Wing Commander Junior Novelization Chapter 25
| Chapter 25 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Book | Wing Commander Junior Novelization |
| Parts | 5 |
| Previous | Chapter 24 |
| Next | Chapter 26 |
| Pages | 118-122 |
| Source | Wing Commander Chapter 25 |
Dramatis Personae
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POV | |||||
| Speaking | Merlin | ||||
| Non-Speaking |
Paul Gerald |
Unnamed Marines (4+) |
Unnamed Bridge Officers (2) | ||
| Mentioned |
Text
| KILRATHI CONCON SHIP |
| ULYSSES CORRIDOR |
| MARCH 17, 2654 1100 HOURS ZULU TIME |
| 2 HOURS FROM CHARYBDIS QUASAR JUMP POINT |
Part One
Deveraux knew that the Marines did not like her leading them into the ConCom ship. But Deveraux's special schooling in enemy ship design made her the best person for the job. Now she stood at the end of the umbilical, waiting for the hatch to blow open.
"Five seconds," a Marine reported, waving a small scanner near the cutting line.
Deveraux began a mental countdown, but the copper-colored section of plastisteel thudded to the deck before she reached one. She felt the umbilical's air tug on her shoulders as it fled into the Kilrathi ship. As suspected, the cats had turned off the artificial gravity in this section in order to slow the Marines' progress. She glided forward and turned into a triangular corridor clogged with a thick green gas and lined with conduits. A silhouette stirred ahead. She strained to see through the fog.
A yellow bolt tore a jagged hole in the bulkhead just a halfmeter away. She returned fire, but she couldn't pick out a target. She touched a button on her helmet, engaging her thermal scanner. Data bars beamed at the corners of her faceplate. Forms grew more defined, details less so. The torn-up bulkhead glowed red.
The Marines charged in around her, cutting loose an incredible wave of laser bolts that stirred the alien gas into hundreds of tiny whirlpools.
"Hold your fire," she ordered, then studied the corridor. No movement or heat sources. "Tito! Marx! Take point. Second team. Watch our backs. Let's move."
Part Two
Blair kept Polanski and Maniac in his sights as the two engaged another pair of Dralthis that had sprung from behind the asteroids.
"Lieutenant, can I have a word with you?" Merlin asked, his voice coming abruptly from the intercom.
"Little busy right now."
The hologram flashed into view and sat cross-legged on the Ion cannon's console. "I'm picking up some strange electromagnetic emissions from the Kilrathi ship. They're Pilgrim. The ULF frequency I picked up earlier."
"Can you pinpoint the signal?"
"Deck two, aft section. The bridge."
Decision time. Blair glanced at the radar display: all clear. Maniac and Polanski had destroyed the two fighters and could handle themselves for at least a little while. Man, that's probably not true, but it makes me feel a little less guilty. He lifted out his cross, kissed it, then climbed down from the gunner's dome. Moving quietly away from the ladder, he stole a glance at the bridge. Taggart and Gerald sat at their consoles, their backs to him. Good. He unlatched a rifle from its bulkhead mount, checked the charge, then fetched his helmet from the rack.
As he stepped into the umbilical, dense fog rolled toward him. Once he reached the opening to the ConCom ship, he could barely see anything. He turned into a corridor--
And something brushed his shoulder. He jumped back with a cry, lifting the rifle, finger tensing over the trigger.
A horrible thing floated next to him, a uniformed beast so ugly that nature had not yet forgiven herself for its creation. The thing's pale, long head had been torn open by laser fire, and its huge paws were locked in a death clutch. The corpse rolled over, and the yellow eyes twitched and stared at Blair.
Taggart had been right. The Kilrathi would not be entering beauty pageants any time soon. And Blair felt fortunate that his first close encounter was with a dead one.
"Nice," Merlin said through the comm. "I believe there's another way. To the right."
Blair started off and finally reached a door at the corridor's end. He frowned at the control panel labeled in Kilrathi.
"Translating," Merlin said. "Hit the big button."
"Of course."
Green fumes poured through the doors as they slid apart. He touched a control on his helmet, bringing the thermal scanner on line. He moved inside.
Part Three
"Oh, no," Deveraux moaned as a half-dozen Kilrathi troopers ran up the corridor. The Marines traded a dozen bolts with the aliens, then fell back into an intersecting passage.
A sweaty and scared-looking grunt rounded the corner, ducking from incoming fire. "Ma'am? Got another squad moving in behind us. We are pinned down."
Part Four
"Lieutenant Polanski? Report," Gerald ordered. The young man's masked face showed on the comm screen. "No contacts, sir."
"I concur," Marshall added. "We're jamming local transmissions, but that doesn't mean our buddies didn't get off a signal. Better set the table anyway."
"Understood," Gerald said. "How 'bout you, Blair?"
No response.
"Lieutenant Blair? Answer your station." Gerald tapped on the ship's security cameras. "Look at this," he shouted at Taggart, pointing at the empty gunner's nest. "His orders were to remain on this ship." Gerald bolted up. "I'll find him."
Picturing himself with a gun shoved into Blair's forehead, Gerald slapped on his helmet and tore a rifle from the rack. He glanced to Taggart. That's right, Commodore. You should loom worried. Now your boy is going down.
Part Five
"See that hatch up ahead?" Merlin asked. "That's the bridge. ULF signals are peaking the meter now."
After a second glance at the hatch, Blair dodged to the bulkhead. Large, cross-shaped windows built into the doors revealed two Kilrathi officers, their heads lowered to their consoles, their bodies outlined in the faint red of his thermal scanner. He cocked his rifle. Full charge. Keeping to the shadows and thicker fog near the wall, Blair stole his way to the windows.
On the other side, he saw that a third alien stood at a monitor while a fourth, probably the captain, turned to kneel before a copper-colored statue of Sivar. The captain's mouth moved.
"This is not good," Merlin said. "That Kilrathi in there just spoke a ritual phrase. He says that he's honored to die for the glory of Kilrah, the Emperor, and the Empire."
The captain rose and turned back to a center console, where Blair spotted a red button that needed no translation.
He fell back from the door, dropped an explosive round into his rifle's grenade launcher, aimed, and--
With a faint thump the bomb left his weapon, struck the door, and blew it off its tracks in a column of flames edged in black smoke. Blair rushed toward the hatch, then crouched to pick a target.
The Kilrathi captain jerked away from the red button as Blair's first round struck its shoulder. Two more bolts punched the nowhowling captain to the deck, beside an officer who had been killed in the explosion.
Blair flinched as the remaining two bridge officers returned fire from the cover of consoles. He dodged through showers of sparks and flying debris, then dropped to his stomach behind a long row of stations. From between the widely spaced console legs he saw armored feet closing in on him from flanking positions.
One, two, three!
Blair rolled under the stations and popped up behind a warrior, jabbed his rifle into the thing's long head, and fired. The alien collapsed.
But where was the other officer?
Pivoting frantically, Blair couldn't find him.
"Nicely done," Merlin said, seated on the forward edge of a nearby monitor. "The last Kilrathi has fled."
"Thanks for the help."
"Tm just running my program. And by the way, don't touch the red button."
He looked at the self-destruct switch. Then he saw a black box on the station he had hidden behind. Many cables ran from the box, some leading to a monitor that scrolled numbers and letters, some into a bank of consoles he guessed were part of the ConCom's communication system. He set down his rifle and lifted awaya piece of plastisteel from the door he had shattered. His mind raced as he read the words PEGASUS NAVCOM AI. "They have the Charybdis jump coordinates, Merlin."
"They have more than that. The Tiger Claw is using a special code to broadcast its location to the enemy. The only people who have access to that code are Captain Sansky and Commander Gerald."
"So one of them is a traitor!"
"Lieutenant, someone is--"
Reacting to the sound of footfalls, Blair whirled to lock gazes with Commander Gerald. The big man raised his rifle and started into the bridge. "You'd like my ship to fall, wouldn't you, you treacherous piece of garbage." He gestured with his weapon toward one of the dead Kilrathi. "I should feed you to these things."
"Looks like you'll get your chance," Blair said, then patted the Navcom. "They owe you a few favors, don't they, Mr. Gerald?"
