Captive (26 page)
Sidious set the last bomb in place and then pulled out the detonator to arm it. All he had to do now was hit the button. But first, he had to get out of here. It had taken him a little longer than thirty minutes, and he was starting to feel the effects of the cloak. He couldn't turn his head too fast, or he would immediately become dizzy. He was starting to feel a little light-headed and nauseated as well. Hopefully, that would disappear as soon as he turned off the cloak.
Making his way out much faster than he had gone in, he came to the end of the shaft. Checking to make sure no one was around, he climbed out and snapped the hatch back into place. Lifting his wrist, he turned off the cloak.
“Lord Marcone,” the sergeant said with surprise as he rounded the corner and almost ran into him. “Where did you come from?”
Trying to get the dizziness under control, he placed his hand on the side of the wall to support himself. “Sorry to startle you, Sergeant,” he replied quietly. “I was just heading to engineering.”
One of Rigora's security guards, or lackeys as Marcone called them, came around the same corner. “Sergeant have you seen Captain Mar --” he started and then realized he was standing right there. “Captain Marcone, sir,” he replied. “I've been asked to deliver you directly to the prime minister.”
Apparently either he'd been found out somehow, or they just wanted to question him, for the officer had his hand on his weapon, ready to draw it quickly if he needed to. Either way, he didn't have time to deal with this. “Of course, Lieutenant. Lead the way.” He nodded, keeping his voice as carefree as possible.
“No, sir. I have to ask that you lead the way.”
Marcone smiled slightly at that one. Smart man. Moving to walk in front of him, he began to slowly make his way down the corridor. As soon as he was far enough away, he would hit the detonator and then make a run for it.
Taking the long way out of engineering so he could avoid the elevator, he slowly began to get his bearings back. Thank God, it didn't take long for the effects of the cloak to wear off.
Looking over his shoulder to the man behind him, he asked. “What's all this about, Lieutenant?”
“I wouldn't know, my lord, I've just been asked to escort you.” Sidious made a face at that. He should have known they wouldn't tell him anything. Did Woods finally get through to Rigora, or did something else give him away? Always in the past, if Rigora had wanted to see him, he would just have Carlone call him on the communicator. Sending an armed officer after him was a dead giveaway.
Turning the corner that brought them out of engineering, he pulled the detonator from his pocket and hit the button. Immediately a loud explosion went off that rattled the ship, knocking the lieutenant off balance. Taking advantage of the situation, Marcone turned and hit him hard in the jaw, knocking him out cold. Straightening, he looked around to make sure there was no one else and then took off down the hall to the flyer deck and the
Triton.
Silently, he prayed Agnus and Mikayla were making it out okay. He had set the bombs off a little early, but not so early Agnus shouldn't have already left the bar.
* * * * *
Everyone onboard the bridge of the
Vultair
stood silently waiting for the shields to drop. Taron was at the helm, Troy was at the engineering station to keep a close eye on shield status, and Kaycose at tactical. Taron looked over at Stefan, who was quietly pacing back and forth occasionally looking out the large window that ran the length of the bridge. Directly in front of them and less than a half mile away was the
Shlictah
. Watching him with a raised eyebrow, Taron couldn't ever remember seeing Stefan so uptight. But then, he also couldn't remember Sidious ever doing anything quite so dangerous either. If anything happened to Sidious, Stefan would be devastated.
Taron took another look at the helm panel in front of him. Normally the ship would fly on auto or by voice command, but they would be maneuvering so close to the Destroyer, he thought it would be better if he flew the ship by hand. It may be a little arrogant on his part, but he always thought he could fly evasive maneuvers better than the computer.
The area around him hummed with nervous energy and fear. Even though he hid it well, he was just as nervous as the rest of them. He would be a fool not to be. This was
their final attempt, and if this didn't work, then there would be no others. More than likely, if this didn't work, they would all be dead.
Suddenly Troy broke the quiet. “Shields are down on the Destroyer.” The bridge immediately came alive with activity.
“Well, this is it.” Taron took a deep breath, his fingers flexing in anticipation of taking the controls. “Spread the word, Stefan. All ships decloak and fire at will.”
* * * * *
“Mikayla, are you all right?” She blinked her eyes, trying to dispel the fog around her brain. Her ankle throbbed, and she flexed it with a wince. At least she could move it. “I think so. What happened?”
“I believe Sidious detonated the bombs,” he replied as he stood and studied the ceiling.
“What bombs?” she asked, standing as well. “You know, Agnus, I think it's time you told me what's going on.”
“Sidious didn't tell you?” he asked as he looked at her.
“All he told me was that it was going to get hairy and I should stay as close to you as possible.”
“Well, it just got a lot hairier than I think even he thought,” he replied quietly.
“Agnus. Out with it.”
“I'll tell you about it while we climb out of this thing. We need to go out through the roof and climb the ladder that is on the right side of the shaft. I'm not sure what level we're on, but we need to get to level nine.” Grabbing a pole from the emergency box, he pulled the flap down that covered the opening in the roof. Inside the flap was a drop ladder.
Thank God for small favors, she thought when she saw the ladder. She knew she didn't have enough arm strength to pull herself up without one. Climbing the ladder, she stepped onto the roof of the turbochute, praying with all her might that it would hold. “Okay, Agnus, talk.”
With a sigh, he began to tell her. “Sidious set bombs off in the generators that control the shields as well as the propulsion engines. Once the shields are down, the rebels can begin firing at the Destroyer, and with the engines blown, the ship shouldn't be able to go anywhere.”
“There's only one problem with that.” She looked over the side of the elevator to the huge drop below, then wished she hadn't. Nausea rolled through her stomach at the mere thought of falling into the dark abyss below. “We're stuck on the ship!”
“We weren't supposed to be. For some reason, he set them off early.” Motioning for her to get on the ladder, he continued in a firm voice, “That's why we need to get a move on.”
“Up or down?” she asked before getting on.
He pointed up with his finger. Just don't look down, she tried to tell herself as she made her way up. Suddenly another explosion rocked the ship, causing Mikayla to lose her grip on the rung. She slipped to the next one before catching herself. She winced at the pain in her wrist but retained her hold.
“Damn it!” she said.
Mikayla stopped for a minute to catch her breath and control the shaking that had started in her hands. She held tight to the rungs, silently praying they didn't experience another blast, at least until they got out of here. Agnus had moved closer behind her and placed a hand against her thigh.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” she said as she took a deep breath and let it out.
“Good. Just hold on and keep in mind that if you fall, I'll have to fall with you.”
“What?” She glared down at Agnus. The minute she did she realized her mistake and squeezed her eyes shut as she turned her head back to the ladder. The drop was so far down, it made her head swim just looking at it.
“If anything were to happen to you, Sidious would kill me, so I might as well just go ahead and die right along with you.”
“Agnus, don't be ridiculous. Sidious wouldn't kill you,” she said as she began to once again climb the ladder. Apparently, the rebels had begun their attack, because she could hear one small explosion after another coming from the other side of the ship.
Fearing another one that would make her fall from the ladder this time, she began to climb much faster.
“Believe me, Mikayla,” he said dryly, “when it comes to you, Sidious would kill me.”
* * * * *
“What the hell just happened?” the prime minister yelled. He was on the bridge with General Carlone and Commander Woods, and the three of them, along with everyone else in the room, had been knocked to the floor with the force of the explosion. Quickly trying to get back to his station, Ensign Floari checked the status of the systems. “It appears there's been an explosion in the shield generators. Shields are down as well as propulsion systems.”
“What kind of an explosion, Ensign?” Rigora asked.
“I'm not for certain,” he replied as he looked over the damage reports that were coming in on the screen in front of him. “But my guess is, it wasn't a problem with the generators. They should never have exploded like that.”
“Are you saying it was a bomb?” asked General Carlone.
“Yes, sir, that would be my guess.”
“Sir,” Captain Forbey interrupted, “we have eight ships decloaking directly in front of us.”
“Who are they?” he asked with dread. This wasn't good at all.
“Unknown, your grace.” He wasn't able to say anything else, for the ship was suddenly hit with fire from all sides, once again almost knocking them to the floor.
“The rebels,” Rigora said with a sneer.
“Your grace,” Carlone replied, “we need to get you out of here.” Nodding his head at Carlone, he turned to Woods. “They had to have had someone on the inside to do this. Find Marcone. Dead or alive, I don't care. Just find him!”
“Yes, your grace,” Woods said, a smile of ultimate satisfaction spreading his lips.
“It would be my pleasure.”
Turning to the captain, Rigora yelled, anger and aggravation quickly rolling to the surface. How dare that son of a bitch cross him. “Do whatever it takes, Captain, but destroy those ships and do it quickly. With our shields down, this thing is a damn sitting duck.”
“Yes, sir.” Turning, he told the tactical officer to return fire.
* * * * *
“Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Jeffrey?” the president asked as he looked through the telescope at the battle going on above them. “Yes, sir,” he replied in awe.
Davis had never seen anything like this. It looked like at least eight ships, maybe more, had just, quite literally, appeared out of nowhere and started firing on the prime minister's ship. It was amazing watching them circle and fire like a flock of vultures circling their prey.
Pulling his eye away from the eyepiece, he had to readjust the telescope in order to stay with them. They wouldn't have this view for long, he realized.
“Mr. President, we're getting reports from all over that the flyers are leaving,” Colin yelled to him from the doorway.
Davis didn't turn around to answer. He kept looking through the telescope at the battle going on above them. “They're probably going to try and help the main ship.”
“What are you talking about?” Colin asked, clearly confused.
“Take a look for yourself.” He stepped away from the telescope, allowing Colin to step forward and look through the eyepiece.
“Oh my God,” Colin said. “Do you suppose this was the help our informant was referring to?”
“I would assume so, but whether it is or it isn't, I want to take advantage of the opportunity. With those flyers gone, we stand a much better chance of taking on the ground troops.”
Colin looked at him and smiled, already knowing where he was going with this.
“Already on it,” he said as he ran to the communications room.
As he left, Davis put his eye back to the telescope. He wanted to watch this for as long as he could. Soon the rotation of the Earth would prevent it.
* * * * *
After what seemed like forever, Agnus and Mikayla reached the opening to level nine. Mikayla moved over slightly to the left to allow Agnus to climb to the rung just below her. Ramming a bar in the center of the two doors for leverage, the two of them pushed until the doors opened with a
swish
. “I'll climb out first and then help to pull you in,” Agnus replied as he wedged the doors open with the bar. Once he was out of the shaft, he turned and reached for her.
Grabbing the edge of the floor, she pushed up with her arms and twisted her body to set her bottom on the floor next to her hands. Agnus stayed extremely close behind, ready to grab her in the event she lost her balance and fell.
Pulling herself up, she looked to both ends of the hall. There were people running everywhere, dodging each other and fallen objects that were in the way. It was utter chaos. The lights were out, leaving the hallways illuminated by only the emergency bulbs. Smoke filled the area, making her cough and the back of her throat burn.
Suddenly another explosion rocked the ship, and she had to grab the wall to remain upright.
Turning to Agnus, she asked, “Now where?”
“This way,” he replied as he pointed down the corridor to the right. They had come out on the wrong side of the ship, and they still had a long way to go. Falling in with the mass of people who were trying to get to the same place they were, they began to make their way down the hall.