Omega Force 7: Redemption (12 page)

"Not you guys: me," Jason said. "For whatever reason, he feels I'm personally responsible for what happened to him. I've tried to reach out to him a few times and have never gotten a response."

"Well we need to figure something out," Twingo said, sounding annoyed. "We can't just fly around until we run out of fuel or get lucky. How about this ... we go to Galvetor and Doc and I will approach Crusher. He was at least staying in contact with us and might be persuaded to give us the information we need if nothing else." Jason kicked the idea around in his head for a few moments before answering.

"Fine. Set a course for Galvetor. When we land you two go talk to him and then we'll leave right afterward," he said.

Jason hadn't been to the Galvetor system for years, not since they'd been instrumental in stopping a military coup by elements of the Galvetic Legion leadership. The
Phoenix
flew through the system unchallenged, their identification codes still valid for unrestricted travel all the way to the surface of both habitable planets in the system. He was certain, however, that the codes flagged and Crusher was already aware they were in the system. His suspicions were confirmed when neither Doc nor Twingo could raise him with a personal com message.

"Maybe he's going to meet us at the landing pad," Kage said.

"I'm sure someone is," Jason said. "Speaking of, do we have a landing destination yet?"

"It just came in," Kage said. "We're being directed to the smaller auxiliary spaceport outside of the capital."

"Not exactly the VIP treatment considering what we've done for them," Twingo snorted.

"I'll be happy to be allowed to land, and leave, without too much hassle," Jason said.

"Does your friend hold grudges for a particularly long time?" Kalette asked.

"He can," Jason said. "And this seems to be one of those times."

They flew in the rest of the way to Galvetor without further contact with anyone on the planet. Even the descent through the atmosphere was oddly quiet, all the course correction data coming through the automated systems. The first person they saw was a bored looking gelten, the actual name of Crusher's species, negligently waving a pair of light-wands letting Jason know he needed to taxi into the hangar in front of him and not to shut down on the ramp.

The gear touched down gently, but when Jason grabbed the taxi control a loud screech came from somewhere in the aft part of the ship and there was a shuddering vibration through the hull, but no motion. He looked guiltily at Twingo, who only shook his head in quiet condemnation.

"Sorry," he said as the engineer looked away in disgust. Jason reached over and decoupled the drive motors from the wheels and throttled up the drive just slightly to push them into the hangar while the gelten continued to gesticulate wildly, apparently not wanting to stand outside any longer than necessary.

The
Phoenix
lurched to a hard stop, the actuators on the right main gear hissing and spitting fluid across the hangar floor. Jason switched all the primary flight systems to standby, not wanting to shut them completely down until he was sure they wouldn't be leaving in a hurry. The others were milling about impatiently on the main deck once he was satisfied with his security measures and walked off the bridge.

"We in a hurry?"

"I am," Kalette said.

"I could use something to eat that didn't come out of that food synthesizer," Kage said, pointing towards the galley. "I'd almost forgotten how bad that thing is."

"Really?" Jason asked, surprised. "You never said anything."

"Are you serious?" Kage asked as he fell in line with the rest of the group as they walked towards the hatch that led to the cargo bay. "I complained about it nonstop."

"That should teach you a lesson about your incessant complaining," Doc said. "Everyone ignores you."

"You all ignored me anyway," Kage griped as Jason opened the rear pressure doors and dropped the ramp. Jason tuned out the chatter. He could sense that everyone's nerves were stretched a little tight and the mindless banter was simply a relief valve. As the ramp dropped smoothly to the hangar floor Jason could make out another gelten standing near the base, this one much larger and imposing than the lackey that marshaled them to their parking spot. He knew immediately that this wasn't a normal gelten, but a Galvetic warrior. He could also see that it wasn't Crusher.

"Greetings, Jason Burke," the figure said. "Forgive me for excluding any title you may have but I am unaware of your current status."

"Morakar?" Jason asked with genuine pleasure as he recognized Mazer Reddix's brother and a friend. "It's been a while!"

"It has indeed, my good friend," Morakar said, seeming pleased that Jason remembered him. "Hello to you all. Lord Felex could not meet you personally, but he asked me to convey his best."

"Did he really?" Jason asked.

"I may be taking liberties with his exact words, but I'm sure the sentiment was there," Morakar said uncomfortably.

"It's okay, I'm sure he'd be happy to see ... some of us," Jason said, clapping the big warrior on the shoulder. "How's your brother?"

"He's back on Restaria," Morakar said. "After Crisstof Dalton's contract was terminated he decided to work at the training center for a while before deciding if he wants to take another contract with a different unit."

"Will we be permitted to speak with Crusher?" Lucky asked.

"The Lord Archon does not provide me with his schedule," Morakar said by way of an apology. "I will stress to him that you wish to see him."

"While that'd be nice, it's not actually necessary," Jason said. "Perhaps you'll be able to help us out. We're looking for some intelligence on an incident that happened near S'tora ... it's in the Delphine Expanse near the ConFed outer boundary."

"I am unfamiliar with that area of space," Morakar said. "Why do you think we'd have any particular information about an isolated incident there?"

"With the multiple contracts you're now servicing with Legion personnel we had hoped your intelligence service would be taking advantage of the situation," Jason said.

"I see," Morakar said slowly. "And I must ask why you think we'd willingly give you access to such a sensitive resource, should it actually exist."

"As payment for services rendered," Jason said. "We
did
avert a civil war for you, after all without so much as asking for you to foot the bill for the fuel and ammo we burned through."

"I
see
," Morakar repeated, his emphasis on the last word changing the meaning. "If it were up to me I would, of course, see to it that you had anything you asked for. However intelligence is something that I do not oversee. I will have to pass this up my chain of command. Could you perhaps give me something more specific to work with?"

"Sure," Jason said in an offhand way. "Tell Crusher that unless he wants the full might of the Avarian Imperial Fleet to roll over Galvetor and Restaria in the invasion we're currently trying to prevent then he should probably just give us what we're asking for, and then we'll be on our way."

"I see."

****

They were sitting around cooling their heels in a well-appointed reception area, drinking a bitter tea and generally becoming more impatient by the moment when an officious looking gelten walked into the room.

"The Lord Archon will now see you," he said in a bored tone.

"About damn time," Jason said, tossing his tea mug onto the serving table from five feet away where it shattered into dozens of pieces and knocked a handful of others to the floor. "Let's go." The bored expression on the gelten's face gave way to mild distress as he eyed Jason's casual destruction of the carefully prepared serving area.

The crew followed the now-huffy gelten out of the room, Kage's mocking laughter only slightly drowned out by the gasps and mutters of the other beings that were in the reception area waiting their turn to see whichever government official they were petitioning. Although he'd been maintaining a calm exterior, Jason's temper had been exponentially climbing since arriving on Galvetor. While he understood Crusher's wish to leave Omega Force, they didn't deserve to be treated like what happened to him was
their
fault.

Jason recognized the hall they were led into from the last time he was on Galvetor, but he was still somewhat taken aback by the sheer size and opulence of Crusher's new office. Well, that and the sheer ridiculousness of the warrior's new attire. If he wore a costume from a production of Henry VIII while walking through Time Square it wouldn't have been more absurd than the outfit Crusher was wearing.

"Captain," Crusher said stiffly. "You're looking well."

"You too," Jason said. "I can see the sedentary lifestyle of a bureaucrat agrees with you." At the last comment Jason stared pointedly at Crusher's slightly expanded midsection. The warrior narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw as Doc just shook his head in resignation.

"Before you two resume hostilities could we possibly take care of why we came here in the first place?" he said, placing himself between the two of them.

"Certainly," Crusher said, motioning to the warrior standing by a side door. The Legionnaire immediately pulled the door open and out walked Crisstof Dalton, Kellea Colleren, and two troopers wearing uniforms that identified them as being from the
Defiant
.

"What the hell is this?" Jason demanded, ignoring the sub-arctic glare from Kellea.

"It seems they had the same idea you did, but they were looking for you and not the missing Avarian princess," Crusher said, smiling and walking closer to his old crew. "It seems they would like the young girl you're traveling with handed over."

"That will not happen without a fight," Kalette spoke up, her soft voice lined with steel.

"First Attendant, perhaps we could--"

"Shut up!" Jason snapped, leveling a finger at Crisstof. The tone in the room changed and the guards all began looking at each other nervously. "You're not abducting anyone against their will, Crisstof, greater good or not ... or whatever bullshit you're peddling this time."

"I see some things never change," Crisstof said coldly.

"And some things do," Jason said, directing his comment at Crusher. "You fucking coward. What is this? Some petty payback for--" He didn't get to finish his sentence as Crusher backhanded him across the face with enough force that if he hadn't turned with it and spun he'd have been taken off his feet. As it was, he was barely able to continue all the way around and maintain his balance. He came back and swung hard, crashing his right fist into Crusher's face and catching him completely by surprise. But he carried too much momentum and as he was pitching forward the big warrior kicked him hard enough to send him flying.

The room erupted into chaos after that. Crisstof's troops surrounded him and Kellea, the Legionnaires all tried to move in to protect Crusher, and Kalette simply began screaming. Two warriors grabbed Jason and forced him to the ground. While down there he could see Crusher's silly boots walking towards him, but there was a
pop/whine
and the gold on the boots took on a red tinge and he heard Crusher grunt in pain.

"Order your guards to release the captain," Lucky's amplified voice boomed, cutting through the confusion. "I will not ask twice," he said after nobody moved. Jason felt the weight lift off his back and he was able to roll forward and onto his feet. When he bounced up he saw that Lucky was in full combat mode, his eyes blazing red, and had Crusher's left wrist clamped in his right hand. His left arm, complete with deployed plasma cannons, was aimed at the two guards that were holding Jason down.

"Are you always going to take his side?" Crusher asked, wincing in pain.

"Always," Lucky said simply. "We will be leaving and taking Kalette with us. Do not attempt to apprehend us or there will be bloodshed." Crusher angrily shook his arm free from Lucky's grasp.

"I want you off my planet by tomorrow," he said. Jason walked back over to where his crew stood, spitting a huge bloody glob onto the carpet right at Crusher's feet.

"Gladly."

They were all in the hallway, still somewhat wary, when Jason heard his name called from the door. He turned back and saw Kellea standing there alone.

"I'll catch up," he told Lucky. "Make sure Kalette makes it safely back to the
Phoenix
."

"It's been a long time," Kellea said uncomfortably as Jason approached.

"Two years and nine months," Jason confirmed. "I hope you're not wanting an apology from me, Kellea. I understand your point of view, but I stand behind my actions."

"I know," she said. "I don't expect you to. I just wanted to know why you never tried to contact me afterward."

"Your message was fairly explicit," Jason said, now thoroughly confused.

"I was angry," she said. "I didn't think you would actually listen. You never did about anything else I said."

"This was different," Jason said. "And if you really wanted to, you could have contacted me after some time had passed."

"I could have," she said with a nod, looking away. "After talking to Doc about how you'd been living I wasn't sure it was something either of us wanted." Jason opened his mouth to reply, but could only nod in agreement.

"It was good seeing you, Kellea," he said instead, turning and walking away. She stared after him for a moment before walking back into Crusher's office and rejoining an irate Crisstof.

Jason hustled down the hall, hoping to catch up with his crew before they were outside, and nearly collided with Kage.

"We're not going back to the ship," his diminutive friend said. "Morakar met us out here and arranged for rooms in one of the boarding halls here on the campus. He's also arranging for a work crew to repair the landing gear on the
Phoenix
. Twingo's on his way back to the hangar to supervise."