[Gabriel]
"Stay on task, Gabriel. I'll hold off the drones, you hook in." Eshe pointed her right arm and fired an orange plasma bolt from the built-in pulse gun, striking a drone and tearing it apart with a flash of light.
"Right." Gabriel extracted a cable from his waist and pushed it into the connection port.
Nothing happened.
"Oh, crap!"
"What?" Eshe yelled while firing another bolt. The drone swerved, avoiding her shot. She jumped sideways as it fired, blasting a divot from the hull where she once stood.
"I'm not getting a connection. The port must be clogged. I'm going to have to clean it out."
Dropping to a knee, Eshe fired again, this time striking the drone and sending it on a swirling path to crash into a support beam. "Hurry before more come." Hardly a breath of time passed before she reported, "And here they are, six more. I will draw their fire."
Gabriel shoved the knife point into the round port and twisted it back and forth. Don't look at the drones, don't look at the drones... Seen from the corner of his eye, Eshe fired off another bolt and then danced away from the return fire.
He tried to insert the cable again. A grin came to his face as the status indicator showed a connection. But at that moment, a drone rounded the riser, coming to stare at him with its red robotic eye. Without thinking, Gabriel snapped his right arm up and fired. Pieces of the drone bounced off his helmet.
Gabriel shouted over the link. "Sol override. Code, Sigma Omicron Lambda."
The AI responded in an electronic voice, "Transmit authorization."
Using the suit built-in genetic scanner, Gabriel complied, whispering, "Come on, come on."
"Authorization received. Welcome Empress."
"Shutdown all external defense systems!" he shouted. The remaining three drones stilled.
Gabriel took a sigh of relief, but then noticed Eshe kneeling nearby with a hand clutching a hip, partially covering a jagged rip in her spacesuit. Gabriel rushed to her side and accessed her telemetry data, which flashed red warnings due to suit containment breech and rapidly dropping air pressure. Medical monitors showed a rapid pulse and decreasing blood oxygen levels.
She waved him off. "Complete the mission!"
Straightening, Gabriel ordered, "Ship AI, power down the fusion reactors. Suspend all systems except for environmental and yourself. Close and seal all pressure isolation doors. Do these also for all Commonwealth ships via overwatch authority. Oh, and lockout all other command input."
After a moment that seemed to last forever, the AI reported. "Complied."
Gabriel surveyed Eshe's suit data. The automatic repair system had failed and internal pressure continued to decrease. Also, her blood pressure plummeted. He wrapped an arm around her back. "We have to get you inside."
"No." She panted. "Our orders were to wait for a boarding team. Entering may put you at risk."
"To hell with the orders!" Gabriel hoisted her into his arms, which was easy at zero gravity. He called out, "Ship AI, open the maintenance hatch at our location."
A yellow light beside the oval frame flashed, and after a moment, the door swung inward. Gabriel crawled down the ladder into the airlock, pulling Eshe with him. He pushed a button to close the outer hatch and re-pressurize the chamber. As the air rushed in, he scanned the ship layout on the helmet display. "Show me the nearest medical bay." A red dot appeared on the layout.
Eventually, a green light blinked, and the inner hatch opened with a hiss. As Gabriel stepped inside, he thrust ahead the pulse weapon imbedded into the right arm of his space suit in case of resistance, but the nearby corridor was empty. A vivid recent memory flashed into his mind, retelling the gruesome death by his hand in the Ring. At once, his heart raced, and heat flashed up his neck. After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Gabriel reset his pulse weapon to stun. No more killing.
Once past the threshold, he grunted at the weight of Eshe in his arms as the artificial gravity system took effect, aggravating the soreness in his shoulder and ribs. Her blood pressure continued to drop to dangerous levels, but at least the blood oxygen stabilized. Eshe's glassy eyes drifted closed and her arms fell, hanging loosely at her side.
Gabriel's emergence down the passageway surprised a woman and young man, both wearing blue Commonwealth uniforms. The woman narrowed her eyes and reached for a holstered pistol. But before she could draw it, Gabriel snapped his right arm up and fired. The silvery stun bolt struck her chest, causing her to quake and slump down against the wall. The young man's face paled as he raised trembling hands.
"You!" Gabriel commanded, pointing at him. "Which way to the nearest med bay?" He motioned down a dimly lit passageway. "Lead the way, now!"
At the med bay hatch, as indicated by a bright red cross, he waved the young man on, who scampered away. "Ship AI, open med bay hatch and restore full power to this area." The heavy hinges groaned as they swung the hatch inward.
A silver-haired woman held up her hands, blinking her eyes against the sudden brightness as the power came on. A label on her loose white jacket identified her as Dr. Jensen. "Who are you?" she demanded.
Gabriel ordered, "Help me with her, or leave. Your choice."
After a moment's hesitation, the doctor responded. "Put her on the exam table." She motioned to a narrow examination bed in the middle of the room.
After placing Eshe on the thin white pad, he carefully removed her helmet, then took off his own. Gabriel took up her hand. His heart ached with each troubled breath and each drop of blood that leaked from the tear in her suit, dripping to the floor. Lifting moist eyes, he said, "Doctor, will you help her? Please..." After she nodded, he spoke to the ceiling, "Ship AI, return full med bay authority to Dr. Jensen. Close and lock the med bay hatch."
Guided by the doctor, a translucent scanning plate descended from the low ceiling, then moved across Eshe with a narrow red light. While looking at data on a view panel above the bed, she said, "You never answered my question. Who are you?"
"My name is Gabriel. I represent the true Sol Empress."
"I see. And why does the Invictus AI answer only to you?"
"That is my secret. How is she, doctor?"
"Your friend lost a lot of blood and there is significant tissue and bone damage to her hip and lower side. She is lucky to still be alive." The doctor looked into Gabriel's eyes. "With your permission, I will give her a transfusion and stabilize her wound."
Gabriel nodded. "Do so. Thank you, doctor."
"I do not do this for you, Gabriel," she said with an angry voice. "I am bound by my profession to help all that come here."
"Then, I thank you for that. Perhaps some honor still exists in the Commonwealth."
He stepped back while the doctor began the treatments and picked up his helmet, speaking to it, "Com link to Firebird Rise." With a hand motion, he cast the image of his sister and father to a wall display panel.
"Gab, are you alright?" Hope asked, leaning forward.
"I am, but Eshe is hurt. The operation was successful, stop all offensive action."
"Already done," Moon said. "Where are you?"
"A med bay inside the Invictus. Send an evac team right away."
The Invictus AI announced, "There is a command priority com request from the Prime Minister's office."
"Oh, really?" Gabriel grinned. "Put it through here with connection to the Firebird Rise."
Prime Minister Wyatt Wilkes' face appeared within a window on the display. An anxious facial expression twisted into a scowl. "Who the hell are you?"
"The name is Gabriel Morr, Minister." He made an exaggerated sarcastic bow. "Brother of the true Sol Empress. The Invictus is ours."
Hope stepped forward in the image, narrowing her eyes to slits. Her voice took a cutting edge. "I warned you, Prime Minister. Your house crumbles around you! We are coming."
The Prime Minister's face paled and his eyes widened, then he ended the communication.
Gabriel said, "I think we got him scared, Hope."
"He should be!" She took a deep calming breath. "Anyway, good job, Gab. You saved many lives today. Take care of Eshe and we will see you later." Hope put two fingers to her lips and ended the transmission.
Doctor Jensen dropped her jaw. "Was that really... Your sister is the Sol Empress heir? I thought..."
"Yes, she is," Gabriel replied. "We are direct genetic descendants of Empress Iona. The Line of the Sol Empress continues unbroken, doctor, despite the lies from your leaders."
Eshe groaned and fluttered her eyes. As Gabriel held her hand, she wrinkled her forehead. "Where am I?"
"Med bay on the Invictus. You're going to be okay now." He glanced up at the doctor and she nodded.
Eshe sighed. "You broke the mission guidelines."
"Yup. You're not getting out of dinner with me that easily."