First Strike (Hammer's War Book 3)

by James McEwan

  Outside the Lord Marshal’s door stood two LPM 48 robots. The two guards stood silently until she approached them. Kára recognized which one of the two was carrying Archie’s core. She stopped in front of the other robot, “Major Kára St. Claire, here are my orders, please authenticate them.” She handed the robot a small tablet which was referred to as paper orders, even though they no longer used paper. The robot took the tablet and she watched as the end of his right index finger spilt and the two parts retracted leaving a connection pin exposed. The robot inserted the pin into the tablet and within seconds the viruses had been uploaded and done their job, shutting down the cooling system and overclocking the robot’s brain. Sparks and smoke poured from the robots midsection where the core was housed.

  With the core shut down the robot had no balance control and fell forward. Kára sidestepped the falling robot just as it creamed into the wall. The heavy robot smashed through one side of the wall and came to rest just inside the room opposite them.

  “Miss Kára it is good to see you, but I thought it was going be Miss Fiona who was going to come today, has there been a change in the plan?” Archie asked in the deep voice of the LPM 48.

  “Yes a big one unfortunately, but now we need to move. I didn’t expect the big lug to smash the wall. I’m sure the sergeant at the desk heard it.

  Sure enough, the sergeant heard the crash and came looking. Kára entered the Lord Marshal’s quarters while Archie pulled the other robot out of the wall. The sergeant came running up the hallway, “What happened here?”

  Archie repeated what Kára had told him to say, “It looks like he suffered some kind of malfunction that lead to a cascading power failure.”

  “Hmm, that’s strange. I’ve never known any of you guys to have a power failure like that. I guess it could happen, but you guys are built to last. I think I’ll call for a tech team to come and suss it out.”

  Archie didn’t want any more attention to their mission, “I wouldn’t advise that course of action,” he said pointing his weapon at the sergeant.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? Stand down, that’s an order!” The sergeant commanded.

  “Sorry about this sergeant,” Archie apologized before striking the sergeant with the butt of his weapon, knocking him out cold.

  Amanda and Ruby were just finishing their breakfast when Kára presented herself in the doorway of the dining room. Amanda looked at her and was confused as she was told that Fiona would be coming to collect them. “Who are you?” She asked in a commanding tone.

  Before Kára could answer she felt her mind and Ruby’s connect. She could feel the fear in the little girls mind. She smiled at her and in her mind told her not to worry that she was a friend of her fathers and was there to take her to him. Ruby then spoke for her, “It’s okay grandma, this is Kára. She’s a friend of my daddy and she’s here to take us to him.”

  “Is that so, what happened to Fiona?” Amanda asked.

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but both of the twins have been captured by the Ralnai and are to be taken to their breeding world for slaves. They are currently enroute to become breeders, at least that’s what the Ralnai think anyway,” Kára said.

  “I take it Thaddeus has other plans?” Amanda asked.

  “Correct Admiral, he has gone after them and sent me to come help you two escape. So please, we have little time; we need to move.” Kára rushed them out the door and when she saw Archie standing over the unconscious desk sergeant she winked at him, “Nice work Archie.”

  Chapter 37

  Back on the Eden Eve had her hands full trying to stop the back trace. Every time she shut it down another one would pop up. She was playing electronic whack a mole and she was losing. It was just too much for her. Unable to stop the trace she did the only thing she could, she cut herself off from the network. “Damn it!” her bot body cursed and slammed her fists down on the command console.

  “What’s wrong?” Carl asked?

  “Their security AI’s are good, really good. There were too many of them and once they caught wind of my intrusions into the network they came after me like hounds on the hunt. Now I know what the rabbit feels like,” Eve said.

  Carl wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but that didn’t stopping him from asking, “So what comes next?”

  Eve swiveled around in the command chair to face Carl, “Well we can’t lead the enemy to the location of the Eden and we can’t go blind without any comms or intel.”

  “So?” Carl asked with an eagerness to know.

  “So I have to go topside and find a network node to jack into. That way if they track down my body it’s no big loss.”

  “I see,” Carl said.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll still be here to keep you company,” Eve’s voice came out of the ships speakers instead of her mouth.

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever get use to that,” he said a little creeped out by it.

  Eve smiled at him and then left the bridge. Carl followed her for no other reason than he was bored and felt helpless.

  Eve lead them to one of the airlocks, where she entered. Just before the door closed Carl asked, “Are you going to swim?”

  “No my combat chassis is far too heavy to float, so I’ll just have to walk to the edge of the lake,” she replied as she closed the door and flooded the airlock. Once the lock was full of water and the pressure was equal to the outside she opened the outer door. She stepped to the edge of the ship, grabbed hold of a rung near the door, and with one fluid motion launched herself into the cold crushing blackness that was the bottom of the lake.

  She drifted down until she came in contact with the silty bottom, which kicked up quite a cloud. This didn’t bother her at all, as she didn’t need to see with the normal light spectrum. She rotated through the spectrum until she found the right light to see with and pushed forward walking on the bottom of the lake as fast as she could.

  Thad landed on the ground feet first and ready to strike. He had not forgotten about his brother who had been standing there quietly in the shadows. Seven fired a stunner at Thad, but Thad was expecting it and ducked out of the way. The blue flash of light passed harmlessly over his left shoulder. Thad didn’t want to give Seven a second chance. He lunged at his brother with all the speed and violence he could muster.

  They connected with a notable crack as Thad’s forearm smashed into the stunner breaking it in two. Seven dropped the broken weapon just in time to block a punch to his temple. It was clear to Seven that Thad was trying to take him out without killing him. His mistake he thought. They exchanged blows and blocks, each man trying to beat the other. To Thad it was like he was that scared little boy again trying to fight for his life, but still find a way not to hurt his brother and friend. Yet this time he was not afraid of death, this time he was only afraid of killing his brother again.

  Kára got Amanda, Ruby, and Archie into the waiting car. There St. Claire did the introductions as he engaged the flight mode and lifted off.

  “Where are we headed?” Amanda asked.

  “To the Eden, then off world as soon as we can,” St. Claire answered.

  “We can’t, not yet,” Amanda said. This garnered a look from everyone, except Ruby who already knew what her grandmother was going to say.

  “Care to tell me why?” St. Claire asked as calmly as he could.

  “We can’t leave Collin and Sasha here. If we do, he will gain control over the Terrain Empire and if that happens then it is over. They are our best chance to stop the NGE.”

  “Okay, I understand that, but just what do you have in mind?” St. Claire asked.

  “We have to go to the command center and break into the lower levels where they are being held. Then we need to get them and us back out and to the Eden. Oh and if we can find them, Colonel Grunt and his last marine, who are still alive as far as I know. We shouldn’t abandon them if we can help it.”

  “And I expect you want me to rescue Rod Masters t
oo?” St. Claire said sarcastically.

  “Who is Rod Masters?” Amanda asked.

  “Long story,” Kára interjected.

  St. Claire looked over at Mortlock who was sitting in the copilot’s seat, “What do you say big guy, you want to go break into the most heavily guarded building on the planet and bust some people out?”

  “Sounds like a challenge, but I’m game,” Mortlock said in his deep base tone.

  “Sounds like fun,” Kára said.

  “You have a strange sense of fun my dear,” Amanda said to Kára.

  “Oh you have no idea,” St. Claire said. “Show her honey so that she’ll understand.”

  Kára turned off the holographic generators and the illusion of the uniform faded away to reveal her engraved armor and her pointed ears.

  “The Eli I see. Makes more sense now,” Amanda said.

  “All righty then we’re all in agreement then?” St. Claire asked and everyone nodded. “Good, we’re off to storm the castle!”

  Thad had landed a blow that knocked Seven to his knees and made him see stars. Thad had all the advantages. He was faster and he healed as fast as Seven could injure him. “I can do this all day so there’s no reason for us to keep this up.”

  Seven spit blood and a piece of tooth, “Don’t you worry, you’re still going to die at my hands.”

  “Ooh like I haven’t heard that before,” Thad said as Seven regained his feet.

  “You think that the nano protein that Dr. Hammer gave you will save you?”

  “It’s worked pretty well for me so far,” Thad said just as Seven lunged forward striking him in the nose. Thad took the hit and countered with an elbow to Seven’s jaw. He stumbled back. “I told you, you’re wasting your time.”

  Seven rubbed his jaw, “You think you’re untouchable!”

  “Not untouchable, just unbeatable,” Thad said with a hint of a smile. A smile that didn’t last long. Thad felt dizzy all of a sudden, and then noticed that his nose was still bleeding. Normally it would have stopped within seconds of starting. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, which smeared blood across his face.

  “It took a little longer than I expected, but it seems to working now,” Seven said still rubbing his sore jaw.

  “What did you do?” Thad asked. He tried to take a step forward when the world started to spin.

  “I took the liberty of injecting you while you were out with a little something that turns off your Nano’s along with a heavy sedative. You see I know I can’t beat you one on one in a fair fight. That’s why I never fight fair. You taught me that lesson the last time I tried to fight fair.” He paused as Thad began to sway back and forth. It seemed that he was having a hard time staying on his feet. “Today you die brother,” Seven said as he produced a force blade that had been concealed up his sleeve.

  Thad stumbled and fell forward, landing hard on his face. Seven calmly stepped aside and let him fall. He then stepped behind Thad as he did his best to push himself back up to his hands and knees. Seven reached down and with his empty hand grabbed Thad by the hair and pulled him up to his knees.

  Thad spoke, “When I die it won’t be at your hands.”

  Seven placed the blade against Thad’s throat, “Your wrong brother, just like you’ve been wrong about everything. You die today, and you finally get to share my pain. You will know the fear I felt. There won’t be any warmth when the force blade slices through your flesh; all you’ll feel is the cold hard steel as it ends your life.”

  Thad wanted to do something, anything, but his limbs felt as if they were made of iron and had been welded to his sides. The sedative was working way to well. “Shut up and kill me already, your droning is just undue torture.”

  Seven looked up at his master, the Lord Emperor, who nodded giving his approval. “Goodbye brother,” Seven said. He pressed the blade so hard against Thad’s neck that it broke the skin, and then drew it across his throat in one swift motion. Thad’s blood sprayed out in a fine arc following the blade as if it was an artist’s brush flinging paint on a canvas.

  Thad tried to say something, but it came out as a bubbling gurgling sound instead of words. A second later Thad fell to the ground silent.

  Seven stood above the lifeless body of his brother just as Thad had once stood above his. The Lord Emperor spoke, “Take the body for processing and get someone in here to clean up this mess.”

  “Yes my Lord,” Seven said, and then he picked up Thad by the shoulders and dragged him out of the room.

  Chapter 38

  Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Fleet Command building, under tons of steel and concrete, was a small room normally used for building maintenance which had been repurposed as a cell and torture chamber. Colonel James Grunt sat naked, stripped of his armor, clothing, and dignity. He had been strapped in the chair for two days now. After not being able to move even a little for the past two days his muscles continually cramped then released and cramped again. The pain was more than most could take, but he was a Terrain Marine and pain was just part of the job. Two days without moving from the chair meant that the smell was more than most would care to bear either. Forced to urinate on himself and the floor, as well as having to sit in his own feces, appeared to have the reverse effect on the Colonel than his torturers intended. Instead of breaking him, it only seemed to piss him off more.

  When the door swung open Grunt held his head low to his chest. “Hello Colonel,” said the voice of his interrogator. “Don’t get up,” he laughed. Grunt didn’t find it as funny. The interrogator was tall, thin, and his face looked as if it was just a skull that someone had stretched over old leathery skin. His cold hands looked much the same as his face with long thin fingers.

  Colonel Grunt had worked with his type before. He had little but distain for intel ghouls, men who worked in the shadows and sold their souls in the name of security. By the look of this man he’d sold his soul eons ago. He wasn’t StarGuard intel, but by the tattoo on his upper arm and his accent he was Fabian. It seemed that the Fabians were the backbone of the coalition of assholes, as he had come to call the NGE forces.

  “I have to say I’m truly impressed. You Terrain Marines really do live up to your reputation for not breaking under interrogation,” his tormenter said. “I hear it’s something in your training that makes you so tough,” he paused waiting for a response. Colonel Grunt said nothing nor did he bother to lift his head.

  “I must say that it’s been an absolute pleasure getting the opportunity to try to break a Terrain Marine, as it’s so damn hard to capture one alive. This whole go out in a blaze of glory thing rather than being taken alive shit is really something you think is only in stories. However, I’m sure that given enough time I could break you. Everyone breaks eventually, but I don’t have the time. I’ve been ordered to get the defense codes for Earth’s defense grid and my boss, well let’s just say I have till the end of the day to get what I need before I have to kill you,” the interrogator said coldly.

  “Do what you have to, I’ll never give up the information you want. Your threats are empty to me ghoul. I knew the second I was captured I was already a dead man,” Colonel Grunt said as he raised his head and looked at the man who had spent the better part of a week torturing him.

  The interrogator walked casually towards a second chair that was in the room and sat down, “I kind of figured that out over this past week. You’re stronger than anyone I’ve ever interrogated, but everyone breaks. It’s too bad I don’t have the time. Our Lord Emperor has commanded that I get the codes from you by the end of the day or he will have us both killed. Given the pressure I have decided to change tactics.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to try to be my friend now; tell me you’ll to stop hurting me if I just help you out?” Grunt said. He watched, but didn’t get a response so he kept pressing to find out what the interrogator was up to. “Bad guy, nice guy, I don’t give two shits what you do to me, in the end I’m still going to die.
At least I can die knowing you didn’t beat me.”

  “Oh, I’m not going to be nice, in fact I think I may have finally found your weakness. You see everyone has one. It’s just a matter of determining what it is and then applying the right pressure.”

  “Good luck with that. I have no family, no friends that you can get to, and I can’t be bought with money or power,” Grunt said flippantly.

  “Oh I know, our spies have gotten a hold of your intel jacket and I have to say it’s extremely impressive, but the one thing I have learned doing this job as long as I have is that everyone, from humans to Ralnai, have a deep seeded need to love something. For some it’s another person, for others it’s a thing or maybe a place, for me…well, what can I say, it’s my job. I really love what I do. So you see it’s just a matter of finding out what you love.”

  “Yeah, well you can kiss my ass. I don’t love anything or anyone. Just ask my men they’ll tell you I’m a grade A asshole,” Grunt said.

  “Why Colonel did you just lie to me? You can’t lie to me; I’ve spent time with you. Are you at all familiar with the works of Shan Yu? Likely not. Well as the great Shan Yu says, ‘tie a man up and hold him over a volcano and on that day you will finally meet the man.’ This sir is your volcano,” he said as he pushed a button on the bracelet he was wearing on his left wrist. “Bring him in.”

  The door swung open and two Fabian guards drug a third man into the room. It was Hunter, the Marine who had been captured with the Colonel. He looked like he had been worked over, covered in dried blood and large purple and black bruises. His head was drooping over his chest and his bare feet left a trail of blood behind him.

  “After reading everything I could on you Colonel I found out one important fact, your love for your men is legendary. You may be tough, but you have a reputation for being fair and fiercely protective of your men,” the interrogator said. He then slowly stood and walked over to a tray of tools. He seemed to pause as he selected the one he wanted. Then he turned to the two guards, “Hang him on the door, and then you can leave.”