Hunter Killer: Legacy Earth 7, page 5
“Copy that, now let’s get you in orange,” Mattias said, entering the interrogation chamber behind the prisoner.
As the door shut behind the three men, Lance looked at Lincoln.
“I’m afraid interrogation isn’t my strongest suit,” Lance confessed.
“Getting people to agree to the impossible is your forte,” Lincoln replied. “You were always more of a hammer than a scalpel when trying to get people to talk.”
“And you’re the scalpel,” Lance replied with a shrug.
“I’ll take point,” the cyborg said, looking at Valdivia. “I’m assuming having some Jarog backup is on the table?”
“I can help prepare him mentally to be more… receptive to your questions,” Valdivia replied before looking at Lance. “But no torture.”
“Thank you,” Lance replied with a nod.
“If you can get him to give his true name, I may be able to find out more about him if he’s in any galactic systems,” Lincoln strategized. “I’ll play bad cop.”
“Ooo, I’ve heard of this game. I’ve always wanted to play good cop,” Valdivia replied with a clap of her hands.
“That’s rare; most people want to play bad cop,” Lincoln countered.
“It’s like a dam,” Lance quoted his grandfather. “Strong and unmovable, until the slightest crack shows…”
“Then the whole thing comes crashing down,” Lincoln finished. “Good point.”
Mattias and Dexter emerged from the interrogation room, the armor in their hands. Lance looked at Val, took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Good luck,” he said before releasing her appendage. “Steph, I want you to assist the security team in decrypting the software of this armor. If you can find out its true origins, all the better.”
“Are you going to update the Alcazar or your father on our progress?” Mattias asked.
Lance looked at the sniper and shook his head.
“And neither are any of you,” he ordered. “Whoever was behind this needs to think we’re dead. That means no transmissions until we find them.”
“Not like we talk to a whole lot of people anyway,” Stephanie said, taking the helmet from Lance. “Come on, boys, let’s do some digging.”
“Good luck, you two. Keep us posted,” Lance said as the interrogation room door opened.
“Likewise,” Valdivia replied.
Returning to the elevator, they rode to the command deck. Taking the armor into the security office, Stephanie and the other officers started to take it apart and run diagnostics on it. Dexter and Mattias watched.
After a few minutes of observing as well, the captain left and made his way to the cockpit. Standing just inside the door, he leaned against the frame as Justin approached a nearby star. They flew at a drifting pace, using the sun’s gravitational pull to propel them. Justin glanced back and gave a wave.
“Figured if we were supposed to be dead, I’d let us drift until we hit a heavy ion trail to cover our jump,” Justin said.
“And do you have a bead on a heavy ion trail?” Lance asked.
“I’m scanning for any unnatural ones that may cross our path,” Drentlaw said, keeping his eyes focused on his station.
“But in case nothing comes up, we can always jump when we pass a coronal mass ejection,” Justin replied. “According to the computer, this star should launch one three thousand miles above us within the next hour. When that happens, enough ions will be flung in all directions; we could fly the Manifest Destiny through it, and no one could track it.”
“And what will that do to our hull?” Lance questioned. “We can’t handle that much heat.”
“We’re far enough away, it won’t cause any integrity issues,” Justin replied.
“Good. I’m going to address the crew. Keep all radio chatter to a minimum,” Lance ordered.
“Copy that,” Justin and Drentlaw said in unison.
Lance made his way back to the command stand. Stepping on it pulled up the galaxy map as well as a myriad of holographic panels. The captain selected to use the ship-wide announcement option, selecting to mute the speakers in the brig.
“Gladius crew, this is Captain Lance Warder. While we don’t know who is responsible for the attack on that research station, I do want to inform you that we are currently working on rooting out those responsible,” Lance said as he leaned against the railing in front of him. “Those who attacked that vessel have captured several of our allies and I’m making it our mission to get them back and bring those responsible to justice.”
Lance glanced up to see every eye on the command deck was locked on him. He took a deep breath before straightening himself up, wanting to maintain the appearance of a captain.
“As such, it is imperative that our enemies think that we’re dead, or believe we’ve lost their trail. So, moving forward, no external communications will be sent from this ship until we’ve discovered the guilty parties,” Lance added as he flicked his thumbs. “And when we do, we will bring the entire might of mankind and the Alcazar to bear. We will retrieve our fellow team members and show the perpetrators the cost of endangering innocent lives!”
Stepping away, his displays flickered off as a wave of cheers rose from the crew and rolled through the ship’s decks.
7
A LEAD
Stephanie worked on the armor while Lincoln and Valdivia worked on the man. Lance spent his time drifting between the two in an effort to get a feel for their progress, which was negligible. Returning to the cockpit, Justin motioned for the captain to take a seat, he did. Approaching the cool orange star, the pilot pointed at its upper hemisphere as the windscreen darkened with each passing second.
“Give it a second,” Justin muttered.
He placed his hand on the jump drive. A spark jumped from the surface of the star. It created a small arc to begin with. Over the course of what felt like minutes, it appeared to slowly grow and stretch into an elongated loop.
“That’s moving eighteen hundred kilometers a second,” Drentlaw muttered in awe.
“From this distance, that’s nothing,” Lance replied, drawn in by the dancing arc of plasma.
The apex of the arc flickered before snapping into two tendrils, releasing a fraction of the star’s energy into the void of space. The power that could destroy a planet to dissipate harmlessly before reaching anything. An odd sense of melancholy pulled at the soldier as he witnessed the flare’s death.
A blue, twisting light overtook the cockpit. For a moment, the star shifted red before vanishing past them once they initiated their jump. Lance stood up, walked behind Justin and leaned against the chair.
“Thank you for sharing that,” he said, nodding toward the wind screen. “That was very beautiful.”
“Wait ‘til we get to our location,” Justin replied. “It’s a high-traffic route, so jumping in and selecting a new destination should completely cover our tracks.”
“It also helps that it’s one of the most beautiful nebulae we’ve discovered,” Drentlaw added.
“Which I’m sure you’re going to want to probe?” Lance asked.
“I do, but that’d leave a footprint for us,” Drentlaw replied. “And discretion is the better part of valor for this mission, so we’ll have to come back when it’s done.”
“I appreciate the restraint and being self-aware enough to recognize that,” Lance said as he watched the navigator scratch at his beard. “If Dexter were in that seat, he’d’ve just launched all the probes at once.”
“Yes, but he’s got an impulse control problem,” Justin countered. “Makes him great in a firefight, not so much in a stealth mission.”
“I can be stealthy when I want!” the giant countered as he entered the cockpit.
“How you feeling there, big guy?” Justin asked.
“Everything’s settled,” Dexter replied before looking at Lance. “They’ve cracked the firewall in the armor. Stephanie said she’s got something you need to see.”
“Copy that, I’ll be right there,” Lance replied before looking at Justin and Drentlaw. “Don’t stay up here too long, okay, boys?”
Both men offered the captain a thumbs-up as he turned to follow Dexter to the security office. As the doors slid open and they stepped in, Lance noticed Stephanie working on an antiquated holographic laptop with a power cable plugged directly into the ship.
“What’s with the antiques?” he asked.
“There’s a state-of-the-art SOS beacon compatible with all modern electronics in this suit’s coding,” Stephanie said, nodding to the pile in front of her. “Fortunately, this is old enough to not have the equipment that triggers the beacon built in.”
“That’s some good news. What else did you find out?” Lance asked, approaching his engineer.
“This coding isn’t Veles… it’s not even human,” Stephanie replied. “What’s interesting is this.”
She pulled up a line of coding and motioned to the screen. Lance looked at it and shook his head.
“Coding isn’t a language I’m familiar with,” he said, unable to make heads or tails of what she was showing him.
“This is the initial layer of coding, something anyone can get access to with ease,” the engineer pointed out before pulling up a second, identical page. “And this is the initial layer of coding for Veles armor. On the surface, they’re identical.”
“So, someone IS trying to frame the Veles,” Lance muttered, flicking his thumbs as he thought. “The million-dollar question is what do they want with Amber, Chadavia and the artifact?”
“Remember, they were also going after your brother,” Mattias cut in.
“On top of that, the Reeves were actual Reeves, their AI portions were wiped and re-written as well,” Stephanie added.
Lance’s lips pursed as he worked through everyone he could think of with enough influence to pull off something like this. When no one came to mind that he knew of directly, his instincts whispered to him the same way others whispered the name around him.
“Stephanie, I need you to look into the Data Broker,” Lance ordered.
“The who?” she asked.
“No idea, but I’ve heard people talk about him from the Alcazar station to Tachyon like he’s the boogie man,” Lance replied. “But if there’s someone out there that can make Madam Devris uncomfortable, and have a name like Data Broker, they’ve got to at least know something.”
“I will work on making a shadow computer, so my searches don’t draw unwanted attention,” the engineer replied with a nod. “But that means we’ll likely have to stop by a planet for me to pick up a few pieces of tech we likely won’t have on this ship.”
“Good thing we’ve got friends in high places,” Lance said as he turned toward the door.
“Like who?” Dexter asked. “You tend to leave relationships in a tenuous state at best.”
“Shi-Fan on Ryume owes me a favor,” Lance replied. “And Madam Devris is prickly by nature… she doesn’t count. And for that little comment, you get to stay up here and help Stephanie with her tech.”
“Sir, please don’t!” she pleaded.
“Aww, come on, not cool!” Dexter complained.
“Mattias, you’re with me,” the captain ordered.
“Oh thank goodness,” he whispered under his breath as he moved to Lance’s side.
Both men made their way back down to the brig. Lincoln and Valdivia stood outside the interrogation room with the cyborg’s eyes flickering.
“What’d you find out?” Lance asked.
“Well, he’s a Thana… Thanagarian?” Valdivia said, unsure of herself.
“Thalagran,” Lincoln corrected without skipping a beat. “He’s not a hawk man, and the t-h sound in their language is just T.”
Lance crossed his arms as he peeked through the window to see the prisoner laying his head on the table.
“What’d you guys do to him?” he asked.
“Nothing, once we got his name, which is Vaxlor,” Lincoln replied. “Once he gave that up, he realized it was just a matter of time before we found out everything, which I’m working on now.”
Lance looked at Valdivia, then back at the prisoner.
“Have you ever heard of his species?” he asked.
“I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean much,” Valdivia replied with a shake of her head. “Most of my digs have been in Alcazar space, with the exception of Mars. There are thousands of races that exist that aren’t part of the Alcazar that I’ve never heard of or seen.”
“Then how do you know there are thousands?” Mattias asked.
“Because I’ve heard the commander of my father’s guard speak about races he’d never heard of when he was still in military service,” Valdivia replied. “And what is that saying your people have? One percent is what you know, one percent is what you know you don’t know, and the other ninety-eight is what you don’t know, you don’t know. There could be millions of other races out there. The universe is a big place.”
“Are you implying there’s life in other galaxies?” Mattias scoffed.
“Mathematically speaking,” Lincoln cut in, “it’s likely, with how many civilizations that have sprouted up in this galaxy showing as proof. Maybe one day we’ll get to the Andromeda Galaxy and can see for ourselves.”
“Wouldn’t that be an adventure,” Lance and Valdivia muttered at the same time.
“Wouldn’t it just, but that technology is beyond our lifetime,” Mattias mused.
“Not necessarily,” Lincoln cut in. “It’s just a matter of true interspecies cooperation.”
“But then you’ve got the politics game preventing that.” Lance chuckled. “So, it’s beyond our lifetime.”
Lincoln’s eyes stopped blinking. He looked at Lance and shrugged.
“Maybe they’re just not under the right leadership,” Lincoln countered before whistling at the guards. “This one’s ready for a cell!”
The security officers walked to the interrogation room. Lance watched as they helped Vaxlor to his feet. His head hung low as they escorted him to a cell next to the captured pilots.
“Make sure they’re well fed,” Lance ordered as Lincoln made his way to the elevator.
“Yes, sir,” the guards replied in unison.
“Where are you headed?” Valdivia asked.
Lincoln pressed the button to summon the elevator before turning to them with a grin.
“The galaxy map. I have something I think you’ll want to see,” he replied as the elevator doors opened.
Lance reached out and took Valdivia’s hand before leading her and the rest of his squad to the elevators. As they stepped in, the doors shut. As it took them to the command center, Dexter hummed bad elevator music while tapping his foot.
“You doing okay up there?” Lance asked, looking up at his large friend.
“I think having music would be a nice addition to these things,” Dexter replied. “Especially since it feels like we spend half our time in them.”
“You’re free to take the stairs,” Valdivia chimed in. “No one’s forcing you into the elevator.”
“Yeah, but then it’s just up and down, only now you’re exhausted.”
“I’ll look into it,” Lance said as the doors opened.
Justin stood in front of them. He took a half step back, clearly not expecting to see so many people. Wringing his hands, the pilot took a deep breath.
“Just who I was coming to see,” he said, stepping to the side so everyone could exit.
Lance released Val’s hand and was the first out of the box.
“What do you have?” he asked.
“Good news and bad news,” Justin replied.
“Okay then, let’s start with the good news.”
“Ship diagnostics confirmed my suspicions that this corvette can handle small ship impacts,” Justin replied.
“Wait, you were crashing into those ships without knowing if we’d get a hull breach?” one of the passing crew members asked.
“I couldn’t let them get behind us; their missiles would’ve done more damage than just running them down,” Justin countered before looking back at Lance. “And the bad news is, it looks like the Svikari fighter took some damage and needs repairs, so I’m headed down there to assist.”
“I’ll go too,” Stephanie sighed as she stepped back into the elevator.
“You read my mind,” Lance said while Justin walked in next to her.
“You know, I’m starting to agree with Dexter,” the engineer said as the doors shut.
Lance turned to his brother before motioning to the galaxy map.
“Want to show us what you found?”
Lincoln led the team to the railing and stepped onto the command center. As he did, Lance’s multi-tool beeped, informing him someone was trying to access his workstation. The captain allowed its activation. Seconds later, the map projected itself in front of them.
“Vaxlor has a low-level bounty on him. Nothing big enough to merit being hunted,” Lincoln said as he started to fidget with the holographic interface. “Apparently, if you have a bounty and go to certain worlds, it can get recorded by satellite webs.”
Lincoln pulled up a separate arm of the galaxy where a desert planet with a notification of Vaxlor’s arrival and departure sat.
“This was the last place he was seen before the attack on the station,” Lincoln said. “I say we stop there.”
“That’s a good distance away,” Mattias chimed in.
“Twenty parsecs at least,” Lance replied. “And that’s without stopping at Ryume.”
“I think Justin could make it in less than twelve,” Valdivia said as she leaned against the railing while Dexter did his best impression of a Wookie.
“It suits you,” Lance jested. “I mean, you’re big enough.”
“And if I stop shaving, I’ll be hairy enough too,” Dexter replied.
8
PITSTOP
“Captain, you may want to come to the cockpit for this,” the second shift pilot called over Lance’s radio.
