Nicolas stepped onto the catwalk first, it’s sheer size amazing him. Susan and the Marines joined him, observing the massive chamber Jason Cassidy told them about.
“Have you seen anything like it?” he said to Susan.
“It’s a sight, that’s for sure.”
The chamber made the sphere appear so insignificant. But Nicolas knew it was anything but. The conduits leading from it was no doubt producing an unholy amount of power, while the Seekers surrounding it at their workstations were obviously doing their best to harness it. The engineers were hard at work, while the soldiers did their patrols around them.
Nicolas spotted a ladder chute to the bottom level of the chamber near them. “Let’s go. Ling, Utkin, stay up here. If we get into any trouble, cover us.”
Nicolas led Susan down. On the lower deck, everything seemed even bigger, if that were possible. Though he’d already seen the sphere on Orion V, for whatever reason it seemed much more impressive a second time.
“I shudder to think what energy runs through these conduits,” Susan said, indicating the large tubular veins.
“I...” Nicolas stopped when a small vibration buzzed on his wrist. The commband under his suit alerted him to an incoming commlink. “It’s the others.”
Susan followed him to a quiet corner.
“This is Marquez. Go ahead.”
“We’ve reached the brig,” Jason said over the comm. “Kione’s not here. Have you—”
The transmission ended abruptly. Nicolas pushed in the commband. “It’s gone dead.”
A commotion sounded in the direction of the sphere and a group of soldiers appeared from inside it.
Then Kione appeared in their arms and unconscious. Dozens of cables protruded from his body, linked to a machine that Nicolas could only assume was some form of medical equipment.
“Kione!” Susan shrieked, though luckily no one else heard her.
Nicolas grabbed her, stopping her from trying to play the hero. “Now’s not the time.” He directed her toward the ladder chute. “We have to find out what happened to the others.”
“I lost the commlink.”
Jason prodded at his commband while everyone else did the same. He walked out into the corridor and looked to his right and then to his left.
Footsteps echoed around him.
At the end of the corridor, a dozen soldiers appeared and a small path formed between them. Nash emerged, hobbling past them. His friend’s face had gashes and bruises all over it, and his armored suit had been cracked and burned.
“I’ve blocked your comms, Cassidy.” The calm, collected nature of Nash’s voice was gone. There was now a bitterness laced throughout. “In all these years, you haven’t changed, have you?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, considering some of my recent history,” Jason yelled back at him.
“You never quit.”
“You always knew me well.”
“I know you reckoned yourself as something of a messiah, but even messiahs eventually die.”
More footsteps approached from the opposite direction and another group of soldiers converged at the other end of the corridor.
“Any grand plans to get out of this one?” Althaus asked appearing behind Jason with Tyler at his side.
Jason didn’t have any tricks up his sleeve this time, but thought he might be able to stretch out the inevitable. “Higgs, you still got that shock grenade on you?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“Pass it here.”
Higgs handed it to Jason inconspicuously behind his back.
“When I say go, I want you three to jump into the brig,” Jason instructed them.
Tyler clasped his shoulder. “What are—”
“Just do it.”
Tyler’s went to say something, but closed his mouth and nodded instead. “Nash, what would you do to us if we were to surrender?” Jason asked.
His old friend chuckled. “We are long past that, Cassidy.”
“So, you wouldn’t turn me into one of these monstrosities? You’ve got to tell me how the Seekers do it? How do they turn them? How did they turn you?”
“Enough!”
“Could you at least spare them? My brother. Hell, even my uncle. Kill me and let them go on their way.”
Nash didn’t answer and simply stared at him.
“Well, I guess you’ve made your mind up then?”
Nash directed his soldiers with a forward motion, and their weapons took aim. “Goodbye, Cassidy.”
Forty-Two
“Now!”
Jason lobbed the grenade down the opposite corridor and dived with Tyler, Althaus, and Higgs into the brig. The explosion reverberated under the deck plating while Jason landed with a thud on Althaus’s back.
As smoke billowed from the blast outside the door, they all picked themselves up and ran down the small passageway between a row of cells to find cover. Jason hoped he’d taken out the soldiers at one end of the corridor but knew Nash and the other squad would be on their way shortly. While the odds were still in the Seekers’ favor, they could now at least defend themselves from a stronger position.
“You okay?” he asked Tyler.
Tyler nodded to the affirmative, though there was little doubt his brother’s heart was racing. The smoke cleared from the door, and on cue, the Seekers came blazing through. The green energy bolts from their weapons cut a swath through the air, clearing a path for them to enter the brig.
Jason aimed and fired, taking a pair of the soldiers out. The others got their shots in, too, but there were too many rushing toward them to make significant gains.
Tyler discharged a volley of blasts around the corner but got quickly pinned down. “Any other ideas?”
Althaus and Higgs struggled to get a shot away from their position too as their assailants continued to stream through. Jason fired, knocking another one down.
“My box of tricks might finally be empty.” Jason pondered another course of action and motioned everyone else backward behind an alternative passageway, while generating covering fire alongside Higgs. Behind was nothing but an enclosed bulkhead. They were hemmed in with no escape.
Jason raised his weapon and awaited the final assault. “Sorry, guys.”
The seconds passed.
Then a few more.
Jason eyed his brother and then Althaus. “Where are they?” He poked his head around the corner where the Seekers had turned their attention in the other direction. They fired back toward the entrance at an
