Ep.#9 - "Resistance" (13 page)

Jessica raised her energy rifle and swung it around the corner. Her first shot took out the Jung soldier in the doorway nearest her on the opposite side of the street. Her next shots killed two more in the next doorway. By the time she moved her aim to the third doorway on the opposite side of the street from her, its occupant was already turning toward her to open fire. Before he could do so, several bursts from one of the resistance member’s automatic weapon struck the soldier’s side, knocking him off balance. Jessica fired again, leaving him a smoldering pile of body armor and limbs.

Several blasts from Jung weapons streaked past her as Jessica ducked back. The soldiers on her side of the street knew that someone was attacking them from behind with one of their own weapons. While their body armor appeared to be effective against projectile weapons, it did little to protect them against their own energy weapons.

She heard two more
zings
as blasts of energy struck the building just above Jessica’s head from behind. “Fuck!”

Synda leaned out from the doorway where she had been hiding and fired at the two unsuspecting Jung soldiers that had fired on Jessica from behind, killing them both. “Holy shit!”

“I told you to watch our backs!” Jessica yelled as she turned around and sat on the ground, her back to the main street. She quickly flipped her rifle around, changing hands so her left hand was now on the trigger and her right was on the barrel stock. She scooted backward a tiny bit, then quickly laid on the ground as she turned both her head and the rifle to her right.

Three Jung soldiers were charging right at her from barely four meters away. Through the first soldier’s face shield, Jessica could see the look of surprise on the young man’s face as she put the first blast directly into his chest. The soldier’s legs collapsed under him, and his momentum carried him forward as he fell, exposing the soldier behind him to her next shot. It, too, found its mark, causing the wounded Jung to fall forward and land on top of the first. The third one was already trying to come to a stop as he brought up his weapon, but he was too late. Jessica’s next shot hit the soldier in the upper, right shoulder, causing him to rotate to his right as he stumbled forward, tripping over the bodies of his two fallen brothers. The soldier’s weapon discharged as he spun, the blast taking a chunk out of the corner of the wall and spraying chunks of brick and plenty of dust and debris into Jessica’s face as she continued to fire.

Her next two shots struck the last Jung soldier as he toppled over the first two, one shot landing in his neck and the other in the side of his head. His weapon flew through the air, landing well past Jessica. The third Jung soldier struck the ground, lying face to face with Jessica less than half a meter away. Jessica looked at the dead soldier’s face, twisted with horror and pain. His eyes were fixed open as the side of his helmet continued to smolder.

“Damn!” Jessica swore. She rolled away from the dead soldier, scrambling back to her feet as she switched the gun back around so her right hand was her trigger hand once again. It took only two more well-placed shots to deal with the remaining Jung soldiers between her and the last four surviving resistance members. “COME IN!” she hollered at them, gesturing for them to come toward her as she stepped out in the open to better cover their retreat. “MOVE YOUR ASS!”

The last four members of the resistance glanced at Jessica, surprise and bewilderment on their faces. One of them did not hesitate to do as she demanded and immediately charged toward her. A moment later, another followed, then finally the last two.

The first resistance fighter came charging around the corner and headed straight for the doorway where Synda had been hiding. The second resistance fighter was right behind him, hollering, “Get it open! Get it open!”

The first resistance fighter pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, swinging it open. “I got it!” he announced. The second resistance fighter ducked through the doorway, and another one followed him.

The third resistance fighter came charging down the street and headed for the open door.

Synda’s mouth dropped open. “Tony?” she mumbled.

The third resistance fighter glanced at Synda as he passed, a confused look on his face.

As the last man came charging down the street, more Jung soldiers rounded the corner after him. Jessica opened up, cutting the first few down as the last resistance fighter went past her. She backpedaled to the corner, firing repeatedly as she went and sending their pursuers diving for the cover of the doorways on either side of the street that was littered with the bodies of dead and maimed civilians as well as those of their own troops.

The last resistance fighter fell as he turned the corner, rolling over several times in the street.

“Move it!” Jessica called out.

“Come on, Jessica!” Synda yelled, pointing at the doorway. “This way!”

Jessica fired around the corner again, keeping the Jung soldiers pinned down in their doorways. She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the Jung credit chips. She pinched it between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand, bending it just enough to jam it into the trigger housing of the energy rifle. With the trigger stuck in the depressed firing position, the weapon continued in rapid fire mode. Jessica swung it back and forth several times, then laid it down on the ground. It was still pointed down the street toward the cowering Jung soldiers as it continued to fire.

Jessica charged back down the side street, following Synda and the fourth man through the doorway. The fourth man pulled the door closed behind him and locked it, then charged down the stairs to the right of them with Jessica and Synda hot on his tail.

They ran as fast as they could down three flights of cement stairs, nearly stumbling along the way more than once. When they reached the bottom, they followed the fourth man through the fire door into the building’s underground parking garage.

Jessica came flying through the door no more than two steps behind the fourth man, Synda another step behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks as she was met on the other side of the door by the fourth man’s weapon pointed directly at her face.

“Whoa!” she yelped, holding her weapon up and aiming it right back at him.

“Drop it, bitch!” the fourth man ordered.

“Fuck you,” Jessica said. “You drop yours.”

“I’ll pull the trigger, bitch! I swear I will!”

“So will I,” Jessica promised, “and I’ll bet mine hurts more,” she added with a maniacal grin.

“Hey, we’re on your side, remember?” Synda said.

“No, I don’t remember,” the fourth man said angrily, his blood still surging with adrenaline. “At least, I don’t remember inviting either of you to the party.” He took aim at Synda as well, causing her to drop her energy pistol out of instinct.

“We don’t really have time for this, fella,” Jessica said.

“Who the fuck are you?” the fourth man asked.

“Come on, Mack!” Tony called out from deeper in the parking garage. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”

“Tony! It’s me!” Synda cried out.

“Shut the fuck up!” the fourth man ordered.

“We just saved your asses,” Jessica reminded him. “You might want to show a little respect.”

“What?” He furrowed his brow.

“Tony,” Synda pleaded.

“How the fuck does she know you?” Mack wondered, suspicion creeping into his voice.

“I have no fucking idea,” Tony insisted. “I’ve never seen this guy before!”

“Guy?” Synda said, surprised.

“Hey, the least you could do is let us go with you,” Jessica insisted, “at least until we all get away.”

“Not while you’re carrying Jung burners,” Mack insisted.

“Then give us one of your guns,” Jessica suggested, seeing one stuffed into Mack’s belt.

“You have two choices,” Mack said, “you drop your weapon and come with us, or we all go down right here.”

“Now that doesn’t sound like much fun,” Jessica said calmly.

“I don’t believe this!” Tony declared.

“Ain’t no way I’m letting you see our escape route and live,” Mack said, “not unless I can keep my eye on you afterward.”

Jessica sighed, lowering her weapon. “Fair enough,” she said, handing it to him butt first.

Mack took the weapon and tossed it to Tony, who quickly removed the energy pack, dropped it on the ground, and smashed it with the butt of the now-useless rifle. He then swept the pieces under the nearest car and tossed the rifle under there as well.

Mack picked up Synda’s dropped energy pistol and disposed of it in similar fashion. He then turned to Jessica. “Now it’s your turn to move your ass,” he said, smiling.

Jessica rolled her eyes and followed Tony and the other two resistance fighters, breaking into a run to chase them down the garage. They turned the corner and ran toward a row of six small delivery trucks, each of them backed up so close to the wall that they were nearly touching it. The resistance fighters ducked between two of the trucks. One of them slid up the roll-up, side loading door and hopped inside, the second one hopping in behind him.

Jessica climbed into the back of the delivery van as well and turned toward the back of the van. The back door was open, revealing a ragged hole in the concrete wall that led into a space between the walls. She followed them in and to the left where there was a big hole with a simple wooden ladder leading down. Jessica laughed. “Didn’t see that one coming.”

* * *

“You’re making considerable progress, Mister Hayes,” Doctor Chen said. “The extra doses of nanites do seem to be helping. You’re sure they’re not bothering you too much?”

“Not at all, Doc,” Josh said. He looked at Lieutenant Yosef, who was glaring at him. “In fact, you can give me another dose if you think it will speed things up.”

“I expect you’ve got more than enough of them inside you as it is,” the doctor told him, “but I will talk to Doctor Galloway about it and see what she says.”

“When will I be able to sleep in my own bed again, Doc?” Josh said.

“If all goes well, in a few days. You’ll still have to take it easy, however.”

“What about going back to work?”

“I’m afraid that may take weeks.”

“How about simulator time?”

“Josh, you were exposed to all sorts of things,” Doctor Chen explained, “high-intensity electromagnetic fields, exotic particles, and different kinds of radiation, many of which I don’t even understand. You need to give yourself time to heal completely. Don’t be in such a hurry.”

“Loki is already back at it,” Josh said.

“You were in the front seat with no canopy over you. Loki was in the back with most of the canopy around him intact. Your exposure was far more severe.”

“But I will get better, right?”

“I cannot make you any promises, Josh,” Doctor Chen reminded him. “You know that. You are making excellent progress, however. That alone is very encouraging.”

Josh sighed. “Right. Thanks, Doc.”

Doctor Chen put her hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Try to get some rest, Josh. I’ll come by and check on you in the morning.” Doctor Chen looked at Lieutenant Yosef and smiled politely as she departed.

Lieutenant Yosef smiled back from the other side of Josh’s medical bed. “Thank you, Doctor.” She waited a moment for the doctor to leave the room before speaking. “Why are you lying to your doctor?” she scolded.

“I’m not lying.”

“The hell you’re not,” she said. “I can tell you’re in pain. It’s those nanites you’ve overdosed on, isn’t it? That’s why you’re in pain.”

“Overdosed? How do you overdose on nanites, Kaylah?”

Kaylah looked him in the eyes. “Look at me and tell me the nanites aren’t causing you any pain.”

Josh looked at her, then off to one side.

“No, no, no. In my eyes.”

Josh looked her in the eyes again. “The nanites are not causing me
much
pain.”

“Wow,” Kaylah said. “I didn’t think that would work.”

“You didn’t think what would work?”

“I was sure you’d look me in the eye and lie your ass off.”

“Yeah, well, normally I probably would. But Loki keeps telling me I need to be more honest, especially with you.”

She smiled. “He’s a smart guy, smarter than I expected.”

“Hey, I told the truth.”

“Yeah, but you lied to your doctor, Josh,” Kaylah reminded him. “How is she supposed to take care of you if you lie to her?”

“I only lied about the pain the nanites are causing; that’s all. I can handle it, all right?”

“No, it’s not all right.”

“Look, the extra nanites are helping. You heard her.”

“I also heard her tell you not to rush your recovery, Joshua.”

Josh rolled his eyes. Every time she called him Joshua, he knew he was about to lose an argument.

“Why
are
you in such a hurry to recover, anyway?” she asked.

“Because if I don’t get my ass back in the cockpit, they’re going to replace me.
That’s
why.”

This time Kaylah rolled her eyes. “
That’s
stupid.”

“They’re training replacements as we speak, Kaylah.”

“They’re not replacements, Josh. They’re backups. The captain would never replace you. You’re probably the best pilot we have. The captain has said so himself, and on more than one occasion, I might add.”

“It’s easy for you, Kaylah,” Josh argued. “You’re a member of the original crew. You’re Fleet trained,
and
you’re a lieutenant now. Your job is practically guaranteed. I’ve got no formal training and no rank. I’m not a member of anything. Hell, when Loki starts talking about orbital trajectories and such, my eyes start crossing.”

“You’re just being silly now.”

“Nice,” Josh said, crossing his arms.

“Come on, Josh. I can guarantee you that the captain is
not
going to replace you.”

“That’s what Loki said.”

“Maybe you should listen to him.”

“And if I don’t fully recover?” Josh wondered.

Kaylah reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand. “Then we’ll strap your nanite-riddled body to the helm so you don’t fall out of your chair and embarrass yourself while flying the ship.” She smiled at him.

“Funny.”

* * *

“I suspect the leak is in one of the main transfer lines,”
Devyn said over the comm-set.

“What do we do?” Lieutenant Commander Kovacic asked.

“First, we need to get everyone moved onto the bridge as soon as possible.”

“Why the bridge?”

“The bridge was designed to be a self-contained environment. Although it is currently being fed by the ship’s other environmental systems, it can be sealed off from the rest of the ship and run independently for extended periods of time.”

“How extended?”

“It was designed to support up to twenty people for at least a month. The problem is, the system isn’t completed. There are no scrubbers, no oxygen production cells, no air purifiers, no humidity controls…”