Unsung Heroes

Terrik felt a gnawing sense of guilt even though he didn’t know why. That woman he shot had tried to kill him. Self-defense; it was as simple as that.

Still, Tola was a valued friend, and he hated to hurt his friends, no matter the reason. As Terrik made his way to the shuttle’s cockpit, he decided he would talk to Tola once they had reached Retribution and were in the relative safety of faster-than-light travel.

Only once he had sat down at the helm did Terrik realize how fatigued he was. Constant battle was nothing new to him, but it was still tiring all the same. He would be glad to be away from this volcanic world and back to hunting bounties.

Tola sat at the copilot’s seat, hacking through the ship’s ignition codes in a flash and helping Terrik to prep the ship for takeoff. Though their fight was over, the base would explode any minute and Terrik wanted to be far enough away that even the shrapnel wouldn’t come close.

“Take off!” Dex suddenly screamed. “Do it now!”

Startled, Terrik worked even faster at the controls, unsure of what was happening. Tola punched in the rear display on the monitor just above the window. Immediately Terrik saw what had panicked Dex: two Biomancers had entered the hangar, one a young alien woman, and the other a muscle-bound beast of a man in power-immune armor.

Janus.

“We need the hangar doors open!” Terrik cried, his heart rate throttling.

“I’m working on it,” Tola replied, his hands a blur as he punched in a series of algorithms to deduce the code to the doors.

Loralona appeared behind them in the cockpit. “Trade me places, Terrik!”

Without bothering to reply, Terrik unhooked his safety harness and leapt out of the pilot’s chair. He understood her reasoning; Loralona was just as skilled a pilot as he was—if not more so—but he was better equipped to fight a Biomancer.

Against Janus, though, that’s never enough.

Terrik raced through the hold to the boarding ramp, his features twisted in a grimace behind his helmet. He wasn’t used to the level of fear coursing through him, but after facing the Biomancer twice, he knew just how woefully outmatched he and Dex were.

Not to mention Janus brought a friend this time.

The boarding ramp was nearly shut. Dex had his electrical whip drawn but not charged. A scowl of fury masked his features.

Then, without warning, the boarding ramp started to lower back down. Metal strained and whined as it was pressed against its natural momentum as if by a giant invisible fist. With the ramp lowering, Terrik saw Janus race toward their shuttle, a savage grin on his face. Terrik fired a few shots from his rifle, but the beams that struck Janus didn’t even slow him.

“Get us out of here!” Terrik yelled at the cockpit.

As if on cue the engines activated, surging the ship forward. Terrik threw his hand against the bulkhead to keep from being thrown out the back. There was a loud crash as the shuttle raked against the sides of the other two ships in its hasty departure. Spreading his stance, Terrik fought to keep himself upright as the g-forces picked up. He caught a glimpse of Dex staring out the open ramp, a look of horror dawning across his features.

Janus was still chasing them.

His speed inhuman, Janus was somehow keeping up with the shuttle.

No, Terrik realized. He’s gaining!

The bounty hunter fired two more shots, but it was too late. Janus leapt inside the shuttle just as it exited the hangar and lifted off the ground. As the boarding ramp slammed shut behind him, Janus fixed them with a murderous gaze.

It was like staring into the eyes of the grim reaper.

Janus’s chainsword flared to life with a grinding whirr, and he took one menacing step toward Dex.

I’ve only got one chance, Terrik thought. My annihilator beam—it might penetrate his armor.

Dex raised his electrical whip and snapped it the same way a beast tamer would drive back a lion. Janus swatted the blade aside almost disdainfully. Then he moved so fast he seemed to vanish and reappear right in front of the Latoroth.

Janus slashed. Dex leapt backward but the chainsword caught his weapon arm at the elbow, severing it cleanly from his body. The Latoroth cried out in pain even as he desperately tried to evade Janus’s next strike.

He was only partially successful. The chainsword, aimed at Dex’s throat, cut a gash across the skin rather than decapitate him completely.

And in that moment, Terrik saw his chance. Janus was so focused on his former student he had shifted his stance too tight with his body. From that position he wouldn’t be able to dodge. Seizing the opportunity, Terrik fired his annihilator beam. His aim was spot on.

Except Janus hadn’t been hit.

Somehow, the Biomancer had contorted his body at the last possible instant, moving with a speed almost unbelievable, even for a Biomancer.

But . . . that’s impossible! Terrik thought.

Janus paused—purposefully—to flash a cruel smile. He was relishing his victory, Terrik realized.

With Dex lying weaponless on the floor, Janus strode casually but swiftly toward Terrik.

Terrified, the bounty hunter raised his rifle and fired. Janus blocked the beam with his armored forearm and swung his chainsword into Terrik’s helmet.

The revving blade didn’t pierce the armor completely, but it caught part of his skull and cracked the visor just above Terrik’s right eye. The bounty hunter’s vision went white as he crumpled backward in a world of pain.

Barely conscious, he heard the heavy tread of boots as Janus closed in for the kill.

Fear surged through every fiber of Tola’s being. Somehow Janus had managed to board the shuttle before it lifted off.

“What do we do?” Loralona asked, her hands quivering at the yoke.

Tola heard the crackle of electrical sparks, a revving chainsword, followed by a scream.

I have to do something!

“We’ve got two bogeys closing on us fast,” Loralona warned, indicating the ships scrambling to intercept.

More Pressure. Just what I needed. Frantically racking his brain, Tola thought of only one thing: Sometimes the answer to a desperate situation is simply to create chaos.

“Fly straight up,” he said, “And be ready to open the boarding ramp on my mark.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!” Tola said, opening the door to the cockpit so he could see into the main hold.

He was surprised to find all three men just outside the cockpit door. Both his friends were down, but still conscious, though Dex had lost an arm. With a vile grin, Janus held his chainsword in both hands, ready to skewer Terrik.

Reacting instantly, Tola took his grappling gun and fired. The adhesive dart shot past Janus’s head, attaching to the ceiling at the back of the ship.

The Biomancer smiled darkly, amused that he hadn’t even needed to dodge.

“Now, Loralona!” Tola cried, tying himself and the grappling gun into the copilot’s chair.

Ignoring the warning lights, Loralona opened the boarding ramp at the back of the ship. The pressure change swept through the vessel instantly, tearing anything not bolted down toward the opening.

Tola knew it could just as easily kill his friends as Janus. But he had faith that Terrik and Dex could handle themselves. He also knew that if he did nothing, all four of them would die, and the plasma-resistant schematics would fall into the hands of the Coalition.

Dex, Terrik, and Janus were all sucked toward the opening into the upper atmosphere. Then, almost simultaneously, each one reached out and grabbed hold of Tola’s grappling line. Terrik held on by both hands, his rifle sacrificed into the black of night. Dex gripped the line with his only hand, his other arm and the electrical whip yanked out with the plasma rifle.

Only Janus had managed to hang on to his weapon in one hand, and the grappling line in the other.

“They’re firing on us!” Loralona said, indicating the two Varrcaran vessels tailing their shuttle.

“Head for space!” Tola advised, but Loralona was doing that already, spinning the ship to dodge the plasma fire. The vessel broke through the planet’s atmosphere with a distinctive surge, zooming into the frozen vacuum of space.

Tola—lightheaded from the depressurization—glanced back at the others. The ship’s sensors held the artificial gravity toward the floor, even as the vessel spun. All three still held on to the line, with Janus at the back, closest to the door, Terrik in the center, and Dex nearest to Tola.

A plasma beam rocked the ship. Shields were already down to half power, causing Tola to grimace. Their shuttle wasn’t designed for combat; it would only survive another two shots at most.

Terrik’s skull ached from the concussion, but with all his focus he activated the adhesive grips in his gauntlets and grabbed hold of the grappling line. Just in front of him was Janus, doing the same with one hand, no doubt securing his grip telekinetically. Terrik was barely outside of the reach of his chainsword, but the Biomancer was having enough trouble hanging on that he didn’t even bother to swing it.

Moments later they hit the cold vacuum of space, the silent pull on their grips strengthening three-fold. Heat and oxygen vanished almost instantaneously—and to top things off, it sounded like another ship was firing at them.

Great. Four different ways I can die. Yep, that’s just perfect.

Suddenly Terrik felt his hold loosening as though an even greater weight was pressing onto his hands. Clenching his teeth, Terrik realized Janus was using telekinesis not only to strengthen his own grip, but to try to break the bounty hunter’s.

Behind him, Dex cried out in agony. Terrik risked a glance back and saw that the Latoroth was barely hanging on. The telekinetic pressure was too much for Dex’s own. It was doubtful he would last even a few seconds more.

All at once, Terrik knew what he had to do. Even though he hated Biomancers he wasn’t about to let Dex die—even if it cost him his own life. The irony of that made him smile.

Terrik took a deep breath.

And let go of the line.

Tola watched in horror as Terrik’s hands went free. The instant in time seemed to pause to a standstill. Tola’s eyes were wide with shock; his free hand shot out toward his friend as if he could somehow snatch him from five meters away.

But, of course, he couldn’t.

The world-shattering moment resumed its normal speed. Terrik smashed into Janus, and both were sucked out of the ship into the frozen vacuum of space.

No! Tola thought in denial. First Naomi, and now Terrik, too?

Loralona closed the boarding ramp, resealing the vessel.

“Turn the ship around!” Tola ordered.

“There are still fighters on us!” Loralona protested, her brow furrowed as she tried desperately to keep their shuttle from being blown out of the sky.

“I don’t care! Do it!” he yelled with more fervor than ever in his life.

For a moment it looked as though Loralona would refuse. But then the ship banked hard to port as she turned toward where Terrik had fallen out into space. A few seconds later they spotted both Janus and Terrik floating weightlessly in different directions.

“Is there anything on the ship to pull him in?” Tola asked.

Loralona shook her head. “Negative. This shuttle only has forward plasma cannons. That’s it.”

“Bring us closer,” said Tola. “We have to get him on the ship before he freezes or suffocates. His suit may have kept him alive.”

Another plasma beam hit the starboard side of the vessel, breaking loose one of the pipes. Steam hissed loudly, and an emergency klaxon blared.

“Shields down to twelve percent!” Loralona shouted.

“Reroute power from anything unessential; that might buy us some time for you to get ahead of him and open the ramp.”

“The shuttle can’t take much more,” Loralona warned. “If I reverse to let him drift aboard we’ll be shot down for sure. I want Terrik back too, but we can’t let his sacrifice be for nothing.”

Tola gritted his teeth, refusing to admit defeat. There has be a way. There has to . . . .

“I’m engaging FTL speed,” Loralona told him. “If we don’t leave now, this—wait . . . something’s happening.”

Looking at the monitor, Tola saw that she was right. The enemy vessels were chasing down another target—one that wasn’t there. For a moment, Tola couldn’t understand why. And then it hit him.

Dex must be using his power to create illusions.

“Get into position,” Tola said. “Reverse and be ready to open the boarding ramp. The second he’s in, we’ll shift to FTL.”

“Both bogeys are coming back,” Loralona murmured. “They must know their target wasn’t real.”

Come on. . . . Tola thought anxiously.

“Astrogation is all set. Awaiting your mark,” Loralona murmured, her knuckles white around the steering yoke.

Tola glanced again and saw that Terrik was almost to the ship’s threshold.

“Open it now.”

The boarding ramp slid open, bringing with it the unbearable pull of the cold, hard vacuum. The bounty hunter crossed into the ship, and Tola signaled Loralona. They waited for what felt like an eternity for the boarding ramp to close.

“They’re here,” Loralona said, indicating the enemy ships.

Red warning lights flashed from the devastated shields. A blue plasma beam zipped by their starboard wing, narrowly missing.

The ramp sealed shut.

“Now! Engage!”

There was a brief pause, then the shuttle lurched forward into faster-than-light speed.

Dex’s heart rate felt dangerously fast, even after engaging FTL drives. The pain in his right arm—still bleeding from the stump at his elbow—was excruciating, but Dex hardly noticed. As the Latoroth looked down upon the human bounty hunter, he felt nothing but confusion.

All his life he had grown up believing that everyone looked out only for themselves; the strong thrived, and the weak perished. That was simply the way it was. His time training with the Coalition, and even as a prisoner had reinforced that belief until it had become a part of who he was.

Dex had thought Jezebel was an exception to that rule—a lone anomaly amid a galaxy of self-serving individuals.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

Both Terrik and Tola had risked their lives to save his. The concept was so foreign to him that he wasn’t even sure how to react. Had they done it so he would return the favor? Or did they truly value his life as much as their own?

No . . . that couldn’t be it . . .

Could it?

Bursting into the main hold, Loralona and Tola knelt down beside the two wounded warriors. Loralona reached to remove the bounty hunter’s helmet, but yanked back her hands as soon as they made contact.

“Ow! It’s like touching dry ice.” She looked at Tola. “See if you can find me a first aid kit and some blankets.”

Tola disappeared into the cargo hold, then came back with the supplies. While he placed the blankets over Terrik, Loralona opened the first aid kit and put on thick rubber gloves. Taking out a tourniquet, she wrapped it around Dex’s arm to staunch the bleeding. Then she injected him with a chemical to boost antibodies and coagulants.

“That’s the best I can do until we reach a hospital,” she said.

“What about Terrik?” Tola asked.

Gingerly Loralona touched the bounty hunter’s helmet again through her thick rubber gloves. Finding it warmer to touch, she removed his cracked helmet and attached a diagnostic scanner to his temples.

“He’s fading fast,” she murmured. “His body is in shock. Make sure the heat is cranked up.”

Tola nodded. As the human made his way into the cockpit, Dex heard him whisper, “Come on, Terrik. Stay with me.”

Their efforts to save him were so . . . alien to Dex. Most surprising of all, they felt right. Wishing there was something he could do to help, Dex sat down cross-legged beside Terrik.

Dex had come to think of this bounty hunter as a parallel to himself, only without powers or augmented reflexes. One who, by his own admission, hated Biomancers.

And yet he had sacrificed himself to save Dex. Why?

Loralona took a healing syringe and administered it into Terrik’s neck as Tola returned from the cockpit.

“Heat’s way up. Anything else I can do?”

Loralona let out a sigh. “I suppose we can move him to one of the bunks; make him comfortable. But the rest is up to Terrik now.”

Dex heard a pang of sorrow in her voice. One that echoed within him as well. As the two humans picked up their friend, Dex did his best to aid them, one handed, in carrying the fallen soldier.

Once Terrik was secure in the crew quarters, Dex slowly made his way to the cargo hold. Sitting down on the floor, he began to reflect on all he’d been through. The familiar emotions—anger, bitterness, aggression—started to rise within him, but Dex squashed them down.

For the first time in his life, Janus was gone. Dex felt relieved by this, but it didn’t bring the satisfaction he had thought it would. Part of him still felt empty even though he was free at last to live his life however he chose.

Dex wasn’t even sure what that meant for him, really. For so long his sole purpose had been to kill Janus. With that fulfilled, he didn’t know what to do or what to strive for. He sat there a long while, meditating on everything that had happened, how it had shaped him, and where to go from here. After several hours he was forced to admit he simply didn’t know what to do now.

But he knew Jezebel would. At his next opportunity he would head to Earth and reunite with the one person who had helped him more than any other.