Omega Force 3: The Enemy Within (3 page)

Six days after
they yanked Corenntal out of his frontier compound the
Phoenix
slid into orbit over Kirialee, the seat of power of the Kirialan Sector and the origin of the contract on Corenntal’s gun-running operation. They loitered for the better part of the day in a holding orbit before being given clearance to land and were directed to an airport near one of the planet’s logistical hubs.

“
An airport?” Jason asked in disbelief. “You sure you read that right? Why aren’t we being directed down to a spaceport?”

“
I know what I read,” Kage answered indignantly. “It clearly says
airport
and the nav data they sent matches up.”

“
OK … don’t get huffy. Can this airport even fit the
Phoenix
?”

“
That’s a good question,” Kage admitted. “I’ll find out. They didn’t give us a specific landing pad so I can’t be sure.”

Jason left him alone and began their entry according to the navigational data provided by Kirialee
’s landing control. The planet’s land mass was fairly uninteresting as far as it went, and was covered with the expected urban sprawl and industrial areas. The airport they were heading to turned out to be a military post, not a commercial facility, and looked like it based large atmospheric cargo aircraft. They were given exact planetary coordinates for their landing site and told to remain with the ship until contacted.

Jason touched down easily and leveled the ship on its landing gear. He left the grav-drive active to keep the full weight of the ship off the wheels since he wasn
’t sure the tarmac would be thick or solid enough to bear the full weight of an interstellar ship. Although she wasn’t the biggest ship in the sky, the
Phoenix
most certainly weighed many times more than the lightly-built cargo aircraft Jason saw flitting about the base.

They waited for another forty-five minutes before a secure call came in over the com instructing them to secure the prisoner and move him to the tarmac and wait for Kirialee Security to sentence him.

“What do you think they meant by sentencing him?” Twingo asked from the engineering station. “Maybe just a translation glitch and they mean take him into custody?”

“
I guess it means whatever they want it to mean, so long as we get paid,” Jason said, hopping out of the pilot’s seat. “Crusher, Lucky, Doc … you’re with me. Twingo and Kage, keep the engines running and be ready to get us the hell out of here if it goes south on us.”

“
So, the usual,” Twingo said as he slid into the pilot’s seat, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

“
More or less,” Jason agreed. “Although I think this should be one of the more uneventful handoffs since we’re dealing with a legit government this time.”

“
I’ve heard that before,” Crusher muttered as he walked off the bridge after Lucky.

“
Why is it so cold in here?” Doc asked, an involuntary shiver running through him as the stepped into the cargo bay.

“
Hmm? Oh. I have no idea,” Jason said unconvincingly. “I’ll have Twingo check the environmental controls later. Let’s just get him moving.” As Doc moved to the cell anchored to the middle of the cargo bay deck, Crusher just looked at Jason and shook his head with a silent chuckle, not at all fooled by his horrible acting.

Given Corenntal
’s body chemistry, the cooler temperatures had forced him to huddle miserably in the corner of his cell. He was still moving slowly and stiffly as Lucky walked in to grab him.

“
This is barbaric!” Corenntal was barely able to get the words out. “I could have died in here at this temperature!”

“
Pity,” Crusher deadpanned. “Now turn around.” When the prisoner spun Crusher yanked his arms around behind him, causing the shivering alien to yowl in pain. The big warrior slapped a set of stun shackles on him, wrists and ankles, before giving him a brisk shove towards the back of the cargo bay where Jason was already lowering the ramp.

“
It’s warm outside, dirt bag,” Jason said. “You’ll enjoy it. At least until Kirialee Security shows up to collect your sorry ass.”

“Move!” Crusher barked as he marched the captive down the ramp and stopped him ten meters past the edge to stand on the tarmac. Jason stood on the edge of the ramp and Lucky covered them from the lip of the cargo bay. The low, sub-sonic hum of the
Phoenix
still under power drowned out most of the sounds of the bustling airbase.

They didn
’t have to wait long before a black ground vehicle barreled around one of the buildings and came speeding straight for the parked gunship.
Why is every governmental vehicle in the galaxy black?
“Heads up guys, it’s show time,” Jason called out unnecessarily, causing both Lucky and Crusher looked at him in mild annoyance. Stating the obvious had been a nervous habit of Jason’s, but now it was more in the nature of a long-running joke between the three. The car slowed to a smooth stop and three officious-looking kireleans climbed out. Although not indigenous to the planet, they had colonized it over two millennia prior and now claimed it as their homeworld. Jason walked out to meet them.

“
Gentlemen! Thank you for your punctuality. As you can see … one low-life arms smuggler in mint condition, just as we agreed. If you’d like to transfer him to—”

Jason was cut off by one of the
kireleans pulling a sidearm and shooting Corenntal in the forehead at near point-blank range.

“
—Or … you could just shoot him in the head. That’s cool too.” The shooter tossed a generic credit chit at Jason before he turned and walked back towards the waiting vehicle. Catching the chit with one hand, Jason turned it over and squeezed it once. Sure enough, their full fee, plus an additional twenty percent, flashed on the chit’s small display. Pocketing the small, black disk, he looked up in time to see the other two kireleans grab Corenntal’s body and toss it unceremoniously into the cargo boot of the vehicle before climbing into the passenger cabin and speeding off.

“
What the hell?!” Crusher complained loudly. “
We
could have just shot him in the head. It would have saved us a trip all the way out to this planet.”

“
Crusher,” Jason began, “we can’t assume to know the intricacies of every planet’s legal system we encounter—”

“
Captain, Kirialee Ground Control has just informed me we have ten minutes to launch or we’ll be arrested and the Phoenix will be confiscated,”
Kage broke in over the com. Crusher was just looking at him with one eyebrow raised expectantly.

“
You were saying?”

“
No accounting for manners I suppose,” Jason muttered. “Let’s get in the air. We’ve got the cash and the galaxy is short one more low- to mid-level criminal.”

The
Phoenix
climbed easily through the upper atmosphere and into their first transfer orbit as Ground Control handed them off to Orbital Departure Control. The layers of bureaucracy reminded Jason why he preferred frontier planets. Once the orbital controller felt they had spent enough time circling Kirialee to be suitably impressed with her authority, they were given clearance to push out towards the outer system

“
So where to?” Kage asked.

“
We’re on a loose schedule,” Jason said, “nothing really all that pressing to do. I could use a little more downtime to heal up, is there anything good around here?”

Kage tore into the navigational data for the local area with renewed interest at Jason
’s mention of downtime.

“
Oh! O’rethal Platform is just under two parsecs from our current location,” Kage said, practically buzzing in his seat. “We should go there!” Jason did the math in his head. Whatever had Kage so excited was around six light-years away, just a short hop for the
Phoenix
.

“
What is it?” he asked.

“
It’s a casino, for lack of a better term,” Doc said, looking at Kage with concern. “O’rethal Platform is an enormous orbital resort that flies around a class one gas giant. I don’t think it’s a good idea to take our resident slicer, with a known gambling problem, into a high-tech casino, Captain.”

“
It’s more than just a casino,” Kage protested too quickly and too loudly. “They have massage parlors and zero-g pools and bars. You and Crusher love bars, Captain.”

“
You’re trying way too hard, Kage,” Jason said, trying not to laugh. “If we go there, what are the chances we’ll have to bail you out for cheating?”

“
None,” the Veran replied quickly. “I probably won’t even gamble, to be honest.”

“
Kage,” Twingo said in pained voice. “Remember … three to one ratio, three little truths with the lie tossed in. You can’t just start with a promise not to gamble. He’ll never believe that. Instead say you’re broke and can’t afford to gamble.” Jason gave his friend an icy stare while he explained to the overly clever code slicer how to play him.

“
Regardless of your funds or intentions,” Jason began, still staring at Twingo, “the point remains. Your self-control in casinos has been somewhat lacking in the past. Am I going to be able to relax without having to pay a huge fee to get you out? Or plan a jailbreak of a secured detention area?”

“
Hey! I don’t need to take this,” Kage said, trying a different tactic and going on the offensive. “You guys cause just as much trouble and I don’t see anybody else being interrogated.” Jason opened and closed his mouth.
The little shit has a point.

“
OK,” he conceded. “Plot me a course to O’rethal Platform, best economic speed. Let’s all agree to practice moderation … to the best of our abilities … and kick back for a few days.”

“
Course plotted,” Kage said, trying to hide his smile. “Slip-drive is primed, you’re clear to engage.” Jason looked around and noticed that everyone else was smiling too.
It’ll be good to relax and get off this damn ship for a few days.
He reached down to his right and slapped the control that sent the gunship streaking through slip-space towards their destination.

O
’rethal Platform was everything Kage had promised. Jason was impressed as the station resolved itself in the optical sensors. It was a true marvel of engineering as well as being quite beautiful, a rarity for most orbital installations that normally bristled with thrusters, compensators, and afterthought additions. It reminded him of Pinnacle Station—the enormous commerce hub he had visited years ago when he had first boarded the
Phoenix
—simply because of the enormity of it. But O’rethal Platform looked like it was planned, designed, and built to look exactly like it did, rather than having haphazard additions slapped on at every change of ownership.

“
Docking Control has us on their display,” Kage said. “They’re asking for length of stay and where we want to park.”

“
Three days, at least, and get a hangar if they have one that can fit us,” Jason said as he let the computer fly the ship to the specified holding pattern, trailing behind the station as it orbited its host planet.

“
Do we want rooms?” Kage asked. Jason had to think a moment on that one.

“
Yeah, grab three double rooms,” he said. “If we’re on vacation I’d rather not sleep on the ship.” This elicited a few quiet cheers from the rest of the crew. Love her though they might, months and months on board the
Phoenix
made everyone a little stir crazy.

“
Rooms are booked. Hangar space will be fifteen thousand credits for the three days,” Kage said as he negotiated with multiple parties on the station simultaneously.

“
Kiss my ass, fifteen grand!” Jason exclaimed indignantly. “Are they going to wash and fuel her for that? She isn’t that big!”

“
It’s the vertical stabilizers, Captain,” Twingo explained, pulling up the station’s specs on his own display. “She’s just tall enough that the main hangar deck won’t fit us. They’re trying to stick us down with the commercial and charter transports.”

“
Fine,” Jason said. “External docking arm. I’m not paying out a quarter of our take on that last job for parking.”

They were given clearance to begin their approach
, so Jason gave the computer the go-ahead to accelerate and begin maneuvering them around to line up with the docking arm they’d been assigned. It seemed to take forever as the instructions being fed to them by O’rethal Platform’s traffic management computer had them practically crawling by, relative to the station’s speed, before rotating and clearing them for final docking maneuvers.

Jason executed the preset sequence and watched as the
Phoenix
powered down her grav-drive and closed the distance to the docking section using maneuvering jets only. They were actually travelling sideways at the same speed as the station, some forty-three thousand kilometers per hour. For the last fifty meters even the standard maneuvering jets were shut off, and the
Phoenix
glided her nose past the extended docking arm and fired the compressed gas jets in the nose to halt their forward progress and line the arm up with the port airlock, one deck below the bridge. Mooring beams on the station grabbed the ship and slid it in until a slight bump was felt on the bridge and the dock established a hard-lock with the hatch on the gunship.

“
Grab your shit, boys,” Jason said with a huge smile. “We’re officially off the clock.” Everyone hustled off the bridge to grab their bags that were already stacked up in the common area. Jason completed an orderly shutdown of all the primary flight systems, secured the main computer core, and activated all the usual security protocols they used when visiting a civilian locale. Those standards were a little more lax than normal since they didn’t want the ship accidentally killing someone who simply happened to wander into the wrong area. When they were in a hostile area, however, the protocols were a bit fiercer.

He ambled down the stairs to the main deck and saw his crew already crowding out towards the corridor that led to the port airlock. He grabbed his go-bag and squeezed in behind them.

“So nobody except Lucky is armed right now? Right?” Jason asked. The rules on the station were pretty strict, and quite explicit on the matter of personal weaponry. An uncomfortable silence met his question. “Crusher?”

He heard
a heavy sigh and what could only be the sound of a large blade being drawn out of a sheath and the clatter as it hit the floor. Jason waited.

“
That’s all I have,” Crusher protested. “I swear.”

“
Pop the hatch, Twingo,” Jason said. There was a hum and clunk as the outer hatch released and swung inward. Everyone filed off the ship and waited on the gangway as Jason closed and locked the ship up. They walked down the large transparent tube and descended a short flight of stairs where their docking arm met up with another, larger tube that led into the station. Jason paused to look back and see the
Phoenix
hanging in space, affixed to the docking arm with her marker lights slowly blinking. He shuddered a bit before turning and catching up with his crew. The sight of the ship being held on by just a set of clamps always unnerved him for some reason.

“
Welcome to O’rethal Platform!” a gregarious and ridiculously-dressed alien said as they emerged from the docking tube into a large reception area. “We look forward to catering to your every whim and desire. May I have your party’s name?”

“
Crew of the light-freighter
Lark
,” Jason said pleasantly.

“
Of course,” the clerk said with the absurd smile still plastered on his face. “I’ll need to see individual ident chips as well.” All of Omega Force provided real ConFed identification chips, all with fake names and planets of origin. “It looks like all is in order. How would you like your three rooms coded for access?”

“
Everyone having access to all rooms is fine,” Jason said. “We’ll split up the arrangements later.”

“
Very well,” the clerk said. Jason stared at him and figured he must either be animatronic or heavily drugged. Nobody was that cheerful doing a shit job like checking in spacers at the cheap docks. “Would you like help with your bags or can your service robot handle them?” Jason’s jaw dropped and Lucky swung sharply towards the little alien who was utterly oblivious to the insult.

“
Yes … service robot,” Crusher said in a booming voice and clapping his hands twice. “Grab my bag and follow me to my room. And be sharp about it.” With a wild flourish he marched out of the reception area with his nose in the air, leaving his bag behind.

“
I’ll send for a—”

“
No, Captain,” Lucky said. “I will be happy to carry Crusher’s bag to his room.” The powerful battlesynth reached down and plucked up the bag and followed after the crew who were trying to get out of the area as fast as possible. Jason was bringing up the rear with his own luggage so he was able to see Lucky begin to squeeze and compress the bag as he walked. There were several sharp cracks and loud popping sounds and the bag went from the size of a large duffel to the size of a medium melon.

Crusher continued on, oblivious to the condition of his belongings, and stopped at the first door. He scanned in with his ident chip and stepped in
side. “Service robot!” he called loudly. “Bring me my bag!” Lucky walked calmly to the open doorway and launched the near-solid ball of Crusher’s bag into the room with a savage overhand throw. The projectile took Crusher full in the chest and actually knocked him off his feet.

WHUMP!

“What the hell?!” Crusher yelled as he sat up. “Is this my bag?!” Jason did his best to ignore the noises coming from the room.

“
So how are we splitting up?” he asked. “These rooms are actually divided into two bedrooms each, so it won’t be that bad.”

“
I will stay in your room,” Lucky said.

“
I don’t think that’s necessary,” Jason protested. He had hoped Lucky would stay in one of the other rooms since he didn’t sleep anyway, and then he’d have the mini-suite to himself.

“
Either myself or Crusher will stay with you, Captain. Which would you prefer?” When given that choice, the option was clear.

“
Fine. But if I end up meeting someone of the compatible female persuasion you have to clear out,” Jason said.

“
Past experience tells me this will not be an issue,” Lucky said. Jason decided not to respond.

“
Twingo will stay with Crusher,” Doc said. “I’ll stay with Kage.” He looked over at the little Veran, who was hopping from foot to foot, in a meaningful way. The message was clear. Kage would not be out of Doc’s sight during the entire stay. Twingo looked in on a now-angry Crusher who was trying to reconstitute his bag so he could get it open.

“
Great,” he muttered as he walked in. “Dinner in an hour and then we’ll disperse after that?” They all agreed and went to their separate rooms to get cleaned up and changed out of their drab spacers gear and into something more suited for the free-wheeling party atmosphere of O’rethal Platform.

*****

Jason was leaning against the railing just outside his room and sipping on a drink he had concocted from the mini-bar. The small suites were surprisingly luxurious, or at least seemed so after spending so long staring at the bulkheads of a combat vessel. He was already dressed and ready, but the others seemed to be taking their time. After a few more minutes a door opened and Crusher stepped out with his own drink in hand. Jason had to stare at him for a moment to take it all in; his sleeveless suit, while made of an expensive material, was rumpled so badly it looked like a homeless vagabond had been sleeping in it for months.

“
Is it supposed to be—”

“
No. It isn’t,” Crusher snapped. Jason was trying his best not to laugh in his friend’s face.

“
You know that this is your—”

“
Just drop it. He broke my shoe, too,” the big warrior said, holding his foot up. “Twingo had to run down to the shops and get me a new pair.”

“
Why didn’t you just go down yourself? You were dressed when we came up here?” Jason asked.

“
Eh,” Crusher shrugged. “I didn’t want to walk around down there in my uniform. Besides, he needs the exercise. He’s starting to get a little pudgy.”

Once they were all ready
, they headed down to the level that boasted eleven restaurants that served nothing but the finest from across the sector. Once agreeing on one, they were quickly seated and began trying to decipher the menu that was projected on the table in front of each of them. Despite the ability to call up holographic images of the dishes, most of them had no idea what they would like.

“
Doc,” Jason said, “order for me when she … he? ... comes back. I have no idea what this stuff is.”

“
The same goes for me,” Crusher said.

“
Should I just order for everyone?” Doc asked, almost as a joke. The rest of the table unanimously agreed, so when the server returned Doc told her what each of the five crewmembers who ingested organic material would like. This garnered a strange look but the slim, androgynous alien hustled away to place their order.

“
So gentlemen,” Jason said, raising his glass. “Here’s to another mission in the bag … and here’s to the crew of the
Phoenix
, thanks for coming to save my ass again.” They all cheered and raised their own glasses.

The food arrived and, to Doc
’s credit, there were no complaints about any of the dishes. Afterwards they all sat back, enjoying the first decent meal they’d had in some time. Kage, however, was beginning to get fidgety. Twingo saw this and elbowed Jason with a slight grin.

“
So what should we do next?” Jason asked with an exaggerated yawn. “They have some great holographic movies on the lower deck.”

“
I heard they have a museum here with artifacts from one of the formerly habitable moons in this system. It sounds fascinating,” Twingo said, playing along.

“
We could also go ask if we could tour the engineering sections of the station, I bet that would be interesting,” Crusher said with a straight face.

“
Stop it! Stop it!” Kage said, gripping the edge of the table with all four hands. “You’re all screwing with me!” Even Doc was laughing as the little Veran looked like a child not getting his way.

“
OK,” Jason said. “Are we all ready to go hit the floor?”

*****

“Holy shit!” Jason whispered as he walked out of the lift and saw the main casino floor of O’rethal Platform stretched out before him. It was on the side of the station facing the planet, and the entire outer bulkhead was transparent. The outwardly curving wall was two hundred and fifty feet high and offered a breathtaking view of the planet below. The floor was packed with games of chance and well-dressed aliens trying their luck.