Star Watch (22 page)

Jason looked at Ricket, standing at the side of his command chair. “What do you know about the Blues?”

“Captain?”

“How did they know Boomer was on board and that she was the one … the one who’s mentioned in the prophecy? And how could they possibly know the
Minian
had a Zoo habitat portal into that dreary world of theirs?”

Ricket contemplated that for a moment. “I too have wondered those things, Captain. It is why I want to see those ancient tablets firsthand. That planet, which is actually called Harpaign, lies there, within the Blues’ solar system.”

“I didn’t realize that … but why not just access the planet directly from our HAB 7?”

“Captain, Zoo habitats are, in all actuality, alternate, typically small, several hundred-square-mile multiverse representations of the actual planet, in its own dimensional reality. Each habitat is typically set at a different, much older, point in time than our own.”

“So, you’re saying, in order to ensure we’re dealing only with their true reality … we need to go directly to Harpaign?”

“I would say so … Captain. But there is something else … something I have not yet figured out.”

“What is that?”

“Prince Aahil Aqeel and Capri Sharan and the other nomads … how did they enter HAB 7? Remember … only through a portal does one access one of the Caldurian closed habitats.”

“That’s an excellent question, Ricket. One … we need to ask them as soon as possible.”

“They are no longer on the
Minian
, Captain. I ventured into HAB 7 right before coming here. I walked amongst the ruins. I found the gap and the subterranean room, but there was no sign anywhere that anyone had actually been in there for hundreds of years.”

Jason froze. “That’s not possible.” His thoughts flashed to Boomer. “
Minian
… locate my daughter.”

“Boomer is no longer on board the
Minian
,
Captain Reynolds,” the AI replied.

Jason stood. “What was her last known location and who was she with?”

“Within the Zoo habitats … she was located directly outside of Habitat 7. She was accompanied by Prince Aahil Aqeel and Capri Sharan, as well as her droid … Dewdrop.”

Damn it!
They’d taken her to complete her training.
But why take her away from the
Minian
or HAB 7?
At least she had her droid with her. He’d often witnessed its loyalty for her wellbeing. Boomer had proven herself remarkably capable, surviving situations against near-impossible odds.
Okay, Boomer … I have to trust you know what you’re doing. You just better come back safe … and soon.

Chapter 31

Dacci System

The
Minian
, the Zoo

_________________

Leon stood at the back of the bustling crowd of crew personnel within the
Minian
’s Zoo corridor. He marveled at the vast compartment’s collection of alien world habitats. He looked over to several nearby near-transparent portal windows. These strange environments held hundreds of alien worlds—bizarre alien species. A few of which were currently staring right back at him.

Hanna joined him at his side and smiled. “Pretty cool, don’t you think?”

“Huh? Oh … yeah, I guess. But I think more than a few creatures are sizing me up as a potential meal … it’s kinda creepy.”

Hanna laughed at that. “Thank you again for doing this, Leon. It means a lot to me. I know this little excursion isn’t just for me … Stalls will potentially be their passport to enter into Dacci space. But I do need to find my missing husband, too, so I hope, with Bristol’s help, Stalls will be willing to help me.”

“Why wouldn’t he? You
are
his sister … right?”

“Stalls is an opportunist and a psychopath, among other things. We were never close … he’s always been abusive … even when younger. He’ll only help me if there’s something in it for him.”

“Sounds like a terrific fellow.”

“Anyway … thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Leon changed the subject: “The way Ricket explained it, we should be able to get in and out of there in a matter of hours. That new little ship looks more than capable of getting us where we need to be.” Leon nodded toward the highly streamlined craft, taking up much of the corridor in front of them. He was impressed, not only with its size, but how it was manufactured—right here on the
Minian
, apparently, and all within the past twenty-four hours. Ricket explained earlier that this was the third such craft he’d manufactured—this one the most advanced and his favorite; for that reason he’d christened it the
Charm
.

“We’re all going to fit inside that thing?” Hanna asked.

“With room to spare,” a voice countered back, from the group of military people standing at the side of the
Charm
. “Hi … I’m Lieutenant Commander Grimes,” she said, approaching them. “I’ll be your pilot today.”

Leon took in the small-framed, compact fighter pilot, guesstimating her to be no more than five foot two. She wore her hair short, in a bob style, with bangs—
cute
. She looked highly competent. Some vulnerability showed, though, in her expressive brown eyes. They held each other’s stare for a fleeting moment. Leon felt Hanna stiffen at his side.

“Why not just do that … phase-shifty thing?” Hanna asked.

Grimes smiled at the question. “The habitats,” she gestured with her hand to the surrounding portals, “these environments are replicas of various planet surfaces. They exists within the multiverse … they’re not actually residing on the other side of the windows. You can’t phase-shift from the
Minian
’s Zoo into a habitat. Once inside that’s a different story … your battle suit has an actual reference point.”

“That makes sense … and why so many people to pick up one marooned pirate?” Hanna asked, surveying the six or seven armed men standing nearby in their battle suits.

Grimes said, “It’s always better to be prepared … this particular habitat has a most-unfriendly environment. Too many Serapin Terplins.”

“Serapin …?” Hanna asked.

“Serapin Terplins … think
Jurassic Park
raptor. Then add on a foot or two in height and color the beasts bright blue. They communicate with each other and, from what I hear, there’s even a few that fly.”

One of the battle suit-clad men approached. Leon recognized him from the sky-port back on Trom. “We’re ready, if you are.”

“Thanks, Rizzo,” Grimes said. “Rizzo is leading our assault team. They’ll keep us safe and make sure Stalls doesn’t try any funny business.”

Rizzo smiled and nodded, first at Leon, then Hanna. Hanna smiled back and pushed her hair away from her face. Leon noticed Hanna was still watching as the young SEAL returned to his men.

A voice came from behind. “What are we waiting for?”

Leon turned around to see Bristol walking toward them, eating what looked like a slice of toast. His eyes were on the
Charm.
Grinning, his
mouth full of half-chewed bread, he said, “Cool … he built another one.”

* * *

Once everyone was on board the small craft, Ricket showed up outside the
Charm
and entered what seemed an almost endless code into an access panel, located at the side of HAB 331. Then, with only a little back-and-forth maneuvering within the corridor, Grimes eased the
Charm
through the now-open portal. Viewing him through a starboard observation window, Leon saw Ricket, in the corridor, wave as the ship slowly departed the
Minian
and entered the habitat.

Rizzo sat next to Grimes in the compact cockpit, while the rest of the assault team, along with Hanna and Leon, sat in the cabin directly behind. Seated in the front row seats, Hanna sat between Leon and Bristol. Leon, as well as the others, could see into the cockpit and out its front observation window. A sandy, desert-like environment lay outside, with a range of jagged, rocky mountains ahead.

“How you going to find him?” Leon asked.

Grimes maneuvered the
Charm
several hundred feet up in the air, moving onward. “We already know where he is. He’s fitted with a tracker … but the
Charm
’s
sensors will detect his location even if he’s found a way to remove it.”

“So, then, where is he?” Hanna asked.

Bristol extended a skinny arm and pointed to the 3D display hovering in front of Grimes and Rizzo. “That red dot there … that would be your first clue.”

Leon really didn’t like Bristol—always a
smartass
remark—the shitty attitude.
Why do these people put up with the guy?

Leon felt the little vessel pick up speed, now on course toward the red icon. He glanced toward Hanna and saw the anticipation on her face. His attraction to her had only grown over the past few days, but her having a husband definitely changed things. That, and the fact that he knew she was trouble. He’d met others like her before … and his inner voice was telling him, screaming at him, to stay clear. Too many secrets—too many hidden agendas … and again, that whole missing husband thing.

They passed the rocky cliffs and soon a gorge of sorts came into view. Smoke billowed into the air and Leon could see bright red lava flows streaming in various places along the chasm.

“How the hell did he do that?” Rizzo asked, leaning forward and looking downward as they passed over what had to be quite a magnificent obstacle for anyone attempting to traverse from one side of the chasm to the other.

Grimes said, “You got me … he wasn’t supposed to be able to leave this desert and mountain-ridged area. From what Captain Reynolds told me, although he’s armed with a multi-gun, he was left stranded on that high mountain ledge back there …” She laughed. “He didn’t even have clothes to wear … thanks to the captain.”

“Yeah, heard that, too,” Rizzo said. “Okay … looks like we’re getting close … go ahead and bring us down.”

Leon noticed on the display there were a significant number of orange icons showing up, moving in a line, with a sole red icon, also moving.

“I take it there’s other inhabitants here?” Leon asked.

“Besides the Serapins … there’s a bunch of ancient Craing warriors running around on this side of the volcanic chasm. This habitat is based on a small slice of the Craing world of Halimar … but as it appeared thousands of years ago,” Bristol said. “I’ve been to this shit hole … the sooner we do what we came for, the better.”

Rizzo, his visor open, seemed to think Bristol’s comments humorous. The
Charm
landed on a flat, seemingly endless field of green grass. From Leon’s perspective, it resembled any number of places back on Earth—Kansas, Ohio, or eastern Colorado. Rizzo got to his feet. “You three … once outside initialize your SuitPac devices. It may look safe out there but, I assure you, it’s not.”

One by one, everyone disembarked through the rear hatchway. Hanna stepped away from the ship and looked around. “It’s nice here.”

Rizzo leaned close to her and pinched the SuitPac device at her belt. Immediately, a segmented battle suit covered her head to toe. Leon saw her shielded eyes take in the icons and various readouts displayed on her HUD.

“You’ll get used to it all,” Leon said. “It looks a lot more intimidating than it really is.” He triggered his own SuitPac. The first thing he noticed were quickly approaching orange icons.

Rizzo said, “You three … stay down on the ground and keep out of the way.” He, and the six others on his assault team, quickly spread out, their multi-guns raised.

In the distance, Leon heard an increasing clattering noise. The ground began to vibrate beneath his prone body’s battle suit. Then, on the horizon, he saw something. He worked his HUD settings and zoomed in. It was a line—easily twenty-five small chariots, all charging forward, each manned by a small Craing. And these chariots weren’t being pulled by horses, but by blue-colored beasts, the Serapins. And they were all charging in their direction.

At the center of the charge, and slightly ahead of the others, was a larger chariot, being drawn by two equally larger Serapins. A human, wearing a leather breastplate, held the reins.

Bristol, directly to Leon’s right, said, “No fucking way … Stalls!”

Chapter 32

Dacci System

The
Minian
, Zoo Habitat 331

_________________

Leon got to his feet and watched as a single, straight-line formation of chariots charged forward, with no sign of slowing. Churned up chunks of grass, small rocks, and dirt clods were sprayed into the air from pummeling, powerful, Serapin claws—adding to the almost cinematic effect of the oncoming spectacle. Long, wet strings of saliva hung from open, gaping jaws … embedded with unusually long, and undoubtedly sharp, teeth. Suddenly, and not a moment too soon, the pirate captain reined in his two charging Serapins and, in a dramatic, climatic show of piloting control he, followed by the other chariot drivers, pulled hard on their reins and brought their chariots to an immediate skidding halt, no more than thirty yards from where Leon and the others were standing.

Rizzo and his team had their multi-guns held high: the stocks of their weapons up against their shoulders, their muzzles pointed at the new arrivals. Similarly, twenty-five Craing warriors stood with their arms outstretched, bows fully drawn, with arrows poised for flight.

It was a show worthy of applause. Especially since it was all for show. Leon figured Stalls must be well aware that arrows would have zero impact on their battle suits. He must also be fully cognizant that the assault team’s weaponry would bring down his little Craing army in mere seconds, if it came to battling. No … this was all for show.

Bristol was the first to retract his battle suit, soon followed by Hanna. Next, Leon retracted his suit as well—not wanting to show he was any less brave, even in the face of all those arrows, still pointed in their general direction. Leon stepped to Hanna’s side. “Good God, I guess that smell is something one gets used to,” he said under his breath, gesturing toward the twenty-six jittery, steaming hot, Serapin beasts. But Hanna’s attention was fully on the tall man, now stepping down from out of the rear of his chariot. As he turned away from them for a second, Leon saw him from behind and noted he had a long, black ponytail hanging down to the middle of his back. As he now approached, Leon saw Stalls smile. But his smile wasn’t what one would expect from someone seeing a long lost relative, or even a good friend, again. No, he wore a smile of contempt and arrogance. His self-importance was almost tangible, something Leon almost could reach out and touch.