Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (50 page)

Their drop was perfect,
and Jacob, Moira McFadden, Stephanie Vega and ten other soldiers made
the trip to the hangar deck of the enemy destroyer.

Stephanie Vega led half
the squad to engineering, starting their rampage to the rear of the
ship by using a focused high explosive charge to blast a passage up
through four decks. It was then that Minh-Chu realized two important
things. Firstly, that he had never been on an important ship raid
with Jacob Valent’s team. Secondly, there was a method, it was well
practiced by the leaders of this mission, and he could barely keep up
with its execution.

Stephanie’s team
blasted their way in initially, then activated stealth systems while
the few guards at the rear of the ship were reeling. From what Minh
could tell, it seemed to work perfectly. The enemy was moving as
though they thought Jake’s team was the only one, because they had
a different strategy altogether.

With Jacob in the lead,
running full tilt through a service hangar packed with supplies, then
a steep bare metal staircase leading up several decks, the whole
squad moved faster than Minh-Chu had seen outside of simulations. The
artificial muscle layer of Minh-Chu’s vacsuit had to kick in
several times as the team kept up with the captain of the Warlord,
and Minh-Chu was out of breath when they finally stopped. His
tactical map told him they were one level beneath the main corridor
leading to the bridge. As he looked through the transparent map in
his helmet, he couldn’t help but notice that the rest of the team
was trying to catch their breath as well. The powered armour all but
Minh-Chu wore was helpful at making someone stronger, but the human
body still had to move with it, so a hard run was still exhausting,
and Minh felt reassured that he wasn’t the only one who needed a
few seconds to recover.

Captain Jacob Valent
was another matter, however. He stood statue-still for long moments,
and Minh-Chu could guess what was going on. He was trying to break
through the security systems protecting the destroyer’s wireless
network. Just as everyone caught their breath, he pulled two shaped
charges from his large armoured coat and started walking back the way
they came. “Get clear, they’re coming.” With two tosses that
looked as nonchalant as brushing lint off his shoulder, Captain
Valent tossed two more charges at the ceiling behind him where they
affixed so the blast would fire straight up. “The encryption
protecting their internal comms is a joke, these are amateurs.” He
sounded disappointed.

Everyone scrambled to
move back to a safe distance of fifteen metres, Minh-Chu included.

“Set personal
shielding to maximum,” Jacob said as he leisurely stepped across
the invisible line indicating a safe distance.

“Ignore everything I
transmit on channel three twelve,” Jake said over the comms. “All
units, converge on frame thirty six, section nineteen. We’ll take
the bridge via the main hall. Use stealth systems.”

“What are you up to,
Captain?” Moira asked.

Minh-Chu grinned and
nodded, “I think I know. You’re giving them a target by
transmitting fake unencrypted orders using proximity radio.”

“That location is
right above your shaped charges,” Moira said, “They’re going to
fall for that?”

“If I had just
graduated from the academy, I might,” Minh-Chu said.

Minh-Chu’s tactical
system indicated that someone was planting explosives on the level
above within one metre of Captain Valent’s shaped charges.

“Well, there they
go,” Moira said, “Well done.”

As soon as the
explosives were armed, Jake looked towards his half-squad, perhaps
not realizing that the holographic death’s head visage was in full
effect so it appeared that his helmet was worn by a putrescent skull.
“Two Order Knights just started setting antipersonnel mines in the
hall just above my explosives. It’s the only way into the bridge.
Get ready. I blow this, then we charge. Load anti-framework rounds.”
He didn’t wait for anyone to acknowledge the order before blowing
his shaped charges, which set off the antipersonnel mines in the hall
ahead and above them.

Minh-Chu’s lighter
shields took all the damage as the corridor erupted in flame and
shrapnel, settling in impenetrable smoke. The sensors in his helmet
made up for the terrible visibility in time for Minh-Chu to see Jake
leap up into the hole, flinging a fistful of small grenades with one
hand towards the blockade the Barricade’s crew had set up and
firing his long-barrelled Violator Handgun on full auto. Minh-Chu’s
weapon was on the same pre-set; those rounds moved slower than an
energy weapon, and they had to change clips after two hundred and ten
shots, but they’d burst against armour, burning at over
twenty-eight hundred degrees for several seconds.

Captain Valent’s
first volley of grenades exploded against the energy shield
protecting the enemy crew as he was tossing another handful of the
small but devastating explosives. By the time Minh-Chu and the rest
of the squad were up through the hole in the ceiling, the hall in
front of Jake was a twisted ruin of doors and broken walls leading to
senior officer’s crew quarters and abandoned secondary control
rooms, and the energy barrier protecting the first barricade was
gone.

Minh-Chu spotted what
was left of one of the Order Knights’ torsos to his right, a pile
of gore that was already regenerating, and he fired his Violator
handgun at the half-ruined head and its chest. He dumped a focused
electromagnetic pulse grenade modified to disable a single framework
onto it and stepped away. His shields registered a slight decline as
it popped, and the framework’s activity ceased.

“Good job, Ronin,”
Moira said.

The remains of the
other Order Knight were destroyed by a pair of soldiers using rifles
loaded with anti-framework rounds – explosive ammunition that
released an electromagnetic charge as well.

Jacob and Moira led the
way, calmly walking down the broad corridor towards the barricade.
Jake fired his violator handgun on full automatic, the barrel end
starting to glow red, while he fired bursts from an overcharged pulse
handgun with the other hand. Moira walked right along side him,
methodically firing one heavily modified and overcharged energy
pistol then the other. Her rate of fire was far slower, but her
accuracy was deadly.

The rest of the squad
moved along behind them, firing around the bold pair, who were met
with resistance at first as the ship’s defenders fell back to their
second and final barricade, but they were pressed under cover in
seconds. Even an attempt by one enemy soldier to throw a seeker
grenade into the air was stopped as the boarding team member beside
Minh-Chu shot it out of the air by sheer luck, detonating the
explosive above the defenders’ heads.

The defenders
scattered. Minh-Chu shot two of the enemy soldiers several times as
he took his turn firing around Jake’s right side. One of the enemy
soldiers went down when two rounds from Minh-Chu’s weapon burned
through his armoured hip and thigh. He only had seconds to scream
before he was finished off. Anyone caught in the open was cut down as
soon as they broke cover. They weren’t there to take prisoners, and
everyone there knew it.

Without warning, Jake
pushed Moira back and charged forward, his shield system drawing as
much energy as his suit could provide. “Take cover, now!” he said
as he rushed ahead.

As everyone ducked
behind a twisted wall or fallen door, an energy reading appeared on
Minh-Chu’s tactical system that was identified and marked in red.
It was an Order Knight in full armour, surrounded by an energy
shield, carrying one of their high-powered rifles.

As the Knight emerged
from the main bridge doors, Jake careened into her shoulder-first at
a dead run. Their shields clashed with a blinding flash, and
Minh-Chu’s tactical system warned him that the energy barriers’
crossing was raising the temperature around them at a rate of several
degrees per second.

No one had a clear shot
as Jake tried to avoid the business end of the Knight’s rifle while
keeping her between the bridge doors. All Minh-Chu could do was watch
and make sure that there was nothing coming from behind.

Captain Valent managed
to get the Order Knight’s leg into a lock despite the near
frictionless nature of their energy shields. The clashing of energy
scarred the deck with red-hot streaks at their feet and the heavy
armoured door that was being held open by the width of the Knight.

A pair of enemy
soldiers broke cover, firing down the hall. Minh-Chu leaned out to
return fire, and was rewarded with several hits on his shield. “I’ve
got this, Commander,” said a soldier behind him as she leaned out
and ripped through the pair before they could find cover away from
the Order Knight and Jake.

The Knight fired
several rounds above them as she fought to get her rifle pointed at
her assailant, the shots leaving white-hot spots over their heads.
She dropped it and reached for a sidearm while Jake let go of her,
reaching for something in his jacket.

Minh-Chu was shocked
when Jake pulled out a handful of small electromagnetic pulse
grenades and dropped them between him and the Order Knight. “Pray
to your maker,” were the only words Captain Valent had time to say
before they went off, blasting both their shields to nothing and
severely damaging all the automation in the outer layers of their
armour. Whatever strength Jake was using was his own, and the speed
of the man astounded Minh-Chu as he managed to snatch the Order
Knight again and drag her back through the heavy bridge doors.

The Knight was stunned
just long enough for Jake to get a grip under the chin of her helmet,
and Jake bashed his enemy’s head on the edge of one of a
barricade’s waist-height metal plates, hard enough to dent her
helmet. He put a knee on the Knight’s chest, knocked her sidearm
from her hand, and drew a cutting tool from his jacket. Just as Jake
was getting poised to cut through his enemy’s helmet, it fell open.

“You’re living on
stolen technology, and we will take it from you. All hail the Order,”
said the fresh-faced young Order Knight before she convulsed. Jake
leapt up and took cover.

For several long
moments, nothing happened. “Advanced scanning is picking up the
release of some kind of enzyme, a few liquid acids, and minor nanobot
activity. Looks like she just self-destructed,” Moira said.

Jake came out from
cover and picked up his Violator Handgun. Minh-Chu didn’t see when
he dropped it. Without hesitation, he pushed the heavy bridge
security door open with the weapon pointed at someone inside.
“Everyone on your knees,” he said flatly.

The squad moved up in
time to see nine crewmembers in simple dark green uniforms slowly
kneeling in the middle of the bridge behind the empty command seat.
The bridge was a typical semicircle with the command seat in the
middle and the rest of the crew stations around on an incline so they
were all visible from the centre. There were two levels of stations,
and a large display space at the front.

“Now! Get out here
and get on your knees, now!” Jake shouted, firing at the second
level of the bridge.

Minh-Chu’s scanners
picked up someone hiding in an access hatch to the right of the
command seat.

“Watch them,” Jake
said as he strode to the narrow service hatch door and ripped it off
its hinges. He reached in and dragged a screaming crewmember out by
the hair. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jake forced him onto his
knees and pressed the barrel of his Violator Handgun against the side
of his head. The crewmember slipped Jake’s grip as soon as the
barrel seared the skin at his temple. Captain Valent caught the back
of his uniform and held him out in front of him. “I’m sorry, did
that hurt?” he said through a grimace as he pressed the barrel to
the back of the crewmember’s head for a moment, provoking a shrill
scream. “This one is a Junior Lieutenant, and probably twenty years
old, just at the beginning of his life. Surrender complete control of
this ship and its database, now,” he said, looking at the rest of
the kneeling crewmembers, “or it’ll be the end.”

Two of the youngest,
barely men, were in tears, refusing to look at Captain Valent. The
rest stared ahead. No one replied; the only sound in the large bridge
was the whimpering of the crewmember Jake held at the point of his
sidearm. “They’re not very interested in keeping you alive,”
Jake said to him. “What’s your name, Junior Lieutenant?”

“Blantonne,” the
wide-eyed captive replied.

“That sounds like a
last name,” Jake said, touching the barrel of his weapon to the
back of the crewmember’s head for a moment. Blantonne shouted at
the shock of the pain. “I think we should be on a first name basis
under these circumstances. I’m Jacob, people call me Jake, and you
are?”

“I-Ira,” he
replied.

“Good, Ira. We’re
going to play a game – it’s called Chinese Whispers, only it’ll
be a short one. I’ll whisper something to you, and you’ll tell
your captain over there what I’ve said. You have to say the words
like they are your own, or something bad will happen. Do you
understand?”

“Yes, yes I
understand,” replied Ira.

Jake leaned forward and
whispered something then said, “Go on, no need to rephrase.”

“He s-“

“Like they’re your
own words!” Jake said, shaking his captive. “Try again! No more
warnings.”

Minh-Chu had never seen
anyone so openly wrathful. He knew Jacob carried a certain amount of
anger with him, something he did not show to people, and knowing the
man’s history, Minh couldn’t blame him. Jacob Valent had
everything from identity to abandonment and relationship issues, and
he also believed that it was up to him to fix the greatest wrongs in
the galaxy. As deluded as it seemed, Minh knew the man felt he had to
make a difference, and that, above all else, he was the one most
capable. It was a delusion, one that Jake wouldn’t admit to, but
Minh-Chu knew it was his friend’s greatest flaw, and the slow
progress they’d made at defeating the Order only stoked the flames
in Jacob’s heart.