Overdrive (41 page)

Sensing that
something momentous was about to happen, movement ceased as Gabriella cast her
eye around the bridge. Angels and Templars alike stopped what they were doing
and watched her with a combination of fear, awe and longing. In the now all but
silent command centre, the slow plop of Tarquin’s blood was clearly audible.
Even the Captain tried to stop his shaking as he watched his Princess with a
glazed look and somewhat goofy smile.

“Areopagites,"
she said dramatically. “We are poised to take what we have sought for so long.
It is within our grasp. This man," she said, indicating Tarquin, “is the
key to our success. With him, the Overdrive will be ours.”

The crew gave a
half-hearted cheer, quickly growing in volume and forced enthusiasm after a
glare from Sammael.

Gabriella turned
her glance towards her commander. “Captain!”

The man jumped
upon hearing his title and gave a nervous giggle.

“Open a channel to
the Puritan and the Sweet Bejesus; split screen."

He gave a nervous
little bow and hastened to comply. Moments later, the faces of Asel and Ram
Terry filled the wall sized view screen.

Asel’s handsome
face was twisted by a sneer as he looked down upon his adversary. Ram Terry
looked his normal sheepish self. He could’ve been sneering but it was hard to
tell.

“Gabriella, what
do…”

“What is the
meaning of…”

She cut both off
with a wave of her hand.

“Gentlemen.
Please. Listen to what I have to say. Asel," she said, addressing the
Watcher first. “Our first salvo destroyed your fields, weapon systems and
propulsion. You are outgunned and you know it. Run back to your father and tell
him the deals off. You have two options; withdraw or be destroyed.”

According to
sensors, Asel’s ship still had an operative Slipdrive. They were quite capable
to opening a rift into Nospace.

Asel looked like
he wanted to jump through the screen and attack. “This isn’t over Gabriella."

“Yes Asel. It is.”
She cut the link. “Captain? If the Watcher ship hasn’t left in 2 minutes, you
have my permission to finish them off.”

She turned to Ram
Terry and smiled wickedly. “I have someone you might recognize." She moved
sideways, enabling the sheep to get a clear view of Tarquin. She thought she
detected recognition on the otherwise implacable features of the Holy Ram.

“Oi," said a
voice off-screen. Ram Terry’s visage was roughly replaced by the man Gabriella
knew as Logan, another one of Felix’s friends. “If anything happens to Tarq,
I’ll rip your wings off and shove them up your arse.”

Gabriella smiled
saucily. “Don’t threaten me with pleasure.”

“Look here you
fucking bitch, I…”

“Look," said
Gabriella, “we haven’t got time for this. Put Felix on or I’ll pull your
friends eyes out.”

Logan shook his
head. “Can’t do that. Felix is…um…indisposed at the moment.”

Gabriella sighed
dramatically. “Put him on or I kill your friend now.”

Logan looked long
and hard at the Areopagite. “What would you say if I told you we have one of
your boys, Knights Captain Tynan to be specific, and we’ll swap him for
Tarquin? Of course we could just kill him”?

“Go ahead,"
said Gabriella. “He is of no further use to me."

“Oh," said a
slightly crestfallen Logan. He never believed that this particular gambit would
succeed but was still slightly taken aback by Gabriella’s offhandedness.

“I repeat,"
said an impatient Gabriella. “Put him on now or I kill your friend."

Logan held out his
hands in an effort to placate the Areopagite Princess. “Just settle down. I’m
serious, Felix is really unavailable but anything you want to say to him, you
can say to me.”

“Ok, fine,"
said Gabriella. “Here’s the deal. You give me the Overdrive and all the data
from Felix’s AI and you can have Tarquin back.”

“Done," said
Logan quickly.

“What?," said
a voice in the background, unmistakably that of Ram Terry. “Out of the
question. No deal. What’s to stop her taking the Overdrive and then killing us
all?”

Logan held up an
Afer in full view of the screen. No doubt it was a subtle hint to both
Gabriella and Ram Terry.

“Don’t I get a say
in this?," said Tarquin.

“No," said
Gabriella and Logan simultaneously. Tarquin tried to protest further but an
elbow in the head from Sammael persuaded him to desist.

“I agree,"
said Logan again. “And I don’t think Ram Terry is in any position to argue.
I’ll move the ship in and dock with you shortly.” He cut the link.

Gabriella smiled
triumphantly. In a few short minutes, she would finally have the Overdrive.
With it she could vie for Metatron’s position. Then the galaxy.

“Captain,"
maneuver for dock with the
Puritan
. Oh, and finish off Asel. Can’t have
him lurking around now can we?”

Collision alerts
suddenly sounded. The bridge went red as it quickly moved to combat status for
the umpteenth time.

“What is it?,"
she demanded.

“The frigates have
found us," said Sammael behind her. “The other Gitanian PDS is preparing
to fire as well.”

“Sod it,"
said Gabriella. “Target the crippled PDS and destroy it. The blast should hopefully
incapacitate the one docked with it.”

Sammael nodded.
Commands relayed, over 100 slipmissiles swept out from the Valkyrie, taking
less than 5 seconds to reach their target. The attack completely destroyed the
station, the blast severely damaging the other station docked with it.

Gabriella smiled
with satisfaction. It wasn’t over yet though. The six frigates were closing in
what looked like a classic pincer movement.  “Forget Asel for now, we’ve got
the entire Gitanian navy on our backs. We’ll just have to soak it up until we
have the Overdrive. As for you," she said looking appraisingly at the
muscular 6’7 frame of Tarquin. “I want to see you later. Sammael, take him and
put him somewhere safe for me. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to him while I kill
his friends.”

◊

“You and you,"
said Logan, indicating two of Ram Terry’s shepherds. “Untie him.”

“I really think
this course of action is unwise," said an agitated Ram Terry. “This
mission is foolhardy. As I stated before, Gabriella will simply take the
Overdrive and Felix and kill us all. She can’t afford witnesses at this point. 
If Felix or myself remain at large, the Overdrive will never be the exclusive
property of the Areopagites. Felix can simply build another one. Isn’t that
right Felix?”

“Don’t talk to me,"
said Felix, struggling out of the last of his bonds and shoving the Shepherds
away.

Bruce and Walter,
both carrying large plasma cannons, the latter looking somewhat awkward, moved
the Shepherds and Ram Terry into a corner. Logan kept a watchful eye on
proceedings with his Afer in case Ram Terry tried anything funny.

Ram Terry eyed
Bruce hopefully. “I thought we had an arrangement. You were coming to work for me.”

“Deals off,"
replied the gorilla. “This is far more fun."

Ram Terry sighed
dramatically. “This situation really is hopeless you know. We don’t stand a
chance of rescuing Tarquin."

“I know,"
said Logan.

Startled, Felix,
Walter and Bruce all turned to him. “What?”

Logan looked
cheerful. “We’re going to create a distraction and Tarquin’s going to rescue
himself.

The others shook
their heads in obvious confusion.

Logan’s grinned
broadened as he warmed to his subject. “Let me explain."

◊

The airlock slid
open to reveal three figures, clad identically in white vacuum suits. One of
them, the largest, carried a long mechanical device over his shoulder. Waiting
for them was a squad of heavily armed Angels commanded by Sammael himself. The
Angels were seemingly unaffected by the shaking and rocking ship, keeping their
balance perfectly as it was repeatedly hit by slipmissile bombardment. The
newcomers were not so lucky, staggering about unsteadily. One in particular,
the smallest, was very shaky on his feet.

The Angels fell in
around them and conducted a thorough search of their persons while Sammael
stood arrogantly before them.

“Take off your
headpieces," he commanded once the search was completed.

All three
activated their AI link with their suits, ordering the helmets to slide down.

Sammael examined
the faces revealed carefully. One of them, the one carrying the Overdrive, was
obviously the Transplanter Bruce. His hairy face looked dispassionately at
Sammael before suddenly baring his fangs in a menacing fashion. Sammael ignored
him, turning his attention to the second member of the small party.

“Ah, Logan. We
meet again,” he said, grinning annoyingly.

Logan returned the
grin. “Yeah, however this time you aren’t running away with your tail between
your legs."

Sammael smile
wiltered. “That was a tactical withdrawal. I dealt with that bitch later on the
station.”

He turned towards
the smallest member who was paying little attention to the conversation,
standing with head lowered.

“And this must be
Felix. The genius who invented the Overdrive and who we have to thank for all
this.”

He grabbed Felix’s
hair and yanked his head up. The face revealed was badly bruised and
discolored. The eyes were also somewhat glazed.

“What happened to
him?” demanded Sammael.

Logan shrugged.
“One of your boys who tried to get on our ship worked him over before we dealt
with him. We’ve given him some painkillers."

Sammael let
Felix’s head drop in disgust. He looked long and critically at the dazed man
before shrugging. “Oh well. Gabriella’s got her man and the Overdrive so she
can’t complain.”

“What about
Tarquin?” asked Logan.

Sammael’s smile
returned with a will. “Oh yes. If you follow me, I’ll take you right to him.”

He gestured for
one of his Angels to take the Overdrive off Bruce. As the Angel reached for the
Overdrive, Bruce growled menacingly, readying the device for use as a crude
cudgel. Nervously, the Angel stopped, looking to Sammael for confirmation.
Sammael looked at his fellow Angel and then back at Bruce again before
relenting.

“Oh, let him keep
it for now if it means so much to him. We’ll have it shortly anyway.”

He turned,
gesturing for the others to follow and led the way down a corridor towards an
AG lift. The others followed, Logan assisting a staggering Felix as they
entered the lift capsule. It was cramped inside, the situation worsened by the
uncomfortable silence as they completed the short journey to the bridge.

The doors opened
to reveal a large chamber, dominated by a wall sized view screen filled with a
confusing amount of glowing icons. Sammael, looking smug, indicated that they
should be the first ones out.

“After you ladies,"
he said with a half bow.

The three men
stepped out. Around them, Angels and Templars moved about in almost complete
silence. Fully a third of the space was overshadowed by a mezzanine floor;
Gabriella’s command deck.

She stood on the
edge of it, holding on to the guard rail as she gazed down domineeringly upon
her catch. From where the others stood, it seemed that she absolutely oozed
glamour, sexual vitality and triumph. Others were affected by her mood as
again, movement slowly ceased around the bridge. All eyes were on her and she
loved it.

“At last,"
she exhaled quietly. “At last." With a last sigh of satisfaction, she
addressed her visitors.

“Welcome gentlemen."
The mighty ship shook again as another barrage of slipmissiles impacted against
the hull. Gabriella seemed not to notice.

“I shall dispense
with any more formalities. As you can see," she said with a sideways
glance at the tactical screen, “time is short. Presently the Gitanians will
bring enough firepower to bear that will be able to penetrate even this ship.”

The way she said
penetrate made every male in the room hesitate, struggling against the uncalled
for manly reflex in their trousers.

“Give me the
Overdrive and the data," she demanded.

“First," said
Logan, adjusting his groin in what he hoped was a subtle fashion, “Tarquin.”

“Ah yes. Of
course.” She gestured to someone unseen and Tarquin appeared, supported by two
hefty Angels who marched him down the stairs from the command deck.

Gabriella watched
smilingly for a while as Tarquin made his way to his friends. Finally, she
couldn’t help herself any longer. She giggled engagingly.

“Who am I kidding.
Surely you guys knew you weren’t going to get off this ship alive?." She
turned to Sammael. “Hold on to Felix. Kill the others.”