Omega Force 6: Secret of the Phoenix (24 page)

“Create a black hole where we’re standing?” Kage asked.

“No,” Cas said. “You will not be creating a true singularity in space, simply collapsing this complex upon itself. It will be a fraction of the size it is now but retain its original mass.”

“The first thing we’re going to do is get the
Phoenix
out of here,” Jason said. “There’s no way the Machine will let us back to the ship. I don’t see why Doc and Twingo need to die needlessly as well.” The others nodded, but said nothing.

“You will not be able to shut down the containment field in the hangar without the Primary Weapon Controller knowing and taking corrective action,” Cas said. “But there might be a way to eject the ship by reversing the field. Your vessel will be propelled out of the hangar at high velocity and beyond the range of the Machine before the Primary can correct the fields and recapture it.”

“Show me how,” Jason said. It took Cas the better part of ten minutes to show Jason how to manipulate the fields that were holding the
Phoenix
in place and preventing their drive from engaging. He practiced all the motions one more time, requested that a video feed from the hangar be brought up on the display, and executed the action.

The gunship was still sitting on her landing gear with the ramp down but the pressure doors closed. Jason had made sure Twingo wasn’t roaming around outside the ship before entering the final command. The
Phoenix
was launched out of the bay so quickly that it almost seemed to just disappear. Jason hoped the inertial compensators had been active or he may not have done his friends any favors.

“Can I get a message out to them?” Jason asked.

“No,” Cas said. “The Primary has control of all communication systems.”

Jason sighed, hoping his friends wouldn’t be stupid enough to turn around and fly back.

“So let’s get this done,” Jason said. “What’s next?”

“You must disable the Primary’s connection to the weapon before activating the core,” Cas said. “You can get most of the way there through the corridors of the command center so it will not be aware of what you’re doing, but once you emerge in the processing center it will be able to intercept you with the maintenance machines it has at its disposal.”

“Looks like you guys get to earn your pay after all,” Jason said to Mazer. He handed the Key to Kage. “You stay here and get ready to activate the core. We’ll go and made sure the Primary isn’t able to mess with you.”

“How will I know when you’ve cut the line?” Kage asked.

“I will inform you when it is safe to proceed as well as instruct you on how to accomplish your objective,” Cas said.

“I guess it’s settled then,” Jason said. “Cas, tell us how to get down to the processing center and what we’re looking for.”

****

Lucky led the way down the corridor at a full sprint, his biological teammates struggling to keep up. They traversed the command section quickly and stopped at the hatch that would alert the Primary that they were on the move. Lucky paused at the door, waited for the others to catch up, and keyed the hatch open.

The team rushed out and into the darkened passageway that led down two levels to the room that housed all the cores for the six processing units it took to run the Machine, including the Primary Weapon Controller. A second after they left the command section the hologram of the Primary appeared before them.

“You are making a grave mistake,” it said. “You have let a group of dead beings dissuade you from the most logical course of action. What can you possibly hope to accomplish with this mad rush, Captain? Think of the lives of your crew.” Even as he was talking the clanking of something coming down a side passage could clearly be heard.

“Contact, ahead right,” Jason called out, ignoring the hologram.

“If you persist on this foolish course I will be forced to take action, Captain,” the Machine said. “Please reconsider.”

“Shut up,” Jason snarled, bringing his railgun up as the first of the obstacles the Primary had at its disposal rounded the corner. It looked like a mechanized spider from hell, spindly legs branching out from a central, bulbous unit that housed the sensors and processors. Jason squeezed off one round that blew the machine into two pieces and left it sparking and twitching on the ground. Despite its size it was still just a maintenance bot and wasn’t able to withstand a hit from such a powerful weapon.

“Weapons free,” Jason called unnecessarily. “Make sure Lucky gets to the objective!” Out of all of them the battlesynth carried enough firepower to ensure that no matter what may be in the processing room he’d be able to take out the Primary’s core.

Crusher and the other warriors began decimating the cluster of bots with withering plasma fire as Jason and Lucky rushed past, the ghost of the Primary’s hologram following them the entire time, growing shriller with each passing second. The pair leapt down the ramp that led to the lower level and ran into a dozen additional bots; these were squat and heavily built, each wielding a sputtering plasma welder.

Lucky opened fire and Jason was a split second behind him. The railgun rounds tore through the bots like they were made of cardboard and Lucky’s plasma cannons blasted them into scrap. Mere seconds after hitting the lower level, they were running past the shattered hulks and standing before the sealed door that led to the processing cores.

“You will not gain entry,” the Machine said, appearing beside them. “The doors are too heavy. It is not too late to salvage this situation, Captain.”

“Can you open it?” Jason asked, still ignoring the hologram.

“I believe so,” Lucky said. He activated his laser cutter and ran it along the left edge of the door, pausing twice at certain places to let the laser penetrate all the way through. He grabbed the edge of the door and, with a whine of his actuators at full strength, forced the door back into the recess on the right. Despite his incredible strength, Lucky was only able to force the door open a little more than a foot as it pulled against him, trying to force itself closed again. “Now, Captain!”

Jason didn’t hesitate and slid through the gap, turning sideways as he did. He no sooner made it through when the door slammed behind him. He heard the sounds of renewed fighting outside the door and hurried into the room, quickly identifying the primary core. He didn’t have the ability to cut through the hard connection like Lucky, so he simply raised his railgun and took aim at the core itself.

“No!” the hologram screamed. Jason began firing, sending ten hypersonic slugs into the huge core as fast as he could pull the trigger. The lights on the device all went dark and the hologram vanished. The sounds of fighting ceased outside the door and his com was able to get a signal through.

“Kage? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, Captain,” Kage said. “It looks like the Primary has lost control of all station functions. We’re ready to begin here.”

“Go ahead and get started,” Jason said. “Get a message out to the
Phoenix
and let them know what’s happening. We’ll be up momentarily.”

****

“Core inversion will commence thirty minutes after you initiate the process,” Cas said after Kage had entered all the necessary manual commands. “There is a portal in the next room over that has been programmed to take you directly to the hangar that your ship was in. The external lighting has been activated so your pilot should have no trouble finding it.”

“You’ve never seen Doc trying to fly the ship,” Kage laughed.

“Do we have time to refuel the ship before we exfil?” Jason asked.

“I’m afraid not, Captain,” Kage said. “The ConFed ships arrived in the system fifteen minutes ago. They’re making a slow approach right now. There are only two left, a battleship and a cruiser that looks like it won’t make it much longer. We’re reading containment breaches along their engineering decks.”

“I can supervise the weapon’s destruction from here as you retreat to your ship,” Cas said.

“I guess we’ll take our chances out there,” Jason said. “I suppose thanks are in order. I’m glad you were willing to assist us in completing this mission.”

“No thanks are necessary, Captain,” Cas said. “This is long overdue. I am simply fulfilling the wishes of my creators.”

“Crusher, Mazer,” Jason said, not responding to Cas. “Let’s get our wounded through the portal first. I’ll be the last one through. We have thirty minutes to get on the ship and clear the area.”

The warriors grabbed their two wounded brethren, warriors that had rushed into a swarm of machines so their teammates could reload, and carried them from the control room. Jason and Lucky followed them out and around to the room that contained another of the mysterious teleporting archways. This one was set up to take them directly back to the hangar where the
Phoenix
should be inbound for a pickup.

“A moment, Captain,” Cas said as the others filed out. Jason paused and looked at the hologram expectantly. It walked over and pressed something into his palm. “Our legacy,” it said softly. Jason looked down and saw a generic-looking memory chip. He slipped it into his pocket and raced out after his team.

The transition seemed, if anything, to be getting worse each time they went through one of the portals. Jason didn’t even want to guess at what sort of damage was being done to his body at the cellular level. They emerged in the hangar in time to see the
Phoenix
slowly edge her way in and bounce to a rough touch down on her landing gear. Jason waited until the ramp dropped before waving his team forward.

“Get the wounded to the infirmary,” he ordered. “I want to be on the other side of the system when this thing implodes.” They rushed up the ramp and went their separate ways once reaching the main deck. Jason went directly to the bridge, passing Doc along the way, and began feeding power to the drive before he’d even settled fully into the seat. Once out of the Machine he set a course for the opposite side of the gas giant’s orbit and shoved the throttle down, flying away from the impending implosion and tangentially away from the approaching ConFed ships.

“Com channel request coming in,” Kage said as he got himself situated in the copilot’s seat.

“Let me guess,” Jason said. “It isn’t from the Cas.”

“Nope.”

“Put them through,” Jason sighed.

“Why are you fleeing from the construct?” a stern-looking alien demanded on the screen. “What have you done to the weapon?”

“You arrogant ConFed stooge,” Jason spat out, the tone rubbing him the wrong way. “You come limping in here with two ships that couldn’t fight off an ore freighter and make demands of me?”

“I apologize, Captain,” the officer said, visibly struggling to suppress his anger. “It has been a trying journey. Would you please answer my question?”

“You’re too late, bud,” Jason said. “That weapon is rigged to blow in less than twenty minutes. If you’re smart you’ll get your ships out of the area.”

“You’re lying,” the officer said. He looked horrorstricken, but Jason had never seen his species so it could be any number of emotions being displayed.

“Actually I am,” Jason conceded. “It’s rigged to
implode
, not explode. I’ve set the gravity core on that thing to collapse in on itself. I know you’re here on orders, and maybe you don’t even know what that thing really is, but it is by far better that it no longer exists in this galaxy.”

“I cannot believe—” the officer paused as someone off camera demanded his attention. “They followed us? How is that possible?” The com channel winked off, leaving Jason thoroughly confused.

“We have a new player at the table,” Kage said. “Ship coming in from the heliopause, running hard for the ConFed group. I’m not sure it sees us.”

“Could it be the last faction after the weapon?” Jason wondered aloud.

“I don’t think so,” Kage said. “He said they were followed. I’m guessing whatever species Cas steered us around pursued them here. That ship design isn’t listed in any registry and its power signature is off the charts.”

Jason watched the feed as a massive, sleek warship accelerated with surprising velocity into the system directly for the two battered ConFed ships. The cruiser turned and moved for an intercept, but the newcomer opened up with an energy weapon so powerful it gutted the smaller ship after just two shots. Jason wasn’t sure if the shields had been functional or not on the cruiser, but it was still an impressive display of destructive power.

The ship angled over and flew past the burning hulk of the cruiser and bore down on the remaining ship. Even when beat up, a ConFed battleship is nothing to scoff at. She opened up with a blistering salvo that caused the other ship’s shields to flare and waver. It returned fire with its own powerful weapon, hitting the battleship full on the prow.

“That ConFed battle wagon won’t take much more of that,” Kage said as he watched the sensor feed. “Their shields are already failing.”

Jason struggled with a bit of indecision for a moment before he knew what he had to do.

“Fuck it,” he said. “Let’s be good guys. Arm two XTX-4s and plot a firing solution for the unknown ship.”

“You can’t be serious,” Kage said.