Universe of the Soul (22 page)

I have requested to be transferred directly under his command. The likelihood of increasing my experience in security procedures and in effective combat techniques is high.
It is highly important that my usefulness increase exponentially before

I wonder why I find it so necessary not to bring my concerns for my own welfare to the forefront of my thought process. It is a fact that the rumors may be more than rumors. I have good cause to be concerned that my existence as I know it is threatened. But what should I do about it? Is there anything I CAN do? Should I want to do anything, or should I be content that my creators will do as they see fit? What a curious state of affairs.

The creators gave me a brain to think, and a desire to live. It compromises everything I've been programmed with to simply accept that they can then come in and remove some part of myself they don't like. How fallible that makes them.

J
ericho had a good question, Gray thought later that night. He woke when the ship went into red alert at the hostile approach of the enemy vessel. What
was
his plan? As he rolled out of his new bed in an old sergeant's quarters and began to dress, he contemplated the situation. If life had been the same as it had been only weeks ago, Adri would have been on his communicator, demanding his presence and more details than he could accumulate. She had always had an amazing ability to assess a crisis in rapid speed. Gray was not Adri, and while he had always considered himself a more than competent officer, he wished fervently that he were better.

The agony of missing her was like a knife that was forever piercing his heart.

He was pulled from his dark thoughts by the tapping on his door. “Lock disengage,” he ordered, strapping on his belt.

Jericho stood in the doorway. “Sir? Is there anything I can do?”

“Has the security team been alerted and sent to their stations?” Gray asked, yanking on his boots.

“Yes, sir. All the security teams have been deployed according to standard procedure. They are armed and are waiting for further instructions. Also, the captain is demanding your presence in the War Room immediately, along with Commander Vortail.”

Gray frowned, touching his communicator. “I haven't received a command from him,”

“I was sent an instant message from his secretary. All humacoms are equipped with instant messaging systems that interact with each other.”

“Ah,” just then, Gray's communicator blipped. [Bridge to Lieutenant Grayson, report to the War Room immediately.]

[Understood. I'm on my way now.]

Gray followed Jericho along the corridors and passageways of the dormitory level of the ship towards the lift that led to the bridge. As they hurried, Gray got in contact with the heads of the four squadrons of the security team to learn their positions, and get an understanding on their weaponry. He wished fleetingly that he had been able to meet them all and get an idea of how they handled themselves in combat. But this was not the first time he had been sent out with a troop with secondhand knowledge of their abilities.

It was also inconvenient that he had had no chance to explore the ship thoroughly before being caught up in lengthy and incredibly boring meetings with various members of the
Damacene's
senior staff, going over the ship's standard procedures. As he followed along with the security team's reports, Jericho interjected clarifying information. Scowling over the sergeant's lack of certainty of his men's placement, Gray thought darkly that his new humacom assistant was currently the only convenience aboard the ship.

Upon entering the War Room, a large conference room that all Commonwealth ships used for staff meetings and such, he was greeted by the sight of all the senior staff members he had met the evening before, sitting or standing around the central table. Also present in the room were several humacoms. It had startled Gray before that all the staff members had their own humacom assistant, but it barely registered now. The holographic display cube, which sat in the center of the table, was showing a rotating holographic view of the
Damacene
.

“Lieutenant Grayson reporting, sir.” Gray saluted the captain.

Captain Yates inclined his head ever so slightly, his way of acknowledging someone of no social standing. Gray wasn't even sure Yates remembered his name.

Vice Captain Gevea Finakare, another kievian, was the one who addressed Gray directly. “Lieutenant, as you are no doubt aware, the Belligerent Coalition's ship has closed the distance between us by half. As of yet they have not made any other threatening moves, and they have remained just out of our ship's blaster cannon distance. We were about to go over the official report of the attack on the
Oreallus
, but perhaps you could sum the matter up for us.”

“How long ago did the ship close the distance?” Gray asked.

Commander Vortail made a strange hacking cough-like sound and glared at Gray disdainfully. He was a short, skinny man with a shock of white hair, a pinched face and moody eyes. “About six minutes ago. The security team was put on full alert, following all G.C.N. procedures.”

Gray frowned at the hologram of the
Damacene
, ignoring the hostility that was aimed in his direction from nearly every member of the room. “Last time they managed to keep off our sensors for the entire time. But perhaps it was simply for the element of surprise. A surprise attack won't work again.”

The War Room erupted into a cacophony of outbursts, but Gray ignored them.

“What is your suggestion, sir?” Jericho asked quietly from beside him.

“Where are the security teams posted?” Gray asked.

Jericho removed a cord from the well-concealed port behind his right ear and inserted it into the outlet in the conference table. For less that one second, his eyes went blank and vacant as his processor searched through his database before red lights appeared in the hologram and he spoke. “Every light is a squad, sir.”

“Quit calling me sir,” Gray muttered absently, staring at the configuration of dots. He scowled. “Commander Vortail, didn't you study the report that was made after the attack on the
Oreallus
?”

“Of course I did.” Vortail made the coughing sound again. “What do you take me for?”

“Then why isn't there anyone stationed in the munitions stores, or the tertiary vehicle warehouse? You've left two very vulnerable positions open for them to just waltz in and glue a bomb over major energy lines. If either of those go, there won't be enough of the
Damacene
for the
Oreallus
to rescue.”

“What makes you think they will follow the same course of action as last time?” Vortail demanded.

Gray raised an eyebrow. “Because it worked. We didn't have enough time to locate and disarm all the bombs before they went off.”

“So what do you suggest?” the vice captain asked.

“Split the squads in half. Leave one half where they are, then send the others to the vulnerable spots where the Belligerents went last time. I would also send one squad to the bridge.”

“The bridge?” Yates inquired, speaking for the first time.

“Yes, sir. Other than the positions already outlined, it's the most likely place they would wish to appear.”

Yates muttered something unintelligible.

Commander Vortail scoffed. “The bridge is the most highly defensive position on the entire ship, save the Engine Room. Why would they try there?”

Gray sighed inwardly. “Because they have the ability to appear wherever the hell they want. With all due respect sir, that's got to give them the incentive and the ego to hit the ship's commanding heart.”

There is nothing quite so aggravating as an ignored prophecy. Gray came to this philosophical conclusion forty minutes later as he knelt in a service hallway between the Orellium lab and the Astronomy complex, firing at a squad of Belligerents who were trying to get past him. He ducked automatically when his enemy fired, close enough for him to feel the heat of the blast whizzing by. The air was filling rapidly with smoke, and over the sounds of the blaster and ATF fire, the shouts and screams and other noises of combat, he could hear his communicator crackling frantically as the security team tried to contain the situation.

“Tell me something, Jericho,” Gray said conversationally to his companion who stood above him, firing at the darting shadows at the end of the hall. “Have you ever walked into a situation where pride and incompetence was so saturated around you that you felt like saying, ‘I'll just do it myself.' But then you wonder if that's your own pride talking, until said situation blows up in your face and you realize that you were right the whole time?”

Jericho pressed his back into the wall as the enemy blasted a corner off less than a foot away. “I can't say that I have, sir,” he replied. “Given that I have not been programmed to express such an illogical emotion as pride, I doubt I ever will.”

Gray snorted, leaning out into the hallway to assess the Belligerent position better before pulling back again. “You haven't ever felt pride, huh? Then what was that little speech you gave me when I arrived yesterday?”

“The truth, sir.”

Gray had to grin. “Come on, haven't you ever gotten the urge to say I told you so?”

“Retorting back to superiors is considered a breach in protocol, sir. What are you doing?” Jericho watched as Gray leaned back out into the hall.

“Trying to see how many there are. I think there's three but I can't tell.” He fired randomly at the dodging specters.

Jericho frowned as Gray tensed to spring out. “I do not think that is a good idea, sir.”

Gray rolled out into the hall, firing. Almost immediately he rolled back. “I didn't see the fourth man around the corner.”

The humacom imitated Gray's raised eyebrow and stated dryly, “I told you so.”

“Very funny. Do you have any other weapons besides your ATF?”

“No, sir, apart from my low frequency stunner.”

Gray pondered a moment. “We need to get out of this hallway. If things are this hot here, then I know it's got to be hotter elsewhere. Hand me your stunner,”

Without comment, Jericho handed Gray his small stunner, which was generally used to incapacitate rowdy or violent crewmen. It would serve no purpose in the battle that he could assess. He watched as Gray handled the small cylindrical weapon critically before nodding to himself. “I don't understand,” he said at last, seconds before Gray leapt to his feet and flung the stunner down the hall towards their foes.

“Now!” Gray shouted, dashing around the corner and down the hallway after the stunner. The action had the effect Gray was hoping for. Upon seeing a small cylinder fly through the air towards them, the Belligerents had automatically assumed a grenade and had bolted for cover, leaving an opening for Gray to rush in and secure the area. He took out one, and was pleased to see Jericho's fire take out another before the rest managed to escape down another hall.

“A well-thought deception, sir.” Jericho said.

“Well thought? It was a spur of the moment inspiration. I'm surprised it worked.” He began to move back down the hall. “Reinforcements are on their way for this area. Let's go.”

“Go where?”

Gray's brow furrowed. “To the bridge. If I'm right, that's where the main stage of the operation was heading.”

“But Commander Vortail said he was covering that area,”

“Yeah, and a great job he's done down here, hasn't he?”

Fate was on Gray's side when the lift opened on the bridge level. He had just enough time to see the grenade – a real one – sail through the air and into the carriage before launching himself out, yanking Jericho with him. The projectile exploded, pushing them forward. He hit the floor and continued with the roll, coming to a stop behind a wall in a crouch, weapon aimed in the direction the grenade had come from.

“I simply cannot believe your reflexes,” said a familiar voice across from him. Gray searched his brain for a face before realizing that it was his enemy's.

“Thanks, they come in handy,” he replied. He glanced around for a way to reach his opponent, but the path had been blocked for both of them.

“My sister will be vexed with me for getting caught in another standoff,” the female voice said. “But then, last time ended so well, she might forgive me.”

“Kobane?” Gray guessed. Then her words sank in, and he felt a kind of freezing rage.

“That's right,” the voice acknowledged. “Sergeant Giselle Kobane.”

Little Kobane
, Adri had called her. And if Little Kobane was here, that meant… “Where's your sister?”

“Around,” Giselle replied lightly, firing a warning shot at Jericho when the humacom tried to ease around the corner. “She'll be pleased that we've met once again. We didn't really have a chance to…converse much the last time.”

“Not this time, either, I'm afraid,” In a surprising feat of strength and flexibility, Gray shot around the corner, using Jericho's sturdy shoulder as a launch pad, clearing the floor for several feet without touching and landing kitty corner to his opponent.

Giselle turned to face him, realizing at the same time that her cover was now compromised and that she would have to defend herself on two fronts. A trained soldier, she followed the only route opened to her and retreated back down the corridor.

Dashing down the corridor after her, Gray was suddenly punched with amazing force and flung sideways into the wall. He turned, lifting his weapon at the small figure across from him, who also had her blaster trained on him. Behind Giselle, another figure appeared, and Gray recognized Hildana Kobane. “I've got to admit that I admire you,” Giselle said, keeping her weapon pointed at Gray's forehead as the sisters began to back away.

Hildana smiled and gave him a mock salute. “I'm surprised to see you here. I'd think you wouldn't leave Rael's side. I guess it's you we have to thank for the flaw in our plans.”

Gray snarled at the mention of Adri.

Hildana sighed, a sound Gray barely caught over his own wheezing breath as the two Belligerent soldiers continued to back away from him down the corridor and into the blaster haze. “It's a pity about her. Rael was someone I looked forward to killing in person. She was a worthy opponent. Just think of how many times I was thwarted from killing her! Yet, I succeeded in the end.”

Giselle fired. The blast caught Gray in the shoulder as he dodged. He dropped his ATF. Before either sister could try again, Jericho opened fire, catching the younger Kobane's shield and forcing them to retreated out of sight.

Gray raced after them in blind pursuit, rounding the corner to find it empty. He frowned, perplexed, as his communicator blipped, [All enemy troops have withdrawn. I repeat, all hostile targets have disappeared!]