The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (46 page)

Only now, with this specimen, did she get a chance to look at one closely. It was big, perhaps two and a half metres in length. The skin was a blotchy brown with a few clumps of mangy fur here and there. Its six limbs were almost grossly muscled. The rear two were definitely legs and the pair at the front were arms, while the middle pair seemed to be a halfway house in terms of functionality, designed for walking yet could clearly grasp. The almost equine head was about the same size as a human
’
s but seemed small in proportion to its body and thickly muscled neck. After a moment she realised that what she had thought was a helmet, was in fact a metal housing that was surgically attached to its head. Several wires and tubes came out of the housing and disappeared into its skull. Steeling herself, Alice turned the head towards her. As she looked into its dead eyes, she knew what it was. Or at least what it had been. She stepped back from the slab, wiping her hands on her trousers.

“
Well?
”
the admiral.

“
I know what it is,
”
Alice replied without taking her eyes off the dead thing.

“
It
’
s a Centaur, isn
’
t it?
”
someone asked.

“
No. But it is from their planet,
”
she replied.

“
Centaur?
”
said one of the national military officers.
“
The
Harbinger
reported their planet had been depopulated.
”

“
It has been,
”
Alice replied sharply before continuing more softly.
“
Two weeks after we made our first landing we found a small group of these things. At first we thought we
’
d found some members of the city builders who had somehow survived the genocide. It was only when we managed to get close that we realised they were animals, evolutionary cousins. They are to the centaurs what a gorilla is to us.
”

“
So not the city builders themselves?
”
the admiral asked.

“
No.
”

“
Ms Peats, you told us yourself that your speciality is languages, not biology,
”
the speaker was a middle aged woman, the only one present not in uniform.

“
We found one that had died of natural causes Miss
…”
Alice replied

“
Governor Reynolds,
”
the woman offered.

“
Once it was examined the differences were as obvious as those between a human and a gorilla.
”

“
You knew?
”
This time the Governor
’
s question was directed to the admiral.

“
Suspected,
”
he replied.
“
I read the
Harbinger
report months ago. I don
’
t have time to go through it again. I knew that some of the civilian complement from the ship were here at Douglas.
”

“
So this thing isn
’
t a Nameless?
”
someone asked.

“
No,
”
Alice said.
“
It
’
s one of their victims. This thing was an animal. They
’
ve turned it into a soldier.
”

“
Going by what my science personnel and Ms Peats say, it
’
s a bio-engineered life form, one that uses an animal from the centaur planet as a template. It
’
s little more than a biological robot. No wonder they can take such a casual attitude to their losses. Thank you Ms Peats.
”
The tone of dismissal was clear.

“
We
’
ll be lucky if we make it to the end of the month,
”
Alice heard someone mutter as she was hustled out.

Chapter Thirteen

The Front

15
th
May 2067

The tug and the battered hull of the
Anubis
were briefly silhouetted against the light from the jump portal before it closed and they disappeared from the system.

“
Bridge, Sensors. Jump out successful,
”
came the report across the intercom.

“
Thank you Sensors,
”
Crowe replied as the bridge
’
s main holo returned to the default view of the surrounding sphere of space up to three light seconds away. The sphere was mostly blank, aside from the small cluster of green blips at the very centre of the display and a red line a short way behind them, indicating the safe jump out distance from the planet Phyose.

“
Coms, Bridge. Signal from flagship. All ships to reverse course at time zero nine, two, three. Fighters to take up positions at one hundred K.
”

“
Confirm receipt of message.
”

The squadrons
’
fighters had clearly heard the transmission and were already moving away to put themselves astern of the formation when it started to move back toward the planet.
Practice makes bloody perfect,
Crowe thought to himself as he waited for the appointed time to make their turn. It wasn
’
t the first time they
’
d had to escort a tug towing a broken starship out past the Red Line and odds were, it wouldn
’
t be the last.
Anubis
had only returned to service a month earlier after damage sustained at Alpha Centauri and now she was already heading back to Earth, minus all four of her engines and about forty percent of her crew. Yet they
’
d been lucky. When the cap ship missile smashed into her drive section one of the cruiser
’
s reactors stayed online. Still able to put down defensive fire, that bought enough time to get a tug in and tow her out of the combat zone. The Nameless had been running low on missiles and not able to put down the weight of fire required to press their advantage. Still it had been a result for them and a wounded bird offered further opportunities.

The little tug that had been assigned the task of towing
Anubis
back to Earth was really a bit small for the job, so lugging the heavy cruiser out of Phyose
’
s gravity well had taken over a day. It gave plenty of time for the Nameless picket at the edge of the system to observe and report.

“
Bridge, Navigation. We are at time stamp zero nine, two, two. Reversing course in one minute, brace for thrust.
”

“
Understood Navigation. Bridge, Fire Control, swing out guns.
”

The cruiser
’
s gun turrets swung out, so at least one weapon mount was pointed in the direction of any possible threat. On the holo
Deimos
and the other six ships that had escorted
Anubis
out swung round and started to break hard. Crowe could feel himself pressed into his seat and the deck tremble as the engines went to one hundred percent power. There was silence across the bridge command net as everyone focused intently on their jobs.

Engines flaring,
Deimos
and the rest of the squadron slowed, before coming briefly to a relative halt, then began to accelerate back towards the planet. It was not until seven hours after
Anubis’s
departure and the squadron was well inside the planet
’
s mass shadow that they could afford to relax.

___________________

“
A quiet trip out then I hear,
”
the deck chief grunted as he pulled himself over via one of the guide wires.

“
Yes, not a peep from them,
”
Alanna replied as she signed the work order that handed D for Dubious over to the maintenance personnel on Junction Station. The fighter was overdue for an overhaul but for various reasons it had kept getting put off.

“
Just as well it was,
”
Schurenhofer said from the personnel hatch as she heaved out their bags.
“
I for one do not want to go into a fight with a useless thruster assembly before the shooting has even started!
”

“
Starboard side thruster assembly shut down shortly after our launch,
”
Alanna said by way of explanation.

“
Not for the first time,
”
Schurenhofer added.

“
I see in the notes. It
’
s been replaced,
”
said the chief, studying his pad.

“
It got damaged…
”

“
Ripped off,
”
Schurenhofer interjected.

“
…when we arrived here.
”

“
And it
’
s still giving trouble?
”
the chief grunted.
“
Okay, we
’
ll look into it.
”

“
How long?
”
Alanna asked.

“
We haven
’
t got a lot else going on, so a day. A replacement has been drawn down from the reserves, just in case you have to fly off.
”

As they climbed down into the centrifuge of Junction Station, Alanna was already starting to miss her fighter. Sure D for Dubious was probably the same as every other Mk III Raven in existence but she
’
d got very used it. Schurenhofer on the other hand was much less forgiving.

“
I
’
m all in favour of keeping the new one and leaving stores with that tin can,
”
she grumbled from above.

“
Yes, or we could just accept that isn
’
t going to happen,
”
Alanna replied as they reached the centrifuge
’
s main habitation deck. She checked her coms.
“
They
’
re prepping the fighter now. We might as well kill time while we
’
re waiting and get a drink.
”
Before the war Junction had been a civilian station and there were still signs of that such as the decorative paintings of vines that wound along the bulkheads. There was still the odd civilian on the station too, none of them the pre-war inhabitants for reasons no one liked talking about, just contractors bought in to work the hydrogen plant. There were certain members of the
Deimos
crew who would never set foot on the station.

Walking into the main canteen Alanna was immediately hailed from the direction of fighter
’
s corner.

Lieutenant Quinn, second-in-command of the station
’
s fighter complement had his feet up on one of the tables, with a drink in one hand and a reading pad in the other.

“
Alanna! What brings you over here?
”
he asked, beckoning for another drink.

“
Bringing Dubious in for an overhaul,
”
Alanna replied sitting down.

“
What fell off this time?
”

“
Technically everything is still attached - just not working.
”

“
I was sorry to hear about Lieutenant Deyn,
”
Quinn said.

“
Yeah,
”
Alanna paused, remembering the moment when the icon for Deyn
’
s fighter had blinked out.
“
He was a nice guy but never much of a fighter pilot. He over thought things,
”
she shrugged and changed the subject.
“
So what have you heard?
”