Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) (27 page)

Something was still wrong. She knew the Saint wanted to go out with a bang a little bigger than some automatic weapons.
If he had failed, why was he so pleased
, she wondered to herself. “What are you hiding?” she said as she started sifting through his clothing and the vest.

“What are you looking for?” asked Velari as he and the other guards had reached Martin.

“Get the general out of here!” ordered Martin. “And don’t—”

Martin paused as she saw a small wire running from the vest to a sensor embedded in the Saint’s chest. “It’s wired to his heart,” she said aloud. She looked up toward the Saint’s face. His expression was frozen; he was dying.

“Run!” she shouted as she sprung to her feet and rushed across the hangar. Focusing on the barrier door, she pushed her body as hard as she could.

Almost in reach of the barrier door, Martin’s body was lifted off the ground and slammed into the door as the gel explosives detonated, sending a massive blast wave across the hanger. Her vision blurred temporarily as she impacted the deck after bouncing off the door.

She rolled onto her back as pain shot through her previously injured shoulder. Holding her shoulder, she scanned the hangar. The explosion had set a nearby fighter and maintenance truck on fire and destroyed the side of the Saint’s transport facing the blast. Looking through the thickening black smoke from the fires, Martin saw Mellius stumble toward her. She rose to her knees just in time for him to collapse next her. Martin rolled the general onto his back and checked for his vitals. He was dead.

Rising to her feet, Martin quickly exited the smoky hangar and rushed past the flood of security and damage control troops as she made her way through the ship to
Renus’
s operations center. Martin entered the room and made her way to Admiral Haxius, who was relaying orders to other ships in his task force.

“Any more reports of detonations?” he asked intently to his communications officer.

“Yes, sir,” replied the officer. “Explosions on Echo 4 moon and Echo 2.”

“And casualties?”

“Unknown, sir. We are having trouble with our comms and many units haven’t responded.”

“Damn it,” cursed the admiral.

“Admiral Haxius,” interrupted Martin.

“Paladin Martin,” he answered as he stood from his command chair. “Were you in the hangar? How is Mellius?”

“He’s dead,” she replied.

“Damn it,” replied Haxius turning back toward his comms officer. “Lieutenant Skylar, inform General Vaal on Echo 3 he is in command of ground forces.”

“We don’t have comms with Echo 3,” replied the officer.

“Well, get them. And pass the word to all squadrons to prepare to support medical evac from all forward bases.”

“What’s the situation, Admiral?” asked Martin as she looked over the status screens in the operations station.

“The status is chaos, Paladin. Close to a thousand small crafts launched from Echo 4’s moon, Echo 2, and Echo 3. We took out a few but most jumped. It looks like their initial trajectories were all across the Dark Zone.”

“That’ll be his followers spreading the damned Word throughout the Dark Zone.”

“With what plan?” asked the admiral.

“Nothing good for the Humani,” she replied.

“Sir,” interrupted Lieutenant Skylar. “More detonations reported on Echo 2 and now Echo 3.” The officer paused to receive another report. “General Vaal’s command post was at the center of the last detonation.”

Haxius slammed his fist against the command chair. “Damn it!” He turned back toward Martin. “We’ve had at least five nuclear detonations on or near our positions. They are immolating their own troops and people to get at us.”

“You’d better get ready for more,” replied Martin. “In your haste to destroy your puppet, you have unleashed a firestorm likely to burn entire systems.”

“Puppet? What are you talking about?”

Martin realized Haxius probably had no idea about Astra’s plan. “You need to get your forces back onboard now, Admiral. Or you won’t have any left.”

Martin watched as Haxius leaned over his chair and gritted his teeth. “Lieutenant,” he ordered, “inform all ground forces I am taking tactical command. To all forces…commence withdraw.”

“From where?” asked the lieutenant.

“Everywhere!” shouted Haxius.

As the operations center began to buzz with withdraw orders, Haxius fell back into his chair. “And what will you do now, Paladin?”

“I’ll go to Port Royal and continue my mission, Admiral,” she replied. “I’m gonna need one of your transports and some damned shoes.”

***

From her hovercraft, Astra Varus overlooked the work on a massive battle cruiser. A subdued smile came to her face as she read the name, still in the process of being painted on the outer shell of the recently completed command suite. “
Dominotra Varus
,” she whispered as she read the name. The thought of a battle cruiser named after her father sending a rain of metallic death onto a Xen home world caused her subtle smile to expand.

“The
Dominotra Varus
is coming along nicely, ProConsul,” reported the Association engineer in charge of the project. “Initial construction should be complete within two Humani years with final testing a year longer.”

“Very well,” she replied. “And the others?”

“The
Varus
class cruisers are scheduled for completion at two per year starting with the
Dominotra
and
Octavius
in three years. With the completion of the additional yards here on Dolus, that will increase to four per year for the last five years of construction for a total of 28 ships.”

“And the orbital destroyers?”

“The
Vengeance
class is also on schedule with the
Vengeance
,
Reprisal
, and
Fury
currently under construction.”

“Excellent. And the training facilities?”

“We ran into a delay with flooding when one of the support beams failed in a wing under construction for ground troop training and berthing. We lost about five hundred workers and a week of schedule—”

“And I am sure you have a plan to regain that week,” interrupted Astra with a cold stare.

“Of course, ProConsul,” answered the engineer quickly. “The schedule will be maintained.”

“Of course it will.” She smiled.

“ProConsul,” interrupted General Vispa. “I have just received word from the
Vulara
in orbit.

“What is it?” she snapped, letting her displeasure with the interruption show.

“I am sorry, ProConsul, but we have received a high priority electron spin message from Admiral Haxius.”

“Is it done?” she asked eagerly. “Is the Saint dead?”

“Yes, ProConsul. But—”

“But what?” she asked, uneasy.

“He feigned a meeting with General Mellius and detonated an explosive vest, killing himself, Mellius, and several of other officers.”

“Idiot,” mumbled Astra. “Is that all?”

“No, ProConsul. At the same time as his death, it appears hundreds of vessels launched from areas under his control and his forces detonated close to a dozen nuclear weapons on the surface of Echo system worlds. Early estimates are 60 percent losses for ground forces including all three brigadier generals and most of the colonels.”

Astra inhaled slowly. “And the escaping ships?” she asked quietly, barely holding back her rage.

“Haxius doesn’t believe they were escaping, ProConsul,” replied Vispa cautiously. “He believes it was an attempt to spread this religion of the Word throughout the Dark Zone now that the Saint is martyred.”

“Religion!” shouted Astra. “It’s a set of damned phrases our intelligence corps and the Association came up with to trick the mindless populations into submission…” She paused to take in a deep breath to control her already boiling anger.

“Apparently it has worked all too well, ProConsul,” replied Vispa.

Astra turned and slapped Vispa across the face as her anger exploded into a rage. “Thank you for the enlightenment. Now we’re going to have to kiss more Doran ass in order to free up more of our troops to deal with this shit and keep the plan on schedule.”

“I am sorry,” replied Vispa as he rubbed his face and struggled to hold back his own anger. “What are your orders?”

“We return to Alpha Humana immediately. Send my uncle Zari Varus to take command of the remainder of the ground forces.”

“Of course, ProConsul,” replied Vispa. “And Haxius?”

“Tell Admiral Haxius to set every inhabitable centimeter of the Echo system ablaze. Nuke every city and bombard the rest with the orbital destroyers. Any population greater than 10,000 will be attacked and destroyed. Have him bring any survivors here for modification and training, or forced labor. I want the Echo system void of life when he is done.”

Chapter 21

“All clear.” Stone watched the last Association guard disappear around the corner of a distant passageway. He turned away from his vantage point and leaned against the wall, resting the butt of his rifle on the floor.

“That was too close,” said Katalya.

Letting his rifle lean against his thigh and chest, Stone exhaled slowly. Katalya was right—almost every day the patrols became more frequent and they had to move more often. In the three weeks since their escape from the docking bay, Stone, Katalya, Orion, and Rickover had been on the run in the underground and vent tunnels of Port Royal’s market polis. And the time had taken its toll. Stone’s head felt cloudy from the lack of sleep, his mouth was sticky from dehydration, and his stomach ached from hunger.

“We can’t keep this up much longer,” said Rickover as he grasped his wounded arm.

“Can you make another run tonight?” asked Stone, turning toward Orion. Her knowledge of Port Royal and its nooks and crannies had provided them just enough food and water to stay alive, but with the patrols increasing and Orion’s friends dwindling, resources had run dry.

But Orion didn’t answer. She had fallen asleep.

“Orio—”

“Let her sleep,” interrupted Katalya softly. “We can talk about that later.”

Stone was nodding his head in agreement when he saw Orion awake with a jerk.

“Are they gone?” she whispered as she shook her head to help wake herself. “I…” she paused, the exhaustion making it difficult for her to form the words. “I can do some foraging tonight. Maybe I can find some more half-eaten noodles and drainage water.” She smiled.

At least she still has her sense of humor
, thought Stone, although that is probably all she would actually find. He was impressed with the endurance and determination of the group but was afraid it wouldn’t last much longer. A few more days and even Guardsmen would be close to the brink.

“Can’t we just give up and try to bribe them or something?” asked Rickover, unafraid to speak his mind. “It would be better than dying in this wet, muggy shithole.”

“They killed TC,” growled Orion. “We’re not talking about giving up.”

“So we just die? That’s a great plan,” Rickover replied.

“You’re a coward, Rickover,” spat Orion.

“No, captain,” he retorted. “Just realistic.”

Stone saw Orion lunge toward Rickover, and he quickly grabbed her.

“Son of a bitch,” she groaned. “Let me—”

“Everyone relax!” ordered Stone. Maybe they had reached the brink. He needed to redirect their frustrations and to make sure they were more afraid of being captured than starving, so he decided to tell them the truth.

He looked Rickover directly in the eyes.

“If we’re captured,” he said coldly, “you’ll be turned over to a Humani intelligence officer, who will interrogate you in ways you wouldn’t have thought imaginable. You’ll talk and then they’ll put a bullet in your head.”

Stone released his hold on Orion and leaned back against the wall. “You two will face the same if you are lucky. If not, you will end up sold into a Dark Zone slave ring or sent to Capro Prison.”

“I won’t live like that again,” replied Katalya. “I will…they won’t capture me alive.”

“And you?” asked Orion.

“Astra Varus will most likely have me nailed to wooden poles and slowly skinned in front of a public audience to show the penalty for treason. They’ll make sure I stay alive until all of the skin is removed and then they’ll leave me to die and rot as a warning to others.”

“We’ve got to find a way out of here,” said Rickover.

“
Hydra
’s locked down and we can’t release the locking mechanism without the code or getting into the terminal control room. Either way we would have to fight through Association and Guard troops.”

“Can we try Hanagus and Bianca?” asked Katalya. “Maybe we can get another ship to smuggle us out.”

“It’s too risky,” replied Stone.

“They know I did business with them. They would probably be watching,” added Orion.

“Do we have another option?” asked Katalya.

“Yeah,” answered Rickover. “Starving down here or waiting around for capture and apparently horrible deaths.”

Stone looked toward Orion. She knew Port Royal better than any of them.

“What chance do you think we have of getting word to them?” he asked.

“Very little,” she replied. “But we don’t have any if we just stay down here.”

Stone knew it was risky. Almost too risky, but they wouldn’t last much longer in their condition. Stone saw Orion bite her lower lip and furrow her brow in thought. He looked toward the others. Katalya and Rickover would go along with any plan as long as they made it off Port Royal. After a few seconds, he saw Orion look up toward him.

“Let’s do it.”

“When?” asked Katalya.

“Tonight,” answered Orion.

***

Stone sat in a far corner of Hanagus’s bar scanning the room. The music was loud and the crowd lively as it had been in both of his previous visits. Through the dim lighting, punctuated by bright flashes of strobe lights timed to the rhythmic music, he saw Orion cautiously approach Bianca. Even though the den mother of Hanagus’s house of sinful fun had always come through, there was something about her that always made him uneasy. Hopefully, Orion would negotiate a deal and they could get back to Katalya and Rickover, who were still hiding in the underground at a nearby maintenance access. They had stayed behind to limit the attention they drew and to allow Stone and Orion to be quick and efficient since Rickover was useless in clandestine operations and Katalya, while a skilled warrior, wasn’t wired to play the spy.

Stone continued to watch Orion as she stood facing away from Bianca, who sat leaning over the bar as if she were talking to the bartender. He had been in difficult positions before, but this was one of the worst. If Hanagus and Bianca couldn’t get them off Port Royal, they would have to do something more…overt. In the end, one or two of them might make it, but not all of them. This plan had to work. After a few minutes, Stone saw Orion grab a drink from the bar and slowly walk toward him.

He continued to watch in his peripheral vision as Orion, smiling and shaking her hips to the music, walked toward him and with a quick glance and a smile, turned and headed to the restroom. Stone exhaled heavily as he held his drink to his mouth. It looked like the negotiations had been successful. Now he would wait for Orion to leave and after enough time passed to limit suspicion, meet up with her and the others.

“Hey honey,” Stone heard a soft, sultry voice say as a tall, slender mocha-colored woman with radiant blue eyes and jet black, shoulder length hair sat next to him.

“Hello,” he replied, trying to play the role but keep his lookout for Orion.

“You here all by yourself, honey?” she asked as she slowly rubbed her hand over his thigh.

“Just been waiting for the right girl,” he replied with a smile while he quickly glanced across the bar for Orion.

“Oh I’m no girl, honey,” she replied, sliding her hand over his groin. “I’m a woman,” she whispered as she let her warm breath drift across his cheek before giving him a soft kiss. “If you want a girl, you’ll need to go to the Playground Bar a few blocks down.”

“No,” he said trying in vain to control his body’s response to her touch. “I’m in the right place.”

“Not yet, baby,” she smiled. “But you’re getting warmer.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Orion exit the restroom and head quickly for the exit. He leaned in toward the girl’s ear but kept his eye on Orion. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Mandi,” she replied with a whisper in his opposite ear. “What’s yours, honey?”

“Joss,” said Stone.

“What do you do, Joss?” she replied.

“A little of this and some of that.”

Pulling his head back slightly, Stone saw a man rise from the bar and follow Orion toward the exit. Something was wrong; he could feel it and focused on the man behind Orion. As Orion passed through the exit, the man motioned toward a group of three others at a table near the exit.

“Hey!” said Mandi and she placed her hand on Stone’s cheek and turned his head toward her. “Are you listening?” she said bluntly.

The three men rose from their table and joined the first as they exited the bar.

“Sorry, honey,” said Stone as he turned his head away from Mandi. “I just realized I need to be somewhere. And besides, I’m out of money.”

“Broke asshole,” cursed Mandi. “If you can’t pay then don’t waste my time. But you need to give me something. I’ve got—”

“Sorry,” interrupted Stone as he rose from the table, dropped a 5 credit chip, and headed toward the door.

“Cheap prick!” shouted the woman over the loud music but he ignored her as he picked up his pace.

Stone quickly moved across the floor toward the exit, weaving between dancing patrons and brushing drunks out of his way as he focused on the exit. Stepping outside, Stone noticed the abrupt change from the cool, smoky air and low roar of noise over the loud music to the warm, damp humidity and chaotic street noise of the polis. He quickly scanned the area and saw the last two men following Orion turn down a street to his right. As the two men disappeared, Stone drew his pistol and loped after them.

He reached the intersection and tilted his head around the corner as he leaned against the wall with his pistol ready. He saw the men he was following transition from a walk to a run and draw their weapons as they disappeared around another corner.

Stone sprinted across the street to the opposite corner. As he turned the corner he saw Orion, just a hundred meters from the access to the maintenance area where Katalya and Rickover were hiding, struggling with the men. Orion was no slouch in a fight; she knocked one of the men to the ground before she was overpowered by the other three. As soon as she hit the wet, dirty pavement, one of the men grabbed Orion by her hair and pulled her to her knees. Stone overheard the men as he quietly moved closer.

***

Orion strained against the force of the man holding her hair and pressing down on her shoulder. Her jaw still stinging, Orion looked up toward another bounty hunter standing above her. His scarred and wrinkled face was partially covered by a scraggly beard. A ragged smile of poorly kept teeth became visible as he smiled.

“Where are the others?” demanded the bearded man.

“Bend over and I’ll show ya,” replied Orion.

The man slapped her across the face.

“Where?”

“Screw you,” replied Orion as she spat blood from her mouth. “You might as well kill—”

“Fine,” interrupted the man as he drew his pistol and placed it on Orion’s forehead. “One million credits in hand is better than four in the—”

The man was cut short as a round from Stone’s pistol ripped through his skull. Another shot rang out and the grip on her hair and pressure on her shoulder disappeared. Orion grabbed the pistol on the ground and swung it toward a bounty hunter as he ran for cover. She felt the repetitive recoil as she fired several times at the running man. Her fourth shot found the mark and the man fell. Orion turned toward Stone as he rushed toward.

“Behind you!” he shouted.

Orion suddenly felt a blow to her hand and dropped the pistol. Before she could react, she was spun around and her head was forced backward by her hair. The cold, hard edge of a knife pressed against her neck.

“Let me go or I’ll cut her throat,” she heard the man behind her warn as she saw Stone moving toward her. His weapon was drawn and his gaze locked on the man behind her.

“Stop!” shouted the man. “Or I swear I—”

***

Stone fired and watched the man holding Orion tumble backward.

“You good?” he asked Orion.

“Y-yeah,” she replied, still recovering from the suddenness of Stone’s shot. “Thanks.”

“We need to move,” replied Stone. “If they reported us or someone called in the gunshots, this area will be crawling with Association security and Elite Guard in minutes.”

Stone heard a noise behind Orion and raised his pistol. It was Katalya, with Rickover in tow.

“Everyone okay?” she asked. “I heard the gunfire and—”

“We’re good, but let’s get back underground,” interrupted Stone as he and Orion started walking toward the others.

“Did we make contact?” asked Rickover.

“Yes,” replied Orion. “We’re supposed to be at dock A-354 at 0200 tonight.”

“Unless we’re compromised already,” murmured Stone.

“Well, we don’t have much of a choice,” grumbled a frustrated Orion. “If we don’t get off here, we’re dead.”

As the group neared the access, Stone scanned the area for threats.

It was clear. Too clear. There should have at least been a few drunks stumbling around. “We need to get underground now,” he said. “Something’s wrong.”

“It’s shut,” said Katalya as they reached the access. “We left it propped open.”

“Where’s the prop?” asked Rickover. “I put it here when we left.”