Star Runners: Revelation Protocol

Chapter 10

10

The laser shot echoed over the flat land, the body slumping to the ground. Cyclops snorted and holstered his massive pistol, kicking the dead man into the garbage pit. He swung around to face the rest of the prisoners, his large hands resting on his hips. His broad bare chest swelled and he glared with his good eye.

“This is what happens when you steal,” he grumbled. “This man said he was hungry, so we now have one less mouth to feed. As the wind changes and sends the smell of his rotting corpse into your nose while you work, I want you to remember your actions have consequences.”

Josh glanced at Delmar, who looked on in grim silence. Waylon stood near his men, all of them carrying tools.

Cyclops slapped his hands together, the sound like someone smacked two raw steaks. “Back to work!”

Josh and Delmar moved back to their plow line. Shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, he peered at the end of the field several hundred yards away.

“You’d think they’d bring some horses in here,” he mumbled. “This is going to take all day.”

“If we’re lucky,” Delmar said, beginning to work in the dirt.

He glanced at him. “You like working in the field?”

“Better than being part of it,” he said, nodding to the garbage pit now holding one of their former coworkers.

“I suppose so.”

The sun raised and beat down on their backs. Sweat poured from his face, drenching the tattered work clothes he had been given back on the asteroid. He once thought he must smell like a locker room floor after two-a-days, but now couldn’t care less. His arms, shriveled in the past months of hard labor and little food, were now transformed into wired muscles over bones and nothing else. He moved like a machine over the field, working in silence by Delmar. Waylon and his crew labored on the other side of the field. He looked in their direction occasionally, but most of the time kept his eyes on his work. It was safer that way.

Waylon hadn’t mentioned his plan in a few days. Of course, there hadn’t been time for talking. From sun up to sun down, the only rest came in the short nights. And no one felt like discussing escape by the time the darkness came. There were times he allowed fatigue to take him before he bothered to eat whatever gruel the pirate cooks had left for them.

At midday, a sonic boom echoed. Josh searched the sky, wondering at first if he had been wrong and a storm would soon mercifully bring in the first rain he had seen since they arrived. A rectangular ship flanked by two Tyral fighters descended from the sky, ending his hope of rainfall. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the plain transport ship settle next to the fighters. A pilot exited the rectangular ship and he realized there were actually two ships.

“It’s a tug,” Delmar said without looking.

“A tug?” Josh blinked. “Hauling what?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?”

Josh thought about the tug and the contents of the container it transported. Could it have something to do with the operation he heard the pirates discussing? Had the mysterious benefactor sent more equipment to aide in the pirate campaign?

“We have to check it out,” Josh said.

“You probably won’t be able to get near it.”

“I’ll have to try. It might be the answer to our escape.”

“I thought your friend Waylon was supposed to help you with this escape?”

Josh looked at Waylon across the field. “It won’t hurt if I look, too.”

Delmar stared at the tug and its cargo container for a long moment. He bit down on his lip, then nodded as if he’d made a decision.

“I can do this,” he said.

Josh frowned. “Do what?”

“I will get us closer.”

“How?”

“Quiet,” he snapped. “Let’s get back to work.”

Delmar worked in silence the remainder of the afternoon. He focused on the row until they reached the end of the field. He and Josh finished their row first, and the sun had yet to pass beneath the horizon. Cyclops strolled in their direction, his fingers playing with a whip resting in his hands.

“Someone is showing initiative today! If this old man can finish, the rest of you are slacking off!” he yelled at the others. He leaned in close to Delmar and cackled. “You looking for a raise, old man?”

“No, sir.”

Josh’s mouth dropped open. Delmar had never spoken to Cyclops, had barely even looked at the giant.

“You two, come here,” Cyclops said, his voice grim. “You finished your row first today. I want you both at the ship unloading the cargo over there. Got it?”

Delmar looked at the tug. “That ship?”

Cyclops slapped him in the back of the head. “Of course that ship, you ignorant fool. Get over there before I change my mind.”

Rubbing the back of his head, Delmar shuffled out of the field. Josh followed him, aiding the man as they hurried past the other workers. He met Waylon’s eyes for an instant, nodded and kept going.

The guards remained at the edge of the landing pad. Ever since Waylon had decided to act like a beaten worker, the Tyral Pirates’ attention on the prisoners had lessened. Sure, their captors drank and drinking led to intoxication. The situation differed very little from the high school parties full of alcohol, jocks, and hot girls. He knew a bored drunk was a dangerous thing. The workers kept their heads low and their attitudes lower. As a result, the pirates kept to themselves for the most part. They seemed to be waiting for a signal, an order telling them what to do next. After Rodon left late yesterday, Cyclops ruled the camp.

Scary thought, Josh thought.

The two guards at the landing pad watched Delmar board the cargo container, but shifted their attention to the beer and cards atop a weapons locker. Josh stepped in behind his friend.

“Are you okay?”

Delmar rubbed his head. “Acting.” He stared at the fuel cells, laser power charges, and scrap metal. “You wanted to get in here?”

“I did.” He held his arms out wide. “There’s plenty of room in here for a lot of us.”

Delmar swung around to look at him. “You want to escape in this? That’s a bad idea, my friend.”

“We load all who can’t fly into this container. Those who can fly, pilot a fighter on the way out. Trick’ll be coordinating a curve before the pirates can get any reinforcements down on us.”

Delmar gazed into the stale blue sky. “Who knows what they have in orbit?”

“Perhaps nothing.”

“Maybe, but would you bet your life on it?”

He sighed. “No.”

“Good. We shall be ready for anything.”

They unloaded the cargo, stacking the crates in two large piles at the edge of the dirt landing pad. Josh and Delmar emptied half the container by the time the field workers finished for the day and hobbled back to camp. The largest and last item tucked in at the back of the container shocked Josh. Unlike the wooden containers, the final object was placed in a smooth silver case shaped like a bullet.

“What is this?”

Delmar stepped closer, his fingers sliding across the shining box. “It can’t be.”

“Can’t be what?” Josh glanced over his shoulder. “We can’t stay back here long. The guards are probably lit by now.”

“I need to see this.”

His heart sped like a jackhammer. He searched found one last wooden crate. “I’ll take this one out and give you enough time to do what you have to do. Hurry.”

With a grunt, Josh lifted the crate and carried it out into the darkness. The guards still sat around a crackling fire, playing cards and laughing deeply. The tug pilot had joined them, a spark plug of a man with a wide gut and stumpy legs. He glanced up as Josh set the crate down next to the others.

As he turned back toward the container, Josh knelt down to rub his ankle, trying to act as if he had hurt himself. He listened to the three pirates hurl insults toward one another.

“The hell with it!” the tug pilot barked. “I’m leaving tomorrow anyway, so take all my damned money.”

“When are you coming back?” a guard asked, laughing hard enough for tears to roll down his cheeks. “I could use the money.”

“I’ll be back the day after next,” the pilot said, his voice lowering. “You better be here. I plan on winning the money back.”

“Like hell!”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you cheating me, Mise?”

When the two men squared off, Josh stood and hurried across the pad. So they had another day to rest up and plan their escape. Perhaps it would work, perhaps they could all leave.

Josh stepped into the container, the musty odor stifling the air. During his absence, Delmar had opened the silver container.

“What is it?” Josh asked, keeping his voice low. Inside the crate, a six-foot-long cylindrical object glistened in the faint light. It looked like a water heater with more gauges and displays. “We don’t have much time. The guards are getting wild out there.”

“I haven’t seen one of these since the last war,” Delmar breathed. “It’s a power relay.”

“A power relay? Who cares?”

Delmar waved his hand. “You’re too young. It’s a curvature amplifier. We Shoborians played with this idea for a while, especially for use as a peace weapon. They could expel enemies from our sector. They’re best used when placed as navigation beacons. You know, for plotting distance curves.”

Josh tapped his foot. “So?”

“So the curvature drive uses up more power the farther you travel. During the last war, the factions carried out campaigns across entire quadrants. The magnificent war galleons of those days were quite a sight, son, but they couldn’t navigate the stars worth a damn.”

He shifted his weight. “What’s the point? They’ll be back.”

“These relays were set up along waypoints by smaller scout ships to allow the fleets to navigate safely across tremendous distances without draining their power supplies.”

He stood still. “So Rodon is planning on going somewhere, huh?”

Delmar nodded. “And wherever it is, it’s a long way from home.”

“Who could afford something like this?”

He smacked the crate shut. “Rodon can’t. Two years ago he wasn’t powerful enough to lick a warlord’s boot. He’s getting support from somewhere or someone in order to launch an attack on a backwater system.”

Josh thought of the past months and the growing aggressiveness of the Tyral Pirates. Delmar’s hypothesis made sense.

“Another faction?”

“Either political or corporate.”

“So what do we do?”

Delmar smiled. “When we leave, we try to take this with us. Otherwise, the gate’ll be wide open for whatever unsuspecting star system Rodon’s benefactor wants him to attack.”