The Col Sec Chronicles Box Set

by Jan Domagala

  “What kept you?” Zara asked as soon as she saw him. She saw the torn and burnt area of his shirt from where he had been shot. The edges of the damaged cloth were smeared with blood, his blood but when she looked closer the skin had reformed over the wound and was as good as new.

  “I met some old friends, they didn’t want me to leave” Kurt replied.

  “Well at least they gave you a going away present,” she said.

  “Yep at least now if there is more than one fire escape we have a better chance of holding them off until Jake gets here,” Kurt said.

  “Well let’s hope they get here real soon because here they come,” Zara said as she indicated the edge of the roof. A pulse rifle appeared over the edge and started firing. They quickly looked around for cover and realised there was none. They were sitting ducks on the top of this building and were about to face a group of determined well armed clones.

  “Get ready, here they come,” Kurt said calmly.

  16

  “They’ve made it to the top of that building,” observed Torres as they all watched the forward monitor screen.

  “Yes they’re in a spot of trouble and if we don’t get down there soon we may be too late to help,” Jake said. Without turning from the monitor screen he spoke to Cooper on the weapons control, “Get ready to take out those hostiles Mack,” he said.

  “Copy that,” Cooper replied his hands ready on the control console.

  “Artie take us down as close to the top of that roof and fast,” Jake told the AI.

  The Pulsar flew down toward where Kurt and Zara were as fast as her main engines allowed. As she neared the roof top the AI pulled up using thrusters to hover over the roof top allowing Cooper time to make use of the pulse cannons. Kurt and Zara were standing back to back firing at the clones surging over the lip of the roof in attack formation.

  Pulsed plasma bolts struck them from above as well as from Kurt and Zara and the clones fell like rag dolls. Within moments of the Pulsar’s arrival Kurt and Zara were standing alone on the roof top that was littered with many bodies.

  Cooper had long since ceased his onslaught and all those on board the forward section of the starship breathed a sigh of relief.

  They had reached them in time.

  A ramp was lowered from the rear section of the craft as it hovered near the edge of the roof top so that Kurt and Zara could walk on board.

  “We did it,” Zara said not quite believing that they were still alive.

  Kurt smiled at her and said, “C’mon, let’s go, our ride is here.”

  They walked up the ramp which closed behind them as the craft slowly began to ascend up toward the upper atmosphere once more.

  *****

  Hiding behind the lip of the roof top watching the craft ascend through the clouds, one of the clones, Orion accessed a secure comm. link through his NI. He said, “They’re on their way; don’t make it too easy for them to escape. I’ll return to the airport and come aboard on the shuttle once they’ve made the jump back to Earth.”

  “Copy that,” said a voice in his ear.

  Confident their plan was going forward as they had planned he went back inside the building off the fire escape and headed toward the elevator. His part in the plan was complete and it would now be up to his brothers to continue and bring it all to an end. All he had to do now was return to the Lunar base to await further orders.

  *****

  The familiar tingle to his NI informed Apollo of a call coming through. He had been in his quarters relaxing after his stint in the C and C.

  “Go ahead,” he said as he relaxed on his bed.

  “Everything is going according to plan,” said the voice in his ear.

  “Excellent,” the clone said.

  “I’ll give you further sit-rep’s as the situation develops.”

  “Good, I’ll inform OMEGA Command,” the clone said then closed the connection. A small smile crossed his lips as he passed the report on to OMEGA Command.

  *****

  As Kurt and Zara reached the forward pilots section they were greeted by four smiling faces. At the very front a blonde haired man said to Zara, “Take a seat, introductions can come later, we’re the Wildfire Team and your escort back to Col Sec HQ,”

  Kurt returned the smile and said, “It’s great to see you again Jake.”

  “Just glad we got here in time Kurt,” Jake replied and then he turned back to face the front of the craft once more. “Okay Artie, take us up,” he said seemingly to no one which confused the newcomers until a disembodied voice replied, “Copy that sir, we’ll be rejoining the rest of the Pulsar in approximately eight minutes. Welcome aboard Captain Stryder and Miss Hardy, please strap yourselves in this could get a bit bumpy.”

  As the two newcomers sat in the two vacant chairs that had appeared from out of the walls Jake said, “Pulsar to Vanguard, what’s the status of that cruiser?”

  Captain Pierce said, “She’s just moved out of orbit to intercept you. Do you want me to move to engage?”

  “That would be most helpful Captain. Once we’ve rejoined with the rest of our ship we’ll be heading back to Earth. I suggest you try to delay them then make the jump back to Earth also,” Jake replied.

  Kurt looked at Zara who was watching the crew of this ship go about their business with the efficiency of a well oiled machine and said, “It seems we’re not out of it just yet.”

  “Mack stay on the weapons console ready to give the Vanguard a hand should they need it,” Jake said.

  “Copy that,” he replied.

  Torres turned to the newcomers and said, “Don’t worry; we’ll get you home safe.”

  “I’m not worried,” Zara said and she was quite amazed to realise that she wasn’t worried at all. She was as calm as if this was a Sunday school outing, which should have worried her somewhat but instead she found herself almost knowing that everything would work out okay.

  Torres looked at her not quite knowing if she was putting on a brave face, if she really was that much of a cool customer or if she knew something about this situation that the rest of them didn’t. Putting those thoughts behind her she turned back to study the forward monitor screen.

  Kurt looked at Zara and said, “You really aren’t bothered are you?”

  “No I’m not, I don’t know why, I’ve just got this really strange feeling that we’ll get back to base. Do you think it’s something to do with what I’m going through, do you experience feelings like that?” she said.

  “I’m still trying to come to terms with what I can do and I find out new things about it all the time so, yes, it could very well be part of the change. It’s something to think about certainly so I wouldn’t dismiss it as a glitch, it could very well be significant,” he said.

  “If that’s true then why do I feel like that? Are these people that good or is something else going on here we’re not aware of?” she said and the longer she thought of the implications of that question the more it worried her.

  “Yes they’re that good, I’ve seen them in action before and it would be a lot simpler if that was true. Unfortunately from what was in the report about OMEGA I doubt this will be over even if we do get back to base safely,” he replied.

  The Pulsar burst through the upper atmosphere on full power, her after burners blazing a trail as they made their way to rendezvous with the main body of the starship. Inside the forward section the AI was monitoring the approaching cruiser that had altered its approach into an attack vector.

  Off to the side, the Vanguard was also coming into position to intercept. The Vanguard fired her forward pulse cannons across the bow of the cruiser then hailed the craft ordering it to lay to and allow the Pulsar’s forward section clear passage to rendezvous with the rest of her. The Vanguards hails went unanswered and the cruiser returned fire with lateral pulse cannons. Plasma bolts strafed the front of the Vanguard as the cruiser sailed past toward the Pulsar’s forward section. The Vanguard was sent off cours
e by the blasts from the cruiser and by the time the pilot had brought her around so they could follow the cruiser they were too close to the planet’s atmosphere and had to reverse their momentum before they got caught in the gravitational field of Celeron.

  Jake and his team watched as this action unfolded and when they saw the Vanguard knocked out of position they knew they were on their own.

  What the pilot of the cruiser was unaware of was that the rest of the Pulsar could take action to which her AI instructed it to do.

  The cruiser came toward the forward section trying to cut them off from rejoining the rest of the ship and therefore making it impossible for them to make the jump to hyper space. She fired her forward pulse cannons at the smaller craft in rapid bursts.

  The forward section was still coming up on full power, after burners flaring behind them. Inside Jake watched and issued orders quickly as he saw the cruiser fire on them, “Artie I hope you have your shields up, Mack fire a full spread of Hellfire missiles at that cruiser, Artie swing us around her the second Mack fires the missiles.”

  Cooper said, “Missiles locked on target and away.”

  “Artie now!” Jake said and the AI did as ordered and steered the small craft by shutting off the after burners and cutting in lateral thrusters to send her sideways around the approaching cruiser. Her own inertia would do the rest now that they were in zero gravity.

  The three Hellfire missiles impacted on the cruisers shields but the force of the explosions stopped her cold. All forward momentum ceased and she lay dead in space as Jake and the others on board the Pulsar watched as they sailed around her. By the time the cruiser could manoeuvre herself around into a position to continue her attack the two sections of the Pulsar would again be one.

  The AI used the Pulsar’s thrusters to manoeuvre the forward section into position so they could dock once more. Once that was done Jake said, “Okay Artie, let’s make the jump back to Earth. Pulsar to Vanguard, thank you for all your help, I suggest you follow us back to Earth before that cruiser asks for a rematch.”

  “Copy that Pulsar, see you back home, Vanguard out,” Captain Pierce replied.

  “Okay Artie, take us home,” Jake said and he sat back hiding the relief he felt as the AI did as ordered. A hyper space window opened in front of them and within seconds they had disappeared through it.

  17

  “Are you sure this will work?” Norsky said as he stood next to the large man he knew simply as Hermes. They were on the bridge of the Lempinski, an Akiva class starship similar to the Legend class starships of the Colonial Confederation. It could pass as an Alliance starship which was what they hoped for. It was fitted with Alliance class defence shields and weapons and had all the Alliance identity codes installed into the mainframe computer. It was to all intents and purposes an Alliance starship except that it was crewed entirely by clones from OMEGA with one notable exception of course, that of Pavel Norsky. This craft was identical to those supplied by MaxCorp to the Alliance and with everything installed to Alliance spec’s this it should pass muster as one of their own.

  “There are no guarantees in anything but we have done everything possible to ensure no one suspects we are not an Alliance starship,” replied Hermes.

  “Well I guess we’ll soon find out won’t we? We’re coming up on the Tartaran perimeter,” Norsky said.

  Hermes glanced at him as they stood side by side looking at the forward viewscreen and wondered how he knew where they were. He had no idea, all he knew was they had just come out of hyper space, as to their actual location he had no idea and neither should Norsky. It was slightly unsettling but he didn’t let it show.

  “Sir, approaching the Tartaran perimeter in three hundred kilometres,” the pilot said.

  Norsky looked around at the crew and wondered how they identified each other, they were all the same. The one standing next to him was called Hermes but even his enhanced senses could not pick him out if several stood together. All he knew was that they were clones; maybe they were interchangeable taking on the role of ‘Hermes’ when needed. It was something to ponder some other time. For now they had brought him here to do a job and it suited him to comply as the end result was something that suited both their agendas.

  “Take us in, hail the command starship,” Hermes said then turning to Norsky said, “Okay, Captain, time to earn your pay.”

  “Alliance Lempinski to command craft, this is Captain Pavel Norsky of Alliance Intelligence acting under direct orders from High Command. I’m here to take command of any and all samples brought up from the planet below. They are to be returned to a secure location for further study. Please have them ready for transport upon our arrival,” Norsky said through the comm. channel.

  He turned to Hermes and said, “They’ll be checking my ID codes now to see if I’m legit. They won’t dare contact High Command for fear of looking fools. The Alliance rules their military with fear so obedience is a given.”

  “That is what we are counting on.”

  “What you need from them will be ready when we arrive. You just make sure we’re ready to depart the second those samples are on board and secure, I don’t want to have to explain our mission any further should they decide to question us, is that clear?”

  “You are not in command here, is that clear? We know what we are doing; you do your job and leave the rest to us.”

  “You had better know what you’re doing because there are at least five other starships out here and I doubt you could hold them all off let alone that super destroyer that’s the command craft.”

  “It won’t come to that if your codes are identified like you said. No one will die here today.”

  Norsky looked at him and said, “I’ve been dead, that doesn’t bother me, failure does though. Make sure you do this right because failure is not an option.”

  Hermes looked at him and something in his eyes made him falter. He was scared of nothing, fear was something that had been engineered out of this generation of clones yet still something about this man troubled him.

  “At least we agree on that,” he said finally.

  Norsky turned and strolled away, “I’ll be in my quarters if you need me,” he said over his shoulder.

  Hermes watched him leave still feeling unsettled by the man which in itself was troublesome as he was programmed not to have these sorts of emotions.

  “Sir, we are approaching the security perimeter,” the pilot said.

  Hermes returned his attention to the task at hand. He said, “Wait here for them to deliver the samples.” He would remain on station on the bridge until the handover was complete. He had no reason to leave, to relax or anything of the sort unlike Norsky. His duty was clear and he would carry it. He had no choice, it was the way he was made, he would carry out his orders or die.

  *****

  The Pulsar reached the Terran system and slowly entered orbit around Earth. Jake, Kurt, Zara and the rest of the Wildfire Team took the forward section down to the planet’s surface and landed at Area 15 where Col Sec HQ was situated, deep underground.

  They took the express elevator to the bowels of the huge complex alighting on Level Ten, where General Sinclair’s office was situated. As they entered they were greeted with Sinclair seated in his usual chair and Matt in the chair in front of the large ornate desk. The two men got up as they saw their friends and colleagues enter.

  “I must congratulate you all on a successful mission,” Sinclair said with an uncharacteristic brief smile.

  “I’m not sure it was that successful sir but we are here,” Kurt said.

  “How so?” Sinclair asked. “Before you answer that I must inform you of a troubling development brought to my attention by Matt,” he added.

  All attention was suddenly focussed on the general and what he had to tell them.

  “When Matt came from RandCorp HQ he saw someone who lured him to an alley where he was attacked,” Sinclair said.

  “Attacked, by whom?” a
sked Kurt concerned.

  “I would expect by the same people we just had a run in with,” Zara offered. Kurt looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She was exhibiting another sign that her extraordinary prescience.

  “How can you possibly know that?” Matt asked.

  “I’m not sure, I just do that’s all. Am I right?” she said.

  “Yes my dear, you are indeed which, is something that requires further investigation but not right now. Right now we have more pressing concerns,” Sinclair said before Matt could ask any more questions. He was still rattled from his encounter earlier and it showed.

  “So who was it you saw?” Torres asked sensing that there were certain questions here that certain people didn’t really want asked or answered so she brought the topic back on target.

  Matt looked at the dark haired beauty and said, “Tanya Wilde.”

  “Wasn’t she killed shortly after the Nemesis attack?” Cooper asked.

  “Yes right in front of me and that’s what’s troubling me.”

  Everyone looked at him and saw the anguish in his tortured eyes. They realised some of the hurt he must be feeling at having someone shot and killed in front of them, someone they cared for.

  “The trouble is we are not sure why she showed up. Plus, if she is alive now, who was it that Matt saw being killed?” Sinclair said.

  “What do you think Matt?” Kurt asked as he went up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay buddy?” he asked.

  “I don’t know Kurt, I really don’t know. I mean I thought I was getting over seeing her killed but seeing her just recently brought it all back. If this new Tanya isn’t the real one then who the hell is she and what’s the reason for bringing her back?” Matt said anguish tainting his voice.

  “The obvious choice is OMEGA; they are the only ones with the resources and capabilities to clone her. Whether or not this Tanya is the real one remains to be seen, but we have to assume that they have an objective here and that we’ll find out what that is soon enough. I’m sure we’ll hear from OMEGA before long,” Sinclair said.