Reavers (Book 3) (55 page)

“This is all part of the plan, right?” Shen’s voice echoed through a communications link.  “Would someone
please
tell me this is part of the plan?”

“I hate to agree with a Navy man,” Rosalyn said in forced calm, “but we are getting a little worried over here, too.”

“Tell them it’s okay,” Brent whispered.  “The Reavers will be leaving shortly.”

“Leaving?” Cain asked in surprise.  “What do you mean lea . . .”

The surface of the moon seemed to lift up.  Like a massive cloud of smoke, the dust freed itself from the moon and started to circle it.  Storms within the cloud started to form, and the swirling mass spun faster and faster.  Suddenly, a few specks of light appeared out of nowhere.  They darted around like fireflies in space.  The remaining V fighters abandoned the Citadel and rushed back into the moon.  More of the specks of light kept appearing until they surrounded the moon in a large wall of moving light. 

Abruptly the lights stopped dancing around and starting condensing on the moon.  The light was piercing, and the monitor adjusted to try and keep the light from blinding the spectators.  The light grew more and more intense until the monitor only showed a sphere of light surrounded by pitch black.  Even the glowing green Citadel was drowned out by the intense light.

The sphere of light exploded, and the countless specks of light burst outward, fading away.  It took the monitor several minutes to readjust back to the point normal light gave any detail to the image.  When form was restored, the moon had completely vanished.

“Did I just see what I thought I saw,” Sanderson said as he rubbed his eyes.

“Did a whole moon just
jump
?”  Kindra asked in disbelief.

Brent forced his head to look at Henry.  Henry nodded and started working at the ship’s controls.  A few moments later, the MI headquarters jumped after the missing moon.  Hiroko held Owen tight as the Wall passed through the ship.  Brent chuckled to himself.  Despite the fact they had been at death’s door, Owen was still more afraid of a standard jump than anything else.  As the Wall passed through the aft most sections of the ship, the sensors scanned the region.  They had arrived on the edge of a massive asteroid field.

“Where are we?” Tyra asked.

“There is no official name for this place in your databanks,” Henry said calmly.  “We are no longer in Commonwealth colonized space.”

“Lintilä was on the extreme edge of the Commonwealth after all,” Brent said as he tried to stand on his own.

Failing miserably, he happily held on to his wife as she helped him get a better view.  Thousands upon thousands of rocks were floating around with no rhyme or reason.

“Is there a planetary system nearby?” Cain asked.

“Why?” Henry asked, a bit of venom in his voice.

“Well, this is an awful lot of rocks to just be floating together for no reason.  There has to be
something
out there that’s attracting them.”

Henry looked at Cain with supreme rage, until he realized the infuriating organic had a point.  Adjusting the monitor, he surveyed the massive field of rock.

“I don’t see a moon anywhere,” Tyra said.  “Are we in the right spot?”

“My Citadels have tracked the moon to this position with a probability of ninety-nine point nine five percent.  We are merely ten minutes behind them.”

“Where could you hide an entire moon in ten minutes?” Marie asked.

“Could it have jumped away again?” Valerie asked.

“No further jumps were detected,” Henry said with a tone of finality.  “It is still here.”

“I hate to keep pointing out you’re wrong, but . . . you’re wrong,” Cain said.

Henry locked his gaze on the organic, but instantly realized there was no playful smile or grin on his face.  Shifting the main monitor to mirror Cain’s gaze, Henry was instantly intrigued.

“What is
that
?” Erin asked.

In the middle of the asteroid field was a large red spot.  As Henry zoomed in on the spot, a collective gasp filled the room.  Three large curved metal devices were circling the red spot.  Their design was unlike the V fighters or Shard technology.  It was something new.  The curved objects seemed to be made of several plates of metal that rotated in unison - despite not being connected in any visible way. 

As the three objects would pass one another, the metal plates would space themselves to allow the others to pass through before condensing back into their original form.  The red spot seemed to pull away from them no matter what angle they viewed it from.  It had a vague similarity to the eye of a hurricane.

It seemed to have depth, despite the fact it was obviously flat.  Just as the awe of the unique thing was setting in, the red spot vanished.  The three objects all met at the apex of their revolution and condensed into a single large mass that appeared no different than the countless gray rocks that orbited around it.

“Did they move an entire moon through that thing?” Marie asked in awe.

“This warrants study,” Henry said.

Abruptly, three jump windows opened and three massive Citadels moved into flanking positions around the now inert object.  The rocks and debris crashed into the Citadels with their greater gravity, but the object remained firm - somehow resisting their pull.

“So, did we win or loose?” Tyra asked.

“This was a victory,” Brent said as his strength slowly returned.  “They believe the Commonwealth is haunted, basically.  Gave them a scare they won’t ever forget.”  He winked at Zia.  “Their puppet master is going to have a hard time convincing any of them to come back any time soon.”

With his assurance, the others broke into cheering.  Humphrey and Cain started dancing poorly - they were even worse than he had remembered.  As he finally let himself relax, he noticed Zia off in the corner, holding Frank’s hand.

“I’m glad we made it,” she whispered to him.

“All thanks to you,” he said with a worried smile.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m just fine.”  Zia wrapped her arms around him.

“What are you doing?” he asked nervously.

“I think I did well.  Don’t you think I deserve a kiss?”

Frank looked at her with worry written all over his face.

“I can’t believe it; he was right,” she said with a sad sigh.  “You’re worried you are going to hurt me.”

“I didn’t say that!” he said defensively.

“Then what’s wrong?”

Frank couldn’t find the words and just stared at her silently.

“It’s okay,” she said with tears filling her eyes.  “We can be together.  You don’t need to worry.”

“But . . .”

“Please,” Zia pleaded.

As a single tear fell from her eye, Brent reduced Frank’s fear and hesitation just a hair.  Instantly, he held the girl close and kissed her passionately.  Completely spent, Brent closed his eyes and rested in his wife’s caring embrace.

“You didn’t need to follow us all the way here,” Cassandra said with obvious unease as she eyed Rosalyn’s skintight outfit.

“Don’t be silly!” she said innocently as she thrust her chest a bit in Cassandra’s direction.  “We had to drop off Dante anyway, and I couldn’t just let the man who saved us all disappear without my thanks.”

“He won’t be needing
your
thanks,” Cassandra said as she came to a stop in front of their house.

“It’s not
your
decision, is it?” Rosalyn asked with a small smile.

“It’s alright, Cassandra.”  Brent said placating his wife.  “Captain Dubois was vital to my plans; she deserves some piece of mind.”

“See?” Rosalyn asked mockingly.  “It’s alright with him.”

She walked up to him and seductively wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  She leaned in, closed her eyes and kissed him tenderly.  She instantly realized something was wrong.  Opening her eyes she found Brent had slipped a pad in between them at the last moment.

“I appreciate the gesture, but I’m very happily married,” he said warmly as he took Cassandra’s hand.  “Although, I believe that will be a decent consolation prize.”

With an annoyed grunt she glanced over the pad.

“Is this a joke?” she asked.

“Not at all, Tardos was very helpful in setting it up,” he said with a wink.

“
Tardos
!” Rosalyn shouted.

The short man quickly appeared behind Andreas along with Dante.

“You don’t have to yell; I’m right here.”  Tardos mockingly rubbed his ears.

“What have you done?” she asked him.

“Well, during the battle the other guild leaders ran like little girls.  Left us all to die.  The captains under them didn’t miss that fact.  More than that, though, they noticed you stayed with them to the end.  With their support I was able to push you through as a new guild leader.  You can pick whatever name you like.

“We are a guild now?” Andreas asked in surprise.

“Yep,” Tardos said with a pleased nod.  “With just a dozen under two hundred pirates captains from the start.  Not to mention the six Freeports they controlled are now under Rosalyn’s complete dominion.”

Andreas stumbled a bit at the prospect.

“Why would you do this?” Rosalyn asked Brent in a tone halfway between thankful and bitter.

“You were a greater help than the Circle ever could be,” he said as he folded his arms.  “Plus, you have a good head on your shoulders.  If something came up in the future, I’d sleep better knowing I had a powerful friend among the pirates.”

“First you reject my kiss, and now you toss all this in my lap?”

“You realize, of course,” Tardos said with a wink, “that as a guild leader you get a cut of all the spoils of those under you.  You could have as many keepsakes as you wanted.”

Rosalyn’s sour mood instantly vanished.

“That reminds me,” Brent said as he reached into his pocket and produced another pad.  “I’ve got a
keepsake
for you, too.”

Tardos eyed him suspiciously as he took the pad.  After a few moments he started laughing heartily.

“What is it?” Dante asked.

“It’s a copy of a mission report,” Tardos said with glee.  “A classified document with all the proper signatures that proves I’m not a traitor to the Circle!  Although, I never suspected it was the chef . . .”

“How’d you manage that, sir?” Dante asked.

“He can thank Weaver Davis.  While overseeing the arrest of
Supreme Commander
Renoff, he just happened to stumble across a few documents I asked him to keep an eye out for.  And wouldn’t you know, those documents just happened to go missing.”

“Is that enough thanks?” Cassandra asked Rosalyn with a smirk.

“You might have gotten the boy, but I got the farm.”  Rosalyn burst into laughter as she walked away.

Abruptly, she came to a dead stop.

“You wanted to see me, captain?” Sasha asked between painting breaths - it was obvious she had run in the heavy gravity all the way from the spaceport.

Dante stiffened a bit and forced himself to turn away.

“I didn’t call you.  Did you, Andreas?” Rosalyn turned to ask him.

“Not me,” he said with a shrug.

“My fault again,” Brent said with a concealed smile.

Dante instantly spun in place to stare at him.  He jumped back as he realized Henry was now standing behind him.  Dante hadn’t even noticed his approach.  Everyone watched as Henry walked over to the panting girl and placed a pad in her hands.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Brent prodded.  “What did you get?”

Sasha looked over the pad and slowly tilted her head.

“It’s just my personnel file,” she said, completely dumbfounded.

“I see!” Brent said with a growing smile.  “And what does it say?”

It hadn’t occurred to her to actually read it.  As she read to herself her eyes grew larger.

“But none of this is true,” she said.

“According to the government it is,” he said warmly.

“What’s going on?” Rosalyn asked.

“I’m afraid I’m giving you a guild, but taking a crewmember from you,” Brent said with a quick nod to Sasha.  “According to the Commonwealth, she is the owner of an absolutely
charming
little bakery on Orithia.”

Dante’s jaw dropped open as he stared at him in disbelief.

“Is something wrong?” Brent asked innocently.  “Oh!  That’s right.  Don’t the investigation units have their central branch stationed on Orithia?  It completely slipped my mind.”

Sasha held the pad tightly to her chest as she locked her eyes on Dante.

“But, sir . . .”

“But what?” he asked.  “You can’t be in love with her because she’s a pirate, and it’s your duty to turn her in?  Not according to that pad she isn’t.  The largest criminal offense she has on record is accidentally breaking a window when she was eight.”

“How . . .” Dante stammered.

“Henry is a genius at manipulating records,” Brent said as he patted Dante on the back.  “Creating, altering, deleting - just about anything you could ever want is child’s play to him.  In fact, I believe you just got promoted.”

“Promoted, sir?”

“You’ll be overseeing three investigation units.  There is a big office waiting for you and everything.  Looks like you’ll be on Orithia most of the time now.  What a shame you don’t have anyone to spend all that free time with.”

Dante was about to protest when he realized Brent had been walking him over to Sasha while talking.  They stared at one another, uncertain what to do.  Abruptly, she let out a yelp.  Rosalyn had walked behind her and gently slapped her rear.

“Good for you,” Rosalyn said as she winked at Sasha.  “Make sure you do everything
I’d
do.”

Tardos and Andreas rolled their eyes as they followed their laughing captain.  Tardos waved happily at Dante as they entered the cattle carrier and left for the spaceport.

“What am I going to do with you?” Cassandra asked as she kissed Brent.

“Is all this for real?” Sasha asked hopefully.

“If Brent says it, it’s real,” Dante said as he hesitantly took her hand.

She blushed lightly as she held his arm.

“You look a bit pale,” Cassandra said suddenly.  “You
did
take a gravity treatment before getting off the ship, right?”

“Was I supposed to?” Sasha asked innocently.

“Dante, pick her up,” Brent commanded.  “Keep her off her feet.  I’ve got an extra kit in the house.”

He did as commanded and they all entered the house.  Sasha clung tighter than was necessary.  As Brent approached the main staircase, he came to a halt.

“Professor Garza?” he asked in a stunned voice.

The others gazed up the stairs to find a professor from the university and a female student standing at the top.  They both had a dazed look and didn’t seem to hear him.  Abruptly, the sound of clapping filled the room.

“That was a charming little scene out there, little brother,” Connor said with a smirk as he entered from one of the lower rooms.  “I almost shed a tear when the strapping hero lifted the damsel in distress off her feet.”

Brent, Cassandra and Sasha were completely amazed by the fact they were staring at a second Dante.

“How did you get in here?” Dante demanded.

“That was simple.  After we tracked you all down, I infiltrated the university.  Got myself assigned to this charming house and managed to get a copy of most of the door locks and access codes.  Of course, I’m disappointed it’s only the four of you.  I had hoped all of you would have come back.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” a bony old man rasped as he entered from the opposing doorway.

“Enderson.”  Dante grated the word.

“You remember me!  How marvelous.”

“What are you doing in my house?” Cassandra shouted.

“They are here to kill us,” Brent said flatly.

“So you must be Brent,” Enderson said with glee.  “I’ve heard a great deal about you.  Kind of anticlimactic for such a war hero to die like this.  Oh well.  At least you’ll have more dignity than the girl.  Without the gravity treatment, her heart won’t be able to pump enough blood to keep her going.  And after running here, well, I give her five minutes at most.”

“Looks like your girlfriend isn’t too smart,” Connor said with a smirk.

Brent took a step toward them, only to have a knife instantly imbed itself in front of his foot.  Enderson had produced it and thrown it all in a single instant.

“Now that’s far enough,
Weaver
,” Enderson rasped the word with utter hatred.  “Take another step or use those abilities of yours, and my associate here will have the student and professor slit each other’s throats.”

Trembling, the two at the top of the stairs produced knives and held them against each other’s throat.

“I’ve given them both the strong impression that the other is a terrifying monster,” Conner said in self-gratulation.  “I’m keeping their fear in check so they don’t strike.  Take me out and the two will happily murder one another.”

“I suppose we’ll have to do this in reverse order,” Enderson muttered to himself.  “I had hoped to murder your friends and let you suffer.  Take everything from you, like you did to me.  However, I suppose knowing that we’ll be going after them once you’re through will have to do.”

“Sorry, little brother, looks like you lose this time.”  Connor licked his lips.  “Make sure you say hi to
Dad
for me when you see him.”

Dante balled a fist so tight that blood dripped between the knuckles.  Oddly enough, when the blood hit the ground, it made a metallic sound.  Connor and Enderson both stared at the small puddle of blood.  The dripping was creating a rhythmic, metallic sound.

“Heavy gravity worlds just aren’t right,” Connor muttered under his breath.

As the two returned to their gloating, Brent noticed the rhythmic jingle was becoming more frequent and was no longer matching the drops of blood.

“So which one do you want to go first?” Enderson asked Dante.  “The heavy gravity witch, or the mental mutant?”

“I’m going to pick you two to go first, if you don’t mind,” Dante said as he turned away from the pair.

Before either one could react to him, the rhythmic jingle stopped, and in between the two men was a small silver sphere.  On the top of the sphere was a single pie-shaped wedge of red light that quickly faded away.

“Not again,” Connor moaned as the orb exploded.

Connor was hurled backward against the stairs as the force rammed his head into the banister.  The Weaver gracelessly rolled down the stairs and landed in a pile.  Brent focused on the pair at the top of the stairs, stripping them of their fear.  Enderson had moved at the last second and had avoided most of the shockwave.  It had still caught him with enough force to toss him into the back of a large grandfather clock.  Brent ran past the moaning Weaver as he took off to fetch a gravity treatment.

“Looks like your friend abandoned you,” Enderson said between raspy coughs.  “So much for the war hero.”

“I think he just knew you were taken care of,” Cassandra said with a smug smile.

Enderson turned around to see a figure slowly entering from one of the adjoining living rooms.  He had a cane that made a metallic jingle as it tapped the floor.  A large black eye patch covered his right eye.  A deep red scar stretched from above the patch down to his cheek.

“Who are you?” Enderson asked with seething hatred.

“Vengence,” Mahoney said defiantly.

Enderson yelled as he pulled out a knife and charged Mahoney.  Dante tried to help, but, between carrying Sasha and the added weight of the heavy gravity, he was too slow.  The sound of a knife cleanly slicing into flesh filled the room.  Enderson and Mahoney remained perfectly still.  A small pool of blood slowly grew beneath them.  Finally, Enderson staggered away.  There was blood on Mahoney’s hands.  Enderson let out a bloody cough as he struggled to keep his balance.  Mahoney lifted a knife so Enderson could see it.