Star Crusades Nexus: Book 05 - Prophecy of Fire (30 page)

“The General means what’s happening up there.”

He pointed to the ceiling.

“What do you mean?” asked Riku from her seat next to Jack.

Lieutenant Elvidge groaned from across the craft and then muttered something.

“What did he say?” asked Jack.

The marine next to the officer called out louder than he intended.

“He said there’s nobody waiting for us in orbit, just the Biomech fleet.”

Jack looked to Riku, Callahan, Jenkell, and then to Gun. He found it impossible to speak as his throat dried up and seemed to clamp tightly, almost stopping any air entering his body. Gun laughed at his expression.

“Calm down, Jack. Admiral Lewis will be there when we arrive.”

“Yeah,” snarled Callahan, “and what if he isn’t?”

Gun showed that ridiculous smile that unnerved Jack even more than he expected.

“Then we’ll have to find other ships to land on!”

The fighting through the Helios System brought back the horrific specter of combat with Biomechs. As in the Uprising, they unleashed unholy creations made from the corpses of their defeated enemies. There were differences too though, and some Alliance scientists suspected the biology and technology of each group of warriors was based heavily upon the source material used. The ground combat on Eos, however, introduced the spectacle of Biomech frontline warriors for the first time. In space, the Biomanta class of warships showed what a fusion between technology and biology could produce. On the surface, a whole new breed of enemy was found, warriors that had been built as purely synthetic fighting machines with armor and weapons built directly into their flesh. The twisted creations fought in the Uprising were a mere taste of what was to come.

Evolution of the Biomechs

Admiral Lewis looked at the schematic of his ship, shaking his head in astonishment. They had managed to get past the Biomanta blockade with nothing but minor casualties and a damaged bank of defense turrets. The attack had been so quick; they’d slipped past the enemy ships and destroyed three before they were even detected. The remaining eleven ships had targeted each Alliance ship one at a time as they passed; as opposed to the Alliance ships, they concentrated their fire on a single ship as they moved underneath them at incredible speeds. The XO looked at the damage reports and nodded his head happily.

“Admiral, I don’t know quite how that worked, but we pulled it off.”

Admiral Lewis gave a forced smile.

“Yes, three destroyed evens up the odds in our favor. I just hope when we come back around, they’ve not done anything to surprise us.”

“True, still, we are in pretty good shape. The escorts even made it through, incredibly.”

The communications officer turned and called out over the noise of the CIC.

“Admiral, an urgent message is coming in from the General.”

“Good, put it on the main screen.”

With no more than a nod, the officer transferred the feed directly to the main screen. The other video streams from the ship moved to smaller frames on the left and right of the image of the General.

“I’ve grabbed as many as I could. We are heading back for the rendezvous.”

A cheer rang out through CIC, but the XO barked at them for silence.

“Great work, General.”

He meant to continue, but the marine commander shook his head angrily.

“We’ve got a problem, Admiral. Some of my birds were hit on the way back up, and it’s taken longer to get into position. We’re going to be eleven minutes behind schedule.”

It didn’t sound much, but eleven minutes would mean the fleet would have passed the rendezvous point and continued on in their orbit about the moon.

“Damn it!” sighed Admiral Lewis. He looked at his tactical map and then the list of craft heading up from the surface. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of survivors on their way to low orbit. If he weren’t there when they arrived, the fourteen remaining Biomantas would massacre them.

“Okay, General, meet us at the following coordinates.”

There was a short pause while the General checked the information. He looked back into the camera, a confused look on his face.

“Admiral, that is high orbit, and on the same level as the enemy blockade. Are you sure?”

Admiral Lewis did his best to look confident.

“Either we will punch a hole for you, or there’ll be no Alliance fleet left.”

The General nodded before cutting the feed.

* * *

Spartan and Khan waited at the secondary deck where so many of the station’s refugees had arrived. Now that the fighting was over, the number of people had increased. Many returned to where they had been before, but others just sat down crying or running about to look for missing loved ones. Three medical staff helped move the body of the engineer that had helped them in the final stages of the fight.

“He did well, in the end,” was the best Khan could manage.

Spartan touched the stretcher as it moved past the two of them.

“Better if he’d lived.”

Multiple groups of officials emerged from the passageways, more than either of them would have expected.

“Here come the bureaucrats,” muttered Khan.

A small group of Earthsec security arrived, none carried anything more than a stun baton. Their uniforms were the usual dark tunics and black trousers used by security guards throughout the Alliance. On their heads were grey caps, marked with the insignia of Earth, and thick black utility belts wrapped around their waists with datapads and stun batons attached.

“What going on here?” asked a gruff-looking, gray haired man as the security guards looked about. They moved with the assured nature of men used to being given respect. As they checked the passageways, they came across the dirty and bloodied shapes of Khan and Spartan. Upon spotting the weapons in their hands, they immediately made for them.

“The machines are gone,” said Khan in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Is that so?” asked the man sarcastically.

Spartan moved closer to the man.

“Yes, it is so. Now, what exactly are you doing here?”

The man looked up and down at Spartan as if he were nothing more than a common criminal. He refused to answer him and waited until three more of his comrades move in to support him. Now confident of his position, he extended his hand toward Spartan, perhaps to grab him.

Yeah, I don’t think so,
Spartan thought.

He tilted a few degrees to the left and brought his leg down on the back of the man’s knee. His leg gave way instantly, and then he was on the floor, face first. Spartan stood his ground, and Khan growled, that low, deep down snarl that even a fool would avoid.

“Now, what the hell is going on out here? We have machines trying to take over the station, and a Spacebridge that is off-line.”

Spartan kicked the man away and then looked to the other officers.

“Where the hell were you, and why didn’t you stop the machines?”

The Earthsec officers lifted their stun batons and waited while the man pulled himself painfully to his feet. One leaned over to help, but he shook the other man away, refusing to accept any assistance. His face was bitter, but also more than a little embarrassed. Spartan watched him carefully as he stepped back, and for a brief moment thought it might turn into an all-out brawl.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” he said before spitting blood on the floor.

Spartan laughed.

“You only just worked that out?”

The man looked to his colleagues and spoke for a moment before turning back. Before he could speak, an officer flanked by four men in Marine Corps uniforms marched toward them. Spartan was very familiar with the training, organization, and equipment of the Marines, and these men looked very different to what he was used to. All four carried thermal shotguns, a weapon more commonly associated with civilian and security use. Their armor was only partial, covering just their heads and chests in a layer of plastic of some unfamiliar type.

“We’re on lockdown here, orders from Earthsec Command,” said the officer. “Commander Stanley is coming here for an inspection.”

“Lockdown?” grumbled Khan, “What’s going on?”

The thin, gray-faced man in an Earthsec uniform pushed to the front, lifting his hands in a conciliatory gesture to both groups.

“Easy now,” he said, looking at his own people. He then looked to the two guests.

 
“This is Spartan, and this one here is Khan, both are former Alliance Special Forces...and our guests.”

The man Spartan had cast to the ground reached for Spartan’s weapon.

“They are civilians. You know the rules,” said the man.

The officer laughed and stepped back to give the man easy access to Spartan. He turned to him.

“If you think you can take them without losing a limb, feel free to try it.”

The man stopped, now suddenly unsure. He waited, perhaps considering whether he should try his luck and then moved back, doubt now taking over.

“Good man,” said Spartan, “you just saved yourself a lot of trouble.”

“And pain,” added Khan, tensing his great fists.

The newly arrived officer extended his right hand to shake Spartan’s hand.

“You don’t recognize me, do you Spartan?”

Spartan shrugged.

“The name’s Jenkins, John Jenkins. I enlisted at Prometheus with the same stream as you. My platoon trained alongside yours before we went into that meat grinder on Titan.”

Spartan looked at the man carefully. There was something in the eyes that looked vaguely familiar, but he didn’t recall spending any real time with the man. A brief glance down showed he hadn’t maintained the kind of body or fitness one would expect for a man of so much experience.

“What happened?”

The man gave a modest smile.

“Retirement. I came out here when the first Rift generator station was activated. Earthsec pay good money for ex-military.”

Khan grabbed Spartan.

“Enough talking, there are things that need doing.”

“He’s right,” said Jenkins.

The man walked to the row of small windows to the right of them. The stars moved swiftly in the background, as the section of the station was still rotating to provide artificial gravity.

“We’re spread pretty thin out here, Spartan. Earth and Mars have less than sixty million citizens between them, with half again spread over the moons. With the Rift down, we’ve lost contact with Terra Nova and our fleet.”

“Wait, what about the Sol Patrol Force?” asked Khan suspiciously.

Jenkins shrugged.

“Force? Is that what they’re calling it now?”

Khan and Spartan looked at each other before returning their gaze to the man. He looked different to the others, his bearing was more upright, a hint of his confidence perhaps due to his past in the Marine Corps.

“Look, that force is just one frigate, and it’s in about a hundred pieces near the Rift. All we have left are the war barges. There are nine spread through Sol, and they ain’t worth a damn.”

“That’s it?” asked Spartan incredulously.

Jenkins nodded.

“Yes, and they answer directly to Earthsec, not the Alliance.”

“What about the Rift station?”

The older man in the unit moved in to interrupt them.

“Look...I don’t know who you think...”

He stopped when more men in suits from their interrogation appeared. The one with the bloodied nose smiled when he saw the Earthsec security man clutching a sore arm.