HAWK

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: CACHE (2/5)

The hangar was busier than anywhere else Kas had seen on Eidol. It was a single huge cavern, well over half-a-mile across and at least a couple of hundred metres high. There were seemingly endless rows of ships, mostly Wraiths, though there were also plenty of other smaller and less deadly looking crafts. The place was crawling with people in red and white jumpsuits that Kas assumed to be the colours of engineers.

Astrid blazed a trail across the room with Kas chasing not far behind. She looked around for a sign of the Calista but it was nowhere to be seen.

'Any idea where my ship is?' she asked.

'It's on the other side of the hangar,' Astrid replied, 'but we won't be going that far.'

Kas had already accepted she wouldn't be able to take it with her. Even on its best day, the Calista wouldn't stand a chance of escaping the Wraiths, but she would still have liked to have seen it one last time.

They skirted a large transport ship where two men were busy emptying its hold of many different sized crates and stacking them neatly on the back of an auto-conveyor. Kas followed Astrid around the ship's hull to see a Wraith lifting into the air. It hovered with the graceful perfection of a hummingbird and slowly tilted its nose upwards. It started to ascend, heading towards a huge hole in the centre of the hangar's ceiling. The Wraith's thrusters glowed blue as it surged into the cavity where it was soon swallowed up by darkness. Kas knew if they stood any chance of escaping, it would be on one of those ships.

'There he is,' Astrid said. Kas turned back and saw Captain Mack standing fifty-meters away beside a dinky little courier ship. She amped up her pace to a skip.

'Captain,' she said as she arrived. Mack looked over his shoulder at her and fixed her with a hard stare. He had done a good job of cleaning up his bloodied nose; there was nothing to suggest his face had recently been used as a punching bag.

'What?' he barked. Kas remembered he couldn't see her face. She traced a finger down her visor and the veil deactivated. Captain Mack's expression transformed to one of relief. 'There you are. I was just about to leave. We have to get out of here, now.'

'I know. Which Wraith are we taking?'

'We're not taking a Wraith.'

Kas baulked as she looked again at the tiny courier ship. 'Don't tell me we're leaving on that?!'

'Do you think I'm crazy? Of course we're not.'

'Oh. Well, what are we going on?'

'You'll see. Come on.' Mack marched off, leaving it to Kas and Astrid to chase him across the vast floor. 'Did you get what you wanted?'

'I'm not pushing this cart for fun,' Kas replied as she reactivated her veil.

'How did you get her away from Swanne?'

'I caused a distraction,' Astrid said, hovering over Mack's shoulder. 'You may have as little as four minutes before she is free.'

'Free from what?'

'Let's discuss that later,' Kas said. 'Right now, I just want to get the hell out of--' Kas saw it, and in a heartbeat, any lust she once had for the Wraiths was abandoned for true-love.

The jet black ship was slightly smaller than the Calista but no way near as bulky. It lay so close to the floor it could have passed for a ground vehicle, and at twelve-feet tall, it looked more like a tank than a spaceship. It didn't appear to have wings, but its chiselled, faceted frame looked like it might have found a way to fly without them. Kas searched the hull for a name or model number but she saw nothing but unblemished black alloy.

'What's that?' she asked.

'That's our ride,' Mack replied. 'An F-88, otherwise known as the Infinity Fighter.'

'I've never heard of it.'

'That's because it doesn't exist. It's a prototype.'

They walked towards four engineers who were standing near the nose of the ship, enjoying a friendly conversation.

'Taking a break, Chief?' Mack said as he came to a halt behind them. The four engineers immediately forgot their smiles as they lined up to face him.

'Just a short one, Captain,' the man on the far right said. He had a black band on his left arm that distinguished himself from the others.

'I take it she's nearly finished?'

'She still needs some fine tuning but she's getting there.'

'Well you don't seem to be in much of a hurry. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how Governor Swanne would react if she found out you were taking unauthorised breaks.'

'I... we're two weeks ahead of schedule, sir.'

'Two weeks? I could swear the last time I spoke to you it was three.'

Kas saw a light sweat breaking out on the chief's forehead as he struggled to come up with an answer.

'What have you got left to do?' Mack prompted.

'Very minor things, mostly. Stealth calibration is our main priority. Once that's out of the way, we can finally let the programmers in to install the AI.'

'And then that's it?

'Pretty much. Yes, sir.'

'Is she ready to fly?'

'She'll have her first test flight in a few days once we've had a clean run of diagnostics. We're not taking any chances.'

'But she's in good shape?'

'Yes, sir. We're all very excited to see what you and Governor Swanne make of her. We think you'll be very pleased.'

'I'm sure we will. I know the governor is particularly keen to see it completed. In fact, she's barely stopped breathing down my neck about it. Sorry if I seem a little tense. Now I'm here, I can see you're all doing a great job.'

'Thank you, sir.'

'What time do you four finish?'

'Uh... in just over an hour.'

'An hour?' Mack waved his hand dismissively. 'Finish early.'

'Sir?'

'You going deaf now, Chief?'

'Uh, no, sir. That's very kind of you, but we should really stay and fini--'

'Are you arguing with me?'

'Of course not, sir.'

'Then move your feet and get out of here. All of you. That's an order.'

The chief hesitated, unsure if Captain Mack was testing him. The three workers beside him looked no less confused.

'Go!' Mack barked, and the four engineers marched away at once. He shouted after them as they fled. 'And if a single one of you comes back, I'll have you all fixing kitchen equipment for the next three months!' Mack waited until they had disappeared from sight before turning back to Kas. 'Alright, let's move.'