Kara King & The Beyonders: The Nightwind Glyder Heist

Kara King and The Beyonders:

The Nightwind Glider Heist

Chapter Fifteen:

Heroes?

Kara King

“You’re stealing the whole ship?”

“The whole damn ship.” Kara looked out as the blast doors of the hangar bay dropped open again, allowing for the beautiful view of The Faux closing in. “Temporarily at least.”

Throck Morton was petrified. “How-”

“Which part?”

Throck gripped the blade in her hand tighter, ensuring her foe knew she wasn’t letting her get away. She looked down the hangar bay ramp to see Kara’s crew in The Ersatz motioning for her to board quickly. “All of it.”

“You know I don’t have the time.” Kara mulled it over as she saw The Faux open fire on The Nightwind Glyder. The rounds weren’t lethal, they were targeted blasts with specialized rounds to keep The Glyder’s defenses, communications, and weapons offline until The Ersatz made its getaway. She sighed, “I’ll make it quick. What do you want to know first.”

“Well, this I suppose,” Throck guffawed.

“WHR4 was only needed for the first part of the mission really, this part in a way. We had the schematics for the ship so, hopefully, that will make sense of some of the story. I knew the Technologies facility onboard had holding cells. A ship like this? The cockpit is all fake, all for show. It’s the people behind the scenes running the show.”

“So, you knew your father would send the droid out there? Where all the actual piloting, engineering, and whatnot goes down.”

Kara nodded, “That was my first stop. Get the restraining bolts off Whirr and let him do his thing.”

“And that was?”

“Reprogram the system with a new subroutine in its initialization procedure. Shields and life support first. Minor systems. Engines, then instantly make a jump for a specific set of coordinates. That use of power also buys us an extra five minutes or so for the weapons and communications to come online.”

Throck nodded now, “Just enough for you to board the Ersatz and escape.”

“Well, that and tell someone the story of our greatness.”

Both women were staring off at the Ersatz and the open space beyond the shield wall. In a moment Throck swung her sword, but Kara parried it away. She looked down at the new chip in the artifact.

“You know, I would appreciate it if you didn’t damage this.”

Throck swung wide again, but Kara dodged and kicked Throck down the ramp into a painful tumble. It was a win and a loss, now her foe was even more between her and the escape. “Next?”

“Next?” Throck caught her breath on hands and knees.

“What do you want to know next? Come on, I have places to be.”

“This ship should have back up batteries or generators. Why-”

“Why didn’t they keep the ship running after the EM field? Great question.” We planned for that.

“So, you knew then that they wouldn’t be moving back to a safer distance?”

Kara shook her head, “We were pretty sure they would actually, but a Canis managed a couple of calls to the right senators before we ever made it out there. We figured just the right amount of prodding and the emperor’s fragile ego would do the rest.” She mocked Canis’ impression of a senator, “Oh you wont be maintaining minimum distance? I suppose the emperor must be a bit less cavalier about the safety of his passengers than the Duke of Lariz was on his birthday.”

Throck couldn’t believe the audacity of The Beyonder’s plan. “Crank calls. That’s what this came down too?”

“In some ways, yes. But we planned for it regardless. The flashing lights and technical difficulties.” Kara waited for that puzzle piece to be put into place by Throck.

“You drained the reserves?”

Kara nodded in a way which led to that the power fluctuations had another purpose. It didn’t seem to dawn on Throck. “How would you have gotten into the most secure room on the ship?”

She hadn’t had a clue and showed it with a shrug. This also put her in a position to hold her blade out for combat again.

Before their blades crossed again, Kara pulled something out of a pouch on her side and tossed it to Throck’s feet. The device skidded close enough that she could see it clearly. A small plastic mouthpiece was connected to two black cylinders which would extend out to either cheek.

“Maybe you saw it, maybe you didn’t, but there was a pretty big aquarium on the promenade. Ran floor to ceiling. In fact, it went beyond the floor and ceiling. It goes from lower engineering to the upper levels of water treatment and sanitation. Right near housekeeping’s headquarters on this ship, conveniently close to the emperor’s suite so that it can assuredly always be prepared for his infinite eminence,” Kara mocked.

Throck noticed the damp sheen of Kara’s hair now and wondered how she hadn’t noticed it before. “So the power fluctuations did what for that exactly?”

“Ah right, you didn’t see. The aquarium had display capabilities. We couldn’t have people seeing me swim the length of the ship now, could we?”

“So, the fluctuations did serve multiple purposes.” Throck looked like her will was broken. Then in a sudden flurry of fury, she swung wildly at the commander of The Faux. “You put hundreds of lives in danger!”

Kara easily dodged the heavy swings from her adversary. The already exhausted enemy was weakened further by subtle and quick slices along her legs or sides with each evaded attack. “Yes, thousands likely.

The hunched over woman sung around, the sword slipping from her grip unexpectedly. The security guards lazesword nearly cut at the tip of Kara’s nose but a quick lean back saved her olfactory senses and now her enemy had no weapon. The engines of the Ersatz whirred to life as Kara and Throck’s combat had come closer to the sleek bird. Kara turned to board the ship but a desperate grip held the hem of her pants. She looked back.

“You risked thousands of peoples lives for a paycheck. I can’t imagine how you live with yourself” Throck was crying, not because she had been beaten but because she was too furious and too powerless to do anything else. Her hot rage tempered as Kara kneeled near her.

“You know, I hadn’t expected you to be here, but I was actually glad.” This confused Throck. Kara revealed the artifact to her before retracting the blade into the handle. In this, its smallest state, the relic couldn’t be seen through the viewports of The Ersatz with Kara huddles over her rival like this. “This, long ago, belonged to a people from my mother’s homeworld. They’re a small people in number now, but still proud and strong enough to stand as one of the three remaining nations of that planet. This belonged to their emperor and that emperor’s lineage. Confidence in their own leaders has waned and when I heard about this job,” Kara fought back some tears of her own stoically. “Well, I thought, just once. Just once we get to be the good guys.”

Kara held her hands open in such a way that Throck could take the relic from them if she wanted. She did it intentionally. The deep hum of The Nightwind Glyder came back.

Canis poked his head out The Ersatz door. “Commander, we have to go. Now.”

Kara looked down at Throck. Throck’s hand let go of Kara’s pants and hovered towards the handle. Then, her hand dropped to the ground and she buried her head in a sob between her arms.

Kara got up and made for the Ersatz. She turned back, “Thank you.” The doors of the Ersatz closed behind her and the vessel took off in a hurry out of the shield wall. The Faux flew by, decelerated enough for the ship to dock, and made the jump to dark space.

*****

Two Weeks Later

WHR4

The crew had made their first real dock after The Heist of The Nightwind Glyder, as the news nets were calling it. The crew had already departed to make the appropriate drop and enjoy some much-needed shore leave. WHR4 awkwardly looked at the mess area which had still not been thoroughly cleaned by Zee. The vid screen was left on too. It revealed a talk show interviewing Throck Morton who had been dubbed the last faithful protector of The Nightwind Glyder. Her story was viral and though she had turned down roles offered to her to protect the emperor personally, she was still seen as some sort of hero over the situation. A banner scrolled at the bottom noting that the Galactic council would be voting within the week on investing in security for non-core worlds following a string of missing person cases.

WHR4 left the mess hall and walked down the brightly lit and painted hallway down to communications. When he entered the room any sense of the bright light and character left. All that remained, for a moment, was a red glow of WHR4’s eyes in the black of the room. Then the holographic display lit up. The display revealed a well dressed person but a face entirely made of smoke with gold eyes. The species of The Fade was unknown even to WHR based on these features, or he was simply using extremely effective filters and censors.

“Longer than I expected it to take. Still, I assume everything went well?”

“Yes, Commander King and the crew are making the drop now and-”

“Not that droid. Don’t make me reset you, again.” The Fade sat crooked in his chair and tensed his fist.

WHR4’s vision began to shift and buzz with static. At first it was an inconvenience. Then, it actually began to hurt. WHR4 began to wail a sad pentatonic electronic scale. At that note, the pain, the static went away. WHR4 could see The Fade’s fist relax again. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Be direct. I need to know if the Emperor will be able to push through this case for outer rim security. Our investors, need this bill to fall through and we indicate only the emperor’s presence will sway the vote.”

WHR4 waited a moment. Hesitated might be a more accurate word for the true AI. “Yes, the non-lethal dose of poison was administered to the emperor’s bed chambers. Even with the access to advanced medical procedures, we predict less than a five percent chance of recovery prior to the hearing this week.”

The Fade relaxed. “Very well. Enjoy your time with the crew, if you can.” WHR4’s own shoulders relaxed a bit. “I’ll call you with more order’s soon.”

The sound of some of the crew returning to the ship echoed in the distance. The light of the display cut to black and all that remained in the room were the glowing red eyes and chest light of The Faux’s spy.