Junker Blues: Phobos Read online

  “I did, twice. The system is locked up,” Lash said.

  “The system is old, but the protocols are finally working,” Kaz gasped as he slumped outside the cockpit, looking winded. “We should stop.”

  “Not a chance,” Lash and Marcus both said at once. Without thinking, Marcus slipped into the co-pilot position, and started to shut down certain systems, giving the engine more power. He felt the small jolt as Junker gained a bit more speed and slipped between the closing gates of the hangar. He felt more than heard the shudder of another ship that was a second behind them, part of the fuselage spinning away from them in flaming wreckage.

  “Get us somewhere safe, Lash,” Marcus said. He turned back to Kaz. “So, what are you doing here?” Marcus asked, leaving the cockpit but not going far. He wanted to keep an eye on Lash and Kaz.

  “I ran into your Spider partner while running for the hangar. She and I saved each other from some Crawl. Isn’t that right, stretch?”

  “Yes,” Lash said. “He did help, Marcus.” Her voice strained, and Marcus had an idea why.

  “Well, welcome aboard, I guess,” Marcus said, trying not to glower at Kaz. “So, ay idea where the Crawl came from?”

  He turned to see Kaz move towards him, faster than he thought the man could move and then, Marcus was looking up at Kaz from the deck. “What in the—”

  “Marcus Redding, you are wanted for the theft in the Sargasso,” Kaz said, his voice turning hard, a stunner in his hand pointed towards Marcus’ prone form.

  “Are you serious? We saved you!”

  “And, I will make sure that is noted. However, as a fellow MDF soldier, you know—”

  He suddenly stopped talking, his body locking up. Marcus turned to see Lash standing in the cockpit doorway, a hand up, tendrils glowing.

  “Damn, thanks, Lash,” Marcus sent to her.

  She gave the briefest of nods then focused on Kaz again. “Why are you here?” She asked.

  “I…cannot reveal…I—”

  The MDF officer’s face grew flushed, as if embarrassed. He strained to not speak, yet Lash moved closer, “Who sent you?”

  His face started to grow redder and redder, as if he was choking. Marcus scrambled to his feet away from the man. “I…I…”

  “Tell me,” Lash said, moving closer, her hand clutching the air, trying to grasp something.

  Kaz started to shake, his body quaked as he tried to speak. He let out a gasp, “He…is…wanted…” before Kaz’s eyes rolled up in the back of his head, flecks of spittle and foam dappled his lips which were turning blue. Then, the dying MDF officer spasmed once and dropped to the deck, dead.

  Marcus looked at Lash. “What in the Hells?”

  “I was trying to get information. I think I pushed to hard.”

  “Think?” Marcus shouted.

  “What are we going to—”

  “Drop him in the cargo hold, there is a compartment there to hide him until we get clear. We still aren’t safe.”

  “We are outside of—”

  “No, we need to get farther. Trust me,” Marcus said as he sprinted for the cockpit and the controls.

  From a distance that Marcus was sure the MDF couldn’t pick out the Junker from background noise, Marcus and Lash watched on the magnified main display in the common room of Phobos--surrounded by ships of the Mars Defense Fleet. The fleet fired missiles and had several bomb runs, dropping plasma and incendiary bombs onto the small moon city. It would be a smoking crater in moments. Already the news feeds reported about some poor sod had let some half-turned Crawl drone aboard their ship or a rogue Crawl seed from Earth had hit Phobos. Anyone alive from the incident would be tracked down. But, the Junker was already gone, heading to a micro-jump. His hand hurt, stinging worse than it had in days.

  “Their just going to cover it up?” Lash asked.

  “Its what the Eridani want,” Marcus said, pointing to a far different ship in and amongst the fleet. An Eridani destroyer, a small curvy ship that looked out of place amongst the blocky shapes of the fleet ships. “Keep the Crawl as boogyemen. But, spin the story that someone was foolish, or a random act.”

  “It was a random act,” Lash said.

  “But, no protocols were used until to late. No Lash, someone wanted Phobos to be attacked. To be used as another place the Crawl attacked. I don’t like it.”

  “Who?”

  Marcus shrugged. “Who knows?” He shook his head. “It is the reason I stay away from the system as much as possible. I say we take advantage of the free fuel and start towards the first ship on your list.”

  “That’s cold. Not even a moment of silence?”

  “They are dead, we are alive. Their pain’s ended. We have to keep struggling.”

  She gave him a sidelong look, but said nothing as she went to the cockpit to initiate a micro-jump

  In his quarters, he pulled out the small injector with the dull blue liquid sloshing inside. He brought it up to the base of his left thumb and pulled the trigger. There was a pneumatic hiss and the burning was replaced by a cold chilling numbness…Safe. At least for the moment. But how much longer? The nanites quieted, he settled into his bunk and let the ship slip through the micro-jump and he let himself dream of what was coming.

  The End

 

 

  Lon E. Varnadore, Junker Blues: Phobos

 

 

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