Accelerating Universe: The Sector Fleet Book One Read online

GOOD LUCK

  I slipped the device back inside my uniform shirt and climbed in behind Lieutenant Chan. By the time I made it to the hatch that we’d used earlier to overlook the bridge, the chief and captain were in position.

  “One flash,” Jameson said, looking through the grille. “They’re in position.”

  “We have to assume the second team is as well,” Chan said.

  “Still no luck with the systems,” Jameson added, probably for my benefit. Or more precisely, Pavo’s when I could tell him. “But they haven’t given up.”

  “On your count, sir?” Chan said. He handed Jameson a laser pointer. “One long flash, then two short,” he added.

  Jameson sucked in a breath of air, looked past Chan to me, and then gave the signal.

  It happened fast. Jameson pushed the grille forward and rolled out onto the bridge firing. Chan pulled himself forward, a second or two delay until he, too, could roll through the now open hatch and onto the bridge behind the captain.

  Plasma fire scorched walls immediately, even bounced into the hatch opening where Lieutenant Chan had just been lying. I stayed back and listened to the shouts and bursts of electricity and cries of pain that followed. Archibald was screaming orders. The smell of burned flesh reached my nostrils. An explosion sounded out, electrical, console at a guess, and then smoke wafted into the hatch itself.

  I pulled my shirt up to cover my nose and tried to breathe only shallow amounts. My hand fisted around a plasma gun, my face pressed into the gel coating of the tube. I closed my eyes against the sting of smoke all around me. The sound of fighting and shooting was loud, amplified in the small space I was in. I needed to see what was happening, but I was pinned down and had my orders.

  I had never felt so useless as I did right then.

  Finally, the sounds of plasma fire became less frantic, the smoke dissipated a little and only moans of pain could be heard now and then. I waited, holding my breath for as long as I could manage, and then pulled myself forward.

  Archibald was standing in the middle of the room, the captain at his feet, bloody and battered. Chan and his men, one of which looked unconscious or possibly dead, lay in various positions beside the flight crew. Two mercs were tying them up. Their guns were in a pile over by the ops table.

  I pulled back, breathing hard. It hadn’t worked.

  I stared at nothing as I strained to listen. Archibald hadn’t spoken yet.

  I had my orders. I had to protect Pavo.

  I wanted in that room so bad.

  I pulled the datapad out and typed in a message.

  Didn’t work. Captain and men caught. Archibald still in command.

  THAT IS UNACC…ACC…ACCEPTABLE

 

  I stared at the warning message. At the stutter that even occurred when Pavo had no voice.

  The ship was under the control of a psycho killer. The captain and his chief of security were prisoners. And the AI had a malfunction.

  Pavo. Are you OK? I wrote.

  I AM NOT FEELING WELL, ANA

  I NEED TO

  He didn’t even finish the sentence.

  What should I do? I asked.

  I DO NOT KNOW

  And then Archibald started talking.

  Thirty-Six

  Believe What You Want

  Jameson

  “Thank you for making this easy, Captain,” Archibald said.

  I managed a chuckle, but fuck my ribs hurt. A plasma rifle was pointed at Chan’s head. One was pointed at mine. And six more were held in steady hands around the bridge. My bridge. At least we’d taken out two of their number.

  My eyes found the midshipman who’d taken a blast to the chest. His Anderson Universal uniform still smouldered. I could smell his burned flesh.

  Two to our one. It was hardly something to crow about, but I’d be damned if I let this nut-job see he’d got to me. The only thing keeping me conscious was the fact nobody had checked the maintenance tube and found Ana. Yet.

  “So what now?” I asked, feeling every indrawn breath like a stab to the lungs. I didn’t think I’d punctured one; I could still breathe. But something was snapped in there and what was left was threatening to do some more damage.

  “Where is Pavo?” Archibald asked.

  “You haven’t got him?” I replied, then worked not to wince when I laughed. “Good for him. Outfoxed the hound.”

  “My patience is wearing thin, Captain Jameson. Where. Is. The. AI?”

  “Well, we don’t want you to bust a gut or anything, Archibald,” I offered. “Pavo has been purged.”

  He stared at me as if I was mad, and maybe I was. I was poking the bear. And then he stepped forward, leaned down, and backhanded me across the cheek. It was such a girlie move, all I did was laugh.

  “Kill him,” he said, straightening.

  A plasma rifle whirred.

  And, well, shit. That hadn’t gone to plan. Not that I had one. But still.

  “Touchy aren’t you?” I muttered.

  “Your cockiness in the face of death does not surprise me,” Archibald said, he raised his hand and stalled the firing squad. “I asked for you, you know,” he added, almost conversationally. “Youngest captain in the Anderson Universal Fleet. I knew you’d believe yourself invincible. I had hoped you’d be easy to manipulate, but no matter. Overconfidence can be equally as useful.”

  He gave a hand signal. A plasma gun fired. My whole body jerked, but Marshal’s scream had me soon realising I hadn’t been the one to get shot at. I twisted my neck, causing the fucking rib to complain, and saw the helmsman bleeding out on the deck.

  “I’ll kill one at a time,” Archibald said levelly, “until you tell me where my men can find the AI.”

  “I don’t know where it is,” I said.

  “Of course, you do, Captain.” Archibald nodded his head to one of the mercs, and he shot a midshipman between the eyes.

  “Holy fucking shit, are you mad?” I explained, adrenaline making it easy to pull myself upright.

  I couldn’t feel the rib now. All I could feel was the thundering of my heart and the knowledge that we were totally and utterly, royally screwed.

  “If I had Pavo, I’d give him to you,” I said. “But he’s hiding from even us.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  That fucking hand signal again, but this time I was prepared. I rushed the merc who fingered his trigger, and the shot went wide. The butt of another merc’s rifle came down on the side of my head, and stars literally burst before my eyes.

  I felt sick to my stomach. I doubled over, the deck tilted at an alarming angle, and then I was down on my side, and I swear to God my rib poked out of my chest and stabbed me in the side of my head. Drums began to beat, drowning out the sounds of my crew and Archibald’s laughter.

  “See?” he said. “Invincible. If we weren’t on a deadline, I’d find breaking you entertaining. But we're already behind schedule, and I can’t afford any further delays.”

  “All for a piece of New Earth,” I slurred. The room was spinning, I blinked several times, trying to get Archibald and his butt happy mercs into focus.

  “The future will be decided by a few, Jameson,” Archibald was saying. “And Anderson Universal will not be part of it. Your employers believe they will be rich. Will be powers to be reckoned with in our new society. But do you seriously think I am alone in my pursuits?”

  What was he talking about? I was having trouble focusing, but I forced the nausea down, I ignored my blurred vision and the bongo drums beating out a hearty rhythm inside my head. I ignored it all and tried to parse what the man had said.

  Do you seriously think I am alone in my pursuits?

  Every lead vessel was an Anderson Universal ship. Each one was chosen because of the AIs my employers had commissioned. Once we reached New Earth, their calculating power and extensive databases would be used to build a new world.

  Their worth didn’t stop once the ship reached our destination.
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  So, hijack an AI-controlled ship en route to New Earth, and suddenly you’re one of the chosen.

  I let out a sickening chuckle.

  “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” I said.

  “And I won’t be the only one to have done so.”

  The private security force each leaseholder insisted be part of the lease agreement. The mayor to offer a buffer. Would Cecil be thrown under the bus when the civilian population learned of the change in operations?

  This had been well thought out. Planned meticulously before we even launched. I had to warn the other sector fleets. But they’d already transitioned, and we had our own problems.

  “You didn’t waste any time,” I offered.

  “I am not accustomed to waiting for things to happen, Captain,” Archibald said. “I prefer things to transpire according to my timeline.”

  “But you didn’t count on Pavo going rogue,” I said.

  “No. That solar flare was unscheduled. And now we both have a problem.”

  “I don’t know where he is, Archibald. So, go on,” I said, waving my hand at the bridge. “Do your worst. You’ll only be getting rid of those people on board this vessel who have any chance of keeping it functioning properly.”

  “Invincible and naive,” Archibald said. “Do you think I didn’t choose my security team well?”

  I looked over at the tactical console and watched as the merc there tapped a string of words and letters and symbols onto the screen. Computer lingo. Pavo lingo. They were still trying to hack into the systems. Unsuccessfully.

  But for how long?

  A merc was now sitting at navigation. One had taken the helm. Comms was still vacant, but that had been blown up by a stray plasma shot and was well and truly fucked now. Archibald had a flight crew already. He didn’t need mine.

  He just needed Pavo.

  I started to laugh. They wouldn’t find Pavo. Ana wouldn’t let them. If she had any sense, she’d be backtracking down the maintenance tube, slinking out through the head, and making her way to the far side of the ship to hole up.

  This man was shit out of luck.

  So, I told him so. “You’re shit out of luck, Archibald. Pavo has gone.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Believe what you want.”

  I let myself slump down. It was getting harder and harder to keep my head up. I lay back on the cold gel-coated floor and stared up at the ceiling. No stars. Just the regular pulsing of high alert red.

  It took a second. Maybe two. But then I saw it.

  Two eyes peering over the lip of the open life support hatch.

  I tried not to react, but I must have made an incredulous sound. She hadn’t backtracked, but she had moved.

  Ana. You incredible, beautiful, frustrating woman.

  And then Archibald was looking up, and Ana was falling down.

  And all hell broke loose.

  Thirty-Seven

  Nice Try, Ana

  Ana

  I managed to take out three of them before they reacted. I would have got more if Jameson hadn’t given me away to Archibald. The psycho-douchecanoe might have let his men do all the killing, but he wasn’t one to go unarmed.

  He drew a plasma gun and fired. Quickdraw. Slamming the bolt straight into my thigh.

  The fact he hadn’t shot to kill like the mercs meant only that he wanted me alive to use against Aunt Mara. Or the captain. I wasn’t sure. He couldn’t be aware of what I meant to Jameson, but he had to know I meant something to Pavo.

  Even my auntie could fight his willpower for only so long. She would have told him of our conversations, at the very least. He could have filled in the gaps afterwards.

  I made a grunting sound as my thigh gave out beneath me, but I still managed to clip another merc before I slid behind the ops table and took cover.

  The smell of plasma fire filled the bridge. Smoke wafted out of the tactical console. I’d taken that merc, the one sitting at the helm and the one next to him at navigation. I’d clipped the one standing nearest the captain.

  When I peered out from behind the ops table, each of the remaining mercs - five including the injured one beside the captain - held a hostage. That left Lieutenant Taylor on the ground, still unconscious. But the numbers were now more even.

  Our guys, though, were all cuffed, except the captain. And Archibald held his plasma gun muzzle under Jameson’s chin. He might as well have been chained to the bulkhead.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Archibald sang softly.

  “Go fuck yourself,” I muttered.

  “I can hear you, Ms Kereama.”

  I shook my head. Antagonising the man wouldn’t get us anywhere. Jameson had proven that. Archibald held all the cards. I might have been armed and ready to fire, but every single Anderson Universal crew member on this bridge had a gun pressed to their head.

  I’d already seen how free and easy Archibald was with taking lives.

  I stood up, hands out, plasma gun hanging loosely from my fingers.

  “Fucking hell, Ana,” Jameson snapped.

  “Drop the gun, or I kill him,” Archibald said mildly.

  I held Jameson’s eyes. I willed him to understand that I had to have at least tried.

  Then I placed the gun on the floor.

  “Kick it away,” Archibald said.

  I did as he asked. Jameson looked fit to strangle me.

  I shook my head. His life was worth just as much as Pavo’s.

  “You Kereamas can’t seem to stay out of trouble,” Archibald offered.

  “What have you done with my aunt?” I snarled.

  “She’s safe. For now.”

  “Locked up in your creepy interrogation room?” I pressed.

  Archibald smirked. “It didn’t work so well for you, did it, Ana? I owe you for that, by the way.” He rubbed his nose, which didn’t look any worse for wear. I should have headbutted him harder. “But I’m not in the habit of making the same mistake twice.”

  “What have you done with her?” I demanded.

  “I have her under guard. The guards have strict orders to kill her should anyone attempt to breach the room’s walls. And my guards are very obedient.”

  “Unlike you, Lieutenant,” Jameson snapped.

  I blinked. He didn’t want Archibald to know I was second in command. I still wore only one pip. There was no way for Archibald to know I’d been promoted. That I held sway with the AU crew and, more importantly, the AI.

  “I’m intrigued,” Archibald drawled. “What orders did you give her?”

  “Like I’d tell you,” Jameson growled.

  “He told me to run and hide, but I’m no coward,” I said.

  “Disobedient and a big mouth,” Jameson barked.

  “No, you’re not,” Archibald said, studying me. “You didn't run when your lover was shot in the Sinai, did you, Ana?”

  My heart started to beat a little faster. I offered Archibald a glare, but he just smiled. A cunning, devious kind of smile. A smile that said he knew something. Or he had put it all together and liked what he’d come up with.

  He pressed the plasma gun harder into Jameson’s chin. The captain didn’t make a sound and pressed his head down against the muzzle, making Archibald have to fight for every inch.

  “What will you do, Lieutenant, if I shoot this man?” Archibald asked. “Will you risk the entire bridge crew to save his life?”

  “Fuck you, Archibald,” I said.

  “I think you would,” he replied, conversationally. “I think you’d rush over here, ignoring orders and disregarding protocols, and you’d risk everything, everyone, just to reach his side.”

  I said nothing.

  “You are a creature of habit, I’d wager. Keep making the same mistakes again and again and expect to get a different outcome.”

  “And you, Damon?” I asked, trying to get the words out between clenched teeth. “Are you a creature of habit? Will you destro
y everything you come in contact with so that you can climb a little higher? So that you can breathe a little easier in that rarified air you so desire?”

  “I don’t see a problem with that,” he said, smiling.

  “Go on,” I said. “Kill him.” I nodded toward the captain. “The moment the bullet enters his head, Pavo will wipe himself out of our lives.”

  Jameson glared at me. Archibald just watched me with narrowed eyes.

  “Who do you think the AI identifies with the most?” I asked. “I’d place my money on the captain of the ship if I were you. Followed closely by the second in command. Oh, but you already had the commander killed, didn’t you? Part of that destructive personality you’ve got going on. Didn’t think that one through, did you, Damon? And now you’re doing it all over again. Just like you did with your dad.”

  Archibald took a step closer, dragging the captain with him.

  “What did you say?” he demanded.

  “Isn’t that what you told Aunt Mara? When you curled up in her lap and cried as a little boy? That you were responsible for your father’s death?”

  Aunt Mara had never told me this, of course. She wouldn’t have broken Archibald’s trust back on Earth. But all bets were off when he chose his own goals over the saving of ten thousand lives. Aunt Mara had been disappointed in him, and according to Pavo, she had tried to think of some other way to reach her former charge. To get him to allow Jameson to halt our fleet and wait for the Sector One ships to arrive.

  But in the end, she’d had no choice but to provide Pavo with as much ammunition as possible. Ten thousand lives were worth the breach of trust. It would have pained her. No doubt she’d agreed to meet with Stefan Archibald, hoping an opportunity to redeem herself would occur. But he’d organised her capture instead, and then Auntie would have had to face Archibald at his worst. Knowing that she had betrayed him and wanting to apologise, even as he did God knows what to her.

  I knew my aunt. This would have hurt her more than Archibald ever could. But she’d had no choice. As Jameson had no choice, but to find a way to break the lease and stop the fleet for the remaining Sector One ships.