Shadow Core - The Legacy (34 page)

“This would be a lot easier if we could contact him in order to co-ordinate our efforts,” Nexus said.

“I agree, but these bodies don't have Cores and the ship doesn't know it's us. We're going to have to do this the old fashioned way I'm afraid,” Static said.

“Whatever we're going to do, we need to be quick. Toby said he wasn't sure how long he would be able to maintain the link to these bodies. And we still don't know what's wrong with the ship,” Nexus said.

“I'm surprised these things work at all! Remind me to ask Toby what possessed him to design the interlinks in these bodies.” Static smiled.

“Knowing him he was just bored and thought it would be an interesting way to pass the time. We're just lucky Kade didn't scrap them for parts,” Nexus said.

Static was about to say something when the Zenith unexpectedly started picking up speed and pitching up; the sudden change in the ship's course causing the two synthetics' bodies to get thrown against the corridor's wall... hard.

“I am so going to revoke his Captain's licence if he lives through this. Freaking lunatic!” Nexus said as she got off Static's body, who had taken the brunt of the impact.

“Ha ha, ow! Crud... that actually hurt,” Static said with a confused expression, not really knowing how to react to the synthetic body's sensory feedback.

“You OK?” Nexus asked in a concerned tone.

“I'll live... so to speak.” Static smiled and the two resumed their sprint down the corridor. Nexus heading to the interlink control room and Static to the bridge.

Meanwhile, on board the Icarus...

“Two contacts, closing fast!” Jude said frantically as she tracked the inbound interceptor frigates.

Kade said spitefully, “It takes a brave soldier to fire on an unarmed ship.” And then tried to push the engines harder in order to gain some distance, but the old ship was just no match for the interceptors.

The two interceptor frigates were closing the distance with ease, their forward gun ports opened and primed as their target came into firing range. And without so much as a warning the frigates opened up on the Icarus, the explosive artillery shells detonating violently against the lightly armoured ship...

“We have a hull breach on the engineering deck, I'm sealing the section,” Jude said as Kade tried to dodge the incoming fire. But the two interceptors were not making it easy for her.

“Dammit! Jude have you managed to remove the lock on the Vortex drive yet?” Kade asked as an artillery shell streaked past the fore of the ship, detonating nearby.

“Yes, but I still don't know why it was locked to begin with. It may not be safe to use the thing,” Jude said.

“Can't be worse than our current situation,” Kade said as Drake took notice of the attacking frigates.

Back on the Zenith...  

Static was running towards the bridge when the ship performed another high power manoeuvre, sending him flying down the corridor as the Zenith rotated violently.

“Dammit Drake!” Static shouted after crashing against the corridor's far wall; the unexpected shortcut removing several minutes from his journey, though he would have preferred not to have flown there.

“You OK?” Static heard Nexus ask over their link.

“Ow! Karma's a bitch. I'm never summoning him again... I swear!” Static laughed as he got up off the ground.

“How's the interlink hardware?” Static asked.

“The main exchange was destroyed by the blast and the backups are all locked down. We need to stabilise the grid and restart the system if we are to give Toby control of the ship again,” Nexus said.

“I'm almost to the bridge,” Static said as he felt the tell-tale vibrations of a gun discharge rippling through the superstructure. “He fired the main gun? What the hell is happening outside?” Static asked with a concerned look.

Static entered the bridge and saw Drake's semi-conscious body; he was bleeding profusely from his ears, nose and eyes. His body was at the breaking point. And the situation outside wasn't any better, as the fleet pounded away mercilessly at the Zenith. Static could feel the vibrations of explosive decompressions happening throughout the ship.

The ship's auto-destruct was counting down. Drake's last effort to protect the secrets of the Shadows rapidly approaching its conclusion.

  “Oh no you don't, you're not getting off that easy!” Static said as he took control of the system, stopping the countdown and ordering all of the Zenith's probes to launch and surround the ship.

“Not the damned probes,” Drake said, his voice trailing off into a whisper as he lost consciousness, “Do you have any idea how much those things cost...”
 

“Oh shut up!” Static said. “Nexus, get ready to reinitialise the link!” He ordered.

“Ready!” Nexus replied.

The probes were still auto-launching and moving into position around the ship as Static interfaced with the Zenith's computers. The information in front of him streaming past the interface at lightning speed as he disabled and redirected the power flow of circuits all over the ship, finishing his work as the last probe got into formation.

The lights on the darkened bridge came back on as the interlink to the Zero core was restored and Toby re-established his control over the ship. Immediately diverting every remaining scrap of energy to the Vortex drive and initiating an emergency jump out of the area as the probes detonated. Blinding enemy sensors long enough to allow them to leave the system unnoticed.

Sometime later...  

Drake felt as though a million ants were parading all over his body again, a truly horrid sensation which he would never get used to.

He heard two people talking, causing him to look around since he didn't recognise their voices...

“Good grief, I can't decide who's in worse shape, Drake or the Zenith,” Nexus said as she operated the chamber controls, administering emergency treatment to Drake's battered body.

“You got to hand it to him though, that was quite a feat. I'm surprised he held in there for so long considering the strain he was under. I half expected we would have to Incarnate him again after this stunt,” Static said happily as he looked at Drake's semi-conscious body.

“Who are you?” Static heard Drake ask.

“Ah! Yes,” Static said as he looked at his hands.

“I guess it makes sense you wouldn't recognise us in these bodies. Hello old friend!” He smiled.

“Static? How?” Drake asked as he started losing consciousness again. His tired body demanding sleep as the Zenith headed towards the Lux system.

∞

Author & Cover Design

Licinio S. Gonçalves

Editor

Mary Swatridge

Reader Feedback

Allan Beech

Gary Stevenson

Henriqueta Santos

Ligia Santos

Yasmeen Santos

The cover image is based on:

NASA JPL PIA17002 – Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech