Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance (19 page)

Jason felt the heaviness of his multi-gun and the ambivalence of holding it any longer. Why bother? The fight was hopeless. With thousands of enemy warships en route, their destruction was a foregone conclusion. All would be lost. The sadness of it all. And regrets. So many regrets. Oh my God, Mollie. He’d been such a failure as a father. Jason dropped to his knees and heard his multi-gun clang across the deck plates. I’m sorry, Nan, so sorry for everything. Despair continued to spiral down, pulling him beneath the surface, suffocating him. Goodbye, Dira, I love you. He took a breath. Realization spread through him; yes, at least he had that. He really did love Dira. Now able to breathe, Jason attempted to get back to his feet. But the Mau had already leaned in, an outstretched arm and bony fingers extended to touch Jason. Ricket’s multi-gun, which was set at the highest plasma-burst level, not only took the Mau’s head clean off, but it took off a significant portion of his neck and shoulders as well.

With that, the spell was broken. Jason and his team returned to their feet, no longer feeling that same awful, debilitating, dread.

“
Why have you come here?” asked one of the Mau, although his distorted open mouth still had not moved. Jason realized he was dressed slightly differently from the others. Silk-like, the wispy material of his uniform hung loosely over his skeletally thin body. His uniform differed: not black like the others, more like the very darkest shade of red.

“
Don’t move. If any one of my crew gets emotional in the slightest degree, we’ll blow all your fucking heads off. You’ll speak only when answering our questions. Is that understood?”

“
Yes,” he said.

Jason brought his attention to his remaining SEALs. Rizzo was the last to get back on his feet, and from the expression on his face he would just as soon blow the Mau away, right here and now.

“
First of all, what did you do to us? What the hell was that?”

“
Our kind, the Mau, are a highly empathic race. The ability to manipulate the emotional state of less-evolved beings, especially humanoids, takes little effort.”

“
Let me show him what a less-evolved human can do to him, Cap,” Rizzo said.

Jason ignored Rizzo’s outburst.

“
All of you, get over there against the bulkhead,” Jason demanded, gesturing with the muzzle of his multi-gun toward the back of the bridge.

Ricket stood before one of the consoles. He took off his pack and started to remove the various items he’d brought along.

“
Who’s in charge here? You?”

“
I am the first officer, the one in charge.”

“
Where is your captain?”

“
On one of the other Mau vessels. He commands all three vessels.”

“
Fine. What is the total number of your vessels among the approaching Craing fleet?”

The Mau hesitated, but began speaking when Jason raised the barrel of his multi-gun.

“
There’s only these three in local space. More, close to five hundred, still within the Craing Fleet.”

“
Were you coerced? What made you join the Craing?”

The Mau leader turned to the other Mau huddled together at the back wall, then turned back and faced Jason. “We were not coerced. We requested to join them, and we have allied ourselves with them. It would be foolish not to.”

“
Terrific, so you’re telling me you’re no better than they are,” Jason said, not expecting an answer, and none was given. “How many on board this vessel?”

“
You cannot defeat us. As we speak, our security forces approach. There is not a Mau on this vessel, or on the other two, who does not know of your presence here.”

Jason glanced over to Ricket, who momentarily stopped what he was doing and looked up. “What he says is true, Captain. Their empathic capacity carries over. They have a unified telepathic connection between one another. My sensors indicate there are close to two hundred Mau on board each of the three Mau warships.”

Jason was prepared for the large Mau crew levels; Orion had scanned the three ships when they first encountered them. But he had hoped to bring forth more of an element of surprise from them.

“
Captain, I have configured their navigation, as well as other primary systems onboard this vessel, for remote control by The Lilly.”

“
And the Mau crew is locked out? From any other part of the ship as well?”

“
Yes, sir,” Ricket replied.

Jason wouldn’t be able to overcome two hundred Mau crewmembers. That was becoming obvious. But maybe he didn’t have to.

Jason hailed Perkins.

“
Go for XO.”

“
XO, we’re all set here. We’ve taken their bridge and you should have manual control via the remote station Ricket set up there.”

“
Aye, Captain. I’ll have McBride take a look, but we’d do better with Ricket back here.”

Ricket stood and nodded his head as if he were somehow able to hear their conversation.

“
He’s on his way. I’ll be joining you shortly as well.”

“
Captain,” Perkins added nervously, “as we speak close to a hundred Mau have entered the hold and encircled The Lilly. They don’t seem to be armed but our security team has them at gunpoint just the same.”

“
Yeah, they have a different kind of weapon. Let me know if there’s any changes.”

Jason cut the connection and brought his attention to the Mau first officer. “I warned you. Have your crew back off or you will be the next one to die.”

“
I cannot do that. I do not command the crew, the captain does. He is aware of the situation and he will not relinquish this vessel so easily. We are all expendable, our vessels are not.”

“
Where is he? Which vessel?” Jason didn’t wait for his answer. He fired a plasma bolt into the Mau crewmember standing to his right, who grabbed his wounded arm.

The first officer may have gasped, but his distorted, open-mouthed face was impossible to read. He slowly raised a hand, grim reaper-like, and pointed to the bulkhead off to the left.

“
Rizzo, hold this bridge while we’re gone. If you feel anything out of the norm, anything at all, kill them all.”

“
Aye, Cap.”

“
Okay Orion, you’re with me. Ricket, load us up with the phase-shift coordinates for that ship’s bridge.”

“
Done, Captain.”

“
Head on back to The Lilly. We’ll join you soon.”

Orion, Jason, and Ricket phase-shifted off the bridge at the same time.

* * *

Orion and Jason appeared onto the nearly identical-looking bridge with weapons held high. The bridge crew, including the captain, was ready for them. This time it wasn’t anguish that gripped Jason’s emotions, totally incapacitating him—it was rampant fear. He was face to face with the Mau captain, evident by his midnight-blue robe. Was it him? Was he the one invading Jason’s consciousness? What Jason felt was beyond anything he had ever experienced before. Abject, total fear: afraid to move, afraid to look into the bleak face before him, afraid to pull the trigger on his multi-gun.

As certain as he could possibly be, Jason knew he was going to die. It was going to happen right now. A foregone conclusion. This was the ultimate weapon and he had no defense against it. One quick glance at Orion and all hope was gone. She too stood paralyzed with fear.

The Mau captain was on the move. Slowly, patiently, coming for Jason. Both his arms rose up, no wasted energy expelled; he’d simply touch Orion and Jason together, end their lives all at once. The paralyzing fright seemed to only increase as Jason’s eyes locked on to the Mau captain’s elongated, mournful face, his mouth a black abyss of everything evil and forlorn. Jason felt warm wetness as his bladder gave way to the unrelenting terror engulfing him. Why had he come here without Ricket? Jason’s mind raced, looking for anything, any thought to cling on to. What was he thinking of before? The Mau was upon him, his fingers now encircling the arm of Jason’s combat suit. As if his emotions had been magnified tenfold, he felt his heart on the verge of bursting within his chest. Of literally being frightened to death. It would be over soon. No, he remembered, it wasn’t a what, but a who. Dira. Again. In the fraction of a second it took for the synapses in his brain to conjure up her magnificent image, he again had the familiar yearning. He felt the love. Jason’s finger twitched once, twice, then the trigger moved ever so little, but it was enough. The plasma bolt from Jason’s multi-gun hit the Mau captain dead center in his gaping, distorted mouth.

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Orion was quick to regain her composure and had her multi-gun leveled on the Mau crewmembers. Jason stared down at the captain’s still body. He pretty much looked the same dead as he had alive.

There was no way they could leave anyone alive on the other two Mau warships. He hadn’t thought it possible, but these Mau seemed to be as ruthless as the Craing. Their ability to immobilize an opponent through the manipulation of his or her feelings was deadly effective. The problem Jason faced was a big one. Once the ships’ weaponry was disabled, and its crew disarmed, they’d still need to deal with this other issue. Would it even be possible to neutralize that kind of weapon? One that six-hundred crewmembers possibly possessed? Which brought up something else … why hadn’t any of the other Mau on board quickly lashed out using the same ability?

Putting two fingers up to his ear, Jason hailed the XO.

“
Go for XO.”

“
We still have one fighter on board?”

“
Aye, Captain, the Pacesetter.”

“
Get Lieutenant Wilson prepped and have him phase-shift to open space. But he’s not to engage the enemy unless fired upon.”

“
He’s already prepped and ready, sir.”

“
Good. We also need Ricket back here; tell him to bring the same bag of tricks.”

“
Aye, Cap.”

Jason cut the connection and turned to the Mau bridge crew. “Who is in charge?” Jason asked the six remaining Mau crewmembers still huddled together.

They looked at one another and eventually one took a step forward. Jason hadn’t noticed any difference between them before, but this one was female, which was discernible only by the subtle curves of her body beneath her robe.

“
I am now the ranking officer on the ship. I am Ti.”

“
Okay, Ti. A simple question: do you want to live? Do you want the others on this vessel to live?”

Ti didn’t answer, only continued to stare open-mouthed in Jason’s direction. Jason brought his weapon up and pointed it in the direction of the others.

Finally she replied, “Yes, but that is a ridiculous question. I want to live. Naturally, all of us want to live.”

“
Do you all have the same empathic abilities?”

“
Of course. We’re born with them.”

“
Why haven’t you used them on us, as both your captain and first mate did?”

“
Think about it. Even you could probably figure that out for yourself.”

Terrific, Jason thought, a Mau with an attitude. “Answer the question.”

“
Can you imagine a vessel with close to two hundred crewmembers manipulating each other’s emotions? We do not allow that in our culture.”

“
But we’re the enemy, not your crewmembers,” Jason said.

“
Let’s say three of us attacked you in this way, but came at it differently. One uses the emotion of fear, another anguish, and another insecurity. The combined effect would be a jumble of emotions. There’s a problem with that. Some emotions counteract others. For this reason, and others, we have clearly-defined combat protocols, just as you would have for any of your weapons. It’s not a difficult concept. Think about it … can your vessel’s cook give the order to fire nuclear missiles?”

Jason almost smiled at that. “So you’re the one in charge now. What’s stopping you? Why haven’t you continued to attack us—or our ship, for that matter?”

“
We have evaluated the technology on your vessel. It is Caldurian, yes? Even with three warships, we cannot defeat you. Added to that, twice you personally have overcome Mon-Ge, which is what we call our empathetic ability. I may look different than you do, Captain, but I am not stupid.”

Jason was somewhat encouraged by the Mau officer’s candidness. “On the other Mau vessel, the first officer said the Mau sought the Craing out, asked to join their fleet.”

Ti didn’t respond.

Jason continued. “Theirs is a fleet that moves throughout the universe, killing all those that oppose them. Billions are killed. That or subjugated into slavery.”

“
Our planet has not been attacked, our people are untouched. Why do you think this is so?” she asked.

“
Because you’ve preemptively made it unnecessary.”

“
Yes. We have made the most intelligent decision based on our situation. A decision that has saved our planet.”

“
And you’re okay with that? You can sleep at night knowing you’re supporting such a diabolical race of people?”

Ti was quiet for a moment, her expressionless face staring at Jason. “We are not monsters, Captain. In fact, by our nature, we are a caring people.”

“
I’ll have to take your word for that,” Jason replied. He wanted the three Mau vessels, but more importantly, he wanted the Mau to willingly join the Alliance side. “I have a dilemma. With close to two thousand enemy Craing vessels headed this way, I have no time to screw around. You’re either with us or against us.” He was being hailed.

“
Go for Cap—”

“
The other cruisers are closing on us,” Perkins said. “They’re at battle stations, sir.”

“
Understood.”

Jason looked at the Mau officer and then at the others. “As I was saying, you’re either with us or against us. Join us, join the Alliance and fight the Craing. We’ll do our best to protect you, your people.”

“
I am but a low-level officer. The decision to join the Craing was a political one. A decision that affects billions of Mau.”

“
Live or die, it’s your choice. But it’s a choice you’ll have to make right now.”

Ti held stationary for several long moments, then spoke. “I communicated with the other officers on this vessel, as well as with those on the other two. We choose life.”

The Mau bridge crew moved slowly, gliding back to their respective stations. Five Craing light-battle cruisers came into view on the bridge’s central display.

Orion stepped in closer to Jason and spoke to him via NanoCom. “Cap, do you trust her? They may be sacrificing their own ships here.”

“
We could easily have self-destructed at any time,” Ti said, turning back in their direction.

Orion made a face behind her visor, evidently not liking her thoughts being read so easily.

The Mau crew moved somewhat more quickly now, and bony fingers tapped quickly at their station consoles. The Mau ship vibrated and Jason saw multiple missiles now targeting all five of the Craing warships. The Craing, without hesitation, fired off salvos.

“
Go for Cap,” Jason answered an incoming hail.

“
You want us to phase-shift The Lilly out of here, Captain?” Perkins asked, his voice nervous and several octaves higher than usual.

“
What’s the ETA on the incoming?”

“
Less than one minute, Captain.”

“
Stay put, but keep this channel open.”

Ti moved closer to Jason and put a hand on his wrist. “You fear our missiles won’t penetrate the Craing shields and that our own shields are inadequate. But you need not worry.”

Jason listened to the open channel audio feed coming from The Lilly’s bridge and the excited exchange of verbal commands and updates from the various bridge stations. All the chatter was in stark contrast to the near-silent battle updating on the Mau bridge. Jason watched as they continued to work at their stations. Perhaps what was exchanged in their telepathic relay wasn’t all that different.

A second, and then a third barrage, emanated from the three Mau destroyers. Plasma fire erupted from both sides—Craing and Mau alike. One by one, incoming missiles were targeted. Jason listened and watched his HUD. He heard Perkins yell for everyone to brace for impact. Both Jason and Orion reached out and grabbed for something solid to hold on to. The ship lurched as each incoming missile connected with the Mau ship’s shields.

“
Shields are holding,” came McBride’s voice back on The Lilly, but he’d spoken too soon. The display flashed white; blast debris, with large chunks from one of the Mau ships, flew into view on the display.

Immediately, Jason hailed Rizzo, his heart pounding. Losing the young SEAL would be a crushing, sad, blow. Thinking about it, Jason knew Rizzo and his team were still on board one of the Mau ships. No reply.

Two more flashes. The display showed two of the Craing light cruisers were now mere space dust. Then three more consecutive flashes. All five Craing vessels had been destroyed.

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

A security team of three armed SEALs now stood at the back of the bridge. Ti was being adamant and now hovered uncomfortably close to Jason as he prepared to leave.

“
Locking us out of our own helm, and other key ship system controls, exhibits bad faith. With our latest actions, haven’t we shown we are committed to helping you? Isn’t it obvious we’ve passed beyond the point of no return?”

Although her expression never changed, it was clear to Jason she was furious.

She continued, her frightening white face mere inches from his own: “We have alienated ourselves from our own fleet, from our own people! What more confirmation of loyalty do you need?”

Looking at her, Jason remained calm, wondering how she managed to speak when her mouth was frozen into an opened-wide perpetual grimace. Perhaps she was communicating through something at the back of her throat?

“
I appreciate that, truly I do. But taking such an action when held at gunpoint is far different than doing so voluntarily,” Jason said, really needing to get off their bridge. “Give it time. Prove yourselves.”

“
How do we do that when our freedom is so restricted?” she asked.

“
I don’t know. I’ll think about it—I promise. But right now I need to attend to my dead crewmembers.”

“
All six of them? And what about the two hundred of our own lost crew?”

That stopped Jason. He’d been insensitive with regard to the tremendous sacrifice Ti and her crew had recently made. But this was war and right now he needed to attend to the needs of his own crew.

“
We won’t forget what happened here today. What you have sacrificed. But I have to go. We’ll talk later.”

Orion and Jason phase-shifted back to The Lilly.

* * *

Orion and Jason entered the bridge together. Jason felt the heaviness that came from losing not only a close friend but a valued seaman too. The XO stood and Jason took his place in the command chair.

“
So what happened exactly?”

Ricket turned away from the Mau remote piloting station. “The Mau destroyer took multiple nearly simultaneous hits, Captain. First her aft shields went and then the others.”

Jason needed to accept the inevitable. Rizzo and the others were gone. At least it was quick, he thought, or fairly quick.

“
So, the destruction wasn’t really instantaneous?”

Ricket stared, but he didn’t comment.

“
How long do you think it would take a trained SEAL such as Rizzo to access his HUD’s Return to Last Location function?”

Everyone on the bridge stopped what they were doing and looked at Jason. Orion furrowed her brow and turned back to her station. As she started to enter something, Ricket moved in, pushing her aside. She moved over to the next station.

Ricket spoke while he worked: “Return to Last Location function would not necessarily bring him back to The Lilly. With multiple catastrophic explosions, and the fact that both Mau vessels had drifted in space—”

Orion beat him to it. “He could have phase-shifted into open space.” She leaned in and continued looking at the display. “Yes! I’ve got him! Got a signal.”

Ricket continued, “We had checked for life signs. None of the team’s combat suits showed signs of life, or anything else, for that matter. But checking Nano—”

“
Right there,” Orion interrupted, pointing up to a new video feed segment on the display. There, among countless chunks of debris, some the size of automobiles, others smaller even than a deck of cards, was a small, man-shaped object floating stationary in space.

“
It’s intermittent, but Rizzo’s nano-devices are definitely showing faint signs of life.” Orion got to her feet. “Request permission to take a shuttle out there and pick him up, Cap.”

“
Granted, but I’m going with you. We’ll get Dira on the way.”

* * *

Lieutenant Wilson was at the helm of the Caldurian shuttle. Orion, next to him in the copilot’s seat, watched out of the forward window. Seated behind them, Jason watched Dira opening and closing her assortment of medical bags, checking their contents, and readying her supplies. She glanced up and caught Jason looking at her.

“
You’re staring again.”

“
Nah, maybe I’m just making sure you’re doing everything correctly,” Jason replied with the hint of a smile.

“
Oh, okay. Well, let me know if you see anything amiss,” she replied, continuing with her work.

“
There he is!” Orion said, pointing straight ahead.

Jason and Dira, both dressed in combat suits, headed aft. Jason took one of the larger medical bags from Dira and waited for her to pass by him into the cramped airlock.

“
Cramped in here,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll all fit with Rizzo, especially if he can’t stand.”

Wilson’s voice announced over their comms that Rizzo’s body would soon be right outside the airlock hatch.

“
Stay in here and I’ll pass him in to you. Get to work on him. After the airlock closes, I’ll join you.”

Dira nodded and watched through the aft porthole as Wilson backed the shuttle in close to Rizzo’s body.

The airlock depressurized and the rear hatch slid open. Tethered with a line and pulling along a second one for Rizzo, Jason pushed off. Not more than ten feet away, Jason was upon Rizzo’s body in seconds. He reached out and grabbed Rizzo’s arm, pulling him in close so he could clip the other tether line onto a metal ring at his torso.

Rizzo’s battle suit was badly pitted, which was caused, no doubt, by shrapnel from the ships exploding apart all around him. As he pulled Rizzo back toward the shuttle, Jason got his first opportunity to look into Rizzo’s visor: a visor not only pitted, but cracked right down the middle.

“
Crap!” Jason said.

“
What is it, what’s going on with Rizzo?” Dira asked him, excitedly.

“
His helmet is cracked. I think moving him is making it worse. Shit! His helmet is breached,” Jason replied. He still had several feet to go and even then the airlock would take another minute or two of precious time. He hailed Ricket.

“
Go for Ricket.”