Orphaned warrior dragon.., p.31
Orphaned Warrior (Dragon Spawn Chronicles Book 5), page 31
He leaned in, letting the scanner read his eye. The door slid open, the hiss setting the hairs on his neck on end. It was empty.
“You damned chima,” he said under his breath. Not only had Vance foreseen this, he let it happen.
Chusho. What next? He crossed his arms. A deep-rooted dread gnawed through his core as a final, desperate plan took shape.
Vance wanted a showdown. Knowing him, he’d also want the advantage while still giving Jori a fighting chance. The psychopath liked to win but he also liked a challenge. Jori would give him that challenge.
Yes, he’d likely die. Zaina probably would too. But at least MEGA-Man could no longer use him to murder more innocent and naïve people like Rodrigo. He abhorred the idea of sacrificing her life too, but Vance hadn’t given him much choice.
So much for finding a different path.
53 – Shadow of Death
Rodents, stoats, lagomorphs, shrews, and even a few birds hunkered down or skittered about. Some traipsed in the less populated areas such as storage. Others had taken to the vents. Several had found offices or labs to hide in. And a few still roamed the corridors.
Their lifeforces reflected only a trickle of information, but they gave Jori an idea of what went on around them. Prey tended to be jumpy so every noise caused their apprehension to splatter like raindrops. Nothing stood out strongly enough to locate Vance, but they helped him avoid several cyborgs.
On the way to Vance’s quarters, a bird had alerted him to two super-soldiers guarding his door. A mouse in the room showed no sign anyone was waiting inside, so he moved on. When he’d extended his senses to his own quarters, the rat that’d holed up in the vent also emitted a calm that signified vacancy. After that, a trio of mice helped him avoid soldiers arriving via a conveyor.
With this corridor clear, he stopped and focused. He tried the cafeteria. Nothing. The gymnasium. Not there either.
His heart hammered. Where could Vance be? Would he have stayed on the bridge after all? The animals didn’t show him.
He kept trying. When he concentrated on the mice who’d taken up residence under a shelf in his workshop, he caught nervous energy issuing from their little brains. It was the same sensation they’d given off whenever he’d been there.
So that’s where you are, you chima.
Although he’d just decided to go there, had Vance already seen him do it? If he changed his mind and went elsewhere, would Vance foresee that too? The doctor’s explanations had suggested Vance could predict events even if his actions immediately followed his decision to act. So it didn’t matter how often Jori changed his mind, Vance probably knew the way he’d ultimately choose. The conundrum of cause and effect niggled in the back of his mind, but he ignored it as he hopped onto a conveyor.
His imagination played out the possibilities of this confrontation. There were heavy tools available to use as weapons. The space was small, but plenty big enough for someone his size to dart and dodge. Despite these advantages, all the hypothetical scenarios ended with Vance’s hands around his throat.
The conveyor opened. He shoved down the terror that’d been trying to take hold of him and marched to his destination. After all, he was a warrior and true warriors didn’t back down from a fight.
This would be his final battle. He was certain of it.
The workshop door slid open. He clenched his fists and let his racing heart galvanize his body. Vance stood inside with a gloating smile. The two faced off, neither moving nor speaking. The air seemed to crackle between them.
Jori used his peripherals to locate something to use as a weapon. A wrench would make a good club. Screwdrivers could stab like dull knives.
“You disobeyed,” Vance said, his voice carrying a dangerous undertone.
Jori jutted his chin. “You crossed too many lines.”
Vance’s lip curled but he didn’t defend the statement. “I don’t know how you’ve avoided my soldiers, but you’ll still lose.”
Jori ignored his remark as well. “Is MEGA-Man aware that you mean to kill me?” The darkening of Vance’s face gave him the answer. “What will he do to you when he finds out you’ve betrayed him?”
The cords in Vance’s neck bulged and his expression turned darker than a black hole. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done to me.”
Jori frowned. It didn’t sound like the man meant the betrayal since he’d been wanting, if not expecting, the game to come to this point. “What are you talking about?”
“I can’t see beyond your death.”
That’s interesting. “Maybe MEGA-Man kills you for killing me.”
Vance barked a laugh. “He wouldn’t do that. I’m too valuable.”
Jori spread a smug grin that matched the one the man had earlier. “Maybe I will kill you.”
The intensity of rage filling the man’s face made him look ready to explode, but he maintained his smile. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” he replied, though something about his eyes indicated he didn’t believe his own words.
Vance lunged at the same time courage detonated through Jori’s core and obliterated all traces of his fear. The prospect of failure no longer crippled him. At least he’d take this chima with him.
He ducked low and dove inside the room, grasping the handle of a ratchet. Vance spun about and charged. Jori leapt up, using the table beside him to get more height. His agility came in handy as he flipped and smacked the man on the back of the head at the same time.
The man’s responding roar rattled the tools and machinery. Jori jetted toward the exit, tossing objects behind him as he went. Like a stone skipping on water, they bounced off Vance’s armored physique. Even flinging the palm-sized motor of a wheeled bot didn’t faze him.
Jori stepped past the threshold only to get yanked by the collar. “Never turn your back on the enemy,” Sensei Jeruko’s words flashed through his head.
He rolled away just as a meaty fist grabbed for his arm. He sprang to the balls of his feet. Using the tables as leverage, he leapt up and out of the way of the man’s crazed attempts to maul him. Vance cornered him, but Jori used his agility to tumble to another area.
Sweat poured from his forehead down to his brows. He dared not take a moment to wipe it away, or even blink. Keep your eye on the enemy.
Vance’s rage spewed like a volcano. His moves became more erratic. Jori remained coolheaded, reveling in his battle focus. His heightened concentration caught every twitch in his opponent’s body. The anticipation of each move allowed him to react without thought.
The dangerous dance continued. Vance’s bulk made him clumsy while Jori’s smallness enabled him to dart about like a flying beetle trying to escape a cargo hold. Yet he couldn’t get past the man and out of this room.
Foam formed at the corners of the man’s mouth. Still, Jori evaded him. Low to high. Left to Right. He even landed a few more blows. The wound he’d inflicted by Vance’s eye had revealed a metallic shine through the aggregation of crimson ooze.
Jori bounded from one table to another. A snap tore through the sound of Vance’s enraged bellows. The table folded. Jori wheeled his arms as everything beneath him crumbled. He crashed onto the hard floor with a clunk loud enough to pop his eardrums. Air escaped his lungs, leaving him breathless.
Despite the shock, his fighting instincts compelled him to move. He twisted around and scrambled to his hands and knees. Before his feet found purchase, a monstrous hand seized his shoulders and tossed him onto the flat of his back. Jori’s breath shattered once more. His vision flickered with black and white sparks. He tried to choke in air only to realize Vance pinched his throat.
“Now you die!” The man’s voice rumbled with a sinister glee.
No!
Jori clawed uselessly at Vance’s big fingers. Excruciating agony wracked his entire body as his looming death took hold. His mind reeled with disjointed flashes of memories. His mother’s soft touch as she caressed his hair and hummed. Commander Hapker’s easy smile. His father’s stormy tantrums. Major Blakesley’s murder. Sensei Jeruko’s sober but kind demeanor. He and his brother sparring. Lieutenant Gottfried. Captain Arden. Washi and Michio… Zaina.
So much heartache and turmoil but peppered with just enough good people to make life worth living.
I don’t want to die.
54 – The End?
Jori groped blindly for anything that could help him. The toppled shelf beside him was too heavy. All its contents had spilled beyond his reach. White blurry objects capered through his darkening vision.
The mice.
He reached out and grabbed something both prickly and soft. They made a nest.
It wasn’t much, but he flung it in Vance’s face. The man flinched and let loose just enough for Jori to get in a momentary burst of air.
With their hiding spot exposed, the mice scrambled about, looking for escape. Jori snatched one and tossed the poor creature into Vance’s eye. The man roared. The mouse squeaked as it bounced onto a lower shelf. As it scampered off, its tiny feet kicked off a hex key. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
As Vance’s grip re-tightened, threatening to crush his esophagus, he grasped the key and stabbed it into the man’s hand. Vance growled, loosening his hold once more. Jori scrambled back only to have blackness close in on him anyway. His throat was too constricted. He still couldn’t breathe.
The darkness took over. He didn’t even have time to contemplate the end.
*****
A smattering of light.
A forceful throb.
Another, more insistent.
Jori gasped. Air tore through his windpipe and filled his aching lungs. His body tingled as oxygenated blood rushed to his head and extremities. He opened his eyes, seeing only spots of color. He tried to rise, but something pinned him down.
Renewed panic surged through him. He struck out with his fists and kicked his legs, hitting a solid and metallic object. At first, he thought of Vance without his skin, but his fright lessened when he realized it was a bot.
A thump followed by the clamor of tools crashing onto the floor triggered a flood of adrenaline. He shoved the bot aside and turned to where Vance and Rodrigo fought. Vance snatched the cybernetic man by the neck and thrust him against the wall. Rigo’s arms punched with remarkable precision, but Vance took it with his teeth bared like a blackbeast.
Jori rolled onto his side, intending to find his feet and fight, but struggled to temper the tremors of his body and regain his faculties. The battle raged on. He imagined Vance winning, then standing over him with a gloating smile. He had to get up and help Rodrigo, but not even the hormones surging through his blood made his muscles cooperate.
Damn it. When he’d been ready to die so MEGA-Man couldn’t use him, he’d almost gotten his wish. Then he wanted to live. And so now he was alive, trapped in a nightmare with a monster who’d never let him escape.
Despite the bleakness of his future, he forced himself up on an elbow and blinked. His vision sharped, not quite back to normal but good enough. The workshop lay in the same state as before. Broken bots sat or stood in silent accusation. The shelves remained somewhat organized. Screwdrivers, pliers, and wrenches were strewn about.
He grabbed the one closest to him and yelped. The shorted electric screwdriver dropped from his hand. He picked it up more carefully this time, then limped into the fray.
Vance had Rodrigo pinned against a broken table now. A vein nearly as purple as Rigo’s face pulsed on his forehead. He held Rigo in place with one knee and knelt on the other. Rodrigo struck the side of his head, creating a bloodied mush. Vance didn’t relent.
Jori gripped the screwdriver. He aimed for the monster’s eye and stabbed. “Die, chima!”
The point plunged in with a sickening squelch, but only by two or three centimeters. If Jori had been stronger, he might’ve penetrated the brain. But all he’d managed to do was enrage the beast.
Vance bellowed as he rose with a cinematic slowness. Jori stumbled back. Vance grasped the handle protruding from his eye. Sparks flew. Vance’s yell cut short. His body twitched. His arms flailed like branches caught in a tempest. The pain of death surged from him despite his emotions being muted by implants. Then it stopped.
Vance crashed onto to his knees, then toppled forward.
Jori’s chest heaved as he eyed the inanimate heap. The pain of death lingered in his memory, but the combination of both horror and relief drowned it out. A shock from the shorted screwdriver shouldn’t have been enough to kill anyone, but Vance likely had metal parts in his head. The electrical surge had probably shot through his brain. The more metal he had, the more damage it would’ve done.
Chusho.
Jori’s trembling legs threatened to give out. He leaned against a shelf and regarded Rodrigo. The man now stood like an alert soldier as though nothing had happened. Blood rolled down his right temple. The bottom half of his face was a gory mess of flesh. “Are you alright?” he asked in a whisper. His larynx smarted, no doubt damaged by Vance’s deadly assault.
Rigo dipped his head. “Yes.”
Jori swallowed. It worked. Not his initial plan, but the contingencies he’d set up. He wasn’t sure which stunned him more—the animals, the shorted electric screwdriver, or Rodrigo’s programming.
He was finally free.
That he’d been responsible for Vance’s death didn’t bother him. Not even Zaina’s wish that he be on a different path brought him any guilt. He was a warrior. Born and bred. Considering the evilness of some people in this world, it was a good thing. He was alive. His friends were too.
The thought reminded him that they still waited for him in the shuttle bay. Zaina was probably biting her nails. Stephen likely paced. Celine undoubtedly wore the same placid expression as always. Or she fidgeted because she wasn’t doing any work. Either way, he needed to get to them.
But first, the bridge. He’d destroyed the shield disruptor and the transponder. The Tanirians had likely realized they’d been duped and were mounting an attack.
“Rigo,” he said through a scratchy throat. “Clean up. Fast. Then go tell Zaina and the doctors that I’ll be there shortly.”
The cyber man retreated. Jori followed him out, then headed in the opposite direction. While setting a hurried pace, he considered his next move. Vance had made him second-in-command. If he really was in charge now, he must either order a surrender or flee. Surrendering held serious consequences for many of the crew members. People like Rodrigo might be eliminated—or worse, dissected. And even though the Stensons had been unwilling participants, Jori doubted the authorities would be quick to forgive.
As much as he liked the doctors, this ship shouldn’t be allowed to continue under MEGA-Man’s control. No doubt others like it had been sent out into the galaxy to wreak havoc. Turning this vessel over might help the Cooperative find them and prevent other attacks.
His thoughts warred as he rode the conveyor. Neither option presented a happy ending, but one would end more disastrously than the other.
He entered the bridge. The acid swirling in his gut intensified as he beheld in the viewscreen. Tanirian fighters, marked as red blips, attacked but had yet to inflict any damage. The Black Thresher fired a rapid series of energy blasts at the city of Vanir. The defenses held, but it wouldn’t be long before either the ship ran out of firepower or the shield gave. Considering all the other advanced technologies of this vessel, Jori suspected the latter.
“Cease fire!” He rasped loudly as he marched to Vance’s chair and sat. They did. A combination of surprise and relief almost derailed Jori’s thoughts. He cleared his throat, hoping to alleviate the cracking in his voice. “Have the Tanirians contacted us?”
“Yes, Sir,” a man with a cybernetic earpiece said.
“Open the channel. Request visual.”
A window popped up on the bottom center of the viewscreen. An older man with silver-streaked black hair and hard eyes appeared. His brows twitched as though confused while his scowl remained. “What in the hell are you playing at, boy?”
“My apologies, Sir,” he said as clearly as possible despite the fluctuating whisper of his voice. “My name is Jori Tran.”
“I don’t give a damn what your name is. Get your ass out of that chair. I want to talk to whoever the heck is in charge.”
A corner of Jori’s mouth tugged, but he kept a straight face. “That man is dead. I’m in command now.”
The man scoffed. “So what? I’m dealing with a child who thinks this is some sort of game?”
“I didn’t order the attack, Sir. I contacted you to stop it. As you can see, we’re no longer firing.”
“This is a trick.”
“I assure you, it is not. Hear me out.”
The man didn’t speak so he continued, “My name is Jori Tran. I’m with Zaina Noman. We were on the Avalon space station and tricked onto this ship. We’ve been prisoners, but the man that was in charge has just been neutralized. Now we’re prepared to surrender.”
“You’re cutting out. Did you say—”
The ship jolted and the man’s face disappeared. Jori pushed out of the chair and bounded to his feet. “What happened?”
The woman at the helm spoke with her back still to him. “We’re not permitted to surrender, Sir.”
Jori clenched his fists at his sides. “So what did you do?” he asked at the same time as he reviewed the readouts. It appeared they’d left the star system, but that couldn’t be right.
“We’re retreating,” she replied.
“How did we get so far away so fast? Did you initiate the arc drive?” The thought made the blood drain from his head. It was against all sense to trigger that engine within a gravity well. This ship should’ve been ripped apart. They should be dead.
“We initiated the jump drive.”
Chusho. He’d noted the difference in systems but had no idea any vessel had such a capability. This changed everything. The authorities had to know about this. “Go back. Surrender.”
