Energize (From the Logs of Daniel Quinn Book 1) Read online

  ENERGIZE

  From the Logs of Daniel Quinn

  Energize: From the Logs of Daniel Quinn

  Copyright © 2013 by Thomas R. Manning. All Rights Reserved.

  Published by Thomas R. Manning

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in

  critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  http://www.thomasrmanning.com

  Cover Design: Ronnell Porter http://ronnelldporter.wix.com/design

  ISBN: 978-0-9895068-0-9

  I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to the wonderful friends and family I have in my life. Thank you all for the support and encouragement. A special thank you goes out to Jorge, Pat, Lauren, and most of all, my wife Cecelia. Without all of you, this book would not have been possible.

  Dedicated to two beautiful boys who call me daddy. Jameson and Parker, I love you.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Coming Soon

  ONE

  Two security guards and one captured mercenary stood shoulder to shoulder in a cramped shuttlecraft, which sounded like the beginning of a bad joke but unfortunately it wasn’t. I’ll let you guess which guy I was. I had shackles around my wrists if it helps any. The short range shuttles of the Earth Star Alliance measured about three and a half meters long and three meters high, basically a box. The crew compliment of a shuttle was a dozen men, but I never understood the math. If three of us couldn’t move without bumping into the other, how could twelve people fit? Honestly, I didn’t care much how it worked. I just wanted a distraction from my current situation. As a prisoner, all I could do was stand between the two guards and watch as we approached one of the ESA’s flagships, the Echelon.

  Anyone who laid eyes on her would be a fool not to appreciate the beautiful craftsmanship used in constructing the vessel. At 1000 meters long and 600 meters high, the Echelon traveled throughout space as one of the most massive starships in human history. She, along with her sister ships Destiny and Triumph were designed in homage to the naval battle cruisers and carriers that once sailed Earth’s oceans. Lights shone through windows, signal beacons blinked from bow to stern, and the silver metallic plating of the hull itself was seamless.

  Though this ship technically belonged to the ESA, an infection of mutiny had spread among the crew a few years ago. Now they operated by their own designs and commands, while hiding under the ESA flag. I only knew this because I was a crewman when it happened. The Echelon was my first adventure into outer space, but after the mutiny I left and was rewarded with nightmares, relentless nightmares that haunted me night after night. Even now as I stared at her I could see shadows and images running through my mind, threatening to unlock memories I had buried long ago; memories of betrayal, blood, and murder.

  If I didn’t think of a way out of this, I would most likely never see the stars again. The person in control of the Echelon didn’t like me very much. I didn’t really like them either so our relationship was mutually hateful.

  One of the officers holding me captive leaned forward and brought his hand to the touch screen display on the shuttle’s computer console.

  “ESA Echelon, this is Tier One Lieutenant Colin Dowell and Ensign Harold Scott. Requesting permission to dock. Priority code 397.”

  The radio crackled with static for a moment, and then a voice spoke back to Dowell.

  “Message received, docking procedures pending. Identify code 397 for database confirmation.”

  “Shuttle 4 is transporting Daniel Quinn,” Dowell said, though as he finished a smirk formed on his face and he covered his mouth to muffle his laughter. He composed himself and continued. I rolled my eyes.

  The operator on the Echelon would now be searching my name in the database. He would find it listed as ‘Wanted Red Level 1: Daniel Quinn - Murder, Mutiny, and Evasion of ESA operatives’.

  “Code 397 identification confirmed. You will escort the prisoner to the brig upon docking. Be cautious officers, his file lists him as very dangerous. Docking Request granted. Welcome home.”

  The comm signal dropped and the two officers busted out laughing. Scott hunched over and wrapped his arm around his stomach as his laughter filled the small space. I just stood there. Yes me, the dangerous murderer and mutineer.

  “Seriously,” Scott said directly to Dowell, completely ignoring my presence. “This guy is the one Captain King has been searching for?” He hooked his thumb in my direction. “I mean look at this guy.”

  What about ‘the guy’ was he referring to? My messy brown hair? My ragged grey pants and jacket, which were covered in more holes and tears than I could count? Scott stood right in front of me, our eyes almost level with each other. He scoffed at me and continued his rant.

  “I thought we were after someone threatening, someone who could put up a fight, but this guy walked right into our trap. It’s like he wanted to be caught!”

  I rolled my eyes at that one. I most certainly had no intention of being caught, but I had been a little too careless when Dowel and Scott found me. Dowell had to place a firm hand on Scott’s shoulder to calm him down.

  “It doesn’t matter who he is or what he’s done. The Captain wants him. Once we’re onboard the Echelon we will transfer him to maximum security and he won’t bother anyone again.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. To be honest I would rather open the hatch and get sucked out into space than be onboard the Echelon, but not all was lost. They clearly underestimated me and while I wasn’t terribly strong, the size and limitation of movement inside the shuttle gave me an idea. The timing had to be perfect. I would also need some help.

  If you took a good look at me, you would see my stubble-ridden face, green eyes, and messy hair; in other words, nothing out of the ordinary. However, there was more to me than meets the eye, specifically my right eye. During my first escape from the very ship I was looking at, my right eye was forcibly taken from me. The memory of it was horrific and it’s something I don’t like to think about, but in its place a bionic eye was equipped in my orbital socket. Losing the eye and gaining the new one hurt like hell, more physical pain than I ever thought possible, but now this eye gave me an advantage in certain situations. There was just one catch. The circuitry and cybernetics used to integrate it into my orbital socket weren’t entirely compatible with human tissue.

  With an exaggerated blink of my eye, the device turned on and a wave of irritation and dizziness plagued my vision. I hunched over and grunted, closing my eyes hard and trying to adapt to the pain.

  “Hey! What’s
wrong with you? Getting space sick or something?”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “Something like that.”

  As the pain slowly dissipated I opened my bionic eye and watched a display screen appear before me. It showed various readings, such as my blood pressure and heart rate. It also showed me the height, distance, and even clothing material of the two security officers. Numerous options displayed in my vision.

  The shuttle jerked slightly as the autopilot computer activated the docking procedures. I had very little time left. With focus and concentration I managed to switch the eye’s display to theoretical analysis, a mode that allows me to theorize possible actions depending on my surroundings. I thought hard about what I had to accomplish.

  The two guards took their positions on each side of me and moved me a couple of steps towards the exit door. I knew from ESA protocol that there would be two additional guards waiting on the ship to assist in my escort to the security wing. If that happened, it would be too late. I had to disengage the guards on the shuttle before those doors opened.

  The outer hull of the small vessel merged together with the starship. When the impact jostled us, I made my move. I would only have a couple of minutes before the depressurization process completed.

  I threw my shoulder into the guard in front of me, hitting him in the midsection and slamming his back into the wall. The impact snapped his head back and it too hit the wall, which knocked him unconscious. Simultaneously I threw back my leg, connecting right between the other guard’s legs. I heard a grunt. With his hands over his manhood I spun around with my hands folded together and hit him hard across his jaw. He fell to the floor with his shipmate.

  My bionic sight may be a pain in the eye sometimes, but it can be a life saver.

  Two guards were down for the count, with two more on the other side of the doors. I used the few precious seconds I had to grab the guard’s keys and unlock the shackles that held my hands at bay. I rubbed at my red and irritated wrists, then stood at the door as the depressurization completed and the two sets of doors opened. Before I even locked eyes with the guard on my left, I swung the shackles at him hard. His head jerked sideways and he fell to the ground with a deep gash in his forehead.

  I quickly turned to the opposite guard before they could use a sedative or stun gun on me, but it was a woman, nearly a foot shorter than I was. She wore the security uniform, but her eyes were staring at me wide, her hands flattened against the bulkhead behind her. She expressed fear. Like an idiot I stood there a moment staring at her. I rarely ever thought of myself as a scary person, but it wasn’t the first time someone looked at me like that, like I was going to hurt them.

  Memories attempted to invade my consciousness again, but I quickly shook my head and tried to recall my position on the ship. I deactivated my bionic eye and looked to make sure the downed officer was still breathing, and then turned back to the woman.

  “Excuse me,” I muttered as I ran past her, further into the ship.

  I know what you must be thinking. If I just turned back toward the shuttle I could launch it and escape. That’s when the Echelon would pull me back with a tractor beam. Shuttles are useless without a departure or arrival clearance. Of course, they could also just blow me up. That would have been easy. My only choice was to move deeper into the ship.

  The layout of all the decks was relatively similar. With the exception of specialty decks like the Terran Garden or Sports Complex, every deck had two long corridors running parallel to each other. These corridors ran all the way from the front of the ship to the rear with multiple access hallways connecting the two of them together.

  My first order of business was to find out what deck I was on. I kept looking at hallway intersections and doorways, but I couldn’t see anything that listed my location

  That’s when the klaxon alarm sounded.

  Flux me, I thought as I continued down the corridor. People peeked outside their apartment doors, concerned with the commotion. No one attempted to stop me, but there were plenty of shouts behind me; guards screamed at me to stop while people told them which direction I ran in.

  Finally I reached a stairwell that read ‘Deck 17’. I stopped a moment to think. I needed to be sure of my destination or my chances of escape would be slim to none. The answer came to me a moment later as heavy footsteps closed in on me. If I could hear them over the alarm that meant they would be on me in seconds. I threw my shoulder into the door and it burst open. I skipped every other step as I ran for deck fourteen.

  There was a noise above my position and I caught sight of a guard descending on me from the upper deck. His enormous figure and tight uniform told me there was no chance in hell I could take this guy in a fight, even if I played dirty, so I used the one advantage I had, the stairs themselves.

  When the guard was right on top of me, his arms outstretched, I threw my hand forward, grabbed his collar and pulled on him hard. I leaned over the railing as he sailed past me, cursing and grunting down the steps. With a quick deep breath to allow my lungs to catch up with me, I continued up the stairs until a large sign next to the door read ‘Deck 14’. I threw open the door and poked my head out to see if any guards waited, but for the moment the immediate area was clear. I assumed that a number of guards were being posted at every stairwell and elevator. It wouldn’t take long for my position to be revealed, so I made sure my bearings were correct and continued down the hall.

  At this point my legs carried me on autopilot while the klaxon alarm impaired my ability to think clearly. Was I supposed to turn left at this access hall or the next one? I ran right past a number of guards waiting by the main deck elevator doors, and they pursued me at once. I heard them announce my location and call for back-up.

  Flux I was tired, but I pushed forward. I felt like if I stopped running for even a second, my legs would turn to jelly and I would be caught. I saw the target door fifty feet ahead, and with every ounce of energy I sprinted hard to it and nearly stopped when I saw guards run around the corner ahead of me.

  Don’t stop, keep moving. Reach the door. Come on!

  I threw my hand out to grab the frame so I didn’t accidentally pass the door up. When it opened I leapt inside, allowed the doors to close and smashed the control panel with my elbow. That would hopefully give me some time as the guards would have to open the bulkhead and activate the manual release.

  The large, domed room I entered was the cartography station. Each of the four walls revealed sectors of the galaxy that the ESA had previously mapped. A large table was erected in the middle with a holographic display above it, showing stars, nebulas, and planets. A lone officer stood at the table and stared at me. The dressing of his uniform told me he was a part of the science department. I took notice that he didn’t have a weapon, so I advanced on him. Quickly, he turned and tried to key in something on the computer screen. I ran up to him and pulled him away.

  “No you don’t!” I said to him. He was as tall as me, around six feet, but he was just skin and bones, not the body of a fighter. I tried to put my best intimidating face on.

  “I need to know where I am, right now!” I said with a bit of exaggerated gruff in my voice.

  “Y-y-you’re in s-s-sector five, about t-t-ten kilometers from the border to sector f-f-four.”

  This man was scared, no doubt my acting skills were better than I thought, or maybe he just heard the klaxon alarm and the guards banging on the locked door behind me. With my free hand, I used the console to key in my location and send it out in a broad sweep of sector three and four. Sector three was my last position before the ESA captured me and I hoped that my transmission would be received. When I was satisfied I did it correctly, I took notice of the screen that the science officer was working on.

  Various maps and constellations were displayed onscreen. Stars were circled by hand and connections were drawn from one planet to another. It looked like new star systems were being mapped. I keyed in a few commands and the map zoomed out.
>
  “No! Please don’t do that!” He said. He threw his arms around, distracting me. I didn’t have time for this so I let him go and his body spun in a circle. When he faced me again I delivered a backhand to his face, knocking him out. I have to admit, I actually felt badly for doing it. He was no security officer, in fact I wouldn’t have been surprised if he wet his uniform, but he still did what he could to try and stop me.

  “Sorry,” I said to his unconscious form. “If it makes you feel any better, the bruise you’ll have will most likely save your life.” I didn’t want to imagine the reprimand he would receive if he was accused of allowing me access to the system.

  The information on the screen was massive, too much to look at with the guards close to opening the door and seizing me. I grabbed a small, pebble sized device I had concealed on my person and placed it on the control screen that displayed the charts and maps being studied. I leaned down close to it until my lips were almost touching it.

  “Authorization Quinn. Record and transfer data stream.”

  At my voice command the device began blinking, slowly at first then faster and faster as it uploaded all the data it could. I listened closely to the commotion outside the room.

  “Get ready men! Doors will be open in one minute!”

  Flux, this was going to be close. I started swaying, cracking my knuckles and smacking my hands against my legs as I watched the device absorb everything that it could. With just enough time left the device indicator light went dark. I picked it up and attached it back to the accessory around my neck. The doors opened and two dozen guards piled in, all with stun guns. Looking at their uniforms, I categorized them as Tier One Security Specialists. These men were the best of the best in the ESA. There was no more running. I put my hands up in surrender.

  A slender, womanly figure entered the room and the guards parted to allow her access to me. She wore a command uniform of blue and grey. Her hair was cut short and she stared at me with daggers in her dark brown eyes, though her mouth was turned up in a wide grin. As soon as I saw her my heart sank and my stomach grew nauseous. I hadn’t seen her in over five years. The memories I tried to suppress earlier smashed through the gate, flooding my mind with images and feelings I couldn’t handle.