Rikkard's Revenge: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Darkspace Renegade Book 4) Read online

  Cad glanced at Alexis, who was peering back at him, her face a twisted mix of skepticism and curiosity. “I’m listening…” said Cad as Alexis folded her arms and continued to eavesdrop attentively.

  “Here’s the thing…” Falken went on. There was then a loud slurping sound as the hacker drank from one of the many brightly-colored sodas she kept in stock in her lair. “When you nuked the last hideout out in the Darkspace, one of the renegade ships was exposed and took some damage.”

  “How the hell do you know about that?” snapped Cad, recoiling away from Falken a little, though the image of the hacker on his retinas stayed in exactly the same position, relative to him. “I haven’t told you which hideouts we’ve nuked, or even that we’ve nuked any at all.” Falken pressed one eye shut and scrunched up her nose. Cad recognized this as the face the hacker made when she was thinking hard about something. In this case, Cad guessed it was whether to attempt to bluff him or risk telling the truth.

  “I sort of hacked the data feed from your ship,” Falken eventually admitted.

  Cad folded his arms and glowered back at her. “Whether or not the next nuclear missile is directed at your mountain lair, very much depends on what you say next,” Cad replied, allowing each word to hammer home as solidly as one of his armored punches.

  “Yeah, well, here’s the cool thing,” Falken continued, oddly unperturbed by Cad’s threat of nuclear annihilation. “The damaged fighter left a sort of radiation wake that was picked up and logged by your ship’s sensors.” The hacker then paused with a sort of astonished grin on her face, as if she’d just revealed a clue to the location of Atlantis or some other ancient mystery.

  Cad continued to glower at her. “I’m waiting for the punchline…” he said, throwing his arms out wide.

  Falken rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed that she was having to spell it out for him. “The wake persisted long enough for me to get a bearing,” she added. Cad folded his arms again but leant in toward the image of the hacker. “Assuming the ships continued along a single bridge…” Then Falken interrupted herself. “And by the way, it’s wild that your ships can create their own bridges,” she said, eroding what little patience Cad left. Finally, Falken finished the sentence. “Assuming they stayed on that heading, it would put them on a course out beyond Minerva.”

  Cad threw his head back and growled. It was like Falken had dangled a carrot and then whipped it away again at the last second. “Do you have any idea how much Darkspace there is just between the hideout we nuked and Minerva?” Cad barked back at Falken. “That information isn’t worth a damn thing to me.” Cad again went to end the call, but as before, Falken quickly chimed in and snatched back his attention.

  “But you don’t need to look at all the Darkspace,” Falken said with undiminished enthusiasm. “These hideouts have all been built on moons orbiting rogue planets, right? So I hacked into the Consortium Celestial Cartography mainframe, and guess what?!”

  Cad’s eyes narrowed, “You found a rogue planet intersecting the renegade ship’s projected course?”

  “No!” cried Falken, and again Cad went to end the call out of sheer annoyance with the hacker. However, once again, she pulled him back from the brink. “What I actually found is a regular moon with an earth-like atmosphere.”

  Cad moved his finger away from his watch. “How come this moon had not been charted or discovered before?”

  “That’s the wild thing,” said Falken, her excitement growing. “It did used to be in the database, but the entry had been wiped away by another very good hacker.”

  Cad frowned. “You think Rand intentionally deleted the planet from the records so she could build her hideout there?”

  “She is a genius,” replied Falken with a nonchalant shrug. “Just not as good as me.”

  Cad glanced at Alexis, who simply flashed her eyes at him and shrugged.

  “And this planet is also not one of the locations listed in the data you extracted from the renegade command computer?” Cad added. He wanted to make sure they’d not just overlooked the moon, but Falken was quick to shake her head.

  “This is one super-secret hideout,” Falken said. “And where it is, way out beyond Minerva, makes it the furthest habitable planet ever found.”

  Cad drew in a long breath and let it out slowly while stroking the bottom of his chin with his thumb. He glanced at Alexis again, and this time, she simply nodded.

  “Okay, we’ll check it out,” Cad said. Then he aimed an armored finger at the holo image of Falken. “But if you send us thousands of light years into the middle of nowhere for no reason, I’m still reserving a nuke for you.”

  “And if you find what you’re looking for out there?” said Falken, expectantly.

  Cad smiled and huffed a laugh. Falken may have been a hacker, but she was as much a mercenary as any bounty hunter he’d known or killed.

  “If you’re right, then a six-figure thank you will be heading your way,” said Cad. The hacker beamed a smile back at him, but Cad simply ended the call and rested his hand on the pommel of his Black Prince sword.

  “They won’t know what hit them,” said Alexis, draping herself across Cad’s shoulder. “Rand and the Wolf Squadron think they’re safe on their little moon, but they’ll soon learn they’re not. We go in hard and fast, and don’t stop until they’re all dead.”

  Cad nodded, slipping his arms around Alexis’ waist before twisting her to face him. “Knight and Wulfrun we leave to the end,” he said through gritted teeth. “Rand and all the others can burn for all I care. But Knight and Wulfrun… They have to suffer.”

  2

  Hallam Knight dropped another bag of survival gear onto the deck of the renegade hangar bay, then puffed out his cheeks and released a weary sigh. Hallam and Dakota had been gathering the gear needed for their expedition to the alien homeworld for the last hour. The pile in front of him had steadily expanded into a comically large mass of clothes and equipment, half of which Hallam was now fairly sure they didn’t really need.

  After much deliberation, Dr. Rand had decided they should take two ships to the alien world. This was partly for the extra space, but also to have a backup in case anything went wrong with one of the vessels. Considering that the star system was a muddle of turbulent and confused gravitational currents and eddies, Hallam had considered this a sensible precaution. Ruby Rivas, naturally, had argued it was overkill, but Dr. Rand had insisted. The plan was that Hallam and Dr. Rand would travel in his ship, while Ruby Rivas was to accompany Dakota. The reason for what Hallam considered to be an excessive amount of baggage was that the scientist hadn’t even been able to say what clothing they’d need to wear. Instead, Dr. Rand had unhelpfully stated that the mysterious thirteenth bridge world could be either “very hot” or “very cold,” depending on where and when they landed.

  “Are you sure we need all this crap?” said Hallam as Dr. Rand drew up beside the growing pile of gear. She was dressed in renegade armor, which suited her better than Hallam had expected it would. With her academic title and background, it was easy to forget that the pioneering scientist had been out exploring the galaxy before Hallam’s voice had even broken.

  “If I didn’t think we needed it, I wouldn’t be bringing it, Mr. Knight,” replied Dr. Rand in her teacherly tone. She then set down another item of luggage, this time a metal briefcase, in front of the pile of bags.

  “If you say so, Doc,” replied Hallam, shrugging. “Though we are just going out there to raid some alien tech, not go on a month-long camping trip.”

  Dakota and Ruby arrived a couple of seconds later, adding two additional bags and four sub-machine guns into the mix.

  “I’d rather go out there prepared than find out the one gizmo or piece of gear we need was left on the hangar deck,” said Dakota. “Besides, it makes it feel more like an adventure.”

  Hallam snorted. “After our outing on Doyle’s rogue world, haven’t we all had enough adventure for the time being?” he said. The
n Hallam picked up one of the SMGs and cradled it to his chest. “Though after getting our asses kicked by those reptilian monsters, I’m certainly not adverse to bringing a little extra firepower this time, just to be on the safe side.”

  One of the renegade technicians jogged up to the group and began to transfer the bags onto a trolley, ready for loading onto the fighters. Dr. Rand was quick to pick up the metal briefcase again to make sure it wasn’t taken.

  “The only thing we absolutely can’t do without is this,” said Dr. Rand, tapping the briefcase with her finger. “This is the shielded container inside which we must store the alien components. Without this, we’d all be dead from exposure long before leaving the alien world.”

  Hallam fidgeted uncomfortably at the mention of exposure. “Hey, Doc, is it even safe to walk around on the surface of this planet?” he asked. He’d not even considered that there might be damaged technology on the world that was leaking Randenite radiation.

  “There are safe areas where the radiation will not pose a problem,” Dr. Rand replied, which helped to set Hallam’s mind at ease. “I will be monitoring the radiation levels continuously, but we must still remain vigilant. There are worse dangers on that planet than exposure to radiation.”

  Dakota laughed anxiously. “You’re not really selling this to us…”

  Dr. Rand, as usual, did not look amused. “I’m not going to downplay the dangers, Miss Wulfrun,” she said, suddenly looking tired. “In fact, I worry that it’s already too late, and that even the act of destroying the Centrum won’t now be enough to stop the bridges from collapsing.”

  Another technician strolled up to load the remaining bags onto a trolley, and everyone remained silent while he was within earshot. The man appeared to notice this and took the hint, loading the trolley and extracting himself in half the time that the first renegade had taken.

  “Is there any way to repair the damage to the bridges?” asked Hallam once the worker was out of earshot. Hallam was not accustomed to the genius scientist looking vexed, but at that moment, she appeared just as scared and uncertain as the face he saw in the mirror each morning.

  “Theoretically, perhaps there is a way,” said Dr. Rand, in what Hallam considered to be one of the cagiest responses to a question that she’d given yet. However, this time, the scientist elaborated on her answer without being prompted by Hallam to do so. “I spent many years exploring that very question, Mr. Knight, and there is a way. But it still requires the destruction of the Centrum, and it still requires that I recover a number of additional components of the alien technology.”

  Ruby Rivas blew out a yellow bubble right next to Hallam’s face and let it burst. She’d apparently snuck up behind him while he was talking with Dr. Rand with this express intention in mind. Hallam scrunched up his nose as the chemical scent of mango filled the air. It was more pleasant than many of Ruby’s gum flavors, Hallam admitted, though the odor still reminded him more of cleaning products than food.

  “So we need alien gizmos, right?” said Ruby, slapping Hallam on the back. “Then it’s a good job we’re heading out to a secret alien homeworld, isn’t it, tanker man?” Ruby then strolled past Hallam and picked up a sub-machine gun from the small remaining pile of gear, resting it over her shoulder.

  “You know, the next time you get blown up after being outclassed by Cad Rikkard, I think I’ll just let you sail on out into the Darkspace…” said Hallam, looking down his nose at Ruby.

  Ruby let another gum bubble burst then winked at Hallam. “You’d miss me, admit it.”

  Hallam snorted, but then the general alarm rang out in the hangar bay, snapping everyone to attention like the holler of a drill sergeant. Dr. Rand ran to a comms panel on the back wall, while Hallam and the others waited anxiously for her update.

  A commotion close to the hangar bay doors drew Hallam’s attention away from the scientist. He jogged closer, trying to see what the cause of the excitement was. Unlike all of the other renegade hideouts, which were located on inhospitable moons orbiting rogue planets, Dr. Rand’s personal base was on a habitable world with breathable atmosphere and earth-normal gravity. The hangar doors opened onto an external landing strip, at the end of which stood two massive autocannons, standing guard over the base like the Colossus of Rhodes. The doors were generally left open to allow the moon’s cool, clean air to circulate inside. However, the technicians were now hurriedly working to close the huge slabs of metal, which instantly put Hallam on edge.

  “What’s up, Hal?” said Dakota, who had joined him without Hallam realizing.

  “I’m not sure,” replied Hallam, stepping further toward the bay doors, closer to where his and Dakota’s fighters were fueled and waiting. The turrets at the end of the landing strip then suddenly sprang into life, the thunderous noise of their motors and gears churning in order to aim their weapons into the planet’s dimming evening sky.

  “We have to leave, right now!”

  Hallam and Dakota spun around to see Dr. Rand running toward them, with Ruby close behind.

  “They’ve found us,” Dr. Rand continued, locking eyes with Hallam. The usually unflappable scientist was visibly shaken, and this only made Hallam’s heart thump harder and faster in his chest. “Cad Rikkard and Alexis Black. They’re coming, now.”

  Suddenly, the din from the autocannons stopped and Hallam saw the turrets droop down like numbed limbs. Hallam also felt numb, unwilling to accept that the Blackfire Squadron had tracked them down so quickly.

  “They’ve disabled the defense grid,” cried Dakota, slapping Hallam on the shoulder to rouse him from his shocked stupor. “Get Dr. Rand on-board and launch, we don’t have a moment to lose.”

  Hallam waited for Dr. Rand to run alongside as Dakota and Ruby raced toward the other ship. Dr. Rand then slid to a stop, and turned back.

  “The shielded case!” Dr. Rand called to Hallam. “We can’t leave without it.”

  “Doc, if we don’t leave now, we won’t leave at all!” Hallam cried back before a thunderous roar outside turned his attention back to the bay doors. Peering through the narrowing gap between the two slabs of metal, Hallam saw the eagle-like shapes of the Blackfire Squadron fighters closing in. There was a flash of orange light and plume of dark smoke from the lead fighter, and Hallam’s eyes grew wide, realizing that a missile was streaking toward them.

  3

  With only seconds to act, Hallam raced toward Dr. Rand and dragged her down to the deck. Moments later, the missile from the Blackfire Squadron fighter thudded into the hangar bay doors. A savage explosion rippled through the deck and more alarms sounded. Hallam pulled himself up and saw smoke and flames enveloping the far end of the hangar bay. However, he could also see twilight filtering through the smoke, which meant that the hangar doors were gone.

  “Are you unhurt, Mr. Knight?” said Dr. Rand, who had also climbed to her knees.

  “I’m fine, Doc,” said Hallam, turning back to the scientist and noticing that blood was trickling down her forehead. “Hey, you’re bleeding,” he added, quickly checking the cut.

  “It’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine,” said Dr. Rand, taking Hallam’s hands and pulling them away from the wound. “But we must find Miss Wulfrun and Miss Rivas quickly. There’s not a moment to lose.”

  Hallam nodded, then got to his feet and moved toward the smoke. “Dak!” he cried out, though his voice barely cut through the crackle of fire and groan of collapsing metal. “Dak, where are you!” Then Hallam saw her and Ruby, near the left side of the hangar bay door. They’d been caught close to the explosion but had managed to take cover behind a shuttlecraft that was now peppered with burning debris. Relieved that Dakota and Ruby were okay, Hallam turned back to Dr. Rand to tell her the good news, but the scientist had already run back to the comms panel on the end wall. Seconds later, Hallam heard an announcement boom out over the base’s PA system.

  “All personnel, this is Shelby Rand. We are under attack. Evacuate the base immediately. I re
peat, evacuate the base immediately.”

  Dr. Rand then ran back to Hallam as Dakota and Ruby also arrived, both of them coughing black mucus into their sleeves. The smoke that had shrouded the missile impact site was starting to clear, and through the twisted and melted remains of the hangar doors, Hallam could see two fighters hovering outside. One of them bore the unmistakable sinister raven skull emblem that identified it as belonging to Alexis Black. And wherever Alexis Black was, Cad Rikkard was never far away.

  “We can still defend the base,” spluttered Ruby, grabbing one of the SMGs from the pile of remaining gear on the deck and loading it. “They could have just nuked the whole site, but they’re attacking on foot instead. That means they want a fight. Let’s give them one!”

  Hallam also grabbed a weapon and slapped in a magazine. He had no desire to fight Cad Rikkard and Alexis Black, especially given their superior weapons and armor, but it seemed they had no choice. “Ruby is right, Cad wants to make this personal,” said Hallam, racking the SMG with a satisfying metallic clack. “But even if there’s only two of them, it won’t be easy to take them down.”

  Cad Rikkard’s fighter swooped in ahead of Alexis’ ship, which had already touched down on the stony landing strip outside. However, the mercenary fighter continued to hover a few meters above the ground, making no attempt to land. Hallam scowled, wondering what the leader of the Blackfire Squadron was doing. Then the nose of the vessel angled toward their renegade fighters, and his stomach tightened into a knot as he finally grasped Rikkard’s plan.

  “Everyone, get down!” Hallam cried as the thud of the mercenary fighter’s cannons split the air. Hallam’s ship was targeted first and was shredded within a matter of seconds. Then Cad turned his guns on Dakota’s vessel, pulverizing it at near point-blank range. Both crippled fighters erupted into flames, scattering more burning debris across the hangar. The destroyed ships were quickly met by an army of fire bots. The machines doused the burning vessels with a compound that rapidly exhausted the flames, then set into a protective shell. Hallam knew that the Shelby Drives and Randenite tanks were hardened and designed to withstand worse punishment than Cad had dished out. Yet even so, the longer they remained in the hangar, the greater the risk the Randenite tanks would leak or explode.