Dark Star (31 page)

“This is not your concern, girl. Please be quiet.” Jebediah’s gaze didn’t move from Dalton but Rosie saw the shift in her friend; the muscle that flickered along his jaw.

Slowly, as if in a trance, Dalton walked around the desk and now Rosie’s could see his eyes, the bright light of fury in them, the fear. “Open it,” he all but whispered.

“I will not,” Jebediah said, and the gun in Dalton’s hand shook.

“Fine.” He fired. The pulse hit Jebediah in the shoulder, flipping him backwards from his chair. He didn’t cry out.

Rosie rushed around the desk. Jebediah was still conscious, shuddering and glowering at Dalton in anger.

“Not so weak then, son.” He forced the words out.

Dalton didn’t answer. His face pale. He handed the gun to Rosie and grabbed his father’s arm on the side he’d wounded him, dragging him upright. Jebediah grunted and had to follow, stumbling to his knees then feet. He didn’t resist any more as Dalton took his hand and pressed his thumb to the DNA pad on the safe.

It opened and he shoved his father back and into the chair.

“Keep the gun on him,” he said to Rosie, then reached into the safe and brought out a slim silver com.

“Here.” He handed it to her and took back the gun, pointing it at his father. “The pass code to activate it is 25, 11, 2503. You remember, Dad, don’t you? Chris’s death date.”

Jebediah didn’t answer and Dalton’s expression turned to disgust. He asked Rosie, “How long will it take?”

“I don’t know, not long.” Tense, she took the com away and sat in a chair facing the desk. She pulled the temple patches from her pockets and attached them carefully to her skin, then picked up the com.
Here goes nothing
. She flicked it on and tapped in the code, watching it light up. Then, taking a deep breath, she pushed the patch responder into the com’s base point.

At first nothing happened, and she was about to despair when she felt the implant stir, the heaviness of it. She heard a low-pitched buzz and then gasped as a stream of numbers covered her vision. The base code of information from the com. It was like a flow of white light, a waterfall of it, tumbling across her sight. It took barely more than a minute and was gone, but the feeling of the implant was not. She opened her eyes and detached the patches, calming her breathing.

“I got it.” She couldn’t believe it had worked.

“Okay, give the com to me.” Dalton held out his hand. He was expressionless as Rosie put it in his palm. Jebediah was breathing heavily, clutching his arm. He watched as Dalton put the com on the desk and fired three pulse shots at it, until it was nothing but a black smoking mess of metal.

“It won’t make a difference,” Jebediah said. “It’s already done. Dark Star is finished, son. And thanks to Miss Black I have the codes to wake it up. It’s online, I’ve already started configuring the satellites to release the MalX. In six hours the world will be a very different place. You’re too late. You’ll never get up there in time.”

God, no. Rosie saw her own fear reflected in Dalton’s eyes. Was Jebediah telling the truth? Before she could ask more though, something hard hit the other side of the doors, making them shudder and creak. They heard raised voices.

“Sounds like the reinforcements have arrived.” Jebediah coughed. “Alpha must be awake.”

Dalton ignored him. “There’s no other way out of here. How long do we need to hold against them?” he said to Rosie.

“I don’t know.” The doors shuddered again. Dalton took in the single weapon in his hand then scanned the room.

“I don’t have any more guns in here, son, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Jebediah said.

“Shut up.” Dalton’s jaw clenched. “Can you contact them, Rosie?”

“I don’t–”

A sudden barrage of fire outside the door made her stop. That couldn’t be operatives. Rosie and Dalton ran closer, listening. It couldn’t be Riley either; there was no way he could have got here and inside so quickly. The doors shuddered again, harder this time, almost bending in their frame.

“Get back!” Rosie pulled Dalton away as the left door burst open, the plaswood cracking into splinters that flew across the room.

Sulawayo strode in, an enormous blaster in her hand. “Glad to see you’re not dead, Rosie. Pity you aren’t,” she said to Jebediah. He glared at her.

Behind Sulawayo, Gillian was firing pulse blasts down the hall at an operative who fell to the floor.

“Come on,” Sulawayo cocked her head back. “No time for explanations. Follow me.” She levelled her gun as if to shoot Jebediah, but Dalton grabbed her arm.

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

Dalton hesitated. “If he’s dead, he can’t answer for what he’s done.” Sulawayo considered that then lowered the gun. “Hope you’re certain,” she said, and led them out at a run.

Four operatives were down, either dead, or badly stunned. Rosie ran beside Gillian, Dalton behind. “How did you find us?” she said.

“Woke up as you and Dalton were leaving.” Gillian was watching every room as they passed. “Saw him, figured where you might head to. Got no idea how Sulawayo got back in, but right now, I’m not arguing.”

They reached the iris they’d come through and Sulawayo swiped it open then blasted it closed behind them, sealing the lock. They ran back past the closed offices and medibay.

“Don’t know what you’ve done kid, but the whole place here is mobilising,” Sulawayo said as she ran. “It’s the only reason we’re not covered in operatives right now.”

The message she’d sent to her aunt, Rosie realised, it must have been discovered. “Riley’s on his way,” Rosie said.

“I know.” Sulawayo paused at a corner. “I’ve been in touch. Got Nerita waiting in the sky in the
Mariner
. You get the plans?”

She had been talking to Riley. “They’re uploaded,” Rosie said.

“Good, hopefully he won’t be too long; defence capabilities here are not exactly low.” She noticed something over their shoulders. “Duck!”

They all hit the floor as she fired a barrage over their heads. Three operatives leaped through a doorway for cover.

“Move it!” Sulawayo shouted and led them further along the corridor and into a room. She slammed the door shut, standing her back against the wall as Dalton shot the lock.

“Better hole up here for a bit.” Sulawayo checked the charge on her gun.

They were in a small nondescript office, maybe a low-ranking operative’s. Desk, cupboards, holo bench. No windows, no other access at least. Except the roof. “Yes, that is where they’ll come when they do,” Sulawayo said. “But hopefully, they’re distracted.”

A blast that shuddered the door made a liar of her.

“We need a barricade.” Dalton picked up the desk and pushed it against the door and Rosie and Gillian helped, grabbing the cupboard and jamming it against the desk. It wasn’t the best.

“How far to the closest way out of the Enclave?” Dalton said.

“Side door, down the hall, before the cells.” Sulawayo’s concentration was fixed, listening to the operatives outside.

Time ticked away and nothing happened. Rosie was so tense, her shoulders felt like rock. Then there was a sudden smashing against the door.

“They’re trapped in there.” She heard an operative say. “No way out. Tell Alpha.”

They all waited. There was silence. Sulawayo swore.

“We can’t wait for them to bring him back,” she said. “We should–”

“Wait, you hear that?” Gillian had her head cocked to the side. “Listen.”

They all went very still. Rosie heard nothing, then, distantly there was a sound like machinery, a rumble like a ship launching a long way off.

Out in the hall someone started shouting, and pounded past the door.

Doors slammed open and closed and they clearly heard an operative speak. “Two on guard, the rest of you with me. Defence points.”

The deep rumble was louder.

“It sounds like thunder,” Gillian said.

“It’s not thunder.” Sulawayo’s eyes gleamed. “Move that barricade. I think Riley’s arriving.”

What the hell? Was he driving a ship? Rosie helped shift the desk and cupboard back, then Sulawayo positioned herself at the door and nodded at Dalton to open it.

He swiped it open and she fired fast and hard. The operative outside the door went down immediately, but the other bolted left. Sulawayo stepped out and shot him as well.

“Let’s move!” she shouted and they were out and racing down the hall. The sounds from outside were louder, the rumble increasing. Now it sounded like a mass of vehicles coming their way. A high siren began to chime. What had Riley brought, an army?

They had almost reached the outer door when a loud explosion shook the floor and, with a creak, the roof in front of them dropped. Rosie lunged back against the wall, almost falling over Dalton, Gillian beside her. Dust billowed. A louder alarm like a raid siren began to peal. None of them was hurt, but the hall was now blocked.

“We’re cut off!” Sulawayo shouted, her hair and skin speckled white. “Back to the caf.” She pointed behind them.

They all struggled to their feet and ran. More distant explosions vibrated the floor. They didn’t meet any operatives until they sped through the iris into the vestibule leading to the cafeteria. There were operatives and zeroes there, but none of them paid them any attention. All were running on orders to defensive stations, pushing past them. Rosie heard one of the operatives shouting into a com about Senate Elite forces being outside. So Riley
had
brought an army.

“Here.” Sulawayo headed for the door to the Enclave’s inner yard.

Outside, it was hot and bright and Rosie could clearly hear the sound of fighting coming from the opposite side of the building. Pulse blasts pinged off walls and short thuds of explosions made the ground vibrate.

They ran on an angle towards the corner of the building. Rosie thought they might have a chance, but then the blast of a shot ripped past and hit Sulawayo in the back. With a grunt, she went down. Rosie spun around and Alpha was suddenly there, right on her. She tried to dodge him, but he grabbed her and she stumbled, falling against him.

“Stop!” He pressed a gun to her head, glaring at Dalton who was about to shoot.

Dalton and Gillian froze as Jebediah came wheezing up behind.

“Should have let her shoot me, son,” he said.

“Let her go!” Dalton’s gun raised higher.

Alpha pulled Rosie in front of him, using her like a shield. “I don’t think so.”

“Stand down, Dalton.” Jebediah pointed a gun at his son.

“This is a pretty mess, isn’t it, Jeb?” Alpha said. “But at least we’ve been able to cut it off before the damage is done. You won’t be taking those Dark Star plans anywhere, little girl.” Alpha put his mouth to Rosie’s ear. “I’m so sorry, but we can’t allow that.”

He flicked the setting of his pulse gun and she heard its whine dialling up to maximum. To kill.

The strength almost went out of her legs. This was not the plan. “Don’t you do it.” Dalton’s voice was rough with emotion.

“Put the gun down and he won’t.” Jebediah said, his tone certain.

Alpha pressed the barrel harder to her head. “I’m afraid we can’t let her live, Jeb,” he said. “What if she manages to escape again?”

“She won’t.”

But Rosie felt the determination in Alpha’s body, the coldness of him. “Too risky,” he said and his finger shifted on the trigger. Rosie stood frozen, but Gillian didn’t.

Without a sound, she lunged at Alpha, and it was as if the world had slowed. He turned towards her, bringing Rosie with him and she saw Gillian’s face. She would remember it for the rest of her life. Wide-eyed with fear, but also with a kind of desperate determination, Gillian reached for his gun, but Alpha had the training of a soldier. In a heartbeat, he changed aim and shot Gillian at close range in the chest.

Gillian was flung back, her body shuddering as she hit the ground. Rosie screamed and wrenched away from Alpha as Dalton leaped on him. Gunshots ripped the air close by, but they barely registered as Rosie fell to her knees at Gillian’s side. But Gillian was gone, dead before she hit the ground. One moment she was alive and furious, the next she lay gazing at the sky. It was wrong, all wrong. Rosie touched a trembling hand to Gillian’s cheek.

“Rosie!” She heard her name and there was a blast of sound from the Enclave behind them and the air was filled with the spit of pulse weapons firing. Rosie flattened herself to the ground. Something soft was under her hand; Gillian’s hair. A short high-pitched sound came, like a firework, and the ground exploded. It was as if some great invisible hand picked her up and threw her backwards in a hot wave of air, and rolled her in the dirt.

Coughing, Rosie lay dazed. Her back felt like it was snapped in half. She tried to get up, but stumbled and someone grabbed her arm, pulling her upright. Pip. His face was covered in dust, eyes bright. He was saying something but her ears were ringing from the bomb. Then Essie was there and grabbing her in a swift fierce hug.

“Idiot,” she spoke in her ear before she let her go.

Rosie looked around. Alpha was lying on the ground nearby, probably dead. Jebediah had disappeared. Dalton came towards them and behind him Sulawayo, dragging her gun, face pinched with pain.

And then Riley.

“Jebediah ran,” he said to Essie. “There’re operatives on the way. We’ve got to move.” He looked at Rosie, his expression taut. “Can you run?”

Rosie couldn’t move. He was here in the flesh, alive. Even when she’d seen him on the com, it hadn’t quite clicked it was really him.

“Rosie?” His tone gentled the tiniest amount, but she felt like she was having trouble figuring things out. She turned to Gillian lying so still. “I can’t leave her here.”

“She’s gone, kid,” Essie said. “We’ve got to go.”

The door to the yard slammed open and figures appeared in the doorway.

“They never stop.” Sulawayo hefted her gun. “Go, I’ll cover you. Meet you at the ship.” She let loose a barrage of fire and headed back towards the operatives.

Pip took her hand. “Follow me, okay?”

“Okay,” she echoed.

“Come on.” Riley led them at a run to the corner of the operatives’ wing. Pip stayed at Rosie’s side, Aunt Essie behind, Dalton ahead. Riley put up a hand and they all paused, hugging the side of the building.