Gareth: The Nova Force: Book 3, page 5
Evie raised a finger to her right ear and touched something. “Hello, Kaiden. Pleasure to meet you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine, lass. I’ve patched you into this line to spare my brother relaying messages. Safer this way. I want you both to swing a left and run down to the teahouse. There’s a security access door beneath a tatami mat in the rear room that’ll spare you traveling through the mobs. All employees have vacated that way. I’ve also uploaded the station map to your gear, Gareth. Activate it on your holographic user display.”
“Gotcha.” A three-dimensional blue hologram projected from Gareth’s device, and a green blip revealed their current location. Several levels below them had been blocked in red light, indicating how far the Zaecady breach had spread.
They followed Kaiden’s advice and entered the staff-only access corridor moments later. The occasional scream echoed from within, and tearful pleas for help reverberated through vents thanks to the strange acoustics.
“They’ve sent drones into the lower entertainment hub,” Kaiden said. Another level turned red.
Gareth shuddered. He didn’t have to hear it to know what was happening. He could feel it. The bugs relied on mammalian creatures for their food sources and reproduction, implanting their queen’s eggs into the stomach cavities of their victims after a drone stung them. The powerful paralytic toxin could incapacitate a man for days, leaving him conscious and capable of breathing but little else until the foul little larvae burst out of his guts.
Then he became their first meal.
Evie and Gareth’s foot falls thundered against the metal floor as they raced down the narrow space and followed Kaiden’s directions. They went down a level, taking a ladder, though the cyborg swore suddenly on the other end.
“Two scouts crawled out of an air duct. Identifying their locations on your display.”
“Safe to take them out?” Evie asked.
A few seconds of silence followed before Kaiden said in a quiet voice, “The corridor’s clear of friendlies. You’re safe to take whatever measures are necessary.”
Gareth channeled a psionic shield around both of them. “Stay by my side.” When she bristled, he added, “It’s easier to maintain a shield if you’re close. The greater the distance, the weaker the barrier around both of us.”
The mild outrage faded, smoothing into understanding. She glanced at the thin shimmer surrounding them and nodded.
Close one. This woman wasn’t a damsel in distress, and something told him she’d cut his balls off and feed them to him if he treated her like one. Thinking better of his plan to protect her like the heroic star of an action flick, he remained at her side instead of moving ahead of her.
All the better considering the weapon she carried. He’d learned a while ago that firearm sizes could be deceptive.
Two orange triangles indicated the Zaecadys’ locations on the HUD. Then another blip joined those. The original two had become three, with more coming up from the duct. They proceeded forward, keeping their attention on the display at all times because the blasted bugs weren’t too far ahead of them.
“Never mind this. I’ll find you another route. Double back and—”
“Fuck that. Not letting a few bugs stop us. This is the most direct route, right?”
“Right.”
“Then stand back and watch how it’s done.”
“Do it soon, because they’re coming.”
Two of the Zaecady skittered along the ceiling, and another burst from the open vent ahead of them. In the near-dark, Gareth almost overlooked the motionless human silhouette on the floor beneath the open air duct. He grimaced. The guy’s guts were already out, an unusual waste for the Zaecady.
Flightless male drones with venomous stingers always avoided lethal wounds whenever a queen was in their company. An abandoned corpse meant this wasn’t a breeding operation to swell their numbers. The swarm had come purely to murder.
The creatures resembled a wicked cross between an ant and a wasp with scarlet abdomens. Mother Nature armed their males with enormous stingers, the barbed tips attached to pulsating venom sacs. Serrated plates edged their segmented limbs, and chitinous armor enhanced their bulk.
While smaller than the typical human, they moved eerily quick and crossed yards in seconds.
And if they were flying workers, the little bitches zipped in like they were shot out of cannons.
Gareth sucked in a breath between his teeth. Where there were two, there were bound to be more now that the little fuckers had infiltrated the ventilation system. Unwilling to wait a moment longer, he channeled his power into one psionic kick.
Kinetic energy hurtled down the corridor. The wave bowled over the two Zaecadians and sent them tumbling backward down the hall. When a cluster of three emerged from the vent in rapid succession, Evie followed with a precise shot from her weapon. One pulse washed over them like a fiery current, and they went up in a white-hot blaze, incinerated to stinking ash.
Gareth bit back a swear and shot Evie a searching look. Weapons like that were banned in almost every system, but now wasn’t the time for discussion.
“This way. Gryph is docked four levels down in sector 14 Alpha.”
“No, your ship’s gone,” Kaiden relayed in the same moment Evie’s comm beeped.
“Talk to me, Ranulf,” she said in a clipped tone. A frown line creased her brow, and she made a quiet grunt. “All right, maintain evasive maneuvers, and wait for my call.”
“What’s going on?”
“My ship left dock. Smart move, really, they’d have been sitting ducks otherwise.”
Gareth swore and considered their options. “We can make for an escape pod.”
“No good, brother. Several escape pods have ejected, but Zaecadian starfighters are shooting them down before they reach the planetary surface. That’s death.”
“Then we make a spacewalk.”
He swung his startled gaze at the woman beside him. “Excuse me?”
“The station will have maintenance stations with suits. My ship can get into position near one and we can jump.”
“That is crazy.”
“But brilliant,” Kaiden said. The holographic map zoomed in and a room several levels below them lit green. “Inventory logs put the closest suits in this location.”
“That’s an engineering locker. We’ll never make it down there.”
A door to their left slid open. “This way.”
Gareth blinked. He still wasn’t accustomed to his brother’s incredible range. Hijacking a few dozen security cameras was one thing, but Kaiden had taken control of the station systems.
“Move fast,” Kaiden said over the comm. “The hull is weakened in the next section and there’s a Zaecadian squad moving up on your position.”
“Then we better get going.” Evie moved first and stepped through the doorway. Gareth followed and the door sealed shut behind them.
* * *
Trusting Kaiden to lead them through the overrun station came easy, since Evie had worked with him before. Otherwise, she might have balked at following instructions from a mysterious voice in her ear. At some point, she’d have to come clean to Gareth and tell him—if they made it off Ame alive.
Kaiden guided them past two more attack groups by leading them through service tunnels and corridors restricted to the station crew. A maintenance hatch brought them down another three levels.
“Not much further. There’s a lift that will take you down but I can’t tell if you’ll face any opposition.”
“Isn’t there another access tube?” Evie asked.
“Negative,” Kaiden reported. “The nearest one has been locked down due to a hull rupture.”
The news sent a chill down her spine. It was one thing to see fellow marines or mercenaries go down in battle, but seeing civilian casualties never got easier. She hated to think how many had died.
Gareth spoke up. “You said you don’t know if there’s anything between us and the lift?”
“Sensors are registering interference and cameras in that section are down.”
“Well, here’s hoping for the best.”
Before Evie could protest, Gareth pushed past her into the lead, moving into the forefront the way he often tanked for her during their gaming binges. In Spellbound, she played an elven knight, a character of moderate defense with low hit points and a tiny health meter a fraction of the enormous bar given to templars.
Someone had to tell him it wasn’t a video game anymore.
“You don’t have to protect me,” she bit out. “So knock the shit off.”
He paused, spine stiff. “Who said I’m protecting you?”
“You’ve jumped in front of me twice already since we left the room. Not in the way of my shots, mind you, but—”
“I’m not doing it because you’re a woman. It has nothing to do with you being a woman. As I told you before, it’s because I have a shield and you don’t. It’s a habit the instructors beat into us during psychic combat training, and I’d do it for any non-psychic on the battlefield with me. Because this is a battlefield, lass. So can the bloody pride.”
Evie bit her lower lip and studied him. Tension rippled down his back and tightened his shoulders. He didn’t glance back at her, but she saw him clench his jaw and felt the entire mood shift. “All right.”
The lift took them down to the engineering level where red light bathed the steel walls and pools of cooled blood glistened on the floor. A knocking sound echoed around them, its location difficult to pinpoint.
“They’ve been here,” Gareth whispered. “There are no survivors.”
“Damn. What of the suits?”
Evie opened a locker and pulled out an environmental suit. She tossed one to Gareth and hurried into a second one. She hadn’t suited up in years, but muscle memory took control down to the final step.
The knocking sound came closer, sending a cold spike of terror racing down her spine. When Gareth grabbed her by the hand and rushed to the airlock, the doors unsealed on their own—Kaiden at work again.
“Silver Gryphon is moving into position to receive you. Be ready to make your exit,” the cyborg relayed, though she saw her ship gliding nearby through the translucent port. “They will engage the tractor beam once you exit the airlock.”
“Copy that,” Gareth replied while securing a tether to Evie. She returned the favor then waited beside him in front of the sealed hatch, heart racing faster than a smuggler’s drug run through UNE space. When it opened, they both stood at the edge of the station, less than an inch of solid ground between them and vast, open space.
“Go. I’ll be right behind you, Evie. I promise that.”
“But—”
He didn’t give her the chance to argue. Invisible force flung her from the airlock into the cold emptiness, and she went careening through blackness, turning head over heels at first. The Silver Gryphon had already opened its airlock to receive her.
Prepared for Evie’s arrival and in a suit of her own, Morna snatched her inside the moment she reached the doors. Then they both watched in horror as Gareth made the journey through hostile space, a prayer on Evie’s tongue though she couldn’t remember the last time she’d relied on any god for help.
Please make it. Please make it.
Zaecadian starfighters hurtled through space in erratic and unpredictable loops, evading fire from the few ships in the system willing to confront them alongside the Noguchi. Shots lit the eternal black of space, flashes against the bleak backdrop before colliding with space vessels and the damaged station.
And then another streak of pure energy flew on a direct course for her Royal Marine.
Chapter Five
Despite the warzone surrounding them, Morna’s eyes glowed with enthusiasm and she bounced on her feet. “That was amazing, mate. Holy shit, Captain, your boyfriend is like some kind of psionic juggernaut. How’d you block that?”
Gareth grinned weakly. “Practice. I’m probably going to feel it later.”
Evie’s mind returned to the scene she’d watched on the news over a month ago before she knew it was Gareth. Journalists hadn’t been permitted to identify and name each Royal Marine involved in the rescue of the queen, but she’d been awestruck by the power of the lone psychic on the mission. He had stopped a hail of bullets with his mind, stripping high-powered assault rounds of all momentum until they hovered static in the air before him.
Even that had seemed amazing and miraculous. What he’d done moments ago somehow topped even that. Somehow, he’d deflected a blast that should have disintegrated him and left a cloud of blood particles in its wake.
But he was definitely not feeling it later. The guy was pale and one of his hands shook, green eyes unfocused. Evie recognized overuse in a psychic when she saw it.
Tearing her concern away from Gareth, she unzipped out of her space suit and turned to Morna. “Is everyone onboard?”
“Everyone accounted for, Captain. Jinx got sliced up a little, but no stings. We were all lucky.”
“Good. Pump him with antibiotics and get him back on his feet. Are we in the clear, Ranulf?”
His voice echoed back to her through Gryph’s audio system, “Aye. It appears the ugly fucks aren’t trying to pursue us. They’re only engaging the ships who remain to fight.”
Indecision raged inside her. First instincts told her to stay and fight, but wisdom told her to take the Silver Gryphon and get as far away as she could. Years of service in the Royal Navy couldn’t be driven out so easily.
“Two Royal Navy ships have arrived,” Ranulf reported, his words making the decision for her. “The HMS Wang and the Bulwark.”
“Get us out of here. Morna, I want our ears open. You log every single communication from this sector.”
“On it, Captain.”
“Gareth, if you come with me, I’ll get you settled.”
He followed her through the deck, and in hindsight, she should have had everyone else clear out. A few members of her crew looked over, and Havras opened his mouth to say something, but a tiny shake of her head silenced her gunner.
“Where to, Cap?” Fox asked from the cockpit, high-pitched voice reaching them through the intercom. “Unless you have any objections, I’m heading for Kildren’s Belt.”
“That’s fine. We’ll figure out our next move from there.”
Ranulf glanced at Gareth and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, young man. Fancy work you did down there.”
“Thanks.” Gareth shot her a glance after, squinting at her through the haze of what had to be an indescribable migraine.
“I think our guest overextended himself,” Evie said, taking Gareth by the hand.
“Get the lad somewhere to rest. I’ll handle this.”
What would she do without Ranulf?
A spiral staircase took them from the bridge to the captain’s quarters. The ship’s A.I. sensors scanned her unique biometrics and granted them access to a cozy stateroom furnished with all the essentials. The bed was at the far end, with a holographic panel overhead. It acted as both an alarm clock and a window, waking her with simulated sunlight and birdsong. At the moment, the display showed clouds drifting across a pale lavender sky. Her desk and gaming rig occupied a corner nook.
“Take a seat. Relax.” She gestured to a narrow couch against the wall.
Gareth didn’t take a seat. He watched her instead, eyes bloodshot and face pale as ever.
“Or lay down, if you prefer.”
“I’ve seen that man before.” He spoke in a quiet voice, but something told her—maybe it was the years of gaming alongside him and learning his mannerisms—that he was furious.
“Ranulf? He’s traveled a lot of—”
“Cut the bullshit, Evangeline. I’ve seen that man recently. Prior to your arrival, my brother noticed your second-in-command and joined him. You looked at them both. Never said a word about him being connected to you.”
Her belly plummeted like lead. “Gareth—”
“If it’s a lie, don’t bother. I have enough respect for you not to take the answers I want, but I hope you give them to me. Kaiden knew the name of your ship, and the moment I announced to him I was safe, he went strangely radio silent when I asked about that. He knew you, and he knew your man. How?”
“Nisrine and I go back a long way. She turned to me for help when they were on the run. That’s how I met Kaiden. Ranulf nearly got killed taking on that abomination on Breteyne before it could harm your brother.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her heart sped faster than a herd of galloping wargs. “I…”
“If you’d lie about that, what else are you hiding from me?”
“My involvement with your brother was never supposed to see the light of day. It’s better that way.”
“That’s why you panicked when you saw me. Kaiden and I are identical twins. You thought I was him.”
She nodded, mute. Tension narrowed her throat with an unrelenting squeeze.
“Why not say something after I pointed him out? You had to realize it’d come out eventually. That he’d mention knowing you. We’re brothers. He tells me everything.”
“I don’t know.”
“What else are you keeping from me?”
“We all have our secrets, Gareth.”
“We do, but there seems to be a vast difference between us now, lass. I’m willing to tell you mine, and you’re keeping me at arm’s length. What’s happening here?”
“Right. Let’s open up our first real life date with talking about your brother and how I illegally helped him out. It didn’t seem the time and neither did the attack.”
“Unless we’re speaking another language, ‘helped’ is the operative word here. You saved my twin brother’s life. He’s alive because of you. Why wouldn’t I think the moon of you for doing that, whether it was illegal or not?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Then explain it to me, Evie. Help me understand what’s going on.”
