Wyatt’s smile receded back and soon his face had reverted back to the grim, severe expression he always had. “There’s nothing you can do anymore. Accept it and I’ll ensure a fair punishment.” “There’s nothing fair about this.”
“Come on, Derek. I think I’ve tortured you quite enough. But to be honest, technically your friends were the ones that got you into this position.” The smile came crawling back.
Derek’s sorrow started to translate into anger. “This position? This position in which a group of less than a hundred took on and killed over four times their numbers. Your soldiers were the ones that really lost. It shows your weakness, your pathetic ability to command. Operations commander? That’s a fucking joke. You are a fucking j-”
Derek was abruptly interrupted by Wyatt slamming his head onto the steel wall beside them. “Come now, Derek. I think your little reunion time has expired. The boss wants to see you.”
“Oh good. Now I can punch him in person.”
The elevator lurched into motion yet again, only this time they just kept going up. It took them almost a full ten seconds to arrive at their destination. Wyatt didn’t lie very often. Derek observed the holographic sign in front of him as the door opened. The golden tinted glow of the sign had the words “Executive” popping out of it. “You’ve heard of the CEO of USOC, right? Martin Coves, not terribly good with a laser rifle, but he sure as hell is a good orator. Damn convincing if I say so myself. Like Hitler, only he’s actually helping to build society, not separate it.” He paused for a slight second before stopping to say “That was a bad comparison. The door’s at the end of that hall.” Wyatt pointed down a luxurious gold plastered corridor with seemingly timeless and no doubt priceless pieces of art. Some centuries old. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here. You don’t need me to hold your hand to talk to the boss man.”
Derek didn’t have much of a choice. He proceeded down the brightly lit hall and stopped in front of the door to knock. The door looked antique. Quality wood. Ancient wood. The only other thing on it was a gold plated name plate. ‘Martin Coves, CEO’. As Derek raised his hand to knock, the door suddenly opened and standing in the doorway was a smiling man with grey hair. He looked like a stereotypical CEO. He was nearing his seventies, but his access to increasingly advanced medical technology allowed him to look more or less in the middle of his fifties. “You must be Derek Ragston. Please, come on in.” He smiled and gestured for Derek to walk on through. As Derek entered the room, he was surprised to see how minimalistic it was in design. Nothing more than a wooden table, a few chairs and a Holo-monitor. The image being displayed between the two projector bars was of the Grand Canyon. A slideshow was being played.
“Take a seat, Derek.” They both did but Derek maintained his homicidal look at Martin. “Now I understand that you tried to overtake an official USOC military outpost. You killed four hundred of my men and destroyed tens of millions of dollars’ worth of technology. I just don’t understand.” Now it was Derek’s turn to speak.
“Your army targeted us, opened fire on us when we only arrived to collect equipment.”
“Equipment that you would have used to repair a defunct spacecraft, and what? Go flying around space terrorising civilians?”
“To clear my name. Our name. All we wanted to do was to reach the Icarus, and the fact that your men actively tried to stop us meant that there is something at our destination that you don’t want us to find.”
Martin retained his calm composure. “Well despite that, it’s still illegal to land an unlicensed, homemade rocket so close to a military installation. An installation that was overrun by your forces.”
“But that’s the thing. We didn’t land. You shot us down before we could do anything.”
“All I saw were reinforcements to an already dangerously growing amount of Orbi-Sec allies. And those allies of yours, what sort of lies have they filled your head with? The son of the great Cameron James Ragston, convinced that because of us, the earth is in chains. That’s cute. USOC has helped build cities across the world and beyond. We provided more security than any military, fed more children than any charity and have lowered poverty rates by forty percent. You want to see what’s really on that ship? I’ll take you there.”
CHAPTER 19
Lullaby
Geisen, Solar System
Martin lead Derek back out where they came, and Wyatt joined back up. Martin continued “It’s all set, Derek. Just say the word. We’ll take you to back where it all began, where your father launched the warhead that killed eight million people, eight million civilians. Men, women and children just trying to live their lives.” Wyatt added “And you want to clear his fucking name. That’s sweet.” Wyatt continued to rub it in but that shifted naught in Derek’s course. “I’m sorry I keep rambling on like that, it’s just that your whole goal is so idiotic and futile, and there aren’t enough ways in the world to express it enough. But enough with that. Come with me. I’ll personally escort you back to the Icarus, still a terrible name by the way.” Wyatt lead a quiet Derek and slightly disapproving Martin to the central elevator.
What looked like half a centimetre of glass separated the inside of the elevator from cold, dead space. It looked just as dangerous as it was beautiful. Martin pointed out to the left. “I do believe we’re going that-a-way.” He smiled. “I do so enjoy these intergalactic trips we take so rarely. Gives us a chance to feel just how big the universe it, all the opportunities we have now.” He looked at Derek and uttered in a calmer but somewhat more threatening voice “space is larger than anything you could ever imagine, and it’s ours. It’s USOC’s. All of it. Be grateful that we’re not like the savages you are, that we don’t massacre hundreds of you to make a point.”
Derek stared at the seemingly hypocritical man. He was angry, but there was nothing he could do. “Don’t worry about the glass. It may look thin, but it’s stronger than whatever shit-alloy steel they used on your rocket” added Wyatt. Derek looked down at the sidearm holstered on him. Martin now changes his disapproving look to Derek, who notices and refrains from making a potentially stupid decision. The elevator screen read VEHICLE POOL as they slowed down to a stop. “We’ll be taking my own personal ship, along with my own personal guards” commented Martin. The doors opened and suddenly a mass of spaceships, planetcrawlers and hyperjets littered the view. It was almost as beautiful as the view outside, certainly less depressing.
Derek stared in awe at the mass number of ships there were, almost making him forget that he was still in captivity. Suddenly, elevators all across the vehicle pool opened up and USOC High Elite Soldiers flooded into the area. Covered in heavy black EVA armoured suits with white signal lights, they sure looked like formidable foes. “Captain Seller, I’ll take your squad. Yours too, Captain Igbinedion.” The respective captains obeyed and took their four man teams to the executive ship. “You like it? She’s called Lullaby, ‘cus the purr of her engine always puts me to sleep” It was the size of a small house A small, heavily armoured and jewel covered house. At the ship itself stood four soldiers who were seemed to intimidate even Wyatt. As the three made their way to the ship, Martin commentated “these are my aforementioned personal guards, ‘The Knights of the Cove’ we call them. Each have specialised skills, like Alexis here who has the fourth highest confirmed kill count in history, and Jeyne who excels at close-” “Cut the intros, doc. We don’t want to bore our guy to death before he even gets a chance to see the end for himself” interrupted Wyatt. Martin was displeased, but Wyatt was right. A pointless routine.
The Knights of the Cove wore the same armour as the High Elites, only theirs was painted light grey with dark gold details. They boarded the ship first, and as the other guards made their way in, Derek took one last opportunity to examine the executive ship. It looked like a two tier fighter craft, only with weapons and engines tuned to the max and the same paint scheme as the executive guards. “I know my ship is bloody beautiful, but I ass
ure you, it’s just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Now come on in.” Derek took one final glance before stepping inside. Cold and hard on the outside, warm, soft and awfully expensive looking on the inside. “Well go on, sit down, enjoy yourself while it lasts!” exclaimed Martin. “I don’t want to break anything. It all looks so valuable” said Derek, breaking his silent streak. “The man speaks! Don’t go all bloody quiet on me for so long. It gives Wyatt here the creeps” Martin laughed. “Here we go then.” Martin held up a glass of wine. “To the Icarus!”
CHAPTER 20
Halcyon
Lullaby, Solar System
The ship started to take off. Derek barely even noticed. Never before had he ever seen a fighter craft lift off with such grace, and as he peered out the window to look down, Martin commented with a new calmness “not used it are you, the sudden slight shift in verticality at such negligible effect to the hosts. You could’ve had it all. You still can. But afterwards. After we see.” Derek turned back to face him. He didn’t need to watch the emptiness outside to know that they had exited the station. Martin continued “this really is all new to you, isn’t it? Wherever you look there’s beauty, purity, perfection, whether it be the inside of my humble vessel or the infinite wonders and star littered galaxies beyond. Heck, this isn’t even my main ship. It’s just my private transporter” Derek tried to maintain his stern expression, but it was futile. He never liked showing weakness, but maybe it’s necessary. And so he too calmed down, sat down into his seat and tilted his head once more to the stars.
“That’s right” Martin added. “I’m no more a threat to you than you are to yourself. There’s nothing to fear from me, nothing to hate me for, but you’ll find out. You will. And when you do, I promise that I will let you, that I will let this… go.” Derek in his ever still pose, replied “I’ll always see you as a threat. You’re a murderer.”
“Ahh boy, you just fail to see what’s necessary. That’s why you and your comrades lack what it takes to defeat us, and don’t worry, I’m not gonna give another one of those ‘you have to be willing to take lives, act on demand’ speeches. Fail to see the threat, and you will fail your goal. In time boy, you will learn.”
Derek didn’t want to believe it. He knew that Martin made sense, but it defied everything he was brought up to believe. He stopped thinking about it. He had to, despite how much it dug at him from the inside.
The ship, it was much like the orphanage he grew up in. He felt alone despite being surrounded by people, but those people were strangers. Those ‘Knights of The Cove’ probably have their own stories to tell, but nobody speaks. Nobody can leave. Outside is death. Inevitable and ever-lingering. Stepping outside the orphanage would be opening the hatch on this fighter craft. Derek peeked back at the handle. Jeyne was standing right beside it. Wow. Suicide before he even got out the door. At the orphanage they told him that who they were didn’t matter to them. DNA tests were never performed and the kids got to make their own choices, who they wanted to be. Derek didn’t know if it was fate or fortune that lead to him turning out the way he did. After all he had to consider himself lucky. Most of the orphans there grew up to be criminals.
The stars were beautiful. The craft they sat in was luxurious. Everyone was clean and polished, especially the Knights. Martin abruptly commented “quality armour for a quality ship. Don’t wanna get my furniture dirty. Actually speaking of dirt, I shoulda made you change into something a bit more- well less… battle ravaged. Makes you look like a dirty old Earth peasant. Gonna have to get my maid to clean that quality white leather you’re sitting on afterwards, but don’t you worry about that. My maid has plenty of time. She’s a private maid actually, this ship only. Paid thrice as much as those vehicle pool cleaners for a fraction of the work. Why? Because she’s got a good temperament. I’ve known her from the days she cleaned that coffee stall back on Geisen years ago. I’d trust her with my life. You on the other hand are the complete damn opposite. You’d probably slit my throat without a second to spare, throwing all this damn monologuing out the damn window.”
Martin sighed. “It’ll be done soon. You shall see soon. The truth.” Derek continued to stare outside. “I’ll prove it” he said “I’ll find the truth, our truth and I’ll prove to you that you’re wrong. And then I’m going to kill you.”
Martin smiled. He always did to something like this. “In the end, you’ll come to know me as a very reasonable man and maybe even a friend. But not until you have seen the reality of your father’s web of deceit. Fuck. I’m doing it again aren’t I? My father had a knack for monologuing. It’s just that he-” Martin’s speech was interrupted by the deafening crack in the hull. It was followed by another. Derek got up and walked to the window opposite while Martin strode to the pilot’s cabin. From the cockpit he saw in the distance a small army of fighter ships. No less than one hundred. He could recognise that blue crest from anywhere. Orbi-Sec were here. And they wanted Derek back.
CHAPTER 21
Clash
Lullaby, Solar System
“Impossible…” muttered Martin under his breath. “They don’t have the numbers. How could they amass such a force?” He peered out of the window as more and more vessels came into view.
“They’re ten kilometres away!” shouted the co-pilot as the Knights of the Cove came swarming to defend their leader.
“We were hit by one of their long range cannons. Soon we’ll be in range of their armour piercing rounds” said Alexis, striding into the room with weapons drawn. The ship shook more and the passengers could feel the vibrations. Martin was still sat cosily in his seat, not seeming overly worried.
“Enjoy this picturesque scene while it lasts, Derek. All of those ships will be either retreating or destroyed. They’re attacking us too close to Geisen. Reinforcements will be here in minutes with our light attack cruisers.” He turned towards the captain’s cabin. “Jeffrey, let’s turn and face these cockroaches, shall we?” The Lullaby started to rotate slowly and Derek’s broadside view of the Orbi-Sec fleet was obscured. “Now, activate the-”
Another loud crash rang through the ship. The body shook and the wine glass flew out of Martin’s hand, spilling much of it onto the white carpet. “Sorry, Jeyne” said Martin as his guard looked down at her wine stained leg armour. “It’s gonna take a fucking week to get this out! No-one messes with my damn carpet!” Martin looked genuinely mad. Another shell collided into the hull, shaking the ship violently. “Activate the fucking cannons now! Retaliate! I want my vengeance! Despite how utterly mad Martin started to sound, the captain activated the weapons systems accordingly. “Light those goddamn cockroaches up!” Coves yelled, and the ship vibrated yet again, only this time in retaliation. “And where the fuck are my escort ships?”
Derek look out through the back window. A massive destroyer vessel loomed in the background. Its twin about half a kilometre away. The proud logo in USOC yellow painted across its hull followed by the designation ‘Chorus’. Its buddy seemed to be named ‘Symphony’. Both of which sounded like names Martin would have chosen. Or perhaps someone with a very basic knowledge of music.
“Oh, there it is. Thank, Derek” uttered Martin before he turned to his radio built into his desk. “Chorus, advance and defend our right flank! Symphony can take everything else! The two destroyers advanced towards the Lullaby, readying their enormous cannons. As the massive ships came closer, they blocked out any light from the sides whilst looming over the gold filled ship. They were huge, filled with enough firepower to level a small country and then some. The ships, now on opposite side of the Lullaby, slowed to match its pace. “No!” cried Martin as he waved his arms out “Go ahead! Go ahead!”
“Perhaps they’re just trying to shield us” commented Jeyne. Martin growled then sighed, and sat back down, arms spread across the length of the couch.
“Or perhaps they’re boxing us in” added Derek.
It was at this moment that Martin truly looked perplexed. Looking over his shoulder, he commanded the pilot “get us out of here. Back. Now.” The ship slowed to a halt and started to turn back.
“Not even your state of the art engines can get you out of this mess” smiled Derek as he saw the cannon on the Destroyers turn on them from either side.
“Floor it! Now!” yelled Martin, but it was too late. A massive blast struck the ship, replicating an earthquake. The lights flashed off instantly and all the power was gone. The Knights took defensive positions by the shuttle airlock. Heavy plasma projectors and Laser pistols aimed right at it. Derek felt the floor leave his feet, and he saw Martin begin to levitate. The guards in their full heavy armour became weightless too. “There goes the artificial gravity” commented Coves before he collided softly with the ceiling. The spotlights from the destroyers turned on and Derek could see shadows moving. Soldiers. On the outside. They latched hooks onto the ship, stopping it from moving any further. Three Soldiers unlocked the outer airlock and moved inside. The inner airlock then blasted open and a spherical device was popped inside. A disorienting concussive force pushed all of the inhabitants back before soldiers moved in and the crossfire ensued.