Void's Psionics (12 page)

“
Brother…”

“
No, Steven, it would be
better if I explain.”
Sparky swung his head
around and moved so he and Oliver were face to face. Sparky’s hiss
rattled in a barely controlled growl and his thoughts were tainted
emotion he could not control or hide.
“Those coordinates are in the heart of Merc space where the
Empire holds no jurisdiction. They are home to some of the most
ruthless mercenaries that fled the Empire’s long reach. Only the
desperate or evil hire them. Jake has been a thorn in their side
for centuries, but they are no pushover. Kidnapping, rape, murder,
assassination is just a kind example of what they live for. They
are the absolute worst of humanity and those coordinates are of
their only known fortress that is on par with Earth and Verard’s in
military defense. There are other worlds, but that one is run by an
unknown figurehead called the ‘High Chairman’. Orbital and surface
defenses would shred an entire armada into baser particles or at
best, tiny chunks.”

“
Then why trust them?”
Oliver’s shoulders slumped as her loss was finally sinking
in.

“
Because the only law they
seem to hold to is business transactions. Their involvement is
proof someone with deep pockets hired them to kidnap my
partner.”
Sparky blinked and
breathed.
“They do anything for money if it
is too good enough to refuse. They kill, rape and murder only on
this chairman’s command. All known kidnappings have pieces of the
victim sent to the person responsible for paying the ransom and are
kept alive in a dark hole, fed and watered till money is paid. When
paid in full, the victim is returned immediately. Most importantly
alive. That”
he pointed a claw to the
message crystal disc.
“is the official
method they use for ransom.”

“
Then why don’t we go after
the bastards who hired them?”

“
If ye know who they are,
Lad, I’m all ears.” Jake said, sheathing his sword, but standing
again at least. His hair was a mess, but the fire was back in his
green eyes.

“
Renee’s kidnapping was only
part of the plan.”
Rose could no longer
keep it to herself as she had all eyes turn upon her.

“
What do ye know?” Jake
asked, giving her a piercing look.

Rose for her part did not
cower.
“We have unknowingly had a betrayer
in our midst.”

“
Who? Point me in the right
direction.”

“
The dead cannot
speak.”
She turned her gaze at the covered
Bell and Deegen.
“Deegen has been plotting
for the entire seventeen months aboard. With his dying moments he
opened himself to me.”

“
HE WAS NO TRAITOR!” Steven
yelled in angry denial. “No Hunter will betray his
duty.”

“
See now what he showed me
in his last moments. Close your eyes.”
Every person did exactly that.

Images filled their mind to show Deegen
thirty years ago happy as could be holding a newborn babe. Within
the memory they all knew the child was named Violet and was the
first child he was able to be there for the birth. Deegen’s other
children didn’t know him as he loved fighting on the front lines
with Bell for company, but Violet was different. It was the only
child he truly claimed was his. Looking at her changed the man
deeply. He wanted to be there for her unlike his children who only
knew him by name or reputation.

Six months later Violet’s mother and Deegen’s
mate died in action, but aside from Bell, Deegen had only loved his
little girl.

He raised her as a warrior and year after
year she had made his pride as a father swell more and more. She
had taken after him and was one of the youngest girls to pass her
trial to become a Class One Hunter like himself. Like her father
she had a wolf companion and was one of Bell’s most pride filling
pups. He was a strong alpha male and their connection made sure
they loved their children more than any other.

Violet was sent to the front lines like all
Hunters for thirty years mandatory and Deegen also returned to it,
but was sent to a different cruiser when the most devastating news
was brought to him one day years later.

Violet and her partner was killed in combat
by a Viper which managed to strike from underground during the
mission.

The news broke Deegen, that he wasn’t there
to protect his child and Bell howled a lament for her pup. They
grieved by taking on suicidal missions to follow them honorably,
but no Beast could kill them and no Keptl could stand against them.
They were a ruthless team seeking honorable death to join their
young after this life.

Then one day there came a person who had no
name nor spoke of their employer, they came with an offer. They had
documents showing they could bring back not only Violet, but Bell’s
pup too from the realm of death. The report showed that they were
experimenting combining humans who had died with Beast as well as
adding Keptl spores as the catalyst to gather the psionic
emanations of the dead person. In it he found and watched as a man
came out of a tube and be able to speak and hug loved ones.

But as with Hunters, they had no money.
Everything they wanted was free… except this procedure. Since he
could never own a single credit or be exiled from the organization,
the speaker was a woman with peach colored hair and supermodel
assets and she promised that rather than pay like other private
investors on a ten trillion price tag to bring back a lost loved
one, that in exchange he could complete a very difficult task.

Deegen and Bell were of the same mind that
aside from killing innocents he and she would not care about the
means as the ends will be justified and worth it to see their
children and hold them again.

They agreed.

The supermodel seemed pleased and told them
about the Pirate King Jake Dorgen asking for extra Hunter support
nine months prior to being hired before he began to question his
new employer’s motives. Apparently the Dorgenox captain was
searching for fearless candidates and Deegen’s stood much further
out than others. Being a suicidal risk taker was seen more as
ambitiously driven than what it truly was. So he was chosen quickly
and placed aboard with no one the wiser seventeen months ago.

His mission was simple, gather information
and pilfer rare artifacts without being detected. He knew at a
glance Steven and Visor were simpletons, but deadly as himself and
loved explosions. Stone and Satellite were an issue as the two of
them were quiet and deathly calm, rarely revealing their inner
emotion. Stone was bigger too and frighteningly precise in even the
most heated situations.

The only ones he and Bell truly feared was
Renee and the Drakes. They had known Drake custom to not pry into
private affairs and made sure to never draw too much attention. If
he did then his mission was in jeopardy. So he meditated many hours
a day on honing conscious thought the Drakes made contact with to
speak when in the company of his oblivious brothers he acted well
enough. Living one full century had helped.

In private he knew how to move about the ship
without his signature detected, roaming about when he seemed to be
a shut-in inside his quarters. Over weeks of careful work he began
to carefully access the ship’s data and copy it without Jessica
Menann’s computer prowess being alerted. Sometimes he would break
into the ship’s treasury as well as the captain’s private treasury
and take unassuming valuables he could pocket. Sometimes he could
cause a distraction like disabling dampeners or lighting small
fires so he could access the power room to take scans of the still
superior engine of the ship. Galicom had yet to create such a ship
as Jake Dorgen was known to have designed it all himself.

Any civilized planets the ship went to Deegen
carefully delivered the information and packaged the treasures to a
private residence on Verard.

Things were going well till the discovery of
Oliver. Deegen struggled mightily with telling the employers about
him, but Bell was wisely right and stayed his hand. Oliver’s
innocence began to melt Deegen’s cold heart enough to genuinely
laugh after years of bitterness. Each passing day Deegen noticed
and interacted rarely as he began to feel kinship.

But his daughter was still too much to leave
be.

So to keep himself from losing perspective he
devised the bombing at Galicom to keep Oliver and Renee away. It
would keep the Drakes focused elsewhere and with every person
searching gave him free reign to move about unrestricted and he
began copying and stealing. Only now it was different, Oliver’s
memory loss had begun to wear a crack in Deegen’s metaphorical
armor. The opening began to show just how misguided he had been and
how easily he had been manipulated. His grief was exactly the
reason for the offer of rebirth.

He then was startled to learn Oliver was a
genuine Solarian and so too was Renee in a way. He was glad he
hadn’t reported something so volatile to the shadow people, but
couldn’t give the final ultimatum with Mrs. Menann’s ability to
block all communications.

Opportunity came after
leaving the ship in controlled Keptl space. Even as he spoke, he
knew the outcome wasn’t good after getting his hands on the actual
rebirth results Renee and Oliver extracted from prison. He was
devastated, but held on to false hope of seeing his child alive
again. But no matter
that
cost, he could not betray Oliver again and see
what would happen if the wrong people found out, and he knew those
pulling his string were by the very definition, wrong.

It was proven as Bell yelped and left his
mind completely empty and alone, but Deegen knew he was next and
wanted to fight. Then came the cold biting drag cross his throat so
deep it hit spine. Oddly there was no pain, just a rush of cold. He
fell, dropping his weapons and covering the flow spraying all over.
On the floor he heard sounds of a short battle rage before hearing
Oliver’s scream made all seem silent.

Then came a covered face he recognized as the
foolish Hunter telling him what he already knew. The creeping cold
told it all.

But he had one last thing to do so he mouthed
Rose’s name when a glance to a concentrating Sparky would only make
matters worse. Deegen didn’t want forgiveness, nor pity. He owed
Oliver for making him realize that what he did resulted in leading
the assassins right to those who were good and just. He didn’t have
a clue Renee had been captured, but he wanted Oliver to know that
his secret was still safe from the wrong individuals. His final
thoughts were of the crystal he communicated through in his back
pocket and of his darling Violet he hoped to see again.

When no more came eyes
opened to Rose thinking
“Steven, give the
crystal to Jessica. Deegen indeed had betrayed us, but he at least
took responsibility for his actions… however misguided. He had
known his ultimatum would kill him as he had intimate knowledge as
a loose end. It is why he and Bell were killed first rather than
several Phantoms killing each of you simultaneously. The crystal he
carried led the assassins and the person who hired and manipulated
him tied up loose ends to also kidnap Renee. His opening to me drew
me to this conclusion.”

“
If it’s a tracker then I
need to block the signal. Babe, help me.” Jessica said as Steven
passed the bloodstained disk the size of a coin over. Stephanie
nodded and they half ran to the elevators. Stephanie’s high heels
clicking on the hard floor.

Steven seemed to have a sour taste in his
mouth, but said “Captain, before we start planning, I need to show
you something. I need your chip to do facial recognition on the
person Oliver killed. Renee left nothing of three she blew up.”

Most followed, but Stone said “I’m going to
cremate Deegen and Bell to sprinkle their ashes in the forest of
level three. They loved that small forest.”

“
Aye, the bastard may have
spied behind me back, but I felt another father’s loss. I
too
will do all I can to
bring me little girl back. That I can understand. Had he just come
to me…” Jake shook his head. They followed Steven to his fighter
where he pulled out a bag holding a man’s severed head, having been
twisted right off telekinetically. Jake took one look and said to
those around “Billy Wagner. Born in 3003. Fled the Phantom program
at the age of sixteen for multiple rape and one homicide. Wanted
dead with a bounty of two million credits… Alright, I’ll have
someone go back down to Havannah to claim the reward while I make a
plan. And ready meself to be a poor man, but have me little lass
back. Better than all the credits.”

“
I can’t just stand around,
Captain. My woman is somewhere and I have no guarantee that even if
you pay we won’t get her back alive. I know her. She will kill to
escape and with her bracelet she can be unstoppable…”

“
Laddie, till ye can come up
with a plan that doesn’t get anyone killed I’m going to pay the
bastards just as soon as I empty me funds. It’ll take a half year
at the earliest. Six hundred trillion can collapse the economy of
whole worlds. Ye’ve got till I gather up all the credits to come up
with a better plan. Till then shut yer trap and think. Yer good at
that sort.”

Oliver glared, but knew fighting would not
benefit anyone so he spun and left.

Seconds turned to minutes that led to hours
and days. No one had seen Oliver, but Jessica found him working
through the ship’s information and terran network day in and out.
One person thought they saw him brawling with Piranha Beasts and
came out unharmed dragging one behind. Jessica could not keep up
with anything Oliver was planning as his searches seemed too
random. Not surprising by how quickly he searched, learns and
assimilates complex information. Using his status as Elder Hunter
he got access to freely download secretive and proprietary
information.