A Fury Of Aces: Crystal Venom Part 9

With a groan almost escaping his lips, he realised that once again he had been put in a position he did not fully control and that Stephine had been pulling his strings all along. He mentally shrugged, and considered that that was what made a good commander: select the weapon and allow it to do the job. He physically shrugged and looked across at Veg.

'Don't worry, friend Marko,' said Veg. 'There are great benefits from being around Stephine. And yes, she still frightens me also.'

Marko murmured to Tux to 'do your thing' and, in answer, the seat enclosed him further and parts folded out forming the little walker which walked backwards against the two-metre cube that Stephine had indicated was the heavy-weapon segment of his suit. Tux extended a spindly arm with an electronic jack in the end of it and plugged it into the cube. Marko's HUD came alive and he gasped, seeing now that the thing behind him was an absolute brute. Tux opened up its computer and they effected control with the AI speeding up the process. The container proceeded to unfold a little, sufficient for Tux to lock into it.

'What of the ACEs, Veg?'

Stephine answered without bothering to look at him. 'They are to secure the ship.'

Marko nodded to himself as he ensured he was fully encapsulated in the machine, then said, 'I have been meaning to ask, Stephine. What do you call this ship?'

'Blackjack, it is called Blackjack. And no, there is no AI here. Let's go, Marko. You are wasting time. Go through the main hatch and then deploy your suit.'

Marko nodded again, and then directed a query to his suit. 'Tux, how do I control the suit?'

An even more metallic-sounding Tux answered. 'Just look and think about what you want to do. I will then make it happen. Do not be surprised if I act before you do.'

Marko sighed. 'Comforting. Lead on.'

As soon as they had been cycled out of Blackjack's airlock, Tux deployed the armour, becoming a tall egg shape with the outer armoured sh.e.l.l deploying around them; antigravity and flight systems also opened out. They flew down towards the rear bulkhead of the frigate looking for something to hit. Marko thought of Stephine and Veg and a small rear-vision screen opened up in the HUD. The large black, four-armed and deeply sinister thing that he had seen a long time ago on Basalt - when they went up against the AI Lotus - was moving up behind him.

He whispered: Tux. 'What the f.u.c.k is that?'

'That, Marko, is Stephine and Veg in the guise of Death.'

'You getting all poetic on me, Tux?'

'No, Marko, just stating the obvious.'

Marko pursed his lips and shook his head wondering what he was involved in, as he mused aloud. 'OK, two units against a slightly busted-up frigate. This is going to get even more interesting.'

He thought of Lilly and Jasmine. The HUD showed him where they were and also lit up the 'guard' icon against them, showing him what they had been tasked to do. He saw the closed blast doors which lead aft through the frigate, then looked sideways and considered going straight through the wall instead. Various weapon icons came up as Tux started actively scanning the wall for gravity affect. Marko then simply wished the weakest part of the wall gone and two fat muzzled gimballed mortars fired twice, creating a gaping jagged hole: the blast punched inwards and then back out, towards them, as whatever atmosphere inside emptied with a maelstrom of shattered debris.

They flew in through the hole and did the same again and again, steadily working their way aft. Gravity was again in effect, so they started to walk. Whenever something blocked them Marko simply wished it gone and the suit obliged as his engineering self-belatedly kicked in. He brought up consumable lists, discovering that they were down twenty-one per cent of available munitions. He wished to see a schematic of the frigate and they spent a few moments looking for a comms jack point. He was about to interface with it to learn of the frigate's layout when the black monster beside him tapped on the outer casing and pointed across towards a universal language ship's layout diagram.

'The creature is trying to make contact with us, Marko,' Tux said.

'Let it.'

The monster was a very strange mixture of Stephine and Veg. It had harsh martial undertones, and with a chill going down his spine Marko decided it was a weapon and that it was something completely alien to him. He realised that his friends were not really present inside the thing. It was strange and frightening and completely outside his understanding.

'Sergeant Major. You are too slow in your advance. Follow me and keep up.'

It then quickly walked through a set of airlock doors into a corridor and rapidly moved out of sight.

's.h.i.t. Where the h.e.l.l did that go, Tux?'

'I believe I know. We shall make the best time possible. We are not as nimble as the Black Death.'

'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l. Is that what it is called?'

'No, that is what I am calling it.'

In spite of the situation, or maybe because of it, Marko giggled. 'I'll be b.u.g.g.e.red! You are developing a sense of humour.'

They stomped down corridors until they found the central core of the frigate and started to make better time working their way down the primary spiral staircase. There was a large lift well in the centre, but that did not appeal. They often came across shattered automatic weapons and the remains of what looked like Expeditors of the Games Board.

'I don't like the look of this at all. Why are the Games Board military wing here and I don't see a single camera monitor?'

Finally they caught up with the Black Death as it was going up against a moderately large force outside what Marko a.s.sumed was the bridge deck of the frigate. The thing was an absolute blur of motion, so they simply parked themselves in the middle of the wide corridor and, as targets presented themselves, smashed them, keeping them away from the Black Death. At one stage a group of three enemy engaged Marko from the rear and the hits felt like pinp.r.i.c.ks on his back. He looked over his shoulder and wanted the biting insects gone; three bursts of flechettes whistled out from the rear of his armour and chopped them down.

He looked forwards again and saw that a smoking hole had appeared in the doors leading onto the frigate's bridge. They stamped down towards it just as something heavy whacked Marko in the back, smashing him high against the wall. Someone had finally brought up a heavy anti-armour weapon. He rolled down, and even as he was landing, the mortars were firing, blowing the anti-armour squad back down the central stairway.

Marko really hurt. After flashing on and off for a few seconds, the HUD came back up with flags against various components showing that they were still operational but that another big hit would put them out of the fight. Tux stood the cube unit up and they walked through the hole in the wall and stepped instantly to one side. The circular-shaped interior of the bridge was absolute chaos. The Black Death was still whirring around, slicing and dicing with its terrible blades. The GB personnel still alive were desperately trying to engage it, and they were starting to have an effect as he thought that no matter how good the technology, sufficient firepower will eventually knock it down.

He brought his remaining operational weapons to bear, but knew it was only a matter of time as they were both taking punishment. They worked their way around the bridge so he could also start bouncing mortar rounds out through the bridge door. That seemed to give them a little reprieve, but he was also starting to run out of ammunition. Then all the lights and gravity shut down. Tux was damaged and could only see about thirty per cent in infrared so life became a little more difficult.

'Tux, we have to grab Black Death and go. We stay, we die. Use everything you have and blow a hole in the hull.'

Tux started to fire on a specific spot, but the bridge on a ship was always built superbly tough and they were not making much headway.

'Stop. Next time that Stephine-Veg monster orbits above us, grab the b.l.o.o.d.y thing and hold on tight. We have to go back to the corridor.'

The Black Death monster had slowed down sufficiently for Tux to grab it tight as he and Marko ran for it. The armour ballooned out, opened up and took the Stephine and Veg creature into itself. It fought for a few seconds and then suddenly went totally limp; Marko wondered if they were dead. They turned and started to fight their way out into the corridor just as a terrific concussive blast blew through the frigate and everything shuddered.

Marko looked across as the central core collapsed and hard vacuum sucked on everything. The blast had slammed them hard up against the wall again and Tux tried to hold on, but it was no use as the sudden out-ga.s.sing of such a huge volume grabbed them and along with thousands of objects they shot up the central core towards the nose.

Marko hurt all over, which meant that Tux was in a bad way. Systems were shutting down throughout the armour until it was just down to both Marko and Tux's core selves. They continued to bounce and tumble, caught in a maelstrom of materials, eventually shooting out through the wrecked clamsh.e.l.l doors and, along with most of the frigate's loose contents, some of which were crew or others still alive in their suits, they found themselves drifting among the stars.

Marko pulled up the status of the suit and started activating survival protocols. Groaning at what he was seeing he said, 'Tux, is there anything we can do for Stephine and Veg?'

'Not at this time,' Tux replied sombrely. 'I am unable to access many of the internal sensors in the heavy suit. I am scanning the surrounding area using what little power is still in the heavy suit.'

One part of the HUD was still working and Marko could see that the frigate was starting to tumble slowly away from them. It had extensive damage on its exterior, but there was no evidence of what had inflicted it. Marko started to consider his options if they were not found: none of them ended favourably. Just before the sensors gave out, he saw one of the Hangers slowly moving up beside them and felt a clang as a manipulator arm grabbed hold, so he relaxed slightly.

He was exhausted and must have nodded off for a short while, as the next thing he knew he was being shoved into the main airlock on Blackjack. Tux must have been able to partially disengage the heavy suit as he could see out through the visor. The door closed behind them and a few moments later the entire atmosphere of the airlock turned an opaque violet as they were sprayed with a harsh cleaning agent. They were hosed down a few times and then blow-dried before Tux told him to tightly close his eyes while a few moments of intense ultraviolet light was endured. It was so bright that Marko wondered if his face would be burnt through the visor. He voiced his concern to Tux who told him that it was possible, but unlikely.

Twenty minutes later the internal doors opened and they were forcibly dragged inside by Jasmine and Lilly, as there was no power available to activate the legs of the suit. One of them appeared with a large toolkit and they dismantled part of the heavy suit gaining access to Stephine and Veg, who were lifted out and laid down on the deck. As Marko watched, their matt black armour slowly folded back off them, and they slowly separated into the two people he knew, although he thought it a very spooky thing to watch. Both were barely conscious as Lilly started to feed them from a large container of syrupy amber-coloured fluid.

Jasmine plugged a pair of power leads into Marko's suit and Tux started to come back to life as well. Those parts that were able to now folded back into the cube shape, and slowly set Tux and Marko free. As soon as they could, Tux stepped them forwards and proceeded to fold away from Marko. The ACEs just quietly looked on with no one saying a word.

Lilly stood up and looked at Marko. 'We still have problems. This ship had to be pushed out of the frigate by us, piloting the Hangers, as it will not respond to anyone. The ACEs are the ones who overrode the controls of the heavy rail guns and we a.s.sisted by pushing Blackjack into a position from where the guns could be engaged, destroying the central spine access compartments. We could not think of anything else to do to help you. We're all worried as Stephine and Veg seemed to leave without a real plan. From everything we know of Stephine, this action is most unusual for her and denotes a loss of emotional control.'

'Have you had a look around us?' Marko asked wearily.

Jasmine nodded. 'Yes, and we believe that we know where we are. The jump was at the extreme range of Blackjack. We are at the most distant of the nine stellar Lagrange points of the original target system. This ship is fully functional to the best of our knowledge. We just have to gain control of it and we can go back to Basalt. We have tried everything, but the ship's computer will not acknowledge us.'

Marko nodded, looked at his hands and then for a place to sit down. 'We'll wait for Stephine and Veg then. Place them in their quarters ... it is all we can do. We'll give them an hour of peace and I shall then wake Veg up. What is happening aboard the GB frigate? There must be dozens of crew still alive - and what about their own landers?'

'They have made no attempt to contact us,' Lilly reported. 'As I was bringing you in, I saw a lander moving through the debris field picking up survivors. I do not know their status. From what I can surmise, this ship is now effectively a derelict; knowing how the Games Board operates, it is only a matter of time before another of their units comes looking further afield.'

He nodded in understanding. 'I'd better go try and wake Veg now - we may not have an hour.'

He stood over the huge man and could see that Stephine was melded into him where they lay together on their bed. Marko shook his shoulder and Veg opened his eyes and looked at him. Marko felt a great wash of relief.

'Veg, I know that you are hurt, but we need to go. We have to jump out of here before company arrives again.'

Veg nodded fractionally and lifted one of Stephine's arms, whispering, 'Grasp her hand, Marko. I shall effect a material transfer to you. I am sorry, but without Stephine's conscious control this will hurt badly, but at least the ship will respond to you.'

Oh, s.h.i.t, Marko thought, here we go again, unknown territory and muggins me at the centre of it. He reached out and held her hand in his right hand. Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds and then a burning sensation crept through his hand, up his arm, into his spine and into his head. He screamed briefly, then pa.s.sed out with the pain as it consumed his entire being.

He came to struggling to breathe and sweating profusely, being supported by Lilly and Jasmine with the ACEs gathered close looking very worried. He glanced down at his hand and it appeared completely normal. He looked across at Veg and Stephine and they were sleeping once more. His tongue was having difficulty working, so he pointed down the corridor to be taken to the flight deck. He pointed to the main command station and Jasmine and Lilly gently placed him in Stephine's oversized seat. He reached out for the controls and a few seconds after he had touched them, everything came alive. Glint, knowing what he needed, placed the command helm on Marko's head and it automatically formed around his skull. Within seconds he could see everything that Blackjack could see, including, a few thousand kilometres away, the optimum position in the LP for a jump. Through the roaring of what sounded like a cascade of falling shattering stones in his head, he wished that they were there.

The ship responded and flew towards the point, and in a language he had never heard but now understood, questioned how fast he wanted to be there. Marko wished to arrive as quickly as possible and the ship accelerated rapidly. It then questioned whether he wanted to jump and to where. All he could think of was where they had left Basalt and of being back in its secure hangar deck. As he slipped from consciousness, the tethered unit, which would reconnoitre the jump destination for any dangerous obstacles and if necessary move the wormhole emergence point of the ship, jumped first then nothing.

He awoke to find Jasmine leaning over him with a very, very good-smelling mug of coffee in her hand. He was still having trouble focusing, but the pain was mostly gone, although he felt horribly weak. She lifted him so he was sitting, then supported him and held the black coffee to his lips. It tasted wonderful, and had just the right amount of honey in it.

'We are back with Basalt, Marko, in medical. You did wonderfully. Everyone is waiting to see you except Jan; she will be back in a few hours. She did not leave your side for the last day.'

He was having deep trouble with his thoughts. They seemed scrambled and he was having difficulty bringing his own cybernetics fully on line.

'I need to see Stephine, Jasmine.'

Even his own voice seemed wrong. It was not as if he was watching or hearing himself from afar; it was more that everything was hyper-real. It was like being on ICE, but at a level far above the normal dosage. He had a very real thought that he could stop any function in his body, not through his med unit, but rather, by willing it. He then understood what it must be like for those people or aliens who were suddenly presented with technologies far far above anything they are comfortable with and he realised that whatever Stephine and Veg had transferred into him was just such a technology. It had got them out of a jam, but he wanted it gone, or at the very least he desperately wanted an owner's manual, as he also perceived that many useful tools had been installed in him.

'I am sorry, Marko. Veg will not allow anyone to see her. He says that she is very ill, and that we cannot help her.'

Again carefully forming the words he said, 'Then I need to see Ernst and Veg.'

'I will ask for you.'

She leant down and kissed him on the cheek, stroking his forehead, and let the others in as she left. The ACEs quietly looked at him, with Nail in particular sitting right beside his face, staring at him very intently. The rest of the crew popped in to say their h.e.l.los, talked for a few minutes, and then slipped out. Minh lingered longer to offer Marko one of his delicious pastries. As he ate it, he could taste every tiny part of it, each individual component and could also perceive its harmony like a piece of music. Strangely, it was that one superb pastry which allowed him to start to focus. Whispering, he asked Minh to go and get a small slice of every food they had available and also the drinks. Minh was a good friend and did not even question why; he just nodded, patted Marko on the arm and left. Veg, with Ernst in tow, then came in and closed the door.

'What happened, Veg?'

'We gave you a piece of Stephine with a little of me thrown in for good measure. I had intended to only give you a fragment, but considerably more was shunted into you and we do not understand why. Stephine said it was if your system reached out and took much more than was offered. She also said that that cannot happen so she is confused. You remember the discussion you had with Jasmine and Lilly? Yes, they told me of it and because of that knowledge you were able to save our lives. I am very old, Marko, but Stephine is a great deal older than me. We are combined in that we cannot live without the other, and in that way she is unique. Her kind rarely combines outside their race, but we love each other and that's all that matters.'

He reached out and placed a hand on Marko's shoulder. 'My precious Stephine is not well, Marko. All this death has awakened in her an ancient programming, and if she is allowed to continue there will be a terrible amount of bloodletting and total death. The simplest way of saying what she is, is that she's a transporter like the Haulers, but she and her kind also create and transport life throughout this part of the universe. Her creators are old, Marko; I suppose that you could call them the Progenitors ... well, one of the many groups of Progenitors, really.'

Marko looked startled as Veg continued. 'Certainly they have been responsible for a great deal of the life here in this part of the Milky Way. What has happened of late is that the Protector has been activated in Stephine: she, if allowed to, will actively protect all that she has had a hand in creating. We have to leave, Marko. It will only be for a relatively short time, but I have to take her back to her kind. I need your help once more, and on that little journey to meet our transport I can teach you of what you have in you. I must get back to her. You are a remarkable human; I am proud to know you.'

With that he left and Minh arrived holding a platter with small portions of many foods and then disappeared to get more. Marko asked Ernst what he was picking up in his bloods and system. The tech answered that it would take time to a.n.a.lyse and he needed to talk with Topaz. He left him alone with the ACEs.

'So, Nail, what do you know?'

The cat stared into his eyes, blinked, looked across at the other ACEs then back again and said, 'I know, Marko, that your body is undergoing changes at the molecular level. Your blood - yes, I sneaked a little information from Ernst - is now closer to Stephine's than the human normal. We must all wait to see what this means.'

Flint slowly walked up to cuddle against him. 'I still love you, Marko, even if you are on the periphery of humankind. Maybe you are more like one of us now.'

Marko nodded, feeling affinity with his creations. 'Thanks, Flint. Hey, what's the latest with Harry and Fritz?'

'The Fleet medical AIs have studied the problem and believe that they have a much better way of taking the alien material out of them. They will be picking them up to take them to a medical cruiser within the hour. They have dozens of patients who have the same condition. I don't know what to do, Marko. I need to be with you both.'

Marko smiled, stroking the spider's head. 'Go with Harry, Flint. He will need you. You just make sure that you bring him back.'

Flint nodded, briefly hugged Marko's neck, then did the same with the other ACEs. 'See you soon, Father. Bye, fellas.'

He waved as he scuttled across the bed and out the door. Marko felt a sadness and found himself stroking Glint's silky head. 'What is to become of us, Glint? What will we all become?'

'Better people, every one of us, Marko,' the ACE replied. 'There is no other acceptable alternative.'

Marko looked at his son and the tears welled up in his eyes with love.

He applied himself to the food samples, and with every morsel of food eaten another block of knowledge slid into his brain. Every unique taste, texture and combination brought knowledge that he had always had, but had never been aware of. He could also taste the t.i.tanium of the fork and the spoon. As he tried the different drinks, he could taste the components in the container as well. And every time he ate or drank, he became a little stronger.

When Jan ran through the door later and leapt on him, he could taste her as well and she was beautiful.

The next morning, feeling considerably better, Marko went down to the hangar deck and looked at his little fighter. It was in a sorry state. Patrick had taken it off Blackjack and it was supported on one of the engineering carryalls. Major Longbow joined him, punched him lightly on the shoulder and said, 's.h.i.t, we have been through a fair bit, eh, Marko? How about we take a break? The universe knows we deserve it. By the way, a fast picket picked up the astronomical drones you left behind to observe the remainder of the Hauler going into the star. One less worry, because Cactus dutifully got fried. Administration was fairly annoyed, on one hand, that you broke orders and left it, but also very pleased that you did break orders. Did you ever see Colonel White again?'

Marko shook his head, and the major continued.

'No.' He winced and looked away for a second. 'Some of us learn our lessons in a very harsh manner. Her time will come.' The major let out a long sigh, looked at the floor, shook his head, shrugged then after a long moment visibly brightened, saying, 'Right, news. Major van Beere sends his best regards and compliments as he had to leave while you were away. Says that he would be delighted to serve with you any time and requests that you consider doing an officer's selection course. I agree. Sergeant Major Ngata sends the same messages together with Sergeant Ban. Your apprentice, Minh Pham? I have just had his transfer to us authorised, and the same for Julie. You will get to learn more from them.'

Marko was about to speak but the major held up his hand. 'I spoke with Jasmine and Lilly. Powerful people! Have confirmed Major van Beere's appointments and made them both staff sergeants. Now, a little job for you as requested by Veg. We are to RV with one of the Haulers in a few hours and they are going to long-range jump us closer to where Stephine needs to be. You will then accompany Stephine and Veg in their ship which, I am reliably informed, is called Blackjack ... that's some ancient gambling game, is it not? Hm, anyway, they, and you, will then jump to an LP and rendezvous with a specialist, who will take Stephine away for rehabilitation.'

Marko nodded as the major finished. 'I find it extraordinary that the strongest among us should be the one most hurt. I also find it a little strange that she could not have gone to Fleet for treatment. Veg says it's a very good Gjomvik facility and they don't want an Admin frigate barging in on them. I can understand that. Then, Marko, I think we need to find somewhere interesting for a month off. That way, we can get some b.l.o.o.d.y work done around here. Like your Hanger. Give you a shiny new toy and you have to go and smash it up some!'

Part Three.

Sledgehammer.

One.

A few days later Basalt popped into existence after the long-range jump at one of the LPs of a dual-star system - much to the interest of the major - with the Hauler and Basalt waiting as Blackjack slowly moved away.

Everyone had wished Stephine well for her recovery and hoped that Veg would also have a good break. Stephine seemed fine to them all, but as soon as Blackjack's airlock was closed she went back to looking listless and uninterested in everything, except for muttering about killing all destroyers of life. As they jumped and then waited for the specialist's incoming craft, Veg showed Marko everything that Blackjack was capable of, plus made sure that Marko had total access to the ship's computer. In the computer was a lot of material about what Marko had residing in him; Veg said he had written the information himself in the sure knowledge that one day it would become useful. That day had arrived, he told Marko and laughed.

'Our ride is here, Marko,' Veg said.