Chapter 24

After a stop at LHS 28, deep into the territory of a powerful, large faction known as The Fatherhood, they retrieved Trisha’s data locked away in her server on Holland Base. The data corroborated everything Trisha told them about the timing of Sylus Draden’s disappearance, the sudden rise of Alden Duryss, corruption in Imperial dealmaking, and even encrypted communications logs between the Consular and the well-known Imperial Senator, Madius Draden. The connection between the Senator and Consular Duryss made the timing of Sylus Draden’s disappearance all the more suspicious.

It convinced Reeves and her crew that Duryss needed to be exposed. Still, Lee was on edge. As much as Reeves and the crew seemed genuine, he couldn’t help but wonder if they were being played. Was Reeves going along with them to keep them under control?

The Decimator was now several jumps in on its journey back to Sietae. Lee was in the galley tinkering with Billy’s cam-bot. Reeves had given him a new datapad that he was using to interface with the decorative little bot’s programming. Cam-bots like these were designed for home security in Imperial apartments, hence the stylish design. It looked like a knick-knack that would live on a bookshelf filled with decorations instead of books.

The work was a helpful distraction from the growing tension of what lay ahead. Lee focused on reworking the wireless communications stack to connect over more than video channels to make it a more functional remote tool.

He put down the bot and reluctantly sipped on a coffee. He winced at the bitterness. He tried in vain to find anything else, but the only other option was the foul abomination of powdered tea.

The door to the galley opened. Lee turned to see who it was and watched Jackson Dekker enter. He tried to keep his composure even while he cringed inside.

“Hey, Lee,” Jackson greeted him. “Mmm, coffee. Smells great.”

“Jackson,” Lee responded. “Be my guest,” he gestured to the machine, then continued his work on the bot.

Jackson stepped up to the dispenser and looked around.

Pulling the cup back from his lips, Lee swallowed and pointed. “Upper compartment,” he directed Jackson.

“Ahh, thanks,” Jackson pulled a cup from the compartment with a tilt to release it from its mag-locked storage.

For a moment, Lee watched Jackson work the dispenser. He was still annoyed by the guy. His cocky, know-it-all attitude was irritating to the point of being infuriating. Though being honest with himself, he admitted it could also be the grudge he held. He pushed past a lot of it, but perhaps there was a deep part of him that could never forgive Jackson.

“Hey, Lee,” Jackson turned back as the dispenser began to stream coffee. “Thanks for backing me up in the locker room.”

“Nah, it was nothing.” Lee took another sip and kept working on the bot, attempting to keep the conversation to a minimum.

“No, really, it means a lot. I guess I just wish people looked to me the way they look at you.”

“Me?” Lee put the bot back down and pointed to himself with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, everyone likes you, respects you. Everyone trusts you.”

Lee shrugged, “I don’t know what to tell you. I guess it comes down to being genuine. You come across a little… well, a little desperate.”

Jackson’s face flushed, then he frowned and joined Lee at the table. “I don’t mean to,” he shrugged. “I just want to feel, I don’t know, like I’m worth something, you know?”

“Sure, of course.”

“I’ve never felt like I mattered.”

“Sounds like family issues to me. That’s above my pay grade. I don’t want to get into…”

Jackson cut him off, “Now that you mention it, that makes a lot of sense. I guess I never felt important. My dad was always too busy for me. He always just bought me off.”

“Bought you off?”

“My family is pretty wealthy. Dekker Industries—my dad’s a Tritium dealer. He buys me whatever I want. That’s how I got the Para Bellum. I never thought about it until you mentioned it, but you’re right. Guess I just wanted not to get dismissed. That’s why I’ve hung around with you guys this long. At least here I feel… seen.”

Lee saw a deep hurt in Jackson’s eyes. It was a pain that stretched back through his life, and for that moment, at least, he felt genuine pity for him. Maybe he’s not bad—just misunderstood, Lee thought.

He tried to think of what to say, “I think we’re all trying to figure out how we can contribute something meaningful to the universe. You got us out of that penal colony. That’s something, at least.”

“Made some mistakes along the way,” Jackson said with his head down.

Lee finished working on the bot and closed it up. “Yeah, you have,” his voice had more of an edge than he intended. He took a breath to try to diffuse his anger.

There was an awkward silence between them while Lee tinkered with the bot.

“You know, Vic used to tell me nothing teaches faster than learning from your mistakes.”

“Then, I’ve learned more than most.” Jackson looked up at Lee with a wan smile.

“Cheers to that,” Lee raised his cup with a half-smile.

“Cheers,” Jackson said, returning the gesture.

They sipped their coffee together. It was as friendly as Lee was willing to go, but the new understanding did help him hate the guy less.

A warning tone sounded as the ship engines began to build for a jump. Lee stowed his datapad and bot in his jumpsuit, then moved toward the wall restraints. Jackson walked over to join him and strapped up.

“Thanks for the chat, Lee.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it. Really.”

Within moments, the intercom was filled with the onboard COVAS. “Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”

The deck lurched, and the room looked stretched as the ship jumped into hyperspace. Reeve’s voice came across the intercom.

“Attention crew, we have arrived in Sietae and are on approach to Novandra City. Special forces, please report to the flight deck.”

Lee and Jackson unstrapped, left their cups locked on the table, and headed to the flight deck together.

Everyone was assembled on the flight deck. The point of light resolved into the glowing blue marble of Emen—the seat of the Hyades government and Consular Duryss. The Decimator banked into a gently curving course toward a surface approach.

A communication signal sounded, and the comm’s officer acknowledged it. “Colonel, it’s Consular Duryss.”

“Business as usual, people,” she encouraged, then nodded to the comm officer, “Put him on.”

A blip sound indicated the connection, “Colonel, is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything is fine, sir.”

“Very good. We expected you some hours ago, and the colony reported you departed on schedule.”

“Yes, we were delayed by a sensor recalibration that required us to take several systems offline. It was minor maintenance, but it did take several hours to complete.”

“Ahh, I see. You have the shipment?”

“Yes, a full hold.”

“Excellent. See to it the shipment is offloaded to the receiving crews at landing pad twenty-eight. You’ve been given special landing clearance there. We need to turn this around quickly, Colonel. The timeline has been accelerated, and we need the fleet equipped and ready to launch in a few hours.”

“A few hours? Is something happening? Are the Thargoids attacking?” She tried to bait him.

“No, Colonel, it’s not a Thargoid attack. We need to shut down the Resistance attacks in Chelum. It will be an operational test of the new modules.”

“And the Decimator? We’re getting the upgrade, too?”

“Absolutely, Colonel. I want the Decimator leading the forces to support Chelum system authorities and put down this petty resistance. We must keep order if we are to be ready for Thargoids.”

“Understood, sir. We’ll make all efforts to assemble a fleet for launch by 1900 hours.”

“You are authorized to use every resource at your disposal to make sure of it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, Colonel. Duryss out.”

The commlink connection closed.

“Asher, bring us in,” Reeves ordered.

“Aye,” she responded, working the controls. The ship responded, moving into a mild angle toward the planet’s surface. As a pilot himself, Lee knew she had maneuvered to a precise angle of entry based on the planet’s atmosphere. The ship would skip off the upper atmosphere at too low of an angle. But going in too steep and the vehicle burns up, even with full shields. Atmospheric landings were always a delicate operation. Lee noted Asher’s professionalism in making it feel completely routine.

Reeves turned to address the rest of them at the back of the flight deck. “Landing pad twenty-eight is on the opposite side of the city. Alpha Team, we’ll need to take a transport to the capitol building. Bravo Team, your job just got a lot easier. You’ve been conscripted into the task force for Chelum.”

Tarrek nodded. “We’ll need official mission record.”

She gestured towards the comms officer, “Huxley, draw it up and contact the Sietae Corp rep to post it.” With a nod, he turned and began to work at his console.

“Lee, we’ll need to stop by your ship so you can sign on and get the authorized upgrades.”

“Actually, no, we won’t,” Lee smirked.

“Oh?”

“The Nightcrawler is already fitted with the original.”

“You’re full of surprises, Sollinger.”

He winked with a grin.

Reeves turned back to the center of the flight deck. “Okay, people, it’s go time.”

The deck plates shook from Emen’s gravity and its lower thermosphere. They dropped to the K-line, the calculated altitude where space ends and atmosphere begins. A glow illuminated the shields where the effects of entering the atmosphere were visible. Their shields absorbed the dynamic pressure impacts from increasingly dense atmospheric strata.

Lee stepped forward to get a better view of the descent. He caught the heat indicator rising on the co-pilot’s holo-display. The ship’s heat management could only cope with so much.

It reminded him of his first lesson on atmospheric landings with Vic. The old man called it “controlled crashing.” The heat build-up wasn’t from friction like Lee naively assumed. It was from the ship crashing into air particles that couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. The particles pack into a compression wave with enough force to break apart chemically. It releases energy in the form of heat—loads of it. The superheated gases turn to plasma, capable of burning up the vehicle if the heat management systems don’t keep up.

Different atmospheres require different glide slopes to manage the heat. Lee read the descent angle from the HUD: a safe six degrees. That also confirmed for him that Emen had a nitrogen-rich atmosphere typical of Earth-like worlds.

A light show danced along the shields with arcs of bright colors that shifted from yellow to fluorescent pink and purplish colors. The shaking worsened, and the colored light loops danced erratically around them. Lee clamped his mouth together to keep the vibration from breaking his teeth.

He heard a pounding sound behind him, and Dex cursed, “Mother Hubble!” Looking back, Lee saw the big man bracing his cybernetic arm against the upper bulkhead to steady himself. Then, a sudden deceleration caused them to lurch forward with the breaking sound of the FSD being disengaged. Lee had to catch himself by planting a foot forward and grabbing the back of Asher’s chair. The light show became a golden orange that shifted to yellow before dissipating to a soft glow before disappearing entirely. Everything settled into a smooth glide, aside from regular atmospheric turbulence.

The comms lit up from Novandra City traffic controllers. “Attention Sierra Charlie Zero-Niner Whiskey, you have priority clearance on pad two-eight. Maintain your current flight path and reduce speed to one zero zero at three klicks from touchdown.”

The comms officer responded. “Affirmative Novandra Control, Decimator on locked approach to pad two-eight, speed one zero zero at three klicks.”

Reeves spun around, “Bravo Team, move out.”

Tarrek nodded and led Bravo Team, with Trisha, Jackson, Dex, and Zee, to the lift.

Lee stood by Reeves, the two of them making up the entirety of Alpha Team. The rest of the flight crew remained aboard to oversee the cargo transfer, outfitting, and armament prep for combat in Chelum.

Once the ship settled on the pad, Reeves stood between Asher and Sloane at the forward consoles. She put a hand on Sloane’s shoulder, “Lieutenant, you have the con.”

“Aye, sir,” Sloane acknowledged while working his station.

“Mr. Sollinger, you’re with me.” Lee caught up with Reeves’s purposeful gait to the lift. They hopped off several decks down to stop by a locker room. Reeves handed him a sidearm, “Don’t make me regret this.”

Lee shrugged, “Who me? I was thinking the same about you.”

She gave him a hard stare. “Our goals align…for the moment. I’m the one going out on a limb, trusting criminals that just broke out of prison.”

“Falsely accused by your own admission,” Lee pointed back at her.

She didn’t blink, holding her stare. “We’ll see.” Then she blinked and tipped her head toward the door. “Let’s go.”

They left the ship, walking across the landing pad to the terminal. Lee drew in the fresh air. It was a literal breath of fresh air compared to the sterile environment of the ship, even with the ship’s off-gassing and other mechanical aromas. The bright teal skies and gentle breeze carrying floral scents into his face were energizing. A sense of constructive purpose put meaning to his steps while he kept pace with Reeves. The gravity was heavier than Arber but still far less than standard. His labor on the colony gave him the strength and energy to take it in stride.

When they entered the terminal, Reeves called for a short-range transport to carry them to the capitol building. The vehicle that arrived was a standard small shuttle capable of holding up to six people. As soon as they boarded, the doorway slid shut, and it accelerated into the teal sky. The city was massive and sprawling. Other shuttles flew in streams of pre-organized pathways to and fro. The building styles in Novandra City had decidedly unpretentious and practical architecture. A mix of towers stretched into the sky built on broad bases. Some buildings had a narrow middle section connected to a more prominent rectangular tower with overhangs at the top.

They approached the city’s center, where the towers seemed to cluster and grow higher. Their shuttle weaved into a flight path of other traffic heading into the city center. High walkways connected the buildings at different levels. It created a complex interconnected structure throughout the forest of dense towers.

“First time in a city?”

Her voice startled him out of his tourist’s gaze. “Me? Well, first time on a planetary city this large. I thought the Orbis stations were impressive. But this,” he gestured at the cityscape. “You’d never run out of places to go.”

The shuttle veered off to a narrower flight path of single-file vehicles heading toward a different-looking building.

“After a while, they’re mostly the same. Except for that one.”

The building they were headed toward had a much more ornate look than any other building. Three massive white struts curved upward around a circular base to create a tall, narrowing tower shape. Curved segments of gleaming, crimson-tinted glass shimmered between the main structural support towers. The glass was a beautiful visual contrast to the teal skies. The shuttle swept down to the large circular base. As they closed in, ornate sculptures decorating the edges became visible.

The shuttle slowed to dock at the building, entering a level with a traffic loop and receiving pad. The door slid open in slow, synchronized time with the shuttle coming to a stop. Lee hopped off with Reeves following behind.

Reeves stepped forward. “This way. We need to head up to the government offices. Xohn is on the R&D level. He’s likely in the lab working.”

“Hey, hold up,” he caught her arm. On pure reflex, she spun, grabbed his arm, and twisted it, forcing him into a spin, bowing to keep his arm from breaking. “Whoa! Whoa, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

Holding him from behind, she spoke into his ear with a cutting edge, “Don’t… ever… touch me. Understand?”

“Yeah, alright, I got it,” Lee sighed. “Look, I just wanted to tell you, we’re going to need Duryss’s identity.”

She looked at him curiously, “What do you mean, his identity?”

“His digital identity. His datapad. We’ll either need a backup of his datapad we can image onto a new one, or we’ll need to lift his datapad off of him.”

“Wonderful. You didn’t think to bring this up before? Like when we were planning?”

“It was enough to know we needed to hack him, not how. Look, it might be possible to do it without it, but our chances go up by a lot if we have it,” Lee said.

“Alright. We’ll chat with the engineer, then I’ll go find Duryss.”

“You can’t just lift it off him.”

“Okay, then how am I supposed to steal it?”

“With this,” he held up a datapad.

“I’m a soldier, not a spy; what do I need to do?”

“On the Decimator, I set it up to skim his identity right off his own datapad.”

She smirked, and then her face turned into a look of concern, “I must admit, Mr. Sollinger, I underestimated you.”

He shrugged, “I grew up on the streets and skimmed credits for a living. Skimming an identity is one of the ways you access bank accounts.”

“You are a criminal.”

“I used to skim credits; now I’m an honest smuggler,” he winked.

She shook her head, “I see why Zee is fond of you.”

“My dashing good looks?”

“Your witty tongue. Careful that it doesn’t get you in trouble.”

“It’s gotten me out of more trouble than it’s gotten me into.” He handed the datapad over to her.

“So far,” she said. “Now, how do I use it?”

“The tools are already loaded and running on it. Just get him to open his datapad. It’ll log his authentication.”

She nodded. “Simple enough,” she slipped the datapad in a side leg pocket. “Alright, let’s get this done,” she said, continuing toward the main doors.

He followed her into the building where they took a somewhat winding path to a central courtyard. The colossal base struts framed an open atrium decorated with enormous trees, among other assorted plant life that grew from the floor. Leaved vines hung from suspended ceiling rings like natural banners. They moved across the atrium and upstairs to the core hub of lifts.

The lift had a delicate female voice that prompted, “Destination?”

Reeves responded, “R&D level.”

“That level is restricted.”

“Authorization, Colonel Reeves: Tango Two One Foxtrot Zero.”

The lift immediately shot them upward and acknowledged, “Government clearance granted. Welcome, Colonel Reeves.”

The doors opened to a white corridor with a sterile, lab-like look. Reeves got off the lift and beckoned Lee.

A woman behind the reception desk stood up, “Can I help… you?”

Reeves gave her a look that Lee couldn’t see from behind her. The woman went quiet and sat back down.

Reeves navigated the maze corridors and stopped at a room locked behind badge access. She held up her datapad, but the badge reader blinked red. Reeves looked back at Lee, and he shrugged back at her. She tried again, but it still denied her access. Just as she brought her datapad back up to try again, the door opened to a well-dressed man with a ponytail and pockmarked face.

“Ahh, Colonel,” his voice was full of pretentiousness. “There was no need for you to come to see me in person.”

“Consular,” Reeves said. There was no hiding the shock in her voice.

“Yes, what can I do for you?” He didn’t sound particularly suspicious to Lee, but there was something in his voice. It seemed familiar somehow.

“Sir, I…” She stammered. “I wanted the engineer to meet our flight officer… Major…” she looked back at Lee and made a struggling face the Consular couldn’t see, “Major… Tom.”

Lee grinned. It reminded him of one of those classic songs Vic listened to while mining.

“Major Tom, thank you for your efforts in upgrading our fleet for this operation.”

Lee cleared his throat, “Yes, of course, uhh, Consular, sir.” He extended his hand in greeting.

“Pardon my manners; the outbreak in Chelum has us all a bit…cautious, as you might imagine.”

“Oh, yes, my apologies, Consular, sir.”

The Consular flashed him a look of confusion at first, then recognition, and finally a dismissive look, “No matter, Major. Just see to the fleet. Master Vin Xohn is the engineer that invented this wonderful technology. Please,” he gestured them into the lab.

Reeves and Lee walked past Duryss into the lab space. They found the bald, dark-skinned man glowing from a bright display before him.

“Master Xohn,” Duryss projected his voice from behind them. Xohn jumped, startled. Then he turned to see them. His face seemed locked in stunned silence punctuated by a look of confusion. “Master Xohn,” Duryss continued, “you know Colonel Reeves. She brought you here to us, and this is Major Tom…” He paused to look back at Lee, “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your surname, Major?”

“Callahan.”

Duryss gave the practiced smile of a politician, “Major Tom Callahan.”

“…the Third,” Lee added with a wink. “Sir,” he said, rocking a bit on his heels.

“Major Tom Callahan, the Third.”

“My friends call me ‘Tommy.’”

Duryss shot Lee a look of impatience. Lee’s street knowledge taught him how to manipulate a mark. He would get them to feel any other emotion to throw off suspicion. Make them laugh, angry, or frustrated, and skepticism is replaced.

Xohn nodded.

“Master Xohn, it’s an honor to meet an engineering genius like yourself,” Lee said, sounding like a good ole boy from Ground Control.

“The honor is… is mine,” Xohn said, still slightly stunned.

“Wonderful. Now that you’re introduced, I hope you can get straight to business. In the meantime, Colonel Reeves, may I have a word with you in private?”

“Of course, sir,” Reeves gave a respectful bow of her head, then looked over at Lee.

Lee nodded almost imperceptibly back at Reeves. This was it. It was still difficult to trust her. Getting her to steal from the big boss himself would go a long way to helping him rely on her. For the moment, though, it was enough to be here to talk with Xohn.

“Master Xohn, Major Tom, please excuse us,” Duryss looked at them both before turning to exit the lab. Reeves bowed slightly toward them both and followed Duryss out into the corridor.

When the door closed, Lee smiled and covered the distance between them. He placed his datapad down on the desktop beside Xohn. “It’s ok. It’s scrambling the sensors in the room. Xohn! How are you?”

“Lee! What are you doing here? How did you get here? What are you doing with… her?”

Lee waved dismissively, “It’s a long story. We’re here to rescue you. Reeves is helping us.”

“What? She’s the one that brought me here, why would she help you rescue–”

“We busted out of prison and stowed away on her ship. When we were found out, we convinced her to look into Duryss. Truth be told, I don’t fully trust her either, but she did get us here.”

“Lee, he forced me to work on…”

“Yeah, the ThermARC,” Lee finished. “That’s what Reeves was hauling here.”

Xohn nodded, bowing his head sadly. “Every day, all times of the day, my progress is checked. The unknown material tolerances forced me to adjust and recalculate every parameter.”

“Do you know what he’s planning to do with them?”

“Only that by finishing them, I’m saving lives. He claims the Resistance is attacking ships in Chelum, preventing him from shipping medical supplies for the outbreak.”

“What? That’s not what he’s using them for at all. He’s planned a–”

The door opened, and Reeves walked back in. Lee saw Duryss outside the door with a broad smile that seemed to creep across his face. It was the politician’s smile. As the door slid shut, he made eye contact with Lee. Duryss held the creeping, knowing smile as the door closed.

It had the hairs standing on Lee’s neck. “Did you get it?”

She power walked and pulled the datapad from her pocket, handing it to Lee. “You tell me.”

Lee took it and started to look through the datapad’s logs.

Reeves turned to Xohn. “I don’t have time to waste,” she said impatiently. “Master Xohn, I realize we did not have a pleasant time getting to know each other on the way here. But you have got to tell me what possible purpose your invention would have fighting Thargoids.”

“Thargoids?” Xohn replied with a puzzled look. “Of that, I have no idea. Heat management is what it was designed to improve. The excess heat is turned into extra power for ships.”

“Aha, so that’s it—extra power for weapons.”

“What? No!” Xohn had a mortified look on his face. “I suppose it could work that way, but it is not what I designed it to…”

Reeves shook her head, “Duryss doesn’t care what you designed it for, only what he can use it for.”

Lee nodded and explained, “The mass production ThermARCs are getting installed in a fleet headed for Chelum.”

Xohn nodded back, “Yes, for the medical supplies.”

“No,” Lee said. “It’s for a task force to take down the Resistance.”

“No,” Reeves said. “No, the task force is not for the Resistance, either.”

Both Lee and Xohn turned to look at her.

“Then what’s it for?” Lee asked.

Reeves shook her head, “An invasion fleet.”