Realms Of The Gods Page 5

  ‘Where do we go now, communications or the bridge?’ Valaria asked.

  Brohan frowned, vaguely aware that her fangs were now fully extended. ‘Security will secure the bridge and jumper bays first, before they try to retake the reactors and restart them.’ At Valaria’s surprised look he said, ‘Can’t you feel them?’

  Her eyes widened in surprise. ‘They’re quiet.’

  Brohan nodded. ‘We don’t know the situation or how many there are but, after securing the bridge from assault and the jumper bays to stop any further incursions or escapes, they’ll want to get the reactors back online, fast. The pulse cannons and the force field controls, too; everything else is incidental. The main communications hub will be last. Tannan might be able to reroute some form of communication to security through the bridge, if he’s there. If that’s the case it means they have taken the communications section, and as things stand, it’s our only way of alerting them that Tae is gone.’

  Valaria nodded. ‘We passed that section on the way in, it’s only one flight down, we’re very close.’

  Brohan grimaced. ‘I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay here?’

  Valaria gave him a scathing look. ‘As if.’

  She trotted down the corridor in her bare feet, leaving Brohan to follow in her wake. They took the turbo lift down one level and exited near the corridor to the communications section, passing two dead techs as they went. A subtle intenseness had come over Valaria as she passed them, her whole body seemed to take on a smoother, more feral grace, she reminded Brohan of a giant cat stalking its unsuspecting prey. They stopped at the corridor to the main communications room.

  ‘I have an idea. They will be on the lookout for guards, but they might not expect me.’ She winked.

  ‘No,’ whispered Brohan alarmed. ‘I forbid it!’

  Valaria drew her head back and her eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘What did you just say?’

  Brohan glared at her. ‘I won’t risk you.’

  ‘Have you got a better idea for getting close to them then? I can do this, Brohan, trust me.’

  Brohan remained quiet. ‘Just give me a moment,’ he said quietly.

  Valaria shrugged and hid the zap gun behind her back in her waistband, then adjusted her little white skirt so it sat a fraction higher. She then pulled her canary yellow top down until her breasts looked ready to fall out. Giggling loudly she staggered around the corner as if she were drunk, all while singing to herself.

  Brohan fumed. Damn it. Well, too late now, he thought angrily. All he could do was pray that her ruse would work.

  Three quarters of the way to her target a small brownhaired thalien in a maintenance uniform stepped out of the doorway to the communications section. Valaria smiled drunkenly at him.

  ‘Well hi there, handsome.’ She said in a slurred voice as she continued her staggering walk toward him.

  She was almost to him when she saw him beginning to move a zap gun up from his hip. She struck fast, her hand lashing straight up, the palm rigid as it smashed his nasal bones straight up into his brain, he was dead before he hit the floor. Not stopping for an instant she continued on from him as he fell. She knew he was dead, but there were others inside, she could hear them. Drawing her zap gun from the back of her skirt she launched herself into the room in a dive, quickly looking around as she flew through the door. Two more.

  Going into a roll she came up on one knee ready to shoot. She nailed the thalien female by the main com-panel in the head before throwing herself sideways, just as another female fired at her. She felt the heat of the zap gun’s beam as it passed her left arm. Damn bitch, that was too close, I must be either out of practice or getting old. Angry at either thought she fired again, hitting the other woman in the chest.

  Brohan stormed into the room as she picked herself up. ‘What the hell was that?’ he said, his eyes wide in amazement.

  Valaria winked and gave him her most saucy grin. ‘Remember when I told you I switched professions to become a pleasure giver? Before that I was a warrior, and occasional spy. Obviously I’m fabulous at everything I do.’

  Picking herself up she looked around dispassionately. The dead were scattered around the huge room, most were still at their com-panels as if merely sleeping. ‘By the look of things they got those other two on the way in and took the rest by surprise.’ Noticing two empty canisters on the floor she quickly went over to a bank of dead workers and leant down to sniff at a couple of them near their hairlines.

  She frowned. ‘Bastards,’ she said. ‘I’m pretty sure they used Calavia poison, I can still smell the faintest hint of lemongrass, the poor bastards didn’t stand a chance.’

  Brohan snapped his gaping mouth closed, still stunned that this beautiful, delicate looking woman, had just handed three coldblooded killers their arses in a sling. He was kicking himself that he’d never bothered to ask what she’d done before she had come to Jaxburg. He was even more embarrassed by the thought that she could more than likely kick his arse to hell and back, if she wished. Damn!

  Brohan went over to the equipment and began turning the mainframe back on to start the sections systems, he then put in a general coding that he knew from his own time as a warrior to bring the bridge back online first.

  ‘Elite Commander Tannan, are you there?’ he asked.

  ‘Who is this?’ Tannan’s voice came through, sounding totally enraged.

  ‘Brohan,’ he said. ‘Valaria and I are in communications. Valaria just retook it,’ he said proudly, eyeing his ever surprising woman as she was turning equipment back on. ‘The techs are all dead, it looks like Calavia poisoning. There are two in the next corridor that have had their necks broken as well. Valaria took out the three thalien that did it, one male, and two females, all in maintenance uniforms.’

  Tannan cursed. ‘I’ll send more techs as soon as I can. Just get me fully back online if you can. When someone arrives to relieve you come straight to the bridge. In the meantime do what you can to restore all communications.’

  ‘Elite Commander,’ Brohan continued, ‘Tae is missing.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Brohan, but I’ve got more serious concerns at the moment. Once we retake the ship we will begin a search. In the meantime don’t let any damn thalien, or anyone in maintenance uniforms near that corridor. Actually; if you see any thalien at all you have my express permission to shoot to kill.’

  ‘Yes sir, I’ll see you soon.’ Brohan signed off, startled at the Commanders last words, obviously things were worse than he had initially thought. He turned back to Valaria, they had a job to do, and despite Tae being missing, he knew his first priority was to the safety of the ship and all those onboard. Retirement didn’t mean he stopped being a warrior.

  ‘He’s sending more techs as soon as we get him back online.’ Walking to the door with his zap gun raised he settled in to await the arrival of reinforcements. ‘Turn everything you can back on while I guard the door, for the moment our job is to restore as much of the ships communications as quickly as possible. When the techs arrive we’re going straight to the bridge to find out what the hell is going on. And just where in Hades’ name Tae has disappeared to

  Chapter 7

  Vesh came awake in a rush. He knew instinctively that something was wrong. His ears pricked, swiveling automatically as he raised his head and scented the air for danger. It took him a minute to realize what it was. The Olympus was too quiet, he could no longer feel the rhythmic pulse of her reactors. He had been onboard for so long that the constant light thrum that was always present had become like a part of him. He jumped up and dressed quickly, and, after finding he was unable to reach anyone, he headed straight for the armory. Lieutenant Kell, his second, was already there. He looked worried.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Vesh grabbed a zap gun and spare crystals, shoving the crystals into his jacket pocket.

  ‘I’ve been trying to call you, Commander. Someone’s powering down reactors one and four. I’ve already sent some m
en to four, Sergeant Blake’s with them, he has his usual over supply of stun balls on him, thank the Gods. I’m hoping they should have it back online soon. We also think there are two unknown hostiles near reactor one’s core, they haven’t been able to break in and we have them pinned down, but they’ve managed to do a manual shutdown. If you’re thinking about the other reactor, forget it. Reactor three has been offline for the last month for a service, so it can’t be reactivated anytime soon, and I have no idea what’s happening with reactor two. Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, our communications are shot, so that means that whoever has done this is probably attacking our shield and pulse cannon control centers as well. I’ve ordered what troops I’ve seen on my way here to block off the bridge and the jumper bays, and I’ve got a few warriors that were on break with me in the mess heading straight for the pulse cannon, and the force field control centre. I’m hoping the Elite Commander will be working on redirecting communications from the bridge.’

  Vesh nodded. ‘Good work Lieutenant; do we know who they are?’

  Kell nodded. ‘A tech near reactor one was shot but survived, he said it was two thalien maintenance workers. I’ve told the men to stun any thalien in maintenance uniforms and put them in the brig if they’re near any sensitive areas.’

  Vesh nodded, slapping a fresh power crystal into his gun. ‘Grab some stunners.’ he said as he grabbed a half dozen of the small innocuous looking stun balls for himself.

  ‘You join those in the pulse cannon and force field control centre’s, just grab any of our people you see on the way to help. I’ll dig these bastards out of reactor one and two, as well as communications.’ Kell nodded and ran off.

  Vesh sprinted into the reactor’s corridor six minutes later panting and in a light sweat. He’d taken every turbo lift and shortcut he could find but the Olympus was a massive ship. When he finally arrived he found his men exchanging fire with someone just down the corridor. Vesh pulled out three stun balls, activated them, he then threw two toward the door where the unseen enemies were hiding.

  They tried firing at them, actually taking one out quickly. These aren’t just maintenance workers, these pricks know what they’re doing. He thought as he tossed another stun ball, just as the previous one flew into the room. He heard firing and a curse as the last one he had thrown entered the room. It exploded in a ball of light and sound. Despite covering his ears the noise still sent his eardrums buzzing painfully, he disregarded the pain and led his men as they rushed into the room with weapons raised.

  They found two thalien males and one female, all in maintenance uniforms, unconscious on the floor. All of reactor one’s tech crew were either slumped on the floor or lying across their com-panels, they looked to be either dead or unconscious. He kicked the thalien’s guns away then turned to his men.

  ‘Strip them, search them thoroughly and then scan them, that includes hair and teeth. If they have a god damned orifice I expect you to make sure there’s nothing in it that shouldn’t be there. When you’re finished with that, throw these bastards in separate cells – naked and cuffed to a chair. If I find any variation to my orders the person who disobeyed them will be in there with them, is that understood?’ His people nodded and he continued. ‘Someone get some techs in here now, we need this reactor up and running again, we’re going to start losing our artificial gravity soon if we don’t get it restarted in a hurry. I’m heading for reactor two then on to communications.’

  Vesh was in a the hallway close to reactor two when another of his personnel, Corporal Randall, raced around the corner and nearly collided with him. Randall skidded to a halt and gave him a quick salute. She quickly informed him that she and a half dozen of their security forces had been passing reactor two on their way to the gymnasium when the reactor had started to power down. When they went to ask what was happening they had been fired at, luckily no-one was hurt apart from a couple of zap gun grazes. They had immediately tried to reach him only to find there were no communications, after that nasty surprise they did as Vesh had trained them to do. They acted in the best interest of the ship and took back the reactor. Once they had accomplished their goal Randall left the others on guard to come find their commander.

  Vesh gave her the same orders as he had his other warriors, telling the corporal to find some techs and get it restarted as soon as possible. Before he left he patted her on shoulder.

  ‘Well done,’ he said. It was a small gesture, but he was proud of his people, all of their rigorous training drills had finally paid dividends at a crucial time. A smile formed on Randall’s face at the praise, Vesh turned just as quickly and left again, he still had another job to do. He sprinted back the way he had come, heading for the communications control centre. As he did, Tannan came back online from his position on the bridge.

  ‘Tannan? Is that you?’ Vesh asked. ‘We have reactor one and two under our control again, hopefully the techs will be moving back in soon.’

  ‘Good,’ Tannan said. ‘Brohan and Valaria are in communications, Valaria killed the three thalien that captured it. I have told them to hold it until backup arrives.’

  ‘What in Hades’ name?’ Tannan went quiet for a moment, followed a short time later by a burst of uncharacteristic cursing.

  ‘That’s the least of our problems.’ Tannan’s voice resonated with rage. ‘We’re receiving a message from the Hindishah, they say they are going to kill the gods. The Hindishah is moving toward the pavilion.’ Tannan cursed loudly. ‘That stinking thalien has Tae on their bridge.’

  There was a moment’s silence as Vesh tried to comprehend what was happening.

  ‘Damn it, she’s just opened fire on the pavilion, Vesh, Zeus and all the other gods are still down there’ Tannan said in despair.

  Vesh’s skin grew cold as another voice came over the com. It was Sergeant Blake reporting the recapture of reactor four. Vesh couldn’t think about the gods now, they would have to rely on one of the other ships to protect them. He had only one option open to him, so he continued with the problem at hand. He told Blake to give the same instructions to his men that he himself had given to Randall, he needed them to hold the prisoners, he wanted someone to question when this was over. He then told Blake to meet him in communications and sprinted off.

  Tannan came over the line again. ‘Damn it! None of the other ships are moving. I think we’ve all been hit at the same time, by the same group.’

  Shit. Vesh thought. The gods are going to need a miracle to get out of this.

  Chapter 8

  As soon as Jalek dragged Tae into the turbo lift she glanced at their floor level. Eleven, the first chance she got she’d be heading straight back down. The lift zoomed upward as she tried desperately to stay on her feet and remain conscious. Jalek kept dragging her arm backward and forward, watching her closely. He knew he was moving the broken bone and causing her intense pain, and judging by the small smile playing at the edges of his mouth, it was obviously keeping him content for the time being.

  She was crying in earnest still, and she had no problem with it. It kept Jalek happy, and that meant it kept her alive for a little while longer, and as long as she was alive she still had a slim chance of finding a way out of this mess. Besides, there was no way she could stop, even if she wanted to. If only she could find out what was going on she might stand a chance.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ she gasped between sobs. ‘Why hurt the gods? Is it because Zeus killed Pan? They will hunt you down and kill you if you try to hurt them.’

  Jalek curled his lip in contempt. ‘I sometimes forget just how truly stupid and pathetic the Terran people are. There is far more afoot here than your puny mind could ever comprehend. We have already disabled their so-called mighty ships.’ He turned away, murmuring so softly that Tae almost missed it. ‘And she will always protect me from harm.’

  Although totally confused, Tae felt as if she were finally getting somewhere, she got the distinct impression he was talking to himself an
d hadn’t mean to say that strange statement aloud. She needed to know more so she tried a different tactic. ‘Do you serve Ares? We heard he ordered Pan to kidnap my mother and brother.’

  ‘silence!’ Jalek roared. The turbo lift came to a stop and he wrenched her arm viciously. Tae’s vision swam and she screamed involuntarily. She tried to quiet herself, although she still occasionally gasped in agony as Jalek dragged her down a short corridor. ‘Ares will soon be dead, along with Zeus. As soon as he comes out of her swamp, he’s ours.’

  Tae had no idea what he was on about, what swamp, and what did he mean by- her? But she was now too scared to speak in case he twisted her arm again, she thought she’d most likely pass out if he did, and she knew that doing that would be very bad for her.

  They entered a room filled with a least two dozen people seated at various comunits. In front of all of them at the front of the room was a large screen which had divided itself up into several, smaller screens. Each individual screen showed one of the surrounding ships belonging to the other gods, while one showed the pavilion. Instead of being threedimensional, like their workstations, the main screen had been switched back to a simple twodimensional display for easier viewing.

  Jalek brought her just inside the door then stopped, releasing her so abruptly that she staggered.

  ‘Report,’ he said.

  A grey-haired man with a large nose and extremely full, almost pouty lips spoke. ‘Elite Commander,’ he said, ‘the mission is a success. All ships are showing signs of distress, we are now free to move.’

  Jalek smiled triumphantly at the bridge crew. ‘I want everything our bridge does broadcast to the rest of the ships here.’ He said, waving his hand around exultantly. ‘I want those fools to know exactly who has defeated them.’