The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord
Read The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord Online
Authors: T C Southwell
Tags: #hunted, #cyber, #enforcers, #overlord
The Cyber
Chronicles V
Overlord
T C
Southwell
Published by T
C Southwell at Smashwords
Copyright ©
2011 by T C Southwell
Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
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Table of
Contents
Chapter One
"We're not
going to make it." Tarl stared at the screen beside him, his
expression grim.
Kole turned his
chair, raising a brow. "Do we need to refuel?"
Tarl shook his
head. Tassin looked up, dragged from her daydream. They sat on the
well-worn, but spacious bridge of Tarl’s old ship, Blue Sun,
surrounded by banks of consoles and monitors. Like a few other
areas of the ship, the bridge had benefited from a refurbishment a
decade or so ago, and some of the wall panelling and consoles were
fairly new, while others were original, and ancient. Dull blue
carpet covered the floor, and the bulkheads between the silver-grey
consoles were off-white. The dimmed brilliance of super-light
travel filled the massive front screen. The journey to Omega Five
had proven to be far longer than Tassin had thought possible, and
they had been travelling for five days. It made the sword's feat of
finding Sabre and transporting her to him all the more astonishing,
because, according to Kole and Tarl, Omega Five was on the far edge
of the galactic rim. They had entered and exited seven corridors so
far, each one taking them a little closer, but none headed in quite
the right direction.
Navigation had
proven difficult, and Kole had helped, yet they were not quite
halfway there. They had stopped to refuel four times, since each
entry and exit required fuel for acceleration and deceleration.
Sabre had slept most of the time, even though his injuries did not
warrant it; Tarl had kept him sedated. Tassin's injuries were half
healed, and no longer hurt, while his were almost completely gone.
Tarl had cited the need for relaxation time, so Sabre could adjust
to his recovered memories and his co-ordination and reflexes could
return to normal, along with bolstering his strength with rest and
extra nutrition, as the reason for the cyber's enforced slumber,
but he had not objected. Tassin longed to spend time with him, but,
since Sabre seemed to need to be left alone to sort out whatever
was bothering him, she would give him space.
She cast Tarl a
puzzled glance. "What is it then?"
"The scanners
have just picked up four enforcer battleships behind us, catching
up fast."
Her heart sank.
"How did they find us?"
"Gaylor," Kole
and Tarl said in unison.
"But he didn't
know where we were going."
"He probably
had a talk to Manutim," Tarl said.
"We should have
dropped him off somewhere else," Tassin muttered, scowling.
"Yeah, like a
nice cosy ice planet," Kole said.
Tarl nodded.
"Or an asteroid."
"Even
better."
"What are we
going to do?" she asked.
Kole snorted.
"In an unarmed freighter, against four battleships? Absolutely
nothing."
"Can't we
escape them somehow?"
"How?"
"I don't
know."
Kole shook his
head, glancing at Tarl. "Neither do I."
"We need a
miracle," Tarl agreed.
Tassin's heart
turned cold as the implications sank in. "What will they do to
us?"
Kole shrugged.
"We're going to jail, unless they’ve found out that we killed
Malatar. Tarl’s going to be executed, and Sabre... Who knows?
Either they'll fix him again, or kill him."
Tassin jumped
up. "We can't just sit here and do nothing."
"What do you
suggest?"
"There must be
something!"
Kole shook his
head. "No, there isn't. Even if this ship was armed we wouldn't
stand a chance."
"If only I
still had the sword."
"Yeah, that
might have helped. But you don't."
The console in
front of Tarl crackled, and a tinny voice said, "Blue Sun, exit
this corridor at once and surrender."
Kole leant
forward and touched the ‘send’ key. "Bite me."
Tarl chuckled,
and Tassin was confused. "What can they do to us if we don't
stop?"
"We have to
stop sometime, and they know it. Of course, they can overtake and
lay mines, or come alongside and use magnetic grapples, although
that will be difficult with the solar wings deployed."
"They can do
that from behind if they get close enough," Kole said.
"True," Tarl
agreed.
"So what are we
going to do?" Tassin demanded.
"Well, I'm
inclined to make them wait, that's for sure."
"We should wake
Sabre up. He'll know what to do."
Tarl shook his
head. "Marvellous though cybers are, in this situation he can't do
any more than we can. I'd rather let him sleep. I don't want him
doing anything foolish."
"Like
what?"
He frowned.
"He's borderline suicidal. This is enough to push him over the
edge."
Tassin turned
away, fighting a rising tide of despair.
Tarl stood up
and touched her arm, looking concerned. "What is it?"
She faced him,
her eyes stinging. "It's just... I... Last time, when Manutim came
for him... He asked me to kill him."
"That doesn't
surprise me."
Tears escaped
and ran down her cheeks. "But I won't just hand him over like he
is."
"No. I wouldn't
do that to him. He has a right to choose his fate."
"Even if he
chooses to die?"
"There's no
escape."
"I want to talk
to him."
Tarl hesitated,
then nodded. "Of course you do. I'll wake him up."
She detained
him with a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry... that it came to this. You
should have left us on Vygon Four."
He shrugged,
casting her a wry smile. "This was always my fate. It was only a
matter of time."
"But I think we
shortened it."
"It was worth
the risk. We might have made it."
Tarl walked
away down the corridor, and she glanced at Kole, who sat with his
head bowed, studying the worn carpet. She followed Tarl, who
injected the drip that was still attached to Sabre's arm. According
to Tarl, Sabre was now in peak condition, thanks to his care. He
nodded to her and left. Tassin sat on the edge of the bunk,
brushing tears from her cheeks. Several minutes passed, then Sabre
sighed, and his eyes flicked open. She forced a wan smile.
He studied her.
"What's wrong?"
She shook her
head. "Nothing."
"There must be
something wrong for you to wake me up."
"You've slept a
long time."
"Okay, what is
it? You can't hide it from me. It's written all over your face.
Something terrible has happened."
She bowed her
head, and fresh tears coursed down her cheeks.
Sabre sat up,
frowning. "The enforcers have found us, haven't they?"
Miserably, she
nodded.
"So what's the
plan?"
"There is no
plan. It's four battleships, and we're still in a corridor."
His brows drew
together. "How long did you wait before you woke me up?"
"Not long. Ten
minutes, perhaps. I wanted to talk to you."
Sabre swung his
legs off the bed and stood up. "Not now. We can still escape if we
find a friendly planet, an outlaw world or a habitable planet."
Joy flooded
Tassin's heart. "I knew you'd know what to do."
"Yeah, when the
going gets tough, wake up the weapon."
"It's not like
that, I..."
Sabre brushed
past her and strode out, leaving her to hurry after him. Tarl and
Kole cast him startled glances when he entered the bridge. Sabre
gripped Tarl's arm and dragged him out of the command seat, then
sat in his place, running his hands over the console.
Tarl looked
puzzled. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for
somewhere to land. If we can get off the ship, we've got a chance
to escape on foot."
"As soon as we
exit the corridor, they'll attack."
"I didn't say
it wasn't risky. We just have to find a world that's close to the
corridor, and we might make it." He touched the panel, and a field
of stars sprang into being in the air before him. Tarl studied it,
shaking his head when Sabre pointed at a speck of light close to
the curving green lines that depicted the corridor they were
in.
"That's
seventeen light hours away. We'll never make it."
"It's a chance.
It's a desert world, pretty hostile, but it will have to do."
"If they don't
catch us, we'll starve," Tarl said.
"Not
necessarily. There's animal life on it."
"Alien beasts.
We can't eat them."
Sabre glanced
up at him. "Where there's life, there's usually something edible.
Would you rather surrender?"
Kole said, "I
say we try it."
Tarl shrugged.
"Makes no difference I suppose."
The console
hissed. "Blue Sun, exit the corridor and surrender, or we will
board you."
Sabre ran his
hands over the board, laying in a course for the distant planet.
The new course appeared as a glowing red line in the field of
stars, veering towards the edge of the corridor. Sabre tapped some
more keys, and the soft hum of the engines died away.
Tarl looked
alarmed. "You're taking the solar wings offline?"
Sabre nodded.
"Amongst other things." He ran his hands over the board again, and
the engine noise returned, rising to a scream.
"We should be
trying to outrun them, not decelerating," Tarl pointed out.
"We can't
outrun them, but if they're ahead of us we have a better chance of
giving them the slip."
"They'll have
seen our change of course."
Sabre nodded
again. "But they won't expect this."
"I guess you're
the expert."
"This is what
I'm designed for."
A lump of
mingled pride and sorrow blocked Tassin’s throat. The only time
Sabre ever really came to life, she now realised, was when there
was a dangerous situation to deal with. Then he became
super-efficient, gave orders and took charge. His fingers flew over
the board, coaxing every last ounce of power out of the old
freighter. After a few minutes a shadow appeared in the swirling
brightness ahead, fingers of darkness spreading from it.
"One enforcer
has overshot us, the other three are alongside," Sabre said.
"They're using cyber pilots."
"If they're
alongside and our solar wings are offline, they can get grapplers
on us," Tarl said with a frown.
Sabre said,
"Our lack of wings has made them come close to do just that. Too
close."
The cyber's
fingers tapped the sparkling panel, and the engines' scream died
away, to be replaced by the soft hum.
Tarl made a
strangled sound, his eyes wide. "You can't deploy the solar wings
now! You'll set up a conflict -"