Warpath (23 page)

With the Order Knight
less than two metres away, he was able to fire eleven rounds before
the Knight grabbed the rifle out of his hands as though Jake was a
toddler and the weapon was a toy. A monofilament blade emerged from
the Knight’s wrist armour.

A flash of silver
passed between Jake and the Knight before he could bring his weapon
down on Jake, and his enemy seemed to hesitate. Jake looked up and
saw Minh-Chu standing off to the side with a nanoblade raised high,
it had the hilt of a traditional samurai sword. “Fall down,” he
said as he kicked the Order Knight’s shoulder. The Knight’s head
rolled free.

Jake was up and at
Ayan’s side in the next instant. The crisis was over, but there
could be more Knights nearby.

“Come in, Jake, we
read weapon’s fire in your section and are responding,” Remmy
said urgently.

Ayan nodded as Jake
helped her up. “Emergency treatment’s taking care of me, I’m
okay.”

“This is Ronin,”
Minh-Chu said in response to Remmy’s communication. “We’re all
right, but we’re going to have to increase the intensity of our
scans and re-clear the ship. We had to put down an Order Knight here.
Getting ready to dispose of it now,” he said as he helped one of
the soldiers who were in the front up.

“All right, we’ll
start a volumetric scan of the ship interior,” Remmy said. “We’re
near a primary terminal, looks like flight operations. Requesting
cover while we get ready to fly this bird home. Pretty sure we have
tow systems so we can bring the Warlord with us.”

“I’ll send two
squads your way, Remmy. Another two squads are already on their way
to the Captain’s group,” Alaka replied. “Volumetric scanning
shows movement in sector twenty one. There is at least one more
Knight aboard. We are moving to close around him. Don’t worry about
any more Knights or spooks, Captain, we know they’re here, and we
will finish this hunt for you. Get your group together and move to
the Ranger’s position. That is the most secure position aboard.”

“Acknowledged, we’ll
head over as soon as we finish cleaning up here,” he replied. Jake
couldn’t help but look at Ayan for an extra moment. Her heavy
armour was split open on the left side, but the temporary vacsuit had
closed the gap, and his medical readings on her said she was
completely healed. He was left with the thought that he could have
lost her just moments before, and he could have been killed if it
wasn’t for her. “You saved my ass there,” he said. “Kicked
some too.”

“I don’t train with
the Rangers for nothing,” Ayan said. “You did pretty well
yourself, but I think we both owe Minh a drink.”

They joined Minh-Chu as
he picked up the remains of the Order Knight. Jake’s command and
control unit warned him that the Knight was already beginning to
regenerate a new head. The warning on his heads up display was enough
to spur everyone into motion. “Do we blow him up here?” asked
Ashley, who looked frazzled and worried.

Jake looked around for
a moment then noticed something on the map display inside his visor.
“Nearest airlock, this way!” he said as he put himself under one
arm of the heavy Order Knight. “I’m calling dibs on his rifle,”
Jake said as he and Minh-Chu dragged him through a hatchway to the
right, down a ramp then into a debarkation room made for droids and
crewmembers tasked with making repairs on the outer hull. They
dropped him on top of the airlock hatch at their feet.

“Wait!” Ayan said,
running to catch up, holding the Knight’s de-helmed head at arms
length with both hands. “His head!”

“Yup,” Jake said as
he folded a grenade and the last three explosive rounds he had for
his ruined quad rifle into the Knight’s chest armour.

Minh-Chu accepted the
head and put it down on the hatch. “This is for you,” he said to
it as he pushed a grenade into its mouth and set the timer to three
minutes to match the timer Jake had set.

Jake punched the inner
door button. The hatch opened and the Order Knight’s corpse fell
into the outer hatch. “Did it look like his eyes are moving?”
Jake asked.

“No, it’s all in
your head,” Minh-Chu said, prompting an “Oh, God!” response
from where Dent watched with everyone else at the end of the hallway.
“Cheesy!”

“Silence! Jinxy
pilot!” Minh-Chu shouted over his shoulder as they watched the
inner door close behind the Order Knight.

“All right, adding a
little extra pressure to the outer cabin,” Jake said as he turned
one of the environmental dials.

“Everyone say buh-bye
to the Knight who tried to murder us,” Minh-Chu said as he floppily
waved his hand at the Knight’s corpse through the airlock window.

Jake looked over his
shoulder at the small crowd that had gathered at the end of the
service hallway in time to see most of them emulating Minh-Chu’s
wave and saying ‘buh-bye.” He tapped the button to open the
exterior door then pressed YES when the control screen asked him if
he was sure.

The Order Knight and
his head were sent out into space along with the rush of pressurized
air in the airlock. Several people, Ashley and Dent included,
squeezed into the service hallway so they could watch through the
airlock window. “How long did you guys set the timer?” asked
Dent.

“Three minutes,”
Jake replied.

“That seems long
now,” Minh-Chu said.

“I know, right?”
Ayan remarked. “I can’t even see him anymore.”

“Better safe than
sorry,” Dent replied.

“There he is,”
Minh-Chu said, pointing through the window. “My scanner says he’s
got a new head and he’s just about to wake up.”

“That could be
trouble,” Jake muttered. “If he-“ He was interrupted by a flash
of light in the distance. “Nevermind,” Jake said with a smile.

“You sure that got
him?” Dent asked.

“Disintegration
grenade,” Jake replied. “One of my last ones.”

“Those are illegal
pretty much everywhere, aren’t they?” Dent asked.

“Let’s see about
joining Remmy in that control room,” Jake said. “I have a crew
here that would like to get warmed up to their new ship while it gets
cleared.”

Industrial buildings
always seemed depressing to Governor Tate. Blockish factories,
fabrication buildings that stretched out for kilometres, and
refineries that grew up like forests of tubes and towers. The
business of industrial support for a modern solar system was a dirty
one. To be told that the Mother of the Order of Eden would be landing
in the middle of one such industrial forest, atop the Xane Company
building, was a shock. The change in her plans was inconvenient. He
had security set up for the space she was supposed to use. Now it
would be used to play a giant holographic version of whatever
happened on top of the boring, dirty space she’d chosen at the last
minute.

There was nothing
special about that building, it was only a cap for an industrial
lake. From the outside it looked like a flat roofed structure that
was two storeys tall with a landing field atop it, and landing fields
around. It was where they stored refined materials that were ready
for transport off world. If she said something he would regret, he
would have to smooth things over with the people at Xane, one of his
top one hundred taxpayers.

He was there at the
appointed time, with his four Order Knights and no one else, as he
was told. Standing on the top of the Xane Company building, he had
time to admire the optical illusion of the place’s flat top. It was
so large that the reflection of the morning sun against the metal
tricked the eye into seeing a silvery lake in the distance. Governor
Tate knew there was no water on the roof, it hadn’t rained over
Xane Company territory for months. He remembered hearing that what he
was seeing was once called a mirage effect.

“People who were
wandering the desert used to be tricked by mirages like these,” he
said aloud, pointing across the rooftop. “Like that, the shimmer in
the distance there.” His Order Knights, who were most likely as
bored as he was, stepped a little closer so they could hear him. They
hung on his every word. “The sand is really quartz on most worlds,
and the sun would create reflections on it. At a distance you’d see
what looked like water. Some would run towards it, others would keep
trudging on, and all of the dead would be found on their bellies.
Skeletons frozen in the act of reaching for something that was almost
never there.”

“That’s rather dark
for such a nice morning, Governor,” said a voice behind him.

The Order Knights
whirled, raising their rifles at Wheeler, who only smiled and half
raised his hands. “I come in peace.”

“It’s all right,”
Governor Tate said. “If this one wanted to kill me, I would have
been found in pieces weeks ago.”

“Would you be found
at all?” Wheeler asked, cocking his head and smiling a little.

The Order Knights
lowered their rifles and allowed Wheeler into the protective box
formation they maintained around the Governor. “How was your time
away?”

“I didn’t go far,
just had to reassure my small crew,” Wheeler said. “Had a
strategic talk with a few of them, sent another pair off on an
errand. With Citadel here, it’s amazing what kind of information I
can tap into.”

“Like?” Governor
Tate asked.

“Logs from the
Triton, ending about a year ago,” Wheeler said. “They had someone
aboard who transmitted everything. As far as Citadel can tell, no one
on the Triton knows the leak happened.”

“Do you think I could
get a copy?” Governor Tate asked, waving his hand low, indicating
to his guards that he was all right. He started walking away from
them, and Wheeler followed.

“That depends if
you’re still the real power in this solar system by the time Eve is
finished here,” Wheeler replied.

“I get the feeling
there’s a lot you’re not telling me.” Governor Tate said.
Everything he saw so far about this visit was unnerving. He could
learn almost nothing about Citadel from the networks, and everything
he found advised travellers to stay away from their ships, their
bases if one was found, or to leave anyone who claimed to be from
Citadel alone. Everything online told him to run in the other
direction if he saw one, but the problem was that they were there, in
his solar system, and he had a distinct feeling that they wanted
something from him, something he didn’t want to part with.
“Something about this, here, today, and I think it’s time you
started letting me in on all the intelligence you’ve been
gathering. Intelligence that someone like you, someone who can escape
notice in Regent Galactic territory, can get to.”

“You know, there’s
something I like about you Governor,” Wheeler replied. “So I
think I will start sharing. I think it’s time, but you have to
start moving faster on delivering on your promise. I need ships.”

“I will,” Governor
Tate said with more enthusiasm than was honest.

“I’ve learned about
Citadel, it cost me a G-Terminal, but I was able to hack into their
basic information systems,” Wheeler replied. “And what they keep
in their lowest security data storage would put you down on your
knees in supplication, so whatever happens today, keep piety in
mind.”

“In my own solar
system?” Governor Tate said, irritated at Wheeler’s statements as
much as he barely knew what the man was talking about. “What is a
G-Terminal, anyway?”

“It’s a low-latency
communications unit that hides the user by piggybacking on the
identification of other people accessing a network. I was connected
long enough to get what I wanted, and probably a few things you want,
but it’s going to cost you.”

“What? What do you
have and what will it cost me?” Governor Tate asked.

“Let’s just get
through this,” Wheeler said, gesturing at the crowd gathering on
the landing field below the edge of the roof. There were hundreds
there, but there was room for a hundred thousand or more on the large
concrete landing field. A few workers were already setting up a
barricade on the rooftop sixty metres from where they stood. “You’ll
have a better idea of what you need afterwards, and I’ll know how
soon I’ll need those ships.”

For the first time
since Wheeler appeared in his apartment, Governor Tate took a good
look at the man. He had scraggly long hair down to his shoulders, his
face didn’t conform to the kind of attractiveness that fashion
dictated in his sector, the narrow, almost pretty man-boy that was
idolized on most of his worlds was entirely absent. Wheeler’s face
was broad, with strong, expressive features, and he didn’t look
young, he looked almost wind-worn, at least that was what his face
seemed like that day. Was that Wheeler’s true face? It was the one
the Governor had seen on wanted notices from the British Alliance.

Wheeler didn’t sport
a sidearm, but he still had that waist length jacket. There were
espionage devices in there, his scans told him weeks ago, electronic
parts, and strange drugs no one on his staff could put a purpose to.
The boots Wheeler wore were military, and they looked old, scuffed.
If anything, Governor Tate would say that Wheeler looked like a
constant traveller. “What really brought you here?” he asked him.
“Honestly, without giving me an answer that leads to more
questions.”

Wheeler seemed
intrigued by the question. He watched the masses gather below, dozens
at a time as he answered. A few transit shuttles were arriving, the
first of many. “You are a powerful man who seems to have decided he
doesn’t need to increase his scope quickly. You manage what you
have well, but you could be greater, you could be better. This war is
only a season in a long year, and you could come out of it with more
power than you ever imagined.”

“All right, that’s
me, that’s the door you promised to open,” Governor Tate said.
“What about you?”