Chapter 26. Allies

CJ slumped against the rear door of the Pup in his suit. He was trying to process what just happened. Andy was still on the containment facility. He was wounded, maybe dead, and the Pup was on autopilot. CJ felt helpless. He couldn’t pilot the Pup himself and he couldn’t go back for Andrew. Worst of all, the Enforcer General had appeared out of thin air again, and stabbed Andrew through the back.

“Why did you have to fire at the Retribution?” CJ asked out loud from the bridge of the Bloodhound.

He disconnected from the control station. The Pup was inbound and would be to the Bloodhound within a half hour. He needed to prep the med-bay for Tiff and then what? Andrew told him to use the escape option that Elvis preprogrammed into the Bloodhound if things went south but that would mean leaving Andy behind.

What other option was there? CJ couldn’t fight a Level 75 Enforcer General on his own. Tiff was unconscious and injured, and Elvis was still off-line because of the dampening field. He was out of options. He couldn’t believe it, but he was going to have to leave Andrew.

Warning alarms started blaring on the bridge:

Transport vessel under fire

A generic robotic voice said over the bridge's intercoms.

“Oh shit, no, not this,” CJ shouted as he went back to his control station and jacked back into the Havok hound suit.

As his suit came back online, he saw sparks showering and wires hanging all around the Pup. He ran up to the pilot’s chair and took a look at the display. Multiple systems were malfunctioning, and the ship’s hull had taken severe damage.

“Display enemy vessels!” CJ shouted.

The display screen changed and showed 4 enemy drones in pursuit of the Pup. The Pup didn’t have any defensive measures, it was purely an orbital transport vessel. There was nothing CJ could do, he slumped in the pilot's chair and resigned himself to the inevitable outcome.

Suddenly CJ saw the retribution fly past the Pup, weapons firing. Lasers targeted the drones in quick succession and cut through them like a hot knife through butter. Within seconds the drones were disabled.

“The Retribution has provided assistance to the transport vessel,” Princess Denae said through the Pup’s comms.

“Not a second to spare either,” CJ responded.

“We will assist the Pup until it docks with the Bloodhound. Expect no further issues,” Denae responded.

“We ran into some trouble on the facility, Retribution. An Enforcer General showed up… Andy…Captain Dawes is gone,” CJ said with resignation.

“Tiff is unconscious and injured. When we get back to the Bloodhound we will be jumping away. Elvis preprogrammed an escape plan, and I don’t know where we will be jumping to.”

“Thanks for the assist, Retribution, but we lost a lot today and I don’t know what happens next,” CJ said.

“The Retribution will assist the Bloodhound in whatever way we can. We will rendezvous with you once you are safe. I’ve sent the transmission frequencies to the Bloodhound and Elvis will be able to contact us on a secure channel. We will be on standby until we receive communication,” Denae said.

“We started on a sour note Bloodhound, but we want the same things. The Havokium people do not abandon our allies, you should know this. Retribution out.”

CJ disconnected from the control station once again and rushed to the med bay to prepare to receive Tiff. The concern for Andrew was overwhelming, but he had things to do.

“Stay busy, CJ; a breakdown now doesn’t help anyone,” he said to himself.

A few minutes later, CJ was standing in the cargo bay as the Pup touched down. The ship was in rough shape. It smelled like burning chemicals and gunpowder. There were panels ripped open on the hull and black pock marks riddled the hull.

“Holy shit…” CJ said as he took in the sight of the damaged Pup.

He shook himself out of his stupor and rushed to the back ramp of the Pup that had just finished opening. His armor still sat in the pilot chair, and Tiff was strapped to the left-side transport bench. CJ unstrapped her. He could smell the blue blood that soaked her hair and had dripped down to her white body suit.

“You gotta be okay, Tiff. You can’t leave me here alone,” he whispered as he picked her up and began carrying her to the med bay.

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Once he reached the med-bay, CJ lay Tiff in one of the four open beds. The beds had a metal base, and the mattress portion was some sort of futuristic gel that molded around the patient to regulate body temperature. The gel also created compression and shifted periodically to ensure that bed sores didn’t form over time.

There was nothing else CJ could do for now. He needed Elvis back online, and the only way to do that was to get out of range of the facility's dampening field. CJ ran back to the bridge and sat in Andy’s chair; the big red button was the only thing populated on his control panel. CJ tapped the button on the screen and the Bloodhound roared to life.

CJ was pressed back into his chair briefly until the artificial gravity adjusted to compensate for the increased velocity. The Bridge display changed to a countdown that read:

Time until warp – 9 minutes 52 seconds.

“All I can do now is wait,” he said as he slumped down in the captain’s chair of the Bloodhound. “Andy, you better find a way to survive this, I can’t do this without you.” Ten minutes later the Bloodhound exploded into empty space, a trail of cosmic radiation in its wake.

“Where is Captain?!” Elvis immediately shouted, “I don’t see Captain Dawes' life signs on the Bloodhound! Explain SR-Jennings!”

“Elvis, we ran into some trouble on the containment facility. Tiff is in the med-bay right now and she needs your help.” CJ was already on his way to the med-bay while he spoke.

“The Enforcer General showed up right as Andy was about to board the Pup. The last I saw him, there was a blade shoved through his back and he was telling me to get back to the Bloodhound.”

“This isn’t possible. Captain is a brave warrior,” Elvis said, “he has been chosen by the Havok Bringer; he cannot perish. He will be savior of universe…” Elvis trailed off, concern in his voice.

CJ reached the med-bay and saw Tiff still on the bed. There were now tiny drones scanning her body and several thin metal arms protruded from the bed working to close the wound on her head.

“XO Tiff will be fine. She took damage to her neural cortex, but Elvis has repaired the damage,” Elvis said, “XO should be awake soon.”

CJ sat beside her in a chair, his head in his hands. The relief of hearing that Tiff would be okay washed over him like a wave.

“What’s wrong, CJ?” Tiff asked, her words raspy and labored.

“Andy is gone…” CJ replied.

“He’s gone, Tiff. Just as he was about to board the ship, that Enforcer showed up and stabbed a sword through his back. I don’t know if he is dead, but I had to leave. He told me to leave, Tiff. He told me to get you back to the Bloodhound. I didn’t know what else to do. Everything happened so fast. It just happened so fast,” CJ was rambling, the guilt of what happened pouring out of him as he paced back and forth.

“He’s alive, CJ. Even though I have my true body back I still have a connection with Andrew. I can feel him, he is alive, but he is severely injured, and I don’t know where he is,” Tiff said.

“The Pup was taking fire on the trip back to the Bloodhound. The facility had launched some sort of defense drones to chase us. The Retribution saved you, Tiff. Princess Denae sent secure communications frequencies to Elvis and said to contact them once we are safe,” Elvis said.

“Tiff, what are we going to do now?” CJ asked.

“We are going to contact the Retribution. Andrew put himself at risk to save me and we aren’t going to abandon him now. If the Enforcer General took him somewhere, it would most likely be to a satellite containment location. He has the ability to warp into locations, but only within a designated area. He will more than likely hold Andrew there for questioning until he can arrange transport,” Tiff said as she sat up in her bed.

“We aren’t helpless in this, CJ; I have my true body back now. My abilities will be amplified exponentially over what I could do before. The Retribution and Princess Denae have accepted us as allies, and they will be willing to assist us. Believe me, we will need their assistance for what comes next.”

“I’m going to my quarters to put on a clean uniform, then you and I will meet on the bridge and start trying to figure this whole thing out. Elvis, send our current coordinates to the Retribution. Once they arrive at our location, request that Princess Denae meet us on the Bloodhound.”

An hour later the Retribution blasted through a warp tunnel streaming the same cosmic radiation as the Bloodhound before it. The ship took position about 50 kilometers off the starboard side of the Bloodhound. Within 15 minutes a transport vessel launched as Princess Denae proceeded to come aboard the Bloodhound.

Tiff and CJ had gone down to meet Denae as she arrived in the transport bay. At first sight, CJ noticed how much nicer her transport was than the Pup, even before the Pup was damaged. It was only fitting; she was a princess and Commander of the Havokium fleet after all.

Upon arriving, Denae disembarked from the transport and immediately walked up to Tiff and CJ. She had two guards trailing her; understandable since her first encounter with the crew of the Bloodhound involved her getting fired on.

“This has escalated, Tiffantrimore,” Denae said as she approached.

“Agreed, Denae. Opening fire on the Retribution was a miscalculation on Captain Dawes' part, but he felt it was necessary to create an understanding between the two of us. The station registered the use of weapons and I assume they alerted the Enforcer General,” Tiff responded.

“How did an Enforcer General even become involved in this, Tiffantrimore? Our mission was to operate covertly, and now you have drawn the attention of the Council security force!” Denae pointed at Tiff as she spoke.

Tiff was not going to allow Denae to control this situation. She responded, "Princess Denae, you have allied yourself with Captain Dawes. He has committed to assisting you in your cause, now is not the time to point fingers. If you must know, the council’s suspicion was brought on by the presence of an unauthorized class in the tutorial. We knew that might happen; we just didn’t know it would draw the attention of an Enforcer General.”

“I believe we can still salvage the situation, but we will require your assistance. The Enforcer General will be a satellite holding facility awaiting transport. He will not file his report until he has interrogated the prisoner. In my estimation, we have another 4-6 hours before we can be sure the details have reached the council; longer if Captain Dawes can withstand the interrogation.”

“Am I correct in saying that your covert operations team possesses coordinates for all satellite holding facilities in this zone?” Tiff asked.

“That is correct. Are you suggesting that we attack a Council facility, Tiffantrimore?” Denae asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Tiff took a step toward Princess Denae, “That is exactly what I'm expecting. We're gonna break Captain Dawes out and kill that Enforcer.”