***
It wasn’t long before the intentionally old-looking wood cabin was in the cockpit window again. A minute later they were both working at carrying the jumble of wires and switches down the cargo ramp and toward the door they had just locked themselves out of earlier in the day. The fresh smell of the lake air gave them the extra calmness they needed to be able to attempt a break-in against a member of the royal family of an entire planet.
Jak carefully slid the card into the slot and left it, praying a terrifying alarm wouldn’t send his heart through his chest. Instead, only the sound of the lapping waves ensued.
“Try it,” said Jak. “Remember there are cameras in there so we’ll only have a couple of minutes to get everything we can.”
Baxter cranked a switch and one of the chunks of electronic gadgetry began to hum. He pressed five numbers on the control pad and flicked a switch. He looked at Jak as if to ask if it worked.
“Light’s still red. Try it again.”
He tried another series of numbers and the result was the same.
“Hold this for a second,” said Baxter. Jak tried his best to hold on to the daisy chain of junk while Baxter pulled a tool from his pants pocket. Both of them struggled to hold the rig steady to keep it from falling apart, while Baxter turned the control module over and started tinkering.
A harmless transport ship passed high overhead and the drawn out noise almost broke Jak’s nerve. Another minute passed before the red light flickered and turned to a steady green.
The door clicked. Jak turned the handle and pushed in.
No amount of mental preparation was able to keep Jak’s heart from nearly bursting as the alarm blasted into their ears from all sides.
“Come on,” yelled Jak. Baxter followed Jak into the lake house, with his arms still full of the pass card contraption.
Jak looked around the cabin. It was untouched since they’d been there last, since the prince would have been unable to leave unnoticed in the middle of the day. The sound of the alarm bounced back and forth across the walls but didn’t really do much else to hurt their attempts. Jak knew they’d be spotted on camera the moment they walked in the door anyway, so it made little difference. He took Baxter over to the empty thermal jet relaxation pool.
Jak bent down and dragged the tub forward. It moved slightly and gave Jak the solution he needed. “Throw that in here,” he said. Baxter complied and dumped the pile of parts into the tub. “This is perfect. Fill it.”
The two men stormed through the cottage, gathering all the expensive looking trinkets, aged bottles of fine wine, and unknown gold plated manual kitchen appliances they could handle, taking turns dumping them into the thermal tub. The Travanon Talisman, the reason for their current situation, was one of the last things to be thrown in as Jak and Baxter both pushed the tub from behind, horribly gouging the varnished hardwood floor along the way.
It wasn’t until they reached the doorway that Jak realized the tub was at least twice the width of the door. He swore as he pulled out his gun, firing three short blasts into the bottom of the door frame. The wood smoldered and peeled back, revealing the thick metallic structure beneath the wood. He didn’t have the weaponry with him to carve through something that heavy.
Jak said nothing, grabbed an arm load of merchandise and darted toward the ship. He pitched the load up the ramp and turned to see Baxter on his way with an arm full himself. Back and forth they ran, sweat pouring from their faces as they emptied the tub and filled their ship with the prince’s prized possessions.
“That’s it,” said Baxter. They were able to hear each other a little better back by the ship.
“Not yet,” said Jak. He hustled back to the doorway and bent down to pick up one side of the thermal pool.
“Come on, Jak!” yelled Baxter. “Just leave this thing.”
“No way, help me and grab a side.”
The extra adrenaline from knowing the prince’s security guards were probably very close gave them the strength they needed to quickly upright the thermal pool. They were able to angle it through the door, before each taking a side.
As they shuffled back across the path, Jak spotted a growing dot in the sky. This would be the security ship – probably the only one. Jak had banked on the fact that the prince was keeping the lake house a secret from his dad. Since he wasn’t supposed to have it anyway, he couldn’t risk sending out a fleet of destroyers and be caught trying to save his precious collection.
“Here they come,” said Jak, “Might want to speed up.”
Baxter was out of breath and said nothing, trying to squeeze one last bit of energy into more quickly moving the obnoxiously heavy and large item.
They dragged it onto the cargo ramp and the scraping noise was audible over the alarm while they forced it up into the ship.
The security ship was growing larger. Jak guessed they’d be landing in under a minute.
They reached the top of the ramp with the heavy tub dropped it amongst the scattered junk. Jak was about to bolt to the front of the ship but paused as the gold chain of the talisman caught his eye, draped across the floor.
“Bax, get the ship ready. I’ll be right back.”
“What do you mean, they’ll be here in like two seconds!”
“Trust me, there’s one more thing I have to do.”
Jak didn’t give Baxter the opportunity for a response, grabbing the chain of the talisman and racing back down the ramp, then back through the door of the violated lake house.
Three steps in he stopped and dropped the talisman onto the floor, in a place where no one could miss it upon entrance. He scanned the few items left on the nearby shelves for something with a bit of mass.
“Jak, let’s go!”
He scooped up a leftover atrocious green stone statuette of what looked like an ugly fish head and swung it down onto the talisman -- the item so valuable to the prince that he’d gone through the risk of a double cross. The dainty talisman splintered into several pieces. A second blow took off a piece of the fish head statue and left the talisman almost indistinguishable. Knowing he’d overstayed his welcome, Jak threw the rest of the statue into a mirror on the wall and ran back through the door into the ship, smirking at the crashing sounds of breaking glass amongst the alarm squeal behind him.
“Leave the ship on the ground,” shouted Jak as he entered the cockpit.
Jak knew the security team would not gain anything by blowing the Tempest to pieces. They wanted to try and salvage the prince’s goods first. If the ship was in the air, that would be a different story.
“What the hell was that back there?” asked Baxter.
“Just wanted to make sure he’ll never forget us.”
Baxter didn’t want the details.
Through the side windows, Jak watched the security ship come to rest between them and the cabin.
Jak grabbed the throttle and the steering controls and brought the ship off the ground quickly. Instead of a quick getaway, Jak did the opposite, reversing at an angle and slamming his ship into the prince’s security vessel. He forced the throttle, sending the other ship skidding backward into the side of the lake house. It ploughed through the thick wood coated wall, throwing broken boards everywhere. Jak didn’t give up until structural damage caused the roof to sag.
Escape was a simple matter at this point. Jak launched the ship forward and into the air.
“Did you have fun?” asked Baxter. He saw the smile on Jak’s face.
“You got it, bud.”
“I’m glad.” He wasn’t. “Now I get to fix half the ship since you like to use it as a battering ram.”
“She’ll hold. She always does. Either way, we’ve got a nice haul to look through back there.”
“I just hope we can find somewhere to sell that stuff off.”
“Don’t worry, Bax. Worse comes to worse, we’ve still got the hot tub.”
Baxter rolled his eyes. “You don’t think that seems a little
unsafe on a space ship?”
“No, I can’t see any problems. Besides, think of how much the ladies are gonna enjoy it. That’s what’s really important here.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ll see, Bax. Chicks love water.”
As they sailed past the boundaries of Shalen and into the darkness of space, Jak realized that for all their troubles in the last few days, life was decent.
If you enjoyed this space adventure, you’re going to love the Jak Phoenix Adventures! The first two full-length novels are available in print and eBook formats at all major online retailers.
Jak Phoenix
Jak Phoenix 2: The Markazian Deception
Jak Phoenix Online
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