Gamma Nine (Book One) (33 page)

The rest of the
bunker was just as dimly lit as the storage room. It was half the
size of a low-income apartment, with even less furniture. How four
people would survive here for long was beyond comprehension to
Jessica. Being in such a confined space for so long would decrease
everyone’s annoyance tolerances.

Jessica chose
to not think on that problem just yet. Instead, she walked to where
Nash was seated. The old man was calibrating radio equipment that
looked older than he was. “Sam says you have an emergency beacon,”
Jessica stated instead of asking.

“That I do my
dear. It hasn’t worked for years, but your brainy friend can have a
look at it if he wants, there are no spare parts in here, so he is
probably going to waste his time.” Nash did not get up from his
seat in front of his radio equipment, his focus was on finding
anyone still broadcasting.

“Did you get
anything on that rusty radio of yours?” Jessica asked.

Sam shuffled
past her while talking to himself, carrying the broken beacon in
his oil-stained hands. He yelled at Tristan to bring him a set of
his tools from his many hidden pouches within his worn-out
jacket.

“A few units
are still broadcasting, mostly air-units in the last few days. None
of them seem to be local units, unit identifiers are all from
off-planet. I recognize no-one. The last local unit transmission
was three days ago, and their situation sounded grim. Everything
went dark after that. These latest transmissions are all on
encrypted channels, and that is very worrying,” Nash replied to
Jessica’s question.

“It was the
same thing when we escaped the facility. There were faces I did not
recognize and unit insignias I never saw before, patrolling the
streets. I did not stop to ask them where they were from,
obviously.” Jessica walked over to the torn couch Sam was sitting
on. She sat carefully, her joints and back still hurting from her
down-time. “What else do you know?” she asked Nash.

“Nothing good I
am afraid. We were caught with our pants down. Santor’s defence
forces were either killed by the monsters or these other units
destroyed them. They do not sound very friendly to any one on this
planet. They have already started bombing key structures across the
city, killing everything, including civilians. The shelter two
blocks down from this building was hit less than two hours ago,
probably nothing but a smoking crater now.” Nash sighed as he
finished talking, no doubt because he had known people who would
have rushed to that shelter for safety, only to have their lives
end in a fiery explosion. It was sad to think that they escaped the
claws of one monster, just to perish at the hands of something much
more human.

“It is as we
all feared. This was planned, and I don’t have to guess who.”
Jessica looked at Tristan sitting on the floor a few feet away from
her. Her little sister’s expression was blank, staring back without
any emotion showing on her face.

“We can worry
about that later. We need a plan for right now. We can’t stay
here,” Nash said.

Here was the
conversation Jessica was not looking forward to; the reality of the
situation was going to be very unpleasant. “How long do we have?”
she asked.

“If we ration
our supplies and change out the air-filters every few days, two
weeks, three at the most,” Nash replied.

Jessica relaxed
a little. It did not sound so bad - it was more than she had
bargained on. “That gives us enough time to call for help,” she
paused, thinking of how difficult her last words would be to
execute, “somehow,” she added.

“Yes,
somehow...” Nash said. He turned back to the radio, speaking as he
pulled the headset over his ears again. “We will need to hurry up,
when our supplies run out and the time comes to shit or get off the
pot, things will get very tense in here.”

Jessica had no
doubt about that, but she knew she could not let that happen. She
turned her head to look at Sam next to her. He was busy unscrewing
the outer casing of the beacon. “What is the prognosis Doctor Sam?”
she asked her oldest friend.

Sam laughed
softly at her question, never taking his eyes off the thing he was
working on as he replied. “Buggered, but that hasn’t stopped me
from fixing something before, right?”

“Right,”
Jessica replied. She would have to put all of her faith into Sam
and his skill at fixing things.

Jessica sat
back on the old torn couch, looking at her sister again. She smiled
at her and this time Tristan returned the smile, but her face was
full of worry.

All Jessica
could think of was keeping Tristan safe. The monsters on the
planet’s surface, nor the monsters in orbit, will ever get their
hands on her little sister. It was her father’s last wish.

No matter what
Jessica. Save Tristan.

“
Every story worthy of
legend needs a villain. There is no need to fear the villain that
announces his every move. Those weaklings that pretend to be evil
are nothing but blemishes on humankind’s troubled history. Fear is
an emotion that can be manipulated, and any fool can scare children
with stories of monsters hiding under their beds. Evil, on the
other hand, creates terror within its victims. True evil is
selfish, determined and ruthless, relentless in its pursuit of
triumph over whatever it deems beneath it. These masters of evil
are the ones that should be feared, working behind the curtains of
reality, positioning their chess pieces in the shadows of our
civilization. They remain hidden until they are ready to rise into
the light. They show no mercy, and offer only one choice to
whatever stands in their way - bow in obedience or be ruined in
their frightful wake.”
-Name deleted from records, written in blood on the walls of cell
twenty-2581B, Facility name withheld, Date unknown

“It couldn’t
say any more. It knew only part of its master’s plan,” Locke said
to his squad.

The Wolves had
gathered in their beloved armoury, everyone except Pyoter was
seated, listening to Locke tell them what the AIE known as Artemis
had revealed. The story their captain was telling them had silenced
all of them as they sat stunned, unable to completely accept the
truth behind recent events.

Rivers was the
first to speak. “As if the beasts aren’t enough to contend with, we
have scum like that eating at our hearts from within.”

Nathan, who had
been training since waking up, scoffed as Rivers finished speaking
and then spoke. “This should not be anything we haven’t seen or
heard of before. People are always trying to kill each other for
some reason or another. This time, the reason is just so much more
complicated, and bigger than all of us.”

“We don’t know
his end-game, we can only guess at what he is planning.” Locke
folded his arms, looking at all of the Wolves in turn, even Jay got
a full blast of Locke’s piercing stare. Locke nodded before
continuing, mostly to himself. “Now for the bad news,” he said
without smiling at his own dry joke.

“Great,” Xander
blurted out, “I was starting to get bored,” he added
sarcastically.

“His position
in Earth’s council could complicate things even more. He has enough
influence to turn everyone against us. If we move against him, in
any way, we will be branded as traitors, rebels to be hunted down
and killed for turning our backs on our race.”

“Why us, when
he is the real traitor?” Christian asked.

“Politics,”
Pyoter said, leaning against the wall behind all of the seated
Wolves. As always he emphasized the word with a hand gesture, which
to any adult would mean only one thing - wanker.

“The blame
would fall on us. If we can’t bring his treachery into the light,
then we would be outlawed,” Rivers added to the conversation.

“If we choose
to fight, know that we risk everything, our very lives and
everyone’s on-board this vessel. Everything we hold dear will cease
to exist if we fail,” Locke said, still standing with his folded
arms in front of his squad. “We must choose now, and see the choice
through until the end. Speak openly, what I ask of you will change
everything as we know it, we must choose as one.”

There was a
moment of silence as the rest of the Titans gathered their
thoughts.

Nathan was the
first to speak his mind. “The way I see it, there is no choice to
make, all of us volunteered to defend our people from our enemies,
whether they are alien or human. It makes no difference to me. I
choose to follow you Gabriel, we strike back while we still
can.”

Xander nodded
in agreement. “I agree, kill or be killed. I’m in.”

Rivers stood
and patted Nathan who had been seated next to him on the shoulder.
“Remember the deal. I get first shot at the bastard.” Rivers’ words
were enough to tell the rest of the squad what his choice was.

Pyoter said
nothing. Locke had to stare at him for a few moments before the
giant Titan said anything, coaxing him into speaking. “Dah,” Pyoter
said. “There was no need to even ask, Captain.”

Locke nodded at
the Titan’s reply, his eyes moved to the two rookies, seated at the
edge of the bench the Wolves were seated on.

Christian
realized he needed to say something as Locke’s piercing eyes stared
at him. “I go where you go sir, I am with all of you,” Christian
said.

“As am I,” Jay
said without hesitating.

Locke unfolded
his arms and held his hand to his chest, honouring the bravery and
selflessness his squad had shown him with their words. Each of them
returned the gesture with a closed fist to their chests.

“Prepare for
war. The Hyperion will be ready to move soon. Time is very short,
do what you must to ready yourselves for what is to come,” Locke
said as he turned to leave the armoury. The Titan Captain had to
speak to Sabian and Gray before they left for their intended
destination.

“Where are we
going, sir?” Christian asked before Locke reached the armoury
door.

“New Horizon,
his ship was anchored there when we left the sector,” Locke
replied.

A wave of dread
hit Christian as he realized that Jessica could and probably was in
great danger. The blood in his veins burned as his anger rose to
meet the horror he felt in his stomach. He never got the chance to
reply to her message, and now he might never be able to.

If she was
lost, he would have to break Rivers’ deal, he would strangle the
life out of Lord Vincent with his bare hands if he had to.

The plan was
beautifully dangerous. Remy had calculated every single move Gray
would have to make, perfectly planned down to the smallest details.
Because of her exceptional work, once again, the chance of failure
was less than forty-five percent, and Gray was happy with the odds
his second in command had given him. It was just enough to make the
jump dangerous, but not too risky for his beloved ship. On a scale
from nothing to hero, her plan ranked close enough to hero to make
Gray excited at the prospect of following her directions. He was
almost ashamed of his giddiness, but many years of hiding emotion
from his crew had ensured that his zeal was well enough hidden from
everyone around him. He had to hide many other feelings from his
crew every day, especially what he felt for Remy.

But he could
not hide his excitement from Gabriel. The Titan had seen everything
in the old captain’s eyes the moment he had walked onto the bridge
of the Hyperion.

Locke stood
next to Gray’s command chair, watching the crew moving on the
bridge as Gray ran the last few checks with his crew.

“Navigation?”
Gray asked Remy who was already seated next to him in her safety
chair.

“All clear,”
she replied. Multi-tasking as only she could, answering her captain
and running multiple checks of her own.

“Drive
status?”

“They are at
ninety-three percent ready, sir.”

“How long
before we are clear to jump?” Gray asked Remy, craning his neck
around to look at the girl he cared so much for.

Remy looked up
and smiled at her captain. “Ten minutes, sir,” she replied.

“Good girl,”
Gray, winking at the beauty before he turned back to stare at the
screens in front of him. Gray was ready to manually control the
Hyperion during the jump, something that was completely unheard
of.

“Have you ever
done this before?” Locke asked. He had waited for his old friend to
stop flirting before asking.

“Once, during
training,” Gray replied as his arms were connected to his command
chair. Gray winced when the connection was made, he never could get
use to the feeling of the control pins piercing his skin. “It did
not go well,” he added as his vision changed to see through the
eyes of the ship’s OS.

“That’s
comforting,” Locke said, chuckling at Gray’s candour.

“It should be.
I never fail at anything twice.”

“Will he see us
coming?” Locke asked, his question directed more at Remy than
Gray.

“We are taking
the long way around, using that system’s primary star to sling-shot
us around the sector. Our path will be masked by the radiation from
New Horizon’s position in relation to its sun. We will be almost
invisible to any normal scanners,” Remy said.

“His ship is
more than just a normal ship,” Locke stated.

“They will not
know what to look for, even to the trained eye we will look like a
small comet carving a path through the universe. Because of our
indirect path we will be identified as nothing more than a natural
void phenomenon.”

“Meaning that
bastard won’t see us coming until we are right behind him,” Gray
added.

“If all goes
according to plan and Captain Gray can perform the manual jump,
then theoretically we will exit our BEAM jump only a few thousand
miles away from New Horizon’s closest moon.” Remy returned to her
work, re-checking everything again.