Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance (18 page)

Next door, Nan and Mollie sat out on the old porch eating grilled cheese sandwiches and watched as Teardrop tirelessly worked into the night. Nan marveled at the drone’s ability to do what fifty, maybe even a hundred, men could accomplish—all in a fraction of the time.

She looked out over the scrapyard and beyond to the foothills of San Bernardino. This place would never be her first choice for a home. But life was different now. There were security issues to contend with, and Jason would never be far from The Lilly. That meant staying close to this old scrapyard and the hidden underground aquifer.

Even so, she thought that maybe she was pushing things. Well, no matter what, this old house was close to falling in on itself. If Mollie was going to stay here, even part of the time, something needed to change. And just maybe Jason would like the new place.

Nan saw Teardrop hovering nearby, holding a set of architectural plans. “Would now be a good time to talk about the added security items you’ve requested?”

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“
We came out of FTL for this?” Stalls asked.

“
It’s taken more of a beating than I thought. From the looks of things she must have put up quite a fight,” Pike said, admiration in his voice.

The bulbous, almost angry-looking vessel drifted and seemed to list to one side. Scorched and showing what could only be the result of repeated plasma fire, it was obviously dead in space.

“
Destroyer-class, Captain. Eight rail-guns, multiple energy weapons and something else.” Pike leaned in closer to the display on his station. “Ah, a toric-cloaking device!”

Captain Stalls impatiently looked over at the old bearded pirate, waiting for him to continue.

“
I’ve seen these before, Captain. Ships with that kind of technology were more prevalent a hundred years ago, but sure enough, this ship can disappear and be totally undetectable by sight and sensors.”

“
Why am I just hearing about this now? Why doesn’t every warship have this technology?”

“
Three words: black zodium crystals. Can’t be synthesized in a lab and the only source was on a planet the Craing destroyed a century ago. Oh yes, without a doubt an excellent bit of technology over there … no doubting that.”

Captain Stalls continued to look at Pike, then the edges of his mouth turned up.

“
And no life forms detected?”

“
Not that I can see; probably been drifting out here for years. Nothing more than scrap.”

Stalls turned and found his younger brother asleep in his chair at the rear of the bridge. A new goliath-sized pimple had formed at the end of his prominent nose.

“
Bristol! Bristol, wake up!”

His brother stirred and eventually looked up through half-opened eyes.

“
What? What’s with the yelling?”

“
On the viewer. Ever see a ship like that?”

Bristol glanced up and shrugged. “I don’t know. Who gives a fuck? It’s a wreck, space trash.”

Stalls walked to within several feet of his brother and stooped, hands on knees, leaning in closer. “Ever heard of a toric-cloaking device?”

That evoked another glance at the viewer. “Yeah, that technology went away sometime last century.”

“
Well, there’s one on that ship over there.”

Bristol, now awake, sat up and took a better look at the destroyer.

“
Eston, are you serious? It’s just a wreck.”

“
Don’t call me by my first name.”

“
Whatever—it’s a wreck, Captain.”

“
I know it’s a wreck. Forget the wreck! Could you get me that device, retrofit Her Majesty?”

Another shrug. “Maybe, but why? Don’t you have enough hell-fire with this monstrosity of a ship already?”

“
You’re going over there. I want you to join a team and evaluate if it’s repairable. Can you do that for me?”

Bristol yawned in his brother’s face and shrugged again. “I guess—whatever.”

* * *

His environmental suit was a joke; nothing like the form-fitting battles suits worn on The Lilly. Bristol turned around and looked down at the back of his legs and the baggy extra material that seemed to hang off his ass. Annoyed, he stepped into the compact shuttle, joining three crewmen waiting for him.

“
It’s about time, Bristol,” the leader and largest of the three men said. Bristol would never admit it, but he liked him. Simply called Knock by everyone, he was one of the few in his brother’s band of idiots who seemed to actually have a brain—that, and he didn’t tease him like everyone else. Knock was seated up ahead, behind the controls in the cockpit.

He turned and looked back at Bristol. “Where’s your weapon?”

“
I guess you’re holding it. If someone needs to be shot, go for it … have at it.”

Knock tapped on a touchscreen and the rear hatch slid into place with a sucking thump. He said something into his comms and the little shuttle moved away into open space. Bristol looked out from the rear porthole as the rest of Her Majesty came into view. What an embarrassment, he thought. The luxury liner was big and clumsy, with cheesy gold scrollwork painted across her outer hull. New armaments had been added to virtually every flat surface—some seemed to point, rather precariously, back at the ship itself. What a clusterfuck.

A large section of the wrecked destroyer’s flight deck was open to space and allowed barely enough room for the shuttle to clear the outer hull and pass into the mangled bowels of the vessel. Debris was scattered across much of the deck. They eventually found an area clear enough for them to set down. Knock cut power to the drives. They sat there while the cabin vented the breathable atmosphere back into holding tanks. The hatch slid open and, now weightless, Knock pulled himself out of the cockpit and toward the rear of the shuttle.

“
Everyone out.”

Bristol was the last one to pull himself out of the hatch. In the pitch dark, even their helmet lights did little to illuminate their surroundings. Crossbeams hung haphazardly from above and loose cabling dangled from virtually everywhere. Bristol careened into something and was enveloped into a web of more cabling.

“
Careful!” Knock barked from up ahead. The two other pirates, Bristol had no idea what their names were, pulled him free and pushed him down a narrow corridor in the same direction Knock had gone. An HUD warning indicated Bristol’s pulse rate was spiking. There was very little he didn’t hate about this sort of thing: confined spaces, the dark. Why hadn’t he brought a weapon? At least Knock seemed to know where he was going. His helmet light was stationary up ahead. Bristol, moving slowly, was repeatedly pushed and shoved from behind. Timing it, he thrust a leg backward, and nailed one of them in the head. The shoving stopped and eventually Bristol arrived at an opening. Knock was looking at something.

“
That it?” he asked.

Bristol pulled himself around the circular compartment. A compartment dedicated to one thing only: housing a toric-cloaking device. Bristol estimated it was twenty feet in diameter and eight feet tall. At the top were hundreds of thick feeder channels, like branches on a large tree.

“
Yep, this is it. Looks to be in pretty good shape,” Bristol replied, pulling himself around the large device. “You’ll need those too,” Bristol said, pointing to five large barrel-shaped devices mounted to the bulkhead.

“
What are those?” Knock asked.

“
They’re basically optical power converters,” Bristol said, looking over at the three pirates. “So, how the hell are you going to get all this out of here?”

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Jason was back talking to Billy for the third time in less than an hour. His eyes were still on the display and the three distant side-by-side Mau vessels. Just looking at them made him feel uneasy. The Craing, although cunning, were basically cowards when it came to fighting and squaring off one on one. But now they would be going up against a new combatant, the Mau. Would he be able to turn them as he had the rhino-warriors? Billy’s voice brought his attention back to matters at hand.

“
Cap, I’m telling you there’s simply no way to keep them from killing each other. Truce or not, those two rhino breeds can’t be on the same planet,” Billy said, exasperated.

“
Can’t Traveler command them—?”

“
Oh no, he’s the worst of them all. He just ripped an arm from a Red rhino who was three feet taller and proceeded to use it to beat the snot out of him.”

“
Do your best, Billy. We’ll return as soon as we can.” Jason cut the connection and opened a new one to Rizzo.

“
Have your SEALs ready to go in five. We’ll meet you in the mess.”

“
Aye, Captain.”

Jason stood up from the command chair. “Okay, XO, we should be pretty good at this by now. Once we phase-shift into their hold, jam their communication capabilities. That’s crucial if this plan is going to work.”

“
Aye, sir.”

“
We’ll deploy and get control of their bridge. We all need to remember these aren’t Craing. I’m expecting there’ll be more resistance. I’ll leave you a security team of ten SEALs.”

Orion got up from her station and joined Jason; together they left the bridge and headed for the DeckPort. They stepped out onto Deck 2 and quickly made their way to the Gunnery. Ricket was already there, holding his helmet under his arm.

“
Good. You’re bringing along everything you’ll need?” Jason asked.

“
Yes, Captain. Although I’m unfamiliar with the technology on that vessel, I’m bringing what I expect will be required.”

Jason noticed Ricket had on a stuffed-to-capacity backpack that was nearly as big as he was. “You want me to carry that?”

“
I can carry up to twelve hundred pounds, Captain.”

“
Sure you still want to get rid of that body of yours?” Jason said with a smile, but regretted the comment as soon as he said it.

Ricket didn’t answer and didn’t seem to be fazed by it. Once they’d finished suiting up and were armed with sidearms, as well as with multi-gun rifles, they headed together to the mess hall. Rizzo and the other SEALs stood at the ready.

“
Okay, this drill is going to be somewhat different than how we typically phase-shift into the belly of combatant vessels. Ten of you will secure the LZ and stay put. Before they even know we’re there, the rest of us will phase-shift directly onto their bridge and take control. The whole operation shouldn’t last more than a few minutes. That’s the plan, anyway. Questions?”

Rizzo shook his head, “We got it, Cap.”

Rizzo broke the men into two ten-man teams and everyone put on their helmets. Jason hailed the XO.

“
Go for XO.”

“
We’re ready on our end.”

A moment later everything flashed white and Jason knew The Lilly was sitting in one of the vessel’s hold areas. The bridge coordinates had been pre-loaded into their HUDs and all that was needed was to select Activate. Jason said, “Go,” and the assault team of fourteen disappeared.

* * *

His team appeared in an instant and caught the Mau off guard. The bridge was crescent shaped, more long and slender than wide. Jason wasn’t sure if the Mau were humanoid or not. They did not move, did not respond to the sudden presence of a team of infiltrators. Jason and the others raised their weapons, even though there weren’t any hostile moves. What struck Jason was an overwhelming sense of dread. A dread so profound his emotions were incapacitating him to the point that even standing was difficult. One SEAL, shoulders sagging forward as if holding the world upon his back, slowly dropped to one knee, then onto the deck. Tears filled Jason’s eyes, making it difficult to see. Through blurry eyes, Jason got his first look at the closest of the Mau standing before him. His face, all their faces, stared emotionless, mouths drawn open as if in a perpetual scream. Their skin was white, with a deathly blue tint, which was in stark contrast to the utter blackness of their surroundings. Bulkheads, consoles, even the uniforms worn by the eight Mau bridge crewmembers were black or dark grey. Two more SEALs dropped, both curled on the deck in fetal positions. A Mau crewmember drifted over to the fallen men. Slowly he bent over, reached out and touched one SEAL, and then the other. As the Mau moved back, the SEALs flailed and grabbed at their helmets. Jason watched them both die like that, with their hands clutching at their helmets.