Rebel with a Cause: Operation Ardent Redux: Episode 2 (A Space Opera Adventure) Read online

  Rebel with a Cause

  Operation Ardent Redux:

  Episode 2

  Rebel with a Cause

  Operation Ardent Redux:

  Episode 2

  By J. L. Stowers

  Copyright © 2020 by J. L. Stowers

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Edition, 2020

  Editing: Keri Karandrakis

  Cover Art: Taurus Covers

  Visit the author’s website at www.jlstowers.com

  Dedication

  For my grandmother Sharon.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  To Be Continued…

  Chapter 1

  Roni sprawled across the pilot's seat, staring out at the stars. Their new ship, on loan from Finneous Copernicus Geronimo, wasn't half-bad, albeit small. It only slept two, so she, Zadria, and Ryan had to take turns resting. But Roni didn't mind. Sleep didn't come easy to her anyway. Not since she watched David bury his ship into Penn's. She clenched her fists and tried to shake the visual from her mind.

  Happy thoughts, Roni. She closed her eyes and tried to think of happier times. The first time David had approached her was with a bouquet of half-wilted wildflowers and a sheepish grin. He had picked them in the morning and spent the better part of the day working up the nerve to bring them to her. She thought it was cute.

  A hand gripped her shoulder, and Roni leaned her cheek on it, forgetting the current situation for a moment.

  "Oh, uh, Roni…" The hand slipped away.

  Roni turned to look at Ryan, the rebel turned GC troop, turned rebel again. "What are you doing?"

  "I'm sorry, I thought you were asleep."

  "So, you thought you could touch me?" She could feel her cheeks redden.

  "No... sorry again, I was just trying to wake you to talk about our plan."

  "Oh..." Roni sat up and put her feet on the floor, trying to push the awkward moment from her mind. "Okay, what's up?"

  "I haven’t really dealt with pirates before. I just want to make sure I don't mess this up."

  "Well, that's easy," Roni said with a laugh. "Pirates, they want things. They'll do anything to get the things that they want. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Kill."

  "So how are we supposed to get what we want from them?"

  Roni sighed. She had been wondering the same thing. "I guess we'll just have to see what they want when we get there."

  "You guys having all the fun without me?" Zadria yawned and stretched as she squeezed up into the cockpit.

  "Does no one sleep on this ship?" Roni laughed.

  "Have you tried to sleep back there yet?" Zadria asked. "It's so tiny."

  "Yeah, I think the trade was a little one sided," Ryan agreed.

  Roni smirked. "You guys are so funny. Any ship is better than no ship. At least it has gravity. Plus, this thing is fast. We're almost to Burcad."

  "I guess fast is good," Ryan said.

  "And it has weapons and shields. Better than what we were on," Roni added.

  Zadria looked around the small cockpit. "Plus, smaller ships are harder to hit, easier to maneuver."

  "Now you're getting it," Roni said with a laugh. "My lil rookie has come so far."

  "Oh, shut up." Zadria's face reddened.

  "Hah, getting sassy too," Ryan chimed in.

  Both women turned to look at him.

  "No?" he said, chuckling nervously. "Er... sorry."

  Roni and Zadria both started laughing.

  When Roni first left on her revenge mission, she was a little skeptical of accepting Zadria's help. The girl was young, fresh out of boot camp before she joined Dani’s crew. But her greenness didn't seem to hold her back, at least not too much. Zadria continued to surprise her, and Roni was enjoying her company. However, the jury was still out on Ryan. Roni knew him from the first time he was on Hera, but she wasn't sure how much she could trust him after some kind of brain malfunction temporarily turned him into a GC soldier. Regardless, they were all she had, and it didn't seem like she'd be able to shake them anytime soon.

  The green marble that was Burcad loomed ahead of the ship as the giggles died down.

  "Alright, you guys ready to do this?" Roni asked.

  Ryan nodded and Zadria shrugged.

  "Remember," Roni continued, "they're more afraid of mysterious outsiders than we are of them. Just play the part, do it well, and everything will be completely fine."

  Roni had had her fair share of pirate encounters throughout her life. Even in prison, she couldn't seem to stay clear of them. Thankfully, she had learned early on how to deal with them. The first rule: don’t reveal your affiliation. Pirates hated rebels almost as much as they hated the GC. Where rebels wanted to take down the government to replace it with a new one, the pirates just wanted the government out of the picture so they could run amuck and do as they wished. They didn't want to answer to any authorities—GC, rebel, or otherwise. But playing a neutral party didn’t seem to bother them at all, so Roni typically took that approach.

  "Play the message again. Let's make sure we didn't miss anything," Roni sighed.

  Ryan reached over and pressed a few buttons, Finn's face projecting onto the inside of the windshield.

  "Greetings," the Finn-recording said with a smile.

  "Ugh, even in his recording he's naked." Zadria scrunched up her nose.

  "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

  The trio rolled their eyes and watched, unamused as Finn cracked up in laughter.

  With a tickled sigh, Finn continued, "Sorry, I've always wanted to say that. Anywho, I need you to go see my old friend Dorvan. He's the king of the pirates and I've programmed his planet's location into the ship's computer. Dorvan knows what I need. Just tell him one of my stations went down and you need to resupply. He'll get you all taken care of. He may ask for a codeword... it's pineapple."

  "So, Dorvan... pineapple." Ryan shook his head. "Not much info. Are we sure we'll even be able to fix whatever's broken once we get there? The guy really held back on the details."

  "He said it'd be clear," Zadria said with a shrug.

  "It'd be nice if something was," Roni huffed. "Alright, looks like the planet's coming up. The autopilot has the landing site programmed in, so there's really not much we need to do."

  "Are you okay?" Zadria was staring at Ryan, who was now leaning forward, his head in his hands.

  "Yeah, I think so. Just a bad headache."

  Roni stared at him a moment. This wasn't the first, and they'd been coming more frequently. "You should have let Finn scan you."

  "I'm fine," he said with a dismissive wave.

  The three rode in silence the rest of the way, watching as the cloud cover fell away and the lush green swamplands appeared below. The dense trees didn't offer many clues as to what lay below the canopy, but a clearing ahead seemed to be their target. The ship slowly lowered itself onto a small hill with a wooden walkway, which merged into the main bridge leading off into the trees.

  Roni led the way out of the ship and immediately scrunched up her nose. "I
t smells."

  "It is a swamp," Ryan said with a laugh.

  "No, that's not it. It smells like something is burning."

  Zadria climbed out and sniffed the air. "I smell it too."

  Roni narrowed her eyes and scanned the area. Only a few ships were nestled on the short hills of the clearing. For a bustling pirate planet, she expected more. "Something's not right."

  "Well, only one way to find out." Ryan jumped from the damp soil to the walkway.

  Roni followed, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Her fingertips grazed the hilts of her swords, reassuring herself that she still had them. It seemed excessively quiet for a swamp. The eerie lack of wildlife sounds only added to her suspicions. The heavy fall of footsteps and the creaking wood below suddenly made Roni feel like they advertising their presence more than they should. The burning smell grew stronger as they followed the path.

  Roni glanced at Zadria intermittently as they strolled along the boardwalk.

  “What?” Zadria asked, holding her palms up.

  “I just keep waiting for you to say ‘hey, guys…’ because that’s when I know something is wrong.” Roni chuckled.

  Zadria giggled in response, but her laughter was cut short as she stopped walking. “Uh…hey, guys?”

  Roni followed Zadria’s outstretched index finger to some spotting on the boards near their feet. She stopped and knelt to examine some rust-colored droplets dried on the decking. Blood. Gesturing to the others to keep quiet, Roni stood slowly, drawing her swords as she did so. The sun's light glinted off the exposed, sharpened blades. Zadria and Ryan both drew their weapons as well. Firearms. With a nod, the three understood their purpose in defending the group. Zadria and Ryan would keep their eyes open for distant threats, and Roni would lead the way with her blades, prepared to defend against any up-close assailants.

  Another several feet and another smear of blood, this one over the railing. Roni stopped to peer at the body floating in the water. There were no visible wounds on the front of the body, but the man's look of horror made her stomach turn. Something did happen here, and it might still be happening. Whatever it was, Roni wasn't looking forward to it.

  They continued on, stepping carefully until they reached the splintered end of the walkway, just before a massive wooden door that was left ajar. It was unlike pirates to leave their things vulnerable to outsiders. Roni carefully stepped across the threshold and entered. It was deathly quiet. The metallic smell and stickiness of the floor told her all she needed to know without looking down.

  Ryan and Zadria stepped in next to her.

  "Where are all the bodies?" Ryan asked quietly.

  Roni didn't answer. Not because she didn't know, but because she didn't really want to think about it. They were sent here to get something, and she just hoped it was still here.

  "Let's find Dorvan and get out of here," Zadria whispered.

  "If he's even alive still," Ryan added.

  "Oh, he's alive," a gruff voice said from somewhere off to Roni's right.

  Roni looked over as a massive hand reached up out of a hole in the floorboards and slapped down on the wooden floor. She sheathed her swords and ran over, kneeling on the ground next to the hole. Ryan and Zadria joined her, and the three of them helped raise the gigantic man from what may have almost certainly become his grave had they not shown up.

  "You look like shit," Ryan declared as he sat back and looked at the man.

  "Ignore him," Zadria said quickly. "Dorvan?"

  Dorvan nodded with a grunt and sat on the floor, his legs dangling into the hole. "Most of me, anyway."

  Roni leaned back to look at the pirate. "Seems like you've got all your parts, but you could use some patching up."

  "We have a first-aid kit back on the ship," Zadria said cheerfully. "Should I get it?"

  "Might not be a bad idea," Dorvan said with a grunt.

  Zadria scampered off the way they came, Ryan following per Roni's request.

  Dorvan grimaced once more.

  "Can't say I love what you've done with the place," Roni joked.

  "Thought it could use a wee bit more natural light," Dorvan said with a chuckle, grabbing his side. "Oh, would ya mind fetching my spirits from that blasted hole? I'm afraid if I go back in then I may not be able to get out."

  Roni hopped down into the dark hole and looked around under the floor. It didn't take her long to find the bottle Dorvan requested. "Here's your medicine." She passed it up to him, then climbed out.

  Dorvan took a long draw off the drink, then sighed heavily, inspecting the bottle. "The only one to survive." He offered it to Roni.

  With a smile, she declined. "No, I think you need that more than I do." She’d had pirate booze before and swore it off three days later when she finally woke from the drunken stupor it put her in.

  With a shrug, Dorvan took another drink.

  Zadria and Ryan returned shortly after, and the three of them made quick work cleaning and bandaging his wounds.

  "Luckily, most of it looks superficial," Zadria said. "Except this... where it looks like you got shot with some kind of projectile."

  "Ah, yeah. An arrow. Bart and his shitty aim."

  "Well, I think you're all patched up now. Do you need anything else?" Zadria asked.

  The ground rumbled, causing a board from the broken dome to crash down across the room.

  Ryan sighed. "I had really hoped we were done with earthquakes."

  "That's no earthquake," Dorvan said, trying to get to his feet.

  Roni tucked herself under his arm and helped support him while he stood. "Not an earthquake?"

  "No, that's the asshole that tore up my damn base."

  "Wait, someone did this?" Zadria froze, her eyes wide.

  “Not someone, dearie. Something. And it’s still alive,” Dorvan said, wincing. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."

  Roni laughed. "I don't think you're in the condition to kill anything. Why don't you leave it to us?"

  Now it was Dorvan's turn to laugh. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love that. I just don't think you know what we're dealing with here."

  "You could tell us," Ryan suggested with a shrug.

  Dorvan's beaten face morphed into a sideways grin. "What do you know about dragons?"

  Chapter 2

  "Dragons?" Roni asked, raising both eyebrows.

  "No way," Ryan balked.

  "Wait, dragons are real?" Zadria asked, causing the other two to turn and stare at her.

  Dorvan chuckled. "Oh, my dear girl... you're in for one hell of a surprise." He rolled onto his belly and started digging around in the hole they pulled him out of.

  The ground shook again, more of the shattered ceiling falling to the ground.

  "I think we need to get you out of here," Roni suggested.

  "Not until I'm done... or done in." Dorvan chuckled as he pulled a grappling gun from the hole and laid it next to him. Next, he drew out a sword before pushing himself up on his hands and knees.

  Roni helped him to his feet once again. "Call me crazy, but I don't think you're in any shape to swing that thing around with any authority."

  Dorvan frowned, deep lines settling into his face. "You better bite your tongue, or you won't be in any shape to do much of anything."

  "How do you even kill a dragon?" Ryan asked.

  "Up close and personal, my boy." Dorvan slapped his massive paw on Ryan's shoulder, almost knocking him off his feet. He leaned in and whispered, "The closer the better."

  "So, you're going to climb it?" Zadria asked, staring at the grappling gun.

  "That's the plan. Climb up there and drive this here sword under its scales and into its head."

  "It's going to eat you," Roni stated flatly.

  With a growl, Dorvan dropped the grappling gun and clutched the hilt of the long sword with both hands, spinning on his heel and swinging it toward Roni.

  Roni was ready with her own blades, catching the sword in the noo
k of her crossed swords above her head. She winked. "Alright, you're in better shape than I gave you credit for. I just had to be sure. There's no way I'd try to slay a dragon if I had to carry your ass the whole way."

  Dorvan chuckled and lowered the weapon. "I like you."

  "So, where are we headed?" Roni asked.

  "Uh, Roni?" Ryan lowered his voice. "What about the mission?"

  He hadn't spoken quietly enough. Dorvan's heavy gaze landed on him, and the bear-like man arched an eyebrow. "What mission?"

  "We're here for Finn. One of his stations went down and he needs to resupply," Zadria explained.

  Dorvan raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the three of them.

  “Oh, and uh… pineapple,” Ryan added.

  Dorvan grunted. "Well, you help me with this, and I'll get you what you need."

  "Deal," Roni agreed. "Where we headed?"

  "Down." Dorvan lumbered across the room and reached down to toss a rug aside to reveal a hatch. "And we're going to have to take the long way because the damn thing ate my elevator."

  "It ate the elevator?" Zadria's eyes widened, and she looked down at her blaster. "Are we going to be able to do this?"

  Roni hesitated for a moment, briefly wondering if she should send Zadria back to the ship to wait. A fight with something this massive was no place for insecurity, plus she'd feel really bad if Zadria got eaten.

  "You know what," Zadria started, "I bet Ryan and I could distract it while the two of you get up there and stab its brains out."

  A smile grew on Roni's lips. Atta girl.

  "I think you should get eyes on it before you decide you wanna go that route," Dorvan said with a chuckle.

  "Who's first?" Roni asked, peering down the ladder into the darkness below. When only Dorvan volunteered, Roni held up her hand. "I'll go. Can’t have you slowing me down, old man."

  "Be my guest." Dorvan chuckled. "While it's busy eating you, the rest of us will have a chance to get into position."

  Roni laughed but the back of her mind was filled with worry. She hadn't taken on such a large opponent before, and it wasn't normally something she'd run toward. But if David were here, it's what he would have done, so she began to lower herself into the hole.