Influx (3 page)

Suddenly Garen had a split-second decision to make. He could either defend himself and possibly lose his chance to complete the mission, or he could finish this here and now, and leave himself at the mercy of the Security team charging into the room behind him.

It was no contest. Ignoring the Security officers completely, Garen calmly tipped the vial up and poured its contents directly into the scroober’s eye.

For a moment, he thought he saw a gleam of blue light as the solution was absorbed through the cornea’s membrane, then he heard a sharp
BLAM
and something slammed into his back. The force of the blow smashed him off the bench and he instinctively tried to turn in the air so he could catch himself before he hit the far wall, but another violent
BLAM
split the air and the associated blow slammed into his shoulder, hammering him into the wall with enough force to send bright sparks across his vision.

The Security team was firing on him without mercy and if it weren’t for his stormsuit, Garen knew he would already be dead. He instinctively tried to get to his feet and turn to face his attackers, but some kind of net smacked into him and he was suddenly pinned against the wall. He strained against the tough fibres with all his strength and managed to tear several anchoring bolts from the wall, but another shot slammed into him, then another, and another.

Garen’s carefully honed physical awareness made him acutely aware of the damage being done to his body and so he knew he wouldn’t escape this time. He knew this was the end.

He was well aware of his status as the most wanted man in the solar system and that his capture could only mean death. But he had faith that Kari had made it into the
Golgotha’s
communication systems and knew his life would be worth the destruction of an entire energy sump.

Such a triumph would save countless heavangel lives and avenge the many thousand it had already taken.

“
Goodbye Kari,
” he thought in resignation, waiting for the end.

But the firing suddenly stopped and as Garen lay still, breathing shallowly to avoid the pain that came with each inhalation, he wasn’t sure why.

“I can’t believe it,” a creaking voice spoke from above him. “Garen Maertikye, finally brought to justice.”

Garen turned to meet his attacker’s gaze, but all he saw was the business end of a pitgun barrel. Then a final
BLAM
assaulted his ears and everything went white.

For a moment, he seemed to float within the light, oblivious to everything else, then an impenetrable darkness flowed in around him and the fading light took all sensation, thought, and awareness along with it.

A note from the author.

Thank you for reading! Thi
s is the
third and final
short story leading up to the novel ‘Jupiter – Illusions of Faith’.

If you’d like to find out what happens to Garen, whether his plan to install the heavangel Kari into the
Golgotha’s
communications system succeeded, and if they manage to finally destroy one of the Coalition’s energy sumps, then
you can buy the ebook version of ‘Jupiter - Illusions of Faith’
here
or on my website at
www.kynanwaterford.com.au
.

You can also like
my
facebook page
at
www.facebook.com/KynanWaterfordAuthor
or
tweet me
@KynanWaterford
.

Special thanks to Ivan Nasti
ć
who created the amazing artwork for this series of short stories. I’ve tried not to visualise too much of the world of ‘Jupiter – Illusions of Faith’ for my readers, as I believe your imagination is a far more powerful artist than I could ever hope to provide, but I’m a lover of concept art – particularly in the realm of science fiction and fantasy – and I particularly love what Ivan has created. If you’d like
to
contact Ivan or see more of his work, you can visit his
website
a
t
www.
ivan-nastic.daportfolio.com/

Wishing you and your imagination
all
the best,