Project Faith
Chapter 16

After spending several hours in the jump, the ship arrived in Bradist’s space. The crew would soon learn if all of their efforts were worth it. Vlad pulled up the space chart of this sector. The crew took pride in being a selected number of humans and shavili to venture to this area of space. Before Vlad could set a course for the listing post on Xaraz, a series of loud beep caught the crew off guard. Simona was at her station checking on the ship’s status. Her eyes widened as she noticed what was going on.

“Ma’am, we have a weapon lock on us,” Simona altered.

“Screens up?” Lydia asked.

“Yes, ma’am. The stealth system is still engaged.”

“Evasive maneuvers,” Lydia ordered to Vlad. “Simona, ready weapons.”

Vlad’s eyes narrowed and his smile widened as he got ready to show the Bradits what this ship could do. “Acknowledge.”

Another alter went off, this one was more settle then the last one. Piet informed Lydia. “We’re being hail.”

“Open a channel,” Lydia said with a very cautious tone.

“What are you doing here, Popovo?” The computerized voice asked. “You are early for your shipment.”

Vlad laughed. “Are we being attacked by robots?”

“No stupid,” Piet answered. “It’s the translator.”

The modern translators, including personal communicators, had a more natural speaking voice. It matched the tone, pitch, and speed of the speaker. Drilli, who had a more rough and growling sound, the translator would reflect that voice. The Nessians had a more monotone voice, the translator would pick that up as well. So, it was easy for the listener to know if the speaker was human, nessians, drilli, et cetera with no problem. The prototype only had the computerized voice, which gave the speaker a robotics sound.

“Lydia,” Piet said. “The translator gives off a strong signal that is not masked by our stealth system. This is how they are tracking us.”

“That’s not good,” Lydia said.

“I think it was done by design,” Piet stated. “It was a way for them to keep tabs on us all the time.” He paused. “You might want to respond before they get trigger happy.”

“We have a special shipment of Klexax,” Lydia said, “which I’m eager to sell.”

“Really? We trade with the shavili for Klexax.”

“Some of my nessians friends located a new source. I can beat any price that the purple bitches give you.”

“Interesting.” There was a short pause. Lydia wondered if her buff worked. “Proceed to your location, Captain Baka out.”

“Thank you, captain.” Lydia signaled Piet to close the channel. “Keep the translator on until further notice.”

“Got it,” Piet replied.

“How long before we reach Xaraz?” Lydia directed her question to Vlad.

“About three hours.”

“That can be a very tense three hours,” Faith added, “with the bradist tracking us.”

“It isn’t ideal, Faith,” Lydia said. “But it is necessary for now. We don’t know much about the bradist. We don’t know their defenses, their weaponry or anything. We have to play it carefully.”

Faith let out a sigh. “I’m not comfortable with this.”

“I understand your concerns,” Lydia said. “I don’t like it either, but for now it is our best plan.” Lydia looked at Simona. “Keep an eye out. I don’t want any surprises.”

“Understood, ma’am.”

The ship continued its trek through bradist’s space. They detected several patrol ships tracking them. Every twenty minutes, the weapon lock alarm would go off. This was adding unnecessary stress to the crew. This mission was becoming harder than expected. The Enigma couldn’t make a move without the bradist being aware of it. Lydia needed a plan. She needed the ship to disappear, without the bradist getting suspicious.

Lydia ordered the crew into the briefing room so they could progress what to do next. The crew sat around the table. Simona and Ezi shared a look. They thought about the pleasure they had several hours ago right at the briefing room’s table. Simona could still feel Ezi’s touch, the sweet and spicy aroma of Ezi’s body. The tactical officer still felt the soreness between her legs and throbbing of her vagina, but she had to stay focus to assist Lydia, so she blocked out those feelings.

“We need a plan,” Lydia said with such urgency. “If we turn off the translator, every ship in this sector will become suspicious. They might not be able to locate us, but they could make things difficult.”

“What do you mean?” Faith asked.

“They could block off the jump point,” Simona added. “Especially if their listening post was attacked.”

“Maybe it a chance we have to take,” Faith commented.

“I think it is a big risk,” Simona said.

“Everything is a big risk out here.” Piet jumped in. “Shit happens! Sometimes we have to eat it.”

“You and Faith might like the taste,” Simona said, “but I don’t.”

Lydia shook her head. “This is getting us nowhere.”

Ezi sat with her eyes closed waiting to add to the discussion, then her eyes shot opened and she offered an idea. “First, we have to get the bradist off our trail. Without that, this conversation is pointless.”

“How do we do that?” Lydia asked.

“We blow up the ship,” Ezi answered. The crew waited for the punchline that never came.

“You’re serious? How would that even work?” Lydia asked.

“Of course I don’t mean we really blow up the ship,” Ezi explained. “We will detonate two torpedoes at our location.”

Lydia’s face frown. “That will still blow up our ship.”

“Not if our ship is not there,” Ezi explained even further. “We will put out a distress call stating we are having engine trouble, like a jump core breach. Then, we turn off the translator, release two torpedoes, fly away in stealth mode and detonate them at our last known location.”

Lydia’s frown turned into a smile. “Letting the bradist believe we were destroyed by a jump core breach.” Lydia leaned back in her chair. “Three torpedoes will be a more convincing explosion.” The doctor hit the intercom button on the table. “Vlad, get ready to do some fancy flying.”

One didn’t have to see Vlad’s face to notice his excitement. His voice gave that away. “Yes, ma’am!”

The torpedoes on the Enigma were designed to explode on impact. So, Simona, with the help of Ezi, modified three torpedoes to detonate by remote. It wasn’t a hard process. Simona, who was a tactical officer and weapon specialist, had working knowledge in this area. Ezi was just brilliant. The shavili had a working understanding of many disciplines that the crew wasn’t aware of. Ezi knew chemistry, electronics, mechanics, and bioengineering and had a tactical mind as well. If she was human, Lydia would have recruited her for SINDRI.

After working on the torpedoes, they had to make temporary modifications to the launcher, so that the torpedoes would drop out of the chute. Completing this process took some time, but they were able to accomplish it. After all of the modifications were completed, the crew was ready to implement the plan.

The crew was on the bridge waiting. Lydia looked over all the preparation on her pad. It should work. It had to work or they would be fighting their way through bradist’s space. Lydia nodded to Vlad. He reduced the ship’s speed by ninety-five percent to give the appearance of engine problems. Lydia ordered Piet to send the distress call. Simona waited for Lydia to give the okay to release the torpedoes. Everything was working according to plan until a large bradist’s space appeared on the several kilometers off the port side of the Engima.

“We are being hailed,” Piet said.

“Shit,” Lydia muttered under her breath. “Open.”

“Do you require any assistance?” A robotic voice came over the translator.

“Negative,” Lydia replied. “We’re having engine problems, but we’re handling the situation. Your ship might need to back off if we have a jump core breach.” A long pause proceeded after Lydia’s delivered the message.

“Prepare to be boarded.”

“What?” Lydia asked. “There is no need to.”

“They terminated the line,” Piet said.

“Ready weapons,” Lydia ordered.

“Ma’am,” Simona said, “The ship is three times our size. We are outgunned. If they want a fight, they will win.”

“They must really love Klexax,” Faith added.

“Get us the hell out of here,” Lydia ordered Vlad.

“I can’t,” Vlad said. “Helm is responding, but we can’t move.”

“They got a tractor beam on us, ma’am,” Simona said.

“Keep us at full power,” Lydia informed the pilot. “Turn off the stealth.” This gave the engines more power.

“Yes, ma’am,” Simona said.

“We could have real engine breach if we keep this up,” Vlad warned.

“Our guns won’t be able to destroy the source of the tractor, ma’am,” Simona said, “But our torpedoes would.”

“Which is mute because it is disabled,” Piet reminded.

Lydia paused to think of a solution to their problem. The Enigma was being pulled closer to the bradist’s ship. The beam was overpowering the engines. If Vlad is not careful, the ship would explode.

Lydia looked at Ezi. “You have remote access to denote the three torpedoes. Can you make quick modifications to navigate them as well?”

Ezi paused for a brief second. “Yes,” she answered. “I would have to bypass the...”

“No need to explain,” Lydia interrupted. “How long?”

“About twenty seconds.”

“Do it.” Lydia signaled Simona to release the torpedoes. They quietly fell out of the chute and weren’t detected.

“Linked has been established,” Ezi confirmed.

The hull of the ship vibrated. “Whatever you going to do make it fast,” Vlad warned. “We are in the red.”

Lydia rested her hand on Ezi’s shoulder. “Move one in the path of the beam and ram the other two into their engines.” Ezi maneuvered the torpedoes as ordered. One headed for the tractor beam flowing to the source. Once there, Lydia ordered it to denote. The torpedoes had a small antimatter core, which made them effective, but the Enigma at risk for blowback due to its close proximity to the ship. The crew felt the impact of the explosion, but the beam was destroyed.

Since the Enigma’s engine was running at full, the ship shot away within matters of seconds. The other torpedoes stuck into the ship’s hull by the engine. They didn’t explode, but it was designed that way.

The explosion disabled the bradist’s ship for a moment, but soon it was in fast pursuit. Vlad had the ship at full speed, but the bradist’s ship was closing in. It was larger, better armed and faster than the Enigma, but the Enigma’s captain was craftier. The ship was getting closer and closer to the Enigma. Simona asked Lydia to engage the stealth system, but Lydia denied that request. Lydia wanted the bradist to get closer. It was a risk, but Lydia was known to take chances. The bradist’s ship got within range, close enough to fire weapons.

The familiar sounds of loud beeps could be heard in the bridge. “They have a weapon lock on us,” Simona warned.

“Good,” Lydia’s response surprised the crew. “Blow them.” Ezi denoted the two torpedoes wedged into the ship’s hull. Since the bradist’s ship was running at full power, the explosion of the torpedoes caused a chain reaction in the engines. The Enigma’s sensors detected several series of mini-explosions on the bradist’s ship until a huge one destroyed the pursuing vessel. Lydia ordered Simona to engage the stealth system and a status report.

“No damage to the ship. All systems are working, ma’am,” Simona reported. Another alter rang in the bridge. “Several ships are entering this sector.” They didn’t detect the Enigma. “Stealth system is working, ma’am.”

“Get us out of here, Vlad,” Lydia ordered.

“Not a problem.” He was able to get the ship out of the area and closer to the planet Xaraz.

Once the Enigma got in range of Xaraz, Simona ran the sensors on the planet. Xaraz had a dry and desert-like climate. The temperature ran extreme hot during the day and freezing at night. There weren’t any indigenous life on the planet, due to the lack of water. The environment was harsh and unlivable to many species, which made it the perfect location for the secret base. The base was easy to replace because there were no other settlements or any other artifice structures on the planet. Lydia ordered Vlad to maintain an orbit around the planet, so she and the crew developed a plan.

The crew was once again in the briefing room. They were getting to know each other habits, there weren’t assigned seats, but they all sat in the same seats every time. Lydia started the conversation.

“Any suggests?” Lydia asked. “We know pretty much nothing about the Bradist, expect that they like giant cockroaches.”

“Their tech is equal to our,” Simona said, “maybe, even more, advance in some cases. We have to play this smart.” The officer looked at Faith. “Brute force might not be our best option.”

“I can handle anything you can dish out,” Faith said referring to the pistol’s butt hit.

“I held back,” Simona said.

“Next time I won’t,” Faith replied.

Lydia interrupted. “I thought you two made up.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Simona said and offered a suggests. “Since the heat during the time could reach 330 kelvins, maybe attacking at night would be our best option.”

“Simona has a point,” Ezi said, “more than she realized. The bradists are reptiles and are cold-blooded. They would be more active during the day time. At night, we might have the advantage. But there is one problem.” Ezi pulled up a holographic image of the planet. “Xaraz has an odd rotation. It slows down during daytime hours and speeds up during the night. Based on your 24-hour solar day, the planet’s nights are only three hours long. We have a small opening. According to the location of the base and rotation, nightfall will occur with the next thirty minutes.”

“Ezi, Faith and Simona get your gear,” Lydia ordered, “and get ready to move out.” She hit the intercom button. “Vlad descends to the planet’s surface.”

Descending to the planet surface was the easy part. Landing on the surface was going to be difficult. The surface of Xaraz was nothing but tall pillars and jagged rocks. There was only one clearing on the whole planet and it was a very small clearing. The listening post was a single level cubic shape structure with a large dish on top. The building was fifty meters tall and fifty meters wide. The ship hovered about five kilometers away from the base. The Enigma stealth system was working, but being so close to the surface and the base put the ship at risk being detected by the naked eyes.

Faith, Ezi, and Simona were in the loading bay. They were all wearing the standard ballistic suits, ammo belt, and night vision visors. Ezi and Simona also wore a tactical vest and additional armor plating. Faith, once again, refused to wear the vest and armor plating. Faith still wanted to give up protection over speed and flexibility. Lydia’s presence in the bay, fully armed, was surprising. The crew was unaware that she would be accompanying them. Lydia was the best hacker and codebreaker on the ship, so to Lydia, it was a logical choice to come on the mission. Ezi and Simona armed with the razor firing rifles, which the crew called the Shredder. Faith had her trusted katrat and two pistol version of the Shredder. Lydia carried the Shellie. Simona opened the bay door and released the two repelling lines. Everybody looked at Faith.

“Are you going to repel this time or jump out like a crazy person?” Simona asked.

Faith smiled and gave Simona an old hand gesture of defiance that survived on Earth for centuries. It was something she pick-up before the drilli attacked New Hope. According to Simona facial expression, it was still effective.

Faith jumped into the forest of jagged rocks, maybe not the best idea, but she didn’t get this far by playing it safe. The rocks were as sharp as razors, but her acrobatics skills came in handle as she avoided the razor sharp by flipping, swinging and bouncing off the pillars until she landed safely on the ground.

“I hate to admit,” Simona said. “She is amazing.” The others hooked onto the lines and repelled down.

The forest of rocks was an impressive sight. Ezi wondered how the rock formations were formed. Even though she was a warrior, the scientist in her always came out. The rock formations made it hard for the team to maneuver. They couldn’t see the base from their location, but they followed the blip on their carpus to keep track of the base. As soon as the planet made it rotation, it was pitch black and the temperature dropped dramatically in a matter of minutes. Their suits kept their body’s temperature at an acceptable level, but they were still uncomfortable. They activated their night vision visors, which made their walk through the rock forest easier. They made it to the clearing and then the saw the Bradist for the first time.

There were two bradists guarding the base. Bradits were a larger bipedal reptilian race. They stood about 4 meters tall. They had short alligator-like snouts and very powerful jaws. All bradits had yellow eyes. Bradits didn’t wear clothes or any type of armor. Their scaly hide provided all the protection they needed. The team was about twenty meters away.

“They are a lot bigger than I imagine,” Lydia said.

“At least they were unarmed,” Simona added.

“Then we should attack,” Faith said with an eager tone in her voice.

“We know nothing about their tactics,” Simona said. “We need to play it safe.”

“We won’t know their tactics unless we engage them.” Faith became impatience, she drew her pistols. “I’m going in. Cover me.” Faith ran towards the two bradists firing her pistols.

“Dammit!” Simona said. Simona and Ezi also open fire on the bradists. The rounds bounced off the bradist’s hides. The myths and rumors were true. Rounds weren’t going to penetrate their scaly skins. One of the bradist focused on Faith and the others went after the group.

Faith drew her katrat and attack. The bradist countered Faith’s blows with their massive claws. Her blade wasn’t going to penetrate their hide as well.

Ezi, Simona and Lydia rushed the other bradist. Ezi and Simona stopped about ten meters from the bradist and continued to fire in vain at him as their rounds harmless bounced off. Lydia didn’t stop short, she was going to engage him at point-blank range. They came within a meter of each other. Lydia ducked as he swung his massive claw at her. After the swing, the bradist became off balance. Lydia fired the Shellie at point-blank range at his midsection. The shot sent him flying back about ten meters and landed on his back. The slug didn’t penetrate his hide and they weren’t designed for that. They were designed to cause massive internal damage to the target. The bradist wasn’t an acceptation. He coughed up a lot of blood but was able to get back on his feet holding his stomach. Lydia charged him again and fired at his chest, she heard the cracking of his ribcage as the shot sent him back another ten meters. He was down, but he was still alive. Lydia approached him with weapons at high ready. His breathing labored, coughed up a lot of blood. He could hardly move his arm at a sad attempt to reach Lydia.

“You suffered massive internal injuries,” Lydia said, “broken ribs and a collapsed lung. The bradist didn’t understand her foreign tongue. Lydia pointed the Shellie at his head. He laughed at the sight of his death as she pulled the trigger and Megtkye slug crushed his skull. Lydia took some pleasure in ending his life.

“A little help?” Faith called out to the team, she was still fighting the other bradist to a standstill.

Lydia aimed the Shellie at Faith’s target. “Duck,” Lydia yelled as she fired the Shellie in the back of the bradist. Faith heard the cracking sound of the bradist’s backbone breaking. The blow sent him crashing into the side of the base. He was paralyzed and no longer a threat to the team. Lydia finished him off in the same fashion as the other.

“Okay,” Faith said. “My tactics weren’t the best option at the time.”

“No one is perfect,” Lydia said and walked over to the lock panel by the door. Lydia opened her carpus and got to work on the lock. The lock was very complex, but the carpus hacked several layers of security but ran into a problem. “Oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Faith asked.

“I can’t get past the biofeed,” Lydia explained. “I need one of the bradist’s palm print.

“You got to be kidding, ma’am,” Simona said. “He weighs a freaking ton! The only way he is getting over here if we wished his ass over here.”

Lydia looked at Faith. “Do you think you can lift him?”

Ezi looked at bradist. “He appears to weigh about 1500 kilograms.”

Faith shook her head. “I don’t believe I could lift that.”

Ezi looked at Lydia. “What about the Shellie? Zain modified one to pick up a ton.”

“Still wouldn’t be enough,” Lydia replied, “and we can’t risk breaking it. We might need it to fight more of these bastards.”

“Forget about using science,” Faith added. “Something a straight forward attack might be the best option.” Faith took the Shellie from Lydia. Faith loaded it up and aimed it at the door. “Knock, Knock,” Faith said right before she pulled the trigger. Firing a hundred kilogram slug with half of ton of pressure behind it would open most doors. The door flew into the room. There were five bradists in the post. They weren’t armed, but the odds were in their favor.

Faith tossed the Shellie back to Lydia. Lydia fired at one of the bradists at close range. Lydia’s aim was perfect as the slug crushed the skull, killing the lizard. Faith jumped on one of the bradists’ shoulder and took out her pistols and fired them into both of its eyes. The bradist growled out in pain and attempted to reach for Faith. Faith quickly jumped off the giant’s back. The blind creature swung frantically at Faith. He missed, but he came close several times. Lydia took aim at the blind one and fired. The slug hit him dead in the chest. He body flew into the wall and the breaking of his ribs could be heard in the room. Another bradist caught Faith by surprise and punched her and sent her flying across the room. Unfortunately, the wall stopped Faith’s momentum, but body armor absorbed most of the impact. Some bones crack and she felt sharp pains all over. Faith had been hit by humans, drilli, including a Prime, but she never been hit as hard as she was by this bradist. She was down and wasn’t getting up. The bradist ran towards motionless Faith. Lydia and Simona were focusing on the other bradists. Ezi saw the charging monster.

“No!” Ezi yelled. A powerful surge of electrical energy shot from Ezi’s hands. The bolt struck the bradist with such force that the blast threw him towards the ceiling and fell to the floor head first, breaking his neck. Ezi’s body engulfed in an electrical field. The bradist stared at Ezi in an attempt to comprehend what just happen, but they were going to get a full understanding. Ezi raised her arms and a chain of lighting emitted from hands and she electrocuted the remaining bradists.

“What the hell was that?” Lydia asked with a sense of fear in a voice.

Ezi’s eyes closed and the electrical field around her body disappeared and she collapsed onto the floor. Simona ran towards Ezi, until Lydia told her’s tactical officer to stop.

“She might still be hot,” Lydia said, “check on Faith.” Simona did as she was ordered. Faith was coming around.

“Are you okay?” Simona asked.

Faith shook her head. “I will live.” Faith looked at Ezi and saw the shavili on the floor. “What happened?” Faith tried to get up but wasn’t able to. “Fuck!” Faith yelled. The pain was unbearable.

“Where are you hurt?” Simona asked.

“Do you see my lips?” Faith asked.

“Yeah.”

Faith smiled. “It is the only part of my body that isn’t hurting. If you have something smart to say, this will be a perfect time.”

Simona laughed. “I shouldn’t kick a person when she down.”

“According to Roat-At-Tat, that is the best time.”

Simona propped Faith up against the wall and checked on Ezi. The shavili was unconscious and her vitals were weak. “Ma’am,” Simona called out to Lydia, “we have to get these two to the ship ASAP.”

Lydia called Vlad on her earpiece. “We need a medevac and tell Piet to get sickbay ready for two.”

The darkest removed when Faith’s eyes opened, she found herself in the sickbay. The monitor over her head gave off a series of beeps as she adjusted herself in the bed. Lydia sat in a chair next to Faith’s bed.

“Welcome back,” Lydia said as she took hold of Faith’s hand. “You were out for two days. Piet was able to stabilize you at first, but your body took care of the rest. It like you go into a trance and your body shuts down and make repairs. You had a high fever that finally broke, which was strange since you had no signs of infection.”

“How high was the fever?” Faith asked.

“It should have fried your brain. Piet and I theorized that it is the way your body heals itself. Your body is still a mystery to me.”

“Not all of it.”

Lydia blushed. “You know what I mean. Even though you are my friend and --. ”

“Lover?” Faith interrupted as she slowly sat up in the bed.

“I wanted you to say it first.” Lydia continued. “As a woman of science, you will always fantastic me.”

Faith laughed. “I’m glad you will never get bored with me.”

Lydia leaned in a kissed Faith on the lips. “I will never get bored of you.”

Vlad’s voice was heard over the intercom. “We are about to leave bradist’s space. Prepare for a jump.”

A puzzled look overwhelmed Faith’s face. “We are just leaving bradist’s space?”

“During the past forty-eight hours,” Lydia explained, “I have been working on that damn listening post. I was able to establish a continuous loop that will provide bogus intel. The bradist won’t notice anything until this staff is relief in ten solar years. We were able to collect a lot of useful intel on those damn lizards.”

Faith’s attention went away from the bradist as she saw Ezi lying motionless on the bed across the room. “What happened to Ezi?”

Piet walked into sickbay. “In layperson’s terms, she blew a fuse, but she is stable.”

Faith’s eyebrows rose. “Blew a fuse?”

“Pretty much,” Piet explained. “Her body went into electrical overload.” He turned on the monitor over Ezi’s bed and a detailed image of Ezi’s internal working appeared on the screen. “I performed a full body scan of our purple friend, very impressive.”

Faith chuckled. “I bet you enjoyed scanning her body.” Applying a more sinister motive on Piet’s behalf.

Piet addressed his comments to Faith. “Just as much I enjoyed scanning your body.”

Faith’s face turned red and she folded her arms over her chest. “Pervert,” she said under her breath.

Piet continued. “The implants are fully integrated into her system. She is finally the weapon that the shavili’s wanted. But her body is adjusting to the change and that is why she crashed. She should make a full recovery. Once, her body fully adjusts; she will have full control of her bioelectrical abilities.”

“Full control,” Lydia repeated. “What does that look like?”

“Electrical discharge from her hands,” Piet added, “maybe creating a force field of electricity. She shouldn’t be at any risk of crashing. She can become very powerful.”

“Or very dangerous,” Lydia said.

“I don’t think she will hurt us,” Faith said.

“We all have agenda, Faith,” Lydia said. “If our goes against hers, she could turn on us. I saw what she did to those bradists. I don’t even think you can stop her.”

“What are you going to do?” Faith asked. “Lock her up?”

“No,” Lydia answered. “She is our crewmate and our friend. We will just talk to her.” Lydia walked to the intercom. “Vlad, once we get to Association’s space, link to the INH. So we can update Amulius.”

“What are you going to tell him?” Faith asked.

“None of this,” Lydia smirked.