Still shirtless and wearing only pants, Tarik stumbled from the room. The ship banked hard again, throwing Tarik into the wall. He cursed, bracing his hand on the wall to stabilize. Damn, the sedation didn’t help his equilibrium.
His gaze locked on her. “What did you do?”
“I don’t know.” And she didn’t when it came to the situation at hand. But she had to say something about his current condition. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have rendered you unconscious.”
Tarik scrambled toward the bridge. “We’ll discuss that later, after I deal with BioOne.” He stormed down the corridor and burst onto the bridge.
“There’s a Tri’Neith drone to port. BioOne is engaging evasive measures,” Shon stammered as she followed him. “What can I do?”
“Nothing. You’ve done enough.”
Shon Monet isn’t responsible for the drone.
“I know.”
“Thank you.”
Shon and Tarik had spoken simultaneously.
Tarik’s gaze snapped in her direction.
“BioOne is communicating with me, too. The ship trusts me so you better get on board with the program and start trusting me.”
Tarik’s fingers raced over the control panel. “Our location?” he demanded of BioOne.
Too late, we’ve been detected.
Red energy bursts erupted from the bow of BioOne. The shipped shuddered from the powerful explosion. On the monitor, Shon watched the drone ignite and disintegrate.
“Options?” Tarik hollered. “Because we’re about to have a whole fleet of Tri’Neith war ships up our ass.”
“You may not want my help, but you’ve got it. We can fight about it later.” She wedged in beside him. “Here.” Shon pointed to a relatively nearby cluster on the monitor. “What is that? It looks too small to be an asteroid belt, but can it hide BioOne?”
BioOne propelled forward, jumping into warp. What felt like hours, but was only minutes, they were drifting amidst a boneyard of mangled ships. Lost vessels, government and rebellion, were strung together as if ensnared on a web. Most were riddled with puncture holes or had entire hulls crushed. Some were torn, displaying the charred, destroyed guts of the ship. All shattered instruments of a brutal war.
BioOne would never rest in a place such as this. Destruction of BioOne would be akin to death.
“Will the cloak protect us here?”
“I don’t know. But we can’t outrun a fleet and we don’t have a better option.”
“Do you have reinforcements you can contact?”
Tarik shook his head as he navigated deeper into the wreckage of ships. “We need to reach the Rincon first.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“The fleet would be foolish to follow us.”
“Yeah, because we’ll be dead!”
“You have little faith in my piloting skills.”
“This is no time for jokes. I have contacts, and maybe they can help. The citizens of Etan, of every planet need to know about BioOne. The Tri’Neith need to be exposed. That is what I do. I’m a journalist. I can get your story to the public, turn the tables on the Tri’Neith, make them the enemy.”
“They
are
the enemy.”
“I know, but I’m not. I trust my instincts. I believe my heart, and I know you’re fighting for BioOne. I know this ship needs protection. And I know I can help you. You have your resources, and I have mine. I can help clear your name. Trust doesn’t take time. It’s right now. In this moment, you have to make a choice. There is risk in trusting me, and there is risk in believing your strength is in fighting alone.”
“No, no one can be trusted. I learned that lesson when they destroyed my work and tried to end my life.”
“Not everyone is the enemy. I’m not the enemy.”
His gaze softened. “I know. But I’ve lost too much to take chances. You trust your instincts, and I trust mine. Right now, our best course of action is the one I’ve been on since the beginning. I’m going to stick to my plan. But once we’re safe, I’m open to discussion on what to share of BioOne. Only then will you have your story.”
“There is one person we can trust. I know what you’ll say, but hear me out. He does have connections to the Tri’Neith, but he’s only loyal to truth. His name is Darcolm. He’s the one who arranged for me to be on BioOne. He has connections. I’m sure he has resources to see us to safety.”
“No.” He darkly chuckled.
“Tarik, be reasonable. We’re in trouble here.”
“I’ve gotten out of worse situations.”
“Alone, not with a ship like this and not with me on board. So forgive me if I’m trying to find a contingency plan here, because if your brilliant idea is really to take us into the Rincon, we might as well just surrender.”
“If you truly feel that way, get off my bridge!”
“What difference will it make? We’ll die here or die in the Rincon.” She stormed from the bridge.
Fool.
Too arrogant to admit he couldn’t defeat the Tri’Neith alone. And too stupid to realize when he needed outside help.
“BioOne, I need to help. I need access to a secure transmission. I could be wrong, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time. But we have to try. We’ll be destroyed if we wait here.”
Captain’s quarters always have secure telecom.
Whether the thought was hers or BioOne’s, she thought,
thank you
, in return to the ship.
****
Tarik’s heart pounded. Truth be known, he was in trouble. Deep trouble. “I won’t let them take you,” he said to BioOne.
He had to protect BioOne, and he had to protect Shon. Now that she’d connected herself with BioOne and him, she would never be safe again. She’d be an enemy of the government the same way he was. She’d involved herself, and it was his fault.
He could have had BioOne transport her back to port. But doing so would have risked capture or death of the ship. BioOne wasn’t expendable. The ship had as much right to life as he and Shon. But in creating BioOne, he’d created a species meant to be controlled and used. Sentient ships whose only purpose would be death and destruction. For him, yes, he wanted revenge on the Tri’Neith. But more importantly, he had to free BioOne to a better existence.
Damn. Now all of them were at risk. If captured, Tarik and Shon would be killed and BioOne enslaved.
“Scan the area,” he said to the ship. “We need a perimeter ship with hull intact. And the ship needs to be large enough to hide us within its belly. Cloaking won’t be enough.”
BioOne weaved between the ships, maneuvering to the far side of the boneyard.
“Quickly, we’re out of time.” No doubt, because of the drone, the Tri’Neith ships would figure out where they’d gone. BioOne could already be on their scanners. “Evasive measures. Create a mirror.”
Diplomatic ships didn’t need to deceive their enemies. Yet, BioOne could replicate its power signature, imprinting it upon several of the wreckages at once. A skill that would allow BioOne to appear as multiple targets. Once BioOne was stronger, more mature, in battle, she could imprint her signature on any enemy ship, thereby ensuring their destruction by friendly fire.
BioOne focused on a large ship off her port side, displaying it on the monitor.
“No good. Over there.” He indicted the charred remains of a large transport. Without weaponry, he hoped the ship would be overlooked.
BioOne slid into the charred pocket of the ship, powering down lights and the engines. All energy went to shields and firepower. She instinctively became battle ready.
Tarik ran his fingers over the console. A screen materialized. One, two, four, five government ships dropped out of warp. “Fuck.” He’d known they’d send the fleet. This was just the first wave. More would come.
Time stood still as he waited. How long could he remain hidden? The vast boneyard wouldn’t protect them indefinitely. And the Tri’Neith wouldn’t leave until they’d searched or destroyed every salvaged ship.
He thought of Shon. Although he wanted to strangle her beautiful neck for what she’d done, he understood why she’d taken the opportunity to learn more about him, the mission, and BioOne. He would’ve done the same thing in her circumstances. And had she not, the probe could’ve detected them sooner, could’ve summoned the Tri’Neith. Now that she had linked with BioOne, Shon was sure she’d gleaned enough information to compromise him. Whether he’d have chosen to or not, he now had to trust her.
Tarik watched the dim glow of the monitor. BioOne tracked the progress of the Tri’Neith ships.
A flash of light blinded him. A violent eruption shuddered through the ship. “Have we been detected?” Several more explosions followed the first. The ship pitched, absorbing the bursts of energy.
“Scan the ships. Continue to mirror other vessels.” If they stayed in this position any longer, the destroyers would eventually count down and blast them into oblivion. There wouldn’t be any ships left to destroy. “We need working armament.”
BioOne had the ability to synchronize with another ship. But attempting to remotely commandeer a ship from the government fleet would also risk detection.
Displayed on the monitor were several ships with the ability to inflict minimal amounts of damage. Nothing that would help him in getting Shon and BioOne to safety. Perhaps BioOne could fire off a few energy pulses before they made their move, but the chance of escape seemed slim.
Zero chance.
“Great, thanks for the optimism.”
Suddenly, ships on the monitors began showing weaponry, condition, and more importantly, BioOne was choreographing a plan. “You are brilliant,” he said to BioOne. “How long before you’re ready?”
Standby.
One by one, BioOne armed the salvage ships.
Tarik monitored the fleet’s movement through the wreckages. Ships carrying BioOne’s signature continued to explode around them.
In the upper corner of the monitor, a clock ticked down. Eleven. Ten. Nine. BioOne hummed as her engines engaged. They had one shot and this was it.
Four. Three. Two. “Now,” Tarik demanded.
BioOne shot from the belly of the transport. Instantly, the alarms sounded as she took on fire from the Tri’Neith. Power surged. Another direct hit sliced a wound into the side of the ship. BioOne sent energy to the injury. The ship might not feel pain the same way he did, but the damage would affect her abilities. Adapting was part of battle.
“Another direct hit will take out our shields. We have one shot—”
Time ran out, and BioOne bolted.
Flaring light blinded them. Several violent, jarring eruptions rocked BioOne. Ringing blared through Tarik’s ears. Pressure fluctuated. Tarik’s chest tightened, as if the ship had depressurized to the point he couldn’t draw breath.
“Power to life support,” he gasped.
Tarik’s hands flew over the console, but it was as if BioOne was stunned, unresponsive, and hurling into oblivion. He overrode BioOne’s battle commands. Instantly, he could breathe and the dizziness left his head. How many Tri’Neith ships had they taken out? Tarik scanned the aft monitors, stunned by an expanding particle cloud left behind.
BioOne had set the simultaneous autodestruct commands on all the ships in the boneyard with the capability. In the carnage, many Tri’Neith ships were annihilated. But not all. Even those escaping had damage.
“Lower shields.”
BioOne was still silent in his mind. But she was alive. He could feel her life energy flowing through him. But it was as if she were asleep.
Taking over propulsion, he set course for the Rincon. Their only chance was to escape before more Tri’Neith ships arrived.
Chapter Four
Until BioOne regained consciousness, Tarik couldn’t risk leaving the command center. He’d fought the need to go to Shon. However, once BioOne recovered, Tarik released control back to the ship. Sensing all of BioOne’s systems were working normally again, he had other matters to settle.
The momentary stun had no lasting effects. But the situation had revealed a weakness in BioOne. A critical lapse in consciousness, without a competent captain at the helm, would leave the ship vulnerable. He immediately began planning ways to engineer greater strength into BioOne’s shields and stabilizers.
As hard as it was to do, he left the bridge. First, he needed to check on Shon. Although he wasn’t sure what he’d say to her. She hadn’t returned to the bridge, and it worried him. The blasts had nearly taken out BioOne, leaving her unconscious, but he doubted Shon had been deterred from her mission. He imagined her hunkered down, waiting for imminent death, but more likely she was searching for more information.
A quick inspection of the ship showed they’d sustained some damage. But BioOne had already begun healing the burns to her outer hull. Faint scarring on the internal walls would take longer to heal.
Emotions welled within Tarik. Where he’d failed to see a viable means of escape, BioOne had functioned as designed. Action and reactions had been faster than he could ever have programmed. There was no doubt. Perhaps even now, but certainly with more experience, BioOne would be better at the helm than any commander. She was instinctual. This would open up vast new areas of space to exploration. The next real test would come from navigating the Rincon.
Tarik paused at the threshold to the captain’s quarters. Shon knelt in front of 32D with a tool in hand, working to restore the fem-bot.
“Hoping to use her again to keep me hostage?”
“She was keeping you entertained. You were her favored guest as I’m sure she is for you.”
Tarik gave a snort.
“Is everything okay? Seemed rough there for a minute, but I figured you’d want me to stay put. I didn’t want to be in your way.” She met his stare. “I really do want to help you.” She glanced around the room. “I want to help BioOne.”
“The ship is fine.” He nodded toward the fem-bot. “I can’t say the same for our hostess.”
Shon shrugged, appearing defeated. “What did you do to her?”
Tarik knelt next to Shon and took the laser from her hand. “BioOne deactivated her, and then I severed the power source. I didn’t want you getting any more ideas of ways to keep me entertained.” He sat next to Shon.
“Can you fix her?”
He raised a brow. “Have you developed a fondness for 32D?”
“Well, I owe her. I think we both can agree she follows orders better than I do.”