The Ghost Fleet Read online

  It wasn’t long until his windpipe was crushed.

  I’ve got to get out of here, Jeryl thought.

  He needed to get out of the fray, to remove himself from the line of fire. Though he was injured, he managed to duck behind a console. He peeked over it to keep an eye on the fight. Maybe the Armada would get lucky.

  But what are the odds of that?

  Jeryl watched from his helpless vantage point as Kaine continued to mow down Armada soldiers. Despite wearing a hefty suit of armor, Kaine was moving quickly and efficiently. His fighting skills were impeccable. Even though the soldiers were armed with rifles, most of them weren’t even able to get off a shot. Part of the problem was that the soldiers in the back couldn’t fire any shots at Kaine without running the risk of hitting one of their fellow Armada men.

  However, even the soldiers who were able to squeeze off a shot couldn’t pierce the exo—armor.

  After that, they quickly met their fate. The armor seemed to give Kaine the strength of ten men put together—ten men with metals fists to boot. Jeryl saw Kaine deliver deadly blows and choke the life out of the Armada soldiers, crushing them like one would crash snails under the heel of a combat boot. All the while, he seemed to not even be breaking a sweat.

  “You think this is impressive? You haven’t seen anything yet!” Kaine exclaimed.

  Suddenly, Jeryl saw two mounted guns pop out from the exo-armor’s shoulders. Kaine took a step back, feeling confident the Armada men wouldn’t be able to hurt him even with their guns, and began shooting. The soldiers began to fall one by one, the bullets’ cases tumbling at Kaine’s feet as the loud noise of his mounted guns drowned out the cries of agony. They were being mowed down with impunity.

  Jeryl just watched as it happened. What else could he do?

  Kaine continued to riddle the Armada soldiers with shots. How many had died? 15? 20? 30? Jeryl couldn’t keep count. All he could do was watch in horror.

  “Dear God,” he murmured to himself.

  Finally, the shooting stopped. He must’ve run out of ammo, Jeryl surmised. At this point, there were no more than a dozen soldiers left. Kaine advanced on them. Clearly, he wasn’t going to stop until every soldier was dead at his feet.

  “Fuck, fuck...I have to do something. What the fuck do I do?” Jeryl groaned in anguish.

  Yes, he was injured. Yes, Kaine was decked out in exo-armor. However, he knew that he couldn’t sit there and let Kaine win. There had to be something he could do.

  Jeryl turned toward a gun strewn on the floor. He slowly made his way over to grab it. I have to get close, he thought. There has to be a weakness in the armor.

  All Jeryl had to do was find a place the armor wasn’t covering. Perhaps he could surprise Kaine from behind and shoot him in the neck. It seemed like he might be able to wedge the gun in there, between two plates. He stalked Kaine, who was preoccupied with the soldiers. Surprise was necessary. Without it, he had no chance.

  Kaine was busy finishing off the last of the Armada soldiers. At this point, it was barely even registering with Jeryl. Maybe he could finish off Kaine before all the soldiers died.

  If I can just save one life…

  As Jeryl reached Kaine, all the soldiers were down.

  “YOU BASTARD!” Jeryl bellowed, and with all the quickness he could muster, he wrapped his arm around Kaine’s neck. He maneuvered his gun into place, but Kaine whipped around at the same time.

  The gun fired into the armor.

  Kaine merely groaned before turning around.

  He grabbed Jeryl by the top of his head and tossed him to the ground. Stunned, Jeryl watched as Kaine strode toward him, almost taunting him.

  “You shouldn’t have left me to die.”

  Jeryl didn’t respond. He was in too much pain. Kaine got down on one knee and wrapped his hand around Jeryl’s throat. He could feel the life being squeezed out of him. He knew that, if Kaine wanted, he could’ve killed him in an instant. The only reason for Jeryl still being alive was Kaine’s desire to make him suffer. He wanted to take his time.

  “Farewell, old friend,” Kaine hissed.

  Jeryl was close to passing out. He knew he was about to die. His life began to pass before his eyes.

  He saw Ashley, pregnant with his child.

  He saw her smile, her half-naked body pressed against his in bed.

  I’ll never get to see my child grow up.

  I’ll never get to meet him.

  Ashley and I will never have a future together—the future we dreamed of.

  We could’ve done so much.

  It would’ve been beautiful.

  He could see himself taking his kid everywhere, showing the child the wonders of the universe. He could see himself and Ashley growing old together; wrinkles and all.

  That wasn’t going to happen anymore. Jeryl felt like he had only a few breaths left. He looked into Kaine’s vicious eyes.

  He could have never imagined he’d die at the hands of a man he once viewed as a brother. A man he loved.

  In what he assumed were his final moments, regret overcame him.

  I could’ve made different choices. Why did I choose a life like this? Why didn’t I get out when I had the chance? I didn’t have to be a soldier. I didn’t have to be a captain. As soon as Ashley got pregnant, I should’ve retired.

  I shouldn’t be here.

  I brought this on myself.

  At this point, Jeryl didn’t even have the strength to think anymore.

  The lights were growing dim. He couldn’t breathe.

  This was the end.

  I’m sorry, Ashley.

  I’m so sorry.

  Chapter 33

  Tira

  Tira led her and Tua’s teams down a hallway across from the one they had used to get onto the wrong bridge. There were three shafts in this hallway with ladders. They couldn’t trust the lifts—those were almost guaranteed to be death traps.

  The ladder shafts weren’t going to be much safer, and they were definitely much slower, but she hoped that the Syndicate was thinking the Armada troops would use the lifts to save energy, time, and effort.

  Fifteen soldiers, broke into three teams of five, climbing up the ladders as fast as they could. The plan was to climb two decks, then rest for fifteen seconds, getting their breath back. They didn’t want to tire themselves out by climbing twelve decks all at once.

  It was a good plan, for two sets of floors. Four decks up, back on the same level as the hangar bay they had landed on, they encountered resistance. They were surrounded, pirates pouring into the hallway from the central shaft, while about ten more held the connection to the outer ring. Making a calculated decision—an extremely risky and potentially suicidal one—Tira ordered her teams to charge the outer ring hallway, ignoring those behind them.

  They rushed down the hallway, Tira and Tua leading the charge and Jessie’s rifle firing just past Tira’s left arm. They had managed to catch the Syndicate by surprise, and six of the pirates went down. Getting within an arm’s length, Tira tackled one of the pirates, cracking his skull on the floor. Tua took down two more, while Jessie continuously kicked the fourth.

  The rest of their team, ten in total, raced past them around the corners, particle beams trailing behind them. Tira dragged Jessie around the corner and gave her an ‘are you insane’ look, and then she brought her rifle up.

  She peeked around the corner and fired once—twice—three times, hitting three targets.

  With a silent sorry that was meant only for Tira, Jessie kneeled down next to her and fired, hitting one pirate in the hand.

  Pulling back behind the corner, Tira looked at Tua. “We need to go up. Any other teams nearby?”

  Tua turned to one of his people, someone that looked remarkably like him, and said something in a language she didn’t recognize. The smaller version checked his wrist computer and tapped on his communicator. As Tira, Tua, Jessie, and another kept firing down the hall, the smaller version of Tua spok
e quickly, then let out a grunt as he turned off his comm.

  “Four teams converging on the central CNC in one minute. Two teams coming our way now, six on the eight decks between us and the central CNC.”

  Tua grunted as a particle beam hit the wall next to his head. “Thank you, lil’ brod.” Firing off a shot, he looked at Tira. “You catch that, lil sista?”

  Yeah, she would have to look Tua up after this was all done—his voice was spectacular to listen to. “I got it. Can you handle this?”

  Tua nodded.

  “Good. Jessie, you’re with me. We’re going up.”

  “Ma’am!” Jessie fired off a few more shots, then followed Tira around the outer hall. They passed the two teams, giving them a quick recap of the situation and receiving information about what decks were still being fought for. They received confirmation that it was the central CNC they needed to get to. Nodding their thanks, Tira and Jessie made their way to the nearest lift.

  Jessie didn’t question anything, she just followed Tira silently. Tira was worried about her. There was a distinct change in Jessie’s demeanor since Sam was killed. She was normally laid back and easy going, even in a firefight.

  This version of Jessie was showing a level of determination that concerned Tira. Jessie was the one to crack jokes to keep everyone loose, but now she was glaring at everything. All Tira could do was keep going and hope to help Jessie out of her funk after things were done.

  They entered the lift and went up. As the doors opened, they entered a realm of chaos.

  Kaine was in an exo-armor, something Tira had never seen an Armada soldier wear. He was engaged in a very one-sided episode of hand-to-hand combat with almost two dozen Armada soldiers.

  “There’s the bastard responsible for Sam. Let’s kill the fucker,” Jessie growled, catching Tira by surprise. Jessie walked out of the lift, heading straight for Kaine. Tira raced after her, grabbing her by the shoulder and stopping her.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? That exoskeleton suit is virtually impenetrable. Look at what he’s doing to them.”

  It was horrific. Kaine was manhandling the Armada soldiers, grabbing them, flinging them around, choking them, using them as clubs, and firing at them. Dead bodies already littered the hall, several with crushed ribcages, one with a skull crushed beyond recognition of anything human.

  Then, Tira was able to see Jeryl, trying to make his way behind Kaine. He was moving slowly, gingerly, then it hit Tira…Jeryl was injured.

  Suddenly, something happened inside her. She felt a pang of fear and rage. Fear for Jeryl’s well-being, and rage at Kaine for hurting her friend.

  She let Jessie go and began to raise her rifle; then, when Kaine stepped back, he said something over his shoulder to Jeryl and had two shoulder guns pop up.

  Tira grabbed Jessie and dove to the side as Kaine let loose. Hundreds of rounds rained through the hallway, accompanied by screams of pain, death, and fear. Looking back, streaks of light lit up the hall as bodies fell.

  Tira crawled over to the hall and looked when the guns finally stopped.

  Jeryl jumped onto Kaine’s back, bringing his gun into position.

  Yes! Shoot that bastard in the head, Tira thought.

  But Kaine was too fast. His arm flew over his head, grabbing Jeryl and causing the gun to move, firing off into the armor. Kaine flipped Jeryl off of him, throwing him across the CNC’s floor.

  Then, Kaine walked over and grabbed Jeryl’s throat.

  He’s choking him. How the hell do I save him?

  Jessie rose to her feet and ran past Tira. Tira went to get up, but slipped in some blood, falling to a knee. Tira quickly got to her feet and tried to chase the young soldier—but thanks to the slip, Jessie was already too far ahead for Tira to stop her.

  Jessie took her rifle into both hands and slammed the butt of it into the back of Kaine’s head, forcing him to loosen his grip on Jeryl with a grunt of pain. Reaching around, he caught Jessie by the head, her face in the palm of his exo-armored hand.

  Tira stumbled through the bodies in the hall, trying to get to Jessie and Jeryl.

  Then, as she got onto the CNC, Jessie let out a deafening scream. Blood was flowing from her ears as Kaine continued to squeeze.

  “LET HER GO!”

  Kaine turned toward Tira and laughed. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, but it wasn’t enough. Jessie’s head crumbled in a sickening crunch and squish, blood and brain-matter oozing over Kaine’s fingers. Tira screamed in rage and jumped, landing a well-placed kick to Kaine’s shoulder. She then punched him twice in the head, her firsts carrying the strength of battering rams. “YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”

  Tira could feel the rage rushing through her bloodstream. She grabbed Kaine by his faceplate and squeezed tight. Her fingers hurt, but she knew that the faceplate would eventually give out under her strength.

  She could see Jeryl struggling to stay conscious .

  “It’s over, Kaine,” she whispered. “I can beat your exo-armor, and your people are losing. Give it up.”

  Kaine laughed. Then, moving fast, he brought one arm up and punched Tira in the face as hard as he could. She went flying to the side, crashing against one of the CNC walls.

  Jumping up, he took two steps to his left and quickly pushed three buttons. The dispassionate computer’s voice came over the speakers. “Warning—self-destruct sequence initiated. Self-destruct sequence initiated.”

  Kaine’s laughter became louder. “You think I don’t know who you are, Tira Avae? You have a choice to make, sweetheart, stop me or save your dear captain. Go ahead, try to get him off the station, you don’t have enough time.”

  You think I don’t know who you are, Tira Avae? His words echoed inside her head like thunder, but Tira didn't have the time to stop and think.

  His laughter mocked her as she grabbed Jeryl’s nearly-unconscious body and carried him off the CNC. Clicking on her comm, she told Tua to get off the station as they reached the lift.

  She punched the lift’s wall in impatience, swearing that the lift was slower than anything else in the history of mankind. The lift stopped, and as the door opened, Tira looked out with her rifle at the ready. Nothing was there, so she lowered her rifle then picked up Jeryl, helping him to his feet. His legs almost buckled, and she was forced to help him stand for a few moments before he was able to stand on his own.

  “We need to go!”

  Jeryl’s voice croaked back. “Lead the way.”

  Chapter 34

  Tira

  Tira dragged Jeryl into a large passageway that writhed around the entire space station like a rogue vine around a tree’s trunk.

  It was as if they had walked into chaos.

  “Down!” Tira bellowed, leaping into the air and crashing into Jeryl just as particle beams sliced through the air. They both crashed into a bulkhead that jutted into the corridor like a mistake.

  “There’s too many of them!” Tira yelled, peering around the bulkhead. She could see seven of Kaine’s men, taking up strategic positions all the way down to the point where the hallway cornered out of view.

  The hallway was lined with a transparent glass, through which they could see the ongoing space battle. It was total chaos, Hunters flying around, shuttles exploding and starships barreling into other starships.

  Shit! Tira thought as she saw a Hunter pilot get shot in the engines. The Hunter lost control and began plunging straight for the space station’s glass.

  “Fuck!” Tira blurted, instinctively throwing herself over Jeryl, whatever good that would do.

  In her periphery, she saw the Hunter crash into the space station’s shield and get incinerated upon contact. The impact, however, caused the entire corridor to flare with a bright white light and the entire section to tremble like an earthquake.

  Tira took advantage of this and bolted into the open. She rolled across the hallway, aimed, and fired. She switched aim and fired again. She leapt back into the safety of the bulkhead
, just as two out of the seven men fell to the ground, dead.

  “Give me a weapon,” Jeryl suddenly said.

  His hoarse voice was like a shock to her. She glanced at him. His skin was ghostly white.

  That can’t be good, she thought.

  His eyes almost looked like the eyes of the dead. There was still a five finger imprint on his neck, which had metamorphosed into a nasty reddish black bruise.

  Tira performed her assessment in the twinkle of an eye and concluded that she couldn’t trust him with a weapon.

  At that moment, she sensed a presence. The soldiers across the hallway were still firing in her direction, but there was someone else approaching as well. Tira knew this tactics. Suppression fire tactics.

  She sneered softly. Child’s play.

  When she was sure that the approaching soldier was within reach, she swiftly bent out of the cover. She saw the soldier—a lanky, wide-eyed man with a Tyreesian shocker rifle and a face full of scars.

  Tira quickly aimed.

  The soldier paused for a moment, stricken with terror as he saw her.

  “Die, motherfucker!” she roared and fired off a series of bullets. She pulled back into the cover less than a second after.

  “Tira, we can’t keep doing this,” Jeryl managed to say. His breathing was so labored, Tira feared for him.

  “Sorry, Captain, but you don’t look to be in such a good shape,” she said.

  Tira looked at him one more time. Jeryl’s eyes were glassy, and he was having difficulty keeping his head straight. His hands were lax at his sides, his fingers spread out like as one with paralysis.

  Tira hunched instinctively as a particle beam flash cut through the bulkhead before her. The soldiers were closer.

  “You don't have a choice,” Jeryl said with a smile on his face. “This space station will explode any moment from now.”

  Tira leaped up to a squat and fired randomly into the hallway. As she was doing this, she swept the path to the bend ahead, taking note of every soldier between her and her prize. Then she bent down just as the soldiers began returning fire.