“I think I have found a way to disable the
Gryphon
,” Cormac said.
“Show me,” Victor said.
Cormac activated a holoprojector, and the
Gryphon
’s wire-frame schematic appeared in the air. The starchild pointed with a long finger near the center of the ship. “The central computer core is here,” Cormac said. “If we shut it down, it will cause most of the ship’s major systems to shut down, including weapons, propulsion, and communications.”
“The core will be well guarded,” Victor said. “Not to mention that, like every warship, the
Gryphon
has backup systems.”
“Yes, but I have spotted a critical weakness in the design of the
Gryphon
’s electrical systems,” Cormac said. He traced his finger toward the stern, stopping at a point several centimeters from the computer core. “There’s a backup power station here, where the power conduits for both the main and backup computer systems run through. Knock it out, and you disable the ship.”
“Interesting,” Victor said. “So how do you plan on disabling them?”
“With a bomb, Captain,” Cormac said.
“A bomb? Well, I suppose fashioning one of those will be the easy part,” said Victor. “What kind?”
“A simple shaped explosive charge should be enough to cut the conduit,” Cormac said, “and it will limit the collateral damage as well.”
Victor nodded. “That’ll do then. Gaz?”
“Yeah, Cap?” he asked.
“You and I will head to the
Gryphon
’s brig and break out the princess,” Victor said.
Gaz smiled. “First, I learn you captured a princess. Now you want me to help you break her out. Damn, Captain, it never gets old with you.”
“Glad I’m keeping you entertained, Gaz,” Victor said.
“That I am, but there is one thing. What’re we goin’ to do ’bout the guards?”
“Try to deal with them without killing them,” Victor said. He nodded to Cormac. “Once his bomb goes off, that should cause enough distraction for us to grab the princess. After that, we link up with Cormac and head to the hanger, hand her over to Lena, then board the
Alexander
and get the hell out of here.”
“And then it’s my job to outfly the entire Alliance fleet,” Fara said.
“I’m hoping it won’t come to that,” Victor said. “Their comms should still be down when we launch, and the jump point is not far away. With luck, both the
Alexander
and the
Mae
should be through the jump point before the rest of the fleet has a chance to react.”
“Then let’s hope that we get enough of a head start to outrun any pursuit,” Fara said. “And that the Lysandrans don’t kill us the moment they see us.”
“We can worry about the Lysandrans when we get away from the Alliance feet,” Victor said. “Hopefully having the princess with us will help with that.”
“I still don’t understand why you want to give her to Lena,” Fara said.
“Because the Lysandrans are more likely to blow away the
Alexander
at first sight than the
Mae
,” Victor said.
“Fair enough,” Fara said. “But, just so we’re perfectly clear, this adventure of yours will likely mean we all die.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much a given,” Victor said. “Second thoughts?”
“No,” Fara said.
“In that case,” Victor said, “let’s get this act of treason started.”
Chapter 30
Rather than the
Gryphon
’s brig, Lysandra was taken to a comfortable-looking cabin. Or at least that’s what she assumed. She doubted even the high councilor’s personal starship would have a brig this well-furnished.
Not long after the marines led her in, a medic came to look at her hand, changing her brace and examining the breaks to make sure all were healing well.
After that, they left her alone in the cabin.
She sat down on the well-made bed in the center of the cabin and let her face fall into her hands.
This was it. The end. The best she could hope for was to live out her life as a prisoner of the Free Worlds’ Alliance. The more likely outcome was that she would be handed over to Uther Solari as part of a peace agreement. She was quite sure her father’s traitorous head of military intelligence would waste little time in executing her.
Lying down, she fell asleep without noticing. She awoke when a rumbling noise traveled through the hull of the ship.
She stood as the lights flickered and died, replaced by red emergency lighting. “What's happening?”
Startled screams came from the other side of her door, followed by the sound of blunt impacts into soft flesh.
She backed away from the door just before it opened, revealing the mercenary who had captured her. The red cast of the emergency lights only seemed to enhance his severe appearance.
She retreated behind the bed, putting it between her and the mercenary. “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you,” Victor said.
“After you handed me over?” Lysandra said. “What game are you playing?”
“I’m not playing a game, Princess,” Victor said. “Holace Quill and the rest of the Alliance plan on destroying your homeworld.”
“What?” Lysandra’s first instinct was to disbelieve him, but the intense look in his eyes gave her pause. “How do you know?”
“I was told by the high councilor himself,” Victor said. He beckoned with his hand. “We don’t have much time. Are you coming or not?”
Lysandra sighed and walked to the door. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the
Daisy Mae
,” Victor said.
When she walked out the door, she almost asked another question, but it was chased from her mind by the sight of an ugly creature with sharp teeth and facial tattoos rendered a harsh black by the red lights.
Victor put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right, Princess. This is Gaz. He’s one of my crew.”
“Princess,” said the tattooed man.
The best she could manage was a nervous nod in return.
Victor removed his hand and bent down, grabbing one of the two unconscious marines by the door. “Drag the other one into the cabin, Gaz.”
“Y’got it, Captain,” Gaz said, grabbing the other marine.
They dragged the two marines inside and closed the door behind them, or at least tried to. The broken latch left it ajar.
“That won’t hold ’em when they wake up, Captain,” Gaz said.
“No, it won’t,” Victor said. “Let’s get moving. Gaz, you take the rear. And, Princess?”
“Yes?”
He held up a pair of flex cuffs.
She arched an eyebrow in suspicion. “You want me to put those on?”
“They’re just for appearances,” Victor said. He pulled the strap back and forth through the ratchet. “It doesn't lock. You see?”
“Fine, but I’ll put them on myself,” Lysandra said.
Victor nodded and handed the cuffs to her.
She checked the ratchet herself and saw the locking mechanism had been cut. She put her hands behind her back and awkwardly tightened the cuffs.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Victor said.
Lysandra followed behind Victor, doing her best to look like his prisoner as they made their way through the corridors.
They passed several members of the
Gryphon
’s crew, but none of them appeared to pay any attention to the mercenaries or their captive.
It was clear to Lysandra that Victor had somehow sabotaged the
Gryphon
. Assuming this wasn’t some kind of trick, Victor and his crew were taking a terrible risk to break her out. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.
Victor stopped as a man wearing the uniform of a Mustang naval officer stepped in front of him.
“Hold right there,” the officer said.
Victor planted his fists on his hips. “What is this about, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, there’s been an act of sabotage!” said the Lieutenant. “Someone just disabled this entire ship.”
“I gathered that, Lieutenant,” Victor said. “That’s why I’m moving the prisoner.”
“Under whose authority?”
“The High Councilor’s,” Victor said. “You can check with him if you want.”
“Unfortunately, sir, internal communications are down all around the ship,” the officer said. “I’d have to send a runner.”
“I’ll reach the high councilor by the time a runner returns with his orders,” Victor said. “Now step aside and stop wasting my time.”
The officer nodded and moved out of the way, but, before Victor could pass, he said, “Sir, that corridor doesn’t lead to the high councilor’s office.”
Victor turned to the officer. “Well, you see, Lieutenant…” He drew his variblade, formed it into a blunt rod, and drove it into the officer’s flesh just below his rib cage.
The man doubled over as the breath was driven from his lungs. With a left hook to the temple, Victor knocked the man senseless to the deck.
Retracting the variblade, he took hold of Lysandra’s arm and said, “Move.”
They increased their pace to a trot. Speed, rather than stealth, was the focus now.
Lysandra considered pulling her hands from the weakened cuffs but decided against it, hoping to maintain the illusion she was still a prisoner for just a moment longer.
They turned the corridor, and ran right into four armed and armored Mustanger Marines.
The leader held up his hand, “Halt!”
Victor didn’t even try to talk his way past them. He simply formed his variblade into a truncheon and delivered a blow to the side of the marine’s helmet.
As the marine collapsed, Gaz, the tattooed man, vaulted from behind her like a cat, tackling a second marine to the ground.
Victor knocked down another with a backhanded swing, but the fourth backed away and drew his pistol.
Lysandra ran forward, pulling her hands free from behind her back and grabbed the man’s hand before he could bring his gun to bear.
Her other hand went to his wrist, and, using a technique drilled into her from years of hand-to-hand combat training, forced his wrist to bend and point the gun at his chest.
The pistol went off, leaving a deep dent in the marine’s armor. He let go of the gun and stumbled against a bulkhead, gasping for breath.
Lysandra took the pistol, but Victor came and delivered a blow to the marine’s head with his variblade’s truncheon.
He then glanced at her, noting she now had a pistol aimed in his general direction.
“You’ll use that on me?” he asked.
“Will you take it away from me?”
“Not if you don’t give me reason to,” he said.
She lowered the gun. “Then take me to the
Daisy Mae
.”
He nodded. “Follow me and try not to shoot anyone you don’t have to.” He turned and broke into a dead run, drawing his pistol with his left hand.
She followed, with Gaz taking up the rear with a pistol of his own clutched in his hands.
A group of enlisted crewmembers came the other way down the corridor. Victor pointed his pistol at them and then nodded toward a side passage. “Take another route.”
They all nodded their heads and moved down another corridor.
“Captain!” said a familiar voice from behind them.
Lysandra whipped around to bring her pistol to bear, only to see the tall starchild trotting up behind them. Victor rested a hand on her forearm to lower her weapon.
“Cormac, it’s good you caught up with us,” he said. “We need to hurry.”
Cormac nodded. “Agreed. Internal communications will be the first thing they—”
A bark from the ship’s PA system interrupted him, followed by the high councilor’s voice. “This is High Councilor Holace Quill, Captain Victor Selan is a traitor and has taken the Lysandran princess from our custody. He is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Use of lethal force against him and his crew are authorized.”
“Oh, shit,” Gaz said.
“Were they supposed to repair their internal comms that fast?” Victor asked.
“No,” Cormac said.
“We can’t stay here—” A bark from his radio interrupted him.
“Captain, did you hear that?” asked the woman on the radio. It took Lysandra a moment to place the voice as Fara’s, the
Alexander
’s pilot.
“Yeah, I heard,” Victor said. He ran. “Get the
Alexander
ready to launch. We’re heading to you as soon as we drop off the princess.”
“The
Alex
is already warmed up and ready to go, Captain,” Fara said.
“Good, we’ll be there in ninety seconds,” Victor said. “Captain Dryer?”
Lena’s voice crackled over the radio, “Yeah, Victor?” The sound of the redheaded captain’s voice flooded Lysandra with relief.