The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (30 page)

UNIVERSE IN FLAMES
A Novella

Ryonna’s Wrath

By Christian Kallias

On the next pages you can read a sample of this novella (2 chapters)

C H A P T E R

I

Ryonna watched the
Iron Fire
enter hyperspace and felt a little sadness. She was surprised by the feeling, as well as the bond she had quickly formed with both Sarah and Chase. After all, she was not used to trusting strangers, especially these days, while being on the run. But both their plight and predicament, as well as the generosity they had displayed towards her, warmed her heart. She felt sorry for Sarah. Ryonna’s vision had indicated that her end was near. If it hadn’t been for her, she probably wouldn’t have struck a deal with Chase and the Alliance, and she wouldn’t know where Ronan was.

Ronan.

She had to get to her son as fast as possible, but going inside Hellstar prison half-assed would not achieve anything. She longed to see her son more than anything in the world. More so since her husband had passed. Ronan had become the center of her universe. Worrying and being overprotective was not the Droxian way, but she couldn’t help it. From the day they had discovered his genetic weakness, and during the years spent hiding it from the Droxian Ministry of Health, her bond with her son had grown beyond that of most Droxian parent-child interactions.

She brushed the thoughts away. Now was the time to devise a plan to get to Hellstar, with at least a hint of hope of getting out of there alive. First things first. She needed to acquire a jump-capable ship. She opened the holographic star map in the Alliance’s shuttle and studied her current location. She didn’t have much currency, so buying a ship was not an option. She would probably have to steal one.

Her eyes fell on the few credits Sarah had given her, lying on the co-pilot’s console next to hers. Her mind wandered a little, but soon a bleep from her own console caught her attention.

“Recorded message awaiting,” said the onboard computer with a male, synthesized voice.

What message?

She touched the control and soon an image of Chase’s smiling face filled the holo-screen.

“Hello, Ryonna, I took the liberty to record this before you were ready to depart. I wanted to re-iterate our thanks for your generous donation of the quadrinium we need so much. I wish we could have come with you to Hellstar to help you free Ronan. As soon as we repel the Zarlack attack on Earth, we’ll try to get back in touch with you. Hopefully we can still help you achieve your goal. I don’t have to tell you Hellstar is a very dangerous place, so please be careful and make sure you have a plan before going in.”

She smiled at Chase’s advice, which matched her own analysis of the situation.

“I’ve taken the liberty of dropping a couple of hundred pounds of quadrinium into this shuttle’s cargo hold. I know you said you didn’t need it, but we both know this stuff has value, and you may need the cash to buy equipment. You gave us more than enough, and one day I hope we can repay you for your incredibly generous gesture. I’ve also loaded the onboard computer with some of my autopilot flight patterns. If you get into trouble, don’t hesitate to activate them. Hope to see you soon. Farewell and good luck, Ryonna.”

The holo-screen turned off, and the emotions she had been feeling moments before returned with a vengeance. She had been wary of trusting Chase when they first met, but not being able to see his death when she looked at him puzzled her. That had never happened before and threw her off. Instinctively she felt he was hiding something. Sarah, however, had convinced her they meant no harm and were willing to help her. This message from Chase reaffirmed the conclusion she had reached in the hours following their first meeting, namely that he indeed meant well and had a good heart.

“Thank you, Chase,” she said out loud.

As if an answer, her ship trembled from what felt like laser impacts on the aft side of her shuttle. She raised her shields and checked her radar. She could see no signature, so she turned the shuttle for a visual. She was rewarded with another set of laser impacts on her shields. She swore. She caught a glimpse of her attacker’s craft, and while she didn’t recognize the ship it was noticeably bigger than her own.

Probably equipped with a hyperspace engine, then.

Her ship’s shield absorbed more salvos, and she took evasive action, which helped a little. For a split second she wondered if she shouldn’t simply activate the device Chase had given her. After all,
Iron Fire
had only left a few minutes ago. But she decided against it. She didn’t like the idea of calling for help at the first sign of trouble. She also knew that Sarah and Chase were on a time-sensitive mission. A few minutes’ delay could be catastrophic for them and the people of Earth. After more laser impact with her shuttle’s shield, the onboard computer complained that the shields had dropped below forty percent.

She needed to think fast. She brought up the schematics of the shuttle and diverted all power to the shields, boosting them to nearly sixty percent; and then she accessed the engine’s schematics and looked for a way to eject quadrinium from its chambers. While the controls of Alliance vessels were new to her she had flown enough ships to understand the basics. It took another five hits and more warnings from the computer before she saw what she was looking for. But it would take time to make the necessary adjustments to eject the quadrinium and ignite it, and with every moment her shields were lowering. That’s when part of Chase’s message struck her.

“Computer, show me autopilot patterns.”

The holo-screen filled with different, pre-programmed patterns. She selected “aggressive evasive” from the list, a pattern called Delta-7. The moment she activated it the ship took over piloting duties, and it didn’t take long to realize that the automatic patterns flew the ship much more efficiently than she did. That gave her the necessary time for the next part of her plan. She diverted more power to her shields from the weapons, which she wasn’t using anyway, as well as ninety percent of life support. The way this fight was going—one sided and with her getting her ass kicked—this bold maneuver would either succeed or she’d die trying. Once she had redirected every ounce of power to the shields, she regained manual control and executed the commands she had been working on.

Her ship released smoke from her engines, simulating damage. She waited a few seconds to see if that would stop her pursuer, but her instincts told her this pilot was not interested in only disabling her. A few more salvos took another ten percent of her shields and confirmed her gut instinct.

“Yep, they want me dead alright.”

She slowed down, and soon the attacking ship was upon her. She locked onto it with the shuttle’s tractor beam and then ejected the quadrinium, redirecting all power to the aft lasers. Dragging the ship into the quadrinium cloud, she fired at it with her aft lasers at full power. The resulting explosion rocked the shuttle, severing the tractor beam and taking out whatever was left of the shuttle’s shields. With inertial dampeners set to the minimum she experienced tremendous g-forces when the ship entered a wild spin. Fortunately, Droxian physiology allowed her to withstand much stronger forces than this before risking loss of consciousness. She recovered from the spin and saw an array of warning lights on her consoles, followed by multiple vocal warnings: “Shields down, structural integrity comprised,” said the monotonic, synthesized voice of the onboard computer.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” said Ryonna as she turned about to look at her target.

Sparks erupted inside her cockpit and the lights flickered. Her shuttle was in bad shape, but that was to be expected.

“Low power! Low power!” wailed the onboard computer.

Annoyed that the AI was stating the obvious, she turned off vocal alerts.

Approaching the ship that had fired on her without warning, she saw it had been heavily damaged and was slowly spinning in space, smoke and sparks escaping from one side. All that was left to do was board the ship and hope she hadn’t damaged its jump engines beyond repair. She located the target ship’s nearest landing bay and landed her shuttle inside. She checked the cargo bay for atmosphere. She could leave her ship without resorting to an EVA suit.

She left the cockpit and set her blaster to maximum stun, while running towards the cargo door. With determination and anger in her eyes she punched the release button with her elbow and raised her blaster towards the now-descending cargo ramp.

C H A P T E R

II

The ramp descended to the ground of the cargo bay of the unknown ship. Ryonna heard a wailing alarm, no doubt related to the heavy damage she had inflicted on the ship just moments before. She stepped down the ramp, blaster in hand, and checked her surroundings, making sure no one was waiting in ambush. After a few seconds she mentally marked the cargo bay as clear. She approached the nearest console and brought up a schematic of the ship. She exited the cargo bay, her weapon still pointing forward, and made her way to the bridge. She avoided the turbo lifts, preferring to use ladders inside the nearest bulkhead.

At the bridge’s door she took a deep breath and stormed in. A humanoid male on the floor had his weapon drawn. She jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the laser fire from his blaster. The laser grazed Ryonna’s hair as she landed on the deck and rolled behind a nearby console.

“Why did you fire on my ship?” she exclaimed from behind her cover.

There was no answer, but three more blasts impacted the console protecting her. Sparks flew over her head and some landed in her hair. 

“Fine, let’s do it your way!”

She removed one of her boots and threw it to her right, while jumping in the opposite direction.

Laser fire hit her flying boot, and while in midair she lined up her shot and pressed the trigger. The stun shot hit her target in the thorax and he collapsed with a groan. Small sparks of lightning ran over his body armor. She took no chances and fired three more stun shots. His limbs jerked and spasmed. His eyes were closed when she approached, her blaster still pointed at his head, ready to fire again if necessary. When she was near enough she kicked the man’s blaster away. She placed her knee on the torso of the motionless body and checked his pulse. She found one, and proceeded to search his body for more weapons. She found a second, smaller blaster in a chest holster, as well as a few small blades, morning stars and a light-blade attached to his belt. His skin was a pale-green tone and he had markings on his face.

Gotta be a bounty hunter to be armed to the teeth like that. I wonder how they found me, especially in that Alliance ship? So much for hoping an Alliance ship would provide anonymity, allowing me to move discreetly in the sector.

She dragged his body to a chair and sat him down. She changed settings on her weapon and shot twice more. Two energy lasso shots immobilized him at both chest and feet height, emitting a low level hum and radiating blue light.

Ryonna sat next to her immobilized prey. She tried accessing the console in front of her but the computer refused her commands.

“Non-authorized personnel access, locking the computer core. Please provide valid biometrics identification,” said the onboard computer, before turning on a hand scanner on its glass controls.

Ryonna smashed her fists on the controls, frustrated. The glass on the console cracked and cut her hand. For a second she looked at the droplets of blood falling on the floor. She wiped the blood on her pants and picked up her blaster. There was no way of knowing if anyone else was on board without computer control. Since she had managed to bring up the schematics of the ship in the cargo bay she hadn’t expected the bridge’s console to be locked. But it made sense. She had similar contingencies in place in her own smuggler’s ship. Low-level access to plans and cargo direction so she didn’t have to babysit the unloading crew, but critical systems on the bridge would only work for authorized personnel.

She tried accessing the same controls on the console in front of her hostage. A similar warning was issued and the hand scanner came on. She dragged the unconscious man’s hand from the grip of the force lasso and put it on the scanner. It turned green, but then the computer requested a vocal command code.

“Well, that was worth a try.”

There was no alternative. She brandished her blaster in front of her and resigned herself to going room to room, checking the current level. It took ten minutes to check every corner and all the rooms. Her head started to buzz from the surrounding alarms. When she couldn’t take it any longer she started shooting the speakers on the walls. She decided to go to the engine room and assess its state. Her outside survey while approaching the ship had revealed substantial damage on the plating as well as a nasty hole on the port side of the ship. When she tried entering the engine room a vocal warning resonated. “Engine room radiation level outside safe limits, access restricted.”

“That can’t be good.”

She needed access to the ship’s computer as well as information on her attacker, so she ran back to the bridge. Not taking any risks she entered carefully and scanned every corner for surprises. She heard a small groan. Her hostage was slowly returning to consciousness.

“About time!” Ryonna had gone overboard, stunning him repeatedly when she took him out of commission. She had been angry. She didn’t appreciate being shot at the minute
Iron Fire
had gone into hyperspace. She had overdone the stun shots in the heat of the moment.

She approached the chair just as the man released another faint moan. Ryonna slapped him across the face without thinking twice.

When he tried jumping out of his chair he was rewarded with strong pain from the energy lassos holding him in place. The pain generated increased exponentially the more the subject struggled, a fact he quickly became aware of. He soon stopped struggling.

“Who sent you to kill me, bounty hunter?”

The man looked straight at Ryonna, his bright-blue eyes trying to gauge her.

That was when it happened. She saw the moment of his death, and it looked as if Ryonna would be delivering a knife to his neck. She pushed the thought away. She rarely spared a man who had tried to kill her anyway.

“I’ve asked a question,” warned Ryonna in an icy tone.

The man looked at his restraints and then around the room.

“Last warning,” she added, with more than enough menace in her voice.

The man spat on the ground and looked at Ryonna with a wide grin. “Go fuck yoursel—”

He never finished his answer. Ryonna punched him in the stomach with full force and he spat blood onto her forearm. She grabbed his dark, purple hair and wiped the blood off his face. He tried to bite Ryonna, but she was ready for such a move. She jabbed her elbow into his throat, pushing a little more each second.

“You were saying,” said Ryonna, before sniffing heavily, “you stinking piece of crap.”

His eyes were closed from the crushing pain of Ryonna’s elbow on his throat. He could barely breathe. Just when Ryonna felt he would lose consciousness she removed her elbow. The man wheezed heavily and coughed a little more blood before he was able to get some much-needed air back into his lungs.

“Let’s try this again. I suggest you don’t play with my patience. It’s been one of those days.”

“W . . . what . . .” He took another painful breath and tried clearing his throat. “What was the question?”

“Who sent you to kill me?”

“I can’t tell you that and you know it!”

“Wrong answer.”

Ryonna took one of the man’s own blades and jabbed it straight into his right thigh. He screamed loudly. Already suffering a headache from the alarms constantly resonating within the ship for the last half an hour, Ryonna took the man’s blaster and put it in his mouth, which promptly stopped him from shouting. His look changed from defiant to terrified in a split second. His face painted a picture of pain.

She lowered her face to his level and looked straight in his eyes.

“I suggest you suffer in silence or I’ll make sure you never make another sound again. Are we clear?”

The man slightly tilted his head up and down, one eye closed and teeth clenched on the muzzle of his own blaster.

“Now can you please turn this commotion off? I can’t hear myself think, and that usually results in bad decision making on my part.”

She took the blaster out of his mouth. He took two deep breaths. “Computer, alarms off.”

The multiple audio signals all turned off at once, and finally the headache Ryonna had had since shortly after her arrival on board started to dispel.

“Thank you. Now, if you’d be so kind as to unlock the main computer and give me full access.”

He looked at her with doubts, which Ryonna decided she had to eradicate quickly. She took the blade out of his thigh and blood started gushing. The man moaned.

“I can do this all day, but I’d rather we make it quick.”

“What’s my incentive to help you? You’ll kill me anyway.”

“That really depends on what information you give me. And in your line of work I don’t think I need to remind you that there are many ways of killing a man, some more painful than others.”

“Not good enough. I need assurance you will let me go.”

“I give you my word.” She knew full well she wouldn’t be able to keep it.

“While Droxians are known for their honor, I don’t trust your word. No offence.”

Ryonna exhaled in frustration. She needed to get going as soon as possible. She decided to go back to physical threats and amp up her game if necessary. She didn’t enjoy torture much, but it was an effective tool when pressed for time, as she was at the moment.

She took the bloodied blade she had extracted from the man’s thigh and wiped the blood off, using the man’s dark pants. His eyes followed her every movement with concern. She then put it next to the other weapons she had confiscated from him, and started browsing the different blades, tapping each a couple of times before moving to the next, until she stopped at the morning star. She flipped it in the air like a coin and stopped it from spinning by catching it between two extended fingers. She examined it for a while, turning it around.

“This will do.”

“Will do for what?”

She grabbed his hair and bent his head backwards as she planted the morning star right under one of his eyes.

“Well, you don’t need your eyes to answer my questions.”

“WAIT!”

“Talk . . .
fast
!”

“Okay, okay, just don’t remove my eye.”

“Eyes.”

“I received my warrant from a guy named Grolax.”

“That no good piece of . . .” She paused in mid sentence. ”How much am I worth since my last visit to him?”

“One hundred thousand.”

“I should have ended him on Hathan Prime.”

“I can help you correct that mistake.”

“Why on Droxia would I ever need your help?”

“Well, it’s not a selfless act, obviously. I really would like to keep breathing, and it seems to me that if I have something to provide, you may be more inclined to let me.”

“Speak.”

Grolax did amp up his security, and I don’t mean just more guards. You must have rattled him ’cause he’s got shadow droids patrolling around every places he goes, and he hired sentinels too.”

Ryonna clenched her teeth. She must have spooked Grolax for him to adopt such heavy measures in less than a day. Sentinels were renowned for being the best bodyguards in close-quarter combat. And shadow droids were no picnic either. That would make approaching him more difficult. But she had to deal with Grolax nonetheless. Not before making sure she got some important information out of him. If there was one scumbag in this part of space who could help her locate someone with information about Hellstar security measures, it was probably him.

“I take it from your silence that you’re considering my offer?”

“Don’t celebrate just yet. I was mostly thinking about what I would do to this piece of Tran’Kahr droppings once I get my hands on him.”

“Somehow I get an idea . . .”

“Believe me, you don’t.”

The man swallowed hard.

“What’s your name by the way?”

“Alix Dar.”

“Well, Alix, as a gesture of good faith, would you please give me computer control.”

He looked at her, trying to gauge if his speech had worked.

“You don’t really have a choice here. I can get access on my own and you know it. It would just take longer, unless I make you scream again and use your vocal patterns as identification for the second layer of security.”

“You thought of that, did you?” said Alix, resigned.

“That would be my next move, yes. You gave me the idea when you squealed a few moments ago.”

“Speaking of that, would you mind if we did something about that wound? I’m starting to feel light headed.”

“Then I suggest you speak faster, starting with computer control.”

“Computer, accept executive-level control by all current passengers.”

“Confirmed,” replied the onboard control.

“Thanks,” said Ryonna, jumping into the chair next to Alix’s.

“What are you doing?”

“Setting a course for Hathan Prime. Fortunately, we aren’t very far away, but I’d rather not lose any more time.”

“What’s so urgent?”

“None of your business, Alix,” snapped Ryonna, pointing a warning finger at him. “Let’s get this straight right now. I’m willing to spare you, for the time being, but you may want to restrain from asking questions about things that don’t concern you.”