Different Paths (17 page)

Ignoring everyone else, Xerxes moved to the
speeder and gently lifted Diana’s limp form before disappearing into the
darkness of the ship.

Iaido turned back to his companions and said, “Get
on board quickly. Xerxes says he was scanned on his descent but he lost their
lock in some late night commercial traffic but the Fleet won’t give up easily.
It is only a matter of time before they locate the Nemesis. She isn’t a small
ship after all.”

“That thing is your friend?” asked Talia.

Lifting Jay to a waiting hoverchair, Iaido turned
back to Talia. “Look, I don’t have time for your prejudices toward Mantodeas.
You have a decision to make, either you are with us which means you board the
Nemesis right now and follow my commands or you don’t. If you want to stay here
on Earth, I will leave the speeder behind for you. Make your decision quickly.”

Talia could tell that Iaido was deadly serious. In
her defense she tried to explain. “It’s just my people have a history with the
Mantodea. They are rebellious and untrustworthy.”

“That’s funny. That’s what Xerxes says about your
people.” Seeing Talia’s body tense at that statement, Iaido grinned. “Now is
not the time for this argument, the hounds are closing. You can go with us,
although be aware that I have powerful enemies and I feel them moving in the
background. Stay or go. Decide.”

Talia glanced back at the lights of New Atlanta. At
this distance it was a beautiful city. The towers sparkled with light. The air
traffic could be seen streaking along designated patterns which caused the city
to have lines of light that winked in and out. It was truly a beautiful and
wondrous city but it wasn’t her home. She had come to Earth to find her sister.
Her only contact she knew was Sgt. Major Spenton and now he was dead. But the
cards had pointed to another taking his place, a warrior-poet according to the
cards.

Glancing back at Iaido she felt a twinge in her
stomach, she didn’t know if she had read the cards correctly but all the signs
had led her to him. Talia took a deep breath. “I will go with you. For better
or worse, you are my best hope for finding the truth about my sister.”

Stepping onto the gangplank, a dark shape flew by
Talia’s head with a loud squawk.

“Edgar! How did you find us?”

The raven seemed to understand her, squawking and
croaking its reply before launching itself back into the darkness. Talia turned
back to Iaido. “We must be away. Edgar says many vehicles are approaching.”

Nodding his response, Iaido rigged the speeder to
run solo, pointed it back towards the city and let it go. The speeder began its
trek back into the darkness without passengers.

“Come on, that trick will only buy us a few
moments at best.”

As they moved into the cargo hold of the Nemesis,
Talia got her first good look at the Terran designed ship. She was so shocked
at the difference from Sylvan ships that she actually stopped and stared.

Every Sylvan ship is a masterpiece of engineering
and artistry. They are handcrafted slowly. A master shipwright might spend a
decade or more crafting a single ship. The Sylvan shipwrights would spend as
much time on the aesthetics of the ship as the functionality. No two ships were
ever the same.

Not so with the Terrans. Humans have become the
master of mass production. Efficiency and functionally always win out over
looks when designing a warship. Of course, the Cerberus class warships had the
distinct honor of being the ugliest ship ever built by anyone’s standard.

The entrance to the cargo hold was actually in the
front of the ship directly below the bridge or command pod. A metal staircase,
more commonly referred to as a ladder in nautical terms, stood along the aft
bulkhead. Iaido glanced back at Talia as he made his way up the ladder.
Realizing she had fallen behind, she hurried to catch up. As she cleared the
entrance, the hatch began to close. Before she crossed the length the hold, the
hatch was sealed and the lights shifted from red to normal white.

Reaching the main deck, Talia looked around. It
was a large compartment that had obviously been converted into an exercise
room. Along the starboard bulkhead was a small shrine. Talia didn’t recognize
the glyphs painted on the scroll that hung on the wall but she could tell it
held some sort of significant meaning to Iaido. She could hear voices from the
front of the ship, so she followed them. At the front end of the compartment
were three hatches. The voices were coming from the center hatch which had a
short ladder of about ten steps then a twenty foot long passageway before
ending in the command deck.

Talia paused long enough to glance down the two
other passageways since the hatches were propped open. Both led down to a ball
turret which flanked the command pod on either side, giving the ship the three
headed look that prompted its name. Moving onto the command deck, she stopped
at the entryway.

A huge HUD was superimposed over the front
windshield, which wrapped around the oblong compartment that was the bridge.
The two foremost chairs were obviously for the pilot and co-pilot. Xerxes was
in the co-pilot’s chair. Iaido was seated behind and slightly raised in the
captain’s chair. To either side of the entrance were banks of computer panels
and chairs for each operator. Jay was at one fiddling with the controls.

Iaido swiveled in his chair as she stepped onto
the bridge and gestured to the station opposite Jay. “Sit there, strap in and
don’t touch anything.” Without waiting to see if she followed his commands, Iaido
finished strapping himself in and began his pre-flight sequence.

Pax’s monotone voice echoed through the ship. “One
minute until blast off, please secure all loose cargo and fasten all seat
belts. Passive radar is detecting multiple bogies closing on our position. ETA
forty-five seconds before they are in visual range.”

Without taking his eyes off the control panel
Iaido asked, “Can you speed up take off?”

“Negative. The reactor will not be at nominal
power for another fifty seconds.”

“Pax transfer all data on incoming bogies to fire
control. Xerxes do your best not to kill any of them but slow them down.”

Xerxes chirped his response and the whirring of
guns being deployed to port and starboard filled the cockpit. Talia watched as
over twenty different lights filled the HUD of fire control. Most were yellow
squares, which she guessed to be the ground vehicles since Xerxes seemed to
ignore those. The triangles would change from yellow to red when they crossed a
certain line on the HUD. Xerxes began firing at any of the targets that crossed
into the red zone.

“Fifteen seconds till blast off,” Pax said. “Three
bogies are searching for target lock. Jammers at full. Estimate lock in twelve
seconds.”

Swiveling his chair to look at Talia, Iaido gave
her a quick wink. “This is going to be close.” Glancing back at his gauges,
Iaido fired the maneuvering jets which slightly lifted the warship. Nudging his
joystick to port, the companions could feel the ship slip to the left.

“Reactors at full power,” Pax said. “Firing all
engines and thrusters for maximum accent. Bogies have target lock. Engaging
shields.”

The sound of small explosions could barely be
heard over the roar of the engines as the Nemesis blasted off into the night
sky.

“Shields holding. We are out of their effective
range at this time. However, our current fight path will have us in target
range of Starbase Alpha in ten point three minutes.”

Checking the clock, Iaido punched in a few
coordinates. “Pax slide us into this traffic. Cross it a few times and bring us
up under the largest freighter. That should disguise our signature a bit.”

“Affirmative,” came Pax’s monotone response.

As the warship began to enter the outer
atmosphere, the G-forces lessened enough for the crew to unfasten their
seatbelts and move around. Jay had already moved to the infirmary. Iaido held
out his hand to Talia and gestured to the surrounding ship. “Welcome to the
Nemesis. Let me give you the quick tour.”

Talia glanced back at the fire control HUD; it was
filled with yellow and white triangles. “Aren’t you needed here?”

Iaido shook his head. “Not at this time. Pax and
Xerxes have it under control. Either this maneuver will work or it won’t. We
will know in about seven minutes. Until then, sitting here staring at screens
and worrying won’t change the facts. Time moves at its own pace, we cannot
change it nor can we speed it up. So, I have found it is best to live in the
moment.” Leading her down the short passageway, Iaido swept his arm to take in
the converted mess hall. “We may be dead in ten minutes or we may live for
another hundred years but neither matters, only the now matters.”

“So, you don’t worry about the future?”

“Nope. I plan for the future. I study and make
educated guesses that will enhance my odds of success or survival but worry?
Negative. Every choice we make affects the future which is fluid and always
changing.”

Talia shook her head. “That is so different from
what I was taught in the Seminary. We were taught ways to read the myriad paths
of the future. According to our scholars, our fate is already set. We may walk
different paths but eventually our paths would merge. It was preordained that I
would accompany you on this journey. Our choices only affect how it would come
to pass, not if it would.”

Moving past the kitchen, known as a galley on a
ship, they went down a short passageway which ended in the infirmary. It was
simple in design, meticulously clean and held numerous pieces of medical
equipment. No matter how old the ship was Iaido believed in a state-of-the-art
medical facility.

Iaido could tell it was bad news before Jay spoke
a word; his body language spoke volumes. Turning to Talia, he pointed at the
limp form of Diana. “So, according to your philosophy, Diana was destined to
die?”

“I am not sure,” said Talia. “It’s what I was
taught. But I have never thought of an android as being alive or dead. My
people do not see them as a life form, just as a tool.” She turned to Jay. “No
offense intended.”

“None taken,” Jay said. “I have battled against
prejudices my entire life in one form or another.”

 Ignoring the other two, Iaido moved up to Diana
and gently lifted her cold hand to his lips. With a soft kiss, Iaido said
good-bye to his assistant and lover of many years. 

Suddenly alarms filled the air, followed by Pax’s
voice. “Captain to the bridge.”

Sprinting down the corridor, Iaido yelled. “Stay
here and strap yourselves in! This could get bumpy.”

Chapter 14

The room was brightly lit with only one door and a
large mirror covering one wall. Only a table and two chairs filled the small
room, both occupied at the moment. Lt. Charles Kristopher of the NAPD was in
the ‘hot seat’ with Special Agent Johnson of the Federal Security Agency asking
the questions. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Kristopher. How many
times had he sat in the control seat and asked questions?

“Let’s try this again lieutenant,” Special Agent
Johnson said. “In your own words what happened?”

Kristopher rubbed the back of his neck. “For the
twentieth time, when the call came across the EBS for an APB on Iaido Achilles
Spartan, I was standing next to retired Master Chief Kirk and looking down at
the panel. Then, wham! I remember a flash of intense pain in my chest followed
almost immediately by pain at the base of my neck and then nothing; lights out.
I woke up later to find a SWAT med-tech checking my vitals.”

“And why do you think Mr. Spartan would knock you
out?”

“Friendship.”

“Friendship?” Special Agent Johnson scoffed. “What
kind of friend would knock you out?”

“The best kind of friend,” Lt. Kristopher said.
“Iaido knew that once I learned of the APB that I would be duty bound to try
and arrest him.”

“And would you?”

“I would’ve tried and failed.”

Special Agent Johnson looked up from his notes and
asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“To my knowledge there was only one man who could
stand up to Iaido solo and I am not him.”

“And who is that?”

“His brother Hector, no one was even close to his
level.”

“Surely you jest?”

“You don’t know who you are dealing with, do you?”
asked Lt. Kristopher. “Iaido Spartan is no ordinary man.”

Special Agent Johnson set down his pen. “Come now.
You’re trying to tell me that there is no one that can take this Spartan
fellow?”

A knock on the door interrupted whatever response Lt.
Kristopher was going to give.

A young agent stepped in briefly and handed
Special Agent Johnson a folder full of paper. The words ‘TOP SECRET’ and
‘CLASSIFED’ were stamped in bold red letters across the folder. Opening the
folder, Special Agent Johnson began to skim the new information and his face
seemed to drain of all emotion.

With a slight smirk on his face, Kristopher leaned
back. “Now you are beginning to understand.”

Special Agent Johnson looked up. “Spartan is a
Myrmidon?”

Lt. Kristopher nodded.

Special Agent Johnson continued to flip through
the folder. “I thought they were just a myth. You know the sort of military
secret that gets leaked as a publicity stunt during the war.”

“No, they were real. That is what Omega Squadron
was except the few regulars that were assigned as handlers and trainers.”

Flipping between two pages Special Agent Johnson
asked, “Why are there two sets of stats on the Myrmidons?”

“Two different models. As I understand it, the
original ten were designed and grown by the U.S. Military before they were
incorporated into the Coalition. These were the SPARTANs. The ultimate warriors
with many skills hardwired into their psyche and the ability to upload any
skill needed for a mission. The Coalition placed restrictions on their
creation, so a different version known as the HOPLITE was designed. They were
still deadly but only a pale shadow when compared to the original SPARTANs.”