“How are you getting through lead walls?” Abigail asked. “Standard communications won’t work.”
“This is not a standard communication, Abigail,” Logan said. Dammit. He did it again. “This transmission comes from my personal quantum entanglement core in the heart of Solus Sector. One particle exists here. The other maintains its state directly below the room in which you stand.”
“Apologies,” Charlotte said. “I didn’t predict he would say so much. Yes, we make use of a few QE communication systems. Our financial backers demand a discreet, unblock able and untraceable form of communication. It takes a while to set up, but the wait is worth the effort.”
“Moving on,” Logan continued. “Suffice to say, we’ve succeeded in developing a sub-par, though functional Xarconium substitute. We needed to secure the material in SBG hands, but the situation has changed.”
“How has it changed?” Elijah asked. “I don’t get it.”
“Our science facility in Orion Sector, the one in charge of replicating the material … well, it no longer exists.”
“What Logan means to say,” Charlotte added, “is that the GU has forced our hand. Our lone private facility, the one we spent billions of credits to build and maintain, is a floating pile of debris. Now, in order to replicate more of the base material, it requires transport to our secondary facility.”
“That doesn’t sound awful,” Elijah said. “You need us to walk it down there?”
James grinned. “Wait for the punchline, boy.”
“Yes, where is this ‘secondary’ facility, boss lady?” Abigail said.
Charlotte sighed and tapped her shoes. The woman had been dreading this commentary since they docked at HQ, though Logan happened to pick up the ball in the end.
“If you three are up for the challenge, I need you to escort the package to my subordinates on Solus Station. I’m actually sending a small force on the way to pick it up. They should arrive in a couple of hours.”
“Let me get this straight,” Abigail said, stepping forward. “You want our motley crew to waltz right up into the heart of OTO’s empire and drop some dirt hotter than the sun on their doorstep?”
“We’re certain neither OTO nor the GU know about our research,” Logan said.
“Cut the crap,” Abigail shouted. “They destroyed your science station. It’s reason enough to worry. You’re sending us on a death run, and I refuse to be a part of it.”
Abigail swung around and banged her hands against the metal surface of the door with the strength aided to her by her implants. She couldn’t dent the metal, but she sure could make the surface sing. After a sound pounding, she stepped back and cocked her head toward Charlotte with a wicked sneer. It was the kind that seethed the words, ‘let me out.’ Charlotte began with a step toward the door, but Logan cut her off with more speech.
“I was afraid I would have to do this,” Logan said. “You’re forcing my hand as well.” Abigail ignored him and gestured toward Charlotte. “This run will not be as dangerous as you believe. I can move OTO’s patrol forces away from your pre-defined route.”
“A fascinating display of resources,” James said. “How could one man accomplish so much?”
Abigail paused. Logan. It wasn’t a code name.
“Major MacConnell!” she shouted. “You got some nerve opening that silver-tongued putrid mouth of yours!”
Charlotte froze and inched back while Abigail grabbed Knight by the butt and swung it into firing position, aimed at the video screen.
“It’s General now,” he said.
“Major … General … you’re still a pile of crap!”
“Please,” Charlotte begged, “Calm down before you put an eye out.”
“It’s all right,” Logan said. “I deserve more than an earful, considering my role in things.”
“I’m going to kill you someday,” Abigail said. “Just you wait.”
James grinned again. “You might get a front row seat if we make the trip.”
Abigail shot James a glare. She knew what he was doing, but she didn’t care. James had a point. She’d never obtain a better chance to pop some choice veterans in the skull, whether she survived the ordeal or not.
“I’ll triple your pay,” Logan added. “For each of you. And I’m willing to make a huge contribution to the Starlight Brigade if this escort mission proves successful.”
Abigail examined the dispositions of the other crew in the chamber. Elijah nodded, and James stroked back his hair as he leaned against the wall. Abigail set Knight down once more, loosening her hold as she also leaned back and smiled.
“I’ll take it.”
Part Three
Personal Escort Party
Chapter 8
Grit and Bear It
SBG Gallant, Solus Sector
“Terrace was the name mankind gave their world in the years after successful off-world Colonization Around the time the Terrace Order was formed. Their Solar system became Solus, eventually expanding into the cluster of systems now known as Solus Sector. In the new age of the Galactic Union, I’malarians still refer to Terrace people as humans for short from time to time. The old adage hasn’t faded, even after three hundred years of interstellar travel.” – Old Terrace Order (OTO) Archives
The SBG Gallant accompanied a wing of three transport ships across the Core Systems with Elijah and crew in tow. He should have known better than to agree. He should have waltzed out promptly at their headquarters with a huge grin on his face, knowing he survived an encounter with perhaps the most deadly killer he’d ever set eyes upon. God knows he wouldn’t have regretted it. Even triple pay ill sufficed as a reason to risk his life a second time, but there was … well, he couldn’t put his finger on it. It was …
“This time, I don’t know what you’re staring at, boy.”
James laid a hand on Elijah’s shoulder, forcing a jittery jolt as a second nature reaction. James peered over Elijah’s shoulder and glanced forward in the same direction. The two of them stood in the silent innards of the Gallant, staring at an empty receptacle housing twin canisters. The setup looked similar to a science station, a resting desk that sat next to the wall of a small room beside the Gallant’s nurse station. The walls shimmered in the incandescent light and reflected a blue sheen onto the canisters embedded into a holding apparatus. One contained the fabled mythical element substitute while the other served as a decoy. Each escort ship carried a similar arrangement, though just for show.
“I’m thinking,” Elijah said. “There are too many variables for me to have confidence in Miss Dubois’s plan.”
“A little late now,” James said. “You’d better change your tune or think of something better in the next thirty minutes.”
“I was pondering that.”
Elijah strode over to the containment setup. Logan would divert his primary patrols, the ones he held sway over, to the outlying regions of Solus Sector, leaving their route relatively unguarded. However, approaching Solus and docking would be the easy part. Next, to ensure safe passage of the Xarconium substitute, Miss Dubois planned on diversion as the primary tactic.
“This one,” Elijah said, pointing to the left canister. “This is the fake.”
“I believe so,” James replied. “But Dubois trusted you with the real deal. You want to switch?”
Elijah smiled and snatched up the cold container.
“James, you’re good at keeping secrets, right?” he asked.
Elijah strained to unscrew the cap, which was stuck on tightly. After a red face and some good old finger strength, he popped the lid and carefully set it beside the resting station before he continued his investigation of the contents with his fingers. He spread his fingertips around the inside and felt against the rough rocky texture of tiny granular pebbles. Interestingly enough, all the years he’d traveled via starship, he’d never actually seen or felt Xarconium first hand.
“Is it supposed to have this texture?” Elijah asked.
“I shouldn’t have to be the one to say this,” James started, “but you probably shouldn’t do that. What’s this about?”
“I want to know how it’ll feel going down is all.”
James stared at him with a blank expression, the kind of face his friends gave him after they dared him to eat a spider and he didn’t back down. He recalled munching down on the little cretin and watching their bewildered faces. More of the same. He didn’t wait James’s answer, instead grabbing a small handful of the stuff and cramming it down his gullet. Damn, it had a good grit to it. He licked the back of his throat, the hard to reach spots, before he turned and grinned.
“You do know what you just did,” James said.
“Think of it as insurance,” Elijah said. “If the GU catches me with a can chock full of the stuff, they aren’t going to bother with a body scan. Even then, they’re not going to find the trace minerals amongst the hundreds of others in my digestive tract.”
“What else … did you ingest?”
“Let’s say I did my due diligence and leave it at that.”
Chapter 9
Escort Mission
Solus Station, Solus Sector
“Xarconium, a rare and previously undiscovered element prior to contact with I’malar, grows exclusively in the depths of the oceans of I’malar. Xarconium is the Terrace nomenclature, actually pronounced x’arune in the aliens’ native tongue, roughly translating to ‘jewel of the deep waters’. I’malar consistently refuses the flood of requests from OTO to mine in its oceans.” – Old Terrace Order (OTO) Archives
The docking hatch of the Gallant eased open and thick rays of incandescent artificial sunlight beamed in through the growing cracks between two massive doors of titanium. Elijah eyed the docking bay and the pedestrians making their way on and off base. Solus Station was a military installation, and he caught on quickly after a moment or two of observation. Each individual whom he might encounter could take him down without a second thought. Running wasn’t an option, no matter how quickly his legs could carry him, but it wouldn’t keep him from trying. He was going to be captured, despite Miss Dubois’s insistence in the matter. He’d made peace with the notion, hoping their contingency plan wouldn’t fall through the cracks.
“Be ready,” James said from behind him.
“You know it,” Elijah replied.
Abigail smiled and smacked Elijah across the shoulder. “Leave the stupid crap to me,” she said.
Elijah picked up his posture and focused to carry an air of calm irritation. He had things to do and places to be, though nothing quite as high of importance as meeting with a General. He began the journey down the docking ramp, lengthening his pace a bit and slouching slightly. There was a fine line between tired and aggravated and the type of person carrying illegal contraband. However, he’d spent years honing his ability to look inconspicuous, but he seriously doubted it would do him any good in the belly of the beast. Each step down the ramp brought him closer giving a second thought to his less than lucrative life choices.
Elijah disembarked down the ramp. The docking bay fluttered with high walls capable of holding military cruisers. An oxygen barrier separated the innards of the bay from the cold empty depths of outer space, a new technology OTO had been working on for some time. Looks as if they’d completed their work on the basic mechanics, though it would be some time before they implemented anywhere else around Gemini Sector or the numerous stations within Solus.
Still though, it felt nice to know I’malar wasn’t leaps ahead of the Terrace people, technologically speaking. OTO was catching up, and at a surprisingly good pace. With what he stuffed in his pack, their latest and arguably greatest achievement, times were sure to change. The balance of power was about to shift on a galactic scale. That was what worried him though. Powerful people with a stake in the continued order of things, Terrace and squids alike, would not allow this to happen. It seemed too easy, as if all he had to do was walk it down a handful of city blocks.
“Where are the ducks?” Elijah asked James, who followed half a meter behind him. “I don’t see anyone.”
“They went off ahead,” James said. “Don’t worry about it. Cameras all aboard the station, but nobody’s raised a silent alarm, at least none I can detect.”
“You can sense those?”
“Of course,” James said, tapping his noggin. “What bloody purpose would I serve if I couldn’t at least do that?”
“Sorry,” Elijah said. “I thought you had limits inside a high security military base.”
“I can’t do everything,” James replied with a smile. “However, my continued employment requires my betters to believe I can, so I crack a few magic tricks and do a belt tug. Everybody’s happy.”
“Sounds like lying,” Abigail said.
“Nonsense,” James said. “You’ve obviously never worked in IT.”
Abigail scoffed. “I don’t troubleshoot. I shoot trouble. Get moving, Goose.”
Fair enough. Elijah broke away from their group and paced past a handful of military personnel in his effort to clear the docking bay, an open area at least three hundred meters from end to end, not far off from his fearful run yesterday. James and Abigail would stay behind some distance and provide support if the situation called for them. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
The exit sat a handful of meters ahead, a set of double doors duplicated numerous times across the thick tall walls that lined the far end of the docking bay. He’d go through this particular set. He memorized the number of turns he’d barrel down prior to his arrival to Logan’s personal science wing. There was no guarantee, even after the drop off, that Logan’s personnel wouldn’t be caught in the act of their shady business practices, but it was as he said. The GU had forced his hand.
“Elijah,” Miss Dubois rang in through his earpiece. “Your job became more difficult.”
“I thought you said radio silence,” Elijah said. “Anyone could hear us with their tech.”
“I won’t say anything to compromise the mission, but I need you to know something first. Our informants received word that your friend is in town, and he’s not happy.”
“Dammit …”
Elijah trailed off as he scanned the facility. Nothing yet, but a heads up wouldn’t matter. OTO wouldn’t normally appreciate a Ghost on base, but they couldn’t say much to stop one from docking. Who could? Ghosts pretty well had free reign across the Core Systems. Elijah bet a Ghost could slaughter an OTO general, and his subordinates would apologize to the IC before anything else.
“He’s moving fast,” James chimed in. “Camera feeds don’t lie. This one’s a demon.”
“I don’t get it,” Elijah said. “What are we supposed to do?”
“On the ground,” Abigail said.
“On the what?” Elijah said, startled. “There’s nothing on the …”
“I said on the ground!” she shrieked.
Elijah slammed his body to the floor in time to catch a puff of smoke wisp through the doors ahead, followed by the crackle of gunshot ringing echoes across the stadium sized docking bay. Abigail fired a second time, and the Ghost shifted away from him. He picked up himself and bolted toward the doors but stopped at the sight of a violet cloud manifesting into solid form in front of him. It looked surprisingly human, then more so as the murky essence solidified all but completely.
Chapter 10
High Alert
Solus Station, Solus Sector
“Phase Shifting refers to the process by which a Ghost accelerates his molecular structure via a portable Phantom Drive to the point at which his body is no longer solid. Phase Shifting is fluid, a process that never completely stops, meaning a Ghost can only hold his misty form for a set duration before the need to revert to a physical body. If left unchecked, his molecular structure would dissipate entirely. Cu
rrently, the official record is thirty-one seconds, set by the I’malarian Ghost Az’indre, third seat in the Ethereal Cauldron.” – Old Terrace Order (OTO) Archives
“You will submit,” Jaeger spoke through ethereal lips.
The words billowed from his mouth in echoes of smoke as he stepped forward. Jaeger grabbed Elijah’s hand, and his form solidified for a brief moment right before a bullet whizzed past Elijah’s ears and clipped a lock of hair. He barely had time to contemplate the notion as Jaeger swerved to the left and the bullet tore clear through his eyeball. The mess of blood spattered across Elijah’s face and left him frozen. Eventually, he drummed up the courage to make his move.
It wouldn’t be long before security showed up. He had a handful of seconds to lose Jaeger in the noise. Elijah darted past him as the man gradually converted to ether. It wouldn’t be the last of him, not by a long shot. The door slid open and then shut briefly behind him and several more shots fired. A mixture of cursing, yelling and screaming flooded the bay, and the halls ahead as the base stepped up to high alert. Stupid! How could she have been so stupid? Abigail would be lucky to see another starlit sky in her current predicament.
He veered around a corner in the hall and swung his body back around once he caught sight of patrols heading his way, armed to the teeth with laser carbines, each with at least a quarter the penetrating power as Knight and that was saying something. He scanned for an exit strategy and focused his attention on a hall he passed up previously.
“Give me an out,” Elijah said through his mic, barreling up through the adjacent hallway behind him.
“Working on it,” Miss Dubois said. “You’ve got to lose them, especially Jaeger. Once you complete the drop off, we can worry about an extraction plan.”
“Guards I can deal with. I hope Abigail keeps the Ghost busy.”
“No promises,” she said. “Worry about yourself right now. I’ve already instructed our decoy men to create their disturbances, but that will buy you a few minutes at most.”
It wasn’t as if he could bring up a map of base, having no cybernetics augmenting his brain, not that a free public one existed at any rate. He did memorize the bulk of the blueprints, however. To the best of his knowledge, this route would suffice. Elijah sped toward a T juncture and crept toward the edge of the wall before he peered down both directions.