The Prize: Book One (45 page)

"I will answer to any name you wish to give me, Mr.  Penn.”

Penn turned to Ellis.  ”I can't believe I have to ask this, but… what is your first name?”  He'd never asked, and she'd never said.  ”If you think I'm going through the rest of our lives together calling you Ellis, you can think again.”

"It's Alexis.  Alexis Ellison really.”  That was something she told few people.

"Hello Alexis,” he winked at her, and looked at the light.  ”How about 'Michael' for you, after my father.”

"I will so answer in the future, Mr.  Penn.”

"Please call me Richard from now on, Michael.”

"Yes, Richard.”

"Good.  Can you transmit a message to General Tandy?"

“Yes, Richard, I can.”

“I have a few things I'd like to say to that… person.”  He controlled himself and smiled.

CHAPTER - FOUR FIVE:                Descent into hell

"General, there's a message coming in for you.”  General Tandy looked up from a viewing the video log from the last probe, not liking what he saw.

“This is Tandy.  Who's the message from?”

His hope that it was from one of his support team faded the moment he saw Penn and that bitch Ellis, standing outside the pyramid hugging each other.  The gravity effect still functioned, so whatever they were so happy about, wasn't the success of the mission.  The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that this mission had gone to hell in a hand basket.  Now a message.

"Is it from Sub-Major Ellis?”  For a moment, he held his breath.

"Um, yes, Sir, I believe so…"

General Tandy grimaced.  It told him that Dana had failed.  Now the question was, how, was he going to explain this to the Director.  The comm tech broke out in a cold sweat seeing Tandy's face.  The General had a nasty habit of shooting the messenger. 

"Put it on my screen.”  He growled.

Tandy tried to prepare himself for whatever Ellis might tell him.  If she'd followed orders, Penn should be dead, which he obviously wasn't.  His one consolation was, that the two of them would be stuck on that God forsaken planet for the rest of their lives.  Explaining the failure to the Director was another matter.  Running was one answer he could think of to stay alive, but run to where?  General Tandy felt his gut tighten as the main communication console came alive, and much to his displeasure it showed Ellis and Penn standing side-by-side, almost touching.  Tandy expected them to be dirty, disheveled, and exhausted.  Neither looked injured or even tired, and for a moment, he wondered if they'd even attempted the mission, let alone succeeded.  Judging by the look of the sumptuous room, and their clothing, they were inside the pyramid.  So, where was Dena?  Moreover, if they had completed the mission, why was the gravitational effect still working?  There was something in their faces, an almost smug look, that could spell trouble.

"Did you get to the control room, Major?” he saw Penn grin.  For some reason that smile sent a chill up his spine.  ”Can we land?”

"Oh yes we did… we are standing in it, and no you can't land.”

"Then why is Penn still alive?” His voice lowered to a growl.

"I'm a lot harder to kill than you think, Tandy, especially now.”

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your pet killer failed, 'General'.  By now, he's nothing more than a pile of monster crap.  Him and both his buddies,” Penn lied.

"Why can't we land?  If you have the prize you can turn this gravitational effort off, can't you?”  He held out one last hope that she was on his side, or at least the Empire's.

“I can send a ship down for you and get you out of there, and send down mining equipment…”  Even before he'd finished speaking, Ellis was shaking her head.  Slipping his hand into his pocket, below the camera view angle, he took out two triggering devises, one for each of them, sliding his thumb over each to enter his biometric code.

"I don't think you understand, General.  No one can ever land here, and there will be no mining on this planet by the Empire.  Not now or, in the future." Ellis smiled.

“But why?”

“Because we said so, that's why.”  The smile on their faces got broader. 

“You traitorous bitch!” he snapped. 

“That would all depend on your point of view, Tandy,” Penn answered for her.  ”She had never betrayed me, unlike some people I could name.”

"Then you are both dead, Penn.  You first, then her, after I get finished with her that is.”  His smirk gave way to a snarl as he hit the send button.  ”I'm going to enjoy torturing her.”  Even taking into account the lag time, nothing happened, except that Penn began to smile.

He touched the back of his neck and pulled the collar down so Tandy could see.  There was no scar from the implantation, and General Tandy felt his knees get weak.  The savage had found a way to remove the device from both of them without killing himself or the woman.

"That's impossible... the device would have triggered if you tried to take it out.”  His hands fumbled at the controls, boosting the signal gain to high in the forlorn hope Penn was lying.

“Tandy, you have no idea what you're dealing with here, and you never will.  As of today, Ellis and I control this planet.  And, we are coming to get you.”

Tandy stabbed frantically at the comm button on his console.  ”OPEN FIRE AND DESTROY THAT DAMN BUILDING!”  He yelled as he cut the connection.

As if waiting for just such a command, all the ship of the massive battle fleet fired simultaneously.  A virtual cloud of destructive missiles leapt into space and arced downward toward the pyramid.  Within minutes the nuclear, and pump x-ray warheads detonated on the surface.  The atmosphere above the pyramid boiled, turning the area into a cauldron of hellfire.  Even as the first missile impacted on the surface, the fleet maneuvered into position to bring its main energy weapons to bear.  So intense was fire on the pyramid, General Tandy had to shade his eyes from the glare.  The fleet fired for ten minutes before their fire control shut the weapons down to prevent overheating.  The afterglow slowly faded and to Tandy's horror, seeing the building still standing, unscathed.

"Mother preserve us!”  Tandy muttered, feeling his knees give way.  He flopped back into his seat and stabbed the control console with a shaky finger.

That much firepower direct against one building on a planet surface should have reduced it to nothing more than a glowing crater in the ground.  The Director's words about alien technology came back to haunt him.  Somehow, Penn and the traitorous bitch had found out how to control whatever was protecting the building.  If the combined firepower of this fleet wasn't able to destroy it, there was no sense in continuing to waste energy and missiles.

“Stand down, Captain.”  The words tasted bitter in his mouth.

Fleet Captain Var Sarnoff Melche eyed his battle tank with displeasure as he obeyed General Tandy's orders.  After seeing how ineffective his fleet's weapons were against the structure, he had to agree with the General, but he didn't like it.

“Send to all units.  Bring shields to full power.”  Captain Melche ordered, fearing the worst.

“Aye-aye, Sir.  All units to bring shields to full power.”  Captain Melche knew it was a prudent move, as there no telling what offensive weapons might be in that building.  Just then, a side screen on Captain Melche's chair flickered to life.  A comm tech appeared.

“Sir!  I have report from our forward picket ships that they are having difficulty holding position.”

“Say again?”  Captain Melche answered, wondering why his comm tech thought it necessary to relay something so unimportant at this moment, instead of his second in command. 

“Our picket ships report they are having difficulty holding their positions, Captain.  They say that it as if something is pushing them away.”

“Tell them to push back and hold position.”

“They are Captain…”  Captain Melche watched his screen update to show the tracks of his picket ships slowly being repelled away from the planet.  Worse, it showed his ship slowly leaving orbit outside the one AU exclusion zone.

“Helm!  Hold us in position.”

“Sir!  I'm trying…”  The helmsman replied.  Gradually, more and more ships began moving out of position away from the planet, except his.

Some unknown force was pulling his ship toward the planet.  He watched with a growing sense of panic as his fleet accelerated toward the hyper-limit.  ”Helm!  Get us out of here!”  For the first time in many years, Captain Melche prayed to gods he'd long ago stopped believing in.  He heard the hull begin to groan in protest against the opposing forces.

"Captain Melche!  What in the name of the Holy Mother is happening?”  Tandy shouted into his comm.

“That infernal planet is trying to drag us down, that's what is happening, General!”

"Then get us out of here!”

"What do you think I'm trying to do?”  The Captain replied tensely.  ”All drive systems are 30%.  .  .  40%.  .  .  50% over max and we are still falling.”

“Captain!  I don't care how much you strain those engines, get us the hell out of here, or we are all dead!”  Tandy yelled back, his voice edging into panic.

“If I overdrive those fusion bottles, I'll irradiate and kill everyone in the engine room…”

“I don't give a shit about the half illiterate gutter trash in your engine room!  Get us out of here now!  That's an order!”

The Captain cut the connection.  He knew in his gut the General was right, but he hated to follow his order.  With a ship as powerful as his, there was little in the galaxy he couldn't outfight or outrun.  Until now.  He watched in horrid fascination as his escort ships vanished into the distance.  For a moment, his dreadnought hang in the blackness, the hull straining around him as the massive engines struggled in vain to pull away.  The hull groaned in protest as mainframes and cross members bent under the stress.  Slowly the ship's engines lost the battle, and his ship began its death plunge toward the distant blue-green planet.  Tandy felt like sobbing, damning Penn, the Director, and even the Emperor to hell.  The planet was dragging them down against the full output of the dreadnought's massive drive system even at this distance.  He watched on the screen as the scattered fleet vanished toward the safety, wishing he were on one of those ships instead, feeling sick as they plunged toward the surface.

Downing a second stiff drink, he pulled himself together and contemplated his next move, ignoring the groaning sounds.  He considered staying aboard.  It was possible they might survive the crash with the right preparation.  Penn and that traitorous bitch Ellis has survived.  They had enough food, water, and power to last them a long time.  Maybe, just maybe, with the resources at his disposal, he could get to the Prize himself.  With over a thousand Marines, and three thousand Naval personnel, he should be able to cobble together a fighting force large enough to take on anything this planet threw at them.  And they had tanks…  A particularly loud 'sprang' as a cross brace bucking pulled him out of his feverish contemplation.  Tandy's plan crumbled to dust as the ship's emergency system came to life.

“ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL!  HULL BREACH IMMINENT IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS!  ABANDON SHIP!  ABANDON SHIP!  THIS IS NOT A DRILL!  ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO ABANDON SHIP IMMEDIATELY!”

“Captain!  What the hell is happening?”

“The hull is starting the buckle you idiot!  Can't you hear it?”  Tandy watched as the Captain looked around and up at the deckhead.

“I have ordered all personnel to abandon ship.  Stay here if you want, Tandy, but I'd advise you to do the same.  My crew and I are out of here…”  With that, Captain Melche cut the connection.