Reborn (The Cartographer Book 2) (24 page)

“Yeah, I can move,” he grunted. “Let's try not to go on a cross country hike though.”

They made their way out of the fire house. At first Kedge needed to lean against Gard for support but once they emerged from the bay he started to move under his own power. Captain Muriel led them back to the ship. They climbed the ramp and the Defense Fleet soldier met them at the entrance.

“Sir, several ships are approaching.”

“It's them,” Kedge warned.

“Get inside!” Embeth commanded.

Lianne looked to the horizon. It was too late. There were at least four ships hurtling toward them at top speed. She knew they would never get off the ground in time. “Gard get Kedge inside,” she ordered. She sprinted toward the gun deck which was nothing more than a dome at the top of the ship equipped with two pulse-arc plasma cannons.

“Lianne, what the hell are you doing?” Embeth shouted after her.

“Saving our asses,” she yelled back. Throwing open the hatch she hopped into the tilted chair and put on the targeting headset.

Two more Defense Fleet soldiers appeared. Embeth barked some orders before glaring up the ladder toward her. She slammed the hatch door shut. There was no time for argument. There was no time for escape. Their only option was to stand and fight.

“
Targeting system online
,” the computer said through the headset.

The closest ship fired at them. Their shots were well wide of their intended target. Lianne returned fire. Plasma exploded from the cannons in short bursts, but they just missed her target. The green targeting lens over her right eye flashed a red box over a black X. She had a lock on the target. Squeezing the trigger, she let another series of bursts fly. This time the shots found their mark. The front of the enemy ship exploded in a torrent of flame and crashed in the desert. Before she could savor her victory another ship appeared and fired. This one hit its mark. The explosion rocked her turret and threw her from the chair. The headset went flying and smashed against the side of the dome. Her chin cracked hard against the console and she tasted blood.

Screams came from below and she could only assume that someone got it worse than her. It wasn't until she propped herself up that she felt the heat coming from the hatch door. She smelled smoke. She tried to open the hatch door but the latch was melted by the enemy ship's blasts. She looked outside the dome and saw the ship double back for a second attack. Its cannons glowed like a pair of demonic eyes as it approached. She placed the palm of her hand on the glass. They couldn't have been more than three hundred yards away and closing.
A can't miss shot
. Smoke started to fill the turret and her eyes began to water. Through the blurriness she saw the ship approach. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. The explosion came but not from her ship. Confused she opened her eyes to see the remains of the enemy ship which was nothing more than a fiery corpse on the side of the road.

She kicked the glass surrounding the turret. It spiderwebbed but did not break. A second strong kick did the job. As she wiggled her way outside her arms and legs were cut by slivers of glass. She collapsed on the ship's wing where she laid smoking and coughing. She looked skyward to see one of the remaining ships being pursued by a newcomer to the battle. It was Talon.

“Vayne,” Lianne wheezed. The remaining ships were much smaller than Talon, no bigger than scout ships. They had no discernible markings which meant they could have been anyone. She moaned and rolled herself to the edge of the wing where she dropped the ten feet to the ground and landed on her feet with feline grace. Her Defense Fleet training allowed her to remain agile in spite of her injuries. She came face-to-face with Captain Muriel's sour face. He held a radio in his hand.

“
I can't do all the work for you
,” Vayne's voice boasted through the radio. “
You've sat around long enough
.”

“Cocky, isn't he?” Lianne said.

Muriel nodded. “While Vayne is taking out the trash here, Embeth is busy assessing the damage to the ship. From what we could tell so far the gun turret, positional guidance and one landing gear is lost.”

Lianne looked to the sky. The rips in the atmosphere were growing, forming darkened veins within the otherwise blue sky. Time was running short on Earth. If the Ark was indeed coming, it better hurry.

Embeth extinguished the last of the fire and climbed down the ramp, muttering curses under his breath. “We lost most of the crew. Shep and Brocke are the only crew left and they will be tied up making repairs for days. Barlow is a good soldier but he doesn't know a flux wrench from a plasma cutter.”

Talon landed nearby. Vayne exited the ship, looking quite flustered. “Ran into a bit of trouble?” Despite the quip the cocky swagger usually accompanying him was gone. “They got Nathan. I tried to catch up to them but some of their ships hung back long enough to keep me distracted which allowed their flagship to escape.” He examined the ship he shot down. “These aren't Scarlet Moon vessels.”

“They look like scout ships,” Lianne admitted. “They are too small to fly long distances.”

“Which means the mothership is around,” Embeth added. “It seems the Ascended have made new friends.”

“Which does not bode well for us,” she added dryly.

A dry smile flickered across Embeth's face. “We should get out of here before more come.”

Vayne stood with his hands on his hips, inspecting the ship. “You aren't going anywhere in that thing.”

Lianne followed his gaze. “We need every ship we have.” She ran her fingers through her golden braids. “We need to repair it.”

Vayne nodded and barked some orders into his communicator. Three of his crewmembers—the mini-Vaynes, as Nathan had so affectionately called them—exited Talon and approached.

“See what you can do about returning the ship to functionality,” Vayne ordered. They nodded and entered the ship. It wasn't long after that the clanging of hammers and turning of wrenches echoed throughout the halls. “She'll be flyable at least,” he offered.

Lianne winced when she heard something large and metallic crash to the floor. One of the mini-Vaynes cursed loudly. She exchanged uneasy glances with Embeth.

“Hopefully,” Vayne sighed.

The Game

Deena returned to the room pushing a cart. On it sat a small machine filled with dials next to a digital interface. Beside the interface was a small screen with one single unmoving horizontal line across. She parked the contraption next to me.

As if sensing my unease her face softened. “Don't worry this is just a heart and blood pressure monitor.”

Shai injected me with the needle long before she entered the room. When I asked what I had been injected with, he simply laughed. Now he was watching me with a cold, empty look.
It was the face of the devil
.

I flinched when she slipped the cuff around my arm. “Sorry, hun,” she apologized. “I didn't mean to startle you. This will monitor your blood pressure.” She placed a plastic clip around my right index finger. The machine started beeping. She studied it and her mouth tightened. “His heart rate is currently 84 BPM which is a little high.” When Shai didn't respond, she turned and eyed him impatiently.

He waved his hand dismissively. “It's nothing to be concerned with.”

She turned and I recognized the concern on her face but was too calm to care. Whatever Shai injected me with created a euphoric state of mind. At that moment I had no worries. I smiled when she placed her hand on my forearm.

“Leave us,” Shai ordered. He stood and Deena shuffled out of the room. He looked down through his pale gray eyes. In the dimly lit room they contrasted with his ebony skin. I wasn't sure if it was the drugs but it looked as if they were two ghostly globes flittering over me.

“What do you want?” I slurred. The drugs were making it difficult to control my mouth. The words came out “Wut d'ooo 'ant?”

Shai frowned. “It's a long ride back to Gorganna. Frankly, between you and me Noz is poor company. I decided to start a game to entertain me for the duration.”

“Game?” I croaked. My throat was as dry as a desert riverbed. It was as if I swallowed a bucketful of sandpaper.
A side effect of the drug
.

He grabbed a scalpel off the tray. He placed the tip of the blade near my eye. In my relaxed state I didn't flinch. “The drug I injected you with is a muscle relaxer mixed with a pain inhibitor.” He slid the tip of the scalpel down. The cold steel felt like a metal tear running along my cheek. “The game is this: I will ask you several questions regarding the Consortium as well as your Insurgent pals and you answer them truthfully. If you manage to answer them all correctly you win.”

“And if I don't,” I rasped, trying to summon any amount of saliva I could find within the desert of my mouth.

“Well.” He paused and slid the scalpel up my cheek only stopping once it reached the corner of my eye. He leaned over, his face inches from my own. “Then I win,” he whispered.

“I don't think Corvus would like that very much.” It was a weak argument but the only one I had at the moment.

He chuckled and glanced at the blood pressure machine. “Wow, your heart rate is high.” He turned to me and laughed. “Deena was right. You need to calm down, buddy.” He stood up and placed the scalpel down on the tray. “As for Corvus, he didn't say anything about delivering you in one piece.”

Under normal circumstances his implied threat would have caused concern. Under the effect of the mind numbing drugs, however, I started to giggle. Shai's confused expression only served to make me laugh harder.

“What the hell's so funny?”

Biting back the laughter I responded, “I'm going to kill you,” before the laughter overwhelmed me again.

His confused expression faded and his smile returned. “Good luck with that,” he mocked. “In the meantime while you are busy planning your brave assault, I will ask my first question.”

“What do I win if I answer all the questions correctly,” I asked.

Shai hesitated, as if it were an unexpected question. He rubbed his chin with the scalpel. Eventually he pointed the tool at me. “If you win then I will release you, how's that sound?”

“I'm sure that will go over well with Corvus.” My statement dripped with sarcasm.

“If you provide all of the correct information, then Corvus won't need you,” he admitted, recognizing my suspicion. “At that point you will just be in the way.”

His answer could have been the truth. Then again, it could have been a lie. Or it could have just been the drugs messing with my mind. “What happens if you win?”

His lips twisted into a cruel smile. While he leered at me I no longer had the urge to know the answer.

“If I win, I get the chance to inflict pain upon you,” he purred. Before I could ask him why, he turned on the cerebral inhibitor. I collapsed on the gurney and once again found myself paralyzed. My legs hung uselessly over the sides. Shai gently straightened me out.

“Why?” I whimpered.

He shrugged. “I suppose the simple answer is 'because I hate you'.” He brushed his silvery hair from his eyes and tugged on one of his quarter-sized hoop earrings. “But I feel it's much more complicated than that. The Consortium destroyed everything I loved. I had a wife, a daughter and a thriving business. The Scarlet Moon Trade Organization was a thriving trade cartel which dominated our galaxy: We owned patents, created medical breakthroughs and marketed the most advanced weapons systems.” Shai looked past me and his pale eyes sparkled with remembrance. “I ran it all and made the people of Drith rich. Until the Consortium came, that is.” He curled his lip in anger and held his balled fists tightly to his sides. “They opened new trade routes and introduced even better technology. Gliese, Vexall and Gorganna, our biggest trade partners, engorged themselves with their new technology. They became addicted to it like an addict towards a new drug. As fast as I built our empire, the Consortium tore it down.” He turned his hate-filled eyes toward me. “Eventually they reduced the Scarlet Moon to nothing more than vultures, scavenging whatever we could locate to survive. A lot of the Drith-Nar joined the Consortium, but those who didn't remained with us as outcasts.”

“What does that have to do with me? I wasn't even there,” I croaked. My throat was once again descending into desert-like status, an apparent side effect of having my brain inhibited.

“You're one of them,” he growled.

I tried to shake my head but the effort was futile. I had to resort to shutting my eyes in frustration. “Not anymore. You realize I am being hunted by them, right?”

He chuckled. “Calypso was right. You are naïve.” He shook his head and retrieved a small drill from the tray. “The Insurgents had been born from a reaction to an action the High Prince took. They still believe in the same basic principles of the Consortium. Their goal is to remove Meta at all costs, but what happen if they succeed?”

The question lingered, unanswered. I considered his question and realized he had a valid point. Our goal was to defeat Meta, but the ideals of the Consortium still hold true in our hearts. I never had a chance to speak with Satou or Embeth but I was sure once Meta was defeated that a new Consortium would rise.