The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (94 page)

Kelley put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. From what they told me, you’ll all be back on your feet in no time. You might even beat us to the randevy.”

Johnson smiled.

“You’re not shitting me are you sir?”

“Afraid not…It would have been good to be rid of your sorry ass but not my luck.”

“Can’t always have it your way James. Besides us blacks have our days.”

“Well Aaron I guess today is your day.”

As Kelley turned to leave, Johnson stood up. Before Kelley could react, both Flint and Sanders rose.

They looked unsteady, especially Flint. Kelley noticed the medics reacting. They tried to put Flint back in bed but he just looked at him.

“We have to be there sir. After it’s over then we will rest.”

Kelley nodded.

The doctors looked at him but he just shook his head.

It took them ten minutes to reach the place were the others dug the graves. As they reached the place they noticed all the others there and also almost all the civilians and soldiers that traveled with them.

Kelley looked at Ellis.

His XO just shrugged.

“Nothing we could do. They came to pay their respects.”

“Ok. I guess they deserve it.”

“I think they would have liked it James.  Well all except Roberts and Rhodes, the two R’s hated crowds.”

“Well they will have it now. They brought it themselves.”

Kelley looked at the other seals. As he did two of them stood beside one body.

“We came to this world to save our home. We never expected to find people that we would call friends here. But we did. We all swore an oath that we will protect the innocent, defend them and if need be die for them. Today they did that. We bury six of our brothers on this world, in this place, in this soil. That makes this place, this world holy. That makes it worth fighting for.”

He looked at the gathered people around the graves. He saw many races but he made no difference among them. He could see the sadness, the respect in all of their eyes.

“We lost six brothers today but we gained many more. You died a worthy death, a warrior’s death.

We commit their bodies and their souls with a glad heart in your arms God, and all we ask is that you accept them in your loving embrace. Amen.”

As he finished they lowered the bodies in the graves.

The seals all stepped back and others Illians, Acadians and humans started burying them.

Kelly noticed the rest of his men setting in a firing line.

A moment later one after another three shots rang out. He noticed several soldiers coming but as soon as they saw them they stopped. They didn’t know the ritual but they all could see that it was a way of showing respect to the fallen.

As Kelley turned he noticed Garth looking at them.

He nodded.

He looked at the medics as they passed by Garth and came for the wounded.

He looked at Johnson.

“Go with them. And take good care of those two boneheads Aaron.”

“I will sir.”

He turned to Atkins and saluted.

“See you in several days Pit.”

Atkins smiled.

“Be well Aaron. We’ll be waiting on you. We have a debt to collect.”

Johnson nodded.

“We sure do sir.”

He walked away slowly as medics helped Flint and Sanders.

The rest gathered their gear and followed one of the Illians towards their transport.

“This is the vehicle that will take you pass the line. When you want to stop just tell the drivers.”

Kelley nodded.

A moment later they were all inside. They noticed that the vehicle was large enough to fit ten more people.

As the vehicle started to move they all drifted to sleep. They all needed the rest.

Garth watched the armored transports leave. As he watched them he said a silent prayer to his gods.

“We waited so long for them almighty ones I pray that you protect them and that our children leave to see what freedom really means.”

As he said that he turned and disappeared in the darkness.

                                              CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Arcadia Star System

Williams looked at the rest of the crew that were together with him in the third rotation.

Turner and Naismith were manning their consoles. And Aria was, well being Aria.

He smiled at that thought. The AI never slept, she was always watching, and always ready to offer some help.

Almost three months passed since they arrived in the system and launched their cargo. Since then they were constantly scanning and learning all they could about the system. The first month was nerve wracking as they spent it in the inner system constantly watching for signs of detection.

They learned a lot about the placement of bases and the movement of the ships in the system.

There were constantly 30-50 ships in the system, most of them frigates and cruisers. The system was obviously a transit point considering that for the past three months four times large fleets entered the system, staying briefly and then continuing to unknown destinations. He knew that if they used active sensors there was a chance to pinpoint their destination at least in general but that was not an option.

The system was well defended and extremely active with numerous mining stations and bases in the asteroid field and there were several of them even here in the outer Ort Cloud. The constant movement of mining ships was a problem at the beginning before they learned their patterns and movements.

But as they did the last month turned in to a routine mission even though they were still constantly on alert for any trouble, but it was becoming boring. Right now they drifted near one of the small planets in the Ort Cloud at a point of 90 AU from Arcadia. They were well away from any base or even the passive probes that were spread out in the system constantly watching for any ships that might want to sneak in. They remained undetected mostly thanks to Aria but also thanks to the reflective stealth armor that Excelsior had. So far it served them well and it proved its worth.

Most of the crew was resting. Even the XO was in his cabin leaving the duty in the hands of Aria.

He turned to his console.

He was manning the sensor constantly looking for any data that would come from the teams on the planet. They didn’t have any contact for the past three months nothing since the landing.

So far no one worried at least in public that the teams might be lost. They weren’t supposed to transmit he knew that, not unless they had some vital information. And there was the fact that if they were discovered there would have probably seen a search for the ship that brought them here. So far there was nothing unusual in the movement of the ships in the system. The patrols maintained their schedule moving in the trajectories that were already well known to every crew member on the Excelsior.

Aria kept constant watch on the information’s coming from the planet as well. From what she could decipher there was some kind of military action against an insurgency on the planet. From the briefings he knew that there was no order in the mission plans for the SF teams to incite a rebellion, but even the captain worried that they might have a part in inducing it. After all it was something that was normal situation for them back on Earth. That was the exact situation that that they trained for.

As he was encased in his thoughts his console beeped.

It took him just a moment to notice. By that time Aria was already on it.

“We have something.”

The radio signal was hidden in the normal frequency that came of the planet. Only the well known sign of Morse code pointed to it being artificial.

He started listening and recording at once and even as he did he knew that Aria was doing the same thing.

“I’ve alerted the captain and the XO that we detected a signal.”

Williams looked at Aria.

The captain and the XO arrived five minutes later. By that time the signal was already recorded and the computers were already decoding the encrypted transmission.

As the information started appearing on his console he turned towards Turner.

“Jesus, are you getting this?”

She returned the same look of disbelief he felt.

“Yes.”

He turned towards the captain.

“Sir it seems our ground teams completed their mission. And if this is right they did even more.”

Jennings looked at Williams.

“Is that right?”

“What he said is true Admiral. They completed their mission and if what they’ve sent is true they managed even more.”

Jennings looked at Aria.

“Very well i want a full report on my desk in three hours lieutenant Williams.”

“Yes sir.”

As Jennings left the bridge Williams looked at Aria.

“I will need your help with this Aria.”

The AI looked at him and smiled.

“I’ll be glad to help Jake.”

He noticed Turner smiling.

“And Kaitlin will help us as well.”

Turner looked at Aria. The AI just smiled.

A moment later its avatar disappeared.

The blonde lieutenant scowled and murmured something. Williams stayed quiet and smiled silently. Most of the crew loved Aria but Turner wasn’t one of them. He didn’t know the reason but Turner hated the AI. Most of the guys thought that it was pure case of jealousy. There was a rumor that Kaitlin had an affair with one of the marines on board and all the marines were close with Aria. And the beautiful blonde lieutenant was a girl that hated competition.

But deep inside him he suspected that there might be some other reason.

But what ever it was Aria seemed to know how to push all the right buttons in Turner. And it seemed that she was enjoying it as well.

He noticed Naismith smiling as well.

Ne winked at him and returned to his work. There was a lot of information and he had only three hours.

Jennings looked at the report. It was the shorter version, Aria promised him the full report in several hours but even what she and Williams and Turner had extracted out in this was more than enough to confirm that Rivers and his men did an extraordinary job.

But it also opened questions. Questions that he knew would change the mission once the fleet arrives.

The planet had human population, enslaved one but still human population numbering in the ten’s of thousands, maybe more. And there were also living Ksand. They were one of the several races, humans among them that fought an active rebellion together with the other indigenous race that called it self Illians for hundreds of years. A rebellion that Rivers thought might make it with their help.

And Aria agreed.

And lastly there was that part that Aria said will need time to translate. It was a report written in a language that she didn’t have in her database.

A report made by a race that according to Rivers was called Zerg. From what the major said it contained information’s about the war between the Zerg and the Dacarians, battle tactics, strategies… That was information that could be invaluable.

He looked at Thomson.

“What do you think? This report means that our mission here is over. We can leave this system tomorrow.”

Thomson exhaled. He looked at one of he pictures in the room and Jennings left him to gather his thoughts.

“I agree sir. I know that you hate it as much as me. We didn’t expect it to happen so soon. But frankly…we can’t take the risk of staying here. Not now. Not when we have information that is vital to the war effort.”

“I know and I agree with you. Even though I hate the fact that we would leave the teams on the planet, that’s the right call.”

“This is what they were trained for sir. They knew from day one that they might be left on their own. They are some of the best soldiers that humanity has. That is why they are here.”

Jennings looked at Thomson and then at the holo display of the star route they took.

“We’ll leave this system now and deliver the package to the designated coordinates. Then we will head back and return here. We will do it the same way we did it the first time.”

Thomson stayed quiet for a second. Jennings knew that he was doing the math in his own mind.

“That will take almost two months by rough calculation.”

“54 days to be exact, most of the drifting out and then back in to this system.”

“Don’t you think that we will be taking a big risk sir?”

“I know it is but we have a mission of our own. When the fleet arrives it will need the right and exact information of the disposition of the dacarian ships in this system. We know many things so far but a lot can change in the next few months. And if we leave a probe there is a big chance that they will accidently stumble on it. It is a risk we’ll have to take.”

Thomson looked at his commander. He didn’t serve with Jennings in the battle in Proxima but he read the reports. And he had a chance to talk with officers that served with him. They all said that he was a brilliant commander.

He took risks but he was a man that planned his every step. In fact Thomson was sure that he planned several steps ahead.

He smiled. That surprised Jennings. He looked at him.

“You planned for this didn’t you sir?”

Jennings smiled.

The boy was good, really good.

“Yes. A good commander always plans for things that he can’t predict.”

“Yes sir.”

“Sit down Patrick.”

The young man returned to his seat.

Jennings gave him a cup of coffee. He took it and took a sip.

“Patrick you’re a good officer. And I’m sure that one day you will be a great captain of your own ship. For all we know it might even happen when the fleet arrives.”

The young man gulped.

“Sir?”

“That is why I chose you. Yes you’re young, far younger that any other officer that was offered to me. But you have that same instinct that helped me win that battle in Proxima.  All you have to do is follow it.”

“Thank you sir, it means a lot coming from you”

Jennings waved with his hand.

“There is no need. I think you can guess when I started preparing for something like this.  You can because deep inside you, you did the same. You see, I noticed those questions you asked Aria in the past few moths.”

Thomson smiled.

“I knew she was reporting to you sir.”

“And that is why you talked with her. You knew that she would mention it to me in case i dismissed the possibility. And she did.”

“Hmm would a simple sorry cover it sir?”

Jennings smiled.

“There is no need to be sorry. I expect of all my officers to be just like you. To ask questions, think for them selves. You did the right thing commander.”

Thomson rose from his chair.

“I will give the orders to the crew to prepare sir.”

“Inform them commander. And tell Aria to move the ship immediately. She is to calculate a jumping point at a 0.7 light years. We should be safe from detection there.”

“Yes sir.”

Thomson left the office and stepped in to the bridge.

As he did the avatar of Aria appeared.

“Aria I want you to take the ship to these coordinates, and calculate the safe distance when we can open a hyperspace window that will not be detected.”

And put a ship wide alert of condition yellow. We need the crew awake.

The AI nodded. A moment later he could feel the ship starting to move as the people manning the consoles received their orders from Aria. They used only the thrusters to direct the ship. He knew that the movement will be slow.

It was the same way when they entered this system.

As the ship started moving the crew went to their stations all of them aware that they carried something of vital importance that had to be delivered to the approaching fleet.

Azogas watched the sicarians as they worked the machines that dug the metals from the asteroid.

The Kholas 123 as the asteroid was called by their masters, the cursed dacarians, was a large asteroid, 15 miles in diameter, and rich in metals. It was one of the millions of asteroids in this star system, asteroids that were slowly and methodically being mined by tens of thousands of slaves just like him. He watched the rest of the work crew of his shift. They were mixed races, Sicarians, Illians, Macassi, Zerg, Humans… He could see that many of them were close to the end. Most even the humans, even though they were a strange group. They did what was asked of them and survived, just survived no matter the odds.

He smiled as he remembered the last time some of them chose to die. The smile came from the memory of the dacarian soldiers that died with them. The dacarians didn’t care if anybody died. There were always fresh slaves from the thousands of worlds they conquered.

He didn’t know the exact time when his people lost the war. He knew that it was long time ago and that most of his people died. He knew that from the stories, stories that were still spoken by the older ones.

He knew that there were some stories about a connection between his race and the humans, a connection that brought shame on the Zerg, a shame that they carried even now as slaves to their common enemy.

He was born as a slave, just as everyone else here.

That is everyone except for the sicarians and the strange furry creatures. They called them self Macassi.

He knew that they were part of an alliance of races that fought the dacarians.

The Macassi and the Sicarians had a plan. A plan to escape of this hellish place before it was too late.

As the guards left he noticed Maruk, the leader of the Macassi approaching.

He moved slowly in the reduced gravity.

“Is everything ready?”

Azogas turned his head scanning for any sign of a legionary and as he didn’t notice anyone he indicated to one of the Zerg in the work crew to keep watch.

He received a nod in return.

“Yes, we have two small haulers that are prepped and ready. We’ll have room for your men and ten more.”

He looked at the Sicarian. There weren’t many Sicarians here. Ganak was one of the few. He was old, but he was still strong, as were the others,

“We take three of the Sicarians with us. The rest will create a diversion.”

The Macassi nodded.

“And both my men and the humans will help in that. They will create a diversion that will allow us to slip out silently in the confusion.”

“Many will die Maruk.”

“We are all already dead. It is only a matter of time. Would you rather die fighting or lying in your bed, as a slave?”

“You know where we stand on that.”

As he was speaking, Azogas looked at the rest of his men. He could see the signs of starvation and malnutrition on their faces. Many were already on their way to the afterlife. They just didn’t know it.

Maruk looked at them as well.

He knew that they had to move soon if they wanted to have any chance of escaping.

He and his men, all of them knew the coordinates to the Lacarian home worlds. They promised the Zerg a chance for freedom if they helped them. Not many but even if few of them made it that was a chance his race had to take.

Maruk didn’t know how many of the Zerg remained but he doubted that there were many. In the opening stages of the war the Alliance stumbled on several of the systems were the Zerg and the Empire fought. What he knew of that finding chilled him to the bone. The worlds were utter ruins, and so were the systems, with scattered debris of destroyed orbital platforms and space stations and ships, thousands of ships.

Down on the worlds you could still see the ruins, and the skeletons of the dead Zerg and Dacarians. It seemed that even in death they were still fighting. He knew that the war the Alliance was fighting, and losing, was nothing compared with that one.

That was a total war, a war in which the loser lost everything. As he looked at the Zerg he knew that they were a species that was standing on the brink. In few decades at most they would be gone. Dead, and most likely forgotten.

Even if they could save few it was a noble thing to do. As he remembered the humans he smiled. It was a human thing. He wondered were that thought came from.

“We’ll take as many as we can from your people. My advice, prepare the young ones.”

Azogas nodded.

“They’ll be ready.”

He watched the strange looking creature as he and his men were carrying the loaded containers on the grav sleds.

Mosk, that was his name, was a Carreran. His race was one of the races that were vassal races to the Dacarians. He noticed the humans that were also working here looking at him as well. He wondered how he must look to them. The Carrerans were a strange species. They were almost two meters tall, with a tin body covered with black fur. The race had three eyes and they only came in three colors blue, gray and green. And they were all different. They had two strong legs, four arms with strong muscles and a small armored tail. The head was like a wasp, with two mandibles and two antennas.

The Macassi said that they were strong warriors, very cunning and fast. He didn’t know them but he trusted Maruk. He knew that his own race probably fought them but that was a war that was over long before he was born. There were several of the creatures supervising the loading. About twenty legionaries were on guard duty here.

Mosk promised that he would help them. He didn’t know why the creature wanted to help them. They were usually indifferent to the suffering of the slaves. In fact on one of the stations the Carrerans were the ones that destroyed the rebel cell.

The humans said that the creature had a reason for doing this but they didn’t elaborate. And he didn’t ask.

He chose the youngest from both sexes to work now. They were also the healthiest. He knew that they might fail but if they succeeded those were the ones that had the greatest chance to manage to form a community. 

Mosk watched the legionaries as they talked. His race was one that was loyal to them. He even fought against the Lacarians before being assigned here. It was rare for someone like him to betray the Empire so he knew that they wouldn’t expect it.

As he watched them he noticed one of them looking at him and nodding.

There was a time when he would have considered them friends. But as he watched them now all he felt was hatred. It was just few months since he returned to duty. He still remembered the day he was wounded. And the squad mates he lost. People he knew for years burned to crisp by the legionaries. They were dead because they didn’t want to risk one of their precious shuttles.

He didn’t know how he survived. But he did know who was to blame.

He knew what the slaves were planning. He disabled the locks on the two haulers with the help of the four members of his own clan. They managed to sneak several tools and weapons among the slaves. He knew that soon they will create a diversion.