Star Runners 2: Revelation Protocol (7 page)

A crash woke him. Josh’s joints popped as he folded his sore legs beneath him and propped against the damp wall. His teeth chattered. He clenched his jaw to stop and strained to decipher the chaotic sounds echoing through the halls. Men shouted in unfamiliar languages, the voices coming closer.

"What's that?" he whispered.

"They are coming," Delmar answered, his gravelly voice grim.

In the weeks since his arrival, the nearby area had been relatively quiet other than the guard bringing the same, inedible slop of slithering mucus. Machinery occasionally rumbled in the distance. Several times, Josh wondered if the pirates had buried them in this underground cavern to leave them for dead. But the green slop-carrying pirate continued bringing food, so Josh had nothing to do but wait.

The gate to his cell shuttered and slid back slightly into the rock. A voice barked in another language. An order apparently, but he had no way to know for sure. Josh hesitated before moving towards the opening, his muscles wrenching with each movement. He poked his head through the door as a turtle would inch out of his shell, straining to see through the darkness. The smell of human waste and garbage hit him.

A metal object hit his forehead.

"Darak!"

Callused hands rough as sandpaper clamped on his throat. He gasped for air, felt his lungs ignite like a match. His vision darkened. A metal object forced its way onto his skull, sharp fingers pressing into his neck and head. The razor-sharp edges of the metal split his skin, blood trickling down his forehead and cheeks. The salty taste of blood-tinged his lips and tongue. Another cylindrical object thrust into his ear. He cried out, but his voice drowned in a sea of shrieks.

"When I tell you to rise," a familiar voice cooed in his bleeding ear, "you will do so."

Josh nodded, not really understanding why or if anyone could see his response in the darkness. The mechanical fingers pressed into his skull, the grip tightening. Ignoring the pain, he risked a glance at his surroundings. Other prisoners lined the dark corridor. The crowded walkway stretched wide enough for two men to stand beside each other, but the ceiling seemed to be about six feet high. Every prisoner in the corridor was equipped with this strange metallic object. The silhouette looked almost spider-like. Guards in loose black fabric roamed the hall, keeping their rifles aimed low.

This was it. This was the moment of his death. Delmar was right. The pirates had no need for them. He prayed for his parents never to know his fate, better they thought he drowned in the Pacific Ocean. But Kadyn, oh, how he wished he had said more to her during Austin’s games or during any of the times he stared at her without speaking. He would never know if any part of her felt the same way.

A sound escaped the hallway like a vacuum.

"You have been equipped with a translator to assist with today's duties," the voice said in his ear. "You should all be able to understand me. Raise your hand if you understand."

A dozen yards to his front, a prisoner kept his hands down. A nearby guard kicked the prisoner's leg.

"Raise your hand!" the guard yelled.

When the prisoner did not comply, the guard pressed the rifle to the prisoner's head and pulled the trigger. The laser blast filled the tunnel with a red flash. The prisoner tumbled to the ground, twitched twice and fell still.

"Now, the rest of you should know the device you wear is also for security. At my command, this device will crush your skull, effectively ending your service to me. Some of you here may already know me as Dax Rodon, but you shall only address me as sir or master.”

Josh's blood boiled. He bit his bottom lip, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

In all his months on Tarton’s Junction, the Tyral Pirates had been lurking in the shadows. The name of Dax Rodon lingered in the whispers of officers, caused the worried looks of the experienced Star Runners, and magnified the grumbles of mechanics working to repair the Tridents damaged during these hit-and-run raids. Dax Rodon had been leading them, growing bolder with each passing month.

And now Josh was his prisoner.   

"Today,” Rodon said, “you will empty an acquired freighter and then strip it. Half of you will be sold off or killed by the end of the day. The best workers will stay. Guards! Move our workers into the hangar."

With an agonized murmur, the mass rose and charged forward. Josh felt hot breath on his neck from the man behind him. The guards packed the prisoners in tight like cattle. His body swayed on the uneven surface of the tunnel's floor.

"Stay close to me!" Delmar whispered in front of him.

After whispering to the voice in the darkness, Josh looked at his only companion for the first time. Delmar’s head was shaved, his ripped, white robes covered in a gray muck. The smuggler’s tall, lanky body moved like a living skeleton. 

"We work together, and we survive this," he hissed.

The group snaked through the dark tunnels lit only by crude flashlights. The guards hit stragglers with the butts of their rifles. Those unfortunate enough to trip and fall seemed to receive the worst treatment. Trying to block out the sounds of suffering, Josh kept his eyes on the back of Delmar's head. The spider-like object attached to him, leaving streaks of blood on his temple and neck.

The tunnel opened into a large cave illuminated by fluorescent lights hanging from the rocky ceiling. A metal floor littered with spacecraft and scrap metal stretched for hundreds of yards. At least a dozen stolen Trident fighters had been parked in no discernable pattern, each fighter a desecrated memorial to a fallen Star Runner. Josh glanced to his left, then to his right, and gasped.

The cavern opened on both sides to reveal an asteroid-packed star field. A massive hunk of rock spun slowly in his view. Beyond, asteroids stretched into infinity. So the Tyral Pirates hide in an asteroid field? He saw no nearby planet or moon of any kind, just the blackness of deep space. At least he was certain the pirates hadn’t taken him to another planet. However, how far had they transported him? Was he on the other side of the galaxy?

"Move it!" a guard yelled, smacking Josh in the back of the head.

A battered merchant freighter took up the majority of the makeshift hangar. Laser blasts scorched the hull. The base of the cavern had been covered with steel grates; some pirates dumped tools down into the second level. Enough space had been cleared to fit the freighter. Jagged cracks covered the freighter's hull, the metal blackened and burnt. A hole opened into the freighter near the bridge.

That must be how they took the freighter, Josh thought. Just like they had with the Sabre. 

Tyral Pirates swarmed around the freighter like ants. Josh saw no control tower or crew quarters from his vantage point at the base of the hangar. If he could send a distress signal somehow, perhaps he could limit his stay.

"These passengers should be sorted," Rodon's voice hissed in his earpiece. "All able-bodied men and women will be sent with Tatos on the left of the hangar. The sick, elderly or otherwise useless will follow Simex on the right and be led to the airlock for release."

Josh gazed off to his right. The airlock door was the size of a two-car garage. Rodon planned to force the innocent passengers in there to die. He clenched his teeth. He had to do something.

"You are brave," Delmar whispered without turning around, "but ultimately foolish. Do you really think you could take them all?"

Josh surveyed the hangar. At least twenty heavily armed guards stood in multiple locations throughout the hangar, all focusing on the line of prisoners.

He leaned closer to Delmar. "We have to do something."

"We are,” Delmar said. “We are surviving. We will stand, but today is not the day."

The freighter’s cargo bay doors slid open. The first two passengers rushed out with steel crowbars cocked back in attack position, ready for battle. They yelled, unleashing the battle cry of civilians who had never been in a fight. A flurry of laser blasts ended the rebellion before it began, the guards laughing as they murdered the innocent. Josh winced and wanted to turn away, but remained focused on the grisly scene before him. The two doomed passengers fell to the hangar floor with a dozen candle-size fires burning on their bodies. The closest guard stepped over to the men and fired a shot into each man's head.

The following passengers had no fight in them, their feet dragging on the floor as they marched out of the freighter. Their eyes focused on the ground, some sobbing as they walked. A child gripped his mother's hand, only to be ripped away by a guard. Both the mother and the child screamed. The mother reached for her son and collapsed in her captive’s arms in despair. Josh looked away, unable to watch any longer.

Some prisoners helped sort the freighter's passengers into their appropriate lines. Josh and Delmar were too far back in the line and were ordered to wait. Their task would be stripping the freighter for salvage.

The passengers screamed for their families as the guards separated them. For the first time, Josh’s eyes fell on Rodon. He marched through the passengers like a salesman inspecting his inventory. Rodon’s dark hair fell onto his shoulders clad in fine black silk. The passengers he deemed worthy disappeared into a tunnel on the far side of the hangar, probably bound for cells like Josh had just left. Rodon smacked his hands together and rubbed them as if he had just finished counting his money. He spun around and marched to a door across from Josh’s position.

“Time to eat!” he yelled, gesturing for two minions to follow him. 

As Rodon passed through the door, Josh glimpsed a room full of workstations and an operational hologram. A control room.

“We need to get in that room,” Josh whispered, rubbing his nose to cover his mouth.

“Quiet,” Delmar snapped, clearing his throat. “You have a death wish.”

The guards ordered the unfortunate passengers into the airlock. When the final passenger passed through, the door began sliding shut on the room full of people. In the flashing warning lights, a woman sitting on the floor cradled her baby and stared at Josh. He held her gaze, not wanting to look away as if he could stop the door from closing. Their eyes locked until the sliding metal door separated their connection in a chorus of hissing gasses.

Once the airlock closed, a guard yanked down on a red lever. Josh held his breath, glancing around the hangar in search of a resolution. He sighed. A brief cry followed by a whooshing sound and they were gone.

The radio continued broadcasting news of the car bombing in San Francisco, loud voices argued over the lack of preparation of law enforcement and whether or not the U.S. government had adequately protected the city.

The skyscrapers of downtown Atlanta glowed on both sides of the interstate, stretching into the night sky. Traffic was mercifully light. After passing through the city, Austin took the exit for home. The Atlanta suburban landscape continued to change. New gas stations and businesses sprouted during his absence, continuing the erasure of green space. He smiled as they passed the old coffee shop he used to frequent with Kadyn and Josh, happy it remained. Josh and Kadyn would be glad to know they would be able to meet for coffee again when they all happened to be in town.

His stomach dropped when he realized his best friend would not be coming home. His thoughts drifted to the moment before the pirates had taken Josh's ship.

"Watch it, Stone."

He adjusted his path slightly, pulling the car back from the edge of the road.

*****

The floodlight over the garage sent a white beam through the late-night fog. The haze magnified the light, filling the air in front of the house with a cloud-like vapor. Underneath the house’s gutter, the garbage can stood at the side of the house. Unlike the months after Dad passed away, trash didn’t flow out of the can.

Mom had been keeping the house in good shape since he had been gone. Austin pulled the car past the house as Sharkey had insisted, going down the deserted streets in the middle of the night. The sun would not rise for several hours, and no other lights burned in the darkened house.

Sharkey rested his hand on the holster beneath his blue jacket. He glanced at the road, his eyes darting from house to house.

Austin's mouth went dry. He wondered about Sharkey’s plan. A lingering sense of dread hovered in the back of his mind. 

"Do we turn back now?" he asked, his voice booming louder than he expected in the silence of the car.

"Looks clear." Sharkey turned back from the window. "Let's go."

Austin turned around in the cul-de-sac and drove back to his house. He pulled into the driveway, killed the lights, and stretched. The fatigue of the long, dull drive fell over him.

"She's probably asleep," Austin said yawning.

"I'm sure," Sharkey said, "but we need to wake her."

Austin reached for the door, but Sharkey grabbed his shoulder.

“Listen, we have to assume they are watching the house right now.” He sighed. “Be ready for anything.”

“I got it.”

The cool late night air washed over him as he opened the car door.

"Let's go, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

Austin walked toward the front door and knocked softly. After a minute of silence, he hit the door a little harder. From the front yard, Sharkey sighed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Austin hesitated ringing the doorbell so long after midnight, but reluctantly pressed the dim oval next to the door. The bell chimed, bold and intrusive in the darkness.

Austin winced. "That's going to do it."

He thought of the Revelation Protocol Sharkey explained in the car. Once the protocol has been initiated to citizens on a dark world, it was crucial to provide the information quickly and sufficiently. After getting the person or persons to a secure location, Sharkey said to stick to the "Ws" such as who, what, when, where and why. He wondered how Mom would take all of this information. He balled his fists, thinking of the men who had killed Ryan and wondering if they now hunted his Mom.

Austin looked over at the garage door, remembering the night he spoke to Josh on the phone about Star Runners. Josh had just been suspended, and would soon dominate the servers to earn his scholarship. After hanging up the phone, Austin had seen a shooting star before going inside that night. He remembered wondering if his life would ever change.

Austin sighed. Everything had changed. He had looked forward to this moment, the homecoming, for so long. After all the studying and work he had put in, he had anticipated telling Mom about his degree, his scholarship, and his school experience even though he knew he had to leave out most of the details. Both of them had worked hard to get him into school. None of this would truly be real until he told her.

The first homecoming had been delayed when he left Tizona for Tarton's Junction. That was bad enough. Captain Nubern mentioned he might be able to eventually inform Mom about the Legion in order to possibly recruit her for a medical ship. While Austin couldn't wait to come home, see his old room on solid ground again, and visit with Mom, the possibility of giving her a life beyond this house of shattered dreams gave him hope.

And now when the homecoming finally arrived, an explosion on the streets of San Francisco threatened to take everything from him as it had Ryan Bean. A shadow force operating behind the scenes targeted the pilots of Earth. Somehow, Austin knew Dax Rodon was behind these attacks even if others seemed hesitant to make that connection. The reasons why were still unclear, but all that mattered was Mom could be in danger. He stood outside his old house, and she wasn’t answering the door.

Was he too late? 

He turned halfway around to look at Sharkey when the upstairs light switched on, followed by the hallway.

"She's coming," he said, almost like a prayer.

A figure stepped down to the foyer and paused. A hand moved to the figure's face. Austin swallowed and nodded.

"It's okay, Mom. It's me."

The porch light came on, shining a blinding light in his face. Sharkey took a step back into the shadows in the front yard.

The door pulled back slowly. Mom stood in the doorway, her hair in tangles. She squinted as if trying to pry open her eyes, but they fought against it as she looked through the glass. She swallowed and rubbed her mouth while pushing back the storm door, revealing her yellow nightgown. 

"Is that really you?" she asked, offering a weak smile.

He winced, staring at her pale skin and remembering when Dad had been coping with chemotherapy. Was she sick?

"It's me, Mom."

She lifted her arms, and he embraced her. She squeezed softly. Her body felt weak, frail like a paper doll. 

"I, uh, I can't believe you are here,” she said. “Uh, I thought you were coming tomorrow."

Austin studied her. She repeatedly blinked, placing her hand on the door. Grabbing her forehead, she swayed in the doorway. Her skin turned the color of freshly washed sheets, her lips turning a dark red. 

“My head is pounding,” she murmured.

Leaping forward from the front yard, Sharkey shot past Mom without saying a word and stormed into the house.

Austin cradled her in his arms, her head dropping on his shoulder.

"Sharkey!” Austin yelled. “What is it? What’s wrong with her?"

"Get her to the street!" he yelled from the doorway. He moved onto the porch. “Now!”

Austin grabbed her wrists. "Come on, Mom! Move!"

He moved her through the cold, wet grass. She murmured in protest. Austin pushed her quickly, making his way for the street. Sharkey hurried to the other side of her, lowering his shoulder to dip under her arm. He stood up, draping her hand around his neck.

"Come on!" Sharkey yelled.

A shockwave broke through the yard and knocked them into the grass. Wooden fragments showered the yard in a fiery rain. Austin rolled onto his back, staring at the fireball that a moment before was his childhood home. A black cloud of smoke mushroomed into the night sky. He gasped.

Dad loved that house.

"Lieutenant," Sharkey called, already getting to his feet. "We need to move. Help me get her up."

Austin stood, shaking his head. He gazed into the inferno, the orange flames engulfing his home. The roof turned black, smoke flowing through the broken windows. Lights came on up and down the street. 

"What the hell was that?" he asked, unable to turn away from the fire. 

"Stone!" Sharkey barked. "We need to move! Get her up!"

Wiping sweat away from his eyes, Austin helped Mom stand. He placed her arm over his shoulder. She mumbled as they marched her to the car. Mr. Henderson’s garage light turned on, followed by Mr. Weaver’s on the other side of the street.

"Should we stay for the authorities?" Austin asked as they pushed her into the back seat.

"Absolutely not." Sharkey glanced at his watch. "It's already started."

*****

Sharkey drove through the suburban streets like a demon pursued them, screeching around turns with the skill of a Formula One driver. Mom tumbled across the back seat, her sense of balance apparently non-existent. Austin grabbed the door handle, using his other hand to brace himself against the dashboard. Even with the seatbelt pulled across his lap, Sharkey’s movements caused him to slide.

"I need you to give me directions to Kadyn's house," Sharkey said, his tone icy.

"She's not far," Austin said through clenched teeth and told Sharkey to take a left out of the neighborhood. He glanced back at Mom. "She going to be okay?"

Sharkey stared at the streets, the lights playing across his face. "I don't know. She’ll have quite a headache for a while. Carbon monoxide poisoning will do that. Try not to worry. I’m sure we got there soon enough. If we get her to some help after this, she should be okay."

"You mean like a hospital? How is that going to work?"

Sharkey shook his head. "We have resources all over this planet. We'll get there. We have to get to your friend first."

Austin stared back at his mother. Her eyes closed tightly, her body folded into the fetal position on the back seat. Her skin turned pale, his lips trembling. Austin wanted to climb into the back seat and hold her, tell her everything would be fine. He needed to explain the situation in detail once he had the chance. Despite the situation and the need to rescue Kadyn, his mind kept repeating the same, inescapable fact: If they had been a few minutes later, she would be dead.

Austin clenched his teeth, his eyes not moving away from his Mom. "I'm taking it that wasn't an accident at my house."

"No," Sharkey snapped. "It was not."

"These attackers caused a gas leak in my Mom's house?"

“Apparently. You know what I know.”

Austin slammed his hand on the door handle. “They almost killed my Mom! What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to calm down.” Sharkey nodded forward. “I’m going to concentrate on getting us to your friend’s house.”

Sharkey jerked the wheel, cutting a turn so close he hopped a curb exiting the subdivision. The car tires squealed, the back end of the vehicle fishtailing into the other lane. The tires kicked up water from the wet streets. The headlights beamed out into the haze lifting from the pavement. Sharkey maintained an intense glare, his hands never leaving the steering wheel. 

"I need you to open the glove box," Sharkey said, his voice low.

"What? Why?"

"Open the box!"

Austin flipped it open. A pile of papers topped with a state map fell out onto the floor of the car. "What am I looking for?"

"There should be a button to the left, directly under the jack for the MP3."

"I see it."

"Press it."

When Austin pressed the button, a shimmering light shot across the car. The air wavered like they passed under a waterfall. The hood had glowed for a moment before it disappeared, revealing the street below. The lighting effect looked familiar.

Austin blinked. "You have a shroud on this car?" He spun around, staring with wide eyes at the road behind them. Water kicked high into the air by the tires now hidden by the shroud.

Sharkey nodded. "Of course." He accelerated, the engine straining at the effort. "The gas leak would have killed your mother, and the authorities would have thought it was an accident. Our arrival forced these agents to expedite their efforts, hence the explosion. Your mother’s home was under surveillance, but there’s no way to tell if they were there or if it was done remotely."

His eyes widened, dread filling his consciousness. "They were watching us?"

"Yes. They might be trailing us now. My guess is they were watching with a drone. If we had time, I would have searched the skies and shot it down.” He shook his head. “Whoever these agents are, they are definitely targeting you and your contacts. Once they have eliminated them, they will move on to the next Star Runner or Legion target. This is not theoretical anymore."

"Oh my, God." Austin leaned back in the seat.

Sharkey stared at him. "Tell me where your friend is."