The Last Flight of the Argus (52 page)

“
She was using this computer to download the plans of the
Charybdis
device.”

“
Everyone...everyone was in this for themselves. All but one.”

“
One?”

“
Yeah, B’taav. You...you remember him?”

“
Vaguely. The blond haired man with the dark eyes? The one who took the gun from my hand when you were—”

“
Yeah. We...we picked him up on
Titus
. He saved my life, but...but it doesn’t matter anymore. They’re all dead. All—”

The communicator suddenly came to life, and the two heard Inquisitor Cer's voice.

“
B’taav, do you hear me?”

Inquisitor
Cer listened for any response. After a few seconds, she thought she heard some words amidst the static.

“—
tor Cer?”

Inquisitor Cer increased the volume to maximum. Painfully loud pops and hisses filled her ears.

“
I hear you, B’taav. I’m at the
Xendos
. Stephen Gray is inside. He locked the decompression doors and I cannot enter the craft. Do you read?”

There was more static.

“
B’taav, do you hear me?”

Nathaniel
was at the room's window, looking outside.

“
Someone’s out there.”

Maddox leaned forward until he too could see out the window. A person stood on the landing deck beside the
Xendos
.

“
Could it be Inquisitor Cer?” Nathaniel asked.

“
It's possible,” Maddox said. For a second he saw a face through the glass at the front of the person’s environmental suit helmet. “It...it looks like her. Raise the volume. Let's hear what she—”

“—
go help you?” Inquisitor Cer voice echoed throughout the room. “B’taav, do you need help? Should I go help you?”

She received no reply.

B’taav
was near death and he knew it.

As the Independent did to the Merc, Balthazar cut his oxygen supply until he could barely breathe. The Merc then threw B'taav around as if he were a useless rag. He slammed B’taav’s body against the uneven hull surface or any jutting pieces of metal with incredible force, only to pick him up and start the process all over again.

B’taav felt his ribs fracture. His mouth filled with blood.

The Independent was near death and he knew it.

But he wasn’t dead yet.

Inquisitor Cer’s voice came to him as if from a different reality. The Independent focused hard on her voice, but even as he did, Balthazar grabbed him by the waist and spun him around. When he was done, he thrust his bloated face at the Independent.

Despite his rage, the Merc wanted B’taav’s death to be slow and painful.

Balthazar shouted at B’taav and laughed and shouted some more. When the Merc’s rant was over, he again flung him.

B’taav’s limp figure flew many meters before touching ground and sliding into a wall. The Independent came to rest facing Balthazar, now a small figure in the distance. The Merc was laughing and drinking in every bit of the sadistic pleasure gained from beating another man to death.

B’taav turned away, to look at the trail his body made through the asteroid dust. The dust was brushed away, revealing glass paneling below.

“
Tinsel glass,” B’taav muttered. The Independent reached forward and wiped more dust away. The tinsel glass was at least three meters thick. By shining his light on it, the Independent could just make out a series of frozen stalks and withered leaves.

The hydroponics level
, B’taav realized. He was on top of it.

Despite his pain, the Independent forced himself to his feet.

“
Inquisitor Cer,” B’taav said. “You’ve...you’ve got to order the central computer to...to jettison the hydroponics paneling.”

Inquisitor
Cer could barely hear, much less understand, B’taav’s words.

“
You want me to get to the central computer and do what?”

“—
etison the hydroponi— paneling.”

Inquisitor Cer considered B’taav’s request. It was a very long walk back to the
Argus'
central computer. Would B’taav still be alive when she got there? Were there any other alternatives?

As if to answer her question, B’taav’s said, “It’s—only way.”

Maddox
listened in on the conversation and shook his head.

“
That sounded like B’taav,” he said. “But...but they said he was dead.”

“
I’ll go,” Inquisitor Cer said over the speaker. “Hang on, B’taav. I’ll get there!”

“
I don’t understand,” Maddox said. “They sent Inquisitor Cer out to kill B’taav. Why...why are they talking to each other?”

“
They’re working together,” Nathaniel said.

“
How is that possible?”

The boy shrugged.

“
Why don’t you ask her?”

Inquisitor
Cer took two leaps toward the exit of the
Argus'
landing bay when her communicator came alive.

“
This is Maddox on the
Xendos
, calling Inquisitor Cer and B’taav. Do you...do you read me?”

Inquisitor Cer abruptly stopped.

“
Maddox? What is your status in there?” she asked.

“
I’m...I’m in control,” Maddox said. “Stephen Gray and Francis Lane are dead.”

“
And Saro Triste?”

“
Unknown. But I don't think he's here anymore. What about B’taav?”

“
We disarmed Balthazar but Stephen Gray found him and sent him after us. B’taav and I split up. He took on the Merc so that I could get to the
Xendos
.”

“
For what purpose?” came a child’s voice.

“
Who's that?” Cer asked. “Nathaniel!?”

“
Never...never mind that. What is your purpose?”

“
The same as B’taav’s. We intend to destroy the
Argus
.”

Sweat
dripped down Maddox's face.

“
How...how do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“
There isn't the time, or a way, for me to convince you. So if you can do it, set off the
Argus'
self-destruct mechanism and try your best to get the
Xendos
out of here. Because if you can't, I will.”

Inquisitor Cer resumed her run. She managed three more steps.

“
Wait!” Maddox said.

Inquisitor Cer stopped. Behind her, the decompression doors of the
Xendos
slid open.

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

B’taav
felt Balthazar’s vice like grip on his side. The Merc's hands sent sharp waves of pain throughout the Independent’s body.

For a second B’taav blacked out.

The tranquility within the darkness was a welcome release, but a fresh wave of pain tore through it like a supernova. B’taav again stared into the crazed eyes of Balthazar.

By now his perverse joy was dulled. He was like a cat grown tired of its half-dead mouse. B’taav could no longer run and he could no longer fight. There was little fun in continuing this game.

The Merc’s eyes drifted to the exterior of the
Argus
. For a moment he seemed confused, as if realizing for the first time that Inquisitor Cer was not around. B’taav took advantage of his distraction and, with his little remaining strength, kicked the Merc in the stomach and twisted out of his grip.

B’taav fell backwards, eventually hitting the ground while Balthazar went airborne. His hands flayed at his side and the hints of boredom in his face were replaced with rage. He yelled and flung his arms around wildly. He was unable to control his flight.

B’taav got to his feet and stumbled away. He took only a few steps before Balthazar landed. The Merc readjusted the magnetism on his boots and slowly walked after B’taav.

There was no need to rush, for B’taav’s pace was slow. The Independent could not get away from Balthazar. Indeed, his energy quickly dissolved and B'taav crumbled to his knees.

Balthazar was at his side. He picked B’taav up and pulled him close. The sadistic fire was back in the Merc’s eyes. He turned B’taav around and fiddled with his life support controls. The heat in the Independent’s suit was replaced with an unbearable cold.

The Merc gave B’taav one last smile before hurling him away.

B’taav’s body fell into a pile of thin metal cables. Like a fly in a spider’s web, B’taav was tangled up and could not move. In the distance he saw Balthazar pick something from the ground. It was a long metal rod with a jagged spike at its end. The Merc eyed the fearsome weapon and nodded.

This would do.

Balthazar's dance with the Independent was over.

In desperation, B’taav looked around for something, anything that he could use to fight off the Merc. His eyes followed a cable that wound around his right arm and down into the asteroid dust. The floor under him, B’taav realized, was solid metal. He was no longer on the tinsel glass that made up the hydroponics roof. He continued his desperate search for a weapon of any kind, but instead of finding one he spotted what looked like the hand of a life sized statue half-buried under the cable and asteroid dust.

B’taav blinked. Though he was keenly aware of the approaching Merc, he couldn’t help but wonder what a statue was doing outside the
Argus
.

The statue's hand was missing several fingers. Despite this, it was remarkably life-like. Remarkably…

With a start, B’taav realized he was not looking at a statue. The hand was human. B’taav followed it through the tangled cables. He made out the form of a man buried beneath the web. He had probably died of exposure, for he did not wear an environmental suit. Instead, he wore a Royal Epsillon fleet blue uniform.

B’taav slid to his right and pulled at the cables. The man’s upper body was revealed and his features, even after all these years, remained untouched. The man had a lean face and black hair and his eyes were closed. His mouth was open, frozen in the middle of his last, painful death rattle.

B’taav couldn’t know for sure who this man was, but his uniform and the gold insignia on his chest identified him as a Captain in the Royal Epsillon Fleet.

The only Captain aboard the
Argus
when she entered the Erebus Solar System was Nathaniel Torin.

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

Inside
the
Xendos’
decompression chamber, Inquisitor Cer stepped out of her environmental suit and ran up the stairs and to Francis Lane’s room, pausing only for a moment when confronted by the bloody corpses of Stephen Gray and Francis Lane.

She found Maddox sitting in Francis Lane’s bed and Nathaniel working on a small, very sophisticated computer.

“
What is this?” Cer asked. She was surprised to see the boy so nimbly operating such a piece of high tech.

“
You no longer have anything to fear from me, Inquisitor,” the boy assured her.

“
He’s more than he seems,” Maddox added. His stump was re-wrapped and there was life in his tired features. “We can talk about that later, after we rescue B’taav.”

Inquisitor Cer sat beside the boy.

“
B’taav wanted the tinsel glass shielding over the hydroponics level ejected. Can this be done from here?”

“
Why does he want to do this?”

“
I have no idea. But with the atmosphere trapped in the level, ejection will create one hell of a blast. Can it be done?”

Nathaniel pressed a series of codes into Francis Lane’s computer. In a matter of seconds his work was done.

“
Tell me when.”

“
Stand by,” Cer said. She pushed her communicator button. “B’taav? Do you still want me to eject the tinsel glass?”

B’taav
tore his eyes from the lifeless form of Captain Nathaniel Torin and back to Balthazar. The Merc stood only a few feet away and was approaching fast.

“
Yes,” B’taav whispered. “
Now.
”

After he spoke, the Independent's head settled back while his eyes remained on the Merc. The man drew closer, and closer, and nothing happened.

Nothing at all.

“
Now,” B'taav repeated.

Still the Merc approached. Closer...

Inquisitor Cer failed, B’taav realized. She had—