Overdrive (40 page)

In the corner of
her eye she could see her Captain waving at her nervously. His whole body shook
and the tic in his eye had worsened dramatically. She turned a baleful eye on
him. “Yes?”

The man shuddered
violently before answering.

“G..g..g..g..Gitanian
frigates have launched a full salvo of slipmissiles at us your Highness. Impact
in t..t..t..t..twenty seconds. Oh, and another ship has ap..ap..app..appeared
out of Nospace on an interception course with the yacht.”

Gabriella sat
forward in her command chair. This complicated matters.

“What did you
say?”

“G..g..g..g..”

“Oh, never mind.”
She interrogated the ships AI directly. In the state her Captain was in, she’d
have a better chance of getting the information more effectively if she went
directly to the source.

The information
coming from the ship was interpreted by her own AI. What she discovered made
her already foul temper even worse. Asel had finally chosen to enter the fray
and at the most inconvenient time too. She might have know. Even though she had
negotiated a joint venture with the Watchers; with Semyaza himself; it was only
a matter of time until he double crossed her. She knew full well that Semyaza
was behind this. He would have told his son Asel to grab the Overdrive at all
costs. It was what she would have done so she couldn’t really hold it against
him too much.

Asel was on an
intercept course with the unknown yacht. He’d aligned his jump through Nospace
exactly, appearing along the escape route of the small craft and effectively
blocking it from jumping. Good tactics.

If Felix and the
Overdrive were onboard that ship then Asel would have it.

She turned to her
Captain again. He seemed to have settled down, a slightly glazed look on his eye
indicating that someone had administered a large dose of sedative.

“Field’s at full
strength," she commanded. “Hold off those slipmissiles until Sammael is on
board and then target the Watcher ship. Do not, I repeat, do not fire on the
small yacht at any costs.”

The huge Valkyrie
pivoted in space, meeting the incoming slipmissiles head on where its fields
were the strongest. Each of the six frigates had launched upwards of 30
slipmissiles.

Fired from only a
few thousand kilometers away, the missiles only briefly disappeared into
Nospace, emerging 300km away from the turning Valkyrie. Within seconds, they
closed the gap and detonated against the ship’s fields. Any other ship would
have either struggled to repel an assault of such magnitude of simply been destroyed.
Gabriella’s Valkyrie, arguably the most powerful ship in the known galaxy,
withstood the attack with only a slight reduction in its field strength. A
combined assault of disruptors, plasma cannons and slipmissiles had a far
greater likelihood of penetrating the great ships defenses which the Captain’s
of the Gitanian frigates were only now realizing.

Sensors on board
the
Blazing Trumpet
indicated that the frigate’s were preparing to fire
their full complement of weaponry. Gabriella didn’t know how long they’d last
under such an attack although it didn’t look like it would come to that. The
ship’s AI informed her that Sammael and the shuttle were now safely on board.
She was now free to move the ship to whatever location she desired.

She gave her
orders and the ship slipped into the grey nothingness of Nospace. A few moments
later, the grey ripped apart to be replaced by the blackness of real space.
Just over 300 kilometers off the starboard bow lay Asel’s ship, The
Sweet
Bejesus
, its Ion engines ablaze as it raced to intercept the small yacht
ahead of it. Gabriella instructed the Captain to open a communication link and
waited until Asel’s visage filled her vision.

“Hey there, little
dog," she said with a smirk. “Your master’s here and she’s carrying a big
stick.” She nodded to her Captain. “You can fire when ready Captain. Try not to
leave any survivors.”

◊

“Calm down Felix."

“Fmmp yhm,"
replied Felix lying hogtied and gagged on the floor of the
Puritan
. Ram
Terry suspected he was being sworn at but under the circumstances it was
understandable.

Ram Terry eyed the
desperately struggling man. “Look here my friend. I know Crystal. She’ll be
alright. I’m sure she will find some way off the station. As for Tarquin, he’s
a resourceful fellow; he can look after himself, I’m sure.”

Felix, looking
hardly reassured, increased his struggles and tried to glare balefully at the
leader of the Church of the Holy Lamb. Hampered by his struggling and generally
awkward position, it wasn’t a very good glare. Nevertheless, Ram Terry was
slightly taken aback. The good natured person he knew was suddenly replaced by
a madman.

Can’t really
blame him
, thought his
Raminess. His girlfriend and one of his best friends get left behind at the
tender mercies of one of the Galaxies foremost psychopaths. He wouldn’t be that
happy either. Not that he wasn’t worried either.

He loved Crystal
like a sister; albeit a sister that was physically impossible; and would be
devastated if anything happened to her. That was however, unlikely. He knew the
girl well; they had grown up together. One thing he did know about Crystal was
that she could look after herself.  Not only was she resourceful but she also
possessed the same powers as a Seraphim or first order Angel.

Still
, he thought,
that Sammael is a ruthless
sod. If anyone could think of a way to harm her, it would be him
.

Dwelling on the
past or on what would or wouldn’t happen was hardly helpful. Sammael, it would
seem, had made good his escape and was now en route to Gabriella. With him,
presumably, was either Tarquin, Crystal or both. Ram Terry felt sure that
Sammael would keep both alive as hostages or bargaining chips for the
Overdrive. No point in worrying about it though. There was nothing Ram Terry
could do at the moment anyway. The most important thing was to get Felix and
the Overdrive to safety.

After Tarquin had
left to help, Ram Terry, Felix, Walter, Bruce and the four shepherds had waited
anxiously for their return. With the other PDS station about to dock, Ram Terry
decided that they couldn’t wait any longer. He’d ordered his shepherds to lock
Knights Captain Tynan in the bathroom and get the small yacht clear for a jump
into Nospace.

At about this
time, Felix had exploded, demanding that they wait for Crystal and Tarquin’s
return. After becoming rather insistent and even hostile, Ram Terry had no
option but to order his Shepherds to restrain the distraught engineer.

Logan, who was
still unconscious and in the med unit, was in no position to assist his friend.
Ram Terry was thankful for that. The situation could have easily gotten out of
control if the former military intelligence man was on hand to back his friend
up. As for Walter and Bruce, Bruce had been offered a permanent position with
the Shepherds as security and as a result was in no position to interfere.
Walter could only offer some half hearted protests.

Now, only moments
away from Nospace and safety, Ram Terry was starting to relax. He had both
Felix and the Overdrive. All they had to do now was to get back to Novelle New
Zealand. By now hopefully, Novelle New Zealand had organized their defenses and
it would be safe to head straight to it.

There was no way
of contacting them to see if all was clear. Any message he sent would more than
likely fall into the hands of the Areopagites. If his people had not prepared
themselves, he, the others and the Overdrive would all fall into the
Areopagites hands, and probably die a very horrible death. Not particularly
comforting but Ram Terry was a realist. If the Areopagites got their hands on
this technology, their stranglehold on the galaxy would be complete and
independent religious organizations such as the Shepherds would be wiped out.

If, on the other
hand, the Overdrive was developed by the Shepherds, Ram Terry would do
everything he possible could to restore the status quo in the galaxy. With such
thoughts clear in his head, he left Felix still struggling on one of the lounge
couches and trotted into the small bridge where two of his shepherds sat. He
entered just as the two of them yelped in surprise.

“What is it?” he
asked.

One of his
shepherds gave Ram Terry a startled glance. “A ship has just jumped out of
Nospace. Its effectively blocking our escape.”

“Who is it?”

“Its the Watcher
ship, the
Sweet Bejesus
. She’s closing fast. What should I do your
Raminess?”

“Move us off this
trajectory. We still may be able to get clear for the jump to Nospace. Whatever
you do, don’t let them get close enough to board, there’s too much at stake.”

The Shepherd
nodded, then closed his eyelid to communicate with the ship.

“We are faster and
more maneuverable," said Ram Terry. “We should be able to outrun him
providing of course that nothing else gets in our way.”

“Oh god,"
said the other Shepherd.

“What is it now?,"
exclaimed a thoroughly frazzled Ram Terry.

“Another ship. Its,
oh shit, its Gabriella your Raminess. She’s on the same trajectory. We can’t
escape.” The Shepherds voice was rising with every word he uttered.

“Stay calm my
Shepherds," said Ram Terry, sounding anything but calm himself. He was all
out of ideas.

A familiar figure
pushed his way past Ram Terry.

“Is there a
problem here guys?”

Logan, still
looking worse for wear, eyed the tactical screen dubiously.

“This is just my
opinion of course, but I’d say you fellas are gonna have to do some creative
flying to get us out of this shit.” He looked at one of the Shepherds in the
command seat. “Want me to take over”? The Shepherd nodded hurriedly, relief
stark on his face. He leapt out of the chair, making way for Logan. The former
military intelligence operative settled gratefully into the chair with a sigh
of relief.

“I don’t know
about you guys, but I feel like shit," he said, closing one eyelid and
opening a link with the ships AI. “Just out of interest," he continued
conversationally,  “why is my good mate Felix tied up?”

Ram Terry motioned
for the other Shepherds to get out. “Felix was behaving irrationally.”

“Why?,” asked
Logan, distracting by his interface with the ship.

“Its about
Crystal”

“Oh, I get it,
women problems.” Logan smiled knowingly.

Ram Terry waited
patiently for Logan to ask some more pertinent questions but they never came.
Instead, there was a long silence as Logan’s attention was focused fully on the
ship.

Finally, Ram Terry
could sense that the dreaded question was coming; where was Logan’s lifelong
friend Tarquin? He possessed a great deal of empathy and a limited form of
telepathy. How would Logan handle it? Would he get violent? Would he be unable
to pilot the ship to safety?

Logan opened his
mouth. “On a more urgent and personal level, is the person in the toilet ever
going to come out? I’m busting.”

◊

“So, this is the
famous Snareball player. Quite impressive aren’t you.”

Tarquin tried to
smile up at the Angelic figure above him. It was hard when someone was standing
on your head.

“Lots of women
fans seem to think so," he replied, struggling to push the offending foot
away.

The offending foot
belonged to Sammael who proceeded to push down even harder, forcing Tarquin’s
face into the floor of the command deck.

“It seems we
haven’t been formally introduced. My name is Gabriella, Cherubim of the
Areopagites and member of the ruling council.” She smiled winningly at the part
of Tarquin’s face that could still be seen above the decking and Sammael’s
foot.

Despite the fact
that he was in some discomfort, Tarquin couldn’t help but be dazzled by the
lovely smile. And what a woman! Great curves, spectacular looks, lovely long
blond hair. Even the wings he found strangely alluring. The part of his mind
that wasn’t scared suggested some pretty devious sexual positions involving
those wings. He told it to shut up.

“Pleased to meet
you," he said, polishing up his best grin, which under the circumstances
emerged as some grotesque caricature of a smile.

“What lovely
manners. I’d love to get to know you a little better," she said with a
lascivious wink, “but I’m afraid we’re running out of time. Or should I say,
you’re running out of time.”

She turned her
back on both Sammael and Tarquin and faced the main tactical screen.

“Stand him up."

Sammael, flanked
by two burly Angels, roughly dragged Tarquin to his feet. A cut above the
gladiator’s eye trickled blood down his chin where it slowly dripped onto his
shoes. In front of him, Gabriella eyed the tactical screen. Two icons were so
close to her ship as to look almost a part of it. Asel’s ship, the
Sweet
Bejesus
, lay floating and crippled some 300 kilometers distant. Gabriella’s
opening attack had destroyed their field generative ability, weapons systems
and Ion drive. The other icon represented the
Puritan
. It was stationary
less than 200 kilometers away; unable to use its Slipdrive because of
Gabriella’s presence.