Children of the Void (Rogue Star Book 2) Page 6

  “There’s nothing else to be done. Ready the weapons and get in position. We’ll want to hit them as soon as Adam enters the atmosphere.”

  Max and the guards took up position under the hill out of sight. They had a rocket launcher, ion grenades, and heavy blasters. If that didn’t get the job done Oliver didn’t know what would. Celine sat in the car with a comm unit in her lap. When Adam signaled she waved to him and he’d pass the signal on to the men.

  A little over an hour passed before Celine’s head popped up. She waved. Oliver nodded, turned to Max, and pointed toward the landing field. Max shouldered the rocket launched and stood. A tremendous whoosh of flame preceded a massive explosion. Max led the others over the hill. The crackle of ion and whine of blaster filled the midday air.

  When silence fell Oliver peaked over the hill. Max and one of his men stood a ways away from the burning remains of the shuttle. Two of the guards were down, whether alive or dead Oliver had no idea. At this rate he’d run out of guards.

  Max waved to indicate all clear. Oliver and Celine drove around the hill and out onto the landing field. Adam needed to hurry or they’d be crawling in local security forces. The nearest town was only five miles away and unless everyone had gone deaf they must have heard the explosion.

  “Get the gear unloaded,” Oliver said. “I want to be ready to board the moment Adam lands.”

  Max and the remaining guard set to work while he and Celine studied the sky. She touched his shoulder and pointed. A twinkle in the sky got closer by the second. Half a minute later Oliver could make out Adam’s transport lowering its landing gear. They set down a safe distance from the burning shuttle. The loading ramp lowered and Adam strode down, looking much relieved to be on the ground again.

  Oliver and Celine walked over followed by the guards carrying their gear. Adam bit his lip and glanced back up the ramp.

  “Adam,” Celine said. “You look better than when we last spoke.”

  “I got my first descent night’s sleep in six months last night.” Adam pointed at Oliver. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Don’t recognize me, Adam?” Oliver offered a cool, humorless smile.

  Adam squinted then his eyes widened. “Director MacDonald? How? What?”

  “Long story, Adam. I’ll tell you on the way to Mars.” Oliver motioned everyone up the ramp.

  “I’m glad you don’t need to go far, sir. We’re in desperate need of fuel.”

  Sirens rang in the distance. They needed to go, now.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Marcus was halfway to the crane when something crunched behind him. His instincts screamed and he leapt to the left an instant ahead of a green energy blast past close enough to take a layer of skin off his arm. He hit the ground, rolled on his back, and blasted the masked man with a stun pulse. It splashed against the killer’s shield with no effect. Damn it!

  Marcus scrambled to his feet and ran toward a wheeled loader. He wanted to get something heavy between him and the killer. He slid behind the bucket an instant ahead of another blast. Marcus tapped his weapons module and the metal studs snapped out into position. If he couldn’t use ranged energy attacks he’d have to close in and stun the killer directly. How the hell he’d manage that without getting disintegrated he had no clue.

  “Hey, Marcus.” Solomon again. Where the hell was the warning he’d asked for? “I figured out what that weird code is.”

  Marcus circled around the loader, keeping the massive machine between him and the killer. “Not a good time.”

  “Why not? Why are you running around that loader? I told you, Iaka’s in the crane.”

  Solomon couldn’t see the killer? That explained the lack of a warning. “I’m trying to avoid getting blasted.”

  “The mask guy’s there? Why can’t I see him?” Solomon fell silent and Marcus focused on his opponent.

  The killer matched his every move, but the loader kept him from getting a clear shot off. They were at a standoff. Unless something changed they’d spend the rest of the day chasing each other around the loader. The killer stopped moving and cocked his head as though confused. Marcus used the distraction to hide in the loader bucket. It was tall and deep enough that he only had to crouch a little.

  “This code is really cool.” Solomon again. Marcus almost deactivated his comm, but stopped in case his friend had something useful to say. “It’s a tracking program, but it also edits the video stream in real time to delete the killer. That’s why I didn’t spot him coming. I’ve never seen code like this.”

  Marcus didn’t dare reply. The killer’s footsteps crunched nearby. He tensed, ready to drive the spikes of his gauntlet into whatever body part showed itself first.

  “I’ve stripped the code out of the satellite feed so I can see him and he can’t track you.”

  A calf appeared and Marcus punched it. The studs tore through the killer’s pants and plunged into the flesh beneath. Marcus dumped three quarters of the gauntlet’s battery charge into the killer. The masked man fell to the ground twitching. Marcus eased out of the bucket, careful not to hit his head.

  “Marcus!”

  He spun, ready for anything. Iaka stood on the crane steps and waved. He sighed. She was okay. The killer groaned. He couldn’t be coming around already. Marcus had hit him with enough juice to knock out an elephant for an hour. He looked up at the beam suspended from the crane cable and grinned.

  “You know how to run that thing?”

  Iaka ducked back into the cab for a second then poked her head back out. “It looks simple enough.”

  “Good, fire it up.” Marcus grabbed the killers leg and dragged him out into the open. The masked man tried to pull away. Not good, they needed to hurry.

  The big engine roared to life. Iaka stuck her head back out and shouted. “What now?”

  Marcus backed away from the killer. “Watch my signals and guide the beam where I tell you.”

  Iaka gave him a thumbs up and retreated into the cab. It took some trial and error but Iaka got the beam positioned over the killer’s chest. Marcus made a chopping motion with his hand and she dropped the beam. It crushed everything between the killer’s head and waist. The yard went silent when Iaka killed the engine.

  He ran over and Iaka leapt from the ladder into his arms. Marcus swung her around once and kissed her. He set her down. “You okay?”

  Her smile looked shaky. “I’m alive. That’s better than I expected a few hours ago.”

  “What the hell is that thing?”

  “Beats me.” They walked over to the dead killer.

  The blank, mirror polished masked distorted their reflections. Marcus reached down to remove it but didn’t find a seam. “It’s fused to his face.”

  “His weapon’s attached to his wrist the same way. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Marcus,” Solomon said. “Security forces will arrive in less than a minute. You two need to go now unless you want to answer some awkward questions.”

  “Thanks, pal.” Marcus turned to Iaka. “Time to go.”

  “What about him?”

  “Let the locals try to figure it out.” He took her hand and they ran to the hover bike. An unconscious local lay on the ground beside it. The antitheft device worked. He fired up the bike and the two of them blasted away from the approaching sirens.

  ***

  Marcus drove the bike back to the ship with no trouble. They swung wide around the city and approached from the opposite direction of their arrival. The park was empty, which made things easier. They came to a stop outside the ship and Solomon opened the rear hatch which seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  “Iaka, are you okay?” Solomon asked.

  Marcus thought she looked exhausted, but she offered a weak smile. “I’m fine. It’s good to see you.”

  Marcus pushed the bike to its storage slot and locked it down. The three of them retreated to the cockpit, and Marcus began the preflight checklist.

  “That code was s
uper cool.” Solomon waved his hands, as excited as Marcus had seen him in a while. “When you killed the masked guy it disappeared from all the planetary systems. It was like he didn’t want to leave anything behind. I downloaded a copy to a data slate so I could mess with it some more.”

  “What code?” Iaka asked.

  Solomon told her about the tracking program he’d discovered. “I expect that’s how he tracked you so easily.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing, have you?”

  Solomon shook his head. Before he launched into a long discussion Marcus said, “Where are you headed?”

  She grinned and shook her head. “Guess.”

  Marcus and Solomon smiled back. “The council.” They said in unison.

  They took off and shot into orbit. A minute later they entered hyperspace. When they had gotten safely away Marcus said, “Can you tell us what’s going on.”

  Between yawns Iaka filled them in on David’s call and the subsequent chaos. When she finished she held up a small data chip. “I suspect this is what he wanted.”

  “What’s on it?” Marcus asked.

  Iaka shook her head. “I don’t know. Something about Director McDonald’s illegal activities.”

  “Why don’t we take a look?” Solomon reached for the chip.

  Iaka closed her fist around it. “I’m not sure if I want to find out what’s one it. Maybe we should hand it off and remain ignorant.”

  Marcus took her hand in his. “It’s your call, but I suspect if another of those things shows up he won’t go away if you explain you didn’t look at the chip.”

  Her hand relaxed and the chip passed to him. She slumped forward and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m so tired.”

  Marcus put his arm around her and passed the chip to Solomon. “It’s a three day jump to the council. We don’t have to do this now.” Solomon frowned and Marcus glared at him. “When’s the last time you ate something?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “The techs upgraded our kitchen so I can fix you something better than soup. Come on.” Marcus led Iaka out of the cockpit and back to the galley.

  She sat at the table while he puttered at the prep station. He threw together a simple noodle and vegetable dish and set it to heating. While the food cooked Marcus sat across from Iaka. “How are the little guys doing?”

  Iaka smiled and the worry melted off her face. “We found a seventh tribe yesterday. All together we’ve identified over a thousand individuals. It’s amazing and we still have so much work to do.”

  “Are you happy?” The timer rang and Marcus retrieved two bowls from the heating unit.

  “I was.”

  They ate in silence. Marcus didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. Everything that came to mind felt like trite platitudes. He wanted to say everything would be all right, but he couldn’t get the words out. He’d never had such trouble lying before.

  When they finished eating Iaka yawned again. “I need some sleep.”

  Marcus walked with her for the three paces to her old room. She stepped inside then turned to face him. “Would you stay with me for a while? I don’t want to be alone.”

  Marcus went inside and the door closed behind him.

  ***

  Two days into their jump the three companions gathered in the cockpit. Solomon fidgeted, eager to learn what secrets the chip held. Marcus smiled. If someone announced the end of the universe and Solomon would be eager to see what kind of tech they planned to use to destroy it.

  Marcus nodded and Solomon slipped the chip into the reader. It hummed to life and a haggard, unfamiliar face appeared on the view-screen.

  “That’s David,” Iaka said.

  The recording began. “This is a record of my search for answers. Three days ago I escaped a team sent to my office on Mars to kill me. If an old friend hadn’t warned me of their arrival I would likely be dead. My trouble began six months ago when one of my undercover agents went missing.”

  Behind him Iaka groaned. Marcus looked back, but she waved him off. “Bad memories, I’m okay.”

  Marcus turned back to the recording. “In trying to discover how she got captured I’ve been researching. I discovered a message routed through a remote channel reserved for the most secure communiqués. Someone must have learned I accessed the channel and they began monitoring my actions. I continued digging, unaware what I was digging was my own grave. The message I found came from private server, heavily encrypted, belonging to the director. It took days of hacking on my personal computer to break the encryption. The message went to the manager of Omni security warning that my agent had infiltrated their operation on Alpha 114 and that they needed to deal with her.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Iaka said.

  The recording continued. “It shocked me that the director leaked the identity of my agent. I tried to think who I could report to, but the truth was anyone I might contact depended on the director’s good will for their continued employment so I kept digging on my own. If he’d betrayed us once, perhaps he’d done it before. I was right. Using the same secure router Director McDonald contacted a group, perhaps a cult would describe them better, called The Children of the Void. When I first learned of the group I had no idea who they were or why the director contacted them, but I now had a new direction for my search. They let me dig in my spare time for the better part of two years before they moved against me. Using official channels and some contacts I’d gained over the years I learned a little. The Void, as they’re known, view technology as the ultimate god in this universe. They acknowledge no limits to their research whether it is genetic manipulation, cybernetic enhancements, or artificial intelligence. I suspect the final straw broke when I discovered the name of their leader. He calls himself Voidwalker. The children wear blank, black masks with embedded technology.”

  Marcus paused the recording. “Do you suppose our masked man was one of these Children of the Void?”

  “I think he’d have to be.” Iaka said. “It’s too big a coincidence, he finds a group that wears black masks then a killer wearing one shows up.”

  “I’ve heard of the Children of the Void,” Solomon said. “There’s a ton of rumors about them on hacker boards. Most people believe they’re a myth. If they’re real it would explain that amazing code I found.”

  “I think we have to assume they’re real, and pissed off at David and now us.” Marcus resumed the recording.

  “After I fled for my life I spent three years searching for anything about the Void and ducking Earth Force agents. I operated on the edge of civilization, among outlaws, smugglers, and other scum. It worked out well. The fringe of society was where the Void’s agents worked as well. They prey on the desperate and stupid, coaxing them into participating in their experiments. I encountered one survivor who’d had his head severed from his body and grafted onto a combat robot. He couldn’t control it and the Void dumped him in an alley and vanished. He scrounges electricity to keep his battery charged. I’ve never seen a more pathetic sight. Not long after I met the robot man I encountered one of their enforcers, a cybernetic killer with a mask and integrated weapon system called a Void assassin. I’ve never faced a fiercer or more tenacious enemy. It tracked me across three worlds before I managed trap and kill it. I’ve been looking over my shoulder ever since.”

  The recording detailed labs, mobile factories, and every other bit of intel David had collected. Marcus skipped through most of it until he came to the final entry. “Iaka did it. She brought down Omni. I knew that girl had potential. Unfortunately the director is desperate now. He can’t get the immortality he seeks by acquiring Vencar technology so he’s sent a message to Voidwalker agreeing to whatever terms the Void set to get what he needs. I didn’t learn the details, but I believe I’ve gathered enough information to contact the Galactic Council. I’ve sent a message to Iaka. She’s the only one I trust to deliver this message.” The recording ended.

  Marcus leaned bac
k in his chair and sighed. “What the hell have we gotten into now?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The jump to Mars took just long enough for Oliver to explain the situation to Adam. It took all of Oliver’s self-control not to laugh at the expression on Adam’s face when he finished. “We have a viper in our midst,” Oliver said. “I need you help to kill it.”

  “I’m your man, sir, always have been.”

  Oliver clapped him on the shoulder. It felt good to have Adam on board, like having a familiar dog at your heel, but he knew what an accomplished liar the man was, you didn’t get far in their line of work without that skill. He’d keep as close an eye as possible on him. For his plan to work he’d have to trust Adam to operate on his own. Oliver hated that part of his job the most, having to rely on others, especially a proven failure like Adam.

  “Approaching the landing pad.” Captain Wen’s voice spoke over the ship’s intercom.

  A few minutes later a tremor ran through the ship when it settled on its landing gear. Oliver’s guards had transferred a selection of weapons from the large cases to small briefcases. The little group went to the rear of the ship where Captain Wen waited. The captain hit the open button and the ramp lowered.

  Oliver caught Adam’s eye and nodded toward the captain. It was a nuisance, having to rely on others to give his orders, but no one knew him in his new body so they had no reason to obey his orders.

  “Get the ship refueled and remain on standby in case we need to leave again,” Adam said. “I don’t know how long we’ll be staying on Mars, but I expect the ship to be ready when I need to leave.”

  “Understood, sir.” Captain Wen saluted.

  Adam nodded back and the five of them walked down the ramp where a fit, dark haired woman about forty waited. “Good to have you back, Captain Wright. We were wondering if you’d be returning.”

  “You know how it is on a mission. I’m glad to be back.” He motioned for the woman to lead the way and the little group walked toward Earth Force Mars Headquarters.