by Jan Domagala
Riley nodded his head once.
“What else have you noticed since receiving the serum?” Kurt asked cagily.
“If you mean, can we heal like you, I would have to say no, nothing like what you can do. Just what exactly can you do? Is what I saw the extent of your ability or can you do more?”
“Do me and yourself a big favour and forget what you saw.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“You have to, it’s the reason I resigned from Col Sec so they wouldn’t pursue this research and duplicate it. Can you imagine what it would be like if there was an army of soldiers who could heal better than normal. How far do you think the Alliance would go to obtain that knowledge and put it to good use? It could mean endless war for the entire galaxy. Sinclair must never know.”
Riley saw the conviction in his eyes along with the great burden he carried and said the only thing he could do under the circumstances.
“I promise.”
Kurt smiled thinly, for the moment his secret was safe because he trusted Riley, he did not know why, just an instinct really, but he did.
He sighed then said, “I heard some of the cats outside the room, it seemed like they were watching and listening to the fight, almost like they were assessing our capabilities.”
“If that’s true then they have a level of intelligence we hadn’t accounted for and it could mean they’re going to be more trouble than we thought, and they’re bad enough to start with,” Riley said thoughtfully, then added, “Artie, where does this ducting go to, exactly I mean?”
“It ends on the far side of the corridor in a small closet which opens out into a large courtyard sir,” replied the AI.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Kurt said then added, “Knowing what we do now about the creatures I would say that sounds like a good place for an ambush.”
“I tend to agree but I don’t see we have much of a choice,” Riley said.
“What we need to do is be unpredictable,” Kurt said as he backed down the ducting towards the hatch.
“Good idea,” Riley agreed. He called to the rest of the team to come back with them.
Lowering himself back into the room Kurt kept all his senses finely tuned to the presence of any more of the eight legged creatures. When he was sure the room was secure, he looked up to the hatch and said, “Okay, it’s safe for now.”
Riley dropped down next to him and asked, “What do you mean, for now, have you heard something?”
“Not yet, but once those things realise we’re not where they expect us to be they’ll come looking for us.”
“You’re a cheery sonofabitch, you know that don’t you,” Riley commented as he motioned for the rest of his team to follow.
“It’s been said before,” Kurt said with a smile.
“Where to now?” Torres asked as she jumped down into the charnel house.
“Well I suggest we get back outside and see if there’s another route we can find, one without all the aggressive transgenic creatures,” Kurt said.
“Transgenics? So you don’t think these creatures are this planets indigenous life forms then,” commented Torres as she stood guard as the rest of the team jumped down from the ducting.
“I suspect not. I think what we’re seeing here is the product of some half brained experimentation in gene splicing and the reason why this city is abandoned,” Kurt theorised.
“You think these things killed this place’s original inhabitants? asked Vance.
“To some extent, yes, but what I think is more likely is that they found they couldn’t control them and had to leave. If they’d slaughtered them all we’d see some signs of their remains, we still may, as we go deeper into the city,” Kurt explained.
“That actually makes sense, if you look at these things they look like part feline, part arachnid, a really nasty mix,” observed Vance.
“Why would they mix two natural predators like that? Each species are natural hunters, what the hell were they thinking?” Natasha said as she joined the group, she’d been listening to the conversation as she climbed down from the hatch.
“That’s a very good point,” said Kurt as a thought hit him, he said, “What could they possibly gain from such an experiment?”
“That’s something to think about later, for now I suggest we concentrate on the task at hand,” Riley said as he walked toward the doorway.
*****
Tarkovic opened an encrypted com channel via his NI and called Marko.
“We have him but we’ve been intercepted by what appears to be a merc starship,” he said.
Marko was furious; this mission was rapidly going down the toilet. In the space of a few hours, it had gone from being a normal holding op to an almost full-blown offensive. There was nothing he could do about the secrecy of this op, but what he could do, was protect his men. If other steps were required, he would decide then, what they would be. General Solon had given them carte blanche to act accordingly to secure the planet and he would do whatever was required to fulfil his mission, now though his men took priority.
“Okay, be ready to move, help is on its way,” Marko said. He was in the Command and Control centre of their base and had been pacing impatiently since he sent Tarkovic down to the planet to find the survivors from the Colonial Queen.
Keeping this mission, a secret had not been easy. When it was sanctioned by General Solon the colony of Outlaws was already firmly established and the idea had been simple, move in, eradicate any threats and take over the colony. Solon had picked Marko personally, something the hulking Colonel had taken great pride in. Marko had been given an elite platoon of soldiers, all battle hardened veterans from the Black Knights and his own choice of command staff. His orders had been simple, take command of the Outlaws colony and await the arrival of a team of science officers who would be escorted down to the planet’s surface to conduct certain research.
The first part of the mission had been completed quite easily. The rag tag band of cut throat degenerates that made up the colony were no match for a full platoon of highly trained soldiers. Within a few hours the attack had ended and the colony taken over. The bodies had been disposed of and the Black Knights had taken over the roles and the colony upgrades begun. After a few short days the new equipment had been installed.
When the science research team arrived two days later the second part of the operation began. Marko sent the first team down to establish the foothold. They were woefully unprepared for what happened next. When the first attack came it was the middle of the night. A wave of winged creatures attacked the campsite and before any defence could be erected, the creatures had overwhelmed the two sentry’s ripping them to shreds with their razor sharp talons.
The rest of the party fared no better and within less than three minutes the campsite had been completely overrun. Fifteen scientists plus the guard detail of ten Black Knights, all lay dead.
Marko was appalled at the losses and at the negligent attitude of his superiors at not supplying him with the full briefing as to the kind of resistance they would meet down there.
Even though Marko had a better idea of what was down there, every mission that followed met the same fate. After three successive missions they were left with a few members of the research party and they refused to continue. After contacting Solon personally for fresh orders, all he received was a simple message, that more scientists would be arriving soon, in the meantime the scientists who were left, were to continue with their mission under pain of death if they failed or refused.
Not knowing Solon or Marko, the scientists took this threat as a bluff and refused to visit the planet whereby Marko shot them himself.
Ever since then, Marko and his men had been running a holding operation until they received new orders.
Being a man of action, he hated having to hide away like this. He was aware of the need for covert action but this; he felt was a waste of both his and his men’s talents.
Now
was the time to act, the time to strike.
If the Alliance could not have what was down there, then no one would.
Turning to the ops station he said, Drop the cloak, raise the shields and send out the ships.”
40
On the bridge of the Odyssey, General Sinclair and Matt Hawk had rejoined Captain Biggs.
Biggs was seated in the command chair his broad back tense as he issued orders to his crew. Everyone’s attention was focussed on what they were doing which was immediately linked to what they could see was happening through the main viewport.
“What’s going on Captain?” Sinclair asked as he and Matt walked up to stand next to him.
“A couple seconds ago that Outlaw colony just dropped a cloak and as you can now see it’s a bit different. They also raised shields and sent out a wave of attack craft,” Biggs replied without taking his eyes from the action unfolding before them.
“It seems, gentlemen, that the gloves have just come off,” Sinclair said as he watched the wave of attack craft, numbering around fifty, head toward the surface of the planet.
Biggs glanced over his shoulder at Sinclair and said, “Excuse me?”
Matt answered for the General, “We’ve just run out of time. Those craft are about to attack our men and probably destroy anything of value down on the surface too,” he said.
“So it’s a case of ‘If we can’t have it, neither can you’ whatever ‘it’ is,” Biggs said.
“That’s correct Captain,” Sinclair added.
Biggs said, “Not on my watch,” and his face was stern and set with grim determination as he returned to face the front of the bridge once more. “Target those ships and open fire. Scramble all our Nova fighters and order them to engage and destroy,” he said.
Sinclair contacted Colonel De Boer who had reached the planet’s atmosphere by that time, “Colonel, the enemy are sending reinforcements after you. We think to prevent you from returning with our men and to destroy anything of value down there,” he said.
“I see sir,” De Boer replied.
“We are attempting a counter attack but be advised, we may not prevent them all from getting through. You will need all your eyes open on this one Colonel. Just to make it more interesting for you, when you return I plan on mounting an offensive against this so-called ‘Outlaw’ colony, so hurry up and find our boys and get all your asses back here because we’re going to need you all pretty soon.”
“So no pressure then General,” De Boer said.
“Just a walk in the park Colonel,” agreed Sinclair. As he turned to look at Matt he said, “And before you ask, yes, you can join that mission,” to which Matt simply smiled. He’d been itching to get into the thick of it, not for some adrenalin junkie reason, but he found it hard to sit and watch friends and comrades get sent into harm’s way while he did nothing. He needed to help.
“I want you over there gathering Intel on their entire operation, which is your prime function on that mission. Let the Colonel handle whatever is over there, is that clear Matt, no heroics, okay?” he said.
“You know me sir,” Matt said keeping any eagerness out of his voice.
“Unfortunately, I do, that’s why I’m ordering you to keep your head down and concentrate on your mission, no ‘buts’’, this is too important.”
“If I didn’t know better sir, I’d think you actually cared.”
“No one’s perfect son, not even you.” Sinclair replied. Opening a channel to the Pulsar Sinclair said, “General Sinclair to Pulsar, I’m ordering you to rejoin the body of your craft and rendezvous with the Odyssey immediately.”
“Copy that sir,” replied the AI. Artie contacted Riley and said, “Captain Riley, General Sinclair has ordered me to rendezvous with the Odyssey, your travel arrangements have been altered sir.”
“Okay Artie, keep your head down and we’ll see you later,” Riley replied, already he was considering the AI as part of his team and his comment proved that.
*****
The shuttles carrying ‘C’ Platoon blasted through the atmosphere flanked by the two Nova fighters who had extended wings from the fusillade of each craft so they could actually fly there.
The flock of huge winged creatures was still flying in circles over the city in the distance.
“I guess that’s where we go,” Lieutenant Jarvis, the pilot of the lead shuttle said as he headed for their target landing site.
“Shuttle to escort, we’re about to begin our descent. We’ve been ordered to take off once we’ve located our targets so be advised we’ll need your assistance as air cover for the duration we’re on the ground,” Jarvis said. Using the intership com he said, “Brace yourselves, we’re going in and this could get rough.”
Colonel De Boer accessed a com channel and called Riley. “We’re on our way to your position Captain Riley, be advised, we will be on the ground only long enough to take you on board. We will be landing close to the city so if you could make your way there now it would help,” he said.
Riley listened to the call then said, “On our way now Colonel.”
Kurt looked at him and said, “They’re on their way.”
“Yes, we need to get to the landing pad. It seems they’re set for a quick extraction, and Sinclair has re-called Artie to rendezvous with the Odyssey” replied Riley.
“Right, Sinclair must want to keep Artie under wraps for a while and as for the extraction being fast, I can’t blame them, I wouldn’t want to hang around down here for any longer than I had to,” Kurt said.
“Hope they’re bringing air support, when we tried to take off last time those flying, whatever the hell they are, made it almost impossible to get away,” Cooper said.
“Yeh, let’s hope they have enough fire power to blast our way off this rock,” Vance said adding to the conversation.
“Colonel De Boer is coming with ‘C’ Platoon and I would imagine enough air support to ensure our safe extraction,” Riley said in an attempt to calm his team’s nerves. Everyone was more than a little jumpy after their encounters with the strange life forms here. He had seen his team under fire before and they were the best, which was one of the reasons they had been picked to be the Wildfire Team.
This was different though, everything down here was so strange it had them, and he hated to admit it, himself too, spooked.
“Sinclair won’t let them take any chances, not if I know him, so they’ll come as prepared as they can, given that this whole planet is one big unknown,” Kurt said sensing the tension in the group.
To that, there was nothing to add so they continued walking toward the landing pad hoping that their rescuers arrived before any more of the creatures.
*****
Marko watched with satisfaction as wave after wave of his attack craft left the hangars heading toward the planet below them.
The cloak was down and the colony seen as it really was.
Gone was the facade of cobbled together remnants of old battered and discarded husks of starships and was replaced by a huge orbiting station in the middle of the Tartaran Battlefield.
At least two thousand, five hundred metres across, it had a central hub that had possibly upwards of twenty decks. Around it was a series of docking rings where attack craft and several larger craft were berthed. A series of pulse cannons were mounted around these rings accompanied by missile racks all operated automatically.
The hangars were situated on the bottom deck of the central hub. The doors opened across the bottom deck allowing the attack craft to drop into space once the docking clamps were released.
When Marko saw the Odyssey release her Nova fighters to engage his attack craft he was furious and yet elated simultaneously. Here was a stand up fight, which he much preferred, to all the hiding and pretending he’d had to do of late. He was proud to be a Black Knight and even more proud to lead this group of soldiers. So it was with a smile on his face he said, “Target that ship, I want it destroyed.”
Now he
could fight as a Black Knight.
*****
Kurt, Natasha and the Wildfire Team arrived at the landing pad.
“Where are they?” Torres asked when they saw it was empty.
“They’ll be here,” Kurt said placing a calming hand on her arm. “Try to stay calm, you’ll react better when the time comes,” he added looking into her deep brown eyes and smiling to reassure her.
The sky overhead was darkening and as they looked up to see if there was any sign of their relief all they saw at first was the flock of huge winged creatures swarming around the city. Occasionally one would detach from the main body of the flock and swoop low over the roof tops as if on a scouting mission.
Suddenly through the flock burst the two shuttles flanked by the two Nova fighters. Blasting the winged creatures with their pulse cannons the Nova’s forced a way through them.
As the group watched the aerial battle they found themselves silently cheering on their side. Although it felt slightly perverse to cheer on machines against nature, those machines carried men inside and the nature aspect wasn’t really nature, but some person’s attempt at playing God.
The pilots of the Nova’s were two of the finest that Col Sec had to offer and their skill was evident as they twisted and turned, swooped and shot a path clear to the city below through the creatures who were intent on destroying them and were in their natural element.
“Get ready people, looks like they’re coming in hot,” Riley said.
Kurt turned to look behind them, back the way they had come. He had heard something.
Riley caught the movement and turned to look in the same direction to see what he was looking at.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I think we may have a problem,” replied Kurt. His attention was riveted on where they had come from, specifically, the doorway.
“What?” Riley asked again trying to divide his attention between what was going on in front of them and what Kurt was staring intently at behind them.
