War Angel: part eighty

“The most vulnerable part of that thing has to be the engines,” Richard told the group. “The outer casing on the rest of it is completely ridiculous, though.” He shrugged. “And it isn’t like the engines are all that vulnerable. They have a ton of cannons installed back there, and if they have any design sense at all, they have multiple redundancies if one gets knocked out. Even then, they still have some actual protection from the super hull, because they’re partially sunken in.”

Gina exhaled loudly. “So they aren’t really vulnerable either. This is insane.”

“Not from the outside, again, no,” Jack replied. “But if we do this my way…”

Kate continued blasting with all her fury as she watched Ben Drake drag his father toward her. Wilma whipped around the corner behind her, diving for cover, and Kate kept a wary eye as the rescue continued going right down the drain. “Nonononononono,” repeated over and over in her head.

Finally, Ben pulled his father around the corner, and Kate stepped back to assess the situation. The doctor immediately began inspecting the wound, and Kate could see from the older woman’s increasing anxiety that the prognosis was not very good.

Ben noticed the same. “Doc?”

Wilma shook her head. She looked into the older man’s eyes, and they had already turned glassy. She did a quick scan of his vital signs and shook her head slowly, and slumped down in defeat. Then the elder Drake coughed, and then began speaking. “Go…”

Kate peeked around the corner and saw movement beginning at the far end of the corridor. “I’m afraid he has the right idea, guys,” she said, her voice flat.

Ben’s head snapped around. “I am NOT leaving him here to die!” He knelt down next to his father. “I’m not leaving you, Dad.”

The doctor reached over and put her hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Fifteen minutes, maybe less, Ben.”

The younger Drake’s eyes hardened. “Then he’ll get them.”

Kate fired several shots down the corridor, explosive sounds vibrating through the walls. “We don’t have that kind of time. And we need to get back to the ship quickly.” She paused. “Quickly, do you understand?” Her voice softened. “Ben, he can’t run. We have to run. The Angel is going to be coming through soon, and the odds are that she won’t be coming this way. She’ll be heading for Jack, and the odds that he is in this part of the ship are pretty slim. He may even be back already.” She wheeled around and fired another volley, then dropped down and crouched next to Ben. “I can do it for him if you want. I don’t want you to have to do it.”

“No!”

“Ben,” she whispered, “You don’t want to be taken alive by these guys. You know what they do.”

A tear formed in the young comm. officer’s left eye. He reached out and took a gun from Kate’s hand. “We won’t be. Go. I’m staying with my father.”

“This is insane!” she yelled at him.

He shrugged. “You need cover anyway. Someone has to keep these guys off your ass while you make a play for the ship. Looks like I elected myself.” He checked the power levels on the gun. “Looks like I have some shots left. Don’t worry, I’ll make them count.” Ben locked eyes with Kate for the first time since she had tried to kill him. “And I’ll save a couple.”

Wilma began to weep. “Ben…”

Drake stood up, smiling at the doctor. “It’s been real, Doctor. Thanks for saving my life and getting me this far.” He looked around the corner and fired a barrage, then turned to smile at Kate. “You’d better go. They need you.”

Kate checked her remaining gun, then nodded. “I’d tell you I’m sorry, but –“

“It’d be a lie. Likewise. Guess we both are who we are.” He winked at her. “See ya around, F.A.”

Alarms began clattering throughout the Serr’Donn. The captain, B’thah K’alat, leapt from his seat. “Report!”

A bridge warrior spun around in his seat. “It is… impossible! The Kan’Tar just opened fire and destroyed the Qia’Zot!”

“What?! Confirm that!” A second warrior punched the ship’s sensor logs onto the main screen, and the Omegans watched as their flagship destroyed one of their fellows. K’alat sat back down into his command chair. “This is absurd. Raise the Kan’tar!”

“No response. There is some sort of interference,” one of the bridge crew replied.

K’alat stood again. “Engage thrusters. Take us into the Kan’Tar’s landing bay. I sense treachery.”

“From who?” asked the sensors officer.

“That,” K’alat, “is a very good question.”

Jack braced himself against the wall and continued to slowly walk through the Kan’Tar’s corridors. He had been hyper cogniscent of his movements as he and M’isti had left the others behind, and he was certain that he was making his way back the way he had come. He knew that his crew would be looking for him, but he wanted to make it as easy as possible to come and get him. The closer he could get to the landing bay, the simpler it would be for them.

A familiar door appeared ahead of him, and he approached it carefully. There was also one other option: his plan had failed utterly, and his crew was dead inside this room. He limped into the dining hall, and saw a number of dead Omegans on the ground, their blood spilled across the floor. He looked around the room and saw no traces of his crew or any damage they might have taken in their own efforts. Relaxing for a moment, Jack exhaled loudly, feeling the pain in his body more acutely than he would have preferred. His knees trembled for a few seconds, and he realized that this was where his journey in this ship was going to have to stop. It was going to be up to the War Angel crew to find him here.

He reached across the table and grabbed a glass of water. He took a large swig, then gargled and spit it out. A splatter of bloody water swept across the table, and he turned up his nose. “I seriously need the doctor,” he thought. “Or this rescue may be for absolutely nothing.”