Gamma Nine (Book One) (12 page)

Xander reached
down to just below his most vital area, wiping a bullet ricochet
mark away from his armoured groin. “Shit kid, almost took away
something important, Pyoter would have had a field day with
it.”

“How are you so
strong?” Christian asked, breathless from the wrestling match.

“No time to
gossip. Better get going, before they find you.”

Christian
nodded, gripping his rifle tighter; he took off in a random
direction, hoping to have a few moments to recover before another
predator pounced.

Her tears could
not be stopped, flowing down her cheeks, dripping into her hands,
hands that felt cold and meaningless now. She sat on her bed in her
lavish apartment, an apartment given to her because of her work
with the Titan Project. Others were dying out there in the galaxy
and she received everything on a silver platter. She hated this
place more and more every day, and now that very project had taken
the most important thing away from her.

She thought
about how lucky she had been, she could have searched the cosmos
for aeons before finding someone like him, but she had found him so
early in her life, lucky was an understatement. Now he was ripped
from her life, for the sake of everyone’s safety. She felt ashamed
at being so selfish, he had a job to do and she had helped him to
prepare for it. That made her feel even worse, by doing her job to
the best of her abilities she had helped him leave. Shit, she
thought.

More tears
welled up in her beautiful brown eyes, her battle to hold them back
beyond lost now.

Her sky-blue
hair cascaded down the sides of her face, noticing how dirty it
was. She had isolated herself from everyone and everything since he
left; neglecting the little things, the potted plant in the corner
of her apartment needed water, her pet needed food, and she needed
him.

She told
herself that he would be ok, and she will see him again,
hopefully.

Jessica Saxe
wiped the tears from her cheeks with her cold hands, finally
scraping together enough courage to do something. She needed to
keep busy, sitting in her apartment alone and pathetic helped
no-one. Immersing herself in her work would help pass the time, how
much time she did not know, but at least it was something.

With a deep
breath she stood and started to pull the dirty, smelly clothes from
her body, showering would help revitalize her. But before she could
move to get in her glass shower the radio on her desk started
beeping, the words incoming transmission scrolling across its
receiver.

A sigh escaped
her lips, she grabbed the closest piece of semi-clean clothing
littered throughout her apartment’s floor, and sat down in front of
the radio on her desk.

Jessica
hesitated before pressing the receiver button, closing her eyes and
focusing on keeping her voice from showing signs of the pain she
felt.

The button
clicked and the person on the other side spoke without a
greeting.

“Doctor Saxe,
we need you in Gamma Facility now, there has been a development,”
the voice said with great urgency.

“I am on my
way.” Jessica replied. Looks like the shower would have to wait.
People would just have to deal with the smell, not that anyone
smelled like flowers these days, more like shit and roses. “Have
you seen my sister today? She hasn’t been home in days.”

“No. We haven’t
seen her either. See you soon Doctor.”

“Thank you,
Ben.” The radio went dead, her hand still lingering on the receiver
button.

She bit the
nail of her thumb, wondering where the little runt could be.
Jessica Saxe grabbed her favourite leather jacket draped over her
desk chair, making her way to her front door. She paused before
leaving, for just a moment, gathering up an already depleted
reservoir of courage, looking at the apartment over her shoulder as
she walked out and closed the door behind her.

The idea never
crossed her mind that it would be the last time she ever saw her
hated living quarters.

“Alright my
pretty,” Gray said to himself. His eyes scanning the rest of the
bridge, the crew were busying themselves with final
preparations.

“Are you
talking to me sir? Or are you talking to your ship again?” Remy
asked over the noise of the bridge, still standing next to the
Captain’s command chair, never leaving his side unless ordered to
do so.

“A little bit
of both, you know how I feel about the both of you.”

A slight hint
of blush flushed over Remy’s cheeks. She said nothing. She could
not say anything with so many of the crew within earshot. All she
could do was blush and smile.

“All power to
main engines Remy, ready the BEAM.” Gray sat upright, raising his
voice over the hustle and bustle of the bridge. “All crew, sound
off!”

The crew of the
Hyperion, on the bridge and elsewhere, all stiffened the moment
they heard Gray’s voice, his voice booming over the inter-radio to
all ship sections.

“Navigation
ready,” an officer on the bridge called out.

“Communications
ready sir,” another officer confirmed.

“Engineering
reports green across the board Captain,” Remy said at his
shoulder.

“Flight systems
ready, automatic control enabled.” A voice from the inter-radio
confirmed from elsewhere on the Hyperion.

“Titans are
always ready Willis,” Locke’s voice was low, but it still had that
rebellious tone to it.

Gray liked the
man more and more every day.

“Scanners
report our wake is clear of any debris or craft.” Remy punched a
button sequence on the keypad beside the command throne. The
decking behind her split open, a chair with thick leather straps
appeared from the newly opened gap, locking in to place just
slightly behind the Captain’s command chair.

The straps were
not always there, added to her chair and all other seats on the
Hyperion, after Remy’s predecessor was thrown from his chair during
a turbulent BEAM initiation many years ago. Gray would not risk
Remy’s life like that, he always made sure she was strapped in and
safe before the BEAM drive initialized. He could still remember the
crack the man’s body made when it hit the metal wall behind the
command throne. It had sounded like thunder popping every bone in
the man’s body. A sickening feeling spread through Gray’s gut,
turning his head to watch Remy strap herself into her chair, making
sure she is secure before giving the next order.

Crew members
afraid of the same outcome strapped themselves to whatever passed
as a secure seat on the Hyperion. The BEAM drive’s initial burst of
speed would be either smooth or turbulent, if it was the latter
then those that were not strapped down would be flirting with
death, but the crew knew the risks, and some jobs needed to be done
while the BEAM drive fired.

Gray waited for
Remy to look up from her hands working the leather straps around
her tiny frame. She finished and looked directly at Gray, taking a
deep breath. “Ready my dear?” he asked her.

She nodded
before bracing her arms and head against the chair.

“Good.” Gray
punched a code only he knew into the keypad on the armrest of his
command chair. Above the keypad a square red button lit up. He
hesitated for a moment, checking over the rest of the bridge before
pressing the button.

“Punch it
Willis.” Locke sounded excited, urging Gray on.

Gray closed his
eyes and pressed the button, the light from the BEAM drive always
hurt his eyes.

A white light,
brighter than the closest sun, grew from the centre of the
Hyperion, slowly spreading, consuming the vessel until it was
totally encompassed by the light. Silence filled the ship, the
cruiser hung in the orbit around New Horizon for only a few more
moments before it rocketed forward at a blinding speed.

The Hyperion
vanished, its BEAM drive hurling it at its destination, when in
motion the vessel was unable to stop, and once it was set on its
course the only way of stopping it would be to perform an emergency
drive shut down. No emergency shut downs were ever successful, all
ships that tried to break out of the drive’s course were utterly
destroyed, broken apart by the forces outside of the protective
light-bubble the BEAM drive provided. It was known as a one way
ticket, in more ways than one.

The inhabitants
of New Horizon saw the vessel leave its orbit, for only a few
moments a new sun was born above the skies of the planet. It
vanished seconds later without ceremony or sound.

The metal floor
of the fighting pit shuddered slightly beneath Christian’s armoured
feet. He remembered the BEAM initialization being much worse on his
body when he was still a regular soldier. The Titan suit had
nullified the entire experience. It was a magnificent piece of
equipment, understanding the reason more and more why his
squad-mates rarely removed their suits.

His
concentration had slipped, something he was prone to do when his
mind wandered at random times. In a pit full of Wolves, it was not
the best thing he could have done.

There had been
no time to do anything since he arrived on the Hyperion. He had
only those few minutes back in his quarters, and he doubted he will
see any free time soon, already heading for his first mission.

I should have
replied to her when I had the chance, he thought. But that would
have to wait until the mission was completed.

The slip in his
concentration gave the next Wolf the time to sneak up on him.
Christian had stopped and put his back to the closest obstacle, at
least trying to remain on guard while his mind wandered.

Rivers had
seized the opportunity the moment he saw the FNG stop; he had been
watching him, slowly stalking him through the obstacles. He had
approached the other Titan without alerting his squad mate, the
vessels shuddering had masked his approach further, allowing Rivers
to get within a few feet of his target. It was no small feat, being
stealthy in a Titan suit, and he would make sure that his squad
knew about it after the hunt.

Christian
gathered his focus again, verbally chastising himself inside his
helmet, but it was too late, before he could move again the barrel
of Rivers’ Kicker was pointing at his visor. Rivers gave him a
cheeky wave as Christian looked past the rifle at the Titan holding
it.

“You shouldn’t
speak to yourself like that kid.” Rivers’ drawl made every word he
spoke sound hilarious. “Loving yourself is the first step to being
a virile young man. Look at me, almost forty and I feel like a
twenty year old.”

“Is this really
the time for this?” Christian asked him.

“Always time
for a joke lad, you just need to see the funny side of any
situation. Now let me see your hands and step back, the game is
over and it’s almost grub time.”

“I don’t think
so Sergeant.”

“And why don’t
you think so? If you haven’t noticed, I have you.”

“Look between
your feet sir.”

Rivers liked
the kid’s arrogance, so he indulged him. To his surprise he saw
what the FNG was talking about, he did indeed not have him at all.
“Son of a whore...”

Between his
boots a small, magnetic mine was stuck to the metal floor, almost
invisible to the naked eye, being only a few inches in diameter and
only an inch thick. Rivers’ immediately regretted not using his
tactical mode during the hunt; it would have highlighted it even if
he never saw it with his own eyes.

“But, you were
distracted, there is no way you could have heard or seen me.”

“That is true,
but I remembered where I am, I borrowed it from Xander in case I
was trapped or someone tried to flank me. I threw it down the
moment the deck started grumbling, knowing one of you sly bastards
would use it to try and catch me.”

“Well, now what
lad? Do we just stare at each other like lovers on a first date and
hope the others give us some private time? Or do we dance?”

“We dance, of
course.” Christian grabbed the barrel of Rivers’ Kicker. With all
of his new strength, he smashed the stock of the weapon into the
other Titan’s visor, actually cracking the visor with the blow.

“I am not
calling that as a mark. You are going to help me fix that.” Rivers
let go of his rifle and kicked the mine away like a professional
footballer from old Earth, it detonated as it hit a nearby
obstacle. He pulled at the rifle to try and get the younger Titan
off balance.

It didn’t work
all that well, it only succeeded in ripping the rifle from
Christian’s grip, the force of the pull causing the rifle to slide
harmlessly away from the pair of Titans.

Rivers followed
up the pull with a ferocious left hook. It connected with
Christian’s helmet with the force of a speeding land-train. The
left hook was followed by a right uppercut right into Christian’s
stomach plating. The uppercut lifting Christian off his feet
slightly, the force was astounding, yet there was no pain, only the
force of the blows could be felt.

Remarkable,
Christian thought as Rivers rained more blows on him. It was clear
to Christian that the Sergeant was a descendant of a street
brawler. The amount of fists hitting him seemed unnatural, hit
after hit his armour soaked up, but slowly he was being pushed
back.

Rivers was
strong, but fast as lightning, the sound emanating from the fight
sounded like ancient blacksmiths hammering away at a newly forged
blade.

But a pattern
started to emerge in Christian’s mind, Rivers would land a hook,
followed by the uppercut, landing two left jabs and then ending
with a right hook. Every sequence exactly the same, the speed of
the attacks concealing the repetition.

Christian’s
tactical sight started following every blow, the more hits that
landed the more calculations it was able to make, working out
exactly when to retaliate.