Omega Force 5: Return of the Archon (26 page)

“We seem to have plenty of time to get to the ship and begin the startup sequence,” Lucky said.

“No,” Jason said, raising a hand. “We need to get to Twingo and Doc first. If we get the ship started then they will either use them as hostages or kill them outright.”

“Do you know where they’re at?” Mazer asked.

Jason reached out to the ship again with his link. The answer was good and bad news.

**CREW STATUS**

CAPT. BURKE – FULL MISSION CAPABLE

FIRST OFFICER CRUSHER – UNKNOWN

SECOND OFFICER LUCKY – FULL MISSION CAPABLE

MEDICAL OFFICER “DOC” – INJURED, NON-LIFE THREATENING

CHIEF ENGINEER TWINGO – INJURED, CRITICAL

COPILOT KAGE – UNKNOWN

“The ship isn’t able to get a location fix,” Jason said. “But they’re both injured … Twingo seriously. We need to move. We’ll keep going along this wall and down towards what looks like a set of temporary buildings. I’m guessing those are quarters for whoever is running this little operation.”

The small team moved out, skirting along the edge of the lit area and relying on Lucky’s sensors to warn them of any danger in their path. The work area was vast and it was taking them longer to move around the perimeter than Jason would have liked, but he would be of no use to Twingo if he walked into an explosive booby trap or headlong into a heavily armed patrol. Knowing his friends were alive renewed his energy and focus, but also knowing one of them was gravely injured fueled his impatience.

They had moved right up against the cheap, temporary buildings when the first sounds of life reached their ears. It was a pair of voices coming from one of the doorways closest to the floor where the ships were parked. Apparently this was the night watch, and they weren’t very concerned about security within their facility.

“Your turn,” voice one was saying.

“Don’t you know any better games?” voice two answered.

“Nope,” One said. “Just roll them. Our shift is almost over anyway. How much longer do you think we’ll be stuck in this horrible place? After that last ship is torn down I can’t imagine we’ll have to stay much longer.”

“Unless they bring in more Jepsens,” Two said.

“Don’t even say that,” One said. “That last one was bad enough. Whoever owned it must have supplemented the emergency power cells.”

“Maybe,” Two said with indifference. “It would go a lot easier if that little bastard they captured with it would give up the security codes. I’ve never seen someone so small take so much punishment.”

“Torture is an inexact science,” One said. “You may have overdone it. He has to be convinced that there is a way out for him. If you make him believe that he’ll die no matter what, he has no incentive.”

“I was tired of his stonewalling,” Two said. “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway since I doubt he’ll live through the night. We’ll have to start on the other one after that, I guess.”

Jason had heard enough. He could feel his blood pounding in his veins as his heart began to race. His vision began to gray out around the edges and there was a loud rushing sound in his ears. “Captain…” he heard Lucky call, but he seemed far away.

He circled around and slipped in through the doorway, looking down at the two seated aliens. He vaguely registered that he knew this species and that they thrived in hot climates, their green, pebbled skin reminding him of certain lizards on Earth. They looked up at him in complete shock, their game forgotten.

“Who are—”

The voice Jason recognized as voice number one was cut off as he took two strides into the room and backhanded him hard enough to send him flying out of the plastic chair and into the wall on the far side. Jason continued the crossing motion until he was turned and facing the second alien who was still too shocked to move, much less reach for his weapon.

Jason grabbed him by the throat and lifted him easily out of the seat. The alien’s survival instincts finally kicked in and he tried to pull a stubby sidearm out of a waist holster, but Jason saw it and grabbed the offending hand and slammed it into the table until he felt the bones break. The alien howled and Jason picked him up as high as he could reach before slamming him bodily down into the table and pinned him flat, his hand crushing the throat just enough to dissuade any further resistance.

He heard a grunt followed by a sharp impact and looked up in time to see Mazer standing over the other alien with a balled fist. Jason nodded to him and turned to his captive.

“Now … are you going to tell me what I want to know? Or am I going to have to try out some of that inexact science your friend was talking about?” he asked in Jenovian Standard.

“I’ll talk,” the alien wheezed.

“Where are the two captives you were just talking about torturing?”

“This building, one level up.”

“How many guards?”

“None, they’re secured to the walls,” the alien said, trying to shift his body to get the pressure off his throat. Jason tightened his grip and lifted him by the throat and waistband before tossing him across the room into a heap by his partner.

“Lucky, with me,” Jason snapped. “Mazer, watch these two. Any sign they try to call for help …”

“Kill them,” Mazer finished with a savage snarl. “Gladly.”

Jason and Lucky sprinted from the room and back out into the open cavern. He’d spotted the external stairwell leading up the next level when they’d initially approached the building. He tensed and launched himself up the stairs, landing only two steps from the top. As soon as he cleared out of the way, Lucky followed suit, easily clearing the entire flight and landing next to Jason with a surprisingly soft impact.

“I detect no security systems or possible traps,” Lucky reported. Jason grabbed the locked handle and twisted it until the metal crunched and the latching mechanism gave way. He put his shoulder into it and burst into the room … he was not prepared for what he saw.

Doc was huddled in one corner, chained to a bar that ran the length of the back wall. His left arm was obviously broken and his face was swollen and malformed. His clothes were in tatters and he’d obviously not been near soap and water for days.

Twingo was unrecognizable. The damage to his face due to multiple beatings looked severe, and Jason couldn’t fathom how he was getting air into his lungs. His right ear had been cut off and it looked like they’d gone to work on his upper torso with the same knife. He appeared to have multiple fractures in his extremities and his rib cage appeared to no longer be symmetrical.

“Lucky, cut their restraints,” Jason said quietly. Doc’s head came up at his voice and he looked at the two in disbelief.

“Captain?”

“Be still, Doc,” Jason said gently. “We’re getting out of here.”

“Twingo … get Twingo,” Doc mumbled, falling forward as Lucky cut his restraints. Jason went over to his best friend and waited for Lucky to come over and use his laser to cut the chain holding Twingo’s left arm to the bar.

“I’m going to try and get underneath him,” Jason said. “I’ll carry him. You help Doc.” When he glanced over, he could see that Doc had already struggled to his feet and was trying to come over to help with Twingo. As gently as he could, he slid his friend out away from the wall until he could crouch down and ease both his arms up under his torso. Then, with excruciating slowness, he straightened his back and carefully pulled each leg up underneath him until he was standing with the smaller, blue alien cradled to his chest.

“Jason,” Twingo tried to speak through his ruined jaw. “I didn’t tell them anything.” Tears streamed freely down Jason’s cheeks as he looked down at his friend.

“I know you didn’t, buddy,” he said quietly. “Now don’t worry about anything, I’m getting you out of here.”

“The ship …”

“Shhh … She’s fine, Twingo,” Jason said as he moved towards the door with Lucky and Doc in tow. “You did good, they were never able to board.”

They made it down the stairs with no incident and walked around to where Mazer was standing in the doorway of the room the guards had been lounging in. When he saw Twingo’s condition, his jaw clenched and his eyes flashed. He looked at Jason, the unspoken question hanging between them. Jason nodded once, his eyes reflecting the young warrior’s anger. Mazer turned and walked back into the room. Shortly thereafter there was a muffled scream that was abruptly cut short with a wet
snap
. A moment later there was a sharp Galvetic roar, and then another sickening crunch of bones. Without a look back, Mazer and Kade walked out of the room and fell in behind the members of Omega Force as they walked across the cavern floor towards the
Phoenix
. Jason reached out with his implant yet again to talk to his ship.

**COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED**

DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS DEACTIVATED

MAIN CARGO HATCH AND RAMP OPENING

MEDICAL BAY PREPARED FOR WOUNDED

Even from their distance of over fifty meters, Jason could hear the whine of the actuators as the rear ramp of the
Phoenix
lowered into place. One thing he hadn’t counted on was the sudden harsh glow of the cargo bay lights shining out into the cavern, now quite obvious since the tail of the gunship was outside of the internal lighting the salvage crews had been using.

Walking as quickly as he dared with his grievously wounded friend, Jason eased up the ramp and was halfway up the stairs to the crew entry hatch when he heard Lucky close the rear pressure doors and raise the ramp.

“
Phoenix
, reinitialize external defensive protocols,” Jason called out. “Ten meter perimeter.”

“Acknowledged,” the computer’s emotionless voice said.

When he got to the infirmary, he realized that there was an oversight that they’d never corrected in all their time owning the vessel: there was only one medical table.

“Shit,” Jason muttered as he gently deposited Twingo onto the bed and stepped back. Doc, limping heavily, walked in behind him.

“I can handle this, Captain,” he said. Despite the obvious pain he was in from an unset broken arm and multiple blunt force wounds, Doc walked over without hesitation and began commanding the automated systems to begin Twingo’s emergency treatment. Jason felt humbled at the courage the pair had shown, and were still showing, throughout what must have felt like a hopeless situation.

“Captain Burke,” Kade’s voice said quietly behind him.

“Yes?”

“Although I am only trained in rudimentary field aid, I believe I can be of assistance to your medical officer,” Kade said. “I can at least be his hands since he is quite injured himself.”

Jason thought about it before nodding in gratitude. “Thanks. That will help a lot I think.”

“If I may ask,” Kade continued, “are you fully capable of cold-starting this vessel with less than three-quarters of your emergency power and no chief engineer?”

“That’s a good question.”

“Morakar!”

Morakar stopped and looked around. This was the second time he’d heard the urgent, somewhat high-pitched voice whisper his name. He was walking down one of the side streets that led away from Ker Commons, a square in the middle of the city, and had been getting the feeling for a while that he was being watched.

“Over here!”

He looked over and saw a diminutive figure gesturing for him to approach the darkened area where the storm runoff would normally flow between the buildings. The figure was clad in loose-fitting black garments and had a hood pulled far up over his head. Suspecting a trap, Morakar approached with caution. Even though it was exceedingly rare, there were some species that took the chance of engaging in criminal activity within the cities of Restaria. They normally didn’t live long enough to regret their decision once they were caught.

As he drew closer, he saw that the being was gripping the edge of the building with two hands, and then adjusted his clothing with yet another hand. Morakar relaxed his stance immediately and walked quickly over to where he was being beckoned.

“Kage,” he said in greeting. “I am happy to see you were unhurt in the explosion at the safe house. What happened?”

“I barely made it out unhurt,” Kage corrected. “There was a six-person assault team that was just getting ready to breach when I slipped out through the adjacent unit.”

“There were no bodies when Internal Security arrived,” Morakar said, looking at Kage dubiously. “You are certain about being attacked?”

“I know what the hell it’s like to be attacked,” Kage snapped. “Likely far better than you do, if we’re honest. My little party favor couldn’t have killed all of them; the survivors must have grabbed the bodies and moved before security showed up. You at least had to have found where I destroyed all the equipment.”

“There was nothing in the report,” Morakar said apologetically. “If you left behind damaged equipment they may have grabbed it along with the bodies of their fallen cohorts. What species were they?”

“I couldn’t tell,” Kage said. “They were wearing masks and concealing clothing. Far too small to be geltens, though. Damn! That’s one of the main reasons I’ve been following you … if I knew the species then I would have a much better place to start trying to find out who is attempting to kill us.”

“Us?”

“There is no way this is unrelated to the disappearance of Twingo and Doc, not to mention the ship,” Kage said. “Unfortunately we’ve pissed off so many people this may not even be related to anything happening on Restaria or Galvetor. It could have been someone that happened to track us here. Remember the stealth ship that tried following us from Colton Hub?”

“It does make sense,” Morakar admitted. “Have you warned Lord Felex yet?”

“That’s the next thing on my list after finding you,” Kage said. “There was no way I could get to him inside Legion Center with all that security.”

“He is scheduled to address the legion leadership within the hour, so there will be no time to reach him before then,” Morakar said. “In the meantime, let’s adjourn to someplace a little more inconspicuous and compare intelligence.”