Omega Force 5: Return of the Archon (23 page)

“It is,” Mazer said. “Now, what do you think he’ll say about the fact you have stolen his ship and taken it off-world?”

This caused an eruption of quiet, frantic babbling on the bridge. Jason caught Mazer’s eye and nodded to him in approval. Thanks to his quick thinking, this may be over with nobody dying from a plasma bolt to the chest.

“We did not have any idea that the ship belonged to the Lord Archon,” the deep voice called out. “The orders came in through the normal channels.”

“What did I tell you?” the thin voice said harshly. “Tell them noth—” The voice was cut off suddenly and there was a strange gurgling sound now coming from the bridge.

“We would like to negotiate our surrender,” deep voice said. “How would you like us to proceed?”

“Are you able to get outside from your current location?” Jason asked.

“Affirmative.”

“Everyone clear out and muster twenty meters off the prow and wait for us,” he continued. “Take no weapons and made no sudden moves when you see us.”

“Acknowledged,” deep voice said. “We’re moving now.”

“Mazer, do you know where the flight data recorders are on the bridge?” Jason asked.

“I think I know what you’re referring to,” Mazer said, “and yes, I do.”

“Go grab those and Lucky and I will go out and keep an eye on the prisoners,” Jason said.

While the pair from Omega Force made their way to the forward emergency hatch they’d passed on the way to the bridge, Mazer moved cautiously onto the bridge, watching carefully for any traps or warriors that may have been left behind. It took them a moment to figure out how to blow the hatch, but within two minutes of leaving the bridge they were dropping onto the ground and walking around the crumpled prow to see six warriors and one normal gelten standing in various non-threatening poses with one exception: one of the warriors had a clawed hand clamped firmly around the normal gelten’s throat and nearly had him lifted off the ground.

“My name is Jason Burke,” Jason said, training his weapon causally along the loose assemblage. “I’m an associate of Felex Tezakar and have been tasked with finding his ship. We have confirmation that your vessel took the ship off of Restaria a few days ago. So … who wants to talk first?”

“I am Kade Trask of the 108
^th
Legion,” deep voice identified himself. “I will tell you everything that I know. As I said before, we were simply following orders to remove a suspect alien vessel.”

“Kade,” Jason nodded. “I’m overjoyed that we’ve decided we can resolve this as rational beings. So what’s the story with him?” He was gesturing to the gelten being held with a vice-like grip by one of the other warriors.

“He was the liaison from command that brought our mission orders,” Kade explained. “After you shot us down and informed us of whose ship we took, he became somewhat agitated. He tried to destroy the ship with all of us onboard and then ordered us on a suicide mission to rush you and the battlesynth once you accessed the bridge.

“I’m not absolving myself of blame and will stand in judgment before the Lord Archon, but it is almost certain that this is the person you actually want to question.”

“Perhaps,” Jason said. “Answer me one question and then we can decide how to proceed. Were there any crewmembers on or around the ship?”

“Yes,” Kade confirmed. “The vessel had some sort of defensive system active and killed one of our crew. We then apprehended the two beings that were in the area and lifted the ship from above to nullify the ground defense system. Were these two also associates of Lord Felex?”

“Yes,” Jason said tightly.

“They are still alive,” Kade said.

That simple statement almost broke the dam that Jason had built to hold back any emotions that could threaten his mission effectiveness. He could feel the lump forming in his throat as it sunk in that his friends were still alive.

“One was injured during the initial stages of the operation, but both were handed over alive, although the more belligerent of the two was making things difficult on himself.”

Twingo. That means Doc was the one injured.

“This brings up the obvious question,” Jason said, pushing his emotions back down and getting back to business. “Who did you turn them, and the ship, over to?”

Kade nodded to the warrior holding the normal gelten, who in turned wound up and flung the much smaller being across the ten meters of separation so that he landed in a heap at Jason’s feet.

“He will answer the who and why,” Kade said. “We will then fill in any technical details you may need.”

The gelten rolled over and looked up at Jason and Lucky.

“Do I really need to make a bunch of melodramatic threats to get you to—” Jason was interrupted by the gelten jamming his hand into a pocket and, lightning fast, shoving something into his mouth and chomping down on it. “Shit! No!” Jason dove at him and tried to pry his mouth open, but it was already too late. The gelten’s eyes rolled back in his head and his body was wracked by convulsions so violent that his spine sounded like it may have snapped and he bit off half his tongue. It was over in an instant, and afterwards Jason was staring at a dead and quickly discoloring body.

“Son of a bitch!!” Jason raged to nobody in particular. As his temper rose, so did his adrenaline levels. Ignoring the rushing sound in his ears, he reared back and kicked the body hard enough to send it flying back towards the stunned warriors. Even they, who were raised in a culture of violence, were looking at the smallish, pinkish alien with slack-jawed astonishment. Jason put his hands on his knees and forced himself to calm down.
What the hell is going on with me?
He’d always had a bit of a short fuse, and that was something that was nurtured by his time in the military, but since Doc had been tweaking his DNA the reactions seemed to be much more extreme. When he looked up, Lucky, now out of combat mode, was staring at him with obvious concern.

“The mission logs have been deleted,” Mazer said, joining the group. When he saw the body of the gelten crumpled up at Kade’s feet, he looked at Lucky in confusion. “So, what’d I miss?”

“Of course they were deleted,” Jason said, ignoring Mazer’s question and taking a few steps towards the group of warriors. They all took two steps backwards at his approach, still eyeing him with distrust.

“Relax,” Jason said, “I’m not going to shoot you or anything. I just don’t feel like shouting across this field to talk. As of now you’re my only chance of getting my crew members back and finding my ship. Please tell me you know where you dropped the gunship off.”

They all looked at each other a moment before answering.

“I do,” Kade confirmed. He gestured at the dead gelten before continuing. “He tried to keep the location a secret, but I made sure I knew where I was taking my ship.”

“And you can tell me how to get there?” Jason pressed.

“I can do better than tell you,” Kade said. “I will take you there myself.”

“Why would you do that?” Mazer asked.

“I am hoping that my actions will be taken into account when I stand before the Lord Archon,” Kade admitted.

“Good,” Jason said. “I like that you’re honest about your intentions. I’ll tell you what, Kade … if I get my crewmen back alive, I can guarantee that not only will you not be punished, but Lord Felex will be enormously grateful.”

“How can you make such assurances?” Kade demanded.

“Captain Burke and the Lord Archon have a … unique relationship,” Mazer said quickly, shooting Jason a warning look. Jason realized his mistake as soon as he said it, Crusher was no mere warrior to most on Restaria. He was a legend, almost a myth that hovered near royalty and bordered on deity. The fact a strange, unknown alien was claiming to speak for the Lord Archon probably didn’t sit well with Kade, especially given the geltens’ borderline xenophobia.

“Perhaps I overstated things,” Jason said. “All I meant is that Lord Felex trusts my judgment in matters like this. He will, of course, make his own decision.” This seemed to mollify Kade somewhat as he considered it.

“That is the best I can hope for,” he said after a moment of reflection. He then turned to his crew. “One hour after we are gone, you may activate the emergency beacon and call for a pickup.”

“Are we picking up Kage first?” Lucky asked.

“No time,” Jason said. “We’re leaving. Now.”

Crusher paced the upper floor of the Legion Center in Ker. Every major city in Restaria had such a building—an administrative hub as well as contact point for Galvetor—and each was opulent in its own way. He was decked out in full ceremonial armor, crimson cape flowing down his back. He had worn this exact same armor for most of his twenty-eight years before being sent away from his home. It had seemed completely normal, even natural then. Now he felt rather foolish and juvenile.

The six years he had spent away, five of those with Omega Force, had left him with a more pragmatic turn of mind. Thinking of his crew gave him a pang of self-pity. He had been cut out of the loop. Jason had told him about his friends going missing as well as the
Phoenix
being stolen, but he had received no updates or requests for help. He knew the younger warrior, Mazer, had been seen with Jason and Lucky, but beyond that nobody knew where they were or what was happening. Connimon was avoiding him and he had no idea where Kage had run off to.

Crusher’s mood had been bouncing from the aforementioned self-pity to anger at having been left out. He was still part of the team; why were they treating him so differently? He caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror as he was pacing and had to amend his train of thought. He knew exactly why they were treating him so differently.

“You seem troubled, my lord,” Fordix said as he entered the room with the three Praetores of the Order trailing behind him. Morakar was also in attendance and took up a discreet position near the entryway.

“What do you know of your brother’s whereabouts?” Crusher demanded, leveling a finger at Morakar and ignoring Fordix completely.

“I have not seen my brother or your companions since yesterday morning, Lord Felex,” Morakar said in a strong, clear voice. “I am not aware as to where they might be, nor would I care to hazard a guess.” Crusher appreciated the direct answer. Since it had been revealed to more and more of the people that he had returned, the near cowering deference to him was becoming aggravating.

“Would you go and see if you can find out what is going on?” Crusher asked in a softer tone. “When you do, report back to me and only to me.”

“At once, my lord,” Morakar saluted and slipped from the room.

“We have people who could locate them more quickly,” Fordix said, walking over to the large, ornate double doors that led out to the terrace.

“And I have Morakar,” Crusher said. “I trust him and I would rather not advertise the fact that I cannot keep track of my friends. When are we scheduled to meet with the Legion leadership?”

“Tomorrow at noon, my lord,” Fostel said. “They are all in the city with their own honor guard but are still distrustful of each other. They have agreed to meet here at your command.” Crusher stared at Fostel for a long moment, unsure as to why the Praetores of the Order were still hovering around now that the secret was being discreetly leaked out.

“It’s good to see nothing has changed,” he said sarcastically, clasping his hands behind his back. “Not only must we fight the bigotry of our own people and homeworld, we also must fight amongst each other like a pack of wild
kolvkiks.”

“Perhaps you would do us the honor of addressing the Archon’s Fist?” Zetarix said. “I’m sure they would be overjoyed to hear your words one more time before the news of your return spreads far and wide.”

“You can talk to them yourself,” Crusher said, dropping the stilted, formal manner of speaking. “I’m going for a walk, and then I am going to bed.”

“As you wish, my lord,” Zetarix said, his voice sounding like he’d been clenching his teeth. Crusher also saw the glare in the other warrior’s eyes as he walked by. He stopped for a moment, considered answering Zetarix’s challenge, but instead walked from the room. Not even half a decade ago he’d have beaten the other warrior to a pulp for such an outward show of disrespect, and if he died it would have been his own fault. But like his armor and cape, the commonplace things of his past now seemed absurd when viewed from the perspective of who he was now. Where
was
everybody?

*****

Kage was annoyed beyond all measure. He’d finally heard from Lucky and found out that Jason had blasted off with the captured captain of the ship that
he’d
found for them, without first coming to pick him up. Not only that, they’d not bothered to give him anything useful to do … just stored him in the safe house like a piece of unused equipment.

He’d spent the first twelve hours making improvements to the connections coming into the gear the Order had left in the flat so he could begin expanding his search. After climbing up on the roof and patching in three more optical cables, he was able to slice into the automated data traffic center and activate them so he could run all his connections in parallel, essentially turning four optical pairs into one big data pipe.

With the new bandwidth from the local nexus, he began slicing into any and all surveillance systems around Ker to get a real view of what was happening. As Jason had told him, the streets were now crowded with large, armed, and surly looking warriors. They were all eyeing each other with distrust as groups from all the legions roamed the area. He was quickly boring of gelten watching when a striking if somewhat absurd figure caught his eye.

Crusher was walking alone in the gardens area that was between the two towers that made up the Legion Center. He looked as sad and morose as Kage had ever seen another being.

“What have we here,” he whispered, taking control of a few of the cameras and zooming in on his friend. He watched as Crusher looked around before sitting on a bench and staring at the ground.