Warhawk’s Sacrifice (The Amnesty’s Adventures #3)

28. Assault on the Warp Gate

28 ASSAULT ON THE WARP GATE

S eb scanned the Temptation’s bridge, ensuring every member of his crew looked ready. “Does everyone understand the plan?” They all shared individual nods, their faces hidden behind their armor. Seb smiled. “Then let’s do this.” He closed his helmet and fell back into the co-pilot’s chair. “Syn, open a comm channel with Mayvel.”

“Affirmative, Captain.”

The admiral appeared on Seb’s HUD. “Lord High Admiral Mayvel, my team is ready.”

“Good to hear, Captain,” Mayvel said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “I’ve coordinated with our FLS counterparts. Several strike cruisers have been redeployed from Mahad along with other craft of our own armada. With Iris’s help, we’ve stalled the enemy’s advance for now. It’s the best shot we can give you.”

Seb rolled the HIM device in between his hands, holding out hope that she was okay. He slid the artifact into one of his pouches before responding. “Thank you, Lord High Admiral. That’s all we can ask for.”

“Just give me the signal and we’ll open the hangar bay. This should go without saying, but we’ll be closing it as soon as your ship clears it.”

“Understood.”

“And Captain?”

“Yes, Admiral?”

“Our songs are with you this day.”

“Thank you. We’ll take all the prayers we can get.”

With a firm nod, Mayvel focused his attention back to the nearby battle map.

Seb turned to Vi. “We’re green for liftoff.”

The pilot nodded, her hands dancing across the ship’s controls. A deep groan bellowed from the ship’s undercarriage as it ascended into the air. A red alert popped up on Seb’s screen.

“Shit, looks like the landing gear took more of a beating than we thought,” the captain said. “They aren’t retracting.”

“I can fly them extended,” Vi said. “We’re going to need them for when we clamp to the station.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Flying is one of the few things I’m always sure about.”

“Okay, just let me know when you’re ready.”

Vi let out a deep breath and flexed her hands. “Okay, I’m good.”

Seb nodded and activated the ship’s stealth systems. “Syn, are you showing everything green?”

“Everything besides the landing gear, Captain.”

“Let us know if you detect any threats targeting us.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seb looked back at the rest of the crew secured to the chairs. “Everyone else, ready?”

“Ready!” they all shouted in unison.

After a firm nod, Seb stared at the locked hangar door. “Lord High Admiral, we’re clear to depart. Tell your team to open the doors.”

“Issuing the order now, Captain.”

Colossal wheels dragged massive chains, pulling the doors open. Sparks flew into the air as the metal scraped against the twisted exterior of the massive ship. The barrier, separating them from space, coated the interior in a shimmering green light.

Once the doors were open with just enough space for them to get through, the ship accelerated at full speed. The sudden thrust shoved Seb into the back of his chair. In less than a second, they were back in the fight.

The graveyard of ship parts hung on the battlefield like a heavy mist on a fall day. The constant laser and beam weapons danced all around them like the largest rave party. Yet, with every explosion, the symphony remained silent. Seb was captivated by the sight.

Vi’s words pulled him back to attention. “We’re through.”

Seb cleared his throat. “Lord High Admiral, we’re out. You’re free to close the hangar doors.”

“Affirmative, Captain. We’ll provide as much cover as we can without drawing attention. It’s now up to your team to end this. We’re all with you.”

The crew held their breath as the Temptation drifted toward their destination. The warp gate was a modern marvel of technology and engineering. It was an achievement only capable through galactic cooperation, the child of the smartest minds across the galaxy.

Its size dwarfed everything around it, with a scale to that of a small planet. The all-white exterior reflected light, giving it the impression of a god’s halo. A galactic cloud spun in the center, twisting and morphing in various shades of blue and purple. Bolts of lightning darted across its surface like the galaxy’s largest storm cloud.

And from its mouth… they came.

The Songless spilled out, endlessly, a pack of metal and flesh. Never once yielding, always unending. For every ship destroyed, ten took its place.

As Seb watched, a golden beam cut through the end of the pack like a knife through a stream of water. A glowing figure zipped around it, blinking from one location to another, cutting again. Hundreds of ships fell with each strike.

“Iris…” Seb muttered.

While he couldn’t see her perfectly, he knew that was her, doing her best to fulfill her destiny. However, even with the Divine Equalizer and the combination of forces defending the location, it was clearly a losing battle.

The Songless are pushing further out, Seb thought. Even with the recent reinforcements, they’re still making ground. What would have happened if these ships weren’t here? If Iris wasn’t here?

An explosion filled the viewport, bringing him back to reality. As they coasted closer to the station, the fighting increased. The constant stream of laser fire and darting ships flew around them like flies around a carcass.

Vi’s hands played the ship’s controls. Their craft swayed and spun, keeping them out of harm’s way. Every moment that Seb thought they were going to crash or slam into another vessel was thwarted by a small turn of her fingers.

Her expertise brought a smile to Seb’s face. Without her here, we would have never made it through this.

“Sixty seconds until we reach the warp gate’s shield threshold,” Syn alerted.

“Slowing us down,” Vi responded.

Everyone held their breath while the virtual intelligence called out their distance. “Three hundred feet. Two hundred. One hundred.”

A collective exhale and laughter rolled through the crew as the ship continued forward. As the Temptation flew underneath the warp gate, the position cut off their access to the system’s sun, coating them in darkness.

Vi pulled up additional screens to ensure her positioning. “We should be coming up on our entry point in the next few minutes.”

A minimap appeared on Seb’s HUD. “I’ve transferred the warp gate’s layout to each of your suits,” Syn said. “This is the most up-to-date information that we have from the FLS.”

“Look alive, people,” Seb said, tapping on his chair’s buckle and standing. “Vi did her part. Now it’s time for us to do ours.” He double checked the grenades on his belt as the rest of the crew readied themselves.

While the others gathered in the hallway leading toward the elevator, Seb retracted his helmet. He leaned over and placed a kiss on the front of Vi’s face shield. “Thank you for getting us here safely.”

With a stern brow, she smiled, not once taking her eyes off of her task. “My job’s only halfway done. I still need to get us home safely.” It wasn’t until Seb took a step away that her arm darted out and caught his hand. Her fingers intertwined through his own. “Be careful and keep everyone safe. Especially the short one.”

Seb chuckled and squeezed her hand tight. “I will.”

After slipping from her grasp, Seb jogged to the elevator where the rest of the crew stood. Once aboard, he tapped a button, and the cabin descended. It stopped in the hangar, allowing for him, Nalla, and Roja to step off.

Since they’d arrived on the calist armada, Nalla had converted the open space into a temporary infirmary with several hovercarts, crates of supplies, and shelves of medical equipment—all courtesy of their calist allies. They stopped in front of the makeshift beds, their silver metal surfaces caked with old blood.

“Hopefully, none of this will be needed,” Seb said.

Nalla spun, wrapping her arms and tail around him. The suddenness of the act nearly sent him to the floor. Her voice cracked with emotion. “I don’t want you to go.”

“What?” Seb asked, confused by her sudden change of heart.

“I just don’t feel good about this. This whole thing… it doesn’t feel right.”

“Nalla—”

“I know you have to do it, and I know I won’t change your mind, but I had to tell you how I feel.” Her tail squeezed him tighter. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t?—”

“I mean it. If things get messy, you come back to the ship. We can always figure something else out. It doesn’t always have to be you.”

“I have no plans for this being the last time I see you.”

Nalla leaned back, her helmet resting against his own. “You promise?”

Seb couldn’t shake the concern he heard in her voice. He knew this was what needed to happen. But for a moment, fear crawled up his back and nested in his stomach. He swallowed hard. “I promise.”

Nalla slowly loosened her grip and stepped away, her whimpers fading in the distance.

As he stood frozen, Roja elbowed him in the side. “Don’t worry. I’ll watch over her.”

Seb grabbed her shoulder, thankful for her reassurance. “Keep yourselves safe.”

“We will.”

The two shared a nod before Seb turned for the elevator. His footsteps felt heavier, as if stepping through a muddy bog. He shook the sensation off and stomped his way to the elevator. Once inside, he tapped the controls, and the elevator ascended. He stared at Roja and Nalla until they disappeared under the floor.

“Is she okay?” Eni asked.

“Yeah, just nerves, I guess,” Seb said.

“Oh, there’s no reason to be nervous. We’re just assaulting a heavily armed military facility full of an ancient species of killer cyborgs. This is just another walk in the park for us.”

Seb snorted. “I appreciate your optimism.”

“Nimora is with us this day,” Sister Mischa said, lowering her head and clasping her fingers. “With her at our back, we cannot fail.”

As the elevator slowed to a stop, the ship shook and groaned.

“We’ve just landed on the exterior of the warp gate,” Vi said over the comm. “Magnetic locks appear to be holding.”

“Thanks Vi,” Seb said. “We’re making our way to the airlock now.”

The trio passed by the rooms and rounded the nearby corner. Seb waved his WICI in front of the door’s controls. The door slid open with a pressurized hiss as the room’s alarm blared overhead.

Seb turned around and eyed his team once more. “Are both of you ready? Do we have everything?”

Eni tapped her weapon. “Betty and my deck are all that I need.”

Sister Mischa tugged on the straps holding up the square box on her back. “And I’ve got Plan B.”

Seb nodded and entered the airlock. As the door shut behind them, he pulled out his Lawbringer and checked his cylinder. He spun it, snapped it back into the revolver, and holstered his weapon.

When the overhead alarms silenced, Seb floated in the air. His HUD alerted him of being in zero gravity, and a countdown timer displayed his remaining oxygen usage. A trio of clicks rang throughout the room as each of the crew activated their magnetic boots and adhered them to the metal floor.

Seb walked to the exterior airlock door and pulled the manual activation lever. The door opened into the void of space, and he stepped forward. His heart pounded as he stared at the carnage above him.

The combat for the station flashed all around them like millions of lightning bugs. Any weapon that missed its target triggered the warp gate’s barrier, sending crackling electricity across its invisible surface. Even in the minutes from when he’d last seen outside, their enemy had pushed deeper into their territory.

In a matter of hours, this place is going to be theirs, Seb thought.

“Are we just going to stand here or do this?” Eni asked, breaking his gaze.

“Yeah. Just getting my bearings.”

Seb scanned the surface of the warp gate. The smooth white surface was like staring into a mound of snow. It made it difficult to spot their entry point. It wasn’t until Syn illuminated the maintenance hatch with an orange triangle that he recognized it as their destination.

Seb bent down and grabbed the edge of the doorway and deactivated his boots. He used his arms to fling himself toward the warp gate’s surface. After floating for a few seconds, he spun overhead and reactivated his boots. With a heavy thud, he landed safely.

Seb turned around and waited for Eni and Mischa to join them. He held his arms out like a tree and helped pull them to the surface. Once they both landed, they marched in tandem toward the entry point.

Eni ran ahead. She pushed Betty down, allowing her weapon to float on her sling. After retrieving her deck, she plugged it into a port nearby the door. “What the?—”

“Is something wrong?” Seb asked.

Eni pulled the screen up closer to her helmet. “N-no. It’s just this code. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, this is a military station.”

“No. This is different. It’s like a foreign language.” Eni frantically tapped on her deck, only pausing to process each line. “Syn, do you think you can create an API of the Nakai translation matrix?”

“Absolutely. What are the parameters?”

“Just strictly translation.”

“Streaming the program to your suit now.”

Eni connected a cable from her suit to her deck. The screen flashed multiple times before the lines continued to scroll.

“Ah, now it all makes sense,” she said.

“What does?” Seb asked, looming over her.

“The Songless are in the station’s systems. It looks like they’re rewriting some of the code. Shit, it’s trying to penetrate my firewalls. Oh, I don’t think so, you sneaky little bastards.”

“Can you still get us in?”

Eni snorted. “Of course I can. It’s just going to take me a bit longer.”

“The longer we delay, the more we’re exposed.” Mischa reminded them.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m workin’.”

Seb glanced around at his surroundings. The curvature of the station made him feel like he was standing on a tiny moon. The random protrusions and vents mimicked its rocky surface. It was calm, peaceful, unlike the intense fighting above him.

A nearby explosion caught his eye. The FLS ship’s dorsal wing glowed from the laser fire that’d cut right through it. It turned until it drifted in their direction. The pilot’s pod ejected like a bullet casing, leaving the hunk of metal catering toward them.

“Uh…. guys,” Seb said, not taking his eyes off the craft. “We need to hurry.”

“Do you have any idea what I’m doing?” Eni said, rhetorically. “This isn’t something you can rush.”

“Well, the ship heading straight for us has other ideas.”

Mischa stepped in front of Seb and glanced up. It was in a nosedive. In seconds, it would be on top of them. Mischa spoke urgently and directly. “Eni, finish it now.”

“I can’t! I need more time!”

The damaged machine filled their vision as the hacker frantically tapped. Mischa activated her shield, and Seb dove on top of Eni.

The captain flinched when Mischa’s laugh filled his helmet. When he turned around, the warp gate’s barrier flickered. The ship’s remains floated from its surface in thousands of little pieces.

After standing, Seb couldn’t help but chuckle. “I completely forgot about the barrier.”

“Looks like we all did,” the Sister said after deactivating her shield. “Nothing like a little adrenaline to keep us sharp.”

Eni punched Seb’s shin. “You karasaur shits! Don’t scare me like that! I need full concentration to—” Her screen flashed green. “—Oh! We’re in!”

A cloud of atmosphere plumed around the edges of the door as the locks disengaged. Seb bent down and lifted it open, revealing a long maintenance tunnel.

The broad-shouldered onigaram leaned forward and peeked inside. “Looks clear.”

“We should hurry,” Eni said, adjusting the sling of her deck. “My program is spoofing the signal on the door in hopes they don’t notice. But given Syn and I are dealing with an advanced race of killer cyborgs, I have no idea how long that’s going to last.”

Mischa let out a grunt of displeasure before climbing in, pistol first. Eni floated in behind her, allowing Seb to follow suit. He grabbed the edge of the door, braced his feet against the door’s edge, and pulled. Once the door was sealed, he engaged the manual door lock.

By the time he spun around, Eni and Mischa were already halfway down the hallway. The grated metallic flooring echoed every subtle grab of the crews’ hands as they pulled themselves in zero-g. Electronic activity lights illuminated the conduit twisting along the ceiling. Small maintenance alcoves lined the passageway, breaking up the monotony of the structure.

Seb activated his night vision, casting everything in a subtle glow before pushing himself toward his allies. Upon coming up to a perpendicular crossing, Mischa and Eni waited for his approach.

“This place is a maze,” Mischa said after looking down both paths.

“Syn, we’re inside,” Seb said. “Can you add navigational markers for us?”

“Affirmative, Captain.”

A golden icon and a small minimap appeared on Seb’s visor, showing the path to their destination. The trio moved silently, doing their best to minimize their movements as they crawled through the tight corridors. After several minutes of weaving their way inside, Mischa straightened and held up her fist, indicating for the others to stop.

“What is it?” Eni asked.

Before Mischa could respond, a robotic shriek screamed from a nearby hall. A small red light grew more intense with each passing second.

“Hide!” Mischa shouted over their comm.

The three scrambled into nearby crevices and behind small mechanical equipment. They waited as metallic thumps shook the metal grates along the floor—escalating in intensity with every approaching step. Seb’s eyes widened as the threat stepped from the shadows.

The soldier was tall, easily towering over Mischa at its full height. Its lower set of arms held a weapon nearly as long as its body. Multiple red mechanized eyes twisted and rotated like a camera lens, scanning the nearby hall. Its heavily armored body was dented and scorched from slug throwers and laser fire.

As the beast turned its head down their hall, the trio pulled back against their hiding spots. The boom of the creature’s footsteps thumped with Seb’s heart, pounding against him inside and out. The captain raised his revolver near his head, ready to point it at the threat should they become discovered.

But after a chaotic scream filled the hall, the footsteps clanked off into the distance. Once out of earshot, the trio all breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was close,” Seb said, lowering his weapon.

“Those things are a lot bigger when they’re standing,” Eni said.

“Then we should avoid them as best we can.”

Mischa nodded. “Agreed. Hopefully, that’s the only one scouting these maintenance shafts.”

After gathering themselves, the three pushed off of the nearby walls and continued along their path. As they reached deeper into the facility, Syn alerted them of the impending activation of gravity. Their armored bodies fell to the ground with heavy thuds, cascading down the dark metal halls.

They froze and scanned their surroundings—ensuring there were no threats alerted to their presence. When nothing came, they shuffled forward until they reached a magnetically sealed door. Eni rushed forward and plugged her deck into the control module.

As she worked on the door, Seb called over the comm. “How are things looking out there?”

“Not good,” Vi said, her voice soaked with concern. “We’re okay. No one’s managed to spot us yet, but the FLS and Calist Armada are taking heavy casualties. The Songless have completely pushed them out from the gate. Getting out of here is going to be tricky.”

Seb looked down and touched the pouch that contained his HIM device. “And Iris?”

“She’s still fighting. If it wasn’t for her, this would have been over long ago. But she’s…”

“What?”

“She’s slowing down, Seb. I don’t know how much more of this she can take.”

“Then we have to hurry.”

“No,” Mischa said, looking back. “We can’t rush this. We rush this, we die.”

“And if we don’t, she dies.”

Mischa pulled her arm back to slam it, but relaxed before hitting the wall. “I won’t let that happen.”

A subtle chirp pulled their attention back to their immediate objective. Eni pulled her cable from the door’s control module and turned around. “The door’s unlocked. We’re just a few turns away from the warp gate’s command bridge. I have Syn running interference for us in the security systems. However, once we get onto the bridge and start, there’s no way they’re not going to know something is up.”

“Don’t worry,” Mischa said. “I’ll be your shield.”

“I’ve got your back as well,” Seb said with a nod.

Eni took a deep breath and turned around. “Get ready.”