The Smuggler's Ascension: Dark Tide Rising Read online

  “We should reach Dorcanus II in forty two hours, sir,” one of the pilots called back to Kristof when he entered the cockpit.

  “Excellent,” Kristof replied with a yawn. “Wake me in twelve hours then.”

  Subat and Max looked at him, astonished, as he passed back by them towards his cabin. Sleep had been nonexistent the night before, so he needed some now, Kristof thought to himself. It had always been too easy to lose track of time when he and his wives became passionate. With the three of them it often became a circle of love as two were passionate while the other rested and watched, and then they would change. There were mornings when Kristof felt that walking was too much of a burden.

  It seemed he had just fallen asleep when the pounding at his cabin door told him Max thought it was time for him to rise. A quick glance at the clock nearby told him it had been longer than twelve hours. He rose and slowly dressed before going to the door. Max waited patiently outside, looking menacing in the low light of the ship.

  “Subat has requested your presence,” Max informed him.

  Kristof found his father alone in the mess hall. It was considered night aboard the ship, that was operating on Purannis Capital Time, which explained the dimmed lighting in the corridors and the mess hall. Subat held a steaming cup of tea before him, his expression thoughtful and troubled. Kristof grabbed a cup of coffee for himself from the dispensary before sitting down across from the man who had once hated him with a passion.

  “I don’t think I like that look on your face,” Kristof said after a moment. “What’s on your mind that made Max drag me out of bed in the middle of the night?”

  Subat gave him a long stare as Kristof waited, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny.

  “I have had another vision this evening,” Subat said at last, his voice tinged with concern. “There is a darkness on Dorcanus that waits for you, along with much anger and hatred. I do not trust this mission, and I would ask that you turn aside from this course.”

  Kristof sat in stunned disbelief as he processed what Subat had just told him. Never before had he heard such concern in his father’s voice when it came to Kristof’s wellbeing. He knew the hatred of years past was gone, and replaced with the love of family, but his new father had never before expressed that love in such a manner of concern. Kristof reflected back on his own unease of the mission as well.

  “I do not ask this lightly of you, my son,” Subat added solemnly. “I have never felt a darkness such as what I felt this evening, and I do not know what it means, but I do understand anger and hatred.”

  Kristof looked to the mission clock on the wall as it ticked down the hours until they reached Dorcanus. He knew that Sabine would not fault him for turning aside now, in fact she would probably welcome it in light of all Subat had just said. Salas Arctura could wait for another day. Yet he also knew the skill and determination of his team that were now bunked two decks below. Kristof also knew that they may never get a chance like this again to apprehend Salas and bring him to justice.

  “Can you tell me any clearer what this danger is?” Kristof asked, and Subat could only shake his head no. Kristof thought hard, and was about to rise and call the mission off, when a dark part of his mind where memories of his true father lived awoke. Suddenly he could hear his father’s voice, thick with contempt and ridicule, after he had refused a mission as a cadet and failed the exam simply because he felt the danger to his crew was too great. That darkness in his mind kept mocking him in his father’s voice.

  “Every mission has its dangers,” Kristof said at last. “There’s no reason to believe this is any different. As you and Anasha have told me many times, the future is a difficult thing to see. It may well be that what you are feeling is the result of the mission and Salas’s anger and hatred directed at me.”

  “Perhaps,” Subat admitted, “But I do not believe that. This anger and hatred is hungry and eager.”

  “Be that as it may,” Kristof said, suddenly feeling stubborn as his father’s voice continued to mock him, “The mission will go on as planned.”

  “As you wish,” Subat sighed tiredly. “I will do all I can to see you through this, then.” Subat shocked Kristof then by coming around the table and hugging him tightly before heading off to his own bunk. Kristof also returned to his bunk and slept hard, his dreams filled with images of his father still ridiculing him. The next day went by in a daze until he slept again, and he awoke late for the briefing hours later.

  The final mission briefing was held in the mess hall as they all ate together. Max conducted the briefing, since he was literally unable to forget any of the mission details. Kristof only half listened as the conversation from earlier with Subat ran through his mind over and over along with memories of his dream. Subat watched him closely, but said nothing. At last, the time came, and the group headed for the cargo hold to gear up.

  The team would be in all black, as usual, with armor at chest, back, shoulders, and biceps, while they also had armor protecting their thighs and calves. Each carried a small backpack that contained communications gear and the power cell for their individual shield generators. Kristof remembered many a firefight where that personal shield had saved his life. The power cell only had a life of an hour at full operation, but Kristof did not plan to be on Dorcanus that long.

  Tactical helmets and pulse rifles completed their gear, along with whatever extra blasters and knives each soldier opted to carry. Sometimes less was more, he knew, since the gear they did carry was already plenty heavy. Kristof did keep his blaster at his side, however. The weapon had been his constant companion longer than Max had and had been the difference between life and death more than a few times.

  Kristof found Subat and Max in the hold gearing up with the rest of the team. Subat was geared up the same as the team, and Max had an oversized power cell on his back that powered not only a personal shield, but also a mini Gatling style laser rifle. Attached at each forearm he also had his own blasters, which were powered off his internal power cores. Kristof cringed at the thought of the weight of the oversized pack and Gatling gun, but knew Max could easily carry three times as much.

  “Listen up!” Kristof yelled, calling the team to attention. “You all know the plan, but let’s hit it one last time while we can. The Phantom will drop us on the facility’s secondary landing pad. Beta Team will secure and hold the landing pad while Alpha Team secures the target. We will also have friendly assets in the facility that will assist us. So long as we touch down and infiltrate without incident, I want no shots fired. We’re not here to fight a war, we’re here to secure a political fugitive and nothing more. Any questions?”

  None came, nor had Kristof expected any. This group was the best of the best, after all. He gave each one a last long look before checking his equipment one last time. Everyone made their final equipment checks as well while Kristof went to Subat and Max standing near the entry to the hold.

  “What’s up with letting me sleep so long?” Kristof asked irritated as he adjusted his pack as it rested on his shoulders. The remnants of his dream refused to fade as a normal dream would.

  “You needed it,” Subat said matter-of-factly. “You may hide it well from Anasha and Sabine, but I know that you’ve barely slept since we learned of Sabine’s pregnancy and the issues with the baby started. You’ve had what, four hours a night?”

  “Less than three,” Kristof admitted, suddenly fighting a yawn.

  “This mission needs you rested,” Subat said. “I may have tampered with you a bit to make it happen last night. An old Su’Tani trick,” Subat added when he saw Kristof’s angry look at the word tampered.

  Kristof nodded after a moment’s consideration. “Thank you,” he said. “I did need it. Does that trick also induce dreams?”

  “Ten minutes to touch down,” came a voice over the loudspeaker.

  “No,” Subat said. “Why do you ask?”

  “It’s nothing,” Kristof said evasively.
He had no desire to talk about his biological father with the man he considered his true father.

  Each member of the team took up their positions in the entry formation they would take when departing the ship. Max would have point, followed by the rest in teams of four. The lights in the hold went to a muted red as they passed the one minute mark. Seconds later, the ship lurched as it touched down and the ramp dropped rapidly.

  Adrenaline spiked as always as Kristof stormed off the ship and into Dorcanus II’s pitch black night, his tiredness now forgotten. The sound of the Phantom lifting off behind him on muffled thrusters faded as Beta Team quickly took up positions to secure the landing pad. Hiding spots were plentiful in the mining facility and they quickly had the area as secure as possible.

  “Alpha Three, on point,” Kristof commanded, and the third quartet of his twelve man team headed off into the complex, as he and the rest of Alpha Team followed close behind. The darkness inside the facility was deep in many areas, so the team relied on their image enhancement equipment built into their helmets.

  Much of this particular mining facility was automated, as Kristof had expected. The machinery ran on its own without any oversight, and the team was able to make rapid progress through the dark facility. There was no security in the plant since there was little of worth to steal in this section. Fifteen minutes into the plant, a halt was called as a refinery worker approached along a catwalk. As planned, it was their contact with the local rebel cell with updated intelligence on the happenings on the moon.

  “The target has not moved,” the rebel told them in hushed tones as the team knelt around him. “He remains in the north executive tower with only two guards outside of the tower entrance. I have a few of my men stationed near there to keep watch in case he moves or something changes.”

  “Good job,” Kristof said in thanks. “Our ship should have dropped munitions for your people in the designated coordinates after it lifted back off.”

  “There’s one more thing,” the worker/rebel said hurriedly before Kristof could lead his team off again.

  “Quickly,” Kristof commanded abruptly, not liking the delay. Time was against them as the threat of discovery would build with each passing minute they were there.

  “One of the tug captains that is sympathetic to the cause says he spotted a Clovani ship hidden out within the asteroid ring,” the rebel said worriedly. “Whatever you’re plan is, you better do it fast.”

  With that the worker scurried off into the night.

  “Shit!” Kristof cursed as quietly as he could, throwing a guilty look towards Subat. His father had the grace to not say ‘I told you so’. Yet even as he felt guilty for pushing the mission, his father’s voice mocked him.

  “Do we abort?” one of his troops asked quickly. Subat gave Kristof a look that spoke volumes about them going now, before the shit hit the fan.

  “How far are we from the tower?” Kristof asked quickly.

  “Half mile, tops,” came the answer from the leader of Alpha Three after a quick consultation of the facility map.

  “Keep on mission,” Kristof ordered after an agonizing decision. “We’re too far into it now. If it’s a trap then it’s a trap, and we’ll have to deal with it when the time comes. Move out.”

  The remaining trip to the executive tower went without issue. Kristof set his team to guard the perimeter as he sent Alpha Three on ahead to secure Salas. He watched through a set of binoculars as Alpha Three dispatched the guards outside of the executive tower that the rebel’s had reported to be Salas’s. Things seemed to be going smoothly, but Kristof suddenly had a bad feeling.

  When Alpha Three disappeared into the door to the tower, the tower exploded in an oily fireball that swallowed the tower’s base as a missile screamed in out of nowhere overhead. The tower crumbled and crashed to the ground with a steely scream of bending metal. Alarms began to sound throughout the refinery as fires from the burning tower began to spread.

  “Trap!” Subat called into the mic, needlessly.

  “All units, fall back to the landing pad!” Kristof ordered abruptly. “How the fuck did they know were here now?” he demanded as he swallowed his guilt.

  “This is no ordinary trap,” Subat said as they ran. “They are after you personally, I sense. I can feel great rage directed at you, as I told you last night. This darkness has reached out and touched you, somehow.”

  “The dreams,” Kristof said with a sickening feeling, realizing how he had been manipulated. “Somehow they made me keep coming.”

  Subat paused to look deep into Kristof’s eyes, and then they were off running again.

  The dash back through the complex while missing a third of Alpha Team wrenched at Kristof’s heart, especially knowing it was his fault for being the target. He was also furious for allowing memories of his father to influence him. There was no time to mourn, though, as Beta Team radioed in next to say they were taking heavy fire. Kristof pushed the remains of his team hard as they rushed back to aid their compatriots.

  “Call in the Phantom for extraction,” Kristof ordered as they ran.

  “The Phantom reports taking fire as well,” came the response from his communications officer, and Kristof swore loudly.

  “How the hell can they fire on the Phantom when they aren’t supposed to even be able to see it?” Max called back from his position at the head of their team. Kristof had no answers for his partner, however.

  The landing pad came into view after the long rush back the way they had come. Kristof could see Beta Team exchanging fire with troops hidden in the surrounding structures of the facility. From above appeared the Clovani cruiser the rebel had reported. Moments later the secondary landing pad and Beta Team were assaulted by a hail of laser fire from the cruiser above them. The resulting explosions reduced the landing pad and the surrounding refinery to slag. All signals from Beta Team went silent.

  “Order the Phantom to enact Emergency Plan Delta-1,” Kristof told his communications officer, before he turned to Max. “Max, find us a way out of here,” Kristof ordered as the remaining team reversed course to head deeper into the refinery, the only way left for them to run now. Max made lefts and rights seemingly at random as he followed the maps stored in his memory. His personal shield flared as a group of Clovani soldiers appeared and opened fire, but Max quickly cut them down with his Gatling gun.

  Suddenly, the rebel informer and a couple of other workers reappeared and waved them urgently towards an air shaft cut into the mountain behind the foundry. Kristof waved his team into the dark shaft quickly before climbing in himself and helping the rebels reattach the heavy air vent in place. His men were all breathing heavily as they leaned against the walls.

  “Is there a way out of here?” Subat asked the rebels quietly as they all caught their breath momentarily. The sounds of the search for them were growing outside in the foundry. They could hear shouted orders echoing in the distance, yet growing closer.

  “There is an old transport shaft that cuts through the moon’s core,” one of the rebels told them quietly. “It’s not on any of the new maps, not since we deleted all record of it. It’s your only hope to get out of here, and ours too, now. There are soldiers everywhere in the facility now, which is why we came back to find you.”

  “Lead the way,” Kristof ordered curtly after giving each of the rebels a pair of vision enhancement goggles from a pack on one of his men’s belt.

  Kristof was kicking himself hard for falling into this trap. In hindsight, it all seemed too easy. Only Subat and Anasha had tried to warn him, but Sabine had wanted Salas so badly that Kristof had chosen to believe in his team’s skill in order to please her. He’d even rejected Subat’s renewed warning the night before because of memories of his father. Now over half of his team were dead in less than thirty minutes and the others were in deadly peril.

  “Don’t,” Subat told him suddenly and sharply. “Save your guilt for later. This is not your fault, you were manipulated someh
ow. It doesn’t matter now, for now just lead. Your men need you right now, with your head in the game.”

  Kristof nodded as they continued to move, and he pushed away everything but getting his remaining people out alive. The pitch black air shafts twisted and branched several times until they finally came to a large foundry area deep in the mountain. Kristof could see the glow of furnaces nearby, and he could feel the heat as well.

  The soldiers climbed from the air vent and into the foundry as quietly as possible. Flashing lights in the distance gave evidence of the search for them, which meant pursuit was not far behind. The rebel turned and led them deeper into the mountain until they came to a large, half concealed rusty overhead door that appeared not to have moved in decades.

  “Is this the only way?” Kristof asked, not liking the looks of the door. It was apparent that the door would make a lot of noise the second they started to open it, if it even moved at all, calling their pursuers down on them within minutes if not less.

  “Yes,” the rebel said. “Any other way would have to go back through those troops and half of the plant.”

  “Even if we did get back to the surface, there will be fighters along with that cruiser by now,” one of Kristof’s troops added. “The ship will never be allowed to land.”

  Subat nodded his agreement and Kristof curse before nodding himself. The rebel and his friends went to a nearby control panel and powered it up. Kristof motioned for his people to take cover as they waited. As expected, the moment the door started to rise it let out a strident squeal from unoiled hinges and old rusty chains as it rose ponderously into the air.

  Kristof immediately started sending his people and the rebels under the door as soon as they had enough clearance while he remained on watch. Max looked at him plaintively before Kristof ordered him under the door. Moments after Max had cleared the door, however, laser shots began slamming into the door and surrounding machinery as Clovani troops appeared and opened fire.