Marauder Kain: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars Book 5) (12 page)

I hold my breath, waiting for some kind of alarm to go off, or for the airlock to simply seal me in.

The outer door of the airlock seals, and still nothing happens. I start to count back from ten. If I make it to zero, I may have to try hacking the door open.

When I hit two, the inner airlock door starts to open up, and I sigh in relief.

The wagon rolls into the refinery, and it parks in a corner full of other automated mining equipment. I peek out of the wagon and see that there are no human slaves nearby, nor are there any Marauders.

I grab three bombs by the bucket handles and jump off the top of the wagon. There’s a big automated driller parked against the wall. It’s what they used before everyone became paranoid about Harmony infiltrating Darkstar–before slaves like Kara had to mine with pickaxes. It’s covered in dust, and I’m sure it hasn’t run in over a year.

I stack the buckets behind its front tire. No one will see them unless they are under the vehicle.

I jump back up into the wagon and grab three more bombs, then stack them beside the first three.

Before I get back up, a robotic arm from the ore purifier starts grabbing chunks of ore out of the back of the wagon. It’s unlikely the arm will take the bombs, but with all the advanced A.I. disabled, it’s hard to be certain.

I pick up the pace and risk tossing the bombs out of the wagon and letting them fall. Thorsten assured me they were stable, and that only the detonators would set them off. Hopefully he’s right.

I throw three of them down, and they land onto the hard ground with a thud, but no explosion. I take the last bomb, the one with the red ‘x,’ and put it into the wagon’s passenger area.

Now everything is set. It will take over an hour for this wagon to be fully unloaded and ready to ride out again. Another wagon has already deployed and driven itself back toward Kara and the others.

I set my biosuit’s timer for an hour, and I sneak through the refinery into the main hallway system.

It’s time to visit Malcolm, my Seraph warrior with a conscience.

* * *

“
K
ain
?” Malcolm says, jumping out of bed.

“At ease,” I say.

“I don’t usually sleep after training, it’s just–”

“I said ‘at ease!”’

He nods, but doesn’t relax.

“I don’t have much time,” I say, “so I’ll get straight to the point. I’m already sure about
you
, but how many others are you plotting with?”

HIs ears don’t move, and his face remains ice cold.

“If you’re trying to pretend like you’re innocent,” I say, “you would still
react
. Not reacting at all is a rookie mis–”

He dives for his pillow and starts to raise a gun toward me.

I throw out a tendril, snatch the gun from his hand, and slam his throat against the wall with my real hand.

At least I was right, and that he was planning to betray Darkstar. If I had guessed wrong on that, I’d be forced to kill him.

“Fuck you!” he shouts, “I’ll never tell you a thing–”

“Listen,” I say. “Whatever you were planning, whoever your friends are, this is their chance.”

I pull one of the detonators out of my suit and hold it up to him. “I’m a peacekeeper working undercover. I was sent by Ramses, son of Aegus. This detonator is set to blow up a mining wagon, which will destroy the airlock in the refinery and expose it to vacuum….”

Malcolm’s eyes widen, and his ears twitch.

“There you go,” I say, “That’s how you react.”.

“Now,” I say. “If you and your boys want in, there are nine more bombs that I need planted, and I don’t have the time to do it myself.”

He doesn’t move.

“I need a ‘yes,’ or a ‘no,’” I say.

“Yes,” he nods, and I let go of his throat. “What do I do?”

“The bombs are in the refinery, under the automated driller. You have about 45 minutes to get them out. Plant them onto nine of the ten dropships, and make sure that you and your squad are on the one that isn’t rigged to blow.”

“On the ship?” he asks. “We aren’t scheduled to–”

“When this all goes down,” I say, “you will be sent to Titan. As soon as the fighting starts, kill as many of your Seraphim squad as possible.”

“Where will you be?”

“I will be on Titan,” I say. “Your squad can meet up with me and join our side. This isn’t a suicide mission. Don’t risk exposing yourselves now. Stay undercover until the fighting breaks out, and get those bombs planted.”

“Yes...yes sir!” Malcolm says.

“I’m going to go steal a ship now. No matter what happens, don’t expose yourself. If I die, I need you guys to succeed.”

I hand him the detonator and point at the red button. “Press this button right as your ships are landing–before the ramps go down.”

He takes the detonator from me and nods in understanding, but then he narrows his eyes at me. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of trap, to flush out traitors?”

“When the refinery explodes, you’ll know it’s real, so get the bombs out of there before it happens. The refinery will seal itself off from the main hallway system once the airlock is blown open. The drill I told you all to be ready for earlier today? This is it. You and your squad plant the bombs while the other Seraphim scramble.”

I grab his gun and put it back into his hand. “And keep this shit hidden better. Under your pillow? Are you kidding me?”

He grins. “Sure thing, boss.”

I leave the barracks and move toward the hangar. I’ve planted a piece of my biosuit in the refinery’s airlock, and it will alert me when the wagon comes back out. In the best case scenario, I will be in a ship and ready to fly when the wagon blows.

I walk down the hallway toward the hangar. I expect to see Raius at any moment. I actually half expect him to simply attack me from behind, but he’s curiously absent. Normally I’d have spotted him creeping behind me by now, even if I wasn’t the one who was up to something.

Just as I enter the main portion of the hangar, my comms beeps. It’s Raius.

“Kain,” his voice rasps.

“Yes?”

“You’re to report immediately to the High Commander. Bring your human.”

“Didn’t we just do this?” I ask, not hiding the irritation from my voice.

I hear Raius sigh. “The High Commander will not settle for the sister. He wants your female. Now.”

“Do you want to ride up there with me?” I say. “I can meet you at the gruel hall in an hour.”

“I’m already up there,” Raius says.

“You’re on the High Command ship?” I ask in surprise.

“Yes.”

Unbelievable luck. Raius was called up to Adus on the day I make my escape. I might be able to clear Darkstar without even triggering the plasma turrets. It might be hours before they realize I’m gone.

“I’ll get her and bring her up there as soon as she’s back from work,” I say.

“No,” Raius says. “Go get her now. Adus is hungry.”

“Will do,” I say, killing the comm link.

I’ll get her now all right, but I’ll take her as far away from this hell as I can. Adus will never lay a hand on her again.

When I enter the hangar bay, there are some human slaves working on various ships. It looks like they are pulling parts out of old ships and transplanting them into newer ships. Darkstar lacks real manufacturing capability, and their fleet is largely running on recycled or stolen equipment. Their failed attack on Titan will be a crippling blow to their economy.

One of the slaves looks up at me, and when I see him about to question me, I glare at him sternly.

He looks away quickly, avoiding my gaze entirely.

I find the head of the slave crew. He’s the only human not covered head to toe in grease.

“I need your fastest ship,” I say.

“Sir? Ah, you are Kain?”

“Yes,” I say. “Son of Grius. Brother of the High Commander.”

Let him chew on that. A slave won’t dare double check an order coming from someone like me.

“The
Fae’s Wake
is the fastest ship,” he says, stuttering. “But–but–it’s small.”

“Can it hold six?” I ask.

“Yes, K-k-k-Kain!” he stutters.

“Then it’s big enough. Is it ready to fly?”

“Y-y-y-yyess!”

“Good,” I say. “I’m taking it.”

He nods furiously. “I’ll take you to her!”

He lowers the ramp down and says, “It’s already fueled up. But I need to link it up to the–”

“No,” I say. “Don’t link it to anything. This is a secret mission, and if Harmony catches me, she could upload herself back up through the–”

“As you w-w-wish, sir! It’s ready to go.”

“Good,” I grunt. “Now get back to work.”

It’s too bad that I can’t save all of the slaves. I considered it, but it simply wouldn't be possible. If Darkstar is weakened and falls, we may be able to liberate all the slaves later, but there are simply too many of them for one undercover peacekeeper to free.

I power up the ship and check my timer. Five minutes.

I move the ship along its landing gear toward the center of the airlock, and I pass through without incident. By the time I’m through the airlock, the timer is down to one minute.

“
I
t’s
the last wagon back,” Eli says.

“So get on it,” I hiss. “I’m staying here.”

“Kara,” Eli says. “If Kain didn’t succeed, you’ll run out of oxygen out here. No one is going to come looking for you.”

I think of being forced into Adus’s harem. “I’d rather die out here than go back. And Kain promised me that we would see each other again.

“You can’t promise stuff like that,” Andreas says. “He did his best, I’m sure...but it’s been a long time.”

“I’m staying, too,” Felicia says.

“Maybe we can wait another five minutes,” Thorsten says.

“The wagon is beeping and shit!” Eli shouts. “You ever heard it beep like this? If Kain got caught and we’re messing up the quotas with his girlfriend, we’re gonna’ get caught! Who took all the fertilizer? Do you think–”

“Shit,” Thorsten says. “Don’t blame me–”

I see a flash of orange erupt from the base. “Look!”

They all turn to look toward the base, and the orange burst grows like a blooming flower. A beautiful explosion, representing our freedom.

“You still want to go back?” I ask.

“Hell no!” Eli says. “I knew Kain would pull through.”

I roll my eyes.

Floodlights start to turn on all around the base, and I see a number of ships scrambling up into the air. I don’t know which one belongs to Kain, but I hadn’t expected
so many
ships to react to the explosion.

“That’s a lot of activity,” Eli mutters. “What are they gonna’ do when Kain flies away from the other ships?”

As if in answer, one of the ships starts to fly toward us, and Kain’s voice cuts onto our comms link.

“You’re all going to have to trust me,” he says. “Stand shoulder to shoulder and put your hands up in the air.”

“You’re going to land and pick us up,” Andreas says. “Right?”

“Hands up. Shoulder to shoulder,” Kain repeats.

I see a thick purple plasma beam blast out from the base toward Kain’s ship, but he rolls and dodges it. The beam flashes above our heads, casting purple light onto my sister and all the other miners.

“Come on, guys, line up!”

Felicia and I line up and put our hands up, and Andreas falls in line with us.

“I dunno’,” Eli says, hesitantly.

Andreas grabs him and forces him to join us in line. Thorsten shrugs and lines up, as well.

Kain dodges another beam, and slowly starts to descend. He’s flying only a few dozen meters above the ground. His ship looks like a missile headed straight for us.

“Why isn’t he slowing down?” Eli shouts, his voice full of panic. “It looks like he’s going to fucking hit us!”

It does look like that. His ship appears larger and larger as it races toward us.

“You want us to just jump and grab the landing gear, Kain?” I ask.

“Keep your arms up,” he says.

And just as it looks like his ship is going to ram into us, he pulls straight up, and I see teal tendrils blasting out from the ship.

Two tendrils grab hold of my hands, and dozens more wrap around all of us to pull us together. They squeeze us into a bundle, and suddenly we’re tugged into the air.

“Fuck!” Eli whines. “Ahhh!’

The tendrils pull us in toward the ship, and I see the ramp dropping in mid-flight. Another purple beam blasts past us, missing the ship by only a few meters.

As the beam fades, we’re pulled hard into the ship, and the ramp snaps shut behind us.

The tendrils fling us onto the familiar feeling of an acceleration couch, and the couch squeezes me tightly as my stomach churns. I see Kain in front of us, but he’s 100 percent focused on piloting the ship.

I hear a big blast and feel the ship vibrating wildly, and the g-force rises so high that the edges of my vision start to blur.

“Everyone on board?” Kain asks.

“Yes, you crazy fucking...fucker!” Thorsten shouts, his voice vibrating and oscillating wildly.

“You got us!” I shout.

“I told you,” Kain says. He looks back and smirks at me. “Kara, you need to drive until we’re out of range of the plasma batteries.”

He hits a button, and my acceleration couch slides forward, up to the main controls, trading places with his.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“Outside. I am our shield.”

His suit forms a helmet that covers his face, and his couch slides into the airlock. The airlock shuts behind him.

“What do I do?” I ask. “I’ve never piloted a ship like this before.”

“I’ve already locked in the course,” he says. “You shouldn’t need to do much...just monitor the alerts and make sure nothing goes horrendously wrong.”

I look down at the console, and it’s hard to see everything as my peripheral vision is covered by blackness. I have to physically turn my head just to see the sides of the console, and this movement hurts my neck. I notice that we’re accelerating at 3g’s. It’s near the limit of what humans can handle.

“Why are we going so fucking fast?” I ask.

“This is the fastest ship on Darkstar,” Kain says. “If you steal the fastest ship, then you’ve gotta’ go fast.”

I grit my teeth and try to keep an eye on all of the indicators.

I see a section of controls for the camera system, and I toggle through them. Each button activates a screen showing an outer section of the ship. Eventually I find one that shows Kain.

His biosuit looks like it’s melted itself onto the back of the ship. His legs are one big mass–like a long robe–and his arms have formed a huge shield, which he’s pointing back toward Darkstar. I can only see Darkstar now as a big lack of light. There are bright stars everywhere, save for that spherical shape in the center.

A huge beam of plasma flies out from the darkness, and it slams straight into Kain’s shield. He presses the shield forward and angles it to meet the beam head-on. The beam splashes hot plasma out in all directions along his shield, and some even splashes against the hull of our ship.

“How long can you keep that up?” I ask.

“As long as I have to!” he grunts.

I find the targeting system on the ship, and I lock into Darkstar. “It says we’re .05 AU from Darkstar. What is the range of the plasma batteries?”

“.2 AU,” Kain says.

The beam cuts off, and I see him panting. Through his visor, sweat is dripping down his face.

“At least the ship is holding together at this speed,” Kain says.

And almost before he can finish his sentence, a red light flashes on and an alarm sounds.

“Shit,” Kain says. “Did I jinx it?”

I look down at the console. There’s a flashing alert. “It says the heat dispersion system is overloaded,” I say.

“Hmmm,” Felicia says. “That’s a familiar problem.”

“No,” I say. “Ours was broken, this one is overloaded.”

“It must be the plasma beams,” Kain says. “My suit is getting hot, and it’s heating up the ship. It can’t offload the heat fast enough.”

“It does feel hot in here,” Andreas says. “Eli, why don’t you jump off the ship and sacrifice yourself. Your fat ass must be generating the most heat.”

“One human’s heat is a drop in the bucket,” I say. “It won’t work.”

“Well,” Eli says. “Fuck you all. I wasn’t going to sacrifice myself anyhow.”

“Let’s try this,” I say. I disable the autopilot and grab hold of the control stick.

“Kara...did you just take manual control? If you turn too hard, the ship could tear itself apart.”

“Better than overheating and exploding,” I say. “The moment you see purple, tell me,” I say.

“Got it,” Kain says.

I hold the ship as steady as I can, and I cut the acceleration down to 2.8g’s.

“Lock tight into your acceleration couches,” I shout back to everyone. “And maybe take off your helmets...unless you want to vomit inside them. And Kain, make sure your suit is–uh–melted securely onto the hull.”

“Oh, God!” Thorsten says. “I have such a fragile stomach, please be gentl–”

“Now!” Kain shouts.

I pull on the stick, and I nearly black out from the strength of the g-force. But the plasma beam misses us.

I hear someone throwing up behind me.

“It’s re-adjusting. Dodge again!”

I jerk the stick again, and this time
I
nearly vomit.

“It grazed my shield for a moment,” Kain says, “but it shut off. The farther away we get, the harder it will be for them to aim properly.”

I try to keep my gruel in my stomach. I straighten the ship back out onto the pre-set trajectory toward Titan.

We have to dodge three more times, and Thorsten vomits twice more. The plasma battery stops firing, and Kain comes back inside.

“Please take over,” I say, voice heavy. “I need to go sleep forever.”

He kisses me and presses his forehead against mine. “You did really, really well, Kara.”

I smile and rest my head on his shoulder. “Thank God it’s all over.”

“Not yet,” Kain says.