Joe Devlin: And the Renegades’ Toil (Space Academy Series Book 5) Read online

  “Our friend is close,” said Augie, adding, “And I said ‘left,’ not through the vendor.”

  “Come on,” complained the vendor. “That’s prime meat!”

  “Funny,” replied Joe out loud to Augie, upsetting the vendor who couldn’t hear Augie’s internal dialog to Joe.

  “Funny, you say. Who’s going to pay for this, Kid?” demanded the vendor as he retrieved a bloody piece off Joe’s shoulder before wiping the ground particles off the exterior of the meat. The meat purge had already dripped down Joe’s back, confusing him between his own blood and that of the meat’s.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you,” said Joe.

  “Who then, Kid?” asked the vendor looking around. “You shouldn’t be in this part of the back alley! Don’t want you disappearing.”

  “Hurry! Left—below the overhang,” said Augie out loud. That was enough for the vendor to shift his focus to his surroundings trying to figure out where the voice had come from.

  When the vendor turned back around, Joe was nowhere to be seen, as he had moved down the passageway about one hundred meters into a different part of the alley.

  “Here?” pointed Joe to Augie.

  “Sorry Joe, it’s going to take time for us to learn how to work together,” responded Augie. “I can’t visually see where you are pointing unless I have a camera in the area or, in this case, the satellite overhead. That will be a future upgrade I would like to have. But to answer your question, you are no longer in view of either the cameras or the satellite so I can deduct that you are under the overhang.”

  “Wow, that was long-winded,” complained Joe. “Can you at least identify that person without a dissertation?”

  “No,” replied Augie.

  “You’re right. It’s going to take some time,” sighed Joe. “Try between one and ten for your answer. Ten being long-winded.”

  “Understood,” replied Augie. “I’m unable to get a good angle from the satellite to identify, though, I have a visual and the person is close. Ten meters until I lose coverage for THAT person. I’ll use relative speed for timing for your position.”

  “Better,” acknowledged Joe. He was still adjusting to Augie’s voice in his ear, and after the collision, he’d had little time to get his wits back. He stood next to a building that was in near darkness, causing the structure's edge to blur to a vague appearance over Joe’s body.

  “Joe,” said Augie. “You need to start speaking telepathically to me, or the person might hear you.”

  Joe just shook his head, unsure of how, to do what Augie had asked, so he remained quiet instead as the person neared.

  “Less than one meter,” said Augie.

  The overhang of the building almost fully extended to the other side of the alley restricting the satellite’s view. A mixture of sulfur from a sewer vent below Joe’s feet and a garbage odor from behind caused Joe to wince. He wanted to jump out just for fresh air.

  “The person should be in view in five . . . four . . .,” warned Augie.

  Joe pressed his body into the wall, preparing to leap.

  “Three . . . two . . . one . . .,” said Augie.

  Joe saw the person come into view with a hood pulled forward, covering the face.

  Bang!

  Clang!

  The sound of a mechanical lift filled the air.

  Joe kept to his cover, but the noise was deafening as a dumpster rose off the ground. Before Joe knew it, the dumpster had been lifted completely up, distracting him. When he finally looked forward again, the hooded person was passing beside him unaware of his location.

  “Hey,” yelled Joe over the truck’s machinery noise.

  The person turned in a panic and froze, not expecting Joe to be there, but Joe was already on top of him.

  The question is, why was Joe jumping upon a stranger who had done no harm, besides following him? He didn’t know, but it was too late as the body went limp from surprise and fell forward with Joe’s momentum, tumbling on the ground. Joe ended up on top of the person who had become pinned face down.

  Joe grabbed the person’s shoulders, which felt fragile. He spun them around, only to release his grip when he saw who it was—the Boy God . . . and he was on Bandor.

  4

  REVENGE IS YOURS

  Onboard Command Ship Grax Battle Cruiser, GBC Sarlacc

  Vi Ryant scowled over the wreckage of the Space Station Erebus through her stateroom’s window. Her eyes were wide open and stunned in disbelief. She knew every inch of the vast, once-operative station where she had grown up. Living on the space station had been liberating for Vi Ryant as a child. Back then she had been restricted to the mines of Huldra. The planet’s relentless snow had covered surface and suffocated all its life below. Now Erebus lay dead, its once-bustling corridors shredded by explosions, filled with the cold and vacuum of Space.

  The scene of the carnage wounded Vi Ryant inside, as she understood the sabotage both literally and figuratively. She felt the pain deep inside, where it seemed to take on a life of its own, searching for something to contain it, but instead damaging everything it touched.

  “Why don’t you wear your protective suit anymore? It’s making you look very different,” said Si Ryant in total disdain toward his sister’s appearance. “Your servants look upon you . . . well, it’s makes you look more like our enemy in appearance.”

  It was true, Vi Ryant wasn’t wearing the normal protective suit that her people had always donned everywhere. Instead, she was wearing a red robe that was made of silk and followed her body’s contour loosely.

  At first her skin peeled heavily from the normal dry and thick layers, but now it was slowly softening to the touch and thinning. She was no longer ghostly white in appearance as the blood returned to the surface of her skin. Blonde hair was growing again in areas it had not grown in cycles due to the constant suit and helmet wearing. She was curious about how her appearance would change if she kept the suit off longer.

  “Yes, change is upon us in many ways, but it doesn’t matter anymore, since this is the end for us, my brother,” Vi Ryant retorted.

  She received no response from Si, so she turned to see if he and the Chief Scientist were still there. Her brother’s face was masked in apathy while the Chief Scientist purposely looked away, pretending not to hear her brother’s prior comment.

  “It would have worked,” she added, again to no reaction from her brother. The Chief Scientist nodded in understanding what she was referring to.

  The destruction of the station’s fission device signaled the end of her peoples’ existence on Huldra. With no way to restart the fission of her planet’s star, they were without hope. The war she created had turned on her.

  “We have another way, my sister” replied Si Ryant, letting his words push against her thoughts, but keeping his real ambitions ever inward and hidden. “It will end this war and the refugee situation.”

  “You said that before, my brother, one too many times,” said Vi Ryant scornfully in return for his outward disdain of her.

  During the station’s destruction, the Grax on board had been evacuated to all the military and civilian vessels in her Fleet. Vi Ryant’s combat-ready ships had by default become cities. Without a place to relocate her people, each vessel had to pack the Grax in like caged vermin, crowding the ships beyond their safe capacity, which compromised their ability to engage in combat. Even Vi Ryant’s early childhood home at the mines of Huldra was out of the question, as they had been filled with Tourian slaves.

  “Can it regenerate the fission process in the White Dwarf?” asked Vi Ryant.

  “My Supreme Leader, the fission is done because the nuclear fuel is spent,” answered the Chief Scientist. “A transportable version won’t be able to restart the fission of the star, since it needs hundreds of motion dampeners that Erebus no longer has, along with the space to house them. Without that, the fission charger cannot pull in enough helium to replenish the star’s fuel. It has to be perf
ectly still to focus on the source and to contain its core, or you will have highly radioactive particles going everywhere.”

  “So, it’s a weapon then,” said Vi Ryant sounding disappointed.

  Without ships for battle, the war was lost. Vi Ryant knew she had to defend against further Bandorian attacks, which now seemed imminent, and she had to figure out where to relocate her people in order to free up her warships.

  “—Yes!” said Si Ryant, with a nod and slight smile. He seemed pleased with this conclusion.

  “Can’t we also rebuild the old one?” asked Vi Ryant. “It’s our home.”

  Si Ryant winced in response to the superfluous questions. He hated probing. “An impossible thing you ask!” he blurted, instantly realizing his insolent tone. Quickly, he changed to a calmer answer. “My sister, we only have the resources for one since our star is dying while we reconstruct a larger one.”

  Vi Ryant sighed and turned to her viewing port before she spoke again, her back to her brother.

  “Si, do you remember the images of our planet from when we were young?” asked Vi Ryant. “The abundant plant life . . . and creatures?”

  “You have forbidden those, which was a wise decision, my sister,” said Si Ryant. “It’s not in our culture to focus on the past!”

  Vi Ryant turned to flash a loathing glance at her brother. “Si, you act like you had no part in it. Maybe I should appoint myself with a new counsel . . . one without royal blood and not in line to my throne. One that doesn’t forget one owns suggestions that I respected.”

  “No need to focus on that, my sister,” countered Si Ryant. “This weapon will bring destruction to the ISF. Then you will rule the new Huldra and have all the plants and creatures you desire.”

  “A device—not a weapon—was supposed to be the answer for our people,” said Vi Ryant in a heated tone. “Si! We should not focus on conquering other worlds, but to save ours.”

  “You saw what it did to the ISF ship,” said Si Ryant. “Where do we put the refugees if we fight with the ships that now house them? It’s the only way to save them!”

  “You mean my people,” retorted Vi Ryant. “Refugees they are not, my brother.”

  Vi Ryant didn’t like the new strategy her brother was pushing, but she was distressed by her people’s suffering. Her brother seemed to always have a ready, thought-out solution during times of little choice. He had always been at her side, faithful and helpful. She appreciated him, but lately, she wondered about his true intentions.

  “What about peace with the Bandorians and life in the Tourian Void for our people?” Vi Ryant continued, probing her brother’s head for a better solution.

  “This Admiral Pearson seems fixed on destroying us,” replied Si Ryant. “There’s ample evidence that he knows about the Tourians’ situation.”

  “Where is this evidence you speak of?” asked Vi Ryant. “I have seen nothing but what lies before my eyes. Aren’t we the ones who attacked the Bandorians at your counsel?”

  “My sister, I will have the evidence sent to your stateroom right way. You will hear Admiral Pearson’s own words,” retorted Si Ryant.

  “And if we are again attacked here before we make our move . . .,” Vi Ryant demanded to know, pausing for his response.

  “Then we destroy their ships one by one with the fission weapon, my sister,” said Si Ryant.

  “And if you hit our star in the process of targeting those ships?” asked Vi Ryant.

  Si Ryant resisted answering but knew he could not avoid it. She was the supreme leader. “That would destabilize the star’s core and cause it to collapse . . . into a Black Dwarf.”

  “Radiation from the process would destroy everything,” added the Chief Scientist.

  Vi Ryant had never planned to weaponize the fission device. Still she was torn between her growing hate for the Bandorians and the survival of her people.

  “Just thought you’d point that out!” retorted Si Ryant. “Really . . . you chief scientists are masters of the obvious. We don’t plan to fire it here but in Bandorian territory. This portable weapon will give us the advantage again. Besides, the Bandorians have forced our hand by destroying the space station. If we rebuild something that size here, again, they will just destroy it at first chance along with more of your people.”

  “But if it misses?” questioned Vi Ryant again. “It will destroy us?”

  “My Supreme Leader, yes,” said the Chief Scientist. “Anything in the area hit by the radiation will not survive contact.”

  “But we won’t miss,” quickly added Si Ryant.

  “Chief Scientist, rest assured that you’ll still get your chance to once again build a proper fission device to restore our star to its previous glory. That’s if we have the resources my brother says are needed elsewhere. However, for now, you may leave my stateroom.” She sighed outwardly before adding, “I need to talk to my brother, alone.”

  As soon as the Chief Scientist departed, Vi Ryant turned toward Si. “As for you, my brother. . ..”

  “Joe Devlin,” blurted Si Ryant before clearing his throat and trying to reinsert confidence back into his tone. “My sister.”

  “What about him?” she asked.

  “He’s a genuine threat, along with his family. Intel reported that his father first took the book of Bulla from Fandor, and his son is believed to be the reason the Bandorians acquired the Black Medallion. You must feel . . . well . . . a little. . ..” He avoided the word worried, instead said, “concerned!”

  She knew her brother would never be totally subservient. Though with the Chief Scientist gone, Vi Ryant was more forgiving of her brother’s disobedience. But she still had to keep him in check.

  “Yes—that’s his name,” said Vi Ryant in a condescending tone, “But you meant to say, ‘a little worried,’ my brother.” She clenched her teeth in anger. “If I would have known the effects of one person, the damage done to my world, let alone the whole family, none of them would still be around. No . . . only concerned about my little brother and his ambitions.”

  Si didn’t miss a beat, acting like they were having a normal conversation. “A profound effect, one could say, my sister.” But then he pushed his luck. “Joe Devlin made a fool out of you when he captured one of your ships and then destroyed your command ship. Not very commanding, don’t you think?”

  “You may be my brother, but your words are treacherous to the ground you stand upon,” replied Vi Ryant.

  “My sister,” he said trying to back down on his previous words. “You misinterpret my intentions.”

  “My brother—do explain your way out of this one,” she snapped.

  “No need to when my intent is to protect my supreme leader’s reign. This pint-size cadet needs to be captured so you can show our . . ..” He cleared his throat of treason before continuing, “Your peoples’ assurance to your destiny. Now, with the group of rebellious Grax who think the Tourians should be freed, the timing couldn’t be better.”

  “Why not just free the Tourians? I never intended them to exist as they are now,” said Vi Ryant. “It’s a waste of needed resources.”

  “Remember why you did it,” he replied.

  “Remember . . . it was your idea to imprison them,” she retorted.

  “Yes, and it would have worked if it wasn’t for that cadet beating us to it on the Bandorian moon,” said Si Ryant. “Having the Black Medallion would have made you their God. However, now they believe their God is dead.”

  Vi Ryant turned away and looked through the port window to try to calm herself, but the sight of the wreckage, it did the opposite.

  Si Ryant pounded. “If you would have captured Joe Devlin, you would already have the Black Medallion and made him the example.”

  “He’s just a boy,” she countered surprised by his onslaught of words. “And besides—we did have him. If it wasn’t for your lack of control of the intruders, my brother, I would have seen his face on the video taking the medallion.”


  Si Ryant wasn’t backing down with the Chief Scientist away. “My sister, and the station . . ..”

  “Enough!” said Vi Ryant cutting her brother off. “Guards,” she spoke bellowed.

  Her stateroom door opened with four sentries rushing into position themselves around Si Ryant, weapons drawn. He stiffened with fear of the guards and Vi Ryant’s intentions, but all he could do was wait for his sister’s next words.

  The mere mention of the station had put fire into her veins, filling her with rage. She knew her brother’s intentions were always double layered with purpose, not always focused on her people. Regardless, Joe Devlin had set a new path in motion, one that could be the end to her planet’s star and her people.

  Vi Ryant took in a large breath before letting it out slowly to calm herself, realizing what she was about to order. But she changed her mind. “Leave my presence,” she said instead. “I’ve had enough of you for one day—my brother.”

  Her brother turned cautiously, taking care not to bump one of the guard’s weapons and then walked out between the sentries.

  ***

  With her brother gone, her own thoughts returned. Vi Ryant had no choice but to defeat the Bandorians to keep her people’s loyalty, or her brother would have the chance to overthrow her at any sign of weakness.

  Her First Officer entered through the stateroom door and approached.

  Vi Ryant turned to meet him. He was much larger than her, but his loyalty was unquestionable. In fact, her brother usually avoided being in her presence when she was with her First Officer since he knew the First Officer would not hesitate to enforce loyalty upon anyone who disrespected Vi Ryant.

  “My Supreme Leader,” said her First Officer, “I have been notified of an intercepted Bandorian transmission. Your brother seems already to have viewed it, but only now turned it over to me. It’s from one of our scout ships and is marked of the highest importance.”