The Last Flight of the Argus (40 page)

Inquisitor
Cer shut down the
Xendos’
engines and rose. Stephen Gray, Francis Lane, and Saro Triste remained in their places, gazing out the window. All of them were in awe.

“
Even now, even though we’re here…I never thought—” Stephen Gray said. A smile cut across his face. “She’s intact. By the Gods, she’s actually intact!”

Francis Lane shared his smile. Her grip on Nathaniel’s shoulders tightened. “We built them to last back then. The Old Empire knew what it was doing. Let's not waste any more time. Let’s move.”

The group hurriedly exited the cockpit. They walked down the stairs and to the crew deck. They sped along the corridor with the intention of continuing to the decompression chamber that lay in the next level below.

“
How many power cells did we bring?” Saro Triste asked Inquisitor Cer.

“
Fourteen large power cells and fifty small ones.”

“
Will they be enough?”

Francis Lane thought about that.

“
The
Argus’
doors have two energy systems, the main system and a backup. If the connection to the main system fails, a backup cell feeds energy to the door, allowing those with knowledge of its code to open it.”

“
Do we have the codes?” Inquisitor Cer asked.

“
My research into the
Argus
revealed one of their primary, non-secretive access codes,” Francis Lane said. “Thirty three, forty-four, and sixty-six. They picked that code for all the minimum security doors.”

“
Easy enough to remember. What if we need to pass through doors with secondary security codes?”

“
For now, let’s worry about getting the main doors opened,” Francis Lane said. “There should be enough energy cells to get us through them. And there should be enough of the big cells to get the central computers online. If we’re lucky, we’ll get the artificial gravity mechanisms working and maybe even get the life support systems operational.”

“
Life support? How long will we be—?”

“
Never mind that, Inquisitor,” Saro Triste interrupted. “We need to work quickly. It’s only then that we can proceed to the next —”

His words were cut off by the sound of an alarm. A red light flashed through the corridor.

“
Someone’s activated the ship’s airlock!” Stephen Gray yelled.

Inquisitor Cer broke off from the group and ran down the hall. She passed several rooms before abruptly stopping.

“
What in...?”

The group caught up with her. Inquisitor Cer stood before the door leading into Maddox’s room. Sitting in a chair in the room was the body of Ned Frasier. Inquisitor Cer approached the man in white and checked for a pulse.

“
He’s dead.”

“
And Maddox is gone,” Saro Triste said. “He couldn’t have moved on his own.”

“
We're also missing B'taav and Melchor."

“
We can sort this out after we see who used the airlock.”

Inquisitor Cer turned to Saro Triste for guidance. The Phaecian Cardinal nodded.

“
Let's get to the airlock,” he said.

Inquisitor Cer was the first one out the door. She took a sharp right and disappeared down the corridor, followed by Saro Triste and Stephen Gray.

The last people to leave Maddox’s room were Francis Lane, Nathaniel, and Balthazar. Francis Lane took one more look at Frasier's corpse and Maddox's empty bed. She also noted the dry vomit on the floor.

“
Where
is
Melchor?” Francis Lane asked the Merc.

Balthazar shrugged.

“
Find him. We’ll need him.
Very
soon.”

“
Yes ma'am,” the Merc said.

Francis Lane and Nathaniel headed after the rest of the group while Balthazar walked in the opposite direction.

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

Inquisitor
Cer was the first to arrive in the decompression room's antechamber. Whoever had used the airlock chamber was gone, as the room beyond was empty. As the others made their way into the antechamber, she was already working on the airlock’s computer system.

Inquisitor Cer pressed several other buttons and the three monitors over the computer system came alive. They showed the area immediately outside the
Xendos
. Inquisitor Cer moved the outer camera until she caught sight of someone in an environmental suit on the
Argus'
flight deck. He was too short to be Melchor and obviously couldn't be the injured Maddox.

“
It’s B’taav,” Stephen Gray said.

The man in the space suit carried a large black case in his right hand and a computer pad in the other.

“
He’s got the power cells,” Saro Triste said. “What is he doing?”

B’taav walked to the door leading from the flight deck into the body of the
Argus
. It was already half open. With some effort, he slid it open the rest of the way. Without pausing, he disappeared into the darkness within.

“
Son of a bitch,” Stephen Gray spat. “B'taav killed Frasier and now he’s inside the
Argus
. He means to get the
Charybdis
device for himself!”

“
How far will he get without the proper codes?” Saro Triste asked.

“
Not very,” Francis Lane said.

“
Reprogramming that computer pad to be a lock picking device isn't that difficult, if you know how,” Inquisitor Cer said. “The Independent wouldn’t take this action without some kind of plan.”

“
You believe he thought this through?” Stephen Gray said. “What, in your considered opinion, could his plan possibly be?”

“
All I can offer are guesses,” Inquisitor Cer said. “Once we found the
Argus
, the Independent likely feared his usefulness to us was at its end.”

“
You think he’s trying to make himself useful again?” Saro Triste said. “By getting his hands on the bomb?”

“
What else of value is there in this place?”

Stephen Gray shook his head.

“
He has to be stopped.”

“
Indeed,” Saro Triste said. He laid both hands on Inquisitor Cer's shoulders. “For a long time you've wanted to get your hands on the Independent, have you not Inquisitor?”

“
Cardinal?”

“
You are among friends,” Saro Triste said. “We know you share little love with the Independent, especially because of his involvement in the Tamarin Campaign.”

Inquisitor Cer took a step back.

“
You overheard my conversations with the Independent?”

“
It was for your benefit, child. We had to make sure no harm came to you.” Saro Triste offered the Inquisitor a sympathetic smile. “It pains me that you spent so much time with that loathsome war criminal.”

A savage darkness settled on Inquisitor Cer's face.

“
You wish me to stop the Independent?” she asked.

There was a long pause as Saro Triste considered her question. When Saro Triste spoke next, his voice was deadly serious.

“
You will stop him,” Saro Triste said. “I do so order.”

“
Your lordship,” Inquisitor Cer said and bowed.

Inquisitor Cer approached the lockers on the other side of the room and pulled out one of the eleven remaining environmental suits. She examined it, making sure that the Independent hadn’t performed any sabotage on it. Once satisfied the suit was intact, she put it on.

“
Remember, any communications between us must be limited,” Inquisitor Cer said before screwing her helmet on. “B'taav will hear anything we say.”

Stephen Gray swore.

“
Frasier should have invested in better quality suits. Suits capable of sending encrypted messages.”

“
No use worrying about that now,” Francis Lane said.

Inquisitor Cer nodded. She placed the helmet over her head and stepped to the airlock door.

“
Good hunting,” Saro Triste said.

Inquisitor Cer hooked her fusion gun to a holster on the suit's side. She keyed in the airlock entry code and the chamber beyond filled with air and was pressurized. When the environment mirrored that of the inside of the
Xendos
, the bulky security door slid open. Inquisitor Cer stepped into the airlock chamber. The door sealed after her, and the chamber's atmosphere was drawn and replaced with cold vacuum.

The moment the outer doors of the
Xendos
opened Inquisitor Cer felt little of the bitter cold filling the
Argus'
landing bay. With only minor hesitation, she took her first steps outside the
Xendos
and onto the landing bay of the super juggernaut. Though her mind was focused on her mission, it was hard not to stare at the wonders surrounding her.

The landing bay was massive. She looked up and past the dangling cables and long burnt out lights and saw a stygian darkness. It was impossible to guess how high the ceiling rose. To her right and left, the floor extended for what seemed like miles before it too disappeared into darkness.

Despite the Inquisitor's years of service and courage in the face of danger, it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed. She took a moment and allowed a chill to pass. Once gone, her jaw clenched. Whatever fears she felt were consigned to the back of her mind.

It was time to move forward.

The bay floor was covered in a thick layer of red dust and B’taav’s footprints were clearly visible. Provided the dust made its way inside the super juggernaut, his path would be an easy one to follow.

Inquisitor Cer focused her attention on the door B’taav entered moments before.

Time to get to work
, she thought as she followed his footprints and entered the
Argus
itself.

B’taav
knew whatever time he had was short. He switched his communicator on and stepped deeper into the wide corridor leading away from the landing bay. B'taav worked his way to another heavy door, a security hatch, and knew it hadn’t been opened since—

The thought made B’taav pause. He could imagine the fading screams of the
Argus
crew. The very last sounds as, one by one, the crew died. Without hope, they died in terror.

B’taav leaned against the wall. Thoughts of the bloody carnage from the
DeCarlo
assaulted his mind.

“
Enough,” the Independent yelled. His voice quickly dropped to a hushed whisper. “Enough.”

He steadied his footing and shook the black thoughts from his mind as best he could before placing his black case on the floor. He opened it. Within were a collection of tools and batteries. B'taav grabbed a screwdriver and got to work on the large panel beside the heavy door. In normal conditions, forcing the panel open would take only a few seconds. Working in the cumbersome environmental suit proved far more difficult. Frustration added seconds to the task, but eventually B'taav removed the panel and revealed the ancient computer that operated the door.

B’taav unscrewed several plastic caps from beside the computer and pulled out two wires attached to a drained mini-cell battery. He removed the ancient battery and hurled it down the corridor, where it floated away until it was swallowed by darkness. B’taav then reached into his black case and grabbed a fresh new mini-cell battery. He fastened the wires to openings on the surface of the cell and pushed it into place.

Either this works or—

The Independent jumped when the computer came alive. Like the
Xendos
and the Phaecian asteroid base, the vacuum of space preserved this rugged instrument.

Hopefully, it preserved much more.

B’taav hurriedly closed his case and gripped it in his left hand. He pressed his computer pad against the numerical keypad in the middle of the massive door. A series of red lights flashed on the pad. One after another the lights settled until they displayed a sequence of numbers. 334466.

That was easy enough
, B’taav thought. He entered the code and felt vibrations. The massive gears turn inside the walls and the door him slid open. B’taav recovered his computer pad and stepped into the darkness that lay beyond.

The
drained mini-battery cell floated by Inquisitor Cer and headed straight toward the
Argus'
landing bay. Inquisitor Cer watched it bounce harmlessly against some debris before stopping.

Her target was very close.

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

Francis
Lane scowled as Stephen Gray turned off the communicator.