Omega Force: Savage Homecoming (22 page)

Jason was always wildly disappointed when they used laser weapons in space. In the vacuum of space they were completely invisible to the naked eye. The muted whine that was audible on the bridge was the only palpable indication they’d even fired. The effect on the target, however, was a different story. The hull lit up in a swirl of green and orange as photons were reflected back towards the gunship and the hull turned to slag from the energy being poured into it. After a scant four minutes of firing, the ship sat in space with no drive and no weapons.

Unsure if they still had sensor capability, Jason swung up and over the much larger vessel and put the gunship nose-to-nose and sat, hoping they’d eventually see reason. They didn’t have to wait long.

“We have a com request coming in, Captain,” Kage said after a few minutes.
“Audio only.”

“Put it on.”

“
What are your intentions?
” That was it. No introductions, demands, or threats. They knew they were beat and went straight to the point. In a way, Jason respected that.

“That will depend entirely on you,” Jason answered, mimicking Deetz’s ultimatum to Earth. “We have no intention of needlessly destroying your ship, but we will need to come to terms.”

“What are your terms?”

“My terms are simple. I want Deetz. Tell me where he is and we have a platform to negotiate from,” Jason answered. “Also, there are some things you need to be made aware of, things you won’t want to hear. I’m going to let one of your own, Sub-Commander De’Elefor Ka, explain that part to you.”

“
The mechanical creature, Deetz, is now in custody on our ship. We took him captive during the course of the battle. We will be willing to negotiate his release to you for assurances we won’t be destroyed
.” Jason was elated at the news that Deetz was actually on the ship in front of him. For a split second he almost caressed the trigger one more time to end the entire thing once and for all. But he stayed himself and sat back in his seat.

“That’s very good news. Stand by to hear from your sub-commander and receive a data package that includes video.” Jason made a chopping motion to let Kage know to close the channel. “Doc, you and Lucky take De’Elefor Ka to the com room so he can talk to the other ship’s captain and see if he can talk some sense into them.”

As the three began to file off the bridge, the A’arcooni stopped. “Thank you for sparing my people, Captain.”

“Let’s hope I don’t regret it. Now go, you’ve got some work to do.” When they were gone, Jason began to relax a bit and began rubbing the back of his neck where the muscles always tensed up during combat. “Let’s switch to passive sensors. We just need to know if there are any energy spikes that say we missed a weapons emplacement.”

“Copy that,” Kage said. Jason took control of the optical sensors from his station and played them over the hull of the other ship. Like those he’d faced before it, the hull was pitted and charred with countless impact marks and energy blasts. He reflected on what he was actually going to do with the A’arcooni. There was no doubt they had perpetrated an incredibly long string of capital crimes in the centuries they’d been cruising around in hijacked ships. It likely wouldn’t be up to him what happened, as there might be a line of species wanting justice for what they’d done.

He continued to relax further as the minutes dragged on without incident. Kage let him know that they had established two-way video communication with the other ship and their prisoner was doing his part. Out of curiosity, Jason punched up a feed of the conversation on one of his monitors and set it to display subtitles of what was said. He didn’t want to become too distracted by the drama of the situation and forget his duties while in the command seat.

As he expected, the captain of the other ship was highly skeptical of the claims De’Elefor Ka was making. He watched the video presentation with some consternation, as the recovered footage was mixed in with video of what A’arcoon looked like currently. There was a moment when De’Elefor Ka muttered a phrase that couldn’t be translated by the computer and the captain’s eyes went wide. After that he became a bit more tractable, and asked to speak to Jason.

“
Captain, we need you back here,”
Doc’s voice came over the intercom.

“You come up here and trade me seats,” Jason answered back. As soon as Doc came onto the bridge, Jason offered up the pilot’s seat and jogged back to the com room, which was aft of the bridge and along the starboard side.

“My commander wishes to speak with you, Captain,” De’Elefor Ka said as he entered. Lucky was standing unobtrusively in the corner, or at least as unobtrusive as a two-meter tall war machine can manage in a room the size of a closet.

“Hello again, Commander.
I’m Captain Jason Burke,” Jason said as he sat in the chair next to the A’arcooni, placing himself in the video feed. The main computer was handling translator duties, so there was an odd disconnect between the movements of the alien’s mouth and the sounds that came out of the speaker.

“I know who you are, Captain,” the commander said expressionlessly. “Deetz had given us detailed information on you, none of which was true, apparently. I am Supreme Commander Ta’Arlek Ka and I am ready to negotiate our surrender.”

“Before we start, is Deetz secured onboard your ship?” Jason asked, needing to get that detail out of the way even as he brought one of the slip-space transceivers online.

“He is. We have put him under armed guard in our detention area,” Ta’Arlek Ka said. “He will not be able to escape even with his considerable strength.”

“Very good,” Jason said as he punched in the com codes that would open a channel to the
Diligent
. “I’m bringing a third party into this negotiation, Commander Ta’Arlek Ka, someone much more versed in what needs to happen to integrate you into the intergalactic community in this region.” When the
Diligent’s
com officer came on the screen Jason requested to speak to Crisstof and told her what it was regarding. It didn’t take long for the white-haired being to appear. He looked slightly winded, and Jason figured he’d had to run to get to the com station.

“Hello, Captain. How can I help you?” he asked.

“I’m bringing you into the com channel I have open with Commander Ta’Arlek Ka, the Supreme Commander of the remaining Traveler ship,” Jason explained. “He wished to negotiate his terms of surrender and I figured you’d rather not have me doing that.”

“Ah, yes … that was probably prudent of you,” Crisstof agreed with a slight smile. “Very well, I am ready.”

Jason manipulated the controls and brought the slip-com feed onto the line he had open with the ship right off their bow.
Just like three-way calling.

The negotiations lasted the better part of an hour, and Jason was more or less an observer fairly early in the process. Crisstof agreed that some sort of restitution needed to be made by the A’arcooni, but their status as a species on the brink of extinction would likely gain them some favor. Both parties agreed that, if possible, the A’arcooni would eventually be relocated back to their homeworld.

Another issue that had already been suspected was that the health of the ninety-four A’arcooni on the remaining ship wasn’t good. Both the lack of proper maintenance and battle damage had exposed them to hazards that were causing genetic mutations and sickness. Crisstof would arrange to bring a medical ship to the area to begin treatment of the crew as soon as possible, as the
Diligent
was still busy with the
Penance.

“I think that settles the most pressing issues. I thank you for your cooperation and patience, Supreme Commander Ta’Arlek Ka. We will be in touch shortly,” Crisstof was saying. “Captain Burke, I will need to speak to you further.” After dismissing the A’arcooni commander and having Lucky escort De’Elefor Ka out of the com room, Jason and Crisstof were able to talk freely.

“Very well done, Captain! I am quite impressed.”

“You mean you’re impressed I didn’t just hit them with an anti-matter warhead?” Jason smirked. “Don’t give me too much credit. I still needed the location of Deetz. They’re just lucky he was onboard.”

“I don’t think you’re quite the hard case that you’d have me believe, but no matter. A job well done is a job well done. Now, I have some information on the main weapon the Traveler ships employ. I’m sending it as a data file that you can give to Twingo so you’re not mired in the technical details. It will tell him how to adjust your shielding to block it,” Crisstof said. Ignoring the implied insult, Jason didn’t see the point and said as much.

“Why do we care now? The last weapon has been disabled.”

“But we don’t know for sure that these three ships were the only ones left or that the Travelers aren’t out there with a third generation version of that weapon,” Crisstof said. “In my experience, once you’ve encountered something new you almost always see it again.”

“Fine,” Jason agreed, more to end the lecture than anything else. “So how does it work in layman’s terms?”

“It’s a type of synthetic sub-atomic particle that is attracted to active energy sources including something as basic as a chemical electric battery. It’s able to pass through most forms of matter, even reactor casings, and bond to molecules at the point of the reaction to inhibit the release of energy,” Crisstof said. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. There is a unique dichotomy to these ships. They’re both quite primitive and yet far more advanced than our own technology at the same time.”

“Interesting.
If Deetz had been able to get a maser-based version of that working, I doubt our shield technology would be able to stop such a concentrated particle stream,” Jason mused.

“So what are your immediate plans?” Crisstof asked.

“We’ll stay here for now and offer aid as needed until your med ship arrives. I’d also like to go over and secure Deetz sooner rather than later,” Jason said after a moment’s thought. “After that I guess we’ll need to rendezvous so I can collect Taryn’s parents and get them back home.”

“Be careful transferring Deetz. I don’t need to tell you how tricky he is.”

“I’m taking no chances,” Jason agreed. “I’ll be sending Lucky in full combat mode.”

“Since you have everything well in hand I suppose I’ll let—”

“Captain! Get up here!”
The call over the intercom coincided with a short klaxon burst, warning Jason that the ship had just been placed in full tactical alert. He raced out of the com room and up onto the bridge in time to see an explosion billow out of the port side of the Traveler ship. He could make out little detail visually at their current range, but it looked like something had flown out of the explosion.

“Talk to me!”

“Active sensor sweep shows a small ship flying away from the Traveler ship. Standby for resolution,” Twingo said. Jason already knew what it was before he answered, however. “It’s the same profile as the ship Deetz has been flying; sending the course plot to the nav system.”

Doc practically dove out of the pilot’s seat to make room for Jason. Once he was back in the hot seat, Jason began bringing the drive back online to pursue Deetz.

“Keep giving me active track updates,” he told Twingo. “This may actually work out. I don’t think Crisstof was going to let me just kill him anyway,” he muttered to himself.

“Tracking him moving out of the system, it looks like he’s accelerating to mesh out,” Twingo said from the sensor station. “Shit!”

“What?!”

“He dropped a tachyon bomb right before he jumped,” Twingo said, slamming his hands down on the console. “I don’t have a vector, not that it matters. He’s completely blinded the sensors for a second.” Jason stared out the canopy for a moment, everyone on the bridge watching him tensely. Resisting the urge to rip the console from the deck and throw it through a bulkhead, he slowly let out his breath and sat back.

“Contact Commander Ta’Arlek Ka and get a sitrep,” he said finally. “Keep the weapons in standby and the shields up, he may be coming back around to attack after he threw sand in our eyes.”

“Commander Ta’Arlek Ka is on the com,” Kage reported.

“Put it on here.”

“Captain Burke, I offer my sincerest apologies, but Deetz has escaped our custody,” Ta’Arlek Ka said, staring down at the deck of his ship as he did.

“I saw. So how did it happen?” Jason asked.

“He had two powerful beings on his ship acting as security. They broke him out of our detention area and he cut his way out from there.”

“Deetz had mercs on board his ship?” Jason looked in confusion at the rest of his crew. He then addressed Ta’Arlek Ka again. “Do you know anything about these mercenaries?”

“Only that he called them Korkarans. I assumed that to be their species.”

“Korkarans?!” Crusher leapt to his feet, suddenly very alert. “You’re sure he said Korkarans?”

“Very certain,” Ta’Arlek Ka answered.

“What does that mean to you?” Jason asked Crusher.

“Korkarans are very dangerous warriors for hire,” he answered. “They’re a subsect of a reptilian-like species. They’re strong, fast, and ruthless.” Jason just stared at his friend for a
moment, certain he was holding something back.