Wrath of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (11 page)

“I feel the same way, but there’s nothing we can do without destroying us all.”

Rusal looked up from the comms console with a broad smile on his face.

 
“Not any more, the situation has just changed. We just received signal from Security Bureau Headquarters. This is the first ship scheduled to leave the spaceport for Axis Nova, and we’re to stand by for a prisoner transfer. Max Biermann is to be removed to the capital planet for further intensive questioning.”

Blas smiled back. “I’ll call Karn Vansen to get into uniform. We wouldn’t want them to see the ship unguarded when they arrive.”

System Standard 2734.1634 Security Bureau Headquarters, Tulum City.

Max could hardly believe that he was still alive. They’d applied the electrodes to him and hit him with high intensity pain amplification, and he’d felt as if his body was splintering into a thousand pieces. The pain was so terrible that he knew he’d live with it in his nightmares for a long time to come. But he hadn’t broken. He was strapped to a table. Above him were the faces of Pieter Bose and his brother, Rad Bose.

“You’re a fool, Biermann,” Pieter said. “You know what happens next? You’ll be taken to Axis Nova, to the Security Bureau laboratory. They’ve got an interesting procedure for people like you. They can wire their instruments directly into your brain with a new technique. It means that everything you know will spill out of you, like water down a drain, and you can’t stop it.”

“You know what that means?” his brother, Rad Bose exulted, coming to stand next to him. “When Pieter says it spills out, he means exactly that. Your thoughts, your knowledge, they’ll be gone for good. You’ll be an empty husk. After they have what they want, they’ll toss you onto the rubbish pile. Maybe they’ll take some of your organs first, there’s always a demand. You won’t know anything about it. Max Biermann will be gone. Save yourself, my friend. Tell us, where did he go, that prisoner?”

Through the waves of pain that washed through him, Max cursed himself for even the tiniest impulse to try and save himself from the terrible fate that awaited him on Axis Nova. But he drew on the last vestiges of his strength and of his self-respect. He moved his lips, willing them to come nearer, but he could barely speak and he wanted them to hear. Both Bose brothers moved closer, their faces molded into satisfied expressions.

“Yes, tell us, what is it, man?”

He stared into the two fleshy, greedy faces.

“Both of you! Go fuck yourselves!”

Pieter Bose automatically smashed his fist into Max’s face, but Rad held up a hand to stop him hitting him again.

“No, let him do it the hard way. It’s his choice. Don’t dirty your hands on this traitor’s face, Pieter.”

He looked around to the trooper guarding the door. “You, man! Get some help and make sure this man is ready to be moved to the next ship bound for Axis Nova.”

He contacted the spaceport for information on military departures to Axis Nova. The guards strapped Max to a gurney, for he was much too weak to walk. Rad Bose made sure he was manacled, and then he nodded at the guards.

“Take him out to the ship, the Star of Orphex. They’re due to take off in a few hours, and they can lock him in the ship’s brig during the journey.”

They picked him up and walked out. The guards bumped and stumbled across the spaceport. And twice they dropped the gurney, smiling as they did so. The jolts caused Max agonies of pain, as fire shot through his body. But he gritted his teeth, determined not to give them the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. He saw the ship loom in front of him, a cold, forbidding, armored naval warship. It was to be the means of his transfer to the laboratories of Axis Nova and the end of his life. But his comrades would be long gone by the time they got anything useful out of him. Even so, he didn’t want these bastards to know about Cadmus, or they’d land several elite divisions to hunt down Berg Smetana. No, it would be better to end it before he ever reached his torturers, so he resolved to kill himself in his cell on the ship as soon as he got the opportunity. There were many ways to commit suicide, and he’d have to make sure he found one. They arrived at the bottom of the ramp. He couldn’t see anything except for the massive bulk of the ship, but he heard the sentry give permission for them to go aboard and take the prisoner straight to the cells. Strange, but the voice sounded familiar. It must be the pain causing his mind to play tricks. They reached the cellblock and a man in sergeant’s uniform told his escort to put the gurney inside one of the cells and leave it there. It was yet another voice that sounded familiar, so it was clear that he was fast losing his mind. As soon as they released him from the gurney, he’d start looking for ways to end his life.

The escort commander looked around with interest. “Not many crewmen on duty, is everything alright?”

“They’re all hunting down artifacts they can buy cheap and take home. Hesperian stuff fetches a big price on Axis Nova.”

The man snorted. “They’ll be lucky! The Hesperians got wise to that scam ages ago. They’ve hidden most of the good stuff that’s left.”

Blas shrugged. “Too bad, I guess they’ll come back empty handed.”

“They sure will. Have a good voyage.”

“Sure, thanks.”

The leader called his squad together and led them back through the ship and down the ramp. He didn’t see Rusal and Blas shadowing them as they walked through the ships passageways. The troopers nodded a farewell to the sentry, a grim looking Karn Vansen, as they walked away. Blas came down the ramp and spoke to him.

“You can come up now and bring in the ramp. We’ll be leaving shortly. If the crew get back and find out what’s going on, it’ll make our task twice as difficult when they raise the alarm.”

He returned to the control room. Evelyn and Xerxes Tell had gone to the cellblock to release Max and help him to the sickbay. He looked around the bridge. They would be operating on numbers that were barely enough for a ferry crew. All ship’s functions had been patched through to the bridge consoles, but there was no one in any of the departments to deal with malfunctions. The business of running the ship now depended on everything working perfectly, which almost never happened. Especially if they saw action. Admiral Rusal combined the functions of navigator and sensor operator to warn of impending threats. Lieutenant Largasse manned the fire control computer for the main batteries. Crewman Fallon was in the helmsman’s seat, nervously checking and rechecking the controls. Blas smiled. Perhaps he needed another boost from Evelyn. The ramp indicator lights came on, the ramp was up and the outer doors sealed. Karn came through the bridge door to confirm that he had manually checked that everything was ready for departure.

“Have you ever been on the bridge of a warship?” Blas asked him.

He shook his head. “I’ve never been on the bridge of a ship before, I’m afraid. Strictly a passenger, and then only a few times.”

“Very well, Karn. Speak to Lieutenant Largasse. You can be our firefighter, our damage control officer. If we hit an emergency, you’ll have to deal with it. You’ll need to wear a pressure suit in case the hull is breached. Largasse will tell you where to find one. If we’re hit, you’ll be needed to enter the damaged area and repair the damage.”

“But I haven’t got a clue how to repair damage to a ship’s hull.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be given instructions through the suit’s comms system. You may be called to do anything, first aid, even taking over one of the ship’s stations.”

“I’ll do my best, Captain Blas.”

“I know you will. Go and speak to Largasse. We’ll be taking off soon.”

He didn’t move. “Are we likely to be shot at?”

Blas smiled at his obvious nervousness. But it was a fair question, he was being asked to perform the impossible. “Oh yes, the moment an unauthorized ship leaves the planet they’ll alert the defenses. When we’re unable to explain ourselves, they’ll suspect we’ve got President Tell on board. That’s when the fun starts.”

“Can we do it? I mean can we get away, with the planetary defenses shooting at us?”

Blas hesitated. He decided to be honest. “All I can say is I’ve done it before. It’ll be hairy, but with luck we’ll make it. You just patch up any damage, and we’ll do the rest.”

Karn nodded and went over to ask about the pressure suit.

Blas manned the engineering console. He would fly the ship from there. He flicked on the internal speaker system.

“This is Blas. We’ll be starting engines and taking off in two minutes. We’re certain to take hits from enemy fire, but we’ll do our best to avoid the worst of them and deflect the others with our shields. It’s going to be a rough ride, so be prepared for anything.”

He clicked off and checked the systems board. Everything was as it should be.

“Admiral, do the sensors show us clear to take off?”

“All clear and ready to go,” he replied.

“Very well, it’s time to leave. Main atomic drives coming online, take off in nine, eight, seven,” he counted down. At zero they felt the vibrations as the atomic drives moved power to the external thrusters and slowly the ship lifted off the pad. As they started to gain height, the bridge door opened and Tell walked in.

“Max’s condition is stable, I’m happy to report. Evelyn is with him. Is there anything I can do here?”

At the same moment the bridge speaker came to life. “Star of Orphex, this is Tulum Spaceport control. We do not show any authorization for your departure. Please abort and return to complete proper procedures.”

So they weren’t worried, not quite yet, Blas noted with satisfaction. He turned to Tell.

“You can take the comms station, Sir. Tell them we’re checking the repairs to our main drives and we’ll return as soon as we’re finished. You could tell them it’s just a test flight, they may go for it.”

Tell walked quickly to the console and informed them of the purpose of their flight. The speaker was quiet for a few moments. They were entering the outer atmosphere, less than two minutes more and they could engage the fission boosters that would hurtle them into outer space. But they didn’t have two minutes. They had less than thirty seconds.

“Star of Orphex, your flight is unauthorized. You are required to abort take-off and return to Tulum spaceport immediately or you will be fired on.”

Tell looked at him, Blas shook his head. “Let them think about it, a few seconds for us takes a few seconds further away from them.”

He looked anxiously at the instruments. Seventy seconds more and they could go to maximum sub-light speed. Rusal called across from the sensor board. “Incoming fire, one of their ground-based laser batteries has opened up.”

“Acknowledged, set rear shields to maximum power.”

The shield indicators had barely reached full, diverting the entire ship’s defensive power to the rear defenses, when the salvo struck. The ship lurched as the colossal energy of a full laser battery smashed into it. The shields protected them from the worst of the damage, but not all. The damage control indicators started flashing. Blas looked across to where Vansen was waiting for orders in a full pressure suit and helmet.

“Karn, go down to deck three, storage space twenty three, and put a patch in the hull. Be careful, the sensors suggest it’s a crack almost a foot long. Make sure you isolate the compartment before you go in there.”

“I’ll do my best,” he said doubtfully, picking up the damage control pack he’d been given.

“Contact us when you get down there and we’ll give you instructions on exactly what to do. Good luck.”

He muttered something they couldn’t hear and left the bridge. Blas checked the instruments again and flicked a switch. They felt the kick as the fission boosters cut in, and another salvo hammered towards them. Their increased speed shot them out of danger, at least, from the ground.

“Captain, the orbital platforms are tracking us with their fire control systems. We don’t have long.”

“I read you, Admiral. Lieutenant Largasse, stand by to fire a burst at the nearest platform.”

“They’re heavily armored, Sir. I doubt we’ll make much impression on them. We need to be ready for the counter-battery fire.”

“That’s ok, Lieutenant, I know what I’m doing. When you’re ready, open fire.”

The lights dimmed slightly as the ship’s laser battery surged to full power, draining every available joule of energy out of the ship’s systems. They could see the platform visually now on the main bridge screen. Lights flashed and attack alarms sounded.

“They’ve gone to continuous tracking, they’re about to fire,” Rusal warned.

“Damn, we have to fire first. Lieutenant, open fire now, hit that platform.”

Yes, Sir.”

The watched their salvo reached out towards the armored platform. As it struck there were arcs and flashes of energy as the laser blasts impacted on the platform’s armor, but it seemed to shrug off the burst.

“Turn hard right, ninety degrees to starboard, Mr. Fallon. Be quick.”

The helmsman flung the joystick over and the ship almost somersaulted, but they were out of the way of the automated counter-battery fire and the beams flashed past them.

“Ninety degrees port, Helmsman. Head for that platform. Weapons officer, you may engage when ready. President Tell, I need you to broadcast a message.”