Rebel's Strike by Jamie McFarlane & Rachel Aukes

Author:Jamie McFarlane & Rachel Aukes [McFarlane, Jamie & Aukes, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2022-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

DIO’S DRONE WARFARE

New Freedom, Kuiper belt

Five weeks, two backtracks, and three close calls with Zona scouts later, Dirty Diablo reached New Freedom concealed deep within the Kuiper belt. The secret rebel base was built in an old mining complex within a large asteroid. Ships were regularly going in and out of the asteroid, but the traffic didn’t show up on any corporate data feeds thanks to Dr. Anton “Anty” Johnson and his team of scientific engineers who managed a large surveillance satellite on Makemake’s moon and were well-paid by Caliber to ensure both the base and traffic remained hidden from all satellite imagery.

Jai had met Anty on a couple of occasions when the Diablos were hired by Caliber to deliver supplies to the far-flung science station. One of those trips involved a group of disgruntled out-of-work miners who dropped Bode, Wolt, and Dru down a mineshaft and tried to hijack the ship with Jai still inside. The miners had picked the wrong crew to mess with. Jai electrocuted one of them when they tried to break into the ship and Bode wiped out the rest of them.

They’d been lucky Jai had been on board at the time. After that day, what had always been a general guideline became a rock-solid rule: one crew member would remain on the ship at all times. That generally meant Dru, since she was the ship’s mechanical engineer and when the ship was docked was the best time to work on most projects. This docking was no different. Dirty Diablo had gotten pretty banged up flying through the old battlefield, and Dru had patches to install.

“Heads up. We have approval to deboard,” Bode’s voice came over the intercom.

Jai stopped massaging his feet and pulled on his boots. The numbness had only grown, and he had to concentrate on walking. He’d run countless scans on his nanites—when he wasn’t on the bridge watching out for Zona scouts. They were centered in his brain but were located throughout his body. The nanites he sampled from his feet showed no variations to the ones in his arms, which left both Marco and him utterly confused. Jai continued to update his build, but nothing he’d done made even the slightest difference in the nanites’ behavior in his body.

At least his headaches were gone.

He took his time coming to his feet and made his way into the hallway. Bode was emerging from the bridge and held up a hand. “You’re staying back. You’re not in any shape to walk through New Freedom, not at its current risk level.”

Jai motioned to his legs. “I can walk just fine.”

Bode’s lips thinned. “No, you can’t.”

After a momentary stare down, Jai asked, “But what about the antinuclei?”

“Marco will make sure Caelum gets it.”

“But what if they have questions?”

“Then I’ll call you via your armlet.”

Jai sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”

Bode squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll figure out what’s causing the problems in your legs, I swear it.”

“I know.” He walked with Bode to where Wolt, Marco, and Torsha stood at the airlock.

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