Synthesis, p.27
Synthesis, page 27
“They relied on the threat of spacing to keep them safe.” Kayden responded as he leaned around his shield, firing off two more rounds into a guard’s forehead and dropping him. “Look at that, they’re not even using cover properly.”
As they neared the bridge, guards were beginning to break and run at the sight of them rather than fight. They began to pick up the pace, gunning down who they could and chasing after them as they ran away frantically. Kayden rounded one final corner followed quickly by Dawn before they realized their mistake. The guards hadn’t been running away – they’d been leading them into a trap.
In front of him stood a large door behind a pair of automated defense turrets, both of which were trained on them. They looked like the sort of large-calibre guns which were normally mounted on the backs of starships, and Kayden instantly knew their projectile rounds would blow through their nanobot and shield defenses like they were made of wet paper.
“Well well well.” A man in a grey uniform behind the turrets said smugly. “Hello little rats.”
Chapter 24
11:03, June 4th, 2134
“I’d recommend against moving.” The man in the grey suit said. “Once these turrets acquire a target, they’re programmed to open fire as soon as that target moves.”
“You’re the warden, I take it?” Kayden asked.
“Yes indeed. Warden Kulis, at your service.” He said with a mock bow. “You’ve been quite a nuisance little rats. Luckily, I’m quite the rat-catcher. I’m going to put you both into cells. The executives are going to reward me quite handsomely for this – I’m going to live like a king.”
His black eyes burned with greed as he stroked his black goatee thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll buy a place on a planet near a tropical ocean. I think that would be a nice place to retire, don’t you? Maybe I’ll even buy a few slaves to serve me, yes that’d be nice. A few beautiful women to surround me, massage my poor aching muscles, fulfill my desires…”
Dawn made a disgusted noise before shifting into her incorporeal form. Her armour slumped to the floor, causing both turrets to recognize the movement and begin firing, shredding it instantly. The blasts from the powerful rounds knocked Kayden into a wall, along with a good chunk of the flooring of the hallway.
Kayden recovered and looked up just in time to see that Dawn had moved between the two turrets. She shifted back into her corporeal form for just a moment, allowing the turrets to turn and target her. Just as Kayden thought Dawn was about to be torn apart she shifted back to her incorporeal form.
The rounds from the turrets passed through Dawn’s form harmlessly and impacted each other, causing them both to explode. Shrapnel from the twin blasts fired overhead, and Kayden took cover for a second time. Even though his helmet dampened the sound, he had to shake his head several times to clear the ringing in his ears. Looking at the readout screen on his arm he saw that his shields had taken the brunt of the damage and were now completely drained. A piece of shrapnel had penetrated the front of Kayden’s helmet only millimetres from his face. He removed the helmet carefully, tossing it to the side.
All things considered…could have been a lot worse. Kayden thought to himself as he slowly got up.
Dawn’s incorporeal form greeted him. Her hand was on her hip, and even though he couldn’t make out more than her outline he could have sworn she was smirking. The previously closed metal door leading to the bridge was now blown open. “Not bad, huh?” She asked.
“Not bad at all.” He responded. “But your armour’s destroyed, so…you might want to stay like that for awhile.”
She nodded and was about to respond before she was interrupted by a groan from beneath a pile of metal. Kayden moved it to see that the warden was still alive, but bleeding. Kicking away the debris, he knelt next to the warden. “Tell me how to release the prisoners.”
“Only…I can…” the warden managed to croak out before coughing several times. He hacked up blood, then continued speaking. “You need full access to the ship’s systems to release a prisoner, and only I have full access.”
“In that case, you’re coming with us.” Kayden responded, grabbing the man by the hand and hauling him onto the bridge.
Kayden summoned a swarm of nanobots around him to protect them as they entered the bridge but he quickly brought them back to his hand, realizing it was empty. He pulled the warden up to a workstation and sat him in front of it roughly. “Give me access to everything. Now.”
“N-No.” He said in a final act of defiance. “They’ll kill me if I do. You have no idea what the Black Company does to traitors.”
Kayden grabbed the man roughly by the hair. “I’ll kill you if you don’t. You have no idea what I’ll do to you.”
Terrified, the warden slowly reached forward with a shaking hand and keyed in his authorization. Kayden shoved him to the side as he finished, his head bouncing against the floor as he hit the ground. Kayden ignored his groans of pain while he proceeded to open every door to every cell on the ship, releasing every prisoner. He watched grimly on the security monitors as the hundreds of prisoners quickly overwhelmed the small contingent of guards.
“You should pull up the prisoner manifest.” Dawn recommended.
Kayden did, quickly scrolling through to find Selina. “She’s on the 3rd floor.” Kayden said as he glanced up at the screens, looking for the correct camera. “It doesn’t look like she’s left her cell though. Let’s go.”
As they stood to leave the bridge several prisoners began to walk in, first eyeing Kayden than the warden. A muscular shirtless man wearing only a pair of orange pants stepped in front of them. He was well over 2 meters tall, and his genetic modifications were obvious – he was covered in reptilian scales. “Are you with us, or against us?” he growled out.
“That depends.” Kayden replied. “I’m not with the Black Company, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Are you sure? You look like a guard.”
Kayden glanced downwards at the warden who was still groaning on the floor. “I was the one who forced the warden to open the cells. There’s someone on this ship I’m looking to free.”
The man grunted in reply, considering his options. Kayden gripped his rifle tightly. He didn’t want to shoot the prisoners, but he also wasn’t about to let them stand in his way.
“Kayden? Is that you?” A voice from behind the prisoners said.
The group parted as a short woman pushed her way to the front. She couldn’t have been more than a meter and a half tall, but the crowd parted for her. Her dark brown skin clashed with her bright orange prison jumpsuit, and her brown eyes widened briefly as they locked onto his before she threw herself forward at him in an embrace. Her soft breasts squished against him, and his brain took a full 3 seconds to catch up before he realized who she was.
“Captain…Brown?” He said slowly.
“You know this guy Ash?” The lizard-man asked.
She pulled back slightly, her black hair swinging as she did. “Yeah, I do. You can trust him Rufus, he’s a friend.”
“Captain, I…I thought you were dead. You were declared KIA after Prometheus.” Kayden said disbelievingly.
“It’s a long story, but now isn’t the time. Can you fly this boat?”
“I think so.” Kayden responded. “But there’s someone else I need to check on first.”
“Who?”
“She’s a trans-human catgirl. 3rd floor. Hasn’t left her cell yet.” Kayden said.
Ashley turned around to face the lizard-man. “Rufus, I need you to go get her.”
To Kayden’s surprise, the lizard-man turned and immediately left to obey without complaint. Ashley turned back to Kayden to see his raised eyebrows and shrugged. “They listen to me.” She said. “You can trust them. They’ll bring your girl to you – you probably shouldn’t go walking around the ship wearing that anyways, the other prisoners will think you’re a guard and jump you on sight.”
“I agree.” Dawn said as she turned corporeal again, causing everyone in the room but Kayden to start backing away suspiciously.
“Everyone be cool.” Kayden said, stepping in front of her protectively. “This is Dawn. She’s with me.”
Ashley’s eyes darted between Dawn and Kayden, then finally shook her head. “Looks like you’ve got a story of your own to tell.”
Kayden stripped down to his bodysuit, handing each piece of his armour to Dawn as he did. While it wouldn’t provide either of them the same level of protection, it’d be better than nothing – and provided Dawn a certain level of modesty in front of the former prisoners.
The lizard-man re-entered the room cradling Selina in his arms. He rushed to her, sliding one arm underneath her knees and another below her shoulders, gently transferring her weight to him. “Could we have a few minutes alone please?” He asked as he turned around, carrying her to a chair and setting her down.
Ashley nodded. “Of course. We need to decide what we’re doing with that piece of shit anyways.” She said, pointing towards the warden. “Don’t take too long though – we should get underway soon.”
“5 minutes. Just give me 5 minutes.” Kayden responded.
He knelt to her right, and Dawn mimicked the motion on her left. Brushing her hair back from her face he saw that she had a black eye and a cut along her face. Her clothes were torn revealing cuts and bruises all over her pale skin. Her hair was matted with dried blood, and her breaths were slow and shallow. “We should get her to a doctor.” Dawn said softly.
Kayden nodded as he took Selina’s hand. “Hey. Selina. Wake up.”
Her eyes fluttered before settling on Kayden, then Dawn. “You came.” She said weakly, the edges of her lips curling into a faint smile before fading.
“We promised.” Dawn replied.
She took several laboured breaths, then tried to sit up before slumping again. “Tau Ceti…shipyard…Black…” She said before coughing.
“Shhh it’s okay.” Kayden said. “Just rest. Don’t get up – we’re going to get you a doctor. We just wanted you to know you’re safe now.”
Nodding, Selina closed her eyes and went back to sleep. Dawn remained kneeling, holding her hand but turned to Kayden. “I’m worried about my family. Can we go back to Port Vega and get them? I know it’s dangerous, but…they won’t be able to stay hidden forever.”
“I agree.” Kayden responded. “Let me talk to Captain Br-…Ashley.”
A single gunshot boomed from outside of the room, followed by cheers. Kayden stood and walked to the doorway to see Ashley standing in the middle of a group of prisoners. Beneath her was the warden’s dead body, and she still held a smoking pistol in her hand. “A clean, painless death was far better than he deserved.” She said furiously. “But we are better than that.”
After a few more moments, she noticed Kayden watching and rejoined him on the bridge. “Are you ready to move out?”
“Yes.” Kayden said. “I need this ship. We’re going to Port Vega.”
“Why?” She said, arching her eyebrows.
“We left Port Vega a few hours ago – it was a battleground. The local Black Company garrison is split between mutineers and loyalists, and the people of Port Vega were supporting the mutineers. I need to extract some people on the ground there, and retreat somewhere safe.”
Ashley pursed her lips as she thought. “What about the rest of the prisoners on the ship though? We’ve…been through a lot together. I don’t want to leave them, and I don’t think they’re going to want to immediately wade into a warzone. Some of them might even try to stop you – they’ve got other places they want to go.”
“We’ll drop out of hyperspace at a safe distance, then take the shuttle. We get in, extract them, and get out – quick and easy.”
“The Black Company will just come after you.” She countered.
“Not where we’re going, no. It’s a long story, but we’ve found a new system that only I have the hyperlane coordinates to.”
“You may have saved these people Kayden, but you’re going to need to offer them something a bit more convincing if you don’t want a mutiny of your own on your hands.”
There is no group of people who would be less likely to betray me to the Black Company. He thought to himself. And we could probably use more colonists…and this ship.
“Why don’t we give them a choice? If they want to get off at Port Vega and go their own way, they can. If they want to come with us to Sanctuary where the Black Company can’t follow, then they’re welcome to join. They’ll need to contribute to the colony though, and it’s a one-way trip – at least until we’re big enough to defend ourselves.”
“Deal.” Ashley said quickly. “I’ll talk to them. For what it’s worth, I think I’d like to join you in…Sanctuary as well, if you’ll have me.”
“You sure?” Kayden replied. “You don’t want to retire somewhere in Roccan Alliance space?”
“Absolutely. The Black Company would probably hunt me down, and after the Roccan Alliance left me for dead I’m not too keen to pledge myself to them.”
Kayden grinned. “Then as a member of the ruling council of Sanctuary, I formally invite you to join us.”
Ashley looked confused and was about to speak before she was interrupted by Ali’s voice. “Kayden, if your Intent Is to take this ship to Sanctuary, you should allow me to sweep it for tracking programs, asset tags, and any residual controls the Black Company may have left behind.”
“Got it Ali. I’ll plug you in.” Kayden said, walking to a workstation.
“Who…was that?” Ashley asked.
“The AI living in my head. Her name is Ali.” He responded casually as he plugged his control cable into the workstation.
Ashley shook her head in reply. “Looks like we really do have a lot of catching up to do.”
***
18:14, June 4th, 2134
The recently-renamed “Emancipation” dropped out of hyperspace a good distance away from the battle which was still raging. The bridge was now crowded with former prisoners, and their comms array was quickly overwhelmed with the number of distress calls, intercepted signals, and general mayhem both on the surface of the colony and in the surrounding space.
Dismissing the noise for a moment, Dawn called her father. He picked up almost immediately, and Jack Parker’s face appeared on the screen in front of them. He was wearing combat armour and had a pistol strapped to his chest. Several people were rushing around him from one workstation to another, speaking in hushed but urgent tones.
“Dawn!” He cried. “Are you safe?”
“Yes Dad. I’m fine. Are you?”
“For the moment.” He responded before narrowing his eyes at the people on the bridge wearing prison jumpsuits. “Where…are you?”
“I could ask you the same question.” Dawn responded. “We’re nearby, on a…well, it used to be the Black Company’s prison ship.” She said with a smirk.
“That’s my girl.” He said proudly.
Kayden chose to interject. “We’re ready to get you out of Port Vega. Send us your location, and we’ll come pick you up in a shuttle.”
The smile from his face fell slightly. “That may be…problematic. The three of us are holed up in the old abandoned police station in the government quarter. Daniel and some of his colleagues set up a field hospital here to treat the wounded, and Sam’s trying to coordinate our actions with the Black Company mutineers. We can’t just leave.”
Dawn furrowed her brow. “How…what happened?”
“Your message told us to go to ground. This is one of the safest locations in the city, and I asked a few of my old police colleagues to help stand guard. When the message about the Black Company’s crimes went out though, we knew we had to do something – so we each called a few more colleagues and suggested a little vigilante justice, especially against the politicians who screwed us. With how close people in this city live to each other, regular folks started to notice when we did that, and after seeing the message for themselves…well, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. People started taking to the streets, and when the mutineers started joining us… well, they decided it was time to kick these sons of bitches off this rock.”
“I knew it was happening too quickly.” Kayden said. “You’ve been leading them.”
Ashley looked up from a tablet she had been studying. “It looks like there’s a large concentration of Black Company forces here.” She said, speaking to Jack as she sent him a location on a map. “Are they with you? Are they mutineers?”
“Who are you?” Jack questioned.
“Former Captain Ashley Brown, Roccan Alliance military.” Ashley responded. “Kayden seems intent on going down there to help you, and I have a vested interest in keeping him alive. Now, do you want my help or not?”
“Yes.” Jack responded. “That location – that’s the police station, where we are now. The loyalists have been trying to break in for hours, but this place is a tough nut to crack. It’s been keeping a large chunk of their forces occupied trying to get in, leaving the rest of our forces to wreak havoc on their positions throughout the rest of the colony unimpeded.”
“Shit.” Kayden said, realizing the problem as he glanced at the map. “The police station is buried underground, and surrounded by Black Company forces. There’s no way we’re landing a shuttle in the middle of that mess without getting shot down.”
On the screen, Kayden watched as a man handed Jack a tablet. He stared down at it, then looked back up at the video camera with a grin. “I may have just found a solution to both our problems.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s a Black Company vehicle depot about 2 kilometers away from our position. It’s lightly guarded by loyalists, but the mutineers haven’t been able to take it.”
