Omega Force 6: Secret of the Phoenix (10 page)

There was an ear-shattering roar from near port berthing (where Crusher and Kage slept) and a Galvetic warrior leapt across the common area toward where the intruder had darted off to. By the time Crusher landed, however, it was already gone and rushing at Jason before he could raise his weapon to squeeze off another shot.

He saw the intruder had a short, stout length of rod he was expertly wielding as a weapon. In fact, he saw it just in time to draw back but the pistol was still smacked from his hands. He made a grab for the weapon but the rod came down again and caught him in the left shin. “Fuck!” he screamed in pain as he turned and made another grab for his opponent. The alien darted away but likely hadn’t counted on someone as large as Crusher moving so fast. It backed right into the warrior’s grip, but it was so quick that it slipped up and over Crusher’s shoulders, grabbed a big handful of the sensitive “dreadlocks” and swung around behind him. Crusher’s roar shook the walls and Jason took the opportunity to lunge in and get a hand on the alien.

He grabbed a forearm that felt like it was made from spun steel and was immediately put on the defensive as the other free hand swung wildly at his head. Jason’s reinforced skeleton took the abuse, but it didn’t stop it from hurting like hell. He tried to yell for Crusher to grab the other arm, but the warrior was now completely enraged and wildly swung a clawed hand at the alien. As before, it was able to contort its body so that the iron-hard claws ripped through Jason’s left shoulder instead.

“Damnit, Crusher!” he yelled, the pain causing the grip of his right hand to loosen just enough for the alien to yank its arm free. It spun and jumped directly at Crusher, seeming to land right in the surprised warrior’s arms. His own temper now past boiling, Jason wound up and swung a right-handed punch as hard as he could, aiming for the back of the alien’s skull. It ducked at just the right instant and the punch ended up connecting with Crusher’s temple, sending the warrior flying.

Crusher landed on his face with a thud and made no move to get up. The alien sprang up, still unrecognizable as it was covered head to toe in the slippery black material, and faced off with him. Jason moved into an aggressive stance, intent on pressing the attack, when the room was bathed in red light. Lucky, now in full combat mode, slammed to the deck right behind the alien. The next few moments were a blur of motion and the sound of metal striking flesh as the lightning-fast alien had no answer for the faster battlesynth. Jason had never seen Lucky move so fast. Now effectively out of the fight, he scrambled to retrieve his weapon from behind the couches where it had landed. Thankfully it was still intact.

He looked up and saw Lucky had both the alien’s arms in a vice-like hold and was squeezing so hard it was deforming the flesh underneath. The alien wasn’t giving up as he launched kick after wild kick at an unaffected battlesynth midsection.

“Now, Captain!” Lucky said, the anger in his voice evident. Jason moved up behind the alien and fired the stunner round pointblank into its back. It went limp immediately, twitching once when Lucky threw it on the ground in a heap.

“What’s happening?!” Naleem cried from the door of starboard berthing. Jason gave her a cold look and then shot her with the pistol. She collapsed in the doorway, convulsing from the stunner shot. He then walked back over to their intruder and shot him twice more for insurance. The rapid twitching of its voluntary muscles meant he’d completely overloaded the nerves. It’d be a long while before it was up and walking around.

“Sorry I shot you in the face,” Jason said as Lucky walked up.

“I will admit I was as surprised as you,” Lucky said. “I will take him to the brig and bind him.”

“Take extra care,” Jason said. “He’s slippery. I’ll bind her out here and then see to Crusher.”

“Nice hit by the way,” Lucky said as he picked up the alien. “He went down with a single blow.”

“Ah … how about we just keep that between us?”

“Of course, Captain,” Lucky said pleasantly as he walked off with his prisoner.

“What the hell is all the racket out here?” Twingo asked, irritated and rubbing his eyes as he emerged from his bunk in Engineering. Jason looked at him, down at the pistol still set to stun, and then back to his friend. Twingo seemed to recognize the danger and slowly backed the way he’d come without another word.

Chapter 10

Naleem came to slowly, her eyes moving first beneath closed lids and then a moan of pain escaping her lips. When she finally opened her eyes and tried to move, she found that they’d bound her tightly to a chair in the galley.

“Before you even open your mouth,” Jason warned her, “don’t even try to insult our intelligence by claiming you don’t know what’s going on here. We’ve got your buddy bound up tight and in the brig with Lucky watching him. So … start talking.”

“He wasn’t supposed to come out of stasis while on this ship,” she said groggily. “The pod was on a timer. I expected to be far away from you guys already.”

“We’re no longer playing that game where I ask you questions and you tell me just enough to keep me from throwing you out the airlock,” Jason said. “What are you after and why did you seek us out. Your life is hanging by a thread here, so think real hard about if you want to keep playing us.” She looked at him and then Crusher before letting out a sigh, seeming to deflate in defeat.

“My companion is no danger at this point,” she said. “Bring him out here, you don’t have to untie him, but I want to let him know that I’m alright. After that I’ll tell you everything. I swear.” Jason stared at her another minute before turning to Crusher.

“Go help Lucky bring the prisoner in here,” he said. “Fit him with a stun collar.”

“She’ll be lucky if I bring him back here in one piece,” Crusher growled, stalking out of the common area. Jason appreciated that Naleem didn’t bother to fill the uncomfortable silence with small talk while they waited for the others. She just stared at the floor, shaking her head and blinking to clear the effects of the stunner.

It was a few minutes later when the alien, now without his hood, was carried out over Lucky’s shoulder with Crusher covering him from behind. The pair didn’t trust him to have his legs free.

“Tie him to that seat,” Jason said, indicating the chair next to Naleem.

“I will resist you no further,” the alien spoke up. “Restrain me if you must, but it is unnecessary.”

“From what I saw a couple of hours ago I think we’ll be taking no chances with you until you’re off my ship,” Jason said, rubbing his arm where the alien had hit him. “What do I call you?”

“I am called Nul,” the alien said.

“Just Nul?” Jason asked.

“That is the only name I am known by,” Nul said in confusion, looking at Naleem.

“Okay, Naleem,” Jason said, ignoring Nul. “He’s sitting here, safe and sound. Time to hold up your end of the deal.”

“As I told you earlier, I am an archeologist. I began hearing rumors about a discovery out far past the fringe, a discovery with vast implications for the balance of power in this quadrant,” she began. “I wasn’t lying to you when I said that it was a power source, but I didn’t tell you what type. The machine, if the consensus is to be believed, is a particle beam capable of disrupting the structure of a star so that it tears itself apart. With that sort of power it would be capable of reducing a planet to dust in a few milliseconds.

“But there was a problem. The device was never meant to fall into the wrong hands and the designers built in a failsafe: a key needs to be assembled and activated before one can even approach it.”

“How was all of this figured out if nobody can approach the machine?” Crusher asked.

“A planet in the system where the machine is located had ruins of buildings left by the people who built it. Several of my colleagues were able to begin deciphering the language before powerful factions began to learn of it. Many scientists were kidnapped, others were killed. Several pieces of the key have been discovered throughout the quadrant and a few, myself included, think we’re close to being able to piece enough of it together to activate the machine,” Naleem paused. “I’ve been hunting pieces of the key for the last twenty years.”

“So who else is looking for it?” Jason asked. “Or more importantly, who else knows of it?”

“Obviously ConFed Intelligence had learned of it and there has been a covert effort within the Council’s Intelligence Committee to recover the device,” she said. “There was also a cabal of criminal organizations who thought the weapon would be a way for them to greatly expand their influence, maybe even install themselves as the new government. Then there’s me.”

“You,” Jason said, eyeing her skeptically. “And what do
you
want with the weapon?”

“I plan to render it inoperable,” she said simply. “That sort of power can never be put in the hands of a single person.”

“Why not just blast it from a safe distance?” Crusher asked.

“That was the first solution,” she laughed. “When the ConFed found out they couldn’t board it they sent a full battle group to make sure nobody else could. Not a single ship came back.”

“So why all the skulking about and lying?” Jason asked. “You know who we sometimes work for. Why not approach him?”

“Crisstof Dalton is a politician, Jason Burke,” Naleem said patiently. “A good man with noble intentions, but are you so very certain he couldn’t be corrupted with a power that great?”

“I guess I still don’t see where we come in,” Crusher admitted.

“Twenty-four years ago a major component of the key was found during a planetary mining operation,” Naleem continued. “They didn’t know what they had at the time, but word got out about the strange artifact. Soon after the company went under and the artifact disappeared. The company was the Benztral Mining Concern.” She watched as recognition flickered across Jason’s face.

“Son of a bitch,” he whispered.

“What are we missing, Captain?” Crusher asked.

“Go ahead and tell them,” Jason said.

“The Benztral Mining Concern had a substantial fleet when they went under, including a sizable military force. When that fleet went to auction many other pieces of the company were smuggled away aboard newly purchased vessels,” Naleem said. “Among them was a Jepson Aerospace second generation DL7 heavy gunship. That vessel, serial number DL72-00551, is now known as the
Phoenix
and crewed by a mercenary unit called Omega Force. The piece of the key that was found has been aboard this ship since it was sold at auction.”

Chapter 11

“How is that possible?” Crusher asked. “We’ve rebuilt this ship from the ground up and we didn’t find anything that looked like an ancient artifact.”

“Nevertheless, it is still here,” Naleem said.

“How can you be sure?” Jason asked.

“It reacted when the antenna was energized,” she said. “Those were the vibrations your crew felt. People have been after this ship for a long time, Captain. Surely you’ve had to wonder at some of the unusual attacks on your crew that have occurred over the years.”

Jason ignored the pair of battlesynth eyeballs boring a hole through his head and tried to reevaluate some of their past engagements in light of the new information. As much as he hated to admit it, what Naleem said did explain a lot that he’d been unable to himself.

“Untie her, Crusher,” he said. “Let’s try to figure out the best way to unscrew this mess. So what’s your story, Nul? Why are you being toted around in a crate?”

“I serve Doctor El in any capacity she needs me to,” Nul said quietly. “I was to remain in stasis as insurance should any trouble befall her. To be honest, Captain, I am unsure as to why I was awakened.”

“That makes two of us,” Naleem said with a frown. “I know I reset the timer. The only way it would have tripped is if my equipment was tampered with or I keyed the emergency beacon, and as far as I know neither of those things occurred. I apologize, Captain Burke. There must have been some malfunction with the pod itself.”

“I’m sure that was it,” Jason said, making sure he cut Lucky off before he could casually mention they’d been prying on the stasis pod earlier in the night. “Go ahead and untie him too. We’ve got a lot to talk about and we may as well get comfortable.”

“You pack a hell of a wallop, little guy,” Crusher said as he began to untie Nul. “I’ve never been knocked out like that before.”

“Actually, it was not—”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Jason said quickly, interrupting Nul. “We’re all sorry about the previous unpleasantness. Best thing for it is to move on and not dwell on it. It’s not healthy for our future working relationship.”

“As you see best, Captain,” Nul said, clearly confused. As Crusher continued to untie their captives Jason discovered that Lucky was still staring at him.

“You may say it once,” he told the battlesynth.

“What would you have me say?”

“You can say that you were right, and I was wrong,” Jason said.

“Which time would you be referring to, Captain,” Lucky said innocently. Naleem stifled a chuckle as Jason slowly walked away.

****

“Do you believe this story about an ancient super weapon hidden out beyond the fringe?” Twingo asked Jason. They were the only ones on the bridge and the rest of the crew had been briefed on their new passenger and the true nature of Naleem’s work.

“I don’t know,” Jason said. “I believe that she thinks it’s real. I also believe that her story conveniently explains some things that have happened to us I was otherwise unable to. Maybe it’s my obsession with tying up loose ends that is making me give her the benefit of the doubt.”

“I don’t see how anything can be hidden on the ship,” Twingo said stubbornly. “You don’t remember what the Eshquarians did to her during the rebuild since you were laid up in the hospital all that time. I supervised the entire thing and this ship was torn down to the bare hull and put back together, mostly with new parts. Where would it be tucked away at that I wouldn’t have noticed it?”

“Those are questions I’m asking myself,” Jason admitted. “But I guess for now we’ll just have to play along and see where this leads. Whether or not she’s actually right at this point isn’t important. Enough people think that there’s something on this ship and until that’s settled we’ll always be looking over our shoulders.”

“True enough, I guess,” Twingo said. “I suppose with the time left until we hit the Tallin System I can start searching the ship, but it’d be nice if I knew what I was looking for.”

Jason watched him go, enjoying the quiet hum of the engines for company while he could. Just six people on the ship could sometimes be cramped so carrying passengers was never that much fun. The gunship now had eight people on it and it seemed like he couldn’t turn around without bumping into someone.

“Oh, were you wanting to be alone?” Naleem asked as she walked onto the bridge.

“Not necessarily,” Jason said. “Was there something you needed?”

“Just trying to get a little space,” she said, crossing her arms as she moved and sat at one of the bridge stations. “Does your crew always bicker so much?”

“You tune it out after a while,” Jason said. “Which one is being the most annoying right now?”

“Kage is harassing Nul almost constantly,” Naleem said. “He seems to be trying to get a rise out of him.”

“That doesn’t sound like such a good idea,” Jason said, subconsciously rubbing his head where the smaller alien had struck him during the fight.

“He’s not a violent person,” Naleem said defensively. “He is actually one of the most serene beings I’ve ever been around. He is, however, trained to defend himself and others. Your friend is in no danger right now except possibly from Crusher, who seems to be caught in the middle.”

“So everything is more or less normal,” Jason said. “He’ll eventually get bored and leave Nul alone.”

“I wanted to thank you for not just ejecting us out of the airlock when Nul’s pod opened,” she said after a few minutes of silence. “And for taking it on faith that what I’m saying is true.”

“To be fair, we usually only threaten to space people,” Jason said. “We’re not complete barbarians. I’m also not taking anything on faith just yet. Your reason for why we’ve been dodging attacks for the last few years is as plausible as any I’ve heard and it loosely corroborates what Deetz said to Lucky before he died.”

“Deetz,” she said with genuine venom in her voice. “That conniving thief. Good riddance.” She stood up and moved to walk off the bridge. “I am going to go lay down for a while,” she said. “Thank you again.”

“No problem,” Jason said distractedly as he messed with one of his displays. After she was gone he stopped, his eyes widening. “Computer, have Twingo and Doc meet me in my quarters and ask Lucky to report to the bridge.”

“Acknowledged.”

****

Jason hustled down to his quarters after Lucky had relieved him on the bridge. He had to promise to come right back and tell the battlesynth what was going on since he had correctly gauged Jason’s demeanor to mean something had happened as soon as he stepped through the entry. When Jason got to the main deck he could see his friends filtering into the corridor that led to his quarters. He motioned for them to remain silent and ushered them in, closing the door behind him.

“Computer, monitor all movement of passengers Naleem and Nul and notify me if they leave starboard berthing,” Jason ordered. There was a double-chirp confirmation letting him know his order was being executed.

“What’s going on, Captain?” Doc asked.

“I think Naleem let something slip,” Jason said. “She knew who Deetz was.”

“So?” Twingo said. “Lots of people knew him.”

“I mean she
knew
him, as in had direct interactions with him,” Jason said. “I admit, this is just a hunch, but there’s no way she should be that familiar with him.”

“Let me ask you a question,” Twingo said. “How did you know about Benztral Mining owning this ship?”

“It was before we stopped on Breaker’s World for repairs and abducted you,” Jason said. “Deetz had been locking himself in the com room so I started asking the computer about the original crew and how old the ship was. It told me then that it had been owned by the mining company before being auctioned off.”

“It just occurred to me that we always assumed Bondrass wanted this ship just because of what it was, not what it might be carrying,” Doc said. “Could he have been part of that other faction that was after this key?”

“Then why let the ship leave Pinnacle Station?” Twingo asked. “He already had it sitting in his hangar and let it fly off.”

“But he didn’t have the access codes,” Jason said. “He needed Deetz to give them to him.”

“This is making a strange sort of sense,” Doc said. “So do we think that Naleem was working with Deetz the whole time and he double-crossed her? Hell, could she have been part of the original crew?”

“Impossible to tell,” Jason said with a frown. “That computer core is long gone … oh, holy shit.”

“Exactly,” Twingo said. “Nul wasn’t accidentally released. She let him out that night after she figured out all her access codes were useless since the
Phoenix
has all new computers and avionics. I bet if we had searched him more carefully we’d have found a data card with an intrusion program that would have given her command access to the ship.”

“Maybe,” Jason said. “He may have been sneaking to my quarters to force them out of me. Nul doesn’t strike me as much of a code slicer.”

“While this is all just speculation, how do you want to handle it?” Doc asked.

“Like I told Twingo, we need to see this through to the end to get this monkey off our back,” Jason said, enjoying the looks of confusion on his friends at the idiom. “I’ll instruct the computer to keep the internal stunners locked onto them, although if Nul is in action they probably won’t be able to hit him. I’ll have to stun everyone in the room. We’ll keep on to Tallin, but we’ll have the advantage.”

“How is that?” Twingo asked.

“We’ll be expecting her to try something,” Jason said. “She’ll think we’re just going along with her in good faith. I’ll work out the exact plan for when we make landfall and brief the others separately over the next forty-eight hours, but until then don’t act any differently around the two.”

“Not a problem,” Doc said. “I’ve been avoiding them both anyway.”

“Twingo, hang back for a minute,” Jason said as Doc moved to leave. “I’ve got a special project I need you to get started on.”

“How special?” Twingo asked.

“Just a little insurance in case our suspicions prove to be correct,” Jason said with a humorless smile. Over the next hour the pair worked the details out of Jason’s plan until the engineer was confident he could pull it off without any problems.

Once Twingo had left Jason wished, not for the first time, that the Eshquarians had been able to salvage the data core of the DL7’s original computer and load it into the new one.