“Gotcha!”
Gallant found the secret stash of data–fulfilling his greatest expectations. The discovery was sweet, but it did nothing to relieve his tension as reaction set in from the dangers around him. He took several moments to compose himself while his conscious nagged at him for squandering precious seconds.
Secrets are only prized if you can steal them in secret. So once Gallant collected everything he thought was of value, he set about disguising the fact that anything had been taken. He covered his computer tracks and erased all trace of his intrusive presence. He left the fleet commander's office and returned to the room where he had entered when a loud banging startled him.
BAM!
It was not clear what the noise was, but it told him that he needed to get moving. He sensed that things were closing in on him. Alone in the dark, a door handle was moving behind him. He reached for the handle to keep it from turning. He had to get back to his cave hideout and send the critical data. He bounded through the entrance door. Once in the open, he began moving to avoid the tower lookouts and the roving guards.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up. He sensed someone watching him, someone dangerous. He trusted his senses, but he resisted the temptation to look behind him. Instead, he threw himself flat to the ground. A guard walked by as if searching for someone.
He sprang up and grabbed the guard's neck from behind and twisted. The crack told him that his enemy was finished. He moved to a nearby building and planted his explosive charge. He set it to go off in twenty minutes. That would satisfy the diversionary sabotage scenario.
As he was leaving, he saw several guards approaching. He grabbed the first one as he came close and threw him into the second man. He then sidestepped the third guard, tripping him as he passed. He hit the first man with the butt of his palm as he tried to get up and then pushed him to one side. Gallant ducked the swinging rifle butt of a guard and punched him in his midsection, doubling him over and producing a distinct grunt.
“Unh.”
One guard recovered and rose off the ground. As he stepped forward and swung a heavy object, Gallant avoided the blow–grabbed the guard's wrist and twisted it until he dropped the weapon and squealed in pain.
The remaining guard, a large beefy fellow, charged Gallant like a raging bull. He wrapped his arms around Gallant and wrestled him to the ground whereupon all four guards began hitting and kicking him.
Recognizing his assailants' combat skills, Gallant reacted in desperation.
Henry Gallant and the Warrior Description:
In the 22th Century, the people of the Solar System have banded together against an alien invasion. Unfortunately, they’re losing—badly.
As the only Natural remaining in the genetically engineered officer corps of the United Planet’s fleet, Henry Gallant has unique mental abilities that have proven essential to the defense against the Titan invaders. Nevertheless his fellow officers lack faith in him, and worse, he has angered prominent men by speaking truth to power.
Despite this, Admiral Collingsworth has given him command of the Warrior, the most advanced stealth warship in the UP arsenal and ordered him to the alien’s main base to spy, intrigue, and disrupt their war capacity.
Gallant’s mission leads to risky battles and painful choices, but no choice is more personal, or intimate, than the choice to face your own death. And for Henry Gallant—a flawed young man, in a hopeless situation, against overwhelming odds—a dreadful decision looms before him.
He has only one saving grace—he is unafraid.
