Ep.#4 - "Freedom's Dawn" (The Frontiers Saga) (19 page)

“Ah, may we look?” Captain de Winter said in his mock accent.

“Of course,” Doctor Chen said, turning to lead the way.

The group of visitors moved toward Cameron’s bed, including the two crewmen Vladimir had tasked with escorting the Corinairans while on board. At that moment, Andre, who was still squatting on the floor in front of the guard digging in his medical bag, swept his free arm at the moving guards legs, knocking him off his feet. The crewman fell backwards, landing flat on his back. Andre lunged backwards toward the fallen crewman, landing his elbow into the crewman’s throat crushing his larynx.

The other crewman fell just as quickly at the other anti-insurgency agent’s hand, which held a small, razor sharp knife that he swept across the man’s throat. The crewman, stunned, reached for his gaping wound, gurgling as he fell to the floor only to die a minute later from massive blood loss.

There were screams, not only from other crew working in the medical treatment room, but also from Doctor Galloway, Nurse Brymer, and Cassandra. The rest of the noblemen quickly dropped their gear and moved into position to help take control of the room.

Doctor Chen also spun around at the sounds of the attack. Her first instinct was to try and run for the alarm button on the wall at the other end of the room. Before she could take a step, she felt a sudden stinging pain in the back of her head as her hair was pulled hard from behind. She found herself falling backward against the man she thought was the Corinairan Doctor Pantor, who had a firm grasp on her hair.

“Going somewhere?” the captain said.

One of the crew working in the far end of the treatment room tried to get to the same alarm button that Doctor Chen had been going for, but as she reached out to slap the red button, a tight energy beam caught her in the shoulder, spinning her around as she fell to the floor, her shoulder still smoldering.

Captain de Winter turned around and saw Andre kneeling next to the crewman who was still coughing and struggling to breathe through his crushed windpipe. Andre was holding a miniature energy pistol that had been concealed in the medical bag he had been rummaging through.

“Nice shot, Sergeant,” Captain de Winter told him.

Without looking, Andre moved his small weapon to his left hand and placed it against the temple of the suffocating crewman and pulled the trigger. The beam burned a hole right through his head, boiling blood and brains draining out of the hole on the other side, killing the crewman instantly and putting him out of his misery.

“Oh,” the captain winced, “brutal.”

“NOBODY MOVES!” one of the noblemen bellowed as he pulled a larger energy handgun from under the gurney mattress. One by one he retrieved weapons and distributed them to the rest of their assault team.

“What, no gun for me?” Captain de Winter asked.

Andre tossed him the miniature energy pistol he had used to kill the crewman.

“Oh gee, thanks. I feel much safer with this.”

“It worked on him,” Andre said, nodding toward the dead crewman with the hole burnt through his head.

“Good point.”

Andre and the other two agents began to move the rest of the Aurora’s medical staff into the middle of the room along with the two real members of the Corinairan medical team and Cassandra. Andre immediately began checking adjacent rooms for anyone that might be hiding but found no one.

“All clear,” Andre reported when he returned.

“Very well,” Captain de Winter said. He looked to Doctor Chen, whose hair he still a firm grasp on with his right hand. “Now, my dear Doctor Chen. If you would be so kind as to direct me to your bridge.”

“The what?” she said, struggling to keep her balance as he continued to pull on her hair.

“The room where the captain sits and tells everyone what to do, where they steer the ship.”

“Sorry,” Doctor Chen said, “I couldn’t tell you. As you can see, they keep me pretty busy in here.”

“Oh, the brave little Earther, huh?”

“That’s Earthling,” she correct through clenched teeth.

The captain spun her around, pulling her directly up against him, looking down into her face with anger. “Don’t play with me, young lady,” he threatened as he placed his weapon against her temple. “Or I’ll ventilate your cranium just like your friend over there.”

Doctor Chen glanced over at the dead crewman, his head still smoldering as the blood and cerebral matter oozed from the open hole, but still she said nothing. She only looked the captain directly in the eyes without blinking, determined to show no fear.

Captain de Winter saw a surprising strength in her eyes. “Impressive. You’re quite strong for such a tiny thing.” A moment later he tossed her aside. Off balance, she fell to the floor.

The captain aimed his weapon at Cameron as she lie unconscious in her bed, being kept alive with machines. “Is this the young lady that we’ve come to save?” he asked. He moved closer as if to get a better shot. “No, that won’t work, will it? She couldn’t tell me even if she wanted to.” He stopped and turned toward the sergeant. “Sergeant, maybe you can be more persuasive than I.”

“Gladly,” the sergeant said as he stepped over and grabbed hold of Doctor Chen’s hair again and pulled her to her feet. In one smooth motion, he turned her around so her back was against him, his left arm around her neck forcing her head to bend over to her left. He pulled out his weapon, and with one hand set it to its lowest setting; a slow discharge meant to drain the battery pack on the weapon of all energy before storing it. He then held the butt of the weapon’s hand grip against her neck so that the bare metal energy transfer nodes were in contact with the doctor’s skin. Then, without hesitation, he flipped the discharge switch on the weapon, sending the energy charge into her neck.

Doctor Chen screamed in pain, her body convulsing wildly as the energy of the weapon shot into her body. She felt a burning sensation at the point of contact, and her entire body felt like a million tiny needles were driving deep into her skin.

“Stop it!” Cassandra cried out, unable to bear the sight of the Doctor being tortured.

Andre stopped the torture for a moment.

“You’re killing her!” Cassandra cried.

Doctor Chen reached out to her. “No, Cassie—”

Andre again flipped the switch. Her neck glowed red around where the butt of his weapon made contact with her skin as it discharged its energy into her body. She screamed out in pain once more, begging for him to stop as her body shook and twitched.

“Please, stop it!” Cassandra cried out again. “I’ll tell you what you want to know!” She began to sob. “Please, just don’t hurt her anymore.”

Captain de Winter stepped over to Cassandra, who was now holding her hands over her face as she wept. “Answer all my questions, and I promise you no one else in this room will be harmed.”

“Straight down the corridor,” Cassandra said between sobs, “until you get to the big ramp.” She wiped her face. “Then up one deck. It’s clearly marked.”

“Excellent.”

“No,” Doctor Chen whimpered. Andre struck her hard in the face with the butt of his gun, breaking her nose and knocking her unconscious. Cassandra screamed again.

Captain de Winter now knew that Cassandra was easy enough to manipulate. “Now, Cassandra, I have another question for you.”

“I’ve told you what you wanted to know,” she said, a touch of defiance sneaking into her voice.

“Dear girl, don’t make the good sergeant torture another of your friends.”

Cassandra looked at him, anger burning in her eyes. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me why it is that I see so few people aboard this ship.”

“There are only about thirty of us left. And everyone is busy with emergency repairs.”

“Excellent answer.” Captain de Winter smiled broadly, as his assumptions were proving to be correct. “Sergeant, we'll leave one man here to guard these prisoners so they cannot alert anyone in our absence.”

“We could just kill them all,” Andre suggested. “It would be easier.”

“But then who would patch us up if
we
get injured?” the captain pointed out. “This party is just getting started.”

“
Team Two, Team One. You are go. Repeat, you are go. Resistance is low, suggest speed over stealth.
”

The anti-insurgency agent standing by on the medevac shuttle touched the comm link around his neck to answer. “Copy Team One, Team Two is moving now. Speed over stealth.” He turned to the others. “You heard him. We move fast and take out everyone along the way. Let’s move out.”

The leader turned to the other agent that was staying behind with the rest of the Yamaro’s command staff. “As soon as we leave, wait five minutes, then drop an active jammer out into the bay and wait for our signal.”

“If we’re jamming comms, how will we get a signal?” the agent asked.

“When those transfer bay doors open, that’s your signal.”

The last agent nodded his understanding as the leader turned and exited the shuttle.

One other agent, along with three of the Yamaro’s command staff, charged down out of the medevac shuttle and ran across the hangar deck. They came to a stop against the side exit where the original escorts had entered the bay. The lead agent peeked around the corner and then disappeared through the hatchway, the other following close behind.

As they charged down the hallway, two crewmen came around the corner carrying loops of signal cable.

“What the—” It was all the first crewman had time to say before an energy bolt struck him in the chest, knocking him backwards. A split second later, the second crewman fell to another blast as the assault team ran past him on their way aft.

“Hold up,” the leader called out as he stopped. The other agent dropped to one knee, his weapon aimed ahead down the corridor as he watched for intruders. The members of the Yamaro’s command staff, seeing the logical stance the agent had taken, mimicked his position. One of them was even smart enough to aim behind them.

The leader examined the deck layout map on the wall. “We follow this corridor all the way around. At the end there is a ramp that takes us down one deck. Then, at the intersection we turn left and continue aft to engineering. Got it. Let’s go.”

* * *

“There’s one other thing you should remember,” Ensign Willard said as he removed his uniform jacket. “We were due to arrive in the Savoy system in approximately four weeks. By the fifth week, the military office in Savoy will report us overdue. That would also trigger action by command.”

“But it wouldn’t necessarily point to the Darvano system,” Enrique argued.

“True, but they would search all systems along the Yamaro’s logical route, including Darvano. One scan of the surface of Corinair, which they could accomplish from great range, would alert them to the fact that a Takaran ship had attacked the planet.”

“And the jig would be up,” Enrique added.

“Jig?”

Enrique waved him off, making a note to himself not to use Earth based terms and phrases during interrogation of non-Earth humans in the future. “There’s still one thing I don’t understand. Why bombard Corinair? We weren’t even there.”

“I believe Captain de Winter did so as a ploy… a way to get your captain to engage the Yamaro in battle. The captain suspected that your ship was equipped with a superluminal propulsion system that made even our high-speed comm-drones appear pale in comparison. After your Captain refused de Winter’s offer to join forces, it was the only way he could keep you from simply vanishing.”

Enrique was surprised, as he hadn’t realized that the captain of the Yamaro had contacted Captain Scott directly prior to their battle.

“This act of aggression against the people of Corinair, although possibly warranted according to their original terms of surrender, was also a serious violation of protocol.”

“How so?”

“An attack against an entire world, especially one that has not taken an aggressive posture, must be approved by Caius himself.”

“He went against his own king? What the hell was he thinking?” Enrique said.

“He was sure that he would capture the Aurora and her technology. That would have not only gotten his inappropriate actions excused, it would have undoubtedly regained the honor of his entire family and possibly even earned him a spot in the Admiralty.”

“All or nothing, huh?”

“Yes. His previous failures had made him desperate. He would have stopped at nothing in order to achieve his goals. As with most nobles, his concept of right and wrong is measured by what is best for himself, above all else.”

“Well, at least he’s past history now,” Enrique commented.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s on his way to a Corinairan prison, if not an execution.”

Ensign Willard’s eyes widened. “He is not in your custody?”

“No, we handed him and his command staff over to the Corinairans just a couple of hours ago.”

“Then it is not over,” Ensign Willard insisted, becoming quite agitated.

Loki stopped eating, startled by Ensign Willard’s sudden change in demeanor, as was Sergeant Weatherly.

“What are you talking about?” Enrique asked.

“You do not understand. There are operatives of the Ta’Akar everywhere, especially on Corinair.”

“Relax,” Enrique told him. “I saw about twenty armed guards take them away. Trust me; he’s done for.”

“No! You will see! They will free him and he will come for you! He will come for us all! He must be stopped!”

“Calm down!” Enrique insisted. He looked at Sergeant Weatherly, who immediately rose from his seat by Loki at the next table and moved closer to them.

“Oh God,” Willard exclaimed, “I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.”

“Listen, I’ll call the ship. I’ll have them call down to Corinair. We’ll have them double the guards, triple them even.”

“He must be killed! Don’t you get it?”

“Relax! I’m calling right now,” he promised as he tapped his head set. “Aurora, this is Mendez.” He waited a few seconds for an answer. “Aurora, Mendez. Do you copy?” Again he got no response, only static. “Aurora, come in.” He looked at Willard, whose expression grew even more despondent. “We’re probably just too deep in the ship for these to work properly,” he told him. “Marcus, you and Loki head back to the shuttle and try to raise the Aurora.”