him spin on the hook a bit longer … I owe him that much at least.” Crisstof sat for a moment with a puzzled expression on his face, no doubt trying to work his way through another of the human’s strange colloquialisms.

“
All of this makes you think,” Jason continued. “Doc’s role in this mess, your First Son’s involvement, and even the rotten core within the ConFed Council itself … it seems like we’re fighting a two-front war at times. Enemies within the gates, so to speak.”

“
Why do you think I hired you in the first place?” Crisstof asked, also rising. “And then asked you to stay on after that? Although I was genuinely surprised at Steader’s treachery, I’ve always known my greatest weakness is the enemies I keep close to me. It’s an unavoidable fact. They’ll always be there no matter how vigilant I am.”

“
That’s a singularly depressing thought,” Jason remarked. “So we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over?”

“
Not if we learn from those mistakes,” Crisstof said. “It’s a tough and thankless line of work we’ve chosen, and there should be no expectations that the galaxy is going to make it easy for us.”

“Maybe,”
Jason grunted, finishing his drink in one gulp. “Either way, that type of philosophical debate is above my pay grade. So … do you have anything for us right now?”

“
Now that you mention it,” Crisstof smiled, “what do you know about the Xyias System?”

*****

“So what am I looking at?”

“It’s an image of the ship we believe to be responsible for the catastrophic failure of the RU933 Operation,” the agent said.

“One little, tiny ship? How incompetent are you people anyway? Don’t answer that.” The speaker was still wearing his Council robes, having come straight to his office after receiving a message from his Intel Section contact. “So who are they?”

“That’s the interesting part,” the agent said. “All records have been purged regarding some fairly notorious incidents involving this specific model of ship. It was a recent purge action in our records, as well.”

“So you have no idea who they are?”

“I only remember one detail from the file. They call themselves Omega Force.”

“Omega Force,” the councilman said, as if the name itself caused him physical pain. “I want them found. Track them down and report back to me.”

After the agent left, the councilman held the grainy, hardcopy image of some type of gunship for a moment longer before wadding it up in disgust and throwing it against the wall.
Someone
would pay for this.

Thank you for reading
Omega Force: The Enemy Within
.

If you enjoyed the story, Captain Burke and the guys will be back in:

Omega Force: Return of the Archon.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates:

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@JoshuaDalzelle

From the author

   So… not the story many of you were expecting, was it? Is it because I forgot, or am
I simply a sadistic bastard? In truth, neither. Now would be a good time for me to come clean and admit that the last line in “Savage Homecoming” was never meant as a cliffhanger. I had stuck that in there in case one day I wanted to revisit certain story arcs that were ended with that book. I still might some day, but for now Jason has made peace with the fact that he’ll never return to his home world or the people he’s left behind.

   As you read this I’m already hard at work on the next Omega Force novel and my editor, Monique Happy, already has a date for when she wants it.
This series is incredible fun to write, so I have no intention of putting it aside or slowing down any time soon. Thank you for reading and thanks for the words of encouragement and suggestions that many have taken the time to send me. The feedback is certainly appreciated.

Josh